Chapter 48: Old Habits

“Holy fucking tits.” Giovanni’s voice had a slight tremble to it as he looked out through the observation device we created in the last few days.

Shaped like a giant eye the majority of the stand was made out of local wood, with a few bronze pipes extending from the two stands, making an oval. Inside that oval was a sphere of warped air which connected to a spell high above and gave us a bird’s eye view of the approaching forces.

The spell itself would be visible high up in the air for most mages, but determining its purpose would be a rough guess at best. It was quite a distance up, out of range of even my impressive mage sight. Still I hoped that it would explain how we knew the Lord’s troops were coming without letting them realize that we actually had time to trap the forest.

Experimentation with a new magical device was apparently a more common thing than I was aware of with non-noble mages, even being how the majority of the clan’s mages made their money. They just did not get to sell too many of them because of the comparative lack of mages to my previous world made powering the things annoying.

The device itself was crude and I had to remove a few splinters from both of our hands whenever we moved it, but overall it was satisfactory.

As for the number of our opposition… “Two and a half thousand, maybe three, nothing to worry about Geo.”

“Nothing to worry about?! Even with us calling all the nearby clansmen together we barely have a thousand fighters, if that!” The brat’s voice was getting flighty. “You even admitted that most of the rest will not make a difference.

“We have more mages, much better motivation, and we prepared the ground for our defense.” I stared at the uneven lines and undisciplined march as it worked its way down the road in our direction. “I doubt that the majority on our side will even get a chance to fight unless they brought some double digit mages.” I heard some movement behind us and knew who it was simply because of the wards on the tent. “What do you think Dawn?”

There was a pause as he no doubt took in the army that was displayed. “The enemy mages will be a concern.” I nodded and looked over at the large man to discover that he was not already in his armor. Noticing my look he added, “I was speaking to the others, we have come to the conclusion that he must make an overt action before we can.”

I frowned, “Why?” Knowing my luck the Nalks would have already pushed the idea of simply camping outside the tree line into the Lord’s head, just to annoy me. Giovanni also repeated my question, to my aggravation, the young man was practically spastic when he got excited or worried.

“Our witnesses.” Dawn said simply, leaving me to roll my eyes.

A few priest and a pair of histones had been requested to be present. They were supposed to serve as formally impartial witnesses. It was a good idea, to help keep the King from getting too involved afterwards, but it still annoyed me.

Like most Kings, this one was the type to let his nobles hang themselves unless there was some major obligation or profit to be gained. Which, was why they would also be evacuating rather quickly after this was over, regardless of if the last part of the clan was here by then.

“How long until those Fodder of yours arrive?” I had been helping them to fortify here for two weeks, but I was honestly unsure who would benefit more if there was a delay.

Dawn sighed, “The Elah, will be here in a few days, but they have been forcing themselves. I would not them to arrive when things are tense and they are tired.” His face took on a slight grimace, “Especially if they try to walk through that horror field you two set up.”

“You think that will be enough?” Giovanni asked eagerly.

“Enough to give them nightmares, but beyond their effect on moral?” Dawn shook his head.

I shrugged, “Moral will break them faster than anything else, especially when they will be fighting for money. The second they realize that victory is impossible they will bolt. The traps in that area are just designed to make that happen faster.”

“Between the fire and the screams, I am more worried about them panicking and trying to bold through our lines.”

“The runes should help with that, though you should see this.” I turned back to the observer and manipulated it to focus on the wagons that were dispersed throughout the groups. A few had a noticeably larger human riding along them, but the one I focused on in particular had some iron that sitting on top of the blanket covering the majority of the wagon.

As I focused in, I swore the fat man looked up, directly into my face and scowled.

“Full iron…? No, total iron… by the twelve, I am glad we have those bottles.”

“Cocktails.” Geo corrected.

“Is total iron the name of the mercenary group or just what you call people who wear iron from head to foot?” I readjusted the observer as I spoke taking a look at the other wagons.

“That is full iron, total iron might be the name of a group, but I am unfamiliar with it, no, it refers to someone who blankets themselves in iron to leave no openings for spells.”

“That seems stupid.” I turned to Giovanni, who continued slightly less sure of himself, “like you both said, they will bake in the iron right? I mean a few fireballs can take their whole group out.”

“If we somehow light them on fire or keep them exposed to the flame, then yes, but they know that too, which is why they will be ready for it.” Enchanted shields, mage protection, and runes were the most common methods that I knew of and would make the men in question particularly annoying to deal with… until they hit the oil trenches anyway.

Dawn then added, “Speaking of being prepared, you should go and collect your sword, Mathalaus left it with the Farah. Along with those particularly disgusting arms of yours.” I felt myself tense for a moment before I remembered the gas weapons.

“Oh right.” Giovanni piped up, now back on familiar ground, “those gas grenades were brilliant work, there is no way iron will stop them. Between them and our other inventions we should have income for a few more years too.”

“Hardly, but remember that you owe me a share for anything you sell.” Not that I actually expected to get paid, but Giovanni, despite his arrogant introduction, really was a sort of sheltered genius that might do it.

“What do you mean? No one else can make those and they will fundamentally change warfare if handled- why are you smiling like that?!”

I held up my hands, “Apologies, Geo, but the toys we made will not change warfare in any major way. Their size and volatility mean they will make some city gang fighting much more dangerous and skirmishers will no doubt be thankful for the extra weapons, but war never truly changes. Sword, spear, crossbow, and magical devices can change parts of the fighting, but in the end war will always be war.”

I cast a quick glance back at our observer, “Furthermore, there is nothing too inventive about what we have done. It will be copied if someone else has not already thought of it and as fast as people can produce the weapons, there will also be countermeasures introduced to stop them.”

“It is a sad truth of war, brother, we will learn and teach our enemy while they do the same to us. Now, I will go inform the heads of this development. DeMorte, you know where you will be most effective, but if you want to listen in on the negotiations, the Farah have a device set up to do just that.”

I blinked, but Dawn departed before I could ask what he meant, prompting me to turn back to Giovanni. “What was he talking about?”

“I think he meant the two way crystal communicators I made a few years back. I used to use them to keep in touch with him while he was off measuring distances for our maps.”

I stared at him, hard. “What is the range on those things?”

He blinked, “Uh, a few kilometers, not too much farther or they get interference. Trees, hills, mountains and magic all interfere with it too.”

I exhaled and relaxed. What could a commander do if he could get near instant feedback from other parts of the line? If he could give them orders from a hill and actually command a battle instead of spectating? Outer ovals, if that was combined with our observer… thank the gods magic interfered with both or this little graveborn might have already changed warfare without me noticing!

“I am going to go to the Farah, please turn that thing off before we lose any more weight.”

“AH!” Giovanni, as if just remembering that Magical Devices generally had no way of storing energy, immediately powered the observer down. “Sorry about that, um… you meant it right? That we will win?”

I smiled, prefight jitters were human no matter the world, “Undoubtedly.”

Ignoring my own, arguably concerning, lack of stress, I turned and strode out of the tent where I had spent the majority of these last few days, ensuring that our soon to arrive guests would find horrors straight from their worst nights-terrors.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Achoo! I shook my head by habit and shivered as the layers of fat ripped across my body. Sneezes were an interesting biological reaction, but I still found them annoying.

