The Siege of Castle Valiant [Event Finale]

The stage was set. Both teams were either done preparing, or finishing the last of their preparations. Soon, the fated showdown would begin. Soon, the crowd would see the start of the siege. So many questions in mind as the audience eagerly anticipated the start of the battle. How would UA start off their attack? What defenses would Adler provide? And most importantly, who would emerge victorious?

The announcer encouraged the audience to count down alongside him. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!

BOOM!

A loud cannon was fired in the distance. Nothing was actually loaded in it, so there was no need to worry about any actual casualties, damages, or anything of that sort. But with the firing of the cannon, the siege on the castle had officially begun.

"Okay, time to move!" The Adler students had already made their discussion and planning, so they wasted no time running to their positions. Their strategy was simple. There were three main ways to enter the castle proper. The first and most straightforward way was through the front door, past the barbican and gatehouse. The second way was swimming across the moat to an open passage leading directly to the courtyard. And finally, there was flying up past the moat and castle walls to reach the courtyard. The plan was to make it as difficult as possible if not outright impossible to let the UA students enter through any of these three routes.

The first method of entering the castle, the front entrance, was naturally fortified and would be the hardest to break through normally. After all, what was the point of having a main entrance that did not make it difficult for invaders to enter via the front door? The barbican was a thin and enclosed passageway, which would make it easy to lay down some traps as the invaders tried to make their way through. Small slits in the wall from which to trigger motion sensors and fire arrows and things like that were but a taste of what any UA student who chose to head in through the front door could expect. Just past that would be the gatehouse, which while not as narrow and restrictive, was filled with doors and corridors that were meant to confuse and disorient anyone who tried to walk in. Pretty ideal for fitting in larger and more elaborate traps. Just past the barbican and gatehouse was a thick reinforced door. It was incredibly tough, and only the strongest of the UA students would be able to knock the resilient door down in a timely manner.

But assuming that one of the UA students did break the door down, there was a nasty surprise waiting for them on the other side. Stefan was waiting just above the doorway. Up above the corridor that led straight into the inner courtyard was a relatively thin ceiling, which had loads of traps sitting right on top. As soon as someone broke through the door, Stefan could use his quirk to weaken this small ceiling just enough for it to shatter and send traps raining down on the enemy's heads. Of course, these traps would not do much damage to anyone that got hit, as injuring people was not the goal. Rather, they would serve to slow down anyone who tried to run past the door. These traps varied from nets that were annoying to break through, sludge that would stick to people's bodies and harden enough to make moving around difficult, oil that would make the floor slippery and make falling down a scarily certain possibility, and small mechanical orbs that would release small amounts of electricity that were only slightly weaker than a taser. All these traps courtesy of Adler's Support students.

Next was the small passageway to the right of the main entrance. If one wished to avoid the front entrance, they could easily swim past the moat to reach this entrance. But of course, covering this entrance was to be expected of the Adler students. Here Manuel was, keeping a lookout for any of the UA students who decided to go for a swim. He had several tricks up his sleeve to try to stop anyone going through this way. First was his own quirk. He could punch the water repeatedly and build a combo. With how hard and how fast he could punch the water, Manuel could be able to create a current that would push any swimmers away. And the longer he punched, the stronger the current could become. With this, he could hope to either prevent anyone from swimming over his way, or force them to tire out after swimming through such a powerful current.

Still, he had more ideas up his sleeve in case punching the water proved to not be enough. With him was what looked like a harpoon gun. Fortunately for the UA students, this gun would not impale them if they got shot. Rather, this would release a net which would capture and restrain whoever was caught by it. And in case that wasn't enough, Manuel had a cannon right next to him that he could aim and fire with. The cannonball would not leave a serious injury, but getting hit with one would undoubtedly hurt quite a bit. Needless to say, swimming past the moat would not be easy.

Arguably the easiest way to bypass the castle's defenses was to simply fly over the walls and land inside the inner courtyard. But of course, the twins were there to try to prevent anyone from cheesing their way through. Using their magnetism, Helen and Elena got up to the top of the castle's front walls. From up here, they would get a clear view of the front of the castle. If anyone tried flying up, the two would see them clear as crystal. And the twins had a myriad of anti-flight tools at their disposal.

First up was the various cannons that were up here. They were all already loaded, so it was a simple matter of running to the nearest cannon, taking aim, and firing at will. Some cannons were loaded with padded cannonballs that would inflict damage but no serious injury, while others had nets in them that would aim to capture its target. These would then release a parachute so if anyone did get captured, gravity would not kill them. But in case any fliers proved to be too agile in the air, there were two modified gatling guns. But rather than firing bullets, these things would fire gunks of gum that would stick to a target's wings, adding weight and making it harder to stay afloat. A couple of accurate shots in, and any fliers would slowly begin to descend. That way, it was safe since they would not lose altitude too quickly and there would be no need to worry about crash landing or falling from a great height without warning. And if someone were crazy enough to try climbing up the wall? There were a couple of buckets of green slime lying around and waiting to be used to make the walls far too slippery to properly climb.

So with all three main entrances to the castle covered, it was safe to say that UA would not be having an easy time getting to the inner courtyard. But of course, it was difficult to account for everything. What if there was a fourth way to get in? What if someone tried to sneak inside unnoticed? But that was what Amanda was for. She would be patrolling the inner courtyard, armed with a mini cannon. It was basically a modified paintball gun. But the reason she was given this task was due to her quirk. She could 'see' the pulse waves of others. So it was simple. If she noticed a pulse that was out of place, then it was an enemy trying to sneak inside. And with her blaster, her net, and a retractable staff, she was well-equipped to defend herself against any intruder long enough for her to alert the others.

With the defense all prepared and confident in their planning and preparations, how will the offense fare?