Chương 52: Valour on The Field of Battle

Unlike nearly everyone else in Arcoryx, Ophelia didn't mind when the city's barriers broke and the Living Mana surged in. In fact, she looked forward to it. So, when the massive spell-circle-powered dome of magic keeping Arcoryx City safe fractured and shattered, Ophelia simply channelled her magic and got ready. Time for Heartshield Second-in-Command versus Living Mana, round two. And this time, she was not going to be so ineffectual that she ended up needing to be saved by some unknowable, overpowered mage.

"You appear ferociously prepared, my lady," Sir Taul said. Ophelia didn't look at her fellow Mage Knight. She should have. He had left the rest of his Knightly Conclave, the Stoutwind Militants, to come join her in defence of the main road leading to the academy. That was an honourable act, if ever there was one. But her focus remained entirely on her enemy. On the flood of familiar crimson power falling upon them in an apocalyptic mixture of storms and tidal waves.

"This is my second time facing this Living Mana Incursion, as I've mentioned already," she said.

"It would be highly unfortunate if I failed to end it here once and for all." Taul looked over at the sheer scale of their opposition. He gave her a sharp grin. It made him appear even more lethal than normal.

"You think rather highly of yourself, don't you?"

"Not at all. Merely that I intend to do everything in my power to win, everything that I should have done the first time I encountered this Incursion." Their discussion paused as some Warden Mages arrived, which led them to talk tactics. Ophelia did her best to contribute as they reiterated their defence plans. The city's High Warden already had a plan of action for cases such as these, and despite the high rank of Mage Knights like Ophelia and Sir Taul, they still needed to act as the High Warden ordered.

The chain of command was important. Especially in situations such as these, where chaos was just one wrong step away. Where chaos could be fatal. Their little chat ended quickly as the Living Mana finally landed upon them. In no time at all, they were all in position. As directed by the city's High Warden, Ophelia was to guard the main throughway leading to Arcoryx Academy.

Besides two other Mage Knights, some Enforcer Mages, and several of the city's Warden Mages, there were also members of the academy present too. Academs for the most part, but some more experienced students as well. Ophelia took in a sharp breath and cleared her mind. She knew what she was fighting for. She knew she had no room for failure. Unbidden came the image of those metallic green crystals wiping out the Living Mana. She knew the heights she had to reach. So, Ophelia held nothing back.

She had grown stronger even in just the few weeks since she had last met that thing. And it wasn't really the encounter with the Living Mana that had spurred her to dedicate hours upon hours to training and progressing her magical and knightly prowess. No. It was meeting that impossible being, the one going by Ryland, that injected adrenaline straight to her soul. Ophelia's goals of crossing Exalted into Titan and perhaps reaching Primordial one day felt almost miniscule in the face of the power he had displayed.

Because surely he had to be well beyond even Primordial-ranked. Maybe even… It seemed impossible to consider that an apparently unknown entity could be someone that strong. Where was the fanfare? The rumours and whispers? Where were things getting upended by someone so powerful moving through society? Yet, she had seen the fathomless evidence of his strength. The boundless might of his magic. She had so, so much farther to go. And so, she went.

[Relentless Sentinel] was stronger now, new Subglyphs improving the power the spell gifted her. Rippling energy ran through her muscles, made her hair start waving around her head, creating a golden halo around her entire form. Ophelia screamed out a challenge as the first of the Living Mana reached her location, and also screamed out her trustiest spell." [Unrivalled Call]!"

The halo turned into an auric inferno, glints and spears and beams all flying off her form to strike at the abominations trying to stand before them. She was at the very forefront of the defence, the first point of contact between the Incursion and the defenders. So, she made sure the Living Mana knew just what kind of opposition they were facing. Her magic ripped satisfyingly through the monstrosities she was facing.

Lines of gold lashed through curtains of flesh to tear apart the amalgamations, spewing blood everywhere. She didn't rest there, of course. The Incursion's ability to regenerate was unparalleled going by the reports that had been shared so glints and sparks of her energy landed on the broken pieces of the horrors assaulting them to eradicate them entirely. No quarter. No mercy. Not when the alternative was surefire annihilation." [Saviour's Bulwark]!"

Her defensive aura flared as she thrust deeper into the Living Mana, amber energy hardening into protective planes all around her. She didn't lose herself too much to the battle. Formations had to be maintained. Those that needed it had to be protected. She was more than experienced enough to devastate her enemy even while making sure that she didn't put anyone else in jeopardy. Calls rang out behind her.

Battle cries, orders from superiors, the din of weapons and magic clashing against hordes upon hordes of ferocious monstrosities.

"Hold the line! Hold the line!"

"Take the left. We'll take the right."