I had worked hard recently to both eat and absorb an impressive amount of fat, while allowing myself the slight vanity that my abilities afforded me to sculpt the idealized picture of a frontline mage of a pitched battle.

Strolling along, I moved through the various mage group, who I had left in awe of my rapid fat cultivation. If any noble in the courts of my old world could see me, they would offer me both their sons and daughters at the sight of my body’s current state of glory…

Or rather everyone would be in awe if I had not gotten a larger chainmail suit and thick clothes to hide it away. As it was I only had my now slightly pudgy hands and my face exposed and I incredibly happy that I was in the shade. Runes were powerful tools, but even they could only do so much

It was inconvenient in comparison to the lithe body that I had not too long ago. For example, wielding a sword effectively was infinitely more complicated when you spent hours practicing at one weight, only to find that my weight and center of balance would change as I used magic in a fight. Not to mention that I was still getting used to the idea of watching for such a large weight shift.

I think I gained 12 kilos in total, mostly thanks to mana roots, and I would lose most of it before the end of the fight. Still, I could and would adapt quickly, especially as I had no real choice. I was not the best at staying in the rear.

I strolled through the Farah’s set up and straight up to Legati, who had also put on some weight, but not nearly as much as I had. Where she was slightly plump before, she had only slightly expanded. She might have overeaten though as she was looking slightly ill and was gripping the sides of barrel with white knuckles.

She and her branch of the clan had the most mages of them all and they had been reluctant to accept that they would decide the war on the field, not at a table, but they were more or less ready.

Around 30 mages, of the 60 in the camp, were from the Farah. They were almost all at rank 5 or 6, meaning they were about the level of the common army mage of my previous world… at least in pure magic power.

I had gone through and trained them in some basic tricks to make them much more dangerous. Too many though were still struggling with the idea that they were going to kill many, many people. They had previously been a rather thriving group of property owners in the holy lands so I did not blame them, but I had a fight to prepare them for.

One of the few things they had done without complaint was making defensive preparations. Their personal wards were fully active when I arrived, humming with an energy that I could feel from halfway across the camp. There were also several statues with currently subdued wards that were strategically hidden to assist during the fight.

My personal wards were ready to be activated at a moment’s notice, though I had kept them deactivated since I transferred them to my current cloth.

“I hope you did not go testing those cocktails we designed, I would rather not waste any mana curing you if possible.”

The Farah chief shook her head slowly, not enjoying life, and I noticed that a few others had similar looks. “I believe this is the result of those pills of yours.”

I sighed. “I told you those were for emergencies.”

“We had to test them and it is just as well we did if they are going to make us all want to…” She grimaced and left her statement as it was.

Hardly surprising, those pills had a large content of pure fat, sugar, and a few other things, wrapped in pig skin. “I am just glad that you did not chew, or else you would not look as good as you do now.” I sighed. “Open your wards to my spells and I will help.”

A few minutes later they were all looking much better, though I how they would feel later was up in the air as the spell would only stop their digestion for so long. Still, it was not like the food had to be digested for magic to use it for energy.

“Anyway, I heard that you both have my payment and a means of listening to the negotiations?”

Legati gave me a sidelong look at that. “You still intend to take it then?”

“Why would I back down?” I leveled an uncaring stare at her.

She kept a neutral face, “because I saw you interacting with Janeen, and the children, during the last few days. In fact, you were quite energetic in the whole of the preparations and I would assert that you were more eager to help us than you said.

I snorted, “Your assertions are your own concern Legati, though I do want to ask if you are going somewhere with this…”

“I am just curious, after all you do seem like a ‘rough’ person.” I smirked. “Which brings up the ideas that someone has either already paid you to come here or that you might not be as rough as you like others to think.”

I chuckled, “Both are possible, but you do not know how rough I ‘want other to think I am’ versus,” I lost my mirth, “how I really am.”

“An interesting distinction, but as I am the type to wonder about what others would do in certain situations, it does make me think about the possibilities.” I raised an eyebrow, refusing to give her any more feedback. “For example, I wonder what you would do if we were to refuse to pay you. Would you leave, attack us, or stay to help us regardless? Or would you try and stay, taking your pay in… another way?”

I then smiled and gave another light chuckle, shaking my head. “I regret that I am no longer capable of taking non-metallic payment. Though I would encourage you to think about what would happen if I was not paid. Then, after you make your best guess, pay me anyway so we do not have to find out if you were wrong.”

Legati gave me a measured look, before waving to someone I could only see barely see in my peripheral. He ran forward and presented a relatively small wooden box. Deciding that this was one of the times I needed to show some trust, I forced myself to open it without checking for traps.

Nothing happened and I removed the short silver sword, not saying anything about its less than impressive size, which was barely enough to call it a sword. I preferred wielding an iron shield when it was appropriate, so it would do well enough as a companion to that, but I was hoping for a proper two handed blade.

After all, what was the point of having a metal that could get lighter if you did not make an otherwise oversized blade with it?

Regardless, I tested the silver blade’s weight and balance both with and without my mana in it. Overall, it was fairly well made and would make a good impression, both on the battlefield and off. It also had a snake’s head pommel, which made me snort, as I certainly did not tell them to add that in.

“Thank you,” I looked over at Legati and smiled “You have not moved my chest have you?”

She frowned, “No, are you not even going to use the mithril?”

“No, it is too short for today’s fighting. That is what the hammer is for.” I took the simple leather sheath out of the box and then sheathed my new blade as I walked back through the lines. With an iron warhammer swinging very slightly on my back.

This was going to be a bloody battle, despite its size, and I hardly thought that I was going to get out of it without killing someone. I had a larger sword that I was originally going to use, but the warhammer would work better on those armored men. Plus, after the fight was finished and the Guilt hit, I did not want one of my blades disappearing while I was incapacitated.

I may only experience the Guilt for a moment, but its effects would linger, which was part of the reason I had my chest set up.

Not too far away, the chest was between the front lines and the center’s fallback position, which would keep the non-combatants pent up during the fight. It was an old, worn, but still fairly sturdy chest that served my purposes well enough. Plus, the location was just out of the way enough to discourage anyone from trying to open it out of curiosity, while serving as bait for those who might backstab me.

So far only a few brats had tried to open it, after they heard me forbid it, but they did not get far and itch spells had worn off after a few minutes with no lasting harm.

Though happy to have the Mithril, I sighed to myself as I touched the chest. It had been fun, but I also had to destroy my little side project now that our enemy was actually here.

Pausing to erect a shadow ward to hide my actions, I unlocked the wards to the wooded chest with a simple prick of my finger and drop of blood. Blood protection spells were absurdly secure and as long as no one managed to break the physical container they were considered the highest level protection.

Naturally I had several traps to counter the fact that my chest was old, but it had served as a food test of intentions. No one had died or suffered from the obvious ill effects of trying to force it open, which made me feel far better about the clan.

Inside the chest was a variety of unfinished horrors that I had shelved for time constraints. That said, the one that I knew I had to take care of before the fighting was a biopuppet arm. I instantly vast Flesh Fire on it and let the oh-so-slightly grotesque arm burn, never more glad that the magic removed the stench as it burned away.

Made of pig carcasses, runes, horrors, alchemic preservation chemicals, and a slightly painful number of magic instructions, the arm was a large and unruly first physical make of what I hoped to eventually be a full biological suit of armor. I called it the Biopuppet in my head though, because wearing something like that would be more like acting as a puppeteer.

