Asmodeous dropped his right hand to the ground and whipped it up in the Demon''s direction, creating four horizontal fiery blades from his claws that tore through the energy blasts the Demons had shot at him, while also cutting straight through two of the Demons. One of them managed to roll out of the way just in time, but he was barely halfway through his roll when Asmodeous dashed up to him in a single step; bringing his right boot down onto the Demons back, smashing him straight into the ground. Before the Demon had even realized he had been attacked, Asmodeous brought his right fist down and crushed its head like a grape.


    A massive tower shield and a long club appeared in the hands of one of his guards, while a great axe with an abnormally long shaft appeared in the other''s hands.


    "ASSASSIN, HELP THEM PROTECT ME!! I AM GOING TO OPEN A PORTAL!"


    Asmodeous had barely entered a channeling pose when the guard with a tower shield had to jump in front of him. He brought his shield up just in time to block the hail of explosive rounds being fired from a seven meter tall slug-like Demon. It was sliding along the ground toward us with its bulbous body, firing two rockets attached on its shoulders and one large cannon on its right hand as it advanced.


    The guard with the long great axe threw it at the slug. I could hear the wind from it whirling as it flew past me, and for its part the slug attempted to move out of the way, but the axe was moving too fast for it in the end. The axe tore through the slug and quickly pivoted around; rebounding back to its owner.


    While this was all going on I was channeling a spell I had only used in my soul realm, but this was as good of time as any to start using spells in combat. I was about halfway done when a nine meter tall bipedal Demon reached us. This one didn''t have any weapons, but it was heavily armored.


    The guard with the shield slammed it into the ground and attempted to brace himself, but the Demon completely bowled him over. It was kind of comical seeing the guard rolling backwards along the ground as his shield practically did the same motions as him.


    The Demon had lost a lot of his momentum so it turned and ran past me, but it only got a few feet before the other guard buried his axe into its back. That''s when I noticed that while the Demon was heavily armored, its back had a lot of gaps, and even the armored portions were much lighter than its front.


    As the Demon fell to the ground and burst into flames (the guard''s axe ignited the moment it hit him) I finished channeling. I then used my fingers to draw out lines in my vision along the ground, pinpointing where I wanted my soul to cast it.


    I finally let the spell loose after the first guard returned with his shield. Three meter thick walls of earth came out of the ground, rising a few meters above Asmodeous'' head.


    I was planning on saving the spell for when the Demons had nearly reached us, as it would only serve as a visual impediment with so much distance between us, but the fuckers had begun firing at us so I had no choice. And they were by no means firing a small amount that the first guard could block with his shield. There was a horde of them approaching while firing now. Physical rounds, energy blasts, rockets, grenades, it was all hitting the earthen wall that my mana was still channeling into.


    If all of that hit me head on my mana would''ve dropped to zero long ago, but the nature of the wall itself was dampening the damage by spreading it out, so both my mana and the wall were taking far less damage than they should be. However, even with that, neither were going to last as long as we needed it too.


    To our right I could see bodies pierced onto sharp red rocks all around a singular building. Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Crotians, Kitsune, Nei''lah, the weird aliens from Veca and the ''training grounds'' photo, and there were at least another ten races of beings I had either never seen before, or had seen in passing when I was a child in the Xerath realm.


    The meaning behind why they were there was obvious.


    They were trophies.


    My mana took a massive hit as another Armored Demon blasted through the wall, leaving a giant hole in its wake. But just like before, it had lost a lot of momentum, which allowed the guard with the shield and club to knock the feet out from underneath the behemoth. And just like before, the axe wielder brought his weapon down onto the Demons back before igniting it in a ball of fire (whether this even damaged the Demon was unknown, as the axe itself seemed to do the job).


    After the Demon smashed into the wall I had immediately meditated to recover my mana. I was unable to channel into the wall as a result, so it was quickly being destroyed by the constant stream of attacks from the Demons. As a result, the guard with the shield placed himself in front of Asmodeous again, preparing to intercept all of the attacks, while the axe-wielder pulled his arms all the way back, apparently in preparation to throw his axe again.


