Preparations (Mathias POV)

Mathias smirked with satisfaction as he easily smacked the punch aside from his right hand man. The punch had been thrown with all of Max’s brute strength, which was after all, one of his biggest assets. It was what made him the Enforcer of Mathias’ will. And Mathias had knocked it aside with no more effort than one would use to swat a fly.

While Max was stronger (although only by a little), Mathias was faster. He unleashed a lightning fast series of punches to the massive torso of his underling, each one knocking the breath out of Max. Max took a huge swing at him, the **** of which doubtlessly would have broken his jaw, if he’d have been slower.

Instead, he ducked under it and hurled an uppercut at Max’s exposed jaw, having to jump to even reach the massive man’s head. The extra ****, combined with Mathias’ impeccable technique, rocked Max backwards. The satisfying crack rang through the training hall. His right hand man spat out blood and grinned.

There was nothing Max loved more than a good fight. Except perhaps abusing women, but that was neither here nor there. Max came back swinging, and this time instead of bothering to dodge, Mathias used one of the abilities he’d absorbed and put up a magical forcefield.

Max’s fist thudded against it. It was about a foot removed from Mathias’ body and almost completely translucent, save for the shimmering purple colour marking the bounds of the magic. “Hah, that old trick.” Max said, recovering quickly from the unexpected impact. He punched once, and the forcefield cracked.

He slammed his fist against it again and he shattered the barrier. “Think she’ll be able to get past that?” Max asked him.

The guild leader shook his head. “Only if I let her. She doesn’t have the raw power for it.” He replied.

Max lashed out with his foot in a powerful kick, and Mathias dodged backwards, unleashing a powerful blast of flames, his fire magic burning through the air menacingly.

Reacting quickly, Max brought the suit jacket up and over his head, shielding himself with the enchanted material. The dangerously powerful flames sizzled against the man’s suit. Ultimately, the enchantments prevailed and the suit absorbed the elemental magic without sustaining too much damage.

“Ya gonna fight me, or ya gonna keep pulling cheap tricks?” Max taunted, goading his leader.

“Can’t well be rusty, in case she makes this harder than it needs to be.” Mathias replied truthfully.

Max shrugged and charged at him again. With a purple arcane flash, Mathias disappeared, reappearing a few metres away. In his place, stood a golem of stone, about the same size as Max.

“Finally, something I can fight properly!” He exclaimed, immediately locking arms with the golem in a test of strength. Despite Mathias’ magical prowess, reliably summoning a golem with enough speed and strength to outclass his right hand man was not something he could do. If he focused all of his power, perhaps he could. But he had no need.

Instead he used the summon as a distraction while he fired off blasts of light from his magical arsenal. The light elemental magic was a simple yellow ray, and travelled extremely quickly. Quick enough that Max could barely dodge them while his attention was occupied fighting the golem. Mathias aimed carefully and fired.

Max grunted as the brilliant light singed his face. Thankfully for the Enforcer, the light had missed his eyes. The brute of a man slammed the golem’s head into the ground and stomped on it. The golem exploded into stone, the magic animating it, broken. Max made to charge toward Mathias once more, but the Fallen Knight held up his hand.

“That’s enough for now.” He said.

Max lowered his fists. “Sure boss. Mind healing this then?” He asked, pointing to his burnt face. Mathias aimed his hands at his right hand man and they glowed a soft green. He focused and the burn marks on Max’s face disappeared and he grunted in thanks. “Need me for anything else?” He asked.

Mathias shook his head.

“I’ll be in the armoury then.” The Enforcer said, taking his leave and wandering off.

One of the first pieces of magic Mathias had absorbed once he realised what he could do, was healing magic. It was definitely one of his most useful: he could be his own healer in a pinch, and could support the rest of his forces.

Not that Mathias tolerated those weak enough to need it often.

It also meant he didn’t need to rely on another person to heal him if he took damage, which was one of his primary concerns. Other people could fail him, other people could be looking the other way, or looking out for their own interests. He drank some water from the bottle he kept nearby and sat down on the bench.

He was looking forward to Saturday, very much. 80 years of work finally coming to an end at last. The Gamer was the most powerful person that his best power reader, Noah, had ever seen, by a long shot. Her potential was seemingly unmatched. He was very hopeful that she would have the power to defeat him.

Even Mathias nearly shuddered at the thought of him. Displaced from his home, so many years ago, after a war between two sides full of people who thought they knew best. And how many millions were hurt in the process? None of them thought about that. Mathias did, and that was what made him different.

Had he also caused his fair share of innocent deaths? Sure, but it was all in pursuit of making things right. What was a few thousand lives in exchange for potentially millions? When he’d first heard of the poison jar theory, he wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it. But then he’d seen the truth of it: war **** people to adapt and survive.

He’d known somebody like Gemma would come forward eventually, and he was very happy she had. Even better, she had many weaknesses he could exploit. She cared so much for the people around her. Too much. She wasn’t willing to do what was necessary to win.

That was why Mathias had an extra insurance policy planned for their meeting on Saturday. He was looking forward to see the look on her face. And Mia’s face. Most of the preparations were already in place, he just needed to visit the Burgess residence to carry out the plan.

He needed to figure out a way to break their harmony too, before the meeting on Saturday. The less united Gemma’s guild was, the less of a threat they posed. Mathias had figured out how to stand on his own, and the fact that Gemma hadn’t, meant she was weak. He was close to an idea, he knew it. It would come eventually. He was pretty good at figuring out what was most effective to break people.

Not that he thought they had a chance at winning if they fought him, but it was always better to cover his bases. That was a hard learnt lesson. He thought back further to his youth, back to his home. The stuff he’d seen in the trenches of World War 2 had horrified him. It had shown him the true reality of human nature.

He’d been there when the Nazis had conducted their blitzkrieg operation. He’d fought for his home as a young man, and had seen just how cruel people could be. With his home in Poland right on the border of both Nazi Germany, and The Empire, he had seen all his life the results of people who thought they were better than everyone else.

And it was in the trenches of war that his power had been fully unlocked. He found that he had the power to change the fate of people, if he played things smartly. After ****, ****, betrayal and the horrors of war and ego, he knew he could trust nobody else but himself to do the right thing.

When others got power, they hurt people. That Mathias had managed to create Sydney as he had, a lawless society where the strong did what they pleased, was even further proof of that fact. When Mathias got power, he had sought to protect people. But he knew he was no match for their leader. A God among men.

That was why he fled to Australia, far away, where he could plot in secret. And once he finally had the power within that girl, the past 80 years would be worth it. Every sacrifice, both by himself and others, would be worth it, in the service of saving untold millions from living and dying under a broken system. He could topple it, and change the world.