Mark clutched Sam to his chest as rubble consisting of wood, rock, and even broken furniture crushed in around them.
Mark’s construct had firmly enveloped everything in a thirty-foot radius and crushed it down to half the size. He wasn’t worried about the Aura users, their natural resilience was enough to protect, them. On the other hand, the spider-like Corrupted’s exoskeletons had been crushed under the pressure. The only one he hadn’t managed to kill was that Corrupted woman. Even now he could feel her already squirming out from under his control. So pouring the power from his [Animated Minds] Mark lifted the entire building twenty feet into the air and slowly relaxed his grip on the other sections. He intended to release their allies, but also give them more time to recover by creating a platform they could rest on for a second. Now that the hoards of Corrupted had been proven false they were in a significantly better position.
Unfortunately, with the racket they had just made it would not remain that way if they stayed here.
Mark turned his attention to Sam when he felt Jonathan working his way free from the rubble.
She was not doing well. The wound that the woman had inflicted was not of the normal variety. Already the flesh around her chest was undergoing necrosis as something vile mixed through her veins. Mark's own body wasn’t faring much better but he had to heal Sam first.
Examining the wound revealed a clean entrance and exit, which had already healed thanks to [Benediction]. However, the real problem was the infection that had taken hold just below her heart, thus spreading the necrotic venom to the rest of her body. Mark flushed [Cleansing surge] through her and his system. It worked but not in the way he expected. Everywhere the toxin had already spread was unaffected, but the spell seemed to keep the venom from spreading further.
Frowning Mark took a closer look and realized the necrotic tissues were beginning to produce new venom. Almost like how a virus hijacks healthy cells and uses them to create more of itself. Whatever had been inside her venom was something entirely new to Mark.
Flooding the nearby cells with Prana Mark began to try and reverse the damage. The cells quickly began to revert back to healthy ones but the moment he took his sight away from that spot, the now healthy cell would immediately be reinfected by the other surrounding ones. To make matters worse, the reinfected cells seemed to have even less resistance to the toxin than when they first became infected.
At the current rate, all he could do was to contain the spread of toxins. Fortunately for Mark and Sam, he had plenty of energy left to find an answer.
Outside Mark could hear the sounds of battle continuing as everyone was finally freed from the rubble. With three against one, the outcome should be obvious but Mark just hoped none of them get hit with this venom. He even went so far as to build a link with Jonathan to want him.
“Is Sam alright?” Was the first to come through the link.
“For now, yes. Just be careful of that woman.”
Mark could feel them fighting outside but he kept his focus on Sam. As he was working through the venom, he found there were similarities from when he’d been practicing with his core. Similarly to directing his core, Mark had to be everywhere at once, if he relaxed in one area it would throw off the rest. Of course, the difficulty of controlling the venom was not even in the same realm as directing his core, but he was grateful this was not the first time he was encountering something like this.
The battle was on multiple fronts and it took everything Mark had to begin winning back territory. Sam was first but moved over to himself to ensure his infection didn’t get too out of hand. Strangely the venom wasn’t spreading nearly as fast in his body than in Sam’s.
He immediately attributed that to his [Passive Regeneration(Self)] and he was pretty sure his mutated core had something to do with it. Because of the bits of Corruption, it kept pulling from the necrotic flesh.
Sam was still unconscious but that was to be expected she’d taken a direct hit and even with an enhanced body the toxin was going to take it toll. Mark lifted Sam onto his back and encased them in a single construct to hold her in place. All the while he maintained a constant flow of Prana cycling through them.
Then all at once he let the innermost portion of his construct go, taking in the scene around them.
The platform Mark had created was the perfect place to fight the Corrupted woman without interruptions. Jason had set up countless shards of amber around them as a field of deadly projectiles.
It was an impressive feat for someone lacking control. He was managing to keep the Ghasts off their backs and prevent the woman from escaping.
Not that it would have mattered.
The moment Jonathan was free from other distractions he hunted the woman down. As the walls of rubble collapsed around Mark he was greeted by the sight of Jonathan plunging both his blades into the woman's chest. She’d tried to distort their perception again but Mark had been releasing pluses of [Cleansing surge] at regular intervals. Without her illusions the woman was powerless.
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Spitting blackened blood she glanced over at Mark and Sam giving a weak smile.
“You’re actually still alive? No matter. The funny thing is you think this is still your world. Coming out here was a mistake even for people as powerful as you. Our people will catch you, and when they do, they'll rip you to pieces for-.”
Jonathan didn’t let her continue, flicking his wrist causing the blade to tear out either side of her chest and then slicing once more vertically. The twelve resound cuts caused her body to just about vaporize.
Looking up Jonathan’s eye locked on Sam and Mark. The sounds of the noisy streets below were the only voices in the night. Jonathan, Wesley, and Jason moved toward the center where they were.