"Incoming! From one o'clock!" None of them were really meant for her. As one of the most powerful defenders, the High Warden had specifically stated that she would be given freedom to act as she saw fit, within the bounds that he set. Her second Mage Knight companion, Sir Bruten, landed next to her. His huge mace was covered in blood, though he appeared speckless.

"My, my," he said, surveying the streets and buildings around her.

"You're brutally efficient, my lady."

"We can't afford not to be, Sir Bruten," she said. A quick whip of her sword shed the blood on her blade, burning it all away with flashes of gold. Her shield was safe thanks to [Saviour's Bulwark].

"You remember the key points of our tactical discussion, yes?" Sir Bruten tapped the gore on his face.

"Indeed." Ophelia nodded, having finished catching her breath. It was time to get back into it. She had eradicated her opponents rather quickly, which meant she was now free to attack the ones assaulting her allies. Ophelia flashed in with rays of blistering gold, shattering lines upon lines of Living Mana amalgamations and freeing up the Wardens and other defenders. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. They thanked her.

In some cases, they cheered for her too. She took it in stride and moved on, laser-focused on nothing but the eradication of the Incursion. A part of her thought about yelling at the others to remind them that this was far from over, that there was a reason she was eviscerating as much as she could. But it wasn't necessary. Her actions spoke far louder than her words ever could.

The urgency of her fighting, the sheer aggression she had been suppressing until she aced something like the Living Mana, inspired ferocity in her fellow defenders too. Something very necessary because the Living Mana started growing stronger. One of the key points of intel she had submitted to the High Warden upon request was this unique phenomenon of empowerment.

She had cursed herself for not figuring out how exactly it was getting stronger—which Ryland probably would have known—but her information was still valuable. Because, as the Living Mana's power burgeoned into a greater threat, the defenders were ready to pull out all their stops too. Sir Taul leaped from building-side to building-side, like an ape in the forest, his spears flying into the Living Mana with drilling green power.

Not far from Ophelia, Sir Bruten had cast the signature [Avatar] spell of his Conclave, a larger glowing version of himself swinging around his enlarged mace with brutal power. Ophelia met the Living Mana's fury blow for blow, strike for strike, and superseded them. It didn't matter what she faced. Tendrils bigger than the train she had ridden into Arcoryx on, horrors that would have made the ones that had attacked said train run away in fear, and the irrepressible rain of rotten, odorous blood.

She annihilated them all." [Bladegod Stance]," she incanted. Her golden-bladed slashes mirrored around her in a radius of fifty handspans, a storm of her slicing power cutting through a wide swathe of empowered Living Mana. The blood and bloodied bits immediately started reforming, but she was on that too." [Unrivalled Call]." Another golden inferno burned the area around her, wiping out the Incursion's leavings for good. It gave Ophelia just enough room to quaff down a mana potion.

Her manasoul had flared sunlight bright at the start of the battle, but it was naturally flagging after extended effort. The potion would help restabilize it in no time. The problem with the Living Mana's renewed ferocity was that the intensity of its assault was causing their defensive lines to get frayed. While Ophelia could rest assured in her own power, the same couldn't be said for every Warden or hastily-conscripted militia or even the Academs. Several had fallen back, leaving gaps in their formation.

She could only hope those were injuries and not fatalities. But it meant they were being forced to switch things up. The formation had to change to account for reduced manpower. Sure, the High Warden had already set contingency formations for this exact reason, but there was another problem that came alongside it.

"I'm going to tackle that thing," Sir Taul shouted down from a nearby rooftop. He was indicating the smaller cloud of Living Mana heading in their direction. It was an offshoot of the bigger mass that had clouded over the entirety of Arcoryx City, and it kept spearing out more bony and fleshy tendrils at them. Its leavings were turning into more horrific creatures that were intensifying the assault on their lines. Sir Taul was right to engage it. With his spears, he was the best suited to do so.

But it also left Ophelia as the only Mage Knight close enough to the rest of the defenders. Sir Bruten had already ranged ahead, tearing through the flesh horrors in the neighbouring district. Which meant that, as the defenders' numbers thinned, they were looking to Ophelia to keep them in line. She didn't curse that fact. This was a consequence of battle, a normal result of the prowess and experience she had accrued. If the defenders' leaders fell, then she'd need to step up.

It just sadly meant she needed to realign her focus. Simply tearing through the Living Mana by belching out magic wasn't going to be enough. Ophelia had to be a commander.

"Range out and cover twenty-third and twenty-first streets," she said when the Wardens looked to her after their nearby formations broke.

"The other streets will just funnel into those two, so we don't need to cover them all."

