The white tower of war blasted a blue fireball from its viewing area. The Scouts ran towards the blue fireball racing across the sky. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop, staying hot on the fireball’s trail like a hunter tracking its prey.

  The fireball slammed into a group of running Ogres and exploded on contact, setting the Ogres on fire, but they continued to run despite their bodies being covered in blue flames.

  Bersi and three other Scouts plastered clay-like patches onto the side of buildings ahead of the charging Ogres. They produced orange cubes that ignited a tiny flame, lighting the fuse sticking out of the clay.

  “Clay Bombs are active! Retreat!” Bersi shouted as she and the other Scouts around her scurried away.

  The wick burned into the clay before erupting with a boom that sent debris and the tall stone houses down onto the Ogres, crushing them and ending their existence.

  Up in the white tower of war, Izick scanned the area with his spyglass until he spotted a sizable party of Ogres mixed in with Death Elves.

  “We've got Ogres and Death Elves coming through the western entrance. I need you to fire the Meteorite Skill to buy our forces time to intercept.” Izick said to the Elf Mages on his right as he pointed out their location.

  The Elf Mages, waiting on Izick’s signal, formed the Meteorite by Reciting foreign words and creating a small ball of flaming rocks above their hooded heads. They launched the projectile at their enemies through the viewing port slit.

  The ball of flaming rocks instantly expanded into a proper meteorite twice its original size as it raced toward Felssi’s forces.

  The Death Elf Malkin noticed the incoming artillery strike and raised his hand to create a purple shield of Mana.

  The Meteorite made contact with the shield but suddenly stopped in place, as if time paused the projectile.

  Izick’s mouth parted with shock as Malkin made a flipping motion with his hand to turn his shield of Mana, changing the course of the Meteorite attached to it.

  His purple shield pulsed before sending the Meteorite flying into the forest behind him, where it exploded away from Felssi’s forces.

  “S-spatial Mysteria! Our Meteorite Skill is useless against advanced Mysteria like that!” an Elf Mage muttered in fear.

  “It’s not over yet. He saw our attack coming and probably used a lot of Mana pulling that Skill off. We just have to keep applying pressure.” Izick turned to the female Elf Mage on his left.

  “Mark the location of this Death Elf with the shields so we can send soldiers and Scouts his way. We can’t let them get to the tower this early,”

  The Elf Mage on his left made a deep blue fireball before sending it at Malkin, who simply swatted it away with his hand. Izick put his spyglass away and gathered the rest of his gear.

  Izick took mental note of the current number of enemies out there. Felssi was nowhere to be seen if the drawing Kaleen provided of her appearance was accurate.

  However, that Death Elf who redirected the Meteorite strike might’ve given him a clue about Felssi’s whereabouts. She wasn't here, wherever she was.

  He strapped the Honor Rod, wrapped in black warding cloth, onto his back and then handed one of the Elf Mages a parchment.

  “Follow the sequence written down here. This is directly from Kaleen herself, not me. The real battle starts now, and our lives could depend on how well you execute these instructions.”

  The Elf somberly nodded to Izick before taking the parchment and inspecting it with the other Elves. The Elf Mage, who seemed to be the leader of the group, held the parchment up.

  "We will try our hardest. One of our best Artillery Mages was killed in an earlier attack, but we can perform the basics."

  "That should be enough for now."

  Adell walked up the spiraling stairway from the lookout's entrance on the floor. She held out a brown sack to Izick.

  “Hold on, take these with you.”

  “What’s this?”

  “Trap cubes, I thought would be useful for you. They are standard Banger and Shocker cubes. We're Combat Scouts in the midst of war. You can never have too many of these.”

  Izick took the sack and quickly inspected the cubes before nodding to Adell.

  “Thank you. I’ll be counting on you to bring up the rear guard when Felssi gets in range.”

  “I’ll be there if you call, but don't forget our agreement. Play by our rules, and you'll see tomorrow. Don't make us do something unfortunate.”

  "You don't have to worry about me forgetting. There's a friendly reminder that's constantly on my neck,"

  Izick said, pointing to the black collar.

  "Besides, I'll be dead along with everyone here if this doesn't work."

  Izick descended the spiral stairs of the white tower of war until he stopped at a door and entered it.

  Inside the cramped room, Kern stared in awe and anxiety at Kaleen and eight other Elf Mages, who stood evenly spaced in a circle around a pillar of moving gears and pistons that extended into the ceiling above it.

  A blue ring of Mana encircled the gear pillar like a halo as the Elves Recited words in their elven language.

  “Have they started yet?” Izick said with a similar sense of awe.

