"Well?" asked Agatha, turning slightly as she glanced at each of her students in turn, "Give me an analysis."
They glanced at each other and then looked back at her. It was Britney who broke the silence.
"We're in a lot of trouble," she said, dazed.
Magnus snorted, "Understatement," he said, shaking his head, "the sword hero just killed the King and used some alchemically modified plants to destroy the whole castle."
"I meant an analysis of the Sword Hero's abilities," she said, her tone dry, keeping amusement from it.
Agatha tapped the crystal orb in the middle of the table they were sitting around with her staff. The illusion restarted its projection and the recording started again. It was a pity that they hadn't caught the start or end of the attack but it was useful to see what little they had captured anyway.
"Look carefully," she said, slowing the replay back as they saw a bird's eye view of the Sword Hero unleashing five powerful blasts of yellow mana at the Castle, "observe where the attacks hit and what they went through."
Britney and Magnus both frowned at the scene as she set it to loop. After nearly a minute of studying the illusion Britney gasped. Agatha and Magnus turned to her and she flushed slightly at the attention.
"Well?" asked Agatha.
"He...he destroyed the anchors for the barriers and he destroyed the defences around them like they were nothing." she said, "I can't even imagine how much mana or what type of affinity you would need to do that."
Agatha smiled and turned to Magnus who was continuing to watch the rest of the recording. The plants growing rapidly to surround and infiltrate the whole castle before tearing it down. The illusion looped back to the start after that. The Hero had destroyed all the enchanted equipment and somehow drained the entire area of her mana after the initial strikes. Her observation system meant to keep an eye out on Aultcray had given her an unexpected boon.
It would be useful if Adrian chose to extend his revenge to Melromarc as a whole.
"The plants...they were used for containment." said Magnus, stroking his chin, "I can't figure out how he was controlling them so well but the expansion was deliberate."
Agatha nodded, "Excellent," she said, "but is there anything more you have noted?"
Her apprentices paused. Reconsidered the illusions before looking back at her hesitantly. They had no answers.
Agatha leaned back against her chair and said, "He targeted the arrays accurately. Each of the five blasts hit exactly the right locations with absolute disregard for whatever was in the way."
"Sensory magics," said Brittany, shaking her head, "he's got some really powerful sensory magic on top of an absurd attack."
Agatha carefully studied her students. Noted that they were calm and then stood up.
"Let's go," she said, picking her cloak off the chair and securing it around her, feeling the defensive enchantments on it light up as her mana empowered it. Her students followed her out the door into the chaotic streets.
"Where to?" asked Magnus.
Agatha pointed at the massive collection of plants that had replaced the Castle in the centre of their city. The Castle had been placed on a small hill that elevated it far above the area around it. A wise tactical choice. But the prominent and easily visible location now made the fact that it had been destroyed more obvious.
Agatha and her students took to the rooftops. Their high levels and status enhancements allowing them to easily deal with the uneven rooftops. Even if she had to slow down. Classed up or not she was still more than 40 levels above them.
It was the easiest method to avoid the chaotic crowds down below. The low murmur of a thousand voices had created a cacophony. Thousands of people stood and stared and speculated. It was fairly late at night but it seemed that news had spread over the past couple of minutes and practically the entire city was awake.
Agatha was now more certain than ever that waiting before reaching the Castle-or where the Castle had been- had been a wise move. Her students had calmed down. Fear gave way to an analytical mindset and she had felt her terror as she realized that the Sword Hero had far surpassed Aultcray and the Spear Hero fade.
She was still worried and scared but it was a rational sort of fear. Something that made her want to figure out the best type of magic to deal with a problem rather than cower in fear.
Agatha caught a glimpse of the small houses near the outskirts as they made their way higher and higher towards the peak of the hill. It was where Lucia and Aultcray had once lived.
Sorry, she thought, I never managed to get your brother back.
Lucia would have forgiven her. Her secret student, her first apprentice, had been a kind woman. But Agatha didn't deserve it. Aultcray had died when his sister fled and Agatha had been the one to help Lucia run away.
It wasn't something she regretted.
Aultcray had chained Lucia and that idiotic Hakuoko had loved her dearly but it still left some lingering doubts about how she could have arranged the situation better.
