Annabelle’s Bastion

A short distance away was the distinct border that separated the Titan Forest from the monotone world, clearly defined as the colorless touched the colored and threatened to consume it.

Nobody already in the zone said a thing, frozen still at various points beyond, statues battling against the corruption’s grip on their minds.

Anna hoped for their safety and prayed Jaxon was watching carefully.

But she had herself to worry about.

Each step made her chest a little tighter, her nervousness climb, and her breath heavier.

An attack on the mind was a beast she was entirely helpless to prepare for. She was about to wing it and hope for the best.

And she hated helplessness more than anything.

But each step closer was what kept her going, as those unfamiliar emotions of disgust and desire to destroy returned. Not the basic kind of disgust, like seeing or smelling something repulsive. No, this was unlike anything she had ever felt before—deeper, visceral.

Even understanding that it had the potential to rob millions of their lives shouldn’t have made her react so strongly.

She wanted it gone, sure, but the disgust seemed more personal rather than righteous.

It wasn’t often she felt an emotion she couldn’t identify the reason behind. She considered herself a self-aware person, but this... this was different. The corruption seemed to resonate with a part of her she hadn’t known existed, creating a sense of loathing that felt almost instinctual.

Was it owed to her awakening as a mage? Or a part of her being as a human?

She would have stopped before entering the corruption zone—let the reality soak in. But Aria clearly didn’t care for dramaticism.

“Wai—”

Aria grabbed Anna’s hand and just pulled her right in!

Thankfully, she didn’t have as violent a reaction as she expected. But damn if she didn’t scold Aria later for her poor timing!

“Look,” Aria said, gesturing toward a group of people frozen still. “Not one of them is moving.” She sounded a bit prideful at that.

Anna sighed. “Right, right.”

They could see pretty much the entire expedition now. And it wasn’t just the groups near them. Nobody in the expedition showed any indicators of movement, still as statues. Some were closer to the fog, others right by the edge.

What did the distance traversed mean?

Did that indicate mental talent, soul talent, or just their mentality—willpower? Perhaps a combination of all.

Yet Anna felt nothing—not even a twinge of an attack on her psyche. Unless, of course, the loathing sensation was an attempt at gripping her mind in its abhorrent claws.

That would have been the likely explanation, as the sensation felt a bit too foreign, but she felt it before even entering the zone. Luckily, it wasn’t enough to impede her. The opposite; she wanted to go forward and destroy it!

“How is it?” She asked Aria, who also hadn’t shown signs of anything.

Suddenly, a few of the expedition members in their proximity groaned, earning a jump from Anna.

A glance showed their faces tightened and sweat pouring, with their hands shaky or clenched tightly.

She stepped forward, only for Aria to grab her shoulder.

Aria shook her head. “Leave them; you cannot help. Jaxon will stop it if it threatens to become harmful.”

“I know!” She just wanted to make sure! She looked into Aria’s amber eyes. “Do you feel anything? What’s it like?”

“I feel...” She paused, collecting her thoughts or finding an apt way to describe it to Anna. Rather than meet Anna’s gaze, she looked deeper into the forest. “It feels like a horrific beast staring at me from somewhere I can’t see. A darkness threatening to engulf me.”

“Huh,” Anna said. She clenched and unclenched her fists, moving her body around, yet didn’t feel anything odd. “I don’t feel like anything like that.”

Aria shook her head. “It attacks through different means—we won’t experience the same thing.” Aria didn’t stop moving, taking slow and measured steps forward. “If I were to feel the fear, if I were to stop, its assault would increase in magnitude. I will overcome it.”

That sounded more to herself than a reassurance to Anna.

“Is that what happened to them? They felt something like the... stare... then froze from it, which created an opening for the corruption to try to take hold?”

A jumpscare was really all it took for that thing to get a foothold? Or perhaps it was simply that they were technically cadets, untrained and unprepared to fight corruption. This could probably serve as a magnificent training program.

But it sure was cruel.

Anna reassured herself that Jaxon was behind them, watching each closely with his sensory ability, ready to swoop in and save them.

But if he wasn’t there?

She shook her head—why did that thought have to cross her mind?

“Literally everyone…” Anna muttered. She could see Ashton, frozen fairly close to Cole but surprisingly among the closest to reach the fog before freezing.

If only… she shook her head again. Too many thoughts were distracting her from her goal!

Their careful, slow steps brought them to the fog soon after.

“I don’t know what you’re feeling, but everybody experiences it differently,” Aria explained again. It seemed to Anna that talking helped her ignore whatever was trying to get at her. But she could see it on her friend’s face. Paler, beads of sweat, and tightened brows. “The corruption doesn’t attack everyone the same way. It’s attacking me in the way I would best respond—a predator toying with its prey. It’s trying to make me feel like the hunted. It’s difficult, I can’t—” Aria froze. Her brows tightened more than Anna had ever seen them, and her jaw clenched. “I... I will beat... this. Don’t fight… scout… wait for me.”

“Aria?!” Anna exclaimed. “Hey! Aria! ... Aria!” She instinctively reached out but froze when she remembered that she shouldn’t do that without knowing what would happen if she was forcefully moved. Jaxon would know… And Aria wouldn’t like it, either—it was her battle. She shakily pulled her hand back and turned toward the fog. “O-okay... I… I trust you.”

Aria had to break free—and she didn’t look as tense and sweaty as the rest. She probably could actually break herself free!

If she stopped moving, it could probably take hold of her, too!

