Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 84 –

“You are not wearing any rings or passive items yet, right?” asked Sigille.

Terry nodded while staring at the army in the distance.

“Matteo!” shouted Sigille. “Before you go to Jee, I need a moment.”

Matteo stopped his movements and hurried to Sigille.

“Here.” Sigille handed two silver rings to Terry. “One on each hand.”

“What do they—”

“Nope.” Sigille interrupted Terry. “Not much time for explanations, and this is still a growing experience for you. The items I give you might save your life, but I don’t want you to count on it. If something tries to kill you, kill it back. Run or fight if you have to. Act as if your life depended on it because it does. Understood?”

Terry nodded with a grim expression.

Sigille put a golden ring on her own hand.

“Help me keep an eye on him.” Sigille handed another golden ring to Matteo.

“This brings back memories.” Matteo smiled when he saw the silver ring on Terry’s finger. Matteo had worn one of these rings himself when he was a child. “It’s my first time wearing the instructor ring, though.”

“You know how it works,” said Sigille. “Intervene according to your own judgement. That’s all I wanted. Try to get Jee to throw the cultists where they came from.”

“I’ll try, but I doubt that’s going to work.” Matteo left the two again.

Sigille already had another item in her hand. She was channeling a torrent of mana into a crystal pendant until it glowed brightly.

“Here, wear this underneath your armor and clothing.” Sigille handed the pendant to Terry.

Saul appeared next to Ying. “Defenses are ready.”

“What about the barrier?” asked Megumi.

“Usable and durable,” replied Saul. “However, the mana use will fluctuate depending on the attacks. With the barrier active, there won’t be much energy left for our other defenses. The barrier is also incompatible with our cloaking. We can only have one of them active.”

“The cloaking is essential to avoid attention from the Wastes,” said Ying. “Let’s first reduce their numbers with the offensive defenses. Keep the barrier for later.”

Saul nodded and vanished again.

“Oh, no…” Lizzy recognized one face at the head of the army. “That’s Ava. The disciple’s daughter.”

“Lady Mahalia’s daughter?” asked Megumi. “That complicates things…”

“Yes, her mother is the disciple of the Mage Supreme. Ava is…” Lizzy grimaced. “A frustrating person. The only one she really listens to is the Preacher.”

“Let’s follow Matteo.” Megumi walked forward with her curved shortswords in hand.

Jee had caught sight of Matteo and teleported in front of him.

“Matteo?” The short dwarf looked up at Matteo’s face. “What’s going on?”

“The paired mission has already been cancelled,” said Matteo. “The info was bad. Whoever issued the mission has distorted the truth. The Captain’s report of the investigation described a completely different situation. There were no abductions. The people have voluntarily chosen to come here.”

Jee scowled and turned towards Ava, who was still further away, together with the army of channelers.

“Any chance you can return them to where they came from?” Matteo asked tentatively.

Jee’s mirror-like eyes were still turned away from Matteo. The short dwarf shook his head.

“No, mine was just a transport mission.” Jee clenched a fist. “But after hearing your words, they can walk home as far as I am concerned. Sorry for the trouble, Matteo. Give my regards to Lady Sigille.”

Jee appeared next to Ava.

“With that, my mission is over and I will take my leave now,” said Jee.

“What?” Ava glared at him. “Transport includes both ways.”

Jee’s silver eyes withstood Ava’s glare calmly. “The mission goal says transport to and while I can admit ambiguity, I have also learned that the information you provided has been misleading.”

“How dare you? We would never—”

“And yet you did, according to sources I trust. I don’t like being led around by the nose. I am not in the mood to interpret ambiguity in your favor after an act of deceit. I’ll take the literal wording instead.”

“Damned Guildhead, listen here—”

“You can either confirm the completion of the mission now and stay here…” Jee crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Or I will challenge the mission, which would mean that I will throw all of you back to Tiv’s heartland until mediation starts. So, which will it be?”

