497 Gathering Powers

POV Marcus:

Under a shroud of swirling dust clouds, dark silhouettes crept forward with ghost-like silence. The night was eerily still, punctuated only by the soft, muffled sounds of their steps weaving through a desolate landscape of dust and ash. Pausing a mere hundred meters from the seared, crumbling remnants of an ancient castle's wall, the tension among them was palpable.

Marcus, his armor hidden behind the dark cloak and his gaze piercing through the murk, could barely make out the outlines of his target. "The dust conjured by the mages will shield us long enough to prepare magic formation," he whispered to himself, the weight of the task making him both excited and worried.

Turning to the figure at his side, a mage with his pointy hat, white beard, and weathered black cloak, Marcus's armored fist gestured with determined resolve.

"Merlin, ready the focusing crystal. We will blast them."