The Saurian Conflict of '80 was the war that orphaned Alesia de Botton.

As a result, she had no recollections of her provincial parents, the family farm, or of her life pre-Awakening.

When she was a girl-child, she wondered if there were other surviving members of her bloodline. A few enquiries at the Tower's Divination section ensured her that there were none. The news was disappointing, but Alesia didn't mind, it was not the blood of the womb that she desired, but the convent of camaraderie.

That— and Alesia had her Master, Henry Kilroy, who had guided Alesia's way and shielded her from trouble the day she became his Apprentice. She had also found a new sibling— Gunther, on whose broad shoulders she could lean on in times of turmoil. Lately, she had also found a younger sibling in Gwen, who was troubled and unsure, giving Alesia a sense of fulfilment in reciprocating the care that Master and Gunther had given her.

And now, someone was threatening her family.

Alesia was blind with fury when she rode out on wings of flaming air. She reached the cloister in a matter of moments, inspecting the building for signs of her Master.

But there was nothing. No commotion, not a single indication of anything out of the ordinary.

Mayhaps she could 'excavate' a bit of the building and flush the assailants out? Alesia's heart was a taut bow, cutting a violin's string, pulling against her bosom with acidic anxiety.

She flew closer towards the building, testing the air with cinders.
A few of her motes sizzled.
As a veteran Combat Mage, she knew the signs all too well.
An illusion!
There was a glamour covering the damned building!

Alesia did not possess any immediate means of dispelling the spell. She needed an Abjurer like Taj for that, but her assistant was too far from Rosebay to be of assistance. At any rate, only a specialist of near-equivalent tier could be of help.

On the other hand, there were many ways one could force an illusion, such as directly attacking the caster or destroying a part of the illusion's foundation. Rosebay was a prestigious private school, full of nuns and schoolgirls, but Alesia had no time for hesitation.

She closed her eyes and willed herself to disbelieve the illusion. In her mind's eyes, a Firestorm brewed, ready to be unleashed should she fail to pierce the veil.

_WHOOMP!_
An ear-splitting crash rocked the cathedral's stained windows.
 _BOOM—_
 _BO—BOOM—_
 _BOOM—_
More far-away explosion bloomed over the horizon. A dozen others followed in quick succession, forming sonic booms that displaced the low hanging clouds above.

Alesia turned her attention toward the source of the discordant clamour and felt her breath catching in her throat. The Shield Barrier! A semi-circle ring of rippling whitewater now churned where the ultramarine sky met the bean-green sea.

Comprehension dawned, bringing with it a mouthful of bile. Whatever was happening to those Shield Stations meant that she would be needed to repel the incoming forces of Mermen. It was unthinkable that those malicious fisheyes would forgo an opportunity as fortuitous as this.

At once, Alesia felt torn in twain. One half of her compelled to stay for her Master, the other half recognising the calamity to come. Such anxiety assailed her that her skin crawled as though assaulted by a Mermen Bloodworm.

A dozen Message spells bloomed beside her ears. Alesia allowed a few to connect.

"Alesia! It's Taj! The fucking Shield Station at Watson Bay just blew!"

"Yeah, I can see that."

"You can? Where are you now?"

"I am with Gwen and Paul at Rosebay."

"Thank God! Get down here! We're going to need you! If this is anything like the Coral Sea; we're going to get swarmed!"

"Alesia!" Paul's Message interjected with a hollow echo, indicating that he was indoors. "I am with Magister Ferris, I can teleport us closer towards the Shield Station, or we can try to access the Tower through the Magister's Glyphs, what's your situation? You need to get down to the coastal fortifications!"

Alesia hovered, the words caught in her throat.

"Alesia!"

"Alesia! We need you to..."

"Alesia, where are—"

Her companion's urging grated her ears. Alesia wanted to throw a Fireball into the message spell. No shit she needed to get down to the coastal batteries! She couldn't go, however. How could she leave when her Master was still in danger? For reasons both public and personal, she had to make sure Henry was alright. The Tower cannot be without its Master. Besides, Gunther should be taking care of the city.

"Shut up, Taj! I can't fucking think!" Alesia snapped, screeching out her frustration. This fucking illusion!

Her Abjurer was taken aback by the vitriol in her voice.

"Allie, what's happening on your end?" he inquired worryingly.

Alesia sighed. It was far too hard to explain the comings and goings when she had no idea what was happening. Chiding herself, she took a deep breath to calm her frayed nerves, then composed herself.

"Something's happened to Lord Kilroy. He was attacked... I can't leave until I know that he is safe."

"Master Kilroy is—" Taj too, composed himself.

"Will the Tower come to our aid?" He asked after a moment. Without the floating battle station pounding down the Leviathan and the Krakens, there was little hope that the military and the citizens' militia could hold the coastal line.

"I can't say," Alesia intoned with a voice burdened with frustration. "I'll join you as soon as we can."

"Alright, I'll try and contact the other Magisters. Good luck."

"Find the Militia instead. There's just Walken and Ferris left in Sydney, and Ferris is here in Rosebay, trying to evacuate the kids. Get the militia to convince Walken to send the Tower over to the East Coast. Tell him that our Master will give his consent. Ferris should consent. If it's two against three, there's nothing Walken can do to stall…"

"..." No reply came.

Alesia stopped speaking. The last two orders she had dictated no longer had that resonating feeling of being converted into mana signals.

"Taj?"

There was silence, not the quiet that indicated an absence of sound, but the static tinnitus of a Message spell that was feeding back upon itself.
Alesia shook her device and activated it again. The spell fired, but nothing happened. She felt a sliver of ice moving its way up her spine.

How could Message spells be disabled? That was impossible. The only way it could happen was to have someone activate the Tower's Divination Nullifier. That was itself beyond the boundaries of possibility, for the only her Master had the command glyph. There were several conditions required for the key's ownership to change. Firstly, the city must be under siege, and secondly, the Master or the Tower must expire.

Alesia's breathing grew laboured.
Her eyes turned toward the buildings below.

"Flames, heed my call..."

She began to summon an Empowered Firestorm, a tier 7 spell of mass destruction.

Alesia was confident that the caracal spirit would take care of innocents caught in the blast, and if not, then she was willing to take all responsibility. The architecture should be able to withstand the flames, but as for any iconography or texts, they would have to be sacrificed for the greater good.

Gwen watched the shimmering scale on Sufina's neck.
Her mythical object adhered without incident.
Immediately, she could feel the transfusion of vitality. An inch from her face, the shrivelled body of the Dryad shuddered as a drowned woman taking a renewed breath.

Sufina moved her limbs, making a sound of crackling bark as she lifted her head and opened her amber-clear eyes, now filled with darkness.

"Elizabeth!" Sufina cried out, her voice the cracking of hollowed trees. "She's alive!"

Gwen and the girls glanced toward one another with eyes that were full of alarm and disbelief. Debora, especially, grew white as a sheet.

"We have to help him!" Yue cried out, heedless of Sufina's explosive revelation. Elvia nodded beside her.

"No! We have to get away, as far as we can!" Debora ventilated, her chest rising and falling irregularly.

"What the fuck are you on about!" Yue snapped at their ungrateful companion with incredulous loathing. "That's the Master of the Tower! My Grand Master! If something happens to him, we're all fucked!"

"Gwen, you tell them!" Debora whimpered. "We can't stand up to Elizabeth! We're just students!"

"Who is Elizabeth?" Whetu was confused by the polemic reactions. "Whoa—!"

A flash of Conjuration mana surrounded Sufina, then the Dryad disappeared, either summoned to Henry's location or displaced back into her pocket dimension. Either way, it seems that the scale had done something, and Henry was once again in control of his Spirit.

Gwen felt her chest tighten. She had to find her Master as soon as possible while also ensuring her friends were safe.

"She's a Void Mage like me," Gwen explained. "She's got an old grudge against Henry. She is a Combat Mage who is both insane and dangerous."

"Jeezus." Whetu swallowed. Gwen was already impressive enough; this Elizabeth sounded like a calamity.

"BUT— Debora's right." Gwen felt her heart sinking and an acid-reflux rise in her throat. "You all need to go!"

Yue and Elvia regarded Gwen's affirmation of Debora's cowardice with surprise.

"This is the same Elizabeth you told us over Christmas?"

