We entered a vast and shimmering desert. The sweltering heat was abominable, the air felt stifling and our very lungs seemed to burn just inhaling the air. What a nice fucking place to set the waypoint!

Lucky for us, the enchanted items we wore boasted health regeneration, so a slow death probably wouldn’t happen even under these conditions. Ren was apparently unfazed, probably because of his demonic side. That was still a mystery to us, but we left it as is. “Demon dude, how long do you think it’ll take to get to the soul well?”

His wings spread, “It is not a matter of time, but a matter of will and preparation.”

“Melissa, can you translate to English?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes, “He means we’re still stupidly outnumbered. So, the time it takes to get to the soul well isn’t as important as our ability to fight through and plan attacks.”

“Ah, right, yeah. Makes sense,” I admitted after playing with the minds of so many demons. I knew from their memories that the land of demons flaunted a staggering fifteen billion demons. Half a million was child’s play. The answer, even for ones as stupidly strong as August, Ren, and myself, was not strong-arming our way through the ranks. On the good side, the world, or domain as they called it, of T’Ghuuz was divided into six different factions. However, the biggest and most powerful faction by a landslide were the ones that held most of the power over the soul well, and also held a bit more than half the demon populace in their hands.

Through all these low to mid-rank demons, most of them knew of the Champions of Darkness through rumour and speculation alone. Only very high-ranking demons in the Dark faction knew who the champions were. However, finding those high-ranking demons would be of little to no issue. The real issue was how I’d incorporate the half million of rogue demons that chose to rebel. Leaving them out felt like the wrong move, but involving them meant unnecessary death. Hmm, should I?

I wondered if to use my new mind spell on them, but chose not to. Instead, I simply gave them the choice whilst we were in the middle of nowhere. Thanks to Jynnak’s world magic, I could simply speak English and it would automatically be translated for them to understand. Furthermore, I could force them to love me through mind manipulation, but I still preferred not to take that role, so I had our friendly neighbourhood demon dude do it for me.

“So, decide now,” Kar’thuz said, after explaining the intricacies of the two choices they had. “Risk your life in battle and see the soul well destroyed for yourself, or stay put and secure your safety.”

Unsurprisingly, the decision was split in two very uneven pieces. Most of the rebels chose to go home, as if they weren’t just planning the most one-sided battle ever. Very few stayed behind, about a measly ten thousand. Despite the odds being more in my favour, I still groaned internally at those numbers. I liked freedom and versatility. Having a team of this size felt like I’d be bogged down trying to protect them whilst attacking the enemy. But it was decided. Hmm, “Could I fly ten thousand demons with void magic?” I pondered. Thank Hydra’s ass I had a master with common sense.

“You have the accumulated knowledge of half a million demons. You literally know exactly where to go. Which means you can Riftshear there. Why the fuck would you fly there?”

Oh yeah. What would I do without you?

“I dunno. Maybe if there’s a sexy demon, you ca–”

Stop it, you disturbing little shit.

So, after I told Kar’thuz that we could simply teleport all ten thousand of us there, he came up with some plans with other leaders of the little army. Frankly, I paid no attention to it.

Finally, we went to the city where the soul well was situated. All the six factions of T’Ghuuz had stakes in the city – should I even call it a city? – but of course the Dark faction was the most prevalent. Thanks to reading Kar’thuz’s mind, I knew exactly where they wanted each member of the small assault army to be situated. They were planning several joint simultaneous attacks on different high-ranking demons from the Dark faction. But I had a different plan.

After a few deep breaths, I released a huge mass of mana in all directions like an expanding sphere, then began weaving mind manipulation to mimic the effects of Enthral in a huge radius around me. I doubt it covered the entire city, but I knew it covered most. All low to mid-ranked demons were enamoured – not sexually of course. Because of the strange behaviour of the masses, the high-rankers came out of their holes, even those of the other factions as well.

