Chapter 204: Airam and Hermione Join The Fight [2]

Hermione stepped away from Airam and Esther, giving her elder sister room. Esther remained behind Airam, holding tightly to the back of her nightgown. She watched Hermione with wide, wet eyes.

Hermione raised her hand.

A Formula Ring appeared above her palm.

It was small.

Only two rings.

The first held a pure mana formation. The second contained simple control and release patterns. Hermione did not add elemental runes. She did not build a projectile or a barrier. Instead, she prepared a compact force spell, light enough that it could be formed quickly and directed without striking the Rubenhart knights.

The ring turned once.

Then it split.

Three smaller circles appeared around it.

Hermione controlled each one separately.

Airam glanced toward her.

"You can manage three."

"Obviously. I do not need them to be strong," Hermione said. "I only need them to interfere."

The first small Formula Ring released.

A burst of force struck the Valmorian knight fighting Hendrick from the side.

It did not send him staggering.

The pulse struck the man's elbow at the moment he began his sword swing, but the black armor absorbed much of the impact. The serum-enhanced soldier's arm only shifted by a fraction. His blade still came down toward Hendrick's shoulder.

Hendrick barely turned in time.

His own reinforcement spell flashed across his armor and body, a thin golden layer of mana woven tightly around his muscles and joints. The black sword struck his shoulder plate. The anti-magic effect tore through the enhancement at the point of contact, scattering the spell into faint sparks, but it had held long enough to prevent the blade from cutting fully through.

Metal screeched.

Blood ran from a split beneath Hendrick's collar.

He stepped backward rather than falling.

The opening Hermione had created was small.

Hendrick used it anyway.

He drove his sword toward the Valmorian knight's side. The enemy twisted, and Hendrick's blade struck black armor rather than flesh. Sparks jumped from the impact. The armor dented under the force but did not break.

The Valmorian soldier answered with an elbow toward Hendrick's face.

Hendrick blocked with his forearm.

The impact made his vision blur.

A second enemy came at him from the left with a spear. Hendrick turned, his sword barely catching the shaft before the point reached his throat. He shoved the spear aside and stepped away from the swordsman's next strike.

Two against one.

Before the serum, Hendrick could have handled them.

Now he was being forced backward.

The Valmorian soldiers moved too quickly. Their black armor resisted his attempts to cut them down. Their strength made every blocked strike painful. They attacked with the discipline of soldiers who had trained together for years, one forcing Hendrick's attention forward while the other searched for his blind side.

Hermione saw it.

Her second small Formula Ring released.

A narrow force pulse struck the spearhead.

The weapon did not fly from the Valmorian knight's hand. The anti-magic reinforcement built into the spear resisted the spell, and the soldier's grip did not weaken. Still, the pulse turned the point enough that it missed Hendrick's chest and scraped across his wounded shoulder instead.

Hendrick grunted.

He seized the shaft beneath the spearhead.

The Valmorian knight pulled back.

Hendrick held on.

For a moment, neither man moved. The serum gave the Valmorian soldier immense strength, but Hendrick's reinforcement spell remained active across his arms. Golden mana wrapped around his muscles, flickering each time the enemy's force threatened to break his grip.

The swordsman came in.

Hendrick released the spear.

The sudden loss of resistance threw the Valmorian knight half a step backward. Hendrick ducked beneath the swordsman's cut and slammed the pommel of his sword into the side of the spear wielder's helmet.

Once.

The soldier's head snapped sideways.

Hendrick struck again.

The second impact dented the black metal near the ear.

But the knight remained standing.

The serum had made him harder to put down as well as stronger. The man turned back toward Hendrick with a low, furious sound.

Hermione's third spell-circle hovered above her fingers.

She looked toward the Valmorian swordsman closest to the tent.

The knight had been waiting for Hendrick to divide his attention. He saw the captain struggling against the spear wielder and moved in from the side, sword raised.

Hermione pointed.

The force spell released.

It struck behind the knight's knee.

The armor absorbed most of the impact.

His leg did not buckle.

He did not fall.

But his step landed half a pace shorter than he intended. His sword reached Hendrick too early, before the knight had fully positioned his body behind the strike.

Hendrick saw it.

He turned and met the blow.

The impact shook his entire arm. His reinforcement spell shattered along the right side of his body, golden fragments scattering over the grass. Still, Hendrick redirected the sword enough that it did not cut into his neck.

The remaining Rubenhart knight with the damaged shield rushed forward.

