by Michael Sisa
Chryselle shook her head fiercely. “No! I didn’t come here for revenge. Especially after learning the identity of that intruder!” She looked Lark straight in the eye.
After learning the identity of the intruder who single-handedly defeated the magicians of the tower, she realized why the perpetrator had targeted her brother. She was simply thankful that Lark hadn’t taken anyone’s life that night, despite his ability to do so.
What if the same Grand Scale Magic, which obliterated half of the Alvaren Army, was cast at the magic tower instead? She shuddered the moment she thought of this. Surely, hundreds of lives would have been lost in that very moment.
“My brother never lost a fight in his life before.” She bit her lip hard. “Maybe that’s why he’s been conceited, thinking that he’s invincible, that all other magicians are beneath him. He really takes pride in being part of the House Aria. He’s condescending, arrogant, barbaric, but he’s a doting brother. And I’m sincerely thankful that you spared his life during that battle.”
Silence befell the room. Lark studied Chryselle for a moment.
“I see,” Lark eventually said.
Lark pointed a finger in front of him and an image of a magic circle made of light magic slowly formed before him.
“I heard George and Austen’s story,” said Lark. “They said that the reason you approached them is because of this?”
Chryselle stared at the magic circle for quite some time, her eyes opened wide as though it was the most fascinating thing in the world. She replied softly, eyes still glued to the magic formation which was now slowly fading away into nothingness, “Yes.”
Lark quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together. The basic magic formation which originated from the Magic Empire. Her infiltrating the Third Army and becoming the leader of the supply team. Refusing a reward from the King and asking for private magic lessons instead. Now that he knew her real identity, everything made sense.
But could he trust her?
For a moment, Lark pondered if he should remove her leadership position, but until now, she had been managing things perfectly, despite the attempts of arson and the incidences of poisoning several days ago.
“Austen, George.”
“M-Master!”
“What do you think of her apology?” Lark asked them, since he didn’t want to decide this thing on his own. They were the ones who’d been beaten up mercilessly, after all.
Austen and George looked at each other. After some time, they nodded. The two had come to a consensus without muttering another word.
“We’ve heard what Maste—what the intruder did in the magic tower,” said Austen. He awkwardly scratched his cheek. “And… uhm, w-we forgive you.”
They heard from the rumors that the face of Alecto had been beaten to the point that no one would have recognized him if he hadn’t been wearing the crest of the city’s master. The brothers thought that it was more than enough revenge for mere commoners like them.
“Thank you!” Chryselle bowed repeatedly. She had been afraid that they would ridicule her despite her apology.
“This matter’s settled then,” said Lark. “But the fact that you’ve concealed your identity when you entered the Third Army remains. Rules exists for a reason, and truth be told, I can’t completely trust you at this moment.”
Chryselle perfectly understood the commander’s stance.
“Yes,” said Chryselle. “I understand.”
She was ready to be stripped of her position as the leader of the supply team. But Lark had a different plan instore for her.
“You requested magic lessons,” said Lark. “Tell me, which magic do you want to learn?”
Chryselle was taken by surprise by this question. It felt as though Lark was asking her to browse through a vast list of spells and pick one which suited her liking. This was impossible, since there was no way someone so young could know such a wide variety of spells.
Chryselle decided to answer the question regardless. “The core of all elements. The magic formation where all magic originates.”
Lark liked the woman’s answer. It was neither too greedy nor too self-restrained.
“I see.”
He started casting spells and three one-meter sized magic circles appeared out of thin air. “The one to your left’s the one my disciples are currently mastering. It’s a first-tier magic circle, the lowest and weakest, but the at the same time the most important of all magic formations.”
The magic formation to the left formed cracks and shattered, eventually vanishing from sight.
“The one in the middle’s a fourth-tier magic circle,” said Lark. He noticed that Chryselle was gawking at it, as though trying to embed the magic formation in her mind. “The foundation of compound magic. As an Elder of Wizzert, I’m sure you’ve already mastered this.”
