A cold breeze blew across the newly flattened landscape, causing a shiver to run down the spines of a group of five as they continued to stare at where the strange, terrifying creature had just vanished as their minds attempted to catch up.

They had planned for many scenarios, some peaceful while others were based on the worst possible outcomes, yet like the saying goes 'No plan survives contact with the enemy.' they had not anticipated what had actually occurred.

"So~." Geoff, the death knight, was the first to break from his stupor. "That was... interesting. Initial thoughts before we head back for debriefing?"

The redhead flinched at the sound of his voice before bitting her bottom lip. "That you are fucking retarded. Next time you feel suicidal do us all a favour and do it alone, preferably where we won't be forced to clean it up."

Geoff chuckled, shaking his head slightly as a smile appeared on his lips. "Someone had to greet it, and after reading the reports, I couldn't send anyone in good conscience."

"Yet you dragged us with you?" hissed the woman, flames licking her arms as she scowled at Geoff.

"The burden of command. I command the Southen Garrison, and you are my squad, advisors and the only people I really trust. Who else could watch my back?"

The flames died down slightly. "Guess that's true but I don't see Val out here with us? Guess some are more valuable than others."

"Plus," Geoff's smile grew as he tried to distract the woman. "If I am going to die, why not be surrounded by beautiful wo-."

"Ahem," coughed the robed man, trying to stop his commander from putting his foot in it. "Apart from the fact that if you complete that sentence, Val will make the rest of your life extremely short, I reluctantly have to agree with Karen on this. It was a foolish move."

The man straightened his robes before scratching the white stubble that adorned his jawline as he displayed a puzzled expression. "Also, even if we exclude the fact that the creature saw through Ren's illusion magic, nothing really adds up."

"He what?" shouted the white-haired woman, her fox-like ears twitching as she finally started paying attention to the conversation. "You must be wrong William. Only mind types can distinguish between my illusions and reality, that and those with sixth senses but they just get the sensation that something is wrong."

Nodding his head in agreement, Geoff put his hand up to calm the fox-girl, her voice was carrying over the grassy plains and this was not the place to talk about such sensitive matters. "We will talk more about it when we get back inside the barrier but for now, think about what it said."

Ren frowned. "He could use telepathy so I guess he could be a mind type but that would go against his physical appearance and aura. The creature was most definitely a physical enhancement type. Hell, he is probably the best one I have ever seen. I don't want to believe that there are hybrid creatures out there. That would mean that until we produce a second or third generation, which by the way will take a long time as nearly all of us women now have complete control over that sort of stuff eliminating the chance for accidents, we would be at a huge disadvantage."

It was clear that Ren wasn't going to drop the subject, causing Geoff to sigh noisily before gesturing for William to continue. He knew the mage would be much more discreet than him.

"The creature was definitely something that would have attacked at the slightest provocation. It was either not threatened by its use or, more than likely from his body language, he didn't even know we had attempted it." William's staff lightly tapped on the grass as he turned and walked back towards the fort, motioning the others to follow. "Now, we were meant to all look like average, if a bit ugly humans. His attempt at flattering Karen was an impressive development, the mention of red hair somewhat alarming but what confirmed it was when he called you 'white fox.' He saw through the spell without effort."

Ren's eyes flashed with understanding. "Ah, so he basically couldn't have known that unless he could see through the illusion. Is that what you meant by nothing makes sense? That he did not call us out on trying to deceive him?"

"Let's wait until we get the all-clear before we continue. I would like to go over everything before we report to the Council and the..." He paused, irritation flickering across his features. "...others."

The cry of a bird caused the group to look up momentarily.

Ren raised her arm, allowing the shadow-like eagle to land before it started to dissolve and merge with her own shadow. "Good, I hate waiting. He has passed the eighth marker, and all known hostile scouts have been eliminated. Either by him or those wannabe genetic soldiers."

"They like to be called Spartans, and I suggest you avoid antagonising them. For some reason, their mutation has dampened their emotions to varying degrees, and it makes it extremely difficult to beat them into submission," muttered Lucy as she rubbed her arm, the phantom pain of her broken arm lingering in the bone.

Geoff pulled a small, transparent crystal from his leather pocket and placed it on his forehead. "Send out the first two divisions, they are to run interference until the defences are complete. It appears that our illusion barrier may not be as foolproof as we originally hoped."

Chuckling, Karen rolled her eyes. "Geoff, you don't have to speak out loud you know, just project your words. Even that white monstrosity from hell could do it."

