29 Single Army

As it was a warm summer night, Riou ate, drank, cleaned his clothes and bathed. It went well and without any disturbance until the morning.

He was still laying down on the bed when he awakened noticing sun shine illuminating the room through the cracks of the window. It was time to wake up. He barely sat down on the bed when suddenly bells began to ring loudly. They seemed distant but certainly from within the city. Soon after them he could hear a commotion of people quickly passing through the streets, they seemed agitated and in a hurry to get somewhere.

He opened the windows and in the distance he saw the bells on top of the walls moving, especially the ones on the north side of the city. On the streets the townsfolk rushed towards their homes and the ones that were going inside the nearby houses were shutting themselves in, not a single window remained opened. There were also some men and soldiers running toward the nearby walls.

"Seems like the enemy had arrived, damn, I was hoping on another day at least before they got here" He thought grabbing his shirt and pants that were hang on the chairs for drying up during the night. He also put on the hooded cape and the cloth to hide his face.

"Well… time to see what's going on" he concluded jumping through the window and going towards the north walls amidst the townsfolks.

------------------------------------ Same morning Bhalrom, Lilly and Serena's view

The war room in the Brigantium castle was very wide with a big square table in its center. On top of the table a rough leather map opened showed the city and its surrounding terrain. 5 squared black pieces symbolized the enemy forces and were put down on the north side of the map, between the city and the forest.

On the walls and the furniture the details of many red colors and copper encrusted, as it symbolized the knight's color.

Bhalrom and Copperford were looking at the map while pondering on the enemy possible movements while Lilly and Serena discussed spells to protect the city.

- "They can certainly surround the most strategic parts of the city with five thousand." Said Copperfield concerned.

- "How many are ready to defend the city?" Asked Bhalrom

- "1000 soldiers under my banner, 1000 from the first Army and 500 mercenaries… then we have the town militia as last resort, about 400 unexperienced and untrained people." Answered the knight

- "So, it's a 2 to 1 margin. We should stand our ground, use the walls in our advantage." Said Bhalrom pointing at strategic positions near the north gate.

Copperford frowned – "But that way the goblin fire will set the whole city ablaze, they will destroy everything before the battle even begins"

- "What do you suggest? That we go heads on into the enemy with twice as much our numbers?"

- "At least that way we will have a chance fighting!" said the red knight loudly.

- "You have to put more faith in the mages, I agree we don't have many of them, but they will hold most of the incoming fire with their barriers." Said Bhalrom

The red knight shook his head – "We don't have nearly enough, they will breach their barriers and the city will burn from inside out. They will win without fighting! That's why we have to engage them outside before they position themselves besieging the city and cut us off completely."

Serena hearing their concerns barged in representing the mages – "Bhalrom, he is right, we only have a handful of

mages, most of them are still students of the academy, and we don't have enough to sustain a good magical defense"

- "It will have to do! We can't go heads on open field against waiting enemies with twice our numbers! You will have to do your magic, you both!" Said Bhalrom looking at Lilly and Serena that were concerned with the odds of the impending battle.

Before Bhalrom could say anything else a guard suddenly appeared by the door pulling everyone's attention to himself. He waited for the knights to allow him in.

Copperford waved for him to proceed.

- "The scouts are back with news my lord." Said the guard signaling for the ones behind him to enter.

3 men in green cloaks and bow and arrow entered the room. Bhalrom recognized them, they were first army scouts.

- "Report!" Said the knight to his men.

- "Enemy forces are ready and on the move, not far behind us… they are coming from the hill to the north." The scout paused very concerned before continuing

- "Captain, we saw a full contingent of goblin mages and orc shamans amongst them… And sir, we saw many high Orcs amongst them as well" Said the scout with a fearful tone - "We estimate a force of over 8000 enemies to attack the city.

*Bang*

The sound of the red knight fist hitting the table with great force echoed in the room.

Bhalrom didn't even look at the knight and issue an order – "Ring the bells, dispatch the main force to the north wall, set the secondary forces to the flanks close by, they must be able to quickly support the north, east and west walls as needed. Send the militia and a few guards as watchers on every wall. I want eyes on every direction! Go!" commanded the knight. The scouts and the guards left in a hurry to prepare.

