147, 2/2

As the sun touched the western horizon, Erick had an Ophiel skip around to renew the spellwork on his new Blessed, and he thought. These people were likely destined to die for crimes committed, but Erick would have a few answers first, for sure, and he would speak to Songli to let them go, or something… Erick wasn’t still sure about all that.

But anyway!

He needed answers about the soul spear, and the necessity of this war, and above all, Terror Peaks’ endgame.

The outcome of today’s terrorism was never in question.

Terror Peaks had lost.

So why did they fight?

Why did they continue to fight?

Even now, new pockets of war erupted every few minutes, as hidden forces came out of hiding here and there, detonating brilliant and deadly spells in more attempts to murder the most people they possibly could, before moving on again. It was a horrific tactic, because it worked, and it was hard to find those who did it after they moved on. Sometimes the terrorists moved too slowly and were caught.

And Erick didn’t understand them!

What drove these people to this?

Fanaticism? On the surface, that’s what it looked like, but was that truly the reason for this war?

Erick wanted to believe that there was something more going on, that even a nation like Terror Peaks was capable of rational thought and action, and that something else was going on behind the scenes to drive them to this suicide. But… Maybe there wasn’t.

Maybe the reasons Raidu had given in that ‘argument’ with Hangzi were the real deal.

Whatever the reason for the war, at least Jane was doing okay. Erick had checked in on her several times during the fighting, to make sure. He had no idea where she was at the moment, but she was fine.

She was fine.

She was fine.

She was fine.

– – – –

Jane had reached a transcendental level of anger that she had never known possible.

And her anger had changed.

Instead of a sharp radiation boiling her brain and blood, where she was offhandedly worried that she might break a tooth one of these days if she clenched her jaw any tighter, she was calm; the anger had simply become a part of her.

She stood amid a squadron of dead terror troops, their red armor dissipating with their deaths, leaving them in peasant clothing that anyone could have bought anywhere in Eralis. They bought their clothes over here. Which made sense, since these people knew where to hit to do the most damage; they had effectively been scouting this place for their entire lives.

[Teleport] made entry and exit into Eralis rather simple, after all. Maybe not into the city proper, but in these outskirts? Completely undefended.

Gore glistened on Jane’s white armor. The colors of Songli were marred with blood, shit, and hair. She had killed a lot of people in this recent push, and she would kill more before the day’s end. She was tempted to spend a little mana on a [Cleanse], but this battle was not a sprint. Those who had made the mistake of going low Mana, or low Health, laid dead all around her.

She took a moment, forcing herself to Rest with Meditation. She had recovered a lot more Mana and Health than was healthy, even with Scion of Balance allowing her to mitigate Health Fatigue and Mana Exhaustion. Her movements were starting to slow, while her mind was starting to fray, but she dared not stop, for everywhere she went, there were people in need of her sword.

She looked up, and watched Ophiel in the sunset sky, in the distance. The [Familiar] was practically invisible against the orange of the setting sun, but [Luminous Beam] was the most visible thing for kilometers around. That line of white light danced downward, swiping this way and that, and then Ophiel moved on.

Jane had noticed a change in the fighting ever since her father took to the skies. White-armored forces walked openly, hunting for terror troops, who had themselves hidden inside buildings or turned to guerrilla tactics. Rare was the red-armored soldier caught under the open sky, for those who were out in the open, were soon killed by the roaming [Familiar]s of one of the strongest archmages to ever exist.

That’s what Elder Mirizo was telling her through their telepathic connection, anyway.

She had linked up with Clan Star Song after—

Jane discarded that thought, and let her anger flow through her mind, telling her who to hurt, and who to help.

She hefted her sword. It was not her usual sword. It was a simple steel weapon she had picked up off of the corpse of a commoner several hours ago, back when the fighting was heaviest, and an enemy captain had ripped apart her usual conjured sword with uncommon ease. That man likely had a skill like her own [Force Weaver], or maybe he had a style that was good at [Dispel]ing Force constructs. After she dispatched that one threat, and moved on, Jane hadn’t switched back to her usual sword.

