“So what will it be, Necromancer? Is your little circle just for show or are you going to show me something I haven’t seen before?” Zeus questioned.

  “You talk too much.” Wayne retorted.

  “I know what makes your master tick but you are strange. Clearly you are not one who seeks the higher powers. You do not seek that which lies within the intangible. Yet, the Grandmaster takes you into their service?”

  “Thats funny coming from someone clearly playing at being a god.”

  “You wound me. I have ascended though I am incomplete. Soon I shall complete myself. All a part of the plan.”

  “Plans aren’t worth much when luck isn’t on your side.”

  “Did you know I’m not a gambling man? Why would I waste all this time planning just to let something as pitiful as luck decide. Unless that's what your focus is? I doubt it. The Grandmaster would never allow such a thing. I learned from my time with them that Fate, Destiny, and Chance are all a load of shit. The only thing you can rely on. Is good, old, planning.”

  *WHOOSH*

  Energy poured away from the side of the hospital, forming into a crashing wave that came to rest upon the ground in a puddle. Slowly the energy began to dissipate in the air. Waynes eye’s went wide. A spiritual release, something like that could only happen if the Pseado-Mancer lost concentration.

  “She was a second off. How disappointing these mortals are. Nevertheless let the fireworks begin. Mortals such as yourself love to see flashing lights and pretty colors before you die. That should make no difference for those inside.”

  Zeus snapped his fingers. The interference spell within Ward G shifted the bundled up spiritual energy twisting it into a conflagration of contradicting lines. Instead of the elegantly hidden spell a series of backlash magic cascaded down. This had been why Nate would not be able to use the mass corruption spell until it was tweaked. Magic spells were volatile by nature, as they themselves twisted nature to their whims.

  Crossed lines linked tangled and then ballooned into a mass of spiritual energy. It tettered on the edge threatening to disperse before finally popping. Flames flickered, swirled, and bloomed in all directions. Windows shattered scattering debris onto the ground below. Inside the flaming shockwave rushed down the ward’s halls. Engulfing the world and killing any that it could pass over.

  Dr. White had been shot. The casings fell in slow motion. Nate was the first to act. Karah would have been faster but she was turned away. It wouldn’t have mattered. No matter her awareness he would have acted. Her hand trembled with the gun, the reality of what she had done sinking in. He pushed off the ground and lined straight for her.

  The nurse turned the gun upon him. Her vision filled with tears as she pulled the trigger once more. Disregarding the move he rushed forward, there was no ducking or dodging. His family was right next to him. Springing out he launched into a tackle smashing into her body. Something cracked inside her as she was flung backwards. Her shots had seemingly gone out the open window and hit the ceiling.

  The woman wasn’t skilled with a firearm letting it go as she hit the ground. Her body made contact with the cold tiled floor in the hallway head slamming back onto the ground. There was no time to process the situation as Nate could feel an odd flow of magic.

  Looking to his right from the next ward he could see the miasma fill and swell before it popped. He pushed off the woman uncertain of her condition but paying her only enough attention to deliver a stomp to her wind pipe. If his attention hadn’t been drawn away he would have noticed the blood pooling behind her already cracked skull.

  Nate’s eyes darted into the room. Karah was already moving his way while Dr.Mei began treating her husband. If she was doing that then he wasn’t dead yet. Flames and energy started rushing down the hall. Reaching out he summoned his fathers magic spell.

  They hadn’t reconciled but that didn’t matter. He needed his fathers power to work now more than ever. Stepping out from his back he turned in the hall. A camera held in one hand he aimed it at the carnage. He smiled proudly at his son and pushed down on the shutter-release.

  *CLICK*

  All of the pent-up energy and flames stopped. Captured within the photo. A whirling sound turned over. Then an image popped out in front of the camera. Normally this camera would need its film developed but this worked outside of those rules. As the photo fully manifested, the flames surged once more. This time in the opposite direction.

  Body flickering slightly he kept standing, placing a hand upon Nate’s shoulder to balance. Karah reached their side and mutilated the Nurse’s body with an axe kick that cracked the ground. Blood sprayed across the ground.

  “You only have one more of those today. Make it count Son.”

  Blain Faded back into Nate as Karah roared in rage. Any of those shots could have killed Nate. She felt useless once more. He placed his hand on her shoulder. It wasn’t the time or place to be lost in anger. Looking down he frowned at the blood slowly seeping out of his left shoulder. Was his body just cursed on that side?

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  Karah, seeing his wound, attempted to keep her rage inside. He didn’t want her going berserk. That wasn’t going to help him. She delivered another kick to the body, what was left of it. The tile underneath shattered into tiny fragments that rose up and came back down with gusto.

  The room was in chaos Teddy and Renee crouched on the other side of the bed grasped in Mandy’s embrace. Doctor Mei was working on her husband. Spiritual apparitions began working at his body three bullets had hit him.

  “I still have us fazed.” Doctor White’s voice was weak.

