Given the right circumstances, a single overpowering figure can sometimes be enough to deal with a legion of foes. I’ve certainly got a list of heroes and villains who have done just that.

Stefan Sommer - the Chronicler - Heroes and Villains of the First Age

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“Why? Why?!” Nicon cried, anguished. “I gave you everything you wanted, so why couldn’t you just leave? Why couldn’t you just let me live in peace?”

Regret flashed over Silas’s face as he blinked tears. “Baby, I’m sorry. I don’t—”

“Whatever,” snarled the shaerd, his expression growing uglier by the second. “You’ve already ruined everything. At least keep them away from me now.” He crouched and wrapped his arms around the injured, unconscious princess, casting another spell under his breath.

Running towards them, Laerdya watched this exchange with equal amounts disgust and shock, staggered at how quickly Silas had switched personalities and at how similar his new personality was to Amara’s recent one. They were both blindly devoted to this cracked, although in Amara’s case it had been a gradual rise of infatuation in her latest boy toy. While Laerdya had been dismissive of bedding and even romancing such a baseborn shaerd, it hadn’t been her place to speak down on her princess. However, the scene in front of her made her wonder if Clio had been speaking the truth after all. Could it be Amara’s mind truly had been controlled by this cracked until now?

Surely not, this was a D’Aegor, one of the lineage to resist the worst of magic on Xiivet. But Laerdya could only suspend her disbelief so much when evidence to the contrary displayed itself right in front of her: their entire world had been turned upside down after the Apocalypse, so was it really that implausible that newer, stronger magic had emerged since then? And if not, what was to say that Nicon hadn’t wrapped his delicate fingers around such sorcery and taken Amara right from under Laerdya’s protection? It was a humiliating thought that drew the Hulk into a ruinous rage.

“Kill the humans and the cracked,” she bellowed, her voice ringing through the hall. It only infuriated her further that the cracked simply smirked at her command.

The royal guards were on Silas now, attacking from every side. He couldn’t parry and dodge them all, so his armour took several of the blows while he responded with ultraviolence, his spear flickering into their heads and out. Gore splattered around them as Laerdya watched her fellows crumpling down, one after another. Fortunately, she arrived before any more fell, and she slashed sideways. Although he dodged, she smoothly reversed the direction of the blow and whacked the shaft into his stomach, driving the air out of him.

“Good enough,” Nicon yelled as he rose with Amara lying slack over one shoulder, his face strained with effort. His spell finally activated and its effect was immediate and sweeping, intensifying his alluring aura until it became near palpable. The entire hall winced away from the sudden assault on their consciousnesses, and while the dark blue shaerds survived with their sanity intact, the light blues and pinks released their bodies in order to revel in the offered euphoria.

Without so much a glance at his new thralls, the Tempter trudged away from the throne towards Amara’s bedroom. “Protect me, my loves.” His voice wavered on the following order, rising and falling with mania. “Kill them, kill everyone who wants to harm me, and then you can have me.”

Although Laerdya wanted to crush the abhorrent cracked into pulp, she couldn’t advance in the slightest as Silas attacked her with blistering speed, his spear ringing against her armour all over and occasionally slicing her flesh. Her fellow royal guards came under similar attacks as the newly turned thralls launched headlong attacks on them. Only a few escaped these piteous shaerd as they retreated for backup, one of the notable ones being the human Silas had arrived with. This woman didn’t withdraw as much as she advanced, floating above the thralls’ reaches as she headed for the princess.

Nicon likewise noticed her, but before he could warn his minions, he tripped up and threw himself at the floor, stumbling further when he tried to rise. Laerdya had no idea what was happening, but she was pleased to see him stopped all the same. However, whatever force had been keeping him down promptly vanished as a giant avian smashed through the skylights, plunging down towards the Tempter before abruptly soaring into the air again and shooting towards the woman. It crashed into her mana barrier and flailed mid-air a couple of times, before regaining its bearings and attacking her again.

Battle cries flared up through the hall, and Laerdya glared down at the Duellist, who persisted in his attempt to break through her guard. Her cuts made her slower and fatigued, so she activated Titanic Strength and lunged, using the halberd as a diversion while freeing a hand and swatting at his arms, intending to crush them. However, he backpedalled as if predicting her ploy and flicked his spear into her face. It lightly sliced her cheek, further draining her energy, and he pulled back the weapon before she could snatch it.

Growling, Laerdya seized her halberd in two hands again and cleaved down. As expected, he sidestepped it and walked right into her next blow. Her iron-thewed leg whipped in from the side, preventing him from a timely dodge as although he leapt back, her boot still glanced off of his hip. This threw him off balance and set him up for another chop, this time aimed sideways at his chest. The axe blade hacked through his breast and snapped through bone, gifting Laerdya’s face with an ugly grin. Using her momentum to end the fight in one last blow, she pulled her halberd back to cleave him in half.

Little did she expect for him to recover so quickly as he thrust into her face, slightly off-target because of his injuries but still managing to gore through her left eye. She tried to boot him away, but his follow-up came twice as quick as he speared her mouth, piercing through the soft palate. Her kick connected just then and sent him flying while she choked on her own dark blood. Perhaps such an injury would have killed off a lesser foe, but this was Laerdya Elrond, the Hulk, and her Indomitable Vitality was nothing to laugh about.

