Chapter 88: They Think Riftward Hasn’t Moved—My People Are Already Here

"Enough."

The word had barely left Celia’s mouth when Lifeless Edge cleared its sheath.

No lightning.

No wide-area explosion.

Only an impossibly thin gray-white sword arc skimmed across the ground.

[Severing Arc]

The Black Banner Lord at the front was already retreating when the arc appeared.

His reaction was not slow.

The two Heroes beside him moved at the same time.

A Rare shield slammed down first.

A second layer of protective light unfolded immediately behind it.

Then the sword arc arrived.

Shhk—

The Rare shield split through the center.

The first Hero’s breastplate cracked open.

The second Hero had only begun lifting his weapon when his entire right arm, shoulder guard included, spun away.

Celia did not stop.

Her second step landed.

Lifeless Edge drew a shorter line this time.

The three Lords saw only one flash of steel.

Blood appeared across all three throats at once.

The Troops behind them, only now beginning to close formation, were even slower.

The first Severing Arc had already torn a gap through the shield wall.

Celia went straight through it.

None of her following strikes were large.

Every one landed exactly where the previous strike had already broken the defense.

Less than twenty breaths later, the gray-stone outpost fell silent again.

All three Black Banner Lords were down.

The remaining Troops had no intact command chain left.

When Cassian walked out from behind the high slope, Celia was flicking the blood from Lifeless Edge.

"Too slow?"

"No."

Cassian looked ahead.

"Just right."

The first outer outpost was gone.

More importantly, the people deeper inside still did not know who had arrived.

When the first outpost stopped responding, Black Banner’s public battle line did not immediately realize Riftward was already there.

Cassian gave them no time to confirm it.

"Second."

Crystal One shifted into Bloodcrystal Bat form at once.

Three other Crystal Maidens rose with her.

Celia stayed on the ground.

She, Cassian, and the twenty Rocketiers pushed directly along the gray-stone road toward the second outpost.

The next three did not take nearly as long.

The first position had already revealed the defense pattern.

After that, it was execution.

Crystal One reported the shortest side route from the air.

The other three Crystal Maidens watched the remaining withdrawal paths.

The second outpost was still trying to seal the road when Celia cut in through the ground-side route and reached the command position.

The other three Crystal Maidens landed behind her and returned to human form.

Crystal Shaping pulled long blades and heavy hammers across their arms.

The third outpost tried to retreat.

Two Crystal Maidens dropped from the air directly in front of the escape route.

The fourth barely had time to reform.

All three fights ended quickly.

Black Banner lost control of all four major watchpoints on Northwatch’s outer edge.

Cassian did not take all twelve Crystal Maidens deeper in.

"Four stay."

Four Crystal Maidens stopped.

"One at each position."

"If anyone approaches from outside, check their insignia first."

"Northwatch passes."

"Black Banner doesn’t."

"Understood, Lord."

The remaining eight returned to Bloodcrystal Bat form.

Cassian looked toward Northwatch’s interior.

The main battlefield was still deeper in.

He did not contact Mira first.

Instead, he took a gray-black scroll from his Inventory.

[Communication Seal Scroll | Epic | One-Use]

[Effect: Seals a designated area from outside Communication / Public Channel access.]

Cassian placed a finger over Northwatch’s Region marker.

"Here."

He tore the scroll open.

Gray-black patterns scattered from the parchment.

No explosion.

No new spatial distortion.

Then, one second later—

the battle update Garrick had just started posting in the Shattered Marches Channel faded gray halfway through.

[Communication Seal: Active]

Northwatch’s public connection to the outside disappeared.

People outside could still see Lord status.

They could still wait for the next Ranking refresh.

But from this moment on, they could no longer watch who was killing whom inside.

Cassian tossed away the dead scraps of the scroll.

"Move."

Eight Bloodcrystal Bats took off again.

Cassian, Celia, and the twenty Rocketiers continued along the gray-stone road.

