Unchosen Champion

Aliens had truly invaded Earth. Before the Eradication Protocol, the system had kept things relatively tame, almost deceptively so. Rather than an invasion, the assimilation really felt like a contest for external factions to exert their influence on neutral ground.

Humans were irrelevant initiates who were jockeying for some minor recognition among the diverse factions within the galactic community. They were caught in the middle of forces they didn't understand and were barely afforded a moment's consideration beyond what resources they might represent as potential Chosen. The assimilation, with all of its various sponsorships, was really just planting the seeds that would turn any surviving humans into tenants on their own planet.

Human society effectively collapsed beneath one that spanned the galaxy. They would lose their autonomy by aligning with various factions, but it was all most people could do to survive. Even Coop recruited aliens to help in the fight against other aliens while contending with humans representing still more aliens. Every choice within the framework of the assimilation was proof that they had already been overrun.

However, the real star of the assimilation was the technology that had empowered the aliens to be introduced to Earth in the first place. Mana was a silent, all-encompassing force that enabled virtually everything that went on in the galactic community. All that made the system and connected the galaxy had relied on its existence. It was more than everywhere; it was the foundation of everything that threatened Earth.

The activation of mana rendered practically all human technology useless, going as far as to cause even the most basic infrastructure to deteriorate and collapse with its passive existence. The energy in all matter was reforming according to the rules of mana, seeking an equilibrium that was incompatible with their previous implementation of material. Without consideration of its presence, they couldn't even keep their walls. It was obvious why Coop and everyone else would have been distracted by the introduction of such pure magical power.

By Earth standards, humans were actually rather slow to adapt to the new mana-controlled environment. Despite humans annihilating the expectations of the galactic community in terms of flexibility and progression, the distractions created by the introduction of mana, the system, the planetary sponsor, and so many different factions made it almost impossible to properly adjust, even on an individual basis.

To keep large groups together required sheer force of will, incredible foresight and mediation skills, astonishing discipline and organization, or previously unheard of unity and trust that could only be built over time. Between the Pacific Republic, the Grand Horde, Neon Park, the European Emergency Community, the Assembly of Settlements in Africa, and Ghost Reef, there were plenty of examples of new institutions rising from the ashes while relying on one or more of those traits rather than alien authorities.

Otherwise, it was easy to see the appeal of fitting into the already proven framework of a galactic faction like the Endless Empire, the Abundant Grasp, or the Knights of Time and climbing their ranks. Those who adapted to the assimilation proved themselves to be formidable on a galactic scale, but having recognizable authorities collapse in favor of alien factions was a crippling blow that sowed general chaos across the world. The vast majority of people ended up fighting among themselves for fragments of the stability they once had, surrendering to the manufactured competition. The invasion was fully underway.

Outside powers worked to reorganize the affiliations of Earth, but in general, humans were still focused on recovering what had separated them from the rest of animal life. It was intelligence and tools that had allowed them to climb to the top of Earth's hierarchy, but both were shaken up by the assimilation. Technology was rendered useless and knowledge as fundamental as physics was called into question by the power of mana. The system of civilization shards and the galactic community provided some semblance of normality, hinting at a recognizable structure of rules for them to cling to.

On the other hand, animals were far more in-tune and reliant on their primal instincts, honed through millennia of competition for resources. They reacted differently than humans from the get go. To them, the awakening of mana was a natural disaster. Much fewer died when the old world rules were thrown to the wind, better able to gauge the dangers of mortal combat and their individual capabilities while they reassessed the changing environments, undistracted by a shifting base of knowledge. They didn't battle in the human sense. They endured. Unlike humans, they weren't necessarily used to being in control of their environments in the first place, so they didn't fight to maintain a needless sense of order.

Coop had personally witnessed the outcomes of those few animals that had adopted mana, whether they were Chosen or awakened on their own. While he climbed the leaderboards so that he could reliably defend Ghost Reef, he had constantly been reminded of the proficiencies found in other species. They never failed to surprise him with their progress, often exceeding his own in one arena or another, no matter how much power he gathered.

