B-52H Stratobombers take off from Airbase Shadilay, the massive long range Cold War bombers heading off into the foreign clouds. Inside the Main Admin Office of the base, an Officer from the Men of the Woods looks outside his window as the planes take off.

With a straight back stature and a grin to his face, he watches as the large parking lots meant to house the always ready bombers empty one by one.

“Sir, Operation Castle in the High is all-go. Exercises on dropping Mana Nukes on hordes of Demons when the Reset occurs will commence when all bombers are in the air and have reached their altitude.”

“Alright. Sound off to Iron Mountain, have them know it will be thirty five bombers. Not thirty seven as initially planned.”

“Yes sir. And Ripper?”

“I’ll go talk to him about it. He is regarded a lot, so I hope I’ll learn something from such a man as things finally kick off in the training scenario.”

“Yes sir.”

The low ranking officer exited his office as the man wearing the blue air force uniform of the Men of the Woods walked towards the back of the building where charts and computers were in a large room. The men there check the flight paths as an order comes through in a printer. Prompting him to take it.

>IRNM - UNIFIED STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND

>ORDERS SENT, 3-5 BOMBERS AIRBORNE FOR EXERCISE. UN COUNCIL HOPES YOU A GOOD OPERATION, MAY YOU ALL LEARN WELL. THANK YOU, KINDLY.

He smiles seeing it. Combing his oily swept back hair as he walks off to the maps on a huge board. The bombers all planned to be situated to be a mere hour away from the heart of the four continents, with the fifth one, Angea only given a Naval shield full of Cruise Missiles.

“Theo, tell the Heavy Lift Wing to come here now. The planes have taken off.”

“Yes sir.”

“How many planes was it again?”

“Uhhhh…” the soldier in Urban Multicam camouflage walks to a desk and shuffles through some paper. “Two Super Galaxies sir. It’s an order from General Jackson, it will be part of some sort of technology exchange program between the Players and the Vampires.”

“Ah… I’ve heard of that name, yes. He is the one in command of Bahamut and the Native Vampires, correct?”

“Yes sir. That’s him. The planes are sent here under the order of your Guilds Senators, looks like you bought some trains from us, sir.”

“Five stars… guess he has a lot to think about with that much on his shoulders. Okay then, take care of everything here. I’ll be with Ripper.”

“Sir, yes sir!”

He exits out the room and heads to the East wing of the building. Smiling at the cute secretary of the commander of the entire wing. “Darling, is the General in?”

“Yes sir Colonel, please walk in.”

“Thank you.”

Heading inside, he is met with Ripper, drinking from a glass of water as he skims through some piles of folders on his desk. Not even caring in looking up to the Men of the Woods Officer that has entered the premises.

“General, I hope you may be able to tell us exactly how our Bomber Wings will perform. I’ve heard from your men that before you went… Coo-Coo, you served in the Third World War in a Bomber wing.”

“I did… and?”

“Well… I just thought you may be able to-”

“How about we quit the jackshitting? I know the UN is picking up every Vet they could, Jackson, Me, Henry, Maltese, and just everyone who has experience in the War to serve as your Generals.”

“Hah…. hah… good catch Ripper, you seem to be far more than you make yourself to be… uhm… yes…”

“Do you have an answer as to why orders keep getting mixed up? Or are we truly under attack?”

“Ah… no… I already told you yesterday, no one in Iron Mountain is mis-sending you orders and files, everything should be lined up. We’ve already checked multiple times sir, all of it checks out.”

“I am tired of this. Leave it.”

“Of course, sir.”

“For now, go to the Tarmac, check the payload bays, see if we’re ready for a quick war if needed.”

“Yes sir, General Ripper.”

Inside one of the B-52Hs that has taken off, a Navigator watches over his own deck as the Weapons Systems Officer, next to the Electronic Warfare Officer, enjoys a meal as they fly over the open barren sea. The Pilot hands off from the yoke as his Co Pilot steered the massive bomber through the skies.

“Yeah, keep her straight. Don’t overdo it now with the corrections. We should reach the Pre Designated Loiter Area soon. Make sure you don’t stray too far from the circle, we need space for the Turn Around if needed.”

“Roger. They're really taking this seriously huh?”

“Well, the boys at the mound were shaken up pretty well by the stories of the End of the World shitbuckle that constantly happens to this planet. Our exercise should be just about where we’ll be dropping the big bad orbs of power.”

“But Major, don’t you think it might be a bit over the top to use weapons like these?”

“You heard the briefing. We’re not gonna reserve a single bullet to protect our precious gate back home.”

“I wonder if they're just bullshitting us and there’s no actual way home.”

“If so, then we’re all going to Hell together when shit hits the fan faster than the turbofans in fraying a chicken inside the cowling.”

The trio behind them just smile at the lively conversation of their Pilots as one of the boxes in the wall of long range, high to low frequency radios took the attention of the Navigator, the color on one of them changing to a Blue Dot from Yellow and a 30 Letter Signature being sent.

“Huh?! What the-'' he then takes one of the books on a drawer below him and skims through the papers and finds the exact code on the Blue Dot EAM Section. “Initiate Preparation for Retaliatory Mana Nuke Strikes on Predetermined Targets, Aircrew is to be on High Alert for change in EAM. Authorization of Mana Nuke Strike will be given to Wing Commander, as the UN Committee has been wiped out.” he rechecks it as he squints his eyes and then down to himself, his hands and shoes shaking as the two others near him stood up to check what the rapid sound of clanking was about.

“That can’t be right. An error maybe?”

“I hope… if this is correct, then Iron Mountain is wiped out and only the Airbase Commanders remain…”

“I don’t see the skies outside changing. Must be some sort of error.”

“Major!”

The Pilot in command then butts into the comms.

“Keep down, Nav, go check with Base if it's confirmed.”

“Rog.”

Inside Air Base Shadilay, the Men of the Woods Air Force Colonel dims his eyes as the computers go dark and the airbase alarms sound. He rushes to the board to see what was up and to his shock, Iron Mountain has sent a Blue Dot EAM to all Mana Nuke capable Bombers.

“That… that can’t be right! Theo!”

“Uhm… uhm… all comms from Iron Mountain have gone down! Their last message is a Blue Dot Sign for retaliatory strikes sir!”

“What?! That’s complete insanity, who wiped out that place in such an instant? It's protected by a High Magic Nullification Barrier, did a God suddenly woke up and… Oh Christ…”

“Could it be that the rumors are true, sir? That underneath Iron Mountain is the corpse of the Devil God?”

“It couldn’t have been awakened… we’ve been using it for our weapons since the beginning of the game’s life. No. It's certainly dead and even if it was awakened, why would Iron Mountain send an EAM message for total Mana Nuke Fratricide on anything but itself?!”

He then walks outside the room, everyone running around getting their gear together as the Base’s PA system turns off and then the rough and manly voice of Ripper is heard. “Men, Iron Mountain is wiped out and whatever End of the World scenario is foretold is… happening, I only ask three things from you. One, Shoot and Kill anyone who tries to enter the Perimeter, the Airbase will be in total lockdown from here on forwards as per orders, Two, all Lines to the outside world must be cut, we cannot allow espionage and saboteurs to enter a Mana Nuke capable Base, Third, Do as your will can carry you, remember, we have a city to defend.” It then switches back to the annoying alarm as the Men of the Woods Colonel rushes into Ripper's office.

“Oh, you're quite a fast man.”

“Is it confirmed?!”

“It is. Check the computer.”

He goes into the computer and the message sent to him was checked with an Authorization Code to engage SIOP Operations and begin retaliatory nuclear strikes.

“But… that’s complete insanity! We can’t just nuke a foreign world!”

“Orders are orders, Cormac. As my surrogate, you are to carry out my orders to the tee. We’re in the twilight zone now.”

“I-I just can’t believe this! This is impossible!”

He then rushes out as the base goes into total lockdown. Stealing a Humvee, he drives out to a roadside hotel a few miles out and hears the radio was in its normal broadcast. “Sir!” The Ogre receptionist puts down his book and looks up to the uniformed man who has entered his dusty establishment.

“Hm?”

“Has there been any warnings of a possible End of the World?”

“The only thing Ending here is the city’s credibility. Tsk, do you hear the news? Bedlam Pharma got acquitted for possible relations with the City Council and Insider Trading. You’ve got to be kidding me. Tsk.”

“Then it's wrong! Oh Lord, phew… haaah. I could breathe easily. Thank you, my good man.”

“I can’t believe I’m paying taxes to you people.”

“My, don’t be such a sod now. Give a little respect to the man in uniform, ehy?”

“All I see are adults playing soldiers in pretty uniforms. Trying hard to make themselves look as official as possible.”

“Have it your way then.” Exiting out of the roadside motel, the Officer then quickly makes a 180 and comes back inside. “Can I borrow this radio for a brief moment?”

“Five gold coins.”

“FIVE GOLD COINS?!”

“No radio for you then.”

The large Ogre player then gets comfy on his lawn chair behind the counter. Though a bit too small for him, it looked perfectly fine in supporting his spine.

“Tsk.”

Driving back to the Airbase which is now in total absolute lockdown, cut from the outside world as the soldiers carried out their orders to the tee. As he was arriving, he could see players setting up nests and foxholes on the itty bitty forest around the main gates while Engineers dug anti tank and personnel mines. The Colonel rushed back to the Admin office and to Ripper's room.

“Ripper, there’s no End of the World happening nor has anything changed in the outside world!”

“How can you be sure about that?”

“I just drove to a Hotel a few kilometers away and there was absolutely nothing happening! I-I even bought a radio from him, look! It’s playing the morning news!”

“Snowstorms coming from the Continent of Schon will soon reach down to Geraldia. We are advising citizens and people hearing this broadcast to chain their vehicles and look after their horses and other mounted land animals. Flying birds and even Dragons are giving flight advisory due to uncertain weather patterns.”

“Hmmm… do you expect me to believe this dribble? What if it's the enemy trying to make sure everyone calms down before they inevitably attack?”

“Excuse me?”

“For the past year, I’ve been given nothing but problematic orders left and right, but I was always able to see through the bullshit. But this one, this one is real. I will not, and can not allow Iron Mountain to further degrade my mental health with this crap their throwing at me. I know that there’s someone out there after me, someone in the big wigs.”

“For Godsake Ripper, it's not real! Call the bombers back right now! No one is after you! Whatever you're receiving must be a mistake as I told you!”

On the B-52H, the Navigator nods to the Major and he then rushes to check the Blue Dot EAM message which now then changes to a Red Dot EAM, the code now less than 30 letters and numericals. “Oh Lordy…” the Navigator then went to his radio and a Gold Code was given to him.

“Sir, I’m gonna check the biscuit.”

He then goes back down below his desk and opens a safe. His trembling hands are accompanied by the turbulence of the aircraft. Cracking open a plastic case to reveal a red plastic card. Checking the code he has written down, he nods. The Major then rechecks it and his eyes sink.

