Magina, the Anti-Mage, expelled the breath he had been holding. He hated when he couldn't choose with whom he would fight. He liked the wars between two towns, liked the fighting in this scenarios but sometimes his allies weren't what he would wish for. This time it seemed to be a good team, though, and he was relieved. He wasn't really strong at the beginning of such a war because he needed some items before he rocked in a fight. But that meant he needed a team, which could bypass the time until he was strong enough to participate in the fights. If his allies died all the time at the beginning, even equipped with the right items he couldn't win the war then anymore. But one of the heroes currently standing next to him inside the safe zone he knew to be a worthy ally and of two he had heard. The remaining one at least looked capable and the failures of one ally could be atoned for by the four others without difficulty, too. So he was definitely optimistic to win this war.

He nodded towards the hero he knew, a woman he had had the pleasure to fight with in one of his previous wars. The Drow Ranger was a night elven archer and a skilled one. Her skin was a light purple colour with a tattoo on her face. She was partially covered by dark armour, her feet and legs up to her thighs, her belly, breasts and lower body, her shoulders and her under arms. She wore a dark cape, the hood nearly hiding the white of her long hair. She had a beautiful, slender face, with a straight nose, elegant eyebrows and green eyes reflecting the colour of the forest on a sunny day, but her fierce expression indicated not to tell her any of that. Magina knew her skills included the ability to shoot frost arrows that slowed an enemy and a wave that rendered the enemy heroes unable to cast spells. They were silenced when the wave hit them. She was a carry, which meant that the items she would buy would define how much damage she would make. If she got enough money she would be able to deal a very high amount of damage, especially when using her frost arrows. Without those items she would be not worth much.

The two he had heard about were the Omniknight and the Butcher. They were both pretty easy to recognise as whom they were, especially the second one. Originally he must have been a man but now he was what his name applied: a butcher. In one hand he was clutching a meat hook and in the other a butcher axe, he even wore an apron around his hips. He was unbelievably ugly: big and meaty, his flesh wobbling with every step he took. He had several scars all over his body, the biggest one going from his right shoulder over his whole front, vanishing under his apron. The sides from the scar were held together rudimental with a few stiches of cord that didn't seal the wound properly, the red meat and inner organs underneath clearly visible. He was missing his nose, his eyes were white, though he was still able to see, and his jaw was somehow shifted too far forward, his teeth, yellow and bent, protruding over his upper lip. He was nearly bald, only a few hairs, green hairs, at the back of his head. His feet were bare and blood was all over him, on his weapons, on his hands, his clothes and some random splashes all over his body, as if he had just finished slaughtering something or someone. He was a dangerous enemy, because he could throw his meat hook, a chain fastened to it that he held in one hand, and haul the one he had hit with the hook back to him. When it was an enemy, he now could attack, preferably with one of his abilities that rendered the enemy unable to move while doing damage. In addition to that the Butcher could emit some kind of toxic gas that injured all enemies around him while consuming his own health. Therefore it was the highest priority for an enemy to never get hooked while the Butcher always tried to position himself in a way that he wasn't visible to the enemy to better aim the throw of his hook. Once hooked it was almost impossible to get away from the Butcher but it also meant that he was only as good as his aim was on that day. Magina had heard about wars between towns that were lost because the Butcher just didn't get it right, his aim always off and therefore he had been not much help. But Magina was optimistic because normally that wasn't the problem.

The Omniknight, like his name said, was a knight with all the trimmings. He was covered in plated armour from his feet to his neck, the metal shining even more when he was standing next to the Butcher. He was big, with broad shoulders and chest, his armour marked with blue fabric on his arms and shoulders, a blue cape covering his back and a modified blue tunic hanging from his waist downwards and two stripes from his shoulders to his waist. Symbols were stitched on some of this fabric in light blue. He held a warhammer in his hands but he was strong enough to wield it with only one, if he had to. The Omniknight wore no helmet and his shoulder-length blond hair had a war braid on his right temple. His face was covered with a full beard in the same colour as his hair and his clear blue eyes stared from a face that always held a stern look. He was a good fighter but also a good support. He had some really practical skills for healing, magic dispelling and an amazing one to make all allies in his vicinity invincible for a short period of time.