Lilly approached the table – "I've heard the term before… but why are high orcs so feared?" Asked the young mage

Bhalrom sighed – "They are stronger than Beast men warriors in sheer strength, but not as skillful. They are smarter than goblins and more vicious than ordinary orcs, when it comes to battle they are a fierce opponent." Said Bhalrom concerned with the news. They were far outnumbered than previously estimated and the presence of high orcs demonstrated the enemy was not considering defeat.

And which was worse, they didn't have much time to prepare, the siege had begun and they all went to the north walls to help command the city's defense.

----------------------------------------- The Trio Arrival at the City

The path was clear after the small grove and the 3 finally arrived at the south gates of the city.

Strangely enough the city didn't seem to be afraid of an imminent attack, the people seemed oddly busy bringing planks, clay and stones from the south to inside the city. But there was many guards on top of the south gate with a watchful eye.

As they entered the gate the guards looked with curiosity, a group of adventurers traveling those lands with only 3 members at times of battle, made of only beautiful women, was unheard of.

Therese looked at the guards that were watching their every step – "The enemy army, how long until it reaches the city?" she asked loudly to the guard near the gates. He used a light metallic armor and bear the red banner of the city.

The guard shook his head – "They arrived about a day ago, we are already repairing and on the lookout for the scattered enemies that might still be lurking around."

Leona and Eileen widened their eyes and looked at Therese.

- "This is disturbing…" Said the warrior to her companions. – "So those orcs were survivors, not scouts"

Therese turned once again to the guard – "I've heard that 5000 were marching against this city, a battle against such a force would take more than a single day"

The guard frowned – "They were over 10000 strong" said the guard exaggerating the numbers to show how great the battle were.

- "With those numbers the battle would go on for many days, what happened?" She asked with curiosity.

The guard made a confused face – "I don't know how to explain it, I was not on the north wall when it happened. But everyone were saying the elements helped us and dealt a swift blow to the enemy army." He said overly excited.

Eileen looked at Therese and Leona – "Do you think Riou is still in the city? We should search the inns and taverns to be sure" She said as the other 2 nodded in agreement.

They went to the first tavern they found, The Laughing Boar. As they entered Eileen saw many soldiers of the first army. As they recognized the princess going by, every single soldier there stood up in position showing their respect to her as she walked by.

Everyone stood up but a small group in the corner table. They looked at the Trio and seemed very surprised, especially the big man with dark hair and yellow shirt, he seemed as something had suddenly struck him, as if something that was bothering him had finally being removed. The Trio could notice glints of realization in his eyes, and it happened the moment he saw Eileen. His table also had a woman and 3 other men, 2 that seemed brothers.

- "The mercenary" Said Eileen walking with purpose towards his table.

Noticing the blond approaching he turned around with a bigger smirk than usual, strangely happy with something.

- "Look what the wind brought here… and judging by the soldier's reaction, you are more than just a sword student at the castle" He said mockingly looking the soldiers.

Leona and Therese just watched their interaction quietly.

- "I'm looking for Riou, have you seen him?" Eileen asked politely but without paying attention to his remarks.

Viktor smiled brighter and his eyes gleamed once again for a moment as he finally ended up looking mischievously at her, as if judging, choosing what to answer. And after a moment of pondering he finally spoke, dismissively.

- "No… I have not"

The man with a green cape and a bow to his side smiled as he grabbed his mug and brought it closer to himself.

Eileen felt deep down an anger building within her, the thought came to her mind as soon as she heard the mercenary words "He is lying".

- "Is he still in the city?" she insisted a bit altered but still maintaining composure..

The mercenary just shrugged.

- "I know he came here, so why you don't tell me what you know?" asked the princess not pleased with him.

Before Viktor could say anything the woman slapped his back and intervened

- "Stop teasing her Viktor" the woman looked very seriously and concerned as well –"If he is here, we didn't see him" she said with confidence and sincerity.

The princess was still not convinced despite her claiming, Eileen clearly felt that Viktor knew more than he was telling. But before she could question once again, Therese seemed to want a word with him as well.

Therese stepped in and looked at Viktor from above – "If you know anything, please speak" she said calmly, and yet, her tone concealed a menacing threat underneath her words.

