Of all the requests that Odhran had gotten in his time within Fiore, this one was certainly one of the strangest. The younger brother of a soon-to-be-wed couple wanted the wedding crashed. It was a massive event, both families having been minor nobility within the kingdom of Fiore's ranks that both were conveniently enough friends of various aristocratic other families in Crocus. The event took place in a huge park within the eastern sector of the capital of the kingdom, and Odhran knew that it certain would get some recognition. However, he decided that he would increase the amount of despair granted to the wedding by making sure that he crashed it at the perfect time. Luckily for him, the invite that he robbed off of the corpse of a merchant heading in on the ship from Sin mentioned that all that was required to enter was an invite and a fine enough set of clothing. As such, he kept the invite tucked neatly away into a pocket as he transformed his normal, heavily-pocketed jacket into the guise of a neatly-pressed and tailored tuxedo. If nothing else, he always ensured himself to look as fabulous as physically possible. He was a God, after all, and far be it from him to shy away from presenting himself as a greater being.
The line for entry into the wedding was certainly long, but Odhran knew that for the most impact, he needed to wait to begin his slaughter. Just getting to the presentation of his invite took fifteen minutes. In an objectively poor plan to attempt to escape the suspicion of being a criminal, he had Scorpio summoned forth to act as a date, wearing a brilliant golden skater dress.
"Ooh, Arnaluuk's gotta be getting jealous right now, I can tell~"
"Whatever for? Her crystalline skin would be much too suspicious for such an intricate and covert operation such as this! No, rather it would be in my best interest to bring along my most human-like Spirit, as well as the strongest Spirit in the Celestial Spirit realm. Ah, that would be you, if you were not aware."
Scorpio teasingly tightened her grip on Odhran's arm. "Ooh, quite the flirt aren'tcha?"
Odhran was confused by the sentiment. "No? I am merely stating the facts. You are a Zodiac, which immediately brings you within the top twelve ranks of the Celestial Spirits. Add that on top of Lupa being a good girl and Arnaluuk having a certainly conspicuous shade and shine of skin, well it leaves you, who has the ability to transform your appearance as you see fit as well as bear a similar enough resemblance to a human to pass off as a worthy companion to someone of my glorious capabilities. At worst, you could just be considered as a huge fangirl of the Zodiacs!"
Now even Scorpio was dumbfounded. She had figured that his obliviousness was all an act to throw off his true intentions. After all, she had seen how ruthless he had been in combat. Eccentric, sure, but ruthless nonetheless. She had thought that his aloof and grandiose mannerisms were simply a way to make him either seem as less of a threat by seeming like overcompensating or more of a threat by talking himself up. Either that, or they were a way to make himself more infamous. He had mentioned many times of his desire to be a Warlord of Fiore. She had also figured that Arnaluuk's reactions were simply an addition to the comedy act he ran. It was typical of humor to run a funny man like Odhran in with a straight man like Arnaluuk, and her private talks about the matter to Arnaluuk were just a dedication to the act. Now Scorpio saw that it was truly that he lived in another world. Unlike Arnaluuk, however, Scorpio did not see it as an issue. Rather, it was a charming aspect of his character. She smiled secretly to herself, even with being confused at how someone could take something so obvious as teasing about a romantic relation into a completely roundabout way of viewing the world.
Is he afraid of relationships?
Scorpio brushed the thought out of her mind as the duo took their seats in the center of the crowd. They were not the first to take their seats, but they certainly were among the firsts. The two talked at length, mostly about Odhran's exploits though there was genuine conversation occurring as well. At last, the moment came for the ceremony to truly begin. Guests were invited to their seats as the groom walked forwards. The client had insisted that the groom not be killed, what with said groom being the brother of the client. Of course, Odhran had no intention of letting anyone live. What sort of story would it create? He could imagine the headlines: "Man Slaughters Wedding Party: Kills All But Groom and Groom's Brother!" It was a silly headline. It would be much more impactful to add the antecedent of, "No Survivors." Following the groom came the groomsmen. The brother's eyes met Odhran's, and the two shared a knowing nod, though the brother's nod would be much less knowing that expected. Following the groomsmen were the bridesmaids. They were thoroughly unimportant to Odhran. Just more bodies to add up to the count. He did take note of one particularly attractive bridesmaid that he was sad that he had to slay, but his work called for such a matter to occur. The best man and the maid of honor came forth together, taking their seats. Finally, the bride herself came forth. Had Odhran not been assigned to kill the entire wedding party, he would have been in awe at the grandiosity of the dress. Diamonds and other gems studding across the bodice, a long train leading halfway down the aisle, even the gems tied in neatly with her hair. Odhran was impressed. He made sure to take note of such fashion tips should he ever figure out a way to use his Ark of Embodiment to change his gender. Could lead to interesting infiltration opportunities, he thought.
