41: Invasion

41: Invasion

A yellow beam shot out, opening a hole through a small mountain of rubble, then a tiny figure followed, crawling out with disorientation.

"Cough! Cough!" Janet coughed, struggling to clear the dust from her lungs. With her hands on her knees, she carefully looked around—her training room had almost completely collapsed, and if she hadn't reacted as quickly as she did, she knew she would have ended up buried alive… if she was lucky.

"What the hell happened?" she wondered, a trace of fear still present, her hands trembling slightly. But she didn't have much time to process the feeling of almost dying, as another tremor, followed by the sound of gunfire and screams, made her realize that this was not the result of an accident or natural disaster.

'It's an attack.' With that realization, her body couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

What was she supposed to do? As a former civilian, her first instinct was to run and hide. But she wasn't a civilian anymore, was she? She had been preparing to go to the front lines almost without rest. She had asked to join the war, and though she didn't feel ready, she knew she had to step forward now, or all her efforts so far would have been for nothing.

'First, let's find out what's happening.' John should already be fighting somewhere along with Raven. If she was fast, she could reach them and help before they solved the problem themselves.

With that in mind, she turned her gaze to one of the holes created by the collapse, from where the nearest sounds were coming. Without hesitating any longer, she jumped, propelling her tiny body three meters into the air.

One of the greatest advantages of her ability to shrink was that, somehow, she retained her strength and endurance despite being several times smaller.

At first glance, that might not seem like much, but when you go from weighing 50 kilos to weighing 5 milligrams, the change in how you move is more than noticeable.

With quick and agile leaps, Janet began running through the base's hallways, her expression growing darker with every step.

There were not only more collapses,—bodies upon bodies of soldiers and non-combat personnel lay sprawled in pools of their own blood. She had to look away multiple times because, very rarely, was a body still whole.

'This is a massacre.' Everything was happening too fast, and she didn't have to search too long to understand why.

"Grrrgh!"

A group of soldiers huddled together, panic written all over their faces as they fired nonstop. Behind them, some of S.W.O.R.D.'s scientists had taken cover. In front of them, a creature—both eerily familiar and disturbingly strange—advanced, barely affected by the dozen or so bullets that struck its naked body.

Its form, like all others of its kind, was humanoid at the base but with obvious deformities. Where there should have been only two arms, there were instead eight—four on each side. Its legs, on the other hand, were thinner than they should have been, almost withered, forcing it to crawl along the ground using its hands like some kind of grotesque spider.

It didn't seem to have any extra weaponry beyond the metal helmet on its head, but that didn't make it any less terrifying to behold.

Janet's pupils shrank as she took in the sight. Swallowing hard, she felt a small shiver run down her spine.

'No! Don't just stand there staring!'

Overcoming her momentary fear, Janet gritted her teeth and raised both arms. A yellow light flashed from her palms, and in an instant, a concentrated beam shot out, striking the monster's side with enough force to dent a tank.

The creature shrieked in surprise and pain, collapsing to one side, its right flank slightly scorched.

Janet wasn't surprised that her attack didn't kill it. Though it hadn't been her main focus in S.W.O.R.D., she had participated in several of the studies and experiments conducted over time on the bodies of the monsters that had been brought to the base for research.

She had a clear understanding of the level of durability these creatures possessed, and that was why—even as her legs trembled—she kept advancing and firing.

"Get out of here!" she shouted at the stunned soldiers and scientists who had no idea what was happening. After all, given her size, she was hard to spot. But as more and more bursts of yellow light struck the monster, forcing it back, they realized this was their chance to escape.

Janet heard them retreating, but she never took her eyes off her enemy and continued attacking. Her experience in combat was still limited, but not nonexistent. She had trained in practice sessions with Raven and occasionally with John. She knew that when dealing with something this tough and strong, the best strategy was to maintain distance—and she did exactly that.

Of course, the monster wasn't about to stay still and let her keep hitting it.

"GRRRAAH!"