Especially after the massacre.
Agatha shook off her doubts as she and her apprentices slowed down. The remnants of the castle and the odd little forest that had replaced it were in full view. Up close the size of the alchemical construct the sword hero had created became obvious. The vines and the stem of the plants were wrapped around each other multiple times but even from a distance, it was obvious that the plants were taller and more widespread than the Castle had been. Truthfully she was both worried and a little optimistic about the plants. The Hero had held the ability to simply destroy the Castle that he hadn't spoken volumes about his goals.
Still, he had grown this whole thing in a matter of seconds. It emphasized the threat he was.
"Stop!" came the command from a soldier at the head of a gaggle of soldiers as Agatha entered the perimeter that had been set up, "No one is permitted to be here by the orders of Lord Alamos."
Agatha snorted at the idea of that old windbag trying to stop her. She flared her mana and watched with some amusement as the foolish brat who had spoken up stumble. Every single person in the perimeter turned towards her.
Alarm. Relief. Fear. Joy.
A multitude of emotions was visible. She may not be an empath but nobles were transparent when you knew what to look for and normal people were even easier to read.
One of them, the aforementioned Lord Alamos, the highest-ranking Lord in the area with the natural exception of the Royal Family, walked towards her and nodded.
"Lady Agatha," he said, putting the title in front of her name with some hesitation, and completely ignoring her apprentices, "Thank the Gods that you are here we need to arrange a rescue operation but the monster is proving to be a challenge but if we had your aid-"
"Challenge?" she asked, interrupting the man before glancing at the many injured soldiers and the absolute lack of damage on the plants. The fool had no idea who had done this and must have underestimated it. The soldiers had paid the price for his arrogance.
"The plants respond viciously to any attempt to remove them. Worse," he said, clenching his fists, "they are immune to the elements, weaponry and can attack with powerful strikes of their own. We have already had two of ours crippled."
Agatha considered the massive construct with fresh eyes and walked towards the plant. She heard her apprentices apologizing to the old bastard. Foolish. You don't apologize to his kind; they only ever take advantage of it. She'd have to speak to them later.
However, thoughts of her apprentices or the fool they were speaking to fled her mind after she touched the plants with her mana.
It was alive in a way that was hard to describe. Complex, full of life in a way that only the most dangerous plants were in the wild. She could almost feel the hundreds of factors that were controlling the lifeform but more than that she could feel its scope.
Fear rose and curiosity trumped it.
The plant had been spread not just around or under the Castle. It was under the whole city.
She ignored the soldiers who tried to stop her from touching the plant. Agatha simply flared her mana and created a small dome of her entropic magic that dissolved the plants as they neared her. Soon, the intelligent construct backed off and left her alone but only after trying to poison and paralyze her.
How adorable. It was well-designed amateur work.
It was docile right now but her magic could very well be the critical piece needed to shatter it. Entropic magic was powerful but she didn't want to imagine the consequences of something like this being out of control. She needed to study this very, very carefully.
Especially since there were a great many people who were still alive inside it.
Agatha inspected the plants binding the blonde-haired girl.
Paralysis, sleep and a powerful Curse Seal. Just as it had been for the previous prisoners.
She flared her magic and the dome that was surrounding her, Magnus and the soldiers expanded rapidly. All life, except the girl who was bound, was annihilated outside her dome for nearly ten meters, the plants withered and were reduced to dust in seconds and that dust vanished within another couple of instants.
"Go," she commanded. The soldiers, used to the process by now, jumped into action and picked up the girl before the plants could grow back. Once they had returned to safety she reduced the size of her dome and watched the plants grow and surround them once more.
The incredible speed at which they grew made it look like time had been accelerated around them and she saw Magnus flinch as they reached for her barrier only to disintegrate. The soldiers tightened their grip on their swords and spears.
Agatha kept moving. They followed with suppressed hesitation.
The plants were fast, powerful, resilient and dangerous. They were well designed, well-programmed and more than a little powerful but they could not face her. Not when her magic was especially attuned to killing living beings.
"Next," she said to Magnus, who nodded, focused on his Clairvoyance, allowing him to see through his mana, and pointed in the right direction.
