Before Umbra was even halfway through her charge, the aristocrat had already raised his staff at me, the torrent of pale lightning biting through Akulakhan's wards with barely any effort and surging towards my position.
Still too slow to catch me off guard as I immediately teleported away, and reappeared above them just in time to see Umbra stop in place an inch before she could stab the crone, the old woman not even facing the automaton as she flicked her hand at her and launched her into a nearby tree-manor, a small unit of powerful Dremora summoned by the armored one following after her.
Surge vibrated in my hand as I overcharged a firestorm on top of them, the flames slamming into their position for but a moment before they were syphoned off by the aristocrat, the four Altmer protected from its effects by the priestess.
I immediately reconnected to my Magicka within the flames, forcing the swirling vortex above the high elf's hand to detonate but just barely too late as he directed the force away from himself, gouging out a small chunk of the city as it rampaged uncontrollably.
"He is far more powerful than we expected." I heard him mutter as his hand twitched in pain "Do not underestimate him."
As if to enunciate his words, the armored one was forced into a defensive stance as the dust was blown away by a blurring Akulakhan, the elf's sword just barely managing to hold the automaton's glaive back an inch away from his neck.
More than enough time for the crone to react and blast him away.
'Not on my watch.' I rose my hand, connecting to her shade and unleashing the chittering swarm out from below her but impressively, the madwoman simply ignored the pain of thousands of poison spider bites, clobbering the shit out of my boy while the priestess banished my shade.
The aristocrat immediately struck back at me, making me teleport out once again, and both he and the armored one using the chance to summon their familiars, the enchanter immediately following up with a massive Daedroth as the pair of powerful gold and silver eagles rushed at me.
I purposefully focused on my Sight as I launched Scorch at the Daedric beast, the newborn phoenix just barely smaller than the creature simply batting the two familiars out of his way as he fell upon the demon with claw and beak.
The baffled looks on the Altmer were food for the soul.
And an excellent distraction as both Umbra and Akulakhan rushed out from the debris they had been stuck within, the armored elf being smashed into the ground with a facefull of fist while the aristocrat was forced to sacrifice a few fingers to save his neck from the furious murder bot's rampage.
Pressing my advantage, I dumped all of my shades into their shadows, startling the absolute shit out of the priestess as a giant and a lich appeared right next to her, what remained of Ahzidaal immediately blasting her with a wall of flame while Karstaag simply went in for a kick.
My presumption was proven utterly incorrect as the woman shrieked in fury and blasted them with a turn undead so potent it outright ignored the fact they were not technically undead, unsummoning them both on the spot.
Suddenly, I felt a light tingle "Feim."
The space around me cracked as I turned myself ethereal, the crone appearing atop a balcony just next to me and staring directly at me with her blank eerie eyes "You are not taking us very seriously, are you child?" She tutted.
Instead of answering, I just shrugged, and slammed my mind into her own, and only the fact she did not actually have proper eyes for true contact to be established saved her from having her brain liquefied.
She groaned in pain and flinched away but I was unable to end her as another blast of coiling pale lightning forced me to retreat, the highly refined anti-magic of the spell feeling dangerous even to myself.
The others were not idle as I did this, and as the armor-clad enchanter/conjurer summoned another band of Aurorans to drown my automatons in numbers, the aristocrat and priestess disappeared from their spots, materializing beside the crone.
The priestess twisted her arms sideways, taking command of a massive tree next to me and throwing it at me, while the aristocrat kept spamming his lightning attack.
I attempted to teleport away but felt the crone's gaze on me once more, the telltale glow of restoration around her showing that the priestess' tree act was but a distraction.
Unwilling to just let them wail on me, I deactivated my fight and using a bit of telekinesis against the tree being flung at me I threw myself downwards, returning the massive trunk back to sender and directing my path straight at the armored one.
He blocked Umbra's bloodthirsty thrust, batting it away and dodging Akulakhan's decapitating strike at the same time just as I appeared behind him.
A shield of impressive power shimmered into existence atop his offhand, and Blasphemy was just barely parried away.
He readied his sword to cut me down as my uncontrolled descent made me slam into him but to his surprise, I simply flowed around him, my ashen form allowing me to simply ignore his existence as I passed him by.
Not that I did, as the poor fucker screamed out in pain as the Mortal's Razor found its way into his spine, quite literally breaking him in half as his life was ended then and there.
I could feel Scorch's pout through our connection as his meal disappeared from within his beak.
A furious roar announced the expected counter attack, and instead of using magic to block again like a dumbass, I rose a wall of stone that I quickly transmuted into steel, safely channeling the lightning into the ground, and using the Magicka sticking to it to prolong its existence, transforming the entire thing into a wall of flying spikes.
"You!" The aristocrat glared at me with bloodshot eyes, his nearly fingerless hand pointing at me and shaking in fury "You killed him!"
The storm of metal spikes actually paused in the air, my Sight remaining silent as I tilted my head at the trio "You appear surprised. Why?"
He actually fucking sputtered at me "Immortals don't just kill each other! It is simply not done!"
The sincerity I felt from his words momentarily drained the wind from my sails "You are actually serious, aren't you?"
The crone and priestess remained silent while the aristocrat had the fucking audacity to give me a look of genuine incredulity.
"Is all this a game to you?" I couldn't help but ask, arms spread wide as the sounds of distant battle rang out around us "Did you really think that coming here and playing with the lives of others would not have consequences?"
"The mortals will die no matter what we do." The Altmer sounded almost sad as he said that "Why should our lives be valued the same as theirs?"