Ava’s eyes were screaming for blood and she grit her teeth. Eventually, she huffed and summoned a mission writ into which she channeled her mana.

Ava handed the mission writ with her own confirmation signature back to Jee.

“Good luck with your next transport request.” Jee snorted derisively and then disappeared without a trace. The dimensional gate disappeared with him.

“Selfish and stupid bastards, every last one of them.” Ava cursed with resentment.

Ava glared towards Syn City and shouted: “On my command. Forward.”

The army started moving with Ava at its head.

Before the army had gotten close, a condensed blade of air-aspected mana carved a deep crevice into their path.

“I think you can talk from over there,” shouted the Captain. “No need to come any closer.”

“What the Wastes do you think you are doing?!” demanded Ava.

“Her duty,” retorted Sigille, who had stepped forward with Megumi.

Ava snarled. “I thought army protocol demands that you relinquish all your equipment after leaving the active service.” She eyed Megumi’s shortswords.

“I did,” replied Megumi flatly. “These are the originals. Family heirlooms.”

“Bah.” Ava sneered. “Minister Kipkoi was right. Inheritance of magic items should be outlawed. Mana use is a privilege. Just because one generation has rightfully acquired or created an item does not mean the next generation has also earned a right to its use.”

“Why don’t you go back and write a proposal for a new law?” asked Sigille. “I would appreciate that, especially the going back part.”

“Do you think this is funny?” Ava glared at Sigille. “There are Tiv citizens being treated as cattle inside this city of undead!”

“A city of deathlife,” stressed Ying.

“Everyone chose to come here,” shouted Logan. “We have not been abducted.”

“And?” retorted Ava.

Logan was dumbstruck by the indifferent reply.

“So what?” Ava glared at Logan. “You are still subjects of Tiv and you will return to the Tiv Empire.”

Logan shook his head. “The Wastes were knocking on our doorstep and we could not take it anymore.”

“And what now?!” demanded Ava. “The Wastes will crawl up to the next village. Will you just let them take on the fight that was yours to begin with? What gives you the right to just pack up and abandon your duty to Tiv and your fellow citizens? What gives you the nerve to let everyone else deal with the mess that you did not want to face? Stupid bastards!”

“What…” Logan was flabbergasted and shook his head dazedly.

“You think the Wastes are going to disappear now that you have found a nice place to hide?” Ava sneered. “You are increasing the misery of your fellow Tiv citizens.”

“Ava, get a grip!” shouted Lizzy angrily. “Most of the villagers were manaless to begin with. They were in no position to fight at the frontline.”

“Don’t speak to me so casually, Elizabeth.” Ava’s face twisted in disdain. “I am not a child anymore for you to talk to me like that. So what if they’re manaless? They could learn to use mana and accept the responsibilities that come with that.”

“Only to be ordered away from our homes and watch our homes get destroyed from a distance?!” Logan’s expression turned cold.

“Yes!” replied Ava with no hesitation whatsoever. “If that is what is required by the Tiv Empire. Even a manaless has a duty to their fellow citizens. Now that you all have abandoned your work, someone else will have to take over. That is hardly fair. You will return.”

“Or what?!” Logan glared furiously at Ava.

“There is no ‘or’,” replied Ava with cold eyes. “Today, this city of undead will fall. Then, you can decide if you want to return to your duties or set up camp in the Wastes.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” interjected Sigille. “And if you try to make it happen, you should be prepared to lose your shiny new Devout Division.” Sigille unsheathed her battle axe.

Matteo stepped next to Sigille with one hand on Soul Fury and another on the heart-seeker dagger.

“What she said.” The Captain pointed one of her blades at Ava.

Lizzy and Devon stepped next to Megumi.

“You are a citizen of Tiv,” screeched Ava. “Do you want to rebel against the Tiv Empire?!”

“You are not the Tiv Empire,” replied Megumi firmly.

“You are just a fanatic follower of the Preacher,” said Lizzy. “You don’t represent Tiv.”

