Touch of Fate

Chapter 205: Fortunes of War

"rend into thy eternal despair. [Dimensional Slash]" Emmanuel finished while sweeping his stiff fingered hand in a rising motion. Grimacing at the unpleasant, but familiar, sensation of space itself parting at the touch of his fingers, he completed the motion, creating a vertical line of slightly divergent reality that expanded in a crescent.

The Tenundian mage, still suspended by the spatial disturbances that were attempting to pull him apart, was unable to evade against the attack. Even the mana shield he managed to throw up at the last second was helpless to stop the almost invisible line of death.

When Emmanuel released his spells, the man fell to the ground in two neatly bisected halves. So clean was the cut, the body could have been mistaken for an anatomy model.

"I think that about wraps it up over here, if you have somewhere you need to be." Johnathan commented lightly while pulling his spear from the corpse of another soldier. With a flick of his wrist, a wave of darkness pushed the body to join a pile of its fellows off to one side, keeping the side street he was protecting clear.

"Alright, I'll leave the rest to you." The Marshall told him, before turning and heading back into the merchant's office they were currently using as their headquarters. He needed to know what was going on.

Not long after the first reports of Tenundian strike teams appearing behind the wall, the Almiran Headquarters was attacked by a cadre of Tier 3s who promptly brushed past the compound's defenses and initiated a powerful magical explosion. Thankfully, Emmanuel was able to evacuate the majority of the staff when he felt the mana fluctuations taking place. Although it had cost him.

Even for a veteran Space Mage, transporting close to 200 people in different parts of the building the distance of a city block, all within a few seconds of detecting the problem, was a massive undertaking. The simple act of locking onto each individual person with the required level of precision had been trouble enough. Forcing each of them into their own portals had taken a lot out Emmanuel, even with the correction provided by his title.

Luckily, some of the communication equipment had survived, and after a bit of wrangling, the members of the headquarters staff were able to commandeer a nearby merchant's office to continue their efforts, while the Royal Guard and a few of the more skilled instructors pushed back the Tenundian strike force.

"What's our situation look like?" The Marshal asked as confidently as he could manage. The office he'd walked into was humming with activity, as his hastily assembled staff furiously attempted to gain the semblance of control over the course of the battle.

"The 2nd Division headquarters has been overrun, and only a group of armed citizens from the slums are keeping the gate out of enemy hands." One of the staff officers started, hysteria quickly creeping into his voice. "The 1st Division is under heavy attack, and Commander Kiera is being forced to lead a counter attack with the few forces left at her disposal. The walls are in danger of being captured in at least three areas, and with the effective disruption of our forces command structure, it's unclear what reserve forces are left, and who we could move to support the areas in danger."

Despite his obvious panic, the man finished his report in a professional manner. Something fairly impressive considering the circumstances.

[If I recall right, he's a Finance student who volunteered to assist in the headquarters. I think his name started with an O]

"Understood. Do you happen to have any good news?" Emmanuel asked while he considered his options.

The officer blinked, suddenly unsure. "UhAs far as we can tell, our Dragonknight ally has succeeded in destroying the vast majority of the Tenundian siege weapons, so if we can survive the current onslaught, our chances will improve."

"Oh? And where is he currently?"

"Um" He flipped through a stack of reports in his hands, before coming across the one he was looking for. "The last recorded sighting of the Dragonknight placed him in the middle of the Tennundian encampment, engaging their Mage Corps Commander in single combat."

Emmanuel looked at him for a second before chuckling. "It sounds like all we need to do is crush the enemies inside our walls, and we'll be in the clear. Is that about right?"

"Well, that's not too far off, although I doubt it will be as simple as it sounds." The officer replied skeptically.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I've never been much for strategy. I leave that to the advisors." The Marshal commented in a most unbefitting manner. "That said. I do have an idea."

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With a monotone battle cry, Tal thrust her hand out, launching a roaring gale of wind that caught the Tenundian Mage Hunters by surprise and slammed them against the wall. Sera's arrows hit almost immediately afterwards, leaving them fatally injured.

She caught the gaze of the younger of the two, a brown haired man who looked to be in his early twenties as he feebly clutched at the shaft embedded into his throat. There was no fear or anger in his eyes, only confusion that slowly turned into resignation as his movements grew weaker, before finally stopping completely.

Lowering her bow, the Oracle gasped for breath, resisting the urge to vomit as the room spun. After a few seconds, the feeling passed, although she was pretty sure she would see the young man in her nightmares. It wasn't her first time killing other humans, a lifetime spent on the run had seen to that, but that didn't make the act any easier.

They had been working with other members of the 1st Division command staff to slowly recapture the tower, but it had been slow going. Thankfully, there weren't that many Tenundians left in the building itself, only a handful of the dark clad Mage Hunters. Nevertheless, they cut the inexperienced group of students turned soldiers to ribbons.

Of the crew, only Tal, Sera, and the commander herself had any skill in combat. The other staff members were largely useless, often causing more harm than good. Finally, after a young clerk nearly skewered her with his makeshift spear, Kiera had ordered the lot of them to follow behind while the three experienced members took on the Mage Hunters.

