Chapter 10: Jack; Shauran 20th, 344SR; 07:50

The pillar created by Bruno crumbled behind Jack as he stood in front of Reinhardt, the rocks crashed into the ground outside the gate. 'Huh?' Jack scratched his head, he didn't know what to do, Ajal went to the room with the children in it.

"Who- who are you people? Why are you here... you look non-unified," Jack asked the man.

He raised his head and stood slowly, his feet wobbled as blood leaked out of his ankle. He wore similar clothes to the girl from earlier, just without the cap. He had a big nose and small eyes, his mouth was hidden by his red beard, he took off his glove and pulled the feather out of his leg.

"Are you alright?" Jack looked at his leg, red blood oozed out of it.

"Yeah, those little feathers won't hurt me," the man grinned weakly.

He had a deep and heavy accent Jack hadn't heard before.

"My name is Reinhardt, my team and I are part of the resistance. We were ordered to attack this outpost and secure an object the angels have been keeping here," he explained.

"The resistance?" Jack looked puzzled.

"The resistance against the hybrid alliance," Reinhardt restated.

"There's a resistance against the hybrids and angels? Since when?"

"Years, first formed by a man named Arken Grehilia, he stole knowledge of Aka from the demons and it's the only tool we currently have to fight against the angels. When he was defeated by the current queen of the hybrids fifteen years ago, he vanished without a trace, we don't know if he is still alive, and the resistance lost its motivation to keep fighting. However, after we heard a child bring a noble to his knees, the resistance regained that motivation. Jack, we owe you an incomparable debt," Reinhardt explained.

"I was just boy then, but since that day, nothing has changed... the angels continued their tyranny for years," Reinhardt concluded.

'Nothing has changed...' the words rang in Jack's head.

"Captain! That's Jack-" the woman from earlier slowly came to, she coughed as she held her stomach.

"Damn Bruno... where is he... this one is for my stomach!" she stood and put her fists up but noticed Bruno on the ground outside the building.

"Oh... but captain! It's-,"

"Hey! Stop talking and give me a hand," Ajal demanded as he walked past her carrying two of the toddlers out of the other room.

"Don't give me orders-," she held her tongue when she turned and noticed that Ajal said this.

"Sarah, we owe them... go help," Reinhardt asked.

She sighed and walked up to one of the people on the ground who'd been trapped in stone, she put her palms on the stone and waited.

"What is she doing?" Jack asked.

"That's very basic spirit arts. Now stop doing nothing and help me get these kids back to where they belong," Ajal commanded as he held the two kids against his side.

" Spirit arts? Basic? Those are advanced techniques..." Reinhardt repeated.

Jack walked over to the room with the kids, but he glanced over at Sarah. She still held her palms on the stone, it suddenly cracked slightly.

"Idiot... get your breathing right," Ajal mocked her weak attempt.

"Who the hell even are you!" Sarah hissed at Ajal as she pulled the cracked stones off the man's body.

"George, George wake up!" she lightly tapped the unconscious man's face until he slowly came to.

"Huh... Sarah?" he tried to get up but his body was still trapped.

Jack looked over at Reinhardt who approached the other person trapped, he also put his palms on the stone. He didn't move for a moment, but the the rock fully cracked and the man trapped inside fell out. Reinhardt knelt down and helped the man to his feet.

"Get up John, we're still alive," Reinhardt lifted the blonde haired man up to his feet.

Jack turned and entered the room with the children in it, light spilled into the room from the hole Ajal made in the ceiling. Jack walked over to the eight cradles in the center of the room, the light skinned baby who cried was familiar. 'Isn't that Lydia's kid?' Jack recalled the woman at the window who cried when the angels took her child, he now stood over that same child.

The child had light skin, their sleeping face only visible within the white towel.

"Okay, come on," Jack held the soft skinned child by the sides.

"Cradle him, like this," the girl from earlier approached.

Sarah scooped one of the children from underneath with both hands, and let her rest against her arms. Her green eyes scanned Jack from head to toe and back.

"So... uh... how did you defeat Alexander Rael?" Sarah asked excitedly.

"Uh..." Jack looked at her for a second and gulped while his eyes wandered around.

'Defeat? What is she talking about? It wasn't even a fight... and it was Carol's idea...'

"I..." Jack struggled to come up with an answer and decided to just run past Sarah instead.