“If you want to invoke Tiv military authority, then I outrank you,” said the Captain.

“You have no authority over Tiv nobles either,” said Lizzy. “Your minister can’t order us around. If he had a royal decree or one of the old nobles backing him, I would have to be worried, but he does not, does he? The old nobles are no fans of the Preacher.”

“All in all, you would need an order from the Assembly that orders us to stand down,” said Sigille. “Go ahead. It should only take a few seasons to get a hearing.”

“Otherwise, we are all here standing opposed as private citizens in a land outside Tiv jurisdiction,” said Megumi. “We choose to protect these innocent folks while you seem determined to harm them. I’ll be damned if I let you do that.”

“Innocent?!” Ava snorted contemptuously. “They’re deserters! Traitors to the Tiv Empire! Colluding with vile undead.”

“Take a look at your own soldiers if you want to talk vile,” retorted Sigille.

Terry nodded slightly. Some of the uniformed channelers had extremely twisted appearances and mana signatures.

Terry knew that channeling otherrealm powers could influence a person’s appearance, and it did not seem like a big deal with the channelers he had met so far, but some of these soldiers looked barely like folk anymore.

What kind of person would voluntarily choose this?

“Syn is a city of deathlife, not undead,” stressed Ying again.

“They’re no different from folk,” muttered Terry.

“They’re nice,” said Devon.

“I can see where this is going,” said Sigille with her axe in hand. She retrieved an item from her storage and then used it to amplify her voice.

Sigille stepped forward and faced the army with composure.

“I am Sigille. Some people in Tiv call me the Divine Hammer. I am someone that believes in choices. As soldiers, you may have forgotten that you have a choice, so allow me to remind you today.”

Sigille gestured with her axe towards Syn. “Behind us is a city of innocents. Several Guardian investigations have determined that these innocent people have voluntarily chosen this city as their home. You can verify that with Guardian management in Tiv. These people have not been abducted to this place. But now you have marched here to abduct them from this place.”

Sigille stared down the army and continued in a solemn voice: “My fellow Guardians and I have vowed to protect the innocent lives here. Whoever threatens this city can expect no mercy from us. If you step forward today – if you try to abduct these innocent people out of their homes – then you will put your lives against ours. Make your choice.”

While Sigille was speaking, Cadence clenched her golden fist and looked at Sigille with adoring eyes. This was the Divine Hammer she had volunteered to work with.

Sigille then returned the item to her storage and turned to Terry. “Get inside the range of the barrier.”

Terry nodded in a slight daze. The figure of Sigille’s back during her speech had etched itself into Terry’s mind. It had overlapped with the characters from the legends Terry loved.

Ava was fuming with rage at having someone address her soldiers over her head. She glared at Sigille. Ava’s eyes wandered to Terry and then to the crest on Terry’s bag.

That symbol of Arcana caused something to snap inside of Ava. She glared hatefully at everyone present. Her gaze rested on Devon and his tattered crimson uniform. She had paid it little mind before, but now she recognized the uniform of Thanatos.

“TRAITORS!” Ava screeched at the top of her lungs. She shouted to address her army: “Don’t heed the words of these stupid traitors!”

Ava turned to the commanders next to her: “Make sure that they remember their oath to Tiv and to Minister Kipkoi! Deserters deserve their fate.”

“Let’s all move inside the range of our defenses,” said Ying to Sigille and the others. “I truly appreciate your support, but this is still Syn’s fight, above all. They need to learn a lesson and the first course will be held by us. If you feel confident, you can engage them individually afterwards.”

***

The blood was already drained from Terry’s face. His stomach rebelled at the grueling sights and the stench of burned flesh. His previous encounter with Thanatos soldiers had been outright peaceful compared to what was unfolding around him.

The first company of the Devout Division had charged towards Syn City.

*KAZAP!* Grey lightning sizzled between several towers that surrounded Syn City. All life signatures between the two towers were caught in the line of lightning.

