"Need an extra hand, Cter?"

The extending barrier magic that raised high and mighty in a protective bend over the main gate into Jarasevo required the use of both of Cter's hands. The right arm of her robe had on it the same harsh, white light as the White Flesh on her left arm, helping paint the last section of the protective dome around Jarasevo. The two different textures from Kry and Kurant's respective sections that flanked either side of Cter's portion of the magical defenses she had to somehow smooth over until they looked the same on the last section which had to be the thickest to boot.

It was facing the main road head on, looking directly at the human encampment that Aajja's bombardments had slowed down for a while. Eventually his and his subordinates magical reserves had run out, and were forced to rest up. Cter had done so as well.

"I can't really fathom that you're yawning this much right now."

Albeit not as well as she had hoped.

"So..." she tried to say before another yawn widened her mouth uncouthly, "...rry." She smacked her dry lips. "I was tossing and turning at each sound that could have been the start of the human attacks." All it did though was having her taste the sting in the air which had begun to descend from the barrier magic like an invisible fog. It was similar to the air near a recent thunder strike, like burnt air.

The pungent odor had Kurant's nose furrowing, and she had to smooth it out with a quick pinch and drag on it. Cter hoped that it wasn't that hand she was offering to cover her yawning mouth with. "Can say that twice." Her eyes widened. "Not literally, that is," came a quick correction with an accompanying, raised palm.

"I remember what we talked about," she tapped at her chest, "and that it was either me forgetting or me waking up to my soul realizing that Queen Toriel presence no longer was with me." The sparse color on her face drained, leaving only faint flush on her cheeks among a snow-white expression. "It was the...latter." Her eyes averted as she inhaled a shaky breath. "Very much the latter..."

Cter needed focus on her barrier magic so she did not ask anything to pry further. Like Kurant said before, it was better if Cter didn't know. It was better if Kurant and Kry kept the details of the aftermath of their changed souls to themselves lest Cter went and put even more weight onto herself. They were upfront about it which Cter appreciated. Better that she knew that she shouldn't know than didn't know that she shouldn't know.

"Cter," stated Kurant as the growing barrier magic flickered slightly akin to a change in the air around a candle. "Focus."

She nodded the thought away. "Yes, thank you."

"No need." Kurant looked to the right down the rampart, glazing her eyes over the unevenly shaped barrier magic that she had created with...mixed homogeneity to them. "We aren't used to doing this much magic. Been a while since we three went all out, after all." A calm sigh passed her lips. "If this is what my upper limit is then I can at least be proud that it was used to protect the Monster Capital." At the tail of the sigh there was a slight dip.

"I would have liked for it to have curved a bit more inwards though." She turned over to the left side of the rampart. "Both for my and Kry's. It should be enough for the range of their siege weaponry, but I can't help but think that one of the thrown ammunition might bounce off and roll over the edge." A thoughtful pause occurred with Kurant's pointing finger deflating. "We have given them plenty of rocks to throw at us with Aajja and his griffons, haven't we?"

Cter wouldn't have put it that way as the dropped rocks had been used to disrupt the humans' siege construction, but she could see why Kurant would have been worried about that. Aajja and his griffons added dark blue magic to their dropped boulders so that they would fall faster and embed themselves deeper into the ground.

It would take quite the effort from the humans to lift those up unless they had a mage with them, and a powerful one to boot. Terri wouldn't have betrayed the treaty and Rasliela wouldn't have wanted to miss the Final Battle. None of the lookouts had reported that the humans were in the process of unearthing the dropped boulders, so it seemed like the humans had other plans in mind then.

"Will probably be more of an effort for them to get those rocks out of the ground than it would be worth throwing them at us." Cter fanned her fingers out to widen the barrier magic. It wasn't necessary, but it gave her something physical to do before moving to the next stage of the formation. First she made the barrier magic to then thicken it up and give it some better structure.

