Theft of Decks 4, CH 51

I want you to know, Kith. I cut a deal with one of the Keeper wards. I arranged for one of them to move a Guardian here, to keep an eye on the diaries for a few days. To him, it’s a break. For me, it’s the final, undeniable proof that you’re going through my stuff, like I specifically asked you not to. If you’re reading this, I just want you to know. You’re dead. Heart card or not. I will hunt you down and wear your face.

Sincerely. Cilia.

“We’re backing off. Back toward the center.” Kith’s voice was frazzled, sounding like he was unfocused.

“Why? I thought we were doing good?” He had to repeat himself twice before Kith was back.

“Huh? Oh. Yes. I guess. Just get back here. Give me a moment.”

Chase stood up from where he’d been resting, knees cracking. “All right.” He shouted. “Everybody, back toward the center! Those who have Tiered up, remember to hit the Wellspring. This might be your last chance to grow stronger before everything comes to a head.”

He crossed the street and told the people on the other side. Then he took a last look at the street. When he’d entered Salvation for the first time, he’d been amazed by how pretty everything was. The streets so orderly, everything with a fresh coat of paint, nobody dirty, hungry or hurt. Now, there were corpses and wreckage everywhere, and one house teetered like it was about to follow the example of its neighbors and keel right over.

Leaving people to find their own way inward, he tried to fend off the sudden influx of doubt and dark thoughts. This was going to be over soon. One way or the other. There’d be plenty of time for recriminations later, if he was still alive.

On all sides, he saw waves of motion. Locals, mostly, who were moving inward, rushing or marching. Once, he spotted a group of indebted who looked like they’d walked through a hail of living steel, almost every one of them carrying somebody wounded along with them.

The further he came, the more Chase realized that they weren’t even the people who looked hit the worst. Many groups returning were absolutely mauled, with healers activating cards and trying to help the worst of them, even as they moved.

Gritting his teeth, Chase decided to take Kith’s continued absence as a bad sign, threw caution aside, and engaged Fight Another Day as he ran. Speed would be of the essence now.

People milled everywhere in Execution Plaza. There was an overt sense of panic in the air, people running everywhere with wild looks in their eyes. At the far end of the plaza, three northbound streets were blocked off by crowds of soldiers surrounding with what looked like healer, crafter, and equipment stations respectively.

Crowds were always different. This was something Chase had thought a lot on in his life. Mostly as something running in the back of his mind. A certain mood. A feeling, of a crowd ready to turn ugly, an overhanging sense of danger, or maybe a careless, buoyant mood that would ease his theft.

Today was new. There was fear there, of course, plenty of it. Stress, and hope. The occasional barked laughter that cut off just a little too fast. The unexpected part, though, was what lay at the core. Because this crowd had a heart. He saw it in the brief glances, the over pointing, the way everybody circulated around a specific point of the plaza. This crowd had a heart. A beating heart, ensuring that everything circulated and kept working. Currently, everything here revolved around one specific spot.

Chase dropped from his last platform, hitting the ground next to Kith and Sera and sliding to a stop.

Sera stood, her back ramrod straight, next to Kith who sat cross-legged next to her with his eyes closed.

“What’s happening?” he asked.

Sera held up a finger. “We will want redundancies on eleventh and thirteenth street. Both shaper oil and archers. All hidden, all ready to move in or fall back at any point. Are the last reserves moving yet?”

“Limping, more like.” Kith muttered. “But yes.” He grimaced. “Doubt they’ll make it back before the Lightborn. Hey, slowpoke.” He didn’t even open his eyes, just subsided back into silence, eyelids twitching, making weird grimaces, fingers moving in elaborate gestures as he received, sent and handled input from his shadows.

Sera exhaled softly and put her hand on Chase’s arm. “I am glad you are here. Well done, so far.”

“What’s going on?”

“It is all coming to a head. The Lightborn are committing now. They have been readjusting their forces. Now, they are coming.” Sera looked him deep in the eye.

“All of them?”

