There was a flash of myriad colors that descended into the city; a rain of various shades of light that stupefied all Luminbergers and visitors alike. Rook saw a bluish light rising from people's bodies before they collapsed. He felt something being drawn out of him. Rook looked at his hands and saw the same bluish light coming out of his body. Tingling sensations were felt all over him, followed by the feeling of waning strength. Rook was on his knees when Metis called out from his mind:

"Our mana... it's being drained."

"Wh-wh-wha d...d...d... you mean... drain...d..."

Rook's hands tried to break his fall, but they slipped before he lay flat on the road.

†

He woke up to find himself inside a room devoid of walls; mists of spinning white and gray hovered on the floor. Metis' prismatic aura stood out of the mist, but there was another color that joined her this time. An entity emitting a faint fire that switched between orange and red.

"I guess you're that 'Montu' guy huh?"

"A pleasure to meet you, 'Rook'." The proud warrior voice echoed in his mind. "I would be careful in your making a habit of falling to the ground every time. We depend on you to stay in this plane."

"What do you mean?"

He stood straight; his rounded eyes, the large nose, frowning face and flames that seemed to take the form of feathers rose and shrank around him. Rook could make a faint outline that he once possessed a humanoid form, or that he was once human. Montu answered:

"We used to be those who lived long ago, until something trapped us in your body. We found ourselves living in the same body - yours. Why we were put to this fate is what we all want to know."

"If you are all put inside me, does this mean there's a way for you to come out?"

"Neither Montu nor I can answer that, Rook." Metis put herself in the conversation. "All we know is we got to help you in every way we can if we hope to see the end of this."

"I guess none of us have a choice here."

Light descended and slowly filled the place; everything started to have a tinge of green until tones of blue emerged and mixed, forming a layer of alternating colors all over the place. There were soft ripples that appeared from one corner of the place and faded into the next.

"It's time for you to go, Rook." Montu heard a voice, but he could not make up what it was saying.

"We are very lucky to have someone like her for company."

"Euphemia you mean, Metis?"

"Of course. Who else?"

"I'm counting on you guys." Rook noticed some of the light converged and transformed into a great white gap opposite him and the two spirits. "Whatever it is, I'll need your help - tell that to the others not showing up too."

"They can hear you Rook. I'm sure they'll think about it."

"Yeah Montu. Thanks."

†

Rook woke up to a view of a brown, wooden ceiling; a chandelier with twenty dots hung and swung lazily. He gritted his teeth before grunting and trying to turn around to know where he was. It took him some time to realize that he was brought inside the restaurant they were dining earlier. He looked at his hands - the blue glow that appeared the moment before he lost consciousness was still present. Something changed on how it looked: there was a thin white field that kept the blue light from dissipating into the environs. He moved his legs around: there was nothing in this light that kept him from getting up and moving from where he lay.

"Glad to see you have come to your senses. I was worried."

Euphemia knelt before the boy; there was also light coming out of her just like Rook's only that it was a soft yet intense field of white that spanned throughout her form.

"What happened?"

"None of us have an idea." It was Kirk who replied. He was not looking at Rook but was keeping watch from one of the nearby windows.

Meanwhile, Euphemia stood up and moved to a nearby table. She began clearing it of plates and cups until she made a sizable space. A white sphere was drawn from a small pouch at the left side of her waist. The ball was lit up until a pure, almost blinding glow gathered around it. A small beam shot from the orb; light was collected at table's surface. Rook and Kirk saw the glow assuming the shape of a block, gradually sharing the color of the table itself. Moments later, an ancient-looking tome that was almost an arm's length in thickness appeared before the canoness.

"A book?" Rook stood straight and went closer to where Euphemia was. "I didn't see you carrying that thing around."

"It's from a recording sphere."

Euphemia made the tome disappear for a moment and showed Rook a small white ball of smooth stone; a crystalline glint was seen when one of the restaurant's bulbs cast its light on the object.

"Recording what...?" Rook closed in on the orb resting at the cleric's hand.

