With everyone within the barrier Zolya activated the runestone causing it to light up dimly and the activation visibly cascaded around as the other runestones in the ring lit up. Then a transparent barrier shot up from the ground a meter out from the runestones creating a dome over the entirety of the Stoneworks. As soon as the transparent barrier was a good 3 meters up a second barrier consisting of a dense mass of brambles covered in barbs and thorns shot out of the ground creating a second layer over the transparent barrier.

A second Apex that came out of the tunnel soon figured out what happens when it senses anything hostile as it's branches reached out and ensnared the creature as it came within a meter of it. It tried to struggle the best it could breaking a fair few limbs in the process, but in the end it only resulted in more branches lashing out and dragging him into the mass with greater fervor, the barbs sinking deep into it's flesh as the brambles constricted and pulled in all directions at it's body and limbs. It's muffled screaming barely audible beyond the mass of brambles and the barrier as it's bones snapped, ligaments broke and flesh gave way, tearing the creature into ever smaller chunks.

Having activated the barrier Zolya quickly got back to Raudd and ID. "Just so you're aware, the background count is going to drop a little and there'll be quite a bit of haze due to the barrier. Most of it should be limited to the edge of town though." She advised their guest as they walked through the town. "A little better every time. Oh, and it looks like we don't have to do any defensive sorties this time, the barrier just took down the first Apex that appeared." Raudd followed up as he noticed the big signature behind them become nearly invisible.

After a rather casual stroll through some side streets the group reached a little cafe nestled into an alcove of the street. "Grigor can we get the Marble room?" Raudd asked as he walked through the entrance. A burly man with thick bristly mustache working behind the counter gives a nod. "A coffee ouzo please." "Café glacé au caramel for me." Zolya requested as she followed her brother into a separate room while the man busied himself with making drinks for his patrons in the somewhat busy cafe.

The Marble room was a small room set up with a marble topped table large enough to comfortably fit the six birch with creme colored upholstery chairs. Potted plants lined the room and a stained glass window gave a nice view of the market without them being able to see in. Nearly within a minute of the group sitting down Grigor came through the door with the drinks and set them on the table before quietly leaving again. "Much better. Now we can talk." Raudd said after taking a sip of his still blisteringly hot coffee.

---

J-3 moved, charging forward until they felt an unfamiliar, and yet knowable pang of not-quite-hunger. It resonated in their core, that fist sized sphere of [OBSIDIAN-INK-unknowable-LEARN] in their chest.

They slowed, and slowed, coming to a stop and simply [BREATHING] until the form they wore shrank.
And shrank.

And shrank again.

Settling on a startlingly ‘perfect’ recreation of a German Shepard. If a German Shepard had a segmented carapace. With six legs, and two heads on twinned necks.
They turned, four eyes blinking up at The Ally and Rat. They took note of a singular… Bird…? No. No it was a construct. A constellation… No matter.

J-3 turned their entire focus to The Ally, sitting down and whining lowly as ink sluggishly moved along one of the two throats. They clearly wanted to stop and talk, though one head kept looking around, taking note of their surroundings as the air filled with distant— And close by— calls of beasts.

What was going on? … Who cared. Focus on The Ally. And Rat. Who was plainly unhappy with his… Situation.

---

---

The speakers THUMPED to life as he worked. Five fingers, appearing for all the world, like the graphics of video games from the early 2000’s, curled around tools that manifested from seemingly nowhere.

One hand swiped down, cutting through the air and revealing a length of arm that was pure light. Or at least, seemingly so. The arms, and hands, and most of the shoulders, were made from what looked like light. Maybe as bright as a candle flame, and colored sunset orange.

The torso was clothed with a stylized tee, made from some unknown material, not too unlike spandex. The symbol of the Templar splayed across its front. The exposed throat showed lines. Like channels on a motherboard, these lines spanned the entirety of the flesh. They seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat, and as he moved, the light that rose from the lines turned a burnished red.

His thoughts were loud today, ricocheting between different subjects and topics with no control, no serenity.
He thought on the hospital…

Thought on—

The feeling of some unquantifiable weight slamming into him. His legs sparked once, a terrible, brief, flash of pain before they stopped responding to him all together. His arms screamed agony and wailed misery, sending him into an immediate spiral of sweat and cold fear.

There was an armored woman in his apartment, nearly horizontal in the rubble that was formerly the wall between his kitchen and bedroom. The Templar symbol splayed across her chest, her beaten up armor.
There was a rumble, a thump like a rhino landing from four stories up. Something twisted in his shoulder. A piece of rebar? He couldn’t stop the scream of pain.

A silhouette appeared. A monster, a storm given life and flesh, anger given a direction. It was talking, monologuing at the armored woman.

Terror gripped him, as much as the haze of pain did, and he remembered opening his mouth—

The piece of plastic and metal at his fingertips sparked. He jumped, blinking that memory away and focusing on his task.
His thoughts leapt—

A haze. Like a dream that was following you to the surface of wakefulness, trying to yank you back to the depths of sleep. He knew he was… In a hospital. Lewis Memorial? … Whatever.

The painkillers were STRONG. But he was lucid. They had said his legs and arms were… Unsalvageable. He would need prosthetics, maybe. He lost a kidney, and a portion of his liver. They could handle that here, easy, but the prosthetics… The hospital had some rudimentary ones, glitchy and old. Hm.

And then there was more. He was a deviant! Imagine that. Said that ‘The genetic markers we’re seeing typically indicate Tinker, Shaker, and Mover, maybe. Some good news for you, mister Lanning…’ The words were far away, just barely audible, like they were fuzzy in the air itself.

Hah. Right.

The doctor, or, ‘the dude’ as he referred to him in his mind, left. Mentioned that a ‘Miss Richter’ wanted to speak to him, if he felt up to it.

He did. It was a woman, obviously. Her smile was wan, as if she was feeling some kind of guilt. Or maybe because she knew something he didn’t?
"Hello, mister Lanning."

More sparks, his face pulled into a frown as his mind focused for just a moment longer, ARI beeped twice as the world s l o w e d d o w n. His thoughts, however, had not.

He had blinked, stared the woman in her eye as she went on to continue speaking. “I just wanted to say, Mister Lanning, that—”

His head snapped up. He felt his blood pulse as he shifted in the hospital bed. A burst of anger? No. Just irritation, mild and laconic.
“My name, is Felix. Feeeeeeelix. Felix. Okay? I ain’t DEAD so don’t act like it, dammit. Shit.”

Her face paused, before she gave a soft snort. The wan smile changed—

He snorted himself, pausing in his work as he moved from one work table to the other. The credit card sized piece of plastic sparked, again. He groaned and then paused, a thought rocketing through everything as a certain series of words came unbidden.

‘Find a loophole.’

His thoughts, even through ARI’s perception slowing, leapt again—

Eva cleared her throat, starting over again. "Hey there, how're you feeling?"

“Like shit! But I’ll get better. They said you had some words for me?”

"Evangeline Richter, Eva if you like. We’re going to take care of you, but I HAVE to warn you. People are going to approach you, make you offers, and contracts. You’re a Deviant now, and that means your life is… Never going to be the same.“

A pause. He smiled and nodded for her to continue.

" But, the least we can do since you were injured on our watch, is have your back. I have a place where you can safely explore your new gifts. Everything you need, including housing would be provided for you in the Eagle's Nest. The catch is you would have to enlist with the Templar for me to legally protect you. It can be an extremely dangerous job, as you know firsthand... so it has to be your choice." She took a moment before continuing. “I know you’re smart enough to see where this is going.”

And Felix did, he saw both the hypocrisy, and the kindness in what she was doing. “You also, y’know, waited till I was lucid, I’m assuming, before making this offer! So…”

---

---

Having been thrown to the ground by the clever Hydra. Aegis had expected to be used as a chew toy only to instead hear the Apex roaring and screaming in pain. Getting back to his feet, he found Yue standing before the monster, and what a sight it was. Silver Fang all suited up in her new armor and Justice arcing in her hands menacingly.

Something about her Stance caused a part of his brain to click, old memories of hours spent in Final Odyssey rushing back. Holy shit. I'm not the only one that just tried to copy what I do in real life.

Righting himself and reapplying his spiked shell, He was struck with an idea. Really it had been a hot minute so there was a chance it wouldn't work, but still…

I wonder if she remembers the Guild’s old callouts?

Just then the charred skin on the Hydra's stumped neck began to bubble and roil. Dead cells sloughing off before an entire new head and neck regenerated out of the wound in a wet burst. Unlike its previous head, this one resembled some sort of hellish deformed leopard with too many eyes. The saliva that dripped from its hissing mouth burnt and melted the ground beneath the beast.

