Chapter 44 – Carnage
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As the protective blast doors retract, they reveal Selvaria transforming into her Monster Fusion combat style. Curved Horns made of Ice grew out of her forehead just above her eyes. Apart from her face, the rest of the skin on her body is replaced by Grey Seal fur. A Draconic Scale armor made of Ice appears over her arms, legs, and torso. Her long dark brown hair becomes neon blue, and her eyes take on the same shade. The two genetically enhanced bunnies jumped down from her shoulders and retreated to Rin's outstretched arms.

Selvaria wastes no time activating her Cryokinteic Constructs skill to create a large Ballista out of Ice using the Mana that Galatea absorbed before her evolution. As part of her studies in the VSDF, Selvaria memorized the blueprints and intricacies of weapons from the early bronze age to the early twenty-first century. This knowledge was meant to make the soldiers of Vector smarter than their counterparts on Earth. Selvaria took the extra step of using the knowledge she gained by constructing these weapons in the VR combat training capsules and modified their design to incorporate an auto-reload feature which made it capable of firing a dozen shots within a minute.

After completing the Ballista, Mason and Zext followed the instructions she laid down for them at the VIP booth. First, Mason's Equipment transformation creates Giant Bat Wings made of Ice in the shape of shields attached to his shoulders. Next, a Bat's head with an open mouth revealing sharp fangs appears on his right arm. After that, frost covers the fantasy cosplay armor on his body as a sinister aura envelops him. Finally, Mason activates the Vampiric Ice Javelin skill to create two dozen spears and then loads them onto the Ballista.

Zext's skill transfer transformation creates a flame veil around his body that takes on the features of a coiled-up Black Dragon Snake. He then activates the Symbiotic skill, which allows his Red flames to attach themselves to the pointy ends of the Javelins being loaded into the Ballista. Selvaria was about to use the Unmeltable Ice skill to make sure the Ballista and the javelins could withstand the heat from the flames, but she stopped when the fire fused with the Ice spears instead of damaging them.

All that stood between Selvaria, Mason, Zext, and the Icebugs fighting outside has been removed. Fortunately, the Icebugs were too busy to notice an opening in the defenses had appeared. Instead, their focus lay on a Bison Minotaur, a humanoid Crocodile covered in golden armor, a Werewolf that teleports around the battlefield, and a Red Wood armored Giant Centipede that pulled in its victims underground before devouring them. These Tamers coordinated their attacks to distract the four Giant bugs so that hundreds of fireballs that rain down from the sky could hit them. The Black Phoenix tamer threw everything he had while dodging the long-range attacks that the Bug commanders launched at him. Unfortunately, the smaller Icebugs used their bodies as meatshields and sacrificed their own lives to intercept the fireballs when they got too close to their targets.

Selvaria took control of the Ballista, marked out a target, and pulled the trigger that launched the first Ice spear right into the exposed throat of one of the four Bug Commanders. After impaling the first, she quickly fired the rest of the Javelins into the other three and their bodyguards until the ammo rack was empty of the two dozen Javelins prepared by Mason. The smaller Icebugs panicked when their Commanders were sniped by the Ice spears that soon consumed them in Red flames. They launch a suicidal charge towards the stadium entrance to intercept and neutralize the source of the surprise attacks. Mason and Zext rushed forward to block the Icebugs from getting through the opening. 

Zext uses the 'Cursed Flame Body' skill as a weapon by turning it into a wall of Red flames that burned the Icebugs when they made contact with it. Mason concentrated part of the Mana he absorbed from the Javelins into the cannon on his right arm and then fired it at the swarm of Icebugs gathered in front of Zext. 

The Icebugs were frozen solid when the attack struck the center of their group and detonated. Mason then creates more Vampiric Ice Javelins and starts impaling the Icebugs in close combat while blocking their Mana-based Iceattacks with his shield-shaped wings. 

As the two of them fought the bugs, Selvaria could feel her Mana pool being re-filled as Zext's Red flames and Mason's Vampiric Ice Javelins transfer Mana over to her through Zext's Blue flames, which he had placed on her before the battle, and Mason's Ice Dragoon's Aura.

Selvaria activates Kuraokami's Traits, which creates a long Draconic tail made of Ice to sprout out from her lower back, sharp Dragon-like Ice claws replace her human fingers, and skeletal Ice wings that span ten feet emerge out of her back. Selvaria abandons the Ballista and charges into the swarm of Bugs that Mason and Zext were holding back. She grabs one of the Vampiric Javelin that Mason used to skewer three Icebugs like a Sheesh Kebab and uses her Cyrokintic Construct skill to turn it into a serrated Greatsword before attaching it to her tail. Selvaria's tail swings the massive blade around like a scythe that cleaves the Icebugs behind her like overgrown grass. Selvaria eviscerates those in front with her claws and uses her skeletal wings to stab those who targeted her flanks. Green blood splashes as Selvaria makes her way through the swarm until she stands right in front of one of the four bug commanders.

