Arcanum - Chapter 144

“Paul…?…..” I whispered looking at him noticing his lack of reaction. “Paul?..” I repeated myself shaking him gently.

“Huh?…” He whispered turning to me….. “You did it” He smiled barely able to let out a whisper. “I need you to take me to the Deputy Headmistress…” He whispered before falling into my arms.

“PAUL?!” I yelled shaking him harder to wake him up. “Wake up….please….” Tears began flowing down my eyes this was all my fault…..

“….Don’t worry he’s just a little exhausted….” Yuna tried to reassure me placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Are you sure?!” I asked in a panic.

“He’s still breathing…. so he’s probably exhausted.” Yuna explained.

“Ummmm… okay…..” My voice quivered…. “Is there anything we can do for him?….. I feel it’s all my fault…” I asked Yuna my whole body quivering at the thought of losing him…. “I don’t want to lose him.” I whispered.

“He will be alright….with some rest, come we’ll take him to the Triage Center.” Yuna smiled picking him up from me and cradling him.

“I can do that…..” I instinctively replied feeling guilty putting him in this condition.

“I’m sure you could….. But an unconscious body is much heavier.” She smiled.

“Is he okay?…” Jay asked as we met up with everyone else.

“Yup he just needs rest.” Yuna answered for me.

“Is he hurt??!!” Daisy jumped seeing his condition instantly putting a glowing hand on him.

“He’s just exhausted….” Yuna notified Daisy. “Let’s get him to the Triage Center I’m sure there are beds there he can use.” Yuna ordered us and began walking off.

Seeing him in the condition….. I couldn’t help but blame myself, if I didn’t ask him to help everyone he wouldn’t be in such a condition….. Risking his life trying to protect people from an army…

“He’s gonna be okay… he just needs rest..” Daisy placed a hand on me trying to steady my nerves.

“Yeah… nothing to worry about Emilia.” Grace smiled.

“Yes Emilia… all that matters is that he’s here now and he’s safe along with all the other refugees you saved.” Helen added.

“I guess you’re right….” I lied to everyone faking a smile.

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“The triage centre should be around this corner.” Yuna notified us effortlessly carrying Paul without showing any ounce of struggle or being out of breath.

We turned into a larger park then before turned into a make shift triage centre… several large open tents filled with innumerable injured individuals lying on beds covered in bandages and wounds.

Four Atlantis students saw us approaching and gasped in shock, two of them ran towards another tent and the other two came running towards us, taking a slight pause as they neared.

“What seems to be the problem?..” Both the female students asked taking a check over Paul’s body for any wounds of blood in his clothing.

“He just over exhausted himself…. he needs a bed to rest on.” Yuna notified them.

“Yes come this way quickly….. The Atlantis tent is this way.” The two students pointed at a distant tent and began leading the way.

“How’s it looking?..” Yuna asked them both as we made our way to the tent.

“Atlantis students are all doing fine… we save our strongest potions, elixirs and Healing magic for Atlantis students and the extremely badly wounded… So as protocol states they have around 5 minutes rest before going back out again… Normal soldiers on the other hand….. Some come badly wounded but most arrive with shallow to superficial wounds…” One of the two students informed us.

“Thank you for your work.” Yuna bowed to them.

“Come in come in.” The other two students welcomed us in as we arrived at the tent.

“Please place him on one of the beds.” they guided us through the tent, as the two girls mentioned earlier the Atlantis tent was a lot emptier. Some of the filled beds having a slight golden hue to them.

“All combatant students please make your way to the inner district and await further update and order from the Headmistress.” A voice notified all of us in our heads.

“Don’t worry we’ll take good care of him….. And we’ll wake him up in 5 Minutes.” The students notified us giving us a nod.

“We need to go Emilia…” Yuna grabbed my arm gently noticing me staring at Paul, “He’s in good hands…. and we need to defend the city or all this is for naught.” She attempted to persuade me.

“He’s gonna be completely safe.” Daisy smiled trying to also reassure me.

“Ummm… okay…” I hesitantly agreed taking his hand into mine… there was still warmth in them….. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can’ squeezing his hand with a light kiss and placing his hand back on his body. “Okay let’s defend the city!” I replied surging with confidence Paul did his part…. now it’s time to do mine.

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Yuna quickly led us to the inner district gates… It looked similar to the gates and wall into the city but much less defensible, the walls weren’t quite as thick and tall, less guard towers and a lot less cover.

“Wow didn’t know Atlantis could mobilize this many students…” Jay stared in awe.

“These are the only Combative students?…” Grace asked as if witnessing something unbelievable.

“Of course….. You do know we need to be as strong as the other institutes to maintain the equilibrium.” Yuna smiled walking towards the mass amount of mobilized students with great pride in every step.

“No wonder why Arcadia’s ruling family is afraid of Atlantis….” Jay muttered.

“What on earth did we sign ourselves up for?…..” I asked in shock never really coming to terms with what Atlantis really was…

“Students of Atlantis I’m sure you are all wondering why we retreated off the wall….. Paul the Black Dragon Slayer has ordered us to retreat from the front walls… He reports there are an overwhelming amount of Dark Elves outside in the Darkness, we suspect their initial assault was to trick us into thinking we were winning and trick us to strengthen our numbers on the wall… then smash the wall with siege creatures, breaching the wall and dividing our forces.” The Deputy Headmistress informed us of the situation. “Currently the city guards are maintaining the wall….. They have been instructed to retreat through the teleports once they are overwhelmed, the wall has been laced with explosives and Trap magic… We’ll hold this inner wall…. the walls have been reinforced with my magic making it nigh impenetrable forcing them through strategically positioned bottlenecks. At that point they will be forced to engage in close combat in disadvantageous numbers while our ranged students whittle them from the wall. She carried on instructing everyone, “And remember any who is injured no matter what happen you must extract them from the fight.” She reminded everyone. “Now everyone please report to your designated A-Ranked Captain and form up ready for the upcoming battle.” The Deputy Headmistress ordered.

“Well…. I guess this is goodbye for now.” Yuna smiled.

“Be safe.” Grace and Helen replied to her.

“You too.” She smiled and walked into the crowd of students.

“Crap…. who do we report to?….” Jay asked looking worried.

“Let’s find Sven I’m sure he can assign us somewhere.” I suggests.

“Yeah… He is a high ranked student after all.” Grace agreed.