Chrysalis

Morrelia braced herself, though it likely wasn't necessary. Inside her heavyset Legion armour, she could be battered with a tree and barely feel it. Even so, she braced herself.

The wave, when it came, was almost visible. A ripple of ultra-dense mana rose through their legs and passed the tops of their heads in a thousandth of a second, sending her reeling. She felt as if she'd been punched in the gut, but a whine from her armour caught her attention. Lifting her arm to check the script on her forearm plate, she could see the enchantments fizzing, shortly before her back began to burn.

"VENT!" a nearby Centurion bellowed, sprinting along the front of the line. "Your armour is overloaded!"

She'd been drilled a thousand times on how to handle the more powerful armour and that training kicked into gear now. With practised ease, she triggered the mechanism in her forearm plates, then extended her hands in front of her. All along the line, her fellow legionaries did the same, and after a few seconds, during which the heat within the armour became absolutely unbearable, the excess energy was released through the hands in a blast of heat. With so many performing the vent at the same time, the air in front of the line shimmered with heat haze, but Morrelia didn't care. The cores mounted on the back plates of the armour no longer felt like they were going to melt through the metal and into her back, which was all she cared about at the moment.

What in Pangera was that?

She was desperate to ask, but knew better than to break discipline as they stood in line. If she actually thought about it, she was able to figure out most of it. The wave had broken, that much was clear, and the incredibly dense mana had oversaturated the cores, flooding the enchantments worked into the armour with far too much energy. It normally wouldn't be a problem, but these suits, Potestas armour, had been designed to pull in as much of the ambient mana as they could.

Designed as a halfway point between normal Legionary armour and the invincible Praetorian suits, Potestas armour was intended to help acclimate the wearer to a higher level of mana intake and output. Only those who could successfully utilise the armour to its full potential would have the option to progress to the next stage.

She'd been doing reasonably in training, but the wave had come and everything had to be put on hold, putting a halt to whatever progress she'd been making. Clearly expecting the wave to cause a major disruption, the Legion had pulled everyone who could wear armour and swing an arm to fight, which meant even officer training had been suspended.

Not that Morrelia minded. She'd learn more fighting in the armour than practising on the field, and she'd rather be helping than sitting on her hands in the fifth inside a sealed facility.

"Hold the line, Legionaries! Be mindful of your exhaustion, we won't be relieved from this position for eight hours. If you're too tired to fight, then you're dead! Now BRACE!"

Whatever training Centurions went through to strengthen their throats really worked. She'd never met one who couldn't shatter stone with their voice alone. It was an exaggeration, but not by much.

Mana levels within the suit were still too high, the cores sizzled away on her back, but within tolerance. Morrelia lowered her gauntleted hands to her waist where she pulled free her two swords. Made with the finest metals she could get her hands on, these blades should be able to stand up to the pressure exerted from the Potestas armour, unlike her old ones.

Before them, the tunnel mouth yawned wide. Down that passage lay a warren of caverns and tunnels that stretched for thousands of kilometres when added together. Deep down, if you knew where to go, you'd find an entrance to the fifth. All the monsters that spawned within had very few ways to break out into the open air of the fourth stratum, this tunnel being one of them, which was precisely why the Legion maintained a base here in defence of Goylin, a nearby city.

For the next eight hours, there would be no more drills, no more training, no more lessons, no more sparring, no more repetitive skills practice. For eight glorious hours, there would be nothing but fighting. She couldn't wait.

"I can't believe you're smiling," the Legionary on her right remarked.

She turned to face him. Ertan, she thought his name was.

"I can't believe you're not," she grinned fiercely.

He just shook his head.

"You're nuts," he observed, then looked forward into the chasm. The air was shifting in there, the roar and clash of monsters had become a constant barrage of noise. It was getting closer. "Having said that, I think we need a little bit of crazy in the current environment."

"Well, I'm happy I can contribute something," she replied, slamming her visor down.

Her hands practically itched to start swinging, but she had to be patient for just a bit longer. Only a few seconds later, her endurance was rewarded as the first monsters burst out of the cavernous tunnel mouth. Clawing and biting at each other, the two beasts, one a golden lion whose coat gleamed with a metallic shine, the other a sinuous jade dragon, ignored the arrayed soldiers as they battled against each other. That turned out to be a mistake as the lion was knocked backwards towards the line, whereupon it was slashed a dozen times in an instant. Deprived of its prey, the dragon hissed furiously and rushed forward to secure Biomass, only to receive a similar end.

Sadly, neither had come close enough for Morrelia to strike. She did her best not to bounce up and down on the spot like a jittery trainee, but her body was absolutely bursting with energy.

When the tidal wave of beasts burst forth and began to hurtle across the hundred metre gap between the Legion and the tunnels, she almost sighed with relief.

"HOLD!" bellowed the Centurion.

Oh come on....

"ATTACK!" came the call.

Finally!

She burst forward, dashing with all the strength her mana enhanced muscles could provide. As if shot from a catapult, she rocketed at the enemy, wind howling past her ears, a rictus grin frozen on her face. She planted both feet on the ground, steadied herself for a fraction of a second, then unleashed her Twin-Blade strike. Two arcs of pure light slashed through the air, cutting deep into any monster unfortunate enough to get in her way.

All the little details she'd struggled with in the training yard seemed to fall away as she fell into the rhythm of battle. The cores sucked in mana endlessly, pumping it into her muscles and reinforcing the armour itself. Where before, she'd struggled to regulate the flow of energy, drawing too much into her body, or too little, now it simply worked as she didn't even think about it.

"Come and get it!" she howled, activating her Berserk Skill.

The world instantly dyed itself a shade of red as she felt the fury bubble up in her mind. Air whistled through her clenched teeth as she stalked forward, blades twirling in her hands. It was time for the Legion to do what they did best.