"Heca take the left flank, Suekamikou advance your position to the front of it, we can't let it go any further! Get ready to ramp up, Gouriki!"

Joran and Ripley ran around the block to see the behemoth in its full form, its fangs bared and tail swishing around, swiping its tusks towards the 3 soldiers in front of it that had tower shields. There was already a clear path of destruction the Basilisk had cleaved behind it within the district; smoldering cars and rubble were evidence of that. The commander barking orders was only a few feet away from Joran, her heavy, scaled armor was adorned with gold, and the Dao on her waist was more than enough for Joran to recognize her.

"Hey!" Joran shouted out to the Idaten, who swerved to him, at first furious at a bystander being here, which gave way to relief once she recognized who it was.

"Joker! I'm surprised to see you here," Once Joran got close to her, they briefly shook hands before she turned back around to the Basilisk, "Bastard finally woke up. My deployment was thin as it was, but we're managing to slow it down."

"Thin? What do you mean thin?" Joran was flabbergasted, he was there personally when Reigan ordered for the area to be heavily reinforced.

"We had to split soldiers off to Inven. An encounter flared up into a full-on battle, last I heard. The first one of the Invasion, it seems."

Now…? Joran thought to himself, questioning if that was even legitimate, however, the bellowing that now reverberated through Joran entirely switched his attention back to the Basilisk.

Now that he was a little closer, he could distinctly see that there were only 8 soldiers in this deployment. 3 Gourikis and 2 Hecas, with the Suekamikou soldiers in front of the Beast. His heart sank, biting back his tongue from yelling out of frustration at the fact they had diverted over half of their soldiers to Inven.

This wasn't the time to lament, however, as he heard the solid thuds of the tower shields getting impacted by the tusks, shoving the Suekamikou soldiers out of the way with little resistance. The Basilisk started to move forward again, only annoyed by the slashing the Bloodhound soldiers were doing on its legs.

Joran turned to the commander again, his brows furrowed, gripping the Dao on his side, "Let's go! They can't hold it back with just 8 of them!"

She looked down, angry at the situation unfolding in front of her, and rebuked, "Suekamikou will reform again, and hold their ground. They just need to buy time for the Clout Arts to ramp!"

It made sense to Joran. Against one target, Bloodhound members weren't as effective. However, Suekamikou and Gouriki could complement each other. Gouriki's Heavenly Clout Arts improved their offensive prowess as the battle wore on, while Suekamikou's Steel Body Arts allowed them to hold on, although with it gradually waning over time.

That alone was why they were the staple of the standing military of the Metropolis. But that didn't change the fact that the Basilisk was still threatening to wreak more havoc around them while the Clout soldiers were still ramping . The fact that there was a very convenient surge in Inven might've pulled away the Major Family Leaders away from here as well…

Joran gritted his teeth, and in a flash was already up to the Basilisk, surprising both the Commander and Ripley, as well as the soldiers that were desperately trying to fend off the monstrosity.

In one quick flick, Joran unsheathed his Dao in the middle of his dash, jumping up to the right side of the Basilisk's face, and aimed for the eye. With the lunge, it took him up to at least 15 feet into the air with his speed, but he still almost fell short. Feeling his sword hit the Basilisk, it almost bounced off the scales surrounding the eye, but it connected into the soft flesh, and with it, the Basilisk reared in pain, writhing, trying to shake Joran off.

Before it became too precarious, Joran pulled back his Dao, and flung himself off of the Beast, landing himself near the Suekamikou soldiers that up until then were fighting out of desperation. The Basilisk, in its struggle, pushed itself too far, and tumbled onto its side, crashing into yet another house, immediately reduced to rubble.

"Did you at least evacuate the area?!" Joran gritted his teeth as he called back out to the Commander, who flinched at the sudden question, and affirmed.

"For the most part…"

With a groan, Joran whizzed by the soldiers he was by, frantically trying to get through each of the still-standing homes and see who was still there. Reigan had told him what to expect with the Land Tank Basilisk, just in case this would happen. Gargantuan, quadrupedal, and with ridiculously tough scales and hide, it was without a doubt one of the hardest things that the Hero Realm had to fend off in the last Invasion. Even with fully enabled Gourikis, it still proved to be a challenge.