The situation had changed and it was about to turn bad real fast. The Cat's head began to real back while it's neck swelled. Alex could only assume it was going to spit up something . . . and if Fang was going to imitate Godspeed . . . Shit that's not good.

Thinking fast, Aegis charged forward almost on instinct. His fists slamming together in front of him as a large, heavily layered barrier quickly formed in front of him.
"Kasha! Bait and Switch!!"

"Wh-??" Yue flinched. Alex had just been on the ground, incapacitated... or so she thought. Her rear facing display showed Alex charging up behind her, and she reacted without thinking. Yue drew the Sword of Justice, slashing upwards and sending a bolt of lightning up into the air to blind the creature momentarily. In a blast of coarse metallic dust, Yue disappeared, just as Alex was about to barrel into her. Yue slid to a halt a few dozen meters to Alex's side.

As Silver Fang disappeared from the Hydra's sight, the beast was met with a glowing wall of force with a very pissed off brute behind it. The mutated cat head discharged a stream of acidic fluid from its mouth that splashed harmlessly against the hardlight. A flawless [Bait and Switch], which was then followed by what looked suspiciously like the Warden's [Battering Charge].

Aegis Slammed into the Hydra with the force of a Freight train, Knocking the beast back before catapulting himself away. He landed heavily not far from Yue's position. "So then, Fluffy here looks close enough to the Infinite labyrinth's boss on floor seven."

More blue light began to manifest and visually enlarge Aegis's silhouette. he was really riding in the hope that she would get the reference to that boss’ stupid adaptive mechanic if you hit anything but the main body.

"Floor seven... Th-the Lindwyrm??" She stammered, still wrestling with the fact that he was standing. Yue was pretty confident she'd seen him take a direct hit in the ribs from that spiked tail. Armor or no, that would have left her with some serious bruises if not fractured or broken bones, which is why she rushed over to intervene as soon as she saw him go down.

He slammed his fists in anticipation as the beast coiled itself back together and glared the two armored heroes down. "You take point and I follow your lead? I'll keep up long as you make your callouts."

"R-right uh," she paused, trying to quickly collect herself and adapt what were normally strategies for an 8 player encounter into a duo act. "Uh... uh, L-lockdown Launch to Elemental Discharge!"

L.L. was a solid one. If the enemy could be interacted with physically you would pin them down in the most disadvantageous way possible or send them into the air to be picked off. In F.O. That would require at least three well-coordinated players.

"Jeez, I'll see what I can do!" He crouched low and waited for her to move first.

Yue darted away several steps as one of the Hydra's heads focused on her, taking a breath. She drew the sword with a flourish to build up a charge as she ran, and as the torrent of spikes and acid a [Flash Step] instantly slid her into position on the creature's flank. She took a breath, sword in high guard as the charge rode the flow of [Crimson] and wreathed her body in lightning.

There was a short-lived flash of blue, as Alex catapulted himself off a temporary launchpad for extra forward momentum. The effect was like he had been fired from a cannon, gaining the same general effect of a [Gallant Charge] but lacking the pretty particle effects.

The Hydra's remaining head tried to snap down at him, only to be met with a solid ball of condensed force to crack its teeth against, like a glowing jawbreaker from hell. He skidded into the ground in a three-point landing just below the beast’s large frame, cocked back a gauntleted fist, and launched himself upwards at the Apex's chest.

Executing a mostly perfect [Rising Iron], Alex wasn't done just yet, and neither was the beast. With The Hydra seemingly not even winded and already trying to right itself. Thinking quickly, Alex threw his arms out and launched a dozen U shaped constructs that looped the creature’s necks, limbs, and length of its body to keep it from moving. He forced it violently onto its back, wincing as the constructs we're already breaking: they weren’t even close to being fortified enough in such a short amount of time, and only buying the two maybe a handful of seconds.

That's all the famous "Godspeed" would need. Alex bubbled himself as he hit the ground.

"Light Him Up!!"

---

---

ID fell into file behind them, sometimes lagging behind to look intently at something in the market. Occasionally she'd stop, and her eyes would track something out in the void that was probably just out of sight before trotting to catch up.

There was plenty of open space and small idyllic natural gardens along the hewn paths and it was all very [bright]. Swirling eddies of emotion and ideation, currents of color and glowing text. The glowing script carved into a large stone tingled against her fingertips as her hands glided across its surface idly. As she walked through the gardens, the plants leaned subtly towards her as though they were seeking the sun.

ID entered the café behind them without ordering, only holding up a hand and giving a subtle head shake. The effectiveness of the barrier wasn't anything to scoff at: even low Hazard Apexes were basically walking natural disasters. Seeing one ripped to shreds by the enchanted brambles was definitely something to take note of. She slid into a seat not quite directly across from them, unbuckling the sheathed weapon at her hip and placing it on the table in front of her so it didn't get tangled up in the chair.

Just as the sound of the sheathe hitting the slab of marble died down Zolya was the first to break the silence. "Let's start with what brought you here. After all it's not a regular occurrence for a living rumor to wander into this place, leaving such a precious stone in the hands of my pets. What do you need from us?"

Raudd, sitting next to his sister gave her a little jab before muttering. "Softer language sis, want not need." Zolya flustered for a moment before she went for the straw in her drink and took a big sip.

"Please excuse her, she's not that used to negotiations. But if you'd wish to tell us what kind of assistance you were looking for here, that way we can resolve the big-ticket items first."

"Appreciated, but unnecessary," replied ID, nodding her head towards Raudd. She turned her chair a little so she could cross her legs under the table. "A disturbance that occurred this morning drew me to the area. I came to investigate what caused it and the trail led me in this direction," she explained. No real point in lying: it wasn't her strong suit anyway.

"A disturbance from this morning you say? I'm assuming it's something of a magical nature? But if you could be a bit more specific that would be very helpful, today has been anything but uneventful so far." Raudd asked going through the day’s events in his mind taking another sip from the coffee. The things that came to mind didn't seem like they would attract the attention from someone who lived a low-profile life, at least not enough to step out of the shadows. Maybe something else had happened in the period of time they had been out of the area.

She tilted her head back and forth as though she were considering just how much to reveal to them. At the very least, she was definitely policing her words. "I'm... very sensitive to anything that disturbs the natural manascape," she admitted after a while. "Something hazed an area southwest of here, and the intensity of the emotional factor was storm-like. Disturbances like that typically lead to interesting people or artifacts, particularly crystals and...," she rolled her eyes a bit, fully aware of the stereotypes associated with her draconic theme. "I like shiny things," she concluded, a bit sheepishly.

"Oh! Oh... I hope the surroundings haven't been too overwhelming. But if that trail of haze led to here, unless it's been very recent, I doubt there'll be a trace left within this area. My pets could find the continuation of that trail for you, or if that person is still within the Stoneworks lead you right to them, however their view of the immaterial is limited to the Stoneworks area." She replied as a specific person came to mind to both her and her brother.

ID made a dismissive gesture.

Having had his face buried drinking down his coffee while his sister took the word Raudd took to prodding for information hoping with wouldn't lead where he thought it would. "Anything specific about the area that got hazed? A crack in the ground, burn marks, liquid splashes or something that could identify the caster?" "What? you're not gonna tell her about your collection of precious stones?" Zolya blurted out to her brother.

"Sigh They are semi-precious stones, also most of those are uncut and unpolished, so there's only a few that have a shine to them." Raudd retorted to his sister as she went in for another sip with a cheeky smile on her face.

ID suppressed a chuckle, but the corners of her mouth did twist into a smile at Zolya's ribbing. It was... disconcertingly disarming, given the scope of what ID estimated her abilities to be. She did rummage around in one of her pouches for a while before producing a strangely shaped rock which had been sheared to a near polished finish on one side. She slid it across the table towards them.

"Unfortunately my trace sample was lost in the most recent disturbance, but I did find this at the edge of a long scar in the earth. The area was also saturated with salt water. It looked like a... not insignificant confrontation took place," she explained in a neutral tone, now watching both the siblings and their reactions very carefully.

---

---

Rice. Salmon, filleted perfectly (of course). Cucumber, sliced thinly.

Onion, diced. Red Cabbage, shredded. Some Hijiki seaweed.

Sweet chili citrus sauce... some edamame and avocado. Dash of soy.

Sairyn garnished his bowl with a mango slice and sprinkled sesame seeds over the top before returning to his chair across from a blandly dressed SINS agent. He glared as the agent looked up at him with some surprise. Sairyn could see the agent's eyes flick down to his lunch from behind his generic knock off sunglasses.

"Oh, shit! When you said you were making food I didn't think Purgatory's Kitchen was happening behind me," he chuckled. Sairyn only raised an eyebrow at him in the awkward silence that followed. "Soooo...."

