Marcus was the last to leave the War Room. He had been a constant presence, refusing to take any breaks after his arrival back during the beginning of the Eradication Protocol. With his exit, the auditorium-like shelter was finally empty, falling into a dormancy that was only broken by the rumbling of war in the distance above and below.

One by one, all of the world’s authorities took their leave from the command post in favor of personally lending their hands to the defense of Ghost Reef. At this point, there was nothing else left to do other than physically fight. They passed the point where any amount of planning, coordination, and contingency-seeking would help them.

Over time the supportive wraiths made fewer appearances until they became completely unnecessary to the heart of the Lighthouse operations. Their roles transitioned from messengers to supply runners as the siege intensified and more hands were needed on the rigidly held front lines. Instead of adding bullet points for strategy boards, they carried ammunition, potions, and rations throughout the levels built along the central chasm, dashing between sections as each layer underwent its own siege with varying degrees of struggle.

The informational displays in the War Room had slowly gone dark after losing signal after signal until the last of the custom-crafted beacons left abroad disappeared. The only ones remaining were within the already monitored territory of Ghost Reef. They were all engaged in the various battles, whether they were shipbound or tracking individual people.

The final report indicated that 100% of the world was under control of the forces of mana. It was a crushing result that basically declared that the Lighthouse had already lost and humanity would succumb to the Eradication Protocol. The domains of the Icons of Mana had swept across the continents and had even come to dominate the surface of the oceans no matter what type of resistance humanity had designed. Despite the fact that Marcus and all the other advisors knew such dominance was essentially inevitable and had planned accordingly, seeing the actual statistics still hit hard.

After Empress City was successfully evacuated, Ghost Reef became the only place with any living human beings on Earth, but the last bastion of humanity was effectively a rounding error in the grand scheme of things. There were so many enemies, their forces physically covered the world, and now they were all converging on the tiny island in an effort to finish the job of exterminating humans. Even after watching everything unfold, Marcus couldn’t wrap his head around their fate, still refusing to believe it might actually be over so soon.

They needed to hold for something like forty thousand days, depending on how much the years had been altered with the activation of mana modifying the planet. To say they might miss the mark was an incredible understatement. Not even a thousand days had gone by and they were already in their final deployment. It was hard to stay optimistic when facing such overwhelmingly devastating results.

The Viceroy marched through the quiet corridors with a grimace on his face, quickly sealing the vault doors as he left for no real reason. If all humans died, maybe there was a small chance of leaving behind some kind of record of their heroics, though with the way the Eradication Protocol was going, there wouldn’t even be a hint of anything related to humanity. He shook his head, clinging to the vague hope that whatever small contribution he could still add to the fight might keep humanity from drowning in the corrupted mana.

After the last airlock sealed the secure facility like a vacant tomb and Marcus stepped into the tenth underground layer of Ghost Reef he was already presented with a battle between phantoms and parasites. The long-legged monsters were rushing into the park from the darkest edges, a dank fog drawing from beyond. Their reflective black skin was slick with moisture as they hunted any signs of humanity with a feverish intensity that could only be compared to insanity. The largest of the many-legged monsters simultaneously utilized both the ground and the ceiling to guide its bulk, its narrow appendages jabbing into the stone as it forced itself into the dim light. It was a boss that could have surpassed the most powerful of the Primal Constructs.

Alaric, the main guard captain of Ghost Reef, demolished the forward legs that were in reach and yanked the monster’s head to the ground so that he could stomp the life out of the massive spider-like alien. It was too big to have fit through the regular passages, having built itself up once it made it within the more open cavern. The monster had become the equivalent of a major boss, but the last minute evolution wasn’t enough to overcome the haunted armor manifestation defending the interior of the Lighthouse territory.

The legs of the deceased parasite continued twitching before fully dissipating while the guard captain leapt into further action. Alaric turned to a group of smaller enemies charging at a five-man party of phantom soldiers, spinning his chosen flail so hard it sounded like the propeller of a helicopter before it annihilated the first enemy in a splash of dark ooze and even darker fog. The party of phantoms blinked further into the darkness, seeking to plug the hole leading to the labyrinthine caverns while the more senior among them cleaned up the stragglers.

