The noise comes from the fog making it clear what's going on yet that doesn't stop everyone from being surprised; the conditions are terrible for humans yet someone there are wolves in there. An enormous amount of fire appears in one area of the field dissipating part of the fog allowing a look in there. The Hellfire Wolves appear to have run in there with Fenrir in the middle. His fur has a distinct red shimmer coming from it as his presence looms over the field.

 

The wolves on the perimeter breath out of dark fire while other ones use their claws and teeth to rip apart various demons while enhanced with a red shimmer too, this seems to have a big effect against the demons as they are slaughtered quickly, hundreds of them in various forms are killed in moments. The soldiers don't stop their attacks as the demons are frenzied, they attempt to flee past the barricades.

 

The few that manage to slip through the barricade are burnt by the yellow light being maintained by several soldiers, Jack also lets out a few fireballs to take down some smaller demons instantly.

 

They watch the wolves in the battlefield nearly clear out a section of it, Jack and Tyson look on with smiles as the battlefield situation is improving. The wolves don't seem to be having issues so far and they know how to handle themselves it seems.

 

The two of them hear footsteps coming from behind them, they turn around and spot the dwarf standing there. His massive frame in the power-armour looking armour is intimidating as ever but the sheer energy from his battle form increases it several-fold, various weapons are attached to it yet they seem unused.

 

"Preparation is kind of done, they'll function for a few rounds then who knows. They ain't designed to function on this sort of energies, the purity is too low. If we still have that piece of metal you gave Maurice we could adapt it" Glomor speaks and stops in spot, his face isn't visible in his current form.

 

"There's not enough time to do that now, it is also being used right now," Jack retorts.

 

"Yes, Maurice did say that you had found a use for it already. Well what do we target? The fog?"

 

All eyes look towards Jack, he feels a strange pressure on him but he simply responds, "Yes" while internally cursing himself for responding so quickly.

 

"Ok, we'll do a large scale bombardment on the thick section. The scanners are good enough to avoid the wolves, they're brave idiots being in there."

 

A wolf comes running up from somewhere, they look to the field where the largest wolf is gone and all the rest have separated. Jack responds by patting the wolf yet taking his hand away, his fur is far too sticky and tough right now. He doesn't seem to care and rubs himself against Jack.

 

"You're telling us but we're thankful for them, they relieved pressure on the that side" Tyson responds.

 

Glomor's helmet glows for a moment as Jack feels light-headed, the feeling disappears as Glomor speaks up.

 

"Starting. 3... 2...."

 

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZ* 

 

A strange sizzling sound appears as a bright light appears, the beam of light appears and disappears rapidly, but it's quickly replaced by another one.

 

*ZZZ* *ZZZ* *BOOM*

 

A red beam of light appears to explode in the fog with another beam appearing next to it rapidly, each beam seems random yet also exact as it never hits the same spot twice.

 

Hundreds of beams appear, they litter the fog causing it to thin out giving more vision inside, the soldiers take care of anything that tries to escape the fog as the fog lightens up further.

 

The beams of light stop as the last explosion echoes on the battlefield, the soldiers don't relax, yet some have smiles as they look at the fog disappear.

 

"That was a measly 4% efficiency, might as well have thrown the energy as bombs. Pathetic. 88% of targets hit, 30% destroyed instantly while 45% were killed in the subsequent energy explosion and burns."

 

"It got the job done."

 

"Sure but with just 10% efficiency... those beams would be over 200x the size. Those crystals should have been able to achieve that much."

 

"Would that be dangerous to our people out there?"

 

"No, don't underestimate the dwarven technology. The space beasts are monsters compared to these... demon space beasts... now there's something I never want to see again."

 

"What about them?"

 

"They're much more agile than these things and the official rate of friendly fire with our cannons is less than 0.00001% with a fatality rate of even less than that."

 

"Good to hear, so is that it?"

 

The wolves dart away from the field, Fenrir by his legs watches them leave but as he sniffs the air, the wolf lets out a low growl, catching the attention of everything.

 

"What's going on?"

 

"It's not over?" Jack asks, Tyson and Glomor standing beside him have no reaction as they look forward.

 

The fog gently moves about on the field allowing some vision through it when a loud sound comes across the battlefield.

 

*THUMP*

 

Jack raises his eyebrow, he thinks that he has heard this sort of sound before but cannot place it. It's like a loud deep hollow sound, it comes again this time even louder.

