Touch of Fate

Chapter 200: Overmatched and Underprepared

"This was all a distraction? Really? You guys are investing a lot of resources into diverting my attention." Mike questioned Wren as he ran towards the Tenundian encampment.

"Ah! I don't know why! The higher ups just thought it was a good idea. Watch out!" Wren screamed in panic while wriggling in his grasp.

Mike casually jumped over a group of entrenched soldiers with the aid of his Air Magic, and batted an arrow aside while looking down at the small woman he was carrying under one arm. "Oh calm down. This is nothing."

"Ugh! This is worse than riding a galloping horse." The shaman complained. "Urk! I think I'm going to throw up."

"If you do, try to aim to your side. I really don't feel like cleaning vomit off of myself." Mike replied with a sigh. He was starting to regret bringing her along.

"I'm sorry! I have problem with, urk, motion sickness." The shaman had started turning a rather unusual shade of green.

With another sigh, Mike channeled a wave of healing magic through Wren.

"Huh? I feel better all of a sudden."

"Anyway, what was that purple signal for?" He pressed.

"Purple? Hmm" She frowned as deep in thought.

"Don't tell me you forgot"

She started flailing again. "I remember! I was just putting my thoughts in order. Purple means that at least one of the capture teams was successful, and that all forces not actively engaged in the assault should fall back to the camp."

[Capture teamsthey couldn't have, right? Surely they would have at least activated their beacons if they were in trouble.]

"When you say capture teams, who were their targets?"

Wren frowned again, before a look of realization passed her face, followed swiftly by anxiety. "Um, there were a number of potential targets, but I think some of the highest priority targets were members of your party and your close friends."

Mike grimaced, and increased his pace.

[Please be safe.]

"Ah! I'm sorry! Don't start running faster! Urk"

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Jiri was forced to acknowledge that she had underestimated the Dragonknight's companions. By all accounts, they were mostly low ranking adventurers. As such, she had planned on subduing them without much difficulty. However, watching the dark-haired woman toss her soldiers around like they were playthings, she couldn't help but feel the bitterness of defeat.

Judging from her appearance, Jiri guess that the woman was likely the individual known as Liliana, an outcast member of the Dovistani royalty. While there had been some rumors of her being unusual, most of the dialogue focused on her strange obsession with Alchemy.

So, when the woman ripped a 10 meter tall tent pole out of the ground and started going on a rampage with it, Jiri found herself at a loss. While she had planned for the possibility of her captive being difficult to control, the majority of her schemes relied on key personnel to be available for it. Unfortunately, Liliana had broken free at the worst possible moment, right in the middle of her transfer to a more secure location.

As a result, there was little that could be done to stop the ongoing carnage. Jiri watched with mounting chagrin as the 'kidnapped' woman found a wagon in her way, and casually kicked it. The vehicle was sent flying nearly ten meters, before slammed into another tent with a massive crash, causing several soldiers to scatter as it collapsed.

Jiri sighed. This was not going well.

While she doubted the woman was a monster on the same level as the Dragonknight, it was clear that they needed more than just run of the mill soldiers to take her down. She yelled at a group of infantry standing around watching the confrontation, "Go let the Marshal know what's going on. Tell him we'll need to redirect the strike team to this location."

Wincing, she looked down at her twisted arm. Trying to block the tent pole, even though she'd done it by reflex, had proven to be a mistake. She tried to push the pain out of her mind as she surveyed her surroundings, taking stock of what manpower she had at her disposal.

With the exception of the basic soldiers, who were largely proving ineffectual, the only other resource she could depend upon was the team of Mage Hunters that had brought the woman in the first place. Unfortunately, two of them had been severely injured during the mission, while the rest had been caught in Liliana's initial attack, and were still dazedly getting back to their feet.

One of them was a thin bespectacled woman wearing the badge of a corporal. [Terra, I think her name was.]

"Corporal, do you have any non-lethal munitions left?" She asked.

Terra shook her head with a grimace, "No. We were only issued one Stun Matrix due to shortages."

Jiri silently curse the foolish finance ministers that had been redirecting military funds into a number of pet projects for the last few years, even in the face of the prospective invasion.

She decided that the time had come to cut her losses. While it would be far better to take the woman alive, and extract any information she had, it was quickly becoming apparent that they were outmatched. If they allowed her to continue her rampage through the heart of the Tenundian encampment, she would cause a serious amount of damage.

"We're switching to lethal armaments!" Jiri commanded. "Take her down by any means necessary."

The order served to revitalize the morale of the soldiers, who drew weapons and started attacking Liliana with the intent to kill. Judging from their war cries, they wanted to get revenge for the other soldiers who had been killed or injured during her slow and steady escape.

