Grey Spatium 21/Realmheart 2,5

“Cockroaches,” Regis rumbled in his much deeper voice. “They’ll be less than ash when I’m done with them.”

“Wait,” I said, counting on one last gambit to break the line without a full-scale slaughter.

I didn’t have to look for the aetheric pathways between me and the Alacryan leader. As I imbued the godrune with aether, it guided me, and I vanished from Regis’s back and appeared in front of the leader, just inside the effective range of her overlarge sword.

She grunted in surprise and brought the blade up defensively, both the flames and the purple lightning wrapping around my limbs reflecting in her dark eyes.

Faster than she could react, my hand snapped out and caught the blade. Realmheart flared to life, making visible the mana in her weapon. I severed the flow, snuffing out the mana, then pushed aether into the steel. Although of fine make, the metal couldn’t handle the pressure and exploded, peppering us both with shrapnel. Although harmless to me, a piece slashed across her cheek, and she snarled as she stumbled back from the explosion.

God Step took me behind her. My gauntleted fist drove into her spine where her armor opened to reveal several runic tattoos. The bones shattered, and her lifeless body flew into the backs of a nearby battle group, knocking them to the ground.

The exchange had been so fast that most of the Alacryan soldiers hadn’t noticed and were still slinging spells at Regis. Only those closest at hand had witnessed their leader's demise, and most of them could only stare in dawning horror. The smart ones, however, broke ranks and fled. And as soon as a few had done so, dozens more followed.

‘Well, that was dramatic,’ Regis thought from above. ‘The center of their line is caving in on itself. Most of them are running like hell.’

Lay down a line of fire just beyond the front line, I thought back. Avoid the fleeing soldiers where you can, but don’t hesitate to burn anyone who keeps fighting.