Piles of flesh and blood lay at the foot of the walls as more mutants were taken out. And more operatives were being killed. The repairing operatives were hastily finishing up the machine, hearing the brutal fight going on around them.

In front of Callan, it immediately became apparent that the defenses were breaking. More operatives were torn apart, cut up, or tossed off the wall with multiple gaps in their line. But the remaining operatives didn’t falter.

With staffs in hand, the operatives took out short swords and began helping the guards, cutting up any that got too close. The machine guns continued mowing down the mound of mutants below it, taking out as many as possible.

‘This isn’t like the breach, this isn’t like the breach…’ Even with the training and enthusiasm, he felt panic as he continued protecting the fort, taking out any mutants that managed to reach the top. His arms and legs were starting to tire, and he couldn’t even take a second to look around at the situation, only focused on fighting back.

A small pit of sadness, hatred, and panic grew in him, despite his efforts, people continued dying, only making him move around faster and taking out mutants with more brutality than before.

Callan kept swinging at the enemy, forgetting his orders from earlier and only fixated on minimizing deaths while killing as many mutants as possible.

Soon, enough operatives had fallen, leaving large gaps in the walls. To the horror of Hannah and the L division leader.

Callan was starting to feel more exhausted, losing count of how many he killed and feeling his arms becoming more sluggish. The sight of the horde still going only made him feel angered but horrified at the same time.

“Maintain positions! The repairs are halfway done!” The L division leader yelled out to everyone, joining the fight alongside Hannah.

His clothing torn and bloodied, with sluggish arms, tired eyes, and a mind filled with nothing but hatred for the enemy and desperation to save his allies. Callan became more vicious in fighting, getting closer to the ledge to prevent more operatives from being pulled off the fort walls.

Callan continued slashing away, nearly being dragged down by a few mutants before he managed to take them out and stay on the ledge. Even with the high amounts of light from the many staffs, many still pushed on to the wall. The lights from the staff only stopped many in the horde for a few moments before they continued rushing onward again.

“Repairs are nearly done! Stop stunning the enemies, begin fighting back!” The man yelled.

Almost all at once, the L operatives began attacking more ferocity, placing their staffs aside and focusing on killing the mutants, no longer seeing any benefit from blinding them.

The battle only descended further into chaos, what was left of the group kept fighting.

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The rain around the fort began getting stronger, and more mutants spawned from beyond the light. Callan’s uniform only became more tattered, getting cut up by the mutants that managed to hit him first.

The brief push of the operatives to defend the fort only delayed the larger horde, quickly moving back once more as more mutants climbed up the wall, overwhelming the faltering line.

Callan stayed with the line as it moved back, taking out as much as he could, his mind was filled with thoughts of the breach, hoping to not experience any more of what he had witnessed that day.

In his assault, a mutant swung its bladed arm at Callan’s face, sending him to the ground with a large slash wound.

The mutant stood in front of him, raising its arm again to deliver a final strike. In a moment, Callan only felt terror, failing what he had hoped to do. And dying on the first day of the job.

As it prepared to swing, a massive bright light shone across the area, blinding everyone and forcing the mutants back.

“Soldiers! Liquidate the remaining hostiles!” Immediately, the last operatives rushed forward, taking out the mutants on the wall before jumping off to deal with the remaining ones.

Callan stood up from the ground, disoriented but regained his focus, looking around, Callan noticed that the area they came from was now fully lit up, able to see the wall of the city as well. But the entire area ahead remained in darkness.

Operatives celebrated as the machine was finally fixed, and the battle was won.

Clara approached Callan, her clothes were only covered in blood and rainwater, but barely damaged. Her arms and gloves though were covered in cuts, revealing scars from previous battles as well.

“For a new arbitrator, you showed good skill.” She extended out a hand, pulling Callan from the ground. She quickly noticed the large slash wound on Callan’s face, but simply smiled.

“Ah, your first mark. And a cool one too, I'm jealous.” She laughed. Soon the rest of the team joined in. Hannah sheathed her sword, taking out her clipboard.

“Great work. Our next directive is noting down all casualties and putting down the amount of mutants you managed to kill. Understood?” Hannah glanced at Callan’s face, giving a smirk before heading down with the others.

‘So this is how it feels to fight for a division…’ He thought to himself, placing his hand on the wound. With the operation finished, and the remaining mutants getting killed off by other operatives, Callan joined in heading down the stairs. The place was almost silent, the deafening sound of the storm was gone, and a wave of peace washed over Callan.

Outside, he saw the true scale of the attack, and what the storm was capable of. Mounds of flesh rested near the foot of the walls, with dozens of dead operatives laying around.

“Note down the dead with the scanner. Once all is done, we may return.” Hannah ordered. The team split up, inspecting the many corpses.

Callan approached one of them. Bringing the scanner to the corpse’s body, quickly gaining information. He sighed at the sight of it.

‘At least the rest survived…’ He tried reassuring himself.