 

*AUUUG*

 

This sound is more distinct, Jack still cannot place it and Xueli usually knows what these sort of things are.

 

"What is that noise?"

 

"It's loud."

 

Jack looks deeply into the fog when he thinks that he notices something, "What is–

 

*ROOOOOOOOOAR*

 

His words are cut off by the sounds in the distance, all attention is turned to them as the large eyes are revealed, they glow a soft white in the darkness yet its body isn't revealed."

 

"Shit, Stage 8. Move it!" MOVE IT!"

 

"Stage 8?" Jack asks without moving his eyes off the figure that isn't moving.

 

"We've gone up a tier, it shouldn't happen but here we are... Shit. MOVE IT!" Tyson finishes his sentence by yelling.

 

Some groups of soldiers retreat as they no longer care about their formations, they make it back while the people left behind set to work quickly laying out various items on the ground. The people then make their way back leaving the main frontline behind killing the remaining demons. 

 

"What's going on?"

 

"We need to retreat back to the main barrier, we cannot kill this thing. We can only outlast it, this form takes a lot of energy."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"This is a tier 3 beast, we're not even sure what as it's still cloaked meaning it has intelligence. This isn't the usual stupid demon... shit."

 

"What do we do?"

 

"Bombard it from here to try to delay it, it hasn't moved but it's still weak against things so we'll try what we can."

 

"The cannons can go another round but that's it."

 

"Do we have anything else that can reach?"

 

"Nothing prepared, there's a few skilled individuals but they won't make much impact."

 

"Well do it, I think I'll have to try a few things by going to it. I have some ideas."

 

"Lord, no!"

 

"No!"

 

The two men shout nearly instantly together. Jack smiles at the two of them.

 

"It's alright, I won't actually die... besides I have some ideas and they all require me to be close to it."

 

"As long as you remember the madam's before you made this decision," Tyson speaks with a low tone.

 

"I did, it's the best choice for me right now."

 

"Alright. Ok start the cannons."

 

"OK, Lord."

 

The group stand there in quiet as they watch the battlefield come alive again with cannon fire, the red beams attack the shadowed figure but seemingly do nothing as they leave no mark or explosion. The soldiers retreat from the frontline under the covering fire but not before leaving some traps and presents for any other demons that show up.

 

The groups of soldiers only take minutes to finish their retreat from the frontline yet it felt like hours.

 

The creature stands there without moving, the cannon fire stops as the crystals are depleted.

 

The battlefield is strangely quiet with a solemn mood.

 

"Well I'll get going, make sure you guys retreat back. I'm not sure what's going to happen so it might be better to even retreat to the village."

 

"Of course, My Lord.

 

"Take care, kill that thing."

 

Jack nods at Tyson and Glomor before using bunny dash to hop away, he's able to make it past all the traps and through the now empty frontline in moments as he enters the fog.

 

His mind is empty and his heart is calm as he jumps through the clearings and tree areas, moving towards those eyes in the distance. There's no way that he can know if these plans will work but this is the only thing that he can come up with for now, the dagger can produce an effect that basically destroys everything in a small region while the third motion is able to burn nearly anything. 

 

"A combination of the two will be enough, right?" Jack mutters to himself.

 

'User, crystals have finished production. Please start the process soon.'

 

"Oh shit really?"

 

'Yes User, Please start the process soon.'

 

"What process is that?"

 

Jack gets closer to the figure, he can see that it's large given how far away it is still.

 

'Please call the crystals into your hands. They will be locked spatially until their processes are completed.'

 

"What will happen?"

 

'User will undergo the process, land in close proximity will be affected and living beings within radius will be damaged. Extent is unknown but estimated effect shall be extreme.'

 

"Anything more you can tell me?"

 

'There is no need to know more about the process, User will undergo it and experience it which is much more important to understanding.'

 

"Right. Are you able to tell me more about my situation now?"

 

'Those functions are outside this unit's purview at this time. If users life is threatened, then this unit will act, otherwise focus must be on the process.'

 

Jack frowns at this response and continues to bunny dash a few times before stopping at a lookout point, the eyes seem close now yet he cannot find any sort of body. He looks around and cannot see anything, his curiosity is piqued from the responses the assistant just gave. He uses his spiritual sense and is almost stunned at what he can see. The first thread of divine sense that has always gone seemingly within his consciousness has changed.

