“The teams are finishing off the last of the undead; after that, those with us will proceed to the center,” Kimble informed him, and Larek nodded absently in acknowledgment as he stared ahead through the holes in the side of The Hopper.  “The reports I’ve been able to gain on the move say that there haven’t been any casualties, just a few injuries when Transport #368 was temporarily overwhelmed by swarms of Noxious Pixies, but their backup was able to hold the Pixies off long enough for them to recover.  Otherwise, those left behind are holding steady at their respective Apertures, eliminating any reinforcements that are spawning.  No difficult access points were reported, so the operation is going smoothly.”


    The Fusionist was barely listening as he stared at the massive cloud of shadows, which seemed artificial, as it surrounded the central Aperture.  He thought he could see the very top of the pitch-black Aperture sticking out of the bank of shadows, if only because it was perfectly curved in comparison to the undulating shadows around it.  From what he’d been told, or at least from what information was available, there shouldn’t have been any shadows around the Aperture – though that info was old, before there was a fourth-tier evolved monster guarding it.  He supposed that it could be a result of whatever this mystery monster was, but since he was nearly 100% sure there was a trap waiting for them somewhere in the Calamity, he could only assume that this was it.


    “This is it, isn’t it?” Nedira asked by his side, and he nodded once again.  Even though the edge of the shadow bank was approximately a mile away at this point, he stretched his Magical Detection senses out to its limit, trying to see what might be awaiting them.  Unfortunately, try as he might, he couldn’t detect a single thing; it was as if the shadows themselves were acting as some sort of barrier to his magical senses.


    That wasn’t suspicious at all.


    “We need to be careful,” he warned.  “I can’t penetrate the darkness with my senses.”


    “I’ll have the others get into position,” Kimble said, racing upstairs to the top deck.  Larek pulled his attention away from the shadowy trap ahead of them as he watched the flight of Transports finish annihilating the undead below.


    Thousands of Bone Wraiths were consumed from tens of thousands of fiery projectiles, launched by the Volunteers inside the vessels with their VREP staves.  Hundreds of Spectral Ogres, which were large, spirit-like, flying undead that were immune to physical attacks, were bombarded by spells cast by the hundreds of SIC members scattered throughout the Transports, as they were better able to cast devastating spells with their expanded Mana pools and other boosts provided by Larek’s Fusions.  The members of the expedition had quickly discovered that, while his staves did a little damage to the Ogres, it turned out that they were more physical in nature than straight-up spells cast by Mages.  Fortunately, they had the people perfectly suited for those kinds of attacks, thanks to the Corps joining the Volunteers.


    As for the dozens of third-tier evolved Flesh Abominations that were landbound, the 30-foot-tall, round balls of rotting flesh were the opposite of the Spectral Ogres, as they were heavily resistant to magic; they absorbed most spells sent against them, and the only way to kill them was to completely dismember and hack away at them, removing pieces of flesh by the ton.


    Alternatively, the Volunteers up above the horde of abominations could simply rain down multiple streams of acid with VED staves, which would quickly eat into the disgusting bodies of the Abominations.  It took about 5 minutes for them to be eaten away enough to “die”, but it was worth the time expenditure to stay high above them and out of danger.


    As soon as the last of the Abominations were reduced to disgusting masses of dissolving flesh, the Transports left the remains of the undead horde behind as they began to spread out, circling around the central Aperture and the impenetrable darkness that sat near it like a shadowy cloudbank.  Including The Hopper, there were 201 vessels that were now all prepared to assault the Aperture, and all of them had been informed in secret that they were likely walking into a trap.


    And yet, none of them hesitated to act.


    “I don’t know what we’re flying into here,” Larek murmured, still trying to penetrate the undulating shadows.  “I’m going to have to trigger whatever is waiting for us.”


    “No, you’re not going out there,” Nedira informed him in no uncertain terms.  “We’ve already decided that if all of us are going to be here, then you have to let some others take a risk sometimes.”


    “But—”


    “She’s right, Larek.  We already have a volunteer team, in fact.  Look.”


    Rather than argue, The Fusionist set his sights out toward a distant Transport, which was detaching from the encirclement, cautiously moving toward the darkness.  Larek held his breath as it flew right over the shadows, as he expected something to happen to the Transport at any moment, but nothing happened.


    At least, not at first.  It wasn’t until it started to descend toward the bank of darkness that something flashed out from the shadows and struck the wooden Transport.  From one second to the next, the vessel went from perfectly fine to being fully engulfed in flames, with the fire so hot that it was chewing through the wood at a rapid pace.


