Nemobrosus

Redemption Arc 66

Lucian blinked open his eyes. Water rushed around his body, passing by it as if he were a stepping stone in a stream. He had grown used to a world of vivid colors, but now the sky that he saw lacked color at all.

It’s black and white. That’s how you know we’re in the past. Color didn’t exist yet. It was invented later.

Lucian sat up, trying not to let his good mood ...

Redemption Arc 65

Lucian could still remember quite well the first time that he realized the player could freely trek through the Hells. The first trek had been an experience like nothing else. Considering the constant fog of war around the whole map, exploring the Hells at all felt like a glitch, like something forbidden. The darkness provided an eerie atmosphere—it was different than a cave, because caves ha...

Redemption Arc 64

Belcourt walked through the mountain passes leading to their stronghold in Riverra with a slight limp. He was gritting his teeth, and his breathing was heavy. From his belt hung a black leg, frozen solid. He held one hand to his own leg where healing magic activated constantly to mend a wound. He pulled back his pant leg to look at the wound on his shin. Dark magic tried to eat away at his fles...

Redemption Arc 63

Vivari the Veiled. She was the final boss of the first act, but despite that, she was a fair bit stronger than many of the bosses that came after her. Stat-wise, she easily dwarfed Metterand. The player fought her alongside some other temporary units—people like Christoph, Lorenna. She was indirectly responsible for Christoph’s death, too. So… he supposed her death was one problem out of ...

Redemption Arc 62

Lucian tentatively walked into the top floor of the spire in the Hells, holding his Inquisitor’s Spetum aloft so that it made no noise. Aurelia had advanced ahead, and watched him silently in her divine beast form, her jet-black tails waving majestically. Her divine beast form was quite impressive every time he saw it. Shame she was the way she was.

After looking around to be sure that ...

Redemption Arc 61

Fear came from the unknown, from a lack of understanding. So people said, anyway—Lucian had never bothered to do a deep dive into the subject. Either way, as Lucian strode forward into the Hells, it felt particularly apt. There was no area that he knew better than the Hells. There was no area that he was better equipped to navigate. He was bringing a holy build into an area comprised solely o...

Redemption Arc 60

Though the Student Ambassadors of the Collegium were moved about in a great cart with no roof, the chancellors of the Concord sat in a well-managed carriage, following just behind them. The four sat there somewhat silently.

“Tell me, Cyril…” Sibylle Vantz, chancellor for her kingdom, spoke up. “We’ve been patient because you’re still settling in, but we’d like to know the em...

Redemption Arc 59

These days, Lucian had elected to forget about using the classes for anything but a vector to learn useful skills and spells. All of his stat gains were coming from purified essence and blessings of the gods, it seemed. The prize that he was gunning for with the Jeweled Eye would be quite the game-changer, but he couldn’t count on getting it guaranteed. Lucian diversified his spell list a bit...

Redemption Arc 58

Lucian stood with Miriam in Charlton Lowenthal’s lab, peering over her shoulder as she worked. She held the Jeweled Eye underneath a looking glass of some kind—not quite a microscope, but close. She twisted it about in her fingers. Lucien admired how still she could keep her hand—she was like a surgeon.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that this eyeball was still attached...

Redemption Arc 57

“Has Duke Cyril come to talk to you about removing Lucian as auxiliary to the Student Ambassadors?” Denzel asked Dean Mortimer.

The old man looked unsettled. Denzel couldn’t exactly blame him. He was being crushed between four great powers, each with internal factions jostling him every which way. Dean Mortimer was a man for the battlefield, not for an administrative position. Frank...

Redemption Arc 56

“Do you understand and intend to comply with the procedures laid out in your trial, Lucian Villamar?”

Lucian stood before a judge in a room in the Concord he’d never thought he’d enter. Maybe that was a bit foolish on his part. After all, no matter how hard he tried to run from it, the past of the body that he was inhabiting wouldn’t simply go away. At some point, he would have ...

Redemption Arc 55

Lucian elected to get out of the carriage a little while before Denzel so they weren’t seen together. It was a mutually agreed upon arrangement. The both of them understood fully well now that each and every one of their actions would be scrutinized. He entered the city by gondola, welcoming the familiar feel of the turbulent ocean underneath. Once he was back in the city, he tipped the gondo...

Redemption Arc 54

Lucian parted the flaps that led into a tent with a great deal of clearance. Hazy smoke drifted in and around this ostentatiously decorated place. It looked a little bit like a circus, though there were no attractions to look at save the interesting people manning it. Aurelia followed just behind him.

“Welcome, dear customer! Welcome to Reginald’s Traveling Emporium.” A rather ridic...

Redemption Arc 53

Duke Clemens Metterand was possessed by a demon—a demon slain at Heavenwatch Monastery.

That news reverberated throughout the entire continent like wildfire in a dry summer. The attack on the Concord, the incident in the confluence—both of these were major events, but none had quite the impact of the reveal that one of the most prominent nobles in the Empire of Riverra and the chancel...

Redemption Arc 52

For a fairly long while now, Lucian had been contemplating people that might suffice as a powerful patron. After the death of his brother-in-law, Duke Metterand, that was doubly important. A great many people wished Lucian harm, and Metterand’s people shielded Lucian from so much as seeing that.

“Abbess Dorothea,” Lucian greeted, dipping his head in respect. Maybe that was a bit of ...

Redemption Arc 51

I edited chapters 46, 49, and 50 on 11/17. If you read those chapters after that date, read on. If not, check the changelog at the bottom to be sure you didn't miss anything.

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Lucian stood before an incredibly large crowd of the monastics of Heavenwatch Monastery. All of them looked beyond unsettled. He couldn’t exactly blame them. In one fell swoop a demon had invaded their ho...

Redemption Arc 50 (2)

Edited 11/17

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Lucian and his of yet unnamed benefactor stormed out of the mausoleum moving at a high speed. He clung to their back tightly. He hoped that he wasn’t causing discomfort by doing so, but there wasn’t much else he could do. The person that he’d picked out seemed highly competent. Fortunately, they hadn’t been stopped just yet. Their journey out had provided Lu...

Redemption Arc 49 (2)

Edited 11/17

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Now that Lucian had spent his trump card making sure that Duke Clemens Metterand—all-around bastard, warmonger, and abusive brother-in-law—got his just desserts, there was really only one path to dealing with Aurelia that he could see. He needed to participate in the fight against the devil standing in front of him. When the Inquisitor’s Mark absorbed its demo...

Redemption Arc 48

As Lucian watched Metterand storm over, cutting across the waterlogged hallway, his mind hadn’t yet decided on a solution. He had a few potential candidates, each with problems. It was generally bad to be wavering like he was. Sometimes, people get too caught up in their own heads. They can’t just pick a plan and follow it, so the storm hits them head-on. That was Lucian’s problem, a lot ...

Redemption Arc 47

“Lucian!” Metterand shouted, his voice echoing into the mausoleum. “Lucian!”

Lucian lightly tapped his forehead against the wall. “Stupid dog… stupid, stupid dog…”

Right now, his position couldn’t be called good. Matter of fact, he’d call it absolutely awful. He hadn’t been expecting the mausoleum to be the difficult part of this. He felt that he’d be past th...