Unbound

"Wait, that's it?" Evie asked. She looked at everyone assembled around the city map. "We just smash through the gates with a bunch of monsters on our heels?"

Monkeys, insects, and ice warriors followed Felix like a streaming banner. They had broken open the Inquisition's gate by leveraging every single one of their best Skills, from Atar's newly evolved Imbued Sparkbolt to Harn's Raze. Even then, it had taken every ounce of Strength Felix had to throw them open. The monsters followed, screaming for their blood. They had entered an inner pocket of the defensive structure, but the red-gold light of enchanted metal only reflected off of the wall behind them. Ahead it was a relatively low structure of simple stone.

"Keep them off our backs!" Cal commanded. "Everyone! Scale that rampart!"

Stone Shaping!

Felix was getting better and better at forming spikes from the earth, and with his senses enveloping the small area, it was easy to claim the cut stone ground as his own. The boost of his Intelligence hardened the stone all the faster, while the speed at which the monsters were running sent them swiftly toward their end. Kill notifications and experience flickered across his vision, but they felt like drops in a bucket the size of a lake.

"Stop them!"

Shouts from above came just before a flurry of arrows and Diurnal Reach light bolts pelted at their party. Not just them, though, but the monsters as well. Spectral fireballs sizzled through the air, exploding sections of their battlements as the Simians retaliated. Felix and his team simply tried to survive.

It was chaos.

Within five seconds, however, Felix, Evie, and Cal reached the opposite end of the inner bailey. Shadow Whip, Fluid Shift, and skilled chain use sped their ascent up the wall, and Felix had the wild thought that his plan might actually work.

Then the stones beneath them were ripped asunder, and all three of them were sent careening back to the ground. Felix landed atop a Lesser Wretch, knocking the creature's legs out from under it and snapping it's thorax in two; the creature shrieked in mindless agony as he blinked back at the rampart he'd been nearly atop.

It had been demolished and replaced with a gleaming, red-gold metal expanse. Whorls of vibrant vapor still swirled among its summoned length, which had completely boxed his team in. Felix glanced back, and through the gore he could see the gate behind them slowly dissolving. The wall had moved around them, and this time there was no gate at all.

DuFont...

Ahead, the walls continued to grow thicker and more robust. Felix could see them as brief, scripted constructs that flashed upward and outward moments before the metal surged from the earth. Mansions and delicate landscapes in the Sunrise Quarter were shattered and scattered as DuFont's Authority manifested itself. Monsters raged, momentarily pushed back by the blaze of the conjured defenses, but the ice-armored Reforged pressed onward.

They were trapped.

"We have to assume DuFont knows how to use at least some of her Authority," Cal said. "She knocked out the city's defenses, after all."

"So, we get in through the gate Keru found," Felix tapped the map of the Sunrise Quarter. "After that, well, then we're gonna have to improvise."

Atar groaned. "I swear, Felix—"

"—if I die here, I'm going to kill you," Atar hissed.

Unlike the three in the lead, Atar, Vess, and Harn were relatively unscathed by the emergence of the new bulwark. Atar spun twenty Imbued Sparkbolts around him in a whirling defensive array, pushing back the monster that drifted too close. The problem was, they were all coming too close and in a matter of minutes they'd be overrun.

"Calesca Boscal and Felix Nevarre," said a jovial voice from above. Felix looked up to see Eliza DuFont standing atop the reconfigured defenses. "Here I was thinking I would have to hunt the both of you down! How kind of you to deliver yourselves to me."

An Imbued Sparkbolt flew through the air, fast enough that it whistled, but it ruptured well before it could reach the Inquisitor. Felix Manasight watched the defensive constructs interfere with the spell's Mana.

"Tsk tsk, we are having a dialogue, little boy," Dufont said in a faux cheerfulness while she glared at Atar. "Dear me, Atar V'as? You cost the Guild quite the pretty penny when your Master sent you north. A pity you have fallen in with such ruffians; I will lament your wasted potential. Fire on the beasts."

Diurnal Reach continued, unabated, but it fell upon the monsters and Reforged that had funnelled into the area. They halted their advance, roaring at the onslaught.

"You talk too much," Evie said, twirling her chain. "Is it because you're scared behind that big wall?"

"No one will mourn you, Aren. Too worthless to succeed without your sister, you'll fall only months after she died to save you. Pathetic," DuFont spat in disgust.

"What's pathetic is what you're doing to this city, Eliza," Cal snarled. "You brought down the Wall, letting death into the city so you could, what? Rule over the dust that remained? How desperate for power are you?"

"Quiet, treasure hunter!" DuFont screamed, and Felix could see the veins in her neck bulge. "You'll not lecture me on power! Or did you not flee into the Foglands for scraps of dominion?" She suddenly laughed, shaking her head ruefully. "Ah, but you got me worked up! I had wanted to thank your little pet."

Felix shared a glance with Cal before returning his eyes to the armored ex-Elder. The woman was staring at him now, yellow Mana vapor curling from her arm. She had lost the other one, he noted.

"If it weren't for you, the Master Inquisitor would still live and I'd be pressed beneath his thumb. So truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you," DuFont said, etching the shallowest of bows. "And as proof of my gratitude, I offer you a final battle worthy of your short but bold legend, Mr. Blue Eyed Fiend."

Behind them, among the monster horde, two metallic creatures stomped out of the slackening rain. Behind them came more of the Reforged, their purple-white glow unmistakable in the dark. The bolts of light Mana ceased with a barked command. Three hundred of them towered in the night, while the two Arcids stalked forward with murder all but etched into their Spirits. Felix felt their eye-fires on him like red-hot coals.

"You—you are working together?" Vess exclaimed, glaring daggers at DuFont. "When I thought you could not stoop any lower—!"

"These creatures and I will have our reckoning. I simply told them where to expect you. It was obvious, after all, so save your speeches, heiress! Do that, and I'll tell your father that you fought bravely until the end," she said with a sneer. "Now, fight nice!"

You piece of shit...

DuFont disappeared from the battlements just as the two Arcids strode forward. The Reforged and common monsters split before them, and Felix could see that someone dangled in Skeleton's grip. Felix blinked, almost not trusting his Eye. Elder Teine hung limp in her hands, his body mangled beyond recognition but somehow still alive.

"We have come to end this farce," the tall Arcid shouted, her voice tinny in the dwindling storm. "This city is to be claimed by the Archon. Those that oppose us will be broken upon our Father's will!" She threw Teine's twitching body ahead of her and he rolled several times before coming to an oozing halt. "That one has had his foundation shattered, his Tempering scattered to the winds for daring to disrupt our grand array!"

"Twin's teeth," Cal sucked in a breath. Felix could feel all his friends tensing themselves and readying their weapons. The Arcids didn't care. Skeleton and Mud stood proudly among their army and laughed.

"Yet his incendiary failed! Behold!"

At her expansive gesture, the clouds above the city flexed and shifted. Lightning jumped across the thinning gaps, and for the first time in weeks, Felix could see the night sky above the city. No moons greeted him, nor any stars at all. Just a single massive, blood red orb like a lidless eye.

"The Bloodmoon," Vess whispered. "You were right."

Carmine light bathed them all, but the ice-armored Reforged suddenly convulsed. Each of them fell to the ground on hands and knees as the red light seemed to eat away at the purple-white Mana vapor that surrounded them. Screams resounded through their ranks, so loud and powerful that the Wretches and Simians all cowered in fear.

"What's happening?" Harn growled.

"Is their Mana changing?" Atar asked.

To Felix's Eye little changed, except that their Health and Stamina suddenly skyrocketed, shifting from around nine hundred to over three thousand. More than that, their physical forms swelled under that bloody light while their ice armor cracked and expanded to cover them.

"Our Master knew! In his immeasurable wisdom, he foresaw your petty resistance!" The umber-colored Arcid had started talking, apparently having had climbed atop some rubble to be seen over his horde. "The Bloodmoon is ours! Its potent magics seethe in our veins, a gift stolen from the Blind Gods themselves!"

No, Felix realized. He isn't standing on rubble. The Arcid he called Mud had doubled in size and stood nearly as tall as Skeleton, though she had grown in her own ways. Burrs and blades jutted from their elaborate armor plating, just as it did from the enlarged Reforged. Mud was the smallest of them, but the average Reforged were all fifteen to twenty feet tall. They towered over their own horde, and Felix felt his palms begin to sweat.

"Improvise, huh?" Evie said, panic threading through her voice.

"We are invincible, Fiend! Our empowered warriors will lay waste to this city and all of the mortals within it!" Mud thrust his enlarged hand forward, and the earth rumbled beneath their feet. "Attack!"

The Wretches and Ghostfire Simians screeched in terror-fueled aggression, their Spirits stretched and trembling to Felix's senses, before they stampeded forward.

"Evie, Cal, Harn! Now!" Felix shouted, before drawing his Femur and Blade of the Fang. They sang in his grip, a subtle sound Felix had never heard before, and he complied by feeding them both Essence. "Go!"

Evie hestitated, but Cal and Harn didn't wait. The big man's metal fingers grabbed Evie's shoulder and the three of them raced toward the wall. Toward DuFont.

"Atar!" Felix shouted over the screams of the onrushing horde. The fire mage looked at him before raising his hand to the sky and sending an Imbued Sparkbolt racing upward. Fifty feet in the air, it exploded.

Stone Shaping!

Influence of the Wisp!

Felix's channels burned as Mana poured from him in a torrent. Ten foot bulwarks of stone ripped from the ground ahead of them, the sides facing the monsters forming jagged spikes. Monkeys and insects slammed into it without stopping, while a ripple of blue-white fire enveloped nearly a hundred of the common monsters, many of whom were then trampled to death by their allies.

"Field of Flames!" Atar shouted before sending a stream of almost liquid fire arcing over the walls Felix just built. Screams filled the night as the monsters collided and died among the spikes and flames, but then the first of the Reforged reached his barrier.

And shattered right through it.

"UNGH!" Felix grunted. He felt his wall shatter like a physical blow, one that would have broken something only hours previous. More Reforged came through the gap, their immense shoulders chipping the barrier wider and wider. Their ice armor was now accompanied by deep panes of crimson, as if blood had been frozen to coat their grotesquely muscled forms.

Felix shook the pain off and nodded at Vess, but she was already moving.

"Wyrmling's Call!"

A ghostly dragon's head formed around Vess's own as the Skill activated, and a piercing roar cut through the monstrous noise. Even the Reforged were dazed for a brief instant, before they resumed their charge with a new, rabid intensity.

"It taunted!" Vess shouted. Felix knew her Skill had an equal chance to induce a Taunt or Fear Status Condition on those within range, and that it was entirely out of Vess' control. He grinned, and Vess smiled right back, her dimple showing. "Atar! Again!"

"Got it!"

Another two Imbued Sparkbolts shot up, bursting simultaneously in the dark sky.

Unfettered Volition!

Felix raced out, crossing the thirty feet to the nearest Reforged and swinging down with both his club and sword. No strike Skills or magic. The enhanced abomination didn't even try to dodge. The weapons caught it across the chest—

—and smashed it back into the ground.

*KATHOOOM!*

The Reforged fell, chest armor shattered by Felix's club while his Blade cut deep into the meat of his abdomen and back out through the bastard's groin. He whipped the Blade up and around, severing the creature's arm at the wrist as it reached for him, before plunging it straight into its heart.

You Have Killed A Reforged!

XP Earned!

Without pause, another Reforged lunged at him, and then another. He twisted around their attacks, but they were a lot faster now. He got blindsided and smashed to the side, sending both of his weapons flying from his grip. The Reforged that hit him followed after, while the rest were still affected by Vess' Taunt.

C'mon, Felix thought. He searched the sky. C'mon!

The Reforged warrior that came after him was nearly twenty five feet tall, an equal for his old pal Grimmar. Felix flexed his hands, letting Sovereign of Flesh thicken his dark scales. The Reforged howled, it's voice muffled by the jagged helm of ice around its head, and it bounded forward like an animal.

Shadow Whip!

Shadow Whip!

Dual cast, the black whips shot outward and snagged his weapons. With a sharp pitch, Felix brought the both of them smashing inward in an arc. The Blade hit first, stabbing straight through the Reforged's neck before the Femur smashed into its expanded deltoid. The force of the second strike catapulted his Blade the rest of the way through its neck, tearing its throat out completely.

You Have Killed A Reforged!

XP Earned!

Orange explosions shook him from his notification, swiftly followed by a rush of intensely hot air. Felix ran toward the source, yanking his weapons back to his hands. The Reforged had reached Atar and Vess and more were on the way. He had to fight them off, to give their plan a chance. He—there!

Above the battlefield, a pale purple star blinked into existence.

"Where did—?!" Felix heard Mud exclaim, but the rest was swallowed by the utter firestorm of Sparkbolts, Ice Arrows, Acid Drops, and Shadow Jaws that razed their forces. Mud screeched, like tortured metal. "Ambush at the rear! Attack!"

"HUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" screamed a thousand voices in unison, as, from beyond the smashed gates came the sudden appearance of hundreds of warriors racing toward the monsters' flank. They appeared as if from nothing, but Felix could see the telltale quivers in the air. Thangle's Obfuscation had worked!

The shield wall raced ahead, the Iron Ranks supported by Bodie, Yan, Kelgan, even Portia and Alister. Thangle himself just behind them all, atop an avum armored for battle. His small fists stabbed into the air as the purple star above the battlefield exploded into streamers of violet vapor.

"Forced Calm!"

The Ghostfire Simians and Lesser Wretches stumbled and fell as lethargy inundated their senses, their counter charge stymied for a brief second. Their senses returned almost instantly, but by then they were engulfed in ice, flames, and shadow.

"No!" 55118 screamed, and that bastard boy laughed. Ahead, the Fiend bowled through the Reforged, his Father's perfect creations! The cursed creature's blade and bone were blurs of death and dismemberment, each strike fueled by such power. He started forward, but a hand held him back.

"He taunts you, 55118," his sister hissed. A series of vines had grown up around her arms as life Mana surged underfoot. "Do not be tricked!"

"They are killing our troops!" 55118 roared, and the Mana beneath the earth responded. "I'll end this now!"

The Arcid's hate flared, and he shook off the restraining hand of his peer. 55118 ran at Felix, his feet pounding the earth so much that it began to heave beneath him. He shouted to his troops, his voice a deep, resonating cry. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

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