On Iridescent Wings I Dream (Waifu Catalog) Prologue (Patreon)

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PROLOGUE

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Castle Morne, Weeping Peninsula, The Lands Between

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Edgar walked down the Eastern end of the  castle ramparts which he had recently liberated from the clutches of the  traitorous misbegotten servants. Not that it mattered in the long term,  because it would likely be taken back by the traitors the moment he  moved on. It wasn't as if he could order someone to hold the position  down either: most of the guards were dead, and he had sent whoever  remained away to escort his daughter Irina. But despite the security, he  still worried about her, as a father was wont to do.

As it was, he wouldn't be able to take back the castle. There were  simply too many enemies for him to overcome, and what army he could have  had was decimated the day the revolt broke out. The only reason he even  remained, was because he was sworn to fulfill his duty.

He rested his halberd against the wall and slumped onto a wooden bench,  which creaked under his weight. He let out a tired sigh and hung his  head in shame. Edgar was ordained as the warden of the castle by Lord  Godrick himself, a demigod! It was among the highest of honors, and to  have it all ripped away from his grasp so suddenly... He still found it  difficult to process.

The servants had given him good service, or so he thought, but it seems  like it was all an act. Would things have been different if he had been  more accommodating? But he did the best he could to ensure that they  were treated well - what did he do wrong? Or were they always so  treacherous as the rumors had said? He didn't want to believe it, but  their actions spoke otherwise: that they were foul creatures all, inside  and out.

He looked at over parapet to his left, where something had smashed apart  the battlements some time ago during the chaos, and watched the  hypnotic rolling of the waves crashing against the shoreline through the  gap.

The sea calmed his fraying mind for a time, but the despair and  worry started to creep up on him despite all his efforts to clear his  mind. Edgar sighed again. It seemed that trying to rest was futile at  the moment. He rose to -

Edgar's body froze as a shadow fell over his form, and when he looked  up, his eyes were greeted by the sight of an elegant, princely young man  robed in white, and a voluminous cloak that was eerily reminiscent of  the wings of a moth. His face was androgynous and beautiful - to a point  where it wouldn't be wrong to call it angelic. And atop his platinum  blonde head, was a crown of stars. And yet, there was something within  that elegant, graceful visage that unsettled Edgar deeply.

However, it was what he held in his hands that made Edgar gasp  aloud in surprise. It was a massive greatsword - as much as a gargantuan  slab of swords fused together into a single blade could even be called  one. The storied sword of Castle Morne was a massive thing that even the  strongest of warriors would find difficult to wield properly. And yet,  this dainty stranger who looked like he had never seen combat in his  entire life held the jagged slab of iron aloft in his hands with such  casual ease that the weight might as well have been non-existent - it  was as if the man was merely holding a stick.​

The stranger caught his gaze and smirked.
"Oh? I take it that you're familiar with this blade? I... liberated it  from the hands of this rude fellow down below by the shore. I was just  minding my own business and scouting the sea for a proper landing site  when the flaming ape decided that it was a great idea to attack me on sight with no warning  whatsoever, can you believe that? I saw it fit to teach him some manners. And well, this thing seemed important too, so I brought it with me" He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Well, it might be wrong of me to assume, even to the point that it  might be racist -specieist?- but the sword didn't seem to look like it  belonged in the hands of  a savage barbarian wearing naught but his  loincloth, considering the noble crest on its guard and all that. But if  you know who it belongs to, it would save me the time to find its  rightful owner."

Edgar swallowed dryly. "Y-yes milord, that would be the grafted blade greatsword of  Morne! It is my sworn duty to secure the blade and make sure that it  didn't fall into the wrong hands - it is the only reason I remained for  so long." He stuttered out. "If you would bequeath the blade to me, I  would be able to fulfill my duty and finally leave." Edgar wasn't sure  of if this man was a noble or a foreign dignitary, or even a thief in  disguise - but suspicious wandering aside, the fact that the man  apparently managed to defeat the Leonine Misbegotten so casually, and  the fact that he kept a well maintained appearance despite the war  raging around him meant one of two things; that he was either strong  enough to defeat all opposition without getting a single scratch or  stain on his body, or that he had some form of protection that Edgar  couldn't observe. Whatever the case, it wouldn't do to offend him  without knowing more.

