Since Walker couldn’t speak to his people, he instead sent messages when he could. The Alpha Protocol might be able to block his voice, but they couldn’t block the superseding power of an Omniversal system. Because of the danger involved in being distracted, he always waited until there was a clear break for the Attacker of Defender before sending it, offering tips and advice for his people- particularly when to take a break.

  It wasn’t long until Runner broke into the twenties on her kills, though she looked more and more worn out for pushing so hard. Basic arithmetic told him that, with twenty-five Creators and ten entities per Creator, there were a total amount of two hundred and fifty entities within the fourth battle. A simple deduction showed him that the woman with the number twenty on her screen had already taken out almost a tenth of the total field, but there was a toll to pay for constantly using magic and fighting, no matter the skill employed.

  Still, thus far, none of Walker’s entities had fallen, and that was important as the messages started to come in.

  Creator Quas has no more entities remaining…

  Creator Quas has been remanded to stasis until the fourth battle completes…

  Creator Exort has no more entities remaining…

  Creator Exort has been remanded to stasis until the fourth battle completes…

  Time sped by as his people fought and defended themselves to the utmost of their abilities. Phil still meandered along, the number four now on his screen. Fillion erased Walker’s doubt in his skills, performing his attacking movements in a graceful spinning top fashion, moving with the cutlass’s sharp blades always on the outside as he cut his opponent to ribbons.

  After roughly thirty minutes, Walker counted nineteen Creator removals. And finally, the last before the final five came in.

  Creator Wex has no more entities remaining…

  Creator Wex has been remanded to stasis until the fourth battle completes…

  Congratulations Dante!

  You’ve made it to the final five of the Fourth Battle!

  With the introduction of the Final Five, there are some changes-

  Warning: Alpha Protocol Changes occurring…

  “Of course,” Walker said to himself, a bitter smile on his face.

  …

  Changes processed…

  That was new.

  Due to one Creator holding a sizeable advantage in numbers, there has been a change to the rules of the final five.

  Creator Dante holds all ten of their entities.

  Because of their clear advantage, all of Creator Dante’s team members will now be turned into Defenders, while all other remaining Creator’s entities will now be Attackers.

  Additionally:

  All remaining Defender landmasses will now become joint, and the restriction on allowing a single attacker will now be nullified.

  Victory conditions:

  Attackers win upon claiming the Obelisk or successfully eliminating all Defenders.

  Defenders win if the Obelisk is not claimed before the elimination of all Attackers.

  Warning:

  As a warning to all, the longer the battle continues, the larger the changes that will come forth across the remaining landmasses… You have been warned.

  Walker’s screens changed from individually focused on his entities to one large overhead view. In the center of a blank territory, all ten of his people stood, locked in stasis.

  Releasing Defenders in three seconds.

  3.

  2.

  1.

  Begin

  Without much time to think or plan, Walker sent a single message that he believed would help them win the day.

  Dante: Listen to Thomas!

  After reading Walker and the System’s messages, the Founder took it in stride, “You heard him. It’s down to us and all those bastards out there, so listen up. Runner, Bale, Gorlak the Consuming, and Fillion, you’re on the far perimeter. From what Walker and Virgil have told us, the Council doesn’t like to play fair with the battles, so the Attackers may already be watching. Get out there, kill as many as you can, and don’t come back until the battle ends, or you may run into an unpleasant surprise. Remember what Walker said, you won’t actually die as long as we win. We have to win. For Symphony!”

  “For Symphony!” They all repeated back, with one booming voice slowly following the others, including a single-syllable hiss.

  The four heading to the perimeter spoke briefly; then, each ran in cardinally opposite directions.

  Thomas turned toward Lucy and Phil, “You two are going to be on pure defense.” He looked over Lucy’s shabby and damaged armor, then Phil’s pristine condition, “right. Lucy, you’re going to be the last line of defense. You know I can’t fight for shit, but at least you know how I think, so you’ll be guarding me and the Obelisk as I get everything running. Phil, you’re talented with sand, correct?”

