Gretkarn floated up above the lake inside a ball of water, beneath him, the leviathan reared its ugly head and splayed its numerous tendrils out all around it like some sorta fancy glowing fountain ornament.

At the shore of the lake, wave after wave of now amphibious creatures dragged themselves out to go and infect those who still remained unchanged by Gretkarn’s power.

Elsewhere, parasitized priests poured out of his temple, flailing madly as they clashed with the clean guards I’d sent from the castle.

The mutated men had grown webbed hands, gills, and several small tendrils on their arms with longer ones protruding from their faces and backs. Their eyes were covered by some weird lens-like covering making the blue and pink lit sensory organs look bulbous and uncomfortably large given the size of their frames.

I could feel his mana pulsing out through the city, gathering at, and relaying off of his mutated men and monsters in order to awaken the slumbering slitherers inside the rest of the populace.

And I could see it working too.

The first victims were the very nobles who ignored the Count’s warning and stayed in their homes. Since the guards were too few in number to block every street and were positioned toward the lower ground in the outer and central districts, they couldn’t stop the ones climbing up the side of the cliff, so it was only a matter of time before one of the controlled creatures came close enough for the putrid parasites to start digging their little mental hooks into the unsuspecting gentry.

But it wasn’t as severe as I’d feared. The only people who actually mutated were the ones who’d been infected for a long time. The newly infected just had their eyes start glowing before they shambled around and tried to close on their former friends.

Interestingly enough, it also appeared that the newer additions didn’t conduct Gretkarn’s power as efficiently so their presence wasn’t enough to spread the control. Instead, they would just try to seize whoever they could and drag them to someone or something who could.

I guess my choice is obvious, huh? I’ve gotta fight this and stop him. That’s the fastest way to save those who are still left. Not that I regret trying to help the people first. I resumed and redirected the few lightning strikes I could still maintain onto the monsters clashing with the guards or into the streets closest to the cleaned survivors. May as well do what I can while I recuperate, and I should probably start by letting the Count know what I’m thinking.

I turned my still active telepathy toward the castle. ~Hey, can you hear me?~

It took a moment, but Linus’ voice echoed in my head. ~Thank heavens you’re still with us! We saw your light go out and feared the worst!~

~I’m just a little tired, that's all, so I’ll need a bit before I jump back in. If you can keep Gretkarn busy until then I should be able to put up a decent fight.~

His tone lifted a few octaves, and, with my expanded senses, I watched him and his sons start to run from the castle. ~If you can save us, we’ll buy as much time as our lives are worth! Also, to that end, Miss Carmella has asked if she can get a lift to a higher vantage point in the castle.~

~I’m on it, but don’t you dare throw your lives away. I’m asking you to stall, not sacrifice.~

~Hah! Sometimes there is no difference between the two. But I’ll try not to disappoint you.~

Me? I’m worried about what’ll happen to Ysdra if you go and perish on her.

I swooped back down towards the castle, doing my best to stay steady with my fatigued wings while still maintaining a decent pace–as every moment could make the difference between saving the city and the founding of Gret-topolis.

I closed my eyes and for just a moment scanned my own body with my senses. It’s such a strange feeling. There’s nothing wrong with me, other than the fact that I’m not used to feeling tired anymore. This sensation of lagging limbs and drooping eyes combined with the pervasive weakness that comes with it is almost alien to me now. And based on my past encounters with exhaustion, I’m pretty sure it’s got a lot to do with how much mana I use–that or the warmth that flows out when I activate certain glitchy abilities. And I’ve used quite a bit today.

I slumped down onto the balcony where Carmella waited. The orange robes she had been wearing were now supplemented with a breastplate, pauldrons, bracers, and thick armored boots.

I managed a half-hearted smile. “Do mages wear armor?”

She’d tied her blonde hair back into a tight bun, lifted a thick metal plated staff off the wall where it leaned, and coolly slipped on a helmet that covered all but her face. “Why wouldn’t we? Battle is dangerous, every bit of protection helps.”

I blinked. “So you weren’t wearing it before–?”

She nodded, clearly misunderstanding my misunderstanding. “Because it’s heavy, and I’m not exactly strong.”

