“Oh, this isn’t good,” Eri muttered.

  The boy was currently crouched over the rafters of Castle Elathion's eastern halls. Beside him, Dulcina studied the scene with focused eyes, while Cedric nervously twitched, his skin clammy and sick.

  Below them, chaos reigned.

  Bursts of blue lightning, fire, and magic missiles were flying all over the floor as Lord Draevan duelled against the Sapphire-Core Chosen known as Maelric Halsworn. The power of their Artes triumphed over any Eri had seen in his current life thus far, save perhaps for his own Bloodflame Artes.

  A single stray shot would disintegrate him in an instant. The floor below was littered with melted stone and azure-burning rubble.

  Both of the duellists were Magi — Chosens who manipulated their mana into long-ranged spells rather than martial Artes. At a glance, they looked to be equally matched, but Dulcina’s discerning eye caught the shifting balance.

  “Father is stronger and the better duelist by far, but Maelric is being heavily aided,” the Heiress snarled. “The fool just fires his spells with no aim or control, yet they still manage to hit Father with full force. There’s an outside influence empowering them.”

  The source of that empowerment was obvious. Beyond the chaos of destruction, there was a melodic and haunting song in the air.

  The roar of clashing spells and their thunderous impact could not distract Eri from her — A lone red-headed woman framed by azure flames and lightning. Her lute glimmered in the heat as her fingers plucked a sonorous and beautiful melody, each note twisting into threads of magic that rippled and blended with her voice.

  Eri watched the ripples interact with Maelric’s spells, turning feeble or misguided embers into homing fireballs that mercilessly struck at Lord Draevan’s magic shields.

  “I’m guessing that’s the mana amplifier,” Eri muttered. “Where’s the disruptor?”

  Eri’s question was soon answered as a nearby wall collapsed from impact. Matron Elen burst through the wall, heavily wounded but alive. Her greatshield was raised as a blast of magical energy slammed into her and sent her flying.

  From the collapsed wall, another red-headed woman stepped out — bearing an uncanny similarity to her twin. Her eyes were blank as she lifted an enormous harp that resembled a longbow, her presence undeniably chilling as beams of energy bombarded Elen’s position.

  The matron stood firm against the barrage. Moments later, a third figure joined their battle. Battered and with an arm broken, Captain Lauren — knight commander of House Elathion’s fighting men — swung his longsword at the singing minstrel, only to be blasted away with a concussive sonic shot delivered with a casual gesture of the other twin standing at the other end of the hall.

  “They are going to lose at this rate,” Eri grimaced. He was glad to see Matron Elen and Captain Lauren present, but it was clear that the two were no match for the twins. “We need to help them.”

  “Not to rain on your parade, Boss, but the weight class below is a tad higher than what you can currently handle,” Cedric snarked. At Dulcina’s glare, he quickly backpedalled: “But, um, I believe in you, Boss. Though if you are going down there… Can I have that cure first, just in case?”

  Eri ignored him. “We need to separate them. Elen and Lauren are going to die if they keep fighting the twins, and Lord Draevan is going to lose if his opponent keeps getting empowered by the song.”

  “How do you plan to get the ring on Maelric’s finger?” Dulcina asked calmly.

  “I think you are greatly overestimating my ability if you think I can get anywhere remotely close to that without dying.” Eri gestured to the chaotic battlefield below. “No, I got a better idea. All we need to do is get rid of the song, and your father should be able to deal with his opponent, right?”

  From his inventory pouch, Eri pulled out an enormous device, hissing and pumping with cylinders and runes. “Then I say it’s time we drown out their music with some of our own.”

  “... Sheesh, that’s cheesy,” Cedric grimaced, looking pained. “You need better one-liners, Boss, or you’re going to end up in a reputation debt soon.”

