"It is time."

Trevalyn Faricy looked at his wristwatch; the second hand reminded him that all the energy-generating crystals of the eight towers were turned on and were powering up to begin creating the wall of mana that will link with the rest of the towers. He could see a faint yellowish light coming out from the cage-like window of the northwest tower. His attention was almost completely diverted from the wrinkled, silver-haired visage of Demian Silbern until the Luminberg magister spoke:

"We have you to thank for that, Mister Faricy."

"Certainly my pleasure to do business with the esteemed Demian Silbern of Luminberg. If you excuse me, I have other arrangements to attend to. I will return to see the Wizards' Wall come to life after this."

"Make the best of your stay here in the city. We would love to have you as an honored guest."

Trevalyn walked his way out of the converging crowd and went through a lane of restaurants where more people started to gather. A lively festivity, he thought to himself. The Evening of the Defense was starting to attract the peak of crowds. A black, boxy automobile was parked on the side of the street where a pair of Luminberg constables in greatcoats lounged around while talking to some of the city folk. He approached the vehicle and knocked on its window thrice. The crime lord then held the door latch and lifted it; someone has occupied the driver's seat and is staring at him using the rear view mirror.

"A message from Mister Norton. Preparations are on schedule. All transports have reached the objective 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 have decided to stay home instead. The vehicle brought him to a section closest to the Western Tower. 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 to where he needed to be for 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. The door was opened and for him and he was escorted to the building interior.

Inside the unassuming, classical façade 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 on the extreme left end; the nearby mirror revealed a sagging form that used to be fit and firm in its prime. 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. The machine spoke in a broken, mechanical voice:

"Battle configuration selected. Please position to receive replacement."

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 was 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 seemingly unclasped to let go of his left arm. Something opened from the underside of the machine where a more mechanical-looking prosthesis was revealed to Trevalyn; a series of clicks and hisses confirmed that his body was able to properly receive the attachment. Trevalyn moved his fingers about and smiled after making a few flexes with the metal limb.

He stood up and went to a set of boxes; what awaited him was a sleek, black suit that resembled leathery skin than cloth. The armor plating mounted on the chest, torso and leg regions gave it a faint, muscular look. It did not take the crime lord long before he was able to wear his combative clothing article; it now gave him a deceiving look of a well-built man. Beside the boxes were a wide-bored gun that lacked a stock and its trigger replaced by something that looked like a peg and clasps. A similar machine was beside it, but it has six smaller barrels instead. Trevalyn went ahead and attached them to his mechanized forearm. The last article he secured was a respirator mask that covered his head. He left the room, where he was greeted by a formation of armed men.

†

"... 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 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 formed 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 surge 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 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. It did not take long before the rest of Luminberg was robbed of its light.

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 manifested 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, all clear."

"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 that were shielded from the draining properties of the Wizards' Wall. He did not expect that the potency of the mana 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 the city's state, that is hardly possible." Trevalyn continued to listen to transmissions received from the men in the field. "I assume nobody without the proper precautions is left conscious after the initial wave. The only thing outside is mana waiting to be collected by the condensers."

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 on 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, my lord."

There was a shrill tick that sounded; a bluish glow registered on the rims of the disks was seen. The attendant pulled them out of the rack and laid them on the ground. The machines spun slowly at first; squeaks 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. Command, request to investigate. We have spotted three individuals roaming in the area. They have... some kind of light all over them."

"What?"

Trevalyn himself spoke to the machine.

"Impossible... they should have been dealt with at the Antikwald."

His whisper was loud enough to be caught on record, but the field operator asked for it to be clarified. Trevalyn was able to respond with:

"Stay in your stations. I will have another team look into it."

"Understood."

That light. He remembered Winston Norton showing him a recording of trespassers who stumbled upon the machines that brought the beast to this world. While there were guards who died in the attempt to stop them, they could have not survived the encounter with the creature. A later search at that time turned out empty-handed: none of the intruders were found anywhere in the forest.

"Mister Norton. I will need your direct intervention on this matter." Trevalyn took a box of cartridges and started loading the gun attachments on his arm. "Also, advise the base to have the beast ready as well. Tell them that I need those warriors ready too."

"Of course. I will have them up to speed." Winston Norton's green eye was quick to notice the crime lord's intent. "You are going to face them with us?"

"Yes. This time, I will see to it that these interlopers will stay dead, if my suspicions of them are right."

Outside, a loud, low sound came out of the city seat of administration; its intensity managed to go through the thickly-walled confines of their operations center. No doubt that this task was no longer as easy as the Gray Fox hoped it would be.

Brillanz has raised the alarm.