Interlude: Meanwhile With the Other Champions I

Eric Dahl was not having a good time. He'd been largely content to mind his own business after being Chosen by Loki to receive the powers of the Celestial Grimoire. Of course, the fact that he'd been sent to Mundus, the World of Warhammer Fantasy, could have been a problem. So could the fact that he'd apparently been sent to the Border Princes, a land of over a dozen, petty, feuding, Minor Principalities. Fortunately, he'd been sent to the Principality of Vardanos, a small Principality with a single, medium-sized, walled town and a number of smaller villages that had recently lost its Prince. Vardanos was sandwiched between the Appucini Mountains to the Northwest, the Lagoon of Tears to the Southeast, the Principality of Argalis to the Southwest, the Principality of Lakoris to the North, and the Principalities of Kasos and Thesos to the East.

Eric had been planning to lay low for a while and build up his power using the Celestial Grimoire, but that had only lasted for a scant few months, during which time, Eric had penned down everything he knew about Warhammer Fantasy in English on a number of sheaves of parchment. Crucially, given the time frame, he penned down what he knew of the End Times as it was currently twenty-five-oh-four by the Imperial Calendar, roughly fifteen years before the End Times was scheduled to happen. As he grew in power, Eric figured that he would be good to start looking outward, and that had been where the trouble had begun for him. The Border Princes were far from stable, after all, and Eric was hardly surprised when the newly crowned Prince Anders Van Den Rees, a Marienburger who had bought the Throne of Vardanos, had been found strangled to death in his bedroom.

To make matters worse, a Horde of Orcs and Goblins had come out of the Appucini Mountains to attack the Southwestern Border Princes a few days after that led by the Orcish Warboss Goretoof, who lived up to the name thanks to having a mouth full of sharpened, metal, dentures which he used to bite folks in combat as a second weapon to go with his Choppa and Shield. To compound Eric's problems, Goretoof was accompanied by a Night Goblin Shaman, Stinkfinga, who was pretty damn good with the Lore of Da Little Waaagh! He'd used the Magic to kill the General of the Small Mercenary Army that the Republic of Verazzo in Tilea had sent in to keep the Greenskins in the territory of the Border Princes and away from the Town of Pugno, which Verazzo controlled. With Stinkfinga having killed the General, Goretoof had destroyed the army, sacking Pugno for good measure before turning back into the Border Princes to attack Argalis and Vardanos.

Eric had been forced to take command of the Militia and Guards of Vardanos to defeat the incursion. He was, somewhat Ironically, the most powerful person in Vardanos, and thus, the Militia and Guards had unanimously proclaimed him their Prince and Captain-General. Fortunately, Eric had been able to utilize the powers granted to him by the Celestial Grimoire to not only rout the Greenskin Forces raiding the Countryside of Vardanos with Fire and Shadow magic, as the Celestial Grimoire allowed him to cheat and cast multiple winds of magic at once in a display of Higg Magic, something that was normally relegated to Elves and Slann but also to duel Goretoof and Stinkfinga one-on-one in a pair of battles at Argalis and Pugno, that had allowed his ragtag force to conquer the Greenskin Menace when some of the Finest Mercenaries in Tilea could not.

First, the Magical Duel against Stinkfinga took place at the Battle of Argalis, where Stinkfinga and his Goblins, which was made up of Normal Goblins, Forest Goblins, and Night Goblins, had been attacking the City of Argalis. Stinkfinga had just managed to slay Achilles Formis, the Warrior Prince of Argalis, as he directed the defense of his city from the battlements when Eric had engaged him. The battle was short and violent, Stinkfinga having to call on more power than he could handle to try and deal with the threat of High Magic, plus the simultaneous threat of weather hazards that were stirred up by Eric's Weathercraft Sorcery. It had utterly destroyed him, causing Stinkfinga's head to explode from the overload of power, as often happened when Goblin Shamans drew too deeply on the Waaagh!

With their leader dead, the Goblins began to waver. Eric then conjured a wind to block the arrow fire from the Goblins, and a charge from his men shattered the Goblin Horde. They tried to withdraw back to the Mountains, only for Eric to unleash his cavalry, hidden from the Goblins with Ulgu Magic. It was an utter slaughter. By the end of the battle, no Goblin had survived. Immediately, Argalis had joined him, with their Prince dead and having proclaimed no successor, Argalis proclaimed Eric their new Prince as the combined force marched for Pugno to evict Goretoof and his Orcs and free the recently sacked and enslaved city. This they did, with Eric slaying Goretoof during the Battle of Pugno, thanks to being able to consciously manipulate his body with Biokinesis and channel magic into his movements.

