Lightning struck from the clouds above Willem's head, splitting a large oak tree in half and creating a cacophonous sound within the depths of the forest.

The smell of fresh blood floated in the air with impunity, overpowering the scent of dew from an early morning rain. A large humanoid figure with a lizard-like face was slumped against a nearby tree, it's slimy eyes spilling green blood.

The same blood dripped from Willem's weapon to the ground, splashing against the pool that had begun to form at his feet.

A single slice ran from the skull cap of the lizardfolk to it's left foot. The actual attack looked more like something being ripped in half as opposed to being cleanly cut.

Willem claimed no mastery over the sword, but his deep magical power enhanced his thunderous blows against any foe that tried to stand against him.

More then a dozen lizardfolk bodies were splayed against the forest floor, staining the grass and dirt in a deeper shade of green.

Willem felt nothing.

During his time as a Grand Mage, Willem delicately protected the balance of power in the forest outside the Bastion of Hope. However the interlopers who entered the forest were desecrating the local wildlife and destroying trees to create ballistae and other siege equipment.

Since they were not a part of the original balance, their deaths were not considered to have any effect or meaning in Willem's eyes.

The glowing gem on the hilt of the scimitar was faint, but it's influence over Willem could be seen in the deadened emotions while killing his enemies.

Most of the enemies Willem had faced before this were animals or Magical Beasts, and when he went up against the Dark Elves for the first time he found it difficult to join the fight. Knowing that he was directly contributing to the orphaning of the Dark Elf children still weighed heavily on his soul.

It was only when he met the Dark Elf called 'The Butcher' that he could finally steel his nerves and take the life of someone who looked like him.

Now he could wade through their corpses like he was swimming in a pristine lake.

Willem only had a passable knowledge of the lizardfolk as a species, based on folklore and stories told in old books. According to these old stories, evil sorcerers would combine the flesh of Humans with the scales of lizards or frogs to create ugly deformed creatures.

Though the lizardfolk do have vocal folds and a voice box, they have created a completely separate language to that of Humans or Magical Beings and do not classify themselves as either. They are unique in that they cannot breed outside of their species, and their affinity with earth and water magic makes them powerful foes to a certain degree.

Of course, this means nothing to a Grand Mage of Darkness that can destroy and recreate his own mortal body at will. Willem's powerful Darkness magic makes him unmatched in the Northern Hemisphere of the world, and his enemies had made the mistake of allowing a race they felt was beneath them to flourish.

If they had broken the defenses of the Bastion of Hope and killed the Humans, they may not have lost the scouts they had sent.

It was a small loss to be sure, but it was a statement. To have been defeated by mere Humans was a blight on the military records of the Generals in the Army of Magical Beings. A blight that cannot be hidden or overlooked, but instead paid for in full with blood and bone.

Willem knew that Humans as a race were looked down upon, which is why the sacking of the Dark Elf city had gone so smoothly. If they had been up against an opponent who took them seriously, they would have had a lot more casualties.

"Come on." Willem spoke in the Human language but no one in the vicinity understood it.

Three lizardfolk, two beastmen and an orc commander remained alive after Willem's ambush of the platoon.

"Forward!" The orc commander screamed as he raised his battleaxe high into the air.

With a large arcing slash, the orc sundered the ground that his own allies stood on just to get a chance at Willem.

Instead of waiting for his mobility to become impaired, Willem used his magic to create a dark cloud in the sky to block out the morning sun. The cloud spread like an all-consuming nebula, covering the battlefield and everyone inside it in pitch black.

The orc and beastmen scoffed, while the lizardfolk took a defensive posture.

The orc waited for his eyes to adjust to the black, a trait that only certain races could claim to have.

However this wasn't the darkness that came from the absence of light, but by magic, and was therefore not something that could be seen through so easily.

It was too late for the orc to realize this, before his neck was cleanly sliced off his body.

Even the sound of the head dropping to the ground could not be heard by anyone in the fog except for Willem.

Without a second thought, Willem cut down the remaining beastmen and lizardfolk.

His absolute control over the dark cloud combined with the umbral blade attack magic and black tendrils meant that his foes stood no chance. If they had found a way to disperse the dark cloud then they may have had a few seconds longer to live.

Unfortunately, their reality was still bleak. The orcs and beastmen, and to a lesser extent the lizardfolk knew it best.

"The strong take from the weak." Willem whispered the orc dogma while cleaning his scimitar of their blood.

Instead of taking the time to remove a piece of cloth from his storage, he just wiped the blood off with the clothes one of the beastmen wore.

