Note for this chapter: This is a updated version of "The Minion Marbles". The reason for this is that there is a few sentences that doesn't make sense. Because of this, I fear that someone might take those errors out of context. I'd thought I clean up ""The Minion Marbles" because I didn't feel satisfied with the original version. Yet, this is a minor update. Nothing too drastic was changed. Here's the original notes for the sake of reference.
Note from version 1: This chapter takes content and ideas from the chapter, "Marble Collecting" written by me (The 1).
For the sake of reference, here's the original writer's note from the chapter, "The Cloud Crawler Gang". Keep in mind that this is a outdated note. I just forgot to include it for this storyline in a earlier chapter.
Note from "The Cloud Crawler Gang": While I'm giving other writers a chance to add on to the Hydra and Possessed Needle fights, I'd thought I'd write a couple of side chapters for fun. They are just a few lose ends I wanted to clear up. They may or may not effect the battles currently in progress. So don't scrap any chapters-in-progress yet.
Also, to add on to my note from the chapter, "The Royal Angel", while Dark Isaac is a Joker Card that I might have some ideas for, I'm really have no plans for the guardians. I'm just winging it for the guardians. One of the main points for the guardians is for them to be a blank slate for anyone who wants to pitch their ideas for. The guardians can be anything. Not knowing is part of the fun. I do have some plans for the Hydra, but I feel the need to leave that arc open for ideas too. I'm by no means in control of this story. I'm just a writer who likes adding to this story for fun and loves to read other writer's additions to this story. So don't be shy, feel free to add your ideas and we'll see what will happen.
Thank you for reading and please enjoy the chapters.
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Sera smiled evilly. This magic needle was used as a magic wand. It's also made of metal.
Now that she is in control of Isaac's body, she also has control over the possessed armor. She willed her gauntlet to absorb the metal needle. The needle was absorbed into the armor as the shape-shifting metal of the gauntlet covered the needle.
The gauntlet retracted and returned to it's normal state after it absorbed the needle. Sera felt the needle's magic power flow through her armor. The dark armor didn't change appearance, but Sera has a hunch that she can now transfer corruption and magic through her armor, to anyone touching it. For example, if a unfortunate victim were to touch her armor, instead of absorbing their corruption, she can just transfer her own corruption into the other person's body. Sera can probably also transfer her transformation magic into whoever touched her armor too. But she will just have to experiment with that later.
Sera and Nat looked over Cradle's unconscious body.
"Don't kill him, I still feel horrible for killing those dust bunnies." Nat cautioned.
Sera rolled her eyes. "Knowing the dust bunnies, they probably just reformed themselves despite the wind, fire and whatever else was thrown their way. So as long as there is still living dust, there still will be life. So don't feel too sorry for them. They're just animals."
That 'They're just animals' remark rubbed Nat the wrong way. It doesn't mater if they're animals of not. Killing is still wrong. But that thought did bring up a question Nat was meaning to ask.
"Speaking of the dust bunnies, what did you do to them?" It was a struggle for just the three off them to hold off the dust bunnies. It was had to believe that Ilivir-er, Sera could handle them on her own.
Sera looked down at Cradle's unconscious body. It doesn't look like he's going to wake up for a while. "I suppose we have a few minutes to spare. I suppose this is a good as time as any to explain myself. Dealing with them was a lot easier then you think."
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During the time when Sera was left alone with the dust bunnies...
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The setting was perfect for a climatic battle.
Fire burning in the background: Check.
A battle up on a high place: Check.
A swarm of enemies outnumbering the hero: Check.
And Sera is by no means defenseless.
She was currently flying up alongside the pillar and turning whatever comes near her into frogs. But boy, are these things relentless. The dust bunnies are even jumping off the pillar just so they can get to Sera. But even though Sera was currently a little slow and top heavy, she was able to dodge just fine, allowing the suicidal bunnies to fall to their fiery deaths.
These things are eager to jump to their death just to take a bite off of her. Even in frog form. Sera frowns upon that. What a waste to precious life.
That was when she got an idea. She lost all her belonging when Isaac somehow absorbed her body. Including a certain bag with her marble collection. Time a restock.
