Chapter Five
Holdar's footsteps echoed through the deserted alleyway as he fled from the monster with the old lady on his back. Every step he took, his heart was consumed with a growing sense of unease and guilt.
He couldn't help but feel like he was abandoning his friend in his time of need. Diegen had always been there for him, even when he was at his lowest. The thought of leaving him behind made him feel like a failure, like he was betraying the one person who had always had his back.
But he knew deep down that there was nothing he could do against that monster. It was too powerful, too dangerous. All he could do was get the old lady to safety and call for help.
As he ran, a little voice in the back of his mind kept whispering other thoughts to him, making him question his decision to flee. "You sissy. Did Diegen hesitate when he was faced with certain death, even before he became an Astral? Do you really think he faces a better chance now, immediately after his transformation? You coward. No wonder Diegen became an Astral instead of you."
He tried to push those thoughts aside, but they kept gnawing at him, making him feel even more conflicted.
He always thought he was a good friend to Diegen, but, deep inside, he also thought he was always a bit better than Diegen. Ever since Diegen had family troubles, he had been a bit of a mess. Holdar had felt like the bigger man for helping his friend out in his time of need, and it was embarrassing to be the one running away. He still couldn’t believe that Diegen, of all people, had become an Astral. Before himself, even.
As he rounded the corner and came to the main street, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. He was one step closer to getting the old lady to safety, but he couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that lingered in his heart.
"Are you alright, dear?" The old woman on his back asked. "Are you worried for your friend?"
He shook himself free of his thoughts and got his shit together as best as he could.
"Yes, I’m worried. But he said that he would hold it off, so I believe him. Besides, going to the Army Station and calling for help is probably the best thing I can do. If I go back right now, all I’ll do is get in the way," Holdar said bitterly.
The old woman went silent for a while, making Holdar worry that she had passed out on his back. Just when he was about to ask if she was alright, she spoke in a reassuring voice.
"It's no sin to be weak, dear," the old woman said. "Most of us are in the same boat as you, except that very few would risk their lives to save an old woman like me. I am grateful to you."
At these words, Holdar felt the conflict in his heart grow even more turbulent. He couldn't shake the feeling that he should have done more to help his friend, but at the same time, he knew that he had made the right decision.
"I'm just doing what I ought to, ma'am," he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "Please hold on tight. I'm going to go faster now."
As he ran towards the Army Station, he couldn't help but wonder if he had made the right decision. Would Diegen be okay? Had he really done all that he could to help? The doubts and questions swirled around in his mind, making him feel more conflicted than ever before.
✾✾✾
Diegen's heart was pounding in his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. The fight had been going on for what felt like hours, but it was probably only a matter of minutes. His body was covered in sweat, and his muscles screamed in protest with every movement he made. Asmophel was equally battered, his chainsaw sputtering and smoking as he wiped away blood from his eye.
Diegen knew that he couldn't keep up this pace for much longer. His body was reaching its limit, and he could feel his strength waning with each passing moment. But he couldn't give up.
He lunged forward with his dagger, the weight of the blade feeling like a ton in his hand. The monster retaliated with a barrage of black tendrils, each one more powerful than the last. Diegen slashed and dodged with all his might, barely managing to avoid the razor-sharp edges of the tendrils. However, he had to deflect one that snuck behind the first four and was forced to take the hit on the upper right chest. Thankfully the force of the tendril’s thrust had largely dissipated because of the deflection, preventing it from penetrating him, but it still hit like a Flappytus. He gasped for breath, all of the air having been driven from his lungs.
“Don't lose focus now,” Asmophel said, slashing at the monster in a powerful diagonal strike. Diegen struggled to put strength in his hand.
“Focus!” Asmophel shouted, and Diegen forced himself to attack.
Diegen lunged again, his dagger pointed straight ahead. The monster opened its jaws wide, preparing to unleash another attack. Diegen could feel his heart racing as he closed in on his target. The tip of his dagger connected with the hard carapace of the monster's head, causing a small crack to form.
A blue notification window popped up.
—-
New skill obtained through repeated action: Thrust.
Thrust (Basic)
All it takes is a single crack in the enemy’s armor to obtain victory.
—-
A couple of other notifications popped up, but he ignored them and focused on the task at hand. He repositioned his grip on the dagger so that he was using a reverse grip.
