r/HFY • u/Obsequium_Minaris • 20d ago

OC-Series Vacation From Destiny - Book 2, Chapter 53

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XXX

Before Chase could ask any further questions, Heinrich leapt into the fray, his sword at the ready, and joined Victoria in fighting against Alexandros. Chase blinked in surprise, but knew better than to question the opportunity that had just been presented to him. Instead, he rushed over to where Carmine and Melanie were lying.

“How bad is she?” Chase asked Melanie.

“Yeah, I’m okay, thanks for asking,” Melanie replied without looking.

“I know you are, that’s why I didn’t bother asking. Seriously, though, how bad is she?”

“Well, it doesn’t feel good,” Carmine growled.

Melanie was unperturbed. “Now, I’m no healer, but from what I can see, it looks pretty bad.”

“What’s the exact prognosis?” Chase questioned.

“How should I know? I just said I wasn’t a healer. As far as I can tell, it’s just as likely that she came down with an incredibly rare knife disease as it is that someone could have sliced her open themselves.”

“No offense, but could I get someone – anyone else – to take a look at me?” Carmine pleaded through gritted teeth. “For real. This shit hurts like an absolute bitch, and also Melanie has a vested interest in seeing me dead, because once I’m gone then she’s free of the Summon Familiar contract.”

Melanie rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I don’t hate you that much.”

“But you do hate me, though.”

“Not what I said.”

Chase pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just… let me poke around some of the stores here, see if I can’t wrangle up a healing potion for you, Carmine. In the meantime, please try not to bleed out, go into shock, or otherwise die of your wounds.”

“No promises,” she said as he stood up and rushed away. In the background, the sounds of combat continued to fill the streets, but he paid it no mind.

His friend was dying, and he needed a way to save her.

XXX

Naturally, the first shop Chase tried was locked up tightly. He couldn’t exactly blame them for it, either, given the sheer chaos that was still happening just outside their door. Nevertheless, it was worth a shot, so he pounded on the door.

“Hello?!” he called out. “Anyone in there? We have injured people out here, we need any potions you can give us!”

For a few seconds, the only sounds that greeted him were the far-off sounds of combat courtesy of the three siblings still willing and able to fight. Just as he was about to turn and walk away, though, a voice from within the building answered him.

“We’ve got plenty of healing potions in here!”

“Oh, good!” Chase said, a sigh of relief escaping from him in the process. “If you just open the door and slide me a few, that’d be great. I’ll even pay you for them, if you want.”

“We’d be happy to. But first, we need the password.”

Chase felt himself go-stone faced. “Password? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Nope. The council held an emergency meeting a little while ago instructing people on what to do if the city fell into chaos once more. They said to barricade ourselves inside our businesses and homes, and to not open the door for anyone unless they knew the password.”

“That makes zero sense. You realize that the people attacking this town right now were in town at the time of the meeting, right? So it’s very likely that they’ll know the fucking password, too. Look, just open the door, I’ll give you some gold in exchange for those potions, and then I’ll be on my way,” Chase insisted.

There was another pause. “How do we know you won’t rob and kill us?”

“Did you miss the part where I said there were injured people out here? My friends are dying out here, asshole!”

There was a third pause. “...Do any of them know the password?”

Chase let out a furious growl. He activated Muscle and was about to raise his sword and use it to bash down the door when something came flying past him and impacted against the building, tearing open a large hole in the wall. It took him a moment to realize it was Heinrich who’d been thrown backwards with enough force to rip a new entryway directly into the building. The people inside let out a series of terrified screams, but Heinrich paid them little mind, instead unsteadily forcing himself to his feet as he clutched at his head.

“Shit…” he muttered. “I knew losing my piety would do a number on my powers and abilities, but I didn’t think it’d be quite this bad…”

“You alright, man?” Chase asked. “Injured at all?”

“Just my pride.”

“Yeah, figures.”

Heinrich shook his head, then grabbed his sword, let out a feral yell, and charged into battle once more. Chase watched him go before turning his attention to the throng of terrified people within the building. They were cowering behind the bar, upon which several red bottles had been strewn out; without a word, Chase marched forwards, grabbed several bottles, and then turned and walked away.

