The battle raged for the full day. Despite it having already started when Faey arrived with the Magisterium students, it continued until sunset.
And the only reason it ended that early was because the Scourge retreated. Faey didn’t think she’d ever witness such a sight. It was unheard of for the Scourge to run, and this army had tucked their tails and fled with over 10 thousand of their own.
The entire time, Iron Legion didn’t budge an inch. The tanks were planted right where they had been since they started.
After the main part of the battle was finished, John took them all and headed back to the forward base they had been close to. It was a fortress unto itself, but in the excitement of their arrival, Faey hadn’t been able to appreciate its sight.
She couldn’t now, either. She was so exhausted that she could do nothing more than trudge back to the helicopters that brought them here, falling asleep on the flight back.
It was funny to her. She only felt this tired when the Puppet Master gave them an especially grueling day in the training grounds, exhausting every last ounce of her Vigor and then some. Today, she hadn’t done anything more than watch and learn, yet the mental toll was incredible.
She wasn’t the only one, of course. Instructor Bria had to scream at them to wake them when the helicopters landed.
Faey wasn’t sure how the troops did it. Sure, they weren’t marching on a field and facing the Scourge head on, but they were immense.
She had seen tanks get swarmed, just to be set ablaze by nearby friendly turrets. She had seen Royals charging en masse, evading tank fire just to be intercepted by heavily armored troops from Iron Legion. The Royals had been outclassed, killed amidst thousands of their lessers, the armor of Iron Legion preventing a single life from being lost.
After some time though, she remembered one outstanding detail.
A majority of the forces in the field were actually summoners. With their smarts, fast reactions, and ability to track the unending chaos, they could control the battlefield.
It seemed so simple. Give a bunch of intelligent summoners weapons and armor and there’d be nobody to outclass them. But it seemed John’s genius triumphed here once more. Everybody had thought about the idea at some point. None had ever been capable of giving it life.
The Magisterium students felt like they had their eyes opened. That day was one they knew they’d never forget, an experience extremely few could ever boast. They had gotten a glimpse of what machine warfare looked like and suddenly everything else seemed to be inferior. They couldn’t imagine walking onto another battlefield, with nothing but the armor around their bodies to protect them from the endless hordes of the Scourge, and the knowledge that a double digit percentage of them would die.
They had seen a superior form of war, and they would hold all others to that standard, not yet knowing they would forever be let down.
Over the next week of their time at Iron Legion, the Magisterium students were educated on more complex matters. With real experience to reference, not only were the students more attentive, but they began to make sense of the chaos in their memories.
The formations, the roles, the rules, the angles, the armament, the layers. They learned that what they saw as chaos was actually the very thing that prevented chaos from taking hold. In this game of war, there were just more types of pieces on the board.
It was a matter of specialty, they learned. No single vehicle could be good at everything. The more roles you tried to make something, or someone, fit into, the worse they would be at every one.
But the more you specialized something, the better it would be at its role. That came with the weakness of being deficient in everything else, but if you could design other things, or train other people, to fit the rest of the roles?
You’d have an extremely high skill army. You would have fewer mistakes, fewer deaths, and most importantly, less chaos. So long as it was all properly supported, of course. That’s why John boasted about his top tier communications and logistical infrastructure.
After their second week, they started doing drills with real equipment. They were thrown into tanks and taught how to drive and shoot it. They got to learn how to collect intelligence using magical sensors. They went and did target practice. They learned how to communicate properly in order to call in things like air support and artillery fire.
All of it was basic education. None of them would really operate equipment on their own, and none of them were taught the full breadth of knowledge necessary to become a functioning cog in the war machine. They were students and this trip was an excursion for learning.
But they preferred this to the alternative.
When the fourth week came, they were once again brought back out to the field. Early in the morning they were transported to the same forward base John had brought them to before. On arrival, John was there to greet him, though he seemed to have brought friends.
Faey saw John and Umara chatting with a few others. She recognized Tana and Feiden, and struggled to recognize the very large man that Tana was linking arms with. While she saw Shadowbane and Ilinca nearby, she couldn’t guess who the eight others around them were.
Worse was that she couldn’t pick up the slightest bit of their Auras. Not one of them could be felt, and that made her neck tingle. Or perhaps it was the weird looking girl with black and white hair and eyes of different colors.
John turned to them with a wide smile, dressed in his normal coat.
“Hello there, learned youngsters! It’s good to see you guys back out in the field! Two weeks of constant training must’ve been difficult, but as my grandpappy used to say, you always work as hard as you want to party. Unfortunately, in my age I’ve grown away from such exciting activities.”
