The hoards were back once more, their blackened nails breaking against the transparent dome. Drool, acid, and darkened blood trickled down the shield, unable to adhere to its surface, forming tiny rivulets in the process. Daphne and Chloe moved out to block Roland when he made a break for their backline, while Jonathan switched over to the Tristan guy.
Chloe was no match for the raw power behind Roland's repeating strikes, but that was only true if the hits landed. She wove around him in a series of lunges and strikes that would put a professional fencer to shame, predicting all retaliation coming her way. Striking with precise stabs at his most vulnerable openings. If at any point things took a turn, Chloe would retreat to Daphne and she’d absorb the attacks like a waterbreaker. Daphne's retributive skills only worked once before Roland pulled back on his swings. An intelligent foe changed combat in more ways than one.
Jonathan’s Aura flooded the area, and as enticing as his scent was, the Corrupted ignored him in favor of pressing Mark's defense. This was not their first instinct, but regular commands from Tristan seemed to override whatever hold the mark had over them.
Sam and Mark thus defaulted to clean-up duty. Murdering what seemed like a near-endless supply of Corrupted. Mark’s [Animated Mind] was instrumental in keeping the swarms off their people locked in combat. He had created a secondary one and had them on overwatch directly above the two melees.
Jonathan’s fight was by far the most intense. The two exchanged blows at a blistering pace, each wave leaving coiling tendrils of static behind. Jonathan had long since adjusted to the electric charge constantly riding his body. His right arm was almost paralyzed by the current, and yet the man was smiling, his aura building into the space. With every movement, Tristan gained a new cut from seemingly nowhere, and though they closed, they did not heal.
Mark swung a construct round and hit all three of them with [Regenerate], but he was punished by the surrounding Corrupted as they used his moment of inattention to press the attack.
Sam covered for him by manipulating shards of stone around the battlefield. She had to work as efficiently as possible because even with both of them cutting down Corrupted, the numbers were gradually climbing. If Mark were to guess the main portion of their forces were arriving. Though they weren't approaching too fast, it was only a matter of time before they were all overrun.
Mark sent out a [Telepathic link] and maintained his focus on carving through the veritable wall of enemies.
‘What are our options here people? Jonathan, can you finish him? Sam and I can only buy so much time.’
The connection had the bonus of preventing their enemies from listening in.
‘He’s fucking tough. I don’t know that I can before these ‘others’ show up.’
Sam grunted beside Mark, sheering the head off a Ghoul with a blunt shard of rock.
‘Then get back as soon as you see an opening, Mark we’re getting out of here, prep it and count us down.’
Mark had previously inspected his amulet and even tested it once so he knew what to expect. It turned out to be necessary because the Riftglimmer Waystone took around thirty seconds to activate. After that, anyone Mark designated, who was physically connected to him, would jump with him. The problem was, first it was a very obvious process, the next, was the time it took to charge up. In a normal setting, thirty seconds was nothing, in a life-or-death battle, it may as well be a target painted directly on his forehead. He was banking on them not knowing what he was attempting to cast, but that wasn't much of a comfort.
Daphne blocked the strike meant for Chloe once more.
‘Wait! What if there are survivors? Are we just leaving them?’
Mark could feel she meant it for all of them but the message was focused on Chloe.
‘Run or teleport, it doesn't matter. Our window is closing, people. We have less than one percent chance of finding anyone in this situation.’
As much as Mark wanted to stay and search the area for survivors things were out of hand. More and more Ghasts were showing up, and in the distance, Mark saw the familiar sight of lumbering Titans.
If they got here he would be under enormous strain, grinding his teeth he triggered the amulet's ability. With the Mana already in place the amulet’s runes began to glow.
At first, no one noticed the change but seconds later the amulet’s silver light wrapped around Mark’s silhouette, sending his shadow sprawling in multiple directions as if hit from many different sources.
Jonathan stabbed at the Corrupted, but Tristan managed to parry it once more. His eyes turned up to see the glow coming off Mark and a cold expression settled over his face. Jonathan saw this and did his best to keep the guy at bay. Chloe and Daphne had begun a gradual retreat back towards the barrier. They had not been far off but Roland did not make it easy for them to retreat. Each step had to be planned, luckily Roland was probably an impatient guy before he turned because he seemed to lose it when Chloe stabbed him through the shoulder. He attempted to use this to his advantage and grab hold of her, but she saw it coming and with a mental call from Sam, she dove under his grapple, only for a wall of wind to slam into him. The Corrupted man only took a couple of steps back, but by the time he had recovered, both Chloe and Daphne were back inside the dome.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
When he saw this a frustrated scream ripped from his throat and he charged them. However, at the same time, Mark brought his [Animated Mind] inwards and had it focus him. The orb released a stream of bolts at Roland, forcing him to turn and dodge. He cut down a couple, but his lapse in attention allowed Sam to slam a spear of rock into him from behind. The power backing it was large, but nowhere near enough to separate his head from his shoulders. Roland managed to dive away from the follow-up attack and withdraw to a building, clutching his neck.