"The very same, there's nothing you can do," Gwen replied without hesitation. "Go find Magister Irene, go find Paul, they should be setting up Teleportation Circles in the catacombs. You all need to get out of here."

Gwen tried to Message Alesia again, but her Message Device was showing up blank.

The girls, including Whetu, began to move towards the cathedral where hundreds of schoolgirls were making headway. Yue stopped when they reached the Cathedral gates, preventing Gwen from separating from the party.

"And where do you think you're going?" she demanded.

"Yue, please just go. I need to find Magister Kilroy." Gwen knew they'd come to this junction. Her voice was begging for an outcome that she knew was unlikely.

Yue's face took on a grimace. "If you want us to remain as friends - you'd shut up and let me follow."

"I am coming too!" Elvia was likewise putting up her best-unflustered face, even though her pale complexion suggested otherwise. Her small, white expression looked entirely determined, her warm blue eyes doubtlessly committed.

"Me too." Whetu shrugged, grinning. "How can I call myself a warrior otherwise?"

There were a few seconds of hesitation, but Debora too stood in line with the others. "Anything for you."

"Guys…" It was a moving scene, of course, but they had little time for sentimentality right now. Gwen knew that every second counted and she wasn't about to waste it giving a speech.

"Thanks," she replied stoically; there was nothing more that needed to be said, then pushed on the door.

BA-BLAM!

Their moment of courage was short-lived. There was a sudden groaning as an unimaginable force smashed against the double doors, then in the next few moments, the wooden barrier erupted inward a clang and threw them to the floor. Were it not for Whetu's instantaneous shielding, Gwen and the girls would have been blown away.

Gwen pushed away from the debris, the clearing flames and smoke revealed the outline of Henry, Sufina and Alesia squaring off against the alien figure of a woman with the palest skin Gwen had ever seen.

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The unadulterated force of primal nature coursed like a violent flash flood through Henry's body, dispelling the illusory Enchantment that had crippled his mind. His energy was of such purity that it instantly bloated the lamprey-leech like creatures attached to his body, forcing them to erupt into shadow and ichor.

"Sufina!"

The Magister's follow-up was instant.

His Dryad manifested beside him with a flash of silver.

Instantaneously, drawing upon the mana of her secret island Grot, the Dryad expanded into a mass of lashing tendrils and cruel barbs that flared out in all directions, both shielding Henry and lashing Elizabeth.

The sudden change had caught the Void sorceress unaware; a dozen barbs lacerated her flawless skin before an oily void shield consumed the tendrils digging into her flesh. Though Henry's summons lacked the draining abilities of the Void, the high-tier Dryad possessed a parasitic ability that was no less terrifying than lampreys.

But the battle between the ex-lovers did not immediately erupt. There was a history between them that could not be resolved with mere violence.

Henry regarded the small woman before him, her skin flawless and as white as fresh snow; her lips a dash of red paint across two pressed slices of vibrant cherry.

"Why?" He ached to know the truth. If the woman wanted revenge, she could have come after him anytime. She knew Henry well enough to understand that he was more than willing to face her alone if she had so desired.

"Does it matter?" Elizabeth replied in that voice of hers that was alluring and nostalgic at once. "The Shield Wall is down. The Mermen are coming. Your city is doomed."

To his opponent's surprise, Henry appeared neither angry nor upset.

"Lizzie, there is nothing to be afraid of, not anymore," Henry replied earnestly. "I am the Master of the Tower now. I can protect you. This place, Sydney, it's far from London."

Elizabeth's face took on an expression of pure mockery.

"You're such a Romantic, Henry. I loved that about you."

"You don't have to run anymore, Lizzy, I can help."

His breath caught when Elizabeth cocked her head demurely and fluttered her baby-blue eye. She used to do that, in their youth. He recalled it as clearly as yesterday.

"Vortex!"

His wife's answer manifested as a growing pinpoint of darkness that swallowed all light, expanding between them.

"Force Cage!"

Henry's counterspell formed a glowing six-point cage around the darkness, completely isolating the vortex's power to engulf the space it encompassed.

His wife glared at Henry coldly.

"Lizzy, listen to me. Don't do this."

"It's too late, Henry. It was too late the moment I awoke to the Void element, and you didn't stop me. I was naive like you once, but no more. I know what my Path is now, and you are an obstacle that I must cross to gain my place in the world."

"No, your path is destruction," Henry retorted bitterly, his voice desperate but growing stronger, his old skin becoming supple with vital energy. Beside him, Sufina had assumed her full-sized shambling form, a mass of cruel tendrils that tasted the air and menaced Elizabeth hungrily. "And after Sydney? What place can you go?"

"A place you could not even begin to understand." Elizabeth smiled secretly. "I would be happier if you opted to join me instead, Henry. Abandon your Tower. Abandon these useless NoMs and your mewing, bleeding-heart Mages. What do you say?"

"You know that's not possible." Henry was beginning to gain an inkling of what Elizabeth was suggesting, and the very thought of it was utterly insane. "Lizzy, you're mad!"

"From my perspective, it is you and your kind who are deranged and naive," Elizabeth retorted. "How long do you think you can hold back the tide? History waits for no one, not even the mighty Henry Kilroy."

Henry's breathing slowed.
It was then that he noticed that neither was his Message spells going out nor were new ones coming in. The long-range Message system was down, and it could only mean one thing.

"What have you done?!" Henry glared at his wife.

"Your ally, Magister Walken, is giving us a helping hand." Elizabeth giggled mockingly. "While you were out, he has helped himself to your little housing project."

"Lizzy!" Henry felt the anger in him rise with the bile in his throat. It was right that she harkened after him, it was okay that she wanted satisfaction, but only from him! The Tower, the city, all those innocents! Elizabeth would stop at nothing! He knew now— Mark had said as much. He felt such disappointment that not even a sliver of the woman he loved remained. For so long, Henry had imagined that his wife was merely afraid, paranoid, incapable of controlling her desires, yet here was living proof that she had something far more significant in mind. What Henry'd thought was self-preservation was merely the precursor to something far more malignant.

"Morden's Blade." Elizabeth's invocations manifested far quicker than he recalled, a testament to the number of innocents she had Consumed. Besides her, an obsidian blade of void-matter formed in mid-air, hovering like a grim sentinel.

"Force of Nature!"

With a grand gesture from Henry, Sufina became a tidal wave of tendrils that covered the floors and walls of the enclosed space of the small shrine.

"Firestorm!" came the distant sound of a manifesting spell from outside the shrine.

B-BLAM!

Orange flames broke through into the intimate space of the shrine, turning the doors into flaming splinters.

"Master! Are you alright?"

Alesia's flaming form appeared just outside, both hands radiant with marigold mana channelled from the Plane of Fire.

"So this is how it's going to be, husband?" Elizabeth demanded bitterly, as though she was in the midst of a family feud. "You going to gang up on me with another woman?"

It was the first time Alesia had seen Elizabeth, whom she had only heard from the stories.

"Allie. Focus!" Henry barked. "She's dangerous!"

"How dare you harm the Master!" Alesia recovered within the blink of an eye. "I am going to turn you into cinders, you ungrateful bitch!"

Elizabeth's face was full of loathing.

"Is this the sort of personage you now socialise with, Henry?"

Henry no longer responded to Elizabeth's taunts. Sensing a spell welling up within his Apprentice, he matched Alesia's cadence so that they could double-strike Elizabeth by sandwiching her between them.

"Sufina!"
"Disintegrate!"
"Umbra EGG!"

A hundred tendrils lashed out toward Elizabeth as a Void shield surrounded her. Likewise, the red beam of destructive energy launched from Alesia was consumed by that black mass without penetrating a single inch of its uncertain thickness.

Below Elizabeth, a mass of leech-like worms fell from her sphere of darkness and made for Henry and Alesia, their lamprey's mouths opening to discharge their claw-tipped tongues.

"I don't believe it!" Henry marvelled, unable to forgo his unbidden academic curiosity. "She's got a Void-element Spirit!"

"Shit!" Alesia swore. "Fire Ball!"

The erupting flame took out a good chunk of the creatures, but the dripping mass continued to grow in strength.