Fed up with being a punching bag, the monster slammed all eight of its arms against the ground, making the entire hallway tremble as cracks spread in every direction.

"Woah!" Janet lost her balance, and her next shot went wide, giving the creature an opening to lunge at her at full speed.

"Shit!" Seeing it coming, Janet shuddered, but if there was one advantage she had in this fight, it was mobility. Without hesitation, she threw herself to the side, easily dodging the charge.

The monster crashed into the wall, causing the area to shake again, threatening to trigger another collapse.

Janet charged another energy beam and fired, but this time, the creature had all its attention on her. It used one of its hands to shield itself while launching forward once more in another attempt to crush her.

From Janet's perspective, it was as if a hundred-meter-tall titan was falling straight at her.

It was terrifying, but Janet had long since grown accustomed to seeing things from this new perspective. So, without hesitation, she tried to dodge again, but this time it wasn't so easy.

Maybe the creature wasn't as intelligent as a human, but it still had enough instincts to recognize that its prey was much smaller than it was—and to adjust its attack accordingly.

Its eight hands moved at incredible speed, slamming into the ground like a torrential downpour. The monster began stomping everything around it with more force than an enraged elephant.

Janet felt her vision blur for a second, but thanks to her small size, she was able to leap between the creature's fingers and land on its back.

Panicked, she clung on as tightly as she could while the monster thrashed about. She had never ridden any kind of animal before, but she imagined this must be what people felt like when trying to ride a bull—if the bull was the size of a small mountain.

Holding onto a few strands of hair on the monster's back, Janet began to feel nauseous while also noticing her fingers starting to go numb from all the force she was exerting to avoid being thrown into the air.

'I can't keep this up,' she thought, quickly trying to come up with a plan.

Her attacks, while able to hurt the monster, weren't doing enough damage. If she wanted to end this, she needed to do something much more contundent.

With her eyes darting everywhere in search of something, Janet finally fixed her gaze on the creature's head. The metal helmet covered many parts, but others were left unprotected.

"With my size, I can enter through its ear," the idea came to her, but trying to execute it didn't seem like it would be easy.

'I need to climb.'

Gritting her teeth and fighting the nausea, Janet quickly began to move, scaling up the monster's back until she reached the nape of its neck.

The creature began to halt its frenzy, its hands digging through the destroyed ground as if searching for her corpse.

With fewer abrupt movements coming from the monster, it was easier for Janet to reach her destination, but when she did, she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose.

'I can't believe I'm about to do this.' suppressing her disgust, Janet hurled herself into the ear cavity.

"Grhm?" 

The monster froze for a moment. Then, it started thrashing wildly, all eight of its hands clawing at its head. In its panicked confusion, it rammed into the walls, letting out pained, guttural growls.

"ARRGHNN!"

Soon, yellow light replaced the blue glow in its pupils. The radiance grew so intense that it even began seeping from its mouth and ears. Within seconds, its entire head was engulfed in a blinding golden shine, and with a series of sickening cracks, it began to swell and deform.

Then, it exploded.

SPLORCH! 

Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere, and the monster's body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Crawling through the remnants of flesh and Blood, Janet returned to her original size.

And vomited.

Once her stomach was empty, she lost her balance and fell to the ground, staring at the monster's corpse with an endless storm of thoughts she couldn't quite name.

'It was already dead, it was already dead!' She repeated to herself over and over, trying to find some kind of comfort, though without much success.

'It was nothing more than an animal,' she told herself again, recalling all the research and studies that had been conducted on them.

Thinking about it in a colder, more scientific way helped steady her trembling body. There was no time for self-pity—not when she could still hear gunfire and screams in the distance.

'There are more of them.'

She didn't know how many, but if they were allowed to keep rampaging, more innocent people would die.

Focusing only on that thought, she managed to stand up. Her body shrank, and soon she began taking long leaps, heading toward the sounds of the ongoing battles.

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Moments earlier.

With his body engulfed in flames, Isaac tensed as he stepped in front of the laboratory door.