But it was relatively slow. Extremely lethal and powerful, but slow. It was heavily armored except for its belly that laid low to the ground. Getting it to flop over was the best bet to killing it, is what Reigan told him. And that was what he was banking on. But he knew it rearing over wasn't enough. It needed to be severely injured in some way for it to finally go belly up, as it were. But until then, Joran was more concerned about the safety of the populace in the immediate surroundings.

The first few houses that were directly near the Basilisk, he found no one. Without even so much as a skip of a beat, however, he made a mad dash to the next ones over, in the block he woke up in. And found that every single one of them were still occupied.

He woke each family in each one up as fast as he could, pushing them out of their homes, in case the soldiers couldn't fend off the Basilisk. In case he failed. Many faces blurred together for him, fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers all panicking and evacuating in any direction except towards the Basilisk. All of them, except a little boy. The freckles, short brown hair, and his magenta, pink eyes. He seemed far calmer than the rest. Maybe out of shock. But with yet another angered bellow from the Basilisk, Joran urged him to follow the rest of his family, who took off in the direct opposite direction of the Beast.

Joran ran back to the scene, only to be shocked as he saw the Basilisk maim one of the Suekamikou soldiers with its tusk, nearly slamming it into the house directly behind the soldiers. Blood gushed out of every orifice of the soldier.

Joran had no question about if they were alive or not. With a rush, he surged forward again, and tried to go for the other eye, the smell of rusted iron and burning oil now once again flaring up his memory, the entire scene drenched in blood red in his all too familiar hallucinations.

Not again… Joran struggled with himself, throwing himself off balance as he lunged for the left eye.

The Basilisk knew what was coming as well, as it suddenly recoiled, bringing the blunt backside of its tusk up to Joran, bludgeoning him out onto the wreck of one of the nearby cars. Flat on his back, Joran groaned in dulled pain. His head throbbed, as his sight finally drained the color red from his vision.

It was at this time that the Commander finally moved forward in her stupor, bringing her Dao up to fight the Basilisk the same as the Bloodhound soldiers. The struggle between the soldiers against the Basilisk continued as Joran blinked several times, trying to clear his mind.

The Basilisk stomped down on one of the Bloodhound soldiers, killing them instantly, blood splattering out from its foot with little resistance. At the same time, it impaled yet another Boulder soldier, after knocking the tower shield out of their hands with its clawed foot, charging into one of the houses, collapsing half of it with just the charge alone. It was then that one of the Gourikis finally charged with inhuman strength coursing through their body, their naginata embedding deep into the left hindleg, garnering a gut-wrenching shriek from the Beast. It kicked the Gouriki back with the same leg, who was sent flying past Joran into the rubble of the house behind him, his scream stopped with a solid thud, only wood snapping and creaking being heard from there.

Too many losses… Joran closed his eyes one last time as he forced himself to sit up from his position, pain flooding his head as he tried to ignore it.

As the remaining soldiers fought the wounded Beast, Joran looked around for his Dao, to see it was embedded into the rubble just a few feet away from where the soldier landed. Steeling his nerves, he got up, limping over as he numbed himself to the pain. Picking it up and out of the piece of wood it was implanted into, he turned to the Gouriki who as best he could tell, was only unconscious. Though with how much blood was flowing from his head, Joran could only guess for how long.

With a grimace, Joran glanced back to the Basilisk, adrenaline dulling the rest of the pain he could feel, only feeling a surge in his energy kick in, and then turned back to the injured Clout soldier, "We'll kill this Beast. I promise."

Switching to his Sacred Sights Art, he could see the massacre that had happened before with the blood everywhere, as well as the damage inflicted. The Commander had been trying to do the same thing Joran did with the eyes, but kept failing in dodging the tusks of the Basilisk, barely avoiding them while unable to lacerate the last eye. Blood gushed out of the Beast's left hindleg, where the Gouriki had impaled their naginata into, and Joran called out with a hoarse breath.

"You two Gourikis! Go for the left hindleg! It's weak!"

The duo he called out to were startled for a second, but both surged from their places in the front trying to fend off the Basilisk from their last Suekamikou soldier, who was lightly bleeding in multiple places. They both drove their naginatas into the same wound their comrade had inflicted. Once more, the Basilisk shrieked, the ground itself shaking, and now when it tried to kick out, the duo moved out of the way, fearful of ending up like their friend.

