Chapter 81 (Patreon)

Sapporo was containing An Set, but he wasn’t gaining any ground either. It was a deadlock and everyone knew it. Something was going to give way one way or the other, though, they were both powerful but neither of them had truly unlimited strength. Marta watched them clash with awe in her eyes, regardless of the stalemate. The hero from the international team comprehended the nature of his ability so intimately that he embraced it, practically becoming the entity whose namesake his power drew from. It was unreal, it took her breath away, but it also made her think. Sonya had encouraged Kingshark to consider the nature of his power; she'd even suggested reading material for him.

“The physique of the Norse God Baldur. He could come back from any wound or injury and his body could withstand terrible punishment. His only weakness was mistletoe.” Sonya had said, it had been a cut and dry explanation of how the power worked. Marta could not be killed save for being poisoned by mistletoe. It was an odd, mundane weakness, but one she could live with.

But is that all there is? Who is Baldur? What else did he do? What did he represent? Marta wondered to herself as the ground shook again from another collision between Sapporo and An Set. Above, the terrible serpent coiled again and lashed out at it's invisible opponent. Was it actually fighting someone or was it a visual representation of An Set’s inner state? His actions? She had her theories but she couldn’t clearly wrap her mind around everything she was seeing and experiencing. She had seen some amazing and terrible things since the flash, so she was more used to it than others. 

She could only imagine how the others felt.

A chime in her ear alerted her to an incoming communication. She raised her finger to it, her heart leaping into her throat. “Sonya? Are you okay?” She asked hurriedly, getting a glance from Black Lotus. 

“It’s Amos, where’s Sonya? I can’t get in touch with her,” Amos said hurriedly. “What the hell is happening over there?”

“She’s in the dungeon, I threw her in to protect her from Duong, the guy’s gone berserk. We’re fighting-” She was cut off by Amos flying into a rant.

“She’s in the- shit! Fuck! Never mind, never mind! Just shut up and listen to me,” He said as fast as he could, “Whatever the hell you guys are doing there is an absolute fuckton of mana in the air right now. You know what that means, right? I’ve got hundreds of monster formation alerts all over the goddamn place on the radar and what’s left is heading straight for the dungeon!”

Marta’s skin went cold, she got to her feet, “Mana in the air?” She breathed, “From all these heroes fighting…”

“Yeah! Probably? Okay, definitely! Anyway you’re going to be up to your tits in monsters in a few seconds and that dungeon? Yeah well that six month timer I put on it just got a hell of a lot shorter. I hope she’s up to closing it because otherwise that place is gonna look a lot like Dharan.”

Marta’s spine jolted and she shot an uneasy glance at Black Lotus who to her relief didn’t seem to react. “Amos, I’ll let everyone know,” She said calmly, “I’m here with Black Lotus right now.”

“Are you kidding me? She’s a cultivator, warn me!” He griped, “She probably has super hearing or something,” He sighed, “Nah, I shut you up didn’t I? God damn it, just be careful! It’s about to get really bad in a minute!”

He cut the call and Marta turned to an expectant looking Black Lotus. “What happened?” She asked.

“We’re making mana in the air by having so much of us here, fighting,” Marta explained, “High concentrations of mana create monsters.”

Black Lotus tensed, her expression growing thoughtful before she glanced out at the battle between An Set and Sapporo, the two had parted for a moment and now were charging at one another again. The resulting clash kicked the wind up and sent dust into the air, “How long?” She asked quickly.

“A minute,” Marta said, “And we’ve got the dungeon to worry about too, it might go the way of Dharan if this keeps up.”

Black Lotus nodded sharply and tapped her own radio which crackled for a moment before she got through, “Euclidia alert everyone that we’ve got incoming, monsters are going to start forming soon and there will be a lot of them.”

Black Lotus frowned harder as she heard her response, “Thank you, Stay alive,” She turned to Marta, “I’m going to cover the heroes on the west side with Vytal. Can you help the East? Lifesaver is already on his way according to Euclidia.”

Marta tensed and squared her shoulders, “I’m on it,” She said as Black Lotus grabbed her comrade and darted away. She turned towards the east side of the disaster zone before glancing back at the fighting, at the pockets of multi-colored clouds that were starting to lazily form here and there. It was like watching the initial spark of an apocalypse. Powerful light-touched fighting one another creating an atmosphere that could trigger the end of the world. Amos had mentioned once that if a big enough dungeon exploded, the released mana could trigger another in a chain reaction.

Marta’s heart nearly stopped.

“Oh my god,” She murmured, her hand rising to her lips. This is what she saw.

Sonya's words over the past few months came rushing back to her: “They need heroes now and they know it.” “We need to guide them, otherwise they may very well become villains in this new era.” “The heroes need to be united with a common goal, the right goal, even if I have to force it on them.” “You cannot let another Dharan happen! As a hero you take an oath to the people of this world and not yourselves!” “Probably pay for my crimes, I’ll deserve it in the end.” “Let’s just say I’m trying to save the world.” “It has to be me, I have to be the one to do it…” “They’re just what I want to see from the heroes.” “If they’re going to risk their lives for us, the least we can do is stand for them.” “Am I still Sonya?” “I’m about to do something irredeemable.”

Tears welled in Marta’s eyes. What Sonya felt was so visceral, it was like she’d lived through the very apocalypse that was playing out right before her eyes. She was willing to do anything, go to any length, make any sacrifice, and bear any blame if it meant keeping mythic heroes from fighting one another. She had schemed to bring An Set down carefully but it had backfired, the look on Sonya’s face at the portal had made it clear that this was not the plan. Every time she took down one of her enemies it had been calculated, avoiding a big show. Her only performance was Hero Day, where it had been a plan to bring heroes together.

Marta glanced around as she turned to head towards the east side, a chill rushing through her body as she started to pick up speed. She needed to get to the other heroes, Firestorm’s team was over there and the monsters would form soon. She raised her hand to her earpiece and tapped it, “Amos?”

“Yeah, what? I’m kinda busy keeping track-”

“This is it,” Marta said in as low a voice as possible, “This is what she’s trying to prevent.”

–

Chunhua stood behind the pillar, she’d doubled back after hearing what that man Amos had said through the earpiece. Can Chernovna clear a dungeon? How? Chunhua thought as Marta stood there, staring out over the battlefield for a moment. The woman seemed to come to a realization and Chunhua sensed shock overcome her, there was another sound, a choking in her voice. Grief? Why? She concentrated, trying to listen in a bit more carefully. The woman was a cautious one, though, and didn’t say anything until she turned away and began racing towards the east side. She called up that Amos man again, it sounded like.

‘This is it, this is what she’s trying to prevent.’

Chunhua stiffened, What does that mean? She thought, her mind trying to piece together the puzzle. There was something missing, something that didn’t make sense and didn’t fully add up. Sonya Chernovna knew that something like this could happen? How? The grief in Handmaiden’s voice made it seem like the pretty young russian had thrown herself to the wolves in order to prevent what was happening right now. Certainly she had been a vocal spokesperson of heroes, but her actions had been praiseworthy not tragic.

Her frown deepened and she looked up at the battle unfolding, shaking her head. Now’s not the time.

–

The monsters arrived with a cackle that nearly shook the battlefield as much as the ongoing war between two would-be gods. The multi-colored clouds had spread like wildfire after the first one appeared, more and more swelling before popping to reveal a gnoll as it fell to the ground, spear in hand, eager for bloodshed and violence. They didn’t pop down at a distance from the heroes, there was no merciful placement or logical organization. They just fell everywhere, between groups, next to people, even on top of one poor man who had his throat ripped out by savage jaws.

Firestorm threw his hands out and sent a cascade of flame over the ruined buildings, the creatures letting out screams of pain and fury. Even so, they didn’t die right away. They were far stronger than hounds, each of them close to a lurker in general ability, and there were hundreds of them. The mayhem was instantaneous and the reaction swift. Powers flew left and right in a chaotic tumult as everyone fought for their lives. Firestorm couldn’t have known that it only fueled the chaos rather than pushed it back. All he could do was fight and protect those close to him.

“Blue! What’s the status?” He shouted, swinging his mace and sending another gnoll hurtling through the air with a dying whimper of pain. 

“Barriers like this take time! Fortunately there’s a lot of mana in the air, so that’s definitely helping!” She shouted, “My body’s not taking it well, though, where’s Lifesaver?”

A trio of dark arrows flew past Bluestar and buried themselves into the craniums of three gnolls that had raced up behind her as she knelt, hands pressed to the ground. She was desperately trying to erect a magical structure that the other heroes could retreat into and help weather the onslaught. Bandit landed a short distance from her and glanced around, focusing on another gnoll that crawled up from behind a fallen pillar. He drew his bowstring back and killed it, looking her way. “He had to stop with another group, they’ll all be joining us here soon!”

Firestorm laughed and raised his fist up, flames forming in rings beneath several gnolls that charged their way, columns of fire burst up into the air and incinerated the wretched mongrels. “Our boy is getting a workout today, isn’t he?”

“Speak for yourself, ‘peak-heroic’!” Bluestar jeered back at him.

“Oh you’re not doing so bad!” Firestorm teased.

“You two are making me jealous!” Bandit joined in, crouching and firing into the air, his shadowy arrow grew thick for a moment before exploding into dozens of narrow darts of blackness that rained over the approaching gnolls. 

“Oh don’t be like that, love!” Bluestar laughed, “You know he only has eyes for Miss Chernovna!”

“Oh right!” Bandit barked, pivoting and firing off a powerful arrow that pierced three gnolls in a row, “How could I forget he’s utterly hopeless!”

“I’m calling human resources after this!” Firestorm complained.

“We don’t have one yet!” Bluestar said, “Remind me to set one up when we get back!”

“Flag!” Firestorm and Bandit shouted at the same time.

“Nerds!” Bluestar shot back, “Okay it’s ready! Get over here! Euclidia can dump the others inside once it’s formed.”

Bandit brought his hand up to his ear and started backing up towards Bluestar, “Send ‘em our way, miss Euclidia!”

Firestorm threw a fireball in the direction of an approaching cluster of gnolls and it exploded, sending them flying into the air. He started moving backwards, firing shot after shot. Behind him he heard the sound of a stone archway forming and voices coming out of it. Heroes pouring through to escape the chaos and restore some sense of order under the protection of Bluestar’s dome. Bandit fired an arrow over Firestorms shoulder, “Pull back, red! Handmaiden is on her way!”

Relief washed through Firestorm as he started stepping back as well. He was already getting winded, between running around saving civilians at the outset, pummeling An Set with attacks, and now this, he was surprised any of the Heroes were standing. Another shuddering boom from the duel between Sapporo and An Set rang out. The ground shook and a portion of a building toppled over as the transparent blue of the barrier began to form in front of him. He could see past it now and saw an approaching trail of devastation in the form of Handmaiden.

The only problem was what was between her and them. A sea of gnolls had gathered in the open space and had only missed Firestorm and the retreating heroes because of the visual barrier. Now hundreds of eyes turned in his direction. More than a heroic-tier barrier could possibly handle.

He whipped his head back at Bluestar and met her eyes. Near her, Lifesaver was on his knees restoring a wounded man’s arm, the poor guy screaming as flesh knitted itself back together. More injured heroes were coming through Euclidia’s archway. He looked up at Bandit and his comrade nodded to him, his lips formed in a thin line. Before Bluestar could say anything he darted from his position and landed next to Firestorm, rolling his shoulders and adjusting his grip on his bow.

“You owe me,” Bandit said.

“You aren’t going to say anything?” Firestorm asked, stepping through the forming barrier.

“Didn’t we just do a thing about flags?” Bandit grunted.

“Right, right,” Firestorm nodded and slung his mace onto his shoulder, flames coating it and sinking into the head. It began to glow orange, then red, then white. He started to rise off the ground as Bandit stalked forward, drawing his bowstring as the arrow forming on it grew bigger and bigger. “How long till she gets here?” He asked.

“Two minutes, at that rate?” Bandit griped, “Fucking hell she’s strong.”

“Rain of Chaos?” Firestorm asked.

Bandit chuckled and pulled his hood back, scratching at his mess of black hair, “Keep saying stuff like that to me and Bluestar’s gonna be the jealous one.”

The ground shook again and the first cluster of gnolls at the back of the army flew into the air as Handmaiden came in contact with them. Meanwhile, the majority threw their heads back in a battle cry and charged at the two men. Firestorm let out a roar of his own and raised his mace over his head as heat surged through his body, flames spread from the weapon and leaped into the air before raining down in a self-contained cataclysm. A moment later, black arrows joined the firestorm, cutting through the flames and igniting into an explosive combination. Flaming black arrows exploding on contact and sending dark needles everywhere, spreading flames and poison through the ranks of their enemies.

Behind them, the barrier finished taking shape. Dozens of injured and dying heroes inside.