Ends of Magic
Chapter 31: Breaking Faith

Sarah rubbed at her forehead, examining the body of the archmage. “Hear me, I think she was backup for the other team. Or at least supposed be the true attack to their feint."

She grinned, teeth flashing in the darkness. “Well. We smothered that fire.”

“Why didn’t she participate in the fight before?” Khachi asked, frowning and scratching at his chin.

That's right. I did spot her, right before the fire elemental attacked. But her mental mojo convinced me I didn't.

Sarah shot a look at her brother, who was still swinging his new ax around. “I would bet dragon bones to stalker teeth she was surprised by Brox’s speed, and he killed the Nail, the only one she probably cared about. After that, she watched Nathan fight and chose to strike with surprise.”

Nathan grunted in agreement as he went through the archmage’s pockets, disarming what traps he could and setting the rest aside. “She's definitely paranoid as hell. Who keeps explosives in their sleeves?”

Sarah chuckled and raised her hand before pointing down the slope at the charred landscape below. “Then the Elemental attacked. She must have retreated rather than draw its attention. After that, she decided it would be best to attack when only one person was awake.”

The copper-skinned woman shrugged, her black ponytail bouncing vaguely behind her head in the darkness. “That’s my best shot. I’m glad Nathan was on watch.”

Aarl joined them, a faint sheen of sweat on his skin. “So am I. What a weapon. It’s perfectly weighted to throw!” His arm snapped forward with a faint whistling sound before a large rock upslope of them split in half with a flash of black light. The cut edge of the stone appeared faintly melted.

“I’m still connected to it for a few seconds after it leaves my hands, so I know exactly where it lands.” Aarl explained, walking over to the rock and picking up the invisible weapon from the far side of the bisected boulder before stowing it in one of his dimensional pouches.

His sister’s voice was sarcastic. “Just don’t cut yourself on it. Necromancy of Quaz would be worse than the poison dad used to train us not to grab things by the sharp end.”

Aarl chuckled. “Yeah, that just gave us the shits.” He shook his head in exasperation. “Where do you even get a weapon poison that gives somebody shits?”

Nathan blinked down at a notecard he’d just disarmed. It had been enchanted to explode with force equal to a large fireball when somebody flipped it open. The outside said “Details Within” in an even hand. Inside was just a note that said. “Details.”

“Huh. Definitely a spy and her bag of tricks.” Nathan was separating out the belongings into three piles, and he noticed the Heirs growing increasingly interested in them as each pile grew. “Somebody wake up Stella. She’ll want to see all of this.”

Khachi cleared his throat and walked over to Stella, shaking the mage gently and beckoning her to join them.

“Huh? Whazzat?” she said, rubbing her eyes and looking blearily down at the the three piles of stuff alongside the corpse.

“Archmage.” Nathan said with a smirk. “Tried to kill me while I was on watch. Didn’t go well for her.” He gestured at the three piles. “Loot. The first pile is probably safe. The second pile is maybe safe. The third pile is definitely not safe.”

All of the dimensional bags were in the third pile, which was the largest by far. It also held all of the magical grenades, which felt distinctly unstable to Nathan. Like they'd been designed to go off with minimal handling.

Stella just blinked at him for a second. “Huh.” Then she squinted at the piles. “Yeah, amazing. It won't melt into the air, so can I go back to sleep?”

Khachi raised one expressive eyebrow. “And forfeit this hoard to Brox? You are also needed to dispose of the body, I would not invite the elemental out of the dungeon once again.”

Stella shot a look over to Brox’s tent, waking up a bit more. There hadn't been any activity from the Questor since he'd entered his camouflaged shelter. “Right. Yes. Dragon’s breath. Let’s do this.”

Over the next fifteen minutes Nathan stripped the Archmage of all her valuables before Khachi and Stella took her body a short distance away and buried it deep underground with earth mana.

Good way to deny the body as a scry focus.

Nathan spoke up as they returned, pitching his voice so all of the Heirs could hear. “My second class hit 81.”

Sarah paused in scanning down the pass with her rifle to give him a disbelieving look. “You gained that class this week?””

Nathan shrugged in response, snapping a knife whose handle would turn into a poisoned blade if it was ever drawn from its sheath. He looked up to meet Khachi’s eyes as they weighed on him. “Killed a lot of mages since then. Including an Archmage. If it’s any consolation, I think it’s slowed down the levels on [Implacable Antimage].”