  The scorpion clicked his claws three times.

  “I’m going to take that as a yes. Please plant traps around the area, and don’t tell us where in case they’re watching. I’ll get it going for you in a moment.” He looked over at Chipper, “Zenith, I’m going to make one great Mana Tree rather than sprinkling them around like I did before. Your job is to guard it as, if it falls, so too does my ability to make structures and change the environment. Without its magical output, we won’t be able to modify the area and it’ll come down to pure martial combat. Got it?”

  The Guardian nodded as Melias and Adele stepped forward.

  “Melias, I’m well aware of your strengths and weaknesses. But Speaker Adele, I’m sorry, I don’t know much about you.”

  The sleek Guardian touched a hand to her chest as her soft voice appeared in his mind, “I am a Mind Mage. My abilities allow me to connect everyone to my mental network, allowing us to speak over long distances. And, as long as a mind is collected enough to have rational thoughts, I can understand what they are thinking.”

  Thomas looked out to the perimeter, then back at Adele, “Alright, here’s what I need you to do. Speaker Adele, please connect everyone right now so we can talk without whispering ears.”

  “Of course.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  A moment later, eight more voices joined the ones in his head. Each carried a different flavor, though the giant and Phil both had an odd tang to them. Thomas broke down the assignments he’d given out and what he still planned to build.

  Phil’s mind spoke in a rough guttural tone, “traps-up-soon.”

  “Good. Perimeter team, do you see anything yet?”

  “No.”

  “Not yet.”

  “I wish,” Runner’s downcast tone came back.

  “I KEEP HEARING NOISES, BUT I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING,” Gorlak roared through the neural net.

  “Well, keep looking. Adele, this is amazing; please keep it going. I’ll also need you and Melias to distract the ever-living fuck out of anyone who gets in here.” They agreed and moved to either side of the immediate area, covering the distance between Thomas, the Obelisk, and Phil’s sand traps.

  Looking around, he got confirmation that everyone was in position and knew their roles, then touched the obelisk. A twenty-foot Mana Tree sprung up in the center of the Territory, immediately followed by the ground within an intermediate distance turning to sand. Small stone walls appeared haphazardly beyond the sand as he continuously modified the landmass, expanding everything out in a ring.

  As Phil dove into the sand, the environment shifting around him as if he were diving into water, Chipper leaped into the boughs of the tree above, a wary eye trained on the sky.

  Quickly, the first sounds of battle reached their ears as a series of trees fell in the near distance to the north. Thomas was too enmeshed in creating a horrifying landscape to notice, but it didn’t escape Lucy’s attention as she spoke quietly to him.

  “Gorlak is having a lot of trouble. He’s got a bunch of bugs crawling all over his body, and he’s covered in blood.”

  Adele chimed in, “I fought those. They’re carnivorous beatles sharing a hivemind. The best way to defeat them is to create a morass. They couldn’t hold their breath well.”

  “Got it,” Thomas said, concentrating on the screen in front of him. Gorlak’s area suddenly changed from an open-pathed forest to a swampy bog as trees collapsed and then rose in quick succession. He explained the change to the giant, then refocused on a different set of circular defenses he was creating.

  A few minutes passed, and then Runner zipped over to them, barely seeming to touch the ground, “Killed two, but the others ran. It’s a group of big guys with sharp ass horns on their heads. Not very fun to fight.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell us that through Adele’s ability?”

  Runner’s feet jumped back and forth as she answered, “I felt this was faster.” Seeing her message passed on, she zipped back out to her area as Lucy facepalmed.

  Thomas continued to build, not knowing that the screen in front of him resembled the one Walker was viewing from his seat. The Creator had sent him a few messages with ideas, but ultimately, everything was riding on the shoulders of a man who did not fight well. His skills lay in Territology.

  Congratulations Thomas!

  Your skill [Internal Focus] has reached level 63!

