Ends of Magic

Nathan set a pace that was fast but not quite the frenetic dash he’d led the freed elites on earlier. Several more soldiers joined them, but a few opted to run and hide in the slums and some more ran for the gates that the Heirs and other Adventurers had busted open on their way into the city.

He led the way, pausing only to drop back and banish the pinging magic that still lingered on some people - and were occasionally reapplied by frantic waves of the detection magic.

The streets appeared to be mostly clear, without a trace of further Giantsrest forces. They passed the destroyed patrol, where some of the freed soldiers they’d left behind called out questions that were answered by the freed elites. Both groups shared laughter that was somewhere between disbelieving and vengeful. More of the soldiers joined them, ditching their shields to join the procession.

Artha galloped up next to him, having absolutely no problems with the pace as his four hooves clattered on the stone.

Nathan glanced up to the silver-haired man who’d first set him upon the Path of Rage. “How did the outer gate go? Any casualties?”

“Gates fall more easily when attacked from both sides.” The big elk-man rolled his arms, his thick armored plating grating slightly. “To shine light in your eyes, the Heirs did the deed. Aarl appeared from invisibility atop the gatehouse to bisect a mage, and Sarah mowed her way through the soldiers on guard. From then it was a conventional fight, and Khachi healed all wounds away much as his mother would have.”

Glad to hear Egall pulled her weight with the [Invisibility] on Aarl. I don’t really understand what’s going on with her - though I think Sarah and Aarl are helping her.

The Treeborn was looking forward, but his tone of pride was clear. “The Heirs were already set to become dragons, but since you joined them - they have fulfilled that promise. I am glad your Path has found you, and your teammates have been enriched by your truth.”

Nathan nodded. “Glad to have you join us. Are you ready to conquer Halsmet?”

The elk-centaur’s grin split his face wide. “Beyond prophecy’s sway. Lead us to victory, Nathan.”

Nathan glanced backwards over the column, finally feeling the weight of responsibility settle upon him.

I really am in charge of this, aren’t I? When did that happen? Faline’s higher level than I am and higher in the Gemore Adventurer hierarchy, but she’s nowhere to be seen. Khachi’s the nominal leader of the Heirs, but I’m the definite leader of this attempt to conquer Halsmet. Olad has clearly stepped up as the leader of the freed elites, but he’s still following me. All of them are. That [Leadership] skill isn’t just for window dressing. People are gonna die, and I’ll be responsible for that.

Hopefully it’s the Giantsrest mages that die, but I know we’re not going to be so lucky. All I can do is make sure as few of ‘my’ people die as possible. But I’m not going to back down from this. I want to win, to start cleansing this cancer from the surface of Davrar. Halsmet won’t be the end, either. It’ll be a good start.

He was interrupted from his musing by the presence of a helmetless elite turning the corner ahead of them. The man was limping towards them, and it seemed that he’d been badly burned. Nathan slowed and joined Olad to head for the new appearance, gesturing for Khachi to join them.

The man started talking in between gasps as soon as they got close. “Narun and Bufo went to warn Exea. She called all the remaining mages to assemble in the square before her mansion.”

Nathan blinked, looking to the leader of the freed elites for an explanation.

Olad’s face grew thunderous. “By the Giant’s blood, I swear doom on those fools.” He saw Nathan’s expression. “Two of the elites you freed. They are bodyguards of Exea, and their loyalty extends to trickery.” He clapped the burned elite on the shoulder. “Good scouting, Turbang.”

Well, shit, some of the elites went to warn her. Not sure how I could have prevented that - and now Exea knows we’re coming. I mean, she probably already knew, but I’m not happy she has more exact intelligence. I think if we move quickly we can outpace any response. I already flipped her biggest piece to my side.

Outwardly, Nathan displayed none of his concern. “Now she’s gathered all of our enemies together in one place. Very kind of her.” He looked at the man. “Thanks for the news, Turbang. Is she joining them?”

The man breathed out a sigh of relief as Khachi’s magic healed his wounds, then replied. “The gates were closed - but there are near on fifty mages in the square. Thulio dho Pelogi was in charge and none of Exea’s staff were present.”

Nathan’s brows furrowed in thought. “Ok, so the first people to show their face in the square are going to get evaporated. Any war mages?”

Turbang shook his head. “I didn’t see any red robes. Maybe twenty-five yellows, fifteen greens and ten blues. A few pinks.”

So a lot of firepower, but not a lot of military discipline. I think we might have gotten all of the war mages with the response team.

Nathan considered before speaking. “Seems like we need to fall back on old-school Gemore tactics. Ambush and guile.”

