Magina was a little disappointed by the Butcher in this war. But it wasn't entirely his fault. Maybe the enemy could just anticipate where he would stand and whom he would want to hook and so they were able to outmanoeuvre him. It was annoying and that way the Butcher was no big help for them.
Since there was nothing more to do on the middle road (Magina definitely would not try to destroy the next tower as well with only the two of them) they headed to the bottom road together. It was the only place where the others could be.
They headed through the woods, aiming for the middle of the road between first and second tower. It seemed like a good idea, because if first tower was already destroyed they could go for the enemy from the back and if not they could just meet their allied heroes under said building.
What they didn't expect, though, was that second tower had already fallen as well and no allied hero was around. There were only three enemy heroes, the robot and the dragon knight wounded and the ranger, almost unharmed. So a fight had already taken place and their allies were either dead or had retreated back into town. The Butcher, absolutely out of the blue, threw his hook at the woman, hit her and hauled her towards him. Then he activated his ultimate ability, this time fast enough to catch her before she was able to use her ability, so that the ranger wasn't able to get away. Maybe she had been too surprised by the attack. Magina joined the attack immediately and since the woman was rather weak they were able to kill her. The robot and the knight had realized that the ranger had been attacked and turned towards them.
That was the sign for the Butcher and him to leave. The Anti-Mage blinked forward, away from the two heroes, into the shadows of the woods. When he saw movement from the corner of his eyes he turned in the direction. The Invoker was standing between the trees and he was staring at Magina. The orbs around his head were all orange, glowing faintly in the shadows of the woods. He didn't move, just kept looking, his eyes roaming over Magina's body. Said body started to tingle again and Magina frowned. That was a mage and the only thing that his body should feel towards him should be hatred. This tingling was making him mad! And he couldn't even make himself attack the man! Even stranger was the fact that the Invoker didn't attack him. He could've easily cast his spells, even from the distance where he was standing, but he did nothing.
Loud footsteps announced the approach of the Butcher and with a change of the orb colours, the Invoker vanished like the last time.
As if his disappearance had broken the spell on Magina, his body started to move again while his frustration rose. What was wrong with him? If it were someone else he would say he was highly attracted and he was feeling arousal, but that was a mage! And the most powerful and skilled one, too! He just couldn't be attracted to one of them!
Grinding his teeth he tried to focus on his surroundings, blinking forward as soon as the ability was ready again. This time he was more careful because he didn't want to get ambushed again.
Near the middle road were two places were beasts were standing under the trees and Magina decided to take the risk and kill them before going into town again. It worked and he had finally enough money to buy a Vitality Booster, a stone that endowed him with more health and was needed to upgrade his very simple Stout Shield into one called Vanguard. It would enhance his life regeneration rate and give him a higher amount of health in addition to a higher block chance of attacks. To buy the Booster he had to visit the Secret Shop, a shop from a merchant hidden in a small forest between the middle and the top road. The merchant was neutral and sold items that weren't available at the shops in the town or the ones on the side of the road.
With the improved shield Magina felt a little better. He left the merchant in the direction of the top road. The middle had looked good so far and he wanted to check on third tower on the top road to make sure their town was still protected. He found the enemy soldiers and killed the whole wave. He had to get more money because the next item he needed was the Battle Fury. With the Battle Fury he would deal cleave damage and since his attacks burned the energy of the enemy heroes it was good to hit as many enemies as possible with one hit. The Battle Fury would also give him a higher regeneration rate for his energy and his life and he would deal more damage with his hits. But it wasn't cheap and if the war went on like before Magina wasn't sure if he would be able to buy all the items let alone finish the Battle Fury before they had lost. But it was an integral part for him in a town war and without it he had no chance. So he would try to get all items together and hope that they would be able to turn the tide in their favour.
With the soldiers a good way away from third tower Magina returned into town, where he met his allied heroes. They were already on their way to the middle road and after regenerating shortly in the safe zone, Magina followed. The middle was the only road where they still had their towers and the enemy would surely want to destroy these buildings next. If they concentrated, they would be able to kill them without dying. They had good abilities, especially for a team fight, they just had to time their attacks properly. The Butcher would go for the ranger woman and hopefully be able to snatch her before she could run away. Magina would focus on the Crystal Maiden since she wielded much magic but was vulnerable to direct attacks. And if he could burn all her energy she would be useless. He just had to be faster than her to prevent her from encasing him in ice.
