Superhuman Princess 49 (Edited)

Chapter 49

Rule number 4: Plan your affairs right through to the end, in doing so you will be able to counter the setbacks that will inevitably come your way.
-Rules of power handbook, written by Queen Malicia of the Faerie Dells, daughter of Mab

Asgard
Mountain Plateau
Day 1 since the crash

They were lucky, this place had a natural minor nexus. Everyone could power the magitek with their own mana reserve but it would have become draining in the long term; now the nexus powered the little camp and Elissa was thinking of claiming it to be able to craft a teleportation circle to have an easy fallout point in case of problems.

Elissa needed a home base and those mountains were an excellent vantage point along with being a natural fortress. The blonde was ready to start transmuting and building with her dwarf friends while the SOS was sent from the ship; already she had discussed what to prepare with the Dwarven artisan amongst her friends.

The others, led by Danni, were now scouting the surroundings for medicinal plants, foraging for food and hunting down threats. Cassandra, Elissa's little sister, was busy creating an early warning system and wards around our future Fort.

"Brunhilda, do you have any problems with the current schematics?" Elissa asked as she passed the schematics she drew on paper to the Dwarven Princess.

She looked at them and started using a ruler to check the measurements they all had come up with together. "I would prefer if they were looked at by the royal architect and the engineer guild for defects… but they are as good as we could make them without specialized tools."

"Hel, yeah, too bad we don't have a regiment of Earth Benders to help the place…" Elissa thought about all her new Dwarven smiths at home…

Narsenelyn will have to do… she turned her head toward the stoic looking brunette haired dwarf girl polishing her pickaxe. She must have felt Elissa's gaze on her because she stood and walked up to Brunhilda and snatched the schematics from her hand.

"It's so easy to shape a crude looking fort. It doesn't have to be beautiful like Drafonfang tower, ah guess."

"Nah, I want something solid even if it is temporary."

"You wanta a Dwarven fort then?" Narsenelyn asked.

Elissa smiled and with a shrug replied, "Why not? Your people build to last and the architecture is practical."

The Dwarven Earth bender nodded sharply at that. "Aye."

# # #

(Cassandra Megara Nimue Mikos)

Cassandra was currently brewing a Detoxification potion, she had noticed the presence of Draugrs in the forest below the mountain and she didn't think that her companions were ready for the undead. The necromantic miasma was detectable from afar and she expected Elissa to take down whatever ruin the Draugr were nesting in.

She hated the things for good reason, they sought out life to either corrupt it or destroy it. Elissa could use Divine magic and get rid of them, but Cassandra understood that they needed a decent shelter first and approved the building of a Dwarven Fort through magic.

As she bottled the potion in a vial, Cassandra also used magic to clean the mortar, pestle and other portable alchemy tools that the dwarf artificer, Sizalda, had lent her. This was at this moment that Cassandra sensed her sister's magic being unleashed. The mountain began shaking and vibrating as a huge wave of magic surged from the minor nexus linked to it.

"Ah, they already started… I wish Eli would let me participate."

The sky darkened as the wild mana in the atmosphere was rampaging due to the disturbance caused by the construction ritual. The clouds swirled madly, almost forming a tornado; the air slowly heated up, but not enough to scald. It was like being in a desert. The rumbles continued as the walls molded into walls, ramparts, and a multi-tiered visible great tower, a keep, carved into the face of the mountain.

A gigantic space was built in the lower enceinte around Cassandra, enveloping the camps and the wreck of the skyship. From a rocky gray color, the walls shifted to granite color, showing that Elissa transmuted them with alchemy.

As she inspected the Fortress, Cassandra said in appreciation, "For once she didn't go for anything fancy."

It looked more like what one would expect from a Dwarven fortress, and not some fancy tall tower made out of Mithril like Dragonfang tower was. It was a showy piece of wealth and status; Elissa and Malicia were too similar sometimes…

Cassandra deployed her magical senses, watching the energy of the wild magic in the air coalescing and turning into a more stable mana type. *This is stuff like that which made Elissa dangerous, she has an attention to details and outside of the box solution that made her a scary opponent. Turning the wild mana into a natural illusion barrier to obfuscate the Fortress.*

"How big is this illusion barrier?" Cassandra said aloud as she watched the magical construct come alive.

She sensed movements behind her and turned on herself to see who snuck behind her. It was Elissa, wearing a comfortable silver armored dress. "It covers the entire Fortress, little Tyke."

