5.17 Vicious streets

Difference: Minimal

By the time Irwyn managed to notify the rest of his group of what he was feeling, the battle was already starting in the distance. He reinforced the shield around their whole group and then felt an impact against them just a few instants later. A pathetically weak one, but they had been undeniably attacked. There was barely any time to take in their surroundings and things were already escalating.

From their vantage, Irwyn couldn’t actually see much of the fortress. They had been teleported into a tight corridor in-between a building and what seemed to be a towering rampart, so probably the very edge of the area. He couldn’t tell what direction that probe had actually come from, because all directions were exploding with magic, even beyond the apparent wall. Irwyn needed a better vantage to understand the situation.

He thus cast All is seen, and pushed it relatively close to the limit of his power. It was no longer quite so politically important that he and Elizabeth hid the extent of their power, but it could still hold some element of surprise against the undead. Therefore, Irwyn could risk something more subtle like his perception magic, but would still hesitate to deploy his full battle prowess.

Information gathering was a different matter. Through his Concepts and draconically empowered eyes, it was simple enough to filter out mundane physical objects like walls, allowing Irwyn to instead focus on all the mages clashing against the undead. There were dozens of such battles happening every way he looked. And most were universally one-sided for a simple reason: The crusade had more Domains.

Domains were simply too powerful, which disadvantaged the Rot both ways. Besides just the fact that the crusade had the numbers advantage, they were also difficult to hide. Outright concealing someone possessed a Domain was borderline impossible at a reasonable cost  - hence why Irwyn and Elizabeth were reluctant to lose their disguise. Hiding one out of sight was more manageable, but still difficult, especially from Senior Inquisitors who had trained specifically to uncover such threats. One could just look at the fact that a major city like Abonisle only had two Raveners attempting to infiltrate it during the crisis that had occurred there.

That, of course, had been before the war took off in earnest. Since any pretense at stealth had since been discarded, more would be all around the place. Irwyn could spot three among the battles, each of them already encircled and being carefully whittled down. That only took about half of their Domain mages present, leaving the rest of them to eradicate the weaker undead in swaths.

Irwyn quickly relayed the overall situation to their party. Then they moved on to take down some nearby undead on their own accord, flying up to the rampart. It was wide enough to fit ten people side by side and densely populated. Looking out beyond the rampart, Irwyn saw what appeared to be a small tent city. As for nature, they seemed to be in a rocky mountain range of some sort, with nearby peaks obscuring any real view towards the horizon.

They quickly refocused back on the rampart rather than outside or even inside the fortress walls. With Desir’s Soul Concept their had decent enough detection for weaker undead even if the shapeshifter lacked Inquisitorial training. Any infiltrator below a Concept would likely be detected by him.

Irwyn also used the opportunity to practice his own ability to actually spot undead, unlike his nose that was more of an early warning system. It was something that had come up many times during their inquisitorial work in the Duchy of Black. The conclusion was that Irwyn simply did not understand the undead enough to actually ‘filter’ for them in a way which his magic understood.

Dormant, hidden undead would either have no magic or kept the mana they had wielded in life, so that was not an angle of detection. He could try searching for Life itself, but that was usually also replicated with perfection only millennia of warfare could have taught. Souls Irwyn absolutely could not begin to decipher, much less notice anomalies. What remained were far less straightforward methods.

Fear was a usable one. Or other emotions, for that matter. Irwyn could search for more conceptual and strange things with his magic as long as he personally understood them. Undead usually had very scarce emotions, except for a deep and glacial hatred for everything living. But that often only detected the dregs. Actually dangerous undead would all be far better hidden among the crowds.

Speaking of crowds, there were plenty of people before them. Soldiers, for the most part, but many who appeared to be civilians as well. Some of the military men had panicked, firing at anyone unfamiliar, like Irwyn’s group as they flew up to the rampart. Not that their mildly explosive bullets on chemical flames were even remotely dangerous. 

At least the mages were much more disciplined. The ones Irwyn saw formed defensive groups, then held their ground. As far as Irwyn could see, there didn’t appear to be more than one or two people with so much as a single Concept in their immediate part of the rampart. Further away, the density seemed to be no better. Either the fortress was not the best staffed, or many were already dead.

Which could definitely be the case. The moment the battle had started, most of the undead had clearly immediately broken their cover and gone straight to slaughter. Irwyn could actually see from the wounds of nearby corpses that many had been killed without ever realising that the brother or sister in arms they had trusted their backs to had already been long dead. Those traitors had thereafter been either quickly dealt with or run off to some other poor former acquaintance they could yet catch off guard.

