Chapter 38: Failure is the Only Option Excerpts from Brief History of Xoth: Slave Trade While slave trade has existed on Xoth since the birth of civilization, it has diminished in size over the centuries. In some regions of Xoth, slavery is outright banned. In locations such as the Bolaweth Kingdom, selling of slaves is punishable by death. In the Duellia kingdom, the punishment of a slave owner or trader is dependent on their treatment of slaves. In the best case scenario, that they did not mistreat their slaves, they would forfeit all property to the kingdom's treasury and be sentenced to imprisonment for several years. In the worst case scenario, the individual would be sentenced to death. Regardless of the treatment of the slave trade in these locations, slavery is very much alive in the Eikoryu Empire's lands, the Zokot Kingdom, and the Demon continent of Almawt. Even the central region of Erlonia, has differing attitudes and laws concerning slavery. Inhabitants in the central region of Erlonia and the Misakeh continent are the at most risk of falling into slavery due to their close proximity towards conflict zones. Prisoners of war and captured villagers of war-torn towns are the most common backgrounds of slaves. The process towards turning someone into a slave involves the usage of a magical device called the Slavery Brand. The holder of the brand puts a drop of blood of the owner's blood into the brand. This brand is then pressed against the slave's back, between the shoulder blades. The brand spreads magic up and down the person's spine as a tattoo of thorns. This brand makes sure that the slave has to follow the owner's orders without resistance. If the owner of a slave is killed, the brand activates and kills the slave. A slave can be freed from the brand through a number of methods. The owner can free the slave by placing their hand on the brand site and declare, "You are free". The owner can make an order to the slave that they are free upon the owner's death. A final method requires an individual to have the Purify skill at Master level. Excerpts from Thunder's Recommendations Report ->Cultural and technological education programs for Xothicans Reason: When our worlds merge, we are going to have to hit the ground running in both the conflict with Hastur and the integration of Xothican citizens in the general population. Creating education facilities where Xothicans can learn about Human history, culture and technology, and vice versa, would improve the speed of integration and improve the relationship between Humans and Xothicans. At these facilities, we should hire political representatives from Xothican cities who can teach Humanity about the different races of Xoth and their magic. This exchange of views and ideas can help with the cooperation between our races and further improvement of our technology with the usage of magic. VVVVVV The cement corridors of the stadium were dark with few lights to illuminate the area. The darkness of the area allowed Rika to slip in and out of the shadow dimension with ease. She had a large collection of C4 explosives in her Inventory to use on the structure. Rika planted an explosive on one of the pillars in a hard-to-see location. "Is someone there?" someone called out. Rika looked in the direction of the voice and saw a security guard walking down the corridor with a flashlight out. She sighed in frustration and held out her hand in the direction of the security guard. Spikes erupted from the shadows around the man and impaled him. The spikes retracted back into the shadows and allowed the man to fall to the ground in a bloody heap. Rika saw she earned an experience point from the man's death and returned to planting her explosives. Rika held her hand up to her ear piece and said, "Explosive has been planted at location three. Rikkard. Vanko. Ray. Luca. Report." "Explosives have been planted at location six and seven," Rikkard replied. "Location four and five are taken care of," Vanko said. "Eight and nine done," Ray answered. "Explosives are at ten, eleven and twelve," Luca said. "Everyone fall back to exfiltration point," Rika ordered. VVVVVV Tom's and Laura's squad appeared inside a convenience store. Immediately they could hear gunfire going off outside of the store. Everyone took cover behind the desk where the cash register sat. "We're going to need the number of Phoenix terrorists," Tom said to Laura. "Chris, can you send out the drone?" Laura asked. "Weather looks clear," Chris said. He pulled out the controller from his forearm computer. "Sending out drone." The new drone Chris had under his control was a quadcopter that was dubbed the Dragonfly. It was equipped with cameras that allowed 8K video feed and black-and-white thermal imagery. The drone launched out from the top of Chris' backpack and flew out the doorway of the store. Chris flew the drone high up to get a view of the area. "Okay, getting a view of the area now." Chris pressed a button on his forearm computer and it projected the