“It is time.”

  Trevalyn Faricy looked at his wristwatch. Soon, the eight towers would have enough magical energy to create that spectral wall. The fading yellow glow of the northwest tower's cage-like window was enough to affirm the mechanism would function as intended.

  Enough time for spectacle, probably a few launches of the city's fireworks, and it would all begin.

  He no longer saw Magister Silbern's silvery visage; Trevalyn dissolved into the crowd. People were pouring into the streets, drawing a larger crowd to the open-air platform that sat left of the Academy's perimeter. It was the only space the walled city afforded to construct a park on.

  A black, boxy automobile parked on the side of the street where a pair of Luminberg constables in greatcoats lounged around while talking to some of the cityfolk. He approached the vehicle and knocked on its window three times. The crime lord then held the door latch and lifted it; someone had occupied the driver’s seat and was staring at him using the rear-view mirror.

  “A message from Mister Norton. Preparations are on schedule. All squads have gathered at their assembly points and are on standby.”

  “Good. We are proceeding as planned.”

  The Gray Fox was led away from the gathering; there was hardly any traffic from beyond the city center, save for a few Luminbergers who were either dropping by the event late or had decided to stay home instead. The vehicle brought him to a compound that was closest to the city’s southeast tower. His seat didn’t even warm up; most of the people gathered in the city’s upper areas.

  Trevalyn found the journey too quick. Normal traffic would have brought him to the extreme end of the city in almost two hours, but this travel got him where he needed to be in almost a third of the time he expected. His vehicle stopped in front of a small building; a couple of men dressed in robes and armor were by the door and walked towards the automobile before it came to a complete stop.

  He thought the external look of his Severniya Industrie headquarters was too unappealing: standard Luminberg design, though it could have used a little more decoration. This small compound would have to be abandoned once the operation is completed. Inside the unassuming, classical fa?ade was a facility where masked people in dark suits moved about. None of them carried weapons larger than a holstered pistol, and they were all attending to screens and consoles.

  Trevalyn placed his overcoat on a nearby hanger and walked into the rooms farther from the entrance door. He rid himself of the rest of his suit after entering a room at the extreme left end. Who would put a mirror in these halls, he thought. It reflected a coarse, sagging face: wrinkles and lines reminded the crime lord of what he had become. At a time during his prime, this face had plenty of smiles to give.

  There was a workbench with a rigid-looking weapon that resembled a human arm. A four-pronged claw for manipulators with two barrels on where human knuckles were supposed to be. Trevalyn undressed his shirt and took a deep breath. A screen with buttons was found near a structure that looked like a bed and a rack combined. He moved to where the button panel was and pressed a combination of black, yellow and red buttons.

  He lay on the inclined bed where a mechanical arm appeared at his left and held Trevalyn’s shoulder in place. A needle-like protrusion jabbed near his collarbone; there was a soft whistle of air that came out the moment black, tendon-like attachments on his left chest and back unclasped to let go of his left arm. A thin, clawed limb reached out for the mechanism on the workbench and aligned it with the stub where his previous prosthetic was installed. He grinned in pain as his mind felt the presence of the new attachment. Trevalyn looked at his mechanical limb and stretched it.

  Much stiffer than the false arm he used in his civilian guise. The Gray Fox would risk being in an open fight, but the guns on this machine arm could buy him time when needed.

  He stood up and opened a chest; it was tight and sleek black skin. Underneath it were armor pieces for the body and limbs. It wouldn’t do full coverage, the crime lord thought, but he had no business dealing with swords or bayonets. A filtered mask covered his head, and the Gray Fox exited the room where the rest of the men waited.

  · · ─ ·?· ─ · ·

  “… I present to you, the old, yet reborn pride of Luminberg: The Wizards’ Wall!”

  The Evening of the Defense of Luminberg was greeted by streaks of fireworks that painted the sky in strong, fleeting glows of various colors. Men and women of the city joined in watching the streaks take on the forms of flowers, crosses, and showers before fading into the air.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The eight towers started to give off yellow light that broke out of the towers’ peaks. Beams were fired and linked to each of the old fortifications, much to the amazement of the citizens who watched the yellow lines expand outward and form a solid yellow dome. A further distortion of the beams was seen as the dome converged and closed at the top of Luminberg’s Brillanz.

  Luminbergers watched with awe when the yellow light coming out of the towers was becoming tinged with other colors, forming prismatic patches that spread outward in an uneven web. What happened moments later took the entire gathering by surprise.