Some channelers managed to dodge or block the assault, but many fell where they were.

*VROOM!* A repulsion wave was emitted from a row of pillars behind the towers. The channelers that had passed the towers were propelled right through the sizzling lightning again.

“Tch,” uttered Ava. She created a short-range dimensional gate to bypass the defenses.

“As if,” growled Ying and countered the spatial manipulation with his own space magic.

The channelers regrouped under the direction of their commanders.

One group of channelers soared into the sky and carried others with them. They released the transported soldiers behind the towers.

These soldiers then immediately used abilities to raise the earth, create a thick net of vines, summon metal plates, and further fortifications that would prevent a repulsion from passing through the line of the towers.

Another group of channelers charged directly at the towers. This group comprised channelers with high resistance to lightning.

“We have tried to show you Syn’s promise in the past.” The cyan flames inside of Saul’s eye sockets flickered furiously. “Now, we’ll show you Syn’s threat.”

Saul tapped his staff on the ground and from the point of contact, a wave of cyan light radiated in all directions.

Once the light hit the corpses of the soldiers, their bodies ignited in a cyan fire. From the ashes, skeletal warriors of the first rank rose.

Saul tapped his staff on the ground a second time and the newly risen skeletal warriors were imbued with Saul’s cyan aura to act as his weapons.

The skeletal warriors charged at the soldiers that were attacking the towers and setting up fortifications.

“Ying!” shouted Saul. “Your turn. I’ll block her gates.”

Ying nodded and stopped his dimensional duel with Ava. He channeled magic through his soul, and translucent purple strings sprung up from his body and stretched into the distance. At the other end, hands formed and grabbed around the locations where the enemy soldiers had died.

Some hands clenched into fists and the connections to Ying lit up brightly. The hands unclenched and from their palms, death spirits manifested, and the ghosts rushed over the battlefield to attack the soldiers.

“Good.” Saul destroyed another dimensional gate from Ava. “Let them learn that for every soldier they send at us, they will have two coming back at them.”

“Switch again!” shouted Ying, and he took over guarding the space.

Ava glowered.

“Leader Ava, the longer this takes, the worse our situation becomes,” said one commander.

“Don’t tell me things I know already,” spat Ava. “What about the tunnels?”

“There are high-level death mages roaming underground.”

“And the air-bridge?”

“Well…”

*BAM!* A group of flying channelers were smacked out of the sky by a translucent golden hammer.

“ARHG!” A few channelers managed to dodge but were carved up by wind blades.

Megumi was glaring menacingly from the sky above Syn City.

Ava scowled at the city in the distance. “Ready the siege constructs and keep them distracted in the meantime.”

“We can send the teleportation units. Can we count on your assistance for those that do not have their own teleportation abilities?”

Ava checked her own mana. “It cannot be helped, but make sure to select the right soldiers for the job and remind them to disable any items that block unanchored transfers. I don’t want to waste my mana for nothing.”

***

“By the Lady, cease your assault!” Cadence’s skin had turned completely golden. “This isn’t right.”

Opposite of Cadence stood a man whose skin was as golden as her own.

“You’re just a Glimmer.” The man scoffed at Cadence. “You do not speak for the Bright Lady. If the circle is to expand its influence, then it will require worldly allies. The Preacher is our best bet.”

“The Bright Lady teaches…”

“The Bright Lady won’t be heard unless people will listen. That is exactly why we joined the Division.” The man glared at Cadence. “I won’t be schooled by a mere Glimmer.”

Cadence grimaced. Her eyes glanced at the Divine Hammer, who was darting around the battlefield to crush the strongest enemies she could find. Further behind, a dragon made from purple lightning rampaged.

“Then you leave me no choice.” Bright orange flames surrounded Cadence. Her baton shined brightly. “I won’t let you touch the innocent people here. I won’t let you besmirch the name of the Bright Lady through your actions.”

