World Filter

The flow of Corrupted began to trickle up from the underground, slowly at first, but as time passed their numbers steadily increased. The odd shot going off quickly turned to regular gunfire and eventually a near-constant stream of lead.

Beams from the large spotlights mounted on the wall lit up the road below to reveal the steadily growing horde.

Pushing forward they rushed the wall and quickly dropped under the onslaught of gunfire, but inch by inch they were gaining ground.

A shout went around and the night lit up with magic as Mana was charged into deadly spells. Fire, ice, wind, rocks, lightning, corrosive fog, and more rained down from the walls. Beating back the tide of Corrupted.

Those that did manage to reach the pit fell into it, unable to climb out.

Casters would then create spikes to blend the one’s down there.

Mark was taking shots with his rifle into the horde and firing off a [Force bolt] every time his Mana was full.

Altogether, with their defensive position and organized number, the fight was actually manageable.

Mark noticed a steady rotation of casters moving from the other sections. As it seemed that Jonathan had picked the single most dangerous spot on the entire wall.

He was right, the large numbers of Corrupted stemmed from the fact that they were right next to a main subway entrance.

Things were looking good until the Ghasts showed up. They came from the darkness as if summoned by the vibrant life behind the walls.

The only reason none got past was because the soldiers were expecting them. More lights went up lighting the night sky and revealing clusters of flying Corrupted.

The casualties on their side were few, but each one was a life cut short.

Right away the casters switched targets to the Ghasts trying to fly over the wall. The frontline in turn engaged any threat that tried to go for the casters.

Mark could see the appearance of the Ghasts were taking a toll on the defensive line as a whole.

Dozens of small shields went up in response as Mana users cast defensive spells on themselves.

He realized that their shields probably stopped or slowed down the fear effect too.

The Genralists and Aura users were showing the greatest signs of slowing. While the Mana users were quickly running low on Mana.

The Ghast's fear effect caused disruption in their ranks, but with nowhere to retreat the soldier collected themselves with grim determination.

A call went up from their ranks.

Mark saw clearly terrified men charge back into battle even while suffering the effects of the Ghasts. They mastered their fear and still went forward to fight falling back into formation. Although they weren't as effective the fact that they still held the line impressed Mark to no end. They had been on these walls for days and had learned to deal with the effect to some degree.

Even still, Mark wanted to even the playing field some. The Corrupted down below were starting to climb from the pit because the Ghasts were drawing too much attention. Pretty soon they would reach the top of the wall and put the frontline under even more pressure taking more lives.

Mark wanted to stop that at all costs. So shouldering his rifle he went to stand next to Sam and Boe.

Sam had surrounded herself in dozens of shards of ice each 5 inches long. Each one she fired reaped a life, detonating upon contact with the ghast, flash-freezing it in seconds. She held no shield, choosing to let her natural Mana attribute fight against the Ghasts effect.

Mark turned both of his palms to face the sky and began casting [Shape Mana] pouring Prana in too.

A dome of force began to surround Mark. Then he began expanding it to cover their whole group. Right away the fear effect faded as a pane of force continued to grow, covering a good portion of the wall.

Mark could feel the weight of the Ghast's attack pressing against his construct but this was nothing compared to what he had dealt with while on the run.

A good many people were surprised by the sudden appearance of the wall of force that took the shape of an oblong bubble.

He then used his tether to those under the dome and sent a weak [Cleansing surge] bouncing throughout the space. He could feel sixty-seven dots of light under his construct.

He didn't have the spare energy to clear that many minds all at once, but he could make their recovery time much shorter.

Right away this section of the wall started to show an immediate improvement. Volleys of attacks were released with renewed ferocity.

The pressure created by the Ghasts put Mark under strong mental strain, but it did not drain his resources as pure physical attacks would.

Jonathan had remained near the front, firing an M4 carbine that he had pulled from his inventory and what seemed like near inexhaustible ammunition. Anything that managed to get close to him was cut down with a flash of his blade.

When he saw the dome go up he grabbed control of the frontline and focused their fire down towards the climbing horde.

Sam directed the casters to refocus on the Ghasts.

Like this, they slowly started to regain their advantage.

Soldiers adjusted rapidly to accommodate their new defensive position. Making use of Mark’s dome to clear out the stacking fear effect and move back into battle.

If Mark sensed one of the men under his protection came in with life-threatening wounds he would send enough Prana to keep them alive.

Unfortunately, even with Mark working himself to the bone the injuries were quickly piling up. Injuries meant mistakes and those turned into more deadly wounds.

Mark saw plenty of medics running around stemming bleeding or dragging nearly dead allies off the wall to safety. He even saw a few use Prana before moving the wounded individuals, but it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.

Mark dropped to a sitting position.

Calling out to Sam that he would be trying something and to be ready if it went wrong.

He needed to get this right the first time or there would be problems.

Then using the experience he had gained while casting [Corruption recovery] and [Meditation] together.

He blocked out the sounds of battle and sunk into [Mediation].

He was trying to maintain [Shape Mana] while he meditated. He wavered for a moment when the mental weight hit him, but he held on as the world faded and he felt the sixty-seven souls under his construct. All were varying sizes and strengths. All were still alive and he'd make sure it stayed that way.

Prana began flowing in and like he had done the other night he sent it towards his spell.

