The president of the Northwest Republic Mages Association, chief legendary mage of the Church of Void Mask, leader of the first generation of the Void Sect's mage corps, Sage of Purification... The old man who bore a whole string of illustrious titles sat on the observation deck atop the mage tower, gazing into the distance.
Decades of preparation, decades of planning—today, at last, the time had come to bear fruit.
Though he was looking into the distance, his eyes were unfocused. He was simply lost in thought.
At his instruction, no one came up to disturb him. Even the gods watching closely kept far away—though, of course, such a distance meant nothing. If anything truly went wrong, they could arrive at once.
But Satan was not thinking about any of that. He was recalling his life.
Born into a poor family, he had become a mage through exceptional talent and hard work, hailed as a genius.
After offending an important figure, he had been forced to flee far from home, drifting from place to place and wasting the best years of his youth on wandering and adventure.
He had met His Majesty Void Mask and become His believer, temporarily switching careers from mage to educator. He had taught the first settlers, who often angered him until smoke nearly poured from all seven orifices.
He had been attacked, died, had his soul imprisoned, and then been rescued and resurrected.
Void City had been founded. Leading a group of low-level rookies—some of whom merely possessed the talent to become mages—he had built a mage corps from nothing.
Drawing on the principles of positive-energy arrays and ley-line magic, he had developed the original version of the purification array.
He had led the Void Sect's mage corps, built mage towers, and improved the purification