In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
[attr="class","shadowsHead"]Where did they come from? [Int]
After the attacks stopped for some time reports came of a bigger attack from similar creatures, seems they came further out of wherever they are hiding. The knights have been asked to help stop the creatures before the city is overwhelmed.
[attr="class","shadowsSub"]Details
Maximum Number of Players: 4
[break]Minimum Word Count: 2,000
[break]Location: Sosshi
[break]Special Requirements: Players must kill minotaurs.
[break]Combat Style: More cooperative than their younger counterparts, they also are more trained and can rival any decent fighter. Wields an axe and small round shield.
[break]Additional Information: Power - 60 Durability - 60 Sensory - 10 Stamina - 20 Control - 0
After digging the graves for the two bull men, Griswold had gone about doing one of the things he had been trained in for far longer than he had ever gotten to train his magic: tracking. As an elf living in the fringe within an enclave that was primarily living a vegetarian lifestyle due to the ability to quickly grow fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries and mushrooms, the only time they got to eat meat was when the enclave was under threat of a mana beast they could not get to go away. For that purpose, a select group of them were trained to track, hunt down and dispatch that threat before it could do any real damage and actually kill someone. In that sense, one could say that Griswold had actually learned how to track by chasing monsters, so tracking these bull men was really no different, save for a few unique factors that were somewhat new to him.
With these creatures, it was not so much about tracking a mana beast as it was also about tracking a sentient creature. Sure, he had also utilized his tracking skills to hunt down humans and the like, what with him having been a mercenary for good amount of time prior to becoming a magic knight for the black bull squad, but it was still different. Something about dealing with two altogether different worlds at once made it harder, though that did not keep him from trying his best. With the boy still in tow, part of him wondered why he wanted to know so badly about the victim of the attacks and the things he had said. As far as Griswold was aware, the boy wasn’t a magic knight or anything along those lines, so it wasn’t like it was his job. Knowing better than to act nosy for the sake of it, he figured that while they were on this journey, the least he could do was answer truthfully.
“So, now that we’re out here, I can’t help but wonder. What drove you to find answers from the victim of these attacks back in town? You don’t look like much of a magic knight to me, so what could be so important that it led you to venture out in search of monsters with a complete stranger?”
In a world such as this one, Griswold imagined these were all rather valid questions, as there were a lot of dangerous people out there. People that were out to trick you, hurt you or simply kill you because they could or because they wanted to take your belongings for themselves. During his travels, he had come across quite a few of these people, but as he grew stronger and more known around these parts of the country, the amount of evil men that would approach him had decreased significantly. In a way, he was rather glad that it had, but on the other hand, it meant that these same people would now target other people that might not be quite so capable of taking care of themselves as he could. In time however, the elven mage imagined he would run into them soon enough, just so he could either have them sent to Balgon prison for a very long time, or if they could not be persuaded to put their weapons down and surrender, there was still the option to dig crude graves for them too.
“Oh, and another thing. What kind of magic was it that you used earlier? It seemed like bone magic, yet it appeared more like ivory.”
Kōji sat on the dirt pathway that the two of them had traveled on up until they met the big bull men that tried to ambush them, looking at the two now stains of dried blood around him. He checked on the tightness of his bandage subconsciously, but his mind was much further away at the moment. Griswold had gone off to do something, although he hadn’t told Kōji exactly what he was doing, he could hear the unmistakable sound of digging. Alongside the fact that the warrior had already dragged the bodies off, putting two and two together was pretty simple. It was probably the right thing to do anyway, there’s no telling just how “alive” they really were in any sense, and this was supposedly a universal way to pay respects.
Had they done the right thing? Was there even a “right” option for them to have taken? If Kōji hadn’t followed Griswold out here he very well could’ve gotten himself killed and added to the unceremonious pile of defeated travelers. Perhaps being here altogether wasn’t the right call. He felt like he was doing the right thing, but he very easily could just be in the way. He heard Griswold approaching the road again, seemingly done taking care of that delicate task. It was a good thing that he arrived when he did, the question prompted Kōji to think about something a lot less dour.
