Seth's fingers danced across the holographic display, coordinating the rescue operation with practiced precision. Tank stood beside him, his eyes fixed on the swarm of corrupted creatures converging on the distant structure.

"Portal's ready," Seth announced, his voice steady despite the tension in the air. "Drone One, you're up."

The sleek machine whirred to life, grasping the essence bomb in its metallic claws. It hovered through the shimmering portal, the thirty-second timer on the explosive already ticking down.

"Drone Two, keep your sensors locked on those monsters," Tank ordered, his gaze never leaving the display. "The moment they move, we need to know."

Seth's hands moved with a fluid grace, opening another portal as the first essence bomb detonated in the distance. The monitoring drone's feed showed a blinding flash followed by a shockwave rippling through the twisted landscape.

"They're moving!" Tank exclaimed, pointing at the mass of creatures now surging towards the explosion site.

Seth allowed himself a small smile. "Time for the main event."

A larger drone emerged from the second portal, carrying an even more imposing essence bomb. The one-minute timer blinked ominously as the machine set the explosive down amidst the approaching horde.

Tank nodded, his expression grim. "Let's hope that thins their numbers."

As the bomb counted down, Seth turned to face Reaper and Marshall, who stood ready with their team. "Portal's open. Move fast and stay low. We'll keep an eye on you from here."

Reaper gave a curt nod, his rifle held at the ready. "We'll bring them back."

Marshall adjusted his robes, his eyes betraying a hint of excitement. "Just like old times, eh, Reaper?"

The sniper clapped a hand on Marshall's shoulder. "We've got this, doc. Let's go."

The rescue team slipped through the portal, emerging into a landscape straight out of a nightmare. Twisted rock formations jutted from the ground like grasping claws, while sickly vegetation pulsed with an unnatural glow.

Reaper took point, his keen eyes scanning the surroundings for any sign of danger. Marshall followed close behind.

As they moved deeper into the corrupted wasteland, the scale of the carnage became apparent. Thousands upon thousands of slain monsters littered the ground, their decaying forms releasing a putrid stench into the air.

"What the hell?" Marshall whispered, his eyes wide with horror. "What happened here?"

Reaper knelt beside a particularly large carcass, examining the wounds that had felled the beast. "Calvin and Amy happened," he said, a hint of admiration in his voice. "They've been busy."

Marshall shook his head in disbelief. "How could they have survived this long against so many?"

"They might just be monsters themselves" Reaper replied, rising to his feet.

The team pressed on, picking their way through the sea of corpses towards the structure where their friends were holed up. The sounds of battle grew louder as they approached, punctuated by the crackle of lightning and the hiss of toxic energy.

Reaper raised a fist, signaling the team to halt. He peered around a jagged rock formation, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of the structure's entrance.

"I see them," he said, his voice low. "Calvin and Freya are holding the line while Amy's doing... something inside."

Marshall craned his neck to get a better look. "Is she all right?"

As the team watched, Amy emerged from the structure, her body wreathed in a sickly green aura. She raised her hands, and a wave of toxic energy surged forth, engulfing the approaching monsters in a tide of decay.

Calvin fought beside her, his storm-imbued weapon cutting swathes through the corrupted horde. Lightning crackled around Calvin's form, while Freya's fangs and claws tore through flesh and bone with savage efficiency.

Reaper turned to his team, his expression determined. "Let's even the odds."

With a battle cry, the rescue team charged forward, their weapons blazing. Reaper's rifle cracked with pinpoint precision, each shot finding its mark in the head of a corrupted beast.

Calvin looked up as the reinforcements arrived, a fierce grin spreading across his face. "About time you showed up!" he called out, his voice barely audible over the din of battle.

Reaper took up position beside him, his rifle never ceasing its deadly rhythm. "Wouldn't miss this party for the world," he replied, a rare smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Amy and Freya closed ranks with the rescue team, their powers intertwining in a deadly synergy. The toxic miasma that surrounded Amy seeped into the wounds opened by Freya's claws, while the lightning that danced around Calvin's form arced between the corpses of the rotting creatures. The storm still surrounded Calvin and lashed out at anything that dared approach.

Together, they fought as one, a united front against the relentless tide of corruption. The monsters fell in droves, their twisted forms crumpling under the onslaught of steel, storm, and poison.

Calvin turned to face them, "You know, we were just starting to have fun, maybe we could stay a little longer"

As if to punctuate the statement, Amy let loose several more marks from her Creeping Rot. Reaper and Marshall watched as the toxins pulsed, damaging everything around it before spreading and continuing to chain out to infect dozens upon dozens more.

Watching in amazement Reaper responded, "I'm sure we could take our time getting back."

