Ends of Magic

“By the steel of Deiman, I swear I’ll slay her next I see her. May my magic fade if it should be otherwise.” Kia made the oath quietly, but her eyes flared with divine fire as she spoke.

Nathan had no doubts that the woman would attempt to fulfill that oath at her next opportunity, and he wasn't going to argue. Faline had been operating in Giantsrest for a while, and given what he’d seen of her methods it was likely she’d done a few things that went beyond the pale. But it likewise wasn’t his place to be a judge of either of them.

If I know Faline, she's not going to show herself before Kia. She’ll know I’d tell the story, especially after our last meeting, and I think she'll know how Kia will react. With her skills she could just vanish into any city, or board a ship with nobody the wiser. She doesn’t even need to recruit for the Assassins of Gemore anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if she just vanishes after this. I hope she can find a new mission in life. But she fought long enough for her cause that I don't know if she can let it go. Maybe she'll introduce herself to Myrla.

Nobody had any commentary on Kia’s oath, so Nathan continued telling his story. Stanel thought that Nathan disguising himself as a student in the Academy was hilarious, and Kullal asked for more details on the magical classes because she was thinking of teaching magic to younger Adventurers. He shared his low opinion of the Academy's teaching techniques, though he conceded it let the mages level without requiring them to fight.

The thing everybody wanted to hear was Nathan’s detailed description of his fight against Badud. He had some difficulty describing the Questor’s spells without slipping into scientific terminology that was unfamiliar to the Guardians.

That bothered Dalo. “Unless this light blinds me, it seems that you share many Insights with Badud.” His look towards Nathan wasn’t quite accusing, but it certainly demanded an explanation.

Nathan gave a heavy sigh and looked around at his teammates. He’d meant to discuss his suspicions about the Questors but had never found the right time for the weight of the topic.

This probably isn’t a good time either. None of them really have the context to understand what I mean in describing Davrar as a game. Sarah already got most of the way there when she called all of this entertainment for them.

“I think they have a lot of scientific Insights, and some of Badud’s most powerful spells were based on them. That’s probably part of why the Questors are so strong.” Nathan agreed. “But Badud didn’t share those with Giantsrest. Maybe he didn’t want them to get too powerful, or maybe he couldn’t for some reason.”

“My bones say that these divine artifacts are the true worry,” Kia said. “You say he used something called [The Last Arrows of Olita] to destroy the Academy.” Her expression was troubled as she stared into her glass of liquor.

“Well, he tried to hit me,” Nathan replied. “It’s just that the Academy was behind me. But it was definitely a physical artifact that was consumed in the casting.”

Kia’s expression remained downcast, and she quoted from memory. “And lo, did Olita rise from the blood-soaked fields, her visage fierce and unyielding. She grasped her mighty bow Braingal, forged in the fire of the first conflict, and her burning arrows blotted out the sky. The clouds trembled and the earth quaked beneath her battle-fury, for she is the bringer of wrathful war. With each draw of Braingal were the wicked wyrms smote, their screams shattering the earth before being silenced by swift shafts. She is the embodiment of War’s Glory, and her presence foretells true war.” She shook her head and exhaled hard, breathing out a cloud of vaguely reddish divine mana that was notably different from the golden mana that she usually wielded. “So it was written, and may it never be so again.”

Everybody was silent for a moment processing Kia's words or just shrugging and moving on. Kia downed her drink in a single gulp and reached for more, while Khachi watched with concern.

The silence stretched on until Nathan remembered something and snorted. “Brox swore by Olita’s flaming underpants at one point.”

That caused everybody to chuckle, and Kia’s expression cracked into a grin. “Blasphemous Questors. But they were the ones to kill the gods, and I will follow that light.”

After that it seemed like there was both everything and nothing to say. The Heirs had already told the story of their adventures since Giantsrest, and they didn’t mean to spend the night in Gemore. It seemed like an unnecessary risk with the number of assassins that were clearly after them. Sleeping in the city was just an invitation for another attempt on their lives.

Nathan excused himself to walk around the garden while the Heirs said their goodbyes. Night had fallen while they talked, and he looked up at the world overhead. His eyes settled on the dozens of patches of white and black that stretched across the continents above. They looked like mold, but now he knew what they really were. It didn’t help him feel any better.

Every time I feel like I understand this world, I discover another danger. Another terror. Dungeons in the sky and the depths. Endings, Questors, now Corruption. What else is out there?

He calmed his mind. He was level 729. He was powerful by any standard. He would be able to at least fight any challenge Davrar threw at him. But for now, it was time to think about his next class development. He wasn’t going to make a decision until he talked it over with the Heirs, but he wanted to form his own opinion on the matter.

Let’s see. Five classes, and it will be time soon to make my decision. [End of Magic] is almost too on the nose. But it’s also the straightforward development of my antimagic, and that’s been my highest priority for the last four antimage class choices. But my antimagic is strong enough to fight a Questor, does it need to be stronger?