It might not have been crystal magic, but there was still a crystal-like structure in its nature. It was how she imagined it to be. It was how she found the barrier magic to work. Different from how Kurant and Kry, as they saw and thought about the barrier magic differently, yet in the end it did the same. It protected Jarasevo, and that was all that mattered. "But then again attacking the Monster Capital while the Final Battle is underway is more trouble than worth too, so who's to say, really?"

"True," agreed Kurant after another pinch on her nose. "They certainly caught us off guard with this maneuver of theirs, and without any reasoning we can think about why they would do so it is difficult to ascertain anything more specific than that they will attack us with siege engines sooner rather than later." She peered through the shimmer of the Cter's thickening barrier magic. That she could see through it was a surprise to Cter since she was pouring quite a lot into it without any care for how it would look and only how it would function.

It was to be attacked and most likely damaged greatly by the humans, so why did she bother with the details at a time like that?

"It pains me to give them credit for their efficiency," Kurant bit her underlip with a small growl, "however it seems that they are progressing quite quickly with their construction." She huffed a furrow. "They must have realized that they could not build anything larger than them without Aajja seeing that as a target." A furrow that deepened.

"Maybe...maybe what the griffons attacked was just a diversion? What if what they destroyed were just distractions to pull away Aajja's attention away from the real siege engines that they were preparing to build?" There was turmoil building in her soul which tensed her shoulders and visage. "Look, they've already managed half of a skeleton frame of siege tower! It was just a pile of lumber when I left the barracks!"

Cter wouldn't have known since she hadn't been able to look past her barrier magic for a few hours on end. Its harsh light wouldn't have allowed her to see even if she had tried to.

So why did she feel defensive about not having seen it?

"Sorry, I couldn't–"

"Fetch Kry!" Kurant shouted over Cter's meek apology to a Royal Guard messenger who had talked with the ones stationed at the main gate about rotating shifts with those of the other gates. Kurant's voice had the ears of the hare-like monster standing high and on edge from both the hurry in Kurant's voice and the hurry in her aura.

"Bring him here as soon as possible!" It was if she was stopping just short of sounding the alarms and putting the Royal Guards on battle stations. It was to be the case soon enough when Kry would arrive, Cter reckoned, so her getting the last, front-facing section of the barrier dome and ready was even more a priority than before.

She inhaled steadily.

"I'm here!"

And swallowed enough air in her startle to cause the arriving Monster Mage to pat her hard on her back with his opened hand.

"Apologies, Cter," Kry offered while the sounds of mighty wings easing down to the ground flowed from behind him. The harsh light was calmed a bit by the Griffon Commander's shadow, and even more so from him stretching his wings wide. "I thought you heard me from above."

"I–" One last cough managed to sneak up on Cter. "I didn't, sorry." It wasn't enough to impede the progress of her barrier magic, but the layers she were focused on looked poor even by functional standards. Still functional, but even less pleasant to the eyes with its structure akin to that of brickwork laid by a ghost monster. It was too see-through when it was meant to obscure.

The apology swiftly faded from importance as a less-startled Kurant took a step in between Kry and Cter with her left leg. "You noticed, didn't you?" she asked with her right arm pointing through the forming barrier magic and over yonder. "The humans had us figured out with the boulder bombardments."

An uncomfortable ruffle shot through Aajja's feathers, rustling them like an aspen tree. His tired aura told of embarrassment, radiating with a defeated shame. "My deepest apologies for this terrible mistake that I have carried on. There is no excuse for not thinking ahead and considering that the humans would have wised up against our tactics. I should have noticed, but I was blinded by pride as I imagined that I was doing a good job with holding the humans back."

His monocle looked to be about to fall out of his eye at any second as his expression bent and molded through quiet curses under his breath. "Please, put all the blame on me as my subordinates were only following my orders. It is I that did wrong," Aajja's head bent down deeply, "and not theirs."

