Gerhard looked at the darkened streets of Luminberg; a sight that he never thought would be possible in "The City of Endless Daylight". These lamps ran on the mana veins that ran underneath the city, which was much-touted as an endless source of energy. The Gray Fox's machinery went as far as to drain these ancient energy sources. Only the moon and the occasional tongues of fire from burning houses prevented the city from becoming completely engulfed in blackness. It felt like home still – as much as he hated to admit it to himself. Bodies littered the major roads; there was little in way to differentiate the still-living from the dead save for some individuals whose energy was spent in uttering bellows and groans while recuperating from the life-threatening experience.

He did not like the second-skin feeling of the mana-preserving suit. The nighttime air seemed to have little or no effect in keeping Gerhard cool – his sweat being the only means of giving him a sense of cold. The armed men who accompanied him formed a ring around; he thought that this security detail only managed to slow him down, not that he lacked the means to look after himself.

He wondered about the fate of the Silberns: his reason for being in Luminberg. The Gray Fox's decision to put him and Cornelia on a special standby status made his personal mission something that had to be done at another time. While that old Luminberger family was by no means pushovers, the crime lord's special mechanism sent the city to its current state of disaster. All this served as a half-victory for him had the city administration fallen to the mana drainers; there wouldn't be a chance to hear the old Academy Headmaster reason himself out of the revenge Gerhard wanted to serve on him.

The air smelled stale, probably due to the towers converting any and all forms of energy into mana. Gerhard wondered what the Gray Fox wanted this much magical energy condensed. He was always told that it was the fuel for the new world his master always envisioned – one that would put Kriemreich on top of a new order. Political maneuvers suited the purpose more: the old doctor becoming the new Kaiser would have allowed him to continue developing more projects for a grand bid at establishing influence and authority beyond the lands of Delitia. If he had money and materials to bring a city the size of Luminberg to its knees, being installed in the way of politics more likely costed less. Gerhard knew the old man: the Gray Fox would not settle for anything less than a grand entrance once his plans were set in motion. Usurping the throne from the Royal Family would have made him less endearing to the average Kriemreicher. After all, the Gray Fox lacked any ties with the nobility, and that incident from long ago registered his name as dead to the nation.

Now at last, Gerhard was sent out by the command station to assist Winston Norton with a pursuit operation. Surely, no member of the Imperial Armed Forces was left standing after the spectacular yet frightening display of power from the tower-mounted machines. The stragglers were probably were in a bunker that prevented the mana-sapping contraptions from affecting them. Those soldiers would have been no better than the ones at the Imperial Archives, save for that officer who managed to mark Gerhard's left side with scores of stinging pellets. He would have been captured or killed if not for Cornelia looking after him.

This time around, Gerhard would have to complete this task without the mildly-annoying, yet endearing, female sword-wielder who either took the vanguard or covered his flanks. His quest to pay the Academy administration a visit was put on hold; whatever was tying up Norton was more than what his forces at hand could handle.

A weak scent of gunpowder led Gerhard's group to a warehouse. Gunfire rattled from the interior, followed by muffled screams. Gerhard found the squad leader, limping towards a lamppost. This enemy proved more formidable than what he expected, basing it on the corpses of Winston's men that littered the warehouse's vicinity. With some waving of his right hand, the exiled Luminberger managed to create enough magical energy between his colleague and whoever was attempting to kill him. Gerhard transformed it into a wall of fire that interrupted Winston's aiming.

"You don't seem to be in good shape, Master Winston."

"I... didn't expect that... I would run across a... very determined... boy."

Boy, he said? Gerhard was looking at Winston holding his right shoulder. A fight definitely erupted in this area – with the Gray Fox's men on the verge of losing. The magician approached his superior, not bothering to ask about his condition. Gerhard's men caught up with their leader moments later.

"A few of my men are with me." Gerhard signaled a few of them to tend to the injured commander. "I'll have you pulled out of this place. Let me deal with your hunter."

"You have... my thanks, Mister Guildenstern."

"Nice fire flashing things you did there, but I'm not letting you take Green Eye away from me."

A young man's voice echoed throughout the warehouse. Gerhard could not tell where the source was, and was alerted by a rapid burst of gunfire. The magician willed some of the broken crates to his side; a purple glow emanated from them before they floated about, forming a screen that covered Winston's retreat. The bullets struck the magically-charged wood; each of them burst into embers and splinters upon impact.

"This is so much fun! I've always wanted to test what I'm made of against people like you."

Gerhard judged the source of the voice was coming from the rooftops; the path his bullets took in the attempt to finish off Winston Norton also confirmed this. He caught a glimpse of the figure at the roof of a house by the warehouse's left. A charge of bluish sparks appeared about the would be attacker, followed by a small bolt of lightning that dived towards the attacker. Nobody would have been agile enough to dodge what the magician took pride in as one of his better spells.

A string of gunfire from another direction brought Gerhard back to reality. He called forth another batch of broken wooden planks to absorb the bullets.

"This coward may prove to be more annoying than I thought."

Some of his men were leading Winston to one of the dark alleys; the transport disks should be arriving to pick them up in minutes. Gerhard wrote a sigil in the air; a diamond that contained several ever-changing symbols in blue and white. The attacker appeared again as a shadow cast by the moonlight; which the magician responded to through a series of fiery orbs shot out by his mana construct. His enemy ran out of the field of fire, jumping into a rooftop where the energy-charged projectiles struck a building's edge and missed their target.

"You won't be able to keep your little trick for long, magic-man. I can see it."

How was that possible? Gerhard remembered that scholars of the First Empire made mention of special people who could see the flow of magical energy in both the living and non-living. This was not the time to reminisce on Academy days. If only there was a source of mana that could be tapped on to immediately. He thought at that time why blocking what seemed to be two bursts of gunfire from this attacker taxed his magical energy reserves. The soldiers from the Aurelburg archives did not cause him to exert this much effort, and they were in a better position to stop him from casting anything. Gerhard then realized that even with one of his master's machines disabled, the remaining ones were still able to compete with him in harnessing what he needed.

Help came in the form of a dozen floating disks that headed their way.

Gerhard moved his shield of broken wood to the alley opening, where Winston Norton and the escorting men were extracted from the site. One of the disks was intercepted before it could arrive; the unknown gunner was able to find a good place to land a hit. Most of the first batch of transport disks were able to reach the location undamaged. Beams of light shone above Winston Norton and two of the men assisting him; their bodies disappeared from the scene when the machines resumed their ascent.

"What a surprise. You took Green Eye from me. I guess I should take you out instead."

Another sequence of gunshots was heard from the right-side rooftops. Gerhard was able to move more sections of his magical construct to meet the bullets intended for him. A second disk en route to his location was shot down; it crashed into a rain of sparks and broken pieces of metal and crystal.

More sections of the magically-animated wood were spread wider, which meant that his localized protection could not hold out for long. His sigil unleashed another batch of searing energy orbs in the direction of the warehouse's roof; all of them whistled upward before fading in the sky. It did not take long before one of the disks descended for Gerhard himself the magician was removed from the action.

At the edge of the alley lay the smoking remains of what was one of the peculiar flying machines that roamed Luminberg. Someone pulled the wreck from the ground. The object was probably inspected, and upon seeing the damage it sustained during the firefight, was thrown at one of the nearby waste bins.