Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"What do you need us to do?" the head of department suddenly asked.

"Ah?" The abrupt change in the high-ranking official's demeanor caught the fire prevention team captain off guard, but he quickly regained his composure, "Demolish the houses! The houses here are definitely beyond saving; we need to fall back two more blocks and make a firebreak."

"All units, attention! About face—march! Forward—march!" The chaotic noise on the outskirts of the fire scene was drowned out by orders amplified using a spell, as the head of department issued direct commands to all the cadets through magic.

He was decisive and acted swiftly, "Which houses need to be demolished, speak!"

"I'll take you there!" The fire prevention team captain nodded frantically and led the way, "My manpower is truly insufficient; your help is really appreciated; God will bless you."

"Hmph." The head of department snorted coldly again, clearly not impressed by the flattery.

Residents within the firebreak zone designated by the fire prevention team captain realized what the group of soldiers were planning to do. The fire was still two blocks away! Of course, they were unwilling to let the soldiers tear down their homes.

"What are you doing?"

"By what right are you demolishing our homes!"

"If you're going to demolish my house, you'll have to step over my dead body."

"Why demolish ours and not others'?"

"The soldiers are killing people!"

Residents in the designated firebreak zone stood by the streets, brandishing things like door bars and kitchen knives, waving them to keep the military academy cadets from getting close.

The fire prevention team captain ran back and forth, trying to persuade them with earnest words, but nobody was willing to listen to him.

Residents living within the inner side of the firebreak also came to their senses, realizing that the creation of a firebreak meant their homes were to be abandoned.

So they too joined the ranks of those preventing the demolition, resolutely not letting the military cadets come a step closer to the houses.

Residents living on the outer side of the firebreak, however, were very supportive of the demolition plan, but they merely stood by with their hands in their pockets, watching the commotion.

"Get out of the way!" The head of department's shout, infused with the power of magic, startled the previously defiant residents into a stunned silence; he could no longer tolerate this charade, "Third-year students! Infantry division! Fall in!"

Winters, upon hearing the order, reflexively stepped out and stood at the front of the line.

"Anyone who dares to obstruct, shoot to kill!" The deafening voice was still magnified by the spell, "If you want compensation, go to the city government!"

Winters had not expected the head of department to issue an order of "shoot to kill." In his view, the situation had not escalated to the point of killing.

The residents of the port district clearly did not expect the official to be so ruthless; they trembled, barely able to stand on their own if not for helping each other, no longer possessing the unruly arrogance they had shown before.

Winters stood face-to-face with the residents who were protecting their homes; he saw fear and terror in their eyes.

"Do we really have to use force?" Winters thought to himself, clutching the iron shovel tightly in his hands, swallowing hard.

"Take action!" came another fierce shout from the head of department.

Winters steeled his heart, as a sense of duty to obey orders overcame all other thoughts. Ignoring the injury on his arm, he gripped the shovel with both hands and swung it fiercely towards the people opposite him.

However, Winters deliberately used the wooden end rather than the metal end, thinking to himself, "The wooden handle probably won't kill anyone."

The group of minor citizens was no match for these military cadets who had undergone years of training, quickly beaten into crying for their parents and running away in panic.

"Murder!"

"The soldiers are killing people!"

"It's the military academy who started the fire!"

"Demolish!" The head of department ordered, completely ignoring what the dispersed residents were shouting, focusing only on executing the original plan.

This time, nobody dared to obstruct anymore; the residents all turned and ran back home to move their belongings, trying to salvage as much property as possible before their houses were destroyed.

Guidao City's port district's houses could be said to be a typical example of organic, unplanned urban areas.

Starting from the docks, the city grew naturally without order, with houses enveloping one another like layers of an onion.

There were houses for all sorts of uses: residential, storage, workshops, shops; houses made from all kinds of materials: wood, adobe, bricks, stone; and houses from various eras. It was truly a melting pot.

The military academy students secured ropes to the houses that faced the street and pulled down a whole wall of a wooden house with a united effort.

The fire prevention team captain's selection of the firebreak location was quite strategic, running along a stinking ditch. After demolishing the houses, the resulting construction debris could be pushed directly into the ditch, greatly improving efficiency.

"Don't all crowd here; we can't spread out! Third-year stay here! First-year, go to the eastern blocks! Second-year, go to the western blocks! Anyone who dares obstruct, shoot to kill!" The head of department commanded in an orderly fashion.

"Montekucoli!" The head of department called out another name.

"Present!" The head of the artillery department responded immediately.

"Go back to the armory to get the explosives; demolish all brick and stone houses with blasting!"

"Yes!" The director of the Artillery Academy's teaching and research office didn't say another word and left with a subordinate right away.

While all the soldiers on-site were busily dismantling houses, from afar suddenly came the sound of a sermon being shouted at the top of someone's lungs.

"Revere! Feel the fiery wrath of God! The glorious day of His judgment has arrived!" A mendicant monk dressed in a coarse hemp robe, holding a banner aloft, strode forward; the residents who had been spectating all dropped to their knees before him, many attempting to kiss the hem of his robe and his shoes.

