Imri sat cross-legged in his domain. Thanks to his high mental stats, his mind could now be compartmentalized. This allowed him to split his attention between several tasks while not losing efficiency as if several minds were inhabiting his body. It was true multi-processing of information, unlike pre-integration multi-tasking, which was simply alternating between tasks in quick succession. Part of his mind guided him into meditation. Another part monitored the sensory information provided by his domain, alert for any approaching Azala. A third mind was aware of his Soul Bond with Emelia, ensuring her safety.
With his improved mana regeneration and bonuses to meditation, he regained several MP per minute. Even more important was the reduction in his over-channel debuff, though it was still far from completely removed. Keeping his domain active felt wasteful, but he didn’t dare drop it while focusing on three threads. He still had just under three hours of uptime, but the cost of creating domains would significantly eat into that time.
He was just starting to believe they had reached a stalemate with the Azala, when he felt a spike of terror come from Emelia. With the greater clarity provided by the Soul Bond, Imri knew she was genuinely afraid for her life. He didn’t hesitate to use his new tier 3 spell, Teleportation. He smiled as he felt the amount of mana needed for the spell. Between the improvements with the higher tier spell combined with the tethered Spatial Beacon, the Teleportation only consumed MP at the level of a short-range Blink.
As the spell activated, he dismissed his domain and activated a Temporal Expansion enchantment. A moment later, his surroundings changed, and he was in the convention center auditorium. All around him were the injured, including several who had succumbed to their injuries. Somehow, several Azala Drones had gotten inside the field hospital, causing havoc among the medical personnel, including Emelia.
It took Imri a fraction of a second to get his bearings. The Azala Drone in front of Imri was momentarily stunned by his sudden appearance. This gave the temporally enhanced Imri a massive opening to exploit. His Dimensional Saber cut through the Drone, effortlessly separating its head from the rest of its body.
Imri similarly made short work of several more Drones that made the mistake of coming after Emelia. These low-level drones were an insignificant threat compared to the higher-level Azala he had been fighting. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for several nearby guards who had yet to encounter an Azala. The resulting panic and shooting caused more fatalities than the Azala could have done directly.
The entire fight was short and brutal, taking less than a minute. When the last Azala was dead, Imri released his enchantments and embraced Emelia. She trembled in his arms, and he gripped her tighter. Slowly, her trembling subsided.
“I thought I was going to die,” she sobbed.
“I’m always just a second away, no matter the distance, and I won’t let anything happen to either of you,” he reassured her.
Despite the urgency of the situation, he held her for several moments. It was simultaneously too short and too long.
For the fourth time since gaining the skill, Imri activated his Manifest Domain skill, taking 30 minutes of its total uptime. The information that flooded his mind painted a bleak picture. The radius covered the convention center, with only a tiny amount extending into the nearby street. Azalas were pushing into the building from several different directions, and in some cases, the defenders were already retreating. Only the sections that contained a contingent of Celestia soldiers were holding their ground effectively.
“I have to go,” Imri said apologetically, giving Emelia a quick kiss.
“It’s fine; I still have injured people I need to care for,” Emelia said.
Imri was tempted to charge into the nearest group of Azala, and if he had been in better shape, he might have. However, with his limited resources, he needed to be more tactical. Instead of fighting, he made his way towards Major Harper.
The command room was every bit as chaotic as the field hospital. People ran everywhere, updating maps and relaying messages that came via radio. The monitor displaying aerial surveillance now had blank screens with the message, ‘Input lost’.
“Imri, you’re back,” the major said.
“Not by choice; they threatened to come after Emelia,” Imri explained.
“Well, at least the whole city isn’t this bad,” Major Harper said.
Imri quickly ran through the enemies' positions and numbers, with people updating maps and reports as he went. When he was done, the major frowned.
“That bad,” he said with a sigh. “I’m assuming you don’t have an ace up your sleeve?”
“I’m running on fumes,” Imri admitted.
“The problem, or one of them, is that this isn’t a defensible position. It’s a fucking convention center with dozens of access points and vulnerabilities. We only made this location our HQ because we were already here,” Major Harper said.
“We can’t leave hundreds, if not thousands, of injured people across the hall. There has to be a better solution,” Baroness Dotson argued. They both looked at Imri expectantly as if he was the deciding voice.
“Where would we go?” Imri asked.
“I put my nexus in a military base. So far, its defenses have remained intact,” Baron Coleman offered, pointing to the location on a map.
“That’s several miles away. Maybe a few of us could make it, but most wouldn’t make it,” Baroness Dotson said.
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“I agree, the casualties would be…unacceptable,” the major said.
“I’ve looked for a better location, but there isn’t one. Not unless you want to make a last stand in an office building or a highrise,” Coleman said.
“Coleman, do you have any drones left?”
“I kept a couple in reserve. Why?”
“I need you to get this to the military base,” Imri said, holding out a medallion with a tethered Spatial Beacon.
The mechanic looked at the medallion skeptically, then shrugged and issued a command to one of his aides. A moment later, a new screen section came online, showing the optical display of the drone in transit. Imri hoped that whatever attacked the drones was now preoccupied or, better yet, eliminated.
“We need to get everyone into the field hospital, and I’ll get us out. I only have enough mana for one trip, so anyone not there will get left behind,” Imri explained.