The third one, whom Magina didn't know and who would be going on a road with him since the Omniknight just followed the Drow Ranger to the top road and the Butcher would go on the middle road, was called the Silencer. He was a ranged hero and would therefore be a good addition to Magina and was going to support him. The Silencer was wearing some armour but it was covered by a purple tunic, rimmed with gold. His bracers were purple as well, as were his boots and helmet. In one hand he had a heavy shield, parts of it purple and gold as well, with an intricate design and in his other hand he was holding a glaive, three sharp blades sticking from the middle where he clutched it. He would throw this glaive to attack the enemy. Nearly all of his face was covered by his helmet but enough was visible to show his grim expression.

Magina nodded at the man, who returned the nod, then he began to browse the wares from the merchant. It was an older man, half of his face hidden by a white beard. He had all kinds of items, from consumable things to weapons, wands, armour, boots, magical items and so on. Everything one would need before a fight, during one or after one where purchasable. The man didn't talk to them and they had to identify the items on the basis of small tags with the name and a description of the item, sometimes an instruction how to use it. Magina had partaken in a few town wars before this one and already knew most of the items because they seldom changed. He knew that he needed a shield to block some of the incoming damage, something that would give him back health after he had consumed it and a Quelling Blade, which granted him bonus damage on normal soldiers and on the beasts in the woods. Thus equipped he headed out in the direction of the bottom road and the first tower there.

The first wave of soldiers appeared right behind him, following the road until they would encounter an enemy. They were absolutely brainless, their order saying to take the road and fight any enemy on it. If the enemy was on the side of the road, far enough away, they wouldn't engage but go forward. When they had an enemy building in their way they would go for it but when an enemy appeared they would always first attack the enemy and leave the building. It was a strict order and they never strayed. They were not always helpful like that but they were definitely predictable and assessable.

The Silencer was waiting under first tower and together they went on, the soldiers by their side. They saw the enemy soldiers appearing in front of them, followed by the enemy heroes. One he had seen before, the other not. The one he knew was the Crystal Maiden, a small woman who could wield ice. She was floating a few feet above the ground, her feet encase by white boots, lined with fur. Her legs were naked under a blue dress, the skirt flowing with her movement. She wore sleeves that weren't attached to the dress, but had the same colour, and white gloves. A matching cape with wide shoulder pieces completed her outfit, the hood drawn over her head. Her blond hair escaped the cloth in golden waves, framing a beautiful face with gorgeous blue eyes, highlighted by her clothes in the exactly same colour. In one hand she held a magic staff, something suspiciously looking like an ice crystal at the top. Magina knew that she could cast three different spells, all three effects containing ice. The first was a small explosion on the ground that slowed all enemies it hit. The second was focused on only one enemy, encasing him in ice and therefore rendering him unable to move and attack. The third was applied to an area, like the first, with the Crystal Maiden the centre of the area. She stood there, chanting, while ice rained down from the sky, hitting every creature in the area, dealing damage and slowing movement. She had some passive ability as well, but Magina didn't know what it did. It must be something that wasn't evident, maybe didn't even affect the enemy.

The other hero against them on the road looked as if he was completely made of metal. If a body of flesh was hidden under the steal, Magina couldn't see, though the metal had the form of a man. The robot had some weapons strapped to his back, one a rocket and the others some saws, while he was holding a grappling hook in one hand that would surely be used for one of his abilities but he also used it to attack the soldiers now. With all that metal it looked hard to damage the creature, labelling him as a tank while the Crystal Maiden would probably support him.

They had to be careful at the beginning until they knew what skills the robot had so he couldn't surprise them with a stun or something similar.

Therefore Magina stayed a little back while the Silencer, as a ranged hero, could still attack the enemy soldiers and, when he ventured into range, the robot as well. When the Silencer was able to do enough damage to the enemy hero to keep him at a distance Magina could without worry attack the enemy soldiers. He needed to do that to get the killing blows on them because only the deliverance of a killing blow on an enemy would earn them extra money. And Magina needed this extra money badly to be able to buy the items that would let him become a dangerous hero in this war. As it was, he was rather useless because he didn't do much damage yet, had little armour and even less health. He could only cast one spell that would deal damage and that not until he had gathered more experience, which he would also get mostly from dealing the killing strikes to the enemy. He needed the experience to get better and to develop his abilities because at the beginning of the town wars all heroes had only one of their abilities and at a low level at that. It was different from the real world and Magina always needed a little time to adjust to the missing other abilities. But it made sure all heroes started at the same point, all had the same skill level and that they all needed experience to get better.

