A Fantasy Mage in a Cthulhu World

Chapter 18: Controlled by a God

"Yolanda! I'm Lettie's detective! I'm not your enemy, I've come to negotiate!" Jonathan shouted at her from across the magic circle.

Yolanda didn't seem to hear him. She held a bizarre posture, brandishing a ritual dagger, her body twitching uncontrollably. Jonathan was about to call out again. If her only goal was to sacrifice Mister, then there was no conflict between them. Let her do it. As long as she didn't harm anyone else, he wasn't going to risk his life to save a wife-beater.

But as he opened his mouth, before any sound could come out, a piece of formless knowledge pierced his brain.

Ritual of Favor: Complete the ritual to gain the favor of a Great Old One. The Great Old One is fickle; the requirements of Its ritual may change at any time.

Ritual requirements for the human Yolanda Bennett: Gather sufficient pain, remorse, anger, madness, and sorrow from Mister Bennett, then sacrifice him with your own hands. Upon completion, you will be favored, becoming a true One of a Million Favored. Then, continue to please your god. If your ritual is interrupted, you will lose the chance to be favored and will lose half your life and all your magic.

Ritual requirements for One of a Million Favored (???): To please your god, sacrifice all of humanity.

"Your god doesn't love you at all," Jonathan said, looking at the still-twitching Yolanda with pity. At the site of a ritual meant to please a god, who would be the one to give me the detailed instructions? Who would be the one to point out the irreconcilable conflict between me and Yolanda? Who would reveal her weakness?

Only the god. The god Yolanda was trying to please.

Jonathan finally understood the Codex's description: One of a Million Favored, Yolanda Bennett (Unfavored). "Unfavored" meant not only that she hadn't completed the ritual, but that her god had never intended to grant her its favor in the first place.

He gripped his cane and cautiously approached her. Even when he was right in front of her, the cane nearly touching her face, the crazed Yolanda did not break from her ritual.

If the ritual is interrupted, she'll be severely weakened. That means my first attack is almost a guaranteed hit. Jonathan took one last look at her, cast Glass Shield on himself, and then raised his cane high. "Farewell, Yolanda!" he roared, bringing the cane down hard on her neck.

With a sharp c***k, her wooden neck twisted at a horrifying angle, but it held, her head still attached.

From her featureless wooden face came a silent, piercing scream that shot straight into Jonathan's brain, making him clutch his head and stagger back. Then, with shocking speed, Yolanda lunged forward, her wooden limbs a blur, the ritual dagger in her clawed hand stabbing at his head.

Glass Shield appeared just in time to block the dagger, then shattered with a bang. The flying glass shards knocked the dagger from her hand and pelted her body, but they only made dull thudding sounds, unable to pierce her wooden form.

But the shield had given him a moment to breathe. He readjusted his stance, tightened his grip on his cane, and opened his mouth to roar. Lingering Canticle. The sound wave washed over Yolanda, but in her wooden state, she was completely unaffected. A wooden arm lashed out and smacked him across the face, forcing his mouth shut and making his cheek swell.

Yolanda's four limbs became a blur, raining blows down on him. Jonathan was beaten until his head was bleeding, but thankfully, she wasn't particularly strong. He fought defensively, protecting his vital areas while countering with his cane.

The relentless assault brought out Jonathan's own ferocity. Seizing an opportunity, he took a deep breath, ignored the flurry of attacks, and swung his cane at her broken neck. Yolanda quickly moved to block, using her right arm. With a loud c***k, Jonathan's snake-wood cane snapped in two, and Yolanda's wooden right arm was shattered.

But she seemed to feel no pain and continued to press her attack with her remaining three limbs, forcing him back.

Jonathan retreated to the center of the room and stumbled over something, falling hard. He didn't even have time to see what had tripped him. He kicked off the ground, scrambling backward several feet before realizing Yolanda wasn't pursuing him. Instead, the room was filled with the screams of an old man and the sound of a stick hitting flesh.

He looked up. What had tripped him was the sacrifice, Mr. Bennett. The delirious Yolanda, upon finding him, had completely abandoned her attack on the more dangerous Jonathan and was now unleashing a frenzied assault on the helpless old man.

Using the moment Mister was being beaten, Jonathan scrambled to his feet, regrouped, and used the last spell in his last spell slot.

Cantrip: Tripping Vine

A vine appears in the air, shooting from your hand to lash at a target. A successful hit entangles the target.

The vine wrapped around Yolanda's legs, tripping her. Jonathan immediately pounced, pulling her into his grasp. He wrapped his legs around her waist and his arms around her neck in a guillotine choke, wrenching her head toward the breaking point.

He ignored her one good hand as it hammered against his head, the blood running into his eyes and turning his vision red. He just held on, twisting with all his might. With a final, sickening c***k, he tore her head clean off her body.

As Yolanda's head separated from her body, the wooden form beneath him fell apart, lifeless.

From the tree's canopy, the faint, sinister cackle grew more urgent, and the entire oak treehouse began to shake. Jonathan struggled to his feet. With no time to even catch his breath, he grabbed the ritual dagger from the floor, tucked it into his belt, hoisted the emaciated Mr. Bennett onto his shoulder, and scrambled down the oak ladder, back into the Bennett mansion.

The last thing he saw was the oak treehouse pulling itself from the ground. What was buried deep in the earth were not roots, but two massive legs. They took great strides, and with a few leaps, the oak tree and the house it carried vanished into the endless darkness.

Then, Jonathan could hold on no longer. He dropped Mr. Bennett to the ground, using him as a cushion, and collapsed, losing consciousness.