In the next few days, Generasi focused on healing and justice.

First came the grim task of collecting the bodies of all those who had fallen, and returning them to their families. Alex and his friends made sure to stay far away from the stadium as it was being cleaned up. Apparently, The Watchers were surveying and purging the battlefield on Oreca’s Fall Island of any remnants of the attack.

As the bodies were being collected, so were other things.

Over the dark hours of a single night, The Games’ venues and infrastructure disappeared. Through labour and magic, the campus returned to its normal state with all of the fanciful buildings gone, like they’d never been there.

It was like Thundar had said; in a way, it was sad to see them go, but for many folks, they would have made for grim reminders of the tragic end to The Games, Alex realised. As things returned to normal in Generasi, talk and speculation increased about what the fate of the demon summoner would be.

The city didn’t make them wait long.

“Leopold Richter!” the announcement had roared. “Charged with treason, mass death, and abuse of wizardry, is found guilty and sentenced to Execution by Erasure.”

Alex soon learned what that meant.

Leopold would be brought in front of City Hall shackled with magical cuffs that prevented spellcasting by disrupting his mana, and placed on a wooden platform. For added precaution, the former demon summoner would also be blindfolded and given a paralysing potion that would stop all movement in his limbs.

Once he was secured and well-guarded, a masked wizard known as a ‘Deleo’—one of Generasi’s executioners—would stand across the square on another platform. An audience would be permitted to gather and witness the punishment. One of the magistrates would read out Leopold’s list of crimes, which would be followed by an opportunity for the doomed man to speak his final words.

Once he was done—if he did choose to speak—the magistrate would declare that the sentence be carried out, and then, the Deleo would cast a spell known as ‘Disintegration’.

A beam of energy would fire and utterly disrupt Leopold’s form down to the very smallest parts of his being. In an instant, he would be reduced to no more than a pile of the finest dust. The dust would then be taken by the Deleo to an unknown location, where the remains of all those who’d been executed throughout time, were taken. Some thought it to be a remote dumping ground on the far end of the world, others thought it was in the ocean somewhere, while still others thought it was located on another plane of existence. Wherever it was, all the dust would be scattered there, then the Deleo would return to the City, and in a witnessed ceremony, declare the sentence carried out.

“Being blasted to dust,” Mr. Lu commented after the announcement was made. “Grim way to go, though I guess it probably wouldn’t hurt very much, and if it did, he deserves it.”

“I dunno, Mr. Lu,” Thundar said. “Sounds to me like being torn down to your tiniest bits would hurt more than anything.”

“None know for sure if it does, since all those who undergo the process are very dead,” Isolde said, the back of her dress slightly misshapen by the bandages covering her back. “But I can say that historically, execution methods were far more brutal in Generasi. Before the wizards migrated here, the nobility of the time would execute such a criminal as Richter by roasting him alive inside a bull forged from brass. With time, executions were carried out using fire magic for a time, as well as lightning spells. There was even one execution where magic that conjured acid was used.”

Both of Theresa’s parents looked at her, horrified.

She continued speaking quickly. “It was used only once before it was declared so barbaric, that it should never be used again. Shortly after that, the idea of using Deleos and their disintegration magics, became the sanctioned method.”

Mr. Lu snorted. “And I thought the beheadings, quartering and gallows from back home were bad.”

“I’m still pretty sure those are bad, Mr. Lu,” Selina said.

Whether disintegration was less or more brutal than the execution methods practised in Thameland, Alex couldn’t say, but he did approve of Leopold’s fate.

And the people seemed to approve of it right along with him.

Cheers swept through the streets for a day and night, with drink flowing wildly at every bar and tavern in Generasi. The noise from the Brass Grapes carried halfway across campus all night.

But things were a lot more muted when Amir Abu Saleh’s crime and sentence were announced.

“Amir Abu Saleh—for the crime of obstruction of justice resulting in death—he shall be punished by fifteen years of imprisonment and hard labour,” the announcer’s magically enhanced voice had boomed through the city. “Followed by immediate banishment and exile from Generasi upon completion of his sentence. Never again will he be allowed to set foot on any of the lands ruled by Generasi authority, under penalty of death.”

The reaction to this was far more mixed.

There were no celebrations that night: some expressed their anger at the sentence, calling it too light. Others said it was appropriate. Amir’s family and friends had very little to say about it.

But Professor Jules definitely had something to say.

Alex ran into her while they were both on the way to the library, and she seemed her usual busy and proper self. Even her body language seemed to say that all was normal…but there was something in her eyes.

“Quite frankly, Mr. Roth,” she said as they walked toward the library side by side, with Claygon following behind. “I am mostly relieved that the criminals have been caught, that no more death and mayhem from this idiocy will occur, and that the expedition will begin its preparations again shortly.”

“When do you think the expedition will begin?” Alex asked.

She blew out a breath. “The pause has been most inconvenient: we will have to do some replanning before we begin in earnest. Supplies will have to be re-organized, and then there might be the issue of the weather changing on us since we will be beginning later than originally planned. We must also inform your king that our ‘little domestic problem’ has been resolved.”

He paused. “Will he understand? What is King Athelstan like?”

“Oh, I haven’t the foggiest: I’ve never met the man, only Baelin and the ambassadors from the city have.”

“Ah, okay,” Alex said. “Have you seen Baelin lately?”

“Not yet, I fear he will be busy until after the closing ceremony for The Games,” Professor Jules said. “There are going to be special speeches, considerations, and additional rewards handed out I hear.”