“Go. To. Hell!” Diegen thrust his dagger deeper with each word, causing the crack in the monster’s carapace to grow in radiating fashion.
The monster roared in pain and leaped backwards to prevent the attack from doing any further damage to its shell. Asmophel had already anticipated this action and was already there, swinging his chainsaw down with all his might.
With a powerful revving sound and the cracking of carapace, he shattered the monster's forehead plate. The soft, pink flesh underneath and the ugly, black shimmer core on top were exposed. Asmophel's chainsaw cut through the core, but he couldn't finish the job before the monster leaped backwards.
Both Diegen and Asmophel felt that they were on the precipice of victory, but then Diegen sensed an even greater danger approaching them at lightning speed.
“Boss, watch out behind you!” he shouted, but Asmophel didn't seem to hear him.
Diegen watched in horror as something instantly closed the distance between it and Asmophel, piercing through his back with a gigantic sword. Asmophel's eyes widened in shock, staring down at the huge object protruding from his chest.
“Boss!” Diegen cried out, but it was too late. The assailant withdrew the huge blade, making a loud squelching sound as he did so. He then kicked Asmophel away like a rag doll and decapitated the monster in front of him before turning to face Diegen.
The assailant's face was like a demon, with three horns growing out of the sides and front of its head. His eyes glowed red, and his nostrils were like slits in a face textured with purple reptilian scales. He also stood at least eight feet tall, casting a long, ominous shadow that reached Diegen at the end of the alleyway.
Diegen was frozen with fear. He had never seen anything like this before. He knew he had to run, but his legs wouldn't move. He also had to try and save Asmophel if it was at all possible.
The Gulatroxian's eyes glinted with a sadistic pleasure as he towered over Diegen, relishing in the fear that he had instilled in the young Astral. Diegen's legs shook as he struggled to stand, the pain shooting through his body making it difficult to even breathe.
“Ah, I love the taste of Sa’nasi blood,” the Gulatroxian said in a raspy voice, licking the blood off his sword. “It’s an incredible pair with Azulian wine. I’ll have to restock.”
"Who are you?"
“Hmm, it seems that young Astrals these days have no manners,” the Gulatroxian said with a frown. “It’s only polite to introduce yourself first, isn’t it?”
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“Like hell I’m going to do that.”
“Well, well. It seems that I touched a nerve. Was this your master? Or your friend? Ah, you referred to him as ‘Boss’, didn’t you?” The Gulatroxian asked as he kicked Asmophel’s body.
“Hey, don’t you dare touch him!” Diegen yelled.
“What kind of Boss is a lowly Level 4?” The Gulatroxian scoffed, kicking Asmophel’s body another time. “This is why everyone says the Sa’nasi are a useless race. Only that Silver guy is worth anything.”
Diegen tightened his grip on his dagger, which burst into flames in response to Diegen’s anger.
“Oho, that’s a nice Artifact,” the Gulatroxian said appreciatively. “And it’s absolutely wasted on you. What are you, Level 2? Level 3?”
Diegen dashed forwards and launched a series of slashes and thrusts at the Gulatroxian. The flaming dagger clanged furiously against the Gulatroxian’s huge blade, failing to meet its mark each and every time.
“Unfortunately for you, I’m a Prime,” the Gulatroxian said with a yawn. “There’s no way an ant like you can even scratch me.”
The Gulatroxian caught Diegen with a kick in the stomach, sending him flying into the wall. Diegen hit the wall with a terrifying crash, the force strong enough to embed his body in the wall for a second before falling face-first into the cobblestone floor. Pieces of the wall crumbled and fell to the ground around Diegen.
Diegen’s consciousness flickered, each breath causing him an extraordinary amount of pain through his ribs that jolted him awake. His mind was still trying to register the fact that he had been hit in the first place.
“As expected. Sa’nasi are such a disappointment these days,” the Gulatroxian said, shaking his head and turning around to leave.
“Don’t you… fucking go… anywhere…” Diegen growled as he painfully but slowly staggered to his feet. He glared with rage at the Gulatroxian.
“Oh?” The Gulatroxian looked on in slight amusement. “Didn’t expect that. Really, you surprised me just then. Never in my wildest dreams did I think you’d be able to get up after that.”
“Do you… always talk so much…?” Diegen coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Gulatroxian licked his lips hungrily.
