Malcolm Tent

A Novel Approach chapter 45

Dances and explosions.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 764

Turns out, he did NOT have a map. Which, given that it was private property and had been built a century or two ago, wasn’t surprising. So we had to go and case the place ourselves. Finding it was pretty easy, but on arrival, we ran into the obvious problem of the extremely dense security.

I’d been expecting Bael to be our all access pass, since DeWinter was the daughter of a count. I was a count, technically speaking, or count adjacent, so he was just D-rank. It should h...

Shout at the Devil chapter 217

minor nsfw references but nothing actually explicit happens lol

Wish upon the Stars chapter 763

The next day was pretty quiet. I’d slept in the Heart, and upon waking, gotten my wishes stocked up in the ring. I’d considered using them, but honestly, given the million point end goal, if I forced myself to tick down the stats day by day I’d probably go insane. Letting them build up and getting four to five digit boosts ever few weeks was much more palatable.

To my joy, Elena and her son had arrived, along with the daughter she’d mentioned reminded her of Mnemosyne...

Shout at the Devil chapter 216

Cleansing the ring.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 762

“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Ray bluntly as we pushed through the hanging flower vines, stepping into the house. I’d taken to calling it the Heart of the Forest, because it was what popped into my head when I made it, and when I’d told the others the name had stuck.

The craziest thing about it was the sheer life force radiating out from the place. When the plants finished growing, the intensity of the power hadn’t diminished. If anything it had...

A Novel Approach chapter 44

First step in the plan.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 761

Archie’s fight with the Queen wasp was pretty spectacular. Lots of fire and screeching, though the purification didn’t seem to hurt ALL of the wasp, just parts of it. Archie had other weapons, namely very sharp D-rank talons and very fast wings. His flames seemed to boost his own physical power constantly, making him a dangerous threat even without the techniques he’d learned from me.

Still, he was a baby, and while he managed to tear a big chunk out of the Queen, Vespe...

Shout at the Devil chapter 215

Dumbledore tells a story.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 760

“Well, that didn’t take long,” Vesper said casually as the fog cleared. I had two minutes left on my timer, but it occurred to me wasting it on random larvae MIGHT be a poor use of my resources. In my defense, I’d been bored and it had seemed fun. A trilling cry rang out as my phoenix swooped down, flapping his wings and blowing a wave of green flame at my face. My mask prevented it from even being a nuisance, but I still didn’t love it.

Bella snickered as I rolled ...

A Novel Approach chapter 43

Caught sneaking back in.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 759

Rather than just grind wishes and relax, the next day I decided to check in with the others (though I did store my eight scrolls in the ring before I left) . Vesper, Ray, Desria, and all my friends from the first round had been busy with their own trials, some of which had started while I was doing my thing. I found them all the next morning, eating breakfast together, and when I approached everyone seemed pleased to see me.

“Fist!” chirped Ray happily. “Well, look what...

Shout at the Devil chapter 214

The game changes

Wish upon the Stars chapter 758

I woke up with a headache. Again. I grimaced, massaging my head. This was becoming a fucking habit again, and I wasn’t excited about it. I sat up with a groan, looking around…and noticed I could see. Which was objectively better than before I’d passed out, when my eyeballs had exploded in my skull from electrocution. On second thought, maybe just this once I was ok with falling unconscious.

Under other circumstances I’d have worried about getting attacked, but with Be...

Shout at the Devil chapter 213

Charms class

Wish upon the Stars chapter 757

The activation of Gluttony changed the game. Aside from torn muscles from the electrocution, I hadn’t realized how much fucking FATIGUE had build up on my climb. Every step drove me deeper into pain and exhaustion, and I’d been staggering up the stairs the last for staircases. But all that changed as I fired up the Abomination Engine and let the electricity pour in.

It hurt, as usual, but this was a refreshing kind of pain. In the face of the wobbling stagger and shudderi...

A Novel Approach chapter 42

Learning unarmed combat.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 756

I arrived at the trial relatively early. Even strolling, I’d given myself plenty of time, and this one wasn’t too far away. When I got there, I was pleased to see Harper, Elena, and Mnemosyne had already arrived, and were standing talking to two strangers. That said, the number of actual contestants seemed to have dropped, from a hundred to about seventy five, not counting the small crowd of emissaries like Bernadette and Chad.

“We had drop-outs, huh?” I asked as I ar...

Shout at the Devil chapter 212

Sanguine Rose returns

Wish upon the Stars chapter 755

We had five days until the next trial, and I spent them practicing with my new mask. There was a whole binding ritual where I had to bleed on it, then dance around it, then sing it a song…I was pretty sure at least half of that was Zeke fucking with me to see how far I would go, but I’d been assured that cameras didn’t work through shadow copies, so I wasn’t too worried about it.

When it was done, the mask was…connected to me. Zeke said it was kind of a dummy versio...

A Novel Approach chapter 41

Fight with Pyrrha

Wish upon the Stars chapter 754

The next day I got in touch with Zeke. As our resident master Enchanter (sort of) he was the first person I needed to talk to about my idea to offset the soul strain from my pseudo Domains. I hadn’t considered it before really because it seemed easier to just not use them, but in reality I kind of needed at least Gluttony to survive this shit. 

“What?” Zeke asked me in an overly dramatic shocked and appalled voice. “You’re saying you completely ignored my instr...

Shout at the Devil chapter 211

Defeating Grindelwald

Wish upon the Stars chapter 753

The descending platform was invisible, naturally, but it was also powerful enough to warp the air, which kind of defeated the purpose of that first part. The final effect was a bit like I imagine you would get if you tried to crush someone under a wide, flat cylinder made of the heat distortions from a desert.

Smiling confidently, I set my feet as I willed Archie to fly out of the platform, then raised my hands about my head and locked my elbows and knees. The cylinder lowere...

Shout at the Devil chapter 210

The fight with Grindelwald begins

Wish upon the Stars 752

The next five days were pretty mundane. Almost boring, to be honest. Physical combat practice with my apprentice, Life Nova baths with the clones, Life Nova infusion with the egg. Rinse. Repeat. If I had to hit something with a stick one more time I was going to start a riot in the middle of a crowded city just to break up the monotony.

The one singular upside was that my friends cleared out their stockpile of wish scrolls, and then cleared the new stockpile I built up over t...

A Novel Approach chapter 40

Aura awakens, and being an overachiever, a semblance too.

Wish upon the Stars chapter 751

I was feeling much better after my Life Nova bath. My muscles were pleasantly invigorated and rejuvenated, and I had plenty of energy to burn off, even though my soul was still fragile. The feeling of being energized and exhausted at the same time was admittedly a little strange, but I was just glad it seemed to be working.

After I finished, I’d explained the egg to Bella, who was practically bouncing out of her shoes with excitement. “That’s AMAZING! What are you going...

Shout at the Devil chapter 209

The second task

Wish upon the Stars chapter 750

Bernadette and Elena were waiting downstairs. Just in case there was some kind of candidate specific information being kept secret, I sent Bella to wait in the dining room before entering the library to meet them. I was a little surprised Elena was even still here, and then I was surprised she came at all, because she must have been staying a ways away considering the whole large area selection thing. Still, their faces lit up when I entered, and Bernadette beamed proudly.

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