The Heptagon Mage

“Savia is fine. Savia only tired.” She explained through heavy breathing, it looked like she had sprinted a longer distance than she usually could. “Savia is fine. Teleport heavier. Teleported far.” She explained through moments of breathing.

Gilliam stopped the stream of healing energy and changed to just channelling his mana into her, not too different from creating the mana crystals just instead of the same volume, speed and channelling point, it was calmer and aimed at her.
She seemed to slowly get better as this went on, supporting her statement about this being a straight-up overexertion of mana. Remembering when he was in a mana-drained state, Gilliam could feel her current exhaustion.

Stopping at an altitude where they could still sort of see the ground under them, but hopefully far enough that they wouldn’t be discovered, Gilliam noticed two things. The first was that Savia was getting better the more energy she was given. The other was just how much energy she could absorb. She had a sizable Boundary as well, but he was somewhat surprised at her tiny self handling that amount of energy.

As Petal and Angela finally stabilised themselves and came in closer they looked confused. A few glances between Gilliam and Savia had them worried.
“What’s going on?” Angela asked before Petal was able to say anything.

“Don’t worry about it. The teleport just took more out of her than expected, she’s getting better now.” Gilliam explained as he stopped channelling into Savia once she was able to properly sit back up in his hand.

Savia looked at the worried faces and seemed to feel a bit worried herself. “Savia fine! Savia just use too much energy!” Her statement had the stressed tone of trying to calm down others, her palms up in front of her almost as if she was trying to avoid blame.

“Nobody’s blaming you, Savia.” Gilliam reassured his companion. Realistically it could be argued that she should have stopped or something, or at least informed them, but she might not have that experience yet. She did only learn how to properly teleport like a week ago or so.
“We were just a little surprised. And it’s something we need to know for our plans in the future.” He made sure to have as gentle a tone as possible, but looking at her expression he realised he failed.

Savia slumped down into Gilliam’s hands, it was clear that Gilliam’s statement hit something deep.

“Are you able to feel the mana you need, before teleporting, like the others?” Gilliam asked. At the same time realising that he knew surprisingly little about spatial magic. He wanted to, naturally, but he was too busy with other things that he didn’t think too much about it.

“Savia can feel it. Savia just... underestimated it..” She seemed quite sad about it, but given her nature, Gilliam couldn’t help but understand.

She wanted to be useful, she hadn’t had that much to do, save companionship, since she bonded with him. And though he would love to spend more time with everyone, there had just been one thing after another since he came to the Academy. With him disappearing for 10 days, getting help from Aeris and her teacher to teleport, as well as many others. Not to mention the whole Garend ordeal.
Savia might have felt somewhat useless or like a burden, something backed up by the depressing feeling over their shared bond and her willingness to fight earlier.

“Then, in the future, if something feels this heavy, and if there is time, let me know instead, Ok?” Gilliam was smiling at his little friend. His tone was supportive more than anything, he did have an idea of how she was feeling. Most people had some form of inferiority complex if the situation presented itself, and he was not an exception to this. Though it had been less of it in Lisica given his abilities, he knew it very well in the modern world.

Savia nodded eagerly, seeming to have already forgotten her sad self from 5 seconds ago. This had Gilliam remember a popular story back in the modern world, that certain small creatures only had one emotion at a time as they were too small to have a mix of them at a time. He had also realised that a surprising amount of modern fantasy media were oddly close to being correct compared to how things worked in this world. If he ever got back to the modern world he wondered how he would re-adapt.

“It seems they haven’t seen us.” Angela stated, she was currently looking down and had been for a while now. “I think we can fly over to the other gate and take it from there?”
She didn’t seem entirely convinced of her plan.

It was kind of amusing how long their plan lasted, everything seemed fine and good but after the very first step, it collapsed. There was a saying that no battle plan survives meeting the enemy, but this was just kind of dumb.