Sufina's tendrils shot out and pierced the things, but many of them instead latched onto her vines, draining her vitality and causing her to scream maddeningly. Elizabeth had come prepared - Henry's rare and distinct element faired terribly against his wife's.

"Master! I'll take care of this! You need to retreat at once and go back to the Tower! The Mermen are coming! "Alesia warned Henry desperately.

"You can't handle her!" Henry's voice was coarse.

The mass of leech-creatures was pouring out the door now, far too numerous for the two of them to handle. If the void-spawn were to make it to the other Mages, or the students, then the damage would be incalculable. Even how, Henry felt the leeches draining his mana. He could also sense the source of life that had awoken Sufina weakening, meaning that he would soon be back to his old decrepit self.

Maintaining their barrage, the two of them levitated just above the ground, out of reach of the maggot-like swarm of darkness that was menacing them.

"She's feeding off Sufina," Henry cursed. "Alesia, give me a wide-range persistent AOE. Fill the quad with fire!"

Alesia nodded affirmatively and began a long chant.

A silver of dark energy shot from the black sphere; the void blade pierced through the air with a shrieking, bloodthirsty madness.

Alesia blocked the first pass, but the returning strike easily penetrated her flame shield. Were it not for a well-timed tendril from Sufina; the void blade would have eviscerated her. Thankfully, the experienced Combat Mage did not let a little near-death experience disrupt her spell.

"Maximised Flame Burst!"

A torrent of flame descended from the sky, where an open portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire fed a blazing tornado into the quad, scorching the stones and setting fire to everything that was remotely flammable. The grass instantly wilted, the fountain's waters evaporating with such rapid expansion that the stonework exploded. The hot air generated from the spell was such that it blew into the windows and the doors, splintering the wood and setting fire to the remains.

Within this raging inferno, only Henry and Alesia remained unscathed.
Alesia grated her teeth as she channelled her mana, pouring everything she had to sustain the spell and maintain its destructive energy. Already the sandstone's surface was suffusing, sheets of materials falling away as the silica of its exterior began to melt and liquify.

Within, the dark creatures that had attached to Sufina were obliterated in an instant, eradicated by the cleansing flames from the Plane of Fire. After the initial impact, the radius of the spell began to decrease.

"Alesia! Master!"

A familiar cry called out from the obliterated double-gate.
Alesia and Henry turned to see Gwen, Yue, and the rest of the team at the stone pillars.

"You little fools! Run!" Henry shouted at his youngest Apprentice.

As if sensing Henry's alarm, a black blade erupted from the dark oily film of Elizabeth's shield, this time flying toward the students.

"Shield!" Whetu instantly reacted by creating a multi-layered Punamu shield. Just as he had experienced with Gwen's bolts, the blade's cutting edge was vorpal but had little penetrative power against his latticed structured green stone. It bit through the first few layers with ease, but perhaps because it had not expected an Abjurer used to Void Magic, the blade stopped an inch from Whetu's nose.

"Lightning Tentacles!"

Gwen incanted her spell expertly, just as Henry had taught her.
A mass of blue-white tentacle appeared from thin air and began to lash Elizabeth's Void Shield mercilessly, ripping away chunks of dark, shell-like void matter.

"Earth Spike!" Debora joined in.

"Flame Storm!" Yue cast her highest-tier spell, the tier 4 variant of her Master's opus.

"Bless!" Elvia threw in her lot, doing what little she could, every bit of damage counted in a mass-melee. "Aid!"

Alesia kept her spell's epicentre concentrated on Elizabeth. The whole building was now heating up, cracking and groaning ominously.

Henry turned his attention back towards Elizabeth. His students were too naive. Against a caster of Elizabeth's level, there was little a gang of low-level Mages could do.

"See you on the other side, hubby," Elizabeth's voice teased the Mages. There was a burst of darkness as she activated a volatile Teleport. Henry erected a sphere of tendrils to shield his students.

"Sufina! Find her!"

Sufina's tendrils reacted far faster than their mortal eyes, seeking out a space above them in the open air.

"Dark Rain!" Elizabeth's departure wasn't without a parting gift.

A spray of ink cascaded down upon toward the quadrangle, consuming stone and flames with equal hunger.

"Whetu!" Gwen shouted. The main building shielded the students, but Alesia and Henry remained in the open.

"On it!"

A semi-circle of Punamu formed over Alesia and Henry's head, rapidly depleted by the ink-like spray of dark light from Elizabeth's hands. It wasn't enough to shield the pair but gave them enough time to activate Dimension Door and escape.

Sufina's tendrils formed a net that prevented the rest of the dark energy from reaching the group. Henry cautiously raised his head and saw Elizabeth now floating in mid-air, a wisp of darkness about her white body.

How was the woman capable of activating so much void energy at once! Why wasn't she suffering from the lingering effects of life-drain?
He watched her lips move, incanting her next spell.

Gwen and the girls were still flinging hapless spells at their assailant.

"O HELL!" He realised what Elizabeth was about to cast. It wasn't a spell he'd expected, as his wife had been both defending and attacking them with high-tier spells for the last few exchanges. In his recollection, Elizabeth should have been long-drained of vitality by now.

With a swift mental command, Henry lashed out with Sufina's tendrils and pulled his students towards him.

"MAXIMISED Force Cage!"

The offensively imprisonment spell had another use other than it's intended design. When used defensively, it was capable of negating most AOE spell effects. Forming a rectangular glyph with his hands, Henry encased the lot of them in his Force Cage, just as Elizabeth's coup de grâce descended.

Sufina leapt back into her pocket dimension. In the chaos of magical energies, Gwen saw the scale fall to the ground half-buried in the rubble.

"Blade Barrier!"

Dark arcs consisting of bible-black blades materialised from thin air and whipped into the Force Cage with the force of a thresher-engine, leaving inky streaks of darkness across its invisible panes.

"Master! Are you alright?" Gwen and Alesia both turned to Henry, whose face was ashen and pale.

Henry knew that the stored energy within Gwen's scale was at its limit. The vitality taken from it to refuel Sufina and empower him in his moment of weakness proved to be too much even for the vital energy stored within the scale of a mythic-class magical creature.

Henry watched the Blade Barrier and its void-like energies whipping away at his Force Cage. There was little they could do until the spell was over. Thankfully, there was little Elizabeth could do against them as well. A signature variant, his cage was far too robust to be destroyed by Disintegrate, and it was immune entirely to Dispel Magic.

"Gwen, Alesia, thank you for your assistance." He leaned his battered body upon the shoulders of the two girls. When Henry spoke again, he was breathless with fatigue. "We must make haste to the Tower. It is vital for the defence of the city. Where is Gunther?"

"He should be in the Tower…" Alesia replied. "I don't know why, but the Divination Jammer is cutting all our long-range communication."

"Walken." Henry took a second to recompose himself, his eyes forming two thin slits. "I don't know what he's up to, but he must in control of the Tower's operative systems."

"Can we teleport in?" Alesia inquired worriedly.

Henry nodded.

Around them, the Blade Barrier was coming down. When the mayhem of dark blades finally ran its' course, they were in a courtyard with a battered cloister that was barely held together by century-old architectural ingenuity. The garden was either utterly wilted or otherwise violently tossed and uprooted. Deep gouges were cut into the stoneworks, as though a mining engine had rampaged through the ancient stoneworks.

"Detect Magic. Detect Evil." Gwen felt no desire to hide her abilities at a time like this. His Apprentice was the only Diviner here, and she could either keep pretending to be clueless or be of actual use.

"I think we're clear, Master." She observed. "I don't feel any void manifestations near us."

The others turned to face Gwen with eyes that were full of question.

"Not now, guys." Gwen felt the shimmering panes of force fade around them. She knelt, moving her slender fingers across the pavement, brushing aside the crushed and broken rubble until she found the scale. Thankfully, it was still intact. It's shimmering hue, however, was no more.

"Master, shall we go?"

Henry nodded weakly, no longer possessing the energy to speak.

"We'll go to the cathedral and find Ferris. She can use her native Divination abilities to empower the portal to the Tower." Alesia quipped.

"Won't that put us in more danger?" Gwen enquired a little troublingly. "Doesn't this Walken have control of the Tower right now?"

"Master?" Alesia turned to Henry.

Their Master shook his head.

