A/n: This chapter is extra on the house. Just to say sorry about 'chapter 353' (that no one clearly liked and it was REWRITTEN, not a lot was changed other than the parts that people nagged about so go read it once again and don't forget to comment, you rascals.)
Also, many thanks for @Joe I on Pat-reon.
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Jon barely smiled.
There was no time for emotions anymore. It was time to get his act together. It was all too late anyway.
Now the world knows it… so what? They still don't know any shit yet.
Even if this meant that they will chase after him to the end of Nirn just like how they did with his parents 17 years ago, he can now take care of it all.
And also, he is ought to prevent it.
How so?
By making an example.
"Xikil, that's enough playing." Jon spoke.
"What, Mortal? I will…"
"He said shut up." Nefertiti popped out of Jon's shadow and then looked at Jon, "Hooman, what will we do now?"
Nefertiti in her little girl form held Jon's hand and asked him.
"Don't worry, whatever it is, I have preparations, actually, I have prepared for such a thing to happen but now let's get fixed. Those people who chased my parents feared a child for no reason… today, this child will give them a real reason to fear me."
Jon's eyes turned cold as he pointed out the [Cube Ring] in his hand and took out something. A large figure appeared in front of him. It was none other than Odokuro, the Skeletal Samurai.
Its appearance has changed greatly. It was not the crappy version that Jon created with haste in the Shivering Isles but what appeared was something that Jon spent some time later on and refined it into a Masterpiece-Level undead. He even asked Wulfur to make a large iron katana for it and it looked good.
Still, there was one last piece in this. Jon recreated Odokuro's internal energy network to be more complex and created a new device to use a different power source rather than a simple [Magicka Reactor]. It was the same device he looted from Solstheim when he found those undead which are powered with Heart Stones. He modified it and created the [Padomic Reactor].
Jon took out that [Padomic Reactor] he has already created and removed the bones on the chest of Odokuro then placed it as the heart. The last thing to the mix was Jon's own blood. It was a Blood Magic to bound Odokuro to himself by making a seal on the Heart Stone.
And then, Odokuro was powered up.
Any undead should have blue eyes but this was not the case. This was something new.
These were red eyes.
The power of the Heart Stone in the Reactor was showing its effect splendidly. Jon nodded to himself and backed away from the red-eyed Odokuro.
"Arise!" Jon ordered.
The three-meters tall Bone Samurai gripped on the large iron katana and stood up facing Jon.
"Mas...ter."
Unexpected to everyone, it spoke.
"This is better than expected. Indeed, I am your Master." Jon chuckled.
Jon summoned up [Greed] and looked at it.
"Since the very first time I met that 'Shadow Aether', I didn't understand it so I conquered it with my energy until it submitted to me. Miraculously, something inside me understood it as [Greed]. What is Greed? It is the feeling of coveting Material Things. Greed covets materials and releases it from its bindings, that's its power. What about you Odokuro, do you know what you are?"
"Nooo…" Odokuro shook its head.
"You will also be another sin, you will be the [Sin of Wrath, Odokuro]." Jon said.
"[Wrath]…"
"Exactly." Jon said and directed his [Wrath] at the Forsworn camp down the river.
***
Karthspire was secured from every direction. Alaric and his men were ready for Jon whenever he comes.
It has been a few days on this deathly wait. Jon was expected to come and Alaric was sure of it. After all, he was the one who trapped Jon in the Briarheart tree and the one who put a curse between Jon and the Briarheart tree.
Jon may have freed himself but Alaric could tell that the curse developed and prevented Jon from using magic but not the Thu'um.
It was vexing how he was reduced to this state. He had to hide the women and children away in the mountains just because of one man. On top of that, he had to cash in every favor he had to invite those two clans to fight beside him.
What made him sure that Jon was going to strike soon was the news about Nepos the Nose. The man is said to have been butchered in his own house alongside a number of Reachmen, it was violent and scary, the same insignia of the murders around the Reach that Jon was behind.
Alaric has already pulled back all the separate encampments to make a united stand against the tyranny of the Nord and by that, those two allies showed up. Molvus Blackhorn, the Chief of the Blackhorn Minotaur Clan, a clan of colossal minotaur creatures that came from Jerall Mountains and has an alliance with the Reachmen. The second unexpected ally was Vernon Windwalker, the Chief of the Windwalker Clan of Centaurs.
The Minotaurs and the Centaurs are both natives of the Reach. The Minotaurs are some bulky masses of muscles with the heads and horns of Bulls all that standing on a towering height of 3 meters, they are considered half-humans. The Centaurs are much lesser in size but more mystic in comparison, half-elves the are considered for their physique, these creatures stood on the height of a man on his horse.
The appearance of those creatures gave some hope for Alaric but soon that hope dissipated with the appearance of the Cold Flame on the Horizon. The hill to the south where he left some scouts was now burning with blue evil fires, something only heard in legends.
