A couple of flares come up over the horizon, they're on the eastern side and not too far away. Jack squints and counts them as Mai grabs onto his leg, Jessica grabs her away but notices there's nothing affected her.

"That's 7 flares, that means all hands on station. You guys should head back to the tent..."

"No big brother, I wanna stay with you!"

"We're part of this village so we should stay here with its leader." Amber says.

"You have promises to keep so I gotta keep an eye on you." Lunamarie announces while the group looks at Jessica including Jack, as if they're deferring to her decision.

Jessica looks deeply at Jack, his eyes are different with a strange glow. The pendant he just got is buzzing with activity, none of this makes sense yet for some reason she feels like she should just follow him into this, it doesn't matter about the future and what should be, this needs to happen now.

"We are part of this village so we need to ensure it survives" Jessica says closing her eyes, her words filled with conviction as she commits these words to her heart.

Everyone in the crowd cheers together quietly not knowing what they're really agreeing to, Jack then runs back into the city heart building where he comes back out with the Dragon - Phoenix Sword which he places on his hip.

He smiles at the crowd before him, "You ready? I don't think it's a good idea to go but I gotta go check it out."

"Let's go."

Amber is the first one to step forward, the rest of them follow. Jack helps them jump on the back of Sleipner, he could carry more than 10 people as the 3 of them sit on top of him.

Amber stands on the back of Sleipner while Mai and Jessica use this chance to get closer to him, Jessica slowly creeps up behind him and wraps her arm around him. Mai stands before Jack as the horse walks through town. They all watch the horizon as the dark sky is slowly filled with more and more red flares.

"You brought all the pills?"

"We left them with Hilda, they should be out there already" Jessica speaks. Lunamarie is sleeping on the back of Sleipner without a care about all this, her ears are flopping about in the wind as they proceed to the source of the flares. A cool breeze blows from that direction, it gently caresses their faces yet it doesn't bring any of them relief as the smell of death is all it's filled with.

Jack gives Jessica a hug and whispers at her, "I don't know what is coming up but there's a plan so don't worry too much."

"All you do is make me worry."

Jack pauses a moment, he thinks about everything not noticing that she is no longer harmed by touching him. He thinks over the village as it is now, compared to the two and the guards there.

"Well... we're too weak. We have to work to sort that out... I managed to get a few things for you at the city though" he speaks softly trying to ensure someone doesn't hear him.

"Oh?" Jessica clasps onto Jack's hand tightly.

"Well should we do it now or wait?"

"Mmm, probably better to wait..."

"Wait... I don't like the sounds of that, it's a bit like a flag."

"You got me a flag?"

"No..."

"You got Mai a flag then? Who did you get a flag for?"

"It's an expression..." Jack mutters as he looks around trying not a laugh, Jessica's eyes look at him with a cute wonderment.

His eyes wander around as they pass the city gate, no one stops them as they can recognise Sleipner but it's not like they need to as the evidence of battles is not far from the gate.

"Look... there's lots of bugs... why are they all black and purple?" Mai asks as she points off in the distance.

A small group of heavy cavalry are performing some hit and run tactics as they redirect the several large centipedes. The large centipedes have little damage on their skin while the soldiers have some damage on their armor, they spot Sleipner quickly and wave at him.

"LORD, We're fine here, go and assist the front!" one of the cavalry shouts, Jack stands up.

Jessica and Mai look at him quietly while Amber rolls her eyes, "What are you doing?" Jessica asks.

"I'll be back in a minute, Sleipner you know what to do."

The giant horse lets out a snort that bellows in the distance, Jack kicks sideways from the horse and falls down to the ground.

He softly touches the ground as his form disappears, he kicks several times bouncing off the ground each time. The horse travels off in the other direction as Jack heads towards the centipedes, the cavalry riders are unaware of what's going on as his dark form appears between all the goings on. A soft glow is in his hand as he appears above one of the centipedes.

"Third form!" he shouts and stabs into the centipede.

The glowing spearhead pierces through the oozing black exterior armor and penetrates into the soft insides of the centipede. It trashes about but it doesn't have a chance to do much as the glow in Jack's hand travels down the spearhead and into the creature.

Jack quickly uses bunny dash before the creature trashes about, where he was just standing crumbling in a pile of ash as a large section of the head disappears. The creature trashes about a bit before it stops moving, Jack doesn't stop moving though as he moves onto the next centipede and repeats the same process.

The other centipedes spot the one that Jack just killed not moving and run in to consume its flesh, the cavalry aren't able to do anything about this while Jack quickens his movements.

*CHHHCHC*

The centipede below Jack trashes about, the spiked armor almost piercing his foot before he jumps off. He lands in the distance to catch his breath, he has taken out two centipedes so far with 3 left to go and it's taken a lot of effort and it seems like the others are being upgraded after consuming the other. The first one didn't have spikes, now they all have lots of spikes as he spots the remaining three being harrassed by range tactics.

"Not much time left yet these things are tough..."

Jack pulls out the <Fang of the Night-Demon> he gives it a flip and dashes forward again, he aims for the first centipede that is being held back by two people with large shields on purple scaled horses.

They give a push back against the centipede as its jaws attempt to close down around them, the giant mandibles grasp at the people on horseback.

"AHHH" the cavalry yell as they both grab their swords and plunge it forward instead of retreating. Jack stabs the dagger into the head of the centipede at the same time.

Jack quickly leaps up off the centipede as it disappears but doesn't stop as a large part of the head is swallowed into the shadowed area created by the dagger.

The cavalry retreat while Jack switches weapon and dashes to the next centipede, he does the same movement as before with the spear.