"You bought a hot dog," Sairyn answered, cutting him off with his mouth full. There was a note of annoyance in his voice, but truthfully he was grateful to have a few serene moments to sort out his manic thoughts and plan his next move. Maire was a capable agent, and a quick review of the fight footage revealed that she fell though the plate gap on purpose, though to what ends he wasn't sure. It was inconvenient that she was out of touch, but he wasn't worried that she was hurt.

"Right...," the agent replied, with a small sigh of defeat.

Yue was the more troublesome of the pair. It's not that she wasn't capable, but since the incident Yue's mental health was tenuous at best. It didn't help that the staff psychiatrist seemed to have it out for her. Sairyn didn't have any authority in that department so there wasn't a lot he could do about that... not yet at least. She'd buried herself in work, and more or less cut herself off from other work relationships. The only person in the office that could get her to regularly open up was Archer... maybe Felix. She barely spoke to Ion anymore (a fact which Ion reminded him of frequently), and Echo was still in HR limbo following his injury-forced retirement.

Sairyn stabbed his chopsticks into the bowl with a flick of irritation as he stared out the window towards the Ares HQ building. He'd known Yue the longest, but personal relationships were a thing... that happened to other people. That didn't mean he wasn't desperately wanting to charge into UnderCity guns blazing to find her. Fuck anyone who got in his way. Without confirmation of her location all he had was an educated guess that she was down there, however, and being wrong could end up making whatever Maire was doing much harder unintentionally.

"He's just staring at us," sighed the agent.

"That's what we want him to do," answered Sai between mouthfuls. SINS had called him in to help with a surveillance operation, since they'd gotten a tip that Ares might be receiving some kind of illicit shipment. They needed someone to fly a drone over the area they'd been tipped off about which... really anybody could do. Flying a stealth drone through hostile, heavily monitored and guarded territory without sending any detectable signals that would tip Ares off to their presence, however, was something only he could do. "The longer we have his attention here, the less likely he'll notice something amiss elsewhere," Sai answered, chewing noisily after shoveling rice into his mouth. The agent gave him a distasteful look, which cracked a smirk in one of the corners of his mouth.

"It's fucking creepy though, he's done nothing but stare at us and drink coffee... I'm almost convinced we're actually watching a looped recording."

"Tag his window with the laser mic," he instructed, raising an eyebrow. The agent aimed the device at the opposing building, and for a moment a few hushed voices came through the speaker. The silhouette waggled his finger at them, placing his other hand on the window. His image blurred, and the speaker erupted in a loud buzzing. Sairyn snorted when the agent gave a startled jump. "How convinced are you now?"

The agent glared at him. His phone chirped. Sai watched him blink behind his dark glasses as he checked it.

"That's probably for me..."

"Wh- This is a secure line on a private network?!" He blustered. Sai shrugged. "41 messages?! Who the fuck is Lux Discord??"

"This is why you should've let me keep my phone," quipped Sai, smugly.

---

---

"Why??" Snuffled Rat, as he drooped forlornly under Maire's arm, staring back in the direction of the Stoneworks. "Rat was almost safe. Why did you make us leave? Safe space! We must make for safe space!" he whimpered. "Stoneworks, Shieldtown, anywhere! Didn't the Cutting-Lady see? Angry-Munch? The one that glows? Never alone! More will follow! Giddy-go, Cutting-Lady! Can't stay here!!" whimpered Rat, wriggling desperately in the Templar's arms.

"The ones that chase, and bite will be here soon!" wailed Rat. "Rat can't wait here! Rat can't wait here," he screamed, as he began frantically trying to wrestle himself free.

A mass of enormous teeth and muscle exploded from the earth just a few dozen meters away, like a whale breaching the surface of the ocean. The creature slapped back into the gravel, streaking directly towards J-3, its massive mole-like fore-limbs propelling it through the rock as though it were water.

Máire reacted on instinct the moment the ground ruptured, her blades carrying her high into the air while her arms fought to keep Rat still. Another blade shot into the ground by the shapeshifter’s feet, trying to startle it into action before the creature barreled into it. She landed several yards away, releasing the wriggling Undercity mutant from her grasp.

“Which way?” Máire asked with urgency, a trio of swords manifesting from the silver cloud of dust forming behind her. Two shifted to hover around Rat, the third launching itself at the mound of throbbing cetacean mole muscle. The messenger was in a gibbering panic, and she snapped her fingers by his ear to reassert herself in his immediate attention. “Focus, boy!”

A rumbling in the ground beneath their feet alerted them to the arrival of a second creature, bursting through the earth in the same manner as the first. This one was long and serpentine, his body lined with more than a dozen crawling limbs each ending in a clawed hand. Bubbling, noxious venom dribbled from its jaw, and its myriad, distinctly human eyes swiveled in different directions before settling on Máire and Rat. A pair of long, scythe-like limbs rose from its back, and it hissed with feral hunger.

Máire sidestepped a slash from the first scythe, then leapt back from the second, casting a glance backwards for Rat. He had bolted. Of course he had. At least her swords were still following him.

“Templar! With the messenger!” she ordered, firing a trio of blades at the centipede before turning and dashing after their guide.

---

---

Of course the place she'd mention was that place, and by process of elimination there really was only one person it could be. "Yeah, that would be the place where your person of interest and the shapeshifting menace that came to harass you earlier got into a fight, at least I hope there aren't multiple of those running amok." Raudd explained as he grabbed the rock and gave it a little toss with some spin. Could be turned into a nice trinket, but likely much more work than it's worth given the hairline cracks on it.

Zolya buried her face deeper into her drink as Raudd continued. "So as you might have guessed I have a pretty good grasp on who your person of interest is. Arranging a meeting on the other hand that's going to be complicated. There will have to be a significant benefit to the person in question for a meeting to be arrangeable, and money or fire crystals aren't going to work for that." For Raudd this was just business as usual, except in this particular case he didn't know exactly what his represented party would need. That would be his sisters part, he just needed to pull out what was on offer.

ID nodded, contemplating their answer. Moreover, she was processing their mannerisms as they spoke. Clearly this person was under their protection for some reason, or her presence in relation to them was alarming. She considered her response carefully.

"Maybe it would ease your conscience if I explained what I do," she began. "As I mentioned, I'm extremely sensitive to any disruption of the natural Manascape. I follow these disturbances to uncover the source, and if necessary sort out any natural cause and restore the balance. Sometimes I find artifacts or people and... I collect the shiny things," she explained with a bit of a sheepish sigh.

"People are interviewed to determine their knowledge of the Awakened World, if any. Afterwards, I either help them find a mentor so they can learn to properly control their magic, or try to convince them to stop using their powers," she concluded.

"I can sense your concern for this person. I assure you I have only their wellbeing in mind: anyone who can cause a disturbance that warrants my investigation without training is a danger to themselves and others. Don't trouble yourself, however: I understand that trust is earned. For the time being, why don't we focus on what I can do to compensate for the damage that I caused."

Neither of the siblings quite knew what to make of the statements and suggestions from ID. Zolya just gave his brother a quiet nod as he glanced over to her for advice. Secret organizations weren't uncommon among the mage society, but she came on quite strong in her desires to pull this particular mage to her side, especially given this particular mage has been under the protection of the Black moon society... As of 20 seconds ago. Regardless arranging a meeting likely wasn't going to cause any harm, providing the meeting happened on their turf.

"Hmm yes, the damages. As mentioned earlier I'd like to have you perform some enchanting work, but to make sure this arrangement works for both of us I have some questions. Assuming all mana needs are provided what's the amount of mundane fire affinity materials you could enchant to low level magic materials in... Hmm, let's say an hour, and would that be one large singular piece or can it be a fine powder?" She asked the lady as Raudd finished his coffee.

"It depends on the quality of the source material," she answered after a while, after considering their request carefully. "Without going into specifics... what you're asking can be done. The amount is inconsequential as long as the source material is free of contaminants. Powders are less than ideal: they tend to carry trace contaminants from the tools that were used to create them," she explained, casually spreading some sparkling red dust onto the table. She traced a magatama into it and a handful of rough kanji before reaching over and placing the sheared rock in the eye.

"The more contaminants in the source material, the weaker the enchantment... Affinities also matter: Fire and Water are opposed elements, so fire aspecting something that will be diluted in liquid (like ink or paint) will result in an weaker overall affinity," concluded ID, pressing her fingertips to the edge of the illustration.

"However, contrary to traditional enchanting conventions... I've found the two most important factors of material enchanting are the quality of the base material, and the preparation of the area. Everything else has a negligible effect on the final product." ID tilted her head a bit, making direct eye contact with Zolya. The mana surrounding her shuddered and swirled. An invisible breeze stirred the room, and ID illuminated brilliantly in the [Immaterial], not unlike a star. Wisps of amber rose out of her skin, caught up in the breeze to disperse around the table and after a few moments she was sitting in the center of a small, but strong Domain of [Fire/Light].

