Axel Voight murmured under his breath, and discreetly made the proper hand sigils. And at the same time, he sent his focus into his casting ring and activated the reactive malachite. The small green stone began to smoulder, allowing him to power his cantrips.

From one blink of an eye to the next, Axel’s vision changed. And almost immediately, he found what it was that was giving the stiff-lipped Storm Leader the shivers. A few dozen cubits from where they were, behind a thick copse of trees, was something brimming with occult resonance.

“By the trees over there,” he said in a low whisper to the Storm Leader. “A source of occult resonance.”

“A monster?” Dussel asked stiffly. His fingers fidgeted on his rifle’s trigger guard, while the other went to his waist where a machine pistol rested. He made a hand signal and a dozen boys marched up to the front and raised their weapons, pointed straight at the tree where Axel detected the resonance. The rest positioned themselves to cover the other directions. “Come out!” Dussel yelled. “We will shoot if you don’t.”

If the Storm Leader expected the resonance source to comply, he was destined to be disappointed. Axel held in a snicker, and he must have been unsuccessful since the stodgy officer glared at him. “It might not understand your words.”

“Fair enough. Rifleman, a warning shot.”

One of the forward boys fired into the foliage, making sure to aim at the tree trunk. The crack of the rifle shot was loud and immediately silenced the bird and insect sounds in the surrounding area.

It also didn’t do anything, as far as Axel could tell. The R-source didn’t move. Whatever it was using to cloak itself from sight, it also had effective command of its aura. Though Axel noted that the aura’s edges wavered for a few moments.

“Another warning shot, if you please,” Dussel said. “Aim closer to that tree trunk.”

The rifleman complied and this time, Axel noticed the R-source react. It dropped down to the hillside, avoiding the bullets.

Dussel raised a hand, stopping the others from firing. The Storm Leader’s eyes raked the undergrowth, noting the depressions and disturbed foliage.

“Watch out!” Axel hissed as he saw occult resonance gather at one point, then, there was a burst of sound, and something flew from the R-source. The act must have stripped the thing’s cloak, since it was completely in sight now.

“Aieee!”

The rifleman who’d fired the warning shots screamed as the projectile grazed his right arm. Acrid smoke rose from his sleeve, and the boy squealed in pain.

“Fire!” Dussel yelled. “Kill it!”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Five rifles spoke and struck at the shadowed creature, which looked like a giant lizard with six legs. Even as the bullets struck it, the shadows around it bled away, and it turned out that those things were wasps, spiders, and flies. The insect swarm dispersed, with many heading towards the Richmondian Infantry.

Pchi!

Crimson blood spurted from bullet wounds and the lizard thing writhed. It spat out another blob of acid, but this time, none of the soldiers were caught.

Bang! Chchak! Bang!

The riflemen fired as soon as they could pull the bolts. More bullets struck the creature, which was really too large to miss. Eventually, it tried to flee, but by then, it had lost too much blood. It collapsed, having taken nearly three dozen bullets to its body.

But Axel’s focus returned to the stricken soldier. His right arm looked like it had been held against a campfire. The skin had sloughed away and the flesh underneath was a blackened ruin. One of the other soldiers, a platoon medic, was carefully dousing it with water, but it looked like the arm had to be amputated. The boy was lucky to survive but this was the end of his enlisted service.

Dussel’s face was a thunderhead. He aimed his rifle at the lizard, and since it was still breathing, endeavored to end its life. Axel wanted to protest. This was an Occult-resonant creature, and what the Confederacy learned from its workings could help the war effort!

Before he could admonish the Storm Leader, the man spat at the bushes and said, “Secure that bloody thing! Make sure to belt its mouth shut!”

“Keh keh keh.”

Axel’s jaw dropped as the lizard thing started to laugh. And then, it spoke.

“Foolish. Mortal.”

The lizard thing melted into noxious smoke.

“What! Find it! Kill it!” Dussel yelled.

Axel blinked in surprise. The words weren’t in Richmondian, or Karcellian, or even Norrinthian. It spoke more than two words, definitely, but he only recognised those two. It was spoken in the Ancient Tongue. The language of occult resonance, obscura, and arcane.

Axel reignited his viewing cantrip, but the occult resonance was gone. Whatever that thing did, it completely removed all traces of its existence.

“Bloody sheep guts!” Dussel swore. He turned to Axel. “Did we just lose what we came here for?” There was more than an edge of desperation in his voice.

Axel shook his head. “No, that wasn’t strong enough to trigger our divination instruments.” He looked uphill, but the woods obscured his view, of course. “It’s still up there somewhere. Perhaps where that daemon came from.”

“Daemon? You think it came from the Hells?”

Shrugging, he answered, “Where else? I think it came from where the occult resonance originated.”

“What do you think we’ll find there?”

“Glory to the Tyrant. I hope it's a cache of ancient relics. We could use more reactive malachite…”

“Useless witchcraft.” Dussel snorted. “Oil. Iron. Coal. Gold. All of those are more useful than those old things.”

Axel laughed. “You only say that because the Magicka department does its job. You think the sudden attack would have worked if we didn’t obscure their foresight? They would have been ready for your tanks and cannons.”

“Your magicks can’t cover everything, and neither can they see all things.”

“The Tyrant believes in the old traditions and seeks it for power,” Axel said with finality and Dussel nodded in assent, even though he was probably biting his tongue. Such small-minded men were perfect for the grunt work, but not for true research and exploration.