Without losing a second, the Navigator checks the book for the EAM code he was given and it reads out “Carry out Mana Nuke Strikes on Predetermined Targets, Switch to SELCAL, turn off all radios except it and only disengage and return to pattern upon the order of a EAM code of Six Letters with Numericals sent via SELCAL.”

“Sweet Mother Mary, it's actually happening.”

“Sir, can’t this be just part of the training?”

“Nope. If it is, they’re expecting us to drop real Mana Nukes on practice targets? This shit ain’t easy to get. It's actually pretty rare and little to none is in reserve.”

Inside Iron Mountain, the war room was filled to the brim with players in suits and military uniforms, all of them sitting down looking over a huge table as the Guild Leaders all hunched together as they got briefed by a man in blue.

“So you're telling me, USAC got a message from Ripper and it sounded absolutely deranged? How come no one spoke of this sooner?!”

“We were trying to confirm it with Shadilay, sir. We had problems with comms, only then did we find out all lines to the base are cut.”

“This has got to be a joke, not when we’re on the verge of a breakthrough with the Vampire Kingdom! Everyone! To our seats!”

The Guild Leaders sat upon their chairs, looking over one another. The leader of the Men of the Woods was the most vocal of them all, the rest busily chatting to their own people on the phones.

“General Maltese, what unit do we have that’s close to Shadilay? Isn’t that place supposed to be manned by both Ervtes and Men of the Woods units?”

The pale faced five star general wearing a long black trench coat over his green uniform takes a binder out, he begins shuffling through as he stops at one page.

“We have a Third Airborne Division and Fifth Stryker Brigade Combat Team currently there, Mister President, preplaced in angst of the upcoming Reset.”

“Send them towards the Airbase! Right now!”

“Sir, we could see high casualties among our vehicles here, Shadilay has a lot of ATGMs and Anti Tank weaponry. If it's in lockdown, we can expect Main Battle Tanks alongside Minefields are waiting for our men.”

“I don’t care! Alert any other units we have that could fly, tell Rostock and every other Guild not present to bring their Ambassadors here and let them know about what’s coming!”

Inside the B-52H, the Navigator’s hand hovers over a chart on his map.

“Looks like our target is going to be the Capital of Vitas.”

“Hah! We’re gonna blast the Demon Kingdom to Hell!”

“Seems to be it Major, secondary target is the Rostock Guild Helicopter Ship parked off the coast.”

“Really? We’re gonna nuke a Slav shitbucket?”

“Yes sir, these new orders were given a few months ago to not let the Demons capture and learn from our tech.”

“Geez, what a waste of a nuke. We could easily just turn another Demon city into a parking lot! Nav! Get me a new heading!”

“Copy that, Major.”

A massive column of armor and light vehicles assembles on a hotel parking lot not far from Shadilay. Observing them was a sniper team inside a small forest. Their faces were stoic upon the sight of transport trucks unloading M1A2 Abrams with the new Magical Urban Survival Kits and Bradley IFVs as hundreds of players got into formation, while others commandeered the Ogre’s rooms and set up makeshift medic bays.

All of them were in stark hurry, rushing left and right as they blindly parked their vehicles wherever available.

“That’s the Third Airborne and the Stryker BCT. Captain, are you sure these are saboteurs? Those look pretty official to me.” Then another column arrives from inside the city, mostly made up of Eastern Bloc vehicles like GAZ Tigers, BTR-82As, and T-90s. “Zavalda National Guard too?! Huh?!” He then goes over to his radio. “Command, are you sure these are combatants? They seem to be pretty normal to me. Their vehicles even have proper markings and all.”

“That is correct. Orders are to engage them if they enter the perimeter, if they are truly friendly, they’d not even entertain the idea of getting close to us since we’re in total lockdown. IFF is absolutely ignored upon Blue Dot EAM, DEFCON One.”

“Roger.”

The Sniper then looks over to his Spotter. “Are we really gonna fight Main Battle Tanks?” One of the armored vehicles arriving then caught his eye, with the hull of a T-72, its turret was a Twin 30mm with a AGS-30 automatic grenade launcher and four ATGMs on the sides. “Sweet Jesus, that’s bad news. Command, we have Terminators present alongside Abrams, Bradleys, BTRs, and everything under the sun. This is a medieval siege with modern weapons!” The Spotter then closes his eyes, watching from above on a passing Pigeon's view.

“The Airborne also has bought their JLTVs, this is a massive combined force.”

“I hope Ripper has a good plan. Sir Ervtes won’t be happy if he comes back home knowing his airbase is in ruins.”

An explosion sent the trees swaying in a direction as they turned to their backs to see a Bradley with a bunch of Strykers had run into a Minefield. The players ran amok as the foxholes engaged them.

A bunch of Mages then appeared and with magic, started to lift up mines. Paving way for them to roll forward.

But to the surprise of everyone, there were still explosives underneath the soil. One of the players looks at the wire that leads back to a hardened bunker.

Anti air missiles then flew high above the skies as Hinds and Apaches went down alongside players with flight magic. All of them, equally grounded and face planting the soil. The two soldiers in ghillie suits could then see the Motel has become the main respawn point of the attacking players.

All of them rushed into other armored vehicles whilst Squad and Team leaders awaited for their entire team to come back.

“Oh, don’t tell me.”

“I got a stick of clay here and we’re all wearing the same uniforms.”

Sir Ervtes looks at the now empty bomber bays of Airbase Shadilay. With the spaces onced used for the mighty long range aircraft that was supposed to be used to bring a fraction of the firepower there enemies could conjure are now used as pile up areas for corpses and destroyed weapons. Junk fills the rest as a convoy of transport trucks arrive at the runway. With a spray painted logo of a triangle with a pickaxe inside, the Dwarven driver, using a foot extender, hops out and walks to the rear to open the gate, letting loose more of his kin.

Wearing his teutonic style armor with stylish metal feathery winglets on the side of his helmet and a large angelic one behind his plate armor tucked under his valiant cape, the leader of the Guild salutes the arriving players.

“What Guild are you fine Ginger haired Dwarves from?”

Hopping down first is a large bearded Dwarf, his facial hair adorned with braids that’s held together by shiny strings whilst wearing a small sized battle dress uniform and a belt kit with shovels and engineering tools.

“We’re from the Diggy Diggy Hole Blacksmithing Guild! I heard ya need a city that has some fixin’ problems.”

“I gotta tell you it's bad but, thank you for the help. Didn’t know people still listened to that song.”

“Aye, the UN called, we’re ready to serve. C’mon men! Sing with me!”

“Born underground, suckled from from a teat of stone!”

As they sang and got into formation, the Guild Leader then walked to his officers, as a crowd had gathered in front of the Hangar, as a golden glimmer was coming out of it. Another player, a human wearing the same set of armor as him approaches the man. “Sir, we have a problem at the park.” he sighs. “But who are those people?” his Knight then looked toward the opened sheltered parking space for bombers. “I… do not know sir.” he just breathes in and collects himself. “Go talk to them. I’ll be at the park if I am needed.” the man takes off. Flying towards the city center.

Walking around the city, it was absolutely devastated. Skeleton soldiers were busy piling the bodies of the zombies, skeletons, Orcs, and Giants, all the other creatures the Underworld sent after them into the now dead Park. Their piles were so high they nearly reached the three storey buildings. An insanely long convoy of military vehicles and trucks was parked in the main road. Taking up all of the lanes and causing a traffic jam of camouflage vehicles.

Players from so many different Guilds were littered everywhere, performing house to house, rubble to rubble clearing. Making sure any stragglers were killed or captured while areas cleared were busy with the deafening sounds of construction machines, both civilian and military, performing clean up duty. It ranged from your typical 8X8 MAN HX with a scoop to armored up Hydraulic Excavators.

Jackson turns to the street opposite of him, he could see familiar faces standing around the corpse of the Hyper Demon. One of which he is less that willing to meet again. He fixes his uniform and checks himself on a shattered piece of glass. Though his face is clean, it still has some dark spots from the dust that’s latched onto his skin for so long.

“Geez, cleaning up is going to be an absolute nightmare for me and everyone.”

Coming out of a dark alleyway, Elizabeth pops an answer right back at him.

“It's so easy to destroy but so hard to build. Such is the way of life, right, My Lord?”

“WOAH! Jeez, what’s with you and popping out of nowhere?”

“I apologize, My Lord. But there’s just so many alleys I could appear from. I couldn’t help myself to get a reaction from you.”

“Haaaaa… But yeah… Guess so. This is now its always going to be… just that dang. Some of the rounds fired are laced with enchantments making some of the areas a bit toxic for the common soldier.”

“Are you able to control yourself, My Lord? Crossing that street means you’ll meet up with her.”

“I have to. James is there and I need to thank the man for coming all the way here.”

“Alright, My Lord. Good luck. We’ll be at the park.”

He walks across the street and to the road blocked by the corpse of the Hyper Demon. The Priest being the first one to notice him. “Ah, General.” he waves at him and Bahamut veers her attention from Augustus and to him. “Master!” she threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly as she reached for his dusty hands. “It's a bit dirty. I still need to find proper flowing water and maybe a good shower.” She then puts his hand up her face and sniffs it. “Phwah! I miss this scent.”

“BAHAMUT! NOT HERE!”

“What Master? I need to sniff you… and I want to eat.”

“Later Bahamut, later... We have a situation developing at the Park. We need you there.”

“Ehhhhhh…. More things to do?”

“Sorry, that’s just how it is. We need to clean up the city as much as we can.”

Behind them, Dragon God King Augustus is trying to get Bahamut’s attention.

“Would you perhaps like to have a Steak?”

“Hmph. Just because Mars turned you down doesn’t mean you can just move over to me. Mars! Do something with this Mate!”

“She’s… a bit more spicy than I expected. But you on the other hand seem to have been far more influenced by the softness of humans. I believe you’ll be perfect-”

“Shush. I want none of it. Master, when are we gonna get food?”

He just places his hand on her shoulder. Noticing that the emerald brooch that he had gifted her was around her neck, in between her exposed collarbone from her retro schoolgirl uniform. Smiling, he just pats her shoulder and then her head. Making her close her eyes and in return, gave back the smile he has on his face.

The place was a complete mess, with abandoned armor and vehicles being dragged out of craters and skeletons trying to unlock their brakes to be pulled for repair or get thrown with the rest of the scrap. Some tagged with red, others with orange and then yellow. Standing on the edge of a circle of dried blood was Prince James and the Sword Saint herself. Bahamut quickly grabbed Paul’s hand and wrapped her fingers around his closed hands.

“Master…”

“I know, I know. I’ll behave. I swear. You put your anger aside and worked with her, the least I can do is do the same.”

Augustus then walks over to the Sword Saint and politely smiles. The two chatted as Jackson looked at James.

“Master, if you want, I can talk to her.”

“No, I am the one in command here. This is my responsibility… And the Ken looking ass Prince charming here I actually have a large amount of respect for.”

Prince James quickly reached out his hand for a shake and a perfect beam. General Paul kindly took it and smiled back.

“Thank you so much for coming all the way here. I couldn’t even imagine the trip. I owe you one.”