Kōji had a sort of half-smile thinking about his response, but his eyes were focused on the road. “I grew up out here, in the wilderness for most of my life. Thankfully, I never had to worry about being alone. I was small enough to carry back then, well I guess I still am, but even swaddled up I was taken care of. They were all my brothers, and every last one of them was a complete stranger. None of us are related by blood, but I know their faces and their names, and the bonds that we share can’t be described by anything other than family. We always passed through towns on the roads, doing whatever it took to survive. Sometimes that meant they had to do some odd jobs or petty thievery, but it didn’t take a second thought for them to stick their necks out for each other. And when I was finally getting old enough to understand why they were doing this, it came to me as very strange when I observed the people in those towns turn the other way for people in need. They were always looking out for themselves. Laric was traveling, who knows where his family is right now, and strangers can’t even get to him in that room. I suppose the outlier here is us. But if we hadn’t been here, who would, you know?”
He finally stood up now, that bit of dialogue having answered a few of his own questions and reaffirmed his resolve, he didn’t look as pitiful as he did a moment ago.
Kōji withdrew his grimoire and flipped it open. Only the first couple of pages had anything actually written on them. “Oh, that. I suppose you could say it’s both. My magic is… teeth. Not many people can accept that, so I try to do minimal things like this.” he explained, indicating to a page in his grimoire with detailed diagrams of what appeared to be a boar or boar-like creature and the structure of its teeth and tusks, and on the opposite page were various designs of what appeared to be accessories made out of the teeth such as necklaces. “This is one of the few socially acceptable ways for me to use it. It’s a little difficult to keep public opinion in mind while making these.”
[attr=class,sojuCONT]
[attr=class,soju1]WORDS 0631
☘
[attr=class,soju1]TOTAL 0631
[attr=class,soju2]POW 0008
[attr=class,soju2]DUR 0020
[attr=class,soju2]STM 0010
[attr=class,soju2]SEN 0005
[attr=class,soju2]CON 0014
[attr=class,soju3]casting limit 0001
[attr=class,soju3]mana pool 0035
[attr=class,soju4]spd 5M/S
[attr=class,soju4]str 1/2jr
[attr=class,soju4]msk snr
[attr=class,soju4]hlt gnd+int
[attr=class,soju5]mana regen ☘ IC 05 | 10 OOC
[attr=class,sojuMAGIC]MAGIC blurbs go here, good luck.
“Well ain’t that a load of crap. People have opinions on everything, so much so that they believe their thoughts on an issue actually matters for shit, when it really doesn’t. Sure, your magic might seem somewhat menacing, but in the end, it is still magic, not actual teeth you sprout out of the ground like saplings or weeds.”
Even though he himself was very opinionated himself, Griswold was used to keeping those opinions to himself most of the time. When people went about flapping their gums and spouting filth, that usually just annoyed him, which was why he did not want to be the one who joined in on the same kind of antics. Instead, he only gave his opinion when it was either asked for, or when he felt like it was required, in which case this felt like the latter. Not being a fan of people being judgmental over stuff someone had no control over, like how something might appear, he was the kind of person that believed anything that might look bad might be used for good, and vice versa. After all, he had pretty much seen how a type of magic such as light, which was more or less what the common citizen might consider the epitome of “goodness” being used by someone who was not good at all. And at the same time, he had seen the dark element be used for good, even if it might seem scary to some.
“Take for instance my magic. Sure, it might look fun from a distance, which is arguably why the people like to see it, and why they got used to me using it. But use it close to someone, and it just might melt their face due to the heat and radiation. So I can tell you this much, if that happened even once, no one would like my magic either.”
Not bringing up how some people went about using their stuff, such as the light and dark users, he pulled it onto himself so he could speak from experience. Solar was the kind of magic that was often fun to look at because it created things that appeared like stars, suns, moons, meaning it could be beautiful to observe, as well as awe inspiring, and straight up frightening. He had seen time and again the faces of those who were on the receiving end of taking a sun to the face, and they did not see the beauty in the spell itself, they saw merely the cosmic flames that were about to be their undoing. For them, he imagined there wasn’t a whole lot of fun in witnessing his spells, though those he was protecting with them seemed to enjoy them a lot. This just went on to prove that everything this world was to be determined by the eye of the beholder, meaning something one person considered as ugly might be pretty in the eyes of the next person.
