The Battle of Ultopja 1 (18) – Break of Dawn [Superchapter]

Catherine awakes early this day. Very early. It puts her in a grumpy mood. “Waking up is torture.” She mumbles as she makes a squiggly line on the calendar. One month, that was how long this siege had been going now. The minor food crisis was over and if Aclysia is to be trusted the Grimoire was half way to perfection. Apparently, it works already but it just doesn’t meet the quality standard.

Catherine understands that, things of that power level are not to be rushed. However, a change of pace would be nice. Day in day out they just did the same. The siege is in such a stalemate that no side was willing to commit to anything. She tightens her clothes and leaves the building in the light darkness before dawn. Might as well take a walk before the rest of the city awoke.

Her feet eventually take her to the large fountain in the centre of Ultopja. It was a marvellous thing really. It was as tall as a two story building and at least twenty metres wide. Benches had been long since put around it. In a bit of nostalgia Catherine decided to sit down and watch the sun rise. Her and Helena used to do that back in their younger days. Well, Helena looked at the sun while Catherine polished her fingernails usually.

The first rays of sun over the mount are accompanied with a loud noise. A loud shrill noise that echoes through the city, vibrating from every stone, awakening everyone from even their deepest slumber. Catherine’s eyes go wide, that is the alarm only the Hundred can use and they are strictly advised only to use it in one case, Invasion.

“What are you doing Helena?” She mumbles to herself. Her adoptive sister couldn’t hope to storm the city. The enchantments were still in place. Was this a last desperate attempt? Was the situation with the other rebels other the country that grim that they needed to attack a well-fortified city? The answer comes in the shape of a huge boulder.

Catherine stares at the stone open mouthed as it passes over the city wall and plunges into the district of Erschja. A cloud of dust and rubble follows where it crashes. The question in her head transforms. ‘What has happened to Ulal?’ She thinks and spins around.

Her feet fly over the paved streets with outmost haste. There is no time to waste. She last checked on Ulal three days ago, but Zal should have told everyone if he had been knocked out recently. Whatever happened to him if the Demonmagus could get on the throne and just power the gate again before the enemy breaks through this days was still salvageable. All they needed to do is to prevent them breaking in. There was still hope.

Hope. That is what Helena feels at this very moment. Hope and Disappointment. The enemy has reacted to their sudden attack the way she has expected them to: With total confusion. Sure, they had reacted quickly but not in the right order. First they had fired their new cannons at them, a blow to the attacking force without a doubt but not devastating. Only when the force had started putting ladders the mages created for them from the crushed stones in front of the gate did they sound their alarm.

The wall is still being fought over when a messenger reaches the Lady of Light. Helena is standing at the head of her main force in her full, golden plate armour and a Claymore in hand. “Report: There is no way to open the gate on top or behind the wall.” She nods. “Then we have no choice but to destroy the gate. MAGES CREATE A RAM!”

The Transmutation schooled mages get to work immediately. Plans were scribbled, efforts coordinated. A huge square is opened by the mass of attackers as they continue to climb the wall. Twenty frontline mages take position and start channelling their power. Dirt and Stone reshapes under their visible efforts.

In the end, a large iron frame holds a solid ram. The mages take a step back, the few that don’t collapse at least, while soldiers take place at one of the four large windings that allow the ram to be pulled back. Each of windings needs four of the female soldiers to be worked.

Helena keeps a close watch on the happenings on the wall. Right now, their most important objective is to hold the wall until the gate is battered open. If the enemy manages to reclaim the wall spells and arrows will rain on them and the blow to her forces, even if they still succeeded in the attack, would be disastrous.

BOOM! The ram crashes into the wall for the first time. Stones splinter of the giant gate but it doesn’t budge. The windings are being worked again. BOOM! A small network of cracks spreads through the gate as the solid metal head of the ram crashes a second time. The third impact the cracks widen, shards, some as big as Helena herself, fall from the crumbling gate. One or two more impacts and they should be able to break through.

At the top of the gate a giant figure breaks through. A singular soldier, from the form of the armour she guesses a female, in blue glass armour has broken a pathway through Helena’s forces with her giant axe. The enemy secures the position as another person steps forth. A mage, evident by the blue robes.