This he utilized to great effect in their duel, boosting his physical prowess beyond the level that Goretoof could handle, while simultaneously blasting him with flaming punches and lightning bolts from the sky via Aqshy and Weathercraft Sorcery respectively. Eventually, Goretoof couldn't keep up and a flaming right cross, boosted with magic and biokinesis, literally punched Goretoof's jaw off and set the Orc Warboss' head aflame. A follow-on leaping haymaker crushed Goretoof's skull and scattered his brains across the battlements of Pugno. When Goretoof fell, his Nobs began to turn on each other, and that was when the City's inhabitants, having been enslaved by Goretoof to do the jobs he normally made the Goblins do, like menial labor, rose up in revolt. Fractured, attacked from without and within, the Orcish Horde disintegrated as the attacks overcame the Waaagh!

That brought us to now. Eric was now the Prince of not only Vardanos, but also Argalis, and crucially, Pugno. This was something that rankled the Republic of Verazzo in Tilea, and Eric now found himself having to deal with their demands that he return Pugno to their control. The Ambassador of Verazzo, Gaudenzio Borsellino, was an unpleasant man, foppish, quick to take offense, and generally pushy. Gaudenzio had clearly been sent by the reigning Yellow Faction under Groccolo to provoke War, which was odd. The Yellows, so far as Erich Understood, were not warmongers like the Reds. Something must have shifted in politics in Verazzo because of Pugno's sack by Goretoof. They weren't even trying to purchase Pugno, as Eric had thought they would.

This left Eric in something of a pickle, bringing things back to the bad time he'd been having. If he agreed to Verazzo's terms, which were to leave Pugno or else, he looked weak in the eyes of the Border Princes, inviting possible assassination or invasion. If he refused those terms, then it would be War with Verazzo, and Eric wasn't sure if he could handle that so soon after having just destroyed Goretoof's Waaagh! Ideally, he would have a few months to rebuild his war-torn Principality and replenish his forces first. Could he truly afford War with Verazzo? He didn't know, but he was about to find out, as he had received word that Ambassador Gaudenzio was on his way to the Fortress that Eric was using as his Palace to hear his response to the Ultimatum that he had been given.

Eric sat in the Great Hall of the Fortress of Pugno, one of the few places in Pugno that had already been repaired and de-orcified. He had no throne, just a simple carved wooden chair, something he had insisted on, as he refused to spend money on frivolous things when his people were still rebuilding. Loki had chosen him, given him powers, and sent him here before the incursion. The God of Mischief had probably been expecting Eric to take the reigns and Eric would be damned if he turned out to be cut from the same royal cloth as Louis the Sixteenth or Nicholas the Second. As he sat on his throne he nodded to the Mail-Clad Guards with their halberds and they opened the interior doors to the Great Hall. No sooner had they done so, than in walked Ambassador Gaudenzio.

The Fop wore an outrageous outfit, slashed silk accented with gold brocade, his hair, mustache, and goatee all oiled and slicked with perfume. He wore a gold medallion set with a yellow carnelian the size of a Robin's Egg and bore a Rapier and Dagger with gilded, gem-crusted, hilts. A wide-brimmed hat with an Arabyan Ostrich Plume completed the ensemble, making him the prototypical noble fop. Unfortunately, this particular fop was both ill-tempered and spoke with the Voice of the Republic of Verazzo. As he approached, Ambassador Gaudenzio bowed, shallowly, before straightening up and fixing Eric with a glare.

"Prince Dahl, have you come to a decision regarding the Republic's demands?" Questioned Ambassador Gaudenzio, practically sneering the word 'prince' as he did so.

"I have." Nodded Eric.

"And what have you decided?" Queried Ambassador Gaudenzio.

"Your conduct has been nothing short of egregious. I can only assume that this is because the Republic of Verazzo desires War with me. That being so, I have decided to oblige. Tell your Prince and Council that I shall meet your forces on the field, and we shall settle this there." Informed Eric.

"Are you certain? If the Republic of Verazzo makes War upon you, we shall not stop until our forces reach the Gates of Vardanos." Warned Ambassador Gaudenzio.

"You ought to be more concerned with your Republic and less with my Principality. It was not Verazzo that slew Goretoof and destroyed his Horde, after all." Insisted Eric.