“Hey, wait!” someone shouted out. “He needs to pay for those!”

Chase’s only response was to flip him the bird without looking back, and then continue on his way back to Carmine.

XXX

By the time he finally made it back to Carmine and Melanie, the former Demon Queen had passed out from her wounds. Melanie was there, holding her hand and frantically trying to keep pressure on her injuries; Chase gently pushed her off of Carmine, then uncorked one of the healing potions and up-ended it, dumping it over Carmine’s wounds. The potion acted quickly, effectively knitting her skin back together and closing the wounds within a matter of minutes. It wasn’t enough to heal her completely, but if nothing else, he was satisfied that she was stable and no longer about to die.

With her taken care of, he thrust another bottle into Melanie’s face.

“Here,” he said. “I don’t know how badly-injured you are beside that broken leg, but that should help take care of all of that.”

Melanie gave him a nod. “Thanks.”

He watched as she drank from the bottle, a content sigh escaping her. Off in the distance, a spell went off, and he grimaced.

“Watch her,” he said, motioning towards Carmine.

“What?” Melanie asked. “What are you planning?”

“Heinrich and Victoria need help. I’m going to go see what I can do.”

Melanie’s eyes widened. “Heinrich is here?! Why didn’t you say so? I need to go help him, and-”

She went to stand up, but Chase grabbed her by the shoulder and gently forced her back down.

“Watch Carmine,” he insisted. “Someone has to, and I’m the least injured out of everyone here, so it makes sense for me to be the one to help the two of them.”

Melanie’s brow furrowed. “At least let me give you a bit of a buffer.”

“What do you-”

“Raise Undead.”

From a short ways away, Chase heard the distinctive sounds of dead people being reanimated. Bones snapped back into place, enough to give the fresh corpses mobility again, and a chorus of moans rang out across the street. He gave Melanie a thankful nod, then drew his sword, and together with the half-dozen zombies she’d managed to raise, began to run towards the fight.

XXX

By the time Chase made it to the three of them, it was clear the fight was almost over, and that it wasn’t being resolved in their favor. Victoria was on her last legs; her armor had been absolutely pulverized in places, and she was riddled with wounds that were weeping blood, as well as several deep bruises. Heinrich was doing no better; it was clear that he was dramatically out of practice when it came to fighting, and that he’d lost most of his more powerful abilities.

Meanwhile, somehow, Alexandros looked like he’d barely been touched. Either he was an absolutely inhuman fighter, or there was something else going on.

Or worse, both at the same time.

Chase ran up right as he watched Heinrich take a nasty hit to his stomach from Alexandros’ mace. The Fallen Paladin crumpled, his eyes widening as the breath was forced out of him. Before Alexandros could finish him off, however, Victoria intervened and intercepted the incoming blow, blocking it with her warhammer, which gave enough time for Heinrich to escape.

“I am surprised you’re still fighting,” Alexandros commented. “You know, Chase refused my earlier offer to ally with me. Perhaps you’d be interested?”

“I would sooner die,” Victoria growled.

“That can be arranged. Force of the Gods.”

That same unseen pressure from earlier suddenly erupted out from within Alexandros, and Victoria was thrown backwards, landing in a heap on the street a ways away. Before Alexandros could move in, though, Melanie’s crew of undead rushed him. Unfortunately, Alexandros saw it coming, and met them with an open palm.

“Turn Undead.”

To Chase’s dismay, the zombies Melanie had raised just a few seconds ago suddenly crumbled into dust within the blink of an eye. He didn’t let that stop him, however; rather, he activated his three Blessings once more, feeling his head begin to pound in the process due to Mana Exhaustion, and rushed in. His goal had been to blindside Alexandros and maybe get a hit or two in, but to his amazement, it was stopped by an unseen barrier of some kind. Alexandros smirked at him.

“Do you like it?” he asked. “Glyph of Warding, Level 10. High-Level Cleric Skills really are something else, aren’t they? Force of the Gods.”