    Fortunately, whoever was piloting the Transport reacted quickly, and they retreated with all haste, angling the vessel away from the bank of darkness and to the ground, as it was rapidly falling apart.  Halfway to the ground, he watched as at least a dozen Volunteers or SIC members tumbled out of the Transport, a few of them covered in flames, but the rest fortunately were kept relatively safe by the Protection of the Void Fusions they were using.


    “Well, that didn’t work.  But it at least confirmed that there’s something in there waiting for us,” Kimble said as he looked toward where the Transport was crashing down.  There may have been some casualties, but it was equally possible that everyone had lived, thanks to their protections.  Larek silently thanked them for volunteering to test the waters, so to speak, and he vowed to not let their sacrifice be in vain.


    “Light ‘em up,” Larek ordered, but that didn’t seem to be completely necessary.  As soon as the first explosion rocked the area, a retaliatory use of a VED staff, the rest of the encircling Transports unleashed a barrage of their strongest attacks, either with their staves or their own spells, until the destruction was so constant and seemingly unending that it felt like the entire Calamity was being destroyed all at once.


    And yet, Larek frowned as he looked down at the shadowy bank, which instead of undulating like it had been, seemed to have solidified around the edges.  The rain of destruction, which would’ve been enough to kill just about anything, wasn’t even getting through the outer portions of the shadows, as the darkness appeared to be acting as some sort of impenetrable shield or barrier.  In effect, they were doing absolutely nothing.


    After about a minute, he wasn’t the only one who noticed that their attacks were ineffective, as the bombardment sputtered to a stop.  When they finally all stopped, it became quite obvious that everything they sent against the shadows had simply bounced off or had been absorbed into the darkness. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    “This isn’t working.  I have a feeling that we’re going to need to get closer and potentially even enter the shadows in order to—” Larek began, before he was cut off by a feeling coming from the darkness.  “Everyone, back up!” he shouted, but unfortunately only a few of the other Transports saw him move The Hopper backwards.


    As if in response to the previous barrage, there flashed out of the darkness a series of pinpoint attacks, each of them targeting a separate Transport.  A fireball larger than one of the vessels completely engulfed one of them before exploding with enough force to shatter its shell, despite the Strengthen Fusion keeping it together.  A second vessel was swallowed up by a huge globe of water, which rapidly froze into a block of ice before cracking into pieces, ripping the Transport apart.  A third Transport didn’t seem to do anything as a green orb slammed into it, but a moment later, the wood itself started to writhe and twist as it seemed to come alive, and Larek thought he heard the screams of those inside as they were attacked by the very vessel that had carried them that far.  Fortunately, many of them had Protection of the Void to help protect them, but that didn’t help those who didn’t have that Fusion yet.


    A fourth Transport was hit by a stone boulder at least 50 feet in diameter, which then shattered upon contact, ripping the vessel apart from the sheer impact, while also sending it flying backwards at a dangerous speed.  Finally, a fifth Transport appeared to be smacked out of the air, as it was sent crashing down as if someone had swatted it from above.  The buoyancy Effect didn’t seem to matter as a powerful gust of wind caused the vessel to hit the ground with enough of an impact that its frame cracked under the pressure, and it appeared as though even more air was pushing down on it on a constant basis, as if someone was attempting to squish it.


    All of that happened so fast that they weren’t able to react to the sudden destruction, and it was shocking enough that they were frozen into inaction.  That proved to be a mistake, as the attack on them wasn’t limited to just the initial volley.  Within seconds, a whole new set of Transports were being ripped apart or set on fire, and it didn’t appear as though the onslaught was going to slow down anytime soon.


    It was time to activate the contingency plan he’d put in place, before they lost all of the flying vessels and even more people died.


    I just hope that this works.


    Given that he’d created the extra Fusion on the bracelets containing the Adjustable Illuminate Area and Reactive Necrotic Siphon Fusions in secret, he hadn’t been able to test it more than a preliminary experiment with just two of them.  Now, though, if it worked the way he’d designed them, he was about to have thousands of them activated simultaneously.


    With a thought, he activated the Resonating Mana Siphon on his own bracelet.


