Pursuit Through the Rain

Corrine's plan was simple. Magical beasts with miles of her could pick up the high-pitched frequency emitted by her ring. This was a special frequency that the True Order used to indicate distress. They would always be listening for it.

As she hoped, the True Order realized that something was wrong. The only flaw was that her allies noticed too late. The storm was nearly upon them. She might have to risk taking personal action to make sure Daren Forolan was captured before the storm killed them all.

With the Halcyon Guards pulled away, Corrine's chance would come sooner or later. Not all of the magical beasts were stopped. Many slipped past the guards. There were simply too few, no matter how powerful they were.

"Keep riding forward! Don't look back! Don't stop!"

President Bennett completely discarded stealth and urged the students to go faster. The second- and third-years could save themselves while the fourth-years helped the first-years. The group had no choice but to try to shake off the magical beasts.

A battle would only keep them in the storm's destruction zone. The winds and rain were already picking up. With the aerial beasts grounded, they had a shot of making a clean getaway. The magical beasts couldn't know exactly how many or where they were. They wouldn't continue the chase for long.

To President Bennett's dismay, their pursuers seemed to lock on to their trail. The fleeing students could only force their steeds to go faster. Even with magic they wouldn't make it to the coast at this rate. They had to ditch their pursuers no matter the cost.

Chris pulled back his horse next to Aayla.

"Can you do that thing again? Like how we snuck in to rescue Daren?"

"Not while I'm riding at a gallop or for this many people!"

"Is it even possible?"

She thought for a moment. Technically, it was. Aayla only had to restrain the New Moon Bracelet from crazily absorbing energy. If she let it reach out to cover the entire group, then it might break free from her control. Not to mention break all of the spells keeping their speed up!

"IS IT POSSIBLE?!"

"MAYBE! I DON'T KNOW! The artifact could go out of control and cut off all the others' spells."

"Then jump onto my horse and try!"

"What?!"

"Just do it! Hurry up and jump! I'll catch you with magic."

She wrapped her arms around her horse's neck. Jump off of a galloping horse onto another galloping horse? No way! Aayla could ride, but her skills weren't even close to an expert's.

"Aayla! We're all probably going to die anyways if we don't try something!"

"Fine! Fine! I'll do it!"

Chris kept his horse galloping steadily beside hers and slowly shortened the distance between them. With a sour look on her face, Aayla carefully removed her feet from the stirrups and stood on the back of her horse.

With a small jump, she safely landed on the back of Chris's horse. Another student grabbed the reigns of hers to force it to keep pace. Who knows when an extra horse would be needed? They definitely wouldn't let it run away.

"Are you ready?"

"Give me a couple of minutes! I'll try expanding the radius slowly."

One of the group's leaders dropped back. As that person got closer, Aayla realized that he was Junius. Corrine narrowed her eyes as she saw the movement up ahead. Someone was trying something. A sneer formed on the curves of her mouth. Their plans wouldn't work.

"What are you two planning?"

"We're trying something! Magic might not work for a bit, but any pursuers won't be able to track us by our mana signatures."

"Make it quick. With the rain muddying our tracks and scents, ditching the magical beasts should get much easier. Then magic won't matter. The storm's getting worse. Everyone and everything will have to seek shelter soon, giving us time to rest."

Aayla tightly grabbed Chris's waist and focused on the New Moon Bracelet. It gleefully gobbled up the mana around her. Mana emitted by the battlefield had spread across the area. With so much to gorge itself on in a limited space, she had less trouble confining its reach than usual.

The range slowly expanded to encompass the entire group. Only the students' personal mana remained untouched, and they struggled to maintain their spells.

"Slow down to normal gallop! Conserver your mana!" Junius shouted to the rest of the group. "Miss Glowery, can you refine your technique to form a barrier around the group?"

Chris shook his head when Aayla didn't respond. "That's not how her artifact works, and she doesn't have the control. It's already a miracle that she can do this much already. Please don't bother her right now. All of her focus is required to maintain the spell."

"How long can she keep this up?"

"With two people? Over an hour. With a group this large? I have no idea, but definitely not that long."

"Make it last for half an hour. That should give us some extra breathing room between our pursuers and enough time to think of more countermeasures. You there, take Miss Glowery's horse from this first-year."

Junius spurred his stead forward as a fourth-year took the reins of Aayla's horse from the student currently holding them.

Corrine's ring flickered, but still transmitted its signal. She sighed in relief as the artifact still seemed to work. Unknown to her, that signal was formed from mana. The New Moon Bracelet devoured it immediately after the signal left the ring.

Without any tracks, scent or beacon to follow, the magical beasts became confused and slowed down their hunt. The group could hear confused howls behind them. This time, no one cheered. Freedom was still hundreds of miles away.

Even with magic and their horses that was several days of travel. The Student Council originally planned to sprint far away from Forest Waypoint, then travel at a more sustainable pace. They assumed that the invaders wouldn't bother tracking them down. However, their plans needed to be redone.

Half an hour later, Aayla had reached her limit as the storm raged around them in the night. Daren helped keep Chris's horse steady as Chris cast spells to keep Aayla's concentration up. The dense forest made way to rocky hills slightly congested with trees and shrubs.

The rain kept pouring down, slowing the fleeing students even more. Fortunately, the roars in the distance had faded away. The magical beasts must have fallen back inside their barriers. President Bennett sent out scouts, who reported back about potential resting points.

The groups split up. Each group would take slightly different routes to arrive in slightly different places along the Ural Bay's shores. Ultimately, each student would have to be responsible for their own safety. Several decided to keep going for now and risk getting caught up in something more dangerous than rain.

There were too many students to hide in one place. They would travel in tens of smaller groups from now on. Hundreds of students could slip away easier than thousands of students. If the storm wasn't so fierce and the enemy so timid, they wouldn't have had a chance to sneak away undetected.

As the groups split up, Corrine silently snuck her way into Daren's group. Led by the vice president, the Halcyon students, Chris and Aayla were also in the group. After a quick detour, they found a small cave tucked inside a hill.

Earth element majors started to hollow out the hill as others gathered firewood and hid their tracks. Once everyone was inside, the earth element majors sealed up the entrance. The vice president set up a barrier to protect and hide the camp.

When he was finished, the students quickly set up camp. Aayla stopped the New Moon Bracelet and laid down for a nap. Her head was pounding. Preventing the New Moon bracelet from misbehaving always took a toll on her.

**********

Minutes earlier during the battle at Forest Waypoint.

Another enemy fell to Stallesso Forolan's hands. Even hiding behind hundreds of magic beasts couldn't save his enemies. The fighting had gone on for a while when something triggered his senses. The other wizards sensed it too.

When the alarms started blaring, most assumed that a scout had found the escaping civilians. The fighting continued. Still, that feeling persisted. To Stallesso, that 'something' seemed to be heading east. His sixth sense warned him that his plans were going awry.

Several enemy wizards decided to brave the storm and follow that 'something'. That was odd, but the military could not afford to help. They could only hope that the civilians evacuated safely.

Stallesso focused on the enemy hiding behind his minions. Holding his broken arm, the scumbag who dared to kidnap his grandson barked orders at his subordinates. Stallesso sneered. That villain would definitely die today.

After a barrage of spells, that slimeball had disappeared. When a Halcyon guard spotted him, the villain was headed straight for the 'something' at high speed. In an instant, Stallesso had a sudden enlightenment.

The Nafriton students were evacuating east. That 'something' was coming from their direction. The only thing that the enemy wizards would brave the storm for was his grandson. Several traitors could have still remained on campus after the raid.

Stallesso decisively ordered for a final all out assault before he turned to chase after his grandson.