The girl was the thirtieth person she had rescued and Agatha was getting the sense that the Sword Hero was a great deal more careful than she had assumed. She had checked for Aultcray first and had found nothing but every other person was accounted for. Even the servants and soldiers were present. But the presence of everyone except for his target made the absence of the libraries and the Vault of artefacts and gold even more striking.
He had killed the King and robbed Mirellia blind. Not to mention losing their ancestral home. This was a massive insult combined with an immense threat. House Melromarc was finished unless a miracle occurred.
Normally this wouldn't concern Agatha. One royal family was the same as any other. Corrupt scum to the last but with a War and the Waves arriving soon? No, it was unacceptable. She'd have to speak to Edgar and support Mirellia. It was the only practical option. Of course, if the Sword Hero wanted vengeance on the Queen of Melromarc as well then backing the woman up could be a mistake. Perhaps she should wait and see. Adrian's response was not going to be subtle if the show he put on was any indication.
They moved on from one person to the next. Most were fairly easy to rescue as the plants didn't make much of a fuss. Sure, they tried to attack anyone that attempted to rescue the prisoners but once rescued they didn't do much. It was why she was certain that the Sword Hero had been very careful indeed, she could feel the desire of the construct to attack, but there were some rather strict parameters that it had to follow to be allowed to do so.
After nearly an hour of conducting rescues, she and the rest of the team walked out for the last time with the final set of prisoners.
"Well done," she said. Magnus smiled, his expression tired, while the soldiers all stood up straighter, "Get them to the Healers and take a break."
The captain paused as the others moved away, "What about His Majesty? We didn't find him."
"He's dead and has probably been dissolved by the acid," she lied with a casual shrug, remembering the streak that had flown through the sky after the battle that Magnus had spotted.
The captain looked a little stunned but gathered himself admirably and moved away. Agatha felt a surge of respect. That man was strong.
"Teacher…" said Brittany as she approached, "several Lords have gathered. They are asking for your presence in their meeting."
Agatha rolled her eyes. She doubted that they had 'asked'.
"Don't worry about them," she said, "they'll spend a couple of hours arguing about who's going to be in charge. Edgar will be back soon. We'll let him handle that mess."
Brittany looked relieved.
"I guess you won't be dusting them then," said Magnus and Brittany glared at him, stopping him from saying more.
Agatha ignored their subsequent bickering and approached the plant, placing a hand on it and infusing it with mana, letting the image of the plant fill her mind as her magic showed her what her eyes could not. She had something far more important to deal with than petty squabbles between Houses.
"Brittany, Magnus." she said, flaring her entropic magic to create a small safe place for them, "come here and tell me what you think about it. I want five of its best designed and worst designed characteristics now."
Their argument, which would have continued for hours, cut off immediately and they walked up next to her and started to work with the plant, following the mana trail she had left.
It was odd not to have Ethan pacify both of them.
Agatha glanced at the remains of her former friends home and thought about his conspicuous absence. It was nice to know that Ethan had been almost fully avenged. The church's leaders had been purged for the most part, with only the Pope and some of his luckier supporters left, and it would not be long before that bastard was found.
Ethan would probably not want her to avenge him like this but it was what he deserved.
She waited for five minutes. "Give me your preliminary analysis."
Both of them turned to her in unison before turning to each other. Sweat fell down their faces in rivulets and they looked away.
"Well?"
"Sorry," said Brittany, "we couldn't figure out much. It seems to have a deep root system and is very durable but it resisted our analysis."
Agatha smiled, "Good. You've done as expected," she said and savoured their surprised look, "this is an example of a very basic alchemical process, mana infusion and property modification taken up to an absurd extreme, the reason why you're struggling to read anything is that the creator made this as a defensive structure. So the mana is resistant to interpretation."
"Can you read it Teacher?" asked Brittany, standing up straighter, once she realized the nature of the test.
"Of course," she said, "As I said, this is a basic process that has been taken to an extreme, it is possible though complicated to learn about it if need be"
Agatha cut herself off when she saw the sky bleed.
A glance upward turned into a stare as blue coloured rifts were torn open into the red sky directly overhead. She swallowed as she observed small dots falling from those rifts.
