The elite soldier shifted his weight and rose to his full height, his attention no longer on Shay.
Slowly, deliberately, he turned toward the child.
Each step he took carried the same cold certainty.
Shay was left on the ground, breath uneven, body barely responding but his eyes followed that movement.
And the moment the soldier took another step forward.
Shay moved.
His hand shot out, fingers tightening around the soldier's ankle, gripping with everything he had left.
Blood from his wounded palm smeared against the armor, but he didn't let go.
The soldier's step stopped.
"Don't…" Shay forced the words out, his voice rough, breaking under the strain. "…don't you dare hurt the kid…"
Grip trembled, not from hesitation but from pain.
The soldier looked down.
Through the cracked mask, Shay's eyes met his clear, focused, unyielding.
There was no humor left in them now. No tricksb to play.
Just refusal, refusal to let that child die.
The soldier's leg tensed.
Then he kicked it away.
Force ripped Shay's hand away, throwing him back across the ground as his grip broke completely.
His body rolled once before stopping, the impact sending another wave of pain through him.
The path was clear again.
The soldier turned back toward the child stepped forward.
Then a flash a sudden burst of light cut through the air.
It struck the soldier's helmet directly, exploding on impact with a sharp crack of energy.
Force snapped his head back and sent his entire body flying off balance, dragging him several feet across the ground before he crashed hard.
For a brief moment everything went still.
The source stood where the child had been.
The kid his arm was still raised, trembling, faint sparks of energy flickering and fading around his hand.
His eyes were wide not with confidence, but with shock.
He didn't understand what just happened.
Didn't know how he did it.
Magic had awakened.
Not through control.
But through fear… desperation… and the overwhelming need to protect someone who had protected him first.
"I… I didn't…" the kid whispered, staring at his own hand as it shook uncontrollably.
He hadn't meant to.
He didn't even know how but it happened anyway.
There is an explanation about this when magic manifests for the first time, usually triggered by intense emotions such as fear, anger, pain, or desperation.
At this stage, the kid has no understanding of what his doing...
While the elite soldier staggered from the lightning strike, caught off guard for the first time, Shay took his chance and forced his body to move.
Every muscle resisted.
Pain surged through him, his breathing still uneven but he pushed through it anyway he gathered what little magic he had left, forcing it through his body just to stand his legs trembled, but they held.
"…move…" he muttered to himself under his breath.
He did.
Shay broke into a run, closing the distance between himself and the child in a few quick steps without slowing, he grabbed the kid's hand and pulled him along, guiding him back toward where the others were hiding.
They didn't stop until they reached cover.
Behind them, the elite soldier shook his head slowly, the impact still lingering, strike hadn't taken him down but it had disoriented him just enough.
When his vision cleared and he looked forward again.
they were gone.
Shay and the child had already disappeared from sight.
Hidden safe for now.
Inside the cover of the trees, the other survivors rushed forward the moment they saw them a few of them quickly supported Shay, catching him before he could collapse completely, helping him down to the ground with careful urgency.
He didn't resist.
Didn't have the strength to.
As he settled onto the dirt, Shay coughed, a small amount of blood staining his hand as he tried to steady his breathing his body ached, every movement heavy, but his eyes still searched the group around him.
Everyone was there.
Still alive and safe.
A faint smile formed beneath his half-broken mask.
"Hey…" he said quietly, turning his gaze toward the kid beside him. "…you should smile."
His voice was softer now.
"You saved someone."
The child didn't respond immediately, still shaken, still trying to understand what had just happened but the words reached him, he let out a tear.
Back at the outpost, the elite soldier stood still for only a moment longer before something shifted.
His posture straightened.
Then, without hesitation, he turned and began moving back toward the outpost at full speed there was no command spoken aloud, no visible signal but something had reached him.
A call.
A silent order.
As if a voice had whispered directly into his mind something higher, something commanding.
And he obeyed.
Within the outpost, the chaos continued to escalate.
Elyndra remained in the middle of it, her focus stretched thin as attacks came from every direction.
Bolts and arrows rained toward her position, forcing her to rely on a temporary force field that flickered under the constant pressure.
Her breathing tightened.
Her movements slowed slightly.
She glanced toward the inner sections of the outpost, sensing something shifting, soldiers were changing not in formation, but in behavior their movements grew sharper, more unified, as if guided by something beyond sight.
"…What is this…" she murmured, her eyes narrowing.
