The forces that appeared to teleport into the first barrier surrounding the capital were nothing but conjurations. Empty husks.
But our real goal...
A watery scrying mirror shimmered before him, showing the inner capital.
He watched as the simulacra moved and fought like true soldiers. They unleashed flame and lightning spells alike.
As stone buildings were torn apart, Avianoian citizens screamed and fled. Their conjurers could be heard shouting over the chaos.
“Protect the citizens by His Majesty’s orders!”
“Karlheinz is with us! Drive the Lemilsian soldiers back!”
Had they still not realized? The simulacra were nothing more than a diversion.
While they still hold the enemy’s attention...
Sieghart gave the signal to the chief conjurer.
Using the simulacra as a distraction, the real troops that had been secretly teleported in began chanting the same spell as before.
Come now, shatter! he thought.
Overhead, the storm clouds flashed violet.
Shatter the great magic circle etched by the very city itself!
Another massive bolt of lightning struck the city with a deafening clap.
Screams rang out—civilians or soldiers, it was no longer possible to tell. The spell unleashed by the conjurers gouged the central boulevard apart, its surrounding structures collapsing in a shower of dust.
“Well done, Sieghart. One more strike and we’ll bring down the barrier protecting the royal castle,” his chief conjurer said.
“Yeah,” he answered hesitantly.
But what of the civilians in those buildings? Were there innocents who couldn’t escape?
Don’t think about it.
Wincing from the stabbing pain in his head, Sieghart steeled himself.
“While the conjurers prepare a third volley, I’ll send the elite troops to the castle,” he said.
“Now hold on,” the chief conjurer said with a raised brow. “That’s a bit too direct. We have a plan, right? Cripple the city. Scatter their forces. Stay the course.”
“But— Nghh!” Even as Sieghart tried to argue, pain lanced through him. He dropped to one knee.
“What’s wrong? You look pale.”
“I-I’m fine.”
“Hesitation will get your men killed. If you’re incapable, I’ll take command until—”
“No need. I can...still fight,” Sieghart said through gritted teeth. He dug his fingers into the earth. “First, teleport the citizens out. Once the buildings are empty, we’ll destroy them. That will still throw their troops into disarray.”
“Come now. Do you really think we have time for that?”
“I’ll do it myself.”
“Honestly...” The chief conjurer sighed with a shrug of their slender shoulders. “Then hurry. At your level, it should be child’s play to locate areas with few signs of life.”
“Yeah...”
“As we speak, the final phase of the barrier breach is underway. If you don’t give them a show to watch, their troops will spot the real strike force and tear them apart.”
Sieghart turned back to the scrying mirror and surveyed the city.
Our troops are moving just as planned. They’ve already teleported into the weak point left behind when the circle was disrupted.
If they could pierce that single point, the castle’s barrier would fall. And then, they’d be one step away.
“Leonhard is with Adelheid,” Sieghart murmured.
“Then we must hurry and free the princess from her coffin. Come now, Sieghart!”
With his skull still feeling like it was going to split in two, Sieghart sought out the next building to destroy.
But he sensed that something was off.
“Wait,” he said, furrowing his brow. “There’s something strange about the buildings on the boulevard we leveled in the last barrage.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“I’m not picking up any life signatures.”
At that, the chief conjurer frowned. “Perhaps everyone inside perished? No, that couldn’t be...”
“I’m calling the soldiers back. We’ll retreat for now—”
Just as Sieghart said that, he suddenly thought he could hear a beautiful song faintly in the wind.
This magic...
Instantly, Sieghart cried out a command that doubled as an incantation.
“All units, raise your barriers—now!”
“Your Majesty?!”
But it was too late for nearly half of the conjurers stationed around the castle.
“What is this beautiful song...?”
“Ahhh... Ahhh, no! My mind feels like it’s melting!”
Through the scrying mirror, the melody, laced with magic, sounded like nothing more than an ordinary song, but the soldiers who were hearing it directly collapsed one by one, enraptured.