The ceremony went smoothly. The brother occasionally darted his eyes back at Odhran as the ceremony continued. Finally, the time for Odhran's arrival came.
"Speak now, or forever hold your peace."
The old priest's words were the cue Odhran had set for himself to begin his assault. Odhran slowly got up out of his seat, conveniently placed at the edge of the aisle as he walked up. "I suppose I would have an objection to this holy matrimony. It is not on a personal level, no, far from it. Rather, it is simply for the sake of business that I must object." He got down on a knee, raising a hand towards the altar. "Father Benedict, will you marry me?" The whole crowd was speechless for a moment before Odhran continued. "I merely jest, of course. No, my business is far less idealistic." He thrust his right arm forwards, the Spear of Gaebolg piercing through the priest's heart. The whole crowd erupted into gasps. Before more reactions could take place, Odhran summoned forth Arnaluuk and Lupa to prevent anyone from escaping. "I suppose I would be so gracious as to grant to you the noble title of the man you see before you." He got up from his knee, spinning around dramatically as he returned to the normal look of his jacket. "I am Odhran Aegisbane, the God of the Celestial Spirit Realm! I am a harbinger of a new world in my image! All those who would dare to oppose my wondrous whims are subject to divine punishment! Of course, one need not fear. I am not so arbitrary as to simply slay those who oppose my whims. No, I slaughter not only those who seek to undermine my whims, but also those with whom I have been tasked to slay, or those who happen to get in my way, or those who look at me funny, or those who I simply just think should die. Everyone who is not my ally is equally subject to my divine wrath! Now, Arnaluuk! Lupa! Scorpio! Slaughter the lot of them!"
With his call, the trio of Spirits began their rampage. The first action aside from the murder of the priest, who in his last breath insisted that his name was "Carl" and not "Benedict" was that of Scorpio detonating a sand bomb around the people around her as the blowing sand served as a dramatic cover for switching into her armor. Odhran felt like a proud parent in that moment, seeing that Scorpio had inherited his flare for the dramatic. Of course, the idea of sand brought a wonderful idea to his head. He twisted the marble on his ring, and the formerly grassy park had suddenly turned into a desert. He often forgot about his Perpetuus Sama, but now was certainly a moment to use such a thing. The park's sudden shift in landscape went sadly under-noticed due to all the slaughter that was occurring from Odhran's Spirits. The few people who were not busy being murdered by the trio of Celestial Spirits luckily did take note, which was a massive boost to Odhran's pride. Their noticing returned the sadness in Odhran's eyes as they resorted to attempting to attack the Celestial Spirit Wizard. He sighed, mildly depressed at the lack of appreciation for his abilities. Three poor attendees attempted to clobber the God with their fists, only to be met with the extension of Gaebolg cutting into their chests. They fell easily.
"I am most dismayed. I would have thought that you were more aware of the situation at hand. It truly is disappointing to see the youth of today in their rush towards their deaths. You were aware of the fact that I killed Father Benedict as well as summoned forth the Spirits that are slaughtering your fellow guests?"
Odhran's mind was more focused on expressing his sadness towards the actions rather than the fight, while his body continued its onslaught. Gaebolg had taken the lives of another thirty or so guests. Most of them seemed to be unarmed when they met the spear of Gaebolg, which continued to shift in size as it cut through foes, though strangely enough one of the corpses had taken a hold of a chair and was tightly clutching it as it rested on the ground. Odhran was confused behind the reason for it, but nonetheless he had no choice but to accept that the chair must have tried to attack him, or perhaps he had saved the now-corpse from an assault from a rogue seat. Among the corpses were strewn both guests, staff, and bouncers alike, and in his examination over the chaos of the musings of the vicious chair, he had killing yet another twenty folks.
