System Change

Another round of rage poured through Edward, and he threw caution to the wind and charged at full speed to attack Titus. Once he was within striking range, Edward prepared the same attack as he used before, head on. With a yell, he thrust his lighting covered sword forward with all his might… but it hit something and bounced off.

Still carrying the same momentum, his body crashed into what he realized was another barrier, but one he couldn’t even see. Coming to such a stop, it took a second for Edward to get his bearing back. But in that time, Titus had already moved forward and grasped him by the wrist, completely ignoring his lighting covered body.

And just like he had done so many times with his own lighting, he felt the coldness begin to flow inside himself. He fought with his own mana, pushing back, but soon, it was overpowered by the ice. Soon, his hand was completely frozen, even through his armor. Then, to his horror, he felt it, a surge of energy, and his everything from his wrist down shattered inside his armor, just like Dent had. His sword fell swiftly to the ground. And he was next.

Edward felt, rather than saw, a blunt hit on the top of his head, after which he flew to the ground and hit with a thud. With his good hand, he pushed himself up, anger still covering his face. This time, it was directed at Orion. The man hadn’t been in the fight, but he had controlled it.

‘You’re faster in the air. Get out of here. We can’t lose you now.’

His thoughts were interrupted by Valerus’s voice appearing in his head. He glanced over at her and saw she was still frozen, but only up to her knees. She was fighting the ice with her own water skills. Specifically, the ones that released heated water. Jones was still in the background, keeping attacks from closing in on her with his arrows.

Since most of the focus was on Edward, the enemy hadn’t yet moved in full force against his remaining two squad members.

‘But…’ he started.

‘Go!’ she yelled at him telepathically.

Then, with his wings reappearing on his back, he flew. Not up, he guessed another shield or barrier would be waiting for him. No, he flew close to the ground, down the street opposite where Poole had run to. With a flash, he was at the barrier that was interrupting the teleporter. Then he was through it.

He made it a total of around two feet past the barrier before he slammed into another one. It turned out, not only had Orion set up a teleportation barrier around them, he had placed another shield-type one on its outside. Edward knew he would be able to break it from either side, and it probably wouldn’t even take a lot of time, but that was something he didn’t have.

He flew up and around, but it was dome-shaped, then, all the sudden, it began closing in.

Two minutes later, Edward found himself standing in front of Titus and Orion, ice up to his knees.

“Oh, man…” Titus said. “And they call me the evil one. What, you set that up outside the other to give them hope, then… you crush it.” The Crown Prince of Astrus snorted, then turned to one of the others and said, “Gains, why don’t you go heal the prince? We wouldn’t want him to suffer too much from that wound.”

Edward’s eyes widened. “No!” He pulled his arm behind his back. But, since he couldn’t move, it was in vain. The man reached him and directed a healing energy to where his right hand had been. Edgar felt in horror as the wound closed, leaving him nothing but a stump.

“Actually,” Titus said. “Our orders are only to take you alive. I’m sure you don’t need that other hand either, right?” With the same crooked smile, the man slowly approached Edward.

“Hurry up,” Orion said. “It’s been less than ten minutes, but I’m sure they have people on the way already.”

“Without a teleporter, nobody’s going to be here for at least twenty minutes. Calm down, I just want to have a little more fun.” Titus snorted and took yet another step. “Isn’t this fun?” He called out to Edward as he took another step.

“Fuck you!” Edward yelled, but Titus only laughed and took another step. Edward grit his teeth and glanced over at Valerus. The soldier looked back at Edward with tears in her eyes. She had run out of mana, and Titus had stopped the frost at her chest.

“Oh, should I deal with her first?” Titus asked. “Or should I deal with that one?” He pointed at Jones, who was splayed out on the steps of the teleportation building. “I think he’s still alive.”

“Just take me and go. I won’t resist,” Edward said, but he knew it was futile.

“Nah, I think I’ll take care of her first.” Titus took another step. But then… he paused and looked to his left with a frown.

Edward sensed it, too, but he couldn’t place it. It was disturbing his mana, and he felt something pushing on his mind-a pressure he’d never felt before. He glanced at Orion, who was also looking in the same direction, with a frown. Soon, everyone could feel the disturbance, and all eyes were focused on it. Had someone come to save them? Another spark of hope appeared in his mind.

But he had never felt anything like that. The energy was… weird. And how was it appearing inside Orion’s barrier? Teleportation was cut off, so it couldn’t be that. But Edward didn’t know anyone who had an ability that allowed them to teleport long distances, and nobody in the kingdom used Portal, so everyone who had the skill still had it at a very low level.

But finally, something happened.

“What… is… that?” Both Titus and Orion said at the same time. They were just as confused as everyone else. What was going on?

***

Earlier… The Void Emporium…

Stella sat across the dining table from Malorie. The two had become fast friends during the times Stella stopped by to help Malorie to become a great manager. After that, Stella made sure to come by the store occasionally to sit and chat whenever she had time… which wasn’t too often. Especially with the war raging on like it was.