“HAH!”
Both Umara and the large man nearby barked a laugh, John scratching his nose as Umara smiled and scrutinized him.
“You’re so full of shit.”
“Anyway. Instructor Bria, go ahead and take them to the front. The General is ready to receive.”
“Yes sir.”
Instructor Bria gave him a salute, Faey following the rest of the students as John turned and continued speaking with his group.
Nearby, an unknown model of plane was idling silently, waiting for its passengers.
……
I leaned back as a butler served us drinks. Placing mine on the table, I waited for him to leave before glancing at Vetsmon.
The afternoon clouds passed by in the sky outside, the plane suffering little turbulence as we made out way to the Holy See.
Tana leaned against Vetsmon, as Umara leaned against me. Most of the Desert Eagles were back at base preparing for another mission. I couldn’t let them relax for too long. They had to keep sharp, and it wasn’t like there weren’t a dozen missions that they could take on.
With just us four in the plane, I could speak freely.
“I’m sad to see you go. We barely got a month or so together before you two went galavanting around the Holy See.”
“Well, we’re already launching offensives on the mainland. I’m sure you already knew that though.”
“Indeed.”
I smiled, making Vetsmon chuckle. I naturally had eyes in the sky over there, though getting a view of the heart of the mainland was proving impossible for now.
“The Order can’t go without its meatiest punching bag.”
“Not when we’re hunting monsters like you, no. Got any advice for trying to hunt a Versal?”
“Well, if the criteria for moving a Versal here are high talent, skill, and excellence, then your first step toward killing them is acknowledging that all Versals are smarter than the people of this world. The second step is understanding that I’m smarter than all Versals. So think like me and you’ll be on the fast track to world domination.”
“More like annihilation.”
Umara muttered from my side, my eyes falling to hers and earning a bright smile.
I looked back up at Vetsmon.
“She’s not wrong.”
“Hm. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“On a more serious note though, if what you’ve told me is true, then they’re obviously protected by demons. That means that unless you have overwhelming and focused power over them, killing them us unlikely, especially without consequences. They’re going to be tricky and cunning. You’ll walk into a lot of traps if they have any half decent head on their shoulders. They’re going to have a lot of tools at their disposal. You need to prepare some of your own. Don’t rely exclusively on that body of yours. There are plenty of ways to kill you despite it, and we Versals can easily conceive of them. They will know you and your power, they will plot to kill you every time you chase them, and they will not be fair about it. So don’t fall into the trap of giving a damn about honorable battle.”
“Right… So, in a nutshell, be careful.”
“In a nutshell.”
I shrugged, sipping my drink for a short second.
“Just remember that if a battle is fair, it wasn’t properly planned. If it was properly planned, it’ll hardly be fair.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Vetsmon nodded, thinking in silence for a bit as I glanced at Tana.
Over the past couple months, Vetsmon and Tana had spent most of their time in the Holy See. Not just spending time with Vetsmon’s parents. The two also went down to the Order so that Tana could see what it was all about, courtesy of Anderson.
Tana had been thinking about joining Vetsmon in his fight on the Scourge’s mainland, and Anderson had tried to poach her from me.
I didn’t mind, of course. Tana was her own woman and I wasn’t opposed to her fighting with Vetsmon. It would’ve been great experience for her and with the resources of the Church, I wouldn’t have been worried about her safety beyond the expected. She would’ve gotten stronger through her battles and the two would be able to spend more time together, as Umara and I did.
But in the end, Tana decided to remain with Iron Legion. We had our own upcoming war to fight here, and she wanted to be a part of it.
It would be just as important as what Vetsmon was going to do in Scourge territory.
Now it was time to separate. Vetsmon’s vacation was over and we had our own work to start doing. With the Magisterium’s excursion ending, the time for chaos was approaching.
“By the way.”
Vetmson suddenly asked, catching my attention. He had a big smile.
“When is the wedding?”
I chuckled and looked down at Umara, who shifted a bit closer to me.
“End of this year. That’s when we’re thinking.”
“Are you going to announce it?”
“No. Those who matter will be informed, and we have no intention of making it a public affair. Though I will be speaking with the Pope. I think we’ve decided that we want to get married in the Church.”
“Really?”
Vetsmon looked at me surprised, making me snicker.
“What’s with the shock? I happen to be Catholic.”
“I’m also a believer, though my family practices seldom. Not many nobles do.”
Vetsmon scratched the back of his neck with a smile.
“No, you’re right, I guess I just forgot. Those around me are all so fervent that I see others and forget that they, too, can be devout.”