Using Scour to search the minds of the enamoured masses for which of those high-rankers were connected to the Dark faction was a simple matter. I counted fifteen of them, and six were quite far away from me. These were the magic users of the high-ranked demons in the Dark factions. Hmm, these high-ranks should be of a higher sentience according to the knowledge I have. Including the high-rankers of the other factions as well would amount to thirty. Man, why did I not practise mind magic sooner? I haven’t even mastered it and it’s already proving to be as useful as void magic. No wonder Hethekk found it stupid that I didn’t practise it.

Hawk Eye, Mana Perception, and Convergence pulled those high-ranking demons right to me, even the far-off magic users. Gravity Field immediately grounded those that sought to attack, and even if they did get an attack through, it’d literally go through me because of Magnet. Most of them proved no match for mind manipulation, and readily let my clones enter a void plane with each one in order to map their minds.

The magic users however, shrugged my manipulation off with a Dispel of sorts. It seemed like a stronger version. Hmm, getting inside the minds of those I captured would be very rewarding, but the fact that these guys are protective of their minds means they must have some secrets they want to keep from me. Interesting, I thought, looking at them hurl monstrous Fireballs, fast Ice Shards, vicious Wind Vortices, and even Sand Prisons.

They seemed versed in draconic magic, but also space magic as well. Despite how well Magnet protected against most magic types, space magic seemed to dislodge it. After all, it still counted as a type of matter due to the very fact that it existed in the corporeal plane. The void spell began warping, and as a result, I began warping as well. With Retrace, I quickly got out the that situation. I chose to abandon Magnet because of that space magic and cover myself in a layer of dense water and cast Reflect right under it. The duo wouldn’t exactly make a difference against the space magic they used though.

Should I kill them? I pondered, wondering if I was getting too greedy in uncovering the secrets of the mind. They were nowhere near capable of beating me if I only tried a bit, but I wanted them alive. Hydrotendrils and other physically constraining spells were out of the question. They’d just manipulate my draconic magic away, since they seemed to master draconic manipulation. And if I chose to use void manipulation to increase the gravity around them, they could simply use space magic to distort and disrupt my efforts.

Well, there is something in my spell book for a situation like this. The only issue is…

“Thirty seconds to cast it. Well, good luck.”

I grunted. In quick succession, I cast a couple Purist spells, then struck them by Mind Break. I knew they’d be out of Mind Break soon, so I connected them all to Web of God and stuck down with Hand of God. It stunned them. Arm of God followed after. Now that they were defenceless, I took my sweet time to use Exile on them. Exile would send a target to a void plane indefinitely, giving the caster the freedom of pulling them back out whenever he felt like, or simply erasing the void plane, and by extension, erasing the existence of his target.

There were a few drawbacks to it though. That cast time was a bitch. What was even more bitchy was the mana requirement. The damn spell took all your mana, leaving just enough so you’d still be conscious. Thank goodness for the staff of Scien and August’s enchantments. The final drawback was that it could only be cast on one target at a time. I spent just over two minutes using Exile on four of them. I had six more to go.

A Purist-buffed clone would keep them still with Web of God and Arc Lightning, and your occasional mana drain from Transference. Even if they woke up, they were helpless. In a few more minutes, they were now under my complete control, all of them accompanied by a clone in a void plane for each of them.

My clones first used Scour to search their minds for any information on the Champions of Darkness, and it yielded some scary results. Other than names and location, nothing more was found about the Champions of Darkness. Intriguing… Hmm, what about the soul well? Maybe they know more than the common demon-folk. After half a minute, I found that was not the case. They knew nothing more about the soul well. Which meant the Champions of Darkness, the elites of T’Ghuuz were the ones possessing that power. I found it amazing how controlled their stream of information was.

Another deep breath resounded from me. “Okay, I found where the Champions of Darkness are.”

“You better stay away from my mind unless you want to be traumatised,” August watched me up and down. Melissa hid behind him. Kar’thuz hid behind Melissa.

“Hydra’s ass, Kar’thuz, don’t tell me he’s rubbing off on you!” I held my heart in faux-pain.

