“Preposterous! There is no possibility that this is the truth of lightning!” Pherish sneered.

“Seeing is believing, go try it out. I understand it’s your lives that are on the line, which is all the more reason to at least try. I'll even refill your mana if you fire off a few tests,” Jiran shrugged, not particularly interested in arguing with the frustrating Pherish any longer, though he was excited to see what a tier nine or ten was capable of so he hoped one of them would take his bait.

They talked amongst themselves too rapidly for him to understand, giving him a moment to observe the state of the Forkara. They had set up resting areas behind their lines for the wounded and exhausted warriors. Surprisingly, more of them still flooded through the portal high in the sky, even though over three hundred thousand of them had already arrived. If they kept up this pace, they would soon outnumber the Imperials.

When Lostrifar teleported a few dozen meters outside of the group and raised her palm to the west, Jiran’s head snapped in her direction. Mana Omnis pulled at his mana as he focused on the energies surging within her. Her manapool appeared as bright and deep as a star and the further Jiran stared into its depths, the more dizzy he became. Finding the flare of a skill activating within it was like trying to pinpoint a particular spicule on the surface of a sun.

With a shake, he pulled his attention to the thick rope of energy wrapped around the outside of her manapool. Surprisingly, when her skill activated and mana began flooding through her channels, not a single mote of it came from that rope. Instead, once the energy left her manapool, it was refilled from the excess inside the coil.

So it does function as both a reserve battery for her manapool and a connection to her soul to form her aspect. In a lot of ways, it's similar to how I use my suit to store mana. Is it actually a formation then? I really want to ask her about it but she got all pissy last time and she’s definitely not the kind of person I want to offend twice.

Suddenly remembering all the times he had nearly killed himself when unleashing his full understanding of an element, Jiran reached out a hand toward the short tier ten.

Oh shit! I need to warn her!

The mana in her channels was converted to an element Jiran didn’t immediately recognize and within the span of a moment, it was gathered in the palm of her hand where it promptly vanished. His confusion only lasted a heartbeat before a distant mountain vanished. His words of warning died on his lips and sweat sprouted across his shoulder blades.

Turning back to the group, she flashed a vicious smile at Jiran, “Even with the impact spread out, that was several times stronger than before with less than half the mana consumption. I am very much anticipating our chat once this battle is over.” Her smooth yet excited tone was punctuated by the shockwave rising far in the distance like a tsunami. It swept outward in an expanding ring from the incinerated mountain, destroying everything in its path.

Jiran’s mouth was dry as his eyes were inevitably drawn to hers. Seeing the youthful monster licking her lips while looking at him with an intense expression caused a deep foreboding nervousness to circulate through his stomach.

He broke eye contact with her and cleared his throat, “A-anyway, that’s everything I’m willing to reveal at the moment. Those visualizations will increase the power of your elements by around five hundred percent. Together, you should be more than capable of dealing with one hundred beasts your tier. Also, feel free to find me if you’re drained of mana and I’ll restore you. Try to only come two, or at maximum, three at a time as any more than that will negatively affect my ability to focus.”

The tier nines, several of whom had become far more polite toward him over the last half hour, whispered amongst themselves, “Quickly, we must inform the emperors!”

Jiran waved off their concern, “Don’t bother, I told them everything before I met—”

The shockwave caught up to them, towering over a hundred meters high. Lostrifar swept her arm in a casual backhand slap and the wall of force simply vanished. Jiran wasn’t even given the time to examine the flow of her mana before it was over.

So fast! She was correcting her visualization step by step before. So that mountain-destroying attack that happened in less than a second was her version of taking her sweet time. Fathers above, she’s scary. And the emperors are nearly twice as strong as her and the Graymin King is another doubling from them. Maybe… this battle won’t go as smoothly as I thought. Even if the emperors could kill the King quickly, a single stay attack could wipe out a huge portion of the empire.

A tier nine ranker wearing elegant robes covered in plates of beast leather interrupted his thoughts, “You mentioned a technique that can pull the mana directly from a Graymin. You didn’t say before, what were the subskill requirements, exactly?”

“About that, I think I’ve shared enough knowledge…for free.” Jiran trailed off while glancing at Pherish with narrowed eyes, “I’m more than happy to explain in detail one on one. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave. I need to coordinate the movements of my allies with Olive and I still have several other preparations to make before the main Graymin force arrives.”

The powerful auras around him went haywire but were silenced when Lenton’s hand landed on his shoulder. The old man no longer towered above him like he had when Jiran was a child. When they locked gazes, Jiran was met by an unfathomably deep well of sympathy, “We understand your feelings all too well. Don’t be discouraged, disciple. From the very beginning, we each had our own part to play. Just as I cannot defeat Lostrifar’s opponents, she cannot face the emperors’. You’ve single-handedly turned what we all knew was a helpless situation into one brimming with hope. Now, it’s time for you to let us fossils take care of the rest. Watch our backs, protect our children, and catch up to us soon so we can see what someone our tier should really be capable of.”

