“Ok, ok. So how did you absorb the energy from the facility if I destroyed it?” James asked frustratedly.

“Well, you did quite a good job sneaking in here. The balls on you, trying to infiltrate one of our cities. Although it’s clearly stupidity rather than bravery, seeing the situation you’re currently in.” Garantep replied.

“Just get on with it already.” James sighed.

“Ballsy and impatient, huh? My, I’ll really enjoy torturing you. But since I do take pleasure in sharing my brilliance, I’ll tell you.” Garantep licked his lips again, but James just rolled his eyes at the cartoonish nature of this sadistic individual. “Naturally, as soon as the guards detonated themselves, the jig was up. You weren’t quite as sneaky as you thought you were, huh?” He laughed maniacally.

“Yea, yeah. Big deal. I still killed hundreds of your underlings. Stealing their energy can’t possibly be worth losing so many people. But I guess that’s good news for me, if all the armies of Darkness are this weak, then I can probably take care of them singlehandedly.” James mocked him.

“I told you, I don’t care about that trash.” Garantep retorted with a smile. “You just made it easier for me to absorb some of their powers, especially since that little cloud Pox thing of yours basically delivered it to me. You even tenderized them for me, how kind of you.”

“As unfortunate as it is that you managed to steal all that energy.” James said while grinding his teeth. “I still destroyed the containers, and I killed all your men. So even if you’re saying you managed to salvage some of the energy, undoubtedly most of it was still lost.”

“That’s true, you did a good part of it. But you see, I too have to follow orders. In the grand scheme of things, I am still but a small fry, despite my grand ambitions. That energy wasn’t mine to take. My group might have gathered it and stored it, but I wasn’t allowed to use it. Not without making it immediately clear to their rightful owner that I touched what was his.” Garantep looked around for a second, as if he was worried someone would be listening.

“But then you came along.” Garantep bowed gratefully at James. “Eight little idiots, wreaking havoc and destroying everyone that came at them. I almost couldn’t believe it, you were killing them one after the other. It was like a gift from above, I couldn’t have asked for a better thing to happen to me.”

“That’s bullshit. You’re saying you planned this out? You cursed me so I’d come here and do this all along?”

“Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not a God. I thought you’d have died long ago. But instead, you decided to give me a gift. How nice of you.”

“Ok, so I can see how you absorbed some of the energies of the dead agents. It’s my own fault for relying on spells I barely tested. But I still destroyed the facility, I don’t see how you salvaged that.”

“As impressive as your little explosions were, you didn’t actually think they were impossible to avoid?” Garantep laughed hysterically. “That trash that was chasing you might’ve succumbed to the fire, but that’s just another example of why underlings don’t matter. Only the strongest matter, the rest are only to be used to increase the power of the worthy ones.”

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“The containers still exploded. How much could you have possible salvaged?”

“I’ll give you credit, you did create quite a powerful inferno in there. In mere seconds, the entire facility burned down. But as you certainly must know by now, a few seconds can be a lot longer than it sounds. That trash might not have been able to do anything, but it was more than enough time for me to redirect some of the remaining energy underground. Granted, it was just a mere fraction of the original amount, but even that was so much that I could barely process it until now.”

“That’s stupid.” James retaliated. “Are you saying you’d just get off scot-free after letting all the agents die and all the energy containers be destroyed, just cause you can blame it on me? Aren’t you still the moron that let it happen? Your higher-ups, whoever they are, can still blame you for letting it happen.”

“I don’t expect you to understand the intricacies of our society. Though I’d watch my tongue if I were you, there are many things one can do to a soul, and each time you insult me, you ensure that you’ll experience an even deeper level of hell.”

“Yeah, okay. Listen, I’m kinda bored and you keep talking, can you finish your bragging already? What was the rest of your harebrained plan?” James licking his own lips in a mocking way.

“I must admit I do enjoy your feistiness. It’ll be a nice contrast for when you beg for mercy for the rest of eternity. By the way, this is where your soul will be spending the following thousand years.” Garantep pulled out a tiny, dark cage with red hot needles with arcane inscriptions embedded inside it.

“You’re still trying to intimidate me? Come on, this is getting annoying, get to the point already.”

Garantep’s eyebrow twitched. He was beginning to be visibly infuriated at James’s continued indifference.

“Guess you’re not as coolheaded as you pretend to be, are you?” James laughed.

Suddenly, in an instant, all the Darkness from the city disappeared. Even the sky was clear, it was as if they had exited the lands of Darkness and were back in untainted territory.

Even though Garantep looked pristine, like there wasn’t a drop of Darkness within him, it was obvious where it all went.

“Fine, if you’re so tired of living, I’ll expedite my explanation. It would be a pity if you died without knowing all that lead to your demise.” He said as dark crescent blades were spawning around him, dozens spawning by the second.

James didn’t waste any more time either.

Lunaris had been continually healing him all along, so he was ready to sacrifice multiple times again.

He used Chaotic Healing on all his friends, but this time around he sacrificed his health three additional times, casting a Chaos Barrier so thick that it looked like he was encased in a solid brick wall.

“Not only did I absorb the leftover energy from the containers, but all my dead comrades proved to be quite a useful resource as well. It took a while to absorb it all, but it was all worth it. And now, I have the power to gain another useful power boost. A battery that shall prove useful for many years to come.” Garantep pointed at him. “I’ll turn you into an artifact, the constant torture of your soul will be providing me with even more mana than you can usually produce.”

“Finally, the talking was over.” James spat.

Behind Garantep, thousands of dark, crescent blades had formed. And they all attacked James.

“The real torture was that long-winded explanation. Halfway through I wished you would attack me already.” James mocked him one last time.

This situation was all too familiar for James. Hiding behind his Chaos Barrier as a stronger enemy bombards him with thousands of projectiles.

James didn’t try to dodge, taking advantage of his thick barriers to stand still and conjure as many Javelins as he could.

But unlike his previous battles, this turned out to be quite different. Three consecutive sacrifices towards the barrier, that he cast while already under the effect of a cumulative [Reckless Abandon].

The barriers should’ve been nigh impenetrable.

And yet, just a few seconds into the onslaught of the crescent blades, he already heard a few cracks.