Violet was tired, annoyed, and truthfully feeling rather irritable, all things considered.

"Dawn's Arrow," Violet yelled, her hoarse voice sounding more like a whisper. She had once been offered a fire arrow skill that she had denied, and she was glad she had. Dawn's Arrow was much the same generic concept, a magical arrow, something anyone could do with a bit of talent for free-form magic. No, there was a particular reason she'd chosen Dawn's Arrow.

As she released the arrow, it struck directly into the torso of a weird bug-looking monster, a cross between a centipede and a grasshopper. Her aim was true; the arrow pierced through its oddly shaped head as it began to glow from within.

That was the reason she'd chosen Dawn's Arrow.

Dawn's Arrow

Rarity: Uncommon. Skill Level: Inexperienced.

Fire an arrow of the rising dawn. Monsters slain by Dawn's Arrow have a chance to combust their internal energies, releasing Fireflies.

A moment later, the deceased monster erupted with a glorious explosion of glowing embers, which vanished moments later, her fireflies invisibly saturating the background.

There was no time to celebrate, though, as another, stronger monster appeared, one of the 'lieutenants' of the battle.

"Void Walker!" She called out as the tier four combatants, all four of them, ducked back, leaving only her on the wall.

It had been something they'd realized the importance of when the first time a Void Walker appeared, it had instantly locked onto the tier fours and attempted to murder them, only saved by one of Manda's Shadow Beasts, which had sprung from their shadow and pushed them out of the way.

With only Violet nearby, the Void Walker vanished before appearing on the wall beside her. For reasons she suspected were entirely E.O.N related, they could flicker no further than the top of the wall and seemed unable to push past unless the walls were abandoned or breached.

How did they know that? Because they'd been forced to abandon two of the walls. Their defenses hadn't been overrun, far from it. More like their defenses had been deactivated, a Void Walker barely visible in the distance that always stayed just out of attack range but still within visual range, had been seen carrying a black box that pulsed orange, each pulse shutting down their defenses before they had a chance to reboot.

Without the active defenses of their walls, the defense was entirely up to Violet, her team, and four tier fours who could at least cover them with suppressing fire from their bows. They'd been forced to abandon the first two walls simply because it was too much ground to cover with so few of them and no active Solar Coils or the like. At the very least, the walls themselves hadn't been damaged, the defensive Inscriptions kept them right as rain; it was only their offensive capabilities that had been shut down.

As it stood, Violet held nearly half of the final wall all by herself with minor help from the tier fours. Her fireflies made for excellent crowd control, so she was responsible for defending the largest area. With his Shadow Beasts, Manda was like a small team all by himself, capable of withstanding the attacking forces so long as he was atop their walls. Lastly, what Marcie lacked in extensive environmental control or the ability to summon extra bodies to cover more ground, she made up for in gusto.

And that wasn't just in metaphorical or poetic terms. She quite literally had a skill called 'Gusto of the Bellicose,' which had a very… Marcie-style effect. The more excited she was for a fight, the faster her blood pumped and her nerves fired. Her fighting spirit quite literally made her more and more powerful over time. It was also why she had made the unusual choice to invest more heavily into growth than a combat type like her typically would; it made fighting harder on her with fewer usable attributes.

She was a nut, but she was their nut, and Violet was utterly thankful for her as she cast a quick glance far away, watching the girl plowing through a swarm of tier four monsters as they attempted to skitter over her wall.

Good job, Marcie.

With only the briefest distraction, she wasn't all too surprised to see the Void Walker inches from her face, attempting to rip her head off. Snapping and flicking her wrist upward, a wall of fire ignited between them, a deep blue that forced the monster back.

With the sudden distance, she was already drawing her arm back as a Dawn's Arrow appeared.

