“…quite clever, really, in concept.
It takes a good decade for a single Wizard to learn to cast a single fireball the size of your fist. It’s a complicated magic for a number of reasons, one of the simplest being that the air doesn’t want to suddenly catch fire.
But indeed, if you want flame, the Nineteen Hells all have significantly more of it than they will ever use, and those dimensions—both the inhabitants, and the actual dimensions themselves—want nothing more out of existence than to spread their flames here.
This creates an incredible serious change in the dynamic. Certes, it takes power to open a Gate to another dimension, but if that dimension is already hungering to be here, you’re essentially no longer required to generate the energy necessary to, say, create and hurl a ball of heat sufficient to harm a soldier, or, indeed, an army. The energy is there, and it’s hungry.
Suddenly, the entire area of war-weapons changes from ‘How can we create the biggest, most devastating blast’ to ‘All right, all we need to do is contain the flames which will come pouring through this Gate, and then close it again.
This issue of containment is one of the core reasons this kind of spell hadn’t really been tried in battle before. That, and, of course, all dealings with Demons involve a number of fairly complex risks.
Almost all of the energy involved in summoning Demonic Phlogiston is in controlling it.
What if you didn’t really need to control it?
This is the question some very bright young Wizards asked.
Figure this:
The Armies of Light are different from the Armies of Darkness on a soul level, since they’re evil. This is obvious; otherwise, why would they be an Army of Darkness?
Ergo, what if the problem was a conceptual one, not a magical one?
Demons despise the Pure of Heart. This is a known fact. They hate them because they can’t touch them, can’t affect them.
Sadly, no magical technology can actually peer into the ‘heart’. It’s proven significantly more difficult than detecting, say, lies, or lack of a sense of humor.
But these young Wizards put forth a series of complex determinants and characteristics which the Pure of Heart would be sure to have.
They then went through the vast Armies of the West and interviewed hundreds of warriors. No-one wanted a repeat of that ‘banish negativity’ spell.
Those familiar with the aforementioned incident might wonder, in advance, if the criteria turned out to be imperfect, if the Pure of Heart were fried along with the Armies of Darkness.
You need not worry.
In point of fact, it does appear that many of those Warriors were, indeed, Pure of Heart.
The great Gate of Fire opened above the vast battlefield, and tongues of acquisitive burn fried half the battlefield to a crisp.
Half of everyone.
The Orcish armies had expected some kind of attack. Nevertheless, the hellfire was overwhelming, and some of them fled.
The Armies of Light had expected, vaguely, to be bathed in sort-of a glowing light as their enemies were incinerated.
They had not expected half their brethren to be flash-cooked.
They ran like hell, and they’re still running.
And Alice, to her chagrin, had won again, and needed to administer another Land.
Which she really, really will do.
After she finishes reading one more book.
Maybe two.
The Orcish Armies, receiving no particular orders to march upon Human civilization, began a feast and celebration which lasted a week.
There is no truth to the rumour that a number of the Warriors of the West joined the Orcish army thereafter.
There may be some truth to the idea that fried Orc is delicious, but this is hardly a surprise to anyone, least of all Orcs.
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