North of the Flux zone, inside a quiet armoury
Leona had her arm stretched out as she adjusted the vambrace, testing the fit with a quick flex of her wrist.
A smile arched on her lips.
"Perfect."
Next, she wore her black leather boots, reinforced with flux crystal enhanced soles for speed.
"So you're saying they were completely unharmed when you arrived?"
Agent Keith asked with eyes following every one of Leona's movements like he was taking notes.
Keith was just behind Dex, who stood at the entrance of the building, leaning on the doorframe slightly.
"That's what I said. The Gray boy and the Vermith," Leona responded without looking at either of them.
"They were able to hold their ground." she finished.
Dex raised an eye brow. "This is a Mag-Titan we are talking about?"
"Yeah, it was only a new-born but it was still an ascended," Leona clarified.
She secured the other vambrace. "It is still an impressive feat for someone I would place at Aspirant."
"Indeed….," Dex said
"Yeah," Keith responded simultaneously.
"...And the Vermith?" Keith asked with a thoughtful expression and an underlying interest in his voice.
"She is definitely above Elite," Leona paused, her hands stopping on a buckle.
"There is something familiar about her."
"Familiar?" Dex straightened up, he was now interested.
But to his disappointment, Leona didn't say anything else, as she checked her swords.
"Lady Leona. Lady Leona. If you can hear this… You are needed at wall gray." The communication device on Leona's belt crackled to life.
But even before the message was completed, the Red Saint had already began moving.
One moment she was in the building,The next. She was in the sky and shattering the sound barrier as she blitzed through the airspace leaving the roof of the building in pieces.
Dex sighed, as Keith stared at the blank space where she was a second ago, before looking at the shattered roof.
"Does she always do that?"
"Yeah," Dex muttered as he shook his head in defeat.
"That's lady Leona for you."
<><><>
Outside of the flux zone. It was raining heavily, even as multiple carriages were being pulled by Phantom steeds into the city.
Dean sat near the window of the carriage he occupied. With Ash on his lap, he activated Hermit's eyes as he watched the city.
The rain droplets fogged the windows but even through this fog. Dean saw it all, in a new clarity.
Ranking up to [Elite tier 1] wasn't a thing to be glossed over.
As even right now, he saw the droplets of rain in slow motion. They hung in the air like crystals.
He witnessed as the people in the lower districts were being evacuated from their homes to the various Arks within the middle district.
W.S.A personnels could be seen directing traffic while flying manta rays carried some uniformed summoners towards the outer regions.
Above the city, he could see the lines of flux energy from the flux core arrays, forming what seemed like a grid framework across the walls and sky.
'A secondary defense?' Dean pondered, he could tell something was off about the flow.
He didn't necessarily know what to think about it but he noticed all of this energy, he presumed only he could see was spiralling to one section of the city.
Wall Gray.
This particular section of the city was the one place humanity hadn't pushed even in the last few years.
It was the most contested wall and the hot spot for some of the nastiest monsters Humanity had ever seen. Or at least those were the rumors he remembered.
The siege continued as loud thunderous roars met with the torrential downpour.
Dean leaned back, allowing Hermit's eyes to fade as the carriage turned down a familiar corner.
He was home. Finally.
The Gray family house came into view and he saw Yuki outside the gates with an umbrella in hand, waiting amidst the guards.
Even when the carriage stopped at the gate. Yuki couldn't hide her relief when she spotted him through one of the carriage windows.
Dean stepped out of the carriage with Ash still on his shoulder as he waved the old chauffeur goodbye while the carriage rode away.
"You're back," Yuki tried and failed to say flatly as she moved closer. Inspecting his body for any injuries.
"I'm back," Dean replied as he straightened up while Yuki checked his body.
"So you miss me, this much huh?"
Yuki suddenly paused and even though Dean couldn't see her eyes, knew she was designing his casket in her mind.
"You look fine," Yuki said as she pulled away from his body.
"I guess when the alarms sounded, they decided to end the draft early," Dean said calmly.
Yuki's expression didn't change, but her eyes shifted toward the outer walls in the distance.
"Then they'll handle it."
Dean glanced back toward the direction of Wall Gray.
'Will they?'
<><><>
WALL GRAY
Where the battle raged on…
On the edge of the wall, the long snowy white hair of a man flowed with the wind.
For some unknown reason, the rain within the city stopped just before the walls like this was a separate realm all together.
The commander who wore full black armor stood at the edge of the wall with his silver broad sword planted on the ground. While he watched the horde of monsters approach.
The number of the monsters were easily in the thousands. They were of different forms and sizes.
Some of them were like shadows running with two legs while the others that climbed the walls were like wolves with multiple snake-like tails and sharp claws.
The way these creatures moved with coordination told Commander Gerald that they weren't random and were being led.
At the base of the wall, corruption spread as dark tendrils, like ink went through the cracks of the foundation in an attempt to breach into the inner walls.
These tendrils were fought off aggressively but the soldiers at the base of the wall, cutting the tendrils down without hesitation.
"To the East…" Another voice boomed with authority at the far-end of the rampart.
The archers who already had their purplish tipped, flux-enhanced arrows nocked, released them at the same time .
The volleys of arrows came down like a purple rain on the hordes.
The monsters screeched violently as they took their last breath but even as they fell. They were replaced with others that climbed over their corpses.
At this point, it seemed like an endless wave of monsters.
Gerald observed everything without even moving a muscle. He didn't need to yet.
It was this concentration that allowed him to pick up a monster totally different from the others.
It sat on a tree stump, with predatory eyes that watched and observed simply.
It didn't roar or charge, just a presence that the others avoided as they rushed past.
"That's the captain," the cold voice of Gerald spoke directly to the werewolf that was still instructing the archers.
The creature in question looked human but was different in more ways than one.
It had wings with arms and legs that looked longer than humans, with corruption wrapping and twirling around its thin body. The same corruption that was still trying to enter the city through the base of wall Gray.
"Where is she?" Gerald said quietly even as his jaw tightened.
The werewolf glanced at him with a huge grin on his face even in the chaos.
"She'll be here. Probably still battling with her breakfast." He said with a lighter tone.
Gerald didn't even look at him, knowing how relaxed this man Tzu was under pressure.
On the surface of the outer wall, several monsters groaned as they dropped off the walls with arrows finding their heads.
At the base of the wall, one of the soldiers defending the walls from the inside, had his legs wrapped by the tendrils and tried pulling them in.
Fortunately for the man, his companion was able to pull him back after slashing through the tendrils in quick succession.
Tzu's smile slowly faded as he noticed his soldiers being pushed back. His mane grew longer as his ears glowed yellow.
"We can't hold forever," Tzu spoke.
Gerald sighed as he pulled his broad sword from the ground causing the wall to tremble and walked closer to the edges.
The crouching creature on the stump tilted its head upwards as it watched.
"Leona owes me," Gerald's slitted eyes narrowed as he smiled for the first time.
Boom
His body disappeared, the ground he stood on cracked slightly as he jumped off the edge. Heading straight at the horde.
A/N: Well, Shameless Author here... Still asking for support via Powerstones and tickets.
If you enjoy the story then a review wouldn't be bad either.