Verdan’s hesitation shattered at the thought and adrenaline coursed through his veins as he turned his spell on the Wyrchwrought.

  “Grym thanr bel!” A bead of concentrated flame blossomed on the tip of his staff before streaking out to strike one of the nightmarish assassins, burning it to pieces and blasting the others away.

  “Gwen, there’s a Cyth Scerrrd!” Verdan bellowed as he sent a volley of air blades to kill a surviving Wyrchwrought. “Kill the casters!”

  Gwen cursed and lifted a hand toward the storm, right as the three Baynes unleashed a barrage of abyssal darts.

  Hedda let out a cry as she fought to block them, and Verdan felt his grip on his Aether tremble from the sheer amount that slammed in to block the attack.

  In a miraculous display of power, not a single dart made it through.

  As soon as Hedda relaxed, though, a new figure stepped out into view, and sent three balls of abyssal fire screaming towards them, one after the other.

  Caught off guard, Hedda managed to block one of the balls, and a second shattered on a shield conjured by Sorcerers, but the third landed amid a group of Sect retainers.

  Screams of anguish ripped through the air as a dozen defenders and half as many Cyth were burnt to death, opening a hole in their lines that the Cyth poured into.

  Unable to turn away as he destroyed the last of the Wyrchwrought, Verdan cursed the Cyth as the firm defensive line began to unravel.

  As the last of the corrupt constructs died to his attacks, none of them succeeding in killing even a single defender, Verdan turned back to the rest of the battle.

  The Dregg were closing fast, though two of them had been blasted and destroyed by Gwen’s lightning. The Cyth Scerrd was conjuring more attacks as well, and the Baynes were supporting it.

  “Grym ast,” Verdan snapped, conjuring a shield to block the enemy spells, even as Hedda fought to block them.

  Cullan and Kai were fighting to contain the breach, and Macha’s crows were harassing the Baynes, so Verdan turned his focus to the Dregg.

  The Brecan had finished creating the two platforms and had retreated below ground, so Verdan sent both his constructs out to meet the charging Cyth.

  The Cyth Lai battered and ripped at them, but both of his constructs survived long enough to collide with two of the three surviving Dregg.

  The conjured hand grabbed at its target’s leg, pulling it off balance and tumbling to the ground. The Cyth Laisera behind it swarmed the hand, smashing it to pieces a moment later, but its job was done.

  The warrior construct had greater effect, bracing itself in the path of the Dregg and driving its spear up into the creature’s heart. Mortally wounded, the giant Cyth smashed the construct aside, fracturing and breaking its shield.

  More Cyth Laisera surged onto the construct, breaking it apart, but not before it claimed several more lives.

  The fifth and final Cyth Dregg smashed into their lines, striking out as it did and crushing several of the defenders.

  Ada and her companions tried to engage it immediately, but the mass of Cyth Laisera flowed around its legs and slammed into the reeling defenders.

  A dozen brave fighters were slaughtered in moments as Cyth rolled right over them.

  “Grym thanr laif!” Verdan roared out, sending a thick lance of flames down at the Dregg and burning deep into its body.

  The brute staggered back under the spell, only to scream once more as a long metal arrow sank into its eye.

  Half-blind and badly burnt, the Dregg barely even saw the flash of lightning that killed it.

  “Back, fall back!” Ada was shouting as she and the other Steel Custodians tried to keep some semblance of control over the situation.

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  A lance of Malfease ripped through Verdan’s shield, catching a Defiant Flame Sorcerer and killing him instantly.

  Cursing, Verdan conjured a fresh shield and glanced over to see Hedda’s pale features as she struggled to hold back the Cyth Scerrd.

  Macha’s crows had blinded two of the Cyth Baynes, and Gwen had blasted the third, but even so, they were struggling to hold on.

  The Cyth Scerrd was throwing out masses of abyssal energy, far more than the last one they’d fought.

  “Thanr laif!” Verdan shouted, channelling his shield with one hand to keep it up while pointing his staff with the other.

  A lance of flames tore through the air to strike the Cyth Scerrd, catching it in the shoulder and drawingg out a scream of pain.

  An angry gesture conjured a shield of Malfease to protect it, but from the way it was hunched over, the blast had hurt it.

  More importantly, it wasn’t healing.

  The other one they’d fought had been incredibly hard to kill, with stupendous regenerative abilities. This one, however, seemed to be all about its offensive spells.