A vent in her mask clicked open, and she gently breathed into her free palm. A snap of her fingers created a spark and ignited the gas, which she let cascade onto the stone. A surge of mana pressed the flames and a substantial amount of her Domain into the stone, flashing the dust and the design onto the stone's surface. ID let the rest of her Domain fade into the background noise and get reclaimed by [Nature] as she rolled the now strongly aspected stone towards Zolya.

"Will that suit your needs? A sample with fewer contaminants would result in a stronger enchantment, but much more than that will require a specially prepared area."

---

---

A small moment of hesitation: Yue felt the impact of Alex's punch from where she'd been standing. She hadn't seen any telltale blue flash of his barrier ability. Admittedly, she was paying much more attention to the Hydra and the fight. For the time being she dismissed the thought so she could focus on her job in this maneuver.

Claw Rends.

Yue focused upwards, and the tendrils of lightning seemed to gather loosely towards the tip of the sword. She stepped forward, letting the sword drop to gain momentum before she swept it forward and up into a crescent, landing back in the high guard. The sword bit into the earth and carved through it effortlessly, unleashing a narrow shockwave that ripped through the terrain. It crashed like thunder as it swept the arena; lightning viciously raked the creature's body, blasting armored plates off its torso and burning its fur to cinders.

She followed behind it, slipping through the narrow window of frictionless vacuum behind the shockwave. The creature thrashed, shattering its binding and whipping its tail around as it twisted itself back upright. It impacted Yue's torso, lighting up her HUD like a Christmas tree. Her whole side went numb despite the shock compensation and the Sword of Justice spiraled into the air still singing its crystal tone. She grabbed hold of the tail reflexively, and was driven into the ground.

Alex winced as the barrier holding him flickered t of existence and dropped him to the ground. He hadn't had the time to really recover from that [Scream] and the rapid breaking of his constructs was straining him. He desperately wanted to rub his temples to try and alleviate the headache he had been trying to ignore from the start of the fight.

Yue had taken a solid hit from the Hydra. And Alex had just about had it right there.

Fight now, patch up later.

Huffing angrily, Alex looked around for anything he could use while his telekinesis was essentially on cooldown. All there was were the busted up chunks of ground from the fight. . . Which happened to include a lot of sizable boulders of bead rock.

Monkey throw rock? Monkey Throw Rock.

He scrambled over to one of the stones that had to be nearly five times his size and a few tons of mass. Part Of the boulder protruded out into a rough point. Perfect.

Just as the Hydra was about to begin coiling itself around Yue, he slammed the boulder into its back, shattering on impact and damaging its scales and spines. The earthen shrapnel was quickly followed by Alex slamming his own body onto the beasts damaged hide, ripping And tearing at anything he could get his hands on.

Did... he just throw a rock? She was too buried beneath the mass of the creature to see exactly what happened, but she felt the impact and saw the shards of rubble fly past. Things weren't adding up... the secondary impact gave Yue enough space to get back to her feet, however. She shelved the nagging thought again. As she took a deep breath, the pins and needles sensation of muted pain signals prickled her lungs uncomfortably. [Crimson] welled up out of her skin as she felt her muscles coil.

Fang Pierces

The Hydra's armored plates cracked beneath her hands as her fingers crushed into the creature's tail. By the time it had whipped a head around to deal with her she lunged, pulling the tail taught. Just as it was about to whip her away, she planted her feet, splintering the earth and heaving the creature over her head. The force with which she slammed the creature back into the ground pulsed through the rock and echoed loudly throughout the arena as its three heads knocked together.

The tail whipped up suddenly and flung Yue into the air. Time stopped... what now? Yue thought furiously as her altitude was rapidly becoming unmanageable: she was moving at quite a clip. Right. Eliminate or suppress ranged attack, alter trajectory, vector to "safe" landing area. She dug four disks out of her utility pouch, loading them into her Strategem launcher in sequence. One was aimed at each head, and the fourth some distance to the side, hopefully out of the creature's reach. Yue exhaled, time resumed.

"Pommel Flash to Fists of Vengeance, then Meteor Slam!!" screamed Yue down at Alex. All at once, as the heads turned up to her mouths agape, one exploded into a deluge of sand, and the middle was buried in rapidly hardening foam. Something tiny shattered a few meters away from the creature's final head, ejecting a primed flash grenade into the air in front of its face.

Alex stopped his pummeling of the beasts back armor when he heard Yue's next callouts. He really wasn't gonna question how she was gonna blind the thing when she launched a bunch of stuff out of seemingly nowhere at each head, including a flash bang,. [Pommel Flash] . . . flash bang. That was one way to mimic a Paladin skill. Alex took no time to bound off the Apex's back as it tried to stitch itself together, flinging his arms out in a wide arc towards the disoriented hydra head. He might be durable but being blinded or deafened wasn't something he could just shrug off. Thankfully his helmet had built in protection.

Feeling a sort of second wind hit, Alex spread a long pincer of hard light out from each arm, subsequently slamming them together to catch all three heads in a telekinetic vice. He slammed to the ground hard but quickly got enough footing to begin pulling at the cluster heads as if they were a stubborn dog on a leash. No splitting mental pain was a good sign, but he was instead gritting his teeth as he tried to pull against a creature whose entire body might as well be one dedicated muscular machine of death.

His usual overlay of hardlight flickered back into existence. As the floating plates reformed, long spiked hurried themselves into the ground to anchor him in place. The Hydra redoubled its efforts to buck and thrash in his "grip". "No you don't Fluffy, just Need you to stay riiiiiight there for a few more second you ugly bastard"

Yue flailed awkwardly as she hit her apex and began to tumble. Even with the stabilizers deployed, the Drachenmail had a much different aerodynamic profile than her previous suit design and it threw her balance off. The pillowy green mattress of sour apple gelatin that was blooming off to the side of the arena suddenly felt miles out of reach. A twinge of panic lanced through her chest: Even with the impact compensation, if she landed awkwardly she could easily get hurt.

Looking back up, It quickly became apparent that Yue didn't have the means to replicate any form of aerial movement skills like he could given her current trajectory. Couldn't have that now. he mentally pushed and started creating a myriad of walls and platforms in the air around the hydra up and out towards where Yue was currently falling from. For someone that moved the way she did, it might as well had been a clear runway.

"DON'T YOU DARE MISS!! Alex yelled half jokingly, only having a hint of edge in his voice despite the circumstance.

---

“Oh my fucking GOD! I’m so BORED! Sovereign, I’m so so BORED! I’ve been spamming this dumbass for TWENTY MINUTES! I send one letter, and then I send ONE word, and he STILL isn’t answering.”

Felix paced around his work station, the base of his A.R.I. goggles hovering on a thin metal stand. The goggles were in their component parts. There were capacitors, a twin pair of what looked like overly complicated motherboards, and other assorted pieces of technology.
Even then, he could see the HUD that accompanied the goggles. His eyes bloomed with a gentle golden light, irises segmented with lines of luminance. The implants he had, eh, given himself, were still operating at maximum … Maximumness.

Sai probably knew the word. Speaking of.

There was a circling symbol in the top leftmost corner of his vision, indicating an incoming response from the chattiest AI in the hemisphere.

“Would you like me to forward your messages to his location, mister Lanning—”

“Felix! Man, Felix! Please. Jeez. Just… call me Felix.”

A moment of silence… Then.

“As you wish, mister Lanning.” Sovereign replied, causing Felix to throw his hands up in both agitation, and amusement.

“Yes, could you send my messages directly to his location?” He groaned, collapsing into the seat in front of his goggles.

There was a moment of silence, before Sovereign beeped an affirmative.

It took a few minutes, before Felix FINALLY got a reply.

‘Who the fuck is this?! This is a private line!’

Well… That was rude of him! Felix took a moment to piece his A.R.I. goggles back together, using his eyes to type on a keyboard that floated up in his HUD.

‘Yeah hey hi, FINALLY. My name is Lux Discord. You can call me LD! Uh. Don’t scream.’

‘What? What the fuck does that mean?

And with that wonderful exchange complete, Felix closed the connection. His attention returned to the world at his glowing fingertips, a smile spread over his lips, as he spoke aloud again.

“Hhhhey Sovereign. Could you direct me to Sai’s current location?”

“… What‘s the magic word, mister Lanning?” Murmured the AI, polite, but tone colored by the sound of a cheeky, shit-eating grin. Felix could almost see the digital canines…

“The magic word is, ‘oh wonderful digital space daddy, could you please direct me to where the other wonderful digital space daddy is?’” He replied, smiling ever so sweetly at the open air.

