"No, no, no, no!"

A figure staggered through yet another stone archway. Behind him, Veles could still hear the shouts and screams of his allies - the voices of the cries were growing fewer by the second. His guards had bought him little time; the spells and swords and spears of the land of Vero's strongest Heroes had cut through them like wheat to a scythe.

God dammit! I should have followed Onyx when I had the chance! He thought, desperately bolting a steel blast door shut. He instantly recoiled as a series of circular dents appeared on it half a second later.

Veles paused to look at the dents. At the foot of the door, black ink was slowly creeping, crawling through the cracks of the stone floor. "Artis..." He muttered, before shaking his head and continuing down the tunnel. No point.

Bit by bit, the archways were growing larger. The light was growing brighter. His exit growing closer. An abrupt tremor, followed by a terrible screeching sound cut off his smile. By now, the shouting was all but gone. He was the last one.

The teleportation circle was just ahead of him. Hastily, he sent a bolt of green energy flying towards it, before redirecting it straight down onto the massive sigil. On any other day, he would have scolded a fresh recruit for activating it so crudely, but with the Heroes on his back, he didn't have much of a choice.

Leaping on top, he funnelled his magic power directly into it. The circle grew a brighter, brighter, brighter shade of green until...

"No."

A sudden blast of yellow energy rocked the courtyard. Veles, despite his best armour spells, slammed into the back wall hard. His face of joy twisted into one of pain as his arm was wrenched into a position the healers could only call 'not ideal'.

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Veles forced himself into a standing position. Looking through the dust, the last of the green magic was slowly disappearing. In its place was a glowing streak of yellow light. A figure in shining armour.

The armoured hero walked toward him.

Step.

By step.

By step.

Veles looked at his arm. In another time, he may have been able to fend the Master of Light off... But now? No. Before the attack, he was barely clinging on to the position of Master of Poison. He knew it was a lost cause. Divinus knew it too.

Veles couldn't help but grin. "You'd think the heroes would make a less deceitful attack, huh? The last leader... Well, he was actually nice, for one."

Divinus's response was a savage kick to the stomach. Blood flew from Veles mouth to the floor as he slumped back against the wall. Kicking a man when he's down? They've really gone downhill...

"With a little donation, your former colleagues were more than happy to help. We saw an opportunity and we took it. Doesn't matter if it's 'heroic' or not. It gets the job done." In the Light Master's hand, a glowing blade of pure light appeared. He snorted with condescension. "Master of Poison?" spat Divinus. "It's almost as if you were gunning for Master Null's position."

The other 'heroes' appeared beside their leader - The bonfire that used to be the library burnt brightly in the background.

"Can we get this over with?" said one of the hero's Fire users. "We still have all the rest of the documents to burn."

"Soon," returned Divinus, "after I'm done with him." He charged up the Sunblade with magic, even though it was wholly unnecessary. A strange red light seemed to fill his helmet as he turned on Veles. "The people wouldn't have believed you anyway." He scoffed. "Corrupt officials? Hypocritical heroes? Heroes are heroes, villains are villains. It will stay that way."

Veles looked upon the glowing blade for the last time. "So... We were the good guys?" He coughed. "This whole time?"

Divinus looked down. "Always have been."

There was a bright flash of light as the sword rose and fell.