Several undead had been openly trying to crack the few mages when Irwyn had arrived, though those did not survive more than a few moments. Then things became much more difficult. Over the next few minutes, Irwyn and his group swept through the nearby defenders. Desir and Irwyn did everything they could to spot any undead lurking and cull them. If a group was seemingly clear they left them alone. If an undead was present among them, Irwyn quickly overwhelmed their defenses and removed the creature as Desir instructed.

Two times, they were ambushed by Draugr with a Concept that Desir had not detected beforehand. The second of those actually possessed as many as six, actually, though Irwyn and Elizabeth made quick work of the abomination without trully revealing much of their strength. The most important part of those battles was Irwyn’s barrier enduring the opening salvo, which they always did.

Irwyn suddenly saw that two of the distant Raveners had managed to regroup by pushing through their encirclements. Without hesitation, they both initiated a suicidal charge towards the mage from the Duchy of Green, literally exploding with their power. Then they suddenly vanished. Because there was a Truth mage with them who could probably wipe all the undead out by himself without much trouble, but was instead just keeping an eye on everything. Despite his aggravating personality, Marmian was a force of nature unto himself.

Irwyn wondered whether there was a strategic reason why their leader did not just take care of everything with a wave of his hand. Probably detection. Time was good for scouting in the field, not inside the crowds. The Truth mage likely couldn’t outdo a senior Inquisitor dedicated to the task. The Federation also probably wanted their relatively younger mages to be experienced in such battles, for when they were eventually not babysat.

Still, Marmian likely could have saved many more of the mundane soldiers. The opening moments had been bloody. Even if Irwyn was out of line of sight for any of that, he could count the corpses. Did someone as powerful as the Magelord really not have the ability to just freeze time and take stock of the situation over personal minutes? Even if he first had to make sure there was no ambush which could actually match him, lying in wait.

Eventually, their group encountered a second party from the crusade heading the other way across the rampart. That meant that at least a large swath of them was mostly clear. The Senior Inquisitors would undoubtedly do a more thorough sweep later for something more deeply concealed.

“I barely feel useful in a fight like this,” Irwyn confessed. They had come a long way… but without actually unraveling the eggshell which hid his Domain, they were basically not even participants in the real battles. Just interchangeable janitors that at best made the job of the more powerful mages very slightly easier.

“We did still save a few people,” Waylan appeared in order to counter. “Made difference for dem.”

“Let’s head towards the vague center,” Elizabeth determined in the meantime. “Irwyn’s nose is a good way to determine if the crusade got all of the Rot.”

So they did. By then, the Raveners had all been put down, which left the Domain mages to sweep through the streets, raparts, and areas around the fortress. Because of that, Irwyn’s group did not run into a single other undead along the way. At least that left them able to observe the architecture.

Despite being called a fortress, their surroundings felt much more reminiscent of a walled city to Irwyn. Everything was built from actual bricks rather than just being obviously raised from the ground or a pocket rock by a Realm mage, which was unusual for a military installation. Moreover, the buildings were very numerous but seemed more like houses than outright military installations. Naturally, he turned towards the font of knowledge with his confusion.

“It’s called a fortress because it defends something, not based on architecture or occupants,” Elizabeth explained. “A city is a place that has value just by existing and facilitating population. Forest is a defensive position that had been raised in a specific place for a reason. As an example, think of back to when we met my cousin. His fortress was built over an important mine, and later the vault complex was added to it out of convenience.

“This place is built over a large weapon formation - basically an oversized war enchantment. Not exactly certain if it had to be erected in this specific spot, but it is most likely. Additionally, since there was already expertise needed to maintain that grand magic, this place also became a center of creating new enchanted weapons or repairing damaged ones.”

“What does the big one do?” Irwyn asked curiously.

“Something Time based,” Elizabeth shrugged, turing to Alice. When the other heiress also professed ignorance, she spoke again. “This is not the Duchy of Black. I don’t have years of knowledge from tutoring and browsing fun-looking intelligence reports.”

It was a solid twenty-minute walk through tight streets before they reached the approximate middle of the fortress, which was actually not occupied by a building but rather an open square. Already, the crusade had begun to organise a sort of medical center for the wounded. Which there were actually not that many of. Most of those who had been targeted on the very onset had died in the ambush. Desir and Alice still went over to volunteer some help with healing and transport if it was needed.

Irwyn had very little to contribute besides burning corpses. Which he offered to do, yet was rejected. Apparently, the Inquisition wanted to identify everyone before burials. Distant relatives could have been turned or even been their own source. And while the casualties were still in the hundreds across the entire fortress, that was actually a relatively manageable number compared to the overall population, which too seemed nearly city-like.

