—--------------

  Fifty minutes later

  —---------------

  It got tiring quickly, carrying multiple tonnes of magi-steel and the enemy alloy. I persevered though, preferring a tiring mind and draining will over a necrotic poison eating away at me as I died slowly and painfully.

  As we got into the street I turned left, towards the academy.

  I knew this place, or atleast, I was trained to know many places. Forced through feedback loops of countless hours of memorization and practical application one after the other. Getting lost was a mistake of ignorance, such a state of mind, being trainable.

  Nothing was seeable past my dome of metal. No cracks. No way for death to slip through. My metal dome moulded itself through the cobbled streets and past magi-lamp posts like a mercury slime. I was getting tired. I needed to get somewhere I could sleep. Preferably, to wake again.

  ‘Air, rust-shit, I needed air’ I reminded myself.

  I was running on fumes and wasn’t thinking of my situation properly.

  The bottom of the dome turned to a holey mesh not unlike breathe holes on a faceplate.

  I felt with my will, just to make sure. I felt relieved, glad no one fell unconscious due to my oversight.

  ‘Keep moving, don’t stop, a still target is a dead target’ I roughly repeated a line from the Steelblood codex in my mind.

  Everyone followed, silently but with carefully placed steps, the squire class mobile cogs were some of the only actual noise that sounded out as their armor clattered on their support frames and the soft clicking of their gears were sometimes heard.

  I turned again, everyone following my movements and focusing on not tripping on some of the less-even cobbled stones of the streets.

  A tearing rock against metal screech sounded out, signaling the waning of my powers.

  The academy grounds weren't far from the grounds of the grand main church of the masterwork. Just a kilometer on the roads. We were close, I could sense the high castle walls twenty meters out. My magical will diminished due to the severity of my magical exhaustion.

  “HALT, WHO GOES THERE, STATE YOUR BUSINESS OR BE FIRED UPON BY THE ACADEMY GUARD!” A commanding and weathered voice sounded out, clear and concise.

  “A noble of house Dohiedron demands to speak with the headmaster of the academy after gaining safe passage to food, rest and shelter!” I shouted through a wider slit that appeared at the front, which was slanted downwards to block any projectiles.

  The gate opened immediately. A lot of my crowd either gasped or turned to me and just stared at me with reverence and respect, one of fear.

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  “Please, enter, your imperial eminence.” A man in the academy garrison uniform, one denoting the general supervisor, the highest position of said garrison asked with reverence and politeness as he snapped into a salute.

  Everything seemed in order, which was good, because I needed it to be. I couldn't keep running.

  We entered, the man also displaying the colors of house Severance on his chest beside the colors of the imperial academy. The former being a grey box with a grey cog surrounding it and the later being a golden book with a red hourglass peeking from behind it.

  My dome cut into a semi-dome as the half facing toward the academy laid on the ground in front of me as I stepped onto it, moving towards the man.

  His eyes widened slightly, taking in the crowd of differing people, “For the imperial will, if I may, Your Eminence, whom am I serving?” He asked in a subservient tone.

  “You are serving Her Imperial Majesty by extension, by serving I, Sir Erec Dohiedron.” I finished my proclamation with a confident and unwavering tone.

  His salute stiffened, as he commanded “All kneel, you are in the presence of their eminence!”

  “Belay that order, General supervisor, we were attacked by a mob of spies, they were dealt with.” I paused to take a breath, my body feeling like I ran twenty kilometers without water. “A lethal wood elven sniper is yet to be dispatched, among other enemies yet unseen.” I conceded the vital information and continued, “put the academy at high alert and request the support of the city garrison and officials in the name of Her Imperial Majesty.”

  He lost his salute, turned on his heel and opened a portal with a crackling pop to a door that he then reached through and opened, commanding his staff, “academy at empress class threat, notify superiors, demand reinforcements!” As he finished, the portal flickered and appeared in front of me, showing a well designed medical room with three academy nurses who all jumped in surprise then saluted, “for the imperial will, we are at your service!” As a void attuned sphere covered the entire academy.

  “Your eminence, I strongly advise you to undergo physical examination by these near top class- tenth cog nurses.” The general supervisor advised.

  “A secure suite and a shower would suffice, General, the blood is not my own, my injuries are superficial and healing as we speak, no other wounded are present, one casualty.” The metal coffin, still ever present in my mind as I ordered the general. The portal fizzed out with a sucking sound of air finding its home, then he opened another, this room, this time empty of people but fit for mother herself.

  I pointed towards the commander of the city garrison and ordered “Execute this man on crimes of incompetence towards a superior, aiding and abetting the enemy, compromising the safety of a house Dohiedron noble and ignoring the right to demand aid of a house Welles noble that is by extension, Her Imperial Majesty’s will.”

  The General lifted his left hand, then lowered it quickly at the commander, a magi-bluss sounding out from behind him from a kill hole, vaporizing him as he exploded into dust, speckling his soldiers.

  His left hand then came back up and he stared at me in question, asking if his soldiers would suffer the same fate.

  I shook my head and stated “Treat the others as you would treat me, they were instrumental in the survival of everyone alive here now.”

  His left hand relaxed and fell to his side. “Do you have any instructions for me, your eminence?” He asked, still holding his salute.

  “Give Pilot Sampson Her Imperial Majesty’s supreme order, make sure the family is notified of his passing and elevate them to very important persons.” I floated the identification tag towards the General.

  “I will make sure the Voloss airbase follows through.” He promised, his left hand moving to his heart.

  A portal opened in front of me

  I then tried to step. I couldn’t really move my legs. I tried to flex my magical will, but it remained silent. The coffin behind me dropped to the ground with a thick thud. ‘Ah, time has finally caught up to my full body and magical will,’ I realized. There was pain, but it wasn’t even nearly as bad as my right arm felt, though improving by the moment up until now. The healing stymied by the immense amount of strain for using so much magical will inside of such a small amount of time.

  My left arm shakily moved into a loop as I unsteadily looked back to Cerys, who had stared at me with terror as she watched my usually healthy lips as they greyed my eyes lost their lustre.

  She then walked up to me and looped her right arm around my left and helped me into the portal, coming into it with me.

  The portal closed behind me, the incredibly competent man who was the general supervisor of the imperial academy garrison sensing what needed to be done.

  Cerys helped me over to the bed. My breaths got labored as I moved with considerable effort.

  As we arrived at the bed, I unlooped my arm from hers as I said with a shaky voice, “thank you, I just need to-” I fumbled with the dirt-blood caked top button of my now absolutely irreparably ruined military parade dress. The house Steelblood colors, nowhere to be seen on it.

  “Forget it, Erec, allow me.” She said with a harrowingly worried look as she quickly unclasped my shirt and removed it with care. She then burned it in a flash of controlled fire and then knelt down and unclasped my belt, allowing the pants to fall.

  “Thank you, now, I just need to get to the bed” I said with a shaky and dry voice. It was less than a pace away, but I wasn’t sure if I could even move that next step.

  Cerys then picked me up over her shoulder with care and placed me onto the bed gently.

  I stared into her emerald eyes, which were clouded with worry and terror.

  “Thank y-”

  My consciousness then faded into the ephemeral void that is sleep.