“Oh. You owe me nothing. We merely did what we had to do at the time. War brings out the worst in all of us, but that doesn’t mean we should forget our humanity. I saved you because you were fighting the good fight. You amaze me General, I can see once again why Bahamut chose to be at your side. To do this much without the help of the Divine says a lot of your skills as a leader.”

“It wasn’t only me, Yamaoka, Henry, Garland, and Cresco also helped me a ton. Without them, this would’ve gone far more south than you can imagine. I have just as much to owe to them for not even questioning my motives and their loyalty unshaken the entire time.”

“Hm. You also did magnificent. To hold out for almost a week against the hordes of the Underworld and to cause them this much damage. This proves to me the mantle you carry as a Commander. The Kingdom of James would be blessed to have someone with an inch of your skills and leadership in the helm.”

“In the short time I was there, your Generals seemed to be pretty good. They quickly reacted to Eldwood and knew the danger we posed. Though if they only tried to find out more about the range of our weapons.”

“Ahahahaha, please. These people never fought an opponent that’s near peer. All they’ve fought have been Lords and Regents that became a bit too ambitious and the occasional barbaric invasion.”

Hearing it from the young and up blonde blue eyed man made the General instinctively put his free hand behind his head to scratch it.

“Eh-eh-eh… no need for the pleasantries. I just did as I was ordered to do.”

“Hm. But you did amazingly well. Earth is lucky to have people like you, Sir Jackson.”

“Nawwww… you're too kind.”

“I hope you don’t find offense in bringing with me Miss Death.”

“No worries.” The General looked at the blonde woman in golden armor. She facepalms immediately and the three women behind the man scooted over to see his expression and the man seemingly turned into a warrior once again. Touching Bahamut, he puts on his Death Knight Set, the insidious helmet covering his eyes. He then immediately turns back to James, still shaking his hand.

“Please, do stay here as long as you wish. The city will need uhhhh… yeah. This is gonna take a year or two of rebuilding. Bahamut also threw the Core into the Portal, so we’re out of water and electricity for the time being.”

“Sad, I’ve always wanted to see these modern cities Miss Death has told me so much about. But this has also been a great moment for me to test out the Sword of Man, Gram.”

“There are still some out there, like Tokyo if you want. Built by us, Asians. It's an icon of our dedication in our crafts.”

Behind them, Mars has returned in her Dragon form with Yamaoka riding on top of her lands. She transformed into a human and the two joined in the conversation.

“You can take the high speed train there to Neo Tokyo. Pretty good place, captures modern life better than Zavalda.”

“Is that so? Hmmm… I shall visit it then. May I ask where we can lodge for the night?”

“Oh, over to the North side. The Industrial Sector is where most of the barracks have been moved. Don’t expect much though. Its abandoned warehouses, expect lots of insects and dust. If you want though… I might be able to set up some good beds on the Airbase.”

“Hm. Airbase it is. Miss Death, shall we?”

“Of course. Good job, Jackson.”

“Don’t you for one second think I’ve forgiven you. Not even a bit. But thank you for saving my ass. I’ll let you go just for this moment. But when we return back to Earth, you have a lot of questions to answer.”

“I only bought Augustus with me because I don’t want you to feel threatened. Good to know you weren’t planning anything to begin with.”

“As if I am as devious as those rogue Black Ops guys.”

“You might be in armor right now, but underneath that, you wear the uniform of an army that’s out of place and out of time.”

“And we’ll make it out. Even if it means more sacrifices.”

“And yet you say you aren’t as devious as them.”

She merely waved goodbye, not letting the General make a reply as the two Heroes walked away to Augustus who had changed into his Dragon form. Hopping onto his back, they flew away, heading straight to the Airbase.

“Haiyaaa… that is Kensei Elizadeath, I get it she is a shiriai?”

“You betcha. That woman has been a shitstain in my Full Dive gaming experience for so long. She nearly killed me, you know? She was also the one responsible for letting the Natives know of our capabilities.”

“I’ve heard, the Kingdom of James calling for the nations to come together to fight against you was a large piece of news for everyone at the time. She was there wasn’t she? On the Fortress City? On the first recorded Mana Core corruption?”

“She was.”

“Didn’t she purify it also?”

“She did.”

“Haaaah… Seems to me she’s not the one in control but the Gods.”

“Don’t care. She nearly killed me and sent the Natives after us thanks to you guys meddling with their affairs put on top of it, giving them all the excuses to go ape on us. As if I’ll ever forgive that. My friends didn’t need to feel what it's like to have blood on their hands. C’mon Yamaoka, we have a lot of cleaning up to do.”

“Hm. Also, about that junkyard. We lost seventy eight percent of our vehicles, we can’t fit them anywhere anymore since the Park has been turned into a mass grave and the cargo tarmacs are being used as a mass collection area.”

“We’ll figure it out. The tarmac on the Airbase that was used for the bombers might be a good spot to set since its not like those Stratofortress are gonna return. Right now, just go back to Shadilay. I have a job to do at the Park.”

“Ah, yes. It looks very bad, I could smell it even from here.”

“Hm. This used to be the old collection area for the citizens, the evac busses were parked where that Hyper Demons body is laying right now.”

“Well, I’ll see you then. Bahamut-sama, thank you.”

Yamaoka, with hands and arms tight to the sides of his chest and his legs together performed a ninety degree bow. The Black Dragon just nods and smiles as the Four star Shine Guards Knight General jogs back to Mars. Removing his scabbard from its belt and placing his helmet on a special saddle on the Red Dragon's neck. Taking off, the two left behind were Jackson and Bahamut.

“Let’s go.”

“Mhm!”

With the Park being only a block away, they walked to it. The former paths they onced went through are now full of cracks and broken glass. The Death Knight’s face goes dim as he sees the trees and the leaves on the recreational area of the city now turned blackish and dull, the very soil even looking as if it has rotten beyond saving. The odor became so bad he had to put on his helmet once again while Bahamut just looked around, turning her face left and right as they reached the Pond in the middle.

It was completely drained, with a strange star-shaped hole in the middle of the concrete tub. It was filled with players wearing CBRN gear and Sir Ervtes was with Alana and Elizabeth, the two Vampires watching the gaping hole with a black void in it.

Seeing the Guild Leader Knight readies himself. With an upright posture, he goes down with Bahamut. The two of them reached the middle after a minute of walking.

“And who is this?”

Removing his helmet, the General reveals himself.

“Ah, your Jackson.”

“Yes sir, Sir Ervtes. Pleased to meet you.”

“You too.” The man then removes his helmet, showing his character had a more age to it. Looking like a lightly tanned Caucasian man with a small mustache and white hair, he had sleek eagle eyes and a mouth that could tell an entire book's worth of stories from its expression alone.

The two didn’t continue their conversation. Ervtes just looked at Jackson from head to toe then directly at his eyes. He then smiles and takes the man's hand and shakes it.

“I owe you a lot boy. My men told me it was you and that Thomas boy who was the most vehement in not allowing the UN to use that Briefcase and call in a Mana Nuke missile strike on the city.”

“Yes sir. I did what I originally came here to do. To preserve the city and most importantly, the Industrial Sector.”

“Ahahahaha, as expected. I’ll be sure to write you up for promotion. How does the Deputy Supreme Commander of Joint Forces sound? Maltese will need someone like you in his helms.”

“Ah, I don’t know sir. I am already doing so much as a Five star of the Joint Ground Forces. Becoming a Secondary Supreme Commander might be too much for me.”

As the two conversed, Bahamut joined the two Vampires. Looking over the Star shaped hole. She spits fire onto it, gaining everyone’s attention. But it didn’t light up anything inside and merely just disappeared.

“Master! Human with metal wings! Put on your helmets!”

“Hm? Oh… that’s odd. Bahamut, I can hear the voices of my parents… Man… I’ve missed their sound.”

“Master. No. That’s the Cosmos fooling you, the Abyss looking back with a smile.”

She kneels down, touching the rim of the Star and the ground shakes. Throwing everyone except the two Vampires to the ground. It closes up and the vibration stops. “I didn’t want to do it so hastily, but you already heard its songs. Master, don’t believe those sounds.”

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“It's stopped anyways… but dang, I feel like I miss my parents even more now.”

“Hm. I heard my daughter there. I hope she’s doing fine, I know my sister is doing her best in taking care of her.”

“You have a daughter, Sir Ervtes?”

“Wife left me but she was kind enough to leave me the kid. Now, Jackson, can I talk to Bahamut for a bit.”

“Of course sir. Bahamut, Sir Ervtes wants to talk to you.”

He steps aside, letting the Guild Leader to approach the girl in a black sailor uniform.

“What is it winged human?”

He stares at her for a bit, and a smirk comes up his mouth. Showing a bit of his teeth.

“I want you to go to Bedlam. My Mage Corps, when they first arrived at the city. They detected cursed energy on the Bedlam Pharma Towers. Please, meet with Scholar Mereditha there.”

The Dragon crosses her arms and then looks at the decapitated tower of Bedlam. Even though most of its top floors were gone, it was still one of the tallest structures in the city. “Master?” the man just nods and Bahamut walks away. Heading straight to the tower. Popping her wings out, she takes off to the Commercial District.

“A Dragon God wearing black sailor uniform… I’ve seen it all now.”

“Heh. Mars did great in helping her pick. Its right up my style.”

“It's interesting isn’t it… the Gods of this world brought us here just to be damned. An army of people sent to be punished so that theirs won’t.”

“An army of the damned… Can’t say it's not a bad catchphrase, but it does seem to be the overall plan, Sir Ervtes.”

“Hm… say, will you be damned?”

“No sir. I won’t stay here.”

“Good. Say… I want to meet Thomas and thank him too. General?”

“Of course sir. Alana, Elizabeth. With me. He should be at the Airbase right now, helping with the clean up.”

Miles back in the Airbase. Morgan just finished her report to her shadowy higher ups. The flatscreens turned off one by one till the only screen left was the one in the middle.

“Your operation has been given the green light. Use as many agents and resources as you wish.”

“Does this include the military?”

“If needed. Jackson and Yamaoka are still there right?”

“Yes sir.”

“Then call them up. I’m sure they're looking for payback. You may even give Jackson a bit of an extra payment if needed.”

“Sir, yes sir. When will the order arrive for the rest of my men?”

“Give me three hours to sort everything out on my side. Good work Morgan. Be sure to =bring as many things back home.”

“Thank you sir. Just doing my job.”

“And as requested, we’ll be sending the powerful psychic Native to that Priest. He may take that pitiful man back to Avaria.”

The last screen closes. Leaving her to go outside of the Airbase. Walking towards the main exit of the Air Control Tower. The tarmacs meant for the bombers were filled to the brim with damaged military and civilian vehicles. Many are just being rudely dumped into a fill as recovery vehicles go back and forth from the entrance. With nothing but shoddy traffic cones dividing the heavy machines pulling scrapped vehicles.

Next to the pile was another one where damaged weapons both magical and normal ones, were being thrown into a messy mound of trash. With her wavy brown hair, Morgan looks to the Hangars where many of the players were crowding up, she takes a parked UAZ and heads off to it.