The eight winged shadows above handled nothing except forward and flank reconnaissance.

Northern Stone Ridge, Northwatch.

Mira had just gotten the last group of Lords retreating from the outer line onto the mountain road.

More people were still coming up behind them.

The fighting had already started ahead.

Black Banner gave Northwatch no time to reorganize.

The first wave of ranged suppression crashed directly into the slope.

Stone.

Fire.

Arrows.

Attacks from several different Troop lines overlapped.

Northwatch had managed to pull back a considerable number of people, but Black Banner still showed far more Lord markers below, with entire Rare lines mixed into the front.

Numbers did not erase Northwatch’s Quality disadvantage.

The first shield line at the mountain pass held for barely more than ten breaths before the front rank began sliding backward.

"Fill the gap!"

Mira stood on the second defensive slope herself.

She had not packed everyone into one place.

Only mobile units held the left-side trail.

The main defensive strength was concentrated in the narrow center.

A Northwatch Lord ran up.

"Two more Rare lines are coming down the eastern slope."

"I see them."

"We’re still holding?"

"We’re holding."

"One more retreat and all we have left is the summit."

Mira watched the Black Banner insignias advancing below.

"Which is why we don’t retreat now."

The Lord clenched his jaw and turned to go back.

Then Mira’s Private Channel lit up.

One sentence.

[Cassian Vale: Stay off the left side peak.]

She looked up.

The side peak sat some distance from the main mountain road.

Steep slope.

No one had been there earlier.

At least, no one from Northwatch.

Mira did not ask why.

"Clear the left side peak!"

"Everyone stays away from it!"

Several people beside her stared.

"There wasn’t anyone there anyway."

"Then keep it that way."

Mira raised her sword.

"Hold the center!"

Behind the left side peak, eight Bloodcrystal Bats dropped close to the rear slope.

Twenty Dwarf Rocketiers came in one after another.

The launchers did not need to be loaded here.

They had been loaded before departure.

All that remained was to brace them.

The first launcher rose.

Then the second.

The third.

Soon all twenty were spread along the reverse slope.

From below, the barrels would only be visible at the instant of firing.

Cassian stood in the center.

Aurelia did not land.

She remained suspended much higher overhead.

Celia had already circled toward the lower battlefield from the other side.

The eight Crystal Maidens stayed in Bat form.

They spread along the outer edge of the side peak.

Half watched the mountain road.

Half watched the rear.

Ahead, Black Banner’s main assault line had fully entered the firing zone.

Garrick Thorne stood in the middle-rear formation.

At least three layers of guards still surrounded him.

He had not charged at the front personally.

That part was normal.

What mattered was how completely everyone’s attention was fixed on Northwatch’s stone ridge.

No one was looking left.

Because the left peak had been empty since the battle started.

Cassian liked positions like that.

Not places where no one could stand.

Places everyone had already learned to believe no one would stand.

He raised his right hand.

All twenty Dwarf Rocketiers lowered the final angle of their launchers together.

[Mental Guidance: Ready]

[Overload: Ready]

Cassian’s eyes stopped on the last line.

No range call.

No countdown.

"Overload."

BOOM—

The entire side peak seemed to kick backward.

Twenty streaks of fire tore into the sky at once.

Only then did people on the main battlefield look up.

The first Northwatch Lord to see them froze.

"What is that?"

Mira had already recognized them.

Twenty launchers.

Twenty burning trails.

She had seen the unit name in Riftward’s public records.

"Dwarf Rocketiers."

Below, Garrick Thorne looked up too.

For the first time, his face truly changed.

"Riftward?"

One second later, all twenty Rockets curved in midair.

They were not targeting the front line.

They passed directly over the Troops already locked in melee with Northwatch.

Every one of them turned toward the densest Black Banner positions in the middle and rear.

Mental Guidance twisted away the last margin of error.

Garrick had time for one raised hand.

"Scatter—"

BOOM!

The first Rocket hit.

Then the other nineteen crashed into the formation with it.