The two riders clashed in the middle of the arena, and another explosion hit the ancient god’s shield. Alex felt the familiar touch of burning steel across his chest.
Flying some thirty feet away, he would have broken every bone in his body if it hadn’t been for the dark shrouds forming his staff and cloak. Standing up, he watched with open glee as Lupen clutched at his bleeding side.
The light wizard was stronger, but Alex…Alex had Darkness. The power of destruction. The power of death. The magic that could only destroy. And it was matchless.
Thrusting his dark staff into the ground, Doom growled and dug both hands into the staff’s dark matter.
“By the keys of the Gate,” he said, starting to read off the ancient rite, “I open the Beyond!”
The tattoos on his arms flashed.
“What are you doing, you fool?!” Lupen yelled, but it was too late.
“By the seals of Solomon, I set you free! Hear my blood! Hear my call! The dog eating the moon! The death of gods!”
Alex ripped his hands off of the staff as it turned into a giant whirlwind of darkness. The space was cleaved by a creepy howl. Emanating from the Arena where the two Masters were fighting, waves of energy spread to push back the helicopters and scatter the barriers formed by the military, police, fire fighters, and ambulance teams.
From the darkness came a fanged maw resembling both a wolf’s and a bird’s. Every fang was as long as a spear, emitting bright green light. The light of rot and decay.
Now it was Lupen’s turn to drive his staff into the ground, then remove his chain and place it on top. The silver cross flashed with bright fire.
The wolf bellowed in pain. Alex collapsed to his knees, red blisters spreading across his chest.
“Even when I walk in the valley of darkness, I will fear no evil,” Lupen sang. Out of his cross came a long, plain sword that looked like it had been forged by a blacksmith’s apprentice. “…for you are with me.”
Following the sword, the hand holding it emerged from the silvery flames. Alex collapsed to the sand, feeling like he was burning from the inside.
“You set a table before me in the presence of my adversaries.” Lupen held out his palms. The flows of light darting from them soaked into the cross.
The plain-looking sword sliced the giant wolf in two.
Doom’s cheeks tore as he screamed. He choked on his own blood and pain. His dark cloak tried to shield him from the feathers of white fire raining down from the sky, the shards of the broken sword sending the death of gods back to the Beyond.
But Darkness failed.
The black heart clasp on Alex’s chest slowed its beat. His long shadow cloak was reduced to scraps.
The purpose of black magic was destruction, and it was unsurpassed. But even the greatest wave can be shattered by a breakwater. And that breakwater was the magic of light.
Everything went quiet. Alex was crumpled on the sand, his emaciated body no longer covered by the cloak, no mask on his face. Only his bony hands still clutched the staff twisted from darkness.
Lupen towered over him in his robes, grimoire in hand.
“You will witness my ordeal for humanity,” he said before turning to the seal. He dropped the grimoire, which soared over the arena. It opened, its leaves turned, and it spread flashing, chaotically glowing waves.
The demon summons circle was as large as several football fields. It was powered by thousands of deaths and Loki-knows-what else.
It was difficult to imagine exactly who the light wizard was going to let into the world.
“Not…so…fast,” Alex said, coughing on his own blood.
Black wizards have no honor.
They have no qualms about stabbing people in the back.
There’s even a kind of perverse pleasure they take from it.
Doom held out his staff. Before Lupen could look back, the air started to swirl over the staff tip made from pure darkness, pulling inside a tiny black dot.
The dot shot out a dark ray. Buzzing like a wasp hive, it pierced Lupen’s light cloak and chest before hitting Poseidon’s Shield. It crackled, enduring the blow, but a moment later the small black ray went out.
“You missed.” Lupen lurched but kept his balance, holding onto his staff. “You should’ve aimed for my head.”
Behind his back, a red arm forty stories tall burst from the seal, reaching the dome and scratching at it with black claws.
Alex gave a wry smirk.
“It’s Tor who missed,” he spat. “Not me.”
Saying that, withered and emaciated to the bone, he gathered his last strength to dash toward the enemy, driving his shoulder into Lupen’s chest. They both fell head over heels into the seal.
***
“Did he say exactly that?” the major asked Gribovsky, behind whom was a girl looking suspiciously like one of the Glomebood family’s daughters.
“He did,” the lieutenant nodded. “He planned it from the very start.”
The major drummed his fingers on the table. Silence fell over the improvised command post. The window of the hotel room temporarily occupied by the Guards offered an excellent view of the Arena dome and what was going on around it. A magic duel was apparently being fought inside, the power being brought to bear so great that it resounded outside Poseidon’s…whatever the damn artifact’s real name was.
“Kyle!” Chon Sook turned to the smartass sitting at his cased laptop. “Enter my confirmation code.”
“Sir!” the smartass replied, jumping up. “We can’t take the shield out with a single shot, and we won’t have time to reload. We need—”
Duncan’s giant shadow fell over him.