"Is that him?" Molvus the Minotaur asked.
"It should be." Alaric replied.
"Cold Flames! What have you done to make that man hate you this much?" Vernon the Centaur asked.
"... He is a Nord, I am a Reachman." Alaric thought before replying.
The Minotaur and the Centaur looked at each other but their eyes averted away with dissatisfaction. It seemed the half-humans and the half-elves were only temporary allies in this. From the sides, another figure appeared. It was a Hagraven with a thick mass of black feathers around its body, the Centaurs backed away from the foul creature judging by their sensitive nature.
"Elder Matron, what brings you here?" Alaric spoke with respect.
"The Nord, my daughters killed and scattered the magic, his Fey is mine if he dares to come." The Hagraven was already speaking arrogantly about the loot, she wanted the black Fey that follows the Nord.
Alaric's sole worry was survival yet the Matrons were already this greedy, haven't they seen what happened when that Nord speaks the Thu'um?
If not for the ways of the Reach, Alaric would have killed all those Hags for what they did to Grosh many years ago.
Still, what they failed to notice was the 'D' word that the Elder Hagraven said as if it was intentional to conjure the Nord man right away. Not even trying to hide, Jon was standing on the southern bridge leading to Karthspire.
The Forsworn saw him really well and they held their breath. Not just them, many eyes on the sides over the hilltops and behind trees were watching the Cursed Child of the Firemanes making his appearance at last.
Those of them who couldn't hide their killing intent were already spotted by Jon and got one of his glares.
Still, his main aim was the Elder Hagraven, Nefertiti told him how she and Wulfur were chased by the foul creature.
Beside Jon, a dark figure appeared in a large black hood and cloak, it was holding a rope and dragging an old man tied from hands, feet and neck. In Jon's hand, there were both [Molag's Mace] and [Greed].
The Elder Hagraven turned to Jon and was about to screech something with its voice or cast some magic, it mattered not. Jon was silently merging [Molag's Mace] with [Greed] releasing a new appearance to the Mace all together.
It was a spear, no, a harpoon. A long harpoon with a sharp edge and a long chain attached to it. Jon swung the [Molag's Harpoon] once and twice before throwing it at the Elder Hagraven. It moved like lightning and hit its target in a beautiful arc yet the Hagraven didn't die.
It smirked at Jon while the harpoon was penetrating its body and was about to say something but suddenly, things changed.
The purpose of the harpoon was not to kill, it was to hold the prey and drag it… and so was it.
The prey was not the Hag but its soul. The Hagraven let out an agonizing scream that echoed everywhere as its soul was being dragged out of its body. No one foresaw such a thing was possible, Jon's harpoon was being pulled back by the chain and a fully material soul was being dragged screaming in agony. The world was frozen watching such a punishment unfold, as soon as the Hagraven's soul was under Jon's feet, he cast a Cold Flame spell at it and the soul shattered completely.
Soul Shattering!
That is far worse than Soul Trapping, a process of completing annihilating the Anuic vessel in one's body denying it the chance of any Revival or Reincarnation, this is how terrifying the Essence Draining Cold Flames was.
The dead corpse of the Hagravens was a cold slap back to reality, the Forsworn remembered exactly who they are dealing with. Someone who walked out of a Briarheart Tree, a person with a terrifying and bloody legend following him.
Alaric knew this was the last showdown between him and that Nord. Only one of them is walking out of this alive.
He raised [Bloodskal] high above his head and was about to give a hearty speech but out of nowhere, a black shadow bounced over him, bit his hand and took [Bloodskal] then ran towards Jon.
Speechless, Alaric could only watch [Bloodskal] return to its rightful owner.
Jon was here to make a statement and that was complete domination. As his hand gripped [Bloodskal] once again, the red sword shivered in happiness and its Red Aura started to appear. Alaric looked at the strange phenomenon and realized he never owned that sword in the first place.
Jon stored the sword away and stepped forward with the harpoon aiming it at Alaric.
"No, you won't." Molvus the Minotaur stepped up with his clansmen carrying their tower shields.
As the harpoon flew towards Alaric, Molvus stomped the ground and jumped in the air swinging its large horn at the harpoon deflecting it away.
Seeing the grim reaper's scythe blockable, life returned to the faces of the Forsworn but Alaric was still in a grim state.
"Hahaha! Human, that's a weak attack." Molvus was happy with himself making fun of the scary Nord that doesn't look so scary after all.
He pointed at Jon and snorted.
"Men, get him."
The Minotaurs stomped and snorted in unison. Their armors and military discipline were high and their march was admirable.
"Don't lose to them, get that man." Even Vernon the Centaur aimed his bow at Jon and aimed shouted.
"No, wait!" Alaric wanted to stop them from doing anything rash. No one knows what words Jon will shout.
