The man seemed awfully relaxed. He was either really powerful or simply overconfident. I pointed at the magic circles. “Is this your doing?” I asked.
“Indeed. Your elemental almost ruined my hard work. Thankfully it was dumb and easily distracted.” He smiled.
“RUDE!” Shani shouted.
“So what is your goal here? Even if we would not have shown up, the Empire has more than enough people to deal with this. You are doing some damage, embarrassing them in front of some diplomats, but in the greater scheme of things you haven’t achieved anything.” I said.
“The Empire is weak! Led by foolish children! We will forge it anew in the fires of hell!
“He sounds really excited.” Lucy commented. “But what does his circle actually do? Just summon more demons?”
“Hm.” I studied the ritual. Lucy and Shani would have my back in case the man tried anything.
“Ah, you are interested in my magic.” The man noticed my examinations. “It is beyond your understanding! But fear not, soon you will become part of it!”
I ignored him and explained to Lucy: “He is trying to create a portal to hell. Looking at the magic flow it probably feeds off the deaths caused by the demons. But he is not getting anywhere with this. I can only assume he vastly overestimated the damage his forces would do, or he planned on a mass sacrifice that has not happened. At least not yet.”
“A portal to hell?” Lucy asked. “A permanent one? Could demons just come and go as they please?”
“No. It would require a constant flow of magic just to remain open. Further, you have no control over who uses it. That is why most people prefer summoning to portals.”
“So he is just an idiot?” Lucy asked.
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“HA. WHO IS THE DUMMY NOW?” Shani shouted.
“Oh you foolish children… BEHOLD MY POWER! YOUR BLOOD SHALL FEED THIS CIRCLE! LET THE EMPIRE BE REBORN!” The man shouted louder and louder. Red lightning covered his skin. He raised his hand and pointed a finger at me. I raised an eyebrow in return.
“DIE!”
Lightning shot from his fingertips. A crimson glow illuminated the room. The bolt went straight into me… and did nothing.
“Interesting.” I said. “That was a 3rd tier lightning bolt but infused with something…”
The man stared. “Impossible… that… that was blood lightning! It bypasses normal magical defences!”
I was not sure what he considered normal. But electricity could not harm my body. And a low tier spell like that would not kill us anyway.
Meanwhile Lucy raised her own hand. A normal bolt of lightning shot forth and hit the man. He screamed as the electricity wreaked havoc in his body. Then he collapsed. It looked like he was no longer breathing.
“Ooops. Maybe that was too much…” Lucy said.
“I think he was just some mid level management.” I commented. It would have been nice to have someone to interrogate. Maybe we could find others. Surely this madman had help.
As I approached the downed man, runes lit up all over his body and he dissolved into ash. The circle on the floor glowed brighter. It was not enough to complete the spell, yet.
“Amaya, can you stop the ritual?” Lucy asked.
“Should be easy enough. I just need a little bit of time to make sure the energy already collected does not explode in my face.”
Of course that is when we heard footsteps. A door in the back burst open and a lot of soldiers emerged.
“IN THE NAME OF THE INQUISITION, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!” Someone shouted.
The soldiers parted and a familiar figure emerged. Elias.
“I knew the Dominion’s pets were involved. We caught you red handed!” He said.
“Um, excuse me high inquisitor but they helped defend the garrison. They are working with us and have the full permission of vice captain Iris to investigate.” Alexis said, standing straight but looking rather nervous.
“Ah, so we have a traitor then. We shall investigate this after we have dealt with those foreign spies.” Elias responded.
“Really? Are you going to attack foreign diplomats? Don’t you have enough problems already?” I asked.
“Attack? Only if you resist arrest…” He said with a smirk.
“Let’s just kill him, he is asking for it.” Lucy suggested.
“Great idea!” Shani agreed.
“I am all for beating him up, but maybe we should keep him alive…” I said. Technically, nobody could blame us for self defence. But it would certainly help if we did not kill a high inquisitor.
“So we can torture him afterwards!” Shani exclaimed.
Alexis turned rather pale. I looked at her. “You can report back to your captain and tell her what is going on. It does not look like they have people in the sewers, they all came from one direction.”
There was a chance that someone would intercept her. But staying would be far more dangerous for Alexis. Protecting her in a battle could be tricky. She nodded and ran. A few soldiers tried to give chase but I was prepared. As she left through the hole into the sewers I sealed the passage with a stone wall.
Lucy cracked her knuckles. “I am going to enjoy this.”