He looked back at the five members of the Oath of Tulis, one of whom was a mage. “Lycaste, is your mage from the Tower of Trickery? Can he do good illusions?”

The mage in question spoke up with a sniff. “He has a name. I am Ayen Sarha. Illusions? Go teach a mage to light a fire. I was tutored personally by Gale Shullet.”

“So was I, Stalker dick.” Wiam retorted, beak clacking with his equivalent of a giggle.

Nathan waved his hands to catch Ayen’s attention and prevent the two mages from sniping at one another. “Great, that’s exactly what we need. We’re going to split up into three groups.” He held up one finger, noticing that more and more people were paying attention to them.

“Ayen will come with me in group one, along with most of the people with ranged weapons. I’m going to charge into the square alone, and Ayen will make it look like there are more people with me to help draw attention. I’ll go in, draw the first barrage and bust a hole in whatever barriers they have. The rest of my group will stay back and support me from range.”

Nathan held up the other two fingers. “Wiam will be with group two, and Neta with group three.” He nodded to the young Knuld mage from the Old Hands. “Your groups will come in from the sides of the square, and you’ll need to use illusions to let the fighters get among them so they can’t just barrage us down with fireballs. I’ll try to make as much confusion as I can, and keep them focused on me.”

A deep laugh boomed out of Vhala. “As your flame calls! Not the worst plan I’ve set targets on. I’ll lead team two. Survive and thrive, Nathan Lark.”

“Neta is on team three, I’ll lead there.” Delric said shortly.

Nathan turned to Olad. “Ranged elites in one, split the rest of the elites up between groups two and three. We need people who know the city in each group. Can you work with Adventurers?”

The big man snorted, tapping his gauntlets together lightly. “Even as we fought them, we knew they wanted us free or dead. Fighting our prior masters at their side is a wish from the Giant.”

The Adventurers didn’t hold to military discipline, but they listened when orders were given. It took about two minutes to split up into the three groups, and about as long for Nathan to ensure that nobody was still tagged by the detection enchantment.

Wouldn’t do for them to know we split up. The last ping happened just recently and we’re only a few minutes from the square. There isn’t a good solution here.

The only members of the Heirs to join Nathan’s group one were Sarah and Stella, while Egall went with Aarl and Khachi into Vhala’s group two, and the melee fighters of the Oath of Tulin joined Delric’s group three.

Nathan gave one last glance around for Faline, but didn’t see her.

She’ll either show up if she’s needed or she won’t. This isn’t really her type of fight. She got us this far, I’ll give her credit for that much.

The groups headed out with one last exchange of salutes. It was a quick dash through empty streets before the bow-wielding elite guiding them held out a hand.

He indicated the intersection ahead, where another crossroad was sandwiched between two townhouses. “Square there, about a hundred feet down to the right.”

Nathan nodded seriously, then looked toward Lycaste. “Get people in position - sneaky as you can.” Then he turned towards Stella. “Are the other groups in position yet?”

She shook her head. “Not quite yet. They’re almost there. Wiam’s group ran into some trouble. We’ll have a few minutes until they’re ready."

I’d prefer we were attacking immediately. We want to foster confusion and get them focused on the wrong thing - and if the detection enchantments fire again that could ruin the whole plan.

“Some trouble?” Nathan’s voice was tense.

Stella shrugged. “He didn’t say.”

They watched for a few minutes as Lycaste gave instructions to scout out the abandoned townhouses so they could be used as firing positions. He was careful to keep people out of sight of the square, and had Ayen cast illusions to help hide fighters as they snuck to the opposite side of the street and into other buildings.

As time passed, Nathan had to prevent himself from asking Stella for updates every thirty seconds. He double-checked that his Focus was full, and had Stella cast a few spells to top off his Stamina.

Shit, Wiam is with Egall, Aarl and Khachi. What could be holding them up? I need to be patient. They’ll be ready when they’re ready. But what if they’re in trouble and need help? Or won’t be ready in time? Maybe we do need to ask for an update? Give it another minute.

He tensed and untensed, ready to sprint either direction at a word from Stella. Then he took a deep breath and calmed down.

I’m not doing this on my own. I’m a lynchpin of the plan, but definitely not the only part of it. I need to think things through, coordinate with people - like Ayen.

He looked over at the illusionist, who was glaring down at Nathan’s shadow as if it was confusing him. “Hey, Ayen. This illusion - you’ll need to keep it away from me, or I’ll disrupt it. They might not know there are Gemore Adventurers in the city, so if you can make it look like I’m charging with a bunch of the Giantsrest elites, that might give them the right image.”

The man frowned, his bombastic demeanor fading to one of focus. “You don’t need cover? That’s a lot of mages.”

