Ends of Magic

Nathan studied the enchanted gatehouse as the cheers of the freed elites rang in his ears. To his sides, the adventurers made final preparations. Egall tagged Aarl with an [Invisibility]. Sarah slipped an enchanted round into her rifle and drew it to her shoulder.

I suppose there’s no sense waiting any longer. I hope no other archmages get involved. They’re probably hesitant because Taeol’s dead, they don’t know what killed him and they don’t want to teleport into this situation. But Badud could mess everything up. I hope he’s busy.

And with that thought in mind, Nathan charged the last gate of Halsmet. It was a single slab of metal engraved with arcane symbols, and he stretched out his magical perception to find a truly forbidding working of protection and denial laid into the material.

This door wasn’t made by Giantsrest - I think it was stolen from a Kalis conclave dungeon. It’s got the same immaculate mana flow as the rest of their enchantments. But clearly not integrated well into the surrounding structure.

As Nathan ran, he used all of his mental enhancements to map out the Giantsrest-produced enchantments surrounding the gate - and how they communicated with it. It was like somebody had used hot glue to attach a railgun to a galleon. The Giantsrest spellwork was using a tiny fraction of the door’s capabilities, and mostly telling it when to open and when to blast the person who tried to open it without the proper permissions.

Based on the spatial mana in there it wouldn't surprise me if the door could be hooked up to a teleportation network of some kind, but Giantsrest is just relying on it to be mostly indestructible and to super-disintegrate whoever they tell it to. I bet Exea’s expecting that to happen to me.

Normally it would be easier to go through the wall than the door, but the weakest element of this link is really where the door connects to the rest of the wall.

High-tier Identify 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this utility skill! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight to develop it to the next level. As it is high-tier, the kind of Insight will greatly affect how it develops.

Instead of going for the door itself, Nathan leapt into the air, aiming for the keystone of the arch. That was where the enchantment on the gatehouse interfaced with the door, and that was what he would need to disable so that the magical door stopped thinking it was part of an intact structure.

At the apogee of his jump Nathan slammed his elbow into the stone, using the momentum-based skills of [Implacable Antimage] to propel a spike of antimagic deep into the enchantment even as physical force sent cracks running through the block of stone. As he fell he bent tendrils of antimagic around the door and ripped them through the jury-rigged hinges on the far side.

He landed and put his shoulder against the gate, pushing hard. The magic of the ancient artifact buzzed uncomfortably next to Nathan’s ear, but the portal didn’t budge.

I think it’s fastened with a physical bar.

Then Artha arrived. The [Heavyhoof Charger] was clad in enchanted armor and stood nearly nine feet tall. His lower half was that of an elk, and together with his armor he had to weigh a thousand pounds. All of the energy of his charge was delivered in the end of his enchanted staff, slamming into the gate like a horizontal piledriver.

He struck in the center of the gate with a roar, following through on the blow with his entire body. The gate slammed backwards faster than simple physics would explain, the hinges and bolt torn from the wall by Artha’s tremendous blow. The slab of inviolable metal pinwheeled backwards, crashing and sparking against the stone plaza beyond.

The big elk-man’s momentum carried him through the gatehouse and into the space beyond, where about sixty figures waited. In the center was an old woman propped up in a litter carried by six oiled and muscular young men. She was dressed in an elaborate tunic and was festooned with jewelry. Beady eyes fixed on Nathan and Artha with peeved rage.

That’d be Exea. She looks like she wants to tell us exactly how we offended her. In great detail.

To the sides of the archmage were several more robe-clad graduates of the Ascendent Academy - a few enforcement and enslavement mages, along with two handsome entertainment mages.

Spread out in an arc in front of her were at least fifty slaves. Four of them were elites, two of whom weren’t wearing helmets.

Yes. The ones who pretended. Whose loyalty lies with Giantsrest.

Another twenty were normal slave-soldiers. The rest looked like household slaves - a dozen more young men gleaming with oil and then the cooks and cleaners and scribes of the household staff. More of them were clustered in the gardens beyond, clutching crossbows and starting to level them at Nathan and Artha.

Nathan scrambled to keep up with Artha, but the big elk-man was charging ahead. He was following the cartwheeling gate as it knocked aside everybody in its path, roaring as he went straight for Exea.