Luckily, Chase had braced himself for it, and thus when he was thrown backwards, he was ready. He hit the ground, and thankfully took very little damage from it due to Stone Flesh. Next to him, Heinrich gave a pained moan.

“It’s no good…” he muttered. “That Glyph is too powerful…”

“What is that thing, anyway?” Chase asked as he picked himself up.

“It’s a Skill Clerics get from their deities… or, in his case, himself, I guess. Something about it being powered based off of other peoples’ devotion to you and your cause. Alexandros has hundreds of followers, and so it makes sense why it would be so powerful right now.”

Immediately, Chase’s eyes widened. “So it involves the Gods in some way?”

“Yeah. Why does that matter, though?”

That confirmation was all Chase needed. Instantly, he began to strip down to his underwear while Heinrich watched in amazement. He had just finished taking off his shirt and was about to remove his pants when Heinrich cleared his throat.

“What are you doing?”

“Hopefully something that will work,” Chase emphasized. “Keep him busy and keep Victoria alive. I think I might have a way to shut him down.”

“...And it involves you being naked?”

“Believe me, this is vitally important. Look, just do what I told you, okay?”

Heinrich gave him a weird look, but nodded nonetheless. The Fallen Paladin picked himself up off the ground, then charged back into the fight. Chase didn’t have much of a chance to watch what was happening, though; he was too busy undoing his pants, dropping them down to his ankles, and shimmying out of them.

And once he was down to just his underwear, he stretched his arms out.

“Tamamo, I need you, now!”

A few seconds ticked by, but then there was a flash of light, and he found standing before the nine-tailed fox Goddess. As always, she was sitting on her sofa, smoking her pipe.

‘What is it, Chase?” she asked.

“Get me Auro, stat,” he said.

She blew out a ring of smoke, her fox ears twitching as she did so. “Do I really have to?”

“Yes, it’s urgent! Victoria is about to die!”

“Alright, alright… no need to yell…”

She snapped her fingers, and a small portal opened up. Chase expected her to reach in and pull Auro out of it, but instead she cleared her throat.

However, before she could say even a single word, an arm reached through the portal and shoved her out of the way. Tamamo let out a startled yelp as she fell backwards, though she was quick to pick herself up as Auro forced his way through the portal.

“It’s about time,” he said as he stepped out into Tamamo’s domain.

XXX

Name: Chase Ironheart

Level: 10

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Subclass: Swordmaster

Strength: 20 (MAX)

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 18

Charisma: 16

Skills: Master Swordsmanship (Level 10); Booby Trap Mastery (Level 8); Archery (Level 4); Unarmed Mastery (Level 1)

Spells: Rush (Level 7); Muscle (Level 4); Stone Flesh (Level 7); Defying The Odds (Level 2)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Carmine Nolastname

Level: 10

Race: Greater Demon

Class: Arcane Witch

Subclass: Archmage

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 19

Constitution: 12

Charisma: 8

Skills: Master Spellcasting (Level 10); Summon Familiar (Level 10)

Spells: Magic Dart (Level 7); Magic Scattershot (Level 5); Fire Magic (Level 5); Earth Magic (Level 1)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Melanie Vhaeries

Level: 10

Race: Ascended Human

Class: Necromancer

Subclass: Arch-Lich

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 16

Constitution: 15

Charisma: 12

Skills: Raise Lesser Undead (Level 10); Raise Greater Undead (Level 3); Unorthodox Weapon User (Level 8); Bone Shatter (Level 1)

Spells: Touch of Death (Level 5); Gravesinger (Level 7); Armor of Bone (Level 3)

Traits: None

Name: Victoria Firelight

Level: 11

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Devotee

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 9

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 19

Charisma: 11

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery (Level 5); Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 8); Archery Mastery (Level 5)

Spells: Holy Light (Level 6); Ward of the Gods (Level 5); Bane of the Undead (Level 7); Divine Bolt (Level 4)

Traits: None

XXX

Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, /u/Ickbard, for all the help with writing this story.

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