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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Douglasjm on 2025-10-15 04:00:12+00:00.

Synopsis:

Carlos was an ordinary software engineer on Earth, up until he died and found himself in a fantasy world of dungeons, magic, and adventure. This new world offers many fascinating possibilities, but it’s unfortunate that the skills he spent much of his life developing will be useless because they don’t have computers.

Wait, why does this spell incantation read like a computer program’s source code? Magic is programming?

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Recindril Tostral restrained his urge to pace while he waited for the signal to come. It wouldn’t do to show signs of nervousness in front of the dozens of other nobles assembled for this ambush, after all. Still, he couldn’t stop his thoughts from going over all the ways disaster could happen. It’s been 4 days since I forced Prince Hinren to respawn. The Crown has shown no public reaction yet, but surely they have at least considered how to prevent a repeat. Will we find ourselves facing King Elston himself? We’re not ready for that yet!

He carefully kept his face a mask of calmness despite his racing thoughts. No, no, he wouldn’t involve himself so directly yet. I think. The Crown will no doubt escalate, yes, but Elston himself is their ultimate and final option. They have not yet exhausted their other tools. Perhaps, they might even exercise caution? The Crown cannot ignore a threat to a house treasure—regardless of how unprecedented vault-breaker devices this capable are, such a clear break of their sworn promise would be intolerable—but they might send a large contingent of royal guards, perhaps even with a field deployment of a royal mage, in lieu of a Kalor scion. If so, then a fraction of our prepared forces will suffice to overwhelm them.

He was tempted to hope for that outcome, but a shrewder part of him rejected that hope. No, they might hold back the scions in reserve in case they’re needed elsewhere, but sending royal guards in lieu of a scion when a scion is unquestionably called for would be admitting weakness. Besides, I shouldn’t be hoping for an outcome that would negate the point of today’s attack; our goal with this is to weaken the Crown by killing another Kalor scion.

Preferably a different one. He huffed and smiled slightly at the thought of the youngest and weakest member of House Kalor. Probably a different one. They might send Hinren again to rectify the disgrace of his failure from last time, but I expect they’ll send someone more competent instead to ensure success. The Crown’s response to threats and opposition has always been to escalate. They’ll expect us to escalate as well, considering how things have gone so far, and they’ll send someone capable of beating the escalation that they expect. Possibly even Crown Princess Brenelle.

He pictured the Crown’s heir in his mind, majestic in her strength, fervor, and certitude. She takes after her father well, and she’s far more dangerous than Hinren will ever be. They won’t expect us to be ready to beat her. But… Recindril let a vicious smile touch his lips. They have no idea how many nobles responded to the hint of weakness in the Crown that Hinren’s defeat exposed. We have all chafed under the Crown’s overbearing authority for far too long.

His speculation was abruptly brought to a halt by the arrival of the awaited signal. Multiple signals, in fact. There’s the signal for too many royal guards and the signal for a Crown scion? Even if a scion brought guards as well, the arranged protocol was to only send one signal. Did the signaller misunderstand the instructions? He mentally scolded himself for letting the unexpected combination push him into indecisive slowness. Regardless, it’s unambiguous that our target is there.

He called out, “First wave, go!” That was for the group of 9 young nobles from various houses standing ready on the other side of the room. Several of them wore eager grins, and a couple were almost bouncing with excitement. They were all newly-raised to power and inexperienced, chosen because they had not yet advanced beyond the level of the highest available wellspring, so the loss of power from their expected respawns would be quickly recoverable. None of them seemed to care that they were expected to die, sacrificial pawns to buy a few moments of time for the true combatants. Their leader shouted a cheer, and the rest began to echo it, only to get cut off mid-shout as the whole group teleported out.

Recindril immediately called out again, this time to the nobles directly around him, “Prepare yourselves!” Dozens of hands tightened on assorted weapons, a few mages and mystics firmed their grip on their magic, and he pressed the button on the Mass Teleport item they were all gathered around. He had no time to reflect on how extraordinary that enchantment also was before its spell catapulted them all into battle.

He barely had time to register an incoming rock and jerk his head to the side to dodge it. He spared only the barest of glances for the ramparts of the castle surrounding them, just enough to note that no one truly powerful was fighting there. He turned his attention to the central keep and was unsurprised to see a large hole in the side of it. That vault-breaker may be powerful, but it certainly is not subtle! The intangible pressure of a royal soul exerting itself in combat nearby was expected, of course, though it was considerably more intense than he had felt from either Hinren or Lornera. Is Brenelle really this much stronger? It can’t be King Elston himself, right? The thought flickered through his mind as he continued his rapid assessment of the situation.

A flicker of high-speed motion accompanied a tremendous cracking sound as the hole in the keep abruptly widened, with a spray of cracked rocks erupting from its new expansion. The dark orange of the Crown’s royal orichalcum livery caught his eye, and he looked to see which scion it was. Then another flash of orichalcum flew out to join the first, followed by a third. Recindril’s eyes widened as he took in the sight of not one, but three Crown scions hovering in the middle of the castle courtyard. He barely noticed the two pieces of a noble scion’s bisected corpse tumbling out of the hole in their wake.

Crown Princess Brenelle Kalor took the lead, with Lornera Kalor and Patrimmon Kalor flanking her on either side. She glared levelly at Recindril with a mix of anger, scorn, and contempt. Her mana flared strongly, and he felt the phantom grip of a targeted teleport block take hold. “Recindril, traitor lord of House Tostral, you were unwise to show yourself here. Surrender now, return what you have stolen, and confess how you did it, and the Crown will show you mercy.” She leveled a quick glare at the other assembled nobles. “The same offer goes for each of you. Surrender immediately and cooperate, and you will earn the Crown’s mercy.”

A moment of confusion about what theft she was talking about flew through Recindril’s mind, but then he quickly brushed his mana across the activation switch for the final emergency signal and shouted orders. “Plan 3! Brenelle is primary!” It wasn’t a perfect match—plan 3 was for if a Crown scion brought a huge contingent of royal guards with them—but it was close enough that it should get the point across of what he meant. His shout jolted the crowd of nobles into motion just as the rest of their faction materialized in the air. A barrage of arrows, knives, fire, lightning, and more erupted in a wave of coordinated violence, converging on the Crown scions from all directions. The lightning hit first, to no apparent effect. Then the scions responded.

The three of them split up and rocketed outward, Lornera and Patrimmon going to the sides while Brenelle charged directly at Recindril. They knocked aside whatever attacks were in their path and left the rest hopelessly off-target. An interlocking wall of shields, force barriers, and sharp blades sprang into existence in front of him, just as they had practiced in preparation for the worst—in case King Elston responded personally. For a moment, it seemed like it would hold as Princess Brenelle flew into it and was halted.

Then she pulled back her right fist and punched. The entire wall shook, even with more than a dozen nobles supporting it with all their strength. The lord holding the central tower shield was knocked back several feet, and the shield itself was severely dented. A volley of arrows and fire filled the gap in his momentary absence while he gritted his teeth, bent his shield back into shape with an exertion of his mana, and flew back into place.

The shield-wielder flew forward at full speed, as though to charge the princess rather than merely retake his position. She met him with a roundhouse kick so fast that even Recindril could barely see it. The shield snapped in two, both of the arms supporting it bent in places no arm should ever bend, and the man’s body plummeted out of formation with no…

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