“At the end of the day, the idiot masses, these people the magic knights are tasked with saving, they care about how that magic is used. If you used that magic to bite some random civilian in half? They’ll fear it and you. If you use it to create one of those walls to protect someone from getting killed or keep a building from collapsing, they’ll love you for it. People are fickle like that.”
It was one of many reasons why Griswold did not care much for people in general, even though many a commoner and peasant had managed to win him over. That said, he had a rather bad experience with mobs, as well as with some nobles, which was why those were the kinds of situations and people he’d actively avoid if he could help it. Figuring the things he said might either aid the boy or work against him, depending on how he chose to hear it and take it to heart, it really wasn’t in Griswold’s hands at this point. All he could do was try and direct what he was feeling into a certain direction, after which it was all up to the boy himself to choose what that direction would be. For now though, the only actual direction that mattered was the one that took them forward, towards where the other beasts should be.
Griswold was very kind, trying to make him think less about the appearance of his spells and all, he smiled warmly at him. Koji already knew deep down that the people who were judging him were wrong for doing so, but that didn’t make him feel better at the moment, only coloring his judgment of them. He hadn’t been around for very long just being a teenager, but from what his bigger brothers told him, magic had been around for as long as most people could remember. People probably had a very difficult time separating the grimoire from the person, in fact, they probably romanticized the idea that each one was its mage’s perfect match. Perhaps they were right in some way, but that didn’t mean he had to accept it.
“Thanks, I don’t open up to many people about that, but you seem like you know what you’re talking about. Frankly, most of the spells I currently have are like that wall, something that I created in response to danger. I don’t resent them, and perhaps the few times that I need to actually use them makes it easier to hide. I had this sinking feeling that when push comes to shove, that won’t be enough, and those creatures demonstrated that pretty well…” He said, gesturing with his head towards the graves the warrior had dug for them. “But I’m not worried… When the going gets tough, you just gotta get tougher. Besides, I have an ace up my sleeve. And you, of course.” He joked, still thinking about how he handled the previous encounter.
Doing some light stretches to limber up a bit, he spoke to Griswold without looking at him. “So now… we go back and tell them what happened, right? You think that was the last of them out here?”
[attr=class,sojuCONT]
[attr=class,soju1]WORDS 0304
☘
[attr=class,soju1]TOTAL 0935
[attr=class,soju2]POW 0008
[attr=class,soju2]DUR 0020
[attr=class,soju2]STM 0010
[attr=class,soju2]SEN 0005
[attr=class,soju2]CON 0014
[attr=class,soju3]casting limit 0001
[attr=class,soju3]mana pool 0035
[attr=class,soju4]spd 5M/S
[attr=class,soju4]str 1/2jr
[attr=class,soju4]msk snr
[attr=class,soju4]hlt gnd+int
[attr=class,soju5]mana regen ☘ IC 05 | 10 OOC
[attr=class,sojuMAGIC]MAGIC blurbs go here, good luck.
“Yeah, though we don’t need to be traveling very far. I imagine these creatures, whatever they are, have pretty sensitive hearing or smell, because it seems they are already on the way here. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it…”
Jumping to the side to evade an axe being brought down right on top of him from behind, Griswold had allowed both the boy and the approaching bull man to believe that he had no idea what was coming. While it would likely give the boy a good scare, it was the only way for him to let the minotaur come close enough to make the mistake that would end up costing it its life. As he dodged the attack and spun around to face it, Griswold was temporarily caught off guard by the tears in the eyes of his attacker. Looking over its shoulder to see several others that had seen the grave and were visible hurt by it, it took him a moment to regain his composure and continue his counter offensive. Placing his hand on the bull’s chest, he released a sphere of magic that had enough force behind it to send the beast flying backward. While the sphere would hurt immensely, the elven mage did not want to cause these creatures to feel the pain of slowly dying.
