He did wonder who was defending Castle Forselburg. Surely, Theus and Torneus weren’t surrendering a frontier fortress and binding stone?
“Nathan’s the sort with a dozen contingency plans, countless traps, and who overthinks everything,” Seraph said. “Gharrick Pass is very Nathan in that respect. Multi-layered walls, deceptively simple traps, postern gates for secret attacks mid-battle, lots of siege weapons. The place is a maze as well, in both the keep and the fortress. I’m half-expecting Nathan to reveal he has a secret tunnel from the basement to outside the walls at some point.”
“That would be a structural weakness,” Nathan countered, feeling offended at the suggestion he would do something so stupid. “A sorcerer could find it using magic and invade the keep. Any tunnel would weaken the protective barriers around the keep.”
“But they’d be cool,” Fei said.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Nathan said.
Anna laughed. “You don’t sound convinced.”
“‘Cool’ doesn’t win battles.”
“No wonder you’re so functionally minded,” Seraph said. “Most of your methods are quite old, but they’re well-founded. Most Bastions prefer flashier things. You use far fewer barriers than most, for instance. As you can see from Forselburg.”
Seraph nodded her head at the fortress in front of them.
Although the original Castle Forselburg lay in ruins, the modern one was a very intimidating looking piece of work. A ten-story keep loomed across the skyline. It had a tower at every corner and gleamed in the sunlight. The entire structure appeared to be formed from pure white marble, which somehow maintained a pristine appearance.
Three concentric layers of walls surrounded the keep, and each layer grew taller the closer it was to the keep. Like the keep, they appeared to be formed from marble, but lacked the same pristine gleam. None of the walls had any towers on them, but they were extraordinarily thick.
Mangonels, ballistae, and other siege engines lined the tops of the walls. Hundreds of soldiers bustled along the walkways, many carrying torches. The battlements were lined with white lights, but they must not be bright enough if the soldiers needed their own light sources.
Solid walls of transparent light hovered in front of each wall. Nathan estimated that there was a gap of twenty meters between the barrier and the wall itself. Unlike the barriers used in the Empire and Nathan’s own castle, these barriers were flat rather than domes. It was unclear how high in the sky they rose.
And, for that matter, how deep they went.
“Barriers are less reliable than they appear to be,” Nathan said. “A lot of people discovered that when the cascade happened.”
Anna winced. “That’s a mess I still need to deal with when I return. A lot of people panicked when they learned that Trantia’s barrier didn’t work during the cascade. If it could be disrupted, would it protect the town as well as we thought it would?”
“No,” Nathan said flatly.
She winced again.
Fei tilted her head, her eyes narrowed. “When we first saw Trantia’s barrier, you didn’t like it. That they hadn’t been tested yet.”
“I also said they weren’t economical to build many of. But yes, the technology behind them isn’t complete,” Nathan said. “The barriers used by Bastions are different, but the magical concepts are similar. And they aren’t as strong as they appear.”
“I suppose you’re already thinking of a way in,” Seraph said.
“Aren’t you in command?” Nathan said. “And you haven’t told me what Theus’s fortress says about him.”
“Hah. I want to hear this,” Anna said with a grin.
Seraph rolled her eyes. “He built a gigantic fortress out of marble and invested magic to ensure that the keep is always shining. It’s basically a gigantic dick for him to wave at everyone who walks past. But, like everything with Theus, it only looks good. There’s no technique behind the excessively pretty and intimidating idiot.”
“I guess it’s a good thing you know how to use yours,” Fei said, patting Nathan’s shoulder. “Especially now that it’s bigger.”
Anna and Seraph stared at Nathan. He coughed.
“Ignore that,” Nathan said.
“Did you have to say that?” Anna asked Fei.
“Say what?” the catgirl said, innocently tilting her head and opening her eyes as wide as possible.
“Don’t play coy with me. Why would you even bring up Nathan’s…” Anna trailed off, her eyes turning toward Nathan’s crotch.