Shaking his head to get back into the reality of, well, reality, he noticed two strangely familiar people in front of him, one charging up fire magic and the other ice magic. Odhran could not quite get a recollection on how he knew these people, but he knew that they were familiar somehow. The one in the incredibly long white dress fired out her ice magic, which Odhran warded off with his shield-like left hand. The one in the tuxedo launched his fire magic next, which met much the same result. He shrugged, figuring it did not exactly matter as to why this man and this woman looked so familiar. The two held hands as a bubbling power of ice and fire merged into an lance. They fired out their lance at Odhran, who raised his shield once more. Surprisingly, he was pushed back by the dual magic used. He looked up from being pushed back to see all but a few members of the wedding party itself. Odhran smiled, prepared to take on more foes himself. At this moment, Odhran had realized that the two magic users were the bride and groom, and the rest of the wedding party was unable to use magic, each one wielding various weapons, including two of them having their hands on chairs. Odhran used this opportunity to extend an unbladed right hand to turn the chairs that were in hand into creatures to distract the wedding guests. They began to snap at the members of the wedding party as Odhran shifted his arm once more into Gaebolg and lunged at the members of the party. He easily cut through the non-magical bridesmaids and groomsmen, staring directly in the face of the groom before letting his left leg shift into the form of a yet another blade, which pierced the groom in the chest as Odhran formed his right arm into a hammer that bashed the side of the groom's head. He then turned his attention to the bride, when he decided that it would be in his best interest to raise spikes forth from the ground and pierce her in the chest as well. She struggled for a moment before ceasing, and Odhran opted to place the supposed-to-be-married couple side-by-side.
"Wh-what the hell is your problem!?" a voice shouted at Odhran. Odhran turned to see the brother. "I said that I would be fine with you killing everyone except Austin! Were you not paying attention!?"
Odhran looked at the brother, tilting his head. "To be entirely transparent, no. I was in fact not paying attention. All I heard was that I was supposed to stop the wedding from happening by any means necessary, and murder is certainly a brilliant way to stop a wedding from happening. I mean, I've turned this festival into a different kind of festival! In fact, there is still plenty of cake remaining to be eaten, I'm sure. Perhaps you may want one? Going hungry can make you slightly agitated. Or...so...I...heard. Mayhaps you simply might just wish for a bite of dessert? Here, allow me." Odhran stretched out Gaebolg to slice up a piece of cake and further impale it as he brought it to the brother's vicinity. "Red velvet, I believe. That said, it could just be a vanilla cake that just happens to be colored red with blood from the server Scorpio killed."
"Nope! It's actually red velvet!"
Odhran smiled and nodded. "Wonderful! It actually is red velvet! Admittedly not my favorite flavor of cake, but it is certainly good. I would never deny a cake."
The brother seemed fed up about something and swung a knife at Gaebolg. It hopelessly bounced off the scales each time he feebly attempted to strike. Odhran figured that the brother was, in fact, not interested in having cake, but his thought process was irrelevant. What was relevant was that the brother had attempted to strike Odhran. Client or not, such an action was inexcusable. Odhran twisted Gaebolg around and pierced the man in the chest, sending him crumbling to the ground, spewing curses as he died.
Odhran took a look around the carnage. Arnaluuk, Scorpio, and Lupa had done a tremendous job of ensuring that people did not escape, judging from the pile of corpses near the gate. However, more intriguing were the four people standing back-to-back in the center of the park. Odhran stepped towards the quartet as Arnaluuk, Lupa, and Scorpio followed suit. It seemed as if they had killed all but these four.
"You've killed both of me sons, you bastard. Why? Why'd'ya do this ta Austin and Milyes?" The man with the thick mustache was growling.
"Austin? Milyes? Oh, right, the groom and the brother. Well, truth is that Milyes hired me to stop this wedding. I just thought it would make quite the headline to do more than just crash the wedding. It would be much more interesting to massacre a wedding than just, you know, crash it an cause damage to the catering table at worst. Speaking of, you must be the father of the groom?"
This time a woman in yellow stepped forwards. "And I was his mother, and my two comrades are the parents of the bride. You killed our children, and now you must pay the price!"