She'd heard from Apostolos that Mr. Rory was often the type to make rather… unfunny quips mid-battle, but that was the prerogative of monsters like him who could afford to banter and mess around during a life-or-death struggle. Even Marcie was largely silent mid-battle. Distracting yourself was fundamentally stupid. The only exception was that Violet had found that calling out a skill name could help focus intent, sharpening an attack further. Was it necessary? No, but it was helpful.

"Dawn's Arrow!" Violet called out as the arrow raced forward, clipping the void walker. The monster was sent reeling from the force of the arrow, unable to react as Violet snapped both of her hands. A wall of fire engulfed the monster as the invisible firefly embers that had surrounded it ignited.

Tough as the bastards were, Violet didn't let her guard down, sticking her palms outward as a rapid fire torrent of blue firebolts shot forward and added to the burning conflagration.

"Conflagration!" Violet called out, the name of the skill rather fitting.

Conflagration

Rarity: Common. Skill Level: Inexperienced.

Overwhelm your enemies with a shower of fire. Each consecutive bolt ramps up in intensity for no additional cost.

Considering Violet had specced rather heavily into Pneuma, the skill was one of her favorites for sustained firepower that grew over time. Her ability to channel Pneuma outstripped most, though her pool of comparisons was somewhat limited, with only Manda and Marcie as references within her tier.

Dropping the skill a moment later, she confirmed the Void Walker was dead as she felt the small but noticeable rush of Ascension Energy.

Say what you will, but this is doing wonders for my progress.

Pushing the thought aside, Violet turned to her next target, one of the tier four bug monsters. Unlike the void walkers, they could be dispatched with a single well-placed Dawn's Arrow, precisely what she did.

At the very least, the enemies were rather unvaried, either the swarms of bug monsters or the more limited but definitely more dangerous void walkers.

We're nearing the end, I can feel it.

As endless as the monsters had seemed at first, there was definitely an end; it wasn't a proper Siege Wave after all. Something like ninety to ninety-five percent of the monsters were tier four fodder she could easily wipe out. If it weren't for the void walkers, she could have already been done with them. The only reason she hadn't was that her fireflies weren't limitless and were a valuable resource for reasons outside of sparking instant bursts of flame.

We can do this.

Sure, being forced back to their final wall had been grating, but it hadn't been out of desperation. The reality had just been that with only three tier five defenders and no active turrets, many monsters coming from such a large area would have been impossible to cover.

They'd already managed to hold back quite a few void walkers, and the rate at which they'd been assailing them had decreased.

Just a little… more?

All at once, the monster swarm went mad, turning on one another and tearing each other apart as if the only thing they could think of was mindless slaughter until they were killed in return.

"We…won?" Violet huffed, trying to understand the situation. She'd felt their victory was inevitable, but not quite like this.

With the meatshields that the tier fours were now effectively dealt with, the remaining void walkers slowly began to bleed away into the shadows.

That was save for one, a single void walker, different from the rest, that slowly approached with heavy footsteps.

All while carrying a single box, the source of their problems.

"Monsters went wild, what happened?" Violet read the message that had come from Manda across the city.

"No idea. Void Walkers vanishing except for what looks to be their general or something."

"Need help?"

"No, I think I've got this."

Letting it approach the wall, the monster placed the box on the ground before folding its four arms one over the other, staring up at her.

Examining it, Violet winced internally.

Bane-Molded Void Walker Champion

Level: 61

The ultimate experiment born from the designs of a powerful would-be Architect. The creature it once was has long been lost, continuously reshaped, and molded into a powerful monster capable of stepping short distances across the fabric of space. With power unrivaled by its peers, this specimen is the truest champion of its twisted kind.

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

Violet's confidence bled away as she stared at the monster.

If it had attacked with the rest instead of just guarding that box…

The only reason Violet could think of for why it hadn't was some E.O.N.-based restriction.

Its message was clear now: Fight me here, or I'll attack directly.

As a tier six, no one in Ehkorrus could handle the Champion void walker; it was her, Manda, and Marcie alone.

"Change of plan. Converge on me. Both of you."

