"Form up into a battle formation? Seriously?"
Evenson covered his eyes in exaggerated disbelief.
He couldn’t bear to watch.
When the Kamar-Taj mages had first entered the fight, their attack had been impressive. They’d swept through the outer defenses with frightening efficiency.
Then the mercenaries pulled back and consolidated their lines.
And suddenly, the mages were being pinned down by overwhelming firepower.
Hundreds of assault rifles opened up at once. Grenades came sailing through the air. Heavy machine guns mounted on the walls hammered away at them, while autocannons mounted on armored vehicles added their own thunder to the barrage.
The combined fire was so intense that the mages could barely move.
They clustered together and layered their magical shields into a single defensive wall, only advancing whenever part of the enemy line had to reload.
Fortunately, the shields could overlap without leaving gaps for stray bullets to slip through.
"An entire group of mages is being suppressed at range by ordinary humans."
Evenson sounded genuinely pained.
"I honestly don’t know how to express my disbelief."
He paused.
"Oh."
As the mages attempted another advance, a Claymore mine detonated.
At least three of them were thrown through the air.
The others immediately closed the gap, preventing the defensive formation from collapsing. The three mages appeared to have some kind of protective enchantment and weren’t seriously injured.
Even Ollivon couldn’t hide his embarrassment anymore.
"You have to understand that Kamar-Taj wasn’t founded to fight human armies."
"Right."
Evenson shrugged.
"You exist to protect Earth from supernatural threats. That’s a reasonable excuse for being poorly suited to conventional warfare."
He looked toward the battlefield.
"But you should have anticipated that some enemies, especially demons from Hell, would manipulate humans into fighting for them."
"Of course we anticipated it."
Ollivon nodded.
"But situations like this are extremely rare. The last time I fought humans corrupted by demonic influence was in 1943."
His expression became nostalgic for approximately half a second.
"I participated in that battle. We were trying to stop a special German unit that had been studying black magic and attempting to summon the Son of Satan into the human world."
He suddenly raised his voice.
"But the most dangerous weapons they had were submachine guns!"
He pointed toward the battlefield.
"Most of them were still using semi-automatic rifles!"
Evenson slowly shook his head.
"This is what happens when you stop keeping up with the times."
He glanced toward Melinda.
"Look at the Ancient One. She’s clearly much more forward-thinking than the rest of you. Can’t her subordinates modernize a little?"
Sixty years without updating their weapons or tactics.
Incredible.
The spellcasters of Azeroth weren’t nearly so complacent. Their magical systems underwent major revisions constantly, sometimes twice a year, with smaller adjustments whenever circumstances demanded them.
"We’ve kept up perfectly well!"
Ollivon snapped.
"We’ve always paid attention to the development of human society. We’re perfectly willing to accept new inventions."
He gestured angrily toward the battlefield.
"The problem isn’t that we’ve failed to adapt. It’s that ordinary humans have developed far too quickly when it comes to inventing ways to kill each other!"
"They certainly have a talent for that."
Evenson gave a quiet snort.
"But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re behind the times."
His expression became serious.
"You need to start respecting the power of ordinary humans."
Ollivon fell silent.
For centuries, Kamar-Taj had looked down on ordinary people.
What did it matter how powerful their weapons became?
The weapons still needed someone to operate them.
And any competent mage could kill an ordinary human before they had the chance to pull the trigger.
That was how they’d always viewed the world.
But this battle had shattered that assumption.
When ordinary humans carrying weapons worked together, the mages’ overwhelming advantage wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as they’d believed.
Ollivon suddenly found himself considering an uncomfortable possibility.
If Kamar-Taj refused to abandon its arrogance, then eventually humanity’s technological progress would close the gap.
Then surpass them.
And once that happened, the mages might find themselves hopelessly outclassed.
He almost laughed at the absurdity of the thought.
Perhaps a few decades from now, he’d wake up one morning and discover that Earth was populated exclusively by mages.
All the ordinary humans would have moved to Mars.
"Hmm?"
Evenson glanced away from the battlefield.
Something caught his attention.
Then he understood.
So that’s why Clea had blown that whistle and suddenly summoned so many people.
This wasn’t a battlefield.
It was an extracurricular field trip.
Well.
Class was over.
"Time to dismiss the students."
Evenson summoned his Nightmare steed and swung into the saddle.
The demonic horse charged.
Evenson rode straight along the nearly vertical cliff face, galloping down toward the battlefield at an angle that should have been impossible.
As he neared the front lines, he hauled back on the reins.
"ELEMENTS, HEED MY COMMAND!"
His voice cut through the thunder of gunfire and explosions.
Despite the chaos, every person on the battlefield heard him clearly.
The sound seemed to bypass their ears and strike directly at their souls.
Several mages instinctively turned.
They saw Evenson surrounded by terrifying magical energy, mounted upon a flaming steed, his staff raised high.
For a fleeting moment, an image seemed to form in their minds.
He had emerged from the gates of Hell itself, riding a burning warhorse, wielding a staff that heralded death, bringing destruction down upon the mortal world.
"Twisted Wind, corrupt all that lives!"
Evenson swung his staff.
A storm of shadow exploded outward.
Entire groups of enemies were caught in the torrent.
Their bodies broke apart, disintegrating into clouds of black sand.
"Venomous Waters, poison without end!"
Mercenaries who had been staring in horror at their comrades’ sudden deaths suddenly felt their own skin beginning to melt.
It sloughed away like wax beneath a flame.
One by one, they collapsed into pools of foul-smelling sludge.
"Deathless Flame, blot out the sky!"
The attack was horrifying.
Cruel.
The mercenaries’ nerves finally broke.
They screamed.
They scattered.
They ran.
It didn’t matter.
Burning meteors rained from above, crashing into the fleeing crowds.
Every impact erupted into a violent explosion, killing dozens.
"Shattered Earth, devour all things!"
Despair consumed the remaining mercenaries.
Some simply dropped to their knees, staring blankly into the distance as they waited to die.
Others screamed prayers to whatever gods they believed in, calling out in their native languages.
The ground beneath them split open.
Magma surged upward.
The earth itself became a sea of molten rock and swallowed them whole.
"This is what a real spellcaster’s battle looks like, you amateurs."
Evenson slowed his Nightmare and approached the assembled mages.
They stared at him with undisguised awe.
One after another, they lowered their heads.
Evenson couldn’t help but enjoy the moment.
Finally.
Someone appreciated his work.
Then his expression changed.
Completely.
A vehicle suddenly emerged from the castle.
Evenson barely noticed it.
He yanked the reins and turned the Nightmare around.
"Don’t just stand there!"
He spurred the horse into a full gallop.
"Run!"
The mages stared after him.
"There are two monsters inside!"
They barely had time to process his warning.
The ground beneath their feet began to shake.
Violently.
The mages didn’t bother asking questions.
Portals opened one after another.
They rushed through them.
The final mage had barely jumped into the last portal when an enormous eruption of magma burst from inside the castle.
Molten rock poured outward.
It flooded the ruins and spread across the battlefield, forming a vast lake of lava.
Then laughter echoed over the flames.
"Hahaha..."
Two figures stood atop a slab of volcanic rock formed as the lava cooled around them.
The molten current carried the stone forward like a wave carrying a surfboard.
"Fire!"
The figures raised their voices.
"Burn within the shadows!"
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