It’s been two days since I started developing the new spatial shells, and the results are impressive: I recently bought a CnC machine, which I only managed to program properly thanks to countless Rewinds, and it allowed me to drastically increase the number of mana-absorption runes. Now, there isn’t an inch of rebar left untouched, everything is covered by countless mana absorbing runes.

Now let’s see how it goes…

I load one of the newly engraved shells into my Shockwave and aim it at an empty spot before pulling the trigger. Twelve red cylinders pop into existence and a massive array of white beams appear. The fearsome mana explosion is focused in a single point, and it ultimately pulverizes everything in sight. Rocks, soil, trees…Nothing is spared as the energy leaves devastation in its wake.

I can’t help but smirk when the ray of death finally reaches my barrier. The barrier I bought from Krognar was amazing, but it only held for a brief moment before cracking and turning into shards of glass-like material that evaporated into the air.

I click the button hidden in my left hand and reality jumps back to five seconds ago while I adjust the unfamiliar bulky phone strapped to my arm. The reason for this change in size was caused by a phone case I bought in the Bazaar; it was quite pricy on its own since it was enchanted and made with very strong materials. And the price tag stung a lot more when I bought a dozen at once.

My finances also took another hit when I rented a bunch of storage closets all over the Bazaar. I stored modified phones with a copy of the Rewinder on them, so they’ll allow me to still go back in time even if my home is destroyed. The sellers also guaranteed me the safety of the storage spaces, and I paid extra for a self-destruct option if there ever was a security breach.

It was pricy, but I can’t be cheap when it comes to my survival. Of course, I stored the phones in a large box rigged to explode if it was opened by anyone other than me as an extra security measure. I can’t be too careful with something that has control over the flow of time.

But it was worth it, I couldn’t risk losing the Rewinder in an intense fight like the one that will be coming soon… I shake my head and focus back on my shotgun filled with what might as well be miniature nuclear bombs. I had to Rewind a lot those past few days, mostly because the massive mana surge caused by my weapon would alert every Enforcer in a ten miles radius, but also because I didn’t want to waste them.

As it turns out, the Distillery is extremely inefficient and the process causes a lot of elements to turn into unusable gas. This didn’t matter too much when dealing with elements like nature or air since they were pretty common, but emptiness was another story. The essence of emptiness was only present in a small amount of items, and even then the amount they contained was pathetic.

The notes mentioned a certain material that contained quite a large amount of emptiness, but the translator couldn’t parse the name properly. And it wouldn’t matter if it could anyway, I didn’t have the time to track the material down and I didn’t want to look into the horrifying online catalogs on the HiddenNet, my last attempt almost gave me an aneurysm so I don’t want to touch those again.

But let’s focus on more important matters, mainly my upcoming fight with the Scalebound. Looking around the HiddenNet allowed me to more or less determine where the Scalebound main base was located, and checking around with my Portal Gun for zones I couldn’t teleport into allowed me to basically pinpoint their location.

I take a deep breath and look at the blue sky; I won’t say that I’m not scared. It is very likely that I’m going to encounter tremendous resistance, especially now since they are probably prepared for an attack. I glance at the shotgun on my back; this thing will certainly give me an edge in combat, but I have a very limited amount of shells, so I need to save them for the Patriarch.

And even then, I don’t know how effective they will be… It’s entirely possible that the lizard is immune against anything I can throw at him, and then I’ll be in trouble.

I shake my head; I have to take this guy down, no matter how many tries it takes. Otherwise, I’m going to be hunted down for the rest of my life… And a life of constantly fleeing while looking over my shoulder isn’t worth living.

Sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I refused Riley’s offer… I would probably live a life of luxury, completely unaware of the terrifying truth hidden just under my nose. But it’s too late to regret my decisions, now I’m all too aware of what’s really happening.

I’m very aware of the great injustice that stunts humanity’s progress.

I clench my fists and smirk, killing Erdis will send a message to the Enforcers: Do not fuck with me, or you’ll die.