With the message sent out, Violet hopped down from the wall, staring at the monster. It would be better to have their battle outside the wall than atop it, where the fallout of the fight could potentially splash into the city.

The Champion seemed content to wait, as Manda and Marcie appeared shortly after.

"Oh, that's a beast of a void walker," Marcie said, sounding too excited for Violet's preferences.

"Tier six," Manda said, considerably less enthusiastic. "And a void walker at that."

He went silent, but the unsaid portion of his thoughts was loud and clear.

Can we beat it?

It wasn't a true Alpha Variant, but void walkers were generally stronger than their level suggested from what she'd seen, perhaps half a step higher than implied. As a level 61, the Champion Void Walker likely weighed around a level 64.

Or more.

Had it been a monster they'd found in the wild, Violet would have given the command to pull back, the risk not worth it.

Now?

There wasn't a choice.

"Formation B?" Marcie questioned, already stepping forward before Violet stuck her arm out, shaking her head.

"No. You back me up this time." Violet answered.

"Wait, really?" Marcie looked surprised, staring between the Champion and Violet.

"Yeah. We're going straight to Formation C," Violet confirmed as she stepped forward instead.

They had three formations. Of the three, two were used the most. First was Formation A, in which Manda's shadow beasts were frontline and aggro, drawing in monsters while Violet offered ranged support and Marcie acted as the hammer to Manda's anvil.

Formation B was nearly the same, except the role of anvil and hammer was swapped between Manda's shadow beasts and Marcie, usually required when it was a single, stronger foe that Marcie needed to hold back.

Formation C… Formation C had only been used twice, which they'd codenamed the 'Boss Killer' formation.

See, Violet was a bit odd. Unlike most tier-fives, she had six ascension-obtained skills, the foundation of her entire style being her core skill, Fireflies.

Her next skill had been Dawn's Arrow, a way to replenish her fireflies while also dealing damage.

Her third skill, Conflagration, was perfect for laying down sustained damage.

Her fourth and fifth skills were where things began to change. They were entirely unusable without first laying the groundworks with plenty of fireflies. Her fourth skill was a large AoE, how large it was depended on how many fireflies she used. Her fifth skill, meanwhile, was a potent single-target attack; the more fireflies used, the stronger the finisher attack became.

And finally, her sixth skill, and the entire basis of Formation C. Much like her fourth and fifth skills, it required fireflies to be used, but unlike the two prior skills, it wasn't an attack.

It was a buff.

This is going to hurt a lot.

Summoning her courage, she mouthed the words; her first time using the skill had been painful enough that she couldn't gather the necessary focus and intent without saying the skill out loud.

"All Monarchs… Burn." Violet shuddered as Every. Single. Firefly rushed toward her, suddenly turning visible. They flared with blue heat as they struck her, burning through her skin, melting her flesh, and surrounding her heart in burning agony.

Violet wanted to scream, but the fireflies burning through her body had burned her lungs on their way to her heart.

Mr. Rory had a relatively cheap trick of isolating his pain in another blocked-off mental thread, but no one else had the necessary cognition to copy it. Therefore, Violet was forced to stabilize herself the hard way, to force her mind back from reeling even as her nerve ends flared with fire.

"Go!" She managed to croak, as two gouts of blue light burst free from her back, flaming wings like those of a blue butterfly that had burnt straight through her flesh.

Shooting forward, she crashed into the champion void walker, chitin-clad arms colliding with arms of blackened soot and blue embers radiating from within her bone marrow as the fireflies now coursed through her body.

Everything hurt so much, but the pain would end soon, the nerve endings already beginning to burn away past the point of feeling.

Stabilized.

Mind no longer clouded with thoughts and feelings of pain, she noticed the two shadow beasts, a wolf and a large standing bird, charging in from their left, Marcie from their right. Orienting herself slightly right, Violet prevented the champion void walker from managing a direct strike at Marcie, who threw an uppercut into its side, the monster barely reacting.

