“Who are you?” Hump asked. He maintained his Shield, ready for another attack.

“Doesn’t matter,” the man said casually.

He raised his staff. Essence streamed up his arm and through the air around him, filling his focus and making it shine bronze. Earth magic.

Hump had enough experience in wizard duels to know not to let him finish the spell. He dropped his Shield with an effort of will and hauled the residual essence from the air, shoving it through his spellbook. The pages whirled, falling open on the formation he needed, essence radiating from the lines inside, doing the work for him.

“Blast,” he barked.

Hump’s essence shot forward in an almost invisible cone, pale streaks of blue light the only thing to give it away, like threads on the wind. It was a rushed spell, but bolstered by the formation in his spellbook, it was powerful.

The man’s eyes widened, clearly caught off guard by the power and suddenness of the attack. He planted his staff into the ground, his earth magic mixing with the blue of pure essence. “Shield.”

A square barrier formed before the man, laced with bronze light, somehow enhanced by earth essence. There was a boom as Hump’s spell impacted it. The barrier held, but only so much of the force could be negated. The man staggered back, leaning into the attack to brace himself. As he did, his staff shone once more, another spell already building even as he maintained his current one. The focus bubbled with earth essence, shining with its light.

While the man was distracted, Hump took a moment to direct his remaining Burning Wisp around the room, keeping the flame dim and using the beer barrels as cover to get it onto the man’s flank.

The moment the man recovered, he gripped his staff in both hands and swung it overhead, hammering the focus against the ground. There was a deep, reverberating chime, and it resonated with essence at the point of impact. The earth shuddered. Dust puffed up from the ground in two narrow lines of cracks that bore their way through the ground and straight at Hump.

Hump unleashed his own essence into the ground around him, his essence exploding from his staff in arcs of power, lacing the ground and filling it with his intent. He hardened it with Transform Earth, bracing the ground beneath him against the encroaching magic, protecting his footing. He raised another Shield, curving it around him to form a half dome that protected his entire front side.

The twin cracks split off, circling Hump. The warlock raised his staff and left hand, dragging them together as if lifting a great weight, before suddenly closing the gap. “Entomb.”

A deep, echoing crack sounded beneath Hump. Even after using Transform Earth, the ground shuddered, a crack forming in a line between his feet, the stone floor dipping slightly. He felt the man’s will against his, fighting to break Hump’s Transform Earth reinforcement. Entomb was easily a Rank 3 spell, and the man had barked it off like it was nothing. He was obviously strong, but it would take more than that to overpower Hump’s intent.

Stone folded up around Hump on either side, breaking in a circle around him, the ground beneath Hump’s feet refusing to obey the man. Hump shaped his Shield around him further, forming a dome as earth piled on him. He took a breath against the weight as the man forced more essence into his spell, but it wasn’t enough. Hump’s Shield held.

“You’re clever, kid, I’ll give you that,” he said. “But you’re weak. It’s not your fault. I was weak once too. It’s not too late to come over to the right side. If not…” the stone slabs around Hump bore down with greater weight as the man forced more essence into the spell. “Well, I’ll bury you here.”

It wasn’t enough. Stone piled in around Hump, blocking off his view of the chamber beyond other than a small gap above him. Still, Hump’s Shield held. The man might be stronger than him, but Hump had overcome more powerful foes before.

Hump took a moment to gather his concentration, then opened a small gap in his Shield at the front. Just enough for him to work some magic of his own. His spellbook whirled, falling open onto the page for Melt Stone. He threw his essence into the formation, then pressed his staff against the stone directly ahead of him. Instantly the stone turned red hot, streaks of molten rock trickling down the inner surface. He built that heat for a few seconds, then drew back his staff.

If there was one advantage he had over wizards of similar strength to him, it was his soul. He filled the stone with his essence, pressing back the man’s will with his own and asserting his command over the slab.

The stone cracked. Bronze light streamed from the gaps.

“Rockshot.”

Earth essence flared. The broken pieces of the slab shot forward, showering the man in a barrage of stone shards and molten rock.

The man screamed. The stone slabs tumbled away on either side of Hump as he relinquished his spell, reforming his earthen Shield spell, but not in time to block everything.

Something struck the man in the torso, sending him to one knee. His battle robes took the brunt of the impact, but smoke rose from the point of impact. The man glared at him, a red welt now under one of his eyes. His face contorted into something inhuman. There was a glint of something in his eyes that reminded Hump of the other warlocks he’d encountered. A dark light to them.

Essence surged on the other side of the wall, constant and radiating the warmth that only blessings could bring. They both glanced at it before turning back to each other.

A smirk crept over Hump’s mouth. There was only one reason for such a force. “It seems my reinforcements have arrived. Your cult is done.”

“Enough of this,” the man snarled.

Hump’s smirk fell away as an aura of bronze essence expanded around the man, rising like a shadow. He seemed taller. The air suddenly turned tense. Stone rose around the man, drifting slowly on a wind of essence.

The pressure of Soul Manifestation descended like a weight across Hump’s entire body.

Shit, Hump thought.

He was facing a Rank 4 wizard.

“Fire Blast,” Hump shouted, launching a haphazardly put together spell. The blaze exploded forward, parting as it collided with the man’s expanding aura and distributing around him harmlessly, a wall of protection before him.