The mustachioed man roared, his entire body transforming into that of a bear as he charged at Odhran. The woman in yellow fired off sparks of electricity towards Scorpio, the man in the green tuxedo requipped dual pistols and began firing at Arnaluuk, while the woman in red lashed her whip wreathed in fire at Lupa.
The bear pawed at Odhran, who lifted up his left hand, the shield allowing little more than the paw to clatter against its scales. He attempted to counter with a piercing strike from Gaebolg, only for his scaled arm to be caught in the bear's grasp. The bear tried to yank at Odhran's arm, but Odhran responded by letting his feet transform to bear spikes, keeping him rooted in the ground. His left hand open from the bear transferring its efforts towards Gaebolg, Odhran placed his hand on the ground as spires of earth pierced into the bear's legs, causing him to roar. "I have never much been a fan of weddings. Too expensive. I would much rather have preferred if you just asked my permission to marry, and I would have considered it. Alas, it seems as if such a thing is impossible to ask for at this point. You have already sinned against me, and the only befitting punishment is death. So, ta-ta."
Odhran twisted his hand in the dirt, causing the spires to extend through his legs, cutting him to the ground. The bear transformed into his mustachioed form once more, and Odhran opted to put the man out of his misery with a precision strike from Gaebolg to the man's brain.
The sparks of electricity were meaningless to Scorpio, who continued to menacingly walk towards the woman in yellow. Her spear swiped away each feeble attempt to electrocute the Zodiac. The woman grew increasingly frantic as Scorpio approached, before she finally fell to the ground, crying. Scorpio pierced her in the throat with her spear, before the woman collapsed. Scorpio was thoroughly depressed by this interaction. She had hoped that her foe would at least put up some sort of trouble, but instead the woman who seemed so angry at the death of her son was remarkably easy to kill.
Arnaluuk's trident, as it would seem, was incredibly effective at warding away gunshots. The broad head of the icicle coupled with the magical energy simply let the bullets bounce off like pellets. Arnaluuk entertained the defensive strategy for a moment before she finally rushed ahead, forcibly placing a hand on the gunman's head. Through her icy fingers, Arnaluuk noticed the sudden expression of shock grow on his face before it shifted to one of intense pain from his hand being impaled by Arnaluuk's trident. Arnaluuk herself smiled now. She was by no means a staunch fan of Odhran's theatrics, but it would be a lie to say that she did not enjoy the occasional lapse into sadism and showy executions. As such, she chilled the air around her hand, freezing the man's head. He slowly stumbled downwards before Arnaluuk sliced her trident across the man's stomach before finally taking a hearty baseball swing to his frozen head, shattering the ice but unfortunately not the entire head. She had to keep up her image as an unwaveringly brutal Celestial Spirit at the beck and call of a dunce with the potential to be the most powerful Celestial Spirit Wizard in the world.
Lupa saw her confrontation as a game of tug-of-war. The first attempt by the lady saw her completely miss the flying wolf. The second time she attempted to strike with her rope, Lupa caught it in mid-flight, tugging on it greatly. The lady was reluctant to hand over her rope, which seemed contradictory to the wolf. After all, she was the one that wanted to play, right? Lupa tugged at the woman's rope further, batting her wings as hard as she could while pawing away at the air with her paws wreathed in the elements of the wind. Finally, she managed to drag the woman off from the ground, successful in her game of tug-of-war. In celebration, Lupa spun her head around in circles before accidentally losing her grip of the rope and sending the lady soaring outside of the city's walls. Lupa was sad at this and dejectedly flew down to her master, who petted her on the head as a reward for a job well done.
Odhran once more took a look at all the carnage, the entirety of the wedding cake in one hand as he picked pieces off with his other. Just as Scorpio had said, it was red velvet, though there was the unfortunate mild taste of blood. Odhran thought little of it. "Did any of you get a count of the kills?"
"One-hundred and ninety-four. Thought it would be a bit more, but oh well." Scorpio slurped on a smoothie.
"I thought it would be less. Not often you get a wedding of this size." Arnaluuk took a sip from a glass of wine.
Lupa barked.
"Perhaps it would be a good idea to get returning home before the Knights arrive to arrest us. Very well. The rest of you are permitted to return to the Celestial Spirit Realm. I will handle things from here."