  The seven-colored web spanned and took over the entire dome, which drew the crowd’s attention to the change in the Wizards’ Wall. This light descended upon the citizens and filled the atmosphere in moments. Most of the men and women felt a sudden throbbing pain on their chests; some attempted to fight the pain by leaning on whatever was nearest to them, and others fell on their faces or backs, depending on whether they were able to take their eyes off the dazzling dome of energy or otherwise. The festivity became a cacophony of thuds and crashes; the streets became littered with bodies. City streetlamps were drained of light and were reduced to giving off a grayish glow.

  Silence took over the festivities when the last sounds of dropped and broken objects stopped as their sources lay lifeless on the ground.

  Droning sounds coming from disk-like objects came about in moments; their flight was left unnoticed by the throng of still bodies below. They gathered at the base of the Wizards’ Wall towers, stopping at separate points; blue lights gathered at their bases, growing more intense until they became pillars that hit the ground. Figures of black-clad people emerged from the spectral columns that quickly moved in and around the towers.

  A small group of the same disks formed a tight, straight line and spun to create an even bigger pillar that created the form of a six-wheeled armored vehicle surrounded by at least a dozen humanoid machines. These constructs fanned out and took over the roofs of most of the surrounding buildings; green lights from their head sections scanned the area as their gun-mounted arms followed suit.

  ????

  “Tower 1 secured. Beginning extraction…”

  “Tower 3, clear for the taking.”

  “Tower 6, secured.”

  “Commencing Tower 2 extraction…”

  A short burst of low, smug laughter pushed out of Trevalyn’s lips as he listened to the traffic brought to him by the teams stationed at the Luminberg city walls. He observed the now-silenced festivity: nothing was moving aside from his operatives, who were shielded from the draining properties of the Wizards’ Wall. He did not expect that the potency of the magical energy condensers would take out the entire city in moments; he should have heard reports of hostile action from the remaining city defenders who were not gravely affected by the sudden loss of energy in their bodies.

  “Mister Norton, do you feel the rush of victory tonight?”

  “I could not disagree with that, Master. It would still be prudent to be alert for any… unexpected guests.”

  “Given their state, that is hardly possible.”

  Trevalyn was about to go outside to oversee the operations himself when a communications link broke the relative silence of the command room:

  “This is Tower 7. We have not received the security elements. Where are they?”

  “The transports will be sent fully-charged in ten minutes. Until then, make do with what you have.”

  “Ten minutes? The condenser is at twenty-four percent capacity.”

  “Command orders you to proceed as planned. Do not delay.”

  Trevalyn was quick to check the status of the transport disks. A walk downstairs led him to a section of the building that served as the charging bay of both transport machines and battle constructs. There were at least fifty of the plate-sized flying machines mounted in racks connected to wires that were lit in shades of blue and red. The Gray Fox approached one of the attendants and asked:

  “What delays are we experiencing?”

  “We had trouble with two of the disks. The replacements are being charged, master.” The one in charge said, "Our machinists are working on them."

  A shrill tick was heard; a bluish glow appeared on the rims of the disks. The attendant pulled them out of the rack and laid them on the ground. The machines spun slowly at first, squeaking against the floor until they were able to lift off the ground. Trevalyn did not stay around to watch the machines move out and returned upstairs to the communications device operators. He gave the operators a look, followed by a quick nod; it did not take long for them to figure out what to say.

  “Tower 7, your request will be inbound in two minutes.”

  “Acknowledged." The reply came with static. "No signs of resistance from the city. We have enough time to pick the best points of defense.”

  “Excellent.” Trevalyn himself spoke to the machine. His thoughts became louder than usual when he said, "This is going out much smoother than I anticipated."

  His whisper was caught on record. The field operator, confused about whether it was an instruction or noise, asked for clarification. Trevalyn responded with:

  “Do not mind that. I can hardly contain my excitement.”

  “Understood, Command.” The communicator went away from the equipment, though the sound of footsteps and static filled the air.

  “Mister Norton. I will have to pass the authority to you.” The Gray Fox said, "This is the first time I have had to be at the front of these kinds of tasks. I almost forgot that it is you who is in charge of these matters."

  Trevalyn took a box of cartridges and started loading the gun attachments on his arm. “Also, advise the base to have the devices outside the city ready as well. He looked at the outside from a window. Perhaps this was the best time to test something that he had developed not long before, especially with the bodies of the captives.

  "Tell them that I need those warriors ready too. I almost forgot. Have the beast ready just in case.”

  Outside, a loud, low sound emanated from the city's seat of administration; its intensity pierced through the thickly walled confines of their operations center. No doubt that this task was no longer as easy as the Gray Fox had hoped it would be.

  Brillanz has raised the alarm.