Published at 13th of July 2026 6:32 am

Chapter 306 The Assault

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Torrviol was all but lost when Mirian arrived. A fleet of Akanan skiffs had managed to bypass observation on the coast. The spring rains had hidden them until the first round of strikes had come crashing down. Theyd sent word to her immediately. Theyd held heroically.

It nearly hadnt been enough.

Mirian arrived through the Gate to find that the enemy was already trying to burn down the secure gate that was the last line of defense. Three trembling students and Professor Runer were managing the shield engines. Even with emergency shipments of fossilized myrvite being supplied through the Gate, the devices were nearly empty, and the spell engines were on the verge of burning out, the conduits looking ready to crack.

One of the students fainted on seeing her. Another fell to her knees in tears.

Mirian assessed the situation with divination. As she suspected, Liuan was making her move now. It was earlier than shed anticipated, but not unexpected. Given the rapidity with which the defenses of Torrviol had been penetrated, she knew that the Archmage Company or the Sorcerer Elite were involved. This major strike would be accompanied by a simultaneous strike on a second Gatelikely Palendurio, but almost certainly thered be saboteurs aiming to sneak something past her security around Alkazaria and Mahatan. Nothing had been detected as incoming when shed left Palendurio, but that would change.

She just wished Liuan had waited a little longer. Shed been having a critical conversation with her father, which wasnt exactly easy given the medium they were working with, and she hadnt slept in three days. Obviously, that was the point, but if Liuan thought exhaustion would stop her, shed underestimated Mirians development of the Lone Pine dervish form. And if she was burning this many resources, she wouldnt be able to strike again so easily.

Cut the shields, she ordered, and cast her own black shield, expanding the radius of it so that she could block the entryway herself.

Professor Runer, thankfully, had seen fighting back when he served as a battlemage, so his hand was steady as he threw the glyph switch.

With detect life, Mirian knew there were ten people on the other side of the door. From how faint their souls looked, she knew they were wearing spell-resistant materials: either a lot of mythril, or a smaller amount of adamantium. From how hard the spells had been hitting the shield engines, they were all high-myr casters. From the fact that they hadnt broken through, she knew they had no expertise in soul magic.

All of this came to her in moments. It was an instinct honed from countless fightsan entire lifetime of war, Labyrinth battles, and endless spellcasting. As the door shattered, Mirian switched to the Dusk Waves form, her reaction time sharpening.

She drew deeply from her soul repositories. First, she sent out several Masikatts web spells that would bind and disrupt the arcane energy near the point of origin of their spells. The glint of silver told her they were wearing mythril, and enough of it to be annoying. Several webs failed to take hold even as their own attack spells began to drain into her black shield. Fire beams, lightning, force bladesall were consumed by energy transmutation as her shield darkened. Enough webs had taken hold thoughthe force shields shed targeted had weakened.

That was all she needed. Quickly, she sent arcane force deep into the stonework above them, funneling both aura and the energy shed salvaged from their spells into a network, then transmuted the energy to force and pulled the ceiling down on their heads.

Spell resistance didnt do so well against that. Nine Akanan arcanists died instantly. One in the front had maintained his force shield better than the others. Mirian cut apart the shield then sent a beam of fire through his head. She swept their souls into her repositories.

Reactivate the shields. Dont let anyone in.

She blinked past the new wall of stone and felt a shocked Professor Runer reactivating the shields behind her a moment later. She was keeping her divination spells active, but if anyone snuck by her and cleared the hall, even the few seconds those shields would hold might provide a much needed delay.

Even down in the deep passages, the ground was shaking from the fighting above. The Akanans had been able to insert their strike team through the passages, but Torrviol was too well fortified for them to take so quickly. She had fought here enough to know how the battle up on the surface would be going: the Akanans would have arrived in strike teams with skiffs and be circling about, raining down artillery fire while they tried to get more teams into the underground. Meanwhile, the Baracuel Army would be firing bursting shells up at them, filling the sky with shrapnel and lightning. Militia teams would be maintaining shield engines and trying to keep the entrances guarded. One of those teams had already been slaughtered.

That was where she was heading now. She levitated forward, but instead of a cone to cut the wind, it was a black shield with a drill of force blades in front of it.

She swept through the tunnels like a whirlwind. Akanan demolitions teams had been following the strike team that had made the breach. She left their bodies cut apart and souls drained, not even pausing her levitation spell. Mirian had directed the entrance passages to be blocked off and new entrances made within the buildings so that any of Liuans knowledge of the area would be useless. However, as Mirian arrived at the breach, she saw that Liuan had instructed them to open up a place in the street where the underground was near the surface, boring their own tunnel. She sealed the stone back together and collapsed the wall of an empty building on top of the street to further block it.

