The being that had stared out at Luke from beyond the weave of The Greater System drifted closer through the opening that cut straight up into the air. Right in front of it, a man approached, gesturing into the air, as if trying to communicate with whatever those enormous, yellow-glowing eyes belonged to. Tim. No, not Tim. Relian. This was not the time to humanize the bastard he'd come to kill.

  "I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Luke said.

  Curtis scoffed. "No shit."

  "There," Martin said, pointing. "They're in trouble."

  Luke followed and saw a few Integrated facing off against a troll-like monster three times as tall as them. It wielded a club the size of a man, swiping it in arcs across the ground in front of it, growling from two mouths full of dark brown and black teeth. As they watched, one of the Integrated took the club to his arm, and it was ripped clean off from the incredible power of the swing, throwing the Integrated back with a cry.

  Johanson: "Luke, you and the others have to leave! Now!"

  "We need to get Relian," Luke said, taking a step toward the field in the distance. "You remember what the transmission told us before this all started, right?"

  "Huh?" Cass asked, not taking her eyes off the injured Integrated as she used a skill that made the injured's health bar fill in an instant.

  Luke blinked. "You can heal here?"

  "Only the stupid assholes who get themselves hurt fighting monsters or other Integrated."

  "Huh," Luke said, "didn't know that." He gestured toward Relian, the opening in the air, and the thing they all glimpsed through it. "That thing is part of the void, I'm pretty sure. If I'm right, that's what this is all about. Training us to fight against it and those like it. You think we're ready for that?"

  "No," Martin said.

  "No," Luke agreed. "So we'd better close that opening now!"

  Johanson: "Luke!"

  Luke: "WHAT!? I already told you I'm not running away now! Relian has made an opening into the void!"

  Martin shook his head. "We can't all go and leave the others to fend for themselves. Cass, you go help the DIA's people. Laura and Greg, you go with her."

  "Yes, sir," Laura said, standing at attention before setting off, heading to the side of the field where the Integrated were about to lose to the ogre-like monster.

  Curtis blasted forward, heading straight for the field with Relian. The several large monsters standing in their way didn't seem to give him pause at all.

  "Let's go!" Martin shouted, and he was off as well, even faster than Curtis.

  Linda shot a smile Luke's way and cast a spell, re-upping the speed buff from earlier. Together they ran, following the carnage left in Curtis’s and Martin's wake as they cut their way forward. Feeling the void being's attention resting on him was uncomfortable to say the least, but Luke forced himself to ignore it as he focused on the monsters closing in behind the two forerunners, dead set on stopping Luke. Whether they acted on orders from Relian or just some base instinct, he didn't know, and it didn't matter.

  A Goblin Geologist pelted them with rocks from afar, forcing Luke to extend several Threads of Mana to protect the two of them as they ran. Linda cast some sort of mana drain spell at the goblin just as a group of lizardmen came charging from behind a row of bushes lining a bike rack. Not stopping, Luke pushed their spears to the side and thrust Needle of Life into their brains, killing three in an instant, then a fourth straggler. A fifth Lizardman threw itself at Luke, leaping out from behind cover. It bounced off a barrier, and Rolf gave a thumbs up, his face flushed from the running.

  "Luke!" Linda shouted, pointing to a spot in the grass behind the bushes.

  An Integrated lay there, covered in blood, crying out for help. Luke extended Weaver's Eye, then shook his head, gesturing for Linda to follow. "It's a Hollow! Ignore it!"

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  Johanson: "Luke! You don't understand!"

  Throwing himself to the side to avoid crackling lightning hurtling his way from a red-skinned humanoid monster in the distance, Luke saw that Curtis and Martin had engaged a snake the size of a bus, and it was lashing out at them with incredible speed. In the distance, Relian had turned toward the approaching group, a look of annoyance on his face.

  Luke: "A little busy here!"

  Johanson: "THERE IS A NUKE ON THE WAY, LUKE. RUN NOW AND YOU MIGHT MAKE IT OUT OF THE PRIMARY BLAST RADIUS."

  Luke froze.

