The screams from the two shadows were powerful on a scale that Caroline and Jason would have never expected. Not only did it generate a gigantic shockwave, shattering windows and breaking down thin walls from the nearby buildings, but also created a sudden sense of pressure and tension in the air, just like the time the giant grey cat did to them, but this time about twice as intense and powerful. What was more, was that the scream seemed to have caused both Caroline and Jason to start hallucinating and hearing things - this was because a strange and cold energy radiated from the scream invaded their mind, infecting and twisting their senses. 

Both Caroline and Jason had to sit down where they were and conjure up their Xuanli and power of mind and will to resist the invading energy, For Caroline, it was her first time dealing with a strange external energy invasion, so though she knew in theory what she needed to do, she was having a hard time organizing her power to fight the invading energy off.

Jason, on the other hand, had dealt with similar situations twice before, so he was able to get the strange power in his body and mind under control and repel it. And just when he opened his eyes and stood up, he saw that a bird shaped dark shadow with four bat wings and three glowing red eyes flying towards Caroline with its beak aiming at her head.

A high speed crescent shaped silver energy blade stopped the bird’s dive attack and forced it to change its trajectory to land on top of a two-story building nearby. Yet, it still had its eyes on Caroline, even when Jason stood beside Caroline pointing his wooden pen at it.

Jason was worried about Caroline, but he knew that there was not much he could do for her - she was literally fighting a battle inside her, and it was a battle almost no one could help her with unless it was from someone immensely more powerful than her and one who has perfect control over one’s power.

“Keep calm and focus. I’m by your side.” Jason said to Caroline calmly and slowly: “Remember, don’t rush it - keep your mind clear, your stance firm and your visions true. ”

Flame burst out from Caroline’s shoulders and the top of her head, as if three invisible oil lamps were lit up at the same time. Slowly but steadily, flames spread to her arms, face, chest and then her whole body.

Jason, while still keeping an eye on the bird, saw what happened and felt both relieved and slightly envious at the same time - though he was not very familiar with how fire Xuanli typically manifests its evolution, he knew very well about the importance of the positions of both shoulders and the top of one’s head. These positions were called “three lamps” of a person’s body in traditional Chinese folklore. According to the traditional tales and lore, the brighter the fire on these “lamps” burns, the more positive energy and Qi flows in one’s body; and conversely, if one has dim “lamps” or even had one or more of the lamps burnt out or blown out, they will become prone to sickness and possession by evil.

And just now, the fire on three of Caroline’s “lamps” burnt bright and hot, which meant she not only won the battle against the invading dark energy, she also probably made quite some progress on the cultivation of her Xuanli.

To Caroline’s, however, the process was far from as breezy as it appeared on the outside. The invasive energy seeped into both her body, mainly her meridians, and her mind. Caroline’s Xuanli was quick to respond to the external threat, as it condensed and solidified itself to form “walls” of defense against the cold and dark energy that attempted to take over her meridian and in turn her body. Her power of mind and will, however, seemed somewhat slow and clueless in responding to the threat, which started making her head cloudy and dizzy like she was getting drunk. She had to muster up every last bit of her strength and harden her defence and even organize her counter assault on the invasive energy.

The bird with three eyes quacked and launched itself at Jason, and at almost the same time, a couple of dark obscured spirits with torn human skin and flesh attached to their surface body areas dived from the sky and shot itself at both Jason and Caroline.

Jason swung his wooden pen in full force and full speed, five crescent shaped energy blades shot up at the bird with three eyes and the dark obscured spirits. The three eye bird tried to dodge the two blades shooting at it, but all the energy blades exploded in mid air, releasing hundreds of tiny and sharp energy shards in almost all directions. A few of those energy shards penetrated its wings and caused it to crash on the ground. But the same energy shards proved too weak to penetrate the defenses of the dark obscured spirits, as they continued with their attack with only minor impact on their momentum from the energy shards.

The scream from the shadows floating on top of the SFPD precinct was followed by a self-implosion from them - the shadows expanded to two or three times their sizes and then shrunk into a center point in less than half a second. The energy beams and chains that locked their movements just a few moments ago were now shattered into useless shining pieces of energy constructs floating in the gloomy night sky.

Two human figures floated up into the air, arms wide open and facing up the sky. Streams of dark energy emerged from the air and seeped into their bodies. One was a young girl in casual clothes, and one was a woman in a  police officer’s uniform. Both of them were motionless and showed no signs of any struggle or signs of consciousness.

The three figures in full body cloaks were knocked on their backs when the energy chains and energy beams were shattered. Their last spells being forcefully interrupted during the chanting process caused their flow of magical power to violently go off the rails and lose control, dealing great damage to themselves. And now, all they could do was to watch what was going on in almost total helplessness, for the damage they just endured made it so that any usage of magical power could be fatal.

Shortly, a third figure started rising to the sky in a similar way - it was a skeleton surrounded by black smoke. As it got closer and closer to the figures of the two women, small white and light yellow fragments of some sort shrouded in black mist left its body and rose to the sky along with it.

“Are those...” one member of the Division, who wields a long sword with light green energy circling around its blade asked.

“Yes. Looks like bones.” another member, who had a giant shotgun in his hand answered: “Guess we know what those grave defilings are for now.”

Just this moment a big round portal with light blue frozen lightning edges appeared in the distant sky, shining figures with different colored energy surrounding them flew out from the portal, and headed straight towards the SFPD precinct.

The two figures that were up in the sky earlier started moving, one of them was using only the left side of her body, and the other was using only her right. Both of them extended their hands at the third skeletal figure, now rose to right in front of them and had hundreds of pieces of bones floating around it. 

“Fire the cylinders and artifacts! Now!” Carol Summers yelled her orders at the followers  behind, since she clearly sensed the frightening dark energy being infused into the third skeletal figure.

The figures emerging from the portal and shrouded in energy were apparently able to deduce the same thing, as they flew across the sky aiming at the flying figures above the SFPD precinct.