"And will your people agree with your sentiment, I wonder?" Asked Ambassador Gaudenzio.

"Let's find out! Will you follow me to War again?" Eric demanded.

The Entire Hall began shouting affirmative and stamping their feet, the guards banging the steel-shod butts of their halberds on the flagstones of the floor of the Great Hall. Even those who had previously been citizens of Verazzo from Pugno seemed ready to back Eric in a new war. It seemed that freeing Pugno from bondage under the yoke of the Greenskins went a long way toward building trust in the locals. It also helped that Eric had supernatural charisma thanks to the powers granted to him by the Celestial Grimoire. He turned back to Ambassador Gaudenzio and gave a short nod.

"I think you have your answer." Smirked Eric.

"Very well, if it is War you desire, then War you shall have." Huffed Ambassador Gaudenzio.

"It was not Vardanos that desired War, Ambassador. It was your Republic. Had you made a reasonable offer, I would have considered it. Instead, you chose to give an Ultimatum, couched in such a way that it was an insult. Vardanos could not accept such a thing. My people will see that it was you who pushed for a war, not I. Now, all that needs to be said is this, you have one day to leave our territory. If you do not comply, I shall send the Guards to arrest you as a Spy." Intoned Eric.

"Very well. I bid you bona fortuna. Against our army, you will need it." Spat Ambassador Gaudenzio before leaving.

And like that, Eric found himself at war once again. This time, he was resolved to strike first. Fortunately, his Militia was still being held in reserve to augment his Guard Force. He would attack through the mountain passes at the villages of Ricotta and Ciabatta before moving on to the Town of Terenne. This was largely possible thanks to his defeat of Goretoof's Waaagh! Without the threat of Greenskin attack, the Appucini Mountain Passes would be largely passable without issue. Meanwhile, the forces of Verazzo were still assembling near the City of Raverno. When Eric came out of the mountains near the Village of Ricotta, he would manage to capture the Village after a perfunctory battle that saw the Village's one-hundred-fifteen Militiamen routed in just one hour of fighting. As Eric had used Ulgu to screen his Force's movements, Verazzo literally did not know what hit them. The Verazzo-Vardanos War began with a victory for Vardanos.

It would not be the last. . .

XXXX

Alia Fadal, Champion of Heshet, had been gifted what was probably the weakest power set in terms of the Contest, the Celestial Oven. Cooking was not something that you would normally think of when it came to direct combat applications, and the Celestial Oven did not seem to give anything that could be considered powerful for such applications, at least not outright. Oh certainly, you could cook food that would give you power-ups, but aside from that, there were remarkably few things that could do the trick on the surface. Attack Cuisine, Combat Seasoning, and King of Flames all had combat applications there on the surface, but to truly figure out how to use the Celestial Oven for fighting, you had to look deeper.

For example, Choice Cuts allowed the Chef intimate knowledge of anatomy to be able to butcher meat with increased efficiency. That wasn't just limited to Human Anatomy, as that Moron with the sonic cannon who had attempted to rob her restaurant learned when she struck him hard enough in a vital point that he was knocked unconscious with a single blow, even before the Heroes showed up to attempt to arrest the would-be Thief. Not only that, but there were other perks as well, Cut Ten-Thousand Radishes didn't just make her a wizard at cutting vegetables, but also gave her enough skill with blades that she could be considered an expert swordsman. At the same time, Chopping Speed vastly increased her speed and reflexes, allowing her to do things like cut bullets out of the air.

It really was all in how you used it. Of course, it also took time to build up. Fortunately, she had been sent by Heshet to a World that had plenty of its own heroes with enough time before things escalated to the point of no return that she could build up. This Universe was one she was familiar with from Comic Books. Her parents hadn't wanted her to read things like Invincible or Tech Jacket growing up. They'd immigrated from Jordan in the early nineties, back when what most people knew of Image Comics had been things like Spawn or Witchblade, things that were unsuitable for a middle-schooler to read, let alone their only daughter. Speaking of Tech Jacket, he was about to return to Earth from Space if Alia had her dates right. That meant she had a few months before Invincible's debut and nine months before Omni-Man slaughtered the Guardians of the Globe.

