Memory Seal- Volume 2

by Insane Mooncake

  “What do we do??”

  Although those in the immediate area were safe for the time being, the enemy soldiers were descending into the stadium - in mere moments, the students and audience there would be under siege.

  Thankfully, Cassandra had kept her cool - she immediately turned to the other team on stage. “You guys! Work with us to defeat the invading soldiers!”

  “Mm!”

  The other team’s captain nodded in response. “We’ll establish a perimeter to hold our position on the stage, for now. Back us up with long ranged spells, but try and conserve your mana.”

  He looked upward at tens of thousands of descending soldiers. “I have a feeling we’ll be fighting for a long while.

  After defending the city from the falling chaos gems, Patriarch Lumient hovered midair, hundreds of feet above the city.

  “Come out, Jaques. I know you’re here.”

  “Hello, Christopher. Long time no see.”

  From behind Patriarch Lumient, a tall man appeared out of thin air. Sensing this, Patriarch Lumient slowly turned around.

  “I suppose you were the one who came up with such a large-scale invisibility spell?” Patriarch Lumient inquired.

  “Indeed. Speaking of spells, I’m impressed by the scale of your light shield. Is that a new spell, as well?”

  “I guess you could say so.”

  As he spoke, Patriarch Lumient’s clothes slowly changed form, from a more prestigious-looking outfit to a set of white and gold robes. At the same time, a long staff with a diamond encrusted into the top appeared in his hand.

  “Well, Christopher. Before we fight, should I be expecting the others?”

  “Not that I know of. Should I?”

  “Hmm… perhaps later.”

  Patriarch Lumient’s eyes flared, and he quickly started drawing a seal with his staff. At the same time, the Clairmont Kingdom’s soldiers had finished lowering themselves down to the city.

  The fight had begun.

  Chapter 27

  Wesley and the other students had formed two circles on stage - the outer circle consisted of the close-combat fighters, who were mostly donning defensive sets of armor, and the inner circle, which consisted of everyone else.

  Hundreds of armored soldiers swarmed toward them, pressing hard upon the formation. Suddenly, a icy wave coursed over the soldiers, entrapping them in ice. A second later, a swarm of sharp rocks pierced through the soldiers, and they dropped to the ground.

  Tony and Wesley nodded at each other, then turned back toward the fight.

  Similar scenes happened all around them, as the mages worked in pairs to dispatch waves of soldiers. However, for each that they killed, another five seemed to take their place.

  At the start, some members of the audience had fought the soldiers, but unprepared for combat, they were quickly overwhelmed.

  Quickly enough, the two teams both realized they had to evacuate from the stadium.

  But how? Every direction they looked in was filled with an ever-increasing amount of Clairmont Kingdom soldiers.

  “Wait, look!” May pointed eastward. “It’s the headmaster!”

  Actually, it wasn’t just Headmaster Farhir. Headmaster Farhir was the first to fly over the stadium walls, but he was soon followed by hundreds of mages.

  In mere moments, the soldiers in the vicinity were cleared out - a few mages had been present as well, but under the firepower of hundreds of advanced mages, there was little fight to be had.

  “Kids, are you okay?”

  Cassandra responded. “We’re fine. How’s the city?”

  “A bit chaotic, but it could be worse. Most of the nobles are evacuating, we’re going to be assisting their escape. You might as well join us, this will be good experience for you all.”

  He looked toward the team of close-combat mages. “Where is your headmaster?”

  They looked at each other, then at their captain. “I’m not sure, sir. He left before the match.”

  “Hm. No matter. You can come along with us too, it’ll be safer for you.”

  At this point, Kate jumped forward. “We’re evacuating? We’re just giving them the city?”

  “The nobles are evacuating, Kate, not everyone. The city is about to be a battlefield. Actually, if you look around, it already is. The 1st through 15th divisions are all here, and the 1st and 3rd armies are not far from the city walls.

  “As for all of you - I’ll give you a choice. You can leave with the nobles, or you can stay and fight. Regardless of your decision, make it quickly - I was only only able to bring the mages from my division. I still have to go back and lead my troops.”

  The various members of the Reiniad Royal Elementary Institute of Magic’s team looked at each other, and nodded.

  “We’ll fight.”

  “Great. How ‘bout you guys?” Headmaster Farhir turned toward the team of close-combat mages.

  At this time, the headmaster of the close-combat mages arrived at the scene - the cause for his delay, unknown. “My students will be leaving - they’ve done their part. However, once I have ensured their safety, I will return.”

  “Good enough for me.” Farhir nodded. “Take care.”

  “Now, mages, while we’re on the battlefield, call me Major General Farhir. Is that understood?”

  “Understood, Major General.” The team chorused.