She slammed the shield into the Valmorian swordsman's side.

The black-armored knight barely moved.

The shield struck him with a dull impact, but the serum-enhanced soldier planted his feet and held his ground. He turned toward her, raised his sword, and brought it down.

The Rubenhart knight lifted the broken shield.

The blade split through it.

The strike continued into her shoulder.

She cried out and fell backward into the mud, one hand pressed against the wound.

"Hendrick!" Hermione shouted.

Hendrick moved toward her, but the spear wielder attacked first.

The spearpoint came for his back.

Airam's hand rose.

Crimson runes flashed around her fingers.

She did not form a full spell. She seized the loose rune of pressure and pushed it toward the spear's shaft. The air twisted around the weapon. The spear's path shifted by only a finger's width, but that was enough.

The point tore through Hendrick's cloak instead of entering his spine.

Hendrick spun.

His sword cut toward the Valmorian knight's wrist.

The anti-magic gauntlet caught the blade. The black armor held, but Hendrick's strike forced the soldier to release the spear with one hand.

The wounded Rubenhart knight on the ground reached for the fallen weapon.

Before she could grasp it, the Valmorian swordsman kicked her in the ribs.

The force threw her onto her back.

Hermione's face drained of color.

The swordsman stepped toward the fallen knight, intent on finishing her.

Hermione formed another Formula Ring.

This one was not a simple pulse. She built a small wind spell, directing the current beneath the fallen woman rather than at the enemy. The gust struck the ground and pushed the wounded Rubenhart knight sideways through the mud.

The Valmorian sword struck where her chest had been a moment earlier.

The blade buried itself in the earth.

The Valmorian knight pulled it free immediately.

The wounded knight tried to crawl away, one arm wrapped around her ribs. She reached for her sword, but her fingers could not close properly around the grip.

A second Rubenhart knight rushed in front of her.

The knight with blood running into one eye raised his sword with both hands.

He met the Valmorian soldier's attack.

The black blade struck his.

His weapon snapped near the guard.

The Rubenhart knight stumbled back, holding the useless half of his sword. The Valmorian soldier swung again.

Airam's runes flared.

The ground rose beneath the attacker's foot.

A jagged ridge of stone caught his boot and forced him to shift his stance. His sword still came down, but the change in balance pulled the strike away from the Rubenhart knight's neck.

The blade cut through his shoulder instead.

The knight screamed and fell beside his wounded companion.

The Valmorian soldier raised his weapon a third time.

Hendrick reached him.

The captain's sword struck the black armor at the neck.

Once.

The first blow did not cut through.

Twice.

A crack appeared where the helmet met the breastplate.

The Valmorian knight tried to turn.

Hendrick drove his sword into the opening.

The blade entered beneath the helmet.

The enemy collapsed.

Hendrick pulled his sword free and staggered backward. Blood ran down his arm. The gold reinforcement around his body had nearly vanished. He tried to rebuild it, but the spell formed slowly now. His mana was running low, and every moment he spent casting created another opening for the remaining enemy.

The spear wielder attacked.

Hendrick barely raised his sword.

The spear struck his guard.

The impact threw him into the side of a supply crate. Wood cracked behind his back. Hendrick dropped to one knee, holding his sword in front of him as the Valmorian knight advanced.

Airam took a step forward, and her eyes darkened, along with the mana around her, sending a tremor through the ground that Hermione felt and flinched.

She caught Airam's arm.

"You cannot keep using witchcraft like that."

"We have no choice."

"We do." Hermione looked toward the three Rubenhart knights. "I will help them."

"Their armor will resist you."

"It will not resist everything."

Hermione's voice was shaking.

Not from fear alone.

The wounded Rubenhart knight with the broken shield was trying to stand. Blood ran down her shoulder. The other knight lay beside her, one hand pressed to the wound in his neck as he fought for breath. Hendrick was still on one knee before the spear wielder.

They were dying.

And Hermione could no longer bear simply buying seconds while the enemy continued to overwhelm them.

She raised both hands.

Formula Rings appeared around her.

One.

Then a second.

Then a third.

The first two were small Rank 1 spells. Their circles formed rapidly around her wrists, each built to interfere with a single movement. One gathered wind. The other created compact bursts of force. They would not break the Valmorian armor, but Hermione intended to use them repeatedly, forcing the enemy soldiers to divide their attention.

The third Formula Ring was larger.

More rings unfolded before her.

Its mana glowed pale blue and white, reflecting in Hermione's eyes. This spell took longer to form. It was a Rank 2 formation. Her hands trembled as she placed the runes, but the geometry held.

