My eyes were confused by the numerous duplicates dashing in different directions and the light grenade didn't make it any easier. Furthermore, during the chaos, the pope had gathered the light from the blast and bent it around both himself and Alex making them invisible. This elaborate triple-layered escape attempt would have guaranteed their survival under almost any situation. Unfortunately for them, I was the exception.

Knowing that my speed was no match for the pope, I targeted Alex. The brown scaled dracon was literally rocketing through the forest. Propelled by flames on his feet and guided by flames on his hands, he was incredibly mobile. I attempted to simply run after him but the earth simply cratered beneath my feet. The massive force I was applying with my enhanced muscle mass made the originally hard forest floor as soft as wet clay. Deciding that the physical approach was a wasted effort and knowing that blind teleporting over a large distance in a forest was a recipe for disaster, I warped myself into the sky and dived towards my target.

Summoning my wings, I accelerated with the aid of both wind and fire magic, aiming for a section of forest in which my target would be able to fly straight ahead and thus become predictable. There was no smart plan involved in what happened next. I simply landed with all my weight and acceleration feet first, directly onto Alex's back. With three resounding cracks, his defensive items were destroyed. Judging from the sounds made and the shield strength, it seemed these treasures were of the same type as the ones used by Markarth. This further reinforced my opinion that these two powers were far more connected than the world believed.

Climbing out of the pit, I looked over at the pale-faced dracon as he began pleading for his life. I would have believed his brilliant acting if not for his ever-increasing magical output. With what I can only assume was a forbidden technique, he summoned a small vermilion bird with obvious if distant blood ties to the phoenix. Depending on how this feat was achieved would vastly change this fight. If they had made a deal with a higher layer phoenix-like creature to send down one of its children, I was screwed! However, if someone simply sent a trapped creature to this layer through a sacrificial ritual, I still had a chance. Either way, this confirmed that the dracon kingdoms had ascended people supporting them from above.

Watching Alex kill the young animal erased my worries and I almost burst into laughter as he Burst into white flames. Consumed by the inferno, he inflated and became a pseudo-elemental. Under normal situations, this would have been a smart option, granting him a massive boot to his element while making him all but immune to physical harm. Alas, it was the worst choice he could have made in front of me. Taking a small lamp from within my storage space, I aimed it at him as his face distorted in horror.

This item was an elemental vase designed to trap and refine elementals. I had prepared it after encountering the storm elemental's maelstrom, on the off chance that I came across a similar situation but lacked access to the creature's core. This item was not a one-stop elemental deterrent as it only worked against a creature with less mana than I possessed. Luckily, this flaming idiot was completely eclipsed by my broken stats. Seeing that he was going to become a prisoner to his enemy, he attempted to self destruct, only for the explosion to be mitigated. All that remained of the proud dracon was a slowly disintegrating shroud of flames guarding his heart. Considering his final act essentially turned him into a monster, I consumed the remains and smiled as Behemoth Hunter accepted it.

The strange thing about this encounter that I only now realise while writing this is. How did he know what the lamp was? Sealing elementals in lamps was a common act, but only on the much higher levels. It was actually this practice that led to the myths about genies in lamps granting wishes. Lamps falling to lower layers would result in higher levelled beings being forced to be subservient to low lever masters. Their acts could quite easily be misinterpreted as miracles or wishes and create stories of wonder. The only thing I can theorise is that one of their ascended must have had an elemental sealed in a lamp, thus explaining his reaction.

Anyway, with the pope long gone and the Narith dynasty king teleported away, I turned my focus towards the escaped dukes and let the hunt begin. Some of my prey was not the brightest and a group of four had gathered together. Using their combined magic and available items, they managed to erect some measure of perceived defence. While this might seem like a good idea, all it really did make them fish in a barrel. Of the remaining elf lords, two had separated, running in different directions while the last chose to just hide under a bush. Taking care of the large group first, I teleported directly in the middle of them.

Offering them salvation or oblivion while floating above them seemed rather effective. Only two of the elves tried to resist while the other two surrendered. Lacking the defensive items found on the dracon royalty, the aggressors fell to the same space infused wind blade as the first stupid elf that attacked me. The only difference this time was, I succeed in removing their heads as opposed to bisecting them. Binding the prisoners with a combination of mana draining manacles and a weakness potion, courtesy of the princess, I dragged them through a portal leading to an open glade. This location, apart from being an excellent spot to leave my captives also happened to be positioned directly in the escape path of one of the runners.

After waiting a few moments, the pale-faced elf burst through the tree line In a full sprint, only to see me and faint. Deciding to leave this coward's fate to the princess, I gave him the same treatment as the others before deciding to play with the other runner. Appearing and disappearing just inside his peripheral vision, I drove my target in circles. It was only when he realised he was going nowhere and gave up that I appeared and offered him a choice.