Meanwhile, Ying grit his teeth in frustration. While the enemy had stopped attempting to set up dimensional gates, they had started using unanchored transfers and teleportation abilities.

Unanchored transfers could not be interrupted from the outside – at least not from the destination location. While anchored travel resembled a tunnel with two entrances, unanchored travel was like using a slingshot. You had to prevent the slingshot from being loaded in the first place.

Ying could attempt to use his own unanchored transfers to throw them back out, but it might just be a waste of mana. For those with teleportation abilities, the action would be meaningless, because they could return immediately. To make it worse, Ying’s spellwork could be blocked with items or abilities. In contrast to Ava, Ying did not have the cooperation of the spell target.

Ying and Saul had debated if they should set up a spatial lock to prevent all spatial manipulations. After much discussion, they had decided against it.

A spatial lock did not block all teleportation abilities from other aspects. Furthermore, space magic was one of Syn’s fortes. Locking space would shackle their own abilities as well. Most importantly, they wanted to keep an emergency escape route open to evacuate the non-combatants if necessary.

In the end, they only set up a small spatial lock right around the Heart of Syn.

“You and your panther should go protect the Heart,” said Saul. “It seems they have decided to focus their attacks there. You are our best dimensional mage. Take Gretchen and Wilhelm with you.”

“It might be better to immediately set up dimensional gates around the Heart to isolate it completely from their attacks,” muttered Ying.

*Kwang!* A huge fireball had been thrown at Syn from a large siege construct.

Saul could see Sigille moving into the sky to block it, and he shared a glance with Ying.

“LET IT PASS!” Saul’s voice echoed through the sky of Syn.

Afterwards, Saul summoned a dimensional gate in front of the fireball and the fireball reappeared on top of the Devout Division.

“How dare you!” Ava summoned her own dimensional gate to correct the fireball’s course.

Unfortunately for Ava, she was the only dimensional mage on the side of the soldiers while the side of Syn had both Saul and Ying.

In the end, Ava could only redirect the fireball to an empty area.

“I’ll watch the Heart,” said Ying to Saul. “Send me a mental transmission in case they try something like that again.”

***

If you are just going to stand around, then what was the point of coming here?

Terry raised his head and wiped his mouth. He had been vomiting.

Make yourself useful or you might as well not exist.

“Haah…”

For once, Terry agreed with his intrusive thoughts. He took three deep breaths and then clenched his fists.

Actions.

“I don’t know where I would be of help.”

Spelling out the problem allowed Terry to figure out what to do. Terry threw an octavum needle into the air and then pulled himself up.

Up in the air, Terry transfixed his boots and concentrated on his mana sense. He quickly located the familiar mana signatures of his allies. Next, he tried to get a picture of the enemies’ movements.

Most of the enemies were still behind the line of Syn’s defenses. Two groups had split off and were circling Syn to test defenses in other locations.

Some soldiers were engaged in battle with skeletal warriors and death spirits near the towers. A few stronger enemies were pushed back by Sigille and Matteo.

An intense battle raged in the sky, with flying channelers on one side and the Captain leading death mages on the other.

“Assist in the air battle?” Terry murmured to himself. He noticed several foreign mana signatures suddenly appearing inside Syn City, and frowned.

“So many of them…” Terry bit his lip. “Where should I go?”

They seem to move towards the Heart.

“Ying and others seem to be there already. I don’t think I would be of much help in a clash like that.”

“Wait…” Terry noticed a difference in behavior among the appearing signatures.

Some of them continued teleporting to reach their destination more quickly. Others only ran.

Terry narrowed his eyes and watched them closely. “Ahh! Those must have been brought here through unanchored transfers. They do not have any teleportation abilities.”

Now what?

“If they don’t have teleportation abilities, then I can throw them back out.”

Terry switched imprints in his boots and air-jumped forward. He relied on his imprinted equipment and roped rings to get close to his first target.

Terry saw a burly man whose channeled mana signature resembled the nature aspect. Terry activated both the Immovable Object imprint in his bracer and the Gravitational Attraction imprint in his glove.

