Beyond?

by Andur

  Their accuracy is horrible since the workers are essentially only shoving explosives out of the transporter's freight hatch.

  The huge explosions between the attackers prove that this limitation isn't a big problem. The area, which is covered by our enemies, is too huge to miss.

  Orbs of energy start rising from different locations where magicians decided to cast artillery spells to attack our bombers. I waste no time and order our satellites to strike at those places.

  Most artillery class spells need several trained magicians to cast them. All of them have to work together, which is a matter of experience and training. Our opponent can't have too many of those, so a strike which takes out a group of magicians is worth a projectile.

  For several long seconds nothing happens as the satellites aim at the specified targets and send their payload on its way.

  Spikes out of metal and with ceramic plating to protect them from re-entry into the atmosphere are released.

  To the normal eye the attack doesn't look like a projectile based attack. The spikes are heating in the atmosphere and start releasing a bright light, which results in blinding the onlooker. Trails of light appear in my vision and the specified locations explode as the spikes deliver their kinetic energy upon contact with the ground.

  But all that doesn't seem to be enough, as the wave of attackers simply rolls forward. Our defenders are casting spells into the approaching mass, but it's like throwing stones into a pond. I snort and start gathering my mana for a spell.

  The assisting magical circuits of my armour make it even easier to shape the mana, so I can concentrate on gathering as much force as possible.

  In the meantime our enemies reached the city wall and started futile attempts at climbing it. They have some siege weapons like ladders and ropes with them, but nothing big enough to yield immediate results. Everything which was bigger than a carriage got destroyed by us while they were on their way to Tri.

  Our soldiers redirect their fire and aim it at the people who are trying to climb the wall, rather than the countless approaching targets.

  Our improvised bombers also return for a second run, though one machine is missing this time. An artillery spell got completed before our satellites managed to stop the casters.

  Since our design wasn't intended to take any damage, the bomber was transformed into a huge fireball when the loaded explosives ignited.

  Finally I finish the spell and infuse the curse into the enhancing magical circuits inside Tri's city wall. The runes along our wall start glowing and emit a cold, blue light. The people who are trying to climb the wall start crying like mad. In blind fury they attack each other and their approaching comrades. I grin and nod satisfied.

  “What did you do? This is madness!” Stella gasps in shock, looking at the carnage which our enemies are bringing to their own ranks.

  “I cursed the wall with a spell that plays with your perception of friend and foe. If our enemies are using mind magic, then we should be allowed to cheat too. Everyone who touches the runes on the wall sees foes in friends and friends in foes.” I explain.

  “It's more like they are fighting their worst nightmares.” Karsen says with a dry voice.

  That might be true. “I didn't say what their foes look like.”

  Finally I notice a group of figures in dark robes far behind the enemy lines. They are clearly holding back, watching the fight. I point at them. “I'll pay those guys a visit. They look like the enemy commanders.” Before anyone is able to object I teleport.

  Free City States of Nict, Tri

  Stella

  “What? Wait!” But Azir is already gone and a huge explosion lights the area at which he pointed. I stare in shock as the entire area lights up with the magical energy of several different spells. “He did it again! He simply ran off and left me behind!”

  “Stella, careful! They are climbing the walls!” Karsen returns my attention to the fight in front of me. The head of an enemy soldier appears from the other side of the parapet. He is raising a small axe and I hit him in the face without holding back.

  His head snaps backwards and he falls down the wall. I cast several arcane missiles and hurl them down the wall, destroying the ladder which the attacker was using.

  Our enemies brought some improvised ladders with them. Now they are frantically trying to deploy them in order to climb the wall. Our magicians are focusing their spells to destroy the ladders.

  I place both hands on the wall and infuse my mana into it. The parapet on my section of the wall changes its shape according to my will and forms several spikes, making it almost impossible to climb the wall without impaling yourself.

  I gasp for air and take my hand from the parapet. It changed about three hundred metres to my left and right. Even though I didn't really transform the matter and just rearranged it into a new shape it was tiring.

  Suddenly the attackers fall into disarray. Some try to flee away from the city walls, others simply stand around dumbfounded, not comprehending what's going on. Others keep fighting.

  Karsen throws a fireball at a group of attackers who are still trying to bring a ladder into position. “I don't know how, but it looks like Azir did something!”

  Before we get to feel happy about the turn of events, several explosions bloom behind us and I am almost thrown over the parapet by the shockwave. My body is lifted up and over the wall. It was a lucky turn of events that I decided to create the spikes as I get my hands on one of them.

  Clinging to the spike with all my might I pull myself back up and get a first look at the city. What greets me is destruction. Several huge dust clouds are rising up into the sky and I count nine huge craters in the city. Most of them are concentrated in the city centre. “What happened?”

  Louise gets to her feet and pulls me over the parapet, Karsen is on the ground and out cold. “It looks like they smuggled some capable magicians into the city.”

  “We have to get to the Gate!” Valda doesn't wait for us and jumps down the wall. I follow her and take one of the streets which lead me directly to the city's centre.