Kry didn't waste a second before motioning for the Griffon Commander to raise his head again. "If there is any blame to be had then it should be on us," he corrected. "We made an assumption and we stuck to it. Now that it has turned out to have been wrongly made we should focus on how to continue on from that.

Blame one can only do when one has the luxury of time which we will not have come soon or sooner." Kry adjusted his glasses with an impatient fiddle. "How are you and your subordinates feeling? Are you rested enough to take up your duties once more?"

"If that is what is necessary then–"

"That was not what I asked," Kry interrupted with a rigid shake to his head. "I asked if you and your subordinates were rested enough. The boulder bombardments were to give us Monster Mages enough time to raise barrier magic around Jarasevo, and with that you have succeeded." He stepped fully between Cter and Aajja before the griffon could see that she was still working on the last section.

"It might be advantageous for us to send you in for another run when the humans have approached as it will slow them down by a greater margin if we let them believe that they can advance easily. They know that they managed to fool us, and they will rely on that to push as an advantage. The shock of us seeing that we have not impeded any of their siege-building progress we should not allow to let linger. Instead we should plan one step ahead of where they are and where they think we are at the moment."

The smell of burnt air had Kry coughing slightly after inhaling deeply.

"So I ask you again, Aajja," said Kry with a sympathetic bend to his eyes. "Are you and your subordinates well rested enough to be able to launch a similar attack as what you have already done?"

The Griffon Commander faltered from the weight of the question, which if anything already told of his answer. The feathers around his eyes seemed to solidify, and eventually a weary exhale wafted out of his beak. "We are not," he answered with great disappointment.

"We are not ready for a similar offensive as we have already done, as both our magical reserves as well as our available ammunition has taken a toll. Those boulders that we have available to us now are those that we judged to be of high effort to extract from the ground. To boot we are still tired from the previous attack due to its intensity and length. Two full days of constant attacks and we almost did not make it back within Jarasevo before collapsing from exhaustion. Our souls and wings are strained, more so than they ever have before."

"You've done more than enough," said Kurant to the lamenting Griffon Commander. "Like Kry said, you have given us valuable time which we desperately needed. You have not failed, commander."

With that said though there was still the issue that the humans would have their siege engines at the ready sooner than expected. The barrier magic was ready, but would the rest of the Royal Guards be? Would the civilians be ready too? With the barrier magic raised there was the question of how the Royal Guard would attack back at the humans.

While the barrier magic would protect against the siege engines the monsters had to keep said siege engines at enough of a distance for them to be ineffective. If the humans were to deploy archers nearby the city walls then those would be able to reach over. There would be needed Royal Guards with ice and water magic stationed near the city walls to put out the blazes from arrows lit with fire and oil.

With enough force it would be possible for the humans to also get through the barrier magic around the main gate as the Monster Mages would be busy with keeping the catapult and trebuchet attacks at bay. Large and heavy Royal Guards that knew both dark blue and orange strength magic would have been ideal for that task.

Seems like there would not be any pause for breath for the Monster Mages as they would have to launch straight into organizing the Royal Guards as quickly as possible. Some of the civilians might have to be conscripted into a militia because of that.

There were enough Royal Guards to make a complete presence around the city walls, but without any time to plan and to coordinate quick rotations of vanguards as necessary there would not be any time for any brilliant tactics in order to properly ration out the Royal Guards depending on where the humans focused their attacks.

The humans wanted the monsters to fight as humanly as possible both at the Final Battle and at the Monster Capital, it seemed.

"Our first priority now is to rally the Royal Guard and have them be ready to take up position at a moment's notice," said Kry with a turn inwards towards Jarasevo. His robe swayed in the rising breeze up the rampart, enlarging his presence and the imposing shadow he cast down. The Royal Guards that had begun to sense that something was happening among the Monster Mages approached within Kry's large shadow, standing in honor. They could feel his aura. "Royal Guards!"

And the growing fire within it.