Ren scratched her head. "Actually, on that note. Why would an obviously predatory species be white?"

"Could be poisonous to eat, discouraging other predators, come from a place that it would act as camouflage or," William paused. "Worst case scenario, because he has reached an apex rank and has no natural predators to fear or the need to hide while he hunts. Judging by that burst of speed that he displayed, and the fact that his insides didn't turn to mush at the forces involved, I strongly doubt it was one of the former explanations."

Ren sighed. "Such a confusing creature. Its aura was violent, yet gentle, pure hatred mixed with love, self-reliance yet the need for others. I wonder if all his species are the same or if he is a castoff like those that left us in the early days."

Geoff kicked a small clump of dirt. "You say that like we didn't evolve into multiple species. On the side of the high humans, we have the elves, dwarfs, Spartans, beastkin, and the others that chose to remain mostly human. Then you have the monsters. Vampires, werewolves, arachnids, nymphs, demons, orcs, elementals and even those muppets that call themselves gods."

William laughed. "I think they would be pretty pissed to hear you calling them one of the monster subraces. I'll have to remember that one next time you start shit flinging."

"That guy who turned into the system wasn't any better," grumbled Geoff. "I mean, he became a parasite, even if people had to willingly accept him, I don't think any sane person would like to live inside hundreds of others."

Ren shuddered. "Fucking creep."

"Agreed but apparently the information shared and gained is pretty useful and he can give you detailed statistics on your body and equipment that has been blessed by him," said Lucy, though it was clear that although she had stated the benefits, she would not be taking him up on his offer.

"William?" Geoff's steps hesitated for a moment. "The creature was obviously interested in the girls, even slightly flirting with them. Do you think we could get one of the Succubi to try and lure him to our side? Even if his combat potential is useless, the information a native of this world would have would be amazing."

Both Karen and Ren looked at Geoff with a disgusted expression while Lucy nodded her head. "We could always eliminate him if he is a threat after we deal with the lizardmen. A man is weakest when he is thinking with his nob."

William shrugged. "Crude but valid point. Now that you mention it Geoff, the only conversation he had that wasn't business was towards the Ren and Karen and his body language indicated that he was less on guard with them than us. Maybe in his species, the females are not as strong or dangerous as the males?"

"Sexist pig," grumbled Lucy. "Letting his guard down just because we are women. I thought as much but he just seemed so inhuman, I pushed the thought aside. Next time we meet, I will show him the error of his ways."

William chuckled. "I would avoid that if I was you. Though I say he was less on guard, he was prepared to kill us all without a moments notice. Maybe its the fact that showing outward hostility to females of his kind is akin to committing suicide?"

Lucy snorted, not believing Williams words for a second.

"He also saw Lucy and Geoff as the biggest threats," added Ren. "His aura indicated that he would attack her first, then go for him."

"Hmm," William frowned. "To sum it up, we believe that we are dealing with a highly intelligent predator, capable of killing around fifty lizard men scouts, ranked at B+, with little to no problems. Due to observations, we believe he can be categorised as an argument type with mental abilities that allow him to see through illusions and gauge the threat of others and has a predisposition towards females."

"He might be a cultivator?" interrupted Ren. "Similar to those monks in the Northen Garrison. His burst of speed was too sudden, and I sensed a similar energy coming from his muscles."

"Compared to what?" laughed Karen. "Common sense has no place here. We have people who have turned into elements, self-proclaimed gods and god knows what else. It's like a dream. Everything seems possible. Who knows how he moved that fast."

"Or nightmare," spat Lucy. "Anyway, that ability looked like an inferior version of Frank's boost. Yes, it was much faster but at the same time, the energy and control were nowhere near as good as he was. We should be careful, maybe he is like that bitch that can copy other peoples skills?"

William sighed. "There is so much we don't know, but I guess what we need to decide on is what we will recommend to the Council."

The group walked silently for a moment, before Ren spoke up. "I say we create an alliance."

She then glared at William and Geoff. "And that would mean not throwing those sluts at him. He would never trust them and anyone with a working brain cell would be put on guard, especially him. It won't be easy to gain his trust."

"And how would you know?" grumbled Lucy.

"His aura," replied Ren with a smug expression. "If we provide good food and..." she hesitated. "hot water then we should create an environment he will stay with, even if only for a little bit."

"Hot water?" the others mumbled in confusion.

Ren could only shrug. "Don't ask me, that's the vibe I got from his aura."

