Jerkily, Julius grabbed his sword and jumped onto the wall as if he would see more from up here, but he did not. He stared up at the sky in horror, and a moment later he could hear a loud, muffled sound. Fengari's massive body crashed back against the barrier, whereupon people began to scream.

"Fengari is... a dragon?", the king uttered in surprise, propping himself up from the wall with his hands without taking his eyes off the 4-meter tall dragon. Fengari was fighting with the biggest creature Julius had ever seen. He knew the Chronicles of Creature lore, but even there he had never read of such a creature.

"Yes", Julius threw back, bitingly, looking down at the king. "High-Magician Caleb Leuen had sent her to Bellator to protect Prince William and the city."

"She were... his eyes and ears", William muttered in disbelief as he realized the significance of the statement. From the beginning, the little black cat was not a cat at all, but a dragon. King Leonhardt and Prince William became abruptly aware of this. "Marion..."

"Fengari was the one who discovered the Thormod back then, yes", Julius confirmed instantly, and to his tongue at the comment. He was aware that Fengari was supposed to reveal her existence only in extreme emergencies, which made him realize the seriousness of the situation. In front of them was an unknown creature with unknown power, and outside the barrier there had to be one of the leaders still on the move, coordinating the attack. Or more than one. Or the chairman himself was here, which Julius Venlan thought was relatively unlikely.

As if Fengari had heard his thoughts, she pushed the creature away from her and turned to face the people inside the barrier. Julius could have sworn her bright eyes landed directly on him as she did so.

<"The Chairman has been sighted in Altona">, she announced to him, turning away before spitting fire again. <"Focus on the other creatures, I'll take this one myself">.

<"Can you do it?">

<"Of course, who do you think I am?">, Fengari threw back, and in the next moment she released a concentrated amount of mana. The next thing Julius could see after that was a crack in the dark cloud cover. Fengari had disappeared, leaving a gap that allowed people to see outside. Whatever Fengari had just done, she had pushed the creature hundreds of feet to the north and rained her fire down on it.

"By the gods", William interjected, getting scared. Ben was out there somewhere, and the dragon was just putting up a fight that could have come straight out of a storybook.

"We should focus on the creatures", the king raised, using the communication crystal to inquire what condition his soldiers were in. The troop leader's response, however, caused the king to put on a grim face. "This is not good at all."

"Should we abandon Bellator and retreat? I can move the barrier", William declared, looking up at his father, but Julius jumped in at that moment and turned to face him.

"I don't think that's a good idea. There are way too many injured people here that we can't just move. Besides, we don't know how many soldiers are still seeking refuge here. If we leave, we could unwittingly send them to their deaths."

"Then what do you suggest, Julius?", the king spoke up, causing him to turn around to the rear.

"Hold the fort", he answered honestly. "With your permition, your majesty, I would go to the border of the barrier and try to help there. It would be a waste for me to stay in here."

"That may be true", the king muttered, but his statement sounded anything but confident. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I am", Julius replied, detaching himself from his cloak so that his uniform was clearly displayed. "We'll have to take the fight to Bellator and rely on High-Magician Leuen's barriers."

"And if William loses the connection again?"

Abruptly, Julius paused and turned to the youngest prince, who was currently keeping the entire city alive. The king was right on that point, but what else could they do? They were all not mages, and the dragons already had their hands full.

<"Fengari">, Julius therefore raised his voice and turned in their direction. <"Can the King and I speak with High-Magician Leuen for a moment?">.

<"Yes, wait a second">, she replied immediately, which is why Julius stared silently at the sky. Shortly after, he could feel something change, as from one moment to the next, he felt a tremendous dominance of Mana within him.

<"I'm in the middle of a fight right now, Julius. Please be brief">, the High-Magician's serious voice rang out shortly after, causing Julius to wince in surprise. He had not expected the High-Magician to address him by his first name. Unintentionally, his gaze landed on King Leonhardt, who gave him a visibly irritated look.

<"What just happened to your Igrikum? Prince William had lost the connection.">

<"There was a leader who could block nature's mana. I unintentionally ran into his radius and took a few minutes to kill him.">

<"So it shouldn't happen again, right?">

<"No">, Cale confirmed. <"It won't happen again.">

<"Alright, thanks for your information. Be careful and stay alive.">

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

<"That's what I should tell you. Stay alert. You too, your majesty">, Cale declared, and shortly thereafter he disconnected. Julius, however, turned to the king and dropped his cloak on the wall.

"Did he lie?"

"Hard to say. Didn't sound like it, but to really judge I'd have to see him with my own eyes", King Leonhardt explained, taking a step closer. "How long have you been talking like this?"

"Since the incident with Prince Marion. As far as I understand it, it's an ability of the dragons, but I'm not quite sure myself how exactly it works", Julius replied, brushing a long strand of hair from his face. "I will set out, your majesty. You will witness what is happening on the battlefield this way."

"Please be careful, Julius."

"Of course", he replied, bowing to the king as he asked Fengari to pass all information on to the king now that he would be going into battle himself. Turning to the prince, he noticed how anxiously William looked at him. With a gentle smile, he told him that everything was fine before taking his sword in hand and leaping over the rooftops of the city.

With an elegant leap, he landed at the gates of Bellator and exited the barrier as dozens of people approached him. A creature was chasing them, so now Julius didn't hesitate, gathered his mana and shot forward. With a precise, straight motion, he stabbed the sword into the creature's head, causing the heavy creature to instantly crash to the ground. Disgusted, he pulled out his weapon, swung the blood from it in one motion, and kept running.