The woman turned and faced the onrushing crowd of armed men with a troubled appearance. Jiri realized with a start, that the Dovistani noble wasn't concerned about her safety, but merely troubled by the resumed wave of attacks. The tent pole came off of her shoulder and she started shattering the ranks of soldiers with massive sweeps. This continued for a few iterations until the pole finally broke under the strain of repeated impacts, snapping nearly in half.

Liliana glanced at her broken weapon before casually letting it drop. She strode forward and grabbed one of the soldiers by an arm, ignoring the man's attempts to cut her with his sword. With a growing horror, Jiri realized that the blade was merely bouncing off the woman's skin, doing little more than cutting up her clothes.

The monster in female form lifted the soldier into the air, and resumed attack the rest of the Tenundians with her new human weapon.

[What is she?] Jiri thought numbly as she realized her plans were falling apart.

The crack of a rifle sounded nearby, and Liliana's head snapped back with the force of an unseen blow. The strategist felt a momentary surge of hope that was just as quickly crushed as the woman straightened, a small, flattened disk of dull, grey metal falling from the newly formed welt in the center of her forehead.

"Gods" The Mage Hunter sniper uttered a quiet oath at the sight.

While largely ineffectual, the shot did manage to distract the woman long enough for the other members of the team to get into position.

Terra launched a few throwing knives that proved just as harmless, before sweeping into close combat and unleashing a flurry of hand-to-hand combat techniques that would have brought a more reasonable opponent to their knees.

Liliana on the other hand merely absorbed the blows until she was ready to counter. Which she delivered in the form of a powerful backhand with her free arm, forcing Terra to block. Or at least attempt to.

The Mage Hunter was blasted into the air by the attack, crashing into a nearby tent, which promptly collapsed under the impact. Jiri wasn't sure, but she felt that the corporal was effectively taken out of the fight. Nevertheless, she did succeed in laying the groundwork for her teammate's follow up attack.

Steel threads, which had been slowly filling the air since the start of the fight, suddenly tightened around Liliana, trapping her arms against her side. The third member of the team, likely their recon specialist, used the resulting opportunity to spring forward and sling a chain of four blocky objects around the bound woman.

"Take this, you monster!" The Mage Hunter yelled as she pulled the ignition wires from each of the devices, which Jiri now recognized as breaching charges. The strategist didn't have time to do much more than shield her face with her uninjured arm, before the concussive force hit.

Her mind blanked for a second, and the next thing she knew, she was on her back, staring at the sky. A high-pitched ringing filled her ears. Numbly, she sat up and looked around.

The soldiers in the vicinity had been flattened by the force of the explosion. Even the Mage Hunter was lying still on the ground where she had been thrown after setting the weapons off. In fact, there was only one person still standing after the blast.

[No way]

Liliana was still upright, and as far as Jiri could tell, largely unharmed. A line of scorch marks stitched across her torso, and a trail of blood was leaking from her mouth, but otherwise seemed fine. Somehow, she had survived a point blank explosion with enough force to level a castle wall.

Sound began rushing back to the strategist, and the screams and groans of the nearby Tenundians caused her to flinch. Nevertheless, she was still able to hear the monster's soft mutter after a few bloody coughs.

"Ow. That kinda hurt."

As Liliana began walking towards Jiri, all the strategist could think about was escape. Using her uninjured hand, she scrabbled backwards as fast as she could manage. Blind panic overwhelmed her, and she started gibbering in terror, "NONONONONO! Stay away!"

Liliana stopped, and tilted her head, an expression of mild confusion on her face. She opened her mouth as if to ask something, when object moving too fast to be clearly seen slammed into her, sending her careening into a supply wagon, which promptly folded in half under the impact.

"You alright, Jiri?" Marshal Kiertesan asked calmly as he stepped in front of her. She could see a slightly exhausted looking Nurenal close behind.

"Why? I asked for the strike team" She muttered weakly as a surge of relief stole her remaining strength.

"They were already underway. We couldn't divert them easily. Besides, the success of your strategy hinges on them opening the gates." Nurenal replied, while taking up a position to her right.

There was a resounding crack as Liliana freed herself from the supply wagon, shattering it into pieces.

Kiertesan frowned. "Can you move?"

"I think so." Jiri answered while shakily getting to her feet, and started her retreat in response to the Marshal's unspoken command. "Be careful, she's a lot more dangerous than we originally anticipated."

"It's not her that I'm worried about." The old man replied, gaze fixed at something in the sky.

"What?"

With a rush of air a second figure landed next to Liliana, one swathed in a crimson cloak and wearing a mask of pure darkness.

"Shit" Was the only reply she could manage.