"Are you talking about your usual dome of Astral energy or do you perhaps have something even grader and even more over the top planned?" Melinda asked him.
"As of now, just the Dome" Hap answered.
"Then why sound so smug about it?" Malinda asked with a smirk.
"For the same reason you wondered if there was a way to keep other Guilds out of any battle we initiate when you already knew that I had a way" Hal replied with a grin.
Arrays indeed required a lot of drawing and while Hal had shown incredible proficiency in the drawing of Rune circles and the subsequent creation of Arrays this far, she remained skeptical.
Hal shook his head,
"No, I mean a literal Dome of Astral energy. One composed of Astral energy. No Rune drawing required." he said.
'Although, if it were an Array, it won't take as much time as you are thinking.' he added in his mind.
"We have four Guilds and they all have powerful histories and experts in large numbers that are quite ready and able to overwhelm us so we need to play it smart.
The strength and confidence of the top four guilds are mostly in and on their leaders whose strength they believe cannot be toppled." Melinda said.
"Every member of the Sapphirine Guild was carefully selected to ascertain that they were individually capable and while we have done quite well against the other Guilds, our strength won't mean much against the might of the top four Guilds," Suri said with a shake of her head.
"What if they are not fighting at full capacity?" Hal asked and Suri turned her eyes to him while Melinda knew what he was getting at already.
Hal continued,
"Due to our actions, I think we can be sure that the opposing Guild members will not hold back against us even if their leader happens to be occupied.
Even if Melinda challenges the Guild leader immediately the battle begins, throughout the duration of the leader vs leader battle, significant damage could be done to members of the Guild.
The agenda is no longer about just taking me and Melinda down and is now about the complete decimation of the entire Sapphirine Guild so we can't count on them having mercy.
So to avoid any issues, we should reduce their numbers. First, we act like it's a normal ambush and when their many Guild members rush out to meet the challenge, I use an Astral Dome to keep the majority of them out.
From that point on, the battle only lasts as long as it will take Melinda to win against the Guild leader."
"That... Is a good idea" Suri said and Hal tried his best to ignore how reluctant the lieutenant had been to admit how good his idea was.
"How about we hit two top guilds at the same time?" Melinda said and Suri's eyes widened.
"What?" She asked but Melinda was not done and soon added,
"And how about we hit them tomorrow?"
"You can't be serious," Suri told her while she looked at Hal who was smiling but said nothing and only waited to hear the full crazy plan his woman had.
While Hal had not been in the Royal Academy for long (both in his tenure as a student as well as actual time spent in the Academy) Suri was sure he knew the magnitude of what Melinda was suggesting.
"Listen to me. The four Guilds have been quiet so far. They have let us have our fun attacking and defeating other Guilds not even caring that we have wracked up so many points in the process so it is clear that they have gotten complacent.
They are not worried about us.
They believe our defeat is inevitable and they believe we are only waiting for them to ambush us and that is surely going to happen in the coming days.
But we can't wait for them.
We need to strike first.
They won't expect it"
"The element of surprise isn't going to help much against them" the one who spoke was not Hal or Melinda or Suri but instead Valerie who just entered the strategizing room with Nicole.
"What happened to waiting for us?" Nicole asked with a bit of a pout.
"Suri started early," Hal said with a light smile.
"I couldn't help myself," Suri said with a shrug.
"I don't plan for us to win with surprise by our sides as I am sure all four Guilds are itching to fight and prepared regardless of what comes. Saying they will not expect us is more a statement on how unpredictable this course of action is" Melinda said.
"Oh," Valerie replied with a nod and looked over at Hal to say,
"Hey, Hal"
"Hey to you too," Hal told her in acknowledgment of her muted greeting.
There was no denying that Hal's part in the Sapphirine Guild's so-far success in the Guild war had had an impact on Valerie but she was not going to admit it. Just like she was not going to admit the longing she felt.
Melinda explained her plan and it involved the Sapphirine Guild separating into two groups and each group would be going after either the Jade Foxes Guild or the Sensual Guild.
Melinda would lead one group and battle the group leader while Hal would lead the other group and challenge the other group leader.
"These two battles will be happening simultaneously right?" Suri asked.
"Right" Melinda answered and it caused Suri to furrow her brows,
"But then how will Hal create the Dome at both Guilds?" she asked.
While the Jade Foxes Guild and the Sensual Guild were the closest of the four top Guilds, Suri did not see how Hal could go between them as fast he would need to create the domes.
"He'll get it done," Melinda told Suri with a light smile.
"How?"
"He'll just get it done. You don't need to bother about it" Melinda said.
"Yeah, don't bother about it Suri, I'll get it done," Hal said with a small chuckle. "You can be part of my group if you want to see it happen"
Suri merely furrowed her brows and said nothing following that.
Then Melinda said,
"So we have it settled then. We need to prep every member of the Guild. Come morning we edge closer to ending this Guild war on our terms."
***
As the rules of the Guild war required the presence of officials during all Guild battles, the Sapphirine Guild alerted Officials about their 'crazy' Two-Guild simultaneous battles.
The Officials had wondered what sort of stunt this Guild had planned.
While Officials were meant to be neutral and impartial, they could not possibly remain unaffected by the Sapphirine Guild's fight against the organized structures.
Despite how brutalizing they were in their attacks in battle (Especially the Hal and Melinda pair), most of the Officials saw them as simply having no choice.
Having no choice but to be as aggressive as they could to get out of the oppression that was the entirety of the Royal Academy being against them.
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