A Duration and a half.
That’s how long they survived before the veils came crashing down, revealing their location to all.
Violet almost hadn’t noticed. Busy as she was with creating suit of armour after suit of armour. A mound of Supreme Steel sat outside the reaches of her tent now. Most were specialised for her size, obviously, but that didn’t stop a long line of clansmen from assembling before it. All eager to be equipped with probably the most powerful suits they would ever lay their eyes on.
Funny how quickly the crowd forgot about their discrepancies. Strange how much could change now that they stood to benefit.
Violet sighed, though only internally. She made sure to disguise her real emotions under a stoic line of the lips. It wasn’t exactly a bad habit, but something told Violet being brought up by swarms of copycat Unbounded probably had something to do with it. It was hard to always be authentic when your family had been stripped away of anything remotely true. Still, the mercurial moods of the clansmen rubbed her the wrong way.
I shouldn’t hold it against them.
It was all well and good to say those words, but putting them into practice was another matter entirely. Violet swallowed her frustration, settling herself with the thought they would be stronger this way.
As the coming days were soon to show, they would need every advantage they could get.
Violet first noticed something was amiss as she sauntered towards Veida. Lately, she hardly spoke a word to anyone but Remus — however strange their interactions were. Her training was like another existence of its own, unattached to her previous self. Where refining her Infinity mastery was everything, and taking the time to converse and talk idly seemed like a waste.
Only Remus was able to bring her back to reality most days, but the series of tight lines that was Veida’s face had much the same effect.
“Veida, what’s-”
Violet cut herself off at what she saw above.
It wasn’t Belindo, or Nova, or any other Right-bearer looking to sour their day. But it was Unbounded alright; about two thousand pouring into their ravine. Like a flood of monstrous flesh looking to drown out the inside of a canyon. Violet estimated that they had a minute at most, before things got ugly.
“But the protections . . .”
“Not working, clearly.” Veida rushed forward to where an alarmed gathering was already forming.
Remus, together with Tanguy, Aziel and Hadrian were all doing their best to calm the crowd. Though clansmen scrambled regardless, waving their arms around as if they were already surrendering to the first of the enemies.
Hadrian locked eyes with his wife. A grim acknowledgement passed between the pair of them.
“Prepare the others for a fight.” Was all Veida could say. The couple flew into the air, lashes of flame trailing behind them like twin comets.
The other squad leaders were either trying to calm their men, or were already diving into the fray. Violet caught sight of the Magnetic Clanswoman, with whom she shared the mutual, unspoken agreement to avoid each other at all costs. Getting off on the wrong foot was hardly cutting it. After Violet had almost killed all other squadrons in one of her more shameful moments, they flat-out despised one another.
At the end of the day, however, they were on the same fighting side. Violet leaned forward in a crouch, prepared to manipulate the space between them like it was nothing, only to pause.
Unbounded had reached the base of the ravine by now, grappling with the more composed of their men and women. She wanted more than anything to leap into the fray, to help them.
But her Mark. She couldn’t afford to use it, or her plan would be wasted. Those durations of keeping her Mark in reserve for nothing. That ability could only be achieved through patience, and not even a fight as severe as this would change that.
So Infinity manipulation it would have to be.
It was early in the day, luckily, so Violet wasn’t completely drained. But fighting without her Mark would be a fearsome challenge indeed. Like fighting with one hand behind her back. Or, maybe, this was just the sort of training she needed. To test just how successful these last Passings of diligent training had been.
Armour appeared over her body in an instant, an act so ingrained through the art of repetition, it was muscle memory. As a swarm of Infinity hardened around Violet, she rushed into the first of the Unbounded.
She didn’t even have time to observe their horrid forms, before the first body erupted against her. Colliding into artificial thorns like a flesh balloon. Three more appeared in its stead, each a dangly hunchback fitted with overly long necks. Their skin was purple, as if perpetually bruised, and Violet felt her stomach churn the more details she picked up on.
Heads were swung like the fists of arms, butting against Violet’s armour with dull thuds. Not a dent was made, though Violet processed each impact as a warning: not even Supreme Steel could hold out forever.
She felt so horribly, so helplessly slow. Without her Mark, there was no treating reality like a guidebook that could be ignored. If she wanted to get to an Unbounded, she actually had to move over to them. Which made her past self seem like a speed-demon in comparison.
Three Unbounded became five, and then five became twenty. On and on they multiplied, until the ravine became a swaying sea of blood, guts, and humid air.
