The formation absorbed Calypso’s charge without breaking.
The Colossid Brutalizers stepped forward as one, slabs of layered muscle rolling under natural armor as tower shields locked together.
Bone-and-mineral weapons came down in disciplined arcs meant to crush rather than cut, each impact timed to overlap the next.
Calypso took the one such hit across the collarbone, the force driving her sideways and tearing skin open down to the meat. Dark blood poured freely, ran hot along her ribs, and steamed as her power surged. Her grin widened, eyes blown wide as the Manifestation of Carnage answered the damage with raw output. Muscle thickened, veins bulged, and the pressure around her body slammed outward hard enough to stagger the front line.
She pushed into the shields anyway.
Another blow cracked into her thigh, splitting muscle and nearly buckling her leg. She planted her foot, roared through clenched teeth, and ripped her axe sideways into a Brutalizer’s knee joint.
The edge bit deep. Bone snapped. The creature went down, and Calypso followed through with a rising cleave that tore through torso and throat in a wash of blood that coated her face and chest. The kill fed her further. Her movements grew heavier and faster at the same time, each strike landing with crushing authority.
Behind the shields, the Chorusbound Savants moved.
Tall, robed forms glided through the gaps, glowing throats pulsing in synchronized rhythm.
Each pulse tightened the Brutalizers’ formation, reinforced their stance, sharpened timing. Calypso felt the pressure immediately as blows came cleaner and harder, shields locking with renewed precision.
She took another hit to the back that split skin wide and drove her forward into the shield wall. She answered by grabbing the rim of a shield with one hand, yanking the Brutalizer off balance, and burying her axe into its neck at point-blank range. Blood sprayed across the shields, slicking the ground beneath her boots.
She kept advancing with worrying damage stacking across her body.
Cuts opened along her arms.
A crushing strike fractured ribs.
Her breathing turned ragged, each inhale scraping against pain. Yet she never faltered.
Every injury pushed her deeper into the Manifestation, turning her into a walking engine of violence that refused to slow. She waded through the vanguard, carving gaps through sheer force, even as the Savants’ pulses tried to tighten the net around her.
Kaiden watched from behind dryly. This hopeless demoness of his could use backup.
<Big brother... you’re sighing, but you’re grinning manically at the same time!>
Kaiden felt the pull of the fight in his chest, the heat behind his eyes, and the grin stretching his face wide. <Oh, am I?> he replied, already stepping into motion. <You’re surely mistaken.>
<I am not!> Alice pouted.
Kaiden chuckled and jumped.
<Big brothers should listen to their little sisters’ worries more!>
Having received no reply, Alice scoffed cutely. <Hmph!> and just like that, her two basic buffing spells activated themselves.
[Status Effect Gained: Harmonic Conduit Integration]
+10% to all base attributes while Conduit Attached
Mana Perception: Enhanced
Dual Vision: Established
[Dominion Convergence Activated]
When activated, 10% of all damage dealt by the Dominant Core is transferred as healing through the Conduit, restoring all nearby allies designated as "trusted."
The effect hit Kaiden the instant Alice locked in.
The battlefield unfolded in layered clarity.
Mana currents traced through the Brutalizers’ shield wall, thick and stubborn, while thinner harmonic threads pulsed between the Chorusbound Savants like veins carrying command signals.
Alice’s presence sat at the center of his awareness, steady and intimate, every fluctuation in power mirrored between them.
Kaiden moved with his Manifestation of Carnage.
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