(SORRY. I CAN PRIORITIZE YOU, BUT I CAN'T BETRAY MY OTHER HOSTS. UNTIL HE WAS WILLING TO SPEND POINTS TO CONTACT YOU, I COULDN'T GIVE YOU THE INFO.)
"Saisho. I need to go," said Joseph climbing to his feet.
"Of course. You cannot use magic through the barrier. Do not try and teleport from here. Youngling, take them out of the barrier quickly," she said to the dragon that brought them here.
Rushing towards the barrier, Joseph could see a man standing just outside of it.
(HE HAD TO GET THAT CLOSE IN ORDER TO SEND A MESSAGE. THE BARRIER IS INTERFERING WITH MY NETWORK.)
'Noted. I'll want my own barrier later, most likely. Don't care at the moment, system.'
As he pulled Stella through the barrier, he locked eyes with the man. Nothing was said between them, though. Rage flushed his mind, and he realized it had been gone during their time in the barrier. He would have to investigate that later.
TELEPORT.
Daisy and William immediately contacted him as he gazed down at the scene below them. Several large slices had been cut into the mountain. A number of smaller houses were broken down. One of the skyscrapers collapsed, but it shouldn't have had people just yet. Several spots in the field before the mountain had been turned molten, and cooled again, and thousands of dead humans were in the fields in front of the mountain. The most damaged section below them was…
"Joseph. They went straight for the nursery," whispered Stella, horrified.
A message from his dad started pouring into his mind.
"Joseph, the armies of the north have attacked, but they aren't using anything I've ever seen before. When they had most of us out on the line, their champions snuck around. The barbarians swear on their honor they didn't let them past, so I think they may be able to teleport. They attacked near the nursery and the children's schools, because that's where the guards were the thickest. They may have been targeting the cafeteria. It looks somewhat like a barracks. The mages have had trouble healing the wounds made by the champions. Stephan says it takes four or five times more mana to close the wounds. They don't heal naturally at all. Son, Selena was killed driving them off."
Daisy's voice entered his head, but he was so busy trying to handle his dad's message, that Joe ended up handling her.
"Joseph, Selena was killed. The kingdom attacked with weapons we've never seen before. What do we do? The army was hard, but then these realm jumpers came. They had strange powers, and one was a mage. They attacked where the babies were being kept. Selena fought them off, and wounded the leader, but he attacked her with some giant glowing thing and she disappeared."
GREAT VOICE.
"Quiet."
Everyone, who had been in a panic, calmed, confident that Joseph would handle things, now that he had returned. He flew down to the crushed section, as Joe cast BODY DOUBLE and headed to the generator. The spells they were going to use, were going to take more juice than he had available. Hundred of mages were trying to clear the ruble, and look for survivors.
SCHEMATIC.
The way this section of city should have been, appeared in his mind's eye.
REBUILD.
It took an extra point of mana for every 500 pounds of weight. The stress on the generator was incredible. For a moment, Joseph wondered if he should have finished the True Sun generator, that he had been thinking of installing in the castle. There wasn't time now.
ALTER TERRAIN.
Concentrating, Joseph overwrote the city surface with fine rune circle carvings.
"Join the circle," he said, knowing that GREAT VOICE would make everyone hear him.
The circle lit up as he poured in mana from the generator. He struggled to fit everyone into his territory, but he hadn't practiced it without a circle before, and didn't have time now to practice. Mana flowed in from the Wizar, and was quickly replenished by the excess mana in the area. Channeling as much of the mana in his territory, into the rune himself, it built quickly. 1,000 mana, 2,000 mana, 5,000 mana, 10,000 mana. More Wizar came running from throughout the city to help. 100,000 mana, 150,000 mana. More and more mana was being channeled into the rune.
Stella slid up next to him and grabbed his hand.
"Calm down. Your mind is too angry. You've never been this upset before," she said, worry in her eyes.
"They killed the children in my kingdom, Stella. And they used magic granted by NURKONG. They killed my people with magic."
Each word was growled, deep and menacing.
'Joe, the people are outperforming the generator. I need you to cycle the dead mana for me.'