She chanted a complicated set of words as she prepared her next spell. As soon as she casted it, all the currently living bunnies (Including the ones on fire or currently turned into a frog) into glass marbles. Using her magic, she teleported the minion marbles to a metal bag she just created with her armor. It seems the possessed armor obeys her will now. She also made a point to place a obedience spell on the transformed marbles so they will obey her every command.
Satisfied that nothing is currently chasing her, she casted a powerful wind spell that put out the raging fire on the bottom of the floor. It's best to put out the burning dust in case some of it is still alive. Sera watched as Ash and Dust both living and non-living were mixed up in the waging tornado. Eventually, the bad of possibly living dust settled down as if Isaac and Nat hadn't disturbed their sleep at all. Sera likes transforming things, but she doesn't like killing them. Death just means less test subjects for Sera.
Satisfied the living dust has been calmed down, she flew up to the top of the pillar to join the others, leaving the darkened and possibly empty floor behind.
---
"Why didn't you do that earlier?" The Nat doll asked. That could have saved them a lot of trouble.
Sera simply shrugged. "There was too much chaos for me to concentrate. I could have accidentally turned you and the baby dragon into a marbles along with the dust bunnies. That's why I had you and your little friend leave before I attempted the spell."
Sera patted her metal purse. Good thing she got a chance to restock on minion marbles.
All this talk about glass marbles gave her a idea.
She looked over Cradle's body. "Say...since you don't want me to kill or assimilate him, how 'bout we take him prisoner for now. We can decide on what to do with him later."
"How are you supposed to carry me, my sword and Cradle at the same time?" Nat asked.
Sera responded by gently putting Nat down on the ground. She the knelt down infant of Cradle. Thanks to the magic needle, all she had to do was tap Cradle's body with her armor's gauntlets and transfer her magic into him. As soon as she touched Cradle, he was engulfed by a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a green glass marble was sitting in cradle's place.
Sera picked up the marble. She made a special point to not just place a obedience spell on cradle's marble form, but also placing a powerful magic seal to help prevent cradle's corruption from turning him back into a snake dragon. But the corruption within Cradle is especially strong since his glass marble is already forming a scale-like texture. No worries. So as long as Sera's magical energy is stronger then cradle's corruption, she should be able to keep him in his glass marble form... for now. If things go well, the only way for Cradle to turn back, is for Sera to turn him back herself and break the seal.
Sera safely tucked Cradle into her makeshift marble pouch. With Cradle temporarily dealt with, now it's time to address Nat.
Sera turned to Nat. She simply touched Nat's body and started transferring the origin spell's power into her. Just like Cradle before her, Nat started reverting to her original cloud girl self. But there was a problem. Turning Cradle back was easy since he was only afflicted with corruption. Nat on the other hand... was afflicted with a multitude of other things including cradle's magic. As a result, the accumulated magic, corruption and curses placed on her had some... side effects.
Nat was a cloud girl again, but the many things she was afflicted with had subtle side effects on her default form. Her body is now a light purple instead of pure white. Her body was made of a mixed blend of dust and clouds. Thanks to her recent plush doll transformation, her body was also a lot more fluffier then usual. Her living statue curse is still in place, but instead of her arms being fully transformed into living stone, her cloud arms are instead covered with scales made of stone. Since the inside of her arms are made of clouds and dust, her arms are a lot lighter then before, They are just covered in living stone armor. Nat's face is back to normal with two exceptions. Her purple dragon eyes are back and she now has floppy bunny ears. She even has a forked dragon's tongue now. Luckily, the dragon tongue is not flat enough for nat to start hissing. The cloud fairy wings Sera has given her has somehow became air dragon wings. Instead of just her left foot, now both of her feet are large rabbit feet.
This is bad.
The Origin spell rarely ever fails to return the target back to their original form. Nat's inflictions must be really bad for these side effects to show up on her default form. It's like her very being was rewritten. But luckily, it seems these side effects only effected her body. Her mind seems unchanged.
"Is something wrong Sera? You looked shocked. Am I back to normal?" Nat stood back up.
