Most people considered killing a gold-rank mage impossible, and fellow gold-rankers found it arduous. It came down to the matchup of magical affinities, abilities, and if they have progressed in the rank. Unfortunately for the assassins, Raith and her entire team weren’t just good at dealing with monsters, but also fighting monsters of the people variety and fellow gold-rank mages. It was something they had done off and on through the years.
This simply meant that Raith was extremely confident in her ability to kill the two gold-rankers running amuck in the compound. Those of the household that were fighters had also engaged those that were still on the outside of the barrier, so it was a matter of time till the assassins would fall. As for the assassin fleeing through the halls, well…
Raith appeared out of the shadows ahead of the assassin, who shot forward on a gust of wind, drawing a short sword.
“Surrend-” Raith was saying, but the sword slashed through the shadow clone, which turned into a puff of darkness.
The man swore to Raith’s amusement. Multiple clones of herself appeared in the hallway, making him fill the air with more expletives. Raith felt the assassin gathering energy. Her clones cast spears of darkness that shot towards the assassin, who shot upwards, smashing a hole to the next floor right before spears flew where he had been standing a moment before.
The family’s floor, Raith thought, her anger spiking.
Raith gave up on capturing the assassin alive. She had hoped she could capture him or the other one, who was still attacking one of Willow’s barriers, but there was only so much she would risk. If it was her own life she risked, then sure, she trusted in her ability to gauge the enemy’s strength, but risking her family. Hell no.
***
I need to get close enough and the suicide spell will do the rest, Cory thought, landing on the next floor.
The woman was clearly more powerful than him, and he knew she wouldn’t ask him to surrender a second time. He would have preferred this mission not be a death sentence, but he and the others had fully understood there was high likely hood of just that. They simply underestimated the amount of security in this small compound.
Compared to the rest of the other nobles, clans, and sects in the city, this family had the smallest compound. They used tools to do surveillance, but it appeared the compound had the usual amount of defenses, but they were completely wrong. Not only were the barriers incredibly annoying, but there were probably far more golems, barriers, and maybe even traps for intruders and that wasn’t considering the powerful mages.
They had checked to ensure that the gold-rank members of the household were out, but this woman…Cory got chills just from thinking of her red eye.
Red eye! No, she can’t be here, he thought, a dawning realization bringing with it a crushing sense of hopelessness.
He rushed down the hall. They had determined that this part was where the household family’s rooms were located.
A figure stepped out of the shadows a little way down the hall from him. Two differently colored eyes were glowing brightly. A glowing red and gold blade appeared in her hands, lighting the hallway crimson and gold.
“Lucent Devil,” Cory rasped.
The blade, the eyes, her power, all fit what had he heard. The famous adventurer and healer. She was a legend that single handily wiped out a powerful vampire cult. They knew she was a friend of the Trevel here, but she was supposed to be on another continent.
“Ah, I hate that name, but it makes this simple,” the Lucent Devil said with a smile. “Surrender or die.”
Cory didn’t answer. He triggered his suicide spell while crushing his alert crystal. The spell would gather ambient magic into his body, while the crystal would tell his fellow gold-rank to go wild, taking as many with him as he could after this spell.
He felt magic pouring into his body. His skin fell away or cracked as the energy rapidly grew. Cory grinned, knowing this would at least injure the Lucent Devil hopefully enough for his comrade to finish her off.
The power was reaching its zenith, all taking a less than a few seconds when the Lucent Devil appeared in the blink of an eye right in front of him. He tried to use his wind dash to jump back, but nothing happened.
What? was his last thought as the shining red and gold blade slashed and darkness took him.
***
Raith sighed as she felt what she assumed was a suicide spell start as ambient magic began being absorbed into the assassin’s body. She stepped and appeared in front of the assassin, who tried to move, but her dark chains had already wrapped around him. She slashed her conjured blade, cleanly removing his head. Chains made from pure darkness dragged the body into a pool of darkness, leaving nothing behind. This spell would ensure that his body would explode safely, while also replenishing her mana from the energy she would absorb from the mage.