"I think... that can be arranged, Mr. Lanning.” Came the response, vindictive and serious, playful and vicious in equal measure.

---

---

”Ma’am? Ma’am?! This isn’t… Ma’am, you can’t just-,” one of the security personnel stammered nervously as he was half dragged through the front doors by a well dressed blonde woman. His arm was hooked in hers and their fingers interlocked in what was clearly a forced handhold.

"Oh don’t be so stodgy, my brother works here. He’s late for our lunch date. Besiiiiides, you’re escorting me aren’t you? How much trouble could I get into?" She deflected dismissively, her designer heels clacking authoritatively on the marble. She perked up as her golden eyes swept the lobby and landed on Archer, who was sitting at the front desk with a labored expression.

"Oh! HERM-... LO! DEAREST…. BROTHER!" She forced awkwardly, when Archer met the pair with a gaze that said I’ll kill you, right as Felix was exiting from the elevator.

"What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing… ‘Fabian!’ We had a re-ser-va-tion," she quipped, impatiently.

"This is a restricted area," replied Archer curtly, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow at the guard.

”U-um…”

"I’m being escorted," she replied cheekily, holding up the guard’s hand.

Felix, in all his glory as it were, simply watched. His eyes locked first on the ‘guard’ in question. Poor man looked extremely uncomfortable, and while Felix would’ve wanted nothing more than to laugh at his predicament…

Sometimes being a not-a-huge-prick took precedence.

And so did the luminous limbed lackadaisical ‘laze-about’ laboriously lumber over, in the way that a man who barely stood at five five could lumber. Which is to say; Felix slid in between the guard— Douglas, that was his name!— and whoever blondie was.

His hardlight fingers pried her digits away from Douglas’, and instead filled her hand with Felix’s as he smiled warmly at Archer. Then his gaze flicked to the blonde who now found her fingers held tightly in Felix’s grip.

The other hand dipped around to clutch at her side, as Felix’ voice leapt into the air in a horrific mockery of Sairyn’s accent. “Oh muai lahve muai lahve, woaiye donchew leave dat poor sod alowne, eh?”

”That you would deign to butcher the Queen’s English in such a manner is… you do the nation’s education system a disservice, Mister Lanning,” Sovereign whispered into Felix’s HUD.

He held a smile for a moment longer, before he cackled. And spun himself around to fill up her vision and hide Archer. He took a bow, raised her hand, and kissed the knuckles of her fingers. His other arm had slid behind his back, seemingly to commit to the part. Never mind that he was clearly showing Archer that his fingers had become claw-like, and decidedly more ominous.

“No but seriously, good, ahhh… Morning? Evening? Day! To you! How are you, miss…?” He intoned, straightening and keeping his other arm behind his back in a gesture of formality.

The woman shivered and blushed as Felix took her hand, and for a precariously long moment she just regarded him, her golden eyes iridescent… a trick of the light? Her glossy lips slowly spread into a sly smile before she leaned to look at Archer over Felix’s shoulder.

"Daphne-"

"And who do we have here, ’Fabian’?" she asked with smug curiosity.

"Daphne, no!" Archer flustered, uncharacteristically.

"He doesn’t look like a Daphne," she retorted. Archer spluttered out a few syllables, causing her to giggle maniacally as she met Felix’s eyes again. "I don’t think he remembers your name," she informed in exaggerated offense. She spun on her heels, hooking Felix’s arm and walking towards the door.

"Let’s go. Tell me about this," she grinned, gently flicking the hardlight projection with the back of one of her manicured nails. A wave of iridescence traveled up one of his arms and down the other, bursting gently out of his claws into a kaleidoscope of golden butterflies.

His eyebrows shot upwards as the butterflies leapt from his claws. Taking amusement in the fact that she effectively knew what was happening… And also apparently knew Archer. He turned and winked at Archer, eyes darting towards the communications indicator on the counter top, before he returned his gaze to ‘Daphne. “I think you might be right! I’m wounded! Wounded!! I can’t believe this!” He chirped, bursting into a fit of chuckles.

Felix sighed as they walked away, focusing on the butterflies of light before snapping his eyes to meet Daphne’s. His gaze was intense, and no more or less kind than a cat's, if the feline was inspecting a mouse.

“Tell you about this!? I’d much rather know how you made the butterflies happen! That was magical!” The sound of Archer choking behind them sent Daphne into a fit of giggles.

“I assume it’s more ‘esperness’ than ‘deviantness’, unless I’m wrong? Oh! I’m Felix by the way,” Felix rambled, thoughts clocked into overdrive as amusement and curiosity overtook him.

"In a manner of speaking," she answered slyly.

J-3 lunged into motion. Explosive energy abruptly coursing through every muscle. A blade had landed at their feet, and was more than enough to snap them into ferocious movement.

They leapt to the side, dodging the barreling shape of the first mole-beast. They flicked their attention, watching as a second, more like a centipede, erupted forth and began to waylay their assoc— Allies.
The first mole beast gave a discordant rumble, as if it had too many throats to growl with.

Maire, the Blonde one, [The-Queen-Of-Blades] shouted. And J-3 began to MOVE.
It returned to the earth, and as J-3 sprinted after [The-Queen-Of-Blades] and [The-Scamperer], so too did the Centipede pursue.

J-3 felt an adrenaline pulse, along with a shuddering gasp that left them breathless. [MANA] seeped it’s last way out; burned off in the form of [HAZE] as they used the last of the meager energy they had left.

They had settled into a stride beside Rat, trying to guide him in a straight path as the earth behind them continually erupted and shifted. The centipede was moving not unlike a massive whale; parts of it were exposed through churning earth.

J-3 looked to [The-Queen-Of-Blades]. They blinked once, peering through eyes that rapidly became sightless… Blinked twice. Heard with ears that swiftly became deaf, the sound of one of the beasts leaping forth through the earth. The second, hissing mutated shrieking-wail…

They felt heat, pressure, the sound of Rat screaming for his life… They felt a maw close around their meat-form.

Silence.

Silence for a long moment.

Then, in the black, as they began to slip into hibernation… [MANA].
And not [MANA] like what came from the plant life that barely counted as sustenance, but like that of a [AWAKENED] origin.

J-3 [Hungered].

Tendrils of ink exploded in all directions, deep in the gullet of the beast. Soft tissue and muscle subsumed in less-than-seconds. A root system of ink spread through the flesh, subsuming and consuming and amalgamating everything as it spread towards the hard wall of a carapace.

Rat screamed anew, scrambling faster as the centipede-like beast surfaced, choking and gagging violently.
It twitched, once, twice, then toppled. Convulsing as if electrocuted.
The first mole-monster kept its pursuit, ignoring the falling corpse. The corpse that continued to twitch for seconds more… Then, as the earth around it began to churn anew with the arrivals of more monsters, the carapace shuddered.
Something under the surface of the chitinous plating moved. Pushed once.

Then, with a spray of pitch ichor, a winged shape exploded into the air.

Maire found herself swiftly joined by what appeared to be a wyvern-like creation. Six leathery wings beat against the air, a vipers head sat on a neck over six feet in length. Muscle and sinew flexed underneath an armor coating of scales and snapping turtle-like shell. A torso that was as broad and thickly muscled as a bull pumped air like a bellows. Four legs were tucked against the torso, ending not in feet, claws, or paws, but in protrusions in the shape of spikes.

A tail trailed behind, thick as the neck, and ending in a wickedly sharp sickle-claw.

J-3 screamed their arrival, and fell upon the beast that harried Rat. They intended to savage it while on the move if they could.

"Omigosh, Rat!" Rat cried as he scurried towards the turmoil, seemingly unheeding of the danger. "Where been?? Come to find Rat, rescue we have!" Explained Rat to Rat... though not the Rat they knew, a different Rat... though Rat they be all the same.

Dressed in the same rough tunic, baggy canvas pants... though the stains differed in location they were identical down to the knapsack secured over one shoulder.

"Absconded! Impounded!! Templar have come, crusade is at hand!!"

"Oh Gods! Oh no!"

"Oh no!" Echoed Rat. "Rescue us!"

"Rat will! Scurry this way, Rat!" Beckoned Rat. Rat hesitated for only a moment as the Cat-Kitty set upon one of the beasts, taking a quick glance to make sure his path was clear. That was all it took, a fissure opened up behind the other Rat and a tentacle whipped out, grabbing his ankle and dragging him into one of the threshing mouths of the swarm of flailing creatures that spilled out.

"Rat, no!!" Screeched Rat, reaching towards the scene in a futile gesture.