The burly soldier was lifted into the air.

One question. How is the whole ‘throwing’ thing supposed to work?

Terry’s eyes widened, and he puffed his cheeks.

Numbskull.

The burly soldier realized that Terry was the person responsible for him being airborne.

For a second, the two made eye contact.

Then, the soldier’s skin turned to wood. His arm formed a whip and attacked Terry.

Terry quickly retrieved and transfixed a shield to block the wooden whip.

The man can’t fly.

Terry controlled his breathing and summoned a tertium slab.

“I can do this.” He muttered to himself. “Terry style.”

Terry transfixed the slab at a slight angle. He summoned another slab for himself to crouch on. The two slabs shielded him from the soldiers below. Together, they looked like a small ramp, with Terry hidden between them.

Terry continued to pull the soldier towards himself…

*Ting* *Ting* *Ting* The tertium slabs blocked several wood splinters that the soldier had shot at Terry.

Terry retrieved two spears and placed them in front of him on the tertium slab. He grabbed one spear and waited with bated breath.

The soldier impacted on the angled tertium slab.

Terry rapidly dashed out of his hiding hole and positioned the spear to pin the soldier on the slab. He transfixed the spear and then dashed in the other direction to repeat the procedure with the second spear.

“What the…? HUAHHH!” The soldier struggled to stand up on the slab, but he was blocked by the immovable spears. He struggled stubbornly.

Terry deactivated his glove. Simultaneously, Terry disrupted the imprint in the tertium slab he was standing on and returned the slab to his storage bracelet.

Terry gathered momentum and activated the center pearls in his bracers to swing around the tertium slab. He deactivated the pearls and rose behind the soldier’s back.

Careful!

Terry stopped himself from jumping onto the soldier when he noticed the flow of mana.

Wooden spikes appeared on the soldier’s back.

Terry summoned a tertium slab with handles and slowly stepped closer with a primed Immovable Object spell ready to ignite.

Looks as if the spikes are just for close combat.

Terry transfixed the tertium slab as close to the spiky back as he could manage. He now had a secure position to attack.

Terry’s expression turned grim, and he retrieved his glaive. He pushed the fire-aspected glaive through the wooden spikes. The single-edged blade was pointing to the soldier.

The soldier screamed through grit teeth at the pain from the fire-aspected mana.

With red eyes, Terry grasped the glaive’s pole near the spiked end with both hands.

This is going to hurt…

Terry glanced over the battlefield. “The time for mercy is when you are in complete control of the situation.” He shook his head. “Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to yourself.”

Stop quoting others.

Terry exhaled a shaking breath. “I am allowed to defend people.”

Actions.

Terry clenched his teeth and pulled. The glaive’s pole acted as a lever on the transfixed tertium slab’s edge.

A blood-curdling scream resounded over the sky.

The glaive’s single-edged blade cleaved through the spine of the soldier. The soldier’s body went up in flames shortly after.

Terry sighed.

***

Devon swatted one soldier away, and the woman vanished in a blast of hellfire.

“YOU MONSTER!” shouted a companion of the incinerated woman. Green snakes charged out of the man’s body and towards Devon.

Devon tilted his head with a blank expression. “I am allowed to defend myself.” He summoned a sheet of netherfrost under the feet of the snake summoner.

Without pause, Devon was already rushing towards the next soldier.

Saul kept a close watch over Devon. Whenever Devon ran out of targets in his vicinity, Saul teleported Devon to another location in need of reinforcement.

Saul noticed a foreign spatial spell targeting Devon. The light in Saul’s eye sockets flickered. “Not on my watch.”

Rapidly, Saul blocked the unanchored transfer.

In a different location, Ava cursed in fury.

“Stupid and selfish bastards.” Ava grit her teeth.

“The Hammer, the Captain, and the Fury Kid all own items that block unanchored transfers,” said a commander next to her.

