Chapter 200 - Hard Choices (Patreon)

A/N My father-in-law had suffered a severe seizure. The hospice nurse had originally thought that that was it. My wife has taken the past couple of days very hard. Luckily, my FIL shows signs of surviving the seizure. They succeeded in getting him to eat and take medicine yesterday, though he's still not doing well. He's only a little responsive, and he doesn't know who anybody is. There's still the worry that it's the last surge of energy before the end, but we're hopeful.

Combining Mana together to cast offensive Spells was much more complicated than Reivyn had assumed it would be. He had tons of practice sharing his Mana with Kefira in their exercises, but that was always to work on their Mana Skills. They had never stepped out to practice group Spells, alone or with the assistance of other Mages. Reivyn had witnessed the feat many times, but this was the first time he had participated.

It wasn't as simple as just feeding his Mana into the Spells like he had originally thought. It could work, and he had seen some Mages do just that in Drallo, but that wasn't what they were doing here. They were pre-attuning their Mana to match the Spells and merging them into an already formedSpell matrix. If they gathered the Mana together before the Spell was shaped by the lead Caster, it would be simple to end it there, but because the Spell was already forming, those in the group had to take cues from the lead caster to make their own weaves as well.

The weaves didn't have to match perfectly to be integrated into the Spell, but they couldn't be too dissimilar, either. If Reivyn used anything too complicated or too simple, it would cause a hiccup in the Spell matrix, possibly causing it to drastically lose power or not function properly. The lead Caster was familiar with most of those in the group. Only the mercenaries, including Reivyn, hadn't practiced too much with them.

They were told to simply observed at first before contributing. Luckily, a large variety of Spells wasn't necessary in warfare when something worked. If the enemy started to counter their siege Spells with opposing attuned Magic, that would be one thing, but the enemy completely ignored defense for more offense of their own.

The lead Caster wasn't doing anything beyond Reivyn's or his mercenary mages' capabilities, and after a while they were all confident to take part in the Spell formations. After figuring out exactly what Affinity combination and weaves he could use to integrate into the Spell, Reivyn's attention was mainly on his immediate surroundings. He only gave a passing glance to the combat going on all around him. He didn't need to see where to Cast the Spell, nor did he need to know what was going on everywhere all at once.

His goal was to ward against the suspicion of more deeply hidden spies that could turn an obvious well-ordered retreat from the city into a catastrophic defeat. There was no getting around casualties and prisoners of war in a losing battle, but it was one thing to lose hundreds, maybe thousands, and losing multiple tens of thousands.

Reivn kept his main attention on the prince and his retainer that were positioned close to the Mage Corps. The Prince was a good combat leader in Reivyn's estimation. He gave overall direction and had faith in his subordinates to carry out his orders and let them do it without micromanaging their actions. He remained calm in the face of the heated battle, and everything was going smoothly in their retreat across the city.

Reivyn had been worried about the enemy flanking the city and taking them off guard if they lingered within the walls for too long, but from what he could gather, the enemy focused all of their forces on a straight, up-front assault on the city. Reivyn didn't understand the decision, but he didn't have to know the reasoning behind it to know that it was giving them enough time to bleed the enemy further.

"Order the retreat to the next defensive positions," Prince Allik ordered.

Reivyn heard the order from the prince, but that wasn't to his unit. He and the Mages might know what was coming because of their proximity, but the actual order to retreat hadn't been passed down the chain of command, yet. They continued to merge their Mana into the siege Spells at the advancing legions while they waited for their immediate superior to order the movement.

The destruction of a long line of buildings had opened up the battlefield from one of street-fighting to open field once more, so the Mages continued to mostly contribute to the large-scale Spells being lobbed at the enemy. Once they had retreated to the first defensive position within the city, though, a quarter of their numbers had bled off from the group to disperse among the line. Reivyn had sent several of the mercenary Mages back to his father, but he had continued to remain behind.

"Mages, file down the street to the next position!" The Mage Commander finally ordered.

Reivyn wiped the sweat from his brow as he motioned for the mercenary Mages to follow behind him. The feel of the rudimentary skin-mask he was wearing to disguise himself from potential spies still felt weird under his touch. The skin-mask adhered to his face without any flaws, but it didn't pass sensations along with it. He could only roughly feel the pressure from where his hand pressed against the mask.

He didn't use any Mana or Magic to assist with the Skin Mask as there were just too many people around who could spot such a thing. He didn't know if anyone was an actual spy or not, but if someone was, it could lead all of his efforts to waste. He didn't know the capabilities of everyone present, but they were all either Mages or Tier 4 with the ability to use Mana.

