AA. 191

“Shawn, take Zora toward the beacon,” Nil instructed as he sped through the dead city. He resisted climbing to the rooftops where movement would be easier and speedier. It would make it easier for the pursuers to spot and follow. “We’ll try to lead them away.”

“They might just ignore you and follow us,” Shawn replied, speeding just above the crumbling buildings. His white clothes and matching barrier made him stand out against the rapidly darkening sky—bioluminescent moss covering sections of the crumbling buildings, adding to the light that highlighted him and Zora. “Why not just take them out now?”

“Because the gate is still near, and more teams might come out while we’re fighting,” Zora said. Her breathing sounded heavy. The last spell had taken a lot out of her. “Then we’ll end up in an endless combat loop. Nil’s right. It's best if he and Selia lead them away.”

“And if they just follow you, we pick off their backline,” Selia stated. “It’s a win-win.”

“Just don’t take on a whole team alone again,” Zora requested. “Please.”

“Got it, boss,” Nil replied.

“If you don’t quit the boss nonsense, I’ll trap you in a frost array and keep you there until your bits freeze off.”

“Got it, boss.” Selia echoed Nil’s words, chuckling.

The couple found the path the enemy would most likely take during their pursuit. Nil kept watch while Selia set up a barricade. She ran up and down in straight lines, crisscrossing Sunmetal Chains. She had energy to spare, and they were halfway to completing the next gate’s requirements. 

Selia phased to a safe spot afterward. Meanwhile, Nil deactivated all abilities except for Absorb. According to his companions, their magical and energy senses picked up faint signatures whenever he used Expend and Toggled Supercharging, but nothing when he was in his defensive mode. Selia’s echolocation detected a person, but apparently, he seemed no different from a civilian, if not scenery.

The speeding enemy scout skidded into the chains and warned the others. They skidded to a halt just before it. The sunmetal didn’t seem to bother them, suggesting they weren’t of the Scourge. Nil didn’t wait for them to figure out their next step. He switched to Expend and manifested a Chaos Sphere. Instead of diving into the enemy backline, he took out several support beams, triggering a violent cascade of rubble. 

The pursuing team had no choice but to scatter. No one noticed one of their members getting pulled into a wall. Selia didn’t leave the man to suffocate, but he was trapped as stone walls and pillars collapsed on and around him. Meanwhile, Nil moved along the walls and roofs, staying just ahead of a duo that fled together. He continued to destroy support structures and cut down walls, using blades and blasts since stealth was no longer necessary. Rubble rained from above, cutting off all escape routes and trapping them.

One got their leg caught and left behind. Nil descended on the other and destroyed limbs without hesitation. He surrendered and used the tattoo to flee. Meatball had the trapped woman do the same without Nil’s instruction. 

“I’m sorry,” Selia said through the communication badge. “I lost their fourth.”

“Did you try to take out another team alone?” Zora demanded, sounding frustrated.

“No. Things just worked out in our favor.” Nil petted Meatball and offered her a fruit cube. The drakeling rejected it. She pulled out half a hand from inside her carapace and snacked on it, chirping happily. Nil was disgusted, doubly so by the dripping sludge and mottled grey hide, but didn’t let it show. “The chains and collapse split them up. Meatball and I took out two.”

“Another got caught in the collapse,” Selia added. “I don’t know if she died or surrendered, but I no longer sense her.”

“Really?” Shawn sounded amused. “They got this far, and collapsing buildings took them out?”

“Not everyone has excellent horizontal and vertical movement like the three of you,” Zora grumbled. “Good job, though. See if you can find the final. If not, head toward the beacon.  We’re closing in on an assimilator and plan to initiate. Don’t start any big fights until we say so.”

“Got it—”

“Don’t you dare call me boss!”

The couple laughed, and Nil was sure he heard Shawn snort before the badges went silent again. They checked a hundred-meter diameter around the collapse site but found no trace of her. He was ready to give up and start toward the beacon when a familiar mental tug beckoned him. It was an empathic pull.

“I  think Meatball has picked up a scent,” Nil said. 

Energy Instinct detected Quicksilver Burst’s activation. He followed. The collapsed roads and walls kept him from using Anti-Friction Lattice. He had to rely on Expend and supercharged speed. A stronger mental tug urged him to go faster. Their communication had improved by leaps and bounds since the ascension to drakeling.

Nil stayed high and saw another team enter through the gate. They scattered around it and hunkered down. Seconds later, another followed and was immediately subject to attack. Then, a third followed and also attacked the second group. He sensed strong Cursed Energy signatures.

“Two Scourge teams are ganging up on some mooks, or it's the other way around,” Nil told his companions. “We probably won’t get—” A scream interrupted him. “Meatball found our target!”

Selia beat him to their mark. Nil caught up just in time to hear the lone Summoned negotiating a team-up. None of them wanted to risk it with an unknown. There was always the risk of bumping into another group from their world and getting betrayed. In the end, the woman surrendered. 

Team Forge has scored 1 point and needs 2 more to make it through the gate.

Seconds later, another notification followed.

Team Forge has scored 1 point and needs 1 more to make it through the gate.

“Good job everyone!” Selia exclaimed. “This is going brilliantly! We should start off together again in the next sector.”