With both hands raising the banner high, the mendicant monk preached loudly: "The angel of fire has descended upon Sodom! This is the divine fire that punishes your everyday sins! Repent..."

"Fuck your mother!" The commander lashed out with his whip, knocking over the fanatic.

"Anyone who comes to help will get a big silver coin! It doesn't matter if you are man or woman, old or young!" Having dealt with the clergyman who was openly preaching defeatism, the commander immediately started recruiting bystanders: "If you don't help, the fire will get here, and your houses won't be spared either!"

(Big silver coin: Refers to the large silver coins first minted by The Federated Provinces of the Republic in the year 537 of the Empire, which corresponded to the smaller silver coins with a silver content ratio of 1:20. The value of a big silver coin was roughly equivalent to one month's wages for a dock worker.)

Who would pay for this? Certainly not the military academy.

Following the commander's line of thinking was: "Go and demand it from the city government."

The commander didn't care how much trouble his words might cause the Guidao City Executive Committee; what he was considering was how to demolish the isolation zone quickly and efficiently.

Through a combination of threats and incentives, along with a bit of bluffing and intimidation, the demolition crew had significantly grown in number.

The marshal, along with the assembled Guidao City Urban Guard, arrived, timely allowing the Urban Guard to maintain order at the scene.

The two infantry battalions stationed outside the city (full strength of 960 soldiers and 14 officers) also arrived on-site, and the army soldiers quickly joined the work of tearing down the isolation zone.

The dull sounds of blasting and the collapse of buildings echoed back and forth, as horses, harnessed with makeshift bridles, were used to pull down the structures. The demolition project was proceeding in an orderly, tense, and race-against-time manner.

But plans can never keep up with changes, as from nightfall to now, the wind speed of the sea breeze blowing from the ocean to the land had been gradually increasing.

With the help of the sea breeze, the fire spread faster than anyone had anticipated. The fire line was accelerating towards the isolation zone, while a significant part of the isolation zone still remained to be demolished.

"Sir, I'm afraid we're not going to make it... We should have set up the isolation zone two blocks further back," moaned the head of the fire prevention team, clutching his hat in his hands, crumpling it into a ball of tattered cloth.

"I know." The commander's attitude was still cool as ice, but he was thoughtful, as though he had an idea.

"Christian!" The commander called out loudly.

"Present!" The head of the Spellcasters' teaching and research office, having heard the commander's summons, ran over from a distance.

"If all the spellcasters work together using the Wind Control Technique, could they temporarily change the direction of the wind in a particular area?" the commander asked, voicing his remarkable idea.

"It's very challenging for spellcasters to contend with the forces of nature," said Christian, feeling that the commander's idea was far-fetched: "Spellcasters should use their spells in harmony with the forces of nature, not against them..."

"I'm asking you if it's possible or not?" The commander didn't want to hear any excuses.

"Theoretically, it should be." Christian continued to explain: "But realistically, I think it would be difficult to achieve with the current strength of our spellcasters; we don't have enough and don't have sufficiently powerful spellcasters..."

"That's enough." The commander heard what he wanted to hear.

"I said it's theoretically possible, but in reality..." Christian hurried to clarify that there was a gap between theory and practice.

"Doing something is better than doing nothing." The commander made a judgment: "Gather all the spellcasters present, I'll tell you where to go in a while."

Winters, who had been focusing on dismantling a house, was suddenly called out. He noticed that all those who were taken out with him were spellcaster students.

All the spellcasters on the scene were brought together, and Christian repeated the orders loudly: "When you hear the command, use the Wind Control Technique with all your might directly ahead, without holding back. Remember! Straight ahead."

Winters immediately understood the leadership's plan, thinking that even with his poor skill in acceleration magic, he was being drafted as a tool, indicating that the commander was really clutching at straws.

Soon after, the spellcasters were brought to a yet-to-be-demolished area; for even distribution, some spellcaster students were even positioned on rooftops.

Winters didn't go onto a roof; he stood on the street, where, through the smoke, he could see the burning buildings about twenty or so meters away.

"Wind Control Technique, activate at full power!" The command came from not far behind him.

Upon hearing the command, Winters, with his thumb pressing down on his middle finger in his left hand, recalled the feeling of using acceleration magic and entered the casting state with all his might.

Scorching heat and extreme cold tormented his "third hand," as though thousands of knives were cutting into his "fifth limb."

He could feel the wind direction changing around him, the breeze from the front gradually weakening, coming to a stop, and then turning into a wind blowing from behind toward the front.

Winters knew the commander's plan was working, but he could no longer hold out, so he tried to relax his mind and exit the casting state.

But to his horror, he couldn't leave the casting state. The casting state that usually couldn't be maintained with the slightest distraction was now inescapable, even if he wanted out.

He even became paralyzed, losing control over his own body.

To onlookers, Winters simply stood at attention on the street, but in reality, he was being forced to endure an incessant and grueling torment. Eventually, he could bear no more. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

In the final moment before he collapsed, he saw a gigantic flame serpent soaring into the sky.