Battles are as much about positioning and timing as they are about strength. Being in the right place at the right time and making the most out of it can ensure that your strength is never wasted, and your enemies can never fully leverage their own power against you. This basic principle was understood even by the first lizard to crawl from the primordial soup looking for lunch.

Our battle should be lost, when seen from a simple measure of numbers and equipment. We’re not just on the back foot, we’re outnumbered fighting more experienced warriors, most of whom have more mana than our own fighters.

Watching as our own people are guided around the battlefield, holding off the greater force, I pause for a moment. Red’s giving them all orders, directing them where needed and swooping in to save them when most desperate.

Shields and spears are taking the place of guns as the remaining ammunition is being concentrated in the hands of more conservative riflemen, protected inside of loose formations. Their primary role is in keeping the enemy from flying in or squeezing into the gaps between our warriors.

As I watch, a soldier flies in from above to attack a wounded warrior of our own. A dozen bullets cut through his wings, scattering feathers this way and that. He’s not taken by surprise, but it’s still enough to send him reeling back.

Even so, the damage is done. He’s wounded our front lines, and while we use potions to heal where we can, there is little opportunity and few potions to spare.

Our forces are less talented, slower, and burning through their weapons and potions like never before, but we’re holding them off.

It’s only possible because of Red, she moves our warriors back and forth around the battlefield. They’re constantly pulling each other out of trouble, and warding off more powerful enemies. Defend, delay, and escape the bad fights, that’s the essence of our strategy and it’s the reason so few corpses are bleeding out on the ground.

Red flies through the slaughter, but only in short bursts, flitting from battle to battle launching knives into the sides and backs of foes already fighting our forces. She fights like a phantom but strikes with the force of a venomous viper.

She kills one man, a stone soldier who was just about to crush a familiar warrior of our own. Her daggers cut through every joint with precision, leaving him as a pile of rock scattered on the ground.

Yet, while she’s distracted, two others are forced into submission by the enemy forces. I toss around some spells as soon as I notice, carving through the hull of the ship and out into the battlefield. I’m not the only one, other warriors nearby focus on saving their allies.

My spells carve through the chitinous armour of the soldiers standing over the first of our captured warriors, not nearly as effective as I wanted. A spear cuts through the gap I provide, tossing him aside and freeing our wounded ally.

My underpowered spells carve into the second man. A wolfish soldier who shrugs off the injuries and lowers his clawed hands to our captured friend. The claws cut through muscle and bone, severing the head of our ally even as his friends try to save him.

I swallow back the bile, my heart beating hard in my chest even as my head is cold.

I was too slow. I attacked too lightly.

Waiting for just a moment gives the enemy soldiers time to subdue and kill our captured warriors.

I triple the output of my spells for the next one, shredding the enemy soldier to nothing while looking for the next. Red’s leadership has kept most people alive, but there are still too many fallen.

I hear a scream from inside the ship, and summon a spell the moment the target is in sight. One of my scouts is pinned on the ground by sharp claws, saved from death only by the rules our opponent lives by.

My magic cuts him apart before the killing blow.

The scout struggles to pull the claws out before another enemy comes to take her while she’s down. I can’t spare any more time for her, as while I’m distracted another of ours is getting killed.

I can only avenge him now, too late to save his life. I’m not sure if the dead man will care, but my own savage heart finds some small solace in the act.

I feel hollow, silent, mechanical. The rage still burns deeper down, fuelling my magic, but it feels a great distance from my mind.

Civilians, collared and not, are ushered into the ship’s hold, they watch the battle in horror as they run, some pausing to vomit or freezing up on the spot. Thankfully there’s always someone there to give a helping hand, and it’s not something that I can take responsibility for. Strangers help strangers, and no one is left behind but the dead.

These people are empathetic, they help one another where they can so long as it doesn’t necessitate beastly action. Even shocked by this violent carnage, they still hold onto that kindness.

The best part of the Unified States was always its people. They’re flawed but trying their best to care for one another and build a society that’s better and kinder than you can find in nature.

Watching through borrowed eyes, I take in the state of the battlefield and send out more concentrated annihilation spells to stumble the more troublesome enemies. Red is doing the same, but while I can cast more magic and cover more of the battlefield, she’s more precise and her timing is near perfect.

For all the brilliant tactical work of my commander, there are too many of our enemies. My magic has already made quite the difference, cutting down the more dangerous foes as they try to separate us into smaller groups that would be easier to subdue.

If these soldiers weren’t holding themselves back…

There’s no point thinking about it now.

Red calls for the retreat into the ship, as the scouting team with me find the last of the enemies hidden within.

The enemy soldiers gather themselves for another push, the distance between them shrinks as they try to employ their numbers against us, a strategy our late teacher always advised against.

They charge us from the front, and Red smirks as she watches on; the only reason that I’m not panicking at the sight.