footage of the drone's view onto the ground to allow everyone a better view than his forearm display. From the drone's vantage point, they could see three different fire fights in progress. "Okay, we have three firefights going on here between Phoenix and the local police force," Laura said. "By the looks of it, we have ten terrorists slightly east of us, five to the north, and one to the west." "Look," Tom said. "The one to the west." Everyone looked closer and saw large flashes of light shoot out from the terrorist. "That terrorist is SYSTEM-enhanced. Judging by the light flashes, the others are just regular Humans. If we want to end this attack quickly we may have to split up." "What do you suggest?" Laura asked. "Three teams. There is a tall building that overlooks the Phoenix troops to the north. It's a good vantage point. Tempest and David should go there and take them by surprise. Pyre, Sam, Chris and Terra should take on the soldiers to the east. Pyre can use her Bubble Shield spell to give Sam and Chris cover. You, Aurora and I should then go to take on the SYSTEM-enhanced guy. Does this sound good to you, Sergeant?" Laura pondered his proposal for a moment before confirming, "Yes, this is good." She turned to her squad and declared, "We're going with his plan. As soon as you have eliminated the Phoenix soldiers, I want you all to regroup on my position." "Yes, ma'am," David said. Like Laura, Tom turned to his team and said, "Okay, you all heard the plan. I want you all to follow the lead of the soldiers. They have more experience when it comes to dealing with enemies like Phoenix. Understood?" "Yes," Tala replied. "You can count on us," Vivian said. Sylmae nodded in the affirmative. "Stay safe and don't take any unnecessary risks, 'kay?" Tom said. They all nodded. "After you, Sergeant," Tom said to Laura. "Everybody, move out!" Laura ordered. VVVVVV Tala and Vivian closely followed Sam and Chris. The sound of the massive gunfire grew louder as they ran. "What did To- Thunder mean when he mentioned Bubble Shield?" Chris asked. "It's, uh, a spell of mine," Tala answered under a heavy breath. "Uses mana to create a field of energy around an area. Protects you from range attacks." "Now we're talking," Sam said. "How long can you hold up the shield?" "Uh... Till my mana depletes... Ten minutes? Maybe less..." "Just let us know when your mana is fifty percent empty and then seventy-five percent empty," Chris said. "O-Okay." Sam stopped running and signalled everyone to stack up against the wall of a nearby building. They all ran to the wall and stayed behind Sam. She peered around the corner and saw the Phoenix soldiers firing upon police officers who were behind five cop cars. The cars were turned perpendicular to the Phoenix soldiers and the police officers took cover behind the front of the car and behind the trunk. The cops had folded out bulletproof vests on the back end of the cars to help reinforce the cover. "About eight cops are pinned down by Phoenix," Sam said after getting back into cover. She noticed an alleyway right next to them. "Chris, does that alley reach the street on the other side of these buildings?" Chris looked back and then to Sam. "Yeah, I think it does." "Terra, I've seen you use your magic to move the ground and such," Sam asked Vivian. "Can you use it to create thick barriers?" "I see what you're getting at," Vivian said. "Good. I need you to head down that alley and wait for us to make our move. When we do, I need you to head over to the cops and create a barrier for them. Check their status. If they need healing, then heal them. Take care of that then wait for us to give the all clear." "No problem. I can run down the alley in a couple seconds." "Pyre, I'm going to need you to create that Bubble Shield on my command. We pull this off, we can wipe out all of the soldiers in one strike. Terra go!" Vivian ran down the alley at a supernatural speed. "Okay, now for you to do your thing, Pyre." "Y-yes, Ma'am," Tala sputtered out. She raised her hands and said, "Bubble Shield." A large bubble of energy appeared around Tala. It was light blue in colour and was transparent. "Step inside," Tala told the two soldiers. Chris cautiously reached out to touch the bubble. As his hand touched the surface, he felt vibration from the energy. With no pain, Chris went into the bubble shield all at once. Sam followed right after. "Okay we need to move at the same time. Pyre, move forward towards the soldiers until I say stop. Chris and I will take care of the soldiers. Go!" Tala moved out from around the corner of the building with Chris and Sam by her side. Chris aimed with his submachine gun and Sam held up her shotgun. On the other side of the building from them, Vivian saw the three move out of cover and took that as the signal to run forward. As Vivian ran towards the police as Sam and Chris fired upon the unaware Phoenix soldiers. Four of the soldiers fell before the others reacted by taking cover by some nearby cars. Vivian casted Earth