Ed yawned. Despite that, he generally felt pretty good on sleepless nights. His internal clock was screwed up enough that a sleepless night wouldn’t bother him for a while, at the very least. Worst comes to worst, he can take a power nap and keep his body awake. Or he could get Auranna to yell at him.

  Though if he were to be honest, he’s heard Auranna’s voice so much that he could probably just sleep through it. That was just how it was when she bothered him all the time.

  Adelyn sat next to him, giving out a light yawn as well. That girl’s sleep schedule was way better than his, so her body wasn’t keeping up. Luckily, she was strong enough that a bit of sleep deprivation shouldn’t be too much of a detractor.

  “Don’t fall asleep now,” Ed said. “Who knows whenever those bandits could attack.”

  “Yeah. I know. It’s just that Mr. Svector was always strict with bedtimes, and I haven’t gone past that for years,” Adelyn sighed.

  “I know you think you’re good with sleepless nights, but your power naps also aren’t really the pinnacle of a good attention span,” Auranna said. Ed didn’t respond. It might be true that his ability to tank long nights wasn’t perfect, but it also wasn’t important to bring up right now.

  “I’m hoping they delayed it, really. But, ugh…” Adelyn got up from their seats in their makeshift watchtower and looked out the window at the abandoned city. She didn’t see anything quite yet, so it was back to more waiting.

  From what Ed knew, they got the luxury position. This entrance was built next to a watchtower, and already had a solid barricade in place that was put here near the start of this invasion. A very solid stone and steel wall on this road. That basically meant it got less dedication than the other entrances which required more manpower. Adelyn and Ed springing in to help was a bit of a surprise to the guard, so that was probably why they got such a position. But, it was always good to have all the bases covered.

  If an attack were to happen, they would be called and be able to cover. It was just also their job to inform everyone of a potential attack as well. They had a line and device of communication for that.

  “You took quite the simple job, have you?” Auranna criticized.

  “Well. I’d say this suits me better than the philosophy or teaching stuff that Teddie or Cozy are probably dealing with. Finding out the meaning of love, bah. I don’t know if my brain is suited for it.”

  “I don’t think you need a specific brain to understand what love is,” Adelyn said, in response to Ed talking to basically nothing. “When a knight saves the princess from a tower, and they love each other, then that is love. At least in my opinion.”

  “Yeah, but the bird’s deal just isn’t as simple. It’s why we’re in this mess in the first place,” Ed said.

  “I hope Teddie and Cozy are doing alright. Rumia and I did try to study the more mental aspects of magic, because that can affect how your magic manifests. So, it’s not an easy subject. I probably should’ve told them more about it,” Adelyn sighed.

  “Well. I’d say since you’re the strongest one out of us four, it makes sense that we have a more physical job at least,” Ed shrugged.

  “Are you still on that?”

  “I’m not the strongest, jeez.”

  Both Auranna and Adelyn said at the same time to Ed’s comment.

  “I’m still on that, yes. I mean, I think I’m just looking at the facts. Can’t you summon a giant hydra that wreaks havoc everywhere?” Ed argued.

  “I mean… I get pretty tired from doing that. Plus, you have your own strengths too… as does Cozy and Teddie… so I think we’re just all equals…” Adelyn said, a bit flustered.

  “Hey, no shame in being the strongest. Think about it. You always say that you need to be strong to help your friend, right?” Ed said getting up. “Well, if you’re the strongest, then you’re fulfilling that role in spades.”

  “I guess if you look at it that way…” Adelyn seemed to pause for a second, but then she got up too. “I’m going to take another look, see if there’s anything too bad to be worried about.”

  Adelyn walked off to the window, leaving Ed alone to deal with Auranna’s ramblings once more.

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  “I thought we went over this back at the tournament. You give up the title of the strongest too easily,” Auranna said.

  “I’m just speaking the truth. It’s no good to lie about this kind of stuff, right?” Ed said.

  “Regardless of the truth. I think I would appreciate my host put in a little more effort into keeping up the power that I gave him.”

  “If you don’t think I’m putting in effort, you haven’t been paying attention. I dunno what else I’m supposed to say.”

  “Maybe it’s not enough if you keep on ceding your title like that.”

