"There's just no end to this", Odin shouted loudly, shooting his blood sword into the creature directly in front of him before turning backwards and starting to retreat. It looked like he was going to run, but he didn't. Creatures had broken through the High-Magicians' defensive line and were purposefully using that gap to gain access to the city. By now, it was clear to him that the creatures were following a plan, as they were well organized and used every flaw against the defenders. He could see a figure a good ten feet wide charging at a group of Anuxer and immediately began to quicken his pace. Practiced, he turned his Igrikum into a long blood spear, piercing the head of the strange creature he had never seen before. "They're coming through!"

"Pull back!", Rangar commanded while Odin spun his spear to ward off the creatures.. He could hear Rangar's voice both above crystal and right beside him, so he looked in his direction. A moment later, the 2nd seat slammed his fist into a creature that had charged directly at Odin. A bang, followed by a blast wave, hurled enemies and allies to the side. "Go!"

Odin just nodded and leaped over the creatures blocking his path. Again he cast his Igrikum and made hundreds, small swords appear, raining them down on the ground all at once. Dozens of creatures fell to the ground, but one of them extended its arm and tore Odin to the ground. Screaming, he crashed to the ground and at the last moment built up a shield to block the incoming blows. But the creature slammed into him as if he were just a piece of paper. Again and again and again. The High-Magician was completely overrun and did not even get to think clearly. He desperately gathered his mana to get the creature off of him, when a shadow appeared behind it. The creature also noticed the attacker, but could not react.

In a single motion, a sword sliced through the creature's head before it fell to the ground. Surprised, Odin looked up at the strange Anuxer who had just saved his life. In the darkness, it took him a moment to recognize the face.

"Are you all right?", William spoke up and extended his hand to him before a rumble caught his attention. Immediately, he flung his sword to the side, killing a creature that had come at him at high speed.

"Was that just now a Sortan?", shouted Ben to him, pulling Odin to his feet without asking his permission.

"Yes", William confirmed, backing up to Ben and Odin to form a circle. "Cale's lessons are really paying off, aren't they?"

"Quite, yes", Ben threw back, killing another creature. "We're not going to make it. Let's go back to the barrier and take a breath."

"Yes", William confirmed, exhausted. They had been fighting for hours now, and gradually he was running out of strength. As Cale had told him, he didn't want to take any chances and started to move a few moments later. Ben and Odin were close on his heels, while Rangar stayed right behind in the masses. With his Igrikum, Rangar was able to harden his body so that he rarely sustained injuries. This inevitably made him one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in all of Altona, which is why he fought right at the front.

Breathing gratefully for a moment, Odin transformed his Igrikum back into a spear before throwing it and holding the creature off the neck of a woman who was fleeing. The creature immediately fell dead, allowing Odin to draw back his blood and shout to his Platon members to retreat. At the same moment, a swift arrow flew past his head, striking a smaller creature that had approached Odin from behind. Surprised, the High-Magician looked toward the wall, but he could not make out who the archer was who had fired it.

"Grischa. Go to the east, some creatures have broken away from the capital and are bypassing our distribution", Cale's voice spoke up over the communication crystal on Odin's neck. Surprised, both Ben and William turned backwards before realizing that a High-Magician was running directly behind them. But only at this moment Ben remembered that he had already met Odin Ander several times in his childhood. Stunned, he stared at the blood-covered High-Magician, as the next screams of people tore him from his thoughts.

"Go Grischa!", Sefra shouted back loudly, appearing a moment later with a massive cloud of black ropes in the sky. As if her Igrikum were an extension of her hands, she stroked the landscape, killing as many creatures as she could. "I'll take care of your position."

Brief cursing from Grischa's part was heard before his icy surface abruptly spread east.

From the roof, Cale had a excellent overview of the situation. He could pretty much see where their defenses were failing and kept his colleagues constantly updated. Occasionally, he would independently kill dangerous creatures that he didn't want to let near the people in the first place. Above all, however, he kept a constant eye on William, Ben and Philippa, with the three of them managing quite well on their own.

But by now, the east had become a real problem.

Cale could see Grischa flying over the creatures at tremendous speed, causing a massive wall of ice to appear, before he conjured up a storm and froze all the creatures to ice. However, he could not catch up. Many of the creatures made it past him, so he desperately tried to pierce them with his ice arrows. It was a tremendous spectacle that everyone on the battlefield could see and feel as the temperature dropped drastically near Grisha.

"Don't be so reckless! You'll waist...", Cale scolded as he saw how his friend was handling his mana.

"I know!", the visibly annoyed High-Magician interrupted him. "There are too many, I can't keep up."

"Damn it", Cale muttered, flying into the sky. He spotted dozens, wounded creatures making it past the ice wall and keep running. What exactly they were up to, Cale didn't know, but he didn't like the sight of them. "Pull back."

"What?"

"Pull back. I'll take it from here!"

"Are you abandoned by the gods?", Grischa indignantly retorted, but Cale didn't listen. In the next moment, he made dozens of small sources of mana appear with the help of his Igrikum, while carefully following the creatures' movements.

"Don't you dare, kid!", Aaron spoke up. He prevented the creatures from gathering in front of the barrier with his Igrikum of Gravity, helping the rest of the fighters clear the creatures more easily. "Focus on the barrier of the city!"

