As the ominous silhouettes of the rival mages drew closer in the dim light of the shattered castle courtyard, Thorne swiftly outlined his plan to Varence, his voice low and urgent. The crumbling walls and scattered debris bore witness to their tense conversation. "Those mages possess a talisman that can detect magical energy, guiding its wielder to its source. That's how the slavers were able to track me down after I took you out of commission at the tavern. Galen's sensing ability comes from a rare, inborn arcanist trait, which those mages clearly lack. With your power concealed, you can take them out in one fell swoop while they're grouped.
Varence raised an eyebrow, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "And your role in this brilliant plan? Observing from a safe distance while I handle the dirty work?"
"You're fortunate that I need your particular set of skills for this mission," Thorne replied, his voice dangerously low. "Otherwise..."
Varence cut him off with a confident smirk. "I know you won't harm me, Thorne. You're the one calling the shots here. And don't bother telling me what you're going to do—I'll figure it out soon enough."
Thorne couldn't help but concede, "You're not as witless as you appear. Cowardly, certainly, but..."
His words were abruptly interrupted by Galen's warning shout: "Get down you fucker!" Thorne narrowly avoided a fusillade of elemental spells from the enemy mages, his swift evasion made possible only by Galen's timely intervention.
"We've deciphered your strategy!" jeered one of the slavers. "Quit squandering your mana on invisibility and face us like a true mage!"
Thorne, masterfully manipulating an illusion to project his voice from a different location, scoffed, "Cowardice? How ironic, given your five-to-one advantage!" The air around them sizzled with raw power as another barrage of elemental spells hurtled toward the source of Thorne's voice. "Imbeciles! He's draining our mana! Fight intelligently and rely on the talisman to locate him," the group's formidable warrior growled, tightly grasping the enchanted object.
Ever the tactician, Thorne conceived another ploy. He fabricated an auditory illusion of approaching footsteps, honing in on one of the enemy mages' flank.
"He's coming from here!" a mage bellowed, unleashing a colossal fireball in retaliation. As the smoke cleared, it became evident that Thorne had deceived them once more. "These novices believe I'll afford them the luxury of time to counteract my auditory trickery," Thorne muttered to himself.
Wasting no time, Thorne summoned a tangible duplicate of himself that sprang towards another off-guard adversary. Caught off-guard, the mage panicked and released a furious bolt of lightning in a frantic act of self-preservation."
As soon as the mage's attack was launched, Thorne's clone vanished, revealing that the mage had inadvertently inflicted severe injuries upon one of his own allies. "What the hell are you doing imbecile?!" the warrior accompanying the mages roared. He lamented their reliance on brute force and their blatant disregard for strategy.
"Zarex, I—I thought it was the enemy!" the mage stammered, his face flushed with embarrassment and anxiety as he realized how easily Thorne had outmaneuvered him.
The mage retreated awkwardly, while the remaining members of the group stood poised, scanning their surroundings for any hint of their elusive opponent.
"Everyone, pay attention!" Zarex commanded, capturing their undivided attention. "We can't let him keep toying with us like this. We must force him into the open!"
Unbeknownst to them, Thorne had silently maneuvered behind the isolated mage, swiftly slitting his throat. The mage's eyes widened in shock as blood gushed from his mouth.
"I can't believe they allowed you to exploit such an obvious weakness!" Galen exclaimed, his disappointment easily discernible. Zarex reacted with lightning speed, charging toward Thorne with his sword slicing through the air, but Thorne had already vanished from that spot.
The remaining mages stared somberly at the lifeless body of their fallen comrade, each drawing a deep, steadying breath. "Don't forget there's another mage lurking around here! My talisman can't detect him, but if anyone else falls to the same fate, I'll personally resurrect you just to make you suffer. Understood?" Zarex barked. "I can't believe the imbecile who led us into this mess is already dead." He tossed the talisman to one of the mages. "Kander, you're the most competent among us. Guard this device while I defend our ranks."
Kander caught the talisman, hesitating momentarily before resigning to his assigned duty.
Zarex channeled his energy into heightening his senses, prepared to react to even the slightest disturbance.
Observing the scene, Thorne hurled a stone to mislead his foes. Zarex instantly lunged in the direction of the noise, traversing the distance at an astonishing pace. He arrived at the rock's landing site, releasing a gust of wind following his wake as he held his sword outstretched, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of Thorne.
