She watched them gather inside and around the towers with the injured headed to a particular tower. Still, a decent chunk of troops, between ten and twenty thousand, stood in a large clump in front of the temporary base. These outliers seemed ready for battle still which made Emory fear that they would launch at least one attack during the night. But after three hours and no attacks. Emory was getting bored of watching the screens.
Then the outer group moved in front of one of the towers while another thirty thousand Apleem came out of the building and joined them. Once all the troops were together, they slowly left the area and headed south. When Emory noticed this relatively small group approaching, she didn't know if the Apleem simply underestimated the humans or thought they would have an overwhelming advantage in the dark. Either way, Emory hurried out of the Command Center while sending a message to the troops on duty to meet up by the northern entrance. Nearly a million troops lined up along the inner walls and ramparts as Emory joined them, already separated into ranged and melee fighters. She directed the melee group to hunker down behind the outer walls which were virtually invisible in the darkness. Then she commanded the ranged group to hide in the ramparts until the enemy got close.
Emory joined the melee group since she was the only leader right now. As she hid behind one section of the wall, she checked the enemy's location on her wrist. The Apleem were still fifteen minutes away, but since they were closer, the cameras on the Research Center could get a clearer picture of the make up of the impending attackers. For better or worse, the incoming group looked to be split evenly between Mantoan and Uthid. Interestingly, they had also changed into darker armor, perhaps thinking that they would be able to capitalize on the darkness to provide a sneak attack opportunity. It didn't matter to Emory what they wore; she would tear them apart either way.
When the Apleem were a thousand feet away, the sound of their march began to echo across the plains. With her Arcane sight, Emory could see gleeful looks on many of the Apleem who obviously thought they would be able to enter the base relatively easy. All the melee fighters had a hand hovering over their watch, waiting to jump from the shadows and turn on their lights. Finally, as the Apleem reached only three hundred feet away, Emory sent the signal to everyone to attack. In an instant, the ranged fighters sprung out from behind the walls and unloaded a coordinated blast of attacks. At the same time, Emory led the melee fighters from their spots and rushed the Apleem in a matter of moments. Completely unaware that the humans would be lying in wait for them, the enemies were quickly overwhelmed. The first volley of attacks from above had killed a quarter of the Mantoan in a single strike. And when the melee attackers charged, they were able to immediately overwhelm the Uthid on the outer edges of the platoon.
Chaos descended quickly on the battlefield as the humans surrounded the attacking force. Emory carved a line straight through the middle of the enemy group, killing or maiming a thousand troops in just a few moves. When she had bolted from cover, she had formed her magik wings and shot herself forward like a wrecking ball. With her wings outstretched, they cut through a line twenty feet across through the entire enemy party. Like a hot knife through butter, the wings sliced through everything in their path. After this single charge, the Apleem in the back turned back to try to escape. However, it was too late as the humans surrounded the smaller force and cut off their escape route.
It was an utter blood bath because of the surprise attack. That's not to say there weren't human casualties since the Apleem became enraged after seeing their retreat disappear. Still, the deaths were much lower than during the daytime. Over the course of an hour, the Apleem were reduced to only a couple thousand, all in a tight circle. Emory jumped back into the middle of the circle and released a spinning disk of Arcane magik that bisected all but a handful of Uthid who stood on the far edges. Still, the slashes in their midsection were too deep, meaning they would still bleed out in a few minutes. One managed to remain on his knees, coughing up green blood while more gushed from his side. Emory sauntered over to him and looked him over.
"You must be a little stronger than the rest since you've managed to stay upright," Emory growled, "Do you have any last words?"
"This is only the beginning. We outnumber the stars; how can you compare to us?" he coughed before collapsing onto the ground.
Emory shrugged and left the bodies there as she led the army back to the outpost. When she returned, Clarine, Innes, and Nephenee were standing by the gate waiting for her. She smiled and waved, covered in green blood.
Innes joked, "I thought you were going to take it easy."
"Oh this? It's worse than it looks," Emory gravely remarked, "Luckily, they underestimated us. We barely lost a thousand troops."
"That's quite fortuitous. Hopefully, they'll think twice before they attack again," Clarine patted Emory on the back.
"We'll take it from here," Nephenee said boldly, "Go get some sleep and take my cabin."
