If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my P-Tang12!!!
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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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A tiny, blindingly bright, condensed spark of pure, white hot plasma materialized in the empty air directly to the center of Movarth's dining table. Movarth paused mid cheer, his ancient eyes snapping to the side as he sensed the sudden, catastrophic buildup of arcane energy. It was too late. Aerion released the constraint. "Burn."
The tiny, condensed spark of white hot plasma materialized directly in the dead center of the massive wooden banquet table. For a fraction of a millisecond, the cavern was entirely silent, the air vacuumed completely still by the sheer, catastrophic displacement of thermal energy.
Then, the spell detonated.
The custom targeted Fire Storm did not merely explode, it unleashed an apocalyptic, localized supernova. A blinding, roaring dome of pure, superheated plasma violently expanded outward, instantly vaporizing the heavy silver pitchers of blood, the roasted meats, and the thick mahogany chairs.
The blast hit the clustered vampires and thralls with the force of a falling meteor. The mind controlled thralls standing closest to the table were instantly, mercifully incinerated, their bodies turning into fine, drifting white ash before their nervous systems could even register the heat.
The pureblood vampires, possessing vastly higher magical resistances, did not turn to ash immediately, but the sheer thermal shockwave violently hurled them through the air like ragdolls, their elegant royal armor and pale flesh instantly catching fire.
But Aerion did not stop. He knew the sheer durability of an ancient coven.
Before the first roaring dome of fire could even dissipate, Aerion fed the remainder of his massive Magicka pool into the matrix.
BOOM! BOOM!
He launched a second, and then a rapid third Fire Storm directly into the center of the chaotic, burning chamber. The overlapping shockwaves shattered the massive stone stalactites hanging from the ceiling, raining jagged boulders down upon the screaming, burning survivors.
The once luxurious dining hall was instantly transformed into a blazing, inescapable inferno. Several of the heavily burned vampires, unable to regenerate through the continuous, apocalyptic heat, simply collapsed into the fires, their shrieks echoing off the cavern walls as they succumbed to the flames.
But amidst the chaotic, blinding destruction, one figure survived.
At the very last possible microsecond before the first blast detonated, Movarth Piquine's ancient, hyper tuned instincts had flared. Moving with a speed that completely defied mortal physics, the Master Vampire had violently launched himself backward, blurring out of the direct epicenter of the blast zone.
Movarth landed in a crouch near the edge of the cavern, his immaculate royal armor slightly singed, but his body entirely intact.
He looked at the burning, shattered ruins of his dining hall. He looked at the piles of ash that had been his elite guard, and the screaming, burning remnants of his coven. Decades of meticulous, patient planning, the entire foundation of his glorious war against Castle Volkihar, had been instantly reduced to cinders.
Movarth stood up to his full, towering height. His pale face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated, demonic rage. His eyes flared with a blinding, hateful crimson light.
"WHO DID THIS?!" Movarth roared, a sound that shook the very foundations of the cavern.
On the side of the cavern, Aerion did not cower in the shadows.
He stepped entirely out from behind the jagged stone wall that had concealed them, intentionally exposing his position. Jenassa and Aeloria instantly stepped out beside him, flawlessly taking up their vanguard positions slightly in front of the High Elf.
Aerion reached into his spatial void. The blinding, radiant golden light of Dawnbreaker materialized in his right hand, casting a brilliant, purifying aura through the thick black smoke. In his left hand, the brilliant, concentrated white sphere of a Grand Purification spell roared to life.
Movarth's glowing eyes snapped upward, locking onto the trio standing above the ruin of his hall. He saw the High Elf wielding the hated, divine artifact of Meridia.
"You!" Movarth shrieked, his voice vibrating with absolute, lethal hatred. "You have destroyed my kingdom! You will get exactly what is coming to you, Elf! I will drink you dry and mount your skull on my throne!"
Movarth didn't wait for his surviving brood. He charged.