It wasn't like he had been blind to the proficiency of his animal companions. Jett had been by his side since the beginning, and she had always been an absolute force among those occupying the island. But also, every time he ventured beyond the walls of the fort, he found other creatures thriving.

On the dunes immediately outside of his settlement, he watched as the family of burrowing owls acclimated to a world of mana. Beneath the courtyard there was the oversized bat guiding a whole colony of others through subterranean training and nocturnal hunts such that Field Bosses failed to form on the island chain even where Coop wasn't grinding. On the second island of the Ghost Reef chain there was the giant swimming pig engaging with invaders far more powerful than Coop could handle at the time, shielding its unchosen brethren from the changing reality until they were ready.

In Empress City he found Sunny, and the retriever united with Jett to produce one of the first spell combinations anyone had ever seen during the Siege Event, but there was also the alligator that came to occupy the golf course and the raccoon that had made itself comfortable within the airport, hidden inside the core of human territory. There were countless examples.

Every adventure he had gone on, there were animals establishing themselves. Whether it was to the oil rig where the giant crab had nearly sunken their ship, through the Everglades where dozens of reptilian species were successfully conquering territory over both humans and aliens, or in Belize where endless examples of animal survivors were flourishing in their own secured pockets while humans fought amongst themselves. Through sheer luck, unique adaptations, or specific behavioral traits, life was finding ways to endure the initial incursion that was the assimilation, often more effectively than humans themselves.

But next was the Eradication Protocol. It was the true apocalypse, reserved only for the species deemed unworthy of joining the galactic community, their very existence a threat to the system-regulated walled garden it represented. Though the primary objective was to wipe out humanity, all that had been tainted by the branded species had to be eliminated for the sake of control. In the eyes of the system, all those that had awakened to the reality of mana were spoiled by their proximity to humans. Earth had to be cleansed.

So what was the Eradication Protocol to the animal kingdom that had excelled during the assimilation? It was just another natural disaster. They hunkered down among their unempowered and untargeted kin, fighting the sickness that was the corruption of their mana while surrounded by those they had protected during the assimilation. Like humans, the wildlife of Earth also exceeded expectations, successfully resisting the corruption through the instincts that had been sharpened through generations of fierce survivors. The idea of surrender had never been taught to them, so they resisted, always fighting for an opportunity to live.

Humans may have been designated the principal species by the galactic community, but all life on Earth was equally honed by the pressures to adapt and evolve. It just so happened that the path that humans had carved for themselves was anathema to the sanctity of the galactic community, but every other species on the planet had been on just as long a journey of random optimization. The physical forces of mana were aimed toward the human strongholds, but they found more than just the Lighthouse resisting the crimson haze as they swept across the planet and erased the evidence of civilization.

As human construction failed and settlements disappeared in the crimson haze, other strongholds silently dominated in their places. In areas where animal populations had already found ways to persist, they became barriers to the grand alien conquest, physically hindering the progression of the Eradication Protocol without the need for recognition.

It wasn't some coordinated plan that had been organized by Earth, it was just the natural consequence of evolving and adapting in one interconnected biosphere. Biological competition had raised them all. Billions of monsters died in battles with wildlife abroad even after humans pulled back and hunkered down within Ghost Reef. Though it felt like humans were alone in their plight, they had countless allies in nature. Rather than Team Humanity it was always Team Earth.

Going all the way back to the first appearance of an Icon of Mana, at the end of the Siege Event, sea urchins had been key contributors toward its defeat. From the beginning to the end, animals had always been partners with humans in their resistance to the alien invasion.

When Coop's apparition empowered his allies, the scope wasn't limited to the zone immediately around his island. The animals that had survived the corrupting mana all throughout the world were also connected. The momentum of the war for planet Earth completely turned.

The first, and in Coop's opinion, most predictable strongholds were among the oceans. In the abyssal plains of the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Arctic, the Southern, and the Indian Oceans, deep-sea creatures were unmatched by human or alien rivals. The forces of mana were basically absent where extremophiles flourished, unable to establish themselves in the slightest. Anglerfish, carpet sharks, giant squid, batfish, and entire colonies of invertebrates continued their untouchable reign where incredible pressure undercut potential challenges. Food chains that relied on chemosynthesis had already honed natural instincts so that patience was rewarded and opportunities were rarely allowed to escape. Any weakened monsters were swiftly dealt with.