"Rat delivers... For Fred...," gurgled Rat, as the Threshers fought savagely over his corpse.

"For Fred..., echoed Rat solemnly as he clutched his knapsack. For a long moment he just stood there with the carnage erupting all around him, dumbfounded. He took a deep breath and seemed to snap out of it... long enough to start panicking again at least. Rat flailed his arms and started running, in circles at first until he seemed to catch his bearings.

"East! EAST!! SHIELDTOWN PROTECTS!" He screeched, while running for a gap between Threshers.

It was from eighteen inches deep in the spine of one of … Er… Rat-One’s???? Pursuers that J-3 watched the proceedings of the two… Ratmen. Or one, now, as the other Rat died.

Well… That was catharsis by proxy? Right? Maybe?

No, no not at all. J-3 didn’t really want Rat to die, per se.

Focus. Focus; and move! J-3 twitched into the air again as rat shrieked new directions. They trusted that the blonde would follow without too much question. They also watched as the blades of [MANA-LESS] metal floated around Rat, cleaving limbs and two heads off threshers too close.

J-3 focused elsewhere, rolling in on themselves until their legs skewered through a Thresher that lunged for the running Rat.
Bone and venom both found purchase. The creature— larger in size than J-3 by leagues, twitched once or twice as nerves tried to fire-and-connect.
The spine, however, was forcibly damaged. Four points of hardened bone had snapped through cartilage, muscle, and sinew. Nerves no longer connected by any means fired endlessly, and yet could no longer touch what was necessary.

The Polymorph leapt again, [WEAVING] invisibly as a [WATER-SPOUT] formed by the tip of their tail.
A sweeping beam of extraordinarily compressed water lanced forth. Limbs were neatly severed, or horrifically mangled, as the brine ruined flesh and stone and bone equally.

They looked up to check on their blonde companion. They flashed towards Rat in the same moment, concern(????!!) bubbling in their monstrous chest.

Rat hustled. While scampering on all fours he was surprisingly quick. His breath came in gasping pants as he darted over and around Threshers and other creatures burrowing up from beneath them, all the while, the swords that chased him slashed at anything that got too close. The reinforced steel walls of Shieldtown had begun to crest over the hill. The thunderous stomps of re-purposed construction Frames resonated through the distance as they swung huge slabs of concrete and steel to funnel the swarm into narrow, reinforced corridors.

A fissure opened up in front of Rat and he skittered to a halt just in time, leaping back and grasping instinctually for purchase he might pull himself up onto. His spindly fingers grasped something firmly, though rather than pulling him up to safety, he was swung in an arc at the end of a floating sword, cleanly slashing the emerging Thresher in twain. He stood, dumbfounded as his gaze slowly switched between the weapon and the slain beast. His eyes became wide as dinner plates as he sucked in a breath.

"RAT HAS PROWESS OVER THE BLADE!!!!" He shrieked triumphantly.

---

"DEEEEAAAAAN~~! Vi and Jade are down for the count, along with half the defenders," Wolf shouted as she pounded on the door of Alex's home. The Synthflesh of her cybernetic arm resonated through the reinforced structure. She sighed, leaning on her rifle as she tried, unsuccessfully, to pull a strand of white hair out of her sweat slicked face. "DEAN! I swear to Gods, if you are not bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth when I break this door down... We're seriously short handed out here! I need help!"

Wolf groaned at the notification chirp from her earpiece. Her left eye flashed red as she flicked through the viewpoints of the drones hovering over the wall. She took a knee, turning and hefting her enormous rifle up into a firing position. She closed her right eye. The HUD flashed orange as it synced to her weapon, displaying the reticle and firing solution. The weapon rocked against the recoil dampeners in her cybernetic arm as she squeezed the trigger. A thunderous *BOOM* thudded against the structure as the shockwave from the weapon's discharge showered Dean's entryway with dust and peppered the structure with gravel.

The 20mm canister sailed over the wall, only just clearing the edge as it detonated and showered the swarm in brilliant flashes. She racked her second shot, adjusting her aim. A second crash of thunder sent a shell arcing over the wall where it detonated near the side of one of the swarms in a brilliant plume of dust and fire. The concussion wave hurled a group of stray Threshers that had broken away from the pack towards the the funnel.

"DEEEEEAAAAN~! Wake! Up!"

---

---

Of course the place she'd mention was that place, and by process of elimination there really was only one person it could be. "Yeah, that would be the place where your person of interest and the shapeshifting menace that came to harass you earlier got into a fight, at least I hope there aren't multiple of those running amok." Raudd explained as he grabbed the rock and gave it a little toss with some spin. Could be turned into a nice trinket, but likely much more work than it's worth given the hairline cracks on it.

Zolya buried her face deeper into her drink as Raudd continued. "So as you might have guessed I have a pretty good grasp on who your person of interest is. Arranging a meeting on the other hand that's going to be complicated. There will have to be a significant benefit to the person in question for a meeting to be arrangeable, and money or fire crystals aren't going to work for that." For Raudd this was just business as usual, except in this particular case he didn't know exactly what his represented party would need. That would be his sisters part, he just needed to pull out what was on offer.

ID nodded, contemplating their answer. Moreover, she was processing their mannerisms as they spoke. Clearly this person was under their protection for some reason, or her presence in relation to them was alarming. She considered her response carefully.

"Maybe it would ease your conscience if I explained what I do," she began. "As I mentioned, I'm extremely sensitive to any disruption of the natural Manascape. I follow these disturbances to uncover the source, and if necessary sort out any natural cause and restore the balance. Sometimes I find artifacts or people and... I collect the shiny things," she explained with a bit of a sheepish sigh.

"People are interviewed to determine their knowledge of the Awakened World, if any. Afterwards, I either help them find a mentor so they can learn to properly control their magic, or try to convince them to stop using their powers," she concluded.

"I can sense your concern for this person. I assure you I have only their wellbeing in mind: anyone who can cause a disturbance that warrants my investigation without training is a danger to themselves and others. Don't trouble yourself, however: I understand that trust is earned. For the time being, why don't we focus on what I can do to compensate for the damage that I caused."

Neither of the siblings quite knew what to make of the statements and suggestions from ID. Zolya just gave her brother a quiet nod as he glanced over to her for advice. Secret organizations weren't uncommon among the mage society, but she came on quite strong in her desires to pull this particular mage to her side, especially given this particular mage has been under the protection of the Black moon society... As of 20 seconds ago. Regardless arranging a meeting likely wasn't going to cause any harm, providing the meeting happened on their turf.

"Hmm yes, the damages. As mentioned earlier I'd like to have you perform some enchanting work, but to make sure this arrangement works for both of us I have some questions. Assuming all mana needs are provided what's the amount of mundane fire affinity materials you could enchant to low level magic materials in... Hmm, let's say an hour, and would that be one large singular piece or can it be a fine powder?" She asked the lady as Raudd finished his coffee.

"It depends on the quality of the source material," she answered after a while, after considering their request carefully. "Without going into specifics... what you're asking can be done. The amount is inconsequential as long as the source material is free of contaminants. Powders are less than ideal: they tend to carry trace contaminants from the tools that were used to create them," she explained, casually spreading some sparkling red dust onto the table. She traced a magatama into it and a handful of rough kanji before reaching over and placing the sheared rock in the eye.

"The more contaminants in the source material, the weaker the enchantment... Affinities also matter: Fire and Water are opposed elements, so fire aspecting something that will be diluted in liquid (like ink or paint) will result in an weaker overall affinity," concluded ID, pressing her fingertips to the edge of the illustration.

"However, contrary to traditional enchanting conventions... I've found the two most important factors of material enchanting are the quality of the base material, and the preparation of the area. Everything else has a negligible effect on the final product." ID tilted her head a bit, making direct eye contact with Zolya. The mana surrounding her shuddered and swirled. An invisible breeze stirred the room, and ID illuminated brilliantly in the [Immaterial], not unlike a star. Wisps of amber rose out of her skin, caught up in the breeze to disperse around the table and after a few moments she was sitting in the center of a small, but strong Domain of [Fire/Light].

A vent in her mask clicked open, and she gently breathed into her free palm. A snap of her fingers created a spark and ignited the gas, which she let cascade onto the stone. A surge of mana pressed the flames and a substantial amount of her Domain into the stone, flashing the dust and the design onto the stone's surface. ID let the rest of her Domain fade into the background noise and get reclaimed by [Nature] as she rolled the now strongly aspected stone towards Zolya.

"Will that suit your needs? A sample with fewer contaminants would result in a stronger enchantment, but much more than that will require a specially prepared area."

Zolya carefully took the stone to her hand, observing it for a little while. "Do you know what kind of rock this is? She asked her brother. "Not a geologist, but it's not an igneous rock, if that's what you're asking." Raudd replied with some annoyance at the magical bullshit he just witnessed.

