"Why are you out here? Shouldn't you be leading from the rear lines?"

Tim whirled around, then relaxed as he saw who had spoken. He hadn't expected to see Galatea here. No one had told him she was coming. He had also been a little too distracted to pay attention to what was going on outside his immediate surroundings.

Fortunately, despite her words, he wasn't actually fighting, at the moment. He had been, to be fair. And right now he was standing in the rubble of what had once been a guard post, surrounded by soldiers who had backed away a little to give them space. About a hundred meters farther, the enemy vanguard were poking their heads up.

"They need me here," he replied. "Don't worry, those idiots won't kill me."

Galatea frowned. She glanced around. Tim knew what she would see. This was the part of the walls and the area just behind it that had been the heaviest hit so far. It was farthest from the castle and their wards were weak here. That was why they were fighting.

Of course, they also had a lot of defenses in the rear lines she mentioned. If any enemies broke through here, they would have to fight their way through the entire city. So far, it seemed like they hadn't deemed it worth the effort to make this their primary goal.

Galatea moved, and a Magic Missile shot from her position, splitting into several before it hit the enemy soldiers he'd seen. They disappeared behind a large chunk of stone that had been part of the wall.

Tim frowned, watching Galatea. That might have seemed impressive, but he'd gotten used to seeing and judging magic, and he knew the attacks had been weak, barely strong enough to accomplish their purpose.

"How much mana do you have?" he asked.

"Not much left," she admitted. "Iseis brought us here, she's further inside the city. I was a little drained already from trying to rescue and help Madris. Did you hear what happened?"

Tim winced slightly. He had heard about it, vaguely, but he'd been too busy to do more than acknowledge the report from the psychic link. "How is she?"

"Stabilized, Regina should be there soon. For now, we should worry about this battle."

Tim glanced around, nodding. "Come on, let's head back to the castle," he suggested.

They moved quickly. Tim relied on his stats, and of course, Galatea was incorporeal. His escort of Star Guard soldiers easily kept pace with them. It was already one man short, who'd been wounded seriously enough to be carried to the healers. He hoped it wasn't too bad.

"My prince!" someone else almost accosted them as soon as the reached the center of the city close to the castle. It took him a moment to recognize the messenger.

"Yes?" Tim asked, glancing around quickly. This area had been cleared and they'd set up several tents. There was a supply depot for ammunition — the kind that wouldn't explode if a stray attack hit it — and a base for healers and messengers as well. His actual goal was further in; he could feel the others gathered, speaking with the civilian authorities.

"Message from Lady Neralt. They have received an offer of parley from the enemy army."

Tim frowned, quickly diving into the psychic link to see what he'd missed. A magical bird construct had dropped off a letter. He was a little disquieted that they'd managed to get even something this innocuous to them past the wall.

"Thank you. Let's go."

Marianne Neralt was with several senior officers, as well as the other Neralt. The baron's Class was well-suited to fighting a defensive siege, and he'd helped in reinforcing the wall and the territory. As far as Tim was aware, they'd even done some kind of legal wrangling to facilitate it - as governor, she was currently holding the occupied land in something similar to a fief, and if she died, the right should technically pass to her family although Regina would have to sign off on it, which made it some kind of family estate if you squinted really hard, which meant some of his abilities were apparently stronger. He had also been here for a little while now, which helped, too. Unfortunately, Tim didn't know if it would amount to very much.

They all looked up and paused their conversation as Tim entered the room, though they were already standing. Galatea glid in behind him.

"Your Highness," Lady Marianne greeted him. Briskly, she held out a letter they were all crowded around. "They offered rather insulting terms."

Tim grabbed the letter, then angled it so Galatea could read over his shoulder. He read it quickly. Insulting is right, he mused. They can't possibly expect us to agree to this? Not to mention they had only sent this after the battle had started and without offering any truce. They demanded their immediate surrender, as well as the Empire's surrender of all of their munitions stockpile, intact. And a full accounting of their other forces and assets. The castle and all other fortifications were to be handed over intact, too. Every combatant and citizen of the Empire present would then be taken prisoner. There were no guarantees as to their treatment mentioned.