"Not while I am alive. Walken may have gotten into the nucleus, but all the auxiliary Glyphs remain slaved to myself and all the surviving Magisters."

As the girls lacked the strength, Whetu volunteered his back, and the girls helped Henry onto the gigantic young man's shoulders.

"I'll be sure to thank your Master properly— if we survive this," Henry remarked to the Maori youth.

"Sweet ass, Magister, no worries," Whetu quipped. "I at your service."

"Can we trust Ferris, Master?" Alesia questioned uncomfortably.

"She'll make the right choices, don't you worry," Henry assured her. "I don't know what Walken is up to, but it is our goal to disable him and limit his access. Not to mention we'll need Ferris even to access the Tower at this point."

"Grand Master, what can we do to help?" Yue made a sharp salute. "We'll follow you anywhere, sir, if it means saving the city."

Henry surveyed the students before him.

They would meet up with Ferris and her team, half a dozen Maguses, a dozen Senior Mages, and a capable team of young mages like Gwen.
Would it be enough to take down Walken from inside the Tower? Henry considered their options. If they played their cards right, they could probably just make it.

_BWAAAAH— BAWAAAAH—_

Right as the Magister of Sydney was about to say something to raise the student's spirits— an alarm cut across the school grounds. A long siren split across the school's courtyard.

"Fuck!" Alesia gnashed her teeth. "We got incoming!"

"Master?" Gwen turned to the old Magister, but Henry was barely holding onto consciousness.

"Defend the school children… find Ferris…" he spoke softly, his breath enfeebled and his voice a whisper. "She won't help… if you don't defend the children…"

Gwen and the gathered crew turned to face the coast. There was a crested wave, a dozen meters in height, rapidly approaching from the sea.
Gwen had no idea what it was; nor did any of the girls. Whetu had seen it before though, and Alesia knew the sight all too well.

"Shit!" she cursed. "I should have known that stupid bitch wouldn't have just retreated."

"We up shit creek without a paddle, hey?" Whetu noted expertly.

"What is that thing?" The others asked, the incredible sight of a six-storey wave in locomotion assaulting their logic. They all had an inkling, but to think they would see such a thing in the protective confines of the city itself was something none of them could have imagined.

"That—" Alesia waved her hand across the ground. An assortment of battle garbs, bandoleers of potions, and single-use scrolls littered the floor. "— is a Siege Breaker Kraken, and from the looks of it, it knows where it's headed."

"Headed here?" Elvia asked an obvious question.

There was no need for an answer.


"Team 7 and Team 9, set up a defensive line at Darling Point! Team 12 and 18, join up with the Militia at Point Piper. Team 4, rest up while Team 11 takes up Flight and defence buffs."

Gunther barked out orders to the remaining Tower Mages even the rising tsunami bore down upon the city.

The Evacuation Siren had gone out almost an hour ago, but even so, the city was a hot mess thanks to the jamming of long-range communications. Likewise, without the Tower's mass Teleportation Circles, the movement of Mages throughout the city stalled to a standstill.

"Team 8, pull back!"

A swell of frustration trampled Gunther's patience.

Even with a hundred or so Tower Mages, there was no way for the city to be defended without the fortress hovering above, retrieving casualties and sending out fresh combatants. All Gunther could do was try to slow the advance of the Mermen, hoping that someone else— his Master, Magister Ferris, or perhaps Alesia, managed to access the magical fortress and wrestle back its controls.

Already, the tide receded, giving the impression of a man drawing back for a king-punch. The magically generated tsunami was not as powerful as one created by natural forces, but it would suffice in sinking the city.

The Paladin observed the city from his vantage point. The Leviathan was likely going to make landfall near Elizabeth Bay, using its momentum to penetrate into the heart of the business district. Once the crustacean-cum-whale made landfall, its shells would erupt to reveal landing pods filled with malicious Mermen, their tridents ready to taste human flesh.

One on one, an NoM had no chance against a Mermen warrior, not even the fish-headed Scum Suckers. A low tier Evoker, however, could take a dozen Mermen, assuming the Mage was sufficiently shielded and protected by his allies.

In Sydney, the Militia drew Mages from all walks of life. In Mage affluent areas like Double Bay or Elizabeth Bay, there were everything from retired Maguses to entire families of mid-tier Mages. Conversely, should the Mermen penetrate into NoM affluent areas like Surry Hills or Redfern, they would have little to no contest in 'harvesting' the spoils of war.

Decades ago, during the Coral Sea Conflict, Gunther had questioned a captured Mermen Prince when they raided human settlements. The answers he had received from the bulb-headed Cephalopod was surprisingly mundane.

Humans encroached on the Mermen's waters.
Humans ate their young and hunted them.
Humans desecrated the holy sea.
In short, the Mermen fought a Holy War.

Later, when Gunther took on the position of Paladin, he was informed that the Mermen were not one clan, but hundreds of ocean-dwelling races. For the "Mermen" Kings, warring on humans was a way to unite the races, much in the same manner that Dark Age humanity once avoided total War in Europe by organising Crusades against the demi-humans of the Middle East.

Gunther watched his teams spread throughout the harbour, taking up positions and stringing together rag-tag bands of militia-men and women emerging from the offices and the seaside suburbs. These areas were supposed to be the safest zones in Sydney, protected by the largest, most robust Shielding Stations. Presently, however, they were the first line of defence.

A few kilometres out, the wave was now breaking, revealing the skyscraper spines of the Leviathan. From afar, the creature's carapace glinted magnificently in the afternoon sun, vibrant with its coral hills and crevasses. The entire Leviathan, when fully unearthed, stretched out about four football fields. From head to tail, the pea-brained relative of the dragon-whale measured close to a kilometre.

Gunther couldn't even begin to imagine how such a creature could be fed and kept in captivity, and yet the Mermen had tamed them. Each time a significant offensive was mounted upon a human city, one of these creatures would be dredged from the deep sea and brought to bear; powering through humanity's defences by dumb, brute force. Once out of the water, the creature would inevitably die from its crushing weight, but before its violent demise, it would wreak havoc upon the defender's city.

Gunther clicked his tongue distastefully and began to focus his mind.
The Radiant Magus produced a diamond as large as a quail's egg in one hand, then filled it with Radiant mana. Beneath his feet, layered glyphs appeared, forming into an elaborate Mandala. Closing his eyes and switching to this third-senses, Gunther concentrated his will until he could feel every facet of the masterful diamond within his cognisance.

"Focusing Array!"

The Paladin of Sydney released the first layer of the Mandala. The spell formed into a convex illusion that bent his powerful Radiant energy into a single point. A second layer of the Illusion allowed for the adjustment of his Radiant Strike's range, while a further third layer served to magnify its radius.

Within a second, Gunther's Ritual Magic consumed the priceless Asscher diamond— an offering to the Radiant beings that made their home in the Quasi-elemental Plane of Fire and Positive Energy. Grunting, Gunther shook the dust from his hands, taking a deep breath to dispell the spell-fatigue. As soon as the Leviathan struck the shallows, its head would rear— and that was the window he needed.

The low, grey clouds suddenly parted.

A retina-searing beam of unadulterated Radiance, bright as a second sun and just as hot, shot from the heavens.

It caught the Leviathan just as its armoured head emerged from the wave, a neckless, triangular thing with a dozen eyes the size of sedans, five-storeys in height, protruding from its bulbous, blubbery body.

Upon initial impact, there was a roaring hiss, as though the surface of the Leviathan's carapace had become a sizzling hot plate, sending chunks of coral and shellfish to fall from its ancient surface.

TSSS—!

A split-second later, the beam adjusted itself, becoming a thin line that concentrated the all-consuming flame of the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Radiance ten-fold.

In the section of the Leviathan, there came a sickening crunch. It was the sound of carapace popping and erupting as the superheated flesh violently erupted, rebelling against the body it was supposed to protect.

Some distance above, small as a speck, Gunther panted. His Radiant Beam persisted for a few more moments, then dimmed and died.

The sea that had been held back was now sloshing back into the bay. The radiant blast from the heavens had pierced the head of the Leviathan, utterly decimating its impenetrable armour.