"Hey, calm down!" Howard nearly shouted at the sight of the fire.

"But—"

"I don't know what's going on, but it won't help anyone if you start setting the place on fire. Save the flames for when you really need them."

Saying that, Howard moved to his main workstation, opening a combination-locked drawer. From inside, he pulled out a sleek, dark-metal firearm along with several matching magazines.

'And here I thought I'd never get to use you.' That thought almost made him smile—until a distant roar reached his ears.

Approaching Isaac, who had reined in the fire on his body, Howard gave him a pat on the back, pushing him to leave the laboratory.

"Come on, let's find Miss Carter and the others."

With Isaac leading the way, the two left the lab. The guards outside had already begun evacuating personnel, and Howard lost a bit of time giving extra instructions before finally heading toward Peggy's office.

Without bothering to knock, Howard slammed open the door to the office, noticing that inside, many familiar people were talking on radios with varying levels of panic and alarm. His sudden arrival drew some glances—mostly toward the naked Isaac—but the people at S.W.O.R.D. were already aware of the android's existence, so those looks soon turned away.

"Howard!" As soon as she saw him, Peggy abandoned what she was doing and hurried over.

"Do you know where John is?!"

Her question made Howard freeze for a moment. He had assumed that, no matter where John and Raven were, they would have immediately rushed into the fray upon realizing the base was under attack, leading the counteroffensive.

But looking at the panicked state of the people around him and the worry in Peggy's eyes, he knew that wasn't happening.

"They must be nearby, probably already fighting," he said, trying not to incite further panic—though, in truth, he was mostly trying to reassure himself.

Seeing that he had no more information on John than she did, Peggy bit her lip and returned to her spot, where she continued communicating via radios with the teams of soldiers around the base who were trying to protect the place at all costs.

"This is Rogers, do you copy? My team and I have reached Dr. Pym's lab, but the entire place is empty. I repeat, the entire place is empty."

"What?!"

Peggy barely had time to process that before another voice cut in.

"The east wing has collapsed! More of those things are coming in—we can't hold—"

The signal abruptly cut off, and no one in the room had any doubts as to why. The atmosphere grew even heavier.

Howard knew they couldn't afford to continue like this. The distant roars were proof enough—there had to be dozens of Hydra's monsters attacking the base. And without John, that was a massive problem.

'We don't have enough vibranium weapons either,' he thought, glancing at his pistol.

Initially, mass production of such items hadn't been planned due to how valuable the material was. Wasting vibranium on bullets was simply bad business—anyone would know that. But it wasn't as if no one had considered they would be used against common enemy soldiers either.

No, they had always been intended for use against enemies like Hydra's monsters. And since the corpses of such monsters were always recovered for study, the projectiles used against them would also be retrieved, making it unlikely that they would carelessly lose the metal.

'Now we have a bunch of those things in our backyard, but nowhere near enough bullets.' Maybe he should have worked more on creating more powerful weapons for the common soldiers.

"One is approaching," Isaac's voice snapped Howard out of his thoughts, making the man turn to look at him in confusion. But he soon understood what he meant when the ground began to tremble.

Disengaging the safety on his weapon, Howard raised his arm and aimed at the door. The instant something slammed against it, bursting it open, he pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The shot rang out like a high-caliber revolver.

Everyone in the room shuddered, then looked toward the door in bewilderment. When they noticed the enormous corpse of one of the monsters lying on the ground, many of them swallowed hard.

"One down," Howard said, lowering the weapon, his shoulder and arm beginning to ache like hell.

'Note to self: improve the design to reduce the recoil.' The only thing that kept his arm from dislocating from the kickback was his experience shooting guns. He never imagined that going to so many shooting ranges when he was younger would come in so handy.

"This place isn't safe anymore! We need to move!" Peggy shouted upon seeing the monster's corpse. If one had made it to their door, it meant the teams that were supposed to protect the path to them were dead.

She was reluctant, but it was clear now—they had to abandon the base.

