“I have been ordered to share one more piece of gear with you before my unit departs for another site, so I might as well do it now. A blessing and a curse, as Command prefers to call it. It’s the [Lightning Storm Array], a spell circle that links a large group of Witches to create a defensive shield.
If we are about to lose the camp, I want you to use it and target everyone who is still alive. If they’re too weak to sustain their share of the spell, it will burn their life force to supplement the required input, but by using this device, you can make a barrier dozens of times stronger than any individual Witch could accomplish.
The strongest caster gets control by default when it is activated, so I am giving this to you and trusting you not to kill us all.”
Wolfe was stunned by Priya’s words. The fact that such a cruel device existed left him speechless. Putting someone you just met in charge of its use simply because they were strongest was borderline insane.
Wolfe examined the seven circles on the stone tablet, then tried activating it himself to only shield the bunker without including anyone else.
[Array learned: Lightning Storm Barrier] The Inheritance informed him as glowing lightning crackled over the blankets on the walls.
“I’ve got it. Put that back somewhere safe, and I will raise the barrier when we really need it.” He informed the Lieutenant, who was staring open-mouthed at the walls of the bunker.
“How did you do that?” She demanded.
“It is a Lightning-type spell, and I’m quite adept at Lightning Magic. Well, technically, it is seven of them working together. I can handle that over an area the size of the bunker, and it doesn’t take much mana if it’s not taking damage.”
“Of course, a lone Demon can do it when it kills dozens of Witches to hold off a monster horde with it.” She sighed.
“Don’t get excited yet. I don’t know what it takes to keep it up when it’s taking damage. But I will prepare it the next time we are attacked with just my group, so we can see what it absorbs before the barrier breaks or drains one of us.” He offered.
“Then we will be counting on you.”
As night fell, all lights were doused in the camp, and the soldiers huddled together for warmth so that they didn’t alert anything to their presence. Fighting in the dark was never fun, and the worst of the carnivorous monsters were nocturnal.
Every night of a deployment like this passed in a state of tense standby with the soldiers waiting to see if they were attacked, but now that they had hope of building their auras and eventually using proper spells, they weren’t as nervous as they used to be, even though they were at a deserted camp in the middle of nowhere.
“Mister Wolfe, there is a vehicle coming. Lieutenant Priya says to stay inside for now until she knows who they are.” Beth whispered as she woke Wolfe up the next morning.
Everyone else was still in bed, but there was a Witch at the desk in the bunker, pretending to work. She had a listening spell active at low volume, so he joined her at the desk with his snow camouflage pattern armour spell active and his hood down.
[Care to tell me what you’re doing out here at a rural outpost like this?] Priya was asking someone that they couldn’t hear.
[Young Mistress Morgan insists that we recover the body of her youngest sister for a proper burial. Their convoy was attacked at this location, and she was reported dead along with her entire squad.] an unfamiliar female voice responded.
[Not at the large battle west of here? This whole area was swarmed by the undead when we arrived. There won’t be a body to find if they were here. We burned them all.] Priya replied.
[There were no signs of bodies? The monitoring spell that our transport driver was ordered to put on her team reported their deaths. They certainly died at this location.]
Wolfe heard Priya laugh both over the spell and faintly outside. [Look around you, there are bodies everywhere, but none are human. Do you know why that is? It’s because we burned the remains of the undead to prevent the plague.]
The spell went garbled for a moment. Then a new voice joined them.
[Ma’am, we found the site of the attack, 500 meters south of the camp along the road. There are portions of the bus, broken glass and blood belonging to a Morgan family member. That’s as much as the spell can tell, but there was a funeral pyre there for undead and monsters.]
That would be where the bus was fighting, but the only way that there was Morgan Family blood was if one of the guardsmen aboard the transport was a Morgan.
Wolfe was quickly developing a suspicion that ending up here wasn’t an accident, and they weren’t supposed to survive, but they dealt with the monsters that the bus brought back their way and found the bunker to hide in.
[The signal ended within a few hundred meters of there. Did you find any trace of her school uniform?] The first strange voice asked.
[No, sir. There is no signal from the locator placed on it.] The second voice replied.
That would most likely be because they were drafted right after a mission, so the Academy never renewed it, and the locator ran out of mana, Wolfe thought.
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It was a shame, as that left them with no real clothes, but it was better than getting caught up in whatever political scheme was going on outside.
[Lieutenant, incoming Monsters.] A scout reported, interrupting the meeting.
[Then we are off to report the unfortunate news to the Council leader’s successor.] The voice announced, followed by a door slamming and the sound of a vehicle racing away.
[Bitch could have at least stayed to help.] They heard Priya complain before the spell went silent.
“We saw that the vehicle was from the Morgan family, not the Coven, so we arranged to hide you all until we knew what was going on. Her sister sent them, not the Council, and they were so sure that she was dead that they couldn’t be here for anything but confirmation of the kill.” The Witch at the table whispered to Wolfe.
Reiko sat up on the bed and spoke softly, trying not to wake everyone else up. “I agree. Before we left, there was talk of Council Members wanting me to replace my older sister as the Heir. She’s a real piece of work, and half the Council is looking for a way to remove her from contention without openly killing her.
It probably shouldn’t be any shock that she arranged to have us all killed at an abandoned camp and then covered it up. I wouldn’t even be shocked if the entire draft at the Academy was her doing.
By tradition, the heir to the Council Leader’s seat is also the ranking General of the Defence Force, so she would have the authority if she moved fast enough that nobody knew in time to stop her.
If they had been going by official military data, they would have expected to see Morgana Coven troops here, not Sylvan Coven. But they didn’t question anything. They just searched the area and left at the first sign of danger.”
Mary’s voice joined the conversation from somewhere in Pup’s fur. “Oh yeah, Curtis mentioned that they didn’t want her to take over. What are we supposed to do now that we’re officially dead? We were pretty much banished anyhow, but now what?”
Priya had a solution for that. One that the Sylvan Army had discretely used many times in the past. “How do you feel about becoming a whole new Witch? We owe you all for the help, and frankly, we still need it. We’ve also got spare uniforms, weapons, and armour, so you could just replace fallen members of our unit.
There are a lot of orphans in the military, so a small group with no attachments isn’t suspicious. The Sylvan Coven command always welcomes powerful Witches, and they will understand the need for secrecy.”
Priya reached into the storage box that she had been using as a seat and placed the Sylvan Army armour and backpacks, along with five swords, on the table and looked to the group for their answers.