Orion had found Julian. But it wasn't the right time.
They all knew why too.
In a battle, there was one thing that separated the winners from the losers.
Their mental state.
"We wait until that coward loses patience, and we strike when he expects it the least. And what better moment than when his invasion failed beautifully?"
Orion smiled, as his grip clutched around the neck of his prey little by little. The man was trapped, with nowhere to flee to anymore.
"Don't you think three of us is too much against one man?"
Florian asked. He wasn't against the idea, but this felt a little... unfair.
"Asks the man who almost lost his city by having a larger army thrown at it."
The sarcasm in Karteira's voice was evident.
"She's right, there is no fairness in battle. Also, I learned from fighting with Kamala, that unexpected things can happen. Having more allies is a two-edged sword."
He blinked a few times, but understood the meaning and developed himself.
"More people to protect, but less ground to cover."
"Exactly. There's also that problem with the Apostles, that no matter how much you think you can best them, they are always a league higher than you. There really is an empowering process when drinking that sludge, that those who hadn't drunk it so far don't possess."
"True."
Florian agreed with that statement.
"Orion, the sun has set past the horizon. Do you think they will be alright?"
Karteira asked, looking at the army strapping flashlights around their helmets.
"They should be. It's not like they are weak, and it will give them the answer they are looking for to improve. Also, Amelia will be watching over them."
"For the army, well, it will depend on how much Florian trained them."
They both turned to Florian, who had a hardened expression on his face.
"I trained them with the idea that the one in front of them was here to kill their loved ones in front of their eyes. Do you think they will falter in front of this rabble?"
Only silence answered his question.
"If you trust your army to win in this darkness, then I will trust your judgment."
The darkness of the night was bothersome for many. Not considering if the corrupted were able to see in this darkness, the humans of Albriar were unable to. That's why they had to use devices especially made to see in the dark.
It wasn't great, and mostly a prototype of fire magic, but it helped the soldiers to see in their surrounding, while also differentiating foes from allies.
Albriar was the center of command for the continent, and its advancement in magic prowess was greatly pushed forward because of it.
It was a small but long stick, with a red jewel at its front. When you lightly tapped the back of the stick, even those unable to use magic could activate it for half-an-hour before the crystal was depleted.
The crystal was a catalyst of sort. Completely different from how magic users showed their magic, but perfect in this case.
And it wasn't that expensive to fabricate.
With all of the light blinking in unison, Orion, Karteira, and Florian stared at the army from above.
At the front, Orion saw Dramia and Drania waiting for the moment to move out. They were waiting for a certain someone to return, before moving out.
Amelia quickly arrived, as Drania was stretching her arms above her head, and Dramia was waiting with her hands on her hips.
"Sis, she's back! She made it!"
"I see that."
"Don't be so serious. You can relax a little you know?"
"Are you serious? Do you remember the last time we fought like this?"
"Did you forget what Noah taught to us?"
"Of course not! It's just..."
Dramia looked in front of her, far in the distance.
"You don't have the confidence?"
With a smile on her face, Drania grabbed her sister's hand.
"Compared to you, my magic is weak. And it doesn't even compare to Amelia."
*Huff* *Gasp*
"Gah! I'm tired!"
Amelia stopped in front of the sister, sweating profusely.
"ORION! Your enhancement stopped midway! What are you doing?!"
The man in question looked with surprise at the bursting voice, that surprised even the whole army.
'She's got one powerful voice. Is that something she can do with magic?'
Was what the sisters and everyone around thought.
He looked at her and made a gesture saying, 'I'm sorry.'
"Pff, I'll be sure to complain later. Alright, next thing, the army of corrupted humans right?"
The fairies looked at Amelia as if she had said something weird.
"Aren't you tired?"
Dramia asked, wondering.
"I am, but I still can help. I have used quite a lot of my magic, and my arms are killing me, but I can still support you both."
"Ah... thanks?"
"So what do you need?"
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Ignoring the perplexed look of Dramia, she asked.
"Me! Me!"
Jumping up and down, Drania lifted her hand in the air.
"Yes?"
Amelia smiled and wiped the sweat of her forehead.
"I need water. A lot of water! Is that possible?"
"Sure. How much is a lot?"
Taking Dana out, Amelia prepared herself for the request.