Emory smiled slightly, "Thank you. Wake me up if you need my help." She waved and snapped her fingers before disappearing in a puff of smoke. First, she took a steaming hot shower to wash all the blood out of her hair. Her stamina from fighting all day finally ran out, and she fell to her knees once the water reached the right temperature. She closed her eyes and sat at the edge of her vast mana pool.
Storm clouds and lightning covered the horizon, causing a dark sky and thin fog to cover the ocean of magik. She sighed deeply and tossed some sand beside her into the water. Suddenly, a bright light appeared next to her before dimming and revealing Ninian in its place. She sat next to Emory, and the two remained silent for what seemed to be an eternity.
"I thought I had prepared myself for this," Emory finally broke the silence, "After the first scout ship landed, I told myself that war had begun. And after Selena came, I resolved to defeat this enemy no matter what. But today, I saw thousands of people fall around me. Nothing could have prepared me for that."
Ninian rubbed her back, "It never changes, no matter how many times you see it. We advanced life forces have the power to cause such cruelty to each other. The utter wanton destruction is sickening."
"Is there no other way?" Emory sighed, "No matter what they're looking for, there has to be a better solution than this. Why are they determined to wipe us out?"
"As I told you before, they are only one of many species I have seen rise. Though I will say, it is rare to see a type two civilization quite as aggressive as they are. Most warring species don't make it through the Second Great Filter. I'll be honest, I didn't think humanity was going to make it. Or if they did, they wouldn't last much afterwards. I guess they still might not," Ninian tried to explain.
"That doesn't really answer the question," Emory frowned, "Then again, I'm guessing you don't have an answer, do you?"
Ninian shook her head, "Advanced beings are very fickle; the smallest stone in the pond can make a giant ripple. Perhaps one day, you'll get a chance to ask the one in charge of them. Though I wouldn't recommend meeting her the way you are right now. Until that time comes, all you can do is protect yourself and your friends."
"I suppose you're right," Emory groaned, "Say, while you're here, can I ask you a question about magik?"
"Of course, little niece, what can I answer for you?" Ninian smiled as she turned to Emory.
Emory cleared her throat, "So, I picked the Chaos sphere as my other sphere, but I'm having problems increasing my level. How do I increase my sphere level?"
"Chaos, huh? I'm glad you went with an Aura-type sphere," Ninian grinned, "Like my Charm sphere, you have to intensify the aura to go up in level. In this case, you will need to increase the strength of magik you put into it without increasing the range. Much like the Arcane sphere, you need to compact more magik into a smaller size. When you're at the fifth level and with how much magik you can control, the magik should be nearly impossible to see through."
"I sort of figured that part out, but how do I keep it contained? When I try to dump more magik in, the radius grows," Emory explained.
"Ah, I should have guessed," Ninian giggled, "You're trying to add magik after you've already got the disk formed, right? No, what I mean is you have to infuse more magik before you create the disk. Basically, you need to create the aura to the strength you want it first, then you add more magik after it's formed to grow the area of effect. Your father and I learned our auras this way."
Ninian extended her hand with her palm facing up and began to form a light pink orb. When she first created it, the ball looked like stained glass, colored but see-through. However, as time passed, the orb became more solid and less transparent. Within a couple minutes, the ball looked like a thick pink liquid and was completely opaque. Emory studied it closely, but when she got curious and poked it, it exploded like a water balloon. Ninian laughed and waved her hand, causing all the pink liquid to disappear immediately.
"Now you try," Ninian encouraged Emory. The ginger girl formed a sphere in her hand like Ninian had done except Emory's was much darker. Slowly, she injected more magik into the sphere which began to thicken. When it was murky, about half as opaque as Ninian's had been, the orb popped and released black, purple, and red particles into the air. "You have a solid foundation," Ninian praised her, "Try practicing this technique until you can make it completely dense like I did. Once you can do that, you should be able to create the orb inside your body and release it like you normally would."
Emory stood up and bowed, "Thank you, Aunt Ninian. I should probably go rest now."
"You're very welcome, Emory," Ninian nodded as she too rose, "Get some sleep as I'm sure your friends will need your help tomorrow."
Emory blinked and opened her eyes back on the shower floor. She sat there on her knees for a few more minutes as the last of the green blood was washed out of her hair. Then she quickly finished her shower, changed into sleeping clothes, and jumped into bed. Once under the warm blankets, it only took a few minutes before she fell into a deep slumber.