Chapter 26: Edge of Death (II)

Dalia sent the message and lifted her head. Tecno and she stared at the cube. Only the sound of pain coming from the surface. If there was any chance Dante was listening, she prayed the Gods would hear her.

She didn't want to die, like none of them did. Dying after everything would be a dishonor. She still needed to make Tecno a Lieutenant, she needed to regain the honor she lost. She couldn't let death catch up to her.

A huge battle cry sounded. They all lifted their heads at once. Unlike the groans of pain or the ways the Felroz communicated, this didn't belong to any of them. Except for…

"Dante."

Tecno stood up as the bluish color returned to the Cube.

"Who the hell is Dante?" Gorumet asked, irritated from the other side. "Is he a Recruit?"

Freto laughed, and Crish did too.

"He's our Recruit, Officer Gorumet," Dalia said, giving a smirk.

And then, the voice became audible, a call so loud it seemed to extend for miles.

"TECNO." Distant impact sounds still caused much discomfort. "I CAN HEAR YOU."

The Officer himself laughed.

"Dante, can you hear me?"

"Damn right I can." The voice sounded with a shot, a gunshot in all directions. "They're out here. How do I get you guys out?"

Tecno joined Dalia, who also touched the Cube.

"Dante, it's Officer Dalia. I need you to grab all the Frequency Cubes at the Camp and take them with you. Once you're fifty meters away, inject your Cosmic Energy into all of them at once. Are you fighting the Felroz?"

There was silence and a rumble in the sky.

"I've got the crystals. Yeah, I took down three of them. Do I need to take them farther?"

"Carry them as far as you can." Dalia stared at Gorumet and quickly called out. "Once you're distant, I want you to scream it. We'll be leaving our hideout."

The Felroz screams were transmitted further away with every passing second. Maybe a hundred… no, two hundred meters.

"I'm in position, ma'am. You can go."

I

"We're moving up." Dante heard from Dalia. "Disable the ability. We need to hide and get out as fast as we can."

Dante had already injected his Cosmic Energy into the cubes and threw them around. The Felroz attacked from all sides, and he dodged two, deflected the third, and used his back to spin over one with his legs extended, kicking the next ones. He rose like an upside-down pawn and punched the one under him.

He crouched and punched the air, dodging in sequence. The air shifted under pressure and sent the creature flying. His eyes kept moving, predicting the attacks in sequence, but maintaining posture and retreating one step at a time.

When two Felroz attacked at the same time, he crossed his arms, stopping them. He interlaced his fingers against theirs, squeezing, and using them as weapons. Like a whip, he swung the deformed bodies of both to send the others flying, and struck ahead, causing a gust of wind that lifted the grass and took down two more enemies. Dante threw the Felroz he held in his right hand into the air and hit him with the left. He did the same with the one on the left, leaving him suspended in the air and kicking him to the side.

Not yet. Not yet.

"Not yet, Dante. Conversion at 4%."

He blocked more and more, increasing his defense and letting the Felroz regroup. He used the grass to drag his foot and slammed his head into the forehead of one who dared to get too close.

And Dante found himself laughing. Once again, in the middle of all that chaos, he was fascinated by the fight. All the training he had gone through, every hit on his skin, the condensation of his muscles. The Cosmic Energy gathered around his skin.

Render… like a ghost, had appeared again among the Felroz. The image of the man in his traditional training clothes, wielding his everyday sword. The expressive, determined face, staring at him from afar, analyzing what his son was doing.

"Father…"

"Pay attention to your posture," Render said, walking sideways toward him. "You're letting them get stronger. Break their defenses. Now, son."

Dante raised his fist and laughed. Vick sounded in his ear.

"Conversion at 5%, Dante. Now."

"They're coming here," he heard a yell from the other end.

Dante stopped the movement and moved forward.

I

"I see them, Rubbem." Rutteo had about six Officers with him, and they were all moving forward. "You need to team up with Dante in battle. He must be in the middle of that chaos. We'll use one of the abilities to get us back to the Capital."

Rubbem agreed. He never expected to be out here like this. He knew the risks, how it was to face night enemies and receive Capital Officers for missions. Now, since he was a man, he had never heard of a joint attack from the Felroz like this.

He always thought they were stories.

"Rutteo, one of the Felroz just sensed us," said Officer Grunt, pointing. "We need to move now. Sergeant Rubbem, go, kid. Go now."

The sword was freed, and Rubbem mounted the saddle and jumped. In midair, his breath grew heavy. The Felroz was closing in on them fast. Could he make it there first?

The creature's body was monstrous. Horns and twisted teeth protruding. Rubbem felt his stomach churn. His hand was slipping off the sword's hilt. Could he defeat that… thing?

"Rubbem," he heard Rutteo yell.

The world seemed to slow down for him. The horses, the Officers, the grass, the wind… everything seemed still. And a bluish spark emerged around him. Like lightning cutting through raindrops in the sky, descending to strike the tree on the ground, Rubbem zigzagged.

The blue lit up the late afternoon, as alarming as a bonfire in the dark. And he swung the sword, unleashing all his fighting spirit at once.

"'Flashing Blaze'."

Thousands of sparks cut together, exploding backward all at once. The Felroz screamed as thousands of lightning needles relentlessly pierced him. Even so, Rubbem opened his mouth, disbelieving, scared. Terrified.

The Felroz raised its hand, still receiving the attack, and let out a cry of excruciating pain, sending chills down his spine. Is this where I die?

