Chaos reigned in Sector C. The air was thick with the roar of the Void manifestation battering the wall, the frantic shouts of defenders, and the sickening thud of the grey entity's blows. Captain was everywhere at once, directing fire against the manifestation while simultaneously yelling at the guards he'd sent towards the storage area.
"Break them up! Now! Stop the fear!" His voice was raw, desperate.
Inside the storage area, the small group of Gus's sympathizers were thrown into disarray by the intrusion of the guards. Their secret meeting was exposed, their fear amplified by the sudden confrontation and the terrifying sounds of the attack outside. They huddled together, their concentrated terror feeding the manifestation like fuel to a fire.
Kael, near Elara, felt the terrifying energy exchange. The manifestation outside pulsed with borrowed strength, a cold, hungry vibration that perfectly matched the intense fear radiating from the storage area. "Feed! More Fear!" Vispera screamed within him, a horrifying translation of the entity's action.
"Feeding! On fear!" Kael gasped, pointing wildly between the wall and the storage area. "Fear makes... strong!"
Elara relayed his fragmented words to Captain over the din. "Captain! Kael says it's feeding on their fear! The group in the storage area! Their fear is making it stronger!"
Captain didn't need further convincing. He had already seen the correlation. The fight on the wall was secondary now. The primary target was the fear itself. The guards struggled to disperse Gus's sympathizers, who were panicked and resistant, their fear making them unpredictable.
The manifestation outside surged again, its blows tearing chunks from the reinforced wall. It was gaining ground, fueled by the very people who believed their fear was protecting them.
Captain roared orders, demanding the guards be more forceful, break the group apart, scatter them. "Disperse the fear! Or the wall falls!"
Slowly, brutally, the guards began to break up the huddle in the storage area. Survivors were pulled apart, forced out, their concentrated fear beginning to diffuse as they were separated and exposed to the wider chaos.
As the group dispersed, Kael felt a subtle but immediate shift in the energy exchange. The intense, localized fear signal weakened. Vispera's inner translation changed – "Hunger... Less. Weakening."
Outside, the manifestation seemed to falter. Its blows against the wall lost some of their force, the hungry pulse of borrowed strength diminishing. It was still a terrifying threat, but the unnatural surge of power was receding.
Captain saw the change, felt the slight lessening of pressure. It confirmed, beyond any doubt, the terrifying reality of the fear/Void link. Their internal state was a direct weapon the enemy could wield.
The focus of the battle shifted again. With the fear source disrupted, the defenders on the wall could now focus solely on repelling the weakened manifestation through conventional means. It was still a brutal fight, but the odds had shifted slightly in their favor.
The cost of Gus's fear-mongering, and the survivors' willingness to succumb to it, was laid bare. Their fear hadn't protected them; it had very nearly destroyed them.
The chapter ends with the immediate aftermath of Captain's action to break up the concentrated fear group during the manifestation attack. Kael's sensing confirms the manifestation was feeding on this fear and weakened when it was dispersed, providing undeniable proof of the fear/Void link and highlighting the direct consequences of internal division on external survival. The battle continues, but the strategic understanding has changed.