Monsters. Thousands of monsters. The Wave had arrived and it was early and positioned directly above the city. Aultcray was dead. The people were out in the streets and the static defences were not up.
This was a disaster.
"Lady Agatha," she heard and turned towards the source. Alamos was running towards her. Dignity and pride forgotten, "the Wave-"
"I know," she said, calm washing over her as she realized that this was just another battle, "send the word out to the walls, the other Houses and the adventurers guild. We will need to coordinate quickly or face destruction. I want the city-wide defences activated now."
The man almost protested but a glare from her silenced him and he nodded instead. Within seconds runners had been sent along with a small group to protect the men and women and then there was no more time left for discussion as monsters began to drop from the sky.
Agatha glanced at an undead horde that was about to land near them and lashed out with her Entropic magic. It killed them.
She frowned and then realized that she had a very foolish opinion of Waves. Certainly, these Waves were a threat to a farmer but they were weak to any trained soldier. It would be best if she saw this as nothing more than an enemy assault that would have troops delivered by air for a couple of hours.
An enemy capable of bypassing most of their defences.
She exhaled and looked to her apprentices who were ready for battle, even if they were poorly equipped for it, "Get some equipment from the soldiers and secure this area," she commanded, before reinforcing her physical stats with an enhancement spell "leave this to me."
Agatha jumped into the air, created a small stone platform to jump off from, launched herself from the hyperdense projectile and dissolved it as soon as she kicked off it. A couple of jumps later she had a full view of the chaos that had gripped her city. It had only been a minute or two at most since the battle had started and yet hundreds had died. She could see that many had already raised their weapons in defence of themselves and their fellows but the panic and chaos was preventing any form of organized action.
Agatha calmed her racing thoughts, created a floating platform made out of stone, and focused on what she was best at.
Killing things.
She flared her magic and hundreds of the attackers died. But she didn't dare attack those who were near the ground. Entropic magic was powerful but her strongest attacks were indiscriminate. It would be best for them all if she focused on stopping as many monsters as possible from landing in the city.
It was the wise thing to do, the smart thing to do.
She still found it hard to hear the dying people and do nothing.
Agatha moved from one position to the next. Trying her best to reduce the strain on the defenders below. Alamos, much to her surprise, managed to muster up the people and she could see the start of organized defences in many areas. It was impressive and inspiring.
It was not enough.
The slums, the poorer parts of the city were already consumed by blood and flames. The number of capable defenders in those parts of the city had been non-existent and it had taken less than a minute to overwhelm them. Agatha found herself spending most of her time there, trying to reduce the casualties but it just wasn't possible when her best method of attack couldn't be used near people lest she annihilates them.
She protected hundreds but hundreds more died. Like water slipping through a clenched fist. Agatha stopped, jumped off her platform, move high into the sky and screamed. Her magic lanced out and consumed thousands of monsters that were above her city. It was an amazing feat of magic.
It also left her exhausted. Between reinforcing the defences of the Castle and the past couple of minutes she had drained a majority of her reserves and at her age Magic Water was less effective than it could have been. She drank it anyway and winced at the pain.
Agatha landed bracing for impact with a flare of mana that reinforced her body.
She no longer had the ability to use wide-area attacks. It was best that she focused on the ground. The mage was near a massive five-meter tall dog-like monster. A glance at his blood-covered snout told her that thing's story.
It died as a small sphere of entropically aligned mana pierced its skull. The sound its collapse made was staggering. She grimaced at the sphere continuing on its path and tearing into a home. It was empty but the damaged walls collapsed.
She moved forward. Realizing abruptly that it might have been wiser for her to go back to the Castle and restore herself. If the reports she had received from Seaetto were any indication this would last for hours.
Agatha grimaced at the thought of taking to the air again and started to trudge back. Her enchantments faded as her mana flow was reduced. Every step felt heavy. Not because of her exhaustion. The broken bodies, the fragile homes shattered a reminder of what she had done before.
An invisible weight settled on her as she ran through the devastation, occasionally killing the monsters she encountered, it was painful but it kept her focused and aware. The lack of visible survivors grated on her.
