Chrysalis

When the tide turns, it turns quickly. Sarah has taken immense damage with her reckless fighting style but all that happens is she goes harder. With literally dozens of healers lined up behind her it doesn't seem as though she's going to have any trouble maintaining her HP either, no matter how much pain the demons try to rain down on her. Unable to stand up in front of her, unable to bring her down, the line eventually cracks as the enraged bear slashes and tears at everything she can reach. She really is a powerful creature, possibly the strongest that I've ever seen from the first stratum barring the big croc herself.

The moment there's a hole in the line, the ants start to pour through it, wrapping around the demons on either side with expert precision. Sarah of course, is rather oblivious to the trouble and simply rushes forwards, trying to catch the opponents who are now fleeing from her. With the battle on the verge of being won by the Colony there's little point holding back anymore and I reach out with my senses, trying to grasp hold of Brixin and her allies the moment they reveal themselves.

Which turns out to be now. From high above a dense sphere of mana forms, crushing in on itself until it glows bright in my minds like a star. Almost as soon as it appears it begins to drop, rocketing down towards the clustered ants on the edge of the plate.

Aha! So they wanted to annihilate us from above as we were cramped and vulnerable. If only we hadn't been able to anticipate such an obvious move!

"SHIELDS UP!" comes the call that rattles the antennae of every ant in the city.

Dozens of mages leap to the task of weaving barriers above whilst they simultaneously reach out to try and snuff the incoming ball of condensed mana. Each of my mind constructs is bent to the task, having dropped the domain the moment it wasn't needed, spinning shields and tearing chunks out of the spell above us with frenetic energy. I can feel so many minds around me doing the same thing, including Invidia and Al, which leads me to feel confident that we'll be able to deflect this spell no problem.

Except, that doesn't appear to be the case…

feel powerful minds still pumping the spell with mana, weaving vast amounts of fire mana every second. But how

now! I can't allow my siblings to be

is everyone else, but I can already tell that we won't be able to dissipate the spell before it reaches us, not even close. Which means the barriers would need to hold, which I'm not sure that they will. If nothing is done, then a lot of my family members are going

climb up there and attack the demons responsible for the spell directly, perhaps Vibrant could… no, she would need to run to the pillar, climb up it and then jump off. That's too much, even for her. I could reach out to Al, but the

vision. I can sense the demons now, riding down atop the fireball. I can even feel their gravitational fields, weak as they are. With the spell

rings in

[Wha-? Crinis?]

she urges me and I spin in confusion for a

her shadow mana into a black void on the ground as is currently trying to pull me towards it with her tentacles. There's a second where I wonder if she's trying to save

friend, I rush forward and throw myself into the darkness. For a disorienting moment I'm absorbed into a real of perfect shadow before being