The Path of Ascension

Matt and his party stood together on the wall by the main gate, watching the dozen Queendom trebuchets fling boulders at the shields.

They had been at this for a full day now.

The siege engines assaulting each entrance was the Queendom’s way of battering down the shield reserves, and it was effective. The first attacks had been more about frightening the defenders. After that, the artillery was carefully hitting the walls with standard rocks, no longer bothering to set them ablaze.

They observed the enemy command tent with the telescope they had linked to their AIs. Meanwhile, Juni was leading negotiations with the besiegers from on top of the battlements.

The discussion was going about as poorly as Matt expected. The opposing general was demanding the immediate surrender of their city and the entire defending force. Juni was countering with an equally absurd offer of letting all the standard troops leave uncaptured and unharmed, if the Queendom commanders surrendered.

Neither side expected the other to comply, but apparently, dick-measuring contests were a part of defending a city.

That neither side had slowed their siege preparations was telling. The attackers were assembling siege towers as if they were children’s toys. Meanwhile, earth mages formed smoothed out tracks for the towers to advance on. The mages ventured as close as they could to the wall without the defenders being able to shoot them.

The miniature roads were a worrying testament to the lengths that the Queendom would go to for the capture of the city. It was also a clear indicator that they didn't intend to simply batter the city to rubble with their artillery. No, Princess Sara intended to take the city intact. After all, they’d need to pay for any repairs once it was in their control.

Matt looked back over the wall into the massive city. The streets were packed with fighters. Most were uniformed Kingdom soldiers, but there were smaller clumps of fighters in oddly colored, mismatched armor. They were the quick reaction forces that Liz commanded, comprised mostly of Pathers.

He had already run simulations for most of the possibilities with his AI. They were going to have to play this almost perfectly to successfully defend the city. His estimation of a million Queendom troops wasn't far off. Around their city, there were eight hundred thousand Queendom fighters setting up camps and their own additions to the fortifications.

So far.

To his surprise, the Prince had done as promised. There were bands of Kingdom fighters harrying the attackers and creating chaos. They weren't getting firm numbers, but the Queendom had dedicated a substantial force to taking out the Kingdom’s guerilla forces.

It was the Prince himself that led a raid deep into the Queendom encirclement, where the team he personally led tore down two of the formation pillars that were locking down the city’s teleporters. With their assistance, the city’s defenders had managed to reinforce themselves, and now stood at nearly five hundred thousand fighters in total.

Eight hundred thousand attackers versus five hundred thousand defenders wasn't an impossible matchup for the defenders. It would just be a challenge. According to conventional wisdom, a three to one ratio was the minimum an attacking force should be comfortable with for besieging a city of this size. It was why the time they had bought with the cannons was so crucial. The Kingdom might now be able to defend against this siege, if they were able to execute.

The problem was time. They were running out of it. According to Juni, the city’s mana reserves were nearly spent, and the attackers clearly knew it. The rate of trebuchet fire was slowing down to a sprinkling of boulders, compared to the torrential rain it had been before.

Ten minutes later, the inevitable finally happened.

A flying boulder slammed unimpeded into the city walls. The useless Prince had spent a lot on city reserves, but it all eventually proved ineffective. Looking around, Matt wished that their leader had spent even more points on the city’s fortifications. While their defenses were adequately equipped, they clearly were not enough.

There was a joyful roar from the attacking army as they saw that the shields were finally disabled. On the other hand, the mood turned markedly somber around the defending command center.

A stoic Juni turned to face everyone and said, “So it begins. You all have your orders. Those Queendom bastards will be on us quickly, so move to your positions. We don't know if the first attack will be a probe, or a dedicated assault. Show no weakness.”

With that, he spun on his heels, climbed to the highest level of fortifications around the city’s main gate, and started to give a more energizing speech to the amassed Kingdom troops below.

Team Bucket turned to the side and raced along the clear half of the wall, moving to their positions. Their team had been assigned to the eastern city gate, along with a mostly Pather force.