After less than five seconds outside of the secure facility, even Marcus had the opportunity to smash his glowing golden scepter into one of the simplest parasites as it sought to bury itself in his stomach and take over the mana in his body. The situation within Ghost Reef was clearly untenable.

“Greetings, Viceroy.” Alaric addressed him once he had a moment between kills. Gunk and grime covered the guard captain’s empty breastplate, having been steeped in battle for hundreds of days even in the heart of Lighthouse territory, but Alaric sounded as he always did. It was like someone was communicating through a tin can and some string from inside the oversized armor.

“Let’s go to the Citadel.” Marcus suggested, finding more conversation unnecessary. They both knew the situation.

“As you command.” Alaric agreed, turning to lead the way.

The guard captain cleared the path, absolutely annihilating the parasites that had infiltrated the underground so that Marcus merely needed to follow and occasionally destroy individuals that appeared on their flank. The enemy pressure was reduced as they moved toward the core, where phantom squads had firmer control on the territory.

The central chasm of the settlement, with its slow vortex of mana, was still completely under human control, but every other Underlayer connection on Earth was bolstering the Eradication Protocol. If they looked at the balance between mana expenditures, it was clear which side had the upper hand. It was the one that controlled 100% of the planet and had the reinforcement of the leylines in the Underlayer. Marcus scowled as he stunned another parasite, then bashed it before it recovered.

The ramp that spiraled all the way down to the bottom of the chasm was under the purview of the Grand Horde and they hadn’t disappointed yet. The Great Khan and his massive army of horsemen, archers, and shaman rotated up and down the manufactured highway in large cavalry bands, supporting the many individual levels and making sure that the underground cities only needed to concentrate on defending the outer perimeter from more organized assaults.

Unfortunately, both the demons and the parasites were finding their ways into the greater cavern systems, forming entire armies that slammed against the constructed defenses all the way to the depths of the Underlayer. The safety of the underground was only as good as the perimeter defenses on each layer. Those who retreated to Ghost Reef from everywhere else in the world weren’t allowed to simply shelter in place as the fights followed them home, but at least all of the Lighthouse resources were there to support their continued struggle. Buffs, supplies, and reinforcements couldn’t be underestimated.

The only positive result of the fights being taken underground was that the evolutions of the monsters were limited, as demonstrated by the parasites that Alaric took care of. Most of the more advanced forms relied on superior size to fully embrace the mana they wielded, but that meant the caves were too tight for them to ascertain their true potential. The defenders in the underground caverns primarily dealt with the lower forms of the creatures establishing armies in the darkness.

It was only when they fully breached the main caverns that Siege Bosses and above sprouted from the forces of mana, so a strong outer perimeter was extremely important. The natural environment beyond the defenses also lended itself to the rogue and assassin types, so there were active guerilla campaigns happening in the darkness, most notably from extremely powerful individuals like their famous lighthouse cat, Jett.

Furthermore, all four Icons had been spotted on the surface, so the challenges were relatively diminished for the many layers of Ghost Reef, not having to be concerned with the escalation wrought by the pinnacle enemies and their domains. Unfortunately, they couldn’t fully escape the corrupting energy of the Eradication Protocol, and while they fought it continued to eat through their outer perimeter.

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Roughly half of the subterranean layers had already been lost, but with every defeat, the defenses of the rest were slightly boosted by reinforcements. The way they had physically connected the settlement worked in their favor, preventing anyone from being completely isolated so long as the Grand Horde survived.

Many individual layers showed no signs of falling any time soon, perhaps even capable of representing the final resistance as the forces of mana chipped away at the rest of Ghost Reef. The Antarctic layer full of penguins was just one example that showed no signs of weakness, but there were also the layers led by Platinum and Neon, or the one protected by Tzulatacaj, Sierra, Juliana, and Mateo with the entire Jaguar Sun. Hai Yun and the Banshee, The Kitawa Sisters, the Keepers of the Mountain with their blind master, General McCallister and his army, Cho Sang-hoon and the survivors of Gangcheon, and Sila Tupua, Layla Itunu and the New Zealanders all fought with multiple cities worth of people on their side, making sure none of the layers given to them would fall easily. There were a dozen more protected by the Champions of Africa who had defended Nyiragongo, Arusha, and 30 other settlements across an entire continent with powerhouses like Imara, Sefu, Azizi, and Safiri at the forefront. Then there were a dozen more represented by the Europeans, a dozen from South America, and another dozen from survivors that had hung on from the Middle East to Vietnam and Indonesia. Ghost Reef was a full concentration of the most powerful survivors humanity had to offer.

