The officer ran inside his home in Alzion, the nearest city to Dissension Penitary, in the southeast of the second layer. He lived in the city’s affluent area. The district was big but only housed a tiny portion of the population. There were many restaurants and attractions settled around an artificial lake. There were just a few large, single-family homes and five apartment buildings.
The officer’s home wasn’t directly beside the lake. In accordance with the street's aesthetic theme, his two-story house looked modern. The exterior walls were of white, polished granite and adorned with dark metal panels. His house also had a black shed roof despite the absence of rain.
Gabriella was flying above the house with another vampire while Aaron and two other mages quietly followed the man inside his house.
“Be careful. I feel like something’s up.” Gabriella warned them.
The infiltrators hid in the entrance. Aaron used a mirror to get a clear view of the living room. To his surprise, the suspicious officer was waiting with a machine gun.
“This craz-!” Aaron restrained himself from speaking too loud. “He’s using his relatives as a shield.”
The officer’s wife and two kids were in front of the man, clueless about what was happening.
“I’ll distract him.” Aaron slowly stepped out of the entrance with his hands up. “Drop your gun. Let’s talk peacefully.”
“AAAH!” The officer didn’t listen and fired his rounds at Aaron.
Aaron escaped his aim with wind magic, but the father’s bullets were closing in on him. “Stop! We won’t kill you!”
The man kept firing unrelentingly. His gun didn’t even need to pause to recharge since the bullets were made of magic, taking mana directly from him and his family.
The blonde woman who came with Aaron threw a knife, piercing the madman’s neck. He collapsed instantly.
“Why’d you do that?!” Aaron grimaced.
“Sorry, he’d have killed you if we didn’t stop him.”
“But what if you hit someone else?!” Aaron looked at the wife and children that were backing towards the window.
Gabriella could hear the conversation with her earphone. “Check his body. Was he a reptoid?”
The third soldier walked up to the dead officer and leaned down. Contrary to werewolves, when a reptoid died, they would revert to their cursed form.
“No, he was definitely human.”
…
Later in the day, Gabriella and Aaron reunited with the escaped prisoners in the third layer, Lycanport. Being one of the five cities with a gate towards the second layer, Lycanport was very large. The other gates were in cities to the North, to the West and to the South.
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Gabriella and the crowd of refugees were in the large open area next to the giant gate.
“Now that you are free, you have two choices. Either you live peacefully in the fourth or third layer, or you join the rebellion against the Seats!”
“I have family in the second layer!” A fierce man complained.
“Then you’ll meet them sooner if you fight with us!”
Gabriella observed him. He nodded silently. Many others were thinking alike.
“Then, who’s up for it?!”
Tens of old rebels became young again as they raised their fists and shouted their answer.
Half an hour later, seventy had been registered into the rebel army, more than half of the refugees.
Aaron was at the gate’s surveyance post. He examined the third layer and second layer with a confused frown. “Something is unsettling. Where could the reptoids be hiding?”
He looked at the new rebels again, having a bad feeling.
…
In the west of Northeast City, the first layer.
Ejiro’s crew had arrived at the city gate between Northeast City and Redan, another city in the first layer. Redan had a gate providing direct access to the second layer.
Ejiro entered a security cabin by the gate’s checkpoint and tapped on the metallic floor with his black shoe. A wind mage and a dark magician followed him in. There was an echo beneath them. “The sewers are right under us.”
“Here’s the plasma cutter,” the middle-aged wind magician gave the device to Ejiro.
After sticking it to the floor, it ignited and cut a deep hole in the metal, leading into the sewage system. “Let’s jump in.”
While Ejiro infiltrated the gate, Luo’s fleet distracted the enemy. Soldiers were shooting from small gaps within the city’s wall, and machines aimed calculated explosives toward their supersonic jets.
“Hold on just a little longer. Ejiro’s team is going in!” Sitting next to Luo, Jenna encouraged the crew to keep fighting. They were at a disadvantage since the gate was well-guarded.
She suddenly heard a loud bang. An explosion had gone off.
“Jonny!” One of the pilots cried as he saw his friend’s plane dropping down.
The jet’s cap and engines had gotten blown up brutally. The jet’s pilot had lost consciousness as the aircraft crashed, dying in his sleep.
“Ejiro, hurry!” Jenna urged him.
He arrived in the control room. The two mages by his side fought the guards while he walked to the computer and typed a password. He broke the computer system so no one could revert the changes.
“The city gate has been opened. You can send the army in.” Ejiro sent this message to everyone in the army.
“Good job.” Commander Rack responded immediately. “Proceed to the inner gate and contact the people inside the second layer. Apex fleet, come back to the battlefield. We need your support here.”
“Finally! Where coming ASAP,” Luo ordered his fleet to retreat.
…
“Ah!” Isaac woke up.
He was in bed in a blue, cozy room. There weren’t any windows, but the clock by his side indicated eight in the afternoon.
“Seth?” He saw the master by the door, sitting at a desk.
“How are you feeling, Isaac?”
Isaac feared he was another reptoid but gave a sigh of relief upon seeing his metal staff lying against the wall, something the previous imposter had failed to replicate.