Back inside the city. Bahamut arrives at the front door of Bedlam Pharmaceuticals. The revolving glass door was completely shattered and inside the lobby, Mages wearing tabards showing the logo of Ervtes in a mish mash of leather and plate armor were placing countless talismans on the walls and the floor, some even with ladders and slapping them onto the ceiling. One of the Mages, a busty woman wielding a Black Staff, turns around, hearing the clacks of unfamiliar shoes.

“A Cosplayer?”

“You called for me, Titty Human?”

“T-titty human?! Excuse me, but care to look at yourself first? Your breast is basically lifting up your blouse, I could see the white shirt you have underneath it right above your skirt’s garter. It's High Witch Mereditha, Master of the Arts of Curses and Black Magic. Proficient in Mid to High Level Cants, I can even activate multiple spells without needing to speak.”

“Uh huh…. Mars told me to get one that’s a bit smaller just for that exact reason, you know? So what is it, Titty human?”

“Can you atleast look out for my wide hips too?”

“I mean… my eyes are up here so it's the first thing I see when I am observing you. I know you Humans like stuff like that and I can see why. Master is a Male after all.”

“Are you even Human?”

“No. I am a Dragon.”

“Dragon? Then you should know some manners when engaging with Human Females. We like the look, but no comments. Try to culture yourself more.”

Though her face was clouded by the shadow of her cowl, her long black hair was exposed through a slit on the back of her robe as her curvy figure was exposed through the tight black clothing that covered her entire body. With a cat’s tongue, she was swift with her replies. Some of the Mages laughed at her spicy response.

“Some nerves you have, Titty Human. Just tell me what you called me here for. I wanna go back to Master and eat something good.”

“Your Bahamut? What happened to your Funeral Gown and Veil?”

“Eh. Master said he’d like to see me in something more modern. So I donned something more modern with the help of Mars. She’s more inclined in the Human - Dragon dynamic more than I could ever be.”

“That explains your beauty and stature. Amazing, a Dragon God in a Human Form. Hm, I could see why there’s so many artworks of you in the Community forums Dragon Kindling section even though you only officially appeared thrice in a span of five years. Well, care to follow me then.”

She leads the Dragon to the elevators. All of them were out except for one. The Mage then clicks its button and it opens. The interior was cozy, with large posters on both sides of it. Including some reminders for workers and employees.

“Eh? How does that work?” The Dragon then walks just before entering it. Reaching her hand out, her eyes widened. “That energy… just what were they doing here… or what did they summon?”

“A lot. We dug up files since StateSec has managed to make their CEO sing, it seems that there’s a secret floor where captives from the Native towns were taken too. Whatever they were doing, when the portals opened, it summoned something reckless into this world.”

“I can already sense its presence… such an aura, it's not of this world truly.”

“Me and my boys have done the math for you.” She reaches for her cleavage and brings out a piece of paper. The Dragon takes it and written in it is a floor sequence. 21, 14, 8, 15, 12, 25.

“Do you know what this is, Bahamut?”

“A type of teleportation magic, one that uses the elevator as the ritual sigil.”

“Exactly, then I do not have to tell you what not to do?”

“Hah, even if someone was to join me. It wouldn’t matter, a mere ghost would burst into a pile of light upon the sight of me.”

“Okay then. Report back to us then. Oh! Wait!”

Before she enters it, the woman then goes into her pouch. Rummaging through potions, she then takes a Wooden Holy Cross. “A cleric gave me this, he told me you might need it for something. He also said it's a reward for keeping your end of the promise.”

“A Cleric- ah, him. Yes. I guess our contract is over since it's done. Hmmm…” The Dragon takes the Wooden Cross, inspecting it. Her eyes glimmer. “That dastardly man, hmph. I shall play along then. I might have use for this.” walking into the elevator, she presses for floor 21. The gates close as the image of the Mage disappears through the sliding door.

As the Dragon went up the building, one of the Mages with a floating lamp next to him goes to their leader.

“Mereditha, Sir Ervtes is looking for you.”

“Oh my, what could it be now?”

“The Gold King is in the Airbase. He wants all of the commanders there.”

“The Gold King himself?! D-Do I look good?” She then made sure her tight robe was showing off her more pronounced features at the shiny marble walls of the tower. The man with his floating lamp just sighs. “Haaah… you know they have proper washrooms at the Airbase right?” she ignores the man and so, he faces the other Mage of Ervtes. “Call for the helicopter transport. Our Witch here is too busy with herself.”

The ceiling light of the cramped space would dim and lit up at random, behind her, a poster reminding employees to respect their Disclosure Contract while advertising their products, ranging from Potions to Oil to Diesel refinement methods. There on the wall, one of the adverts also shows their range of vials and potion bottles with a seal “100% Ervtes Made and Built!”. In multiple choices and thickness, they also had special smaller ones meant for belts and even ones that would shatter completely when thrown for maximum damage and spread.

It then stops and the door opens. Air was blowing in through the bright office hallway, none of the windows survived the bombing and intense fighting that occurred within the Commercial district, with violent gusts of wind going in and through the office level. She clicks for floor 14, the gate once again closes and she goes down. Crossing her arms, she leans on the corner nearest to the buttons.

Dinging once again, the floor was bright but more dim, she could hear the sounds of the shattered glass being thrown about as a helicopter was audibly landing in front of the building. With some of the foam on the ceiling collapsing even more onto the carpeted floor as the choppers rotors spooled up for take off. She clicks it for floor 8 rigorously, sighing at the slow machine as its doors close. The Dragon would incessantly tap her heeled shoes as the elevator racked and moved a bit. It then stops and the door opens.

It was dark and silent, though the walls were damaged with shrapnel, no gusts of wind were passing nor did the light from the world pierce through the closed blinds. Inspecting the short hallways that lead straight to the cubicles, the Dragon sees the oddity at the windows. It was as if the world outside of it was completely dark and devoid of life.

She wasn’t letting it off, constantly clicking for floor 15. But since the gate felt slower this time around, the woman brought out her Primordial Claymore Core and it closed promptly.

The elevator shakes as it goes up. The wires tingling from its movement could be heard inside.

“What is thoust name?”

Behind her was a kind looking office man, with well combed hair and a pristine suit and skin as white as a corpse. He looks as if he couldn’t hurt a fly.

“What… is thoust’s name? If such a Demon like you didn’t burst upon even near contact with me… that means you must be-”

It ignores the Dragon's call as the floor dings once again. The floor was just as dark as the others, but it was clean and preserved, as if the building wasn’t bombed and destroyed by the horrific battle that just occurred a day earlier. She just sighs as she keeps pressing for 12.

With the door closing, she just leans back onto the side once again. Resting her elbow on the handrails. Alone in the elevator, it reaches the next floor.

Being on a high level, it was dark once again and the carpet and the walls were clean and pristine. Though it was too dark for any normal Human to see anything, for her, she had complete vision of the interior and it was all in perfect shape. The Dragon kept clicking for floor 25 as she yawned. “Ugh, why am I doing the job a flimsy Paladin or Newbie Cleric could do?” as the elevator takes her to the next floor, she looks at the Cross she was given. Being made of a brownish wood, it felt light but the divinity within it, heavy.

Ignoring the number on the floor indicator has gone crazy, constantly going from 25 - 12- 15 - 8 - 14 - 21 and vice versa to then random numbers. She rests her Prehistory sword on the elevator corner as her bluish metal oil lamp materializes. Opening its gate, she puts the cross inside it. The cold bluish fire burns it full till not even a single molecule of it remains.

The elevator gate opens and the office hallway was coloured with a red tint. Its darkness is more shattering and deafening to one's sights and hearing. Walking into it, she looked left and right to see that it was empty. There were no signs of anything living in the entire place.

With her being all alone on the dark floor, the Dragon opens the first door she passes and is greeted with a boxed office. Lab gowns were on the office chairs and paper were neatly arranged as names of players where their in-game ones are etched onto plates of their cubicle. In one of them, she could see it was decorated with cute toys and teddy bears, while in the one next to it had a collection of antique relic swords and shields. Farthest from it, is one full of chemicals while next to it, has a collection of potions and vials. Neatly left behind, untouched and unmoved.

Going to the file cabinets, the top drawers had a lock to it. But when she pulled the handle, it opened. Due to its weight, the metal cabinet didn’t even move an inch. Inside, its contents was filled with health and mana potions. With only a mere handful taken as the rest were filled to the brim with the essential player items. Checking the lower parts, it had been alphabetically categorized. Taking a random one, she lets go of her sword, letting it float midair as she busily opens the folder.

It had the 2X2 picture clipped to it of an Elven player wearing a lab gown. With the name of “MidgeBirdge”. It had his information in it, ranging from his level, real life and in-game occupation being a Microbiologist/Forest Wizard, to the very minute details of his skills and perks and known cants and what he can activate without needing to word it out. Underneath it, it has been stamped with “DISMISSED”. Checking the other pages, it was mostly filled with his work and what the player had done for the company. Slipping out of it was a letter. She takes a gander at it and it was a referral letter to move the player as requested to the Neo Tokyo branch. On the bottom, it was signed by someone named James.

Returning it, she takes another one from the immensely full cabinet and it also has been dismissed and stamped onto it. Closing the drawer, she steps to the one left of her and opens it and this time, the contents of the folder weren’t stamped and the cabinet itself rattled from her violent opening of it. Going down to the bottom drawer, she notices a section of it in the back was partitioned from the rest, with the folders there being in blue colored ones. It was only five and she takes the first one which shows a Slime player wearing a white hard hat albeit not having any facial features and just a greenish blob.

“Eh.” she threw it away as she took another one. This time showing a human player, with a name of James and no last name, and his player name being “Fishman420”. He’s classed as a Mage like so many others in the team. His speciality being the Head Doctor of the facility, written on it was the day of his acceptance into the project, November of 4R 1152 ADK.

A rattle was then emitted from the hall and she dropped the folder, taking her Claymore and running towards it. The dark halls had no light at all, and for the Dragon, she could still sense everything, even to the very hairs on the carpet as she focused her senses on hearing and movement.

Slowing down, she could make out the outline of a combat knife that’s been forced onto the soft wall. It has embedded a ripped paper which the woman then turns to her surroundings, seeing and sensing nothing. On it, there was an entry written.

“November 1 of the 4th Reset.

I am starting this entry log due to it being required by my higher ups. I am James Alexander, a board certified internist who had his residency in Bellevue Hospital Center and a Hermatologist. They were kind enough to pay me a huge salary, better than adventuring or even doing actual Doctor work to the Natives whose expertise in the Sciences mostly devolved to using magic only, which is a quite inefficient use of it. But of course, except for the Nobles and the Adventurers, they're much like me. Knows the use of both.

I’ve heard from my colleagues that we’ll be experimenting on Vampire Blood. An ancient one of sorts. I can’t wait, this is one of my greatest fantasies and I cannot believe I am about to partake in it. I am also in charge of quite a team, I even have a Hermapathologist here from a renowned hospital in Europe, she’s quite a looker and a bit of a nut. But I hope we might be able to make a breakthrough with this stuff. Heck, maybe even bring something back to Earth.”

