Transcendence?

***Jamaian Union, Jamai-Capital***

Jamaian is a very hot country. Not a desirable conquest at all.

“It's actually a little funny to see them hiding behind their walls.” I am positioned on one of the bigger dunes around the city of Jamai. The countryside around Jamai consists of desert and rocks. I wonder why they decided to have their capital in this bleak region.

Jamai is the capital of the Jamaian Union and it's currently under siege by my troops, which are spread out all around my observation point.

Someone organized a nice straw-chair and a wooden desk for me. A big umbrella is providing shadow for me. It's surely nice to be a ruler.

Two servants are fanning air in my direction. They have big fans which are made out of white feathers to accomplish their task.

It's nice that the feathers match with my white hair. But it reminds me that it lost it's natural wonderful pink colour a few hundred years ago. It's the curse of magical power.

Having such big reserves of mana is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Your body will change bit by bit if you use your power regularly.

My spy-master Tjena is sitting on a stool just three metres away. She is busy with rummaging through reports.

“Don't worry too much over it. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.” I nip on some juice, which I cooled down with magic.

“It's still infuriating! How could I overlook that a mind magician is lurking around in Norfolk. We lost many good spies!” Tjena removes another name from her list of operatives.

“When you sent them to the main continent, you couldn't have known. He was still in the Academy at that time. The spies in Mislow and the Academy got special training against mind magic. So you sent the lesser trained individuals to Norfolk. How should you have anticipated that someone from Mislow would immigrate to Norfolk? It would have never happened if not for that wish.” I shake my head

“~More importantly.~ What do you think about them?” I point to the slowly approaching delegation from Jamai. They finally decided to talk with me, but only after several attempts to chase my army away.

I reduced their troops with every new attack. Something which I originally wanted to avoid. Those soldiers are needed to refill my own ranks.

Tjena starts to fiddle with her brown hair. She has a slender build which adds to her charm as a spy. I tried several times to call her a ninja, but she doesn't like the call sign.

“My honest opinion? Execute them now and let us assassinate the ruling class of Jamai. They will probably try to kill you. Their society is deeply patriarchal. It's the greatest insult to them to be sieged by you.”

“On top you gave them the chance to surrender before killing a tenth of their troops. Another big insult in their culture. And you told them to stop slavery. Slavery is so deeply anchored in the Jamaian culture.... it would be the same as telling our people to forget about all our traditions.” Tjena shrugs her shoulders.

That's troublesome. Just by trying to be nice I insulted them? Stupid culture. I will make sure to abolish their traditions as fast as possible.

After some minutes five fat men and ten servants arrive at my place at the top of the dune. They had to climb the dune on their own. All of them are heavily decorated with golden necklaces, rings and other shimmering stuff.

I smile while looking over them with careful eyes. Finally the one with the most golden necklaces steps forward.

“I am the first minister of the Jamaian Union. We demand the retreat of your troops!” The ugly brute starts to state his demands.

“And I wish for your complete ~surrender~. All political power will be given to me, or I will eradicate your troops and take what I want with force. I hope you will consider that I don't like being here. It's hot and I am sweating. That's getting on my nerves.” The servants start to fan harder after hearing my words.

The prime minister thinks for a few seconds.“Then what about a political marriage to save face in front of the other countries.”

I start giggling. “Do you really believe I care about what others think about me? I unified a continent when you weren't even born and you wish that I marry someone who wasn't born by then either?” This guy has a problem in his head.

“So it is true?” The minister's expression turns sour and he turns to one of his colleagues.

There is no need for them to hold a useless chat. “So you will surrender? Or not?” This is becoming really troublesome.

The fat minister turns back into my direction and grabs something under his clothes. I immediately erect a barrier around the delegation.

“For the Jamaian Union!”

Not a second too late. He pulls a shining dagger out of his clothes in stabs it into his own chest in a smooth motion. He didn't hesitate at all!

Tjena jumps in front of me in a well meant gesture. But there is no need for protection. I am confident in my barrier-spells. It has been proven during countless assassination attempts.

The minister starts to scream while his whole body catches fire. It's like he is becoming a living flame. Sparks and ash are flying all around while the minister jumps forward and collides with my barrier. But it's like he was running into a solid wall.

Some of the sparks hit other members of the delegation, who catch fire too and turn into flames themselves! It's a chain reaction and there is no escape for the people inside the confined space of my barrier.

“What a nasty spell...” I watch in awe as the whole delegation is consumed. I increased the strength of my barrier when I realised that this spell feeds on everything it touches.

No a single sound can be heard while the inside of my barrier turns into a scene from hell.

A howling inferno starts to rage. “Quite a feat to cast inferno with a human sacrifice as an amplifier.” Tjena admires the wavering plasma inside my barrier.

“If your highness hadn't been here the army could have been annihilated.” Tjena bows to me.

I sigh. “It's annoying me a little that your judgement was accurate. I guess I will have to do this the hard way.”

The Inferno-spell inside my barrier loses its power and just a dark smoky atmosphere remains inside. I release the barrier and clear the smoke with a wind-spell.

The ground where the delegation stood turned to glass and not a bone remains. “At least they spared me a bloody sight.”

“Tell the troops to advance and take the city.” I wave for one of my officers to sound the signal.

“The big building in the centre is the parliament. Their highest officials and leaders are most likely there.” Tjena mentions this not without expecting something from me.

I close my eyes and gather my mana while imagining a small ball of light on my finger tip. After having gathered enough, I open them again and point at the big city gates.

The spell is unleashed and a ray of pure white light turns the gate and a large part of the city wall into dust. The city's barrier hadn't even time to flicker.

Pointing at the parliament I activate the spell a second time and the building vanishes. “There, ~done~. Any other wishes?”

Tjena shakes her head. “No, thank you. That saved me much work. It's better for the enemy leader to die during the fight, rather than being executed afterwards. Executions always leave a bad taste in my mouth and it doesn't look good to the public.”

I watch my troops advancing into the city. Then I clap my hands as I remember something important. “That reminds me! What do think about sending five ships to Norfolk? I want this Ascathon captured and brought to me.”

Tjena shows surprise. “Why? Of course we could do that. But why should we abduct a single person?”

“Eh!? It's not a good idea? But I was interested in him....” I gnaw at my nail while looking at Tjena.

Tjena shrugs her shoulders and pulls out another paper. “I don't think that a married guy would take it lightly to be abducted by someone with your reputation.”

Eh!? “Married? Why! You didn't mention that before!”

Tjena sighs. “I didn't think that you were interested enough to try to abduct him.”

“It was just a whim..... but you are right that a married person wouldn't take it lightly..... What about bringing his whole family then? Send the ships and prepare for guests!” I point my index finger at Tjena who jumps aside.

“Yes! But dispel that first!” Tjena starts to scribble something into her notes.

“Oh, sorry, sorry. I guess casting this spell in such a contained form isn't enough to use up my power.” I fire the remaining gathered mana into the sky to get rid of it.

A ray of light stabs the sky and parts a cloud.

Then I watch the conquest of Jamai in silence. The fighting and dying is the job of the common soldiers. To me it's just another small battle in a long series of battles.

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