Shadowbane

"Shit!! Over half of the western district is collapsed!" Kai yelled at me as we finally got a good look at the central and western district.

My first thought was to locate Cera's family and Euphie so I could quickly return to the chapel, because staying here and defending this place would clearly be a horrible choice. The closer we got toward the hole in the center of Telebron, the more I realized just how big that clawed hand was that's still digging into the ground.

Fortunately, it's taking a while to come above ground, but at this distance I could see that just one of its nails is bigger than me, so I wasn't all that keen on engaging the massive abomination in combat. And even without whatever the hell that was climbing up to our level, the amount of Xerath pouring into the city wasn't something I was all that interested in dealing with. The horde of grunts aside, there was also an ungodly amount of pact leaders running around as well. Petey and I have a lot more mana now so beating them would be much easier compared to before, but this was still too risky of a battle to take part in with so many unknowns.

We really need to regroup and figure out what to do next before anything else. And it's not like---Ah shit, there goes Kai. He's running into the northern district but he didn't say where he's going. And I'm going to assume it's not to find Euphie, but to wrap around toward the western district and go help his people. I don't blame him for wanting to help them, but now I have to do everything myself damnit... I really hope Euphie was at home when all of this began. Otherwise, I'll have to find her with the Chimera's ability; which is going to be an absolute nightmare to use in all of this mayhem.

I reached the central district and stopped about thirty meters away from the clawed hand. Dozens of Xerath began to run at me but I wasn't even looking at them as Petey attacked them. Instead, I was looking at the downed airships. They had crashed on the southern side of the central district. One of them landed directly on a bunch of residential buildings and I could see flames consuming everything around it.

The other one however had gone down in the middle of the street. It was still bigger than the street though, so as a result the front and back sides of it ripped through the buildings on both sides of the road. But what really interested me was the group of people gathering outside the downed airship. There was around one hundred citizens hiding behind Viktor's men who were engaging the Xerath swarm while Viktor's group channeled onto his daughter, Vi. A few seconds later she disappeared and then Viktor immediately took her place at the center of the group.

They're not warping back home, that's definitely too far, even for him. So it has to be a location they marked on the way here to use in case of emergencies. Fortunately for me, I might be able to make something of this... I don't know if I'll have time to hunt him down, seeing as he probably has more airships on reserve waiting something in Termia, but either way it won't hurt to try and hit him with that lightning sphere.

Petey, keep them busy here.

I activated my halo and jumped on top of a nearby building. Once my feet hit the roof, I jumped from one roof to another until I was in range of Viktor. There were a few guards from Telebron nearby who only gave me a passing glance when they saw me drop to my knees. More than likely they assumed I was supporting them against the Xerath, but that was obviously the wrong call. Not that it matters. I'll disappear the moment I finish casting this.

It took about ten seconds to channel the lightning sphere to its max, and in that time Viktor's guards had pointed me out to him. He only took one glance at me and flicked me off before going back to his meditation. By all means, dismiss me asshole.

From there I waited while focusing solely on Viktor. I wasn't sure if the sphere would lose its target if I didn't fire it before he disappeared, so I needed to time it perfectly. The time delay between the warp on Vi activating and her disappearing was less than a second, so I didn't have much time to work with.

Every now and then one of Viktor's guards would have a split second to attack me before engaging another Xerath, and they'd use that moment to take a quick potshot at me. A few of them hit me, but I ignored them and continued to focus on Viktor and only Viktor. Although, I did notice that the Telebron guards to my right were panicking a little as they realized I was channeling a spell on Viktor's group as they shot at me in retaliation. But they were busy keeping Xerath off of the roof so they had no time to stop me even if they wanted to.

The moment I had been waiting for finally arrived as another one of the guard's bullets hit me. I saw Viktor's body begin to distort and I immediately fired the sphere. The large sphere was blindingly bright at first as it appeared in front of me, but it didn't take long for it to put some distance between us as it turned left to chase after its target.

Wow, it actually worked... This felt like a long shot because the idea of any targeted ability remaining on target after they moved tens of miles away sounded ridiculous in theory, but it's clearly chasing after him. Ahh, I'm so disappointed that I won't be there in person to see how much damage the sphere does when it finally hits him.

I released the halo and turned invisible before making my way back to Petey. I was halfway there when Luna put another white dot on the right side of my vision. Except this one was much brighter and even had an audio cue that sounded like a ping.

{Rei, hurry back to the chapel! Mom says they're under attack!}

By who?! The Xerath haven't made it that far yet, so... The Abyss?

{I don't know, just hurry!}

Well shit, so much for stealthily looking for Euphie and Cera. All I can do now is pray that they're okay on their own...

I drop my veil and put the halo back up while casting a quick glance at Petey. He was already leaping back toward the chapel while cutting down any Xerath who approached him. Good work, Petey. Keep doing that until I call for you or you reach the chapel.

Reaching the end of the buildings I jumped down onto the road and immediately sprinted toward the chapel. There weren't any Xerath along the way, but I did sense something else jump out of a nearby home directly at me. Or to be more precise, it was heading straight for where I was going to be if I continued running at my current speed.

