Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

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I'm starting to get bored, so much so that I've barely even used my Observation Magic for about a week now, because absolutely nothing happens and it's really tedious to watch mundane crap for several hours on end...maybe I should convince the Rustlands' leaders to launch an attack on either Abyss or the Laus Domain...heh, but I seriously doubt that they're going to listen to me too easily.

Hm, what if I-...huh, what's this? The protective barriers, they're disappearing...but why? Before I could figure it out, a huge, dark barrier began enveloping the Rustlands and the area around it, one that was even bigger than the barriers that were just in place a few seconds ago.

Hold on, this barrier...the spell feels complex, really complex...I don't think even I can break it, not without a ton of uninterrupted time to focus, half an hour at the very least. No way...could it be Sant?

That dull wet blanket taking the initiative is difficult to imagine...but he's the only one capable of casting such a complex spell, and what's more, I sense a trace of Divine Magic in this barrier...okay, yeah, it's definitely Sant. Oh, one of my Call spells is ringing...ah, I'm getting a call from Elina Fenegus, a human whose intellect I find extremely impressive.

"Hello? What is going on here, Belia? This black barrier that suddenly appeared, it is preventing me from re-activating the protective barriers that were just taken down! Do you have any idea what's going on here!?" She exclaimed, urgency in her voice.

"Well...yeah, actually, I think I just might."

"And...!?"

"The only being capable of this besides me is Sant A.C. Laus...it's hard to believe, knowing his personality, but it's the only explanation that makes any sense. Don't bother trying to put the protective barriers up again, it's no use. I probably can unravel this dark barrier, but it's so complex that it'd take me, like, an hour to break it. The best course of action is to repel the invading forces," I replied, before hanging up after adding, "Well, I think I'm gonna go look for some enemies to squash, it'd be a shame to let this much potential fun go to waste. Bye!"

"Wait, I-!" She began to reply, but I already deactivated the Call spell, so whatever she was about to say, I'll never know.

Now, then, I wonder which direction they'll be attacking from-...my thoughts were interrupted as a massive explosion burst out from the south gate, shaking the ground as a huge cloud of smoke billowed up, clearly visible even though I was dozens of kilometers away...well, now, let's see what happened there...

Ooh, looks like Fairies, and quite a number of them too. I wonder how they caused that big explosion...wait, based on the damage I'm seeing, that looks like damage from a steam explosion. I see, since Fairies wield either Fire or Water Magic, they must have combined the two to superheat a mass of water with highly intense flames and trigger a massive steam explosion with immense force.

In hindsight, maybe I should have kept at it with my Observation Magic, regardless of how boring it would have been...but then again, I regret nothing. Because this is going to be seriously chaotic! Interesting, the Fairies are keeping their distance from the barrier containing the Ghouls...in fact, they've put up more barriers around it. How considerate.

Looks like the Fire Sage is leading the Fairies, and they're massacring the Rustlands' Volunteers, which also now includes my Corruption-enhanced troops. Let's see if there's anything going on near the other gates...sure enough, yes. The Elves were attacking from the north, while the Dwarves were attacking the east and the Halflings from the west.

Wow, all in all, there's about two million of them in total, with just under a million of those being Fairies...heh, any way you slice it, this is an absolutely massive army, and not only do they outnumber the Rustlands' forces, but also outclass them, at least on average.

I'm guessing the Fairies triggered that flashy explosion to draw attention away from the other gates, allowing the groups of the other three races to enter with a lot more ease.

Each group is being led by their Elemental Sage-...wait, hold on a second, is that the new Earth Sage? Is he...really a Dwarf? Doesn't look much like one, but he's definitely powerful...ho, he might be even stronger than the previous Earth Sage, not that that's saying much.

Sylvar, the Wind Sage...he's gotten stronger, thanks to gaining a physical boost from obtaining Dwayne's Tonbokiri spear. Still, he's no threat to me, not on his own, anyway. And lastly, the Lightning Sage...her speed is impressive, but she's too easily ruled by her emotions...now, then, which one of them should I play with?

Normally, I'd go with the one I hadn't fought before, but the current Earth Sage is still very new and inexperienced, he wouldn't be much of a challenge to me at this point in time. Oh, in which case, I'll go with the most experienced one...which is, by a distance, the Fire Sage. And also because she probably hates me the most, considering the fact that I killed the previous Earth Sage right in front of her.

I then opened a portal for myself near the south gate, as I emerged onto the rooftop of a building. A huge pile of human corpses littered the area just inside the blown-up gateway, as the incoming Fairies cut down the Corruption Magic-boosted humans at a rapid pace.

That said, the humans were doing some level of damage...I'd say for every five dead humans, there were about three dead Fairies. Of course, since the Fairies greatly outnumbered the humans that were here right now, it was obvious which side was on top.