  “S-shut up! I’m trying my best!”

  ~~~

  Matron Elen regretted moving to help Lord Draevan.

  The moment the assault began, she should have abandoned him immediately and gone to grab Eri so that both of them could flee the castle.

  No, from the start, neither of them should have been there. They should have just forgotten the money and left House Elathion to its fate.

  Nothing ever good came from tangling with nobles.

  “Get yourself together!” Elen roared as she dragged the knight captain behind her and protected him with her shield. “Stand up already! Your lord is still in combat!”

  Captain Lauren spat blood, shakily getting to his feet. Blood was leaking from his ears and eyes. That last sonic blast had hit him dead-on. Elen wasn’t sure if the man could hear her anymore.

  Despite Elen’s frustration, she could not deny that the captain was putting up a hard fight. He had taken so many direct hits that he resembled more like a mangled puppet than a person.

  A pity that his sword was ill-suited for the current battle. The Disruptor they tried to kill first had an area effect where anyone who got too close suffered from mana fluctuations. Lauren couldn’t use his Artes to produce a decisive strike and instead bore the brunt of multiple spells fired at close range.

  As for the Amplifier, she was deceptively strong as well. Not once through the whole fight did she stop singing, but she had no problem multitasking, flinging spell after spell at them to wear her defence down.

  Elen tried her best to visualise a means to victory, but every predicted outcome only showed defeat.

  Well, at least Eri’s alright. If he had any sense, he would have run far away by now.

  I’m not going to last much longer. Hopefully, he will be fine without me…

  “Matron!”

  Oh, for fuck sake…

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “What the hell are you doing here?!” she screamed in disbelief. The boy was suddenly beside her, along with a sullen-looking man she didn’t recognise. “How did you even— Never mind! Just get out of here, you stupid brat!”

  “Not without you!” He shouted. From his inventory, he tossed out several smoke grenades, the dense clouds blocking the twins’ projectile from accurately hitting their position. “We need to leave! Cedric here can teleport us out!”

  The stranger waved his hand half-heartedly. “Hi, I’m Cedric. I’m definitely here of my own free will, and not because your boy threatened me with horrible, horrible death if I don’t comply.”

  Elen wasn’t sure what to say to that. Captain Lauren was the first to speak.

  “I’m… not leaving… without my Lord!” he choked out.

  “He’ll be fine! Um, probably,” Eri nervously coughed. “Hey, just to check, how strong are your lord’s shields usually? Could they withstand, say, a medium-sized bomb going off under his feet?”

  Elen swore in realisation. “Ah, fucking hell, you didn’t!”

  “I wish I could tell you he didn’t,” the man named Cedric glumily said. “He placed like nine of them scattered across the foundation. Hope you guys weren’t too fond of the eastern wing, cause judging by the explosive yield on those ‘Hellbombs’, I doubt there will be anything left.”

  There was no more time for Elen to yell at Eri as she felt a sudden rumble beneath her feet.

  ~~~

  Maelric Halsworn frowned when he felt a surge of foreign mana blooming beneath the castle floor.

  “You contemptible fool, what are you trying this time?” he sneered.

  “What?” Lord Draevan looked confused as he rapidly reinforced his shield. “This isn’t your doing?”

  “Why would I use tricks when you are clearly my inferior?” Maelric spat.

  “Why would I blow up my own castle when I’m already dirt poor?” Draevan retorted.

  Maelric had no time to reply before his entire world was engulfed in hellish flames.

  ~~~

  The explosion split the air with a roar.

  The first blast erupted with a thunderous crack. The noise hammered the courtyard, tossing dust and rubble into the air as the ground quivered.

  Eri planted the bombs perfectly. One explosion set off the next, and within heartbeats, the chained detonation of Hellbombs tore at the east wing’s foundation like the ravenous maw of a beast.

  Heat and shockwave destroyed all in its path. Stone pillars gave way to sheer sonic force. The support beams were melted to slag. All fell before the rolling thunder of Hell’s ruin as centuries of craftwork were swallowed under violet fire.

  A deep, cracking groan followed as the foundation gave way. To the horror of any onlookers (and the bomb-shocked denizens still inside), the entire east wing began to sag, its great stones no longer bound by earth or mortar. Pillars buckled, arches split, and the masonry was sheared apart as everything gave way to gravity. With a final, grinding shudder…

  The entire east section of the castle — thousands of tons of ancient rock that had withstood the passing of warring millennia — tilted over and collapsed.

  ~~~

  Eri groaned.

  The first thing he did was move his toe. Relief flooded him as he felt them wiggling.

  Not dead. Not paralysed. I see this as a great success, he thought to himself, coughing as he pushed himself up.

  The first thing he realised was that dull sunlight was shining on him — odd, considering he had been indoors a mere minute ago, and he had not exactly moved from his position.

  Or, perhaps, not odd at all, considering there was not even an ‘indoor’ left to Catle Elathion’s east wing.

  Eri opened his eyes and found only rubble.