“Nation-conqueror?” Seraph suggested.
“Please don’t give my penis stupid names,” Nathan said. “Especially when you haven’t seen it.”
“I’ve definitely seen it,” Seraph said. “Although I apparently haven’t seen the new and improved Champion-maker. You have sex in your office far too much for me not to have seen it.”
“He does?” Anna asked.
“I can’t believe you haven’t walked in on him teaching his Champions a lesson with his Catgirl-tamer,” Seraph said.
“We toned it down over winter,” Nathan said, ignoring Seraph’s attempts to annoy him.
“No, you toned it down in the last month,” Seraph corrected.
Anna glared at Nathan.
“Unfortunately,” Fei muttered. “And you still owe me a really long session after this. This medication sucks.”
Anna and Seraph stared at the catgirl, who stuck her tongue out at them.
“Can we change the topic now?” Nathan requested. “And Fei, stop being a tease. Or whatever you’re being.”
“Okaaay,” Fei said, her eyes gleaming and a cheeky smile stretching across her lips.
The other women glared at her.
“So, Theus’s fortress looks impressive, but it has a lot of weak points,” Anna said, resuming the earlier topic. “Is that why you still went ahead with the assault, even though Fei’s sapphire didn’t arrive in time?”
Nathan grimaced. That remained a sore point. He had requested additional gems for both Fei and Sunstorm before winter, but neither had arrived.
At the moment, he had two monogem Champions and a duogem Champion. He also had an honorary Champion in Sen. She was currently closer in power to a duogem Champion but was vulnerable to anti-sorcery monogem Champions such as Fei.
To add to his strength, he had Vera as an ally. She was a highly capable sorceress but struggled to match monogem Champions. And while Anna lent Nathan a large enough army to invade the Federation with, ordinary soldiers meant very little when battling other Bastions.
Soldiers were there to occupy forts, keep other soldiers busy, protect supply lines, and intimidate enemy armies into running away. The last part was especially important, because the average person failed to comprehend the enormous power gap between Bastions and ordinary people. If somebody was part of a thousand-strong army and they were fighting two women with fancy gems, they probably thought they were in for a good time.
In truth, they’d be lucky to go home with all their limbs.
Hence why a large army remained useful. It saved time and avoided unnecessary casualties. Nathan wasn’t invading the Federation because he felt they were an awful nation that needed to stop existing. He was invading it because he needed to remove its leader. Every person who died as a result was a weight on Nathan’s shoulders that he preferred not to think about. Every soldier had family—fathers, brothers, daughters, mothers, wives, husbands.
Then again, so did all the people in the Empire. If Nathan refused to act, people would die. He was a Bastion because he would act and bear the consequences.
A little over a year ago, he would have said that he needed to act because of his oath to the Watcher Omria. He was less sure of that now.
Regardless, soldiers were useful, and many of those within the Federation would eventually help Nathan against demons in the future.
But what Nathan really needed were more Champions, and stronger Champions. That’s why he
had wanted to promote Fei to a duogem Champion before this campaign.
The fact that her sapphire didn’t arrive was troubling. It was another sign that all was not well within the Imperial Army. If even Leopold couldn’t secure a second sapphire for Nathan during winter, what did that mean for the Emperor’s political fortunes?
Nathan needed to focus on his own supply of gemstones for his Champions after this. Maybe his alliance with the dark elves had a secondary benefit.
“Although a second gem would have been preferable, this fortress is terribly designed,” Nathan explained, returning to the topic at hand. “There’s a good chance that the barriers aren’t strong enough to block Fei’s gem ability. Her flames consume magic, and Theus has spread his barriers across four separate structures.”
He then pointed at the ground. “Even worse, I don’t know if Theus is smart enough to think of tunneling. Do you know why the Empire uses domes for their barriers?”
“I do now,” Anna said drily, grimacing. “I’m guessing the barrier is a complete sphere.”
