NOVPUBZhenha, a fortress built atop blackened hills encircled by jagged obsidian spires like the shattered crown of a long dead king. Between the rings lay a chasm veiled in rolling mist, obscuring the bottom from sight.
Etched upon the dark stones of the fortress and the obsidian spikes surrounding it were Eclipse icons. Ritualistic markings that have been worn with age and redrawn countless times.
A blazing red to contrast the material that it's marked upon.
At the heart of this cursed bastion of the Eclipse rose a fortress. A towering monolith crafted from black stone, stretching skyward like a defiant act against the heavens.
Weaved between the gaps of the material were putrid crimson veins that twitched with false life, as if flesh had been fused to stone, pulsing with an unholy vitality. A heretical mockery of life.
Bridges arched between each ring. Narrow, fortified chokepoints suspended over the abyss, preventing the approach of any army unless they're willing to pay the price.
Tattered banners snapped in the wind, bearing the marking of the Eclipse.
*RUMBLE!!!
A bombardment of attacks crashed against the fortress's barrier, shaking the earth. Yet the shield held firm, not a single crack, not a single fluctuation that might show weakness.
After a pause, the fortress countered with a bombardment of its own. A retaliation of fire and lightning surged forth like a wrathful storm. It struck against the makeshift wards that Suyin had her casters weave, the glowing intersections of the barrier flickering, faltering.
Unlike the seemingly impenetrable defence of the enemy, theirs trembled, strained under the pressure of retaliation.
"Tch. Prepare for the second barrage! Casters!" Suyin commanded, her voice cutting through the chaos. "Focus on hitting the same spot! Drill through if you must! Just make it crack!"
Things weren't going as well as she had hoped. The desperation in her voice was evident of it. The barrier around Zhenha held firm while they were slowly running out of steam.
Thankfully, there were no signs of a Lord making a move so that was something she was grateful for.
"You know, I can break that barrier pretty easily." Alice raised her hand, forming a frame between her thumb and index finger, She peered through the gap, aligning the Zhenha fortress and its barrier within the gap.
"It's nothing special, I can tear it down in a few seconds." She evaluated, summoning her personal artifact.
"If you told me you were going to blow them up with the power of a Lord back then, we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with." Suyin folded her arms, visibly annoyed. "We don't know if they have a Lord or not. The moment anything abnormal appears, namely you, they'll probably make a move."
"I can deal with them-"
"That's not the issue." Suyin interrupted her, scratching her hair in frustration and annoyance. "The main issue comes when you do deal with the opposing Lord. We can't sit still if they appear but things will get so much worse if you intervene and kill them."
To put bluntly, she was trapped between a rock and a hard place. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
Turning off her communication device, Suyin decided to have a moment of honesty with Alice.
"To be blunt, we're f*cked. Like royally f*cked without protection." She let out a sigh.
"We can't retreat since the south will keep attacking. We can't brute force things either since a Lord might escalate things beyond control. Win or lose, sh*t's already hit the fan."
Alice was silent. Even if she tried to move as an individual right now, there's no way her actions won't be considered to be the actions of the north. Therefore, anything she does will implicate them to some degree.
Anything she does. . .
"!!!"
Seeing Alice jolt upright, Suyin had a sense of dread fill her chest.
"No."
"I haven't even said anything yet!" Alice frowned, feeling wronged.
"I don't know what you're planning but you're already giving me goosebumps. I can already see more sh*t hitting the fan and flying everywhere." Suyin made a face of disgust, showing Alice her arm.
"Rude! Look just hear me out."
"I don't wanna." Suyin adamantly shook her head.
"The only issue is that it's me right?" Alice grinned. "So what if it's not me?"
"Let me strap a bomb to Jin and have him deliver it to the barrier. I'm sure it'll be fine if it's him."
"The f*ck???" Jin's voice shouted from the side as his head popped up. He had been resting next to the serpent and just so happened to overhear what Alice was saying. That sentence alone was enough to send him into a panic.
Hearing that Alice wanted to strap a bomb to him almost made him run away but he hoped that he had heard wrong.
