“Oh, come the fuck on,” Rory groaned as from the space between spaces, monsters began to flood into the zone between their walls. “Seriously? You’ve got to be joking.”

  Dozens of six-armed monsters began pouring out from personal rifts through space, each looking as if it was ready to tear apart a semi-truck.

  Right, it’s time to pull back.

  A single examination was all he needed to tell him that these monsters weren’t playing around, not with as many of them as there were. Turning around, Rory stopped as three monsters suddenly stepped out of empty space, directly between him and his exit path.

  “Right,” Rory sighed. “Never easy,”

  Taking the first initiative, Rory shot forward, chains sweeping through the air as he brought all his fury he could bear against the monsters. The first of the monsters responded a split second too slowly, only managing to get a single arm in the way of his cutting chains and its body as the chains wrapped around the offending appendage. Planting his feet, Rory heaved with as much strength as he could muster, the serrated chains slashing and sawing through the appendage, which resisted far more than Rory expected.

  Tough bastards, like baby versions of the Architect Bane.

  The other two monsters didn’t simply watch and wait for their turn. They instantly loped toward him, their many arms acting as extra legs as they tore into the earth and propelled them toward Rory.

  The chains he’d used to ensnare the first monster were now a liability, forcing him into an awkward position. Making a split-second decision, Rory detached the chains, which took only a tiny effort of will as he sprung back and out of the way of the sweeping talon arms of the monsters.

  Unarmed, Rory was forced onto the defensive as the three ganged up on him, looking to tear into him. Individually, Rory felt confident he could have managed without much trouble. Still, together, they were a hassle that Rory couldn’t afford to waste time dealing with, lest he get caught out and separated from their walls.

  Connecting to the reservoir of power within their settlement, Rory swept his arm down as dozens of explosive knives began to rain down upon the monsters. The improved mastery of his still-developing faux combat skill meant that rather than explode instantly, the knives tore into the monsters first before exploding. Orange acid sprayed everywhere as the shower of explosive, semi-corporeal knives bombarded the monsters. Even with the improvement of his skill,’ Rory frowned. It would have drained him of everything he had within a few seconds if not for his connection to their settlement. Even with that connection, channeling that much Pneuma was taxing, forcing him to drop it a few seconds later.

  At the very least, the monsters that had been blocking his path had been badly mangled, his torn free and bodies shredded, leaving them little more than angry lumps of ugly, chitin-covered meat.

  “Perfect timing,” Rory muttered as a backward glance showed many more monsters speeding toward him. Affording only a single moment to look at his chains, or what had once been his chains, his scowl deepened. They’d been wrecked beyond usability, exposed to the explosive bombardment of his attack and the acid of the monsters.

  God damn it.

  Shaking his head, he sped off, sprinting toward the final wall that separated their camp proper from the attacking force. Solar Coils were blasting away all around the secondary wall, but they were being torn down by the second now that monsters were assaulting them from both sides. Even with the Imp Constructs valiantly defending the coils, between the original attacking horde’s remains and the space-walking monstrosity reinforcements, there were too many of them.

  Each Solar Coil ripped apart or destroyed was like a stab to his gut, days, if not weeks, of effort to make, gone instantly.

  Stupid ass ugly beetle monkey alien-wannabe pieces of shit!

  Getting his outrage in check, Rory reached their final wall shortly, dashing inside and slamming the gate closed as he saw Apostolos already within.

  “Having fun?” Apostolos grunted, his attempt at humor barely passable given the circumstances.

  “Well, can’t say I expected the new guys,” Rory said as the two quickly scaled the interior sides of their walls. “You see Eia?”

  “No, but I’m not too worried about her; she’s much more capable of scooting around sneakily than us.”

  “Ain’t wrong there,” Rory nodded in agreement. Considering the snake was shock blue against a backdrop of orange jungle, you’d think she’d be easier to notice, but the serpent was somehow a damn near pro at avoiding detection when she wanted to. Whether it was a skill or not, Rory had no way of knowing; the snake wasn’t exactly capable of explaining.

  Plus, the snake had a way into their camp that only she could use, a small hole almost like a drain that only they knew about.

  Assessing the state of the battlefield, Rory saw that of the original dozens of Bane-Molded Void Walkers, their numbers had taken a small, if not significant, hit. Around twenty of them had been slain as they had overrun the defenses of the second wall once it had been breached. Most of the original horde was dead, perhaps fifty to sixty of the Skitter Bulls that now mainly existed to serve as meat shields for the Void Walkers. Two dozen Bane-Warped Primates also remained, following the Bane-Molded Void Walkers like the flunkies of a schoolyard bully.