    Resonating Mana Siphon +10


    Activation Method(s): Activatable, Reactive


    Effect(s): Can be automatically activated or deactivated with a Reactive Activation Method upon detection of a controlling Resonating Mana Siphon within range


    Effect(s): Creates a powerful Mana siphon that blankets a specific area, absorbing Mana from all sources


    Effect(s): Amplifies existing Mana siphons by creating a constant resonating effect, enhancing the range and strength of the siphon


    Effect(s): Using non-invasive mental manipulation, activates or deactivates Activatable Activation Method upon detection of mental phrasing by individual in direct contact with object


    Variable(s): Mental phrasing “Siphon On” and “Siphon Off”


    Input(s): Controlling Fusion activation detection


    Magnitude(s): Detection range up to 10,000 feet, Mana siphon range starts at a 10 foot diameter sphere


    Mana Cost: 225,000


    Pattern Cohesion: 8,625


    Fusion Time: 96 hours


    As the Fusion activated, Larek could immediately feel the ambient Mana from all around him start to drain away, being absorbed into a central point focused on the Fusion’s formation.  But it wasn’t just the ambient Mana in the environment that the Fusion was siphoning; he felt a strange sensation as it also began pulling Mana from his body, though it was fairly weak at the moment.  He also observed that the Resonating Mana Siphon was attempting to pull Mana from the Fusions on him and in The Hopper – but such an effect was prevented because the formational structure of the Fusions was so strong that it held onto the Mana better than anything else in the world.  In other words, it was locked up tight and wouldn’t release what was already contained within its formation – especially if it still had a flow of ambient Mana keeping it stable.  That was one of the tests he’d performed when making it, to ensure that the Mana Siphon didn’t suddenly break down all of the Fusions nearby – and he was pleased to see that his Fusion-creation abilities made it nearly impossible.


    Of course, that was just with two Fusions; he was fairly certain they would hold up under the strain of more, but that was still to be seen.


    Thankfully, he’d upgraded all of the old Fusions that the Transports and Volunteers were using to allow them to pull ambient Mana in from further away; the process was simple enough to do and only required the barest fraction of his focus to use Pattern Manipulation on the Mana Cost sections so that the ambience point was elsewhere, so he was able to change tens of thousands of Fusions in just a few minutes of concentration.


    But the activation of his “control” Fusion was just the start.  Every other Resonating Mana Siphon within 10,000 feet of his location was also activated, and the effect was nearly immediate.  The suctioning of Mana from all over was visible to him as the field at which the siphoning took place expanded from just his little 10-foot-diameter sphere to one that extended many thousands of feet – which also enveloped the bank of shadows obscuring what could only be the Unspoken Response leadership waiting for them.  The pull on his own Mana increased from a little tug to a yank, as it began to drain a few points every second.  Of course, since he was absorbing ambient Mana from further away, just like his Fusions, it didn’t really affect him, but it was sure to affect almost everyone else.


    His worry that his Fusions wouldn’t be able to hold up under the strain of the enhanced Mana Siphon were largely unfounded, fortunately, though he did notice a few of his oldest Fusions on a few staves he saw nearby were already starting to fade as the Mana was pulled from them.  They wouldn’t explode, fortunately, but they would be useless within seconds.  Overall, though, at least 98% of all the Fusions nearby were still fine.


    But most importantly, the large bank of darkness was starting to thin out, allowing him to see a little bit inside, though he couldn’t make out anything definite yet.  The obscuring effect of everything inside of it was still ongoing, but he could feel it weakening by the second.


    Now was the time to attack as they grew weaker from the Mana Siphon; he thought that it was rather clever justice that the same Mana Siphon spell that the assassins had attempted to use against him was going to be their own downfall.


    “Attack now while they’re—” he started to say, before he staggered a little.  He’d just been hit by a sensation for which he was entirely unprepared, and it took him a few seconds to get his bearings.


    Once he recovered, his head snapped to the outer wall’s holes, his senses easily pinpointing what he’d felt.  A second later, emerging from the dissipating shadows, two familiar figures shot up into the air.


    Those Gergasi are here, too?  They’re working together?


    Even though they were being affected by the Mana Siphon as well, those two were just as or even more dangerous than the entirety of the assassin group’s leadership.  Given even 20 seconds, they could fly around and absolutely devastate the Transports nearby without breaking a sweat, and they had very little to fear from the Volunteers and SIC members on board.  Worse than that, as far as he was concerned, was that The Hopper fell into that category of vulnerability; with nearly everyone he cared about on board, he couldn’t risk them potentially being killed in an instant.  Granted, they had some protective Fusions keeping them safe, but as he’d already seen, those Fusions weren’t foolproof.


    “Those people down below are your responsibility now!” he shouted as he ran for the stairs to the top deck.  “I’ve got to handle those two Gergasi!”


    “Wait, Larek, you can’t fight both of them—” Nedira protested.


    The Fusionist paused at the top of the stairs.  “We have no other choice.  They already know I’m here.  Stay safe,” he added, before he launched himself up and off The Hopper, a Pattern platform forming underneath his feet as he sped toward the ascending Gergasi.