Manipulation and a wall of dirt erupted from the street in front of the police officers line of cars. Vivian ducked down with the officers and asked, "Are you all okay? Do any of you need any medical attention?" One of the officers raised his hand. His other hand was covering a bloody wound on his chest. "Don't worry I got this," she assured the officer and she moved over to him. While she was hidden behind her dirt barrier, Chris and Sam continued their assault on the Phoenix soldiers. Vivian crouched in front of the wounded officer, raised her hand over his wound and said, "Heal!" The officer grunted as his wound healed. The bullet that was embedded in his chest popped out of the bloody hole. With the bullet gone, the wound was able to completely close up and return the man back to full health. "Thank you," he said with some tears in his eyes. "I didn't know if I was going to make it." "No problem," she said with a hearty smile. The renewed sound of gunfire on the other side of the wall got her attention. "We'll take care of these Phoenix soldiers. Just stay here until we give the okay." Vivian looked over the dirt barrier and saw the Phoenix soldiers shifted their attention towards Tala, Chris and Sam. They kept cover behind the cars and only moved out of cover to shoot their guns or get to new cover. One of the soldiers peeked out of cover only to have his head blown off by Sam's shotgun. Vivian was careful not to get Phoenix's attention. She mentally made note where each of the remaining three soldiers. "Earth Manipulation!" she roared. The ground around the Phoenix soldiers' feet quickly crawled up their legs which prevented them from moving. Chris and Sam ceased their attacks as soon as they saw the dirt covering more of the Phoenix soldiers' bodies. "What the hell is this?" one the soldiers screamed. He tried to dig at the dirt but it spread across his body faster than he could get rid of it. The dirt and concrete mixture moved outwards from their sides and wrapped around each of their arms. The soldiers involuntarily dropped their weapons. The ground mixture enveloped their bodies below their necks and then placed pressure behind their knees to force the soldiers to their knees. The soldiers were finally trapped in a ball of dirt that prevented even basic movement. Tala released the shield she had up and staggered on her feet a little from the exhaustion of having the spell up. Chris and Sam walked over to the Phoenix soldiers and looked over to Vivian with a look that was a mix of bemusement and confusion. "Well, back at the base you people always talked about how you needed more Intel on Phoenix," Vivian reminded them. "I realized that I could restrain them with my Earth Manipulation spell." "Damn fine work, Terra," Sam said. "Damn fine work. It's actually rare to capture Phoenix soldiers. They usually kill themselves before they allow themselves to be capture." One of the soldiers started to bleed out from his mouth. He spat out a bloody piece of meat. "Oh hell, he bit his tongue!" Chris yelled. Vivian quickly moved over to the soldier and held her hand over his mouth. "Heal!" The soldier spasmed as he grew a new tongue. The growth of his tongue was even more painful than biting it off. He could help but scream. Once his tongue came back, Vivian stood herself right in front of him. She glared at him. "Listen here," Vivian growled at the man. "Every time you bite your tongue off, I'm only going to heal it. I will keep healing it. If not me, then one of my companions. We can and will make sure you stay in this state of hell until you talk to us. Is that what you want? Constant pain with no end in sight? Because we will only get stronger while you slowly wilt away from the pain and exhaustion. The choice is yours." Despite Vivian's small stature, she emitted a presence that gave the soldier chills down his back. Instinctually, the soldier knew the kind of power the little woman held. Sweat collected on his forehead. He grunted in defeat and stared downwards. Vivian looked to the other two soldiers with the same look in her eyes, "This goes for the two of you as well. Don't test our patience. We will win out." Notice (Vivian) You terrorized a terrorist. Due to your scary aura, you convinced the terrorist to not commit suicide. You have have unlocked the skill "Persuasion". 