--- Point of View: Jin Fuoco Lintra, Current Moment ---

"Obliterate!" I yell, thrusting my palm forward and flicking my ring finger. Once again, a pillar of lightning the size of a tree blasts through the castle, yet once again the Pale King is able to contort his body, narrowly dodging the spell.

"I swear to fuck you're so dead!" The Pale King, yells as the blast forces him to tank another strike from Mary.

"Stop talking during a fight!" Mary grunts, once again showing her prowess with the blade. By prowess, I mean I literally can't follow her swings with my eyes, only my mana sense.

"Now I'm gonna talk even louder!" The King cackles, slashing at Mary and causing a crescent of pure mana to fly from his sword. Thankfully, Mary's Arms of Hellfire is able to pull her to the right, allowing the slash to harmlessly pass, then harmfully destroy the wall directly behind her.

Oh, Lords Above, where did this all go wrong?

/// Four Hours Earlier ///

"Ohh come on! One more quick little quest. In and out, fifteen-minute adventure." Trevor desperately pleaded, dropping to his knees in faux humility. "Please oh lord Jin!"

"Dude stop, please, I'm begging you," Jin said, his face buried in his hands, whilst Mary and the rest of the party nearly doubled over in laughter.

"Please please milord, I shall do anything!" Trevor continued, drawing more and more eyes within the guildhall. Holy shit this is so embarrassing.

"Fine! Fine, I'll come on your stupid quest! Get off the floor already!" I snapped, nearly kicking my friend of five years straight in the stomach. If I had access to powerful time magic, I'd go back in time and change my dorm mate.

"Woohoo!" Trevor cheered, shooting to his feet. "Finally! Now go, head to the desk and accept your promotion already, you have a kid at home and I wanna get this quest started!"

Sighing deeply, I trudged my way over to the ever-smiling guild representative. Why can’t we just use a kiosk like the lower tiers?

Mary, of course, was right behind me, as she would have to accept the promotion to A-Rank melee. Realistically, she and I could have gained access to A and probably Omega months ago, but there was a fat chance we’d want the responsibility.

Once you accepted a guild promotion, there was no going back, and A-rank was a line we didn’t want to cross easily.

Our reasoning was simple enough. Once a person accepted their ‘promotion’ to A-rank or above, they became a Guild Elite. Whilst the perks weren’t bad, like having a free house to stay in whenever we needed it, a decent amount of money, and access to more restricted quests, it came with massive downsides.

Mainly, Guild Elites could be called upon by the guild at any time, were forced to contribute some amount of magical research every year, and Elites had what was arguably the worst part of the promotion. They had to follow the rules.

A regular member of the United Magic Research Front could be flexible since it wouldn’t really affect the guild if one of their random members were found doing some shady shit, but the Elites? That could cause a scandal, and the guild will actively throw you under the bus instead of simply ignoring it.

“We’re very happy that you’re finally accepting your place among the Elite, Lord Lintra.” The rep said with a beaming smile that made my stomach churn. Are they trained to always smile like that?

“Don’t call me that, Jin is fine. Just gimme the contract, the clause about being able to leave once you attain a certain level within the Arcane Society is still in effect right?” I ask, knowing the answer would be a yes. Mainly due to the fact that if a mage became a Great Sage, the Arcane Society would pressure any guild to curry their favor.

“Of course!” The receptionist said, her smile somehow growing larger.

Putting quill to paper, I sighed and signed on the dotted lines. No sooner after I had signed the contract, Mary did the same and we returned to the group.

“Alright, what’s the quest.” It’s probably something stupid like hunting a death cult, or some other shit they don’t let lower-tiers do.

“Taking down a death cult.” Yep, called it.

“I’m not doing some week-long tracking quest, and you know that, so I’m guessing you’ve found their lair?” I asked, stretching my arms and legs a bit.

This is gonna be a cakewalk, head into the lair, fry all the cultists, and go back to raising my son, but this time with a bunch more money in my pocket.

