Chapter 205: Airam and Hermione Join The Fight [3]

"No!"

Hermione screamed.

Her voice tore through the clearing.

The Rank 2 Formula Ring above her hands flashed.

Until then, she had held the spell back. She had intended to release it carefully, directing the magic through narrow channels so it would strike only the enemy's openings and avoid the Rubenhart knights.

Grief and rage broke that restraint.

Mana surged through the rings.

The air in front of her compressed.

Hermione thrust both hands forward.

The spell released.

A broad wave of force struck the Valmorian soldier who had killed the Rubenhart knight. It did not break his armor because of the Anti-mana, but it carried far more power than Hermione's earlier support spells. The impact caught him in the chest and drove him backward.

His boots tore through the mud.

He crashed against the side of a supply wagon, splintering wood beneath his armored back.

The wagon shifted.

A crate fell from its edge and broke apart beside him.

The Valmorian knight remained conscious.

The serum kept him moving.

He pushed himself away from the wagon, one hand gripping his sword, and turned toward the last two wounded Rubenhart defenders.

Hermione stared at the dead knight on the grass.

His face had gone still.

Only a short time earlier, he had stood near the campfire with the others. He had smiled when Esther danced. He had laughed when Hermione tried to imitate Airam's steps. Now he lay in the mud with blood beneath his neck, and there was nothing Hermione could do for him.

Her hands shook.

Then they closed.

Pale blue mana gathered around her fingers again.

The Valmorian soldier who had been thrown into the supply wagon started toward the wounded knight with the broken shield. The knight tried to stand, but her injured shoulder would not support her. She reached for a fallen sword instead.

The second Valmorian knight rushed toward Hermione and Airam.

He had seen the larger spell.

He understood that Hermione had become the greater threat.

His armor clattered as he crossed the grass. The serum had made him faster than any ordinary knight. He covered the distance with frightening speed, sword raised toward Hermione's neck.

Airam stepped forward.

Her raised hand trembled.

Crimson runes appeared around her fingers.

They came too quickly to be safe.

Hermione saw them forming and knew at once that Airam had abandoned control. The runes did not drift separately as they had before. They gathered into a destructive cluster, pressing against one another in unstable shapes. Earth, pressure, binding, and sharp movement were forced together without the stabilizing order of a Formula Ring.

Witchcraft.

"Airam, wait—"

Airam closed her hand.

The runes exploded.

Crimson light burst across the clearing.

The Valmorian knight had no choice but to defend. He raised his anti-magic sword and threw himself backward as jagged pieces of earth erupted from the ground around him. Stone fragments shot upward like spears. Violent air pressure followed, smashing into his armor and hurling mud, grass, and broken pieces of wood through the air.

The knight's sword cut through some of the loose runes.

Red light burst around the black blade.

But there were too many separate effects. The anti-magic weapon could dismantle a complete spell structure efficiently. It could not erase every unstable rune Airam had scattered across the space before him.

A stone fragment struck the knight's breastplate.

Another smashed against his helmet.

The pressure wave threw him backward. He landed hard several paces away, one arm raised over his face as loose dirt and fragments fell around him.

Airam gasped.

Dark red lines spread beneath the skin of her wrist.

The runes had torn into her control too quickly. Blood ran from her nose, and she swayed where she stood.

Hermione grabbed her arm.

"Are you hurt?"

Airam pulled free.

"Finish it."

The Valmorian knight Airam had thrown back pushed himself upright.

The soldier Hermione had blasted into the supply wagon was moving again as well. He stepped around the fallen crate, sword drawn, and headed toward the two remaining wounded Rubenhart knights.

The female knight with the destroyed shield had managed to stand, but she could barely hold her weapon. Her shoulder hung wrong beneath her armor. The final Rubenhart knight lay beside her, wounded and unable to rise after the earlier blow.

The Valmorian soldier approached them.

Hermione looked at the Formula Ring fading above her hands.

Her Rank 2 spell had already been released.

She could form another.

She knew the structure.

But another spell of that strength would take time. The soldier would reach the wounded knights before she finished it.

Hermione's breathing became ragged.

"No."

The word was quiet.

Then she raised both hands again.

This time, she did not form the spell carefully.

Formula Rings opened around her.

One after another.

The first ring appeared.

The second came too quickly.

A third flared before the first had fully stabilized.

Mana poured through them in violent streams. The circles did not rotate smoothly. Their edges shook. Runes appeared in bursts of light, some almost overlapping as Hermione forced the formula together through panic and anger.

