The shine of a flashlight illuminated Mark’s surroundings. Squinting Mark moved toward where he’d last seen the charging Corrupted.

“Get that light out of my eyes” he growled.

The beam dropped to the ground. Mark had already drawn his machete. He wanted to just use [Force bolts] but held off for now. Hacking right into the approaching group, Mark made sure he had a faint but strong [Shape Mana] going. It would drain his resources to use while moving so much in battle, but right now there were too many unknowns.

“Oi, don't steal my prey!” the man shouted while rushing over and crushing the skull of the Ordinator.

Mark ignored him, and focused on the incoming Corrupted, dodging to the side he hacked the next one apart.

The man shoulder-checked one of the zombies and brought the bat down on its skull as it collapsed.

‘Definitely, Aura’ Mark thought.

All of a sudden a small floating orb made of metal crashed into the side of a zombie's head, braining it.

The last two were still moving towards Mark, then they weren't and the smell of burnt flesh assailed his nostrils. The area fell silent and Mark’s eyes darted down to see scorched holes straight through the Corrupted’s heads.

“Right, do you know who’s Sp you just stole?” he screamed.

Mark frowned and said.

“Listen, man, they came at me, and I dealt with it”

“Then you move the fuck out my way and let me deal with it, you don’t steal Henry’s mobs!” Henry shouted.

He looked to be about Mark's age if not slightly younger. Looking towards the rest of Henry’s party, Mark wondered if any of them were going to rein their member in.

What he saw was not encouraging, they all looked equally put out as if he took a dump in their favorite cereal.

“Boss, something’s weird about this. The Z’s just suddenly focused him like he was pulling aggro”

Mark recognized the term commonly used in mmorpg’s. It was not a good sign. Were these people treating this like a game?

“You’re right Felix,” some of the rage left his eyes.

“How’d you do it? Is it a skill, a spell?” Henry suddenly looked more crazed than before.

A strange hungry light appeared in his eyes.

Mark didn't know what mad idea this guy had just come up with, but he wanted no part in it

Frowning he said.

“There’s no spell, and I just got too close and they charged me, I gotta go,” Mark said while moving around Henry and his group.

He could tell by the looks on their faces that they didn't believe him for a second.

“Yeah, you’re not going anywhere just yet,” Henry said coldly moving into his path.

“Boss, look he’s hurt” The light shone down to Mark’s knee, where blood had soaked into the pants leg.

Mark was probably the most surprised out of all of them. His passive should have stopped the bleeding of a small cut like that in seconds.

Right away he dove into the wound, finding it full of poison and Corruption. The damn wound wasn't healing because Corruption was preventing the Prana from getting to it. What a nasty creature.

Mark's head snapped back to the alleyway he’d come from. It was difficult to make out but he could see red puddles of water on the ground trailing off into the darkness.

“Right, well this is easy to solve, you tell us how you pulled those mobs and I’ll let you join my crew. We have a healer back at base that can patch you right up.”

To an outsider, listening in, it could have sounded like a request. However, Mark could tell by the tone in Henry’s voice he wasn't giving him a choice.

“Not to mention you stole a couple of my kills, so it's only fair you pay me back” he continued.

His group had begun fanning out, surrounding Mark and Boe.

Seeing this, Mark's eyes hardened.

“I’m not going to give you anything and I’m certainly not going anywhere with you.”

“Aww, that's a shame,” Henry said without a hint of emotion in his voice. His whole body seemed ready to pounce.

Mark tensed, pumping resources into his active construct, at the same time, he flushed the wound with Prana. Very similar to the way he had before, only now he was targeting something more physical rather than mental. The Prana moved rapidly, he hadn't checked yet, but the ease with which he completed it, felt like a structured spell. The wound closed in less than a second.

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“Perhaps a broken arm or two will change your mind,” Henry said his voice full of menace.

He dashed toward Mark, Henry was fast but Mark found himself able to keep up with his movements. Thanking his newly acquired attributes, Mark moved to dodge.

Something moved into his peripheral. The small orb he’d seen earlier was flying right at his temple. Unable to dodge both, Mark had to choose his battles. Dodging out of the range of Henry’s swing, the bat came whooshing past his shoulder. This put him right in the path of the orb. Flaring his construct out, he brought it into a full sphere. The orb smacked harmlessly into it doing almost no damage, then flew right back toward the man named Felix.

“Shit, he’s a Mage. Don't give him a second!” he shouted.

Mark gritted his teeth he really didn't want to be wasting resources on these fuckers, but they weren't giving him much of a choice.

Suddenly a bolt of fire smacked into Mark's construct, looking up he spotted two of them had moved back and the other man that Mark didn't know was moving to support Henry.

Boe went dashing forward at the man and growled threateningly.

Two ranged, two melees.

