Chapter 72: Deadline

“I can’t say I like what you guys have done to the place,” Aberanis said to his brother, Kazakiel. 

“That’s just the part of the process of moving houses, Abby,” Kazakiel replied. “I like it though. Feels like progress.”

“Progress, huh? I guess you can say so," Aberanis said as he stared towards the distance.

His sights at the great floating city of Divinatus. The Divinatus that he used to know was already a large city with walls that serve as a fort. Somehow, someway, that large fortified city was now even more heavily fortified. The city had towers which were built from scratch and a large moat surrounding it. It was hidden from the enemies well, but there were also multiple traps scattered all over the outskirts of Divinatus.

The surrounding areas around Divinatus completely changed since a few months ago. The lush forests and beautiful seaside now turned into a barren land that can no longer hold life. Just wasteland and chopped down trees as far as the eyes could see. It wasn’t just the areas around Divinatus either, most of the areas between Divinatus and Dragonsmourne face the same fate, just desserts of barren land and scorched earth— destroyed by the Second and Third Armies in their attempts to delay and force attrition on the Alliance.

The Second and Third Army came back just about a week ago— most of them were surprised by the sudden change in Divinatus. They couldn’t rest though, as Klauna soon put them to work the moment they arrived, working in tandem with the citizens to finish up the defences of the floating city.

Inside a small hidden hole was Aberanis, Kazakiel, Parash, Blackmask, Lina, Medica and Poi. The Ak’hims knew that the enemies were coming and the elite group was sent there personally by Klauna to scout things out and bring a report back to Divinatus. Scouting the enemies from the air, from the ground, and during the dark nights as rogues and assassins. They were now gathered to compile their final findings together before reporting back to Klauna.

Peeking out of the hole within the ground, Parash could see more humans than he has ever seen in his life, gathering in camps a distance away from Divinatus. So far that it was outside the range of bombardments from either side. 

Although far, the camps that they made are scattered in a way that they surround Divinatus. They were making sure that the Ak’hims had no way of escaping. From within these camps, the enemy began gathering some of their troops and started marching towards another temporary encampment. One that was in a much more logical location to set up when trying to siege Divinatus.

“I wonder why they are doing this? Why set up camp so far away? Why not just set up camp directly across from Divinatus?” Parash asked, bewildered about the enemy’s decision.

“What I want to know is why the enemy doesn’t just charge in with all they have and take over Divinatus right now? We are only twelve thousand versus two hundred thousand," Medica asked, also a little bit bewildered at the enemy’s action.

“We’ve planted ‘The Bomb’ everywhere. They probably didn’t want to gather all two hundred thousand in one place only to get blown up. It would be a pretty easy victory for us," Poi responded.

Poi then cleared her throat and tried to do the best impression of Klauna as she could. “I wish the enemy would do just that, but I doubt it. We have done this sort of tactic numerous times before. The enemy must have known by now. Besides, they should know that this is the end, as well. They would want to take their time to win with the lowest casualty possible. To them, there was nowhere for us to run after all. I can bank on them taking their time with this siege. ”

“And that’s what she said,” Poi said in her normal voice again. 

The others thought her to be very good at mimicking others, but they didn’t say anything back. They didn’t want to inflate the young rogue’s pride. 

*Boom!

Her words were soon proven true when the group heard loud explosions coming from the direction of the marching troops. Peeking outwards, they could see said army panicking and in that panic, split apart into multiple groups, triggering more of the traps set for them. A few good hundred soldiers died just from that and they haven’t set off ‘The Bomb’ yet.

“Such crude tactics, yet effective. I wonder how she even thought up all these plans. Also, does she have some sort of fetish with bombs or something?” Lina spoke out.

“It’s why she’s up there giving orders and we are here on the ground. Come on, we got what we needed, let’s move back. I don’t think it will take long for them to muster up a force to strike us,” Parash said out to them before starting to dig his way through to Divinatus.

“We’ll take the fast route. I’ll see you guys at Divinatus. And make sure to collapse those tunnels. Don’t want the Alliance to strike from below,” Lina said to them before conjuring her blood wings. Medica too spread out her reptilian wings.

With a blast of wind, they took off to the skies before making their way back to Divinatus. The two zipped through the air at high speeds, avoiding getting close to any camps and the range of their Anti-air.

As they were flying, Lina and Medica could see all the preparations the Ak’hims have done for the upcoming battle. A moat that has depth so deep, that one couldn’t see the bottom of it. Rumours spread that at the bottom of the moat, was sharp deadly spikes. There have been a few unfortunate accidents of Ak’hims falling to their deaths during the construction of the moat. In the end, it was the Saboteurs who was tasked with finishing the job. 

The moat was surrounded by numerous solid battle towers manned by people, waiting to blast any enemies foolish enough to cross the ridge. The walls of Divinatus was also mounted full of people and siege weaponry

However, the most important defence of all was one final invention from the Analysts for the battle. A large translucent bubble that appeared and covered the entirety of Divinatus and its walls. It was the culmination of research from Harbin and the other Analysts of their studies on the Analysts’ bread and butter, the Force Field. 

At first, they wanted to copy the advanced skill ‘Force Field H-EX’ that Klauna uses for mass usage. Although not successful on that front, their research on the person's hexagonal shields led to a breakthrough. The ability to project a barrier across large areas, the invention of the grade eight spell ‘Mass Force Field’.

