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I am in my city again, the piece that I control anyway. My blade rests in my hand as I stare down at the city that yet defies my rule, but it is time to change that. Soldiers march in the street now, clockwork things without will of their own, the city is rallying its defenses against me. I leap down, clearing a space with a sweep of the blade. Automatons are reduced to scrap as they jerk toward me. It is time to begin.
Once I was unclear in my wanderings within this city of power, but now it is clear. I must take the towers, rend or remake these bells that top them. These clockwork soldiers are but a source of delay, but delay they do. Blades of air clear them in swathes as I move forward, although a question does prick my mind.
What force opposes me? Is it simply the defiant will of the world, stubbornly refusing its power to me until I take it? A malevolent entity? Some other spellcaster seeking this power for their own? In the end it matters not, no matter the opposition I will take this power for my own.
Unfortunately my reserves are not as eternal as my ambitions. The tide of soldiers is ceaseless, and now I come to their hive, realizing with some chagrin that this tower rises from a vast ocean that too seeks to thwart me, clockwork soldiers rising from the depths as quickly as I can dispatch them.
> 75 + 50 = 125 You guys can go for a hundred if you want
No ocean or tide of toy soldiers will defy me. I seize the power of the ocean, the rolling tides, the hidden depths, the crushing power of endless water. The waters halt, waves still curled, drops hovering in air. Then pillars of water crash out, clearing the way, soldiers strangled and drug down into the depths. The water clears, forming into a smooth ramp, and I walk down the pathway of water, down to the ocean floor.
There is a bell of course, and of course it is mine. My hand reaches for it and it reshapes itself as easily as the water surrounding it. When its form settles a chalice rests in my hand, filled with pure water, another symbol of my dominion over the city. The ocean rushes back, carrying me upward, high enough to survey the remaining city that defies me.
But for now I grow weary, there is much remaining to take, and it will require my full strength to take it.