    The wall crumbled moments after my mana was full again, but I was barely a second into channeling my next spell when a twenty-two foot tall bipedal Demon warped next to Asmodeous and the guard (we could only see a vague silhouette at this point). Fortunately for them, its ability wasn''t instantaneous like the Draugr''s was (units spawned out of Viktor''s obelisks). It took a few seconds, allowing the guard time to reposition himself in front of Asmodeous.


    The second the Demon''s transfer finished it took aim with its weapon that clearly looked like a double-barreled shotgun at Asmodeous'' head. The guard raised its shield up just in time to block the shot, but since it hit the top of the shield and the guard was no longer bracing itself, it nearly knocked the shield out of its hand, and to make it worse is the fact that the Demon kept firing.


    I glanced at the other guard to see if he was going to handle it but he had already ran off toward the approaching hordes. At the moment he was leaping at a fat Demon sitting on top of a hexapod robotic frame. Why he chose that one first was obvious when I saw that it was firing multiple plasma weapons.


    I stopped my channel, as there was no time to create another wall, instead choosing to place a barrier over Asmodeous. This was a spell I was not a fan of. No matter how much I trained in my soul realm, I was unable to properly wield it, so the mana costs per hit were ridiculous compared to the types of barriers Lindon or Luna could create. But this was the only instant cast save spell I had at the moment, and I needed to act now.


    After the barrier appeared over Asmodeous I flew up into the air and dropped down onto the Demon (who was still trying to shoot Asmodeous, at this point I was certain its bullets were mana fueled and not physical). As I came down I dropped both of my feet onto its skull, driving them straight through it, which was kind of a problem since I was struggling to free myself as the Demon fell over. It only took a few seconds but every second mattered in our current situation.


    I released the barrier as the guard began to block the hail of gunfire again. My mana was nearly depleted, which wasn''t much of a surprise considering what it looked like around Asmodeous at the moment. The amount of explosions, energy blasts, and physical bullets hitting the tower shield and the ground was ridiculous.


    I ducked between the guard and Asmodeous for a moment to regain my mana before stepping out to help the other guard, but that''s when he re-appeared next to us. The reason was clear when I saw just how close the horde was now, and even worse was the fact that I could see at least four of the large shotgun Demons (with two of them wielding different weapons) dematerializing. Which meant that they were about to re-appear somewhere around us, and even without the horde, protecting Asmodeous from four of those wasn''t going to be easy.


    Three of the fat Demons riding mechanical mounts had been channeling onto a blue sphere the entire battle, and the moment they launched it above us I could feel my mana regen completely halt. As the blue sphere floated in the air above our heads, even meditating wasn''t regenerating any mana. A quick glance around I could see its area of influence could visually be seen by a thin veil that made everything outside of it shimmer as if we were looking at a mirage.


    I was about to fly up and try to destroy the sphere when Asmodeous yelled ''NOW!!''. The axe-wielding guard was about to throw his axe again but he paused and looked back at Asmodeous at the same time I did. In front of him was a dark-purple portal, and in the middle I could see glimpses of a familiar looking vehicle. It was one of the armored vehicles stationed at Fort Deus.


    The guard and I turned to run toward him, reaching the portal as the other guard jumped through it.


    The moment I passed through the portal I could feel Asmodeous aura surround me as he destroyed the portal.


    "THAT WILL ONLY BUY US A LITTLE BIT OF TIME."


    After we had flown up into the air and began to make our way back toward Arcadia did the meaning behind his words really hit home for me.


    "Wait, what do you mean ''buy us time''?! They pulled us into our realm, so couldn''t they have just came to ours anytime they wanted?"


    Asmodeous paused for a moment before saying, "NO... WITH THE AMOUNT OF DEMONIC CORRUPTION HERE I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACCESS THIS LAND MUCH FASTER, BUT SOMETHING WAS STOPPING ME. THE AREA WAS SEALED SHUT FROM THE OTHER SIDE. IT WAS A ONE WAY PORTAL WITH THE OTHER END BEING SECURELY BLOCKED."


    ... So in other words, there used to be a two-way portal at Fort Deus, but something or someone had blocked the other side out, preventing them from accessing out world. And we just broke that seal...


    I sighed as a hail of gunfire ripped into us.


    This reset is off to a great start... And it didn''t hit me before, but there were no anti-air machines around Fort Deus for miles. Fortunately, we''re about to move too fast for them to matter so I''m not worried about the damage we''re sustaining right now.


