Things have not gone quite as King Beorn V. had wanted.
After taking Crawford and several smaller villages at Merdelum's border, he thought that Merdelum would be too busy defending their own border to help their allies in the north-west. However, despite employing the Shāyú-Yá clan, whose atrocities committed under Domitor's flag managed to instill fear in the hearts of both enemies and allies alike, he was not able to make any progress at any front, even losing some of the newly acquired territory in Merdelum. Additionally, both Ulsset and Yhose were now in the hands of Jhargas and Balmung.
"It is as you said, Advisor, fighting against this many enemies at once is less than ideal.", King Beorn lamented in a bored tone to the person standing next to his throne after being briefed about the current situation at the front lines. It was the one person his family had trusted the most in the kingdom for the entirety of its conception, the court-mage of Domitor, a hunched over man resting on a wooden staff, which reminded more of a random piece of wood one would find on the ground near a tree than the incredibly powerful weapon of a mage. He was clad in magnificent yellow robes befitting a noble, his face hidden beneath the hood of his robe at all times, with not even Beorn having managed to ever as much as catch a glimpse of lied beneath.
Nothing was known about this man, who had been in service of the Tenebre family ever since they had taken the crown during a bloody uprising, not the reason as to how he was able to live for hundreds of years, not his origin, not even his true name, as he preferred to simply be referred to as Court-Mage or Advisor only. Many believed him to be the devil himself, which had been the main reason as to why questions about him were kept unasked, at least, until Beorn V. took the crown, who refused to trust a man who had shrouded himself in mystery for ages.
The Court-Mage sighed heavily at his king's lamentations, as he knew that this was due to him having ignored his warnings.
"May I remind His Majesty that I strongly advised against making a move just yet? Edenia's destruction would have prompted the members of the Scholar's Alliance, the Magetowers of Einsamkeit, the Academia Arcana in Eisenfeste, and the Kaleidoscope Palace of Marktstadt, to try and fill-in the void Edenia had ripped into magic-society. Seeing as Marktstadt and Einsamkeit are closest to the southern border of Merdelum, the Northern Alliance would have had no choice but to clash against the empire to prevent them from reaching out to these three nations and creating a monopoly in magical research. Domitor could have used these tensions to sow distrust and aid the Northern Alliance in an all-out war against Merdelum, before quickly sweeping up the remains of the war-torn nations with the help of the 3 Legions. Now his highness has himself a war on three fronts with us at the disadvantage.", he chastised the king, who just scuffed at him.
"Yeah, yeah, we've already been through this. I just thought that you might have finally gone senile after not exploiting this most obvious of opportunities that has presented itself to us on a silver plate. My apologies.", Beorn asked in a nonchalant and insincere tone like a child who was forced to apologize by their parents, which caused the Court-Mage to wring his staff with both hands in anger as if wringing someone's neck.
"IT...will not be a problem, Sire. Everyone makes mistakes.", he replied with a strained voice, as if trying to hold himself back from shouting obscenities at the ignorant king.
"Now that that's out of the way, what would you suggest we do next?", Beorn asked.
"I think it is time to deploy the 3 Legions. Gather them in the north and order them to tear through the remains of the Northern Alliance, starting with Jhargas.", his Advisor suggested.
"Hm...yeah, that seems like a good idea at first, but won't we suffer great losses in the south because of this, especially after Merdelum realizes that we have played all our hidden cards at once elsewhere?", Beorn replied, unconvinced of how this will make a difference that could win them the war.
"We may suffer great losses in some battles, true, but we will win the war in the long run. Patience is key, as it always has been. Just keep throwing our sacrifices into Merdelum's path to slow them down, and our victory is assured.", the Court-Mage insisted, even emphasizing his insistence by stabbing his staff loudly into the floor.
However, the king seemed to have a different idea in mind.
"How about we do employ the Legions, but only to assist our regular troops at the front lines, until one of our enemies slips up? We could slowly chip away at our enemies, before concentrating our troops at the weakest of the three and taking them over one by one!", the king announced, causing the Court-Mage to become angry.
"Sire, with all due respect, I cannot overstate how foolish your suggestion is! If this war was to go on for any longer than it has to, there could be unforeseen variables interfering with-", the Advisor explained, his voice slightly shaking as he tried to keep his anger from showing, but was quickly interrupted.