The trio nodded as they returned to the Celestial Spirit Realm. It seemed as if they also carried their refreshments as well. A squadron of knights arrive to the scene to see Odhran fluttering high in the sky with angelic wings. "Know that this havoc has been caused by Odhran Aegisbane, the God of the Celestial Spirit Realm! See what chaos I cause and despair!" Odhran roared in laughter as he flew off, ensuring with as much safety as he could that he would not drop his cake.
WC: 3678
The line for entry into the wedding was certainly long, but Odhran knew that for the most impact, he needed to wait to begin his slaughter. Just getting to the presentation of his invite took fifteen minutes. In an objectively poor plan to attempt to escape the suspicion of being a criminal, he had Scorpio summoned forth to act as a date, wearing a brilliant golden skater dress.
"Ooh, Arnaluuk's gotta be getting jealous right now, I can tell~"
"Whatever for? Her crystalline skin would be much too suspicious for such an intricate and covert operation such as this! No, rather it would be in my best interest to bring along my most human-like Spirit, as well as the strongest Spirit in the Celestial Spirit realm. Ah, that would be you, if you were not aware."
Scorpio teasingly tightened her grip on Odhran's arm. "Ooh, quite the flirt aren'tcha?"
Odhran was confused by the sentiment. "No? I am merely stating the facts. You are a Zodiac, which immediately brings you within the top twelve ranks of the Celestial Spirits. Add that on top of Lupa being a good girl and Arnaluuk having a certainly conspicuous shade and shine of skin, well it leaves you, who has the ability to transform your appearance as you see fit as well as bear a similar enough resemblance to a human to pass off as a worthy companion to someone of my glorious capabilities. At worst, you could just be considered as a huge fangirl of the Zodiacs!"
Now even Scorpio was dumbfounded. She had figured that his obliviousness was all an act to throw off his true intentions. After all, she had seen how ruthless he had been in combat. Eccentric, sure, but ruthless nonetheless. She had thought that his aloof and grandiose mannerisms were simply a way to make him either seem as less of a threat by seeming like overcompensating or more of a threat by talking himself up. Either that, or they were a way to make himself more infamous. He had mentioned many times of his desire to be a Warlord of Fiore. She had also figured that Arnaluuk's reactions were simply an addition to the comedy act he ran. It was typical of humor to run a funny man like Odhran in with a straight man like Arnaluuk, and her private talks about the matter to Arnaluuk were just a dedication to the act. Now Scorpio saw that it was truly that he lived in another world. Unlike Arnaluuk, however, Scorpio did not see it as an issue. Rather, it was a charming aspect of his character. She smiled secretly to herself, even with being confused at how someone could take something so obvious as teasing about a romantic relation into a completely roundabout way of viewing the world.
Is he afraid of relationships?
Scorpio brushed the thought out of her mind as the duo took their seats in the center of the crowd. They were not the first to take their seats, but they certainly were among the firsts. The two talked at length, mostly about Odhran's exploits though there was genuine conversation occurring as well. At last, the moment came for the ceremony to truly begin. Guests were invited to their seats as the groom walked forwards. The client had insisted that the groom not be killed, what with said groom being the brother of the client. Of course, Odhran had no intention of letting anyone live. What sort of story would it create? He could imagine the headlines: "Man Slaughters Wedding Party: Kills All But Groom and Groom's Brother!" It was a silly headline. It would be much more impactful to add the antecedent of, "No Survivors." Following the groom came the groomsmen. The brother's eyes met Odhran's, and the two shared a knowing nod, though the brother's nod would be much less knowing that expected. Following the groomsmen were the bridesmaids. They were thoroughly unimportant to Odhran. Just more bodies to add up to the count. He did take note of one particularly attractive bridesmaid that he was sad that he had to slay, but his work called for such a matter to occur. The best man and the maid of honor came forth together, taking their seats. Finally, the bride herself came forth. Had Odhran not been assigned to kill the entire wedding party, he would have been in awe at the grandiosity of the dress. Diamonds and other gems studding across the bodice, a long train leading halfway down the aisle, even the gems tied in neatly with her hair. Odhran was impressed. He made sure to take note of such fashion tips should he ever figure out a way to use his Ark of Embodiment to change his gender. Could lead to interesting infiltration opportunities, he thought.
