Chapter 3 – Last Light (Part III)
For the first time since sunrise, the western wall settled into something that almost resembled routine.
The bombardment from the Sky Fleet had forced the monster tide back beyond the artillery markers. Smoke drifted lazily across the plains while shattered monster corpses burned where they had fallen.
No one celebrated.
This wasn't a victory.
It was maintenance.
"Repair teams, move!"
The order spread along the battlements.
Engineers emerged from reinforced shelters carrying steel cases filled with runestones, mana conduits and enchanted tools.
Commandos naturally fell in around them.
Not because anyone ordered them to.
It was simply how things had always been done.
Arjun dropped his toolbox beside a fractured support pillar.
His apprentice, Kian, let out a groan as he wrestled a replacement runestone from its crate.
"...Who designed these things?"
Arjun looked up.
"Engineers."
"They hate us."
"They hated the soldiers first."
A nearby commando overheard the conversation.
"We can still hear you."
"Good."
Arjun held out a wrench without looking.
"Means your ears work."
The commando smirked.
"Our lieutenant says engineers only exist to give us more things to defend."
Arjun slid the wrench back into his toolbox.
"Tell your lieutenant we'd finish twice as fast if you stopped shooting holes in my walls."
"We don't shoot the walls."
"The wall behind Tower Nine says otherwise."
"That was one time."
"It was last Tuesday."
The commando scratched the back of his helmet.
"...Fair."
Even Kian laughed.
For a few moments, the western wall sounded less like a battlefield and more like a construction site.
Metal rang against stone.
Runes hummed.
Someone argued over missing bolts.
Another engineer shouted that someone had stolen his calibration crystal.
A voice from somewhere farther down the wall answered,
"I borrowed it."
"You borrowed it three months ago!"
"I was busy."
"Give it back."
"When I'm done."
Arjun smiled to himself.
Nothing ever changed.
Kian finally seated the replacement runestone into its housing.
He wiped sweat from his forehead.
"You ever think we'd be doing this somewhere else?"
Arjun tightened the final locking ring.
"Every winter."
"My brother used to say he'd move to Helios after his apprenticeship."
"He was the ambitious one?"
"He wanted to build airships."
"What happened?"
"He actually made it."
Arjun nodded slowly.
"Sky Dock Four?"
Kian blinked.
"You knew him?"
"No."
Arjun adjusted the mana flow.
"But every engineer wanted Sky Dock Four."
Kian smiled.
"He wrote home every month."
"And?"
"He said the whole city smelled like machine oil."
"...That's Helios."
"He said you couldn't see the stars."
Arjun chuckled.
"Too many ships."
"Yeah."
Kian looked toward the sky where the Sky Fleet cruised overhead.
"I always thought I'd visit someday."
Arjun didn't answer immediately.
He checked the readings one last time.
"Maybe you still will."
Kian grinned.
"I'll hold you to that."
A warning whistle echoed from the next section.
"Conduit's live!"
Every nearby engineer instinctively stepped back.
Blue mana surged through the repaired pillar.
The fractured runes stabilized.
Arjun nodded once.
"There."
Kian looked at the readings.
"Ninety-four percent."
"Not bad."
"You sound disappointed."
"I was hoping for ninety-five."
"...You're impossible."
"I've been called worse."
The commando from earlier leaned over the wall.
"I've called him worse."
Several towers away, Father Michael sat on an overturned ammunition crate.
A young priest handed him a steaming cup.
"Coffee?"
Michael took one sip.
"...You burned it."
"I followed the instructions."
"The instructions are wrong."
The young priest frowned.
"I copied your recipe."
"Then you copied it incorrectly."
Captain Roland walked past with two Holy Knights.
"What are we arguing about?"
"Coffee."
Roland looked into the cup.
"...That's definitely not coffee."
The young priest sighed dramatically.
"You people are impossible."
"No," Michael said.
"We're spoiled."
The young priest looked genuinely confused.
"By what?"
Michael pointed toward the fortress behind them.
"Peace."
The young priest laughed.
"We've been at war for forty-two years."
Michael smiled faintly.
"And yet you still complain about coffee."
"Fair point."
A runner approached.
"Father, Third Battalion needs blessing renewal."
Michael stood, stretching his shoulders.
"See?"
He handed the untouched cup back.
"Saved by duty."
Military Hospital Two.
Chief Surgeon Evelyn walked into the break room.
Someone had written on the notice board.
STOP LEAVING SURGICAL TOOLS IN THE CAFETERIA.
Below it, another doctor had added,
STOP SERVING CAFETERIA FOOD IN SURGERY.
Evelyn looked at the second note.
"...Who wrote this?"
Three people immediately pointed at someone else.
She shook her head.
"I don't want to know."
A nurse handed her a sandwich.
"When was the last time you ate?"
Evelyn stared at it.
"...Yesterday?"
"That's not an answer."
"It's close enough."
The nurse folded her arms.
"Sit."
"I have patients."
"You have thirty-eight seconds."
"...That's oddly specific."
"I counted."
Evelyn took one bite.
"...Needs salt."
The nurse blinked.
"You're criticizing the food?"
"If I'm still complaining..."
She swallowed another bite.
"...I'm probably still alive."
The room laughed quietly.
Then another stretcher came through the doors.
Everyone stood at once.
Break over.
High above Atlas, the bridge of the Resolute remained calm.
Fleet Marshal Orion stood with his hands behind his back.
One of the younger officers looked out the observation window.
"I still can't get used to this view."
"The city?"
"The whole world."
Orion smiled faintly.
"My first posting was a cargo escort."
The officer looked surprised.
"Really?"
"I spent three years protecting flour shipments."
"...Flour?"
"Turns out armies like bread."
The bridge chuckled.
Another officer added,
"Still better than my first assignment."
"What was yours?"
"Counting spare mana batteries."
"How many?"
"I stopped after forty thousand."
Someone muttered,
"I'd have jumped off the ship."
"You wouldn't."
"No."
"...Too much paperwork."
Laughter rippled across the bridge.
Then every warning crystal flashed crimson.
The bridge fell silent.
The radar mage slowly looked up.
"Marshal..."
Orion was already facing the rift.
Dark shapes emerged from the clouds.
One.
Ten.
A hundred.
Then thousands.
His smile disappeared.
"Signal all carrier groups."
His voice was steady.
"Battle stations."
Every officer moved before he finished speaking.
The bridge transformed from casual conversation into disciplined precision.
No panic.
No shouting.
Just professionals returning to work.