That statement got a reaction from everyone nearby. There was a mix of panic and hope from people who had been certain they were going to die. The leadership took several precious moments to get everyone back on task. Essential equipment was stowed, and people began moving towards the field hospital.
Imri let out a sigh of relief as the drone entered the radius of his domain. Moments later, the medallion was affixed, and the drone began its return journey.
Imri shifted his focus to helping with the retreat. He probably needed all his remaining mana to keep the portal open, but as he did nothing, people were dying. He took a calculated risk, using his domain spell on a low-amplitude Temporal Collapse. It immediately took effect, slowing all the Azala within his domain. Hopefully, that would be enough of an edge for the remaining soldiers to retreat.
With all his mana allocated, Imri helped with the evacuation. The field hospital was just as chaotic as when the Azala drones had attacked. People were packing equipment and helping people congregate near the back wall. The vast majority of people had some injuries, many severe enough that they should have been transported.
He spotted Emelia, who was completely exhausted, having pushed her abilities to their limits. “I’m not leaving till every patient is through,” she demanded.
As she said that, the sounds of fighting could be heard just outside the auditorium. They were running out of time, but he could still sense the drone moving towards its destination. It was time to make a stand.
He rushed towards the fighting, knowing exactly what was happening, thanks to his domain. A lone figure held one of the hallways, bloodied Gravity Hammer in hand. Numerous smaller gashes covered his exposed flesh, and his Drake armor was torn through near his chest and thigh. The short and stout Rayden grinned as Imri moved to his side. Neither said anything as a swarm of Drones charged headlong towards them.
Imri tore through them, his Dimensional Saber easily decapitating the lower-level fodder. What they lacked in strength, they made up for in numbers. He could also sense higher-tier Azala nearby, waiting for their opportunity to finish them off.
Imri heard loud thuds followed by bursting sounds as the massive hammer slammed into its target, easily caving in ribs and skulls. At this point, the enchanted item's mana had been completely spent, but somehow, Rayden wielded it with brutal efficiency.
At some point, Imri’s enchantments ran out of mana. Not missing a beat, Imri summoned a short sword and continued hacking through the drones with only slightly more resistance. Unfortunately, there was seemingly no end in drones to take the place of the ones that fell. With no regard for their well-being, they continued to throw themselves at Imri, hoping to grab and pin him down. Imri desperately kept them away, knowing they would overwhelm him if this turned into a grapple.
Imri was just managing to keep them at bay when suddenly Rayden turned and swung his hammer into Imri’s chest. The blow connected, and ribs cracked from the force, only his armor preventing his chest from being completely caved in. He struggled to breathe under the added strain, each breath inducing a wave of agony.
Rayden stared at him, eyes vacant of all emotions as he no longer controlled his own body. Imri could sense where the psychic Azala was, and if he had more mana, it would have been easy to dispatch it. However, doing so would involve multiple spells and would use mana he couldn’t afford.
A fraction of a second later, the drones were on Imri. They bit and clawed into him, rending at flesh while simultaneously preventing him from moving. Their weight piled onto his injury, making it almost impossible to breathe.
Out of options, Imri did the only thing he could and teleported back to Emelia. He collapsed to the ground, struggling to breathe. Emelia rushed to his side, helping him up. Healing flooded into him, his cracked ribs repairing themselves in an instant. He was still sore and bruised, but he could breathe once again. The healing had nearly depleted Emelia’s mana, and she swayed unsteadily on her feet.
Imri could sense the drone with his beacon, beginning its descent to its final destination. At the same time, the swarming Azala were converging on their position, easily overwhelming the last of the defenders now that they were being flanked.
“The portal is going to open in a few seconds. Everyone needs to move in a quick and orderly fashion,” Imri shouted to the assembled crowd.
The moment the drone touched down, he opened a portal. It opened against the wall, large enough that several people could fit through at once. Imri’s mana drained at a precipitous rate, compounded by the reduced efficiency from the over-channel debuff, which only got worse as he used more and more mana. Fortunately, the cost of keeping the portal open was less taxing than the initial spell, though even that was straining his dwindling reserves.
The retreat through the portal was anything but orderly. People shoved and panicked in their desperation to escape. The chaos only intensified when the Azala burst into the auditorium. They would need another minute to get the majority of people evacuated, but they were out of time.
Suddenly, there was one less person within his domain, replaced with a massive Starseeker that exceeded the size of Betelgeuse. The Starseeker sprang forward, gaining speed as it charged headlong into the largest group of Azala. It easily trampled through their ranks, flattening or goring any Azala that didn’t get out of its way. It took Imri’s addled brain a moment to comprehend what had happened. It wasn’t a Starseeker, but Vallo taking one of their forms. His charge easily bought them the precious seconds they needed to get everyone through.
Unfortunately, as his momentum subsided, Vallo was surrounded. The Azala couldn’t quite bring the massive form down, but they hindered his movements, preventing him from returning to the portal. When it seemed impossible for Vallo to escape, his form shifted again, turning into a bat. He deftly avoided the outstretched hands of the Azala, who attempted to swat him down and sped off towards the portal.
Imri strained to keep it open, waiting just across the threshold on the military base side. His over-channel debuff was higher than ever, to the point that his stamina and mana were nearly spent. Despite this, he continued to hold on, absorbing mana from Espeonite as fast as he spent it.
Imri was vaguely aware of Vallo crossing through the threshold just before he collapsed to the ground. The portal disappeared from existence as his mana hit zero, and unconsciousness took him.