'Where are you, John?' Not for the first time, the thought of the man crossed her mind, but with no time to spare, she could only push it aside and run toward a bookshelf filled with many books, located at the back of the office. Grabbing one of them, Peggy activated the hidden mechanism, causing the tall piece of furniture to move on its own, revealing the entrance to a long tunnel.

The base was still under construction, but as a former agent, peggy knew there always had to be an exit other than the "main exit," and so she had arranged for a secret tunnel to be built in her office with the help of Hank and his technology.

The ability to make entire tons of earth disappear in less than a second made underground construction much faster in every aspect, speeding up a process that otherwise could have taken months.

"Move! Move! Take only what's essential—we don't have time!" she ordered.

Spurred by her command, people started grabbing what they could and rushing toward the tunnel.

The vast majority of those fleeing were the scientists and non-combat personnel of the base. It was cruel, but they had no choice but to leave the soldiers behind.

Well, others would have done so, but not Peggy. Once the office was nearly empty, she returned to the radios and began issuing several orders. To the soldiers nearby, she told them how to get there, hoping they could escape through the tunnel. For those farther away, she did not hesitate and gave them the order to retreat—there was no point in them dying in vain.

Howard, of course, helped, while Isaac remained by the open door, staring intently into the darkness of the hallway.

'Only ten minutes have passed,' the android thought, having been calculating time since the first alarm had sounded.

He didn't know what he needed to do. Should he go and fight? For some reason, the idea appealed to him, but the colonel had ordered him to stay by Howard's side.

He could not disobey orders, and at the same time, he lacked sufficient information to know whether his participation in the battle would help or not.

Even if, as an android, he was naturally stronger than humans, his creator, Dr. Horton, had designed him with domestic use in mind, not war.

The art of combat was not in his programming.

"Is this… frustration?" No, it wasn't just that. It was something more. Remembering the corpses that he and Howard had encountered on their way to Peggy's office, Isaac's fists clenched.

He knew them. He had spoken with them, worked alongside them, watched their conversations, learning from their actions.

Despite being an android, everyone on the base had treated him with kindness, teaching him whenever he needed it and sometimes sharing a little of their lives and families with him.

He wasn't supposed to have feelings. Seeing their corpses shouldn't have affected him in the slightest—he was just an android, created to serve.

Then why were his optical systems beginning to blur?

He didn't even know he was capable of producing liquid.

"Requesting permission to leave and assist with the evacuations."

His words made Howard look up in consternation, but when his eyes met his face, his words of rejection caught in his throat.

"You..." The smartest man in the world was left speechless for a moment.

Noticing this, Peggy also looked up, an equally surprised expression forming on her face.

But soon, the surprise passed, and without hesitation, she nodded at Isaac.

"Go."

With permission granted, the android hurried out, completely forgetting that it should have been Howard, not Peggy, who allowed him to do so.

"This world keeps getting more astonishing," Howard finally spoke, watching Isaac's back as he moved away.

"We can stand here in awe later. Some of the soldiers should be arriving soon," peggy said, and just as predicted, some of the nearby teams began to reach the office.

"Vice Director," Steve Rogers greeted as he entered with his team, which consisted of several of the Howling Commandos as well as other common soldiers who had joined them along the way.

"Go through the tunnel. Other personnel members have already gone ahead, but you can catch up to them if you're quick. Make sure to protect them well," the woman instructed, but Steve didn't rush forward.

"What about you?"

"We'll stay until the last possible man returns, then we'll leave too."

"In that case, let us stay too. We can protect the entrance." Knowing they were staying behind, Steve didn't hesitate and decided they should as well.

His team agreed with him, easily supporting his decision.

Peggy wanted to reject them, but she had heard enough about the team John had assembled to know she would only be wasting time trying.

"If that's what you've decided, then take this," Howard said, handing his weapon to Steve along with all the magazines he had on him. Normally, he would have been reluctant to part with the only thing on his person that could stand up to the monsters, but his previous shot was enough to tell him that he didn't have the strength to use the weapon more than two or three times.