As they approached the large fortification around the gate, Matt swallowed. It was a harrowing picture to see all the faces turn to them as one and lock on. Some had unmasked expressions of greed and hope, but they were in the minority. The resounding majority of the faces shared looks of fear and uncertainty. These were feelings that Matt understood all too well, but he worked hard to disguise them.

This wasn't a rift or a single fight. This was a siege against nearly a million enemies, and they were a small but key piece of the defense.

Matt was poked from behind by the dreaded ‘Finger of Doom’ and turned to see Liz. She whispered to him that he should speak with his troops. He still felt that she should be the one to speak, as she was the nominal leader. But she reversed the logic on him by pointing out that he was their in-battle commander and strategist.

He couldn’t think of a good counter for that.

As he mimicked Juni by climbing up the fortifications, his mind blanked, and his many prepared speeches flew from his mind. His mouth was left without direction, and started moving on its own.

“We aren't here because we have a stake in the war.” His throat seized up, but he swallowed hard, and forced himself to keep speaking. “Either war. What do we care if two vassal states fight over a Tier 20 planet? We’re on The Path; it’s irrelevant to us.”

Matt had no idea where he was going with this, and scrambled to bring the topic around to something applicable. He could see it on the faces below him. People were questioning his competency from this speech alone.

“Except that's bullshit! This isn't irrelevant to us. We walk The Path of Ascension, and this whole mini-war was set up for us. Us! Not the vassal kingdoms. What does a Tier 50 get out of letting us play make-believe in a little sandbox war?”

People started to look interested, so he decided to throw out something that he had learned from Liz’s brothers and various new broadcasts.

“War is coming to the Empire. We’re a part of the same Path that has succeeded in creating one monster-among-men already. Duke Waters. And a second pair are only a few decades away from repeating that same feat. I'm sure you’ve all heard the speculation. Once we have two sets of Ascenders, the other powers will target the Empire because of its success. Any of you could be the third, and now the Emperor is letting us experience a part of what’s coming in a safe environment, before it becomes all too real.”

Matt paused and looked around at his fighters. His mind frantically calculated how far he wanted to take his next statements.

“How many of you have died already?”

He raised a hand and watched as others raised a hand, some with confidence, and others with shame.

“We’ve died. And I'm glad for it. If this was a real war, then that would be it. The end. No coming back. This is an opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Ambushes that take down a stronger foe can happen to you as easily as it can to the enemy. I just stabbed a Tier 7 who thought I was a mage. He was dead before he knew to fight at full strength.”

Matt winced internally. He was rambling.

“Don't let that be you. Take this as what it is—a learning experience. Babies’ first war. Don't try to die, but if you do, learn from your mistakes. Make damn sure the other side learns from theirs too.”

He flung out an arm, pointing at the opposing army as they formed into ranks that seemed to go on forever.

“This is our chance to fight real people and learn. As the battle goes on, follow your orders the best you can. And try to learn something. The next time we do this, it could be for real.”

He hopped down and activated [Cracked Phantom Armor]. He wanted to hide the shakes that started overcoming him as he’d realized how awful the speech was.

Then he realized his prepared speeches were in his AI. He wanted to slap himself. He could have just read off of his HUD and been fine.

Liz rubbed his back, “That was good. People are more motivated, and a lot of the fear is gone.”

“That was awful. I forgot all my speeches and forgot I could read off my AI. Then started spewing that shit out.”

Annie shoulder-bumped him. “It wasn't that bad. Really. It was fine. Look at it this way; Once the fighting starts, no one will remember a word you said.”

Conor shrugged. “I've heard better. Maybe worse. But who cares.”

That actually helped.

Liz kicked the tall man's armored shin and glared at him.

He repeated his shrug. “I call it how I see it. Matt doesn't want us to lie.”

Matt turned his attention to the Queendom forces and watched the square formations start marching forward with shields raised.

The siege towers rumbled onwards in between each formation, keeping the same pace. He didn't miss the ladders and knotted ropes that some of the footmen held either.

As the enemy’s vanguard neared the three-quarters point, Matt called out through the command channels, “Catapults with anti-personnel ammo, aim for the troops! The mana cannons and ballista will take down the siege towers! Hold till my command!”