“Exactly.” Nathan nodded. “Straight barriers can only go down so far. Four barriers mean four times the power drain on the binding stone. Theus is already wasting power on his shining keep. He’s likely skimping elsewhere. If Fei can’t burn the barrier, Seraph can probably dig under them.”
“You’re joking, right? You’re going to use me as a glorified tunneler?” Seraph crossed her arms and huffed.
“Remind me again whose gem ability vaporizes non-living material? You can turn the walls into dust. Or dig an entire tunnel in the time it would take for a team of skilled miners to break ground.”
“It’s good to know how I factor into your plan,” Seraph said.
“If you didn’t want to be the lynchpin of good plans, then you should have gotten amethysts like all the Champions who aren’t useful outside of combat,” Nathan said.
Fei’s eyes widened at Nathan’s words, and she suddenly clutched her fingers over the sapphire within her collarbone. She stared at Nathan in terror when he looked at her.
Several moments passed before Nathan realized what she was panicking about.
“I’m not saying that amethysts are bad,” Nathan said. “But they’re a combat gem. You didn’t see Nurevia in action, but she’s an extremely dangerous Champion due to her amethysts. Her skill as a weapon master is greatly enhanced by her gems, even if they don’t give her any fancy gem abilities.”
“Vera mentioned that she was gunning down demons in droves with her repeater crossbows,” Anna said, nodding in agreement. “The bolts had so much power behind them that they blew off heads.”
“Sounds about right,” Nathan said.
“Eh? Amethysts can do that?” Fei asked. “But she’s firing a crossbow?”
“The magic of the gem applies to her weapons,” Nathan explained. “If all an amethyst did was make a Champion extremely strong, they’d be useless. Instead, they grant all manner of interesting passive enhancements.”
Nathan began to tick off his fingers. “Common boons are the ability to cut through any material; having raw strength great enough to leap up cliffs and crush steel like it’s made of paper; magically enhanced swings that can cut down an entire company of soldiers or even a city wall. In Nurevia’s case, all of her weapons have their impact enhanced. Her daggers punch through magically reinforced steel. Her crossbow bolts pop heads. And you don’t want to see what she does with a sledgehammer.”
A few of Nathan’s implanted memories involved Nurevia using a sledgehammer for executions. A single downward hammer blow to their head left little behind of her victim besides a visceral image for onlookers. That image—and what little was left of the body—ensured people knew the price of disobeying Bastion Tharban von Straub.
“I’ll take your word for it, given the look on your face,” Seraph said, grimacing. “But yes, Fei, amethysts are the most popular gem for Champions in the Empire and its former territories for good reason. They are extremely effective. Boring, but effective. Underestimate their users at your own peril.”
“Every Champion is dangerous if they know how to use their gems,” Nathan said. “But every gem has weaknesses, and the true quality of a Champion comes in knowing how to work around them. Although, that’s also why I’m here.”
“More to the point, what happens after we get through the barriers?” Anna asked, reminding them of why there were here to begin with.
“That depends on what’s waiting for us. Whether we tunnel beneath the walls or use a combination of Fei’s flames and Seraph’s energy waves, the next step is overwhelming the defenders,” Nathan said. “Theus will probably deploy his Champions to stop us from getting too far, once he realizes his defenses are as useful as butter.”
“Won’t it be too expensive to melt all the barriers? And while my gem ability is cheap, digging a tunnel will mean using it a lot,” Seraph said.
Nathan smirked. Then he pointed at the walls.
After a few moments, the women looked at him in confusion. They didn’t know what he meant.
“The walls have another problem,” Nathan said.
“Maybe, but they still have barriers,” Seraph said.
“If Theus is skimping on the barriers at all, I guarantee you that he’s using projectile barriers more than a few meters above ground,” Nathan said.
“I don’t know what that is,” Anna said.
