2028 Unpleasant Circumstances (Part 2)

Getting out of Belius on foot would have taken too long and Spirit Dimensional magic was too mana expensive. On top of that, to show their full prowess, Divine and Emperor Beasts needed an open space so they had been stationed far outside the city, at the fringe of the array field defending the city.

Human Awakened and small-sized Fae, instead, provided support to the humans. They would be the last line of defense, making sure with Life Vision that no one opened a Spirit Gate inside the city undetected.

Even with four wings and gravity fusion, Lith had a hard time flying without air magic. He was used to conjuring air currents to stabilize his flight path and fill his wings whereas now he could rely only on his training.

'I'm as graceful as a falcon with a stroke.' He thought 'I'm so glad to have kept a humanoid-sized form. This way no one will witness my pathetic performance from a distance.'

His hopes for anonymity shattered when he closed in to his assigned position and found an entire regiment waiting for him. There were at least 3000 people, one-tenth of them mages, arranged in square formations.

The area surrounding Belius was supposed to be flat, but the mages had raised small hills entirely made of solid stone to both ensure them the high ground and have cover against powerful area of effect tier five spells.

"Is it a bird?" A soldier said while pointing at Lith.

"No, it's too big." A mage replied.

"A wyvern, then?"

"Too clumsy. It's…" Dread and surprise made her choke on her words as Lith came down and his features became recognizable.

The Tiamat landed as lithe as an avalanche, producing a thud and opening a crater below his feet.

Spears rose like a forest of metal and wands were pointed at him from every direction. The problem of fighting against an army full of shapeshifters was that you couldn't trust even your own senses.

"Password?" The mage asked, the five rings on her right hand aimed at Lith.

"Red Kraken." Hearing the correct answer made the soldiers sigh in relief but they kept pointing their weapons at him until their commanding officer stepped in.

"At ease." A tall man with blonde hair bearing the insignia of a colonel said. "Thanks for coming, major Verhen. It seems that we are bound to meet solely under unpleasant circumstances."

Lith immediately recognized colonel Varegrave.

He was now in his mid-forties and several grey hairs streaked both his thick hair and beard. Everything else was identical to how Lith remembered Varegrave from their first meeting during the plague in Kandria.

"Are you alright? From the way you flew here you looked wounded."

The friendly voice didn't match the steely gaze of the colonel's blue eyes. He was honestly worried for Lith, but he assumed that it was only because the Kingdom needed him to be at his full strength.

Just like in Kandria, the colonel seemed to be far from grateful for his presence.

"Nice to meet you again, colonel." Lith offered him his scaly hand and Varegrave shook it only after a couple of seconds, feeling all eyes on him. "Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just Belius' arrays doing their job."

"Good to hear." Varegrave nodded with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"What are you and your troops doing here, colonel?" Lith asked. "I thought I would take care of the vanguard alone."

"No one in the army is alone, son." Varegrave replied. "Everyone here has volunteered to cover your back and make sure that you can safely fall back to Belius' first line of defense."

"And how are you supposed to do that, exactly?" Lith couldn't understand how people who seemed to despise him so much could have chosen to stand by his side on the battlefield.

"We may be just humans, but we have trained our whole life for this. As long as you take care of the Divine Beasts, we'll make sure that no one else meddles with your fight." Varegrave paced around the Tiamat, studying his claws, scales, and tail, looking for any trace of the boy he once knew.

Only when he stood in front of Lith did he find it. They now had a vertical pupil and were of many different colors, but his eyes were still the same.

"What if I fail? What if the enemy is too strong for me alone or if I have to face two Divine Beasts at the same time? What will you do then?"

"In such case, we'll lay our lives on the line to buy you the time you need to recover your strength and run away." The colonel replied. "We won't survive but I can assure you that the 3500 people assembled here can last for a couple of seconds, no matter the opponent we face."

"What?" At those words, Lith saw the soldiers tense up with fear, yet their expression was full of pride for that ridiculous claim.

"You heard me." Varegrave said. "We know that your kind can instantly recover. My soldiers and I have volunteered to be your sword, your shield, and if necessary, your healing potion."

Looking around, Solus recognized the soldiers and mages one by one. They came from all over the Kingdom and were all people who had met Lith at least once during his travels.

What he had mistaken for hostility was the pain of his betrayal and the sadness at the idea that they wouldn't come back to their homes. For those people, Lith spelled the death of their enemies, but also their own.

"After all, what are a few thousand loyal citizens of the Kingdom compared to a 25 meters (82 feet) tall creature who can weave spells with his mind and heal from crippling wounds in mere seconds? Dust. We are nothing but dust."

Varegrave's pacing became furious, expressing the frustration he felt for being weak. All the years spent practicing magic, all of his rich battle experience, and his decades of service dwarfed by someone, or better, something, less than twenty years old.

The soldiers and the mages felt the same, silently nodding as the colonel spoke.

"Well, kid, today this dust is going to make the difference. I don't care if you have to literally toss us in the eyes of your enemies. Do whatever you need to take down as many as you can. Did I make myself clear?" Varegrave stopped in front of Lith to stare him in the eyes.

"Sir, yes sir!" Lith gave him the salute, then he turned to the troops and repeated the gesture.

"Now, the least you can do for me is be honest. During that ambush of seven years ago did you kill Velagros to protect your little dirty secrets or was he really killed in action?" The colonel asked.

"I didn't kill him." Lith shook his head. "The Talons caught us by surprise and slaughtered the Queen's Corps unit. I survived solely thanks to my skills as an Awakened."

"That's a relief." Varegrave sighed, feeling a heavy burden being lifted from his chest. "One last question. All those people who died in the camp, did you fail them on purpose or there really was nothing you could do to save them?"