Calming down, Cassandra asked, "Big sister, did you make your new place all fancy inside?"

Like Malicia, the two sisters hated ‘slumming it’ and living in camping conditions with everyone. Elissa made a ‘obviously’ expression as she looked at Cassandra. "Of course!"

Elissa grabbed her sister's arm. "Come, we will need your help with the wards."

As she was pulled inside the keep, Cassandra asked, "Will we sleep in the barracks?"

Elissa chuckled. “Everyone who wishes to will.”

Cassandra's sister stopped and turned to her. “I intend to have you in my own apartments. We have the biggest here.”

The little girl jumped in happiness and started levitating. "Yes!"

The blonde caught her by the shoulders and made Cassandra land on her feet. "No flying!"

Cassandra pouted and crossed her arms sullenly. "Meanie."

They moved again. The corridors were made of white marbles with some statues of fantastic animals decorating and making the atmosphere inside less bland and empty. They eventually ended up in a hall with everyone in their group gathered, Elissa's familiars were all standing next to the throne at the end of the big room. Elissa walked up to the throne and sat there, she poured magic in the throne and… the crystal lights inside the room shone brighter.

“We have the base now. But next we will have to secure the area around the mountain. But before that, we will have a big rest. Thank you for all your hard work everyone!” Elissa said to everyone, holding court like Malicia taught her.

Cassandra laughed, it's just like being home with Malicia…

# # #

(Kalna Hristdotter)

Myrkviðr Forest

10 minutes after the tremors…

Kalna exited from under the table after the shaking of the land stopped. This was the first time that such an event has happened in the region. The golden blonde warrior took her ax and exited her small wooden cabin. She looked up into the sky, past the trees in the horizon and sensed the magical storm up in the Kjedeledd mountains.

More and more villagers gathered outside, exiting their cabins and looking at the mountain. They were nearly all women, with the men being much lower in numbers, while the children also were all girls. An incidental condition of marrying Valkyries, they always bred true.

“What's happening?”

“Do you think the Dragon up there is the cause of all that trouble?”

“This is too much, we just moved in the region.”

The assembled villagers were worried, and Kalna could understand. They had moved away from the plains where the new Golden City forces had been forcefully capturing any stray Valkyrie to participate in their war against Loki and Jotunn. The Myrkviðr Forest was their last chance to live in peace and forget about Odin’s mistake, Ragnarok.

Kalna heard the harsh jangle of a bell, she turned toward the building at the center place of her village. It was the mead hall, where all the celebrations happened and where the decisions of the village council were taken.

Here stood the elder, Milna; she was middle aged, with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, and wore a silver armor with a silver furred cape. Milan is a deserter from the golden city Valkyrie squad; she and her team had deserted to become the founder of the village two hundreds years ago.

“Calm down everyone!” Milna intoned.

Elder Milna knew everything about how to present herself, Kalna never saw her without her armor. She looked martial and commanding. Everyone calmed down when called for them to settle down.

“Elder?” One of the closest women called her out.

Elder Milna stared at the mountain, her eyes glowing with magic; she was using a form of mana sight as she was the only Mage Warrior they had in the village. “This phenomenon isn't natural… someone… someone took ownership of the mountains.”

Kalna spoke. “Then that means, someone has killed the white dragon?”

Milna rolled her eyes and snorted. “I wouldn't call that beast a dragon, at best it is a lesser one.”

One of the villagers asked, “Who could have killed it?”

The elder stopped watching the mountain, the only thing wrong with it was the mana getting stabilized and the nexus there no longer being available. With a frown the woman said out loud for all to hear, “That is… something we need to discover.”

She slammed the butt of her staff on the ground. “I need volunteers!”

“I shall go!” Kalna walked forward.

Another four Valkyries stepped forward and volunteered; this expedition promised to be fraught with dangers and only the best warriors and scouts decided to go.

# # #

(Dawn Kisaragi-Phantasia)

Training room
1 day later

Dawn didn't know what to think about the abysmal skills of her friends at magic. Daniella and her friends were completely pants at anything more complicated than first level spells. But she understood, this would maybe take years to get them to an average level.

They were used to brute force and cosmic energy, not the subtle art of magic and to stretch the limits of their imagination. Tsarra and Ocima were acting as her assistants; they already could use magic decently after all. She didn't ask Elissa because of how she viewed the notion of ‘training’ which was similar to her mother's.

