Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

When they arrived at Arotelk, the sun had climbed all the way up over the horizon, but clouds blocked it, and thick black stormclouds swirled overhead. A light rain began, with a touch of sleet in it, slickening the outer surface of Emerald Vanguard.

It was getting darker. There were mana-lights somewhere, but Vanguard wasn't like Fiendhammer, and the controls were different. He didn't know where to even direct his mana to turn on the lights.

He guided Emerald Vanguard up to a ridge outside Arotelk and knelt on the ridge. Surely, people felt them coming, heard them, and now saw them, but being taller than most of the city's buildings and guild-towers was…a unique feeling. He couldn't quite describe it. There were people down there, but to him, they only looked like swirling ants.

"Irmond!" Wulf called into the communication construct. "Irmond, are you there?"

"I'm here!" Irmond's voice crackled back through the construct. It was slightly muffled, given the thick stone golem casing it had to pierce through.

"Do you see anything?" Wulf asked.

"Nothing! No sign of…demons."

Wulf inhaled sharply. There was still time. "How's Seith doing?"

"She's clinging on! One of the rune-coils in the arm was sputtering, so she's down there, fixing it. Don't bend your arm too fast, or you'll fling her off!"

"Got it!" Wulf called back.

There was a nagging doubt at the back of his mind. If the demon attack…didn't happen, they'd be in such enormous trouble. Worse would be Irmond and Seith—two normal people, who'd probably have their lives ruined over this.

"What if the demons don't come?" Wulf whispered to Kalee. "What if it's changed? Or the Field is messing with us?"

Did the Field even remember that it had sent them back in time?

She wrapped her tail up around her shoulder. The harness apparatus hadn't exactly been designed with Pangians in mind, and he couldn't tell if the uncomfortable expression on her face was because of the mana sockets, or because the control apparatus didn't fit properly.

After a few seconds, she began, "We'll have to deal with it when—" She stopped, then said, "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah."

A deep rumble split the air. Wind washed around Emerald Vanguard, and the windows of Aroltelk all shattered at once. Wulf craned his head upward, and the cockpit tilted back, giving them a view of the sky.

"Uh…guys?" Irmond called, his voice crackling through the construct. "You were right!"

A valley split open in the clouds. They washed apart with a wave of force, leaving only an empty blue sky.

Then a streak of light shot through the valley. A burning, smouldering sphere of black basalt raced through the sky, arcing down from the heavens. It trailed smoke behind it, leaving a line high up in the sky, marking the path it took.

Wulf's eyes widened. "Demons." At first, a surge of thankfulness raced through him—he hadn't been wrong.

But now, they had to deal with the attack.

The sphere was large enough to fit three Oroniths inside it, given they crouched down. Massive. Its outer surface was a dull reddish-black, though a basket of flames cupped its front. Foreign symbols marred its outer edge, scrawled in jagged, glowing yellow.

Wind buffeted Emerald Vanguard from above, and a sulfuric scent pierced through the cracks in the cockpit stone.

"There they are," Kalee said.

The sphere was descending. It dipped toward the far side of Arotelk, falling lower and lower. With a sickening crunch, it smashed through the peak of a tower, before crashing into the earth and throwing up a tidal wave of dust and mud.

Now, Wulf heard the screams and shouts. The streets came alive. Civilians scrambled about like ants, hunting for shelter.

"Now's our chance," Wulf said. "Let's do this. Irmond, hold on tight!"

Before he set off, he willed his golem's helmet open, then retrieved his Yeti's Authority potion and drank it down as fast as he could. Strength flowed into his muscles, which he leveraged to move his golem faster, and transmitted through the dream-link, empowering Emerald Vanguard.

He hoisted up their hammer and pushed off. On the walk over, he'd expended about a quarter of his mana over a half hour, and now, it was time to use it all. He broke into a sprint, which felt more like running underwater as his golem—and the Oronith—resisted him.

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Each footfall made the ground shake and buck. Civilians knew well enough to scramble out of the way. They recognized an Oronith, and no matter what that sphere had been, they'd have to know that Wulf was here to help.

The clouds congealed back together overhead, and the rain resumed. It pattered against Emerald Vanguard's visor aggressively, leaving streaks.

The rain washed the dust and debris out of the air, and now, a column of steam and smoke rose from the demons' sphere. Its upper hemisphere opened like a flower, and black ash spouted upward in a column.

Wulf stopped fifty Oronith-steps—about ten city blocks—away from the sphere. Here, there were only short houses at the edge of the city. The civilians were leaving their houses and sprinting away, covering their heads and sheltering from debris.

First, a wave of small demons scrambled out the edge of the sphere. They ran on all fours, hauling themselves along like hyenas—but twice the size. They had no fur, only leathery scarlet skin with knotted muscles below and a reptilian spine along their backs. Their eyes glowed orange, and a crown of seven horns made circles around their heads.