I stopped in my tracks and looked up at my attacker. Instantly, I recognized it as the many-faced harlequin creature(or God, I still wasn't sure if him and the black goo were merely spawn) from Xethra. It's probably here to get revenge after I punched it through a wall back in Victoria's room. And considering its speed, this sneak attack might have actually worked before I absorbed all of those pack leader souls.

The Abyssal creature was still mid-air as it turned to look at me; it's face changing from one of delight to anger. Before it hit the ground in front of me I put enough power into my legs to leap all the way to the chapel, and just as he was about to land I leaped forward and grabbed a hold of him. His face turned to one of surprise as I flipped him over so his head was aimed directly down toward the ground. He quickly realized what I was doing, but no matter how hard he struggled he couldn't break free of the hold I had on him.

He began yelling at me in that disgusting Abyssal language but I listened to none of it as we approached the temple. I saw the stone pathways for only a moment before we landed, and as we did I put a large amount of power into my arms and legs before driving him deep into the pathway.

I took one quick glance at the creature as I ran into the chapel to make sure he wasn't moving. All I could see was his legs from the knees down sticking up out of the stone. They weren't moving, so that was good enough for me. Petey, when you arrive at the chapel, cut this creature's legs off.

I ran into the temple and made my way through the corridors until I reached Aresa's room. Once inside I found nobody but there were obvious signs of combat. The entire wall had been blown off, which was worrying since I was pretty sure the chapel was reinforced, which meant that whoever destroyed the wall had a tremendous amount of power.

Luna, is this pinging white dot where Aresa's group is?

{Yes! The ping is Aresa's soul. I can sense Xi with her, but Benny and Alicia are far behind them. All four of them are moving at a high speed away from Telebron.}

Change of plans, Petey. Ignore the Xerath and sprint back this way; only stopping for a second to cut that creature's legs off. After that, follow me toward the east.

I ran through the broken wall and turned east. The chapel wasn't the last building in the eastern district, but everything behind it was one massive cemetery until you reached the high city walls that surrounded the eastern district.

In Petey's vision I saw him cut the Abyssal creature's legs off just as I began to run up the cities walls. On the way I could see mud-covered clawed foot prints all over the wall that were clearly new. Crotian feet... Wonderful. Aresa said their God was dead, so there's only one other God left who they would be supporting. Unless they began to worship the Abyss with their ancient ancestors.

Once I reached the top of the wall I jumped all the way down onto the ground and immediately sprinted toward the white light. I have more than enough mana now to handle drops like those. No point in saving up mana to avoid fall damage.

A few moments later I heard something heavy smash into the ground behind me. Looking through his eyes, I confirmed it was Petey catching up to me. Now him I would have preferred took the safe route. But oh well, we'll regain the mana along the way.

About five minutes later I ran up alongside two people who were running through the open plains.

"Okay you two, what the hell happened? Luna only knew that you were attacked. And why is there so much blood on you when I didn't see any bodies back there? Is Xi okay?"

Benny and Alicia looked absolutely horrible. The top left side of Benny's armor was completely gone; as if something had ripped it cleanly off. And Alicia was covered in blood(Benny had plenty on him as well, but nowhere near as much as her).

Alicia turned her head a little and looked at me, "You caught up fast! Benny said that the fairies would warn you, but we thought it'd take you an hour to catch up so we ran a little slower."

"So you can't beat whoever it is without me? Just how many of them were there?"

"A dozen, but they were powerful. Benny said that the Nei'lah's army has squads of twelve who handle important missions, and I can confirm that they were both powerful and experienced."

Benny cut in, "We killed two of them, but their bodies disintegrated the moment they died."

Interesting ability... That's one way of making sure your men don't leave any evidence behind.

"They moved fast and efficiently, Rei." Alicia sighed, "It's unlikely that we can beat them even with you and your pet here. I say that because they're running far faster than the speed I can run at while retaining my mana. Even if we floor it, I'd bet anything that they already have allies on the way, or maybe they already rendezvoused with them."

"So what's the plan then? I assume you've already figured out that Rai'ga is the instigator, which means that I can't just stealth in and steal the two of them away. And it won't be long before we're in range of his vision, which means we'll probably be attacked multiple times before we even reach him. Lastly, it probably goes without saying, but even if we managed to fight him alone without interference from the Crotia; killing Rai'ga with just the four of us is going to be extremely difficult."

"Impossible is a more fitting word." Benny said.

"Is Lunaria sending help?" Alicia asked.

Well, Luna?

{She can't, I've already asked---Wait.}

I ran forward silently as Alicia stared at me, waiting for a response. Fortunately, it wasn't long before an ecstatic sounding Luna spoke up again.

{B-Belfos! Belfos is coming! He was patrolling the southern side of Termia and was returning to Telebron to assist the city, but once Aresa was kidnapped he changed course.}

I'm glad he is, but why? Shouldn't the city be more important to him?