Viktor squinted his eyes – "And what business have the lioness with an ordinary boy?" he asked very cautiously, as if choosing his words to watch the lioness reaction.

Therese without delay showed the sword on her waist – "I just want to deliver this to him"

Viktor had looked to her weapons already and recognized the sword, it was indeed the one the boy was carrying the last time he saw him in the capital. But to go all that way just to deliver a sword, he knew she was also holding something back.

He leaned back on the chair and took a sip from his mug then putting it down again on the table.

- "Do you know who he really is?" Said the mercenary very calmly, throwing such words at them as if to judge their reaction. Most of his table seemed confused as Eileen by that remark. But it was on Therese and her other companion that the mercenary leader attention was, their reaction were the ones he was interested.

Therese and Leona didn't even flinched, no doubt in their minds could be seen and even more, they seemed to doubt Viktor himself knew the true answer to that question.

Seeing such reaction the mercenary smiled and laughed at himself for testing them.

- "Truly impressive, it seems the story about the famous beasts are true." He said grabbing his mug once again and sighing before continuing in a more serious tone.

- "Very well, I don't know what happened between you and him, but if he is missing it is probably for a good reason… given you know who his master is, I mean… he is certainly up to something" said the mercenary opening up.

Eileen was lost, "Master? Does he have master? He never mentioned one before…" She thought to herself

- "Do you know where he is?" Asked Therese without losing time

- "No, I was not certain he was on this city until I saw her coming in just now" Said the mercenary pointing to Eileen.

Therese nodded she seemed to believe his words and continued – "I have another question, have you participated in the battle?"

Viktor laughed – "Battle?! Hah, that was no battle… before a single soldier stepped outside the gates it was already over." The members of his table nodded in agreement, hints of awe could be seen in their eyes as they remembered the scene.

Therese insisted – "What happened?"

- "A damn one man army happened, a mage… a mage appeared from nowhere and laid waste on the whole enemy army in an instant, over 8000 enemies dead, like that" He said plainly, a bit angered for some reason, snapping his fingers.

The eyes of the three widened as they heard the story.

Eileen eagerly asked – "Was it the Magus? Maximilian was here?" She said thinking the possibility that the Magus was alive, free and well.

Viktor smiled from ear to ear – "That's what most think… but nobody could find the mage afterwards, so his identity is still a mystery. The best guess so far is that the Magus himself appeared to lend some help… but if you ask me, I think it was someone else" he said finding it strangely funny.

Therese just nodded, bowing slightly her head in appreciation for his words. She turned around and began to walk followed by Eileen and Leona. She leaned slightly towards Eileen and whispered – "Who is this master he is spoke of?"

Eileen shaking her head answered – "Never heard of any master… he actually never told me how he learned the sword."

Leona found it strange – "You never asked him that?" she said in a judgmental tone.

- "I asked, but he didn't mentioned anyone specifically" replied defensively the princess.

- "Let's go" Said Therese moving to the door – "I want to see for myself what happened at the north wall"

The trio moved out and followed the repairs on the city. They could see many houses changing roofs, some small burnt pieces of wood near the houses, those marks indicated that small fires were started but put out not too long after it began. Clearly the city was able to control the fire very rapidly as no house have lost its entire roof or even a single wall.

Most houses affected were like that, just minor damages. And it became more and more evident as more frequent as they approached the north gate.

When they finally reached the north wall, they took the stairs to the top for a better look.

As they reached the top and approached the wall limits, their eyes widened and their breath stopped for a moment as their mouth opened slightly when they finally gazed upon the land beneath them.

---------------------------------------------- Riou's View at the Morning of the Battle

Riou rushed through the streets amidst the chaotic population that were running for their homes.

When his attention was caught by something in the skies. He looked up to see a fireball incoming towards a house nearby. Without thinking he pointed his arm towards it and closed his fist, the very moment he did so the fireball imploded leaving no trace of fire behind.

He continued advancing to the wall which was in sight in the distance. He noticed a small translucent barrier in a yellow shade that was formed on top of the walls. It was an attempt of protection against the incoming barrage of fireballs that were incoming incessantly. Riou saw many of them hitting the barrier, while some passed through. This ones faced another layer of mages that tried desperately to stop them with on the spot smaller barriers.

