The target is…

The target is…

The target is Nevin, a level 121 dark elf.

Him.

The dark elf in question was one of the weakest possessed I’d analyzed, and if shatter worked as I expected, he wouldn’t put up much resistance.

Fashioning a spear of my will, I flung it against the possessed.

You have cast slaysight (shatter).

Nevin has failed a mental resistance check!

You have weakened your target’s mental defenses by 70% for 60 seconds.

Thirty yards away, the dark elf staggered back. His eyes wide, the mage spun around to stare in the direction of the fountain.

A hostile entity has failed to detect you! You are hidden.

My face set, I shaped a second psi spear and tossed it at the possessed.

You have shattered Nevin’s mental defenses! Remaining duration: 58 seconds.

The dark elf’s mouth worked soundlessly. He’s about to scream, I thought. I didn’t intend on giving him the chance, though. Massing more psi, I swamped the mage’s mind with my will.

You have paralyzed your target for 60 seconds.

Nevin froze, his mouth open, and his eyes unblinking. I drew more psi. Ideally, I would’ve wanted to bespell the mage immediately after shattering his defenses, but alas, charm was a significantly slower spell than slaysight.

A few seconds later, the spell was ready, and I drove my will into the doomed mage’s mind, replacing one bewitchment with another.

Nevin is no longer paralyzed.

You have charmed your target for 20 seconds.

The dark elf’s mouth closed with a snap, and obedient to my will, he swiveled around and sent magical fire coursing toward a nearby mage.

“Dem, watch out! Nevin’s joined the warriors!”

“The bastard, I’ll kill him.”

Chuckling to myself, I turned away in search of another target.

✵ ✵ ✵

By the time the last fighter fell, seventy mages were dead, most of whom had died due to my intervention rather than the doings of the hapless warriors.

I’d picked my targets meticulously, choosing relatively low level mages whose defenses I could overwhelm quickly. Even so, I could tell Mersk, and Avery realized something was amiss, yet they were unable to pinpoint what. After all, all my victims’ shields were visibly intact.

But, while the outcome was better than expected, it still left me with one hundred and twenty foes to deal with.

And I was nearly out of tricks.

That was not to say I wasn’t confident about my chances against the remaining mages. Yes, one hundred and twenty spellcasters were a lot, and yes, magic was unpredictable, but truly, I had feared the fighters more. There was little I could do to stop a warrior’s charge or a ranger’s arrow—except get out of the way, and that was not so easy when there were scores of attacks to worry about.

Against spellcasters, on the other hand, I had my void armor to depend on. It gave me advantages most wouldn’t expect. All of which went a long way to explain my confidence. That was not to say I expected things to be easy, though.

A hundred and twenty mages were a lot, after all.

“Well, glorious leader, what now?” I heard a witch ask, her mouth twisting unhappily.

“Yeah,” another muttered, “this was supposed to be easy.”

“And look at us now. Almost three hundred down, and no closer to winning.”

Mersk scowled. “It will be easy; the scion has nowhere left to hide.”

“Then where is he?” an angry mage shouted.

“Bah!” Avery spat. “We’ll find the bastard. Recover your mana, then we’ll hunt the scion and put an end to him once and for all.”

“That’s what you said before,” the witch observed sourly.

It did not require any great intuition to know the possessed were near breaking. Avery, Mersk, and a few more might still be confident about their chances, but the others were wavering. All it would take was another well-placed blow.

It was time to shatter the enemy—and in more ways than one. Drawing in psi, I picked my target.

“We should rest in cycles,” Avery suggested. Do you want to take the first watch, Mersk, or should I?”

You have cast slaysight (shatter).

Mersk has failed a mental resistance check!

You have weakened your target’s mental defenses by 10% for 60 seconds.

The elite’s eyes widened.

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Smiling grimly, I hit him again.

You have reduced Mersk’s mental defenses to 80%! Remaining duration: 58 seconds.

“Mersk?” Avery prompted.

The elite’s eyes narrowed. “The bastard is attacking my mind.”

Avey’s brows drew down. “Where is he?” he demanded fiercely.

The elite turned about to face the fountain. “He’s—”

You have reduced Mersk’s mental defenses to 70%! Remaining duration: 56 seconds.

“I’m over here,” I said mildly, using ventro to make it appear as if I was at the southern end of the Circle.

One hundred and nineteen mages spun in that direction.

“Or am I here?” I asked, letting my voice emerge from the east this time.

You have reduced Mersk’s mental defenses to 60%!

“No, you fools, he’s playing tricks!” Mersk hissed, stalking closer to the fountain. “Don’t listen to him.” Raising a finger, he pointed unerringly in my direction. “He’s there!”

You have reduced Mersk’s mental defenses to 50%!

The mages spun back to face the fountain, but instead of attacking as the elite no doubt expected, many backed away while the more fearful scattered.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you! You are hidden.

I laughed. “There’s no escape,” I said from the west.

You have reduced Mersk’s mental defenses to 40%!

“Imbeciles,” Avery growled, even as mana gathered in Mersk’s hands. “Reveal him!”

Obediently, a handful of mages began chanting. Ignoring them, I stayed focused on the elite.

You have reduced Mersk’s mental defenses to 30%!

