8

The Empire would be on a rampage, and I could assume that the PRT would be in upheaval for the next few months as they had to move people around the country as everybody was outed. I had a small part in this, so I had to try to help.

The issue was that while I could fight well and my White Magic would pass through most defenses to hit the SOUL, people like Kaiser could raise walls to block them, and Purity would fly and blast me with her beams. I had to choose who I would go after. As I was debating, I felt my Grimoire's energy build up before settling down again.

I did have another option; however, if I could get near Purity, I could pull her into Castle Burnestud. That would enhance my powers nearly fivefold as opposed to the two-fold the current Waning Crescent gave me.

Wincing as another building collapsed, I teleported to a roof nearby and saw Purity and another figure glowing, much less dancing around each other in the sky. However, it was clear that Purity was winning.

While Purity had dodged around the other figure's blast, she was much faster, and her shots would take down buildings, forcing the other person to stay away from facilities boxing him in. Looking at a building near her, I appeared on the rooftop before teleporting next to Purity.

Her eyes widened in shock as I pulled both of us into Castle Brunestud. The full moon beamed down on us. I teleported back a dozen feet and raised my hands as words were pulled into reality. I had meant to summon half a dozen; over thirty had appeared.

Purity shot up in the air glowing as the words shot towards her. As she weaved around the projectiles, light gathered in her hands as a massive double helix laser slammed into the ground I had been standing on just a few seconds earlier.

"What did you do to me!" She shouted in the lull between shots. Spreading my arms out, she could hear a smile in my voice as I replied.

"I brought you to where the Earth and Moon are closest, Castle Burnestud!" Snarling, more energy coalesced in her hand as another beam hit the ground near me, sending dirt and grass flying as I took a teleporting step to avoid the blast.

Reaching out a hand, I spread her timeline out, and she was now moving in slow motion. I then teleported up to her and conjured a platform under my feet, something that would have been impossible were I not being bosted fivefold by the light of the full moon.

Peering into her eyes unhindered by the light that formed her costume, I spoke a single word that sent her plummeting to the ground asleep. Another platform carried her to the floor. With a wave of my hand, the realm fixed itself as the spirit that inhabited the Castle walked out.

"So, what do you plan on doing with her?" It inquired

"The right thing would be handing her over to the PRT" My voice was hesitant as I remembered what she could and had done, an entire apartment building crashing to the ground, hundreds dead, fleeing the Empire only to come back when it was convenient for her, and claiming to be better but still attacking "lesser" races instead of trying to atone for her crimes.

"You could leave her here" The spirit that looked like me purred as it walked over the asleep form of Purity.

"What would you do with her?" I asked, still torn.

"I would have her repay her debt to society, and without the issues that would be people finding out about your warehouse, to add on top of that, I'll give you a small boost." Looking at Purity's form, I knew I should hand her over to the authorities; however, if I did, she would be out by the end of the week.

"All right, take her," I said, the barest flickers of tension creeping out. Pumping its fist, the spirit flicked a finger, and a platform scooped her up and carried her inside the house.

I then collapsed Castle Burnestud before teleporting back to the rooftop where I had staged my attack. Peering towards the man dressed in what appeared to be spartan armor and a crackling lance, I vanished and appeared back in my lab.

Catching myself as I fell a few feet, I felt the ruby's effects kick in now that I was back in this dimension. That pointed out a weakness; if I was not on Earth Bet, the gem couldn't transport mana. While I could fix that later the current issue of the Empire rampaging needed to be fixed.

Purity was out, and I was more powerfully than ever with the moon's boost, and being able to slowly refill my mana a practically infinite number of times meant that as long as I had a few minutes to rest, I could get back in the fight.

As long as the Empire had a figurehead to rally around, they would be unstable, which meant I needed to take out the Kaiser.

I focused on Max Anders, Kaiser, and Kinslayer and every facet I knew about the man I teleported. Appearing in a modern art warzone where spikes of metal were everywhere, Armsmaster pushed back Kaiser while Miss Militia and Battery were facing off against the two valkyrie twins.

Taking a step back, I dodged out of the way of Krieg slamming Assult into a lamp pole behind me.

I raised a hand and sent out a flurry of words that Krieg dodged between the simple pattern. I couldn't see his eyes, and my voice would be lost between the clashing of forces, so I grit my teeth and send out another onslaught.

Not bothering with words, he charged toward me. I could feel when I entered his power's range as I slowed down as if pushing through water.

I breathed out blue and saw time freeze near me; I sent out another barrage that slammed into Krieg with no way for him to avoid it. Dropping it before the strain grew too much to handle, I cast my green flaming eyes around to take in the battlefield.

With the help of Alabaster, Kaiser had taken out Armsmaster, lying on the ground, blood pooling out from his armor. Charging toward both of them, I sent out a volley of white magic, which Kaiser raised a shield out of the concrete in front of him, causing the words to shatter harmlessly.

Alabaster raised a massive gun to his shoulder and fired a shot, not even bothering to dodge; the weapon slammed into his shoulder with crack, followed shortly by the words which caused him to collapse.