    A few minutes later Asmodeous looked back at me. It was hard to tell with the way his face and eyes were designed, but he looked quite angry.


    "OUR LORD SAYS THAT THEY HAVE INDEED RE-OPENED MY PORTAL. THEY ARE FLOODING OUT OF IT NOW, BUT THE MACHINES ARE NOT ATTACKING THEM." He looked forward and continued, "OUR LORD IS ALSO UNABLE TO INTERACT WITH THOSE DEMONS. THIS CANNOT STAND... IT APPEARS WE WILL BE STAYING HERE MUCH LONGER THAN I HAD INTENDED."


    <hr>


    As Arcadia came into view I removed Asmodeous aura and flew toward the city while they returned to the Demonic Fortress. At the back of the ''mid-levels'' of the fort I could see multiple portals were already active (only the foundation was set at the moment, so all of their rooms were clearly still visible).


    The Demons maintaining the portals looked exactly like the one who was channeling into the portals in the Abyss. Well, not exactly like the one I saw in the Abyss. That one looked like it was zombified or something. They were obviously controlling it. Ishar and Greyson said it was referred to as the ''General''? So maybe that''s what their type is called.


    I ran up to the eastern gate where a group of guards were gathering. At the head of them was three people in Tyranium suits. One of the suits was dyed red.


    "Halt!" The man in the red Tyranium suit yelled out as I reached them.


    ... I was going to stop anyway, asshole. After Xelba I really struggle with orders like these. I could''ve just flown over the stupid gate, and yet I was obviously approaching them like this to talk... sigh, just let it go, Rei. You have bigger issues to deal with.


    I stopped in front of the group of guards. Immediately the person who yelled halt removed his helmet, revealing a young man with short blonde hair and sharp eyes.


    "S-Sir, there''s no need to remove your helmet. The speakers---"


    The young man raised his hand, causing his subordinate to shut up.


    "I will do no such thing when her face is clearly visible!" He said to his subordinate before looking back at me, "Apologies for the delay, young... Oh?" He put his helmet back on for a moment before taking it back off, "So you are who I think you are. You''re the young lady who killed one of my men. This isn''t why I stopped you here, but as fate would have it..."


    "Huh? But I don''t remember killing anyone lately?"


    "You..." He narrowed his eyes at me, "Did his life mean so little to you that you don''t even remember snuffing it out? Perhaps you are the monster they''ve made you out to be..."The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    What in the hell is he... Wait.


    "Hang on, you''re not talking about that icy spear guy I fought in the arena, are you?"


    "Of course that''s who I''m talking about!" He roared in response.


    "Well whoop dee fucking doo I killed a thug who brought it on himself. They had tried to kidnap me in the past and then I found out they had been harassing the Inoue''s constantly. And did you see the video? That fucker was not trying to knock me out, he was trying to stab me in the back of the head with a lance made of ice, and it was really well done. Most people wouldn''t have had the mana required to block that attack, so he was obviously trying to kill me. Now can we stop talking about that loser? I have something far more important to report."


    At first the man''s face contorted in rage, but when I said the word ''kidnap'' he looked more confused than mad, and by the end he was lost in thought. To the point where a guard had to step up and talk since the man wasn''t saying anything in response.


    "And what is it that you wanted to report, Miss Reimia? We''ve been awaiting your return ever since the Archdemon left with you."


    "We went to Fort Deus, and well, it''s bad... We found out that the reason everyone disappeared from there is because the entire fort is some sort of gateway to another realm full of Demons that the Archdemon didn''t recognize. They attacked us on sight, firing their ranged weapons at the Archdemon first."


    "Ranged weapons??" The blonde man interjected.


    "Yes, ranged weapons. And they weren''t the only thing in that realm. There was a machine that was---Actually, here, just take my footage and see it for yourself. We need to get the word out now, because Asmodeous needed to open a portal so we could escape, and now those Demons are streaming out of it. You need to tell Fort Weiss to be careful, or maybe they should just straight up abandon it? Because those Demons might find their way there."


    I brought my portable console up and accessed the footage''s data. "Where should I send it? I''ve never done this outside of the lounge."


