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"The evacuation is 80% complete," Zuellni reported.
“It seems our time has run out. The enemy has arrived.” Karna pursed her lips as she watched the map projection the tower had helpfully put up. It showed the surrounding area and the people within. It also had marks for the various important people, and currently it showed their delaying force retreating back towards the ring of mountains, while the large army of the Flamescar Clan surrounded the mountains.
Most of the forces were just for containment, as they would be too weak to actually take part in the battle that seemed inevitable. In a battle involving dozens rank eight and nine beings, those of weaker rank would only become collateral damage, at best draining some of the power of the stronger beings. The Flamescar obviously had no plans to just throw away their painstakingly trained forces, so anyone below a certain rank just spread around to make sure there were no escapees or too much damage to the surroundings. The lower rank people might not be strong enough to sway the battle, but they could take care of any stray bursts of power.
The other side had gathered their strongest members into a single group that was pursuing the delaying force. The enemy didn’t seem to be in a rush though, which seemed a little odd. "They don't seem afraid that we'll run away," Tsumi commented as she entered the room where the projection was located.
The entire room was dedicated just for this purpose, with several powerful spells providing real-time information and illusions projecting them into a large and realistic map of the area. Anyone in the room could also focus on a particular point of the map and inspect things more closely with a thought. The area just around the enemy group of elites was obscured, showing that at least some of them were carrying items that worked against the spells used to gather the information.
"They're not. For two reasons. The obvious one is that we haven't finished the evacuation. They're guessing that if we were the sort of people to just abandon those that we hadn't evacuated yet, we wouldn't be here in the first place. A good judgment. Secondly, the forces they've spread around the mountains are building a formation that would prevent anyone inside from leaving. A formation that large and hastily created wouldn't stop a group like ours for more than a few seconds, but if we showed any inclination towards breaking through, the enemy would speed their approach to catch up." Karna explained, gesturing at the way mana seemed to be flowing around the area, starting to fall into a formation.
“I see what you mean. They’re quite well trained, setting something like this up so quickly. Even if they’re carrying pre-made formation flags that they just need to plonk down, it’s still a great show of cooperation and discipline. I haven’t detected any communication spells either.” Tsumi added. Using communication magic this close to powerful mages was an open invitation for the other side to eavesdrop. Even well-made communication talismans weren’t completely secure. That’s why they weren’t currently getting information from the delaying group.
“How are the wounded?” Karna asked, knowing Tsumi had gone to take a look if she could help. She was the Headmistress after all, and her expertise was quite wide, even if healing wasn’t her specialty.
“They’re coming around. Some of those that were involved in the battle were quite badly hurt, but Amaranthine and Ardani were able to take care of it. The Yuki-Onnas are able to take care of the rest with the help of the healing facilities. You failed to mention your tower has healing facilities by the way. I don’t know how even a third of that stuff works, but it was a little creepy seeing the wounded floating in some kind of tanks.” Tsumi had been quite impressed if she was being honest.
“You didn’t ask. And no one really asked for a tour either. We have a large recreation and training area as well as extensive bathing and sauna areas. We even have a pool.” Karna smiled. The tower had pretty much everything she could think of, though many of the facilities still needed a lot of furnishing and equipment.
“And a sex dungeon.” Gem interjected happily.
"There's no sex dungeon," Karna stated firmly.
“Are you really sure?” Tsumi grinned.
"I'm very sure," Karna replied blankly.
“Would you like a tour of the sex dungeon?” Gem asked teasingly.
“Gem.” Karna’s tone carried a stern warning.
“I think I’d really like to explore at a better time, yes. It seems this tower is full of surprises.” Tsumi kept grinning widely, though she got seriously quickly as the advance party reached the ship. “But we have another problem to deal with.”
Behind the advance group, a single person had floated high in the air and was now surrounded by a halo of fire. Even through the illusion, the air around the person was being distorted by the heat, and looking at him was a little like looking at the sun directly. "Yes, we do. Zuellni, deploy the defenses and make sure to protect the evacuees as well. Focus on defense, but be prepared to take that shot we talked about earlier when the opportunity presents itself. Tsumi, send a message to Amaranthine and Ardani. We're going out."
