The swarm kept coming. There did not appear to be any sign of it slowing down. The masses of Geblex still moved over the stockade's walls and poured into the town's inner sanctum. Nothing had ever threatened New Talisia until now. No other township on the entire East Coast was anywhere near its population or had the resources it had available. There were more than ten times as many firearms in the town alone compared to the rest of the east, but without the ammunition, many of the weapons had fallen silent. Only the occasional sound of a rifle or pistol was now being heard above the melee fights.

The Geblex only stood five feet tall, so compared to many of the Risen, they were considerably shorter and smaller, but they made up for their size in numbers. As the swarm pushed inwards, more reinforcements arrived. Kyto guessed nearly four hundred Risen were fighting in this area alone. Never would he have imagined being amidst such a battle. He had, until recently, never even been involved in a fight, let alone one with such vicious and horrendous outcomes.

He stepped back as a Geblex swung a club at him, losing his sight of Tiddles as he again charged into the group. His foot caught on something, and he tumbled backwards, falling to the ground, meeting him and knocking the wind from his lungs as he landed on his back. "Fuck", he cried out as he scrambled to get back on his feet, slipping on the churned-up earth and mud which now covered the field.

He was covered in filth of all natures, and he staggered back onto his feet. Another Risen was now attacking the Geblex that had swung at him. He did not know most of those he fought alongside, only the rare flash of recognition of a face here and there. His pool was running low, and he could not draw fast enough. He had to call his familiar if he would try and maintain it. The bonuses it would give with his amplified siphon skill made his mana draw even more efficient. As he contemplated his familiar for the briefest moment, the shadow of Tiddles leaping from amongst the Geblex appeared as he sailed back out of the chaos towards him.

Tiddles landed by Kyto. "Too many are falling," Tiddles shouted over the din.

"We must keep fighting," Kyto replied.

"We need an advantage."

"What can we do?"

"I don't know, but I am worried. I will kill them all myself if I have to, but I cannot stop the number here from reaching the town centre. At this rate, we are being pushed back too easily."

Tiddles turned to join the battle again. Kyto's link re-established and fed his mana pool, triggering his flame abilities.

Kyto's head was spinning. The combat was of an intensity he had never experienced, last night’s fighting being nothing in comparison to the hell of tonight. A shrill scream dragged Kyto back from his thoughts as he saw a man skewered with a spear, puncturing the man through his left side and appearing from his back the force the Geblex had struck him. The Geblex tried to withdraw its spear, but it was caught in the man’s clothing and would not pull free, the man being dragged backwards and forwards, screaming in agony from the movement and the extra damage being caused by the action.

Kyto stepped forward, swinging the axe he had taken from the fallen man. He struck at the Geblex, catching it in the side of its face, cutting easily into its soft flesh and ripped the axe back, striking again, the axe blade chopping into its head like a knife through butter. Kyto's stomach roiled at the sight as the blackened puss and gore of the Geblex's disformed face turned towards him. It let go of the spear, striking out towards Kyto with its claws. Its claws flashed at his face in a last defiant attempt. He was too close and crammed in now to move away quickly. His eyes closed as he expected the creature's claws to rip into him, but his shield triggered its blue glow, firing brightly in the dim light, preventing the claws from pulling into the flesh of his face.

He stepped away swinging a third time, confined and unable to strike effectively. This time, he caught the rabid creature across its throat, the flesh of the creature tearing off as the edge of the axe ripped across it. It had not been a clean strike, and the Geblex cried as its croak was silenced and replaced with a wet gurgling sound as it clawed at its damaged throat before dropping forwards and to its knees, collapsing.

His pulse raced, and adrenaline flowed, bringing the sounds of battle back as his focus realigned to what was happening around him. Kyto looked at the injured man. He had fallen to the floor on the Geblex, releasing hold of the spear, but he was alive, and his mana pool was quite large. He reached down, grabbed the man by his jacket, and dragged him backwards, the spear still protruding out of the man's back. He pulled him back out of the chaos, releasing him. He did not have time to heal him as he turned around and hoped he would last long enough for a medic to find him and drag him from the field.

The one thing that had driven more fear into the Geblex than anything else had been the boom bottles, but they were too close now to use them. Anyone throwing one now would hit just as many Risen as Geblex as they fought each other. 'We need fire', he thought. He had no idea how, though, and pushed healing into Tiddles as he saw his health dip from a club strike. He was surrounded by attacking anything in range and, being amongst the Geblex, was open to easy strikes. It had not been a problem, but Kyto's pool was now getting critically low with the lack of available mana. Kyto was simultaneously breaking down his mana to flood his body with needed endurance, and his shield triggering also reduced his available pool. He had tried to draw on a Geblex not long after the fight had begun for him to receive a System message telling him that the mana was not compatible. That had infuriated him at the time.