After all this time, he’s still protecting me. I should have come to him sooner. Hang on a little longer, Master. I’ll definitely find a way to free you and Samris from your curses.

Jiran smirked, a fond glimmer in his eyes, “Right… In that case, I’ll surpass you soon enough. I hope you’re looking forward to retiring, old man.”

“Hah! That’s more like it,” Lenton flashed a proud smile while giving Jiran’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “Go on and get out of here, we’ll be back before you know it.” As Jiran raced toward his allies on the front line, Lenton’s hands blurred as he scratched the sores breaking out across his body.

image [https://i.imgur.com/LlXURdW.png]

Jiran flew toward the roiling mass of Graymin from high above. The challenger density absorbed only a few hours ago still pulled at his mind, demanding he charge directly into the beasts and rip them apart with his bare hands. He shoved down the impulse, infusing his eyes with additional mana to activate Mana Omnis. The layout of the battlefield morphed into that of a starry night as soldiers, pawns, and the warriors of Jiran’s various allies became little more than pinpricks of light.

Between the two nearest mountains and the edges of the new formations, thousands of clumped manapools were revealed. Jiran flicked Mana Omnis off and on again, confirming they were invisible to his normal sight.

Some kind of obfuscating formation. Considering the Forkara are fighting right in front of them, it must be Olive’s soldiers in there.

He spotted Olive inside the northeastern obfuscation array by picking out the unique colors of her mana. He headed in her direction and slowed upon nearing the fighting, taking his time to observe the Forkaras’ prowess. As expected, they fought from a distance, sending out sharp crescents of energy from their weapons that scythed through the lower-tier beasts while consistently cycling out their forces to stay fresh.

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The relieved forces gathered far behind the front line in an ever-growing camp. Most of the warriors there had half-empty manapools and a large tent was filled to the brim with unmoving bodies on the brink of death. Jiran headed for that tent while changing his focus to the horde.

The beasts had begun piling up against the new formations Lostrifar had constructed. They beat savagely against the invisible wall of force holding them back. The press of bodies grew as more and more beasts filled up the ‘flask’ shaped battlefield. The pile pushing against the wards grew by a meter in the short time it took him to near the tent full of wounded. Strangely, the wards seemed to be giving way ever so slowly under their growing weight. Jiran keenly remembered how the wards at Mortan were solid like steel and didn’t budge a centimeter no matter how much force was applied against them. Since the mana powering the wards didn't look like it was dwindling, Jiran ignored the strange phenomenon for now, making a mental note to ask Olive about it.

He landed softly before the entrance to the largest tent. Mana Confluence swept forward in the form of motes of mana that seeped into the broken, bruised, and torn bodies of the wounded Forkara. Within seconds, wounds were closed and organs were reformed. Fresh blood pumped through their veins and limbs were reconstructed. By the time the last of the living was back to full health, Jiran had burned through ninety percent of his mana and even his suit was completely drained.

Considering there was a literal army of living batteries just a few hundred meters away, he wasn’t at all concerned about draining himself so thoroughly. If anything, it was his mental strength that he needed to be wary of, for the battle had barely begun and he was already dizzy. Before he could be swarmed by thanks and praises, he sped from the tent toward the two flying tier sevens who had been monitoring him since he arrived.

“Dokkuun, Keara, good to see you both. What’s the situation?” Jiran called out to them.

“Senior Brother Guardian,” They spoke in unison while giving crisp, bowing salutes. Dokkuun continued after their greeting, “The Rising Sky Faction and the Storm Claw Clan are both split evenly between the two fronts and are coordinating with the other clans who have chosen to stick together on their respective sides. At our current rate of mana expenditure, we expect to be able to hold off the beasts for approximately twenty-four hours. None of the scouts we’ve sent north have returned, so we don’t have exact figures on the size of the enemy's forces.”

Jiran turned to Keara, his voice hard, though not in a reprimanding way, “First off, immediately stop sending scouts, leave that to the imperials. They are far more familiar with the Graymins’ capabilities.”

Keara snapped off a salute and released a gust of wind from her wings, blasting toward a distant group of flyers who looked like they were preparing to circle around the east side of the mountain.

“Do you have any other commands?” Dokkuun asked.

“Yes, I’ll begin draining the pawns of their mana shortly and distribute it to our warriors. I need to check in with the Imperial commander first and make sure she doesn’t have any specific plans for that mana. Since she’s familiar with my abilities, she might have already taken it into account. For now, maintain your positions and keep casualties to a minimum. So long as someone isn’t dead, I can heal them no matter how bad the injury, so make sure not to let our warriors die needlessly.”

“Understood. The clan heads are more than capable of protecting against fatal injuries with their auras, especially if you’re going to top off our mana.” Dokkuun grinned, the idea of endlessly fighting with full mana was clearly something he found exciting. “I’ll relay your orders now, Senior Brother Guardian.”

“Thanks, Dokkuun, for everything. This is far from over, so make sure your higher tiers are getting rest when they can. From what the emperors told me, their real forces are still days away and these are just scouts…” That news wiped the smile from his face.

