A Relatively Powerful Mage

Sylvi cursed as she watched the invaders through a pair of binoculars. Her vain hope that the demolition done by the forward operating team would halt the invaders had almost instantly been dashed. The Chixel weren’t complete primitives, they had a rudimentary understanding of engineering, and they were employing it on their current problem. A group of siege engineers were overseeing the construction of several different methods for overcoming their current obstacles. They were in the process of constructing a bridge across the chasm that had been created by the explosion.

Sylvi fully intended to take advantage of the situation, ambushing them as they crossed while hopefully destroying the bridge and forcing them to rebuild. This would only stall the inevitable overwhelming force. If they stalled long enough they might begin starving, but she doubted they would be in such dire straits soon.

The advance group continued to be a thorn in the Chixels' side, constantly attacking patrols to great effect. So far, the Chixel seemed content to endure the harassment, though they increased the size while reducing the number of patrols. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much they could do to take advantage of this, there were no other assets in the field.

Imri had continued his methodical hunting of the Cliff Drakes, dropping a new carcass off almost every day. Sylvi wasn’t sure what level he was now, but he was easily the highest-level person around. Unfortunately, his constant forays meant he was always low on mana when he returned. Sylvi wasn’t sure what he was trying to accomplish, any time she spoke with him he would simply say he wasn’t strong enough yet.

On the morning of the third day since they arrived at the mountain, the engineers had completed their makeshift bridge. Sylvi’s team lay in ambush, waiting just out of view from the Chixel who would be crossing. The team consisted of about a dozen hunters, armed with bows and rifles, including Sylvi herself. They also had two earth mages, who could send chunks of rock tumbling down or remove sections that supported the bridge. The final member was Avery, who would start the fight when the lead Chixel had just about crossed, hopefully destroying the bridge and taking a large number of the invaders with it.

The battle commenced as Sylvi had planned. Avery’s fireball slammed into the center, exploding and sending chunks of bridge hurtling down. Several Chixel were set on fire, they screamed and thrashed about, and the lucky ones threw themselves off the bridge, falling to their deaths. The unlucky ones attempted to put out the flames, but it was too much, they screamed in agony as the fire consumed them. The bridge was better constructed than it appeared, still standing despite the damage.

The earth mages followed up, sending two large chunks of rock careening off the cliff face and down onto those desperately trying to return to the relative safety before the bridge. One of the rocks was sent too far, it glanced off the bridge before tumbling down. The second boulder struck true, slamming down on several more victims and preventing a retreat.

The archers had the least success, aiming for the Chixel who had successfully crossed to the other side. Many of the archers had only fired on ranges and their skill was lacking. Still, several arrows found their marks, and Sylvi felt confident they would be able to slowly pick off those trapped on the far side of the bridge.

The skirmish changed as Sylvi noticed a lone Chixel sprinting towards them at an alarming speed. The charging Chixel was not a normal Chixel warrior, armed with heavier armor that had likely deflected some of the stray arrows that had been aimed towards them. They also had a vambrace on their off-hand and a wicked-looking sword made from a strange dark metal. They also wore a gauntlet on their sword arm, and a strange gemstone with swirling colors was socketed below their knuckles.

Sylvi cursed and drew her handgun, firing a burst into the lone warrior as he neared their position. The creature ducked and weaved, causing many of the projectiles to miss him. Still, a bullet caught it in the shoulder, sending a spray of blood. It didn’t even faze the creature, and as he closed Sylvi noticed a faint shimmering light around them that matched the strange swirls in the gemstone.

“Fire at will, take it down,” Sylvi ordered, but it was too late. It closed on the nearest archer as he was attempting to switch weapons, a maneuver they hadn’t practiced nearly enough. The black sword impaled the man straight through the gut, not killing him instantly but was likely a fatal wound.

“Retreat,” Sylvi shouted. She used her mana to create an umbral cloud between them and the monstrous Chixel, hoping to delay any pursuit. No one hesitated in following her order, retreating up the mountain. Unfortunately, her cloud did not dissuade the Chixel as he stepped into it after having killed the first man and a second who had been too slow. Sylvi fired another burst, yelling for everyone to keep running.

This time the monstrous creature hadn’t expected it, and the entire burst hit it in the chest. The armor it wore was effective, the bullets ricocheting off. Like the Cliff Drake leather, it was likely some high-level material that could prevent nonenchanted weapons from doing a thing. She must have done some damage, because the creature was more hesitant, darting from cover to cover. Despite not rushing her, the creature was too fast, and if she turned around she would quickly be overtaken. She was going to die, she knew it as she fired the last burst of the magazine.

More shots rang out, several of the archers had partially ignored her orders, taking out their firearms and laying down suppressing fire. The sheer volume of fire pinned the creature behind cover, giving Sylvi the chance she needed to retreat. They continued the retreat in this manner, several of them running while others laid down suppression fire. The tactic expended an alarming amount of their limited ammo, and a grim part of Sylvi wondered if this was worse than just accepting a few more casualties and saving the ammo. They slowly put more distance between themselves and the elite warrior. At some point Avery threw a fireball at it, surprising it and managing to singe it somewhat. The surprise spell and mounting injuries finally dissuaded further pursuit, the Chixel elite falling back in the direction they had come from.

