"This is not a plan," Michael said once more. "This is a suicide mission."
Ace had heard him say it several times already.
"Then you stay here," Ace exhaled.
"How can I leave something this important to you?" Michael scoffed.
They were outside the capital camped around a fire. Despite Michael's protest, both he and Bird had tagged along. The plan as it could loosely be called was to create enough of a distraction so that Ace could find Albaric.
"Let's go over this again," Bird urged. "The secret portal takes us to the tower. Then what?"
Ace could tell he was nervous. He had hoped he wouldn't have to involve them, but the truth was they needed the help.
"We kill anyone who gets in our way," Kalandra answered decidedly.
"Who said anything about killing anyone?" Michael's eyes narrowed.
"Oh get off your high horse," Kalandra scoffed. "Since when are you above killing? Did you forget when you dropped him off the tower,"
"The only thing I forgot is how annoying you are," Michael huffed.
"Can we focus on the plan?" Ace shook his head, "The sisters and the royal knights will be patrolling the tower. You have to keep them distracted long enough for me and Kalandra to find Albaric. "
"The real problem is the head sister," Michael said thoughtfully.
"Rena?" Ace asked.
"I sensed something off about her," Kalandra enjoined, "For starters, she has offensive magic,"
"Her fire magic?"Ace recalled.
"The sisters don't usually use offensive magic," Michael explained. "But she's famous for being the first to introduce it to training in her sect. The issue is we don't know exactly what she's capable of because they trained far from the capital."
"Still, surely the royal knights are still the bigger problem," Kalandra shrugged.
"Most of the royal knights are able to use magic. The majority use it at a basic level for defence and strength. There are also some who can cast basic offensive magic. While this is what allowed the Empire's knights to conquer the continent, these battles were fought against those who cannot use magic. This is their weak spot. They don't do well against other magic users,"
"That's why they made the tower," Bird nodded in agreement.
"Then is there a chance we could face any interference from the mages?" Ace enquired.
"No," Michael dismissed, "the mages who graduate from the tower go straight into active duty or they return home. As for the current students, the procedure is to evacuate them in emergencies so we won't face any resistance there,"
"Then the only real threat is Rena and her sisters," Kalandra surmised, "but I don't see how a bunch of sisters can cause any real damage,"
---------------------------------
A formation of sisters stood in a line across the courtyard. Each had a hand outstretched ready to cast. Sister Rena was at the vanguard. Her eyes were an unwavering azure. She stood with the utmost composure, a general of her own army.
"Surrender," she said shortly and with absolute authority.
On the other side of the courtyard, Ace, Bird, Michael and Kalandra confronted the legion. As they faced off, bells tolled throughout the courtyard. A squadron of knights surrounded them.
"What did you say about the sisters?" Michael frowned.
"What would I know? I'm just a humble assassin," Kalandra shrugged, "You're supposed to be the smart one. What happened to those' secret portals' that no one was supposed to know about?"
"Well, obviously they figured it out," Michael remarked apathetically, "That's why I got rid of most of them. They were a security threat,"
"Funny, during all your bragging about what a great wizard you were, you failed to mention that part," Kalandra gave an irritated smile.
"When was I bragging.." Michael started
"Do you think this is a conversation we can have later?" Ace interrupted.
Across from them, Rena stepped forward. Her eyes fell to Ace with an impenetrable stare.
"You shouldn't have come back here," she said unceremoniously. Slowly her eyes surveyed the rest of the group.
"You're all fugitives. If you turn yourselves in now..."
"Where's Albaric?" Ace cut her off.
"Albaric can't help you now," Rena replied sharply.
"Then let us see him," Michael grinned darkly, "Let him decide he helps us or not,"
Rena didn't waver, "He's in court. I have been given permission to apprehend you."
Kalandra's lips curled into a grin, "Well, it looks like we go to plan B,"
"What's plan B?" Bird said hesitantly.
"If we can't get to the all-important sword saint, then we'll have to bring him out here," Kalandra said.
Rena raised her hand.
"So be it,"
A roar of fire gathered around her hand in little ripples at first. Suddenly, the flames dilated into a round burning sphere. The line of sister joined her in casting the same fire magic. A wall of flames hurtled towards them with intense speed and heat.
"I'll deal with this. You deal with the rest," Michael stepped forward to meet the looming cascade of fire.
He waved his hand and with a flick of his wrist, a wash of water jetted up. He threw his hands forcefully and submerged the flames with a screen of water. The collision between the fire and water released a cloud of steam.
The steam cleared leaving Michael standing off against Rena.
"I'm not sure I like what you've done with the place," Michael smiled, tilting his head back arrogantly. "Why don't we have a little chat about it, sister?"