Hump raised his Shield just in time as the cyclone of stones and floor tiles picked up speed and launched at him. They impacted Hump’s Shield, and he felt his essence quiver beneath their weight. His own power responded sluggishly, impeded by the pressure of the man’s soul, though it was far from Vivienne’s strength. Hump wondered if that was a side effect of gaining it through unearned means.

The man’s intent was clear in his essence. Hump could feel his desire to suppress him, to shut down his control. It wasn’t enough. Even before Vivienne’s training this would have been an afterthought, but now, it took only the slightest effort of will to resist.

The man didn’t know that though.

As the man stood back up, another attack building in his staff, Hump let him. Hump dropped to one knee beneath the onslaught of stones, acting weak beneath the pressure. Letting the other wizard’s attack build.

“A few tricks doesn’t make up for strength,” the man said, his voice deeper than before, infused with essence.

Hump didn’t answer. He glared back at the man defiantly and gritted his teeth, throwing all the essence he had to spare into his Shield.

The man smiled. He watched Hump with glee, taking in his struggle, seemingly forgetting the fight in the other room, lost to whatever thrill he got from this.

Again and again the storm of stone came, and Hump let himself appear weak. He let the man think he’d won. All the while, Hump’s remaining Burning Wisp found its way around to his flank. Hump had noticed a weakness to the man’s Shield spell—while strong, it was a wall of force. He’d not shaped it around him, and that left him open.

The man thrust his staff forward. It was the moment Hump was waiting for. The man opened his mouth to launch whatever spell he’d built, and Hump’s Burning Wisp came to life. It flared into red fire, launching itself at the man’s side.

The man turned but too late. The wisp exploded over his side, engulfing his upper body in flame. His spell collapsed, the unspent essence exploding from his staff in an aimless blast of power. The warlock screamed, blasted back, part of his battle robes still aflame from where it had slipped past his soul aura.

As the final stones fell against Hump’s Shield, Hump dropped the spell and strode toward the man. He tried to stand, but Hump launched an Essence Blast at him, throwing him against the wall. His staff thudded to the side and the man hit the ground hard, rolling to extinguish the flames on his robes.

Hump continued closer until he was in reach of the man. He held his staff down at the man’s face, pure essence building in the focus, illuminating his face in glittering blue light. The man’s hands and face were charred and burnt.

“You may kill me, but you can’t stop us,” the man growled. “It’s already too late for that.”

“Maybe,” Hump said. “But you’re worth ten gold, dead or alive, and I could use the coin. So, what’s it going to be?”

The man glared at him. “Ten gold. Are you mad? I’ll give you a hundred if you let me go.”

“As tempting as that is, I’m not sure I trust your word. What is it you said? It’s not too late to come over to the right side. Now, I won’t bury you as I’ll need your corpse to claim the gold, but I’ll sure as hell hit you with an Essence Blast to the face.”

The man gritted his teeth. Hump felt his essence once more, expanding around him. He bombarded Hump with his soul pressure, but it didn’t even make Hump sweat. Even before he was injured, the man was barely a Rank 4 wizard. He still wasn’t convinced he was one at all. Whatever the case, Hump had had enough.

He stabbed his staff at the man’s head, unleashing the essence he’d built up inside. The man’s head tumbled to the side, and then he lay still. Hump knelt, checking for a pulse to make sure he’d not hit him too hard.

Still alive, Hump thought. There might not be a bonus reward for that, but Hump knew the need for information right now. Countess Daston needed prisoners, and a Rank 4 wizard turned warlock would probably be useful. Still, he wasn’t convinced of his strength. It didn’t feel like true Soul Manifestation. If this was the power the warlocks promised, it didn’t seem worth it.

The sound and feeling of fighting in the other room had died down now. A few moments later, Dylan and Emilia arrived from the left corridor. They both had blood on them. Dylan appeared uninjured, but Emilia bled from a wound to her left wrist.

“Did Ricard arrive?” Hump asked.

“Yes,” Dylan said, approaching the fallen man cautiously. “Are you alright?”

Hump nodded. “Just had a bit of a wizard problem. Sorted now. He’s still alive so we should probably get him up to the guards once we’re finished inside.”

“I’ll take him,” Dylan said. “You’ll want to see this. Celaine’s received her next blessing. Bud’s standing guard for her.”

Hump frowned. “I don’t sense anything.”

“These chambers run deep,” Emilia said. “Dylan, bring him with you. We should join up with everyone else.

Dylan grew a couple of his seeds, binding the man’s arms and legs with vines before hauling him onto his shoulder. Meanwhile, Hump picked up the man’s wizard staff, eyeing the runes and focus. It was good quality—probably better than his own even. He didn’t much like the idea of abandoning the staff of his predecessors for some prick of a warlock’s weapon though.

A decision for later. He followed Dylan and Emilia back into the main chamber. The copper stench of blood hit him first, and the static-like charge in the air of residual essence. There were many bodies there, a couple of which were adventurers, though fortunately none from their own squad. The moment Hump stepped inside; he felt a chill down his spine. The deadly intent of Owalyn laced the room, and Hump had to force himself to keep walking. He wanted to be close to Celaine. While they hadn’t explicitly hidden it, she was about to be exposed as a Chosen from beyond the Pantheon.