Nate appeared amidst the chaos of the camp as he followed the sense of Illusion he was feeling through Conceptual Insight. Kiri appeared a second later and together they took in the battle raging before them. Two bodies, identical as far as Nate could tell, were slipping in and out of a battle with some monstrous-looking creature. The monster was three metres tall, balanced on two reverse-jointed hind legs and covered in rough grey skin. The beast was utterly hairless and possessed a prodigious snout, with no sign of eyes, nor ears. However, the lack of obvious sensory organs other than its nose didn’t seem to be slowing it down at all as it rushed around at similar speeds to an imbued Kiri, slashing with three incredibly long claws on its arms at what looked like empty air. Out of that empty air, an image of the same claws as the beast appeared, colliding with the arm and sending a burst of sound and air whooshing through the burning tents that surrounded the area.

  Nate sensed others approaching from behind through his sphere of awareness and flooded Farsight of the Runic Artist with a large portion of his own mana. His Skill burst outwards, shattering veils in every direction as he tried to understand exactly what they were about to be fighting against. Part of his attention focused on refilling his Mana Reserve from a mana gem within his Runic Gallery as he looked over the results of his identification.

  Resonating Mirror Mage (L) (60) / Resonating Master Illusionist (E) (24) / Resonating Vibration Mage (R) (8)

  Unseen Humanoid Shapeshifter (E) (60) / Unseen Illusionist (R) (32) / Unseen Sound Mage (U) (15)

  The first two were clearly the Princess and Hildi, identified by their Illusionist Classes. Nate was only mildly surprised to find out that Hildi was an Unseen in the service of the Princess.

  Vicious Monstrous Shapeshifter (E) (60) / Vicious Soul Ravager (R) (40) / Vicious Improved Warrior (U) (9)

  Nate, however, was surprised to see that the monster was actually a person; some sort of shapeshifter that could take on monstrous forms or properties. He wondered how that worked but now wasn’t the time for him to get distracted as more results rolled in.

  Unseen Bladedancer (E) (50) / Unseen Illusionist (R) (20) / Unseen Improved Warrior (U) (6)

  Unseen Bladedancer (E) (50) / Unseen Illusionist (R) (20) / Unseen Improved Warrior (U) (7)

  The two women rushed towards him and Nate had a sense of deja vu as he looked over them. The classes weren’t the exact same, but they were similar enough to the one he had faced back in the Guild Tournament. He supposed that he would have his answer soon enough. There were others coming as well, a team of Golds eight-strong bearing the colours of House Landin, all with warrior-type Classes. The Unseen and House Landin retainers were rushing towards the Monstrous Shapeshifter and Nate had no doubt it was to aid the assassin, rather than defend the Princess.

  “Ten,” Nate muttered to Kiri. “All Golds, two Unseen, the rest are pure warriors. How do you want to split them?”

  “Five each,” answered Kiri, tethered arms fanning out behind her as she pulled daggers from her soul space.

  “And me?” asked Frick.

  “Pick your shots,” replied Nate. “Drop whoever you can.”

  With their decisions made, heralded by a blast of lightning across the sky as a tree made of crackling white electricity began to grow above the camp, they moved, interposing themselves between the charging attackers and the ongoing battle between the Princess, Hildi and the Shapeshifting assassin.

  A gust of wind blew past Nate’s ear as Aisling’s voice whispered near Nate’s ear, “Are you safe?”

  “We’re fine,” Nate answered, not knowing how true that was, but not wanting to distract his mentor just yet. If things took a turn, he would call on her, but for now he would leave Aisling to handle whatever issue had forced her to take to the skies.

  *************

  Kalista, Commander of the Third Army of Asmuisil stared at the lightning tree growing into the sky, surrounded by storm clouds and rushing winds.

  “Should we attack, Commander?” asked Sub-Commander Theora, also known as the Wind of the East.

  “Do you want to fight the Stormspear when she has prepared the battlefield to her advantage?” responded Kalista, taking in the sight of one of the most famous Guild Platinums doing battle with not one but two Etruan Nobles.

  “No,” admitted Theora.

  “Get the Army ready. We’ll let them kill each other, then move in to clean up whatever remains once they’re done.”

  Kalista ignored her Sub-Commander’s salute and the whispering of the wind as Theora gave orders to the Third Army to secure and hold their zone. Whatever had stirred the Etruans into mutiny could only benefit them. Best to let their enemies weaken each other.

