Alarms sounded throughout the city as Sylvar hurried with his elves to the kettles. He understood what was happening. He had been fearing it since his meeting with the Magebane. The cultivators were attacking. They had to be here for their people. Therefore, he aimed to arrive first. He needed leverage if he wanted to get out of this while still gaining something. In negotiations, being in a position of strength is crucial. That was a basic tactic in any bargaining. The kin lives would serve as excellent tools.

After a few turns, they arrived at the kettles. A crude term, but accurate, animals should be housed in cages. It was a large, warehouse-like building with many cages where kin rested when not at work. This was the remainder of the kin owned by the city. They did everything from cleaning to acting as foot soldiers. It was the largest concentration of kin in the city. The rest were privately owned or deployed elsewhere.

Sylvar immediately knew something was wrong as he approached the building. Where were the guards? A glance showed no sign of the two mages who were supposed to be on duty. Were the cultivators already here? That could cause problems. However, he was an elite elf warrior. He could secure his bargaining chips as long as the Magebane wasn't here.

"Get ready," Sylvar whispered to the dozen elves behind him. All that was left of the elven presence in the city.

"Now," Sylvar said as he barged through the door. The kettles stank. They always did, but this time it was more than unwashed bodies and poor sanitation. Blood lingered in the air. Off to either side of the door lay two bodies both of them with their throats slit. Sylvar ignored them, heading deeper inside where he saw three rat-kin opening cages. A fourth had the slave master restrained. The bruises around his face told him that the man had been beaten into submission.

Sylvar stepped toward them when a new figure emerged, covered in dark robes. Or perhaps the figure was there the entire time? It was hard to tell. The figure was wreathed in shadows that coiled around its body. Perhaps from some sort of artifact. The presence of this one kin tickled a primal fear in the elf. Sylvar squashed the feeling. The day he let a kin intimidate him was when he gave up his grove, besides the Magebane. But she was a special case. Someone unique, someone who wasn't here.

"That's far enough," the dark-robed figure said. The voice was masculine yet slightly high-pitched. Almost certainly a rat-kin.

Sylvar hesitated. He didn't want to kill any of the Magebane's people. That would make it harder for him to get a good deal. Yet he needed to secure his leverage. Sylvar smiled as the obvious solution presented itself.

"I'm surprised you got here so quickly. Surrender yourselves to me. I'll secure you and all the other kin before the Magebane arrives. After I negotiate with her, you will all be free to leave. I'll protect you to make sure no mage from Deepmere can harm you."

A generous offer, Sylver thought as he congratulated himself. This will work out better than he hoped. Strangely, the other rat-kin ignored him, releasing more kin while the imprisoned slave master gave him wide pleading eyes. They left everything to the mysterious robed kin.

"No," the figure said with an edge of hostility in his voice.

"I'm afraid you don't understand," Sylver said, speaking more slowly. He had to consider he wasn't dealing with an elf, but a member of a lesser race. He had to make it easier for them to understand. "I won't harm you. I'll help you, but you need to be in my custody for that to happen. Once I make a deal with the Magebane, you'll be free. If you don't have my help, anything could happen to you."

There, straightforward, even a simpleton should be able to understand.

"Fool," the cloaked kin said. "We don't need YOUR aid. Don't interfere, and you might live through this day."

Sylver blinked. Then he did it again. Was he seriously dismissed like, like, … a worthless null?! A black rage welled up in the elf as the figure stared him down as if he was inferior.

Those filthy kin, Sylver seethed. He generously gave them an excuse to live and save face, but the kin threw it away. Inside the elf, the oldest conflict took place. Older than any civilization. It was older than the concept of language. A male's lost pride versus doing something monumentally stupid. In such a contest, there was never any question of the victor.