He did not run, he blurred. The Master Vampire moved with a terrifying, supernatural agility that made Alva look like a stumbling child.
In his right hand, he violently drew a massive, heavy Dwarven Metal sword, the golden bronze alloy gleaming in the firelight. His left hand erupted with a swirling, concentrated vortex of dark red Vampiric Drain magic.
Aerion's transmigrator mind instantly calculated the terrifying velocity of the incoming threat.
"Jenassa! Aeloria!" Aerion barked, his voice cutting through the roar of the flames. "Sweep the floor! Eliminate the surviving vampires and thralls! I will hold the Master!"
"Understood!" Jenassa acknowledged, immediately leaping down the stone incline, her Frost Steel Sword drawn. Aeloria followed right on her heels, the translucent green edge of the Glass Sword poised to strike.
As the two women charged into the burning chaos to butcher the heavily wounded survivors, Movarth vaulted the broken remnants of the dining table and leaped directly up the stone incline toward Aerion.
The clash was instantaneous and brutal.
Movarth swung the heavy Dwarven sword in a devastating, blindingly fast horizontal arc aimed directly at Aerion's neck.
Aerion brought Dawnbreaker up to parry, fully utilizing his newly reset, perfectly trained muscle memory and his massive 450 point Stamina pool.
CLANG!
The impact was absolutely catastrophic.
Aerion's eyes went wide. The sheer, overwhelming physical strength behind Movarth's swing was completely beyond anything he had ever experienced. It wasn't just the strength of a monster, Movarth had been a master swordsman and a Fighter's Guild trainer in his mortal life. He combined perfect martial technique with the raw, explosive power of an ancient vampire.
Despite his flawless parry, the kinetic force of the blow completely shattered Aerion's guard. His arms buckled, the golden blade pushed violently back toward his own chest, his boots sliding backward against the stone.
"I cannot match him in a pure contest of raw strength," Aerion realized instantly, his tactical mind prioritizing survival over pride.
Aerion violently broke the deadlock, throwing himself backward in a desperate, evasive roll to avoid a lethal follow up thrust that sparked against the stone where he had just been standing.
Springing back to his feet, Aerion thrust his left hand forward, unleashing the Grand Purification spell directly at Movarth's chest.
Movarth hissed, his supernatural reflexes firing. He blurred to the side, the beam of holy light scorching the stone wall behind him. Simultaneously, the Master Vampire thrust his own left hand forward, unleashing a massive, concentrated torrent of dark red Vampiric Drain.
Aerion didn't try to dodge. He snapped his left hand up, instantly casting Greater Ward.
A brilliant, shimmering, convex shield of pure arcane energy materialized in front of him. The red vampiric magic slammed into the ward, hissing and splashing violently against the magical barrier like acidic rain on glass. The sheer force of the dark magic pushed Aerion backward, forcing him to grit his teeth as he channeled raw magicka to sustain the shield.
Movarth didn't let up. He charged directly into the splashing red magic, using it as cover, and brought the Dwarven sword down in a crushing overhead cleave.
Aerion dropped the ward at the last possible microsecond, sidestepping the cleave and slashing Dawnbreaker across Movarth's armored ribs. The divine blade sparked violently against the royal vampire armor, leaving a burning, glowing scorch mark, but failing to penetrate the thick leather completely.
Down on the cavern floor, the combat was equally fierce, though significantly more advantageous for his companions.
Jenassa and Aeloria were surrounded by the surviving vampires and thralls. However, Aerion's apocalyptic Fire Storm had done its job flawlessly.
The surviving enemies were heavily burned, disoriented, and stripped of their supernatural speed by the severe thermal tissue damage.
Aeloria ducked under a wild, sluggish swing from a burned thrall, driving the Glass Sword smoothly through its abdomen. She pulled the blade free in time to parry a strike from a pureblood vampire. The vampire was fast, but the horrific burns covering the left side of its body made its movements predictable.
