The Angel of Hope ascended up above the botanical bastion that stood as the line of defense against the encroaching forces, and with a Wall of Containing Light lifted a barrier between the sunflower towers and the fire on the cornfield, reaching halfway up the stalks of the colossal plants. As the blaze began to spread over the cornfield, it reached the wall, it’s flames unable to climb the Reinforcement construct and only inflicting minor damage to it; the sunflowers were spared from their natural weakness. However, the fire continued to expand on the field; it wouldn’t take long before it develops into a wildfire.

Next, it was Gaia’s turn; using one of the sunflowers as a catalyst, the emerald-haired girl invigorated the weary defenders into new life, directing the essence of the cornfield into them; the sunflowers bloomed with a golden shimmer on their petals as fertile magic spread from one root to another, the stalks growing taller as they reached out towards the sun. As they did, they evolved into something resembling corn, but on a much more destructive scale, with corn cobs that could be launched like warheads. These new plants, while requiring more time to recover between shots, now possessed improved range and area of effect compared to the energy beams. They were able to lay out suppressing fire on incoming soldiers, and prevented tanks from advancing too fast in fear of getting into a killzone.

Gaia also cast a spell that would threaten from below in the form of various engaging eukaryotes, and spread the wrath of nature to the sides of the burning field. 
This included entangling thorns and vines, smaller corncob launchers, foul fungus that would make Zuggtmoy proud, snapping flytrap jaws, and even pea-carrying plants that would shoot out their payloads like from stationary turrets. Gaia had sown the seeds for a hazardous harvest.

Connie then prepared a spell, and gathered mentally shattering forces, flowing as purple wisps that gathered in numbers. She looked out over a lone squad of soldiers that had avoided the local defenders by using the remaining patches of corn as cover, and unleashed a wave of nightmarish illusions. The wave reached the soldiers, and they in turn…

Did not react. In fact, they only momentarily looked over one another, as if trying to figure out what kind of spell had been cast on them. How could they have avoided Connie’s horrifying hex? A spell that more dangerous monsters like wendigos were susceptible to?

It didn’t take long before she had her answer; she saw as the bodies of soldiers impaled and slashed by Penny and Mayra had slowly risen with a stumble, long after the two had advanced past them. A couple of them were missing their helmets, and the truth was revealed; they were all headless, with only a clean, black surface where their neck should have been, their helmets having only given the illusion that they were normal humans. Of course, the headless soldiers only seemed capable of shambling around, their arms stretched down towards the ground, searching for their missing helmets. And those who had a missing arm or leg stayed crippled, struggling to move.

[hr]
The tanks in the distance had stopped, and prepared to fire…When suddenly the soldiers began to shout as they noticed a pair of individuals who came running in from a forested region to the east, one dragging the other along by their wrist. Clearly Mahou based on how quickly they crossed the open field and up the hill, the Bolorton defenders saw as they engaged with the Wonderland forces on top of the hill. Kiyome successfully ambushed the troops with a teleport, and performed a Focused Strike; she struck at the pivoting turret of the eastern tank, cleaving not only through the barrel of the cannon, but also through the chassis; screams could be heard from the metallic shell as the blade cut inside, like a fish being filleted.

“Open fire!”
The cannon fell, and the two dozen soldiers escorting the tanks unloaded their glowing weaponry on Kiyome, bullets flying up like an upward gush of a geyser. However, having expected the counter-attack using her Precognition, Kiyome teleported out of the way, avoiding most of the bullets except six, and afterwards left a lasting impression on the soldiers, visibly shaking from the experience as a bloodied survivor climbed out of the ruined vehicle.

"Use extreme caution, hostile is capa- jlghajdlgajkdg!"

The card soldier with the heart insignia stopped speaking once he and another soldier next to him were impaled with Kiyome’s sword in brutal fashion, followed by a slash that cut down two more. Then, in a brilliant move, she used protection in the form of a bisected body to close the distance to the remaining four soldiers guarding the eastern tank. In this maneuver, she only took one bullet before she threw the body to distract the soldiers and teleported again to cut the last soldiers guarding the eastern tank out of the eight.

