Chapter 688: – Trouble in the Whistling Woods (1) |
“Grandpa, our scouts have picked up movement near the western border of the province,” Elaine said.
She had spoken calmly, yet she hadn’t managed to fully hide the traces of fear in her voice. If it had just been a handful of powerful mages invading, they could have slaughtered House Avalon’s sentries before they got the chance to report back to the family. The fact that they hadn’t done that meant that it was a much larger army approaching, probably slowed down by their weakest members.
“It was only a matter of time.” Archibald sighed. Nesha and Micky had already warned them that there had been signs of an impending attack, so they weren’t unprepared. He turned to his son who had been in the office with him since before the interruption. Galahad was immaculately dressed as always, not letting something as trivial as a looming war affect how he presented himself. “Get our strongest mages ready and send word to our allies. We’ll have to hold the line until reinforcements arrive.”
The powerful acid mage rushed out of the room with a solemn nod, leaving Archibald alone with his granddaughter.
Archibald took a moment to regard Elaine carefully. This wasn’t the best time for sentimentality, but he understood that depending on how today’s events unfolded, he might never get another chance. Gone was the enthusiastic girl that had once filled the mansion with laughter and joy. The past few decades had forged her into one of the most reliable pillars of their House.
Her aquamarine hair had grown a little longer since her return from Twilight City, though Elaine hadn’t allowed it to pass her shoulders again, to prevent it from getting in her way while fighting. Her features were still soft and gentle, yet the innocent lustre in her eyes had long faded away. She was still as beautiful and kind as she had always been, but she now exuded an aura of confidence and authority that had kept her would-be suitors at bay as she focused on her training.
Elaine hadn’t slacked at all in recent years. Between her two Blue cores, the composite affinities that they both contained, and the countless hours that she had invested into her magic, Archibald felt that even Galahad might no longer be her equal. Archibald’s son was only still considered the second-in-command of their family due to his centuries of experience and talent for leadership.
If there was an imperfection in Elaine’s appearance, it was the ominous set of ruby-like teeth that revealed themselves every time she opened her mouth, as well as the same-coloured nails that could tear into a person’s skin or leave scratches on the doors and furniture of the mansion with the slightest touch.
This was a problem that everyone in their family had had to deal with ever since they consumed the strange powder that Percy had sent them. Archibald’s grandson had mentioned in his letters that he could probably reverse the side-effects after possessing them and using his Mimicry trait, though he had been too busy to return home.
“Don’t be,” he replied. “Gawain will join the battle, but the others will be safe in the mansion.”
There was no point sending mages below Green in a war against a Great House. Even Greens were arguably too many grades removed from the Violet- and White-level combatants who would likely decide the outcome of the war, but House Avalon had ways to bolster their strength, and couldn’t afford to be too cautious before their reinforcements arrived.
“The mansion won’t be safe either if we lose,” Elaine protested. “I don’t think the gods will allow Machaon to wipe out our bloodline before we produce another Percy, but nobody in my immediate family has it.”
“Then, let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that,” Archibald said with grim determination.
***
The sky was cloudy, though the sun revealed itself every now and then through the occasional gap in the clouds. A gentle breeze was blowing through the forest as always, yet the usually-cheerful melody of the whistling pines now sounded heavy with foreboding.
Had somebody told Archibald a couple of decades ago that he and his family would choose to stand against a Great House one day, he would have thought them crazy. And yet here he was, floating above the Whistling Woods, face-to-face with the man who had nearly doomed the whole planet and was currently targeting his grandson.
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“Lord Asclepius… Percy isn’t here. What are you hoping to accomplish by invading our lands?”
“I am aware of his absence.” The blond patriarch clicked his tongue as a gust of wind swayed his ponytail to the side. “My goal today is merely to weaken his allies.”
Any lingering hope of resolving the matter peacefully died with the White’s words. Archibald took one deep breath after another, pushing his boosting art to the next level.
He was already using Circulation with both cores, and he wasted no time adding the external component to the spell. The vibrant tattoos glowing across his body shone more brightly, a series of illusory vines and cyan ribbons extending out of his pores and coiling around his frame.