That was plenty of time to Warn the Guardians and boost them using her magic cooking. Alia just had to figure out how she was going to do that. It wasn't as if she could simply go to Guardians Headquarters to warn them. After all, all she knew of it was that it was located somewhere underground beneath a Desert in Utah. That wasn't exactly the most accurate of maps. Fortunately, she had a workaround. Tech Jacket. The Geldarian Armor that he wore would detect any signals sent its way. It was sort of like a Green Lantern Ring, after all. One of the first things Alia had done with the money she'd earned with her Restaurant a couple of months back had been to purchase a black-market communications device. It was the sort of thing the Order might use to secretly communicate. There were likely some highly technical principles for how it worked, but Alia didn't need to know them. She just needed it to do one thing.

Every week, she sent a message over general subspace frequencies, something she knew the Galderian tech in Tech Jacket's Armor would pick up on that hardly anyone else would. Every week, she sent that message up into orbit, waiting for Tech Jacket to pick up on it, mentioning Tech Jacket and the Galderians by name and inviting them to her Restaurant after hours to talk. It was Alia's hope that Tech Jacket would pick up the signal when he returned, get intrigued, and take her up on her invitation. The idea was to let him in on what Alia knew over a meal and together, they would go to the Guardians to Warn them about Omni-Man and the Viltrumites. After all, Tech Jacket would be able to easily scan the Utah Desert for Guardians HQ. Unfortunately, he hadn't returned to Earth yet.

Of course, that just gave Alia time to grow stronger and amass more resources. She'd recently gained the ability to use Alchemy and was experimenting with potions in her spare time. She found that the capabilities they granted stacked with those granted by her usual mystical food, which was all to the good since that also meant a better chance that the Guardians could defend themselves against Omni-Man using both of those boosts. She'd confirmed that this was the Comics Universe instead of the Show Universe, after all. The Guardians would need all the help they could get. They'd not been able to land a single hit on Omni-Man in the Comics. It had been a massacre. Fortunately, with her boosts, preparation, and Tech Jacket's presence, they would be able to put up a fight. She had to believe that. Otherwise, what was the point?

As Alia mixed in the flying seahorses to the Girding Potion she was making in the back of her restaurant after hours, she had to nod to herself. She wouldn't be her if she didn't at least try to avert some of the tragedy that would plague this Universe in the months and years ahead. She'd always been an idealist at heart, even if reality seldom lived up to those ideals. As the potion began to change color, going from orange to green, however, Alia heard a knock on the back door of her Restaurant. The one that opened out onto the alley behind the kitchen. Fortunately, her potion turned green after a few more moments on the high heat and she turned the burner off and checked the door. Standing outside, the armored form of Tech Jacket stood, arms crossed in front of him as if he was trying to be standoffish.

"I received your message. You know an awful lot about me." Intoned Tech Jacket.

"I know a lot more than just things about you, Zack. That's kind of why I needed to talk to you. The fate of the world could be at stake." Insisted Alia, using Tech Jacket's real name.

"You've got my attention." Nodded Tech Jacket.

"Not here. Inside. I'll cook us a meal and we can talk over food." Offered Alia.

"Fine. I could eat." Agreed Tech Jacket.

They both headed inside together and Alia began to cook on an unoccupied burner. As she did so, she spilled the beans to Tech Jacket about Omni-Man, the Guardians of the Globe, Viltrumites, and the Viltrum Empire. Tech Jacket listened intently all the while, asking questions as she spoke. By the time that the food was ready, Alia could tell that Tech Jacket believed her. They started to make a plan over Miso Ramen that would help strengthen the muscles of the human body thanks to magic, something that Tech Jacket's Armor would amplify further. It lent credence to Alia's story, even if Tech Jacket already believed her. By the end of the night, a partnership had formed and a plan had been hammered out.

All that was left was to follow through. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here's the first of the Interludes involving the other Champions. We get Eric Dahl, Champion of Loki with the Powers of the Celestial Grimoire, and Alia Fadal, Champion of Heshet, with the powers of the Celestial Oven. Eric got sent to the Border Princes in Warhammer Fantasy, while Alia got sent to the Comics Version of the Invincible Universe. They're both handling things all right enough, though Eric has gotten into the middle of things a lot quicker than Alia. That's just the nature of their power sets, though.

We also have four other Champions to get through before this is all said and done, Tanaka Yumi, Champion of Kubera with the Divine Hoard, Emma Yung, Champion of Caishen with the Celestial Reliquary, Keira Rangi, Champion of Whiro with the Darkest Tome, and of course, Aleksander Yurinov, Champion of Flidais with the Celestial Menagerie. I'll be doing Yumi and Emma next, and saving Keira and Aleksander for last. I'll also have character sheets for all of them up once I have everyone's interludes done.

Stay tuned. . .