Transcendence?

***Norfolk, Nord-Capital City***

***The Jarl***

“ … The army from Mislow got crushed. The same goes for the assisting forces of the Inquisition and various other feudal lords who assisted them. There are still about twenty thousand of them remaining, but they have no possibility to break Sarn's defence. And without their supplies, they have no chance of laying siege to Sarn.”

The spy-master finally ends his explanation and bows to me. So many things are happening at once and there is no chance of keeping complete track of them all.

First the attack from Mislow, then the betrayal of those long eared bastards. And even the mages of the Inquisition joined the fray.

My wives are sitting at my side. They listened too and have worried expressions on their faces. The third one is looking at me like saying ~told you so~. It bothers me. What should I have done? These are uncertain times and the long time of peace on this continent came to an end.

I scratch my belly while thinking about the spy-master’s words. And then there is this story about the attack on the Academy. If the reports about the attack by Phenex are true, then we lost another important location to the Immortal Empress.

My second wife pats my hand from the side. She was always the most empathic one, she always knows when I have gloomy thoughts.

Aaahh... why do all the other rulers have to be so stupid. To abandon your capital and take all your fighting forces somewhere else without knowing the enemy's abilities. This Norent Grant must have a birdbrain without comparison.

Surely my doors will burst open any second now and he will be here, starting a rant on how negligent I am. Probably he doesn't even know what happened to his capital. I wonder how an inexperienced person like him became the head of the Inquisition.

From the few times I met him, he seemed quite emotional too. He doesn't have the qualities of a leader at all.

*Bam*

The doors to my throne room fly open and like I prophesied, Norent Grant is standing there. Sometimes I am afraid of my own foresight. My guards move immediately to block his path.

“Insolence! How dare you to block the path of the Inquisition!? Are you in league with those heretics, who defy the way of life we upheld for hundreds of years?!” He starts screaming at them and I signal the guards to let him come closer.

“Norent. I am sure you are aware that this isn't your own house! And you are seriously stretching my good will after declaring war on us!” My voice echoes through the throne room.

“The Inquisition didn't declare war on anyone! We are just aiding a rightful cause to stop the downfall of our whole world!” Norent answers with an angry voice.

“Yet your mages assisted the kingdom of Mislow! Which declared war on us! I have it black on white!” I grab a document on the table at my side and wave it at him.

“I wonder why I am even speaking to you! A homeless bastard, who even acted without a proper declaration of his intentions!” I am the one who is screaming now.

“The Inquisition isn't homeless! How dare you to defy us! We control the Academy! Our city has the most knowledgeable mages of the entire world.” He is turning red now.

I cough and grin at him. “Oh, so you don't know that the Academy fell to Phenex while you took all your fighting forces somewhere else?”

Norent's mouth opens and closes a few times like a fish. “That's impossible! The Academy is untouchable in the desert! And the Gates are well defended! The guards would shut the Gates down if a fighting force came through! Preposterous!”

I shake my head. “Apparently you forgot that the ruler of Phenex is a mage beyond imagination. She got access to the Gate network and invaded your city after taking out your guards herself. My spies just reported it to me. Maybe you should think about implementing proper information networks.”

“How did you even get this information? We haven't heard a word from the Academy!” He sneers at me.

I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe you are relying too heavily on the Gates? My spies always preferred to use other means of message transportation too. That being said. I repeat my question of why I am listening to you. From my point of view, you are nothing more than a terrorist.”

“Even if the Academy is temporarily in foreign hands, that doesn't change the Inquisition's cause! This is a holy war in the name of the gods! You will immediately command this Ascathon to lay down his demonic weapons and stop his heretical actions, accepting the cleansing of his entire principality!” Norent is becoming red like a tomato.

“No.”

My answer is simple and final. It's a waste of my time to talk with an animal like this. I wave my hand and signal the guards to remove him from my sight.

