~~~30 years prior~~~
Margrave General de Gramont grit his teeth as he slammed his fist against the wall behind him, ignoring the mild pain as he stared at the knight knelt on the ground. "Say that again. I want to make sure I heard that correctly, because it is very hard to believe. What caused the blaze in the residential area?"
"Lord General, I have not misspoken." the knight said, bowing her head to avoid making eye contact with the enraged noble. "The rebellion staged an internal attack, and scouts believe there to be two Square-class mages in their ranks. One is Count Marteau de Plait, but the one who set the fire seems to be a young child, estimated ten years old. No one knows who he is, though."
"You're telling me that someone so young with no background was able to catch us off guard and cast blue flames?! Are you telling me that all three of my sons weren't skilled enough to handle a child?" the man shouted, and the knight flinched, shaking her head.
"Sir, I'm sorry for your loss, and they were good men, but this is the truth. Lord Osmond and Guiteau are holding them off, but until Innocentius gets here-"
She was cut off by the man thrusting his hand to his side, pushing his mantle behind his back as he glared at her. "Some Chevalier you are if you can't handle two people. His Majesty's forces are being spread thin by the full-scale battles elsewhere, so we don't have the manpower to deal with this. Don't wait for Innocentius, I give you permission to use the students who are visiting here."
The woman's eyes went wide as she stared, mouth agape, at the noble. "But, sir, they're not accustomed to real combat, and Queen Louise's policy-"
"I don't care about her policies right now! Just do it, I'll take the punishment after this is all over! King Phillippe is in Innocentius' care and Her Grace is far from danger, so have the students focus on civilian evacuation. Have them only move people, ignore any possessions and structures. What can be saved will be salvaged later."
"..." The Chevalier looked like she wanted to argue, but relented, standing up and saluting the man. "Yes, sir. I, Yuya Chevalier von Bismarck, will command the impromptu student force."
"Good. I hope you have the capability to do so, or I would seriously question Her Grace's judgement in deciding who to place in her personal guard."
~~~An hour later~~~
Karin coughed, keeping the corner of her school uniform's cloak firmly over her mouth and nose to block out the smoke as she kept her eyes tightly closed, unable to handle the debris as well as her peers standing beside her. Sandalion had his arm around her back, giving her what comfort he could, while the other two, the obnoxious couple of Denis de Fromage and Isabelle de Montmorency, laughed amongst themselves, carrying on a conversation they'd been having earlier.
Yuya sighed, scratching the side of her head as she looked on at the mismatched group. "I was aware there wouldn't be many, but just four...How many of you are wind or water mages, and are there any Triangle-classes here? I myself am Square, but earth magic isn't as helpful here as those."
Sandalion looked to the Chevalier, and was about to answer before Denis grinned, sticking his thumb pointedly at Karin. "Sandalion's a pretty good wind mage, but Heavy Wind there's not going to be helpful at all. She's Triangle, but she can barely use anything above the most basic stuff."
Outwardly, Karin remained as stoic as she could while trying to rid her lungs of the smog, but she still didn't like the name. Even at Triangle-class, a basic spell like Heavy Wind was still the same as ever, and not only was she incapable of performing higher-order variants like Tornado, she also had little control over the power output.
Denis was right, she wasn't going to be very helpful here. Sure, she was strong, but without variety, she-
"You don't know anything about her." Sandalion snapped at the boy. "You're only a baron yourself, you're just riding on Isabelle's coattails hoping to become a Viscount someday. Karin might not be able to use more complex magic, but she's far and above the rest of her family, and even I don't have the same level of power in my wind that she does."
"You say that, but the Maillarts wouldn't even be nobles if they weren't descended from your Vallieres." Isabelle said, smirking at the man as Karin shifted in the arm he protectively held around her back.
Yuya was silent as she let them argue back and forth, before she raised her hand, coughing to get their attention. "All of you, be quiet. Sir Denis, Lady Isabelle, take this seriously. You four are a secondary force tasked with evacuations. Commoners with no magic can't escape or clear away debris nearly as easily as you can, even if your magic is poorly controlled. I'm not asking any of you to actually fight, your duty is only to get civilians out." She looked to Sandalion and Karin, narrowing her eyes. "Marchion Valliere, Miss Maillart, as you are wind mages, you will be tasked with the areas being directly affected by the fires. The other two, you will concentrate on regions at risk and convince commoners to leave. If any nobility are around, tell them that they are to aid efforts on Margrave Gramont's authority."