Rudimentary climate manipulation enchantment made them comfortable in the granite walled room. The windows allowed for an impressive view on the Forest down below and the other mountains.

Danny Sparks, one of her best friends, started shooting magic missiles at the target before her. Carolyn and Erika followed suit, their aim was very good and their rhythm was terrific. Meanwhile, Jamie and Emilia used more esoteric spells like Ray of Frost at moving targets in the form of primitive golem summoned by Dawn.

The target was slowed down and freezing over, while Emilia threw herself at it with a mace, and intended to destroy it.

Dawn felt a worship of air next to her and saw… Dicinna and Elissa arrive through one of her portals. Her spouse was decked in a black light dress armor with her favored sword at her hips, her hand resting on Gram's pommel lovingly. Sometimes, Dawn felt jealous of that sword, Elissa oiled it every night.

“Hey, Dawn.” Elissa said by wrapping her arm around her waist.

Danny noticed Elissa being present and becoming tense; Dawn sighed and said to her wife, “Eli, you know you make our friends nervous when they train…”

Elissa chuckled with derision, she said in a mean manner, “I don't call that training, people with our physiology need more brutal exercises to be able to grow stronger. But I understand what you want to do, you can ease them up with the baby stuff and later I will take over and make them wish you were still training them.”

Dawn slapped her arm around her waist, and turned to her with a glare. “No, bad Eli!”

The dark Elf next to Elissa shrugged. “Dawn, she's not wrong.” Dicinna added with a light smile.

Dawn stared at the dark Elf who was wearing her usual leather armor with crystal pieces. “You always take her side!”

“I like you too, Dawn.” Dicinna said as she caught the Asian girl in her arms.

It was strange, Dicinna was old enough to be her grandma twice over, but she learned to appreciate her presence.

“You have a strange way to show it.” Dawn mumbled.

They stayed a long while together in conversation before helping the others with their magic. Elissa mainly helped with magic circulation in their body to make her friends’ spell more efficient. Dawn looked around her, normally at this point, Cassandra should be there, nagging at her. The little imp was strangely absent.

“Where is Cassandra?” Dawn queried.

Dicinna answered, “She's taking care of the wards with Sizalda and Narsenelyn. The rest of the Dwarves are inspecting the walls with my familiars.”

The two of them continued to discuss what was being done for the fort’s security until they saw Elissa become rigid and looking southward. “Huh, visitors?”

Dicinna was the first to ask, “Trouble?”

Elissa’s hand tightened around her sword’s grip. “Maybe? Let me use one of my crows to look for them.”

The young Queen closed her eyes, communing with her familiar. Crowy and Ravi were Elissa's first familiars and she loves them to bits; Dawn couldn’t wait to find her own familiar herself.

Caw! The asian girl heard the ravens. Dawn had no idea how Elissa distinguished between the two birds despite being able to fuse with her. It was somewhat instinctive. Elissa then began to report what she was seeing, a group of five women with blonde hair and clothed in furred capes and metal armors were scaling the mountain. They found the stairs to the fort.

“Dicinna, do you think we need to fuse?” Elissa asked.

“We still need some training for that.” The dark elf shook her head negatively.

“I have an idea…” Elissa smiled wickedly.

Dawn had a bad feeling suddenly.

# # #

(Dicinna Zerlot-Phantasia)

Dicinna liked less and less her wife’s plan. Pass herself for a Valkyrie? It seemed foolhardy and dangerous. Valkyrie were territorial and rather strong. At least that’s her experience when she came to Asgard the first time.

Things were different, the planetary shield had been raised and her family and friends were dumped in the woods. It was a bad idea to go to the Golden City, everyone was at risk of getting conscripted in the Asgardian armies. Why was Elissa ignoring her council? She had never been to Asgard like her…

Dicinna looked as her wife flew down the fort’s airship landing pad; she was using her ice wings to descend where the Valkyrie had stopped for the night. It was a bad idea to go parlay with wary Valkyries.

“Dicinna, don’t worry Elissa will listen to you after she gets her butt kicked.” The Dark Elf heard a voice coming from behind her.

Dicinna turned to see her little sister-in-law; Cassandra, laughing at what was going to happen to Elissa. The little sorceress must know something that Dicinna wasn’t seeing.“Little sister? What do you mean by that?”

Cassandra started floating and landed on the balustrade as she saw Elissa land next to the Valkyries’ camp. “You’ll see, she needs a good kick in the rump.”