As the Minotaurs and the Centaurs charged, Jon put on a smile.
"I didn't expect such mythical creatures to side with the Forsworn against me. In a normal day, I would have given them the choice of coming under my banner and serving me but today I have to make an example. Blame your sorry luck."
He stood unfazed as the two hordes charged at him, the Minotaurs were strong and fierce while the Centaurs were fast and agile. The Centaurs entered the range first and shot a volley of arrows at Jon.
With a hint of ridicule on his face, Jon pointed at the arrows and spoke.
"[Wrath]!"
"... Maaaasssttaarrrr! Odokuro is heeeere!"
The titanic bone samurai appeared in a speed none could keep up with. Such a large creature and such speed were logic-defying.
Odokuro waved its large iron katana at all the arrows deflecting them away in a second, it used the same momentum to jump and charge at the Centaurs reducing the distance in a second.
"Wraaath! Dieeee!"
Its rough voice and large shadow brought eminent crisis at the Centaurs. With one swing of the large iron katana, bodies, limbs, heads, weapons… no matter what material it was made from, it was all torn apart.
As large and heavy as it may seem, Odokuro was an assassin rather than a warrior. Fatal attacks, fast movements.
From left and right, the Sin of Wrath, Odokur, brought death on the Centaurs.
"Dammit!" The one who could act at the time was the nearest ally, Molvus the Minotaur.
It took a different path than leading his band of warriors and jumped between the Centaurs to engage directly with Odokuro but it felt something was going wrong to his warriors.
Just one glimpse at Jon was enough for Molvus to shudder in cold sweat. Jon was holding a staff with a very evil aura, as evil as the harpoon if not even more. He couldn't understand what kind of staff would make him feel like that.
What he failed to understand was that the threatening thing about that staff was not its nature or its origin but its function. The staff carried a very chaotic force of nature that Jon was exploiting.
It was none other than the [Wabbajack]!
[A/n: The Wabbajack is the artifact if Sheogorath, for those who forgot about it, it can do anything randomly mainly transforming enemies into different creatures.]
Jon was powering up the staff by only using the staff's energy and aimed it at the Minotaur horde. He then took out a living chicken from his [Haven Ring] and put it on his head.
"What are you doing?" Nefertiti asked.
"Humiliating as it looks, I discovered a way to control the result of the [Wabbajack], it is called 'Fate Magic' and it is not as fun as it seems."
Keeping the chicken on his head, Jon took out a dagger and waved it fast cutting the chicken's neck and letting its blood flow down on his head.
Fate Magic was mysterious, one needed to do certain actions for certain results to happen. There was no logical explanation or any guarantee things would work but the 'Fate Magic' was something like causing disturbance to reality forcing it to take a path favorable to the magic practitioner.
Jon kept the shaking and dying chicken on his head and focused on the staff only for its chaotic energy to settle. With that, Jon unleashed a wave of red light on the slow Minotaur horde.
The red light enveloped all the horde in a second cloaking its sight completely from the world. As the red light faded, the most bizarre of situations unfolded.
The Minotaurs were no longer there but instead, there were many different creatures in their stead. Not as Jon clearly expected, they were not all chicken. There was a lot of chickens but they were about 65% of the total number but that within Jon's calculations.
The 35% of remaining Minotaurs were in another sort of mess.
Some turned to pigs, sheep, horses, baby mammoths, bugs. Some even got charred and some got healed, some got paralyzed and some got transformed into mighty enemies like Dremora Lords.
"Ahahahaha!" Jon couldn't help but laugh as hard as he could.
Only his laugh echoed in the Reach while everyone else turned silent.
From the escaping Centaurs to the Forsworn to Molvus, the Minotaur leader to Jonrad and Tyr Firemane hiding in the hills nearby and watching to the spies and assassins that were anticipating Jon's appearance.
None could see this one coming other than Jon.
The mess in the ranks of the Minotaurs was epic. Jon raised his empty hands and evoked a large Cold Flame Fireball with a big proton of the energy he gathered and threw it at the Minotaurs.
"Human! NO!" Molvus tried to stop Jon but the Minotaur wasn't that fast.
The spell was already cast.
The fires ate every transformed Minotaur and barely anything survived. As they died, their bodies never reverted back to its original appearance. Those who survived could only run the other direction.
Odokuro, who was still pouring Wrath at the Centaurs, got called back and stood beside Jon. Xikil raised the [Soul Sigil Stone] and absorbed all the Souls that were killed just now.
Vernon, Alaric and Molvus looked at Jon with hints of rage and terror. Jon stepped forward with the [Molag's Mace] in hand and [Bloodskal] on the other.
"QAH ULD HAAS!" (Armor, Might, Health)
His shout was called the 'Battle State' shout. A silver plate armor of a knight enveloped him and his physical power was puffed as much as his Aura could buff him.
And he stepped forward for battle.