Under The Emperor's Eye

"What do you mean?" Selena says in shock. "Please say it clearly!"

Lance looks at the emotions forming in her eyes and sighs deeply. 

"Since you're already aware of my eyes, there is no point in continuing to hide it from you," Lance says.

"My eyes show me two different kinds of visions. One is a vision of a direct future and another is a vision of a parallel future". A direct future is something that will happen if I don't take any action to stop it. A parallel future is something that could potentially happen depending on the decision of a key player or a key decision," Lance explains carefully.

"What I saw just now was a direct future about a surprise attack tomorrow. There will be a huge amount of enemy soldiers in the raid which ended up causing disastrous damage to our military. We cannot give up this location, if we do, the attack on the last stronghold would be postponed for even longer. That's not something we can afford" Lance says as he sighs.

"So it's better for my class to get killed?" Selena says in a fierce tone.

"if that was the case then I wouldn't tell you about it and just let all of you guys die for the greater good. Being overly emotional isn't the answer here, what we need to do is focus on somehow repelling the forces that will attack tomorrow. From my vision, it doesn't look like the same exact tribe we attacked in the last stronghold. We lack so much information on the southern territory in general, if I had to guess, this is most likely just a smaller tribe who got implicated due to this war and they now decided to fight" Lance says with another sigh.

Selena stayed silent, how could she, a simple girl raised with love and care, deal with surprise attacks from unexpected enemies that end up slaughtering her and her class? She spoke strongly to her class earlier to inspire them for this war but that was mainly because they were promised a passive role, not an active one. She sighs after focusing her thoughts.

"Is war really necessary? Selena says in a soft voice.

"Our existence is not welcomed in this continent. we need this land for our own survival. It isn't necessarily a good thing but unless you want us all to die in the hands of the Voraine and Thorkell empires, we need to ensure the survival of our nation". Don't worry, we can set up a plan. I saw what you did with the practice field, we can cull their numbers down with your help and set up proper military strategies to ensure our success" Lance says with confidence.

A sense of security starts swelling up in Selena. 

"Alright, I'll leave it to you then," She says with regained confidence. 

"I never knew how awesome non-offensive magic could be, with you here, I'm actually confident we can get through this. What we lack the most right now isn't necessarily more attack power but more tricks. What exactly are you able to do with your non-offensive magic, can you create holes or cover up certain areas?" Lance asked in a serious tone.

Happiness blooms inside Selena, she has never had her non-offensive magic been praised so highly before, especially by someone with such high military attainments as Commander Lance. 

"Yes, I am able to do that and much more," Selena says with pride.

Lance smiles at her confidence and then starts to break down his plan to Selena. 

With the help of Selena, they created many pitfalls and sealed off some parts of the forest. This forces opposing forces to take specific routes which would lead them into traps and let the military know exactly where the enemies will come from. 

Lance and Selena kept these details from everyone until their preparations were complete.

The next morning arrived and Lance stood in the center of the group.

"Everyone... we have recieved some news. There will be an attack on this camp soon"

Many gasps of shock followed after Lance's words.

"Do not worry, we have taken precautions but that cannot guarantee our safety. We will have to fight and fight hard to make sure we survive. We will split up into smaller units. Each unit will have one member of the graduating class. This will be a defensive battle, by no means should you chase and engage the enemy. They will be coming from that half of the forest" Commander Lance says as he points in one direction.

Thanks to Selena's magic, they were able to seal off at least half of the paths leading to their camp. There was not enough magic to seal off the entire thing but this is great progress for their defense. The following traps should reduce their numbers by around half. The remaining soldiers need to be dealt with by force.

Lance's eyes turn sharp. "This could be our last stand. We either die here or survive and continue this campaign. I, on one hand, have no intentions of dying today. What about you guys? Are you willing to fall here" Lance says in a domineering tone.

"No Commander!" The soldiers all yelled

"Good, do not underestimate the enemy and everything will be fine. Our soldiers have fought in this territory for so long now and we are now backed by talented magicians who would lead this empire to greatness in the future, There is no reason we should lose!" Lance says in an inspiring tone.

Cheers erupted among the crowd as their blood started boiling with anticipation.

"I've already given your orders, follow your immediate supervisors and hold down your positions until the battle. The mages should focus on assisting from the back, focus only on your unit, and don't worry about anything else"

After Lance's words, everyone scrambled into their positions. Damien and Allen came up to Lance and reported that everyone was now in position and ready to fight at any time. 

"Good," Lance says. "It's about to start". A cold glint flashes in Lance's eyes as sounds are heard in the forest.

