’My old army had no Silverwing’s Bastion and would have been decimated by a single Death Fountain as powerful as the one we’ve endured today.’ ’Why are you wasting such a powerful spell on foot soldiers?’Gyrwin Isaar, Human Representative of Jiera, asked the First Vampire via a mind link.’You should protect your fellow Awakened. Without us, there can be no victory!’ ’Save your mana to cast another Bastion instead of wasting it to whine!’Vladion replied while the emerald cannonballs ravaged his body.’Without our troops, there can be no victory either, and those people don’t have the means of an old hag like you to protect themselves!’ His armor’s Blood Barrier had been shattered into pieces by the first salvo and its enchanted Davross by the second. The First Vampire would have died as well, his head blown out and his heart pulverized, if not for Dawn’s prism.

Vladion focused all his mana and attention on protecting the white cube, knowing that as long as it remained intact, he would regenerate any wound.

’Vladion has a point.’Raagu Drerian, Human Representative of Garlen, chimed in.’If he helps us, he can only ensure the survival of seven people. If he helps the soldiers, we still have a chance of victory.’ ’How can you put victory above your own survival?’Gyrwin grunted as she poured more mana into Silverwing’s Bastion.

’Are you insane?’Raagu glared at her Jieran counterpart.’If we can’t defeat Ruugat now, then what do you think will happen once he becomes even stronger? Jiera will capitulate, and sooner or later this monstrosity will come to Garlen.

’Victory and survival are the same thing. Run away, if you want, but it will only buy you a few years at most.’ Raagu conjured a dozen Warping Arrays from her tunic that she arranged into a single uninterrupted line. When the next barrage of Spirit bullets arrived, she activated the arrays and Warped the emerald missiles hundreds of kilometers away.

So far away from their caster and intended targets, the projectiles were akin to soldiers stranded on a deserted island. They wandered aimlessly until their mana lost cohesion and they faded away.

Gyrwin and the other five Awakened in the seven-man unit used the respite to fix the cracks in the Bastion, looking at Raagu in admiration.