I scrambled to my feet and summoned Zharia, Áine, and Magnus. They appeared at once, and I stepped closer to Sereza. Together, we watched as the ceiling above began to twist and turn, the reality distortion growing with every passing second.

The pressure from the ether crystal began to lighten, and the glow from the crystal itself started to dim. Giyanni removed her barrier, and we all stood, ready for anything to happen.

Then we heard it, and forced us to snap our heads in the direction of the statues. The air started to vibrate, and pieces of rock began to crack. It started as a long line on the monster's stomach until another spiderweb began around its neck.

Suddenly, it broke out in an explosion of force, whipping its appendages forward. However, the monster was turned into a shredded pincushion by the razor-sharp spikes surrounding it.

Callen's people went to work the instant its flesh became vulnerable. A spear of liquid metal stabbed inward and exploded, tearing a hole through the creature's side. From there, it was bombarded by projectiles, and some of the tentacles that managed to slip past the spikes were beaten and sliced off by weapons.

However, it wasn't completely helpless. Its body bled black ooze everywhere as it willingly ripped itself off the spikes and pushed onward. I saw the man who set up the spikes clap his hands and flare his mana but was knocked off his feet when one of the split tentacles flicked his legs.

The impact sent him tumbling, with a line of blood squirting out. Another quickly replaced his spot, and they forced the creature back by conjuring what looked like a stone ram and pushed the monster backwards when it slammed against its body.

"Áine, go heal him," I ordered.

I kept to the back with Sereza and bumped shoulders. "Any ideas on how you want this to go?"

She held up her daggers, coating them in a liquid green haze. "Yeah, stay alive and together."

"Sounds good."

The monster wasn't the only thing to lose their curse effects. The crowd of people had a few of them wake up in a daze only to scream loudly as they saw the fighting. Giyanni rushed over and began ordering them out of the building. It didn't matter if they were confused and scared; having a hard time mentally would be preferable to death. And their presence here in the room made it a problem for the people fighting.

Soon, the second monster joined the party, splitting Callen's men into two. The spikes and barricades in place kept them contained and slowed, but an occasional tentacle would take out a member only for them to be replaced by another. I let Áine go around healing—the healer of the squad, a tall and very concerned-looking elf, sent over a thankful nod.

Callen himself was resting in the back, having been dragged backwards by his men once the fighting started. He never took his eyes off the ceiling. When I glanced up, I saw that the space had continued to twist, but nothing had breached into the room.

The people had evacuated, and by the time the first monster went down, the second was on its way. There was a brief issue of the flattened wall monster breaking out of its trap, but Callen raised a hand and sent a pressurized beam of water that sliced it into two. A quick tilt of his hand turned the two halves into pieces of four.

The monster died without making a sound, its body reduced to deflating remains on the floor.

That's one hell of a skill.

The beam had even continued past the monster and had cut a giant 'x' into the wall.

Callen stood up and straightened his shoulders. "Everyone! When the portal opens, I want you to do one thing and one thing only!" He finally looked away from the ceiling and swept his gaze over everyone in the room. "Eradicate anything that steps a foot into our city. For our Lady, for the Goddess Ysanna!"

The room erupted in a roar of shouts, and I felt myself grinning. Callen's presence and speech were like an energy drink to the veins. The squad members looked to their captain and then to the ceiling, their eyes wide and prepared for an opening in the breach.

Then I felt it, and Magnus cried in alarm as mana rushed into him. The space around his body rotated, and then a multi-limbed cultist appeared mid-strike.

Zharia, who had been watching the battle from high-up, swooped down and sent a cone of flames at the figure's head. They deflected it with a pair of oily daggers. The blades deflected the fire to the side, and they spun around to throw a blade at the little bird.

Zharia was too late to turn and dodge the blade completely, so it clipped her wing, cutting a long gash across her feathered body.

Sereza was in action before I was, the sudden pain from Zharia causing me to freeze up. She sent a fan of knives the cultist's way, and they got hit by three while the others were deflected or dodged.

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Unfortunately, the daggers weren't much use as they impacted the robe but failed to slow down the cultist from sliding closer. One of the slender beastkins from Callen's squad stomped the ground, and a burst of wind sent the cultist flying. From there, projectiles tore them apart, and we sat back as they took them apart.

I forced the mental connection shut as Áine was healing Zharia, and I let them both launch back into the air. My attention was on Magnus as he ran into my legs. I picked him up and let his memories flash through my mind.

I opened my eyes and pointed to the wall next to Giyanni. "Another pocket space to your right,"

Giyanni stepped back, and one of the tanks stepped forward and activated a skill. Twisting water rose up and flowed across his body, coating his armor and weapons. His sword and shield had the same effects but in a different shade of water.