{Um, mom said long ago that Belfos is the guardian of the wellspring. So maybe he's more focused on defending the person who currently controls it? Or controlled it...}

"Surprisingly, I have good news. Belfos is coming to support us."

Benny whipped his head in my direction, "Lord Belfos is coming to our aid?! But how is that possible...?"

"Luna said it's because he's the guardian of the wellspring. In other words, his instincts are probably telling him to save the person who controls the wellspring. I don't know if Aresa is still attuned to it, but she must be on some level since he's ignoring the plight of the city to rescue her."

Luna, do you know where Belfos is?

{I think so. We can sense him when he's near one of our caves, and he passed by one about ten minutes ago moving in Aresa's direction. So um, if he continues like that, he'll pass by a few more caves on the way. Which means when he passes by the next cave I'll be able to figure out how long it'll take him to reach Aresa. Unless the crocodile people speed up.}

Even without her future math, it's natural to assume that he'll overtake us and reach Aresa long before we do. It'd be nice if he was able to save her all on his own, but I'm way too pessimistic to put much hope into that kind of future.

{Rei, she stopped. And Belfos is about five minutes away from her. It looks like she is at the old Hroth fort. I only know the name and that it's super old.}

"She stopped and Luna says it was at a fort named 'Hroth'. Know anything about it, Benny?"

Benny nodded his head while drinking from the water Alicia had given him a few minutes earlier. We had stopped running about twenty minutes away from Aresa because Luna said the Crotian's were slowing down, which meant they were nearing their destination. That's when Alicia decided that we should take a break(while pulling water bottles out of her soul realm, which was beyond impressive), since the two of them would prefer to be in top condition for the battle to come. I was fine after our three hour sprint, but the two Humans obviously needed a quick breather.

Benny swallowed and finally said, "It's an old fort that was manned up until about twenty years ago. Belfos kept killing any monsters or Eldritch that appeared out of the eastern mountains, so eventually the top brass just said 'fuck it' and abandoned the fort. It cost a lot of money to maintain and man the place, but they were only killing one Eldritch every ten years. And it was clear that they didn't even need to do that, since Belfos would do it for us anyway."

"Interesting history lesson, but I meant is there anything you know about the fort that'd help us? Like where do you think Rai'ga is going to be? He's around one hundred meters wide and seventy meters tall."

"Oh lord, I am not looking forward to this..." Benny sighed, "The main courtyard is more than big enough to house him, and I really hope he's there, because the alternative is the area directly underneath the fort. It's one massive underground area with a three hundred meter gap between the ground and the fort."

Alicia finished drinking and stood up, "You think he might be down there?"

Benny stood up as well, "Yes. There are light crystals everywhere and there are also multiple ether crystals. The fort used them for power, but now that it's decommissioned, I'm sure an Eldritch God would prefer to be down there where the air is infused with ether."

Oh good, so that means he'll have even more ether to use against us. This just keeps getting better and better.

"... You think they're still alive, Rei? Would Rai'ga absorb them right away?" Alicia asked. It was clear on her face just how worried she was.

"He won't absorb Aresa. According to Hyun he plans to use her as a conduit for the wellspring. However, it obviously won't be Termia's, since the Abyss somehow took it over. Which is something we really need to investigate in the future when we have the leeway to do so. But anyway, if Hyun wasn't lying, then he's probably going to take Aresa to another planet or moon and use her there." I continued, "The timing on the attack was a little too convenient, but he may have had that team waiting to go for weeks or months. I'm not sure how they avoided Lunaria's surveillance network, but it's clearly not impossible since the Abyss were operating inside of Telebron just fine up until now."

{They're hard to pinpoint! Their auras are weird, Rei. They're all like, wavy and weird, and dissipate into more friendlier auras like Humans. So it's not our fault...}

Putting that aside, I purposely left Xi out of my response because I'm really worried about her... Alicia probably noticed that, but she'd understand why I didn't bring her up. Rai'ga needs Aresa, but he doesn't need Xi. Unless of course the stasis lasts forever without her manually removing it. That however, sounds very unlikely.

Now that the two of them were rested, they began running toward the east again. I stood up and sprinted in that direction as well. Twenty minutes there, which means Belfos will be assaulting the fort for around fifteen minutes alone. A lot can happen in that amount of time...

We ran in silence from there on out until we neared the fort so we could stay focused on our surroundings in case they tried ambushing us, but the only thing that happened along the way was Rai'ga's vision over us disappearing about five minutes after we began moving again, which was probably the moment Belfos reached the fort.

{Rei, I see it! And Belfos too!}

I know, I do too. But it looks like he's just standing outside the fort doing nothing?

{His lords and spawn are swarming the fort while he saves his energy for the boss. This is how he always fights.}

The amount of gunfire and explosions we had been hearing for a while now was worrying to say the least. I knew we'd be stepping into enemy territory, but even I was surprised at the sounds I was hearing. I figured Rai'ga only had some stragglers left over from the Nei'lah after its demise, but it sounded like there was a full army waiting for us up ahead.