The crew knew that Callers had skills, and the Cyclops Caller had just used one. A frenzy ability surged through its minions, driving them into a violent, mindless rage. The sudden change overwhelmed Thomas almost immediately.
Iris reacted fast, activating her "duel" skill to draw some of the Fades toward her, keeping them from surrounding him completely. Even so, they could tell this wasn't a fight they could drag out. If the Caller used another skill, the entire battle could turn against them.
Thomas took the initiative. He grabbed a car door from the rubble and charged, slamming it against the Caller's head with a loud clang. The Cyclops barely flinched before swinging its massive arm in retaliation. The backhand hit Thomas square in the chest, launching him several meters through the air until he crashed against a building wall.
Thomas groaned, coughing as he pushed himself up. "Yeah… that one hurt."
Bryan and Iris unleashed a coordinated strike, its legs, slicing his legs at its tendons forcing the Caller to stumble. Nevin sent a larger energy ball directly in the cyclops chest making him move 2 steps backwards.
Thomas wiped the blood from his mouth and grinned. "Alright. Time to use my muscles!"
The Cyclops Caller reeled, its massive form teetering under the relentless barrage. Cracks splintered across its thick, armor-like skin, its glowing eye flickering in erratic bursts. With a furious roar, it swung its colossal arm in a final, desperate attempt to crush Thomas, but he was already moving.
Thomas dodged to the side, pushing off the ground with a burst of strength that cracked the rubble beneath his feet. He leapt high, closing the distance in a single bound. The Cyclops let out a low, confused growl just before Thomas brought his fist down with full force, slamming it straight into the glowing center of its eye.
The beast let out an agonized, earth-shaking bellow, its body convulsing violently as the energy within it ruptured. Its eye burst apart in a blinding explosion of Fog energy, the force ripping through its massive frame. The ground trembled as the Cyclops collapsed like a falling monolith, its enormous body crashing into the ruins with enough force to send debris flying in every direction.
The remaining grunt Fades, sensing the loss of their Caller, broke formation and scattered into the fog… disorganized, panicked, and no longer bound by a command.
Thomas landed in a crouch, breathing hard, his club dissipating into mist. He straightened up, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, that was fun."
Nevin, clutching a gash on his arm, shot him a glare. "Yeah, a blast. Especially the part where we almost got crushed."
Nevin moved toward Iris and Bryan, ready to heal them, but then paused. Their wounds were already closing on their own. "Wait… you guys are already at Stage 1? Look at that, you're healing by yourselves!"
Bryan blinked, glancing at the faint scratches along his shoulder where his fur had been torn. "Oh, so that's why it's been itching!"
But before they could fully recover, an ear-piercing shriek cut through the fog. The Wendigo Caller stood atop the ruins, its skeletal frame trembling with excitement with its remaining, 20 something zombie like fades. It had defeated the Wraith Caller, and now its hollow, glowing eyes locked onto them. The victory had cost it, deep wounds marred its elongated limbs, and a section of its torso had been ripped apart during the fight. But despite its injuries, it let out a spine-chilling howl and leaped forward, its horde of remaining Fades swarming in behind it.
Thomas clenched his fists. "Guess we're not done yet."
The Wendigo moved with frightening speed, its long limbs cutting through the fog as it lunged straight for them. Bryan barely had time to react. The creature's claws sliced through the air, grazing his side as he twisted mid-flight to avoid a direct hit. The force of the swing still threw him off balance, sending him spinning before he steadied himself in the air.
Nevin fired several energy balls at the incoming Fades, knocking a few down, but his shots were noticeably weaker than before. He had already used too much power earlier. If he had spent any on healing, he wouldn't have been able to fight at all.
Meanwhile, Iris kept the swarm under control, cutting down zombie Fades and drawing more toward her position to split their numbers.
Thomas charged forward, meeting the Wendigo head-on. The impact shook the ground. Its thin, skeletal frame was far stronger than it looked, each strike reverberating through Thomas's arms. He landed a solid punch that sent the creature skidding across the rubble, but it quickly straightened, bones snapping back into place as its wounds closed almost instantly.
"It's fast," Iris called out, cutting down a nearby Fade. "It's attacking while it's healing, we can't keep up like this!"
