Amelia Steelheart remained unmoving as she waited for Gustavo’s response. She had already given him a maximum time limit of five minutes, and the time was ticking by.
Her blonde hair waved in the air behind her as she awaited his response, her longsword stabbed into the ground before her, and her hands resting on its hilt. Her shiny, gold armor glistened under the bright light of the moon.
“Milady, we have surrounded Fort Bender with our fastest warriors. The moment anyone tries to sneak out, we will know.” A shadow appeared before her, with his head bowed. After she nodded in response, he dashed away, blurring in the darkness of night.
Amelia was a noble lady from a powerful kingdom not far from Fort Bender. She had served in its army for nearly ten years already, and by virtue of her strength and achievements, she had climbed her way up to become a General in its army. She was a powerful mage that focused her efforts on fire and light magic. Plus, she also had a high affinity for Holy energy, so she had also gained some powerful spells that were of great effectiveness against anything Unholy.
Just before Divinity’s Bout had begun nearly two months ago, she had gotten word of a Necromancer residing within Fort Bender through certain intelligence channels. Immediately, she had pushed for a campaign to deal with the Necromancer. She believed that wherever there was a Necromancer, trouble was soon to follow.
With that, she had amassed an army of five thousand soldiers to travel to Fort Bender with her in order to apprehend the Necromancer. They had deliberately taken their time to arrive, so the moment Divinity’s Bout came to a close, she struck. The Necromancer’s whereabout had been unknown ever since the competition began, so she was pretty sure that he was a participant.
“Time is up, Sir Darion. Will you hand over the Necromancer or do I have to break down your walls to get him?” Amelia suddenly spoke when the five minutes were up.
Gustavo’s face crumpled. “Amelia, don’t make this hard for any of us. Fort Bender is a free city. Anyone here can do what they want or be what they want. So long as he remains within these walls, then I can not hand him over to you. It’s bad for business, you know.” He tried to reason with her, but he could tell that she was not budging from her stance.
“Very well, then. If you refuse to hand him over, then I shall take him by force!” Amelia then acted quickly. In a smooth motion, she raised up her sword from the ground, and it was suddenly overcome by a swirl of fire that grew up into a gigantic pillar, then she brought it down on the gates of the city.
“Not on my watch!” Gustavo knew that she would not back down, so he chose to meet the woman head on.
BOOM!
An earth shaking explosion shook the earth as the flame pillar clashed against a pale blue shield that had manifested around the city’s walls.
Gustavo’s eyes were firm as he stood against Amelia. She might have been a powerful A rank mage, but he was no slough either. His robes waved in the night’s wind that had been roused by the powerful attack as he raised his staff above his head and spun it.
“Rising Emblem!” Gustavo had a habit of naming his attacks and calling them out when he was fighting. Although he did not scream it out, his subtle whisper was still loud enough for those around him to hear him.
Crack!
Boom!!!
Suddenly, a red runic formation appeared under Amelia’s feet and glowed brightly. She quickly jumped backwards as a massive pillar of fire rose up into the air. The end of her long, blue cape was caught in the fire, but it was a strong material so it was only left with a few dark markings.
Her eyes glowed with a white light and she held out her left palm. With a pulse of thick mana, a beam of white light burned into a solid form, taking on the shape of a light spear.
“Hup!” With a smooth spin, she landed and tossed the spear right at the shield. She had specifically aimed at the spot where Gustavo was standing. The burly man did not move but waved his hand instead.
“Ha! Draining Wall!” He roared and several smaller blue barriers appeared between him and the spear. The light spear tore through each layer of defense like hot knife through butter, but each barrier slowed down its momentum and drained the mana that sustained the form of the spear. By the time it hit the barrier before the main wall that protected the city, it had lost too much power and only pinged against the surface of the shield.
“Stand down, Amelia! You can not penetrate my shields!” Gustavo roared. He was not scared. In all his years serving as the protector of Fort Bender, he had placed down many defensive arrays and turned this place into a real fortress. Even if Amelia eventually broke into the city, she would surely be low on mana at that point and be unable to defeat Gustavo.
“If you think that to be all of what I can do, then you are a fool! Let me show you the power of the Empire of Light!” Amelia was equally charged up, and her voice reached up high to the skies. As she yelled, a sudden burst of light and mana welled out from her, sending a pulse of mana all over the area. The pulse went all over Fort Bender, although the shield managed to stop it from entering the city.
However, that did not matter to Amelia. That mana had never been meant to harm anyone, but rather, it was meant to empower her allies.
Behind her, the soldiers that had stood behind her were finally beginning to step forward. On each of their foreheads was a mark. The mark depicted a white star.