5.9 To be expected

Difference: Minimal
AN: Not as early as I had hoped, but still within reason. Enjoy.

A few minutes into the siege, the dynamic began to shift. Firstly, the Rot came up with a method of countering Alice’s snatching move. Irwyn couldn’t see exactly what was happening with Time, but at some point her magic stopped being able to kidnap their enemies. That earned a frown on her face as she stopped casting. Without a word, she started shuffling inside her bag instead.

Only a few seconds later, Desir faced a similar conundrum. His trick of simply… soul-killing the undead? That was the best guess Irwyn had. Desir had used it before during their time with the inquisition, but he had never inquired about the exact details. The cases where Irwyn or Elizabeth couldn’t brute force their opposition in the first few seconds of a battle had been scarce. Either way, Desir’s magic no longer worked.

“They have a necromancer with them now, or at least a Soul mage,” the shapeshifter said, pausing his spellcraft. “Likely hidden behind the corner.”

“Irwyn, need a little help,” Alice asked for his attention.

When he turned around, he realized she was holding a massive rifle, longer than she was tall. Since she rarely was an active participant in combat, it had been a while since she had the opportunity to show off her expertise in gunfire. Bullets happened to be a rather suboptimal tool against the undead that cared very little for hemorrhaging wounds or body integrity. 

Which she was asking Irwyn to help solve. Holding out a fistful of rounds, there was no need to explain what she wanted. While Irwyn could not do traditional enchantments, he certainly could bind an offensive spell into the projectile. That structure would be highly unstable and impossible to control from a distance… but he just needed it to last long enough to explode. 

And he could get tricky with it as well. The first two would be a simple explosion. Fast, brutal wave of combustion that should cause significant damage if not contained. But after, they would be ready. So for the third to fifth bullets, Irwyn merged them with something inspired by his World that burns spell. Although the spell itself was practically impossible to properly cast under the constraints of Finity, he could do a lesser version. Forgoing any propagation and replication, he simply prepared a small swarm of piercing needles that would seek out the internal mana. Hopefully sharp enough to shatter through whatever barrier the Rot will have managed by then.

There were still two bullets left after that, so Irwyn went with simply a massive and brutal spike that would surge towards a singular nearby source of magic. The logic was that after the first five bullets, the enemy would be understandably wary and put properly powerful barriers into place. So he would preemptively counter that tactic, giving up on more collateral damage to destroy at least a few more once the enemy was already on guard. 

Irwyn had to maintain a direct connection with all seven spells to keep them primed and existing, but that was trivial for creations containing merely one Concept. Yet to their observer it would not look suspicious either, as they would just assume the spells had been a simple enough enchantment, as that would be the path of least resistance for most. He handed the bullets back to the excited Time mage.

“I think I saw the necromancer,” Alice added towards Desir as she took aim at the distant barrier. “Be ready. Irwyn, can you sap the heat as it builds up?”

“Of course,” he nodded. It would be trickier to distinguish between gunpowder going off and metal heating up than to actually drain the relatively meager heat that would soften steel.

Then, contrary to how person sized rifles were supposed to operate, Alice fired all seven shots in the span of half a second. Irwyn kept up with his promise, even as the sheer speed surprised him. The way Alice was moving all jittery, she was likely accelerating her perception of Time and manually resetting the weapon in between each shot by twisting space - something he remembered her mentioning in the past.

The Time mage tumbled to the ground in the aftermath of that. She was either acting it up for their annoying audience, or the combination had indeed been very exhausting. Desir was already there, ready to catch her. A series of explosions reverberated from within the barriers, and Irwyn felt four of them actually going off behind the corner. The results were absolutely devastating for the undead.

The initial blast cleared out most of them. Though Irwyn couldn’t visually see exactly what was happening, the spell was still connected to him and thus offered feedback. Many of the undead firing at them were not proper draugr, and thus had no Concepts to resist Irwyn’s with. Even of those who did, they were not ready to defend themselves while the barrier around them remained unbroken. 