The vines weren’t real plants but mere constructs of life mana. Their magical leaves breathed the ambient mana around Archibald all the same, helping him convert it into his own affinities. His second core was still too weak to cast any usable spells, so he would only use it to boost the regeneration of the one in his sternum.
The Blues flying beside him activated the Dance as well, and so did the Greens hidden beneath the canopies of the whistling pines. Percy and Archibald had discussed at length how they were going to utilize their secret weapon in this war.
Everyone knew about the spell by now, though very few people had survived after seeing Percy and Micky use it. Back when they had been hunted across the continent by an army of greedy Blues, Percy had tried his best to eliminate any groups that he and his familiar had been able to handle, while running away from the rest.
Sadly, he hadn’t always been able to escape without showing his boosting art. Percy’s equipment had concealed some of the finer details, and deducing just the Refined version of the spell after catching mere glimpses of the much more complicated Carnival would have been a tall order.
Since then, Percy had begrudgingly given Archibald permission to spread the full Dance to their whole family. This wasn’t entirely without risk, and they hadn’t dared to share even Circulation with their allies yet, but they understood that they wouldn’t be able to stand against a Great House without making a few concessions.
Regardless of how this war ended, there was no doubt that the spell would end up leaking to the rest of the planet afterwards.
It didn’t matter. The spell had served Percy well until now, but he had always intended to eventually share it with everyone. Given how powerful and influential he had become, there wouldn’t be many who would try to get in his way after Machaon was out of the picture.
“Bold move,” Lord Asclepius said with a faint smile. “Are you sure that revealing so many different versions of your spell to my entire family is a good idea?”
“I just have to make sure that you don’t live long enough to learn it,” Archibald replied.
Two tidal waves of willpower collided in the space separating the two armies with enough force to carve a smooth rift into the clouds above them, while sending a violent tremor through the forest. The poor Greens struggled to keep their footing, even though most were standing within the domains of their own superiors – who obviously had no intention of attacking them directly.
At the core of the clash were Machaon and Archibald, both wielding the full power of the White grade. Technically, Archibald was only a Violet, but his second core and boosting art more than made up the difference.
A similar dynamic applied to their subordinates. Machaon had brought five Violets with him, while Archibald merely had eleven Blues supporting him – and only because their numbers had swollen slightly in recent years thanks to the Aurora Dew.
His relatives held the advantage for the time being thanks to their own use of the spell, pushing the hostile willpower back and forcefully creating a more favourable battlefield for their side. Unfortunately, the situation on the ground didn’t look as good.
House Asclepius had brought over forty Blues and a thousand Greens, compared to House Avalon’s less than two hundred and fifty Greens. Even boosted by the Dance, there was no way the weaker family would last long against such a colossal army. The Blues of the Great House could have chosen to rampage through Archibald’s forces, massacring them in mere minutes before reinforcing their leaders.
Thankfully, they instead decided to split into two groups and participate in both battles from the very start. Half joined their superiors, evening out the playing field, while the other half were clearly planning to protect their Greens from the empowered mages.
One might argue that this was worse for Archibald, since it would prevent him from taking out a few of Machaon’s strongest assets early in the fight. It would prolong the battle while worsening the odds for his side. Still, estimating that the casualties of both families would be lower this way, he couldn’t help but exhale in relief.
Archibald was the first to break the stalemate with an actual attack. Dozens of life clones leapt out from the forest, shooting towards Machaon like a rain of human-shaped arrows that looked identical to Archibald himself.
He had kept three hundred of them ready for this fight, and he had even created them while having his boosting art active. Consequently, each clone possessed physical might greater than a regular White’s, further enhanced by a ruby skeleton and Archibald’s spells.
Machaon shot them down with a barrage of plasma bolts, each clone uprooting several trees and digging a deep trench as it got slammed back into the forest. Thankfully, they were able to leap back to their feet without much difficulty, Archibald’s life mana mending their relatively modest wounds in no time. If the enemy patriarch wanted to destroy them, he would have to invest a lot more mana into each attack.
As if on cue, the Blues and Violets joined the battle, plunging the Whistling Woods into chaos.