Brutus moved through the town sniffing out people and helping them move away from the fight. He lifted rubble and pushed stuff aside to let those who were still trapped in the town time to escape. Most had cleared out of the area. They ran to the forest or decided to start the trek to Gavros. Some wanted to stay and watch the fight while others wanted to join in the fight. Brutus discouraged that and continued his circling. He had started in a spiral going outward. He didn’t want to miss anyone.

Amidst the pandemonium, Brutus' eyes finally fell on a new figure - Angela. Huddled in the corner of a semi-collapsed structure, the crafter was clutching her bag of items tightly. Brutus quickly made his way to her, his boots crunching over broken bricks and debris.

"Let me help you," he called, reaching out to help her up. He pushed aside rock and got her on her feet. "What do you have there?"

Angela looked up at him, her eyes gleaming with a mix of fear and determination. She ruffled through her bag and grabbed what she was looking for. She uncurled her fingers, revealing a rectangular device, almost as heavy as the stones that Brutus had to move, and filled up almost all the space in her bag.

"Take this to Alex," she told him, her voice shaky yet firm. "He will need it. To help him... fight Adrian."

Brutus stared at the box in confusion. But there was no time to question Angela. He could see the determination in her eyes, the faith she had in her creation. She knew Alex and he would know what to do with it. He quickly tucked the box and under his arm and offered Angela a nod of acknowledgment.

"I will," he promised, "Stay safe."

With that, Brutus left Angela behind and ventured back into the chaos. His heart pounded with a renewed sense of urgency. The box, Alex, Adrian – these elements tumbled in his mind, weaving together a plan. He had a mission, a task to complete. The area was nearly clear as he saw Adrian rise into the air once more.

He ran through the fiery streets, dodging falling debris and sporadic attacks from Adrian. The wind howled in his ears, stinging his eyes, and drying his throat, but he persevered. His pace quickened as he saw Adrian's fury grow. The survival of Elize depended on it.

Brutus watched the battle wondering how best to intervene. He watched Alex fight with his knives for a moment before being picked up telekinetically and thrown toward an already broken wall. He followed after Alex. Brutus tossed him the battery without a word, the urgency of the situation understood. Alex looked at the device curiously feeling the weight in his hands, then up at Brutus, a silent question in his eyes.

"Your crafter friend made it," Brutus explained quickly. "She said you'd need it to stop Adrian."

The shock in Alex's eyes faded, replaced with resolve. He nodded, taking a deep breath as he prepared to face Adrian.

Alex walked forward toward Adrian with the box in hand. Brutus followed to assist in the battle now that the townspeople had been cleared from the area. Alex took a deep breath in and felt the mana within himself heed his call. Adrian was too busy fighting the Archer to notice Alex’s spell formation though as is the nature with lightning spells the attack came and went quickly.

Alex drained the battery box of all of its energy in one go. “I hope this works. This better work Angela,” he thought to himself as the box exploded outward.

Thunder cracked and lightning followed. A surge of white-hot energy raced from the battery, through Alex, before he directed it outward. There was a moment of intense stillness, the calm before the storm, then with a fierce roar, lightning exploded from him, cutting through the chaos towards Adrian. The bolt was blinding, illuminating the entire area in a flash of pure white light. It hit Adrian with a force so intense it caused the very ground beneath him to quake and fracture, sending him flying backward.

Adrian's magical shield shattered into a million shards of glimmering light; its protection overwhelmed by the raw power of Alex's spell. A swift opportunity followed the destruction of the shield, with the Archer letting loose an array of arrows. Like ruthless meteors, they hurtled toward Adrian, crashing into his arm, shattering bones, and severing the limb with horrifying precision. His agonized screams echoed in the battle-torn streets, a chilling symphony of pain and defiance.

Brutus, standing at a safe distance, watched the sight with a grim satisfaction. He saw the opening they had created, but knew they needed to capitalize on it fast. Adrian, despite his injuries, wouldn't be down for long.

“Let’s finish him off!” said Brutus. He stepped out behind Alex and ran to meet Adrian.

Meanwhile, Alex, drained but determined, stepped forward. Sweat dripped from his brow. He picked his knives back up and dropped the box. The machine was in pieces. Overloaded by his power the magical and mechanical pieces had broken down and fallen apart. He looked at it with a bit of sadness. It had served its purpose but would not be able to be used again. It had at least given them this opening that they could use.

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Adrian stood up unsteadily. One arm hung limp which he ignored. With focus he brought his shield back up but did not try to attack as the Archer’s arrows struck it. He hovered for a moment rising an inch of the ground and then stopped and fell back to the ground.

Brutus pulled his fist back and slammed it into the shield with his whole weight behind it. The shield cracked and Adrian fell back.

“Pathetic,” said Brutus. “It seems that you have ran out of juice.”

An arrow whizzed by and shattered the shield and then hit Adrian’s shoulder.

Adrian roared in pain, but his eyes, burning with an insatiable fury, remained fixed on Brutus. He'd been pushed to his limits, but he was far from defeated. Blood smeared his grimacing face as he staggered backward, his other shoulder now punctured by an arrow. His gaze met Alex's, sending a palpable chill of threat and hatred down the mage's spine.

