It went like this: First, a princess was injured under mysterious circumstances while the gods chose a new Champion; in a departure from tradition, it was the king of a small but sovereign country, to the east of the new rising secular power.

Then the princess was brought back by said king to his base of power, where she was ostensibly treated by his healers, but confined to quarters and not seen even by her own travel companions outside of those brought into seclusion with her.

After that, the empress of the local power, as well as the queen that was the sister of the princess in question, sent messages to the king to demand the safe return of their sister/protégée and her companions.

The king ignored their demands, and the princess was still not seen by anyone outside the castle.

This is where it got tricky. Originally, there might, perhaps, have been news that the princess and her attendants had disappeared from the small kingdom; taken hostage, or rescued, who could say.

This was, unfortunately, not the case. Instead, in place of quietly disappearing, a group of fighters had snuck into the castle and attacked the king's men. What was worse, they were clearly recognizable as associated with the Empire. Although technically they might claim, if pressed, they were fighting for the Kingdom of Cernlia, not the Central European Empire.

In response to the kingdom's flagrant disregard of their demands — and ultimatum — and to rescue the felled princess as well as to punish this grave injustice of kidnapping a royal guest who had come to build an alliance; the Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Prekan. Forces started moving.

There was, at this very moment, a dead Swarm Drone lying in a ditch just outside the city, carrying a briefcase with an official letter containing this declaration of war, shot by an arrow from a man of Prekan. (How unfortunate the king had not learned of its message before discovering the strike team.)

The Empire had, thus, taken reasonable measures to inform its enemy of this state of war. Of course the king would learn of it soon enough in other ways. But the declaration was not just for him, it was for surrounding countries, too, for the international stage. Which had been informed of this sequence of events most diligently.

It was what Galatea had mostly focused on. Rescuing June was, of course, critical, but if they could avoid escalating the war to involve the Esemen and Western Confederation, they had to try. Or at least to position themselves well for it.

The Empire was preparing for war. More so than it had for a while, anyhow. Its ruler had decided that she would risk the proverbial wildfire of the war spreading beyond this conflict because getting June back was more important.

King Stephen really should have just conceded and given in to their demands.

Of course, he was hardly doing what was best for his country. Win or lose, the small kingdom would suffer. And frankly, it was very likely to lose against the Empire; even if the Esemen and the Western Confederation joined in, the other nations might stand against the Empire, but it would be too late for Prekan, which would be occupied by the Empire in a matter of days. No, the king was acting on orders of his divine patron. Or most likely, to the benefit of the temples' power bases in the other two large nations; probably both were true.

It was probably fruitless to hope these two countries wouldn't use this as the excuse they had been waiting for to push the Empire into war. But at least they could get the initiative, to some degree, and frame things as best they could. Declaring war on Prekan was perfectly reasonable under the circumstances; and importantly, it was just that, on Prekan. Not on Esemen or the Western Confederation. They were technically uninvolved. If they wanted to involve themselves, they had to start that war themselves.

For now, there were still others to rally to the cause, Galatea supposed.

"That's quite the story," Lianne said. "Seems like your royal family is living dangerously."

"They're not my royal family, but yes, it does seem like it, doesn't it? Hardly the most honorable target selection," Galatea replied.

She wasn't entirely sure what to make of this psychic. Madris had provided her with an introduction, but now it fell to Galatea to convince her to join them, or if not, to at least give them some support. Galatea had thus far been unable to locate the other two psychics Madris knew in the area — she simply hadn't had enough time for a more intensive search — but Lianne probably knew their location and would hopefully at least help with that.

"True enough," the woman conceded. She looked like a reasonably successful peasant out to enjoy the nice day, dressed in simple but colorful clothing, her hair bound back, her skin tanned from the sun, and wearing little ornamentation. Her magic presence rather ruined the impression even if one didn't use the System, though.

Lianne — Level 65 Psychic Connector

No last name. She was probably really a farmer's daughter who'd risen high and refused every opportunity to take or make one for herself.

"Are you willing to help us do anything about it?" Galatea asked, figuring it was best to come to the point.

Lianne paused. She was clearly thinking hard, chewing on her lip a little. Galatea didn't say anything, aware that rushing her would only backfire.

"Alright," she finally said. "I will come with you."

What, really? Galatea didn't move to show her surprise, but that was good news. "Oh? Thank you. We would appreciate that."

"To be clear," Lianne added, "I'm not saying I will fight for your empire. Especially not if this conflict moves beyond Prekan. But I will come see what is going on and help you get your people out if necessary."