I had hope for the design, but for now there were so many drawbacks that it was effectively useless for anything other than possibly turning the clan against me. Of course, that gave me a strong incentive to destroy it before, but I had never gotten such a good chance to actually build the thing since I got my original idea for it.

Granted it was just an arm, but I had covered this particular arm with bone and leather on the outside as a replacement for skin, making it rather worrying to look at. Still, it would certainly not have elicited any reactions in my previous world, so I was rather disturbed when a local villager had accidentally seen me testing it and screamed “Soul Mage!”

I thought that was an extreme overreaction and used a simple memory spell on the person. After some introspective questions though, I realized that was technically an arm that I had made out of the dead before causing it to flip and flop around on the ground with my magic. In that sense, ignoring the fact that it was not an actual undead creature, I cringed at the time and allowed that it would be counterproductive to let other see it.

…Bella did not help the problem by not shutting up for the last week about how I let myself be seen testing it, because I was too caught up in making my arm fap around on the ground.

I tested it while directly in contact and control of it, but that had not gone according to plan. Some of the muscles had degraded since its death and I just happened to have broken most of it and cracked a nearby cart’s axle at the same time.

Still, I never showed it to anyone else and I had gained some ideas for the future. So I could destroy it until I had another fairly quiet place to set up again.

Regardless of spastic, cart destroying, accidents I had hope for future designs.

As the flesh fire finally died down I emptied the ash and put the mithril sword into the compartment instead before closing the lid. I then smiled as the chest’s spells created a few more illusionary boxed and rearranged them, putting a few fake boxes on top which would kill anyone who tried to open them.

Part of me wanted to use the sword in this fight, but I told myself no simply based on the fact that I was unfamiliar with it. Trying to use something that required mana, without having a good idea of how it worked was suicide and the coin I had before had only given me so much to work with. The last thing I needed was the sword breaking in the middle of a fight because

Now we only had to wait for the ‘guests’ to get things started.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I fought many, many, many different types of people in the past, but there are a few different types who stood out. Not that I did not learn from all of my enemies, but some taught more distinctive lessons.

Many of those people, luckily for me, were examples of what I hated and swore that I would never become. Bella even developed a theory that those particular individuals became a part of my ‘cloak of pride’ because I went out of my way to never make their mistakes… even when reveling in my victories.

The Lord of this region was apparently from a very old line of honorable warriors. When I met him I certainly did not get the feeling, but listening to what he said to Mathalaus and Legati was downright astounding.

Instead of the competent, slightly arrogant, grounded individual I thought he was, the man was a greedy fool. To the extent that I had a hard time accepting that he really meant what he was saying. If he wanted an excuse to attack and thought arrogant behavior would give him one, I would applaud the effort, but I did not get that feeling at all.

He had just came off as an arrogant moron to me.

Right now his forces were resting, dawning their armor, and organizing themselves as the ‘negotiations’ were finishing up. Replaying it in my head, I cut out all the perfumery that one of the Histones nearby had scribbled down as fast as he could.

“Greetings Lord of this land (who thinks we do not know why you are here.)”

“Hello stupid peasants, (who clearly do not know why I am here.) I am here to accuse you of running around screaming ‘raid, kill, burn!’ and demand what I will tell everyone else is restitution for your criminal acts. Oh look, a Histone, how did you get there?”

“We did nothing and you cannot prove otherwise (you arsehole graveborn)”

“I have witnesses, lots of dead folk, and a dagger that (does not) clearly implicates you. I also have a title and therefor if I formally accuse you of doing it, you have to prove otherwise, not me.”

“We have thousands of witnesses to prove that we have never been to those areas and are polite people who pay for their food with coin.”

“You have witnesses who can prove you paid with coin, but who knows where that coin came from? Further, you just admitted to paying them. Come to think of it, how much do you have on you anyway? Can you account for how it was earned?”

“Why not go and get stuffed with your own gold coins? You obviously have plenty, why bother us?”

“I do not care about your money, I am here for the sake of the dead. This should be obvious since I am a Lord and even my gas does not stink. No, I have enough proof to legally destroy you and I am only talking because it is too much effort.

“Bullshit.”

“(Of course it is.) Anyway, destrenche my desire to kill you all in the name of justice, I know you have children too so I will make you a deal: surrender all your weapons and we can have a polite investigation that will likely find you not-guilty. Of course we will return all non-prohibited items to you afterwards.”

“Prohibited?”

“Oh just things like: either of the two holy metals, mithril or adamantine, or the metal of evil. If you have either of the holy metals, present the proper proof that you are allowed to carry them. (Anything not from this Kingdom is unacceptable and proof from this Kingdom is suspect.) I will personally guarantee your safety if you surrender though and should you be found not-guilty, I will personally escort you to the border and see you off with my best (bullshit) apologies for the inconvenience.”

“We were dishonored and wronged long ago, if you want to try this on us, then it will be by the King’s direct will, under the direct watch of the Histones and the Churches.”

“I am the King’s will by extension, you do not merit his direct will. Further, why should I let it go that far when I have the right to end you right now? You should cooperate, or I will consider you outlaws who are actively resisting the King’s justice (and more importantly, my greed.) You have one hour to surrender or I will remove you.”

“We do not need an hour.”

“There is a war about to start to the south, most mercenaries and even local guard are down there. These lot are mostly mercenaries I gathered in a hurry because of the violence of the attacks. Think of the children I am sure you have with you, especially if we end up fighting as I will have difficulty protecting them from the most animalistic of the group.”

“Yet if we sent them away, you would find and use them against us.”

“Never. Here, you obviously have some magic, you have until this spell runs out.”

…

That conversation took over an hour and over the next hour after it ended the enemy spread out and more or less prepared for a fight. I say more or less because it was already going into the afternoon and the humidity was near zero.

I did not even know where to begin with how stupid and inept this seemed to me. Stones, I actually caught myself trying to come up with some grand scheme that explained it all, but the odds said that it was stupidity, pure and simple.

I thanked whoever raised this fool for their mistakes would help me today.

Although we had less fighters, we ended up dictating the battle because of his desire to end it quickly. While we were arranged in a rough and uneven curve facing the road, the majority of the mercenaries were in front of us. Though about 500 separated along the flanks, likely only there to keep us from running away.

Even if they wanted to attack through the woods, the traps in that part of the woods were more complicated and vicious. The fact that those flankers seemed to be the regular guard and not mercenaries also eased my concerns.

I stood about 60 meters into the woods, surveying both the defenses and the defenders. Several mages and those marked as leaders of their designated areas had been issued basic magic spyglasses to do the same. The most part any mage could, with a simple farsight spell, could see what the enemy had brought, though the trees did block most from the full view.

I had a few of the better spots to survey both lines already picked out, but for now I was more worried about our works than the enemy’s formations.

About ten meters from the tree line were the first small trenches and caltrops. Then a small ditch, about two meters across, filled with dried leaves and sticks. Finally, there was a large ditch of 5 meters just in front of a small incline, where a line of spikes and many clansmen had already lined up.

The majority of sword wielders would go where Dawn thought they were needed most as they were mostly experienced with using their blades for guard duty of one type or another. This included a few individuals who had and could use the mithril weapons and they would be valuable reinforcements if the line was pressed.