Bahamut crumples it and dumps it on the floor. Walking down to the two steel metal doors which are locked by a keycard. She scoffs and uses her sword to cut it in the middle, with the locks broken, she uses magic and it opens nonchalantly as a powerful gust of wind wisp away.

Entering it, the walls changed almost instantly, it was now a sanitized metal wall, floor, and ceiling. With shut LED strip lights all along the top corners. It smelled of alcohol and death. As if opening it also released something just as dangerous as her onto the open world.

Without warning, the woman started running forward. Charging through the abyss as she hopped over fallen rebar and threw file cabinets and office chairs. All of them rudely litter the clean floors.

She then stops, skidding her heels on the metal floor as something lunges at her from behind, a strange humanoid creature wearing a torn hospital gown, with its upper half completely blown off as if it exploded. It's trying to lick her.

With a swift cut, the creature’s large tongue that was coming out from its gaping wound was removed and she kicked it down and finished it.

Behind her, another one tries to attack her. This one of smaller stature, smaller than her. She had to adjust her cut, even with a missing left arm, the creature whose face was a small mangled misalignment of what was once a human one whose teeths were now changed to that of a beast. Its eyes are now below and above, and with multiple mouths facing different directions. It was fast, even at the rancid smell the body was emitting only followed it after it stopped moving.

Plop, another body goes down. She straightens up her posture and continues walking. In one of the hardened metal doors, a bloodied Enchanted Staff with a Blue Orb on it was piercing through it, the other half still inside the room, preventing it from opening fully. “ROOAAAAH!!!” Hearing this, she holds her sword as she makes two steps back, a grotesque creature full of mouths and hands bursts through the weighty thick plated doorway with a player in a lab gown still embedded on its back, its arms swaying wildly and loose as its lifeless body propped up by the malformed creature charged forward.

She quickly jumps, just enough to reach the height of its top. She then swung her sword swiftly while midair above it, a bluish flying blade was emitted, cutting it in half completely, falling onto the ground just as quick as she started the fight. Heavy plops could be heard as its innards spilled into the floor, including that of an assault rifle and a bunch of grenades. Last that fell from its inside was a Bedlam Operator, wearing a blue BDU and black IOTV, the player was completely torn asunder by her weapon, but its body could still be visibly identified. With a yellow plastic card on his plate carrier.

The riving mass of mouths and hands tried to grab and bite her from the Access Duct from above but she was fast on her feet, running onto the side of the wall, she uses her hand to grab its tentacle, pulling it down from its hiding place and it lands ontop of its equally disgusting dead brother. A clack of a heel is heard behind it. She then materializes her other sword, the Longsword Darkarth. Without even doing anything, the blade hurls itself at the creature, penetrating it deep into its centerline and then exiting out the other half. Dividing its body.

More corpses of players are spewn out from its torn open body, this one full of scientists and workers. One thing she noticed is that it all had no heads, and those with ones had no brains inside. Their temples are completely empty, including their eyes. Not even the ones wearing kevlar combat helmets were saved.

“What have you Chosen Ones done?”

She continues walking. Now slicing opened another door, this one being thicker and even had armor plating on it. Though it didn’t take much effort for the Dragon to open it with her swords, the clang it made as she sliced it open was so loud she could hear the replies of hundreds of creatures from small to large. There, she quickly changes her stance, leaning forward more as Darkarth keeps floating behind her, keeping look at her six as humanoid creatures in lab gowns charged at her from the front. With missing heads, their bodies moved as if its a drunken man trying to attack a sober person.

Slicing and dashing her way forward, in the end. It was a bloodbath. Going forward onto the hall as she left a tidal wave of corpses behind her, she detects something to her left, quickly kicking down the armored door. To her surprise, it was a large room with lights. It also lit up a bit of the hallway, blood was on the walls, bones and flesh on the floor and written right behind her in red was “ARITON”.

Inside, she looks around it to see a bunch of used Kevlar vests was discarded on the floor, marked by teeth and claws, alongside piles of ammo and C4 blocks all wired to a Clicker. But there was no player and as she walked down the dingy metal staircase, she stepped on thousands of spent casings. Her shoes needlessly crushed them as she went on the opposite side of the room where a combat glove of someone was left behind, still gripping on the key to stop. The panel had multiple buttons and gauges on it, showing Mana level, Crystal Heat, and a Starter/Ignition.

Taking the glove, she notices it has a hand inside it still. She merely throws the hand away as she takes the key and inserts it back into the Starter and rotates it to the right to Ignite. The engines roar back to life and light overtakes the red tint that was covering the darkness on the halls.

Walking back outside the room, she sees just how much damage was left behind by the former owners of the facility. Flesh and blood now coloured by the pale white lights above her, as trails of blood could be seen going everywhere, completely painting over the lines on the floor that once led people to specific areas of the lab.

Walking deeper into the hall, not one inch of it didn’t have a mark of blood and the floor, constantly having either loose limbs or bouts of flesh just lying to rot or hanging by the Access Ducts. She then notices another entry log left on a discarded hand, taking it. The paper was coloured yellow and smelt of old libraries. The handwriting was still pristine and clean and even the cut was a straight through one without ripples. On the bottom was one bloody thumbprint.

“November 14 of the 4th Reset.

We’ve been testing this ancient Vampire blood for almost 2 weeks now and I can say, this is truly some magic blood. The way it just multiples and grows is unlike any other I’ve seen on Earth. It's like a Red Blood Cell that’s a mix of Plasma, it's capable of overtaking normal Human blood. But the rate it does it causes an instant Compartment Syndrome, causing the subject to instantly enter End of Life through a fleshy explosion. Though it is compatible, it grows far too quickly and far too violent, causing a Cancerous like growth. So far, we’ve only tested it on Natives, but I am already preparing some potential list of fellow Players to test on. Though the methods we’re doing are… questionable and brutal at best, I find this to be the apex of my career in Blood. Even my colleagues, those who stayed, are also amazed by this.

The Hermapathologist on the team also commented that we need to know whose blood this is. When it was delivered, it was through proxy by some edge lord looking Vampire Guild. The guy they sent wore a suit and a fedora and carried around a Guitar case(I doubt a Guitar is inside it hearing how it rattles). If I can, I’ll ask for Patient name and other information. If we could learn more, we could possibly find a way to either use this as the best healing method known to Man, as we tested it on even Native Drugs and the Red Blood Cells somehow spawns T Cells that already knows how to counter it through one singular contact. Causing a massive rapture of White Blood Cells that could kill any disease known to man. I’ve requested for known Cancers to be bought to me if possible. This is so fascinating, and yet they want to weaponize this to be used against the UN?”

Crumpling it once again, she throws the paper onto the pile of flesh and continues to walk forward. Opening another hardened door that’s painted blue to where it leads to a bunch of chambers, all with broken glass. The shards were thick enough to be the width of her arm. Written below the window were notes, mostly reminders of who was tested there and when and where.

But before she could continue walking, the woman turned around and her eyes locked at the bloody halls behind her. She continued to watch it, her Longsword Darkarth even flying back onto the former place she’s walked through, scanning it like a drone and returning back to her.

Her eyes squint and she goes about her plan. But would occasionally look behind. Even though Darkarth was keeping an eye on her six.

The chambers were mostly filled with gore, with the exception of the one near end, its thick glass held onto a riving mount of flesh that has taken over the entire chamber it's in. Bahamut completely ignores it as she enters an already opened door to another hallway, with painted blue and green lines on the floor.

It's mostly been covered by the bodies of heavily armored Operators in blue uniforms, their rifles left behind alongside the former people that used it. It was just another bloodbath, like the ones before her where it was full of people in hospital gowns, but now it was well armed men, with kevlar covering their chests to their necks and combat helmets and balaclavas was on the ground.

Alongside torn pieces of cloth with traces of claw marks tearing apart the battle dress uniforms used by the corporate operators. Some parts of the wall even had marks of magic, but in the end, it was all for naught.

On the end of the hallway were combat shields, some embedded on the floor, others on the wall and right below it was the sliced body of the former player that used to be there. She could see a hunched over body on top of a pile of shields, going to it. She unearthed one whose body was still fully intact, wore a black beret, the logo on it being Bedlam’s, the polearm with a snake around it and a globe behind it. Kneeling down, she touches the player. Looking at his body, she sees he was holding another Clicker. His fingers ready to depress the M57 electrical firing device. “Cowards die without honor, Heroes die brutally.”

Looking around, there was nothing else but her and gore on the hallway. She then checks one of the doors near the dead Officer and sees that it automatically opened, not needing for her brute force her way. Inside was the armory which was also set to blow up. The blocks of plastic explosives left unattended on the counter with strings of wire on them.

She violently turns around, her floating Longsword not reacting to anything as she rushes into the hallway with her Claymore up and ready to strike. But again, it was empty. There’s nothing there even with her vision, just her and the mangled corpses that stain every inch of the once sanitized halls of the facility.

Sighing, she continues to walk forward. Her eyes were watching every corner of the dimly lit place as the blood had sprayed so much that even the light on the ceiling had lessened its brightness. A double armored door then slides open to her right, revealing a testing area with a chair in the middle. With needles pointing on where a person's limb would be, she curiously rummaged through it. There were beakers, scales, alcohol burners, computers, and chemicals on the shelf and in one of them, she smells a familiar blood inside a Syringe that’s placed next to an M9 Beretta. Underneath the pistol was another piece of paper. This one, being a clear white one that’s as small as her palm.

“ORDERS FROM CEO: DESTROY ALL TRACES OF THE FACILITY.

>MILITARY HAS ANNOUNCED TOTAL EVACUATION, ALL PROJECTS SHALL BE STOPPED AND CESSATION OF OPERATIONS, FACILITY WILL NOT CONTINUE AFTERWARDS. COMPANY HAS BEEN NATIONALIZED AND SOON, THE INTERNAL BUREAU WILL BE ALL OVER IT. PROJECT AIRBURST IS FULLY CANCELED.

>DIRECTIVES: DESTROY FACILITY, REMOVE ALL TRACES OF THE QUEEN’S BLOOD, DESTROY AND ELIMINATE ALL TEST SUBJECTS, BURN ALL PAPERS AND LEAVE NOTHING BEHIND.

COO: GALLAGER, NEO TOKYO BRANCH.”

Crumpling it, the woman takes the pistol. Inspecting it clearly. Remembering how her Master would do it, she clicks the magazine release button and inside it was one bullet. She loads it back in and slides the receiver and points it at the Syringe. With a pull of the trigger, she destroys it. Splatting its bloody contents which then oozes into nothing as it makes contact with open air.

Setting down the weapon. She exits out and continues her walk. The line on the floor was once again visible, though not as much as blood was still pretty much present. It's now only a single green line. None of the doors there were locked, all of the ones she’d face would automatically open.

Entering another section of the facility, there were amber beacons and faint sounds of alarm still going there and the gore being far more gruesome than before to the point that not even the walls white colors could be seen. For the first time, she also encounters entrails, the intestines of people laid about on the floor as she continues her walk. Passing through a sign planted on the corner.

