Crimson Pov
I watched as the girl wielded Dawnbreaker, the blade slicing through an endless stream of nightbeasts. Their bones and flesh, no more than paper to the angel blessed blade. Behind her followed that Beufaloon, his magic at least was presentable, and his combat skills when the nightbeasts bypassed his front line were passable. The girl moved like a dancer or some such, why did they always do that? Ah well if it made the girl happy who was he to say anything about it.
I glanced at where my student was, walking down the left hallway while they had gone right. There was nothing to see there as he did not even have to try, a single slash with his blade, the edge of which was replicated by his magic and then that magic launched outwards, severing all that stood before him. He would make it to the hall well before them at this rate.
I took a drink and turned my attention to the force attacking my main hall. In truth the nightbeasts had not been unopposed. Though they were merely intended to keep out riff raff while I was busy the suits of armor within had been enchanted. The animated killing machines crushing nightbeasts beneath their maces and sweeping them away with halberds. Of course, that ended the moment the mage arrived.
If I had eyebrows at the moment, I'd have raised one at the object the vamp had brought into my hall. A dragon eye, those were rather rare, and one specifically enchanted to pry open enchantments and sever magic? Those were nearly as rare as dragons themselves. Actually, maybe rarer? I took another drink and watched as the vampire raised the eye above his head and for a moment it OPENED. Something within it looked outwards, a roiling energy forming a pupil within and then lashing out at the wards that had activated the moment something worth my attention had entered that hall. For a moment the air before the vampire rippled, turning red as the energy emitted in waves from the eye clung to it.
The nightbeasts slammed into the new barrier, and then the eye lashed out, will not that of the wielder pushed against the ward before it, the air rippled, and then shattered. That was the third such barrier the eye had broken. Germaine had broken a number of the wards there, but there were a few that he did not meet the conditions for. The eye was doing a good job of tripping everything left however. I watched it dim slightly before the eye closed and chuckled. Getting tired, are we? I may not use offensive wards, but if you want to break my defenses there is a cost.
I continued to watch, fire and bladework carved through one hallway, a flash of silver was all that the beasts on the other side saw before they fell. And then I noticed something else. Something coming from the other side of the mansion. My eyes glowed brighter in my hood.
“I see…”
A demon was coming. His form towered, his head passing even with the second story windows of the groundskeeper's house. A house it casually swatted aside as it walked closer. A bestial form, like a bear, a dog and a man had meshed together, been shaved, and painted a purple color. But it was not a hellbeast, the aura made that clear. I kept an eye on its approach as my student engaged the vampire, tendrils of red energy seeking to drain his magic being severed by precise cuts and counter magics that simply turned the more offensive spells to naught.
The nightbeasts that had been pouring through were cut down, the suits of armor were drained, of their magic to refuel the eye. Now they stood against each other in a simple test of bladework, the demon grew near, as did the girl and the archmage. With a smile I stood up and began walking, it would not do to miss the climax.
I reached the main hall as the vampire unleashed a blinding spell and the demon charged through a wall, bricks falling off its form as it tried to eat my apprentice. Who even blinded was able to parry the gigantic demons head aside, relying on his magic to counter the impossibility of such an action. Of course, that cost him, I could see his magic dip noticeably from the parry, and again it protected him from the swipe that threw him through several warded walls. The demon followed, and my apprentice continued to be batted around like a cat with a toy.
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A certain fly went from tossing a few candle flames about, to channeling the power of the sun. Literally I could sense some conceptual magical energies of the sun imbued in the beam he was blasting into the hall. Unfortunately for him, the eye opened again, glaring at him as it raised a magical barrier between the vampire and the sun beam.
Under the cover of the eye’s shield the vampire finished a spell that flooded the area with necromantic energies. The corpses scattered about began to rise, some of them merging into abominations of bone and meat. The ones in the hall not shielded by the barrier were smoking and charring simply from the excess heat, but they were rising regardless. And then the eye pulsed, a red light flashed out deflecting the sunbeam downwards for a moment, melting a nice hole through my floor and allowing the eye to unleash a flurry of protective magics.
They had broken into an archmages abode, relied on a demon to handle Germaine, the eye to allow a lesser mage to handle an archmage, necromancy so that the hordes of nightbeasts when slain would become a horde of the undead, meaning each cannon fodder they brought was two lives to throw into the meat grinder. More if you counted the fleshy bits merging into new abominations. A wonderful plan.
And then from the corner of my eye, I see a smile. THAT smile. For a moment the world froze, my mind raced so fast that nothing around could keep up as I saw the pure joy on the face of a Verain once again. Damn them. I could feel my own mouth curving up into a smile as memories flooded me. With a sigh at what I was about to do, one that did nothing to erase my smile, I forcibly adjusted my perception back so that the world began to move again. I began to clap.
“Wonderful! What a show.” I called out. Startling everyone in the room into stillness as they looked to see what had changed.
“A dragon's eye for the merlin, a demon for the saint, and a horde twice over for the Verain, but I have to ask, did you bring any such toys for me to play with?” My smile only grew, knowing Germaine hated being known as a saint.
“And who are you?” The vampire shook off his confused look and sneered.
My brain ground to a halt for the second time in a matter of minutes, he didn’t know!? My smile was gone, lost in shock. I was vaguely aware in some corner of my head of the Merlin and girl backing towards the halls.
“You….invaded my home, and you don’t even know?”
“Oh? This was your place? No wonder the wards were so weak, I was expecting better from an archmages stronghold. It makes sense if it was just some nobody's place.”
For a moment I did not know what to feel, and then…I was at peace, calm, zen. I had been gone from the world for too long. It was the only explanation. So all i had to do was ERASE THIS FOOL, and then go end a country or three. Maybe cause a few eclipses? Oh, wait, there was that other option wasn’t there? But first…
Into the shadows of my left hand Twilight Caller fell, the silver handgun glinting in the light of the hall as it slid from my sleeve. Into my right hand fell Blood Blessed, its black metal seeming to drink in the light around it. Both of these guns had accompanied me for centuries. They rose at the same time the vampire was still sneering behind the magical protection of the eye. For a moment I ignored him. He…would be the last to die tonight.
Behind the shield an army of nightbeasts crowded into the hall, before it the undead, behind me more rose. I opened fire. The world in slow motion as dozens of beasts charged me. I aimed precisely, each shot striking a head, a heart or a joint. Some of the undead required dismemberment and I obliged in a hail of lead. Headshots handled most of them however as the loss of the body's control center was not easily replaced.
The gunshots turned into a roar of white noise, and the moment the last bullet flew from each magazine I released them to the ground, shadows emerging from my robe slamming new ones into the guns before the first even reached the ground. The horde stalled, held at bay by a wall of lead. Behind me, I heard movement and leapt stepping on the banister and kicking off into a spin. As I was upside down mid air I opened fire again. Turning the abomination that had arisen behind me into a splatter of gore as both magazines clicked empty.
Only one hall had undead coming from it, the other must have been the one that the Verain and Merlin had fled down. My shadows tossed the emptied mags forward and I stepped on them, using them to kick off again as I reloaded and opened fire, a spinning top of doom, careening through the air. Finally I came to a stop, standing upon the magical shield the dragon's eye was maintaining. Horizontal to the floor I looked down upon the vampire who’s eyes were wide, fear? Horror? Shock? Who cared! I began to laugh maniacally as the beasts below leapt into the air to reach me.
I had enough ammo for them all.
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