In an instant, Kane felt alive and warm, lifted of his fatigue and cold sensation. The nefandites showing up now may have been the worst time they could've picked, but he was eager to test out the crooked twig's fire enchantment.
"I said wake up!" he yelled, pointing his wand to the sky and yelling out a spell, letting a raging fire storm flow, melting away the snow around them, whilst consuming all projectiles from the west.
Without anymore delay, Bauer quickly stood up, shaking himself awake as he watched Kane swipe the air with his wand, slowly walking forth as he hurled beads of fire back at the nefandites.
He had to admit, even though he'd long given up on studying magic and grew a distaste for it, Kane's effortless use of it was certainly a spectacle that dazzled him.
"Go further into the east!" yelled Bauer as he passed by the stagecoach, unsheathing his longsword. "Stay within our sight!"
The drivers nodded, forcing the horses to gallop through the snow, taking the stagecoach eastward as ordered.
Meanwhile, Kane watched as Bauer ran past him, ready to cleave through the numbers.
At least there are only deacons and militiamen, so he thought, flicking his wrist as he fired away through use of the fire enchantment. He finally understood it, especially after gaining knowledge about magic through the many parchments, and he was somewhat disappointed in himself for not understanding something so simple on his own.
It was easy, for the most part. All he needed to do was call upon the wand's enchantment—in his case, fire—and cast with his imagination. Though the hard part came with understanding just what the limitations to his imagination was.
He would've loved nothing more than to let a rain of fire shower the nefandites or to bring a hulking fireball to crash down, but it always remained out of reach.
Well out of reach, in fact. Whether it was a limitation by the wand or the enchantment's power, he wasn't able to determine just yet, but one thing was certain:
I'm more than capable, he told himself, grinning as he picked up the rate of fire, making it tough for the nefandites to dodge, who were also taking notice of Bauer running straight for them, deflecting their magic with his black longsword.
Seeing that he'd be causing issues for Bauer as well, he decided that he had enough fun and started supporting him instead. "Defendere te!" he yelled, letting a brilliant white radiance flow from his wand into Bauer, highlighting him in the same colour.
Bauer took notice of it, now truly glad to have a mage on his side, and so he began with the culling. Striking down militiamen one by one with quick and precise movements of his blade, his armour was protected from being damaged by the attacks they landed on him, thanks to Kane. In fact, it was far more helpful, thanks to the spell allowing a rebound effect that left the militiamen's guards open, letting him stab them straight through their torsos.
But just as it happened back at Thalamar, he watched as the fallen militiamen violently contorted and transformed into new creatures. He grunted out of frustration, clenching his jaw as he protected himself against the volley of magic. Tortured souls and soul hounds...
He watched as the ghostly teal skeletons flew aimlessly, while teal hounds growled and ran straight for him. Again, Bauer was tasked with fighting a battle on two fronts, though that would quickly change as he watched the hideous amalgamations melt just mere metres away from him, followed by a deafening thunderclap.
He whipped his head back, watching as a blinding flash of lightning struck the deacons, forcing them to focus on defending themselves, rather than keeping up their necromancy.
Such smiting was caused by none other than Kane, who held open his grimoire as he wore a scowl, yelling "Iudicium!" as he whipped his wand down from a held up position. With each yell and swing, bolts of lightning struck the deacons, scattering them into a frenzy.
Of course, however, such a battle would be too simple, and so a new threat presented itself. The deacons decided to stop messing around, using their own magic to cast walls of darkness, making it impossible for Kane and Bauer to tell where they were going... or where they really were for that matter. It was especially worse when the encroaching darkness spread across the land, followed by bursts of magic that they could only react against by a mere fraction of a second.
Kane waved his wand in the air, flicking his wrist as he said, "Luminis," letting his own ball of light replace the recently discarded nefandite one. Even so, the light was too weak to pierce the veil.
Fuck, he looked around, gritting his teeth as he gripped his wand tighter, frantically looking around as he dodged red and green pulses, I can't cast a stronger light source. What do we do?
A cool breeze rushed against him, letting his coat sway back, lighting his mind with some inspiration.
That's right! The darkness is more of a fog! He quickly pointed his wand to the ground and yelled, "Flatus!"
A strong gust blew all around the point he focused on, making it difficult to maintain stable footing, sending the fog-like darkness scattering away along with the snow, dissipating into the air as though a foul omen's aura was left behind after its death.
"Found you fuckers," he said as he stared at the deacons, who were knocked prone, quickly getting back up.
