POV Rio
The trip to Albion was easy thanks to the Firebolt, as we didn't have to use a known treeport. It also allowed us to sneak into the country undetected. Then I further disguised Louise so nobody would recognise her, and we went to the church where Prince Wales, the current leader of the Royalists in Albion, was supposedly hiding. We get stopped by some knights, and Louise proves that we come from Henrietta and are given shelter for a time.
"Louise, stay here and protect Prince Wales. I have some business to handle," I say while grabbing the invisibility cloak.
"Got it. Do you expect an attack?" Louise asks.
"Not necessarily, but it never hurts to be careful," I caution.
Sneaking into the capital city of Londinium was easy, just as getting into the palace was easy. I was here for a reason, which was to find the Ring of Anadvari and kill Cromwell, and capture Sheffield. Since it was the middle of the night, finding Cromwell was easy. He was in his chambers, fast asleep.
I cast some sound-insulating spells, and then I stealthily removed his ring and then covered his mouth with my hand before placing my dagger at his throat.
"Mr Cromwell, I've got some questions for you," I say before using the ring to control him.
His eyes go glassy, and I start asking everything I could need to know. In this case, it was the names and descriptions of everyone loyalist in his cabinet, as well as where I can find them. Then I asked about their army placements, any weak points, and the supply caches. Then, once I had everything I could want, I drove my dagger into his throat, and he died almost instantly. Then I took his corpse with me.
From there, I went room to room in the palace quietly assassinating everyone I had on the list of targets. Making sure to take all their corpses to sow confusion in the enemy ranks. Leaving the only person I wanted alive for last. Sheffield was sleeping in her room, and I didn't underestimate her for a moment. As such, I entered the room as Cromwell, as this world didn't have any concept of Changelings. Sure, there were disguise spells, but they were not perfect by any means. As I entered, Sheffield tried to pretend to be asleep, but before she had a chance to react, I pulled out a blowdart and shot her.
"Ah!" Sheffield screamed as she stood up.
She pulled out the dart and looked at it.
"What sorcery is this?" Sheffield says, but before she can do anything more, she collapses to the ground.
I walk over to her and start adding the magic bindings. The curse I was using was a new creation of my own, based on the knowledge I got from Harry Potter and Constantine. It made magic literally impossible to use unless someone helped you from the outside. I had to do things this way as I couldn't kill Sheffield. If I did, then Joseph, her master, would just summon a new familiar. Instead, I intended to steal her rune if possible. But for that to work, I had to have plenty of time to mess with the runes and her mind. Which meant it was into the box she went.
I pulled out a suitcase and cast the extension charm on it before shoving her inside and locking it. Even if she somehow escaped me, she wouldn't get far, as I had added some disabling curses, and if by some miracle she got her magic back, she could teleport back, but as soon as she was in the presence of her master, she would blow up like a box of human-shaped TNT.
Once she was secured, I robbed the palace of anything of value and then left. I still had several more targets to eliminate before I could return to Louise and we could go home. I had already retrieved the letter we were asked to grab, and that was secure with me, but I wanted to stabilise Albion and thus gain yet another powerful ally. If I were stuck here for a while, I would at least unite this continent so they could be better prepared for whatever is to come. Part of that plan is to control as many countries as possible, or at least influence them greatly.
Over the next several days, I went from one fortress or noble's territory to another and wiped out anyone on the list of people, with the occasional addition when I interrogated more nobles. To make sure I didn't kill anyone unnecessarily, I made sure cross referance the reports with each other. The Rebels under the dead Cromwell nearly collapsed within just those few days. If it wasn't the disappearances of most of the leadership, it was the infighting amongst those that survived.
I also made sure to help Prince Wales make contact with several groups that were royalists or at least not considered friends or allies of Cromwell, to help them quickly regain large swathes of territory. Now that's not to say that there wasn't fighting and some subterfuge, but most of that failed miserably due to my heavy involvement. Literally nothing the enemy had could threaten me. I had fully automatic machine guns and enough ammo to arm a small army. And if that wasn't enough, I had futuristic laser and plasma weapons. What is a mage with medieval technology supposed to do to stop that?
Anyway, it took about three weeks for the rebellion to practically end. There were a few small holdouts, but without a centralised command structure or any unified leader, they were a bunch of bandits hiding in the far northern highlands. It was during those three weeks that I discovered Tiffania Westwood, a half-elf and Void magic user. We got along quite well as I didn't judge her; in fact, I even revealed I was an elf as well. Ever since then, she has been working under me. Nobody dared say a word of protest, as I was more than willing to show them some real magic if they did. And I was seen as a war hero and revered quite strongly amongst the populace, as I had distributed food to several villages and ended the brutal civil war. So if I kept an Elf around, nobody was willing to say anything about it.