It was then that Joran surged up to the behemoth one last time as it shook its back leg, going for its left eye. Jumping up, he steeled himself, and plunged the Dao forward. The Beast realized what was happening, its slim, long pupil shrinking into itself, but it couldn't do anything without the proper balance.

Once again hitting the flesh, Joran could feel the blade sink deeper, and he twisted it, his fear consumed with fury. The sound of the sword dicing the eye was drowned out by the guttural roar. It threw back its head, rearing up once more, which flung Joran back off of it. Struggling to land a few hundred feet away, he steadied himself on the ground as he watched the flailing of the now panicking Beast. The Clout soldiers, now not needing to worry about their friend, lunged forward over and over with their naginatas, slicing through the hindlegs to bring it down, and then eventually stabbing through its abdomen now that it had fallen over. Blood gushed out as the soldiers gnashed it with their pikes. The cries of the monster subsided with each stab and slash. Eventually, the Bloodhound soldiers also came around and started to butcher the Beast with their sickles.

Even for a full minute of this, the Beast still was alive, desperately trying to defend itself. It nicked a Bloodhound soldier with its tail once or twice, leaving deep gashes on both of their arms, which forced him to back off. Then, as it finally stopped thrashing about, the soldiers stopped wailing on it, turning around and back towards the Commander. As they began to talk, the tail immediately whisked over and skewered both Clout soldiers with the dual claws, pulling them closer to the Beast and slamming them into the ground, before the Basilisk finally exhaled its last breath.

Those that remained were in absolute shock. For this one Basilisk, they had lost all Gouriki soldiers, all but one Suekamikou, and almost one Heca. 5 people for this one Beast.

And that was assuming no casualties if the people got away successfully, Joran thought to himself abysmally. But he clenched his fists, the pangs in his head still throbbing with each pulse of his heartbeat. He gingerly walked to the Commander, who was looking around, still in shock.

"We killed it, Commander. We did it."

"… At what cost?"

"Less than what it could have been," Joran turned to the last 3 soldiers alive, and aside from the deep gashes on the Bloodhound's arms, they were mostly unharmed, confirmed by his Sacred Sights Arts as well.

He didn't bother to look for the Gouriki that was in the other house's rubble. He turned back and bowed slightly towards the Commander and the soldiers.

"You all did the best you could. I'm sorry I wasn't more useful."

The Commander stared at the young man in front of her, and scoffed in self-mockery, "You're right. This could've been a lot worse. Let's go, where are you going from here, Joker? We will escort you."

Joran looked at the trail of wreckage that the Basilisk left behind, and sighed to himself, before looking back to answer cordially, "I'm going to go back to the cavern this bastard was in."

The Bloodhound soldiers groaned and profusely reprimanded Joran, "You can't be serious. Alone? Because you're certainly not going to be able to do it without us there."

"So would you like to come with me?"

"What?!" Their disbelief was almost unmatched with anger at the supposed offer.

They turned to their Commander, who was deep in thought as she studied Joran's face, "What else was in the sewers when you went there?"

Joran shrugged, "A lot of goblins. There could be more than just that down there, though."

Silence filled the gap between the two of them, as Joran's placid but determined eyes looked back to the perplexed, tired Commander's eyes. After about half a minute passed, the Commander nodded.

"Alright, let's go."

"What?!" Once again, the Bloodhound soldiers were shocked.

But it was then that the last Boulder soldier spoke up, taking off her heavily guarded helmet, her short white hair glistening in the crescent moonlight, "Don't question Commander Dargun. We follow you, Joker."

Joran turned to Ripley, telling her to wait at the car, and then to the Suekamikou soldier, giving a slight nod as he began to follow back the carnage. He figured it would lead them back to the cavern, and with how new this carnage was, nothing should've necessarily followed it out yet.

Speaking up, he asked about this, "So, Commander… Dargun. How long ago did the Basilisk surface?"

"It was maybe 5 or 10 minutes ago."

Scuffling over dragged, shattered wood that was dragged across the streets as they walked, Joran gestured towards the dozens or so of burning wreckages of cars around him, "This was all in 10 minutes?"

With a sullen look, Dorgan looked away for a minute, "And it would've been worse had you not luckily been there. How did you manage to go for the eye the last time while the… Gouriki soldiers went for the hindleg?"