Oh. Well, I guess tropes from other settings wouldn’t exactly hold true if things become reality, but I have to wonder how wearing armor affects mana flow.

Uriel buzzed as I scooped her up princess style, and returned to the sky.

Notice: It doesn't. Mana is typically absorbed through the skin, but since most metals used in armor conduct energy and mana is a type of energy there is no noticeable effect from normal armor. In some cases enchanted armor even increases conductivity and thus regeneration.

The extra weight was proving to be more troublesome than I’d imagined, so I distracted myself with that stupid line of thought for the duration of our brief flight upwards. Huh. So you’re saying that any magic item that increases mana regeneration does so by complete accident?

A second buzz came as I struggled up to the tower top closest to the lake.

Notice: That's correct.

I let out a quiet sigh as I set Carmella down so as not to insinuate that I found her heavy, then stifled a snort. Then I guess I need to accidentally recover my mana… I glanced around at the mana flow released by Gretkarn. And maybe interfere with him at the same time. Is that possible?

Yet another buzz sounded as Carmella muttered a quiet, “Thank you.” and slunk off to hide behind a battlement to await the arrival of the Count and sons who were actually almost there, since they were hopping down the cliff from ledge to ledge, slashing everything else that moved.

Notice: Use of the siphon spell can absorb mana or stamina at a touch. The double standards ability will allow ranged application, but to a lesser degree.

Thankfully, it looks like the navy? I’ll just call them the navy. Are already in position to launch since it looks like I purged them with the guards, so at least they’ll have somewhere to stand and won’t be fighting alone.

I hovered away to the top of the tallest tower, and once the ships embarked upon the attack to draw the big bad boss’ attention, I cast siphon about a dozen times and activated my mana control ability to supplement the draw of mana in my direction.

Each cast kinda felt like an invisible straw was formed somewhere on my body and was drinking the sweet sweet mana in the air around me.

I accelerated the process with my control, as I funneled as much as I could toward the straws and made sure that most of it was the power Gretkarn was so flagrantly radiating.

But this isn’t enough! It’s helping, and I can see that the spread has slowed in the areas behind me, but this is gonna take a while. Like I knew I had a lot, but I didn’t realize I had so much… On the bright side, I think I’ve gotten better at casting multiple spells, since I didn’t get a headache like before!

In the meantime, I watched the Count stand at the bow of his flagship and cut gooey swaths through the corrupted creatures surfacing on the churning waves with those projected slash thingies he used against me. His brave boys on the other hand bombarded Gretty’s oversized servant with the enchanted ballistae on their smaller, faster, cutters.

And, of course, the giant creature retaliated.

I mean, the endless advance of infested lake-dwellers is terrible, but each time that enormous colony creature slams one of its tendrils into the surf, well, it’s like watching a bomb go off! Those boats have to be enchanted, because there’s no way normal wood would survive being in proximity to that kind of force even once.

The constant Choom! Choom! Caused by the leviathan’s onslaught got more and more intimidating as it brushed ever closer to the ships, though that just made the battle hardened sailors' dogged efforts to evade all the more impressive.

Many of them apparently had some skill in magic, and they used it with excellent timing to manipulate the wind or water to make otherwise impossible turns or bursts of speed a reality precisely when they needed it most.

I was afraid that Gretkarn might interfere with their attempts to use water essence magic, or that the sheer quantity of his mana might do so on its own, but mercifully that wasn’t the case, and their daring duel continued uninterrupted.

Because the three vessels manned by the ruling family weren’t the only ones in the fray, there were at least a dozen cutters and two more larger ships like the Count’s all in the fight.

The smaller ones were poorly equipped to deal with the tide of monsters, so they wove in and around the bigger ships firing ranges so that the many magic cannons could clear out the creatures that would otherwise quickly drag them down.

That, in turn, allowed those smaller ships to take their higher powered ballistae and aim at the leviathan, helping the two heirs bombard the beast, blinding it to the larger, slower, ships that would make easy pickings for a creature of that size.

And in spite of all the chaos around and literally beneath him, the tiny aquatic overlord paid them no attention at all.

No, he just sat there in his little bubble, blissfully unaware of his oversized spawn’s splashing, too busy disseminating his power across the city to care about anything else.

