Page 76 of The Misfit Mage and His Dashing Devil

Mages gathered in larger numbers, clearly using the portals to swiftly arrive at the headquarters and funnel out the front. Lingering mana in the distance showed they wanted to flank us. Pretty coordinated, given the surprise assault. Though, they probably figured a ruthless and reckless devil like myself would’ve done this eventually.

I flew at blurring speed, making eye contact with every mage before me, one by one, until I had nearly fifty locked in my nightmarish gaze. Time stilled. The world practically froze as I analyzed their psyches, plucking at the chords of their inner horrors. Magnifying their worst fears, I dropped nearly every vanguard and sentinel mage in seconds.

“No, devil. I want them dead!” Ian snapped, whipping fire at the mages behind him.

I huffed. So much for a sneak attack. Useless fucking mages. Cracking my knuckles, I tightened a fist and pulled Ian’s discarded flames into my grasp. Fueling the tiny blazes with my essence, I threw black fire at the immobilized mages.

Water burst from every window of the Regiment Headquarters, creating a huge tidal wave aimed at me. I spun the most brutal waves aside with telekinesis and froze the water, circling me into black ice.

Two of the chancellors from the tribunal descended into the battle, blades in their hands and incantations at the ready. The best of the best from the vanguard and the sentinel regiments.

“Finally.” Ian soared past me. “And the one I want dead most is here, too. Fortune favors the bold.”

Ugh. Everything out of his mouth was nauseating and trite. Even his movements, while skilled in the swift conjuring of a sword through incantation, lacked elegance when he slashed at the sentinel chancellor and guarded against the newly appointed magus. Ian was so prosaic.

I returned to my commands, harnessing the black flames to melt the ice and kill all my foes. A pink shroud cloaked the immobilized mages. The plump panacea chancellor made her way to the center of fallen comrades, radiating a healing aura. Not only was she working to tend to their injuries—futile considering the psychological depth I’d ripped into—but she coated the pink shroud with the water on the ground. It sizzled against my black flames, unable to smother the blaze but keeping it at bay.

“Chancellor Russo,” an injured mage woke from his nightmare, struggling to sit upright. “You can’t be here. It’s too dangerous.”

“I cannot heal the dead,” she said, weaving tiny incantations which she whisked through the air, distantly linking to other mages. “Clearly, my assistance is required here.”

She kept her eyes locked on mine, mana saturated in her pupils, making it challenging to reach inside and pull her nightmares forward. Quite masterful how she protected herself while also repairing the damage to the psyche I’d caused in others. She’d found the neurons I’d threaded with my Diabolic essence and began to repair them.

Almost as clever as Walter and obviously better at composing herself in a stressful situation. Shame I had to kill her. But orders were orders, and the longer I resisted Ian’s commands, the more my body turned in on itself, insides stabbing me for remaining idle. Soon my essence would supersede all my will to obey.

I raced toward Chancellor Russo, talons drawn and ready to tear out her throat. Walls of rock burst from the earth, mixed with concrete and soot from the fiery ashes. The half-healed mages sprang from their nightmares, immediately collaborating to provide the chancellor a buffer from my assault. I groaned, feral and annoyed, the closest word-like thing I could muster.

Slashing at the rocky barriers, I broke through wall after wall. Every wall I tore down was replaced by two more. The healing glow continued radiating further, reviving mages I’d incapacitated, each adding their magic to defend the chancellor, who in turn revitalized their depleted mana. While killing her would render the rest immobilized, it proved rather complicated to reach her through the elemental defenses.

My skin itched, essence squirming under my host, shredding the meat of this body. I grimaced. Every ticking second I went without fulfilling Ian’s command caused my body to further betray itself. Flapping my wings, I released a gust of black wind, stealing the air around the mages. I flew close to the ground, evading the walls meant to guard the chancellor, and ripped apart those protecting her.

Chancellor Russo’s pink aura continued healing severe wounds, treating deep gashes like they were mere scratches, so I moved into more brutal attacks even the best panacea mage would struggle to reverse.

I kicked in a mage’s skull. The crunch beneath my heel sent a tingling shiver up my leg and through my spine. Death lessened the erratic resistance of my essence. I grabbed a second mage, snapping his neck. Quick and simple, yet efficient. The stabbing prickles beneath my skin stopped. In a blur, I impaled two mages, removing their hearts as pink mist sealed the open wound. Not a lot of good it’d do to stop the blood loss since I’d removed the source to pump their blood.

The pain subsided once I slaughtered a few mages. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, heightening the bliss which came from killing, not a satisfactory joy but a calm from obeying commands. Screams flooded me with dopamine as I hacked through fallen mages. Ripping off limbs. Breaking skulls. Shattering spines. Anything and everything too fatal for Chancellor Russo to mend. I continued tearing through the street, eviscerating everyone in my path, mage after mage, until the barriers guarding the chancellor had all but fallen.

There were too many walls to break down, but their placement had thinned, so I darted ahead, flying between the fallen layers. I raised my talons.

“I think not.” The artificer chancellor dropped from above, landing squarely between Russo and my claws.

Despite magnifying the essence in my claws, it didn’t so much as scratch the metallic shield the old bag held.

“I’ve been preparing since you ripped through my door during the tribunal.”

Insufferable. I slashed at the metal infused with incantations which reinforced the strength. Nothing. The most I managed was catching a whiff of her mana saturated in the enchanted item.

Unable to break through this shield, I zipped back and flew high above. If I couldn’t break her crafted tool, I’d stretch past its reach and strike down the panacea chancellor.

“Russo!” the artificer chancellor shouted, shield dropped and eyes darting about the field.

The faintest hint of a moving shadow lingered where Chancellor Russo had stood mere seconds ago. I blinked, and that wispy shadow had vanished. Peculiar.

“What have you done to Russo, devil?” The artificer chancellor rushed toward me, shield in tow bulldozing through the slew of corpses between us.

Me? I hadn’t done anything to the damned healer chancellor. Not for lack of effort. Something about that subtle shadow stuck with me as I dodged the old mages barrage.

A sharp sting hit my neck. Simply a light scratch, but enough to pull my focus. Ian. Our link sent his pain my way.

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