The Avianoians let us break through the barrier! They drew in our forces precisely where they wanted them.
It had all been calculated from the start.
“I can see it... Beautiful paradise! This voice... It must be that of a goddess!”
Two women appeared in the water mirror before them.
“Sieghart, is this the woman you once seduced?” the chief conjurer asked, watching the scene from beside him.
“Hardly,” Sieghart replied. Despite the panic he was feeling, he managed a thin smile. “She was just a classmate.”
“Now then,” said one of the two figures reflected in the scrying mirror. She radiated a gentle, graceful allure in her soft, tender voice. “I wonder, are you nearby, Lucas? My darling Lucas...”
“Fiolina,” Sieghart murmured.
She had been a classmate of his back when he had been studying under an alias. It appeared she had become a formidable magician in her own right.
“Sister, don’t.”
And there’s Lauretta...
Fiolina’s twin sister wore a slightly sulky expression as she clung to her sister’s arm, eyes scanning for the enemy who wasn’t actually there.
“I’ll never let him near you again...ever.”
A loud laugh escaped Sieghart. “I suppose I deserve that.”
Fewer than half the Lemilsian conjurers remained untouched by the sisters’ song.
“I know your magic inside and out,” Sieghart murmured to himself. “If you wish to avoid injury, I suggest you retreat.”
“Fiolina!” Lauretta exclaimed as a detached unit emerged from behind the sisters, wielding spells meant to separate them.
So, they’ve chosen to fight. I’d hoped that I wouldn’t have to kill them...
Beside him, the chief conjurer offered Sieghart a serene smile.
Ignoring the splitting headache that warped his vision, Sieghart channeled his magic into the soldiers bound to him by magical contract.
“Take them down, along with the barri—”
The two sisters, now standing back-to-back to shield one another, opened their eyes wide in surprise.
A moment later, a flash of light engulfed the scrying mirror, followed by muffled cries of pain from Sieghart’s soldiers. His magical connection to them was abruptly severed.
“I made it...” came a muffled voice through the mirror.
“Prince Stuart!” Fiolina exclaimed.
The figure who stumbled into view had long silver hair tied back. A lean young man, slight for his height, he quickly looked away from Fiolina and Lauretta as if flustered. His movements were just as unsteady as his demeanor.
“Ah. The crown prince of Klingate, no doubt,” the chief conjurer remarked, amused. “He’s a skilled practitioner of barrier magic. Sieghart, I believe he’s sealed your forces inside a barrier.”
“So it would seem.”
In the scrying mirror, the reflection showed his soldiers pounding their fists against the invisible walls of a magical cage. It was of the same make as the barriers that encased the royal capital and the castle—a structure so strong that neither breaking it from within nor breaching it from outside seemed a possibility.
Sieghart exhaled quietly, resigning himself to the turn of events. “The soldiers fighting in the city were decoys. The troops led by Karlheinz were nothing but bait.”
“Ha. While we used simulacra as decoys, they used real soldiers for theirs! How clever,” said the chief conjurer with a chuckle, though the amusement didn’t reach their eyes. “The main force of their army isn’t under the command of Karlheinz, which means...”
Sieghart immediately understood the implication.
Leonhard.
His eyes fell closed for a heartbeat before snapping open with determination.
“I will leave the army to you,” he said, turning to the conjurer. “Will you take command?”
“Of course I will,” they replied without hesitation, tilting their head with mild curiosity. “But what are you going to do?”
“If they’re using their main force as bait, then I must be prepared to do the same.”
Sieghart’s body had been entirely remade over the past three years.
“It’s time I proved that the strength I’ve gained rivals even Adelheid’s greatest disciple,” he said.
The conjurer said nothing, merely watching as Sieghart cast a transportation spell with no incantation. The magic took form around him, swirling with light.
“I can tear open a hole in that barrier—at least wide enough for one man,” Sieghart said.
“Then go. See it done.”
I will claim Adelheid.
He silently repeated his vow like a mantra.
Otherwise, I—