The magic formation at the middle also formed cracks.
“W-Wait!” shouted Chryselle.
The magic formation shattered into numerous particles of light and dissipated.
Lark tilted his head. “What is it? Don’t tell me you’re incapable of compound magic?”
Chryselle frowned, definitely displeased that she didn’t have enough time to inspect the magic circle. She shook her head. “No, that’s not it. I’ve been able to cast compound magic since I was young. But Commander, the magic circle you’ve shown me… It’s completely different from the magic formation taught to us in the magic academy in Wizzert City.”
Lark’s interest was piqued by this. There was another formula for compound magic? He wanted to see. “A different magic formation, huh? Can you show me?”
Chryselle didn’t hesitate in the slightest and began casting her spell. Unlike Lark, her casting speed was slow despite omitting several chants from the spell formula.
A magic circle, different from the one Lark showed them, manifested itself to everyone in the room. Lark stood up from his seat and closely examined the runes and formations.
After a while, he mumbled, “I see.”
Lark touched the floating magic formation created by Chryselle, and to everyone’s surprise, activated it. He also forcefully moved the runes here and there and added another layer to its base.
“W-What are you doing?” said Chryselle. “That spell will explode if you remove the inner circuit!”
Lark ignored her. The magic formation emitted bright light, the runes spun around and a high-pitched buzzing sound which signified a malfunctioning spell filled the room.
And stopped.
The light started dimming and a magic formation, similar to the one Lark showed them before, took the place of the one Chryselle had cast.
“I don’t know who invented this magic formation,” said Lark, nodding to himself. “But the second layer of the circuit’s partially blocking the flow of mana to the cardinal runes. This spell will work just fine, but the mana consumption will be three times normal. Casting speed’s greatly affected too and we also have to keep in mind its vulnerability to an altering spell. It’s a dangerous spell to use in real battle, unless it’s been engraved on a stable material—say the ground, or a talisman—beforehand.”
Lark touched the center of the magic formation and it shattered into numerous particles of light. Ignoring the dumbfounded expression of Chryselle, he proceeded to explain the last magic formation to their right. “And this one. The last one. The magic formation for an eight-tier spell. Add three more layers and you’ll be able to cast Grand Scale Magic.”
Chryselle looked at the last magic formation. It was also different to the one taught to them back in the academy.
“These three magic formations are the basis of all spells,” said Lark. A dagger made of wind magic appeared in his hand. “It’d be a waste to remove an officer as competent as you. And I don’t think the vice leaders of the supply team could have handled the arsonist as well as you did. So how about this?”
Lark opened his palm and presented the dagger toward her. “An oat
h. Swear with your life on the line that you won’t betray this army, this Kingdom.”
Chryselle was familiar with oaths like this. It was magic known by priests.
She accepted the dagger without hesitation. She didn’t have the slightest intention of betraying the Kingdom after all. What’s to fear?
Following Lark’s instructions, she made a small cut on her arm and the flowing blood was immediately sucked away by the dagger, turning it crimson.
While the dagger was sucking her blood, she made her oath, “I, Chryselle Vont Aria, vow to never betray the Coalition Army, nor this Kingdom. May this dagger sink its blade into my heart should this vow be broken.”
The dagger shattered into numerous tiny pieces and disappeared from sight.
The ritual was a lot simpler than the ones the priests used in the temples. There were no Gods involved and no grand offerings were needed. Although the dagger vanished, Chryselle could feel a very tiny seed in her chest. She knew that the moment she betrayed the Kingdom, the tiny seed would grow and pierce her heart.
Lark was satisfied with this outcome. Now he no longer had to find a replacement for this woman. She had been managing the army’s supplies well, after all.
“Yzelle,” Lark asked curiously. “How old are you?”
Chryselle tilted her head to the side, confused about why Lark wanted to know. “Twenty-six, Commander.”