A sturdy soldier like Steve could at least double or triple that number of uses, so it was safer for the weapon to be in his hands.

"It's a special weapon that was recently manufactured. Its bullets are made of the same material as the Captain's shield—they'll cut through those beasts as if their skin were thin paper. But the recoil is strong, so be careful."

Hearing his explanation, Steve and his team members looked at the weapon with curiosity and amazement.

"By any chance, don't you have a dozen more of those lying around?" The one who asked was Bucky, and in response, Peggy drew the weapon that had been at her hip, its design not much different from Howard's.

"Just these two, and with every bullet counted, so be precise." With that said, she tossed the weapon and its magazines to him. Bucky caught them with a grin.

"Precision is my middle name, ma'am."

"Alright, take your positions!. Bucky and I will be at the front," Steve commanded, and the soldiers quickly began to move.

With no need to worry about guarding the door, Peggy and Howard were able to focus more intently on communicating via the radios, monitoring the situation inside and outside the base as best they could.

After all, Sword wasn't the only one under attack—the Allied army base was as well.

During this time, more people started arriving. Every now and then, someone mentioned a man on fire, but neither Peggy nor Howard paused to ask too many questions before sending them through the tunnel.

"Hello, can anyone hear me?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Peggy grabbed the radio and quickly responded.

"Janet, is that you? Are you alright?!"

It had to be noted that Janet had been in the east wing—that is, the part of the base that had collapsed moments ago.

"Alive and kicking, though not by luck. A lot of monsters came through here, but… well, I killed most of them."

Janet spoke while staring down at the last two corpses at her feet, her entire body drenched in so much blood that it was dripping from her in near streams.

Upon hearing her words, Peggy on the other end of the line was surprised, but not overly so, as it was no secret to her that Janet had powers and had been training with John to be brought to the frontlines and assist the metahuman team against Hydra.

"It's good to hear that. Where are you right now? I heard the east wing collapsed—did you manage to escape?"

"Not exactly. A large part of it collapsed, but there are still some intact spaces with a lot of people hiding in one of them. I can get out, but I don't know how to get them out too," Janet replied, recalling the people she had been helping and rescuing. With few places left to run due to the collapses, she had only been able to guide them to one of the still-intact storage rooms while she ensured no monsters got too close.

Once she figured out the right way to kill them, it became easy for her to keep doing it, even if it was disgusting.

Above all, she learned that stealth was her best weapon. It was no use drawing attention and becoming a target. No, the quickest way was to reach their heads before they even noticed her, and then the fight would end before it even began.

It wasn't glorious, but it got the job done.

Peggy furrowed her brows upon hearing that people were trapped. That was bad. Very bad. The entire place was in chaos right now, and with her evacuation orders given, the base would soon fall. They simply didn't have the means or capacity to help Janet get those people out.

"Are you really unable to get them out?" Her tone was almost pleading.

Janet fell silent, looking at the cracks in the walls, ceiling, and floor. If it had been an option, she would have used her ability to fire lightning and blasted an opening for them to escape.

But as things were, if a loud enough tremor happened again, the entire place could—this time, for real—completely collapse, and she would be the only one with a chance to get out.

A situation that, in reality, was only a matter of time. There were still many battles raging nearby, and all it would take was for a monster to get close enough and strike the right spot for everything to come crashing down like a house of cards.

Or maybe one of the remaining soldiers would throw a grenade too close, not realizing that it would mean killing a bunch of innocent people.

'What am I supposed to do?' The numb state her mind had retreated into after killing her first monster began to crack.

She almost wanted to just curl up on the floor and cry. But as tempting as it was to give in to such desires, she knew she wasn't allowed to—not when so many lives depended on her right now.

'There has to be a way.' She couldn't just give up. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and started thinking until an idea came to mind.

'This... would it work?' There were many risks, but if she could pull it off, then she could get everyone out.

"I might be able to try something, but I don't know if it'll work," she finally said, deciding to give it a shot.