The two men from earlier now stood and wouldn't leave Ajal alone.

"How did you defeat Bruno!"

"Are you a hybrid! A demon?!"

"Which town are you from!"

They continued to question Ajal as he carried the two kids, he ignored them as he looked around for something before he spotted a wagon used to transport supplies.

"Go get the other kids and put them in here, I'll take them back to Logos," Ajal ordered and the two stopped their assault of questions and stared at one another.

"You're so cool! Seriously who are you!" the two exclaimed, Ajal cringed as he tried to continue ignoring them.

"Jack put him in here, we should be able to carry them all in this." Ajal pulled the wagon by a chain on the ground and the stone wheels began to turn.

"Did you just say Jack?!" the two of them shouted at the same time.

'Damnit Ajal don't say my name...'.

"Yeah, that's Jack. Crazy right... Rodrick said Franklin couldn't shut up about how terrifying this guy is but he seems too scrawny to have beaten Alexander," Sarah answered.

'Terrifying? Wait, Franklin knows these guys? Could he be the person Arthur was suspecting' Jack pondered.

"You- you said you we're looking for an object?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, now's our chance to secure-"

"It's no use," said Ajal as he brought two more of the children. "That object is what I came here on, someone's already taken the parts, it's useless until repaired," Ajal explained.

"What?" Reinhardt uttered in shock.

"Yeah, I don't want this to sound bad but it probably will. You would've died for nothing," Ajal said coldly.

Sarah, John and George looked down, they didn't look shocked, it was like part of them knew what Ajal had said was true even before he had said it.

"You three, get the rest of those kids and then we'll help them get these kids to Logos," Reinhardt ordered.

"Huh? Are you sure Reinhardt?" George asked.

"Yeah, I don't know how exactly I should feel knowing that everything we've worked for was meaningless, but it'd only be an insult to their sacrifice of our fallen comrades," said Reinhardt.

Reinhardt knelt down next to Bruno and tried to take the ring off his hand but it didn't budge. Although unconscious his fist remained clenched.

"That gift, a ring which lets the user manipulate stone?" Ajal looked over Reinhardt's shoulder to see the ring, and then looked at the walls of stone, the wheel of the wagon, and the entire building they just fought in.

"It's an amazing gift considering he built a lot of this place with it. Leave it, it's his," said Ajal.

"He's the strongest member of house Rael if we exclude that bastard Alexander. I'm having trouble coming to terms with the fact you just defeated him that easily," Reinhardt added.

"You said there's a path through the mountains?" Ajal asked.

"Yeah... about that," he pointed at a part of the mountain where the rock glowed bright orange while wisps of steam rose off of it.

"I heard from Sarah you did that," Reinhardt pointed at a part of the mountain which had been vaporized.

"I didn't mean to scar the land like that, my bad," he apologized.

"Wanna do it again?" Reinhardt suggested.

"If Vivian got away they most likely already know about you and this entire attack, there'll be enemies coming from the forest, but if you could make a hole in the mountain, we can cut through straight back to Logos," John explained.

'That plan isn't so bad...' Jack considered, although he was more focused on the thought of chipping away at the mountain he'd mined in for years. Ajal put his hand to his chin and thought about it.

"Why don't we go around the mountain the other way?" Ajal asked.

"It's all cliffside over there, but if we could blow apart the rock a bit there, we may be able to make our own shortcut," Reinhardt explained.

"Then let's do it, we walked for hours earlier. That way shouldn't take nearly as long, I'll go make that hole right now," Ajal stated as his third eye opened and he walked to the other side of the building which was closer to the cliff side.

"Uh... you guys saw that too right? He had three eyes just now right?" George asked while he walked over with two children in his arms.

"Yeah... I wasn't ready for that," Reinhardt's eyes were wide with disbelief.

"Yeah I wasn't ready for it either the first time," Jack tried to get involved with the conversation.

The four stared at him for a moment before Reinhardt came forward.

"Jack, who is he?" the red haired man suddenly asked. "He took down a first lieutenant in a single kick... and this isn't some pushover," Reinhardt pointed out.

"Uhm, I don't think you'd believe me even if I told you," Jack mentioned however the four of them gave him their full attention.

"On the day me and my friend tried to sabotage the angels, our plan got sidetracked and we ended up attacking Alexander Rael... before that happened, a flaming ball came out of the sky and crashed in the forest," Jack recounted.