Stone has cast revealing light.

Ensyn has cast pulse of scouring dark.

You have failed a magical resistance check! Multiple hostile entities have detected you! You are no longer hidden.

“There he is!” Avery snarled as the shadows from me. “Get him!”

Dozens of possessed lowered their staffs and wands in my direction. They didn’t worry me, though. Mersk did. He’d not stopped furiously whispering the words of whatever spell he’d begun earlier.

Breaking off my attacks against the elite for a moment, I began another casting.

You have cast windborne.

A wave of destruction descended upon me—fireballs, ice missiles, lightning bolts, darkness rays, and so on. Trusting in my void armor to handle those I failed to dodge, I hopped onto the windslide and spiraled upward.

You have evaded 36 hostile spells.

Your void armor has repelled 6 magical attacks!

Your void armor has reduced the damage sustained from 9 magical projectiles.

Void armor charge remaining: 58%. Your health has decreased to 53%.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a heartbeat, relieved I’d survived the spate of attacks. The possessed had had their chance and squandered it.

Depressing the trigger held tightly in my left hand, I vanished from sight again.

A blot of darkness trap has been activated.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you! You are hidden.

“God damn!” Avery shrieked. “How could you idiots miss!”

Borne aloft by the air ramp, I floated through the billowing clouds of darkness. Errant spells passed me by, flung more in hope than anything else. Paying them no heed, I kept my gaze fixed on Mersk.

He hadn’t broken off from his casting.

Time to hit him again.

You have reduced Mersk’s mental defenses to 20%! Remaining duration: 35 seconds.

“Reveal the scion again!” Avery snapped.

The elite raised his hands in the air. His spell was completed, I suspected. Anticipating what was coming, I wove psi in readiness.

“I’ll take care of this,” Mersk roared. “Die wolf!” The elite brought his hands down.

At the same instant, I blinked.

Mersk has cast meteor shower.

You have teleported into Gagin’s shadow.

Fire and brimstone hammered down from the sky, obliterating not just the fountain but every possessed in close proximity. I was not there, though.

Celon has died.

Zurash has died.

…

….

The mage in whose shadow I’d jumped whirled around, his eyes round with fear. I ignored him, having no interest in killing him just yet, and triggered the remote in my other hand.

A blot of darkness trap has been activated.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you! You are hidden.

At the appearance of the second black cloud, Mersk spun around, his eyes swimming with hate. He realized he’d missed. I smiled grimly. Mersk, too, had had his shot. Now, it was my turn.

You have reduced Mersk’s mental defenses to 10%! Remaining duration: 27 seconds.

The elite raised his staff. His hands were shaking, though. He knows its over.

You have shattered Mersk’s mental defenses! Remaining duration: 25 seconds.

Vines shot out of the end of the elite’s staff and raced across the intervening space, but before they could reach me, they sagged lifelessly to the ground as my next spell took effect.

You have charmed Mersk for 20 seconds.

“Attack,” I rasped, pointing my new elite minion toward Avery.

Not waiting to observe the outcome, I rushed forward. In less than twenty seconds, Mersk’s mental defenses would renew themselves, and before that happened, I had one last spell to enact against him.

I burst out of the dark cloud, my feet flying over the ground.

Avery’s hand snapped up. “There he is! Get—”

He broke off as a bar of liquid heat rammed into him.

Your minion’s scorching fire has hit Avery.

Avery’s shield has blocked your minion’s attack.

“Mersk, what are you doing?” Avery screeched.

A second jet of flames hit him.

I drew psi. Around me, possessed yelled—some in fear, some in anger—and a few even leveled their weapons at me. I kept running, staying focused on my target.

More angry flames laid into Avery, and finally realizing he wouldn’t talk sense into the elite, he began retaliating against Mersk.

It was already too late for that, though.

Avery’s shield has been destroyed!

Perfect, I thought. I was less than six yards from the defenseless mage. “Kill,” I ordered, setting Mersk against another possessed while I dealt with the other Scum leader.

Only four yards separated me from Avery now. His staff held loosely, the possessed stared at me with a stunned expression.

If only you had learned wisdom earlier.

Leaping the final three yards, I covered the remaining distance to Avery in a single bound. Faithful flashed out. The possessed made no attempt to dodge, and the bright blade plunged straight through his heart.

You have killed Avery with a fatal blow!

I landed atop the corpse as a spattering of spells hit me from the rear. Ignoring them, I rolled clear. It was time for the second half of my gambit. Releasing the psi I held ready, I flung it at Mersk.

Mersk is no longer charmed.

You have paralyzed your target for 60 seconds.

“The bastard has killed Avery!”

“Mersk is bewitched!”

“By the Powers, what is he?”

Terror was running rampant through the remaining mages, but there would be enough time to deal with them later. For now, it was the elite I had to take care of.

You have teleported into Mersk’s shadow.

Removing yet another stone bottle from my bomber’s belt, I smashed it against the ground.

You have ignited a smoke bomb, creating a smoke cloud.

You are hidden.

It was time to end things.

Raising faithful up high, I began hacking into the elite’s shield. Sooner or later, I would win through. And that would truly mark the beginning of the end for the Scum.