Marks fizzled around in activation, blushing into a multitude of colours. It was a rainbow, but no gold was to be found at the end of this one: only bones.
Violet punched one pile of ooze aside, which tumbled back, consuming the fiend behind in a slime prison. A kick here, leap there, and Violet made it all the way to the ravine wall.
The Unbounded didn’t stop coming. A rush of Infinity carved a shield directly above, impeding the path of a horned behemoth. Dangling reaches of hair akin to rattling snakes swept down at every angle, keen to nip away at her. Violet fought the urge to shred them with a wave of Chaotic energy, and released a burst of Infinity in its stead.
It had the same result, but Violet was exhausted. She kept huffing, her lungs demanding ever more oxygen. Relying on Chaos to transport her for so long had put quite the strain on her cardio.
A blast of warmth sent her neck snapping to the right. Ignoring the roaring pain by her nape, Violet watched wide-eyed as half the Unbounded attackers were slathered with flame.
Unbounded after Unbounded were burnt to a crisp, the source of the molten downpour Hadrian and Veida. There was a splash of blue in the deadly admixture, and Violet looked up to the image of Remus and Aziel’s dangling feet. The rest of their squad were flying with them, using the same technique to keep airborne and rain fire on their enemies.
The sight made the pressure in Violet’s chest a little easier. But she was too still lost as to what to do next.
Infinity was far more limited, and therefore precious, than a Mark’s energy. Violet may have possessed around ten times more than the average person, but that was like adding extra coal to a fireplace. Sure, it would keep the fire alive longer, but nothing in all this wide universe would stop the flame from dwindling eventually.
Even her magnitude of Infinity wouldn’t last to see through five-thousand Unbounded. Or how many of the accursed creatures there were down here. They livened up the place as much as a moshpit would at a funeral party.
Down here, Violet would perish.
Magnets flew through the air, popping heads with violent coordination. Other squad leaders didn’t dare to slack off either. Bears of unnatural sizes charged ahead in sloths, a living wall of fur crushing the adversary at a Mammal leader’s call. Violet just hoped the burly-looking man wasn’t aware of what had happened to their clan, the last time Violet and Remus had run into them.
A woman in a long crimson gown strutted though the enemy lines, every Unbounded within five feet crumpling in agony, as the might of the Suffering Sect took hold. Violet almost felt bad, if not benumbed to their pain, as the creatures spasmed for dear life.
The Vanguard from the Victory Clan was surrounded by the largest group of clansmen. Everyone who entered his range raised their heads a little higher. Looked a little more confident. Indifferent to the fiend onslaught as they barreled into the Unbounded.
They weren’t made invincible, of course, but the passive support provided . . . compared to all those leaders, Violet, scrambling onto the last dregs of her Infinity, was made practically useless.
She looked up at the lip of the ravine. A few more Unbounded jolted down every few seconds, but for the most part, things had cleared. Violet could afford to crest that peak without risking death.
If only she were able to use her Mark. Then she could have maybe made a difference. But as things stood, equipped with the knowledge that exposing Nova would be far more useful than anything she could do here, Violet focused on nothing but surviving.
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Supreme Steel erupted out of her hands, the rest channelled to her armour. If the latter broke, she really was in danger. But not as much as if she stayed here.
Violet flew upwards, leaping up as high as her natural body could. She considered transforming into her Unbounded counterpart, but didn’t in case a clansman thought to cleave her by mistake. Higher and higher she scaled. Projectiles and scattered debris missed her by a hair, but Violet jutted her strands of Infinity into the wall.
Pebbles fell where she climbed, lost in the turmoil below the higher and higher she reached. Relief at nearing the top made her clumsy, and Violet’s handhold crumpled against her fingertips.
Metres above, Violet fought for dear life, grasping at the wall in the oddest gesticulations of her life. Finally, when the cries of the battle seemed louder than ever, and she couldn’t risk another second’s indecision, Violet morphed only her hands into their monstrous variety.
Her talons stabbed into the ravine-side with such force that fissures spread, the tremors as disturbed as her racing heartbeat. Up and up, she dragged herself, momentum alone carrying her to the peak. There, once she was sure there were no Unbounded in sight, Violet laid recumbent, gasping for air.
When she could muster the energy, Violet peered over the side. The frenzy of blood, Ichor, and rampant energy made Violet nauseous just looking at it. It was a hodgepodge of swirling colour that made her brain ache.