Where Gunther's strategic array had struck, the Leviathan's neck was a bubbling mess of wet flesh and steaming seawater. The gaping cranial wound where the beam had struck sizzled, oozing enough slime to fill a lake. The Mythic's enormous body, which had been so vital a moment prior, was now slack and inanimate. On its sides, the Leviathan's claw-flippers no longer propelled itself forward. Having lost the driving force of its mountainous musculature, only its momentum compelled it to crash ahead, dredging the seafloor as it shovelled on.
Thankfully, the incline was now too steep to keep pushing its body; the thing was grinding to a ponderous halt, betrayed by the weight of its own body.

A Kraken had latched onto the sea cliffs overlooking Rosebay and was unloading its cargo of Mermen. The tentacles of the damned thing were enormous, flinging pods of shellfish that crashed into the Cathedral and its surroundings, tumbling and skittering into hapless Mages who were too slow to flee from their path.

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Unfortunately for the defenders, they did not possess Magi-tech Engines or War Golems capable of repelling such barbaric tactics.

The six-storey tall squid was assaulting the Cathedral-fortress in the most primal manner possible— with uncalculated brute force. Having attached itself to the escarpment; the cunning creature had a tossing range far exceeding the defender's own.

The surrounded Mages scattered here and there, only to realise in the next moment that the damned shellfish landing amongst them were oysters that opened to reveal disorientated Mermen baying for Mage-flesh.

Alesia immediately took it upon herself to hold down the Kraken, chugging down three pots of Mana potions to top up her reserves. She was already well-drained from the battle with Elizabeth and saw no reason to preserve her potion cool-down, not when a cephalopod was raining down Mermen from the heavens.

The rest of the students, the seniors and the Mages with Ferris formed a battle line atop the Cathedral. The Abjurers had already activated the monastery fortresses' defences, fortifying its walls and creating a localised defence shield that warded away elemental attacks.

Their ration of mana cores, however, was woefully undersupplied. Since the creation of the Shield Stations meant that the immediate threats against coastal regions were non-existent; few of the existing fortresses of old kept stockpiles on hand.

With every oyster that struck the reinforced sandstone, the Rosebay's century-old Cathedral shuddered, sending up a wave of screams and squeals from the younger girls sheltered within.

For Gwen and company, their present job was the hunt down Mermen who were flung into the courtyard and the Cathedral's interior. Unlike new fortifications which used adaptive Shielding, the old fortresses lacked hard barriers.

In front of Gwen, a maddening melee ensured.

It was against these rubbery skinned, hard-shelled monsters that Gwen's Lightning element was finally showing it's true colours. Dressed in an armoured battle-robe that stank of blood, sweat, and fish; sporting a full bandoleer of mana and health potions, she summoned Ariel, her Warding Orbs, Morden's Hound, Lightning Tentacles, and her Conjured Storm all at once.

Each time a group of creatures accosted the lithe lightning sorceress, a cascade of azure electricity flooded forth, leaving no quarter. As she fought, her body filled with vigour supplied by her companions— Bless and Aid from Elvia; and Resistant Elements and Protection from Projectiles from Whetu.

When a car-sized oyster bounced off the sandstone walls and landed beside them; Gwen's convergence of lightning struck it with such blazing power that all of the occupants perished before they could exit.

"Jesus, I am going to be sick!" Yue made a gagging motion as the oyster spewed forth a mess of mangled carapace and rubbery flesh.

That was the boon of the lightning element in a fight against Monsters. Apart from its paralysing effects, electricity had the additional effect of ignoring the natural armour of the creatures.

Yue's flames, conversely, favoured soft, rather than hard-shelled targets.
Debora acted as the girl's bodyguard, smashing apart the fish-headed Mermen that tried to disrupt their spells, cracking open the shells of lobster and crab-men alike.

Whetu and Elvia played defence, as the other teams lacked Abjurers and Healers, helping the Rosebay girls who did their best to clear the cloister and the surrounding areas so that the younger students could be safely evacuated into the confines of the catacombs. There, waiting in the dimly lit passageways, they could safely await teleportation into the safety of the Tower.

"Lightning Bolt!" Gwen incanted again, watching a line of electricity take down three Mermen at once, one of the prawns' head popping like an overripe melon.

"Gwen, watch out!" Debora was squaring off against a heavily armoured Mermen in the guise of a king crab, wielding its massive claw as a shield as it menaced her friend. The Transmuter tried several times to penetrate its shield with Ground Spike to no avail.

"Debbie! To me!" Gwen called out.

As the Merman pursued, an invisible hound emerged from the aether and struck the creature's core, its electrical fangs tearing away at its carapace. Unfortunately, even paralysed, the resistance of the monster proved too much for a novice like Gwen.

"Caliban! Take care of it!"
"Shaa! Shaa!"
Caliban likewise, proved a mighty boon. Possessing the ability to negate hard armour, it launched itself from Gwen's shadow and latched onto the terrified crab-man via the means of its chitin-devouring lamprey's maw.

"I got you!"
Elvia shot Gwen a charge of positively charged mana as Caliban closed the gap between itself and a crab shock trooper. The crab-man chittered indistinctly as Caliban burrowed in with a gluttonous tenacity, emerging a moment later with a core which it swallowed hungrily.

Gwen felt her vitality restore a little. Between Elvia and Caliban, she could probably keep the wee beastie going for a while yet. The problem was that Caliban was only a single nightmarish creature from the horrors of the void, where everywhere they were inundated by slavering mermen.

How was Alesia doing? Gwen's mind turned to her friend and sister-in-craft. So long as the Kraken lived, there would be endless cohorts of these mindless Mermen hellbent on trying to harvest their Mage flesh.

Alesia's frustration was enough to ignite the air.

Half-a-dozen Mermen Priests were riding atop the Kraken and flinging a fusillade of spells at her even before she approached within a hundred meters. Ice Spears, Blizzards, Water Bolts, Jet Blasts, it took every ounce of Alesia's combat intuition to duck and weave without turning into a pincushion for watery projectiles.

She attempted a riposte but was half a second too slow. An Ice Bolt skimmed her and activated her reactive Flame Shield.

"Arrgh— Fuck!"

She knew what the cursed fish-heads were trying to do. They were trying to incapacitate her, slow her, so that she would be easy prey for a boulder toss from the Kraken or the Mermen below. In turn, she wanted nothing more than to throw them a sweet little Delayed Blast Fireball or perhaps initiate a Blade Barrier, but the damn spells were limited in range.

Never in her life had she been kited by monsters, and yet, here she was, struggling to get within range. Again and again, she tried to penetrate their barrage, but each time she was beaten back.

"Damn pieces of amphibian shit!" Alesia willed her flame to burn hotter. If Taj was here, he could have tanked their feeble spells while she readied an invocation of mass destruction.

Just as she was wondering if she should just risk her skin and Blink in, a Message spell bloomed close to her ear.

"Magus de Botton!" a voice called out beside her ear.

Alesia felt her heart suddenly soar. Was the Message System back in service? She tried to activate her Device, but still, the Message failed.

"This is Ferris!" the voice spoke again. "I am using my Divination to communicate with you."

"I need help!" Alesia confessed. She didn't want the Grey Faction's aid, but they had to get rid of the Kraken somehow. There was no way Ferris would agree to use her personal key to teleport them into the Tower when the children were not yet safe. "Help me take care of this thing, and we can all get to the Tower!"

"That's precisely what I had in mind." Ferris' voice was commanding and assured. "I still have two hundred kids in here. The Cathedral is not going to hold out once the main swarm gets here."

"What can you do?" Alesia demanded.

"I am going to create a diversion!"

Alesia felt the air around her shimmer.

There were first two, then three, then four of her, all realistic and identical in every way. She touched one and was surprised to find that the false Alesia had a flesh and blood body.

"It's a Mirrored Simulacrum," Ferris explained. "They're going to be the distraction. I am going to glamour you with an Advanced Invisibility, but it will dispel if you use high-tier spells. Is that enough for you to get close?"

"It'll do." Alesia grinned, assuring the Magister confidently. "They won't know what hit em."

"Right, here goes!"

There was a glimmer, then the light around Alesia displaced itself, masking her presence.

"Good hunting!" Ferris' Message cut out, she was having her hands full maintaining three Simulacrums.