  *************

  Nate waited behind his barrier as he interposed himself between the Princess and the House Landin assailants. Behind him, Princess Morgane, Hildi and the assassin continued to slowly tear their way through the camp. He would do what he could by preventing the Princess from having to deal with another ten Golds. Kiri didn’t wait, tearing into five of the Golds with a fury he had not seen in a long time. She forced the retainers back as she made liberal use of her Soul Shift ability to slow them down enough that they were forced to engage her. It helped that his sister's speed was unmatched amongst the Golds and he was reminded once more of the stark advantages that their Skill and Class rarities gave them.

  As for his own opponents, Nate had already spun up a Gravity Control rune before him as he mentally selected the materials he would use with his Conceptual Automated Existence Skill. Suspicions about him had been growing among the nobles over the last month, and with his decision to stay and support the Princess, he had no reason to hold back any more. That said, if his goal was to buy time, words would help just as much as violence.

  “I kind of hoped our paths wouldn’t cross again, Helena. Or is it Celeste now?” he called out, trying to sound more casual than he felt about the imminent conflict. “And your sister…Gabrielle, right?”

  The five before him paused, the House Landin retainers clearly defaulting to supporting the two Unseen, as Helena-Celeste paused, holding out two short blades. She looked different to how she had appeared in the Tournament and he couldn’t sense a shred of illusion from her, yet her Classes didn’t indicate an ability to shapeshift.

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  “You are between us and our target,” growled Helena-Celeste. “Move. We don’t have to kill you.”

  “Not an option, I’m afraid,” he retorted, growing more and more calm as he settled in. “If it’s a choice between the Princess or her brothers…well, that’s an easy choice to make. And since I am not running, I guess this is me taking a side.”

  He wasn’t certain, but he thought for a moment Helena-Celeste and her sister looked sad, before the Unseen responded, “You can’t beat five of us. Remove him!”

  At the Unseen’s command, his opponents rushed at him together as mana flared. Mostly self-enhancements, Nate decided, since there were no outward displays of magic. The exception was the two Unseen who seemed to be using Illusion to disguise their movements and the positions of their sword. There was something else as well, pressing against the Soul Barrier engraved on his soul, slowly draining his mana.

  All of it amounted to nothing as he changed ‘up’ to ‘down’, inverting gravity around him. The mana cost was significant but it tossed all five of his opponents into the sky. The Unseen were the first to react and he sensed a burst of wind from their boots as the twins began to fly back towards the ground. The other three Retainers did not have the same success, floating up into the sky to the limit of his gravity control where they hovered. They weren't, however, without recourse, and Nate sensed enchanted weapons activate, launching bursts of lightning and wind at him.

  Using Conceptual Spatial Manipulation, he reflected their attacks back at them, ignoring how they raised shields or used bracers to defend themselves from the attacks. The Unseen swam closer through the air, fighting against gravity as they tried to get down towards him. His use of gravity was twofold. He was buying time for himself, as he extracted three epic materials from his Runic Gallery and began activating one after another with Conceptual Automated Existence. Two metallic beings came to life in front of him, born of Epic-tier materials imbued with an affinity for Metal using a Journeyman Sigil. Unlike the last time, where they looked like oil slicks painted with red dust, these Constructs looked like flowing silver. His Intent commanded them to kill the three Retainers. Unwilling to restrain himself now that he had committed to joining the Princess, he added a third Construct to the mix. The Gravity Construct was every bit as strong as the Metal Constructs, but the Intents driving it were to restrain and counter all five of his opponents. As for the Unseen, he held off on killing them; something was bothering him about the pair. He had shattered their veils, drawing forth their Classes. That should have been the end of it, but Conceptual Insight was still whispering to him and one of those whispers told him the Concept of Soul was in play. He knew its flavour well given Kiri’s own skillset. Yet, nothing about the twin’s Classes said they should have usage of their soul energy. Something was off, and if he could restrain the pair without killing them, he would.

  He had spent most of his mana, and used the last of it to invert his control of Gravity again, launching his five opponents at the ground. The twin Unseen managed to right themselves but the three House Landin retainers blasted into the ground creating small craters. Their armour and stats were high enough that they began recovering immediately, standing up and ignoring their injuries, only to come face-to-face with two charging, flowing metal Constructs.

  Nate watched as the trio were forced to defend against the Conceptual Constructs, reaching into his Runic Gallery again to refill his Mana Reserve from the mana gems stored within. Dropping his Gravity Control rune, he spared a glance for Kiri only to see she had already downed two of her opponents and was in the process of killing a third. Frick was using the diversion to change his size, channelling My Will, My Way as his goblin spirit corralled Kiri’s opponents, preventing them from getting around her. He was happy with that decision, as while Kiri was absolutely deadly, she lacked the battlefield control Skills or Spells that Nate could manage with his runes. Together they were a fearsome combo, but split like this, assisting Kiri was the right decision.

