Dragonborn Saga-Chapter 730: Sloth 3
A/n: I have been offline for the past few days because of a situation. I've posted an update about it on Patreon and Discord so to sum it up, my wife and I are expecting a child. I'm no longer just Don, I'm Don Padre. 😂😂😂
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The power of the sun flowing through the spell that Jon cast was powerful enough to take a toll on both Jon and Pride. It was clear that his arm was being burned by the strong aura of the sun's energy, and even Pride was emitting smoke. The one who endured despite being on the wrong end of this spell is Karstaag.
The ancient ghost of the Frost Giant roared as it was being pressured against the wall of his own castle. Jon's spell was massive enough to move the Frost Giant back and keep him stuck to the wall of the castle as the latter put his arms in front of his face and channeled as much frost energy as he could. With every roar, the Frost Giant was struggling, but he kept causing a strong torrent of cold storms around Jon as if he were retaliating with an offense to defend himself.
This was going to be a battle of attrition. Unfortunately for Karstaag, this is where Jon is unbeatable.
Despite being covered by the storm Karstaag brewed, Jon was mostly unfazed, even with the emergence of many Ice Wraiths. These monsters that are born by the phenomenon of extreme cold Magicka would emerge involuntarily from Karstaag's storms and attack any source of heat by phasing through it. It was annoying since Armor and Magicka can't easily defend against them, but Jon's Sins were still powerful enough to kill any Ice Wraith as soon as it emerged.
The situation was favorable for Jon.
But Karstaag was still standing despite the complete disadvantage he was in. The Frost Giant would only try to physically push himself back, but at a desperate moment, he made a decision that would buy him some time.
His location was at the back end of his castle, right next to his old throne, which was within his arm's reach. All Karstaag needed to do and what he could do was extend his arm far enough to the left and…
"What the…"
Despite the minor inconveniences, Jon was keeping his opponent within range of his passive detection. Karstaag is one to be careful against despite pulling out this strong spell, and Jon wasn't wrong with this one. Karstaag's desperate attempt involved reaching out to the Ice Throne and flinging it with force at Jon.
Seeing this massive lump of ice flying at him, Wrath was the first to intercept it with a wall of bones that crumbled against the massive weight of the Ice Throne. Envy and Gluttony tried to stop it too, but they were too far away.
"Shit!" Jon, on the other hand, had to stop aiming his staff at Karstaag and switch into a defensive Shockwave spell, which repelled everything around him, including the throne. But just as the throne's momentum was stopped, the whole thing paused midair.
"Uh-oh!"
Without further notice, the throne was raised up in the air and Jon could see Karstaag holding it up by his two arms before…
*BOOM!*
… the whole thing descended upon Jon with a thunderous impact.
As the snow mist settled, Jon was nowhere to be seen, but his sin artifacts, which are part of his being, were still there and maintaining their formation. In the eyes of Karstaag, this didn't seem like a fight that was going to end soon.
Gluttony, Greed, Envy, and Wrath launched their attacks one more time and didn't seem to be hesitating, but Karstaag maintained pressure over the Ice Throne, knowing that Jon is not done yet. If he can't kill this opponent with all the conventional means, he'd at least keep him down and wear out his allies.
A strategy like that was realistic, but the Sins weren't things that would be worn out this easily. Just like Karstaag himself, the Sins had endless stamina to spare; only Jon was the one who'd be limited in this regard.
Yet in the heat of the fight, or rather at its coldest, while Jon was putting all this strength in his arms in order not to get crushed by the Ice Throne, a whisper came to him from Nefertiti. She told him that her hunt was finally over.
He could feel it too, Karstaag's weakness that would weaken the Frost Giant by leaps and bounds.
"Alright. My turn!" Jon said, then roared with his voice, "FUS RO DAH!"