Nathan remembered his fight with Badud. He hadn’t beaten the Questor directly. He hadn’t been fast enough to win that fight straight up. But he’d survived everything the man had thrown at him, then jumped the Questor once he'd thought Nathan was dead.

A larger aura would have helped a lot. He hit me from outside the range of my antimagic. And I wasn’t actually strong enough to directly counter all of his attacks. The [Last Arrows of Olita] pretty much vaporized me, and even that black hole spell was scary as hell.

Still, it would be nice to finally pick up some physical enhancements and be able to compete with fighters of his level. He was strong enough now to throw down with slave-elites and win even without his antimagic, but somebody at his same level with a pure physical combat class would be able to hand him his own ass on a silver platter.

So long as they have Talents that are worth a damn and don’t rely on enchanted gear. I think I could lock Aarl’s armor up if I wanted to.

The obvious way to enhance his physical capabilities would be choosing a Development that focused on his Rage - but he hadn’t been offered one. He'd been offered a rage-centric class at every one of his previous class Developments, but not this time. His his use of the skill had tailed off over time, and he supposed Davrar had noticed.

The next class was [Nullmage], which wasn’t so much an upgrade to his antimagic as a sidegrade. When he’d first read the description he’d interpreted it as letting him plop down antimagic beacons of some kind, but on further thought it was more likely to let him create antimagic enchantments of some kind. That would be pretty neat, but it wasn't something Nathan thought would actually be useful. Not for him, at least.

Unless I think I can enchant something with antimagic and magic at the same time? But given past experience, that seems very unlikely to work. My antimagic is just too strong, even if I have a lot of control over it now.

The class also explicitly called out that it would let him grant high-tier magic resistance to future antimages, which would improve their survival prospects dramatically. That would be great for preparing Gemore against the future, but not necessarily for challenging the Questors in the near term.

Nullmage would be a perfect class for Shom. It would help him train new antimages, and figure out how to imbue enchantments so people without antimagic classes could still wield it against the monsters and mages of Davrar. And Hetal wouldn’t worry about him as much if he was staying away from fighting enchanting things.

Next was a class that was almost the physical combat class Nathan wanted. [Slayer of Giants] promised to give him the “strength and nobility” of the lost Giants. Neither of those were quite right. Nathan needed speed, not strength. He was strong enough to break most unenchanted materials already, and with his magic that meant he could break most things aside from metal gates or stone walls.

Unless they're conjured by mana or wizardry, in which case I can just wave my hand and they're gone.

Furthermore, ‘nobility’ sounded a lot like a social skill, and he’d been avoiding picking up another one of those. [Inspiration] already scared him, and he didn’t want to waste a skill slot on something like that.

Though maybe nobility is just what I need for the Questors to listen to me. But they all have to have protection against social skills. It just doesn’t seem like a very useful class.

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He’d been offered a few versions of the next class in past class options. [Undying] was the latest in the chain of [Invincible] and [Woundless Berserker]. But he wasn’t going to take it for the same reason he hadn’t taken those. The way to avoid getting buried underground wasn’t to have a skill that made you hard to trap and Stamina that never ran out. It was to have other skills that ensured you never got put in that circumstance in the first place. [Undying] wouldn’t help him win, it would just reduce the circumstances where he could lose. Those were already narrow enough that Nathan would prefer class skills that would actually let him do new things.

The last option was [Warden of the Arcane]. The more Nathan thought about it, the more he was seriously considering it. It seemed tailor-made for his fight against Badud, solving both his problems catching the mage Questor as well as physically fighting against people who had combat focused classes.

Though it does require they have ‘done evil’ and imposes a kind of absolute morality that makes me a bit concerned. But to some extent that would have been a plus? I doubt Faline’s betrayal would have surprised me so badly if I’d seen a big flashing ‘evil deeds here’ sign over her head.

At the end of the day, it seemed like the top contenders for Nathan’s primary class were [End of Magic] and [Warden of the Arcane], with [Slayer of Giants] as a distant third. [End of Magic] would let Nathan cover an entire battlefield with his antimagic but wasn’t as focused on fighting enemies of Nathan’s level. [Warden of the Arcane] had some weird morality stuff, but was mostly focused on letting Nathan match single enemies.

I’m legitimately not sure which is more useful.

If he needed to track down the other Founders of the Ascendent Academy then [Warden of the Arcane] would likely be the best choice. But Nathan’s eyes went upwards. Once more he traced the world overhead and found his eyes resting on the corruption blotched across the night sky. Would he end up fighting that? What was the best tool there?

Based on what I felt from the Grave Tangles, it’s corruptive magic over a huge area. I didn’t have a problem breaking it with my antimagic before, so [End of Magic] would be helpful but not essential. I don’t think [Warden of the Arcane] would do squat.

The door behind him opened, and Dalo stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “I’m allowing Stella a short time with her mother,” he said in response to Nathan’s questioning look. “To be free of regret, I would also like to apologize.”

Nathan realized that Dalo was expecting a response of some kind. He gave the old man a firm nod. “Yes?”

