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Upon my shout, I crashed into the enemy ranks with a quillbeast\'s momentum. My whirling flail smashed several dozen helmets and heads as I pushed forward.

"GODDAMMIT! Kill h-!" a guard began to bellow. His words ceased when a crunch followed my flail as it burrowed into his skull. My force carried it forward, tearing it and a portion of his face free. 

All that remained of the man\'s nose was a pit of blood and torn cartilage.

"AGHHHHH!" he flew before falling to the ground in front of me. "OH GOD IT HURTS!"

I maintained my rush forward, tramping over him with no hesitation. The weight of my armor made my stomps lethal, and the crack of his bones beneath my heels sounded as I readied to confront whoever else crossed my path.

Likewise, the rest of those opposing my advance failed in their attempts. 

They threw dozens of sword slashes which grated off my armor. They charged with multiple bashes, their efforts being fruitless as I smashed through them. They launched a series of tackles to halt me, only to find themselves being dragged with the tides as I dashed ever onward.

"What the hell?! Is he a monster?! What is that armor?!" one yelled in confusion as his sword reflected back.

I wouldn\'t be stopped. Stopping meant a premature confrontation with Lilia; stopping meant death. So I powered through, pushing through the horde, line by line, until I was just one away from breaking through.

Finally, one step later, I reached my goal. The cobblestone wall and outer gate was in view. Two thick golden fields of wheat spread as far as the eye could see outside the compound. A paved wide dirt road acted as the only barrier between them.

"What are you fools doing?! Stop him!" the guard leader commanded just beyond my vision.

"Yes, Lieutenant!" the guards shouted back with renewed fervor.

Meanwhile, Lilia was cackling in enraged excitement. "Out of my way! He\'s mine!" she snarled as she hopped over and sped through the mosh pit of confusion.

\'Shit, she\'s catching up!\' I picked up the pace as Lilia\'s words grew in volume, heralding her encroaching approach. I couldn\'t be caught here.

Yet, I still had one left to confront. There was one left preventing my advance.

The captain assumed an experienced stance and held her saber forward. One foot was slid across the ground behind her, a technique that would allow for an effortless pivot if needed. 

"You won\'t get passed me, you scum!" is what she shouted as she further distinguished her prowess from the rest. Though small, she gathered a stream of distinct green orbs to bolster her body\'s movements.

\'Augmenturgy, eh?\' I smirked without worry. Though it would speed up her movements and strengthen them, the amount of aether the woman commanded was negligible compared to the foes of my past. \'The curse of being human...\'

"Ready yourself for death!" the captain roared, then charged forth to meet me. "I\'ll break your shell to pieces!"

My response wasn\'t verbal. Instead, I bolstered my protections with a series of protruding spikes. 

That preparation was for naught. At the final moment before our confrontation, Lilia\'s voice rang again behind me. It must\'ve been addressing the lieutenant because she stopped in her tracks. "YOU, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Though begrudgingly, the lieutenant followed the order and raced to the side, removing herself from battle. She stared daggers at me as I passed by but remained docile.

\'I suppose that fullkin\'s anger has its perks,\' I inwardly chuckled. She inadvertently aided me by telling the woman to stand down.

Again Lilia\'s voice sounded. "All of you lot, go for the girl! The gebbren is mine!"

"Understood...Lady Graves," the captain answered through clenched teeth. She promptly echoed the order as the group made their running march toward Mizuno.

\'Stay strong, Captain,\' I prayed for Mizuno\'s safety with a concerned expression. Yet, I didn\'t look back. I had full faith in her, as my leader and one I\'ve known for the past five months. She was a force to be reckoned with.

So, I kept running. I eventually broke away from the dirt road and opted for a dash through the wheat. Stalks of amber bent and cracked beneath my feet with every step. 

I glanced behind me to see Lilia only several paces away, much closer than she had been before. She was barreling down the path of crushed crops I had left in my wake.

\'She\'s catching up...\'

Meanwhile, a scattered hailstorm of flame filled the air as she lobbed projectiles. 

I couldn\'t avoid them all; some inevitably collided with me - the fiery orbs scattered upon impact. Each enveloped my armor with a turbulent blaze before dissipating. 

