Demonic Magician

We had invited unknowns into our little group of safety. Yet, in laying here in the darkness awaiting the looming conflict in the small village, I didn’t feel as on edge as I should. If anything, it gave me hope. While such a thing had scared Ren when she saw it in me, I was comforted. A Party of five had seemed untenable at first - we were too closed off. But now… our capabilities had grown, and I had even more of a strong feeling that we’d be able to take the Lady down.

Time would tell if that would bear fruit, or things wouldn’t work out as expected. Even so… as I watched the darkened figures approach the house… I expected everything. Slowly planned for every eventuality. No longer repressing half of myself, I now found that everything felt clearer and more concise. Ready to be erased.

The group of five split. Two crept towards the front door. Avoiding the light of the lantern, I could still pick out a larger figure with an odd gait. Probably the frogman. The other three circled around to the back of the house, two out of sight while the last came past this side of the building.

It felt nice to have my mana back and useable - how odd that it had been something I had an attachment to. I didn’t feel bad for using the special potion Ruby had given me already. No doubt otherwise, it would have sat and collected dust in an Inventory already getting dangerously close to a cluttered limit.

It was almost time. Tanya had left us with an idol—something similar to how Ren’s Healing Charm worked—that would provide healing and mana regeneration when activated. A second one lay beneath a rock in the middle of the square between houses that would do the opposite to those we intended to fight against.

The thought of them being switched was amusing, but at this point, it felt like I was begging for betrayal. Certainly, with both our newest members in the same house together, they could-

My train of thought fell off the cliff as I received a jab from the bow.

Show was about to begin - it was time.

To begin - fireworks against the darkness. As a slimmer figure reached the front door, I fired the demonic cannon. Not only did the blast come as a surprise to them, dust washing through the windows as the door burst into splinters, but my Spear of Luck found a new home in the chest of the lucky audience member.

“Welcome,” Ren yelled, as she stood to her feet. “To the greatest show of your short lives.”

Before they could get their bearings and turn to her, the bright stage lights illuminated center stage in the middle of the square—Quinn’s light pulsing high in the air to reveal me standing there.

I gave them a bow as Ren’s entangling arrow struck the one sporting my spear. The frogman leaped into the air to avoid it, so we’d have to play this a little different. Beams of red energy shot out and exploded my dove into a cloud of feathers as I switched back to be beside the elf.

If our intro had been more effective, I’d have stayed to do a little more improvisational magic - but I didn’t fancy my chances against a knight. Other than the twice impaled figure, only the Shadow on our side of the building was restrained by the vines. The two on the side hidden to us were free.

With a grin and the click of my fingers, the cannon fired again, a wave of confetti and wood chippings flooding out into the illuminated square. They had Dazzle icons. They had the Crimson Hand icons. They had less than a minute to live.

The blast signaled the arrival of Wolf, our most extraordinary showman. Showbear. A red circle of light flashed up around the frogman and bleeding-out member as Tanya utilized her debuff idol. While the knight glared for my position, partially blinded by dust, confetti, and feathers, the bear burst through the doorway of his house to bound straight into the melee.

Hidden audience members became less so as they got back onto the main stage to assist their fellows. Perhaps we set the trap too early - but this was work in progress. Learning by doing.

Purple card blazing with energy went straight for the entangled person. A shield came up in front of them - a small wall of rippling energy that caused my attack to dissipate. The vines burned away from their feet, freeing them. Their eyes glared out towards me, a hand grabbing for something as the other maintained the protective spell.

I gave them an exaggerated shrug, just as a fireball from the roof pelted down and exploded on them. With the tip of my hat, I gave thanks to my Imp+ up there. In truth, we had agreed that I would not be the star of this show.

Heartbreaking in a way, but we were trying a new tactic with moving pieces. With the four of us obscured and with the advantage of range, we had decided that Wolf would take center stage on this occasion.

Quinn and Tanya sent down buffs and assistance from the top floor of the right hand building, while Ren and I provided ranged support in the manner of pointed violence from our small mound just out in the wings.

And what a showman the bear had become. Back in his bowler hat and waistcoat for the occasion, he practically radiated with the number of skills that had been cast on him. A spectacle in of itself. Health regeneration, defense increase, attack increase, critical hit chance increase, debilitation resistance, stun resistance, elemental resistance. So many that I couldn’t see the rest of the icons over his head - especially as he met the frog-knight and began battling.

His first swipe was blocked by the held sword, and the frogman slid back across the cobbled ground, the bear immediately back on him with a roar. Hopefully, he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to eat that one. Well, I wouldn’t blame him if he did - it was easy to get caught up in the act when the adrenaline was going.

My opponent had dropped the shield in an attempt to put out the flames that now licked at his armor. Unfortunately, burning might be preferable to the two cards now zipping toward him. He swung out at one, knocking it to the floor as his short staff flashed blue. The second one struck the weapon, cracking it in half before burying into his shoulder. Shame the first card was actually a Hellhound+ to replace the roof-bound Imp+ and the magic portal opened from the deflection to the ground.

Ren had whispered a word in elven and fired an arrow of water at the pair in the back, before then firing one of ice. I’d have to get her to teach me elven sometime… oh, that probably wouldn’t work since the System translated almost everything. An arrow of white-blue beamed through the air, leaving a trail of icy specks in its wake. Where it struck, the water provided from the first strike also froze solid, pinning the two in place. A good audience stays still and watches quietly - this couldn’t be denied.

The figure impaled by my cannoned-spear must be their healer, but was currently focused on keeping themselves from shuffling off this world into the unknown. This put the others at a disadvantage and-

One of our opponents at the back brought up an actual shield to block Ren’s next follow-up, while their companion charged up an attack. I readied to send out in front of either us or Wolf - but no, I was mistaken.

