Chapter 7 Cleanse.

Thaum spun on his heel and moved in a new direction. The list of targets filtering and becoming set in his mind from the governor's memories. Crimes locations defenses. Provable, unprovable objective fact or subjective opinion, assumptions, or just plain guesses. Thaum sorted through the information in his head.

He stepped out onto the street at a proverbial crossroads. Thaum took a moment to decide. Cause chaos first to distract the populous. This would make it harder for authorities to mount a coordinated operation against him if he was found. It would also make finding clues in the aftermath harder.

Or he could go the ghost route. Simply kill as many as possible without being detected. Thaum had done this before, but the target list in his head was getting longer and he doubted he could be undetectable with the unfamiliar technology playing a role for such a long operation.

Thaum spun again picking a third option. He thought, ‘both, both is good. The cards were already falling, he needed to act before the bodies were discovered. As he stalked the streets he noted the increase in cameras, Or at least overtly placed ones.

He went to adjust his sandals and placed a hand on the ground to push himself up. As he did so a burst of mana pulsed through the ground. Thaum walked for a few seconds aimlessly while the image of the sewer system revealed itself to him.

He turned a corner into a seemingly random alley and sat down. The building to his left was abandoned and what he needed. He phased through the wall. Placed a hand on the ground and pulled the floor and earth beneath it up and into the room.

Thaum slid down the gently sloping tunnel. His feet thumping on the sewer pipe. A mana-infused stomp shattered the pipe and he landed on the walkway. It was humid but only smelled of antiseptics.

Thaum traveled along using his earth sense occasionally while thinking, ‘they make such comfortable sewers to skulk through here’; He could walk upright. The smell was unpleasant though not at normal sewer levels.

Footsteps sounded from the alcove ahead. Thaum changed directions. A few turns later he was back on track. However, he once again heard footsteps ahead. He turned off course again. ‘strange’ he thought.

Either this was the most traveled sewer he had ever seen or heard of or he was being tracked. A third time confirmed. He turned one more time, but only entered the new tunnel a few meters. Then turned invisible and walked back out.

A few breaths later two men in uniform converged on where he disappeared. One grumbled, “see, just another sensor glitch.”

The second man argued, “one sensor is a glitch, thirty is an intruder.”

“Whatever, it's probably just some kids messing around.” the second man's torch landed on an exit ladder and he went for it. The first man grumbled something too quiet for Thaum to hear. The hatch was opened. The second spoke again, “Boss wouldn’t allow criminals to skulk around the tunnels, that's why we are here on any sensor fault. He doesn’t like competition haha.”

Thaum sighed in annoyance. He waited a few minutes then continued while invisible. He found his exit uninterrupted. Whatever sensors in the sewers weren’t designed to pick up invisible mages.

He pushed his hand into the rock and pulled a two-foot cylinder of rock and soil out. Light flooded down the hole. Thaum blinked a few times and crawled through.

Thaum sent a few sensory magics through the building and got a general view of it. The Governor was apparently too busy to collect a layout of this building in his memories for Thaum to use. He only knew where it was. He never even stepped foot in the cities security center.

Thaum's original intention was to just walk up a fire escape, but the security in the tunnels had Thaum doubting his ability to detect sensors. Invisibility had its own flaws. He took a moment to take a long breath.

‘got it’ he thought. ‘sensors are just like guards, you only put them in points where you think people will travel through. With that little epiphany entered a supply closet. Ducked down. Infused mana in his legs and jumped. He quickly phased his body before his head physically went through the floor and flew up four floors and landed gently.

He paused. Sending out a life sensory magic to check if anyone noticed his mana expenditure by habit. Then remembered there wasn’t any magic in this universe.

The feint purple-ish blobs indicating the guards weren't moving from the room they were in. So he didn’t trip anything. ‘probably’ he thought correcting himself mentally.

The guard room revealed itself to Thaum’s magic. A small room full of monitors that look blank to his magic. He rightly assumed they were connected to cameras in the city, except the one they were watching next to the door, which was playing some sort of sports program.

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Thaum smiled to himself as he watched them. A ball of mana in his hand. Getting brighter and denser. Even regular people should be able to feel this amount of mana only a thin wall away.

He pushed his hand through the wall. The effort of phasing that much mana offering a slight strain. Then released it. Thaum's vision flashed. Then the guards were unconscious. He stepped into the room and read their minds.

He rummaged around the computer. Awkwardly used the computer and put the city security system on test mode. Then blew the guard's brains out on his way out.

The bodies were increasing. Each one increasing the chance of discovery. He had to move fast, and now the cameras weren't recording he could do so. He burst out the front door and ran through the streets. Keeping his speed below Olympic levels in case anyone saw him.

Thaum found a dark spot. Sensed the area. Then ran up a wall. On the roof, he surveyed the city before letting loose magic. Hundred of birds flew from his hands. Each in their own direction. Minutes later they all exploded. Balls of fire lit up the night sky. Followed by the dull glow of burning buildings.

Thaum breathed out slowly. He turned invisible then jumped from building to building. People flooded the streets just as he wanted. Some becoming impromptu firefighters others just observed the chaos.

Thaum stopped at the edge of a roof. The next jump would be several hundred meters and he needed to limit mana consumption. He weighed the pros and cons and opted to jump down and run through the rich areas where the building density was low.

A few sensory magics found nothing hidden in the lawns of the mansions. So he simply ran. Stamina was still a valuable resource to any mage.

The front door was alarmed, he went through the walls. The hallways were monitored. So he lept through the floors arriving at the master bedroom in half a minute. He briefly considered starting at a less defended property, less chance of the corpses being discovered early. Probably by a servant concerned by the fires.