"Something is better than nothing. If you manage it, come to my office. There's a safe passageway to escape through. If not, we'll think of something else." With that, the communication cut off, and Janet stepped away from the third corpse in the room. But unlike the other two, this was the body of a soldier she hadn't reached in time—someone she hadn't been able to save.

That was where she had gotten the radio from.

Remaining silent for a moment, Janet averted her gaze and then started running toward the storage room, reaching it in record time and bursting through the doors.

"Listen! I need everyone to gather!"

"What's going on?!" one of the people, a scientist Janet had run into a few times around the base, asked.

"I'm going to try to get you all out," she said without explaining further. Fortunately, they obeyed, and soon the small crowd huddled together in the center of the room, pressing against each other almost like sardines in a can.

'Alright, Janet, you can do this… theoretically.' If someone had to point to an expert on Pym particles, Hank would undoubtedly be the first person people would think of. But if you didn't count him, then Janet wasn't far behind. In fact, it could be said that thanks to her powers, her understanding of Pym particles was intuitively superior.

That's why she knew that, on paper, her body should be capable of not just shrinking—but also growing.

She just had never tested it before.

'Come on… in worst-case scenario, it doesn't work. in the Very Horrible-case scenario, my body tears itself apart, and I end up in pieces.'

Yeah. That last part was the reason neither Hank, nor John, nor she herself had ever considered putting the theory into practice—at least not without a lot of specialized equipment ready to keep her from dying.

Janet hesitated for a moment, staring at her trembling hands. But finally, she clenched her fists and decided to move forward. Even if she died, it was better than escaping alone. She knew that if she were the only one to make it out, she might never be able to live with herself.

'I guess it's not so bad if I get to see Mom again.'

With that final thought, Janet reached for the energy within her and pulled.

Then, her body began to glow yellow.

"Hrgh… HAAAH!"

With a powerful cry of exertion escaping her lungs, Janet felt her body rapidly and steadily expand.

When her back collided with the ceiling, she hunched down and wrapped her arms around the crowd of people, shielding them beneath her body, which continued to grow until the entire place began to tremble and the ceiling started to crack.

Then, with a thunderous explosion, Janet rose, sending the debris flying to the sides.

"It worked!" she shouted in astonishment, her voice rumbling across the area.

She didn't know exactly how big she was right now, but looking down, she could get a clear view of the situation across the entire place.

And it wasn't good.

She could see many small battles taking place in different parts of both bases, and in each one, it was obvious that the soldiers had been forced to abandon the fight and start fleeing from the monsters that were invading the place.

With her new field of vision, it didn't take her long to find the spot where the beasts were coming from.

'What the hell is that?' Staring at the dark hole in the ground, surrounded by a blue light, Janet paused for a moment before shaking her head.

She would deal with that later—first, she had people to save.

Slowly crouching down, she lowered her hand and opened her palm.

"Quick, get on!"

Her strong voice snapped people out of their stupor and amazement, and soon, they all climbed onto her palm with various expressions of disbelief.

Some even pinched themselves, wondering if this was some kind of dream.

With the people safely in her hand, Janet looked up again until she found the place where Peggy's office should be, and carefully, she began to move forward, each of her steps shaking the ground beneath her.

Of course, all of this immediately caught the attention of a dozen monsters, who abandoned what they were doing to turn their gaze toward this new, gigantic "prey."

'This is bad.' Seeing them start to rush toward her, Janet felt a moment of panic. The first monster to reach her was crushed under a stomp that left a several-meter-deep crater. The next was sent flying with a precise kick, but she couldn't afford to stay still for too long—some of them had Hydra weaponry on their bodies, and anyone in SWORD knew how dangerous it was to be hit by one of those blue energy blasts.

Raising her other hand, Janet prepared to start firing as well, but her expression quickly changed.

'No! If I release more energy, I won't be able to maintain my size!' She hadn't realized it until now, but the Pym Particles inside her were depleting at an even faster rate than when she shrank.