The assimilation of Earth always had massive dead zones, where no faction had managed any claim or made even minimal progress. The largest unconquered areas were spread across the oceans for a reason. Just like the Primal Constructs, the forces of mana were exposed by extreme environments, providing specific advantages to the natively adapted wildlife. The hurricane had already proven their limitations to the residents of Ghost Reef, but that extended all across the planet where forces of nature prevailed. So long as the awakened creatures of the deep maintained their mana against the corruption, their adaptations meant they had little else to truly contend with.

Hydrothermal vents became absolute safe zones. The combination of temperature, chemical composition, and pressure, gave them an unbreakable resistance to alien incursion. Large cephalopods established themselves as apex predators for monsters that were already crippled by the pressure, their unusual animal intelligence leading to the establishment of a fully self-sustaining counter-force in the deep. Every layer of the oceans exposed similar situations that eliminated the forces of mana from contention.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there were also primarily avian strongholds forming high in the skies, barely touched by only the absolute tallest peaks on the planet. During the assimilation, there were Primal Constructs that had some limited flight, but humans rarely fought with such variants. The Ruin Gargoyles in Neon Park were just one example of monsters ranging beyond the clouds, but the other variants were already being taken care of by high altitude birds of prey and the conditions brought about by extreme cold and thin atmosphere. From the start, aerial superiority had been established by raptors.

Coop had some hints at the surprising strength of eagles and condors in the upper Himalayas, the Andes, and even the Rockies when he traversed the globe, but there were more than just a few groups of animals that had adapted to environments beyond the tree-line. Mountain goats and snow leopards formed understandings with birds that ranged across the planet, maybe occasionally witnessing the Champion of Ghost Reef's spear as they patrolled the most extreme heights in the world. For them, the forces of mana were inadequately prepared explorers, already doomed by the altitude before they picked them off.

The angelic monsters among the forces of mana found themselves in full-scale battles with everything from albatross to hummingbirds, even directly above Ghost Reef, beyond the limit of the settlement territory and shields. Humans had observed the conquest from a perspective limited to the surface, but the seas and the skies were also engulfed in total war.

When the demons attempted to cross the peaks of the tallest mountains in the world, even their hellfires were extinguished by the natural traps created by avalanches and the sheer inaccessibility of the terrain. Though the first demonic Icon had spawned near the Himalayas, they remained unconquered for the entire Eradication Protocol. The ecosystems at extreme altitudes were too challenging for their low priority, allowing the rare animals who already occupied the territory to continue their domination of the peaks. Birds of prey had been in an arms race on Earth for their entire existence. The agility and lethality of natural jet fighters further enhanced by mana meant that their continued supremacy was a given.

As Coop broadened his horizons, the seas and the skies were just the start. Neither the Primal Constructs nor the forces of mana could fully explore the extensive cave systems created by Earth's tectonic activity. Unlike the caverns beneath Ghost Reef, which had only formed after mana had activated, ancient caves and underground environments were well established with colonies of life who persistently resisted incursion. Coop had even been exposed to a hint of such possibilities among the sinkholes in the Yucatan, but similar conditions existed in all sorts of environments across the Earth.

Places like Mammoth Cave, Jewel Cave, the Carlsbad Caverns, Optymistychna Cave, the Shuanghedong Cave Network, the Clearwater Cave System, Son Doong Cave, Sistema Huautla, and Gruta do Janelão were full of hidden survivors from the animal kingdom. Bats, cave-dwelling insects, blind fish, and burrowing mammals patiently hid among the dark, maze-like environments, protected by all sorts of hazards within their depths. Cave visitors like bears, skunks, rats, foxes, owls, swiftlets, and snakes found shelter in the darkness, avoiding the armies of enemies that formed on the surface. The Primal Constructs had become fodder for such species all across the world and when the forces of mana pushed into the darkness, they wandered into traps and were picked off one by one, unable to establish their hordes.