"A flaming ball?" John repeated with a skeptical tone.

"Yeah, it crashed in the forest and when we found it, it was- blue, it was kind of like a box, but... uh, whatever; we found Ajal inside. He was injured and unconscious so we took him back to Logos. Me and..." Jack hesitated.

"Me and my friend thought that he was a gift from the celestial... and so I waited for him to wake up. For over a year, and he only woke up... yesterday night." Jack explained.

A rumbled buzz came from the other side of the building before the sound of a large crash overlapped it, they all turned to see a purple light from around that side of the building.

"When he woke up, he said he was a divine being and had to get back to his world called Imperion. B-but he promised to free all the slaves in Logos," Jack concluded.

They stared at Jack with eyebrows raised and exchanged glances at each other for a few seconds.

"Bullshit, no way..." Sarah turned her head and looked at the purple light then back to Jack. "H-he isn't from Grelt? There's other worlds out there?" she stammered.

"Wait wait, you carried him back to Logos, and defeated Alexander Rael, and blew up the mines in the same day?!" John tried to confirm.

"No stupid, he blew up the mines with Alexander in it... how else did he beat him..." George interjected.

"Don't call me stupid!" John hissed.

"We haven't introduced ourselves, my name's George Byroc, that's my younger brother John," George introduced.

"You're siblings?" Jack asked, 'Brothers? They look so different...'

George had narrow eyes, and was rather fat, but he was taller and evidently more muscular, in terms of size he wasn't too far from Reinhardt and he was a similar height. John was slim and a lot shorter. They both had brown hair, Johns was dense and his bangs covered his forehead, but George's hair was short and his forehead large, he had a horizontal scar across his face over his nose.

"Yeah! Although our brains are polar opposites, me and this idiot are related by blood," the brother George announced gleefully.

"I. Am not. An idiot. You tubby!" John spat as he smacked George's round stomach.

"Hey... punk," George's tone sounded serious all of a sudden.

"Don't poke me!" George smacked the back of John's head and he stumbled forward slightly.

"You wanna fight!" John put his fists up.

"Lets go!" George put his arms up.

The two engaged in a short scuffle where John continuously smacked George's stomach, while George continued to smack John's head 'What's wrong with these two...'.

"This is normal for these two. They'll get sick of each other in a few minutes." Sarah explained to Jack.

'They aren't already sick of each other?' Ajal poked his head out from around the corner.

"I'm done," Ajal announced non-chalantly.

Reinhardt turned around with a surprised expression on his face.

"John, George bring the wagon." Reinhardt ordered.

Jack followed the four of them around the building, as they got around the corner they took notice of a missing portion of the outer gate. 'Ajal probably did that to the gate...' A cloud of smoke rose over from behind the wall. 'He... probably did that too... Did he seriously make the hole that fast?' As they proceeded up the hill, ocean stretched out for miles, directly to the west were numerous small islands. Far off in the distance past the horizon line, and several hundred meters into the sky was a floating island with a single tower with bright green light glowing at the top.

They made their way around the wall, and one by one their jaws dropped. Ajal stood with his back toward them, he seemed to appreciate his work. A large hole, which seemed to cut right through the mountain, with the other side in sight. The walls still glowed a bright orange as they cooled from the intense blast of energy, some of the orange molten rock spilled out of the entrance of the hole.

"W-wow, that eye is gross but it's got some serious firepower," Sarah held her stomach.

"Incredible... Ajal, your power rivals- no it goes beyond that of the nobles!" Reinhardt commended.

As the path began to cool, Ajal walked over and put his hand over it.

"The path needs to cool before we cross it." he informed them.

"Is it really that-" Sarah walked forward and felt a heat radiate from the hole. "Nevermind," she backed away immediately.

"You know Spirit Arts right? What level have you all learned up to?" Ajal turned and asked them.

Jack and the rest of them stood around looking clueless.

"You keep talking about spirit arts, what even is that?" Jack looked puzzled.

"Uhm, Level?" Sarah looked confused.

"You we're using it earlier to get them out of the rock," Ajal reminded them

"That's a combat technique from Aka, a nation controlled by the demons?" Reinhardt repeated.

