The first part of the infiltration went off without a hitch. Tink fluttered up to each guard post, setting a stationary illusion between them and the outside that would perfectly emulate an uninteresting landscape that definitely didn't contain a rushing invasion force.

The second part was when things got problematic.

Lash picked the lock on the gate. Tink shifted the nearest illusions, sweat dripping down his tiny face as he strained to hold the six different spells in place at once, mana dropping fast.

Lash opened the gate, Diego and Levi rushed in, Skarm atop the sabercat's back, Levi running alongside them. Irene circled overhead on Snap, out of the way in case anything went wrong but ready to swoop down and heal anyone who got hurt.

Alarms began to ring out. Something in their approach must have tripped something. Levi didn't have time to figure out what had gone wrong, they could only react.

Someone shouted from one of the watchtowers, an answering call from the windowless building below, and before they could cross half the distance three higher-level Awakened were rushing out to meet them.

Levi's adrenaline ramped up fast; their speed and discipline meant they were unlikely to be as easily dealt with as the two he'd encountered in the Beast dungeon. These moved more like soldiers than civilian guards in over their heads.

“LASH!”

The soul-seeker surged forward and locked gazes with the first of the defenders. Skarm slashed the second with orange-gleaming claws as Diego ran past at full surge, but they only skidded off the higher-level Awakened's armor.

"Take down the eye thing! It's some kind of hypnotist!" shouted the third, putting action to his words and slashing down with a Destructive Slash that cut deep into Lash's bulbous body.

Levi intercepted the next swing before the man could follow up, but the disruption had been enough that Lash's tenuous hold on the first broke. The soul-seeker's mana dipped again as he attempted to re-establish control, but the level difference was too much. As soon as the other man realized what he was facing, he started to resist. Lash had come a long way, but he was still below second threshold while none of their opponents was below level 20.

At least until Diego jumped on the man from behind, driving him to the ground with the weight and momentum. Distracted, the man flailed to regain his feet, only to stumble midway as Lash's tendrils grabbed him around the throat and held him unable to escape the soul-seeker's control.

Another mana dip and the man went stiff, no longer aware of his surroundings.

Levi fought desperately against the sword-wielding defender, Bristleblade and Destruction sword working in perfect tandem as he flowed into the familiar patterns of battle.

Something quietly flipped in his brain, perspectives shifting a half step. Apart from the lack of green fire, this opponent wasn't that much different from a horde warrior: stronger, better protected, but a target that had to be defeated regardless.

There was no 'impossible' when the survival of the last of humanity hung in the balance.

Levi flooded his body with stamina, his weapons with mana, and attacked through warped vision. His focus narrowed to this fight, hyperaware of every twitch, every potential telegraph of his enemy’s movement. His opponent moved capably, he had clearly trained with the manablade for months.

Levi had fought for years, under pressure that couldn't possibly be simulated.

When it came down to it, experience mattered more than a handful of levels. One on one, Levi was an unstoppable force. At least for as long as his mana and stamina held out.

No time to waste. No think or worry, only act.

The adversary fell at his feet within seconds and his focus immediately flipped to the next.

Movement in the background. More people were running out now, a dozen or more. He couldn't let them get surrounded and outnumbered.

Unfortunately, the next opponent also noticed the reinforcements. He’d learned from his ally’s defeat not to take Levi's attack head on, instead backing up and skirting away, focusing fully on defence.

He knew that he could afford to wait, while Levi couldn't. But his caution was insufficient. Even now he didn’t understand who he was facing.

Levi slashed out with Bristleblade. When his opponent's arm came up to block with a glowing bracer Levi surged mana into the weapon, the sword’s spines stabbing straight through the armor and into the man's arm.

A quick wrench threw the enemy off balance and Levi followed up with a Destructive Slash to the stomach. The man's unpowered armor wasn't up to the task. It resisted, but Levi pushed a brief oversurge into the weapon at exactly the moment of contact.

The blade sheared through. Orange light left a burning corrosive slice through armor and flesh alike.

Lash's health dropped sharply as the reinforcements began firing into the biggest, glowing target. Diego and Skarm continued to sprint around the place untouchably, moving too fast for their adversaries to pin them down.

Levi’s enemy tugged his arm free of Bristleblade, ignoring the countless bleeding perforations, but he'd lost the advantage of distance.

Levi pressed forward, recklessly burning through his stamina as he forced his opponent to fight or run, no longer allowing a measured retreat. Shouting something Levi's mind didn't bother to parse, his adversary chose to fight.

Wrong choice.

Levi's stamina draw ramped up again, hovering on the edge of oversurge, and he pressed his advantage. Seven quick blows. Three blocked, two parried, one shattered the bracer, and the last stabbed into the man's stomach.

Bristleblade flared out in every direction with its hundred spines. Levi twisted the blade and threw himself forward, his weight driving the weapon and its protrusions forcefully through.

The results weren't pretty, but Levi hardly registered the outcome. No pause, only withdrew the sword and spun back. With his adversary forcing delays, he'd lost the chance to finish off Lash's victim without a fight, the soul-seeker forced to break contact by the deluge of attacks from the reinforcements, but the man was still disoriented and off his game.

It took two precious seconds and left him barely over a quarter of his stamina, but Levi took him down before the others could reach him and throw the balance of power firmly back toward the defence.

This had been originally intended as a stealth mission, but their sneaking was ruined and there was no reclaiming it.

Fight. Survive.

That was all that mattered now.

Even the best training and practice this group had at their disposal was nothing compared to half a decade of living a constant battle. Mana surging, stamina regulation, all this came to Levi as naturally as breathing. He still had nowhere near the quantity he felt he ought to, a constant nagging frustration, but he’d been fighting within these limitations long enough by now that the end of his surge would no longer catch him off guard.

Levi shouted for Diego and the cat sprang to his side. Skarm had already shifted up to sit on the cat's neck, leaving the back for Levi to hop on. It was still an awkward way to ride, Diego wasn't quite big enough and ran low to the ground, but he was fast and that was what Levi needed right now.

They rounded the group much as Diego and Skarm had been doing, but this time with Levi on board and two swords with much longer range than Skarm’s claws.

The gremlin took advantage of the added chaos to begin leaping about, stabbing and clawing and jumping away before the humans could retaliate.

Then another ranger ran out of the building, bow already glowing. He hardly paused, firing the shot straight at the gremlin.