The ceremony went smoothly. The brother occasionally darted his eyes back at Odhran as the ceremony continued. Finally, the time for Odhran's arrival came.
"Speak now, or forever hold your peace."
The old priest's words were the cue Odhran had set for himself to begin his assault. Odhran slowly got up out of his seat, conveniently placed at the edge of the aisle as he walked up. "I suppose I would have an objection to this holy matrimony. It is not on a personal level, no, far from it. Rather, it is simply for the sake of business that I must object." He got down on a knee, raising a hand towards the altar. "Father Benedict, will you marry me?" The whole crowd was speechless for a moment before Odhran continued. "I merely jest, of course. No, my business is far less idealistic." He thrust his right arm forwards, the Spear of Gaebolg piercing through the priest's heart. The whole crowd erupted into gasps. Before more reactions could take place, Odhran summoned forth Arnaluuk and Lupa to prevent anyone from escaping. "I suppose I would be so gracious as to grant to you the noble title of the man you see before you." He got up from his knee, spinning around dramatically as he returned to the normal look of his jacket. "I am Odhran Aegisbane, the God of the Celestial Spirit Realm! I am a harbinger of a new world in my image! All those who would dare to oppose my wondrous whims are subject to divine punishment! Of course, one need not fear. I am not so arbitrary as to simply slay those who oppose my whims. No, I slaughter not only those who seek to undermine my whims, but also those with whom I have been tasked to slay, or those who happen to get in my way, or those who look at me funny, or those who I simply just think should die. Everyone who is not my ally is equally subject to my divine wrath! Now, Arnaluuk! Lupa! Scorpio! Slaughter the lot of them!"
With his call, the trio of Spirits began their rampage. The first action aside from the murder of the priest, who in his last breath insisted that his name was "Carl" and not "Benedict" was that of Scorpio detonating a sand bomb around the people around her as the blowing sand served as a dramatic cover for switching into her armor. Odhran felt like a proud parent in that moment, seeing that Scorpio had inherited his flare for the dramatic. Of course, the idea of sand brought a wonderful idea to his head. He twisted the marble on his ring, and the formerly grassy park had suddenly turned into a desert. He often forgot about his Perpetuus Sama, but now was certainly a moment to use such a thing. The park's sudden shift in landscape went sadly under-noticed due to all the slaughter that was occurring from Odhran's Spirits. The few people who were not busy being murdered by the trio of Celestial Spirits luckily did take note, which was a massive boost to Odhran's pride. Their noticing returned the sadness in Odhran's eyes as they resorted to attempting to attack the Celestial Spirit Wizard. He sighed, mildly depressed at the lack of appreciation for his abilities. Three poor attendees attempted to clobber the God with their fists, only to be met with the extension of Gaebolg cutting into their chests. They fell easily.
"I am most dismayed. I would have thought that you were more aware of the situation at hand. It truly is disappointing to see the youth of today in their rush towards their deaths. You were aware of the fact that I killed Father Benedict as well as summoned forth the Spirits that are slaughtering your fellow guests?"
Odhran's mind was more focused on expressing his sadness towards the actions rather than the fight, while his body continued its onslaught. Gaebolg had taken the lives of another thirty or so guests. Most of them seemed to be unarmed when they met the spear of Gaebolg, which continued to shift in size as it cut through foes, though strangely enough one of the corpses had taken a hold of a chair and was tightly clutching it as it rested on the ground. Odhran was confused behind the reason for it, but nonetheless he had no choice but to accept that the chair must have tried to attack him, or perhaps he had saved the now-corpse from an assault from a rogue seat. Among the corpses were strewn both guests, staff, and bouncers alike, and in his examination over the chaos of the musings of the vicious chair, he had killing yet another twenty folks.