The few who survived the first explosion then had to immediately deal with a few hundred seeking needles of Starfire. Based on Irwyn’s propagation spell, they automatically aimed primarily for the strongest undead, drawn to the power of their Concepts. That cleared out most of what was left. As for the final two blasts, one managed to unleash on a particularly strong mage, incinerating them, while the other mostly whiffed, only scoring a relatively meager kill.

That seemed to finally make the Rot give up. With their fortified position broken, the survivors immediately tried to retreat. Elizabeth used that opportunity to swoop in and further cull as many as she could in a few short seconds before returning to the group. An ambush was always a distinct possibility for a short-range combatant, so it was important that Irwyn was close enough to break any such trap from the outside if she somehow got snared. Desir also got the opportunity to vanquish a few more without needing to move. The battle was concluded, at least for the moment.

In hindsight, Irwyn could have been much greedier with his infused spells. He had assumed that the element of surprise would not last past the first two shots, and had prepared the spells accordingly. But Alice had significantly surpassed his presumption about how fast she could fire that barrage. He could have likely also explained their effects to Alice better. One of the last two bullets with a singular directed blast did very little because she wasn’t aiming optimally for it. 

He shouldn’t forget to do that. While his teamwork with Elizabeth was deep and refined after the Trial, he had not taken the time to achieve even a fraction of that with Desir and Alice. Both of whom had honestly surprised him. Would he have been able to access the inside of the enemy barrier like that? Not without breaking it first. Elizabeth could, but that would require physical entry. She had not resorted to that yet - large numbers in a tight corridor were a bad matchup for her.

“How is everyone on mana?” Elizabeth asked. “I had little to do, so over half full here.”

“Almost wiped out,” Alice said with fake cheer. Or maybe not so fake, because Desir had caught her earlier fall, and she was currently leaning into his arms.

“Maybe 30-ish percent left,” the shapeshifter also reported.

“Low,” Irwyn said, assuming that’s what she wanted him to claim out loud. He had done quite a bit in the battle.

“We cannot push on,” Elizabeth then declared. She glanced over at her far older cousin and glared. “That engagement has clearly dropped our reserves dangerously low. Further such battles are likely not feasible.”

“I don’t think there is much of a choice, is there?” He simply smirked back. “As the Domain mage, I cannot afford to be distracted by mundane combat. That is precisely when the Rot will strike at me. Nor can we call for someone to make up for your deficiencies. The enchantments preventing all communication with the outside are quite potent here.”

“In that case, we simply do not have the forces to continue. Unfortunate, but our group will have to retreat.”

“The operation cannot just be abandoned,” A-something, because Irwyn chose to not even try and remember the annoying man’s name, said. There was obviously feigned indignity in his voice. “You do not have the right of that choice.”

“Of course I do. Our group operates under the inquisition’s authority. Not under yours. You can suggest what actions we should take, not dictate. And I say that my group can currently at most retreat from the main onslaught and hold down an escape route.”

“Then that will be on your heads. Does the inquisition treat desertion differently than our army?”

“Or on yours, for refusing additional forces that I have explicitly requested. Which is a fact I had immediately reported before we ever entered. I am sure the inquisition will be very interested in knowing the Rot took advantage of you choosing to play politics.”

“Always has to be the hard way with main line, doesn’t it?” he snarled, leaning forward in an aggressive stance. Which was mostly theatrics. The slight difference of posture would make no difference to a Domain mage. “I know you have plenty of tricks left in your bag.”

“Whatever cards I may or may not have are not for you to know, much less use,” Elizabeth did not show even a sign of intimidation. Instead, she raised her signet ring and aimed it at the Magelord. “But too much insistence could certainly lead to experiencing them.”

“You could all be dead faster than a blink,” he threatened.

“Try. It. Then.”

Then they stared down each other’s eyes. The Domain mage in barely disguised anger and Elizabeth with a slight smirk. Irwyn got ready for battle, just in case she had miscalculated. It would be a bad outcome, but he could worry about it once they lived.