"This is ridiculous," Galatea commented. "They can't seriously expect you to agree."

"It doesn't sound quite that bad if you put it in other words, in general enough terms," Neralt noted. "They might just want to point to having tried for a peaceful end of a siege."

"Are we going to send a counter-offer?" Zoe asked.

Tim absently shook his head, reaching out through the psychic link. He supposed this was the kind of thing he should inform his Queen of. Regina was clearly very distracted, so he only poked her cautiously and gave a quick summary of the situation.

Do what you think best, she said, But don't surrender that castle so easily. Obviously.

Yes, Mother. Good luck. He could sense that she was still half-focused on Madris, so he withdrew so as not to distract her.

"No, I think they might just draw this out into a ridiculous game of note-passing," he answered. "We can decline … forcefully."

"The walls are barely holding," Zoe warned them. "The magical shield is already flickering, it won't last too long like this."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Tim sighed. He was aware of that. He glanced at Galatea. "Can you shore them up?"

The mana-form frowned. "Maybe," she said, sounding a bit hesitant. "If Iseis helps, it would be better. But my mana reserves are quite low."

"You can refill them?" Zoe asked.

Galatea nodded slowly. "I could perhaps expand on it a little," she mused. "It won't be easy, though. I need … sources."

"Sounds — fine?"

She ignored his question, clapping her hands. "Alright, let's go to the walls."

Zoe insisted on accompanying her, and Tim did the same. He was curious, and he was going to head there anyway. Marianne rolled her eyes discreetly and dispatched one of the others to gather Iseis and send her to them. Then they went, Zoe rallying several other officers and a few units of both the Star Guard and regulars to them over the psychic link. It seemed chaotic, but over the link, he could appreciate the organized flow of it all. Units rotated out of holding the wall, others stepped in, and others moved around the defensive positions around the castle.

Tim also contacted his wing commanders and told them to ready the flying drones to prepare for another pass. He authorized some of their scarcer ammunition for this one.

There was a tension in the air, and he wondered if his human troops also felt like they were poised on an edge, waiting for an ax to fall.

Once they reached the wall and went up the stairs to the walkway, close to the castle, he looked out at the enemy army arrayed before them. It had grown in the last few hours, as more units joined them from where they had been dispersed. He wondered about their logistics; they must have brought enough food for a while. But it was unlikely the siege would last long enough for them to withdraw for that reason. His own food supplies were probably lower — they'd stocked up, of course, in preparation, but they had to feed the city as well as his forces. And being shut off here being sieged canceled out a lot of the normal advantage Swarm Drones had in living off the land.

Galatea stepped forward until she almost reached the outer edge of the shield, completely ignoring the missiles that exploded just a few centimeters from her face. "It will be hard to catch a few of them alone without support," she said. "Can you instigate an aerial battle? Send some flying drones to be met by their own forces? I'll join in, but I would prefer not to have to fight alone."

"Of course," Tim said. He focused on the psychic link, giving orders to the riders and sapient flying drones.

They prepared for another attack run, split into several wings. With the coordination enabled by the psychic link, the drones advanced in waves. A heavier wing of higher-level drones and riders kept back, harassing the forward elements of the enemy, but remaining mostly in range of the walls. It wasn't a bad tactic on its own, but it also meant the enemy would have to come to them. After watching for a few minutes, Tim pushed them out a bit further, so they wouldn't be easily supported by all the soldiers on the walls directly, dangling bait for the Esemen.

They took the bait. A group of tamed flying monsters with riders took to the air, supported by mages and ranged fighters on the ground. They fanned out and swept through the Swarm Drone screens, pushing them down to be better handled by their ground counterparts. Tim had to admit their skill wasn't lacking.

Then the first of the Imperial heavy air unit engaged them, and they turned. It devolved into an aerial skirmish, battle lines that dissolved as they got closer and wound around each other, dogfights and duels in the sky. Tim clenched his fists, itching to participate but knowing he couldn't.

Galatea joined them at once. He barely saw her move; he wasn't sure she had moved physically at all. One moment, she was simply among them, throwing out magical attacks at the Esemen soldiers.

"So that's what she's doing," Iseis muttered, stepping up beside Tim. His guards parted to let her through. "Do you want me to join in, my Prince?"