"Yeah thats spirit arts, the Spirit Bloom technique originated there, the spirit world of Aka. Its not a nation and it can't be controlled," Ajal said nonchalantly.

'The spirit world of Aka?'

"Arken Grehilia taught us that spirit arts were a weapon the non-unified could use... that's it." Reinhardt answered.

Reinhardt raised his hands and clenched his fist as hard as he could. Jack saw a red steam come off of Reinhardt's arm, 'Is that mist the spirit arts?' Jack made a fist himself and held it as hard as he could, his expression turned intense as he focused hard on his hand but the same red mist didn't come out. 'How is he doing that?' Jack flexed the muscles in his forearm as hard as he could as he looked between his own hand and Reinhardt's, but nothing happened.

"That right there is the very basic or first level of spirit arts, controlling your spirit," Ajal pointed out.

Reinhardt turned and his eyebrow raised as if Ajal said something ridiculous.

"Isn't this... advanced??" the red haired man repeated.

Jack continued to focus on his forearm, the veins pushed up against his skin, he had some muscle from mining, but he was still scrawny.

"This is basic? I worked hard for months to learn this, and you're saying this is basic?" John looked at his hand while he clenched his fist as well.

The resistance members could barely believe it, but they could barely believe Ajal exists as is.

"Not to be rude, but whoever taught you probably doesn't know, you said this... Arken, brought this knowledge from... the demons, right?" Ajal recalled.

John and George nodded.

"Who are these so-called demons?" Ajal questioned.

"That's a difficult question to answer," Reinhardt turned and pointed north at the horizon.

"There are four continents: Kamino, Hiria, Pandora, and Protor. The demon king Abaddon, hundreds of years ago fled to the land in the north, Pandora. He's been there in hiding ever since, Arken sought him out, he returned without him, and he didn't confirm if Abaddon was even there. He only promised that he brought the only chance they had to make change," Reinhardt explained.

"That's ironic," Ajal replied. "He taught you only the first level of spirit arts and expected you to defeat people with gifts? Whatever, I didn't know him... there are seven levels to spirit arts," Ajal spoke in a raised voice.

Jack stopped his pathetic attempts and watched Ajal.

"The first level is spirit control, the second is spirit charge, third: spirit ignition, fourth: spirit manipulation, then the fifth and final combat level is spirit release. The sixth is spirit sense, and the seventh is known as spirit bloom," Ajal listed the various levels, the five of them looked stumped.

"Spirit bloom?" Sarah repeated.

"Spirit imagination?" George tried to confirm but confused himself further.

"He said ignition... how'd you mix those up?" John corrected his brother.

"How were you taught to use spirit arts?" Ajal asked.

'He sounds eager to teach us,' Jack thought as he heard Ajal's tone.

"By simply focusing all of our strength combined with the energy of motion? It took some time, but over many years we saw progress-" Reinhardt answered.

"No, that goes against spirit control. Before you can use spirit charge, spirit control will exhaust your stamina, so you need to conserve your stamina and stop yourself from tiring out. And whatever you're doing Jack, that's not focusing," Jack looked up and frowned in embarrassment as he struggled to do anything.

"Jack's a great example here, sit down Jack," Ajal requested.

'Oh no... I really don't belong here,' but he slowly sat down, his heart beat rapidly as he felt them all stare at him, Sarah glared at him and it made him very uncomfortable.

"Your spirit is a reflection of your mental state, controlling the spirit means eliminating emotion which disturbs it," Ajal explained.

"Jack take deep breaths until you feel calm," Ajal instructed.

'I seriously doubt this is gonna work... deep breaths, okay...' Jack inhaled through his nose, and exhaled through his mouth, he looked at all of them as they watched him and his breath became ragged and he began to breathe heavily in and out through his mouth.

"I... I don't think I can-"

"Try again, keep your eyes closed, you got nervous. Remember, all you have to do is become calm," Ajal cut Jack off.

Jack closed his eyes this time, he inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, after about a minute, something felt different.

"Keep doing just that, it's that simple," Ajal encouraged him.

Jack felt good now that he thought he was doing it right, even though he didn't know what that was. But just as he felt that, the image flashed in his head again, Alexander Rael towering over him in an inferno of green flames. Jack felt his entire body shiver, his eyes opened immediately and he gasped for air.

"What happened?" George asked.

Jack panted, puzzled as he felt like the air in his body left him all at once.