That a very large part of me agreed with the sentiment was not particularly encouraging.
That a much larger one was disgusted and angered by their arrogance settled my nerves somewhat.
"There is a saying I heard once" I spoke up after a silent moment "He who wields the sword should be prepared to die by it."
The trio tensed.
"And you four willingly wielded yours against me." I finished with false cheer, my aura coming to the surface once more as I smiled widely at them "So please do scream as much as you want, it will not change your fates."
The crone was already casting a teleportation spell by the time took a deep breath and shouted "YOL-"
(General POV)
"Sir, the vanguard has finally accepted the order to withdraw, sir!" A Quaestor reported crisply.
"Good" General Tullius nodded, his position atop Falinesti's gatehouse giving him a solid view of the battlefield "Ensure that they receive all the supplies they need. They may have ignored protocol but their bravery has advanced our plans tremen-"
"-TOR SHUUUUUUUL!" Suddenly a shout/hiss echoed across the city, a massive gout of flame following but a moment later and utterly annihilating entire districts as it went.
"Send word" Tullius immediately spoke "Tell everyone to halt the advance and withdraw to the first sphere."
"But sir-" The Quaestor blinked in surprise.
Tullius merely pointed at the still ongoing storm of dragon fire "Are you volunteering to step into that?"
The officer gulped "No, sir."
"Then relay my orders soldier!" Tullius barked and the man rushed outside.
The old General shook his head and faced the city one more time, just in time to see another explosion of flame join the firestorm.
(Reyvin's POV)
Scorch cut through the burning air of Falinesti below us as the three cowards kept retreating away from me, multiple cohorts of Altmer and Bosmer paying the price for their arrogance as I spitefully annihilated every single group I could get my hands on.
A wall of pale lightning attempted to stop my advance, the space in front of me once more being twisted followed by a small time dilation effect.
It was just too bad I faced far greater masters of time manipulation than a mere hunchbacked grandma.
One wave of my hand and the turbulence was blown away, scything through yet more tree-districts of Falinesti as the time dilation uselessly sputtered out against my will.
Umbra leapt from Scorch's back, jumping straight through the lightning and taking barely any damage as she stabbed straight through the aristocrat's arm, his freshly remade fingers twitching uselessly as he screamed out in pain.
The crone and the priestess tried to save him but the suddenly teleporting Akulakhan swinging for their heads forced them back.
Despite his cowardice, some dignity still remained, and before Umbra could decapitate him, Merthus channeled every single bit of his Magicka into the rings around his fingers, and detonated everything around him in a glorious flash of blinding light.
Certain of Umbra's survival, I disappeared from my previous spot just as the soul of the elf was dragged back towards Alinor, the lazy flick of Blasphemy severing his connection to whatever was meant to preserve his existence and sending him hurtling into Aetherius.
Chuckling and shaking my head, I teleported back before the remaining duo just in time to see Akulakhan punch the priestess' head off, and the crone once more disappear while sundering the space she previously occupied.
My glorious golem boi actually took some damage from that one, which made what I was about to do just that little bit more palatable.
I felt the wards of the Falinesti palace before I saw them, and the grip the crone had on them just as well. She rounded on me as I approached, draining the power from all of it and flinging it at me in a massively overcharged burden spell.
And then as if a signal had been given, I felt Y'ffre's presence focus on me once again, the numerous burrows in the ground below me shuddering as hundreds upon hundreds of beasts of the Wild Hunt emerged with fury in their eyes.
And the tiniest flickers of divine power with it.
Aedric Magicka surged through Blasphemy as I simply cut the crone's spell apart, the force it unleashed spreading across the whole plaza and sending many of the beasts onto their backs if they were lucky as I revealed my true form for all to see.
The troops atop the palace were terrified, but none came close to the fear in the blank eyes of the crone, as she realized exactly what she had been facing this entire time.
The wards of the palace recharged at impressive speeds, and the crone immediately began repurposing them again, searching for some way to contain me.
But I was done playing with my food, and once more flicked Surge into my grasp.
And holding nothing back, I set everything aflame.
-----
(General POV)
The Overlord of the Aldmeri Dominion had to hold himself back from pacing atop the forecastle of his ship, the smoke rising above the distant forests making him doubt his plan more and more with each passing second.
One of his men ran up to him then, blessedly breaking the silence as he saluted "My Overlord" There was a slight tremor in his voice "The seers report that Falinesti has fallen."
Finarfin went utterly still at that "Fallen?" He repeated "Was the assault not meant to begin mere hours ago? How can it be fallen?"
"They say" The Justiciar cleared his throat hesitantly "They say a third of the city has been turned to ash after a rampage from the enemy commander. None of the Elders survived."
The Overlord felt a bead of sweat flowing down his brow and briskly nodded, hands absently gripping the railings of the ship "Turn the fleet around." He ordered quietly "There will be no victory here."
The Justiciar hesitated for a moment, no doubt thinking of the lost soldiers, but only for a moment as he saluted and marched away to do as he was told.
Finarfin slammed his hands into the railing, cracking the wood and sending splinters eveywhere "Curses!"
-----
Emperor Titus wiped the sweat from his brow as the Grandmaster of the Knights of the Nine announced the end of their spar, quickly saluting the tall man and walking over to the glowing Orb sitting by his kit.
He nearly dropped it as he read through Tullius' report, re-reading it thrice more just in case before audibly groaning at what he found.
A third of Falinesti gone, just like that.
"Well... at least the civilians weren't there." He shrugged "I can live with that." And promptly decided to just leave the mess for his heir to deal with.
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