Glass rained around me and only craters were left in my wake as I made my way towards the Gamma. I was late. The war had already started. Faye would not have moved without me, so the opponent must have taken the initiative. A mere two days were more than enough for things to go awry.

I cut through the land faster than I had ever done, flames swirling behind me. The heat bathed my entire body, slowly increasing my temperature to that of hot steel. The ground under my feet turned from solid to liquid at every step.

The landscape changed quickly and I found myself in the middle of a crowd. Several hundred people armed and armoured to the bone. My eyes recognised no one. Their eyes were focussed on a single target.

I passed through them like a hot knife through butter. I barely felt any resistance as I pierced them side to side using my own body as a projectile. The flames following me washed over the others, burning their flesh.

I cut through the enemy front in a matter of seconds, positioning myself between the horde and what remained of the Gamma Perimeter. The forests that used to surround its core were reduced to a shadow of their former self, only a scarce few trees remaining here and there.

The mountain range had been severely damaged, holes covering its sides. My eyes quickly scanned the environment and ascertained the situation. All peripheral buildings had been destroyed. No survivor was visible, yet sounds of fight and struggle reached my ears.

I ignored the bewildered enemy army behind me and delved deeper into the Gamma. As soon as I stepped inside its territory, roots emerged from the ground and tried to take hold of my feet. This explained why the enemy dared not step foot inside my domain. I easily got rid of them and continued my journey.

I reached the core of the Perimeter and found the central village completely razed to the ground. Nothing remained, not even rubbles. The land had been completely flattened. An anomaly stood out. The base of the mountain, the one which hosted the access to the underground, was enclosed in a thick cocoon of roots and trunks growing out of the mountain.

Many of these gigantic plant masses, several metres in diameter and tens in length, layed scattered all around on the ground, neatly severed and with several weapons embedded within them. They were decaying into cerulean dust, but ever so slowly.

I focused my senses and pried through the thick barrier. Relief overwhelmed my entire being. She was there and she was safe. I could feel it. She was looking in my direction. Even though there was no direct line of view, we could still feel each other's presence on the opposite sides of the arboreal barrier.

“I’m late. I’m sorry,” I said to the wind, unsure she could hear me.

But I had no time to ascertain further her condition. Knowing she was safe was enough for now. I had work to do. Now that I was nearer, I could tell the true fighting was happening on the opposite side of the mountain range.

I couldn’t feel many presences but the ferocity of their confrontation made the ground tremble. An elité group of combatants. I kicked the ground and climbed the mountain in front of me. I went over its peak and let gravity bring me down to earth.

There they were. Isaac, Lily and Hector, fighting side by side while cloaked in Isaac’s soft red aura. Isaac’s body was engulfed in auric fire which made him capable of fighting toe to toe with the enemy while Lily’s blue electric waves split the land and always hit their mark. Hector, the only one in their midst devoid of special abilities, held on with only his strong physique and his unbreakable weapon.

He had changed a lot since I had last seen him, his body completely remodelled from the inside. Faye had perfected her art while I was away. A little further away, hidden under broken trunks there was Chloe, supporting them with her restoring abilities.

Nevertheless, no matter how much they struggled, they were hardly their opponent’s match. Donning an obsidian armour and surrounded by floating weapons that moved according to his will, there stood the Patriarch of the Epsilon, his expression distorted into a grimace.

Only annoyance appeared on his face. The children around him weren’t a threat but they were still a nuisance. They were juveniles, but their strengths and abilities combined rivalled his own. He raised his hand ready to strike down the approaching Isaac, but the ground under him broke as roots emerged and wrapped around his leg. This bought Isaac the few instants he needed to avoid the blade aiming for his feet.

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It was clear. Sandoval was holding back. He wasn’t trying to kill them. He was waiting for them to exhaust themselves.

“Sly bastard,” I said coldly, fixing my eyes on him.

Sandoval stopped moving. He turned his head towards me. A big creepy smile planted itself on his face.

“Here at last, you fiend! I was waiting for you! Where have you been hiding? We should have met at the Epsilon, but you never came. So I came to you and here I am!” he laughed loudly.