The troupe of Mages made their way ahead of the melee soldiers down the street to at a jog. Their physical Stats weren't as high as their counterparts in the army, but that didn't mean they were slouches. The pace was neither slow nor fast, and they reached the next set of fortifications within only a couple of minutes. The melee soldiers soon followed on their heels and once more took up positions to thwart the enemy advance.

The buildings were still intact in this part of the city, so the Mages didn't immediately begin to merge their Mana once more. There was no point in all of them flinging Spells at the oncoming soldiers, though, in such a tight space. They worked on a rotation to allow for a couple of Mages to Cast Spells at the enemy while the rest used the meager moments of rest to recover as much Mana as possible.

Some of the Mages swigged some alchemical concoctions to assist with their recovery, but Reivyn hadn't expended enough of his Mana to need it. From what he could observe, the other Mages needed to use considerably more Mana to accomplish what he could do with a fraction of what they used.

Must be because of my Class Spells, Reivyn thought. Most Mages have a limited number of Spells they can use with System assistance, but the System seems to assist with the creation of just about any kind of Spell for me. The description does include all of the basic types of offensive Spells one would normally see a Mage use, and it's not limited to an Affinity.

Only the lead Caster was actually Casting a Spell. Everyone else was basically participating in a Mana weaving exercise with attuned Mana, and not all of them were specialized in the Affinity they were using. The lead Caster didn't appear to need any help in recovering his Mana despite apparently carrying the heaviest burden, but if his Spell matrix was being assisted by the System, he actually had the least burden of all those present, Reivyn being an exception.

There were enough Mages present that Reivyn had some time before it was his turn to Cast a Spell at the enemy soldiers that were still inexorably advancing on the line of defenders. He appeared to be watching the soldiers fighting, but he was keeping his focus on his Divine Sense. The prince and his staff were within range of his Skill, so he didn't need to go out of his way to observe them.

The fundamental Level of the soldiers involved in this battle were higher than the ones in the invasion of Drallo. As such, the Health, Stamina, and Mana pools of all those involved were higher. The battle for the city had been going on for several hours by the time they took up positions at the second interior defensive position, and Reivyn could tell that the Stamina of the front-line soldiers was beginning to reach a tipping point.

One of the main tenets of this kind of battle was to maintain as much Stamina as possible, but once it dipped below a certain point, not only would the individual perform at a lower rate than their peak performance, but the expenditure would accelerate at the same time the recovery rate slowed.

Because Reivyn had always trained while being exhausted and made sure his own subordinates did the same, their bodies were used to it enough that their performance wouldn't drop until they were extremely low on Stamina. That was not the case for the soldiers of the army being led by Prince Allik.

The superficial wounds suffered by nicks and cuts increased as the battle continued. It was the first sign that the soldiers were flagging enough that it was negatively affecting their ability to fight.

If I had to guess, I would say the average Stamina pool is around 60% at this point, Reivyn surmised. Without specifically training to perform under such conditions regularly, I would give the soldiers another half an hour before their Stamina is too low to be safe.

Is this why the enemy commander didn't bother to flank the city? If Prince Allik and the other leaders don't pay enough attention, they'll use too much of their men's Stamina and they won't be able to flee.

Reivyn was a little worried that Prince Allik wouldn't notice the issue with the Stamina, but unless they reached a point that he needed to absolutely be reminded or suffer much worse casualties for not retreating quickly enough, Reivyn would place his trust in the man and not expose his identity. He hadn't shown any incompetence with his leadership so far, so he would give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Prepare the charges," Prince Allik once more issued a command.

Runners were sent out to once again inform the commanders of the impending demolition of the buildings in front of them. The Mages perked up at the order and once more congregated together in anticipation of once more merging their Mana. It didn't matter if they telegraphed their intentions to the enemy soldiers. It was too late for them to retreat out of the blast zone, and Reivyn doubted if they would even if they could. He saw no fear or hesitation on their faces.

Another issue with the enemies willingness to throw their lives away at taking every step was that their Stamina wasn't flagging. They were constantly getting fresh soldiers on the front lines that hadn't used up all of their energy, and none of them were suffering from the little injuries accumulated over time.

It wouldn't have been an issue in a situation where those involved weren't fighting to the death and willing to throw their lives away, as both sides would suffer the same fatigue. The sheer number of bodies in the midst of combat would have also been a hindrance toward effectively moving fresh troops to the front.

The only thing preventing the invaders from overwhelming the defenders, now, was the preparation of the fortifications inside the city. They were able to calmly and efficiently move between different sets of palisades and supply depots to keep the fight going.

One of the Mages received a signal from the officer in charge of the runners, and he sent a signal flare high up into the sky. Reivyn joined everyone in ducking down below the walls as another massive explosion rang out. The buildings confining the enemy soldiers to the narrow streets came down on top of their heads once more.