There was a beast-man and beast-woman in the platoon that he had just taken down, which made him think they might have been a couple. In an old military record he remembered that relationships were encouraged in military installations as a form of morale boost and emotional bonding. Not just male and female bonding, but male on male bonding as well as female on female bonding was encouraged.

Willem continued further into the forest, looking for the large oak tree.

In the Private Sanctum.

The doctor and healing mage had toasted to the Grand Mage sarcastically this time, but Kara often toasted to the Grand Mage for 'saving' her from the previous school.

Before she had been helped by the Grand Mage, she was considered a second rate healing Mage who constantly had nightmares of villages on fire and children being killed in the streets.

These were repressed memories of her childhood before she even became a Mage, when they were still being attacked by the dark elves.

Of course since it was just a small village outside the Bastion of Hope being attacked, the army would not expend any large force to retaliate. Therefore the farmers were preyed upon more often than they harvested their grains.

When the Grand Mage met Kara for the first time and heard about her condition, it gave him the perfect opportunity to test out an experimental potion he had been working on.

The potion stopped her from dreaming completely, which included the nightmares she would constantly have. With no more nightmares, she could now sleep properly and study without worry.

The ingredients to make the potion were given to her, and once a week she would climb the side of the mountain to collect them. This gave her a reason to step outside the classroom and interact with others as well, increasing her social network.

Soon enough her name was on the lips of everyone in the school as the next healing prodigy. She was recruited by the Water Grand Mage and the scepter she used was specially crafted by the Magical Item Creation team.

Of course as the Grand Mage of Darkness who still attended classes while being tutored, Willem was typically the first to find out about talented individuals and would make recommendations to the other Grand Mages.

With Willem's endorsement, Sveld invited Kara to learn from him directly, which allowed her to show off the skills she possessed.

Everything turned around for her the moment the Grand Mage entered her life.

"So what's your name?" The head surgeon was already a few drinks in.

"Kara, yours?" She responded.

"Adrien." He burped as he answered.

Kara looked away from the doctor and continued drinking, her eyes darting around the other stalls in the middle area. She had already looked over the teleportation array a dozen times, and she still had no idea how such a thing could function.

When asked how the teleportation array was made, the Grand Mage would often deflect the question or answer "divine inspiration".

Such an answer was good enough for Kara, since she was sure that even if he did explain, she wouldn't be able to replicate it.

The other stalls had everything one could imagine. Full meals were prepared for those just getting back from a subjugation, light snacks like apples or skewered meats were in abundance, and the smell of seasoned vegetables wafted through the air lovingly.

Kara loved coming down to the middle area and checking up on everyone, especially the children who came to play. Of course she never neglected to do her rounds, which typically began with Kinsey and then each of the Leaders and Elders of the major families.

Once those checkups were done, she would go to the emergency clinic and check to see if there was anything she could do. Most of the entries were things like broken bones from taking a blow from a magical beast.

There were many who used the emergency clinic, since there was no cost to using it. Anyone who was admitted to the emergency clinic needed it badly, and everyone else was turned away. Those with bumps and bruises just used the money they made from requests to buy minor healing potions.

"So we shall do the same thing tomorrow?" Adrien's hands had stopped shaking but the ale was beginning to go to his head.

"Yes, and for the next few days until the swelling recedes." Kara nodded her head and finished her own drink.

Kara had accepted to go for a drink out of professional courtesy, but Adrien's eyes hadn't left her chest since they arrived. Though his skill was undeniable as a doctor, his personality left something to be desired.

The conversation had started and died several times already, but Adrien kept trying to get her to open up. His intentions were very obvious, and Kara could no longer enjoy her alcohol peacefully.

"I'm going to go." Kara stood up from the stool she sat at and grabbed her white coat.

Adrien stood from his seat as well and offered to walk her back to her private room. Kara gave no response to Adrien's advances and tried to walk away slovenly.

The bartender watched Kara stumble away from where she sat and reached out to hold her up. Her massive arms were like an immovable gentle hug and Kara leaned into her.

"Thank you." Kara looked up at the scarred-face bartender and attempted to steady herself.

"Will you be alright?" The bartender looked menacing but her voice was soft and sweet.

"I might need some help getting into bed." Kara winked at the bartender and didn't make any attempts to leave her grasp.

The bartender became flustered as Kara refused to leave her embrace, and after thinking for a bit she decided to close the stall down for the night to walk Kara back. The few patrons who were drinking were disappointed that the bar was closing early, but they said nothing in part due to her appearance.

Adrien left after he finally figured out why Kara was being so nice to the bartender compared to him.

Kara made no attempt to hide her sexual preference as she slowly drooled on the bar while watching the bartender close down the stall.