Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]

I pause to assess the situation before me. Fornieth has risen high into the air, gathering far more energy than he did during the first attack that very nearly killed me. And I don’t think his earlier screams were just rage and meaningless drivel. I sincerely do believe that this demon, in a final act of self-destructive rage and greed, is preparing to put even his vital essence into the attack to ensure my destruction.

My heart races up to my throat, and it’s a challenge to breathe until Chloe’s touch soothes my weary form. Great goddesses above, if you believe in granting miracles, now is the time.

“Seraphina,” Alana says, snapping me out of my mounting panic. “Nicholas is down below calling for you.” She points to the decorated major beckoning me. “I believe he is most likely to have a solution for this problem.”

“I agree. Chloe, can you keep healing everyone up?”

She nods. I waste no time, heading back down to the surface as quickly as I can without causing too large of a windburst or worse, a sonic boom. Major Richardson is surrounded by several lieutenants and advisors, carrying on multiple conversations simultaneously through a combination of the [Mental Partitioning] skill I know he got from Lysette and some sort of [Doublespeak] ability. I don’t know how it works, but sure, magic is weird like that.

“Miss Mortensen,” he says, continuing before I can get a word back. “I would like to congratulate you on pushing our enemy this far, but I must ask that we dispense with the pleasantries and quips until after this battle is over.”

I nod. “Do you have something in mind?”

“We believe that there are about five minutes until that demon is ready to strike. None of us— yourself included, I’m afraid— are going to be strong enough to withstand it. Running isn’t an option; that blast will turn the entire city into a crater, and take out all but the furthest out ring of exurbs as well. Ideally, we could teleport the attack either to the moon or otherwise redirect it somewhere harmless, but I’m not aware of anyone with such magic.”

“Then what did you have in mind?”

“We’re going to block the attack, and I want to use your ever useful [Repulsion] glyph to do so.”

“I already tried that,” I said. “I’m not nearly strong enough to do so. And there’s no time to teach anyone else how to [Glyphcast] either. Even if they had the Skills, it’d take them much longer than five minutes to learn how to wield it.”

“Which is why I propose another approach. You alone are not enough. Even with Miss Jacobs and myself both casting our enhancement spells upon you, it is certain that you would come up short.”

“But–” Where is he going with this?

“But there does not seem to be an upper limit to how many enhancement spells can be cast on a single person. And we currently possess dozens of people who have at least one such spell. Weak though most of them are, exponential growth is a powerful weapon, and one I intend to turn to our advantage.”

“That– That could work.” I’m not aware of any such limitation either. If there is one, well… There’s not enough time to risk any other plan.

“We won’t have you go alone. You, Miss Jacobs, Captain Morris, and myself are the four highest-leveled individuals on this battlefield. While everyone will be able to contribute to an extent, it will be the four of us who will still shoulder the bulk of the responsibility.”

“No Alexey?”

“Sergeant Ivankov is currently incapacitated after a near-fatal trek into the Tower Gauntlet yesterday. He will recover, but not in time to be of assistance.”

“I see.”

“Unfortunately, I do not possess any strong offensive skills of my own. However, what I can do is coordinate and channel the myriad spells from everyone else. I want you to draw your basic [Repulsion] glyph, large enough for the three of you to cast through it. If you can draw additional channeling arrays for anyone else, that would be ideal.”

I send the information about the plan to Chloe through [Angelic Bond], who then passes it on to Alana as the two of them descend. After nodding my agreement, I move toward the center of the arena, using Filia like a giant paintbrush to paint out the Etheric channels and runes that will serve as the base of my formation.

While Nicholas begins dispatching orders with the sort of precision and deftness only a military commander could, Chloe approaches me, watching with anxious intent as the sky again darkens above us.

“Is this really going to work?” she asks.

“I wish I could say it would. I wish this battle had never happened. But I do think his strategy is the best one available to us. Even if there is a better one, none of us are going to be able to find and implement it in four minutes.”

“The bulk of this still relies on us. Are you prepared?”

“Yeah. I’m… We have things only we can do, but it’s thanks to everyone else that we’re going to win and survive to see a new dawn. This is the way it really should be.”

Chloe floats down beside me as I finish the final strokes on the [Repulsion] glyph. While I won’t question Nicholas in matters of his own expertise, he isn’t quite correct in his assessment that we should use just a simple single-glyph formation in this instance. [Repulsion] would, when sufficiently powered, work. But if the aim is even slightly off, we could repel an attack of that magnitude in an errant direction and send it coursing back toward the Earth at some point which may or may not be populated. Hence, a couple of directional [Impulse] glyphs need to be added as well, for course-correction purposes.

“You two both ready?” Alana asks.

“Almost,” I say. “What about you? I know you’re not much of a caster.”

“I’m not, but–” She pauses, her eyes turning downward and her voice softening to a whisper. “They need hope, and I can provide it. Even if the bulk of the work is on you two, my presence will maintain discipline and confidence, which is what they need more than anything.”