There were a dozen skiffs in the sky, circling and raining down fire, just as shed expected. Each had orichalcum hull plating. She grimaced, thinking of just how much more mana each would take to bring down. This will be annoying, she thought.

And she needed to hurry. If she was right, simultaneous attacks were being launched on the other Gates. Shed long prepared for this moment. Still, doubt crept into her thoughts. Shed underestimated Liuan. She was being pressed harder than shed planned for.

There were no more second chances though. She would trust in the Ominian and take the single path through the burning fire.

Mirian soared into the sky. A skiff moved by and she shot a black line across the deck, detonating the soul of the pilot. With all the shield spells around the skiffs, soul magic would be most effective, even if the presence of so much orichalcum would suppress it.

An artillery shell shattered against her shield while several more detonated around her. The skiffs had spotted her, then. That would give relief to her own forces that were hiding behind their fortifications. Already, parts of the Alchemistry building had collapsed under the weight of the airborne artillery, and the Kiroscent Dome had been shattered. Dozens of other buildings were damaged and burning.

Mirian struck out, sending curses and necromantic bindings out in rapid succession, siphoning as much mana and soul energy as she could from the attackers. She had to do this fast, but she also needed to balance that with efficiency. The constant attacks still hadnt allowed her mana to fully recover after her defense of Tlaxhuaco.

She struck out with another black line, and another two Akanans died. Another group of Sorcerer Elite were levitating in from the south, aiming for Griffin Hall.

Mirian streaked towards them, spells blazing out.

***

The Akanan skiffs had descended from such high altitude that General Hanarans observers had never seen them, and the diviners had only alerted Praetorian Trinea to the incursion oments before it happened. Worse, theyd struck just after Mirian had left to reinforce Torrviol.

All of a sudden, Palendurios Gate was under threat.

The warehouse on top of the elevator was hit first. Under the intense bombardment, the protective limestone dome raised up by geomancers was broken in several places and fires broke out among the supplies. Trinea had ordered the gates protecting the elevator shaft shut immediately and sent out the emergency signal. Immediately, dozens of shield engines spun up. Whatever now happened in the depths was between the last line of defense and the Gods; all Trinea knew from that side was that they received a remote voice communication that Mirian was engaged in combat in Torrviol.

That meant theyd have to hold without her.

Trinea assessed the situation as quickly as she could while her colleagues and Hanarans forces returned fire. Modified artillery and new anti-air guns fresh from the local factories sent lightning crackling across the sky above Palendurio, lighting up the old citys spires and castles.

The initial strike on the warehouse shouldnt have happened; the Prophet had used a location shed never used in previous cycles. However, the intelligence wouldnt have been too hard to collect with the number of shipments going through and the army presence in the area. Ever since theyd been recalled from Alkazria, the Praetorians had worked alongside the army and engineering corps to improve the defenses. It had seemed like overkill at the time. Now, she wasnt so sure.

The Akanan skiffs had to know theyd been sent on a suicide mission; there was no way they had enough fuel to cross the Rift Sea, engage in combat maneuvers with active shields, and return. That meant they were dealing with fanatics. Worse, heavily armed fanatics.

Trinea watched another round of airburst shells explode above. One skiffs shields shattered and went down, engine burning as it crash-landed two blocks away. The Akanan skiffs had initially been surprised by how high the new guns could shoot, but now they were quickly ascending out of range.

Tell Hanaran to launch all skiffs, loaded for air-to-air combat! another Praetorian called through his remote voice spell. Fire control, Praetorians are moving through grid five. Hold fire in grid five, please repeat.

When the order was confirmed, Trinea drew herself up as if her mouth wasnt dry. Theyd trained to kill archmages, but no one was properly trained for the kind of war that involved Prophets. All Praetorians, prepare to ascend. Well draw their attention so our own crews are clear. Eagle maneuver. Phalanx screen. Ascend!

The Praetorian squads spiraled up, their dozens of shields overlapping. Artillery shots streaked by them, but the enemy was using earthshaker and flame blast shells, designed to destroy physically hardened targets. Most shots missed, and the few that found their marks were absorbed. Trinea saw the shells blazing across their shields as muted light. Above, the Akanan skiffs darted about like swallows, spears of fire blazing down. Another shell burst across their wall of shields.