    "In the ''nearby'' section of networks. Send it to ''all'' please." The guard replied.


    I did as he asked and all of the guards went silent as they skimmed through the footage. The red-suit wearer put his helmet back on and did the same.


    While they were doing that I went into my contact list and tried to call my Uncle, but for the first time yet I received an error response saying the call was blocked. After that I tried calling Solas, Yulong, and Eve, but all of the calls were blocked.


    "Uh, not to interrupt you guys, but why are all of my calls being blocked?"


    "Huh? They''re being blocked?" The red-suit wearer responded. About twenty seconds later he removed his helmet and looked at me with a weird expression on his face, "Mine are being blocked too... Dylan, what is happening?"


    The guard I had spoke to earlier looked at the man, "Give me a moment. Calls should only be blocked in a general emergency if a lockdown order is given, but I''ve received no such orders." He went silent again for about a minute before finally saying, "... Something is wrong. My direct line of communications that is supposed to go through all lockdown orders, is being blocked."


    The rest of the guards who were watching my footage stopped and quickly looked over at Dylan. Almost all at once they said ''What?!'' (I could barely hear it over the red-suit wearer''s dislodged helmet). I''m late to realizing this, but I just remembered that the others had already told me to look out for someone wearing a red Tyranium suit. Isn''t this the son of the head of Clan Uruguay? ''Leon'' should be his name... Eve said he was different, and I''ve seen a few signs of that so far. At the very least he''s not like the hooligans serving under him, which is rather bizarre.


    Dylan pointed at two of the guards, "You two, stay here. The rest of us are going to try and figure out what is going on." He glanced at me, "Miss Reimia, I''ve only seen a little of the footage, but what you''ve shown us is horrifying to say the least. Also, I did see that you''re an expert caster with a massive mana pool, so I''d appreciate it if you joined us."


    I had to stifle a laugh when he called me an ''expert caster'', but it was obvious why he got that misunderstanding from the footage. Since the only thing I had actually done was cast spells during that encounter.


    "And I accept of course. I''ll be right behind you."


    I assume my invitation was more of a ''just in-case'', but he doesn''t know that it''s possible that the city is under assault again. He doesn''t remember what happened last time after all... I really hope it didn''t happen again already. That''d be way too damn fast though, so it has to be something else, but what could it be?


    We ran toward the elevators, only stopping once to talk to one of the men driving the large plow trucks. He told us that he hasn''t been in contact with anyone in the city in a while, and that his radio had cut out about twenty minutes ago, giving us a pretty good idea of when whatever it was had started.


    Once we arrived at the elevators we found problem number two. We couldn''t activate them. Even after a general override by Dylan to get the doors opened, we still couldn''t get the elevator to move.


    I couldn''t hear their discussion, as this time Dylan forgot to (or purposely) turn his speaker on. So instead I waited and watched as their body language made it clear that two of them were beginning to panic, while the others remained stoic and professional. Two out of twelve, not bad. I figured the gate guards would be more lax and prone to flee, but it seems that''s not the case.


    After that they began to run further toward the back, and I followed after them. I didn''t know where we were going until they stopped in front of the loader bays. And yet again, they had to override them to get the doors to open. But fortunately for us, this time the elevator actually moved. Not naturally of course, but through one of Dylan''s men finding a way to reset it, so it exited whatever lockdown mode it had been put under.


    The doors closed and the elevator began to descend. Unlike its usual white and cheery lights, the red lockdown lights were still up.


    "We''re descending to the lounge at R-4. Normally we would go to the head office, but the loaders don''t stop there. The lounge is the next best place. If something did happen, then people are sure to bunker down there." Dylan said over the speakers for me.


    After that the only thing I could hear was the elevator itself. It moved quite slow, and unlike the usual elevators, there were no glass windows. The only way to know where we were was on the small elevator''s console, and the screen placed on the east wall. Dylan tried changing through the channels to see if we could figure out what was going on, but every channel had the same emergency lockdown message going on repeat.


    ''Arcadia is currently under lockdown. Alert level - Max. Please return to your homes and await further guidance.''


    We weren''t going to get anymore out of it, so he turned the channel back to the elevator''s status, which showed a very basic image of where the elevator currently was in Arcadia. We were just now after five minutes reaching R-1.