Sylvi’s squad continued at a jog until they were at the next choke point, several hundred meters after their pursuer had given up. A smaller squad had been tasked to hold this point, and they instantly noticed the beleaguered expressions of their retreating comrades.

“Blow the pass,” Sylvi said once everyone was safely on the other side.

“What the hell was that thing?” Avery asked.

“I managed to get an identify to work, it was a level 17 inquisitor,” one of the earth mages said.

“No fucking way that thing was only level 17. I know that’s stronger than any of us, but not by that much,” another soldier said, shaking their head and spitting on the ground.

“Anyone get a good look at that gauntlet it was wearing?” Sylvi asked. Everyone shook their heads. “I’m guessing that had something to do with it. It was probably some sort of enchantment that made it stronger.”

“Yeah, but even Imri’s most efficient items couldn’t do something that powerful for that long,” Avery pointed out, having become well acquainted with Imri’s work from their joint projects.

“Not running on mana it couldn’t,” Sylvi said, a sinking feeling threatening to overtake her as she figured out what the Chixel had done. “That sword looked like it was made from the same material as that soul dagger Imri had taken from one of their priests. I think they were souls trapped in the gauntlet's gemstone, souls that powered that powerful enchantment. They also likely gained more charge from killing Lucas and Payton.”

A long silence hung over them as they walked back. No one wanted Sylvi’s theory to be correct, especially Sylvi, but no one could come up with a more plausible explanation. Her theory was confirmed when they got back to Celestia, Imri having gotten the information from Thrisk and Zathri. This also meant that Lucas and Payton had suffered a fate worse than death, their souls had been shattered and used to fuel the insidious enchantment. The inquisitors were fanatics even by Chixel standards, but no one dared cross them. They weren’t all decked out in as much gear as this one was, and they also weren’t a large unit, the entire army likely only had several of these monsters among them.

While the inquisitors were physically imposing, the Chixel defectors had a couple of suggestions. Zathri had been familiar with the enchantment they used, it was essentially the opposite of the enfeebling curse Caroline had used, it raised all their primary physical stats by a fixed amount. Zathri also pointed out that it was likely less mana-efficient than something Imri could produce, meaning it was going through an incredible amount of mana for such a significant boost. The enchantment, even powered by souls, could only run for several minutes. The only reason the inquisitor had been able to keep the enchantment running that long was the recharge it had gotten from killing Lucas and Payton. It had likely ended its pursuit because its enchantment was about to wear off. When the enchantment did wear off, the wounds that hadn’t seemed to slow it down would catch up with it as their constitution lowered. The only other weakness they could see was in its defenses that weren’t based on physical damage. If they could attack its mind somehow it was a normal, albeit high-leveled Chixel.

Morale plummeted as people learned what had happened. From a numerical perspective, they had won the day, likely killing 30 to 40 Chixel to the 2 soldiers they had lost. Avery and the earth mage who had landed their boulder had leveled multiple times. Despite all this, they were losing. They were low on ammo, and they were running out of ground to give.

Imri remained silent throughout these revelations as Sylvi delivered her report to the council. He nodded but said nothing, not even showing a sign of worry. The rest of the council was less reserved, though they remained professional. None of them were military, and the best they could do was handle logistics and morale.

“You got anything up your sleeves?” Sylvi asked when she and Imri were alone. Imri stared up at the stars, not saying anything for a time.

“I need more time,” he said eventually.

“More time for what?” Sylvi prodded, a hint of anger leaking into her tone. Imri didn’t seem to notice, he just kept staring off into space.

“I’m not sure, yet,” he said simply.

“Then what the hell are you doing?” she demanded, this time more than a little anger leaking through.

“Do you think stat points change who you are?” Imri asked. The question took Sylvi by surprise and she had to suppress herself from snapping at him. She wasn’t Zhaire, she could keep her anger in check, but Imri certainly wasn’t making it easy on her right now.

“Not really, I’m stronger and faster than before, but I’m still the same person,” Sylvi said.

“That’s what I thought at first. Each point of intelligence made my magic stronger, my mind able to remember things better. Each point of willpower helped me focus and helped me from despairing. It’s subtle, you can barely notice the difference from one point to the next, but now I’m completely changed from level 1. I’ve gained more than 30 intelligence, going from someone who was kind of smart, to someone who is trying to unravel some truths about space and time that would utterly overwhelm my original self. With each point, I’m closer to grasping that truth.”

“Alright,” Sylvi said as she got up.

“Alright?” he asked in confusion.

“I just needed to make sure you weren’t wallowing about in self-pity. Power leveling and meditating until some secret of the universe reveals itself isn’t a great plan, it’s a shit plan really. The important thing is that you have a plan, you haven’t given up,” She said, punching him gently on the shoulder.

“Should I tell everyone what I’m doing then?”

“Hell no. Have you seen the state everyone is in? You tell them that’s your plan and people will break. Keep acting mysterious and unconcerned, that will make everyone think you have something up your sleeve, something more than that plan,” Sylvi said, meaning every word. She knew things were going to get a lot worse before they got better.