You try to roll away. You make it, but you had forgotten to compensate for your wings yet again. The axe tears through one of your new wings excruciatingly – the left one – and slams into the pool, throwing up a large spray of water. A large fissure opens up in the ground, the waterfall now spilling into the new chasm unhindered. You grit your teeth in pain. Thankfully, the thoughtless attack has temporarily obscured your location from the angry demon princess. You have less than a second to act. From the power of her strikes, which you well understand from fighting her in the Demon Lord’s castle, Forceshield would be useless, and Displacement would be less effective thanks to the area effected by the destructive force generated through her swings. Resorting to Gigadyne is an option, but perhaps you do not need to go that far. Thinking quickly, you make your move.
As the mist dies down, the water draining to a lower level, the first thing she sees is you charging at her, fire blazing from your fingers.
“Did you think I would fall for a doppleganger?” shouts the demon, seeing through your ruse in an instant. She blocks the fire easily and spins around, whirling her battle-axe to cleave everything around her into two. Doing that, it would not matter if you were using the doppleganger to flank her.
From protection to destruction; let magic’s lifesblood burn in dazzling fury. Right before her axe connects with the clone, you finish the chant: “Spell Maximize: Mana Destruction.” You cast the spell on your own doppleganger, detonating the magic used to create it. The resulting explosion of mana rocks the entire area, blowing a good portion of the ruins apart. Irreparable damage to a national historical preservation site, most likely – you are certain that Rennock would have chewed your head off over your disregard for collateral damage, noble paladin that he was – but as a caster in wartime you had developed a tendency towards flashy spells that deal a lot of damage to a lot of people in very little time. Much easier that way, you’d found; plus such shows of force tend to make a statement and scare trouble off. Now, if you are lucky…