Before the enemy could form up once more, the Mages and archers opened up with everything they had. The archers aimed for the rear ranks where more fresh soldiers were continuing to March forward, and the Mages sent their explosive Spells to decimate the survivors buried in the rubble.

Only a couple of minutes passed before the enemy ranks were once more formed up and ready to attack. Reivyn joined the other Mages in weaving his attuned Mana and feeding it to the Spell matrix controlled by the lead Caster.

Almost by rote, Reivyn fed Mana into Spell after Spell. Even though everyone could see the destruction they wrought upon the masses of enemy soldiers, it did nothing to to lessen the pressure on the front line soldiers.

There were just too many invaders. There was no end in sight. One row of soldiers would go down, and they would be replaced with two more.

Reivyn didn't have to focus too hard on the task, so he was able to pick up the conversations being held by the Prince and the other higher-ranked officers.

"What's the situation with the Stamina consumption among the companies?" Prince Allik asked one of the colonels.

"I just received a report that they're still holding strong," the colonel replied. "Maybe another hour and a half or so before they reach dangerous levels."

Reivyn frowned at the answer. He could see the signs of impending disaster right in front of him. His Divine Sense gave him an advantage, though, and he could see the state of everyone with crystal clarity everywhere within the range of his Skill. The officers had to use their own two eyes and the word of their NCO's to gauge the troops' Stamina levels, though.

"Very well," Prince Allik said. "Let's not take any chances, though. I want to be out of the city and headed toward the fortifications in the hills in less than an hour. Mark the time."

"Yes, sir!" The officers responded.

Prince Allik continued to observe what he could in front of himself as the other officers received status reports from runners. Prince Allik couldn't hear or pay attention to everything that was going on around him like Reivyn could, but he could still get a feel for the overall situation through what reports the officers deemed important enough to pass along to him.

Time continued to tick on as the fighting never stopped. Reivyn kept an eye on the time counter in his Status as he continued to merge his Mana and pay attention to his Divine Sense. The intense headaches he had suffered for weeks in the desert of Drallo, and all the practice with his Skill ever since, had done wonders for his multi-tasking abilities.

There might be a Skill that assisted directly with mentally paying attention to other things, but Reivyn suspected it might be a subordinate Skill that fell under his Divine Sense to begin with. He had other Skills, like Ambidexterity and Multi-Cast, that functioned similarly, and if there was such a Skill, it didn't makes sense for him not to have unlocked it by this point.

The fact that he had increasingly less trouble splitting his mind to pay attention to many different things at once was evidence enough for him that he was receiving the effects of such a Skill even if he didn't have it in his Status screen.

"Move the troops back to the last line," Prince Allik eventually ordered.

Once more, the orders were passed down the chain of command, and the soldiers retreated across the city in an orderly fashion. There was only one more line of fortifications prepared for the defense of the city.

Well, what's left of the city, Reivyn mused. Not much left but the walls and a pile of rubble at this point.

Not all of the buildings across the city had been destroyed, but most of them had. Before they retreated to the last line of defense, Reivyn could see clear to the city walls that they had started on. There was a sea of people continuing to March through the city, more and more entering the walls the entire time the fight raged.

Once more, the defenders used the narrow streets to funnel the enemy soldiers into smaller points of contact before bringing the buildings down around them. The Mages used their individual Spells before the enemy ranks formed back up in range for their large-scale Spells, and the archers pelted those entering the fray for the first time. Reivyn couldn't even Sense any sweat on the newest, freshest soldiers arriving at the front line to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

"What's the time?" Prince Allik asked the colonel.

"We have about ten minutes left for the hour, as you said," the colonel replied.

Before Prince Allik could order for the soldiers to prepare to leave the city, his retainer leaned forward and whispered into his ear. The sound was low enough that the other officers nearby wouldn't be able to hear it over the din of combat, but Reivyn's Divine Sense completely ignored the obstacles of interfering sounds and distance. He heard the words perfectly clear is if they were whispered directly into his ear.

"I think the colonel is trying to mitigate the timing by shaving off a few minutes," the retainer whispered. "You know how they are: 'fifteen minutes early to fifteen minutes early.' By my clock, we're twenty minutes from the hour mark. The soldiers seem like they have a bit more fight left in them before we need to make our escape. We can't let the enemy push us out of the city without paying the appropriate price."

Prince Allik glanced at his retainer and quirked an eyebrow at him. He considered the situation for a moment. It was clear to Reivyn that the man had been to preoccupied with other things to keep track of the timing of his order on his own. Reivyn's clock matched that of the colonel.