So as soon as the sphere and the bull were close enough to the others, the sphere erupted, causing a small tower of flame to move onward and upward. Creating flames so intense that the bulls were incinerated in mere moments, neither their axes nor their shields would be able to protect them from such an onslaught. And while it might have seemed cruel to kill them in such a manner, the chances of them not having felt any real pain as they passed out of existence due to the intensity of the spell more than likely made it that much more peaceful than going out at the end of a blade. Once the eruption ended, nothing was left but a large black spot on the cobblestone path, which was something he imagined the village would see to in time. With the ashes scattering to the wind, if there were such a thing as a spirit, he figured it would now at least be free from the suffering. Crying shame that he didn’t.
“…Whether it is their hearing or their sense of smell, they managed to pick up on it and make their way over here in the time it took me to dig a grave and have a bit of a conversation. That also makes it fairly likely that their lair is somewhere nearby too, which would explain the attacks around this particular area, though it does not account for the timing at all. What made them attack here at this particular point in time..”
Speaking as if nothing had just happened between one sentence and the next, he completely chose to ignore the fact that these beasts showed some pretty sincere emotion when they found out the younger bull men had been slain. Whether it had brought them any comfort to know that they had been properly buried was not something Griswold could sense, but if he was to make an educated guess, he did not think they cared about that a whole lot. After all, at the end of the day, their siblings or cousins or friends or whatever they were, they were dead and put into the ground. There was no coming back from that kind of thing, and if Griswold were to be a betting man, they would never meet again, not even in the afterlife as that was not the kind of thing he believed in. To him, when something died, it was dead, and that was all there was to it.
“Well, for what it is worth, I don’t think we’ll be finding the answers here. And since we don’t need to worry about burying these guys, we’ll be going back to town to collect our money.”
POWER 175 DURABILITY 3 SENSORY 72 STAMINA 43 CONTROL 145 MANA 200 (-30 + 35 = no mana lost)
Name of Spell: Variable Star: Parallax Elemental Type: Solar Rank & Spell Type: Senior | Attack Creation & Sensory Range & Speed: 100 meters (40 m AoE) | 50 m/s Mana Cost: 30 mp | 15 mp sustain Stats Effected: +9 Power, Blind Applicable Perks: Overpowered, Quick Shot, Skilled Sniper & Battle Knight (& Area of Triumph) Description: A spell that releases a fast moving ball of solar mana at a target determined upon the moment of creation. Utilizing "homing" rules in order to chase down the target until the projectile is destroyed or the caster runs out of mana, it also uses "ammo" rules to increase the amount of projectiles fired by 1 for every 75 Control the caster has. Initialized by first making himself glow before firing them, in addition, these projectiles flare up from time to time, allowing them to blind those looking at it for one whole post. These "stars" can flare up to blind someone once every two posts in which they're active, making them rather tricky to deal with. Upon hitting a target, they explode to cover a certain radius, knocking targets back 8 meters + 5 meters for every 10 Power the caster possesses. During the day, the spell takes on an orange hue, taking on a silver blue hue after dark.
Koji hardly got a word in edgewise before the ax buried itself in the ground, spraying dirt into the air. He narrowly avoided becoming blinded as he raised his arms to defend himself. The old man had Koji completely distracted with the conversation, otherwise, he might’ve picked up on their arrival too, these smelled worse than the last. One hand reached out to his grimoire and pulled it free, casting the only offensive-adjacent spell he knew onto himself as fast as he could. He flipped it open to the page he had shown Griswold earlier and called out the incantation. “Boar!” Teeth formed in the air around him like points of light, before rapidly spinning into place and affixing themselves around his neck and fusing into a solid necklace. The difference in power this made for him wasn’t spectacular, but he’d need every ounce of strength he could muster to take on-
In the rush to defend himself from the attacker, Koji had actually reached out a fist in an attempt to punch the beast square in its chest but only felt air. Griswold had quite literally beaten him to the punch, an orb of brilliant orange light and force blasted it back beyond a tree and into the foliage further off the road until they collided with something else, and the attack exploded into something different altogether. Koji had never witnessed such explosive force executed by anyone’s magic and he found that it was hard to tear his eyes away. As the last of the light faded from the chaos, he took a cautious step forward yet fell to the ground, unable to will his body to move any further. A new feeling swelled within him, he couldn’t describe it with words, but he felt that Griswold needed to answer for this. As his eyes fell upon him though, he could tell without words and without seeing his face that he didn’t feel at home with what had occurred either.