‘Fine, let's go,’ he thought

That was all the time Mark had before Henry was on him again. Swinging at Mark’s construct. Jumping back, Mark pulled it in causing him to miss altogether.

“Keep going [Mana Shield] is really intensive on his Mana!” Felix shouted from the back.

Seven bolts appeared around Mark. Firing them in a barrage at Henry, whose eyes widened, and threw himself to the floor. All seven missed flying right over him. Mark changed their flight midair to their real target, the group's backline.

Now Mark didn't want to kill anyone, but if people came at him he was more than willing to dish out some pain.

The [Force bolts] were aimed low, at their legs. The other approaching Aura user saw this but was contending with Boe so he couldn't stop them.

The orb from earlier appeared again, smashing through two of his bolts, and destroying them. Finally, the man that threw the fire bolts earlier, stepped in front of Felix with his hands raised. A small dome not unlike how Mark's currently looked appeared in front of him to block the bolts.

The five remaining [Force bolts] rammed into the shield casing cracks, the last one breaking through. The man let out a scream as one detonated against his foot shredding it to the bone. Clutching his and dropped to one knee. Mark was impressed when he managed to repair the shield.

“You fucker!”Henry got up and charged at Mark bringing his bat forward for a wide swing.

Mark poured more Mana into his construct, warping it to the front and shaping it into a thick cord. As soon as Henry swung, Mark sent it forward. Still recovering from the attack he couldn't react in time and Mark's construct coiled around him. Then like Mark was on the pitcher’s mound, he wound up and sent Henry flying into the concrete wall of the alley. Some of the stonework crumbled and Henry grunted in pain.

“Come on gents, we should really leave this area. Let's stop this here” Mark tried to reason with them now that their leader was down.

None of them listened.

The Aura user disengaged from Boe, running towards Mark. Boe chose not to follow, instead turning to disrupt the mage and Felix. Who had to keep his focus on Boe as he snapped against his failing dome.

The orb was back slamming into Mark's construct just as the Aura user arrived. Cracks spread throughout his spell.

He had to give it to them, their coordination was not bad.

He used more resources to repair and move the construct to fit close to his body.

“That’s definitely not [Mana Shield]! Be careful Sean!”

Sean swung at Mark with his baton, which Mark tried to parry with his machete.

This turned out to be the wrong move. Mark may have had the defenses of around 67 Aura, but he did not have its strength. His weapon went flying from his grip, sliding across the ground. Mark spawned three [Force bolts] right in his face. Forcing Sean to back off.

The orb reared back and slammed into his construct once more, inches away from Mark’s face.

Mark tried battling it away, but it stuck around like a persistent fly.

The world suddenly spun as something tackled Mark. With only a second to think he allowed himself to be moved, trying to disperse the force of the object instead of enduring it.

Both Henry and Mark collapsed in a heap, with Henry on top. He started raining down blows on Mark's shield. Smashing Mark’s head against the ground, dazing him.

Dark anger coursed through Mark, what the hell was this even for? They needed to move yet these idiots were attacking him over a couple of kills?

It took Mark a second to realize the rage-filled scream was coming from himself.

Mana and Prana gushed freely into his spell.

“Henry, get back!”

“Too late,” Mark whispered

The construct flashed forward, wrapping around Henry’s legs. Mark whipped him off his feet and smashed him face-first into the ground.

Once. Twice. Three times. Using the upward force Mark chucked the man straight at his backline.

They didn't even have time to get out of the way, the mage’s shield had collapsed at some point. So all three of them went crashing to the ground in a pile of limbs and groans.

Mark turned his head to Sean, the other Aura user, ready to deal with him next when the sound of wings reached Mark's ears. He glanced up but couldn’t see much.

“Shit! Ghasts! Kill the lights” Felix said.

Realizing the fight was abandoned. Mark dashed to his machete, arriving just as the world plunged into darkness. There were no working street lamps here.

Mark dropped low to the ground clicking his tongue softly to get Boe's attention

The sound of flapping grew louder.

“Dammit, where is he!” Henry’s muffled shout went out.

A small form moved toward Mark from the shadows. Mark lowered his machete when he realized it was Boe slinking toward him.

Mark let out a sigh of relief, which lasted seconds before the sound of screeching and wings filled the area.

Mark looked down at his blood-soaked pant leg. There was no way these creatures didn't have night vision. They were no doubt attracted to light and Felix was probably trying to hide by dropping it.

The problem was Mark had a target on his back, so these things would zero in on him fast, with or without the light. The fact that he couldn't see the incoming attacks didn't sit right with him.

So he turned on the flashlight on his phone.

A single beam of light went up, illuminating the area.

A literal swarm of the creatures circled above Mark in a cyclone of flesh, teeth, and barbs. Standing just below them in the eye of the storm Mark watched as they began to descend in torrents.