“Spear!” She commands her lieutenant right next to her and rams her Claymore into the ground to haver he hands free. With haste, a long spear is handed to her. Helena doesn’t miss a moment and chucks the spear at the enemy mage. It will hit, she is certain of it, but the crackling fire in his hands is already burning through the air. In the same moment, as the spear claims the mages life his flames consume the soldiers that were on the winding. The attack not only kills the soldiers but also leaves an inferno of flames and overheated metal that nobody can get close to.

Helena breaks from her position and runs to the winding. The enemy elite at the top of the wall is busy with the attack forces but it won’t be long until she brings in another mage. They can’t create a second one of these rams and they can’t retreat and try again tomorrow, they will have lost the shock factor. No, they needed to break through right now.

As the other soldier’s scramble, away from the flames she breaks through. Engulfed by flames her iron gauntlets grab at the red-hot winding. The heat was painful, yes, but nothing she isn’t able to ignore for now. She smells her hair burning at the tips. “Lady Light!” A few worried voices reach her. “WORK THE WINDINGS!” She screams back and pushes.

Painfully slow the ram rises the rest. The fire around her obstructs her vision. The pain is getting worse. Soon the fire will have spread through her enchanted armour and boil her inside her armour. If only the mages still had the power to work, they could have extinguished…but no there was no time for such thoughts, after all she had decided to use the mages as a Transmutation instead of an Alteration force.

Suddenly the winding gave in, the ram swung forwards a final time. With a loud BOOM! The wall broke away and crumbled. A small explosion as the enchantments within the stone and the metal lying within unloaded their remaining energy, bursting away the fire but also Helena.

The general found herself without orientation on the ground. Her ears ringed, refuse to work, the world is blurry. A dull noise reaches her. A second time. She shakes her head and saw somebody talking to her. Blonde hair, an iron pendant. Jane. “-elena?” She finally hears something again.

“What?” She asks, “Are you alright, Lady Helena?” Her first lieutenant asks and extends her hand. “Yes.” Helena answers and lets herself be pulled up by Jane. She looks at the gate, the explosion ripped away what remained of the two stone slabs and all that remained were hundreds of broken pieces of the once glorious gate. A soldier hands Helena her sword and she raises it to the skies. “WE HAVE THE GATE, FOLLOW ME!”

“GATHER AROUND ME!” Tang shouts as the Hundred gather at the plaza before the tower. He has no idea how the enemy is breaking through but he will fulfil his purpose. They need to strike the enemy while they are still at the chokehold of the gate, if they pass they can bring their superior numbers upon them and establish a foothold.

The Hundred take a spearhead formation with Tang at the front. “OUTER ROW, READY WEAPONS!” He instructs and with simultaneous movements the giant axes get pulled from their confinement at the back. “ADVANCE!” The Hundred start running at breakneck speed.

In the distance, they see the magical explosion that follows the destruction of the gate. “FASTER!” Tang screams and redoubles his efforts. He sees a woman with red-blonde hair stepping out of the cloud, she has golden armour with a red cape waving from her back, her hand clutches a Claymore with one hand, there is a small scar under her eye.

As the Hundred storm towards the gate Helena takes stance. “FIRST COMPANY! TO ME!” She raises Claymore in two hands above the shoulder, tip pointing at the enemy spearhead. With the full momentum of the sprint the giant in his blue armour tries to swat her aside with his two-handed axe. With any other person he would have succeeded.

Their weapons clash with a violent impact. Helena doesn’t give a single centimetre as she takes the full brunt of the impact. The two generals stand locked as around them the opposing forces clash. Helena takes a deep breath, Tang stares into her dark blue eyes. “General Helena von Dunklen. It is an honour to face you.” She says. The sound of glass screeching against metal as their weapons hold a conversation of their own. “Tang. Likewise.” The Giant answers and tries to kick her.

Helena jumps back. Despite the full plate she is as nimble as they come. She engages again mere moments later, her hair a streak of reddened gold that flies after her as she delivers an overhead strike with her Claymore. He blocks the strike with his thick armguard. A scrunching noise as the Claymore hits the glass. Tang swings with his free hand and builds distance between them with a few close strikes. Helena dives under the first, side steps the second and finally jumps back into safety. Each of her steps is perfect, her movements not a single wasted motion yet not a hint of arrogance or superiority appears on her face as she takes stance a few feet back.