"Get away from him, you bastard."

With a sweep, they saw Dante's arm outstretched, crushing the huge demon's neck and throwing him back with sheer brute force. Rolling and crashing into each other, the creatures rose together.

And Dante charged forward.

Rubbem fell seated. His hand was trembling, and he let go of the sword. He watched the old man dodge and enter combat against more than a dozen at once. It wasn't just Rubbem, when he turned to look for the trapped Officers and Soldiers, their faces were the same. Mouths open and frozen.

"We need to go, now." Rutteo dismounted and grabbed Tecno, helping him walk. "Let's go. This isn't the time to be impressed. Nico, summon the portal now, use the Opening Protocol."

The Officer quickly dismounted and took a scroll from the saddle, throwing it on the ground.

"Give me a minute, boss."

"Alright. Someone tell Dante."

Rutteo saw Tecno raise a Cube that was glowing, and the Officer saw Dante leap high with his pocket glowing. And he gave a proud smile to Tecno.

"Clever bastard. You left one with him on purpose."

"All for Officer Dalia," Tecno replied with a tired smile.

Rutteo took the cube and quickly used it.

"Dante, I need you to send the Felroz far away. We're going to summon a portal to take everyone back. It's a technique that consumes a lot of Cosmic Energy. They'll smell us and come after us. Can you hold them off?"

Dante's fist exploded one of the Felroz away, but he didn't respond immediately. Even so, the Recruit's back was turned to Rutteo and the others. With his palm open, he threw one to the ground, opened a hole in another, and threw more than ten with a roar.

Everyone there covered their ears at once.

"What the hell?" Nico cursed, losing some focus and letting the quill drop from his hand. "Who is this bastard?"

Gorumet sat down next to Nico, breathing heavily.

"He's Dalia's Recruit."

I

"Use the punches, the kicks, but don't let them advance, kid." Render shouted furiously at him. "Don't let them pass. How will you protect yourself if your punches can't even match the monsters here?"

Dante didn't force the base, but his punches kept landing. It didn't matter how, it didn't matter what the situation of his movements would be. The connection between a punch, a spin, a dodge, and his feet determined how much he could get out of there.

And when the hook landed, and he blocked with the other hand, he changed the trajectory of his fist, and all the air converted to his movement. More than twenty were thrown away, but none were dead.

"It's still not enough to break their hooves, Dante. You need to concentrate a punch."

"If I do that, I'll explode everything around me." His 5% was still the limit. He couldn't go beyond that. If he didn't control it… he'd lose the limit.

He opened his mouth and released a huge roar that sent ten more flying. And when he stepped forward, he felt the strangeness in his neck. One of the Felroz appeared, and he spun, blocking with his forearm.

The punch sent him flying far back, crashing into the others and falling farther. Dante breathed heavily and raised his hand. Three more of them were coming at different angles, with open hands.

This is…

"Your move is being copied."

Dante raised his hand and moved his fingers all together. The air pressure sequence, like a wind wave, froze their movements, buying him time to retreat a few more steps. He raised his head, Rutteo was already ordering the people to enter the portal.

"Just a little more." Dante moved forward, grabbed one's horn, launched himself up, and threw it down, headfirst into the ground. With a stomp, he crushed the skull. It's still moving.

Spinning between attacks and bites, Dante tried to launch himself to the other side. But the Felroz's huge hands held him, pulling and throwing him back. No, I need to go back.

He tried to climb, but they grabbed his leg from both sides and pulled him to the ground. He opened his mouth and roared, sending a wave of air, but not powerful enough. The Felroz tried to strike him, but were sent flying. Dante used the palm of his hand to create pressure and dragged himself through the grass at high speed.

Rutteo raised his hand, waving desperately.

"Let's go, we don't have time. He'll close it."

Dante ran toward him and saw him enter. The bluish portal had no other side, but its glow shifted to purple. The Felroz were approaching, and Dante dared to look back. His father had disappeared again.

He jumped into the portal as he let out a laugh.

I

Dalia and Tecno watched the portal ripple as Rutteo passed. And he waited patiently. Tecno and Freto leaned on each other, and Crish was tapping his leg, waiting for the return.

Then, another ripple in purple. It would return to bluish, just a little more. However, a spear pierced the summoned portal, and it exploded into purple fragments.

Together, they stared at Captain Hermes atop the wooden platform, with Micael by his side. Both in full uniform, berets on, and three more Officers behind.

"What the hell are you doing here, you assholes? What got into your heads to summon a portal this side of the city?" Hermes yelled at them, completely furious. "Lost your minds?"

The portal was closed. They stared at the Captain together. Dalia's teeth clattered together, trembling, she began to breathe heavily, unable to control herself, almost sobbing.

"You son of a bitch, Hermes." She screamed as loud as she could. No, Dante hadn't come back yet. Hermes would pay, he would pay with his own life. "Damn Captain. What have you done? Sink… Sink now in your own…"

Rutteo and Tecno advanced, pulling and covering her mouth. They pulled her back, throwing her to the ground and silencing her voice from breaking free. Tecno placed his hand over her eyes, and Rutteo on her lips, Freto ran over and held her arms, keeping her close to her body.

"Calm down, Dalia. Calm down, damn it," Rutteo ordered. "He could still be alive. He has to be alive. Don't lose your composure."

Tecno didn't need to say anything. He felt the palm of his hand wet. Officer Dalia was crying silently.