Chapter 28

Rena stretches her body and then raises her head to glance at the clock on the wall. She sets the quill aside and stands up from her seat. Her gaze was outside the window, where darkness blankets the scene, broken only by the glow of street lanterns and the occasional flicker of light emanating from the houses, infusing life into this quiet town after sunset.

She admired the view for a bit longer, but her body froze up for a moment when she heard a device vibrating. She glanced to her bureau where a circular device was giving off a blue glow. When she picks it up she presses the power on button. Her eyes wavered as she stared at the notification she had gotten [Signal Lost]. With quick motions, she puts the communicator in a pocket, picks up her rifle that was leaning against the wall, and dashes out of her office and down the stairs.

"Miss Rena!?" While putting on her jacket a secretary watches Rena sprint out of the building.

Nathan who walks out of a room with a stack of documents in his hands looks at the secretary. "What's going on?" She turned her head to him and seemed as confused as he was. "Miss Rena just rushed out of the building with her rifle in hand." When he heard her, Nathan put the stack on a table and glared at the closed front door.

Rena felt her head spin, not knowing what she was doing. She stopped in the middle of the street that went to the town's northern gate and took the communicator out of her pocket. She reread the notifications she had gotten once more. Just what was written made her imagination run wild, but if any of them were true she needed to get to the capital ASAP.

Rena noticed something rapidly approaching and instinctively stepped back. Rena's body became tense as she stared at what flew by. When it landed back on the ground, the wolf-like creature circled her. Not moving an inch Rena waited just like the creature did.

It charged back at her and jumped with its mouth wide open. Swiftly moving her body, the barrel of Rena's rifle aimed straight at the creature's head. With her finger on the trigger, energy flowed from her hands into the rifle causing sparks to appear in the translucent pipes on the weapon. When it was pulled back the lighting inside the gun shot in the direction of the barrel, along with it a bullet flashed through the air and punctured the creature's skull.

"Rena!" Nathan who held his communication device in one hand, stood in the doorframe while staring at her. Nathan took his gaze off her and stared at the Abyssal beast's body lying on the ground next to her. "Snap out of it, Rena!" When she heard Nathan she looked at him and then the Abyssal beast. "You can't be daydreaming while monsters could be roaming around!"

her grip on her rifle tightened as she listened to all his words, while staring at the ground her body shivered and she could hear screams ringing through her ears they were unending, but they all felt so distant.

"You're the person in command, you can't be losing it when people's lives could be in jeopardy." While the noise slowly faded she could hear one more scream that was louder than any other. Rena bit her lip and her hand holding the rifle began to tremble as she knew this time that sound wasn't going on in her head.

"Activate the local coms-tower!" Nathan nodded his head and ran back inside the town hall. After a bit of time, a buzzing noise went off in the ears of every enforcer and clockworker inside the town.

With her communicator in hand, Rena pressed down on its screen once before opening her mouth. "This is a code 93; I repeat a code 93. All enforcers and clockworkers get ready for battle." Rena relayed her orders to every squad in town, when she finished she turned to Nahan. "You'll be in charge of the clockworkers." Nathan who ran back outside nodded his head. "Yes, mam."

Rosalia walks over to the young soldier and helps him get up. "Go back to Rudech and tell him he will take his highness's place as the commander in charge against the wave."

"Yes, mam." the young man runs off, leaving her alone inside the throne room.

Rosalia looked back at the empty throne with squinted eyes. She could still see him sitting there with a little girl on his lap and a smile on his face. Next to them stood a woman who just like him was smiling from ear to ear. Emotions swept over Rosalia as she turned back around and left the throne room.

inside the training room, a line of blood swirled around me. I used my hand to make it dance to my tune and was also able to change its shape and consistency as I pleased. In a bang, the door behind me slams open making me jump up in surprise. While the blood splashed on the ground, someone walked into the room. "I hope you have had enough time to train because we're leaving for the surface."

"Right now?" I stared at Ron with a confused look in my eyes. "Yes, now follow me we have little time."

As we moved through the halls, I stayed close behind Ron. "Why the urgency?"

"A wave has breached its way to the surface."

"What is a wave?" When he heard me, he glanced over his shoulder. "A wave is a natural phenomenon that occurs when an influx of essence gathers within a certain area of the abyss, causing weaker creatures who cannot stand the pressure to flee to the surface."