Chloe taps Alana with [Saintess’s Blessing]. I would use my [Rebellious Surge] also, but she’s already under the effect of [Valkyrion’s Rally] and 1,250 [Ether] is a steep cost that I can ill afford so soon.

Nicholas steps behind me, offering me a phial of fetid-looking yellow liquid.

“One of our local alchemists devised this. Smells like shit and tastes just as bad, but it’s a potent [Ether] restorative compound and it’s the closest we’ve come up with to being able to concoct our own [Ether Canisters] in any sort of reasonable quantity.”

Trusting that Nicholas has his own best intentions at heart and being more than willing to cope with the proposed bargain, I down the entire dose in a single gulp. The taste is closer to rancid eggs than actual shit— not that I would know what the latter tastes like— but the effects are also undeniable. Not great for morale, but the extra three hundred points of Ether are going to make me that much more useful in the battle only a hundred seconds away. After a quarter-second pause, I down a second one. For everyone’s health.

“Is it all working properly?”

“Just about. I’ve made a couple of adjustments to the standard glyph; these two smaller glyphs help to redirect the momentum toward a harmless direction, while these other two runic formations turn the [Ether] expenditure from a static value into a variable coefficient. In short, we’ll be able to scale up the power of the glyph based on how much [Ether] is supplied.”

“Excellent work, Miss Mortensen. Everyone is just about ready to start casting. Several of them do require touch, so–”

“My wings are a part of my body; that would be easiest.”

In contrast, Chloe needs to dispel her own golden wings first, as hers are Etheric manifestations with no special Skills binding them to her.

One by one, I’m touched by no fewer than thirty different individuals, four of whom I can hear idolizing me like some sort of celebrity. Ladies, I appreciate the confidence, but I’m hardly worthy of any sort of worship. Just a woman who’s doing the best she can and oftentimes failing along the way.

High above, Fornieth’s energy is reaching its crescendo. The sphere of black is far larger than the one I fought back earlier and nearly died from. It’s hard to tell from so far away, but it looks to be nearly as large as a city block, and quite possibly bigger. Certainly enough to do exactly what Nicholas said it would and maybe more.

It begins. I’m touched by a series of hands both soft and rough in equal measure, some owned by individuals who have never seen this kind of battle before in their life. And some owned by eyes cold and indifferent, who know the true cost of war and its aftermath, having lived through it either before or after the System’s arrival. Possibly both.

Notifications pinged in the corner of my vision one after another.

[You have been affected by [Focused Mind]. [Vitality] and [Mind] increased by 5%.]

[You have been affected by [Discipline]. All stats increased by 5%.]

[You have been affected by [Bravery]. [Strength] and [Vitality] have increased by 10%.]

And they keep coming in. Dozens of different effects stack upon me, sending my combat parameters skyrocketing to heights which I won’t be able to touch for another several dozen levels at the least.

[You have been affected by [Meditative Calm]. [Ether] regeneration rate increases by 15%.]

That’s a Skill? That’s a spell? There are people out there with the very same ability that I have been trying and failing to acquire for… well, ever since the System arrived, pretty much, so what…. Five months now? And they just… have it. It’s a small indignity, inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but I feel cheated and even more irate at the System.

Calm yourself, Seraphina. This is probably exactly why you don’t have the Skill in the first place.

Even more effects take hold of me. I feel so calm, so focused, and yet I know I can move with an alacrity that would put the laws of physics to shame. Now, as I am, and especially with Chloe by my side as she has been every day, I feel like I truly can turn the impossible into the possible.

“Thirty seconds left,” Nicholas says. “Are you three ready?”

“As ready as I’m going to be,” I say. I look down at my glyph. Everything is set up correctly, with enough additional sluices added in for anyone else to channel their own Ether as well.

“Yeah,” Chloe says.

Alana gives us a look that reveals her hesitancy. “Your orders, Commander?”

Nicholas turns around, looking at the crowd gathering all around the four of us. I’m expecting some big impassioned speech right out of a high-budget film. Instead, he speaks with even cadence.

“The time has come. You have your orders. You know your responsibilities. Now is the time to defend our friends, our families, our freedom, and indeed, our lives. Barrier corps, team one, begin channeling. Team two, on standby. Team four, guard duty and crowd control.”

The movements were swift yet lacked the coordination of military discipline. While some of these people were military or ex-military, many more of them were civilians, brought here through either a sense of responsibility or just the passionate drive to save their homeland from a demon who crawled out of hell and decided that he wanted to rule as tyrant and king.

The sky has darkened to the point where the stars are glimmering in the noontime sky, eager to bear witness to the finale of the battle. The heat of an August afternoon has given way to a coolness tinged with the taste of death and despair that awaited us. I close my eyes and take one last deep breath, letting my [Ether] circulate through the channels that stream up and down my body. An invisible barrier arises to meet the impending attack.

Fornieth is ready. I can see it from those glittering black teeth and that air of imperious dominance he exudes, trying to cow us into submission. But we will not relent.

In just a few minutes, the fate of over a million people will be decided. One way or another.

And we will emerge triumphant.