The bullet slammed into my sternum, causing it to dust along with my ribs and most of my hip bone. My body hit the ground as I grabbed a health potion and downed it. I then stood up on my newly healed bones and focused behind the shield Kaiser had conjured, appearing next to him.

I caught a glance of his brilliant blue eyes filled with rage, speaking for the first time since the start of the fight I spoke in german.

"Sleep!"

Kaiser froze as his mind struggled against the command before he fell to with a clang, and his power's faint grinding sound faded.

Peering around the metallic barrier, I caught sight of the winding down fight. I sent a dozen words at the valkyrie twins, hitting them in the back and causing them to stumble, which allowed Battery, crackling with electricity, to slam into the one on the right and knock her unconscious.

The other swung her spear, hitting Battery in the side and sending her flying a few dozen feet, where she stumbled to her feet. Miss Militia fired off a few dozen shots from her shimmering gun, which knocked the valkyrie back.

Utilizing the opportunity, I sent a flurry of words that shattered on her back; she then shrank and fell forward unmoving. Vanishing, I appeared in an alleyway nearby before teleporting back to my lab.

Breathing hard, I shucked off my shirt and hoodie and patted myself. I was fine; despite being blown nearly in half, a swig of the healing potion worked as advertised, healing me of a mortal wound which meant as a Monster, it regenerated the missing portions as they were just magic and dust. The Grimoire's might tumbled through my marrow as it grew again.

As I stood there shirtless, the power coursing through my bones, I was struck with a brain-blasting realization. Beliefs, both great and small, change the world around them; what would happen if I changed my beliefs?

The world would change with them. The ideas flew through my skull faster; as Rudolf Clausius wrote, energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be converted from one form to another, and what was mana but a form of energy.

At the same time, I saw how magic interacted with space from the first time I had picked up the Grimoire and ended up away from my home in that space where reality twisted and time could be stretched like taffy; I had made myself capable of replacing my Pattern here with my Pattern in another place which meant if I knew I was there, I would be there with minimal assistance.

With this newfound understanding of the world, I blinked, knowing that when I opened my eyes, I would see Hookwolf in front of me. I noticed that Hookwolf was in his massive truck-sized shredder form with nary a shift.

I locked flaming eye sockets with metal slits, held out my skeletal hand, and focused my mind. To my new sense, Hookwolf glowed brilliantly, and within the center of his form, I saw a fractal portal that led away from him.

As Hookwold charged toward me, I focused on my eight-year magus education and self-hypnotized myself with the understanding that energy was energy, no matter what mystical costume it took.

As one of his hooks missed my outstretched hand by an inch, I reached forward, and reality fell in line with my belief. The energy pulsing out from the fractal portal in Hookwolf's core collapsed as mana turned into gravity, and with a wet splat, there was a small metal sphere with a smaller meat sphere inside.

With a red blur, a figure wearing all red with everything showing sped up and stopped in front of me. His mouth opened; however, I was back in my lab before Velocity got a word out. A second later, my body followed my thoughts.

My green eyes shined every brighter under the cloudy sun as I walked towards the malformed sputtering portal that was Coil's Shard my new sense creeping through it towards its starting location.

Powers Gained

Gnosis

The root of all magic. Gnosis is a measure of how close you are to the supernal world. Higher Gnosis provides many benefits; Rituals will take less time, your mana pool is larger, and you may learn higher levels of Arcana. As a Mage you have one rank in Gnosis free. You may obtain a maximum of five ranks here or over the course of the jump, but cannot reach archmastery (higher than five gnosis) until post-spark. A higher Gnosis is also a danger as the higher it is the more likely a paradox is to occur when you use vulgar magic. When a paradox is invoked, its power will be equivalent to the level of your Gnosis.

Arcanum (Basic)

Arcana are the various expressions of supernal truths in the fallen world. Specifically, they represent a given branch or type of magic that a Mage may specialize in. The various ranks of mastery displayed below denote the level of a given type of spell a Mage is able to cast. Higher level spells require higher Gnosis to use and will likely cost more mana to cast/maintain. It should be noted however that the higher ones Gnosis and the higher the level of spells they have access to, the greater the chance of causing a paradox is. The effects of magic that cause the greatest and most wondrous effects (i.e. creating earthquakes o granting a machine sentience) all risk paradox and may result in a backlash even against an experienced Mage. For this reason overt expressions of magic are denoted as "vulgar" whereas the subtle effects that do not cause paradox are called "covert".

Prime

[1] You may perceive raw mana, and by extension magic in its untouched state. You are always aware when magic is being cast and where it interacts or intersects with all other things. You may see through mystical illusions as they are made of mana and so always look like mana to you.

[2] You may manipulate raw mana for a variety of uses. You may force a spell or mystical artifact to yield its purpose, function and proper use. You may also transcribe your own mystical knowledge (and those of others) into grimoires for use by others of the mystical persuasion.

Space

[1] You may view the tapestry of space and can discern the location of nearby hidden things, assuming you know what you are looking for. You are aware when others have tampered with space, such as when one has teleported or created a portal. You may even trace sympathetic connections, determining the strength and emotional weight held between people and object