They’d barely arrived when around fifteen retainers and a trio of Sorcerers entered the square. One of the three Sorcerers was from the Defiant Flame, which meant that Verdan would have activated the second ward now.

“Spread out but stay in groups. That beast may be behind this,” one of the Weeping Death Sorcerers called out.

Kai and the others were positioned at the far side of the village square, and as much as he’d love to pick off the enemies one at a time while hunting them down, the village wasn’t big enough for that.

“Cullan, give them a target,” Kai whispered, motioning the big man forwards.

“Now that’s an order I can get behind,” Cullan said, straightening up from his crouch and chuckling menacingly as he stepped out into view, grounding the tip of his greatsword as he boomed out a challenge. “Oy, come over here, you pricks!”

“Truly, you missed your calling in life as an actor,” Kai remarked in a dry tone as Cullan gave him a wink.

“What have you done with our comrades? Return them this moment or face the wrath of our sects!” The same Sorcerer shouted back his response, but Kai could hear the fear in his voice as he took in Cullan’ imposing figure.

“Are you daft?” Cullan asked in genuine confusion, hiking his greatsword up onto one shoulder with a casual shrug. “Look, you seem to be a bit confused. How about I kill most of your friends, and then you go back and get everyone else for me, alright?”

A swarm of small flaming missiles signaled the start of the fight as the enemy charged at Cullan.

Fortunately, Cullan’s bloodline asserted itself, and the most the attack did was burn away sections of his clothing. Elliot had mentioned that his people had a high resistance to fire and heat, but this was just ridiculous.

The leading retainers hesitated as they saw the attack have such little impact on their big opponent, but Cullan was done waiting.

The big man’s greatsword hummed through the air as it bisected the closest retainer, spraying blood and gore across the rest as Cullan exploded into their midst like some sort of bloody bolt of lightning.

Kai dodged around the massacre, moving swiftly as he closed the distance to the first of the three Sorcerers, who was staring at Cullan with pale-faced horror.

The shocked Sorcerer was too slow to react, and Kai left him bleeding out on the floor before racing on.

A roaring stream of fire struck Cullan, but the Idrisyr just laughed merrily as he walked through the flames to seize the Sorcerer by the throat, snapping his neck with a casual flex and dropping the body at his feet.

Cullan’s hair was singed, and his skin was reddened, so the flames had been affecting him, but Kai only had to look at the charred corpses behind him ally to know how hot that attack really had been.

“I’ll kill you!” The third Sorcerer all but screamed, his eyes wild and his hands shaking as he went to pull a corked container from their belt that was no doubt filled with acid or poison of some sort.

A mace covered with several inches of stone struck the Sorcerer with a hideous crunching sound that was swiftly followed by the boneless thud of the final enemy hitting the ground.

“Well, I feel superfluous all of a sudden,” Blane remarked as they pulled back to their previous position.

“Don’t worry. I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing more of them next time,” Kai said, eyeing the dead Sorcerers and wondering how many more would be thrown to their deaths against them.

-**-

The loss of several small groups, and more than a few Sorcerers, was enough to put the enemy on the back foot, but eventually, the sign that Kai was waiting for came.

With a tingling sensation on the back of his neck, Kai heard Verdan’s voice in the back of his mind. “They’re moving in. Looks like the leader, his group, and about twenty of the retainers are staying behind to manage the prisoners, but the rest will be on you soon.”

“Alright, we’re pulling back,” Kai called out softly, moving carefully out of his hiding spot and heading away on the route they’d agreed on.

“Shame, this was just about to get good,” Cullan said with a dramatic sigh that made Kai roll his eyes.

Ignoring the big man, Kai moved swiftly through the village, emerging at the edge where Verdan had carved stairs into the quarry wall.

Thunder pealed above them as a strong wind picked up, catching at their clothes as they ran.

They barely had time to clear the village before the wind kicked up a notch, whistling loudly as it swept through the village.

Following the worst-case scenario, they filed into the opening at the base of the stairs and watched as a localised storm was created above the village, thick black clouds blocking the sun as arcs of lightning flickered within.

“When is it going to….” Tom’s words were lost as a brilliant white light burnt into Kai’s eyes.

For the briefest of moments, the whole world was illuminated, with not a single shadow remaining as a bolt of thick lightning slammed down into the centre of the village like the wrath of a god.

Gwen’s lightning was scaled down and manageable, but this was the opposite. It was so much more than Kai had been expecting.

The thunderous roar of the bolt had a physical weight to it as it slammed into them, disorienting Kai for a brief moment.

Cullan’s maniacal laughter broke the perfect stillness that came after the impact, the Idrisyr hefting his blade and turning a passionate gaze Kai’s way. “There’s no chance they are pushing on after that. Let’s take it to them.”

Kai had long since learned the value of caution, of knowing when and where to strike to gain effect. It was a skill that was simply invaluable for a lone Sorcerer like him.

If there was ever a moment, this was it.

“Blane and Tim, you two flank out to the right, join up with Sylvie and the others to get the prisoners. Cullan, Tom, you’re with me,” Kai ordered as he stepped back out of their makeshift shelter.

Cullan was high on the thrill of battle, but he wasn’t wrong. Such an attack would have shattered any assault the Sect Sorcerers had launched.

That assumed that the bolt had struck true, of course, but with Verdan and Zhalia watching on from above, Kai was willing to take that chance.

The whole group moved together as they flanked around the village before Blane and Tim split off to join the Airta that would be waiting for the signal to strike.

If they had been forced to pull back, Sylvie would have waited for the best moment before trying to free the prisoners, but now, they could try for it all.

Even from a distance, Kai could see the devastation that Verdan’s trap had wrought on the village. The stone buildings had mostly survived, but there was no sign of the inn that had been at the epicentre of the strike, which was a sign of just how powerful it had been.

A few retainers and Sorcerers were stumbling out from the village, unsteady on their feet and many bearing shrapnel wounds from how they were carrying themselves.

Ignoring them, Kai locked his vision on the five Sorcerers standing atop a small knoll, staring down at the village with horrified expressions.

The Senior Sorcerer of this ill-fated expedition was a Weeping Death member, and each of his four companions wore the same colours, though their robes were not as ornate as the man in the centre.

Kai mentally rolled his eyes at the pretentious nature of these Sect Sorcerers. They never learned.

“Senior Daxton!” One of the leader’s guards called out as they pointed to Kai and the others.

“Your trap was impressive, but it will take more than that to defeat us,” Senior Daxton called out in an imperious voice. “Surrender or face our wrath in the open, with nowhere to run.”

Kai glanced at the ragged troops emerging from the village and inwardly scoffed at Daxton’s words. The man was either delusional or trying desperately to avoid a fight.

Not slowing or even bothering to answer, Kai cycled Essence through his spear, sheathing the blade in flames.

Verdan was always managing multiple effects at once, and while Kai was nowhere near as proficient as his companion, he had been practising.

A second flow of Essence left Kai as he formed a bow wave of air in front of them. He lacked the mental flexibility to make it fancy, but it would do.

“Kill them, but stay close,” Daxton commanded, a tremor of fear entering his voice as he glanced around at the surrounding area.

Kai wasn’t sure what Daxton was looking for, but he had exactly no time to spend pondering it.

Poison and rot Essence flew at them as two of Daxton’s guards drew wands, but Kai’s rudimentary shield was modelled from what he had learnt watching and listening to Verdan.

Instead of fighting back against the foreign Essence directly, the wind within Kai’s shield simply knocked it off course, speeding the attacks off at enough of an angle to miss them.

The three close-combat members of the retinue launched themselves at Kai and the others as they drew close, forcing Kai to drop his shield.

Kai’s opponent was the one who had first noticed them, a man bearing a spear coated in toxic Essence who seemed to also have a minor talent in Enhancement, allowing him to move and strike with surprising speed.

Flame and toxic poison met with a crackling sizzle as the two Sorcerers clashed, with Kai’s opponent trying to leverage his superior speed while preventing Kai from using his wind Essence.

A dual-element Sorcerer was rare, but one with multiple disciplines within an element was even rarer, a fact that Kai took advantage of shamelessly.

Channelling more Essence into his spear to make the flames grow, Kai used small blasts of wind to keep the Sorcerer at bay, waiting until his opponent grew confident enough with Kai’s fighting style to try a risky lunge.

A fire Augmentor would have been unable to move quickly enough to take advantage of the minute opening the Sorcerer left, but Kai was no Augmentor.

The speed and passion of fire swept through Kai as he ignited his Essence and moved with twice the speed he’d had a moment before.

The shocked Sorcerer never even had time to understand what was happening before Kai’s blade seared through his flesh, removing first his arm and then his head.

Cullan had already cut down his own opponent and was fighting both of the wand-wielders, but Tom was still fighting his duel, so Kai moved to his aid.

The Weeping Death Sorcerer facing Tom was using a pair of short swords that dripped with acid, but Tom had covered himself in rock, stopping the Sorcerer from doing any serious damage.

A timely blast of wind knocked the acid user off balance enough for Tom to land a solid blow, crushing the man’s ribs and effectively ending the fight.

A sobbing sound from Kai’s left was brought to an abrupt end as Cullan finished his two targets, leaving just the Senior Sorcerer himself.

Before Daxton could do more than open his mouth, the world behind him shifted and twisted, folding in on itself in a way that sent a spike of pain into Kai’s mind.

Pure white fur existed where nothing had a moment before as the laethir padded through the twisted space, a growl rumbling in its chest as it lunged forward to bite down on Daxton’s left arm.

Kai winced as he heard the bones in the Sorcerer’s arms break, but even that paled against the unearthly scream the Sorcerer let out as the laethir whipped its head to one side and ripped half of Daxton’s arm off.

A single paw lifted as Daxton fell to the ground, and the laethir stomped down with enough force to crush the man’s head.

Brown eyes regarded Kai levelly as the laethir inclined its head to them before turning and walking away, reality folding around it as it walked out of view in a single step.