The Academy’s mages smashed into the enemy lines. Bri set fire to cultists with gouts of flame and chopped through them with her bastard sword, Oraeus taking the occasional swipe from behind her – clearly unused to fighting from the back of a steed. Shaya carved through the inexperienced fighters with her spear, Samorn clinging to her while Marengo crushed skulls and rib cages with his giant hooves.

The remaining Fraxraptors and their riders spun and left in perfect unison, their powerful legs carrying them out of the cliff’s shelter – and into Ralus and Ren’s line of fire. Ren’s first arrow punched through a monster's skull with a sickening crunch that Shaya heard from dozens of feet away, the huge beast dropping like a sack of flour and crushing its riders beneath its bulk. His next arrow slammed into the flank of another monster, but it snapped the arrow off with a flick of its bladed tail and kept running as the wound quickly sealed over. Ren fired again and again, but his accuracy and rate of fire dropped as Ralus kicked their horse into chase and the fleeing archers returned fire.

Beams of Amethyst energy flickered from Ralus, hitting the flanks of the monsters. They slowed when struck, the energy draining their life force, but the effect was brief. The spawn’s connection to Fraxil, the Titan associated with life, meant their life force was simply too much to disrupt for long with Ralus’ low-level spells. The beams soon stopped, Ralus realizing their spells weren’t having enough impact for the time and energy they required, but it meant nothing was slowing the Fraxraptors down anymore. The huge monsters tore across the cold ground at an unbelievable pace.

“They’re too fast!” Shaya called, stabbing through the chest of the last cultist on her side, flinching as she watched the life leave his crazed eyes, “We won’t be able to catch them – and unlikely to out-endure the supernatural beasts even on horses!”

“Bari!” Oraeus shouted, already dismounted and dueling one of the cultists on his side. With a deft feint using his cloak, his blade shot past his opponent’s defenses and dropped her. Shaya saw the noble stiffen as the woman’s blood spurted over him and she collapsed from the wound, dying. He shook himself out of it, then shouted again, louder than before, “Bari! Engage!”

Thwoomp.

The sound of a ballista firing thrummed through the air, followed by a thundering crash as an arrow slammed through two of the Fraxraptors and punched into the ground, leaving a foot of thick shaft and dark fletching above ground. The Ur and its rider – the chief cultist – spun and shrieked in rage, both channeling magical energies in concert. The energy washed over the students even a hundred feet away, the two energies entwined as they channeled their spell.

Whatever they had intended to do with that power never came to pass.

The arrow Bari fired exploded with energy, its size expanding rapidly and firing branches from its core. Each winding branch ended in a spear tip that gored the remaining run-aways then sprouted thorns that glistened with venom. Its victims went pale and still almost immediately, dying without a sound.

A moment later, the rust-red vulture slammed into the ground, a giant crow pinning it down as it tore into it with a vengeance. Without its connection to its mage, the vulture lost the enhancements it benefited from as a familiar, leaving it at the mercy of the stronger, faster predator.

In a few seconds, Bari had simply annihilated an elite pack of spawn and an enemy mage of no small power. The ensorcelled arrow-tree rapidly decayed, turning into mulch and allowing its victims to drop to the ground. Shaya shuddered, understanding for a brief moment the sheer carnage that a war between mages could cause – and feeling cold chills at what happened to the non-mages that took part.

Shaya shook her head, realizing her eyes had drifted to the few people she had killed here – poorly armed and not even particularly skilled... just people suckered in by the promise of power by Titan worshippers. She needed to get back into the battle, turning to Bri to see what help she could provide.

Bri didn’t need her help. Her fire and fury had downed twice as many cultists as Shaya, and a pale but grim faced Oraeus walked around finishing them off. Bri wheeled her mount and charged towards Shaya.

“Look out!” She shouted, flicking Marengo’s rump with a spark of flame.

As the spooked horse lunged forward with Shaya and Samorn, a smoldering raptor soared past them - rending talons extended to tear through only air now. Bri charged, juking to its side as the monster’s momentum carried it a few steps forward after landing. Her heavy blade chopped off the creature’s arm, the flaming enchantment on it cauterizing the wound instantly and stopping the beast’s regeneration.

The creature screeched in pain, but still spun and slashed its tail through her horse. Bri leapt off as her horse collapsed beneath her, hitting the ground hard despite rolling with her landing. The Fraxraptor charged towards her, screeching in rage and pain, ready to rip and tear. Bri flung a hand into the air as she spun towards it, her esper flaring as fire and smoke exploded from her hand in a massive cloud. Despite its nature, the beast still recoiled from the fire – if only for a moment – before lunging forward with its claws out.