As Kiyome fought on top of the hill, she caught a glimpse of something from beyond the hill the tanks had rolled from, and was met with a fear-inducing sight; nine more tanks could be seen rolling up the hill, a hundred soldiers either escorting the tanks or running in as separate squads, as well as armored personnel carriers, and a line of Howitzer cannons that were shooting a new salvo of shells on Bolorton. The forces were either climbing the hill or passing around it towards the burning cornfield and Gaia’s trapped fields. In total, six more tanks could be seen rolling over the hill to the Bolorton defenders, as well as even a larger force of troopers.

She also saw what looked a group of flying soldiers far in the distance that were…sparkling? It was as if the soldiers had a coating of sparkly dust on them that trailed slightly behind them. The soldiers also had spade symbols, unlike the club symbols that Kiyome had been cutting so far. There were five in total: three of them carried heavy weaponry like gatling guns, anti-tank sniper rifles and rocket launchers, while two carried their weapons on their backs and instead held on to what looked like a strange creature resembling an egg…
In total, she was hit seven times: thrice in her lower back, once in her rear, twice in the stomach, and once in the leg. Three of the bullets had pierced her skin, and one had damaged her internal organs. However, while they would have been grievous wounds to a normal Mahou due to the stopping power of the enchanted rifles, Kiyome was able to shrug off the pain with her Immortality and keep going with full ability. 

Suddenly, Kiyome jumped to dodge a rocket launcher from one of the flying Spades as they approached the hilll, but the ensuing knockback sent her flying down the hill towards Bolorton. As she recovered, she saw a fireball heading towards her…And it soon took the form of a very excited monster girl. Unable to dodge or teleport, the more graceful dragon girl was caught in a fiery glomp by Mayra, and the two rolled up the hill a bit before rolling back down to the cornfield, with Mayra setting it on fire as they went.
After expressing her enthusiasm to the new contender, Mayra then jumped off and prepared to fight, starting off with a deadly claw lunge.

Meanwhile, Eliana split off from Kiyome, and headed towards Bolorton passing through a flanking field boobytrapped by Gaia; though she was capable enough to jump and dodge through most of the hazards, she inhaled a whiff from a cloud of toxic spores from a fungus. Fortunately for Eliana, the toxin was of mild effect to Mahou, only causing her nausea, asthma, and lung inflammation resulting in bouts of coughing.

Penny, using a Metal spell, drew forth the weapons of her fallen enemies, and they came forth as a coiling serpent of clacking guns, swirling around Penny as they latched on to her limbs and back, fusing with her. The gems built into the weapons also fused in Penny, and she felt a surge of magic course through her. Now she understood why the rifles held so much power, for they were enchanted with but a single goal: to further hone the efficiency to kill, to heighten the scientific accomplishments of slaughter, and to perfect the technology to end life in as vast a scale as possible. As the vessels brimming with dark thoughts and vile musings given arcane form filled up Penny’s mental landscape, questions began to climb up to her consciousness: what are the technical specifications of these weapons? How efficiently can they kill? She saw soldiers around her, either headlessly shambling or desperately trying to advance, but she didn’t saw enemies: she saw statistics. She realized she needed to know how many she could kill, how fast, with how many bullets, at what range, at what velocity of the bullets, and with what accuracy. It was a world of data ready for the reaping.

(Penny has acquired a new Mental Mutation: Weapon Fanatic.
Weapon Fanatic: you are obsessed with weaponry, related technology and its effectiveness. Whenever you see or hold weapons, an urge rises to test them out on living creatures you can detect, and statistics in their mortality rates and use; this urge rises with heightened emotional levels, stress, and mental state. In a calm situation, you are prone to slip to musing aloud about random trivia about weapons, the history of war, and related topics, finding them interesting conversation starters.The more violent a situation is, the more possibilities for weapons research come up, and ideas for better ways to kill and destroy, as well as a steadily rising urge to put them into practice.)

[hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/72bEcUi.png[/img][/center]
Lily frowned upon hearing the negative answer from Connie, but afterwards gave a reassuring pat on her shoulder.
[color=fff200]”That’s okay. Anyway, I’m going now, so let’s all do our best!"[/color]
And with that, she ran off to begin the evacuation effort with Alex, Ronin and Miko.

After Alex had rescued the injured villager, he located all the residents on the first house he sent his duplicates to in record time using Absolute Direction. Three clones brought out a family of four, the two children carried on each arm of the first clone, followed by their parents carried by a clone each. As Annabell had confirmed, the family was in an enchanted slumber, oblivious to the sounds of distant gunfire and explosions. This was followed by clearing out four more houses on the east row of their residents; one of the houses had partially collapsed from a stray shell, but Alex’ clones successfully dug through the debris to carry out the old couple that lived there. 

The clones, once outside saw Lily running the opposite direction from the marked path Annabell had created and into a house. As the clones folölowed the path, they soon saw Annabell waving in the distance; she stood at the back of the local school, next to a wide, open door.
“In here!” She shouted, and directed the clones to carry the civilians into the shelter.
As they did, they saw Lily running fast, carrying a middle-aged man over her shoulders. She disappeared into the shelter and run out to fetch another in the blink of an eye.

Lily was assisted in the evacuation effort on the west row by Ronin and Miko, who first brought out a teenage child and an old woman respectively. Then, following the example of Lily and Alex’ clones, they also carried them off to the shelter, not breaking a sweat even as Miko had to bear the weight of a musclebound farmer thanks to her strengthened fortitude. They were able to clear out their respective houses of all residents.

[color=fff200]”We’re making better progress than I thought!"[/color] Lily shouted, slightly unnerved by the imminent death that lingered in the air.
[color=fff200]”But maybe we could do this faster if you two drop off the villagers at the front yards and let the clones and me carry them from there,"[/color] she suggested to the twins, before verbally backpedaling with a flustered expression.
[color=fff200]”No, I mean, that sounded rude, but I didn’t mean it to, and, uhh-!"[/color]

That was when Eliana arrived at the scene of the evacuation holding a sleeping child, coughing violently. Lily turned to greet at the newcomer, looking relieved.
[color=fff200]”You’re here to help, right! Thank goodness! Take anyone you find to the shelter! I’ll show the way!"[/color] She then grabbed another civilian from another house, and led Eliana to the shelter, where Annabell greeted her in turn.
“Save introductions for later, but thank you nonetheless!”

In total, five houses were evacuated from the east row, and seven from the west row, leaving twenty-five and twenty-three respectively. All the while, more artillery came whistling in, hitting streets and buildings with explosive force. Fortunately, only Alex’ clones were caught in the blasts, disintegrating four of them.

[hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/K2ssvzh.png[/img][/center]

Justine blinked upon hearing Iron Mouse’s message that was relayed telepathically to her and the rest of the Cradle group through their shared network, but otherwise kept her poker face.
[i][color=bc8dbf]Another Sin…This can’t be a coincidence. Something is causing them to congregate in Penrose. Anyway, I agree with the plan to stay quiet for now and not give her any reason to turn against us. Let’s just hope she doesn’t mind sharing a car with another of her ilk…[/color][/i]

When it came to the seating arrangements, she shrugged at Iron Mouse’s suggestion.
[color=bc8dbf]”That is fine with me,”[/color] she replied as she took a seat on the middle of the backseat, with Oliver and Finn sitting at the sides. Predicting that Iron Mouse would jump on top of them, she created a bouncy cushion over her lap made of solid blood using her magic, and rolled her eyes once the latter settled in.
[color=bc8dbf]”Miss Nefer, we’re ready to go.”[/color]

The Sinner chuckled at the comical scene she glimpsed upon leaning back.
“You guys are pretty funny, you know that? Alright, step on it, A.”

