Maya hopped over rubble only to immediately hop right back over. There was an explosion of flesh and bone and gore a moment later.

“What the hell was that?” Chu demanded, wiping sludge off his suit.

“Somekind of explosive critter,” Maya said. She peeked over the rubble again and saw there was nothing waddling its way to explosive demise.

“Ugh, disgusting,” Chu muttered. “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just build a bomb? Not grow one?”

“To each their own, I guess,” Maya said. “Perhaps once you get enough momentum and whatnot going, its easier to grow these bombers than it is to make them.”

Chu wiped the gore off his armor and shook his head.

“It’s clear,” Maya said into her comm. Behind her the Sow and her soldiers moved forward, the crows keeping an eye on the raised buildings while the orcs shoved aside anything in their way. They were a pretty impressed team, in Maya’s opinion. Who would have thought pigs and crows could be friends.

Anisa’s team pulled up the rear, the well honed party moving among the rubble and the debris like ghosts. Maya could only imagine what Anisa had been through. Fighting all those weeks in Lebanon and Beirut. That was one of the hardest hit places in the world, but they had managed to survive it and grow more powerful. The people in her party had been power leveled to the point where they were probably the highest leveled humans on Earth.

“Halt!” a voice cried, it was human and beyond terrified.

“Easy there, buddy,” Maya said. “We’re here to help.”

“Oh, thank god!” the trooper cried. “Get us the fuck out of here. Those three fuckers are crazy.”

“What three fuckers?” Chu asked.

“The crazy mage, pig, and crow,” the trooper replied.

“Well, lets go lend them a hand,” Maya said.

***

Whitestripe roared, his mass growing twice its already massive size as he swept his sword among the screeching Fleshies. Blood and gore exploded outward. The massive boar slogged through the dead, blows, magical strikes, and other weapons pinged off the mana shield wrapped tightly around him.

“Damn it, White. Fall back, you’re getting out of range!” Emilia screamed. Her throat was hoarse and sweat poured down her face. She knew of berserker classes in games, but she’d never thought they would exist in real life. The whole frigging point of fighting was not to get hurt. “Iron, get those idiots back!”

Emilia clung to the tesseract pack. She hugged it like a floatation device, she gripped onto it like it was her child, if she let go of it, then they’d all be dead.

The magical hits kept on coming. The entire wing of the Fleshy advance had ground to a halt around their small company of holdouts. Emilia warped the mana flows and stiffen the shield against incoming explosive meatballs. These Fleshies were really big into bio tech. Everything was made of meat and bone and channeled mana in some way.

The gorey remains sizzled on the blue dome around Emilia and the soldiers. A heavy railgun was sputtering somewhere and she could feel the thumping of bombs and explosions. Emilia dismissed them from her mind, focusing everything on the battle raging ahead of her.

Whitestripe pulled back and his soldiers managed to make it back within the defensive zone. The Fleshies were pushing hard against the shield and only due to the massive amount of power that was being sucked out of the tesseract, they were still alive.

Mana Shield Control - Level 20

A shield holds back death and destruction. A mana shields does all that and more!

Level 20 Bonus: Reflection: random attacks will be reflected back upon the attackers.

“Jesus,” she muttered, slapping the notification and then dumping the bonus into her current shield. With all the hits coming in, it was almost immediate that the new bonus was triggered.

Whole swaths of Fleshy lines were obliterated and that in turned eased up the hits against her shields.

Emilia wiped away the sweat, blood, and grit from her face. Their training in VR and the thrashing they had taken to beat the wheat from the chaff to make mages hadn’t involved anything like the fight they were in. Maya Sullivan’s goal was to make them shield mages, to toss up mana shields to keep the rest of the troops alive. They were all trained in the basics and then sent out to fight.

What the hell was that lady thinking? Throwing out green troops with no combat experience against a literal army of hungry psychopaths?

Emilia shifted the strain on the mana flows and shudders as a massive mana explosion tore agains the shield. It sputtered and sizzled, allowing a hail of missiles, projectiles, and other nasty ranged weaponry through. She grappled with the strands of mana and hammered them back together, using the massive amounts of mana from the tesseract like duct tape and a hammer.