Shit, I thought we’d go in together, where I could stretch my aura out in front of him. I didn’t think he’d get ahead of me by busting through the gate and maintaining his speed. All I need to do is catch up while she’s talking. Slow down Artha, calm your Rage!

One of the pink-robed mages cast a broad force shield that sparkled with an iridescent sheen. It stopped the bouncing slab of enchanted metal in its tracks, blocking Artha. The Treeborn skidded on his hooves to avoid slamming into the barrier.

Another mage gestured, shooting a potent bolt of ice to detonate Stella’s fireball harmlessly overhead.

Then an enchanted rifle bullet smashed through the prismatic barrier and tore into the [Mage Armor] in front of Exea’s face, penetrating three layers of magical protection with a shower of iridescent sparks. At the last moment the bullet deflected past Exea’s head, grooving her cheek and tearing off a chunk of ear instead of landing between her eyes.

The archmage’s mouth snapped shut as she felt at the bloody gouge. Her face mottled and her eyes bugged out as true rage overtook peevish annoyance. The spell that followed had no build-up, cast as casually as one would swear.

[Tripled Empowered Disintegrate]

Three familiar beams of magical power speared out from the archmage’s palm. One was aimed at Artha, one was aimed at Nathan, and another was aimed over Nathan’s shoulder - toward the gate and the Adventurers beyond. The spells looked like any other cast of [Disintegrate], but to Nathan’s magical senses they seemed sharper, like a scalpel reaching out to excise their targets from the world.

Nathan was a dozen feet behind Artha and catching up with every moment. In the split second to think afforded by Focus, Nathan felt despair slice through him. He couldn’t save the Treeborn. He might be able to stretch his aura that far, but he wasn’t at all sure that it would be enough to block such a powerful spell.

Even trying would also leave Nathan himself vulnerable - which he couldn’t afford to do. To reach his Aura that far, he would have to strip the protection from his own body - and Exea would slaughter every single Adventurer here without him. Nathan had to deal with her now, which meant he couldn’t take a minute to regenerate a disintegrated torso. There was also the third beam. Nathan couldn’t see who it was aimed at, but it would kill whoever it hit.

It’s probably aimed at Sarah, who shot the bullet. Though that beam can probably kill more than one person

The justifications swept through Nathan’s Focus-enhanced mind as he took action, stretching his aura up a few feet to catch the third ray of sickly light even as the second one hit him in the chest. The magic was powerful, and he staggered to a stop from the impact. It gave him a great view of Artha’s form dissolving into thin dust before his eyes.

Because I fucked up. Why did I let Artha go through first? I didn’t think this through - of course he’d carry momentum through breaking the gate, I didn’t think about how speed would impact the plan. Then he was Raging and charged straight at the largest threat. If I’d been closer to him I could have caught all of the magic.

What a banal thing to lead to Artha’s death.

The spell didn’t quit, and it took Nathan’s full attention to master the magic that sought to consume him. The beam of magic he’d caught with his aura sent out questing tendrils of destruction to destroy whatever had interfered even as the spell aimed at Nathan’s chest crackled against his skin with an energy precisely tuned to annihilate covalent bonds.

Disrupt the organization, absorb the raw power of the spell. I’m not matching power for power, I’m stealing it. Taking it and using it to kill the bitch who killed Artha.

Aura of Antimagic 5 achieved!

Stamina poured into Nathan faster than he could spend it. His Rage redoubled, then expanded again, chilling and growing vast. [Battle Meditation] splintered and failed in the face of Nathan’s grief - and Rage.

I shouldn’t have let him die - he was my first mentor, my first friend. I can avenge him.

There were tears on Nathan’s face as he resumed his charge towards the archmage of Halsmet.

The slave-elites stood in Nathan’s way, but Focus made it seem like they were moving in slow motion. His unchained Rage let him move faster than ever before. He spent Stamina in torrents, and it felt like he was moving through bullet time. He was unconsciously using [Slow Fall] to pull himself down with every movement, keeping himself in contact with the ground even when the forces exerted by each step should have launched him into the air.

High-tier Slow Fall 10 Achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this Talent! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight to develop it to the next level. As it is high-tier, the kind of Insight will greatly affect how it develops.