"Hm? Even if the war was to go on for a while longer, would it not be immensely in our favour? Especially since the wielder of Balmung is using her own life-force every time she uses the relic weapon. Or is this about me not following your advise? Did I not just expand upon it? We will still use the Legions to attack them individually, just not necessarily in the order you suggested!", Beorn asked, though it was a rhetorical question, which the Court-Mage knew. There was no getting through to the stubborn king, so he decided to give in.
"...it seems I have been ignorant to his majesties brilliance.", the court-mage relented, much to the joy of his king.
"Splendid. Order the war-council to assemble immediately. I will await them in the conference hall!", he ordered, and went on his way, leaving the Court-Mage behind.
"Ignorant bastard! Imbecile! Waste of blood and flesh! Should have fed him to the plagueling chained in the catacombs as soon as he was born and made his inbred cousin the next heir instead!", he started to curse loudly at the king as he was sure that he had been out of earshot.
"Why couldn't he be like his predecessors, just blindly follow my lead like the good little sheep they are, so I don't have to slaughter them and start anew elsewhere...though I guess it matters not. My little present has arrived at Grattiel earlier than I thought...and who knows? Maybe I won't have to rely on Domitor anymore, now that the Anathema of Life has finally appeared?", he mumbled, before teleporting out of the room with a snap of his fingers.
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It had been a little over a year now since Corvo's sister was born, thus making her old enough to travel the distance from Zilia all the way to Caelum.
"Corvo, meet your little sister, Elvira.", his mother explained, as she motioned towards the sleeping baby inside the stroller in front of him.
As soon as he got closer to her, Elvira started to wake up, and now looked at him with her sapphire blue eyes, the same colour as his mothers. Corvo feared that she would start to cry as soon as she saw him, an unfamiliar face. Instead, she started to giggle and try to grab his face with her tiny hands, as if knowing that she was looking at her brother, which put a smile on Corvo's face.
"Aww...so cute! Both of you!", his mother exclaimed, and wrapped both of them in a hug.
"I still can't believe it! My son, the first recorded elemental mage to use the radiant-element!", his father announced proudly as they walked through Caelum's main shopping street.
"Eh, it's not even that useful, dad. The two spells I managed to come up with are draining so much arcanum that I can only use them sparingly. And the damage they do is less than that of the regular fire versions of these spells.", Corvo tried to explain, but his father had none of it.
"Nonsense! You just got started, and even now you have achieved more than most scholars in their entire career! Keep at it and who knows how far you'll make it!", his father reassured him.
"Hm...I guess you are right?", Corvo replied.
Corvo's parents had decided to spend the last few weeks of his summer vacation in Caelum with him, but after their first two weeks in the city, their plans were already interrupted, as during one of their sight-seeing tours, a very distressed looking Michael Riddar suddenly called out for them.
"By the Light, I finally found you guys! You need to get back to Zilia as fast as possible!", he announced, causing them to look at him with worried expressions.
"What's going on, Mike?", Corvo's father asked.
"The emperor just announced that all major cities will go into high-alert! Something seems to be going on at the front-lines, and there might be a general call-to-arms in all major cities. If they check your ID and see that you are former mercs, you might be enlisted despite having just had your second child, so a smaller city like Zilia, which is far away from the war, is currently your best option!", he explained.
"But...what about Corvo?", his mother asked, but Michael just shook his head.
"He won't get sent anywhere near the front-lines until he finishes the academy, so don't worry about it. You should make sure to pack your things by sunset, Paul's in town and he said that he will take you with him."
Thus the family reunion came to an abrupt end, with Corvo's parents giving him a tearful goodbye before returning to Zilia.
Three weeks later, Corvo and his friends returned for their third year at Rouclier, where they were briefed about the details of what had happened in the last two months during the annual opening speech of headmaster Calros. They noticed that there were significantly less cadets than last year, but before they could ask someone of the reason for this, Calros took the word.