This was not how magic was supposed to be, right? Just ham fisting mana into a shape and hoping that it would hold against the junk thrown against it? There was supposed to be a whole theory of magic, of how to use mana, and how to shape it into what you wanted.

Emilia slapped more mana to shore up the shields and felt a hand tapping her on the shoulder.

“The hell do you want?” she snarled, turning to see a helmeted face before her. The helmet shifted to show a somewhat familiar face.

“Hey there,” the woman said. “Sorry to bother you, but I think you can ease up now.”

“What?’ Emilia asked in confusion.

The woman pointed out toward the battle that had been raging before them. Instead of the hordes of Fleshies throwing themselves against the shield, they were all dead.

“How?” Emilia blinked.

“Just a little thing I like to call overwhelming firepower,” the woman said. “Also these dudes too.”

Emilia looked behind her to see they had been reinforced with scores of orcs and crows and some humans.

“Say,” the woman said. “You’re pretty good with that shield, right?”

***

“Stay in tight, boys and girls, this is gonna get pretty hot,” Maya announced over the comms.

“Operation BBQ, commencing,” Yosi replied. Her voice was a bit strained, but also calm. Maya hoped she was safe and all the load that was being dumped on her wouldn’t hurt her in any way afterward. Again, she cursed the poison that had shutdown all her abilities.

Although she could not warp and weave the Cage via her will alone; she still retained the ability to bring about change with the control panels. One change was to capture abandoned oil tankers and strip them of their cargo. Then to put said cargo into massive pressure filled tanks.

An explosive wall of fire bloomed to the right of the Fleshies’ advance. A wall of petroleum and other fuels gathered from Earth, burning at a toasty one thousand degrees celsius. The Flesh Army’s advance stalled as the edge of their forces went up in flames. Shields were popped and magics were being used to suppress the fire, but the units were being pushed away from the wall and toward the center.

“Alright, Operation Hoover,” Maya announced. “This is gonna sting. Emilia and Anisa, get ready to slap on the juice when we’re through.”

“Commencing,” Yosi replied.

They had been using the Mana Stripper 2000 to allow people to traverse the Doorways to other parts of Earth. The mana auras surrounding living beings tended to cause issues with crossing through dimensional doorways, the issue being exploding into blood and gore. With the Stripper, no mana aura, no explosion.

With the stress of needing mana in the upcoming battle, those that had been forced to leave had left behind a large amount of ambient mana. The Stripper having removed their mana auras and releasing that same mana back into the environment. With some tinkering, Maya had been able to suck up much of the mana that was being removed and store it into tesseracts and machinery they would be needing. As it was, the entire Cage had been at low mana levels necessary for the function of pre-Integration tech.

Maya felt the tingle and then heard the screaming as thousands of individuals were stripped of their mana auras. Normally it wasn’t as dramatic, normally one would only feel a slight burn or uncomfortableness when their mana aura was stripped. But by attempting a mass stripping, involving kilometers of area, that required a lot of messy and not so gentle methods to get it done.

Emilia and Anisa’s mage were immediately at work, pushing universal mana into those that needed it. Another sad reality that Maya had to deal with was that the stripper wasn’t as big as she wanted. Her original plan was just to get the whole Flesh Army into the Cage, zap their mana auras away, use that mana to power a bevy of weapons and victory would be hers.

Instead she didn’t have the parts to do as she wanted. The war effort and the need to arm her human troops had taken a strain on her logistical and harvesting potential. Everything had to be recycled.

She immediately noted the issues with the jury rigged stripper. As it died a few seconds after it began. She could almost feel the shorts and components dying as they were overloaded. Lack of necessary components had forced plenty of shortcuts in the design.

“Well, that wasn’t as impressive as I thought,” Maya said. “We get enough juice?”

“We did,” Canton’s voice said.

“Emilia get the shields up. Commence Operation Shoot the Moon.”

A marsani slug the size of Maya was fired from the railgun dubbed Big Bertha. Firing at a fraction of the speed of light and with a trajectory of the massive Mother’s Champion, there was nothing to stop it.

Devestation was wrought in its path, leaving behind explosions, death, and tearing up the very fabric of the Cage itself. Maya could feel the damage it was doing. Yet what else could they do?

