Jonathan's POV
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Jonathan was not happy with the lack of resistance the Firestarters were putting up, it felt like they were walking in blind.
Their main building was almost completely undefended, leaving their remaining non-combatants, to their mercy.
All the while, they employed their cheap harassment Tactics, buzzing around like flies.
While Jonathan found their actions weak, their rides were a different story. When he tried to cut one he had been met with decent resistance, nothing he couldn’t power through, but still. It got him wondering how they were doing it, was it a different way to apply the crafts? Had he missed some aspect of crafting with the energies? Honestly, he hoped so, more to discover was enticing in its own way. This must be how Sammy always felt.
Jonathan shook himself from his thoughts and brought his mind to the task at hand.
The problem was, that with each engagement, the Firestarters were the only ones to lose, and they weren't changing their tactics.
Karter kept tight control over their forces and they adapted on the fly but it quickly became apparent they were stalling.
“We need to keep moving. Whatever they are planning, we do not want to be sitting ducks for it”
Jonathan acknowledged Karter's advice and mobilized his frontline.
They moved into the surrounding areas, conducting a sweep of the place. At one point, a rider engaged in the operation was knocked off her bike and fell right in front of them, skidding to a halt before Sam—who raised an icicle to end her life. However, the bloodied woman on the ground started begging for mercy; tears streamed down her face, and she had no way of defending herself. Sam hesitated
Jonathan did not.
A flick of his wrist ended her life.
Jonathan didn’t have an ounce of remorse for these people. When Jonathan took up arms he was ready to pay the cost. If they raised their weapons against him, they were fair game. He was not like Sammy or Mark, he’d lived in a ruthless world way before the end arrived. You made your choice and then you didn’t spend too much brain power on it, or the past would cripple you. He didn’t mind taking this choice off her plate because he could bear it. She’d get there eventually, they both would.
By now they had found an area nearby that resembled a plaza, the large open space looked like it had been used just recently. Tire tracks in the space spoke of huge traffic through the area, they were only halfway in when Jonathan felt the tingling sensation of Mark’s mental spell.
Karter suddenly tensed and barked out orders.
“Bomb! Retreat from the area!”
Their people's reactions were quick. Jonathan pulled his Aura into his skin and got ready to use his newly acquired [Defensive stance] skill, if necessary.
Seconds passed and their people were only just beginning to scatter, then a nearby metal shutter wheeled up at an incredible rate, revealing Kenny sitting there on a souped-up bike with massive barrels strapped to the sides.
His Aura surged as he flicked a switch on the machine, and two nozzles on the side of the thing spewed out flame directly at their retreating fighters. Sam moved to block it, attempting to push the flame back but it resisted her. Seeing this, Jonathan moved to cover her. Using his defensive skill, he directly sliced through the incoming Aura and split the barrage of flame in two, but it just kept coming. The flame was so powerful, that it burned through Jonathn's defensive skill, cooking his flesh. Moments later a cone of ice exploded out from Sam, blanketing them and blocking it from spreading any further behind them.
The problem was that Kenny’s Aura was feeding into the naturally occurring flames and magnifying them, that’s why Sam could not alter their course.
He had an enhancer-type Aura.
Kenny’s bike roared to life pulling out of the bay, and at the same time, Firestarters poured from the side streets on foot and charged towards them as one. It was a kill box.
Karter had made the right call earlier, and now with Isabel and Sofia defending him, he made another.
“Form a defensive line here, retreating now will put us on the back foot, they want to chase us!”
Jonathan saw the devastation that attack had caused and he wasn't sure how many casualties there had been but he knew they hadn’t managed to block it all.
Checking on Sammy, he saw she had second-degree burns on her hands from blocking the attack. This was enough to stir up the hate in Jonathan, but she just looked back at him with confidence.
“I’m alright Jon. Go, let loose. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Jonathan sometimes forgot Sam was not that defenseless little girl he had found hiding in their garden all those years ago.
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She teleported from the spot appearing nearby in midair, her arms spread out as the temperature dropped around her, snowflakes collecting in the air. In seconds a wall of frost and ice began to build around her, stretching out to cover their backline.
Turning back to search for Kenny among his men, Jonathan couldn’t help the excitement that raged in his chest for the battle to come. What was left of his frontline slowly gathered behind him.
Blade drawn, Jonathan sent Aura into his weapon, triggering its feature. He’d have to look for a new one soon, as he could feel he was reaching his limits with it, or better yet, craft himself one. The warm glow that settled just below his navel grew into a burning hum as if in anticipation.
The rest of their team was still too far away. But no worries, even with this strategy their current numbers would be enough.
The blade released his Aura in a crescent slash as Jonathan took off, pulverizing the bricks to dust below him.
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When Mark and Daphne had seen the explosion of flame, they had cut their losses. Daphne stayed back to direct their team and Mark took off in the direction of the battle.
He had sent a question through the link, but all he got back was confusion and the picture of an open space, with Jonathan tearing through dozens of fighters below, trying to get to some goal Mark couldn't see. Mark didn’t bombard them with questions as it could have distracted them in battle. He just pushed himself faster, the journey would normally have been twenty minutes on foot, but with flight, it was a quarter of that time. The problem was, that five minutes on the battlefield was a lifetime. Mark felt the battle progress through Sam’s calls to Jonathan as he sped through the air.
Finally, Mark arrived just in time to see Jonathan plunge his blade into a person near him and drop to one knee, leaving the blade in the body.
The area where they had been fighting was in shambles. The whole space was littered with corpses and broken bikes. One-half of the space was covered in solid ice as if submerged in a thousand-year winter. While the other held scorch marks scaling up walls, floors, and buildings.
In the center of the massacre, knelt one very badly burnt Jonathan currently surrounded by bodies. Much further back, a line of Aura users were posted there holding the frontline. It looked like Jonathan had dove right into the enemy's ranks. Silence reined over the space, as no one moved. The whole image was beyond what Mark had expected.
From above he could see, Sam, standing on a tower of ice. A couple hundred of their riflemen and ranged casters had taken up positions on the wall, sights trained on their enemy but no more shots were fired. Sam had changed the very landscape to suit them, where they could rain death down on the people here.
Mark could still see there were remnants of the Firestarters in the area, but every single one of them remained still near the outskirts. Terrified to retreat from, or approach the noman's land that surrounded Jonathan.
Dropping from the sky, Mark landed at the edge of the space and began walking inward.
He knew the loss of life would be the outcome of their fight but it still caused Mark to pause.
Looking up to the wall he caught Sam’s eye and she jumped down from the ice, meeting Mark at the midpoint as he made his way toward Jonathan.
A nearly invisible construct followed them, growing steadily as they approached Jonathan. Wrapping them all in a sphere, just in case these people weren't as finished as they looked.
When they finally got close enough Jonathan looked up at them from the ground, battle lust fading from his eyes, and his usually relaxed demeanor creeping back in.
Nearby Mark could see Kenny lying amongst the carnage with Jonathan's blade pierced through his neck. Had this guy left his frontline to kill the enemy leader?
Now that Mark was closer he could see the multitude of cuts, burns, and bruises covering Jonathan's body. Mark could tell through his construct, that while it looked bad, the wounds were not at a life-threatening level.
With a tired grin, Jonathan said.
“Be honest… I’m I still roguishly handsome?”
Mark just rolled his eyes because, even looking like a partly toasted marshmallow the guy was still annoyingly good-looking.
Sam snorted at him.
“You idiot, when I said to ‘let loose’, I didn’t mean take them all on”
Jonathan shrugged and then flinched, as the motion broke open some freshly healed cuts.
“Meh, specify next time.”
Mark could see Jonathan was trying to inject levity into the situation but they had been in a bad spot and he knew it.
Taking hold of Jonathan's arm, Mark slung it over his neck and lifted him off the ground.
Beginning to work on Jonathan's internal organs immediately, which weren't as bad as Mark would have guessed, but had sustained concussive damage.
The external wounds would have to wait until they were out of the public eye.
Mark started walking back toward their main force with Jonathan in tow, but Sam remained for a moment, watching the Firestarters.
Air magic swirled around her and a booming voice stretched out over the open space. She only said one word, but it carried with it an enormous presence, steeped in emotion and venom.
“LEAVE!”
The spell-bound observers broke free, the threat of further violence sending them packing in all directions.
Sam turned, grabbed Jonathan's blade, and jogged to catch up with them. Ducking her head under Jonathan’s other arm she said.
“Mark, our people. They got hit with the initial attack. Karter is arranging the healers but we don’t know the extent of the damage yet”
They kept moving toward the wall of ice and an opening formed directly in front of them, revealing the situation beyond.
To be blunt, things were a mess, but they were managing. The healers that Mark had brought with him were working to stabilize as many as possible, and while they were heavily outnumbered they were working efficiently. There were around forty healers to over two hundred injured with varying degrees of burns. Mark did not miss the few charred corpses that lay off to the side, but their fast reaction times saved many lives. Mark could honestly say he was proud of their response, now they all just need more experience.
His construct was already set out so Mark started doing what he could to assist. Now that the battle was over he was no longer conserving energy so he poured Prana into those that needed it most.
Mark kept a steady stream of Prana going towards Jonathan, as he knew the guy would take the single most energy to heal out of everyone here.
Ten minutes later Daphne arrived with the rest of their fighters. Jude and his people were following but kept at a distance. When they saw that there was no fighting they approached.
At first, Mark was disappointed that he had not gotten here sooner to prevent this, but he realized they had accomplished plenty tonight, and that they still had much to do. He’d take the victory for now.