Lance had been stationed in Oraphis for a week now. A week of staring at nothing and doing nothing. The Guild had deployed his unit to the Seventh Seal just south of the city after the first incident. The commanders kept telling everyone to stay alert and pay attention. The wreckage proved that something had happened here, but no one knew what. Most of the town closest to the Seal had been obliterated, and he could see the people working to clear the debris left behind. No one would talk about what had occurred. Even the soldiers that his unit replaced wouldn't say a word.

It was just another dull day sitting in the watchtower. Lance longed to be back in a dungeon with his team. He stared absent-mindedly at the Seal. He'd never been this close to one before. It was way more extensive than he had envisioned, easily big enough to fit a small town inside. The raised stone construction was a series of concentric circles, all covered with magical runes that glowed and pulsed in sync. The outer ring was nearly two yards tall, which is presumably why the Guild had surrounded it with these watchtowers. Each consecutive circle shrunk in height and diameter as it approached the center. The small inner circles were probably no more than a few inches off the ground. It was like the gods had decided to build a circular wall and then fill it with slightly smaller circular walls until they ran out of space. The central core was a perfectly round crystal of the darkest black he had ever seen. It was like a void where no light was permitted to enter.

The Hunters Guild, as well as the Lord of Oraphis, had banned anyone from approaching the Seal or trying to collect mana. As a Warpriest, he could feel the heaviness in the air from the excess mana the Seal generated. It seemed like a waste to stop people from charging crystals or infusing potions with the free mana. At least the town was providing them with food. Anything was better than the standard Guild rations.

It was nearly noon, so he closed his eyes and began to recite his daily prayer to Mars. A loud crash broke his concentration a few moments later. He focused on where he believed the sound had originated as shouts began echoing around the camps and watchtowers. Oh, gods. Someone was inside the Seal, near the core. How had they made it that far without anyone stopping them? The ground trembled and shook violently, forcing Lance to grab the railing to keep himself from falling.

He quickly looked through the spyglass fitted to his watchtower, focusing it on the person inside the Seal. He blinked, cleared the sweat from his eyes, and then took a second look. There was no one inside the Seal, but there was something. He shouted a warning to the camp below as he observed it. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, but its bulbous head was featureless. It had no eyes, nose, mouth, or hair to speak of. It wore no clothes or armor and was covered in pale gray skin that looked wet and slimy through the spyglass.

As if reacting to being spotted, the creature began sprinting and hurdling over the inner walls of the Great Seal. It was large, easily twice the size of the average elf. Spells and arrows flung towards the moving creature as his fellow soldiers reacted to its motion. Lance watched as it used its four muscular arms and two long legs to scramble over the tops of the walls. It moved more like an insect than a person, its limbs bending and twisting unnaturally as it climbed.

A long spear of ice impaled the beast. One of the mages had finally landed a spell. Each tower had a melee and a ranged specialist, but Lance's partner, Jacob, had been down in the camp getting them food when this thing appeared. He could only watch as they bombarded the creature with spells and projectiles. It did not react, nor did it slow. Lance observed as one of its arms casually removed the spear from its torso and tossed it aside. The other five limbs never stopped moving. They were a blur as the thing reached the tall outer walls. It bounded from the top of each wall to the next, even as fireballs and lightning charred its flesh. There had to be hundreds of arrows sticking out of the creature now, yet it continued regardless.

It was close now, approaching the final wall, heading straight for his tower. He began chanting his war prayers and readied his massive two-handed battleaxe. The Warpriest felt his strength surge as his skills activated. Battle was the purest form of worship to Mars, and the War God would get his fill today. An acrid taste filled the air, and Lance could hear the creature approaching. The beast exploded from the final wall of the Seal, launching itself right at his tower.

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He swung his axe in a horizontal arc, cutting the creature deeply even as it crashed into the tower. The tower shook from the impact, and he heard shouts from the soldiers below. The beast made no noise as his axe sliced through it and its four arms reached for him, each ending in six long claws. Lance ripped his axe backward, the long double blades tearing and ripping the strange flesh as he did. He ducked the first two swipes and raised his blade to parry the third, but the fourth arm managed to swat him sideways. His heavy mail armor absorbed most of the blow, but one claw had managed to cut him along his shoulder.