Gilliam wondered if it was a distance or coordinate thing that made teleportation hard in the Fractured Lands since the coordinate runes were longer than in Lisica.
“Savia, can you teleport us about 50 meters (~164ft) over that way? I just want to see if any teleportation is problematic here or if it was just the last one.”
He made sure to tone his voice in a way that there was no pressure, making sure it was clear that this was a test. Should ease her mind at least a little.

He had been channelling mana into her for a few moments now, though he didn’t know how much was normally needed for teleportation, at least it would let her feel the difference.
She nodded eagerly and waited for the others to come in close. They put their hands on Gilliam’s shoulders and Savia did her thing.

The energy buildup was much faster than last time, and though the familiar white light blinded them for a moment, it laster shorter. Gilliam immediately checked on Savia as soon as he could see he was happy to find her completely fine.
This calmed him down considerably, as the plan to use her ability for teleporting was still on the table, it was just something odd about the last teleport. Perhaps it was a distance thing, they didn’t know how far it was between landmasses, and there was a reason that flying between them was not possible. Perhaps each landmass is a free-floating remnant of a country in a large world, if so going from one to the next might be like going from the UK to Australia, cross-world at best.

“How do you feel?” Gilliam wanted to make sure, even though everything felt fine over their bond.

“Savia is fine!” She exclaimed, pumping one of her wings in the air like a satisfied fist.

He could almost feel the girls calm down a bit, especially Angela. Though they were taking a different path to the end of the island, at least they were out of view. When they found the portal they could just teleport down, slam up a barrier around the whole thing and portal away. This should minimize the danger to them as well.

Starting to fly away from this side of the island they could see a lot of interesting things below them. Mainly the city of sorts located on the Hand. The tower was still not properly repaired, but it seems they were working on it. Gilliam felt a bit sad about things as he knew not every single demon deserved the violence against them, Petal was a prime example of this. The rest of the city looked fine, a bit primitive by Gilliam’s standard but fine besides that.
Savia was peering down from her post on top of Gilliam’s head, the rest just looked down as they kept flying in the assumed direction of the static portals.

The flight took some time, and as he didn’t know how fast they were going it was very hard to gauge time, speed and distance, but it felt like they had been flying for over an hour or something, and they were now reaching the end of the island. They had flown past plenty of flying creatures, all from imp-like demons to what could best be described as a hamster turned inside out with wings. Though it was very hard to identify anything from the distances they were at, it was at least what it looked like all things considered.

“So, how do we do this?” Angela asked Gilliam.

“I think the easiest is if Savia teleports us down, I set up a solid barrier around us and start channelling into the gate. We go through and take to the skies as fast as we can. We’ll probably be attacked as soon as we come out on the other side, so...” He didn’t finish his sentence, there was going to be a fight.
Though he could set up a barrier on the other side as well, he didn’t know where they would be, if he’d capture anyone inside the barrier or... well, anything of the sort. So the best would be to rely on the personal ones they got and just go up when possible.

“So we go down, barrier, teleport, and just get airborne on the other side?” Angela seemed like she wanted to simplify everything.

“Pretty much, they got fliers as well but there are fewer of them, so it should increase our survivability by a lot.” He looked into his hand, at the tattoo in his left palm. Though due to the hue of the ink it would just look like he stared at the hand itself. “I have something I can do to cause chaos and get some aid.”

Angela lifted an eyebrow, she didn’t seem to like the vague tone he was using. “Which is...?”

“Do you know about Nolis’ tattoo?” Gilliam answered her question with a question of his own.

“Yes, of course I d-” Stopping herself mid-sentence she seemed to have realised what he was referring to. “He didn’t...” She sounded extremely surprised at this.

“He did, I haven’t tested it but I know how it works in theory. And if worst comes to worst, I have a few gems made.” He was somewhat happy about her reaction.
Not knowing which of the Tattoos or generalised summoning circle was Nolis’ Magnum Opus, based on how he explained things they both might be. And Gilliam was given both.
The mix of these two was nothing short of terrifying and amazing. He would have to give it a go as soon as there is a large group in front of them. Though, to make this easier he started thinking of the details already now. That way it’s more defined in his mind when the time comes, just coming up with an idea on the fly was... dangerous.