Clinging to what they had was one thing they could still hope to do, but reclaiming the lost layers was another story. Every inch of empty space was occupied by the forces of mana once they were conquered so that counter attacks became unfeasible. It would take a whole different operation to take them back, but since the enemies were limitless, it was an unnecessary risk for humans to do anything other than defend what they still held. They focused on the advantages granted by their preparations before leaning into unnecessary heroics. The more desperate ploys were reserved for the main battle at the top.

As Marcus reached the surface, it was clear that avoiding defeat hinged on the battles that were being fought around the fort of Ghost Reef. Alaric guided Marcus through the chaos toward the citadel while the situation revealed itself.

Marcus once again smashed his mace into more enemies, this time shattering a hovering group of light orbs that infiltrated their territory along the canal while Aliric dealt with four times as many angelic threats. More flew through the air, avoiding countless projectiles in order to float into the interior. Groups of humans and phantoms helped him and the guard captain clean up the stragglers before rushing to other hotspots. Their anti-air forces were concentrated on the interior of the courtyard.

Beneath the canal bridge, the gigantic crab that had sunk an entire cruise ship was using its many seaweed tentacles to grapple with hundreds of monsters at a time. It was lifting rock golems that rushed through gaps in the walls high into the air and squeezed them until they exploded in molten fire, tossing others far into the distance, lashing its blade-like leaves at sprinting lizardmen who emerged from the water at the edges of the canal with such force their bottom halves still stood while their torsos disappeared in splashes of golden blood, and entangling winged angelic zombies who sang even as they were dragged onto the ruined cobble streets and splattered in bursts of colorful energies.

Fires burned through stone walls and even the most fortified service buildings were in various states of destruction. Arthur’s stealthed spies waited in the ruins of the courtyard buildings, finishing off the monsters that slipped into the fort and sought to flank the perimeter defenders, or supported the giant crab and others who cleared the main roads.

There were already massive gaps in the walls where the fort was unable to withstand the corruption, but they were being sealed by the contracted aliens that had committed to the Lighthouse. Balor stood in the center of one of the smaller breaches on the southwest side, gleaming in his legendary set of armor like a beacon, swinging his oversized hammer at anything that came in range while shouting for more to come.

In another gap, Desmond, the tavern keeper, flashed back and forth, extending his rapier so that its quicksilver energy extended beyond the demolished port and into the sandbars, destroying swathes of monsters with every strike. Maeve danced even further forward, flying into the sky before slamming into different locations with massive explosions of pink fire where, in the past, humans used to safely hunt Primal Kites along the coral reefs. The pair of demons provided no hospitality toward the invaders that superficially bore their name.

Even as the Admiralty disintegrated on the outside of the wall, the trebuchets kept firing. The phantoms operated the siege weapons with every intention of going down with them. The enormous projectiles they fired drew rivers of swirling mana in the crimson haze before slamming into gigantic Region Bosses that climbed from the depths in the distance, crushing them with force so that they fell back into the sea while they were still on their approach, never having the opportunity to deal more damage to the fort. The explosions of light flashed across the enemy armies, revealing the true extent of the existential threat to humanity. It stretched his imagination.

Beyond the walls, the main battles were taking place. The actual protection provided by the fortifications was almost completely negated by the corrupting mana wielded by the forces of mana, but the walls were still useful for the cannons they protected and the high ground of the ramparts. So rather than hide behind the walls, the defenders stood in front, protecting them from physical damage as much as possible.

Jones stood near the west canal opening on top of the wall, directing all the bloodstone humans in group casts that had building-sized meteors crashing into the ocean after falling through the atmosphere, obliterating the alien minions that dominated the landscape. Beneath them, Vronk and the wild pigs prevented the walls from being undercut.

