"No matter what happens. You need to keep running."
The cold man put me down and he disappeared towards the Forest of Luminescence. I couldn't react to what was happening around me - it all happened so fast.
The orc roared and turned towards the cold man's direction as it completely ignored my sisters. The man continued to provoke the orc as he led it away from us.
What I'm seeing now versus what I thought of the man in front of me are two very things. I first met him just as I was about to be assaulted by that burly knight and his companions.
That's just how war is. It brings about the worst part of everyone and I assumed that to be true about that cold, handsome man but he ultimately betrayed my expectations. He saved me. I was his enemy and he saved me.
I felt the shockwave the orc caused as it kicked the ground and launched itself at the forest of luminescence.
I started to lose focus on what was happening around me. I turned my head and I can see my sisters doing their best to heal one another. I can see the corpse of one of my sisters in the distance, she used to be a beautiful and free-spirited dryad. She was going to get married to her lover but she's nothing more than a flattened piece of flesh on the ground.
A huge explosion rattled me back to reality - I knew this was going to happen. There was no way that orc was going to land inside the volatile sea of trees without setting off an explosion.
"Cast your barriers!" I held up two hands in front of me and I started casting. "Divine Protection!" a chorus of spells echoed around me as my sisters cast their own barriers.
A medley of spherical shields materialized in front of us as the shields of light intercept the series of explosions from the Forest of Luminescence.
The heat made us uncomfortable but so long as our barriers are up, we at the very least will be safe. But this much is only possible due to our usage of Grand Magecraft. Despite its name, it mostly means augmenting one spell with the help of numerous similar spells cast in tandem.
So if one Divine Protection could protect one person, then a similar shield cast by a dozen veteran warmage would be enough to protect one small area. A hundred of these spellcasters would be enough to protect a large noble's residence and a thousand might even be enough to protect a huge chunk of the imperial capital.
The process of compounding and augmenting spells isn't all that complicated but it does require a lot of manpower - and a skilled workforce at that.
One of the reasons why the war has gone on for as long as it has is due to the presence of Princess Artesia Von Anellise who is quite possibly the most powerful warmage the world had ever seen.
Princess Artesia has effectively changed the way war is fought as her presence alone is enough to overwhelm an entire army. Her skill as a mage is equivalent to at least ten thousand mages. Imagine what would happen if she conjures a fireball with her full magical output.
A small fireball is enough to obliterate a mortal body but magnify that by ten thousand times. Just imagining it sends a shudder down my spine.
The only reason the humans don't send Princess Artesia out on the frontlines is that we have our Empress as a deterrent. While Princess Artesia is the equivalent of ten thousand mages, our Empress is equal to none and her magical abilities are only limited by her whims.
I've heard that our Empress once threatened to destroy an entire continent over a dispute on the treatment of magical creatures as slaves or playthings by the human nobles. What's funny is that the other side took her so seriously that the human empire no longer practices slavery - at least out in the open.
So why doesn't our Empress just walk out on the battlefield and rain judgment upon our enemies? It's because of mutually assured destruction. Having Artesia and our Empress as a threat works better than actually sending them out on the field. That is an endgame scenario that even the most seasoned strategists would pray to never see as that would mean the end of the world as we know it.
"Commander!"
A sudden shout roused me from my thoughts.
"What is it?"
"My familiar has just returned!" My subordinate pointed to the sky as an Eagle swooped down and perched on her shoulders. "He told me that the man from earlier is still inside!"
There's no way he's still alive. But a small light of hope ignited within my heart.
Remembering him, on the other hand, doused that hope with the fear that I felt when he told me that he would reap our lives.
I shook my head to force out my useless thoughts.
"Understood. Mobilize those who can move. We might need to perform emergency treatment on him."
My subordinate quickly ran towards our other sisters and relayed my instructions to them.
I made my way to the forest and after walking aimlessly, I found him. He was standing in the middle of the scorched earth. Around him were corpses that could barely be identified by I knew who they were. While their armor melted and their skin charred, I could still recognize their lingering malice.
The man, on the other hand, was breathing raggedly as he was slumped over a beautiful black sword. It had a simple design but it had these engravings that made it captivating. This regal blade strangely fit him, he who was cold.
Seeing his mangled arm, I roused myself out of my stupor and I called out to him. "You!" I closed the distance between us and I tried to pry him off his sword.
TSSS
"Argh!"
The man's light armor scalded me. How did he survive this? I clenched my teeth as I pulled his armor apart.
The heated metal burned my hands but I still pulled the armor off of him. I saw his body. It was completely burned.
"What the fuck.." I was completely shocked by what I saw. He was barely alive right now but even that was miraculous compared to what I was seeing.
""Commander!""
"The patient has severe third-degree burns and we need to reattach his arm. He is also extremely exhausted so we need to provide him some mana. Don't wait around! You know what to do!"
As my sisters got into position, the man's eyes suddenly opened as he roughly grabbed my hand.
"Hey! You're dying! Calm down!" I pushed him back down and I turned towards my subordinate "Help me keep him down! He's in a state of shock!"
I started to cast a simple sleeping spell but the man pushed us away as he got to his feet.
The eerie burned burning forest around us was scary, but what I felt as I looked at him wasn't even worth comparing. I was more afraid of a single human being instead of a major ecological disaster that hasn't even calmed down around us.
He had a cold look in his eyes but it was vacant, as though he wasn't really there at all. He gave me a look and he promptly turned around and started walking away from us.
I summoned up my courage as I shouted towards him. "You're still hurt! Let us treat you!"
The cold man simply didn't even turn his head towards me. He kept walking. But after a while, he stopped in place and said, "I killed that man for you." and he continued walking away, limping and holding his arm in place.
I don't know what's been happening to me but I thought that I would never forget how my heart beat like a drum at his words. Like I was happy he did something for me - even if it was the murder of a war criminal. But he did it for my sake.
I must still be affected by his charm but it wasn't magical by nature. I remembered how I was charmed by his face. He's a dangerous man - in more ways than one.
As I watched him slowly disappear in the distance, I called out to my sisters. "Bury those who passed and treat those who are injured. We have a long trek awaiting us."
I don't know exactly who that man is but I knew that he was probably the most dangerous man in the world - even more so than my empress and Princess Artesia. He seemed otherworldly as though he did not fit this plane of existence. He both made me want him but at the same time, I instinctively feared him.
What a man.