He called his familiar. He did not care about the battle intensity and reducing pool, meaning he needed the extra bonuses it gave. The brilliance of the yellow glowing ball cast an unearthly glow across the fighting within its aura. No one reacted or cared. The action was all-consuming for those involved. There was no respite, pause or time for contemplation or tactical decisions. It was a fight to the death.

As he focussed on Tiddles, he noticed his elemental core screaming with the rage of its fire, and he had an idea.

"Tiddles," he screamed.

"What?" he replied, chomping down on a Geblex's side who had slipped in the quagmire.

"I have an idea, but you might not like it."

"If it will help, just do it."

'Fuck', Kyto thought. Either way, he was going to be pissed at him, and he could heal him after all.

Kyto pushed through the conflict, breaking from the masses, and ran towards where one of the scout fires had been lit around the perimeter. He knew there had been boom bottles, and thankfully, several were still sitting in the crate a short distance behind it.

"Tiddles, come here!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. No one paid him any attention. They were all too busy fighting to survive, especially being away from the main combat.

Kyto saw Tiddles's dot on his display as it began to move. The one thing the beast did have was acute hearing. In moments, Tiddles appeared, running towards him.

"What is it?" he asked arriving.

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"I have an idea that you won't like."

"What?'

"I am going to set you on fire."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You have a fire elemental core, don't you?"

"Yes."

"I am guessing you are resistant to fire?"

"I have no fucking idea; I have never tried burning myself to find out."

"There is a first for everything, then," Kyto replied with a worried smile.

"Shit, you think this will work?"

"No idea at all, but I am guessing so, and if it doesn’t, I can always heal you!"

"Just to check, you want to set me on fire because?"

"The Geblex, the only thing they seemed to react to were the boom bottles at the start of the fight and the flames. They caused them to back away and move around them."

"You do realise that if this hurts, I will bite you every day for a week as recompense."

Kyto shuddered, imagining Tiddles’s teeth biting into him. "Deal," he replied with a nervous and half-crazed laugh. The shock of the battle already made reality seem skewed. The violence and catastrophic damage that was being caused to each side scarred his psyche.

"Let's trial it first. Give me your paw."

Tiddles complied reluctantly and raised one of his massive paws. It was blood-soaked and covered in the grime of Geblex. Kyto removed the stopper from one of the bottles and poured some fuel onto it.

"Ok. Now, to test it, all you have to do is place your paw near the fire."

"That's all!" Tiddles answered nervously. It was the first time Kyto had ever heard an inkling of nerves from the beast, and it took him by surprise.

"That's it. Be a big brave beast and put your paw in the fire," he said, smiling awkwardly.

Tiddles glared at him, "I am the sarcastic one in this group. Don't try. You are not funny."

Tiddles walked towards the fire. It was the slowest Kyto had ever seen him move. He carefully leaned back as much as a beast could, closed his eyes, and lifted his paw towards the flame.

There was a woosh sound as the fuel caught, throwing a miniature fireball into the sky. The brightness made Kyto close his eyes.

∆∆∆

'What a stupid fucking idea', Tiddles thought as he leaned away from the fire and slowly raised his paw. He scrunched his eyes closed as he cautiously moved it towards the fire. He heard the woosh as the fuel caught and his display triggered.

Congratulations, you have completed a hidden quest and accepted your inner core's true nature. Flames are your friend and will burn brightly inside and outside you—10,000 experience gained.

He opened his eyes slowly, not feeling any pain, and looked at his paw. It was not burning. He was. His whole body was enveloped in bright red and yellow flames.

∆∆∆

Kyto's opened his eyes after the initial flash and gawped in amazement. Tiddles was on fire. His whole body had turned into a burning inferno by lighting his paw. Flames licked at every inch of his body, and Kyto instantly pushed healing strands at him. "Fuck, I'm sorry." he cried out.

Tiddles did not react. His health did not move. He did not need healing. His health was full. "What the hell?" Kyto stuttered.

"Apparently, fire is my friend," Tiddles said, turning to look at him. His whole face was covered in flames as if they had a life of their own. They seemed to wash over him and move freely as if alive.

"But how!"

"Hidden quest. Accepting my inner core's true nature," he replied, smiling. As he smiled, the flames licked around and inside his mouth.

Kyto stood mouth open, not sure what to say in reply.

"How do you stop it?"

"No idea, and for now, I don't really care. I am going back to kill monsters."

Tiddles turned and bounded back towards the fight.

