The sound of blades clashing together rang out across the wide expanse of the concrete channel, bouncing off the fortifications and echoing out into the city.
Mark set his stance next to Sam, while Daphne took point, punching projectiles out of the air before they hit the shield of compressed wind. There was no cover nearby to speak of, and being as drained as he was, Mark couldn’t afford to make any right now.
Up ahead Chloe was still locked in battle with Oscar’s bodyguard. She was making good use of her foresight, however, it was clear they were almost evenly matched. The man’s physique put professional bodybuilders to shame. It was clear he’d been through rigorous training, and was battle-hardened since well before the skies fell. This meant his reaction and experience made up for the gap in their abilities. Not to mention the man’s Aura was incredibly tough to get through.
Jonathan was locked in a defensive battle; Oscar kept trying to draw more aggression and violence out of him, using taunts and jabs, letting Jonathan know how much of a failure he thought he was.
Mark knew Oscar just wanted to knock Jonathan off balance and consume more of his Aura, but this time Jonathan remained level-headed. His goading slid right off Jonathan's back, while his dagger found no real purchase. Mark had seen Jonathan use some really powerful strikes since acquiring the crest, but he used none of those now. Instead, he dodged and deflected, looking for an opening he could capitalize on. All the while both of their Aura’s were building. While Jonathan’s was clear and defined, carrying a sense of cold purpose. Oscar’s was scattered and pervasive, stretching out only to pull everything else inward like a vacuum.
Mark took the battle in and he tried to think of a way to help. He’d spoken a big game but honestly, right now they were the ones on the back foot. The numbers on the walls were not truly trying to kill them, just keep them pinned down. They avoided throwing any spells in Oscar’s direction, so Chloe and Jonathan were safe for now, but the moment that changed they would get bombarded into the next life. With so little Mana remaining, Mark needed to work efficiently with what he had left. So he created a small construct no larger than a tennis ball and extended a thin band of invisible force from it. Sam noticed it and let it pass her defenses.
Snaking it forward, Mark wrapped it around Jonathan and Chloe, pulsing his Prana to let them know it was him. Right now Mark didn’t even have the Mana to establish a [Telepathic link] so this was the best he could do. Feeding a small but constant stream of Prana into them both. He hit them both with [Invigorate] but toned Jonathan’s down to a fourth of what he made Chloe’s. Even with that, Jonathan preened and Mark had to give him a squeeze with the construct to remind him not to go overboard.
Sam held the wall of air around them and began returning fire in the form of literal fire. Bolts of blue acred up and over, crashing into the tops of the walls, and shaking foundations.
Defensive skills went up, but she still found a couple of gaps in their scatter lines. The pause didn’t last long before they were back to raining down.
It was because of the barrage that Mark noticed they completely avoided the bomb nearest to them. Damaging it could disable the machine or perhaps even set it off.
In a low whisper, Mark tried to get their attention.
“Move toward the device, we need to make that our priority.”
Daphne and Sam heard him and simply nodded their heads in acknowledgment.
Slowly they began moving towards the device, and the closer they got to it the less attacks came their way. They were almost there when Mark saw the shadows nearest to them lurching out of their natural path.
“Incoming!”
A tidal wave of darkness slammed into Sam’s shield and began leaking through. Mark wanted to react but he didn’t know where the attack was coming from.
Daphne on the other hand suddenly dove to the ground as a figure exploded from the living shadows, taking an Aura-filled swipe at her.
After she backed off so did they.
Mark recognized their techniques even as the darkness parted to reveal the two Lieutenants, Bix and Nole. Mark cursed in his head they did not need this right now.
Lieutenant Nole was the first to speak.
“Apologies you three but until all this is decided we can’t have you anywhere near this device.”
Mark wanted to shout that they didn’t have the time for this, but he knew from experience these two didn’t respond to that type of engagement.
“Please, Lieutenants. We cannot let Oscar do whatever he wants, there are thousands of innocents down there.”
By the looks on their faces, they already knew this but any raw emotion they had for the situation was bulldozered over by the years of training. Lieutenant Nole still looked uncomfortable but neither of them looked ready to budge from the bomb.
“Our direct orders from Colonel Rachel are to protect this resource and prevent any unauthorized personnel from tampering with it. Unless we hear a de-escalation protocol from either the Colonel or Ms. Lisa Moore the device will remain armed.”
“It’s armed?!” Daphne shouted.
“The airways are jammed by something, she can’t tell you shit right now.” Sam hissed.
Both of them shut down and were unwilling to listen anymore.
“We have our orders, back away.”
Mark sent a cord towards Daphne as she took a step forward.
That was all the two men needed, they jumped into action. The darkness swamped them again hiding their forms.
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Daphne took another step and Sam blocked the incoming wave with her own cloud of shadows. The two spells looked like amorphous creatures ripping into one another.
Lieutenant Nole was more proficient with the magic, but not by much, and Sam’s raw power helped make up for the rest. Then the mental and physical assaults arrived. Sam could defend herself from Nole's mental attacks, but Mark had flooded Daphne and himself with Prana to block out the mental load pressed against them. Because of the lack of Mana, his defense wasn’t perfect, so it was more like Mark was healing any damage that was being done, this meant that it was like a hot poker being rammed into one's brain. Which did no favors for his already taut mind.
On top of this Lieutenant Bix’s first strike had clearly been a warning because now they came without a hint or a whisper. Daphne had to keep her guard up almost exclusively, or he would go for her throat.
Neither Sam nor Daphne could approach, but the lieutenants could not shake them off either. So a stalemate of sorts was reached.
