As soon as I gathered my wits, I directed the Dead Legion march at full speed towards Ravenrock. I had had them camped not far from the tower, having expected to make my stand here, but I couldn’t let them destroy my town.

Using the threads of Soul that connected them to me as a guide, I was able to cast Haste on them all. With my mana split so many ways, the effect was lessened, but every second counted.

Given their current position, Ludis and the crusaders would reach Ravenrock well before my own troops did. I had little choice but to make my own way there — else, with Ludis unchecked, he could simply rain fire on the town from a safe distance.

Jumping off the tower’s balcony, I used force to fly in the direction of the soon-to-be battlefield. I had to keep my own speed lower than I would have liked, with nearly all my mana tied up with the Legion, but I would still be able to arrive within a quarter of an hour.

I hoped there would still be a town standing when I got there.

I knew the situation was dire minutes later, when I saw smoke in the distance, rising high into the sky. I clenched my fists in anger — how dare he pass judgment on innocent people? — but the rage faded to guilt when I realized how I was the one responsible for all this.

Ludis had called them tainted, and to my shame, he wasn’t wrong. I had tampered with their minds, years ago, using a low-intensity spell I had cast over the entire town that made them more accepting — otherwise, they would never have tolerated a Villain in their midst.

I wasn’t sure if Ludis knew of this manipulation, or if he only called them tainted because they hadn’t risen up against me, but the point was moot — they were only now in this predicament because of my own actions.

And to think I once admired Ludis! Like any of my fellow apprentices, I had idolized the man. When he’d come to the Academy to hold a lecture, I had waited in line the whole night to get a good seat in the auditorium. The One-Man Army, the man who could protect an entire people — and now he was executing innocent civilians whose only fault had been living in the wrong place?

And yet I was scared. Despite all my preparations, I didn’t think I was a match for the elder Archmage. He was a combat mage through and through, while I was a researcher — but I couldn’t allow him to harm my people, either.

----------------------------------------

I arrived at what remained of the eastern gate a couple of minutes later; the wights had dismantled it to speed up their passage into the town. By the looks of it, the crusaders had arrived from the west, with the east side still being mostly intact.

Still airborne, I made my way over the entrance, flying over the masses of people trying to flee the city. They were all frantic, almost climbing on top of each other in their mad scramble to get away. But there was nothing I could do for them, other than increase my pace to buy them time to evacuate.

I slowed down, moving carefully through the buildings. As I approached Ludis, I had to be extremely careful not to get too close to him by accident — he would most likely be doing the same, as either of us would be able to kill the other in a single strike once we were in range.

I floated slowly over the town as I approached the active battlefield. Fires ravaged the buildings, and every so often a flaming orb would crash from the sky, destroying buildings and killing scores of my own soldiers.

I felt my connections slowly dwindling, my mana returning to me — and with practiced ease, I began reviving fallen crusaders to replenish my own troops.

After the past week and a half, I could do the process with my eyes closed; this time, I kept my eyes on my surroundings as I floated above the battles below.

There were so many corpses strewn about… so many civilians, caught by surprise on what should have been just another day in town. I could even recognize some of them, if only barely — my rage rose anew when I saw Rolf, the blacksmith’s apprentice, burned to nearly a crisp. The boy hadn’t deserved this.

To my surprise, it was not only the wights defending the town. I wasn’t surprised to see Sarah and Shiro in the fighting, as they had been at the forefront of the Dead Legions, but a number of former adventurers have taken up their weapons as well. Sarah, atop her ursine steed, was flanked by four men in uniform — was that the squad she had recruited? I had thought they were supposed to be five.

The fighting was going well for our side — while the crusaders were better at fighting than the wights, they were much harder to kill than any of the living and I had started the day with more than three thousand undead. Most were weak, but they only needed to be cannon fodder while the stronger ones dealt with the enemy. The followers of Yain were not well suited for fighting against swarms of opponents, it seemed, and for once at least one thing was going in my favor.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

I finally spotted Ludis once I arrived near the center of the battlefield. I could see much of the western side of town had been scorched to cinders, and the culprit floated leisurely as he prepared to unleash another fireball towards a group of adventurers.

My ability with Force was, while not bad, nowhere near Ludis’s level, who had mastered it before I had even been born. I could not nullify his attack even if I tried — but though I saw him glancing in my direction, he had likely not expected me to interfere as I sent a Force impulse of my own, pushing the fireball from its path and causing it to hit a storefront instead.

Ludis turned to me, glaring with barely veiled contempt. There was, however, a hint of surprise present in the older man’s face.

