Twilight the Campione

by ilbgar

Settling In

When she got off the plane, after getting her passport stamped of course, she went to get a house of moderate size. She would like somewhere where she could work on her projects in peace, and place some defenses against magical and non-magical intruders.

She could afford one because she'd used the spell for finding gems so often that she'd become able to adjust it to search for specific types of gems or precious metals and actually needed to create a pocket dimension connected to her backpack the size of an Olympic Swimming Pool to store it all.

Now that had required some experimentation. The first one imploded, the second exploded, third didn't even work, but the fourth functioned perfectly, albeit a bit too small. She was still using the fifth.

She had gathered it more because a lot of the really big spells and invocations here required materials of this type as reagents and she needed to give some to a few of the poorer or greedier mages to get them to teach her their spells. Usually she just reimbursed what they used in their demonstration.

She found a fairly large house in one of the older districts, and after comparing it to a few others, chose it as her new home.

It was a large house with a garden, and a wall enclosing it. The only way of getting past the wall after she placed a transparent shield over her house was the gate, as the bottom of the shield was the top edge of the wall. She spent the next week prepping the house.

She set up some wards. Wards were spells that were laid over an area or object and fulfilled a specific purpose. First, a perimeter ward that would sound out the ringing of a gong if someone of hostile intent entered the premises.

Second, a ward on each room that she could activate at any time she chose so long as she was within half a mile of them that would have effects varying from firing a slew of bolts of magic, using degraded versions of her Authorities, or releasing a curse monster. She also put a number in the garden that caused a degraded Bountiful Harvest to come into effect.

The next thing was a crystal that she'd discovered with a resemblance to her element that was downright creepy. She discovered it had an amazing amount of magic storage capacity. She added a few spells to increase it's capacity, and had begun dumping about a quarter of her reserves into it early in the morning every day. With her regeneration, she could recover it in a couple hours.

She could use the crystal to restore her reserves if they were depleted, and it retained nearly 100% of the power she invested in it. Unfortunately, she needed direct physical contact, and since the container she had made was only able to reduce the presence it had, presence meaning energy it released as overflow, by about nine-tenths, it was only a matter of time before it was a beacon. She soon solved this by placing a second and third layer, reducing the released energy to 1/1000.

Her last line of defense was seven curse monsters she'd created with Endless Curses, each representative of one of the negative qualities of all sapient beings. Pride, Wrath, Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, and Sloth. She was writhing on the floor for half an hour after each one, even with Tolerance, though she was sure her own tolerance for pain was rising rapidly, the pain inflicted by Endless Curses completely bypassed any tolerance she had.

The curse monsters each had a different effect. Pride made a person full of it's namesake, and caused them to either charge in like an idiot, or turn on their allies, depending on their temperament and relations with the others before being affected by Pride's ability. Needless to say, she really didn't like this one, as it went against her principles to manipulate someone's emotions into betraying their friends. That was Discord's job.

Wrath made someone like a berserker, attacking anyone or anything around them. They would ignore wounds and keep going until they collapsed. Once again, the last resort for a reason. She could release them individually, so the first two would be some of the last to be released. Although, the curse beasts were easily discovered, as their victims were surrounded by a black aura.

Greed made it's victim easily dazzled by gold, jewels, etc. She was pretty sure this one was harmless otherwise, but memories of Rarity being bewitched by Discord made her reluctant to use this one either.

Envy caused raging jealousy. Of all the curse monsters, it was the most likely to cause in-fighting. As such, it was one of the last last resorts.

Gluttony made them ravenously hungry, to the point they'd eat even normally inedible things, such as wood or dirt. This one was only dangerous if something poisonous was in the area. The worst that could happen otherwise was a bad stomachache and/or vomiting. As such, it was the second to be released.

Lust caused... well it was fairly self-explanatory. Oddly, the effect was mildest with this one, to the point it could be resisted.

Sloth drained it's target of energy, making them lethargic, it also caused a halving of it's victim's speed even if they did move. This was the one she would release first, as it was the most non-lethal, only making the target sleepy, as it didn't drain any more energy after a certain point, though the slowing effect remained.

She also got some help from the local mage organization, the Historical Compilation Committee, getting enrolled in school. They seemed surprised by her decision, but she had several good reasons.

Firstly, she wanted to interact with others her age. Secondly, she couldn't spend all her time trying to find a way back home, or experimenting with transplanting her Authorities into various spells, she'd go insane.