A master of Illusion. Alesia felt a sudden paranoia that Ferris may have been a part of what had entrapped Henry, but when she'd given it another moment of thought, it was highly improbable. Ferris had been beside her Master almost the entire time, and though Alesia did not trust herself to see through Ferris, she entrusted Henry's intuition. The Illusion spell Alesia had also felt was different from the ones that were taught in the Tower. Having now experienced Ferris' Invisibility buff, she felt confident Ferris wasn't involved.

Alesia cast her doubts aside and set herself to the task at hand. She was her Master's hammer, and once the Kraken was down, they could enter the Tower and seek out Walken. With the Tower restored, they could repel the tide of Mermen, and all would be well.

Alesia circulated her flaming mana, readying her body for the carnage to follow.

Already the Simulacrums were moving in rapidly, cutting across the air expertly with the same grace and dexterity that Alesia herself possessed. They were even flinging low-level incantations like Fireballs as they dodged and waved through the spells and tentacles.

Alesia materialised a ruby-laden dagger in one hand, an exotic blade with sinuous designs of engraved flames that seemed not of terrestrial origin. Its handle and pommel were encrusted with rubies the size of pigeon eggs, priceless jewels by any measure.

Her breathing slowed.
The price of power was high.

"O Efreet, Spirit of flames, heed my call…"

A glyph appeared beneath Alesia's feet, three circles bisection to form a triplicate mandala, spinning faster and faster until it created a direct channel into the Elemental Plane of Fire. The air around Alesia instantly ignited, purifying the mortal cloth that clung to her skin. The spectacle lasted only half a second - for in the next moment, the channelled heat from the Elemental Plane of Fire drew into her body.

The dagger bit into the palm of her hand.
Alesia blood was magma, and her eyes were two golden suns.
She was now flame-clad, a sensuous Djinn native to the land of primal fire, whose bellowing hair flinging out behind her formed a warm of buzzing firefly embers.

"Alrighty then, you fish-faced fucks," she muttered vehemently, her eyes glaring at the Kraken. In her Efreeti form, all who challenged her should beware; for here stood the Scarlet Sorceress, she who eat foes like air.


A miniature sun dawned upon Rosebay, lighting up half the firmament with a second star. A kilometre away, within the confines of the Cathedral, Gwen and her company felt the sudden elevation of the ambient temperature.

There was a screech that sounded like it came from a half-shrieking parrot, half-maddened boar that reverberated through the brine-heavy space, followed by a sound of tumbling stones in the distance which indicated that a portion of the cliff had dislodged itself from the escarpment.

The Mermen paused their relentless assault, allowing Gwen to let loose an additional spell.

"Lightning Bolt!"

A wave of fatigue encompassed her mind as her bolt zigzagged through the stonework, exploding two burly crustacean-Mermen bearing down upon a trio of Acolytes.

"I am almost out of Mana," she informed the others, her head was throbbing, an indication of spell-fatigue.

"I am alright; about two-thirds spent," Yue replied as she shot off a pair of Scorching Rays.

"How's everyone else?" Gwen wasn't OoM in the explicit sense, but that her remaining reservoir was for passive Conjurations.

"I am about half," Whetu announced.

"Same here," Elvia said.

"I am close to OOM." As a melee combatant, Debora was the most exhausted of them all. With a groan, Debora straightened her athletic figure, wiping a snail sheen of sweat from her brow. "I really ought to train for Polymorph as soon as this is over."

When finally news of the Leviathan's collapse reached the Mermen, a change overcame their foe. They seemed to have lost the fervour which had consumed them only a moment ago. Instead, the fish-headed warriors began to beat a retreat, shielded by their crustacean cousins.

"Think the Kraken's down?" Yue tossed a Fireball into the group of Mermen that tried to organise themselves into a semblance of a phalanx. The well-armoured crab-men weathered the brunt of the damage as the Fireball erupted, leaving behind a trivial pair of smoking carcasses. Yue clicked her tongue, displeased with the lacklustre outcome.

An enraged, bellowing howl emerged from the multitude of fins and shells. From the horde emerged a blubbery, bulbous monstrosity covered in viscous slime. It had a set of red, spined dorsal fins that protruded from its head, giving it the guise of a Roman centurion. The thing roared a challenge towards the girls.

"Scorcher!"

To Yue's surprise, her spell was stopped dead in its tracks by the creature's slimy exterior.

The blubbery Merman battered away the flames by expertly shedding a layer of its bubbling, superheated slime. It roared at them triumphantly, spittle flying every which way before turning to charge the group. Stimulated by the warrior's courage, the Mermen following the centurion ceased their rout and were now moving back towards the Mages, turning the phalanx like a school of roving sardines.

Yue cursed under her breath.

"Gwen, you got enough oomph to take care of this?"

"Evee, keep me topped." Gwen formed the sigil for a Void incantation within her mind. The Mermen should be within the range of her spell soon.

"Okay!" Elvia began a Positive Energy channel.

The slimy Mermen centurion was gaining momentum now, its quarter-ton bulk of muscle and slime bearing down upon Gwen and the group of juniors behind her. If the creature entered Melee range, lord knows how many of the kids it would take down before they peppered it with enough spells to dispatch it. Worse still, it's martyrdom could bolster the morale of other Mermen in the area, further complicating what should be a clean rout back to sea.

"Black Tentacles!"

Just as the centurion gave a triumphant cry, a mass of dark, rubbery tentacles erupted from midair and snagged its hulking form. The sudden cessation of its forward momentum took it off balance. Unlike physical appendages that would slip and slide from its slime armour, the Void tendrils utterly ignored its protective gelatine. Instead, it dug into the creature's flesh like verdurous roots searching for nourishment.

The blubbery Merman screamed, a primal, guttural gurgle, then began to writhe violently as the tentacles began their terrible, life-draining labour.
The Mermen who had changed directions to follow the centurion screeched to a grinding halt, their fish-faces full of undisclosed fear and horror.

Gwen decided to give the throng another motivational push.

"Caliban!"

Drawing life from Elvia, she pushed the last of her mana into her familiar, feeling her vitality ebbing away as the serpentine nether creature took on its combat form.

Caliban grew bulbous and humongous, a full two meters tall, its carapace splitting the smooth obsidian shell to reveal pulsating masses of purple-pink flesh. With a hiss, her Void beast coiled then lunged forward. It fell upon the struggling Merman, its lamprey's mouth latching onto the hulking morsel.

With a sound that sounded like a man busily slurping soup, Caliban's mouth expanded and took the Mermen headfirst into its bottomless gullet.

The whole spectacle took several agonising seconds; the Merman's maddening shrieks only ceased when it's flippers finally disappeared into the dark abyss that was Caliban's maw.

"Shaa! Shaa! Hiss!" Caliban turned towards the rest of the Mermen, it's lamprey's mouth hungry for more, its pink throat ready to launch a volley of barbed tongues that would retrieve more morsels for its insatiable hunger.

The remaining Mermen fled.

"Ha!" Gwen was physically exhausted but still raised her fist triumphantly. She turned to regard her allies, expecting a humorous quip or a witty observation. Instead, Gwen found them sick with horror and ripe with revulsion. The Rosebay juniors had retreated from Gwen as though she was a Mermen herself, forming a semi-circle around Gwen's party that unquestionably suggested they wanted no association with Gwen and her aberrant ilk.

Wordlessly, Gwen retracted the unspent mana from Caliban, watching it returned to its usual form. Ariel joined Caliban a moment later, performing figure-eights around her slim ankles.

"I don't think we'll ever get used to that." Yue scratched her nose as she caught the terrified expressions on the faces of the Rosebay Mages. "Cali is a fucking horror show all on its own. Does wonders to morale - on both sides."

"I don't mind the critter at all," Whetu retorted, sniggering. "Ai rather like the little feller. We could have used a few of em when the Mirmin landed in Tauranga."

Meanwhile, Elvia restored however much of Gwen's vital energy as she could, although it was only useful as a stop-gap measure. Gwen would need to eat and rest to make up for the drain on her body. Watching the colour return to Gwen's face, Elvia wondered how that other Void Mage who had assaulted them, Elizabeth, kept up her vitality. That woman had been pumping out spell after spell of mass destruction without so much as a breather.

"You guys right? Need to rest?" A Rosebay Prefect, a comely lass with auburn hair tied into a knotted ponytail, inquired carefully, keeping her distance from Gwen.

