Alexander The Great Mage

Aleyria chuckled as she pointed at the fire which was still burning strongly. "To tell you the truth, with that kind of results, I don't really mind even if you feel a ton of pain while spell casting."

"Hey!" Alexander replied with a laugh. But still, he understood her point. It seemed rather wrong to be able to unleash such destruction and not pay any price at all. It felt like he was cheating.

But he liked it. A lot.

Alexander then smiled at Aleyria, who smiled back at him in mutual understanding. Whatever could be said of the past two days, one thing was for sure, they were extremely lucky. Turning around, Alexander glanced at Flu-fluff who was still napping on Aleyria's head, absolutely oblivious to everything that was happening.

All these battles and wars must be like petty squabbles in her point of view, Alexander suddenly realized. The fat cat was looking at his great adventure through the lenses of a universe grade being.

He sighed, marvelling at his smallness in the grand scheme of things, and the disparity that existed between him and… and… that fluffy furball.

Alexander shook his head and steeled his resolve once more. There was no point focusing too much on how people (or cat, for this matter) look at his life and his struggles. He had to play the best game that he could with the cards he was dealt. And so far, it was looking extremely good.

He studied the fiery disaster he had unleashed upon his enemies and smiled a very self-satisfied smile. Although still peanuts compared to Gods and Cosmic Cats, he was definitely at the top of the food chain here in Arcanus.

The force of nature he had unleashed continued to sweep forward in a tide of utter destruction, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake.

It took a long time for life to flourish, and just an instant for it to be snuffed out. That saying was extremely true in this case.

Within minutes, Alexander's flames died down. And nothing, literally nothing, remained after it was gone.

For as far as Alexander could see, beginning from the battle field in front of him to the edges of the horizon where the orc army was supposed to be, there was only ashes. Of the banshees, there was no sign of them at all, King, Generals and common soldiers alike.

The fires had burnt everything cleanly off the face of the planet.

"Excellent." Flamewing said in great satisfaction.

"Well done." Aleyria praised contentedly.

"Hmmm. Thank you." Alexander replied with a smile. "We're done here. The Lich King would probably be completely stymied with how his banshees and army died in such a small country. He would not send more troops until he knows exactly what was happening. We have bought ourselves a little bit of time to focus on giving our economy a complete re-work."

"Let's go back, rest up and begin." Aleyria agreed.

Alexander stretched out his hand and held on to Aleyria's once more, who blushed a little bit and pretended as if nothing was happening.

With a whoosh! They disappeared once more, barely half an hour after meeting with the Lich King's mighty army of orcs, undeads and banshees.

*-*-*-*-*

"He what?" Dubaza roared in anger. Dark ominous thoughts of regret ran through his mind as he glared at Liz'An, the two other girls and the fearsome 20-meter tall Wyvern who was glaring back at him balefully.

In his mind, King Aloxandros was plummeting in stature. From a rather glorious human-sized mongoose, into a weird canine looking animal.

With a crown on its head, of course, he was a king and he deserved all the respect afforded to that position. But strangely, that canine animal had crazy red eyes and was slobbering great amounts of saliva as it pranced around a huge bear capable of eating him up in a single bite, barking at it angrily.

A mad dog. With rabies, probably.

"Uhh… He wants you to create a Wyvern Regiment?" Liz'An repeated herself uncertainly. She was at a loss on how to deal with an angry Dubaza. They were both Red Robes, but Dubaza was the King's Guard, arguably the most powerful mage in the country after Aleyria, and definitely the oldest and most senior mage currently in the service of the King.

Sensing Dubaza's anger and its mistress's obvious discomfort, the Wyvern growled threateningly.

Totally unperturbed, Dubaza glared at the Wyvern and pointed up at it angrily. "You, sit down and keep quiet!" He roared. His anger was spilling out everywhere, and even the extremely scary looking Wyvern was not spared from his wrath.

GROAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!! The Wyvern roared in anger. It reared up on its hind legs and flapped its massive wings, creating powerful gusts of wind that didn't have much effect on Dubaza, but which sent Shira and Kan-Dari sprawling to the ground.

"Kyaaaaa!!" Kan-Dari squealed.

"Liz'An, keep it under control!" Shira yelled in an annoyed tone as she picked herself up and then helped Kan-Dari to stand up as well.

"Sorry! Sorry!! BAD lizard! Stop doing that! Come here and lie down quietly!" Liz'An shouted as she gesticulated wildly at the Wyvern.

The Wyvern obeyed Liz'An reluctantly. GROAAR!! It gave Dubaza one final roar before laying down next to Liz'An with a grunt. Smoke escaped from his nostrils as he snorted and grunted at Dubaza and the other Red Robes behind him.

Dubaza kept his glare on the Wyvern, somehow putting the blame on all the trouble he was about to deal with, on it. Also, he was reluctant to turn around to look at King Biruz, who probably had a huge grin plastered to his face. He was, afterall, about to get two massive boons.

First, he would finally be rid of the problem of the Wyverns.

King Aloxandros, PRAISE HIS GREAT NAME! Had decreed that ALL the Wyverns were to be captured and trained into a fighting regiment. That simply meant, no more Wyvern beast tides! Trolls would not have to die meaninglessly any more.

Of course, it was easier said than done, capturing all those Wyverns would be extremely dangerous. But, as mentioned before, PRAISE THE GREAT NAME OF KING ALOXANDROS! It would be Dubaza who would be leading the mission! The order was for Dubaza to employ the help of Liz'An and her brand new contract beast to bully all the Wyverns into submission, and force them to sign low-level beast contracts with selected mages from Rin-Turah. Incredible.

King Aloxandros was definitely a REAL King! He had the strength and audacity to make unthinkably brazen and crazy goals, and somehow found the tools to help make those goals a reality. In King Biruz's mind, King Aloxandros towered tall like a mighty Lion King. Wise, brave and powerful. And surrounded by many capable lionesses, who would do all the difficult hunting for him. Of which a particularly old and scarred one featured prominently. That lioness looked strangely a lot like Dubaza.

Second, he would also receive a massive boost in his nation's income. 5% of all the income from the mines? Such a massive amount of money would allow him to finally build larger cities all over the country, slowly raising the living standards of ALL trolls. He could fast track his country's development goals by many decades.

True, the income would only be his if he could supply all the manpower needed to operate the mines, but it was a very reasonable condition. He had never entertained the idea of getting anything for free in his life. One had to either fight for it by robbing or invading other countries, or simply work for it. Working for something may be a little bit slow, but it had the perks of being less dangerous. His countrymen would probably jump at the chance to work at the mines in exchange for a lot of money. Money they would live to spend.

However, in addition to feeling ecstatic, King Biruz also felt a certain amount of grimness taking hold of his heart. King Biruz was a smart troll. He had understood the underlying urgency behind Alexander's actions, and its significance. A great war was imminent.

So he quietly decided that he would push Zan to grow into a military economy, one that would churn out large amounts of Troll Soldiers and Borg Riders.

As he stood there with his stupid grin plastered on his face, he saw Dubaza finally sigh and turn to look at him. King Biruz could see a hint of resigned acceptance in his eyes. And somehow, a deep sense of sorrow alongside it.

King Biruz realized that Dubaza had understood the deeper implications of such an order from King Aloxandros too.

A great war was coming. And wars simply mean one thing. Death.

Many would die in the coming years. Maybe even himself. And if the war was fought badly, then maybe even his countrymen. If fought catastrophically, maybe even his family. His REMAINING family.