With her physical self exhausted, Violet opened her internal eye to the world. If the mess going on below was enough to disorient her, this next encounter threatened to fry her brain.
Vast concentrations of Infinity were approaching. Stained with that vile strand of the resource indicative of the Right-bearers. Violet’s heart threatened to race again, her lungs crying out for more air than she could ever hope to provide.
Don’t panic, she thought, if you can’t help down there right now, at least be of some assistance here.
She spread her awareness to the limits, where the cracking of wind, humid air, and a hovering mass of energy all screamed one word to her: Belindo.
But there was another. Not too far away, and unmistakable. Nova.
That titan of chaotic energy wasn’t headed directly for them, but the thought of two Right-bearers approaching was terrifying nevertheless. Their disordered squads had little hope escaping the onslaught already upon them, let alone two Unbounded of impossible power. If the two had come for seconds so early on, who was to say their squad would fair as well as they did the first time around?
A possibility birthed in her mind — so sudden and riding on impulses, it could spell their doom. But this could be it: their opportunity to put to rest another Right-bearer. Or at least strip away the power from a man who had it in abundance.
Some of the Flame Clansmen were up to the ravine mouth now, pouring magma in a few of the more isolated regions. One blast of turquoise, and Remus appeared. Violet called out his name, the sound nearly deafened in the pandemonium.
Before he could get a word in edgewise, the words shot out of her. “Belindo and Nova are coming. I’m going to stop the latter. Please don’t try to stop me.”
“What? You can’t just-” He cut himself off, a monstrous roar echoing form below. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
For a second, they just looked at each other. Violet had to return to Remus. The thought of anything else made her feel sick. “You have to win back here. No matter who comes. No matter how long it takes for reinforcements to come, or if you’re the last man standing, you have to survive.”
Remus nodded, every fibre in his body working in tandem, as he levelled his gaze back onto the battlefield below. No matter how bad things got, Violet could take comfort in that firm stance of his. The azure tint to his eyes that told her Remus would move the earth before giving up.
Violet turned, barrelled past the edges of the battle, and just like that, she was gone.
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Remus flew over to Tanguy, grasping the man’s airborne shoulder to stop himself. He asked slowly, through bated breath, “might be a bad time to bring this up, but remember when we hated each others’ guts?”
“What?”
“When we fought, you used this magma rain ability. Do you have enough energy to pull that off again?”
He paused. “I may, but where? I don’t want to catch any of our men in the process. It’s hard to control the range.”
That was a good point. Hadrian and Veida may have possessed the mastery needed to be more precise. Though occupied as they were now, supporting the rest of the squad leaders to force the bulk of the enemies into a bottleneck, they couldn’t be of much help
Remus pointed to where a bundle of Unbounded sprinted past their leaders’ best efforts. “See there? If we can eliminate pressure off the squad leaders by rounding up these stragglers, we’ll have a fighting chance when the Right-bearers arrive.”
A flicker of hope sparked in Tanguy’s dark eyes. A little contradictory, considering his next words. “You noticed them too? God above, I thought I was going insane.”
“You prepare the technique, and I’ll make sure none of the lava reaches our men.”
Remus wasn’t completely confident in a race against liquid fire, but there was no time for hesitation in the heat of battle.
Everything was so exhausting. In real time, perhaps ten minutes had passed, but Remus felt like he could’ve had grandkids in that time. That line of thought — for some absurd reason — made him think of Violet. The prospect of her rushing off head-first to face Nova . . . he should be with her, facing that monster together.
But looking down, he knew he couldn’t. Looking past the explosion of colour, of the raucous uproar of a hundred Marks being activated at once, fear-stricken faces bore into his soul. A few of their small army were already dead. How many, Remus hadn’t a clue. Their bodies trampled in the river of blood amassing below.
He couldn’t afford to risk increasing their number, least of all by being indecisive.
Remus fired a few fireballs into the fray, reserving his energy for when Tanguy was ready.
And in less than a minute, he was. A swarm of lava twirled like dragons around the man, a blaze of concentrated power that turned the heads of Unbounded and mortals alike. Even from here, Remus could see the perspiration leaking from his skin. Something told him the toll of this ability on Tanguy was equivalent to him exhausting all his resources on Flaming Gold.
It was equally impressive, if not terribly blinding to his eyes. Within a second of putting up a hand for cover, the flood began.
Remus had to act quickly. Fat dollops of the liquid steamed as they swept downwards. Remus pulsed out a wave of fire, catching the deadly projectiles that trod too far, like the helping hand of a blue giant. He heard hisses from below; none of them sounded human enough for him to panic.