Especially when said man held the key to his freedom hostage.

The man raised an eyebrow in curiosity and briefly glanced at the sword  he had lazily propped up on the ground. "Oh? Then I shouldn't keep you  from your duty any longer. And if that's all it takes to get you to  leave, then it saves me the trouble. I didn't want to be so rude as to  evict a man from his own home. So all I have to worry about are the  mutants - wait, that sounds bad, but its not like 'misbegotten' sounds any better." The man sighed before turning his attention back towards him. "So what do you plan to do after you leave?"

Edgar had so many questions running through his head, but he managed to  suppress his indignation before he lashed out against his benefactor.  "I'm in your debt, Milord. I'm no longer bound by duty. Once I've  rescued my daughter, I will spend my remaining days with her far, far  away."

The princely man smiled widely before clapping. "Good! It seems like we  have no issue with each other. I think it would be a great idea to  escort you out before -"

Whatever he was meant to say was interrupted as a gargantuan shadow fell  over the entire castle. Edgar turned his gaze to the sky and his eyes  widened in horror and disbelief.
His strength seemed to leave him as his legs give way. And as he  collapsed onto his knees, Edgar couldn't help but clutch the talisman  tied to his neck in prayer.

"-Before that happened. Oh well, I'll take you outside after things  settle down a bit. It's going to be a little hectic when she lands. I  reckon that all the displaced water is going to be an issue. That  reminds me, your daughter is supposed to be close by, right? I'll tell  V/V to relocate any civilians she finds from the disaster zone. It  wouldn't do to get any innocents involved in our mess after all."

Edgar couldn't even find the strength to reply because the every single  fiber of his being was frozen in place as his eyes painstakingly tracked  the movements of the gargantuan thing that descended from the heavens like a falling star.

At first glance, it did indeed look like an angel - it gave the  impression of a feminine form clad in flowing robes with a pair of wings  at the back.

But then he realized that he could pick apart her appearance even when she was still kilometers away in the sky; such was her gargantuan size. The sheer heat of her  presence lit up the sky in red, and as she grew closer and closer, Edgar  noticed what seemed to be feathers- no, leaves dispersing from her wings like a swarm of locusts.

It then came to his notice that her 'wings' weren't wings at all, and  only carried a resemblance to the appendage due its color and general  shape. The wings more closely resembled a pair of trees than anything  else, fanning out on either side of her body from her back, and  branching away in all directions. Each 'Tree' was filled out by an  uncountable number of 'leaves' that on further observation, weren't leaves at all either. The wings themselves were large enough to breach the sky with their sheer size.
Edgar had the distinct impression that each one was larger than even the Erdtree.
What he mistook for a flowing robe was actually her lower body in of  itself. Below her 'hips', her form was obscured by a massive volume of  'sheets' that flowed freely in the air like the fins of a betta fish,  but it also had a vague resemblance to the roots of a tree that he  suspected wasn't a mere coincidence.

Despite everything, the creature still had a figure that somehow  resembled a human woman with a pair of wings, and her appearance was  still far more beautiful than anything he had ever seen in his entire  life, carrying a certain perfection to it that he had never observed in  anything else short of the Erdtree itself. Trying to understand the  paradox hurt his brain.

The swarming 'leaves' descended on the landscape around the castle, and  only when one of the leaves removed itself from the swarm and approached  the white clad man next to him, did Edgar realize what they actually  were.

It looked like an 'actual' angel this time, and not like an eldritch  monstrosity beyond his comprehension adopting the superficial shape of  one. She appeared as a beautiful young woman with long, wavy, blonde  hair wearing a pure white one-piece dress. The 'angel' had a pair of  bright-white wings, and a ring of light floating above her head. But  even this reduced, miniature version of the creature felt off to him in ways he couldn't quite explain.
Her golden hair was so dazzling that the light seemed to project a sense  of danger - like a poisonous flower of sorts, and her perfect,  symmetrical appearance was indeed beautiful - to the point that it felt  like something out of a dream (or a nightmare); ethereal and  otherworldly through and through.

And yet, her disposition was all too human, carrying both the ancient  wisdom of a woman who had seen everything humanity was capable of; of  its evils and triumphs, and yet retaining the innocent curiosity of a  child still learning about the world that reminded him far too much of  his own daughter.