Maintaining a connection with the running spell became much easier. He started to use his Resistance and the feedback it created as his senses. He could feel everything under his spell already, but in this state even more so.

The regen was offsetting a lot of the damage to the construct.

Time went on and with the improved focus on [Shape Mana], he started to notice the way in which the spell interacted with the outside Mana. It meant something, but he couldn’t put his finger on it yet.

As he was considering how Mana beyond his control was interacting with his own Mana, one of the two biggest points of lifeforce under his dome got near.

Pulling himself from the skill he opened his eyes and looked towards Sam just as she was about to shake him awake.

“We need to move, we’re rotating defense to give the others a chance,” Sam said.

Mark nodded and got up drawing in the construct. Clicking his tongue for Boe to come. He had noticed fewer and fewer attacks as time passed. When he looked up in the air it was almost clear of Ghasts although there were still plenty corrupted down in the roads.

As They began moving to the next section of the wall soldiers rushed to fill their places.

“The worst of the raid is done now. So we fall back to let the other squads get some exp,” she said noticing his questioning glance.

“Speaking of easy exp. Did you guys notice the sudden increase in exp gain” Jonathan said as he fell in line next to Mark.

Mark didn't get what he meant until he realized he had just shielded sixty-seven people during the raid and had probably shared his Sector reward with every kill they had made. Mark's head snapped back toward the main battlefront.

When Mark looked back, Jonathan was staring at him like he knew Mark had something to do with it.

“Not here, later if you feel like it,” Jonathan said softly.

Well, Mark appreciated him dropping it without having to even say anything.

Sam had seen the exchange between the two and chose that moment to change the subject.

“Nice shield out there by the way. I’ve never seen one that big before and it seemed to get rid of the fear too. What was it?” She asked in an excited voice.

A couple of nearby casters heard this and agreed, asking for the name of the spell and how he had gotten it.

Seeing as though they were now on a section of the wall that had sparse Corrupted near its base and only the odd Ghast, Mark didn't see a problem chatting about Magic theory. Mark went into further detail on how it worked explaining that it was a combination of his Prana and Mana. When he got to the part where he had discovered Resistance, Sam suddenly got a hungry look in her eye, asking him how he’d done it and if she could apply it to her version.

She explained the intent behind the spell [Mana Barrier], it didn't allow others into your personal space, and one could not control the shape or size of it. The upside of [Mana Barrier] was that it required no concentration once cast and would hold out for as long as it had Mana. Movement also seem to be less of a problem, he thought it was because of its self-contained nature. Altogether it was a useful spell, Mark thought he might pick it up at some point.

After some tests, they found that it did allow for the same kind of Resistance stacking. Amazingly as soon as Mark explained the concept Sam reproduced it, the others were still messing around with applying it. It probably wouldn't be useful to her in the same way as it was to Mark, but if her learning speed told him anything it was that she’d make use of it soon enough.

Jonathan had kept his eyes focused on the nearby battle the entire time. Mark just knew that if someone gave him the go-ahead he would happily jump back into battle. But Jonathan seemed to comfort himself by scratching behind Boe’s ear.

Realizing this Mark actually wondered who these two answered to other than Major Dureal.

“Hey. Question: I've noticed the difference in uniforms around here. I get what the colors mean but what does it mean to the everyday soldier?” Mark asked, trying to get a better picture.

“Well, I’ll be honest. Most respect us but do not envy us. See we get paid more and have a higher security clearance, but the downside is we take on missions that take us outside the encampment to dangerous locations. Our whole job involves going out and doing the missions that have a low rate of success.” Sam said

“So anyone can sign up?” Mark asked

“Yes and No, you have to be at least level eight and pass a couple of psych evaluations to get in, but yeah either civi or soldier can sign up. Right now we are going for quality rather than quantity we have a high enough mortality rate as it is,” she said.

Mark thought about this. That lined up with how he met them. They were clearly returning from one of these dangerous missions, having lost the rest of their squad.

“But as I’ve said already, there are things we need to do. We won't beat the system by being passive. That's why S.A.G.E was created because certain people believe if we just create these safe zones and have our soldiers protect them the Corrupted will eventually go away. More like sticking your head in the sand if you ask me,” Sam said in an annoyed tone.

There was definitely someone she had in mind.

They continued talking for a long while and every so often Mark would send off a [Force bolt] scoring a kill.

Mark was doing exactly that when Boe suddenly lifted his head from his paws growling softly.

Suddenly he jumped up and began barking like mad.

Mark had rarely seen Boe making a fuss at all, he was almost too good. Now all of a sudden he was going wild.

Mark was on his feet and battle-ready in seconds. Mana charging the air around him.

Sam, Jonathan, and the squad around Mark noticed this and tensed.

Boe had not stopped backing but now his tail began wagging like mad.

“Boe? What’s going on boy” Mark asked.

Boe turned and jumped toward Mark nipping at his ankles, pulling at the bottom of his pant leg with urgency.

Right away Mark understood.

Boe then took off at a dash, bolting along the wall.

Without hesitation, Mark ran after him shouting over his shoulder.

“I have to follow him! The last time I ignored him it ended badly!” Mark said.

Jonathan cursed.

“Mark, Wait-” Sam started, but he was already out of earshot.

An: Battlefield