I didn’t answer his words. I kicked the ground and appeared in front of him. His eyes flickered in surprise as he raised his arms to protect his face. He flew away. I turned around and looked at the three who had been fighting him. They were completely spent and their bodies were in tatters, not a single bone intact. There was no way to tell for how long they had been fighting, if for days or just for a few hours.

“You did good,” I told them, before kicking the ground and reaching my enemy.

“Yes! Finally, I’ll free this world from your scourge!” he shouted while still flying, laughing like a maniac.

He turned in midair and planted his feet into the ground, ploughing the land until he stopped. His expression turned serious and his eyes filled with bloodthirst. His aura engulfed his surroundings and he recalled his weapons around him. Tens of them flew from behind me and orbited his body. Swords, halberds, spears, war hammers and more. Weapons of all shapes and kinds moved in midair according to his will.

His armour morphed and every inch of his skin got covered by the obsidian material. He grasped the hilt of a whip sword and swung it down on me. The disconnected blades followed the flow of energy that kept them together, aimed at me like an angry snake, all the while a volley of weapons raining down upon me.

I ran straight at him, ignoring the cuts on my skin. He stepped back but I was quicker. My clawed hand aimed for his head and reached its target. A shock ran through my entire body as my fingers failed to pierce through the armour. My enemy didn’t even flinch and the entire force of the impact disappeared into nothingness.

“You won’t be able to touch me. This is the masterpiece of the seventh Legion of The Black,” he scorned at me.

A dagger reached his hand and he aimed it at my torso. It pierced through the outer layer of my skin but got stuck between my muscle fibres. I kicked the ground while grasping him and a crater formed under us while we could barely move. The armour damped inertia, enabling actions without reactions.

Lost the support of the earth, we fell down. I put my hand on his helmet and raised him above my head. He moved his hand and four different weapons embedded themselves in my back. The moment my feet touched the soil, I pushed his body downwards and buried him in the rubble.

“I told you this is useless…” he began to speak leisurely, but stopped in the middle.

My first had connected with his head. Most of the force got dispersed, but cracks appeared on all his body.

“How did you…” his alarmed voice got interrupted by another punch, stronger than the previous.

I continued to pummel him down, raising the weight behind each hit, one after the other. The crater enlarged with each thrust and shattered stones flew in all directions. Nevertheless, the more I raised my strength, the harder and more resilient the armour appeared to grow. It was a truly miraculous tool.

“Get away from me!” the unharmed enemy shouted.

Wips wrapped around my limbs and dragged me out of the crater. I snapped my hands and feet and broke them in half, freeing myself from the constraint. Sandoval leisurely unburied himself and walked out of the hole. He dusted himself off and cracked his neck.

“You almost had me scared, wretch…”

My fist connected with his side thorax and flames engulfed the two of us. A spear hit and stuck itself in my thigh. He punched me in my face but I didn’t even flinch.

“I admit it. You are stronger than me. But no matter how strong you may be, you will lose. It’s only a matter of how much time it will take. Isn’t this the way it goes with archs? Not the strongest, but the toughest,” he chuckled.

More weapons were aimed at my body and I was forced to retreat back.

“Surrender. If you do, I might be merciful when I kill the girl…”

“Shut up,” I ordered, and he immediately complied.

He looked at himself. His face was not visible, but his entire behaviour screamed surprise at his own actions. At my words, he had taken a step back.

“Me. Afraid of you? This is unbelievable…” he trembled in anger.

I walked towards him. I had let rage guide my actions and had attacked him leveraging only on my speed and strength. But it wasn’t enough. He had come here prepared for that. All the tools he was using were ancient artefacts created by the Legion of The Black. An arch couldn’t overpower such an opponent.

“You can’t win!” he shouted.

He raised his hand and numerous projectiles darted at me. I sidestepped to avoid some and diverted others with my hands. My blood boiled and changed hue. The wounds on my body began to close.

“You will fall! That is Mother’s will!” he ran at me grasping a blade.

He aimed at my head. I bent my neck and avoided the sword’s thrust. I clawed at his side.

“It’s useless…”

The armour cracked and my fingers pierced his belly. Blood trickled down on the ground. I opened my mouth and spoke calmly.

“Don’t mention that w***e in front of me,” I whispered, my words filled with millennia-old hate.