↑ MAIN TESTING AREA

↓ SECONDARY TESTING AREAS AND ARMORY

⇄ MAIN LABORATORY AND OBSERVATION DECK

This one had one hallway going straight through which leads to a large broken glass with something over it while the adjacent ones went into a circular shape. The bodies on the ground were a mixture of people in lab gowns and ones in full body armor. Their corpses intertwined with people wielding guns and magical staffs.

Turning right and ignoring the straight path to the main testing area, she heads towards the circle. Reaching its leftmost part, it was another armored door labeled “Main Laboratory” but with glass on it which had been completely blocked out by dried blood, on its ID pad was a blood stain with the shape of a hand.

It opens upon her approach, letting her inside it without much trouble.

“I didn’t want to do this, you know?”

She turns to her left where there’s a man in a lab gown, slouched over on the corner. His voice was low, and from what she could see from the skin on his nape, he is but a corpse that’s standing up.

“But… he gave me sight. What this truly was… he showed me the Past, the Present, and the Future… The spirits, I can feel it everywhere and anywhere, but they disappeared… is it because of you? Why are they afraid of you? Who are you?”

“I am here to bring peace to the souls that linger here, still.”

“Ah, a peacemaker. Yes, yes, yes. I thought the Internal Police had finally got the guts to raid this place… but I guess we’re all dead anyways. Its not like they can torture us with magic or whatever tech they have in that Mountain of theirs.”

Bahamut didn’t flinch nor move, she just stood there, as brazen as ever with her posture and expression.

“Can you tell me what happened here? I already have my guess, but I need to hear it from someone who has been here before.”

“Pfft. You already know it, lady. You came all the way here, to the center of Facility Zero Zero One. This is no normal feat with the zigzags and other hallways you could easily get lost in. I know you can feel him. His love and care. He cares and loves so much he answered all of our questions, it only took a small price.”

“I have no time for a fool’s soul.”

“A fool? I graduated and got my residency, you know. Testing the Queen’s blood was supposed to be my life’s work. I didn’t care how many we killed, how many bodies burst open from reacting to her blood. Vampire blood… its-its something truly magical… but then Dragon Blood, we tested it on what samples we could get and wow, Dragon blood is… I don’t have a word for it.”

“You truly are a fool. You should try to be like, Master. He doesn’t push things he doesn’t know as he knows he’ll end up hurting people rather than being the nice man he is.”

Even though she was talking to someone whose skin seems to be in a late stage of rigor mortis, his voice was slowly regaining its pace. Seeming more and more like another lively man you’d meet at the bar who has had a normal usual day.

“And what was I supposed to do? When we found out it had started, we couldn’t leave. We were afraid, but the Guards that were supposed to protect us started to plant bombs so we had to release the angry people we’ve been keeping alive and then something happened. The Bedlam Tower was in the center of the city, you know?”

“Haaaaah… boring. Just tell me already what happened.”

“I don’t know… a light appeared to us. He called himself God. Not the Gods of this world, but the God we know from Earth.”

“You mean… the God my Master worships to?”

“Maybe? But he told us that he loves all of us and wants to protect us. That he will answer all of our questions so that all the bad deeds we did would be forgiven and we may rest in peace. I don’t know, but I was the first one to accept his embrace. His hug felt so warm and nice… he was an Angel. A real Angel.”

“Corpse, I think you have been fooled. No good God would appear before its believers and give them all it wants.”

“Eh? Why so mean?” He slowly starts to turn around, showing his arms that had become extremely lanky and long, as if it has gained a meter of length. His neck that’s pure bones with skin swaying on top of it, and his face. The eyes of the man were completely dark and his mouth was opened in the shape of a perfect circle. “A God should be kind, he never tested us, he just loved us for who we are, embraced us and told us what we had to do. He was perfect. No, it's perfect.”

“Corpse, a good God makes you stronger, not gives everything to you on a platter. What you met, has it said its name?”

“Name? No… No… we just call him God. He was so kind. His voice was soft and gentle, far more gentle than yours. Though sometimes his personality would shift, could there be more than one God?”

She makes a long sigh as something darts out of the corner of her eyes, catching her off guard. It made her jump a few meters back, her sword out.

“Ah, don’t worry about that. That’s his pet. He calls it Egyn.”

Behind Bahamut’s right shoulder was a reddish floating face that's fully transparent. Its eyes were dark voids and its mouth opened in a perfect circle. “Such strong Demons, I get the feeling you Corpses accidentally met an entity that’s far more devilish and cosmic than you could imagine.”

She twirls around, her sword at the level of her exposed collarbone. It cuts through the armored layers of the wall and the cabinets clean, not even being hindered by the soil that it cut through. But the apparition was gone before it could make contact with its intended target. She scoffs as she walks to the exit.

But her legs stop. In Front of her was a bloody seal floating. Preventing her to exit out of it. With a triangular shape inside, it had an eye on its tip and a snake lingering underneath it. She reaches her hand out and touches it.

Bombarded by images of things even she couldn’t understand, it made her walk backwards. She then faces the Doctor who is gone. All but a diary book was left in his place. Walking towards it, she kept a constant watchful eye on her surroundings.

Looking down, the book was opened on its final entry.

“February of the 4th Reset, New Year of 1153 ADK or After Demon King.

I can’t believe it! Those muscleheads at the military jacked everything! The Politicians enacted Martial Law to let their stooges with uniforms to flood hundreds of tanks to the streets and cloud the skies with their planes on the city. Fuck, I knew having a young CEO was bad news, but I never knew it’d bit him in the ass so hard the entire company got outed for its corruption and the Mayor jailed alongside some city councilors. Our method of getting test subjects was also fucked completely, those smugglers are the stupidests sons of bitches to ever live. To add to that, StateSec is active in the city.

I knew it was downhill when Carmilla got killed. But this Blood, Queen Elizabeth’s Primordial Vampire Blood is an answer to so many of this world’s questions. I’ve gotten Blood Samples from Vampires of Tur and Threa, none of them are as potent as hers. One thing I’ve managed to trace was that the Vampires of Threa had some connection to it, but it seems like Generations of passing down the Vampire Curse or Virus as I prefer to call it has made it less and less strong, to the point that even the Sun would hurt them. Unlike the lukewarm explanation and findings you can get in Dark World, here, this is the real deal. I can go farther with this if only those damned soldier boys didn’t get in the way!

My team is already a fraction of its size since people started to leave when we had to start experimentation on younger subjects, as we also had to find out if Vampire Blood would be lethal to those still developing. There have been stories of Vampires biting the necks of kids in Threa, and many of them dying or not even turning at all. I’ve tried to find out why, and the answer is merely that their bodies haven't fully matured enough to handle the violent change that occurs, with lesser Vampire bites. They don’t turn due to the fact that there isn’t enough Mana to go through, and their Vampire blood isn’t as strong as a normal one. But with Queen Elizabeth’s blood, if we inject it into an adult's arm, there’s a chance only the arm would combust, but with children, their entire bodies would burst instead. It's undying, unyielding, it doesn’t want to go anywhere but up. There’s still so much more for us to find out, but the COO I think has made up his mind. The end is near.”

She turns the pages and his once pristine handwriting has turned more and more lackluster, the last ones being readable being “Sacrifice entrails, sacrifice your body to God, praise be that he may save us.” She then tosses the book away and continues her walk. The lab being shaped like a circle made it so her Longsword Darkarth had to be in front of her.

It was a total mess, the desks were full of lab equipment alongside bits and pieces of a person's body, with even white cloth hanging from the ceiling fans and ducts. She then sees a black binder and in it was a record, the subjects stopping at 665. In the back of it was a totalling of everything.

ADULTS: 500 (471 DECEASED, 29 GRAVELY WOUNDED)

TEENAGERS/PREBULISCENT: 165 (ALL DECEASED)

UNACCOUNTED FOR:

PLAYERS: ABOUT 10+/- (UNKNOWN IF RESPAWNED AS SOME SUBJECTS TURNED INTO DIVINE DUST AFTER INJECTION)

RECORDED OVER THE COURSE OF 3 MONTHS OF TESTING AND OVER 200 SCIENTISTS GOING IN AND OUT OF THE PROJECT AIRBURST TEAM.

She then closes it and continues her stride along the circular shaped lab. On the end of it was a bunch of gurneys, all without someone on it white The curtains were strangely placed on the corner. Walking towards it, she slides the cloth away to reveal a bunch of piled bones, small human bones with a collection of ripped skin next to it. Their skulls, all gone.

Sliding it back, she faces the other exit of the room which also had a seal to it. Reaching behind her, she shows it the Wooden Cross and nothing happens.

Putting her hand up her chin, she takes Darkarth who was peacefully flying next to her and pierces it. Causing an explosion which sends her back. Making her face plant onto the opposing wall behind her.

Landing on her feet she looks up to the wall and sees a large portrait.

The first one shows how the ancient Vampire Blood interacts with normal Human ones. With varying levels, the ones with little to no usage of Mana in their life ends up with cancerous growth, while those that have, with a Level 100-200 shows the olden cells able to properly assimilate and infect. The percentage going from Zero to Fifty.

Below it then are the ones with Elven blood. Even the Elves that hadn’t used magic or anything relating to such in most of their life showed a higher percentage of survival. With a sample they got from an Elven Noble going as high up as seventy percent, the lowest ranging between forty and fifty.

And in its own little section at the bottom, lesser Vampire blood basically attempts to fight the Queen’s own cells. Ending up with not only half their body or limbs exploding, but their entire body as it goes into overdrive protecting itself from the far more dangerous and powerful blood. With them, having zero percent of survival.

Bahamut stands up and walks towards the large dimly lit portrait on the wall as she’s surrounded by controlled environment tanks and microscopes alongside test tubes and chemicals, the Beastmen were just as susceptible as Humans, with the Orcs having the lowest survival rate while Cat people and Lizard ones having higher chances of survival, but next to it, in its own special space are Dragon blood.

With it even having a large photo of a Doctor holding a watch glass full of the Dragon blood, next to it is them injecting it with the ancient Vampire cells and the photos show a different story. Unlike the others where the Cells would attack and attempt to regrow its numbers from its Host own.

The Dragon blood didn’t even flinch and the Vampire blood didn’t attempt to assimilate anything as white blood cells labeled as “Super Killer T-Cells” that’s the same size of the ancient hemocyte surrounded by smaller and normal ones completely ate it whole and destroyed the blood cell.

All of their tests, none proved dangerous to Dragons, with them being the only ones labeled with “COMPLETE IMMUNITY”.

With a smirk on her face, Bahamut returns to looking around her surroundings. Noticing the thick armored wall that separates the lab and the hallway outside. She punches it once, and again an explosion was emitted and she was sent back. This time crashing upon a desk full of lab equipment, throwing broken glass everywhere. “Grrrrr…” She then cracks her neck and fingers. This time, preparing for a stronger return punch.

But then her sword Darkarth opens a duct, which a bunch of body parts falls down from. Changing into her Black Dragon form, she takes off. Flying into it.