One down, she thought.
“Dammit,” she said, feeling one of Willow’s barriers break. “Of course, it’s Zerine’s barrier, too. Liliana and her fucking predictions about grim futures.”
***
Greg had moved to another part of the compound, which he hoped would be far enough away from Cory’s spell. He waited, but nothing happened.
“Shit,” he muttered.
Someone had countered Cory’s spell, which would mean he would have to go all out without softening his adversaries. He appeared near a cluster of barriers that were layered, meaning something important was there. He focused mana into his eyes, allowing him to perceive heat signatures. Several glowing sources of heat appeared, one directly under him.
Start here then smash through into the other rooms, he thought, gathering power into a powerful punch.
Now that he wasn’t conserving power, the annoying barrier shattered. He landed lightly on the roof, which with a stomp shattered.
“The hell,” he muttered as he landed on yet another barrier that was a little stronger than the last one.
In the room below him, he saw a teenage girl scrambling with what looked to be a wisp and a water spirit that stayed close to her. The girl was searching for something, but he didn’t give her a chance to find whatever it was. His fist, coated in black flames, smashed into the barrier, which cracked under his blow. With one more blow, it shattered.
As he fell into the room, he conjured a metal spear casting it at the girl, but a dammed barrier appeared, blocking the spear. The two spells collided thoroughly destroyed the room. He slashed his hand and a horizontal blade of metal coated in black flames shot towards the girl. The girl had fallen with an upraised arm as if that would block his attack. He sensed energy that felt similar to a teleport cover the girl, and her familiars.
At the same moment, there was a blinding flash as the wall leading to the interior of the house exploded inwards. Greg created a mana barrier to block the shards of the wood and stone. A being with two differently glowing eyes stood where the wall had been. When the being appeared, the girl vanished in a blink of light. All of this took place in less than two seconds.
He wasn’t sure if his attack had landed or not, but he was confident because it had easily cut through that barrier. Black flames encased his hands as he launched himself towards the being. The next thing he knew, he was smashing through a wall, then into the sky above the compound.
Air rusted past him from the sheer force of the strike that he didn’t even see. He coughed, blood coating his lips. The deep ache of internal injuries spread out from his chest. Suddenly, the glowing eyed monster was in front of him with a shining red and gold blade.
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He franticly sent a torrent of black flames, but the arm casting it was cut off effortlessly. Chains of darkness wrapped around him. He found he couldn’t use his magic at all. Fear he hadn’t felt sense becoming gold-rank rushed through him as the red and gold blade swung towards his neck.
***
Raith felt Willow’s worry and rushed towards Zerine’s room. She blasted the wall apart when Willow’s worry turned to panic. The sight she saw made her anger turn to full-blown rage. Zerine was on the floor with one arm up, as if to block the attack that just shattered Willow’s barrier. Zerine, Willow, and Varino vanished, but her rage didn’t subside.
The assassin attacked. His speed was impressive, but Raith was going to end this quickly. A pillar of darkness smashed into the man’s stomach, launching him through a wall and upwards into the night sky. She lept after him. With a flick of her sword, one of the assassin’s arms got cut off. She summoned chains of darkness that wrapped around the assassin, quenching the black flames that he had attempted to attack her with while suppressing his magic. With another slash, yet another assassin fell to her conjured blade.
Raith landed back in Zerine’s ruined room. Her bed was broken into pieces, along with her desk and closet. Weirdly Zerine’s bookshelf was mostly intact. One of Willow’s barriers must have protected it until the wisp teleported away.
Huh, Willow sure knows Zerine’s priorities, Raith thought, which helped the rage pulsing through her to die down.
She was about to check on Umbra when she stiffened. A wave of panic came from Willow through their connection.
Zerine!