Once the wounded boy and the medic were evacuated back to the armoured vehicles, the company, Axel, and his aide continued up the hill. If he could have kept his vision cantrip active the entire time, he would have, but the reactive malachite smouldering in his ring would run out from continuous use. Brief spells were fine and, as long as the piece didn’t smoulder for too long, it would recover after a short time. But if he used stronger magicks, or kept a lesser one active for too long…

It wasn’t long before something else happened. The shots they fired had been loud, and there was little hope for stealth. But it still came as a surprise when they spotted people coming down the hill.

“Halt! Identify yourselves!” Dussel yelled.

There were about three of them. One wore a dark coloured coat, a beret, but whose hair was long and golden. A woman, he quickly realised, but he couldn’t see her face. She also had a sword strapped to her belt. The other two…werewolves!

They were descendants of people who’ve interbred with monsters! Axel hissed in disgust. One was a wolfman and even though he only had canine ears and a tail, he was still big and intimidating. The female werewolf was busty, and wore immodest clothing. Axel gripped his casting ring tightly, and murmured prayers to the One Above.

“Monsters.” Dussel squinted at the sole human.

She didn’t look ill at ease, so she wasn’t a captive. In fact, Axel realised, from how the two werewolves seemed to defer to her, she seemed in command. That only meant one thing, she was either a witch, or an unwitting thrall. Still…

Axel made the mystic sigils with his fingers and whispered the incantation. He allowed the reactive malachite to smoulder and power his vision cantrip. And when it activated…

“Ahhhh!” He screamed.

Bang!

A soldier reacted hastily and shot at the approaching people. He couldn’t tell if that had been a good thing or not. His eyes watered at the brightness, and there was little doubt that the woman was a witch. Occult resonance was so strong that there was a visual representation, and that was so bright that it blinded him and made his knees weak. No! They would be slaughtered if they didn’t take her down immediately.

“Hold…no, keep firing!” he heard Dussel yell.

Whatever words the woman or her companions said were drowned out by the sounds of gunfire. And by the time Axel managed to control his cantrip, several minutes had passed.

He blinked in confusion. The witch and her slaves weren’t there.

“She slapped the bullets away…” One of the soldiers said with a quivering voice. The man’s knees buckled and he clutched at his guts.

“They went farther uphill,” Dussel said grimly. “To the source?”

Axel shook his head, “I’m…I’m not sure. She…might have been the source.”

“What?”

“Her occult resonance…it was brilliant,” Axel gushed. “Magnificent. If the Confederacy could get a hold of that power…”

Dussel growled. “We couldn’t hit the witch, and those wolves of hers took shots. I don’t know if they penetrated. We’ll have to bring heavier munitions. Section Leader! Make sure they aren’t following us down. If they do, point and the men will shoot!”

“No! Don’t kill her. There’s so much we could learn!’” Axel took a deep breath, “The Tyrant would want her.”

Dussel eyed him warily and muttered, “I hear the Tyrant is strictly monogamous…”

“No, you fool!” Axel yelled. “Her power and knowledge!”

“Regardless, we go back. If rifle bullets won’t do, then we’ll use bombs and field guns.”

“No, no! There might be something else there. I suggest we continue anyway.”

“Tsk. I am the company commander here.”

“And you’re under my command. Respectfully, sir, this is the Magicka department’s duty, and we are given the Tyrant’s mandate.”

“...fine. I suppose my light machine gunners will do.”

Axel nodded and grinned. It looked like the cigar had not been wasted in vain.

____________

As Yuriko ran uphill, she eyed the piece of metal on her palm. It had come from the weapons those weird men had shot at her. She caught it before it fell off her Anima. Kinetic shots weren’t that dangerous to her, but when she glanced at Rolland and Tuska, she winced at the small holes on their clothes. The metal projectiles had gone through their skin but had caught in their muscles. The wounds oozed blood, however, and it was yet another weight on their shoulders. Animus was needed to regenerate, and even the beastkin were having trouble gathering it.

They’d come down the hill after they heard the loud noises, and to their surprise, they found…warriors. There were nearly five dozen of them, and each wore a stiff brownish overcoat with insignias. She didn’t recognise them, of course, but there was little doubt that they were part of an army. What they were doing here and why they attacked her and the other two without warning was puzzling.

Her normal reaction would have been to slaughter them, but the hail of projectiles from the fake Plasma Casters worried her. She could have withstood the attack, but the other two couldn’t.

They reached the ruin’s wall soon afterwards. The beasts, birds, and insects were still silent and she supposed those thugs were still headed up here.

“What happened?” Heron yelled as soon as they came over the walls. His eyes zeroed in on the wounded beastkin and he growled.

“Hostile men. With Plasma Casters that shoot metal projectiles,” Yuriko announced, tossing the metal disc at Heron. He caught and examined it.

“They’re coming?”

“Yes.”

Heron spun on his heels and yelled, “Prepare to fight!”

They outnumbered two to one, and from what Yuriko saw, all of the warriors were armed with Plasma Casters.

She looked at her people. Their furrowed brows and slumped shoulders told her everything. They were weary and afraid. Their Animus reserves had barely recovered from fighting the blood-furred simians. And now, they were about to fight a force of men with advanced weaponry that matched theirs.

And unless they escaped immediately, there was a large chance that many of them would be wounded, or die.

Radiant energy coalesced around her. She would drive them back alone if she had to.

Gritting her teeth, she gave her commands, and her warriors raced to obey.