Mana sense was no replacement for the creatures that naturally lived in the environments. Bats, with their echolocation, had classes and builds that could disrupt the auras of weaker enemies, but they weren't as catastrophic as the toxic fungal colonies that manipulated entire amphitheaters of damp rock and darkness. Burrowing animals constructed extensive underground networks that gave them unmatched access while their enemies wandered through the labyrinthine world of the subterranean strongholds, doomed to die lost.

Unlike the sea and the skies, the underground would always hold the potential for more individual forces of mana being discovered in the future, lost as they were. The important thing was that they would never be able to amass themselves into a true threat. Like the depths of the oceans, even humans with all their technology hadn't been able to fully access the true extent of the subterranean zones across the planet and many presented their own natural dangers. Even Coop was unwilling to enter the larger underwater cave systems himself, like Anjanamba Cave and Sistema Ox Bel Ha, the combination of hazards too extreme for his taste no matter how strong he had become. He had no idea what he might fight in undiscovered abyssal caves deeper beneath the surface of the oceans, though new sea monsters were a safe bet.

In the regions where the forces of mana were capable of developing their hordes, they still weren't completely dominant. Large migratory herds formed mobile strongholds among many of Earth's plains and savannas on the surface. The sheer scale and movement of animals could challenge the swarms of enemies, head to head. In the Great Plains of Africa, wildlife continued to prevail until Coop finally conquered the Ark. Wildebeest, zebra, and buffalo matched numbers with numbers while predators applied natural instincts to flank alien pursuers and rundown straggling monsters. Stampedes of caribou, red deer, camels, and antelope continued to build momentum on other continents.

Even without people, there was active resistance all across the landmasses of Earth. Ghost Reef wasn't the only isolated island stronghold either. It was just the only one that still had humans. Remote archipelagos in all the oceans sustained animal populations that effectively resisted the aliens. In the Galapagos, tank-like tortoises waded through enemies, practically invulnerable to physical damage, then countless bird species, each uniquely built with skills that directly countered specific variants of monsters, had their pick of targets. In Svalbard, the polar bears continued as usual, unimpressed by the partially frozen aliens, and proved themselves to embody the aggression necessary to overcome invasion. In Canada, grizzly bears shared rugged coastal islands with individual hares who terrorized the forces of mana.

Other islands, like Hawaii, Tasmania, and all through the Pacific maintained their wild autonomy. While the Icons were specifically chasing down humanity, their auxiliary forces failed to cleanse countless other territories. Islands were difficult to reach, many protected by extreme weather and treacherous coastlines, and all that before considering the ocean-borne strongholds that provided them with an unconquerable buffer. Then on their interior, many had their own cave systems to further complicate alien conquest. Lava tubes and caverns became remote animal fortresses the way Ghost Reef nurtured human resistance. With the way life on Earth had developed, the forces of mana would never taste victory.

When humans pushed the forces of mana from Ghost Reef, a portion continued chasing down the forces of mana. Chief among them was Coop, of course, as he was unable to shut himself down once he felt like he was rolling forward. It was the Icon of Humanity that reached the side of most of the wildlife first, discovering the spectacles of the various living strongholds with his feet on the ground. He lended his spear to quicken the results, but the war of the worlds had already clearly tipped in the direction of the natives.

Coop bore witness to how the planet had already been resisting while he climbed the Ark. It had seemed like the Lighthouse was fighting alone, and that image had been what occupied his imagination, but the pressure they had been under was already being reduced by countless other battles. Coop repeated his global exploration, liberating natural preserves from the remnants of the forces of mana with his own hordes of phantasms or with other humans at his side.

When he first arrived in the Yucatan, he specifically targeted a circular clearing that had formed, surrounded by a perimeter of already dying parasites. The center revealed the poison dart frogs that had been contending with the forces of mana since the beginning, being empowered by verdant energy so that their protective auras expanded into the awaiting enemies and eroded them from the inside out.