Most of those who could fight also had the clan’s special spears by now, though the sword wielders had given theirs up for the second line. Those at the front were carrying shields with runes of strength and durability carved into them and a single spear each. The lines behind them had a spear or two, ready to use the spear’s hidden functions whenever needed.

For their part, almost the entire portion of the clan from Entrials had bows and quivers full of arrows on their hips. They were used to hunting for their food and were more than willing to target any and all exposed flesh, especially with their new arrows.

A few hundred were scattered in front of the ranks, with all of them being the older, calmer, minds who would remember how to pull back without falling prey to our traps.

The arrow shafts were all enchanted to with a death spell that activated when they were out of the quiver and more than two meters from a bow. If those arrows touched you, if even enough of their splinters touched you, the death spells would end you.

Then there were a scattering of other things including our grenades, which were in baskets next to people who knew how to use them. There were also with some rather powerful crossbow users, who had some interesting rope tricks to stay suspended in a tree while aiming.

Finally, there was the clan mages, who were the real fighting force and the only reason this would actually be a fight. They would be in groups of three, scattered across the line when everything finally started…

In fact, they should have already been in position, but they were taking their cues from the heads, who had decided to have one last meeting.

The five clan heads, Janeen, myself, Dawn and one of the Histones had all come together briefly to tell each other that everything was ready, while we suffered one of the most difficult parts of the plan: waiting for them to attack.

As the countdown ended there was another call for our surrender, but after a quick exchange of looks between the clan heads, they scattered to their separate areas.

No one was thinking of surrender then. Good. I strode forward, moving through the line with a simple tap on the shoulders of those who stood in my way. I easily jumped over the first trench and got to a vantage point where I could see our opponents better, before I worked my last pre-battle obligation.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

I used a simple spell that carried my voice out to the thousands of men arrayed in front of me. They could not see me, but they would be able to hear me as if I was right in front of them. Though I did not expand the spell to encompass the clan members too.

“I wish for all here to hear my words.” I paused and waited for a moment to see if my spell would be canceled or would this idiot let me say my peace.

“Speak!” His voice echoed through a similar spell and I partly regretted not letting the clansmen behind me hear me. The last thing I wanted was for them to think I was betraying them.

Still, I had to warn these poor fools and I just did not know the clansmen well enough to know that my words would help or hurt. Some of them would not hear it as they were circling around our back, but the majority of the enemy was in front of us and they would be the ones facing me.

I made sure to keep my voice soft, but resolute when I spoke. “To all those gathered here today I feel compelled to offer a warning. The people you face are not raiders, they are a clan of old, who are only trying to travel in peace.” I took a deep breath. “If you think this fight will earn you honor, you are mistaken. If you think that we will break, you are mistaken. If you think that you will find anything other than a painful, ignominious, death that will be recorded by Histones and priests alike.

“Those who stand here will fight for their lives, their honor, and their children, who you now threaten. So if you want to come, know that we will treat you as the hoard of murderers you intend to be. We cannot run and we cannot hide, not in your master’s lands. You have cornered us and we cannot trust your quarter, we will exterminate all who advance.

“So if you wish to die, feel free to come. If you do, know that you have my trenchy, for no god can favor you, if they have sent you to throw your lives away here. For what it is worth, know that I will administer to the dead as best I can, as a former servant of the god of death.” I finished my impromptu speech and shook my head.

If the Nalks really hated me as much as I thought they did, I likely just made the situation worse, somehow, but I still had to give them one last warning, for my own sake. Though I did get the feeling that this was too small and lopsided a battle for their attentions… especially given that the enemy actually let me finish speaking after realizing that I was not surrendering.

Regardless, any experienced soldiers or mercenaries would understand the important parts: that this was being recorded for posterity, that there were churches interested in the battle, and that this was a last stand from our perspective. No mercenary I knew wanted a part of such a situation, too much work for too much trouble after the fact.

Then the voice of the Lord boomed across, letting his anger bleed into his voice. “I have offered you a chance to surrender, personally guaranteed by my most esteemed family, the honorable Ferrum. I have offered you an opportunity to appeal your case before the King’s representative and you have spat back in my face. You are murderers, thieves and brigands who will now be in formal violation of the King’s Law if you do not surrender your arms.

“Now do see any point in endangering your children further? Can you not see the wisdom in giving up? I promise that no harm will come to any of you should you do so now, the same promise I gave you earlier, but perhaps your mages did not inform you of it. Now, however, there can be no more delays, will you surrender peacefully or must we break your spirit with magic and iron first!?”

A large fireball formed over his head and launched itself into the area. It flew rather ponderously through the air and I was tempted to let it hit the all too numerous trees, but I felt around ten mages try and throw up spells to stop it.

I whipped around and yelled at the line behind me. “STOP!”

Only those nearest to me stopped, but they were confused and one was especially angry.

“You anger him and then you ask us not to defend ourselves!?”

I jumped back over the mud trench and glared at the fool, who had briefly pushed to the front of the line. The man suddenly realize who he was yelling at and I shook my head as he quickly backed up into his group. “I do not want him to know how many mages we have, much less how powerful you are.”

The man nodded frantically, but I could see the spells that had been launched regardless of my warning.

The dispels went flying up to meet the fireball, intent on undoing the magic which held it together. I was surprised when the fireball did not dodge, but then again, that was the point of igniting a fireball that far away. The things used at least twice the mana when burning.

Real attack spells would have instructions to dodge dispels or even built in counters, which would counter such spells. Still, not everyone could see magic and understand magic, so that was a small comfort. The fireball lost a large portion of its strength when the first dispel hit it and the second one obliterated it entirely.

The third naturally sailed through the air and continued on, unseen by most, over the heads of the mercenaries. A complete waste.

Counting mages was basic strategy, but the question was: had the Lord had enough presence of mind to count destrenche seeming so angry? No, on second thought, did the Lord even throw that spell himself? I could easily feel that his magic, which rolled off of him like waves, ranked in the double digits, but he hardly looked large enough to use such magic carelessly.

That little interaction would undo a large part of any hesitation my speech had caused in the mercenary mages. There was no discipline with our mages, meaning they were green and would exhaust themselves early, which was why mages always had fleshy shields in front of them.

I sighed and moved back through the line.

From off to the side I heard Legati calling my name and I turned to cut her off before she could say something stupid. “That was a test, they now know that you are unfamiliar with mage battles. Remind everyone to husband their strength like I told them if they do not want to be killed.” She looked startled, but nodded. “Oh and spread out some more, magic can be used at far longer ranges as long as you order the spells to dodge trees.”

“Actually, Dawn sent me with a message about that.” I gave her my full attention. “He is staggering the line, two groups in the rear, one at the citadel, two per flank and another six in the center, while the last seven are reserves with his men.”

I frowned, but nodded. I would have preferred something that used the flanks more, but trying to do that without a couple of people at my level would be foolish. The mages here might learn to link their spells together in the future, but trying to get inexperienced mages to link was just not worth the time… or the effort to clean up the resulting mess.

Stones, I never successfully linked with anyone and I spent a good year trying with a couple of my daughters. Shut up Bella, it did not sound dirty in the slightest, I mean, they were my daughters!

I noticed that Legati opened her mouth to tell me something, but suddenly seemed to decide that whatever she was about to say was not important and clearly changed her question. “What exactly did you say to them?” She nodded at the enemy.