But I know these people, and they’ll probably try to sentence me to death again… I wonder how their little arena will handle being blasted with my shells.

By the way, I need to find a name for those.

Handheld Artillery? Pocket Doomsday? No, these names aren’t cool enough- don’t sound adequate. I need something better…

Racking my brain produces no result; I can’t seem to find something that sounds as good as Exploding Growth Bullets. Death Shell? Micro Howitzer Shells… Actually that last one sounds pretty good, it can even be shortened to MH Shells.

Yeah, it sounds nice and rolls off the tongue. And it’s easy to remember…

I glance over my shotgun and feel a sense of pride. I managed to make a weapon strong enough to contend with what I believe is the standard of strength for the Hidden World, and I think it’s even better than some of the devastating spells wielded by the Enforcers.

Contrary to their spells that require long periods of training, the MH Shells require no training and can be relatively easily mass-produced. So this could cause a lot of destruction, if it fell into the hands of a group who wants to end the Enforcer system and help humanity progress…

Not that I would know, I absolutely don’t plan to start a rebellion.

I smirk and send a text message to Riley to know how and when they’ll attack, and his answer is as I expected.

Why do you want to know that? Don’t tell me you’re planning something unreasonable…

I shake my head. I’m not planning something unreasonable; I just want to hunt some wild lizards. But I can’t really tell that to Riley, or else he might freak out and he will not tell me anything. And I can’t have that, coordinating my assault with the Wolfheart’s is essential for my success. It feels bad, but I’ll have to manipulate him a little.

Let’s just say that it’s related to my power, and it might be helpful for your Family…

Riley still believes that have some kind of power that allows me to have vision of the future, so I’ll use it to my advantage. The answer I want to see finally appears on my phone.

All right, but don’t make me regret it. We’ll have to meet face to face; I can’t risk my mother monitoring our communications. Meet me near the shop where I brought you when I showed you the Bazaar for the first time in about ten minutes.

I nod and will my armor to cover my body, before realizing that it will probably shock Riley.

Doesn’t matter, he’ll get used to it.

Another reason for donning my armor is because I don’t really feel safe going into a place filled with magical creatures without additional protection. It’s probably caused by my encounter with the ghost in the mine, if I didn’t have my armor then my phone would’ve been destroyed and I would be forced to Rewind the entire day.

I carefully check on my equipment and take a deep breath of filtered air before configuring my Portal Gun and appearing near the shop’s entrance.

My sudden apparition earns me a few grumbles as people get out of the way, but otherwise nobody really cares that I made a portal in the middle of the street. However, there’s one figure that observe me intently. It takes me a few seconds to recognize Riley; he’s wearing a heavy set of bulky armor that looks like a mix between a bomb defusing suit and medieval-era plate armor. I wave at him and he raises an eyebrow.

“John?” he asks while approaching me. I retract my helmet to reveal my face, and his jaw drops wide open.

“What is this? How did you even get an armor like that?!” he says while examining me from head to toes. “And how on Earth did you teleport into the Bazaar without using the gates? It must’ve cost you a fortune in-”

“Don’t fret the details.” I interrupt him while storing my Portal Gun, causing his eyes to wander on the artifact.

“What the...” he mumbles before taking a deep breath. “You know what; I won’t pry into your secrets. So how have you been, it’s been quite a long time since we last saw each other.”

I glance at Riley and realize that he looks to be in a terrible state. There are dark bags under his eyes and his hair is a mess, not to mention the tired and haggard look in his eyes.

“I’ve been busy, as you can probably see…” I point at my armor and make a wry smile before pointing at my Werewolf friend. “What about you? It’s quite a big set of armor you have here.”

He nods and lean against a wall, “Yeah, you know the war is going to start soon, so we all are on high alert. Mom decided that we would go all out from the start, so she issued all our heavy-duty equipment we had in stock. You should’ve seen Steve; he’s basically a walking wall now.”