The armored slave-elites moved in coordination to cut Nathan down, but he dodged each of their attacks with graceful speed. He spun past the men, crushing the skull of one of those without a helmet and accepting a deep cut along one arm from the other that foamed with poison before quickly closing.

Serves the idiot right. Small-minded traitor.

High-tier Dodging Footwork 9 achieved!

The next obstacle was the iridescent wall of force, which Nathan shattered with a flick of aura. Beyond that was Exea in her litter - and the mages surrounding her. The archmage’s expression had shifted from anger to horror at Nathan’s survival and implacable charge. Her mouth worked in slow motion, then shaped into familiar syllables as she raised a hand in front of her.

[Tele-

Nathan leapt at her, flying into the air as his aura speared out in front of him. It narrowed and thinned, smashing through layer after layer of magical defenses to make contact with the archmage’s outstretched palm.

-port]

Exea vanished from her chair, but not without leaving something behind. Nathan had disrupted the spell with the faintest touch of his antimagic - and her dismembered arm fell to the litter. The rings and bangles covering the limb clanked against the wood of the litter a moment before Nathan landed on it, shattering the chair with a scream of Rage.

The fury enhanced Nathan’s aura, making it into a hungry thing that almost had a mind of its own. It latched onto the mental magic on the slaves around him and they staggered, dropping the remains of the litter as the controlling magic was dispelled.

Nathan rose out of the shattered pile of wood and fabric. He glared around at the mages who were nothing but targets. It felt like the weight of his glare should strike them dead.

Not yet. But no more of my friends die to cleanse this filth.

The crossbow-wielding slaves had finally started to react, and Nathan leapt and twirled through the air to dodge a volley of enchanted bolts. The seeking magics on the projectiles failed to lock onto him, and they weren’t guided by skills. But there were a lot of them.

Having a dozen crossbow bolts sticking out of me might slow me down enough the mages could do more damage. Not going to happen.

High-tier Tumbling 6 achieved!

The magic-users in question were already backing up, but their eyes widened as he twisted in midair and landed before the group. A few threw spells towards him, but most turned and ran.

No quarter.

Nathan chased them, striking down the ones who stood and fought with single blows. He punched through chests, crushed necks and cracked skulls. Then he moved onto those who ran. None of these mages could fly, and even those who used magic to accelerate themselves couldn’t keep ahead of his grasping hands and the crushing blows that followed.

High-tier Sprinting 7 achieved!

Then there were those who hid. Both pink-robed entertainment mages were quite adept at illusions, weaving themselves seamlessly into the shrubbery of the adjoining garden. It didn’t fool Nathan at all.

More bolts flew at him, but they were poorly aimed because the slaves shooting them clearly didn’t have any practice - much less classes or skills around the weapons. He dodged through the fire effortlessly.

An advanced student was the last. They’d cast [Invisibility] and were trying to sneak into the large mansion when Nathan caught up and dashed their head against the building, leaving a splash of red across the stones. The spell faded to reveal a skinny young man, terror writ across what was left of his face.

Nathan turned away, feeling grimly satisfied. He was painted in gore from his hands to his elbows, with more splashed across his face and chest. Heavy steps approached, and Nathan whirled, ready to fight again.

But it was Olad, who grimaced as he lashed out with a hand to deflect a crossbow bolt that zapped at him with streamers of lightning. He pointed a hand back towards the crowd. “Stretch out your hand, Mage-Breaker. Free these people!”

Oh. Right.

Nathan shook himself and his Rage began retreating, like a storm surge beginning its path back to the ocean. He reoriented towards the slaves scattered among the battlefield. The mages were all dead, and some of the slave-soldiers were beginning to keel over from the failsafes that activated if they were about to be captured. Aarl stood over the last of the enemy elites, who lay bisected on the ground.

Across the plaza freed elites were skirmishing with clusters of slaves, keeping them fighting without inflicting any real damage. The Adventurers had picked up on the approach, and had started to do the same. The mages of the towers of trickery cast illusions to confuse those with crossbows and make the battle seem like it was close, instead of already over.

Everybody was delaying the end of the fighting so that Nathan could save people from the spells in their own head.

