The Battle Begins

"Alright, now that's settled, let's head to wall. I wouldn't want you to be late, Tal. Do you know where you're supposed to be heading to?" Mike asked as he started walking. The elf fell into step beside him.

"What's settled?! What did you do?" Sera yelled angrily. She started following after, still examining her arm, as if expecting it to fall off.

"Northeast section. Near main gate." Tal replied while ignoring the Oracle's outburst.

"Hm, that's going to be right in the middle of the fight. What are they having you do?"

"Defend headquarters. Magic protection." She answered simply, intimating that she was assigned to part of the last line of defense for the command element of the 1st Division, which he recalled was being led by a respected leader from the Martial Arts department.

"Hey!" Came a shout from behind. "Stop ignoring me!"

Although it was a little unfair of him to do so, Mike didn't really want to go through the process of explaining how he made the item he'd just used, or the intended effects. Especially since he needed to concentrate on ensuring Tal's safety. As a member of a front line force that will be involved in battle in the near future, her situation took priority. Luckily, it sounded like he would have time to prepare a more comprehensive set of defensive measures.

Figuring that Sera wouldn't let it go unless he could give her a decoy, he pulled Audra from his pocket.

[Do me a favor and distract her for a bit, would you?]

After an irritated reply to the negative, he shot back, [Hey! I haven't asked you for anything since the day you were born! Do me this favor, alright?]

He sensed continued reticence, so with a sigh, he made a promise. [Fine, if you can get her to change the subject, I'll let you have another mana core.]

Bribe successfully acquired, Audra scrambled up his shoulder and launched herself at Sera, who caught her with surprised delight.

"Ah! I thought you hated me." She exclaimed happily. She promptly proceeded to rub the little dragon against her face in satisfaction.

[Alright, now I feel a little guilty.]

"Here, give this to her." Mike called as he tossed a large red mana core to the Oracle. Although there was a bit of fumbling involved, she managed to catch it.

"Huh? Isn't this a mana core? Why would she want..." She started confusedly but trailed off as the little dragon began excitedly looking at the core. Tilting her head a bit, Sera brought the item closer, only to gasp as Audra took a large bite out of it.

"Interesting." Tal commented, having stopped to watch the exchange.

"Ah! No! Don't eat that! It's not...good...for you?" While concerned, Sera was evidently in the same boat as Mike when it came to knowledge of dragon biology. Audra was happily munching away at the core, and eventually got to the point of licking the crumbs from Sera's hand, eliciting a subdued giggle.

"Are they supposed to be toxic or something? I fed one to her previously, and it didn't seem to have any negative effect. If anything, she seemed more energetic afterwards." Mike asked, not particularly concerned.

Sera frowned, slightly confused. "Well, not exactly. In fact mana cores serve as the basis for a number of consumable items, especially in Alchemy, but they usually have to be treated in some manner before use. Raw mana cores are basically concentrated energy, and consuming them directly can do some serious damage to your body. Or so I've heard. I guess that doesn't apply to dragons."

"Dragons special. Mana based." Tal added, suggesting that a dragon's nature might play a role in allowing them to do things like that without harm.

He shrugged in response, "Anyway, we should get a move on, we don't have much more time."

"Right." The elf replied simply. With a little hustle, they were able to make it to her assigned location with time to spare. The 1st Division headquarters was situated in a recently constructed command tower that stood behind the walls and a little taller than them. This allowed for a commanding view of the surrounding scenery, at the expense of making them a target for long range siege equipment.

The tower itself was mainly composed of a highly reinforced spiral staircase that was eventually topped with three, simple and unadorned spaces, each roughly 20m in diameter. Tal's immediate supervisor, a magic instructor by the name of Harnik, was based out of the top floor. Here the headquarters' mages worked to defend the tower from external attacks. Apparently, there were some magic items built into the structure which made this easier to manage, although Mike hadn't seen them in action yet.

There were only five mages in the detail, which included Tal, Harnik and three students, all of which appeared to be novices.

[I knew we were running short on mages, but I didn't think it was this bad. I doubt those three will be able to do more than use Mana Transference to keep the instructor topped off.]

As Tal was reporting to Harnik, a red haired and slightly pudgy man that looked to be in his late thirties, Mike located a clear section of the tower that wasn't being used for anything at the moment.

"I guess I should find some place to bed down for the rest of the day. I still have to man the walls tonight." Sera commented while reluctantly handing Audra back. "Not that I feel particularly tired, but I'm sure that will come later."

"I'd be surprised, actually. I hit you with a dose of healing magic not too long ago. It should have dispelled your fatigue at the same time." Mike replied absentmindedly before chanting a quick spell and summoning a table and stool with Calling Magic. It took a fair amount of mana, but he needed a stable place to start working.

[Now, let's see here. How did I make it again?]

He was so deep in thought, he didn't even notice Sera's stunned expression. The casual display of magical ability had left her momentarily speechless. She looked ready to launch into a series of questions, but stopped and then finally sagged. "I'm not sure why I'm surprised. It is you after all. I suppose this means I should stay here?"