Despite the very real stakes of the moment, it was like a game. Remus flickered amid the lethal downpour like a man trying to outrun a stormcloud. Blue fire bathed his body, and Remus soon found himself deliberately coursing right into the lava excess. It wiped them away clean, and Remus could almost forget about the atrocity taking place below.
All credit to him, Tanguy was holding his own. The technique was one of the most draining in a Fire clansman’s arsenal, gobbling up all the energy Ashbel’s granted Mark had to offer. It was a banquet Tanguy could only dish out for so long, but he was making a great effort out of it.
Tearing his eyes away from the man’s gritted teeth and winced expression, Remus felt his blood run cold. The lava was pouring out more chaotically now; well past the range it had originally been.
“Tanguy!” He shrieked, but the man couldn’t hear him. Nothing but the bubbling of his technique would reach his troubled eardrums.
Without thinking, Remus dived below the blast, lying recumbent with a flaming palm below to propel him.
A layer of fire rushed out of him. Flat and oval-like. The sea of sizzling orange fell into his blue shielding, and Remus pushed his Mark to the limit to compensate.
Remus squeezed his eyelids tight, protecting his retinas from the flurry of intermingling colours.
It was like two miscoloured stars were erupting in the same space. Bidding for the area with all of their celestial might.
Like a bulb cracking open, Remus watched as Tanguy let go of the ability. His body dropped, oddly limp, like a ragdoll towards the bed of writhing fiends below. Remus flew over as fast as he could, his Mark burning now against his flesh.
In his haste, he more barged into Tanguy than caught him. Tanguy wasn’t especially heavy, but Remus had to strain to carry him away.
“Tanguy,” he patted the unconscious man’s cheek repeatedly. “Tanguy, I need you to wake up for me. Wake up!”
Tanguy said something nonsensical, before slumping his head back in Remus’ grasp. So he’s not dead, Remus exhaled in relief. Like last time, the ability had done a number on him, but he wasn’t out yet.
It wasn’t like Remus was bursting with energy either. He flew to the mouth of the ravine, placed Tanguy down onto a stretch of ground carefully, and slumped at his side.
Maybe taking a breather in the middle of a fight was a little audacious, but after what he and Tanguy had just pulled off, Remus cut himself some slack. Remus peered over the ravine-edge when he could breathe easy again, more than satisfied at the fruits of their labour.
The last few Unbounded that had reached past the defensive line of the sect leaders were being rounded up. The rest were butchered, puddles of lava quickly solidifying into molten throughout the area’s deeper regions. The surviving clansmen, a little dazed at the fact they were alive, sprinted to join their leaders.
As for the sect leaders themselves, they were more than carrying their own weight. It was hard to see through the haze of techniques and gore, but Remus could breathe a little easier. They were dominating. Soon, the horde would have nothing to mark their existence, other than the remains of their crumpled bodies.
And even those, once this all blew over, would be burnt down to dust. Remus would make sure of it.
“Look Tanguy,” he said, more to himself than to the snoring mass at his side. “We did it. We beat those demons.”
Tanguy’s response was a disgruntled groan. Remus couldn’t think of a more fitting response.
He was about to rush back to join his victorious comrades, when something snagged at his internal senses.
His mind immediately went to Belindo. Damn it! With that one manoeuvre, Remus and Tanguy had virtually incapacitated themselves. Joining scores of winning clansmen was a far cry from standing toe-to-toe with Belindo. Unlike the lucky fluke of last time, it would be a miracle if their stranded group survived, even if just a handful of their most powerful.
Then there was the very real possibility of another batch of wild Unbounded arriving, outnumbering them before even that. Neither outcome made Remus jump for joy.
He would have loved to leave Tanguy alone to get his beauty sleep, after that stunning performance, but now wasn’t the time. “Tanguy.” He shook the man. “Tanguy, wake-”
Remus paused.
Tanguy shook himself into consciousness. He jolted rigidly, like a man waking up to find his house crumbling down. “Whu- What is-”
Remus held out a hand. Tanguy shot him a perplexed look, but Remus wouldn’t mistake that aura anywhere.
Not after spending Durations in the Silver Cavities. That dense, suffocating load of Infinity, as though the air itself was out to strangle him. Yet now it was closer — coming to them.
“It’s not Belindo coming.” Remus swallowed. “It’s the Supreme Fiend.”