Chapter 94: Outside in Chaos V

Leon looked behind himself.

The Warriors were still bringing people through the entrance. One of the Archers guided a woman and two children along the wall, while several Skirmishers returned with another group from the damaged shops.

He couldn’t stop the evacuation just because more monsters had arrived. If anything, they needed to move faster.

"Mage, put a barrier across the entrance."

The Mage turned its staff towards the opening and began casting.

Both Swordsmen held their positions while the spell formed, avoiding the heavier attacks and cutting at whatever exposed areas they could reach.

Leon kept the people moving behind them. The barrier only needed to hold long enough for everyone to get through.

...

Elsewhere, Alyssa was still clearing monsters along the border corridor when the request came through stating that Sun City’s defenders were already covering their assigned sectors, so she followed the reported crossings into the neighbouring city and dealt with whatever she found along the response road.

From above, she could see the blocked street, civilians moving through the yard and several monsters gathering outside the entrance, so she immediately changed direction and shot through the sky with a streak of golden light as flames seemed to burn all around her.

Now only a few seconds, she spotted someone below, and the fire around her body tightened as she descended in a flash.

There was no sonic boom even though she was moving beyond the speed of sound, only a streak of flames.

In what appeared to be an instant, Leon watched as a streak of light shot through the two Grade 4 monsters standing before one of his Swordsmen. His eyes had to catch up before he recognized that it was not a projectile attack, but a human... and the human had just flown through two Grade 4 monsters, leaving human-sized holes through them.

Too say the least, Leon was very much in a good state of surprise, staring at her for a moment.

’Alyssa?’

She was indeed engulfed in flames, but there was no Phoenix flying above the street or standing between her and the monsters.

Before he could say anything, his Swordsman moved in to attack, while a Grade 5 monster the size of a mini van moved in to attack her.

Without Leon being able to keep up with the movements, she moved inside the reach of monster and struck beneath the thick plates covering its neck. The monster had no time to react, as its skin and bones melted away, leaving a hole there.

Following that, heat poured into the wound. The surrounding plates darkened, and when the monster tried taking another step, its leg failed beneath its weight.

Alyssa was already out of reach by the time it fell.

"Back to the wounded," Leon instructed the Swordsmen.

Both undead withdrew towards the workshop.

Alyssa glanced towards them as she rose from the road, then looked past them at Leon.

He raised one hand to show her that he was fine.

With a nod, she turned her attention farther away where more monsters were already coming through the side approach. She crossed the junction in another streak of fire. One creature fell with its head burned through, while another died before its claws could come down.

She kept the flames close to her body whenever she was near the workshop or civilians in such a way that they burned just as bright, but the heat was contained. Once she moved farther out, where the cars were empty and no one was between them, the heat spread much wider, at one time even melting some parts of a number of cars.

Leon could still feel the heat from beneath the shelter of the entrance.

The Mage lowered its staff as there was nothing left for it to shoot.

Alyssa moved around the city for a while, killing anything she could find, both Grade 4 and 5s.

"Move. This way," Leon called as he waved them forward.

The Warriors came out to take the injured from them.

In less than a minute, the situation around that entire area had completely changed. Alyssa slowed above and checked for anything else before descending towards Leon.

The flames around her faded when her feet touched the pavement, returning to her normal look without a hint of heat or flames.

"Are you hurt?" She immediately asked.

"Nothing serious."

Her eyes moved to the scrape on his hand before returning to his face.

"I was told that you were part of an expedition team from the academy? Where are they?"

"Back along the evacuation road. Lex is with the wounded, and we got everyone out of the dungeon."

Alyssa was about to say something, when she caught something and looked past him.

A Skeleton Warrior came out of the workshop carrying one end of a stretcher, while two others waited near the gate to take over. Farther down the street, the Skirmishers were guiding another group of civilians around the wreckage.

Her eyes moved from one Great Swordsman to the other.

The Mage stood beside the workshop entrance, and even more skeletons filled the lane behind it.

’Are these all, Leon’s?’

Leon followed her gaze. He already knew what she wanted to ask, but a responder reached them before she could say anything.

"Can we move everyone through the junction now?"

"Yes. Use the near side and stay away from the bodies," Alyssa answered after checking the road again.

Alyssa watched him for a moment, and just when she was about to say something, yet again, a woman called from the far side of the yard, asking for help with her husband.

"Go with them. They’ll carry him," Leon told her as he sent two Warriors across.

The woman nodded and hurried after them.

"You came from Sun City?" Leon asked once he turned back to Alyssa.

"Yes."

"What about home?"

"They’re safe. I checked before coming here. Everything should be alright there, most of the monsters didn’t reach over there."

Leon let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

"You have a lot to tell me, but later," Alyssa said as she looked towards the skeletons again, instructions had come in.

"Of course."

A heavy impact sounded somewhere between the distant buildings, causing Alyssa to raise her head.

Leon looked in the same direction.

"Keep moving people. I’ll clear the next approach." Alyssa said as she touched his shoulder.

Leon nodded.

She rose in a burst of fire and crossed above the junction.

’That’s what Unification looks like at that level.’