“The major gave you an order,” his towering figure thundered. “Do it.”
Swearing, Kyle sank back behind his desk.
“We’re all going to die just because of one amateur upstart.”
But he typed in the confirmation code and pressed Enter. In a few moments, people in every corner of Atlantis could see the heavy black clouds pierced by a bright blue ray that hit the very center of Myers City.
***
Alex, locked around Lupen, fell into the seal. He knew that, even with the artifact he had, he didn’t stand a chance of beating a level 62 Master.
But he didn’t need to.
He just needed to weaken the dome a bit. He didn’t have the strength to do it alone…
…so he borrowed some from the rector.
Over there, above their heads, the ray from the ultra-mega-super-duper gun was already piercing the clouds.
“Smart move,” the rector whispered. “But this is just one small battle, wonder kid. And I’m only a pawn on the board. You can’t stop them.”
“Them?”
“I can’t do necromancy, boy.”
Then the whole world was enveloped in a shroud of pure magic. The two of them were hit by compressed magic energy—liquid mana. A more destructive weapon even than nukes.
Alex smiled.
There, in the light, he saw Miss Elisa watching him with the same warmth she always gave him.
His life was his alone.
And so was his death.
Real black wizards take no orders, be they from god or the devil.
His only regret was leaving no one to look after the cat shelter.
…and failing to keep his promise.
***
Dying isn’t scary at all.
It really isn’t.
Alex knew that for sure.
His necromancy lessons weren’t all about carnal pleasures. She’d taught him many other things, and one of them was…
What?
Alex opened his eyes.
He gasped for air, feeling his body all over. It seemed absolutely normal, his limbs in place, no cuts on his skin. Just his old scars (left by demons, angels, and a dozen other encounters) burning terribly. The rest of his body was freezing cold.
Falling from the sky was black snow…or so it seemed
to him at first.
In truth, it was the collapsing dome, for some reason changing color.
The first drops of rain splashed against his face.
The weather forecasters were right, surprisingly enough.
By some happy miracle, groping in the back pocket of what remained of his pants (they looked more like the Hulk’s shorts), Alex found his pack of cigarettes.
He lit one.
Sirens howled; people ran toward him. He was even pretty sure he could make out the major’s shouts and Gribovsky’s swearing.
His partner sure was foul-mouthed.
The storm was leaving the city, leaving behind the smell and freshness of rain.
How did you survive? That would probably be the first question they’d ask him.
And, hell’s bells, Alex wished he knew the answer. He’d have given quite a bit for it. But right then, he was happy that Lupen was down and dead by his side, and there was no demonic Bigfoot smashing its way through his beloved city.
You shouldn’t try to destroy something a black wizard loves. You really shouldn’t.
The wizards running out onto the arena waved their hands, dispelling the few ruins that were still standing. The military arrived in their armored vehicles. Sirens howled as fire trucks and ambulances rushed up.
Alex lay in the fake snow, smoking and watching the rain.
Except for the fact that he’d torn his pants, it had been just another day at the office.
Epilogue
Three months later
Sitting at the oval table in the office were several humans and non-humans. A tired Korean man spoke on the old-fashioned landline, his carved staff resting against the table.
“Colonel Chon Sook here,” he said and instantly straightened up. Everyone at the table realized something was wrong. As far as they could remember, their department head had never showed that kind of respect for anyone. “Yes, sir. I see. Excuse me? The faerie embassy bombed? Just a moment ago? We don’t… How do you know? Told by the queen? Excuse me? Didn’t just tell…?”
The major…no, the colonel pulled the receiver away from his ear a bit, letting anyone who wanted to enjoy the shouting coming from it.
“Yes, sir. We’re starting immediately. Yes, sure. Our very best.”
The colonel replaced the receiver back with caution. After sitting in silence for a while, he retrieved a bottle of brandy and a glass. He glanced down at the bottle, then at the glass, then at the bottle again, before uncorking it and taking a pull without touching the glass. Wincing slightly, he called over.
“Captain Gribovsky.”
“Yes, sir?” the redhead replied, standing to attention.
“That call was from the United Races. Some two minutes ago, the faerie embassy was bombed.” As the colonel spoke, the sound of running feet, raised voices, and calls outside the door grew louder.
“Why do we have to deal with that?”
“Because, Captain, their surveillance cameras took a few very interesting shots. There were humans controlling demons.”
Everyone in the office exchanged glances.
“So, the investigation is yours. And, please, none of your usual I-work-alone stuff.”
“I wasn’t going to say that, sir.”
The silence grew even…quieter? Lone wolf Gribovsky was prepared to work with a partner? The world must have gone mad.
“Explain.”
Straightening up, the redhead replied.
“Sir, I’m asking your permission to partner with our independent consultant, Black Magic Professor at First Magic University, full-fledged dark wizard, fifth-rank necromancer, fifth-rank blood magician, fourth-rank malefic wizard, third-rank sorcerer, and…well, just a nice guy. Alex Doom.”
