Armsmaster Trevor Byrne squinted as he saw a fireball rushing from the central district back towards the western wall. The Protective Dome was set so that anything coming from this side of it would not be obstructed, especially something really fast and powerful. As for what that was, he could easily guess, and when the golden ball of energy passed by, he saw Miss Davar as well as her brothers, and Miss Niamh Randal flying by. That young Miss Davar could fly, and easily carry three people with her was a testament to her incredible growth. And while the last time he'd seen her before today had been when she had left for an undercover mission, he was sure she hadn't been that flashy before.
Nevertheless, the siege wore down everybody's nerves, even if the Haveenians and Chaos Lords didn't attack all that often. He knew that they were up to something, and the fact that whatever they were doing was done out of sight only made it more ominous. Those rotters had learned their lesson that Imperials were very, very good at defensive warfare, which was rather unfortunate. Still, the fact that Yuriko was back meant that something important must have happened.
He steadied himself as the earth shook. That was the second time within the hour. Rumiga rarely had earthquakes, though he'd read of some planes that had such features. That his home was experiencing these kinds of changes didn't bode well. Unfortunately, he was only a Knight. He was far from being strong enough to hold up the sky or stop a mountain from falling. He could only hope that the powerful warriors of Imperial Rumiga were up to the challenge.
Now then, his shift was almost over, and if there was one silver lining to this sordid situation was that it pushed him from being comfortable and allowed him to present his suit to Eilis Merill, the town's Spellweaver. And she'd finally agreed to take a step forward. He couldn't keep the grin off his face. The little joys were important to keep up morale, and he was determined to make the best of it.
___________
Yuriko wasn't foolish enough to just barge into the Watchtower with its Protective Dome up. Er, not when Marron told her to slow down, anyway. It took less than a minute to cross the longstrides between the town and the tower, and at that point, Rami had stopped giggling over Marron's consternation, and Niamh cuddled with Maru, enjoying the flight.
Marron's fiance remained at the Journeyman level, but Yuriko was sure the woman was close to Knight by now. Actually, Niamh was only twenty-four years old and was well within the average age of Imperials who could advance to Knight.
The sentry saluted and allowed the four of them to enter via the gates rather than over the wall. Yuriko grinned and dodged Maru's pinching fingers as soon as she released them from her kinesis.
"You're healed!" she squealed and hugged him from behind.
"Yeah, yeah, I am." Marron grunted, "Your prince came through."
"He's not my prince!" she protested, and he smirked.
"We all know he wants to be."
Yuriko sniffed and ignored him. Instead, she grabbed Rami's hand as they walked into the courtyard and asked, "Your Heritage?"
"Not the Davar," Rami said with a neutral expression, before smiling. "I don't really mind."
Yuriko flinched then sighed. A part of her felt sympathy, but then again, if he didn't really mind, was it actually a loss? "I didn't think it was the Davar's. Mishala?"
"Erm, I'm not sure. Maybe? It's not Mum's."
Come to think of it, Yuriko wasn't sure what Mum's Heritage and Facets were. She was a Sorceress, so it was logical to assume that the Facets were all about that, but Yuriko never really asked. But then, the Mishalas had the Mien as a central focus, but that only passed on to female descendants. What she saw Rami doing was either a plant-based Heritage or perhaps a growth-based one.
"I can encourage the growth of plants," Rami said when she asked. "But I think I can also encourage wounds and other injuries to heal faster."
"That's nice," Yuriko agreed, but now she worried if he had a complete Heritage to follow all the way to Knight. She could also induct him into the Ancient's Way, but she wasn't sure if he had the gumption for it.
Still, there was little need for it unless Rami wanted to. And from how happy he seemed, especially since he'd always loved gardening, there was little reason for it.
"Hi, Heron!" Rami waved when he saw the young man come out of the Watchtower's door. Yuriko looked up and noticed her friend frowning at her.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"You left so abruptly," Heron sighed, "I wanted to tell mom the good news."
"Oh. We can go back later. Probably better with Uncle Balliol," Yuriko said.
"...since when did she call him Uncle Balliol?" Marron muttered from behind.
"I'll hold you to that," Heron grinned. "Anyway, I was waiting for your return. Your parents, well, your dad reclaimed his office and is waiting for you there."
"Da!" Marron and Rami yelled in happiness before both of them ran past Heron. Niamh followed behind them, though she gave Heron a careful look before turning to wink at Yuriko.
Chuckling, Heron stepped up next to her as she strolled into the tower. Once she was past the antechamber, she found herself in the central courtyard. The way the tower was built was that it had a spiralling ramp all the way to the top, with each designated floor roughly five paces from each other. There was an empty space all the way up to the top, which she could use to fly up through or use the lift if she didn't want to bother. And…
Chaos Sight active, she noticed the runescript weaving hidden within the stones. They were of the same, or rather, similar vein to the ones inside the Silver Tiger. Spatial expansion. It had been subtle, but she also noticed runescript patterns that reminded her of how her Mien worked. She watched the patterns' Chaos flows and realised the secondary ones were meant to divert attention from the spatial shenanigans, and now that she saw them, she realised that four years ago, she barely thought about why the rooms were larger than what they seemed.
Da's office was near the top level.
"Are you coming with me?" she asked Heron, who nodded. She grabbed him around the waist, which also made him blush. Snickering, she flew up the shaft and landed on the eighteenth floor. And while she could have entered the door already, she instead waited.