  “No, we have yet to start the countdown. We are only prepping the mechanism needed to activate the Mana Bomb. This mechanism has not moved in decades, so there is rust,” Kaleen replied without opening her closed eyes. ”Has Felssi been seen yet?”

  “Only Felssi’s army has been spotted. They already started their attack on Damaran. We have no idea where Felssi is, but she has to show herself at some point.”

  “She is a sly one. Her plan is likely to find a weak point in our defense before striking from the shadows. I would recommend you find her as soon as possible.”

  “Understood. I will track her down while your soldiers intercept the main army.”

  “Excellent. Remember, you will only have one and a half hours before this tower detonates. We will only be able to focus on this Recitation once we truly start.” Kaleen said before waving her hand towards Izick.

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  Four zeroes made out of ghastly green Mana materialized over Izick’s left shoulder. The numbers flipped to one hundred and thirty-five minutes, which began to count down.

  Izick’s head reeled back from the sudden appearance of the clock. The Blessing has really made him jumpy about things like this…

  “This is a countdown to this tower’s detonation that only you can see. The extra five minutes is how long it will take to warm up the tower,” Kaleen said, opening her eyes and turning to Izick.

  “Flee this place if the timer falls below forty-five minutes. Everything within 1-2 miles of this city will be destroyed, and it will take an additional 15-20 minutes for you to escape the Mana Bomb’s range after leaving the city if you run on foot. Do not die for us. This sacrifice should be ours alone. Let us meet again after this is all over.” Kaleen said before turning away and closing her eyes to rejoin the Recitation.

  “Kern, the Elves won’t be able to break away from the Recitation, so keep them as safe as possible. Keep Hobbs and the others updated with the Long Book if anything strange happens or Felssi shows up at the tower.”

  “Leave it to me. I’ll keep watch here.”

  Izick exited the white tower while keeping his senses on high alert. He pushed on toward the area where the main forces of Felssi were last spotted.

  A Meteorite zoomed over his head. He could see the Meteorite get redirected like last time, sending the artillery strike into the forest and exploding.

  A loud crash blasted debris and rubble into the air as a huge purple cloud rose into the air, followed by the sounds of screaming Elves.

  Izick grunted in frustration as he saw another purple cloud shoot into the air. Things weren’t going too well by the sound of things. He hugged a wall near the exploding purple clouds and then peeked around the corner.

  An Elf Mage raised her white staff and shot a bolt of lightning at Malkin. He easily dodged the bolt of lightning and then slammed two swirling purple orbs of Mana into the backs of two unsuspecting Elf soldiers who screamed as their bodies began to unnaturally stretch like rubber before exploding into clouds of purple smoke.

  The Ogres and Death Elves around Malkin used the disturbance to overwhelm the opposing Elf soldiers and cut them down.

  “This is becoming a massacre," Hobbs said as he ran to Izick’s side.

  “It’s only going to get worse. Damaran’s Elves have a good strategy, but Felssi’s forces are too used to these elven tactics, which is why I suggested we do this from another angle.” Izick said before stepping back and looking up to see the gathered Scouts on the rooftops of nearby houses.

  Hobbs unscrewed the long pipe on his pistol and then jumped around the corner to shoot a round projectile at Malkin.

  Malkin turned to the loud bang and flash of fire before raising a purple shield. He clicked his tongue in disappointment at the waste of Mana he used on such a small projectile.

  “Scouts! Pinrockers!” Hobbs shouted to the rooftops before running away with Izick. The Elves took the hint as well and quickly disengaged from the enemy.

  Malkin almost chased after the escaping Hobbs and Izick but noticed metal spears flying toward him from above. He raised his shield of Mana to block the incoming Pinrockers, but failed to notice the two Pinrockers flying toward him from behind.

  Malkin screamed as the spear-like Pinrockers pierced his back before exploding with metal shrapnel and flames.

  “They got him!” Bersi said as she looked down at the cloud of dust where Malkin was standing. She noticed something gleaming in the clouds of dust, causing her to jump to the side.

  “Hey! Get out of the way!” Bersi said to the distracted Scout on her left. Three Pinrockers pierced through the Scout's chest before exploding and sending shrapnel towards the Scouts on the rooftops.

  The dust settled to reveal Malkin heavily breathing with blood flowing down his back while he continued to raise his purple shield at Bersi and the other Scouts, who quickly fled the area.

  “You short-eared trash made me bleed! To think that the prideful Elves of Damaran would beg Humin refuse for aid,” Malkin dismissed his shield and formed two purple orbs of swirling Mana.