But where is he getting all this mana? I know the lake is chock full of his spawn, but– oh. Duh. He filled the lake with his microscopic progeny so he can use them as mana batteries. And to get this much of it, he’d have to have been saving up for months, if not years!

Uriel buzzed.

Notice: That's correct.

Well, I can’t do much about that right now, so I’ll just focus on interference.

I cast more siphon spells until I started to feel burdened, had Uriel begin crafting a new spell, and then tasked Witness to start challenging Gretkarn’s control of the seaweed monsters by manipulating the plant parts of them all while funneling even more mana into the living item with mana control.

Then Gretkarn spoke into my head. ~Found you.~

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

And just like that, a pillar of water erupted from the lake and shot toward me with enough pressure to make a power washer look like a cheap toy.

Oh.

Crap!

I had been so fixated on my multitude of tasks that I was caught flat footed.

Too burdened to dodge what was effectively a waterfall cannon, I placed what little hope I had in the scintillating barrier that I still maintained, as it was the only thing left between me and being washed off the top of this castle.

But the impact never came.

Instead, Carmella shouted, “Now!” and she and the mages that I’d apparently missed clambering to the tops of the other towers in the chaos, all released their stored spells in unison.

From what I’ve seen of magic so far, it was an impressive display of the order essence variety, but it definitely lacked the force needed to stop Gretkarn’s attack, or at least it did until the castle itself started glowing and fortified it.

Water crashed against the shimmering shield of sapphire blue light with a thunderous roar.

The mages strained.

The barrier cracked.

But it withstood the wrath of the terrestrial deity.

Uhh. Uriel? Care to explain what just happened?

A buzz came a second later, along with another crash of high pressure water.

Notice: Most fortified structures are enchanted down to the very masonry. This enables the defenders to withstand attacks launched by the various powerful entities that populate the world.

Also the staff Carmella weilds is attuned to the castle's enchantments and grants her the right to lead the defense, the other mages are using subordinate implements that function similarly.

Huh. Neat.

The barrier didn’t survive the second hit that came a few moments later, and a spray of water and a rush of wind battered us.

It thankfully proved harmless since all the armored mages covered their faces to prevent the tiny parasites in the water from getting back into their bodies.

Yeah, helping the people first was definitely the better choice. I can’t even imagine having to fight the entire city along with Gretkarn, even at full strength.

I watched Gretkarn flail in his usual childish manner at the prospect of getting a shot through our defenses, but his hopes were dashed as Carmella and co quickly erected a second shield.

He grumbled. ~If I cannot reach you, then I will bring you to me!~

I braced for him to use space essence magic of all things, but instead he just shot that same attack again.

Only this time he aimed down.

Way, way, down.

At the cliff of all places.

Without any defensive enchantments or magic barriers to defend it, the rock wore away in record time. The wooden stairs and pulley operated lifts were blasted apart in an instant, and the shockwave of the impact reached me all the way at the top.

Uriel? How many more of those can the cliff take before the castle collapses?

A buzz answered in time with the second blast.

Conclusion: One more will cause permanent structural damage, two will drop half the structure into the lake, and four will see the end of it all.

I gritted my teeth. “Then I guess I’m out of time.”

And I’m nowhere near recovered, but I’m about, what? A third full? A little less? But it’ll have to do.

I sucked up what mana I could still get, spread my wings wide, and lightly threw myself off the tower. “Ready or not! Here I come!

Or at least that’s what I intended to do.

But instead of just, ya’know, jumping a bit and then swooping down toward him, I, for some reason, felt the tower crack beneath my feet as I lept, and in the next moment found myself some several hundred feet above the castle.

And I didn’t even use magic… So is this…? Is this just my strength stat? I never really tested the limits of ‘able’ anyway, but I never expected this!

I grumbled. “And where was this might when I was carrying Carmella?”

I didn’t really have time to ponder or complain any more as Gretkarn sat poised to launch another water blast up at me, but I also wasn’t about to let him.

“But hey, I can roll with this!”

Spark shower, static shield, spark shot, strength release, and speed release.

