Start of a war

After their talk with the king Blake and Irene were now standing in one of the courtyards of the palace where Blake decided it was time to learn magic from one another.

Blake explained the workings of the Ragnarok magic to her and how to apply it to oneself. As a researcher and her love for magic she quickly picked up the idea behind the spell but would need a while to learn and master it.

Irene also tested the affinity of Blake, basically all mages have an affinity for a certain kind of magic, they can be any type of affinity, from the basic elements to rare or obscure magic like, space, time, shadow, darkness, or simply no affinity. Grandpa Ed was one of the few unlucky one's to be born with no affinity. Blake had an affinity for lightning magic and immediately had an idea of integrating lighting magic into his ragnarok.

He explained his idea to Irene who was also intrigued with the idea and taught him a basic spell that trainee mages use to get a feel for the lightning element. She told him to practice and feel the lighting, to control it and make it obey his command.

Blake was curious and asked what her affinity was, to which she replied that she had a high affinity for all basic elements. That is earth, air, fire, and water. A low affinity to space and time too which she hasn't had much progress because there were too little knowledge on the two elements. This was one of the reasons she really wanted to meet a dragon, because they would probably have more knowledge on these elements.

Blake was impressed by her talent as well as her ability to combine the elements to create other elements, such as her previous spell that combined air, water and fire magic to create thunderclouds to rain down lightning.

She used water magic to saturate the atmosphere then used fire magic to heat it up which combined with air magic makes the clouds, after the clouds are formed she simply directs the created lightning to hit whatever she desires.

The control, knowledge and mastery of magic to create the spell in such a short time was immense. Her talent in magic was truly monstrous as well as the amount of magic needed to pull it off.

And so they dedicated the whole day to learning and guiding each other as well as deepening their new sprouting relationship. After training they each headed to their own rooms and prepared for dinner. After a bath and change of clothes Blake went to find the women and children and found them all in the dinner hall, after a round of pleasentries they informed him of the mansion they had found and were ready to move in tomorrow.

Blake was happy about the news and told them he would visit them as soon as the war was over. The women were worried while the children were eager, worried that he might get hurt or even die while the eager that their powerful big brother will kick the bad guys.

Irene joined them after a while and after a quiet dinner Blake and Irene left to prepare for the war. Irene led him to the royal armory to find him a decent armour, as even though his body was an armour itself it was better to be safe then sorry.

As they were looking around the armory Blake found a mannequin wearing a full set of armour that was black with gold decoration and linings, a small cross was imprinted in the middle of the chest. It didn't seem to have a helmet but decided to wear in anyway.

He found that his body was too bulky to wear the armour and had trouble fitting into it. Irene giggled at his struggle and used her enchantment magic to make the armor fit him as well as making it more durable and able to channel magic to a certain degree. After he had finally finished donning the armor with the help of Irene, he asked what she was going to wear to which she smirked and told him to wait outside.

After a while of waiting the door to the armory finally opened revealing Irene in a metallic armour that covered her shoulders, arms and was holding her plentiful chests up. Gauntlets that covered her lower arms and shorts with high stockings and boots. She looked amazing and Blake was simply too stunned and just kept staring at her.

Seeing his reaction Irene had a victorious smirk and decided to get him back for all his teasing's, "*cough* shouldn't we be on our way or are you just gonna be standing there with your mouth open".

Her words awoke him from his stupor and realising his previous actions, shook his head with a wry smile and a blush on his face simply nodded his head and walked away, although with a faster pace than usual. Seeing her teasing worked and his quick runaway, Irene giggled and followed him out of the armory.

After a quick goodnight they both went their seperate ways with a promise to meet up next morning.

In his bed Blake was still thinking about Irene's outfit and couldn't get her image out of his head. It still felt like some weird dream, having to be so close to her. Though he didn't show it much he was happy with how things were but knew that he couldn't be complacent at the moment. With the war with Rustmore and the approaching Dragon problem, they were going to have to deal with a lot of troubles in the future.

Thinking up to this he sat up on his bed and channeled his magic the way Irene taught him and felt the change of his magic to lightning, he was trying to incorporate it to his ragnarok magic. If he succeeded the possibilities were endless, faster speed, reaction, and power overall.

He meditated the whole night and got up at dawn and went outside. After meeting up with Irene, they had breakfast and went outside to meet the army.

Outside the capital, the army of Dragnof that was 20,000 strong was already lined up and prepared to march out. King Edmund II was wearing his golden armour and was at the front with his two generals riding horses.

"Today we march towards Rustmore and show them the might of Dragnof!", A short speech indeed but it was enough to show that he was confident of their victory. After a look towards his general, he set off. The general nodded and shouted, "Soldiers of Dragnof we march.....to war!", and followed his king.