Nevin appeared beside Thomas, breathing hard. "That thing's regenerating. It's barely taking any real damage."
Thomas clenched his fists, glaring at the creature as it kept pushing forward, its hollow eyes locked on him. "Then we don't stop hitting it until it stays down."
The battle dragged on, every strike heavier than the last. The Wendigo was already weakened from its earlier fight with the Wraith Caller, its strength fading fast. It tried to regenerate, its wounds closing only halfway before reopening under the constant barrage of blows.
Thomas's crew pressed the advantage, moving in sync. Iris cut down anything that tried to flank him, while Nevin and Bryan cleared the remaining Fades. The Wendigo fought back in desperation, its claws swung wildly, but its movements had grown sluggish from exhaustion after its earlier battle with the Wraith Caller and the relentless barrage from Thomas.
Thomas didn't let up. Each punch landed harder than the one before, the ground cracking beneath his feet as he drove the creature back. The Wendigo stumbled, bones cracking, regeneration faltering.
With a final roar, Thomas launched forward and swung with everything he had. His full-force strike connected squarely with its head, the impact shaking the rubble around them. The Wendigo's skull shattered, and its body collapsed in a heap.
It twitched once, then went still. The remaining zombie-like Fades froze, then scattered into the fog, leaving only silence behind.
Thomas barely had time to catch his breath before Bryan shouted, "We've got company!"
From the ruins, figures emerged, Darius and Felix, leading twelve elite Red Hands members, all in Glint form. The air tensed as they closed in, their red insignias gleaming even through the dense mist.
Darius's transformation is an armored silver back gorilla. His body was like a living fortress, his thick, plated skin resembling unbreakable stone, each movement sending tremors through the ground. "That was entertaining," he said, his voice like grinding stone. "But you've done enough. Now it's our turn."
Felix smirked, his Naga Glint slithering through the mist, his elongated, coiling body tensed like a predator preparing to strike. His claws gleamed, venom dripping from their edges as his forked tongue flicked out. "You look tired, Thomas. This'll be over quick."
Thomas clenched his fist. "Yeah, I'm tired. Doesn't mean I'm done."
The fight broke out the moment the Red Hands appeared. They attacked with brutal precision, exploiting the crew's exhaustion from the battle with the Callers.
Bryan struggled to stay in the air, forced to dodge Felix's lightning-fast strikes that cut through the fog. Nevin fell back, his hands shaking as he tried to form another energy ball but could barely summon the strength. He dodged a blade by inches, stumbling over debris. Iris stayed near him, cutting down attackers to keep them from being surrounded.
At the center of the chaos, Thomas traded blows with Darius, a silverback gorilla Glint clad in heavy armor plates. Each strike landed like stone on stone, cracks spidering through the ground under their feet. Darius drove forward with brute force, armored shoulders low and massive fists hammering. The plates turned glancing hits aside, but Thomas held his stance and met him punch for punch.
Behind them, the Archivists were already moving. While the Red Hands and Thomas's crew clashed, they used the distraction to recover the Voynich Manuscript from the ruins. Once they had it secured, they started slipping back into the fog, moving quickly and quietly.
Iris caught sight of them retreating and tightened her grip on her weapon. "They're leaving," she called out, signaling the crew that their job was done, and they could pull back anytime.
Nevin ducked under a Red Hands elite's swing and countered with a close-range energy blast that hit the attacker square in the side. The Red Hands pressed forward hard, coordinated and unrelenting, forcing Thomas's crew to split their attention.
Bryan fought above them, wings beating fast as he clashed with two airborne enemies, barely keeping ahead of their attacks. Iris dodged a thrust from a Red Hand's lance and countered with a sharp kick that sent the fighter crashing into a pile of debris. They were tired, but none of them were giving in.
Felix, sensing an opening, shifted his attention to Thomas, who was locked in a heavy exchange with Darius, the armored silverback. "Let's end this," Felix hissed, darting through the mist with blinding speed. His claws sliced across Thomas's side before he vanished back into the fog.
Thomas grunted, blood seeping from the cut, but before he could recover, Darius seized the moment. The silverback's massive fist connected squarely with Thomas's chest, sending him tumbling several meters across the rubble.