Billy sat on the balcony of his office, sipping a scalding hot coffee that was more sugar than coffee. A sweet mug of syrupy tar. A certain thought kept rolling through his head as he stared up at the steel gray sky.

“Thank goodness it’s almost over.”

In a few minutes the whole business with the Seven Son’s would be done with and he was quite thankful for that.

War was stressful, plotting was tiresome, Billy was never much one for schemes, and the facts were that this, all of it, was just a distraction. There were more important things for him to be doing.

More meaningful things for him to be spending his time on..  He could hang out and maybe spar with Elena, or chat with Edna and maybe help out with some of the paperwork she was always complaining about. And apparently sex that “wasn’t” part of some, barely consensual, esoteric transaction between anatomically non-compatible entities could actually be enjoyable.

He also needed to focus on training his two new students. He’d actually started to grow a bit attached to them, which meant he’d need to put some more effort in to make sure they didn’t up and die on him.

And on top of all that he had his own personal cultivation to think of. He still needed to get stronger.

He’d collected a fair amount of divine cores and divine sparks from the god-monsters. Enough of them to make it well worth it to go into closed-door cultivation for a little bit.

*****

Ophelia rode up the road in a carriage, at her side was her new assistant Linas. He was an assistant to an assistant really, working under Dennis who also served as the wing-eared little godling's warden.

Keeping him under constant observation, while the ministry tried to figure what to do with him.

The boy was too strong for them to kill, he knew next to nothing save for the fact that he’d fallen out of the sky and that a not-so-nice man in a crown had wanted his help with something. He was really more an inconvenience than anything else.

Which was part of why Ophelia wasn’t entirely sure why the Bone Tree Company’s people stuck her with the boy. Giving them custody of him as the first of several gifts that the Bone Tree Company had been giving to the Ministry of Public Order.

At some points when the hours waxed long into the night, she’d find herself chilled by the thought that they were being wooed.

There was a contract on Ophelia’s desk in the home office, that spelled out terms for how the Bone Tree Company could serve as a servitor entity. Prioritizing Ministry Requests above all others.

An offer so generous that it was suspicious. So tantalizing and tempting that Ophelia and several others amongst the senior Administration couldn’t help drooling despite being dead certain that it was all a trap.

She was thinking about what to do about this trap as she rode over to the Bone Tree Tower for yet another discussion on their future plans. Wondering what would happen if she just let them willingly fall into it...Wondering what would happen if she resisted...

Always, always thinking of what consequences for the world would be. Then she looked out the window and realized that the sky was the wrong color.

*****

They appeared, all dressed in black like a murder of crows. Standing in the empty air as they arrayed themselves into a tight if slightly disorganized formation. At their helm was the High Sorcerer Corvis, head of the Seven Sons Council.

Thought to be one of the mightiest casters of the land . He was the last Supreme Caster and the only remaining bulwark of the guild’s strength. Black winds gathered in the folds of his robes and blue lightning crackled within his eyes sockets.

In the center of his forehead was a wide unblinking eye, glowing with an otherworldly awareness, filled with the blinding radiance of a divine spark.

He said only two words when he appeared in the midst of his mages, glaring down at the glittering up-ended, wind chime, that was the Bone Tree Tower.

“How...Contemptuous.”

Then he raised his hand and called darkness and lightning from the heavens. His attack was the signal for the other mages to attack as well. They bombarded the city with crackling flame, roaring wind, and howling ghasts from the gloomy void.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The cacophony continued on for hours, with great spirits being called out to pick up mountains and cast them down onto the city.

Finally the assault ended and there was a gasp from the crowd that had gathered in the sky and those who watched in horror on the streets below.

The city was fine. Untouched. Undamaged.

The only thing that had changed was that the figure that had been sit on the balcony of the tower below was now standing in the air before the casters. His hands folded behind his back. His expression impassive and nonplussed.

Corvis glided over to him, a vein pulsing on his brow. His eyes crackling as he gathered power into his being. Bearing the streaks from his bloody tears.

“You….Insolent whelp. Murderous brute. Foul child. Did you think you could get away with this?” said Corvis.

“Did you think your offenses would go unpunished? I will tear you limb from limb and mount your head on the city gates. Your men will die, your women will scream and then they’ll die. Your friends. Your family. All that you care about will be taken away from you...and then only then, will I feel that I’ve even ‘begun’ to avenge myself on you.” snarled Corvis.

As he spoke something emerged behind him. A creature that was strikingly like a squid, if each tentacle was a rabbit. Eight massive elongated limbs with fur and floppy ears, that were attached to a mass that looked like ball of black feathers.

The Sorcerer's power rose and the power of his men rose as they prepared to resume their assault. Changing their target to the young man in front of them.

Finally Billy spoke, his words soft but loud enough that all could hear.

“Nh….Is ‘that’ what you came here to say? What an odd choice of last words.” said Billy.

“Impudent!”  Corvis roared as he and his god-monster cast a spell that could make the whole world go crunch. The casters beneath him supplying additional firepower and casting debuffs and entrapment spells on the young man in front of them.

Monde shook on its moorings, like a leaf on its branch. For a second there was nothing to be seen just pure chaos and blinding lights. Then the air cleared.

The young man seeming untouched and unphased. Even his clothes were unruffled. He spoke again and again his voice was just loud enough that all that happened to be listening below could hear him.

“.....How boring.”

Corvis spat blood and almost lunged forwards. The ancient Sorcerer’s fingers blurred as he went through a million hand signs for the sake of casting the worst curse he knew.

“Wretched Brat! I’ll show you-”

Corvis’s bellow was cut off in the middle. The rest of his words were lost as he and all his mages were swallowed up. Consumed whole. Mashed into meat within the teeth of a beast that was too big for even the colossal planet Monde to fully accommodate.

A creature with eyes that glowed green and inspired fear  and despair from all who saw it. The day resumed. The sky returned to its proper color.

And the people on the streets, being the good Mondians that they were,  they quickly recovered from the incomprehensible fear that they’d felt when they saw ‘whatever’  it was, eat the entire Mage’s guild, bones and all. Swallowing even their souls, allowing nothing to escape.

Billy returned to his coffee. Using a quick cantrip to heat it back up again. He took a sip and sighed in exhaustion falling back into his seat. Then there was a buzz from the phone on his desk. He used the construct in his head to patch the call. Connecting the construct to the landline.

“Yes?”

“There’s a Ms. Delphi to see you, sir.” said Secretary.

“Ah, that...I kind of forgot I scheduled that.” said Billy. Sighing because while he wasn't one to complain, he could really do with a nap.

"Nh...Tell her to come right in.”