Siege of T'cammen 3

Bismark and Ragan were reaping lives throughout the battlefield, unhindered. The shamans and troops they faced were not a match for the duo. While fighting, the duo saw suddenly something fly past them and crash into a house at the edge of the square. Slowly a figure stood up in the ruins of the house, coughing up blood while panting heavily.

It was Mago.

Bismark and Ragan stopped in their tracks, stunned. Mago was the strongest among them, and they had always had full faith in his abilities, never seeing the heir of the Supreme Commander suffer defeat. But this time the situation was clearly different. The duo saw a lone shaman slowly make his way towards Mago.

Upon seeing the shaman that was brimming with unrestrained power, Bismark's eyes narrowed. That shaman was a Sage rank mage. Mago would never stand a chance against him.

"Quickly, follow me!", Bismark shouted to Ragan while dashing after the shaman.

Meanwhile, Mago was solemnly looking at the shaman that was walking towards him. The latter was clearly taking his time on purpose in order to prolong Mago's final moments. He wanted the young man to truly have his fill of the bitter taste of defeat.

Defiantly Mago picked up his sword and got into a defensive stance. His face filled with unwillingness. He hated the fact that his opponent could so easily toy with him.

'Eli, I might be breaking my promise after all.' Mago silently lamented.

In the Supreme Commander's mansion, within a study where Elise was learning how to handle the Barca house's affairs, she suddenly felt a chill and her heart ached for some unknown reason. She suddenly felt like crying.

Steeling himself, Mago stared at the shaman that was slowly etching closer. He looked like an insurmountable mountain.

Seeing the resolve in Mago's eyes, the shaman gave a faint smile and charged forward. He had wanted to break the boy's spirit but decided to send him out like the warrior that he was. Swinging his mighty hammer once more, the shaman clashed with Mago. This time Mago managed to barely hold his ground, the ground below his feet cracking from the pressure that befell upon it.

Mago retreated several steps and vomited fresh blood, his silver armor was dyed crimson. Every part of Mago's body ached, his muscles screamed in pain.

'I can take one more hit, at best two, then I'm done for.' Mago thought while estimating how far his remaining strength would take him.

Glancing at the shaman that hadn't even broken into a sweat, Mago felt bitter.

'In the end, I'm not even someone worthy of you going all out, huh?' Mago brooded.

Straining his muscles, he once again lifted his greatsword. This time Mago didn't bother to wait for the shaman to take the initiative, charging forward instead. While sprinting forward, Mago made a wild slash with his greatsword, but the shaman easily side-stepped it and lifted his hammer, ready to strike at Mago whose back was now facing him.

Swinging his hammer down, the shaman expected to feel it soon hit the back of the boy, shattering his spine.

But something unexpected happened. There was a sudden blue flash, and the boy disappeared and his hammer only hit the empty ground.

Frowning, the shaman looked around. He quickly spotted the boy. He was a dozen meters away and lodged between two young men wearing strange robes. The two new arrivals were supporting him, the boy could barely stand on his own.

'Your resistance is futile. The boy will die in my hands sooner or later.' the shaman thought while charging towards the trio. While charging the shaman could hear the beaten up young man mutter something to the other two, but he couldn't understand their barbaric language so he had no idea what he said.

'Most likely ordered the other two to run away.' the shaman figured. The boy had a clear estimate of his strength and should know that the two additional pups wouldn't make a difference. Contrary to his expectations, the young pups charged forward to meet him instead. They were quite fast, the shaman admitted that. He could feel two different elements surrounding the two.

The other was surrounded by something the Spirit tribe called "wind" while the other had some mysterious crackling energy coursing through him. In the shaman's eyes, the latter was the more dangerous one.

Ragan dashed towards the shaman, electricity coursing through his veins, enhancing his speed to the utmost limit. The shaman didn't manage to react in time, and Ragan's fist, which was coated by lightning, smashed into the shaman's ribs. But instead of injuring the shaman, it felt like Ragan had hit a steel wall, his wrist almost fractured from the hit. His lightning didn't even manage to leave a mark on the shaman's body.

Bismark wasn't faring any better. Using his wind affinity, he had boosted his speed to the maximum and tried to slash the shaman's throat open with his dagger, but the dagger didn't even pierce through the skin.

