Bryan embedded the bottom of his oversized tower shield into the ashen ground and braced his shoulder against the inside, digging his toes even deeper through the debris as he anticipated an impact. The symbolic shield of his Secutor class was marked with creases from where Coop had crushed it in the past, but through diligent repairs and later upgrades, the armament was stronger than ever.

Just as the wielder had grown, gaining levels and experience, so had his equipment. At the peak of his evolution, the forces of mana had yet to breach his defenses, in spite of their constant escalation of power. They were strong, but he was sturdier.

That didn’t mean his job was easy. In fact, it was the opposite. The demons pushed him further and further beyond his comfort zone, every collision worse than the last, but a moment of weakness could be fatal.

His voice rumbled through his teeth as a fireball exploded on the outside of the shield, engulfing both sides of his body in hellfire flames as they wrapped around the edges, but he successfully protected all those who stood behind him. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that the fires would hurt, but he had to withstand it for the sake of holding the line for his friends and allies. He was the lynchpin keeping one small section from falling apart.

Above him, ten thousand other projectiles flew toward the center of the city in a constant barrage, but for each arcing flame and bleeding stone missile a different counterattack appeared. Hellfire bursts lit the shrouded sky, illuminating the voluminous haze as enemy projectiles were pierced by bolts of golden energy, extinguished by spears of ice, and sapped by walls of verdant leaves that withered on contact and rained on the soldiers below.

The walls that had once protected the airport were long gone, replaced by living barriers as people like Bryan put their bodies on the line to protect the more fragile casters from the direct assault of the demons. There was an unusual unity in their efforts that had been wrought through desperation. That’s why he didn’t flinch as the flames burned him.

A splash of infused water doused his burning skin as one of the nearby mages provided their support just seconds after he was hit. As he sighed with relief, steam rising from his arms, Eleza lunged forward and used her purple fist to crush the painted Demonic caster that was targeting him, preventing further blazes.

The former prison warden had become Empress City’s Warmaiden. Her appearance meant that they would be able to make a small push and regain some ground. Bryan dug deep into his well of stamina to follow her lead, knowing some of his long time companions were at his back.

She dashed to the side, an absolute frenzy of violence, completely lacking the self-preservation inherent in most living beings. She made up for it with a superior constitution that only the most powerful representatives of Empress City could match. A thousand levels separated the formerly contracted alien from Bryan, but even she would struggle against many of the demons.

Eleza was all over the place, establishing an outsized presence as she did her best to support all sides of Empress City. She received the support of thousands of humans, offering buffs and heals whenever she was in their range, transforming her into an absolute juggernaut. Bryan followed as she drove forward, making sure that any ground she reclaimed wasn’t immediately lost in her absence.

He shouted an incoherent curse as he forced the next collision, the exhalation of air preventing his lungs from collapsing. A demonic hound smashed into his shield with its shoulder. When the metal tower didn’t fall, the monster shifted into attempting to break through the solid shield with its raised claw, rearing onto its back legs like a twisted mustang.

Bryan didn’t need to be the one to counter attack, pushing forward again as if he was drawn to the monster like a magnet. Dozens of other melee fighters followed his lead, behaving like a wave as he waded forward through the flames and smoke. He staggered the enemy with his tank-like posture, then his allies pounced with swords and spears as he stepped past its toppled body, gaining another few feet of ash covered land with the small price of bruises and sweat.

It might have been the hundredth time he reclaimed the same patch of ground, but every time they took it back it felt like a declaration that they wouldn’t be overwhelmed just yet. The ash was a tiny bit thicker and the brief flurries of sand transformed the land into an unfamiliar environment, but the earth wouldn’t change. He couldn’t help but yell taunts at the demons as others did the same, caught up in the hard-won momentum.

Up ahead, Bryan could barely make out the golden dome that represented the vanguard of their northern flank as it took control over the crimson haze. They were the few who had still been unbowed by the demonic surges. Even after so much time, they proved that humans could rise up against the forces of mana without surrendering any ground.

Shane Peters supported his party with such fervor that they frequently ended up surrounded by monsters while the rest of Empress City’s defenses struggled to maintain the line and inched backwards. The powerhouse group from Ghost Reef were hunting the behemoths that escorted the lesser minions of mana from the north, making sure that people like Bryan didn’t have to stand toe to toe with Region Boss ranked enemies.

In this instance, Eleza was reconnecting the pinnacle party with the rest of the defenders. Bryan hoped he would be the first to enter the massive domain of the battlefield commander, already anticipating the passive aid within the golden bubble.

The last subordinate shard of Ghost Reef had been fully surrounded. With the retreat of Neptune’s Bridge, they were focused on holding the northern paths open for Gibson and the others, but it had been more than a month with no word from any of their soldiers. At this point, they were most likely dead somewhere in the Everglades, but they had held off the mass of demons that would surely wipe Empress City off the face of the Earth for such a long time that they would almost certainly live on as legends, assuming any humans lived to the end. In the meantime, smaller armies of demons approached the airport settlement from all sides, escalating the conflict with every minute that they remained.