  …Error

  Unable to upgrade skill due to location.

  Skill will upgrade once entity Thomas has returned to a Symphony world.

  Waving away the update, he continued as a deep squawking sound reached them. Lucy stared up as she said, “ “We’ve got two very large birds in the sky.”

  “Chipper will take care of them.” Thomas said, not wanting to be distracted from his work, “Have faith in the Zenith.”

  As he said that, a large white wall appeared before one of the birds. It adjusted, flying high over the wall before another appeared in front of it again, the Zenith doing his best to disrupt the creature’s movements. With a wingspan the size of an airplane’s, the creature was surprisingly fast in its movements.

  Just before striking, its partner dropped from the sky at speed, its body folded into a shape like a spear as all of its feathers laid down at once. All of the pressure from its drop in the air landed on its tip, a hard and barrelled beak piercing its way ever forward. The wall shattered from the collision as the second bird caught up to the first, both angling for the Mana Tree they quickly closed in on.

  Leaping from his seated position on the boughs of the Mana Tree, Chipper the First Guardian sailed out into the open air, two massive birds flying to meet him. As they formed their bodies into spears, the Zenith was ready, having seen the transformation once before. Both creatures shifted their positions, allowing them to attack from two different areas, but Chipper wasn’t having that.

  A large outpouring of pure white magic erupted from the Guardian, two great hands taking shape over him. With an enormous clap, he brought them and their two unwilling passengers together, the thunder from the sound reverberating across the sky. One squawk was the only sound remaining as a single bird plummeted to the ground, a great hole drilled into its side from its partner. The remaining creature flew up high in the distance, retreating so it could return to fight another time.

  Chipper dropped from the sky gently, landing near his vanquished foe and stripping it of any items it left. He finished quickly, climbing back to his sitting branch on the large Mana Tree.

  “I will need a moment.”

  “Got it,” Lucy said as three horn-headed creatures came running from the west. One of them was tackled by a flashing bolt of lightning, as the other two lowered their heads and charged across the open expanse.

  As soon as they touched the sand, their steps slowed down. Phil had not been idle in the intervening minutes between the sand’s creation and that moment. Aerated sand, when consistently mixed and loosened, created a small suction effect. Even more so when great pitfalls were created within differing sections and randomly organized.

  A bellow of terror caused the two creatures to lose focus on their current predicament. Both turned to look, watching as a woman in blue armor zipped all around their compatriot, arcs of electricity burning his skin as her spear found holes in his defenses. They only had a moment to watch before a stone wall lifted on its own, cutting off their view and their escape.

  Knowing they had to push forward no matter the consequences, each heaved with great strength through the sucking sand around them. Their weight, once a great benefit to their styles of fighting, now worked against them as the territory seemed to want to drag them down to its deadly depths. It wasn’t long before the screams of their third member fell away, and then a new terror began for the lead creature.

  His second disappeared behind him in a flash of sand and with little sound. The moment he did, a long tail of yellow reached up out of the ground, its sharp tip stabbing toward him. He deflected one, two attacks, but he knew it was a losing battle.

  Pushing everything he had into the muscles of his legs, he began to leap over and over again, just trying to get the sand to loosen its grip and raise himself further from the muck. In a moment of desperation-fueled movement, he managed to gain enough traction to take himself out of the sand, feeling the firm ground beneath his stomach as he landed clumsily from his panic.

  Looking up as he caught his breath, he found a small, thinly muscled specimen in damaged armor before him. Two wide metal objects were attached to its hands, hands that clanged together with a loud bang. Taking a step forward, they charged at him fast enough that he had trouble viewing its figure. Impossibly, it found itself shoved back from the clash with a loud bang. The air briefly touched his body as he soared, and then the terrible sinking feeling of sand surrounded him after he’d fought so hard to escape.

  The horrifying tail raised in the air above him, granting just enough time to widen both eyes, and then it plunged, and he knew no more.