"Welcome, recruits of Rouclier. I am sure that most of you are already eager to begin the next year, but first, I have to inform you of a few changes due to the current situation in the war against Domitor and its allies. As you may know, last year, our army managed to retake Crawford, and even push into enemy territory to an extent. It pains me to inform you, that not only has Crawford been retaken by the enemy, it had been razed to the ground, as have all nearby villages and military outposts. In case you have not yet heard about it, there is no need to worry if you happen to have civilian acquaintances near the northern border, as all citizens in the general area had been evacuated ever since we caught wind of Domitor's plans and were sent to Corazón."
His last statement caused sighs of relief among some of the cadets, who apparently knew people who used to live there, and solemn looks among those who had lost friends and family who were stationed in the area.
"However, that is not all there is to this. The reason for this sudden increase in Domitor's strength is the deployment of their kingdom's elite forces, which until now were known to us only under their codename of the 3 Legions. It is now known that these three divisions consist of 1.000 War-Machines of the highest grade, an army of Wyvern Knights, and 2 noble demonic families from Caligo they have forged an alliance with. We have received intel that the two demon clans are currently engaged in naval warfare against Jhargas, the Wyvern Knights have crossed the rivers and mountains separating Subalterne from Balmung, and their War-Machines are currently within our borders, aiding their orc-mercenaries in raiding our northern territories.
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As a consequence, the emperor has given the general call-to-arms, which entails enlisting all reservists and guards so they may be deployed immediately if there is a need to increase our troops at the front. This includes all guards within Caelum as well as most instructors of Rouclier. For this reason, we have not held any entrance exams this year, and all students below the third year had their contracts terminated to make up for time constraints our instructors are now subjected to. They, of course, will be compensated accordingly, with one option entailing a fully paid scholarship at any other academy within Merdelum.
However, we finally got some good news as well. Due to the increased military presence in Caelum, the Cloud-Festival will commence this year, with both Third- and Fourth-Years being allowed to attend this time. The emperor himself is said to be attending the festivities this year, as will the Luminary of the Ardent Path, so I demand your best behaviour this time. In the following months, we will give you the details on how everything will come to be, so you will have ample time to prepare. This concludes this year's briefing. May the Light of Order guide you on the Ardent Path.", he concluded his speech, knowing full well that his students would no longer be able to contain themselves after what he had just told them, and walked off, together with the other instructors. As soon as he left the hall, he could hear loud cheers of excitement, which caused a smile to appear on his face.
"We all need a distraction at times like this, no?"
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After the speech, Corvo's friends met up in the canteen to discuss the current events as they ate breakfast.
"They're actually gonna do it this year! Are you all going to attend?", Sean asked excitedly, and his friends nodded.
"Of course we will!", Mira replied.
"Yeah, but seeing as my spells take some preparation time, I'll probably only join the team division.", Corvo chimed in.
"Indeed, the team-division sounds like a good idea, though we will need another supporter as well, no?", Eleonora asked.
"Hm...I guess?"
"Speaking of supporters, we'll probably need a healer for the survival exercises as well, right? We're only 4, and without a healer, we might run into trouble sooner than later.", Sean explained.
"Think they'll let us choose our teammates?", Mira inquired, but the others just shrugged.
"I hope so, but I wouldn't bet on it.", Corvo said.
"True...a healer would be nice, but there aren't that many who managed to pass the test last year, so I doubt there are still any left for us to ask, even if we were to choose our teammates." Eleonora added.
"Hm...we could ask one of the instructors later. Since there are currently neither first nor second years, there shouldn't be any classes scheduled for today." Sean proposed, to which all agreed.
So, after they finished their meal, they all headed towards the training grounds, as some cadets they asked told them that their instructors were seen near the white platforms. And indeed, as soon as they arrived, they were greeted with the sight of Irene Karm, who was doing stretching-exercises in front of a humanoid construct clad in metal-plate-armour, which seemed to resemble a demon with 4 arms, each holding a long, slightly curved sword. Katanas, as they were known as, the swords most commonly used by elves.
Next to the platform were Salazar Blanche and Kassandra Lambert, who were watching Karm from a safe distance.
"Now, I want you to not hold back, okay? Do not worry about breaking it, Lothar assured me that it was just a prototype of those Elite-War-Machines when he sent it to me, and the battle-data we would get would far outweigh the cost for the golem, even though it was reinforced with some rather expensive materials!", the archmage explained, and Irene Karm excitedly got into position, the very same stance she had used as she dealt the finishing blow against the leader of the Crimson Snakes.