However, this cluster of targets homes was on the route and Thaum didn’t want to backtrack. Efficiency was king tonight and he hoped security would be more concerned about keeping the rabble on the street out than keeping watch of their sleeping masters.

Inside the master bedroom, he found the two sleeping peacefully. He read their minds before killing them both. Too many bodies would be dropped soon to be spending time reading memories, so this was his last chance.

He found the usual corruption. Removing people who were in the way, propping up those who wouldn’t. And not in a friendly or even humane way. He blasted their heads apart before swiftly moving onto the next target.

The second was the same as the first. Two more bodies, but no mind-reading. The Third to Seventh followed suit. The Eighth target was awake and his wife missing. He was yelling at a terminal with a uniformed man on the other side. Thaum waited for the call to finish before killing him. Then left for the next.

People were starting to crowd the security fences of the villas. Thaum's firebombs had targeted statues in praise of the people's heroes. Theatres and game parlors. Basically, anything that would piss off the citizens. While avoiding hitting anything in the rich areas. Thaum didn’t have to know the local history, to him the story of the corrupt official was just more of the same to him. The memories of everyone and anything the governor and his lackeys hated also helped anger the masses.

Thaum had to jump across the filled streets to the next target. Phasing through living things was a bad idea. He observed the guards lining the inside of the gates. Armed. Thaum used the lax security inside the villas to easily infiltrate the sleeping quarters.

The fewer magics he has to use the better. He could already feel the mal effects of magic overuse. None of the magics he used were particularly powerful, but most were complex and had other side effects.

The constant phasing had patches of his body glowing blue. Parts of his body didn’t return to the material with the rest. Literally transforming parts of himself into mana. He healed the holes, but Thaum could only protect his vitals for so long before a lapse in concentration would have a part of his heart or brain stay a mana construct and float away.

He entered the twenty-third targets room. The list two thirds complete. The target was on an intercom yelling, “what do you mean Jason is dead”

Thaum observed the call, taking the time to rest. The target was talking to a man Thaum recognized. Wolfram Ostratis. The commander of the planetary defense force and the one his brothel friends blackmailed into handing over the galactic net console Thaum used.

Wolfram said, “The governor is dead, and so are a lot of the “owners” this is your heads up. In five minutes I’m enacting martial law, you know what to do”

The target replied, “five minutes isn’t enough to get everything hidden can you control your men's mouths.”

“mostly,” said Wolfram. “I will start from the civilian quarters so you will have a few more minutes and I will send my trusted people your way, but it will get out. So figure out what you want to be sued for and leave that if you don’t have enough time.”

The target slumped into a chair and said, “And what of the people, we can do what we want because no-one looks at this little fringe world.”

Wolfram chuckled, “I will project the images of all the bodies we have discovered thus far, anyone who doesn’t get out of the way at this time have lost their right to life. Trust me, I will be fine. Worry about yourself.” The call ended.

The target let out a sigh just before his head exploded. Thaum was thankful for the rest, not for the discovery. He knew the fires would have bodies discovered sooner, but he underestimated communication technology. The authorities were far more organized than he was used to.

With the list almost complete and the remainders only there for completion's sake, Thaum decided to take down two more targets. They were close to this position and were neighbors. He ran for a few minutes. The military was already clearing the area of civilians. A massive projection of Thaums works in the sky.

He entered the first mansion, the guards were on high alert. Communication devices one hand and a weapon in the other. Thaum stopped running and casually walked past them. Walking made less noise.

Thaum entered the master bedroom, but it was empty. He swept the manor with his sensory magics and found them inside a hidden room. Thick steel walls barred entry and Thaum didn’t want to move through something so dense in his current condition.

‘fuck it’ he thought. Thaum used some simple elemental magic. Long mastered to the extreme. A candle sized flame lit on the end of his finger. He poked the reinforced wall and burnt a hole through the foot-thick metal. He was trying to mimic a plasma cutter. Then he used some wind magic to separate the air into its base components. The room inside filled with only nitrogen.

Thaum pulled a tablecloth from a nearby end-table, wet it with magic then stuffed it inside the hole before freezing it stuck.

Done with this he left. If they survived good for them.

Thaum entered the next mansion. He noted the guards yelling into their intercoms. All of them. It was strange. They sounded scared. Too scared considering he had only killed a few guards earlier in the night. The rest of the targets were politicians, business owners, crime bosses. He scanned the area. Nothing suspicious.

Thaum ignored his gut and moved on after sending a few more sensory magics. He checked his pigeon's eyes as he moved through the house. Still nothing, But still unnerving. He skipped the main bedroom and found another safe room.

This time he magicked a look inside. Still nothing dangerous. The man was just talking to his wife and he had a blank intercom in hand. He didn’t even have a weapon. Thaum did the same with this saferoom. Poked a hole filled and capped it.

Then Thaum figured it out as several pigeons sent warning signals. The man inside wasn’t talking to his wife. The intercom was blacked out like the CCTV monitors at the security station. His magic didn’t see light so he couldn’t tell the screen was on.

All the guards were constantly using their intercoms. And now two important peoples just turned off one after the other. Thaum furiously glowed and ripped at his body trying to pull it into an immaterial plane. The image of a missile heading for his position sent via pigeon. He felt his arm and foot rip apart. He screamed.

BOOM. The missile exploded. A cone of fire covered the mansion crushing the building into the ground and melted the stone down to bedrock. The explosive was directional and left the surrounding mansions largely intact bar windows and eardrums.