Chapter 73 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to John Growcott for supporting me on patreon.

Thank you so much for your support!

Chapter 73 Kill Them All.

When you encounter extreme act of evil, don’t give in to mercy.
For mercy toward evil is cruelty toward the victims.
Kill them all! Bring down the wrath of judgement!
Let them taste the light of truth!
Let them experience the evil of their deeds!
Make them suffer under their wrongdoing!

Noxi, Guardian of Light.

“Please help the other women escape when the guards catch onto what I’m doing,” I whisper to the woman I just rescued while she gets out from under the dead guard. She’s covered in blood, but she doesn’t seem as shaken as I was the first time I went through such an ordeal. It’s probably not her first time…

I move to the next guard, killing him with another quiet wind blade. But this time one of them notices me. “To arms! This whore is killing us!”

Most of them wake up from their lusty daze. They let the women go and reach for their weapons.

“Get out!” I stand up and shout toward the girls the corrupt guards just let go. Except for about four girls who are too slow and stay on the ground, the rest hurry toward the exit, hugging pieces of torn clothes. One of them reaches for a guard’s spear. He wrestles the spear, and they fight over the weapon. The woman is losing, the guard twists the spear and aims the bronze tip at her chest.

“Rod’ena” <Vines> I test my first new cantrip in action. Three vines grow from the wooden floor, two vines wrap themselves around the guard’s wrists and legs, while the third wraps around the spear separating it from both the guard and the woman on the ground. I use the vine to aim the spear toward the guard’s abdomen and “Ritsa!” <repulse!>. The guard yelps as the spear burst out of his back. He tries to pull his own spear out of his belly and collapses. The spear breaks with a loud snap underneath him.

The brown haired woman gets up, and reaches for another spear from the ground. She walks backward aiming the spear at the guards without covering her exposed chest.

“Your grace! Milady sorceress!” A pair of guards step forward and kneel. “Please spare us! We will serve and worship you! Only you!” The few women still left in the hall use the opportunity to leave, panting and screaming. The brunette with the spear retreats behind me, looking at me hesitantly. I can see the anxiety in her brown eyes.

Be my practice dummies and die! “I have no use for beasts controlled by their lust! Kusharisa!” <acid!> I test my next cantrip, spraying the kneeling guards with the clear liquid coming out of my hand. Janara’s cantrip, I learned it despite my low affinity for earth, something to remember her by.

The guards scream as the clear liquid hits them with a sizzle. Horrified, I cut the mana to my spell and watch. Their skin and flesh melt off, the first claws at his face, gurgling. The other rolls on the ground letting out terrifying screams.

Acid is way too cruel… it’s a torture spell, not a killer spell. Not my kind of weapon.

They deserve it!

The fifteen remaining guards watch for a long horrifying moment, then lower their spears. “Charge!” “Fight for your lives!” “Get her!” “Run!” “Go!” Different shouts. Different solutions. Fight or flight in the face of death.

Oh no you don’t! “Tans fiuak!” <loud badsound!> drawing mana from my necklace, I follow this cantrip with a long scream toward the charging guards. The guards stumble with a wince. They drop their weapons, covering their ears.

Only one of them manages a single step forward, clenching onto his spear, blood trickling out of his ear holes. Still screaming, I see his green eyes stare at me with determination, his face twisted into a painful grimace.

I gasp once I run out of breath for my scream. And the guards manage to regain their senses, but not fast enough.

“Kushjak!” <oil!> I aim my hand high and spray the black substance in their general direction. They split and dodge, avoiding the black goo. But five of them still get covered or hit by it. Including the green eyed man who braved my ‘Sonic Scream’ cantrip.

“Fotyr folo!” <fire fly!> The fiery arrow hits the black substance and the five guards burst into bright flames. Three of them turn into screaming human torches amidst the fiery pool, and two of them roll on the ground in a desperate attempt to douse the flames. Also rather cruel… this is no different from what Adir used to do... why does killing have to be so cruel?! They deserve it! I’m not feeling sorry for them! They wouldn’t feel sorry for me if the situation was reversed!

The rest of them split. Half are trying to run past me, and the other half attempt to charge at me while drawing their bronze swords. They’re still three meters away from me, which isn’t close enough to be a threat yet.

“Rivssor ak!” <light strong!> I close my eyes and the flashing light I create blinds them, causing them to stumble instead of run away.

“Latsa!” <lift!> “Ritsa!” <repulse!> I lift six weapons from the ground and impale six dazed guards with their own spears, draining about half of my gravity mana at once.

The remaining four unarmed guards break for the exit, stumbling in their desperate attempt for survival. But a small group of women led by Lezere blocks their way.