Aeloria stepped inside its guard, slamming the heavy silver plate strapped to her forearm directly into its face. The silver sizzled against the vampire's skin, blinding it long enough for Jenassa to step in from the flank, decapitating the creature with a swift, freezing strike of her sword.
But they were not emerging entirely unscathed.
A desperate thrall managed to tackle Aeloria from behind, driving her to her knees. A vampire lunged into the opening, slicing a deep, bleeding gash across Aeloria's thigh before Jenassa could drive her orcish dagger into its eye. Jenassa herself took a glancing blast of frost magic to the chest, slowing her movements and bruising her ribs beneath her leather armor.
Back on the upper incline, Aerion was fighting for his life.
The exchange of steel and magic was a terrifying, blinding blur. Movarth pressed the attack with relentless, suffocating pressure. He was too fast to hit with slow, heavy spells, and too strong to block with a sword. Aerion was forced to rely entirely on evasion, perfect footwork, and snap cast defensive wards to survive.
A glancing strike from the Dwarven sword completely bypassed Aerion's parry, slicing a deep, painful gash across his right bicep, soaking his dark robes in warm blood.
Movarth laughed, a dark, raspy sound of pure triumph, sensing the High Elf tiring.
The ancient vampire suddenly stopped swinging. He locked his glowing, hypnotic crimson eyes directly onto Aerion's golden gaze, flaring his pupils with a massive, concentrated burst of Vampire's Seduction.
"Drop the glowing sword, Elf. Kneel before your new master," Movarth commanded, layering the mental compulsion with centuries of dark authority.
Movarth fully expected the fragile mortal mind to instantly snap, turning the powerful mage into a drooling, compliant thrall.
Aerion stood perfectly still, looking directly into the ancient vampire's eyes.
[Mental Resistance (MAX LEVEL) Automatically Engaged.]
[Hostile Mind Control Purged.]
Aerion didn't blink. He offered a cold, mocking smile.
"I kneel to absolutely no one," Aerion stated.
For the first time in the entire fight, Movarth hesitated. The sheer, impossible reality of a mortal completely shrugging off his master level thralling magic stunned the ancient vampire for a fraction of a second.
It was the only opening Aerion needed.
Aerion lunged forward, thrusting his left hand directly into Movarth's face. He unleashed a point blank Grand Purification spell.
The blinding holy light slammed directly into Movarth's eyes. The Master Vampire shrieked in absolute, blinding agony, his hands flying up to cover his searing face.
Aerion followed up instantly, bringing Dawnbreaker around in a brutal, two handed horizontal slash. The divine blade tore through the weakened leather of Movarth's armor, slicing deeply across his chest.
Movarth let out a roar of pure pain as the purifying, undead burning enchantment of Dawnbreaker flared violently within his chest cavity. The divine fire seared his dead flesh, forcing the Master Vampire to stagger wildly backward down the stone incline, clutching his smoking chest.
Aerion did not pursue immediately. He took a heavy, ragged breath, his transmigrator mind quickly assessing his physical status.
His Magicka was regenerating smoothly, but his physical attributes were failing. The gash on his bicep was bleeding heavily, sending sharp spikes of pain down his arm. His massive 450 point Stamina pool was rapidly draining under the sheer, desperate physical exertion required to simply survive a melee with an apex predator.
"I cannot hold him in single combat for much longer," Aerion calculated brutally. "His physical endurance is technically infinite. Mine is not. I need to pin him down."
He looked down at the cavern floor. Jenassa and Aeloria had just dispatched the last of the heavily wounded vampires in the dining hall, though both women were breathing heavily and bleeding from minor wounds.
"Jenassa! Aeloria!" Aerion roared, his voice echoing over the crackling flames. "Converge on the Master! We end him together!"
The two women immediately turned, their bloodied blades raised, charging up the stone incline toward Movarth's position.
