Where is Tales of an Enchantress! I’ll get to it next month. I’m going to be gone next week, so no releases from me, period. When I get back, I’ll start releasing again. As for TOAE, sorry I haven’t been releasing, but I’ve had a lot on my plate. I’ve been getting ready for a trip to San Diego. I’ve been publishing and self publishing. I’ve been trying to get data ready and make a poster. I’ve been beating Breath of the Wild. I also submitted a short story that is getting published (real published) in an anthology book. Lots of important things. Releasing TOAE and Min’s story subsequently tired me out and I couldn’t keep it up. I’m taking a break to recharge before I jump back into it. Anyway, enjoy a PoC chapter.
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“Kida! What the hell is going on!”
“Rookie?” Kida jumps, a bit on edge as you walk out the door and see her racing around trying to organize the local militia of adventurer’s still in town. “Ah, I’m sorry. Right now, your goblin army is stationed to the east of Riun! Meanwhile, the dragons are located to the northwest.”
“So, how the heck are we surrounded then?”
“It’s not one army! An army is currently marching from the east. Another from the north! And a third from the south!”
“What?”
“It’s three armies. Three different armies!”
“Who are they?”
“They’re all demons, my love.” As you were speaking with Kida, Grimhilde emerges followed by Maleficant.
“The army from the north is Florian. I recognize his banners. That bastard. I’ll kill him three times!” Maleficant snaps.
“What about the other two?” You ask.
Grimhilde and Maleficant share look before Grimhilde sighs. “Our sisters. The flags from the south and east are our third and sixth sisters.”
“Do you know anything about them?”
“Medusa’s a whore and Ursula is a fat pig!” Maleficant snaps.
“You speak so nicely of our sisters…” Grimhilde mutters, but when she sees you eying her she throws up her hand. “Not that I disagree. She describes them accurately.”
“Are they going to attack?”
Grimhilde shrugs, but when she sees you disapproving stare she continues. “I can’t tell you I know what my sisters are thinking, but more than likely they’ll send an envoy to you and Florian. They’ll offer some kind of peace treaty with you. Then, let the pair of you fight it out. Once it’s clear which side will win, their armies will assist in crushing the other side. If you both tire each other out, she’ll crush both of you and divide the spoilers.”
You raise an eyebrow at Grimhilde.
“What? That’s what I would do!”
“What I don’t understand, “Maleficant interrupts. “Is that I’ve gotten an idea for exactly how strong you are. With a baby on the way, why haven’t you just crushed all three of their armies and be done with it.”
Your mouth twitches as you get the sudden urge to smack Maleficant’s behind in punishment.
“That’s right, Rookie, if you c-… wait… you’ve already tried, haven’t you?”
You turn out to the armies in the distance. Of course, the second you had this issue you fired horrific magic to annihilate the armies. You’d just let the goblins eat what survived. However, nothing happened. Now that you could see it with your own eyes, your magic seemed to melt the second it hit some barrier. That barrier was erected completely around Riun and seemed to cover the armies quite a ways out.
“Incredible… antimagic barriers.” Grimhilde shook her head in surprise.
“Explain.” You shoot Grimhilde a frustrated look.
“It’s not much different than your battle with Snow White, except rather than affecting you, it affects an area. Magic cannot exist within the perimeter.”
“I’ve even casted anti-magic magic. I’ve casted spells under, I’ve casted spells above. Even tossing something in and letting momentum carry it seems to get cancelled. Nothing seems to be getting through. What the fucks the point of Power of Creation if I have such a stupid limitation?”
“Well, it’s not a terribly stupid limitation. This is an odd case. You could call their armies quite crazy for erecting these anti-magic barriers in the first place.” Grimhilde explains carefully.
“Crazy? Why do you say that?”
“We’re demons and monsters and demihumans. We all possess magic in us. In fact, you could say we require magic to survive. Only humans are capable of existing without mana. So, a magic barrier weakens any nonhuman in the barrier the longer they remain in it. Within a few days, those demons will collapse from mana deprivation and die.”
“Days! A lot can be done in a few days!” You argue.
“Not really, if we take a defensive and work a campaign of attrition, they’ll quickly collapse. Plus, they are already significantly weaker without magic. Even after turning it off, they’ll be disadvantaged for some time. And with you here, they won’t be able to shut it down without instant death.”
“So, basically, those armies have just created a coffin for themselves.” You chuckle. “Oh, look, their envoy has arrived. Let’s greet them.”