A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Their charge slowed down a little as they watched the rain of destruction approach from above. While those bolts individually weren't very powerful, there were a lot of them, and there was no way to dodge.

If they hit, Alice would definitely die, and if Emma and Emily failed to use aetherium to defend themselves, their lives would be in jeopardy as well. Only the second-rank Runebound under them would presumably survive with heavy wounds.

Clearly, Alexandre didn't mess around with the protection of this house. But they knew that already.

"Dammit!" an annoyed Seraphina cursed, as she looked up. "Now what's your plan, genius?!" she then exclaimed furiously towards Erik, while quickly taking up position in front of the Ashcroft sisters in an effort to protect them.

To her surprise, however, she was the only one that panicked.

Erik glanced at her with amusement, "I appreciate the effort, but I'm perfectly capable of protecting my own family."

With the bolts only a few seconds away from impact, Erik looked up with a serious frown, before extending his hands upward and calling upon his second-ranked thundersnow spell: Thundersnow Dome.

The air became charged with even more power. Two icy white, crackling magic circles appeared, and a similarly coloured dome formed around their group, sparking with cold, electric power.

"What the…" Seraphina muttered as she lowered her protectively raised arms. "What the fuck is that?!"

Not only was this an ability she hadn't seen him use before, but it was also clearly a new affinity, which completely confused Seraphina, who had no idea that fusion was possible.

Yet, she didn't have much time to wonder, because the bolts thunderously impacted the shield, and the ground around them, with the deafening sound obliterating all thought.

But, although the offensive power was great, the shield held. Erik's blood surged with three bloodlines, each empowering his usage of ice, lightning, and thundersnow, culminating in a power that reached the lower edges of third-rank Arcanists.

Yet, the power drain was great. Erik groaned slightly under the massive amounts of aetherium this shield dragged out of the storage he shared with Elora.

Fortunately, Elora was a third rank, and while that didn't actually increase Erik's power as an Arcanist, it did mean that the aetherium storage he shared with her was of third rank as well.

Still, power was draining quickly, so they had to move quicker. It was clear the guards noticed what was happening, and decided not to let up, as bolts of power continued raining down on the battlefield, making the ground shake.

"Let's go!" Erik grinned confidently while picking up the pace again, even as he continued holding the shield aloft.

While Seraphina still looked confused, the others matched his confident grin and quickly followed after him. They were moving slower now but would still reach the castle in about a minute.

Unfortunately, they were blocked by another obstacle. A barrier surrounded the castle, much like the one they used at the Karolinska institute, and Erik had his hands full.

Fortunately, he wasn't the only one there. "Allow me," Astrid grinned as she pulled out both her swords. She approached the barrier in front of Erik as her body started burning with solar power. Just as with the institute, this barrier simply wasn't designed to obstruct second-rank individuals.

The council likely didn't yet have any sigil crafters capable of creating a shield that was both large, and strong enough to do so.

Thus, Astrid plunged her swords into the barrier, and ripped it apart in one move, before the group continued moving.

* * *

On top of the wall, the guards weren't surprised by their ability to destroy that barrier, but they were getting increasingly annoyed by Erik's barrier.

"How the hell is he keeping that barrier up?!" one male second ranker asked the female second ranker next to him in disbelief.

But she didn't have an answer for him, so she just shrugged helplessly, "Who the fuck knows? Surely, he must be getting tired, though, right?"

Another female guard, who was leaning forward on the castle's battlements to look down, appeared a little more relaxed. She shrugged nonchalantly, before raising a curious eyebrow, "I'm more interested in who they are, and what they want. Do you think one of the other Councillors is making a move against lord Alexandre?"

"It doesn't matter," a fourth guard harumphed sternly. This was the same man whose voice asked the attackers about their intentions earlier. "Our job is to—"

But before he could finish, the first female guard interrupted him as she looked down the battlements, "Uuh, Boss? They reached the gate. Do you think it's time to warn our Lord yet?"

The first male guard scoffed before the Boss could answer, "Hmpf, and get our asses chewed out because we're disturbing him for a group of five-second rankers? No thank you."

The woman scowled, and clearly preferred the safe approach, as proved when she turned to the fourth guard, saying, "Don't listen to him, Boss. I think we should warn lord Alexandre. Better safe than sorry."

The man they referred to as Boss narrowed his eyes, and looked down as well, where Erik's group had now reached the gate, and the artillery sigils couldn't reach them anymore.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Yet, despite the fact they'd broken through the first line of defence, the man's lips curled into a small, satisfied smile, because of what he saw.

Erik had sunk to one knee and panted heavily, as if entirely drained of energy.

But, despite that, there remained a shrewd glint in his eyes. "We shouldn't have any problem, but we should still send a message to the Lord's guards about what's happening."

At that point, he turned to a nearby first ranker. "Go do so but remind them not to actually warn the Lord himself unless we don't report back in half an hour."

The guard saluted sternly, "Yes, Sir!" before running off to do as ordered.

Then, the guard captain turned to the nearby second rankers, "Now let's prepare to receive our guests."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the gates, Erik really was panting and kneeling, but it was mostly an act. His and Elora's aetherium storage really was drained, but his Runebound body and energy were both rearing to go. It was just another way to delay these guards from warning Alexandre for as long as possible.

"You're up, little Shadow," he told Emily through their bond as he continued pretending to pant.

"Yes, Master!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. Then, she walked up to the gate while conjuring a large number of her inky black sphere's.

She combined them into one large circle, much like she'd done back in Frostvik, and started dissolving a large part of the reinforced gate, using her knowledge of sigils to destroy those as well.

This took a tense minute, while the others waited in various states of anxiety, before a hole had formed, and a large courtyard filled with guards was revealed in front of them.

Now was the time for blood to spill.