But the noise of the apocalyptic battle had not gone unnoticed.
From the dark, winding tunnels leading to the outer chambers of the lair, the heavy, frantic sounds of rushing boots and hissing voices echoed into the dining hall. The reinforcements had arrived. Over a dozen vampires and thralls, who had been stationed in the deepest dormitories, burst into the cavern to aid their master.
Aerion saw the reinforcements pouring in. If those fresh vampires hit Jenassa and Aeloria from the rear while they were fighting Movarth, it would be a complete slaughter.
He needed to establish an absolute, impenetrable rear guard.
Aerion sheathed Dawnbreaker. He raised both of his hands, bypassing Destruction and Restoration entirely. He tapped into his deeply neglected, but systemically overpowered, Conjuration spell.
Usually, a master conjurer could summon, at most, two entities utilizing the Twin Souls power they gained when reaching the kevel. But Aerion was not bound by standard perk limitations, he possessed raw, unfiltered systemic overrides, limited only by his massive Magicka pool.
He flooded the spell with arcane energy.
"Defend the line!" Aerion commanded, his voice vibrating with raw power.
The very fabric of reality tore open in six different locations across the cavern floor, revealing the swirling, chaotic voids of Oblivion.
CRACK! BOOM! WHOOSH!
Six massive, towering Daedra materialized seamlessly from the purple rifts to form an impenetrable wall between the strike team and the arriving reinforcements.
Two Flame Atronachs, their bodies composed entirely of floating, jagged rocks and roaring fire, immediately began hurling bolts of plasma at the approaching thralls. Two Frost Atronachs, massive, hulking behemoths of solid glacial ice, slammed their heavy fists into the ground, causing the stone to violently freeze. And two Storm Atronachs, swirling vortexes of dark thunderclouds and crackling electricity, floated menacingly in the center, unleashing chain lightning into the tunnels.
The arriving vampires stopped dead in their tracks.
They looked at the apocalyptic devastation of the dining hall. They looked at the six terrifying Daedric entities establishing a wall of elemental death. And then they looked up at the stone incline, where their legendary, invincible master was bleeding, burning, and actively backing away from a towering High Elf.
The sight completely shattered their morale.
Several of the newer vampires, recognizing that the coven was entirely lost, did not charge. They turned on their heels, grabbing their personal thralls, and violently fled back into the tunnels, desperately hoping to find a secondary exit to escape the slaughter.
Aerion didn't care about the fleeing cowards. Housecarl Gorm and fifteen silver armed guards were waiting in the fog outside. The perimeter would hold.
Aerion drew Dawnbreaker once more, turning his absolute, undivided attention back to Movarth Piquine.
Jenassa and Aeloria had reached the Master Vampire, initiating a flawless, synchronized pincer attack.
Movarth, despite his burns and the blinding pain in his eyes, fought like a cornered demon. He swung the Dwarven sword with terrifying power, forcing Aeloria to constantly block with her silver plate, the impacts jarring her bones. Jenassa utilized her speed, attempting to slip behind his guard, but Movarth's ancient instincts allowed him to parry her Frost Steel sword without even looking.
"Hold him!" Aerion shouted, stepping into the fray. The combat shifted into a brutal, highly coordinated three on one execution.
Aerion abandoned defensive parrying. He utilized his left hand to constantly spam blinding flashes of Grand Purification directly into Movarth's face, completely stripping the vampire of his vision and suppressing his regenerative abilities with the holy light.
When Movarth swung wildly at the light, Aeloria stepped inside his guard. She drove the Glass Sword deeply into his left thigh, the razor sharp malachite severing the muscle and forcing the Master Vampire to drop to one knee.
"Now!" Aeloria yelled, pulling her blade free.
Jenassa struck from the right. The Dark Elf assassin drove her iron dagger deeply into the weak point of Movarth's royal armor, burying the blade to the hilt directly beneath his armpit, puncturing his lung.