****

Mia spotted Nicon sneaking away in the corner of her eyes, but there was little she could do with Bandit assailing her. When Nicon had activated his ability, her raised mana barrier had protected her, although she had needed to pump more mana into it in order to fully resist the effects. Others hadn’t been so lucky as although the shaerd were innately resistant to magic, many of them had broken down all the same as sister attacked sister below her, common dark purple blood staining the previously spotless floor. When Bandit had initially swooped in, Mia had rejoiced before then feeling dread as Nicon got to the owl too, ordering it to rip her to shreds.

If her control over her telekinesis had been any better, she could have snapped its wings mid-air but such a feat was impossible for the present her since Bandit streaked through the air as swift as a falcon. Due to this, she could only helplessly watch as Nicon stole away with the princess. Even Silas was lost to her as the Duellist fought Laerdya, who had seemingly recognised the truth of the situation at last but too late to help anyone.

If nothing else, the scene of ultraviolence and ruin below showed that Nicon was a mage of incredible power, forcibly turning foes into friends with his mere presence. There was no doubt that if he was human, he would appear on their leaderboards as well. Had they known the extent of his capacity earlier, they could have somewhat prepared for it at least, but instead they had gone in blind, imagining him as a caster of middling power instead of a sorcerer with staggering strength.

Her line of thought was interrupted as Bandit came once more, clawing at her barrier before flapping away. She gritted her teeth and resolved herself, realising that if there was ever a moment to act, it was now. Closing off the outside world, she trained her eyes on Bandit, waiting once more until it neared when she blasted a torrent of fire out of her arms, opening her barrier just in time to envelop the owl in flames. It shrieked and she made a mental apology while turning to Nicon, who had finally made it to the door to Amara’s bedroom. She didn’t know why he wanted to go there, but given his determination in entering, she figured it was in her best interests to stop him.

Before he opened the door, ice formed around its perimeter, freezing it shut with the frame. Infuriated, Nicon turned to her, likely with some nefarious command in mind, but she wasn’t done just yet. Pulling on her mana reserves, her arms convulsed as they struggled to control the lightning manifesting between her palms. Seeing this, the Tempter panicked and tried to run but she took her shot before he made it to cover, hitting not him but instead the unconscious princess.

Mia’s mana was running dangerously low now, so she soared up with a final burst and flew through the hole Bandit had made in the skylights, landing beside it in an ungainly manner. She collapsed at once, limbs splayed awkwardly for everyone underneath to see, although no one was particularly interested. Hot breath fogged the screen below her, so she wiped at it with her sleeve and peered through, desperately hoping her everything had been enough.

Earlier when she had attacked the princess, Laerdya had screamed in terror and tried to break past Silas once more, this time succeeding and throwing the Duellist to the side with dark blood cascading down her chin. What the Royal Protector hadn’t expected was for his momentary weakness to be deliberate as he jumped to his feet the second she passed. Mia watched from above as Silas sprinted after Laerdya, using the moment of distraction to stab her in the back of her neck. The Hulk struggled and thrashed, but it was over all the same as he followed through with several more strikes to finish the job. Moments later, stepping over her corpse, Silas made for Nicon, killing some shaerds on the way to aid his fellow thralls. Although he was critically injured, his wounds hardly appeared to affect him as he wore an expression of euphoria while moving towards the Tempter.

However, Mia’s efforts hadn’t been for nothing as Amara finally roused from the lightning bolt having shocked her back into consciousness. The princess clutched her head and chest as she rose, taking in the scene of horrific violence with quivering eyes; the scene of her subjects hacking down one another; the scene of the Duellist treading over corpses towards her. She shrank back and only then spotted Nicon hiding some strides away, cowering behind a pillar. “You…”

“No, no, no,” the Tempter said like a broken record, his head shaking from side to side. His gaze flicked to Silas, then Amara again, and determination seemed to flash through his eyes in that moment. However, whatever plan he had just thought up of was not to be as the curtains closed on his scene at last. No matter how powerful a mage is, they’ll always be limited by how much mana they can store; while Nicon’s mana reserves were extensive, his recent uses had likewise been sweeping in effect such that it had finally drained him to the last drop.

Silas collapsed without further ado, and the other thralls awakened back to reality, finding their fellows dead at their feet, streams of purple blood dripping down their blades. Although the battle was finished, the day was far from being over.

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Tempter (rare)

Unlock conditions: repeatedly take advantage of others’ lust for you. Have at least overwhelming arcana and middling perception relative to your race’s averages.

Abilities

Beguiling Charm - your aura increases others’ desire for you. You can additionally detach this aura from yourself and place it on other items, and the mana cost increases with the distance to your detached charms. The strength of this effect is increased with arcana.

True Love - make direct contact with another and choose them as your true love, overpowering their mind. They will become completely infatuated with you, and although they maintain their prior memories and abilities, they will now also have a persistent and intense need to please you. Mana cost increases with distance to your true love.

You Know You Want Me - after channelling for 10 seconds, magnify the effects of your Beguiling Charm up to unlimited times. Mana cost exponentially increases with every multiple undertaken.

+15 arcana, +10 perception, +5 agility.

System