“You dare insult the Legion? The very Oligarchy itself?” Major Infraction glowered darkly, and a few Dwarves outfitted in an armor style that Joe hadn’t seen before walked forward to flank her. The Dwarven guards were covered from head to toe, not a single part of their hair or skin showing. “I’ll have you torn apart twice for those words!”
The Dwarves around her moved smoothly and perfectly in sync, which tipped Joe off to what they were. “Oh? You’re a necromancer? You practice on your own troops? I didn’t think that was allowed.”
“No fear at all?” Major Infraction grinned, breaking her stoic expression for the first time, and the undead at her side stopped closing in on Joe. “It isn’t allowed. Unless, of course, you earn your position by using the forbidden magics for the glory of the Dwarven Oligarchy. Then you get named based on your deeds. I broke the rules. Almost all of them, when I could. Hence my moniker. Now, what are you doing?”
“Setting up a counter to Elven illusions. I need to make sure it gets to the people that most need it, but I don’t even know who that would be, except myself and Major General Havoc.” Joe traced the next symbol on the ground carefully, but it wasn’t enough: he made a slight error. The aspect flame burst from that symbol and consumed itself and the one Joe had already made. “Oh, great. Now I don’t get a chance to make corrections?”
“Just be glad it didn’t cascade downward and take the whole magic circle.” The Major commented dryly, indicating that there was some personal experience in that statement. “Higher order materials have more catastrophic effects in direct proportion to their position on the rarity charts. You’re Candidate Joe, then? Hairless, magical, insufferable… yup. You fit the description.”
“Hey!”
“No backtalk; you don’t have the rank for it. Yet.” She chuckled, waved, and a few undead walked off. “I’ll gather a few Majors and above that are willing to participate. Need anything else?”
“Now that you mention it…” Joe cracked a lopsided grin. “A protection detail would be lovely. I was educated on what a failed ritual can do recently, and I wouldn’t like to blow away half the mountain. At least, the half with the Dwarves on it. Oh, and anyone that can channel large quantities of mana. I’ll need help with this one.”
Joe refocused on his ritual circle, needing far longer than he’d estimated to finish it. He looked up only once, finding an entire platoon arrayed around him, before turning his eyes to the ritual once more. By the time he finished the sixth circle—the Expert circle—the day was almost half over. “Okay… that one was a lot more… intense than I expected.”
No mistakes allowed meant perfection was mandatory on the first attempt. Luckily, he was working with an actual diagram instead of going by memory, else he would have had to start over and over. Joe decided then and there to create his own personal grimoire; he needed notes, helpful hints, and tricks! These dry schematics were useful, but… not his style. “Who’s ready to power this puppy up?”
The platoon around him stayed silent, but Major Infraction took a step forward and shouted at the Legion that was still queued up to delve into the volcano. “Anyone who can’t use mana is a weakling!”
“What?”
“Dude! Did you hear what Major Dudette just said about you?”
“Bro! She was totally talking about you, I can totally use the mana. I use the mana all the time!”
A veritable flood of volunteers came over and got into position, as directed by Joe. The Major introduced Joe to the commanders that were good candidates for illusion breakers, but they had no characteristics that made Joe remember them. Most were ‘Bros’ or ‘Dudettes’, Legion members that had become high-ranking through years of service instead of accessing the Officer track.
Joe started arranging them, getting each of the one hundred and twenty-seven conscri—volunteers, to stand where he needed them. After they were organized in the correct positions, he placed his hand into the initial start point of the ritual and allowed an influx of mana to-
You are unconscious! Calculating… time remaining: 30… 29…
Chapter Fifty-Four
When Joe woke up, he wasn’t feeling… good. In fact, he was feeling pretty ragged. Blood was soaking his white robes—currently dyed red—and a terrible headache was situated right between his eyes. He lumbered to his feet and rubbed his grainy eyes. “What in the abyss happened?”
He looked around, discovering that all the Dwarves that had joined him were little more than mincemeat contained by armor. The sight made him gag, and he stumbled back in horror. The only people in the area that weren’t destroyed were the ones that hadn’t participated. Joe slapped his status screen open and read over the notifications.
Attempting to start ritual!
Caution! Mana requirements cannot be fulfilled with the current cadre of mana donors! Ensure that you have enough for stage two!
Ritual stage one activating… ritual expansion has been completed! Mana requirements not fulfilled. Ritual is pausing. Please ensure mana requirements are prepared for stage two before resuming!
“Nothing in here about what happened… were we attacked?” Joe looked frantically at the… armor that surrounded him, then down at the ritual. All that remained was the initial, central Novice ring. His eyes widened, and he frantically looked for what had destroyed… “Wait. Ritual expansion? Paused? What does that mean?”
Major Infraction stepped toward him with a weapon in each hand, yet past the bluster, Joe could see a hesitation to come closer to him shining through. “Joe! Candidate, you just killed over a hundred-”
“Not now, Major!” Joe barked at her, his hoarse voice laced with frustration and anger. He wasn’t immune to the grisly sight. A failed activation