The Fairies were staying in their smaller forms, which is stupid, because they're physically weaker in this state. In their smaller forms, their Elemental Magic is more potent while their physical state is quite fragile, while in their human-sized forms, their physical state is a lot more durable and their Elemental Magic is marginally weaker.

So on paper, their larger forms are obviously the safer bet, but for some reason, they naturally prefer their smaller forms. Seriously, they're so fragile in these forms that, with a little effort, even a normal human with no power boosts could probably crush them to death with their bare hands if they manage to catch one.

Oh, looks like the Fairies are starting to seriously overwhelm the Volunteers. I suppose I should lend a hand, not to mention draw out the Fire Sage and get her to fight me...I cast an invisibility spell around myself, before charging up a powerful fireball in my hand.

I then enhanced it by swirling wind around it rapidly, before adding some lightning for some spice. Hm, what else...? Ooh, I know! I gathered a mass of dust particles using Earth Magic, before feeding them into my flames, forming several narrow, spinning rings of lava around the fireball, swirling with violent wind and crackling with streaks of lightning.

Little bit more, aaand...perfect! This should take out a good chunk of them. I drew back my arm and flung my Elemental attack at the gateway, where most of the Fairies were streaming in from, undoing the invisibility spell as I did, so that they'd have just enough time to see it coming...but not enough to evade it.

Several screams rang out, before abruptly fading away as the massive fireball enhanced by three other elements made contact with the ground and burst in a devastating, expansive blast of blazing destruction...oops, I think I might have melted some of the humans too...oh, well, it's not a problem, I definitely took out WAY more Fairies than humans with that attack!

I'd say that took out about...ten thousand Fairies, maybe? Since they were all in their smaller forms, there were a lot more of them in the area my attack hit than there would have been if they'd been in their larger forms. Heh, it was like spraying pesticide onto a swarm of bugs, that was nice and satisfying.

Individually, it's more of a hassle to go up against them in their smaller forms, but when it comes to this kind of extermination, it looks like their smaller forms are more convenient, especially with these numbers where they end up crowding each other and are left with no much room to move.

Oh, I guess that wouldn't change regardless of which form they were in. They're funneling in through the broken gateway, so there was a quite a crowd bunched together...idiots, just fly over the wall, you have wings for a reason. They're just sitting ducks like this.

I let out an amused chuckle as I blasted out a barrage of various Elemental Magic attacks at the Fairies, wiping them out bit by bit as the humans quickly retreated and regrouped.

Aw, look at me, being such a good ally to those whose side I'm on...sure, some of the humans might have gotten caught up in my initial attack, but hey, if I hadn't interfered, they'd have died anyway, so I saved a lot of them.

"Belia! What's going on!?" Suddenly came a voice from behind me.

"Oh, hey, Shiro! Looks like the other races are attacking...isn't this exciting!?" I replied with a grin, as I turned around.

Shiro, along with Minise. I could see some other Adventurers closing in as well...had I not intervened here, the Fairies would probably have already made it through the gates and spread out throughout the area...instead, all, or at least most, of the ones who made it in are dead, not counting the ones that already went further in before I showed up, and the rest are keeping their distance outside, trying to stay out of the range of my attacks.

However, they aren't running away completely, despite the fact that I've now killed more than a hundred thousand of them, all within a handful of minutes at that! Heh, depending on the circumstances, they're even easier to kill than humans, they may have more power and speed than humans, but of all the races, Fairies in their natural, small forms are easily the least durable...even at full size, they're just barely more durable than humans.

"Hey, what's that?" Inquired Minise, pointing at a small, glowing orb that was zipping towards us.

"Well, what do you know...it looks like she finally responded!" I replied with a smirk, as the glowing orb suddenly grew in size, giving us a clear view of the Fire Sage's furious expression as she entered her Sage Mode, tears of rage in her eyes as she closed in and drove her fist towards me.

Now, then, let's see what outraged exclamation she yells at me...maybe 'how dare you!?' or 'I am going to kill you!' or-.

"Lord Laus, I have found her, she is right in front of me!" She suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs, as her fist went through my portal defense, quickly pulling her arm back before I could close the portal and cut off her hand.

And right as she flew back and away from me, a familiar figure teleported in and appeared in front of me, a very clear sense of bloodlust emanating from him, directed towards me...well, now, how interesting...

"Fancy seeing you here, Sant...how fascinating, I've never seen such a violent expression on your face," I greeted him with an intrigued smirk.

"I did not come her to converse with you...I shall end your existence here and now, Belia!" He snarled viciously, practically blinded by murderous intent.

Woah, so much emotion, who is this guy? He's definitely not the Sant I know...he's way more fun than that dull loser!

"Heh, bring it on, if you really think you can," I taunted in response...

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