I can’t wait to buy him his first grimoire.

“Yep, all we have to do is head in, kill the freaks and their leader, and leave. According to our intel, they’re trying to revive some dead demi-god. A demi-god, not even a real one! Fucking b-listers.” Trevor said, yawning slightly.

“We’ve tracked them to an underground castle around an hour from here, it’s only got one way in,” Sylnx said, bored out of her mind.

The four of us planned the ‘raid’ in ten minutes. Mary and Trevor would be our vanguard, I would bombard from the backline, and Sylnx would be behind me, buffing and healing. A simple, straightforward plan to wipe out a group of simple-minded cultists.

What could go wrong?

/// Present Moment ///

Shooting backward through the air to avoid The King’s stray rays of decay magic. God, I fucking hate this bastard!

Fuck death cults, and fuck death demi-gods!

‘Mary, hold him for a minute. When I give the signal, channel your amulet and disengage. It’s time to get some revenge.’ I send into Mary’s brain with Mutual Bond, one of the first spells we ever made together. It’s a simple mental magic spell that allows us to silently communicate.

‘Get out of my range, I’ll use Supernova until you’re ready.’ Mary replied as I shot myself backward even further.

Mary’s highest-grade spell only technically reached the grade blue, but it’s not something I’d ever want to find myself caught in. A twisted fusion of her only affinities, Fire and Gravity magic, that nearly sextupled the weight of her swings, whilst constantly sending out waves of fire that stuck to any living being. The kicker? The fire itself had weight, constantly being increased as Supernova ranged on.

Unfortunately, the spell was insanely mana intensive, and Mary was a fighter first and foremost, so she could keep it running for at most five minutes at top output. A hard time limit, but one easy for me to work within.

Dropping to the ground next to the bodies of my dear friends, and dispelling all but my auto-barrier, I began to chant my Magnum Opus. This ones for you, you beautiful bastard.

“Heed my call and hear my name, be forced to return unto ash.” The spell immediately began to take physical form, taking all of my focus to contain it and continue the spell. “Bend the knee and fear my reign, or this very breathe shall be your last.”

“Absolutely not!” The Pale King yelled, yet as he tried to shoot a beam of decay at me, it was quickly snuffed out by the intense flames of Supernova.

“I am the King within the rain, a true illuminating flash. All foolish mortals before me shall face my wrath.” I finish the chant, with only half my mana remaining. With lightning beginning to spill from all of my orifices, I stomp my foot twice.

Mary instantly understands, and dispels Supernova, dumping mana into her amulet and activating the spatial mana inside of it. As she appears next to me, I place both of my hands forward with a manic grin.

“Divine Punishment.” I utter, as all of the lightning magic explodes out of me, and seemingly, does nothing.

“What? That’s it? That was your whole plan?” The Pale King begins to laugh, completely unaffected.

Completely unaffected, until he moved even an inch.

The moment The Pale King moved, a lightning bolt the size of a semi-truck struck him in the chest.

Divine Punishment was my Magnum Opus, the simplest, yet most deadly spell in my arsenal.

Having one of the highest known lightning affinities in the world, I designed the spell to take full advantage of my ability to summon a mass amount of lightning mana. The spell covers my allies in my mana, causing the lightning to be amplified and reflected by the mana a normal person gave off.

Then, I simply dumped enough lightning mana into the spell to level a city, and let it go. Whenever something not covered in my mana moved within the environment, some of the lightning mana would converge on it.

Hence, it was as if they were struck by a lightning bolt from heaven. Most importantly, as long as no one understood the conditions behind the spell, it was literally impossible to block. It would attack all mana that wasn’t mine indiscriminately, acting before any defensive spell or field could take effect.

Of course, no one could really help me once I cast the spell, and if the target somehow survived the insane onslaught, they would catch me with my pants down, but no one has yet.

As The Pale King was blown backward by the first bolt, it was already over. As he was ricocheted around the room like a pinball, by the time the spell was drained for mana, there was no more than ash and loot left.