"Common shale, bit of limestone. Some concrete and other contaminants," she answered blithely. "The imbuement process gives me some knowledge of the makeup of the material."

After looking over the stone a few moments longer and dwelling on the design left over on the stone Zolya spoke up once more. "Am I right in assuming that damage to this design on the stone will weaken or even ruin the enchantment? As you might imagine an important detail with all the carving done to the runestones you've seen outside."

"That would be the case if this were made with traditional methods, since the array would have been the anchor for the enchantment.

"The array runs throughout. Cut it up a thousand times and it will remain unbroken. Crush it to powder, dilute it to ink, paste, chalks, thread. Matters not: the material is the anchor for the enchantment. It's saturated; same as if it'd formed naturally in a Domain. The array is the medium, the crystal dust a binding agent. The imprint is a byproduct of the process. Anything can be enchanted, not just what an array will survive on," she explained, with a hint of passion in her voice. ID cleared her throat anxiously after a second.

"That sounds just about perfect for my purposes." Zolya mused before taking another sip.

"Sorry... anyway... I have a condition: I will freely give any enchantment that you desire. If you wish, I can also stop by and trade my goods when I'm in the area. However, none of your pets, friends, family, or other affiliates may follow me," she stated, holding out her hand. It came alight with mana, forming kanji on her palm [盟約]. "This pact will be binding, and if it's broken I'll know. Do we have an agreement?"

---

---

Yue's feet found purchase, though at first they slid uncomfortably on the slick, glass-like surface of Aegis' barriers. It was enough to catch her breath. Thankfully "danger close, giant AOE" and "air mobility assistance required" sounded so similar... Yue punched a black disc in the palm of her gauntlet with three fingers, trailing her hand. The platform splintered as she pushed off and a hammer with a massive hexagonal head materialized in a flash of white as she streaked towards the next platform.

The hammer's head opened up as Yue inhaled. Power coiled in her muscles and the hammer's soothing bass tone rose to a shriek as the [Crimson] thundered loudly around her, spiraling into the hammer's open panels. The head slammed shut as her feet planted on a barrier platform, her body coiled into a low crouch a few dozen meters above the creature.

She launched, uncoiling as she fell like a meteor and brought the hammer down on the creature's exposed back.

Tail smashes the mountain.

A shockwave ripped through the arena, the earth shattered beneath them. An explosion of coarse dust chased the thunder high into the air.

Unable to hold his fields up from the strain, Alex's barriers began to stutter. Dropping to a knee, he pulled his helmet off to gasp at air that wasn't coming through electronic filters. his head was pounding as he gripped at his temples and hissed in pain.

Through pain blurred vision, Alex looked towards the impact site. Yue with her hammer embedded in the hydra's back. An almost picturesque image of a triumphant hero slaying a foul beast. A small part of him that wasn't dealing with the skull splitting pain would have wanted to take a picture. He almost wanted to drop there and finally relax.

Almost.

The moment was soured however when even through his pain addled mind he could see that the Hydra's glow wasn't fading. Shit! The bastard wasn't dead from that?!

He tried to stand, to warn Yue that it wasn't over. What he was met with however was staring down the gullet of one of the Hydra's reptilian heads as it's teeth closed around him. It happened in a blink of a second, so fast that he barely could process how the thing had even managed it.

He could only let out a single word before the titanic jaws snapped shut on him. "Fuck!"

As the hydra began to move, Yue leapt back. The hammer dissolved into white light as she witnessed the creature snap him up in its jaws. Time stopped, her heart was pounding. Throat raw. She was screaming something... maybe just screaming.

It's happening again.

Yue's vision was tinted red. The [Crimson] stormed around her, lashing out at anything it could reach, splintering the ground at her feet, smashing at the rubble. She felt the tremors in the ground... maybe it was just her body shaking uncontrollably.

It's happening again. The monster won't stop.

She stood next to where the Sword of Justice had landed, embedded half way into the rubble. It sang, even through the time dilation, battered by the [Crimson] escaping her. She hesitated to grasp it, hands shaking.

It's happening again. I'm losing someone.

Get a grip. The barriers were still active, though they were dissolving. He would probably live... if she acted now. If she acted right now... RIGHT NOW!

I can't fail again...

It was a flash of motion. All at once she and the sword were gone. With a thunderous CRACK the head holding Alex was severed, and for a split second she was crouched on one of Alex's failing barriers. It shattered as she launched; lightning raked through its second neck, crawling down its spine as the head flipped away and she touched the second barrier for the barest moment.

She launched diagonally, ripping the sword of Justice savagely through the skull of the feline head. Her momentum pushed her into a crouch against Alex's last barrier directly over the beast's exposed heart. She felt her body slam hard into the suit's limiters, and every indicator on her HUD flashed red as she broke through.

Dragon roars.

Yue was carried by a bolt of lightning, plunging the sword to the hilt into the creature's heart. Her HUD lit up like a Christmas tree as the wind was knocked out of her. Time resumed, and for a second all she could see was lightning crashing all around her. And then as something hit her, she blacked out.

The world had been plunged into darkness. Alex struggling against disgusting, undulating wet flesh and muscle. He had tried to grip, to claw and fight his way out of the hydras throat. Desperately trying to find purchase only to have his grip slip again and again as he slid towards the things stomach.

Panic drowned his mind, the mental pain becoming nothing but numb white noise. Sparks of blue light flickered around him in disjointed geometric patterns. Alex didn't feel like he had control. His mind was burning And his bones felt like static.
That's when the darkness was suddenly filled With noise.

Without his helmet, Alex had no way to drown out the volume of the Apex's core detonating. His saving grace being still lodged in one of the hydra's necks. Which was currently flying through the air along with the hail of gore that was what remains of its once resilient body.

Alex clawed his way out of the gaping neck hole gasping for breath. Everything felt wrong, his head was so overstimulated. His ears rang and everything looked blurry. He wasn't of much use, probably couldn't even stand up straight. despite everything his body was probably unscratched and he had the energy to Spare. Screw that though.

He was just gonna lay down for a bit. And god help any other beast that tried chewing on him while he caught his breath and waited out the pain.

Máire’s boots hit dirt just a pace away from rat, her stride closing the distance in an instant as her hand swung out to clap him on the back, spurring him back into motion. “Aye, you’re a right master of the art,” she announced with absolute lack of sincerity, several of the swords fading into dust and returning to her bloodstream. “Now keep moving before the rest of the swarm stress tests that delusion!”

She sprinted down the corridors at Rat’s side, keeping one eye on the drive frames raining debris down upon them. As if the monsters weren’t enough of a problem to get through. Her other eye she kept on the messenger, alerting him to dodge when necessary, or pulling him out of the way herself. Máire’s swords flew ahead in formation like fighter jets, clearing them a path through the increasingly concentrated beasts slavering to get through the wall. The frames had funneled the swarm away from the town’s gates, leaving them to attempt scaling the sheer steel walls surrounding it. Unfortunately, that would have to be their way in, too.

“Templar! Up!!” Máire called to the shapeshifter, grabbing Rat around his midsection as she thrust one of her blades up toward the top of the wall. “Hold tight,” she advised, before the invisible connection between herself and her manifested weaponry sent them hurtling skyward. Out of the corner of her eye, Máire noticed Rat was still clinging tight to one of her swords, swinging it desperately at the creatures around them.

She could’ve smiled at that.

---

Ugh, what a mess they’d made. She was definitely buying new shoes later, budget be damned. Abel could suck hers, quite frankly. Even if coming down here had been all her idea, against his advice. “We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile Dollar,” “the hunt is too risky, Dollar,” “Its not our problem, Dollar,” “leave it to the actual Rogues, Dollar,” “we’re just making trouble for ourselves, Dollar,” “we’re not even getting paid for this, Dollar.”

Nerd.

Dollar stepped over rubble and splattered hydra, careful not to stumble and twist her ankle on any of the slick liquid coating the area. Ick, it was all sticky! She swore, if this stuff stained- Well, anyway. She glanced over to the side for a moment, taking in the image of good ol’ Alex Brickhead jammed half inside an oozing monster neck, then mentally filed the memory away to never bother her again before turning her attention to the real reason she was down here.

To save someone. Because she was a goddamn hero, god damn it.

The Haze pulsed in thick, red veins all across the little battlefield Miss Knight had made for herself, some of them stretching maybe twenty feet away if Dollar cared enough to measure or do math. Oof. That was some real shit this upside girl was doing to herself, huh? Dollar hadn’t seen anyone piss out Haze like this in…

Well. Let’s not dwell on such things. There’s some goddamn hero stuff that needs doing, god damn it!