Therefore, he mostly just stood awkwardly to the side with Elizabeth, a Rotten stench in his nose. The fighting was already over for the most part. What was left were Inquisitors sweeping everything over and over until there were no deeply hidden undead left. Which would probably take hours. But unlike Spireholm, they already knew undead were present in force and thus would be less deeply burrowed among the innocent population.

Gradually, the smell began to subside. That still took hours as the many Inquisitors swept through everywhere and took care of anything that had not been uncovered during the first sweep. Eventually, the now familiar Senior Inquisitor Parado approached Irwyn in the spot where he was still waiting next to a much less awkward-feeling Elizabeth. By then, the smell was down to almost nothing.

“I am here to consult your nose,” the man simply said.

“Still some left, but very little. Probably only a last few and below Conception.”

The Inquisitor nodded, relayed the news to his colleagues, then left. Soon enough, the smell got even weaker, to the point where it was almost undetectable were Irwyn not paying close attention. But it was not gone. When the Inquisitors returned thinking there wa nothing left, it caused a bit of a frenzy. The last fraction of a fraction of the undead would seemingly take the most effort to excise. 

Eventually, Irwyn was used as a dousing rod as he tried to navigate towards that vaguest whiff. He found the place that seemed the closest, then realised the sense was coming from beneath. Burrowing a few meters beneath the street level caused an increase in the sensation, which resulted in the Domain mage from the Duchy of Brown being called to action. 

What they eventually found was a single pebble-sized gem that had been burrowed a meter away from the wall of a wine cellar well below the paving. It contained a tiny, dormant undead Soul that could have at most possessed and slowly taken over a normal person once it had been carelessly ouched by such a person. Not the most likely scenario, unless someone suddenly wanted to expand their wine collection and happened to pick to dig in its direction during an ongoing LIch war. But then, that exact impracticality allowed it to stay hidden to all the regular means of detection.

Despite all the effort and extra time spent, the Inquisitors seemed incredibly happy with the result. The other mages seemigly had mixed reactions, though Irwyn could only read those from the distance as none spoke of any annoyance out loud. Eventually, when Irwyn confirmed he smelled no further remnants, Marmian appeared and took everyone back to the camp. Overall, maybe twelve hours had passed in the fortress, three of which were solely dedicated to that last chase.

“Longer break, seven hours,” Marmian announced after their return. Most of the groups began to move to their assigned residences quickly thereafter.

“It is about damn time I Carve again,” Desir announced as they started walking. “Frankly, I have been pushing it back because improvements to the shape kept popping up in my head.”

“Which?” Elizabeth asked, nodding.

“Life. The healing could come useful at some point. Not to mention overall versatility.”

“Sensible.”

“I am also ready to Carve,” Alice spoke up. “That strange place where we met the Archduke made the last bit click for me. Geometry. Then for the third, I will carve Transposition, which will let me combine those three into Dimensionality. A Concept hyperspecialised in teleportation, especially when contesting or being contested by other mages.”

Elizabeth just nodded at that. Irwyn did the same with a smile. It seemed like a good choice. Not to discount Alice’s talents, but focusing on teleportation first would definitely give the whole group the most utility. Same with Desir’s choice of Carving.

Personal power could wait for later Concepts, since offensive niches were already filled by Irwyn and Elizabeth in a way that Time would struggle to reproduce. So were hard defences or skirmishing. Teleportation and defence against it was much more in demand. Elizabeth’s Voidwalking was far from the best for bringing others along. Healing was something they had scarcely ever needed, but it could become critically important in the right circumstances. 

“We will stand guard over the two of you then,” Irwyn easily decided. 

By then, they had reached their little assigned residence. Desir went on to reconstruct the bunk beds with a clumsy use of Realm. Shaping metal fell within that element’s capability, though Desir’s aptitude left much to be desired. Irwyn was polite not to comment on that, though, as the shapeshifter gradually struggled his way through merging a mundane two-floor bed into a single, wider one. That way, they could stack the mattresses next to each other and perform their respective carvings literally back to back.

“And Irwyn,” Desir spoke up at the last moment. “Don’t use your spell to watch us, please. It literally prickles to be watched and that is highly distracting at the wrong moment.”

“Alright,” Irwyn affirmed with a nod. He probably wasn’t going to attempt such anyway. There was little for him to glean from Life or Time, or Concepts in general.

Irwyn set up layered barriers, Elizabeth set out tea, Waylan disappeared the snacks. Then they chatter for a long while as the last two members carved their new Concepts.