She barely understood why she held onto this metal thing in her hands. Part of her liked the heft and the craftsmanship. Part of her wanted to honor the commoner who had held onto it in his one remaining hand, even after he had been bisected from shoulder to groin. That man had been gripped by the corpses of two children, who had only become corpses due to a bladed weapon strike from behind, while they were hugging their father. The story on display in that small scene was easy to put together, and it was only one scene out of hundreds of thousands happening all around Jane, all the time.

Perhaps Jane liked this sword because it was the perfect tool with which to wield her anger. It was just a simple sword, taken from a man who failed to defend his children, so Jane had picked it up, and killed every terror troop that she could.

Speaking of which.

The lull was over.

The elites had found her again.

While she hunted them in the ruins of Darzallia, they hunted her in return. They had found her in the middle of a burned out mansion that seemed built more for parties and less for simple living. Bodies floated in the pool, and hung over the railings, while the remnants of fine wine bottles laid broken, all around. The air stank of shit and alcohol, but at least the fires hadn’t reached here yet.

A gentle breeze flowed from the north, rustling the trees.

The enemy arrived in a whisper, standing suddenly right beside Jane. A slash scraped across her neck. She narrowly avoided decapitation with the application of [Force Weaver], disintegrating the weapon before it could complete the [Strike]. It was a sloppy parry; [Force Weaver] didn’t always work, and it didn’t work that well when the enemy had well-made spell reflections. Jane had been out of position. She would curse at herself for being out of position some other time.

She slashed upward, shadows trailing her sword, protecting the metal and extending her reach.

The red enemy danced away, briefly turning to water to escape her counter—

[Watershape].

Jane twisted the man’s insides to the outside. Intestines and organs exploded out into the field, shredding apart. The red man turned into even more water, in an attempt to control his death. The second [Watershape] encountered heavy resistance, likely a reflection, but enough damage had already been done. He died, while Jane’s metal sword met the water sword of the second elite, deflecting the sudden blow into something ignorable.

The second man picked up red water in his own slashing attacks —A blood/water hybrid warrior?— to extend his reach, too, hoping to force an opening, but Jane parried with shadows as she disengaged, wary for the next attacker. These people liked to work in threes, unless they were really strong. Jane didn’t want to test herself against anymore of the really strong ones since they tended to have as many tricks as her, but since there were probably three people here—

Noxious green air filled Jane’s vision, succeeding in both blinding her, and then dissolving her eyes into sudden, bloody holes. Any normal person would have died right then, to the coordinated attack of both assailants, as the decay mage struck from behind with a spear made of her specialty.

But Jane had Surround Sight. She didn’t actually need her eyes. Jane deflected the two elites with a dozen sudden slashes of shadow, from every angle, getting herself out of their flank by digging deep into her mana as she sought to turn the battle. It worked. Their offense suddenly became a defense, as Jane locked in the reversal with her own [Pure Reflection Ward]. The green cloud that had grabbed onto her body suddenly flexed away, unable to touch her through her reflection. Her eyes stopped dissolving, but the damage had already been done.

In three short seconds, Jane spent a thousand mana, causing tiny cuts against both the water warrior and the decay mage. Neither of them looked worried, and they shouldn’t be. Jane couldn’t keep up this level of attack for long. They were drawing her out.

Jane wasn’t going to let that happen.

[Blood Weaver].

The decay mage looked weaker than her compatriot, so after Jane’s shadow slashes shaved off enough of the woman’s Health, there wasn’t even a delay as the Queen Blood Weaver’s power took hold. Blood controlled blood. Power swelled inward. The decay mage suddenly panicked, but she was between Script Seconds; there was no escape.

The decay mage died, and broke inward, becoming a hovering sphere of blood and resources, as the rest of her unwanted gore sprayed away. Jane only needed the blood, after all.

