"Is everyone ready?" The Ampor City Lord, a Grandmaster Witch asked as he looked at the team of Grandmasters and Masters behind him, a group that numbered eighty.
It was a terrifying force, enough to raid a city.
"Yes!" The wings of all the Birdmen flapped once in response, a sign of respect in their culture.
The Ampor City Lord then gazed at the sky, staring at the double crescent moons before letting out a high-pitched chirp, riling up everyone as they took off into the skies, flapping their wings in a flurry as they made a beeline towards Xerusi City, their target.
The Ampor City Lord was a member of the Talon Secret Organisation and had been planning this raid for months already. Even though he was aware that his actions would result in a lot of Birdmen's lives being lost and his home country, Burnak taking a solid hit to its foundation, he didn't care and proceeded.
After all, his loyalty was towards the Talon Secret Organisation. Or rather, he was born and raised in the organisation before he was made the Ampor City Lord.
This was why politics in the various Kingdoms were complex. That was due to the various secret organisations constantly plotting to gain control of them through a variety of means. If the kingdoms were incompetent, the Secret Organisations would infiltrate their ranks further, as it had already happened in the Burnak Kingdom.
After a short hour of travel, the group arrived in the airspace above Xerusi City, one of the cities of the Xetuka Kingdom that bordered the Birdmen race of Burnak in the west.
"You know the drill." The Ampor City Lord said as his feathers began to sprinkle down from the sky. The others too followed the same, causing a hail of feathers to land on the citizens.
The feathers turned into hair strands, turning invisible to the naked eye as they latched onto the heads of the people, causing them to grunt for a moment before they became puppets of the Birdmen.
The Birdmen had only targeted the Experts among the populace. This way, they would be able to raise more chaos.
After all, for the Masters, the most they could control quickly were Experts. If they tried the same on Masters, it wouldn't work as the Masters would retaliate.
As for the Grandmasters among the raid group, they targeted the Masters in various wealthy houses to gain control of before making them march towards the City Lord's house.
By this time, the City Lord of Xerusi City had already sensed something amiss as the winds in the city turned slightly misty before soon, the entire city was veiled by mist.
"The Xerusi City Lord has taken action." The Ampor City Lord frowned in response.
The Xerusi City Lord was a Grandmaster Water Mage while his wife was a Grandmaster Wind Mage. Combined, their powers allowed them to unleash a mist that covered the entire city.
The advantage of this mist was the fact that it allowed them to monitor everything that happened in their city while blocking the sight and senses of their enemies. In contrast, their allies would be able to see everything clearly.
"Go!" At the City Lord's shout, their personal guards took to the streets, targeting the Masters and Experts that fell under the Birdmen's control.
Even though Witchcraft was eerie and couldn't be guarded against easily, with it existing for ages, countermeasures had long since been devised against it, the same for every other profession.
A Master Water Mage grunted as he enveloped an Expert Warrior under the Birdmen's control, causing him to suffocate before he fell unconscious. Immediately after, his Water Mana seeped into the Expert Warrior's body, gradually reaching the brain as the Birdmen's mana there was slowly extracted out.
The Expert Warrior regained consciousness, gasping for breath as he noticed that he was soaked, "What…just happened?"
"You had fallen under the control of a Birdmen Witch." The Master Water Mage said, propping him up, "Follow me as we take care of others that…"
He had yet to finish speaking as suddenly, the Expert Warrior bodied him, causing the two to slide on the road for a fair distance as the Expert Warrior shielded them with his Water Mana.
Guoong!
The duo stared at the place they had been walking upon, watching it gradually bubble into life as a slimy creature drilled out.
This was a trap that had been laid down by a Master Witch. Even though the Master Water Mage had detected the trap in advance, his body wasn't able to react fast enough. Thankfully, the Expert Water Warrior reacted, as his Warrior physique was strong and quick to take action.
The slime extended its slimy hands, corroding everything in its touch, turning them slimy too. It then targeted the duo when suddenly, a water blade arched out of the Master Water Mage, cutting its hand in half as the Expert Warrior jumped into the air, condensing long swords of water as his body spun, riddling the slime with countless injuries.
Their Water Mana wasn't entirely effective against the slime, but it served to stop its growth while damaging it little by little.
"Gaah!" Suddenly, the duo of Warrior and Mage were startled to hear screams from the people nearby.
His eyes widened as the Master Water Mage screamed at the top of his lungs, "You…damn…BASTARDS!"
After all, a baleful wind began to blow through the misty surroundings, being inhaled by the people that began to cough immediately after as their skin developed blisters.
Soon after, the blisters turned into warts that exploded to spill out pus as the infected people collapsed to the ground weakly, one after another. The infection continued to grow in their bodies before spreading around, latching onto the others, now stronger.
At first, only the Novices among the commoners were affected. But soon, the effect gradually began to show signs in the Experts too. Even though they were yet to fall ill, they were gradually losing strength. And this would only continue to grow stronger until the entire Xerusi City was doomed.
This was the signature move of mass destruction wielded by the Birdmen Witches.
Plague!