\'Good thing I trained with the kid,\' I chuckled. 

Before, this level of heat would\'ve cracked my defense, exposing my insides to the char of her flames.

Things were different now.

Because of my brief practice with Sato, I studied and shifted the composition of my stone. I found just the right percentages of each material to increase its flame resistance. That\'s not to say it was immune, however. Like my walls, if exposed for longer than a brief period, the stone would shatter to pieces at the hands of an expert firemage.

Sadly, picking out just the right portions was like splitting grains of sand, so I only managed it now.

Glancing around, I realized I had reached the midpoint of the wheat field. The flaming homestead was now far enough in the distance to resemble a black pillar of smoke against the once pristine sky.

\'This is far enough,\' I spun around, weapons raised for a confrontation.

Upon my turn, Lilia gained enough ground for a melee. "I\'VE FINALLY CAUGHT YOU!" she giddily shouted, her flames growing to match her excitement. 

"Don\'t think that armor will spare you from your fate!" She raised her arms and slashed downward for my stone-enclosed neck. 

Unbeknownst to her, the armor did make a difference. Thanks to the stone cladding my body, I no longer needed specific skin-to-ground contact to use my lithomancy, at least for close range.

So, I hoisted my shield in defense and began generating as much mana as possible. Lilia\'s strikes plumed upward in gusts of fire as they landed against my guard\'s stance. 

"Pitiful! You plan to hide again?!" she taunted. Her attacks smashed into my guard, pressing my feet deeply into the mulch below as I skidded backward.

\'Gotta...hold...\' I gritted my teeth and pushed against her with all my might.

For my plan, I needed a stockpile of power, one large enough to manipulate this entire field at will. Such a feat demanded the entirety of my focus, so all I could do in the face of Lilia\'s attacks was dig my heels in and guard.

"You\'re a fool!" she mocked and dashed to my flanks. She must\'ve learned from her previous arrogance. 

Rather than sticking to a brute force tactic of annihilating my guard, Lilia exploited my immovable defense with her superior mobility, avoiding it and attacking my armor\'s various joints.

Her onslaught hit with such pressure that snaking cracks formed across my gear. Her flames seeped inside them, torching my exposed flesh with an agonizing sharpness.

Yet, the pain wouldn\'t break me. "Hold," I grumbled and clenched my teeth. "Just...hold. The armor will last... It will..."

"Ha! Such groundless optimism!" Lilia taunted as she stripped away more of my defense.

Meanwhile, atmospheric aether gathered within me, converting to mana before I poured it into the ground surrounding me and my shield.

The mental toll of spreading my power in such an expansive area was high. It was like scattering your consciousness into the wind, tearing it by the seams before it was absorbed.

However, the fruit of my efforts started taking form. The ground began to quake and hundreds of nubs grew on my shield\'s outer surface. Two distinct glowing runes appeared on the opposite side. Each depicted a single order. One for the absorption of stone, the other to expel it.

\'A few more seconds!\'

Pieces of my armor snapped off, weaknesses that Lilia pinpointed her efforts on. "HA! I told you your armor was meaningless! Will you remain so docile, even as I roast your flesh?" she snickered while charring the revealed skin black.

Her inferno scattered widely, igniting the field around us in a grand display of yellow-orange flames. They devoured the crops like locusts. The only difference: these locusts spewed out black clouds of ash.

Still, I continued my efforts. \'Just...a bit...MORE!\'

"Fine, forfeit yourself. It makes no difference to me!" Lilia thrust her claws for my open leg. But, just as they pierced the skin, my power peaked.

I spun around, confronting Lilia with an explosion of stone shards from what remained of my armor. It acted as an omnidirectional bomb, forcing her into a hastened retreat.

"Ohhh?" Lilia hummed with a curious tone. She then staggered momentarily as the shaking ground forced her to lose balance. "What\'s this?" she asked, gesturing downward to address the tremors.

My flesh was burned and bleeding. My mind was weary from overexertion. My armor was stripped away and scattered. Yet, despite it all, I smirked while holding up my shield. 

"It\'s my turn."