True to form as the excellent soldier he was, the water warrior did not panic. His sword strikes became more wary, but it was too late for him, too. With sudden swiftness, Jane moved the floating blood orb to flank the warrior. Her hatred flowed as she turned her new resources into cutting beams of power, exactly like the Queen Blood Weaver had shown her, exactly how she already knew how to do with [Greater Shadowalk]. Beams cut into the warrior’s back and legs, and a little reflected, and he dodged some, but some got through. Enough got through. The water warrior no doubt was built for Health, so 50,000 Health would not be uncommon.

Jane ate through enough of that Health, though, and faster than the warrior thought she could, enabling her to use the same [Blood Weaver] on the man.

Jane turned the water warrior into a second sphere of blood.

The fight was over. It had only taken a minute. A few mistakes here, some overconfidence there, and Jane’s monster tricks had overcome what had likely been three decades of training, taking into account all three elites. Jane ended her [Pure Reflection Ward] and then replaced her lost eyes with shadow spider eyes. [Mana Sight] without needing to spend the mana was a great boon in this situation.

Polymage was literally the best Class, because monsters were so varied, and deadly. Jane had a little bit of trouble deciding which of her abilities she liked the most. One ability that had stood out far and above most others, though, was the Queen Blood Weaver’s [Perfect Body].

With [Perfect Body], all healing at all seemed to act as [Greater Treat Wounds], giving Jane what orcols seemed to naturally possess.

Detrimental status effects seemed cut in half. Duration, power, everything. When an elite had showered Jane in fire, everything around her had burned, while she was only slightly hurt. When a frost mage had caught her in a Stop effect, Jane had managed to throw it off seconds sooner than the frost mage had expected, according to the wide eyes of the frost mage’s corpse. Jane’s body was ‘perfect’, and nothing affected her for very long.

But those were small potatoes compared to what else she had experienced today.

She was immune to Blood Magic.

Immune.

Her father’s [Sanguine Charm] still wrapped around her wrist; it had never been used. Made sense, though, for a ‘Queen’ Blood Weaver would need to be immune to the Blood Magic of other spiders, considering what Blood Weavers did to each other when they were hungry, or when they just felt like it.

Which came first, though? [Perfect Body], or queenliness? A question for an academic, for sure.

Jane was still very much not immune to soul attacks, though. A good reflection could take care of those, as Ophiel had shown. Jane was sure that her Nacreous Weaver’s [Radiant Presence] could be used in her human form, and thus make her naturally reflective, but she had tried to do that for a day back when she was hunting monsters, and she still couldn’t figure it out. She likely needed to have chitinous skin in her human form… Or she needed another monster that had really fine scales. Then she could incorporate [Radiant Presence] into those scales, and then those scales onto her body.

She also needed to find some monster that would make her immune to soul attacks.

If [Perfect Body] existed, then surely [Perfect Soul] must also exist.

Immunity to soul attacks would have been nice, before today, and before the reveal of that soul spear that had almost killed her father. When that spear had failed to kill him, they came for Jane, with another spear.

Jane shuddered, remembering the sight of a million soul spears suddenly appearing all around her, each aimed for her soul. If she had had her own reflective powers, up and active, then she would have been fine. She was still fine, though, but not because of anything she did.

The Darkness had saved her.

The Darkness still watched her from nearby shadows, too.

Jane didn’t know what to make of that.

She probably wouldn’t be telling her father; not about Melemizargo, nor about the soul spear.

Or maybe she would, if he had lost his anger. That was one sure thing that Jane knew about her father: Erick could not maintain his anger while he was winning. But! She could be wrong. Her father had certainly killed a lot more terror troops than she had. He kept up the battle. He didn’t falter. As long as one red-armored soldier was on the streets of Songli, he would keep going. That made sense, for he had always fought with all of his strength for those who were in pain.

But when the fighting was over, and the time came to cleanse Terror Peaks from this world…

Her father would falter.

Jane sighed out into the putrid air as she checked her Status. She had recovered enough mana to continue, and continue she would. Terror Peaks seemed to be retreating, and she had not killed nearly enough of them.

She sent out her shadows to see—

Ah. Shit.