Who in the world had he just partnered up with? The scope of his worldview slowly expanded. Koji had until this point never met someone with such a terrifying grasp of their own power. Was that even an approachable topic, could he just ask Griswold who he was out in plain daylight? Did he have secrets that were better left unheard? Unfortunately due to the incredible depth of the boy’s ignorance, the risks of asking such a question far outweighed the potential benefit.
[attr=class,sojuCONT]
[attr=class,soju1]WORDS 0416
☘
[attr=class,soju1]TOTAL 1351
[attr=class,soju2]POW 0008
[attr=class,soju2]DUR 0020
[attr=class,soju2]STM 0010
[attr=class,soju2]SEN 0005
[attr=class,soju2]CON 0014
[attr=class,soju3]casting limit 0002
[attr=class,soju3]mana pool 0025
[attr=class,soju4]spd 5M/S
[attr=class,soju4]str 1/2jr
[attr=class,soju4]msk snr
[attr=class,soju4]hlt gnd+int
[attr=class,soju5]mana regen ☘ IC 05 | 10 OOC
[attr=class,sojuMAGIC]Charm of the Boar +4 Pow (self) | -10 Mana
The response he was getting from the boy, or rather the lack of one was not exactly surprising, as he had done this very same song and dance before several times already. Hell, he had been on the other end of this whole thing almost a year ago, when he was still struggling to even use his own magic, and was not exactly sure as to what his place in this world of magic and mages was. While people were usually more talkative after first seeing some of what he could do with his magic, the fact that every human was in some way different from the one standing next to it was clear as day. So when the kid didn’t seem to respond to him in words, he just peered over his shoulder to see what was going on with him. And from the looks of it, it seemed clear that the boy was struggling with this whole thing, though he could not tell whether it was due to the difference in power between them or due to the deaths taking place all around them today.
“Look, for what it is worth, I understand any discomforts you might be experiencing. Believe it or not, but I take no pleasure in killing monsters, especially those that seem like they have emotions… the ability rationalize… things that make things, I dunno, human I guess. So when something makes a choice to hurt and to kill, they bring the possibility of being hurt or killed upon themselves by proxy.”
When he was still a junior knight himself, he had witnessed a rogue mage using her magic to destroy a shop in the middle of town and kill the owner, only to dance through the streets while still holding on to the corpse in some sort of macabre dance. Once she dropped the corpse and caught wind of him, she had attacked him using a mixture of fire and black power magic, while he did his best with what little solar magic he possessed to both fight back in an attempt to not kill her. Receiving several injuries across his arms and shoulders, but inevitably working her into a position from which he believed he might win, it was Lydia, who was the vice captain of the Crimson Lions at the time that rushed in and landed the killing blow. Doing so by more or less exploding the violent woman all over the streets, as well as Griswold, it was at that point that he had seen some of the worst this line of work had to offer.
“And when it comes down to it, I prefer to be the one to strike the killing blow so no one else will have to dirty their hands and stain their mind with the thought of being a killer. That, and when I do it, at least I know it’ll happen quick and mostly painless.”
Believing the boy would more than likely have learned the things Griswold hoped he would have learned from tagging along with him, just like the case had been with the boy that had tagged along to witness everything that went down at the coves of Hapshass, it was likely going to be best for him to just take it easy for a while. While these bull men were not exactly human, he could very well imagine that this might have had some impact on the kid, just like seeing several people die right in front of him, and all over him, had left quite the impression on him too. And once it had all gone down, all he had really wanted to do himself was take a long hot shower and then go straight to bed for a week. And funnily enough, that was more or less exactly what he had done, venturing out only once he had given all of the things he had seen a spot in the back of his mind.
“Once we get back to town, you should do yourself a favor and find some place to take a nap, let the things you’ve seen settle in for a bit. If there does turn out to be anything else regarding this issue, I’ll handle it on my own.”