With a wave of Reaper's hand, he called down an Ion Strike, laying waste to hundreds more creatures. He reveled in the experience gains he'd just received.

"In all seriousness though, we gotta roll." Marshall said before punching out several sigils into the approaching monsters. "The distraction will only hold the horde at bay for so long, and we don't want to get our exit shut down."

Amy nodded, the toxic aura around her fading as she allowed herself a moment of relief. "We have a lot to report," she said, her voice heavy with the weight of their ordeal.

They pushed hard for location they came in from. They knew it would be far enough from the interference that had prevented them from leaving.

As the portal shimmered into existence before them, the rescue team and their rescued comrades stepped through, leaving the nightmare of the corrupted landscape behind.

Calvin, Amy, and Freya strode into the council chambers, their faces beaming with triumph despite the harrowing ordeal they'd just endured. The angular walls of smooth grey stone rose up around them, accented by lines of glowing blue light that traced symmetrical geometric patterns. Wide balconies jutted out from the upper floors, granting sweeping views of the surrounding valley and glittering lake beyond.

As they entered beneath a soaring archway, they found themselves in a vaulted chamber with a high, domed ceiling. Intricate holograms depicting the groups' previous battles covered the walls and floors. At the room's center, a large raised circular dais held seven thronelike chairs in a semicircle facing outwards. Each chair bore stylized engravings representing one of the Olympian council members.

Seth and Tank, who had been anxiously awaiting their return, greeted them with a mixture of relief and surprise. Seth's tall, muscular frame was tense with worry, his brown eyes scanning them for any signs of injury. Tank stood beside him, his broad shoulders and military bearing a stark contrast to Seth's more relaxed posture.

"We expected you to be in rough shape," Seth remarked, his eyes widening as he took in their pristine appearance. "But you look like you just came back from a spa retreat."

Calvin chuckled, the sound reverberating through the room. "We had a bit of a rough start, but once we figured out how to make the most of our situation, things turned around quickly." He ran a hand through his brown hair, a satisfied smile playing across his tan features.

Amy nodded, a sly grin playing across her lips. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a ponytail, revealing the mischievous glint in her blue eyes. "We found a way to farm the monsters," she explained, her voice tinged with excitement. "By controlling their approach and maximizing our abilities, we managed to take down nearly ten thousand of them."

Tank's jaw dropped, his eyes bulging in disbelief. The staff sergeant's usually stoic demeanor cracked under the weight of his astonishment. "Ten thousand? How is that even possible?" He ran a hand over his close-cropped brown hair, trying to wrap his mind around the sheer scale of their accomplishment.

Freya barked, her tail wagging with pride. The Aetherwolf's sleek black fur shimmered in the light, her intelligent eyes gleaming with satisfaction. Calvin reached down and scratched behind her ears, eliciting a contented rumble from the loyal companion.

"It's all thanks to our affinities," Calvin said, his voice growing serious. "Amy found a conduit for her path and gained that Creeping Rot ability. That's what gave us the idea. We were able to kill large amounts of creatures without expending hardly any energy. It pushed her Pestilence affinity up three full bars, which made her toxin-based skills incredibly powerful. The damage and duration increased massively, and at level three, any toxic damage she deals spreads to nearby creatures like a plague."

Amy's eyes glinted with a dangerous light, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. "It was beautiful," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Watching them wither and decay, knowing that each one I struck would infect dozens more."

Seth shuddered, a chill running down his spine at the intensity of Amy's words. The artificer's tan skin paled slightly, and he swallowed hard, trying to push the gruesome images from his mind. He turned to Calvin, eager to change the subject. "And what about you? Did you make any progress with your Stormbreaker path?"

Calvin's grin stretched from ear to ear as a crackle of energy danced in his eyes. "Two levels," he said, his voice resonating with a newfound strength that seemed to fill the room. "And I picked up a new trick called Eye of the Storm. It lets me whip up a tempest around myself, fueled by any storm essence I can pull in."

He closed his eyes, brow knit in focus. The air began to stir, first a gentle breeze, then a swirling gust. Tiny lightning bolts skittered across Calvin's skin as a miniature maelstrom took shape, engulfing him. Wind whipped through the council members' hair and tugged at their robes. "I'm gonna need your help with this one, though. Figured out I can game the system a bit - this baby runs on pure Storm Essence. With a steady supply of essence stones, I can keep it going indefinitely."

Seth nodded, a glint of excitement in his eye. "I've got something even better in mind. Let's get your gauntlet tricked out like Marshall's, with built-in stone slots. That way, you'll always have a few rounds chambered and ready to go."

Calvin flashed a grateful smile. "There's more," he continued, his voice rising above the howling wind. "My battleplate got a sweet upgrade too. Now, anyone who takes a swing at me is in for a nasty shock - literally."