The world turned to white fire—

Jane reappeared in the plains east of Eralis; an emergency [Teleport] having saved her ass once again. Her right arm was still on fire but— Yup. There it goes; extinguished all on its own, taking her arm with it, and the sword, too. Even metal burned away into nothing. Jane was lucky for her [Perfect Body], though; other people just disintegrated.

White Bitch’s fire was painful and destructive as all fuck, and that fact made her practically unassailable. [Fireshape] didn’t even work against that white flame. Jane had made the mistake of trying to use [Fireshape] and [Fire Body] to attack that woman, and she had lost her legs for that impudence.

Maybe the fire was actually Decay that just looked like fire? Possible.

… Highly likely, now that Jane had seen the fire up close for the third time.

Jane flicked her stump in the air, breaking off the remnants of her former arm. Okay. It was time for a larger break than normal. Her ring was gone. She was down 30 stats in every category.

“And the sword is gone, too.” Jane let her anger flow, as she gently cursed, “Dammit.”

It was time to regroup with her father.

– – – –

For all of his power and his ability to affect the world, Erick felt small.

Ten Ophiel could do a lot. His own power was enormous.

But Eralis and the surrounding thousand kilometers were home to 24 million people. 24 million lives, each going their own way, most in sync with each other, but many divergent. Paths untold and never known. Each trying to live, to fight against the enemy. The ‘enemy’ changed occasionally for each one of those people, and most of the time their problems were comparatively small when contrasted against now, but right now, the enemy wore red armor, and fought to exterminate, and when it couldn’t exterminate, it went full scorched earth.

With ten Ophiel, Erick saw commoners giving their lives to fight red soldiers they had no hope of winning against. Every time, Erick came in halfway through the fight, to end it decisively in Songli’s favor. Every single place that the forces of Songli had yet to retake, and most of what he had retaken, was a charnel ground.

While the rain helped against the natural fires, the magical fires raged unchecked. Those fires cornered people too low level with too few resources to [Teleport] away, and all too often, Erick arrived on the scene too late.

Erick briefly made the mistake of thinking that those who did escape had found safety in a field like the one around himself. But he was only safe because he had put a [Sealed Privacy Ward] mostly around himself, leaving just a hand outside of the invisible space in order to communicate with his Ophiel.

The grasslands directly outside of Eralis were filled with bodies, for the prowling Hunters and killers outside the cities still existed. They hadn’t gone anywhere, and they wore varied clothes, so identification wasn’t easy like it was with the red troops inside the city.

Erick could have spent precious minutes helping those outside the cities, but…

Everywhere Ophiel went, there were targets, but if he flew over the prairie, the targets only came every thirty seconds, instead of constantly, always. It was simple math to stay in the cities and help there.

Erick’s heart broke for those he could not help.

Ophiel was practically on auto-pilot already, automatically [Luminous Beam]ing everyone that wore red armor after having learned what needed to be done. And yet, every three seconds, Ophiel asked him if the person they were seeing was a target, for ‘people in red armor’ wasn’t always easy to determine. There was a lot of blood upon Songli’s white troops, and on everyone else.

And then, as the sun set in the west, a change took place.

Erick only noticed the change because Ophiel was taking ten seconds to ask him to confirm a target, and then, a whole minute rolled by with no new Terror Peaks sightings.

Poi spoke up, “Terror Peaks is withdrawing.”

Erick looked at the man, unsure.

“And Jane is coming here,” Poi added.

Erick’s face cracked into a half smile. “Ah. Good.”

Jane appeared a hundred meters away, standing atop the prairie grasses. Her white armor was immaculate, though she held no swords or shields. Her head was on a swivel, looking out—

She spotted the [Sealed Privacy Ward] and pulled her helmet back, exposing black eyes. Her Shadow Spider eyes, no doubt.

Erick’s heart swelled with joy, flaking away a little bit of the baked-in horror that had soaked into his very being for the last ten hours. He stepped out into the open, saying, “Hey, Jane.”