The spell was moving swiftly now and delicate strands of silver light began to wind themselves around Mark’s body, stretching upward like marionette strings.
Jonathan was having the most trouble disengaging from Tristan. The Corrupted man seemed to understand that he wanted to retreat for some reason and wouldn’t let that happen. Mark set the [Animate Mind] to focus on him but an errant bolt of Corruption from him struck it from the air. Its framework shattered, and what Mana it had left escaped into the surroundings.
Mark began to call the countdown in their heads.
At the same time, the nearest Titan had arrived, pounding on the shield. Ghouls were raining acid down on them in a constant steam now and Mark had begun to channel his remaining power into his defense. The construct began to grow towards Jonathan.
Who had stopped holding back.
Jonathan had begun using Aura more freely than ever before, the crest showing its real potential now.
He charged every strike with a skill. Nothing could get close to the two as it was either fried into oblivion or cut down in an instant. Shockwaves from their weapons had begun to overlap, the collateral damage alone was enough to kill most people. The thing was, while Tristan seemed to have a near-endless supply of power, Jonathan’s was simply better quality. In terms of endurance, the Corrupted man might win but the waves of Aura pouring off Jonathan pushed back at the Corruption, giving him the slightest upper hand. Jonathan sensed this and pushed his advantage, the sound of laughter could just barely be heard over the explosive detonations of each strike. Finally, a massive quake shook the area as they exchanged a final monstrous blow, Tristan was sent rocketing through multiple structures. At the last moment, he had managed to block, but the force alone was enough to send him flying.
Jonathan then used the space to make a run for the shield. He cut his way through the sea of Corrupteds, who couldn't help snapping at his heels, arriving just as the spell was completed.
Everyone had grabbed onto Mark and the moment Jonathan got there Mark triggered the jump.
Tristan got up from the rubble around him and watched them with a steady gaze. There was no worry or desperation in his eyes, only cold indifference. That look was the last thing Mark saw before his vision filled with silver light.
POV - The Monarch
----------------------------------------
The monarch descended to ground level, pulling in her wings with a graceful sweep. She had been traveling for a while when the outermost edges of her forces had met with this area.
She had felt a pitiful amount of resistance before it was squashed.
Everything had been going her way and then the guardians had been snatched out from underneath her. Rage did not begin to describe what she was currently feeling. For a moment she felt their crests approaching and so she sent her strongest children out to claim them, however, they split off after a moment. One had moved so rapidly in a north-easterly direction that it could only be magic, while the other had come directly towards her, and yet they had still lost it.
Her firstborn moved to throw himself at her feet. Her other children watching from the shadows.
“Forgive me, monarch, I have no excuse.”
She didn’t even glance at him, he was not worthy of the blessing of her gaze. And yet looking at the destruction around them they had to have encountered strong human resistance.
Another of her children huddled closer and this time she did look upon him. Though there was no mercy in her heart. She reached down and grabbed him by the neck. A wound clearly made to decapitate him remained.
“You failed me”
Squeezing the already tenuous connection of his vertebrae.
“No! It was a small team of humans, they had powerful abilities-”
Not wanting to hear any more words she closed his windpipe. He was a disappointment, but now she was curious. Diving into his mind, she pushed away the clutter of thought and unraveled his memories before her.
Distantly familiar faces bubbled to the surface, from a time before.
Nothing had hurt and wronged Grace more before her ascension than the faces assembled before her. Two stood out especially, and of them, one elicited such blinding fury that even the monarch remembered it with certainty.
“So it was them…”
Pulling free from the mind she dropped the waste of space creature.
The red emotion burned on the edges of her vision as her power relished in it, feasted on it.
Her power escaped her control for a moment and sent her subjects into a frenzy.
Rational thought only returned minutes later, but she managed to calm her mind. The fact that it was that man who had stolen her crest proved he needed to be dealt with, permanently.
The problem was he was surrounded by strong individuals, not to mention he was probably behind those damned walls. She had only recently become aware of one major human settlement on the main island. It was well-defended, so offensive probes had proved useless.
Lifting a foot to crush her child's skull she sneered, this thing was barely even worthy of being called one of hers, it had hardly changed once she had christened it.
The monarch paused, staring down at the unresisting form. A form she had once been so proud of, one she no longer held.
All she could see now was weakness, but perhaps that had its benefits too.
Her fanged maw began to tilt up into a foul crescent and she spoke.
“You are pardoned, just this once… For I have an important task for you.”
The form below her attempted to grovel but she turned away.
“Firstborn, gather your brothers and sisters, find me that crest, even if you have to search the whole city. Expand our numbers if need be. In the meantime, I have an eyesore to deal with.”