"Alright?" Tal asked in a manner that would have seemed like disinterest in anyone else.

"I'm fine. Let's keep moving." Sera replied while recovering her arrows from. The one in the man's neck came free with a sickening pop that would probably also haunt her dreams.

Another tremor vibrated through the tower as they met up Kiera on the stairs. She had already finished clearing the other rooms.

Perhaps noticing Sera's discomfort, she gave a slightly reassuring smile. "Only three more to go now. We'll be done soon."

The Oracle nodded while falling into step behind the other two.

As they cautiously approached the next floor, the tower shook again. It felt like the vibration was getting stronger.

Much like the floors above, the stairs leveled out into a landing with two doors, one on the left and the other on the right. If it was the same as the other times, each of them would open into a room, or series of rooms, that was composed of approximately one half of the floor.

Kiera scanned the landing carefully, before motioning towards herself and then a door to the left. This meant that Tal and Sera would responsible for the one to the right. Moving as stealthily as they could, they crept towards their individual targets, halting until everyone was ready. Normally, this would be the point where they threw the doors open simultaneously and took the room by storm, but Sera was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of vertigo.

She saw Tal reach up and grab the handle of the door, and before the Oracle had a chance to shout a warning, threw it open. A Mage Hunter, dagger at the ready, was standing there. Sera could only watch as the weapon descended, sliding into her friend's heart with practiced ease. Tal only had a few seconds to stare down at the hilt protruding from her chest before she collapsed.

The Mage Hunter pulled the dagger free, and turned towards Sera with lethal intent

The dizziness passed, and the Oracle found herself watching as Tal reached for the handle of the door. Knowing that she didn't have much time, she drew back her bow, aiming at the place she knew her enemy would be.

She released as the door opened, revealing the Mage Hunter, her arrow punching through the man's eye socket before he had a chance to complete his thrust. A quick scan of the room behind him showed that he was alone, thankfully.

Tal eyed the body, which had fallen into a boneless heap before turning to look back at her friend. "Nice shot."

"Thanks." Sera replied with a smile as she looked at her [Status]. More specifically at her new class, and the skill that had come with it. Judging from the descriptions, they were exactly what she had been hoping for.

[I'll show you, Mike. I'm not just baggage anymore.]

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Mike sneezed, which seemed strange, since his enhanced Endurance had largely precluded the need for the act over the last few weeks. At least as far as he could remember.

[What was the old superstition? This means someone's talking bad about me? Or was that when your ears were burning? Bah, I can't remember.]

Dismissing the thought, he went back to scanning the battlefield while flying above the city. As far as he could tell, things were close to disaster on almost every front. The most concerning to him, however, was that the tower Sera and Tal had been staying in was currently flashing with lines of arcane energy, and visibly shaking every so often. He wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he assumed it was bad.

For a moment, Mike was at a loss on how to react. Obviously, he needed to head over to the tower to ensure that his party members were safe. That took priority, but it looked like he was needed on several other fronts at the same time.

According to a few mental messages with Selene, who had been protecting Brenden during his apparent attempt to singlehandedly sway the course of the battle, the gate was holding for now. Of course, that could easily change.

Other parts of the were in chaos. The walls themselves were still under attack by a determined assault force. The confused and largely leaderless defenders were fighting valiantly despite the situation, but things were definitely balanced on a knife's edge. This was in addition to the dozens of smaller fights that seemed to be raging between skilled combatants at various parts of the battlefield. To top it all off, Mike thought he saw several opportunistic citizens looting.

[What a mess.]

Finally, he came to a decision. Since there were at least three places that needed help, he would simply have to provide assistance to all three. He turned and looked back at Lily, who was still dreamily watching the clouds, evidently enjoying the experience of flight.

"Lily, could you do me a favor?" He asked.

"Okay." She answered with no hesitation.

[I wonder if I should be worried about that.]

"I'm going to set you down on the ground near the gate. Would you mind meeting up with a guy named Brenden and help him defend it?"

She tilted her head for a second, but then shrugged. "Okay. I can't fight for too much longer though?"

"Why's that?"

"Giant's Skin takes a lot of energy. I'm feeling pretty tired now." Lily said with a yawn.

[So she's running low on stamina?] He quickly sent a surge of healing magic through the woman. Surprisingly, it took a lot more mana than he originally anticipated. It felt a bit like he was trying to refill some vast reservoir and eventually had to stop to avoid exhausting his mana supply.

By this point they were slowly flying over the region in front of the gate. A small army of soldiers were charging down a street already littered with bodies in similar uniforms. From behind makeshift barricades, a ragtag bunch were getting ready to fight them off. Mike thought he caught sight of someone that looked a bit like Brenden near the center.

"How about now?" He asked.

"Oh? I'm feeling better. I can definitely fight for a while." Lily spoke while watching the ground below them. As Red started banking around, she suddenly stood up. "Going now. See you later, Hero."

"Be carefulwait, what?" He looked back sharply, but she had already dropped to the ground below, landing in the middle of the Tenundian formation with the force of a cannon.

Mike sighed. "I guess I'll worry about it after the battle." He leaned in closer to his mount. "Red! Take me to the tower and then go help the soldiers on the walls."

He received a snort of agreement.