"Like, quite the big ball of water. Enough to fill three to four average sized ponds?"
"..."
Amelia was speechless.
"Drania! What kind of measure is that?!"
"Yaie!"
She got slapped in the back of the head once again.
"No don't worry, I get the idea. You don't have to slap her for that."
"Amelia!"
The happy-go-lucky sister hugged Amelia, and looked at her sister with a taunt.
"Is that alright?"
Amelia used Dana to create the amount of water Drania desired. A ball of water the size of a one story building formed in record time.
"Woah!"
The fairy's eyes sparkled in front of the water orb that everyone lighted up with their light.
For some reason, the light reflecting in the water soothed the anxiety of the soldiers.
"Dramia, do you need some wind support? I know you can't use offensive magic very much, so what about speed?"
"I..."
She was about to refuse.
"Sis, time's have changed. You said it yourself, it's time to change ourselves."
With her sister right in her face, she had to do it.
"As if I needed you to remind me that!"
Turning her face away from Drania, she spoke.
"Please."
Both Amelia and Drania looked at each other and smiled.
With that, the sisters were ready to support the soldiers.
"Sis, do you think we should try something different?"
"Exemple?"
"Like Amelia."
"Hmm..."
Both thought of how they should act on the battlefield.
"I can't use my bullets even if I wanted once the armies are fighting against each other. The visibility will be too low for precise shots, and I could hit indiscriminately our allies."
"But you can do before right?"
Drania nodded.
"I can use most of the water Amelia created to blast a large portion of the army. Like, a third if I am lucky."
"That should heightened the moral of the soldiers too, so let's do that when they are close enough. But truly, your firepower is something else."
"Ehehe..."
'That wasn't a compliment, but anyway.'
Dramia ignored her sister and returned to the conversation.
"Looking like Amelia you said... do whatever you want. I feel like imitating Karteira myself."
She prepared to throw a punch, with the wind Amelia gave to her as support.
When she stopped her punch, a strong wind blast left the front of her fist, and travelled a few meters in a straight line.
"Sis!"
The excited Drania wanted to see her sister punch the bad guys as fast as possible.
Luckily, the enemy's army was close enough now, and the voice of Florian echoed all over the area.
"Soldiers, here comes the enemy. Do not falter, do not show weakness, and most of all, do your best. Let's see each other later!"
"Lord Florian! Good luck to you!"
"Defeat that invader! We'll make you proud of us!"
"With Lord Florian, Albriar is invincible!"
They were all in high spirits. Unexpected help, morals being lifted, and their Lord being here with them. The result would be quite different if none of this ever happened.
"Orion, let's go. Let's take that coward by surprise."
Opening a portal, the three of them disappeared, leaving only a gulping sound coming from Karteira behind.
~
The second phase of the attack was about to happen.
"Sis, I'm going first!"
Drania flew up in front of the large orb of water.
But something strange happened when she prepared to unleash her water bullet ability.
The enemies army stopped moving. They even seemed to slowly turned to their left. You could see their glowing red eyes look at something else.
And a moment later, they were back to run toward Albriar.
"Time for a little shower! 'Cluster Shot'!"
The orb began to ripple, more and more, until the first bullets flew straight toward the first line of the enemies that was roughly fifty meters away.
Even though the bullets were tiny, they packed quite a lot of strength behind them, thanks to their velocity. Able to pierce trees and people alike, it was deadly, even able to go through multiple targets at once.
"There's more where it came from!"
She pointed her finger to another direction, and attacked another place. She judged only by seeing the bright red eyes of the corrupted humans.
*Plash* *Splash*
Sound of water bursting on hard surfaces could be heard. The soldiers were waiting for the moment the bullets would stop.
On the other side, it was a carnage. The bullets killed more and more corrupted humans by the minute.
Amelia and Drania had the same predisposition, they had abilities that dismembered and crippled their enemies. Legs, arms, head, stomach, heart... these bullets didn't care. When it pierced one soldier's heart, it pierced the leg of the one behind.
Piles of dead humans, who had their core intact in their bodies, stacked up until the attack was over.
"Drania! How long?!"
"Another minute!"
Not much water remained from the orb. Its size had reduced tremendously, and only a few hundred bullets could be created until it had completely been used.