I raised an eyebrow, “Is that really important right now?” She grimaced and I turned back to said enemy. As they advanced, this spot would let me see them fairly well. “Tell the others to remember what I told taught them. The enemy will be here soon and they will need to be careful in case a battle mage appears.”

One battle mage could and would tear our line apart, if they had any- a loud horn blew from the Lord’s direction and thousands of men started to advance towards the tree line. I nodded and started preparing my spells.

Glancing back at Legati, I also added my own question. “Where is your own group? It was three mages for each unit correct?”

She gave me a stiff look. “I will return to them now.” Then she stormed off, leaving me to shrug, maybe she thought I dismissed her, but I was honestly curious as she was the third most powerful mage on the clan’s side, after me and one of the ass-merch guards, whose mages did not attend my lessons.

Turning back to the enemy, I noted that they were still very-much separated into a few groups, with a few brave, or stupid, souls running ahead as skirmishers. Behind them were three more lines forming up, with the majority of the troops who were behind the skirmishers wearing iron breastplates, but nothing else of note. Behind them were the ‘total iron’ troops.

To my surprise, there was a fourth group after iron troops, full a motley mix of colors, armors, and weapons. This group also curled around the ends, but they seemed to be trying to They also had a pair of men behind them on carriers and a scattering of men who were noticeably given a wide berth.

So it went idiots, regulars, heavies, trash, and mages… Odd, but it was entirely possible that the iron clad men had upset the Lord in some way. If the trash were meant to be pushing them, I would need to break the trash and convince the heavies to flee or give up.

The brave idiots who charged first entered my view well before the others and caused me to hope for a moment that they were actually going for a full charge. The momentum would have been deadly, especially once the oil, gas, and mud traps were revealed.

Especially the last one as the moisture and water runes could only do so much. Even with a week to work with, a single dedicated spell could make the mud dry fairly easily. That we planned to light fires nearby certainly did not help, but Dawn said he had taken some precaution to help the mud from drying out.

That was not my area though, so I was less familiar with it, what I was familiar with was men who fought for money.

In fact, there were about 200 men of such men leading the way in leather armor. They were armed with bows, so maybe they hoped that the trees would protect them? I… I honestly pitied them.

Our own bowmen knew to stay hidden for a while longer to let the mages start things off. The enemy did not get close enough to them to even realize they were there as I quickly released a mass of snip spells. Signaled by my actions dozens of other similar spells erupted from the line, each spell was designed to chase down their castor’s chosen target.

Predictably there were no mages with this skirmish group and they quickly fell without even realizing that they had been targeted. Dozens upon dozens of snips spells flew out, invisible to them, hunting down and striking man after man. Only one in two groups were using the spells, but they were so simple that the only reason to hold back was to hide our numbers.

The mana instructions that picked one target over another were the largest mana cost associated with the modified snip spells and even then, as the targets did not know they were coming, they were not taxing spells.

That said, it would still be surprising for the enemy, who would not have brought such a small group to a mage fight, no matter how stupid. For my spells, I did not target them, but instead aimed for some wood carvings tied to some of the upper branches of the outer tree line.

As planned, the modified snip spells that targeted the men flew out far faster than my own, spells. As other spells raced past my own, they deliberately curved up only at the last minute, to snip the stings holding the carvings in the upper trees.

The carvings were something that I pretended to come up with after hearing some stories. They were fear runes, albeit relatively small and weak ones, which I had deliberately set up. Their effective range was only a dozen meters or so in any direction, but their effects tended to accumulate.

It was also one of the very important reasons for the front line archers to be carefully selected. The older Stalkers from Entrials had practiced near the giant fear barrier, but it would still be hard to keep a clear head while fighting next to those runes.

Some mercenaries would notice them dropping and wonder what they were, but they were quickly distracted by the growing number of panicked yells.

Bella… had not felt well when I taught the mages here the snip spell they were currently using. After all, I made sure they knew that it was not designed to kill. Given that the majority of the group were from the diplomats and did their best to avoid or settle fights. It had appealed to them at the time and they took to learning it far faster than they learned the version which just slit throats.

That said, while I too preferred this version, they were much less enthusiastic after I was forced to explain that the reason those spells did not kill someone, was that they paralyzed them from the neck down.

This left a large amount of young men, at least a hundred across the line, suddenly unable to move as an uncaring force of mercenaries approached behind them. If they were given health potions quickly then they might move again, but otherwise they were out of the fight.

They were left fully capable of screaming though, desperate for someone, anyone to help them.

The rest of the skirmishers quickly reversed and started to retreat back to their line, but more than a few were being chased by the spells.

From their point of view it might have felt like they had angered the gods themselves. One moment they were running and the next, they or their friends dropped to the ground, unable to move or understand what happened. Then they were realize that this was a war and no one would waste a paralysis spell on an enemy foot solider.

For the next wave there were more slightly armored men, this time with at least iron breastplates, who looked distinctly less eager than then they could have been. They mostly seemed to have pikes and there were around 500 in this wave. With the rest of the troops advancing noticeably slower.

This second wave advanced in larger blocks of around 60 per rough formation, with most being eleven or twelve men long and five men deep. Though some were merging and deliberately trying to walk together. In doing so however they moved more slowly and allowed the more determined groups, like the one directly in front of me, to advance ahead of them.

Clearly, someone only learned to use foot soldiers as mage fodder.

At that moment the archers revealed themselves and started unleashing their arrows. Again, the object was not to kill as many as possible, it was to make them fear what they were advancing towards. As some of the arrows glanced off armor or the occasional shield, they would brush clothing, or anything slightly mana conductive, and deliver the death spell, causing soldiers to seemingly fall down dead without injury.

I watched the some units get distracted for a moment as they thought the fallen were hit by more spells, before they understood that the fallen were dead by the arrows.

I would have normally gotten the mages to target these large groups of soldiers, both as a more effective use of mana and to burn out some of the nervous first. However, there were two good reasons why I kept my mouth shut though and both of them manifested in the form of Dawn.

“DeMorte.” I turned back and found Dawn not far behind me, trotting towards me.

“What is wrong? I still have my personal wards up though, for the record.” He immediately stopped, well outside where my wards actually started.

“I wanted to know how effective a barrage of fireballs would be for lighting up the ground in front of them.” He pointed at the large blocks of men.

I shook my head immediately, “The mages are perfectly capable, but if you want to block them it would not work, the enemy mages would- you just gave me an idea.” Before I could explain it though her cut me off.

“Light up the area behind them?”

I turned to Dawn, impressed, and nodded. One of the major problems we were going to have at the current rate, was identifying the enemy mages. We had a slight slope to give us a small advantage, but as the enemy got closer they would get more and more dangerous. In that sense, these woods were actually more dangerous than helpful.  “You were already trying to find them? Bravo, would you kindly give the order?”

The man snorted, “Only because you refused to take a command.”

I gave him a polite smile. “You have to settle this yourself, I am just an outsider, a mercenary.” Besides, the other major reason I did not order the mages to move, was the Guilt. Any order I gave, that resulted in the death of another, would hunt me down and my soul would feel their deaths.