  86. ~Source.~

  “You never know what's inside if you don't smash the shell.”

  -A mother's wisdom

  Free City States of Nict, Tri

  Azir

  I raise my foot and stomp onto the black magician's throat without holding back. They were indeed the commanding elements of this army. My spear of condensed mana stabs downwards, right through the magician's heart and into his spinal cord.

  Attacking their command centre threw the enemy army into confusion and stopped them from reacting properly to an attack right in their midst. On the other hand I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Who would expect to be attacked while being safely surrounded by your subordinates.

  But those guys are tough. Every single one of them has the disfigurements of being exposed to high amounts of mana and at least some of them are soul mages.

  The corpse's hands move suddenly and grab my spear. I try to pull it away, but the controlled puppet doesn't let go.

  “Now I have you!” One of the remaining eight magicians screams and charges at me, swinging a sword in his left hand. His right hand is pointed at the corpse to my feet, controlling it with a spell.

  His grin turns vicious as I watch his approach, shocked. How can someone misjudge my spear so horribly? Didn't he watch when I created it out of mana? I release my control over the solidified shape of my mana weapon and it turns transparent. The corpse's hands lose their grip on the weapon and reach through empty air.

  Pointing the spear at the charging magician, I solidify the ethereal weapon just in time to impale him. But he doesn't give up that easily and throws his sword at me in a last act of defiance. The blade doesn't even reach my armour and is reflected by the condensed mana all around me without leaving a scratch.

  That means there are seven dark magicians remaining. The others hurl spells of different kinds at me and I evade by
teleporting directly in front of another opponent. His eyes widen and I poke my fingers right into them, only to end his howl by placing my armoured boot between his legs.

  Before he can fall to the ground I dispel my spear and grab his upper arm and his trousers. Having direct contact with his body I carefully reshape the mana inside him into a curse.

  It's the same trick which my mother used so many times on me. Once your perception of mana is fine enough you are able to sneak through your opponent's magical defences by manipulating the mana which isn't under his direct control.

  He screams as the sept curse ignites his flesh, turning him into a living flame. I waste no time and hurl his body into the next best group of opponents which gathered around one of the black magicians. The screaming and twitching body impacts on one of the soldiers and the curse spreads. Within moments the burning members of the group disperse in all directions.

  It's fascinating how long a living being can survive despite having big parts of its skin burned. The only one who could protect himself from the curse was the black magician, which shows at least some skill from his side.

  Another spell is aimed at me, it's a small violet orb of energy, but I don't even try to decipher the complex patterns inside it. The fine threads of mana which originate from the caster tell me enough of it's nature.

  It's a guided spell, so instead of trying to evade I tug at one of the strings and redirect the orb to the opponent who resisted my curse. An unbelievable explosion takes me off my feet and I cast gravity magic by instinct to right myself.

  A huge conical crater remains of my seventh opponent. Most of the spell's destructive power was aimed forward in its flight direction.

  Gathering power in the palm of my hand I aim it at the opponent who fired the spell. First I have to shape the mana into a rune for temperature manipulation and channel as much mana as possible through it. The rest of the mana has to be used as a containment field.

  Another rune manipulates the movement vectors of the forces within the field. A mad laugh escapes my lips as the spell starts to work and a thin ray of superheated plasma shoots out from my palm. The target is sliced cleanly in half.

  The ray of energy is about two hundred metres long. Beyond that it turns ineffective. Being the only one on this battlefield comes in handy and I turn the full three hundred sixty degrees with my spell, cleaning out the area of everyone who is too slow to jump, or throw himself to the ground.

  Having done so my spell starts stuttering and finally turns off. I realize that this was a very wasteful way of using mana, but it cleared my surroundings.

  Only two of the black magicians survived my attack, one by lifting off into the air, the other by throwing himself to the ground.

  I use the offered chance and cast earth spike on the lying opponent's position. A spike of solidified earth raises from the ground and pierces his belly, lifting him three metres up into the air.

  The flying magician casts a web of mana and throws it like a fisherman, spreading it above me. The web ignores my defensive bubble and lays itself directly onto my armour. The liquid metal starts sizzling and a little smoke is rising from my armour.

  The corpses around me are diced into sizeable pieces by the web and I hurry to rip it apart and untangle myself.

  The magician casts another spell, but this time I am not distracted by other opponents. Before he can finish I imagine the protective layer of mana around me striking at him and a thin tentacle forms and wriggles around his leg. He screams as the tentacle pulls him out of the air and smashes him into the ground, accompanied by the sickening noise of breaking bones.

  The army around me is in complete disarray by now. Most of the soldiers lost their interest in fighting because their commanders are gone. Some woke up from the mind control, but others who were influenced stronger keep attacking the city, just to get slaughtered. I notice that in some spots the corpses are piled almost high enough to reach the upper end of the wall.

