Chapter 101: Done And Dusted

The Manager turned away from the central battle and began issuing orders. "Western and northern squads, move to the breach and keep them away from the shelters! Frederick, take the eastern line and force everything that lands back beneath the opening!"

"Finally acting like a real manager!" Rook said.

She didn’t reply, after all she knew she was not supposed to panic, but under heavy stress, her minds seemed to work ten times faster.

Frederick raised his weapon and called for his unit. Most members of the expedition joined him, while Vanessa remained behind because the strain of her Death Imprint had left her unable to fight. The anchor wielder also refused to abandon Mara, and Frederick wasted no time arguing with either of them.

He led the remaining Reapers into the street beneath the breach. The first Abominations reached them quickly, though those creatures were weak enough to kill before they established themselves.

Frederick’s blade passed through one creature’s throat and continued into the chest of another. Reapers formed a line around him and drove the falling bodies away from the buildings sheltering the wandering souls.

A frost user sealed three creatures beneath a sheet of ice. Another Reaper thrust a spear through their frozen bodies and activated his Death Imprint, causing the weapon to expand inside them until all three broke apart before their memories could reconnect.

The line held until something larger descended through the breach and landed upon both feet.

The creature resembled a human only because its memories had arranged its body into that general shape. It stood nearly three times Frederick’s height and carried enough muscle to fill a wagon. Skin covered none of it. Red and black fibers formed the entire body, woven around one another in thick cords that never stopped moving.

Every muscle acted independently. Bundles travelled beneath the surface like snakes, some climbing from the legs into the torso while others wrapped around the arms and increased their size. The head lacked eyes, mouth, and nose, leaving only smooth layers of muscle where a face should have been.

A Fourth Rank had entered the Bastion.

It charged Frederick before the nearby Reapers could adjust. He moved before its foot struck the ground, but the man beside him reacted too slowly. The creature’s shoulder caught the Reaper across the chest and carried him through the wall of a house.

Frederick twisted aside and cut through the creature’s knee, severing several thick bands of muscle. The leg folded, but fresh cords immediately grew from the thigh and wrapped themselves around the damaged joint.

He struck again before the connection hardened. The Fourth Rank swung one arm toward him, and although Frederick ducked beneath it, the displaced air still threw him across the street.

Three members of his unit attacked from behind. One shattered the creature’s elbow, another drove a heated spear into its back, and the third wrapped chains around one ankle before pulling with both hands.

The muscle surrounding the trapped leg separated. Half remained inside the chains while the rest of the body stepped forward without it, growing fresh fibres from the stump and pressing them against the ground until they formed a crude replacement foot.

Frederick regained his feet before the creature reached him. The line beneath the breach divided into two battles, with half the unit holding back the lesser Abominations while the others surrounded the Fourth Rank and fought to keep its attention away from the shelters.

Near the Beacon, Rook barely noticed the new battle. The Pale Abomination’s limbs had begun regenerating faster, as though every creature falling into the Bastion agitated the memories packed inside it. Pale plates thickened across its body and closed several openings the Reapers had created.

The feline tore through them again. Its jaws closed around the base of one rear limb while the Pale creature tried to pull away.

Rook tightened the grave-rope around the joint and shouted toward the Reapers positioned beside the pillar. "Brace the rope and hold it there! The black one is about to tear the whole limb free!"

The rope stretched as the feline twisted its head. Flesh split around the joint, and the entire limb separated with a violent tear.

The Pale Abomination collapsed onto one side and crushed two Reapers beneath its body. Rook climbed onto the fallen creature before it could rise and drove his one-handed scythe between the plates covering its chest.

The blade entered farther than it had before. Rook pressed one boot against the handle and used his weight to force it deeper while the Pale creature bucked beneath him. He held on, tore the weapon sideways, and opened a narrow passage through the flesh.

Something moved beneath the wound.

A thread of translucent light passed through the surrounding memories and disappeared before returning a moment later. The glow lacked a stable shape, but each time it crossed the opening, the Pale Abomination’s entire body tightened around it.

Rook recognized what he had uncovered. "I found the core! It’s moving beneath the chest plates! Someone fucking Cull this shit!"

Several Reapers turned toward him, but the creature reacted first. One of its front limbs bent backward beyond the limits of any natural joint, and the hooked hand struck Rook across the chest.

He left the creature’s body before feeling the pain. The ruined square spun around him as he passed through the remains of a barricade and struck one of the Beacon’s supports hard enough to crack it through the middle.

The pillar collapsed and buried him beneath broken stone. Mara watched with horror as his arm disappear beneath the rubble, she didn’t hesitate for a second as she dropped the bow, and ran before anyone could stop her.

The anchor wielder caught the back of her coat. "Wait! The Pale creature is still close enough to reach the pillar."

"I can see the creature, but Rook is trapped under there." Mara tore herself free and reached the collapsed support as blood began flowing from beneath the stones. It spread through the cracks around her boots while she called his name. "Rook, answer me if you can hear me!"

Nothing responded.

Mara grabbed the nearest piece of rubble and tried to lift it. The stone barely moved, even when she changed her grip, braced both feet, and pulled again.

Two fingers appeared beneath a broken section of the pillar. They moved weakly against the ground.

"He’s alive," Mara said as the anchor wielder reached her. "I saw his hand move beneath this section."

The woman lifted the anchor over one shoulder. "Then step away and give me enough room to clear it."