"Explain." Suyin hesitated. She had to admit, there were two sides in her. One that wanted absolutely nothing to do with whatever Alice had planned. The other was the burning curiosity regarding how Alice intends to destroy the barrier.
"As you said, it only becomes an issue if I'm the one out there. But what if Jin is the 'carrier' for a payload? My artifact has a property that allows me to destabilize the space around it. Be that a Second Resonance or a barrier.
"Therefore, I'll have Jin carry a node for me to teleport my artifact over and shred this barrier for you." Alice winked. Or rather, in her current case, she blinked.
"Can't you just teleport it over without turning me into a suicide pigeon???" Jin's smile twitched.
"No can do. The barrier stops things from going through including teleportation ya know? The space around it can't be targeted. Think of it as a wave of water pushing against a door, preventing me from opening it."
"But if I get you to carry the package directly next to the barrier, I can punch a hole through."
Contemplating in silence, Suyin opened her mouth.
###
Jin wanted to cry.
There he stood, just beyond the bridges leading to the fortress barrier. A dead man's path stretched before him and across the distance, waves upon waves of enemy soldiers watched, waiting for him.
The ballistas aimed on his head.
The air was thick with killing intent. And even if he lost a few screws thanks to interacting with Alice, he was still feeling a slow creeping fear.
He only had on goal, one mission.
A mad dash through the hell in front of him and deliver the payload to the barrier. Once detonated and the space is open to Alice once more, she'll extract him from danger.
There was only one problem, however.
That being everything between him and the target.
Eldritch beasts, cultists and even malformed creatures that looked like a merger between the two. Colossal hulking masses of flesh emitting a vile gurgling sound every time it breathed.
This. . . path.
This sprint.
If he gets too caught up at any part, he'll be surrounded on all sides.
Now, common sense dictates that Alice should drop him as close as she could to reduce the travel and minimize the risk.
But unfortunately, common sense doesn't apply to Alice.
She simply called it training.
"Pain builds character." Was her direct explanation.
To further enhance his usage of Zone, the understanding of his own body and martial arts.
This path was his to walk and his alone.
He'll get supporting fire from their allies but that was all. The rest was all on him.
"How you feelin'?" Alice's voice rang out from the communication crystal.
He could hear the smugness in her voice.
"Terrible."
"Hehe~ Good to hear. From my initial observations, there are only three key targets that you should watchout for.
"The fat one on the first bridge, the one gurgling on his own blood, the skinny flying one on the second bridge and the three headed one on the third. All three have significantly higher outputs compared to the rest." Alice explained.
"You'll have to be careful with how you use your Eldritch energy since if you're not careful, they'll assimilate you."
"How pleasant." Jin groaned.
He didn't even need Alice to tell him which ones he needed to watch out for. After all, he could feel their murderous glares even from this distance.
"Oh you'll be fine~" Alice laughed with a wave of her hand. "Just flash them your best smile when you sprint past."
"Am I avoiding them or seducing them???" Jin's smile twitched. "But what if on the off chance that I'm not fine and I'm caught?"
"You don't want to find out what happens if that's the case." She smirked ominously.
As someone personally trained by her to use the Absolute Zone, getting past this bridge should be relatively doable for him.
The only issue lie in Jin's consistency between the two states. If he's not concentrating hard enough, his Absolute Zone will be broken and reverted back to its weaker state. And if that was to happen in a real fight? Death.
Whether she meant to or not, Alice had designed the perfect training course for him to stabilize his understanding of the Absolute Zone.
Seeing that Alice wasn't about to give him an easy way out, Jin let out a sigh and nodded his head.
He shifted his stance, lowering his centre of gravity. His gaze focused and began to capture the world in full clarity.
Eldritch energy rolled off his body in waves before digging deep into his muscles. He could feel the power flowing through his legs, building up, ready to be unleashed.
"Alright, let me know when to go."
As though to announce the start of his race, Suyin roared out her command of attack.
A blazing wave of fire crashed forth as Jin stomped down and sprinted towards the enemy.