"We've commandeered the nearby structures for some of the mages, my lady," said the seniormost Warden. Ophelia nodded. A few moments later, after she had primed several of the nearby buildings with [Goldburn Trace], they were faced with more little disasters.

"The western lines have fallen, my lady," one harried Warden was saying.

"How could you let something like that happen?" a masked Enforcer asked viciously.

"You're Warden Mages of Arcoryx City. Nothing should make you fall."

"Enforcer," Ophelia said with a warning note. Now wasn't the time for berating. She refocused on the Wardens nearby.

"Draw closer to the academy. Prime the streets and buildings with Inscriptions as you retreat. Standard procedure." The Warden nodded stiffly. She seemed even younger than Ophelia, which was saying something. A small pang echoed in Ophelia's heart at the shadow of trauma on the young Warden's face. This Incursion… She tried not to feel self-recriminating. So much for her hopes of ending the Living Mana Incursion with her growing power.

She had been hoping to reach Titan-ranked through this battle, and the sheer number of opponents she had defeated had surely taken her a good way towards her goal. Yet, it felt meaningless in the face of the Incursion. Far from stopping it, its endlessly rising power just made hope start to die in her heart. Well, hope for herself, that was. Because Ryland was present in the city, wasn't he? If he was, then would he step in once more and destroy this Incursion as utterly as he had done the last one?

Even if she failed, Arcoryx City should still be safe, right? The thought made her heart feel like it was tearing apart. Why was she needing to rely on him—on anyone else—again? No. Enough. Ophelia's grip tightened on her shield and sword. Her Inscriptions burned with blinding radiance, glowing on her armaments and armour. The Wardens nearby stepped back hesitantly.

"Mage Knight…?" one of the Wardens murmured.

"Follow my lead," she said.

"We're not letting the Incursion take a single step farther." Her words were a prophecy.

"Fight on!" she shouted as she waded into the fray, her words echoing off buildings and down the streets. The battle turned even more ferocious. Ophelia's shield caught a monstrous arm big enough to crush a home, before her riposte sent eradicating auric power right inside the flesh and bone and blood. Her next slash sent an arc of burning gold that wiped out a horde of malformed horrors, and the buildings behind them, completely cutting off that direction of attack. She wasn't the only one.

A tentacle wider than an apartment was stopped by several Wardens manipulating glowing strings. An Academ had called upon a gargantuan carnivorous plant to start eating the monsters. Ophelia had to applaud the ingenuity. In between all the chaos, she was issuing new orders while also calling out encouragement. They really were not letting the Incursion through.

"Mage Knight!" a young woman's voice called out.

"Are you in need of support?" There was a tiny bit of reprieve for Ophelia to look back and see what the question actually meant. She needed just a couple of rapid heartbeats to decipher the situation. The Excursion Club from Arcoryx Academy was looking for permission to join the battle properly. And she knew just what to say.

"Excursionists!" Ophelia replied. Her magic flared, the golden aura of [Saviour's Bulwark] physically repelling the monsters trying to reach her.

"We must occupy the Living Mana's attention here while the others deal with its source above us. Stand with me! Stand against the vile threat to our lives." They took her words to heart, yelling rousing cries as the students entered the fray, Glyphs burning into being all around them. Not all of them were as enthusiastic about joining the battle. Even to Ophelia, busy as she was with the Incursion, that was evident. But she knew that if they didn't stop the Incursion here, they'd be in heaps of trouble.

"Truly," a drawling voice said next to her.

"You would endanger children?" Ophelia was momentarily caught off guard. It was the Enforcer.

"When I was a youth, I threw myself into confrontations when it was necessary. Right now, the threat we face is existential." She didn't even know why she was explaining herself to the man. There was something off about him.

"If we all don't fight now, we'll consign this whole city to death!"

"Hmm. I see your pompously pernicious perspective. Indeed, I do. Enough that I should probably take care of it." She didn't know what in the world he meant, and—and where had he gone? Ophelia cast the briefest of glances around and found the Enforcer missing entirely.

"And you're too close to it, as well," came the Enforcer's voice from nowhere and everywhere. Ophelia's heartrate spiked. What was going on?

"Oh yes, I must act." The Living Mana surged into her location. She tore it apart with [Unrivalled Call] and [Bladegod Stance], her mind forcefully shifted away from the weird encounter moments ago. But through the massacre, she saw a Glyph shimmer into being. Ophelia didn't recognize it, but she didn't fail to note its strength. Its incredible power. That was at least Tier— The world lurched. Something had grabbed her leg.

She cried out as she fell, the Living Mana surging right for her location, determined to end the greatest threat preventing it from reaching the academy, at least on this side of the city. And through the storm of bloody rain and endless, horrific flesh and bone, Ophelia only had eyes for one thing. The Living Mana was becoming her.