This might be it, Reivyn thought. I've caught the man in a lie. There's no way he doesn't know the correct timing. If he can drag the combat out another ten minutes, and maybe throw in some more coincidental delays, he could possibly annihilate the entire army. By that time, it won't matter if his lie is revealed or not.

Reivyn began to inch his way closer to the command staff. He didn't have to stand next to the lead Caster in order to supply him with Mana.

"Sir? What are your orders?" The colonel prompted.

Prince Allik glanced back and forth between the officer and his retainer.

"Let's give the men another ten minutes. We can't let them get away so easily," he replied.

Prince Allik trusts his retainer more, Reivyn thought. And he played with his desire to squeeze every last drop out of the enemy before retreating. Clever. It's not that he distrusts the colonel. He's letting himself get persuaded.

The question now: Do I expose him and myself now, or do I wait a little longer to see if the retainer has any other tricks up his sleeve?

Reivyn didn't immediately act. He continued to adjust his position closer and closer to the Prince, though.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" A voice cut through Reivyn's concentration.

He zeroed his focus on a bloodied man that had arrived just at the edge of his Divine Sense. He was bent over, panting for breath. Blood stains covered his body and dripped down his face. He quickly gasped for air before straightening up to address the officer who had challenged him.

"Sir! There's a breach in the line!" He shouted.

Heads snapped in his direction as the shout caught everyone's attention. The retainer glanced at the man and frowned. As everyone was looking at the bloodied soldier, one of the runners that Reivyn had seen several times before entered the range of his Divine Sense. The runner and the retainer exchanged at glance.

I see! Reivyn had an epiphany. The runners are in league with the retainer! They don't have to subvert all of the commanders and soldiers as long as they control the lines of communication. That report earlier about the status of the soldiers' Stamina must have been false!

Alarm bells went off in Reivyn's mind, and he could see the same expression of understanding the situation come over the Prince's face.

"Order the retreat! Now!" Prince Allik shouted.

"Don't be too hasty," the retainer said. "The situation isn't as dire as all that. It's just one breach. We still have time on the other side to keep fighting."

"I don't care. We've done enough damage."

The retainer shook his head behind Prince Allik's back. He reached into the pouch at his side, and he pulled out a set of ropes familiar to Reivyn. They were the same ropes he had used to restrain the spies from being able to use their Skills and Spells, but Reivyn could sense that these were an upgraded version of them. The amount of Mana he could sense in them made the other ropes look like toys.

Nobody was paying attention to the trusted retainer except for Reivyn. Prince Allik was overseeing the officers issue the orders of retreat to the runners, but Reivyn suspected those orders would never reach the ears of the company commanders. As he was preoccupied with seeing to the overall situation, the retainer lunged forward with his rope.

Reivyn infused his body with the Traveler Affinity and dashed toward the Prince. He flung himself in between the retainer and the Prince, blasting the retainer away with a built-up Blast Spell to knock him back from his target.

"Wha-?" Prince Allik turned in surprise. His eyebrows climbed even higher as he watched his retainer get up from where he had been flung with the ropes still in his hands.

The retainer brushed the dust off of himself and glanced at Reivyn. The rest of the officers paused in what they were doing at the sudden actions of the two men. Several of the runners glanced back and forth between the retainer and the officers giving them orders in apparent hesitation with what to do.

"Ahh, there you are," the retainer said, standing up straight. "I suspected you might have concealed yourself among the mercenary Mages when I noticed the odd behavior of the person standing in for you. Though, I didn't think you would take the most prominent spot."

"The best place to hide a letter is on the mantlepiece," Reivyn replied.

"What?" The retainer cocked his head in confusion.

"Never mind."

"Anyway, the battle is almost over. The last step of securing the Prince is all that's left, but you had to step in and try to save him. You're an even bigger prize than the Prince. Your abilities will do wonders for our cause."

"Your cause?" Prince Allik asked. "What are you talking about?"

"He's with them," Reivyn answered. He never took his eyes off the retainer as he drew his sword and assumed a ready stance. "The runners are in cahoots with him, too. You can't trust them with your orders or reports."

Prince Allik stared at Reivyn for a moment in incomprehension. He had been with the retainer for almost his entire life. It was a huge blow to learn someone so close to him was a traitor. He didn't have time to be dumbfounded, though. Reivyn watched his face through his Divine Sense as he mastered his emotions and forced himself to come to grips with the reality in front of himself.

"What did they offer you to betray your country?" Prince Allik asked.

"Hahaha," the retainer chuckled. "You seem to be under a misconception. I haven't betrayed my country. I was one of them from the beginning.

"Now, give up your useless struggle. It would have been easier if we had spent a little more time to ensure everyone's thorough exhaustion, but this is good enough. There's no escape. We can do this the easy way," the retainer brought his hands forward and brandished the rope, "or the hard way."