They seemed nervous about her choice of school, but hadn't objected from a combination of fear that they might invoke the wrath of one of the most powerful people in the world, and lack of a good argument to try to talk her into going to another school. She'd been a bit overwhelmed by the total acceptance of not being able to stand against her if she chose to do something. The rules for dealing with Campione were as follows once you got rid of all the flowery diplomatic speech.

1. Do as they say. It's easier that way. If you resist, it's perfectly within their power to make you go through hell. Literally in some cases.

2. If a Heretic God shows up, make every effort to aid them in getting rid of it. Doing so will mitigate damage and hopefully make them go away that much faster.

3. Do not under any circumstances try to manipulate, drug, bewitch, or otherwise control a Campione. A volcanic eruption is the only thing that compares to the results. If you're lucky, they'll kill you quickly and not bring you back to life so they can do it again. If you're unlucky, they might do that, or they might destroy a city just to prove that you aren't even worth their time.

4. They can pretty much do as they please, and they only allow people to try to convince them not to do things at their mercy. Do not push your luck, even with the sanest, most forgiving Kings. Only other Campione and Gods can stand against them.

They were much less blunt on paper, but that's what they boiled down to. She really didn't like how someone with less self-control or less empathy might abuse their power. They were likely why these rules were formulated this way. She had learned of several instances where mortals challenged Campione, and were crushed like ants. Britain before the King of the End appeared was a good example. All those Kings fighting Gods and each other had led to a cataclysm for the lower classes, and the nobles didn't do well either.

Anyway, she was starting her first day here. The placement test had put her at 12th grade level if not college, but she insisted on the full experience. She was starting in tenth grade according to her physical age, 16. She had been placed in class a day after another girl named Lilliana, according to some whispers from her classmates. It had always struck her as odd that whispers carried just as well, if not better than normal speech.

The day progressed fairly normally until lunch. Not knowing anyone, and not really feeling like sitting with total strangers, she elected to try the rooftop.

However, she discovered it was occupied by a small group. Four girls and a boy, all in the school uniform. Of course, so was she as it was a uniform.

The first girl was an attractive blond.

The second girl had long brown hair.

The third girl had long silver hair in a pony tail.

The fourth girl had long black hair she let fall freely like the girl with brown hair.

The boy had short brown hair.

She walked over, her nerves fraying slightly. She'd never mastered social interactions. She wasn't hopelessly inept anymore, but she was definitely not a social butterfly. "Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" she asked during a lull in their conversation.

"No, not really." the boy said.

"So, who are you?" the blonde-haired girl asked.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, I just moved here a week ago and transferred to this school. I don't actually know anybody yet." she stuck her hand out. "Nice to meet you all!" she said, smiling pleasantly. The girl with blond hair had stiffened momentarily, before calming down and taking Twilight's hand to shake it. The others looked at her oddly, but let it pass.

"I'm Erica." she pointed at herself. "This is Mariya." she pointed at the girl with long brown hair. "This is Lilliana." she pointed at the girl with silver hair. "This is Ena." Erica pointed at the black-haired girl. "And this is Godou." she laid a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Where are you from?" Mariya asked.

"Well, I haven't really been living in one town for more than a month at a time since I was six, but I've been in Europe mostly. I spent a little time in India on the way here though." Twilight said. None of that was a lie, though it left a great deal of information out. Still, there was a chance that this Godou was the native Kusanagi Godou, the seventh Campione that she'd been informed of. Sometimes she wondered if Fate, or whatever caused coincidences liked doing this sort of thing to her. She had left Italy just as the seventh Campione made enough of a splash to become a household name. She hadn't interacted with the mages in India, who could be forgiven for only making a cursory check to see if she planned to stay in their country before leaving her alone as they were always understaffed with the sheer number of Hindu Gods.

"Huh, how come you were traveling so much?" Godou asked.

"Well, I was studying an unusual subject and the teachers were scattered around like leaves in autumn." she answered.

Twilight noticed it was almost time for lunch to end, so she shoveled down her food, and excused herself before the bell rang. She was not going to be late on her first day!

*** With Godou and Company ***

"Well, she was nice." Mariya said.

"I suppose so, then again, Campione often have a different approach towards normal life than in private." Erica said, dropping a bomb on the conversation.

"Wait, that was a Campione?!" The other four people on the roof yelled.