  “Alright, let’s move out. The first priority is to meet up with my 13th Division. They’re ready for battle, but since I brought many of the division’s mages here, they haven’t taken action yet.

  “And it’s time we did. Move out!”

  Major General Farhir motioned with his hand, and the surrounding mages made their way out of the stadium, headed toward the northeast.

  All around them were panicked Lumient City citizens running for their lives, while lone Reiniad Kingdom soldiers, lone Reiniad Kingdom mages, and numerous Clairmont Kingdom soldiers and mages fought.

  However, Wesley could see even at a glance that calling the situation “fighting”, was giving it too much credit - the unorganized Reiniad Kingdom soldiers and mages were being cut down and overwhelmed.

  He couldn’t ask Major General Farhir, as the latter had taken his position at the head of the formation of mages, while Wesley and the other students had settled in at the rear, so he asked Kate instead.

  “Shouldn’t we be helping them?”

  Kate had been observing the surroundings as well, as they’d progressed to the northeastern edge of the city.

  “We could, but in the long term it would be more beneficial for the city if we organized and mounted an organized counteroffensive, instead of panickedly helping everyone in our path.”

  Even as Kate explained the logic behind their actions, Wesley couldn’t help but notice another dozen bodies fall to the ground, hear a flurry of panicked screams.

  The world almost seemed to slow to a halt.

  It was but a brief second, but to Wesley, it felt like a lifetime of indecision - but then he grimaced, and stayed with the rest.

  After a few more minutes, Wesley and the rest could finally see a few thousand soldiers lined up, awaiting orders.

  Head-rather, Major General Farhir, stayed hovering in the air, and shouted toward his troops.

  “Divide into battalions, and comb the streets, headed for the center. Every five minutes, report back to HQ. Understood?

  “Understood!”

  The thousands of soldiers moved out, this time with Farhir’s mages in tow. As they started to move, Headmaster Farhir turned toward his students.

  “Go and join the first battalion, but don’t cause trouble for them. Battalion Commander Andrews, please indulge me.”

  “Yes, sir!” A man who looked to be around thirty years old gave Major General Farhir a military salute, then turned toward the kids.

  “Follow me, and follow my orders. If you fail to heed my orders, I will have you sent back. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir!�
��

  “Choose a mage, and tag along. Your primary objective will be to protect our soldiers against enemy mages. Follow the lead of your senior mages, and you will be fine.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  WIth that, they moved out.

  To start, the troops easiled slaughtered a few Clairmont soldiers who’d landed in the outskirts of the city, but as the approached the center of the city, it was clear that the soldiers there were far more organized - the first battalion was quickly met with a stalemate as they entered the garment district.

  As they entered the garment district, however, a few dozen mages clad in white and gold robes dashed towards the battalion.

  The Lumient family’s own forces had come! But, it wasn’t to help them.

  “Kate, Wesley. We have come to escort you out of the city, to safety.”

  Kate and Wesley looked at each other, then at the one who’d addressed them. Wesley had never seen the woman before, but Kate clearly knew the woman’s identity.

  “Aunt Cin, we can’t leave right now. We have our duty to fight for Lumient City.”

  “I’m to escort you to safety regardless of your wishes, Kate. This is the wish of your father.”

  “...Have the others been dispatched as well?”

  “No, we’re simply withdrawing from the city. Your father said he can’t afford to lose another family member.”

  “...Fine. Wesley, let’s go.”

  “Would it be possible for you to bring the rest of the kids as well?” The commander who’d been in charge asked. “The fighting is getting heavy, it’s not a good place for kids.”

  “Can do. Follow along, kids. Don’t slow us down.”

  With that, the Elementary Institute’s team

  From the air, although Patriarch Lumient was still in battle with the King-class mage from the Clairmont Kingdom, could see the entire city from a birds-eye view.

  The Reiniad Kingdom’s soldiers had begun pushing the Clairmont Kingdom’s soldiers to the center of city, and from the looks of it, the Clairmont Kingdom was slightly outnumbered.

  Which made sense, after all. They were fighting in the Reiniad Kingdom’s capital city. Even caught unawares, there were several forts and military camps near the city, most of whom had arrived on the scene, such as Farhir’s 13th Division.

  “Jaques, it’s over. You and I are fairly evenly matched, and my Reiniad Kingdom is winning the battle below. It was a good try, but it’s over now.

  “Are they, Chris? You’ve become senile in your old age. The old you would have cast a detection spell immediately after seeing the scale of the invisibility spell we’d used - did you really think we’d show all of our cards at once?”

  “You - “

  Even as Christopher Lumient’s face fell, Jaques waved his hand. “Katarina, Tora, it’s time.”