“As you said before, despite all the ways you interfered with my original plans. Regardless, would you make my voice carry?” I cast the spell and motioned for him to continue. “Attention mages, this is Dawn,” I winced as he spoke louder than necessary, “I want a mage from each group in the front rank to attempt to set fire to the area behind this new advance of troops. If the enemy block you, do not push the attempt.” He nodded at me and I added an order to make sure they moved after sending the fireballs before ending the spell.

The resulting barrage was fairly scattered, but the mages did as they were told. Around twenty spells shot into the air, far more than ordered, but they were at least the same basic spell.

Unlike what the enemy mages did, these did not ignite until a few meters before they hit their targets. Though not as accurate as the snip spells, a few fireballs came crashing down behind the enemy line, igniting just above the heads of the next wave.

I silently applauded all the mages, especially those who remembered to lead their targets. It had more of an impact when it was a near miss. That the fireballs were ignored annoyed me, but it did terrify the enemy, especially those who lagged behind the formation and ended up getting directly caught up in the flames.

It did not flush out the mages like we hoped, but it help keep the other troops further back from their allies. It also distracted them and allowed a few more rounds of arrows to be shot before the archers started to move back to our line. They even made it back without any deaths from the traps, though a few slips did occur when they got to the trenches.

That said, I only had a few seconds to enjoy it as, a few large blasts of mana emerged from the center of the line. It was the Lord’s position and the spells raced out to snuff the flames. I even felt my face twitch slightly as another horn sounded, this time amplified by magic. The sound cued the rest of the troops to start advancing faster.

There went the plan, I thought grimly… “They either have no mages or are keeping them hidden. Did you see anyone tracking the spells?” I turned and found I was talking to no one. Dawn had already moved on to another part of the line, still my question stood. Exactly how many mages did they have?

I looked back at the troops in front of me. They had slowed significantly to try and allow the rest of their forces to catch up. I sneered at that, this was annoying me.

I turned and started marching down the line, amplifying my voice all alone the line “Archers get ready and make sure that you had the distance to the oil trench measured.”

I summoned my modified shroud, unwilling to let anyone see the original spell. I worked it out as I walked, creating an ever larger shadow of thick black miasma.

I wanted them here already, so I could break them and be done already. Then a loud blast of different horn came from our own lines and the mages started a rotating barrage of fireballs. Each would take their time and make the spell as efficient as possible before sending it towards the enemy.

For the first few wave the enemy did nothing and hundreds burned under the fireballs. It was only a handful of groups using spells on non-mages, but it was enough to finally get some mages to respond.

Counter spells and occasional outright shields either burst the fireballs early or directly braced against them. I heard dawn’s voice in my ear as her called for the groups on the flanks to start moving towards the center to support the others. The handful of mages currently using spells suggested that we had the numbers, but that hardly meant anything since they were acting more defensively.

As a result, the enemy was using their mages far more efficiently.

As their mages protected them, the enemy soldiers, particularly those in front of me sped up, creating a bulge in the enemy left center. Though it still felt as though they were taking forever…

Finally, they made it to the tree line and the collective effect of the fear runes was obvious. They instantly slowed and my magic-enhanced eyes could see some pale as they reached the trees and felt a feeling of fear grip them as they were pushed into them.

In that moment, I saw the meaning of the trees-line change for many of them. Where it might have been their target, as well as a source of women and easy gold before, now it was the place of Elves and mythical monsters of old.

I smiled and stopped by a basket to take out a pair of screaming grenades. At times like these I should have been an invaluable mass of destruction, capable of using mana-heavy, but calorie-light spells to warhammer down my opponents. That said, fighting like that took very specialized spells, which I was not familiar with.

Thus, it was better for me to just stick with my older ways.

“S-Sir?”

I turned to the young man who was obviously in charge of the basket. He shaking in awe or fear at the sight of my shroud. “Just an illusion spell, I told you about it before.” I held up the grenades, “I am taking these.”

“Yes, sir.” His voice did not shake nearly as badly this time around, but I did note that my shroud had gotten quite large. I had told the others that I would be using it, but refused to show it beforehand, as I honestly had no idea if it would do the same thing Gorith’s shroud did when I got excited.

That said, I noticed that more and more mana poured out of me and realized that this was the first time I had really used the full weight of my mana.

In fact, the snip storm that I helped start earlier was well within my capabilities from my last life, but it would have taken a more noticeable toll on my mana reserves. Now, I had a record breaking about of mana above me and this method was far less mana efficient than the original Gorith’s shroud.

The miasma had spread further and further, rising and expanding to form a giant cloud of billowing darkness. Bella’s influence also affected it though, giving the cloud a sort of goldish glow that I felt somewhat ruined the dark, earthen colors, that naturally permeated my spellwork.

Though a few terrified onlookers, seemed to be contesting that, turning to look at it, as if expecting demons to start popping out any second. I did not care about that at the moment though, as I had to hit this group in front of us, hard enough to shake them to their cores.

I then noticed some of the nearby mages staring in wonder and realized that I was actually letting them feel my full power, an oversight.

Deciding to get going I created a small echoing spell to carry my words to the line in front of me. “Clear a path and I would STRONGLY suggest that you mages make sure you are ready to bake the idiots in iron – at a moment’s notice!”

By this time but their comrades pushed them forward. The men in full iron had already pulled down their chainmail coverings to ensure that there were no gaps in their iron. Not that they were good of killing much of anything through those things, it was a purely defensive move and the reason those who could afford it preferred specially designed full helmets.

It would work against things like snip or death spells though, meaning, if my cloak was a death-wave spell, or the equivalent thereof, it might have saved their life until they closed with us.

Instead it just invited a vicious smile and a few chuckles as a few of them walked into trees. The truth was that neither their iron, nor the stumbling buffoonery, would save them from me. Though, odd as it was, their being nearly blind would help them a little.

I had the shroud expand more and float up so the archers could keep their line of sight for a little while longer. As I did so, I felt old memories travel come back. Memories of the fallen. Bella had burned so many memories of them out of my head, but still remembered more faces from my past then enemies I could see from here and it manifested in my shroud.

Magic was far to linked to the human sub-conscious in that way.

I felt the faces start taking shape in the miasma as the enemy mages started lobbing spells. Some were directed at me, but many were aimed at the line of clansmen behind me. I threw out my own dispels and counter magic, but I was more focused on keeping the faces of my shroud directed at the enemy

There were… three or four serious mages by the feel of things. There might have been a few more mages who were scattered and hiding, but given the amount of mana I was putting out, I doubted that they were going to do anything just yet.

That was a mistake, while mages won battles, it was the common soldier’s job to keep the victory. Too many overlooked that, without the commoners standing in front of them, the mages could not fight their battle.

Ah… I smiled a bit, that might explained it. They must have expected only a few uneducated mages so they spread out their mages over a very small front. I was wondering why they were not flanking more, but figured the Lord just wanted to get this over with quickly and opted for a frontal assault.

I walked up to the mud trench as the first fools were starting to attempt a charge. The oil trench had already started receiving fire arrows, but that was not an issue for me as I finally threw my shroud over the enemy.

Hundreds of skulls and the various faces of those I killed crashed into those men and flowed around them. The two major benefits of the shroud immediately coming into play. First, it reduced visibility, even for a mage’s third eye, and second, it let me feel and be aware of everything it was touching.

Not that I could process of it all at once, but I did not need to, I only needed to know where the ‘total iron’ troops and mages were located.