  Dust was surging upward, its choking plume blotting out the afternoon sun. The death throes of crashing debris echoed through the valley and into Kaldreach, doubtlessly triggering another wave of frantic activity within its denizens for the second time that month.

  When the last stones settled, the east wing was gone — reduced to jagged heaps of rubble, the proud fortress left scarred and broken.

  However, Eri had planted his explosive well. The detonations resulted in a controlled fall of the east wing away from the primary structure of the castle, allowing the rest of the stronghold to survive the destruction relatively unmarred.

  Kaldreach’s east district also avoided any harm. In hindsight, it was extremely fortunate that the fight took place at the eastern wing, which oversaw the burning port and lake below. If it had happened at the western wing instead, which oversaw the rest of Kaldreach…

  Eri stood up shakily. “Everyone alright?”

  “Define ‘alright’, Boss,” Cedric groaned. “Pretty sure some of us are going to be suffering permanent hearing loss from that. But everyone’s alive, at least.

  Cedric had done his job well; he had taken them to safety before the explosion commenced. Given the number of passengers, the distance he could ‘shadow-jump’ was limited, but overall, everyone appeared relatively unscathed.

  Dulcina was already up and about, looking for signs of her father. Cedric appeared sickly, but that was likely the effect of the diluted basilisk venom taking effect. Captain Lauren was out cold. The turmoil of the teleportation and his severe wounds had been too much.

  Elen was similarly badly wounded, but she was somehow still conscious, likely empowered through her sheer outrage. “Damn brat, what did I tell you about bombs?!”

  “Um. Only use them in moderation?” Eri tried.

  “Does this look remotely moderate to you?!”

  “I mean, compared to the explosion at the port, you have to admit this is relatively tame…”

  Before the matron could shout at him more, Dulcina exclaimed, “I see Father! He’s alright, but —”

  “Get down!” Elen yelled, tackling her.

  From a spot neither Dulcina nor Eri saw, a shining projectile came speeding for Dulcina’s head. Elen pushed her out of the way in time, but the magical arrow hit the matron in the shoulder and sent her flying.

  “Elen!” Eri cried in panic.

  From the epicentre of the rubble, where no living creature could have survived the blast, a giant slab of stone was pushed aside. A red-headed figure walked out, soaked in blood, with her right arm and leg broken.

  The Disruptor, eyes still utterly void, brought her harp-bow up in her left hand before pulling back the cord with her teeth.

  Eri reacted immediately, throwing a cluster of smoke grenades. The plum of dense clouds barely diverted her shot enough for it to miss them. The sonic arrow hit a wall behind them, sending more debris falling from the damaged structure hanging over them.

  “She’s still alive?! What is she made of? She was at the centre of that explosion!” Cedric exclaimed, diving for cover. “There’s no way she could have—”

  “Cedric, get us out of here! NOW!” Eri interrupted as he grabbed Lauren and tossed him the assassin’s way. Some distance away, Dulcina hurriedly pulled an unconscious Elen over to them.

  Eri paled when he saw the matron. Her left shoulder was gone, spurting blood everywhere. She was still alive, but only barely, and not for long.

  “I don’t have enough mana to make a jump with all of you!” Cedric yelled back, narrowly avoiding being crushed by a rock. “One of you is going to have to stay behind!”

  Eri swore, rushing to grab Elen and shove her into his inventory.

  Another stray arrow blasted through the dense fog, nearly hitting him. More debris fell from the crumbling upper floors and roof. Eri was forced to back off, separated from the group by a rain of crushing rock.

  “Just go without me! Get Elen to the chirurgeon!” Eri yelled.

  “Oh, no! I’m not leaving without you!” Cedric protested. “You still have my cure!”

  “You’ll get it later! But if Elen dies, I swear I’ll skin you alive!” Eri howled. “GO! NOW!”

  [Intimidation Check Passed!]

  He heard Cedric cursing. There was a brief bloom of dark magic. Eri couldn’t sense their presence after.

  Please, stay alive, Elen!

  There was no more time for prayers. Eri had his own survival to worry about.

  From the smoke, the Ruby-Core minstrel limped forth, her magic harp-bow thrumming with energy.

  “You are going to pay for hurting her,” Eri coldly said, summoning his daggers.

  The woman looked at him for a moment, then raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

  Ten seconds later, Eri was already fleeing for his life as an endless swarm of flesh-rending magic missiles chased him down.