“If I knew you were capable of this, mage…” the demon dude trailed off, leaving us all to wonder just what he would’ve done.

“So, uh, hear me out,” I looked at Melissa.

“No!” she snapped. “No! We’ve wasted enough time. I just want my parents back!”

I bit my fingernails and cowered in fear. “Well, I suppose asking for another month of mind-meddling is pretty messed up. Alright, let’s go to the soul well then,” I admitted defeat.

We, and by we, I mean Ren, August, Melissa, Kar’thuz, and myself went to a place the demons called Hellsnare Fortress. They weren’t kidding around. It was, in all manners of speaking, a damned fortress. Huge, absolutely massive, and all the other synonymous adjectives you can think of. It’s blackened walls and bloody design wore a chilly atmosphere despite the fiery temperatures about the place. The place was probably the size of Endathal. What a grandiose castle. The word ‘castle’ wouldn’t even do it justice.

Walking into what appeared to the world’s biggest hallway, we were stopped by an arched double-door laden in skulls with a soft wisp of teal light in their eyes. August used space magic to push against the door, opening it. Inside was a huge room, bigger than both our mansions put together. The massive place was ridiculous. Running along the sides of the room were pits a few metres wide. It lit the dark, musky, and reddened room with soft bluish-green light.

In the distance, there were very faint sounds, reminiscent of screams of abject horror. We could understand clearly, why only the very few high-ranking demons were allowed in here. Even normal demons would shit their pants. Luckily for us, I had constant light magic calm us down. The ground was covered in rough, big tiles. The walls looked like disfigured renaissance paintings, most of them conveying the demons devouring other races. The ceiling above us, much like the door, were covered in skulls of all shapes and sizes with that ghastly green flare in their eyes.

Suddenly, we heard a child’s laughter in the unsettling silence. How out of place. We couldn’t discern where the sound came from. Then, three footsteps forced us all to look back, but there was nothing there. In a minute or two, the laughter sounded again. I grew tired and used Life Perception but beheld nothing.

We continued marching forward until we came across a simple black coffin. It was small; a child’s coffin. I found it a bit weird that we would find something like a coffin here, something which was created from human death rites.

Laughter, but no one. Footsteps, but no one. And a coffin… “Hey, Aug, what do you think that coffin means?”

“Don’t know, buddy. But,” he smiled, “I bet if I chopped you up small enough, you could fit,” a full grin came along, spanning from ear to ear, literally.

I see. I began struggling to release myself from the hold of the caster’s Phantasm. How long have I been in this illusion? I questioned, and travelled to the void, stacked Purist, then used Dispel. Lucky thing Aerellis taught me how to get out of it.

When I came back, I found that Melissa, Kar’thuz, and myself were trapped in cages hanging from the ceiling. They were both unconscious, likely under the effect of Phantasm, just as I was.

Ren Fahzul was on the ground, arms folded, intently spectating a very strange battle before him. After sending both Melissa and Kar’thuz to a void plane and disconnecting them from the Phantasm, I too joined Ren in spectating.

The placed looked just as it did in my illusion. The caster was smart to use as many normal things as possible. However, his mistake in trying to fool me with the coffin made me realise I was in an illusion. He had either mastered mind magic, or was very close to achieving it. His was a mind I would love to pick apart, but I wouldn’t be able to contend with a master of mind magic if I wasn’t careful. Should a master at mind magic know enough about you, he can simply fool you into thinking that you won. It’s a real mental shitstorm to fight a master mind manipulator that knows you better than he knows himself.

However, all these rules, know-hows and strategy was near useless when fighting a quintessential energy user. The magic resistance they built up negated most of your attempts at subjugating them. That’s why August and Ren weren’t affected at all. Melissa, despite being a holy warrior with quint, and therefore magic resistance, still hadn’t a high enough level of it in order to escape the Phantasm.

August’s sword waved over and over, yet the creature proved too versatile. What could he do now?