***
Ava dodged a jet of super condensed water while parrying a sword strike. They had killed about half of the mages. This left the ones that Ava and Liliana would consider true gold-rank mages being well trained and had progressed into the rank. The remaining assassins had split up their force into two, pressuring the woman with practiced coordination, or at least that was probably what they hoped.
Ava glanced to Liliana who was weaving amongst the assassins as if they were all dancers following predefined steps. Ava refocused on her fight as walls appeared around her, trying to hem her in.
At the moment the walls appeared, she felt a crystal around her neck send a pulse of energy to her. Sound faded as everything slowed down. The energy told her that someone at their home had used an emergency teleport. The type of energy told her exactly who it was.
Enough, she thought.
Liliana had a small smile on her face as ghostly images showed what her attackers were going to do before they did it. She set the tempo of her fight, easily avoiding attacks, while landing her own. Suddenly, all the ghostly images vanished. Without thinking, she teleported away just in time.
A wave of purple lightning and flames rippled out from Ava. The walls attempting to trap her exploded apart. Spells cast were overwhelmed. Purple lighting and fire incinerated everything in its path. The magically enhanced stone floor glowed red and orange, while the entire government building shock.
Once the outpouring of power had faded, the hall was still a hall, mostly. Nothing remained in it but a lone figure. Stifling heat filled the space from the glowing red-hot stones. Sparks of purple electricity played about the room from residual energy.
“I think you got them all,” Liliana called.
She was standing on the opposite side of the hall in the doorway.
“Tell me you didn’t know they would attack my home?” Ava said, tamping down her rage.
Liliana’s smile faded, “I said fate is in flux and I didn’t look. I was busy trying to figure out what that giant magical ritual in the ocean would do.”
“I am going home. I assume my team will handle the rest.”
Liliana nodded.
“Good, I will come back after I figure out what the hell is going on there,” Ava said. With a boom of thunder, she vanished in a purple flash of lightning.
Liliana looked around the slowing cooling space and sighed.
I should just be happy the building is still mostly intact. But what an attack. Using a combination of a domain, striker, and conjuration techniques. Adding her concepts to it certainly leaves an impression when none could stand before it, she thought, impressed.
Liliana heard running feet as a knight rounded the corner of the hallway. They immediately bowed.
“I take it the monsters are delt with,” Liliana said.
“Yes, my queen,” the knight said, still in a bow.
“Good, the intruders were delt with, so show me to the adventurer team.”
***
Callahan stood on the deck of his ship, the Lord of Water. It was a ship he had a designed with the help of a few others. Well, it was more like he came up with the idea of the ship, then ran into the navy’s ship designer’s building and began talking about it till they threw him out, while saying he was insane, but they will work on it.
The ship resembled a World War two submarine. It had a classic angular ship bow, but could go under water. The vessel had two decks above sea level; the top had mana cannons and ballistae, while the second deck had a row of mana cannon portholes.
Callahan had designed these vessels because they needed an easy way to dive into the depths to retrieve catalysts and other materials, while making it easy to defend or even attack from. The old process had them use a long chain connected to a basket, which was alright. If fighting broke out, the chain and basket turned into a liability. The depths were often where the more powerful monsters manifested and their operations to help reduce that from happening also attracted them.
The queen had eagerly green lit the project and during the past four years, his ships had been pivotal in the port's defense from pirate attacks, resource retrieval, and surprise attacks like this.
His vessel was attacking the lead ship of the ritual. Their first strike was effective, sending the ship into chaos. But they had quickly regained order, which Callahan had to admit was impressive. The crew on the other ship were seasoned veterans based on how quickly they were preparing their cannons and recovered from their first strike. It had been easy to find the giant ship due to them using some sort of marking spell that probably had been used to make the vessels coordinate to make the ritual circle. That same spell made the dragon and fairies take notice, which then lead to them attacking because nothing signaled a red flag quite like a giant ritual being performed by unmarked ships.
The lead ship was a massive four masted vessel. There were three decks of mana cannons, with a fourth being the top deck. They were heading straight for it. The vessel was turning slowly to its side, probably preparing to attempt a broadside.
