Fireballs arced from Juan, while Terry and Marlon used space to cut down the attackers by the dozens. But it wasn’t as easygoing as the first two waves, nearly a hundred various creatures charging them all at once.
Still, it was only a matter of time before each enemy was burnt or bisected, and none of them even made it to Isa at the gate.
By the time the fourth wave spawned, Julio had managed to expand his trench on three sides, funneling the incoming creatures to the gate side. The composition and count remained relatively the same as the third wave, but the aura density ratcheted up a degree. It took just a touch more effort to bisect the berserkers, slowing him down enough that he couldn’t deal with the wave on the gate side.
A fireball from Juan thinned the charging werewolves, but at least ten were racing up the hill toward Isa. They stood seven-feet tall, long limbs carrying them up the incline without any trouble. Claws as long as his hand spread out wide, angling to tear through Isa’s flesh.
He diverted his attention, aiming to bisect the charging werewolves before they could eviscerate the girl, when his eyes locked on her. Her body was distorting, the proportions elongating as she visibly grew several feet in height. Her shoulders widened to match, her limbs thickening as wide as tree trunks. The metal shield in her left hand grew proportionally, until it practically filled the gate from corner to corner.
In the span of five seconds, Isa had grown ten-feet-tall.
The first of the werewolves smashed into her shield, but her large body anchored it in the ground, sending them reeling back from the impact. She grunted, but otherwise didn’t react to several hundred pounds of monster battering against her.
Her voice boomed out, incredibly deep. “Any help here?”
Terry stirred in his tower, shocked dumb by the transformation for a moment. With a flex of aura, he ripped the werewolves in half, the last one bisecting in mid-air as it leaped futilely at the massive shield.
When they cleared the rest of the wave, silence reigned over the camp. Then, Juan turned from where he had scorched the remaining centaurs, his eyes bugging out wide.
“Whoa! When did that happen!”
He had been too consumed dealing with his enemies to notice Isa’s dramatic transformation.
Her deep voice boomed back. “I’ve heard it all before—ogre, she-hulk, troll. Come on, get it out of your system before the next wave.”
Juan’s eyes widened in surprise. Then he held his hands up innocently. “Hey, no comments from me. I’m just happy you’re on our side.”
Her overly large face contorted in surprise, then she cast Terry a questioning look, as if waiting for him to throw some jibe at her. He shrugged, shaking his head. “If I was gonna call anyone an ogre, it’d be him,” he said, his finger jabbing in Marlon’s direction.
“Is that a fat joke, boy!” Marlon barked.
“No, it’s more of a commentary on your shitty attitude!” he fired back from his tower.
Marlon grumbled to himself, his face pinched tight in a scowl.
Isa looked around, her eyes wide as she realized no one was making fun of her. Terry understood it must have been something she had contended with for her entire super career. Shifter Duelists tended to have a rough go of it in general. Savage, for example, had been treated like a sub-human and had leaned into that, dubbing himself the Primordial Man. Not that Terry had any sympathy for the guy, but he could see how being forever covered in orange fur would change the way people looked at you.
But Isa could change at will, like the Eagle, which was pretty damned cool.
Before he could tell her as much, Julio called out the next wave.
[Julio]: Incoming, all directions.
Terry turned his attention back to the enemies, this time focusing on the werewolves on the gate side. Once they were cleared, they’d buy themselves some time to deal with the other sides.
The fifth and sixth wave went off without a hitch, once they didn’t have to worry about the sprinting werewolves reaching Isa.
But the seventh wave changed everything.
“We’ve got fliers!” Marlon called out, his eyes turned up to the sky.
Terry followed his gaze, spotting a wave of human-looking bats bursting from the gate-side forest. He narrowed his eyes to get a better look at the monsters. They looked like harpies, female human torsos attached to long, thin bat wings.
Juan was also looking toward them, his mouth gaping open.
“Are they…are they naked?”
They were naked, their entire torsos exposed as they reached higher into the sky.
“You expect the rift monsters to wear clothes?” Marlon called back.
Terry felt the man reach through space, causing micro tears on the harpies’ wings. A handful plummeted from the sky.
“No, I just—” He cut off as he sent a man-sized fireball toward the incoming centaurs.