“Are you sure about this?” chuckled Lark, grinning broadly. “A kid like me becoming your teacher? After this war, once our magic lessons start, you’ll have to call me Master, right?” The last part of the statement was thrown out impishly. Chryselle’s face flushed.
“O-Of course!” She firmed her resolve.
Lark noticed her flustered expression. He continued chuckling. He added playfully, “then let’s try to get along well, my dearest disciple.”
VOLUME 4: CHAPTER 22
Two weeks passed uneventfully. It seemed that defeating the Empire’s Trump card—the Magic Knights—had a far greater impact than Lark initially thought. The scouts sent several reports of movements from the Empire, but it was apparent from the way they positioned their armies at the major paths to the southeast that they were simply trying to block all form of supplies from reaching the Kingdom’s army stationed in Akash City. Even the small villages and towns within the region were burned to the ground, making it impossible to gather food supplies unless they travelled to the nearest unconquered city of the Kingdom.
It was apparent that the Empire was planning a long drawn-out battle, at least until Akash City—a territory currently isolated from the rest of the Kingdom’s forces—ran out of food to eat. This simple plan would have been the most effective under normal circumstances, but little did the Empire know that such a situation was ideal for Lark Marcus. For the past few days, he was often seen grinning, especially when looking at the almost complete magic towers.
“It’s almost time,” said Lark.
Inside a room, all of the officers of the army gathered. Just like before, a large map was spread over the table. Numerous stone pieces, representing cities, armies, and garrisons were placed strategically on top of it.
“The towers are almost complete. Two days earliest, four days at most,” said Lark. “Lord Argus, I’ll be needing the help of your soldiers this time.”
Lord Argus and everyone in the room had been briefed of the plan beforehand. The Lord of Yorkshaire City nodded easily. “Of course. Leave it to me. My soldiers are ready to move out at any time. Just give us the signal.”
“Thank you,” said Lark. “I’m sure all of you are aware of this already. We’ll be attacking the garrisons of the Empire stationed in these places in the mountain.” Lark pointed at the small wooden pieces spread all over Yorkshaire Mountain Range.
“There are eight of them, but we’ll need to attack only three for the entire supply line to collapse. The Yorkshaire soldiers are perfect for this task.”
Back then, Lord Argus was against the idea of attacking the garrisons of the Empire located in the mountain range. But after seeing the prowess of the Blackstone Knights, who turned out to be capable of fighting on par with the Magic Knights of the Empire, he felt confident of accomplishing this task.
“But it’ll be impossible for the Yorkshaire soldiers to reach the mountain by themselves,” said Lark. “That’s why I hope the First Army can act as a decoy. The Empire believes we’ll run out of food within the next few weeks. They won’t initiate a battle. They’ll force us into sieging that fortress,” said Lark.
Lark pointed at an area near Yorkshaire City on the map. “The Yorkshaire soldiers will temporarily join the First Army and split into numerous smaller units when they reach here. It’ll be ideal to avoid any confrontation during this time, but if fighting breaks out, I want the First Army to do its best to preserve the forces of Lord Argus’ army.”
Lark was basically asking the First Army, the second largest in the Coalition Army, to be the decoy and shield of the Yorkshaire soldiers.
The Baron didn’t question Lark’s judgment. He, too, believed this was the proper course of action. Destroying the garrisons located in the mountains held grave importance in this war. Not only did the garrisons serve as a supply route for General Rizel’s army, they also served as an information relay to the Empire. The last thing they wanted was for their enemy to call for more reinforcements and drag this war even further. The Black Famine had just recently struck this Kingdom. If this war didn’t end soon, the Kingdom’s economy would surely collapse.
Two days later, just like Lark stated, the magic towers had been completed. The gates of Akash City opened and over ten thousand soldiers moved out toward Yorkshaire Fortress.
Six hours after the First Army moved out, Lark received reports from the scouts.