But then the realization struck him; that this one 'angel' was only a single 'leaf' among the millions that swarmed overhead, and even that was but a minuscule fraction of what had yet to depart from her beautiful, horrifying 'wings'.

The gargantuan creature crashed into the sea with a deafening boom and  an explosion of steam, throwing up a geyser into the sky that came down  as a downpour of rain, even as turbulent, high tides crashed into the  castle and the lands around it.
All the while, he could only stare at the princely being and the 'angel' hanging onto his shoulder in horror.

And in his moment of weakness, Edgar asked the question on his tongue  before his mind could catch up to it. "Who are you?" And "Why are you  here?"

The prince smiled - his mouth a bit too wide and his smile a bit too sharp- and answered.
"My name is Oberon, and my lovely friend here, is Type Venus, or V/V as she likes to be called." He then leaned forward before continuing.
"As for why we're here? Why for the same reason everyone seems to  migrate to the lands between of course. For the Elden Ring, and for Conquest."

And for a single moment, Edgar caught a glimpse of more... Sinister.

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Worlds Visited:
1. Elden Ring

Build Details :

Reward [ TX Tickets ] :
1
Additional objectives:
Objective 1: Conquer and Establish a territory of your own.
Reward [ Credits ] : 100 credits
Objective 2: Start an army : Recruit, purchase or summon an army of at least 110 members.
Reward [ Credits ] : 55 Credits
Objective 3: Expand your army (1) : Recruit, purchase or summon an army of at least 500 members.
Reward [ Credits ] : 250 Credits
Objective 4: Expand your army (2) : Recruit, purchase or summon an army of at least 1000 members.
Reward [ Credits ] : 500 Credits
Objective 5: Fortify your Base : Fortify your territory in a way that your forces can repel invaders without your direct, physical intervention at least 5 times.
Reward [ Credits ] : 250 Credits
Objective 6: Expand your Territory : Use Violence, diplomacy or sabotage to conquer your neighbouring regions and defend it.
Reward [ Credits ] : 250 Credits per region conquered and defended
Objective 7: Conquer or assimilate an established faction
Reward [ Credits ] : 500 Credits per faction removed from the equation.
Objective 8: Obtain a Great rune and have the 'Empyrean' customise it into their personal Great Rune
Reward [ Credits ] : 250 Credits for initial Great rune, and an additional 250 for every addition to the Gestalt
Objective 9: Neutralise your Rival Demigods : either by defeating them in combat, or through negotiation.
Reward [ Credits ] : 250 Credits per demigod
Objective 10: Restore the Haligtree : Fix the Haligtree and  transform it into your alternate Erdtree, either by doing it yourself of  by reinstalling Miquella back into its base.
Reward [ Credits ] : 500
Objective 11: Finish Miquella's Needle and use it on the Elden Ring : Forever ward the lands between from the influence of the Outer Gods and claim it as your personal domain.
Reward [ Perks ] : You will get all the home and demiplane/dungeon perks  you can take except the TX ones. The entirety of the lands between  itself will be converted into your personal Demiplane/Dungeon, and all  its inhabitants will be subjected to its rules.
Objective 12: Complete the mission during The Shattering, when the Demigods and beasts of the land were at their peak and the world was plunged into war.
Reward [ Credits ] : 1000BUILD:

Starting World: Elden Ring
Starting budget: 1545

Intensity: Me and My Girlfriend(s)(PvE) +0 [1545]

Origin: You as Oberon-Vortigern (Possess) of T9 -500 [1045]
Discounted because of your archetype +500 [1545]

Heritage
Dragon Heart[Magic] -80 [1465]
Dragon Scale[Magic] -95 [1370]
Dragon Aura -200 [1170]
Treasure Hoard -20 [1150]
Dragon Cabin -30 [1120]
Dragon Thrall -150 [970]
Dragon Break -50 [920]
Dragon Blood -150 [770]

Bindings
Shroud of Power -60 [710]
Elemental Shroud[Void (Space-Time)] -96 [614]
Complementary Colors x2 [V/V, Melina] -50 [564]
Elemental Loom -50 [514]
Deep Weave -25 [489]

