Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

Kalee's family rushed out into the living room, and the maids peered out from the kitchen. They looked far into the distance, across the rooftops, and into the distance. A streak of cloud ran across the sky, tracing a path down to the impact point.

Not just a streak, either. Three.

A tidal wave of water washed across the port, snuffing torches, swamping ships, and washing away dock workers. Gantry cranes crumbled, and the shoreline warehouses collapsed. A massive column of steam bubbled up from the impact point.

The Oroniths positioned along the shore moved to intercept, and though Wulf wanted to watch, he wasn't sure if he could spare the time.

"Fiends," Wulf said. "We need to get back to the Academy."

Kalee wiped her face, then tightened her fists and turned to her family. "He's right."

"No, dear!" Kalee's mother exclaimed, holding out a hand. "You can't. Just stay a little longer."

"I'll be paying my own tuition from here on out," Kalee said. "Field knows, I'll have enough winnings from the tournament." She crossed her arms. "I'm sorry I couldn't show you my worth, but…maybe things will be different this time."

"This time? What are you talking about, Kalee?" her father asked. "Please, for your mother, stay—"

Kalee marched to the door, pushing past him. Her mother surged in, reaching out, trying to get in the way, but Wulf held out a hand. He was taller than Kalee's mother, and certainly stronger. He pressed the palm of his hand against her forehead, holding her back with ease as Kalee opened the door.

Then they sprinted out. They reached the end of the hall and rang the bell, but the lift-pod was nowhere to be seen.

"Is there an emergency stairway?" Wulf asked.

"This way!" Kalee turned a corner, then kicked open a nondescript door. A bare stone stairway ran down to the main floor beside the lift-pods.

They sprinted down the stairs, jumping down two at a time, until they reached the bottom floor. They sprinted back across the lobby. The guard who met them held out an arm, trying to block them. He said, "There is a demon attack. Please stay indoors, for your safety! We have a Fiend shelter in the basement, or if you wish, there is a bunker at the end of the road!"

Wulf darted around him on one side, and Kalee went the other way. The skittered to a halt in the street. People had abandoned their wagons, and the carriage driver who'd brought them was nowhere to be seen.

"We'll take ourselves back!" Wulf called. He pointed to an abandoned light wagon with a team of four horses. "That should be fast."

"Do you know how to drive it?" Kalee asked.

"I've…driven a wagon once or twice in my past life." He jumped up the side, then slid into the coachman's seat and snatched up the reins. The horses pranced nervously. Even they could sense something was wrong.

Kalee jumped into the back, almost tripping on her dress, then called, "Go! I'll hold on!"

Wulf snapped the reins, then turned the wagon. The horses plowed through the median, narrowly avoiding a palm tree, then sprinted off the other direction, away from the port and back to the academy.

The streets were a mess. Wagons and carriages lay everywhere, and workers scrambled about, trying to reach shelters and bunkers.

"Out of the way!" Wulf shouted. Most people parted before a charging wagon.

When they reached the bridge, they could truly test the wagon's speed. It raced off along the bridge. Most wagons raced downtown, and he nearly had a clear route, aside from a few others who decided they would make a run inland. Probably a wise decision.

"Are you alright?" he shouted back at Kalee.

"I'm…fine!" she called. Wulf thought he heard a sniffle, but she drowned it out, tearing the hem of her dress. "I don't suppose there'll be time to change?"

"You want to get out there and fight?"

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"You don't?" she asked.

Wulf glanced over his shoulder. There were nearly twenty Oroniths in the harbour, but they were spread out across the port, and they had both sides of the Centralis Strait to protect. Already, Fiends were rising out of the water, leading with their black, magma-y horns. Water streamed off their spindly wings and crude weapons. One snapped a whip of magma, and another hoisted a spiked club.

A spear-and-shield-wielding Oronith leapt to action, stabbing at the Fiends, but the beast with a club smashed him away and sent him flying back into the harbour. He crashed through the piers.

"They're going to need help!" Wulf said. "I'd bet some of these guys haven't even seen a Fiend before."

"We're taking the Wraith?" Kalee shouted.

Wulf nodded. "When we arrive, go find Irmond and Seith. I'll go down to the hangar and get the beast warmed up."

"Got it."