“Holy crap,” Maya muttered as a explosion erupted at the far end of the Cage. A fireball flooded through the hordes of the Flesh Army, sizzling anyone and everyone without shields or levels. She could feel the beating the Cage was suffering, Tier 2 components dying as they suffered catastrophic damage.

Yet, the Champion was still there. It was battered, bloodied, and the remnants of some kind of shield faded as fire sizzled around its massive frame.

“Gun’s dead,” Canton replied over comms. “Nearly took the crew with it.”

“Anisa and crew, on me,” Maya shouted. She leaped from the shattered building and began making her way toward the Champion. It was injured and she would see it dead.

“I’m coming,” Chu announced.

“Emilia, stay put and keep the shields going.”

The passage of the marsani slug had left behind a trail that was easily traversable. Maya ignored the cries of pain and misery from the ruined creatures that had been in the way of the slug. It only showed the power and abilities that some of the Flesh Army had on them. That they could survive the passage of something so big, going so fast. The System was weird sometimes.

“I’ve never liked calamari,” Chu remarked at the sight of the Champion. Even in its bloodied and twisted state, it was still a horror to look upon.

“Eh, caught my brother once watching some tentacle porn. Nasty stuff,” Maya remarked.

“How do we kill it?” Anisa asked, staring at the horror before them.

“Easy. Hit it until it dies,” Maya said. “It’s healing as we speak and soon it’ll be back to business.”

“How can it heal from a railgun slug?” Chu shook his head. “That slug could have wiped out a small town.”

“Tier 2,” Maya replied. “Things get weird when their numbers get really high. Alright, beat that piñata then we can finish up this damn battle. The Fleshies are recovering as we speak.”

There was thump as a twelve foot tall figure slammed into the ground. The creature rose to it’s full height, revealing heavy armor and many glinting weapons. Maya had been wondering where the leaders of the Flesh Army were.

“Okay, new plan,” Maya said, staring at Deathblade. “You guys back me up while I deal with-“

There was another thump and Row of Teats arrived. The two massive Tarvana seemed to suck all the air out of the region.

Maya snapped up her rifle and began firing. Not even Deathblade could dodge railgun fire. She charged the general while summoning a grenade in one hand. It wasn’t as fast as it would have been with her own dimensional inventory, but it did the job.

Row of Teats staggered under railgun fire from the rest of the party. Anisa rushing forward to meet the general’s buddy head on.

Maya stitched the railgun fire across Deathblade’s body, until he activated a personal shield. At that point, she tossed a mana grenade; the destructive energy clashing with his own. He moved fast, trailing behind fire and energy, as he struck out with one of his blade.

Shields exploded from being overloaded around her. The system tech protective units not able to hold back the power of Deathblade’s strike. Maya staggered and barely brought her railgun up to deflect the blade.

The metal was sheered away and she was left without a weapon. The shattered railgun sparking and popping on the ground. Maya dropped more grenades and rolled away, another blade hissing into the spot she once occupied.

She summoned another railgun and began firing. The sounds of battle was roaring around her and she couldn’t pause to see how it was going. She was barely able to keep ahead of Deathblade’s strikes. More of her system tech shields failed and she could feel that she was exposed bit by bit. Soon she would have nothing and from what she could tell, Deathblade was stronger than she was. Not in levels, but sheer skill and ability.

Maya didn’t back down. She snarled as another railgun was chopped away and she tossed more grenades, giving herself room to manuever. Deathblade didn’t slow down, instead seeing her retreating as a sign he was wining. Which he was, Maya had to admit.

Their battle was taking them away from the others, away from Chu, Anisa, and Row of Teats. She dodged another attack and summoned her last weapons. The sawed off railgun and a sword she had picked up a long time ago.

“You’re in range, barely,” Emilia’s voice whispered in her ear. The girl’s tone was one of strain and misery.

“Die!” Deathblade snarled, bringing down his swords.

There was a thunderous boom as the sword rebounded off her shield. A moment later a blast of energy struck Deathblade and he was thrown back.

“Reflection,” Emilia muttered.

Maya threw herself forward. Deathblade lay sprawl on the ground and was slowly twitching from the reflected attack. His hide armor was ripped and torn and his blood was seeping into the Cage floor.