"MITHRIL BODY! GIANT'S STRENGTH! SHARP MIND! BLADED TOUCH! SUPREME HASTE!" Sylver chanted his mana pouring from his pool as the spells took shape. The world slowed around him as his perception smoothed. His heart seemed to slow down to crawl. Each beat signaled his imminent victory. Behind him, his elves chanted their spells. None of them were elites like him, but all of them were worth a thousand kin.

Sylvar took three steps toward the kin, who didn't react. No doubt the weakling couldn't see him in his accelerated state. That belief was crushed as the kin acted. The kin's shadow spiked outwards, stabbing into the surrounding darkness. Those shadowy tendrils pulled the tethered darkness into a swirling mass in the kin's open palm. An explosion of shadows ripped forth, engulfing the elves in a dark wave.

What was this!? Sylvar felt no mana. None, yet the kin managed some kind of overpowered shadow spell?! The wave of shadows cut into his reinforced body, drawing blood. The scream of his fellow elves sharpened Sylvar's thoughts. The only reason they weren't immediately killed was that he had taken the brunt of the attack. He couldn't let it end like this.

"GRAND LIGHT!" Sylvar chanted. An explosion of light dispersed the darkness. Sylvar blinked as he realized the attack had pushed him out of the building entirely. Wisps of shadow clung to him like spider webs, slowly disappearing in the light. Cries behind him made him glance at his troops. He wished he hadn't. The attack, whatever it was, was far more powerful than he initially thought. His men wore suits of shredded flesh. Their bodies torn open. One elf weakly attempted to scoop his organs back into his open body cavity, before going still a moment later. The smell of blood was only overpowered by the smell of shit from perforated intestines that lay pooled around.

"I'm surprised you survived that. I exhausted an immense amount of ki with that attack. I guess elite elves are impressive. If your elves were as strong as you, I might have been in trouble."

Sylver turned, shaking as he watched the kin casually approach.

No, it couldn't be… How could someone else like the Magebane exist!? Not wanting to know but unable to help himself, Sylvar activated his magic sight. There it was, a mana void. Just like the Magebane, however, the effect was less than what she produced. Sylvar might have noticed the lack of ambient mana earlier if he hadn't been so angry.

"How…" Sylvar wheezed, losing control of his spells. The kin ignored him, studying the scene.

"The counter with the light spell was effective," the kin said, ignoring Sylvar. "A natural counter that I should have anticipated to my attunement. A good lesson on a potential weakness. Then again…" The kin clenched his fist. "If I have to be cautious when using shadow ki, that still leaves my body." The kin then vanished from his sight.

An intense burning pain erupted from his stomach. Sylvar coughed up blood as he saw a rat-kin's paw sticking out of his sternum. The paw retracted, leaving a gaping hole behind as Sylvar's vision swam. Blood gushed from the large wound as Sylvar took a single step forward before he collapsed in a heap. Darkness filled his vision as sound became distant and his heart gave its final beats.

This… This wasn't how it was supposed to end… I was going to earn honor and go home… how… did… it… all go… so… wrong? Was the last thought Sylvar, the elite warrior, had before he died.

***

Gwen held the dying mage in her right hand and felt… nothing. The burning hunger inside wasn't satisfied. She closed her hand, sending the man's head flying upward like a cork from an over-pressurized bottle of wine. A small fountain of blood seemed to reach for the lost head before changing to a lazy flow. The body collapsed before her, splattering her in crimson. Nothing. The emptiness wasn't receding. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. It wasn't like this before. The cold would leave once she fed it enough, allowing Gwen her terrible joy. Even the surge of death essence did little more than make her hungry for more.

She was starving at a metaphorical buffet. The feast looked wonderful. The smell reached deep within her, pulling her forward. Yet each bite turned to ash in her mouth and passed through, leaving only vague memories of what once was. The hunger demanded more, and each bite disappointed as much as the last. Was she truly broken now? Gwen knew she had issues. Honey-badger kin were the most temperamental of all kin. Her human half only seemed to make it worse. Yet that day she was violated had broken something in her. For a while, inflicting as much pain as possible on the ones responsible had filled the void. That dark joy was addictive. Now…

A woman screamed at the corpse lying at Gwen's feet. She raised her arm to cast a spell, but Gwen had already moved. Her fist obliterating the woman's head like a squashed fruit, and still the void in her remained unfilled. Perhaps she needed more? An act so twisted that she would have to feel something.