She nodded. “All of them, in one massive formation. We are busy readjusting the city to be ready, with shaper oil in place for every eventuality.”

“How are we doing?” He asked. Even with the wounded he’d passed, they had not suffered any outright defeats so far, and, at a guess, the mood in the plaza was edging toward positive.

“We are… managing. We have more fighters out of commission than I would have liked. Their adjustments this last time took us by surprise, and their ranged attackers did a number on ours. Yet, the odds have adjusted slightly in our favor. As long as they have no further tricks to throw at us, we will be able to grind them down and beat them with shaper oil – and sheer numbers when, and if, they make it to the plaza.”

Chase groaned. ”Which they absolutely will. That bloody noble – no offense – might be insane, but he’s clever. What’s our play here?”

She softly touched Kith’s shoulder. “How far along are they?”

“Entering the city in a minute. That large a force moves slow.”

“Okay. Chase. We are flooding attackers ready to ambush them in every point along their route. We will be able to hit them from everywhere – alleyways, rooftops, from the rear even. On top of that, we will bog them down and cut them apart with the shaper oil at every chance. We need you out there, to aid where needed, and to ruin their plans. If they disrupt us entirely, we will pull back and rethink our approach. Also, we are keeping the new Guardians back. They will be the backup, for when Euronimous unleashes his surprises.”

Chase rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “You’ve got it. I’m off.”

Her hand shot out and grasped his shoulder. “Chase.” Her eyes met his. They said everything that needed to be said. Her mouth quirked up. “Stay alive. That is an order.”

As Chase raced back out into the city, he felt a weird sensation of peace. Everything was up in the air right now. Yet, he knew that he’d already given it his all, and there was no chance that he was going to let his friends, his family down.

It felt almost leisurely, being able to breeze through the city at full speed, not giving a second thought to flaunting his powers. Everywhere around him, armed people were marching, some in a semblance of order, while a lot of them looked like they’d only just been granted a weapon this morning for the first time. Still, there was a fire in their eyes. The citizens of Salvation were not going to break easily.

Chase took the notion of what would happen if they did break, and tamped it down hard. That would not – could not - happen.

He found his place on top of an untouched rooftop about a mile out from the southern edge of town. He wasn’t the only one. He had to duck in between a handful of taller persons in order to find a place from which to observe. Locals everywhere were climbing the roofs to see what they would be up against. When he finally saw the remnants of the Lightborn force, the sight took his breath away.

Light blind him. There were so many of them. This was not at all like the last time. He’d thought a thousand soldiers pushed into the narrow confines of the city streets looked overwhelming. He’d been wrong. Ten thousand soldiers moved as one cohesive force, a never-ending wave of soldiers, bristling with weaponry. They filled the entirety of the street as they moved, and the tail end of their force was nearly half a mile behind the front rank. Not only that. Now that they were truly moving into the city proper, he started seeing signs of cards and effects. Everywhere! They were truly holding nothing back now. Glowing bubbles and domes conjoined, gleaming, bright effects glowed and intermingled, eyes, armor and weaponry glowed bright with the brilliant shine of magic.

Chase chuckled softly. “They do look pretty, don’t they?” He said to the Liberators standing on the roof with him.

The tall man right behind him gulped. He looked like a blacksmith. Arms nearly as wide as Chase with a beard that Raudt or Svart could’ve hidden behind. Yet, his unease was obvious, as he asked, his voice higher-pitched than Chase expected. “How do we face something like that?”

He gave the question its due consideration. It was indeed hard to see where you’d even start. Then he smiled and shrugged. “Simple. We don’t.” He pointed at different spots along the length of their body. “They might look impressive right now. But picture them cut into eight, or ten different units, cut off, fallen houses intersecting their length. Then picture them being attacked from either side at the same time, and the roofs.”

The blacksmith nodded slowly.

Chase continued, warming to the image. “They strike back hard? We run. Back into the city. We’ve got eyes everywhere. They don’t. If they follow, we’ll ambush them. If they don’t, we’ll lope around, find another place to hit them. This isn’t a stand-up fight. This is us chopping them into smaller chunks, so we can deal with them, bit by bit.”