As I tossed the grenades up and into the thick of the enemy I felt Bella shudder. They were still trying to march forward, but their mages were too busy trying to figure out what my shroud was. A few would soon realize it was almost pure mana and only had a physical presence because of its mixing with the air.

By then, however, it would be too late.

Killing intent plus the shroud, which was almost an extension of my body, was a terrible combination and I focused myself to unleash my full resolution into and beyond the shroud. Again, I tried to make sure that it only hit those in front of me, but it was difficult. Still, I felt many freeze as they felt that, even the iron troops were not immune to it.

I removed the warhammer from my back, using it to bash a solider in the chest plate when he accidentally stumbled too close. Then the real snip storm started as I cast five spells in rapid succession.

The particular spell I used was actually called a continuous modified spell, according to some of the nobles I captured in my previous life. It was the same as a normal spell, but it was basically on repeat, causing the same spell to be cast over and over again. I cast five of these, all casting snip automatically.

At the same time the grenades went off as the pots broke and released the spells within, causing the ear splitting screaming of each spell to activate. The sound each spell produced also fluctuated irregularly to add discomfort to the corkscrew shiver that it itself sent up your spine.

The spells themselves were simple though and were only stored spells in the end. A good swipe of iron would filter the mana instructions and destroy them, though once the spells were active, they would react to movement to a certain extent. Specifically, they would dodge iron, but they were only good for a ten seconds or so, less if they had to move much. Beyond that there was chance the enemy would adapt to them very quickly and start launching dispels.

Which was part of the reason I used the screamer grenades instead of the burning grenades or the cocktails that still awaited use.

Honestly, I half-expected that they would be instantly removed by any mage worth his salt, once they knew what to do. That said, for a first time use, in my shroud, of all things? They rang and rang and rang until their spell went out.

The mages had gone into a purely defensive posture as my snip storm started in earnest. One brave soul did almost manage to upset things with a large scale dispel, but he actually ended up blasting away a large portion of his ally’s mana armor instead.

As the enemy moved they started tripping over more and more of their fallen comrades as the oil trench behind me was becoming a small scale inferno. Even if they made it past me, until the fire was out it was actually a more dangerous place to be, not that they knew that.

So I smiled and fully activated my wards.

Those covered in my shroud effectively could not see or hear, and were now tripping over bodies as men throughout the ranks suddenly found themselves paralyzed. Some tried to shout encouragements, but only I knew they were trying to do so and I quickly removed their ability to fight.

Oh and did I mention that most of these snip spells went towards the enemy mages first? So they were also dealing with the ear-splitting screams, spells that were blurry and hard to see because of the shroud, and a constant barrage of magic that may or may not hit them any moment.

Now that I had activated my wards they would know where to find me though. Lifting my hammer I noted that I felt lighter and realized the shear amount of spells I was using at the moment. I silently cursed and pulled back the shroud, also cancelling the snip storm as the screaming grenade spells ended.

In less than a minute, I incapacitated hundreds, made hundreds more panic enough to turn around and actively attack people to try and get away, and I did it alone.

The men who were not already fleeing saw the mass of randomly located bodies around them, the hoard of smoking floating skulls above them, and me with my new backdrop of fire, smiling. Not my killing intent though, as I pulled that back with my shroud.

There were also the fear runes, which were now mixed into their line… though they might have been a bit redundant by now.

Still, to my shock, one man almost turned it around for them. He was crying, looking down at another man who had part of his face hacked off by someone in the shroud. Maybe they were related or maybe lover, I did not care at first, but then the man screamed and charged me.

At that moment the mages finally got themselves together I had to launch a half-dozen dispels before the crazy man reached me, which is disturbing since it took him mere seconds to reach me.

Deciding to roll with it, I decided to route the rest of them on the spot and took a step forward. Since the man was hardly dressed in full, much less total, iron it would have been easy to paralyze him, but it was time.

War is horrid, it was murder and I felt no need to dress it up, regardless of the victim, cause, or creed, all were equal before death and I was the man from death, “De Morte.”

I stepped to the side and bat away his pike thrust with one arm, while the other swung the warhammer across his face. Blood, teeth, spit, and probably brain matter went flying and I felt the Guilt trigger. His soul would be waiting for me and would visit the moment I was physically safe.

I kept the smile on my face a moment longer as I unleashed my killing intent again. The majority turned and fled.

Some, namely the mages and the few total iron troops, who had yet to turn around and see that they were being abandoned, tried to fight.

I cast berserk on myself and picked up the corpse one handed before throwing it at a crowd that was standing in front of a mage. The body knocked several men over and did some damage to my arm, but I ignored it. The mages were the real threat.

One of the other mages was already backing down, while another suddenly found a few fireballs from the clan mages aimed his way. I could not feel any others at the moment, but with my wards fully active it would not matter.

Conveniently, a normal tried to attack me from behind and I felt a pain spell leave my wards and cause him to crash into the ground crying out briefly before quickly passing out. I barely spared him a mental nod that he had been brave enough to charge me without iron before I was moving.

I charged the mage, with my ‘berserk’ enhanced speed dangerously stretching my muscles and making me bound over the fallen men. He tried to trigger a spell in his personal wards and shot a small bolt of lightning at me, but with all the iron around it was instantly redirected.

He died from a combination of a warhammer hitting him in the chest at high speeds, and a random pike that I scooped up and threw right after the hammer. As I felt the Guilt trigger again I deliberately stayed away from the fallen mage, wary of his still active wards and tried to retrieve my hammer, which had bounced a few meters farther away.

Another mage, who had been smart enough to suppress his mana, now tried to shoot a few death spells at me as I passed him, timing his efforts with some of the few who had yet to run away. There were maybe a hundred within 50 meters of me not running away, but many were making sure they did not come near me either, clearly waiting for a mage to do the work for them.

Again though, these men could not see the magic battle that was going on right in front of them so unless they knew the mages by sight, they did not see anything except me charging around their formation at will.

I threw one of the few throwing knives I had brought along as a backup at the mage. The mage dove to the side while his wards summoned a powerful gust of wind to blow the dagger further away. I then dodged a pike thrust from a man in full iron and pulled, making him stumble towards me. I then grabbed and swung him around at the mage.

As he was off balance the man went stumbling along, accidentally adding distance and almost running into the mage. However, as the mage was still scrambling up from the ground, he apparently decided that it was more convenient to blast the man with a fireball.

Not that iron burned very well, but it immediately stopped the man as he fell in the ground in pain. The mage, clearly not caring turned back to me and screamed in a rage “This is not how we fight!”

Then my other throwing knife hit him in the shoulder, being blown off course by his wards suddenly summoning another gale. With the knife in him, his magic was disrupted and my snip spell flew uninterrupted through his few wards and ended the problem. “This is how I fight.” I sneered, turning around to enjoy the terror on those around me as they looked around for any other mages to fight me.

When they saw nothing their final hope was dashed and this part of the line was done for.

Most of those still close by immediately started scrambling in an effort to desperately get away from me though some just dropped to the ground on the spot, likely pissing themselves. I laughed, letting the sound chase after those who could still hear for a few seconds before I quickly went and recovered my warhammer while canceling the berserk spell.