Gwen leaped onto a tall structure looking for groups of magi. That was when she spotted them. Thump. A pulse of excitement dispersed the nothingness. There was a group of about thirty of them. From their apparel, they appeared to be nobles. There were ten adults and six children of various ages. Gwen frowned. Not at the age or the way the group was slinking around, but at the kin. Nearly fifty kin surrounded them like a vanguard. The kin were… disheveled. They were worn down, flinching at the slightest command barked at them.

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Thump. The void sang. This was it. This was what she was seeking. These kin were like her before the Magebane had changed everything. Beaten. Wronged. Violated. She could see it from the posture of the female kin. Oh, yes, they have been sexually abused for years. The males probably didn't fare any better. They probably didn't have the necessary parts left for such an act. Their master probably removed them for fun or punishment.

Here was something that resonated deep inside. With a grin, she used a ki-infused leap to soar high into the sky. Gwen cleared several buildings with ease as she narrowed in on her prey. Two more bounds and she landed in front of the group, cracking the cobblestone road.

The mages froze in terror as Gwen relished their fear.

"Who are you?" One mage asked. Many more questions followed this. What did she want? Blah, blah, blah. Gwen ignored them and fished in her pocket as the adults herded the children farther back, positioning their kin slaves as a shield between. Ah, there it was. Gwen slipped a pair of magical spectacles onto her nose and peered around. It would have made her cute if she hadn't been splattered in blood. The spectacles were a common possession among all powerful cultivators. The mage that owed a debt to the Magebane had made them. She was in a special position to do so. The magic tool only did one thing. It allowed one to see the connection of the slave runes to the master rune.

Gwen giggled as she saw the connections. The fools must have transferred the master runes to the children in the hope that it would save them. They did a rather sloppy job as they appeared to be linked to all the children like a magical net. Perhaps it was done as the attack started as a type of shield for the children. That made this so much easier. She could kill the adults and subdue the children while activating the kin's mana pools to disrupt the slave rune. Easy.

"We don't want any trouble," a mage said, Gwen only now paying attention. "Just let us go and we…" He never finished his sentence. That prospect was challenging now that his head was twisted around so that he could look straight down at his ass. Not that the man noticed it. He was already dead. Shouts and screams erupted as Gwen moved, laughing as she did so. The fear was intoxicating. This is what she was missing!

"FIREBOLT," a mage shouted. Gwen danced around the magic. The man then turned into a chunky spray that soaked several adults and children as Gwen's ki-powered fist hit his chest. More spells flew, and the kin were forced to attack her, but it was hopeless. These weren't fighters. They didn't even use barrier spells. The kin were just slow obstacles to avoid. Gwen dashed past the kin, killing another mage before they could reach her. The children wailed and cried, which was the most challenging part for her to endure. The sniveling was rather annoying. She would soon silence them. With a heave, Gwen lifted a woman above her head and pulled her apart with her ki, the two pieces falling to either side.

"MOMMY!" Some stupid child wailed. Gwen would have to tolerate it for now. She gleefully turned toward them and froze. One of the children, a young teenager, had a grim expression. It was one she had seen herself wear before she did something cruel.

"YOU BITCH! YOU KILLED THEM!" The young teen shouted, his blue eyes wild, his pale skin sweaty, and a shaking fury taking over his body.

"Don't do anything stupid," Gwen warned, raising her hands slowly to shoulder level. Could she subdue them quickly enough? She could easily kill them, but that would also affect the kin slaves.