The big barrier was being mercilessly attacked and already were showing signs of breaking apart, it would certainly not hold for much long. And despite all the mages effort a few fireballs threatened to reach the city as Riou saw earlier.

"Even if only a few of those passes through, the city will become a hell, this houses full of straws and wood would burn to the ground before the enemy sets a single foot inside." Realized Riou.

So as he continued to approach the wall in greater speed he began to gather his mana, reinforcing his body he made his way through the rooftops, jumping between them towards the wall

Reached a building very close to the wall, he was slightly higher than the wall itself. Looking at it from above, he could finally see the soldiers in lines observing the enemies. On the whole wall extension. In the distance to his left he saw 2 knights clad in armor on top of the gateways. "Bhalrom and the red knight" deduced Riou.

But before he could think on his approach a commotion erupted suddenly amongst the soldiers nearby. The fireballs suddenly stopped their barrage and the soldiers strangely began to withdraw from the edges of the wall. That opened room for Riou to spot all the Mages scattered on the wall extension at that part. He saw them trying to reinforce the barrier desperately.

So in an attempt to extend his sight to beyond the wall, he tried to get a bit higher, but before he could move to a different position, a massive fireball appeared in his line of sight in the distance, incoming in an arc directly towards the barrier's top with great speed.

"It will not hold" the thought bolted through his head as he rushed forward to the walls.

Riou judged the enemy mages must have gathered their spells together to create a single massive spell in an attempt to destroy the city's defenses.

Riou was still a bit too far and a bit too late. The massive fireball grew as a sun as it approached the walls, it covered the whole wall height and still was able to cover the magical barrier that went above it.

The moment it smashed up against magical barrier.

------------------------------------- Soldiers on the wall

*SWOOOSH* the loudly sound echoed through the whole city, the impact caused the Fireball to explode sending its flames on all directions, especially spreading its fire throughout the city.

The barrier didn't survive the impact and disappeared after shattering, the mages were struggling while desperately tried to gather more mana to quickly recreate another one to replace it. But before it could be done, another round of fireball missiles were already incoming.

The walls structure were compromised, but were still holding up for now. The real concern was that they were completely exposed, gathered together against a barrage of fire that threatened to not only reduce the city to ashes, but the whole army on top of the walls as well.

Despair filled the hearts of everyone in the walls, shouts requesting the barrier up at all costs could be heard coming from the officials everywhere. But the mages knew they needed more time, some stood their ground with their hands up trying with all their being to evoke another barrier before the next round of fire befell upon them. But the truth was that only two mages on that wall would be able to recreate a barrier so big, the others were just supporters on maintaining the mana so the two would be able to support it longer.

Then a glint of hope came from where the knights where, the barrier began to form once again at the main gates, but was still growing slowly and was far too small to cover the entire wall.

The mercenary group that was away from the commanding zone was about to escape from the walls as they knew they wouldn't be protected against the fire in time at that rate.

Their leader was about to shout the order when touched by his faithful tracker on the shoulder, getting his attention while pointing to nearby a figure that was about to land on top of the wall edge on his right. It landed top of the protection stone a man's height above the mercenary leader that had to look up to see him.

The mercenary leader looked instinctively directly to the figure's face trying to make sense to who that person was. But he was covered by a white cloth and the hood on top of his head, only hints of his eyes could be seen from that angle.

The figure pointed his hand forward and at that moment a complete new barrier, five times as big than the previously one appeared instantly in front the whole city wall, high enough to prevent anything to pass through it.

And it appeared in the nick of time as well, as soon it emerged the fireballs began to hit the new barrier mercilessly. But this time, the barrier didn't even flinch on the impacts. No sign of the slight damage.

The mages thinking it was done by the court mages tried desperately to imbue it with more mana to sustain it more time, but as they noticed their effort had no influence on its strengths they gradually stopped and became just observers of what was happening, spectators of what was to follow.

The soldiers noticing the barrier was up once again cheered in unison! Few at a time began to notice the strange figure that had appeared on top of the wall, he was the only one above everyone else and could be spotted easily once looked upon.