"Amusing. Turns out the brawny warrior is the sharpest of the bunch," Thorne quipped, chuckling under his breath. His voice seemed to reverberate from within the enemy's minds, its origin impossible to pinpoint.
"Too bad it's still not enough," Thorne taunted, treating the formidable group of mages as if they were inexperienced children. "He's coming again! Brace yourselves!" Zarex roared to his comrades, whipping his head around.
"Ring of Fire!" the fire elementalist chanted, conjuring a circle of roaring flames around the group, ready to detect any intrusion. "Perfect. This is unfolding even more smoothly than I had anticipated. What kind of fool traps his own allies?" Thorne muttered to himself.
"Try assassinating one of us now!" the fire elementalist mocked, convinced he had single-handedly turned the tide in their favor.
"Alright, but I believe you have more pressing concerns at the moment," Thorne remarked, casting his voice within the group's circle. "We won't fall for that trick again, illusionist. If you were really beside us, you'd be burnt to a crisp," the fire mage retorted, a smug grin plastered on his face.
In a final display of misdirection, Thorne conjured an illusion that the ground beneath the group was crumbling away.
Distracted for a split second, the mages failed to recognize the impending catastrophe. "Ice Pillar!" Varence bellowed, as a colossal pillar, weighing at least ten tons, materialized above the disoriented group and started to plummet toward them.
Panic spread across the mages' faces, even the previously confident fire mage was visibly trembling. "How did the talisman not detect this concentration of mana?!" he cried out.
"How... How could we let an illusionist, of all mages, outmaneuver us so completely?" another mage murmured, a tone of resignation lacing his words. Zarex shouted, "Enough! Focus on the task at hand! Unleash all your spells on the pillar! Use every ounce of your mana!" But his command fell on deaf ears as chaos engulfed the group. Kander began casting his spell in vain, while the other two vaulted through the ring of fire in a desperate bid to escape, severely burning themselves in the process.
Thorne seized the opportunity to rush forward and slit the throats of the mages with precise strikes that were attempting to extinguish the flames on their bodies.
Miraculously, the warrior Zarex remained unharmed. He propelled himself into the air, charging his sword for a monumental strike that cleaved the ice pillar in two in a mid-backflip motion, saving at least one of his allies before landing and executing another graceful backflip to safety, effectively furthering the distance between him and his attackers.
"I can't believe he managed to perform such a feat while clad in heavy armor! Be careful, I doubt that backflip is as simple as it appears," Galen commented sarcastically, downplaying Zarex's impressive maneuver. "Clearly, it took years of acrobatic training to master that unstoppable move."
"Galen," Thorne paused for a moment before continuing, visibly annoyed, "why are you so fixated on his blasted backflip? It's just a backflip, for the demigods' sake!"
"While mages devote themselves to decades of complex research and warriors become skilled swordsmen capable of cleaving mountains, this fool has been perfecting a backflip! He's a disgrace to mages and warriors alike!" Galen fumed, offended by Zarex's performance.
"Thanks for saving me!" Kander called out to Zarex, grateful for the rescue.
"Don't get too full of yourself. I saved you only because you're holding that blasted talisman," Zarex said dismissively.
As Thorne tried to catch his breath from swiftly dispatching the two mages, he composed himself and asked Varence in a steady tone, "Varence, do you have any more mana left?"
"I used up all the mana I could muster for that final attack," Varence replied, inadvertently giving away his position.
Zarex's eyes narrowed, and he hurled a blade in the direction of Varence's voice, striking him in the arm. "Agh!" Varence cried out in pain as blood gushed from his wound.
"Caught you, vermin," Zarex said with a triumphant smirk.
"You, focus on him," Zarex ordered Kander, pointing at Varence. "Toss me the talisman." Without hesitation, Kander threw the object to Zarex.
As Varence's blood left a visible trail, he tried to step back and hide. Thorne sighed, "Sorry, Varence. I need to conserve mana for the upcoming fight." With that, he ceased casting his invisibility spell on both Varence and himself.
Zarex strode confidently towards Thorne, brandishing his blade and declaring, "You're mine."
Thorne couldn't help but taunt him, smirking as he shrugged his shoulders, "Oh, please, not the dreaded backflip! How will I ever defend myself against that?"
Galen's laughter bubbled up, almost contagious, as he quipped, "Moments like this make me glad you're my vessel."
Zarex narrowed his eyes, a hint of begrudging admiration in his tone, "You're an intriguing one, but it's a shame I have to kill you." With that, he lunged towards Thorne, sword leading the way.