"Yes, she matches the description of her exactly, and not many people have hair like that. Apparently, that's her normal hair color and everything. Anyway, she became a Campione after defeating Cronos. The father of the original pantheon of Greek Gods. In the first four days, she slew Hecate, Shiva, and Angra Mainyu as well. Four Gods in as many days. That's a historical first." Erica explained.

"Four Gods?" Godou asked, glancing in the direction Twilight had left in. She seemed like a normal teenage girl, if slightly neurotic about being on time and actually organizing her food before eating it in order. Okay, pretty neurotic. Still, four Gods in less than a week? That was pushing it even for the world of Campione.

Was she actually quite ruthless under that pleasant exterior? Fighting Gods that attacked you or started threatening people's lives was one thing, but actively seeking out Gods to slay them and increase your own power was something Voban did. Doni did it because he liked fighting strong opponents.

"Yes. Apparently, she got involved with Cronos when his sons, Hades and Zeus, were fighting him near a town because she was afraid the townspeople would be harmed. Hecate fought her because she was curious what a mage-turned-Campione's magic skills would be. Shiva attacked her because Campione had a history of wiping out a few Gods each time they were in the country. Duke Voban doesn't visit because they remember his previous visit to the area. Angra Mainyu just commits acts of evil whenever he manifests, randomly attacking with no provocation. Observation of the battles concluded that the eighth King can learn any spell cast in her view after seeing it only once. Using this ability, she managed to overwhelm Hecate. She also usurped an Authority from Cronos that allows her to influence the passage of time, accelerating, decelerating, or outright stopping it for several minutes at a time." Erica explained.

For a mage, the ability to learn any spell cast in front of her was terrifying, because it made all their trump cards potentially weapons in the hands of their opponent. That was what made the various Gods of magic so daunting even compared to other Gods. If you cooked up a spell just to take them down, odds were that they'd figure out a way around it before it could take effect. Still, they generally weren't able to learn spells that quickly. It seemed Hecate was unprepared for her learning ability to be outstripped.

"Phew, that's a relief! I was worried that she was like Voban for a second there." Godou said, relieved.

"How is it that you were informed of this and I was not?" Lilliana asked. As a member of the Bronze-Black Cross, and a Great Knight at that, she ought to have been informed of this

"Well, The Bronze-Black Cross is probably swamped with paperwork from your change of allegiance to Godou, as well as the natural results of the rise in prestige and influence that comes with being allied to a Campione. They're likely understaffed right now." Erica answered.

Lilliana thought over that line of reasoning, recalling that her grandfather was complaining about the increased workload before they left Italy after the incident with Athena and Perseus. Then she agreed.

"So, what do we do?" Godou asked.

"We could always go visit her house. The Historical Compilation Committee must know where she lives, and she didn't seem the type to obliterate us for it." Ena said cheerfully, as if obliteration were something to be discussed amiably over dinner.

After they thought that over, they, with varying degrees of reluctance, agreed.

Author's Note:

I feel like I'm going to take some heat for Twilight implanting a ward with godly power, so here's my take on it. An Authority is divine power, fully divine when used by a God. I believe Campione are demigods in terms of divinity, half-divine. It shouldn't be too much of a stretch for a Campione with sufficient talent and knowledge, such as Twilight who has had about a decade to learn the magic and enough talent to learn at a rate that would leave most other students jealous and/or crying, to impart godly power into a ward, especially if it's only a degraded version.
As for why Twilight made the curse monsters, well she's seen some of the less... pleasant parts of the world in her stay and she's less innocent and merciful than before. That's not to say she would kill someone in cold blood or feel nothing afterward, but she's certainly more willingly to permanently end a threat against her friends. She's also learned a thing or two about preparation.

Comments

[Trimontar]

makes sense for your reasoning

[BronyPonyMan]

4862807 agreed. his reasoning is sound, in my eyes.

hmm. i'm not sure that the above sentence is structured properly.

[guilmon21]

Moar

[Sable Dawn]

I would very much like to see more of this story.

[Fictional Fanatic]

I just re-read this story and I'm still hoping for it to continue.

[Mourningmist]

Hey Author get back here and FINISH THIS STORY!!! Thank you.😁

[Ze1a7in]

moar?

[Zergly]

please update

[ValNitak Choas]

please update, I like the anime and was hope for a mlp cross over with it.
I wonder what they reaction going to be when she tell them she form a world of magic talk ponys, who ruler is a kind immortal goddess.