“Lilliana, and uhh, you, the guy with the robe leading the defensive mages! I’m going to wrap this up. You know what you have to do, right?”

“Yes, sir! By the way, my name is Georgio. I would appreciate it if you had the amiability of remembering my name next time.”

Lilliana didn’t bother answering me. Her answer was obvious to both of us.

“Of course, I remember your name, Ricardo!”

I took a deep breath and shouted, as loud as I could so that everyone in the city could hear me, “Rejoice, my friends, because as long as I stand on this wall, your loved ones will be protected from this terrible threat! Now, as to avoid delaying diner any longer, I shall put an end to those fools who dared desecrate the kingdom of mankind!”

“Please do, Lynch. I'm getting hungry here. Wipe out the rest of these small fries, and let’s enjoy the feast they prepared for us at the castle!”

And there was Élise, unknowingly trying to ruin my moment with meaningless gibberish. But I won’t go down so easily.

“Sure thing, fair maiden, now watch this spectacle as these hideous monsters writhe in agony! Hopefully, it will wash away your fears and allow you to enjoy a deep sleep tonight.”

I’m not too sure what I was trying to do with that last dialogue. I just wanted to have the last word.

“Now then, here it comes! Black Death!”

A thick black smoke erupted from my palm. It soon spread across the entire meadow and engulfed the enemy battalions’ whole. The mutants started feeling the effects of my dark magic. Tears of blood raged down their cheeks. Horrifying pustules grew on their skin until the skin succumbed to the swelling and expelled a torrent of blood.

The weak hearted witnessing this scene would definitely have nightmares that night.

The initial push I gave to the mana to spread itself on the battlefield soon lost its edge, and the natural wind currents started blowing this vicious magic toward the city.

“Greater Starshield!”

Lilliana, up to the task, as expected, raised a gigantic magical barrier covering the entire north side of the capital.

“Ronaldo, you’re up!”

“It’s Georgio, for god’s sake!”

I liked that guy. Forgettable but nonetheless entertaining. Georgio and his mages combined their magic and used it to counter the pestilent wind pressing on Lilliana’s barrier by generating a wind current in the opposite direction. Obviously, Lilliana’s barrier allowed allied interactions, which allowed Georgio’s wind to pass through and repel my treacherous spell.

Georgio’s intervention was simply to reduce the stress on Lilliana’s barrier. His role was negligible on the grand scale of life but nonetheless necessary.

The poisoned miasma covered the entire battlefield. The enemies fell one after the other, screaming in agony as they desperately tried to find a way to end themselves quicker. Soon, no mutants were left standing.

The battle ended.

The invading forces were annihilated in a span of a few minutes.

“HA! In your face, you stupid goats! Don’t you dare underestimate the overwhelming might of Lynch, first of his name!”

Albert gave me his heartfelt support with flawless elocution worthy of the highest academic degree in illiteracy, “Yeah, don’t fuck with the cool wizard guy, fuckers!”

I expected cheers of victory from our fellow soldiers, but they just stood there, looking disappointed in the outcome of the fight. From my point of view, this was a perfect victory. There were no casualties and only minor landscape damages in the meadow ahead of the capital.

Most of the soldiers had already seen me in action during the Insurrection. These ones, even though they were impressed, expected this conclusion. They loved bloody frenzies. Thrill. If they didn’t, they would have left the military long ago after that messy war. So, in the end, I couldn’t get any reaction from these guys.

The rest, the rookies, couldn’t shout cheers of victory because they were simply breathless. It’s hard to cheer when you can’t breathe, obviously.

“Hey Lynch,” called Élise. “Why don’t we go have a bite at the banquet while the guys that didn’t do anything take care of the clean-up?”

“Sounds good. You’re saying something reasonable, for once. Ana is going to be delighted to hear my tale!”

“Probably not. You’re pretty cringe.”

“What did you say? Come closer so I can throw you off the rampart!”

She kicked off the wall and down the stairs, giggling. I chased after her, laughing as well.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted Albert and Lilliana following me at a slower pace.

“Hey, Albert,” I said. “Where are you going like that?”

“Uh? The castle, I’m hungry, you know?”

“You didn’t do anything during the battle, remember? You’re in charge of the clean-up. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure there’s some food left for you.”

“No way!”

I resumed my sprint, and, at the bottom of the stairs, I identified my target. Élise had stopped.

**This is my chance..!**

I pounced at her, hoping to catch my prey off-guard.

She did a volt-face and stared right at me. Her eyes were serious. I wiped that stupid careless smile off my face.

“Something’s wrong?”

With her chin, she pointed toward the main street where a young man in armor was running toward us. From the look of his sparkling armor, he looked like a castle guard. He spoke, “Sir! The castle… The castle is under attack!”

“What? How?”

“I… I don’t know, sir! I didn’t see the invaders myself, but the Warden told me to report to you.”

“The Warden? Uh, worrying is inefficient, anyway. I’ll just have a look myself. And stay quiet about this. There’s no point in worrying our troops for no reason.”

As I finished my sentence, all four of my compatriots had surrounded me.

“Alright then, let’s go. Teleport!”

A magic circle marked the ground, and we vanished in thin air.