Selvaria activates Kuraokami's Rage, which concentrates all the Mana she collected during the battle in front of her mouth, which then turns into a beam of light that freezes everything it hits. The Bug Commanders, whose bodies had been depleted of their Mana, could not use their skills to counter her attack in time due to the short distance between them.

Once their bodies were immobilized, the other close combat tamers in the area took this opportunity to launch their ultimate attacks on them by activating their Berserker skills. Fortunately, the smaller Icebugs could not block them as they were too busy stopping the fireballs.

Selvaria did not want to miss out on the carnage, so she used her skeletal wings to launch her body into the air and swung the serrated greatsword attached to her tail to behead the Bug Commanders as their bodies were being ripped apart by the other Tamers.

With the fall of the Bug Commanders, the smaller Icebugs lost the puppet strings that were guiding their cohesive movement. They tried to rally but were blown to bits by the fireballs that increased in volume after the Bug Commander, who kept the Black Phoenix at bay with its long-range acid and water attacks, was neutralized.

The twelve Marines noticed the change in the tide of battle and rushed out of the thirty-foot tall Anthill fortress, swinging around their heat blades like madmen. Over thirty Soldier ants, fifty Worker ants, and a Giant fifteen-foot Wood Golem ant followed them as they slaughtered the remnants of the Icebug army that were trying to find a way back into the tunnels.

It took several more minutes before all the Icebugs around the stadium were killed. Then, finally, the UGP Tamers on the ground deactivated their combat styles and gathered around their commander to give a status check on their conditions. They looked exhausted, covered in dirt and green blood. However, the Black Phoenix refused to come down. Instead, he flew back into the sky to summon more fireballs and look for signs of Icebug swarm movements across the city.

The tamer who had taken on the Golden Armored Crocodile form approached Bison as he turned back into his human form.

Ethan. "You must be the famous Bison! I am Commander Ethan of the Tamer Battalion. I think it's time for your people to open up the stadium for the EVAC."

Bison nodded his head and then turned towards the stadium entrance where Albert and Rin were inspecting the remains of Icebugs. Albert notices Bison waving at him, and he rushes back to the control panel and deactivates the lockdown to the whole stadium.

Soon the sight of two JTDs comes into view along with Travis's remaining clones, and they vertically descend into the stadium.

The two bunnies return to Selvarias shoulders, who bent down to let them climb up as she deactivates her combat style and hugs Galatea with gratitude.

Bison. "I feel ashamed that the rest of the combat-capable Tamers didn't come out to help in the fight."

Ethan. "Those who did follow made the difference in the end. I am surprised that you had someone like her on your side and didn't bother to mention it in your messages before we came."

Bison. "You mean Selvaria? Ah... she wasn't a combat-ready tamer the last time I checked."

Mason. "She evolved her monster right after you went out to fight."

Ethan. "Is that true? But I saw her beheading the bugs like a pro."

Selvaria. "That is because I am an Admiral of the Archmedies base that belongs to the VSDF. Our scientists enhanced my body and mind to access memories of warriors that died in parallel worlds to our own."

Everyone stood at their spot, stunned by her words. Then, finally, Rebecca broke the awkward silence by making an announcement.

Rebecca. "Commander, there are around twenty minutes left before the Icebugs dig their way through into the stadium from below."

Ethan. "How do you know this, Rebecca?"

Rebecca. "My Golems intercepted their Pheromone communications... they think that the survivors have a Royal Egg or something important to them. So they are mobilizing everything they have to get it back."

Ethan's face grew pale, which worried the Tamers from Alaska.

Zext. "There are more bugs on the way? So what were we fighting against till now? Their scouts?"

Rebecca. "These bugs were meant to delay the EVAC until their main force found a way in."

Bison. "Wait... is it the size of a basketball and red in color?"

Rebecca. "I have no idea what it looks like. I just know their plans."

Ethan. "Yes, that is it! Where did you see it, Bison?"

Bison. "We were gathering the Icebug corpses as per your colleague's request. A stranger somehow sneaked into the stadium with a red ball. He refused to explain where he came from, so I had him locked up inside the storage room. After that, the Bugs attacked us, and I forgot about him."

Ethan. "Ben is one of ours... He can't speak due to an accident with his vocal cords. His mission was to keep the Queen distracted and get her Egg before we returned to Alaska."

Rebecca. "Commander, you knew about this and didn't tell us?"

Ethan. "Ben was supposed to report before we arrived, but since he didn't, I assumed he failed."

Bison. "Ah... When I confronted him, he used some weird ability on me that creeped me out, so I confiscated his phone and put it in my locker."

Ethan. "I understand, but we have to get Ben and the Egg before those Bugs show up again."

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