My mind hurt when he stabbed his sword forward as it bent and twisted before something pushed it out. As a thick, black tentacle crashed into the metal, the man brought up his shield just in time. The water around his weapons churned and flung the tentacle off, but the man had already been forced away from the twist in space.

More tentacles appeared, seven of them, and tried to wrap themselves around the man's torso. His skill repelled the attack, and he pointed his sword at the emerging monster. The swirling water coating the weapon condensed into a sphere and rocketed forward. There was a sharp trill and then a fountain of black blood that poured out.

When the monster's body began to slip out of the dimensional space as a deflating and dying corpse, there was a pop, and the distortion faded.

The man, whose name I could not remember, called out. "Everyone pair up; check your surroundings." He stopped and pointed to me. "Cyrus, right? Can you sense if there's more in the room?"

I held up Magnus, who was already searching the room with his senses. After five long seconds passed, he opened them and shook his head.

"He doesn't sense anything else."

The man lowered his shield and stepped back to his previous position. The room was silent, so the cries of monsters from outside the hall were deafening. By now, the sounds of people were starting to seep through the large crowd of statues freed from their curse were beginning to wake.

"Moldenna, guide the crowd away from here. We can't afford for them to get in our way," Callen ordered.

Moldenna, an elven woman in leather armour who had two casters strapped to her waist, simply nodded and rushed out of the building.

Within minutes, the noises of the crowd began to die and grew distant. Callen and the others continued watching the ceiling while occasionally moving their weapons around them to check for more ambushes.

"Girls, you okay? Magnus, you too."

"Good."

"I'll burn them all."

"Sleepy."

I sighed and chuckled, drawing some glances from the others. At least my familiars were okay.

There was a lull where nothing happened for more than five minutes. Everyone stood tense and at the ready for something to happen. Even Callen, with his shoulders wide and calm face, would twitch his fingers every dozen seconds.

And so when reality above the ceiling expanded far enough to cover the sky, there were a few sighs of relief. It was funny to think that something that should be making them shit their pants was more relieving than the pressure of having to wait.

Out dropped a flood of cultists, their bodies impacting the ground like shadowy missiles. The moment they landed, they rushed outward and pushed against the barricades set up. Mana was used so heavily that my senses couldn't tell anything apart. The different projectiles, buffs, and debuffs caused Magnus discomfort.

"Sereza!" I called out.

She launched ten spectral daggers into the fray and jumped closer. "What?"

Instead of responding, I raised Magnus, and he launched a beam of twisting energy that slid through the air. The air folded in and then exploded when it impacted the space beside her. Chunks of white-grey flesh and tattered cloth pelted the ground in a rain of gore. There was another popping sound; this time, a whole section of the room where Sereza had been standing revealed the furious forms of several monsters.

Magnus' attack had seriously damaged one of the horrors and a single cultist, but the others had used their tentacles as sacrifices to prevent the damage from spreading.

Sereza's eyes widened, and I flashed her a smile before Zharia flew closer. Together, we ran to the nearest cultist, and I activated Spirit Lord's Invocation. Her body broke down, and I caught the wrists of the cultist swinging his dagger for my head.

I let the flames go wild, and we lit up in golden light as the fire tornado grew from beneath our feet. The cultist was reduced to a burning pile of squelching flesh, and I let go to raise two hands.

Mana flowed down my arms, and I let out two torrents of fire that overtook the monsters. Their bodies, covered in the slimy mucus, lit up in a whoosh of flames, the fire becoming an inferno as they thrashed around.

One of the horrors smashed a cultist into the ground before rolling over another and letting out an angry trill. My ears rang, but that didn't stop me from sending more flames their way.

Callen's people helped by creating obstacles in their way so they wouldn't escape, and I kept the flames going till they were weak enough to be finished by the others. They swiftly dispatched the monsters through metal and mana.

Callen approached and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Good job, Cyrus. Can I rely on you to point out more breaches?"

My anger twitched, and I flared the flames around my shoulder. He pulled his hand back, and my shoulders shrugged. "I already said I'd help. Just as I have been the entire time."

He nodded seriously, his undamaged hand dropped to his side. "My apologies. Thank you, then."

"It's coming," Magnus said in a low growl.

I motioned to the ceiling, and Callen began activating some of his skills. Water pooled out from beneath him in a rising wave, slowly spreading across the room. Next was a torrent of water that extended upwards and across his body. I expected armour, or a weapon, but not what I saw start to form.

From where a man once stood was now a growing serpent's body. The length continued till it coiled around itself and stopped after reaching over twenty-five meters in length.

It was a form made from flowing water that glowed with a bright blue light. When Callen opened his mouth, two large fangs extended down, as did a needle-like tongue.

When he spoke, his voice boomed across the room. "Our lady, the Goddess Ysanna, and her companion, the Great Serpent Zoljna, fight for our city. Have faith, children of Moldrula. Tonight, we shall claim victory for her and her people!"