“Interesting. Maybe I should leave you alive. You might make for a delicious meal one day…” the Gulatroxian said, and he disappeared from sight. He instantly reappeared inches away from Diegen, who froze in abject terror. “Is that what you thought I might say?”
Pop!
The sudden explosion of a flashbang grenade disoriented both Diegen and the Gulatroxian, temporarily blinding them. Diegen could feel his ears ringing, and his eyes burned from the bright light.
The Gulatroxian quickly regained his bearings and leaped back, raising his sword in a defensive stance. A bullet aimed directly at his head ricocheted off his blade, and he deftly blocked three more shots fired in quick succession.
“Which fly is bothering my breakfast?” The Gulatroxian growled with annoyance, his voice echoing in the small alleyway.
Diegen could hear the sounds of more people gathering, shouting and cursing at the Gulatroxian. Suddenly, the air was filled with the deafening sound of gunfire as hundreds of bullets rained down on the villain, forcing him to shield himself with his gigantic sword.
Despite the relentless barrage of projectiles, Diegen could sense the Gulatroxian's shimmer, which hummed with a powerful pulse. The villain seemed unfazed by the onslaught, and Diegen's heart sank as he realized the futility of their attack.
Then, a single, powerful shot caught the Gulatroxian in the leg, followed by the explosion of a grenade that detonated on his sword. The impact caused the Gulatroxian to falter slightly, his shimmer shaking like a tree in the wind.
Diegen could hear the Gulatroxian growling in pain as the bullets started to graze his arms and face, failing to penetrate his thick skin but causing him discomfort.
“I suppose I will be taking my leave now, but rest assured. All of you will feel despair soon enough,” the Gulatroxian snarled in a deep, threatening voice.
The gathering crowd of people shouted and cursed at the villain, determined not to let him escape.
“Don't let him get away!”
“Snipers! Ready, aim-”
But before they could finish their sentence, a red-and-white mist suddenly swirled around the Gulatroxian, reminding Diegen of the portal he had seen before. In the blink of an eye, the villain vanished into thin air, leaving the alleyway eerily quiet.
Diegen dropped his dagger and limped over to where Asmophel lay. He was relieved to see that despite the bullet marks and casings scattered around Asmophel, not even one had hit him. But Asmophel was in terrible shape. His shirt was drenched in blood, and his pulse was weak.
“Someone, help!” Diegen shouted, coughing up blood.
“Take it easy, kid,” a female Sa’nasi Astral said, rushing up behind them. “We’ll take care of it. Rea and Leah, look after the Boss. And Ryker, you’re responsible for this one.”
“Who are you?” Diegen asked weakly as Ryker helped him to the ground and began to cast a healing spell.
“We’re Heisenken’s First Squad,” the woman said, pushing a strand of golden fur out of her face and giving him a friendly smile. “We received Asmophel’s distress signal while we were on the job and hurried back as soon as we could.”
“What kind of psycho invades at dawn when everyone is asleep?” Ryker asked, adjusting his sports goggles. “You scared the crap out of me this morning.”
“Stop being so lazy,” the woman treating Asmophel said, making a face. She had dark chestnut fur and large, sparkling green eyes. “I don’t know why you date him, Leah.”
“Sometimes I don’t know either,” the other woman, Leah, said. She was a shorter Astral, with gray fur and blue stripes.
“Hey, admit it. You’re lucky to have caught a handsome guy like me,” Ryker said.
“Anyway, I’m Miranda, Heisenken’s assistant manager,” the golden-furred Astral said. “Asmophel told us that one of our temps had recently ascended, but I never expected you to be fighting alongside him already. Against a Prime, no less. Well done.”
“I couldn’t do a thing against that guy,” Diegen said bitterly. Though he felt physically better from the healing spell, the anger he had during the battle still burned inside him.
“Surviving an encounter with a Prime is impressive,” Miranda said, looking at the monster carcass lying on the street. “Not to mention it seems like you two did well against a monster before that.”
“What’s a Prime, anyway? The Gulatroxian said the same thing during the battle,” Diegen asked.
“Astral who has reached Level 6 or higher,” Miranda replied. “That’s when Astrals undergo a second ascension, but not many ever reach that level. There are probably fewer Primes than habitable planets in our galaxy.”
“What’s someone like that doing here, causing a monster invasion of all things?”