  Nate had blown through a reasonable amount of his preparations, but unless a Platinum showed up, the outcome of this battle was a foregone conclusion. Focusing on his own opponents, he watched as the first of the House Landin retainers died as the man was drawn into a metallic blade of one of the Metal Constructs by the Gravity Construct. Even now, he didn’t like it and had no desire in him to kill. But, he was long past the days where he would suppress himself to avoid the ugliness of battle. Orders or not, these individuals had come to kill the Princess, and unlike the Unseen, he sensed no oddities within them. Choices had consequences, and even if he didn’t like them, he wouldn’t shy away from them.

  Almost clinically, he assessed how the battle was going, noting what was working and what wasn’t. There were flaws in his Constructs that were readily apparent. The most obvious was that they lacked a battle sense. Their power, the enhancements provided by his Skills and the tier of the materials should have seen them roll over his opponents in an unstoppable wave. But instead, the Constructs bowed to the whims of their Concepts, doing their best to follow his Intent. He lacked melee combat experience and so they lacked a sense of how to fight, simply striking out at their opponents while taking hits that chipped away at the mana empowering them. Each blow struck against the Constructs cost them mana and they would fail before long, especially since they were powered by regular mana rather than processed mana.

  The secondary issue was they lacked true sensory capabilities. He had marked his opponents with his Intent, but it appeared that marking was based on something he didn’t understand, because both the Unseen had managed to hide themselves with their Illusions and slip around his Constructs. The first blow of a sword against his barrier struck harder than he expected, even though he had seen it coming. With a flash of memory he chalked it up to their Improved Warrior Classes. It must be a passive enhancement Class, he decided as he used Conceptual Spatial Manipulation to teleport away, creating space between himself and the twins as he decided on the best way to suppress them.

  A second retainer fell, along with one of his Metal Constructs, which left the remaining Metal Construct and his Gravity Construct to finish off the last retainer. They were running out of mana but he was certain the retainer would fall before his Constructs did.

  The Unseen rushed towards him again, hidden from his sight but not from his sphere of awareness, even as the pressure against his Soul Barrier continued. The signs of soul manipulation made his decision for him and he used Conceptual Spatial Manipulation to buy himself more time as he called up a Sigil he had never had cause to use before. The rune he crafted on the fly was so flawed that he knew he was going to burn another mana gem just to make it work, but he wanted answers from the Unseen. He needed to know what was wrong with their souls and he was sure the Princess would appreciate some details on who had attempted to assassinate her. Flooding mana into Conceptual Runic Mastery, he watched the rune form in the air before him, glowing blue as it contained the Sigils for Soul, Power and Sleep within the geometric structure. Burning a mana gem to power the rune, he used his Intents to guide and empower his Soul Sleep rune.

  The Unseen held up for a few seconds before the onslaught, the damage or curse on their own souls clearly making them weaker against his attack. The pair crashed into the ground, knocked out and sleeping soundly in the middle of the battlefield as a pained scream marked the death of the final Gold he had been fighting. Kiri joined him a moment later, all five of her opponents dead and the flowing processed mana rushed into them as notifications blinked in the corner of their vision.

  “You kept them alive?” Kiri asked, blood spattered over her body which Nate suspected was probably her own, despite her lack of wounds.

  “Something’s wrong with their souls,” he muttered, glancing in the direction the Princess had gone.

  A trail of destroyed tents and the sound of fighting indicating the direction Morgane and Hildi had gone.

  “Huh…” Kiri grunted. “You’re right. Now’s not the time though.”

  Nate grudgingly agreed, “Frick, take the pair somewhere secure and keep them there.”

  “You got it, Boss,” answered Frick, the spirit still draining Nate’s mana to maintain his hulking physical form. The huge blue goblin scooped the sleeping Unseen up and lumbered back towards the Princess’s tent.

  “Time for the real fight,” Kiri muttered, and without waiting vanished in the direction the Princess had gone.

  Nate had to agree with his sister's assessment. They were about to find out how they measured up against a real Platinum, and while his sister was looking forward to it, he was definitely not. Even with his misgivings, even if he wondered if he should leave the Princess to her own fight, he wouldn’t let Kiri fight alone. With a flex of space he followed his sister to fight a shapeshifting assassin.

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