"Whenever you're ready, Blanche!", she yelled out, and the old man raised his hand.
"Alright. Do not get yourself hurt now, ok? 3...2...1...GO!", he counted down, before lowering his hand in one swift motion.
As soon as the archmage had given the signal, the eyes of the golem began to glow in a blue light, and it's joints began to move. A mere moment later, Irene Karm sprang to action, and brought down her great-sword on the golem, aiming for its head. However, just as quickly as her, the golem moved all four of its swords to intercept the blow. The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out throughout the training grounds, and though the blow was completely blocked, the golem was pushed a few inches back by the force behind it.
"Humph. Guess I actually have to use skills to do some damage, eh?", Karm huffed as she tried to pull back her sword.
However, it was held in place by three of the golem's swords, with the fourth one now heading towards her.
"Nice try.", Karm called out as she jumped away from the sword, which loudly smashed into the floor. Shortly after, her entire body, including her great-sword, began to glow in a faint white light. Her aura flowed evenly and smoothly, making it appear as if she was wearing a thing layer of translucent armour.
"Now give back my sword!", she yelled, as she pulled back her long-sword with such force that is caused one of the three katanas of the golem to break.
"Much better.", she exclaimed, as she took a few steps back as she evaded the follow-up attacks of the golem, who moved at such speeds that Corvo and his friends could barely keep up with it. Despite its speed, Karm not only managed to parry and evade its attacks, but even got to counter some of them with attacks of her own, though whenever she did so, the golem's armour would prevent her from doing any damage.
"You're fast, but can you keep up if I do this?", Karm asked, annoyance clear in her voice over not being able to deal a clean blow, and went for a stab, which turned out to be a feint as she pulled her sword back as soon as the golem tried to block it with all three of its swords. She used this brief opening to slide around the golem, and strike it in its back. However, before the blade made contact with its body, the golem used its 4th arm, which had discarded the useless hilt of the destroyed katana earlier, and grabbed her great-sword, holding it firmly into place.
"Oh no you won't!", Karm shouted angrily, and the glow around her grew stronger, as she increased the intensity of her aura, which turned what had until now resembled a thin layer of armour into something akin to steam being emitted from her body.
The arm of the golem began to shake, and the sound of cracking metal could be heard, as Irene Karm broke off the arm holding her sword. However, she could not complete her attack and strike her opponents back, as the remaining arms and the swords they held now headed towards her at alarming speeds.
"Tch.", Karm clicked her tongue in annoyance, and, to the eyes of Corvo and his friends, seemingly disappeared before the swords could hit her, only to reappear in front of the golem.
"That's it! HOW ABOUT YOU BLOCK THIS?", she shouted, seething with rage, as her aura started to flow more aggressively around her body, changing from white to light-red as it did so. Her stance changed, and she now wielded her greatsword with only one hand.
In the blink of an eye, she once again closed the distance between her and the golem, and brought down her sword on its head. Again, the golem tried to block the attack, though this time, Irene Karm used her free arm to divert the blade's path with a powerful punch, the force of which caused the blade to crack where it was hit. As soon as her greatsword made contact with the head of the golem, loud cracking sounds were heard, similar to a metal-can being compressed, as the sword began to push its head into its body, being driven all the way into were its stomach would be if it was a living being. Its legs immediately gave in, and the golem crashed into the white floor of the platform, destroying it in the process.
As soon as her sword had stopped moving, Irene Karm pulled it upwards, only to drive it down once more, burying the golem deeper into the ground in the process and destroying the plattform around it, making it look as if a meteor had crashed into it.
"That's enough, Ira! We still need to be able to find the thing if we want to know how much damage you did!", Kassandra Lambert yelled out to her as she was about to hit the golem a third time, which made her stop mid-strike. Instead, she drove the sword into the ground next to her, and exhaled a deep breath to calm down, which caused her aura to dissipate.
"Impressive as always, Lady Karm, except, I think you might have gone a little overboard with that last strike...though I guess I did say not to hold back, did I not? It seems the fault lies with my instructions here, but nevertheless, let us see what remains of the golem, shall we?", Salazar Blanche announced, before casting a levitation spell to pull the golem from the crater.
