The Manaverse

North East of the Slatewell Casino

Granite City

As soon as the line broke to the South of where they were fighting, Jut, Jonny, and the Iron Fists felt the lack of pressure. Not long after that, there were no Monsters around them.

"We need to fall back and find the front line." A hunter nearby said.

Without even taking time to process what had happened, Jut began falling back with the group he was with. Along the way, they killed a few straggling Monsters.

"What the Hell happened?" Jut asked aloud between fights.

"The line broke. Not much else to say. It happens in combat." Jonny said solemnly.

"This wouldn't be an issue if more people were hunters." Diggy said bitterly.

"We can't expect more people to fight, Digs. Fighting Monsters is scary. Even with my training in MMA, this is more than I can deal with sometimes." Joey Armstrong, a member of Diggy's team said. The man was as big as Jonny, but was darker complected with a more lithe build.

Larry grunted and shook his head. Everyone looked at him, but it was Jonny who spoke.

"I believe Larry means that fear isn't an excuse if you want to live through the end of the world." Jonny said and Larry nodded his agreement. "However, I'm with Joey here. Monsters are scary. Especially the ones who can use weapons."

Jut scowled. "If the Minotaur are that scary, why were you sending me off to fight them alone?"

"Did you die?" Jonny asked with a smirk.

"Almost." Jut's frustrated growl of a retort made everyone around him chuckle.

"But, you didn't. Did you?"

Larry grunted an pointed ahead of them. They had been walking with no further Monsters to fight for most of that conversation. In front of them was a sorry scene. Five Minotaur were surrounding a man who had his back to a fountain with a dolphin on top.

"Speak of the devils." Jonny said as his pace increased. "Let's split up. We need part of the group to go on ahead to see if they can find the front line."

The group automatically split. Most of the Iron Fists, including Diggy, broke off from the group and went around the fight before them.

Jut, Jonny, Larry, and Joey joined the fright. However, just before they were able to clear the distance to the battle, the man managed to take down one of the Minotaur with a crack to it's head. The other four lunged forward, smashing their clubs into the man, one after another.

"Damn you!" Jonny said as he smashed the closest Minotaur on the back of the head.

Jut jumped forward and managed to deflect a stray club that went for Jonny. "We will show you what it means to gang up on someone weaker than you." Jut taunted.

Jut's words worked as the Minotaur he had deflected turned fully towards him. Jut smiled and activated his skill, Magical Strikes. His mana was dangerously low, but he had managed to recover some of it on their walk.

Jut's club began to glow as he traded swings with the Monster. Every time he swung his weapon, it left an after image in his vision. Enough for him to know his skill was working but not enough to distract him or cloud his vision. With a few clever faints, Jut managed to down his Minotaur and he looked around to assess their situation.

Jonny was on top of the Minotaur he had struck at first, pounding his own giant club into the beast.

Larry had successfully taken down another while Joey was just barely getting the upper hand on his own.

Jut decided to step over to Joey and have his back, in case the fight didn't go the way the man intended. He was glad when he didn't need to attack the Monster as Joey took the beast down. Jut let his skill deactivate once he noticed there were no more Monsters close enough to fight. There were some battles nearby, but he wanted to save his mana, just in case.

"I need a quick breather." Joey huffed. "My Skill uses stamina instead of mana. My bar isn't refilling completely, but I should be good to go soon."

Jonny pulled out his water bottle, taking a deep swig before he passed the same to Larry who took it eagerly.

"Well. This poor guy almost survived." Jonny said as he bent to investigate the man's body. "Too bad we weren't a few minutes earlier."

Larry handed the bottle back to Jonny before he examined the other human bodies around them. He began to gesture to the bodies frantically.

Jonny tipped his head in confusion. "Jut. You've been hurt the most by Monsters out of all of us. Does this wound look like a Monster Cat slash, or a Scorpion stinger mark to you?"

"Rude." Jut said, which elicited a chuckle from Joey and Jonny. Jut almost gagged as he bent over the corpse. He shook his head. "Nah. The wound is too smooth. The Cats' marks are more jagged and the stings are usually a single hole. What does it mean?"

Larry looked at the three of them. It was his word that lent to how bad he believed it was. "Betrayal."

Jut, Jonny, and Joey all shared a glance.

"You mean a human did this?" Jut asked, his fear finding new heights. The others only nodded. The thought was too grim for them to comment.

Why would anyone do that at a time like this? Jut thought. He expected some kind of response from his guide, but Alex remained quiet. Jut looked around, as if he could find answers. There was nothing but a few fights, a few Monster and human corpses and his team.

Jut pulled up his quest timer.

01:05:35

Great. They still had over an hour before the lock down and now they had to worry about human monsters too? He shook his head as he closed the timer.

"Where next boss?" Jut asked Jonny.

Jonny stood and looked around. "I guess we meet up with the other Iron Fists. Let's go. Get enough of a break, Joey?"

Joey made an affirmative noise before leading them toward his team. Jut's group followed behind quickly.

"How do we find who did this?" Jut asked.

Jonny looked at him sadly and shrugged. "I don't know. I think we report it to the Safe Zone's staff after all of this blows over. If it does, that is. At least we know it wasn't one of us."