Of course all heroes got money and experience as well without killing an enemy but it was definitely less and for the experience they had at least to be near the place an enemy was killed.

Their teamwork was good so far, the Silencer attacking the enemy heroes when they were near enough and then he began to cast one of his spells, cursing all enemy heroes in an area until they either cast a spell as well or until the duration of the spell was over. In the second case they would lose health and energy they needed to be able to use their magical abilities. It was good, when the enemy heroes were not able to cast something, but if they were, it caused them to use one of these abilities. In their situation, the Crystal Maiden reacted instantly with her ice explosion, hitting Magina while dealing damage and slowing him. The robot either wasn't able to cast something or he didn't want to, taking the damage and the loss of magical energy and Magina was glad because the ice was annoying enough on its own.

The question now was: could the Silencer use his curse more often than the Maiden could use her spells? Otherwise it wouldn't have the desired effect, at least not on her. It would deal enough damage to the robot though, and that would probably be worth it.

Magina stayed back until one of the enemy soldiers was near death, then he ran up to him to deliver the killing blow before backing away again. That way he avoided being attacked but was still able to get the extra gold and experience. It was extremely exhausting and required a lot of concentration but it worked so far. Mostly because the Crystal Maiden didn't do much damage with her normal attacks while the Silencer was able to keep the robot at bay.

When the curse hit the next time, the robot reacted way faster and the Maiden used her other skill. Magina had been in the middle of the soldiers and therefore she was able to encase him in ice, making it impossible for him to move while causing him to lose health. At the same time the robot launched a rocket into the air that exploded above his head, dealing damage to all antagonistic creatures underneath the explosion, which included him. The robot neared but he had been too far away and as soon as the ice around Magina vanished he was able, with one of his abilities, to blink away a few feet, like a teleportation over a small space. The robot wasn't able to get a hit at him but Magina had lost a lot health because of the ice and the rocket.

He ate one of the consumable items he had bought that regenerated some of his health but he had to be even more careful. Of course the curse from the Silencer was important and he had to use it, but Magina had to be out of the attack range of the enemy heroes when he cast the spell. Otherwise the use of their abilities wouldn't be a loss to them, which it should be.

Maybe Magina should use the experience he got to develop his spell shield further instead of maximizing the blink or the upgrade of his weapon to burn the magic energy from the enemy unit it hit. The spell shield would make Magina more resistant against the magic of the Crystal Maiden. But by not upgrading his weapon he wouldn't heighten the amount of energy he burned with an attack and the damage he would deal. But if it made it easier for him to stand against the two enemy heroes on the road he should definitely consider it.

Gods, how he hated magic. There was nothing, absolutely nothing in the world that he abhorred that much. He would love to finally annihilate all magic in the world and he tried to do so every chance he got. But there were just so many mages and only one of him.

He ate another consumable before skilling his spell shield and then concentrating on killing the enemy soldiers while he kept an eye on the enemy heroes. The Silencer seemed to use his curse more deliberate but threw an enchanted glaive from time to time, which did a lot more damage than his normal ones. It kept the robot at a distance and even the Crystal Maiden was more careful. She could deal much damage to an opponent but on the other hand she had absolutely no armour and only little health, which meant, if someone was able to get near enough, it would be rather easy to kill her.

Considering his chances of blinking in and killing her, Magina watched her all the time from the corner of his eyes. He wouldn't engage like that, though, until he knew what other skills the robot had. He saw the exact moment the woman decided to engage and made himself ready to blink away. The blink took a split second to actually port him away and that split second was enough for the Maiden to encase him in ice. The Silencer reacted quickly, casting his curse and throwing an enchanted glaive at the robot, who was going for Magina.

But the curse was immediately broken by both heroes, the Crystal Maiden casting the ice explosion while the robot summoned a square of cogs around him and Magina. Then he began, in addition to his normal attack, to shoot something from the weapons on his back and he even fired his rocket. When Magina was able to move again, it was too late. He tried to blink away but though his spell shield had lessened the damage he had taken from the magic it wasn't enough to safe him. And the Silencer, who had done everything in his power to help, wasn't able to prevent the two enemy heroes from attacking him. The robot took much damage from the enchanted glaives but he didn't back off and therefore his last hit, a split second before Magina would have blinked away, was a death blow.