Koji dug his fingers into the ground just so that he could grip something and squeeze it in hopes of distracting himself from the thoughts in his head. It wasn’t of much help, but hearing Griswold affirm the things he already suspected was welcome. He didn’t want to think poorly of the man, they took on this task together in order to help people, right? He couldn’t be that bad, even if he had to do some bad things. He didn’t have a meaningful response to the things that Griswold brought up, but he listened intently. A single tear ran down his face as he gained the strength to get to his feet once more.
“It took a long time for me to get used to hunting, but… they aren’t animals.” He looked at his hands, thinking of what his magic was capable of, of what he as a person was capable of. He could maybe stand in their way if only to slow them down. He couldn’t stop them on his own, and he certainly couldn’t make their end painless. Even so, coming out here was his own idea, few other people would even venture to accomplish this on their own. Griswold was here, but what if there was one that even he couldn’t defeat? That didn’t leave much room for Koji to be of assistance, but… no he had to stop thinking so negatively, every thought he had was just spiraling faster.
Koji looked at Griswold with a pained expression. “You’ve had to kill people?... Never mind, don’t tell me about that.” he sighed, feeling a little exasperated. All this talk of death and well, seeing it was a bit much. He was probably right, however, some rest might be helpful. He had his doubts about being able to sleep through this problem, but it would be better than staying out here. The sun was already hanging a little lower in the sky, it was hard to tell just how much time was left before the dark would fall upon them. He turned towards the direction they came from and started slowly ahead. Griswold had already made the determination of handling the rest of this on his own, and while Koji knew that was the correct decision, he felt conflicted about abandoning this.
The walk back was going to be very long, something he recalled about halfway back to the town they came from, and the weight of Koji’s thoughts were weighing him down. “Griswold. Who are you? Why are you so…” He wanted to say something akin to “powerful” but in light of the recent events that seemed inappropriate. “You’re not a normal person… I think. That… isn’t normal, right?” His questions were not very focused, but it was clear he didn’t actually have a clue about the magical hierarchy of the world.
As they re-entered the town, he spotted the old man merchant he spoke with before who was watching him with curiosity. He didn’t have the emotional capacity to go and speak with him right now, so he merely waved to him as they passed, hoping that that minimal interaction would suffice for now. The more his mind word on these unsolvable conundrums about life and death the more evident it was on his face just how tired this little excursion had made him. Koji had made a habit out of never actually sleeping within the confines of any walls for the past few years. Money was hard to come by and he was just as comfortable outdoors. However, he was too distracted by other thoughts to realize that he was out of place. Instead of his normal routine of finding a nice place outdoors, like the boughs of a particularly nice tree, he aimlessly followed behind Griswold. Ultimately, the decision of where he would put his head down tonight was in his hands. Not a terrible person to leave in charge in either case.
He couldn’t exactly blame the boy for thinking the things he did, for rather obvious reasons. The world was a really shitty place to be in, that much he had known for quite some time now. It was a reality he had been shown when he was about six or seven years old, which was exactly why the community he lived with wanted nothing to do with humans. Generally speaking, they made no attempt at understanding the things they fought, as the only goal was to kill. Having lived among humans for as long as he did now, he better understood his elven community, as well as the humans themselves. When one had taken over so much of the world for themselves and shoved everything else into a corner, the chances of encountering hostile creatures was fairly big. But that much was more a problem caused by humans than by monsters, which was why he preferred to be careful.
At the end of the day, humans could be far more monstrous than the actual monsters, which they showed fairly often. It was also for this reason that something about these beings just no appearing for the first time, seemingly coming out of nowhere in a place where they had never dwelled before seemed suspicious to him. Still, these beasts had attacked and killed people without provocation, and since they were more clever than just your random wild animal, they needed to be handled in the same manner before they would kill again. So as they wandered back to town, Griswold made it known that the threat had been handled for the time being, but that there might yet be more to this that he could not foresee at this point. Claiming the money that he was owed for this job, he turned in at the local tavern so the boy could get some sleep. While he could have just gone to the black bulls base, he didn’t figure he’d be sleeping a whole lot anyway.
There was a lot that was still unclear to him, things that did not add up regardless of whether the creatures were sentient or not. It was absolutely something to drive himself crazy about for a few hours, which hopefully bring some new insights into the matter.
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Last Edit: Sept 19, 2021 15:14:22 GMT -5 by Griswold
