Chapter 3 – Last Light (Part I)
The western barrier failed without a sound.
One moment, a pale blue curtain stretched across the fortress walls.
The next, it was simply... gone.
No explosion.
No blinding flash.
The faint humming that had filled the air since dawn disappeared, leaving only the roar of artillery and the distant cries of battle.
For half a heartbeat, everyone on the wall noticed.
No one spoke.
Then the warning horns sounded.
"Barrier down!"
The voice echoed across the battlements.
"Western Barrier has failed!"
Years of drills took over.
Nobody panicked.
Nobody froze.
The defenders simply moved.
---
"Shift the autocannons!"
"Second Company to Tower Six!"
"Reload those ballistae!"
"Move! Move!"
Captain Elias vaulted over a stack of ammunition crates and landed beside an artillery crew.
"What's your reload?"
"Ninety seconds!"
"You've got sixty."
"We'll make sixty."
"You'd better."
The captain didn't wait for an answer.
There were another three hundred soldiers under his command.
---
A hundred meters away, an engineer knelt beside a cracked runestone embedded in the wall.
Arjun wiped dust from the glowing surface before reaching into his satchel.
"Replacement plate."
His apprentice handed him a rune-etched slab.
Arjun pressed it into place.
The runes glowed.
Flickered.
Then stabilized.
"Eighty-two percent."
"It'll hold."
The apprentice looked over the battlements.
"It doesn't look like it'll hold."
Arjun followed his gaze.
The monster tide stretched beyond the horizon.
Millions.
Perhaps more.
He looked back at the runestone.
"It only has to hold longer than the last one."
Another impact shook the wall.
Dust rained from above.
Neither man looked up.
---
The bells of the Chapel of Aincendra rang once.
Not for prayer.
For deployment.
Rows of priests stood quietly inside the stone hall.
No grand ceremony.
No hymns.
Each wore light combat robes reinforced with mana-thread armor.
A small sidearm rested at every hip.
At the front stood Archbishop Lucien.
His white robes had long since faded to gray.
"Assignments."
A clerk stepped forward.
"Third Priest Company."
A dozen hands rose.
"Western Wall."
Nobody reacted.
"Fourth Priest Company."
Another group.
"Military Hospital Two."
"Fifth Company."
"Southern Reserve."
The clerk finished reading.
Lucien looked over the room.
"Questions?"
Silence.
"Good."
He nodded once.
"May the Mother watch over you."
The priests bowed.
Not to him.
To the symbol carved into the floor.
Then they dispersed.
One young priest adjusted the strap on his medical satchel.
The older man beside him noticed.
"First battle?"
The younger priest nodded.
"Yes, Father."
The older priest smiled faintly.
"Stay behind the Holy Knights."
"I intend to."
"You'll end up in front eventually."
"...Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"No."
The old priest walked toward the exit.
"It didn't for me either."
---
The western wall shook again.
A shadow passed overhead.
Three wyverns.
The anti-air batteries turned almost as one.
Green streaks crossed the sky.
The first beast spiraled downward.
The second lost a wing.
The third continued flying.
"Track it!"
"It's diving!"
The wyvern struck the battlements.
Stone exploded outward.
Three soldiers disappeared beneath the debris.
Before the dust settled, engineers were already climbing over the rubble.
"Lift it!"
"It's too heavy!"
"Use the jack!"
Someone pulled a wounded soldier free.
He coughed once.
"Broken leg."
A medic knelt beside him.
"You can walk?"
"No."
"Good."
The soldier frowned.
"What?"
The medic injected a mana stimulant into his arm.
"Now you can."
Two commandos pulled him to his feet.
He limped toward the evacuation route without another word.
---
Observation Tower Seven.
Captain Mira adjusted the focus on her enchanted scope.
The monster formations had changed.
Again.
"They're spreading."
Her assistant frowned.
"They've done that three times."
"I know."
"They're looking for weak points."
"No."
Mira narrowed the lens.
"They already found those."
She watched another formation peel away from the main advance.
Straight toward West Tower.
"...Interesting."
She reached for the communicator.
"Observation Seven to Central Command."
"Go ahead."
"Recommend increased surveillance around West Tower."
"Reason?"
"I've got a feeling."
Silence.
Then the operator answered.
"...Noted."
She lowered the communicator.
Her assistant looked confused.
"You didn't tell them why."
"I don't know why."
"You just have a feeling?"
Mira nodded.
"Forty years of scouting."
She looked back through the scope.
"You learn to trust those."
---
Deep beneath the wall...
Mana Reactor Three pulsed steadily.
Technicians moved between massive crystal arrays, recording output by hand despite the automated systems.
"Pressure?"
"Ninety-one."
"Temperature?"
"Within limits."
Chief Engineer Rao looked up from the console.
"Increase western flow another three percent."
An assistant hesitated.
"We're already above safety limits."
"I know."
"If we keep increasing output—"
"The wall needs power."
"But the core—"
"The wall."
The assistant nodded.
No further argument.
---
Military Hospital Two.
The first wave arrived.
Not dozens.
Hundreds.
Stretchers filled every corridor.
Doctors moved between beds without stopping.
Nurses checked tags.
Green.
Yellow.
Red.
Black.
Chief Surgeon Evelyn glanced at the incoming list.
"Open Ward Four."
"It's already full."
"Ward Five."
"Full."
She looked toward the emergency operating rooms.
"Hallways then."
A nurse looked surprised.
"In the hall?"
Evelyn didn't stop walking.
"Floor's clean enough."
---
Far above Atlas...
The Sky Fleet crossed the clouds.
Rows of mana-powered battleships drifted into formation.
Fighters launched one after another from their decks.
Inside the bridge of the flagship Resolute, Fleet Marshal Orion watched the battlefield below.
His first officer approached.
"Marshal."
"The western barrier is down."
"I know."
"Orders?"
Orion looked through the bridge window.
Hundreds of wyverns were climbing from the enemy formation.
He picked up the communicator.
"All carrier groups."
A brief pause.
"Protect the wall."
Dozens of acknowledgements answered at once.
The fleet banked west.
Below them...
The battle for Atlas had only just begun.