(XII) Unleashed
On the outskirts of the city, a group of people were walking along the highway. They had been walking for hours after every vehicle's power was lost when the portals had appeared.
None of them had anything in common besides the direction they were traveling at the time of the sudden loss of technology. None of their phones worked, and following the herd mentality, each abandoned their vehicles one by one.
As they continued to pass vehicles, more people exited and joined them on their way. Making their way along the highway, they approached the city, making small talk with one another, trying to discern why everything electronic had died.
The final leg of the journey had been brutal as their destination was deep within a massive crater created millions of years ago, and a city had settled within the valley left behind.
Upon reaching the highest point of the land before descending toward the city, a series of gasps and cries broke out from the front. A young woman forced her way forward through the crowd to see what was happening.
Her eyes widened in horror as she gazed upon the destroyed city, covering her mouth as a silent gasp escaped her lips. She turned around, scanning the crowd, seeing similar thoughts flashing across everyone's face.
"Come on, everyone!" An older man waved, stepping forward and continuing the walk toward the city, "We need to check to see if there's anyone we can help!"
He wore a military uniform and had a weapon, so he had become the crowd's de facto leader, and soon people started to follow. The young woman bit her lower lip, chewing on it as she felt a pit in her stomach rising, feeling she shouldn't enter the city.
The group of people pushed past her, bumping into her as she stumbled forward, unable to break free from the group as she was forced to walk along the road leading down into the valley, where the ruined city burned.
As they continued to descend, a woman shrieked loudly and pointed off to the side of the road, exclaiming that she saw something move. On the other side of the road, another woman claimed the same.
Suddenly, a group of goblins launched out from the trees, landing on a few people and killing them with their primitive weapons, causing panic and chaos to break out amongst the crowd.
The soldier unholstered his gun and quickly started shooting the goblins in the head, killing them each in a singular shot; however, for each monster he felled, two more appeared from the trees.
"Shit!" He exclaimed, shouting loudly, "It's an ambush!! Everyone run away!!"
He waved for everyone to run toward the city as he turned around and led the way. The young woman was knocked forward and trampled as chaos erupted around her.
She frantically crawled along the asphalt as people tripped over her and the goblins pounced on the fallen adults. She stumbled across a crystal as she made her way through the death surrounding her.
While crawling, her hand touched the Beast Crystal, which instantly lit up, unleashing a brilliant light as her eyes stared at it in amazement. The goblins noticed the woman, and all convened on her position.
As they leaped through the air toward her, a powerful aura burst out from her position, knocking the goblins away. Her pitch-black hair slowly changed to a blazing red as it flowed rapidly in the air.
Her similarly black eyes unleashed a brilliant green light as they changed to a bright emerald green, and her aura changed as she was consumed by a giant pillar of flames that pierced the clouds.
The goblins flinched and turned around to flee, but it was too late as the pillar of flames erupted, spreading out all around her as it consumed everything in its path, leaving nothing but soot behind.
"Guys! It's sa-" After everything had gone silent, she turned around to the road exclaiming but saw nothing and no one around her. Neither friend nor foe escaped the flames as she purged everything around her.
Serenity covered her mouth again, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes as she walked along the road and knelt next to a charred Glock, a standard military-issued pistol.
She collapsed to her knees, trembling as she reached out and picked up the pistol. Tears started falling down her cheeks freely as she pulled the gun into her lap.
***
The hundreds of shards of metal surrounding the graveyard slowly started floating higher into the air as Samael channeled his power. He gritted his teeth as a nosebleed formed in one nostril.
Vitani looked around in surprise at the floating metallic objects before turning back to the young man, unleashing a wicked grin and muttering to himself, "This welp!!"
Samael's eyes shot open as hundreds of deep explosions occurred simultaneously as the shards of metal shot forward. Purple lightning arced wildly from underneath the objects as they flew through the air at a blinding speed.
The temple suddenly crumpled as the Skeleton Soldiers and ghosts were pelted by the magnetized metallic shards. The destruction unleashed by the young man's attack was surprising to all four of the Hunters present.
Samael collapsed to his knee, struggling to hold himself up as he fought to maintain consciousness as a series of windows appeared before his blurred vision.
╔══Task Requirement of Kill 25 Skeleton Knights has been completed.══╝
╔══Task Requirement of Kill 10 Spectral Wizards has been completed.══╝
╔══You have successfully impressed the Virtue of Pride.══╝
╔══Reward: Blade of the Rising Sun══╝
In his empty hand, flames erupted and formed a long pole stretching out before him. The fire grew, curving upward, and then expanded, creating the blade.
Starting from the tip of the sword, the flames vanished, revealing a bright white blade down to the hilt as it formed around his hand, curving to create a guard of shining gold.
The hilt formed in his balled fist as bright red cloth and leather wrapped around it until the pommel formed, revealing a shimmering ruby, glowing red as a burning sun could be seen within.
Samael panted heavily, his vision blurring as he struggled to keep his eyes open while he stared incredulously at the weapon in his hand. Suddenly, a specter shot through the air, having avoided the devastating attack.
Vitani reached out to grab the ghost, but it slipped through his fingers, intent on taking out the struggling young man. Instantly, a massive fireball flew through the air, passing by his head and striking the ghost inches away from Sam.
Vitani turned and looked back at Nathan as he panted heavily, smoke rising from his outstretched palm, and unleashed a grin, turning as he glanced at the young man, "Harmless you said, huh..?"
Kaitlyn ran over to Samael as he chuckled, wincing in pain. The young girl placed her hands on his back as a faint white light emitted from them, entering the young man's back and instantly soothing his pain as he felt his energy returning.
The rubble of the temple exploded as a pitch-black aura erupted forth, sending the debris flying in every direction, an etherial and resounding roar causing the two kids to flinch and cover their ears.
Samael sighed heavily as he rose to his feet, staring at the temple resoundingly when Vitani patted his shoulder, shaking his head, "You rest, I got this one..."