Minnie and Xia took the lead, both carrying assault rifles, machetes, and pistols. Justin, Priya, and Jasmine were close behind. Reid and Gilly, the young lady in glasses, also hung to the edge of their triangular formation, all armed.

As they approached the goblins, Gilly let out a high-pitched squeal.

The group immediately stopped as if on cue.

The air seemed to grow heavy, rancid scents and the unmistakeable odor of blood assaulting their senses of taste and smell. They gulped as they surveyed the area.

"How awful."

"It's disgusting."

"How could they do such a thing…?"

Flies had begun to surround the bloody guts and remains. They were one of the few to only slightly change along with humans in the New World. Of course, humans had cards. But the majority of flies remained the same and were at the lowest level of existence, unlike ants.

There were half-eaten and dismembered corpses of humans. Organs spilled across the street, some fresh, others crushed and discolored. Eyeballs hung out their sockets, brain matter splattered on the pavement like spilled beans.

They felt their stomachs churn at the sight of such cruelty, and fear started to flow along their veins, their hearts unprepared to oppose whatever painted such a morbid scene.

Jasmine was the first to vomit.

Minnie retched, while Gilly dry heaved before throwing up her breakfast as well.

Priya just barely managed to hold it in, her eyes rapidly growing teary and bloodshot while clutching her frozen brother’s arm for physical and emotional support.

A vein in Xia’s jaw ticked as she clenched them tightly, hands on her hips. She lowered her gaze, mentally disconnecting from her vision.

It was a slaughter.

Humans actively hunted and eaten raw.

The sounds seemed to fade around them.

The world was silent.

The group stalled, frozen in shock.

"It's hard to look at, I know,” Celes transmitted her voice to the shocked group, sympathetic yet desensitized, “but you can reflect later. The same is true going forward. Bottle your trauma and save it for later. There's only one thing you must do now. Kill. Avenge those scattered at your feet."

She had seen such sights on countless occasions, yet the anger in her heart blazed even brighter than before.

‘I couldn't do much before. We were in the dark, searching for our senses. But now, if I let humanity be livestock, I would have been given this life in vain!’

She was sent to the past for a reason, for humanity. To brighten the darkness that haunted their waking and sleeping hours, the first step was these men and women before her right now.

Eight individuals had their worldviews shaken. Only now did it truly sink in that society as they knew it was gone. All that replaced it was undilated hell.

Justin was the first to recover from the reeling shock. He slammed his fist against the roof of the a car, his rush of adrenaline causing him to make a dent in it. "We should kill those bastards! We can’t stand by and watch them slaughter us like cowardly prey!"

"I agree,” Jasmine spoke up despite her teary eyes, wiping her mouth. “We shouldn't let their crimes go unpunished."

Slowly, their fears and digust morphed into white hot anger, fueled by ruthless adrenaline. Brandishing their weapons, every step forward was a testamant to their fury and a promise of vengance.

Minnie drew back, her gears whirring. Even though she was equally sharing overwhelming emotions with the group, she couldn’t allow them to charge mindlessly into battle without a plan.

Jogging forward, she stood before them, saying, "We shouldn't let anger cloud our judgment. Celes said she would prefer if our first kills were done with the machete, but we should still start with guns from a distance and ambush them while they are unaware."

Realizing the logic within her words, the fury in their movements slowed a bit. Their eyes reflected their resolve. After a short time of agreeing on a strategy, they made it close to the goblins, a group of fourteen as expected.

What they didn't expect was to see them still having lunch.

Three corpses lay on the ground. A man, a woman, and what resembled a baby. It looked like an unfortunate family was on the menu, their limbs and organs still inside fanged jaws.

"You motherfuckers!" Jasmine jumped ahead, ignoring their earlier plan and rushing towards the goblins.

Several pairs of yellow eyes turned in their direction as their pointed ears twitched.

Minnie almost facepalmed her machete into her face.

Justin and Priya hesitated for a second before rushing after her, and Xia followed suit in a determined sprint.

Minnie looked at everyone else and sighed, "Well, let's go."

The goblins had their guards slightly down at first. Seeing the humans rush at them, they recognized these creatures. The soft sacks of flesh who liked to run and also not run.