His AI was noting everything, and was being relayed information from the city AI. He called out a minute later, and his message went to the appropriate teams on the voice chats. “Cannons and ballista— fire!”

Changing channels, he barked out, “Long-range archers— take out the earth mages if you can.”

If they could stop those damn earth mages, the soft ground would at least slow the massive siege towers.

“Catapults, fire!”

As he watched the various spells and mundane munitions being flung out, Matt felt a rush of power. This wasn't the power of an individual, but the power that came from dozens of coordinated attacks against a similarly coordinated foe. The power of an army. It was a whole new rush, unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Just as the rush peaked, it came crashing down when he realized that for all their preparedness, they were sorely outnumbered and outgunned. Even as a dozen fist-sized ball bearings slammed into the Queendom formations, only a few handfuls of people were teleported out, and their spots quickly filled in with reinforcements from the rear.

Their most powerful weapons were still only like throwing pebbles into a pond.

One of the siege towers suddenly stopped. He looked and noticed that the ground before it stopped turning to smooth stone. The earth mage was gone. One tower down out of five was a great start.

The attackers soon reached the halfway mark, and he sent out his next command. “Archers, fire at the marked locations!”

A breath later, the sky darkened as thousands of arrows were loosed in near unison. They arced up and then down to slam into the upraised shields of the advancing formations. The next volley was a little more ragged, but gaps started to appear in the enemy formations.

“Mages, when you’re in range, take your shots. Prioritize the targets your skills deal with best.”

[Earth Spike]s and [Water Spear]s lashed out at the siege towers to Matt’s right. A barrage of [Fireball]s did the same to his left. They splashed against the large, reinforced siege towers to little effect, but they did hinder the advance of the attackers.

From behind the first row of infantry, a contingent of archers drew their bows. Matt bellowed out on the open channels, “Prepare to receive counter-fire!”

Defenders started ducking under the parapet, but Matt stood his ground. At this range, there wasn't a chance of an attack making it through his armor.

His fighters’ shields were raised just seconds before the archers started to fire.

Having seen their own arrows fly over his head and darken the sky not moments ago, Matt thought he was prepared to receive a similar volley. He was dead wrong.

As the storm of arrows hailed towards him, he fought the instinct to duck and cover. Before him was a wave of glinting steel, crashing down upon a shore of flesh and dread.

The projectiles landed with a heavy push of air. Half a dozen of them bounced off his pale blue armor skill with plinking sounds, but that wasn't all they hit. The screams started just afterwards. Some lasted mere moments, but others lingered. Most wounds weren’t severe enough to demand elimination.

His AI confirmed that his team was fine, and he dismissed the injury reports after glancing at the tallies of wounded. The numbers weren't pretty, but they were better than he’d feared.

“Healers— start getting the least wounded back on their feet.”

Seeing the formations starting to move from a walk to a jog, he called out, “Anti-personnel squads— their formations are advancing. Stop them!”

It didn't look like the Queendom was going for a probing attack. With this many resources at play, they obviously wanted to try to gain a foothold on the wall.

Arrows and spells flickered back and forth as Matt called out commands he received from his AI. Most were only what was obvious. It was like a game. You counter what the enemy tried to do while hampering them as much as possible. There were only so many orders that could be given, after all. The rest of the orders were just trying to counter or preemptively cut off problems.

The first of the three remaining siege towers slammed into the fifty-foot walls with a rumble. The second and fifth towers were stuck in mud and on fire, respectively. He didn't know when either had happened, but it was good news.

“Prepare to repel attackers! Don't let the towers distract you from the ladders and ropes.”

His command felt unneeded, but it was better to make sure that everyone was on the same page.

Giant doors opened downwards, creating ramps to the top of the wall, where dozens of attackers flooded out.

The first wave consisted mostly of Tier 7 melee fighters in heavy armor.

Matt entered the fray for the first time.

With his staff in hand, he put his full 80 mana into the initial cast of [Hail], and let an avalanche of ice pour in front of the front gate. His staff didn't just empower a single skill. It empowered any skills that had an initial cast cost.

The battering ram that was being wheeled up suddenly had no way to advance. There was an ever-growing pile of ice raining down before the gate, blocking its way.

The hill of ice reached the top of the door and became dozens of feet thick. Matt turned off the skill, then started launching [Fireball]s at the invaders. He was aiming for those with ladders and grappling hooks.

People screamed, and attacks bounced off his armor as he leaned over the parapet to get a better angle on the Queendom soldiers.

They quickly realized that their attacks were ineffective against him, and that he’d set those attempting to climb the walls aflame. The opposition quickly began focusing their efforts elsewhere.

Taking a moment, Matt looked over to the three siege towers that had reached the walls. His team was contesting the middle one to a halt. Conor stood poised at the bottom of the ramp with [Demon Zone]’s crimson hue whirling around him, inviting anyone foolish enough to step foot onto his grisly dance floor. Behind him, the team’s mages only added to the chaos, playing a symphony of spells to a chorus of screams.

Yeah, that tower was fine.

Matt looked left and right to the remaining towers.

The third was mostly bottled up, but the first tower was gaining a foothold on the wall. It was small and burgeoning, but it couldn't be allowed to grow any further. He really didn't need his AI screaming at him in glaring red letters to know that much.

“QRF-Alpha— move to support against the left-most tower.”

He cast a scattering of [Fireball]s at the stream of people flowing out of the tower. After seeing three among them vanish, he checked his surroundings again.

For some odd reason, the battering ram team had brought the covered ram to the edge of his ice field. They seemed to be trying to dig a path forward.

With a shrug, he cast [Hail] a second time, and entombed everyone and everything under another frosty mountain.

He needed to be careful about piling the ice too high. If an ice mage was out there, he was just stockpiling ammunition for them, or providing materials for a ramp. Regardless, it was still effective, and it was worth it to prevent the ram from reaching the front gate.

A [Fireball] slammed into Matt a half-second later, quickly followed by an arrow. He cast half a dozen [Fireball]s of his own in retaliation, and watched as part of the archers' division poofed away.

His head swiveled, but he had no idea where the pesky mage who hit him was.

Before he could search further, his AI sent him a warning that a quick glance confirmed. A pair of competent swordsmen from the third tower were overwhelming that section of the wall. Matt leapt down from his vantage point, and dashed over while calling for the QRF-Beta team to converge at his location.

Sliding his staff into his spatial backpack, he summoned his sword into hand and charged into the two swordsmen, whose blades now gleamed with a sanguine red glow.

Both were Tier 7 and prepared for his charge. He met their flashing weapons with his own glimmering longsword, and used its greater reach to cover half the wall's walkway. He blocked two hits before taking a strike to his armor.

It increased his mana draw to nearly the max of what his armor Skill could handle, 45 MPS. But it enabled him to confidently take the glancing hit.

Knowing that, Matt started moving a little more recklessly.

Ducking a sinister looking slash, he half-stepped to the right and brought his blade up from below the rightmost attacker's guard. The swordsman pivoted to block, but as their weapons met, Matt unleashed the mana stored in his blade. [Mana Charge] detonated on collision, sending the smoking and charred intruder stumbling backwards.

Before Matt could follow up, his prey’s partner was already retaliating. They landed a whalloping blow along his left side. The attack sliced through [Cracked Phantom Armor], and dug into his leather armor beneath.

Yet another heavy slash came at him, but Matt's under armor withstood the blow this time.

“Fuck! Why won't you go down!?” The attacker howled with the swing of their third blow, but Matt prepared his own counterattack. He took the incoming hit on his armored forearm while cleaving down savagely into the attacker's forward leg.

He didn't cut through their armor, but it dented inwards, and he felt the bone crunch as the man toppled. Matt quickly pivoted, planted his weight on his left leg, and anchored it to the ground with his Concept. He raised his right leg for a stomp with all his weight and [Mage’s Retreat] empowering the attack.

His skill-clad boot cracked into the stone walkway as the remaining swordsman was whisked away.

