Chapter 110: Crisis Situation

Iris stood in the lab with a grim expression on her face.

"That can't be good..." I said.

She shook her head.

"The divine realm Excelsis has given me an answer... They will not be sending help to deal with the crisis because our world isn't the only one under attack right now..." Iris said.

I couldn't deny that the reason made sense...but I still didn't like it.

"So unsurprisingly, they're no help at all?" I said.

I might have been a bit biased because of the Oracle, but I didn't care.

"Pretty much, yeah. I might try to enlist help from some of my friends... Hopefully they can come here..." Iris said.

Carlos looked over at Iris quizzically.

"Lady Iris...forgive me, but...you have friends on Excelsis? I thought you said you didn't get along with anyone over there."

Iris shot him a quick glare and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I can't stand the war god. He's always making fun of my chest and saying I look like a boy... I am not a boy, I'm a woman! The council hates me because I tend to be very vocal about my distrust of their policies. The moon goddess hates me for...only the Creator knows why... And also, the supreme leader of Excelsis, the Oracle, hates me because I keep interfering with her. Lastly, most of the other gods are selfish and prideful. I hate them for that. They also like to make fun of me for loving my world the way I do. I guess I don't have any real friends other than Johann. The dragon god."

"I've heard you talk about this dragon god in the past, but what's he really like?" I asked.

"He's so nice that it'll make you question wether or not he's actually a dragon. He's super touchy and and protective of me. Also, he's basically my bestest friend in all of creation!" Iris said proudly.

"Ah...we've had some pretty awful experiences with dragons... He's not going to go berserk and kill a bunch of people, right?" I said.

"Oh yeah...dragons ate your father, destroyed your home, and traumatized you... No. Johann is a nice dragon. He shouldn't cause any problems, thankfully. But first, I need to find out where he went."

"If Excelsis isn't allowing aid to come here, what makes you say that Johann would be able to help us?" Isabella asked.

"Because Johann isn't affiliated with Excelsis or any other divine realm. He does whatever he wants and visits Excelsis often because he likes to pester me and hang out. He usually sleeps at my place and keeps it clean for me," Iris said.

"So, he's someone we can trust then?" I asked.

Iris nodded.

"And in a crisis like this, you need all the allies you can get."

"In that case, would it be possible to enlist anyone else to help out?" Isabella asked.

Iris thought for a moment.

"I'll have to ask around... Maybe if I can find them, I can convince the gods from Avernia..." Iris said.

"If they ran away the first time, they probably wouldn't fight willingly," I said.

"Good point... Ugh...I think we're flying solo here, everyone. I don't know if I can convince anyone to risk their lives for me..."

"That's okay, Lady Iris. We might still be able to win this," Isabella said.

"True. It's still a possibility... We do have the chosen hero and his wife, after all," Iris said.

"Just call me Mizik. Or just call me The Warmage. Not that stupid title that the Oracle uses," I said.

"Fine. Warmage and his wife. Now then...how should we handle this with the public?" Iris said.

Both Isabella and I shrugged.

It was a ridiculous question to us. Nowhere was actually safe from the Ooze. When it arrived, you could only run until it caught up with you.

Telling the public that a world-destroying crisis had just simply shown up on our doorstep was also a terrible idea. But inevitably, they would find out anyway.

The public would have to be notified of the crisis immediately and told to stay calm...somehow...

"You two. How was this sort of thing handled in Avernia again?" Iris asked.

"We had magic-based communications, but they weren't common. Information took too long to pass on and no one knew what was happening until it was too late," I said.

"Well, that's one issue, but we have rapid communications everywhere here. Information is exchanged by the nanosecond on Ignitus. We can avoid that type of situation. On top of that, we can attack from almost anywhere in the world with our weapons," Iris said.

"Seems like we're far better prepared to deal with this kind of thing then. Are you planning to notify the public?" Isabella said.

"Yes. I have no choice. I'll make a public statement. Carlos, do we have a plan of action to deal with the Ooze?" Iris said nervously.

"Lady Iris, I-"

"Stop with the Lady. No more formalities... Never again. Not until this is over. I need to know everything you've discovered so far. After that, I need to know... Do we have hope?" Iris said.

"Okay, Iris. Let's start with composition. The Black Ooze is composed of a substance completely foreign to this world. It is similar to a type of divine energy...though heavily corrupted. I ran several tests. Chemicals, radiation, poison...ballistic weapons too... None of them have any effect. It eats everything I put in it, and-"

Suddenly one of the beakers containing a sample shattered as the Ooze expanded and broke out.

"What the hell...how did..."

The Ooze spread out on the counter and dripped to the floor. Isabella and I both unsheathed our weapons and stepped forward. Carlos slit his wrists using the mechanism on his hands and blood began flowing around him.

"You two...careful. This equipment isn't cheap..." Carlos said

"No promises..." I said.

The Ooze formed into a humanoid and simply stood there.

Several eyes opened all over the body and the head lurched back as a mouth filled with teeth opened up.

