Countless motes of invisible lightning danced in the periphery of his sixth sense. Never before had he sensed so many emerged entities in one place at the same time. They were all around the property and there was just no way in hell that someone like him would miss that many mages gathered in one place.

  "Jane, are the wards ready?" he called out to her as he slammed the doors open and burst into the living room.

  "Yes, but wouldn't running be the better choice when we're still under overseer protection?"

  "Just ward the house and let me deal with them my love," he said as he walked up to the window to get a better look at the situation unfolding outside.

  He couldn't see the enemy, but he knew better than to place all his trust in his eyes. They were there and the anticipation was killing him. Like an unavoidable impulse surging through his body and soul the urge to throw himself at them only grew stronger with every passing moment.

  "It seems we have returned," the shadow whispered from his reflection.

  "We never left the darkness, but my time spent in the light were the best days of my life," he muttered.

  As he stepped back from the window he turned around and began walking towards the door. They had only recently painted the hallways and the sickening smell of paint in the air was almost unbearable as he moved through the house. Once he reached the front door he stopped and took a deep breath.

  The door looming in front of him felt so much more menacing than ever before. If he stepped through it there would be no going back. He would have to fight until the day he died or the world ran out of enemies to throw at him.

  Running was still an option, but that just meant delaying the inevitable. No matter how far he and Jane ran they would still catch up one day. It could be a year or even ten, but the truth was they would still catch up to them. Morgan would never let them escape her ambitions so the only remaining option was to kill them until there was no one left to avenge those that fell to his magic.

  The cassette player switched track the moment he stepped outside. One moment it had been playing seventies rock and the next power metal was blaring in his ears. A fitting background track for the situation he found himself in. He lazily turned up the volume and closed the door behind him.

  "Nihil," he whispered as power surged through him.

  Any moment now the first spell would fly and the nothingness would end up devouring the first barrage. They hadn't made their move yet, but he could sense power surging all around him and that could only mean they were preparing to strike him down unaware of the plan forming in his head.

  He scanned the perimeter as he slowly walked through the yard. The magic hanging in the area was heavier than anything he had ever sensed before, but he couldn't afford to be intimidated by it. If he made a single mistake it would mean losing everything he had fought for up to that point, and there was no way in hell he would let anyone take his dream from him.

  "Will you get to it already? I've got better things to do than wait around for all of you to grow a pair!"

  Countless figures burst out of the woodland and into the yard. Flaming arcs, crackling lightning, and shards of stone came flying towards him as they unleashed their magic. The nothingness around him acted immediately as it sensed the approaching magic.

  "Big mistake," he muttered to himself as the incoming barrage was devoured by the nihil.

  "Nil!" he shouted as he snapped his finger, but he didn't move an inch.

  He had inverted the spell and directed it towards one of the witches in the yard. With a thunderous sound they appeared before him as the space between where they had stood and the ground in front of him was erased. His hand closed around their throat the moment they got within range and raised them in front of him as the next barrage came.

  "Don't shoot!" they screamed only moments before their allies' spells struck them in the back.

  His human shield was reduced to a pile of smoldering meat as the barrage of spells tore them apart. He poured his power into the nihilation while the shield lasted and raised his hand the moment the second barrage ended.

  "Nihilate!"

  Their eyes went wide as he unleashed his magic upon them. Three of them were caught in the blast as the overpowered nihilation struck the area they stood in. All that was left of the ones unlucky enough to be caught in the blast was a fine pink mist.

  He seized the opportunity while they were still in shock from seeing their allies blown to pieces before their very eyes and burst into motion. Unfortunately they recovered faster than he had expected and the moment he sensed the magic surging within them he snapped his finger.

  "Nil!"

  The world zoomed past him as the distance between him and a point in the air far above them was erased in an instant. A new plan was forming in his head as he took note of the number of witches on the ground beneath him. The power within crackled as the wind rushed through his hair.

  "Nihilate, nihilate, nihilate!"

  Two of them had their heads blown to bits in an instant while the third one only ended up losing their arm as the nihilation turned it into a useless shower of red. Spells were flying his way and in the air he was helpless, but he wouldn't remain in the air for long.

  "Nil!" he screamed as he snapped his finger and appeared on the ground in their midst the split second before their spells would land.

  The witch he appeared next to fell to ground with loud thud as he delivered a quick roundhouse kick to their side, which he followed up with a brutal stomp that ended up crushing their head like an overripe melon. Holding back meant death so every move had to end with his opponent's death.

  He took a quick step back as one of them charged him with a knife and raised his hand. With a single cast of the nihilation their chest cavity exploded before his eyes. Any of them that tried to retreat ended up the same as he fired the nihilation again and again at anyone that gave him the slightest opening.

  By the time he stopped casting the yard around him had been painted red with the blood of the Autumn clan. He breathed out slowly when he realized there were no longer any living mages around him. All the witches around him were dead, but that couldn't possibly have been it. Morgan couldn't possibly be dumb enough to think a group of witches even weaker than Monterey could stop him.

