"Damn. I mean, you did worse, but it's not a nice thing to do, by any stretch of the word," said Alex.
"Are you just going to interrupt me every Time something interesting happens?" asked Lanetli.
"Well, probably. You still haven't gotten anywhere close to any Christmas stories," responded Alex.
"I told you it's a long story."
"Well bull shit, I don't think your Santa at all."
"Okay. How did I do magic then? And why am I in your house, delivering presents?" asked Lanetli.
"I haven't seen a single present." pointed out Alex. Lanetli waved his hand and presents appeared under the tree with a flash of green. "Carry on," he said, feeling put in his place.
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He burned the citizens alive, and he clearly reveled in the screams. I remember that feeling, of taking the lives of hundreds and feeling invincible. I wouldn't allow it on this battlefield. I pulled my blade from the pyramid and swung with a mighty blow, ignoring his stone skin power and beheading the man in a single stroke.
"I won't let you take charge of anyone anymore," I said darkly. My voice was soft but carried on the shock of the soldiers, not sure how to handle such betrayal.
"Attack!" screamed one of the Fire magi as he pointed to me.
"I will not hesitate to cleanse the earth of the scum who draw their blade against me," I told them with dark rage in my voice. I set my blade on the men. The Indifference mage smiled, and punched a man next to him, pulling his own weapon from the pyramid with his other hand, an axe made of light smoke with indistinct edges. He set on the men as I did, following my lead. I fought my way over to him, dancing through the battle and dodging attacks even as I moved to converse with the man. "I didn't expect to have an ally in this fight," I told him as I dodged a sword aimed for my head. The blade passed over me and broke on the flesh of the Indifference mage.
"He did something even I have to take notice of. This militia has grown corrupt. I need something stable enough it won't fall over so I can properly ignore it." he said, turning to me and not even flinching as magic and blades broke around him.
I simply nodded in response and got to work, slaying mage after mage and regular man after regular man until they stopped coming, much sooner than I was used to in my previous battles. I saw a mage drawing a massive combat ritual, and I activated my eternal moment, walking up and shattering the ritual with my blade, then I killed the magi who had decided I couldn't reach them if they shot at me from a distance. I cut swaths in them before my ally could turn and start walking over to the combat ritual, which he did at a ponderous pace when my eternal moment finally ended. What was left decided it wasn't worth it and ran off. I didn't give chase, allowing them the chance to retreat.
"I say we go deal with the people that are fighting to take the castle. They probably have wards there that they didn't think about before pissing you off. Heh. Dumb asses." said the mage in a deadpan voice. Even his laugh sounded dead inside, and his face didn't show any emotion at all.
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I shuddered but agreed and started running to catch the forces already at the castle as the mage behind me ponderously started moving forward. How did he get anything done? He probably didn't care about anything enough to do it, he seemed like that kind of person.
As I approached the castle I heard thunderous swearing echoing from outside the soldiers bouncing off of the powerful wards set into the palace walls. I made my approach silently, trying to avoid detection in the mass of colorful robes covered in blood stains from the fight they just passed.
I started the slaughter with the most powerful magi, killing them before they knew what was happening. The rest panicked and backed away while I swung my sword in huge arcs, cutting down many with each swing. Eventually, I used my eternal moment to finish off the rest. They fought but they were no match for my eyes and blade, and only a small contingent had gotten this far. My moment ended and I saw the Indifference mage crest the final hill to the palace.
"Oh good, you caught them," he said in his deadpan voice. At that moment the gates opened and several guards spilled out, clad in full plate and well-crafted swords.
"Would you please follow us, good sir? Her majesty would like to thank you for your service, in person, even if it's the last thing she does as queen." said one of the men. I shrugged, figuring I wouldn't be allowed to return home regardless of having committed treason.
"What are you waiting for?" asked the Indifference mage who had already passed me and was walking through the gates to where the queen was presumably hiding. I walked through, letting the guards lead me to their ruler.
When I approached the doors to the throne room they were flung open by several guards and I tracked blood straight up to the throne.
"You have hurt us, but you have saved my life this day. Carthigia may have fallen today but I have not, and I only have you to thank for that," she said without preamble. I didn't tell her that I was the reason they were able to get in the walls in the first place, might as well build a good reputation. "I know that you let them in, but I also know that you are pure at heart."
Well shit. I looked fully at her, seeing her past. She was a Thought mage. A powerful one too. I didn't hold anything back if my thoughts were out in the open then.
"I don't need purity, I need power. Rajek killed and raped the innocent and took pleasure in it. I won't stand for it." I told her.
"What you seek is perspective, young mage." she said. Then she seemed to have an idea. "I have a power that allows me to read the thoughts of others. I may be able to share some of those thoughts with you if you allow some of your magic into the air," she said. I didn't respond, and simply let a small trickle from my pool spill out. She seemed shocked, and then she concentrated, and my mind exploded with the thoughts of others. My personal magic reserves were drained dry, and I heard the thoughts of every person on the planet.
It made me sick. I came back to myself, the body of the queen degrading heavily before my eyes. She had channeled power she wasn't prepared for. Evidently, my magic was rather potent.
The Indifference mage shrugged his shoulders and walked out. I wasn't about to let humanity get away with such a sick existence though.
I drew a circle of runes in the air and walked through the pyramid and to the top of the castle. No one for miles, no one to stop me.
I started drawing a ritual I had never used before but knew like the back of my own hands. Time was converting the magic in the area into affiliated magic as fast as it could gather. The bright circles were shifting with complicated runes and twisting through the air. I set the parameters to the entire world, and magic rushed to fill in the sigils.
A giant rent in the sky tore open, causing the ritual to destabilize. It exploded and everything went dark as I was flung through the air. The last thing I felt before fully losing consciousness was that someone had sensed what I was doing, and tried to summon something powerful enough to stop me, and that it tore them apart, cracking the sky and allowing demons to fly out at speed.