“Rod’ena.” <Vines.> Three vines wrap around the legs of three guards. They stumble and fall forward. Drawing mana from my necklace, I make the vines climb up their bodies like constrictor snakes. I wrap them around the necks and squeeze. The last guard makes it to the women unharmed and unarmed. Lezere steps forward and grabs his hair, twisting his head.

“Please!” He doesn’t even reach for his sword or attempt to fight her. Lezere chops his head with her axe and his body drops like a log. She raises the bodiless head up high and shouts. “Ti-a’ark!” I’m surprised when the group of women behind her scream the same word too.

What in the five hells is going on? Why are they still here shouting like a group of orcs?

“Watch out!!!” The woman with the spear shrieks.

I turn just in time to see the green-eyed man pouncing at me with a bronze sword in hand. The woman impales him. With the spear lodged halfway through his lower abdomen, he swings toward the woman’s neck.

I step forward. “Myrsha samir!” <gravity protects!> my red barrier flickers into existence. The swing slows down. The man’s green eyes open wide. He’s covered in burn marks, blood comes out of his ears, and his face is disfigured beyond recognition.

I catch his wrist and push his sword away from the woman who just saved me. I put my right hand on his face, feeling the soft charred flesh under my skin. “Myrsha ritsa!” <gravity repulse!> The head explodes like a ripe watermelon falling from atop the Sapphire Tower, showering me with gore, bone splinters, and brain matter.

The headless body drops lifelessly to the ground when the woman lets go of her spear. I pick out a large piece of gore stuck in the collar of my dress and throw it away. The green eye rolls on the ground, still staring at me with the same determined look it had when the man was alive.

I should’ve recruited him… Why because his eyes were memorable? He was a monster like the rest of these guards, he didn’t deserve to live!

I turn. The three guards bound and choked by my vines are getting stabbed repeatedly by the women in the room. My head begins to hurt. Even while supplying mana through my necklace, I can no longer maintain the wood magic, the patterns of wood magic simply require too much concentration. It's one thing to cast a quick cantrip or two, it's another to hold the same patterns in my head for too long. I let my vines go.

Lezere walks back to my side with a snarl. “You gave the bunnies teeth, you are a good chief! They won’t run away if they fight by your side, and I can train them to be wolves.”

“I’m not so sure. Most of these women have families, husbands, children, fathers, and mothers. I doubt they’d just pick up arms for me…”

“Your grace!” The woman who called for my help earlier kneels on one knee in front of me. “Thank you very much for your help!”

“Don’t thank me yet, I’m risking a whole lot saving you! There’s no such thing as a free meal in this world.” Why did I say that?! What do I expect her to do for me exactly? There are no free meals in the world. She made me divert my plans for her so she could do something for me… Like what? Doesn't matter! She's my pawn now!

“Yes, your Holy Grace! Anything you demand! I’m yours to command!” The rest of the women behind her kneel as well, all on one knee, all what the same words. “Your grace!”

What? Holy grace? Why are they kneeling like that?

“Don’t you have families to go back to?” I ask, still dumbfounded.

“We do your grace. But following a holy sorceress like you comes first!”

Sharla wasn’t joking… they worship magicians... this is disgusting… I’m just a mortal, not someone to worship. “Is King Luard not a sorcerer as well?”

“He is. We worshiped him. But he’s a vile sorcerer who does not care for his followers. No matter how much sacrifice and offerings we gave him he wouldn’t protect us. You are a good sorceress, like in the bard’s tales.” The young woman with the spear shouts. By now she found something to cover her chest.

“You are here to kill him and take over the city right?” The woman who begged for my help asks with a hopeful tone.

“Yes,” I reply curtly. “But I planned to do it quietly. Saving you altered my plans… I can only hope that the King will be too busy with his new wife and won’t notice anything.” I point at the woman who asked for my help. “I’ll need you to serve as my guide and my personal maid. The rest of you can go home, try not to alert the guards if you can. It'd be helpful if you convince your families to fight for my cause when I put up a fight.” I can’t just march a group of women to the nearby inn, it’ll attract too much attention…

“For… for how long your grace?” The woman I saved asks with a flinch.

“A year or two.”

The brown-eyed woman looks me straight in the eye without any fear. “Your grace. I have an infant who needs me back at home. I can’t leave him without a mother for a year. A month is as far as I’m willing to go.”

Hmmm… so on the one hand they worship me… on the other, they clearly have their own lives and aren’t willing to give them up… I don’t understand these people… I’m glad she’s not scared of me, not enough to throw away her whole life and her baby… even if the worshiping is a little creepy…

“I’ll do it!” The brunette girl who tried to fight stands up from her kneeling position, her brown eyes glittering with excitement. “You don’t have to pay me a copper! Just teach me how to be a sorceress, like you!”

