"Well," Magnus sighed while refocusing on the imdiate task, "at least we know we've been lazy if this is killing us and he's doing at least double as much. Let's continue and hope his plan works as well as he says."
And they continued the work of directing mutant flows through control that the hearts provided.
The manipulation of corrupt creatures that was believed to be uncontrollable now that Yino's leaders were crystalised but that seed to be responding to signals the crystals transmitted. Like shepherding livestock through gates, the beasts followed the paths of least resistance following the directions that the hearts signaled for them.
Magnus adjusted the blue core's position fractionally. Dorian compensated with red core shift. The purple cores pulsed in synchronization... Below them, in tunnels they couldn't see, hundreds of mutants adjusted their paths in response to subtle energy gradient changes.
And the twins still complained, but maintained the impossible balance their brother demanded.
Because for all their frustration and fear, they trusted Orion.
Trusted that since he was the brilliant one from their side of the family he knew what he was doing. That the risk would prove worthwhile.
They had to trust that since they didn't really understand a lot of things and would be lost in the noble's ga without him.
So they didn't contemplate it. Just focused on the work, on maintaining synchronization that kept everything from exploding.
And deep below, Julius and Zhao remained trapped, fighting against the tide.
♢♢♢♢
Selphira had been with Arturo continuing to put pressure against the rebel forces that had finally entrenched themselves near the ruin. But the push that had been achieving gradual progress during hours of sustained combat had stopped.
They'd already dismantled several of the smaller groups…
Broken their formations, forced retreats and captured or killed so key commanders. The montum had been building. Victory had seed inevitable with enough sustained effort.
But then sothing changed in the battle's dynamics.
An enormous flow of mutants erged suddenly from the south and from two sources. From the surface and from tunnels descending diagonally just a few dozen ters before what had been their entry route toward the city, from the outermost superficial walls.
Not a minor infiltration but a massive invasion. Thousands of creatures converging from a direction that was now forming a flow cutting directly between Selphira's group's most forward position and the objective in the ruins they'd been approaching.
It was a river of beasts heading toward the city's heart. But not without first suspiciously affecting the advance against the enemy army.
There were too many. And it was obvious how they'd entered.
The zone near the outermost wall that the soldiers Orion's group had removed from their assigned positions weren't guarding had finally beco the entrance for literally thousands of mutants.
It was exactly the nightmare scenario Selphira had warned about when she'd accused them of desertion. The reason she'd demanded punishnt. Unfortunately the vulnerability was exploited at the worst mont causing maximum damage to defensive efforts.
Selphira's group tried stopping them imdiately. Acknowledging that allowing the flow to continue unopposed was more important than the previous fight. Because leaving it unchecked would result in a catastrophe for the civilian population depending onthe walls remaining intact.
But instead of receiving help from an army that even with so many initial losses still vastly outnumbered her group with more than 3 thousand soldiers, she discovered those rebel soldiers were deliberately retreating.
Despite the great power of Selphira and Arturo's group, there was no ability with such a large area and sufficient mana optimization to cover it.
The traitor army retreated closer to the ruin that was in the direction of the fissure. Abandoning the zone where they could have helped contain the flow in favor of defensive consolidation and a truce against the mutants that should have been in the interest of many of their soldiers.
Yet instead they accumulated in a place avoiding confrontation with the mutants and protecting only the imdiate area where Orion was hiding.
It was now a much more complete and serious betrayal against the city. Leaving Selphira's group trying to stop what was genuinely unstoppable through its broadness with the resources they had available.
In the case of the stampede attacking Julius's group in the depths of Yino, at least there was a bottleneck. Unbreakable choke point allowing smaller force to hold against larger numbers. Terrain advantage compensating for nurical disadvantage.
This stampede in the easternmost "ex-Goldcrest" zone of Yano was broadly dispersed. No natural barriers to channel the flow.
At the beginning, so soldiers from the rebel army did try helping stop the mutants.
Surely they were those who weren't there by their own decision or preference. n and won who'd been forced to those positions by superiors controlling aspects of their military lives. They wanted to do the right thing even if it ant disobeying orders they now recognized as too wrong.
But their low ranks eventually forced them to abandon and retreat as commanders shouted threats about the terrible consequences of insubordination.
One by one, soldiers who'd attempted helping were eliminated. And with that crude image, others were forced to withdraw. Pressure of death and military hierarchy overcoming most people's personal convictions about what was correct.
The executions were public and brutal. Designed to send ssage that couldn't be misunderstood. Commanders would point at soldiers moving to help contain mutants and would give single warning to return to position. If a soldier didn't comply imdiately, they or another group soldier would be ordered to kill them. And many soldiers complied because they were with the detractor families or so even because refusing ant being the next target.
Bodies accumulated. Warnings beca unnecessary as the pattern established itself. Everyone understood: help the city and die, or obey and live.
Most chose living.
In the end, the quantity of people who escaped punishnt and remained trying to contain the flow wasn't sufficient.
Not even remotely when facing a tide of mutants seeming to have no end.
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