“Right, that makes sense.”

Alex wished he could talk to Baelin sooner, but there was no helping it.

The student and professor fell into silence for a time, simply listening to the wind and the birds above.

And then…

“That foolish, foolish boy,” she sighed. At that moment, she looked like she’d aged twenty years. “He had such a bright future ahead of him. So bright. I thought that Amir might eventually earn a place teaching here, and perhaps tenure at some point in the future.”

“Yeah…” Alex paused, a little unsure of what to say. “I dunno if I should feel bad, or angry, or what…maybe all of it.”

“Mm,” she mused, glancing in the direction of the city. “Well, he is being punished, that is all that matters. And as for his fortune, at least he can make something of his life.”

“What do you mean?” Alex looked at the direction of the city as well. “Exile seems pretty bad to me.”

“It was a merciful sentence,” she said. “He is still young: after fifteen years, Amir will merely be in his late thirties.”

“Oof, that’s old,” Alex said.

The professor looked like she was going to say something very pointed to him, but then decided against it at the last moment. “No, it is not old, Mr. Roth. It is still reasonably young. He will pass fifteen years, and hopefully, will make use of that time to contemplate what brought him to this terrible point in his life.”

“But what about the exile?” Alex asked. “He’ll never finish his studies here.”

“True, he will not, but Amir is a capable wizard able to cast fifth-tier magic and produce magical items of a similar level of power. If he travels far, far away from here, then he will have the chance to make something of his life. Life does not end when you turn forty, Mr. Roth, and the skills of a graduate of Generasi—even if he did not complete his graduate studies—can carry him far.”

“Yeah I guess…” Alex said. “Or maybe he’ll become bitter and take it out on others. Start attacking people or doing what Leopold did.”

She paused in thought. “Perhaps…I do not think that is the kind of man that Amir is, but it has become abundantly clear to me that I know far less about my students than I thought. Though, if he does begin slaughtering others indiscriminately, that is not Generasi’s issue. …and often wizards that go on rampages, do not last all that long in this world.”

She sighed, and there was a bitter edge in her voice.

“Speaking of students, why are you heading to the library?” she asked. “Classes do not begin again until the closing ceremony for The Games. You’re not looking for anything sinister yourself, are you, Mr. Roth?”

“Just doing some studies on demonic language and blood-magic is all.”

“Charming,” she said sarcastically.

Blood-Magic.

Alex took a deep breath as he looked over the spell-guide for ‘Life to Mana’ carefully. After what felt like months, he was finally ready to begin diving into it. It would be a tricky spell to learn: there were plenty of risks when it came to spellcraft and The Mark’s interference, but since Blood-Magic connected a wizard’s mana to their life force, there were extra dangers to worry about.

The spell-guide had warned about some of those special dangers. With a normal spell, making a mistake in the spell array could cause a mana reversal or other catastrophic consequence, but blood magic connected a wizard’s mana pool to their lifeforce. The book had given all sorts of awful examples of aspiring blood mages who’d accidentally drained their life force dry, or funnelled their mana into their lifeforce until they burst like a bubble. A gory, meat bubble.

Alex—having no desire to become any type of bubble—had taken extra care with this spell, which was why he had picked this particular area to practice in, as opposed to his usual spots.

He and Claygon had set themselves up in a small area of parkland outside the university’s main castle, closest to the door that led to the campus infirmary. If he messed up the spell enough to wreck his own lifeforce, he wanted to be as close to medical staff as he possibly could be.

The area was fairly busy; people were going to and from the infirmary doors every few minutes: mostly family members visiting loved ones who’d been injured by the demonic invasion. A few of them glanced at him as they went past, with most seeming to recognize him and his golem, but no one stopped to make conversation. The little bench he was sitting on was right beside a bronze fountain forged in the image of the infirmary’s symbol: two snakes curling around a tower, with all three shooting arcs of water into the air.

The flowing water reminded him of the flow of mana and life through the body, and the practice of Life-Enforcement: he couldn’t help but wish he could learn it. It had taken Theresa and Grimloch’s abilities to levels that even surprised them, levels that would really enhance Alex’s training in blood-magic. But, because of The Mark, he knew it would be too dangerous to try since it was not only a divinity, but to use it, one’s mind and spirit had to remain perfectly calm. His mind could never maintain that level of calm, not with The Mark’s interference slamming into it for trying to have anything to do with divinities. With spell casting, he had his experiences before he got The Mark to help him through the interference, but he had nothing to draw from with divinities. Even just trying to test for any affinity with Life-Enforcement, could kill him deader than the soil in The Barrens.

Theresa had said that only a minority of people who tested for her Life-Enforcement class were compatible, and that her professor didn’t let anyone who couldn’t achieve a calm state of mind even attempt it. Even people who’d tested and weren’t compatible, but could achieve a calm mind, ended up in the infirmary when they failed.

With The Mark interfering, if he only ended up in the infirmary, he’d be lucky. The chances that he’d be compatible were small, but the chances that he’d be super dead if he merely tried testing for an affinity with it, were massive.

As much as he’d like to try Life-Enforcement, it was something he’d have to stay away from, at least for now.

Still, he had a lot of years of learning ahead. If he ever managed to figure a way to get rid of, or even master The Mark, Life-Enforcement would be high on his list of things to test for. But, that was a future problem.

For now, he needed to deal with more immediate problems.

“Alright, blood magic,” he said, conjuring two Wizard’s Hands. “Let’s see what you got.”