I sighed, now I needed to restock on my throwing knives, heal the damage done to my body, and get back to the fight. Bringing down the shroud, which had essentially just hung over me while I fought, I wrapped it around myself and let it flow out over the bodies to determine which were actually dead. Quickly finding one I went over and concentrated the shroud to keep others from seeing the effects of mana roots, which I used to heal by body and replenish some of my energy.

While I did, I had enough time to idly wish that I could help roll up the enemy’s flank, but I doubted that everyone would get organized to fight together for that. If they charged without a plan it might become individual fighting against a more experienced and numerous enemy. Plus, the other end of the line looked well into the tree line, though I was not at the best angle.

Bella felt uneasy, but happy that we had helped so much. She at least understood that the fight was not over yet, but we had basically freed up a half-dozen mages and hundreds of men to go support others. Plus, I thought we managed to route a good 600 or so men and remove a few mages, a good start.

As some of the men on either side of the route finally got their heads together, they tried to reform themselves, but they had been affect by what I did as well and were all too eager to stay away from me.

One of the oh-so-numerous reasons that I preferred this type of fighting. Their terror meant that I was less likely to have to kill them. It was something I was all too familiar with from my time ambushing caravans, though I had a reputation by that time.

Still, from Bella’s point of view, which she generously threw into the back of my mind, I just loved power, specifically, taking power from others.

In this way I was, from her point of view, no different from the Pervert that she hated so much she erased his name from my memory. According to her all I wanted was power over others and manipulating them was sport to me.

It was almost enough to make me snap at her as I stood up and cast fleshfire on the body that I had cannibalized to heal myself. As it burned the corpse I absorbed most of my shroud back inside my body, recovering the mana and making my way to the burning oil trench.

I told Bella time and again that I never took a choice from someone else, though they give in because of my actions. Even when in someone was terrified beyond the ability to think straight they had a choice. I just reduced these lot down to their most primal of choices: fight or flight.

If they wanted to, they could have turned around when I warned them before the fight started, or made sure to drop their weapons when fleeing instead of starting to attack each other.

I hated the Guilt, but it made one thing very clear to me, we are responsible for our own actions and choices, not other peoples. I might share the Guilt if I order someone killed, but if they did something stupid? That was on them and I felt nothing! Did you hear me Bella!? Nothing.

I used a bit of my remaining shroud as a guide and jumped over the fire in the oil trench. A little singed, I shook myself clear of some of the smoke and look up at our line. They looked somewhere between awestruck and scared senseless, I smirked for a moment until I saw Janeen was there, staring at me… pale-faced, sweating profusely, and looking absolutely terrified.

I blinked at that, I was on her side, what was she scared of? My warhammer was covered in blood, sure, but besides that I was hardly… I was covered in a darkness which ungulate with the remnants of the dead who had passed through my head.

Sticks and stones… No, Bella, it does not matter, we keep moving and destroy the enemy. The Guilt is already coming for us, so there is no need to hesitate.

There was a resounding explosion from the dead center of the line and I immediately ran back through the lines. As I did so, I reabsorbed the last of my shroud just after I crossed the mud trench. The clansmen dove out of my way and Janeen, who had been distracted by the explosion, flinched.

I met her eyes and fought down the urge to shake my head. The woman had survived being horribly raped and tortured, even keeping her spirit after they repeatedly healed with potions, only to be attacked again… yet I scared her? Nothing to be done then, it was probably better this way too. “Did your father tell you what I said when he hired me?” I did not wait for her response before I answered my own question. “I told him that he would learn to never make me his enemy.”

Bella started to get angry at me as I turned away from Janeen, but then I felt pity from her instead. Ignoring it, I raced down the interior of the line as another powerful boom echoed from the center. It hardly took any time to find out what was causing the racket.

The Lord had taken his personal guard into the center and used earth magic to fill in the trenches. His men were now being pelted with arrows and various spells while some of the hidden wards had already been activated.

*     *     *

“Hoh’s piss, what is that?” Janeen whispered to herself.

Above the flames, through the trees, she could see faces in an evil, murky black, smoke that was surrounded by a dim light. It looked like a hole into a land of the darkness.

She made her way over to this side of the fighting after noticing the shadow coving part of the line, with her bow and her newly enchanted arrows, she planned to help out wherever she could. Especially now that DeMorte had given her an amazingly lightweight breastplate to help her with the problems her chest created when using a bow.

“It is some type of illusion spell that DeMorte made, the one he mentioned before.” One of the others helpfully answered. It had been hanging up there for the last few minutes without moving before it suddenly started getting sucked down towards the ground.

Then there was nothing but the roar of the fire that had now engulfed the oil trench and the occasional twang of a bow as someone took a shot at a target of opportunity. Janeen grimaced as she realized that they had well and truly lit the trench far too early and waste all the oil soaked hay that the Karam had painstakingly collected for them.

She also found herself lingering and fidgeting as she watched the area beyond the flames as best she could. What was taking so long? DeMorte should know the dangers of saying among the enemy for too long and she certainly could not hear any sounds of fighting.

Then she thought she saw him, but the grin that started to appear died before it was fully formed.

The figure that emerged beyond the fire was clad in darkness, ringed in a slight glow. The otherworldly hell had descended and turned itself into a human shaped monster. The shadowy faces that came and went seemed like madness itself come and manifested itself through the souls of the dead.

A particularly large face formed a silent scream on the thing’s chest for a few moments before vanishing, making Janeen’s blood run cold.

Then she took in the face. The pointed ears and crawling wisps of darkness surrounded and framed an insane smile. With her heart racing and her whole body shivering, their eyes met and to her surprise, the mad levity faltered, the manic desire for… more, drained from his face. It was a face she knew and recognized, but instead of a man’s name, a different one ran through her head.

Elf.

It came and went before she could stop it, but a loud boom demanded her attention as it came from the middle of the line, where her father was.

That knowledge overrode any fear Janeen felt and she turned involuntarily to look over, searching for her father. It only stole her attention for a moment before she remembered to concentrate on the battle like she had been told, but she then turned back to find DeMorte leaving the shadows and stepping through a new hole in the line.

The last vestiges of the otherworldly shadow were the pair of pointed ears that quickly disappeared. What had he been doing? He said something about an illusion spell that he might use to terrify the Lord’s men, but was that really an illusion?

“Did your father tell you what I said when he hired me?” His question caught her off guard, but he spoke quickly and answered his own question before she could recover. “I told him that he would learn to never make me his enemy.”

Janeen felt her eyes widen at that and her heartbeat increased even more as he looked her in the eye before turning away, quickly rushing off to where another boom echoed.

As she stared after his departing figure, Janeen found herself wondering if the Karam were right, perhaps it would be safer for the clan as a whole for DeMorte to die during the fight. Was he that dangerous though? She knew he felt like it, but his actions made it hard to tell.

He was helping them, obstinately for pay, but he certainly did not play with the children for it. He helped wherever he could and now seemed to be going further than even Janeen felt comfortable to protect them… was he really

Bella’s face came to mind and Janeen grimaced. If he… if he really was an elf that might make him want to help her, but would he go that far just for Bella and a sword? She trusted Bella and Bella had trusted DeMorte, or so he said… still, had he given them any reason to betray him?

She turned back and tried to see the enemy through the smoke, but there were none. Was that because they had run or because that spell of his had killed them all?

She knew the questions were spawned by fear, but… they were important. Who was he?