They squeezed each other's shoulders and Dokkuun nodded gravely, “Thank you for the warning. We are already growing complacent. I shall make sure that does not continue.”

They flew in opposite directions and Jiran quickly arrived at the edge of the obfuscating zone. Inside, he found several lines of troops waiting anxiously behind and atop a hastily constructed wall of stone. Olive sat behind them at a desk with a few couriers lined up to dispatch her orders. The moment she noticed him, she jumped to her feet and motioned toward a nearby tent.

Jiran followed her inside and blocked sound with his aura. Olive sat, facing him with a conflicted expression. She tucked several loose strands of hair behind her ear while her gaze wandered around the interior of the tent, “We, uhm, didn’t really get a chance to talk last time… before Dagris pulled you away.” She paused awkwardly before jumping subjects, “So, did you meet my brother?”

image [https://i.imgur.com/ekMyTJf.jpg]

She’s acting strange again. Oh, duh. She must have known her father was going to try and marry us. Is she… not averse to the idea? Just in case, I better be careful with what I say so I don’t hurt her feelings.

“I don’t think so? Arden, right? I’ve heard stories about him, he definitely wasn’t with the rest of the rankers.”

“He wasn’t with them? Father must have sent them on a mission. I hope they’re okay.”

“If he’s as tough as you, I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Jiran’s reassuring tone caused a light blush to creep up her neck and she finally looked at him. Under the scrutiny of her intensely shining eyes, Jiran’s focus instantly slipped downward toward her uniform. He jerked his eyes back to hers, “W-what happened to the armor I made you? Do you need another set? I’ve made a few improvements since last time.”

She sat up ramrod straight, her hands clasped nervously in her lap, “Nope, nothings wrong with my armor. It's merely being cleaned.” Jiran raised his eyebrows to indicate his interest in the rest of the story but she quickly changed the subject, “Ahem, it’s only been a few days since we parted. How in the abyss did you make so many new friends? I wish you had warned me before, they really gave me a fright.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. It looked like you needed the help right away so I sent them without warning. As for how I met them, it's a long story and we should probably focus on coming up with a joint strategy.”

“Right, of course. I’ve seen first hand the strength of the flyers. They’re powerful and have an average tier above my soldiers which has really saved us a significant amount of casualties. I’m not sure how you plan to reward them for their assistance. If there’s anything I, or my family, can do to repay them, please let me know.”

“I’ll bring that up with their leaders, I’m sure there’s something the empire has in abundance that they lack. What are your thoughts on the distribution of their warriors?”

At Olive’s urging, Jiran moved toward a map spread across the only table in the tent. The hastily drawn plans weren't very large and when Olive joined him, she chose to stand close enough that their shoulders brushed against each other.

Jiran did his best to maintain a professional tone despite the rising awkward tension between them, “to avoid the language barrier, I think it would be best if all the Imperials are on one side and the Forkara are on the other. As for the Timberlings, err, the tree people, and Mayalyn’s people, we should have an even split. I’ve got a specific strategy in mind to capitalize on both of their strengths and communication won’t be necessary to pull it off.”

“That makes sense. However, I’d like to keep at least three of the Forkara tier sevens on my side. All of the Imperial tier sevens are under the command of the Duchess of Melathon. They will be moving north as soon as the Graymin’s true forces arrive. Uhm...Jiran,” She turned toward him, biting her lip anxiously as they locked eyes, only a few centimeters of distance between them, “You… talked to my father, right?” Olive was standing so close that he could feel the heat radiating from her body, and the soft, pleading tone of her voice was more than enough to send his heartbeat galloping out of control.

Shit, why am I so nervous all of a sudden. It’s just Olive. She’s the bossy princess and I’m the friend she has to constantly clean up after. That’s all there is between us… right?

“I was thinking we should wait until the battle is over before we talk about this,” Jiran deflected and was immediately frustrated with himself for running away from the issue. It had been so easy to deny the emperors, but seeing the hopeful look in her bright cobalt eyes had caused a lump to form in his throat that made it impossible to form the words he knew he should say.

“Yes! Absolutely, it can wait. You’re right, of course. I’ll move my soldiers to the western front.” They looked back at the map at the same time, breathing mirrored sighs of relief.

Jiran committed himself to that future conversation, determined to fully hear her out and not disrespect her feelings. With a subtle shake, he put the thoughts from his mind so he could focus on keeping his new and old allies alive, “All right. I was planning on supporting both flanks with mana from the pawns while picking off any rooks that show up. Will that conflict with your strategy?”

“No, that would be perfect. I only ask that you do not interfere with the new formations, my soldiers will handle that as they’ve already been trained on how to utilize the new function.”

“That sounds exciting.” Jiran snuck a peek at her vicious grin from the corner of his eye before refocusing on the layout of the battlefield, “Do we have any update on the total size of the horde? The emperors only filled me in on the number of higher tiers they’ll have to face.”

Olive nodded, “At minimum, twenty million between tiers three and seven.”

Jiran whistled, for the first time realizing just how much work they still had ahead of them.