"That would make things easiest. At least until we've removed the threat of abduction. I'm working through a couple of ideas that mitigate the danger to a certain extent. Just give me some time." Mike answered without looking up.

With his eyes glued on his project, he failed to notice the brief look of anger flash across the Oracle's face, or the much longer period of forlorn silence that enveloped her. With an effort, she seemed to snap out of it. "I don't suppose you can make me a stool as well?"

Mike paused long enough to comply, before returning to his work without comment.

"Thanks." Sera said quietly, before settling down to watch him work. Even though her heart was troubled, it was still an interesting show.

[Once I'm done with the planned items, I suppose I can work on my Scrivening.] Mike thought to himself. He figured that with the battle fixing to take place, having a few more scrolls at his disposal would come in handy.

----------------------------------------------------------

Kiera Skyflash frowned. This was not what she wanted to see.

After returning from her rounds amongst the soldiers on the wall, giving them a last bit of encouragement before the offensive, she found her favorite observation point occupied by a young man and woman. The latter was in the middle of watching the former, while he painted something on a sheet of well-made paper.

Ordinarily, the experienced military woman would have kicked them out with a round of cursing, but her instincts were telling her that it would be a mistake to bother them at the moment. Something about the aura around the man made it seem like a bad idea.

[If they made it this far, they must have some kind of clearance. I guess I'll just ignore them. Its not like they're causing any harm.]

Saying so, the commander of the 1st University Division found herself a good point with which to observe all sections of the wall under her authority. As a longtime instructor on the theory of siege warfare, she'd become the rational choice for the position after the Department Chair was assigned to a special unit of an undisclosed nature.

She glanced back at Harnik and his detail of mages that were supposed to protect her and the tower from hostile attacks, and felt a moments unease. While she trusted her longtime colleague, having seen him in action often enough, the rest seemed like little more than children in her eyes. With the exception of a strangely calm Sun Elf, they all looked to be on the verge of panic.

"Is everything ready?" She asked the magic instructor.

"About as ready as we can be. The defensive matrices are charged, so we only have to activate them once battle begins. While we didn't have time to put something really potent in place, they should be able to deflect everything besides a direct hit from a Tier 3 spell, or a sufficiently large artillery piece. I'll have to step in if anything like that comes our way." The man replied calmly. Despite his current appearance, he was a veteran of the Western Army, and something of an expert in the defensive applications of Arcane Magic.

She nodded, expecting no less. The tower was a critical aspect of their defensive strategy, since it drastically increased the division's responsiveness to problems on the walls. From here, she could read the flow of battle and direct the division's reserve forces where they needed to go. A feat made possible thanks to the installation of short range communication magic items provided by the University. While not exactly rare, such items would usually be too expensive to supply most military units.

[I guess there is some upside to being the last line of defense.] She thought to herself, while mentally preparing for the coming conflict, which could be starting any time now. She needed to focus-

"What in the hells?! That's incredible. Make one for me, too!" Came an excited female voice from her left.

The silver haired girl was animatedly holding up a sheet of paper. While Kiera couldn't clearly see what was written on it, she hardly felt it mattered. She had been putting up with their presence this long, mainly because they'd been quiet, but the outburst was enough to annoy her.

"Harnik! What's all this about? We aren't running a social club here." She frowned, suddenly realizing what had been bothering her about the scene before.

[Was that table always here?]

"Not sure, actually. They came in with one of my subordinates, and kind of just set up shop. It didn't look like they were causing any harm..." The easy-going mage commented without a hint of irony.

Rounding on the offending pair, Kiera summoned her best drill instructor voice. "Listen up you two! This is the command post for the 1st University Division, not a place for you to be lounging around casually. I'm giving you to the count of ten to get...." She trailed off, as she caught sight of the runes inscribed on the paper the girl was holding.

While not a mage herself, she had used scrolls often enough over the course of her career to recognize one when she saw it. Simply based on the complexity of the symbols used, the one the girl held in her hands was at least a high Tier 2, if not low Tier 3.

A pair of golden eyes looked up at her with a slightly amused expression. "Sorry, we don't mean to intrude. I'm just keeping an eye on my friends until the battle starts."

"Wait, what?"

"Ah! You probably don't recognize me without the mask." He exclaimed with sudden realization, before waving his hand over his face, as if to pull an immaterial shroud over it. As he did so, a mask of pure darkness took shape. A familiar one that Kiera had been seeing in the planning meetings on the face of the Dragonknight who had come to the city's aid.

While Kiera was still coming to terms with the sudden realization, the silver haired girl started laughing hysterically. "What's with the mask? You look ridiculous!"

"Hey! I didn't have a lot of time to come up with it. Besides I think it looks a little cool." The Dragonknight replied sulkily.

"Cool? Really?" Came the taunting reply.

Kiera shook her head and wandered away from the table, leaving the pair to their squabbles. Seeing the city's last great hope in the midst of a juvenile argument was having a rather severe effect on her morale.

As shocking as this whole exchange was, she didn't have time to consider it. A more pressing sight confronted her once she'd arrived back in her observation point.

The Tenundians were moving. The Battle of Almirn had begun.