A split-second after, there was a loud, heavy impact, followed up by an equally loud explosion

Cael felt a sudden gust of wind impact the right side of his body and trembled at the frighteningly loud sound.

Blaine stormed right out of the store that he was in, holding a bag of chips and a drink.

“What the hell is going on?!” He wondered, before they turned the corner just ahead of them.

The road almost formed a zigzag, and they turned right to be frozen themselves.

There was no way.

Again.

Cael couldn’t believe what his eyes were staring at. Ahead of them stood two boarmen, with one standing atop an aircar that had erupted into flames.

The vehicle was totally crushed, and the surface was now a jet, matte black from the smoke.

The two boarmen ahead of them had maniacal smiles on their faces, and the students couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“Soldiers, move out!” The man at the head of the group commanded, making them fall back along the street they occupied.

The students, however, were frozen with fear. They didn’t have the same command over their bodies in a situation like this.

Flames roared behind the boarmen, and the one atop the aircar jumped off it to harshly contact the ground. They both stood at 2 metres, with hulking frames and sleek, compact suits made of soft padding and armour.

“Get them!” The boarman to Cael’s left roared, rushing ahead.

Vanessa and Cael were the closest to this fighter and were therefore the first to engage in battle.

VRHH!!!

Cael’s powered gauntlet powered into action, and he darted ahead as the boarman advanced. Enhanced by no such technology, the basic running speed of this boarman already eclipsed that of Vanessa’s and Cael’s.

Attacking Cael first, the boarman thrusted his fist ahead with such speed that Cael was slightly flustered. Even with his gargantuan size, he moved like a human half his size.

The boarman’s fist shot toward Cael, who wasn’t fast enough to evade nor block. With a punch of his own also being shot forward, he wasn’t in the best position to dodge or block anyway.

The tough, coarse knuckles of this boarman slammed right into his helmet, making his head intensely jerk back.

Cael fell back several steps, losing his footing from that single powerful hit. He had to fall onto his right hand to stop himself from completely toppling over.

Vanessa then grabbed one hand of the boarman, subsequently grabbing the other as she attempted to outmuscle this large warrior.

Even with her exosuit empowering her, it was of no use. The boarman cackled and grit his teeth, taking a powerful step forward.

“You have no chance at overpowering me, small human!” The boarman called out with its deep voice, before snorting.

Peering over the boarman’s shoulder, he could see other boarmen slaughtering humans that they found in the streets. The previous silence was now broken by the numerous wails and bellows of dying humans, along with the constant explosions that went on around them.

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In the sky, several explosive balls of fire could be seen falling from the sky as if they were asteroids.

However, the most striking thing that he could see in the sky was the supersized spaceship not too far from them. It was much larger than almost every commercial spaceship that was used for travel and was as big as a whole village or small town.

The shadow that the ship cast was insanely large, whilst it blocked out most of the light in that area.

Vanessa dropped her head as she pushed forward with all her might, shooting a glance back to Cael. He couldn’t exactly see through the black visor that protected her face, but he still could somewhat make out that she wanted him to at least do something.

Therefore, Cael raced forward as fast as he could, walloping the boarman in the face while it remained preoccupied with Vanessa.

Surprised by his own strength, the boarman was knocked to the side a step, which allowed Vanessa to fire off three straight punches to the large fighter.

Each punch moved it and fuelled them with confidence. Unlike the first time they’d encountered boarmen, Cael wasn’t a total weakling. No. He actually had a shot at protecting himself this time.

After delivering these powerful blows to the boarman’s face, it snorted and shook its head before standing upright. Cael’s shoulder brushed past Vanessa’s as he attempted to attack this fighter himself.

Just before he could get close enough, though, the second boarman joined the action. Cael was launched off his feet from a punch to his ribs and sent rolling away from the impact.

With the boarman’s runup to amplify the power of its shot, it was like he was hit by a truck.

There was a sharp pain in his side, even though the punch landed on one of the more durable parts of his armour.

The second boarman took the liberty to continue the battle, wildly swinging his arm toward Vanessa. Even if the attack lacked technicality, it moved insanely fast and was visibly explosive.

However, the attack was easy to predict and as a result, she was able to slip right under the attack to totally evade it. With this boarman’s body wide open, she landed a right hook to its body before throwing that same hook, this time aiming for the head.

The boarman’s head was thrown back by the second punch that connected on its head, then Blaine followed up by launching numerous energy blasts at this boarman with his wrist-mounted rifle.

Shouting as he did so, he took powerful steps forward whilst Vanessa retreated to his side.

“Do something, runt!” Blaine shouted back to Cael.

As he gave this order, Cael arrived by his side and revealed his mana stream. His mana connected right to Blaine’s, and he simultaneously unlocked power surge. The immediate strain he felt on his body was intense, but mostly masked by his adrenaline.

The need for power eclipsed the pain he felt.

Blaine took in a deep breath upon feeling his exosuit entering this satisfying overdrive mode. It felt odd and confused him, but it made him feel exhilarated.

“Let’s go!” He shouted, slamming his fist onto his chest.

After hearing this, all three warriors blasted forward at top speed, taking these boarmen off guard. Their sudden bravery coupled with this powerful assault was startling.

Cael thrusted his fist forward, empowering it with his powered gauntlet. The boarman to his left was forced to block this attack, taken aback by its speed.

He did not stop there, and continued throwing punch after punch, using the most of the power surge that he’d activated. On his final punch, he’d managed to break through the block of the large fighter and landed a powerful right hand to its jaw.

Knocking its head to the side, Cael jumped forward and thrusted his leg right into the large being’s chest, knocking him back several steps.

Blaine and Vanessa continuously attacked the other boarman, attacking him from various angles to do the most damage possible.

Vanessa, receiving a clubbing punch to her helmet, fell back a step whilst Blaine used this chance to fire a sequence of energy blasts straight at their adversary’s face. The blasts continued to fire straight on the target, with Vanessa adding insult to injury by leaping up and throwing a strong side kick straight on the boarman’s snout.

The beast fell back a few steps and shook his head, annoyed at the fighter’s successful assault. Blaine followed up with even more energy blasts as the boarmen were at a distance, with Cael gritting his teeth as he felt his mana being sucked right from him.

“Gor-Kag, you get the blonde one and the strong one. I’ll kill this rascal!” The boarman that had fought Cael claimed.

“Fine, Gor-Puu.” He replied, before continuing their assault.

The boarman that had attacked Cael suddenly roared, snorting as he ran forward. Cael could see the rage in Gor-Puu’s eyes as he thrusted forward his fist with immense speed.

The velocity behind this punch was too much for Cael to handle; he received a fist straight to his helmet before he could properly react. Subsequently, he was shut down by a knee that was thrown right into his gut.

Cael coughed out intensely, struggling to catch his breath upon being hit with this devastating blow. He could feel the impact of the hit flow back to his spine, and he tasted a warm, metallic taste in his mouth.

Blood.