“None of them should have ever been allowed to own such items,” spat Ava. “None of them should have ever been allowed to use mana. None of them are worthy of such a privilege. Stupid. All of them.”

Ava’s whole body shook with rage. “Don’t they understand that they are weakening Tiv?! That they are dooming everyone through their selfish actions?! That by weakening Tiv they are hurting themselves in the long run? Stupid!”

“Leader Ava, we are making little progress,” said the commander in a grave tone. “While we have them vastly outnumbered, things will get ugly if we don’t quickly take out at least one of their heavy-hitters.”

“Stop telling me things I already know,” growled Ava. “That abnormal monster is the only one I can target for unanchored transfers, but that lich is shielding him.”

“Hmph, I’ll go there myself,” declared Ava. “If I am closer, then the skeleton won’t be able to do anything. Get me some soldiers and we’ll take out the freak.”

A moment later, Ava teleported herself and a group of soldiers next to Devon.

Devon unhesitatingly charged at the soldier within his reach.

Ava scoffed with a cold smile. She had already finished her spell and Devon was teleported into the air.

As long as she limited herself to short transfers and gates that were closer to her than to Saul, Ava would stay in control.

The soldiers moved around Ava to protect her from interference.

“I’ll take you out for good,” growled Ava. She rapidly created two dimensional gates to trap Devon in a spatial loop in which he fell perpetually.

“Heeeyy!” shouted Devon, and fell into the dimensional gate, which brought him back a few meters above the gate. He sped up further and further.

Saul attempted to extract Devon from the spatial loop, but was blocked by Ava, who sneered at the lich.

“Sstooppp thaaaat!” yelled Devon.

Ava retrieved a crystal sphere from her storage item and channeled mana into it. A spatial trap was created that was locked with her signature.

“You stay here and watch the freak,” ordered Ava. “I think I know now how to proceed.”

Ava started teleporting around Syn. Whenever she encountered Syn citizens, she flung them out of the city using unanchored transfers.

In contrast to Sigille or Matteo, the average citizen did not have any protections against space magic.

Before anyone could reach Ava in time to stop her, she was already done and teleported to the next location.

When Ava saw the Captain moving to target her or the spatial trap sealing Devon, Ava flung Syn citizens into the sky outside the city limits, thereby forcing flyers like the Captain to change direction if they wanted to rescue them.

“Stop that!” Devon growled while falling. He clenched his teeth and his eyes burned with rage.

Devon empowered his spell and summoned a large sheet of black ice.

*SPLAT!*

Many heads turned towards the sound of a body impacting on the ground.

One of those heads was Terry’s and his stomach plummeted when he saw that the only thing left of Devon was a bloody puddle.

For a moment, everything seemed silent.

“What an idiot,” sneered one soldier inside the spatial lock.

“Who in their right mind stops a fall like that?” asked another soldier. “Even if there was a slight chance to survive that, the netherfrost would suck what little life is left out of you.”

Megumi stared at the bloody puddle. Her face was full of worry… which turned to terror.

“I. SAID. STOP. IT.” A loud rumbling voice echoed from everywhere at once.

Terry’s mana sense went haywire. He became dizzy and nauseous. From the corner of his eyes, he could see that he was not the only one. Some of the flying soldiers were even dropping out of the sky because they could not control their mana anymore.

The entire area became drowned in a terrifying mana and the earth quaked violently.

The ungrateful blob?

“What am I thinking?” Terry shook his head. “This is…”

This is Devon’s mana and yet different. A trace of another aspect…

A bloody figure rose from the puddle on the black ice. The figure grew much taller than Devon used to be.

“Oh, no…” Megumi’s heart sank. She quickly undid one of her leather straps. She retrieved a metal tube. “Please, no.”

“Don’t tell me.” Lizzy stepped away from the citizen’s shelter and looked towards the source of the terrifying mana signature. “Oh, no…” She started running as fast as she could while retrieving a metal tube from her storage item.