As they prepared to join in on the fight, two huge magical formations appeared above them. The first one was the one they had discussed earlier, trapping them in place. The second one was obviously created by the glowing individual to test things out, and a storm of fire started bombarding the tower with different kinds of flaming attacks, ranging from simple fireballs and beams of flames to flaming meteors and dark flames that looked quite sinister. All of the attacks seemed to get swallowed by the twelve white rings that appeared around the tower.
"Protective fields 8% saturated," Zuellni reported as the storm seemed to subside.
“What does that mean?” Tsumi asked as the transport rings brought them outside.
“The protective field can theoretically absorb almost everything, but only to a certain point. Once the field is fully saturated, the gathered power needs to be expelled or the entire field will collapse. The energy can be expelled earlier to ease things a bit, but the more saturated the field is, the more likely it is that something slips through and actually hits the tower. Also, the more saturated the field is, the worse the expulsion will be to the surroundings, and the increase is exponential. I don’t recommend doing it with anything living nearby.” Karna explained.
“Incidentally, that bombardment was strong enough that it would’ve really strained the protections around the Academy, or without such protections it would’ve leveled a large city. Our enemy isn’t playing around.” Zuellni added, the spirit floating next to them as they exited the tower.
"No, they're not," Wolfgang stated as the advance group reached them. "They're stronger than we anticipated. I'm fairly sure we can win, but it's not going to be an easy fight. It's hard to believe these are the forces of a single clan."
"The Wu-Jin isn't the strongest world in the Higher Planes for no reason," Tsumi stated simply. "They've stood alone for countless millennia and you've just discovered why they don't even cave into the demands of entire coalitions of other worlds."
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“So, what’s the plan. That last attack didn’t seem like good news, but it must have taken some wind out of their sails.” Wolfgang continued, undeterred.
“I’m afraid that is likely not the case. If my guess is correct, that glowing person, who’s called Inferno by the way, can throw around magic like that forever. As long as it’s fire magic that is.” Karna burst his bubble.
“How?” He asked with a frown.
"To make a complex explanation simple, he's drawing power from somewhere else and isn't really wasting his own. Speaking of, you asked for a plan. I have some good news. As long as we deal with that individual, I've got a feeling the others will retreat. The bad news is that we need to deal with him, and permanently." While she did have some basis for thinking the other devils might retreat, she wasn't fully confident in that fact. She was mostly relying on sketchy information and speculation about clan politics she'd heard third hand about. However, they did need to deal with Inferno, as the whole thing hinged on him, and she was planning on killing him anyway.
“That does seem to coincide with what I noticed. Many of the enemy elites didn’t seem too eager to fight us. They did it, but they didn’t exactly take the opportunity to tie us down and force a real engagement.” Arjuna observed.
"Internal clan politics at play no doubt," Ashanti added his two cents.
“So here’s the rough plan. I want the rest of you to keep the other enemies busy. No need to force it into a deathmatch like you probably already noticed, just make sure they don’t have the opportunity to interfere. Amaranthine and Ardani will support the rest of you. Arjuna and I will take care of Inferno.” Karna laid out her plan.
“That seems feasible if the two of you can do it. I mean, I have faith in Arjuna’s abilities, but why you? No offense.” Wolfgang asked a question that was on most of their minds. She was the weakest person present at least on the surface.
“Because I’m well suited to deal with fire. I also know how to deal with most of his fire-based tricks, while Arjuna is there to take care of his other abilities. We don’t really need to beat him though. We just need to force him to stay in place for long enough for my plan to take effect.” Karna explained a little cryptically.
“What sort of plan?” Arjuna asked as well.
"You'll see. Just don't stand next to him if you can help it. In fact, it would really help if all of you kept your distance from him. I hope all of you brought your fire resistance magical items because you're going to need them." Karna refused to explain.