Airam's eyes widened.

"Hermione!"

Hermione did not answer.

She was building a Rank 3 spell.

An Intermediate formation.

It was too much for the moment.

Too fast.

A Rank 3 spell required more runes, more control, and a stronger structure than the spells she had cast so far. It should have taken several seconds of concentration. It should have been shaped with care, especially with wounded allies so close to the target.

Hermione had none of that.

She only saw the Valmorian knight walking toward the last Rubenhart defenders.

She only saw the dead knight lying in the grass.

She only heard Esther crying behind her.

Mana flared around Hermione's body.

The Formula Rings brightened until the pale blue light became nearly white.

The Valmorian soldier looked toward her.

For the first time, he stopped.

He raised his sword.

Hermione released the spell.

The clearing exploded.

A violent force burst outward from the ground between the wounded Rubenhart knights and the Valmorian soldiers. The spell did not choose sides. It did not care who stood closest. Its power expanded in a wide circular wave, tearing grass from the earth and throwing mud, stones, broken weapons, and bodies outward.

The two Valmorian knights were caught in it.

Their black armor resisted some of the force, but even the serum could not keep them standing. One was thrown backward into the burning remains of the supply wagon. The other spun through the air and struck the ground near the stream, rolling several times before stopping face-down in the mud.

The two wounded Rubenhart knights were thrown as well.

The woman with the ruined shoulder crashed against the side of a tent. The last knight was sent across the grass and struck the base of a tree. He did not rise.

Hermione staggered backward.

Blood ran from both of her nostrils now. Her hands shook violently, and the Formula Rings around her shattered one after another, their broken runes fading into the night.

Airam caught her before she fell.

"What did you do?" Airam asked, breathless.

Hermione stared at the clearing.

"I… I had to stop them."

The dust and steam began to clear.

Neither Valmorian knight moved immediately.

Neither wounded Rubenhart knight moved either.

"Hermione," Esther whispered.

Her voice was frightened.

Before Hermione could answer, a final cry rose from the side of the tent.

Hendrick.

He had ended his own battle.

The Valmorian spearman lay on the ground near him, his black armor split beneath the breastplate. Hendrick stood above the body, swaying slightly. Blood covered his sword, his armor, and one side of his face. His reinforcement spell had faded completely.

He turned toward the sisters.

Then he saw the aftermath of Hermione's spell.

The two Valmorian knights had been thrown away from the tent.

Only two enemy soldiers remained alive in the clearing.

Hendrick stepped toward the last Rubenhart knight still capable of fighting, the woman with the destroyed shield, who had somehow pushed herself away from the tent wall despite her injuries. She could barely remain upright, but she still held a sword.

Hendrick took position beside her.

The two Valmorian knights did not remain down for long.

One pushed himself out of the burning wreckage beside the supply wagon, black armor scorched and dented across his chest. The other rose from the mud near the stream, water running from his helmet and the gaps in his armor. Hermione's Rank 3 spell had thrown them hard enough to shatter the ground beneath them, but the serum still moved through their bodies.

Their injuries slowed them.

It did not stop them.

They saw Hendrick.

They saw the wounded female Rubenhart knight standing beside him.

Then both of them rushed forward.

Hendrick tightened his grip around his sword.

The female knight stood at his side, though blood continued to run down her ruined shoulder. She had lost her shield. Her armor was damaged. Her face had gone pale beneath the dirt and blood, yet she raised her sword with both hands.

The Valmorian soldiers crossed the clearing with terrifying speed.

Hendrick did not raise his weapon immediately.

Instead, he turned toward the sisters.

Airam stood in front of Esther. Hermione leaned against her shoulder, still recovering from the backlash of her last spell. Blood marked Hermione's face beneath her nose, and her hands would not stop trembling.

Hendrick looked at all three of them.

"It has been an honor to serve you," he said.

Esther's eyes widened.

Hendrick's face softened slightly when he saw her.

"If I do not make it through this," he continued, "tell Lord Rubenhart that I held my ground and it was my greatest honor to serve him as well."

"Hendrick—" Hermione started.

The female knight, Rina, looked back as well.

She gave the sisters a small smile.

It looked painfully tired.

"Likewise," she said.

Then both knights turned.

They rushed toward the Valmorian soldiers.

"Lord Hendrick! Rina!"

Esther screamed, immediately watching them rush toward death.