'Sweet!' Vivian cheered in her mind. "It's clear!" Vivian called out to the cops. The police came out from the cover that Vivian constructed for them. They walked over while placing their guns back in their holsters. "Can you all take over things from here?" Sam asked the cops. "I think we can," one of them answered. "We'll dig them out and cuff them." "Thank you, we need to regroup with the rest of our squad." VVVVVV Sylmae and David climbed up the side of a fire escape up the five story building. They grabbed the railing up each level of the fire escape and used their arm strength to launch themselves up to the next level. "You doing okay?" Sylmae asked David. "I trained a lot with this suit to do this kind of stuff," he huffed. "I'm fine. You?" "Not really used to this kind of movement, but yeah. I'm good." They were able to get to the top of the building in a short amount of time. They crouched down as they approached the other side of the roof. David took out his fifty caliber sniper rifle and rested it on the lip of the roof. He opened up the lens caps on both sides of the scope and looked through. "Chris' drone footage was accurate," David said. He adjusted some dials on his scope. "We have five Phoenix soldiers who are using heavy weapons on several groups of police. They don't seem to know we're here." Sylmae equipped her bow and notched an arrow. "Can you use that Group Slow spell?" David asked. "We could take them all out at once." Syl held out her hand towards the Phoenix soldiers and whispered, "Group Slow." In the perspective of the terrorists below, everything speed up several times. To the police, the terrorists had a purple aura around them that forced them to move at a fraction of their original speed. "Pick you target," David ordered Sylmae. "I'll take the three on the left side of the street below. You take the two on the right." "Got it." At the range they were at, David didn't need to compensate much for bullet arch or wind resistance. He aimed at his first target and squeezed the trigger to his rifle The target's upper chest exploded from the high-caliber bullet going through his chest. With the Slow spell in effect, the man's dead body slowly fell to the ground. The other two Phoenix soldiers tried to take evasive maneuvers to avoid the sniper's attacks. This back fired as they tried to go in opposite directions and overlapped each other in view of David. 'Thank you for the two for one,' David thought as he squeezed the trigger. The bullet went through both soldiers. The force of the attack sent the two into the back window of the car behind them. The two slowly fell into the window. Despite moving slowly, they were still applying force to the window so the back window of the car slowly cracked before it gave away to the two dead bodies. As Sylmae aimed at her first target, her vision focused with increased clarity and focus. The man appeared to be closer which made it easier for her to aim. Sylmae unleashed three arrows in rapid succession to her targets down below. The force of the attack caused the terrorist to fly off of his feet. Sylmae then casted ice magic on her bow and fired another two arrows at the other soldier. The first arrow impacted at the base of the neck and froze the neck and upper chest. The second arrow shattered the frozen section of the terrorist's body, separating his head from his body. Notice Enhanced Vision has reached Beginner Level 2. The cops below stood up from their cover. They saw David and Sylmae on top of the building and cheered for their involvement. "Any of them injured?" Sylmae asked David. "They look fine." David brought up his sniper rifle and closes the lens caps on his scope. "Looks like we got here before it got too bad for the cops." Sylmae brought her bow to her chest and had a solemn look to her face. She slightly shook in place. "You okay?" David asked. "Those were the first two people I killed," she said. "Not the same as monsters," David muttered. "No..." "I know it's difficult, but your friends and my squad is counting on us to keep moving," David reminded. "I know, I know," Sylmae muttered in a near whisper. "This is Smith," a voice announced over the radio. David signalled Sylmae to wait a moment while he listened to the radio in his helmet. "We have just taken care of the squad of Phoenix troops," Sam continued. "We are currently heading to Garza's location. We managed to take several of the soldiers into custody and left them in the care of the nearby police officers. Vivian healed all the injured police officers. Over." "Li reporting in," he said into his throat mic. "Tempest and I have eliminated everyone at our location. We are ready to move as well. Over." "This is Garza. We are having some trouble dealing with the SYSTEM-enhanced tango. He casted some spell that reflects most long range attacks. Thunder and Aurora are currently engaging him in close combat. Over." "We're on our way!" VVVVVV Laura had taken cover behind a waist-high brick wall. When Tom, Reia and she arrived at the scene, the SYSTEM-Enhanced and Violent Individual, or SEVI as she planned on calling them from now on, had already killed all of the police that surrounded him. Each cop car was destroyed from his fire balls and the charred bodies around the burning cars were all that was left of the police presence. The three were immediately noticed upon their arrival. Tom didn't wait for the terrorist to act and immediately used a Lightning Strike attack against him. They were shocked when the soldier lifted his hand and yelled out "Dispel". The lightning attack dissipated in front of the man. The soldier immediately followed up by casting a spell called Reflection. When Laura tried to use