Besides the soldiers there were 20 magic canons and 4 seige weapons. This was the full might of Dragnof excluding the kingdom guards and border patrols. Irene and Blake were already waiting for them a few miles away, awaiting in what way the king had decided to make use their powers.

They quickly arrived and before Irene could speak king Ed spoke first. "Princess Irene I leave you in charge of the kingdom, take command while I am gone. Blake.....as her personal guard I trust you to protect her and help her in anyway she needs."

The kings orders were a suprise to both Irene and Blake as well as the generals, as they all showed a surprised expression.

"But father, I could be much better help at the war than here. Let me show you what I have achieved from my training", Irene protested. She didn't know why he would do this, with her and Blake at the front they could win the war easily and prevent unnecessary loss of life to their soldiers.

"I know you are a powerful mage Irene, and that is why you are to stay in the kingdom. Should anything happen to me, it is your duty to take over the kingdom and our people. Besides, I believe there is more to the plots of that sneaky Jung than just an all out war. We can't show all our cards at once. If the situation demands it, we will send word for help.", Blake nodded at the king's fore thought and suddenly had a bad feeling hearing the king's doubts about Rustmore's tactics.

'Seems a little reconnaissance is in need. Better to be prepared', Blake nodded to the king and led Irene towards the side and let the army pass them.

Irene had a frustrated look as she knew her father was right but still felt like he was ignoring her. "Don't worry too much, although his words may seem like he's pushing you away. He's actually making measures for the worst case scenario. Besides lets get back to the palace and we'll discuss my plan.", Blake comforted her and sje immediately perked up at his last sentence. Looked at him and nodded, she created a magic circle and they both teleported inside the sode chamber where she had engraved the other circle.

Making their way to her room, they went inside and Blake was surprised by sheer number to tomes, maps, scrolls, magical drawings and books inside her room, there was barely any room to walk and even the bed had books on it. With an embarrassed face Irene tried to find an excuse for her messy room,"Before you came I didn't really go out much and simply stayed in my room to study or research.".

Blake simply shook his head with a smile and made space for them to sit. After settling down he decided to tell her his plans,"Your father's worries about Rustmore might just be true. Based on how they were using infiltration and subturfuge, we don't know how long they've planned this and with how they suddenly marched for war I think they really might be holding some secret weapon. So, I think we should try and infiltrate the kingdom while the army is away. If we find anything, we can relay it to your father or even prevent it before anything really happens", Irene nodded to his idea as this would be better than simply waiting here.They wore cloaks over their armour and decided to slip in to the kingdom at night.

Meanwhile back to the army, they were arrived at the Borung plains and had already created moats all around and left a small area just ahead of the army so that the enemies wouldn't have a large enough area for a full frontal assault. The magic canons were place around the hills that surrounded the plains as well as at the back of the army. Their formation ensured that the enemy would suffer great casualties before they even reached the front lines.

Soon, the ground beneath them trembled as the sound of thousands of feet marching could be heard. The Rustmore army had arrived, donned with black armor that had blue glowing runes engraved to them, King Ed noticed that their armour seemed to be magical in nature and knew that this was probably one of the reasons they were so confident but still this was within acceptable outcomes as they still had the better vantage point and their canons would still reap a lot of lives evem with the armour. Then the other surprise he received was the weapons they were holding, it was different from the normal weapons he knew they had been using. Round shields engraved with the same weird blue runes and axes and swords too. The armor itself had two large horns on the helmet and looked quite intimidating.

As the Rustmore army was about 5 miles away they halted their march and the middle of the army parted as they made way for a chariot that was pulled by two horses in armor. The chariot stopped at the front and High general Jung was revealed to ride it. He too wore an armor similar to the soldiers but more intricate and refined. He looked towards King Ed and with a smirk said, "King Edmund, don't you think you're a little far from home. We didn't think you'd actually come so far away from the safety of your castle. But now that your here why don't you stay, forever! Hahahaha", he mocked king Ed as the soldiers chorused loudly.

King Ed wasn't affected and simply answered,"You will pay for your crimes against my people. There is no need for useless banter. Today we will liberate your oppressed people from your tyranny!", his soldiers shouted "Ha-uh" bashing their swords and spears to their square shields in unison.

Jung had a wicked smile on his face,"Hehe, lets see the despair in your face when you see what I have in store for you", he whispered to himself. He waved his hands in a forward motion and his army suddenly charged forward with a warcry.

As the army reached within range, the magic canons fired and bombarded the front lines. This seemed to do little to dither them as they ran forward with savage expressions beneath their horned helmets.

Soon, the armies met and a cacophony of metals against metal and shouts and screams of men rang through the whole frontlines. The war had finally begun.