Dicinna might love Elissa to bits but… “And she will have it… Elissa is strong, but not that strong. Asgard is a war torn world where only the strongest survive.”

“Then my dear sister will get her reality check.” Cassandra said as a bucket of popcorn appeared in a flash of magic into her hands.

It was at this point that the Valkyrie noticed Elissa’s presence and unsheathed their weapons. The young Queen opened her mouth and started talking condescendingly; Dicinna wasn’t surprised by what happened next…

# # #

Back with Elissa…

Elissa landed one meters from the camp, Gungnir in her hand, Gram in at her waist; her two Ravens on her shoulders. The snow started falling from the sky as she controlled the climate. My familiar huddled against my head for warmth, then I cast a bubble of warmth around them.

They stopped shivering and huddling for warmth. Elissa cast the weather spell to control the situation at the foot of the mountains. What she hoped from this confrontation was mostly information.

They must have felt her coming because the Valkyrie detected Elissa right away. Their eyes widened as they gazed upon her; Elissa's raven cared after she said, “Well met strangers, what are you doing on my mountain?”

“Who are you?” One of the Valkyries demanded, putting her hammer on her right shoulder.

The one with the two axes focused her gaze on the golden spear in Elissa's hand. “That spear…”

The women looked warily at the weapon. The valkyrie with the two are called its name. “Gungnir? How did she get it?”

“No, but it looks similar.” The Valkyrie with a bow and a notched arrow squinted her eyes at gungnir.

Elissa waved the Spear a bit and smiled. “This is just a trinket. So what are you barbarian doing on my mountain?”

The young Queen didn't like how those people barged in, what were they looking for? When she was done with them, she decided to hide the stairs leading up under an illusion.

The Valkyrie with two Axes looked affronted. “Barbarian? Do you think you're better than us?!”

With a derisive snort, Elissa replied, “I live in a mountain in luxury and you are camping in a camp under heavy snow.”

Elissa heard chanting and looked at the Valkyrie who stared at her with anger disfiguring her face, it was the one with a staff. “Fire Ball!”

With a roll of her eyes, Elissa made a wind barrier that sucked in the oxygen in the path of the Fireball and caused it to extinguish itself. The Mage Valkyrie stared at her Dumbly.

With an evil chuckle Elissa said, “Weak.” Then she chanted “Lightning Bolt.”

A bolt of lightning shot from her spear and toward the other Mage. Zap! It struck true right in the Valkyrie’s chest. “Aaahkzzzzz!”

She was sent flying inside the tent. Elissa put on a wicked smile of satisfaction, until the other Valkyries exploded in action.

“Aldriff!” The axes woman turned toward the tent, one of them went to the girl who got lightning in the face.

“You bitch!”

Elissa tilted her head. “She attacked me first-”

But she didn’t have the time to finish the sentence before the Valkyries with the axes, the leader called out, “Sisters, to me!”

And so began the struggle of Elissa as she was attacked from all sides, Elissa slammed the butt of her spear on the ground and a pulse of thunder and lightning spread around her. As one, the Valkyries jumped out of the way. Elissa tilted her head and dodged an arrow that passed next to her head and exploded in a burst of air sending her careening on the ground. She didn't let go of her spear despite being discombobulated by the shockwave.

“Die!” The Valkyrie with the sword shouted.

Elissa kicked a Valkyrie away while she jumped her as she was laying on the ground.  She threw her spear at the leader who miraculously caught it. An arrow hit Elissa's hand right in the palm making her grunt in pain.”Hng.”

The leader of the Valkyries let go of her axes, lunged at Elissa and punched her face two times before Elissa retaliated with an aura blade that the woman dodged somehow. It was at this point that it was the end of the line for Elissa when she received an arrow in the left knee, making her howl in pain.

The Valkyrie leader put her face laying in the snow and used a hold by holding Elissa's hand behind her back. “Submit!”

Suddenly, the Valkyrie was kicked out of the way and Dicinna appeared, Dawn did the same and forcefully removed the valkyries from the mountain with a teleportation spell. Elissa tried to stand up but she was immediately teleported back to the fort. At the same time… the barrier around the mountain extended and blocked any future intrusion.

“I had them!” The blonde glared at her dark elf and space Mage spouse.

Dawn chuckled. “Sure, Elissa.”

“Now that you got your bottom spanked by the Valkyries, will you listen to my advice?” Dicinna stared meaningfully into her wife’s eyes.

Elissa lowered her eyes, looked back up and said, “Fine.”