Jane smiled. “Hey, dad.”

He ran to her, and she walked to him. They met in a hug. Her armor was solid under Erick’s grip, while her arms were loose around his chest. The two of them stood like that for a minute; she, letting him hold onto her, and him, holding onto her for his own sanity.

Erick whispered, “I’ve seen some shit today.”

“Me too.” Jane pulled back, saying, “I need another ring; mine was consumed in white fire. I also need to give you a description of several elites so that you can hunt them down.”

Erick instantly said, “Right, right, right.” He almost took the ring off of his own finger, but he stopped; that ring was truly All Stat. Instead, he stepped backward into his [Sealed Privacy Ward], which was also filled with dense air, and cast a [Duplicate] on his ring. A brand new, unenchanted ring appeared in his hand. He cast a lightmask into the air outside of the bubble, scratched an opening in the silver surface of the new ring, put the ring in, and channeled mana through Strength, Vitality, Willpower, and Focus. [Mend] sealed the manalight in. He took off his own ring and checked the new one. +32 to the four original Stats. He put his own ring back on and handed the new one to Jane, saying, “There you go.”

“Thank you.” Jane’s armor briefly turned translucent and ephemeral, allowing her to put her new ring onto her hand. And then she turned her armor back to solid. She looked to her father, saying, “There are four Elites I saw that need killing, for I barely escaped them with my life.”

Erick felt his hatred coalesce behind his eyes and in the clench of his jaw. He forced his jaw to relax, as he said, “Right. That. Please tell me about them.”

As they moved back under the [Sealed Privacy Ward], Jane informed her father of who had tried and almost succeeded in killing her. She left a lot out, but she gave succinct descriptions of form and items on the people, as seen through the [Life Sense] of her hidebound sneakeyes form, and through the [Magic Sight] of her shadow spider, and her own normal sight. She provided lightward images of all of the people she saw, and that helped, too.

As she talked, Erick felt his hatred go frozen-tundra cold. Jane left a lot out of her encounters, but she had told him enough. He hadn’t even noticed the white fire woman. The clans of Songli didn’t tell him about that one. Did they not know of that one?

Poi quickly confirmed, “I’m getting a ‘no’ on that. None of the people Jane saw are known to Songli. This is not that surprising, Erick. Much of the people in charge of the Highlands are dead. The usual communication network is in tatters.”

“I…” Erick said, “I know it’s not surprising. I’m still surprised.”

Poi nodded.

Teressa glanced their way, but kept a lookout on their surroundings. Jane sat in a chair, and for a little while she had tried to stay awake, but she had failed.

Maps switched all across Eralis.

And the targets weren’t there.

They had pulled out as the sun set. Did they not fight in the dark? Even with all the fires all around? How… Comical?

Erick almost opened up maps all across Nelboor, but…

For one, he would be going off on his own, and new talks with the High Clans were underway. Poi kept Erick abreast of the situation, but there was more than enough work to be done inside Eralis. He was putting out fires left and right with [Fireshape], rescuing people from downed buildings and roaming Hunters, and healing as much as he could. He restricted his actions to Eralis and the surrounding lands, for affecting the whole of the Songli Highlands was far, far beyond him.

Everywhere, there was work to be done. Everywhere, there were lives to be saved.

And though he was helping, and though he saw Songli soldiers and clansmen helping as much as they could, too…

Erick had never felt smaller in his entire life.

– – – –

As night came on in full, the talks with the High Clans ended outside of Erick’s purview, with them fully supporting everything he needed to do. They even managed to give him more targets.

So Erick decided to expand his net of Imaging. As the stars came out, maps populated across Songli, over the Tribulations, and even over Terror Peaks. Erick had expected some random red soldier to stop him from Imaging their cities, but all he got was some [Scry] eyes to view the maps he made.

Erick found the white fire woman in a normal house in Terror Peaks, surrounded by her children. He almost faltered at that, but he did not. A [Teleport Other] removed her from her human shields, placing her in the direct path of a [Luminous Beam].