Herds of thousands of deer, united by an empowered stag with lunar power bouncing across dozens of tines within its antlers greeted him in North America. They charged across the sands that had swept across the continent, pushing them aside to reveal the smothered land still hadn't been fully consumed. They blasted through the dragons that had seemingly conquered the territory, slicing waves through the golden debris, leaving a trail of sprouts as vegetation seized the chance to return. The stag's searing moonbeams evaporated the golden blood of the dragons, and when it reared up on its hind legs, the perfect image of bold leadership, its many followers were healed with its radiating power.

Packs of wolves roamed mountainous forests in the American west, outlasting the pursuit of behemoth-sized dragons while picking off the weaker enemies, and to the north an oversized moose practically ignored its reptilian attackers, its strength still unrivaled by the forces of mana after establishing itself as a higher level fighter than even Coop had been during the assimilation. Beaver fortresses the size of football stadiums had withstood the siege better than Ghost Reef, and with the verdant empowerment, all the species that had sheltered together rose up and wiped out swathes of monsters before Coop and other humans could join in on the cleanup.

All across the planet, these scenes were actively playing out as Coop arrived. African elephants were trampling demons, communicating with vast herds through low-frequency rumbles that traveled hundreds of miles. An enraged honey badger chased down a parasite Region Boss through a baobab forest, incredibly tenacious and resistant to damage such that the monster had given up on victory. The badger chewed through countless legs, one at a time, latching on with a fury that defied logic. Elsewhere, a pride of empowered lions a thousand strong, led on the hunt by a single sleek lioness prepared an ambush among tall grasses. They were completely undetectable, until the lioness smoothly rose, her ears peeking beyond the shoots. The rest of the lions stood in unison, following her lead, but they didn't move, watching in shock as a troop of baboons grew enraged at the monsters they were prepared to ambush. The primates tore the alien enemies apart in a terrifying display of violence that even left the lions in shock. There were porcupines, hyenas, and even nests of termites holding their ground against armies of monsters in their own ways as Coop extended his range.

In the Arctic tundra, musk ox formed defensive circles, presenting walls of horns and thick hides to the angels. Ranged attacks were ineffective against the dense barrier of fur and muscle, making no progress against the oxen. The freezing weather was the only offense necessary for the herd to withstand the onslaught until Coop's rebuilding navy provided support. Then, in Thailand water buffalo utilized almost the exact same strategy, only adding a touch more aggression with periodic charges to make up for the much warmer temperature.

Massive mega pods of coordinated orca hunters prevented their habitats from being overrun, patrolling vast swathes of coastline at their leisure. Individual monsters were picked off all across the bays, where masters of camouflage blended into the background before striking. Otters, walruses, shorebirds, eels, cuttlefish, and crabs continued to endure.

Even Koalas made folklore true, dropping from surviving trees while baring teeth and claws upon the forces of mana while mobs of kangaroos and emus waged wide-ranging battles that swept across Australia. Packs of dingoes behaved like the wolves and hyenas of other continents, always eyeing the forces of mana from just out of range until detecting an opportunity to pick monsters off from the flanks.

Coop discovered where the forces of mana were massacred by earthquakes, blizzards, and wildfires, but he mostly found entire ecosystems of animals holding their ground. He encountered leaf cutter ant colonies that had hollowed out Region Bosses, then piled up the lingering corpses of its minions on the edges of the battlefield as if to display them as trophies. Mosses had created golems, and carnivorous plants ambushed alien monsters, consuming them the way the enemy parasites latched onto their victims. There were trees in South America and Central Africa that had grown into mountains, their roots penetrating entire armies and siphoning their energy so that their branches could rise above the crimson haze and barely touch the sun that had remained hidden during the Eradication Protocol, blocked by the solidified planetary shield. Once the weather cleared and the shield returned to normal, they stood like world trees, flourishing with millions of blossoms to celebrate the return of the light.

After only ten years, the forces of mana were no longer a threat worth specific consideration, and it was in large part because Earth itself had resisted the transformation efforts brought by the system. The sight of massive demon corpses, unmoving, burning with thick black smoke, thousand-legged parasites with their remaining legs rigid and pointing toward the sky, piles of decaying feathers and extensive bony wings, or collapsed ship-like dragons surrounded by eroding sand was repeated in every region of the world. Each image was framed with a different species of native animal and a backdrop of a different environment.