Why was I such an asshole to this one elf in particular? I found out beforehand that this elf had purchased a few of the surviving humans from the army summoning and terminated them after his experiments were completed. This event happened around a month before I awoke from my earth slumber meaning there was nothing I could have done to stop it, but it definitely earned this elf a spot on my shitlist. If he gave me any reason to, I would have put him through the same torturous experiments he put my people through. Unfortunately, he cooperated. Looking at this old asshole made me remember a line in his file. It clearly stated he had purchased the last of the humans, meaning everyone from my world except me was now confirmed dead.

Throwing the sack of shit in the same location as the others, I headed towards the one in hiding. This duke happened to be another special case but not for the same reason as the one above. As a somewhat distant relative of the princess, this elf had never actually supported the new government but neither did he help the princess. He was as close to a neutral party as could be found and as such was left unbound when he surrendered. Though I did have to question his sanity when I noticed him trying to hide under a shrub that barely managed to cover his head and half his chest.

Teleporting to the prearranged location, I found a blood-covered princess waiting for me. Quickly scanning her allowed me the verify that the blood was not hers and that she did not require healing. Seeing that there was no need for me to intervein, I handed over the prisoners while giving her a brief rundown of the situation. Upon hearing my side of the story, she doubled over in a laughing fit. She had honestly thought her plan was the one that had gone to hell, seeing as they had encountered a three dukedom joint military training exercise while attacking their first target. But compared to coming face to face with three of the strongest people on the planet? Her encounter was a walk in the park.

It was thanks to the stored spells in magical artefacts provided by me and the potions created by the princess that her tiny army was able to eventually prevail. The fight was brutal with people dying on both sides even when they had access to life-saving liquids. Sometimes an attack could just end a life without anyone having a chance to do anything to prevent it. It also let her understand just how devastating her poison gasses could be when used on an open battlefield. Almost a third of the enemies fell to her paralysing agents and she cursed herself, not literally, when I pointed out she could have given her men the antidote beforehand and just gassed the entire enemy army. With the dukes being either allies, in captivity or dead and three of the dukedom armies defeated, the kingdom was as good as ours.

Taking advantage situation, I supported the blitzkrieg by teleporting the princess army to an unprepared enemy region while moving to take a dukedom or two myself. With their leaders dangling in my hands as I stood in the air, the armies were quick to give up. By the end of the day, we had captured the entire bottom half of the kingdom and marched on the capital. The return of the 'queen' brought no real celebration as the citizens seemed to have a hard time processing the second change in government in as many years.

Looking over the capital of the kingdom from the tallest tower of the palace as the sun set was breathtaking. The radiant orange and red colours spread across the see of purple trees, this scene of fantasy contrasted the greenery of my home planet and made the moment seem so much more 'magical'. The only thing that ruined the atmosphere was a tired and mopy princess complaining about how she thought this would make her feel better. Unfortunately for her, reality is never that kind and reclaiming the palace only reinforced the fact her family was gone and her kingdom would take years to fully recover.

There was no grand celebration that night for everyone knew the battle was only half won.

As the sun rose on another day, the princesses army gathered before the gates. Stacked with fresh faces, obviously procured from the local merchants and farmers, it stood awaiting the princesses command. After a lacklustre yet passionate speech, they prepared to march for war, until a messenger from the 'combined dracon defence force' teleported onto the stage. Dressed completely in white to signify his role, this messenger brought a scroll demanding the immediate surrender of the princesses forces and the return of the rightful ruling government. It further declared that because we breached the protectorate clause of their most recent alliance, they were marching armies south in order to defend the government from our rebellion, as was their sovereign right.

This pathetic piece of paper essentially gave them the ability to invade without the other elven kingdoms being able to assist us and this time it would be a full invasion backed by the entire might of their combined armies. For the Narith empire, this was about resources but for the Holy Dragon empire, this was an act of revenge for killing their king. After discussing what to do, we decided that I would have to move in order to counter the pope while the princess would have to fight the king. Neither of us was a good match against our opponent. The princess was most effective in melee yet her opponent was a master archer with access to mage slaying arrows. While I had to deal with the pope who was vastly superior to me in regards to speed than me. It was still the best matchup as the princess stood no hope of defeating the pope.

The main problem lay in the fact that while we were busy with the leaders, their elite soldiers would be like wolves amongst sheep when fighting our freshly conscripted army. We did have one card to play, but it depended on the mood another party. Opening a long-distance gate by boosting the permanent gates of the palace, we arrived at my jury-rigged gate on the isle of mages. From there we terminated the connection and opened the gateway into the tower. You know what they say, third times a charm.