Around Gaël, Lutech soldiers clad in radiant exo-armors had gathered to face the Infested. Their advanced weapons fired blinding bolts of energy, cutting through the corrupted masses. Many screamed, many fell, but Gaël heard none of it. He saw nothing but the enemy before him. Every movement was precise, every strike delivered with crystalline clarity.
When his blade cleaved through the creature, exposing its inner glow, which he tore free with a swift motion, he felt a surge of relief. The Black Moon trial was over.
But when he looked up, the breath froze in his lungs.
The enemy he had just slain was only one Altered among many. Beyond the Infested, a wave of even more grotesque shapes began to surge forth. From the shadowed depths of the rift emerged dozens, no, hundreds, of trembling silhouettes.
Their Alpha had to be an HollowBorn.
"By all the gods..." Gaël whispered.
"Ah, so you finally understand why the swordbrothers walk alone," Nyx snorted, his voice thick with biting irony. "Your rise along the path of the Severance is like a torch in the dark. You don't just cut through the Umbra, you call to it. You invite its legions to you."
Gaël clenched his teeth, ignoring the black ermine's taunts. But he couldn't deny the bitter truth behind them.
Around them, the Archon suddenly gave the order for a tactical withdrawal, sacrificing the lower city in order to protect the fortifications that led to the upper district. The soldiers began retreating in formation, their discipline barely masking the dread on their faces.
"They're leaving the civilians to their fate..." Gaël thought, indignation flaring within him like a spark catching flame.
In the distance, the alarm bells rang out into the night, waking the city. Screams of terror echoed as corrupted creatures spilled into narrow streets, spreading chaos among the unsuspecting populace. Gaël's heart clenched at the looming massacre. His instinct to protect flared violently to life.
"Why are there so many of them?" he cried out inwardly, panic warring with the control he had fought so hard to master.
"You planning to stay, kid?" Nyx called mockingly, a hint of amusement in his tone.
"I'm not like them, Nyx. I don't turn my back on people who need me," Gaël replied, voice firm with resolve.
Without waiting for the ermine's reply, Gaël leapt straight into the heart of the horde. Every motion became a deadly dance, the Severance guiding his instinct. His cuts were precise, fluid, each movement driven by a certainty he had never known before. He forgot to guard himself, his body accumulating wounds, but still he pressed forward, striking, conserving energy, always searching for the perfect moment. One question haunted him, clinging to the back of his mind: 'How long? How long can I keep this up?'
A familiar voice pierced through the chaos: Kaëlan appeared, a radiant shield in hand, fending off the Infested around him.
"Gaël! We can't hold here, we have to fall back!" he shouted, his face twisted by fear… and determination.
"No," Gaël replied, slicing through an abomination with a fluid motion. "We hold the line until everyone's safe."
Cassandre and Kaien stood firm, an unbreakable bulwark against the roaring tide of corrupted creatures. Cassandre, positioned at the center, moved with deadly grace, her rapier carving brilliant lines of pure light that pierced Infested and Altered alike in bursts of evaporated corruption. Each thrust shimmered with radiance, cleansing the horror that lunged at her.
Her left hand, encased in a luminous glove, flowed effortlessly to deflect the relentless assaults, parrying skeletal claws with seemingly casual ease. She wore a white and grey tunic reinforced by a breastplate etched with luminar glyphs. It glowed at the heart of the fray, drawing monsters like moths to flame. Yet her defense never faltered, a rock standing unmoved against a raging sea.
"Kaëlan, don't let go of my left flank!" she shouted, deflecting another claw. "Gaël, we're too exposed out here! Fall back into the alley, we'll force them to come at us one by one! Harmonist, take the right!"
"Gladly!" Kaien Ren answered with a calm smile, sliding into place beside her with supernatural fluidity. "Name's Kaien, at your service. The hermit up top, that's Rai!"
His dual-edged blade danced, weaving shadow and light in elegant arcs that deflected enemy strikes with mesmerizing finesse. Meanwhile, Nono, his tail sweeping behind him, picked up random objects from the ground and flung them at the advancing horde of Infested.
Above, Rai had climbed to the rooftops, where Astraéa stood watch. Without a word, he acknowledged her presence, then turned his gaze to the battle below.
For the first time, he unfurled a weighted rope, at the end of which gleamed a silver hook pulsing with electric energy. Each throw of the weapon traced blinding arcs through the air, cutting into creatures attempting to scale the walls. On impact, jolts of energy exploded outward, hurling the monsters back with a muffled screech and a flare of light.
Beside him, Astraéa observed the battle unfold, her eyes calm but taut with focus. She intervened only when an attacker grew too bold, driving it back with a narrow, elegant rapier, almost identical to her sister's.
Her twin ermines stayed close, discreet but alert. Nyx, the silent shadow, barely moved, coiled and ready to strike the moment a weakness appeared. Eos, ever composed, circled Astraéa like a soft, protective glow, an invisible barrier against any threat that dared breach their line.
Together, they formed an island of calm amid the storm, an eye within the raging chaos.
Cassandre spun suddenly, channeling her energy until a radiant wave of Lumen burst outward, scattering a dozen Altered in a swirl of shrieks and searing light.
"Everyone, into the narrow alley, now!" she commanded with unyielding authority. Then, looking up toward Rai, she added, "Rai, give us cover!"
Rai swiftly retracted his glowing rope and shifted into a poised stance, knees bent slightly, back straight, arms tucked in close. His eyes closed as he drew a deep breath, feeling the energy circulate through him, merging with his will. When he exhaled, his palms surged forward, unleashing waves of concentrated light, fluid, brilliant arcs that slammed into the Altered clawing their way upward. The waves drove them back into the depths they had crawled from, sending them howling as they plunged into the black abyss from which they'd come.
The narrow alley became their temporary haven, a crack in the chaos through which the dark tide could be channeled. Rai landed with feline agility, his breath measured despite the tension coiling in his muscles. His gaze met Cassandre's, her expression unreadable, her exhaustion masked behind the steel in her eyes.
"How long can we hold this position?" he asked, his tone calm but laced with urgency.
Cassandre studied the writhing mass already regrouping in the darkness. Her fingers drifted instinctively along the hilt of her sword, her stance taut like a bowstring on the edge of snapping.
"Long enough to block their path... but not long enough to survive this without reinforcements."
Rai clenched his jaw. That wasn't an answer that offered hope.
"And the other access points? We're holding here, but the right gate's been breached. The city could be overrun."
The silence that followed was heavier than the threat looming at the mouth of the alley.