Abuse of Magic

Chapter 187: Joey the Meat Slurpy

Joseph studied the illusion, one of the mages was playing for him, of the fight with the heroes. There were four of them, and while they paused momentarily at the sight of the children and babies, they continued their attacks anyways. Gritting his teeth, he nodded his thanks at the mage, unwilling to say anything for the rage that demanded justice.

'System,' he managed to think, 'tell me what you can about them.'

(NURKONG SUMMONED THEM FROM AN ALTERNATE REALM AND BLESSED THEM WITH SUPER-HUMAN POWERS IN ORDER TO DEFEAT THE DEMON KING. ALONG WITH THE MAIN HERO, THERE ARE THREE GIRLS, THE CHEERLEADER CAPTAIN, THE STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT, AND THE CAPTAIN OF THE TRACK AND FIELD CLUB. HE MADE THEM THE MAGIC SWORDSMAN, MONSTER TAMER, GRAND MAGE, AND FIST MAIDEN.)

'Did you come up with those titles, or did NURKONG?' asked Joseph, fighting the rage back for a moment with the ridiculousness of the names.

(NURKONG DID, AS WELL AS DIMMING THEIR FEAR OF DEATH. NONE OF THEM SEEMS TO BELIEVE THIS IS REAL. IF HE DOES RESURRECT THEM, THEY WOULD BE DEATH-OBSESSED LUNATICS.)

'That's reassuring,' he thought, dryly.

Everyone was in place when the four teleported in, and the trap worked beautifully. All four of them were redirected, and he cast FANTASY. Each of them was immediately trapped in their own worlds, standing there, dim-witted, and unaware of the world around them.

Everyone watched as he stepped in front of the guy NURKONG had sent to defeat him, and Joseph couldn't help but curl his lip in disgust.

ANALYZE CREATURE.

His name was Joey, as if to anger him even more, with having a similar name.

(I'M AFRAID ONLY THE META RUNE CAN HELP YOU RESIST DIVINE ATTACKS. ONCE YOU HAVE WITHSTOOD AN ACTUAL DIVINE ATTACK, YOU CAN DEVELOP A WAY TO PREVENT FURTHER ATTACKS OF THAT KIND. WITH YOUR LEVEL OF MANA CONTROL, YOU ARE PRETTY SAFE FROM LESSER AVATARS AND DIVINE SERVANTS, BUT ACTUAL GODS ARE ANOTHER LEVEL ENTIRELY.)

Joseph shook his head, and observed the man's fantasy. He had just finished killing Joseph, and was in the process of freeing the beast girls, who were fawning over him, begging him to let them join his giant harem. When Joseph saw him reaching for his pants, he stepped out of the fantasy in disgust.

He was relieved that he was the only one that could see their fantasies, because he was the one who cast the spell. He was sure some of the mages who were beast-kin around him, would tear him apart.

TOTAL PARALYSIS.

Releasing the fantasy, Joseph saw his pupils widen in alarm as Joey realized it had all been fake.

"I know that you can't talk. I don't want to hear your voice." He spat at him, fighting for control.

Taking a breath to calm himself, he smiled at the hero, and said, "I've had an epiphany, that I haven't had a chance to try yet. It involves one of the very first spells that I ever cast. You see, originally, I wasn't thinking broadly enough. FOOD spells should take into consideration what others will eat, not just yourself.

"I have a dragon friend, who greatly enjoys his meat raw, he also enjoys it still alive."

Nidhogg landed behind him, cueing in on what Joseph was saying and grinned wider and wider as he realized what this meant.

"My friend, only needs to eat once a month, which means he can slow his digestion drastically. Also, because I'm so awesome, I can make you paralyzed, without making you numb."

Joseph held up a brand that had the healing rune shaped on the end, that Stella had placed into his hand. From the view of everyone around, it looked like he had just pulled it out of thin air. Heating up the end, he pushed it into the hero's chest, burning through his shirt, and leaving a deep imprint on his skin. Then he poured molten enchanted silver into the imprint, cooling it so that it would harden and be permanent.

"This healing rune, will prevent you from dying as you are digested, and may even cause you to heal at the same speed as you are digested. I'm really not sure."

PURIFY FOOD.

The hero fell into a mushy lump of skin onto the ground. Joseph had just removed every bone in his body, most of the internal organs, and all of his hair, as well as any grit and grime.

Turning to Nidhogg, he pointed to the quivering pile of still living hero, and said, "No biting as you swallow him whole. I want him to suffer."

Nidhogg, who hadn't been allowed such a treat, quickly slurped him down.

"Theon, do you have the stones I told you to bring?"

Theon stepped forward with several fist sized stones. Taking the largest, Theon cast SOUL STONE. Joey's soul appeared out of the side of the dragon, and was sucked into the stone, where Theon carefully placed the rock into a box.

William appeared, from among the mages, breathing hard, where he had been running to get there.

"Joseph, what are you doing?" William asked, looking around at the assembled mages, who had witnessed everything Joseph had done so far, and at the three girls who were still waiting for their sentences, still trapped in their own fantasy worlds.

"They used magic to murder children of my people. M-A-G-I-C. If NURKONG wouldn't just recycle their soul, and have them attack us again, I'd just kill them, but I need to make certain they are in too much despair to try and escape. The goal is to prevent them from even realizing they have had their souls trapped."

"But why have all of your mages here, if you planned to do everything yourself?" he asked, still at a loss.

Joseph turned to him, with a hard glint in his eyes. "We are dealing with a god. There's no telling what he will try and pull off."

Without a second glance at his father, Joseph turned to the next girl.