  “Don’t speak dear. You're just a normal human when it comes to this. So just stay with me here. Focus love.” Dr.Mei insisted.

  “Can I help?” Nate asked.

  “Move him to the bed, and get ready to fight. We don’t have his shield anymore.”

  Nate did as he was told, Karah assisting to move him to the bed. Dr.Mei stopped talking there, focusing on her husband. Gun shot wounds could be healed but she was having a hard time fixing him. A curse might have been placed upon the bullets.

  “What about the other people in the hospital?" Nate asked.

  “He is a pseudo-mancer. I think he was casting a spell via a spirit before to create the barrier. As for his own power he can naturally manipulate the space of the hospital. It is likely that he has shifted the plane of existence for anyone within.”

  Renee stood up, shrugging off Mandy who was trying to guard her. She didn’t want to be helpless here. If that man killed her would that not be fufilling the prophecy? His being their Apprentice meant by proxy they were killing her. There had been a number of times that this had happened.

  “What about the nurse?” Mandy asked.

  “Have you ate?” Karah replied.

  “Yes, Why?”

  “Don’t go out there or you’ll throw up.”

  Teddy made his way to the window. He felt as useless as Mandy and Armand. Renee held at least some knowledge. That was what he should be doing, his brother called him the smart brother for a reason. Keeping his eyes on the opponent was the best he could. Everything that he did would be his weapon. Movements, habits, speech, and spirits. Knowledge did not just mean that you know things, its about being able to obtain and process that info.

  “Nat! Outside.”

  ***

  “What did you do?”

  Sweat poured from Wayne’s head. He wanted to rush and check on everyone. That apprentice of his must be fine, he had to be fine. Sentimentality to Wayne had always been unnecessary. Killing those feelings and thoughts was how he overcame the loss of those around him. Yet, now he wasn’t sure he could handle losing his student. After all, he called him his master.

  “Simply followed the plan. Even now I am bound by my own designs. As you are only a minor part I shall have you exit stage right. It’s for the greater good.”

  For the first time in their confrontation Zeus became serious. Spiritual energy pulsed around his body. Starting where he stood upon the carriage the ground began to change. Reality warped as he imposed his soul upon the very world.

  The boundary wasn’t a high level spell. In fact it was what made a Necromancer so much more powerful than a pseudo-mancer. While a Pseudo was bound to one location, a Necromancer was always carrying their domain. By using a boundary that domain moved into reality and placed its own rules upon the world.

  “Olympia.”

  Stone columns swirled into the sky, a giant throne formed where Zeus stood. The clear white marble was grooved and each depicted a different feat of the god zeus. Amongst them were fresh feats depicting the life of this new Zeus. Yellow miasma flowed out of the temple that now covered half of the parking lot and all of the buildings behind it.

  “Let me see how great of a mortal you truly are.”

  Wayne settled in finishing the last symbol within his magic circle. Energy pulsed out of his body fusing into the circle. A blue glow filled the air and suffused into a miasma. Just as Necromancer could summon lands upon the world so could spirits. Their technique had been an imitation of such magic.

  “Arise. Scrap Crow.”

  Miasma finally settled in and Scrap Crow stood in place. A single long rusted pole that might have at one time been used to hang a flag supported a large torso. Scraps of cloth hung loose from its frame as two metallic hands peaked out from the clothes edge. The head wore a wide grin most commonly found on pumpkins but this half rusted face was no pumpkin. A giant scarecrow had formed upon the field of battle.

  It heralded the call of cornfields. All around the area of the hospital and then further out around the whole of the Temple of Olympia. The once snow covered ground warmed lush with green grass. Just around the temple they overlapped stalks shooting up from and out of the white limestone.

  “What do you offer me?”

  The Scrap Crow’s jaw clacked open as it asked for it’s fare. This was no ordinary summoning of a spirit with a preexisting contract. Wayne knew what his weakness was as a Necromancer, namely that all of his buildings and summons were for golems. Not summoning them but for creating them.

  “I offer you a living soul.” Wayne said.

  “I shall deduct 100 days.”

  “Deal.”

  “Amazing you are so weak that you call upon a greater land spirit to fight your battles? This is of little consequence.”

  The forestar squealed, pulling the onlookers attention as Hercules snapped off its limbs. Discarding it into an open area where it could not reach anymore scrap. Wayne was ready to take on this fake god. The sooner his success, the sooner he could check on his student.

  “Hercules, Achilles. Inside with the two of you bring me the corpse vault.”

  The Mayor was taken aback for a second but nevertheless headed toward Hercules. Who was taking a direct route by smashing open a hole in the first floor. His eight foot tall body lumbered inside while Achilles followed after him.

  “Stop them.”

  The right arm rocketed out seven thick chains attached to a large metal clawed hand. It thundered toward Hercules to stop him. Just as it reached them a wall of shields all with an upward arrow formed above their heads. Long thick claws clashed against the bronze metal.

  “I am sorry but you shall be facing me directly from now on. Leonidas Strike.”