Chương 50: Invasion

It was interesting to see Arcoryx Academy come alive in the wake of the imminent arrival of an Adamantine-ranked Living Mana Incursion. The announcement itself left no room for doubt. A sudden klaxon reverberated through the entirety of the academy, through every hall and building, across the grounds, and even within places like the library's ever-silent fifth floor. The noise was blaringly loud, hair-raisingly unignorable.

"Students, teachers, staff, and every other member of the great family of Arcoryx Academy," Alaric said through the Inscribed [Siren] spell.

"We are about to face an Adamantine-ranked Living Mana Incursion. I repeat, we are about to face an Adamantine-ranked Living Mana Incursion. Remember the protocols and act accordingly. Together, we will survive any obstacle we may face." Credit to the academy, no one panicked or screamed. Well, not in an overt way that tore apart the careful order Arcoryx had been cultivating since Ryland's time. This was something all students were briefed on during orientation.

Further safety drills, which required mandatory participation from everyone involved with the academy, went over exactly what was required of students and staff in the event of an Incursion. All non-combatants were herded to specific halls built for Incursions. And also for wartime invasions, but those hadn't happened in centuries thanks to the Accords.

Of course, the structures in question were multipurpose and had uses besides being glorified fortresses, but right that moment, their main goal was to keep their occupants safe. Which Ryland was mostly confident they would. The sheer quantity of Glyphs and spells Inscribed into the walls had taken decades of work. Even he'd have had a hard time deciphering it all in a short time.

"Sir!" Viren had rushed to Ryland, who was watching proceedings from the edge of the Department of Spiritual Arcana.

"Wish me luck. I'm heading out with the Excursion Club." The Excursion Club was one of the few exceptions that allowed students to take a frontline stand against the Living Mana Incursion. The others included the Duellist club and a few societies dedicated to professions like the various Mage Knight Orders, Enforcers, and the Androvian Sentinels.

Besides the members of those clubs and societies, every other student was required to take shelter under the guidance of the Academs and sub-Academs within their designated defensive hall. Only the final-year students were allowed to take up defensive positions, and that too just around their designated hall. There'd be no fighting the Incursion on the frontlines for most.

"Are you certain you wish to go?" Ryland asked.

"You're not worried about Fate?"

"Nope. Because I'm going to be leaving Tallow with you." He pulled the reluctant orange tabby off him but paused before handing the kitten over.

"Um, if you're okay with it, sir."

"I'm alright with it if Tallow is alright with it."

"Great!" Viren thrust the kitten into Ryland's hand without further ceremony. His eyes burned with determined fire.

"This is a huge opportunity for me so I'm not going to bungle it up." Ryland gently placed the cat around his neck like a scarf. Tallow had seemed a little agitated at being manhandled, but he soon settled down.

"An opportunity to do what?"

"To prove that I deserve to stand next to every other member in the Excursion Club. To prove that I'm—""A hero?" Viren flushed.

"That I'm capable! And it's the best way to gain experience, isn't it, sir?" Ryland wasn't trying to dissuade Viren from going with his Excursion Club. While his trust in their capability had taken a hit after the events around Sunstile, he had received reassurances that Alaric had taken care of the leadership responsible. Plus, this was the exact sort of thing the Excursion Club had expertise in. What Ryland was trying to focus on was Viren's actual reasons for going.

"Part of being soulful about your magic is being one with your intentions," Ryland said.

"Discard notions like peer pressure, discard reasons that require you to do this for others. Ask yourself if you truly believe you need to do this." There were multiple points where Viren looked like he wanted to reply, but he kept himself and any impulsive replies in check.

"I have to be deliberate, right sir?" Viren asked. Ryland smiled.

"Exactly. Good luck, Viren." The fire in his eyes, having dimmed at Ryland's seeming misgivings, now burned bright again.

"I'll make you proud, sir." Viren was about to go join them there was a short interruption to proceedings. The students were either headed to the halls for protection or, in the rare case like Viren's, they were joining the academy defence force. But in all cases, those two groups were detached. The would-be defenders of the academy were separate from their companions who were staying behind. Except for Acrypha. Ryland had noted her observing him and Viren while following her fellows into the hall.

But then she broke away and marched straight to them. One of the graduate students guiding her group tried to stop her, but she exchanged some quick words before she was let go just like that.

"She looks kind of scary," Viren said.

"Doesn't she, sir?" Ryland didn't get the chance to comment because Acrypha was right on them.

"Greetings, sir," she said before facing Viren with a hint of imperiousness in her eyes.

"Where do I sign up for the Excursion Club?" Viren stared at her.

"What?"