“Commander!” A scout saluted. “An army from the Empire intercepted the First Army right before reaching Yorkshaire Plains! We believe they’re from a nearby captured city of the Empire.”
“Their number?”
“They’re around fifteen thousand, Sir!”
The number of First Army soldiers hardly differed from the intercepting Imperial Army. This was good news. Although the Baron lost against General Alvaren, he was still a veteran who’d been to innumerable battlefields. He would surely be able to hold his ground, and once given the opportunity, create an opening for the Yorkshaire soldiers to move out.
“I see,” said Lark. “Disseminate my orders to all units. We’ll be moving out in two hours!”
“Yes, Commander!”
Upon receiving Lark’s orders, all of the soldiers in the city moved about. Supplies were moved to carts, cavalries mounted their horses, and infantries moved to each of their designated squads.
At the same time, George and Austen nervously pranced around. They frequently looked at the talismans embedded on the walls, their faces drained of all color.
“M-Master,” said Austen. “Are you sure about this? You said it yourself! If we activate dozens of those talismans at once, we’ll be blowing up a portion of the walls! Gates and all!”
Lark tapped Austen’s shoulder. “You’ve seen the massive size of the towers, right? They’ll be able to move once activated, but how do you expect them to move out of this city with these walls blocking the way?”
“But if we destroy the gates!” Austen protested. “What will happen if the Empire suddenly attacks us?!”
“The walls are no longer necessary now that we’ve completed the towers. You haven’t seen the magic towers in their active form,” Lark patiently explained to his disciples. “One of them is enough to wipe out a tribe of trolls. What can mere humans do when faced against seven of these cheat-like weapons?”
Lark looked both of his disciples in the eyes. “Listen, once war breaks out, the safest place in the entire battlefield is next to these towers. They’ll be strong enough to protect you, even if General Alvaren personally comes to wreak havoc in the battlefield.”
A
usten and George looked at each other after hearing the bold claim of their master. They remembered the old man capable of cleaving the meteors in half. Honestly, they would probably run with all their might if that monster suddenly appeared in front of them.
“Yzelle’s busy managing the supplies right now, and Anandra’s mana pool’s too low to activate even half of those talismans,” said Lark. “So it’ll be up to you guys to activate them.”
Lark chuckled. “Make use of those absurdly large mana pools and blow up the wall and gates!”
The disciples noticed the devilish smirk of their master. They were sure that Lark was enjoying this. Left with no other choice, the two disciples started pouring their mana into the talismans. The runes engraved on them slowly came to life.
After making sure that everyone had retreated to a safe place, Lark activated the spell fueled by his disciples’ mana. A deafening sound reverberated as the talismans exploded. Chunks of stone flew about. The ground rumbled as a portion of the walls, along with the gates, crumbled down. Clouds of dusts flew about.
“Soldiers,” roared Lark. “Move out!”
“Yes, Commander!”
Thousands of soldiers started moving out of the city. Behind them, seven stone towers slowly moved forward, resembling moving mountains at the army’s rear. Most of the soldiers would occasionally look back and stare at the seven colossuses moving behind them, afraid that they would suddenly fall or move to trample them.
Although the towers sucked in ambient mana and used this to fuel their movement, their sheer size made it impossible to move at a speed comparable to horses. The army had no choice but to move at a slow pace, around the speed of walking infantry.
It took them a day and a half to finally arrive at Yorkshaire. The fortress that served to stopper the advance of the Empire for centuries. The city they had to reclaim at all costs in this war.
By the time they’d arrived, the First Army led by the Baron had already made its camp. It seemed that although they’d lost more than two thousand soldiers, they’d managed to fend off the attacks from the Empire and dealt some damage to their enemy. The imperial soldiers eventually decided to retreat into Yorkshaire City. A practical and smart move, since the city walls and the deep ravine would easily mitigate any attacks by the Kingdom.