To their credit, everyone had some magical items or armor that could protect them from fire. They were all experienced fighters and even adventurers, and fire was one of the most common threats one could face.
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Inferno looked over the home of the Yuki-Onnas. Things had gotten more complicated than he had expected. They had been warned that the ice youkai would have reinforcements, but the number and strength of those reinforcements had caught them by surprise. If he had not been present, it would’ve been likely that the enemy would’ve been strong enough to defeat their clan’s forces. Even with him present, things wouldn’t go too well, unless he fought seriously. It was hard to hold back and stop himself from destroying everything when he was serious. And killing the youkai and their own forces accidentally would defeat the whole point of this exercise.
He wasn’t particularly too interested in the ice women, aside from the reincarnator that had caught his eye. This was all about making a power play and improving the standing of their clan inside the empire. For that, the Yuki-Onnas were an asset, nothing more and nothing less. Now it seemed the whole thing wasn’t worth the trouble, but it was also too late to turn back. Besides, battle itself had its own rewards. A fight against a worthy enemy would hone the skills and will of his forces. And powerful people usually had powerful items on them that they could ‘liberate’. Like that oddly shaped spaceship.
The others in his clan might not recognize a spaceship when they saw one, but he could. Its presence here clearly signaled the presence of another reincarnator. And one with skill and knowledge to build a ship like that essentially from scratch. He seriously doubted any of the worlds in this universe had the infrastructure ready to build something like that. The problem was that he knew nothing of the capabilities of the ship. It likely didn’t have the power to harm him, but it could surprise their troops. And he couldn’t sense the owner. The damn central pyramid somehow resisted all of his attempts to probe inside. It had also taken one of his attacks without any difficulty, which was a little worrying.
‘It seems they’re finally acting.’ He thought to himself as the Powerful enemies scattered to face all of his clan’s forces. Maybe now the old farts of his clan would take things seriously. With a firm enemy in front of you, it was a lot harder to avoid getting serious.
Two forms separated to meet him in the air. The first one he'd seen before, though only from afar. They had wisely avoided him before, but now the dark-clad mage faced him directly, with shadows lingering around him in quite unnatural ways. The other one was new and would've seemed out of place if not for her form. 'They're trying to counter my flames by sending out a phoenix, eh? Not a bad plan, though ultimately futile.' The noble bird was just too weak.
He had never been one for long talks before fights, so he just sent an incinerator beam towards the pair. The glowing beam of fire energy glowed with blue light as the heat rose to the extent of almost setting the air on fire. To his surprise, the man didn’t even react, and the fiery energy deviated from its course, coming to rest above the phoenix’s head, forming a glowing orb. ‘I see. The little birdy is stronger than she seems. She has cultivated above her level.’
For a second, his eyes turned fiery red as he confirmed his suspicions. The phoenix had a True Name that definitely belonged to a reincarnator. It also worried him a bit. You didn’t get a name like Karma without becoming old and very powerful. Then again, you didn’t get a Name like Inferno easily either. This might become more interesting than he thought. Fighting this enemy might not have been very wise but letting her live and grow would be equally dangerous. He didn’t know if this Karma was the type to hold a grudge. And there must have been a reason so many reincarnators were sprouting up in this universe.
The shadow mage acted in turn, a gigantic spell formation taking shape above everyone, a storm of shadow energy coming out of the formation and attacking him, while at the same time a pitch-black dragon seemed to be climbing out of the mage’s shadow. ‘Starting off with a pair of ninth-circle spells, eh? They really brought along a monster, able to cast both simultaneously. Too bad you’re fighting against almost a direct counter.’
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“Look out!” She sent a mental warning to Arjuna as the man that was seemingly made of fire suddenly lit up like a small star, turning his surroundings into a raging inferno that burned away both the shadow dragon Arjuna had summoned, as well as the spell formation above. The man, Inferno, was apparently one of those old enough to be able to exert their Domain early, as the corona of flames burned away any foreign magic around him. The Domain also granted him perfect control over his preferred element within said Domain, which combined with his ability to draw power from the elemental plane of fire was a dreadful combination.