her rifle against the man, her bullets bounced off of him. With a sleazy smile, the man quickly explained that the spell prevented range attack from doing him harm. He pulled out two scimitars and gestured towards Tom and Reia to engage him in close combat. Laura found herself unable to be any help in the fight so she took cover and called for back-up. The man proved to be well verse in sword play as he put up a fierce defense against both Reia and Tom. He even prevented them from attacking from the sides by constantly walking backwards. Despite his skill, he still was no where near Tom's or Reia's level of skill or Strength. The two held back to hopefully interrogate the man over Phoenix's presence in the area. "Why is Phoenix here?" Tom demanded. "Where is Darma?" The man didn't answered and almost chuckled at Tom's frustration. One of Reia's spear thrusts went by the terrorist's defense and slashed across his upper arm. The terrorist grunted in pain. Tom slashed downwards. Instead of deflecting the attack, the Phoenix soldier tried to directly block the attack. Tom's strength proved to be much more than he could handle and Tom's attack continued unabated. The sword cut him straight down the front causing him massive damage. "Tell me!" Tom roared. The man answered only with a loud guttural laugh. "You wanna play this game?" Tom growled. "Fine! Reia take over." Tom teleported behind the man. Reia doubled her offensive to keep the Phoenix soldier distracted. The man got within range of Tom and Tom slashed downwards towards both of the man's Achilles' tendons. The man's calf muscles shot upwards in the man's legs and caused him to scream in pain. He fell forward to the ground and dropped his swords. Tom grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over. "What is Phoenix doing here and where is Darma?" "Oh, I can answer both of those questions at the same time," the man said with a wide smile on his face. "We are here to keep you and your freaks distracted while she blows up the stadium." Tom's face drained of emotion. He looked up in the direction of the Mercedes-Benz Arena. "Not that stadium, you idiot," the man groaned. "Considering you can teleport it wouldn't make sense to make a distraction next to the stadium we wish to blow. I came here to make sure Rika Darma could blow up the Green Field's stadium. So the dreams of our organization could be realized. And I came here to give my life..." A small hand-sized device appeared in the man's hand and he opened his vest to reveal several blocks of C4. "...to take yours." "Shit!" Tom yelled. He grabbed Reia's shoulder and quickly teleported away. The man exploded in a large ball of fire that created a crater in the street. Tom and Reia reappeared next to Laura. "It was a distraction," Tom muttered. "It was a fucking distraction!" He quickly got out his cell phone and dialed the President. At this time, the other two teams showed up. "Looks like we missed the fight," Vivian said in a disappointed tone. "What happened here?" Sam asked. "I don't know," Laura replied. "Mister President, it was a distraction!" Tom yelled into the phone. "Rika's true objective is to blow up the Green Field's stadium! It needs to be evacuated right now." Everyone watched as Tom's expression grew dark. "Oh... And... Are search and rescue on their way? I-I understand. Sir... I'm sorry." Tom hung up the phone and placed it back into his Inventory. "What happened?" David asked him. "This Phoenix attack was meant to keep us distracted while Rika went to blow up Green's Field Stadium," Tom solemnly answered. "I just talked to the President. Green Field's stadium in Mississippi was just destroyed. Casualties are estimated to be in the tens of thousands." "My god..." Sam muttered under her breath. "I know we've been through a lot today, but I would like to head there and render aid," Tom said. "Any one else?" "It's unorthodox for us, but I'm okay with it," Laura replied. Tom pulled out his phone back out and quickly looked at the stadium location on the GPS before he said, "Fast Travel to Green's Field Stadium in Mississippi." VVVVVV Northwest Territories, Canada Mordiggian crawled through the thick green forest of the northern region of the Canadian Northwest Territories. Despite it being early afternoon, the thickness of the trees and the position of the mountain next to the forest prevented much light from reaching the ground. As Mordiggian progressed through the forest, the number of trees increased but their green and brown colour faded. The trees appeared to get sicker and grayer, the closer he got to the mountain ahead. Mordiggian grew more impatient as he got close to the mountain. He soon increased his movement speed by grabbing trees and launching himself forward. Soon his grip began crushing tree trunks and forcing them to fall. Mordiggian's movement came to an end when he reached the base of the mountain. Behind him was a line of destroyed trees. In front was a large cave mouth. There was traces of blood and bones at the