William frowned, during their conversation something had been bugging him, precisely over the words the creature used, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The gnawing sensation only intensified as he crossed the forts outer barrier.

Wincing as the quietness of the plains was blown away by the clang of stone and metal, the shouts of men and women and the occasional explosion as a mage hurled their chosen element down the firing range, William continued walking.

"Home sweet home." Sighing loudly, Geoff was the next person through the barrier. "We really need to work out how to make smaller barriers.

The rest of the group followed, Lucy and Ren initially recoiling before gaining control of their heightened, animalistic senses.

Infront of them, excluding the hundreds of men and women training, was not a fort, but a stone citadel under construction. Thirty foot high walls were having the final meter long blocks of stone placed while on the multiple layers of the massive towers, the beginnings of Scorpio and catapults were starting to take shape.

A couple of feet from the walls, nearly twenty meters wide and equally deep, was a moat filled to the brim with spikes.

In each of the dark grey stones that made the wall, strange runic writing glowed in a variety of colours as a few robed women placed their hands on them, standing on unstable looking scaffolding and chanted seemingly nonsensical words.

To the outside world, beyond the barrier, the area looked like nothing more than a small town however that was just an illusion.

While the Southern Garrison had been considered to having the lowest importance, thus only getting a fraction of the resources the other three and the capital had been allocated, now that there was a threat, the Council was sparing no effort in bringing it up to par with its sibling cities.

A massive explosion drew their attention momentarily, a small crater surrounded by hastily erected mud walls smouldered in the distance.

"Looks like the mines will be ready on time, though they still seem a bit unstable?" muttered Ren, a disapproving look appearing on her face. "A lot of innocent creatures could be killed by them."

The group started moving towards the enormous gates.

"I agree with Ren, we should ally or at least come to a friendly agreement with the creature. Though it has provided no new information, it has saved us from risking our forward squads in eliminating the hostile scouts and, from the few prisoners we have taken, it seems that he is having a negative impact on their morale." William attempted to get the conversation back on track while they could still speak freely.

"Is the enemy of my enemy my friend, or my enemy?" muttered Geoff.

"Having said that," William continued. "My skin didn't stop tingling while we were with it. Most of us have developed some kind of threat detection, the 'sixth sense' being the most common but that is only triggered due to the intent of another to cause harm."

"It always confuses me that we have developed into similar groups instead of completely unique beings," said Karen to no one in particular. "Maybe the other species will have similar traits making this a lot easier?"

Ren tilted her head as her ape-like mount avoided a pothole, ignoring Karen as an idea popped into her head. "I could always see if I could tame him?"

William looked at her with suspicious eyes. "So trying to get him to fall in love with a lust demon is out of the question but for you to use your ability to control his thoughts is fine?"

Ren huffed. "I don't control their thoughts. We become friends and work together. They can break it off at any point if they think I am being unfair."

"Mmmhmm," grumbled William, not that he disagreed with her methods but because she was so quick to shoot anything that he proposed and ignored the similarities to his own ideas.

"Anyway, even though I have never used my ability on projected thoughts before, those mind types being slightly defensive when I asked if I could experiment with their abilities, it appears everything the creature said was the truth, though a very loose version of it. He should be somewhat trustworthy and if we ignore his appearance, the first meeting was very positive."

Geoff looked over his shoulder, back to the hills in the distance. “You mean like when it said that they would arrive in the next three days when our reports say two?”

"What direction was he heading in?" chuckled William. "If I were a betting man, I would say that the main force will be moving much more cautiously now that their scouts have been eliminated and being stalked by something that obviously enjoys the hunt. It wouldn't surprise me if System ranked him as an SS level threat."

"Rank SS?" Lucy did not look amused. "You are saying he is stronger than me?"

"Stronger is a vague concept. While I am pretty sure you could overpower the creature regarding raw strength, something tells me that even if we were to gang up on it there and attack, we might as well dig our own graves."

Lucy tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear as she glared at the mage, carts of wood and stone appearing from a guarded portal nearby, originating from the Northen Garrison, all but ignored.

"My intuition is something I have great pride in. It rarely lead me wrong on Earth and now..." William paused. "It's almost like a kind of foresight, though nothing near the same level as Val."

Geoff nodded. "Two in favour, Lucy? Karen? We need to give our recommendation to the council then get back to the grindstone. We don't have much time to prepare."

"Don't you mean your recommendation. You are the garrison commander after all," snarled Lucy. "You just want to share the blame if you make the wrong choice."