They were a problem, and they'd kill thousands if left unchecked. Thousands would still die today. But less would die if Wulf could deal with the colossal fiends that he knew were coming next.

Amidst the pillar of smoke from the sphere, two enormous orange eyes lit up. The smoke shifted, and a beast with a body of swirling scales, ash, and dust stepped forward, nearly the same size as an Oronith, but perhaps a head taller. It had a vaguely human shape, but with a hunched back and skeletal, useless wings poking out its shoulder blades. It carried an obsidian spear, which it slammed into the ground, uncaringly crushing demons.

A wall of flame roared up its back and illuminated its crown of horns, and it let out a harsh deep bellow—like a bell chiming, but one continuous ring that made Wulf's ribs shake. Steam shot up around it.

"There it is," he said. "A fiend."

As if in response, a sheet of enchanted parchment hanging from the ceiling at the very center of the cockpit read:

[Warning: Unknown enemy with Low-Bronze equivalent mana.]

[Warning: Accounting for enemy size.]

[Warning: Massive enemy. Estimated tier: High-Iron.]

Snarling, without even trying to assess whether Wulf was friend or foe, it charged forward, spear raised.

"We need to lead it away from the city!" Kalee called. "If we fight it here, it will kill them all!"

"Give me a second." Wulf settled into a fighting stance, and then, when the fiend was within two paces, pushed to the side. He struck it in the back with a heavy blow from his hammer. He might just have been a Low-Coal, but in an Oronith, it had to count for something. Emerald Vanguard was technically a High-Bronze Oronith, only a tier below the fiend.

From the impact, the colossal fiend stumbled forward and keeled over a warehouse about half its height. It crushed the old stone building with its weight, but pushed itself up and turned around.

Wulf needed it to see him run. Demons were predators, and they'd always chase the weak. Turning and running would lure it out and keep it away from the city.

But this sphere had three Fiends in it. Three. The other two hadn't awoken from their slumber yet, but they would soon.

Then he had to deal with the first before the other two woke up.

"I'm going to lure it out into the hills," Wulf told Kalee. "I'll tell you when I'm about to turn around, but I'll need you to use a spell to stall it for a second. The moment I stop, it'll try to skewer us."

"Understood," she replied.

"This isn't your first time in a cockpit," Wulf said as he (and the Oronith) ran. It wasn't a question—she didn't give off the impression of a new Mage. But in her last life, she was an Artificer.

"First time being a Mage," she said through clenched teeth. "First time plugged into the 'Nith itself. But not first time in the cockpit, and I've seen what to do."

Wulf nodded subtly, wary that it made the whole Oronith's head shake.

He ran Emerald Vanguard down to the end of the road until it turned from broad paving stones to packed dirt, then veered around the side of the crashed demon sphere. Then, he made a hard turn to the right and sprinted out into the fields and sloping hills away from the city. Until the civilians escaped, he couldn't go toppling any buildings.

And still, minimizing damage had to be a priority. They couldn't repel wave after wave of demon attacks if they had to rebuild all their cities every few weeks. It'd bankrupt them. People would die without the infrastructure to support them.

"Turning in three…" he announced. "Two…one…now!"

He planted his feet and spun, and Kalee activated a spell skill. Orange mana blasted out her hands and shot through the tubes connecting to her, and a set of runic rings sprang up around her.

An enormous runic circle appeared beneath the fiend, and though it tried to take another step, Kalee's gravitational attack crushed it. Its wings, though ornamental, cracked and shattered, and it stumbled out of the circle.

Wulf raised his hammer, then swung down, aiming to crush the Fiend's head. His hammer struck, and a horn broke off. The demon's face smashed into the ground, digging a trench deep enough to be a permanent landmark.

But it pushed itself up and kept running. It pointed its spear at Emerald Vanguard's gut, and Wulf forced the Oronith to turn to the side. The spear glanced off, leaving a thin gash in his Oronith's flank, and a twinge of pain ripped through his mind. He felt the hit as if the spear had bit into his own flesh.

A sheet of enchanted parchment beside him fluttered, and ink flared across it in warning—a damage report. He didn't have time to read it.

With the haft of his hammer, he pushed the Fiend's spear aside, but it kept charging. It bowled into him at his midsection, driving him backward and knocking him to the ground. His mind told him that the air had been knocked out of his lungs, and his throat constricted. Mana sparks rained down from the ceiling, and the world shifted.

He didn't want to think about if Seith or Irmond were alright. They had bigger problems right now.

There was a demon on top of them. It cackled with malice, as high-pitched as its deep voice could get, and it held up its obsidian spear.

The tip pointed toward Emerald Vanguard's helmet, poised to smash straight through.

His new life was about to be over before it even began…