Arrows rained down on either side of Eric as Max began his attack, and Moran and Johan charged forward to join the fray. They shot right past Eric and Lana as they hefted their weapons, and crashed into the eleven soldiers that had accompanied her via teleport spell. The others moved as they recovered, until the entire group streamed past the dueling pair, engaging the enemy.

Eric parried Lana’s attacks, again and again, ducking and darting to avoid her strikes even as Hunter dove at her, his claws and teeth flashing in his attacks. She was forced to deal with attacks from both, creating barrier after barrier at the very last second. She moved with expert grace, leaving no openings as she continued her onslaught. She was obviously trained to fight alone, relying on the might of her defense to protect her as she struck again and again.

Eric had suspected that she was a master of physical magicks, and he saw now that he was right. Twice he had attempted to disengage, but an invisible force had forced him back into the fight. It was as if a ring was trapping him in combat with her, preventing everyone else from helping or him from escaping. She was clearly forcing him to duel her through some kind of magic.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eric could see people escaping the palace, skirting the two groups, and fleeing to other parts of the city. None of the Attosian invaders paid them any mind, however, and Eric began to suspect that they were wary of breaking Shigeru’s Divine Law. The way that Lana moved made him think she was a student of his style, despite her bloodlust, so she wouldn’t be keen to stray from the very strict rule against injuring innocents.

Eric was not faring well, and he knew it. His initial success in the fight seemed like a fluke now, and he was barely able to keep up with the pace of her movements. Hunter was starting to flicker as he lost energy. Eric relied on stored energy to charge up his power, and that first appearance hadn’t provided much power. Any moment now, and the wolf would disappear.

Beran, meanwhile, was still moving at her original speed, her power and momentum unchecked as she continued her rush. Eric drew some small comfort from the fierce frown of concentration on her face, but he knew that she was the master in this combat. That didn’t matter, he thought. He’d achieved his goal of letting his friends recover. Time to change targets.

Without warning, the wolf vanished from view. It had run out of energy, and with a frustrated snarl, it simply disappeared. Eric dove through the space that it had occupied only a second ago, his swords extended. One of them glanced off a barrier that Beran’s armor created, but the other struck true, skewering her left arm and opening a large wound. She stumbled under the force of the attack, then he was gone.

Eric didn’t know what happened next, but he was knocked back as someone rushed past him, weapons drawn, and charged Beran. It was a tall, lean woman with red hair. She was clad from head to toe in soft-looking leather and had two long, wickedly-sharp-looking daggers. Beran blocked the barrage of slashes with her left arm, which looked as if it’d never been wounded. But before she could counterattack or even move, the new woman struck her daggers together, emitting a shockwave.

Beran was blasted off her feet, sent flying back two or three feet to land on her back with a groan. The red-haired woman hopped back two or three steps and grinned at Eric. “Nice to finally meet you in person, Eric. I’m Alice. Megen hasn’t let us officially talk yet.”

As Eric stared with open-mouthed shock at the woman, her form began to waver and shift. She wobbled in and out of view for half a second like a heat shimmer, then she was gone completely. In her place stood his friend, Megan, grinning at his obvious confusion. She’d told him about Alice, of course, but that was the first time he’d seen any evidence of the Infernal’s existence.

“Sorry about that,” she said, smirking at him. “I’m still getting used to her. But she’s strong, so I thought she’d be useful.”

“Well,” Eric said weakly, shaking his head to clear it. “You’re right about the strong bit. How did you know I was here?”

“Samuel,” she said simply, unsheathing a wand from her sleeve. “I knew you were stationed here. When I saw the explosion, I came running. Are you okay?”

Her eyes were focused on the cut on his left shoulder, and the nick just above one eyebrow. Apart from the annoyance of blood dripping into his eyes, it was a minor thing. He grinned reassuringly at her, but she still raised her wand to cast a healing spell on him. He felt the small wounds close themselves. Then he felt her mana latching onto him, requesting permission to connect completely. He gave it.

“Wow,” she said, with a slight shiver. “I had no idea you had that much Ki.”

Eric looked at her in some confusion. He knew what the effects of Master Ehran’s training had been, of course, but he didn’t know how she could tell herself. It must be something to do with the spell she’d just cast, he told himself. Either way, he wasn’t going to complain. He could feel new energy coursing through his body, and gave her a quick nod of gratitude.

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“Don’t have much to do with it,” he admitted ruefully. “I focused too much on training my body the past week. I don’t have much to do with it.”

“That’s no issue,” she said casually. “I’ll share a physical magic with you. Try it out on them.”

Eric turned to see where she was looking and noticed the two groups fighting each other. The odds were stacked pretty heavily against his friends, and he moved without thinking. Before he’d even closed the distance, an idea occurred to him. It wasn’t an idea he could have come up with on his own, but it was just what he needed. He’d seen some members of Issho-Ni use this same ability before, and had never considered that he could do the same.