"We need to see Magister Ferris," Gwen informed her. "As soon as Magus Alesia has returned from dealing with the Kraken."

The auburn-haired Mage nodded at them and directed them away from the frontlines. Gwen withdrew her familiars and urged the others to follow. The group had been fighting for a solid half an hour. After the last exchange, Gwen, Yue, and Debora were now out of mana.

Whetu and Elvia, who had some mana remaining, elected to stay. There wasn't near enough Healers or Abjurers, and they couldn't afford to leave the Rosebay Mages fighting by themselves.

The trio retreated into the cathedral, where most of the older girls were now sheltered under the bishop's quarters, awaiting their turn to descend the narrow stairs that lead into the catacombs. The younger girls had gone first and were now waiting for teleportation in the safer confines of the old underground sanctuary.

As soon as the guards had cleared them, Gwen hasted back to find her Master guarded by several Maguses and Senior Mages, palely loitering upon a pew.

"He's getting weaker, healing spells and restorations both failed to improve his condition." One of the Tower Maguses' informed Gwen worriedly. "Do you know what he needs?"

Gwen shook her head sadly. Her Master needed his Golden Mead, though there was no helping it now.

Seated uncomfortably in the pew, Henry waved a hand weakly at his youngest apprentice, beckoning her to come closer. Sufina remained manifested beside him, but she was unresponsive and still, her body skinny and brittle; all the leaves upon her head withered and yellow.

"My Lord?" Gwen kept her supplication formalised as her apprenticeship was yet to be formalised.

"The… Grot…" Henry murmured a little breathlessly. "Inform— Irene, I need to return to the Grot, to gain control of the Tower..."

Gwen nodded and squeezed her Master's hand. The man seemed indomitable, to see him so diminished broke her heart.

"Where's Magister Ferris?" Gwen questioned one of the older Mages ticking off a chart as the Rosebay survivors shuffled into the underground. Much to her dismay, she noted that with every dozen or so names, a red strike indicating a fallen Mage.

"She's by the Atrium, directing the evacuation," came the concerned reply.

_WHAM!_

The double-doors violently swung open. Alesia entered in her Efreet form, making a bee-line for Ferris. In the dimness, Alesia's Efreet-body lit up the cathedral. The younger Mages below made a circular space for her as her halo of firefly embers landed with an intrusive hiss, scorching the scarlet carpet below.

"The Kraken's gone," Alesia said flatly with the same tone as one having done the dishes.

A cheer broke out in the cathedral, performed with conservative enthusiasm. The girls knew that although their immediate danger was resolved, Rosebay wasn't out of the rip just yet.

Alesia gave Ferris a quick rundown of the situation outside.

Once the Kraken was gone, the Mermen had lost their advantage. Without endless swarms of reinforcements, they would only serve as seafood for the Mages.

The flames that torched Alesia began to dim, transforming from white-hot to blue, then finally to a spluttering ochre.

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Gwen materialised a robe in her hands and approached Alesia, who expectantly snuffed out her Efreet form, exposing her pale, trembling body. Her sister-in-craft was wounded in several places, bleeding profusely from a cut to her right shoulder and thigh. A developing bruise covered her right lumbar, extending from her navel all the way to her breast and shoulder.

The gathering of neophytes were both awed with gratitude and stunned by her injury. Alesia was none other than the hero of the Coral Sea War, the one and the only Scarlet Sorceress, to see her so bettered in the flesh made them all the more guilty for their incompetence.

"You're hurt!" Gwen intoned worriedly, materialising a healing potion she had received from Alesia prior.

Alesia took the robe from Gwen and wrapped it around her body nonchalantly. She tore off the injector's tip with her teeth and slammed it into her thighs, shuddering as the rapid healing restored her broken flesh.
"Here, got a souvenir for you."

Her sister-in-craft made a flicking motion with her wrist. A dozen heads appeared at Ferris's footsteps, ranging from a long-nosed swordfish to the bulbous, carapaced head of a Mahi-mahi. The largest of the spoils was an octopus-like creature that was now entirely deformed. From the grey matter oozing from its burst eye-sockets, one could comprehend that the beast must have been incredibly intelligent while it was alive.

"That's their Arch-Priest." Alesia nodded at Ferris. "The Kraken's half cooked and floating belly up in the bay. We should be good for our retreat."

Magister Irene Ferris did not allow the shock of her mind to register on her face. Though her Divination empowered intuition had told her that Alesia de Botton was fully capable of taking down a battalion of Mermen mounted on a Siege Kraken, the reality remained awe-inspiring. No wonder the old men in the Tower lowered their voices when speaking of the sorceress. No wonder Walken decided to take the slap in the face when de Botton burned down his library. Alesia may not be able to control utility magic, create powerful items, nor participate in advanced theoretical research; but the woman was a walking engine of mass destruction.

"How's Master Henry?" Ferris asked. If there was a way to salvage their crisis, it was to have Henry re-assume control of the Tower and reactivate the Message network by disabling the jamming ritual.

"He is weakened and needs to return to the Grot," it was Gwen who replied. Beside her, Alesia materialised a skin-hugging combat suit and quickly dressed, heedless of the hundred or so eyes watching her. "Only by returning Master Kilroy to the Tower's Grot can we hope to regain control of the Tower."

"Is he lucid at the moment?"

"A little, but he is far from hale."

"This is troubling, what solutions did Master Kilroy offer for returning to the Tower in the first place?"

"That we aid you and your students, Magister," Gwen said expertly. "And when the school is safe, we may seek passage together into the Tower via your unique key."

Ferris knitted her brows.

"Would the Tower even be safe? If the Disruptor wasn't on, I could probably tell you more, but all the information we have on hand suggests Walken has taken over the core systems. I doubt he would give it up peacefully."

"Then this Walken of yours is a traitor," Alesia said distastefully, her voice full of disdain. "If and when we enter the tower, we'll have to take care of him."

"Eric, a traitor?" Ferris momentarily lost her composure, but couldn't refute the reality that her precious academy was now suffering.

"I suppose the circumstances speak for themselves." She observed dryly. "Give me a moment."

Gwen and Alesia waited on Ferris while the battle outside began to reach its final stages. By now, the Mages should be pushing the Mermen over the cliff's edge and back into the ocean.

Their temporary lull was disrupted by a Senior Mage who hurriedly entered the cathedral and sought Ferris' attention.

"Yes, Sandra?" Ferris turned her attention to the panting Mage.

"Mistress, the Mermen are in full retreat - for now. We don't know if there are more coming, the Scrying Stations and Divi-Towers are still down."

"I see. Thank you, Sandra, please organise a headcount. Recover the bodies of the fallen, if you are able."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

The girls watched Sandra retreat. Two guards opened the giant double doors of the cathedral, and the Mage disappeared between the light-flooded gap.

"This is not going to end unless we recover the Tower," Alesia persisted. "Look around you, Irene, is this where you want to hole up and wait until reinforcements show up? Where would they even come from? New Zealand? Brisbane? We don't even know if those cities are safe themselves. How likely do you think they would bring their Tower to recover ours?"

Alesia's voice echoed across the cathedral, amplified by the acoustics of its vaulted architecture.

Irene Ferris regarded her surroundings. Wounded Mages, both girls from the school and its staff, leaned against pews, lying down with white faces twisted in agony. The younger girls had pallors pale as sheets, watching their surroundings with terrified, confused eyes. Near the dais, a few dozen girls were fervently praying below a benevolent statue of Mother Mary, begging her to deliver them from this crisis.

Ferris had said that she wanted a moment to think, but she was genuinely lost for thought. She was not a Magister that rose to prominence due to accolades achieved through the two conflicts in the 70s and the 80s. She was the newer breed of geniuses who rose to distinction through their contribution to the study of Spellcraft, and their ability to provide essential goods and services. The warmongers jokingly called Magisters like Ferris the 'cherry' Magisters, a derogative term that denigrated their rightful place as equals.

Ferris had always thought those old fools idiotic and useless, out of date and senile. Now she understood that in the face of real danger, she was honestly of little use. She couldn't strategise a theatre of War; she couldn't organise her Mages into flight teams for combat formations. If Alesia de Botton had not been here, could they have taken out the Kraken? Ferris shuddered at the thought, thinking of the price they would have had to pay to achieve the same result.