"If you can without risking yourself unduly," Tim replied, sparing her a brief glance. "I'm not sure how much experience you have at fighting in the air, but we can get you a mount."

"Not necessary," the elf shook her head. "Spatial magic has some advantages."

He should have expected it, but it was still impressive to see her levitating javelins or manifesting more substantial magical attacks of her own, and then sending them at the enemy like she was firing a rail gun. Looking closely, there was a slight shimmer in the air in front of her, as if light was distorted. Then Iseis grabbed a grenade from a nearby soldier and teleported it directly.

As Tim watched, one of the Esemen riding a giant eagle was hit by the explosion, tumbling down. Galatea was there in a blink, redirecting an ice spear to pierce another Esemen in the throat, then slashing at the falling rider with some kind of mage blade. Then she was on top of the tamed beast, grasping its bleeding neck.

Tim wasn't sure what she did, although the mages among the fighters seemed to feel something with their mana senses — Kim had just defeated his opponent and relayed the information to Tim — and then the monster kept falling, completely slack.

Galatea didn't dally, and immediately went to the next enemy. She dodged a javelin and pushed the rider off another beast, some kind of flying reptile, before repeating the process. Tim had to tear his eyes away from her to assess the state of the whole fight.

Judging that the Esemen were well and truly engaged, and losing already, he ordered the next wave of reinforcements to join the battle. Another wing of flying drones circled, further up, above the ongoing fight, taking potshots at the enemy fighters. It opened them up to more attacks. It also made them decide to close the distance with the Imperials and fight in what would have been melee combat on the ground, which made things easier for Galatea. Iseis apparently also had no trouble finding targets, and the psychic link's coordination made it much easier for the drones in the air to avoid attacking each other.

Of course, the Esemen didn't just sit by and watch their fliers lose, and more shapes rose into the air from their army.

Tim almost jumped when Galatea appeared beside him again. She was smiling with satisfaction, and seemed a little more present now, in some indefinable way.

"Did you suck the mana out of them?" he asked.

"Essentially, yes," she replied. "There's a bit of a trick to it. Certain monsters are good targets since they have some inherent mana, unlike other animals, but also don't have the same sort of fully-realized mind as people. Or soul. You need to be able to cast spells without relying on the System at minimum, and be considerably stronger than the target, though, so it's not something most mages could do."

That answered Tim's next question. He'd still ask her to teach it to some of their soldiers when this was over. For now, they still had a battle to fight. As an impact on the shield in front of him that sent a high-pitched ringing through the air reminded him.

Another Esemen soldier was hovering only a few meters away. He raised a spear in a mocking salute, before throwing it over his shoulder. It hit one of the flying drones carrying a rider and sent them plummeting.

Tim narrowed his eyes, checking their System status. A Grieven Paladin — clearly another Champion.

"Galatea," he said calmly. "Can you reinforce the wall?"

"I'll do my best," she said. "It won't hold for very long."

Tim nodded. As long as it at least covers us during this fight, that would be nice.

He couldn't really see what she did, but he asked the Drone Witches present, who gave him an impression. Though even they couldn't make out much more than a lot of mana being moved, overlaying the shield they had already put up around the city and somehow strengthening it.

He'd thought that would be difficult after it was already established, and that something like that should only be doable by the original caster, but clearly, he didn't know much about magic.

There were several Champions in the air now, and they turned the course of the battle. More drones were falling, and less of the Esemen fighters. One of them swept around whips of fire that seemed to go through any defense. Another pulled several drones at once down with what might be some kind of gravity manipulation. And the other Esemen soldiers were suddenly fighting much better, quicker and getting in each other's way less even in the chaotic fight in the air. Their remaining mounts seemed the same. Tim grimaced, then sent instructions over the psychic link to withdraw.

Better to quit while they were ahead. They probably would come out ahead in this exchange, he judged.

Then he glanced at the shield, which was still flickering a little just to the side. Well, for now.

He focused on the psychic link and told the wing furthest from this fight to turn for another pass over the enemy camp while they were still fighting and the heavy hitters tried to disengage. No sense in letting an opportunity go to waste.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.