Marcus lacked the sweeping abilities that would have made him useful out there, so he settled within the citadel, prepared to fight anything that made it past the countless layers of defenses around the fort along with several groups of rotating phantoms. He noted that the main gate was barely holding back clouds of angels and swarms of parasites that were sweeping across the dunes of Rock Key where Emmanuel and Madison teamed up with Ledwidge to make sure the fort wasn’t fully breached.

Marcus watched as their Brewbot slowly rolled a barrel through the debris and past smaller engagements until he reached Emmanuel. He left the barrel among a stack of others lining the main gate, turning to return to his destroyed brewery where he dug through the damage to retrieve individual supplies. Emmanuel already knew what to do with the contribution, hauling a keg over his shoulder before tossing it into the air above the waves of monsters like a shot put. Right before it crashed into the dunes it exploded in a massive gout of green fire, annihilating the nearest monsters and splashing a bubbling acid on the rest. The monsters only struggled for a few seconds before dying.

The more advanced winged forms of the angels cried out for the human sinners to join them in salvation as they melted away. Healthier versions filled the space in seconds, flexing their absolute numerical advantage as they surged toward the settlement. They had already destroyed the lighthouse where Coop lived, erasing the paths that had been maintained throughout the island chain on the way as they arrived from the sea and the parasites invaded the outer islands. When Jett returned from the underground, she would probably be mad, but for the moment they were all too busy to do anything about it.

“Alaric, please assist the defense of the main gate.” Marcus ordered, seeing the masses that approached on the only dry land path available.

“Understood.” The haunted armor confirmed, marching forward without any hesitation.

Above them, the settlement shield was barely clinging to life. Various scutes of the turtle shell flickered with visible levels of stress. It protected them from most of the lobbed projectiles, but rather than completely suppressing their energy, it leaked weaker versions through. Flames and stone trickled down like a steady rain, further weakening the remaining structures while joining the sands that snuck through the perimeter. The defense wasn’t perfectly sustainable, but for as long as it held, it would give them a better chance to fight.

To the northeast, the dragon Icon, Inevitable Conclusion waded through the ocean as if it was as shallow as a swimming pool, seeking an undefended path to Ghost Reef that it would never find as long as the defenders breathed. Admiral Kayla and the majority of the former pirates fended it off before it got too close, using their siege weapons to make the dragon veer away far off the coast. The reptilian Icon of Mana was the most patient of the enemies, repeatedly retreating and returning with all of the damage it had taken undone, fully utilizing the time that was on its side.

Marcus noted that Camila and Charlie anchored that side of the wall with Erasimus Doomthread. In particular, Charlie generated an isolated lightning storm that only seemed to grow stronger over time, regardless of her expenditure of resources. Only the grandmaster clothier’s needles seemed unaffected by her gusts of wind, piercing the hearts and brains of whichever enemy caught his eye.

Toward the south, the parasite Icon, Irrevocable Condemnation made its appearance. Like the dragon, it was probing the human defenders strategically, keeping its main body underwater while hundreds of thin legs climbed high into the sky where its joints would have been in the clouds, then the ends poked straight down with a terrifying range. It wouldn’t need to breach the fort as it could bypass the walls and spear people all the way in the center of the fort without even exposing its body if it drew any closer.

On the west side, the thousand winged, thousand armed, and thousand eyed angel Icon hovered a few miles away, glowing so brightly it made it seem like the crimson haze was nonexistent and an alien dawn was on the verge of rising. It fired rainbow beams of mana at nearby ships, lasting multiple seconds and searing the atmosphere with unfiltered energy that took minutes to fully fade away.

And finally, to the northwest, the giant demon Icon shoved itself through the sea with exaggerated steps, raising its giant arms to point at targets that spontaneously combusted in hellfire. It roared as it approached, black horns glowing from the lava in its skull-like face, and when it expanded its wings a shadow was cast that rivaled even the larger dragon’s silhouette. Of all the Icons, it was the most insistent on a direct encounter.

All four Icons were testing the humans in their own way, approaching the final stronghold at the same time. It was hard to feel any hint of confidence when such monstrosities were at their doorstep, but Marcus dug in with the rest.