If Lin was here, or perhaps Gilford from the Cairns Tower, they could be riding out with Alesia and carving out a path of blood all the way from here to the CBD. With the Divination jammer active, Ferris felt embarrassingly useless.

But she was a Magister nonetheless. Irene Ferris couldn't show her vulnerable face to the proteges of her great rival.

With a hardened heart, Ferris swallowed the feeling of insecurity and guilt. She took a moment to look around the century-old cathedral, seeking solace in the stained-glass figures of the saints mounted around her.

What was the right thing to do here? Should she participate in their haphazard, foolhardy plan?

Irene Ferris received no answers from a higher power.

As a Diviner, Ferris knew better than most that men were responsible for their own choices. Fate was an insurmountable tree, but the branches of fortune do not grow without careful watering and meticulous pruning. The fruit it bore only ripened for those who were willing to risk scaling its precarious height.

A commotion rippled across the cathedral's interior while Irene pondered her next move. She looked up from her thoughts to see Henry, supported carefully by Whetu, slowly tottering towards them.

"My Lord! You need to rest!" Both Gwen and Alesia immediately left Irene and went to Henry, helping him find a space between the body-ridden pews.

"Magister Ferris, my protege is right. I am afraid there is no more recourse. We must find a way to recover the Tower." Henry was a little restored by his rest but remained pale and weary.

"What more can you tell me?" Irene probed the old Magister.

Henry delivered a quick synopsis of Elizabeth's agenda, explaining that though her ultimate goal is unknowable, the discredit of the Tower system and the integration of Mage and NoM populations were high on their assailant's list objectives.

Should Sydney continue to besieged, the inevitable outcome is significant casualties for Mages, and catastrophic casualties for any NoM areas penetrated by the Mermen.

Henry then lapsed into a fit of coughing, but there was nothing to be done. The weakened Sufina could not provide her Master with the Golden Mead extracted from her life force. The group turned to regard Ferris, awaiting her final decision warily.

Ferris measured the circumstances before her and knew that what Henry suggested was the best outcome. Without the Tower, they could not repel the Mermen. Without repelling the Mermen, they could not rebuild the Shield Barrier. Without the Barrier, there would be no end to this conflict. The Mermen could afford to lose a hundred thousand, a million merfolk. Sydney could not. The city was four million souls, of which a few hundred thousand were Mages.

Then again, Henry and Irene were in opposing factions. The old man had more than once obstructed their Grey Market operations, arrested her men, and uprooted the seedlings she had sown. Could she trust that she was doing the right thing here and not merely playing into yet another of Henry's long cons?

Ferris compulsively hated making uninformed decisions, especially without any aid from Augury or Divination. What if Walken was taking the opportunity to act on behalf of the Grey faction.

"What of your Paladin, Mr Shultz?" Ferris asked carefully. "Should he not be the one responsible for putting down insurrections?"

"Gunther should be in the Tower when it all went down," Alesia interjected on her Master's behalf. "If he is not currently fighting for his life or defending the city..."

Alesia paused. She didn't want to state the obvious; saying it made it all so real.

As if on cue, a thunderous cacophony fulminated, so loud as to be heard within the confines of the cathedral's interior. All other sound was drowned out as a riptide of colliding mana rolled across the heavens.
The double doors tore open, a group of girl Mages stumbled into the atrium with eyes lit with wonder.

"Master!"
"Magister Ferris!"

Ferris waited until they were closer before allowing them to speak.

"It was incredible! The Leviathan was pushing towards the city centre and then suddenly, a giant beam of light blasted through the sky and took its head clean off!"

The girl was breathless with excitement, trying to articulate the spectacle with both hands.

"The water in the bay area is flooding back! I don't think the Leviathan can make it into the city itself!"

A wary cheer rose up from those recovering in the cathedral.

"That's Gunther for you," Henry said weakly, his expression bursting with pride.

"Well, there are still over ten-thousand Mermen in that Leviathan," Alesia interrupted the 'good news' that the girl had brought. "Not to mention Wave Riders, Dragon Turtles, and countless critters hidden in the water itself. We need you to make a call right now, Magister, else I am heading to the frontlines to meet up with Gunther."

Ferris gritted her teeth and surveyed the hopeful eyes of those around her. Even though the incursion had just been blunted, there would be no rest, no cessation to the conflict until the Mermen are pushed back. The only possibility of achieving that goal in its entirety was to regain control of the Tower.

"If we enter the Tower, you are confident you can handle Walken?" Ferris questioned with lips that were dry with anxiety.

"Yes," Alesia replied without blinking. "His element is borrowed Lightning, even with his expertise in Transmutation and Conjuration or what not, he shouldn't be a problem."

"What about his men?"

"Gwen and her team should be able to handle the occasional Acolyte. If you are willing to lend us a hand, it will make our assault doubly sure."

Ferris turned to face her followers, the progenies of Rosebay Private Girls Academy. There were a few Maguses with them still, a dozen Senior Mages.

"We are at your command!" The gathering knelt and placed a hand upon the rose-crest sewn into their uniforms, their shrill feminine voices firm with commitment. Gwen noted with some comfort that Julia and her team were amongst them.

Ferris turned back to Alesia, standing protectively over Henry, who was resting on the pew.

"What happens when we teleport in?" Ferris asked.

"We make for the Grot and restore Lord Kilroy. Killing all who impede us. So long as the Master of the Tower recovers, we should be able to wrest back control of the entire system. If we can best Walken, Lord Kilroy can supersede any commands given by Walken and clear out his goons in a single stroke."

Yet, despite Alesia's urging, Ferris still felt indecisive. She knew that each minute Fersheris persisted in her deliberation was a minute in which Mermen would rampage through the city, measured in human lives.

"Magister Ferris, if I may have a but a moment to speak?" it was Gwen who spoke.

"You may," Ferris gave her permission and considered the Eurasian girl in front of her. The Void Mageling had limitless potential, and Ferris wanted to see that potential remain unburied and carefully developed. After all, it was the highest directive of the Tower to ensure that the best bloodlines are preserved. An arbitrator with a colder heart would suggest that perhaps, only a dozen casters in Rosebay, possessing unmatched talent, truly needed to survive the city's ordeal. Everything else could be rebuilt, even the school itself could be restored within a generation, but if these young talents were lost, then catastrophe would befall the Mageocracy.

Gwen began to speak.

"Ma'am… I understand your pain and your indecision." Her voice took on that sonorous timbre beyond her childish face.

"I do not doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out to achieve. None of us, Divination or otherwise, can foresee precisely what course we will take or what casualties we may incur. There may be sacrifice ahead, ones in which both our tenacity and our will, will be tested."

"BUT... Magister Ferris... the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing."

Ferris felt her chest constrict.

"As Mages, we have all chosen a Path, and my Path is the way of Militant Pacifism, to use everything in my power to ensure that there is peace. I care not for Factions. I care not about profit or prestige; I simply want our world to be safe, for my friends, and for my benefactor."

The Diviner nodded, lost for words.

"Ma'am, the cost of freedom is always high, but us Mages have always paid it. I may only be a junior Mage, not even a sanctioned Magus, but there is one Path I shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or inaction. Ma'am, I implore you. I don't know if what we're doing is right. But the greatest wrong— would be doing nothing."

When Gwen had finished speaking, the entire cathedral held its breath, fascinated with violent emotions that they had not known they possessed before Gwen's soul-searching words struck them to their very core.

Ferris found herself likewise speechless. She felt the convergence of guilt and courage, hope and despair, action and inaction all-encompassing her mind at once, pushing her to give Gwen her best.

Gwen Song! Ferris exalted. What a girl! A future Magister! Mayhap even a future Magi!

If Ferris were to help Henry and his proteges in this moment of crisis, they would forever owe her a boon which they were compelled to return. Even if Gwen were to betray Ferris' blessing, she would have a trump card with which she could demand a boon of gratitude from Henry Kilroy- such as a crucial vote on a polemic policy. As much as de Botton droned on about the need to do the right thing, Irene Ferris was first and foremost a pragmatist.

Suddenly, Irene Ferrise no longer felt that her lips were dry. Instead, they were wet with anticipation and expectation.

"Well." Ferris' once ambivalent face grew flushed with expectation. "What are we waiting for? It's time to take back the Tower."