“Don’t worry, I get it. I always imagined getting married in the Church. My entire family did. But after coming to this world the idea got pushed aside. Recently though we’ve been talking about it and since my fiancé wants to get married in the heart of the Holy See, I will make it happen.”
“Right. Now, don’t take this question as a challenge to your beliefs…”
I smiled and widened my eyes at Vetsmon, watching him carefully formulate his inquiry, scrutinizing all the details of his nervous body language. I already knew what he was going to ask.
“Are you getting married in the Church because you believe in the sacrament and that it should be in the presence of the Lord, or because you have the influence to demand such a thing?”
“Both. I want to get married in the Church, and I want it to be in the greatest church in the land. I may even ask the Pope to officiate.”
“I’ve heard he refuses to do weddings. I wouldn’t bet on an exception.”
“Eh, just a bunch of naysayers. Either way, we aren’t doing it to be vain. Well, maybe not entirely…”
“How honest of you.”
I chuckled at Vetsmon, his eyes turning to Umara.
“Have you practiced in recent years, Umara?”
“Not really. It’s been difficult to, but I also haven’t put forth all my effort either. Although I technically consider myself a follower, during my life that technicality was rather loose. Certainly by your standards I wouldn’t be considered one, but in recent years I’ve found myself drawn to the Church.”
“Why is that?”
“Well…”
She hesitated for a moment, her heart rate increasing as she made her decision to speak simply.
“The Scourge isn’t easy to fight. They have a funny way of making you feel like fighting them is hopeless. When Iron Legion was created, I regained much of that hope, but recalling Church teachings gave me more. I’m trying to keep my mind in the fight, and they help with that.”
“Indeed. The Church is the antithesis of the Scourge, their eternal enemy, both physically and spiritually. Most people find themselves where you are. The more they fight against the Scourge, the further into our fold they come. Some people can handle themselves better than others, but even in the Order, I don’t know a single person who isn’t as strong spiritually as they are with their magic. The two traits usually follow each other.”
“And if they don’t?”
I asked quickly, Vetsmon turning to me.
He pondered for a moment.
“...Well, then they usually collapse. They can’t handle the stress and pressure. I’ve heard of some who have decommissioned themselves, others who were forcefully retired when they became unstable. I’ve even heard of some who have turned traitor, their minds corrupted. Some people forget, but this war is as spiritual as it is physical. By both mediums can it be lost.”
“Unless your firepower is overwhelming enough. Can’t corrupt anything spiritual if the minds behind it are painted on a wall.”
I chuckled and sipped my drink, Vetsmon silent, staring at me.
He turned away just as I was about to look back at him.
“Well Umara, if you ever need texts or guidance, you know how to contact me.”
“Of course. Though I’ve been reading enough books lately. I’m still studying all the spatial spells and enchantments that my family has.”
Umara sighed, recalling the many sleepless nights she’s been having recently in her study.
We continued to chat until we landed in the Holy See. There, Tana and Vetsmon said goodbye before Vetsmon boarded a helicopter waiting for him.
He left, and soon after we were back in the air.
Our destination was Wonderland. I needed to check the latest prototype developed there.
……
“Right this way, sir.”
One of the researchers led me to a large room. In there was an observation chamber, outside which was a large wind tunnel.
Mounted to a steel foundation was the latest aircraft engine prototype. Both Umara and Tana stared at it for a time as the researcher spoke to me.
“We’ve managed to conduct plenty of tests after acquiring the Elemental Crystal stock from Continuance. Before, using White Crystals presented difficulties due to the low power output. The numbers you gave us were simply unattainable without White Crystals of far greater power than we could get our hands on. Thankfully, Elemental Crystals don’t have this problem. With enough of them, theoretically, any amount of power output is possible. Continuance also provided an abundance of high Authority Elemental Crystals. Thus, the next problem to solve was the best way to take advantage of this theoretically infinite power in the way of the magic used and the engine that guided that magic. This, so far, is the most powerful and most stable result.”
He waved to the engine on the stand.
Funnily enough, the engine was blown open, looking like half of it had been destroyed in an explosion.
Didn’t look like a stable prototype to me, but I just stayed quiet.
“Our design was based on the thermal rocket propulsion specifications you gave us. We used a set of Fire Crystals and Air Crystals. The Fire Crystals provide the energy and heat, and the Air Crystals provide the mass. The energy from the Fire Crystals is directly imparted to the mass from the Air Crystal and expelled to give thrust. The efficiency is extremely high, as is the thrust. During our recent test, we achieved simulated speeds in excess of twenty thousand miles per hour.”
