Frost and darkness coated the world, sending chilling shadows across the street. Sam had focused the main portion of the spell on the Crossbearer; however, the perimeter carried chunks of hail toward the nearby Corrupted. Those that were not killed on impact were wrought by talons of shadow, that exploded from the ice as it shattered upon impact.
Mark could hear the creeping sound of ice glazing the cobblestones about them. The golden flame spluttered around the Progenitor’s form, and shadows flickered out, unable to hold their cohesion as the spell faded. The two guardians came into focus, their forms partially buried in a crater. The Progenitor’s tail was coiled protectively around the Crossbearer, its back facing toward Sam. The creature had used its own body as a shield; granted it had an incredibly thick hide, yet even that could not save it from the full force of Sam’s attack. Deep lacerations and crushed bones were evident where the ice had crashed into it.
More so than actually surviving that attack, it was the actions of the Progenitor that sent a chill down Mark's spine. Corrupted naturally showed zero self-preservation unless there were extenuating circumstances such as an Ordinator nearby. However, this guardian had consciously chosen to block an attack not meant for it. For whatever reason it needed the Crossbearer alive.
Discovering this only renewed Mark’s resolution to kill the guardian.
Leaving the building behind, Mark approached Chloe, he needed to get her off the battlefield, but the Progenitor disagreed.
Flames began to reignite around it, while the Crossbearer drew in more of the crystal to heal itself, regrowing a portion of her face.
Mark would not let that happen, so dumping a large amount of Mana into [Earth control] he sent two spears of iron at them. The air exploded with force as Mark sent them forward at full speed, both crashing into the Crossbearer, once more halting her regenerative process.
Mark went for the arms, as they seemed to be how it cast spells. Seeing as he had not directly engaged either of the guardians, his attack came as a surprise. Allowing him to destroy another arm and send the second attack directly through her chest.
If it had been a human, such an impact would have likely destroyed their heart. And yet, the Crossbearer seemed unfazed by the object protruding diagonally from her sternum.
Mark kept moving, even as she turned her disfigured face to look up at him. A spear came whizzing past, but Mark dove toward the earth, changing direction three times before crash-landing next to Chloe and scooping her up. Another spear lodged itself in the ground seconds after Mark took to the air again.
At the same time, the Progenitor and Daphne had locked themselves in a contest of strength. Fresh black cords swam near her, but she didn’t look like she wanted to go anywhere. Jonathan on the other hand had moved through the flames dodging the cords for all he was worth, attacking in any openings he could find.
The Progenitor’s tail came down on Daphne with the force of a truck. Cobblestone cracked and splintered off in all directions. It took only a moment for the Progenitor the realize its mistake. With each attack it imparted on Daphne, its frame hunched in discomfort. Even though the Progenitor seemed to understand what was going on, backing away from Daphne would be impossible without creating an opening.
An opening she would make it regret giving her, it somehow knew this.
While the two of them remained locked in a staring contest, Sam began to cast once more.
She had expended a bunch of Mana on that previous attack, but she had already she built up lesser versions. Launching them at the Progenitor, she gave Jonathan the opening he needed.
Disengaging, he went directly for the Crossbearer. Vaulting and bringing his heel down on the freshly healed face of the creature.
The sound of a scream was cut short, and stone against flesh rang out, Jonathan was sent flying but the damage was done.
When Mark saw it again, the Crossbearer’s face, neck, and upper sternum crumbled down towards the ground, his spear being freed in the process.
How the thing kept moving while missing a good portion of its upper half was beyond Mark. Though with only two arms remaining he could see some definite instability in its form. That was when Mark noticed it was ambling towards the spire. As if it needed to get there.
Mark could see what it wanted and immediately made it his mission to stop it. Putting on a burst of speed he flew over the battle and positioned himself in between the two.
Things were desperate and its healing seemed to stem from the surrounding crystals, so there was no way he was letting it get to the largest crystal in the region. Spears came flying at him and he tried his best to dodge what he could and block the rest, but with Chloe in his arms, it was a losing battle.
Jonathan had recovered by now, and if getting swatted away discouraged him, he didn't show it. Charging back in, his blades ran as they were drawn from their sheaths, but the Crossbearer was done playing.
Massive shards of Crystal jutted out of the ground, building a wall between herself and Jonathan. Leaving Mark with the spire behind him and an approaching guardian in front. Determined not to let her approach Mark charged his construct with power. There was a brief flash and Cara appeared next to him. He knew it was her because of the link, at the same time he heard her speaking in his head.
‘Mark drink this and give her to me, I'll keep her safe.’
He glanced over long enough to hand Chloe to the girl and grab the small vial she offered him.
A glance at it registered it as a system item, with brows raised he popped the cork and drank the entire thing in one gulp.
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Item: Saturated Extraction (Iron)
Item lvl: –
Description: A product of [Jana van der Walt], created through a simple distillation process using the flesh of [Saturated Mandarins].
Consumable: Restores a concentrated amount of Mana. (100)
He wrinkled his nose at the sickly sweet tangy mixture, it went down like a spoonful of syrup. And yet Mana suffused his core, Mark dropped from the sky, wrapping a secondary shield around himself. Cara knew to stay within range of Mark’s construct so he focused entirely on blocking the Crossbearer. Her march, though unsteady had not stopped, and even as Mark began to pull at the surrounding earth, she did not hesitate to try and step over him.