"Those spheres..." Kirk's interest drew him closer to the two. "Don't you need one of those clunky, unwieldy devices to even use that?"

"It's something I've picked up using my ability." Euphemia flashed a quick smile before the two. "I can be that 'unwieldy device' at will."

"Being a walking lamp of certain death has its advantages, no doubt. I hope you don't mind me saying this Sister but, now is not the time to be reading things." Kirk tried to hide a bewildered stare with an awkward smile.

The cleric neither took Kirk's word for it nor did she stop to listen. Euphemia pulled up a chair and sat down. She turned several pages by merely waving her hand. Her companions tried to read with her, but the language in the text was something exclusive to the Empire's citizens. Euphemia stopped turning pages when she came across an image of a teardrop-shaped crystal that was drawn with something radiating from it. Neither Kirk nor Rook bothered with the walls of text underneath. Euphemia's stayed on this section of the tome before saying:

"This light. It was meant to drain magical energy from people."

"You mean the weird colors all around are causing people to drop?" Rook looked outside through one of the restaurant windows.

"Yes, Rook. There is something that is gathering these energies somewhere."

"That 'mana' thing are these magical energies right, Metis?"

"Now you got it, Rook."

"Let me guess." Kirk's hand went to the hilt of the sword prop he wore. "We'll have to find that thing and stop it if we want to get out of this alive."

"I'm afraid we're the only people inside this city that can do it." Euphemia stopped the flow of light coming from her other hand; the book faded from sight.

"We can get more people to help if you can give this field of light to others?" Rook's gaze went to the canoness.

"That may prove too difficult for me to keep." Euphemia looked at the unconscious restaurant-goers all around. "It will be disastrous for all of us if I fail to prevent the city from stealing our strength. We will have to act quickly to save the people."

"Let's get a move on, then." Kirk was about to head to the exit but turned around and asked, "Do we actually have a way to find what's causing this in the first place?"

"These energies leave a trail that leads to where they are being collected."

Euphemia went outside and looked up; searchlights from various aircraft flashed and were stopped by the Wizards' Wall's dome, leaving small circles of white that tried to get aground. A web of mana was formed at the center; faint but solid lines were seen leading to Luminberg's eight towers.

"They're being coursed to the Wizards' Wall towers..."

"You've found something, Sister?"

"It's the wall. Is it drawing its power from the city's magical energies?" Euphemia looked at Kirk; there was an unsettled look in her face. "If the wall is kept up like this, everyone in this city can die."

"Not good. We'll have to find a way to shut those towers down, or break whatever thingamabobs are inside them." Kirk looked at both his companions before following the canoness' skyward gaze

They left the city center moving their way through streets and spaces occupied by unconscious people; there was the occasional groan some of them uttered as the city was putting them in a near of near-death. Slumped horses and overturned automobiles were scattered on the main roads, making travel through them more difficult than normal. Luminberg being a small city also made their journey more predictable; each alley extended to a part of the main road, or led to a wider space.

The trio managed to reach the Southwest Tower; men in completely-concealing black stood surrounded by bodies of civilians and those that seemed to be part of Luminberg's constabulary. These men, in ways unexplained, appeared after the people were rendered immobile by the Wizards' Wall's light. Euphemia, Kirk and Rook continued spying on this gathering from behind a parked omnibus. They would have wanted to survey them closer, but then Euphemia's barrier of light would not let them come too near without being noticed.

Flying black circles were seen approaching the group. It stopped at a large empty space near the tower before they started to spin and release a large pillar of light. Rook saw the light reveal a vehicle that was surrounded by familiar machines he fought with in the past.

The constructs at Altrecht were back, and they were accompanied by their human handlers.

"What are those things?" Kirk tried to make sense of the appearance of the armed machines that arrived. "They're standing like regular people... using legs that are not human."

"It's some kind of battle mechanism." Rook reached out for a revolver from his right side. "We ran into them not long ago. They're very tough to take down."