Tang looks at the armguard. To his dismay, he finds a deep cut and cracks that run around it. “You are strong.” He states before taking the axe in two hands again. “A compliment I return, Tang.” Helena says and keeps her eyes on the enemy. “Tell me, are you the enemy commander?” “Yes.” Helena smiles. “What is funny?” Tang asks. “Nothing. However, if I manage to take you out this battle will cease. I wish for nothing more than this conflict to end.”

“Then…” Tang takes a step forward and raises the axe far above his head. “Leave!” Crashing down like a hammer, the axe rips apart the floor where Helena just stood. She jumped upwards to dodge and lands on the shaft of the weapon. Tang doesn’t mind, he let’s go of the weapon and as he throws a punch at her spikes emerge from his gauntlets. Helena quickly brings the handle of her Claymore between herself and the assault. She is thrown back but lands unscathed. Tang picks up his axe in time to block her counterattack.

Helena showers him in strikes unnaturally fast for a Claymore. Not even Tang would be able to swing that chunk of metal so fast and he has a piece of a Dragon inside himself. He is forced back, step for step. The soldiers around them see their generals in the heated battle and just as Helena forces him back, the troops of Estara conquer the gate inch for inch.

With a single hard strike, she makes Tang stumble backwards, his guard wide open she prepares for a strike that will shatter his chest armour and force him to surrender. A small fast flying object glints in the sunlight. Helena throws her head to the side and catches a glimpse of the black needle that flies by. Instead of her it hits the leader of her first company.

A person clad in black leather jumps unto the battlefield. “Hands off my man.” A female voice says and her amber eyes, the only part of her face that is visible, glow dangerously. Helena wants to attack her when her subordinate behind her starts screaming. “RETREAT!” Tang suddenly yells and the enemy forces dissipate in a moment’s notice. Helena should try to capture the enemy commander but the screams of her underling leave her to worried to leave. Helena storms to her aid. “What is wrong, Jane?” “L-lady Light….” The soldiers skin starts glowing, no, burning from within, she grabs her pendant and tries to give it to Helena. “Run.”

The warning comes too late. Jane explodes into a pillar of fire that engulfs Helena and everyone else surrounding them. “LADY HELENA!” The soldiers immediately forget to chase after the fleeing enemy and run to their Generals aid. The pillar turns into smoke, soldiers stumble outside, most of the unscathed but their enchantments now exhausted. Seconds go by.

Helena steps out of the pillar. Her face is covered with ash, as is her armour. The explosion has burnt part of her hair but her blue eyes still show unwavering determination. Her gauntleted hand clutch Jane’s pendant, the only thing she could save. She hangs the iron sun around her neck in silence. “Secure the gate.” She commands, “This is not the last loss we will have to endure today. Secure the civilian holdings, don’t harm anyone who surrenders, don’t kill those who insist on fighting unless you have no other choice or they have the equipment of a soldier.” Her eyes fall on the tower in the distance. “We will establish a foothold here, secure the first two districts.”

Catherine arrives at the top of the tower. There is Ulal, lying on the ground, eyes open, staring at nothing at all. She hurries over and checks his pulse. He has one, although with his physique she has no idea if it is slow or normal, what standards does a Demonmagus abide to after all? Questions for another time.

She puts her hands on her teacher’s head and uses Alteration. There must be something here but she can’t feel it. All his thoughts are completely blocked. She looks around there must be something that…There is a mirror. She picks it up. The glass of the ancient thing is shattered. A bolt of powerful magical energy jumps into Catherine’s hand. Whatever purpose this mirror had it fulfilled it. “How did somebody…? No, no that doesn’t matter right now.” Catherine berates herself.

There must be a way to break him out of this state. Somebody who is strong enough to break down that barrier that isolates his spirit from the outside world. The only mage in this city that is strong enough to fit that description is Aclysia but she is incapable of using magic. Another way, there has to be another way. Is there the possibility of going around the barrier?

Caherine’s eyes go wide and then she smiles. She takes a deep breath. She has never used telepathy before but there was no other choice here. Searching for the consciousness of a single person Catherine concentrates her Alteration. ‘Tarzana?’ She carefully sends out. A moment of silence. ‘Ca…ther…ine?’ The answer is obscured by white noise but still understandable. ‘What is…. happening?’ The cultist asks.

‘No time to explain. Send the Twins to the tower.’ Catherine sees the enemy forces purring into the first two districts. ‘QUICK!’