Everyone's attention is drawn to it as a large fire bird appears in the sky for a moment, Jack feels the strange link inside of him burst with energy for a moment before it all returns to quiet.

"What was that?"

Someone mutters after a moment of silence, no one is able to speak but all eyes go towards Jack and Drakon.

"Jessica."

"Madam? Was she on the frontline?"

"No, but I don't doubt that she'd go there. Is that the frontline?"

"Yes, you can see the barrier not too far from it slightly over the treeline."

Drakon points over the trees, Jack follows it and spots the white object. It's not too far, but well obscured.

"Well I'm going there, I need to see what's going on."

"Ok Lord, I'll go there too after fixing up here."

Jack nods and leaps away. His movements are quick now as he feels that Jessica is quite weak now. There has to be a reason why she was called upon and it's probably not a good reason. He makes a quick line straight for the white barrier and crosses the distance much quicker than before, he no longer has to stick to trails or running as he leaps across the plains. His muscles groan at him from this constant usage yet he doesn't stop as he rushes forward and comes across a large pile of dead insects.

He stops and pants, his muscles twitch involuntarily as he lands before them. 

"Why can't this skill work better, something able to teleport me would be so much easier..."

Jack mutters as he stores away all of what he can, the pile of insects disappears before he moves onto the next one. These large pile of small insects are suitable for the passageway that is being completed for the next step coming up, his heartbeat thumps as he thinks about it but pushes it away. He needs to get more mass together yet feels like he's running short with how little is on offer, the piles before him disappear with not even a minute gone by.

He takes a pill and swallows it, the energy washes over his body and makes it feel cool. The muscles over his body and legs feel renewed as he uses bunny dash again crossing distances. The effect of this pill is temporary so he needs to move, Jack crosses the distance quickly collecting what piles he can feeling like he might have met the minimum requirements yet he cannot be certain. 

These last few minutes have felt like hours yet it doesn't feel fast enough as he adjusts his route slightly but is forced to stop as a problem appears before him. 'Shit.' he mutters internally as he looks at what's before him as they notice him. 

Jack is looking at over 500 tier 1 demons, they all turn to snarl and snap at him.

"Uhh, fuck" Jack fumbles about as he tries to grab his spear but stops and grabs the sword on his waist.

"You awake yet Xueli?" he pulls out the sword and quickly channels energy into it.

"If not, well I hope this doesn't break it."

The sword in his hands start to glow, it becomes a soft yellow colour while one edge is bright red.

Jack takes a wide swing with no target, the creatures all notice him now but they don't notice the sword strike.

The sword energy travels from the blade and emanates, the sharp trail of fire qi pierces through their bodies easily without notice as they burst into a puff of smoke, over 100 creatures are killed like that without know what happened. The demons look at Jack but find that he's missing, he used the chance to run ahead of them before they turn around again. 

The creatures snarl and snap behind him but as he breaks the tree and brush coverage, he quickly spots a helpful sight, Jack quickly leaps for that place.

"INCOMING!"

Someone yells but Jack doesn't stop as he leaps over the line of soldiers, a few of them turn around and nearly stab him but they stop quickly upon seeing who it is.

"INCOMING!"

Someone else yells, they turn around as the sounds of things hitting shields is heard.

*BANG BANG*

The demons hit the shields with force but are unable to break the line, Jack nods at all the soldiers who briefly make eye contact with him. He helps with a few creatures before finding that he's in the way and leaves. The frontline is a complicated mess of trenches, fortifications and strategic posts. Jack walks along the path towards the command centre where Tyson should be but he's unable to find him or anyone that he knows, many people stop work to address him which makes him feel like he's interrupting everything.

Jack wanders around the upstairs when he spots Amber walking about, he walks up to her giving her a surprise. She's holding a bowl of water and a cloth, she looks worn out.

"What happened here?"

"Ah, just several of those large insects showed up. It's hard to handle them without something big so Ms Princess chose to help but she can't really do something like that yet."

Jack nods then walks next to Amber as they head to the location she's tending to Jessica, they approach a cloth door and walk through it. Jessica is on a bed looking tired but not weak, she's awake as Amber sets the bowl beside the bed.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I feel a warm flow of energy always coming in. It protected me and even now it's helping me recover, you feel like that warm energy."

"Uhh..."

"Never mind her, Lunamarie in her sleep state gave her something, she has been loopy for a while," Amber wipes down Jessica's arms and hands.

"I'm fine, I just need to have a rest."

"So sleep you, dummy" Amber throws a pillow at Jessica.

"How can I sleep here? There's so many people dying outside. You think I can just sleep while I know that's going on?"

"I'm going out there and besides, all of that is my duty. I'm the Lord and want to be the one for you to rely on."

"Let me help."

"Sure, you can help."

"Fine then, well you go out there my Lord, have I said that I'm your wife yet?"

"No... why bring that up now?"

"Well, this one here wants to move in."

Jack stumbles his step while Amber spills some water about, "You're delirious" Amber says while fixing up the water.

"Well, I'm first, I found you with your weird eyes first."

"Of course."

"Why are your eyes a pretty rainbow now?"

Jessica and Amber both look at him in the eyes, "Oh they are..." Amber gasps.

"Uhh, maybe you'll find out someday."

"Ok, you promise."

"I promise.”

"Good" Jessica slumps over and sleeps instantly.

Jack looks towards Amber with a raised eyebrow, Amber is unwilling to make eye contact with him as blush develops on her face. He suddenly feels speechless towards her. His hand scratches his neck as he thinks of what to say but coming up blank.