  “That has nothing to do with the amount of effort I put in. God. It feels like we have this same argument every day,” Ed groaned.

  “Hey! What’s that?” Adelyn suddenly shouted from the window. That distracted Ed and Auranna from their little spat, and the two of them rushed over. What they saw outside was a massive vehicle, being trudged along the empty streets of the city.

  It was like a big ram. With a shield and a spike that could effectively bust down any natural defense. It was moving slowly towards the barricade.

  “So that’s what they were working on...” Ed said.

  “I see. They wanted to go attack the side with the most natural defenses because they would face less armed opposition. I suppose it is a good thing we received this job then.” Auranna said.

  “We’re going to need to get ready to slow that thing down as much as we can,” Ed warned Adelyn.

  “Let’s call the rest of the guard first, then go down.”

  “Meet you at the bottom,” Ed said, putting on his mask. Auranna faded into his body, as they had to get ready to fight.

  Adelyn and Ed stood on the barricade, facing down the massive vehicle that was at least twenty times the size of them. They had called for help, but it would take time for the guard to regroup. So, they had to hold out for as long as possible.

  “I’d advise you to stop where you stand!” Adelyn said, her weapon revving besides her.

  “There are people here?” A man shouted from the top of the vehicle. “Damn. Wait, hold on a minute. Aren’t you the kids that got me!”

  Ed squinted, and saw a familiar face. The man who had stolen their wheel from earlier. He was the ringleader of this entire criminal operation, and he looked as pathetic as he did before.

  “Did they really send these two kids to take me out? Again! Well, no matter. We have our way to finally take over this city!”

  He tapped the vehicle.

  Ed and Adelyn looked at each other. In response, Ed summoned a javelin and immediately threw it at him. The man just barely dodged it and immediately shouted back in a rage.

  “Insolence, again! I’ll have you know my name as Johannes Hasira!”

  Ed was not going to remember that name. But, they had something bigger to worry about. The massive vehicle that was about to steamroll them over. Luckily, Adelyn seemed to have this problem covered.

  “Eira!”

  The spirit of ice summoned forth from Adelyn’s magic, and immediately a chilling blast froze over the front of the massive vehicle. It stuck it to the ground, slowing it down significantly.

  “What the hell are you guys doing, letting us be frozen over? Go and deal with them!”

  The man, which Ed had already forgotten the name of, yelled at the other bandits. Shortly after that order, a volley of arrows began to fire at Adelyn. Ed wanted to try testing out his precision, so he created a few throwing knives to try and clash with the arrows just before they were fired.

  He missed a fair few. But, he took out his sword and cut apart the remaining arrows. Maybe he should take this more seriously.

  The time that Ed had bought had given Adelyn enough time to finish freezing the front of the vehicle. With that, she shifted to Drach shortly after. “Ed, give me some more cover.”

  Ed nodded and summoned a glowing light wall around them, protecting them from even more arrows. However, a rattling shook Ed’s shield, as an explosive struck them directly. They seemed to have brought a lot of weapons.

  The dark pocket dimension began to subsume the ram, but due to its size, it was taking a significant amount of time. It seemed like Adelyn was hoping that the ice would be enough to keep it in place for enough of a time.

  But, another explosive hit Ed’s wall, immediately shattering it. The two of them were blown back, but not harmed. Ed got up, as well as Adelyn.

  “Adelyn… I don’t think I can just sit here,” Ed said. “You’re gonna have to hold out up here.”

  “That’s fine,” Adelyn responded. “Do what you do best.”

  Ed turned around and summoned two swords. He saw another explosive device coming towards them, and he leaped forward before it got close and cut it apart. An explosion formed in the air, as he landed down on the ground.

  He was surrounded by bandits, but he also had something to prove. The boy ran forward, before trying to take on as many bandits as he could.

  “Bah! This is frustrating. Can y’all rev the engines!” The main bandit said. “We’re getting stalled too long, let's burst through as fast as we can!”

  Coming out from the vehicle, a flame began to slowly etch out of two massive engines. The ice on the front began to melt, as the ram began to heat up. The main bandit kept on shouting orders, as Drach’s dimension kept on trying to subsume the entire machine.

  This might be more dangerous than they thought.