  The situation wasn’t bad by pure numbers. Concentrating around the much smaller perimeter of their final wall, the remaining Solar Coils built inside interior towers could cause massive damage. The issue was that Rory was confident that the Void-Walkers could scale their wall; their talon arms would allow for purchase into the wall. Powerful as the Solar Coils were, they weren’t rapid-fire siege weapons. If even a few monsters started to spill inside their camp, things could get messy fast. Even at tier-six, as both he and Apostolos were, the Void-Walkers were the equivalent of high-tier monsters; boarding on low-tier-six, they could -through sheer numbers- overwhelm the two of them.

  “What happened to your chains?” Apostolos asked, glancing at his now unadorned arms.

  “Wrecked,” Rory said with a heavy sigh. “Without any inscriptions to help protect them, enough acid and explosions did a number on them.”

  “Bow?”

  “Functional,” Rory said as he unstrapped the bow from his back, nocking an arrow. “You?”

  “You do good work,” Apostolos half smiled as he twirled his scythe. “The halberd head is a little messed up, but the rest is fine.”

  Rory took stock of what he’d said, noting the acid etching in the halberd and several cracks running through the metal, looking like spider-web veins.

  “How’s your magic against these things?”

  “Effective when channeled through the scythe, otherwise they shake that shift off pretty damn easily.”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Figured,” Rory muttered. For tier-five monsters, even augmented ones, to have not been obliterated by his explosive bombardment drawing heavily from their settlement spoke to their outright resistance to magic. “Incoming,”

  Without another word, Rory released his nocked arrow, the mounting tension in his quivering shoulder finally releasing as the arrow leaped through the air like an angry wasp, slamming through the face of one of the Void-Walkers. While they were resistant to magic, his arrows used magic only as a boosting effect to pierce defenses and not outright add to their sheer firepower.

  Only… four dozen to go?

  Apostolos was also laying into the monsters, crescent sunlight blades carving through the air as they raced toward the Void Walkers. Unlike his arrows, the sunlight blades traveled far slower, and thus, barely any Void Walkers were hurt as they dodged the attacks or had underlings sacrifice themselves instead.

  “Master, they’re kind of getting close,” Apostolos said, his words shaking nervously.

  “I can see that,” Rory growled. “Right, engaging defenses.”

  An interface appeared in front of him, and with a mental command, their walls began to shimmer and glow, a pulsating heat rising from them. Reinforcing them would make it harder for the Void Walkers to find purchase on the sides of their walls, yet there was a chance that their innate resistance to magic might allow them to pierce the walls regardless.

  The advancing army began to howl as, at last, they crossed within range of the Solar Coils. Buzzing, soon massive lashes of sunlight began to whip out, slamming down and instantly slaying monsters by handfuls, what remained of the Skitter Bulls never getting close. They’d done their job, though, drawing the attention of the Solar Coils as the small army of Void Walkers and Bane-Warped Primates slammed into their walls. The Bane-Warped Primates began scrambling over one another, trying to shimmy and crawl up their wall as they used one another as stepladders. Meanwhile, the Void Walkers began slamming their talon-arms into their wall as they ascended. Both Apostolos, Rory himself, and the Solar Coils attempted to cull the numbers as fast as they could, but with as many of the monsters as they were, given their outright strength, it was a losing battle; as soon they began to flood inside.

  “Fuck!” Rory shouted as he was forced away from the wall, dropping to the ground only to find himself circled by two Bane-Warped Primates and a Void Walker.

  Firing a quick arrow at one of the primates, Rory slapped his bow back into its leather holster. Holding his hands out, Rory quickly ‘swapped’ the image within his Mind Palace to another weapon. Drawing upon their settlement to speed up the projection, Rory instantly held a simple-looking spear. By no means was he a spearman, but a spear was historically a far easier weapon to use than nearly any other weapon. Combined with its simplicity, it was the best melee weapon he could project without spending much time on it.

  Sweeping his spear forward, Rory didn’t bother with any quipping remarks as he engaged the monsters flooding into their camp. All sense of order had been lost, and now it was simply a brutal fight to the end.

  Either we win or there are no second chances.

  Twirling, Rory lashed out with the spear, striking through the chest of the second primate before dancing back out of the way as the six-armed Void Walker attempted to bear hug him with its terrifying embrace. His thoughts split into two threads: one focused on tracking its arms as the other focused on his own movements, tracking and retaliating with skill typically beyond him. Facing a tier-six human, backed with doubled mental activity, the Void Walker was soon on the back foot, quite literally, as Rory dropped low, swept his leg out, and sent the monster stumbling as the weight of its many arms made it top-heavy. Never relenting, his spear struck out once more, striking directly through its jugular, lodging itself firmly, and exploding as Rory dodged out of the way, a new spear already reforming within his grasp.

  Without a second to catch his breath, more challengers appeared. Three Void Walkers hurled themselves at him like living projectiles, looking to bury him under their weight. Rearing back like an Olympic javelin thrower, Rory snapped his spear forward as it raced through the air, struck through the chest of one of the monsters, and exploded like his first spear had, killing the Void Walker and the next closest one instantly. The third one was tossed aside, slamming into the stream of monsters pouring down their wall and into their camp.