Isa laughed, her deep, shifted voice sounding more like an elephant’s trumpeting call. “What’s the matter, Juan? Never seen a pair of hangers before?”
“Yes, I have—I mean—”
Terry ignored the two of them, focusing his attention on the incoming werewolves. Marlon had the harpies in hand, and the other three sides would take a minute to bypass Julio’s trenches.
Each of the monsters had an aura near the peak of the Ds now, and every attempt to bisect them was a battle. He always won that battle, but it was a battle nonetheless. The initial wave of werewolves had taken him less than ten seconds to fully wipe out. For the seventh wave, he only barely managed to kill them just as they reached Isa.
When he surveyed the rest of the fight, Marlon had taken out the remaining harpies and was working on the berserkers just rounding the trench to come for the gate. Juan’s fireballs were meeting the centaurs and the berserkers as they clumped on one side of the hill, the splash effect of his magic doing good work.
Terry turned his attention to the crocodiles on the beach side, but found that Julio had moved the earth to encase each of them in stone graves. Only their thrashing tails or the spines along their backs were evidence of their fate. After a minute, even that movement stopped.
“Three more waves!” Isa called as Marlon and Juan cleaned up the last of the enemies.
“This is way easier than I expected!” Juan called from his tower.
Isa’s deep voice growled out and Julio groaned—apparently understanding enough English to get the gist.
“What?” Juan cried. “What is it?”
“You jinxed us, idiota!” Isa called back.
Juan’s face dropped, his head whipping about nervously. “You think so?”
Isa simply snorted, the quiet sound magnified by her large body. Julio still had his eyes closed, his aura extending deep into the ground.
A private message came in from Juan.
[Juan Carlos]: Did I jinx us, bro?
Terry rolled his eyes to himself, then looked over and flashed Juan a thumbs up.
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[Terry]: No, bro. Jinxes aren’t real.
“You totally jinxed us, bro,” he muttered to himself, casting his eyes and aura out toward the forests.
When the eighth wave spawned, collective groans rang out from everyone. To the left of the gate, the centaurs now had recurve bows. The werewolves were covered in heavy metal armor that nonetheless did little to slow them down. On the right, the berserkers burst from the tree line on horses that dramatically improved their race toward the gate. And behind them, on the beach side, the crocodile-men dragged catapults from the water.
The only saving grace was that no harpies shot up into the sky.
“Terry!” Marlon yelled out. “I’m on killing duty. You keep those damned arrows and catapults from reaching us!”
“Roger!”
The crocodile-men had worked fast, the first round of stones already in the air. As he reached up through space, an idea occurred to him. Six massive rocks passed through six portals, and reappeared a hundred feet away, directly over the charging werewolves.
The hill shuddered from the impact. The first wave of werewolves were smashed to paste, their armor useless against the sheer bulk of the stones. Behind them, the rest of the wave continued forward, only to find the stones rolling down the hill toward them. Some managed to evade, but many more were caught beneath the heavy boulders.
Through his portal, he saw a wave of arrows shooting toward Juan. A flash of fire intercepted part of the wave, and Terry diverted the rest back into the running centaurs.
Juan let out a whoop of joy, then sent another fireball arcing toward the horse-men.
Terry kept an eye out for more impending stones as the remnants of the three racing waves continued up the hill toward Isa. The werewolves that had made it past the giant boulders were only dozens of feet from the gate, when Terry felt Marlon cut through space once more.
Dozens of charging werewolves hit the dirt at the same time and it was only after squinting did Terry realize why; their legs had been separated at the knee joints—all of them.
Another wave of arrows came in, pulling Terry’s attention away. But as he sent them flying right back at the centaurs, the creatures wised up and dropped their bows to focus on speed.
Since another wave of boulders didn’t seem to be coming, Terry used the next best thing—the original boulders.
Six semi-truck-sized portals opened up beneath the inert boulders, sucking them into sub-space at the same time as he opened exit portals near the top of the hill. His tower rumbled as they crashed back to the earth, before beginning their lumbering descent toward the incoming monsters.
He had staggered the exit portals enough so that there was no free space for them to maneuver. The only creatures that escaped the rolling stones were those that ran back down the hill and around the safety of Julio’s trenches.
Even those were quickly dealt with by a flung fireball and more cuts through space.