  “I must warn Master Felssi of this development.”

  Hobbs gritted his teeth and shook his head as he and Izick took cover behind a house that was barely standing.

  “Ugh, they got Reff. I wasn’t expecting to bring my Scouts onto the frontlines of a war.”

  “I wasn’t expecting this either, but we found a major weakness in that Death Elf’s shield. He can only use one shield at a time and can only redirect attacks by flipping his shield.”

  “Flipping his shield?”

  “Yes, he flipped his shield and sent a Meteorite strike into the forest behind him instead of redirecting it back at the white tower shooting at him. He hasn't used any other pattern besides this with those shields of his. I'm surprised he survived those Pinrockers, but this guy is not unstoppable,”

  Izick took out an orange Banger cube and a white Rocker cube and snapped them together to make a single rectangle. He tossed it into the air, causing it to shoot even further into the air before exploding and briefly lighting up the night sky.

  More Elven soldiers appeared on the scene and blocked Felssi’s main forces and Malkin from moving forward. Malkin groaned as steam flowed off his body, stopping the bleeding and pushing out the shrapnel from his body, but not healing the gruesome wounds on his gray back.

  “Hobbs, we need to pin Felssi’s forces down here to buy Barson and the others time to get here. I want to help Adell demolish the nearby houses to enclose the enemy, but I need to figure out where Felssi herself is right now. Her absence in this battle is making me worry.”

  “Then I'll leave it to you to find her. However, a word of warning: do not engage with Felssi or even allow yourself to be spotted by her. Use a Flare trap to mark her location so we can back you up. Only Kaleen would have the tactical intelligence and Mystic prowess to stand up to her in a straight-up fight, and even that matchup might favor the Death Elf.”

  “I'll keep your warning in mind and use the Flare if I find her. Also, don't forget to take this collar off me when this is all over."

  "I swear on my life, I will release you from that collar if you play your role. Just stay alive."

  Izick nodded to Hobbs before splitting away from the Scout and heading in another direction on a diverging road.

  He threw a grappling hook onto the roof of a tall house and then quickly scurried up before resuming his run on the rooftop.

  His sharp eyes scanned the toppled buildings and houses as he searched for any sign of Felssi’s whereabouts. He had a bad feeling about the small army the Scouts and the Elf soldiers were currently fighting.

  His mind also drifted back to the Ogres that were sacrificed in that initial charge. Both were way too small and were easily dealt with. He jumped to another building and looked down at the streets for any signs of Felssi but found nothing.

  Felssi likely split her forces a third time and is preparing to strike elsewhere, apart from the first wave of Ogres, and the mixed group Hobbs and the Elf Soldiers were trying to stave off.

  What was Felssi’s target? Was she trying to spread their forces thin? Was she aiming for the white tower?

  Izick grunted as he lowered the mask over his mouth to catch his breath. He had to figure this out quickly, or they would all be dead before the Hossa Mercenary Band arrived to escort the civilians out of Damaran.

  Civilians?

  Horror came over Izick’s face as he turned to the white tower. Kaleen said that there’s little chance that Felssi knows about the white tower’s Mana Bomb since it's a closely guarded secret that was hidden from even neighboring Elf clans.

  It gave the Damaran Elves a huge advantage on the battlefield, but Felssi likely planned for this by bringing that Death Elf with the shields to block artillery strikes.

  No, she wanted to hurt the Damaran Elves where it hurts the most. The defenseless people of Damaran!

  Izick took off running towards the location of the civilians, hopping from building to building in a mad dash. He was such an idiot! Of course, this was Felssi’s plan! Why face elven warriors when you could just kill or take the civilians hostage?

  He had trusted Kaleen’s words too readily when she reassured Izick and the others that Felssi would never find the hidden civilians with the illusion she concocted.

  Felssi had a counter for every known thing the Elves of Damaran threw at her, so why not this?

  Izick stopped at the ledge of a tall house and peered down.

  Three Death Elves wearing black and white hooded robes trailed Felssi with their hands lifted into the air.

  A purple stream of goop-like Mana flowed from their feet and slithered past Felssi and across the stone street like a snake until it stopped at a large pile of rubble and debris.

  Felssi lazily waved her hand at the rubble, dispelling the illusion Skill and revealing the large house containing the civilians of Damaran.

  She smiled as she produced a large red orb of swirling Mana in her right hand.

  “Ah, Kaleen. You never learn. Didn’t you know that pride is the cousin of foolishness?” Felssi raised the red orb of Mana above her head, causing it to bulge into an even larger orb.

  “Goodbye, Damaran.”