Hey, guys... This is the first chapter of the last week.

I know I am kinda behind on the schedule but, in my defence, I would like to say this much at least: college is hard.

Anyway, expect at least one more chapter tomorrow. I know the story is pretty slow, but it should be picking up from here on.

Without further ado, please enjoy!

V1C6: Sequoia Emperor

‘Thump ... Thump ... Thump’

“Jake, hurry with those supplies! Seth, stop lazing around and bring the crates in here! Come on guys, we have less than two hours left. We need to move!”

“You know, it would be much easier if you helped a little!”

“I told you already, Project Firefly is a little unstable so I must take all precautions. The last thing we need to happen is a premature detonation.”

“Sy, do your job. I and Seth are going to be finished here in less than fifteen minutes!”

‘Thump ... Thump .... Thump’

The constant sound keeps us alert. Although that thing is still a few hundred kilometres away, the whole house is vibrating. Jake is loading the final supplies inside the chopper while Sy is calibrating Project Firefly.

Project Firefly. The name sounds pretty inoffensive, but the truth is terrifying, to say the least. Antimatter null field generator. That is its original name. Then, why is it called Project Firefly, you might ask... Well, this happens when you allow a twenty years girl to choose the name to one of the deadliest projects in history.

To be honest I don’t understand exactly how that thing works, but basically, an antimatter outer shell is used to create a huge explosion that compresses an inner core made out of some strange material found in some cave in Antarctica. When the pressure is great enough the core implodes upon itself generating a huge attraction force, similar to a small black hole, in the process. A few seconds later the nucleus uses all its energy and the reaction stops on its own. At that point, we have a super-compressed nucleus made out of all the material that has been swallowed. That material is called Dwarf Star Alloy and is almost impenetrable.

Initially, Project Firefly was not supposed to be a weapon but a way of creating cheap Dwarf Star Alloy. Although extremely heavy, using a zero gravity generator it could be used to create impenetrable bulletproof equipment that could save lives.

I never thought that the first time we were going to do a field test it was going to be a monster tree that wants to eat us alive.

“Jake, this is the final crate. Is there anything else left?”

Finishing moving the last crate with equipment, I start moving towards a final check up to be sure we did not miss anything.

“I am done as well. Is there anything missing?”

“This is what I’m doing right now!”

“Weapons: checked! Nano-suits: checked! Water filters: checked! Emergency kits: checked! Sy’s stuff: checked! Erotic magazine collection: checked! Food crates: check... Jake! What the hell are you doing?”

At this point, Jake just picked up my treasured collection of over 1000 unique magazines and threw it on the ground outside the cargo bay.

“My precious collection! How dare you? I know that you are jealous but if you asked nicely I would have given them to you once in a while!”

“Jealous? Why the hell would I be jealous of your perverted collection?”

“Oh come one, no matter what you say you are still a man and any man dreams of beautiful girls, right?”

“Those are not girls for God’s sake! They are only some useless pieces of paper that can only be used for starting a fire!”

“How dare you?!?”

“Why wouldn’t I dare? You are just a pervert and as your best friend is my duty to bring you on the right path.”

“Yeah right, because I don’t know about those wet dreams of yours!”

“I don’t have wet dreams, you pervert!”

“Oh, don’t deny now...”

I pick up my cell phone and open a certain video. Jake takes a look and his face blushes red like that of a young girl during her first kiss.

“Where the hell did you get that from?”

“Oh, I have my ways. Anyway, I never thought you had that kind of dreams about Sy.”

“I am going to kill you!”

“Bring it on!”

“Guys, that’s enough. It’s time! And Seth, please give me that video later. ”

““...””

Jake looks at me with puppy eyes... Although he is my best friend and we are both men, I can’t help you while going against Sy’s words... That is a one-way ticket to hell man...

..............................

‘Thump ... Thump ... Thump’

The huge tree is less than fifty kilometres away from our house. Its size is even more terrifying than I thought it would be. The huge trunk is like a moving mountain while the leaves cover the sky creating a whole new world.

With each movement, huge cracks fill the earth and everything in the area where it lands are turned to shreds. Even now I can’t comprehend how such a being came into existence.

Although we are safe at over three hundred kilometres and at a height of 1200 metres, its sheer size and mass make my hair stand on end. Seeing the monster up close I start to worry about our plan... Although I know the power that Project Firefly has, I am not 100% sure that it is going to be enough to destroy that thing. At least I hope that it is going to be heavily wounded otherwise we might have a problem.

“Thump ... Thump .... Thump ... Thump. ”

It finally reached our house. At this point it stopped in place, not moving, not reacting in any way. It looks like it does not know what to do... Or maybe it’s looking for something?

