Chapter 14

The room was filled with a loud roar as a darkness orb flew at Lukas. Casually Lukas turned one of his shotguns and fired. The shotgun pellets hit the orb and caused it to explode early. He lifted his other shotgun and fired it at the monster who was standing again. It flinched, but nothing much more happened.

Lukas threw the shotguns in the air, and they slowly began to fall as if something was holding them up. He dropped his hands to his hips and brought up small belts. Andy saw that on the belt were shotgun shells. In a split second, he reloaded the shotguns by sliding the belt against the loading port.

He charged forward a bit faster this time and fired at the monster’s shoulder. Again, it did little more than flinch. It raised its arm and swung a sword at Lukas who dove to avoid it. Suddenly Lukas was behind the monster. He aimed one shotgun at the back of the monster’s shoulder and the other at where its knees bent. He fired and again the monster just flinched.

“Damus I think the monster is becoming resistant to Lukas’ attacks.”

“I think so too, and that is dangerous. I’m sure Lukas is aware of that.”

Andy built up another fireball and shouted, “Lukas get back!”

Without even taking his eyes off the monster he jumped back, and Andy aimed the attack and fired off small shots from the ball of fire as fast as he could. They peppered the monster as it started to step back.

Andy stopped firing and built up an energy particle in his foot. He stomped into the ground and used the dispersed energy to grab parts of the concrete floor and pull them up. He used his energy to shape the pieces of rock into sharp swords and sent them flying at the monster.

They pierced the monster’s tough skin and caused it to shout out in pain.

He built up another energy particle as big as a tire around his hand and slammed it into the ground. The concrete that engulfed his hand was just as big, and Andy charged forward.

The injured monster was hit with a large block of earth and was sent crashing into a Humvee. Andy partially released his control and launched the big boulder forward, slamming it into the monster.

Lukas spoke “Thanks for the assist. Now let me give you some advice that Lester once told me. It’s not about the size of the flame, that’s something you can disperse. What you need to pay attention to are dense flames. They are faster and have a lot more power behind them.”

Andy got what he was hinting at and built another large fireball at the tip of his finger. He condensed it so that it was the size of a single pebble. Pointing his finger at the monster, he launched it. As soon as it hit the monster, it exploded into a breathtaking blaze.

However, instead of shouting in agony, the monster stood unmoved as the flame engulfed it.

Andy watched in awe as the attack had no effect. As his body began to collapse from exhaustion.

“What do we do now Lukas? This thing is more powerful than what Henry made it out to be.”

“I don’t know. It seems like its learning and becoming more resistant to our attacks.”

Without warning a large bright orb of light appeared in front of them. An arch of light shot out from it and sliced the monster who once again didn’t move. A man stepped out wearing white plated armor and a long white cape with his hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip.

He spoke with a smooth voice “Hey there foul monster. My name is James, and I’m here to take you in.”

He pulled his sword from its scabbard and pointed it at the monster. The straight blade was large and narrow. The cross guard was straight and simple with a sphere on each side.

Without even looking at them he spoke to Lukas and Andy “Is this the power if the Round Table? I told The King that joining you was a waste of time. For a Host to not even be able to kill such a weak creature is insulting.”

“James be careful! The monster is learning how to resist our attacks. It may even have some sort of regeneration abilities.”

“No, your attacks were just too weak to do any real damage. None of the fifteen of these I have killed has ever had that kind of power. Just stay out of my way and watch how it’s done.”

James’ sword started to radiate a white glow. It flashed an even brighter white, and there was a burst of light from inside of the monster.

It shouted in pain.

The sword flashed again, and there was another burst in the screaming monster.

Again, it flashed, and it shouted in pain.

The monster finally flopped to the ground.

James didn’t let up and blasted it two more times.

The monster didn’t scream, it didn’t flinch, and it started to advance.

“What the hell?” James shouted in surprise.

“We told you that he’s building a resistance.” Lukas said.

Damus spoke “I wonder if it has a limit to what it can take.”

James pointed his sword to the sky. There was a brief flash of light surrounding the sword as it grew in length. When the light died out it revealed a long spear, followed by

Lukas drawing his katana.

They both charged forward with James reaching him first. He thrusted his spear at the beast. When it hit its chest there was a flash of light. The monster was pushed back, and it cried out in agony.

Lukas was there and slashed the creature’s stomach before it could recover from James’ strike.

James hit it again and it was knocked back again.

Lukas used his sword to stab its chest. The blade went deep but instead of wasting time pulling it out, he glided around behind the monster.

Quickly he drew his machete and slashed the behemoth in the back.

It let out a horrible cry at the deep wound.

Lukas spun around and held his machete up and blocked a powerful downward slash from the enormous monster.

James impaled the creature with his spear and there were numerous sparks of light inside of it.

But the monster didn’t shout, what happened was even more shocking.

The large body exploded into a large shadow.

It revealed a man. Contrary to the monster he had an average build, and he was rather short, yet he was still muscular.

James aimed his spear at the unconscious man.

Lukas shouted “Wait a minute. I know him! That’s Private Stone!”

“Was he always a User?”

“No. He was a soldier that I was the Warlord for. He disappeared a year ago along with the rest of his squad.”

“What’s he doing here?”

Just then there was a loud crunching sound.

Andy turned to the direction of the sound. In the large vehicle bay door, there were dark colored spikes coming through.

They enclosed on each other and ripped a large hole out of the steel door. The spikes were large hands made of an aura. The aura was a blend of black and different shades of blue and purple. Andy would’ve thought of it as beautiful if it weren’t who the aura was attached to.

In the hole stood three men and the aura was around a shirtless skinny yet fit man with a black cape and a sword on his back.

Andy’s blood boiled as he gripped Talon until his knuckles were white. He took a step forward when Lukas appeared in front of him blocking his path.

Irate Andy snarled at him “Out of my way Lukas! That’s Arphoz! He killed Jackie!”

“I know, but it’s not the best time to fight him. You’re injured, and that guy in the middle that he’s with is a big issue.”

“Who is he?”

“That’s Alfred Cornwallis, the host of Pyesis. A god that we aren’t equipped to handle right now.”

James spoke next “I’m also worried about that third guy.”

“Why? Do you know who he is?” Lukas asked.

“Yes, I’ve fought him once before.”

“Is he strong?” Lukas asked.

“Yes, very. I had difficulty hitting him and had to retreat.”

“We need to get some higher caliber users here and quickly. Andy, I want you to run as fast as you can and get Henry. Maybe grab someone else like Jay or Theodosius too. We’ll hold them off here for as long as we can.”

James spoke instead “I should be the one to go. I can get there much faster than he can.”

“That would be ideal. But Andy’s injured, and he won’t fair well against them.”

Damus spoke up “Perhaps I can offer a solution.”

Lukas responded, “What did you have in mind?”

“I could teach Andy to partially release me. In my awakened state, his wounds would temporarily heal, and his destructive power would be more than a match for Alfred and Arphoz as they are now. Then you take on the unknown while James gets reinforcements.”