"That would be much appreciated, and I understand," Galatea said. "Do you need time to prepare? Unfortunately, time is short."

"No, I can go right away. Is there anyone else you are taking? I assume you will teleport us, Lady Galatea?"

Galatea nodded. It was one reason she was doing this, even though someone who was a psychic themselves might have been better. But Madris was essential where she was. And few others could have moved so quickly. Sending Madris or even Iseis, as a dark elf or elf priestess respectively, to effectively speak for the Empire would also carry other implications. Not so much for Galatea, even if she technically wasn't a subject of the Empire, either (although one could argue that point, she supposed). She doubted many people knew or cared about that, though; being close with Regina made it almost immaterial in this context. It wasn't like she had other affiliations.

"I have not picked up anyone else, but I was originally hoping to recruit the two younger psychics that you pointed Madris to when the two of you last met. Perhaps we can make a detour?"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"I doubt you have the time for that," Lianne said. "I can guide you to them later, but if you want to make any difference, we should hurry. My long-distance sensors are not the best, but I can still tell there is something rather big going on in the capital from here."

Well, that was faintly concerning. No one had contacted her yet, after confirmation that they were sending in troops, but she supposed they were busy with more immediate concerns. Like surviving the fight.

"Good point. If you're ready, then let's go. If you will?" Galatea extended a hand.

Lianne nodded sharply, then stepped forward. She didn't show any hesitation or uncertainty about this.

Galatea used a little of her magic to try a bit of scrying first. Unfortunately, it was rather iffy, with the vision she got cutting out occasionally. Perhaps countermeasures were in place. That spoke against trying to get right into the thick of it, but she still wanted to get close.

A moment later, they appeared on top of a wall of the castle. Lianne staggered a bit, half-falling down to the walkway that wound its way around the inner wall to let defenders man it. Galatea followed her down, glancing around.

There were too many men on the walls already. Their appearance had clearly surprised them, but they were starting to turn to face them, arrows nocked or weapons hefted. She waved a hand and formed a spell out of her mana, a bit of wind magic. A gust blew those too close to the two of them off the walkway, others were staggered or pushed down.

Which also meant they couldn't try to shoot her allies. The fight happening below was pure chaos, which might explain why some of these soldiers had hesitated to fire at anyone. Galatea was relieved they'd arrived in time, at least, despite a scene like this.

Instead of fighting in two well-ordered ranks, the battle had clearly degenerated into a bit of a melee, with knots of fighters trying to stay together. Her own people were vastly outnumbered, and there were still new men streaming in or coming down from the walls to fight, but they held their own. Mars cleared a space around the civilians and their mages, protecting them, while the mages also attacked. Zephyr was clearly mostly on the defense, bringing up magical shields and occasionally swiping aside some groups of soldiers who'd caught his attention. Iseis was employing similar tactics, but was more focused on the attack, and she'd clearly buffed the melee fighters they had. Some of the servants had taken up weapons from fallen soldiers and were trying their best, with varying degrees of skill. June was in the middle of their group and not visibly casting, but clearly using her psychic abilities.

The one most notable for that was Madris, though. She walked through the chaos almost untouched. Entire groups of Prekan men-at-arms would suddenly switch sides, stabbing others in the back. Sometimes it was just a single man attacking his comrades. There was little pattern in these events, making them hard to anticipate. The only one who was clearly unaffected was the king, who tried to maintain order in his ranks. Galatea might not have a Class connected to the gods, but she saw mana differently than humans did — she was made of it, after all — so his identity was easily apparent.

Others were not as lucky. She saw more than one man sinking to the ground, weeping, staring at his hands or trying to shake another, unmoving body. Hardly able to believe what their own hands had been made to do. Galatea couldn't help but feel for them a little; it wasn't these men's fault that their king had made this decision. They would suffer for that decision, and in the course of Regina now attacking them for June's sake, when they might have hoped to ally with the Empire.

Of course, it would not be entirely fair to blame Regina, either. She had little political choice but to try to get June back, even if she wouldn't do it for personal reasons.

But Galatea pushed these considerations from her mind and instead floated down as she joined the battle properly, using her magic in area-effect attacks. She'd spent a lot of mana on teleporting, so she had to be cautious. Galatea started walking through the battlefield. She was incorporeal; any soldier who tried to attack her with physical weapons found himself stumped, and usually brought down quickly. It was fortunate that the kingdom had relatively few mages. Although the Order of the Sun Temple did; they were clearly the more dangerous opponents, the backbone of resistance here. If Madris wasn't messing with them — probably using psychic illusions mainly, from what Galatea could guess — this would be a lot worse.

Someone pressed lightly on her mental defenses. Galatea almost tried to harden her mind against the intrusion, but then recognized the vague feeling attached to it and instead focused on who was reaching out.

Good to see you here, Madris said. She wasn't looking at her, but making her way to June. And you brought Lianne, too.

Yes. I'm not sure if she's willing to fight, though.

Only as long as we're not doing anything worse, she said. Madris was clearly unhappy with the situation. If she was willing to help me go all out, we could probably take control here. But maybe it's better if we don't try.

Were there other psychics?

Two, including Helen. They should both be knocked out. I had to leave Helen behind when I went to help here.

Galatea turned her magical senses to the rest of the castle, looking for a familiar signature. Looks like some other people have secured her.

Madris' touch on her mind waned as she clearly checked on that situation. Well, damnit. I don't have time to go and get her from those men again. At least they won't be able to wake her.

Before Galatea could suggest that they send someone else to take the apparently unconscious woman, the king's men had rallied a bit and surged forward. They were clearly heading for June. Not on my watch.

She focused and, taking a page from Regina's book, Conjured some nitroglycerin, shooting it at the enemy fighters. She would have gone with acid or something nastier, but the risk of it splashing on her allies was too great. She had gotten these trajectories correct, though, and a series of explosions shook the courtyard.

It broke the Order's charge, although they had enough magical barriers that not many men were actually hurt. Zephyr took advantage and followed it up with a few wind Spells and Fireballs.

As an encore, Galatea Conjured some thermite. It depleted her mana pool dangerously, even as she drew in mana from her surroundings, but the effect was worth it.

She also used the chance to finally go to join June, who was watching everything around her and clearly anxious. She still looked pale and even swayed a bit. Galatea would have braced her, but didn't want to give herself extra mass right now. "Are you okay?"

The girl started a bit as she turned to her. "Fine. Better than some of my people."

Galatea ignored the bitter undertone. "We'll heal them," she said reassuringly. She'd point out that they wouldn't have been any safer in their enemies' power later. "Do you have a plan? We can't just keep fighting, unless you want to push them to retreat?"

June made a weird head motion, half shaking it and half nodding, her eyes still darting around. At the same moment, a section of the Order fighters that had formed a shield wall to advance on them turned and suddenly charged the other group around the king. Lianne had somehow come to sit on the walkway not far away and above them, and smiled. It looked like she was working well with Madris, then.

"We just need to encourage them to take off the pressure and regroup, if not retreat completely," June said. "We don't need to leave; we just need to hold on a little longer."

Ah, it's like that then. Galatea nodded, turning again to look for her next target.

King Stephen had somehow made it out of this fight, too. Galatea was seriously starting to wonder if whatever blessing his god had given him included luck manipulation or direct divine protection, considering he was clearly the target of most of these strikes.

He suddenly lit up with a slight glow, and the fighting in a few meters' radius around him ceased completely.

The combat paused for a moment as everyone looked in his direction. The king had grabbed a spear from somewhere and threw it at them. Edmund pushed June out of the way — stupid, it wouldn't have quite hit her, a part of Galatea analyzed — and staggered as it instead hit his side.

She took a step forward, sending a Fireball at the king. An Order mage caught it on a barrier.

"Gather yourselves, men of Prekan!" the king shouted, waving his arm. "Regroup! Fall back to the gates and inner halls! Follow me!"

June sighed. "Well, there's that," she muttered.

Galatea sent a few more spells after them just on principle, as did Zephyr and Iseis, but they largely let the enemy withdraw unopposed. They didn't exactly have the numbers for a chase, she supposed; too large a risk of being encircled and cut down in some prepared ground by the enemy.

Madris appeared beside them. She also looked a bit paler than usual, something Galatea hadn't even known was possible, and somehow drawn. "They're taking Helen and leaving the castle, and probably the city, entirely," she said.

June shook her head. "Maybe when reinforcements get here, we can try and chase her down. For now it would be stupid to split up."

Madris nodded. "Just glad you're alright."

Galatea glanced at Edmund. Jem and Zephyr were administering first aid; she'd join them and do what she could in a bit. Taking a second, she looked up into the sky.

A loose cloud of dark spots, bigger than a swarm of birds, was approaching rapidly.

Maybe they could try to chase down the king once the reinforcements arrived, too.

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