  Several explosions draw my attention and I realize that they came from the city. Nine big fireballs are rising from my hometown. They managed to smuggle a few explosives past our defences! Did they take out the Gate?

  No, the Gate should withstand such attacks. It was constructed for eternity. Even if all the houses around it are levelled it should still stand. So another distraction?

  I concentrate and teleport directly to the City Gate, just to find the Gate still standing. It's surrounded by our guards, but the Gate itself is off. It's just a big metallic ring with a street leading through it.

  “They shut down the Gate!” Valda's voice sounds from behind me. I turn around and find her floating inside her mana sphere while controlling several tentacles at the same time. In one of them dangles a black magician like being caught in a spider's web.

  Stella and Louise arrive behind her. “Azir!” Stella immediately hugs me, ignoring the armour.

  “We have to get the Gate running again! How did they even deactivate it!” Louise calls out.

  I part from Stella and face the Gate. “This isn't right. It's too easy!”

  “What's easy!? They cut off our reinforcements! What if we can't reactivate it again?” Valda points at the Gate.

  “No this doesn't make any sense. They attack the city, but don't even take their time to build proper siege weapons. They simply run against the walls like insects! They didn't even try to attack from different directions. And then they set explosives inside the city, but they don't even have the forces to take the Gate!” I chew on my lip. “This is just a huge show to distract us from the main operation. Which other huge target could there be in Tri?”

  My mother's eyes widen. “The Stream!”

  I teleport without even thinking of taking anyone with me. Arriving in my parent's training hall I find the secret passage forced open. Several of our family's guards are lying in their own blood throughout the room. Foreign soldiers in black armour are among them. It looks like our people taught them a good lesson before going down.

  My aunt Jade is lying in front of the secret passage, her eyes staring at the ceiling. Stepping closer I already recognize that there is nothing I can do. The mana inside her body has dissipated and I can't sense her soul.

  I clench my teeth and kneel down to close her eyes. She always brought me mechanical artefacts while my mother wasn't happy about me shutting myself in my room while playing with them.

  A small whimpering sound comes from the passage and I hurry inside where I find Quarma lying on her back, her head pointing down the stairs. “Grandmother!”

  I quickly approach her and place my hand on her, casting a healing spell I remove the faceplate from my armour.

  “Leave... me. They know. Hurry... it was Daylen.” She presses through between her lips while I pull her into an upright position to lean her against the wall. There is an ugly wound in her side, probably the attacker thought her dead after receiving such a wound. Who says that being fat isn't an advantage? Then I cast another regeneration spell despite her objections, but she loses consciousness while I am casting the spell.

  Having her patched up with all the first aid I can give on a short notice I reattach the faceplate on my helmet and hurry down the stairs. The stairway seems longer than ever and I propel myself forward with all my might.

  Unfortunately teleportation is out of the question since the interferences of the mana stream are too strong. I could end up teleporting right into the solid rock.

  The stairs fly by under my feet and I finally arrive at the cavern's entrance. It's guarded by three soldiers and I snarl as I ram the first one, my armour forming a spike on its own to impale him. Getting to my feet I realize that they aren't magicians and have no protection. I concentrate on their heads and use telekinesis to tug at something inside them. Both drop to the ground without a single sound escaping their lips.

  I find about twenty warriors and four dark magicians inside the cavern. They are standing around a red portal which is redirecting the
mana stream above it. In a corner of the cavern are a few civilians huddled together and around the portal are several dead bodies. Daylen is standing with them and grinning at the growing portal.

  Of course my arrival wasn't unnoticed and the black armoured soldiers form a line against me. “Keep him away just a few more seconds!”

  I roar and reach out for the mana stream, forcefully connecting to its power, which affects the growth of the portal. Two of the dark magicians stop bothering themselves with the portal and face me instead.

  Raising both hands I cast a refined version of arcane missile and use the overwhelming power from the mana stream to accelerate myself with a support spell. My arcane missile explode between them and showers its surroundings with a rain of shrapnel.

  The next moment I am right between them. Not bothering to convert power I use everything I have. While the stream is this close there is no need to hold back, so all of my armour's functions are at it's maximum performance.

  The soldiers are like sheep in front of me and fall as they get into range. One of them throws a grenade at me which I catch and contain within a barrier. The muffled explosion is hardly heard as a mana tentacle forms from my protective sphere and reaches for the soldier. I throw him right into the mana stream where he is incinerated in the blink of an eye.

  Suddenly Daylen is in front of me and his sword flashes down. I raise my hand and the blade bites deep into the armour. “You aren't going to stand between me and my reward!” He cries and retreats the blade with blood on it. My armour immediately closes around the wound on my arm and seals it.

  “What reward could be worth your wife and family!” I raise my hand and cast an arcane missile, but he evades with lightning speed. The arcane missile hits one of the black magicians at the portal instead, sending him to the ground.

  “Being a full magician of course! He promised me to give me the power.” Daylen calls out and throws a dagger encased in flames at me. I evade it casually thanks to my enhanced abilities.