Like a hammer of lightning dropped from the heavens, I swung Witness down at his stupid little head with all the speed, strength, and magic I could muster.

Krak–Crunch!

I got down to him faster than I could blink, thankfully faster than he could fire that water at me, and the hit released a shockwave that stilled the churning waters, silenced the sound of battle, and pushed all the battered boats and miscellaneous monsters away.

Suffice to say, the hit knocked the wind right outta me, and sprayed his little water bubble everywhere. And through the spray, I felt his mind magic barrier break, and to my delight, Witness hit home.

~RAaaghalbblurghh!~

Gretkarn’s unintelligible scream ripped through the minds of everything in the vicinity the second after the shockwave passed. This was evidenced by the fact that all the conflict around him halted as everyone but me keeled over under the weight of the primal pain that shot directly into their synapses.

I landed hard onto the squooshy back of the leviathan, nearly sank entirely into the creature’s flesh, and then frantically flapped to get off of it as quickly as I could so that it wouldn’t try to grab me again.

Because even with my continued siphoning and natural regeneration, I really don’t have mana to waste on it while Gretkarn is still active.

Once I had safely struggled to some thirty feet up, I noticed that the little fish Gretkarn had been using as a host now lay as a blackened shadow on top of his supersized squiddy servant.

That, and the fact that his mana signature was now emanating from the leviathan.

And, well, there was also the fact that the creature was getting bigger.

A lot bigger.

And really fast too.

Crap. I really shoulda hit him away, like out into the trees, but at that angle what was I supposed to do? Miss a prime opportunity? Uggh.

In a matter of seconds, the now Gret-viathan grew to cover about a quarter of the lake’s surface, pulling in all the little parasites and infected critters around it to construct its new massive form.

Finally, an enormous tentacle covered head emerged from the center with a pair of burning pink eyes that singled me out instantly.

Gretkarn opened a massive, spine filled maw, and spoke with a voice that was at once slimy and grating. “All this is your fault. You only needed to submit and the takeover would have been bloodless, but now precious hosts die! Unused! Wasted! And that is ignoring all the progeny I’ve now sacrificed to subdue you! How much more will you ruin?! Is your sole purpose to bring ruin?!”

A brief image of the empty earth flashed before my eyes.

I didn’t cause that did I?

Then I saw the contents of my dream, and all the things I imagined there, the things now living here.

No. No, I didn’t… I chose life.

“But I will tell you what I will ruin.” I hefted Witness overhead as Uriel notified me the new spell was finished. “I will ruin every plan of everything that ever tries to taint this world.” I narrowed my eyes, and activated intimidation and authority. <“I will ruin you.”>

Genesis flare.

I felt mana hemorrhage out of me as I activated the spell. Enough to make me wobble and nearly drop from the air.

Not the most frightening sight, but I guess that’s a fair price given I’m not in great shape and just cast my first custom master level spell. Which I may or may not have amped up to the extreme.

However, it was worth it as a flash so bright it could’ve been mistaken for the sun erupted from the far end of my staff, extending a dozen or so feet out before terminating.

The heat it generated distorted the once cool air, sent powerful gusts in all directions, and probably would’ve burned me quite badly if not for the barrier still protecting me.

It wasn’t what I’d initially envisioned when I first requested the spell, but after finding out my physical abilities were so extreme I decided to give it a few last minute alterations to make better use of them.

Gretkarn recoiled from the sudden bright light and the force of my abilities, and I used the opportunity to carve into him with all I had, my fading strength given direction by my way of the one ability.

He recovered quickly, countering my authority with his own.

Then dozens of tentacles of varying sizes welled up from the water to ward me off but my oversized makeshift sun sword sliced through them and the barriers protecting them with little effort.

Each swing caused his soft slimy flesh to rapidly shrivel, then blister, crack, and smolder away.

His cries of agony were rewarding, but as there were plenty more parasites to repair the damaged bits of his body my efforts turned out to be ultimately futile.

And as there were so many limbs, and I wasn’t moving my best, I was surrounded in no time at all.

It took everything I had left to keep fending him off as any escape route I cut open was quickly blocked by another layer of tendrils, cruelly sharp blasts of water, or even telekinetic shockwaves.