"Must I repeat myself? Where is—""No, I heard you the first time." He still looked like he wanted to say what again but managed to amend it at the last moment." Why?"

"Someone needs to protect you against the Incursion."

"I don't need protection!"

"Yes, you do. Everyone does." Viren appeared a little outraged and looked to Ryland to hand out a judgment. Acrypha crossed her arms, clearly confident that she was in the right. Tallow purred heavily against Ryland's neck. Ryland looked between the two of them.

"I certainly can't advise against Acrypha going since I haven't done so for you either, Viren." Acrypha looked triumphant for a tiny moment before her noble neutrality reasserted itself.

"However, I certainly advise against treating Viren like he can't protect himself." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Viren and Acrypha looked at each other.

"How about we make a deal?" Viren said.

"I'm listening," Acrypha said.

"I'll help you get signed up for the Excursion Club. Normally, they'd reject you at a time like this, but they're probably not going to turn away the girl with the highest score in the Entrance Exam in what was it? A few decades?"

"Five," Acrypha said.

"And alright, I appreciate that. In return, I'll pretend that you'll be perfectly fine without my help and not interfere unless absolutely necessary." Viren glared softly.

"Only pretend, is it?"

"If you believe the entirety of a deal will always be in your favour, then you're sorely mistaken." She sounded like she was reciting a lesson that had been drilled into her head. Viren clearly picked it up too, going by the way his eyes narrowed, but at a subtle shake of the head from Ryland, he wisely decided against bringing it up.

"Fine," he said.

"Deal." He thrust out his hand less like he wanted to shake on it and more like he was holding himself back from punching Acrypha. Who grasped his outstretched hand and proceeded to crush it in her grip. Viren went to great lengths to stifle his yelp. They left amicably enough. For all that they seemed to sport some sort of rivalry, Ryland could tell they were rather close. He wished them both well, warned them against overstepping their bounds, and told them to remain cautious at all times.

Though he had offered, both Viren and Acrypha adamantly refused to let him put a protective barrier around them.

"It wouldn't be fair," Acrypha said.

"If we wade in with invincible armour and the rest of our comrades are as helpless as they normally would be."

"Well," Ryland countered.

"If you brought in all your friends, I could place a protective spell over all of them as well."

"But sir—""On every single one." Viren and Acrypha stared at him for a good while before shaking their heads simultaneously.

"We can't, sir," Viren said.

"Getting used to depending on you of all people would be pretty bad." Acrypha nodded.

"You won't always be around to cast your spells, sir. What then?"

"I have lived significantly longer than you and will most likely continue to live significantly longer than you," Ryland said.

"And I have the ability to appear nearly anywhere I wish at a moment's notice, with vanishingly few barriers capable of stopping me. But you make a good point, yes, so I shall concede." Both Viren and Acrypha stared at him again. At least they accepted his well wishes before actually leaving. Tallow meowed a gentle farewell at them. Ryland looked up at the darkening sky. Hmm. An Incursion powerful enough to warp the atmosphere itself. Powerful indeed. More powerful than its Adamantine rank suggested.

While he hadn't decided whether he ought to step in, he intended to check the Living Mana Incursion for himself. [Translocate] took him to the edge of the city, where he was free to observe the tide of Living Mana onrushing towards his location. It formed a sea of fleshy detritus, a roiling amalgamation of flesh and bone and gruesome innards. The familiarity made him frown. Had he not dealt with this specific Incursion already? And it couldn't have been Adamantine-ranked any longer. This was far stronger already.

He wouldn't be surprised if its actual rank was well past Mithril and into Exalted by now. Another familiar property… Of course, he couldn't just stand there and watch things proceed calmly. As a graduate student of Arcoryx Academy, he had been given his own post to attend to. One of his duties as a sub-Academ was to step in if the academy deemed it necessary. He couldn't complain. They had assigned him a rooftop location atop one of the tallest towers in the entire academy as his post.

Something told him it was Alaric's doing. From where else could Ryland judge when best to jump into the battle? His current vantage point gave him a field of view that covered nearly the entire city. The real question was whether he should jump in. Naturally, he could deal with the entire Incursion by himself. He had done so once already on the train to Arcoryx. But what Viren and Acrypha had stated stuck with him. If he jumped in anytime a problem appeared, he was subtly encouraging others to rely on him.

The reliance didn't bother him. He was beyond such things being a drag. Rather, it was true that he wouldn't be around all the time. If relying on him eventually led to helplessness in those he assisted, then wasn't he ultimately harming them? Obviously, things were far from being so black-and-white. But for now, he decided to observe and wait till he was actually needed. He had to admit that the Incursion struck with tremendous ferocity.