"Or, he just wants to have the advice of his most trusted friends," sighed William. "High risk, high reward. If we can nurture good terms with the first 'peaceful' interaction, excluding the lizard corpses, with another species, we could gain so much."

"We already know what your thoughts are Old Man," grumbled Lucy. "Let me fight it, and if it wins, it is worthy."

"Decline its offer but keep things civil. We don't need its help or know anything about it. If it wants to hunt in peace, as long as it doesn't harm humans, I say let it hunt," said Karren in a solemn voice.

"OK, so, Two for, one abstains and one neutral against,"

"Hey! I did not abstain!" roared Lucy.

"Its called a filter Lucy. Stupid ideas get removed before we make idiots of ourselves," chuckled Geoff. "Maybe you should apply it to your own thoughts once in a while."

Ren waved her hand in front of her, trying to blow away some of the dust originating from a geomancer creating mud golems nearby. "Geoff, just make sure to tell them that we must not antagonise this creature at all. His aura may be conflicted, but it's clear that he would not forgive, nor forget. We don't want an enemy like him."

Karen laughed, at the fox girls words. "Sounds like the perfect man for Lucy. Maybe we should set them up. Let them exhaust all of that aggression... hopefully far away from the fort. No one should be forced to listen to Lucy's angry sex sessions."

"Fuck off," spat Lucy as the others joined in. "That thing didn't even have a dick."

"It did have a bulge though, indicating something could be under that armour of his?" sniggered Karen.

"The fact that you looke-" The laughter abruptly stopped as Geoff's world span before he hit the floor, feeling as if he had been hit by a truck.

Trying to gain his senses, he sat up only to be grabbed by his leather armour and hauled to his feet.

Geoff swallowed hard as he came face to face with his assaulter. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

The angry face of a raven-haired woman, her entirely black eyes and marble-like skin standing in striking contrast to each other, glared back.

Ever since walking into the kill zone of the creature and sensing the threat it represented, Geoff had been dreading this moment. "Val, Wa-"

"Don't you Val me." snarled the woman as she pushed Geoff, sending him staggering backwards. The whole scene would have seemed extremely strange as Val was extremely thin while Geoff looked like some sort of bodybuilder in comparison, but to everyone present, they knew that the weak looking woman had held back. “Do you know how many times I had to witness visions of your death in less than five minutes? Do you? I know this world is fucked up, and it's only going to get worse but for the love of god, play Russian roulette or something next time, you made it through that by the skin of your teeth. You swore to me when we got together that you wouldn't take unnecessary risks.”

Soldiers and builders alike hurried from the surrounding area, not wanting to be caught up in the woman's wrath because they knew exactly who she was, even if many had never seen her before.

The woman that was currently twisting the Southen Garrison's commander's arm was the fifth strongest ranked human. Val the immortal.

“My death?” Geoff stuttered, confused by her words. He knew that Vel could see possibilities of the future for those she held dear, but although he sensed danger during the meeting with the creature, he never felt that he was close to losing his life.

“Yes,” she screamed, now hugging him, her attitude changing faster than the wind. The scene looked comical, but beside Karen, everyone was making sure be focusing on something else. William and Ren even looked like they were about to make a run for the nearby gate in case things turned sour.

With Geoff's sense of humour, it wasn't exactly a rare occurrence and they quickly learned to get out of the crossfire.

Geoff hugged the woman back and tried to lighten the mood, though thankfully he decided to be somewhat tactful. “Haha, its OK. I know you would avenge me if the worst happened.”

“Ha,” the woman didn’t seem to find it reassuring, and instead squeezed him tighter. “At least I wouldn’t have been far behind you I suppose.”

The five of them paled as if they had seen a ghost. Though Val hadn't openly said it, she all but confirmed that if she were to face the creature, she would lose her life. If that was the case, what hope did they have?

Just how much had they underestimated the creature?

Val straightened, using her hands to force Geoff back as she looked him in the eyes. “Geoff promise me, you must never fight that man. Never. If he demands that you lay down and kiss his feet, you will do it.”

Geoff frowned, along with the others. “What man?”

"The one covered in a shell of bone without a face?" During Val's many visions, she had seen some possibilities, even some in which the creature had taken considerable damage and as such, had seen what was under the exoskeleton. "Promise me, Geoff. Not only for your sake but for the rest of us. Though he was once human, his humanity is gone. He is an abomination in human skin that we must not anger until we are stronger. He makes the two devils look like children throwing tantrums."

For the second time that day, the group stood in stunned silence.