"Don't tell me what to do", Cale countered annoyed, abruptly making hundreds of barriers appear at once. Shortly after, he expanded those barriers, killing all the creatures he had previously targeted. They fell down like small trees, unaware of where exactly they were being attacked from. Skillfully, Cale murdered any creatures that broke through their defenses, which Grischa could see as well.

"What the... was that you?"

"Who else?", replied Cale, grinning at the statement. When it came to magic, and specifically his Igrikum, Cale was pretty confident he had the upper hand. "I've got it under control, so calm down. I thought we agreed not to make any rash moves."

"Especially you say that", Aaron interjected.

"There was nothing rash about it."

"Don't argue", Sefra spoke up, preventing Aaron, Cale, and Grischa from breaking out in a discussion with each other and becoming inattentive. Grischa pulled himself together at his colleague's comment and gathered his Igrikum before drastically dropping the temperature and releasing it all at once. Thousands of icicles bored out of the ground, killing all the creatures that had been near him. They came at him as if they had realized he was a danger.

"Are you all alright?", the Eldest inquired some time later. The situation in the east was under control again and Cale had returned to the roof. Beneath his feet, dozens of injured people lay all over the streets, being tended to by healers like Aletta. The Eldest had been among the residents until just now, but had abandoned his position and came straight at Cale.

In turn, the High-Magicians confirmed that nothing was wrong with them. They were just exhausted and would probably need a rest in the next hour, even if they wanted to avoid Cale being on his own. Skeptically, the Eldest let his gaze slide over the landscape drenched in dead creatures as he ordered the High-Magician to retreat as soon as they lost concentration. He didn't want to risk losing any of them, and besides, he had stayed behind as a reserve to help out with his fire magic in case of emergency.

Quietly, he approached Cale and took the communication crystal in his hand before gesturing with his finger for Cale not to speak too loudly. Cale merely nodded and did the same before asking the Eldest what was wrong.

"I had another vision."

"Just now?", Cale repeated in wonder, not letting the fight distract him.

"Yes. A vision that will occur in the next hour. They will die. Odin, Rosalie, and Malte."

"How?", Cale muttered , now a lot more tense. The Eldest didn't often have visions, let alone visions this close. That much Cale was aware of, even if he couldn't exactly say how the Eldest's Igrikum worked. Something was going to happen, and they both knew it.

"I don't know, I couldn't see it that clearly. I only briefly saw a creature with human weapons appearing and disappearing. Do you have any idea what that creature was?"

"A creature that uses weapons? I've never heard of that before."

"Never?", the Eldest repeated in wonder. "Then we have a real problem now."

"Definitely", Cale confirmed, fixing his gaze on his friends. "Command them back. All of them."

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"We have no choice, after all, we can't just sacrifice them without knowing what to expect afterwards", Cale explained calmly. "My Igrikum will be able to withstand the attacks, and the way the creatures are behaving, they want to invade Exarion."

"It looks like it, yes", the Eldest confirmed thoughtfully. "I'm thinking of going outside and using my magic to set them all on fire."

"You don't have to leave the barrier for that", Cale replied and began to fly, at which point the Eldest followed him. They flew up quite a way and came to a stop just at the edge of the barrier above the city. Cale reached for his communication crystal and cast a scrutinizing glance at the Eldest before independently putting his plan into action. "Pull back. All of you. In the next 10 minutes, I want every soldier, every bow, every mage, and every one of you in my barrier."

"Excuse me?", Aaron threw back in irritation.

"Do it", the Eldest commanded, nodding to Cale. None of the High-Magicians disobeyed the Eldest's order and began telling the others what to do. In shuffles, the fighters stepped through the gates of the city, while the Eldest glanced at Cale, who could not have been more relaxed. "What are you going to do?"

"We're going to set the area ablaze, just like you said, Eldest. I'm pretty sure you guys are capable of using starfire."

"Yes", the Eldest confirmed in surprise. Starfire was the title of the most powerful fire magic and was counted among the most dangerous forms of magic. It wasn't just the surge of power that starfire gave off that was the danger, but rather how much mana had to be released abruptly. No mage had been able to successfully realize starfire in quite a few decades, but how did Cale know he was capable of it?

"Good. Then prepare yourself", Cale announced, causing a barrier to appear beneath his feet so that he could stand comfortably on it. The Eldest noticed the invisible slab as well and came to stand on it as well. "I will look out that everyone is in my barrier before you let the doom of the world fall upon us. Don't worry about the Igrikum. I can pretty much control whose mana I let through and whose I don't. Otherwise, people wouldn't be able to come in and out so easily, either."

"Your Igrikum is truly fascinating", the Eldest replied, sitting down cross-legged before closing his eyes and beginning to focus on his mana.

Cale, on the other hand, watched closely to see that the people complied with the instruction. Casually, he spotted Ben, Philippa, and William arrive in town and meet Aletta. They seemed to exchange information immediately, because a moment later Philippa pointed to the sky - directly at Cale and the Eldest. It took time for the people to reach safety, with the High-Magicians bringing up the rear. Grischa was the last of them, who emerged from behind the wall, panting, and immediately dropped to the ground. Shortly after, Aaron appeared and grabbed his arm before telling Grischa to start moving.

Exactly 10 minutes later, all the people were inside the barrier. Outside, the creatures piled up and scratched at Cale's Igrikum, even though they couldn't damage it. Satisfied, Cale grinned before placing his hand on the Eldest's shoulder and crouching down beside him.

"Are you ready, Eldest?"

"I'm ready", the blond-haired mage confirmed, opening his eyes.