Umara’s eyes bulged, my head slowly nodding.
“But?”
The researcher dipped his head slightly, flipping through the documents on his Aerial.
“But… we underestimated the pressure within the engine. Achieving those speeds caused catastrophic failure, but not necessarily due to lack of material reinforcement. Theoretically, an Authority 8 reinforcement enchantment should have handled the pressures just fine, but due to the imperfect fabrication of the chambers and guidance nozzles, the stresses on certain regions of the structure exceeded the tolerance of the enchantment.”
“...And so we’ve hit our wall.”
“Yes sir.”
The researcher nodded, the destroyed engine in front of us suddenly making sense.
I had long predicted that magic would hit a ceiling in how much it could compensate. The people of this world had yet to conceive of the extremity of forces involved with these kinds of systems. For them, it was always just a matter of enchanting the material with higher Authority magic.
Now, they were finally running into a precision issue. On Earth, even the tiniest imperfections, whether it was in the fabrication of a sheet of aluminum or in the atomic structure of a metal that had suffered micro fractures, would lead to massively degraded tolerances that would lead to the same result before me.
Magic was amazing. It had just achieved high-hypersonic speeds with a fabrication method equating in precision to a blacksmith’s forging method.
But now, physics was demanding its place at the table. To achieve anything greater, these researchers would have to start giving a damn about its rules.
That meant precision of a magnitude I hadn’t yet introduced to them due to the demand for infrastructure and technology beyond what was feasible in years past.
Even now, with bottomless dollars and materials, building up the tech and skill required to pull this off would be extremely difficult.
On Earth, technological advancement was all organic. It was one step after another with all the nitty gritty details thoroughly documented. Inventions begot the science to make them which generated more inventions, all of them acting as the foundation for one another.
But on this planet, I was the foundation, and what I provided certainly wasn’t complete. There were all kinds of holes that had been patched and ignored by magic for the sake of immediate results. Entire bodies of study were outright missing from the equation.
Now, we were hitting a new ceiling incapable of being broken without the foundation we had once ignored.
And unfortunately, filling all the holes in our knowledge, educating the wide scientific community, and then training the artisans on new ways to manufacture would all take time we didn’t have.
I stared at the broken engine in the wind tunnel for a short while before sighing.
“Write this down.”
I muttered, the researcher hurriedly creating a new document.
“I’m imposing new limits. I want an engine capable of two thousand miles per hour with the least powerful reinforcements and highest fuel efficiency possible. I’ll go over your records and documentation later to provide milestone numbers as well as aircraft specifications in line with potential engine designs. From now on, its application over theory. You’ve achieved the goals of this project, so you can consider it put on hold.”
“...Sir, if I may…”
The researcher hesitantly spoke, everything I said quickly written down word for word.
“I believe we can do much more here. If we adjust the design, we can compensate for the precision issue. There’s far more potential to be unearthed, especially when we consider various methods of heat transfer between the Fire Crystal and the generated working fluid…”
“I understand there’s far more potential. Believe me when I say that nobody understands how much potential there is here more than me. However, the law of diminishing returns is coming into play. It’s no longer worth it to continue compensating. We need to solve the precision issue before proceeding further, and so, the new Mach 3 project I’ll be starting will both serve as a tempering ground for that solution as well as generate practical products that can be fielded against the Scourge. If you want this project to be funded in the future, you’ll need to hit the milestones I’m going to set in place.”
“Understood, sir…”
He seemed dejected, but its not like he didn’t understand my logic.
There was limited manpower available, so unfortunately I had to focus Wonderland's direction. The number of projects undergoing simultaneous development was pushing the limit as it was. There simply weren’t enough researchers at a suitable standard, and that standard was steadily increasing.
It was all about time. I needed both innovation and results. Sometimes I had to tip the scales more toward results instead of innovation for the sake of time.
After all, the Scourge couldn’t be killed fast enough, and they wouldn’t slow their own mutation. I had already seen the anti-air troops the Scourge was rolling out against the Templars on the Island of Retribution. When they started fielding them on our side of the continent, I intended to be one step ahead. They had prepared countermeasures for subsonic flight. I would show them supersonics, cementing our air superiority.
By the time they had anything better, I’d already be two steps further.
I pat the researcher on the shoulder, turning away and walking out with Umara and Tana.
“Keep up the good work, and don’t let yourself forget why we’re doing all this. All the theory in the world is useless if we’re too dead to build anything with it.”
“Of course, sir.”