Mono and Kael raced across the rooftops, desperately trying to escape their pursuers. Not far behind them, was the bastion buying time for civilians to escape. He was holding off the Lyndwrm invaders, and dealt with them swiftly. The problem was that there seemed to be no end to Lyndwrm's men. It did not matter how many times the bastion swung his hammer, nor how many times he palmed their skulls. They kept assaulting the bastion in an attempt to overwhelm him with their numbers and resilience.
In a feeble attempt to pierce through the bastion defense, a soldier thrusted his spear into his chestplate, in hopes that it would break due to the previous attacks on the man. However as the spear made contact with the bastion's chest plate the blade shattered and the handle crumpled in his arms. The soldier was not given time to retreat as he was met with a swift blow to the head, concussing him and causing a blood clot to reach his brain.
Shortly after the first, an exceptionally flexible and acrobatic soldier, managed to make his way past the bastion by distracting him; launching his weapon and swiftly ducking behind the mob of soldiers to get past him. This breakthrough did not last long as the soldier heard a crackle of energy ahead of him. Before he could identify the source of the noise he felt an impact whilst his vision flashed green. The force of the impact knocked him from his feet momentarily, yet he regained his footing almost instantly. He closed his eyes attempting to concentrate, he checked his body for any new feelings. There was no difference from before other than a sudden rise in temperature near his chest. Opening his eyes, the soldier stroked his chest only to find a large hole had pierced through him. His eyes widened in shock, the soldier's heartbeat– or rather the lack thereof horrified him . Consumed by fear and attempting to escape reality, the soldier ran back from the way he came. He sprinted as hard as he could, running with his head down. As he was running he heard a grunt and lifted his head, and thus he was met with the face of a hammer.
Mono holstered his Ion pistol after extinguishing the life of a soldier, not taking a moment of pause before beginning his sprint. Though Kael had not stopped to wait for Mono, he caught up with her in a matter of seconds. Kael glanced at Mono wearing a worried expression.
"I don't think we'll be able to make it at this pace."
Mono studied Kael for a moment. Despite the humans of the present era being way more physically gifted than before, she seemed like an outlier for the average woman. Of course, although Kael had introduced herself that way, and for the most part her physical abilities matched, Mono still managed to spot minor discrepancies between her information and what he observed. Like Mono, Kael was in no manner short in stamina, her steady breath had not become labored or ragged.
'We've been running for around thirteen minutes now but not just running…'
Mono's thought was cut short as he vaulted over a protruding railing.
'We've also been maneuvering around many obstacles as well.'
In a situation such as this it was especially dangerous to try and provoke Kael into revealing her hand. Mono quickly let go of the thought and continued to sprint and jump across buildings.
'According to the system we have been running at an average pace of ten miles per hour.'
He cleared his thoughts in order to answer Kael. He had a few ideas in mind but even slight provocation would be dangerous, with that in mind Mono had come upon the only answer he could rely on.
"We'll die if we don't, but in regards to that we'd die long before that if you can't keep running. How much longer do you think you can go?"
Kael's face twitched at the blunt response. Yet she made no effort to retort, because although his response had been harsh, it was the objective truth. Carefully collecting her thoughts Kael turned to Mono and answered with a grimace.
"One or two minutes. That is all I can guarantee."
With her thoughts voiced, Mono took the reins of the situation. After carefully observing Kael, he had anticipated that sooner or later, she would slip up. And as Mono predicted, in an attempt to jump across a gap Kael was swept off her feet. She staggered momentarily, and yet this single second was all he needed. Mono did not miss a beat. He grabbed her swiftly, and then began improving the speed at which he was sprinting, in under three seconds he had gone from ten miles per hour, to twenty seven.
***
Elsewhere, explosions rang out, filling the air with dust. Shockwaves blasted people apart, shrapnel found its way into vitals. To the many people experiencing their home being raided, this was hell. The blasts would rip people apart as their corpses were sent flying mid-air, causing blood to rain all over the battlefield.
In the midst of the battlefield, stood a young boy. The boy had blue eyes that did not miss a single scene, and deep black hair that blended into the night. The blood raining on the battlefield had not let up, it would never let up until the battle had come to a conclusion. The boy regarded this and opened his umbrella. The massacre that was presently occurring was something that the boy could not ignore. Not once did he take his eyes off a single casualty, counting them even.
A woman carrying a child in her arms was desperately fleeing towards the boy's direction. Behind her, was a soldier pushing a steel wall off of his shoulder emerging from a fire. Bearing a crooked smile the soldier brought his pistol up, aiming in the direction of the woman. The woman did not look back, not even for a single moment. The boy regarded this scene just as much as the others.
'She's not going to make it.'
The woman's eyes were filled with tears, though she did not perceive the cause of her impending doom. The soldier's pistol filled itself with a blue light, preparing to fire. The boy contracted his umbrella and narrowed his eyes. Pointing the umbrella in the woman's direction, he whispered a command.
"Enshroud."
Upon receiving the command, the umbrella expanded and released substance. Something which cannot be perceived by the naked eye, the fleeing woman was devoured by an empty nothing. Upon the sight of the spectacle the soldier questioned his sanity. It was as if the fleeing woman ahead of him had been removed from existence, it seemed as if there was no longer anything occupying the space she had once resided in. Complete and utter silence accompanied the phenomena. Without letting his mind wander far into his thoughts, he switched his aim to the boy that stood ahead of him. Only when he pointed towards him, he had also ceased to exist. Due to the fire, the air was hazy and filled with smoke.
"Did I inhale too much smoke?"
The soldier coughed as he spoke. It was most likely a hallucination caused from inhaling the toxic gases the flames expelled. As the man struggled to get up from his knees, he felt a shift in the air. Alerted by the sudden movement the man quickly turned around, only for it to be too late. With a sickening crunch, his spine had been broken through, and what pierced through his back, was an umbrella. The same umbrella which the young boy from before possessed. As the soldier tried to move his flesh made a squelching sound.
"Devour."
The soldier heard the unusual words being spoken on the battlefield. Though, his notice was far too late to save his life. Tendrils wrapped around his body, his vision was shrouded in darkness as he felt the cold, once-distant void suck him into an abyss.