Chapter 20: Ch60. Surge - 2 (Nest)
"What do you mean by unreadable, Erick?"
Octavius’ voice was as dark as night when he asked his subordinate.
"Sir... The distortion entry is almost... ’Bleeding’ energy, with readings as abnormal as nothing we’ve seen before. And..."
"There’s more?!?"
Octavius’ question just made Erick stutter even more.
"The... The energy leaking from the distortion... I-it doesn’t have the same readings we know from mana, sir..."
Octavius went quiet all of a sudden, but after a few seconds, Erick called his name several times, bringing the Guardian’s leader back to reality.
"Dispatch the attack squad ’and’ the Angels, too."
Erick’s eyes widened at his Captain’s order. He know that if the Angels were dispatched, the Nest would probably be tough even for the most experienced A-ranked wielders in the United States.
"Y-yes, sir!" Erick said as he ended the call.
***
Guardian was a warrior-class guild, and one of the very few guilds in the US that specialized in a single class at that.
And to think that his captain would order him to dispatch the only team in the entire US, composed fully of rank A+ paladins?
Erick called the vice captain, Miles Witworth, and told him what Octavius had said.
When the call ended, Miles frowned, but a smile sprouted on his face.
"We’re going to war again..."
***
"Nina, my love, there’s been an emergency, I have to go." Octavius kissed the top of Nina’s head.
"A raid, at this hour?" She looked like she didn’t want him to leave her there, alone.
"An unreadable distortion entry is opening near the hospital. I can’t risk you and Kurt getting hurt right when he’s about to wake up."
Nina felt fragile and needed her husband there with her.
She felt like the whole world could crumble into pieces around her if he wasn’t there.
But she also knew that Octavius was a rank S wielder, and the strongest paladin of Guardian at that.
So she had to let him go.
She kissed him, looking straight at his blue eyes.
"Come back to us, please." She pleaded.
Octavius nodded, turned around, and left.
***
When [ANTIBODY #8172327970] got close enough, Kurt noticed that the humanoid figure stood almost two heads taller than him. But it didn’t seem like a pertinent detail at the moment, since the lack of a face made it so disturbing that Kurt’s instincts were to immediately run away from that.
But his body just wouldn’t move.
The figure raised its hand towards him, and its palm began to glow in a bright tone of red.
A few seconds passed like that, and where the face of the figure should be, there appeared countless numbers, glyphs and letters, like in a strange programming language.
A few seconds later, the figure lowered its palm, and the voice of the system echoed from the mouthless face.
[SOURCE OF CONTAMINATION DETECTED!]
[MUST PROTECT THE HOST!]
Kurt had spent weeks and weeks training with his older version in the [HIDDEN ROOM], so he had acquired slightly sharper senses, even though it was only inside the [HIDDEN ROOM].
But it was enough for his senses to blare like sirens in his head.
DANGER!
IMMINENT DEATH!
Kurt lowered his head at the same instant that the figure shot a burst of red energy towards where Kurt’s head should be.
’Fuck! FUCK, FUCK FUCK!’ Kurt finally began to run. ’How am I supposed to fight against that thing?!’
But running wasn’t enough.
The figure appeared right in front of Kurt as he avoided another deadly energy burst at the last second.
"FUCK!" He changed course and ran in another direction.
Only to find the faceless silver creature standing where he was going to be.
Kurt tried to avoid the figure many times, only to find out it was impossible, so he ran a bit longer, trying to focus his thoughts and cool his head off.
He needed to think.
***
Guardian’s guild attack force arrived at the destination along with the scientific division, bringing with them a car loaded with pieces of scientific equipment.
Not long after, Octavius appeared from the hospital’s entrance.
"WELCOME, SIR!" All of them saluted their captain.
"At ease." Octavius said when he got close enough. "I suppose you brought a more potent gear to try to measure the distortion entry reading, Erick?"
The young man nodded, unable to speak.
He always felt like that near his commander.
Erick turned around and ordered his division to assemble the pieces inside the car, which they did in an astonishing short time.
"Where are the Angels?" Octavius asked, turning to face the leader of the attack squad.
Charles Stone was a man in his late thirties, with jet-black hair and a slim body that fitted his blue-in-white armor, designed to enhance his speed.
He was known as Blue Comet, because that was the only thing the Beasts and enemies saw when he attacked.
"They’ll be here in moments, sir." Stone replied. "But we have another issue..." He pointed to the end of the hospital’s block.
Two civilian cars stopped and the drivers left running towards the guild members.
"The press? Already?" Octavius sighed. "Keep them busy until the Association arrives with their guards. Where’s my armor?"
Another member of the attack squad came in a rush, carrying an elegant armor set with a large cross entailed on its chest.
The armor looked like it had been made out of reddened gold, and as Octavius wore it, he finally assumed his most comfortable expression.
Being a father and a husband felt nice to him, but he always felt more comfortable when on the verge of a raid.
He finished fasting the final straps of his breast plate and smiled, his eyes assuming a dark, strong and determined hue of blue.
And just as he unsheathed his adamantine sword, the last raid members arrived.
Eleven people appeared from what looked like rifts in space, their unique <Teleport> ability.
Five man and six women, all geared up from head to toe, armed with hammers, swords, short swords and spears.
The Angels had finally arrived, and a few regulars who were still in the streets at that time of night already began taking pictures and filming them.
"Look, it’s the Guardian guild!"
"Does it mean there’s a raid nearby?"
They couldn’t see the distortion entry forming in the MG’s main entrance gate.
Since regulars didn’t have the gift of mana sight, they could only see the gate to the Nest when it was fully formed.
Octavius looked at them and shouted in a command voice.
"REGULARS, STAY BACK!"
His voice sounded like that of a titan, as he used his ability, <Banner>, that allowed him to command people who were within a hundred meters radius of him.
The regulars stepped back, but didn’t stop taking pictures and filming, but even the press got some distance from them, to Octavius’ relief.
"Sir, the distortion isn’t releasing mana at all!" Erick shouted, approaching Octavius.
"Then what is the energy the Reader is picking up?" Octavius raised his brow.
"We don’t know..." Erick retorted.
"Find out and notify the Association as soon as they get here. We’re going in!" Octavius said as they saw the Nest’s gate finally opening.
And when it opened, the whole block went dark, after all the windows of the hospital building blew up.
’KURT!’ Octavius thought to himself, biting his lower lip.
But there was no time.
Octavius stepped into the vortex that was the Nest’s entrance, and what he saw when he crossed the threshold took his breath away.