The same couldn't be said for the shadow beasts, two scythe arms swinging out and slashing through the shadowy beasts in one go.

Only for a shadow jaguar to land on its back, fangs attempting to tear into its neck.

Knowing her job, Violet contained the champion void walker, grappling with the monster as best she could. Even with the massive boost she'd gained from All Monarchs Burn -partially due to having a pseudo-wave worth of monsters burnt up as fuel- she was still barely keeping it restrained, preventing it from pursuing Marcie whenever she dashed in and assailed the monster with a flurry of blows that were gradually striking with more and more power.

The two original shadow beasts reappeared as Manda re-summoned them, only to be torn apart within seconds as the shadow jaguar, which had managed a sneak attack, joined in their fate soon after. If she had to choose who to prevent the void walker from destroying, it would be Marcie over the shadow beasts every single time for obvious reasons. With that internal calculus in mind, she could only grit her teeth, unable to keep the champion void walker distracted enough to keep the shadow beasts alive for more than a few seconds at a time.

I'd have loved that fifth shadow beast about now, Manda.

Manda's shadow beast skills were a bit strange. The first three had been cut and dry. Gain a skill, summon a shadowy monster, a gecko, a wolf, and an overly-tall bird. The fourth one had been different, requiring him to summon and tame the beast by 'slaying' the monster alone, without any of his other shadow beasts. While difficult, Manda had managed to acquire the shadow jaguar.

As for his tier five shadow beast, well, he'd been unable to tame it yet; every attempt had left him battered, bloodied, and bruised.

Pushing aside a stray umbrage, Violet drove a foot forward, kicking into the monster's chest. The monster retaliated by striking at her with its scythe arms, which rebounded off her skin, charred harder than most metals.

For now.

As considerable a boost as she was using, she could feel herself burning through the fireflies at a prodigious rate.

We aren't going to make it like this.

They were damaging the monster, but not fast enough. Marcie was warming up, her boost increasing, but there was a vast gulf in raw attributes between a tier five human and a low to mid-tier six monster. Except for his shadow jaguar, Manda's shadow beasts were almost entirely useless.

Oh, this is a bad idea.

She had one more option, but she wasn't sure how it would pan out.

But, no choice.

There was no guidance, no guardrails. Either they won here, or Mr. Rory and Apostolos would return to ruin.

It's a good thing my nerves have already melted.

The only thing on her body that wasn't burnt was her newest gloves, still juiced up with a potent concoction.

Now or never.

Mentally activating the gloves, two needles stabbed into her arms—self-used items would ignore personal durability, thankfully—as a potent concoction of Liquid Fire flooded her already firefly-flooded veins, alongside who knew what else was a part of the alchemic slurry.

As soon as the concoction was injected into her body, the glow of blue embers that had been eeking its way out of her charred body exploded into gouts of dripping blue napalm, like she were a volcano bleeding out.

The barest stalement between herself and the champion void walker changed as the second boosting effect hit her. As much as she wished it was enough to overpower the monster easily, it was only enough that she found herself now marginally advantaged in strength.

Taking whatever advantage she could get, she pushed back from the void walker champion, just enough so they had room to once more rush one another, fists and arms blurring as they sought to beat down their enemy.

Fist after fist, blow after blow, hundreds of attacks were traded in seconds, a rush neither side could retreat from.

Faster. Harder. … burn a little hotter!

She was sputtering out; she could sense it, nearing mere embers.

Hotter!

Focusing her entire intent and will inward, she imagined herself cradling a tiny burning spark from predatory winds howling for blood. In her mind, she gave the ember a single gentle blow, as in reality her body erupted with fire, only to be sucked into her fist, a burning rainbow held within.

Seeing the summoned power, the void walker champion responded in kind, surging with power as dirt and dust were blown away, the air crashing like two meeting storm vortexes as their auras clashed. Rearing back two of its arms, it prepared itself as Violet summoned all that remained of the power within her.

Everything you've got.

