The day was just beginning to dawn over the beleaguered city of Ozryn, painting the sky in a warm, soothing palette of colors.
Yet the cries and screams echoed through the halls of Ozryn's command center, mingled with the thuds of the crystal beasts' destructive attacks to remind anyone that the beasts' invasion was not over. Officers and soldiers fought bravely, defending their position with determination. But the opposing forces were too numerous, too implacable.
"Order the evacuation," Commander Hudson said firmly to the officer next to him.
The officer looked at his commander, a hint of hesitation in his eyes, but he quickly obeyed the order and used his ability to spread the sound of his voice throughout the command center.
"By order of Commander Hudson, immediate evacuation is required of anyone still in the command center. I repeat. Immediate evacuation is required of anyone still in the command center."
"Good. Now you too, get out of here and prepare to bring this building down on itself."
"Commander..."
"Obeys orders."
"Yes, sir!"
The officer bowed, deep respect could be seen in his eyes. As he quickly left the room, the commander's body began to emit a bloody red aura from his entire body.
A sinister and powerful aura emanated from him, spreading throughout the command center. This aura seemed to have a hypnotic effect on the surrounding crystal beasts, as they began to be attracted toward it irresistibly.
The world around them seemed to fade away as they became obsessed with this glowing presence. Their instincts left them, their usual preoccupations disappearing from their minds, leaving only a fierce desire to get closer to this mysterious aura.
Commander Hudson soon found himself at the center of a tide of crystal beasts, their mouths wide open dripping saliva. Their eyes seemed filled with madness as they reflected the red aura around his body. Then without any sign, the first beast threw itself on him, sinking its fangs into his flesh. It was like a signal as all the beasts threw themselves at him.
Suddenly, the building began to shake, but none of the crystal beasts seemed to pay attention. Stones fell from the ceiling crushing some of them.
It was then that under the gaze of the hundreds of surviving soldiers, Ozryn's command center collapsed on itself, burying all the crystal beasts with it.
***
Kieran made his way through the devastated streets, continuing his advance through the city. As he moved away from the center, the number of survivors became increasingly rare, leaving behind him a landscape of desolation and silence.
Finally, after several hours he reached the unrecognizable southwest quarter of Ozryn. The destroyed buildings formed a chaotic heap of rubble and debris. Columns of smoke still rose here and there, testifying to the flames that had devoured the fragile structures. The silence weighed heavily, only broken by the occasional cracking of crumbling rubble.
He quickened his pace, knowing that every second counted. His eyes scanned the surroundings carefully, looking for signs of life, but only the crystal beasts seemed to be creeping around. Their shapes and glowing eyes seemed to blend into the devastated landscape, making their presence all the more sinister.
A furtive shadow slipped behind a mound of rubble, rushing towards Kieran. Quickly jumping to the side to dodge the attack, he spotted what looked like a bone blade.
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Swinging his double-bladed sword, he sliced through the crystal beast that had just attacked him, leaving a shallow wound on its chest. Taking several steps back, Kieran could finally see what the beast that had attacked him looked like.
It had an anthropomorphic appearance, being as tall as Kieran in his lycan form. Its body was covered with thick bone armor, formed by plates connected by tendon ligaments. A bone blade stretched from each of its long arms that almost touched the ground. Its head looked like the skull of a feline with its flesh protected inside, glowing green lights that move in its orbits, and a crystal essence belonging to a Silver rank emanating from it.
The beast threw itself on him again, moving its long arms in his direction. Kieran defended himself with his double-blade sword while forming an earth spike with the ground under the beast, trying to minimize his crystal essence consumption.
The beast reacted quickly to the change in the ground and jumped back to dodge before resuming its charge. The two bone blades shot through the air, colliding with Kieran's sword. The sound of metal clashing echoed through the air, accompanied by the ferocious growls of the crystal beast.
Exchanging blows with the beast several times, Kieran noticed that each time it extended one of its arms to attack him, the bone plates on its side moved, revealing the flesh that was hidden behind it. Taking advantage of an opening, he canceled his transformation to dodge the blades that passed over him and plunged his sword into one of the gaps in the bone armor.
The beast roared in pain, but Kieran didn't stop, driving the blade deeper between the bone plates. With a final roar, the beast fell lifelessly to the ground.
*heavy breathing*
Kieran breathed heavily as he retrieved his sword from the beast's corpse. He took out the last potion from his spatial gem before swallowing it in one go.
As he caught his breath, a bright light suddenly caught his attention. He raised his eyes to the sky, and his gaze drew in a metallic luster that shone intensely. The rising sun reflected on a polished surface, revealing an orbital shuttle approaching the city before landing near the central area.
"Have the reinforcements arrived? Why aren't they engaging in the fight with the crystal beasts?" he wondered, his mind filled with questions.
Having no knowledge of spaceships or orbital shuttles, he mistakenly thinks that the orbital shuttle approaching the city has many weapons equipped.
However, it didn't take long to divert his attention from the orbital shuttle's arrival. Continuing on his way to his home, deftly navigating between the lurking crystal beasts, seeking to avoid them as best he could.
*Ba..thump*
His heart pounded in his chest as he rushed down the street that led him home. He took a sharp turn at the familiar corner he had walked for eighteen long years, and his gaze fell on his house.
*Ba..thump, Ba..thump*
His body instinctively advanced several steps, but his eyes were empty. His transformation into a lycan canceled itself as if his mind did not find the strength to maintain his abilities. He felt the strength leaving his body as everything around him began to turn in his vision as a bloody smell invaded his senses.
*Ba..thump*
In the deafening silence, only the beating of his heart resounded through his body. All the other sounds had disappeared, engulfed by nothingness. His mouth opened wide as if a desperate scream sought to escape, but no sound crossed his lips. His eyes were red as a tear of blood fell from his eyes.
Corpses of crystal beasts littered the ground, strewn all around his house, which had become a heap of ruins. His father stood proudly, several beast corpses lying in front of him, as if he couldn't bear to let a single one pass. Among the bodies, one of the dead beasts still had its fangs sinking into his chest, half of which had disappeared, leaving only bite marks behind.
In Kieran's current state, he couldn't even circulate his crystal essence, much less feel any sign of life. Yet the question of whether his father was dead or not never occurred to him.
A few meters behind his father's lifeless body were his brother and mother, sprawled on the ground. In a desperate gesture of protection, his mother had sacrificed her own body to shelter his brother. A spear formed from intertwined branches stabbed through their bodies, creating a sinister pool of freshly spilled blood beneath them.
"Wh...Why...?"
"Why... did I help strangers... instead of running here... as fast as I could... to save my family...? Why... did I choose to save them... instead of running here...?"
"Why...? WHY?!!"
Kieran, overwhelmed by immeasurable pain, collapsed on his knees, his face deformed by sadness and despair. A heartbreaking sob escaped from his mouth, filling the air with tearing cries that expressed the deep distress of his being.
In a gesture of intense despair, he seized his head in his hands as if he were trying to restrain the sufferings that tormented him. His fingers clenched in his hair while his eyes, filled with tears of blood, closed with force, seeking to dispel the unbearable pain that shook his soul. His vision seemed to darken as if he were slowly falling into an abyss.