Meanwhile, Brutus raised his fists high, preparing for another devastating blow. Yet Adrian, his lips curling into a defiant smirk, raised his remaining hand, muttering an incantation. His voice, low and raspy, echoed through the night. A new shield, smaller and less radiant, shimmered into existence around him. His strength was waning, yet his tenacity remained unwavering.

“Nice try,” Adrian rasped, his voice a low growl. He held his ground, his face contorted with exertion as his eyes flicked between Brutus and Alex, calculating, anticipating. His shield may have been weaker, but he wasn't about to go down without a fight.

“Archer, now!” Alex shouted, having read the urgency in Adrian's eyes. The Archer responded almost instantly, unleashing another volley of arrows. They whistled through the air, aimed precisely at penetrating Adrian's depleted shield.

Fire released from Adrian's hands and blasted Brutus back. Alex felt the heat and moved to strike with his knives before Adrian could do more.

An arrow found its mark, piercing the fragile shield and grazing Adrian's side. He grunted, his knees buckling under the sudden pain. His shield flickered, threatening to dissipate, but his grim determination held it together.

Alex knives hit the shield and kept going into Adrian's chest. He gasped and clutched Alex's arms. Alex's worry faded as no counter attack came. Adrian's hands loosened and then fell to his sides.

“Brutus!” said Archer.

Brutus groaned in response. He shook and started to stand back up. Alex looked over to him now that the fight was over. Brutus’s skin was red, and his arm’s had started to blister.

“I’ll be ok. Need a bit of healing to get my skin back to normal,” said Brutus. “That was some crazy attack, Alex.”

“Yeah it really was,” he responded.

“I wish we had had that earlier but I’m glad that Angela was able to get it to you,” said the Archer.

Alex turned as he heard footsteps. He saw Angela walking around one of the damaged buildings to meet them. To her side was a bag of crafting resources. When she got closer he finally said. “Sorry about the box. There was no instructions on that thing so I kind of just went for it and blasted Adrian.”

“It is a shame, but I am glad it went to good use. Though next time we will go over instructions. I will also see if I can include a proper way for you to use it without it exploding,” said Angela. “The next iteration should be built faster now that I have some experience. I know what to improve and can built a proper floor two version.”

“You can go on the second floor?” asked Alex disbelievingly.

“I’m level 12 now and with that box I met the requirements to ascend. I just need to go to Gavros to formalize it. We crafters are built differently and have a set of different requirements to climb. I built a custom item which was built to the level of 15 and it turned out perfectly.”

“That is awesome. You can join me on the second floor, and I will be able to stick to that floor for longer making my expeditions more efficient. I don’t know how long it will take me to get to the third floor but with your creations it shouldn’t be much longer. Which reminds me that the battle must have given us all a good amount of experience.”

“A full level’s worth,” the Archer cut in. “He must have hit the level cap or been very near it.”

Alex brought up his system screen to see the level gain with his own eyes.

<<<>>>

Name: Alex

Path: Magic (Sub-Path: Lightning)

Rating: G

Level: 18 (47%)

Abilities (1/1):

Manipulate Electricity [F]

Tower Points: 5320

<<<>>>

Alex whistled.

“Not just the level up. Adrian was packing a lot of point to from his victims,” said Alex.

“Which you can spend on some new crafting materials for me,” Angela joked.

“Perhaps. I could use a few upgrades in my gear. Especially my armor at the moment,” said Alex. “If I am going out for more than a few hours at a time and staying out at night then I will need more protection and better items.”

“I’ll see what I can do with armor.”

“Thanks for the assist,” said the Archer. “I appreciate it. We might have needed back up otherwise and that would have created a much bigger mess.”

“This battle was still pretty bad,” said Alex. “He was about ten level higher than people in Elize, but that disparity will only grow for people. Imagine a year from now when the average level and peak level of humans is even higher. The first floor could be utterly ruined.”

“It is a danger I am employed to prevent,” said the Archer. “And today we stopped one of many threats.”

“And later he will grab us. Again. When his program is underfunded and underemployed,” said Brutus as he started looking through Adrian’s things.

“He kind of is right you know,” said Alex.

“And I’ve called on you only once. Brutus twice. That is, it. If you don’t want me to contact you again then I will respect that,” said the Archer.

“It is a pattern,” said Brutus.

“Your input has been regarded,” the Archer retorted.

“So, what happens now?” asked Alex.

“Let other people clean up. I will write up my reports and submit them. Your assistance will be noted anonymously because you seem to want to keep your identity and presence small. If someone wants to contact you then they will go through me. Though that is unlikely to happen anytime soon because as Brutus noted. We are ‘underfunded and underemployed’.”

Archer paused and then coughed. Alex started to cough as well and looked around. Out of Brutus’s hands grey gaseous fumes were pouring out. Archer dropped to one knee. “What are you doing!” he let out. He turned to Angela, “get out of here.”

Like Alex, she inhaled the smoke and hesitated to step away. His mind buzzed with uncertainty about what to do next. He did what he knew and what he could do at the moment. Alex removed his knives once more.