Silence settled, except for the still-rolling boulders finally smashing into the far trees below. When even the tipping trees were done echoing, Juan let out a booming laugh.
“Jinxes aren’t real, guys!” he called out triumphantly.
Isa’s groan rumbled in Terry’s chest and Julio finally pulled his attention from working the earth.
“Will you shut up!” Julio cried, surprising them all by speaking flawless English. “Seriously, kid, do you have a death wish!”
Juan’s eyes widened, but Isa’s flanking attack took him before he could answer.
“Juan, you did not just double jinx us!” she asked in disbelief. “I have a family to go back to!”
“Bu-but—” Juan cast Terry a confused look. “—jinxes aren’t real…right, Terry?”
Julio and Isa cast him desperate looks and he cringed. “Doesn’t mean you gotta tempt fate, bro.”
Juan’s eyes went wide in panic. “Ay, Dios! Nos maté!”
“Everyone shut up and pay attention!” Marlon’s brusque voice broke through the building tension. “Next wave incoming!”
Terry turned back to see the ninth wave was much like the eighth, except a massive wave of harpies was rising above the forest canopy.
“Same plan!” Marlon called out. “Juan, use your fire on the largest clumps. I’ll hold off the harpies. Terry, you’re on rock and arrow duty. Isa, prepare for incoming.”
No one replied, the fast-moving monsters already rounding Julio’s trenches. Terry caught the incoming stones as before, dropping them on the first line of werewolves as they raced toward Isa. They were smashed as expected, but as the boulders began to roll down the hill, the remaining werewolves suddenly moved into a formation. Those in front turned their back, crouching to their knees, as the second line did the same but only slightly hunched.
As the stones rolled over them, the combined strength of the werewolf formation kept them from being crushed, their bodies positioned to form a sort of ramp from their breastplates. Three of the boulders were shunted over the formation, while one veered off and completely missed the monsters. The final two took rough bounces, one smashing a section of the werewolves, while the other missed them entirely with a leap over.
When the boulders were all past, half of the werewolves rose to their feet and continued their charge. Waiting at the bottom of the hill were the centaurs and berserkers, watching as the giant boulders rolled past them. When the way was clear, they too began charging up the hill.
“Uh, guys?” Isa’s deep voice called out. “We’ve got incoming!”
Terry turned his attention to the boulders lying inert at the bottom of the hill. He worked to get portals open large enough to send them flying back down the hill, but had to abort his aura framework as a wave of arrows suddenly left the centaurs.
With a quick shift of his aura, he intercepted them, opening exit portals directly in the face of the werewolves’ front line. Pings of metal on metal rang out, though enough connected to thin out their numbers by half.
Before Terry could return his attention to the boulders, a dozen werewolves were leaping toward Isa. Her shield slammed forward, impacting with a dull thud as she shunted the werewolves back. The sound of scrabbling claws on metal sounded a moment later and Isa’s grunts filled the air as she struggled to hold them back.
“Little help here!” she grunted.
Isa’s body blocked his view of the pressing werewolves, but he didn’t need to see them to cut them in half. Space parted like a thin scalpel had sliced at chest height, only pausing as it met the resistance of another being’s aura, before that, too, was bisected.
A dozen werewolves collapsed in a heap, their chests sliding away from their lower halves.
Isa turned to nod toward him, but the sound of charging hooves drew her back an instant later.
Terry didn’t waste any time, summoning the catapult boulders from their position at the bottom of the hill. This time, the rift creatures had no defense and a hundred centaurs and berserkers were smashed in a single volley.
Isa’s heavy shield thudded against the ground, while Juan stared around wide-eyed, looking for harpies. But Terry let his shoulders relax, confident Marlon had dealt with the fliers.
No one spoke, the dreaded anticipation of the final wave hanging over them like a shroud; that question lingering: what would come next?
When the familiar waves of harpies, centaurs, werewolves, berserkers, and crocodile-men spawned, the group let out a collective sigh of relief. The monsters had adapted in a surprising way during the last wave, but hadn’t been anywhere close to getting past Isa. If Terry just staggered the boulders this time, the werewolves’ formation would be shattered.
Terry felt himself relaxing as the final wave went much as the last. Arrows were redirected, fireballs thrown, boulders caught. The werewolves had hunkered down near the bottom of the hill, while the centaurs and berserkers milled behind the trenches.