"STUPID!?" The young teen shouted. "YOU, YOU, YOU…" he seemed unable to finish his thought. Gwen felt the mana surge down the messy web of connections as her stomach filled with lead. All the kin around her suddenly seized up, their eyes bulging from their sockets before popping out as blood erupted from every orifice.

Gwen moved in a flash. Instantly, she held the boy off the ground by his shirt, her eyes filled with rage.

"Stop it!" Gwen shouted. "If you kill them, I'll torture each of you little shits until you beg me for death!"

"I, I…" The young teen stammered as the other children shrank in on themselves, weeping. "I, I can't! Something went wrong! I only meant to hurt them!" Gwen's eyes widened in horror as the look on the teen's face confirmed everything. The alteration they made to transfer the master rune was sloppily done, and it created a feedback effect in each kin when the brat activated it. Their mana was killing them. Gwen dropped him and dashed to the nearest kin. If she could sever the connection quickly enough, then maybe… As she knelt to the first kin reaching for one of the few ki pieces she had left, Gwen stopped. The death essence that erupted all around her told her that she was too late. The kin were all dead.

Gwen stood and looked down on the dead kin as the teen stammered on.

"It, it, wasn't supposed to, to, to do that. I, I, I don't' know wh, wh, what happened."

Gwen turned her dead gaze to the soon-to-be corpses. All the enjoyment she had was gone. She could only do one thing now and knew which one she would start with. Perhaps tearing off his cock and making him choke on it would make her feel better. Gwen moved in a blur, her hand reaching for the teen's neck when an impossibly strong force sent her sprawling away.

"GWEN! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" The Magebane shouted.

***

Azura stared at the carnage around her. Mages were dead, which wasn't an issue, but there were a large number of kin recently killed. She could sense their blood essence weakening in potency. That was horrible, but even worse was what she saw Gwen was about to do before she intervened. Surely Gwen wouldn't…

"What am I doing? Why are you protecting them?!" Gwen shouted as she got to her feet. The death glare she was giving them made her intentions clear.

"They're children!"

"They killed kin!" A bit of spittle escaped Gwen's mouth, dangling from her chin, her eyes were wide and manic. Azura knew Gwen had some issues. Everyone knew that. But this was the first time she had seen it, and yet… Azura looked around at the dead kin.

"I," Azura started, then paused. What should she do in this situation?

"SHE KILLED MY MOMMY!" One of the children cried, followed by a chorus of more such claims. Gwen grinned, and Azura knew what to do.

"Silence!" Azura shouted at the children behind her. They immediately shrank away. She regretted her harsh tone, but she needed to focus here. Gwen's grin grew wider, thinking she was taking her side.

"You don't kill kids," Azura said as Gwen's smile vanished.

"Perhaps you don't," Gwen whispered. Gwen then pulled on something. It was far away and tainted with a power Azura was familiar with. One she had become intimate with over the years. It reeked of death. Gwen had become a death cultivator. Somehow, she was pulling on a source of death to empower her attacks, much like Azura did with blood. Gwen released a wave of ki at her. The touch of death was enough to turn the attack into a killing wave.

The attack was too dilute to harm her. Azura would be more offended if Gwen had farted on her. Then again, the attack wasn't meant for her. A glance showed that the ki attack would hit the children. There was no way for them to resist.

Azura's ki surged as she readied herself. It wouldn't be enough. The backlash from the colliding power would likely kill the children and collapse the nearby buildings. Instead, Azura released a much smaller force empowered with that tenacious connection to the Dao.

"SHATTER," Azura commanded. When waves of ki clashed, it was like a lightning bolt erupted behind her eyes. It was intense pain that nearly broke her concentration. Azura pushed the agony aside and focused entirely on her ki. It was enough. Gwen's attack was annihilated so completely that not even a blade of grass twitched from the clash of power. It was as if the attack had never happened. A gust of wind fluttered Azura's hair as the pain receded, and the women regarded each other.