cave entrance. Mordiggian picked up one of the bones and deduced that it was once a Human femur bone. After examination, Mordiggian allowed the bone to lazily fall out of his hand. Mordiggian entered the cave and was assault by the smell of blood, both old and new. The sound of dripping echoed through the dark tunnel. The darkness of the cave was no trouble for Mordiggian. Darkness powered him. It was his shield and strength. His eyes could see in the darkness better than mortals can see during the day. As Mordiggian travelled through the cave, the sound of dripping was soon joined by another. The sound of crunching, squishing and chewing. The cave tunnel came to a large area. Mordiggian was able to determine that this area had no other tunnels. As Mordiggian used the shadows to improve his senses, he saw that the walls were covered in Human bodies, viscera and blood. Finally, Mordiggian's attention fell upon a figure in the center of the cave room. The figure was hunched over a body and feasted on it. It's movement and fevered eating habit made the figure come across as a freakish animal. Mordiggian moved into the area and said, "Is it really you?" The naked creature stopped its feast. It slowly stood up and revealed its immense height of four meters. It was humanoid in shape and had gray skin. Its arms and legs were extremely slender and its ribs were visible under its skin. Its fingers ended with long claws that clinked together whenever the creature's hands twitched. The creature's face slightly resembled a Human's except that its eyes did not have any pupils. They simply glowed in a slightly silverish colour. The top of its head sprouted with tentacles that messily hung down behind its head. Its lips pulled back to reveal a large set of pointed, razor-sharp teeth. "It really is you..." Mordiggian muttered in an almost tearful tone. "It has been so long. We have search for you for so long. What has this world done to you?" The creature slowly staggered towards Mordiggian while breathing with a rasp. "Young lord?" "The Hunger..." the creature grumbled. "So hungry..." The creature charged at Mordiggian with its claws ready to strike. Mordiggian grabbed the creature by the throat and threw it to the ground. The creature was briefly stunned before it returned to try to claw Mordiggian. Its mouth rapidly bit towards Mordiggian. 'The hunger?' Mordiggian repeated in his mind. 'Of course. I'm such a fool.' Mordiggian produced several large Soul Axes in his hand. "You must remember who you are!" He shoved the Soul Axes into the creature's mouth. "Ithaqua!" Energy exploded from the Soul Axes and light shone from the creature's mouth. Mordiggian backed away and watched as Ithaqua absorbed the energy from the Soul Axes. Ithaqua's arms, legs and body grow muscular bulk as he absorbed the energy. He screamed as his body twitched and bulged from absorbing so much energy. Eventually, the light from his mouth died down, the body twitches stopped, and his screaming stopped. Ithaqua rolled over to his side and struggled to stand up again. He grunted as he got up to his feet. Mordiggian moved closer to him to ensure he was okay. "How long?" Ithaqua asked. "Young lord?" "How long has it been on our world?" he clarified. "Since the accident." "Three hundred years." Ithaqua scrunched his claws together on the cave wall and created deep scratches in the rock wall. "Just three hundred? I have been on this world for so much longer. I have watched these mortal creatures go from spear throwing savages to being able to reproduce magic-like abilities through science and technology." Ithaqua tapped his right index claw against the wall a few times. "You asked me what this world did to me? During my time on this world, I slowly went mad from hunger. I had no access to Soul Axes. I found eating Human flesh helped alleviate the pain but did nothing to stop my body's and mind's degeneration. It felt like... a haze in my mind and I was forced to watch as an animal eventually take over my body." With a disgusted tone, Ithaqua continued. "Hunt with my body. Feed with my body. Forcibly copulate with Humans with my body. Now from eating those Soul Axes, that haze is now gone." Ithaqua shook his head before turning to Mordiggian. "Tell me. How are you here?" "Your father has finally perfected the spell," Mordiggian answered. "Xoth and Earth are going to merge." "Then my sacrifice was not in vain. Good. Good... How long?" "Ten Earth months. You'll be reunited with your family and Xoth and Earth will fear your name again, Ithaqua." "Ithaqua," he repeated. "I haven't been called that name for so long. During my travels, the Humans came up with different names for me. Yowie. Yeti. Sasquatch. Of everything I have been called, there was one name I was always partial to. It was the name that this country's first inhabitants gave me. Wendigo. I wish to go by that name." Mordiggian grinned at his request. "As you wish, my lord. Please come with me. There is much you need to know and much we need to do."