FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Battle starts slowly as one would expect. We don't know what they're capable of though they probably know exactly what we all are capable of. We need to test them a bit here and there before we can really get to work on trying to lay them down. The start of a battle of this type seems to be mainly a sort of grand scale chess match, of moving pieces on the board to the most optimum positioning. I wouldn't be surprised if someone on their side is doing similar with a map showing where all they are. Hopefully that's all it shows. After a half an hour of this, just as true night sets in things begin to change. The secondary sun is still in the night sky but only serves to shed a bit of light. The first sign of things going wrong is when a large-scale spell barely misses one of the towers.

Panicking I yell down at the two below and order them up just in case, telling them to begin casting some defensive barriers around our tower. They do come up, but grumble the entire time. This isn't supposed to be what they are here to do. They're here in case people get injured and it's not like there's going to be any serious fighting in this place anyway. There should not be any cause for concern about the towers. After all the enemy might try and sneak in to take the map but the tower itself should be left alone. But it gives them an excuse to take a look at the map and see how things are going from an elevated position. And then my fears are justified as one of the towers take a direct hit.

Granted, it wasn't as powerful as the one I had launched at that building but it still created a hole in the side of that tower. And worse yet, the spell came from long range, where there wasn't any fighting going on anyway. Meaning that the towers are being targeted directly. Seeing things for as they are I quickly rush over to the map and focus on all of the patrol teams.

"Get back to the towers quickly, they're being targeted. We need to protect the towers or evacuate them completely as soon as you can."

Not sure if the message went through or not but then all of the patrols quickly begin closing in on the towers as a lot more blasts of magic quickly begin flying in the way of the tower. Seeing the onslaught, the two that were complaining earlier quickly begin casting a barrier spell over the tower. I look over at the map and see another sign that this is getting serious. Lights are starting to go out. Not only that but forces that are moving to help out are suddenly being targeted from multiple directions. Even squads that are hiding in a location that should obscure them are being hit quickly.

The other towers haven't put up any barrier as far as I can see and the troubling part is that all of the blasts seem to be directed at all of the towers except for the one currently being defended. This means that either they can tell we have a barrier from that distance, which is unlikely at that distance or they have some other means of knowing which tower is being protected. It doesn't take long under the onslaught before one of the towers starts going down. I rush over to the nearest window, hoping to see some survivors make their way out. A few do and they seem to be pushing to make their way to our tower since it's the only one not under attack. The better for it if it means more people building a barrier to protect it.

And then I hear a sound from someone looking at the map and I look and see even those of our team that have surrendered have their lights going out. Meaning this battle has just gone from bad to worse. This is no longer so much of a friendly match as a simulation of actual war, of trying to do as much damage as they can to us. And right now, we have no means of stopping this. Without any means to see where they are we have no way to tell our forces where to attack. And we're too spread out already. Unless we can find a way to target them there is no way in which we can survive this without perhaps turtling together into one small group and trying to win that way. But that comes with too many problems as well. No matter how much we may try, there's no guarantee that they will not be able to set up ambushes as people come there. And if they're carrying long range enough artillery to take out whole towers from that long a distance, who's to say what they can do once we're all huddled in a group.

Though ideally, I would rather want to test it out first under less pressing circumstances, given the current situation I can think of only one thing that might have any chance of countering this situation. I pull the scroll out of my spell book and hand it over to Jack.

"I need you to drop everything and cast this," I comment quickly as he looks at me with a rather, justifiably confused expression.

"And what is this exactly? Why do I have to cast it?"

"Because I'll be needing to coordinate with everyone. There is a situation that must be addressed. This can do it."

"Then what is it?"

"It's a targeting spell. That's all you need to know right now. You need to have that cast for as long as you are able. When you're almost drained tell me and I'll take over for the spell for you."

"I'm not sure," Jack comments uneasily, probably noting that because it wasn't a part of the spell book means that this isn't an approved spell. "What if it doesn't work?"

"It'll work. And if it doesn't then well, we're screwed anyway. Now get to work on that spell, I need to address everyone."

I walk over to the map, seeing all the dots where all of our people are located, noticing even now a few of them go out. I take a deep breath and place my hand onto the map, channeling the power required to send out a message to everyone.