Then there was the metal mage. That man had been immune to Jane’s attacks, and able to hurt her with impunity. Erick found the metal man resting in a burned out mansion in Alaralti, having returned sometime while Erick wasn’t watching. The offender managed to get three blips away, directly into the Imaging of other maps, before Ophiel tagged him with a counterspelling Blood Ooze. That man died under [Luminous Beam]s, too.

Finding the first Blood Mage of several had been easy. That one had been in the Tribulations. He and his entire squadron of soldiers had died before they had a chance to get away.

The second and third Blood Mage were caught assaulting shelters in Eralis, in a last ditch effort to kill as many civilians as possible.

An Air Mage of some sort, Jane didn’t know exactly, was found crying upon the open ground in the center of nowhere, between the Tribulations and Eralis. He didn’t put up a fight, so Erick gave him the same Crystal Star treatment he had given Raidu and a few others. He sent that man into a [Sealed Privacy Ward] into the middle of nowhere, to be dealt with later.

With those major elites dealt with, Erick went back to helping the people of Eralis.

Eventually, sometime around midnight, and after the High Clans started asking what he was doing with his new prisoners, Erick decided to talk to Raidu.

– – – –

The three moons hung high in the sky, while Erick stood outside of Raidu’s temporary prison.

The [Force Wall]s and [Draining Void] and even a [Merciful Ether] continued to suppress Scion Raidu Terror Peaks, while the ‘merciful’ part of the last magic kept the ethyl ether from killing him. Raidu still wore nothing more than a loincloth, but they were a copy of the clothes he had arrived in. Just like all the others he had contained, Erick stripped the man, copied his clothes, and then redressed him; he wasn’t about to let something like magical underwear into his temporary prisons.

Such a precaution had been rewarded on the last man Erick had imprisoned like this. That crying man in the center of the field had a minimally enchanted wire in his own loincloth. Erick didn’t know what it was, but he only noticed it after it had been removed from the man’s body. Perhaps a beacon of some sort? Something truly simple. Several people had potions in their underclothes, or even inside their skin. All of those were removed.

Even if one of these people managed to get a beacon off, they were all in different areas.

Erick spent another minute ensuring that all his prisoners were alive and safe, and then he turned to Raidu. With a casual dismissal, the [Merciful Ether] went away. A [Cleanse] stripped the remaining ether out of the man. A [Greater Treat Wounds], enacted by a very careful Ophiel who then instantly retracted back into his [Animadversion], was enough to rouse the killer.

Raidu grogged awake in a stumbling second. He slammed into the [Force Wall] containing him, then looked around and reflexively punched the invisible wall with enough force to break the first of several layered spells.

“Stop resisting, or your containment will become more violent,” Erick said.

Raidu startled then seemed to recall where he was, and what had happened to him. He looked around, and saw Erick, and then he sighed. He stepped away from the [Force Wall], to the center of his cell, where he sat down upon his knees and turned his eyes up toward Erick. He waited.

After a moment, Erick asked, “Terror Peaks has lost. They were always going to lose. Why fight?”

Raidu’s eyes focused upon Erick, as though he was seeing the man for the first time. Weeping came next. Raidu cried with more restraint than anyone else Erick had ever subjected to the Crystal Star. But he still cried.

Erick waited.

After a short while Raidu collected himself, and then he spoke with what might have been honesty, “Shades inhabit Songli, bending the people here to their Dark Purpose. To not fight would be to allow Shadows to spread. We died for the Great Goal; to rid the world of Darkness.”

Erick would address those words later. For now, he said, “The same feeling coursing through your body, that same Empathy you are now experiencing, was forced upon Queen and Goldie.” Erick asked, “Do you still believe that Goldie and Queen are filled with Dark Purpose, when they are no doubt feeling similar to how you are, right now?”