  We’re being overrun… Is it time to bust out Big Berta?

  No, such a thing would be folly. And more than that…. Rory didn’t want to. As bad as the flood of monsters was, these weren’t some undefinable high-tier monsters; they were artificially empowered tier-five monsters.

  That didn’t change the fact that they were on the back foot. What remained of the Void Walkers, around two and a half dozen, were seconds from freely spilling into their camp and overwhelming them from every direction.

  Mind racing for an answer for a situation that seemed unsalvageable, Rory’s eyes flinted toward where he knew Apostolos was also doing battle, six of the Void Walkers attempting to rip him apart.

  Wait… that might be it!

  “Apostolos!” Rory shouted, knowing the younger man had to have heard him. “Catch!”

  Sweeping a third spear toward his group of eight Void Walkers, they were forced back as the spear detonated. Taking the split-second reprieve, Rory lifted both hands overhead, an image fixed in his mind as he poured Pneuma into the image, more Pneuma than anything before. It would have been impossible without the Trial of Space and his furthered understanding of space, Pneuma, and projection concepts.

  Above his hands, a star bloomed into existence. He’d spent more time working on the Stellar Forge than nearly any other project, musing and contemplating the intricacies of stars and whatnot. Projecting a star, therefore, wasn’t a question of whether it was possible but of whether it was sustainable.

  Rory felt the sudden drop in their pneuma reserves, half of it gone in an instant with as inefficient as his projection still was.

  But that didn’t change that; nonetheless, a star was born.

  Barely contained by his force of will, Rory felt another attempt to wrestle control of the star. Rather than fight it, Rory readily relinquished control, cracking a wide grin.

  Y’all bout to die, mother fuckers!

  Apostolos was better at using magic than he was and was especially adept at using Solar magic. Giving him an entire sun was like handing a master sharpshooter a high-powered rifle with every possible accessory. The whole camp felt like the temperature had increased by a hundred degrees instantly; Rory felt like he was melting under the heat.

  Shit that burns!

  If it was bad for Rory, it was hell for the Void Walkers. The scorching light seemed to burn at their very existence as creatures attuned to the void, which was banished by angered sunlight.

  “Sun’s Remonstrance.”

  Did he just say his attack out lo- of fuck!

  Shrinking in as much as he could within his armor, Rory raised his hands as he attempted to shield himself from the sudden blinding light as the star overhead exploded with power, a radiating light of judgment washing over everything. While not the target of the attack, just being in its presence felt as if it were burning Rory alive. Frantic, Rory channeled his lattice affinity, a flimsy barrier of hardened Pneuma shielding him from the worst of the attack. Seconds passed before, at last, the light seemed to fade. Had it not been for the clear-sight effect of Eyes of the Architect, Rory was confident he would have been blinded for days.

  Slowly standing tall, Rory looked around the camp. Several of their ‘buildings’ reminded Rory of a marshmallow that had been left to cook for too long, but luckily, nothing was outright on fire or burnt to the ground.

  The same couldn’t be said for the invading monsters. Within the camp, there was no trace of them save for shadows burnt into the ground.

  “Hot damn,” Rory whistled -or tried to whistle- his throat far too parched.

  “Ack,” Apostolos coughed, dropping to the ground in a slumped posture. “Too much. I feel like my veins are filled with fire.”

  “You going to die?”

  “Nah,” Apostolos shook his head, wincing. “Just hurts like hell. Couldn’t you give me a better warning? I mean, really? ‘Catch?’”

  “Figured you’d manage. Besides, we were moments from being overrun.”

  “I had them,” Apostolos grunted. “Really.”

  “Uh-huh, sure,” Rory said, rolling his eyes. While he had no doubt Apostolos would have taken quite a few out before he’d been disabled, all that meant was that Rory would be left to kill every last monster on his own, and if he failed, then once Apostolos respawned, he’d be without any remaining lives. Perhaps they could have pulled it off. But, when an opportunity presented itself, Rory knew to take it.

  “That aside,” Apostolos said, squinting. “How’d you make an entire damn sun appear?”

  “Figured out how to better project images, combined with my takeaways from the Trial of Space, and lastly sprinkled in, err, half of the settlements energy reserve, and presto, a projected, non-skill reliant sun.”

  “Did you say half of the settlement’s reserve?”

  “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” Rory said with a snort. “Anyway, all that matters is-”

  Rory felt it a moment later, like the world had frozen for a split second, a feeling he’d felt once before. But this time, both he and Apostolos were ready. There was no time for a spear; two knives appeared in his hands as he struck outward, parrying a sudden blow as a black meteorite crashed down within their camp, Apostolos springing out of the way of a lashing tail even pained as he was.

  “Been a while, asshole,” Rory snarled, the scar beneath his eye stinging.

  The Architect’s Bane had returned.

  and his scythe that makes using Solar magic easier.