    "Just so you know, I sent a warning to Fort Weiss before we entered the elevator and lost contact with the ground level. I also sent along the footage of your encounter, so they should be prepared for what is to come regardless of whether they decide to stay or hunker down." Dylan said as we moved past R-2.


    Smart of him. No way of knowing if we''ll get trapped down here after all.


    Eventually, the doors finally opened up to R-4, and the first thing we saw was the corpse of a Butcher.


    God damnit, so it did happen again, and so much sooner than before!


    We moved quickly through the area, making our way toward the Lounge. Contrary to my initial thoughts, we didn''t encounter a single living machine. There were plenty of dead ones, and a few dead people here and there, but it was nothing like what I had encountered in the past.


    A few minutes later we reached the plaza area and could see a large barrier setup in front of the lounge. Both physical, and magical.


    We moved at the same pace as before, keeping an eye on our surroundings as we advanced, but it wasn''t long before we began to run into people. There were groups outside of the lounge moving machine bodies out of the way. They had piled up quite a bit and were blocking way too much vision as a result.


    Dylan and Leon removed their helmets as we reached the lounge. The guards at the lounge did the same in response.


    "What the hell happened here?!" Leon was the first to speak.


    One of the guards shook his head, "No idea, sir. Most of us here weren''t even on duty when we suddenly received a message from the Inoue Clan to gather here. And it wasn''t just us that got that message." He jutted his chin behind him.


    Looking further into the lounge, I could see Shizue, Gale, the hooligans, and several other people who looked like they were on good terms with Gale.


    "Father!" Leon yelled out as he ran forward. He ended up stopping in front of a portly man standing next to Gale.


    "Ooh my boy!! I was worried about you out there, but how''d you re-enter the city?"


    I walked past Dylan and the guards, heading straight up to Shizue who was in her soul realm with Gale. I tapped her on the shoulder and immediately both her and Gale opened their eyes.


    "Welcome back, Master Reimia. But aren''t you back a little too fast?"


    "Asmodeous flew us out there. He has an amazing skill I need to learn. It allowed us to reach Fort Weiss in like twenty minutes? And I have some bad news, but first I need to know what the fuck happened here. How did the machines already attack?"


    Before she could respond Gale stuck his hand out at me. He was still sitting down and it was clear he was asking for a handshake. It was obviously strange considering the circumstances, but I obliged anyways out of curiosity.


    "Thank you." He said after I grabbed his hand. I could tell he was being genuine, which made it all the weirder.


    Shizue chuckled, "I showed him what happened up until now, as per Master Solas'' orders. You see, we had a bit of a problem pop up soon after you left."


    "Obviously you did, but how? And no problem Mr. Gale."


    Solas decided to trust him, so I''ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.


    In response Shizue reached out her hand while still clasping Gale''s with her left hand. I sat down and grabbed her hand, allowing her to pull us into her soul realm.


    "This is how." She said, bringing up video footage of Evette entering a door.


    "And? I don''t know what that door is, so I''m learning nothing here."


    Gale laughed, "That''s the door to the main core. Your buddies had Shizue monitoring the footage around it twenty four seven after you showed them the past."


    I looked back at the footage and sighed, "So it was Evette... But I don''t understand. How did she remember how to unlock the core? And that is what happened, right? She didn''t just go in there and leave? I don''t know if it''s normal for people to just enter the core room after all."


    "It''s definitely not normal, Master Reimia. And she did unlock the core - that''s the problem. But as for how she remembered... She didn''t."


    Different footage appeared on the screen - it was of the lounge. Evette and the other attendants were taking care of things as usual when she suddenly received a message from someone. The message appeared to be nothing more than an image of a pretty field full of flowers.


    "And here, is the real image." Shizue said, morphing the image to show a line of characters I recognized but couldn''t read.


    "Abyssal... Now hang on. I know Arcadia has powerful scanners that detect any hint of corruption, which is why I was glad that after my initial conversation with Shannon and her brother, that I was confirmed as a hybrid, and not something that was corrupted or cursed. If I hadn''t told them about the Abyss, there would have been major problems for a while, so if she really was one of them, how the hell did she fly under the radar?"


    I didn''t sense anything weird with her soul at all either.