Petal looked confused and curious about what they were talking about, to the point that she seemed like she was about to ask, but stopped herself at the last moment. Gilliam only barely noticed this, he was glad that she had become a little more her own but she still had a bit to go.

“Everyone ready, then? We go down, barrier, and protect ourselves if needed as I try to activate the gate. We pop through and do our best to get airborne.”
Looking to the others he waited for either confirmation or questions.

They both nodded.

Looking at the little Savia in his hands. “Now, did you get all that? Could you teleport us down to that square building?” He pointed at the tiny building far down below them.

She looked to Gilliam with her small harpy hands clenched tight and fierce determination. “Savia can!”

“That’s great!” Gilliam smiled.

Untying the little string tied around her waist he put her back in his hair, and the others removed their ropes. The ropes were put back in the ring as he spawned the broken blade in his right hand. “Savia, you should get properly dug in. I will most likely be moving around a lot.”
Savia gave an agreeing noise as she properly dug herself into the spot between his ponytail and his head.

“Then, let’s go:” Gilliam commanded after Angel and Petal had put their hands on his shoulders. Turning the flight upside down so Savia could properly see where they were going, she started building up energy.

Adrenaline started flowing in Gilliam, the flow of mana bot in his body and the coat accelerated in anticipation of what was coming.

A familiar flash of white light blinded them and as soon as Gilliam felt he could move he cast a large barrier around them. In a brief moment, before he could see anything, he could hear and feel the barrier being attacked. His eyes started working almost immediately after and he could take a glance around them. They were currently standing on the top of the building, the barrier Gilliam created had encapsulated it perfectly but it had also caught two imp-like demons inside. They were doing their best to attack the interlopers but both of them came to a short end as Angela and Petal stepped forwards.

A swift motion later had them both punch the imps with enough force to cave in their chest and crush everything within. First now, at this moment Gilliam realised that training with Kintas might have been the best choice. The man was insane in combat and trying to reach his level might have accidentally ranked them up a lot.

Not wasting more time Gilliam left the roof to the door to the building. The perfectly cubical shape had a large door on one side, much like the ones back at the Academy. Touching down on the ground in front of the door the main barrier was getting severely attacked at this point. Swords, claws, clubs, bites, tails, debris, you name it and they were doing their best.
Having connected this barrier to his mana reserves he could feel that it was incredibly taxing, but still a bit less than he expected. A good thing to be sure.
Grabbing the handles for the door showed them to be locked, he felt amused for the briefest of seconds as he considered demons using locks and keys, before he spawned the slender Aether blade and removed the whole lock construction, letting the doors be opened effortlessly afterwards.

Stepping in he took a quick look around, just to make sure there wasn’t anyone or anything inside, and as soon as he was satisfied that there wasn’t he started channelling mana into the contraption like last time.

Angela and Petal came down to the door as well, standing there instead of on the roof for the moment Gilliam needed to charge the engraved magical circles around the entirety of the room.
The process took a short minute, it helped that he wasn’t attacked this time, although the harsh and steady drain from the barrier didn’t help the focusing at all. The power of planning and the power of luck, letting the planning go as they wanted it, really showed its power at the moment.

Not long after he started, the static gate was charged up and ready to go.
“Now, come, in the centre.” Gilliam commanded the others as he stepped into that point as well.

As soon as the whole group was gathered in the central circle, the activation pulse was sent at the same time that he cut the link to the surrounding barrier. He barely heard it pop as his vision went white again, trying to ready himself for what was to come.

Luck would have it that they got the valuable seconds for their eyesight to return to normal before anyone on the next island was able to react. There was not a lack of demons here, quite the opposite, they were much more varied in size and shape than in the Hand and Finger, but they seemed to not be as actively guarding the portal as the others were before. The area itself was oddly built out, with one and two-floor buildings made of stone or sandstone in the near distance, solid ground around the buildings and especially around the teleportation circle. A relatively well-maintained road between the gate and the rather large town. The most impressive part was what seemed like an oasis not far from them.