Shaking his head to get back into the reality of, well, reality, he noticed two strangely familiar people in front of him, one charging up fire magic and the other ice magic. Odhran could not quite get a recollection on how he knew these people, but he knew that they were familiar somehow. The one in the incredibly long white dress fired out her ice magic, which Odhran warded off with his shield-like left hand. The one in the tuxedo launched his fire magic next, which met much the same result. He shrugged, figuring it did not exactly matter as to why this man and this woman looked so familiar. The two held hands as a bubbling power of ice and fire merged into an lance. They fired out their lance at Odhran, who raised his shield once more. Surprisingly, he was pushed back by the dual magic used. He looked up from being pushed back to see all but a few members of the wedding party itself. Odhran smiled, prepared to take on more foes himself. At this moment, Odhran had realized that the two magic users were the bride and groom, and the rest of the wedding party was unable to use magic, each one wielding various weapons, including two of them having their hands on chairs. Odhran used this opportunity to extend an unbladed right hand to turn the chairs that were in hand into creatures to distract the wedding guests. They began to snap at the members of the wedding party as Odhran shifted his arm once more into Gaebolg and lunged at the members of the party. He easily cut through the non-magical bridesmaids and groomsmen, staring directly in the face of the groom before letting his left leg shift into the form of a yet another blade, which pierced the groom in the chest as Odhran formed his right arm into a hammer that bashed the side of the groom's head. He then turned his attention to the bride, when he decided that it would be in his best interest to raise spikes forth from the ground and pierce her in the chest as well. She struggled for a moment before ceasing, and Odhran opted to place the supposed-to-be-married couple side-by-side.
"Wh-what the hell is your problem!?" a voice shouted at Odhran. Odhran turned to see the brother. "I said that I would be fine with you killing everyone except Austin! Were you not paying attention!?"
Odhran looked at the brother, tilting his head. "To be entirely transparent, no. I was in fact not paying attention. All I heard was that I was supposed to stop the wedding from happening by any means necessary, and murder is certainly a brilliant way to stop a wedding from happening. I mean, I've turned this festival into a different kind of festival! In fact, there is still plenty of cake remaining to be eaten, I'm sure. Perhaps you may want one? Going hungry can make you slightly agitated. Or...so...I...heard. Mayhaps you simply might just wish for a bite of dessert? Here, allow me." Odhran stretched out Gaebolg to slice up a piece of cake and further impale it as he brought it to the brother's vicinity. "Red velvet, I believe. That said, it could just be a vanilla cake that just happens to be colored red with blood from the server Scorpio killed."
"Nope! It's actually red velvet!"
Odhran smiled and nodded. "Wonderful! It actually is red velvet! Admittedly not my favorite flavor of cake, but it is certainly good. I would never deny a cake."
The brother seemed fed up about something and swung a knife at Gaebolg. It hopelessly bounced off the scales each time he feebly attempted to strike. Odhran figured that the brother was, in fact, not interested in having cake, but his thought process was irrelevant. What was relevant was that the brother had attempted to strike Odhran. Client or not, such an action was inexcusable. Odhran twisted Gaebolg around and pierced the man in the chest, sending him crumbling to the ground, spewing curses as he died.
Odhran took a look around the carnage. Arnaluuk, Scorpio, and Lupa had done a tremendous job of ensuring that people did not escape, judging from the pile of corpses near the gate. However, more intriguing were the four people standing back-to-back in the center of the park. Odhran stepped towards the quartet as Arnaluuk, Lupa, and Scorpio followed suit. It seemed as if they had killed all but these four.
"You've killed both of me sons, you bastard. Why? Why'd'ya do this ta Austin and Milyes?" The man with the thick mustache was growling.
"Austin? Milyes? Oh, right, the groom and the brother. Well, truth is that Milyes hired me to stop this wedding. I just thought it would make quite the headline to do more than just crash the wedding. It would be much more interesting to massacre a wedding than just, you know, crash it an cause damage to the catering table at worst. Speaking of, you must be the father of the groom?"
This time a woman in yellow stepped forwards. "And I was his mother, and my two comrades are the parents of the bride. You killed our children, and now you must pay the price!"
The mustachioed man roared, his entire body transforming into that of a bear as he charged at Odhran. The woman in yellow fired off sparks of electricity towards Scorpio, the man in the green tuxedo requipped dual pistols and began firing at Arnaluuk, while the woman in red lashed her whip wreathed in fire at Lupa.