"You stopped breathing... you had it though, good job," Ajal commended.

"All of you, practice that, and try to stay calm during a fight. Reinhardt the way you ran around and got all worked up when you were fighting those angels meant most of that was your physical strength alone," Ajal recounted Reinhardt's fight with the angels earlier.

'Get my breathing right, and calm down.' Jack thought about the instructions as he closed his eyes once more, 'Alexander Rael isn't here..' Jack reassured himself, he suddenly felt like his body was wrapped in a warm air, as he opened his eyes he noticed a red mist around his body.

"What the," Jack stuttered.

The scrawny slave looked at his hands, puzzled at the red substance which surrounded them, he tried to wipe it away but it was intangible. Jack looked up at Sarah and noticed a slight red mist was around her as well, same with John and George. However Reinhardt had much more of the mist around him, as Jack turned to Ajal he felt a shiver down his spine. The mist around Jack began to become erratic as Jack's heart began to beat heavily once more.

'Holy shit,' Jack's jaw dropped as he looked at Ajal. It wasn't a mist, it was almost like a solid layer over his skin, and it wasn't red, it changed colors between orange, green, purple, blue until reaching red again only to repeat the cycle in a different order. It was honed like a sharp blade, and around Ajal's head was a vibrant purple aura.

"What's wrong?" Ajal asked.

"Uh.. nothing, I think I got it. How do I fight with this?" Jack asked.

"Make a fist," Ajal instructed.

Jack followed and he looked down at his hand once more, the red mist seemed to be flowing towards his fist and circulated around it. Sarah crossed her legs and sat down and closed her eyes and began to focus on her breathing, Reinhardt did the same just standing.

"Think about punching me," Ajal instructed. "Think of me as an angel you hate or something, your spirit will flow with your intent," he added.

Jack looked at Ajal, the mist collected around his fist as per usual, he tried to imagine Ajal as an angel but it wasn't working. 'I hate the angels... shouldn't I want to punch them... wait' Jack thought to himself for a moment before he closed his eyes, he imagined Alexander Rael stand in place of Ajal, and the mist around him began to collect quickly around his fist before it bursted. Jack looked down at his hand and noticed it shake, 'Dammit, every time I think about that guy it just makes me nervous...'

"It will flow with your intent, however you still have to stay- Oh, the rocks cooled down," Ajal turned to the hole he had made.

Jack opened his eyes and looked around, he noticed each of them now had a red mist around them that collected at their fist. Reinhardt approached the wall and punched it, as his fist connected the red mist seemed to explode and the wall cracked all around his fist.

"Amazing... it was that simple..." he said while he stared at his fist.

Even though he seemed to crack the wall, his hand looked fine.

"By focusing your spirit to a location you strengthen it, it can be used for defense or offence. Anyways, let's get back to Logos before these kids wake up," Ajal commanded with a grin.

'He smiled?' Jack hadn't noticed Ajal display any form of emotion other than disappointment or just an unnatural calmness.

The party followed Ajal as he walked over the uneven ground, Jack looked up at the top of the hole, it curved perfectly and seemed to expand as they traversed it.

"So... this is the most basic spirit arts? Level one you said?" Reinhardt asked as he walked next to Ajal.

Jack stared at their backs as he listened intently.

"Yeah, we teach that to kids on Imperion, so I was really surprised when you all tried to do it but couldn't, in fact you're the first people I've seen on this planet attempt to use it. Although I haven't met many people here other than you all," Ajal explained.

"So what we just did was child's play huh, if we taught this to every member of the resistance, including the hybrids who have powers from the celestial... do you think we could win?" Reinhardt asked.

Ajal looked up in thought, Jack and George followed behind with the wagon, John explained what they'd just learned between themselves.

"Well... it depends on the gift, but... I'd say no. Even with this you still probably would have lost to that Bruno guy," Ajal said calmly.

"What level of spirit arts can you use up to?" Reinhardt asked.

"Seven, I could use them all for as long as I could remember," Ajal answered, Jack watched Reinhardt's head whip to the left as he heard that.

"Ha... Haha!" Reinhardt let out a loud laugh, Ajal stared at him blankly. "You really are something, I don't know why or how you came to Grelt, but i'm glad you did!" Reinhardt admitted.

"He also said his planet has six celestials, seriously we pulled a short straw being born on Grelt," Jack pouted.