They were slightly puzzled, seeing them rush towards them and not away. That was before Jasmine drew blood, chopped the shoulder of one goblin with her machete after missing eight shots from her pistol.

Her blade sunk deep, but was not enough to touch bone.

She tugged it out to furiously hack some more, but the goblin was already angered and in pain. It swiped its claws at her head, but an arrow buried itself in the green forehead, intervening as Jasmine stumbled back and away.

Cover fire erupted from behind her as quick rounds bathed the green skins.

Realizing the threat after seeing one of them fall, the goblins grew furious and lifted their weapons, rushing towards them in an intimidating pace.

“Oh, they’re mad now!” Priya yelled, backing up Jasmine with Justin covering for them.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Everyone else was shooting from afar as they briskly walked towards them, trying to keep steady aim.

Jasmine haphazardly waved her machete to her first strike, reverting her pistol to its direction. Seeing it still alive and kicking, she felt a strong force collide with the edge of her blade, then a quick grab from the pained goblin. As it grabbed her throat with its bloody hand, tightly blocking her from air and baring its yellow fangs, she shoved the pistol in its mouth and let loose the rest of a newly loaded magazine.

As she felt the grip loosen, she swatted the muscular green hands and kicked the dead goblin's torso.

Minnie aimed from afar, getting as much ankles as she could. Xia was uncomfortable with her gun, so she had switched to her bow. She successfully blinded many of them and penetrated their orifices.

Justin angrily competed in strength with goblins trying to chop them, realizing they just about matched him, despite his extensive workouts. He bashed his rifle into one of their skulls when the clip was empty.

Giselle struggled from the rear, trying to get in a few shots, while Gilly kept pushing her glasses up her nose as the recoil of each shot bashed into her.

Reid and Priya were a bit more courageous and smart, sticking close to each other as they let loose a few shots.

Celes hovered, monitoring like a teacher during a test.

Their combat was...unsightly, to say the least; ugly but not bad, considering their lack of experience.

The group went back and forth for almost half an hour in intense battle.

Towards the end, the surviving proud goblins had to run with their tails between their legs.

*

"Well, not the prettiest sight,” Celes evaluated, slowly pacing past the fighters, “but you got the job done with...minor injuries, so it’s pass, I guess; a three out of ten."

Considering she just wanted them to face their fear and get their first kill, it was an ok attempt. Everything else could be taught.

"Minnie and Xia did well, as I expected.” She turned her gaze to her best friend, her expression somewhat disappointed as she said, “But you should have expected that my hot-headed sister would jump off, Minnie. One thing you will always say is ‘Evaluate the characters before assigning the mission.’ I expected you to keep close on potentially risky members of your team.”

She made to move on, but then remembered and added, “Oh, and good job leading the hesitant ones to go in for the kill when the goblins were squirming on the ground."

Turning to her tall and muscular cousin, she blankly said, "Justin, your strength isn't bad, but as you would have discovered, even the goblins are a bit stronger than you. They’re at the bottom of the food chain, so work on building your capacity.”

Justin nodded obediently, cracking his bloody knuckles while his steel blue eyes lit up in determination.

Moving on to the next, a head of disheveled pink hair and a face decorated in bleeding scratches, Celes heaved a sigh. “Jasmine... Really? You did alright, but look at the cuts on your arms and face… Your entire throat looks bruised. Keep fighting like that and you’ll join the corpses on the streets.” She pulled no punches, determined not to show any favoritism. “It's always a team effort, so you’re evaluated as a team. You're the cause of the low score, I hope you know that. Try to fight smarter next time."

Celes glared at her sister, half expecting her to bite back with a retort, but Jasmine took her scolding like a champ. If she insisted on being difficult in matters affecting lives other than her own, then Celes would have to step in forcefully.

Hopefully, she would learn from this.

Looking at the rest of the battle-worn group, she continued her evaluation.

"Giselle, seventy percent of your shots missed. But you listened to Minnie and stabbed your first goblin nicely, so it’s not all bad. With that aside, you're most suited to be a healer. Your background in vet science counts as a bonus. That means you won't be fighting a lot, but that doesn't mean you should be a complete vase. Keep that in mind."