"That's-". Jut's response was cut short as the end of a massive club smashed down onto Jonny's head. Jut was standing close enough that gore splattered his face. Jonny's head had cracked like a melon.

Jut turned. The first Minotaur who had been clubbed by the dead man was breathing hard, blood running down his snout and face.

Jut couldn't even react past screaming.

It was Larry who moved. Larry smashed his own club into the Monster. Even after the Monster fell, he continued to pound the beast. He, too, was screaming.

If Jut wasn't horrified by his now dead leader's corpse, he would have realized it was the most sound Larry had ever made.

"We've got to go. Look." Joey said as he tried to pull Larry off the now truly dead Minotaur. Larry shoved him off and went back to smashing the corpse.

Jut saw. It was another rush of Monsters. He too tried to pull Larry free, but the man's silent threat of violence made Jut back off.

Joey yanked Jut with him. "Come on. We gotta go. Now. We are out numbered."

Jut fought weakly, but Joey managed to pull him along. The last thing Jut saw before they rounded a corner was a group of Dog, Cat, and Scorpion Monsters fall on Larry who was still blindly attacking the dead Minotaur in rage.

In moments, Jut's entire world had changed... again. The emotional wave of confusion, despair, rage, and denial flooded him so intensely that he became numb.

Joey had to pick him up and carry him. Jut was slowing them down too much.

What brought the world into focus and made Jut's mind start to function again was the text box that flashed over and over in his vision. While the rest of the world was fuzzy, the words were crystal clear and one hundred percent correct.

If you do not snap out of this, we will both die too.

Jut remembered then that if he died, so would Alex. His new companion was linked to him. It wasn't... fair.

It wasn't fair their world crashed. It wasn't fair for beings from an entirely different part of space or reality to come in and wipe them out. It wasn't fair that most of the survivors did so based on mostly luck. And, it wasn't fair that stronger men than him had been crushed like that. In a blink.

The world came into focus and he realized he was being fireman carried.

"Joe. Joey. Joey! There's no Monsters behind us!" Jut said in increasing volume. He had to squirm around a bit before Joey realized he had come to. The man stopped and set him down roughly.

Jut got up and they both looked around as they kept walking quickly. He kept his grip loose on his club, which he was surprised he still had after the state he was in.

Around him was a gruesome sight. Some time back, they had passed the new battle line. Littered around the Casino's plaza were mangled and torn bodies of both people and monsters. Bushes and decorative trees were on fire. The devastation was as bad as the first day the System had arrived.

Clumps of combat were pocked around the space with a mass of civilians waiting to pile into the main building at least fifteen thousand deep. Many hunters were lined up between them and the combat. They were acting as a last stand, waiting for the line to break again.

Jut and Joey never spoke past one solid glance where they both nodded. They were in full agreement. As one, they charged the nearest clump of monsters with a battle cry tearing from their lips.

Over the next hour, Jut tore through Monster after Monster. His club flashed with the glow of magic often. He was always running low on both stamina and mana. Yet, his HP was dwindling very slowly, sitting at eighty-five percent. He retained just enough of his sanity to dodge attacks, parry blows, and protect those around him.

Slowly, Jut's group, which grew and grew as they fought, cleared the main area of the Plaza. Then they reinforced the main battle lines.

The fighting was gruesome, bloody, and terrible. Yet, Jut didn't notice. He only saw two things. Targets to destroy and people to protect.

Even though losing others was inevitable, Jut did everything in his power to minimize anymore fatalities. He even caught a scorpion stinger with his forearm just before it would have pierced a man through the face. The tip of the stinger pushed out the other side. The wound hurt, but it didn't stop him. Jut rotated his arm and yanked the Scorpion to him before beating it to death.

This time, no one was watching for the countdown to end. They were all still fighting. Those who did have the countdown open in their vision didn't catch how long was left when every Monster in the Safe Zone turned as one and fled to the North East. Even to their detriment as many were struck down as they tried to disengage.

A few were about to give chase, but others stopped them. They dragged them back, kicking and screaming.

Jut looked around. All of the civilians had made it inside. Many of them could be seen running along the sky bridges to the corner towers. There were no living Monsters around and the battle was over.

For the first time since the flood started, something made Jut's eyes widen in curiosity rather than fear or anger. It made him pull open the lock down timer.

00:00:00

A blue wave of light appeared straight up in the sky above the casino. It was the same color as his mana bar and it started to extend out and down around a section of the city in the shape of a dome, blocking out the view of everything beyond it. Jut guessed the dome ended at the exact edge of the Safe Zone.

It was official. The Safe Zone had officially been locked down.

Jut fell backwards onto his butt without noticing. He just sat there, watching the vibrant blue wall. All of the fight had left him. The barrage of emotions he hadn't fully processed began to vie for his attention.

A thump sounded next to him and Jut looked over. A battered and wounded Diggy sat next to him.

"You mother fucker. You made it." Diggy said, not looking at Jut. He stuck a closed fist out.

"Yeah, you lucky bastard. I did. So did you." Jut said, looking back out at the barrier. He bumped his fist against Diggy's. Although their hand shake was severely shortened, it was still very complex without either of them looking at one another.

Then they both sat back on their hands, looking on silently for a long, long while.