At this point do what Titus did, just say no to magic and whack their skull with your chainsword.

Crimson Tide vibes !

Yeah, I'd say both sides have a fair point... but, y'know, Gaston, saying that you'd go for the "kill" option is all fine and dandy if you're just talking about yourself, and what you'd do if you were the one to develop a power like that... but what would you do if Hevel or Noah developed a power like that?

I was totally expecting Gazz to ask what his power is, if not granting wishes.

I guess depending on how Noah's power develops Gazz might decide he is too dangerous...

Foreshadowing?

Noah brings up a good point. For Malhart's kids, it really wasn't about the risks.

...But I think Gaz has the right idea, even if he came off as bloodthirsty and it's easy for the argument to slide right over to the empire's "no magic users ever" policies.

But fact is, for the sake of someone they cared about, they kept a nuke alive and well, and it only took one bullet to set it off.

A little fatalistic there.

What about killing thousands, just in case one of them develops that power?

There's one thing I love about Noah, and it is how I feel reflected on him every once in a while.
I like that his argument is understanding and inaction, in a way, in character.
It ought to be quite disheartening to hear that from your friend now that you are the host of a, for now restrained, hallowman.

the creepy thing is thta Gazz wouldkill Noah if he knew he had the worst nightmare in his head...

So, it didn't actually take one bullet. It took:
- The Empire reneging on previous deals.
- Veda uncovering state secrets involving Chernyl's powers.
- The Empire managing to capture multiple mages trained for neutralizing Chernyl's powers in Malhart's absence.
- Nail, a creature that could hide from Malhart and other forms of sensing living dangers.
- A black crystal bullet.
- A new nightmare specialized to make everything worse.

Basically, Malhart's crew took every safeguard possible, and a combination of bad luck and one extremely dangerous and very determined woman managed to slowly unravel all of it. Give Malhart some credit. It should have worked.

@Gobo

Is the empire really worth trusting? They could have gone back on the deal anytime.

Veda is unique, but when you're defending something valuable, you're always in the position where the enemy is unknown and potentially numerous. Especially in a world like this, where who knows what magic powers exist that could gather information in unprecedented ways.

This time it was the empire using a bunch of magic kids. But anyone with unexpected magic powers could have done the kidnapping to force Malhart out.

A black crystal bullet is like, the first thing you'd want to use against a magic user.

I agree Malhart took every safeguard possible, and I don't even disagree they did more then enough. But still, for one person's sake, they kept a risk alive, and it did end up blowing up in their face.

It's not a lie to say they made a choice to leave that risk open. I'm not saying they should have killed her, but just that it was a conscious choice to take that risk. There is no such thing as a surefire defense.

@Gobo: or, as a well-known terrorist organization once phrased it, "We only have to be lucky once. You have to be lucky every time."