We exchange a brief chuckle, “By the way, where is Steve?” I ask.

“He’s on patrol; Mom assigned us to separate units as a punishment so we can’t see each other as much anymore.”

I nod, “Got it. Then let’s get down to business, shall we?”

The Enforcer nods and enters the shop, “We need a quiet place.” He says to the shopkeeper, who wordlessly nod and press a button hidden somewhere under his chair. A part of the wall depresses and slides, revealing a dimly lit medium-sized room with a table, a few chairs and what looks like a fridge.

We step into the room and the wall closes behind us. Riley press a light switch and what looks like rods made of blue metal surrounded by floating green rings emerge from secrets compartments hidden in the walls.

The constructs rumble, and a thin green film appears on the surface of the walls.

“We can talk freely now,” he says while opening the fridge. “Do you want to drink something?”

“Sure, a coke will do.” I say before catching the red aluminum can that my friend throws at me. He picks one for himself and sits on a chair so I sit on the opposite side of the round wooden table.

We each take a sip of the refreshing beverage in silence.

Riley finally break the silence, “So, about that attack… We’re going to strike at four in the morning. The current battle plan is to do a mass assault on the barrier, break it, and then bombard the building with our long distance Strategic magic. Meanwhile, the soldiers on the ground will protect the trap defusing team to allow the second wave to safely approach the building. Then we’ll assault the building. Sappers will destroy parts of the building to form chokepoints that will make it easier to destroy the enemy troops-”

“Wait, if I understood correctly then the initial assault team will just rush into potential traps?” I interrupt my friend.

He sigh and nods, “Believe me, I know how insane it sounds… But we have no choice. Sweeping the area with the trap defusing team will alert the Scalebound, and it will only increase our casualties since it will reveal our position. Right now, our analysts say that our losses in the initial assault should stay between one and two thousand deaths, unless the Scalebound have some secret weapon.”

This isn’t war… it’s a slaughter.

“So, like I was saying, the sappers will work in conjunction with the assault team to clear the building as soon as possible. Hopefully it will be fast enough to stop the Scalebound from deploying their air units; they have a lot of people that can fly while we don’t. Meanwhile, the surviving deployed forces will attack the building and kill everything in sight. So why did you-”

I’ve heard enough.

“Tell me, will you and your brother participate in this assault?” I interrupt.

Riley nods, “Yeah, we mobilized our entire faction for this. We’ll be part of the second assault team… Now you know everything, so why did you want to know all of this? Did your Divination show you anything interesting or-”

Riley was interrupted by time going backward, and I’m back to the moment before texting the Werewolf.

I take a deep breath and look at my hands; the Wolfheart plan is a disaster. It guarantees a high death toll and the odds of my friends dying are way too high for my liking.

But what can I really do? I’m alone and I can’t do much…

Something appears in my head, and I can’t help but smile. This idea is beyond ridiculous…

But it might work.

…Erdis’ PoV…

I take a deep breath and focus on the scene unfolding in front of me; two doctors are strapping the prepared Zarand onto an engraved black metallic table. One last glance at the golden inlays embedded in every possible surface from the ground to the ceiling allows me to confirm that the room has been prepared properly so the ritual should work flawlessly. It has been hectic ever since Zarand accepted to become the ultimate weapon, and our enchanters worked extra hours to prepare this old basement room in time.

But their effort weren’t in vain, and I trained on test subjects until I became able to perform the ritual with my eyes closed.

Everything is coming together…

A grin creeps on my face and smoke comes out of my nostrils as I’m handed a set of specially crafted robes engraved with pulsing purple strands of metal. This robe has cost a tremendous amount of Credits and materials, and it was pretty much made specially to control what Zarand would become. Normally, this would be considered a waste of money since the engravings were made specifically to control one Puppet…

But Zarand will not become a normal Puppet.

I don the garments and step into a specific spot in the room where the engraving converge. I gave an unlimited budget to our enchanters to increase the efficiency of this ritual as much as possible. Others would cry tears of blood if they saw all those rare and expensive materials being used as mere reagents, but I don’t mind burning all those…

Nothing is too expensive to avenge my daughter.

Two enchanters, who are carrying large cylinders with a point at the tip made of blue crystals, place the magical construct in a way that the two pointy tips touch Zarand’s head. They check the runes engraved onto the crystals one last time before nodding in unison and leaving the room.

I grab a big metallic syringe from the robe’s pocket and take a good look at the device: The syringe looks like an antique, but don’t be fooled by its antiquated appearance. This artifact has been hastily made to increase the potency of the serum by a few percents. This process will destroy the artifact, but it’s not important.

So let’s begin…

I snap my fingers and a film of green magic covers the outside of the room. This spell combined with our barrier should prevent any mana leakage so nobody will know what we are about to do.

After making sure that the spell works properly, I focus on the next step of the ritual: I pour a tremendous amount of magic into the two crystals, which are now shining like two miniature suns. Zarand doesn’t react to the light and stare at the stone ceiling with an expression full of determination.

I close my eyes and pour almost all of my mana into the ritual engraved into the room’s walls. The engraving start to glow and power rapidly accumulates into the syringe, which starts to tremble while golden chains appears from thin air and start to coil around Zarand.

It’s on the verge of exploding… Looks like the enchanters really went all out.

I take a deep breath and slam the syringe into the Dragonewt’s chest, causing him to emit a bloodcurdling cry as the abrasive liquid enters his bloodstream. A massive golden magical circle appears on top of the Dragonewt, and the changes are pretty much instantaneous.

His rapidly expanding physique strains the chains to their utmost limit, and I can’t help but be impressed by the amount of power surging from within him.

Now isn’t the time to be distracted!

I close my eyes and place my hand on the subject’s forehead. An image of his soul immediately appears in my head: It’s a sphere of white light covered in cracks floating in a dark space. Black and purple smoke seems to slip into the crack and it’s slowly darkening the light.

Focusing all my mental fortitude on the sphere causes the cracks to spread and the damaged soul soon explodes into thousands of tiny fragments. I immediately react and infuse the fragments into the Puppet’s muscle fibers and organs until there is only one, tiny fragment left.

I frown and focus on the fragment, causing ethereal golden chains to coil around the fragment. They constrict it until it’s on the verge of breaking, and a small golden key appears on top of the fragment before entering my own soul.

This marks the end of the ritual, and I open my eyes again.

What greets me defy my expectations: A thirty feet tall creature lies down on the ground, his massive chest rising with each of its powerful breath.

The power that the unconscious creature exudes is beyond anything I ever felt! It’s almost enough to force me to my knees, and it takes all my willpower along with a big chunk of my mana reserves to not succumb to the amazing power.

I focus inwardly and find the golden key generated by the spell, and I order the creature to stop releasing mana into the air.

The pressure immediately stops, and I just realize that I’ve been holding my breath this whole time.

This creature is fearsome… I wouldn’t want to be the one who will face its wrath!

I suppress another grin and examine the creature in more details: It looks like some turned a regular Dragonewt into a giant, and also added a ton of muscles on top of his frame. His face is where the changes became clearly visible: Gone was the recognizable face of the Dragonewt, instead he looked like a more primal creature with bigger and sharper lines.

Two small horns are protruding from the sides of his jaw, and his eyes are quite different from what I expected since they contains cross shaped pupils, something that I only ever saw on Beholders. The influence of the Beholder blood also manifested in the form of two tumor-like tentacles with an eye on top attached on top of each of Zarand’s shoulders.

The deterioration of the draconic blood also showed its effect on the transformation… I glance at the pair of vestigial wings on the creature’s back. They were obviously too small and weak to allow what was once Zarand to fly.

I grin and suppress a chuckle: This creature is even stronger than I anticipated…