Adding that to all the energy she had already spent before, she was now running on limited reserves.

With a quick calculation, she knew she would be forced back to her original size in just two or three minutes.

'I have to hurry.' This time, she ignored the monsters and began moving faster while dodging as many attacks as possible, quickly reaching her target area.

With no time to be delicate, Janet aimed for a hole that had been opened during one of the battles and thrust her hand through it.

"Go to the vice director's office!"

Of course, all the commotion had also caught the attention of the people in the office. Steve, along with some of his men, had stepped into the hallway to investigate until they reached the hole.

Saying that some of them screamed like little girls when a massive hand appeared would be an understatement of the shock they felt.

Some nearly fired their weapons, but Steve managed to stop them when he noticed the people in the enormous palm.

Soon, Janet felt that everyone had climbed down from her hand and she began to straighten up again, determined to try to delay as many monsters as possible before her energy ran out.

But stopping to lean down had given the monsters enough time to reach her.

"Argh!" Janet gasped and nearly stumbled as a sharp pain shot through her leg. Looking at her ankle, she saw one of the beasts trying to tear into her flesh—quite successfully, if the red seeping from her skin was any indication.

"Let go of me!" With a swift movement, she jerked her leg, sending the monster flying, but soon, many more closed in, threatening to crawl all over her.

One even leaped several meters into the air, launching itself straight at her face.

'Oh, shit!' Seeing it coming, Janet almost started shrinking, but before she could, a flaming figure shot out from somewhere, intercepting the monster mid-air.

"Dr. Van Dyne!"

"Isaac! You can fly?!" Janet was pleasantly surprised to see the android.

"I just found out," Isaac admitted honestly before forming a fireball in his hand and hurling it at a monster on the ground. The flames weren't very effective, but the impact sent the beast stumbling back dozens of meters.

Now that she had help, Janet regained her vigor and grinned fiercely.

"Then cover my back!"

She had little time left, so she was going to make it count.

Soon, both of them engaged in an intense battle against the monsters, gradually moving away from the office area. Janet deliberately made herself the bait, ensuring that everyone nearby had a chance to escape—something she managed with ease due to her massive size.

Isaac covered her, preventing the monsters from getting too close and injuring her.

The situation seemed to improve for the soldiers and civilians on the ground, who finally got a moment to catch their breath.

Near the portal, a pair of completely black eyes watched Janet and Isaac with interest.

"It looks like I can't keep waiting." Neither of them resembled their intended target, but if things continued this way, his small army of monsters would be defeated before his true opponent even appeared.

"Well, a little warm-up before the grand finale to stretch this body's muscles wouldn't be bad."

From the depths of the dark portal, shadows began to spread like a stain of black ink. In just a few seconds, hundreds of meters of ground were covered, and a figure wrapped in darkness rose into the skies.

"What is happening?!" Janet, of course, noticed and instinctively took a step back. Isaac, who was flying nearby, furrowed his brows as a bad premonition formed within him.

"Tremble, little mortals, for you stand before the—" Before the creature could finish its grandiose introduction, a radiant circle burst open in midair, and in a blur of motion, a furious comet engulfed in green and golden fire shot through it.

"What?!" Surprise turned to shock and pain as a gloved fist struck its face, sending several of its teeth flying.

The shadows were torn apart, and the monster was sent flying out of control until it crashed against the ground, forming a massive crater.

"Did you do this?!" John shouted, glaring at the demon with seething rage.

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Note:

I promise I had every intention of closing the arc with this chapter! Seriously! But when I saw that I was getting closer and closer to six thousand words, I knew I needed one more.

I know many hate cliffhangers, but I don't think there could have been a better moment than this to end the chapter. But don't worry, I'll work hard to bring the next one as soon as possible so I don't leave you hanging ;D

With that said, I'll take my leave. I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to comment and point out any errors you may notice—that way, I can fix them. Thanks in advance!

Remember that if you want to support me, you can do so through my Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader )