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The man’s face turned to one of pure terror, before he turned and quickly stumbled off into the rest of his fleeing army. This response was reasonable, I guess. I bet he’d never seen anything that could survive the Royal Infantry’s assault, much less toy around with it.

Even so… I gazed at the scene in front of me and sighed. My original plan was to have a bit of fun messing with the army, then to knock them all out and send them into the middle of a snowy plain buck naked. Right now, though, they were all just running away. No fun in that.

“Volcanic Gate.”

A pillar of reddish-black fire erupted just ahead of where the end of the Royal Infantry stood, and it spread to form an impenetrable ring. The army’s frenetic movements stopped immediately, and the soldiers hopelessly moved to face me as they realized that they couldn’t escape. Even from a distance away, I could see a few men drop to their knees and sob, cradling their heads.

“Come on. Isn’t the Royal Infantry supposed to be the top of the top? The kingdoms’ final weapon?” I sighed again, louder this time so that I could be heard properly. “I mean, this isn’t even a challenge. It’s nothing more than a disappointment.”

The army stood frozen, as if they didn’t know what to do to appease me, what they could do to keep their lives. There was nothing they could possibly do against such a devastating, overwhelming power.

“Tell you what.” I floated down to where the army stood, petrified in place. “Since you’re all being such spoilsports, I’ll let you get a free hit in on me. Alright?”

As no one responded, I decided I had to move things along myself. “Who’s the most powerful magic user you have here?” I paused. “Actually, I’ll be lenient. Who are the five strongest mages you have? I’ll take your attacks, without defending myself at all.”

It would be interesting to see if they could cause me to feel even a little pain.

I’d start out with a bit of a weaker attack, just to toy with them a little. Maybe something along the lines of a Tier 7 spell. “O High Powers, grant me your strength. Drag the darkness of the boundless abyss from the heavens down to me, and unleash a deluge of shadows onto my enemies. Come forth, Tidal Oblivion!”

At my words, a flood of translucent blackness rolled out from behind the hill, covering the landscape and washing over a corner of the army. As the wave of dark faded away, there was a moment of tension, or maybe anticipation. Either way, a moment later, the entire section of the army fell to the ground unmoving.

To me, there’s always that one special second of a battle which makes fighting regular humans so amusing. That instant where the enemy first begins to comprehend just how large the difference in power is, where reality finally begins to set in for them. It’s when a person acknowledges just how insurmountable the gap in strength is between the two parties, and finally gives in to their most primal instincts, falling deep into the grasps of despair.

A frenzied cacophony of screams rang out, and soldiers started clambering over one another, just to get away from me. At this, a chuckle started to leak out of my mouth, which morphed into a booming laugh that echoed across the hills. The man in charge just stared at me, as if his body had been paralyzed. How quickly his expression had changed only made me laugh harder.

“Those were nine – no, ten thousand healthy soldiers.” The words that exited his mouth were nothing more than mere whispers. “What the hell did you just do?”

“Don’t you worry about your mage friends, shorty. I didn’t kill them or anything; they’re just unconscious,” I said, giving him another wide grin. “When they’re going to wake up, though, is another question.”

The man backed away slowly, his face falling slack. “You… what kind of goddamn monster…”

“No, no, don’t say such ridiculous things. ‘Monster’ is such a harsh term, wouldn’t you agree?” I hovered above, my levitating body casting a huge shadow over his terrified body. “Yes… I’d much prefer it if you called me a god instead.”

Chapter 1 – A Bright Light

The light wind buffeted my scarlet cape, as I appraised the tremendous army that had amassed before me. Some of the soldiers were carrying weapons, though most of them could probably kill you in about ten different ways using only their bare hands. They covered the horizon, draped across the soft curves of grass-covered hills. Five colored flags dotted the army, their contrasting colors waving in the breeze and separating the army into distinct sections. The seemingly unending sea of soldiers gave of a sense of majesty, like some kind of almighty beast with its gleaming muscles rippling. And there, in front of it all, stood a man reading from an open scroll. Dressed from head to toe in silky purple robes, he was someone who managed to look both puny and imperial at the same time.

“Donnelius Conqaide.” The man spoke in an obnoxiously elegant voice. “In the name of the five kingdoms, our rulers have unanimously decided that you are a threat to the prosperity of human civilization. You are to be put to death, by the hands of the Royal Infantry.”

If I’m being honest, I didn’t really blame them for thinking they could best me, as the Royal Infantry was a force to truly be reckoned with. It was a military force made up of thousands of the kingdoms’ elites, with enough destructive power to wipe an entire island, maybe a small state, completely off the map. It would be a reasonable assumption to think that the Royal Infantry was the world’s trump card, something that could be used as a last resort to instantly solve any major conflict.

This infantry required all five kingdoms, who were all usually on bitter terms with one another, to simultaneously acknowledge a great danger and pool all their strongest mages into one unstoppable slaughtering device. It had only ever been called together a select few times since the formation of the kingdoms, and for every instance it was used, it would shake the very bones of this planet. Just as an example, it was summoned to suppress the great Pirate Clan, or to drive off a group of seven unbelievably powerful blue-haired mages and their hordes of fanatical underlings. It would almost be unthinkable to unleash it upon a group of less than a thousand. So, naturally, never in the history of this world had it been called down to stop a single person.

That was, until now.

I narrowed my eyes. “Look, I have a whole list of things I want to do today, so we can skip the grand opening. You going to start or what?”

The man curled his lip in distaste, and seemed to give a command. Slowly, I watched as hundreds of mages raised their hands in the air. Masses of glowing white energy coalesced around their palms, and as the man with the scroll gave the order, they spoke as one.

“Razing Energy!”

Countless streams of pure white erupted out into the air, twisting and turning to lock on to a single target.

I raised a single finger. “Crystalline Barrier.”

For a second the sky was filled with nothing but a blinding light, and then it all settled down. The earth around me in a roughly half-mile radius was scorched and blackened, with thousands of tiny cracks spiderwebbing over the decimated hills, glowing orange. All but the tiny spot of earth I was currently hovering over, where a tiny patch of grass still wavered to the wind. There was complete silence on the battlefield, as smoke and embers drifted aimlessly. Thousands of men stared at me in total shock, and I just had to crack a smile. It’s always so amusing to see their first reactions.

Dropping my finger, the faceted shield in front of me dissipated into the air. Giving them a smirk, I lifted my palm so it faced the army. “Nice effort. Now… I suppose it’s my turn, isn’t it?”