If Bryan was honest with himself, he would recognize that Empress City stood no chance either. Prolonged exposure to the corrupting energy of the Eradication Protocol was something they really couldn’t fight forever and it was only a matter of time before they were unable to retake any ground. As their shard’s territory was reduced, their hope went with it. The fiery demons would suffocate them even if they couldn’t sink their claws into their flesh in the end.

But there was no need to think that far ahead. They would struggle against the demons until the end of times, or at least until the Icons of Mana arrived and intensified the corrosion.

He used the bottom edge of his heavy shield to pin one of the demon dogs that spouted fire spears so that one of his allies could finish it off, claiming its head with an extended lance. Bryan was satisfied that the human defenders weren’t being rendered helpless just yet. It didn’t matter if he would lose in a duel against any one of the enemies because he wasn’t fighting alone.

At the rate that the demons were empowering themselves, Empress City would stand for some time longer, but certainly not forever. The vanguard parties at each cardinal direction stood as strong as ever, unfazed by the escalation, but the problems the defenders had to address were two-fold. The first was the recent approach of the golden dragon type of the forces of mana. The second was the loss of their path of retreat, meaning they had been cornered.

Two variants of the forces of mana were combining to overcome Empress City, but the humans were still holding on, battling in growing clouds of golden sands coming from the east and south and the constant storm of burning embers throughout. Bryan couldn’t imagine any hell that was worse.

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The shard’s territory had fallen all the way back to their inner wall, and they were losing secure territory with every clash. Eventually demons and dragons both approached the airport settlement from all sides, reducing their territory until it was a small bubble cut off from the rest of the world.

It was a sobering feeling to recognize they were fighting over inches of ground that had been the runways representing the middle of their developed territory during the assimilation. The settlement had been diminished by so much to be practically unrecognizable. Still, they treated it like the most valuable place on the planet. If they lost much more ground they would be bottled up with no room to match the flow of battle at all.

The Empress City Port was completely overtaken by enemies, as was all the land outside of a shrinking pocket of Lighthouse territory. Supposedly Ghost Reef was planning something to help break the siege, but Bryan suspected that it was too late for them to do anything but fight and stall the enemies for as long as possible. It was a situation that likely mirrored what Gibson had gone through when they tried to cross the Everglades on foot. Once they were surrounded it was too difficult to recover.

At this point they were simply delaying the inevitable conquest of the Eradication Protocol, giving Ghost Reef a little bit more time before every enemy on the planet focused on the final stronghold. Every minute they withstood the enemy was another minute that humanity survived.

It was like the forces of mana were forcing a shift in human priorities, stamping out any lingering self-preservation in favor of planet-wide cooperation. They were all linked together, no matter where they currently found themselves. Even Bryan wasn’t upset with the possibility of death, instead focused on the small contributions he could make to the greater good.

The rumors that Ghost Reef was already in a similar situation to Empress City, besieged by multiple armies, would have been devastating under normal circumstances, but he trusted them to hold, knowing that the whole world was concentrated on the core of the Lighthouse territory. If the two main armies of the demons and dragons were stuck fighting in Empress City, that was actually good news over all. He hoped they could keep them bogged down for a meaningful amount of time.

Bryan rushed forward another few steps, bouncing off a golem that was far stronger than he was, but transferring his momentum so that he crashed his shield into the ankle of one of the largest demons while the casters following behind him took care of the rock monstrosity staggered by their collision. The larger demon was wielding an axe and had already grown to the size of a Siege Boss. The monster looked down at Bryan, lifting its clawed foot as if it would stomp him into the ground, an insignificant bug not worthy of its weapon, but as its focus was drawn to the tank, the ranged attackers went for its head, sending spears and arrows toward its glowing eyes.

The massive demon stumbled backwards as its one-legged balance was thrown off, only to be undercut by the tank of Shane’s party, the Dragon Knight that Bryan looked up to the most. She leapt into the air and smashed her flaming shield into the back of the monster’s twisting knee, then vanished in a burst of purple butterfly manifestations, shifting to the side with a flash generated from their other party member transferring the real warrior with a clone to make sure she wasn’t crushed.

The enormous axe-wielding boss shook the region with its fall, crushing swathes of smaller demons. Before it could struggle back to its feet, melee fighters collected water barriers and dove past the tanks and into combat, climbing the massive demon like ants intent on stinging its entire surface. Bryan ignored the action to get Shane’s attention.

“Shane! Their calling to fall back!” He shouted to the channeler and field commander. “We’re being squeezed on the east and west! The whole territory is warped!”

Shane glanced over, acknowledging that he heard, and clearly recognizing that the territory of Empress City had shrunk even further away from where they held ground. Pretty soon, they would all be corralled into the airport and there would be no more flanks at all.