The figure then extended his right hand straight up and a lightning immediately went from his hand to the skies, ending up splitting sequentially many times to all directions until it disappeared in the distance.

The thunder that followed was strong enough to shake the walls and the very bones of everyone that was near its source. The soldiers that were still unaware of the figure immediately noticed its presence as they sensed the flash source after they covered from the thunder that followed it. They then looked in the direction instinctively, drawn to what could have possibly caused such thing.

The moment the lightning vanished in the sky, clouds began to form on what was once a clear sky… the clouds that began to appear had a clear white color and quickly began to spread out until they covered everything above. The layer of clouds increased and the shades of white began to turn into darker and darker shades of gray. Sparks of Lightning and roars of thunders appeared amongst them, sporadically running amongst the clouds above the battlefield. A massive storm was brewing as high winds began to cross the battlefield from every direction.

The figure as soon the first thunder ended, ignited his hands with fire and prepared to jump down down the walls. When it suddenly felt the intense gaze of someone to his left. Looking instinctively he found the mercenary leader and his tracker looking straight to him.

The mercenary leader's eyes squinted as surprise took him, doubt could be seen in his face as the only thing he could see from the mysterious entity's face were the unusual dark blue eyes. The figure without delay jumped forward with a powerful leap that took him far away from the walls towards the enemies

"Could it be?" the thought immediately assaulted the mercenary leader's mind who watched the figure landing on the ground below, and immediately after turning to his tracker who was also with widened eyes looking at him with face that indicated his suspicion. They both seemed to be thinking the same thing.

------------------------------------ Riou's View

"What Viktor was doing there? Did he notice it was me? It can't be, there is no way he noticed… Nah, he can't possible know… can he?" thought the boy with flaming hands standing up between the enemy army and the city's wall.

The clouds in the skies were getting darker at every passing moment, lightning and thunder rushed the skies more frequently and 3 humongous cloud swirls began to appear in the skies.

The enemy army was composed of smaller and taller types of orcs, with a great variety of goblins, where the gobbling mages were in front of everyone else hurling the fireballs towards the city while the bigger force waited behind them. They didn't move or changed behavior because of Riou appearing in front of them.

"Interesting, no change at all… or they are the most disciplined army ever or they are patiently waiting for orders from whoever is controlling them. Which means that the hand behind this army is close by" Realized the boy.

They were occupying the whole area in front of Riou, and their numbers were impressive, a sea of endless green monsters in front of him, looking and waiting, forming a big concave that covered Riou's field of vision.

From within the enemy ranks a commotion began to form from behind in direction of the front rows, as a bigger monster appeared amongst them, it seemed an Orc, but twice as big and muscular than the tallest orcs Riou could see. As he reached the front he pointed towards Riou and growled loudly, so loud that it could be heard throughout the city.

The army shouted and growled as they began to charge forward in rampage. The mages and archers began to shoot their arrows and fireballs at the boy.

Riou with his burning hands opened his palms and quickly elevated his hands upwards as if pulling something from the ground. Two massive pillars of swirling fire emerged, they were a couple of men wide and almost touched the clouds above.

The incoming enemies seeing such display ceased their advances.

And with a subtle movement with Riou's hands forward, the two massive pillars collapsed on top of each other in front of him, as they began to fall the fire immediately began to roll forward gaining size and power as it raged on in an opening arc towards the enemies in front. The fire seemed alive as it crawled, turned and twisted while moving relentlessly forward growing in height.

Soon it was a wave of fire that covered the whole lengths of the enemy army. Riou couldn't see beyond it anymore.

The sound of the fire twirling soon mixed with hundreds of screams and growls of the enemies that could not escape their fate as the clouds still grew in size and the 3 swirls threatened to touch the ground.

It didn't take long after his wave was unleashed for the first corpses to appear behind it. Burnt to a crisp that barely resembled a humanoid figure. And as the fire advanced more and more dead bodies appeared laid down on the charred earth, soon thousands of them could be seen by him.

Riou was looking as the wave distanced itself when suddenly something emerged through the back of the fires rushing towards Riou, the massive Orc was completely burnt but strangely alive. And so he raged forward in a mad attempt to kill its enemy.