“Let's take it one step at a time.” This time, it was Shawn who sounded exhausted.

“No loitering. Converge at the beacon.” Zora’s instructions were short, and her voice sounded strained. They had finished the assimilator swiftly, but Nil imagined the pair had burned far more resources than he and Selia had done with the same breed of foe in the previous sector. “We can set up an ambush there.”

“Why not pick up a point along the way?” Nil asked. “Selia and I have plenty of juice left in the tank.”

“Don’t bother unless they’re an easy and vulnerable target,” Zora replied. “We got incredibly lucky because we were the first to get here. This sector is the one that generally separates the good from the bad. I’d rather we take on something together.”

“Roger,” Nil said. “We’re on our way.”

He spared a glance at the fight around the gate. It was loud and arcane lights flashed. He couldn’t tell the details from the distance or who was winning. The arena construct had so far allowed five groups into the sector and there was no telling whether more would follow. He also did not know whether it was the only gate. 

I wonder how many got through the—

A Schema notification interrupted his thought.

All second sectors have been completed. Because of exemplary performance by most teams, fifteen have been allowed through to the third sectors. 

“We took out almost half the people eliminated in the last round,” Selia commented as they raced toward the beacon. They were close enough not to need the communication badges. “And have already eliminated one here. At this rate, there won't be many people left for the last sector or two.”

“I don't care who we encounter and take out as long as it's not Wilson's lot?”

“Are you worried about getting overpowered by Lucy or having to take out Lily?”

“Neither. I'm confident we can deal with them just fine. Lily is a good sportsman and won't be pissy about a defeat. I'm not sure how Shawn will cope with facing Ateeq and Olaf or whether he has it in him to take them on. He grew up with them. They're like brothers—” 

“No. Not like brothers. They're more than that to him, and I have the same concerns.” Selia sighed. “I just didn't want to say anything. It's best if we just deal with that when the time comes. Shawn is hopeful and optimistic about an encounter with them, but I think he's…” She trailed off, eyes focused on the luminous dot flying over the city far ahead. “Currently, we can only keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. If it comes to it, it's best if we don't kill them. Maim. Cripple. Force surrenders. I'm afraid of how Shawn will deal with anything more.”

Nil nodded. He didn't know if Selia had seen him, but he couldn't think of anything more to say. Everyone on their team had scars and issues. They were diverse and of varying rawness and delicacy. Zora hadn't shared her problems with the group, but it was clear that her life after the cataclysm was far from an easy one.

The disaster, following storms and creatures born of them, ravaged most of the land from the East of the Nile to Pakistan’s Western border. Turkey, nations south of Saudi Arabia, and everything North of Afghanistan had survived mostly unscathed. All countries bordering the region were now flourishing because of the rich material deposits caused by the cataclysm or now had to deal with the wild lands, its twisted creatures, or malicious parties trying to claim the wild lands. Apparently, the region was doing far better than countries bordering the Amazon and Central America, but that wasn’t saying much.

It felt like yesterday when the world media were hating CERN and Switzerland since they spawned the cataclysm. The Large Hadron Collider and surrounding regions were destroyed, but militaries from all bordering countries were swift enough to respond and contain the monsters that came through the dimensional tears. In the end, the parties considered responsible survived with minimal damage but provided no aid to other affected areas. 

Zora never told the team where she originated, and none of them asked. It seemed like a sensitive topic, and everyone respected her privacy. However, it was clear that she came from one of the devastated countries. The Schema recognized her grit for surviving several hardships at a young age. Zora’s power seed gave her access to a rare, powerful ability. She nourished it well, and her excellent performance in the Arena and on quests got Nexus’s attention. Before coming to live at the Forge, she had worked as the multiversal organization’s agent in and around devastated countries. Investigating and taking care of people who misused alien resources.

It made little sense to compare such things. However, Nil couldn’t help but feel that he had it easier than most. Losing Aisha and the years afterward were rough. Dealing with her visage was no walk in the park either. But the cataclysm didn’t take his family like it had for the rest of his friends. He didn’t have to navigate land taken over by warlords, survive torturous experiments, or get thrown out of the only home he had never known.

Nil liked to think he was fortunate and was thankful for the incredible life his family had given him. Even when they didn’t know everything about the Aisha-situation, they did their best to check in on him and make him feel loved whenever he visited home.

“That looks interesting,” Selia said, pointing out a structure just off their path. It radiated several small but dense energy signatures. “Might be a scuttler hive.”

“I don’t like all the Void lights around it,” Nil said. “It doesn’t feel like scuttlers. Might be the biomechanicals.”

“How about we take a closer look? We don’t have to go in if it's too dangerous.”

“Zora won’t be happy.” Nil hesitantly glanced at the beacon in the distance. Shawn still stood out in the distance and had started his descent. “Although we’re only ten minutes behind them.”

“It can’t hurt to take a couple of minutes to peek in.”

“Famous last words,” Nil mumbled. It couldn’t help but feel like they were taking the event too lightly. Their luck could change at the drop of a hat. However, a battle was still raging around the sector’s gate, and he sensed no one else. There were no other threats in the immediate vicinity either. “Fine. Let's check it out.”