Anna checked the students around her; Cole seemed the closest to breaking free from it, based on his expression not being as tense. There were others as well, but he was the biggest threat.

They didn’t even react as Anna got close enough to analyze their faces. It seemed the… illusion or mental trap they were in was overpowering their senses.

Horrifying.

“O-okay!” She took a deep breath and pushed on.

As she stepped through the dark fog, a booming sound echoed across the forest, nearly making her fall over in fright. But it died when her body emerged, the end of the sound akin to a muffled blast.

“What the...” Anna turned toward the fog, unable to see anything beyond the perfect wall.

Something was wrong—that sound only had one plausible answer. A fight.

Jaxon!

Jaxon was fighting something, something capable of making an explosion that loud! She recalled the horn noise he described. Was he fighting that monster?

The desire to run out to check and the loathing for the core battled within. One urged her forward, her proximity to her goal a mere few steps. The other made her want to check—if Jaxon was in trouble… they all died.

But that answer came quickly, with a harsh realization; Anna was powerless. What would she do? That explosion would probably blow her to pieces with just the shockwave. Not only that, but she didn’t have the mana for a big fight.

She clenched her fists.

Lastly… if she didn’t get that Sigil, Aria would get punished for nothing. The entire trip would have been utterly useless, and the only thing they would walk away with was the consequences. And Aria would continue to lose, and she would eventually be killed.

“Please be okay,” she muttered.

The best thing she could do was destroy the core so they could all teleport back the moment Jaxon was able.

And so she pressed on.

The only sounds accompanying her were her own steps against the grass, broken twigs, her breathing, and her nervous heartbeat. It was so quiet, dreadfully so. If she had to stay in a place like this, she may actually go insane.

Behind was the fog, cutting off all visual contact with the colorful world beyond.

Another step, still nothing.

Each tree, each blade of grass, and even the wind itself felt dead as it seemed to blow right through her. Instead of blotches of monotone, the world was entirely bleak. Almost like Anna was looking at a scene from an old movie, yet it felt eerie and hopeless.

As she moved forward, the sound of the core became more noticeable—a deep vibration pulsing every few seconds like a heart.

“Disgusting,” Anna muttered. “I hate this.”

She stopped.

There it was, hovering within a large clearing and emitting a dreadful whir, tendrils of black constantly forming and dissipating from its body.

When Anna’s eyes reached it, the disgust almost reached an unbearable level. The level that demanded action. She needed to obliterate that thing and ensure every piece turned to dust. It was difficult to resist the urge to charge at it with wild abandon.

Its resemblance to a Sigil was uncanny. Rather than the myriad colors, only countless specks of black and grey bounced within, but the same text as the Sigils hovered around it like rings around a planet.

The link didn’t sit well with her at all.

“Calm down, Annabelle... Jesus,” Anna whispered, placing her hand on her beating heart. “This isn’t like you at all.”

But the words did little to assuage her feelings as she stared at the core, hoping to glean something from it.

Yet the core showed no indication of action, which left Anna unsure how to proceed.

It was classified as an F-Tier Core, meaning it shouldn’t be too dangerous, even if it had an Apex Sigil—it could only use it at a barebones, weak level. Yet the unknown was enough of a threat.

She turned back, but Aria wasn’t there for assurance.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t wait.

There was only one way to try.

Anna gave her barrier some mana, save for what would keep her from collapsing from exhaustion after a few attacks.

A black shimmer spread across her body, and she felt her access to some mana get blocked by a dam.

Another problem, then, was how she would fight it.

Presumably, a single, maximum-enhanced punch would shatter it. But her enhancements weren’t anything to write home about, and she wasn’t confident in their capability. There was always a chance she failed.

There was a muffled explosion, once again, somewhere in the skies. If their goal was to stop the destruction of the core, then she had to hurry!

“Ahh, screw it!!”

Black rings extended from her legs and wrists, filling her body with strength.

She picked up two rocks, then immediately kicked off the dirt, rushing to it.

The orb’s whir intensified and shined as Anna neared

However, her dash abruptly ended when she felt the overwhelming sense that she needed to freeze—to stop moving.

She jumped back and threw the rocks with all the force she could muster, just in time for the whirr of a fast swing that left an arc of black in its wake.

The sword roared through the air and slammed into the ground in an explosion of dirt and rock. The blade pierced the dirt to its hilt before effortlessly flying back above the orb.

Simultaneously, her thrown rocks caused a wave to go out from the core, similar to how her barrier reacted to blows.

Floating above the orb was a massive greatsword that had just finished forming. A blade of pure black taller than Anna and nearly as wide, a pure blade with no fancy attachments.

“Jesus!” Anna exclaimed between her heavy breaths and racing heart.

That would have killed her!

Not only was the blade fast, but it was easily strong enough to cut her in half! And, of course, it had a damn barrier!

She dismissed her barrier, leaving the mana available for her enhancements—close range was definitely off the table.

As if to mock her, the core shined as black tendrils formed two more greatswords on its sides.

“Gee, thanks,” Anna muttered as she stepped further back.

It took a few minutes to collect her breathing and calm down.

The core didn’t seem to want to attack unless she approached its limited range, so he halted the flow to her enhancements to conserve mana.

Another muffled explosion shook the air, serving as a cold reminder she needed to hurry.

“What is happening?” she said, shaking her head in an attempt to clear her worry.

For there to be so many explosion noises… Jaxon was not having an easy fight, and he was—at best—evenly matched with his opponent. Something with that strength could easily kill all of them—even just the crossfire.

And that last explosion was noticeably closer than the first.

“Damn it.”