Cobblestone, soil, and rock responded to his call in the form of a tidal wave of loose earth, rising to meet the guardian. The Mana from the extract he had just drank flowed in at a steady pace and he kept the stream of power traveling into [Earth control].
The Crossbearer reached Mark’s wall just as it rose to the guardian's waist. He ran along the edge as the two collided releasing a shockwave that almost threw Mark.
As he stabilized himself within the swell of stone, Mark began to encase the Crossbearer, but its arms struck out at the wave of soil, sending boulders and sand ricocheting beyond. Mark pulled up more earth, repairing the wall as fast as it could be destroyed. He could not encompass the creature but he could stop her approach.
The wall of crystal behind the guardian shattered and Jonathan came from behind. Landing in the center of her back and fixing himself there. Lifting his fists he began to thrash his bare knuckles against its opaline flesh repeatedly.
Cracks spiraled through the gem’s surface with each resounding detonation. Mark was glad he had given Jonathan the [Animated Mind], as he could tell the shield he had made with [Bestowl] was taking strain.
All the while, the Crossbearer never stopped thrashing and attempting to get to the spire, Mark held it there until Jonathan must have hit something vital because even without a head, the Crossbearer released a ringing hiss of pain from her core. Mark now could tell the light in her abdomen was where her weakness lay.
The Progenitor lost it all at once. Mark turned in time to see an explosion of golden flame stretching out into the area. As it washed over them all Mark could see the black thread retreating to the Progenitor and wrapping around it. Sections of its carapace popped open with a wet sound of tearing flesh. Black threads spilled out, and it unleashed itself on its captive, backhanding Daphne with enough force to plunge her through a distant building, issuing forth a cloud of dust.
Of course, Daphne took her dues, as just before she was sent flying, she crashed into its ankle with explosive strength and snapped through the natural armor, tearing into its tendons.
The Progenitor barely even registered this though and continued to charge, even when its leg bucked. It fell onto all fours and practically crawled with feral purpose.
Jonathan saw it arrive and had to jump away as the Progenitor crashed into Crossbearer. The force was too much, and Mark's spell crumpled under their collective weight.
The Progenitor hunched over the Crossbearer like a rabid dog protecting its prey. Marks constructs did little to weaken the severity of the flame around them. Mark just kept his Prana flooded near his skin as his flesh began to sizzle away.
Mark could see the situation they were in, and things were not going to get any better. Chloe was out for the count and Cara couldn’t get close to the thing without being burned to death. Daphne was going to need a moment to recover, and yet the Crossbearer needed only a second to get back into top fighting shape. Though as bad as it looked, both guardians were mortally wounded. One more big hit was all they needed. The problem was the aftermath. Once the Crossbearer went down, the Progenitor would benefit from the systems buff, and there was no telling what that would be, or if they could survive it.
Mark lifted himself above the two guardians as they thrashed about in a tangle of limbs. Staring down at them he took a breath and sent a plan down the connection. Something about this whole fight had bothered Mark, the system was hash, but never unreasonable. This fight was stacked against them, and they even got the drop on the guardians. So then, a question came to mind, if one of the guardians would get a boon from the system, how soon would that power take effect?
And for that matter, what if they were killed at precisely the same time?
Would they still be protected by the system?
Mark began to pull power from his cores. He had everything he needed to test it, to exploit a possible loophole.
Mark told them to prepare and then cut the link with everyone except Sam and Jonathan.
They knew what he wanted to do and both gave their permission.
Mark pulled his construct down and wrapped both guardians in countless cords of force. It was made easier by the creature's confusion. They flailed, but ineffectually.
Then Mark opened the connection between Jonathan, Sam, and himself wider, pushing [Telepatic link] to stage two. The last time Mark had used this was on Donny, and it had been an incredibly intense experience, however, if this was to work they had to get the timing right.
They needed the kills to happen simultaneously, not just close enough, or even within a fraction of a second – they had to occur precisely at the same moment.
The system would allow for nothing less.
That meant they needed to be on the same page, to know when the other was going to strike.
Mark’s memories and experiences plunged into a shared pool where two more entities resided, their minds melded so that every response and decision was made all at once.
For a moment Mark could taste a metallic tang of blood in the back of his throat, as well as the threads of icy magic brush over his palms.
Sam began ramping up her Mana, pouring it into a spell she called combustible frost, which was a simple rapid change from temperature extremes, resulting in material destruction.
Jonathan charged a skill called [Pulverizing Impact] with his remaining Aura and dashed towards the Progenitor. It broke an arm free from the net of force bands and swiped at Jonathan. He didn’t bother dodging, as a pane of force blocked the wide swig, as well as the tail strike that it had attempted to ambush him with. Again Mark blocked it, but the force behind it was enough to break the screen, however, by the time it did Jonathan was already gone.
The Crossbearer aimed a spear at his approaching form but a swift bolt of ice from Sam changed the direction at the last second.
Sensing danger the Progenitor released countless strands of dark thread, to which Jonathan slammed his blades through the narrow eye socket of the creature. It roared in seething rage but it was too late.
Jonathan then turned and brought his fully charged skill down on the Crossbearer’s core. At that same moment, Sam released the spell near the Progenitor's damaged eye. A massive wave of ice invaded the area, dropping the space to subzero temperatures, before rapidly exploding into an inferno. The ice melted and expanded so swiftly that its brain was exposed to the tearing bone and vaporizing liquids. Together, a duo of explosions shuddered through the campus grounds.
Silence followed and the dust settled, but Mark maintained the bindings on the guardians. Their forms grew still and a blinking system message appeared.