Two guards grab him at his hands from each side. They lift him half a metre into the air and turn to start walking.

“Don't touch me!” A sudden flash of light blinds me and both guards are flung away from Norent. They hit the walls with an ugly sound. “I am the chosen hero of the gods! I received their divine blessing! And now I see clear about all of you! You Northerners were corrupted by the blasphemy of Sarn!”

Other guards enter the room while the remaining ones ready their weapons and I raise my hand to erect a barrier.

“I will start with eliminating the demon's head.” Norent turns towards me and the mages start casting attack magic at him, but he evades with an unbelievable jump and lands between the guards who tried to shield me.

My third wife immediately conjures a fireball and throws it at Norent, who is dismembering my protectors like toys. Two swords of light appeared from nowhere in his hands. They cut through weapons and plate armour like they were made out of paper.

The fireball of my wife is deflected by the weapons and impacts behind Norent. Then he jumps at us and I muster all my power, throwing my personal ice fist spell at him. The shard of ice hits him head on in the chest and he is thrown backwards, landing on his back in the middle of the room.

But my spell isn't done yet. Ice starts to enclose Norent in a tight embrace to rob him of his freedom.

The Inquisitor doesn't yield to his fate. With a mad fury in his eyes, he breaks free and slices the throat of a guard who tried to attack him.

He thrusts his sword at another one and an orb of arcane energy shoots out and punches right through the guards chest. Then Norent turns towards us and summons another orb, which is flying right at me.

I raise both my hands to put all my power into the barrier, damn this body and my weakness! The orb punches through the barrier, but from one moment to the next, my third wife is in front of me and blocks the spell.

Then she topples over and blood starts to spread on the floor.

“Nooo!”

I scream and throw another ice fist at Norent. The Inquisitor evades while running towards me and I throw myself out of my throne to look after my wife, who cared for me despite my body.

Other guards try to block Norent, but the Inquisitor mows them down like grass.

I grab my beautiful wife's hand while my first and second wife are trying to hold Norent off and other guards enter the throne room.

Norent kicks my second wife, who is flung away like a toy and slices at the first, gutting her. I summon an air cushion where my second wife impacts and cast an ice shard at Norent in defiance.

The Inquisitor evades with ease and is above me in the next moment. His swords of light slice down at me and I try to protect myself with my right hand. But the hand is amputated like nothing and deep cuts open in my chest.

Pain burns my entire being and I hear someone screaming in a strange mixture of pain and rage, until I realize that I am the one who is screaming.

An arcane missile impacts on Norent's back and throws him against a wall. New arriving guards are shooting attack magic in all forms at him, but a strange light is protecting him. Although the massive onslaught finally seems to show effect.

Norent rolls to the side and gets to his feet, propelling himself forward and jumping through a window.

Yeah! That's right! Run from my guards you insane bastard. Whichever gods you are worshipping, they aren't mine, nor the gods of my people.

I smile while patting the face of my third wife and close her dead eyes with my remaining hand. “Sleep well Wera.”

Then my second wife is above me. “Ibrahim! Oh, my Ibrahim. What has this monster done! Heal!”  She casts healing magic at me, but the wounds which were inflicted by those weapons of light don't close. They must have a strong curse implemented in them.

I grab my second wife's hand and smile at her. “Natasha, don't cry. What about Adele?” My second wife shakes her head while her chin is trembling.

“You have to be strong now.” I cough and blood is coming up my throat while my vision is getting blurry. “It's not like we haven't foreseen something like this. Keep calm and remember the parchments in my chamber? I am sure you will get this bastard and avenge us. You just have to use someone … who is stronger than him.”

Natasha doesn't answer and presses her cheek against mine instead. I smile and embrace her with my arm. There is nothing bad about dying. Except for the pain, but it doesn't hurt as much as before. I will simply close my eyes and dream about fine women like Natasha, Adele and Wera …

“Be strong Natasha…”

…

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