For the first time since Ben had been watching them, perhaps for the first time ever, every demon that had been coming and going through the gates stood still.
How could they not? A structure filled with the prizes and power of their god, a structure that had stood longer than any of them had lived, had vanished, spilling out its contents to the ground below. Even the ones that hadn’t reached their sapient stage were stunned
It was only for a moment, but in their second of shock that trumped their violent souls, Ben experienced eons. An eternity under the weight of what he'd done in the face of what had happened.
He'd freed the prisoners, he'd doomed the prisoners, both were true with it only being a matter of milliseconds until the monster surrounding them would act, leaving him to reach out to every single captive within his range and shouting with both his voice and thoughts as connections were made.
It was a deep, primal scream that touched them to their core, at least the ones close enough to him, as he started to move himself while he was threaded through others, Tenth and another dozen prisoners each meshed into his mind as that primal instruction reached them, deeper than anything else when he'd ever stretched into the depths of a person and forced something to click.
Instantly he wasn't just in a single place anymore. He wasn’t just one person anymore. It felt the same as every time he'd used one of his clones, having more bodies at his disposal with flesh acting under his will regardless of the minds that inhabited it, not that many of the original occupants could have fought him.
The centuries hadn't been kind to any within his reach. Even Tenth who'd retained his thoughts was stunned enough by events that he couldn't fight off all that Ben was, not when his power had deepened so suddenly and wormed its way inside of them, touching their cores and merging into each one. All of them were forced to run under his command, it feeling like his own limbs were smacking against the dirt below as all of his long-formed plans changed in that instant.
His shoes were immediately useless. Even though he'd caused the collapse that had freed them after so long, he wouldn't be able to save everyone, but he wasn't able to make himself abandon those in his reach either, meaning he couldn't get far enough that the connection would break with those already brought into his fold.
So instead he had to move them, feeling distant memories of how their bodies should have worked as each one was forced up to take its first steps despite whatever injuries they'd gained during the fall, with that being enough to snap the demons from their stupor, making the swarm move.
All at once they were rushing in as Ben continued to overburden his soul, taking in power and pouring it out to the world around them as stones shot out faster than any eye could see, turning bodies into pulp that fell to the ground and leaving thousands of lives vanquished in the attack, more ending as he shot out the next one and carrying on as he kept it up, killing and killing and killing as he ran with many feet, bringing more prisoners into the hive anytime one was close enough and shooting to try and protect the ones out of his reach, placing all of his hopes on how fast he could make any of them move with the time they had.
If he abandoned them it would be seconds to get there but as it stood it was at least a minute away, a distance that might as well have been an eternity. Enough time for them all to die, enough time for more powerful reinforcements to arrive, even enough time for their gods to notice and act. Enough time for everything he'd worked for while trying to free himself to go wrong, his efforts turning to dust and slipping through his fingers in the process.
If he wanted to live then the obvious choice was to abandon them, but no matter how clear that was, he couldn't. They were victims all the same, given the shared fate to act as prizes to be won and held. One was even his buddy, his friend. Sure, they hadn't known each other long but Tenth had been a welcome comfort once they'd started talking, Ben couldn't leave him to die when he'd already gotten him out, even if he'd already told the other he wouldn't be able to save him.
So he stopped thinking of anything else. If he couldn't abandon them then there was no need to think, all he had to do was keep getting one step closer to his goal while cutting through the horde, watching demons fall and die before him and the nearly limitless supply of mana at his fingertips. Slaughtering them until one strong enough appeared to pose a real threat.
“God damn it, of all of them, why do I have to see you?”
He didn't get his answer as the one who'd first kidnapped him moved to trap him, lifting the stone around him into a prison and filling it with his magic cancelling, not expecting to be overcome in terms of power, Ben dominating the nullifying effect with the sheer volume of mana around and breaking down the barrier before the other could react and firing his shots before it had any hope of realizing what they were.
He didn't even know if the demon had tried to defend, all he knew was that he hit with three and ran, not knowing the damage but at least seeing it go down through the eyes of another as he kept going, leaving a trail of blood and death behind him until he reached the goal he'd set for himself. The place he had chosen to put all of his hopes. The barrier and the void within.
Once more he was overfilling his soul, prepared to try what he’d already done again to the same extent as the first, ready to tear himself apart if it meant breaking it but not needing to. A barrier that stood so much smaller had less divinity to be fought off and it crumbled beneath his touch as he reached out farther, stretching his soul to connect to the thing within and feeling as his mind touched the alien thing it held.