The valuable seconds let the group take to the air before they were attacked, however, it didn’t last long. Only moments after leaving the ground their barriers were thoroughly tested. The incoming attacks were much more precise and proper than before, with no debris or random objects. All attacks were arrows, spears or thrown weapons.
Gilliam had to cast a second barrier on himself as his first was about to pop, due to the coat he could cast the barriers much faster than normal, allowing him to set up a second barrier around himself as soon as the first one broke. Angela and Petal seemed to react better and dodge, something Gilliam realised he should perhaps try to do as well...

Erratic flying pattern upwards helped preserve the remaining barrier strength and they found themselves high in the air in no time. Out of reach from the non-flyers.
This didn’t stop the flyers from charging them, some of them were much faster than Gilliam’s flight spell, having him realise that he might have to upgrade it, but also letting Angela and Petal do their thing.
The first demons to reach them were swiftly taken down. They looked like some more streamlined imps than the ones they fought before. A solid fist from Angela and claws from Petal had them falling to the ground bloodied and broken.

Some short following seconds had Gilliam wonder what the best next step was, just taking to the air could be a smart move but that could let them raise alarms or send more dangerous things after them.
His new experience and skill had him channelling an upgraded variant of the carpet bomb attack he used before, a massive multiplication of explosive arcane orbs. They were smaller than before, need a certain hardness to trigger their explosion, and were sent at greater speed. This not only increased the devastation once they hit the ground but also allowed them to penetrate the smaller fliers and made sure that one explosion would not always trigger all of the other ones. The downside was that this spell took several seconds to prepare. The girls handled this fine, as the faster flyers weren’t the strongest, the stronger ones seemed to be much slower getting to them which in turn meant that anyone getting to Gilliam before he was done was quickly taken down with claw, fist, feet and hooves.

“Move!” Gilliam commanded the two once he was done with the creation and charging of the magic circle.
They didn’t linger and flew out to the sides right away.

Gilliam activated the spell, and as planned, a massive number of golf-ball-sized glowing yellow orbs raced towards the demons on the ground. The smaller flying demons were quickly perforated without much resistance, the larger ones either followed a similar fate or were solid enough to trigger the explosions. This had them soon fall to the ground alongside their smaller brethren.
When the orbs finally reached the ground they either detonated straight on weaponry, solid building walls or harder body parts, tearing their owners apart. Most of them hit the ground and either did their damage directly from proximity or sent a shower of deadly stone debris as secondary fragmentation damage. Some landed in the sand and used more time to trigger, however as sand is not compressible it ended up as a mixture of an explosive shockwave and sand-blasting effect, only making matters worse.

The widespread damage took a lot of mana, but less than Gilliam expected. He smirked a little to himself at either his larger Boundary or simply increased skill to make this improvement. Though his smirk faded once he realised he had almost forgotten how much blood and gore there was in this kind of slaughter, he didn’t thirst for death and destruction, but he couldn’t help it given their reason for being here. Parts of him wanted to consider them, people like Petal, but when they were on the enemy side he couldn’t think of them as anything but obstructions.

Choosing to put this aside now, as this is war, he took to the sky. Only sending off a swift Aether dart at a few stragglers at range, anything close was easily cut down or handled by the girls.

Before they managed to get to any proper elevation, however, a massive anger-filled roar from the perimeter of the town. Looking towards it they could see a familiar-looking humanoid shape, 3 metres (~10ft) tall, bulky and strong, partially fur-covered, with sharp teeth and horns. Had it not been for both of his hooves being present, Gilliam would think it was the gatekeeper from before. This one was strikingly similar but he had a few other different details, like no wings, a long and strong tail, and instead of a large sword he had what looked like a... well... wizard’s staff with a purple glowing knob on the end.

Slamming the staff into the ground the purple energy expanded and seemed to do something to his fellow demons as it hit them, it entered their bodies and gave them glowing eyes in the same purple colour.
Pointing the staff towards the group it sent a man-sized angry-looking sphere of energy towards them.