The city shook at its base as it fell apart in glittering cascades of metal and rock. A fight between True Immortals sent shockwaves throughout Helmforað. Bjorn had to run between bursts of Immortal energy that threatened to sweep them off their feet. Skyscrapers, skywalks and roads fell in dangerous unpredictable ways that made traversing even more treacherous. Paths they would have taken were blocked, collapsed, or too dangerous to travel safely.
Worse, the destruction that was the battle between immortals was steadily moving in the direction of the core. The Great Serpent needed the core to explode and in its desperate rush was he pushing Riots back. Bjorn didn't dare look directly at the fight except to determine when would be the best time to run or braise for a shockwave.
The ground beneath him groaned as a beam of light shot forward crashing through a building in the distance. An explosion followed leading to a collapse of nearby structures. Bjorn made a last second jump out of the way of a falling skybridge. Dust threatened to clog his airways as he continued towards Tanisha's side of their bond.
"Bjorn duck-duck!" Failsafe called out.
He didn't second guess, he flattened himself against the ground as a glint flashed by. He jumped just in time to dodge another.
"It looks like S-14 Stormtalon. Maybe more than one." Fuyumi said weakly. "They are fast and I can't fight yet. Keep running, watch out for their bladed wings. Don't run in straight lines, they slow down to turn."
Bjorn didn't wait to be told again, he ran as fast as he could, changing direction frequently.
"How are they tracking me with Shadow Concealment?" Bjorn asked.
"Maybe not enough darkness to fully utilize the skill. Or…" Failsafe stopped to consider.
"Or what?" Isin questioned.
Bjorn changed direction again and a blade scraped his side. His scales held against the assault but only because he turned out of the path in time. Without being able to use his magic to strengthen his body he was more vulnerable then he had been in a while.
"Or maybe… it's because you are using aether? They could be overly sensitive to it. Change to primana. Maybe that will help."
Bjorn did as he said right as he dove into a building that was laying on its side mostly in ruin. The skywalk he would have taken was collapsed and the unstable structure was the closest thing to a bridge he could find. The building rattled with every clash between the immortals outside.
The S-14's seemed to have lost his trail as soon as he entered; there were in fact three of the bird-like constructs. As soon as he stepped on a tile that cracked under his weight they all shot forward.
Shadow Concealment muted sound and magical presence but it did nothing to mitigate damage to the environment. It was supposed to be used in conjunction with stealth tactics, not a frantic run through a warzone. The birds were merely looking for changes in the environment that couldn't be accounted for except through a nearly invisible enemy.
"Ana, bind them." Isin hissed.
She said her spell and wisps of red maya filled the air. They became like a spider's web that trapped each of the pursuers, accept one that managed to fold in its wings and slipped between gaps. Bjorn jumped through the window right as the wing sliced his leg sending fresh blood spraying as he landed hard on a nearly collapsed road.
"Ah, damn-it. That was deep," He got up and started to limp as fast as he could. "How long will it take to heal?"
"All of our magic is spent on other things right now." Failsafe said urgently. "Mainly making sure your core doesn't rupture. Bleeding will stop in about two minutes. But beyond that your regeneration is busy."
Fuyumi drops weakly off of Bjorn's back which causes him to stop. She takes a sword from her inventory which Bjorn couldn't help but note was the actual physical blade and not a manifestation from her Walking Armory. There was no mana or aether in the blade which would be a futile effort against the bird constructs.
"Go, I will hold them off." Fuyumi said.
Bjorn wouldn't abandon her to fight these things alone. He turned and backed her up, his heads looking out for any signs of the fast moving creatures. Then he felt something, a tiny body jump from his back. Anasuya flashed by colliding with something midair with a dull thud.
She and one of the metal birds hit the ground. A roiling red maya spilled from her mouth as she screamed a language Bjorn didn't understand. The maya didn't entrap the construct like the previous spell. No, this maya was digging into the machine tearing through armor as she held the construct down.
"Ana!" Isin yelled.
"There are more!" Failsafe said. "Look out!"
Bjorn jumped just in time to avoid a silver flash aimed to slice him in half. Fuyumi ducked with her sword raised to clip the bird's undercarriage in a cascade of sparks.
Before it was out of range Bjorn slammed down his tail catching the robot with his thagomizer. When he landed he crushed the construct into the ground repeatedly until it finally stopped trying to slice the end of his tail off.
An explosion of force overhead pushed everyone into the ground. The crack of immortal magic just over them burst in a cascade of golden fireworks. Bjorn looked up to see the hood of the cobra-like great serpent. Blood dripped from thousands of cuts along its body. But it wasn't normal blood. No, what dripped from it burned stone and steel alike. A toxin that would rip melt from bone just as easily.
"Time to go!" Bjorn yelled as he wrapped his tail around Fuyumi. "Ana we are leaving, get on my back!"
