Humanity's Hero Of Despair

"Duke Lotus...please, it's no use."

The Grand Duke says to me as he coughs up blood. He holds onto my arm as I try to slow the bleeding with my healing magic. I curse under my breath for not studying better healing spells when I had the chance to. The other mages who are attempting to heal him look desperate. The expression of despair is visibly shown on each one.

I am not giving up.

I keep my hands as steady as I can as they continue to produce light magic to purify and heal the damage. We just need to keep the loss of blood to a minimum until we can get some rare potions down here to stabilize him. A couple of people rush off to find some potions while the other mages and I try to keep him alive.

Nothing is working though.

Every second that goes by, the face of the Grand Duke loses color, and his expression becomes softer. My vision becomes blurry as I force myself to keep my composure and steady my hands. I can't let this happen. Even if it has only been a short while and even if he is not my kind of guy, he is dying because he tried to protect us.

"Duke Lotus...please take care of the Dukedom for me. I haven't been a great Grand Duke, and you have shown me what really matters in this life. Protect everyone. Protect humanity...."

The Grand Duke's face turns purple, and before we all know it, he is gone.

One of the senior healing mages checks his pulse and shakes his head. There are audible gasps around the room as people from the bunker walk out and see the Grand Duke lying there. Dead.

I tighten my fists around my wands. I wasn't powerful enough to save him.

The senior healing mage stands up and makes an announcement to everyone in the battle-torn underground room.

"Grand Duke Lancaster is officially dead. The cause seems to be a unique poison that was used in conjunction with advanced ice magic. We were unable to stop the poison from reaching his heart and throat in time. Everyone, a few of the mercenaries are still present above us as the ground still shakes beneath us.

Any spells they cast—dodge, do not block unless you one hundred percent have to."

With that, the healing mages find cloth and place it over the body of the Grand Duke. He is taken away temporarily until we can properly bury him after this conflict is over. The shock of it all is still setting in for me.

I stand up without a word and walk straight out of the underground room and into the tunnels to head back to the main area in the Imperial Palace.

I don't care anymore. Those mercenaries are mine.

A few mercenaries find me in one of the tunnels.

"Eleventh affinity magic, Dark Submission!"

Dark magic shoots out from my wand like lightning, immediately attaching itself to the confused mercenaries as it doesn't do any harm to them. That's what they think. I smile at them as they look confused, not understanding my spell or why I am holding two wands.

"Submit!"

My dark magic explodes onto their bodies as they are encased in my dark magic. My hold. I point my wand to the ground, and the mercenaries are forced onto their knees. Their eyes widen as my aura of darkness increases. My eyes glow with the despair of witnessing the death of someone I knew. I point both my wands into the sky and then immediately at the ground.

The three mercenaries are thrown into the air as they slam against the ceiling of the tunnel. They immediately crash into the ground as my dark magic feeds off their fear of my power. A twisted smile appears on my face as the dust settles and they are all knocked out cold.

Just a few more to go.

In another tunnel that is closer to the ground level of the palace, I encounter a few more mercenaries who are more cautious this time. They shoot their deadly spells of fire and earth. Yet, they do nothing against my ability to redirect their spells with my advanced light magic.

I point my wands at all of them yet again.

"Eleventh affinity magic, Electrico Drago!"

Lightning courses through my body as it forms itself into a massive dragon crackling with energy, scaring off the mercenaries. I direct the dragon toward them. The mercenaries do their best to counter my spell, but the raw power is too great for them. I watch as they all get electrocuted and fall to the ground.

I walk past them as I make my way back to the dining hall now. A few mercenaries are still fighting some imperial guards. I walk past all the fighting while helping pick off a mercenary here and there.

Where is the one I want?

I get my answer soon as an imperial guard goes flying into a wall near me. I hear the Emperor's voice cast a spell nearby as a flash of green lights up the palace hallways. I rush over to the noise. The Emperor is dueling what appears to be the mercenary leader, who uses fire magic.

I cover my eyes as flashes of orange and green shine across the room. Their frequency of spell casting is extremely high.

I get closer and hide behind a knocked-over table. If I am patient, I have a good shot at landing a solid hit to give the Emperor leverage.

Then I see it. The mercenary leader unleashes a fire phoenix spell, a less powerful version of Ignis, and is now on cooldown with his spells. The mercenary is slumped over for a brief second as the Emperor uses a defensive earth spell to counter the phoenix.

"Blackthorn!"

My quick, simple dark energy spell hits the mercenary leader by surprise as the leader slams into the wall. The Emperor is shocked but acts quickly and traps the mercenary leader in lots of stone, making them unable to use their wand anymore.

The leftover mercenary remnants still alive are successfully captured.

It's finally over, I say to myself as I observe the wreckage in the Imperial Palace. A lot has to be fixed, and even with magic, it might take a couple of days. The mercenaries are all gathered in the Imperial Courtroom, which, besides a few damaged walls, looks mostly alright.

All of us meet in the Imperial Courtroom to interrogate the mercenaries.

I can't wait to see what they have to say.