Shaya feared for her friend’s safety as their battle continued within the oily smoke.

Bri walked out of the smoke a moment later, hand clamped over a gash in her side, and fell to a knee as blood gushed out of her. Shaya regained control of Marengo and urged him towards her at speed. From behind Bri, the Fraxraptor stumbled out, gurgling but still reaching towards her with its remaining scythe arm. Her still flaming bastard sword was buried in its neck, the monster’s flesh cauterized around it.

Before it could bury the scythe into Bri’s back, Shaya threw her spear with all her might. It whistled through the air and punched into the monster’s chest, cracking ribs and hurling the monster back several feet. It hit the ground, growing still, but still breathing. Shaya rode past Bri and pulled back on Marengo’s reins, having him rear back. The Jhagsdale’s hooves slammed back down with all of its weight, shattering the creature’s skull.

“Take the reins and be firm with him,” she said to Samorn as she dismounted and rushed over to Bri, “How bad is it?”

“Could be worse,” Bri said through gritted teeth, “Bari’s spells meant it didn’t go as deep as it could have, and whatever it managed to nick in me feels to be sealed over already.”

“Alright, I’ll help that regeneration along then,” Shaya replied, setting aside her anxiety and fear to draw in Jade for a healing spell, “Thanks for the save, you were bad ass back there.”

“Heh, you’re welcome,” the big woman chuckled, “you’re not the only one whose been working hard, eh?”

“Never thought that for a second,” she said, looking around as her lance swept the area for stragglers or intelligence, “now stop clinging to the wound like a baby and let me heal it.”

Bri snorted, “Sorry, some of us aren’t as experienced with being wounded as you are.”

“Hey, no wounds on me this time,” Shaya grinned back at her, “I guess I’m finally learning.”

“Impossible,” Bri wheezed as the healing energy poured into her and knit her flesh back together, “you’re just lucky that we had a smooth run despite the appearance of a pack of Titan spawn.”

“Refreshing, isn’t it?”

“As is having a commanding officer that gives a shit about us.”

“I think Zaal cares... in his own cruel, heartless way.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Bri said, her expression and tone suggesting she found that difficult to believe, “I can’t wait to get the after-action report on this one.”

“You did well,” Bari said, riding up to them. She wore a grim look on her face, and Shaya respected her for not taking pleasure in the killing, regardless of how much they may have deserved it. “Taking a monster’s life is easy,” she continued, “but another human’s - no matter how sinister they might be – is another matter entirely. I’m happy to see none of you did so lightly, but also that you didn’t hesitate.

“Relax for now, celebrate if you can, the feeling will sink in later.”

+++++

“To us!” Ren cheered, raising his goblet of wine to toast the rest of their lance and Apricot’s. The wine had flowed freely the entire evening following their debrief.

Goblets clinked as everyone accepted the toast with varying levels of enthusiasm. The twelve students sat around a long table within Fire and Ice, one of the finest dining establishments in Arcadia’s fourth layer.

“Congrats again on getting first place this time around, Apricot,” Shaya said, smiling at her friend as they sat next to each other.

“Indeed,” Oraeus added from the other side of Apricot, scooched close enough to her that Shaya could consider it intimiate, “infiltrating a bandit lair and taking them all in alive is an impressive feat.”

“Aw, thanks,” the small woman said, looking between them with a blush, “it’s the result of all our hard work and having Lan back.”

“The lance functioned quite well in my absence under your leadership,” Lan deflected, cool as usual, then turned his attention to Oraeus, “and congratulations on getting second place, and still walking away with some choice monster parts despite everyone’s missions focusing on banditry.”

“Yeah, thanks ‘Jinx’,” Bri smirked, looking pointedly at Shaya, “maybe you could stop tempting fate all the time?”

“Psht, non-sense,” Shaya crossed her arms, “we’d get less loot that way! I still have to make up for my lost stipend and cut last time.”

Bri snatched the last of the duck while Shaya was in her defensive posture, earning her a betrayed look.

“Did you just trick me to get the last of the food?”

“Yep - always cheat, always win, right?”

“That’s my line!”

“I know, I figure you have to respect my victory now.”

“...there will be a reckoning, Bri. Mark my words!”

“I don’t think so,” Bri said, licking the grease from her fingers, “especially not when you see the gift we got you.”

“...gift?” Shaya said, looking confused, “for what?”

“For balancing the scales,” Bri replied, pulling a large box from under the table and sliding it towards Shaya, “our lance came together to get this for you after our first mission.”