Lures
Faerie Feast -10 [479]
Alluring Whisper -20 [459]
Zenryoku Zenkai -20 [439]
Alluring Whisper: Siren’s Song -80 [359]
Stud Serviceᵈˡᶜ -10 [349]

Other Controls
Signed and Sealedᵈˡᶜ -10 [339]
Letter of the Lawᵈˡᶜ -10 [329]
Conjunction -25 [304]
Apportation -25 [279]

Talents
Discounted for duplicate talents +20 [299]
Body Tune-Up x2  free [299]
Athletic x2  free [299]
Soul x2  free [299]
Performance free [299]
Everlasting free [299]
Martial free [299]
Wild free [299]
Template Stacking I x4 [V/V has Elden Beast (Elden Ring), Beast II:  Tiamat (Nasuverse), You as Oberon-Vortigern has Albion Gwiber (High  School DxD), The Tarnished (Elden Ring)] -120 [179]
Template Stacking II x4 [You as Oberon-Vortigern [Albion Gwiber (High  School DxD)], You as Oberon-Vortigern [The Tarnished (Elden Ring)], V/V  [Elden Beast (Elden Ring)], V/V [Beast II: Tiamat (Nasuverse)]] -80 [99]

Defences
Discounted for duplicate defences +160 [259]
Paradox x2 -50 [209]
Body free [209]
Wild free [209]
Environmental x2 free [209]
Stress x2 free [209]
Destiny free [209]
Mind free [209]
Polymorph free [209]
Wyldscape free [209]
Corruption x2 -100 [109]
Soul x2 -50 [59]
Fatality x2 -100 [-41]
Creature x2 -20 [-61]
Information -25 [-86]

Misc Perks
Defences discounted for retinue members +116 [30]
Mapper -10 [20]
Target Tracker -10 [10]
Bounty Tracker -50 [-40]
Warranty Plan -160 [-200]
Sexual Calibration -2 [-202]
Fertility Calibration I -2 [-204]
Time-Saversᵈˡᶜ -2 [-206]
Exit Stage Left -5 [-211]

Generic Waifu Perks
HUDᵈˡᶜ[You as Oberon-Vortigern] -10 [-221]
Anthropizeᵈˡᶜ[V/V] -10 [-231]
Grail Knowledgeᵈˡᶜ x2 [V/V, Melina] -2 [-233]
Toggleᵈˡᶜ[You as Oberon-Vortigern] -20 [-253]

Companions bought:  -440 [-693]
V/V(T8)[buy] from Nasuverse
Melina(T8)[yoink] from Elden Ring

Mission Rewards: +700 [7]:
A New Order in Elden Ring
 Credits [700];

Mission:
A New Order by Silverlight
Location: Elden Ring
Scope: Grand
( The optimal asset value for this mission is in 960 - 1440 credits range)

Venture into the Lands Between as an emissary of an Outer God (The  Company or your Patron can act the role) and conquer it. Brandish the  Elden Ring and replace the existing order with one of your own making.

Conditions:You will not be able to take the 'inexhaustible' or 'pocket space'  perks for the duration of the mission, and if you already have them,  they will be inaccessible for the same.
You can only take TWO purchased companions, but can capture as many as required during the mission.
You, and your two companions must take three roles :
You or one among your retinue must take the role of the Empyrean -  It requires that the individual in question is a god or demigod in some  capacity, and must have a minimum tier requirement of 8. They must have a  singular 'Consort'. A 'Two Fingers' will be dispatched by the Greater  Will for oversight, along with a half-wolf guardian/shadow the likes of  Blaidd and Maliketh. (Note that you can rebel against the two fingers at  any point you want, but it will turn the Golden Order hostile towards  you. Until then, you will be under their oversight)
You or one among your retinue must take the role of the Consort -  This individual must either substitute, or BE the Tarnished (Tier 4) at  the beginning of their journey.
You or one among your retinue must take the role of the Finger  Maiden - either by naturally being one or by template stacking into one  (Tier 8) - and thus able to grant the power of runes.
You will not be able to leave the world until the mission is  completed, or failed. The success condition is the completion of the  Elden Ring.
You will be Granted an additional bonus of 700 credits at the  beginning of the mission to acquire your TWO initial retinue members and  ONLY for that purpose. However, you are not limited to that amount and  if you have leftover credits from your build, you can use it for this  purpose as well.