When Mark had first joined this group he had made it clear to Davis that he could leave at any point.

It was time to split the party.

Mark could see a second of hesitation in Davis's eyes, followed by years of training kicking in.

“Keep moving people, you can stop when we are home and safe!” he jolted his men to the present. The family moved along with the flow of the soldiers. Ava stepped around Mark putting him securely out of their encirclement.

As she passed Mark heard her say.

“Don't you dare die”

They began to retreat rapidly once more.

Mark stood there alone once more.

“Alrighty Boe let's see what we can do. Make sure to stay back unless I call you okay?”

Mark turned in time to see the second projectile coming toward him.

He expanded the shield to block it, but it turned out to be unnecessary because as it hurtled through the air, Sam’s mantel flared and she used a portion of it to form a ball of fire. Using it to intercept the projectile. They both exploded in midair.

Mark’s construct was hit with the resulting shrapnel. He made sure the squad was out of range before he pulled his spell back to cover his body.

The movement he had seen earlier caught his attention. The first projectile that had been chucked at him was moving. Two broken Corrupted dragged themselves across the ground toward him.

Mark released two [Force bolts], killing the one. When he went for the other Boe jumped in and tore into its spine. Rolling his eyes fondly he directed the other one toward the massive creature as a test.

It detonated against its hide blowing a small divet in the clay-like flesh. Bits of powder and ichor rained down.

Mark began to channel power into the construct. Thickening it and wrapping it close to his body.

The power he could summon right now was about the same as his first armor. Only this time he spread it out to cover his whole body.

Wrapping it around himself like a second skin. His hands were definitely the hardest part, but he managed.

Jogging to catch up with Sam he saw Jonathan reach the creature. His blade glowed red and gold. Jumping right into it he brought the blade down. Cleaving into its shoulder joint and cutting its entire right arm off.

It let out a wail of loss and anger.

“Damn! This thing's hard, only heavy attacks will work here Sam!” Jonathan shouted.

The Corrupted did not take the wound lying down. It retaliated immediately by swinging wide at him.

Jonathan had to duck under it, the sound of the passing limb ripping through the air.

Mark arrived next to Sam and matched her pace. She had a surprised look on her face, but quickly refocused on the task at hand.

“You got it Jon!” she said as her mantle began to collect flames into a condensed ball of fire in front of her.

Mark kept an eye on his surroundings and the creature, he needed to be closer to help effectively.

It began to speed up, now focusing entirely on Jonathan. Attacking without letting up. The two fell into a dance of blows and dodges. The creature was slower than Jonathan but on the flip side, all it needed was one good hit.

They were getting closer now and Sam’s fireball looked almost ready. When they were just out of its range she released a cone of near-white flame at the creature.

Jonathan seemed to expect her attack and back off seamlessly

The creature was washed in white flame, letting out a cry of misery, it curled up and took the brunt of the flame to its back. An acrid smell filled the air along with something that smelled like cooking flesh. It was charred black but it continued moving. Grabbing its fallen arm and smashing it back into its socket. The pieces began sealing together right away.

“Shit! No fair!” Sam called.

Mark noticed that the distant totems were beginning to show signs of movement

It was time to get stuck in.

Obviously, there was no amount of lasting damage he could do to this thing, but that was not his job.

He expanded his construct, bringing it down, rooting himself to the ground. Then as he had done with the very first use of this spell he shot forward a band and wrapped it around the creature's left arm. Which it had been bringing down towards Jonathan.

Its attack halted in midair for a moment and then Mark redirected it down into the ground, cracking the tar. Mark could feel the strength of this creature and the strain he was putting on the spell. If he was trying to bind it he would quickly run out of power but that wasn't his goal.

He withdrew the construct and the creature recovered, but it was already too late.

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Jonathan had seen the opening and went for it. While Mark had held it, he had dived under its guard and delivered a massive slash to its neck.

If it had been human it would have died right there but wasn't and the wound began bubbling and knitting back together.

Enraged it brought its now healed right arm forward to crush Jonathan again.

So once more Mark sent his construct forward, delaying the attack just long enough for Jonathan to evade and deliver a devastating blow.

Like this, the two of them fell in sync.

Attack.

Redirect.

Slash.

All the while Mark could feel Sam’s building Mana right next to him. Three large spears of flame burst into being. Launching themselves into the creature. Each leaving a basketball-sized hole in its flesh. It looked like it was runnning out of energy because the wounds were not healing as fast.

It began lurching slowly to the side, Mark thought it might be dead but then it lunged toward Sam and himself. They wouldn't be able to scatter in time.

Mark brought his construct in. At the same time, Jonathan jumped in front of them.

Jonathan swung his blade upward as the Corrupted brought its fist down toward Sam in retribution for the pain she had caused it.

The two clashed and Mark sent his spell forward. Bringing into a half-dome to reinforce Jonathan.

Mark could feel the terrifying strength behind this creature and he was only blocking a small portion of it. It quickly overwhelmed Jonathan and sent him flying in their direction.