The rain of monsters continued. She didn't know what was happening to the rest of the city but here despite her best efforts, there was no reduction in their numbers. She decided to take to the air again. She knew that there had to be survivors here and there. Any monster she killed improved the chances of their survival. Agatha drew upon her slightly regenerated reserves but before she could do more than enhance herself the world changed.
The reddish hue of the sky was dismissed. A massive, familiar golden beam of light cut through the sky. It swept across for less than a second but for that instant, everything looked different.
When it faded the sky looked the same but the monsters that dotted it was gone.
Then the rain began.
Thousands of glowing swords fell. Each one piercing a monster. Each one killing a monster. Elemental explosions or sheer brute force. Massive beams of light and slashes of energy. All of it coloured with the same mana that she had been studying just a couple of minutes before.
Agatha laughed. Relief and grief mixing as the very same plants, back at the Castle, she had been worried about hours ago began to grow and form a massive dome around the city. Support pillars grew from nowhere, like the fingers of a giant reaching for the sky. Within seconds the city had a shield that glowed with light from a thousand flowers and the eerie crimson sky was covered by a wooden barrier.
She could feel the plants moving beneath her feet as they reorganized to support the massive structure that had been hastily created to block the monsters from reaching the city. The odd silence that filled the world was a surprise.
She looked at one of the massive skeletons, armoured with a large sword. Dead after a sword had struck its skull and pierced straight through.
Agatha looked up at the wooden construct that was studded with glowing flowers. A poor replica of the sky and the stars but one that protected them.
She shook her head and walked towards the Castle. It was likely that it was still the command centre.
This was not over yet.
The hill had been transformed.
The Castle had been a majestic structure. Less defensive fortification than a show of power and wealth. The plants that had replaced it were haphazard but quite impressive but neither compared to the immense pillar that had taken their place.
It reached high up into the sky and then bloomed into the centre of the dome that covered the city. She could see the numerous supporting strands that emerged from it to support both the dome and the pillar itself. It had grown beyond the boundary that it had selected for itself and the entire hill was being used as an anchor for the dome. From her position, she could even see that the supporting pillars across the city were also carefully placed to support the structure. It cheered her up a little to see that one of the pillars had almost destroyed Lady Katrina's house.
"Milady!" came the shout as they spotted her walking up the hill. The chaotic mess she had left behind was far more normal now. The soldiers were moving around with purpose and the Lords were arguing.
Agatha nodded at the soldier who quickly ushered her to the Lords and Ladies. Or Lady to be more specific. All of them looked haggard and were standing. No comfortable seats or luxuries. They looked grateful to see her.
It was distinctly odd.
"Lady Agatha," said Lord Alamos, his tone relieved, "we had almost assumed the worst. What is the situation in the city?."
"The Sword Hero has killed every monster that was in the city and the dome prevents further entry. I can only imagine that he's continuing to fight the Wave." she said noting Alamos' discomfort as she continued, "however, a lot of damage was done we need to send out search parties and healers quickly. We also need to cover the walls. The dome might be safe but the gates and the walls are still concerns."
They all looked uncertain and didn't speak for a fair few seconds.
"Well?" she asked, annoyed at the delay. The Wave was probably intensifying and the damage it had done in less than five minutes was intense. They needed to help now or the casualties would keep mounting as panic and injuries took their toll.
"My lady was it the Sword Hero who attacked us before?" asked Alamos.
Agatha glared at him, "Of course," she said, tempted to hit the idiot, "no one else could have manipulated the plant as he did. What of it?"
They shared uncomfortable looks. Agatha flared her recovering mana drawing attention to herself.
"We have a Wave to deal with." she said, her tone cold, "nothing else matters for the moment. If you like you can challenge the Sword Hero later. Rest assured that I'll bury you in a fancy grave if there's enough of you left to bother with."
They paused but nodded. Alamos stayed silent but the others started to speak. It didn't take them very long to get the basic set of orders established. A simple demonstration of how useless these fools were unless pushed into action.
Pathetic. They were bothered with Aultcray while people were dying. She stomped her way to her apprentices wondering why she had even considered that they would act otherwise.
After all, it was only the commoners who were dying.
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Agatha was a surprising challenge to write. Do you think I got her voice right?