“Sy, be ready!”

“I am!”

One smaller branch that looks like a vine moves towards the outer wall. The defensive system is offline because all the power is used by Project Firefly.

It gently presses against the wall for a couple minutes, investigating what the strange structure that he stumbled upon is.

In the end, the vine retracts back to where it came from. The red blood veins that cover its huge body starts bulging. The blood flow increases and all its blackish leaves turn completely red. The branches on top of its trunk start moving towards the exterior revealing a huge black hole filled with countless white teeth.

‘ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR’

A deafening sound fills the world. The blast generated is like a hurricane and the small helicopter we are riding in is like a boat in the middle of the ocean. Losing my balance, I drop to my knees. The helicopter sways in all directions on the verge of going out of control.

“Jake!”

“I’m doing my best!”

“A true monster!”

Sy’s comment hits the spot head on. That is without a shadow of a doubt a monster that could ruin a country. Jake barely regains control of the helicopter. Meanwhile, the tree monster ignores the house like it is not even there and sends its huge branches towards the ground.

The branches go deep underground. From the look of it, its target is the bunker itself.

“Exactly as planned!”

Although I know it is bad augur to say that, I still can’t stop myself from uttering those words. Our plan was quite simple at the beginning: use Project Firefly to destroy the huge monstrosity. Unfortunately, we had a slight problem... Project Firefly couldn’t be moved. In those conditions, we had to think of a different solution.

In the end, we came up with a plan that might actually work. From what Sy discovered from the small tree that attacked our house a few days ago, it looks like those monsters use the brainwaves of living beings to identify their meals. In those conditions, we used a modified camouflage device to mimic a living being and we used it on the whole bunker.

And now we can confirm that all worked perfectly!

The huge tree starts pulling its branches from the ground. The house on top is upturned and pulverised into pieces. Slowly, from the ground, a huge cube of metal is being lifted. Although its size might seem big, comparing it to the tree is just like a small walnut to an elephant.

‘Crunch ... Crunch ... Crunch’

The whole bunker is thrown inside its bulging mouth and then horrifying crunching sounds reverberate in the surroundings.

“It can actually chew the bunker... It is way tougher than I thought it might be...”

Sy’s words are alarming... A question pops into my head right now... What if...

“What if Firefly is not going to be enough?”

‘Grin’

“Calm down and enjoy the show. It is going to be AWESOME!

“Click”

With a simple click, a signal is sent and the countdown starts.

‘10 ... 9 ...8 ... 7 ... 6 ... ‘

“Put on your glasses. This is going to be HUGE!”

‘5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1’

..............................

White light fills the horizon. There is no sound, no pulse wave, nothing... Only light.

‘BOOOOOMMMMM’

A few seconds later a huge sound wave hits the helicopter. Compared with this sound wave, the one produced by the roar of the huge monster was like a small kitten mewing. The helicopter does a few back flips in the air, Jake losing control for a few seconds. In the end, we manage to stabilise just in time to witness one of the most astounding scenes that I’ve ever seen.

There is no tree left, just an enormous ball of fire that fills our view.

“HOMMMMMmmmmm....”

Then, the explosion starts getting smaller and smaller until it disappears completely. Quite anticlimactic I might add...

“It’s done!”

Those words from Sy mark the success of our scheme. There is nothing left from the huge monster like it was never there. All we can see right now is a colossal hole in the ground.

“We’ve done it!”

“Indeed!"

“Universal announcement..."

“Guys ... Did you hear that?”

At Jake’s words, we all nod in the same time. A monotonous voice that I couldn’t identify as being male or female could be heard. Actually, to be more exact, it’s not like I heard it, it’s more like it was inside my head...

“The Sequoia Emperor of the 107-th lower realm, planet Earth, under the jurisdiction of the Astral Infernal Realm has been defeated.

A new Slayer team has been born.

Origin: 107-th lower realm, planet Earth.

Member count: 3.

Group name: Cerberus.

All other information is private.

Current rank: 13 out of 13!”

“““...”””

At this point, all three of us are dumbfounded.

‘Ahhhhhh’

“Sy, what’s wro...”

I am not even able to finish my words when I start feeling an excruciating pain coming from my chest. My tattoo is glowing. Looking towards Jake and Sy I can see that both their chests are glowing as well.

“Jake, activate the auto-pilot and set a landing course. We don’t have time!”

The pain is even worse than last time. Looking around I can see that Sy is already on the floor of the helicopter, unconscious.

Soon my brain is overwhelmed by the pain and I lose my grip as well.

Before succumbing to the darkness one more time I manage to utter three more words...

“WHAT THE FUCK?!?”