"This is Rose," I begin, letting them know I'm not just an enemy speaking. "We are in a bad place right now but I might have a solution. Success and survival depends on every one of you obeying my exact instructions. In a minute there should be a light forming on top of the central tower. As soon as you see it I want you to start firing off every single thing you can at it for as long as you can. Don't worry about anything else at the moment. The more attacks you throw at this light the better our chance of survival. If you do not have any means to attack the light, get down on the ground, cover your head and do not move. The light is a targeting spell. It'll hit anything moving that is not targeting it. And good luck," I add after a moment before removing my hand from the spell.

"That's what it does?" Jack exclaims, in the middle of preparing himself for the spell.

"For the most part. Our problem is they can see us. Some of them must have access either to a copy of our map or to the show we're all a part of. Either way they know exactly where we are. This spell will be able to see exactly where they are and send every attack at a target that isn't targeting it. It's a really weird spell I know. But we should be safe. Since we're right below it, we should not be deemed as valid targets."

"Should," Jack frowns at the notion of what that lack of uncertainty implies. But he complies nonetheless and within a moment I see the light begin to form above us through the hole in the ceiling.

Now's the moment of truth. The spell worked enough to create the light. Now just to see if it'll actually do what it is supposed to do or if I botched writing it up in some manner. Of course, it also depends entirely on every single person on our side of the portal having not only heard my instruction but to also obey it to the letter. I wait with a bit of dread as at first nothing happens but then I see a small bit of ice magic fly towards and hit the glowing orb. The orb absorbs the spell and within a second shoots it back in another direction. Well so far, so good. Within seconds that one spell becomes a dozen aimed at and redirected. Within a few more it becomes a torrent of magic and steel. The entire sky seems to be lit up from all the spells flying both to the orb and from it. I take a quick peak at the map again. A few more have gone out since my statement but with the attack going on with the spell not a single light has gone off. The rest of the lights seem to be holding steady. So at least it is also working by not targeting allies.

Now on to the next stage of my attack. I jump up into the air and with a force of wind magic propel myself further up and to the ledge of the hole in our ceiling. I pull myself up and adopt the Projected Flames spell, the completed version. This is only one day from release. So long as I don't put anything in it I should still be fine. If the enemy is using some means to tap into the feed from the show, then it means they'll know about what I told everyone. Which means they'll be targeting the spell as well so as to not be targeted. The other part of that I lied. But it is a necessary lie. Being on the ground is a good enough precaution but won't guarantee it'll work. After all the enemy will quickly stop moving and hide behind cover as soon as the volleys start. And that's where I come in.

But my point is to now take advantage of this situation. I keep my third eye more on the map than on the surroundings, creating an overlay in my mind about where everything is. I force myself to put the dots where they should be. And while it's doing this I take a look at the surroundings and take aim. My own target is anything not on the map. Everyone will be too focused on the targeting spell above me that they're either targeting it themselves or hiding in cover. And I can see that and push them out. After about a dozen shots like this, I hear a commotion from below. I don't think I directly killed anyone with my attacks, but it got them to be a target, for I was adding additional targets for the spell above to hit.

"I'm almost out of juice," Jack shouts, his voice showing the strain quite clearly.

"On my way," I shout back in return and drop down back on the floor. I grab the scroll and place it on top of the map sideways. It is important that it not align itself to where I can read so as to have no chance of me accidentally creating a second orb. That would defeat the point. Despite that probably being what Jack thinks I'm doing. Instead I close my eyes, channel the two together and push as much magic as I can into the page. "You might want to close your eyes for a bit," I warn Jack and the others before releasing the spell.

The sky lights up anew. Only this time by a spell hidden inside the orb. The orb has exploded into a sea of burning snakes. Each one soaring through the sky and flying to the ground. I lied. Well, technically I didn't lie. I just didn't mention this part of the spell. I don't know if Jack noticed it or not when he read the spell but the orb never sent spells back at full power. It absorbed a tiny bit from each and every attack before sending it off. And with this release, I have just sent out all of that magic in the form of a spell of my choosing, this time being Agni's Snakes. And fed on so much magic as had come to it that spell would be powerful indeed. And the target? Anything not on the map. Anything that is alive and not showing on the map will be hunted down by the snakes and attacked and these snakes won't stop until they run out of power or run out of targets. And because of the amount of power pumped into it this should end the battle. And I don't even have to worry about problems with surrenders. One of them surrendering will, after all, show up on the map and thus no longer allow for them as a valid target. Even still, the both of us are panting from our own exertions, Jack quickly picking up his rifle again and running to a nearby window to see what just happened. I go to the same window and watch the carnage below, the result of my experimenting with magic and proof of the trust these people put in me. I just hope it wasn't trust unjustified or too little too late.