    Gale sighed, "We don''t know. That''s what we were doing in here the past few hours. We''ve been pouring over hundreds of hours of footage trying to find something off with her, but all we''ve found is that she never leaves or uses the elevators. And I mean never. So you know what that means, yes? Although she did once, which was to ride the elevator up to R-1, and she was immediately flagged in the system. But by time the guards had reacted, she had already activated the core and used the elevator inside of it."


    Never using the elevators means she never came into contact with the scanners... But she had to get inside the city through them at some point.


    "How did she originally enter the city?"


    "Birth." Shizue merely said.


    "... She was born here? And then she somehow never used the elevators?"


    "Again, we don''t know. There are no records of her keypass using the elevators, only her parents who had left over ten years ago to live in Termia. It''s rare for people to leave Arcadia for somewhere else, but it does happen."


    "That''s not all though, Master Rei---"


    I raised a hand and cut off Shizue, "Just Rei, please. I know you want to call me master, but I''m not a fan of it."


    "R-Rei... We also accessed the core thanks to what Evette did, so it''s not all bad. I downloaded the entire archive, and it''s very interesting." She continued, "Also, Master Solas, Eve, Yulong, and half of every Clan''s forces have been going through the sealed levels trying to find Evette. I''m sure you were wondering where they were, and so, there you go."


    She materialized a couch, a console, and a very large TV a few feet away from where her and Gale were pouring over old footage. "Here, you should look through the core''s files before you leave. I know you want to join the others, but remember, it''ll only take a few seconds inside my soul realm." She continued, "And I suggest you watch this first. It''s the last video ever aired on ''Earth''."


    What? I wanted to rush down to the sealed levels to help the others, but now I have to watch this. I can''t even imagine what it''s going to show...


    "That video... I can''t get it out of my head. That shit was horrifying." Gale said as I walked over to the couch.


    The video file ''This isn''t your world anymore'' was highlighted.


    ... Well that''s not ominous at all.


    I clicked the play button next to the video and leaned back into the couch.


    <hr>


    The music played first. It was an ambience I expected to hear in a temple or a church. Next, an image of the night sky appeared on the TV as a man began to speak.


    "At the worst possible time, you sent up a flare."


    "In a dark forest, you lit a fire."


    "And now, you are no longer alone."


    The video changed to that of a skycam over a small city. There were fires raging everywhere as bullets rang out from different points of the city. Between the fires and gunshots I could see people fleeing from monsters as others chose to stand and fight. ''Elgin, Texas'' was in the corner.


    "You brought this on yourselves."


    An old man in a wide-brimmed hat with curled brims unloaded his shotgun on a skinless monster running at him with four elongated limbs. The scene ended with the monster devouring the old man.


    "We will not help you. We are going to watch as you face the consequences of your own actions."


    "We will watch, with glee."


    A new city appeared. It was a much larger one, with tall buildings everywhere. The city was silent. Through the lights that were still running, I could see nothing but bloodstains and destroyed vehicles. ''Seoul, South Korea''


    "This fight is already over. Your leaders are attempting to flee... They will not get far."


    "And you... You will also not last long."


    It changed to that of a view from someone''s living room. Through the sliding glass door I could just barely make out the outline of a large monster in the field outside. ''Sochaczew, Poland''


    "Give yourselves up to them."


    The outline of the monster vanished as the outside light shattered.


    "That is your only option now... No one is coming to save you."


    An image of a church with a cross on it appeared next.


    "You''re all alone... And your gods are silent, for they never existed."


    The next image was of six massive arms sticking out of the ground. They were reaching for the sky, and I could see that each of its fingers were different. Human, Reptile, Mammalian, multiple Unknowns, etc.


    "That is one of your gods now. Pray to it, and you may even live."


    The last image was of a giant red fleshy tree. It was taller than the clouds, with thousands of branches. Hanging off the branches were fleshy bulbs that were being cared to by ant-like creatures.


    The base of the tree had much larger bulbs and creatures. They were made up of red sinewy flesh with white metallic porcelain covering them in different parts of their bodies. The types of monsters spreading out from the tree were wildly different aesthetically. Humanoid, Insectoid, Xerath, Demon... ''Hokkaido, Japan''


    "This is not your world anymore."