Dollar swatted the Haze away as some of the tendrils reached out toward her, like lightning jumping to a ground. She drew up next to the Templar girl, placing a hand on her immaculately well-dressed hip and quirking her lip in thought as she gazed down at her latest beneficiary. Did she know this kid? She seemed kind of familiar, though Dollar couldn’t really place it. Oh, well. All these mages kinda bled together after a while.

“Really got yourself in some trouble, huh dumbass?” Dollar asked the unconscious girl with a sigh. She crouched down, her fingers reaching out to brush ever-so-gently over that dorky ass helmet the kid was wearing. “Don’t you know what kind of attention you’ll draw to yourself like this?” Dollar sighed again, a bit more gently this time.

“Y’know, normally I charge for this kind of thing, so I hope you appreciate my special service.” Her hand moved lower, toward the center of the girl’s back where the Haze was thickest. It wrapped itself around her hand, writhing up her arm and whipping out at Dollar’s face, leaving a burning smell in the air and cracking down on the ground around her. Sheesh, what an attitude problem. Kids these days, honestly. Still, she supposed if nothing else, it meant the girl was energetic.

Dollar stretched out her fingers, forming a straight line from her wrist to her nails as the Haze continued to lash around her. Hungry and angry as it ever was. It really did have such an attitude problem. “Try to be more careful, next time, alright?” she asked the girl again, knowing full well it wouldn’t be heard.

She could feel the Haze writhing about the area, grabbing for the hydra, the ground, the air, the idiot meathead wrapped in sushi over on the side. It would calm on its own in time, some weeks or months or years later, if those other mages didn’t show up to beat it into submission first. But Dollar was here now, could feel the Haze now, could hear its petulant tantrum now.

So she slashed her arm out to the side, and cut it all away.

J-3 twitched at the sound of The Blonde Ally’s voice. They had been cleaving their way here; following in silence after both Rat and The Blonde. Now they shifted plans, darting ahead of both Allies to create some semblance of a path.

And to accrue some [MANA] and [FUEL].

Fang and claw and brine and [MANA] and venom and tail.
They churned through monster and flesh, only stopping to readjust once as an explosion of heat and meat flung them to the side.
There were metallic skeletons— Drive Frames, whispered an alien thought— acting like ranch hands at a slaughter. Interesting.

Rat and the Blonde Ally began scaling a wall, followed and led by a cavalcade of slathering beasts. A familiarly unfamiliar shape of an eight legged thing mixed with a slithering body chased the two as they went.
J-3 would have none of it.

Rat screamed as J-3 abruptly rammed into existence, body slamming the spider-snake thing as it reared up to skewer the two. The hybrid screamed as J-3 shrieked. Three beats of the wings ripped it from the wall. J-3s cry a triumphant one as their foe fell to the swarm below.

Meanwhile, they turned, ink pulsing and swelling as they took the shape they wore upon sighting and fighting [The One of Sun]. A quartet of leathery wings stretched from ‘her’ shoulders and spine. Her hands were clawed, and though she was modest as a babe, and as immodest as a Barbie doll, her body was clearly plated. Like skin-colored chitin in place of proper, human, flesh.

She churned the winds with her wings, frowning darkly as she swept a hand. [MANA] pulsed in the air, as one pencil thin torrent of water lanced forth.
More beasts found their limbs neatly severed, heads rolling away from shoulders, and bodies cut in precise lines.

J-3 brought herself lower, doing her able best to stick as near to her two allies as she could.

She hissed when someone turned to them warily, pointing with one hand to return the human’s focus back to the swarming beasts.

It was almost easy to mistake the pounding on the door for the thrumming of his own head and ears. Having only gotten up off the floor moments ago, Dean Locklear was trying to clean the blood off his face when it finally registered that someone was at the door.

Wasn’t even paying attention to the wards. He felt like slapping himself for that if not for fear of being concussed from . . . Whatever that scream had been. Everything was in chaos. Whatever had caused that scream forced an early emergence of beasts much more numerous and violent then normal. He could only imagine how the other settlements were holding out right now. Shieldtown was just holding out because if it’s reinforced nature and the hardiness of its residents.

Damnit Alex, where are you? Better not have gone and gotten himself hurt in all this.

Had to focus. Home was the priority right now. Little dude was perched up on his shoulder, nuzzling into him. Dean patted his partners head reassuringly. Poor thing had to have been scared when he just dropped and began bleeding from the nose.

“Right, let’s see what’s going on now.” Dean opened the door right around the moment Wolf yelled for him to wake up. “Jeez women you don’t gotta shout. We got this.”

He brushed passed Shieldtown’s head scout, giving her a pat on the shoulder while casually strolling forth. Various trinkets on Dean’s person began to break and pop, their mana reservoirs draining back into him. His unassuming form swelling with power now, Dean closed his eyes and held out his hands. Through his partner, they felt the creatures outside the walls as well as those that had began to make it into the fortress town. ”Damn, lot more then I thought.” He turned to meet the gaze of the stone creature on his shoulder. “Ready Golem?”

The currently minuscule primal spirit of earth nodded vigorously and leapt off Dean’s shoulder. Sinking into the ground like it was a liquid.

Working in tandem, the two expanded their “territory”. Two minutes based and soon they were able to feel just about every one of the frenzied beasts on the ground.
Targets found. Let’s keep it simple. Soften, mold, then harden.

Patches of earth around most of the creatures suddenly shifted to be more loose, that was Dean clapped his hands together. Tendrils of earth lashed out towards every beast, hardening into sharp stone on contact.

In a mass cacophony of pained yelps and howls, almost too suddenly, more then eighty percent of the monsters present became impaled on jagged stones. Some were still alive, struggling to remove themselves from the stones. Dean wasn’t really comfortable leaving the monsters to suffer though. With a motion of his hands, the still struggling beasts were further impaled by more spikes.

When the last spiked monster finally went limp, The stone spikes retracted back into the ground. Leaving no trace of ever having emerged other then the traces of residual mana.

Dean dropped his hands and let out a tired sigh. Not actually exhausted, not in the slightest. Golem did a good chunk of the difficult work after all. Dean was just a tad lazy. And there was the fact that he was reviving a bit still on top of his mind being elsewhere.

He dropped to the ground, a large hand of stone reaching up out of the earth second before he touched the ground to catch him. Making for an emergency chair.
”Alright! I did my part. You guys go finish all the rest of the crap. I need a minute.” He leaned back and just waved Wolf to go away.

It took some time but Alex was finally feeling some degree of better. The ringing in his ears was almost gone, his body didn't feel utterly disgusting despite where he had previously been lodged inside of. Could be worse, there was a good chance of him being actually sore from this encounter though. He'd complain about it later.

Alright. Gotta get up. Need to find Yue and make sure she's ok. Then get us back to Shield Town.
He ticked off his mental checklist before trying to pull himself into an upright position. He then proceeded to slip on the viscera that coated the ground, landing him on his back again with a resounding thud despite the short distance.

"Fucking, No! not doing this bullshit right now." He grumbled loudly mostly to himself and the universe in general.

Tentatively, Alex made an attempt to make a small construct in front of his eyes to see if he had anything in him. There was some surprise when the hard light cube flickered into existence and there wasn't so much as a prickle of pain from his head. that was either really fortunate, or a very bad sign.

. . . Screw it. Can't risk leaving us out here if more beasts show up. A burst of blue energy got him off the ground, it was quickly followed by a barrier field that passed over him head to toe. All the blood and gore passed right off him, being taken along with the field as it passed over him. He gave himself a moment to be thankful he even learned this trick in the first place. Never had to conventionally clean his costume and armor most days.

Back on track, Alex turned to inspect the field. . . . . Well, The hydra was definitely dead. He wouldn't be surprised if some pieces had launched high enough to stain the tower plate overhead. Real question was what wasn't blood splattered in the general vicinity.

Gross.

---

After finding his helmet, and discovering it was miraculously in one piece, Alex finally Came across Yue. He instantly tensed up at the sight. Not just due to the fact that she appeared unconscious, but mostly because of the random person that was currently hovering around her doing . . . something? best guess was that powers were involved. or at least something was going on. you don't just see random people alone outside settlement walls with a shitstorm like this going on.

Part of him felt like he had seen her somewhere before but just couldn't place it yet. He quickly slammed his helmet on and trudged over, making sure to keep both women in his field of view the entire time.

"Hey! Not to sound rude but would you mind stepping away from my friend there and identifying yourself?" As he spoke, his eyes began to glow blue. With a mental push a fairly solid barrier formed around Yue's prone form for good measure. Better safe then sorry. Still no real feedback from that field either though. Concerned later, gotta focus on the now.