"What about you? You're a bigshot, aren't you?" Denis asked, and Yuya sighed at his phrasing.
"I will be fighting alongside the other Square-class mages currently present, as the enemy have two of their own. If you know of Count Marteau, be aware that he is a traitor and should not be spoken to. Stay away from him, I don't want any of you to risk your lives." Before anyone could reply, she hardened her gaze, moving her hand to grab her wand sword and draw it from its sheath at her hip. "You're not heroes, you are students. I don't care that you're all adults now or that you may think you can help. You will only be a hindrance to those of us with actual experience, so stay out of our way and rescue as many people as you can. It is already an honor to work with people of Osmond's stature, don't get greedy and try to get a hit in on someone you can't defeat."
~~~Later~~~
"Windwalker!" Karin shouted, rushing forward as she brought her leg up, hand closing to cast her Fist and bringing her foot in an upward strike on a fallen roof. The wind of Sandalion's Updraft nearly deafened her, but she focused only on keeping the broken beams off the ground as he dove forward to grab the hand of the man who had been trapped inside the space, pulling him out along with the baby he had been holding as the roof fell back to the ground where he'd been, crumbling to pieces as Sandalion passed him to the group of civilians following the pair, who helped the man stand as he limped away from the wreckage, trying to silence the bay's crying as Karin looked around, reaching her hands behind her head to tighten the fabric she'd tied to keep the air somewhat filtered.
"Everyone, don't worry about us!" Sandalion shouted over the sound of the Updraft, the wind forcing the smoke to swirl up into the air and away from the group. "Don't try to get any possessions, just get away from here! Go towards the commercial district, there's a camp set up just outside the city!"
He turned to Karin as the group obeyed, turning away from the flames the duo had gotten ever closer to as Karin grit her teeth, ignoring the stinging in her eyes from the dust kicked up by the roof's collapse. "This would be a lot easier if you brought Ronchonner along, that monster of yours could easily get these people out of harm's way." he said, and she shook her head.
"It's too big, it would just end up inhaling too much smoke and suffocate." she replied. "And it would risk injuring people with its spines. It's better that it isn't here." At the smile on his face, she blinked. "What's so funny?"
"No, it's just that, you're a completely different person when you're fighting." he said, chuckling. "You're so meek when we're just standing around, but as soon as you get to use magic, you act so confident. You don't need any fancy spells, you're Karin the Heavy Wind, aren't you?"
She gave a small smile in response, nodding. "You're such a weird Marchion, complimenting a baronetess like me."
He laughed, waving his wand to direct the Updraft farther along the road as it carried loose particulate with it. "We're already engaged, you're stuck with me the rest of your life. If you think you're not good enough for the Vallieres, then just get better. Not that it matters to me, I like that raw iron style of yours!"
She was about to respond, before she jolted, turning her head to face the direction of the wind. "...Stay here, there's something wrong. I'm going to see what's wrong."
Before he could respond, she had already Windwalked away, her fingers tightening on her wand as she frowned. Weren't Yuya and the other Square-classes this way? If that was the case, then why was she feeling no vibrations in the ground or disturbances in the air other than the fires and the draft from Centurion's magic?
There should be chaos this way, and more to avoid in their mission. If nothing was going wrong, then it was possible that…
Her eyes widened as she dug her feet into the ground, fighting the momentum of Windwalker and ducking behind a broken wall to peek at the scene in front of her.
Yuya was on the ground in the center of a smoldering crater, her features unrecognizable under the burns across her body, blue embers still lit on parts of her ruined armor and the ground below her as she was lifted by her hair by what had to be a child not even old enough to be on his own, much less capable of something like this.
Who...What kind of magic is that? she thought to herself, attempting to process the sight before her. From where she was hidden, she couldn't see Yuya moving, and though it was possible she was alive, with the molten metal of her armor surrounding him like that, it was unlikely she would be getting up again.
The boy holding her was unaffected by the blue flames, which danced along his hooded cloak without disturbing the fabric, and he had a disturbingly wide grin on his face as he lifted the Chevalier's head up, before slamming it down on the ground, causing the metal to splatter and a gurgling sound to come from the woman's throat. "I split you guys up for nothing, if you're all this weak, then the nobles will fall apart without my help!"