Nathan

Year 2850 | Month 12 | Day 18

Baroness Nightshade quickly flees through the air, using her soul magic to fly through the air almost as if she were to be on top of her spell circles. But I know that she’s merely using her spells to make herself float by controlling her own soul. Something that is actually rather impressive in its own right.

It also misleads some people into believing that destroying the spell circle beneath her feet will do something to stop her from flying. Which it won’t.

I manage to gain ground, or rather, height on her rather quickly as I jump from one ledge to another on the wall. Sometimes even making my own little ledges to grip onto by digging my claws forcefully into the wall.

And when I reach the top of the wall, I put as much strength as I can in my legs before jumping straight through the air towards the magician. Shattering one barrier made of soul energy after another that appears in my way. All the way till I reach her and reach straight for her back, tearing my hand straight into it.

Before I can successfully grab ahold of her heart, though, I feel that same splitting pain as before and lose the strength in my hand as my mind almost goes blank. And by the time I regain full consciousness again, I find myself already falling towards the ground.

My efforts weren’t in vain though, since I’m not the only one falling. The baroness is also falling straight towards the ground, her wound clearly proving too much for her to focus on her spell casting.

Then my eyes narrow as I fall, spotting the baroness’s body glowing a faint white and black color.

What is she…

Seriously?

The wound in her back sealed up. Of course, she’s still screaming in the process, so she can’t have done any real healing, but it’s no longer loosing blood.

Guess that really is possible for soul magicians to do. Forcefully ‘heal’ by tearing away from their own soul to do it. Thereby ripping apart some of their life force.

And doing one of the most reprehensible things in the eyes of a magician.

Shortening her lifespan.

Huh.

She really wants to get away.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

No magician ever even so much as considers shortening their lifespan. It’s a precious thing to most magicians since it’s finite.

The biggest hurdle for magicians and the biggest reason for their desire of my secrets.

I watch for a few seconds as I continue falling down towards the ground, unable to do anything as I’m out of mana and even I can’t jump midair without a spell. Leaving me unable to do anything but helplessly shoot at her with my rifle, with the bullets being blocked by more barriers as the necromancer activates another spell and continues floating away.

At the same time, I notice all of the undead beneath us collapsing like puppets whose strings were cut. The baroness no doubt focusing everything she has on fleeing now.

Damn. I really wasn’t expecting her to try so hard fleeing.

I helplessly watch her float away for several seconds right before I hit the ground, the woman having reached a point way too high for me to reach now even if I tried climbing the wall again.

Am I really going to have to let her go? She will absolutely come for vengeance in the future. No magician would ever sit by and let their lifespan be shortened without getting payback.

Even if she doesn’t do it directly to me.

Most likely she’ll go after people I care about.

It’s just how magicians are.

I grit my teeth and try to climb the wall again anyways, only for it to prove just as pointless as I expected. Even as I shoot my rifle midair while going up.

Right when I’m about to profess this a lost cause though, a black light shines in the form of a streak through the sky straight towards the baroness. And just as quickly as it’d arrived, it passes through her body and out the injury I caused. An injury that was merely sealed and not healed.

Then my eyes finally make out what the black streak is. Not that I needed to see her to know.

Considering the black flames she was clearly coated in.

I smile as I fall back to the ground, landing on my feet this time. And just seconds later, Incendia lands on my outstretched arm with a nod.

‘Good job,’ I tell her through our bond. ‘You got any news on the rest of the battle?’

‘The necromancers actions caused some chaos, but the general is handling it, and the chaos wasn’t just on our side,’ she answers as I turn to look in the direction of Crimson. ‘And the deaths of so many of their barons are causing a lot of them to flee, deserting the battlefield entirely and evening the playfield.’

That’s to be expected. Most of the soldiers of these barons really don’t want to work for them.

They often have no choice. It’s work for them, starve to death, go to the inner ring and possibly die there instead, or be killed.

Really depends on which baron it is that they’re near.

“Sounds good,” I state out loud while beginning to walk in the direction of the fortress Crimson is at. A fortress that is a lot quieter now than it was before.

I also don’t smell any more poison from that direction while I do smell fire. Which means it’s likely that the battle is over, and the poison magician is dead.

Any and all soldiers I pass by on my way either run away in terror at the sight of me or freeze up in terror. Which makes me glance down at myself to find more than a little blood practically splattered all over me.

Particularly around my right hand and my mouth and throat.

Meh.

I continue walking without paying any mind to the blood.

And when I arrive at the fortress, I find a surprising sight.

“You didn’t kill him?” I ask while tilting my head, staring at the sight of Crimson standing around giving orders to his soldiers who are tying up the unconscious poison magician.

Unexpected.