At the border of Heaven’s outskirts where coalition forces were fighting tooth and nail against demonspawn, Jack landed like a missile, smashing down into a horde of monsters and disintegrating hundreds of nightmarish creatures in a flash of lightning.
“MICHEAL!” Jack roared, picking up Gram and throwing the weapon that carved a swath of death through the horde.
“COME OUT YOU COWARD!” Jack yelled, grabbing a leaping nest agent by its head and crushing the monstrocity with his sheer strength before using its body to bludgeon a demonspawn into a bloody pile of gore.
“Jack!”
“RAH!” Jack screamed, smashing his boot down onto the corpse before firing his gunblade repeatedly at the demon crowd.
Standing upon Heaven, Jack let out another roar, taunting any to dare attack him as he sent a burst of power that blasted back the hordes of feral monstrosities.
In response everal apostles emerged from the nearby ruins of marble and stone, drawn out by Jack's angelic power only to be wiped away by Gehenna as Lilith devoured them.
“Out. Of. MY. WAY!” Jack spat, swinging his arm with a vast area of the citadel being wiped out by his anger.
[Authority of Gehenna Level Up!]
He wanted them dead. He wanted Michael dead! He needed him dead! Fueled by his desire for blood Jack's mana grew, his magical signature flaring and pulling in the miasma and mana that swirled around him. Answering him
All across the fallen isle, demonspawn began to stir, reacting to Jack with those asleep for thousands of years waking.
Jack could feel an indescribable sensation bubbling up within, a flow of energy from his core that seeped through his body and demanded to be let out.
So he did.
With a roar, Jack slashed, unleashing an invisible edge of gale force winds that cut through bone, sinew, marble, and enchanted steel to annihilate thousands of demonspawn. But his attack didn't simply destroy them, but wiped the creatures out at an atomic level, dissolving the monsters entirely with no hope of their regeneration or resurrection.
“Jack!” Selfia called out to Jack, joining him with her MECHFrame alongside what paladins and coalition forces managed to break through to the city.
Above, the airships were faltering, the electronics giving out with even Selfia's mech letting out a groan.
“Refocus! We need to push forward!” Selfia spat as Ada ran up and spun Jack to face her.
“Tanji! We have to go!” Ada yelled with some cognition returning to Jack’s eye as he gazed upon the blood-covered woman.
“Sorry,” Jack grunted.
He spun, calling Gram it to his hand as several apostles came out to face him.
“Move or die,” Jack said, pointing the greatsword at an apostle with the body of a deerling and the naked torso of a man.
Jack was greeted by a hoof stomping down.
“You. Are dangerous,” It said before shirking away as its body began to disintegrate from Jack activating Gehenna.
“Fine,” Jack spat, charging through the ancient city with Gram in one hand, his gunblade Jill in the other, and the coalition forces at his back.
What followed next was chaos and pandemonium, nonstop running, slashing, cutting, stabbing. Every movement through the rustic city of gold that humanity took was met by enemies who soon became corpses or erased from existence.
“We’re almost there! Do not sway from the path!” Sahaqiel shouted, unleashing a massive blast of lightning skyward to deal with the aerial attackers.
Jack grit his teeth, tossing away another speedloader and firing at various attackers.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Suddenly a thud, a cry from Selfia that reached Jack's ears.
He turned, time seeming to slow up on him spotting her Mech depowered and on the ground. In fact, the amount of soldiers that had followed him had thinned incredibly.
Mi'shka was pale, standing with his severed arm in one hand and using it as a weapon while Jin stood back to back with him against their assailants.
Nearby, Ada was covered head to toe in blood and panting heavily, her armor broken in various pieces as she used her massive nodachi to cleave through a nest agent.
Above her, Yukino was being carried away by a demonspawn, her cybernetic arm down its throat while Jack's aunt attempted to help her by throwing her axe.
Then there was Lita, pinned to the ground beneath her shield against an apostle stepping on her while several soldiers charged with bayonets to assist.
They were losing.
At this rate he would make it to the grand castle in the distance but he would be alone.
Jack needed something. A tool, a prayer, a power unlike any other to save those on the brink of destruction.
He couldn't lose anyone else. Here at the end, they were so close, so very close he could see the entrance of the island center.
[Radiant Skill Unlocked!]
It clicked. The answer to Jack's plea.
[Anti-Army Class Skill available!]
[Please Name-]
“Silent Sanctuary.”
The name uttered by Jack activated his anti-army skill, a culmination of every experience recorded by his system finally granting him the apex of awakened skills.
Not a borrowed skill, not something shared, but a culmination of his inner will and experiences, something his heart yearned for with the system granting him the means to fulfill his wish.
The flow of mana in the air shifted, an invisible change felt by all beings, demon and human alike.
The battle space flickered, day turning into night, Jack's will reaching out to the miasma and mana until it became his and bore forth the weight of his desires in the form of a soothing sunlight.
Jack ordered it and the world answered, shaping his surroundings into a world of light and cherry blossoms.
Structures in the nomad style of red shingles and bamboo replace the dilapidated ruins of heaven. Large trees of cherry blossoms and green reeds replaced the withered soil.
A hundred meter space around Jack became still.
Silent.
A perfect paradise for an afternoon day of leisure and a book.
A phantom world of Jack's desires brought into reality and forced upon the world by his will and power.
Anti-Army? No. This was simply a classification given by those who didn't understand mana. The power of will and shaping the world.
Jack reached out, taking a sip of tea as his allies sat in bewilderment on soft futons.
His enemies however fared worse.
Wrapped around various tree trunks and burrowing through the earth were chains. Blacker than night interlocks of dark iron that moved with the viscosity of vipers.
Apostles and demonspawn alike who dared to break the peace were immediately skewered by the snake-like guardians of Jack's sanctuary.
Those who fled or attempted to fight had their flesh bit into by steel chains before being dragged screaming into the soil where their screams became but a memory of the past.
Was it real? Jack didn't know as his body moved on instinct with his anger and fear left behind in the face of tranquil peace.
Various soldiers looked around in confusion while some simply sat and sobbed as their limbs and injuries were healed at a visible pace.
Others, like Selfia however, were already trying to figure out plans to escape and questioning the nature of this anti-army skill that was deployed so rapidly.
Jack's tired face bore a soft smile as he gazed upon Ada, the woman calling out his name as she and others realized what Jack had done.
He could stay here forever.
But he couldn't.
Jack rose to his feet, his mind clear, his expression one of determination as he gazed upon those at the table who could see each other but couldn't see him.
Jack turned and left, stepping from the distortion in the world to return back to reality where he was greeted by snarls and howls for bloodshed.
“Come on then,” Jack said, opening his break-action gunblade and reloading the revolver cylinder by hand now that his speedloaders were all spent.
He rolled his shoulders, taking a breath as the monsters began to recover, standing between him and his objective, the castle in the distance. His illusion would protect his comrades for as long as he was alive, and it would erase anything that it deemed a threat. All that was left was him to fight his way through and put an end to this madness.
“You weren't really thinking of fighting alone were you?” Sahaqiel asked, emerging from the rip in reality.
“Of course, you could get out,” Jack smirked, realizing the woman was still attuned to him. Try as he might to shut her out or keep her pinned, the angel of freedom could never be trapped against her will.
“We started this journey together Jack, we sure as hell are going to finish it together,” Sahaqiel said as her thunderbolt staff appeared in her hand in a flash of lightning, followed by dozens of demonspawn incinerated by her attack. “You can’t do this alone.”
“If you can keep up, then lets go,” Jack said, cutting down a nest agent and taking off towards the castle in the distance with Sahaqiel at his back.