Even with my stupendous strength and sword scorching through them, his attacks still managed to push me around simply due to the massive difference in size.

And my mana, and thus stamina, was quickly running out even with the siphon straws now able to drink directly from him.

But the price Gretkarn paid to put me in such a tight spot wasn’t cheap.

Even though his mana was still holding out, his crater carved body, torched tentacles, and fried flesh, made him a sorry sight to behold.

I took a little solace in that the power he stored in the lake was diminishing faster than ever since our fight started, but it might be too much, even for me.

Witness is even helping me with the mana load, but at this rate I’m gonna run out in a minute, and then I doubt I’ll be able to muster the strength to hurt him again.

As if in answer to my inner turmoil, the Count’s fleet resumed their offensive. Ballista bolts hurtled in just to be swatted away or blocked by a barrier, only for them to then explode and at least char part of the flailing freak.

Heck, at least they’re annoying him enough that he turned the whole hypnotic lightshow on, but it looks like our hardened and desperate sailors are keeping their heads for the time being.

Not that the ships themselves looked like they’d last much longer.

With hulls carved by the water shots and battered by countless near tentacle collisions, rigging and sails ripped up from my own entry into the fight, and still more monsters moving to impede them at every turn, all of the battle boats were about ready to sink at a moment’s notice.

The only saving grace was that most of Gretkarn’s attention was on me since my scorching sword was literally the biggest and most threatening eyesore for him.

Eyesore. Huh. Great idea, me!

With no idea where his real body could be inside that tentacled titan, I dove low, narrowly avoiding getting a hole punched in me by a laser fast jet of water, before shredding around thirteen more tendrils that formed a wall to bar my path.

He knows I’m going for a decisive blow, but that won’t stop me!

With the last obstacle between me and his fat face out of the way there was a brief moment where our eyes met.

I grinned.

And drove the blistering blade as deep as I could into the biggest of his six bulbous eyes.

~Ghyaaaagh!~

“Ghyaaaagh!”

The simultaneous screams nearly knocked me off my fatigued feet, but perhaps that’s what he was aiming for as a slimy appendage slapped witness out of my hand and into the water before a literally countless number piled on to bury me on top of him.

Tighter and tighter they coiled, with no regard for the damage being done to his nearby ocular organs.

My barrier cracked and sparked and I rerouted the dregs of my mana from sustaining my sword into reinforcing my only remaining defense.

I couldn’t move, and Uriel informed me that the mana Gretkarn was concentrating on me was preventing my escape with shifted steps.

“Over! It’s over! Surrender! Die! Succumb! Either way Gretkarn wins! Survives! Conquers!”

I ignored his ranting and hoped that the Count might be able to give me an opening, but the prince of parasites made good use of my absence to swamp or outright shatter the ships still assaulting him.

And he made it look as easy and callus as a child toppling toys in a bathtub.

Screams abounded.

Blood dyed the water red.

There were too many monsters down there for the spent sailors to survive for long even if they did endure the initial onslaught, but the Count was a different story, and he still struggled to regroup with, and defend, his sons in spite of his own injuries.

I found some comfort in the fact that the water at the surface was clear of the tiny parasites since most were absorbed to form, or repair, this massive monster.

But that was it.

I didn’t have the leverage to push back.

I didn’t have the mana to break free.

Carmella even tried to rain magic down from the castle, but Gretkarn just toughed it out in order to keep crushing me.

“All hail Gretkarn! Gretkarn is all! All is Gretkarn!”

My eyesight began to dim, and what I could only guess was blood trickled out of my nose. My shield is going to break soon. I’m gonna pass out from forcing myself to keep using mana. Witness is drifting out of reach, unable to affect anything enough to get back to me or help. Is this it? Am I really screwed?

Just then I caught one of my spirit butterflies quietly flitting in and out of the extreme end of my fading awareness.

I’d kept them around since they didn’t use up mana, and told them to do that if they found anything dangerous approaching.

With nothing else to keep my mind off of my bleak situation, I stretched my near blacked out brain in that direction.

Hold up. What is that? I’m having a real hard time making it out right now… Is that Zomm? A flock of the angriest birds I’ve ever seen? Or… Oh my… is that… Suzy?!