Though more because of how I’ve been fighting than any kind of experience splitting. I wouldn’t have been doing much assassinating without the class.

Nathan sorted through a few more items, tossing the real weapons aside to be cursebroken later while he destroyed those whose only purpose was to punish the unwary.

I wonder if she just really wanted to be sure she got whoever killed her, or if she was in the habit of handing trapped items out to people. Maybe as training? I could see her giving things to people and them being very unsure if it was useful, useful but trapped, or entirely just a trap.

Aarl continued the conversation with a humorous lilt to his voice. “Pardon my ax, but will you tell us your choices?”

Confused by his friend’s tone, Nathan glanced up once more to see Aarl waving his invisible ax around, a shit-eating grin on his face as he pivoted around the invisible weapon.

“Yeah, sure.” Nathan chuckled, shaking his head at his friend's antics. “Only two choices, which makes sense since it’s only been a few days since I hit 27. [Magekiller] helps me fight and kill mages. Says it’ll let me fight the most powerful magic-wielders The other one is [Master Assassin of Gemore]. More stealth, and it will let me change my appearance.”

He grimaced. “It’ll also give me a persuasion skill.”

The Heirs looked around at each other grim faces. Stella’s lips thinned as she pressed them together, holding in her reaction.

Yeah, she’d hate that. With good reason, what with Taeol’s mind control and Brox’s social skills being so recent.

Aarl let loose a deep sigh, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Well. That’s a prophecy of smoke and blood, isn’t it.” He waved his hand as if abdicating responsibility. “Do as your flame calls.”

“Remember my mother’s words.” Khachi’s voice was deep, his gaze intent as embers of light woke in his eyes. “Be sure your Path leads to a place you wish to go. Think of what each class means to you.”

Sarah just shrugged. “Give my words the weight you will, but you’re going to Giantsrest on your own after the battle. Seems like [Master Assassin of Gemore] is closer to the target for that. But for the battle itself, [Magekiller] to strike the foe.”

Nathan shot a look at Stella but she just shook her head, refusing to say anything.

They don't seem to want to give advice on this class choice as much. I think it's more emblematic of the Path they won't follow me down. If I take [Master Assassin of Gemore] then I'm really diverging. Maybe too far to easily rejoin them after Giantsrest.

He blew a breath out, surveying all of the items he still had to go over. “I’ll think about it. I’ll tell you what I choose. For now, let’s go through all of this stuff.”

They went back to sorting through the loot, finding a hilarious number of weapons disguised as common objects. There was a set of fancy self-filling pens containing several colors of ink - which doubled as paralytic or lethal poisons. A makeup kit contained a hand mirror that cast a strong [Sleep] spell on anybody who looked into it, while the brush would blind anybody who wasn’t the registered user.

Going through the possessions of such a paranoid person served to change the subject effectively. Soon enough Nathan and Stella were chuckling over the more bizarre items while Sarah kept watch. Khachi returned to bed, and Aarl stored the more mundane items Stella didn’t want cluttering up her own dimensional bags.

Like the piles of money. And to be fair, Stella’s got so much wealth in magical crystals that mundane coins do seem kind of meaningless.

Nathan came to the conclusion that the magical grenades were too unstable for use and drained them entirely, tossing the metal shells aside with a frustrated huff and funneling the mana into his skin-strengthening efforts.

It’s been a while since there was an enchantment that defeated me enough that the best solution was just destroying it. But I think a super-paranoid archmage willing to blow herself up rather than have her own weapons turned against her is a bit of an exception. I bet she had a skill to not get killed by her own arsenal.

The dimensional bags were similarly tricky. They were enchanted to only open to Cala’s magical signature, and would seal themselves and break the enchantment if tampered with at all. The whole thing was so well-integrated that Nathan just decided to pop the dimensional enchantments instead of risk losing whatever was inside of the bags. The Heirs had storage space to spare, and wanted what was in the bags more than the bags themselves.

That decision was rewarded by veritable mountains of valuable materials and magical items. Every time Nathan broke open a new bag and found a new pile of magical items he sighed, since it required even more work from him to clear each item.

Magical Intuition 8 achieved!

It took a couple of hours to finish going through the loot. Finally Nathan stood, massaging at imaginary pains and dusting off his hands. He looked up at the glorious night sky overhead as Sarah finished shoveling the last bag’s mundane contents into her own dimensional storage spaces. It appeared Cala’s guilty pleasure was soap, as the woman had kept a veritable cornucopia of fine scented soaps scattered across a few of her bags.