With a few hacks, he started cutting down the charging Queendom regulars who were marching behind the elite swordsmen duo. His reinforcement from QRF-Beta soon arrived and overtook his position. They surged forward and took hold of the area, again buying time for the Kingdom’s standard troops to hurry up to the top of the wall.

Returning to his vantage point at the gate, Matt inspected the battlefield before revising his orders.

“Team Bucket, stop advancing on the third tower. Do not enter the tower.”

His team had pushed forward enough, he was worried they’d enter the tower, which was a monumentally bad idea.

They receded slightly, and Matt checked on the rest of the battlefield. “Get the long sticks to push off the ladders. Don't just clear them of men. Push them over if you can. If you can break or burn them, even better.”

“Stop tossing their grappling hooks back over. They can just replace the severed rope. Toss them on to our side of the wall after you cut the rope off. Force them to buy new ones.”

He then took stock of his own condition. His AI reported gashes in his armor and flesh; surface-level wounds that he could quickly solve with [Endurance] running at full blast for a moment. He was more concerned about the unexpected damage that the swordsmen's weapons had done to his armor. Their attacks had included an effect that had corroded it, both physically and spiritually. The affected portions of armor were only rags at this point. So, he stripped the ruined pieces from his arms, but left the chest armor in place, as it was only damaged on the left side.

His left bracer, which had broken bones, was mangled. It was irritating as could be, but there was nothing to be done, so he tried to stop dwelling on it. He still had the right bracer at least.

The assault lasted a full hour. Matt was forced to leave his command post two more times to personally take action and prevent breaches.

As he intervened for the third time, Matt resorted to using five consecutive [Mana Charge]s to break the ramp from the siege tower. Without the ability to march down, the attackers were forced to jump. Only a few tested the prospect before they decided to withdraw the crippled tower and reinforce the remaining two.

Matt dearly wished that he could have prevented them from pulling the tower back for repairs, but had no way to do so. The defenders did their best to damage it further with spells and mana cannons, and were able to give the Queendom’s crafters more work. By the time it retreated beyond their range, the tower was smoking, and its top two floors were collapsing inwards.

The final exit of the broken siege tower seemed to signal a larger retreat, as well. The Queendom forces started to pull back.

“Everyone, fire! Don't let them retreat unscathed. Bombard them with everything you have left.”

Most of the retreating formations were frayed and disorganized compared to when they first advanced. However, some were retreating virtually unscathed, with shields raised and returning fire in perfect coordination.

Matt, breathing heavily, looked around from his lookout perch. The top of the wall was covered in blood and soot, but there weren't as many wounded as he expected.

“Healers! Get the wounded to the healers!” Matt looked around then added, “Rotate in the second shift of teams. First teams, once they’re up here, get down, grab a meal, and recharge.”

Matt walked over to his team and clapped Conor on their shoulder, before sliding over to pull Liz and his panting bond into a bear hug.

“How were things?”

Liz was huffing between gulps from her canteen, but wheezed out, “Fine. We held on with minimal help. Just a few nicks from stray arrows. We’re good.”

Matt checked their mana levels and activated his Concept. While he listened to them debrief and discuss what they could improve next time, he sent out orders and directed the new troops to their positions.

They had been in reserve under the wall, and unable to see anything, but they could hear the attacks and repelling of borders. The wide eyes of each person who cleared the top step and saw the carnage was almost amusing. If Matt wasn't struggling to keep from plopping down on his ass and passing out, he might’ve even found it funny.

Realizing how tired he was, he channeled [Endurance] and let the skill wash away his fatigue.

He barely had five minutes before the reports started to come in, and Matt checked their casualty numbers. The defenders had lost around four hundred people in his section, against an estimated two and a half thousand lost on the attacking side. It was a great ratio, but the battle had still taken its toll. They still had to account for the fact that the city was outnumbered to begin with, and wouldn’t be getting any more reinforcements.

Once his team was topped off on mana, and their reserve stones were filled, he moved to the healer's tent set up near their position.

A harried woman with a healer's armband looked up at him and said, “We don't have time for walking wounded. Is there something internal?”

Matt shook his hand. “I’m not here for that. Get me the healers on downtime.”