It was only as we were approaching a month in Albion that we prepared to depart. I had gotten all that I wanted from Albion, and I was told that Tabitha was waiting back at the academy for me with her mother in tow. In terms of what I had gotten from Albion, that was simple. Prince Wales had sent us away with a treaty of alliance. I had also gathered ample evidence of traitors within Tristain who had conspired with the Reconquista. All this info would likely lead to a bloody purge, but it was necessary.
It was also during this time that I slowly broke Sheffield. I had no mercy for a woman like her who had killed so many. I got everything I needed from her mind, and then I studied the runes on her forehead. But unfortunately, I realised soon that I would require a ritual that I didn't have the ingredients for to attempt to steal that power.
"Ugh, finally we can go home," Louise says with an exhausted voice.
She had served in a few battles, but it was often in support roles.
"You seem to be getting close to being able to cast non-void spells," I reply.
"Heh. Any day now, I'll be able to cast middle-level spells. Though I don't think I'll ever be able to cast low-tier or cantrip-level spells," Louise says self-deprecatively.
"Probably not, but it's not impossible; it would just likely take you many years. Though you honestly probably won't need it," I reply after some thought.
"I... I guess not," Louise says reluctantly.
"What about your progress?" I ask Tiffania.
"Well, I'm still a long way from casting other magic, I think," Tiffania says nervously.
"That's alright, we have all the time to learn," I say kindly.
I admit I pitied Tiffania; she was all alone in this world, and she was so sheltered that I felt it was only right that I try to teach her what I could so she could stand on her own. After all, I was quite clear that no one would be following me from this world. It's a once-and-done situation. But for now, I could help them.
Eventually, we arrived back at the academy, but not before I hand-delivered the evidence and confessions to Henrietta. She thanked me and then tasked me with eliminating the traitors while also gathering evidence of their betrayal so she could move against their families. I accepted the task as long as I could do so at my own pace.
When we got back to the academy, I retrieved the locket from Tabitha and told her to wait for now. I spent the next month running all over the kingdom and preparing to install Tabitha as the new ruler of Gallia. During this time, I returned the Ring of Andvari to its rightful owner. The Water Spirit thanked me and gave me some alchemical ingredients that I could use for the ritual I had planned. Speaking of that ritual, I had gathered most of what I needed; I just had to wait for the gems I had been charging to attempt to steal the rune. If it failed, she would likely die, but at this point, I didn't really care.
It took almost two months to purge every last traitor in the kingdom, and it only took that long because I had to balance it with my other duties. But in the end, the kingdom was greatly refreshed. It was also at that time that I had all the preparations for the ritual complete. Sheffield, at this point, had lost all value, and I had already seen some signs of Gallia making some moves. As such, I needed to do this now.
I place the brain-dead Sheffield in the centre of the pentagram and add some magic to the circle. I really had to thank John Constantine for his knowledge on rituals and how to steal or obtain power, even if often only temporarily. But in this case, permanently. The ritual glowed red, and a blue mist was released from the ritual items as they disintegrated. That mist then entered Sheffield, and her body started jerking all over the place like she was possessed, likely because she sort of was.
"Sheffield, give up Mjöðvitnir, its power does not belong to you!" I chant.
Crack
Sheffield's bones crack and twist in ways they definitely aren't supposed to, but before I could intervene, I felt the ritual reject my demands.
"Uh oh," I cast a shield spell.
SPLAT
Sheffield explodes into a gory paste, and thankfully, my shield protects me from getting soiled.
"Well, that didn't work," I say with a sigh.
'Oh well. Time for plan B.'
I head to Gallian capital Lutèce and sneak into the palace. Then I shot King Joseph in the head, then stole his body and left. Then I sent the signal to Tabitha, or I should call her Charlotte, to make the preparations for their takeover of Gallia. To further increase the odds of success, I went around and started killing King Joseph's allies and loyalists.
"Oh, boy, here I go killin' again," I joke.
The transition was far smoother and quicker than that of Albion, as Charlotte had a legitimate claim to the throne, whereas King Joseph's daughter was underage. Now Charlotte was as well, but that's where her mother, Elizabeth d'Orléans, came in; since she recovered from the poisoning, she was now of sound mind and the rightful ruler of the kingdom. With her being an adult she it was agreed that Charlotte would become the next queen and that Elizabeth would serve as regent until then. Soon after she was appointed, she signed an alliance with Albion and Tristain.
Everything was swiftly coming together. Now all that remained was Germania, but I had plans for that as well. The marriage alliance with Germania and Tristain hadn't gone through yet, and as it stood, it likely never would due to Germania's worries of the new set of alliances that had just been formed.