“Well. That’s enough wealth to buy your parent’s house.” Sarah commented, waving her hand towards Stella.

The mage flashed a smile as she fished out a magical crystal that they’d found about an hour ago. It was a cloudy chunk of off-blue, and faint tendrils of electricity played through the material. “Ah, but this wealth can fight for me in a way a house cannot.” She held the crystal up, and the interior bolts grew brighter and more intense as she channeled magic into it. “Lightning Citrine. What a beautiful stone.”

“Might want to put that away. It probably smells delicious to that fire elemental. The light’s also pretty obvious.” Nathan commented, ambling towards his bedroll. “I’m going to bed. Who’s taking over watch?

“If we’re going to survive the next Nail, we’ll want to watch in pairs.” Sarah said through a yawn, looking around as she headed for her own bed. “Except for Nathan. You've got the skills to stare that ghoul in the eye by yourself.” She prodded her brother awake.

Aarl swatted back at her before shaking Khachi awake, yawning mightily. Both of them had gone back to sleep after the second dimensional bag, and now they were ready to take over watch until morning.

Stella yawned in response tp Aar;, and soon all of them were yawning in a circle.

The rest of the Heirs went to bed. If any of them shot significant looks Nathan’s way, he didn’t see it.

He lay in bed, thinking of his class choice.

Honestly, my gut is telling me to take [Magekiller] because the persuasion skill from [Master Assassin of Gemore] will freak out Stella, and that Path takes me farther away from the Heirs. I'll also need to be careful about anybody figuring out I have it. I think the Heirs will understand and maybe even get over it, but it’ll still change my relationship with them in ways I don’t want.

He rolled over, trying to move past his initial reaction and go over other reasons to pick one class over the other.

Sarah was right. [Master Assassin] is better for infiltrating Giantsrest, but [Magekiller] will be better for the battle. I think that’s kind of a wash, since I’ll also want to be better at killing powerful mages in Giantsrest, and stealth might be important to ambushing the army that's coming.

What about what Khachi said? Kia told me to keep in mind the consequences of my actions, and watch the direction my Path is taking me. What are the different paths of these different classes?

Nathan tried to leave the question aside and go to sleep. He was tempted to meditate and try to ignore the choice, but decided to face it head-on instead.

At first glance, [Magekiller] looks like it follows a bloodier path. It’s got “killer” in the name. But I don’t think that’s true. [Magekiller] is about stalking and killing powerful mages, and slipping around their magic to do it.

Meanwhile, [Master Assassin of Gemore] is about manipulation and subterfuge. That’s the class you take to knife people in their beds, to slip into their trust and kill them when they’re least expecting it. I worry it would lead me towards seeing people as easily manipulable pieces on the gameboard.

A chill went down his spine at the thought. That kind of behavior seemed reminiscent of how both Brox and Faline acted. They didn't really respect the decisions of the people around them.

[Magekiller] is closer to my path for [Implacable Antimage], though it’s not a direct combat class. I don’t think that’s a problem. Maybe if the paths become too similar then maybe they’ll merge or something. But right now the classes becoming more similar means I'll be double-dipping on experience for fighting mages, instead of having to do different things to rank up different classes.

He pursed his lips, considering. There was also the part of [Magekiller] that would let him use his antimagic to “subvert enemy spells.” So far Nathan had never gone wrong with boosting his Antimagic. Being able to exert control over enemy magic seemed very promising. Sᴇaʀᴄh the ɴøvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Thinking about Endings, that skill alone points me towards [Magekiller]. I can disrupt magic, but if it's too big for me - like the fire elemental - then there's not much I can do. Maybe being able to subvert it is the answer. My guiding principle so far has been antimagic, and I think I should keep following that idea.

With his mind mostly made up, Nathan drifted off to sleep. If he felt the same way in the morning he’d choose [Magekiller] for sure.

I need to Develop [Airwalking] during the next fight. I want synergy with the 243 Development of [Implacable Antimage]. Only six levels from now.

—

The harsh rays of the sun woke Nathan up early the next morning, coming straight down into his eyes. He squirmed a bit, holding up a hand to try to block the sudden assault.

Then he heard food cooking and rolled fully upright, rubbing his eyes and looking around their campsite. Aarl was cooking over the fire, his unenchanted cookware making more noise than usual. At least the food smelled good. It smelled like Aarl was frying up cubed nindine steak from yesterday and planning to add it to a spiced porridge.