"Uh...I'm just putting on the finishing touches." Sera chanted to herself as she casted a few more spells. The first was a powerful illusion spell. It's supposed to make Nat look like her normal cloud girl self to everyone including Nat herself. But even though she LOOKS normal, her body remains unchanged. As soon as Nat realizes her body's true nature, the illusion spell will be broken. In a world were corruption can counter magic transformations, it's important for a transformation witches such as herself to know spells that can counter corruptions so it doesn't interfere with her magic transformations. Therefore, the second spell was a purification spell similar to Isaac's paladin magic. It's supposed to drastically slow down the spread of Nat's corruption. The thing is, it only slow downs corruption, not magic and curses. So as a extra procatuation, Sera placed a full body magic seal on Nat similar to the seal she placed on Cradle. The seal should stop the influences of magic and corruption to a stand still and seal her current form. Though not even the magic seal is perfect. There is a chance that Sera's magic might fail. But this is the best Sera could do for now.
"There you go. All back to normal." Sera lied with a smile.
Nat examined herself and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary from her original form. As far as she is aware, she is a normal cloud girl again.
Nat was quick to give Sera a heartfelt hug. "Thank you...sis."
Sera felt a little awkward. She just lied to the poor girl and now she's thanking her for something she didn't do. She couldn't turn Nat back to normal...at least not completely normal. For the first time in years, Sera is feeling something that she thought she forgotten...
Regret.
Nat released her hug and the awkward moment ended...
Nat simply smiled. She paused a moment to pick up her sword, Excalibur. As soon as she did, she felt him speak to her mind.
'Be careful sword bearing. These are dangerous times. There won't be always someone to save you.' Excalibur advised.
Nat grimly acknowledged Excalibur's advice. But what can she do? All she has is the magic spells Nathan taught her and Excalibur to defend herself. Both Nathan and Isaac agreed to be her teachers but neither of them are present right now. She has the feeling that they will be facing stronger foes later on. If she doesn't do something, she will be stuck knowing the same spells...
'That's not true. You experiment with your spells and figured out how to use them in creative ways. When we were on the first floor, you discovered that Isaac's armor and my sword form can channel your magic. You also accidentally figured out to to shoot out flying sword slashes by channeling your magic through me. You discovered a lot in such a short time.' Excalibur encouraged.
After some thought, Nat realized that Excalibur is right. Perhaps if she finds some time to practice, she can create more powerful spells based off the basic spells she already knows!
Meanwhile, Sera was thinking about what happened so far. Cradle somehow knew her name. Even Nat called her by her name...
Wait a minute.
"How did you know that I'm female. Better yet, why did you call me Sera?" When they first entered this room, Nat still thought Sera was Ilivir. What clued her in?
"Well... that demon called you Sera and even though it's hard to notice, you seemed to look and act a little more feminine then Ilivir or Isaac. I'm not sure when you and Ilivir switched control. Speaking of which, were's Isaac?" Nat said shyly. She figured it out when she was captured by Cradle's puppet strings.
So she figured it out after all. Sera is proud of her.
"I don't know were Isaac is. I just know that he's still somewhere in this body. And before you ask, my name is Sera, a transformation witch in training." Sera explained.
Nat's eyes lit up when she heard that Sera is a magic user. "You're a magic user?"
"Yes...Do you want to be my apprentice?" Sera offered. She may be a witch in training herself, but that doesn't mean she can't have a apprentice of her own. Sera does have years of training of her own.
The girl shows promise in magic using and Sera hates to see that potential go to waste. Her use of basic elemental magic is good, but she needs to know a greater variety of spells. Sera can't wait to teach Nat all the transformation spell she knows. Nat is starting to feel like a little sister to Sera. It doesn't matter if she is a cloud girl, she's a magic user like Sera and Sera's willing to offer to help to a fellow witch in training.
Nat's eyes lit even more. "If you're willing." Nat said cautiously. She have already decided to self teach herself, but the extra help is always appreciated. Hopefully, this teacher sticks around long enough to teach her anything. She still hasn't started her lessons with Isaac yet.
Sera nodded. "Then it's official. While I'm in control of this body, I will use my time to teach you what I know about magic. Magic users need to look out for each other."
Nat wasn't jumping up and down like when Isaac accepted to being her teacher. She just hopes that Sera is around long enough to teach her anything.
Only when things calmed down did the duo noticed that a portal out of this domain hasn't opened yet. That's strange. They defeated the guardian, didn't they? So why isn't the spirit of the catacombs letting them leave this room yet? Is there a delay?
Was Cradle the guardian, or is the real guardian still around?