Magina liked the idea of killing a mage. Even if it was only in a town war. He had wanted to go after the Crystal Maiden in the world as well, once, but it was too cold for his liking where she lived and he had postponed her death. It wasn't as if he didn't have other mages to kill in warmer places. But sometime he would definitely get her. Magina felt almost giddy at the prospect of going after her. He could feel the hatred for all magic burning in his body. He had to be clever though, to get her. She would stand behind so she wouldn't be the first target in the fight and Magina would have to either blink to her side or walk around the other enemy heroes. Either way he had to dodge the attacks of the other enemy heroes and try not to call attention to himself.
The Drow Ranger had bought something with which she could make herself invisible and she now used this invisibility to scout ahead. She ran forward as far as first tower and then turned right, giving them vision inside of the woods. And from there the enemy approached.
They had probably wanted to surprise them with an attack from the side but the scouting Drow had found them before they could initiate the fight. The Butcher stopped and simply hooked the first enemy hero he could reach, which was the robot. The Silencer immediately used his ability to silence all enemies and Magina wasted no time. He blinked forward as long as they were all unable to use their stuns and he appeared almost in front of the Crystal Maiden. Her eyes widened when she saw him and she backed away, clearly trying to run away since she dealt not much damage without her abilities. But Magina was faster and he attacked her. He focused only on the woman in front of him, ignoring the rest. He could feel the exact moment when the silence lifted. The Maiden turned around and froze him but no other enemy hero was near enough to attack him. They had veered too far away from the others. And then she made a fatal mistake: instead of running away, with which she would probably have survived, she began to cast the raining ice. Of course it did damage and Magina felt the cold bite into his body. But he had a spell shield, which blocked much of the incoming magic. So when the frost encasing him vanished, he was hurt but not enough not to continue his attack. To avoid to walk up to her he blinked and, after two more hits, he used his sole other active ability on her. She was still casting, maybe hoping to kill him before he killed her, but she must have used almost all her magical energy now and his ability did damage dependent on the amount of energy an enemy was missing. So it took Magina only this one use of his ability and the Crystal Maiden fell to the ground, the ice rain stopping immediately, the air around Magina warming to its normal temperature. He looked at the body of the woman at his feet, several wounds from his weapons visible on her body. He felt definitely satisfaction in seeing her dead.
He took a deep breath to enjoy the fading of the magic in the air before he turned away. He should head back to the others to see if he could help in the fight but he was injured so he wasn't sure if he should take the risk to run into several enemy heroes alone. He went in the direction of the bottom road and when he found a cliff he blinked down, using it as a shortcut to the middle road.
Under second tower the Silencer and the Omniknight were standing together. It seemed as if they were waiting for something and, sure enough, three enemy heroes appeared. The dragon knight, in the form of a dragon, the ranger and, behind them, the Invoker. The robot was missing, so maybe they had been able to kill him after the Butcher had hooked him. But they must have lost first tower.
Magina looked at the Invoker and tried to summon the same feeling of hatred he had felt towards the Crystal Maiden, only seconds before, but it didn't surface. Instead, when he watched the mage move with a natural grace, the orbs above his head changing their colour from time to time and that frown on his face that made him look fierce and dangerous, he felt drawn to him. And definitely not hatred. He didn't have the urge to kill him and that scared him. All his life he had lived for vengeance on the mages for what they had done to him and the people around him. The death of all magic was the most important thing for him and he had to kill the Invoker. He was the purest form of magic in a living being. Magina took a deep breath and shut everything around him out, focusing solely on the mage. He would kill him. With the next breath he blinked and, appearing right in front of the Invoker, he wielded his weapons against him. He didn't look in his face, trying to avoid the fact that he was attracted to the man, but concentrated on the spots where he wanted to hit him. His first slash cut through cloth as well as the flesh underneath, blood colouring the bright robe in darker shades. Magina still didn't look up but kept his blades moving, going for the next strike. Only the mage was faster, using the spell to vanish from his sight. The Anti-Mage stared at the spot he had been standing and at the blood that had formed drops on the ground. It was coating his weapons as well, making the blades glistening dark red. There was a strange ache inside his chest which intensified when a dark drop rolled over the blade and fell to the ground.
Magina realized that the satisfaction he had expected wouldn't come. And when the shackles from the ranger bound him in place, followed by arrows and fire balls hitting him, he raised his gaze and stared in the direction the Invoker must have vanished. Of course he was long gone. Having totally expected to die, Magina was more than surprised when he was suddenly healed and a curse hit the two enemy heroes at his back. He recognised the curse by the sound its release made. Turning around he saw the Omniknight and the Silencer attacking, helping him. Magina didn't hesitate and joined the fight, going for the dragon knight, who was a man again. The ranger still shot her arrows at him but he could blink away now and did so, scarcely escaping death. He didn't turn back but headed directly into the safe zone to regenerate. If the fight was still going when he had regenerated he could participate again but right now he was of no use.