Time to get to it.

He circled the fighting, unraveling the magic even as it teetered on the edge of unleashing lethal spells on their carriers. It wasn’t a challenging task - these mental spells were sophisticated in their control of the slaves, but the failsafes were no more than basic killswitches that would activate as their charges were being captured.

As if the person who cast the spells didn’t believe that their slaves could be freed, but the failsafe was a basic part of the spell so they didn’t bother taking it out. I got lucky. If this had been cast by somebody more paranoid then a lot more of these people would already be dead. I guess they don’t put the deluxe versions on dishwashers.

As he ran, Nathan’s emotions roiled with the events of the last few minutes. Artha was dead - and it had been avoidable. If they’d taken more time to think through the approach he would probably still be alive.

But we were in a hurry. We wanted to prevent Exea from acting.

The recriminations and excuses whirled around in Nathan’s head, along with the new revelations around his Rage.

I’ve been neutering the power of my Rage with [Battlefield Meditation]. But without it - I will kill without thought. That’s terrifying.

Finally, he finished his circuit, laying his hand on the forehead of a matronly old woman with flour on her apron who had been clasping a crossbow with trembling arms. The weapon fell from her limp fingers and she collapsed to her knees, tears leaking down her face.

Nathan looked around the plaza carpeted with dazed ex-slaves, seeing the occasional splash of red from where he’d slain their masters. He looked across the fabulous gardens to the mansion - more of a palace - from which the archmage Exea dha Humal had ruled Halsmet.

We did it. The city’s free. Or at least mostly free. From here it’s digging out holdouts, not fighting for supremacy. But Giantsrest will try to take it back.

Assassin of Gemore has leveled to 50. You have badly wounded the archmage Exea dha Humal, displaced her from her place of power and killed many of her minions.

Implacable Antimage has leveled to 193. You have defeated the last organized Gianstrest resistance in the city of Halsmet, slaying many mages in the process and driving off an archmage.

—

While the freed elites stayed in the plaza, the Adventurers sent off a flurry of messages and then stormed through the mansion. They were looking for any remaining mages and the controls for the city-wide enchantments. They found that the building was deserted.

Objects were abandoned throughout the palatial building. It looked like every single occupant had been called away in a single moment, leaving the day-to-day objects of their professions behind. The kitchens still had fires burning in the hearths and cleaning cloths were abandoned in the grand ballroom.

Nathan followed the threads of the enchantments to the back of the building, where heavy doors guarded Exea’s personal rooms. There were luxuries that would not have been out of place in the richest of homes on Earth, and more beyond. The bathing area had an enormous enchanted hot tub that could have fit twenty, as well as what looked like a bubble of water suspended in zero-gravity.

That looks easy to drown in.

Beyond all of that was yet another layer of magical protections that guarded the bedroom and the nexus of magic that controlled the detection enchantments and more. With the Heirs at his back, Nathan broke the magical locks and threw the doors wide open. He scanned the room inside, wary of stepping into the room lest he break magic that would be needed to help Gemore secure their new conquest.

The space beyond them looked like a lower-quality duplicate of the control room Nathan had seen underneath the Edrani Empire defensive outpost, with enchanted tables replete with dials and lights. The tables ringed an illusionary map of Halsmet, with various glowing lights indicating the positions of people tracked by the detection enchantments.

Most surprising was that Faline was inside the room, crouched over a black-robed figure and in her familiar gorgeous black-clad assassin guise. She looked up and gave them all a high-voltage smile. “Hear me, this has been a day beyond prophecy.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 5

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 7

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 10

Class: Implacable Antimage level 193

Deepened Stamina: 5621/6090

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Class: Assassin of Gemore level50

Regenerative Focus: 99/600

Catastrophic Blows

Stealthy Movement

Infiltration

Forgettable

Unsuspecting Strike

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 8

Leadership 2

High-tier Sprinting 6

Magical Perception 6

High-tier Notice 9

High-tier Identify 10

High-tier Dodging Footwork 9

High-tier Enhanced Memory 9

Mid-tier Lecturing 9

High-tier Tumbling 6

Mid-tier Noticeability 5

Low-tier Quiet Movement 3

Low-tier Disguise 2