Withering Ambition

Relentless Approach

Uh, this chapter might be a little disturbing if you don't like depictions of death.

The caped figure approached the Academy's drawbridge almost casually, holding two books under his arm and... something else in his hand. The dean stared down at him and ordered the guards to raise the drawbridge.

The drawbridge began to rise, but the mysterious figure raised his hand, and then lowered it swiftly. The chains which held the drawbridge up snapped instantly, with a loud crack. The drawbridge fell back into place, to the dismay of the dean. He hurried into the underground chambers of the castle and gathered his archmage guard. They would have to fight. 5 archmages were present, along with the dean.

Bravely, but also foolishly, they walked out of the front gates of the castle to confront the approaching attacker. With his free hand, the figure pulled down his hood while continuing to walk towards the dean and his guard. 

The dean was shocked. 

"Kaeman! Cease your approach immediately. You aren't a match for us."

The response was quick, and effective. He pulled the book from under his arm and held it up. The Necronomicon glowed faintly in his hand, and the dean's face changed immediately from confidence to fear. 

Kaeman's strides hastened, as he opened the forbidden book and began to cast a spell. The archmages responded immediately, sending bolts of energy towards their foe.

As if he had anticipated it, 5 quick bolts of dark energy met their counterparts and collapsed into a small implosion, sending out a shockwave. Kaeman was ready for it, casting a barrier to protect himself. The archmages were not, and were knocked to the ground.

The dean had fled the scene, presumably to gather more forces, but more realistically fleeing in terror.

Scrambling to get back up, they were assaulted by a barrage of sparks, setting their robes alight. 3 of them were quick enough to ditch them, but the remaining 2 were consumed quickly by the powerful flames, their skin charring to a crisp.

Struggling to keep up with the frequency and power of the attacks, the archmages desperately cast a barrier to protect themselves as they recovered. With a swipe of his arm and a hiss, Kaeman cast a wither skull towards the barrier. 

On impact, 2 of the archmages staggered backwards, their connection with the barrier severed. They watched in horror as the withering effect of the skull travelled through the barrier and into the body of the remaining archmage, who looked to his friends in terror. He begged them to save him, but there was nothing they could do. He slowly withered away and left nothing but a skeleton behind.

Kaeman was quick to act on this, reanimating the skeleton into one of his own wither skeletons. It blackened and hissed with dark magic, twisting and contorting into a formidable foe. The skeleton grabbed onto one of the archmages, and his skull was crushed under its blackened fingers, his scream cut off with a loud and visceral crack.

The last archmage desperately cast his most powerful spell, and it was successful in taking down the large corpse of his fallen friend. But to no avail.

Shackles of energy materialized around the last of the archmage's wrists and ankles, and he found himself being pulled towards Kaeman by the magic of the shackles. Kaeman pulled a blade from his hip, and as the archmage came close to him, he slashed the blade through his chest, and with that, the most powerful mages in the land had been laid to waste by his hand.

https://discord.gg/Y6P8fc3wgQ