Joe left the BODY DOUBLE and returned to him.
The sky above lit up in a gold and blue swirl, and the ground below lit up in a green and red swirl. With the circle in place, Joseph could control the mana to the edge of the circle, instead of just within his territory. Over 10,000 Wizar have arrived. 2,000,000 mana... 3,000,000 mana... 4,000,000 mana.
The glow was so bright, even Stella couldn't find a shadow.
The overlapping mana enhancer ability was causing strange effects. Joseph could catch small glimpses of what must be META, but he couldn't spare the concentration to focus on it. 15,000,000 mana...18,000,000 mana.
Everyone had to close their eyes to block the light from the mana.
REBUILD.
HEAL.
RESURRECTION.
Joseph could feel certain runes, granting him aid from their realms as he cast his spells.
NECROMANCY hated how NURKONG stole souls. HEAL hated how he killed people and his touch opposed healing. MAKING/BREAKING hated him for being lopsided.
It was an odd feeling he got from MAKING/BREAKING. It was like the insult you would get from someone saying your butt looks good, but your face totally ruins it.
The urge to pass out was overwhelming, but he grit his teeth hard, and braced himself to resist it.
"Joseph, you're squeezing my hand too hard," whispered Stella. Her fingers were mangled and purple. The HEAL was working on them as he let go, feeling horrible for hurting her, and impressed that she withstood that without crying out.
"Sorry," he said, barely able to focus on her.
"You are so angry!" she said, shielding her eyes from the light.
"I want to kill him so bad, I can taste it, Stella."
She only nodded. The area still glowed from the concentrated mana. Below them, people were crying from being released from the rubble, while others cried because of the horror of what had happened, and others cried because their loved ones that had died, where returned to them.
(YOU HAVE CAST THE LARGEST SPELL EVER CAST IN THIS REALM.)
(ENACRA IS INSPIRED.)
(ENACRA HAS FILED GRIEVANCE AGAINST NURKONG FOR BLESSING A FOLLOWER WITH THE POWER OF PURE MAGIC. HE HAS EXCEEDED HIS DOMAIN.)
(JUDGE APPROVES. THE POWER TO APPOINT CHAMPIONS IS NOT TO EXCEED YOUR INHERENT DOMAINS.)
(THE POWER OF NURKONG SEALING HIS EVIL TWIN, TIBBLES, HAS LESSENED AS A PENALTY. TIBBLES, THE GOD OF LIFE, FIRE, AND CREATION HAS AWOKEN FROM HIS DEATH SLEEP.)
(FOR ACCOMPLISHING A GREAT FEAT AS BOTH A KING, AND A MAGE, YOU ARE AWARDED 50 LIFE POINTS.)
(YOUR SUBJECTS SENSE OF AWE HAS GREATLY INCREASED.)
(HUNDREDS OF GODS ARE PAYING ATTENTION TO YOU.)
(THE DWARVEN GODDESS OF CRAFTING, DIGGITTE, HAS EXTENDED HER REACH TO YOUR REALM.)
(DIGGITTE BLESSES YOUR USE OF REBUILD AND ITS SUBSEQUENT SPELLS.)
(REBUILD'S COST HAS BEEN REDUCED TO 10%, REBUILD CAN BE USED ON MAGICAL ITEMS, REBUILD CAN BE USED TO ALTER EXISTING ITEMS INSTEAD OF SIMPLY RESTORING THEM.)
(DIGGITTE WISHES FOR PEACE WITH YOU AND YOUR KINGDOM.)
'We're good DIGGITTE. Stella and I both liked the dwarves.'
(DIGGITTE IS PLEASED…AND TIRED.)
(THAT WAS A BIG BLESSING.)
'I'm guessing the last bit was you, system?'
(YES.)
"So, how is TIBBLES an evil twin if he is the god of life, fire, and creation?' asked Joseph, curiously.
(TIBBLES ISN'T EVIL. HE IS THE EVIL TWIN OF AN EVIL GOD, MAKING HIM GOOD.)
Joseph nodded, then turned towards the army that threatened his kingdom still.