Elsewhere.
Alaric stood at a distance, calm as ever, though his attention had sharpened completely.
One of his ravens slipped into the main outpost unnoticed, its presence concealed as it moved deeper inside through its vision, Alaric observed everything.
And what he saw made him focus.
The raven glided silently through a narrow passage, the structure shifting into something deeper, more enclosed.
Further it went, the less the place resembled a simple outpost.
It became something else, a corridor.
Dark and cave-like.
Artificial… but built with purpose.
Alaric's grip on his cane tightened slightly.
He needed answers and whatever lay ahead was waiting to be found.
Outside the outpost, Grimwatch continued to press forward, but the flow of battle had begun to change.
The soldiers in front of him were no longer holding their ground one by one, they started to fall back, retreating toward the inner sections of the outpost with urgent, controlled movement.
Grimwatch noticed immediately.
He didn't chase blindly.
The soldier in front of him made one last attempt to strike, but Grimwatch stepped in without hesitation, his blade moving in a clean, decisive arc, cut went through armor and body alike, effortless, as if there was no resistance at all.
The man dropped where he stood, his form splitting into two as it hit the ground.
Grimwatch didn't look at him again.
His attention had already shifted.
The rest were running.
"…Retreating," he muttered under his breath, tightening his grip on his sword.
He stepped forward, positioning himself squarely in their path, the weight of his armor settling with a heavy, controlled presence.
The metal plates clanked softly as he adjusted his stance, his movements steady, deliberate nothing wasted.
"Then you won't make it inside.."
He lowered his center of gravity slightly, drawing in a breath as his energy gathered.
"Eliminating the obstacle..."
The moment the words left him, he moved.
His foot drove into the ground, the force cracking the surface beneath him as he launched forward, power surged through his body, feeding directly into the blade as it ignited with a blinding white glow, streaks of blue energy trailing behind it like a burning wake.
The soldiers ahead didn't have time to turn.
Grimwatch's swing came fast too fast.
A horizontal slash cut through the air, the speed of it compressing the space around the blade, creating a sharp, vacuum-like pull.
The sound that followed was thin and high, like glass being drawn across steel.
For a brief moment everything stopped.
The soldiers froze mid-step, their bodies locked in place as if time itself had faltered.
Then...the line broke.
Every soldier caught in the path of the strike was cut cleanly through, their forms giving way all at once.
The bodies collapsed in sequence, the ground beneath them marking the path of the blade's reach.
Silence followed.
Grimwatch stood at the center of it, his sword still humming faintly from the release of energy.
The path to the outpost was open.
Grimwatch letting out a heavy breath, the massive sword coming to a rest behind him.
Grimwatch's gaze shifted across the battlefield, scanning for threats but what he found instead made him stop.
Elyndra..
The area around her had cleared, the immediate enemies gone, but she remained standing in the middle of it, her posture slightly unsteady faint shimmer of her barrier flickered and died, revealing the damage she had taken.
He moved without thinking.
The open path to the outpost the objective was forgotten in that moment his steps were fast, heavy, closing the distance between them as his focus narrowed entirely on her condition.
When he reached her, he saw it clearly.
The bolt, embedded deep enough to matter.
His grip tightened slightly around his weapon as he stepped closer.
"Stay still," he said, his voice low but firm.
Elyndra didn't panic, didn't even flinch.
"I'm fine," she replied, though her breathing told a different story.
Her grimoire floated beside her, already reacting pages began to turn on their own, faster at first, then slowing as they searched before stopping on a single spell.
Locked.
A faint glow formed around the wound as the magic activated, controlled and precise instead of removing the bolt immediately, the spell stabilized the area first sealing internal damage, preventing further bleeding, holding everything in place.
Only then did she move.
The energy tightened around the embedded shaft, and with a sharp, controlled snap, the bolt split cleanly in two.
Outer piece fell away first, followed by the rest as the magic guided it out of her body without causing further harm.
Elyndra exhaled slowly, steadying herself as the spell continued to work, closing what it could.
Grimwatch remained beside her, watching carefully.
"…You should have called it," he said after a moment, his tone quieter now.
Elyndra gave a faint glance in his direction, her composure returning piece by piece.
"And give them time to regroup?" she replied calmly. "No."
The glow around her wound faded slightly as the immediate damage was handled.
She straightened, not fully recovered but ready enough.
The battlefield wasn't done with them yet...