“What... what is this?” The massive wall of fire had completely encircled the enemy forces. They couldn’t advance, and they couldn’t retreat. The sudden appearance of the flames left everyone in shock and confusion. Victor was the first to regain his senses, shouting at the mages beside him, “Break this spell! Dispel it, now!” But the mages stood frozen, their eyes wide in disbelief. “We... we can’t dispel this,” one of the mages stammered. “What? You’re mages! What do you mean you can’t dispel it?” “This... this is beyond our level,” one of them muttered, his voice trembling. “Look closely, does this look like an ordinary spell to you? Have you ever seen anything like this before? Even the most powerful archmages in the towers couldn’t cast something like this. This is not magic we can handle,” another mage explained, staring at the flames in awe. “This is a 4th-circle spell at least, but the caster is no 4th-circle mage. This is...” “Is what?” “...At least a 7th-circle spell.” “That’s ridiculous! There are only two 7th-circle mages in the entire kingdom! Are you telling me one of them is here?” Victor spat in disbelief. But the mages, oblivious to Victor’s anger, continued muttering to themselves, their curiosity overriding their sense of danger. “No, even a 7th-circle mage couldn’t cast something like this. This isn’t normal magic. It’s beyond personal power. What is it? A magic circle? An artifact? There must be a conduit of some kind.” As the mages puzzled over the source of the spell, Victor grew furious. “Count Desmond sent you to handle the possibility of enemy mages! Are you telling me you can’t do your job? You’re just standing here gawking when we need action!” “There’s nothing we can do,” the mages admitted helplessly. “Not even the count could have predicted this.” Victor gritted his teeth in frustration. Desmond had sent two mages to counter any enemy magic, thinking that at worst, Peridium might have a 4th-circle mage. Even in the entire kingdom, there were fewer than fifty mages above 5th-circle. It had been assumed that Peridium couldn’t summon anything more powerful than that. “Even Desmond didn’t foresee this...” Victor muttered, his mind racing. The wall of fire had made further siege efforts impossible. They would have to wait for the magic to run its course. The flames surrounded them, but if they moved quickly, they could still retreat and regroup. “We’re pulling back! Retreat and regroup behind the lines! We’ll advance once the fire dies down. Move quickly!” Just as Victor prepared to lead the retreat, one of the mages spoke again. “There’s something strange... the concentration of mana in this area is unusually high...” Rumble! Suddenly, the ground beneath them shook violently, and their horses stumbled. The mages barely had time to react before grabbing onto their reins for balance. Vanessa had begun casting the next stage of the spell. The golden magic circle in her eyes rotated once more, and the runestone bracelets on her and the other mages shattered into dust. The wall of fire had only been a containment measure. The real strike was coming. The mana that had spread through the surrounding area began to take shape, seeping into the ground and merging with something that had been waiting below. At last, all the conditions were met. Vanessa whispered softly, “Flame Strike.” The ground trembled, and with a deafening roar, massive columns of fire erupted all around them. Boom! Crash! Roar! Dozens of enormous pillars of flame shot into the sky, shaking the earth as they burst forth. “Aaaahhh!” Victor’s soldiers screamed in agony as they were consumed by fire, their bodies reduced to ash before they could even utter a final cry. The pillars of flame swallowed up the siege towers and mobile ladders, expanding their reach. Victor and his mages were caught in the explosion, unable to escape the destruction. The battlefield became a hellscape. Those who survived the initial blast were thrown into chaos, discarding their weapons and fleeing in terror. “Run! Run!” “Help me!” “Fall back! Get out of here!” The pillars of fire merged, filling the entire area with blazing infernos. Soldiers rolled on the ground, desperately trying to extinguish the flames consuming them. Inside the walls of Peridium, the soldiers watched the horrific scene in silence, barely able to comprehend what they were witnessing. Who could have prepared something like this? Zubaltur, nearly collapsing in shock, barely managed to steady himself as he looked down. Unlike the panicked soldiers, Ghislain and his mercenaries remained calm. “Could it be... was it you, Ghislain?” Just then, Vanessa collapsed, blood spurting from her mouth as she fell to the ground. A nearby mercenary caught her as she fell. Ghislain turned briefly, then spoke. “Belinda, take care of the mages.” “Y-yes, my lord! Right away!” Belinda, along with several soldiers, carried the unconscious mages to safety. Without a word, Ghislain turned and began walking forward, his mercenaries following behind. Zubaltur shouted desperately, “Ghislain! What are you doing?” But Ghislain didn’t respond or stop. Zubaltur called out again, panic rising in his voice. “Stop! Stop this madness! We’ve already won! They’re all going to flee in that fire! Why are you going out there? It’s a sea of flames!” At last, Ghislain stopped and turned to face him. His voice was cold and emotionless. “I need to kill them.” “What?” “Every last one of them must die. I’ll make sure they understand the price of threatening Peridium.” “You can’t be serious...” “This way, any enemy who dares to target this place again will think twice. They’ll have to ask themselves if they’re truly willing to risk their lives.” Thud. A deadly aura surged from Ghislain, an aura that only someone who had piled bodies high could exude. For the first time, Zubaltur felt a shiver run down his spine as he stared at his son. How could someone radiate such a terrifying presence? But right now, Zubaltur’s priority was stopping him. “I understand your intention, but how do you plan to survive that fire? Even with mana shielding, no one can survive in those flames for long.” Anyone attempting to pass through the flames would be burned alive. Despite