On why Baruch and the rest were on the ramparts while the rest marched to the gate, it was the instruction they'd been given, especially the new path mages who were inexperienced.

Lys wasn't a part of either, but because she'd been with Baruch, he knew where she was, inside the wall.

Hadrian had his suspicions concerning that.

Watching as the regiment of mages converged, Hadrian waited for his opportunity.

He'd used the Sunmar force to get him this far, but he had a few hours until his fog shroud disappeared, and most importantly, he did not wish to participate in the battle.

The cores would be good to obtain, but whilst the powerful mages like Jasmine and Egoz were focused on the imminent fight and battle, he could go for the witch, the unique path mages and Haldon.

A hundred and thirty metres to the east, where the farmlands were not destroyed by the moving horizontal earth carpets of the elemental mages, rodent Hadrian's moved about in the tall crops.

Once something big happened, he would use the opportunity to substitute himself with the vessels.

For clothes, they had given him and Alia the dark green robes of Sunmar.

His other clothes he'd "carried"

Right then, they flanked Gurov who looked forward to the opening gates and Gritjor's mage regiment marching out.

…

Above the air, Thena and Jasmine had their eyes on each other.

Persistently, Thena would go up and down meanwhile Jasmine seemed to stand in place.

His flickering wasn't gone, it was simply happening fast.

"Changed your mind?" Thena asked, her eyes on Gritjor's mages marching out.

"It'll be in no one's gain to fight in the city like you were pushing for." Jasmine said.

Thena's expression didn't change after hearing the lie. There was a flicker of red in her pupils, though.

"You're aware of our progress?" She asked.

"It's pathetic to gloat." Jasmine said.

"It's pathetic to turn to sorcery." Thena countered.

"The Sisteron witches?" Jasmine's smile stretched further, "That's what made you act impulsively?"

"It wasn't impulsive."

Jasmine looked to the sun.

"In any case, the times are changing." He said. "Those who cannot adapt will be left behind."

"You only have one other rank five." Thena said. "That Viscount all the way up north in Beldin."

She paused for a moment.

"We have three. You lose here, you get pushed to Danway, with fewer mages, one less city, and Carmine's influence depletes further than its current pitiful state."

"Would you have me surrender?" Jasmine asked with his persistent smile.

Thena shook her head.

"No," she said. "I understand there isn't much hope for you. But they don't have to die with the ship either." She pointed to the Gritjor mages beneath them. "After this, you're aware of what's coming."

Jasmine took a deep breath.

"Well, until I've lost, I haven't lost." He said.

Suddenly, it was as if the sun had gotten brighter only around him, the air distorting into a hazy blur.

He chuckled.

"No need for that," he said. "I don't plan on running."

"A first for space path mages." Thena quipped.

"Either way, you already have me marked." Jasmine said.

For rank five of the elemental path, they could "mark" someone with a unique heat profile and could locate them, based on their rank, from a few hours to a few minutes.

The refraction of light was an advancement of the rank one heat mirage ability, that affected mystical abilities of coordination other than vision.

Thena's body shot forward in the form of lightning with a loud crackle.

Jasmine's forms simply grew faint, not completely disappearing, and she passed through him.

…

On the ground, Gurov and the others looked up to where a loud crackle of lightning had come from.

There was a huge ball of sunlight in the air.

For Gurov, who was a rank three of the elemental path, he was aware of some high rank abilities.

For rank fives, they could be said to have more showmanship than effect.

It wasn't that they weren't powerful, but that they were not as powerful as they seemed.

For example, he knew the ability of rank five elemental mages to turn their body to different elements to traverse a space.

The lightning form, though looking and sounding powerful, was not as fast or powerful as real lightning.

With a sigh, he looked down to his left where the little girl was.

His brow furrowed.

Only the green robe was left there, inside it a small bump of a shape.

Turning to his right, where the boy had been a moment ago, his bewildered look only deepened.

It was the same case.

In the tall crops a hundred and thirty metres to the east, Hadrian was already creating distance between him and the regiments, having swapped for rank two force path essence and carrying Alia on his back, they traversed the land fast.

When he was far enough, he changed his direction for the wall.

With the battle, he was confident in his opportunity to now go up undetected.

For whatever reason, the Sunmer Regiment didn't use sabotage tactics to infiltrate the city, and the Gritjor mages came out to meet them which told Hadrian the city was of some importance "Intact" to both parties.

The little burrowing Hadrians, and remaining three rodent Hadrian's, all held on to Alia's and Hadrian's clothes.

When he made it to the base of the wall, the battle was to the far west of him, and due to the curvature of the wall, he could not even see it.

Vegetation clung on to the wall up to about fifteen metres.

Climbing wouldn't be fast enough.

Hadrian thought.

He proceeded to grab two of the rodent Hadrians.

In his hands they were still, not protesting as he held them by skin and fur.

Hadrian looked up the wall once more and channeled force path essence.

As many burrowing Hadrians as could climbed onto the fur of the two rodents.

With the precision force path mages have, he tossed them up the wall with great force.

Once more, he "carried" his and Alia's clothes, and when his control over the rodent creatures began fading, he substituted places with them.

In the air, with the wind battering his bodies, he swapped for elemental path essence and when he hit the wall, he dug his fingers into the rock that made it.

Actually, the wall was only about thirty metres taller than his control range, adding to the vegetation and earth he stood on that had clinged to the wall up to about fifteen metres, there was now only about ten metres left between them and the ramparts.

Covering this quickly, his feet tapped on the concrete of the rampart, and he summoned his clothes and footwear.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.