The remains of the golem were placed in the grass next to the destroyed platform, on the edge of which Irene Karm decided to sit down while it was examined by the two magi.
The three arms of the golem were angled in weird ways, as if broken, and the body itself was horizontally split all the way to the legs, though it was not by a cut, as the sword was not able to cut through the material. The sheer pressure of the attack had caused the metal the golem was made of to fold and rip like paper.
"The first strike seemed to have damaged the operating circuit, which was located where the heart would be...the second destroyed the battery-crystal powering the circuit, which was somewhere near the stomach, I assume?", Lambert asked, and Blanche nodded.
"Indeed, of one of these two weak-points is damaged, it will cease all its movements. However, only a mage or rouge-variant would be able to accurately pinpoint their location, which makes Lady Karm's approach to the situation the most reliable way to deal with them if one lacks such skills...though I doubt just anyone would be able to produce enough force to even put a dent into them without some form of enchanted weapon.
The golem and its swords are made of a bleksol-steel-alloy, most commonly known as mage-metal due to its conductivity of magic, so I guess something like dwarven-steel, adamantite, or akyronium-tipped weapons and arrows would be a good idea for those who do not possess such an item, though the cost of these metals has risen astronomically in the last few years due to the war...How about magic resistance?", Blanche asked Lambert.
"I tested some things with the sheets of metal you gave me together with some other magi among the city-guards. The metal can take heat up to 1.555°, so most pyromancers won't cut it. Same goes for low-tier earth- and air-magic, which, at best, would only be able to slow them down. Arcane projectiles are only able to slightly dent the metal at high velocity, as the projectiles are immediately dispersed on impact. However, even low-tier ice-magic causes the metal to become brittle, and, since the metal is highly conductive, electricity might be able to disrupt the arcanum circuits within, as will arcane explosions, seeing as they are known to interrupt arcanum-signals.", Lambert explained.
"I see... yes, if I remember correctly, there are quite a few soldiers capable of casting ice-magic, even among the warriors, so this will probably be the best solution. And when it comes to disrupting the signals, maybe we can find a solution together with other arcanists? Anyway, I will immediately send a message with our findings to the emperor via the emergency communication array. While I do so, it seems that some of our young recruits were looking for us.", Blanche announced the presence of Corvo and his friends, before briefly saying his goodbyes and vanishing with a loud popping sound.
"Well, Cadets Adelaid, Boreas, Rhedi, and Riddar?", Karm asked, and Mira took the word.
"That was awesome! I've never seen something like that! What was that red aura earlier? Will you show us how to do that?", she inquired excitedly, causing Karm to shake her head with a smile.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible. It's a skill that only berserks are able to learn, and none of you have the potential to advance to this class, I'm afraid. However, that was probably not the reason you four came here, right?"
"Yeah, we were wondering if the teams for monster exterminations would be chosen at random, or if we would be able to choose our teammates by ourselves.", Corvo explained, causing Karm to rub the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
"Already forgot about my explanations for first-years, hm? Well, to be fair, you 4 aren't the first to come to us for this, and probably won't be the last, so I'll cut you some slack. However, see to it that you fix your habit of ignoring instructions just because you think you already know what's going on, have I made myself clear?", Karm demanded, and the four hastily apologized.
"Alright, let me repeat the rules for this year then. Third-years will receive advanced training in their professions and other subjects in addition to practical survival training and monster-subjugations. Survival training as well as monster subjugations are done in teams of 5 which are ideally comprised of 1 tank, 2 damage dealers and 2 supporters, at least one of which should be a healer. You are allowed to choose your teammates, though if you are missing teammates, you will be assigned random ones who have yet to find a team of their own. Like other academies, we are working together with Feublan, so we will be joined by paladins- and clerics-in-training. Seeing as you are missing a healer, you'll probably be assigned one of their future clerics as a teammate. Make sure to get along, as the final exam will either be to reach the last floor of one of the 4 mapped-out D-Rank dungeons in Éclat with your team, or hunt down a bounty of similar rank. Also, your team will probably remain as it is throughout your mandatory service in the military, that is, as long as you do not get sent to the front-lines. Any questions?", Karm finished her explanation, and the four shook their heads.
"Very well. If you'd excuse me, there is still much to do. See you in class."