Chapter 98: Relics and Remnants

Chapter 98: Relics and Remnants

September, 28th, 2089

Dantes POV

We end our tour of the remarkable Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology with a look at its newest addition: the Was-sceptre of the Pharoah Khufu! King Khufu reigned during the 4th dynasty, during the time of the mythical Egyptian magician Dedi. The completed Westcar Papyrus claims that King Khufus sceptre was blessed by Dedi to have miraculous abilities. And- I tuned out the rest of the tour guides speech as I examined the staff myself. It was 5 feet long, with a stylized animal head of the mythical Sha on one end and a fork on the other end. The Sha is the totem animal of Set, the ancient Egyptian god of desert, storms, disorder, and violence. He sounds like the kind of guy I would want to have a beach party with, but I digress.

I am here at this museum in London, along with Sparky and Jumbo, because this Was-sceptre was one of the few relics reactivated by the mana calamity that resulted in my birth. Normally Id send a minion to retrieve it when it was discovered, but I needed to do this personally. The Council of Nine failed to organize a coherent response to Pandemoniums rapid expansion across the world, but the Kingdom of England has still managed to become a nuisance.

This task force of theirs has actually been making some headway in being a pain up my ass. Arresting criminal affiliates, interfering with recruitment, putting a bounty on my head, the list goes on and on. The fuckers have also been conducting annoying cyber attacks targeting our financials. Shockingly enough, demons are not very good with computers so I havent been able to stop them. It hasnt crippled us by any stretch of the imagination, but its irritating.

I picked up the staff (after breaking through the bulletproof glass display) and gave it a twirl, noting how the pressure it emanated caused cracks to appear throughout the room. I wasnt even trying to do anything. Ooooh, this one is definitely a keeper. Dedi was certainly a fearsome magician if he was able to craft this. A lot of slaves were probably sacrificed in the process, but nevertheless it is impressive.

My research into these relics and their origins has shown me that this world has a strange relationship with magic. Even before its widespread extinction, magic users were uncommon and their abilities were mostly unremarkable. However, every so often there would appear a practitioner with such power that it was ridiculous. Dedi, Abe no Seimei, Merlin, Baba Yaga, Morgan le Fay, Sun Wukong, Medea, etc. the list of these individuals is embedded in the history and legends of humanity.

However, these people were few and far between and they became even rarer as magic died out. It was a vicious cycle where fewer people with potential for magic appeared and those that did appear never realized their potential since magic was no longer used. The genes for magic got filtered out of the gene pool due to the joys of natural selection and evolution, leading us to the modern day where the only people with the potential for magic are either de novo mutants or directly descended from one of the legends of the past. And of these one in a million people, most die in ignorance of their abilities.

There are a few amongst the few who discover magic in one way or another, but their abilities are meager. These Remnants are all that remain from the era of magic, shadows of their predecessors former glory who are at best on the level of petty conjurers. The chances of a Remnant having the power to match me is infinitesimally small, yet my darling Rin shows it is possible. Even more unlikely is that a minion of mine mentioned encountering another Remnant at that very same concert. This Abyssal Vortex Champion sounds like a potential threat, if the name is anything to go by. Good thing I sent Ibaraki-doji and Susan to track down and eliminate him. The two should be more than enough for the assignment, since Ori was able to survive her encounter with the Champion.

Boss! I got incoming police! Some passersby probably heard the screams and called it in! Jumbo reported as he returned from his assignment. Normally at this point the team and I would skedaddle, but I happen to have a Khufus Was-sceptre of Set that Im just dying to try out. Although I wont be the one dying per say. Sparky, ditch the body. I want you in the electrical grid in case we need some widespread devastation. Jumbo, youre in charge of the cover-up. I ordered as I did some light calisthenics to loosen up. I dont want to pull a muscle after all.

Sparky nodded before once again canceling his possession, although this time he consumed his host before he became an electrical blur that vanished into the wiring. Jumbo faded away as he cast illusion magic and hid himself. I strolled over to an impressive looking throne and plopped my fine behind on top of it. The sounds of the doors being broken down reached my ears, and I saw a full tactical team storm the room. A wicked grin adorned my face as I readied myself for a slaughter. Time to have some fun.