“There are two types of barrier: projectile and physical. Projectile barriers only stop magic and fast-moving objects. They’re intended to stop volleys of arrows and catapults—hence the name,” Nathan said. “I use these at Gharrick Pass, and they’re in much wider use in fortresses as they’re far cheaper to sustain.”
Anna frowned. “I’m guessing a physical barrier is the type at Trantia. It stops everything from passing through it while it’s active. Nothing and no one gets in or out.”
“Yes.” Nathan grimaced. “They’re expensive to build and maintain. They’re also highly vulnerable to disruption due to their reliance on large volumes of ambient magic from the leylines. They’re also painful to use in fortresses because they restrict your ability to sortie. If you want to slip out to launch an offensive, you have to drop the barrier. But then your enemy knows you’re attacking and can also bombard your fortress.”
Shaking his head, Nathan recalled a few foolish attempts in the past to launch counterattacks against demons from castles protected by physical barriers. They rarely worked and were often very costly raids.
Seraph’s eyes widened. “You think he’s using a combination of physical and projectile barriers?”
“That’s what I said, yes,” Nathan drawled.
“I want to say that Theus is smarter than I thought, but I doubt he thought of that idea,” Seraph muttered. “It’s almost genius. Barriers are hard to see close to the ground. If you hit a physical barrier, you’ll assume it’s physical the entire way up. I’d never think to try to go through it.”
“But that’s what we’re going to do. Once we’re through the first barrier, we get on top of the wall and jump between them. They’re too close together for concentric layers of walls. It’s an easy jump for Champions. Once we’re in, we can go for the binding stone before Theus knows what’s happening,” Nathan said.
“The same damn plan,” Seraph muttered. “You’re a bastard, you know that.” She laughed. “Goddess, if this works… Why do you even think they’re different barrier types? Can you sense something?”
Then Seraph’s eyes narrowed. “Or do you know something else?”
He didn’t, actually. But the question from Seraph bothered him.
“Theus is using flat barriers. It’s a very odd choice in general. In my experience, that usually means somebody is up to something.” Nathan gave her a wry smile. “You said it for yourself: Bastions like flashier things. When a Bastion starts using something as outdated as flat barriers, it raises suspicion.”
Nathan had been taught the techni
que by Gareth in the past. It helped to conserve power from the binding stone while rapidly building defenses in a demonic portal. Demons approached walls in the portal head-on, and they couldn’t tunnel underground without risking certain death.
If he’d had another week to spare the excess power from the binding stone, Nathan would have used that method. It bothered him that Theus was using it here.
Somebody much smarter than Theus had designed this fortress. But they’d tried to cover that fact up with the gigantic gleaming keep. It had worked on Seraph. And almost worked on Nathan.
“So, is this castle badly built or well built?” Fei asked.
“Both,” Anna said. “Which is concerning.”
Seraph gave Nathan a curious look, although she remained smiling the entire time.
“You’ve heard my plan. It’s time we get some rest and prepare to attack tomorrow,” Nathan said. “We don’t have time to waste on a prolonged siege.”
After all, he had to capture Torneus as soon as possible.
But he remained disconcerted about how easily the Federation had surrendered its territory to him.
Chapter 31
Dawn came and Nathan began his assault. He mounted his attack from the eastern side of the fortress, ensuring that the sun was behind him.
Castle Forselburg sat on relatively flat land. So, although Nathan had marched from the west, he was able to encircle the entire castle and begin his attack from whatever direction he wanted. That was the advantage of being the aggressor.
The plan went off without a hitch, at least at first.
Soldiers pushed wooden mantlets forward. These were large wooden shields on wheels, and their purpose was to protect the infantry from arrows and boulders.
Behind them came the primary force of heavy infantry. They wore heavy armor and carried shields. Most of them were beastkin, and their tails hung low as they sheltered from the rain of projectiles from the wall.
In response, catapults and battlemages flung spells at the walls. These crashed uselessly on the barrier, however. Even concerted efforts to crack the barrier proved ineffective. The binding stone was far too powerful to be overwhelmed by conventional means.
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