With the incoming monsters stalled out, Marlon managed to clear the harpies well before anything made it to Isa.
Terry was forming new portals to bring the boulders down on the crowd below, when Julio gasped in shock. He turned to see the boy staggering away, his eyes wide.
“Un-under—”
The hill beneath Marlon and Julio exploded outward, dirt and rock cascading through the air all around them. Six massive stone golems burst into view, reminding Terry of Terraform’s golems. They each stood as tall as Isa’s shifted form, their limbs grating with a stone on stone sound as they moved.
One of them had come from the ground near Marlon and was bringing a limb as big as a person arcing down toward the Traveler. Terry cried out in warning; tried to intercept the golem with telekinesis. But the weight was too great and his aura too stretched from teleporting the huge boulders back and forth.
Marlon didn’t even turn as the heavy stone came right for his head. Terry cringed, convinced he was about to see his mentor’s head pulped like a watermelon, when space elongated.
The golem’s limb stretched, becoming impossibly long to Terry’s eyes as it continued its descent. Time seemed to stretch too, reminding him of the incredible uses Marlon had shown him before they’d entered the rift.
But he couldn’t stop and admire a master at work, the hundreds of milling monsters below had realized their time to strike had come. And Isa had abandoned her post at the gate to tackle one of the golems, her shield bashing repeatedly into its rocky face.
Terry turned to the hill, summoning the boulders in a staggered pattern. One came crashing down, pulping the front of the charge before bouncing to smash another group near the back. A second rock did just as much damage, followed by a third.
By the time the fourth boulder was falling through the air, the monsters had spread out wide, making it difficult to take out large swathes at a time. So instead, he copied his earlier screw up—this time on purpose.
Space in front of the gate moved, swapping positions with the space at the bottom of the hill. As the first of the runners met this transposed space, they suddenly appeared back where they had started, like they’d traveled a hundred yards downhill in an instant.
He felt a smile tug at his lips as they continued to charge into his spatial domain, only to crash back into the others below. But the pull on his aura was incredible, each wave passing through the transposed space taking a chunk of his reserves. He knew he could manage the entire group at least once, but two would be pushing it.
Another problem presented itself when one of Juan’s fireballs arced toward the monsters at the bottom of the hill but got caught halfway there in Terry’s spatial loop. What should have exploded on dozens of the monsters instead redirected to the front of the gate, hitting only a handful who hadn’t gone through yet.
“Get the golems first!” he called across to Juan.
When he turned back to see how the fight was going, he was stunned at the ensuing melee.
There had been six stone golems initially, but now a seventh had joined the fight. It was slightly different in color and texture, but rose up to a staggering twelve feet, towering over the other golems.
And it was in a full-out brawl with two of its counterparts.
Terry’s eyes widened as he recognized Julio’s aura signature nestled deep inside that seventh golem. In Julio’s golem form, he seemed to be stronger than the rift versions, his fist rocking one golem back as another tried to flank him. He whirled, sending a backfist toward the second’s head.
Isa seemed to be faring worse, as she was on her back, kicking her legs out against a golem that rushed to collapse on her. Her shield was discarded beside her and her left arm hung uselessly as she used her other hand to try and scrabble away. Blood dripped from her face, one of her eyes swelled shut with purple-black skin.
Around Marlon, three of the golems struggled in vain to reach the man, each finding themselves stretched or diverted through space in some eye-defying manner. The man looked over, noticing Isa on her back and Julio suddenly tackled from behind by one of the golems. With a sigh, he rose from his wicker chair, cracked his back, then waved a hand.
The golem trying to get at Isa was suddenly pulled through a portal that Terry felt open up hundreds of feet in the air. The golem swinging down at Julio had both its arms sliced off at the shoulder. It stared in surprise as its pistoning arms fell to the dirt on either side. The three golems seemingly stuck in space before Marlon appeared to crumple in on themselves, space pressing them into little cubes of rock like a compactor at a junkyard.
Marlon scowled, walking toward the gate where Terry had a hundred monsters in a spatial loop that was slowly degrading. But as he walked, each step seemed to alight on air, like he was taking a staircase through the sky to look down over the attackers from above.
“Y’all fucked up!” Marlon’s voice boomed out. “You made me get outta my chair!”
Then, space bucked like a storm at sea.