"Then why do you seem so worried, doesn't it make it, so we have an easier time getting in and out of the city." Ron listened to what I said and seemed to agree, but even then, he still opened his mouth. "You are right, but that veil doesn't only count for us, plus I said it was a natural phenomenon didn't I." Not too long later we stopped before a wooden door. "Anyway, that doesn't matter just get ready for what's waiting for us, you don't need to do or think about anything else."

The alarms sounded as Rena made her way up the northern gate, in the distance she could see them emerging from the forest. Behind her, enforcers ran through the town and also up the wall. When she saw the stampede, she could now clearly tell that their numbers were so high that it would be impossible to count and too great for her small defense force to handle effectively. When she glanced to her sides, she could see some enforcers shaking.

With a short in and exhale, she pulled out the courage that hid somewhere in her body. "Behind us is a small town that is still filled with non-combatants, people who still have a bright future ahead of them! I know that what's ahead of us is not an easy task, but think about all that could be lost when we do not stand in their way! As defenders of Pilantrop, we have trained for years to accomplish one thing, to protect the people, so I urge you to get a grasp of yourself and stand proud! My plan is already in motion, all I now ask of you is to help me stall this threat so we can all make it out of here alive!"

Rena readied her rifle and aimed it at the stampede rushing them. "Aim!" When she said those words, the enforcers followed her orders. Rena waited for a few seconds before opening her mouth once more. "Fire!"

Bullets flew through the air and ripped through the tide of beasts. Even though they saw many drop dead to the ground, it didn't change anything the raging creatures simply trampled over the injured and deceased.

"Ready!" Everyone moved their hands quickly and took a brass ball out of the pouches attached to their belts. They then held down a lever causing an opening to appear in the weapon. "Aim!" When it was put inside, the opening closed, and they pointed their barrels towards the monsters. "Fire!"

They continued these motions until the tide was right at the gate. When they slammed their bodies into the wall. Half of the enforcers dropped their rifles and pulled out their swords and handguns. The rest didn't stop their repeated onslaught of bullets.

"Ready, Aim, Fire!" Rena had said these words so many times she couldn't count, but this time she turned her gaze to the side in shock. 

Rena watched as one of her enforcers dropped to the ground with blood flowing out of their head. She glared at the man who stood right next to them with their rifle aimed directly at her. "Why did you!" Rena pulled out her pistol and aimed it at the man, her hand shook and she noticed his eyes were glowing a bright green.

When she heard more screams all around her, she pulled the trigger. Rena glanced at her surroundings noticing the person she shot wasn't the only one acting strange.

Rena could feel her morale waver as everything seemed to go wrong, but her eyes began to shake even faster as she heard an explosion go off in the distance. "What the."

While lost for words, Rena sees a claw coming from her left. She moved her body and loaded her rifle in milliseconds. With swift motions, she aims her barrel at the monster and fires.

Rena didn't get a single moment to breathe she was being overstimulated with everything that was going on around her. She constantly had to check her surroundings to deal with monsters and hope that the other enforcers would deal with all the renegades that suddenly popped up.

She stopped her gaze while staring at the man she had shot dead at least that was what she believed, but he was contorting on the ground. While slowly getting closer, the body turned around and strings shot up into the air. They frantically moved around, searching for anything they could get ahold of. When they grabbed an enforcer, Rena dashed forward and pulled out her combat knife.

Not wanting to waste any time or find out what might happen Rena used her energy to cut the strings and save her subordinate. Even though she cut the strings, more shot out of his body, and they seemed more aggressive than before. Not knowing how to effectively deal with them Rena grabbed the corpse's legs and threw the body into the hoard of monsters.

Rena turned away and readied her rifle, but before doing anything else she halted her actions. Rena spaces out when an explosion goes off right behind her. When Rena looked back, she could see charred Abyssal beast's bodies and a large hole in the ground. 

"Throw the renegade's bodies into the hoard of monsters!" She didn't have conclusive evidence, but it was too coincidental for it not to be. When they heard her the enforcers made it their goal to deal with these supposed ticking time bombs as quickly as possible.

After a few seconds Rena could see more of these explosions taking out large amounts of beasts, but not everywhere went smoothly. The seemingly never-ending tide kept trying to break through their defense and the strings weren't so easily evaded, either, causing slipups to happen every second that could yield injuries, or even worse.