A foot wide beam of crimson energy burst out from the pair at nearly a right angle to us, way above the bear… and straight into the windows where the other two were.

An explosion rocked the building, as wooden planks and dust bloomed out of the openings.

“Fuck!” I seethed. The idol she had given us clicked and crumbled away, inert. She wasn’t dead - we hadn’t received any Party-based notification. Injured enough to need the regeneration skill for herself, however.

Wolf was winning his fight against the knight, but the frogman was remarkably resilient and had been buying time so that he could get assistance. This angered me. I fucking hated it when people were on stage and shouldn’t be.

I gave Ren a quick glance. “I’m going to need to go steal some of the limelight.”

“Break a leg or two, Max.”

Now I was buzzing. Elated for a handful of reasons that bounced around in my head, unable to be tied down and crushed into descriptive words.

I shifted places with my Hellhound+. The man stumbled at the sudden change in force as he no longer had the canine pulling on him. It was enough for my card to find his heart. I stepped past him to circle around to the main stage, purple ears bursting from his skull before he even had a chance to hit the dirt.

A blast of confetti signaled my arrival. Illuminated by the flickering light of Quinn’s glowing orb, I basked in the warmth, ready for the adoring cheers of the crowd. They had missed me - I could tell.

From behind me, against the house that held my fading cannon, I heard the projected voice of our fixer.

“Injured, but alive. We’ll help as soon as able.”

Couldn’t deny them a little break now and again. Union would have my head - and they’d done a bang-up job in getting Wolf up to spec for tonight’s show. Even got the music right. I started humming along as I stepped up to my spear, which the audience member still held.

“Tricks over,” I said, slurring the words slightly. “Return the prop, otherwise you’ll be ejected by security.”

Roger loomed up beside me, now holding the giant mace once more.

The pale face of the healer didn’t really know how to respond to my request. Could be confusion at my tone or the fact we had switched the ambush up on them. In truth, my diagnosis was something much more dire and unforgivable.

Stagefright.

Their hand raised up to cast an ability toward me. Roger’s weapon came down and crushed their skull before they could finish the process. This was why you paid the muscle well. Couldn’t have my fans manhandling me - certainly not in the middle of a performance. Unforgiveable. “Lifetime ban,” I murmured to my pact demon, before turning my eyes to the reprehensible pair who had destroyed some of the stage pieces.

Their eyes turned to me. Saw the demon inhabiting their Party member. Glanced down at their healer - a mulched sack of bloodied meat. I drew the Blade of Shadow and they recognized that as well. They’d been following my career with interest, and wanted to ask for my autograph via a pound of flesh from my dazzling form.

An arrow whistled past my ear by a couple of inches, and they blocked it with their silly shield. I enjoyed it, however, as if my protégé was whispering sweet stage directions in my ear. My presence was undeniable - they couldn’t keep their eyes off me even with the threat of arrows from the back.

One intended to use the shield to protect them both, while the second started charging up a red beam aimed for yours truly. Details were blurry now, as if I had stepped into a cartoon. A parody of my showmanship, the here-and-now becoming sketches in my planning notepad. I could no longer determine classes, gender, or ancestry of those before me. They were mannequins of gray, with rough, darker outlines.

The course was plotted, we just had to go through the motions. Just as planned.

A large canvas covered view of me, a curtain that I flung at to the side, left to right. As soon as it ran out and I would become revealed, I did the same to a second one, pocketing the first and repeating the process to form a wall of billowing fabric.

They thought themselves not so easily fooled and fired their shot.

The beam of red pierced through the fabric, causing it to falter and drop to the ground, half in cinders. It had found a target, that was for certain, and the explosion in the backdrop was visible through the hole punctured through my torso. Oh, sorry - that’s me being an unreliable narrator again - as what they had expected to be me was just the spent corpse that Roger had left before the strike.

I had turned invisible and strode up to them. A clap of my hands and I reappeared just two feet from their surprised eyes that I hastily sketched into my mental notepad. Even added some wiggly lines beside their heads to exaggerate the point.

Max! Max! Max!

Applause and cheers from the audience. So kind! Frogman was preoccupied with the other part of the act, so was unaffected - but the two before me were stunned. Even the icons agreed with me… although one of them was running out quicker than the other. A passive resistance, perhaps.

I drew an empowered card out, spun it like a saw. Into their neck. Not really a good trick, but their intention was to interrupt the flow of the performance, and security was currently on his break. Lines of gray scribbles shot out from the mannequin, zigzagging onto the ground to form a pool as the sketchy figure flopped over.

The second—and more patient—audience member had a couple more seconds before they’d be rejoining after the brief intermission. How rude of them not to sit and clap like everyone else. Almost soured the experience. But no. I was happy.

Into my hand, an apple. I placed it on their head and took two steps back.

A twang from offstage, and my smile widened.

Just as the figure came to, and the adoration started to wane, I tilted my head to the side.

An arrow zipped past my cheek, almost grazing it, and buried itself in their neck. A moment later, a second arrow plunged downward at a steep angle to pierce through both the apple and the oddly round gray head of whatever the opponent truly was.

I turned and gave a brief bow to the elf, before raising an eyebrow to the knight.

Disarmed - literally. Sword strewn across the floor, one of his appendages in the bear’s mouth as Wolf sat atop him, pinning the other arm to the ground.

Vertigo made the process of walking over to the pair slightly more awkward, when I was hoping for something more elegant. Late night showings always took it out of me more.

I stopped and leaned over to look him in the face.

“Care to rate the show on a scale of one to five stars? Be honest...” My grin widened as purple electricity arced around my body. “We take criticism really well."