  "Got any more meatbags to throw at me or was that it?" he said as he sensed another mage approaching.

  "For the role of designated heir to the clan my matriarch ordered me to kill you," said a slight woman as she moved into view.

  "I'd bet my life on me being closer in line to that throne than you," he said while he studied her.

  The woman's resemblance to Morgan was slight at best, but to be fair he had never seen the Matriarch in person. Alder had shown him some pictures and if that was anything to go by the woman in front of him was distantly related to her at best.

  "What do you mean, Winters?" she hissed.

  "Just look at me," he chuckled, "Can't you tell that I'm the matriarch's son and Ebony's brother?"

  "That can't possibly be true?!"

  "Nihilate..."

  Her body fell limp as the spell blew a tennis ball sized hole through her heart. She hadn't even thought to put up any defenses and had stopped paying attention to his movements the moment he had started talking. Someone like that would never be appointed as the future heir by anyone with half a brain. It had to mean they had been disposable from the start, but that raised the question of who the real enemy was.

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  It wasn't Ebony because she hated the clan as much as he did. Alder was out because if he had suspected him for even a moment he would've already been dead. Morgan herself would never show up because overseer was watching her too closely.

  "I guess Mahogany has a sister or something," he said just as the spirits started manifesting around him.

  He unleashed power within and began firing the nihilation at the spirits as they charged towards him from all directions. The spirits were weak. Far weaker than Legbiter had been and nowhere near the godlike power of Road. A single nihilation reduced them to bits and sent them screaming all the way back to where they came from.

  "Fuck!"

  Two large grasping hands formed from the soil beneath emerged from the ground. He threw himself back just as they slammed into the ground where had been standing a moment prior.

  A massive creature fashioned out of earth and stone rose from the ground in front of him. It was as big as a mid sized van and the very ground beneath him shook whenever it moved. It didn't matter if it was Mahogany herself that had returned from the dead to hunt him down because avoiding that massive spirit had become his only concern in that moment.

  "Shit!" he exclaimed as he narrowly dodged one of its massive arms that came flying towards him.

  It moved with astonishing speed despite its hulking form and gave chase the moment he started running. There had to be some weakness he could exploit, but it wasn't giving him any chance to find it. Every time he stopped it would start attacking again which kept him on the back foot at all times.

  Bolts of flame struck the ground in front of him and forced him to stop, which gave the spirit a chance to catch up to him. In a moment of desperation he turned and ran right towards it before dropping low as its arms came swinging. He used the momentum carrying him to slide between its legs and ended up behind it.

  "Nil!"

  Just as he snapped his finger he saw the bright orange streaks heading right for him. He appeared in the air above the creature and saw the smoldering crater behind it where he had been before the spell had transported him into the air. As the panic started to set in he found himself pumping all the power could into the nihilation and took aim.

  "Nihilate!"

  The bright flash blinded him and the bang deafened him. Pain shot through him as his full weight slammed into the ground. The air was knocked out of his lungs which left him gasping helplessly as he started frantically crawling with all the speed he could muster.

  "It's the end of the line for you, Al."

  He looked up and saw the woman standing before him. She was the spitting image of Mahogany down to the smallest detail. A large burning lance hung in the air above her outstretched hand. With curly dark hair and bronzed skin sparsely covered by black leather there was no mistaking it.

  "I hate it when I'm right," he sighed deeply as he took in the details of her appearance.

  Of course Mahogany had a twin, and a vengeful one at that. There was little he could do in his current situation. He couldn't cast the nil faster than she could command that flaming lance to burn a hole through his skull. His tricks had run out and the pain made it impossible to move fast enough to try something.

  "I'm guessing you know what I did to your sister?"

  "Down to the smallest detail," she spat, her words practically dripping with vitriol.

  "The other witches and the small army of spirits weren't distractions," he muttered weakly, "You were trying to figure out what I was truly capable of before stepping in yourself."

  She had played him from the start. Everything up to this point had been nothing more than an attempt to probe him for weaknesses before she finished him herself. Nothing fancy at all just cold and cruel efficiency, but that raised the question of why she hadn't killed him yet.

  "You've got me dead to rights so why am I still breathing?" he asked her as he forced his aching body to stand.

  "Because killing you is something I'm doing for myself, but I still have a mission to complete here."

  "You shouldn't take any risks when you could just kill me, you know?"

  His power filled the nihil as he fed it his intent. The moment he unleashed it all fire would be consumed by the nothingness and give him an opening. She didn't react for even a moment as he lazily walked back and forth in front of her.

  "You're being just as careless as your sister..."

  "Do not talk about her!" she hissed as she leveled her outstretched hand with his head.

  "See you weren't there so you would only know what they told you, right?"

  "Shut up!"

  The barely contained fury was showing on her expression, but she didn't take the shot. She was on edge and all he needed was one more push, and he had just the thing in mind. One little lie to push her well over the edge.

  "You're just as hot as she was, but I guess that's the benefit of twins," he said with a big leering grin on his face, "I bet your cries will excite me as much as hers did!"