The sight of a mobile fireball running back to the melee was astonishing. Tiddles did not slow for anything hurtling into the main body of the Geblex away from the Risen. They were crowded and beginning to try to surround the Risen defenders with their numbers, and suddenly, being attacked by the burning beast caused insane panic. The Geblex, on realising the beast was burning, began to try and back away, unable to move far, being trapped by their fellow Geblex who were still pushing through the funnel mouth.

Tiddles was in an even more heightened frenzy than before. He knocked into them, setting their waxy bodies alight with his flaming soul. They croaked and shrieked in terror as the hellfire took them. Their skin was like plastic to the flames, melting and burning with black clouds of sickening smoke being released. The fireball continued running among the attackers, making them turn and move from his path. The added chaos split groups away from the main throng, controlling the numbers nearer the Risen, allowing the attackers to be outnumbered. What had been looking like a potential loss had turned as the chances of winning increased with every second that passed.

The Risen, seeing Tiddles's burning form, backed away from him as he continued his path of violence and devastation. Geblex after Geblex fell either through fire, claw or bite, but Tiddles did not slow. He moved from section to section, group to group, setting more of them on fire, massacring their number. The hundreds of Geblex that had been pushing forward began to retreat as fear and panic ran through their number. Kyto watched the first climb over the wall back out of the town. The tide had turned.

The Risen did not relent, though, and continued the battle, killing and maiming as many as they could as the main body of the Geblex realised that they were now losing. Their aggression was still visible, and in last desperate attempts, they threw themselves at the defenders, but as soon as the burning beast neared them, they panicked and broke away. Tiddles began to corral them, pushing them back to the funnel mouth, sweeping across their front line, not giving them time to adapt. He flew like a bullet, occasionally dashing into their increasingly dense number at the funnel mouth before returning and shepherding them again. It was the craziest and most insane thing Kyto had ever witnessed.

Kyto suddenly noticed Tiddles's bar on his display. He had not paid attention to it during the battle, only focussing on health, but his elemental power was decreasing as he watched. It must be at 30% now, and as he watched, it continued to drop as Tiddles burned. 20%, 10% and as it ticked to zero, the flames went out. The flaming beast was no more. He was back to being plain old Tiddles. Plain old Tiddles now was more than enough to strike fear in the enemy. They had witnessed the burning beast, and even the aggressive and low intelligence of the Geblex knew that he was dangerous. He continued to attack and rip into their ranks, now joined at the funnel entrance by the Risen as they could get close to his side once more. Kyto again saw the form of Lars standing by Tiddles, the pair of them bringers of death. Kyto had joined them and stood just behind again, pushing mana into Tiddles. Kyto watched as his elemental core slowly began to recharge.

The fight continued, but it was now in the Risen's favour this time. The Geblex were losing, their dead being trodden into the dirt as the defenders pushed forward over their fallen remains. Still, some Risen fell, but the dynamics were now firmly in their favour, the numbers dwindling of the Geblex as more fled back over the stockade, and many more fell in combat. Kyto did not know how long they had been fighting, but it must have been a while. They were winning now. Could he believe so? It had looked as though defeat was imminent or at least a much heavier loss if they had made it into the township main where those unable or unwilling to bear arms, children, and elderly were staying. Though it was in their favour, the screams and cries of battle continued. This was only one area of the perimeter. Kyto could see that fighting continued further north of their location. The intensity did not lessen as blood and gore spread everywhere, the screams of the dying and croaks of the Geblex adding to the mayhem that had become a form of normality as time passed. Slowly, the numbers decreased as the defenders pushed on.

The battle concluded as quickly as it started, as if the remaining Geblex had retreated in one. The sounds of combat faded and were replaced with the continuing anguish of battle, the bodies of many lying injured and dead on the muddy and bespattered earth. The rivulets of blood red and grim black combined as a slick, oily pool of death. Screaming, calling, moaning, the silence of the dead, the fighters exhausted, staggering and dropping. The members of the town flooded out in numbers to begin the horrendous and thankless task of clearing the battlefield and the trucks arriving ferrying the injured back for treatment. The release of emotion, tears flowing and grown men sobbing, looking upon their fallen comrades. The northern breach had been contained, concluding not long after they had fought their last foe on the southern field of chaos. The fight was won for another day, but the losses were immeasurable.

Tiddles approached Kyto, smiling at him, "Well, that was fun."

Kyto looked upon the beast with consternation and had to remind himself he was a beast, although his humanity had seemed real through their conversations. He was about to reply when their displays triggered.

Quest update

Congratulations on surviving the second wave. 10,000 bonus experience awarded.

You must now find and clear the source of the infestation. 15,000 experience is available along with the primary quest completion.

Bonus awards are available.

Warning - If the infestation is not cleared within ten days, the incursion will reach a new height. Do not expect to survive.