"It worked, didn't it?"
Cendric followed just behind, grinning. Silas didn't reply.
They crested the wall together wind howling, rain cutting sideways like blades.
The turret lay half-lted, its tal casing still smoking. The student with the toolkit dropped to his knees beside it, slamming down a relic disk. A golden do shimred to life around him.
"Thirty seconds!" he called out.
The first Rainbitter crumpled beneath Silas's blade but that single kill had consequences. A shriek tore through the storm, and five more heads snapped toward him at once. Their eyes glowed. The air thickened. Then they charged.
"They've noticed us," Cendric said.
"Clearly," Silas muttered.
His eyes flashed bronze.
A circular spell ring blood beneath his boots. Stone ruptured from the wall's surface, rising in jagged fragnts. They spun once, twice—then launched forward like bullets.
The Rainbitters collapsed under the barrage, but more moved behind them. The beasts weren't retreating.
"I thought Terragan was supposed to be defensive," Cendric said.
"Depends how you use it," Silas replied, raising his hand again as more earth spiraled from the wet stone.
Then both of them kept slashing their way through the rainbitter steel clashing, mud splashing, curses swallowed by the storm.
Cendric ducked a claw, spun, and shouted over the rain, "Hey! Can we get Song One from Tessarix?! And make it loud!"
Silas turned his head slowly, goggles fogged, expression unreadable.
"…A song?" he deadpanned. "You want background music now?"
"I can't hear you!"
"Exactly! Neither can I! It's a damn thunderstorm, Cendric!"
Another beast lunged. Silas skewered it midair without even looking.
"I need thirty more seconds!" the turret fixer yelled from behind, fingers flying through busted circuits. Rain was pooling in his lap, his relic barrier flickering like a dying fla.
"Hurry!" Silas barked, glancing back.
He raised his sword, spinning into another wave of beasts like a conductor raising the tempo.
As they fought back-to-back, Cendric reached into his coat, fingers slick from the rain. He flicked a paper charm forward it zipped through the air, landing squarely in the gaping mouth of a rainbitter mid-lunge.
Boom!
The beast's head burst in a flash of wet smoke and light.
"Ha! Still got it!" he shouted, grinning.
He reached for another but the paper was soaked through, the ink already bleeding into the fibers.
"Tch. Damn rain," he muttered, shaking his hand dry before trying again.
Another charm flew, this ti slapping uselessly against a beast's chest and dissolving like wet tissue.
"I can't use my paper—it's too wet," Cendric muttered, frustrated. Rain slamd down in sheets, his goggles already fogging again.
Then he stepped forward, gripping his sword tightly, lowering into a stance.
"Gaze of Severa—"
"The turret's back online!" the fixer yelled from behind, already scrambling to pack up his tools. "Moving to the next one!"
The turret let out a sharp whine—then lit green.
It fired instantly.
Bright bullets of light shot through the rain like arrows, hitting the rainbitter charging up behind Silas. They dropped in bursts of smoke and wet splatter.
Silas didn't even turn. "Took you long enough let go."
Cendric, stuck in an awkward stance, glanced at the turret. He quickly coughed into his hand, then jogged to catch up with the other two.
"Ahem…"
———
As I left the stronghold, I cut down every Rainbitter in my path. Without wasting ti, I shrank myself into particles and surged forward toward the Commoner squad.
My hand pulsed with rejection, pushing ahead.
But as I traveled, I noticed sothing, the raindrops.
They were massive.
Of course. I was in a smaller form now.
It made sense.
Still, I wasn't going to waste my ti dodging raindrops.
my left eye lit up
The Rainbitters noticed my sudden appearance and lunged at but as fast as they ca, they died.
Spikes of ice erupted from the ground, tearing through them before they even reached .
I didn't pause. Didn't look back.
I sprinted forward, rain hamring down, heading straight for the hidden squad.
———
Liora's wheelchair rolled quietly down the hallway, the soft hum of its motors barely louder than the storm beyond the walls.
Most of the students had gathered in the command room. So stood watching the hologram feed a live stream of the rainstorm pounding the stronghold. Others were huddled in small groups, their voices overlapping in a constant current of speculation and chatter.
What struck her most was the look in their eyes.
Belief.
Not just in the stronghold's defenses… but in him.
"Terrafix… how dare they use Kael's na in that song," one student muttered, pointing toward a floating projection of five brightly dressed girls performing on a sleek stage.
Her friend rolled her eyes. "It's shaless. He already has his beautiful childhood fiancée…"
She trailed off, gaze dropping. Then, quietly"…but their songs are kind of addictive."
The first girl groaned. "It's unfairly catchy."
Liora didn't stop to join in. Not because she disagreed but because she didn't feel like she had the right to.
They had voices. Strength. Opinions that mattered
.
She was just… passing through.
Further down the hall, other students trained in silence. The clang of wooden blades. The muted thrum of spells. Their discipline gave shape to the chaos outside.
She rolled past them, unnoticed.
No one looked up. No one stopped her. And that was fine.
She told herself it was fine.
The hallway opened into the weapons barracks. She paused at the entrance.
Blades lined the walls, polished and waiting. Swords, relics, artifacts, sleek, dangerous things that humd with potential. Weapons others wielded like second skin.
She had one too.
But it never felt like hers.
Turning slowly, she moved toward the corner, where maintenance gear was stacked on a shelf. Her fingers hesitated for a mont, then reached out.
A vacuum. Lightweight. Familiar.
And sohow heavier than any blade.
She rested it on her lap, staring down at it.
"I'll help however I can," she whispered.
Even if no one noticed.
Even if it wasn't glorious.
Even if her part was quiet…
She just wanted it to matter.
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