Callahan smiled as he released his aura. A gold-rank on the other vessel attempted to perform an aura clash, but Callahan brushed their attempts aside, then suppressed them.
If you grew up with the Lord of Water as your friend, then there isn’t a gold-rank a live that could suppress my aura after that, Callahan thought.
“Ocean’s Depths,” Callahan whispered, infusing his words with his willpower.
His domain manifested, commanding the air and sea to his will. The large vessel’s movement came to a halt. Tendrils of water climbed up the ship as the wind howled, blocking attacks from several mana cannons that had a clear shot at them.
Callahan could faintly hear screaming from the sailors on the other ship. They would be fine if they surrendered to the spell. If not, well, Callahan would not risk losing the information that the ship undoubtedly held. The plan was to take this vessel while destroying or capturing the others if given the chance. Something told him that capturing people or vessels would be difficult.
***
Leon was standing at the helm when the ship’s movement came to a halt. Then the ocean itself started destroying cannons, while the wind killed those that attempted to attack the other vessel.
His heart sank knowing that they wouldn’t succeed in fighting this enemy. Nearly all their powerful mages were being suppressed by one individual making them barely able to fight. Leon clenched his fist and marched down the steps to the deck.
Most had stopped trying to fight at this point as the results of doing so were clear from the body’s laying on deck.
I have no other choice then, he thought, heading to his cabin to scuttle the vessel.
A shadow loomed over the deck of the ship, and Leon froze. A gigantic serpent loomed over the deck, eyeing the sailors with disdain. It wasn’t a dragon, but the power emanating from it sure made him feel like he was standing in front of one.
The serpent released a shrill shriek that made most of the crew collapse. Leon fought to stay conscious. He barely succeeded and was on all fours, but found he could not move.
I failed, he thought.
Energy came to life inside him at that thought. His eyes went wide as ambient magic flooded his body.
“What?” he barely managed to get out before he exploded. Blood erupted like a fountain. Eviscerated bits of flesh, bone, and organs covered the deck.
Callahan frowned as one by one the auras he could sense on the other ship winked out. With each aura, he felt almost an echo of power that dwarfed his own. Soon, there were no auras remaining.
When he and the sailors got aboard, they found a horrific sight. The deck was pained red. Entrails were strewn about with bits of bone and flesh coating the deck. Callahan felt his boot stick to the deck slightly as he headed to the captain's cabin from the blood. Part of a brain fell to the deck with a splat.
“What the actual fuck?” he muttered.
Callahan's stomach-churned even though he had witnessed some terrible things through the years. Several sailors ran to the railing and heaved over the side, which didn't help him keep from doing the same, but he shut his eyes for moment then moved once he felt better.
He was about to open the cabin door when the crystal around his neck sent a pulse of energy. Callahan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His first instinct was to rush back. He took another long breath in.
Raith and Ava are there, he thought, repeating it to himself. He wasn’t close enough to travel quickly back and there were still vessels to deal with. His fists clenched, then relaxed as he released a large sigh. He looked up at the night sky. Stars twinkled with an emerald aurora rippling across the sky.
“I’m sorry Zerine, please be alright,” he whispered, knowing deep down something had horribly gone wrong.
***
Zerine appeared laying on a wooden floor. They had teleported into a safe house somewhere in the forest outside of the city an emergency procedure set up after the city had been attacked.
“We made it,” she said, relaxing.
Varino chimed happily, moving to explore the space they found themselves in.
Zerine ran her hand through her hair, but something wet and sticky splatted on her face and coated her hair. She looked at her right hand and…It wasn’t there. In fact, part of her arm was missing starting mid forearm. Blood spurted from the stump, matching the increasing pass of her heartbeat.
Her gaze landed on the missing part of her arm. It lay on the wooden floor, a small blood pool growing underneath it. Seeing part of herself just lying there made something like a switch in her mind flip seding unimaginable pain shooting through her.
Zerine screamed.