To avoid pinning him between a rock and a hard place Mark cushioned the blow by wrapping him in the construct and slowing Jonathan's fall. Bringing him to rest just beside Sam and himself.

Jonathan coughed up blood.

Somehow he had managed to keep hold of his weapon, but it looked slightly warped.

Mark brought his Construct into a dome around them and allowed his Resistance to act as a guide. He sent his Prana through the surrounding Mana. The inside of his spell, acting as a bridge.

There was no time to check with [Prana pulse], so he took an educated guess. Assuming heavy internal bleeding and broken bones near his hands.

Prana flowed from Mark through the pathways of the spell into Jonathan. Mark was surprised by the massive amount of Prana it required.

The creature was staggered by Jonathan's earlier parry but was recovering quickly. It did however buy them a couple of seconds and that was all it took for Marks healing to kick in and repair a majority of the damage done. Jonathan looked surprised, but quickly refocused on the battle.

With a glance at one another, then they all moved as if they had spoken.

Jonathan dashed forward.

Mark and Sam moved back.

Sam began creating large shards of ice, one in each hand.

Shooting them forward. They wouldn't kill the thing but they would slow it down.

Their impact staggered it further, Jonathan arrived and jumped up toward its head, and swinging a glowing blade in a horizontal slash he cut cleanly through its neck.

Or at least that’s what it looked like, but a small portion remained.

A flap of skin really, but somehow it was enough. The creature kept standing and by what looked like a feat of pure luck lashed out with its flailing arms and battered Jonathan right out of the air.

The sound of breaking bone filled the air as he collapsed to the ground unmoving.

“Jonathan!” Sam screamed as her mantel of flame became white hot. Moving entirely down her arms into two white hot balls of plasma.

Mark began running toward Jonathan’s prone form. With no other choice, he shouted.

“Boe!”

Boe had been watching for the call and as soon as it went out he dashed toward the creature. Barking and trying to draw its attention.

But the damned thing seemed hyper-focused on Jonathan. Turning its back on Sam and Boe. Their only saving grace was the fact that the creature was moving erratically, with its head swinging from side to side.

Lumbering towards him. Mark could see Jonathan was moving again but he was struggling just to get to his hands and knees.

The world around them lit up in a bright white light as a ball of super condensed fire exploded against the creature's back. It screamed and turned towards Sam. Boe growled aggressively and dashed straight at the creature. Riping into its side.

Mark stopped and looked back toward the two. Then to Jonathan.

He couldn't be in two places at once.

Or could he? He was still a ways away from Jonathan but he was in range.

Mark brought his construct together and sent it forward as a single band, stretching it forward, and when he got to Jonathan wrapping him up in a small dome. Mark kept the construct connected to himself because if he didn't his Resistance would not be able to facilitate the bridge. Then he poured the last of his Prana into a massive [Regenerate], centered on keeping him alive. The spell took hold.

Mark was about to shout in excitement that he’d figured out ranged healing. When another explosion detonated against the creature and Boe growled viciously.

Mark looked up, the creature's back was turned to him. He noticed its head was almost hanging behind itself by a single chunk of flesh.

With no time to think he cast [Force bolt] and saturated it with more Mana than it needed. He could feel the intent behind it losing coherency and just when it was about to break apart he launched it forward.

The bolt flew straight toward the strip of skin and ripped through it. Blowing the remaining tether apart.

The creature froze and then slowly teetered to the side and crashed to the ground. Bits of dust and clay filled the air, but the area went quiet, save for their labored breaths.

A ping sounded out in Mark's ear.

The sounds of cracking clay intermittently disturbed the silence.

Mark turned in time to see the smaller corrupted beginning to wake up too.

“Shit, Boe, Sam, you guys good?” he said as he arrived at Jonathan.

He was conscious and slowly getting back up. Mark ducked under his arm and supported him. Trying to get them moving.

Now that Mark had contact he dropped his construct getting back almost nothing and used [Prana pulse].

Mark frowned. This guy shouldn't be alive, let alone moving with the number of breaks and internal bleeding he was currently suffering.

Mark could feel his Prana working, but quickly realized they needed to get somewhere safe. Mark was almost out of Prana and something was wrong with Jonathan's wounds.

“We are okay, is he good?” Sam and Boe out from behind the creature's corpse. Boe looked excited but whined when he got a look at Jonathan.

Dashing over to them she helped support some of his weight.

“We need to get to home base, we are less than an hour out.” Jonathan panted.

“As much as I’d love that we need to get a small lead and then find a place to bunker down so I can quickly patch you up.”

Depending on what was wrong Mark could have him moving properly within the hour but not with an awakening horde on their heels.

They moved ten minutes down the road and Sam spotted a stand-alone house. They moved inside and shut the door behind them. Sam and Mark scoped the place while Jonathan leaned up against the front door. Giving the all-clear they moved Jonathan to the dining room table. Out the window, they could see the evolved hoard slowly wandering around, dispersing into the surrounding area.