Rena signalled to the rest of the sisters. They went around to confront the others. The royal knights joined them in attacking Ace, Bird and Kalandra. Meanwhile, Michael and Rena faced off.
"I see why they made you grand wizard," Rena remarked. " To think you threw all this away. What a waste of potential."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Michael rushed towards her.
They met in hand to hand combat. Michael released a flurry of blows. Every motion of his body was reinforced by a wave of water. However, Rena countered with magic of her own. Bursts of hot vapour flew from their exchange.
Despite Michael's advantage in power, Rena blocked with deft agility. No move was wasted. She swiftly turned as his fist came and launched a kick to his side. Just before the impact, he managed to defend against it but It sent him back.
"Are you sure you're a sister?" Micahel laughed, "If I didn't know better I would say you were in the military,"
"In the west, conscription calls for women as well as men," Rena returned indifferently.
"I am familiar with the system," Michael replied. "But rarely, do you meet people outside the Empire with magic. What a shame that you had to face me today. I think you and I would have had a lot to talk about,"
"Ah, is this that infamous ego I've heard so much about?" Rena returned cooly.
"You're deceiving yourself if you think you can survive in the Empire without one,"
"Ah yes," Rena remarked, "the charismatic leader of an army of children,"
Michael started to gain speed. As he darted towards Rena, he drew magic around his arms. She prepared to block the attack. However, as Michael threw his hands forward, a wave extended from his body, lurching forward.
Rena collapsed her fingertips together. As the wall of water hit, she pierced the surface. Her fingers cut into the wave with searing heat. The wall of water was broken. However, the moment she stepped through, Michael was nowhere to be found.
A flicker of a shadow brought Rena's eyes up. It was too late. As Michael flew down, the water slapped Rena to the ground. Yet, in spite of the force, she remained standing. Her entire body was drenched and her chest rose and fell fiercely. Her eyes appraised Michael wildly.
"Hmm," Michael observed, "You really are something special,"
Rena's eyes rose with contempt. She clenched her fists. Flames burst from her hands. She lunged at Michael viciously.
Across from them, Kalandra, Ace and Bird were facing off against a growing number of knights and sisters.
Despite Bird's timid nature, his power was nothing to laugh at. The opposition were thrown left and right, battered by the intensity of his wind magic. Ace couldn't help being astounded by the superiority of his magic. His years in the tower had obviously been beneficial.
While Bird kept the majority at bay, Kalandra and Ace fought off anyone who managed to get through. As Michael had guessed, Rena's sisters were able to use some offensive magic. However, between Kalandra's speed and magic they didn't get far. She would drop without a moment's respite into any shadow cast.
Her methods were brutal and merciless. She grabbed a sister by the hair throwing her with such force she fell and crashed to the ground and didn't rise again. As for the knights, Ace was able to use his magic to disarm them, then Kalandra cut through their defences.
With a few expertly placed blows she was able to make them pass out. Ace was surprised at her restraint, but even more alarmed by the deadliness of her art. With his magic, he was able to call their weapons from them. Then he would have to fight with his sword alone. In truth, it would have been easier to kill them, but he knew that Albaric wouldn't forgive him if he did.
Honestly, he didn't know if he could live with either. In some ways, Clover was right. Though we had this darkness inside of him, it was restrained by something. He didn't know clearly what it was but it didn't matter.
The fighting dragged on and they were all starting to tire. The enemies kept coming. They were in the royal palace after all. It wouldn't be long before they were outnumbered. Still, they had to keep up the fight until Albaric arrived. That was if he arrived at all.
There was a loud rumble. Everyone turned towards the boom as a blast sent dust into the air. Ace glanced towards Michael. Rena was kneeling at his feet and Michael had his sword at her throat. He had won. It looked like the battle was turning in their favour. Maybe they could actually do this...
Suddenly, Michael went flying across the court. It was so fast, Ace didn't even see the cause. Michael lay sprawled out under a tree. He was knocked out cold. Ace glanced at Bird and Kalandra. They slowly brought their eyes back to Rena.
At first, there was too much debris to see anything. Two figures were silhouetted against the smoke. It began to clear. Ace saw Rena doubled over and someone was helping her to her feet.
Finally, the other figure came into view. Ace rallied as he laid eyes on a familiar face. Albaric pulled Rena up till she came to a stand on her own. However, Ace's hopes were quickly dashed when he saw the look in Albaric's eyes. No, he wasn't there to help them.
Bird didn't seem to realise this. Before Ace could stop him, Bird was racing towards Albaric.
"No!" Ace cried.
Bird was already too far away. He realised his mistake too late. He tried to speak but it was too quick. He was knocked to the ground with a thump. Albaric stepped past him. The look on his face was unbridled anger: An anger like Ace had never seen before.