Mash had dealt with three armies so far. None had caused him any trouble. His own skill was the hardest thing to manage, and he needed to take a break after the second army. The energy cost was just too much to handle. He had needed to recover, even if the armies didn’t touch him. Each army just collapsed and broke apart as soon as he used the aspect. He was leaving a trail of dead bodies. Although for each person he left dead, there were a dozen others who had been saved. Freed from the bonds of slavery. However, he had left them like that. He didn’t offer them a new path and realized with some discomfort that he couldn’t. His brand had a strange effect on what he could and couldn’t do. One of the things he couldn't do, was offer any direction to the slaves he freed.

Logically, he knew that they would listen. Whether out of fear or misguided worship, they would treat his words like commands. And he knew it. The brand knew it, and it stopped him. When he had tried, his mind just couldn’t formulate the right words. Even Priscilla was restricted by it. So, he had left every army to deal with its own consequences. The slavers he killed directly would only be a fraction of the total bodies left behind him. He didn’t even know if the slaves would be able to maintain their freedom, though he didn’t feel any signs of slavery behind him. That was some reassurance since he could still feel them before him.

He was heading to the densest group that he could sense. The map hadn’t actually marked it, so he guessed it was a city rather than an army. It wasn’t part of his assigned duties, but he wasn’t going to turn away. It was too close for him to ignore. It was an affront to his very purpose, and he wanted nothing more than to remove it. More than just that, it would be immoral to ignore it. Like abandoning a small child to drown when he could easily save them.

The snowstorm had passed, and he flew through unblemished skies. The sun was out but only barely. The mountains that surrounded the northern territories brought an early end to the day. Sunlight streamed between the mountains. It highlighted his path, and certainly made his presence more noticeable than it already was. His domain let him spot more than a few people. Hunters or scouts who stalked him through the snow and trees beneath. Their attempts at stealth were laughable to him, even though they would’ve worked on nearly anyone else. He ignored them since they couldn’t keep up, and the city was close now.

As Mash crossed the next mountain, he saw the city. He didn’t really see it with his eyes, but with the sense imparted to him by the aspect. It was essentially a color that seemed to stain space around the city. As if someone used the wrong color of paint on the skies themselves. He flew slightly higher to get a better look at the mountain where the city was. It wasn’t a particularly unique mountain. Some trees grew along its slopes, though it was covered in the same stone as every other. The only strange aspect was that the peak of the mountain seemed as if it were cut off. Although, the last city he had been to in the north was similar. The people had replaced the peak with a vent to expel heat.

That assumption was proven wrong as the mountain entered his domain. The city wasn’t built within a mountain. It was built on a volcano. Well, within the opening at the top, though he didn’t know what that was called. A large amount of cooled and thick stone separated the city from the magma within. It was likely still hot, and he understood how the city managed to ignore the otherwise freezing temperatures. Even if that was convenient and safe, he couldn’t imagine who would want to live on a volcano. That seemed a little reckless, but who was he to judge people on recklessness?

He flew overtop the city, only halting when he felt his domain clash with another. This domain was a semi-spherical space around the city. As soon as Mash touched it, he knew what it was, and who ruled it. Not the exact person, but the throne of power that occupied the space. It wasn’t a literal fact, but a feeling of what the nature of the power was. He felt a chill across his neck. Instinctively, his hand rose to tear the collar from his neck. There was nothing there, yet the feeling of cold metal remained. It was not pleasant, but he understood. This was the throne of shackles or collars. Just as he knew that the holder of that throne would know what Mash was. Mash spoke, his voice echoed across the minds of the city’s denizens. It wasn’t even hard with his new attributes.

“I am here to free you.”

Then he reached for the aspect again. He had practiced with live tests against the past army and could stop the power from affecting Priscilla now. Not fully, but enough that it didn’t do any real damage. His domain tightened around Priscilla, but he stopped when he heard another person. A voice rose through the skies as a man followed them. He didn’t fly. Instead, long chains lifted him from the mountain like a spider’s legs. They formed into a glorified seat beneath the man, and Mash realized the truth. It was the throne of chains, and here was the king who held it.