Our riflemen scatter rounds into their frontline and our mages add their own flares to the mix, causing some few of the enemy to stumble. As the wounded fall, others struggle to pass by without crushing them, but the tight formation makes it difficult and slows them all.

When the dense formation crashes into our own, they lash out with magics and attacks, alien and familiar. Dark magics and flashing lights cross each other’s paths, swords and spears clash against chains and saws and stranger weapons still as blood of many colours mingle in the mud.

The enemy is tighter in formation, grouping up to fight our warriors two to our one. Our guns and magic support through the gaps, but it’s still not easy for the front line, pressed back by the enemies’ vicious assault.

Yet, it’s not as vicious as it ought to be. The soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder and hesitate to swing with full force for fear of hitting the ally at their side. As our soldiers make use of that hesitation, it forces the enemy to attack with all their vigour, accidentally wounding and distracting the allies at their side.

When they are too mindful of one another, they create gaps for our warriors to attack. When they attack with full force, their allies are distracted trying to dodge the accidental hits. They’re not trained well enough to fight effectively in tight formation.

Too many weapons and fighting styles make it quite the challenge to fight in tight formations, and none of us here are capable of it. There’s a reason why our warriors keep a gap between one another.

This plays to our advantage.

On the defence and retreating into the ship we gain time as they stumble and stagger over one another. We lose ground, that we never intended to hold.

Red runs through the formation, recollecting the knives that she’s used and wounding more enemies as she goes, keeping the momentum from running our formations down.

I cast more and more magic, targeting legs and heads around where the enemies are most concentrated, and though only a few die, many are wounded and fall back, breaking their momentum. We aren’t here to kill the enemy, just to survive them.

“On board, and ready to close the hull doors,” Red shouts, leaping up to the top of the ship where the last of the flying foes still harry us. They retreat as she engages them, none quite capable of fighting her on even terms.

With a shout from our men, and silence from the enemy, the fight is won. A few bodies lay scattered on the earth, most of them from the enemy, but some from our own forces.

Those caught and killed before they could be saved.

Those who I’ve failed.

I have the strength, but I wasn’t fast enough, I wasn’t watching closely enough and now they’re gone. It’s the same as with Eshya.

“Adler,” Red says, getting my attention as our soldiers take up defensive positions around the vessel. “Take us up.”

“You heard her,” Adler says, pressing on our enslaved pilot. They raise the ship into the air as we gather on the deck to take in the full situation and adapt our plans.

“They’re gathering for another assault,” Red declares. “If we continue to fight them off they’ll eventually give up on us, but that’s not a fight we can win.”

“Not one we’d want to win either,” I say. “We need a way off this world, another ship.”

“What about that one?” Vii asks, pointing at the massive vessel in the sky. The glass egg. “It’s the biggest and best ship here, and I can’t see any soldiers near it.”

“It is…” I admit, gazing up at the prize in the sky.

I shake myself free from temptation and face the reality. We’re not equipped or prepared for a proper war, even the lesser conflicts that we’ve been a part of below only happened with a measure more preparation than this.

We have to be careful.

“I can’t repair this one,” Ria says, shaking her head and looking down at the grand vessel. “Not without spending a few weeks studying it. Even with all the Skills and knowledge at my fingertips, I can’t use it without experience.”

“Then we take another ship,” I say, absorbing the sights around us. Most of the vessels near to us are still in the midst of boarding, stuck grounded until they can find the staff needed to oversee the collaring.

We can’t delay for long, or else they’ll be gone with the people too.

I take a moment to record what I see, the selection process, how they decide who lives and who dies. It’s terribly brutal to the peaceful civilians, I can only imagine what effect it would have on other citizens of this massive empire should they see it.

“What about the gangs, are they going to steal some ships?” Vii asks. “Should we warn them about the pilots breaking things? Maybe we can get a ship off of them? Fight together, you know?”

“I can only see one making any serious moves…” I say, looking into the distance where young warriors are gathering. They aren’t particularly talented or strong, but they have plenty of inspiration. We’ve made for a good distraction and there are fewer soldiers that they’re forced to battle.

We’re not getting any help from them, not that I was expecting to.

There are a half dozen ships near us, but while we’ve been battling the soldiers that come for us, their commanders have been preparing for the next stage of the fight.

“They weren’t prepared for us to be this strong,” Red says as I take in the sight of the flying army surrounding us. “The soldiers we’ve faced thus far aren’t strong enough to be considered real threats, but it seems like they’ve prepared some foes worth fighting.”

“So the soldiers out there…”

“They’re elites. Powerful enough to keep me on my toes.”

“So the rest of our teams?”

“Keep their heads down and out of sight,” Red suggests.

