Chapter 10
The mage observing the barrghest remains silent until it finishes eating the corpse of the hydra. The creatures skin begins to writhe and pulse, though this quiets down rather quickly. He can tell by the movements that it is clearly uncomfortable in its own skin. Then suddenly the beast vanishes from sight. If it weren't for his magic sight, then he would not be able to see the outline of the creatures magic, turning it invisible.
"Lets capture you and head back to the main room. Aurelius will not flee without his life's work." The mage smiles and drops from the two hundred feet perch. A volley of spells accompany his descent, which catch the barrghest completely off-guard.
First a series of rays strike the barrghest, sapping him of his strength. Next, countless needles puncture his skin. His vision blurs and the world begins to spin around him as whatever magic is in those needles begins to drug his system. Finally shadows chains erupt from all over and pin him to the ground. Already weakened and wounded from the fight with the hydra, he cannot resist the barrage of spells and can do little more than growl in frustration and anger at being captured so easily.
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Azemir descends from the hole in the cieling of the central wing, his large bat wings breaking his fall just before impact. Dust is sent up around him, which he bursts forth from in full stride towards the other end of the room. He is hunting for one of the mages and has spotted movement inside a nearby room.
The leader has finished searching the habitat room and deemed nothing within worth his immediate attention. He is about to head back into the central wing as the silhouette of a massive devil is seen striding towards the room he now stands within.
"You just have to go and make this as difficult as possible, don't you Aurelius." The leader mumbles under his breath, casting a few additional defensive spells to mitigate fire and acid elemental damage, that this creature is likely to utilize.
He then begins casting a mid tier spell. Darkness suddenly erupts from Azemir, flooding the habitat room and blocking line of sight for the leaders spell. He unleashes it anyway, causing a thick beam of energy to emerge from the darkness and streak across the room, disintegrating a large portion of the far wall.
Azemir has already taken flight, and manipulates the darkness to form chain links on the ankles of the leader mage. He then launches himself into the open sky, through the hole in the ceiling. The leader is pulled suddenly out of the room and into the air.
He quickly tries to cast another spell, but with each flap of Azemir's wings he is bounced and thrown all about, interrupting his spell-casting. The leaders head whips back and forth with each flap of Azemir's wings, he spends the majority of his concentration on keeping himself from getting whiplash.
The two quickly break free of the upper level of the lab, and begin ascending into the sky. Sunlight begins to wear down the magical darkness, cutting away at its effect. Soon enough the spell wears off, but the pair have already traveled quite a distance into the sky. The leader mage utilizes a mid tier flight spell to shift himself upright and address the devil that has dragged him outside.
"What can i offer to sway your allegiance. The pact with your summoner can be overridden if you but name your price." The leader calls aloud, trying to buy another moment to add additional layers of defensive magic to himself.
"A blood pact cannot be nullified. Bite your tongue, foolish mortal." Azemir calls out, revealing a long serrated sword in his right hand that is oozing blood and acid. He vanishes from sight, appearing next to the leader and lashing out with the blade.
One of the defensive barriers around the leader instantly shatters, and the two begin their fight to the death.
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The mage on the second floor scans the room for anything that might be important. He finds numerous vials, potions, and other alchemical objects scattered around the room. Some positioned on shelves, some inside crates, and a few locked chest. The mage kneels down and pulls out a black velvet carpet, he spreads it out over the floor and suddenly the space distorts to reveal a hole where the carpet should be. The mage pushes the three locked chest inside the hole. With this finished he peels the edge up akin to removing stuck tape, and as quickly as the hole appeared, it vanishes.
The mage deems this room clear and then begins heading north, given that the summoned elemental came from the south, he would want to beat Aurelius to whatever he was trying to get to in the northern wing of this place.
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Aurelius carries himself swiftly north, aiming to get to his library, which is subsequently where he keeps the books he has written on his research here. To hasten his travel, Aurelius activates the magic in his cape and boots. His cloak begins to bend the air around him, making him weightless and his boots charge his entire form with a stream of magic that causes his movements to blur out of time itself.
With both flight and speed enchantments in place, Aurelius makes it to the library wing in moments. Luckily there is only one entrance, which he closes behind him and seals with magic. To double up on security, he activates four alchemical golems that are stationed in the lobby of the library.
Creatures standing ten feet tall with strange colored liquids flowing through their numerous glass-like appendages. Scattered bits of metal imbued with magic, and a powerful core at their center, these constructs exist to serve their creator, and Aurelius has tasked them with guarding the lobby.
Next, he makes his way through a set of double glass doors, which he reinforces with magic. The spell will hold out for a bit, but the doors themselves make for an extremely base material to be keeping out mages from the association.
Finally inside the library, Aurelius conjures an extra-dimensional sphere, the same he used in an earlier room to vacuum material into his extra-dimensional storage space. Aurelius moves the sphere over a series of bookcases, causing them to be sucked whole into the space. Aurelius quickly clears the first room of all shelves, and then makes his way to the second.
He hears the outer door begin to be under siege with magic, knowing that the mage has arrived. He would only have enough time to clear out two rooms at best now. He places a wall of force between rooms and begins to clear out the next set of bookshelves. He honestly also wanted to salvage as much of his reading material as he could. While much of this could be replaced, he knew that some of the books in here could not.
Aurelius finishes clearing out all the shelves in this room as the mage breaks through into the lobby and he hears the golems begin to engage in combat. He quickly enters the next room, places another wall of force and then heads to the fourth room. The books in the third room are more organized, so he knows that they can be sacrificed and he needed to reach the end to retrieve his personal grimiores.
Aurelius passes through three more rooms until he reaches the massive space dedicated to storing his most precious tomes and spellbooks. The room itself is nearly fifty feet tall and the walls are lined in shelves full to the brim with tomes. At the center of the room stands a twenty foot tall jet black golem forged from one of the most dense and difficult to locate metals on the planet.
Aurelius begins to absorb bookcase after bookcase with the sphere, having enough time to clear out the entire room before the last wall of force is breached and he now stands face to face with the assaulting mage.
"Stop resisting Aurelius. Give yourself up now and we will spare your life. Return to the association and your crimes can be worked off, your loyalty can be reestablished." The mage says. Aurelius's response it to lift his hand and send forth a fireball while leaping atop of the jet black golem. The smoke from the fireball clears, revealing the the mage has retreated.
"Let us go fetch my new friend, my little barrghest." Aurelius says as he rides the golem out of his now empty, destroyed library. The other rooms were half cleared out, it seems that the mage has taken what books he could on his way to confront Aurelius.