“Of course they are.” Raidu said, “They are bending your Curse into—”

“It’s a Blessing. Not a Curse.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“They are bending your CURSE into their own Dark Purposes.” Raidu said, “For one, they are spreading the weakness of Songli upon the world. The prosperity of Songli? It looks like a good thing, but it is the furthest thing from Good! Songli is nothing more than the strong preying upon the weak in order to further their own selfish goals and keep the people weak. Their elites gain Stats from their initiates, and thus they are able to exert greater pressure on those below them, while those below lose parts of their souls in order to be allowed into the Clans of Songli!” He stared, saying, “Gain this Sight to see: if Songli is allowed to continue swallowing up Nelboor the monsters will overwhelm us all, for all it takes is one Grand Abomination or Dragon Fight or Wizard to expose the true weakness that Songli breeds in its people. 45 million people in all of Songli, and only 50,000 are worth their mana. 200,000 people in Terror Peaks, and we have laid Songli low by targeting those 50,000 and killing half of everyone who mattered in the first hour of combat.” With dry eyes, Raidu glared, saying, “If we had someone like you, we would have killed millions in the first hour of combat, and proven Songli as weak. We would have culled this destructive society from this world, and we would all have been better off for it!” He spat, “Wizard.”

“A compelling argument.” Erick said, “But the only part I can’t fault is the idea that this world will always need people to fight the monsters.”

“Then release me and help Terror Peaks to end the existential threat that is Songli!” Raidu said, “You could do it! Bring your light to this land of Darkness and destroy them all. Strengthen the world with the culling of a few million weaklings!”

Tears streamed from Raidu’s eyes as he spoke, but his voice never wavered, and he never devolved into voiceless crying. He was handling this Blessing rather well.

“We need people to fight monsters.” Erick said, “But not specifically you.”

“Then the Darkness truly has you.” Raidu said, “There truly is no talking to Wizards.”

Erick sighed, then he asked, “Why did Terror Peaks start this war?”

“For all the reasons previously stated,” Raidu answered, not missing a beat. “But mostly because Songli was going to start using antirhine against us all. Thus, we answered their existential threat with a coalition of powers.”

“Are those powers still backing you?”

Raidu said, “Of course they are!”

Obvious lie was obvious. For one, the Rain Mage and his wife were not on the battlefield. Erick wondered what had changed, exactly. Did his words have a real effect on that situation?

Erick moved right along, asking, “Where did that soul spear come from?”

“Gifted to us by nameless benefactors once they heard about us ending Songli’s existential threat.”

Not wholly a lie.

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

Lie.

Eh. Moving right along.

Erick asked, “Why do you think I’m a Wizard?”

Raidu blinked, as though he had been asked a very stupid question. And then he said, “Because you are.”

“I don’t produce excess mana. I don’t have a core. I still use the Script.” Erick said, “By all the measures of Wizardry, I am not a Wizard.”

Raidu narrowed his eyes in disbelief, saying, “You brought a new magic to the world! You’re a Wizard!”

“Every single Basic Spell was made by someone at the start of the Script. The only ones the gods gave us are [Cleanse] and Healing Magic.” Erick said, “Your argument is flawed because all I did was follow in the steps of the first people to make magic on this world.”

“Lies.” Raidu said, “Magic was given to us by the gods in order to fight the Darkness. It is through strength of character and proven worthiness that we are allowed to unlock the higher tiers of spellwork. But you tricked your way forward, because you are a Wizard.”

Erick frowned. “… People make magic, and then Script formalizes it. This is how the Script works.”

“Were you hit on your head as a child? That is not how the Script works.”

Erick felt a terrible interest in derailing this conversation into whatever tangents Raidu felt like exploring, but he did not. He asked, “How do you see this war ending for your side?”

“With all of Songli dead!”

Erick already knew the man was delusional; this just confirmed it.

“And you’re comfortable killing these millions of people?”

Tears streamed as Raidu said, “It’s simple math! [Cleanse] the infection and work on regrowing the lost flesh after the poison is no longer killing the body!”

Erick was dumbfounded in multiple ways.

‘It was simple math’.

Erick had to pretend to be okay in the face of this awful man, because he was going to kill him if the man sensed weakness, or so much as sneered at him.