There she could see the ducts had been completely filled with dried blood and chunks of human brains. In one of the dead ends she encounters, it was filled with Elvish ears that’s blocking a face of a person. Continuing onwards, she stops, hearing that something was crawling inside it. Getting closer and closer to her.

Turning around, all she could see was the fiber of a Humanoid's nerve.

Crawling once again, she could sense and feel a closing creature from behind. Stopping and looking, the fiber was closer and dragged along it a severed hand that’s devoid of the bone.

Spitting fire, the fibers all loosened up, dodging the small ball of flames as it then violently extended a treelike growth onto the walls of the duct. With her talons, the small Dragon quickly cuts the nerves and spills out of it is blood that quickly dries up and plants itself on the walls.

It then chaotically retreats and the Dragon continues its slithering till it reaches a duct that leads straight into the main test chamber. With only a partial view of the large cylindrical area, with its corners all full of bones and flesh. She stands on top of it and then stomps her feet, breaking it open and to her sight is a disgustingly vile shrine.

Flying down and changing back to her human form, she looks at the large Cross made out of steel beams, with a magic circle glowing a pint crimson underneath it as on its base, a pile of skulls with skin and or broken and exposed brains littering it.

Feeling a heartbeat, the Dragon materializes both of her prehistory swords.

“Ahhhhh… a Dragon.” the voice was calming and soothing, as if a long lost friend had come back to meet with you. “What do you want? What do wish to ask?” the obscene shrine then lit up with a golden halo around its top as a Choir of Angels started to sing and the lights of the test chamber open up.

“You… you aren’t a God from this world.”

“I can feel it, hear it, and taste it. The power you wield, it amazes me. This place seems to be more dangerous than I expected. My Lord won’t be happy with this.”

“Remove yourself from this dimension, return to the world of man. You have no place with your profane life.”

“Profane? Me? How come? These people are curious. They wanted answers, I gave them answers. I told them the price, but they willingly gave up their souls and body for the truth.”

“What truth? The truth you revealed to these Chosen Ones is a truth that’s full of vulgar lies.”

“Ahhhh, but you see, I do not lie. I gift, the people think I am a Devil, a Liar, and someone who takes but doesn’t return, but even then. I am a God, I answer to the natural cycle of life. What must be given, must be returned.” The Angels singing seemingly got stronger and stronger as the golden Halo on its top became more and more bright. “Dragon, do you know what you symbolize? Untamed nature, chaos itself. What I symbolize and represent is math, science, and philosophy, that is why I ride a Red Dragon. Tamed by my power.”

Bahamut then opens a portal, dragging out of it is her Lamp, with its blueish fire ever so brighter and the cold it emits embracing the warmth of the sacrilegious cross.

“It seems that the Chosen Ones summoned one of their own Devils, I guess that’s a mistake on my part. I didn’t know your type would be willing to travel in another dimension.”

“They asked me so many things, treasures, what is life, how does a Vampire come to be in this world, how to weaponize it, turn it into something more vile than I am. Humans, they truly adore chaos. No wonder you side with them, standing with their mistakes and short sighted attempts to control what cannot be controlled.”

A bloody portal then opens, reaching out of it is a scaly red hand with talons for fingers. Without even giving it a chance to extend further, the Dragon's ancient blade cuts it. Prompting the hole to close.

“I know what you want to do with me, you want to contain me, use me as your own weapon like the Humans. But that Lamp won’t be able to scare away my illumination, I have Zepar and Berith with me.”

More bloodied portals open, one by one, scaly hands reach out. This forces the Dragon to continually keep moving as she goes around the profane shrine, with it seemingly spinning around to her always.

Grabbing Darkarth, she attacks the Cross itself and a shield quickly makes contact with the tips of her blades, planting her to the wall.

“Ah, let be observe this world more. I wish to learn and see more of it.”

“Observe it when you can make a place not stink of corpses.”

“Corpses of bright minds! Scientists and Doctors, they were willing to die for their answers, their not mere corpses, but respectable souls that’s duly departed.”

“Heh. As if a creature like you can understand the concept of respect. What you did here is abuse them and their curiosity, then lead them to the answer, you willingly gave it and in the rush of the moment, they accepted selling their souls to you.”

“... … This is why I do not like talking to other Gods. I knew if a Dragon was ever to rise to such levels, you’d be just as stupid as the True God the Humans bow down to. You must have a lot of followers here then.”

“Answer me this, what is thou’s name?”

“Try that again but without malice.”

A large blood portal then opens, this time a maw of a Red Dragon appears and attempts to eat her whole. Its snout alone, barely enough to fit the large test chamber.

“Dragon! Do you have no respect for one of your own kins’ God?!”

“I have no say, Goddess. I am under the control of this Demon. If you may, please free me from this damnation, the screams of Hell had gotten to my mind. I can no longer sleep nor live.”

“Then, let this be a proper end to you.”

“I am of great pride knowing my life is in your hands Goddess, the Demon controlling me wishes to tell its Kings and other Dukes about this world and to spread its misleading kindness to the masses.”

It then retreats back into the Portal which then closes.

“Interesting, how interesting. Even in another world, Dragons remain the same. I guess chaos incarnate all are common in the end.”

“Dragons aren’t chaos, we’re the perfect warriors of Nature. No matter the world, we all look similar to one another, our culture also sharing the same faith. For we are the apex of our design, no matter where. We’re the same and run along the same lines.”

“I do not believe such things. You creatures are as profane as I am. The only difference is that I am willing to be civil, and be kind to those in need. Your kind don’t, you conquer all that is weak and spread your chaos to whatever realm you touch.”

“And we’re coming next for yours.”

“Try it, we shall use your souls and innate supernatural powers to steal the key from Solomon and we may roam the surface without hindrance.”

Hundreds of portals opened, this time, serpents and demonic hands were coming out to attack her. “Ceanlus’shush Freayus!” a blinding flame was emitted from her body, burning even the pieces of corpses and a raging fire started inside the test chamber.

At the base of the idolatrous shrine, the heads and skulls that were piled underneath didn’t get turned into black, nor was the fire that's engulfing the skeletal parts doing any damage.

She could then hear someone wearing plate armor running around the hallway ring around the test chamber. “A Man of great power? Tell me what you wish to ask. I shall answer.” the thick armored glass from the only observation area then shatters and what lands on the chamber is a Golden Knight, with two thick collections Talismans pasted into his front plate, the man turns to Bahamut.

“Goddess Bahamut, I am Sir Gaheris of the Court of the Golden King, he wishes to speak with you.”

“Help me with this, I shall answer what your Leader wishes of me.”

“Of course, Goddess. And after this, please sign one of my talismans. I am Level Two hundred just like all other of my Knightly brothers and I wish to show them your blessings.”

“I do not have a signature, though Master did teach me about it. I shall see what I can do. For now, you must throw this Lamp onto that cross.”

The player wore a medium plate armor made out of pure polished gold, with a sword bearing the same metal while wearing a large red cape, plastered on his front plates upper left is one collection of talismans, and another located on its bottom right.

All pieces of his armor had engravings onto it, ranging from Latin to Greek and even depictions of the Sun and a large square shaped Throne in front of it.

“Oh wow, I get to have the privilege of touching the Lamp of Kur?”

“Yes, but you mustn’t fail. I am about to use True Magic and it's going to drain me. It will take a few minutes before I can perform the spell once again.”

As they chatted, a gaping portal of bruning blood opens, coming out of it is a naked demonic man, with scale skin as red as the blood around it and heavy wings devoid of feathers, around its large black horns is a crown.

“Of course, Goddess.”

“Be not afraid, that form of it is not in full power. He doesn’t have enough souls to do so.”

“Geez, that’s no Demon from this world.”

“Because it came from yours.”

“What?”

The Knight then dodges the naked demon as it started to attack him. Its sharp nails enough to scratch and take bits and pieces of his armor away, but every time it’d make contact. The Demon would burn.

Charging into it with her swords, Bahamut pushes it away, giving the player the chance to make a run for it.

He then glowed multiple times as he sped far faster than even the bloody portals with its demonic hands and serpents. “Now Goddess!” Bahamut faces the Demon, its head lurching out in between her crossed swords. “Don’t you dare!” with a smirk, the Dragon commits to the cant.

“Kratahah’Umfurt!”

For a brief moment, the shield protecting the cross flickers and disappears. The player glowed multiple times, whispering spells under his mouth as he became faster than light with reflexes that’s on the level of Demigods, dodging even the mouth of a Red Dragon as he threw the worn out steel oil lamp onto the cross.

It shatters like a fragile piece of glass and its blue fire spreads onto it whole, the Demon in front of Bahamut screaming and writhing in pain as a blackish portal opens underneath it. Coming out were Abyss Watchers. The lanky humanoid creatures made out of shadow and darkness showed half their body as their arms wrapped around the creature. It tried to scratch and bite, but nothing worked as it’s pulled down to the Void.

“Goddess, it seems that you have another thing to summon.”

“Heh. Another one to the collection. Though I am one to pacify Demons permanently, this one is unique. I shall keep it.”

Everyone was busy with the clean up. With all skeleton soldiers doing their best in making sure all of the damaged guns that were being piled had no ammo in them. Although all it was already emptied and without a magazine. Stuck bullets were left in some of the chambers and had to be forcibly removed and thrown into a separate pile.

Dozers and excavators were working all around the clock. Throwing thousands of damaged guns while vehicles that've been completely destroyed, with their very chassis being bent or damaged are collectively pulled and pushed to their own corner on the massive airfield.

The skies were once again within its pretty blue color and the atmosphere’s hostility was completely gone. The center tarmacs were all full of aircrafts with so many more arriving at the two extra runways from the three armies. The large Hangars no longer could fit all of them and had to be parked out in the open where the ones needing repairs were just being pulled into another corner for the players and skeletons to do work on.

Driving her UAZ, Morgan passed the first two of the five large Hangars that could easily fit two B-52Hs or Tu-160s. On the third one, there were a bunch of NCOs and COs crowding Prince James and Elizadeath as Dragon God Augustus looked behind him to see that Bahamut was about to land with a Golden Knight flying next to her with his angelic wings out.

She then took a tight left turn into the third hangar, where she could see the multiple Generals and a player wearing a golden bathrobe of sorts standing next to Sir Ervtes. The two seemingly in the middle of a lively conversation.

Lavishly exiting out with her Aviators on. The woman walked with pride in her stride. Diving the sea of Officers and in the midst of them was Yamaoka and Jackson. “General Wilkins, I’ll take care of the Downtown Area. I just need you to concentrate on the Industrial Part.” The other player General, still sporting his Crewman helmet then turned Paul. “But that’s the thing, can’t we borrow the heavy equipment inside the factories?” The two are busy with large tables that have maps and charts while Yamaoka tends to the two other high ranking officers. With toy cars and a toy gun representing the collection areas and tape with writings on them to remind the others where to go and where to put certain items they’ve looted.

“Comrade Yamaoka, we still need heavy haulage trucks to carry bits and pieces of the three Hyper Demons.”

“Hai, hai. Since the area is clear, I might allow civilian contractors to return. Jackson, can you give me an ETA on the trucks?”