Mara moved aside before the Reaper brought the anchor down against the rubble. The impact released a broad pulse through the stone, lifting the broken pieces away from Rook and scattering them across the street without allowing any to strike him.

He lay inside the crater beneath them. His left arm had fractured in several places, leaving splintered bone pressing against the remembered flesh beneath his sleeve. His left ankle had twisted completely around so that the foot pointed behind him, while the center of his chest had collapsed beneath the earlier strike.

Blood filled his mouth every time he attempted to breathe. A living man would have died before reaching the pillar, but Rook’s body remained because the Underworld remembered it. His own memory preserved the pain with enough clarity for every injury to feel exactly as it should.

He rolled onto his right side and spat blood. "Could you have hit the rubble any harder? The impact shook every tooth in my head."

The anchor wielder stared down at him. "You’re welcome. If your teeth still hurt, then at least you still have them."

Mara slid one arm beneath his unbroken shoulder. "I’m going to help you stand. Tell me if anything is caught beneath the stone."

"I can already tell you that standing is a terrible idea, because my chest and left leg are no longer shaped correctly."

Mara began lifting him anyway. Rook planted his uninjured foot against the ground while his chest shifted in a way she tried not to watch. More blood ran across his chin as they dragged him from the crater.

Behind them, the feline kept the Pale Abomination pinned and drove its claws into the wound Rook had opened. It tore at the layers surrounding the core while the Pale creature struggled beneath it, but its divided face had turned away from its attacker.

The creature was staring at Rook.

Mara noticed the change. "It stopped watching the feline. All of its attention is on you now."

"It has a good reason," Rook said between strained breaths. "I found its core and stabbed close enough to make it angry."

The Pale Abomination threw its body sideways and dislodged the feline. Reapers scattered as the creature wrenched one front limb from the stone and turned toward the collapsed pillar.

Rook tried to raise his scythe, but his left arm refused to move.

The anchor wielder stepped between him and the creature. "Take him farther back while I keep it away from you."

She raised her weapon just as the Pale Abomination leapt. Before it could reach Rook, the feline caught it in midair, wrapped black claws around its chest, and dragged it down.

Both Abominations crashed into the street close enough for the impact to tear Mara away from Rook. She struck the ground and rolled while he landed against the base of the broken pillar. His twisted foot caught beneath him, tearing the damaged joint farther, though he no longer possessed enough breath to shout.

The feline pinned the Pale creature by its shoulders, but its opponent made no serious attempt to escape. Instead, its rear limbs raked across the feline’s abdomen and forced the black creature to adjust its grip.

One pale plate lifted near the wound Rook had opened. The translucent glow passed beneath it again, closer to the surface than before.

Mara saw the core through the opening. Only a narrow passage existed between the broken plates, but it led directly toward the pulsing light. The flesh surrounding it offered partial protection, though her Death Imprint could carry a weapon through the remaining armor.

The bow lay beyond her reach, but one arrow remained in the quiver at her waist. Mara pulled it free and wrapped both hands around the shaft before sending her ability through the arrowhead. Its edges blurred as the material became capable of passing through the plate.

If she reached the core, she could Cull the creature.

Rook saw her stand. "Mara, don’t go near it. That opening is too convenient."

"I can take him!"

"NO!" He howled but she didn’t listen.

She ran toward the Pale Abomination while the feline held it down. The Pale creature’s limbs continued striking across Rook’s side of the street and clawing at the ground as though desperate to reach him.

The exposed core remained visible. Mara tightened her grip upon the arrow and ignored Rook when he shouted again.

"Mara, get away! It knows exactly what you’re trying to do."

The Pale Abomination had nearly killed Rook. More creatures continued pouring through the ceiling, the Fourth Rank was breaking Frederick’s line, and the feline could not restrain its opponent forever. One successful strike could end part of the disaster.

Mara reached the edge of the ruined street, and the Pale creature’s head snapped toward her. Its struggle stopped so abruptly that her next step faltered.

The limb reaching toward Rook had never been close enough to touch him. The core had also remained exposed even though the creature possessed enough control over its plates to conceal it.

It had shown Mara exactly what she needed to see.

The creature had used Rook to draw her forward.

Its vertical mouth opened as the feline tightened its claws. Two pale limbs wrapped around the black creature’s neck and held it back while the jaws extended toward Mara, widening enough to swallow her entire body.

She tried to stop, but loose stone shifted beneath her boots. The mouth descended before she could regain her balance.

Fire erupted across Rook’s arm.

The contract between them appeared beneath his ruined sleeve. Black lines burned across his skin before opening into a translucent chain that stretched from his forearm to Mara’s chest.

For the first time, the bond became solid inside his hand.

Rook closed his remaining fingers around it. Pain tore through his collapsed chest as he moved, and his good leg slipped beneath him while the twisted one dragged uselessly across the stone. He wrapped the chain around his forearm, braced his shoulder against the broken pillar, and pulled with everything his remembered body still possessed.

The chain snapped tight and tore Mara from the ground. She flew backward an instant before the Pale Abomination’s jaws closed upon the space she had occupied.

Her body passed over Rook, struck the street behind him, and continued rolling until the anchor wielder caught her. The Pale creature followed Mara’s movement, turning its head until its mouth found Rook between them.

He had neither the time to release the chain nor the strength to move. The vertical jaws opened around his broken body, filled his vision, and closed.