This time was both a personal and business visit. Reaching into her pocket, a storage ring appeared in her hand and she slid it across the table.

“Alanah is sorry that it has been taking so long, but here is another order of the prepared Void Beast items,” the beautiful red-haired woman said in apology.

“It’s fine,” Malorie replied as she took the ring from her and began transferring the items to her own storage rings, so she could give the ring back. “We all decided not to do anything with the new ones until Derek got back, so there’s no rush. Besides, I know how busy the two of you are.” She quickly finished the transfer and tossed the ring back to Stella, who caught it and put it back in her pocket before leaning back in her chair and cracking her neck.

“It’s just so tiring. Derek and Avery need to hurry up and come back… especially Avery. I don’t know how much more of this double duty I can take. I hate that I wasn’t able to level up enough to withstand Alanah’s casual powers before the invasion started. I can’t stay away from her for long until I lose my acclimation. At least it doesn’t take quite as long anymore, though… If I could get my hands on that Osian…” Stella clinched her fists tight.

Malorie chuckled. It was nice seeing her friend like this. She guessed it was a side she didn’t show many people. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon. And I’m sure once they are, this stupid war will come to an end.”

Malorie especially hated the war going on, but not for the same reason as everyone else. Her main concern was, of course, Brandi. She didn’t think her daughter could work any harder than she had been, but when she heard about the war, it was like she found a new gear. She wanted to grow strong enough to provide items to the higher ups in the kingdom, but she still had a ways to go before she was useful to the elites.

But, at the rate at which she was progression, Malorie was sure she would get there much sooner than most would think possible. Malorie sighed and let herself drift back into her chair as well. The two just sat in silence, sipping their beverages and taking this short amount of off time to relax.

Unfortunately, the relaxing atmosphere was broken rather quickly as Stella’s eyes widened for a second and she produced a red communication crystal out of her personal storage ring. Malorie watched as her face scrunched and a frown formed from her mouth as the woman listened on. Finally, she put the crystal away and shook her head.

“What was it? Did something happen?” Malorie asked. There wasn’t much that could cause such a look to appear on the business woman’s face.

“That was Alanah. Apparently, the king contacted her in a panic. The Astrus and Indria combined armies were seen using a portal to move close to the city of Clayton, so Edward motioned to move his elites to the city to prepare for them. After the crown prince and four others stepped through the teleporter to the city, the others were unable to follow.”

“Something happened to the teleporter?” Malorie asked after sitting straight.

“More like someone,” Stella sighed. “A short while later, a message came through from one of the soldiers who entered the city at Edward’s side. The message was cut short, but he managed to report that there was an ambush and they were in trouble…”

“That’s awful!”

“It gets worse. Nobody has anyone strong enough in that area to make a difference. Fort Belrus, where Edward was stationed, was already the closest location to Clayton, and it will take some time for anyone to arrive at Clayton from there.

“The king wanted to know if there was anything Alanah could do… if there was any way she could get there in time to save Edward.”

“Can she?” Mal asked.

Stella shook her head. “No. Even if she teleported to Fort Belrus first, it would take at least half an hour for her to get there. Avery may have been able to, but not Alanah. And unfortunately, neither the Adventurer’s Guild Leader nor Natalie were able to help, either. Alanah was his last option.”

“That’s…”

“I know…” Stella sighed and fell back into her chair once again.

The one time Malorie had met the crown prince, even if it was very briefly, the man seemed like a decent person. He wasn’t as jovial as his younger brother, who she actually met on multiple occasions before he left for the raid, but he was, as Derek would say, ‘good people.’

However, before either one of the women was able to say anything else, a crushing weight fell onto their consciousnesses. It was a pain like Malorie had never felt before. She managed to reach up and grab at her head, and at the same time look forward at Stella.

The Crown woman wasn’t in as much agony as Mal, but her eyes were wide and her eyes were on the verge of shutting. She was obviously in pain, too. “What?” she started, but as soon as the words left her mouth, the pressure disappeared like it had never been there in the first place.

The door to the dining room swung open and Jacks and Rayna ran in, weapons at the ready. “What’s going on? What was that? It felt like it was coming from here.” Jacks half shouted in a panic.

“I… don’t know,” Stella said in confusion.

Malorie stood quickly and turned to the connecting door to the kitchen and opened it. “Silvi, did you feel tha…” she started, but paused mid-sentence. “Silvi?” Then she turned and ran back to the dining room. “Has anyone seen Silvi? She’s not in the kitchen.”

She asked, but everyone just shook her head. Then her thoughts went to Brandi. What if she was hit with the same pressure while working on one of her dangerous weapons? Without a word, Malorie rushed out and was relieved when she got to the first floor only to see the door to the basement opening and her soot covered daughter walk out.

“Mom? What was that? Is everyone okay?” Brandi asked. She seemed perfectly healthy.

“Everyone seems fine, but… Silvi is missing.”

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