They rose to altitude, the city far below them. Praetorians to ground, were about to cross above the Akanans. Resume fire in grid five, their communications officer said with his remote voice.

Trinea spellcast her own orders. Split formation, storm assault, keep that phalanx screen. Mark your targets!

They scattered into six groups. Primary shielders added a warmth bubble around the formation so the cutting winds didnt give them all frostbite. Trinea began directing her own formation, though as Second she needed to keep an eye on all the formations. Per storm assault, they aimed to get directly above the enemy. Usually, that was easy, but significantly harder when dealing with vehicles that were faster than they were.

Trinea shouted out her orders. They swept left to avoid the small guns on a nearby skiff, then right again to put themselves above another. Fire! she shouted, and her Praetorians brought down dozens of spells smashing into the Akanan shields. A magnetic spell managed to sneak through a gap and tore off a skiffs railing.

The Akanan skiffs couldnt use their larger cannons on targets above them, but the smaller deck guns that could were more accurate. They found themselves peppered by kinetic blasts and bolts of lightning as they soared by. Two shields, then three, shattered as they crossed over.

Rotate shields! Trinea barked out. The Prophet had warned that there was an attack group composed of archmages that was supplementing the Sorcerer Elite. These skiff crews were relying entirely on their guns and spell engines, so wherever they were, it wasnt here. If we can attrit their foss, theyll be useless. Ascend. Gradual left. Cut right. Fire! Another Akanan airship passed under them and they exchanged a flurry of spells and fire.

Aura waning, one of her Praetorians said, dropping an empty mana elixir bottle.

Damn, Trinea thought. It was still too early. Youre off shields until your elixir kicks in. Jaern, swap in.

Another exchange. Trinea continued to maneuver them around. Opportunity! Converge on marked skiff! she ordered over remote voice as she pointed out a skiff with praetorians mark. Immediately, three teams broke off their pursuits and flew towards the target, which was attempting to move through their formations to get a better firing solution on their target below.

Dozens of spells blasted out representing every energy type. The skiffs pilot attempted to veer away, but while she had speed, the Praetorians had maneuverability. She was caught in the middle of the crossfire. The shields shattered, the deck exploded, and then the spell engines caught fire as they targeted glyphs for detonation. Trailing smoke, the Akanan skiff fell from the sky to the city below. A cheer went up.

Keep that phalanx up, keep sweeping, Trinea said. The battle raged on for several more minutes. Group four lost a Praetorian to bad shield placement. An Akanan skiff was damaged, but stayed in the action.

Then she noticed something strange. Group six was descending.

Caldser, youre out of formation. Respond, she sent.

No response.

Caldser, respond immediately.

This time, the leader of the group sent a communication back. We have two wounded. Descending for medical.

Thats not the procedure. Artillery is still screening mid-altitude, she said. Something was off. Caldser was only a year less experienced than her. He knew procedure.

She looked down towards the burning warehouse. Electric bursts and shrouds of smoke spells were veiling the targets below, but she was suddenly suspicious. She cast a divination spell looking for combat spells. Thats not right, she realized. Divination was telling her there was a group just outside the warehouse. She looked up. The Akanan skiffs had ceased bombardment of the area near the elevator for the Gate. Shed thought they were just focusing on the Praetorians, but now she knew why.

Praetorians to ground, cease the screen immediately. Incursion threatening warehouse. Repeat, incursion threatening warehousewe have Akanan infiltrators. Praetorians, break off and falcon dive! Caldser, move northwest to the hospital now!

Caldser realized Trinea was on to him. In an instant, hed killed one of their own Praetorians with a point-blank spell. The rest seemed to be with him.

Caldser you bastard traitor! Trinea screamed. Group six is with the Akanans. Praetorians to ground, group six just killed one of our own and is with the Akanans! All reinforcements to support the warehouse!

They streaked down through the air, wind whipping at their robes.

The army communications came through as they dove. Ground to Praetorians, we have Akanan Sorcerer Elite units converging from the north and converging from the south in the caverns. Requesting Praetorian support n both positions.

Fuck, Trinea thought and quickly downed a mana elixir. She began ordering the formations to split up. Army forces were converging, but the skiff bombardment had blocked roads by collapsing buildings or opening up holes into the caverns beneath the city so they were being delayed. Several artillery positions had been knocked out, and now the traitor Praetorians had joined the Akanans. Locally, the defenders were outgunned. They needed to buy more time.

She directed three units to the surface and two to the passages.

She only hoped it would be enough.

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