Nathan got up to do his business, examining the pass yet again in the sunlight. The destruction from the fire elemental was stark, the bullseye pattern obvious. The Fortress of the Face looked less threatening now that the flames from its eyes no longer illuminated the entire valley.

That was a relative assessment - the flames still roiled in giant pillars, and the knowledge of what lurked inside that ancient dungeon didn’t make Nathan any happier with the idea of getting anywhere near the place.

Nathan returned to the campsite, taking a plate of boiled grain, well-seasoned and heavy with deliciously magical meat. He dug in, eating quickly before the biting wind could steal the warmth from the dish.

A theatrical yawn sounded to the side as Brox emerged from his tent, looking freshly showered and ready to go about his day. He looked surprised when Aarl offered him a plate but took it anyway, eating happily.

Then the Questor frowned down at the ground, setting aside the plate and reaching down to pick up a Giantsrest coin partially buried in the soil. “Where did this come from? I would swear by Edes you didn’t loot any of the mages yesterday.” He looked up into the sky, as if looking for something above that could have dropped it.

Sarah spoke with a full mouth, her voice smug. “An Archmage of the Nails tried to sneak into camp last night while we were all asleep.”

The Questor’s eyebrows shot up. “The assassins of Giantsrest?” He looked around as if to make sure all of the Heirs were present. "An Archmage?"

“Nathan was on watch. The first thing we heard was him landing on top of her.” Aarl said, scraping out the last of the pot before handing it to his sister to wash. He walked forward, plucking the coin out of Brox’s hands. “Looted her too, though it seems we missed some.” He tucked the coin into his pouch.

The Questor didn’t offer any resistance, looking shocked, “I didn’t even…” then he started laughing uproariously. He doubled over and slapped his thighs, struggling to get words out past the laughter. “You killed, an assassin-archmage!” He guffawed. “By Algoa, she got counter-assassinated!”

The Heirs looked around at each other while the Questor kept laughing, busting out into laughter a few more times before he regained control.

Brox straightened up, looking around with a wide smile. “Well, after that trial of the divine, I don’t see any cause for hesitation.” He speared a hand towards the dungeon. “Let’s conquer the dungeon!”

Nathan rolled his eyes and set aside his own empty plate. “No.”

The Questor turned to Nathan, his humor quickly fading into mockery. “No? You defeat an archmage attacking from stealth, but don’t have the teats to challenge a magical dungeon? Aren’t you an antimage?”

“There’s no reason to do it.” Nathan replied. “If anything, it serves as a barrier against Giantsrest. Any army tries to come through here, we just cast some magic and summon the elemental. Besides, any loot in there is long melted.”

This isn’t really about the dungeon. This is about Brox being bored and asserting his control.

The Questor looked around at the rest of the Heirs. “Do none of you wish to challenge a fragment of Quenfi? To learn of the deep Insights of fire?” He cocked his head towards Stella expectantly.

She bit her lip and took a step back as if forced backwards by the pressure of the Questor’s gaze. Then her jaw firmed and she met his eyes, giving a small shake of her head.

“Bah! I find cowards where I search for the battle-blessed.” The Questor flicked his hand dismissively.

Khachi growled slightly at that comment, and the blessing inside them all - except Nathan - seemed to wake itself, flaring warningly.

Brox heaved a heavy sigh. “A shard of a dead divine. One who would weep to see his power used so.” He turned back to Nathan. “We challenge that dungeon, or else you fight Giantsrest without me.”

I could choose [Master Assassin of Gemore] for the persuasion skill, then use that to persuade him to stay.

Nathan studied Brox for a second, judging his words.

He’s bluffing. He wants to push us, not abandon us.

Alertness 2 achieved!

“No.”

Brox’s face twisted with contempt. “Fine. Enjoy dying to Badud.”

With a puff of dust, he was gone.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 7

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 8

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 10

Class: Implacable Antimage level237

Deepened Stamina:7378/7410

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Class: Assassin of Gemore level81+

Regenerative Focus: 811/910

Catastrophic Blows

Stealthy Movement

Infiltration

Forgettable

Unsuspecting Strike

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 9

Leadership 6

High-tier Sprinting 8

Magical Perception 8

Alertness 2

Magical Intuition 8

High-tier Dodging Footwork 10

Mental Fortress 4

High-tier Lecturing 5

High-tier Tumbling 8

Mid-tier Noticeability 8

Low-tier Quiet Movement 4

Low-tier Disguise 4

Mid-tier Battle Cry 3

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