Desir, in the meantime, was doing an incredible job pretending to be ignorant, staring further into the corridor for any new threats. Alice was still leaning into his arms but seemed significantly more nervous. The ring was not flashing between visibility, but Irwyn noticed a slight distortion in its place - the thing was probably smart enough to intentionally avoid the Domain mage’s notice.

It was most likely the lack of fear that made the older man flinch first. Technically, the ring was a bluff, but behind it hid the very real force of a Domain Elizabeth was rather unwilling to reveal. They were simply not in true, immediate danger. If it came down to a fight, Irwyn had no doubt the two of them could dismantle the older mage in quick enough order. The damage would be mostly in the fall-out of that fight. But those consequences would be comparable in any other scenario where even half of their real power became known, dead Magelord or not.

“Fine, I will clean out some of them to relieve your inadequacies,” he allowed with a frown. “But do not think this will not be mentioned in my report.”

“Naturally. Just as it will be in mine,” she smiled back with particular venom. They glared at each other for a while longer, then the group finally got moving again. Irwyn quickly approached her to discuss.

“That seemed dangerous,” he whispered. But perhaps the only choice. The Magelord had clearly been trying to use the undead to push them, maybe to force the group into revealing some more secrets, such as contingency items or reserve power. Not that they could openly discuss that part. Their adversary could almost certainly still hear them. 

“He isn’t as moronic as he might seem. A Domain mage will still have some level of understanding from just their age. If he had somehow killed us, it would be impossible to cover up. Even when raiding the Rot, such casualties would be too suspicious to ignore, and investigators can be thorough. And then he would have been… probably made Penitent, rather than executed in the aftermath.”

“Penitent?” He frowned at the unfamiliar term.

“Warslave, essentially. The Duchy of White has ways of recruiting those who cannot be trusted to fight with their personality intact. It is an extreme measure, applied to individuals too useful to outright kill despite deserving as much. But then, depending on philosophy, the accompanying ego death might be perceived as the same thing.” 

“Good to know. Also, these are surprisingly humanoid,” Irwyn commented when he looked over an intact corpse they were passing - Desir’s work. It was basically just a human with a few runic symbols carved into the flesh in some kind of spell pattern Irwyn didn’t even want to try and understand. There were several others just like it around that had survived the earlier battle unburned. At least briefly. Irwyn was disposing of the bodies as they went, manifesting one makeshift pyre after another. “I remember that Abonisle was full of more… creative creatures when we had fought through there.”

“Building a functional body is incredibly difficult,” Desir jumped in to explain. “It is much, much simpler to utilize pre-existing infrastructure of the human body rather than harvest it for parts. It implies that the necromancers present are not of very high caliber. There are presumably vast gulfs of skill even among individual undead.”

“Some take twisted pride in creating the most horrific-looking abominations they can envision,” the Magelord surprisingly contributed. “The main function of that is usually damage to morale. That isn’t a factor here - anyone entering would already be an elite with experience and a grasp on their own fear. And if there is no point in something, the Rot will rarely commit resources to it. The truly dangerous necromancers are determined by how they defile the Soul rather than the flesh.”

They soon ran into more undead, with A-hole finally taking action. With a pulse of concentrated mana, Irwyn felt the man REJECT the existence of the small horde of undead. Each of them fell over, vanquished. It was almost similar to what Desir had done earlier, except on a much wider scale and based on entirely different principles. Irwyn also suspected that the bodies he was burning as they went by them would have been far harder to raise again due to lingering Rejection.

Then there were no more attacks. Irwyn stayed on his guard, but it seemed that just the Magelord’s willingness to start intervening had made the undead give up on further attacks. Had they been hoping for indifference even if they broke the group’s defenses? Or perhaps they had been hoping to score a sudden wound or fatality while their strongest member had seemingly been ignoring the Conception level fights.