The bear pawed at Odhran, who lifted up his left hand, the shield allowing little more than the paw to clatter against its scales. He attempted to counter with a piercing strike from Gaebolg, only for his scaled arm to be caught in the bear's grasp. The bear tried to yank at Odhran's arm, but Odhran responded by letting his feet transform to bear spikes, keeping him rooted in the ground. His left hand open from the bear transferring its efforts towards Gaebolg, Odhran placed his hand on the ground as spires of earth pierced into the bear's legs, causing him to roar. "I have never much been a fan of weddings. Too expensive. I would much rather have preferred if you just asked my permission to marry, and I would have considered it. Alas, it seems as if such a thing is impossible to ask for at this point. You have already sinned against me, and the only befitting punishment is death. So, ta-ta."
Odhran twisted his hand in the dirt, causing the spires to extend through his legs, cutting him to the ground. The bear transformed into his mustachioed form once more, and Odhran opted to put the man out of his misery with a precision strike from Gaebolg to the man's brain.
The sparks of electricity were meaningless to Scorpio, who continued to menacingly walk towards the woman in yellow. Her spear swiped away each feeble attempt to electrocute the Zodiac. The woman grew increasingly frantic as Scorpio approached, before she finally fell to the ground, crying. Scorpio pierced her in the throat with her spear, before the woman collapsed. Scorpio was thoroughly depressed by this interaction. She had hoped that her foe would at least put up some sort of trouble, but instead the woman who seemed so angry at the death of her son was remarkably easy to kill.
Arnaluuk's trident, as it would seem, was incredibly effective at warding away gunshots. The broad head of the icicle coupled with the magical energy simply let the bullets bounce off like pellets. Arnaluuk entertained the defensive strategy for a moment before she finally rushed ahead, forcibly placing a hand on the gunman's head. Through her icy fingers, Arnaluuk noticed the sudden expression of shock grow on his face before it shifted to one of intense pain from his hand being impaled by Arnaluuk's trident. Arnaluuk herself smiled now. She was by no means a staunch fan of Odhran's theatrics, but it would be a lie to say that she did not enjoy the occasional lapse into sadism and showy executions. As such, she chilled the air around her hand, freezing the man's head. He slowly stumbled downwards before Arnaluuk sliced her trident across the man's stomach before finally taking a hearty baseball swing to his frozen head, shattering the ice but unfortunately not the entire head. She had to keep up her image as an unwaveringly brutal Celestial Spirit at the beck and call of a dunce with the potential to be the most powerful Celestial Spirit Wizard in the world.
Lupa saw her confrontation as a game of tug-of-war. The first attempt by the lady saw her completely miss the flying wolf. The second time she attempted to strike with her rope, Lupa caught it in mid-flight, tugging on it greatly. The lady was reluctant to hand over her rope, which seemed contradictory to the wolf. After all, she was the one that wanted to play, right? Lupa tugged at the woman's rope further, batting her wings as hard as she could while pawing away at the air with her paws wreathed in the elements of the wind. Finally, she managed to drag the woman off from the ground, successful in her game of tug-of-war. In celebration, Lupa spun her head around in circles before accidentally losing her grip of the rope and sending the lady soaring outside of the city's walls. Lupa was sad at this and dejectedly flew down to her master, who petted her on the head as a reward for a job well done.
Odhran once more took a look at all the carnage, the entirety of the wedding cake in one hand as he picked pieces off with his other. Just as Scorpio had said, it was red velvet, though there was the unfortunate mild taste of blood. Odhran thought little of it. "Did any of you get a count of the kills?"
"One-hundred and ninety-four. Thought it would be a bit more, but oh well." Scorpio slurped on a smoothie.
"I thought it would be less. Not often you get a wedding of this size." Arnaluuk took a sip from a glass of wine.
Lupa barked.
"Perhaps it would be a good idea to get returning home before the Knights arrive to arrest us. Very well. The rest of you are permitted to return to the Celestial Spirit Realm. I will handle things from here."
The trio nodded as they returned to the Celestial Spirit Realm. It seemed as if they also carried their refreshments as well. A squadron of knights arrive to the scene to see Odhran fluttering high in the sky with angelic wings. "Know that this havoc has been caused by Odhran Aegisbane, the God of the Celestial Spirit Realm! See what chaos I cause and despair!" Odhran roared in laughter as he flew off, ensuring with as much safety as he could that he would not drop his cake.
WC: 3678