They may win in the end, but time is not on their side right now. Mark searched the area for a way around. He saw Chloe was losing ground to the bodyguard, unable to get through his defenses. So he sent a larger pulse of [Invigorate] and healing.
As he did that his eye caught on the crumpled form nearby. Now that Mark was closer he was certain it was Nathan. The guy had suffered a large blow to the back of the head where blood wept from the wound, but Mark could also see dozens of other injuries littering his body.
Had Oscar tortured what he needed out of the guy?
Nathan's form was not too far away from where they were currently fighting and Mark could see through Sam’s darkness so he decided to make a run for it. Extending a fourth tendril was pushing his little construct to its limits, but every point of Mana he generated was going straight to the spell.
Sprinting out of Sam's dome, Mark made a beeline for the guy. As of yet, no one had noticed him, too locked in their own power struggles.
The cord reached Nathan a couple of seconds before Mark got there, dumping a packet of Prana into him. Mark could see extensive wounds across his back and extremities, especially his hands. The guy was missing six of his fingers and his left ear, Mark blanched at the obvious cruelty. In the back of his mind, he noted that none of Nathan's missing appendages were there for reattachment.
Getting low to the ground Make grabbed the still unconscious form, threw him over his shoulder, and began moving back towards Sam’s shield. All the while he directed his Prana to seal the wounds, there would be a massive patch near the base of his skull where no hair would grow for a while, but Mark could fix all that later. He was in the middle of lessening the concussion when Lieutenant Nole must have heard him running because the shapeless cloud of darkness made a sudden play for Mark. Sam attempted to block it, but Mark still had to dive to the ground sending them both sprawling onto the concrete.
With no protection, that hit would have put Mark out of commission for a couple of seconds, he’d have to remember to get Sam something nice if they survived this.
Mark was up in a flash and pulling Nathan with him by the front of his shirt. The material was clearly system-made because it held without complaint. When Mark got back to the dome Sam spared him a dry glance before blocking the next hit.
Mark placed Nathan down and gave him his full attention, the missing bits would have to wait. Wrapping his brain up in Prana, Mark hit Nathan with a full-powered [Invigourate]. Like a shot of adrenaline, Nathan bolted up, eyes wide. His magic wrapped around his arms defensively, coating him with dripping green venom.
The guy was usually so emotionless, Mark even thought the guy might have a case of psychopathy, but right now he looked very human. The fright on his face was evident, as he glanced about the space searching for threats. When he realized who they were and that he was no longer in direct danger his face hardened rather quickly.
“The bomb is armed, I can’t deactivate it, Lisa needs to give the order!”
Even while clutching his wounded arms to his chest, his pragmatism shocked Mark, but there was no time
“We can’t get a signal through and we have no idea how Oscar was communicating with Lisa.”
Nathan began to point and then realized his mistake, instead indicating with his head.
“The jammer is in the truck, with the radio he used!”
Mark's head snapped over to the abandoned vehicle nearby and he shouted.
“Sam, the truck!”
Her head snapped over to Mark and then the vehicle, Mark knew the message had been received because with one hand she wrapped the darkness into a shell around them, and the other shot up a two-story lance of murky ink. Which then grew into the shape of a scythe and fell towards the truck like a guillotine.
Lieutenant Nole saw it but didn’t attempt to block it.
It was actually Oscar's bodyguard who broke away from Chloe and rushed to defend. She got a good hit in but couldn’t stop him arriving on the roof of the truck.
When the bladed shadow landed, the Aura user stood in its path. His diamond-shaped barrier collided with Sam’s spell.
There was the piercing screech of blade on glass, but the spell could not get through.
Mark was devastated, but Sam just snorted.
Near the furthest end of the scythe, a burst of light shone through and suddenly the whole area was bather in flame.
By the looks of it, the blade of shadow contained a large ball of fire, which Sam now released.
The force was concussive, and while it couldn’t penetrate the bodyguard’s Aura, it washed around it and melted through the cheap metals making up the truck and everything near it.
Lieutenant Nole stared at them with a look of bewilderment.
Mark saw the Lieutenant's hesitation and took advantage of it pulling out his own set of comms.
“Lisa, come in! Contact Lieutenant Nole with the de-escalation protocol, right now!”
Mark listened for a few agonizing seconds, when none came he thought the jammer had somehow survived the blast, but then the sound of Lieutenant Nole’s comms going off sang like a sweet harmony.
Lieutenant Nole dropped the darkness and listened to his earpiece, the air shifting and his face smoothed out.
“Passcode confirmed, aborting operation now. Lieutenant Bix, stand down.”
Both of them back off, showing they wanted nothing more to do with the fight and Sam let them.
Lieutenant Nole moved quickly to the console, as he did so Mark felt Jonathan’s Aura press against his throat.
Mark began to shout as he turned to look back.
Oscar was making a mad dash for the device with Jonathan hot on his heels. Sam reacted by building a wall of shadow which Oscar cut right through, scatting the magic like mist.
Without even slowing he went straight for Lieutenant Nole. Lieutenant Bix arrived just in time to parry the attack but suffered for it. Getting launched at incredible speeds towards the wall, Oscar lifted his dagger to go for the kill on Lieutenant Nole, who had only just manifested a solid bar of shadows to block with, when Jonathan arrived in between the two of them, glowing with gold light.
With speed even Oscar struggled to follow Jonathan launched an attack with his full force behind it.
Grinning like a madman, Oscar took the attack head-on, and in a hushed tone, that everyone could hear.
“Got you…”
All the Aura Oscar had stolen from Jonathan came bounding outward in the shape of a nova, it was so thick Mark could see the individual blades.
Several hit Jonathan and Lieutenant Nole. While the rest came directly at the four of them.