“We don't…”

Matt lacked the patience to explain, so he flexed his Concept. As her eyes widened with understanding, he continued. “I can't control the range, but the more people there are, the less each one gets. So I want to prioritize the healers.”

The woman looked ready to kiss him, and eagerly pulled him into what seemed like a recovery room just for the healers. They were all strewn about and pressing cold packs to their heads. At the entrance, most apprehensively peeked up as if expecting terrible news.

Before anyone could ask, she nearly cheered, “Get up! This guy can refill our mana!”. The sudden noise caused the spent healers to wince in unison.

That wasn’t a good sign. They must have all repeatedly drawn themselves dry to have mana headaches that serious.

Matt noticed the racks of personal mana stones, where a pale nurse seemed to be dumping regular mana stones into the charging base. The stones were quickly drained away into nothingness, and new ones quickly replaced them.

“I need proximity for this. The farther away anyone is, and the more people included, the less effective my Concept gets. It's already mostly internal, so I need to get every bit of effectiveness out of it to help you out.”

Matt tried to undersell the efficiency of his Concept as much as he could before triggering it for the first huddled group. There was a wave of relief-filled moans. As each healer felt their mana pools reach maximum, they uncoiled themselves from the circle to make room for someone new.

Half an hour later, the entire healing staff was back on their feet. Matt moved to the rack of healer’s crystals. He placed a hand into the bowl and dumped mana out. It would still need to be converted from his personal mana to unaspected mana before it could be absorbed into the healer’s personal mana stones racks. So, he donated 10,000 mana over the next ten minutes. He could’ve done it in a little more than two minutes, but he purposefully drew the process out, and dramatically staggered out of the tent as if the ordeal had exhausted him.

He wanted to help, but he still wanted to conceal the true scale of his abilities. Besides, that 10,000 mana was already far more than an average person could have donated.

It also wasn't a complete lie. He was dead tired from running, and his willpower was low. He didn't have to fake the strain that part put on him.

Messaging the mage groups, he offered to help them recover their mana in another half hour.

In the meantime, he returned to his vantage point on the wall to keep tabs on the enemy forces as they reassembled and started repairs on their siege equipment.

Contemplating the descending sun, Matt let out a long-held sigh. This would be a long restless night.

Only the second of the siege so far.

***

Four days. They lasted four long days of bombardments and repeatedly repelled the attackers off their walls. The advances were blending together so much Matt wasn't sure when one ended and the next began. Sometimes the Queendom got a foothold but they were always able to push them back. It just cost lives.

The defenders were all tired and wounded.

The Queendom had attacked them twice daily, before trying a more subtle attack last night, when both sides usually settled down.

That hadn't worked either. This morning, they had resorted to endlessly using their trebuchets to battering at the walls.

That would have been manageable on its own, but the Queendom didn’t stop there. While the city’s teleporters were inoperable, the Queendom had no such restrictions. Another million fresh troops arrived to reinforce the siege.

Their encampment was starting to look like its own city, only wrapped around the one that Matt and his team currently occupied. Tents were set in rows around the city that stretched beyond eyesight. The small forest that was nearby was clear cut and used to improvise rough housing for the multitudes arriving around the city.

The rest were used to make more trebuchets, which added to the number of projectiles slamming into their walls.

Right now, they had the earth mages trying to counteract the damage, but it was a losing proposition. Matt was drawing his Concept thin, trying to keep their mages and healers functional while also directing his section of the wall.

Sleep came only in bursts but not for him. Matt mostly relied on [Endurance] to keep him going. Others didn't have that option and found sleep when and where they could. It had been a hectic few days, and now that the Queendom had given up on taking the city cleanly. They wanted to end this siege soon and were willing to throw the necessary numbers at them to ensure it would.

With well over a million troops already encircling them, they received reports from outside the city that the Queendom was preparing to send another million fighters to ensure the siege was broken soon. Apparently, they had intended to isolate the city early, before the Prince could adequately reinforce the defenses. That plan had crumbled with the early and unexpected destruction of so many pylons from both Matt’s efforts and The Princes. Rumor had it, Princesses Sara was fuming at the failure.