“Nope. I’ll be fine. Any magic that gets close to me stops working.”

Ayen sucked in a breath and shot a disbelieving glance at Stella, who smirked and nodded back at him.

That’s never going to get old. Magic is a trump card for so much on Davrar, being immune to it is one heck of a joker.

To keep his impatience under control, Nathan ran over what he was going to do once he got into the square.

The Gemore Adventuring classes taught that Giantsrest will try to set up a large spell-permeable force barrier for a mage-heavy force like this. I charge in, hopefully get every single mage casting at me, break the barrier, then get to grips with the mages inside. Start killing them one by one.

Nathan frowned.

The slow part of that is actually killing them. I can move quickly and punch, but it still takes time for each one. But my aura is separate from my fists…

Sarah was standing nearby, ready to jump onto a nearby roof when it was time to go.

Nathan ambled over. “I’m thinking - my aura will be able to reach more mages than my fists will. If you see me pass close to a mage but not strike them, I’ve probably taken away their [Mage Armor].”

She considered for a moment, then nodded. “Thanks, I may be able to see it happen with my skills. Don’t go back for any of them or we may hit you by accident - Algoa’s luck go with you.” She gestured around to the waiting Adventurers. “All this - our parents would be proud. And terrified.” She smirked, then clapped Nathan on the shoulder.

Lycaste approached. The big orc was chewing on his lip nervously. “We’re ready, what delays this awaited bonfire?”

Nathan scrubbed hands through his hair. “Wiam’s group ran into trouble. In another minute I’m going to have Stella message him again, to be sure that they’re still on-track and we don’t need to go without them. If the next pulse of the detection enchantment happens first, then we go.”

“True aim.” The big orc eyed Nathan. “I’ve heard of you - but this plan is bold. You are the sole spark that lights it ablaze. Those who know you are confident that you will survive your charge. I’ll pitch in my torch because my risk isn’t great - but I doubt that any could survive so brazenly challenging so many mages.” He hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Can you do it?”

Nathan held out a clenched fist. “Yes.” He was about to continue with something suitably melodramatic when Stella interrupted.

“Wiam said they ran into four mages trying to get to the square. One got off a fireball, and two elites are dead. They could go now, but Khachi’s still healing the wounded. They only need a few more minutes.

Shit. We haven’t even started. And the mages in the square probably heard the fireball and are now aware there’s something going on from that direction.

The pulse of the detection enchantment washed over them and Nathan shook his head, glancing around one more time. The magic eddied strangely around an abandoned cart halfway down the street, and Nathan focused on the effect. There was a faint shimmer around the cart, looking like some kind of invisibility spellwork.

Shit. Not a good time for shenanigans.

High-tier Notice 9 achieved!

Nathan focused harder on the cart, not trying to hide his interest. The shimmer of the spellwork started moving rapidly away from them, and Nathan caught a glimpse of a flapping black robe.

A Nail - one of the secret police mages. But only one, and they’re running away. There are too many variables here - and we’re out of time. That detection enchantment or that mage are about to blow the plan wide open. Either we abandon it or we go.

Nathan made his decision. “We’re out of time. I’m going now.” He gave Stella one more look. “For your spells, shock and awe. Watch your back, there’s a Nail creeping around.”

She was already casting [Message] to alert the other teams. “Rains of lightning, to raise the past. And a shield worthy of a Fortress Foundry.”

Nathan waited for her to give him one more nod. “They’re ready.” He got another from Ayen, and then he was off, Rage kindling in his gut.

He came around the corner already at a run, and accelerated further as he dashed down the street towards the square and the group of mages in its center. The place was a wide expanse of cobbled stone, with fancy statues arrayed along the edges and a stage in the center. The far side of the square was a gatehouse centered in the tall wall that surrounded Exea’s mansion.

As Nathan sprinted he spent some Focus on one of his newer utility skills, trying to make himself look as big and threatening as possible.

Just playing into the role they expect. The elites called me Mage-breaker - time to live that title.

Mid-tier Noticeability 5 achieved!

From behind him came the pounding of feet and a series of yells, but Nathan didn’t look back. He hoped Ayen’s illusion was convincing.

The Giantsrest mages seemed to think so. They were a riot of brightly colored robes clustered around a large stage in the center of the square - and several of them were pointing at Nathan and yelling. He could very faintly hear one voice raised above the others. “That was a distraction! They’re attacking from this way.”

