"Hold strong! Ignore the minions and blast through the main demon! We can't let the next summoning succeed!"
Stallesso shouted as he cut down another demon. As if to mock him, the fire demon sneered and waved its hand to send another wave of minions on a suicidal attack. Though those pesky minions could barely scratch them, Stallesso and his troops were bogged down by their attacks.
Those minions also spread out, trying to find any civilians left in sight. They burned down homes, granaries, and anything else that could go up in flames. At this rate, there might not be a city left to save. The defense forces were forced to split up to handle the fires and the demons causing them.
But the demons weren't the only ones with tricks up their sleeves. Stallesso calmly moved forward and took up the attention of the demon, its minions, and the True Order. Several units had secretly brought spatial mages to the battlefield.
Summoning was a tricky field, and there were many ways to interfere. These mages quietly set up formations around the sphere of light. They couldn't set up anything big, but it should be enough to distort the summoning. As time passes, the energy consumption to maintain the summoning will increase.
'Let's see how long those True Order b**tards can keep this up.' Stallesso cursed. 'They'll either die from having all their mana absorbed or from the backlash of the summoning's failure.'
As time dragged on, the dark motes of light grew into a sizeable mass taller than a single-story building. What magical attacks that did hit were merely absorbed into it. Before they could stop it, the sphere of mana began to churn and warp.
The summoning was nearly complete. Then, like a dying star, the sphere collapsed in on itself, sending shockwaves out in all directions. Both sides fell into disarray.
*********
When Aayla opened her eyes, her head felt like someone was hitting it with a jackhammer. The night sky overhead was clear and beautiful, but the screams and roars in the distance quickly dispelled that peaceful fantasy.
She could barely move. Whenever she tried, a splitting pain erupted on her side. Aayla was sure that she had broken a rib or two. A warm lump beneath her groaned in pain. She slowly rolled over off of the lump. After rolling over, the pain erupted on her side again.
Aayla sharply hissed. Breathing deeply only made the pain worse. A hand gently placed itself on her shoulder and a warm current flowed through her body. The pain slowly faded and her blurry vision cleared. She turned over to see a head of dark hair above hers.
"Daren? What happened?"
"The summoning went wrong… I think. But something is strange."
A strange glow caught her eye. The summoning formation was barely intact. Parts of it glowed and flashed at irregular intervals. The barrier surrounding it was completely gone. Any remaining parts of the house above them had also been completely blown away.
Only one robed figure remained in the center. What remained of the man formerly known as Dr. Willem van Brakke was a skeletal husk. His hands shook but remained outstretched as if to hold the floating crystal and spatial plotter. Faint, deranged mutters left his lips.
The rings of the spatial plotter were spinning crazily while the crystal blinked. The crystal was now cracked and seemed to be leaking something. That liquid floated up and suddenly disappeared into the darkness a few meters above the ground. Aayla frowned when she felt her hair being pulled by a mysterious draft towards that same place.
Focusing her eyes on that spot, she saw a faint outline of a dark disk. She sharply sucked in a breath. Aayla knew exactly what that disk was. It was a portal. She tried to push herself up, but the hand on her shoulder pushed down.
"Stay down, Aayla. I'm not that skilled in healing magic."
"The summoning's not over. I can barely make it out, but there's a dark disk just floating there. That thing… it's a portal. Whatever those crazy idiots were summoning could come out at any time."
Daren glanced at the portal in the distance. Silent and still, the portal just floated serenely, like a leaf on a puddle of water. Occasionally, small ripples would sweep across its surface.
"We should be okay for now. The space around here is extremely stable. The previous demon should still be around, but nothing new can come. I suspect that the military set up some counter formations to disrupt the summoning."
"How long will they last?"
"I'm not sure."
The pair descended into silence. Daren stopped the healing when Aayla could breathe normally again. In truth, he didn't have much mana left. Aayla didn't either. Well, she thought that she didn't.
Aayla surveyed their surroundings. The squishy mound that she had laid on was Chris, who was still out cold. Jacki was lying next to him and sometimes woke up for a few minutes. Now they were in a giant crater. Aayla couldn't see anyone else.
"Where is everyone else?"
"They were blown much farther back by the explosion. Some of them… didn't make it. But I know Ramona did. I saw a few bodies move around earlier. Most are probably still unconscious. This area has been heavily contaminated with the corrupted mana from that explosion."
"Corrupted mana?"
"Historically, it's also been called demonic mana. It's what demons use instead of normal mana."
"Oh. That's super bad then?"
Daren chuckled. "Yeah, that's super bad. No one will be coming to our rescue soon."
"Why are we all right then? Wait, are we going to die from exposure to it?!"
"No! For some reason, a short radius around us is okay. Your shield blocked some of it, and I think that your other artifact absorbed the rest."
Aayla looked down at the New Moon bracelet. She didn't remember using it at all when the explosion happened. The gems now all gleamed with a strange, dark color. That did not seem good. Focusing on the bracelet, Aayla tried casting a simple spell to light a candle.
The results nearly blew up in her face. Wild and uncontrollable, the mana in her bracelet refused to be tamed. Daren, fortunately, stopped her magic in time. After that attempt, Aayla decided to stop using magic for the time being.
The pair gazed at the formation while sitting in silence. The roars of the fire demon echoed throughout the city. It was still alive.
"… Daren, how is that thing still alive?"
"The summoning formation is still active. It either didn't completely die and regenerated, or it died and was resurrected."
As they discussed strategies to shut down the formation, the ripples on the portal slowly grew in intensity.
"So, what next? We can't just leave that portal floating there."
"No. Something is trying to get through. We need to shut it down while the formation is still weak and the demon is occupied."
Aayla looked down at her bracelet and bit her lip.
"Is our best bet still using my artifact to absorb the formation's energy to disrupt the summoning even more."
"… Yes. There's no other way. We can't just change the formation. The mana flowing through it has already settled in its shape. Even if we could change the flow, bad attempts would be deadly."
"I don't know how much energy my bracelet can hold, and I can't control the corrupted mana at all."
"I know. I'll help you."
Daren slowly put his hand on Aayla's. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if to say something.
"Do you know who that man is?"
"… I'm assuming that he's the Prophet of Terra. You know, the one from the rumors."
"I meant if you know him personally?"
"That lunatic?" Aayla felt Daren's sharp gaze on her face and tried not to panic. "Why would I know him personally?"
"Aayla, you've been acting weird," Daren hesitated. "Earlier, you kept your face hidden for this entire battle, except for once. Like you were trying to test whether the Prophet of Truth knew you. Then, when the acolytes took out that weird artifact. The one with all the rings. You were surprised."
"Well, that's easy to explain," Aayla desperately tried to think of a reasonable answer. "I'm trying to keep a low profile. My low magical ability is very well known now. As for the artifact, that should be a dimensional plotter. Ramona told me about them, obviously. They're super rare, you know."
"That's not what I mean. You seemed surprised that that specific artifact was here, not about what it was. Artifacts like that are practically unheard of. There are no known ones left in existence. Even how to make them is a mystery. You knew what it was by sight."
"… Godmother has some pictures," Aayla shamelessly replied while looking as innocent as possible. "Well had some pictures. With everything going on those have probably been lost."
Daren sighed and decided it was better to ask directly.
"Look, Aayla, I'm sorry, but… I accidentally overheard part of a conversation between you and Ramona back at Nafriton. Are you from Terra?"