Zubaltur’s pleas, Ghislain only gave him a cold, thin smile. Count Tamos, who had been watching from a distance, was left speechless as the fire columns erupted. “Wh-what is this? Where did this fire come from? There was nothing there a moment ago!” He couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Some soldiers on the outskirts managed to escape, but many more perished in the flames. Even those who escaped with their lives didn’t last long, succumbing to their burns shortly afterward. As Tamos stared in shock, one of his young tacticians shouted, “Get a hold of yourself, my lord! We need to order a retreat! Sound the horns and rally the remaining soldiers! We must save the wounded!” The tactician continued urgently as Tamos struggled to process the situation. “This isn’t a forest fire! The surrounding area is open plains, and there’s nothing for the fire to spread to! If we act quickly, we can regroup and gather our forces!” One of the reasons fire attacks were so feared was that they could spread rapidly through forests. But in this wide-open plain, the fire wouldn’t spread far and would soon burn out. Tamos stammered, “Y-you’re... you're one of the scribes, right? Lowell, was it? What if the enemy pursues us? Shouldn’t we... retreat?” Lowell responded impatiently, “The enemy can’t pass through the fire any more than we can. They’re likely waiting for us to flee or burn. It’ll take them time to circle around to another gate. We need to move now!” Tamos hesitated. “But... if they come before we regroup... wouldn’t it be better to just run?” Lowell cursed under his breath before speaking sharply. “My lord, if we flee now without our forces, we’ll be finished. We need our soldiers if we have any hope of negotiating surrender. We have to save as many as we can!” Realizing the truth in Lowell’s words, Tamos relented. “Fine, then. Gather the wounded and retreat. Once we’ve regrouped, we’ll fall back.” His guards, now numbering barely over a hundred, moved quickly to carry out his orders. Meanwhile, Ghislain glanced down at his armor, lightly brushing off the dust before turning to his mercenaries. “We won’t be able to withstand it for long. Kill as many as you can as quickly as possible, then withdraw.” The black armor that Ghislain and his mercenaries wore had been reinforced with the hides of Dirus Ents, resistant enough to withstand a 4th-circle fire spell for a short period. It wouldn’t last forever, but it was enough to give them an advantage. Gillian shook his head in disbelief. “This must be the most expensive trap in history.” “Probably. We used up all the runestones we gathered for this.” “Aren’t you worried about wasting them?” “Money is just a means to an end.” It was only now that the mercenaries began to understand Ghislain’s strategy. When the war had been declared, Ghislain had ordered them to bury runestones all over the battlefield outside the city walls. “We thought you were hiding them to keep them safe. Who would’ve guessed this is how you’d use them? You wiped them out.” “And aren’t you a little sad to see them go?” “I thought I could sneak a few out later, but I guess they’re all gone now.” The mercenaries laughed bitterly. Ordinarily, someone would have taken the runestones and fled. They were worth enough to live a life of luxury forever. But Ghislain had destroyed them all in one massive trap. “Still, that girl was incredible. She’s a real mage.” “Yeah, what circle was that? Could she be an archmage?” “I thought she was just a maid.” Though the mercenaries were impressed by the result, the truth was a bit different. Even with the power transferred to her, Vanessa wasn’t capable of detonating all the runestones at once on her own. She had only activated a few. But each runestone had been meticulously prepared with complex magic formulas for focus, chain reactions, and explosions. Before the war, Vanessa had tirelessly inscribed those formulas on each stone under Ghislain’s orders. Her innate talent for magical theory and precision had made the impossible task possible. From the moment Ghislain had returned from the Forest of Beasts with the runestones, he had been planning this trap. Vanessa’s presence had been key to its success. Now, it was time to exact their revenge on the invaders. The long-held fury that had been building inside Ghislain was ready to explode. “Kill everyone you see!” Ghislain shouted as he charged forward. Gillian and Kaor followed, and the mercenaries, though hesitating for a moment, gritted their teeth and charged after them. “To hell with it! Let’s go!” “If he says we’ll be fine, then we’ll be fine!” “Kill them before we leave!” Hissss! 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎 The Dirus Ent hide sizzled as it made contact with the flames, emitting steam as it dried and cracked. “Oh, it’s warm! Real warm!” “It’s holding up!” “Kill them and get out!” The battlefield was a sea of fire, but there were still survivors struggling to escape. The mercenaries chased after the fleeing soldiers, cutting them down without mercy. “Arghhh!” One after another, the enemy soldiers fell as the mercenaries slaughtered anyone still alive in the inferno. While his mercenaries focused on the massacre, Ghislain was searching for someone. “I need to kill Victor.” Victor was still a threat, and given time, he would only grow stronger. Ghislain couldn’t allow him to leave the battlefield alive. “If the flames got him, that’s good. But I need to confirm it.” Ignoring the screams of dying soldiers around him, Ghislain sprinted through the flames. “I’ve found you.” At last, he spotted a figure standing alone in the inferno. “Kraaaah! My army! How dare you!” Victor was screaming in rage, his voice filled with madness. Half of his face was covered in burns, and his armor was broken and charred. But he was still alive. “I’ll kill them all! I’ll cut them open and hang their heads from the walls!” His eyes glowed with insanity. There was no way he could leave now. Even if he died here, he was determined to take the heads of Peridium’s lord and his retainers with him. Victor, surrounded by mana, prepared to make his final charge toward the walls of Peridium. Thwack! A sudden force cut through the flames, striking him.