Julius attacked every creature he saw. Some took him only a few seconds, but some took him several minutes. Some soldiers seemed to have noticed him, because they gathered near him, forming their own small defensive line that kept the creatures from the walls of the city. In the distance, Julius could see Fengari, who was biting the giant's neck and spitting fire again, but its skin seemed to have a resistant to flames, for it bore no injuries.

"Sir Venlan!", a familiar voice spoke up, and as Julius turned, he recognized one of the men in black who had accompanied Loys.

"Sir Insing? What happened to you guys? Where do you come from?"

"From near Krya. We were overrun and an Uachref beat me up bad", Adjust explained, coming to a stop next to the man for a quick breath. His fully bled hand and the wound on his chest, however, rather caught Julius' attention.

"Do you know where Loys is?"

"Unfortunately, no", Adjust replied, rising before reaching for his sword and killing a creature that had approached them. "I have not seen Loys since the creatures invaded Krya, but I have run across his son."

"At least Benjamin is still alive", Julius lifted with relief. "Where are the rest of your people?"

"Killed. The few that survived are on the east side of town, helping as best they can. Is everything all right in Bellator? Do you know anything from Altona?"

"Altona has a huge problem because the Chairman of the Thormods was recently spotted there by the High-Magicians. Bellator still stands thanks to Prince William", Julius explained, turning back to the creatures. "Go to the city and have your wounds tended. The fact that you can still stand at all like this is amazing."

"I will, thank you. Be careful", Adjust still raised before limping his way back to the capital. In doing so, he inadvertently ran into a young woman and both instantly excused themselves. Another woman appeared behind her and held the first lady by the arm before they started a small argument. Adjust Insing, on the other hand, ran inside the barriers while Julius instructed his soldiers to spread out a bit to cover a larger area.

"Mister", a female voice spoke up in the next moment, causing Julius to turn backwards in irritation.

"You shouldn't be out here."

"Let's go back, Resneme", a second woman spoke up, tugging on the arm of the lady Julius had just addressed. "Please."

"You work for the royal house, don't you?", the first woman inquired, whose name must have been Resneme, completely ignoring the second lady.

"As you might know, I'm quite busy", Julius threw in dismissively, killing one creature, when suddenly another leapt past him and charged at the women. Immediately, he turned backwards and took a swing at the creature, but the strangers beat him to it. With a small amount of water, Resneme surrounded the creature, which instantly began to drown. "You are a mage?"

"Not really. I don't know much", Resneme countered, dropping the dead creature to the ground after a few moments. "I saw that dragon appear from the palace and also how you had just left the estate. Are you in contact with the dragons?"

"What do you want from me? You can see that the dragon is helping us."

"I am aware of that", she replied calmly, which surprised Julius. "With its fire, the dragon won't be able to do anything. This is an Ozen, whose skin has a natural resistance to heat and fire."

"An Ozen?"

"Yes. The dragon won't be able to fight it."

"And you're sure of that?"

"Certainly!", Resneme confirmed, causing Julius to turn towards the mountains and see Fengari being yanked to the ground and frantically shooting a massive wave of fire at the creature, who showed no reaction.

"Do you know what could kill it?"

"Normally, extreme cold would help, but I doubt High-Magician Vonstetten is in Sylve...", Resneme spoke up. "... which is why I'm offering you my help."

"How can you help the dragon? You just said you're not a mage."

"I'm not, but I am capable of stopping the creature's mana cycle. If the Ozen can't use mana anymore, then it loses its resistance and the dragon could kill it."

"And you're sure of that?"

"Certainly."

"How do you know about that?"

"My mother had told me earlier about the Ozen's, the first giants, as we also call them. Most of them live in the north of Tsuke and Frignez", the young woman explained, making Julius realize three things. The first was that this woman's family was probably not from Sylve, otherwise she probably wouldn't know anything about the Ozen. The second was that he underestimated the woman, just as he had done with High-Magician Caleb Leuen back in the day. She seemed far too young and harmless, but the possibility existed that she had a cruel past behind her and needed to learn to survive. Similar to what Caleb Leuen did. But the most important thing was that this Ozen was a natural enemy of the dragons. Was there a possibility that the chairman had sent this creature to Sylve on purpose?

"Do you have the confidence to do that? How close would you have to get to the creature?"

"I need direct physical contact", Resneme replied plainly. "I know I'm asking a lot, but the dragon will probably die needlessly if I don't intervene."

"So you want me to ask the dragon to lure the creature here to the capital, so you can touch it and block its mana."

"That would be the short version."

"You are crazy."

"Then I'll go out there if you prefer", Resneme threw back.

"Are you insane?", the stranger interjected, who had so far stayed out of the conversation. "We won't last ten minutes out there."

"What else do you want me to do? Let people die even though I can help them?"

"It's too dangerous!"

"As if we could hide our whole lives, Yasne. Have you forgotten what happened back in Kutam? Do you want the whole thing to happen again?"

"Kutam? You two are from Kutam?", Julius spoke up in surprise.

"We are, yes", Yasne confirmed. "You know what happened then, don't you?"

"I have been informed of it, yes. Forgive me, but who exactly are they?"

"Forgive me, I had not introduced us", Resneme lifted and bowed to Julius. "My name is Resneme and this is my younger sister, Yasne. We moved to Bellator after the attack on Kutam and have been working at the State Institute for Youth Education for some time. Neither of us are great fighters, but I think we could help you."