On the upper floor of the hotel, Damien, Arisha, and Kaelan stood near the window looking out over the ruined city below.
The morning light had grown stronger, cutting through the grey clouds in pale strips.
Then Damien’s smartwatch buzzed.
He accepted it imdiately. "What happened, Marina?"
Her voice ca through tense and clipped, not her usual calm.
"My unit got ambushed. I just received an ergency call from one of my mbers. They were attacked." A brief pause. "So of them may already be eliminated. The fact that you haven’t been contacted by Isaac ans he’s probably out."
Damien’s expression turned hard instantly.
"Where are you right now?"
"I’m moving toward the mall with the remaining mbers of my unit. I’m close. What are your orders?"
"How many enemies are we talking about?"
"I can’t confirm the exact number. But based on the call I received, there could be more than thirty."
The line went quiet for a mont.
Damien’s jaw tightened. He looked at Arisha and Kaelan. Both of them had heard every word. Their expressions had shifted — Arisha’s eyes sharp and alert, Kaelan’s face unreadable but he was still focused.
"Marina," Damien said firmly. "Do not engage. Pull back and hold your position away from that area. We’re coming to you. There may be even more of them than you think. Wait for us."
"Understood."
He cut the call.
He turned to face the room fully.
"We’re moving out. All of us." His voice was steady but carried weight behind every word. "Full deploynt. Half will push forward and engage the enemy directly. The other half will fan out around the periter of that area and watch the surrounding roads. If more B-1 students are moving in, I want to know before they arrive, not after."
Kaelan spoke imdiately. "If they sent more than thirty to that position, this wasn’t a scouting party. They planned this."
"I know," Damien said. "Which is exactly why we’re not sending a small group. We end this quickly and cleanly." He looked at Arisha. "I need you coordinating the periter half. Keep them spread but in contact with each other at all tis."
Arisha nodded without hesitation. "I’ll manage it."
"Kaelan, you’re with on the attack side."
Kaelan gave a single nod.
"Move fast. Tell everyone to gear up now."
---
Downstairs, the ground floor shifted from quiet morning calm into controlled urgency in a matter of seconds.
Word spread through the building quickly. Students who had been sitting around eating or resting were on their feet, reaching into storage rings and bracelets, pulling out weapons and equipnt.
The low hum of conversation had been replaced by the sharper sounds of preparation tal, their movent and focus.
Noah was still near the entrance area when Leonard appeared beside him, greatsword already in hand, fire flickering faintly at the edges of the blade.
"You heard?" Leonard said.
"Just now." Noah was already pulling his bow and quiver from his ring, slinging the quiver across his back. He nocked an arrow loosely, not drawing yet, just holding it ready.
Leonard looked at the bow and then at Noah’s face. "No spear or sword today?"
"I’ll take them out too. But not right now." Noah reached back into his ring with one hand and produced his blade, storing it at his hip. "But I’ll open with the bow."
"Smart." Leonard rolled his neck. His expression had that familiar edge to it, the one that showed up whenever sothing was actually about to happen. "Thirty plus enemies. Finally a real fight."
"Try not to run straight into all of them at once," Noah said.
"No promises man!"
Mary appeared at Noah’s side, her expression composed but her eyes alert. She had her own weapon ready. A short staff that she held with both hands, her knuckles firm but not tense. She had changed her posture entirely from the quiet girl who had been sitting across from him with a cup of tea twenty minutes ago.
"Stay close to your support group," Noah told her.
She t his eyes. "I know what I’m doing."
"I know you do." He held her gaze for a mont. "Just be careful."
The support unit students were behind frontier group.
She gave a small nod.
’It seems like she really have no friends.’ Noah thought while shaking his head.
Then Damien’s voice cut through the room from the staircase as he descended to the ground floor with Arisha and Kaelan behind him.
"Listen up!"
Every student in the room went still.
"Marina’s unit was ambushed near the mall. We are moving out now as one group. Once we reach the area I will divide us into two halves. The first half engages the enemy directly."
"The second half secures the surrounding periter and watches for additional B-1 students moving in." His eyes moved across the room. "No one acts alone. No one breaks formation without my order. We move together."
He paused for exactly one second.
"Let’s go."
The room moved.
Students poured out through the entrance of the hotel and onto the ruined street, spreading into a loose formation as they moved north in the direction of the mall. The sound of more than a hundred sets of footsteps crossing broken pavent filled the quiet morning air.
Noah moved near the middle of the group, bow in hand. He scanned the buildings on either side of the road as they walked, his eyes moving from window to rooftop to shadow without stopping.
’Thirty plus students,’ he thought. ’And they hit the recon unit first.’
He thought briefly about his phone in his pocket.
’Good, Travis did what I expected him to do it. I just gave him so hints about what he could do. And he did choose one of those options. Nice.’ He was satisfied with how things were going on.
He filed that away for later.
They soon reach the area where Marina and her other mbers standing.
They were ten in total. Ken was standing beside her.
"How are things?" Damine who was in front asked her.
"I think our all other mbers of unit are eliminated. We cannot contact them anymore. That clearly an they are eliminated."
"Okay. In that case we should attack. Do you know their positions?"
"Yes. They are all spread in mall, in different- different floors. Hiding, as if waiting for us to go for them. Try finding them."
"That might be there plan. For us to attack. Fight there. And try to eliminate us inside while few more enemies would co here." Arisha said. Her yellowed eyes narrowed.
"We should give them Answer. It’s ti to fight. Let them attack us. We are all prepared." Kaelan said from his other side.
"Okay let’s go then."
The team marched together.
Right now there was a fight ahead of them.
The ruined outline of the mall ca into view further down the avenue, its wide circular fra rising above the broken skyline of the city.
Damien raised his hand at the front of the group and the column slowed.
"Split here," he said quietly. "Arisha, take your half left and begin spreading around the periter. Move quietly. The mont you see anyone approaching from outside the area, you call it in imdiately."
Arisha turned to her group without a word and moved them off to the left with calm efficiency.
Damien looked ahead toward the mall entrance.
"Everyone else." His voice dropped lower. "We go in."
Noah was with Damien and Kaelan’s side. To go inside.
The group move inside, cautiously.
The enter through the entrance, weapons raised.
Damine and Kaelan standing in front.
Just beside them tall students with huge shield in one hand. They were tankers.
They enter the main lobby,
Ssshh!
At the sa ti multiple magic attacks were launched at them.
Huge spears of fire, lightning bolts and wind arrows dashed towards them with intense speed.
To kill the front people.
Five tankers moved at the sa ti standing in front of the group.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
There shield cover the ground behind.
A blue translucent huge barrier from in front of their shields.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The attacks collided against the shield barriers and exploded loudly.
The explosions rang through the mall lobby like thunder, the force of them pressing against the walls and sending dust raining down from the ceiling above.
The five tankers held firm. Their shields stayed planted, the blue barrier flickering under the repeated impacts but not breaking.
Cracks spread through the translucent surface and then sealed themselves, holding.
When the last explosion faded, the lobby went quiet for half a second.
Then Damien’s voice cut through the dust.
"Push forward!"
The tankers advanced in unison, shields still raised, moving as a wall. The students behind them surged forward with them, staying tight in formation.
Noah was in the second row, bow already drawn.
His eyes moved fast across the upper floors visible through the open centre of the mall. The circular balconies rose above them level by level, and he could already see shapes moving up there, B-1 students repositioning after the opening volley, ducking behind broken railings and overturned furniture, preparing the next attack.
’They’re spread across multiple floors,’ he noted quickly. ’High ground advantage. They planned this well. Not bad’
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