The sequence of events as the Incursion commenced its assault didn't bode well for the defenders' success. First, the force Arcoryx City had sent out to survey and tackle the Incursion out in the plains beyond the city didn't have much luck. They were quickly subdued by the bloody, rotten rain falling from the amorphous fleshy cloud the Living Mana had formed. Their magic failed against the sheer tide of detritus from the Incursion. Thankfully, they had survived without any fatalities.

The information they brought also ensured the city's defences were bolstered even more powerfully. Though that didn't mean they would last. The city's magical barricades shattered against the Living Mana's surge of power. Ryland was mildly impressed when the barrier manifested physically, repelling the Incursion for a time, only for the tidal surge of fleshy abominations to hammer in with a huge, crimson tsunami.

Then it broke in as the city-wide spell circle started cracking, Subglyphs blinking out of existence as the Incursion overwhelmed them. Right. He was very, very certain it was no longer merely Adamantine-ranked. Deducing an Incursion's rank was like predicting the intensity of a tropical storm. It tended to fluctuate at the best of times. And then Ryland's little incident with Fate had made it even worse in the last Living Mana Incursion. He wasn't sure whether to expect any Fate shenanigans or not.

While he had exorcised Fate's cruel hands away from Viren and Tallow, this Incursion might have been tampered with before that exorcism. [Omniscience] hadn't revealed anything yet, however, so Ryland was tentatively holding out hope. Though, the Living Mana Incursion was in a bad enough state already. It didn't need Fate to make it worse. The red rain was flooding streets and flat rooftops.

From their murky, frothing depths, flesh, blood, and bone coagulated to create skinless horrors shambling out of the repugnant liquid. The small ones were easy to deal with. But the Incursion formed monstrous limbs too, the mountainous conjoined detritus smashing in this way and that. Needless to say, with the city's barriers broken, the Incursion was now swamping every iota of space it could reach. The stench of it suffocated the air, imprinting into everything within reach.

Ryland scratched Tallow under the chin as he observed the defenders. Mage Knights had taken to the field, and he recognized the insignia of the one who had been on the train. The shield with a heart emblazoned on it. Alongside them were the Enforcers, the city's Warden Mage guards, several Academs, and other auxiliary forces scrounged up from the citizenry. That was the only saving grace about the situation. The gathered mages' might tore through the Calamity for now.

Massive fireballs burned away the fleshy amalgamations in no time at all. A flood of ruddy mass had been flash-frozen in its entirety in the city's western lower quarter. Some Artillery Mages were bombarding several enormous limbs and tentacles in one of the westernmost districts. A powerful Enforcer was leading the charge against swarm of putrid, rotting blobs that had taken over the western walls.

It appeared that while the Incursion had broken through the city's barriers, it was faltering against the more personal defences. The mages of Arcoryx, both city and academy, were standing firm against the threat. Not an overwhelming one. Not just yet. Thankfully, like the students, most of the citizenry had been evacuated to specific, heavily-guarded quarters. As such, the only casualties were the frontline defenders. Ryland hoped it would remain so.

Ruddy light bathed the world in crimson, briefly reminding him of the first time he had dealt with this Incursion. But this was a deeper light. A harsher assault on the senses. Even at this distance, even when the crimson rain couldn't break through the academy's shields, Ryland's nose was plugged with the decaying, rotting stench of the Incursion. The groaning and churning of the monstrosities all around pressed into his ears.

There was a pressure in the air, a heartbeat of power that pulsed like a gigantic war drum. Ryland made sure to note the Excursion Club's activities. With a bit of help from [Omniscience], he managed to spot Viren's group staying at the rear of— The scarlet light intensified even further. Ryland stared up. The Glyph of Ward Inscribed on his lower back was glowing with warm power, warning him that magic was roiling with fatal intensity in the area.

Columns of scarlet radiance pierced out of the heavy cloud, their innards bulging and swelling as though their contents were furiously determined to emerge. And that's when [Omniscience] spotted it. Not the Glyph of Fate that he had been expecting. Well, it was there, yes, but there was something else. A completely different Glyph that was even stronger than Fate's black magic. Ryland frowned. What was that?

New growths, new monstrous appendages of bone and flesh and blood, burst out of the cloud wider than the city itself. A cloud that now fell like an apocalypse. Space cracked. The pressure turned tenfold worse as the Incursion's strength notched up by multiple degrees. Ryland glanced once more at the city, at the defenders all already stretched to their capacity in their attempt to protect their homes. He nodded. Then he rose to meet the descending devastation." [Translocate]."