I nod, it’s better to have a willing follower than an unwilling one, and I don’t care which one of the locals would be my guide. “I can do my best teaching you, but it’s up to your talent whether you can use magic or not. The rest of you are free to go.”

The mother of the infant hugs the girl who offered herself to my service. “Watch yourself Zoe, getting into sorcerers’ business… it’s trouble…”

“Oh come on! It’s a dream come true for me!”

“Exactly why you should be watching yourself…” The mother gives me a side glance and keeps what she was about to say to herself. Think you’ve manipulated me have you? I guess she did, in a way… but my choices are mine… and there’s nothing wrong with asking for help… I don’t regret helping them… Not even if it gets someone I care about killed?

The mother squeezes the younger girl. “Don’t die ok?”

“I won’t!”

The mother turns to me. “Thank you for saving us your grace. But if you get my sister killed I won’t ever forgive you! Even if you’re a holy sorceress.” Only now do I notice that these two are sisters. They both have similar facial features, light brown hair, and brown eyes.

The mother ties up her coif and turns to leave with the rest of the women, while Zoe stays behind, shifting her weight from leg to leg. I can tell she’s giddy. I guess that if I wasn’t there watching her, she’d probably do something to let out her excitement, like squealing or laughing. But near me, she desperately tries to maintain her composure.

I turn toward the door and gesture for her and Lezere to follow me. “Come on, let’s go. Show me where the inns are, I need to find my friends first.”

Zoe follows me circling me as we walk. “Does that mean I’m your apprentice now? Oh, what’s your name ma’am? Or should I call you ma’am? Or master! Can I please call you master? You are a master sorceress right?” the girl can barely contain her excitement.

“My name is Inara, but you can call me whatever you want. And yes I guess you’re my apprentice for now, but if you won’t awaken any talent for magic there’s nothing I can teach you.” I reply in a dry tone. You don’t want to enter this world of magic girl… Why not? I don’t think she’ll be leaving the gray isles, and here she doesn’t have to advance in rank, meaning she won’t have to consume souls. Having more power to defend herself will be a useful thing for her…

“How old are you? If it’s ok to ask I mean! Did you make yourself appear younger with magic? Or are you really only sixteen years old?” She asks as we walk out of the building to the muddy streets of the city.

Does she really think I look sixteen?! I may be short but I don’t look ‘that’ young! “How old are you?” I ask her with a frown.

“I just turned twenty one a month ago, it’s not like…”

I filter out the rest of her chatter. There is no guard in sight, nor any residents. Other than the women who escaped, the muddy streets are empty. Not good… “I’m twenty-eight, I’m a half elf I age slower,” I answer distractingly. “Are the streets usually empty at this hour?”

“What’s a half elf? And no, but people probably heard that there’s a sorceress here to challenge the King! The guards won’t challenge you. Everyone is waiting for the magic battle to happen!”

Magic battle… great! I’m at half of my mana after the battle with the guards… and my necklace has around seventy gems left in it… and here come the consequences of my choice...

*~*~*

Aria’s Sonic Scream
Names: Aria’s sonic scream, sonic scream, scream, glass breaker, little banshee.
Element: air
Sub element: sound
Level: 0
Words: tans fiuak
Translation: loud bad sound.
Quicken: X
Patterns: 4
Gestures: Scream after casting.
Offering: X
Requirement: a female caster/a caster with a high pitched voice.
Range: highest in record: 37 meters* varies from voice to voice, varies by air affinity, inaccurate range estimation. (the higher the voice is pitched and the higher affinity the caster has - the longer the range.)
Target: cone.
Duration: instant.
Effect: Will turn a high pitched scream into a destructive sonic scream in a cone originated from the caster. The scream will stun and deafen any creature inside the cone, possible permanent damage to the ears. The scream will also shatter ceramic based objects and glass. (Note that it will not disable the nullifying abilities of glass, merely shatter it to fragments) The closest the creatures and objects are to the caster, the higher the damage will be.
Cost: 9 wind gems.
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: X

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 4 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray.
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.

Spells known:
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 12 patterns

Social status: Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries.

Wealth: 1854 Magic Gems. 1421 Golden Peas, 17 Silver Scales, 37 Copper Bits.

Items:
Magical necklace. Contain a 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keep the pouches’ content fresh.
Fresh rose petals, 22g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 10/100

Companions:
Lezere of the Black Fang tribe
Zoe

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 7/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars: