Carmilla had already gotten ahead of the people who were leaving. She was in the east sector with Guardian’s Resolve active, moving through the chaos as if she had ticulously planned the entire district in her mind and was following that plan from the very beginning.
Rick could feel the exact quality of her awareness through the bond. Her awareness was clear and filtered, organizing the battlefield into sectors and managing each one effectively.
"The east route is clear," Carmilla’s voice ca through the bond, clipped and certain. "Moving to secondary evacuation point."
She used Resonant Shield three tis in a row to cover evacuation routes as she found them, with people streaming out of danger behind the barriers she put up.
Natasha had moved away from the broken ward chamber and stood at the node breach point. Glacial Fortress had been set up around the crack to slow down what was coming out of it.
Her Frost Aura reached out fifteen ters, and the corruption beasts that moved through it slowed down and broke apart, losing their sense of direction.
She was running calculations through the bond network all the ti, not quite talking but sending out the tactical logic, the numbers behind every choice, and where each person should be and why.
Occasionally, a few words erged from the surrounding noise. "Breach density is increasing! Estimate eight minutes before a secondary surge."
"Zara, shift fifteen ters west!"
Liora was only able to do targeted work because she didn’t have the resources for anything bigger. She moved through the battle area, taking out individual corruption cores before the beasts they powered could get too big to handle.
"Down to forty percent," she muttered, more to herself than anyone.
Through the bond, Rick could discern that she was closely monitoring her own resource allocation. It’s the kind of awareness that cos from knowing exactly how much you have left and spending it perfectly.
"Don’t waste it," Zara replied from sowhere in the thick of it, kindly.
"I never do."
Zara had gone directly to the worst of it, which was entirely expected and entirely correct because her natural corruption resistance at this density ant she could operate in spaces where the bloom was thickest.
Blood Price was active, and Demon Queen’s Wrath was cutting through big corruption structures with the thodical skill of soone who enjoys this kind of work in a way that she was okay with owning.
"You know," Zara said between strikes, almost conversationally, "so people find this stressful."
"Focus," Carmilla said.
"I am focused. That’s why I can talk."
Rick recognized the focused, deliberate, and in-tune Zara in a real fight.
Sylvia had started to change into a dragon and was flying around the district, using Dragon’s Presence to keep corruption beasts away from the busiest areas.
"Collapse on the north block," she called out, her voice larger and lower in her shifted form. "I’m redirecting. Give thirty seconds."
Because she was immune to fire, she could work close to the node breach without taking damage from the corruption in the area, which would have made it harder for anyone else to get there.
She was using her Dragon’s Breath with the controlled precision of soone who knows that fire in a city district has to be exact.
Zephyra had left the ward chamber, figured out what was going on, and started putting up a barrier around the node breach from the outside.
"Don’t disturb ," she said quietly, both hands already moving. "I an that literally. This requires complete concentration."
It wasn’t magic for fighting. It was structural ward suppression, a complicated and long-lasting structure that had to be built piece by piece while fighting was going on, with both hands working on the magic and full attention on the task.
"How long?" Rick asked.
"As long as it takes." A beat. "Six minutes... Maybe five if you keep the periter clean."
She wasn’t fighting what was coming out of the hole. She was sealing up what was left inside it because that was the only way to really solve the problem.
Rick worked with Bond Resonance to keep the tactical picture up to date in real ti. He moved through the district dealing with threats that only he could handle with his unique set of skills.
Sovereign’s Command stopped a corruption construct for long enough for Zara to take it apart.
"Nice timing," Zara said.
"I try."
He could get where he needed to go quickly because of his dragon wings. The fight was progressing positively, but it was neither easy nor inexpensive; however, the path ahead was clear, and the end was in sight.
Then the ground shook again, this ti even more.
Rick felt Natasha’s Glacial Fortress break through the bond before he heard it. It was like a hand pushing on his chest, a spike of effort and failure.
"Containnt is broken." Natasha’s voice was flat, which sohow worsened it. "Secondary surge inbound...! Rerouting."
The periter she had established around the node breach broke, allowing the secondary surge to swiftly and purposefully move toward the path of least resistance.
Zephyra had reached the point of minimal resistance.
"Zephyra—" Rick started.
"I know." Her voice didn’t waver. "I can’t move...!"
"If I break the frawork now, the suppression collapses. Everything I’ve built cos apart." A pause, briefer than a breath. "I’m staying."
She couldn’t move because both of her hands were in the ward frawork and she was focused. At this point, breaking out of the construction would make the whole suppression structure unstable and make the breach worse, destroying everything she had worked for.
She had calculated the risks, and she was determined to remain.
Carmilla was on the other side of the district. "I’m moving—"
"It’s too far away," Rick said.
"I can make it—"
"You can’t!"
Natasha was pulling away from the broken containnt. "Zara."
"I heard ya clear! Three constructs in the way," Zara answered, her voice tight for the first ti. "Working on it."
"Liora?"
"I have nothing left for a burst," Liora said, and the honest admission of it cut clean. "I’m sorry."
Sylvia had already started to move, but there was a building collapse between her and Zephyra’s position. "There’s debris blocking my way—a full wall section—I can’t get through."
An edge of frustration entered her voice, rare enough to be unsettling. "I need seconds I don’t have."
Rick saw it as a single, complete picture through the bond network. At the sa ti, all six resonances were transmitting information to Rick, propelling him forward before the picture had fully taken shape.
Dragon wings were activated, Draconic Sovereignty was at full power, and Spirit Unity turned on by itself because every bond in his network was providing him with energy simultaneously. He got across the district in the ti it took the surge to cover half the distance to Zephyra.
He arrived at Zephyra’s location in just a few seconds.
Without thinking, he stepped in front of her, turned his back to the surge, and extended both arms out to the sides.
"Rick—" Zephyra’s voice, for the first ti, cracked at the edges. Just. "What are you—"
"Keep working," he said.
"You’ll take the full—"
"Zephyra!" He shouted her na plainly, without drama. "Don’t worry about ! Just keep working on it!"
There was nothing to figure out. She was there, the surge was coming, and this was the only way to do it.
The corruption struck him forcefully.
Fire immunity was irrelevant because the problem was not fire-related. Draconic Sovereignty was taking so of the damage, and his HP was going down anyway.
The surge pushed, and he let it push. His feet slid back on the cobblestones centiter by centiter.
It was okay to move back, but not okay to move out of the way.
Through the bond, he heard the others. Carmilla, still pushing toward his position. Natasha was running numbers on how long he could hold.
Zara cutting through the last construct between her and here. Liora is quiet, the silence of soone who has nothing left and knows it. Sylvia clearing debris with her bare claws.
They all knew they wouldn’t make it, but they ca anyway.
He kept standing there, even though his health was getting worse.
He could hear Zephyra working behind him. He could hear the subtle sounds of focused magical construction, which were swift and precise, akin to soone finishing a task at a full sprint.
He could hear her breathing, controlled and deliberate, like soone who will not permit themselves to rush even now.
"Almost," she said quietly, to no one in particular. Or maybe to him.
The push ca from the surge. Rick’s boots made a noise on the cobblestones. He kept standing there.
Then—
Zephyra put on the last seal.
The node breach was closed, and the source stopped.
The surge started to fade away in real ti, losing strength quickly, and Rick’s backward slide stopped. The corruption was gone five seconds later.
He put his arms down. The edges of his coat were burned.
His health was at twenty-three percent. He was breathing harder than he would have preferred, and the ground where his boots had scraped left marks on the cobblestones.
He looked back.
Zephyra was standing exactly where she had been, with her hands at her sides. The ward frawork was finished and is holding.
She wore the sa flat, professional expression on her face that she always did, and although she was looking at him without speaking, for Zephyra, her silence conveyed a clear and direct ssage.
Rick asked, "Are you okay, Zephyra...?"
"Yes." Then a pause. "But... it seems like you’re not."
"I’m fine."
"Your bond aura health estimate says otherwise."
"It’s a scale that compares things."
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