The king was a skinny man. Thin and wiry like the chains that held him up. His skin was even tinted grey like metal. A physical change in relation to his class, probably meant that the man was physically tougher than he seemed. The man didn’t have hair but had chains coiled around the top of his head to form a tall crown. Unsurprisingly the man wore thick chainmail armor. It covered his body so completely, that his skin was nearly completely hidden. Other than the little bit of skin that showed around his eyes, Mash couldn’t see much else about the man.

“You think I will just let you do that.”

His voice was deep and echoing. Whenever his teeth touched it sounded like swords clashing. It stressed his words in odd ways. Mash looked at confidence and wondered where it came from. Mash felt like his power countered the king. Even if it didn’t, all Mash needed to do was use the aspect. He didn’t need to fight. If he freed the slaves that alone would be enough to dismantle the kingdom.

The king’s words ended with a jerking motion as he lunged toward Mash abruptly. The world around them seemed to fizz and vanish, and the king halted when it did. The warping of the world startled Mash. They had been teleported somewhere. His domain adjusted quickly, and the lack of headache was surprising too. Wherever they were it was pretty empty. The ground beneath his feet was simple. A long grassland with a river running through it. The skies were empty, and he noticed that there were no other people around. In fact, there were no animals or monsters either. It was just him and the king, and Mash couldn’t help but ask.

“Where are we?”

He thought about it for a second and the answer came to him. This was where the high-level people got teleported to for fights. He had forgotten about that since it hadn’t been applied yet. That was why the king had closed the distance. In order to trap Mash in this fight. It kind of worked. Mash could escape with his portals, not that he felt the need.

“This won’t save you. You can feel my aspects. They kind of counter yours.”

Mash didn’t use Priscilla to help his voice carry. There was nothing here besides the two of them. Even though there was a large space between the two of them, they could hear one another clearly. Mash’s domain didn’t fully fill the space, but it was large enough that the king was well within its limits. The chains around the king’s body and within his throne were shifting. Moving as the king rose slightly higher. He didn’t fly but his range of movement seemed nearly as complete as Mash. The chains around the king’s mouth loosened to reveal a confident smile.

“You understand so little. You know I sensed your appearance. Do you think I would not have prepared for this? That I would not know what your aspects might do to my throne. You have made several mistakes coming here. First, your aspect does not counter mine, it is the other way around. Second, you can barely touch upon that power, whereas I own mine. Lastly, you only just reached my level. I have been here for over half a century.”

The king spoke imperiously, his chin turned up as his throne rose to Mash’s height. Mash opened his mouth to retort and found it empty. He turned to Priscilla in that instant.

[Any good comeback?]

[If you are turning to me for verbal wordplay, then I suggest you give up on it entirely.]

Her response made him close his mouth. Well, that was a fair point. He was better at fighting than talking, and there were more than a few things he was eager to use. Things he hadn’t gotten to practice yet. Like the new ways, he could combine his magic. Although, while hadn’t done much testing, Priscilla had been exploring it. She outlined a few possible combinations he could use to strike the king. Mash chose one and didn’t bother with the reply anymore.

His hand flew up, his palm open toward the king. The man’s eyes widened slightly, but even at level 200; one couldn’t just dodge lightning. Light filled the space between them, illuminating the skies in brown and green for a moment. The flash subsided and the king let out a grunt of pain. Mash could see what had happened with his domain before his eyes adjusted. The king stared in disbelief as blood ran from a wound along one of his shoulders. A streak of wood spread from his ground and ran through the man’s shoulder and chains like they weren’t even there. It went past him breaking and lancing into the ground.

Mash stared in awe at his own attack. An upside-down tree extended from his palm and stabbed into the ground beneath in a devasting moment of destruction. Long, thin branches of dense brown wood spread from an equally thin extension. Unlike regular lightning, his attack hadn’t resulted in the expected roar of thunder. Instead, it had left the tree in its wake. Mash couldn’t stop a toothy smile from spreading across his face. That attack was large, powerful, and everything he had hoped. His attack had bypassed the man’s armor seeming to travel through him like regular lightning. Only after it had completed its path, the wood just formed piercing through everything along the path. The attack had gone far too.

Mash thought he understood why the system changed at this level of power. If he still leveled like normal, he could massacre entire cities for them easily. As it turned out, he wasn’t leveling from killing people. Even the slavers that had died hadn’t given him a single level. Either it took significantly stronger opponents, or the more likely situation, there was an alternative method. He looked at the king and his smile grew wider. He thought that the king might give him a level or two.