[Avardum: Day 029 | Location: Howling Plains | Marcus, Janel | Hours Survived: 10 / 72]

"I am Ged, Father of the earth, and I will tolerate your evil no more!" The strange entity said, drawing back its arm to strike.

"My lord, Ged! Please! Wait, it is not what you think!" Janel yelled.

"It matters not what I think, only what is!" Ged yelled, launching its massive arm forward to slam into the mana barrier. "For too long have I tolerated evil to dwell in my lands! No more!"

Another blow made the air inside the mana barrier reverberate with energy. Janel tried again, "Please, Lord Ged! Hear me out! I am the high priestess of Elina. Her followers have never done wrong to you! In honor of the lives lived together, you children and her children, please! A moment of your time!"

Ged passed at this, thoughtfulness crossing his face. "Very well, but I will not speak with an underling."

Marcus had been watching and now wondered if Ged or Janel had a way to summon Elina to the world, so when Ged's mind touched his, he was shocked.

"So tell me, little dungeon core, why shouldn't I kill you?"

Marcus got over his shock and quickly came to one conclusion: he needed to be honest. "Because I am here to help at Elina's request. I was not always a Dungeon Core. I was once a man from another realm, on another planet, in another reality. There was a time when I was the Legatus Legionis Primae Legio Solaris, in the old language of my homeworld, that means 'Supreme commander of the First Solar Legion.' I commanded troops in the extermination of an enemy we had named the Swarm. The Swarm took my wife and daughter, and for hundreds of years, I fought them. I remember it all, so I can only promise you one thing, Ged, Father of the earth."

"Oh? And what is that?" Ged asked, amused.

"That I will not go quietly into the night. I will resist you to my last, for if you aim to strike me down, then to me, you are no better than the swarm. However, I do have two requests if the battle should commence." Marcus said.

"Ask them, Warroir of the stars." Ged's tone held something akin to respect as he listened to Marcus.

"Firstly, allow me a prayer before we begin."

"Granted." Ged nodded.

"Gods of old, hear my prayer.

Mars, Bellona, and Elina Masters of War, Master of Worlds,

I beg of you one thing.

Let me slay the Swarm until my dying breath.

And live again to serve once more,

If you should take me, let it be in hellfire,

let it be on a pyre of a million enemies.

Bless me, Oh Great Gods,

Bless me and know

That in your names I will fight

in your names, I will purge the nullmana from the world

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and I will send those who oppose me to eternal damnation.

and when I pass, allow me to be the jailor of those damned souls.

I go now, my gods,

unto fire, unto wrath, unto death.

I go now, my gods, unto holy war.

Bless me, my gods, as I cry out your names.

For Mars!

For Bellona!

For Elina!

For the Fallen!

Summa Victoria!"

"A fine prayer, now your other request?" Ged demanded.

"This woman truly is the high priestess of Elina, and I have been tasked with her care," Marcus said, hoping that he would agree or call off the fight. "If I should fall, please look after her."

Ged looked puzzled, and then his eyes widened as he felt Marcus suddenly begin drawing in as much Nullmana as possible to produce mana for the coming fight. Ged spoke aloud. "You truly are not one of them?"

The hushed tone of his voice sounded relieved. He spoke to Marcus once more. "Fret not. I like you, strange Dungeon Core, but there are things we should discuss."

"I agree!" Marcus said in relief. "What did you mean by 'you're not one of them?'"

"The ones I am truly angry with. They..." Ged stopped talking.

Time froze, and a man in a familiar Zoot suit appeared. He tutted at Ged. "Can't have you spilling secrets, now can I Ged?"

Marcus knew this man as 'The Agent', and he looked far more menacing now than he had last time. The Agent spoke once more. "I'll be with you in a moment, Marcus."

As he spoke, he drove a hand into Ged, and Marcus heard a sound unlike anything he had ever heard before. Instinctively, he knew it was the sound a soul made when someone shattered it.

"Now then, Marcus, Marcus, Marcus." The Agent said, somehow looking him in the eye. "You have been nothing but a thorn in my side since your life on Earth. And then that bitch Elina had to go and take your soul after we had made a deal with the queen... But I digress."

Marcus was enraged, "You what! What the fuck are you doing making deals with the Swarm?!"

"Oops, well, it won't matter that you know that. Because Ged her is going to kill you." The Agent said with a cruel smile.

"How, you just killed him?" Marcus said with disdain in his voice. Never had he longed for hands to strangle someone as much as now.

"Ged is an ancient elemental greater spirit. When you kill one of them, or more accurately when their soul dies, all the power they have accumulated, as well as all their specific elemental energies, are suddenly released. In most cases, this results in a most spectacular explosion. Either that or a portal to an elemental plane connected with said spirit." The Agent chuckled. "So I guess what I am saying is, enjoy death by fire."

The agent vanished, and time resumed. Ged exploded into motes of energy.

A whisper of pure knowledge is passed to Marcus by one such mote of energy, and along with it is a simple message. "Good Luck."

Marcus watched in horror as the time on the quest timer rapidly ticked down until only an hour remained. He quickly checked the text of the quest, and it had changed to "Survive the next hour!"

Without waiting, Marcus began issuing orders to Auroar. "Aurora, start absorbing as much of that strange energy as you possibly can, and take over management of the nullmana purification, then juice me up with as much Mana as you can."

"Understood," Aurora said, and suddenly Marcus felt like he could think faster since he was not quietly focusing on the purification.

Marcus turned to Ged's body and watched as a small volcano formed roughly fifty feet outside his mana shield fence. Suddenly, prodigious amounts of lava began spewing forth, and Marcus wondered if he could win.

Janel, watching all of this happen, had grown paler and paler. She finally spoke to no one in particular. "I think I should stay out of your way."

She retreated down to the Bunker, and Marcus silently thanked her. He could not worry about her right now. The fight was on.