Shane took a moment before his party also shifted backwards, drawing closer to the perimeter with every step. Fireballs were caught in the golden dome, spinning like heated marbles caught on ice before the flames died down and the stone centers disintegrated.

The channeled buff zones he created were already more effective than the passive protection of the civilization shard, so having Shane closer to the center would help even those who were out of combat, but it also meant conceding the outer territory that they might never get back. It also meant admitting that the defenders assigned to Neptune’s Bridge weren’t coming.

A roar caught their attention, stalling their retreat as it was one that they knew belonged to the draconic Icon, Inevitable Conclusion. Thankfully, it wasn’t upon them yet, but it did mean that they were already contending with the primary force of the dragons rather than just the forward hordes.

The following surge of lizards came as a mild surprise. They slithered forward like they were surfing on a wave of sand that swallowed the ashen ground. Bryan leaned into his tower shield and blocked what he could, but the sands moved like liquid, burying his feet where they had been planted behind his defense.

As a dune formed without care for his efforts, covering him up to his knees, he tried to climb on top, but his attempt was delayed when a draconic centaur charged forward and tried to impale him with a scaled spear. The beast was twice as tall as his shield, galloping on four legs while still having two arms. All around him other lizards rushed with the sands and crashed into his allies.

Bryan let go of his shield, preventing it from becoming an anchor that sank him to his death, learning from the time it almost dragged him into the abyss and he had to be rescued by the Champion of Ghost Reef. He flopped to the ground, barely contorting himself out of the way as a second killing attack knifed into the sand.

He had only survived this long because of the team tactics incorporated by all the defenders, but as he scrambled to live for another second he caught glimpses of the chaos all around him. The lizards made a massive push as their domain came to dominate the no man’s land in front of the Lighthouse territory. Golden sands hovered above the ground, transforming the landscape yet again, making it seem like a frozen sandstorm would settle on Empress City.

The lizards bounded deep into the backlines that Bryan had spent so many days protecting. Everyone did what they could to hold off the charge, but he wasn’t the only one struggling in that moment. He caught sight of Arthur dragging Shane back to his feet while giant hands made of bone rose from the sands to protect the channeler. Eleza held the jaws of an oversized lizard open as it tried to snap on her head and his Flame Knight friend Javi shouted instructions to those around Bryan from the rear, desperately trying to rally them before the entire formation collapsed.

Bryan used his elbows to slide backwards, finally freeing his legs from the sand, but the draconic centaur stomped on his chest with a clawed foot, making him regret abandoning his shield. Luckily, the sand gave way before his ribs broke, burying his torso in the fine grains, but as he looked up with wide eyes, he stared at the end of a sharpened spear.

Then, a second wave of reptiles dove into the fray, at first making a stir off to his left, approaching from the western flank that was almost exactly perpendicular with the actual battle lines. A mossy green blur leapt over the centaur from the side and a flash of bright blue severed the head of the monster a second before it ended Byran’s life. Golden blood sprayed across his face as he scrambled forward to collect his shield, ignoring the gore.

As he climbed back to his feet he found himself in the middle of absolute chaos. Empress City’s defenders fought with the golems, imps, hellhounds, and demons that they had held to a stalemate. Golden dragons poured into the gaps and nearly turned the tide in the favor of the forces of mana. Grains of sand mixed with the floating embers and red haze of the atmosphere while blood and debris flew between arrows, javelins, and elemental attacks.

At the same time, countering the push of dragons, thousands of alligators of all sizes galloped into the battle, a few even carrying human riders that were covered in mud and sweat. Their grim expressions told the whole story of the nightmare they had fought through, but Bryan couldn’t have been happier to see them. Reinforcements had come from an unexpected place, timed exactly when they needed them most. Byran and all those around him couldn’t help but shout and cheer as SUV sized alligators tore through the reptilian aliens who had moments before been on the verge of ending them all.

In a short few minutes the momentum of the battle for Empress City swung from one side to the other four different times so that it felt like he would get whiplash. Bryan retrieved his weapon and charged into the nearest conflict, rescuing a random water mage as a golem sought to crush her, building on the sudden surge of momentum created by an albino alligator guiding so many other species into war. When another centaur sidestepped his shield, it suddenly froze, its eyes turning purple as it was mesmerized by an orange snake. Bryan killed the centaur himself, having a rare opportunity to go on the offensive without sacrificing his defense.

It seemed like Gibson and the others from Neptune’s Bridge had liberated the alligators of Placid Lake, though they were among the first groups to have lost contact with the rest of the Lighthouse. The proximity of a chasm connecting to the Underlayer meant that the forces of mana had grown quickly near the base of the Swamp Lord, but it seemed like the outpost hadn’t been destroyed after all. Empress City would survive for a bit longer with their help.