There were times for grand posturing and final words, but Row of Teats still existed and the Champion was still a threat. Maya landed upon Deathblade, shoving her own sword into his chest and discharging the sawed off railgun into his exposed head. There was a momentary look of surprise before he was blasted into chunks.

She stood there breathing heavily; then she grabbed his corpse and rolled it. Upon his back was a small pack and within it was a chest with a clasp. She undid the chest and grinned as she saw the small vial tucked away within it.

“Well, this is some good loot,” she muttered before slipping the vial into the armor’s auto injector. Before she could rethink her action, the autoinjector hissed as the antidote was released into her system. “Should have doubled checked that.”

Dimensional Poison Antidote

Progression: 10%

Maya grinned at the news. She inventoried all the weapons she could find on the dead general and rushed toward the fighting once more.

Row of Teats was a ragged mess. Her armor was ripped and torn, her weapons were a whirling machine of death, but Anisa and her party were holding their own. She could see the red outline of someone dead. Her heart stuttered as she thought it was Chu.

Instead it was one of Anisa’s members. She barely even remembered their names.

“Deathblade’s dead!” Maya shouted. “Surrender!”

Row of Teats madden eyes stared at her, while at the same time knocking aside of the Anisa’s people and dodging several strikes.

“Protect Your Master!” she screamed.

The air seemed to bubble. Maya instantly knew what it was. “Dimensional teleportation!” she cried.

The air began popping as scores of Tarvana appeared around them. From the looks of them, they were surprised to see they had been summoned. They looked confused, dazed, and a little sick.

Maya’s sawed off railgun didn’t give them much time to ponder their new situation. She began swinging her sword and snatched up the railgun from Anisa’s fallen fellow.

The summoning of defenders seemed to drain Row of Teats of much of her mana. She seemed to sag and slow, Anisa’s blade cut deeply and soon the others rushed in to get their licks in. Under a hail of gunfire and blades, Row of Teats was defeated.

There was still the defenders to deal with. Maya stabbed, kicked, and punched her way through the mass of Tarvana. She heard a thundering roar and looked up to see orcs and crows smashing into the Tarvana, blades flashing in terrible unison.

“What the hell?” Maya demanded.

“I couldn’t stop them,” Emilia’s voice said. “They saw the fight and came running.”

“We’re exposed and out in the middle of the Cage. Those jerks are going to be coming back at any moment,” Maya said. She punched a Tarvana in the face and then punted them into a mass of enemies. A moment later a squad of orcs began slashing away at them.

“Anisa, get to the Champion. Hit it-“

A thunderous boom nearly threw Maya to the floor. She staggered to one knee and looked behind her. The Champion was on fire and a figure was dancing around the tentacles, seemingly throwing blades at the creature.

“Asoltolia?” Maya said out loud. Then she noticed a sort of flying craft packed with half a dozen of her guards. They were chanting and raising a shield around her that flashed and sizzled at every tentacle strike.

“She’s been holding back on me,” Maya muttered as she got to her feet. “God damn show off.”

Tentacles rained down from the creature as it roared and flopped about. Maya almost felt sorry for it. Asoltolia’s high levels in combat and leadership were in full display as she trimmed the Champion and then finally gutted it.

There was a great tremble and Maya could almost feel the mana flowing off the creature. It swirled like fresh air amidst all the smoke and death. Maya felt like popping her helmet and breathing it in deep.

With grace, Asoltolia landed before Maya. Her nice armor was now covered in blood and gore, but there was a smile plastered on the woman’s face.

“Job well done,” Maya said, also grinning. “With the two generals dead and the Champion done, we might actually be wining.”

“Indeed we are,” Asolotlia said. “There is only one person left to kill.”

Maya barely saw the strike coming. She managed to get her sword out in front of her and felt it shatter as Asoltolia’s own weapon overpowered it. Her armor buckled and red alerts lit up the HUD. She felt her ribs crack and the explosive concussion of the blow sent her flying.

Dazed, Maya rolled to her feet, seeing she had still held onto the sawed off railgun. Asoltolia marched toward her, regal in her bearing and determined in her stride.

“This Cage belongs to us, now,” Asoltolia stated. “You are no match for me, foolish Merchant.”

Above her, scores of soldier laden crafts were heading their way.

“Well, this sucks,” Maya sighed.