Beran, it turned out, was nowhere to be found within the city of Rabanul. Each of the Simulacrums had scanned for her, but to no avail. Either the mage who had escaped warned her, Megan thought, or she’d noticed one of the Simulacrum and decided that she couldn’t hold the city against such a surprise attack. Or maybe she just didn’t care, because Milagre was so close to falling that it made no difference. That last thought was almost too terrifying to consider, and so she pushed it from her mind.

After her encounter with Darius and his host, she’d gone straight back to the surface. Two of the simulacrums walked with her, sticking close to her side, and dealt with three Attosian soldiers who tried to attack her. Overall, with their help, her mission was proving much less difficult than expected. That was, of course, just a sign of Bragg’s power. He was so fearsome that even at a twentieth of his original power, the average warrior just stood no chance.

A few of the freed prisoners went to the outer wall and, with a lot of effort, tore down the destructive barriers that Lana Beran had put up. She could see the discharged energy even from the Iron Keep and nodded in satisfaction. Not long after that, her friends arrived on their Stravia steeds, swooping down into the otherwise empty courtyard she was in. The simulacrums with her reacted to their presence immediately and were seconds from attacking, but she stopped them with a mental instruction.

“What the devil is going on, Megan?” Michael shouted, leaping off his mount before it had properly landed and sprinting over to her. “Are you alright? Why is Archmage Bragg here? Why are there two of him?”

Megan threw up her hands to stop the torrent of questions. “They’re just simulacrums, Michael. Samuel gave them to me before we set out. I used them in an emergency. I didn’t expect them to be so strong.”

Almost with perfect timing, one of the simulacrums appeared over a nearby rooftop and shot down a message spell fired from somewhere within the city. They were suppressing the enemy even more efficiently than they’d been imprisoning the Black Hands. Rachel and Jordan approached then, looking windswept and a little sore, but otherwise uninjured.

“How did you make it past the barrier?” Rachel asked, her eyes wide at the simulacrums. “We were almost torn apart by it.”

“I had help,” Megan explained. “From, err… someone on the inside.”

“Oh,” was her simple reply. “Well, good for you. We thought you were shredded when you weren’t expelled. Then we saw the barriers come down, and darted in.”

Another simulacrum sent a message to Megan then, and she relayed it verbally as it came. No enemy soldiers detected.

Megan sent a mental order for all the simulacrums to come to her then and turned to see a stream of hastily armed men and women filing out of the Iron Keep. They looked about themselves with undisguised curiosity and confusion, seeing only the small group of Milagre students, and of course, the multiple copies of Samuel Bragg. Seer David was at the head of the group. Megan realized then that, as Hazaam’s former right hand, he was now in charge.

“Thank you for your effort in rescuing us, Paragon Apprentice Megan,” he said gravely, giving her a deep bow. “Now that we are free, we must rush to the aid of our allies in Milagre.”

“Are you sure?” Michael asked, stepping in. “Shouldn’t you work on fortifying Rabanul before you set out?”

“Worry not, friend of Megan,” David replied. Michael visibly flinched at the unfamiliar greeting. Obviously, he didn’t like that his name hadn’t been remembered. “We will take a direct path to Milagre, leaving an adequate defense force behind. And we can intercept any enemy forces heading to retake our free state.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Michael grumbled. “What are we doing then, Megan?”

She frowned thoughtfully, then turned to one of the simulacrums and assumed control of it. This was just another facet of the spell. She could use the magicks already stored in it, as well as her own learned spells. This one was still very fresh given that it hadn’t taken on much fighting. “We’ll be heading back to Milagre as well.”

“The Stravia need to rest,” Rachel put in. “We won’t be able to return as quickly as we left.”

Megan released control of the simulacrum and sought out another, but not before replying. “I think Samuel left us a way back. I just have to find it…”

“You can’t seriously claim to be able to teleport us back,” Michael scoffed. “The amount of mana that would require is astronomical. How could you-”

He was cut off as Megan let out a little laugh of victory. Inside the sixth simulacrum, she found the spell she needed. It required a little more energy than what it had, but that was easily remedied. The purpose of the spell was obvious to her, even if she couldn’t use it herself. The name was also clear. World Shift. She’d never heard of it, of course, and just assumed it was a Bragg original. She called the simulacrum back to her.

“Get ready,” she warned the others. “We’ll be going straight into the thick of the fighting.”

Michael still looked stubbornly curious but did as she asked. He pulled a long thin object wrapped in dark green cloth out of his storage space. As he undid the covering, he revealed a handsome green sword in its sheath. It was a beautifully made weapon, with a green spell stone in the hilt, and intricate runes along the handle. But as he drew it, the true strength of the weapon was revealed. Powerful runes had been etched into the blade by some master blacksmith, giving the weapon a palpable aura.

“Wow,” Megan and Rachel chorused. Rachel took a quick step over to inspect the weapon closer. “Where did you get that?”

“Had the family make it,” Michael said, a note of pride entering his voice. “I didn’t want to go into debt at first, but when the invasion started, I knew I didn’t have a choice. If I’m going to fight, I’m going to use the best weapon I can. Plus, the invasion actually got me a discount.”

“It looks like the Archmage’s weapon,” Jordan commented, also coming closer to peer at it. “But green. What are the runes for?”