*BOOM*

Jack's strange eyes smile as he looks at the final centipede, it's running away under the brushes but it has been eating this whole time.

The heavy cavalry ride up to Jack who is standing on the ground, "Lord. We have setup a large trap over in that direction while the creature is going that way. Are you going to chase it as we will need to dismantle the trap and go back."

"I'll follow it, is the situation urgent?"

"The generals have taken the field and are handling similar creatures but we have reports of tier 1 demons showing up."

"Well damn, I just got back... you guys go support the frontline. We're going to need more holy element stuff if it's like this. You guys did great and I'm glad to see no one seriously injured. I'll go handle this centipede before it gets too far away."

Each of the soldiers look at Jack with an earnest expression as he gazes off in the distance, his skin is covered in the insects blood, guts and burnt remains yet he looks for the next kill. It might not be a kingly behaviour but it has produced a glimmer of respect in these grizzled warriors that have come from various places, in the world and in time. They each give Jack a salute and turn around before he too disappears from this spot.

"You awake yet Xueli?" Jack asks while he's jumping.

He gets no response causing him to let out a sigh, as he makes another jump.

The large black and purple centipede is before him; it has large spikes on it everywhere while it has two heads, the mouth is leaving acid while the mandiles both look disgusting.

"Is this some sort of battle centipede? Jeez."

Jack takse a few more jumps and stops before the centipede's path, "No time for a formation, no time for a trap... Do I have to try it?"

He looks at the creature closing in on him with a pensive expression, he focuses his mind as his pupils flare up. The rainbow petals around it start to slow down as his gaze becomes steady.

'User!'

'User stop!'

Jack cannot hear this voice as he focuses, the energy gathers around him as the giant forms shimmers in the air. Three bright colours appear as grey, white and yellow appear around it, the giant armoured figure stands proudly before the centipede causing it to stop suddenly.

The giant figure disappears as Jack nearly collapses, his expression is panting as he looks tired.

"What?"

'User, there is no reserve of that energy. It is required for the upcoming task.'

"Shit" Jack mutters.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM*

Hundreds of sudden explosions appear on the surface of the centipede, each one causing a chunk of its flesh to weak yet it has no break as the volley knocks it in the air. Each blast has a distinct pink colour to it while each shot looks like it's red coloured.

The volley only lasts a few seconds but thousands of shots have appeared on the surface of the centipede, there's nearly nothing left but a tiny piece of carcass.

Jack looks at the source of the shot and cannot spot anything, he dashes to the top of a tree and looks in that direction. It's near the village where nothing should be, yet now that he looks closely there some large structures in place now. The vision clears up after a few moments as digital artifacts appears in Jack's vision, the structures come into view.

A wooden building with a large cannon on top of it, actually 4 of them with two barrels each and many cylinders. It's a long-range minigun.

"Good timing."

Jack gives the cannons a thumbs up and changes his position, the frontline doesn't seem too far away but he's more worried about Drakon and Tyson. The first thing he needs to do is head back to where the girls are, Sleipner should be nearing the frontline now so he dashes forward. He leaps from tree to tree then onto the ground while always propelling himself forward, it's a freeing feeling as he occasionally uses his spear to kill a creature. Demonified deer and rabbits appear but are easily killed.

He has been collecting all the bodies so far; he has a need for a massive amount of biomass and these insects are perfect for it.

Jack spots Sleipner in the distance and leaps onto his back as the girls let out a scream, "It's me."

They shut up as Mai comes forward to hug him, "Where'd you go? Why are you all sticky?"

"I had to kill some bugs, we have a big problem with them around here. Are you going to be ok with it? It's pretty scary out here."

"This is nothing, elder sister never took me into cities to sleep so this is normal. One time there was a huge demonic invasion from something buried underground. It caused a huge outbreak that we had to deal with for months, it was scary but... not like this scary. That's why I'm glad atleast big brother is here."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a pond over there, it had a bone in it... It's gone now. It's scary, really really really scary."

"Why? Did you tell anyone about it?"

"Yes but it's gone now."

"What is it?"

"Elder sister only said that they need to be stopped, she didn't tell me anything more."

"How did she stop them?"

"I don't know. I just know about the pond because elder sister said I shouldn't touch it."

"Alright well thanks for telling me about the bone... Wonder what it means," Jack pats the young girl's head,"did you guys have any difficulties along the way?"

"Nope Sleipner is really strong, he can just stomp on most things. He's really strong like this." Mai proclaims.

"No issues, Lunamarie nearly fell off but she's really tired for some reason. I've felt a wave of fatigue too not long ago but it's nothing unusual for tonight."

"Fatigue?"

"Just like something was draining my power, it was only a brief moment so it doesn't matter. How'd you go?"

"No issues mostly, this situation isn't good. You guys should probably head back because I don't know how safe things will be going forward and well if I can't watch you then how will I know that you're safe?"

"You can trust us."

"Yeah, you can trust us. We can handle much more than you think."

Amber speaks up as she wobbles forward on unsteady feet, she has changed into her usual leather gear. Jack looks at her changed appearance deeply and lets out a subtle nod, Amber catches that and places her hand behind her back.

"Do I need to bring this thing out?"

"Do you dare?"

Amber squints her eyes at Jack while he returns the same, Mai is confused about what's going on while Jessica lets out a sigh.

The two of them stare at each other for moments when Lunamarie lets out a snort, she coughs and sits up rubbing her eyes.

"Where are we? What's that white thing?" the bunny girl rubs her eyes and looks forward.

Jessica is the first to look in that direction, Mai does too as she gasps.