Unchosen Champion

Platinum took her time tying her hair back, making sure to brush out any bumps with her fingers. She kept her eyes closed, refusing to acknowledge the myriad of enemies that clamored to eliminate humanity. Their writhing scales reflected with crimson brims while their claws churned the soil. Monstrous growls and wicked hissing were hardly audible over the deafening counter attacks that temporarily held them at bay.

Once almost every silvery strand on her head was secure, Platinum pushed the face-framing tendrils behind her ears and opened her eyes with a big sigh. She crossed her arms and took a moment to observe the battlefield from the edge of the final artificial embankment that protected this particular corner of their territory.

It was a valuable location, not for its proximity to any development in particular, but because if it was lost, the entire Delaware River valley would be overrun. The monsters would carve the entire southern portion of Neon Park’s territory from the rest, delivering a devastating blow to their overall security. The leaders dispatched the manpower necessary to prevent such a loss, maintaining the evacuation routes so that any further territorial retraction could be conducted at their own discretion rather than be forced by their enemies.

The defensive earthen mounds only had a handful of other spectators enjoying the current show, though to be fair to them, they seemed ready to actively participate with weapons held tight and eyes alert. They stayed low as they peeked over the tops of the dirt piles to watch the havoc being created on the battlefield. They feared that rising too high from the trenches might cause them to be struck down, but also didn’t want to miss a single blast.

Before the assimilation began, the area would have been all corn fields, white fences, and farmhouses. For a city dweller like Platinum, it had been an idyllic tableau for a perfect little farm community. It wasn’t exactly frontier living, with maybe a twenty minute drive to a number of city centers, but it was drastically different from the urban density that she was used to and never thought to leave. Still, she could imagine girls going on day trips to explore farmer’s markets, browsing the selection of fruit and vegetables with big floppy sun hats and oversized sunglasses, or visiting mom and pop bakeries for some fresh desserts that would look perfect in an excessive number of selfies.

Instead, the only people present wore mana-infused leather armor ornamented with makeshift shoulder pads, wired face masks, and custom scrap bucklers. They wielded swords, spears, and staves, with pendants and feathers hanging from the ends, and knives and pipes for backup. Instead of consuming cute treats with pleasant expressions while enjoying the weather, their faces were grim, stained with dirt, feeling mixtures of bloodthirst and awe at the spectacles on the battlefield. The atmosphere weighed on them, but because they were within Lighthouse territory, the corrosion was barely a tertiary concern.

Platinum joined them in their readiness, sweeping her fingers across her face to manifest a solidlight mask and donning her gleaming warsuit over the comfortable leather body armor. It would be her turn soon enough. She stood tall, exposed to the weather, unafraid of being struck down while their allies handled the mess.

With the start of the assimilation, most of the local structures managed to survive until they fell under the protection of one settlement or another. They were shielded by the taming effect of civilization shards relatively early in the process. Nevertheless, even the most well-maintained building looked like it had been left to fend for itself for a hundred years after just weeks in the untamed wilds. Fresh coats of paint were visibly peeling and wood had deteriorated, sagging or revealing water damage from the brief time spent outside of settlement territory after mana activated. There was an obvious reason the ramparts she stood upon were kept simple, utilizing unmanipulated natural resources. They were the only reliable materials left.

After the Eradication Protocol began, the degradation of human construction had become more pronounced. There were hardly any hints that human civilization had even existed outside of Lighthouse territory, and that was before the monsters were factored in. Only one out of every hundred structures was still standing and anyone could see that even those were not long for the world. Roads just crumbled into smoke, blown away in the swirls of mana that had grown so thick they were clearly visible to the naked eye. It was like a dust bowl had descended on their territory, but instead of failed crops blown by dry winds, it was the evidence of humanity that drifted away.

Platinum frowned at the conditions of her planet. The world had been bloodied, a fine gauze of crimson making it seem like Earth was being drained of its vitality. The green fields were desiccated and brown, with no chance of any future harvest. Golden dust hovered in the air, choking the remaining life from the region. Almost no wild animals had been seen since the start, every creature wise enough to instinctively seek shelter in the storm. Monsters made their presence known instead, roaring challenges and eagerly seeking human victims, but they were being met with thunder in this particular place.

All the way until the end of the leaderboards, Platinum retained her position near the pinnacle of humanity. Naturally, with her particular set of skills, she had been sent into the untamed interior of the continent, scouring the southern regions for stragglers in hopes of dragging them to the safety of shard territory. She had only just returned from her own forays across the wilderness, which, if nothing else, motivated her to finally join the fight.

Her previous task had been unrewarding, with only a scant few souls revealing themselves to her sweeps. Instead of grabbing the last few groups of people that might have been caught outside of settlement territory, she mostly discovered swarms of monsters, intensifying the cataclysm that unfolded across the world. Legions of creatures climbed over themselves, rapidly expanding their numbers as they formed hordes of enemies that aggressively sought to end human existence.