They shot over the bridge. Wulf used the brakes of the wagon to slide around the corner, making the wheels drift across the cobblestones. Wulf's teeth rattled, and he wished the coachman's seat had a cushion.

They took an off-ramp, then turned toward the academy and blew through the gates of the old city before the guards could intercept them. When they reached the wagon platform, they slid to a halt, and Wulf jumped off before the wagon had even come to a halt. Kalee jumped off the back.

He glanced at her for a second. "You're sure you're good?"

"I…" She shook her head. "Look, there isn't time. But thank you for your help." She rushed forward and hugged him tight, then leaned her head against his shoulder. He pressed his arm against her back, hugging her tight, and she exhaled. "Alright, now go! We don't have much time. And check your status."

"Hm?" Wulf held up his bracer.

[Mark unlocked: Wagon Racer]

[Wagon Racer] By driving a wagon through crowded streets and successfully navigating them, all while pushing your horses to their limit, you have earned this Mark. Your reflexes and perception have increased.

"Thanks," Wulf whispered.

They split up. Wulf ran through the hallways. Students sprinted the opposite directions, trying to get to the outer ramparts and viewing platforms. Wulf descended down to the academy's underground hangar, then sprinted along the floor to the back, where Wraith stood.

Crew and workers ran around. Not all the Oroniths had been claimed, but those who did have crews were getting ready. Artificers scrambled around the outside, tacking on emergency armour plates, or placing half-finished weapons in the moving statues' hands. Their veins lit up with mana, and stone thrummed and cracked all throughout the hangar. Wulf dodged working mules and professors alike.

When he reached Silent Wraith, a white-robed arm snapped out and caught him across the shoulder.

He turned to see who it was, but in the back of his mind, he already knew. Dr. Azanthius.

"I know what you're thinking, Hrothen, and it isn't wise," Dr. Azanthius said. "Wraith isn't ready, and you're by no means strong enough to take the Pilot's mantle, yet."

"I Piloted it once," Wulf said.

"A fluke. Someone of your tier should be completely incapable of piloting the Wraith. It's a Low-Silver, and we've only restored its structural integrity to eighty percent. It's missing critical internal systems—they're just not functional."

"How much experience do your Pilots out there have fighting Fiends?" Wulf asked. "They're green, aren't they? You were expecting the attack to come from inland, so you posted your best pilots inland."

"You're High-Copper."

"And? I've fought the Fiends more times than—" He cut himself off, then adjusted. "Twice. I've fought them twice, which is probably more than your pilots on the shore can say."

Azanthius wrung his hands together. He let out a half-sigh half-exhale, then said, "I cannot—"

A non-Ascendant worker ran up behind him and whispered something. Dr. Azanthius shut his eyes and tightened his fists, then dismissed the young woman with a wave. He turned back to Wulf. "They've grouped up. They're making a concentrated push inland, and they've already breached the Perimeter Mile."

"You need me," Wulf said.

"They're deploying Rex Basileus."

"It's crewed by an old, sick king."

Azanthius narrowed his eyes. "His sickness is not public knowledge."

"Well—" Wulf reached up and grabbed a clump of his own hair in frustration. "Sir, you have to give me this chance. I haven't failed you or the Academies yet, despite your guys' best efforts."

"Fine. Go. But you need to install a spirit tension dampener, or you will do terminal damage to the spirit. I'll tell Dr. Blyke, and I will have the Rangers Department prepare a team of thrustwings for you. Be careful, and do not over-extend yourself. If you permanently damage your mana-system, we'll have lost one of our best and brightest Pilots."

"Thank you, sir," Wulf said.

"Have they done this before?" Azanthius asked. "The Fiends?"

"I've never seen them act in a coordinated way," Wulf replied. "But I haven't seen everything."

"I will find Lord Umoch."

"Pardon?" Wulf's eyes went wide at the mention of the Fletcher guild's…name.

"We will need the backup of the Fletcher Guild's family head," Azanthius said. "He is the closest Orichalcum."

Wulf nodded. He didn't want to know what Lord Umoch would have to say about his son's treatment, but beggars couldn't be choosers. They'd need the backup.

Azanthius lowered his arm, and Wulf ran off toward the Silent Wraith. "Dr. Blyke?" he called. "Are you there? I need to get this Oronith running!"