Airam looked at her sharply.

"Hermione."

"I know."

"You do not have enough time."

"I will make time."

The wind spell released first.

It struck the spear wielder's weapon from the side. The spear did not fly away, but the shaft shifted enough to pull the point off Hendrick's throat.

Hendrick rolled aside.

The force spell followed.

It struck the Valmorian knight's ankle, not to make him fall, but to interrupt the next step. The soldier's boot pressed into the mud at an awkward angle.

Hendrick rose.

His sword cut toward the man's knee.

The black armor held.

But the blow forced the enemy backward.

At the same moment, one of Hermione's small Formula Rings turned toward the remaining Valmorian knight near the wounded Rubenhart soldiers. A sharp current of wind struck his helmet. The soldier barely reacted, but his attention moved toward Hermione for an instant.

The knight with the broken shield used that instant to drag her wounded companion farther behind the supply crate.

The larger Formula Ring continued to form.

Mana gathered around Hermione's body.

The air near her hands began to hum.

She was not preparing a spell to destroy the entire battlefield. She could not risk that. Too many people stood too close. But the Rank 2 spell carried enough force to strike through gaps in armor, disrupt the enhancement mana within the Valmorian soldiers' bodies, and create a real opening for Hendrick.

The strain showed on her face.

Her eyes did not leave the Formula Ring.

The spear wielder saw what she was doing.

He turned away from Hendrick.

His helmet faced Hermione.

Airam moved in front of her.

Crimson runes gathered around her raised hand.

The Valmorian knight began charging toward them.

Hendrick shouted something, but it was lost beneath the clash of steel and the rising hum of Hermione's spell.

The Rank 2 Formula Ring brightened.

The final rune had almost reached its place.

Hermione's mana flared around her hands as she prepared to release it.

Its pale blue light reflected across her face. Sweat gathered along her silvery brow despite the cold night air. She had already formed the two smaller support spells around her wrists, using them to interrupt the Valmorian soldiers' movements whenever Hendrick or the remaining Rubenhart knights needed an opening.

The larger spell required more.

More mana.

More concentration.

More time than the battle was willing to give her.

The three Rubenhart knights stood together before the tent.

One held the broken remains of a shield. Blood ran from the wound across her shoulder, soaking the side of her armor. The second knelt beside the supply crate, one hand pressed against his leg where a blade had cut through leather and flesh. The third stood in front of them despite the blood pouring from a wound near his brow.

They faced two serum-enhanced Valmorian knights.

The soldiers wore black armor stained with mud and blood. Their anti-magic swords reflected the firelight in dull, dark lines. Mana still leaked from beneath their armor after the serum, turning the air around them heavy and unstable.

The Rubenhart knights could barely keep their footing.

The Valmorian soldier on the right attacked first.

He swung toward the wounded knight's shoulder.

The Rubenhart knight with the broken shield stepped forward and raised it. The shield was already split down the middle. It would not stop another direct blow. She knew that. Still, she put herself between the sword and her companion.

Hermione released one of her smaller spells.

A burst of wind struck the Valmorian knight's arm.

It was not enough to stop him.

The black armor resisted the spell, and the serum-enhanced soldier's muscles barely reacted to the force. His sword still came down. The strike landed against the shield and split the remaining part apart.

The Rubenhart knight was thrown backward.

Her shoulder struck the side of the supply crate. She dropped to one knee, breathless, clutching the useless pieces of the shield.

The second Valmorian knight moved toward the kneeling man.

The wounded Rubenhart knight tried to rise.

His injured leg failed beneath him. He gritted his teeth and dragged himself upright with his sword, placing his body between the enemy and the tent even though he could barely stand.

Hermione saw him.

"Move!" She shouted.

The knight did not hear her.

Or perhaps he heard, but there was nowhere left for him to go.

The Valmorian soldier thrust his sword forward.

The Rubenhart knight tried to block.

His blade met the black weapon, but he had no strength left in his arms. The anti-magic sword broke through his weakened reinforcement spell. The light around his sword shattered, and the Valmorian blade drove past his guard.

It entered his throat.

Hermione froze.

For a moment, all sound disappeared.

The Rubenhart knight's eyes widened. His sword fell from his hand. Blood ran over the black blade and down the Valmorian knight's gauntlet.

Then the soldier pulled the weapon free.

The Rubenhart knight collapsed onto the grass.

"No!"

Hermione screamed.