Thousands of spells soared through the air below and towards Wesley’s team, flooding their fields of vision. Despite the mass of spells flying around, they proceeded calmly through the air, protected by a transparent silver membrane.

Although they could fly calmly through the air, just a few hundred feet below, endless explosions marred the ground as the two armies contested each and every inch of land. Countless broken bodies decorated the disfigured earth as lakes of blood soaked into the dirt. Regardless, with each body that fell, another soldier ran up to fill the previous soldier’s position.

One of the females in the formation, Katherine, craned her head towards Wesley and shouted. “I just received word that the Empire is focusing heavily on the right side. It appears that they wish to take the fort and use it as a base to flank the rest of the army. We are to aid and force back the Empire’s advance.”

Wesley nodded. “Let’s go!”

The formation changed direction and headed west with the sun blazing behind them.

Wesley had absolute trust in his team. Even though he was the leader, he didn’t view himself above any of the others. After all, they were friends…and family.

Katherine, responsible for the team’s communication with the army’s headquarters, was a King-class magician who specialized in support spells. Her husband, Brian, was also a King-class magician who specialized in defensive spells. As the caster and operator of the magical barrier, he was the nucleus of the formation while the other eight mages filled out the formation as structural and energy support.

Amongst those who were filling out the formation were the King-class mages Jasmine, Lawrence, David, Alina, and Jake, who all had varying fortes. The last mage in the formation specialized in close combat. Her name was Grace, and she was Wesley’s wife, the only family he had left in this world.

Wesley himself specialized in offensive spells and was unquestionably the firm leader of the group, which had formed a decade ago during their time at the Ringray Advanced Institute of Magic. Even back then, the team had proven unbeatable behind their nearly flawless teamwork under Wesley’s leadership.

As they flew west, they spotted a giant wave of enemy soldiers assaulting the Kingdom’s defensive formations.

The flying formation came to a halt as David whistled. “That’s a lot of soldiers. A hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand?”

Wesley cast an eye over the battlefield. “Probably more. Doesn’t matter. Prepare bombardment.”

The formation spread out into a line overhead. Even though the 9 all had varying specialties, they had all mastered offensive magic.

What was a King-class magician? This title was only given to those who were strong enough to be the backbone of an entire kingdom. Any kingdom or empire would readily sacrifice hundreds of thousands of soldiers for a single King-class mage.

It could be said that the power such a magician was essential to the survival of a kingdom.

“Prepare seals!”

Each person raised their hands and began to draw their seals.

“Cast!” Each person swiped a finger across their drawn seals to activate them.

Nine large seals glowed brightly in the sky, then the sky lit up from the sheer number of spells that shot out from the seals toward the hundreds of thousands of soldiers below.

A common war strategy was to mix magicians in with the troops. The magicians would protect the soldiers from enemy spells, while the soldiers would protect the magicians from enemy soldiers.

The nine mages in Wesley’s team had sent all of their spells in different directions to cover as much area as possible. As the spells shot toward the targets below, giant magical barriers formed around the defending magicians, protecting themselves and the soldiers around them.

Each magical barrier stopped a few hundred bolts of energy, but flickered and disappeared under the continued onslaught.

Now without impediment, the spells assaulted the soldiers on impact. Wesley’s spells frosted over entire battalions of soldiers, while Grace’s burned thousands more to a crisp. Shards of steel, wood, and ice impaled soldiers throughout the expansive battlefield.

In an instant, the three hundred thousand soldiers charging forward on the earth below them had been reduced to a shrieking, blood-soaked pile of corpses. Although a few meager remnants of the previously impressive army survived, they were now surrounded by a hellish landscape of gore and carnage.

Some of the survivors couldn’t stand the sight and vomited, while others cried with grief or simply stared into space, unable to comprehend the bloodshed and slaughter they had just witnessed.

The few surviving magicians quickly picked themselves up and flew away at top speed, eager to save themselves.

David gazed down at the scorched, red earth with sorrow. “What’s the poi-“

“David.” Wesley cut him off.

“…Sorry.”

“Come. Let’s go and see how the situation is.” Wesley descended toward the kingdom’s fort.

Although the fort’s outer wall was shattered and dyed red with blood, none of the enemy soldiers had been able to reach far inside.

Seeing the nine mages descend from the sky, the officer in charge of the fort ran out into the open to greet them.

“Ah, most esteemed mages, I thank you for your assistance. We surely would have been overrun if it were not for your help. What can I do for you in return?”

Wesley cast his eyes over this officer, then responded. “We just need some food and shelter. We’ve been fighting for days without rest, so we need some time to replenish our magical energy.”

“Of course, sir. This way, sirs and madams.” Even in the midst of war, an officer would be willing to throw everything aside for a King-class mage, never mind nine of them.

The officer led them through the fort, toward the dining area. Upon arriving, the officer shouted at a group of men with tired eyes and scratched up hands who looked to be peeling and chopping entire mountains of potatoes. “Chefs! Prepare a feast with the finest dishes for our esteemed guests!”

One of the chefs sidled up to the officer and whispered in his ear. “Sir, uh…other than potatoes, we don’t have much food left. To throw a feast...we’d have to deplete most of our remaining resources.”

The officer dragged the chef to the side. “What do you mean we don’t have much food left?”

“Well, you see sir, we’ve been fighting for the last few days, and with no other way to relieve their stress...the soldiers have been eating like beasts. We can’t really tell them no, or they’ll have no strength and morale for battle. They could even riot or desert.”

“…” The officer paused. “For meat, do you think we could drag in some of the corpses lying outside and try and feed that to the soldiers? Do you think they’d notice? If not, we could just do that..”

The chef raised an eyebrow. “Sir, cannibalism is prohibited under the Book of Universal Laws Volume 3 Passage 52.”

“Ahem… a joke, a joke. Regardless, spare no expense for our guests.”

Wesley’s group, about twenty feet away, exchanged some amused glances with each other. Katherine, the support specialist among them, had multiple spells active at all times. One increased the eyesight and hearing capabilities of those affected. With it, even though the chef and officer were whispering, Wesley’s group had heard it all clearly.

Wesley twisted a ring off his finger and threw it toward the chef. “Catch!”

Upon catching the ring, the chef was initially confused, then examined it and gasped. “This… it’s a Ring of Holding!”

“Yes, yes. Inside, there’s enough food to feed an entire army for weeks. You can just use the food in the ring to cook for us. We don’t need a feast, just a good meal. Feel free to take up to, say, 20% of the rest to feed the troops.”

The chef and officer both beamed upon hearing this.

Seeing their smiles, Wesley scowled. “What the hell are you smiling for, you don’t get to keep the ring, you know! And don’t you even think about taking any of the expensive stuff!”