The skies were completely black at this point, the light of day was almost gone. Despite the time it seemed like the sun had already set. The lightings in the skies intensified and the thunders roared in the distance without stop.

But the air now was completely still, no wind or breeze could be felt or seen anywhere. Even the swirls seemed still, as if the whole area was fearful the sky itself would fall from its firmament.

Riou prepared to receive the incoming enemy as the monster Orc approached.

---------------------------------------- Gilliath's View

- "Now…" said the dark mage from the twilight council touching a rune on a big old parchment.

He was done from watching the battle from the sidelines.

Instantly everything but him became shades of gray and seemed to have stopped moving. He waited until the mysterious mage became grayed out as well, and sighed in a mixture of relief and sadness.

He quickly approached the strange mage figure fighting his empowered orc, he knew after seeing such fire spell that whoever he was, it was powerful enough to obliterate his creation, so he decided to intervene, to act himself by using his most powerful rune at a moment that the enemy least expected to minimize the chances for him to counter a time spell.

As he got near the mysterious fire mage he began to walk around him trying to identify who that was.

"A male? Is he an Eilidh? Perhaps a Fernis? By that demonstration is safe to say he will be the next in line for any of the fire families… But why is he so small in stature… a young man… but this powerful at this age he doesn't fit in any of the family's members descriptions." Thought the dark mage observing the frozen, grayed out mage.

He noticed his eyes were focused on the incoming enemy, the stance of someone ready to retaliate with a powerful magic against an incoming enemy, no fear in his eyes, no doubt in his posture. Judged the dark mage analyzing the figure.

- "I don't know who you are, and I don't really care at this point I must say, the moment you got caught by my spell you were done for. But I will admit that it was an impressive fire spell and weather manipulation. To think that there were still such powerful mages on this region, truly commendable." He said completing another lap around the mysterious mage.

- "Unfortunately for you, I was commanded to end everyone that opposed the council. And I must say, I thought a mage like yourself would not be caught by this time rift so easily."

He stopped in front of the mysterious mage, between him and the orc.

- "At this level of power I at least assumed you'd be carrying a temporal rune as well, what a letdown when I saw your colors changing as well. Such elemental power and yet so unexperienced in real mage battle, such potential wasted… what a pity." He said calmly almost in a mocking tone while pulling a dagger from his belt.

- "In this temporal rift I know you are unable to hear me… but even so I always enjoyed a good talk with my victims. And unfortunately for them, as I can't cast another spell while maintaining this rift, this dagger will have to do" He said approaching the mage figure from the front.

Gilliath then noticed something that caught his attention in the mysterious mage's eyes… they were of a dark shade of gray, but still, somehow he could swear they also could see glints of a dark blue color, that seemed to mix almost imperceptibly with the gray shade "Were his eyes like this before?" he questioned himself as doubt filled his mind. Deep down he sensed those eyes not only seemed different, he also noticed now that despite the figure's covered face, his eyes seemed to be smiling now.

Deep concern suddenly struck Gilliath as he quickly abandoned his talkative mood and rushed to cut his enemy's throat.

------------------------------------------------------ Riou's View.

The monstrous Orc suddenly stopped and everything turned into gray shades. Riou couldn't move normally anymore and a strangely familiar sensation could be felt upon his body.

"The same thing I felt on Endher" He realized immediately

And by forcing his perception he noticed that time had not stopped completely, it was only been greatly slowed down. He watched the orc a few steps away from him. He was still moving but in a very slow pace, but moving nonetheless.

His mind adapted quickly to the environment as it was not the first time he experienced that sensation, and his previous experience was in a much higher degree where he was still able to move. "This is nothing compared to that torture… I can easily break off…" he suddenly stopped his attempt to break free "No, let's see if I can draw the enemy in"

Riou then relaxed as he decided to play along. Cautious but still curious to what was happening "If I play along whoever is behind this is bound to show up"

Didn't take long for a mage wearing the twilight council dark robes to appear, he was an old man, over his 60 years, very slim and had an eerie aura much likely Callas. Riou was glad his quick thinking bare fruits.

He began to talk and explain his magic to Riou that could not help but find it funny, comparing him to film villains that like to explain their plan before the hero breaks free and defeats him.