"I'll look after her, you take care of what's going on out there. It's not over yet is it?"

"I have no idea when it'll be over but yeah I'll go out there, you take care of her."

"Sure" Amber smiles to Jack and looks away.

"Thank you."

Jack walks outside the room as he thinks about what just happened, there's no answer he can bring to mind but things with Jessica have always been like that. Jack is left thinking about Amber and what to do with her, she seems different from what he expected but will she be happy where she is?

He mulls these things over as he walks to where Tyson is, Amber directed him to the tactical command room near the battlefield, a small tent not far from the frontline. 

The sounds of battle can be heard as Jack walks towards the frontline, the little tent torn with ranged attacks stands alone in the chaos as people come and go. Jack walks in amongst everyone not paying attention as they handle orders and reports, updating things going on. A table that is a replica of the one inside the barrier is here being updated but they're moving about manually. 

"Lord? What are you doing here?" Tyson notices that Jack has entered the tent. Many faces turn toward him, some salute but the people behind them pile up and knock them over causing some chaos.

"Return to normal, don't mess up when Lord is here" Tyson says while walking over to Jack.

"I'm here to see what's going on."

"I heard someone jumped over the frontline, was that you, Lord?"

"Yeah."

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, I thought it was someone else and we couldn't find any reports of them afterward."

"I was with Amber and Jessica."

"I see, well Lord you certainly annoyed them because 3/4 of their known force threw themselves against our line in that move. What did you do?"

"Killed some of them, are there any tier 2?"

"Not yet, why?"

"We saw some, is Drakon here?"

"No he said he needs to support the other remote teams, are there tier 2s?"

"Yes."

"Shit."

"REPORT!"

A man comes in suddenly, "Tier 2 demons spotted, sector c3."

"That's near where you came from Lord."

"REPORT! Tier 2 demon spotted sector d3."

A loud flurry of reports come in, "Enough, all hands on station!" Tyson announces as everyone piles out of the command tent leaving the two alone.

"Let's go."

"Let's go."

They both say to each other walking towards the door, Jack isn't sure what gives Tyson his confidence but he will not argue with his defense leader.

The frontline has been pushed back much further as each group of soldiers has bunched up in an overlapping shield array. A shimmering field appears over sections of the battlefield too as some people's armor lightens up.

Jack watches everything going on from the distance, the soldier's fighting on the frontline can see that their leaders are there for them on the frontline.

The enemy has been spotted and they're waiting for it to attack and their leaders are willing to join the fray, they're filled with a fervour as their spirits raise.

One soldier yells out in excitement as he looks out at the battlefield, 30 tier 2 demons have already appeared including some that look different. Their hands replaced with large spikes instead of claws, their movements are the same as they shimmer about the battlefield. The soldiers watch these closely as they get closer.

"Ready.... Phase 3, GO."

Tyson's voice echos on the battlefield as many soldiers move in unison, their hands make some symbols and they hold out a piece of paper before them. They direct their energies into it as each one of the papers get bright.

The demon's make loud noises and move quicker towards the line of soldiers, *BANG BANG BANG*

Their claw hands hit the shields but their weakened by the formation provided by the soldiers and their shield is designed to handle these blows, the demons make several more strikes without success before moving back.

The larger spiked club demon approaches, it winds up when a large white field spreads out from the pieces of paper. The various white fields' area overlaps exactly as they capture nearly all of the tier 1 and 2 demons that appeared.

The white light disappears in a shatter as fragments of demonic qi fall to the ground. Many demons have disappeared, but lots remain.

"Phase 3z, Phase 3z EVERYONE! Z!"

Tyson yells out as various soldiers react in the same way as they take out another piece of equipment that Jack cannot identify, but it doesn't matter as his attention is drawn to the battlefield where there's a strange shift that is occurring with the fog. A black swirl develops in the sky as the fog lowers down on the ground in sections of the field before coming together.

The soldier's position glows as a yellow energy gathers around them, the yellow energy fights back against the fog creating a faint barrier with impenetrable darkness on the other side.

"This was early. We'll need to be prepared for what comes next."

"What comes next?"

"Nothing good, we just need to prepare for it."

Jack frowns and looks forward, his eyes scan the dark field where it's quiet. The distance is too far for him to look at it with his divine sense so he can only rely on Tyson's judgement as they stand there.

"CONTACT!"

Someone yells as a claw comes out of the fog, it breaks through one shield instantly but their formation accounts for this.

A spear comes from behind and stabs the creature, it's arm falls off as it goes back into the fog.

Similar scenes repeat themselves as the soldiers play defensive against an enemy that's not pushing, arrows are robbed of their velocity as soon as they hit the blanket of fog rendering them useless.

The soldiers fight on without worry as they proceed according to their training, their weapons and shields are steadfast as they brace against the attacks.

"How long will this last?"

"It shouldn't last too long, the vortex is gone so it's just a matter of time for the fog to dissipate... should be. The line simply needs to be held for enough time, we can mop them up afterwards."

"That simple?"

"Should be, my brother was the one who handled things like this most of the time. I have spoken to the dwarf and he has agreed."

"Alright, I have to rely on your judgement here but there are contingency plans right?"

"Yes Lord."

"Alright, what is this condition called?"

"Demon's blanket."

"Ah interesting."

Jack and Tyson watch on for a few moments when, "SIGHTING MOVEMENT LARGE"

"ANYONE?"

"YES. LARGE Creature in fog, I can see it."

Tyson frowns, Jack is about to ask him what this means when they can hear a noise.

*AWOOOOOOO*