With unrelenting force, Jon pushed out the massive throne and got to his feet. With his staff, he fired a barrage of fireballs at Karstaag to put some sort of barrier between them. Unlike his usual self, Karstaag was almost easily stunned by the shockwaves coming from those fireballs and raised his left arm over his face for protection.
As Jon suspected, Karstaag was weakened after Nefertiti did what he told her to do.
"Wrath!" Jon called again, just like at the start, and Wrath charged at Karstaag and slashed his knees from the back.
"Gluttony!" Jon called, and Gluttony bit one of Karstaag's legs before starting to pull him back from it.
"Greed!" Jon called, and Greed, in its horse form, rammed Karstaag from his back, making him fall down on his face.
"Envy!" Jon called, and Envy hovered over Karstaag's head before starting to attack him with wailing screams.
"Lust!" Jon called, and Lust had Karstaag's senses all jumbled up and disoriented.
The Sin Artifacts worked with their most efficient powers and kept Karstaag incapacitated. The Frost Giant was no longer able to resist Jon.
"Pride!" Jon called, and with his staff, he cast one last spell at Karstaag, one that would end it all.
The lightning struck the incapacitated giant, and it slowly faded, leaving behind no traces other than a heap of astral energy and solidified astral matter. It was, after all, a ghost.
Not just any ghost, though. A ghost that, without any soul-trapping spell or soul gem, was trapped by Jon.
With the naked eye, Jon absorbed the Soul of Karstaag involuntarily without trying to trap it, just like he does with Dragons.
This only meant one thing, and that is what Nefertiti was tasked with taking care of.
"Karstaag's soul was Divine!"
***
"Explain please!" Wulfur said as he offloaded two crates of Stalhrim dust from a sled in front of Jon in the courtyard of Karstaag's castle.
"Karstaag is… or was, the deity of the Rieklings." Jon said, "So long as there are Rieklings in the vicinity of the castle or even in Solstheim, their Divine Deity would be seriously strengthened."
"And so you had your cat commit mass genocide?" Wulfur asked.
"Not really." Jon answered while trying to sweeten his case, "All she did was drive off the ones close by as far as possible by killing some of them and…"
"You took it too far this time." Wulfur said.
"You never had qualms killing Falmer and Goblins." Jon said.
"Those were pests last time I checked." Wulfur replied.
"Those are their cousins, you know. Some devolved elf who ended up on this island." Jon argued.
"We don't go around killing the Giants too. Aren't they the same as those devolved Elves?" Wulfur argued back.
"Devolved Atmorns, actually." Jon corrected him.
"What the…"
"Never mind it. We only killed the ones that attacked first. The rest scattered themselves. Relax."
Jon had to bring the argument to a close and headed to carry a Stalhrim dust crate all by himself. He also harvested all the ectoplasm and the grand soul gems that were dropped with the defeat of Karstaag.
He used the ectoplasm and mixed it with the Stalhrim dust to create a cold, gooey substance that he used carefully to restore some parts of the Ice Throne, including the one Karstaag used to attack Jon.
Despite the strength of the material, some parts of it were chipped due to the fierce battle, and Jon wanted it all restored. That's why he tasked Greed with gathering all those chipped parts and fixing the Ice Throne back into its position.
But before fixing it completely, Jon broke the armrests of the chair and then took out two large gems from the Cube; these gems were the left and right Eyes of the Falmer, the gems that are acquired by the end of the Thieves Guild quests.
Jon positioned the two large gems in the place of the broken armrests of the Ice Throne, then started to restore the armrests over the gems with magic and substance.
"Why have you used those two things?" Wulfur asked.
"Because I've used them once as a medium to channel some of the chaos energy into Nocturnal." Jon said with a smirk, "Like I loaded them with chaos and splashed them all over her."
"Alright, I get it." Wulfur was still disturbed by Jon's Aims Justify the Means policy and was about to turn away but his curiosity got the best of him, "So they are strong enough to contain divine energy; that's what you're saying?"
"I knew you'd figure it out on your own." Jon said.