"I guess you know how to run away from these at least."

Kirk noticed a sudden change in the stance of the new tower attendants. Everyone seemed to have taken cover; some of them aiming guns at the place the he and his companions were standing on. He unsheathed his sword before saying:

"Looks like that running away part will apply just about now. They saw us."

The trio disappeared into an alley, expecting that those who spotted them gave chase. Shrill and quick sounds were heard from above as they moved into the darker areas of Luminberg. Their movements were stopped when one of the flying disks settled not far ahead. A beam of light was fired to the ground, followed by the appearance of one of the metal warriors with a gun trained on them.

Rook did not think twice and squeezed the trigger. Two shots echoed in the street; the contraption's head jerked after its optics were blown out of order. It attempted to track the targets by firing blindly; the barrage of bullets forced Euphemia to duck under the gun's path. Kirk jumped on the contraption and plunged his sword at the unarmored shoulder area; the surge of electricity caused him to let go of his weapon when the machine knelt still before collapsing.

"I'll be forced to wear these now." Kirk put on a pair of armored mittens as he approached the broken machine-soldier and yanked the weapon out. He looked at the soot and oil-stained blade and said:

"You are right. These things are machines. Looks like what they're guarding back there is the key to this problem. I've got a plan, but first, I'd like to know if Sister Euphemia can take us to at least, that tower's doorstep."

"I can certainly do that, but wouldn't we be in trouble with the guards?"

"You did use that shield-magic when we first went into the forest." Rook poked out the empty cartridges of his revolver and reloaded two new bullets into the cylinders.

"That is possible Rook, but who will get inside the tower and...?"

"We'll worry about that when we get close enough." Kirk looked at the edge of his blade; he smiled upon seeing that the metal has not bent after being thrust onto the mechanical warrior. "Get both your guns out Rook because we'll need to make enough mayhem to make them less focused on us."

"This might kill us, you know." Rook pulled out the second revolver from his left and checked the cylinders.

"I do not wholeheartedly agree with this outrage but, I entrust my life to both of you." Euphemia stood up and went to a spacious portion of the alley; a street lamp directly underneath.

"Either we get to that tower first, or they'll get to us no matter how far we run from them."

Kirk gripped on the sword hilt with two hands in an attempt to feel his palm on where it was supposed to hold his weapon. He was hearing the unnatural squeaks made by the approaching metal soldiers closing in on where they stood.

†

The Southwest Tower guards were listening in to the command center's communications exchanges; one of the constructs was easily destroyed by those people with the strange light. So much for the well-regarded 'soldiers of the future', most of them thought. They were instructed to secure the structure despite the immediate threat from the unidentified group. Their remaining war contraptions were positioned around the tower perimeter, just in case there were more enemies lurking in the area.

But they had these special suits. It was deemed impossible that anyone without the protection of their gear was left unharmed by the profaned Wizards' Wall. The area remained secure, regardless. Only fools would meet with them head-on.

There was a flash of white brilliance that fell down right at the very door to the tower. None of them expected what happened next.

Gunfire was heard from the blinding pillar; searing red projectiles headed towards the constructs' control vehicle. Whatever hit the machine took out the main energy cell that kept the link between the constructs, resulting in a massive explosion that certainly killed those inside the vehicle or were near it.

"What the...?"

"What the hell are you all standing for? Fire at..." A shot rang and ended his shouting; the force of whatever hit the black-clad guard threw him off-balance and made him lie still on the ground.

The brightness wore off and revealed three figures that broke the door and got inside the Southwest Tower. The few men who responded took aim with their weapons and fired at what was now a screen of less blinding wall of solid illumination. To their surprise, none of the bullets went through but instead were reduced to ash and smoke upon hitting the spectral barrier. One of the guardsmen broke from the engagement and ran to one of the still-intact communications units strapped to a now-dead comrade nearby. After fumbling through a few switches and buttons, he was able to activate the device to say:

"Tower 7 is under attack! We need reinforcements immediately."