The effects of my spell were far more horrific than my ill-defined simulation had suggested. As the barrage of signals from my spell reached nearby creatures, the spell controlling them started activating at an equally rapid pace.
Whatever delicate manipulations were being used to control the beasts were clearly never intended to be replicated hundreds of times over. The flood of commands from the spell overwhelmed the systems they would have normally gently influenced. Creatures dropped to the ground, twitching and frothing as their bodies rebelled against them.
In addition to disabling their hosts, the control spells on the afflicted creatures acted to spread my own barrage of commands further into the horde. The effect traveled out in a rapidly expanding arc from my outstretched hand.
As our foes fell, fighting came to a pause around me. I hadn't been able to pay attention while weaving my spell, but there were far fewer living people around me than when I started. Those still standing stared at me in utter astonishment.
“I never doubted you for a moment, but that was far, far more impressive than I expected it would be.” Salvador admitted, pulling his spear out of the body of an eagle twice his size.
I didn’t reply, too busy watching the effects of my barrage of controlling mana forms. The control spells on the creatures were not able to maintain the extreme levels of operation I was forcing upon them. They were breaking down shortly after the wave of commands reached them. It was enough time to completely disable most of the creatures, but not all of them.
Where most smaller creatures were killed nearly instantly, the larger beasts were better equipped to resist. Most were still crippled by the seizures, but some outlasted the spells afflicting them. The final wave of commands from their breaking control spells did at least drive the survivors into a blind fury. Most of the surviving beasts turned upon their former allies, adding additional carnage to the already grizzly scene.
A few of our defenders let out a triumphant cheer. A resounding roar from one of the two remaining titans answered. Unlike the smaller creatures, the titans’ control spells were completely unaffected by my counter.
I had put almost all of my mana into stopping the horde already. I didn’t have enough to repeat my spell, even if I knew what modifications I would need to make to affect the colossal beasts.
The grune-like titan fortunately wasn’t in any shape to keep fighting. Whatever weapon the people on the ships were using, it had proven extremely damaging. Only one of the beast’s legs were still functioning as it slowly dragged its ruined body across the corpse-strewn battlefield.
The other titan was a much greater threat. Its lower stature had left it as a harder target for the weapon that felled the other titans. Likely the only reason that the enormous predator hadn’t devastated our defenders was the broken metal body in its mouth. Crunching on the ruined golem was providing it a momentary distraction.
Looking around the battlefield, I could see that our remaining defenders were nearly exhausted. I tried not to think about how many people had already made their way to the land of shades as I readied my spear. We still had a little more work ahead of us if we wanted to avoid joining them.
I went to aid the fighters with finishing off the frenzied beasts that my spell hadn’t killed outright. With only a few points of mana remaining, there wasn’t much I could do to aid those trying to bring down the titans.
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Salvador and a few other nimble fighters were trying to keep the crocodile-like titan busy as others turned every last weapon from the wall against it. The remaining golem, now heavily battered and missing an arm, tore into the neck of the other titan until it stopped moving.
As I stabbed a staggering leopard, I felt something extremely peculiar. Something compelled me to look to the edge of the jungle once more.
I locked eyes with the cause of the entire catastrophe. The large, majestic fox looked back at me, seeming to ignore the last remnants of the conflict. Even from across the field, I felt its magic take hold of me.
I started to panic as I realized that I could no longer move. I was helpless before the beautiful creature’s will.
Strange feelings ran through my head as the fox’s insidious magic enveloped my body. The terror of once more falling under the sway of mind magic was mixed with alien feelings of calm and serenity.
Even as I felt myself being suppressed and pacified, I didn’t allow myself to give in. Just like that terrible day when I was first afflicted by mind magic, I wasn’t going to give up without a fight. This time, I had more than just a knife to defend myself with.
Drawing upon the remainder of my mana pool, I put everything I had left into disrupting the fox’s spell. Mana forms fragmented and reformed as I battled against the intrusive spell. With the final point from my mana pool, the spell collapsed.
I stood up, unaware of when exactly I had collapsed. Standing over me was one of the defenders with a terribly concerned look on his face. I didn’t know the name of the man who had clearly been protecting me while I fought against the spell.
Accepting the hand up, I saw that the battle had pretty much come to an end. The remaining titan didn’t look like it could move its limbs anymore. A few people were on the back of its neck, working to finish it off. I couldn’t tell from the distance, but it looked like one of them might have been Martin.
At the edge of the jungle, the fox looked at me with its head cocked to the side as though confused. It gave one last look at the corpse-strewn field before turning around and slipping back into the trees.
Despite the impossible odds, we had won.
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Interlude 24: The Defeated
Despite her best efforts, the void creatures had won. Even the strongest defenders she could muster were insufficient against the might of these strange invaders.
The lost lives weighed heavily upon her as she retreated back into her home. The sacrifice would have been acceptable only if it had been enough to eliminate the nest. The deaths were unfortunately pointless. The void creatures remained.
It was clear that eliminating the nest wasn’t going to be possible. The void creatures were too powerful to remove. She could continue to slow their expansion, but stopping them didn’t look possible.
Her one hope was the strangest of the invaders. Unlike the void creatures, this one was not hidden from her senses. Instead, it had shone so brightly with active mana, it had been nearly as blinding as looking at the light in the sky. Even more unusual was the creature’s remarkable intelligence. Never before had she encountered such a complex mind. Perhaps it would be possible to communicate with it, and through it, the other invaders. The void creatures were clearly protective of this anomaly.
Unfortunately, That would likely be difficult. Unlike most creatures, the anomaly reacted very adversely to her calming influence. If the creature reacted so violently to such a gentle and benevolent ability, how would it react to a more complex interaction?
She wasn’t confident she would be able to survive a direct conflict with the anomaly. It had already proven exceedingly dangerous, even compared to the already deadly void creatures. She would have to be very careful in dealing with it.
It wasn’t a very promising path, but it was the only one she could see that might prevent the void creatures from destroying her home.