Chapter 59: No Rest for the Weary
The western section was collapsing as a dozen beasts surged through the opening. Yato stepped forward. "Black Turtle Armor Technique" Green light spreading across his body as the technique formed over his skin, covering his frame in a dense green aura.
The first beast struck him head-on, but nothing happened; the kinetic impact simply stopped mattering against his defense. Another slammed into him from the side, but Yato barely shifted his weight. He raised one hand, and the green aura expanded outward from his body, forming a protective dome over the soldiers huddled behind him.
A massive claw slammed into the barrier, but the attack disappeared uselessly against the energy. "Stay behind me," Yato said calmly.
The beasts continued attacking the shield, and then Yato's eyes narrowed. As he channeled his intent, a powerful illusion took hold of the pack. The creatures began looking at one another in sudden confusion, and one beast violently lunged at its companion. The second retaliated instantly, and within seconds, the entire group was tearing into itself in a blind frenzy.
Yato watched the self-destruction quietly. "Much easier."
A soldier beside him stared at the anomaly, his jaw open. "Did you just make them fight each other?"
"Yes."
"Can you do that to humans?"
Yato glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "I haven't tried. Not that I need to. Humans fight each other on their own."
The soldier decided not to ask any more questions.
---
The roar that followed was entirely different, causing every soldier on the eastern wall to turn toward the sound as something enormous entered the battlefield. An armored giant beast pushed through the heavy smoke, its body covered in thick plates that overlapped like fortress walls.
A tank fired, the shell striking its chest and shattering uselessly against the armor. Jimmy stepped forward to meet it, and Andy appeared beside his shoulder.
"That's yours," Andy said.
Jimmy rolled his shoulders, his expression turning serious. "Finally."
The beast charged, but Jimmy didn't dodge the incoming mass. White light covered both of his arms as the technique activated. Making a claw with his hand the energy gathered towards his fists and with a swing the energy rapidly condensed into a massive arc.
"White Tiger Slaughtering Technique" He swung, and the attack launched from his hands, crossing the battlefield as a gigantic slashing wave that tore through everything in its path. The armored beast was split clean apart. The white arc continued beyond the corpse, carving a deep groove through the ground before finally dissipating in the distance.
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Jimmy lowered his arm, his breathing heavy. "Done."
Andy stared at the destruction left in the wake of the strike. "Show-off."
Jimmy shrugged, unbothered. "You gave me the big one."
---
By the time Kei returned to the center of the area, the tactical situation had already changed. Andy had cleared the eastern breach, Yato had locked down the western section, and Jimmy had destroyed the largest creature on the field.
Kei looked across the perimeter. "Good."
Then, another beast came for him out of the haze. He met it head-on, and as its claw struck his shoulder, bone broke beneath the impact. Kei didn't even halt his advance; the red aura surged across his upper body, and the injury closed almost immediately. He grabbed the beast by the throat, driving it down into the ground.
Another attacked him from behind, but he turned too quickly for the soldiers watching to follow his movement. His fist struck its jaw, sending the creature flying through the air, and when a third charged, Kei met it with his shoulder. The collision sent the beast tumbling backward, and he followed the momentum, killing the creature with his next attack.
His strength was second only to Jimmy's, his defense was second only to Yato's, his speed was second only to Andy's and his resilience was second only to no one. Unlike any of them, every injury he sustained could become entirely temporary. Every person he saved strengthened his own baseline power, and every fight made him harder to stop.
Andy could move faster than anyone on Earth, but there were creatures even he couldn't put a dent through; Kei could. Jimmy could destroy almost anything in front of him, but there were attacks even he couldn't afford to take; Kei could. Yato could withstand attacks that would flatten entire squads, but he couldn't reach the people not behind his shield in time; Kei could.
By the time the final Grade 2 beast fell, Kei was standing in the middle of the battlefield with blood on his clothes and the red aura still burning around him.
He looked toward his three friends. Andy was sitting on a broken piece of concrete, catching his breath. Yato stood beside the remains of his barrier, his expression completely flat as the residual green light faded away. Jimmy was carefully examining his hand, tracing the lingering faint white traces left by his technique.
Kei smiled, letting the heat of his crimson energy recede naturally. "You guys okay?"
Jimmy looked up at him, a faint chuckle escaping his lips. "You're asking us?" Then gestured to the corpses all around them.
Kei shrugged, wiping a smudge of dirt from his cheek. "Makes sense."
---
The four of them stood together as the regular soldiers began clearing the debris from the battlefield. Nobody gave them orders because nobody needed to; the absolute authority of their performance had rendered military hierarchy entirely secondary in this sector.
The East Gate had been under attack from enough Grade 2 beasts to overwhelm a conventional heavy formation, yet four college students had suppressed the entire breach by themselves.
A nearby officer stared blankly at the ruined asphalt, his hands trembling slightly as he lowered his binoculars. Two weeks ago, humanity had required entire motorized divisions to hold a defensive line against creatures like these. Now, four young cultivators could do it alone.
The officer looked at Kei, then at Andy, Yato, and Jimmy. Since the sky broke and the rifts opened across the cities, it had always been one concession after another. But these four, the top cultivators on Earth made it so that the Bastion didn't feel quite as helpless. Humanity had finally found something that could fight back.
Before they could rejoice another transmission reached Kei.
"We need you at the central emergency treatment center quickly, the first grade 3 beast appeared. He was discovered and the fleeing attempt resulted in many casualties and many more critically injured. A lot of them are our most talented cultivators. They are irreplaceable assets."
Kei looked to Andy "I need to be at the emergency treatment center 5 minutes ago."
Andy moved towards him. "Got it. Azure Dragon Dashing Technique."