Looking at the two pups before him, the shaman silently shook his head before making a sudden swing with his hammer. The swing was so fast that both Bismark and Ragan were sent flying by it, landing near Mago.

At this point in time, Mago had managed to stand up and was tightly clutching his greatsword. Bismark and Ragan quickly stood up next to him, preparing to face the shaman.

'Truly brave young pups.' the shaman thought with a smile. He admired the determination the young men showed.

The shaman sprinted towards the trio, his hammer in mid-swing, ready to fall upon them once he reached the trio. He reached the three young men and was aiming his hammer at Mago. But suddenly the shaman could feel his movements turning sluggish, as if something was weighing him down, preventing him from moving.

He tried to turn his head towards the source of the disturbance, but the movement was slow. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the young man he had previously deemed as the least threatening, exert tremendous amounts of mana to the surroundings.

While the shaman was shocked and slowed down, Mago mustered the last of his strength and stabbed the shaman in the heart with his greatsword, ramming it cleanly through his chest. While the shaman was slowed down in Bismark's time domain, Mago could move unhindered. Bismark could freely control whom his domain affected.

Eyes wide in disbelief, the shaman stared at the sword that pierced his chest. He couldn't believe that he had lost against three young pups.

Bismark canceled his domain, and time started to move freely for the shaman. Blood spurted from his mouth, and when Mago withdrew his sword, the shaman collapsed onto the ground, devoid of all strength.

"I can't believe we killed a Sage.", Bismark uttered while heavily panting. He had used almost all of his strength in that brief moment when he slowed down the shaman. The enemy was stronger than him so it had been especially taxing.

Unlike during most of his fights, this time Bismark was covered in sweat and dirt, and some blood was smeared on his robes.

Earlier, when Mago had told him to not use his time affinity and lure the shaman closer to him before activating it, Bismark had had his doubts. But the result spoke for itself. They had killed a Sage.

But before the trio could truly sigh in relief, sudden cries of despair sounded within the ranks of the Imperial forces.

Colonel Portus had been slain.

The Imperial forces were quickly thrown into chaos with no clear leader among them. The enemy had also managed to kill two Captains, and their Brigades, without a leader, were in disorder.

"Quickly bring to healers to me and keep our Brigade in formation.", Mago ordered Bismark and Ragan while keeping track of the situation on the battlefield.

They had held the advantage before this but were now steadily being forced back into the enemy encirclement. If the situation were to continue, they would get completely wiped out.

After a few seconds had passed, Bismark and Ragan appeared before Mago in a flash, bringing two healers with them. The healers quickly got to work. They managed to heal Mago's ribs so that they were only left slightly fractured and also poured in some energy into Mago, rejuvenating him.

Feeling refreshed, Mago stood up and ordered Bismark and Ragan to go and take charge of the two Brigades that were without a leader. While they technically had no right to command the troops, mages were highly respected, so it was very likely that the troops would listen to them.

Looking around, Mago could see Captain Farren desperately attempting to get the disorderly troops to get back into formation, but to no avail.

Mago made his way into the center of the formation and with a thundering voice enhanced with mana he shouted; "Colonel Portus has fallen and I, Mago Barca, Captain of the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division shall now take command of this battlefield. All of you will listen to my orders, or when this is all over I will personally come and execute you for directly disobeying your superior officer."

Upon hearing this, the eyes of the despairing officers lit up. Someone had stepped up to take charge of the Imperial troops. Now they just hoped this young Captain would be up to the task.

Mago barked out orders in rapid succession, which the officers immediately relayed to their troops, and soon the situation on the battlefield stabilized.

Everyone was not happy with this new situation. Captain Farren lamented the fact that Mago had managed to steal his spotlight. He had wanted to be the one to take charge and shine in this perilous situation.

The battle continued to rage on for two more hours, soldiers on both sides fell but the Imperial forces managed to hold on.

The last of the three powerful shamans had apparently retreated since Mago couldn't find any traces of him on the battlefield, no matter how hard he tried.

After the sun was already starting to set, a horn blew in the distance, and figures dashed towards the square. They were all wearing silver colored heavy armor that was issued by the Imperial army.

Reinforcements had arrived!