  “They’re dead,” Lucy reported when she returned to Thomas, slightly out of breath.

  “Excellent.” Thomas replied verbally, tapping into Adele’s network; he called out, “Status check everyone.”

  All of the inner group was fine, with Phil incessantly speaking about how tasty the muscle-bound creatures were. Chipper said he needed a little time to cultivate magic in his kernel, but he promised it wouldn’t be long; while on the Perimeter team, Runner said she could go all day, while Fillion and Bale said they hadn’t seen anything yet. Gorlak mostly complained.

  “THOSE INSECTS WERE PAINFUL. THEY BITE YOU IN THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE OF PLACES.”

  “Better in pain than dead,” Chipper commented.

  “THAT IS TRUE, GUARDIAN, BUT I AM NONETHELESS HAPPY NOT TO HAVE THESE MEMORIES WHEN WE RETURN.”

  Thomas was about to speak when a new announcement rang out.

  Congratulations to all remaining Creators!

  Your entities have survived the first phase of the final five!

  Changes among the joint territory will now occur…

  After a few seconds with nothing happening, Runner excitedly yelled out, “All kinds of shit just popped up in my area!”

  “Mine too!” Fillion agreed.

  The other two on the perimeter watch said the same thing, even as Chipper pointed something else out in a calm voice.

  “The skies are filled.”

  “What?” Thomas asked as he looked up.

  He didn’t spot anything immediately by the tree, but the Guardian’s words became clear as he looked into the distance. Dozens of creatures, small and large, now flew through the area. Some had leathery wings, while others were feathered. In the lead were a few with gray coloring moving at speed. Every so often, they seemed to release great bouts of fire as they propelled themselves forward, quickly traveling beyond the seething mass of creatures.

  All ten of the defenders received a message from Walker simultaneously. The Alpha Protocol had added neutral contenders to the Territory, meaning they would attack both Defenders and Attackers simultaneously. Even as they watched, a large group of flying monsters began to bank, an interception angle showing the lone flying creature that had recently attacked them quickly speeding away.

  Their more immediate problem was the flying gray creatures heading their way. Thomas made a quick executive decision.

  “Perimeter team, return immediately to just outside Phil’s sand zone. We need all hands on deck, and having you out there will only let these creatures attack you. Let them go after the Attackers instead.” He looked at his screens before calling over Adele.

  The sleek Guardian arrived quickly, “How can I assist you, friend Thomas?”

  Even though they could speak through their minds using her ability, he wanted to see her face as he asked, “Can you make it so the contenders focus on the other Creator’s entities, rather than us?”

  She tilted her head, a worried expression on her face, “I can, but it would take all of my concentration, and my ability is not perfect.”

  Thomas nodded, “All I can ask is you do your best. The only way to win is if all of the Attackers die. If our strategy is to just let the Alpha Protocol do our work for us, then so be it.”

  “I understand. It will take me a moment, so you will have to deal with any monsters directly attacking us in the next few minutes. We will also lose our communication abilities.”

  “Got it,” Thomas replied, stepping away as Adele nodded, already sitting down and closing her eyes. He knew nothing about how her magic worked, but he did feel when the other nine Symphonians were no longer sitting in the back of his mind.

  Now that they would have to speak out loud, he yelled, “We need to defend Adele and this location for the next few minutes. She’s going to create a screen that will push the Contenders towards the Attackers instead of at us. Please try your hardest to keep everything at-”

  “Look out!” Lucy yelled, tackling Thomas as a blast of flame roared through where he’d been standing only a moment before. Moving the woman’s heavy shoulder off his chest, he heard two loud pings as a creature landed right in front of them. It was pointing a hollow tube directly at Speaker Adele, smoke erupting from the back of it.

  “No!” Thomas yelled out, reaching a hand forth, just as a flash of lightning blasted the creature back.

  Standing where it once did, a thoroughly tussled Runner Grove stood, looking much worse than she did only minutes before.

  “These bastards are rough.”

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