Gwen's shocked expression would have been funny if the situation weren't so serious. Azura wasn't sure why that was so much harder. Perhaps it was because she was working against another cultivator? Azura's Dao wouldn't have done anything if the attack hadn't been so weak.

"How did you do that?" Gwen asked in wonder.

"It's the Dao. Something new I've been working on."

Gwen barked a laugh. "Here, I thought I might have caught up to you. You're more of a monster than I am!"

"You're not a monster," Azura said.

Gwen's face darkened. "I am…"

"You're not. You…" Azura started, then stopped as Gwen shouted.

"I AM! I AM A MONSTER!" Gwen's eyes were wide, tears brimming at the corners.

"You're not. You're my friend."

"I don't deserve friends."

"You do!" Azura insisted.

"STOP BEING SO NICE TO ME!" Gwen raged, tears now flowing. "I don't deserve friends! I don't deserve happiness! You don't know the things I've done! I deserve pain and suffering! Look around!" Gwen gestured to the blood and carnage around them. "This is what I deserve!"

"You don't! You can be better than that. My friends don't kill children. Even if they earned it, they're kids. We draw the line there. Perhaps when they grow up, they can do some good. Not all mages are bad. Look at Elise."

That was the wrong thing to say. Azura wasn't sure why, but the mention of her sister wiped any vulnerability from Gwen's face.

"That whore! The only thing she is good at is spreading her…" Gwen never finished the sentence. Azura was there instantly, a slap connecting to Gwen's face.

Azura's control of her ki was fantastic. She had years of practice and never lost control. Despite all her fighting since becoming a cultivator, she hadn't struck out in anger before at those she didn't want to kill. That was why she put far too much force behind the blow. Gwen was propelled like an arrow into a nearby building, which shuddered from the impact, threatening to collapse.

"Oh shit," Azura muttered. "Ah, sorry…" A snarl erupted from Gwen, her face showing an outline of a handprint. Gwen launched herself at Azura her fist cocked back ready. Azura watched and didn't resist. A thunderclap and a powerful backlash sent dust swirling as the blow landed.

Gwen's fist was still on Azura's cheek when the air cleared. The pair stood like that for a long second. Gradually, Gwen's snarl transformed into horror as Azura waited calmly, unmoving. Gwen retracted her fist and backed away. Azura spat some blood off to the side.

"I, I, I, I'm sorry," Gwen stuttered, tears filling her eyes again. "I, I, I didn't mean to."

"It's fine," Azura said. "I deserved that. I shouldn't have slapped you."

Azura sighed as she rubbed her cheek. "I was coming to find you. Most of the resistance is over. I'm heading to the gate to get the others. Why don't you go home and get some rest? We'll be fine now. The city has fallen. It's just the clean-up now. And dealing with the city's Lord."

Gwen trembled as she hugged herself, still muttering. Azura sighed. This was harder than all the fighting she had done today. Azura moved. Gwen instinctively raised her hands, but it wasn't needed. This attack was something she had no defense for. Azura swept the other young woman up in a hug.

"It's fine. It's okay. I can handle the rest. Go home and sleep. You'll feel better," Azura said as she stroked Gwen's hair. Azura released her and stood an arm's length away. Gwen looked more pained than if a thousand mages had cast the PAIN spell in unison. Eyes filled with tears, Gwen leaped away toward Azure's Rest, not looking back.

Poor Gwen, Azura thought. She knew the young kin had issues, but didn't know it was this bad. Perhaps she should spend more time with the girl. Maybe some fish would help. That always cheered her up. The sound of sobbing from behind reminded Azura that her difficulties were not yet over. Azura turned and glared at the children.

"Go into the building there," Azura pointed at a random storefront. "Go inside and head to the basement, if there is one. Stay there for the next half day and don't leave. You'll be safe." When the children didn't move immediately, she allowed a hint of harshness to enter her voice.

"GO!" The children scurried away, and Azura turned away from them. She looked sadly down at the dead kin before heading for the wall. It was time to end this.

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