He had no intention of letting them do so that easily, however, and with a couple flicks of his he utilized the fire enchantment to quickly take out four of the six remaining deacon, striking their heads with bolts of fire.
The remaining two deacons stood up, pointing their wands at Kane, though those quickly flew out of their grasp upon Kane yelling, "Ventus!", sending their wands twirling in the distance.
Just seconds later, Bauer would stood right behind them, poking one of them in the back. "On your knees, now!" he ordered, his voice turning into a menacing growl behind his helm.
The deacons did as ordered, quickly lowering themselves as they held open hands up, watching as Kane walked over with his wand pointed at them.
"What are you fuckers doing here?" he asked, staring deep into their eyes with a frown. One wrong move or word and he was ready to strike them down.
Unlike the nefandite laymen, these deacons looked particularly healthy, wearing black coats and large brimmed slouch-hats. Their black beards were thick, and their skin tone was like Bauer's: a tint of tan.
One of the nefandites chuckled, while the other looked at him with trembling eyes.
"Ah, you think you'll get anything out of us?" he said, revealing a hoarse voice with malicious undertones that made Kane's skin crawl. "I'd rather die than—"
"Wish granted," interrupted Kane, pursing his lips as he blasted the deacon's head with fire, tainting the air with the smell of burnt flesh. He lazily dragged his gaze to the other nefandite, who was trembling in place. "Are you cold?"
"A b-bit," said the nefandite, his voice was soft and tremulous as he averted his gaze to the ground, "but I just d-don't want to die. Please let me live."
Kane hummed as he squinted his eyes, looking up as he wobbled his head side to side. "Maybe. Now tell me what you're doing out here."
The nefandite hesitated, his mouth jittering as he opened it, afraid that the answer would get him killed. "We are tasked with attacking caravans, t-taking anyone we can for sacrifices, and stealing any supplies we could to weaken Tyraleth."
Kane tilted his head as he stared at the nefandite with furrowed brows, before looking back at the shrugging Bauer.
"You're stealing supplies that left the city," said Kane, his tone carried a sharp doubt, "so how would you be weakening it?"
"Tyraleth's income comes from exporting its resources to other cities across Teivel. Without money, many things in the city's system will begin to collapse. People will fight each other for basic necessities, and that would allow Nefandyr to take advantage of the collapse."
Kane crossed his arms, staring at the trembling nefandite with squinted eyes, sighing as he shook his head. Wouldn't that take forever?
Bauer cleared his throat. "Where have your bishops established their territory?"
"We're just a small group that was sent on this mission, far from the b-bishops' territory. You'll find a nefandite outpost f-further west, but it'll just be more militiamen, deacons, occultists, and priests."
"Priest?" repeated Kane, meeting his gaze with Bauer's.
For once, Bauer had an answer, rather than a shrug. "A priest is a powerful mage. They're just on the precipice of becoming a bishop, right above an occultist, and they're typically the apprentices of bishops."
Kane nodded, rubbing his chin as he looked back at the nefandite, who struggled to hold eye contact. "How can we be certain you won't just go back to Nefandyr if we let you live?"
"You have t-to trust me, please! I've told you everything I know. I swear, I'll never go back!"
"Uh-huh? Is that so?"
"Yes! I swear!"
"Wait here a moment then," said Kane, walking past him and taking Bauer aside.
"What?" asked Bauer, his tone was sharp, laced with impatience.
"You think we should let him go?"
Bauer held his silence for a bit, along with his breath, before sighing and shaking his head. "I guess we should... We should give him a chance."
"Right... but what if he does go back on his word?" asked Kane, sneakily pointing his wand back behind crossed arms. "Then what?"
"He's just a deacon. We can even take him along and—"
A crackling and popping sound cut him off, followed by a quiet whistle and someone collapsing in the snow. Bauer quickly looked back, taking notice of nefandite's lifeless corpse. He looked back at Kane, noticing the crooked twig's tip pointed right in the corpse's direction, where a faint smoke dissipated into the air.
"Oh you're fucked up, you know that?" he said, staring at Kane's hood.
"Huh?" Kane looked back and slowly raised his hands to his head as he looked at the dead deacon. "Oh lord!" he said with a voice laced with all the sarcasm in the world. "My hand must've slipped!"
Bauer sighed, walking eastward to the stagecoach. "Whatever, let's just go now."
Kane followed behind, wearing a wide smile behind his mask. "To the manor!"