"The humans will soon prepare to besiege our city! Our capital! Our home!" His white-glowing sleeve swept widely from within his robe, tracing behind it a deep arc of foggy barrier magic. "With the barrier magic they will not manage inside, however that does not mean that we can just wait for them to leave. We will not hold out! We will defend the Monster Capital! We will defend with just as much hostility as they have, and then added to it our own!" His voice could have convinced the deaf to hear him.

"Together we will make the humans regret this war of theirs. This war that they have forced upon us, and which they now force upon the very walls of our capital!" He took another step closer to the edge of the rampart to better hide Cter behind him. Magically he added some more wind that grabbed a hold of his robes with harder tugs. "I need you. I need all of you! Monsterkind needs all of you!"

Kurant joined by his side, throwing her glowing sleeve in a similar arc as Kry's. "Monsterkind needs all of us! It is our duty to protect! It is our duty to welcome back the Monster Army to the exact same Monster Capital as when they left!" The glow from it covered up Kry's balled fist clenching to help his nerves. "Victory at the Final Battle depends on us here! The Monster Army may be far away, but their souls are still here! Their souls are still here in Jarasevo where they will return victorious to!"

The streets around the main gate filled so fast that Cter could hear the echo from Kurant's voice change between two of her sentences. From it rose a dense mixture of emotions that contained anything and everything from fear to excitement to anger to relief. The feelings towards the incoming human attack were as varied as the monsters that had gathered. Each of their souls joining with the one next to them as they listened to Kry and Kurant continuing to play off the other's speech to raise the spirits of the monsters under their wings.

Busy enough they were that they did not notice what Cter did through the last of the shimmering barrier magic that she was finalizing. Through the solidifying flow of trickling barrier magic the shimmer that distorted the view outside faded away into a more clearer picture. She could see the ravaged landscape in the distance which Aajja had littered with boulders. In Hjearta they called those something akin to Giant's Throws, but there were no giant who had thrown those that she saw.

There was no giant that walked up next to her to confirm what it was that he saw as well.

"That is strange."

And there was no giant's feathers that ruffled in slightly perplexed thought.

"Why is there only a small squad riding up towards here?"

Aajja was the one with the better knowledge of military matters so why he was asking the question to Cter, she could not make sense of. "I don't know," she answered weakly. "Should we..." She had no good suggestion.

"They can't be so ignorant as to believe that a mere squad can take on the entirety of Jarasevo with you three Monster Mages defending it too." The ruffled plumage slowly sank back as Aajja peered harder through his monocle. "If they parleyed for you to not be present at the Final Battle they can't just send a single squad towards you in full force of your magic."

It wasn't full force, but Cter got the point. "Maybe..." Her full force she did not dare to utilize even in the protection of the Monster Capital. "Maybe they're here to parley some more?" She felt that the barrier magic would be done at any second.

The Griffon Commander clicked his tongue in disgust. Again his plumage raised and his feathers spread, albeit wider than before. So much so that the chain to his monocle looked to get stuck in the spreading feathers. "If so then I am not sure whether or not I should be insulted or not by it. What would they want to discuss? Our surrender? Unconditional surrender of our capital?"

His body lowered in stance, with his large, fluffy tail curling angrily at his side. His claws and talons dug into the mortar between the cobble, scraping a rough, horrible sound. "The nerve..." A scoff and a spit had some of his screeching following in his voice.

"To come to our gates and demand our surrender by just the prospect of them being here? They haven't even one tower raised and they come here like they have already won?" One of the stones Aajja's talons were gripping around came loose, trapped hard inside its prison. He squeezed it hard enough that cracks began to form on it. "I should..."

A thought struck him hard enough that the stone slipped out his hand, dropping down next to where he had excavated it. As Aajja put down his empty talons again he unknowingly pushed it back into its excavated hole. He did not notice, instead his eyes were wide from the thought that had struck him. The feathers around his beak began to bend upwards, indicating a smile that soon reached his eyes. "No...not me."

With a sway of his long neck, Aajja turned to Cter.

"You should."