"Miss!" Rena could hear someone shout for her, the enforcer was quickly enveloped by strings while being pulled towards the corpse. The sound of his screams and his bones crushing rang through everyone's ears, as he was turned into a lump of flesh and pulled inside the corpse.

The corpse contorted and began to grow in size and get back on two feet. While staring at this gruesome scene, new limps began to form on the body. Anyone who was looking while this abomination appeared in front of their eyes wanted to puke.

Before it could make any other move, an arrow punctured its chest, causing it to stagger for but a second, in that time, a young man with black hair jumped up the wall and rushed towards it, kicking it down into the mass of hungry mouths below. The man looked in Rena's direction while his eyes glowed blue. "We came to help."

Rena heard a gunshot go off and noticed that it was flying straight towards her. It moved right beside her head and shot down a creature that was about to get her. "Now is not the time to be daydreaming!"

As she looked down the wall, she could see the Eiji that had shouted at her. She saw him staring at her but her gaze was drawn somewhere else, Rena could see a young female enforcer running towards her from within the town. "Miss, we're ready!"

After hearing her, Rena turned around to see four metallic horses galloping from the East and West towards the giant wave that was still stampeding upon the small town. "Everyone, get ready we are starting the evacuation any moment!"

Rena took out her communicator and typed in a code [160]. "You may start." With her words, the four horsemen began to take a big turn back into the direction they came from. While doing this, they pointed a pistol in the air that was seeping in their energy. When they pulled the trigger, four dots that left behind thick red lines shot up into the air. "Shoot again every two minutes and make sure you are grabbing the attention of as many as you can. After the fifth shot, you may make your way to Randem. I thank you for your work and stay safe."

Rena waited for the shots to almost reach their peak before opening her mouth. "Get to the southern gate now!" When she spoke, everyone turned around before the red dots exploded, which caused blinding flashes.

All the enforcers made their way down the wall and ran into the crumbling town. While making her way to the other side of town, Rena could see enforcers that were at the Eastern gate, also running south.

When she spotted the southern gate, Rena could hear Nathan's voice. "Two people per vehicle!" Nathan and other clockworkers stood at the gate and made sure the mounting of the horses or starting of the scouters went smoothly.

Rena stopped a bit earlier, knowing that not all of them had gone for the bait she had prepared. She waited with her ears peeled while enforcers ran past her. When she reloaded her weapon she could hear them all around her. Rena pointed her barrel toward the darkness ahead, inside of it she spotted two glowing eyes that enclosed her, but those weren't the only ones.

They moved towards her at incredible speed, but her fire rate for the type of weapon she used was nothing to scoff at either. With every attack that came her way, she moved elegantly around the Abyssal beasts without taking a hit, and then her rifle went off. She easily took care of everything until now, but the number of Abyssal beasts around her kept growing.

As Rena battled the monsters, she caught sight of arrows whizzing past her, followed by a young man wielding a Katana in his right hand, swiftly defeating the creatures. He primarily wielded his sword with his right hand, occasionally employing both hands. Whenever he used his left hand, the pain was evident on his face.

Rena could hear footsteps stop behind her causing her to turn around and look at Suki.

When the last group got on a scooter and rode off, Nathan turned to Rena. "That was everyone." His words caused Rena, Eiji, Suki, and Akiyoshi all to run towards Nathan. He pointed at the vehicles they could take but he was surprised when he saw them running for the carriage that stood to the side.

"Get inside!" Rena got into the driver's seat while Akiyoshi took care of the Abyssal beasts and Eiji and Suki got into the passenger's seat. "We can leave!" When he heard Rena, Akiyoshi got into the carriage as well.

While they rode out-of-town Nathan followed behind them on a scooter. He slowed down right beside them and looked at Rena. "Why did you take the carriage if we're going to Randem mountains a carriage will only hinder us."

"We're not going to Randem."

"What?" Nathan looked at her in disbelief and didn't understand what she was thinking. "Then where are you planning to go?"

"Pilantrop." Nathan quickly understood what her plan was.

"I think what you want to do is stupid, but I can't stop you can I." Rena shook her head and smiled "I've already made up my mind."

Nathan laughed to himself from those words he could see why those two got along so well. "Alright then, make sure that fool of a captain doesn't get himself killed, and take care."

"You too Nathan." With that Rena begins to turn the carriage Eastwards.