Passing through the soft translucent barrier, Lina and Medica spotted Harbin, Cera and Klauna standing behind a regiment of troops. Klauna’s spear at the highest point of the wall, the banner of the Seventh Army waved at the flutter of the wind. Nodding to each other, the two Succours soon landed near them.

“Hey, Medica,” Harbin waved at her friend as she landed. Cera waved as well.

“Hey, Harbin, Hey, Cera,” Medica waved back before walking over to them.

Letting out a soft smile at the sight of her subordinate, Lina quickly moved over to Klauna’s position in order to explain the situation— about the number of enemy troops, about who was leading them and about the estimated time for their assault. Once she was done explaining, Lina extended her wings and flew off again, to get ready for her second task. Medica stayed behind.

Klauna took a few moments to digest the information given to her before looking behind to see the city of Divinatus. 

Her hometown. 

For as long as she could remember it, Divinatus was a bustling seaside city, with tons of lovely houses and markets. It also had tons of beautiful parks and wonderful harbours. All of them balanced with the sight of efficient roads and the peaceful relaxing sound of the ocean waves.

Now all she could see was rows and rows cheaply made houses. Houses to support the overwhelming number of people in the city. Any open spaces and parks were replaced with quickly made farms. Lumbers and resources that were stored could be seen filling the place, making the city look like a storage unit. The great harbour and gates closed off, replaced with reinforced walls and water barriers. The city was accompanied by a dead eerie silence of ocean waves. They’ve literally turned the last remaining city of the Kingdom into an ark.

A sense of sorrow came over Klauna. Sorrow at knowing that she was the one who made the place like this. But more than anything, disappointed. 

Disappointed that they have to fight the Alliance one last time. She had wanted to get away without any more fighting. Alas, such a thing was not meant to happen. Maybe if she didn’t mope around, maybe if she didn’t waste those two weeks after Dragonsmourne. Maybe if she woke up sooner, she didn’t have to order her men to die. Though there was no point in thinking about the past, she needed to face the present.

“Lord Klauna, it’s time,” Harbin spoke up, handing over the Grimoire of the Analysts to Klauna.

Klauna took the book from Harbin, nodding towards her in the process. The grimoire was opened with the two magic circles glowing bright red from within the two exposed pages.

The grimoire and its replicas were interconnected via a web of magic. Anything she spoke to the original will be transmitted to everyone that has a copy of the replica. Since the replica was given to almost every squad leader at this point, this meant that almost if not all of the soldiers would hear what she had to say. There might even be a chance that the civilians will be able to hear her, as well.

“Attention everyone. This is Spear, General Klaunalioriratica Analyst of the Seventh Army. I am here to inform all of you that the enemy is upon us and will soon lay siege to the city,” Klauna said to the book before giving a short pause. 

“I am aware that you all know me and my crazy plans. I know that you all have tolerated them because as crazy of plans that they were, they worked and have saved you all maybe once or twice before. That you all hope, the same as the previous battles, that I have some sort of crazy plan that will bring us victory.”

“I will be honest with you all. I don’t have any more tricks or special tactics for this battle. All I have with you right now is just a pure standard defence of a fort. Truthfully speaking, I don’t even know if we can even hold this city from them.”

Harbin stared at her own feet as Klauna gave out her speech, a sad smile on her face.

“I want anybody who is listening to this to look at the group of people that are to your left.”

Harbin followed what Klauna instructed and looked towards the left. She could see Cera and Medica who were doing the same.

“Now I want you to do the same towards the right.”

Harbin looked towards the right— to see Klauna who was holding the Grimoire of the Analysts.

“I feel obligated to let you know that by the end of this. One of you three will no longer be here.”

Harbin’s eyes widened when she heard that.

“I’ve always treated you soldiers as real people, not as statistics. I bet it's funny hearing that coming from me. I know. I heard you guys even call me an emotionless golem once, but it’s the truth. Though I must admit, there were times where I wished you all were just that: numbers on a paper. Wished that you were all emotionless golems like me. I could have been much much more efficient. I could have saved more people. I could have gotten more effective results."

Klauna paused again for a short while.

“I don’t usually do this. I’ve always refused to. But I order you now, brave soldiers of the Northern Demon Kingdom. I order you to die for your country. For the survival of your race.”

“I know you are afraid. I am as well. We did all we could to prepare, and we did the best we can with the circumstances given to us. And yet, here I am telling you that it isn’t enough. Here I am asking for more of you. But hey, look at the bright side. If we fail, at the very least we will die together, as one.”

“Valour will determine our fates now. I am proud to have met and served with all of you. You are truly the best the Kingdom has to offer.”

Klauna said before finally closing the Grimoire of the Analysts, passing it back to Harbin.

“Lord Klauna…” Harbin muttered.

“Is that alright? I’m not sure if that’s the most appropriate speech to give to the people,” Medica asked Klauna.

It was then, shortly after that question, that Klauna and the others could hear the faint cheers in the distance. It was like a mix between a battle cry and a celebration cheer. The sound grew louder and louder until it reached them. 

Klauna let out a satisfied smile upon hearing this. 

“I think it’s appropriate enough.”

Kotohood

Thanks for reading the chapter! I hope you like this chapter as I spent quite an effort for this one.