Less than a minute later, Marron, Rami, and Niamh came around the ramp, and all three of them started when they saw her. Her grin widening, Yuriko gestured to the door, and all five of them entered.
The sentry nodded to her familiarly, though she couldn't recall if she'd met the man before. Must be from a while back huh? Aside from her height, it wasn't as if she changed all that much. He held the door open for her and they entered the antechamber. The desk for the aide-de-camp was empty, but the door leading to a conference room was ajar. She heard muffled voices inside.
When they entered, she saw her Mum, Da, Duchess Kinnock and a few of her aides, as well as the Da's Vice-commander, huddled over a map. The Duchess was pointing at several places and when Yuriko looked at the table with her Anima perception, she saw that it wasn't a paper map but a projection made out of light. It displayed the terrain around the Watchtower as well as a significant portion of the underground.
The Watchtower was highlighted in yellow, the ground was in brown, and what few woods remained in the vicinity were in green. There was no indicator for hostile forces. The yellow markings underground were spread throughout the area, and it made the actual tower look like a single finger compared to a palm. The way the tunnels were positioned, especially at the edges, formed a simple runescript formation. Gather.
There were six such formations within the map, but from how the yellow went towards the edge and got cut off there, she figured that they extended well past the boundary of the map. But some bits of the yellow markers had flecks of darkness in them, and there were at least three sets that looked like they should have been Gather runescript formations, too.
"... steadily chipping away at the tower's resources. They refuse to engage directly and we don't have the numbers to sweep them away. They run when they see us or buckle down. Anytime we focus on the bunkers, they move more people towards the other geomantic nexus and try to alter its flows," Duchess Kinnock said. "What you want to accomplish, Sorceress Mishala, requires more power than the Gemheart currently has."
"Da! Mum!" Rami and Marron blurted out as soon as they entered, interrupting the meeting, much to the Duchess' visible annoyance. Marron immediately bowed in apology, though Rami was too rambunctious to care. Yuriko's youngest brother barreled down the conference room and grabbed both Virgil and Sadeen in a hug.
Mum patted his back, giving an indulgent smile, while Da's eyes actually teared up as he gazed at his sons.
Duchess Kinnock stepped back with a sigh, and her gaze bounced towards Yuriko. She frowned for a long moment, then asked, "You are their daughter? I barely recognise you."
"Yes. Yuriko Mishala Davar."
"Ah, yes. I remember. Sharom four years ago wasn't it? Hmmm, I thought you were lost to the barbarians, along with Sharine's granddaughter?"
"Not the barbarians," Yuriko answered coldly. "But Gwendith had been captured. I rescued her."
"You did?" Duchess Kinnock's eyebrows reached her hairline in surprise. "I see. Then the northern war…you were involved in it a year or so ago?"
"Yes."
"I see. You had advanced quickly…a Sorceress, too?"
Yuriko shook her head, but it was Mum who answered, "Yuriko is an initiate-level Jade Circle."
"Oh, congratulations." There was a light of hope within the dark-skinned woman's eyes, "Perhaps…?"
"Yes, we will do what we can, of course. The Ritual of Calling is what Legate Segawa and I agreed to do. They will hold the Chaos forces outside, while we create a Beacon to allow them to bypass the blockade."
"But why only now?" Yuriko blurted out.
Sadeen gave a mirthless smile. "Because I'm the only Luminous Circle Sorceress in the plane."
"Oh."
"It's not that simple," Virgil said, "and we didn't think the Watchtower had suffered so much." He growled. "It's time to take back what's ours and drive the invaders away."
Yuriko shook her head, "And we have to stop the Chaos Duke…" The tower shook as the earth rumbled, which highlighted her point. "You… you think he's reached the planar core?"
Mum and Da exchanged worried glances.
"Perhaps," Mum said. "But I think he's only at the initial phase. There's no time to lose. We have to bring the Legion Vagaris in Rumiga and we have to rendezvous with Legate Brygos of Agminis, too. With three Knights Domini and a Vasi Colossus…we should be able to match and defeat the Chaos Duke."
"You have a Vasi Colossus?" Duchess Kinnock squeaked, but neither Sadeen nor Virgil answered her. Instead, they turned towards the door as someone else entered.
"Aunt Layla!" Yuriko squealed.
"Yuri! Good to see you again!" The diminutive Davar walked in and gave Yuriko a tight hug. Layla pulled back and eyed Virgil who was blinking and squinting at her, "Cousin Virgil."
"Layla…" Da mused. "Oh! Last time I saw you, you were only this tall!" he blurted out while holding his palm down to his hips. Aunt Layla glared at him when he continued in a teasing tone. "That was nearly two decades ago, huh." He raised his hand up to his chest and left unspoken the rest of the tease.
"Hmph!" Aunt Layla snorted, then eyed Sadeen. She didn't say anything but nodded in acknowledgement, which Mum breezily returned. "Anyway. I'm here to report that the Gemheart's throughput has lowered again. It's at twenty percent capacity, and if it goes just five percent lower, the defences will fail." Her grim tone sobered everyone up.
"Well," Virgil said after a long moment. "That was unexpected. Where are they attacking?"
Layla growled, "Everywhere! We don't have the strength to push them back! The rotters! If the main Gemheart hadn't been destroyed there would be no way this could happen."
"Reality is what is," Sadeen said gently. "Now, let's see what our additional forces can do…"