  In fact, there was something familiar about its form. The Scerrd was tall with long sweeping horns and a lithe build. It had little muscle, and its hands were human-like, without even claws to defend itself with.

  Something tattered was handing around its shoulders, though, some sort of red fabric.

  A knot of ice formed in Verdan’s gut as he realised who this Cyth had been. He’d seen her before, back when they’d first met Vanarr.

  This was what had become of the Defiant Flame Elder.

  The Cyth was taller than the Elder had been, but it was likely that she had been the baseline for the transformation, and a number of other Sorcerers had been added.

  Verdan didn’t fully understand the Cyth process, nor did he want to.

  The problem was that they had too many retainers and guards, and not enough casters. If he and Gwen focused on killing the Scerrd, then the Cyth would overwhelm their allies.

  Hundreds of Cyth had died already in the battle, but the street outside the warehouse was filled with more of them.

  Thankfully, no more Dregg were present, but what was already here was bad enough.

  Wincing as he blocked yet another heavy volley from the Scerrd, Verdan sent an empowered fire lance back at it.

  The Scerrd’s shield flickered but held.

  Cursing, Verdan slammed his staff down onto the ground. “Garreg bel!”

  Two boulders of rubble and stone rose from the ground, flying up into the air and toward his opponent. Abyssal shields were better against energy than physical objects, and if the Scerrd was still learning, this could crush it.

  Unfortunately, the corrupted Elder clearly knew enough to recognise the weakness, and sent blasts of Malfease to break apart the spells.

  Some fragments rained down on the monster, but the shield that sheltered it was more than strong enough to deal with them.

  Verdan’s gaze flicked back down to the melee in the broken warehouse as a Steel Custodian was dragged down by the Cyth and ripped apart.

  The defenders were slowly pulling back and using the newly built platforms to stymie the flow of Cyth, but it was a messy, blood-soaked affair.

  “Rew bel,” Verdan muttered, conjuring several orbs of ice before throwing them down into the mix. He made sure to aim just in front of the furthest defenders, so the ice formed a crescent beyond them.

  More than a few Cyth slipped and fell as the ice spread along the ground, but Verdan waited until they were packed onto it before casting his second spell. “Sia rew drae!”

  Dozens of icicles shot up from the thin layer of ice, impaling and maiming any Cyth close enough.

  “Go now, back!” Cullan roared as the Cyth struggled with the latest obstacle. The Idrisyr was right at the front of the battle, and was bleeding from dozens of small injuries, but he still made sure he was the last one to retreat behind the platforms.

  Even now, the Cyth were trying to scale the smooth surface of the platforms, but Ada was already sending some of her people to guard the edges.

  This was as good a defensive position as they’d get, but it didn’t solve the problem of the Scerrd.

  As if to punctuate his thoughts, the Scerrd unleashed another withering volley of abyssal magic. This time, however it concentrated its magic on just one section of Verdan’s shield.

  A dozen of the flaming orbs it was conjuring struck the shield one after another. Verdan was already shifting his Aether to reinforce that section, but he was too slow.

  Three of the orbs slipped through, one of them flickering out of existence as Hedda crushed it. The other two struck the left platform, blasting huge chunks from its surface and immolating several defenders.

  The Cyth roared their approval and surged forward, eager to use the broken section as an easier way up.

  “I had worried that there was another of these things in the city.” A familiar voice asked from beside him and Verdan whirled to see Elder Vanarr standing strong before him. “If I break the shield, can you kill it?”

  The Elder was armed with a halberd and armoured in thick steel plate armour, with a helmet under his arm and a pair of Steel Custodians at his back. Even his missing prosthetic was back in place, in the form of a thick gauntlet with ridged knuckles.

  Both of the Elder’s supporters were fully equipped as well, and their expressions were fierce as they watched for threats.

  Verdan’s mind raced as he considered how bad it was for the Elder to be here. The man was far from healed, and any more corruption entering him could dramatically worsen his condition.

  Then again, the Cyth were overwhelming them. It was a battle of attrition now, and they lacked the numbers to win.

  “Yes,” Verdan said eventually. “If you can breach it, I can kill it.”

  “Then prepare yourself, Wizard,” the Elder said, his helmet melting and flowing up to reform on his head. “I have enough strength to break it, but I must rely on you to finish the deed.”