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Chapter 973: Combat Beyond Visible Range (Part I)

The sniper team crossed the Fertile Plains north of the Western Region at a steady pace, Sylvie guiding them through the open grassland until they reached their assigned position: a grove of trees, well clear of the First Army’s line of march.

The General Staff’s plan was precise. They would neutralize any enemy within five kilometers and protect the First Army without ever being spotted. That meant keeping their distance—because an army of more than a thousand soldiers, even camouflaged, was visible from ten kilometers when moving across flat ground. The Devilbeasts flew high. They had good eyes.

When the sniper team set out, the First Army stopped and went to ground.

The team itself was built for agility. Lightning and Maggie formed the Flight Squad. The remaining witches traveled in the Ark. Together they were designed to confuse and eliminate enemies while the army crept forward behind them. Everyone wore the strange new camouflage uniforms—“jungle pattern,” Roland had called them—dyed in irregular browns and greens, cut from a rough material that resisted snagging on brush.

Lightning and Maggie had been enthusiastic about them. From altitude, they claimed, they couldn’t distinguish the soldiers from the terrain even when they knew where to look. Once the soldiers stopped moving, they simply vanished.

Andrea wore hers without complaint.

She did not like it.

The tailoring was nonexistent. Everyone in the uniform looked identical—formless, indistinct, as though the army had dressed itself in burlap. The dye looked as though someone had flung it at the cloth from across the room. The fabric was coarse as tree bark, and without the special lining Soloya had made for her, it would have left her skin raw within the hour. She had no idea where His Majesty sourced material this crude.

But she would not complain. Not once. She was a noble lady, and noble ladies remained composed under all circumstances—and more to the point, she was not going to give Ashes a single opening.

She’d be merciless. She’d say I was too soft, too pampered, that my time in the Kingdom of Dawn had gone to my head. I can hear exactly how she’d say it. And the infuriating part was that Andrea had been the one to make the Kingdom of Dawn operation a success. While she’d been fighting, Ashes had been drifting around Lady Tilly doing nothing in particular.

“The demons are thirty-five kilometers out.” Sylvie’s voice pulled her back. “Prepare to surface. Barrier down in five seconds—watch for the impact.”

“Roger, going up. Barrier down in five. Mind the impact,” Margie said, crisp and even.

Lightning pumped her fist. “That’s the tone! Professional. You’re a fast learner.”

“Did I sound professional? Thank you.” Margie touched her head, the pleasure in her face unguarded. She might not have heard many compliments in the church.

Andrea pressed her fingers to her temple. How does a flat recitation of instructions sound professional? And where was the impact Margie had warned about? When the Ark dissolved, they swayed slightly from inertia and then stood still on solid ground. It was nothing—weaker than the vibration from one of Ashes’ shouts.

“Flight Squad, prepare to move.” Lightning snapped her goggles down, looked at her own thumb for a moment, raised it at the others. “Runway clear. Green light on. Lightning—taking off!”

“Maggie—taking off!” Maggie became a goshawk between one breath and the next. She and Lightning were gone into the clouds within seconds.

“What’s a runway?” Amy looked around the empty ground. “Is it a special road for running? Where’s the green light?”

“Probably terms from their new training.” Phyllis tilted her head. “I’ve heard His Majesty use them in the castle. Technical vocabulary—flight training. Though it puzzled me that Wendy and Anna were also at those sessions. Neither of them can fly.”

“Witches without flight ability can learn to fly?”

“I don’t know.”

Amy touched her chin with genuine curiosity. “If I could learn it, what would I say? Something like—Amy, healing magic!”

Sharon’s eyes lit up immediately. “Come up with one for me!”

“Quiet, both of you.” Phyllis kept her voice warm. “Miss Sylvie is tracking the enemy.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Andrea exhaled slowly, watching them, and felt something close to bewilderment.

In the week ahead, the plan called for the sniper team to push steadily farther from the main force—advancing northwest to mislead the demons, drawing attention away from the army’s true line of march. The deeper they moved into enemy territory, the more they would have to depend on their own strength to survive. There was no extraction plan. There was no fallback. If something went wrong five days into enemy country, they handled it themselves or they didn’t come back.

She genuinely could not understand why the girls looked happy about this.

A hand landed on her shoulder. She turned: Iffy, giving her the unmistakable look of I know exactly what you’re thinking.

She felt, absurdly, comforted.

We have no choice about the numbers, she reminded herself. Combat beyond visible range burns magic power at a ruinous rate. We need Amy, Sharon, and the rest of the assistants simply to reload. Without them, I could fire perhaps three shots before I couldn’t lift my arms.

She glanced at Countess Spear, who had been silent throughout—serene in a way that was either profound equanimity or profound indifference, and Andrea genuinely couldn’t tell which. She admired it regardless.

“Let’s begin.” Andrea straightened. “The demons will be in range shortly.”

“One moment,” Spear said quietly. “I’m still unsteady from the Ark. Give me a minute.”

Andrea had no response to that.

Fortunately, the rifle itself didn’t demand much in the way of assembly. Roland had stripped the installation process to two components: gun and tripod. Ashes and Phyllis had carried both the entire way. Andrea had the weapon up and seated on its mount within a few efficient movements. The anti-Devilbeast sniper rifle, she’d found, was easier to work with than the bolt rifles she’d trained on first—no scope to calibrate, no adjustments to calculate. She slid a palm-sized cartridge into the chamber and looked across at Camilla Dary.

Camilla closed her eyes. She laid her hands on Andrea’s shoulder and Sylvie’s simultaneously.

The world inverted itself.

That was the only way Andrea had ever been able to describe it—the dizzying sensation of her soul being pulled sideways while another presence settled in alongside it. The mind resonance disoriented her every time at first. But training had worn the edge off, and she moved through it now like stepping through a familiar door in a dark house, finding her footing quickly.

Sylvie showed her what she needed.

The trees and grass dissolved. In their place: open sky, white clouds, and far in the distance, three black dots moving against the blue.

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