“They’re the strongest anti-magic and speed runes my cousin could put into it,” Michael explained. “It’s much too powerful for me at the moment, so it will be a while before I can use them to their best effect.”

“And the spell stone?” Megan interjected. “What spell is it holding?”

“Not a spell,” Michael replied. “Well, it is a spell, but it’s a constant thing. It’s a mana siphon.”

Jordan and Rachel immediately grimaced at the words, clearly put off by what he’d said. Megan didn’t understand. “What’s wrong with that?”

“You really didn’t hear about the catastrophe that siphon spells cause?” Rachel asked, her eyes wide. “I heard about it as a kid.”

“No. What’s so wrong with siphoning magic? Isn’t that what power runes do?”

“Well, yes,” Michael explained. Out of all three of them, he seemed the least surprised by Megan’s ignorance on the topic. “But with runes, the drain is intentional, measured, and voluntary. With a siphon, it’s a constant set pull. Whether I want to or not, my mana is used once the spell is activated.”

“That’s not all,” Jordan interrupted, now leaning slightly away from the weapon. “Siphons don’t turn off once you activate them. They continue draining until your empty, then the spell ends once you’re completely out.”

Now Megan understood their reactions. She too looked askance at the spell stone. “Why would you ever want to put that in the spell stone? It seems self-destructive.”

“Well, it would be,” Michael said, with a grin. “If it weren’t for one little thing.”

They all looked at him expectantly, and he hesitated a moment, clearly enjoying their confusion. “The blade won’t be powered by mana. It will be powered by Ki.”

Rachel scoffed loudly. “Okay. I know you have dumb ideas, but that takes the cake. You’ve been training as a mage! Your Ki is horrible compared to your mana!”

Michael took a few steps back and made a beckoning gesture at Megan. “I guess the only way to explain it is with a demonstration. Megan, attack me. Any spell you want.”

Confused, but not against the idea after the stunt he pulled on Temple Day, she also took a few steps back and brought her mana to life. She charged a hefty amount of power in her hands, then unleashed a condensed, nearly solid bolt of air at her friend. It flashed across the short distance between them nearly faster than she could blink. Michael was ready for it though and swiped his sword up in one clean strike. The blade slashed the mana in her spell to ribbons.

“Now watch,” he said quickly. Still holding the sheath in his left hand, he lifted it, and suddenly the dregs of mana in the air around him were sucked in. It was the same spell Samuel had taught her, to reuse mana from spells cast around her. But he’d done it without actually using any mana himself. Then he rammed the blade back into the sheath, and the spell stone on the hilt glowed brightly. His face tight with concentration, Michael unsheathed the blade again and swung at a nearby stack of crates.

As the blade came free, it was coated in bright green light, his own personal Ki. Somehow the sheath had turned it from her mana into his Ki. The new attack pulverized the crates it hit with ease, peppering the courtyard with splinters of wood. Michael let out a measured breath, then returned the weapon to its sheath once more.

“That is a very useful condition,” Seer David had returned after giving orders, and had watched the display with interest. “Not very powerful, of course, but with your own reserves, that is an easy weakness to overcome.”

Megan turned towards the older man. “You know what this is, David?”

“Of course,” he said, drawing himself up proudly. “I’ve seen a legendary weapon or two in my time. They all have conditions to their use, to boost their power. The owner of such a weapon can take advantage of the condition to make themselves stronger for it.”

Jordan still looked just as confused as Megan felt, but Rachel let out a quiet gasp of understanding. “Of course. The siphon spell pulls the mana that the sheath collects, giving you a little boost.”

“Yep,” Michael said, a wide grin on his face. “I can store quite a bit of power in the sheath, but once I put the weapon away, I can’t draw it again without pulling all that power back out.”

“And it turns into Ki when you use it?” Megan asked. Michael nodded a confirmation. “I see why that would help you, then. Still, as Rachel said, you’re a mage, not a monk. Surely something to do with mana would have been better.”

“Actually, no,” Michael corrected her. “The lightning spell I used against your friend was a physical magic.”

Then it clicked for all of them, and they understood. Physical magicks, as their teachers had told them several times, used Ki instead of mana as their fuel. So even though Michael’s knowledge of physical magicks was limited, he now essentially had a way of passively generating Ki for them. It occurred to Megan that, with that sword, he could probably maintain his lightning spell much longer.

A distraction came in the form of the simulacrum that Megan had recalled. Its arrival reminded her that they were in a rush. She quickly formed a link with it using the spell Samuel had taught her. It was a bit strange connecting to something that didn’t have a mind or soul of its own, but the magic worked the same regardless. She gave it the remaining mana it needed to perform the spell and it pulled out its weapon, an exact copy of the sword held by the mage who had created it.

“Gather around it,” Megan said. “It will teleport us out of here.”

They all did as she suggested, and she gave a brief wave of farewell to Seer David. The man saluted her in reply, and she turned to focus on the simulacrum. It had the sword in a two-handed grip now and rammed the blade down into the cobbles. The metal sheared through the stone as if it were butter, and immediately, the weapon began to glow. Light obscured their vision for a moment or two, then their vision went black. Instead of traveling forward at incredible speeds as happened with teleportation magic, they were instead swallowed up by the ground.