"And you're using that to…?" Wulfur was a little bit skeptical, but he kept watching Jon very carefully.
As Jon finished restoring the Ice Throne, he started to use the rest of the Stalhrim to modify the Throne's appearance. By using all the transmutation spells he knows, he made the giant throne higher than it used to be and a little bit thinner. Eventually, he fitted the throne to his size but left a little bit of room for further modifications.
"And with that… the vessel is ready."
Jon had a sinister grin on his face, and Wulfur could foresee where this was going at last. Despite all his nonsense about not being a High King or an Emperor, a Dragon would still love to have a throne all to himself, and what is better than a giant's throne made from unmelting ice?
As he was done, Jon sat on the throne and fitted himself nicely. He did nothing after that aside from sitting there and waiting. Wulfur had to take some time away to let Jon organize his thoughts before moving on to the next phase.
As for Jon, as soon as the courtyard was empty and the place was totally quiet to the point where he could hear his own thoughts, he tightened his grip over the armrests and let his Magicka flow to reach through the restored cracks until it reached the Eyes of the Falmer stored within.
With a little tug, he started to make the Magicka within those Gems flow, and the result was something he expected to come out.
As he was sitting and closing his eyes, the cracks all over the Ice Throne were suddenly darkening and being filled with blackness. As all the cracks darkened, the entire Ice Throne started to darken like black glass until it gradually lost its luster and darkened to the point of no recognition of its past appearance.
Jon then let the words flow from his mouth.
"Karstaag." He said.
The hall of Karstaag's castle was still quiet, but then it all started to shake as a large giant with a broad build, four eyes, a vertical skull, and two menacing horns stood in front of Jon with vicious eyes.
Jon then looked at the Giant and smirked.
"Only the soul of an Ada can take over another Ada, just like dragons do with one another. Alas, the souls of dragons are much more Divine than yours, so… that makes you mine." Jon said and crossed one leg over the other, "For a limited time, alas… I guess I can only call you two or three more times. Such a waste!"
As Jon said so, he looked away and sighed in regret before turning to Karstaag with only one eye.
"Unless you want to get your throne back… then we'd have to make a deal."
The giant ghost, who is now bound to Jon, kept staring at Jon before stomping the ground in anger and walking around his darkened throne once.
A deal with a human that usurped his throne.
What sort of thing would that be? He's already an immortal spirit, but unless he's bound to something like his Riekling followers, he'd be cast away from memory, hence Oblivion.
Jon knew this weakness and offered Karstaag salvation from Oblivion.
"Join me and become Karstaag of Sloth!" Jon's words echoed sinisterly, "Join me, be of my kin, and survive."
Each ego of the sin artifacts was artificial in one way or another. Most of the sins except Envy and Lust were developed, hence their non-human personalities. Venus of Lust was a Nede maiden whose soul was given to Sanguine many years ago, and Potema of Envy was the Wolf Queen. Sloth, on the other hand, shall be based on Karstaag, not just a living soul but one that was deified and worshiped by the Rieklings, who are still a group of mortals.
Karstaag looked at Jon and faded away as soon as he touched the Dark Throne. And…
*Crack* *Crack* *Crumble*
The Castle of Karstaag, with its impenetrable walls of ice, started to crack and fall apart. Upon its rubble and ruins, a dark throne rose into the air as if it were being carried by a storm, a storm with glaring eyes that shook those who witnessed it, and the only ones that witnessed it were Wulfur and his Skaal helpers that were minding their business outside the castle.
Jon looked at them from the throne, and then he and the throne were enveloped in the storm before it dissipated and left nothing behind.
Sloth was just created
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[ Sloth ] <Shadow Ice Throne>
- Glare of the Storm: Brews a storm around the throne that can carry it across the sky.
- Fortress of Frost: Erect a fortress wall around the throne that can't be penetrated by mundane means.
- Karstaag: Summon Karstaag.
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