That seemed to be enough. “I have seen you as a fool in a dungeon since we met. A man with weighty Insights but little wisdom. I merely hoped you would grant the Heirs some Insights before you died, and teach the most important lesson of all with your death. Every Adventurer must learn to bury friends, and I thought you would be that friend to our children.” He shrugged apologetically.

“But then you did not die. You began to lead the Heirs, and I worried for my daughter, that she would share your grave. But I could not scold her for that, for I was no better as a young Adventurer. Davrar rewards risk, and the only way for you to rise is to embrace risk. But every time I saw Stella depart to potential death it was as if I was staring the ghoul in the eye for the very first time.

“And then you began to teach her Insights of Magic. Not the small Insights I had expected, but grand ones. I had expected a stalker’s treasure and instead received a dragon’s hoard. Stella departed from the Path I had planned for her, and embarked upon something new.” Dalo’s eyes flared slightly, embers of flame flickering sullenly.

“Hear me, but that burnt my pride. That you, who does not even wield magic, could teach my daughter better than I could. But…” He waved his hand vaguely, as if to encompass everything that had happened. “Then Giantsrest happened. You rescued the Heirs from an archmage, and challenged a Questor. Then you won. The Ascendent Academy is no more,” The old man shook his head in disbelief. “You carry a prophecy of victory with you, and the Heirs have shared the load and the rewards.”

He turned to face Nathan fully, meeting his eyes. “I can only praise your deeds, and acknowledge the debt that you have accrued. Now you lead the Heirs away from the continent, away from their homes. From the place they were born to protect.”

Dalo mulled that statement over before sighing deeply. “But it is necessary. In going you will rise to even greater heights. I ask only that you keep my daughter alive. My debt is already as deep as the sea, and you are the one person I cannot threaten. But still, I would have you protect Stella beyond all else. If there is a choice between Gemore and my daughter… Well, that is an easy choice for a father to make.”

He worked his jaw and seemed to deflate. “It would be a poor apology if I didn’t offer recompense. Can I aid you somehow? Give advice on your 729 class Development? It is the most important build choice you will make.”

Nathan considered the older Adventurer. Giving the apology seemed to have taken a lot of effort for him. He was the most powerful mage in Gemore, on the same level as most of the Archmages of Giantsrest. He’d also been more of a barrier than a help to Nathan, and this apology boiled down to a request to protect Stella.

Not entirely. He had to swallow his pride. And what’s the harm in accepting? He gave me some offhand tips early on that turned out to be pretty useful.

After a brief pause, Nathan replied. “Stella’s my teammate. Once we cross the horizon I don’t know what we’ll face. But I want the Heirs behind me for whatever comes. All of them, whatever it takes.” He met Dalo’s eyes evenly and received a small nod of acknowledgement. That was what Nathan was willing to offer, and he was glad it was enough for the mage.

“I have two main choices,” Nathan continued a moment later. “One class that focuses on single enemies, preventing my foe from running away and giving me bonuses against them. The other enlarges my antimagic to the size of a battlefield and lets me control what magic I shut down.”

Dalo answered quickly, with only a few moments of thought. “The second class. Beyond level 729, you must dominate a fight no matter its size, or else your enemies will avoid you and target your allies. If you can strip magic from one side then your enemy must deal with you. It is also a better support for the Heirs.” He flicked his hand idly. “Though the larger aura and the ability to leave some magics untouched will benefit any ally immeasurably.”

He smirked, pleased by the thought. “Imagine Stella, able to unleash her power, without a need to defend herself against her foes. Or Aarl, fighting with his full arsenal against a foe limited to mundane weapons. Khachi, unleashing his divinity against foes with no magical defenses” The old man chuckled lightly. “A blasphemous build, to deny magic to your foes while leaving it to your allies.” He cocked an eyebrow at Nathan. “Would you be able to use magic or enchantments yourself?”

Nathan shrugged. “I doubt it. It depends on what the control skill is. But that doesn’t fit with the theme of the class.”

“Ever a risk when Developing Classes.”

The door opened behind them once more, and the rest of the Heirs came out, accompanied by their parents. Both Kullal and Stella’s eyes were red from crying, and Stanel looked sad but proud.

Kia stepped forward. She was in full armor, and he clasped her hand against her breastplate in a Gemore salute. “It is time for a farewell.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Arcane Nullfield 7

Permanent Talent 2: Immortal Body 5

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 7

Class: Void of Magic level 729

Deepened Stamina: 21391/22170

Void of Feeling

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Magic Anathema

Airborne Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Voluminous Aura

Denial of Wizardry

Mana Severance

Class: Spellslayer level 504

Regenerative Focus: 3683/5140

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Sneaky Blow

Antimagic Stealth

Magical Manipulation

Lethal Index

Wizard Resistance

Magic Jammer

Controlled Failure

Utility skills:

Tranquility 1

Inspiration 8

Acceleration 10

Wizard’s Detection 10

Alertness 10

Arcane Insight 1

Effortless Dodge 10

Mental Vault 5

Tutoring 6

Parkour 8

Visibility Control 4

High-tier Disguise 4

High-tier Battle Cry 2

Aura Control 3