“Oy,” uttered Sigille with wide eyes. For the first time in this battle, her calm was completely shaken. She quickly moved next to Megumi, who had arrived back on the ground and was clenching a metal tube.

“Is he still with us?” asked Sigille worriedly.

Megumi wore a grave expression and unsealed the metal tube. From inside, she retrieved a scroll.

“Shit,” exclaimed Sigille and stretched her limbs. Afterwards, she tightly gripped her axe and prepared to dash forward. “My poor back.”

“Come on,” mumbled Megumi. “You can do it. You’ve held out for so long. Don’t let all this time be for nothing.”

Lizzy was running and running. She kneed a soldier in the face that was trying to stand in her way without ever stopping. Finally, she could see what was happening outside the city.

Lizzy’s expression fell. “Please hold on.” She shook her head. “I really don’t want to stab you.”

“““Don’t give in now.””” Even though they stood in different locations, both Megumi and Lizzy were muttering in unison.

“What is this thing?” asked one soldier inside the spatial lock.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” replied a soldier with compound eyes like a fly’s. “Just kill it.”

The soldiers unleashed their strongest abilities… to no effect. All of their abilities were drowned in blood.

The bloody giant surrounded himself with intense hellfire. The hellfire melted the black ice. The flames erupted and destroyed the dimensional gates.

The bloody giant fell to the earth and smashed a palm of hellfire down at the soldiers.

Waves of hellfire continued to erupt from the impact. The giant flames erased the existence of the soldiers. They also broke the spatial trap.

Sigille’s face stiffened, and involuntarily, a quiet yelp escaped her lips. She frowned at this nearly forgotten sound that was most unwelcome. She tightened her grip on her axe. Inscriptions on her equipment flared up in preparation, and her expression hardened.

“Come on.” Megumi had stopped blinking. Her eyes were glued to the bloody giant, while her hands were ready to rip her scroll at a moment’s notice.

“I…” The rumbling voice echoed through the sky again.

The bloody giant stepped forward in large strides. Wherever his feet touched, a large sheet of netherfrost was created.

“Out of curiosity…” Sigille glanced at Megumi again. “Does he have any weaknesses aside from being vulnerable to dimensional transfers?”

Megumi shook her head without taking her eyes off of the bloody giant. “Devon’s defiance is what keeps the Devonian Lord in check. Master-level mind magic has a chance of being effective before the incarnation is finished, but that would affect Devon, too.”

“Hmph.” Sigille grumbled to herself. “The scroll?”

“Would buy time at the risk of wiping Devon’s mind. If it does not work, there is no going back. With Devon’s mind gone, it would only be a matter of time until the Devonian Lord incarnates into the vessel.”

Sigille turned her attention back to the bloody giant and grumbled: “My poor, poor back.”

“I…”

The bloody giant jumped a vast distance and came down near a company of soldiers.

“I…” The bloody giant stepped towards the soldiers.

The soldiers all unleashed their own abilities. None of them showed any sign of slowing down the bloody giant.

Some soldiers attempted to escape while others prepared their defensive abilities.

Megumi stared at the bloody giant with quavering breaths.

“I…” The earth stopped quaking.

A giant palm of hellfire later, nearly an entire company of soldiers was gone. The only survivors were those that had chosen to escape.

“I… am allowed to defend people.”

The bloody giant shrank, and from the blood stepped an angry naked mage.

Megumi and Lizzy heaved sighs of relief.

Devon seemed groggy – as if he had just woken up. He shook his head and then ran at the nearest soldier that was threatening Syn and his friends.

“Uhh…” Sigille was still in her battle stance and glanced at Megumi. “Is he alright now?”

“Yes.” Megumi nodded absentmindedly. “Fortunately.”

Lizzy was already running back to the shelter. She encountered the same soldier from before again and kneed him in the back of the head. This time, she had reshaped her armor at the knee to create a spike.

Devon stopped incinerating soldiers and looked at the horizon in the east. He furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes.

***