  Luke: "Nuke? You're fucking nuking us?"

  Johanson: "The United States Government has made the decision that the threat of The Fallen Shepherd warrants the use of all possible force. The surrounding area has already been evacuated. There should be no casualties."

  Luke: "How long?"

  Johanson: "Luke..."

  Luke: "How long, Johanson?"

  Johanson: "You have four minutes."

  Resuming his run to follow Linda and Rolf, Luke saw Martin being swallowed whole by the snake just as Curtis cut into it with his blade, scoring a deep wound into the thing's body, just below the neck.

  Four minutes. That wasn't enough time. A nuke. A goddamn nuke. What the hell were they thinking? Not enough time for anything!

  Martin appeared on top of the monster's head, uninjured, and drove a glowing short sword straight into its left eye, destroying it.

  Barriers sprang up around the two fighters as they finished off the monster and set off again with a quick glance back to make sure the support casters were doing fine.

  "Stupid fighters always rushing in too fast," Linda muttered, casting some type of debuff spells on monsters closing in.

  Martin: "Everyone. I just got word from the main office. They have readings indicating a missile heading our way."

  Cass: "Missile?"

  Laura: "Like, from the military?"

  Martin: "Seems that way."

  Luke: "It's a nuke."

  Both Linda and Rolf turned toward him, their eyes wide.

  "Nuke?" Linda asked, her lower lip trembling.

  Martin: "That's... That's fucked up."

  Greg: "Sending a nuclear missile to a target on US soil is illegal."

  Laura: "The legality isn't the most pressing issue here, Greggers!"

  Greg: "I don't like that nickname."

  Luke: "I have an idea."

  Curtis: "Of course you do."

  Martin: "Let's hear it."

  Out on that field, the monsters surrounding Relian all turned as one to stare at Luke and the others. Following that, they charged, and The Fallen Shepherd resumed his communication with the being beyond.

  Luke: "I'll need to get up into the air to intercept it."

  Martin: "Hold on."

  A brief moment of fighting off gnolls later, with Luke taking the blow from a flail right onto his arm before managing to kill their chieftain, Martin had found what he was looking for.

  Martin: "The main office is contacting the DIA Integrated here on our behalf.

  Laura: "What? Why?"

  Martin: "Look up. They have wings."

  Luke couldn't help but stare up into the clear blue sky as he healed the injury. Far up above, dark dots were swarming around smaller but more agile dots as Integrated and monsters fought for air dominance.

  Luke: "That'll work."

  Curtis: "Big ones incoming."

  The casters caught up with Curtis and Martin, and together they readied themselves to receive a stampede of what looked like undead bulls. The muscle and skin were peeling off their bodies as they ran. Counting at least fifty of them, all their eyes glowed red, and they lowered their heads as one.

  "This is going to suck," Curtis said.

  "Barriers, Rolf!" Martin shouted.

  The world shook with the approach of the monsters. No, that wasn't it. While Luke felt like he was about to lose his footing, the others didn't react at all. Swaying, another vibration struck him, and he cast about, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The ground itself rumbled from the approaching herd, yes, but this wasn't due to that. No, this was something different.

  Then he felt it. The attention. Before, the void-creature's gaze had rested on Luke for a moment, but this was different. Now, the same attention turned Luke's way in full force. The being's eyes were fixed on him, and Luke could only look back. Again, the world trembled. This time, Luke caught on. It wasn't the physical realm at all. That damn thing had just thrummed on the weave itself, playing the threads of reality like an instrument, and Luke felt the reverberations in his very soul.

  "Barriers!" Rolf shouted again, and a long barrier spread out in front of the group, formed as a plow against which the oncoming wave of monsters broke. Those that didn't fall were turned away to the sides, but cracks formed and spindled outward almost instantly. The barrier would not hold for long.

  In the distance, Relian must've felt the vibrations too, because he turned toward Luke with a look of annoyed exasperation.

  Relian: "You should have heeded my word of caution. There is no need for this conflict. Return to your home. Do not force my hand toward the thread of your life, Lifeweaver."

  Luke: "Fuck you."