Holding not a single ember back, her fist, a corona of radiating power like a rainbow on fire, rushed forward to meet the void walker champion, striking forward with its two arms. Fist met blades as the earth seemed to shake, an explosion of force tearing up the ground for two dozen meters in any direction as the shockwave blasted the two combatants apart.

Sailing through the air, Violet crashed back onto the ground, unable to move. Her body was spent, turning to ash in many places, a single firefly remaining within her heart as her sole lifeline.

I managed to survive.

All Monarchs Burn was an incredibly dangerous skill if maintained for any extended period. She'd never used it for more than four or five seconds in the past. Now, here she was pairing it with a second artificial boost.

But I lived… Somehow.

For now. She could feel a bare few fireflies keeping her heart pumping with fire.

It was too bad that the same couldn't be said for her foe. Already back on its feet, the void walker champion was trudging toward her. Its two arms that had met her strike with were mangled and melted stubs, but its other two arms had survived, battered and perhaps a bit similar in appearance to melted wax, but still very much intact. It was the same for almost its entire body, the chitin covering it like warmed wax.

Close.

A bit more power, and she could have done it.

Sighing mentally, she watched it approach her, eyeing her warily.

With the barest shake of her head, she admitted the truth.

She was out of tricks.

The void walker champion raised one of its two remaining scythe arms, poisoning it over her as it prepared to spear down.

"You're… next." Violet hacked out weakly.

The void walker champion looked down at her, unfazed by her provocation.

Unfortunately, the comment hadn't been meant for it.

Unfortunately for it, that is.

From her shadow, four monsters burst forward. The wolf and the large bird were speared instantly, but rather than vanish, they stayed corporeal, ensuring the remaining weapons of the void walker champion were occupied.

Violet mentally winced. By keeping the shadow beasts corporeal, some of the damage they suffered would be transmitted back to Manda, but it was a price he was willing to pay.

The shadow jaguar, meanwhile, had raced up its back, sinking its claws into its shoulders and forcing it to stand straight.

Lastly, a small shadowy gecko lashed out with a tongue dozens and dozens of times larger than its own body, further ensnaring the monster.

Just in time for Marcie to appear behind it, her fist glowing this time, a pure white energy that shook the air like steam.

"Thanks for the inspiration!" Marcie said, her eyes both gleeful and deadly serious at the same time. "Leave it to the hero of the day to bring justice!"

It was a corny line, but Violet was in no state to argue.

Still on the ground, Violet had front row seats as the restrained void walker champion realized just how fucked it was as Marcie, with her fighting spirit elevated beyond the max, struck.

"Hero's Smash!" Marcie yelled out. With a burst of light, her fist did exactly that: It smashed straight through the incredibly tough tier six monster's chest, blowing a hole large enough that she could crawl across, straight through its body.

The impact shook the ground beneath their feet, seconds passing before things went still.

As they did, the void walker champion dropped to its knees before falling over, lifeless.

"Violet!" Manda shouted as things finally calmed. He raced forward as he held his side, bleeding from shadow-beast transmitted wounds." Violet, stay with us?"

Violet wanted to say something, but she found herself lacking for strength.

Oh. Maybe I really am dying now.

It was unfortunate that she would die, but she was just glad that she'd managed to defend what Mr. Rory, and more importantly, she admitted to herself, Apostolos had worked so hard to build.

It was almost too bad that-

Whoa!

Faltering mid-thought, Violet, even as her lifeforce slowly dwindled, felt the rush of ascension energy fill her, then fill her to max capacity, only to fill her even more.

The gains were plentiful between defending the city from a horde of tier four monsters and quite a few powerful tier five monsters, and even a potent low tier six monster.

And most importantly, she'd only been a month or so off from A6 as their normal hunting rate, that much of a flood of ascension energy had nowhere else to go.

Seeing a chance and grasping it, Violet pushed with her mind.

Won't Apostolos be surprised when he returns to find me the same tier as him?

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