Tank let out a low whistle, eyebrows climbing towards his hairline. "Remind me to steer clear of you in the sparring ring," he chuckled, only half-joking. A flicker of genuine apprehension crossed his face.

Calvin's laughter echoed through the chamber, intertwining with the crackling bolts of lightning that danced around him. The storm raged, whipping the council members' hair and robes in a frenzy of wind and electricity. With a casual wave of his hand, the tempest dissipated, leaving the room in a sudden, almost eerie silence. The absence of the howling gale was jarring, the quietude pressing in on them from all sides.

Seth cleared his throat, his mind racing as he tried to process the implications of what he'd just witnessed. The sheer power Calvin had demonstrated was staggering, beyond anything he'd ever seen before. "This is incredible," he breathed, his voice filled with a mixture of awe and disbelief. "The power you've gained, the skills you've acquired..."

Calvin's expression grew serious, his brow furrowing as he considered his next words carefully. "About that," he said, his tone measured and deliberate. "We're going to go back."

Tank and Seth stared at Calvin as if he'd suddenly sprouted a second head, their eyes wide with shock and incredulity. "Hold up," Tank said, his voice rising in pitch as he struggled to contain his disbelief. "We just busted our asses to get you out of there, and now you're telling us you want to go back? Have you lost your damn mind?"

Calvin held up a hand, his expression calm but firm. "Hear me out," he said, his voice steady and assured. "There's obviously something big going on out there. That's where Jesse pulled us to through the portal. And while we were there, we saw another portal open up. The concentration of corruption and monsters in that area was way too high to be a coincidence. There's something important happening, and we need to find out what it is."

He paused, letting his words sink in before continuing. "Plus, we gained more power in our time there than we have in the last month. We can't afford to let an opportunity like that slip through our fingers. We need to take advantage of it, to grow stronger so we can face whatever challenges lie ahead."

Tank's expression slowly shifted from one of disbelief to grudging understanding. He turned back to the holographic display, studying the flickering images with a newfound intensity. "You've got a point," he admitted, nodding slowly as he considered the implications of Calvin's words. "If we play our cards right, we can accomplish multiple objectives. At the very least, our growth and the destruction of Kyrak's forces is bound to stir something up. It might just give us the edge we need."

Calvin turned to Reaper, a thoughtful expression on his face. "On a separate note, Reaper, would you consider taking a Titanic Spark of your own?"

Reaper's eyebrows shot up, surprise etched across his features. "I mean, yeah, of course," he said, his voice tinged with a mix of excitement and uncertainty. "Although, didn't you want to keep those in reserve for the exceptionally strong people? I'm no slouch, but I'm not a walking calamity like you all."

Calvin leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he considered his response. "I'd been thinking about that," he said, his words measured and deliberate. "Especially while we had some time with those monsters. The sparks enhanced the essence of our path to this point. Each of us grew stronger in the ways that we were already strong."

He paused, letting his words sink in before continuing. "We have enough 'walking calamities' as you put it. What we need is the utility that comes from your kit, but dialed up to 11. Your scouting, battlefield control, ability to remove any single thing from the battlefield with precision, and even your orbital strikes… I can only imagine the power you'd gain from the spark in those areas."

Calvin's expression grew serious, his eyes locking with Reaper's. "Although, keep in mind, the trials are dangerous, and you'll likely lose access to the skill system you've enjoyed thus far. At least that's how it's been for the rest of us."

Reaper nodded, his gaze drifting over to Tank. The bond between the two men was palpable, a testament to the years they'd spent fighting side by side. Reaper had always looked to Tank for guidance, and this moment was no different.

Tank met Reaper's gaze, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Do it," he said, his voice filled with a mixture of encouragement and challenge. "You've earned it, and I think you'll have fun with it." He punctuated his words with a wink, a gesture that spoke volumes about the camaraderie between the two men.

Reaper's hesitation melted away, replaced by a newfound determination. "Alright, I'm in," he said, his voice steady and assured.

Calvin grinned, clapping Reaper on the back with a resounding thud. "Great. Andy, get our friend here off to the trials." He turned to the rest of the group, his expression growing focused and intent. "The rest of you, let's work up a plan. We want to control the battlefield, funnel the monsters, maximize our ability to use our skills and farm our affinities. We do not want to go in with overwhelming force, but we do want to keep Skybreakers on standby in case the behemoths begin overwhelming us."

He glanced over at Amy, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Amy and I are going to hit up Ambrosia, because we're starving. We'll come right back here and get to work. As soon as Reaper gets back, we're off."

As Calvin and Amy made their way towards Ambrosia, the rest of the group huddled together, their voices low and urgent as they began to formulate their plan of attack.