The golem grumbled, and the passengers felt an initial yank as the car accelerated from zero to hundred in an instant, and soon they were speeding across the land. Despite the ridiculous speed that they were travelling on a convertible, however, the atmosphere in the car was pleasant, like riding inside an airplane, isolated from the outside by magic.
It didn’t take long before Nefer looked back and asked:
“Say, you look familiar. What’s y’all’s names?” She asked everyone, eyeing Finn in particular.
In the horizon, they could see faint silhouettes of Bolorton’s buildings, as well as signs of a conflict on the cornfield next to it.

[hr]
Jelena danced the best she could with the marquis, but unfortunately she found herself stomping her metallic feet like an elephant, stepping on the gentleman’s feet on more than one occasion. However, even if the corner of Harry’s lip curled, he managed to preserve his smile. “Your steps are as light as a sylph’s, madam,” he complimented her. This was followed by a barely audible sigh of relief once the song ended. “That was lovely. Thank you for the dance,” he said, and bowed. That was when the gentleman in the top hat and monocle approached the two of them.
“Miss Pedersen’s entourage , I presume?” The man was a bit shorter than Harry, and seemed a bit less extroverted and more scholarly in personality, but otherwise appeared as much of a posh aristocrat as Harry. He also wore a taller hat than Harry. In fact, it was so tall as to appear ridiculous if it weren’t for the man’s absolute confidence in wearing it in style.
“Doctor Mathias Hatwington,” he spoke as he slightly bowed in greeting, his hat tipping down before it rose back up. ”Pleased to meet you. By the way, would you be interested in an intellectual debate? I would like to start by bringing up Theorem Of Magical Relations And Their Effect On Society by Edgy Allen Pooh, specifically Chapter 12; Tyranny and Terror, and ask your views on the subject. If you are unfamiliar with the literature of topic, I can summarize for you. Now then, as I recall, Mister Pooh has identified five types of…”

While the doctor continued on his tiresome seminar on a book Jelena was not familiar with, she took another look around the party: there were no new spells or enchantments casted since their arrival. However, she noticed that Harry had left to converse in subdued voice with the hooded girl near the stairs; based on how their conversation looked, it wasn’t an exchange of pleasantries, but a serious discussion.

Meanwhile, as Mariette played croquet, she found herself playing better than expected; the ball rolled through the grass with surprising ease, passing through a couple of hoops. Mariette then recognized the enchanted nature of the sport; it was less about one’s skill and strength with using the mallet, but how well one concentrated on directing the balls using the croquet mallet as a focus.

Then it was the Queen’s turn, and she easily struck the ball through three hops, causing the ball to turn at a 90-degree angle. “Oh, but you see, you don’t know that you don’t know.”
She noticed how Mariette had averted her eye away upon speaking of her past, and gently lifted Mariette’s chin up with the mallet. “Now you can climb out of that pit, Alice…You don’t have to search anymore, as we have found each other.”

She turned teary-eyed, threw her mallet away, and caught Mariette in a warm hug. “It has been far too long since I’ve had to part with you, my dear Alice. Far, far too long. 
I’ve searched for you for so long…I did all I could to find you, I almost lost all hope. But now, we can be together again, Alice…as mother and daughter.”

[hr]
At Beacon headquarters, as Alicia was about to head out on an errand, she found herself approached by Ishtar; she had improved to the point of being able to move from place to place using a walking cane.
“Paladin Seraph, the situation at Bolorton seems to have escalated beyond our calculations, to the point even higher officials have officially recognized it. While we are still unable to directly interfere with the invasion itself, we were given permission to send a few operatives and form a humanitarian corridor to the civilians there.” She handed out a document to Alicia.
“Here are the details. Your task is to gather three operatives and deploy a portable teleport gate at the local shelter the resistance is using or another safe location and extract as many civilians as you can. While our teleporters are limited to the Penrose area, we will be supplying you with a personnel carrier and the portable device with it. Do you have any questions?”