The opponent facing Johan sensed his charging approach and turned to face him. Two feet away, Eric made a slashing movement with both swords, then darted forward. The spell was simple and well-known, but his opponent hadn’t expected it. Before he knew what was happening, Eric was just behind him, and the two slashes struck true, cutting deep wounds in his chest. He staggered under the blow, his eyes wide with shock, then fell to Johan’s next attack.

“I thought you didn’t know magic!” Johan shouted as he parried another attack with his small hand shield. “How many secrets are you keeping, Eric?”

“Just learned it,” Eric shouted back as he lunged at another Attosian with a laugh. He was parried and jumped back. “Don’t think about it too much!”

He and Johan moved to stand back to back, a standard maneuver from their time in the same company. Together, their defense was much better, and they rotated on the spot, striking out at nearby enemies. Their attacks cleared a little space, which allowed Moran a moment to fall back and redress his wounds. He grinned at Eric.

“Glad to see you remember some things,” he said loudly. “Let’s bunker down.”

Eric and Johan repeated the order loudly themselves, and the others in the group immediately struck out with vicious intent, forcing their targets back just long enough to hop away themselves. They joined Eric, Johan, and Moran in their protective formation. Max darted into the center, and Eric pulled Megan through the ranks to stand beside him. Now the weaker, supportive types were in the center, with the melee fighters facing out in a protective circle, forming a sharp barrier.

“Megan!” He shouted, getting her attention. “We’re bunkering down! Support whoever jumps out of the circle!”

He sensed rather than saw her nod of agreement, and felt her mana come to life in preparation. Beside her, not wanting to be outdone, Sora was doing the same. The connection between him and Megan broadened to include her and Max, and Eric kept his attention on the soldiers standing before them. He could feel Megan’s fierce concentration as she also kept a close eye on the fight, not to mention his condition.

Beran returned, a long cut on her forearm. Whatever Alice had done, it had destroyed the runes on her left arm, and one of the plates on her right shoulder. She was finally showing signs of exhaustion but rejoined the fight in the same grim, bloodthirsty manner. She struck out at Eric but was rebuffed by Moran, who swung his broadsword. She only just jumped away in time. This was the main purpose of bunkering down. An enemy couldn’t attack any single member of the group without risking serious injury from his comrades to the left and right.

She growled in frustration and pointed one hand at Eric. He felt the mana in her body coming to life, and raised his weapons defensively, ready. But before her spell had even made it more than an inch from her body, the mana that made it up was shattered. Beran looked past Eric to Megan, who’d just countered the magic, and her anger increased.

“Don’t think you can get away with cheap tricks like that,” Megan said, her eyes dark. “This won’t be like the Exchange. You stand no chance here.”

As more of her comrades were struck down by the determined members of the bunkered group, Beran quickly seemed to realize that Megan had a point. Now that the initial shock of the fight was over, the Tyrman force was re-inspired and ready for the fight. Cursing under her breath, Beran shouted for her men to fall back from the attack. It was obvious what was running through her mind. The surprise attack had failed.

Her soldiers disengaged and ran back to her. She didn’t seem to notice the Ahyans, her eyes locked onto Megan and Eric. “This isn’t the end of this. You’ll be seeing me again, I promise you that.”

Moran and Johan charged forward in pursuit, and Max unleashed a flurry of arrows, determined to prevent their escape. Beran made one quick gesture with her hand, knocking both attackers back, and her barrier stopped the arrows. She grinned at her rebuffed opponents, then darted forward. Her first struck Moran squarely in the throat, and an explosion of mana sent him flying back. Then, before Eric could react or even begin to move to attack her, she was back with her comrades, and then they were gone.

Eric ran over to where Moran had landed. “Alex! Alex! Are you okay?”

There was something wrong, he knew. He knew it even before he reached his old sergeant. Johan, Max, and Sora were there just as he was, their voices joining his in shouting for Moran. But it did nothing. Moran was laying without moving, his limbs spread and an expression of surprise frozen on his face. Eric put two fingers to the side of his neck, already knowing and fearing what he would find. Moran, his first leader, a capable warrior and fierce friend, was dead.

“Beran!” The shout was shocking, not for the source, but the volume and hatred it contained. Johan hadn’t even bothered to crouch beside his fallen leader but had run to the spot that the Attosians had disappeared from. Unnoticed by everyone but Eric, he dropped to one knee, touching the cobbles in the small area.

By the time the others looked away from Moran’s body to find Johan, sweeping past the weeping Eric and Max, he was gone. The momentary peace of the battle’s end was nothing. They may have rebuffed the invaders and saved the army of Milagre from a vicious sneak attack, but with the loss of their commander, they had still lost. Beran had taken their hope from them, right as they’d begun to taste the sweetness of victory.