The world spun as he fell to the ground, but he managed to get his feet under him in time. He landed in a crouch, absorbing the impact of the four-yard fall. The creature jumped off the tower and landed a few yards away. His fellow warriors surrounded it as mages and archers immediately launched projectiles. The beast did not hesitate as it reached the ground, immediately rending and tearing at the soldiers between it and him. Men fell by the dozen in just a few seconds. This thing was easily a match for him. Common soldiers would do nothing but die.

Lance charged, jumping and swinging his mighty axe at the beast's head. Supernatural strength and speed filled him as his Battle Trance activated, and his weapon sliced clean through the beast's featureless head. Black blood and ichor poured onto the ground. The top half of its head was now missing, but the creature did not topple. Its powerful claws reached after him as he landed. He spun and delivered a mighty uppercut with the axe, severing one of its lower arms. He ducked the three remaining claws and slid between the legs of the beast, stabbing upward as he did. The spike that tipped his battleaxe pierced the creature, and Lance continued the slide until he was well behind the beast.

He felt a wave of revulsion as the creature didn't turn to face him. Instead, its top four limbs cracked and snapped to face the opposite way as it lunged after him. He could hear its bones breaking and crunching from the act. This was no man, nor even an animal. It was an unthinking, unfeeling tool. No being would do that to itself. Still, it was flesh and blood, and the Warpriest was determined to kill it.

He severed another arm as it reached for him. Lance launched away, using his movement skill to avoid the two remaining limbs. He shot back at it, using Battle Rush to connect with a vicious shoulder charge that managed to finally stagger the creature. He followed up with Perpendicular Strike, his axe a blur as it chopped the beast in half at the waist and then in half again vertically. It finally stopped moving. He was covered in black blood and breathing a little heavier than usual. Lance couldn't remember the last time he had to fight this hard outside of a dungeon.

"What was that thing?" one of the soldiers shouted, breaking the silence. The crowd erupted into questions as the confused warriors tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Lance held up an armored hand and shook his head. He had never seen anything like that before, not on any continent or inside any dungeon. There were too many questions and not enough answers as he approached the command tent.

Commander Oniell was alone in the tent, and he activated the crystalline device that Lance knew would prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

"Explain," Lance demanded.

The commander sighed and rolled his shoulders before replying, "We don't know what they are. The previous incident was the same. A single creature appeared, destroying a quarter of Oraphis before someone strong enough to stop it arrived. The Seventh Seal is failing. The Arcanists theorize that, at the moment, only one being or person may pass through every so often. They also believe that will change, and eventually, we'll have armies of those things coming through as the Seal weakens."

"It came straight for me. Why?" Lance interrogated.

"Unknown, this was different from the last one. The last one just went on a destructive rampage. This one looked and acted different. My guess? That thing was sent through with instructions to kill the most powerful person it could find. Luckily for us, that person happened to be you. They may be sending specialized beasts to disrupt and disorient us before the main invasion," Oniell answered.

"What is the Seal holding back?" Lance demanded.

The commander frowned, "We... don't know. You're better off asking Mars."

"You know as well as I do that the gods are forbidden from telling us the Great Seals' true purpose or what is inside them," Lance stated angrily.

"It will be difficult to keep this quiet again. The first incident was written off as a fluke: a mistake or a summoning gone wrong. Too many eyes witnessed today's events. People will panic," Oniell declared.

"They should panic. That thing was nearly a match for me. What if there are dozens of them waiting? Hundreds? Thousands?" Lance growled.

"We don't think that's the case. As I said, they're probably sending the strongest creatures through to weaken us as much as possible before they can launch a proper invasion," Oniell answered.

"You better hope that's true," Lance replied before storming out of the tent.

Lance Erikson, Champion of the God of War, felt fear for the first time in centuries.