  Suddenly, as if appearing from thin air, farther than the eye could see, Lumient City was surrounded by Clairmont Kingdom soldiers, who immediately rushed into the city.

  Even Patriarch Lumient couldn’t help but feel his blood freeze at the sight. Had the Clairmont Kingdom somehow brought their entire army to his Lumient City without anyone noticing?

  But how??

  He turned to Jaques, who’d been joined by two females, Katarina and Tora. Katarina was a short brunette, with aggressive features, while was taller and blonde. Katarina specialized in lightning, whereas Tora specialized in support magic.

  “How did you manage this? Even the three of you shouldn’t have been able to conceal such a large army for so long.”

  “It was pretty simple, actually, in hindsight. We modified the invisibility spell with a seal so that instead of making all of the soldiers individually invisible, we simply created a thin barrier that covered our armies in a….cloak of invisibility, if you would. Anyone over a few tens meters away would have been unable to see us, and this kind of spell is literally thousands of times easier for us to support.”

  “...A rather ingenious solution, I suppose. So, what happens now? Are the three of you going to gang up on me?”

  “Don’t take it the wrong way, Chris, but yes. WIthout you in the way, how will your Reiniad Kingdom stop us?”

  Patriarch Lumient harrumphed. “You’re looking down on me too much.”

  With that, he slammed his staff downward, and his entire demeanor changed. No longer was he he the kind but authoritative patriarch of the Lumient family, but a crazed old man, fury and murderous intent in his eyes.

  Chapter 27

  Seeing the change in Christopher Lumient’s aura, the other three King-class mages tensed up. How couldn’t they?

  Christopher Lumient was a legend, a premier genius of the Magmont Continent, an existence that had reached the King-class realm, well, before Tora was even born. Even then, Jaques and Katarina had only been intermediate and elementary mages, respectively, at the time.

  Clearly, he’d had time to progress. Only, with the world at peace for the last few decades, nobody was quite sure how strong he was. Why else would they have risked so much, expended so much effort into creating the current scenario?

  The Clairmont Kingdom’s three King-class mages, all against Christopher Lumient, trapped and alone, with all of the other Reiniad Kingdom’s mages preoccupied on the ground, or not in the vicinity at all.

  Jaques, Katarina, and Tora would have at least thirty minutes to an hour to kill Christopher Lumient before any backup would show up.

  They would have to make use of it.

  But the question was… even with all of the preparation, they still didn’t know the most important factor - just how strong was Christopher Lumient?

  Well, they would have to do battle to find out.

  They each pulled out their supportive items, and began to draw seals, as Patriarch Lumient did the same with his staff.

  Thousands of metal spears materialized out of thin air in a formation surrounding Patriarch Lumient, then flew toward him.

  At the same time, bolts of lightning flew out of Katarina’s hands - she’d chosen to go with a spell that she could use to continuously shoot bolts of lightning in order to continuously pressure her opponent.

  At the same time, Tora finished her own first seal, which greatly boosted the efficiency of her teammates’ spells - the metal spears all grew in size, and the speed at which they hurtled their way toward Patriarch Lumient increased greatly as well.

  The bolts of lightning coursing out of Katarina’s hands sped up and expanded as well and flashed so brightly, that even those fighting in the city streets did a double take, and looked to the sky.

  As lightning flashed overhead, Wesley couldn’t help but glance upwards - and suddenly felt as if he were on that desert battlefield again, watching his mentor fight in the sky…

  And eventually fall.

  He couldn’t help but worry.

  “Kate, is there anything we can do to help gramps?”

  Kate, alongside the rest of the Reiniad Elementary Institute’s team, had looked up as well, unable to help themselves.

  “No...maybe Headmast-uh, Major General Farhir can? Or maybe our own forces… I don’t think our Lumient family has any other King-class mages other than gramps, but maybe we’ve been hiding one?”

  She didn’t sound hopeful, though. Each time a mage progressed to the King-class level,

  “Hopefully…”

  But the Major General himself had his doubts - although the children couldn’t, he easily recognized Patriarch Lumient’s opponents…

  Against monsters like those, he didn’t stand a chance.

  But then again, looking around, how many people did stand a chance in this city? There were only a handful of mages in Lumient City who were stronger than he, Farhir, and none of them were as close to Christopher as he.

  Hell, a few of the stronger mages would love to see Christopher Lumient fall - it would be the fall of an era, and a chance for them to grab onto the next.

  After grumbling a bit, he finally sho
ok his head, then turned to a mage next to him.

  “Colonel, take command here. I’m going to help with the situation above.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  With that, Farhir headed toward the skies - even if he couldn’t handle fighting directly against one of their opponents, he could still try and help from a distance, right?