They watched in companionable silence as the force advanced. Eventually, one of the wielders asked. “You’re… him, right?”

Chase shot the young man a lopsided smile. “That’s a pretty vague question. But I guess, in this situation, the odds are pretty damn good that you’re right.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be, like, out there?” He asked, pointing vaguely at the army.

“Yup. Only, we aren’t hitting them just yet. If you watch, you’ll see that there are no people roaming around that far out. We’ll wait until they’re at least a few hundred feet past the original ambush point, then-“

The last of his words were swallowed by an explosion.

His eyes veered for the front of the advancing army. Had he been wrong about the spot? Should he-?

In an area at least a hundred and fifty feet ahead of the army, wreckage slowly settled as a blinding light faded into a more tolerable spectrum. Yet, this had not touched the Lightborn army at all. In fact, it only affected the area in a wide cone ahead of the soldiers. Not only that, the army wasn’t stopping. They still marched on, straight toward the still-settling rests of the ruined street front.

Another bright light appeared. This one was less blinding, shimmering into view softly, growing, modulating itself until it settled down upon the ruined street.

The Lightborn army continued marching, right onto the shining area. They walked, climbing the hill of ruins that had, just a few seconds ago, been a regular street in Salvation. At no point did anybody look like they were about to fall. Rather, they moved like the brilliant surface was a paved road, allowing them to walk ahead as if nothing stopped their forward movement.

Their passing took only a single minute, while Chase and everybody else watched on in astonishment. Then, even as they were reaching the end of the safe surface that carried them safely across the wreckage, the blinding light erupted again.

This time, the card was punctuated by twin explosions, as the effect hit and set off the shaper oil that had been prepared to surprise the oncoming army. Yet, if it did a difference, it was only in how the effect of that first, devastatingly damaging light effect was amplified. Less than half a minute later, the army started marching again, moving onto the next platform.

“Please tell me you’re seeing this.” Chase whispered. “Kith. What the Pits are we supposed to do about that?”

For a full minute, there was nothing. Only increasing panic on the rooftop, as people started realizing that no imminent reaction was inbound against that overwhelming Light attack.

Chase sighed audibly as a shadow zoomed across the sky toward him.

“Hoo boy.” Kith’s voice was audibly stressed. “We’re in so much trouble. We’ve gotten our closest ambushers moving back so they aren’t in danger of getting blown the Pits up. But… what do we do? What do we do?”

Chase tried to ignore the despair that wanted to grow inside him. “I’m not sure, man. This is Euronimous, right? Have you seen it? Him?”

“It is. The beam comes straight from him. Also, it being Tier six is the one explanation for how damn powerful it is. That other card they’re walking across might be that damn priest. I can’t tell for sure, because its origin is harder to spot.”

“Doesn’t matter, really. They’re bound to be safely at the center of a ton of defenders, right? Hidden where we’d have to throw everything at them to end them.”

“Yes. And I shudder to think of what would happen if any of our forces got caught in that effect.”

Chase grimaced. “Yeah. We’re not doing that. How long have we got.”

“How long? No clue. We - Wait a moment.” Kith grew silent, then returned a moment later. “Sera says that, at this rate of progress, unless Lord Beforant grows tired or there are some cooldowns we’re not seeing, we have about an hour and a half before they hit the plaza.”

Chase groaned and massaged his temples. He saw, in the distance, as a group of archers climbed to a rooftop a street over from where the Lightborn army was advancing.

With no intact rooftops nearby, there’d be no easy way for their archers to aim and hit. Yet, with these numbers, they were pretty much sure to hit something. Arrows started flying and hitting among the Lightborn. Most were repelled by armor, effects or shields, but a few soldiers went down. This might be a way to slowly grind them down.

The beam reappeared. Instead of hitting the street ahead of them, it swept over the far rooftop. When the blinding light faded, the rooftop, along with any archer on top was simply gone.

A collective wave seemed to sweep across Chase’s own rooftop. A few of the people standing around him started to take soft steps back, as if readying themselves to flee.

“I have an idea.” Chase said. “I actually have an idea. Kith!”

“We’re listening. Well. I am. But I’m repeating everything to Sera.”

“Follow me, Kith!” Chase said, and leapt off the rooftop, sprinting back toward the plaza. He forced out the words while he ran. “Okay. What we need to do is dangerous. It’s stupid. And it’s going to put us in a ton of danger.”

“What else is new?” Kith chuckled.

“First. We’re unleashing the Guardians. All of ‘em. Straight at the army.”

“That’s why you’re going back? Okay, but why? Even if we’ve got a good bunch of them by now, that beam is going to tear them apart.”

“No it won’t. The thing is, we’re going to put ourselves up as the juiciest targets in the world. Meanwhile, we’ll have Sera directing everybody else to attack and dismember their force. Here’s the plan…” Chase’s words poured out as he sprinted, laying out the plan as he saw it.

Kith’s only response was a chuckle and a strangled. “You’re right, man. That’s going to be dangerous. Cil’s gonna hate it. Let me tell Sera, then get your ass back here.”

***

Half an hour later, their group was approaching the Lightborn army. Even though they were jogging at a fast pace, Cilia talked constantly, berating Chase for his insanity and making changes on the fly, suggesting alternative cards for all of them.

Liam, running right next to her, reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Cil. We’re here. Settle down and settle in. We know what we’re doing.” He settled his shield in place, then gave it a good whack with his truncheon for good measure, before grinning widely at them all and placing himself firmly at the center of the street, facing away.

Kith gave Cil a side hug, then passed her by, unsheathing his hand axes to take his place, behind and to the left of Liam. “Yeah, Cil. We know what we’re doing. And when we don’t, we’ll just make it up.”

Chase shrugged and grinned before taking his own spot on Liam’s right. “We really are clueless. I’m so sorry.”

Sera gave Cilia a full hug. Then she took her own place, right behind Liam. “I am sorry, too. Sorry that this is what we have to deal with.” Then she extracted her two bucklers and shot Cilia a grin that was entirely out of character for her. “Still. If I have to go, I would rather it be like this. Among family.”

Cilia sighed and shook her head. She ambled up to her own spot and checked over her belts without even looking down. “I do love you all. Don’t die. Idiots.”

The Lightborn army was coming into view properly now. It was truly an impressive view. They shone like the sun, gold and white, regardless of the clouds of dust and the mile of demolished cityscape they left behind them. They packed the street from side to side, advancing at an even pace, like an unstoppable machine left to run unchecked.

“They do look pretty.” Liam said. “I’m almost sad we have to mess them up.”

“I’m not.” Kith said. “I’ve always wanted to punch an archbishop.”

“It’s that damn noble for me. This is going to be like the spring festival in Isarn, only with violence instead of plum schnapps.” Chase cracked his neck.

“Focus.” Cilia snapped. “Does everybody have their boosts activated? This won’t work if we don’t come out prepared.”

A chorus of confirmations rang out. Kith simply nodded behind himself, where a pair of bright birds hovered in mid-air. The summoned creatures from Antithesis of Light really looked flimsy, but the loud hum emming from them promised power, and lots of it.

“Okay. In that case, you know what to do. Everybody, get back further. For the first beam, we’re hiding behind Liam, just in case.”

They did just that, gathering in closer, kneeling behind the large Lightborn. He gave them all a dazzling smile. “I’ve kept you safe for this long. There’s no way I’m letting you down now.”

As if on cue, a blindingly bright beam of light burst into being from ahead. There was little reaction time. One second, the light appeared. The next, it washed over Liam, top-down. For one second, two, the beam persisted, then it faded away into nothingness.

Liam blinked, then looked down over himself. He shot a goofy grin at them all. “Still alive.” His gaze went remote for a second. “And Ravenous Shadows ate up enough magic to give me an extra three to Strength. Not bad. How are-“

He was interrupted by another beam, raising his shield at the last second. This beam didn’t stay trained on him, though. Rather, it flashed back and forth, washing over the houses on either side of the street.

The beam faded away and their sights reappeared amidst colored spots in the visions.

Cilia looked them all other over. “Damage?”

“Just a bit.” Chase said. Where the beam had washed over him, the exposed skin was red, like a really bad sunburn. A quick Warmth of the Circle hit him, healing any damage done. “Thanks, Sera.” Then he pointed at the walls, grinned and let out a whoop of triumph. “It’s still standing. We’re still standing! Another triumph for my harebrained schemes!”

Even Cilia had been forced to admit it was the best approach they could come up with at short notice. She and Sera, of course, had been the ones to teach them about the concept to begin with. A powerful card was well and good. A powerful card that built on any other card of yours was even better. But neither of those had anything on a well-planned combination of cards across several different classes and builds.

Sera’s Blessing of the Night, at Epic rarity, was already wonderfully efficient at repressing Light cards and effects. Combined with Kith’s Antithesis of Light summons, however, they had calculated that the effect on any nearby Light cards was diminished by about ninety percent. What had been a city-breaker turned into a danger, but not imminently lethal. Add to that Liam’s ability to absorb the magic and turn it into Strength for himself, and it was barely an inconvenience.

Kith’s eyes were closed. “The fastest of our Guardians should be arriving in… two minutes at most. Better get our asses moving.”

“Tell all nearby ambushing teams to ready themselves. The moment they lock into conflict with the Guardians is when we’ll want to hit them. They will be scrambling to catch up, and realizing that Blessing of the Light completely ruins all Tier one and two Light cards.” Sera instructed Kith, who nodded and went distant again.

Chase let out a wild laugh. “You think they’re scrambling now? Just wait until they realize we can keep this up and they’ll need to catch us to do something about it. That’s right, you bastards! We can do this all day!” He yelled at the army.

They ambled back slowly to the nearest intersection. Once more, the beam struck them, only to fade away when it did no obvious damage.

Happily waving to the army, Chase was the last to leave the street. Sera quickly unfurled her map, then pointed in the direction they needed to go.

Behind them, the world turned bright again, as the beam reappeared, almost hopefully, as if checking whether it might work when they weren’t in direct view. The answer, as expected, was a huge, resounding no.

For about ten seconds, the Lightborn army wavered, as they reconsidered their approach. Then, they went straight to the inevitable conclusion, realizing that they needed to down the group that managed to turn their most powerful attack into an overly ambitious night light.

Thousands of armored boots accelerating into a run made their decision public.

They ran the streets of Salvation, playing hide and seek with a force ten thousand strong. It was, they soon realized, surprisingly easy.

First off, they ran with Kith’s shades constantly keeping an eye on their surroundings, when they weren’t off to give orders left and right.

Second, they were able to climb the low roofs with relative ease. Even Cilia, with the lowest Agility and Strength, could easily leap high enough to reach a waiting hand and be towed up.

Third, the Lightborn, at least at first, didn’t waste time to actually check over the houses. Really, who would leave their front door unlocked during an invasion?

Finally, very soon, the army found itself in a constant state of distraction.

The Dark Guardians, along with a minority of newly-fledged Liberty Guardians, were the first to hit. Roars and cries rocked the streets of Salvation as every Guardian birthed since the creation of the Dark Wellspring was unleashed at the invaders.

Having already been alerted this would be the signal, dozens of smaller groups ambushed the army from all sides within minutes. From then on out, the world went insane.

Kith kept up a running commentary on the fights as they moved about.

They had ambushers everywhere, climbing the roofs to unleash death on the Lightborn invaders. Whenever they’d struck, they ran, crossing rooftops to escape reprisal.

Even when the Lightborn managed to close with enemies, the experience had to be harrowing. The unknown powers of the Liberty Guardians were bad enough. But, often as not, what they clashed with was, for them, mythical Guardians, creatures from the most horrifying of nightmares, now made flesh.

A large group of indebted managed to come up with a new approach. They’d stripped the uniforms off fallen Lightborn and used the disguises to great effect. They’d rush in, yelling and screaming about enemies, before charging right at the frazzled invaders.

The former rebels fought alongside citizens of Salvation. They were lower in Tiers and experience, compared to the veteran Lightborn and they paid for that deficit in blood. Yet, they refused to surrender, taking their toll in blood.

“And stay down.” Liam pushed the dead Lightborn soldier away, then ran to catch up with the others. On his way, he nearly fell over another body.

Kith hadn’t seen this group in time, and they’d actually managed a volley of arrows before their group managed to overrun them completely. Sudden Breeze had ended the threat of the arrows instantly.

“Things are getting chaotic here.” Kith growled through gritted teeth as he ran, Sera holding his shoulder to ensure he was able to handle his summons while he moved. “There are soldiers everywhere. Can’t keep track of it all.”

“What’s it been? Thirty minutes? An hour? This is insane!” Chase announced.

“It has been fifteen minutes, at most.” Sera corrected. “How are we doing Kith? Tell the three groups on the south east to circle east and then lope around and climb a rooftop on eighth. That should allow them to take care of the Lightborn pursuing our eastern groups.”

“I’ll tell them. We are strained. Okay, no. That one’s just me. We’re doing okay. Beforant’s at a safe range, with a street between us. But we can’t allow ourselves to get too far away from the main body of the army. When we’re in range, their buffs are reduced as well and the main army is much less effective.”

“I agree, Kith.” Sera said. “But if we are forced to choose, we stick near Beforant. We may take additional losses, but I can still help them organize. If we let him slip through our hands, we are bound to lose.”

Kith groaned. “Okay! But we can’t keep running. We need to hit back, or we’ll be forced into a corner.”

“We’re fighting more? Good!” Liam grinned. He was enjoying the action, and nothing so far had been able to force him off kilter.

They moved out, into an intersection, allowing them to take a glance at the back of the Lightborn army from a few hundred feet’s distance. The ranks were entirely divorced of their earlier coherence, and soldiers were yelling left and right, climbing up and down houses, smaller squads leaving and rejoining the larger army. A few of the soldiers were pointing in their direction.

Chase grunted. “Hey. You think we have time to send these people A Friendly Wave?” He wiggled his eyebrows. With these nice, straight lines, as long as I have a full minute to let the raindrops build up, I think we could wreak some nice havoc.”

Liam flexed. “I think I can hold them for two. At least.”

“I have plenty of droplets… something’s wrong here.” Cilia interrupted herself, her tone one of confusion and suspicion.

“The fun stops here.” With those words, the world shimmered, and the empty street suddenly changed. Less than thirty feet away, Euronimous slowly edged into visibility, as if somebody was pulling layer after layer of half-illusionary material away from over the man.

Behind him a full platoon of heavily armored Lightborn appeared as well, including a deadly pale archbishop, wheezing with effort.

“You led me on a merry chase. I don’t mind admitting that. But you forget a very important detail. Light is blinding, scouring and burning. Yet, it is also dazzling. The good archbishop here is very talented at hiding in the shadows. Yet another reason he has survived this long, most likely.”

“All right. You got us.” Cilia stepped forward toward him.

Chase’s head snapped toward her. What the Pits was she up to? She was cradling something in her hand, tensed up. This wasn’t surrender. What was it, though?

The noble’s eyes were firmly fixed on Cilia, clearly ready to unleash everything that he had at his disposal. At this distance, even severely reduced, his damaging cards were likely to hurt or kill her outright.

“I admit it, Lord Beforant. I underestimated you. We underestimated you. My apologies.” She got down on her knees.

“You’re surrendering?” The giggle emerging from him echoed the incredulity writ on his features.

“I am reciprocating. You have done your utmost to strike against us and now you have us in your grasp. The Savior, former leader of Liberty, Light save his soul, prepared himself for just such an event. This device-“ She pulled something from within her coat. It looked like a short, stubby vase. Well-made and pretty, it was nevertheless unremarkable that it could be placed anywhere without drawing any eyes. “activates every single Liberty Guardian hidden within the city and is locked into performing the wielder’s desires. I got it from somebody who, eventually, regretted supporting the Savior.”

Euronimous looked absolutely hypnotized, both by her and the object.

Cilia moved slowly, like a mouse staring down a viper. Her voice was low, intent and her eyes entirely focused on the vase. “Another detail you might not be privy to. The Savior was a singularly paranoid person. This effect includes every Guardian birthed throughout at least four decades.”

That was a massive exaggeration, of course. A lot of those Guardians were out in the blissful lands, acting as Keepers. A good deal were bound to have died as well, one way or another, from simple lack of magic, old age or good old violence.

Euronimous Beforant did not know this. His eyes fixed on the vase as if it could bring his personal doom. He giggled again. “What a ridiculous notion. Yet, so believable. So in tune with everything else I’ve been told. I adore it! What is your play here, girl? I expect that you will be threatening me to withdraw my forces, or you will activate it?”

Cilia’s smile was angelic, for once entirely free of any pessimism, criticism or irony. She beamed at the most powerful man in the Lightborn empire and said. “No. I activated it the moment you appeared.”

The sound of splintering wood merged with the cracking of old mortar as a grinding, crunching assault on the ear. All eyes were drawn to a wall right next to Euronimous, where a creature peeled itself away from the wall.

The thing looked ridiculous. It was like a spider, if the spider had been painted over several time and had mortar slapped onto it on several occasions. A few of its limbs that weren’t covered were half see-through. It must have weighed less than twenty pounds and should have been less intimidating than a pet cat. Except, it oozed intention and focus, as it slowly ambled closer to the Lightborn.

All around them, similar noises attested to other Guardians bursting out to join their comrade.

When Euronimous acted, only two people were ready for it. He flung himself forward, rapier aiming straight for Cilia’s throat.

One was Cilia herself. She’d been dead focused on him. The moment he started moving, she flung herself back, hands flying to throw a fire droplet at him.

He managed to tap the droplet mid-air, guiding it away from his midriff. The grenade continued through the air, erupting amid the other Lightborn. His rapier, meanwhile, veered back toward its target.

Liam arrived first. His Helping Step activated, flinging him in front of Cilia in a split second. The shield rang from the impact, flinging the rapier wide.

Euronimous simply stared for a second.

“Why don’t you pick on someone… well. Me?”

Liam’s taunt made the Lightborn roll his eyes and fling himself forward. Just like that, the impasse broke entirely.

Within seconds, the entire intersection erupted into utter chaos, as forty Lightborn flung themselves at five defenders, while Guardians erupted from their hiding places all over the city, ignoring the entire war to race straight to this one fight.

It should have been over in seconds. A Tier four against a Tier six. An archbishop, the epitome of his art when it came to healing and shielding. Forty veteran soldiers. Against self-taught amateurs, despite all their cards.

Except, they had been taught in the school of self-taught survival. Within seconds, Cilia was whipping droplets left and right, fire exploding alongside shadows blossoming into life.

On top of that, a burgeoning growth erupted from the ground right at the center of the Lightborn. Their panic defense emerged as Sera’s Nature’s Shield burst into being, and was instantly grasped by Cilia’s Touch Grass, resulting in an explosive growth of thorny vines that stretched and enveloped, grasped and held. They couldn’t pierce the heavy armor of the Lightborn, but went straight for faces and other visible soft spots. Even where they found no weaknesses, they slowed, constrained and held back.

Kith burst into motion. He was almost impossible to watch as his entire body seemed to flash and distort at once. His heart card burst into motion, doubling his stats. Apian God burst to life in a thousand buzzing voices, flinging themselves at the enemies. Everywhere they touched, Enforced Entropy stepped into effect, removing any positive effects from enemy cards and buffs. Meanwhile, the twin birds of Antithesis of Light hovered way up in the air, adding a tiny bit of damage while reducing enemy Light effects, and Internal Spark ensured that every single summon of his worked that bit smarter and smoother. It was enough to make you dizzy, even before you tried to catch up with the blur of his twin axes.

Sera barely moved. She held herself ready, eyes constantly moving, even as she stayed in place at the back of their formation. Flame Within boosted her own attributes, even as she grew thorns and kept Blessing of the Night debilitating the Light effects. She layered that with Shimmering Sanctuary, shielding them all from enemy debuffs.

Liam held his own. The noble was an excellent fencer, and his strikes drew blood every other moment. However, Liam didn’t care about blood. He had his task, and he would manage. Slashes stopped drawing blood as Become the Clay engaged, covering him in a protective layer of hardened magical clay. Draining Ward added to the efficiency of the defense, even as it slowly drained Euronimous of his Agility.

Every so often, the noble would activate one of his cards. Damaging, dazzling or blinding light erupted from him, tearing at Liam, trying to surprise and overwhelm him. However, with Ravenous Shadows engaged, the vastly reduced damage of his cards only made Liam grow stronger.

Euronimous tried to move past Liam twice to strike at the others. Every time, he engaged Helping Step, emerging right where Euronimous intended to go, punishing him.

The archbishop tried everything he could. He engulfed Euronimous in shields, healed the fighters, tried to help where he could. Yet, his strained expression showed the truth. He’d been struggling to keep up already. Now, he was near the edge.

Chase let loose. For so long, they’d been struggling through uphill battles, smashing through obstructions, only to realize that they were about to face off against somebody stronger, better or more powerful. Now, he finally hit the top of the curve, and realized… he was the powerful one.

He eschewed any long-winded build-up. There’d be no powerful acidic waves for this. No drawn-out struggle where he’d sap the enemies of their attributes and wear them down. This was going to be fast, dizzying and dirty. Steps of Brilliance and Fight Another Day worked together flawlessly at this point, barely letting himself be infected by gravity as he raced at supernatural speeds through the air. Winds of Change, as always, was ready if he needed to switch, while One with the Soil gave him perfect balance.

Racing through the air at head height, he yelled at Kith. “Fiery End. Now!”

Kith didn’t question him. The bugs crawling all over the enemies, subduing their buffs froze for a second. Two. Then they erupted into a fiery conflagration, sacrificing their life’s blood to damage the enemies.

The explosion was massive, rocking back their enemies. A dozen of them hit the ground, screaming or deadly quiet. The remainder wavered, blinded and hurting. Shortly, however, all their buffs would start having an effect, letting them get back to their feet.

Chase used Mine Now!

He felt the burst of energy as the combined buffs of the Lightborn were cancelled and layered onto himself. For a second, he almost felt drunk with power, wondering if this was what the Savior felt like all the time.

Then he attacked.

There was nothing pretty about this. He ran circles around the enemies, cutting down at anybody standing at head height. Tearing through shadows and fire alike, he moved around Kith, hit every Lightborn fighter struggling to move within the massive thorn bush. In a series of cuts and strikes, the intersection covered in blood, as he carved a bloody half-circle through the entire group.

His brain barely activated throughout the entire ordeal. Acting entirely on instinct, he rushed along, flinging himself sword-first at the greatest threat in reach. His speed, his momentum, the myriad of buffs, all worked together to throw him forward at a velocity he’d never reached before.

He hit the ground, took one step, sword reaching, diving, and his momentum stopped from one second to the next.

Liam stumbled backward. He stared at the sword tip suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Then he froze, and his eyes met those of Euronimous.

The Lightborn noble struggled to speak. One trembling hand reached downward, feeling the tip of the blade impaling him from behind, emerging through the archbishop’s shield, through the leather armer and emerging out the front of the armor. A bubble of blood emerged on his lips. “Pe-peace.” he managed through the blood.

Chase held onto the hilt of the sword as if it were the only thing keeping him from flying toward at the next enemies. His eyes were wild and the snarl feral, barely human. “Peace?” He repeated as if tasting the words. “I don’t think so.” With a savage growl, he twisted the sword, and pulled it back out.

Euronimous Beforant fell to the ground. He was still feebly trying to form words as he bled out.