“That’s what I want to find out,” Miranda said.
“He’s stable now,” Leah said, wiping sweat from her forehead as she released the healing spell that she had been casting over Asmophel. “But we need to take him to the hospital.”
“Have you looked around?” Ryker said. “Monsters are sprouting up all over the place. The hospital's probably closed.”
“Is it that bad?” Diegen asked.
“When we were on our way here, there were probably hundreds of monsters. It's probably in the thousands now,” Ryker said.
Diegen jumped to his feet, ignoring Ryker's warning about his condition. He saw that he had 16 missed calls from Holdar on his PPC dashboard.
“Sorry, I have to check on my friend,” Diegen said, sending a mental command to his PPC to call Holdar.
“You can do that while sitting, you know,” Ryker said, rolling his eyes.
Ring ring. Ring ring. Kuk.
A blue window appeared in Diegen’s vision, and Holdar’s face appeared in the middle of it. He looked tired and dirty, and he appeared to be in some sort of Army base going by the number of uniforms in the background.
“Dieg! Holy hell. Am I glad to see you alive buddy,” Holdar said.
“Same here man. Where are you?”
“I made it to the Army Station with that old woman from the apartment. I asked them to send some support your way, but they wouldn’t confirm whether they actually did it. Did the Army show up?”
“No, but the Boss showed up and then some of the other Astrals from the company did too.”
“The Boss did? Is he there with you now?”
“He got hurt pretty bad during the fight, but the others have gotten him stabilized.”
“Awesome. I’m glad.”
“What about you? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Me? No, I’m fine. But hey, you guys should get out of there as soon as possible. It looks like there are too many monsters for the Army to take on, so they’re organizing a full-scale evacuation of the district right now. They said that they’re temporarily opening the borders of the Capital to all citizens, so we can meet up there.”
“Yeah, I heard that it’s pretty bad.”
“It’s worse than what you heard. I’m telling you man. Get the hell outta there.”
“Alright, will do. I’ll let the others know too.”
“Sweet. Stay alive, buddy,” Holdar said, and cut the connection.
Diegen’s blue screen flickered off as he ended the call with Holdar. Miranda watched as he let out a deep breath before turning to face her.
“Sounds like your friend is fine, then?” she asked, trying to sound reassuring.
“Yeah, he’s at the station right now. But he says that they’re evacuating the district, and that everyone’s heading to the Capital,” Diegen replied, his tone serious.
“Okay, then let’s do the same,” Miranda said, determined. “It won’t be easy, but we can make it. The biggest challenge will be avoiding monsters as much as possible, especially since one of us will have to carry Asmophel.”
“Hold on, one of your Astrals, Mitz, is still at headquarters,” Diegen said, remembering Asmophel’s words. “The Boss said he put her in stasis until this is all over.”
“Mitz? What’s she doing there? I thought she was outside the district investigating the increased rate of outbreaks,” Miranda asked, surprised.
“We found her badly hurt outside the building. She warned us that this invasion was going to happen, and that the Gulatroxians are involved,” Diegen explained.
“More Gulatroxians, huh,” Miranda muttered, clearly annoyed.
Ryker spoke up, “I checked out the area around headquarters on the way here. It’s absolutely crawling with monsters, probably because of all the cores there. I knew we should’ve found a better way to store them instead of leaving all those carcasses out in plain sight. It’s way too risky to go there now. One of them might have evolved into a Lesser Monstral by now.”
“Monstral? What’s that? Is it different from a monster?” Diegen asked, his curiosity piqued.
Leah frowned as she explained, “A Monstral is a monster that’s eaten a bunch of its own kind to absorb their cores. Just like how we undergo ascension to become Astrals, monsters evolve to become Monstrals. They’re a lot stronger than your typical monster.”
“But it’s not certain that any of them evolved into a Monstral, right? We still have to try,” Diegen said, his determination evident.
“It’s your call, Leader,” Ryker shrugged, looking at Miranda.
Miranda stood silently, her arms folded as she thought through their options. After a moment of contemplation, she spoke up, “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to survey the area around Heisenken again-” she paused, anticipating Ryker’s objection, “-carefully. If there’s any chance that we can get her out, that’s what we’re going to do. Any objections?”
There was no disagreement from the group. Miranda was the leader, and they trusted her decision-making skills.
“No? Great. Let’s do this,” she said with conviction.