It was now clear she’d intended to quickly take the city and from there immediately move to siege another city at a natural choke point deeper in Kingdom territory. Now the additional Queendom forces they would have teleported directly into this city for the next siege were being redirected to their city on foot. Matt felt proud at their stalwart defense, but seeing one and a half million people surrounding them put things into a new perspective for him.

Knowing that there were another million fresh opponents marching to them left everyone with a sinking feeling.

This would not end well.

A boulder slammed onto the city wall just to Matt’s right, and he winced. They had actually taken most of their defenders off the wall after a stray boulder clipped the top and eliminated a few dozen people. But the Queendom was still trying to limit damage to the city, and were being extra careful about hitting the expensive infrastructure inside.

The defending leaders were grateful for it, as they had little recourse if the Queendom decided to launch rocks inside the walls and flatten the city. They would need to move the trebuchets closer, which would put them close enough to retaliate, but nowhere in the city would be safe for their troops anymore, who were packed in tight.

For now, they were ok with letting the Queendom chip away at their walls.

A disheveled earth mage raced up to Matt and panted, “The structural support pillar is cracked. We don't know how much longer we can hold it.”

Matt stuffed a bit of mana into the man with his Concept and then reported to Juni. “One of our support pillars is cracked.”

“Wait? Only now?”

The man sounded astonished, so Matt asked, “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“I just thought you weren’t reporting it. Everyone else already has cracks. More than one for most of us.”

Matt shook his head. “No, I’ve been using my Concept to keep the earth mages going.”

“Fucking damn it! By the Emperor’s balls, Matt, our speculation didn't think you could put out near that much mana. You should have said something earlier! Fuck!” Juni took a deep, audible breath. “That's unfair of me. But I'll be sending you more earth mages. Do what you can for them. Please. Even if the walls are doomed to fall, it's better we drag it out as long as possible.”

Matt almost felt guilty, but it was his secret, and he’d honestly expected that Juni would have heard about it from the various groups he was keeping topped off. The Kingdom having a limited idea of his capabilities wasn't surprising. While he hadn’t advertised his Concept or Talent, there were clear anomalies in his team's combat records for anyone looking to find.

Half an hour later, a stream of exhausted earth mages started huddling around Matt. They each lumbered away once they were full and another would roll into their place. There were just so many of them. Too many. Finally, Matt had to start setting them aside and telling them to wait for his willpower to restore itself.

He was beyond spent, and didn't have time to sit and meditate. As always, he had situations to resolve and orders to give. It never stopped, not even for a moment.

They were currently demolishing all the buildings near the most probable breach points and setting up a series of fortified fall back positions. The Queendom would break through the walls sometime soon, and they needed to be prepared.

Matt hadn't seen his teammates in two days. Their AI readings showed that they were alive without serious injury at least. It wasn't enough, he wanted to see them and spend time with them, but it was all that he had.

The city AI sent him a request for a scan of his area, which he completed, and then got directions for his building crews. The city AI had apparently lost many of its cameras during the bombardment of the walls. Why the surveillance system was connected to and ran information through the walls at all was a mystery to Matt. Seemed like an awful design flaw. From experience, he could confirm it was.

The city AI now needed personal AIs to feed it information about the situations near the walls. Also, his crew of workers needed to clear two more rows of buildings and create rubble barricades.

He highlighted the buildings in question and relayed the orders. He swore that he could hear their groans from atop the wall, but was pretty sure it was just the wind. He knew that they were groaning at the additional work, he just doubted that he could hear it from up here.

His AI pinged him with a new idea. He reviewed it and then passed it up to Juni and the city AI coordinating the defender’s overall strategy.

He received half the answer he’d expected.

“Only take down half the ballistae and mana cannons. Leave everything else up on the walls.”

Not willing to double guess the city AI, he ordered half of the siege equipment to be brought down and stuffed into their fallback positions. He assumed that the AI intended to recall the second half down right before they retreated from the wall. It would be imbecilic to leave them for the attackers to take and then simply turn around after all.

A boulder slammed into the wall next to Matt again.

They just needed to weather the storm for now.