There were other groups to focus on, after all. The plan had been simultaneous entry from every exit. If hurting their group seemed impossible, the Rot could redirect its forces towards someone who was flagging. If any groups even were struggling, that is. They could have proper force distribution and reserves rather than their mess of four, half of which had to also constantly pretend to not possess most of their real power.

“How much further to our destination?” Irwyn asked.

“A few more minutes of walking,” Alice said. “The side passages should end in a long corridor that convenes into a small hub of sorts. From there, the most important vaults are accessible through small side tunnels. We should converge with the other groups there.”

“Was there anything particularly dangerous left in those sections?” Irwyn asked.

“Mostly just materials,” the Magelord replied after a moment of thought. “It would take a Ravener enchanter to make real use of them.”

“Which they probably will have, because why else infiltrate here in particular? Too many birds with one stone. Infiltration, using up our own rare resources, setting up a longer plot of some kind, and who knows what else the Rot has in mind here. It’s never a random choice.”

There was no further combat until they reached said long corridor. The twisting paths straightened until the angle fully disappeared. The way was actually long enough again for Irwyn to see the deep darkness in the distance again. Which was inconvenient. Hence why he silently applied All is seen to pierce through it.

Even when empowered with a Concept and the draconic consumption he had imbided, the dark mist remained almost completely impenetrable to his sight. Which likely meant it had been based on a Domain. That caliber of enchantment couldn’t be cheap, so there surely had to be another effect at play besides some mild visual obfuscation. Thankfully, at least one member of their party was unaffected.

“Anything dangerous ahead?” He turned towards Elizabeth. Be it affinity or more House Blackburg privilege, she could supposedly see right through without any problem. 

“Just a reinforced door, closed.”

“Each of the passages has one. If they had sealed those, I will need to be the one to force it open,” their Domain mage explained.

They approached with no further interruption, and the man quickly got to work. Dense magic immediately lit up all across the doorway and the surrounding walls, showing clear signs of the struggle as massive waves of mana left the human standing before it. But just as predicted, even a Domain struggled to force it open. In fact, there was a complication.

“The undead are reinforcing the enchantment from the other side,” the Magelord grit his teeth.

“Can you still open it?” Elizabeth wanted to confirm

“Yes, but it will take very long. As long as several minutes.”

“Stalling tactic then, likely at a cost for them,” she frowned. “I expect there will be a nasty surprise on the other side. Perhaps lethal as well, so be prepared.” 

Alice and Desir did so by resting up to the side. Meanwhile, Irwyn made sure that all his empowering spells were active. Elizabeth did likewise. Then they anxiously waited, a bit too wary to have a proper conversation. So she just snuggled close enough to enjoy some mild physical touch while her distant cousin struggled with the door. The magic on it was dimming, but slowly.

In the end, it took longer than just a few minutes. But at long last, the spells faded, and the gate was flung open an instant later. The room beyond was a spacious hall, large enough to comfortably host two balls at once. It didn’t really seem that way though, because it was completely filled with countless undead. Most humanoid, some not so much, they swarmed, but in a strange, organized way. Rather than stepping over one another, they moved with the fluidity of a hivemind, never once getting in each other’s way.

But instead of them, Irwyn’s eyes were drawn to something out of place. A massive device that took up a large chunk of space in the center of the room, at least 5 meters in diameter and just as tall. It was constituted of several hundred small crystals, suspended on branches of various glowing metals and spinning in a pattern around each other. Each of the crystals also shone their individual colors, which were then seemingly focused into a beam aimed at one of their neighbors, thus resulting in a dense web of prismatic lights. 

The device flashed, a wave of white and blue passing through their group at a speed it was impossible to react to. As it touched them, everyone simply vanished. Everyone except Irwyn. He felt a tug at his Soul, as if a spell was trying to latch onto him, then it shattered under its impossible weight. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, though. Because suddenly, Irwyn was standing very alone in the open doorway. And beyond it, a genuine horde of undead roiled.