  "You fucking animal!" she screamed as she sent the burning lance flying towards him.

  He was already running towards her the moment he had finished his sentence, "Nihil!"

  The nothingness devoured the flames just as her spell was about to make contact with him. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close then drove his knee into her stomach.

  "Nihilate!" he screamed as he pointed his other hand at her head.

  Bright sparks clouded his vision as the spell struck the formerly invisible dome around her. She had taken precautions and had used some kind of barrier to stop his spell, but there was no way that she had just cast it. That shield had to have been there all along even if he had failed to notice it before now.

  "I'll fucking kill you for what you did to her!" she cried as she drew upon her power.

  "Would calm down lady?" he sighed, "I just killed her slowly is all, but you would have done the same to me."

  Four lances of flame shot towards him only to be snuffed out by the nihil. She was smart, but she had read too much into what he had said before without questioning if he was messing with her head. An emotional combatant was a predictable one and she had just made herself far too predictable.

  He walked towards her slowly as her spells were devoured by the nothingness one after the other. A quick straight kick to her knee sent her face first into the ground. She writhed in pain as he put his foot down on her head and pushed her face deeper in the snow.

  "Did you never consider someone might just kick you when you cast that shield around yourself?" he said to her as he put more weight on the foot resting on her head.

  She mumbled something incoherently, but he paid it no mind since she was clearly in no state to cast another spell. The power within her was flickering weakly and any spell she tried to throw at him in that state would have all the power of a wet napkin.

  "I am feeling somewhat merciful today so if you give up I might just spare you..."

  The carnage around him said otherwise, but he wasn't planning on keeping his word to her either way. His senses tingled and as he turned his head he saw a spirit coming right for him. Without a second thought he began casting the nihilation.

  "Al, get down!"

  His body slammed into the ground just as he unleashed the spell. Something warm and wet soaked into his shirt as he peered into Jane's crystal blue eyes. She was laying on top of him and her body was shivering like she had been out in the cold for hours.

  "No, Jane, anything but that please!" he cried out.

  "It's fine, Al, we'll always have our bond," she said as reassuringly as she could in her current state.

  She pressed her lips against his and kissed him. Her kiss filled his mouth with the sickly sweet metallic taste of warm blood. The magic within her was fading and she wasn't healing herself. His mind was in disarray as he helplessly struggled to do something, anything.

  "I guess this is just how it's meant to be for me, but I promise that you'll never be alone," she said as her eyes went dull and her body limp.

  He scrambled to his feet and rolled her over so that her back could rest on the ground. Where her heart should be there was only a gaping bloody crater. She was dead because of him. It was all his fault and nothing would ever bring her back. All that he had to have done was not cast that spell, but he did cast it and now he was paying the price.

  "It's all their fault!" the shadow howled.

  "Jane, please wake up!" he cried out weakly as tears dripped down his face.

  "They took her from us!"

  "Please, Jane..."

  Countless emotions swirled through his head. The joy of the last year had been washed away in an instant, and had been replaced with nothing but darkness. Spite, fury, and all consuming hate flooded his very being.

  "Just fucking die!" he screamed as his magic lashed out at the very world itself.

  All color drained from reality as every spirit hiding nearby was annihilated in an instant. Their very essence devoured by the nothingness in the process. Slowly he walked towards the witch as she tried to stand up.

  "What I did to Mahogany will look merciful compared to what I'm about to do to you," he said in a flat monotone.

  "Make her suffer unlike anyone has before!" the shadow cackled gleefully.

  "Please don't kill me!" she cried out as he dropped her to the ground with a single well placed kick that snapped her ankle in half.

  "You are just one of many, but all of them will taste death in due time."

  "Let go!" she screamed as his fingers wrapped around her throat.

  The shadow screamed with excitement as it watched it all unfold, "Make her soul itself wish for death!"

  "Maybe Morgan will save you if you scream loud enough, so I guess I'll just have to help you with that."

  He pressed his other hand against her chest and slowly forced the fingers through the skin. She screamed helplessly as his hand dug deeper inside of her until it finally closed around her beating heart.

  "You won't be needing this," he sighed as he tore her heart from her chest.

  "Morgan help me! Why am I not dying! Why can I feel everything!" she screamed as her tears poured from her eyes like rivers.

  The nothingness emanating from him devoured death before it could fully claim her. By the time he was done there would be nothing left of her, but her mind would still live in what remained of her fleshy shell once he was done with her. Only when her soul itself gave out would he let her die.

  "Guess I'll just have to tear out more of your organs..."

  No matter what pains he inflicted on her. No matter how much torture he inflicted on her. No matter how much she cried for mercy. None of it was ever enough. The nothingness within him just kept growing and nothing seemed able to stop it.

  There was no way to sate him when his only dream had been taken from him. Only the unending hate and his mission remained. Only when every last soul of the Autumn clan had been snuffed out would he rest. Nothing else remained within him.

  He was nothing but an empty heart.