Figures started appearing from the forest area one by one. Grief and anger filled their eyes as they gave the group of Kadence soldier's a deadly stare. With a roar, they all charged towards the Kadence army.

Lance was the first to charge forward and contend with the biggest-looking soldier. Allen and Damien also follow to support him by taking care of the surrounding soldiers. The battle heats up as swords slash and magic blasts get hurled around the battlefield.

Selena looks at the battlefield with a dazed expression. After using up all her mana the day before, she is not in a good condition. She couldn't assist anyone offensively anyway so she stayed in the heart of the Kadence soldiers in hopes that she won't get too involved in the war.

The battlefield was getting more and more chaotic, many stray arrows and weapons were flying everywhere, magic spells too. Selena's sense of dnager was rising slowly. "Am I really gonna be safe?" She thinks to herself as fear starts to take root in her heart.

Unlike other mages who have trained with the mindset of increasing their offensive output, Selena lacked the sense of security that comes with having overwhelming offensive power at the tips of your fingers.

No one knows better than her just how weak she can be in a fight to the death, having an occasional spar with her classmates is nothing compared to the viciousness of war.

Her head starts to spiral out of control. Maybe deep down, she figured she was never suited for the battlefield. Studying non-offensive magic was a great escape from the destiny of war that talented mages of this empire were forced to endure. She looked up solemnly at the sky, trying hard to ignore the screams of the battlefield.

A small object in the distance caught her eye. As she kept staring, it slowly got bigger until she realized it was an arrow. Before she could react, it was already near her body. She instantly put her barrier up but then realized that her mana was used up from yesterday and she didn't have the means to protect herself. 

An ironic smile appears on her lips, to think I'll die from a stray arrow. Is this because the path I chose was wrong? Should I have learned offensive magic and be able to defend myself from these violent encounters? 

Before more regrets could manifest inside her, a powerful barrier pops up and shields her from the arrow. The barrier was one of the strongest she has ever seen, this cannot be done without an insanely powerful mage. Her body slowly starts to restore its mana and her fatigue is slowly being healed aswell. 

She looks around to find the source of this mysterious power but everyone else is too busy defending themselves to care about her situation. Her eyes eventually landed on the bracelet she received from the Dean. The bracelet, which previously had a bright gleam, was now much more dim. It was clear this bracelet was the culprit of the strange phenomenon happening to her. 

She felt her body restore itself to its healthiest state and couldn't help looking at the bracelet one more time with appreciation deeply embedded in her eyes. "What a mysterious item... Did the Dean make this? I can't believe he gave me such a treasure. I will have to heavily thank him later. Who knew he also learned non-offensive magic..." Then her thoughts froze.

The Dean definitely does not know non-offensive magic. She was sure of this. But if it wasn't the Dean, then... who?

As Selena was getting lost in her thoughts, a Southern tribe warrior who managed to escape from a nearby battle, charged towards her and swung his sword.

Selena hardly sensed him and before she could react, a man threw himself at the southern's guys blade and barely parried it while suffering some damage on his arm. He then shot out a small fireball and blew up the vitals of the southern warrior, causing him to crash to the floor.

"Madame, are you okay? Please tell me you're not hurt. The boss would kill me if I let something happen to you" The man says.

Selena has a look of shock in her eyes, Madame? Boss? Who is the person and who is he referring to?

"I'm fine... but who are you?" Selena says suspiciously.

"I am Viscount Parson, I was sent to secretly guard you if war was to break out. I tried to keep a low profile but now that the bracelet has been used, I can't risk your safety by continuing to hide". Parson says.

Selena's eyes gleamed, so you know about the bracelet, who sent it? She says excitedly.

The Viscount's eyes paled and he fell to the floor. Madame, please don't force me, I cannot reveal anything about the boss or else I'll be killed. I have a family madame, please have mercy on me". The Man begged.

Selena took a few steps back in shock. What can scare such a grown man like this? And he'll be killed? The contrast to the peaceful and calm life Selena has lived until now and the current development of this war campaign is like night and day. 

"Alright fine, you don't have to tell me. So what do we do now?" Selena asked while wondering what orders this man got from this mysterious boss.

"My unit has cleared the pathway in front of us. There should be no more enemy soldiers. Surprisingly, this pathway happens to lead to that Lake they were talking about earlier" The viscount says carefully while observing Selena's reaction.

Selena's eyes shine, "Yes, That Lake! Take me to it since you have already cleared the path".

"Yes madame, just follow me," Parson says as he prepares to escort her to the poisonous lake.