Movarth let out a gurgling, bloody roar, dropping his Dwarven sword. He raised his hands, desperately trying to summon a final blast of dark magic to push them away.
Aerion stepped forward, raising Dawnbreaker high above his head in a two handed grip.
"Your reign ends in the light," Aerion decreed coldly.
He brought the glowing, divine artifact down with every ounce of physical strength remaining in his towering frame.
The blade cleaved cleanly through the collar of Movarth's royal armor, sinking deeply into the base of his neck and severing his spine.
The Master Vampire froze. The glowing, purifying energy of Dawnbreaker flooded directly into his undead veins.
For a single, silent second, Movarth's crimson eyes widened in absolute, helpless terror as the divine fire consumed him from the inside out.
Then, the ancient vampire violently detonated.
A blinding, concussive wave of golden ash exploded outward, washing over Aerion, Jenassa, and Aeloria. The heavy, dark mahogany armor collapsed empty onto the stone floor, completely devoid of the monster that had worn it for centuries.
Movarth Piquine was dead.
Aerion stood amidst the falling golden ash, his chest heaving, his injured arm throbbing with pain. He looked down at the empty armor, and then out across the cavern.
His six Daedra had systematically butchered the remaining loyalists, and the surviving cowards had fled into the waiting crossbows of the Morthal guard. The blood farm was destroyed. The coven was eradicated. Morthal was safe. Aerion leaned heavily on Dawnbreaker, allowing a genuine, utterly exhausted smile to touch his lips. The war was won.
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[Main Panel]
Name: Aerion
Race: High Elf (Altmer)
Health: 440/440 Stamina: 450/450 Magicka: 620/620
Level: 111
Skills: Animal Affinity (MAX LEVEL), Fast Skill Levelling (MAX LEVEL), Fast Magic Mastery (MAX LEVEL), Instant Shout (MAX LEVEL), Destruction (Fire(+2)/Lightning(+1)/Frost) (Level 85/41/MAX), Restoration (Healing/Purify(+1)) (Level 91/71), Alteration (Level 35), Alteration (Level 20), Illusion (Level 50), Conjuration (Necromancy/Summoning(+1)) (Level 37/10), Persuasion(+1) (Level 60), Smithing (Level 22), Sneak (Level 48), One Handed(+1) (14 Level), Two Handed (Level 81), Lockpicking (Level 35), Archery (Level 72), Enchanting (Level 66), Light Armor (Level 53), Block (Level 70), & Pickpocket (Level 8)
Shouts: Fus (Force), Tiid (Time), Krii (Kill), Feim (Fade), & Su (Air)
[Inventory Panel]
1x Small Sack, Poacher's Axe, Mammoth Tusk, the Golden Claw, Calm Spellbook, Arvel's Journal, Inkwell & Quill, Thief Book, Scroll Of Summoning (Wolf), Scroll Of Healing, Weak Potion of Paralysis, Dragonstone, Golden Staff of Flames, Parchment Rolls Of Mammoths Farm And Loan, Ebony Claw, Orcish Dagger, Jagged Crown, The Mirror, Ring of Pure Mixtures, Grand Soul Gem (Filled), Reanimate Corpse Tome, Staff of Lightning, Deed to Tundra Homestead, Garnet, Sapphire, Ruby, Dawnbreaker, Traveling Backpack (Supplies), & Potion of Minor Magicka
2x Potion Of Ultimate Magicka, Common Soul Gem (Empty), Black Soul Gem (Empty), & Elven Sword
3x Glowing Mushrooms, Potions of Minor Stamina, & Common Soul Gem (Filled)
4x Spider Eggs & Lesser Soul Gem (Filled)
5x Lesser Soul Gem (Filled)
8x Iron Arrows, Ancient Nord Arrows, & Black Soul Gems (Filled)
9x Potions Of Minor Healing
Weight: 68.62 KG / 525 KG
Septims: 77,093d