She had expected this from the beginning and so it was. Despite her aggressive tomboyish nature, Giselle didn't get into a lot of fights in their youth and was usually the first to suggest walking away.

"Reid, you did ok enough; no glaring issues. Priya, you should dial it down on the screams when fighting. It alerts whatever is in the surroundings," Celes concluded, causing Priya to blush as she was called out.

She was barely satisfied with their performance, but she could work well enough to shape them into an elite team. Talent could be replaced by natal cards, skill could be taught through her experience, and willpower could be grinded steadily until refined.

Such was the charm of the New World. While luck reigned supreme, even those without luck could prosper. With the right resources and support, anyone could become strong. Whoever you were, wherever you came from, you could achieve greatness and power beyond your wildest imagination.

The ceiling had been removed. The impossible had become possible.

Cards were such a heavenly and nonsensical creation to humans.

"Thirty-minute rest, then we head out," Celes announced, looking at her silver wristwatch.

They all plopped to the dusty floor of the abandoned building they had gathered in, exhausted and in pain. The high intensity of the fight had made it feel like hours. With their lives on the line, it was all the more stressful and draining when the adrenaline rush rudely faded.

They were covered in sweat, the saltly liquid soaking into their open wounds with a stinging sensation. Their hearts were thumping excitedly in their chests, their muscles screaming in agony and their eyes straining from focusing so hard.

Quenching their thirst and having a few snacks, the group discussed their prior battle proudly despite Celes's low evaluation.

"I had no idea something that small could be so strong.” Justin laughed heartily, lifting his bruised thick hands. “Look, my arms are red and bruised."

"Hell, I almost threw up when one screamed in my face with its stinky breath,” Priya shuddered. “God, I was surprised my nose didn't fall off."

"Ah, my neck is almost completely dark now,” Jasmine muttered, staring at her tilted neck in a dusty shard of reflective glass by a windowframe. “Those ugly fuckers pack quite the punch for real." She felt regret for the first time, touching her slender neck. It was so tender, it felt raw. Just mildly turning her head caused her entire neck to scream in protest.

Celes stepped away from the resting group, feeling Sapphire's call. Together, they ascended onto a lone rooftop several hundred yards northeast.

"Truly... I had almost forgotten the brutality humans survived in this short time,” Celes whispered. She sighed, seeing a horde of more than two hundred goblins.

They were surrounding a tall altar made of bones and some alien metal. It was a thick pole, similar to a lightpost with an irregular head, with a mysterious energy emanating from it.

They were trying to create a priest or chieftain by praying to their god.

"It shouldn't be a problem now. They need to gather a lot more corpses and accumulate more spiritual energy within the medium for it to work."

She could come back in a few days to exterminate them.

As she turned away, she saw a few fresh skulls covered in blood at the foot of the altar, large and small. Suddenly, she froze in place. Those empty eye sockets seemed to be staring at her.

"Humanity's blood shall not be shed without consequence, huh?" She muttered to herself, recalling her team's earlier cries.

Still, she had to be smart about things. She couldn't waste cards or energy, trying to kill this batch of goblins while their journey was unfinished. A few similar altars should already be popping up about the city.

That was true.

That was true and yet...

Why was she riding Sapphire in their direction?

Her body seemed to be moving on its own.

Various images and massacres replayed behind her retinas. Phantoms of the future. Recalling the fear, despair, and blood within all those encounters, she closed her eyes tightly in pain.

"Yes... Blood will not be shed in vain."

Coo…?

Sapphire looked back at her in puzzlement.

Celes whipped out a precious card. Thick stony blue droplets coalesced in the front, like water settling in on a large riverbank. The viscous drops were ripe with power and life. The back of the card was stone-like, akin to an ancient scripture carved from precious stone. Celes paused, staring at this Blue Stone-grade Energy Card. There were certainly a great many ways she could use this card significantly. Its many effects spanned recovery, boosting, substitution, and many others.

She knew better than to waste such a good card out of pure emotion, and yet… Yet, she watched as she soaked it in her card essence and it fully activated with a blinding light, a light blue aura seeping into Sapphire.

‘I know… Yet, I can't help it… For humanity.’

With a loud cry of a phoenix, the ground below was bathed in a sea of sapphire blue flames.