“No idea. There’s so many sustainment and transport units that my brain is getting fried. But I’ll see to it I’ll get you those trucks later. Robin! Where the heck are you?”

“Sir!”

“Captain, where the heck are the Recovery tanks I’ve requested? The front of the museum is still a mess right now and Wilkins here is throwing a fit about needing more shit with cranes attached to it.”

“Hey!”

“I apologize sir, the traffic jam into the city has made it hard for extra units to arrive.”

“Jackson.”

The freshened General looked up to face Morgan.

“What?”

“I got new orders. You might be interested in partaking in them.”

“Eh? Can’t you see the amount of crap I have to micro and macro here?”

“We’ve tracked the train.”

His face suddenly turned serious. “Oh. Yamaoka, can you take this?”

“Hm.”

“I’ll be back, Wilkins. For now, just chat with Yamaoka after his done talking to Vlad.”

“Ugh, Internal Bureau. What did you do Jackson?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be caught.”

Pulling him aside. Morgan crossed her hands and leaned on the wall of the Hangar.

“If you have so much to do, then how many men can you spare?”

“Not a lot.”

“Special Forces perhaps?”

“Alot. We got Spetsnaz, Rangers, and Special Security Forces. You name it.”

“Choppers?”

“Same thing, we have a heap ton of them now.”

“Good. I’ll be sending you the plans. Where are your friends?”

“Uhhh…” Jackson looks outside to see Sir Ervtes and the Golden King had gathered below King Augustus and Bahamut. “Well, she’s there and the two Vampires are at the officer quarters. I also kinda wanna stay away from them a bit. Seems that they celebrate winning wars by having an endless party. Which I cannot do right now as I need my legs to walk around.”

“Alright. I’ll go and find the Heroes then.”

“Don’t push their buttons now. You saw what they can do, and I’m sure they have better things to tend to than to be the toy of our Government.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll merely be asking them some simple things.”

Walking outside of the Hangar she sees the Golden King, in his corpse-like avatar, looking up to Bahamut.

“Goddess, may I ask you of a question?”

“Ask away, your Knight, Sir Gaheris has fought earnestly.”

“I was foretold of that, that a Demon from our world came here. But my question is of another.”

His voice was weak and every utterance of a word was slow, as if he had a hard time moving his jaws.

“Will you fight alongside us, till the End?”

“My answer to you is my Human. It is up to him. But I can assure you this, he loves Humanity and his Human soul more than anything. You can rest knowing I will be here till the end.”

“Thank goodness then! We have a chance, I shall return to the Golden Throne. The Grand Mages have a lot to answer to. Elizadeath.”

The blonde woman then turned around and bowed to him.

“What did the Grand Mages speak of? How did they know Eldwood would be a problem and targeted them first?”

“Gold King, I may not be able to say the entire story, but they have access to an entire world that I not aware of.”

“Those maniacs are dancing to the tune of the Gods of Threa. Then, what do you wish to do? Are you gonna continue this charade?”

“Of course. I was given visions, and I cannot let this world down.”

“Such simple things. Very well then. Zeus.”

A golden knight then lands next to him, his plate armor having ten talismans on it.

“Yes, My King?”

“Prepare the Legions. I have chosen my side. Sir Ervtes, be sure this is worth my time.”

“You won’t be disappointed, Gold King. The United Nations, we are here to make sure everyone gets back home.”

“You are like a nation having a prophetic vision of an invading doom in a hundred years time and doing what must be done to survive, rapid advancement of weapons, starting wars to keep your people busy from their impending doom, and committing horrible war crimes to survive. I know what you’ve done in Schon for the Vampire King’s request. If anything, you are just about to expose your desperation as opposed to your world reaching strength.”

“If you knew all these, then why did you choose to side with us?”

“... Because that is exactly what any Human would do and it's not like I can interdict whatever the Gods have planned for the Heroes.”

Morgan turns around and starts walking back to the Hangar as she rubs her chin.

After a while, Jackson, who was busy managing his men around the city inside the war room, had a soldier come up to him and gave him a leather briefcase. Seeing this, he nods at Yamaoka and the two walk off to the office inside the Air Control Tower. He then opens the briefcase and a bunch of folders and files with big red classified stamps were inside.

“You sure you want to see this?”

“The Shine Guards have to know. We joined this entire UN thing because we believe in it. But we should also be aware of the things they're hiding from us.”

“Alrighty then.”

He then unravels the folded map and it shows the High Speed Railway line to Neo Tokyo. One section of the mainline coloured red and a photo of a Shinkansen named “Doctor Purple” was there. A 16 car long luxury bullet train that runs the line from Zavalda to Neo Tokyo in 18 hours. Formerly only being 4 hours only, the map shows the newly built extensions to the line that connected the two cities. It then showed that some of the cars were always bought by some unknown VIP and mysterious figures were photographed entering the train, some bringing equipment in.

Taking the folders, Yamaoka starts to skim through the classified files given to the Five Star General’s eyes only. Most of it just shows the expected time they’ll last with the new information gathered from the long fight against the Legions.

“These are… some very generous calculations.”

“What?”

Paul walks over to Thomas and he checks the figures and statistics shown.

“This is actually far too low. The original one long ago stated we’d last at least two months.”

“But now… this expects us to only last for two weeks, max.”

“Funnily enough, I just realized something.”

“Hm?”

“We never encountered their machines, not even their cannons.”

“So these calculations?”

“It might still be off.”

“The Heroes though, whatever the Gods have planned for them. It should be enough for us to win right?”

“Things are more dire than I expected. Hm. Looks like Missus Agent is a bit desperate to give me extra stuff like this.”

“So… you’ll do it?”

“Mhm. Wanna come? Revenge is best served cold.”

“If you call down a curse on anyone, look out for two graves.”

“What’s that? Some Japanese saying?”

“A proverb. So what’s my role?”

“Easy, I’ll have you posted at the middle station. It’s near the border to the Wood Elves. I need you and Mars to get on at that station while me and the group will get on it the moment it arrives at Zavalda Station.”

“Mhm. What’s the RoE?”

“As tight as can be. We’ll be mingling with civilians as it seems that they're using only some sections of the cars as a mobile command unit. Particularly the baggage cars on the front and back. We’ll be taking seats near the back, and work our way up.”

“I get it.”

“Yeah, we’ll slowly carve a path to the first car. When the train arrives at the Dunmar Station, I need you to make your way to the front cars before us. This will be a tight operation so wear something a civilian would.”

“Copy… hmmmm… chotto. What if they escape?”

“That’s none of our problem. Our objective here is to destroy, the capturing will be left to Morgan.”

“Ah, that StateSec woman. She really knows how to pull our strings.”

“Yup, her Agents will also be onboard alongside herself. Looks like she got a bone to pick with them.”

“Any info on their main base?”

“Negatory on that. But at least we know how they operate within the Continents. No wonder we never found their locations. They're always on the move and right under our noses too like here in Zavalda. Their operations are air tight.”

“When are we going to ship out?”

“Tomorrow. I’ll have to brief those three and then get everything sorted out.”

“Alright. I’ll go and get Mars then.”

“Do that… And also, don’t forget to give your Colonels new orders on cleaning up the city.”

“Copy that.”

“Oh and one more thing.”

“Hm?”

“If you find a man looking for me. Be sure to tell him where I am exactly at.”

“Oh, what is this? Rivalry?”

“More like… an old acquaintance that’s being used against me.”

Yamaoka saluted and went back to the war room. General Paul soon followed and the two went back to their busy schedule.

After a few hours of working, he walked to the Officers Building. The hardened concrete structure has seen better days as it was still damaged from the fighting that occurred inside the Airbase. Inside, Elizabeth and Alana were drunk out of their minds. Continually mixing whatever Beer and Wine they found with the Chalice’s blood.

“Ah! My Lord! Finally you’ve arrived! Please partake of the festivities with us!”

“I can’t. Just finish up alright? We’re still not done here.”

“Boooo… M’Lord! You shouldn’t be so stiff! We Vampires would throw a more grander party with such victory as we had today! Can we return to the Kingdom so that I may plan such a venue? I shall invite even the Dukes!”

“Not now. We have bigger fish to fry. Finally, we can take the battle to the bastards that started this whole entire thing in the first place and maybe… just maybe. Bring at end to Captain Benedict.”

Bahamut who was just nonchalantly relaxing on the bed stands up. “What do you mean by this Master? They’ve been located?" She then takes a beer bottle and drinks it all in one go. “Phwah! I can finally make those morons pay for what they’ve done to that city and its beautiful beef restaurants!”

“I need that positivity as we’re gonna go as early as… like one or two in the morning… Also, wear civilian attire! No gowns or anything scary or standoff-ish.”

The man then removes his cap and jacket. Sitting on his bed and then stretching his arms wide. “Haaaaaaahhhh… Wake me up when it's time to roll out, someone should knock on the door. I feel like I’ll wake up at three in the afternoon. The last days have been nothing but a heart attack inducing roller coaster.” putting his arm over his eyes. The man didn’t even remove his pants and socks as he immediately started snoring loudly. The two Vampires just looked at each other and shrugged. Continuing there drinking while Bahamut sat on the office chair next to the small personal desk and quietly drank some beer as she looked onto the Bedlam Tower.

Cold and harsh, with a clear tone on the color of the early morning. General Paul awakens. Alana was already wearing her grey turtleneck with tight denim jeans and Elizabeth looking down on the ground for something. Bahamut on the other hand was quickly changing to her black vintage high school girl uniform. Her gown easily fell to the cold floor of the Officer’s Quarters, the bluish tint of the moment giving her spotless and hairless pale skin a haunting attachment to it.

She immediately took her nylon stockings and put them on while Elizabeth was on the large mirror checking herself out. Doing twirls and some poses. “Haaaa… Bahamut. You forgot to put panties on again.” Just as she was about to put on the skirt, the Black Dragon suddenly realized and turned to look at her Master who was once again dozing off.

“Heh, don’t worry Bahamut. I also don’t wear any.”

“Eh? But Master said it's common to wear undergarments.”

“Oh but that is a very modern thing, common only to them. Even the Countess used to not wear any till she discovered the more risque lingeries.”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“What is the problem? We already know each other's bodies.”

“But still… it feels strange now that I’ve become accustomed to their ways.”

Bahamut then goes for some basic pink panties and no bra. After a while, the General was still fast asleep, snoring louder than a bunch of pigs in a pen. A pillow then hits him right in the noggin, awakening the man. “WAH? Oh…” the trio was already ready to go. With their looks blending right in with the outfits they wore. Alana looks like a young sophisticated woman, Elizabeth, an innocent woman of lavish upbringing and Bahamut, who seems to be a dignified Class President in a delinquent phase.

“I guess that works.” The General soon changes. Going back to his black suit with a shirt shirt and long coat and black fedora. Finishing it with a black necktie and shiny leather shoes.

“Oh man… feels so nice to be in civilian wear again. My chest feels so light. Uggghhh…” the man stretches once again. Enjoying the feeling of wearing something that held no status or name. Just a well made suit for a hard day's work. “Now, are we all ready?” The three women nod in unison. “Nice. Let’s get going then.”