Five minutes was all Drania was able to do. After that, it would be over, and Albriar's army would have to move.
After the minute had past, Drania returned to the ground.
She looked exhausted, but satisfied.
"Good job."
Dramia praised her sister for doing most of the work.
"You rest a little, and join after. I'm going to do my part."
All she could do was nod.
"Everyone! Time to move!"
With strength behind her words, she called to the soldiers of Albriar, who observed the display of power from the fairies.
If at first they were lost as to who they were, now, they didn't care. They grew to not discriminate other factions, and even if they didn't know who they were in details, they knew they were allies.
The second problem was their authority over the army. They would have never listened to Dramia before, but her charisma was something else. The same thing that led the dragon to follow her orders happen.
"We've reduced their numbers greatly, time to finish the job. Separate in two groups! One left, one right!"
"What about you?"
One soldier moved forward and asked the queen of the fairy.
"I'll take the middle alone."
They gasped.
"No time to lose, all units, move toward the enemies, and intercept any corrupted you see!"
With the sound of buzzing wings, she vanished from her spot, already gone to attack.
"She's too stuck-up... but we like that about her."
Drania walked away from the army, toward Amelia. She only needed to rest a minute or two, just so she could catch her breath.
~
*Ziiiing*
A zigzagging being flying at high speed moved the fifty meters separating Albriar from the enemies in a split second.
'With Amelia's help, I'm able to move more freely than usual, but I can't see a thing.'
She and her sister were fast, faster than anyone, but this was different. This was past normal speed. She moved so fast she had to zigzag just to see where she was.
The dark scenery caused even more problems, as she was unable to clearly see the way she went. Everything was blurry.
When she looked down, she noticed a little pile that shouldn't be there, and red dots.
'Too far!'
She stopped mid-air, and back-tracked in an instant. With one push, she went down and crashed on the ground.
*BOOM*
'Ouch!'
Using her wings, she removed the dust, and immediately noticed the beings coming toward her.
*PAW*
One punch. She threw a single punch, and killed the first corrupted. Not only did she kill this one, but three more that were behind it.
*Ziiiiing*
Disappearing from her spot, she zigzagged around the corrupted, slowly getting used to the speed. She bumped into the soldiers a few times, before she was able to feel the air around her.
Now, she was able to now who or what was around her, and when to punch.
Sounds of punching, cracking bones, falling bodies, and even bumping bodies was heard. The army of Albriar was finally arriving like she ordered.
The light from their devices began to illuminate the area.
"Formation 5! Shield in front, Long Guns in the back!"
Each side prepared to attack.
"Lady! Please fly higher!"
One of the soldier noticed Dramia flying by at top speed, and shouted at her. Once she heard that, she did as asked, and flew straight up, looking down.
"FIRE!"
The shields crouched in front of the guns, before the volley began.
*BAM* *BAM*
Just like with Drania, they managed to remove a few corrupted. But from all the damage done, there still was a thousand and seven hundred corrupted remaining.
"Guns, go back to reload. Spears, switch. Shields, advance with the Spears and remove as much as you can!"
Once the shots stopped and she heard the orders, Dramia returned to her work. She had to defend the middle, while the army was split in two, defending the sides.
"Sis! I'm here!"
Drania caught up to her sister just before she was able to go.
"What do I do? Do I help you?"
"Please."
Without hesitation, she accepted the help.
"Alright!"
What Drania never told, was that she had another ability in store. When she saw Amelia train, and fight, she fell in love with her fighting methods.
'Shattered Blade.'
An earthern blade, not like Amelia's daggers, formed in her right hand.
"That's what you meant by imitating Amelia?"
But Drania ignored it, or more accurately, wasn't listening anymore. She flew straight down, and began to fly through the enemies, while slashing at them.
*sigh*
"At least, listen to me."
Both sister began to create a carnage inside the ranks of the enemy's army. Even in the darkness, Albriar's army was winning.
Casualties happened, but it was minimal.
This battle was far from being over. There was just too many of the corrupted soldiers, who were tougher than the beasts from the previous wave, except the Corrupted Lord that appeared rather suddenly.
But, their number was definitely going down.
~
And at the same time, in a small forest patch.
"We've found you, coward."
Three people were walking toward Julian.