"Greetings...from The King Of The Abyss," it said.

We all stared in shock at the creature.

"The...Abyss...?" I said.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WORLD! LEAVE AT ONCE! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!" Iris screamed angrily.

As she did so, several more beakers broke and more humanoids formed.

"You cannot stop the coming storm. This world is but another step towards the consumption of all creation. All will become the Abyss..."

"You...why did you destroy Avernia!? ANSWER ME!!" I shouted.

The eyes fixed on me at that moment.

"Avernia...the place where it begins. The resting place of The Deus Arms. Birthplace of the Chosen Hero. Avernia has been consumed."

"Why...!? WHY DID YOU DESTROY OUR HOME!?" Isabella screamed in anger.

"You seek the original reason. It was in the way. It was simply next in line. Yet another world. Now it is the beginning..."

"This thing isn't making any sense, you two... Let's try asking it something else. What is the Abyss?" Iris said.

"The Abyss...the world below the Void. The depths below the depths. The darkness within the darkness."

"What is the Black Ooze?" I asked.

"Black...Ooze...? Indeed. What is the Black Ooze?"

I looked back at Iris and she seemed more than disturbed as several more of the creatures opened their mouths.

"Greetings...from The King Of The Abyss..." Many of them began to say.

"Who is the King of the Abyss?" I asked.

"The harbinger of doom," they all said in unison.

As they spoke, the tone of their voices dropped greatly.

"Eehhhhh....these things... What are they!?" Iris said as she moved closer to the three of us.

"We serve...The Abyss. You are...in the way!" They said.

At once they closed their mouths and fixed their eyes on Iris.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!" Iris screamed in fear and dropped to her knees clutching her head.

The creatures lunged forward and the three of us began destroying them left and right.

Carlos was smart and discovered a way to break their cores quickly by using his blood projectiles.

Once the creatures were dead, Carlos quickly copied the data from his computer onto a flash drive and placed it in his inventory.

"We need to leave now!" he said.

Suddenly, more of the creatures began rising from the ground.

"You will not escape...Iris, goddess of balance. You will be consumed!" The creatures said in unison.

Their voices all sounded different, but they spoke the same words.

"IRIS!" Carlos shouted.

She stood up and spread her arms.

Suddenly we were standing in the meeting room of HQ.

She snapped her fingers and the other Enforcers appeared.

"Hey, Iris, can we have a warning-"

"BE QUIET, MICHAEL!" Iris shouted.

He straightened himself and looked ahead with a serious expression.

Iris held her head in her hands as she crouched down and began crying.

Isabella leaned down and hugged her.

"This might be a bad time to mention it...but one of the cities in Nexus has been attacked by a group of monsters. It's already on the news, by the way. The Nexian military...they never stood a chance... We...really need some orders..." Jallah said.

He looked really worried.

"Jallah, what happened?" I asked.

"A group of monsters led by a man with white hair entered the city. There were four other people with him," Jallah said.

"Iris, get in contact with Johann. Everyone else, we need to make sure that the Enforcers are ready to fight the Black Ooze. Mizik, can you go to that city to scout it out?" Carlos said.

"I can go, but...alone?" I said.

Carlos nodded sadly.

"We need Isabella to help with the protection of Iris. We also need her help to utilize the lab results."

"Carlos, I can't just let Mizik go fight the Ooze alone! Are you insane!?" Isabella said.

"I'm not asking him to fight. Just scout. It has to be him because he's this...Chosen Hero or whatever..."

"Fine...I'll go. Which city was involved?" I asked.

"Currently it still hasn't been properly named. It's sector 8-N. In the northern part of the country. There was a military base there, but...it was destroyed. There are remnant forces still in the area waiting on reinforcements," Jallah said.

"Leiso, can you arrange a transport for me? Air support would also be appreciated," I said.

"Consider it done," She said. She immediately began speaking into a device on her wrist as she walked away.

"Iris, would you like me to go with you to the divine realm to find Johann?" Dante asked.

"Yes...if that's okay..." Iris said.

"It shouldn't be a problem. I'm here to help," Dante said.

Iris stood up and walked over to Dante.

Then the two of them disappeared.

Isabella ran over and hugged me. We kissed and then said our temporary goodbyes. Everyone left and Leiso escorted me to the top of HQ. Then an aircraft showed up to take me to the location.

Leiso didn't follow and instead went to the location of the other Enforcers.

Honestly...I felt somewhat afraid...

I looked down at Torantis where people were standing and looking at the news broadcasts of the fighting in sector 8-N...

Innocents were being eaten alive as the people watched in horror... The Nexian soldiers were being completely overrun by hordes of monsters. They stood no chance at all.

I have to protect this world...no matter the cost!

* * *

All of this was happening far too quickly. A few days ago, everything was fine... Isabella and I were relaxing at a beachside resort owned by Emily. Enjoying our vacation and having a nice romantic getaway...

Now look at me...

Alone...in an aircraft overlooking a burning city on the other side of the world...about to jump straight in and potentially die horribly...

Damn it all...