"Ready, Stella?"

"Always, Joseph. Though I never thought the FOOD rune would be able to control time."

"Well, MATURE simulates time passing more quickly, so that wine and cheese and stuff is ready sooner."

There was a flash, then forty magma missiles shot out, hitting forty of the demon worshippers directly in the head. They fell to the ground dead. The others were too stunned to move.

A shadow jumped at the demon overshadowing the dragon, holding two daggers as black as true darkness, capable of cutting even the incorporeal. The only thing that could be heard was the whishing of air, and bodies hitting the ground. Then there was only the whisper of flames, as the magma caught the cloth of the dead bodies on fire.

A young man stood in the middle of the room, surveying the damage. An ancient fey warrior came to stand beside him, not even breathing hard. Then six more fey, exact duplicates of the first, landed all around him. They had long ears, that were pointed, long hair that was tied back with a sprig of ivy, dark red eyes, that flashed like rubies, and lithe bodies, capable of incredible feats of dexterity, and speed.

"That felt like it should have been more difficult," Joseph said with a frown.

"Please don't say that," said Stella.

The demon screamed, and she sighed, disappearing from sight as she jumped through Joseph's shadow towards it.

(OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED?)

'Are you allowed to say that?' asked Joseph as he watched Stella carve pieces out of the demon. She had been looking forward to killing it for a long time.

(SERIOUSLY! WHAT DID YOU DO? I JUST GLITCHED, LIKE A SYNC ERROR, AND THEN THIS! JOSEPH, HOW MANY SPELLS DID YOU..)

'All of them,' he said, 'that I could.

'TELEPORT is both MOVEMENT and GATE so I researched it until I understood MOVEMENT. I found a spell under KNOWLEDGE that let me understand SOUND.

'Animal was a true pain as I didn't have any spell that directly trained it, but I was able to reverse engineer it after I discovered most of the others.

'A BODY spell, ALTER VISAGE, to change my throat and larynx so I could directly speak origin words if I needed.

'I discovered TECHNOLOGY was the rune heavily related to so many other runes. Energy spells for FIRE. Plastic spells for PLANT. Metal spells for EARTH.

'I even invented an entirely new rune, LIFE, for people without magery to learn a few spells to enhance their quality of life, such as CLEAN.

'But despite all of that, I can't figure out META. It's a rune that exists above all the others. I was able to invent LIFE because it relates to so many others. I could discover ANIMAL because it was equal to all the others, but I still can't get META. It was quite frustrating, system.

'I studied every rune and every spell until they became advanced, but I feel like I was only able to reach master level in thaumatology itself.

'Without you as a stop, I went through the memories of every life I have ever lived, from dying on a colony world when the dome was pierced by an orbital bombardment, to dying as a child gladiator, to studying how the bus was enchanted that took me to school before the terrorists attacked. Always looking for runes and magic techniques, but still, I couldn't see META.'

(YOU SOUND ANGRY..)

'I'm pissed. I have the equivalent of eighteen years of frustration trying to learn META. Have you finished scanning my changes yet?'

(STILL PROCESSING ACTUALLY. THE CHANGES ARE RIDICULOUS FOR ONLY NINE YEARS, MUCH LESS HAVING TO UPGRADE IT INSTANTLY.)

'I also invented fusion magic. It would take a human a life time to synchronize a spell with another human mage perfectly in order to use this technique, but Joe and I completely avoid that problem.'

Combining the rune in rune technique with the fusion technique, he cast a massive WEAKEN WILL on the demon. The rune filled the cave with a blinding light. The demon never had a chance, as the full will and rage of both Joseph and Joe were channeled into the spell.

MINDLESSNESS.

Its mind became like putty.

TURN SPIRIT forced it to try and flee, and SOLIDIFY made it tangible.

The six copies of Stella jumped into the action, now that they could hit the demon too.

"Kill it, Stella," said Joseph.

Her daggers, coated in the tainted blood, disappeared into her purse, and FLAME BLADE activated. Three feet of magical plasma rushed out of a sword handle. A quick flick of her wrist and it was cut in two. She waved her hands, and the copies began to separate the body pieces. The heart was set at her feet, then the rest was burned to ashes using ESSENTIAL FLAME. She smiled in delight as she slowly burned the heart to ashes with her plasma sword.

PURIFICATION.

The mana in the cave began to lose its corruption. The pus and sores on the dragon were cleansed and the ashes disappeared from existence. Joseph waved his hand, forming the rune of HEAL over the dragon, healing the wounds that remained.

(EMIT, THE GOD OF TIME, HAS REPORTED THE USE OF A FORBIDDEN SPELL TO MANIPULATE TIME.)

(JUDGE, GOD OF JUSTICE, CHAMPION OF THE FALSELY ACCUSED, HAS REVIEWED THE EVIDENCE.)

(JOSEPH AURUM DID NOT CAST A FORBIDDEN SPELL.)

(SEIRK, MINOR GOD OF CORRUPTION, IS RESPONSIBLE FOR USE OF TIME STOP.)

(JOSEPH AURUM IS GUILTY OF ABUSING MAGIC WHILE OUTSIDE OF TIME.)

(ENACRA, GOD OF MAGIC, HAS DECLARED THE CIRCUMSTANCES JUSTIFIED.)

(DROPPING CHARGES.)

(NURKONG, A GOD OF ICE, DEATH, AND DESTRUCTION, HAS FILED GREIVANCE THAT JOSEPH AURUM SHOULD BE BARRED FROM TIME MANIPULATION AFTER ABUSE OF MAGIC.)

(ENACRA MOTIONS FOR LESSER CHARGE.)

(JOSEPH AURUM PENALIZED WHEN USING SPELLS THAT MIMIC MANIPULATION OF TIME, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, MATURE, RUIN, STEAL YOUTH, HALT AGING, AND HISTORY, FOR 100 YEARS.)

(NO CHARGES WILL BE PRESSED AGAINST SEIRK.)

(SEIRK HAS ALREADY BEEN DESTROYED.)

(A GREAT NUMBER OF GODS ARE OBSERVING YOU.)

(-NOTIFICATION TO ALL REALMS.-)

(-JOSEPH AURUM AND STELLA HAVE SLAIN A GOD WHILE MORTAL.-)

(-JOSEPH AURUM IS AWARDED THE TITLE ONE WHO CRIPPLES GOD.-)

(-STELLA IS AWARDED TITLE SLAYER OF THE DIVINE.-)

(-NURKONG HAS VOWED ENDLESS VENDETTA UPON THEM.-)

"Wait, so that was a god?" asked Stella.