“You only delayed their deaths,” he said softly, using magic to project his voice across the distance between us. “You will die, and the rest of these heathens will follow you to your grave.”

“Why them, though?” I asked quietly, my voice sorrowful. “They didn’t do anything.”

Ludis tilted his head quizzically. “Yes? That is entirely the point. They should have risen up against you. They failed their duty to their gods, and they shall die.”

That… didn’t add up. Why would he punish them for this, and why would he do it now, of all times?

“Did Vinara set you up to this?”

With my Soul Sight on, I could see him begin drawing mana for a new attack. “The time for talking is over.”

Shaking my head, I carefully molded my expression into my best approximation of confident arrogance.

Slowly advancing towards Ludis, I spoke, “I’m afraid I won’t be dying today. You cannot kill me.”

His eyebrows rose. “And what makes you say that?”

From my pocket, I removed the fox figurine, holding it before me so that Ludis could see. “You see this little trinket? With it, I am warded against everything.”

The fox figurine did not, in fact, ward me against anything at all. But it was shiny and exotic enough for a bluff.

He must have inspected it with his own Soul Sight because his eyes went wide.

“Is that… Origin mana? How?”

“Call off the attack and I’ll tell you. You can’t kill me, anyway.”

He pressed his lips into a thin line before shaking his head. “I will not negotiate with a heretic.”

Frowning, I put the figurine back into my pocket. I hadn’t expected him to agree to a ceasefire, but I was nearing the edge of his range and he didn’t look like he would attack, so I dared to hope that he believed the first part.

Without slowing my pace, I advanced confidently until I could feel Ludis’s mind with my magic. My Mind Spike was ready, mana masked with a Soul working, but I didn’t dare release it yet.

I had only one chance to attack him before he did the same, and the closer I was, the greater my chance of succeeding.

I continued moving closer to the man, and a part of me wondered if he really did believe my bluff, or if instead he had a tactic similar to my own.

Below us, the fighting continued, and without Ludis’s support, my Legion was gaining ground. The crusaders were down a third of their number, at this point, and seeing their own dead come back to fight them must have taken their morale through the gutter.

“Did Vinara set you up to this?” I echoed my earlier question, hoping to keep him off guard.

“She came to me seeking help against you. She told me of how you conquered Ardenburg.”

Inwardly, I wanted to curse at Thaos and the Fox, but I could not afford to let my true feelings show, so instead, I rolled my eyes.

“I didn’t realize killing one incompetent duke was grounds for an Archmage to start a personal war,” I said, my voice dripping with condescension.

“The duke is irrelevant — unleashing your horde upon the city is unforgivable.”

My eyes went wide with confusion; why would he think I did that? It was only a moment later that the obvious answer came to me: Vinara had lied to get Ludis and the followers of Yain to help her — she had to exaggerate if she wanted them to view her campaign against me as more than a personal vendetta. Considering she had been a spymaster, I should have expected her to deal in lies and deceit.

“I did nothing of the sort,” I said, finally, letting my true feelings on the matter bleed through the mask, “though I doubt you will believe me over her. Though, I hope you are aware that she was the duke’s spymaster and likely lover.” The last part was pure speculation on my part. I knew she was deathly loyal, though, and to call her a lover was a believable stretch.

Ludis was unconvinced, but the seed of doubt had been planted. I just needed a precious few moments to get to the optimal distance.

As I took another step forward, I saw Ludis’s neck go tense for a moment. I didn’t wait to see the reason why. With a thought, I channeled all my available mana through the hidden Mind Spike formation, directing the spell’s output straight towards the other Archmage.

It turned out to have been the right choice. Barely an instant later, I could feel the air burning around me — burning in me — as he shot me with a concentrated beam of heat.

I could feel parts of me already turn to ash, but I continued pouring my all into the Mind Spike, but even against my full effort, but unexpectedly, his mind simply held.

I finally felt something give, but before I could feel any joy, I realized that what had broken was not his mind. Ludis had had a ward — a very powerful ward against Mind — all along.

With the last dredges of my power, I concentrated anew, willing the nearly spent remains of my spell to bite at Ludis’s now unprotected mind. If he felt it, I couldn’t tell; my head was long gone at this point, as was most of my body. All I could do was hope the injury would hold him back for a little time.

I felt the heat of his spell consume the last of my physical body, like a hurricane of fire destroying everything in its path — and then suddenly, blessed nothingness, the limpid coolness of the void pulling me back into its loving embrace.