He turned and limped as fast as he could with his injured leg. Immortal ichor showers the ground as thick as rain. Bjorn had to find shelter beneath rapidly eroding debris and buildings. He moved just barely ahead of the clashing titan when he heard the whistle of another S-14. He moved too slowly and he felt his vision diminish.
There was a searing pain and a scream but it took Bjorn a few seconds to realize what happened. One of his heads was cut clean off and a second hung on by little more than skin. His bodily control gave out as he stumbled then collapsed.
"That's not good." Failsafe said.
"You're telling me?" Bjorn hissed through the pain. "I can't move, we are going to get melted by that acid blood if we stay here too long."
"We've lost too much blood." Failsafe said.
A metal bird flipped through the air preparing to finish the job. Fuyumi and Anasuya both jumped to defend but neither were ready and wouldn't make it in time. When it was only a few feet away a figure flashed into view. In a second the bird was split in half, both sections cluttered to the ground.
In Bjorn's delirious state he could only barely make out Aurelius's figure. His face was etched with worry and determination. But the words were being drowned out by delirium.
He felt the world tilt and the sensation of movement but his vision was fuzzy. His hearing was drowned out by the sound of his own heartbeat. The world shook as the battle between the two True raged on with brutality. At some point Bjorn picked up Tanisha's scent and he found himself on her back.
His mind reeled at the realization, were they leaving? Were they giving up or did they have faith in Riots to stop the crazed Serpent from opening the portal? Bjorn couldn't move or hold a coherent thought long enough to do anything about their situation anyway.
As the world tore itself apart around them Bjorn was strangely at peace. Because no matter what Tanisha had chosen, he trusted her. When faced against odds like this, that was all he could do. Trust that she had a plan.
He felt something shift in his magic. A connection changed, though he wasn't lucid enough to investigate it consciously. The change felt pleasant, like it was pulling his mind from its lethargy. Instinctually he pulled on that pleasant feeling and with it power flowed into him. He accepted it greedily and slowly the deafness over his hearing receded.
"We need to go up that way!" Tanisha yelled over the roar of battle in the distance. "It is the way out, stay close, Aurelius."
"Right behind you." Aurelius said. "Are you sure we can trust what those guys told you?"
"I am sure, Matt wouldn't lie about something like this." Tanisha said. "I know you want to stay but please we need to get out of here."
"I don't know about… about the new people, but I trust Tanisha." Fuyumi's weak voice whispered. "Have faith."
The world faded again and an unknown amount of time had passed. The sound of battle was further away but the tremors were just as prevalent. Between the consuming blackness of Bjorn's unconsciousness and waking mind he realized they were now in one of the many tunnel ways that made up what the majority of the facility outside of the city.
The hall they were in was damaged and nearly collapsed. They came to a place where a blast door hung half closed. One by one the group went under into the new hallway.
"Wasn't this one of the passages that was blocked off when we first came to the lower levels?" Aurelius asked.
"I think so, we fought the S7's for the first time." Tanisha said. "There are still some of the holes in the ground from where they dug through to swarm us."
"We couldn't go this way the first time because the blast door was closed. How are we going to go through now?" Fuyumi asked.
"I think we are about to find out." Tanisha said.
Bjorn tried to lift one of his heads but he didn't have the strength. He could taste corrupted mana from coming from ahead. It was faint like a breeze indicating an exit in a cave. There was an anticipation as to where they were going.
He could not tell if they had been walking for a second or hours but soon a voice brought him out of stupor.
"Up ahead," Aurelius said. "Look, it's like it was clawed open."
"From the outside," Tanisha said. "It must be how Matt's group got in, maybe the other True fighting the Great Serpent did it."
Another quake caused Tanisha to stumble. The motion sent a wave of pain through Bjorn.
"It's okay baby." Tanisha said softly.
"It feels like we are just running away after we had done so much here." Aurelius said.
"We aren't winning a fight in our condition," Fuyumi said darkly. "Two Divines, one wants to destroy the continent, the other wants to eat the Serpent and maybe Bjorn and Ana. There is nothing any of us can do but trust that Tanisha's friends are actually on our side."
"Wait, one of them wants to eat Bjorn and Ana?" Tanisha questioned.
"Yeah, I think. The gnoll one didn't sound like it was in its right mind." Fuyumi said. "We'll talk about it after we escape. Right now that is what is most important."
"You guys feel that?" Aurelius said. "There is corrupted mana on the other side. I think this leads somewhere outside of the facility."
"This facility is being evacuated." A voice said far too loudly and too robotic to be a person. "Scanning… Scanning. Human detected, unknown biological detected, unknown biological detected, Divine Hydra detected, Divine Níðhöggr detected. No angelic presence detected. No control chips detected. Passage granted, please enter shuttle B12."