A rippling dome of energy was beginning to fade to invisibility around the group, and the magic started to fly in Nathan’s direction. This wasn’t just a few offensive spells - it was a barrage of them. There were a dozen fireballs, several spikes of ice, a few force blades and more. Several of the spells interfered with one another, and about half of them were aimed at the illusion behind Nathan. But ahead of the main body of the volley came three bolts of lightning and two [Disintegrate] beams.

There’s some damn dangerous mages over there.

He didn’t use Focus to dodge any of the early spells, merely letting them melt into his antimagic and boost his Stamina far beyond its cap. Before the main body of the barrage hit Nathan jumped into the air and held himself aloft with [Slow Fall], letting the spells detonate beneath him. His legs and back were pelted with gravel from the square underneath him being pulverized by the wave of offensive magic. But Nathan was mostly unharmed, his enhanced toughness protecting him from the stone shrapnel as a cloud of smoke billowed outwards from the interaction of so many destructive spells.

Nathan landed lightly on the edge of the area of cratered stone, feet pushing off of the uneven terrain to leap to solid ground and continue his charge.

He emerged from the cloud at a sprint. The mages in front of him drew back as one, both terrified and affronted that somebody had emerged unfazed from the magic they’d unleashed. More spells flew at him, this time in a steady flow instead of a single volley.

High-tier Sprinting 5 achieved!

The cloud of smoke and dust billowed out to both sides, and Nathan was quite aware of the illusion and earth magic woven into the cloud that was encouraging its spread.

Neta and Wiam are using it to cover teams two and three, but its going to block my ranged backup’s shots. Should have thought of that. I just need to keep their attention on me.

The tide of spells continued, and he only dodged the ones that would break up the surface he was running on. A [Maximized Blast Fireball] blew a gigantic hole in the cobbles right in front of Nathan’s feet, and he jumped into a smooth arc, flipping in midair to resume his run without interruption.

High-tier Tumbling 5 achieved!

Nathan opened his mouth and yelled wordlessly as loudly as he could. He used stamina to boost his voice and encouraged the vibration of his vocal cords with [Perfected Body]. The resulting roar hurt Nathan’s ears and throat similarly as he felt his throat strain with the effort.

Pending utility skill: [Mid-tier Battle Cry]

You have intimidated foes with a loud yell mid-fight. Your cries will be more intimidating and more audible across the din of battle.

Consider it later.

He leapt at the double-layered shell of force magic that surrounded the stage.With his class and Insights, it would have been trivial to punch a hole in the barrier and get inside. But Nathan needed to destroy the shield entirely - otherwise his allies would be trapped outside the shield, easy pickings to any mages that weren’t focused on him.

And they might figure out how to beat me if I don’t have support. I don’t want to bet that one out of fifty mages won’t have some clever trick that could take me on. I’m not so arrogant to think I can win at fifty-to-one.

So instead of jumping up on the stage towards the flinching mages, Nathan stopped and spread his hands wide. He burrowed his perception and aura into the geometric structure of the force bubble that wrapped around the entire stage.

It was a work of art - a carefully crafted architectural marvel of reinforced panes and struts of force mana. In a flash of insight Nathan mapped out the spell and got a glimpse of how the shock of a physical impact would ripple through the entire structure and be bounced back to counter the force. Mana flowed freely through the supporting struts, and would flow to repair any damage. Beyond that, it was tuned to allow spells free passage in one direction - like a trace of inverted antimagic.

Magical Perception 6 achieved!

There’s a deep Insight in that spell. But I’m not here to study it, I’m here to tear it apart. Maybe I’ll try to remember it later for Stella.

Panicked spells continued to shed from Nathan’s skin as he stabbed tendrils of antimagic through the outer panes of the shield into the geodesic struts below. Conjured icicles and large boulders left shallow gashes in Nathan’s skin as his aura was extended away from his body. But then he turned the resonant nature of the spell against itself, and the entire dome shattered away into loose mana.

Nathan looked up at the stage, where several mages had gathered and drawn weapons to fight him hand-to-hand. He jerked, twitching nearly uncontrollably with one of the worst cases of Stamina overcharge he’d ever felt.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 4

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 7

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 9

Class: Implacable Antimage level 168

Deepened Stamina: 5340/5340

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Class: Assassin of Gemore level40

Regenerative Focus: 419/550

Catastrophic Blows

Stealthy Movement

Infiltration

Forgettable

Unsuspecting Strike

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 8

Leadership 2

High-tier Sprinting 5

Magical Perception 6

High-tier Notice 9

High-tier Identify 9

High-tier Dodging Footwork 8

High-tier Enhanced Memory 9

Mid-tier Lecturing 9

High-tier Tumbling 5

Mid-tier Noticeability 5

Low-tier Quiet Movement 3

Low-tier Disguise 2