“We can’t beat them, we can’t fight them off, and even if we get a new ship we need the time to get our people from one to the other,” I grumble, rubbing at my temple looking for a way out.

“Not particularly feasible,” Red says, standing beside me and watching as our people move about.

The fight is paused a moment as we’re both moving people around, Red wouldn’t be wasting time discussing this with me if we didn’t have the time to spare. I’m sure she already knows exactly the best answer, it’s the reason why I respect her enough to follow her orders.

“The glass egg would be big enough, but taking that would be… challenging,” I say. “It looks to me like they’re confident that we can’t just charge in and take it.”

“Even though the halls are empty?” she asks, the edges of her lips rising into a smile.

“Yeah, that’s a trap in itself,” I say. “There’s no way that they’ve left it undefended.”

“But it’s a trap we have to walk into,” Red says.

“So, we misdirect?” I ask. “We go for the other ships, distract them and hold them off while a scouting team breaks into the egg and figures out how to get through this trap?”

“That’s what I’d plan for, but the distraction team is sure to suffer some casualties. The officers aren’t playing nice anymore, and they’re ready to put down anyone that causes the slightest trouble.”

“I’m not willing to accept heavy casualties,” I say.

“Then, you’d better fight hard,” Red says. “I’ll lead the scouting team with the rest of our fliers, Ria included. I’m sure there will be enchantment-based traps among other things up there. Vii too would be invaluable, your foresight could get us through traps that we can’t see coming.”

“Before that, we need to get ourselves out of this situation,” I say, waving a hand over the horizon. Their soldiers move closer still, their weapons are at the ready as they surround our vessel.

“Any smart ideas for getting out of this?” I ask.

“Cut straight through,” she says. “Nothing to even think about. Simple tactics like this demand simple responses. Charge the line and break out.”

“Then I go and make a fuss, pretending to steal the other ships, while keeping everyone alive.”

“I crack open the glass egg, roll out the red carpet for you and we get out of here.” Red’s teeth shine as she glares at the enemies opposite us.

“So, we have a plan,” I say, gathering my power. “Now…”

“Forwards charge with all power!” Vii shouts, standing at the front of the ship. “Let’s show these landlubbers that the skies belong to us! Forward, and send them crashing to the ground, let them be but red stains on the earth that they arrogantly tried to leave behind!”

“Vii?” I ask, as the ship starts building up some forward speed.

“It’s from a book I read once, you wouldn’t know it,” she blushes but her smirk shines through the shame. “It felt right.”

“Yes, well let’s just get to it and end this,” Adler says, staring at the enemies surrounding us. “Kill them however you must, we must focus on saving who we can.”

Her tail is worked up as her eyes glow with cold fury. Seeing Eshya nearly die has left us all a little out of sorts. We still don’t know how much of her will still be the same when she wakes.

I turn my glare at the elvish officer that floats in the sky opposite us. He is but a slave, but my heart still rages at the sight of him. My magic stirs as I think of Eshya, and those warriors we’ve left lifeless on the ground.

“Let’s show them who we are,” I say, casting powerful magic to carve us a path through the skies.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stats and Skills

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 53,492 / 60,892 units

Current mana volume: 26,592 / 30,271 shards

Mana volume at crystallisation density (Max. mana volume):

Kyra: 30,271 shards

Kyra’s armour: 20,777 shards

Kyra’s throne: 1,109,298 shards

~Forms

Mana Canon

-Annihilation Heart (Adapted)

-Blood Fuel (Adapted)

-Bone Magic Storage (Adapted)

-Nail Shifters (Adapted)

Dancer

-Flash Nerves (Adapted)

-Quick Perception Mind (Adapted)

-Burst Reflex Muscles (Adapted)

-Layered Space Muscles (Adapted)

Turtle

-Rebinding Tissue (Adapted)

-Catalyst Sweat Glands (Adapted)

-Repulsive Skin (Adapted)

-Prehensile hair (Adapted)

-Fatty Tissue Blood Storage (Adapted)

Investigator

-Wide eyes (Adapted)

-Wide ears (Adapted)

-Sharp nose (Adapted)

Misc.

-Clean bowels (Adapted)

-Mana Drive (Adapted)

~Favourited Skills:

Magic:

-Annihilation Magic (Customised)

-Fire Magic (Functional)

-Space magic (Broken)

-Force magic (Functional)

-Ice magic (Broken)

-Wind magic (Broken)

Movement:

-Hand-to-hand casting (Functional)

-Mana surge movement (Functional)

-Stealth (Functional)

Senses:

-Eyes of an Empire (Customised)

-Combat Awareness (Functional)

-Watchmen (Functional)

-Hidden bug (Mastered)

-De-tagging (Mastered)

-Anti-stealth sight (Mastered)

Special:

-Spirit Transformation (Broken)

-Conformity (Broken)

-Training mana form (Functional)