“His name is Alexander Dumsky,” the colonel corrected with a heavy sigh.
“And unlike any of you lot,” Gribovsky continued, looking around the room, “he’s always dressed well enough for me to not to be ashamed when I’m seen with him in public.”
***
“Thank you, O’Hara.” Sitting in his office alone with his assistant and right-hand woman, the colonel gratefully accepted a cup of coffee from her.
“Are you afraid they won’t be able to solve the case?”
“Alex and Gribovsky?” The colonel smiled and looked out the window. “Oh, I don’t doubt they will solve it.”
O’Hara looked at the maj…the colonel before finally daring to ask the question she’d had on her mind for the previous three months.
“Colonel, sir, you knew it then, five years ago, that Dumsky fell into our trap on purpose, didn’t you? You knew he was after the Mask and everyone behind him…behind her. You knew he wanted to use us…and you used him? A perverted kind of mutually beneficial collaboration.”
The colonel took a gulp of coffee, peering silently out the magic window.
Realizing she wasn’t going to get an answer to her question (which actually was a kind of answer), O’Hara asked another.
“What are you worried about then?”
“A new bill from the city to cover their damages. Alexander might’ve already forgotten how much he still owes.”
O’Hara couldn’t help but chuckle. Outsmart the major? The black wizard lost the second that idea came into his head.
The second he showed up, offering himself as an independent consultant and even negotiating some terms. But the truth was the Guards had him by the balls.
He still owed the city about a million credits.
“If you find it that funny, Lieutenant Colonel Thaney O’Hara, then your job is to keep an eye on those two and report back to me.”
The fae pulled herself to attention.
“Sir. Yes, sir.”
***
Alex woke up reluctantly to the sound of the smartphone vibrating on the table. Loki got me to buy that hellish thing.
Carefully lifting the woman’s arm off his neck, he picked it up and went over to the opposite side of the room. A whole three steps.
Alex was still living in his tiny apartment over the Schooner. Diglan let him stay without paying rent. Perhaps it was the fact that Doom had saved his son’s life; maybe it was that his piano playing in the evenings attracted more visitors.
Whatever the case, Alex liked how close the apartment was to the university, not to mention the free drinks he could get whenever he wanted at the Schooner. Sometimes he was lucky enough to bounce a drunken cop out.
That was actually his favorite part.
“Yes?”
“Doom, pumpkin?”
“Fuck off, Gribovsky.”
Alex was about to hang up when he heard the voice continue.
“Hey, wait. It’s a consulting job.”
Alex sighed and massaged his temples.
“What? What job? Hey, I have a terrible hangover. Break ends tomorrow, which means I’ll be back to lecturing the—”
“Meet me in the fae quarter. Now.”
“Why?”
“The usual: kick some ass, save the world, find out who bombed their embassy.”
“And the pay?”
“The maj—…colonel promised double.”
“The fae, you said?”
“Yeah. The fae.”
“I hate those bloody fairies.”
Alex hung up. Casting a lustful glance at the beauty asleep in his bed, he left her a note and dressed quickly, putting on old, threadbare pants, a washed-out shirt, and a vest. A shabby leather trench coat rounded out the ensemble.
Running down the stairs, he ruffled the yawning Cherry’s hair and smiled at Diglan in parting. The latter was standing over his laptop calculating cash flows.
The city was just waking up, the sky in the east colored by a red dawn.
Retrieving the crumpled pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his Dolce pants, Alex smoked and mounted his brand-new steel horse. His professor’s salary was pretty high, but…the entire sum went toward repaying his debt to the city.
S
o, how did he come to have a Dolce suit and a gasoline chopper?
That’s a really fascinating story.
“Here we go,” the DJ’s familiar voice said over his headphones. “These Streets by my favorite City Wolf.”
With a growl, the bike dashed off down the road.
To be continued…
Afterword
Hello, friends! Thanks for you support! It’s very important for me that you are waiting for the translation, read my books and leave me such warm and fantastic reviews!
Did you enjoy the journey of Alex Doom?
It would be very interesting for me to know: what are your favorite characters? Which of Alex’s abilities impressed you most of all? And what about the girls who surrounded the Dark Wizard? Do you like them?
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Dragon Heart
Let me introduce you one more of my series in wuxia realrpg and fantasy genre.
"Dragon Heart" is one of the top-rated Wuxia LitRPG novels in Russia.
Today the story has over 1400 chapters spanning 14 books. Each one consists of 2 volumes, over 80 000 words each one. The whole story is planned out and will have over 2000 chapters and 20 books.
Three books are translated and released. The 4th book is being translated now.
This story, written in the litRPG and wuxia genres, has made me #1 author on the 4 biggest self-publishing sites in Russia.
Dark Wizard's Case Page 41