 

The changes are massive as there seem to be pillars stretching the tunnel while also making it seem more real, Jack's spiritual sense goes down the enlarged and more real tunnel and looks at the black land that is covered in dead bodies of insects but that's not all. There are large flames of light that appear on it each standing by several hundred large pillars. Jack tries to look further at the pillars but as he looks further at them he can feel a buzzing sensation on his head.

 

He can spot a seed at the middle of all these pillars, his mind is starting to white out as soon as he sees the seed.

 

He catches himself falling down towards the ground as his mind is drawn back, his breathing is heavy as he gasps for air.

 

"What's going on in there?" he mutters but he doesn't get any response, he picks himself up and looks for the eyes in the sky.

 

His eyes dart around looking for the eyes in the sky, his eyes don't stop as his heart beat races.

 

He spreads out his spiritual sense backed with his divine sense, he makes a rapid forward jump.

 

*WOOOH* *SMASH*

 

A large fist appears out of the smoke and flies close by him as he jumps out of the way.

 

Jack lands on the group and fixes his foot, he didn't spot that until it was nearly on him so he can't be too vigilant as he repeat the same process.

 

He makes another dash forward as a hand comes out of nowhere, but this time it's accompanied by a fist coming from the other direction.

 

The direction that he's going.

 

Jack pulls out his spear and concentrates, 'Second Motion!'

 

He spear stabs forward once but several wound marks appear on the fist, it's enough to stop it as Jack's now paused in the air.

 

Jack looks around for the next attack when his eyes are drawn straight forward, his eyes are locked on the creature's now visible face but his eyes are instantly drawn down to its mouth.

 

A large ball of energy is being gathered in it, Jack tries to shout "Wait" in the vain hope of the creature speaking but a beam of dark red energy comes from it's ape-like mouth.

 

Jack freezes, he has no idea how to respond to this situation.

 

He's stuck mid-air without any way to block that shot in time, he doesn't have any way to move mid-air or anything to propel himself with.

 

His mind works overtime as he thinks about what to do, his mind comes up with several solutions but nothing feels like it can resolve it.

 

His arms make a move at his waist, they grab the dagger that's been hanging there for some time. The energies seem similar in them so this might work, Jack can see a strange shimmer of a figure before him as pulls the dagger out, but his concentration is fully on the beam that's only a moment away from hitting him.

 

He makes a vain swing with the dagger, not having enough time to even properly stab it.

 

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZT* *BOOOM*

 

Jack's vision spins as he's knocked to the ground. He glimpses what happened but can only explain it as though a large dark circle absorbed most of the beam at the moment it was going to land.

 

His body twists in mid-air to stop the spinning, he only has one chance at this as he lands on the ground facing the demon who is now exposed.

 

The hard ground supports him but he instantly switches direction causing his bones and tendons to nearly snap. He's back mid-air yet the creature doesn't seem to have reacted to him coming back as it looks stunned.

 

The large ape-like creature is looking else as red-lines travel all over its skin.

 

Jack holds his spear out, holding the dagger too as he prepares his strongest move.

 

'Third Motion.'

 

A flame flickers into existence but it doesn't last long as his spear stabs into the flesh of the creature, black blood comes out but the wound is instantly burnt as fire spreads out from inside it.

 

The ape-like demon doesn't notice at first, but only after a moment does it roar in agony as the fire spreads out on its massive frame.

 

Jack isn't done as he stabs the dagger into the flesh nearby funneling some of the remaining energy through it, a large circle appears as a gush of black and purple blood pours out of it.

 

A large open palm calms towards the ape's chest as he wants to slap where Jack just landed. This would most likely kill him so he has to move, his eyes look up and notice the creature's angry face and lets out a sigh.

 

"Guess we're doing this here."

 

Jack uses a bunny dash, the giant palm slaps onto the creature's chest doing some damage and knocking the wind out of it. It removes its palm and is enraged to not see Jack there, it looks around for him but doesn't notice its feet. 

 

"Idiot."

 

The young man standing directly below the demon ape holds his two hands out, "COME!"

 

Two forms take a moment to shimmer as if they're struggling, Jack can feel his mind go strange as a buzzing sound comes over his ears.

 

Two crystals appear above his hands floating, a black crystal and a dark yellow crystal.

 

Everything seems to stop in this moment.

 

Jack cannot feel anything, not even his heartbeat as everything freezes.