The heat and power even pushed down on the people fighting far below them, as the trio was currently at a height equaling the tops of the mountains the Yuki-Onnas called home. The two of them pulled some distance from the tiny star that had suddenly appeared. "Well, that's going to be problematic. His fires burn away all my shadows and making them unable to regenerate, leaving me fighting at less than my peak." Arjuna commented.
“Don’t worry. Just stick to the plan.” Below them, Zuellni allowed fifteen of the gravity focusing pods to stealthily float out from the bottom of the tower and they lined up towards the battle above. The Tower could fire a more powerful shot, but not while inside the atmosphere. Even using fifteen would leave a mark. Karna had purposely ordered Zuellni to not fire on the enemies before to avoid drawing attention. “Distract him for me for a moment. Something big and flashy.”
Arjuna obliged as thunder started to gather in his arm, forming an enormous lance that was growing in size and power. He’d picked the element as it was less likely to be affected too badly by the scorching heat. The devil inside the glowing star didn’t wait until the attack came, as old enough reincarnators knew the dangers of hubris. Usually, battles between similarly powerful mages ended up in one of two ways. Either it turned into a battle of attrition, or one of them managed to surprise the other in a fatal way. And the Inferno wasn't going to wait until he was surprised and launched his own attack.
As the power of the two nine rank mages clashed, Karna performed the real attack. Her fiery wings touched the flames inside Inferno’s Domain, and suddenly sickly black, brown, and green streaks were spreading through the fire. “You may command fire, but you’re much too young to compete with me when it comes to using it.” Karna’s beak twisted into a grin. Everything had a counter. All you needed was to discover it. And seeing as fire was one of the most commonly used and abused elements, she’d found plenty of counters in her studies.
Inferno was feeling sick to his stomach as the weird energy and substance invaded his Domain. It was like someone had poisoned his flames. He’d always known that flames were alive in a way, but he’d never even considered them alive in that sense. Well, there was a cure to such sickness, and that cure was to burn it out.
The flames around him grew in intensity as pillars of flames and lightning struck the ground as the atmosphere started igniting. To Inferno’s horror though, the weird sickness in his flames only grew worse, and the sickly energy seemed to be coalescing into something that looked like tar, sticky and thick, but most importantly sickly. He didn’t have time to concentrate on the problem either, as the bloody shadow mage renewed his assault, sending streams of lightning his way, apparently channeling them from his fingertips.
He saw no other way to get rid of the sickness, other than to shut down his flames briefly, to allow the impurities to go away. That turned out to be a mistake as a dome of shadows seemed to swallow him immediately, and he heard the phoenix utter a single word. “Now!” Before his whole existence seemed to be torn to shreds as powerful energies assaulted him.
Everyone else was equally shocked as a sudden stream of thick destructive energy was shot from the tower, through the dome of darkness and towards the sky. The energy easily punched through the barrier that had been erected to pen the tower and the Yuki-Onnas inside, as it lanced towards the skies, boring a hole through the cloud cover. The ground wasn't spared either as despite the distance, everyone felt that they were pulled towards the deadly beam, and they could've fallen inside if the beam had fired for a longer time. Even now it left behind quite a bit of devastation, as the ground beneath the beam had been torn asunder, forming a long round ravine for several kilometers, while the ground around the ravine had sunk significantly, cracking under the pressure. Debris and rock were floating in the air along the path the beam had taken, as gravity in the air was permanently altered, leaving behind small floating islands.
“Yeah, that’s gonna draw some attention. We might want to leave real quick.” Tsumi commented from the ground, sending a mental message to everyone.
“Not quite yet. There’s still something I need to do.” Karna stated as her phoenix form landed on the ground near what remained of Inferno. The man was still breathing, although his body was mangled beyond recognition. One really shouldn’t underestimate the tenacity of rank nine beings, as given enough time he would recover, even from this state. She wasn’t planning on giving him that time though.