"I have good mentors."

Joran mulled over the landscape as they trekked, becoming more and more downtrodden, with each demolished house they passed, with each wreck of lawns adorned onto the various homes. There were trees snapped in half, some completely uprooted. Joran was frowning by the time they made their way to the huge gaping hole in the ground that angled into complete darkness. Joran looked aside back to the Commander.

"I don't suppose you have the Sacred Sights Art?"

Looking back at the Joker, she sighed, and pulled out a flashlight from her belt, flicking it on, flooding the hole with light to show nothing until it faded to black again.

She looked back at Joran, and gestured in front of her, "After you, Joker."

The Boulder soldier strapped her helmet back on, and flicked on her own flashlight, same as the Bloodhound soldiers, and they all began their descent. The tunnel was shallow, making it easy for the group to walk down. Joran's eyes flicked back and forth, as he could start to see the bottom open up to the cavern after a few minutes of trekking.

Reaching the bottom, and with the giant hole filtering some night light into this area, coupled with the flashlights, Joran could finally see it in full. The ceiling easily reached 30 or 40 feet, and he could barely make out the end of the wall over 100 feet away.

"So this is where the Basilisk was?" Dorgan asked rhetorically, as the group fanned out to explore the cavern.

Joran walked straight ahead, eventually finding the broken wagon parts close to the center, where the Basilisk definitely had been. As far as he could think, nothing was different from since the last time he was here.

So what made it move out of here in the first place…?

"Seems to me that nothing is really here anymore," Dorgan said out loud, "Anything over there for you, Saffora?"

Saffora, the Boulder soldier responded curtly, "Nothing here."

"What about you two, Mason, Neal?"

"Nothing here, either."

Dorgan approached Joran in the center of the space, and inquired, "Well, where do you want to go from here, Joker?"

Joran turned to the Commander in front of him, confused, "… You're deferring to me?"

With a slight smile, Dorgan patted his shoulder, "Well, without you, we'd either be dead or still fighting the Basilisk. Besides, some consider you the right-hand man of the Realm Monarch."

"… Right," Joran half rolled his eyes, and pointed towards an entrance, "We went down the hole facing Evergreen. Given that's the only entrance coming from the opposite direction, that should be from where we discovered the Basilisk."

"Okay."

Joran pointed over to the other side of the space, to his right, "There's an entrance down that way, and it's the only other one that isn't, well, the giant hole leading to the surface. And Drekor swore up and down there shouldn't have been anything leading to Crown City besides an enclosed tunnel for the water."

"So you want to go down there and investigate?"

Joran nodded, and the group assembled back onto him and the Commander. After Joran explained the plan of action, unsurprisingly…

"We've already come down here, and made sure there was nothing here, so why keep venturing into the sewers?" One of the Bloodhound soldiers inquired, Mason.

Furrowing her brows, Dorgan firmly rebuked, "Because the Joker thinks there might be something here, so let's go then, yes?"

With a slight groan, the duo soldiers nodded, and they ventured further North through the entrance. As the tunnel enclosed around them, Joran pondered to himself that they were heading in the direction of Crown City. Maybe closer to Adpol. But it put him off for a reason he couldn't really figure out to himself.

In a tunnel almost identical to the one Joran traversed with Reigan and Drekor, and the Bloodhound Squad with them, it had smoothed, annular walls with a muddied ground. The difference being it was much smaller. They all had to somewhat crouch to walk through.

Lights reflecting off of the ceiling and walls, scattered onto the back of people's heads, only Joran could clearly see in front of them, and this specific tunnel did no winding, didn't go up or down. It was almost perfectly straight as it continued its path. Until finally… A door.

"… Huh?" Joran was baffled.

It wasn't a particularly ornate door, just wooden with a handle. It was extraordinarily crude. But why was it even there?

Eventually the group shifted their focus from walking and noticed the door as well, silence pervading them as a whole, until finally Dorgan spoke up, "Well, open it?"

Joran nodded his head, looking back, collecting himself. He gripped the small handle on the door, and pushed it open slowly, a soft creaking being uttered by the door itself. Once he was able to peer into it, he could faintly see a strange formation on the ground, with a blue portal standing above it.

And a very distinct human form garnished in a black robe appearing out of it, taking a deep sigh.