At least Riou could learned this was a not a so unusual spell on high ranking mages, perhaps Max knew it as well.

Concluded the boy as he noticed the dark mage attitude suddenly changed and now he was approaching rather quickly with concerned eyes and a dagger in hands.

- "Overconfidence is the most dangerous form of carelessness, or so it is said." Spoke Riou moving normally, standing up looking at the mage as if nothing was holding him down, his colors did not change, but still he was able to move and speak. The Dark mage's face shown a mix of astonishment and fear as he watched that strange event that was completely out of his calculations.

- "Well, let's see how good your time rift spell is when compared to lightning" Said Riou pointing his finger below the dark Mage.

And before the mage could react from seeing someone moving inside a time rift, from beneath the dark mage and the monstrous orc a blue light began to glow very strongly followed by blue sparks of electricity.

The clouds above seemed to open up as a massive lightning erupted from them, it was so wide it consumed both of them entirely inside its light as it passed through violently and instantly.

The mage or the Orc had no way of defending themselves.

It took but an instant, the gray shades that covered everything around Riou vanished. Their eyes were white and smoke flowed from their burnt bodies. Small sparks still erupted from within them to the air and between the gaps of their members on their bodies until they finally fell to the ground a moment after struck, lifeless.

The thunder that followed immediately after the flash was deafening.

It shook the very core of everything around it, and could be heard from Allard Capital all the way to Thanes.

The people on Brigantium froze in fear as the sound rushed through everything, the walls and houses as receiving its massive pressure threatened to fall down to its sound, such was the strength of the aftershock.

As the lifeless bodies of the enemies touched the ground a torrential rain began to fall on the city and the battlefield.

The twirls on the skies dissipated and the barrier vanishes in thin air. Most of the orcs were killed with his fire spell, but the very few that were able to escape its path, scattered, fleeing from the battlefield into the woods in the distance. The fire that had reached the city when the first barrier went down was being put down by the heavy rain.

It took a while for the people on the walls to realize what had happen. Slowly recovering from the frightening thunder, shouts of victory timidly began to be heard until everyone realized they had won.

A clamor on the walls and the city could be heard as everyone shouted and exalted their savior in ovation. They quickly opened the gates to go at his encounter just to be greeted by another surprise, he was nowhere to be found. As mysteriously he had appeared, he had vanished.

------------------------------------------- Back to the Trio's View.

It was a different land than the ones they were used to see until now. It was a black charred earth until their sight could see in a cone shape that started in the middle of the fields not too far from the walls.

They could see the men working on removing the burnt bodies, they were putting them on carts pulled by horses. Probably to take them to a ditch elsewhere. They were working for a long time as the close by field was cleared, but still there were thousands more lying around the black land.

- "What happened here? What could have made this" Asked Eileen unable to make sense of it.

- "I don't know, that man mentioned a mage, do you know someone from this lands who can do something like this?" Asked Leona to the princess.

- "The only one that comes to mind is Maximilian, he is the titled Magus of Allard. He is the most powerful mage I can think of" Answered the princess unable to take her eyes from the destruction.

Therese pondered for a moment – "You and that mercenary mentioned him before, so he was the one Riou was after right? What is his connection to this Magus?" asked the Lioness

Eileen nodded – "The magus was the one who found him and brought him to the castle, they spent a month together traveling at that time… and after he disappeared Riou was trying to find him"

- "I see, so it makes sense to assume this Magus took care of the enemy? And then met with Riou. Because I doubt he was able to arrive here before the fight took place, he couldn't have arrived in time" Pondered Therese – "So what is left to discover is if he is still in the city and where." Said Therese explaining her line of thought.

Leona seemed a bit far away while looking at the land below – "Could he have done this?" She asked Therese who looked at her with uncertain eyes while Eileen didn't understood to who Leona was referring, if Riou or Maximilian.

Eileen didn't want to lose much time so she inquired the two – "Should we try the castle? Or try our luck on the taverns and inns?" asked the princess.

- "You know him better, where do you think he is most likely to be?" Asked Therese looking at Eileen

Eileen realizing her mistake in thinking he could be elsewhere she answered – "Definitely in some tavern"