“Drop the rubble on them. We need to leave the area before more show up.”
Mark nodded letting the whole outer construct blink from existence causing a hail of debris to rain down on the remaining Corrupted.
With the smaller range, Mark began to move them up the hill.
“What’s the plan?” Wesley asked as he watched the remaining Corrupted below chase after Mark’s construct.
“Well for starters finding somewhere to lay low would be ideal. Sam and I were poisoned. I’m dealing with it, but it's potent. It’s going to take me a couple of hours to work it from our systems. Were any of you hit by her fangs?”
The others shook their heads but Jonathan’s brow furrowed in concern as he looked at Sam’s pale face.
“It will be hard to escape with the Ghasts watching our every move. Plus I don’t want to discount the idea that more of those people are on the way here.”
Mark kept them moving over the rooftops and they soon enough lost the Corrupted moving below them, but just as Jonathan had said they were still being followed by the Ghasts. Jason's perimeter of whirling amber still dissuaded them from approaching to close, but they needed to find a place to set down and rest.
Jason hummed but then spoke up.
“Actually the next best move might be to head to our destination.”
Jonathan scowled and began to speak but Jason held up his hand.
“Just listen, the Westchester County Department is focused on managing public safety and crisis situations. Their primary role is handling immediate emergencies. However, what’s not publicly known is that certain federal or state facilities have additional, measures in place. For example, a bunker in the vicinity. If this safe house has survived, it could offer us some breathing room.”
Wesley squinted at Jason.
“That information wasn’t in the briefing your people offered. When where you going to tell us?”
Jason clenched his jaw.
“I wasn’t going to. I was ordered to avoid using it if I could. However, I was given the code to get inside incase. The entrance is a couple blocks from our destination. We can rest up and heal there.”
A couple of dissatisfied noises came from Wesley but Jonathan seemed to contemplate it. Glancing over to Sam Jonathan seemed to have already made up his mind.
“You’re certain it’ll still be operational?” he asked.
Jason shrugged, but it was probably the best option they had at this point.
So Mark shifted his construct toward their destination. They were only a couple hours out from the facility but the Ghasts made their progress far slower. They had to keep stopping to rest and clear the gathering Corrupted. That went doubly so if they encountered a Leviathan. Mark carried them most of the way as it was the most energy-efficient to allow their front liners to conserve their Aura. Especially if they encountered something when they got to their destination.
Jonathan never strayed too far from Mark, sending worried glances at Sam whenever he got the chance.
Eventually, Mark deposited them a couple of blocks from the supposed safe house. The moment they touched down on the road stray Corrupted poured from the shadows. Their frontline easily dealt with them while moving into a triangle formation around Mark. Who in turn just focused on keeping Sam and himself safe, choosing to conserve as much energy as possible. He’d used the last of his [Animated Minds] to get them here. Right now Mark only had himself to rely on so he’d only lent aid to them if they needed it. Right now, Sam’s condition was improving but they had to find a quiet place to finish the healing. By the time they got to the supposed safehouse entrance, all they saw was a couple of houses with an electrical relay station. Jason moved over to the relay station– which was just a small concrete block– and began punching in a code on the worn keypad. The wooden door unlocked, but Mark could feel steel lining the frame as well as the building itself. Ushering everyone inside he shut the door behind them. The sounds of Ghasts searching for a way in could be heard as they scratched at concrete. The room looked as Mark had expected. At its center stood a large metal casing, likely housing a complex electrical relay system designed to manage high-voltage signals. What he wasn’t expecting was for Jason to open the side of the rugged casing and flip a large switch inside. He then tapped something on another keypad and there was a sudden shudder through the room. Suddenly, the floor began to descend slowly into the earth. Mark realized with a start that the room had been a cleverly concealed elevator. As they reached the bottom, the sound of grinding metal filled the air, and fluorescent lights flickered to life, revealing a passageway lined with pipes. At the end of the corridor stood a heavy steel door, reminiscent of those found on deep-sea vessels, designed to withstand immense pressure.
Putting in one final code the door hissed open and they stepped inside. Right away the room looked like some kind of guard house with meshed glass looking at the heavy door they now entered through.
The lights were already on, and the door to the guard house was open. Stepping through Jason moved to a desk where a simple computer was fixed into the wall with half a dozen screens. He tried to get it to respond but frowned when they remained black.
“This isn't right everything should have powered up when we entered unless someone purposely shut it off.”
At that moment Mark felt someone enter his construct. Turning to the only other door that lead deeper into the facility Mark saw a man in his late forties holding a box of chinese takeout in his hand. When he saw them his eyes widened and he dropped the box, splattering brown sauce against the metal floor.