"Six?! Heh..." Sarah looked dead inside as she considered that.

"Oh, right... Jack told us that earlier, he said you were a divine being. What is that?" Reinhardt asked curiously.

"Well... it's hard to say... " Ajal scratched his head in thought.

"I'm not sure myself, if anything, a divine being's powers aren't from a celestial, we can't even get a gift from one. However we can use spirit arts so maybe divine beings are just people. I don't think I am though," Ajal spoke that last part under his breath.

"What do you me-"

"Stop right there!" a voice from the front of the cave shouted and cut off Reinhardt.

"Huh?" Jack thought the voice sounded familiar.

Ajal and Reinhardt looked forward, a white haired angel stood at the front of the exit to the hole, his eyes unnaturally wide as he shivered in fear.

"An angel... no... he's different," Ajal commented.

"Different? How so?" Reinhardt asked back as he got ready to fight.

Jack looked past the men in front of him, 'Wait... thats...'

"Huh?" the angel looked confused all of a sudden. "Jack?" the angel said with a cracked voice.

"Eos..." Jack replied.

"You know him?" Ajal asked Jack, he took his eyes off Eos.

"Jack! Get away from him!" Eos shouted while he shivered. "That guy... that guys really strong... he could be a demon!" Eos couldn't take his eyes off Ajal.

Eos's hands shook in fear as he felt the difference in strength, but he raised them to fight. Jack just looked at him with his mouth open, he breathed heavily as he watched the angel he befriended get ready to fight. 'What do I do... wait? Why am I confused...'

"Jack? Come over-" Eos stopped as he saw Reinhardt, Sarah, John, and George.

"Those clothes... but we just caught the resistance members... there were more?" Eos analyzed the resistance members' clothing.

"They caught the remaining resistance members?!" Reinhardt suddenly went pale.

"Ajal," Jack said coldly, Eos looked at Jack, and so did Ajal. "Yeah I do know him... he's one of the angels who kept us enslaved. He's the enemy," Jack answered, a look of sorrow over his face.

Eos's eyes went wide as it looked like tears began to collect at the corners of his eyes.

"B-but... Jack..." Eos stuttered and Jack felt a feeling of dread at his own self. Ajal looked at Jack with the same blank stare, 'Shit... shit shit shit...' Jack's teeth started to rattle against each other.

"Are you sure," Ajal asked. "Your spirit says otherwise... and so does his," Ajal turned to the angel. "Whatever though, he's in our way," Ajal walked forward and Eos took a step back. "I promise I won't hit him too hard."

"Who are you!" Eos spat as grit his teeth. "Are you a demon!" Eos shouted as Ajal approached.

"No, why does it matter to you... you're an ethereal," Ajal stated nonchalantly.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Shut up!" the young white haired angel shouted.

Eos crouched down and put his hands to the ground, he kicked off the ground to launch himself through the air and he tried to land a kick to Ajal's head, but Ajal saw the attack and dodged, he raised his foot and slammed it into Eos's stomach to counter, the angel grunted in pain and grasped his stomach as he flew backwards and rolled through the grass.

"I tried to hold back... but since you're an ethereal I can't let my guard down," Ajal said.

As Eos flew backwards he grit his teeth and a golden light exited his body, he slid across the ground but tumbled onto his feet, the golden light was surrounded by five oscillating rings, Jack watched as the golden light shaped into a rabbit with black eyes.

'That rabbit is the one I saw at the mines, what are those rings though?'. Eos landed on the ground and held his stomach.

"Agh... that stings... damn it!" Eos locked eyes with Ajal as the gold rings around the rabbit came off, and the rabbit flew upwards and into Eos's chest.

"If I can beat him, I'd be pretty strong right?" Eos asked himself, a wicked grin curled on his face as he shivered.

He stretched his hand forward and a golden ring of light appeared around his forearms and ankles, and a large ring floated behind him, each golden ring glistened in the sunlight as they spun slowly.

"Yeah... you would be pretty strong if you won," Ajal replied nonchalantly. "Reinhardt, Jack... you guys get to Logos... this might get ugly," Ajal warned.

"It's because of you damn demons I was taken from my family!" Eos spat.

'He was taken from his family...' Jack felt sick to his stomach, he sympathized with Eos even though they sat at opposite ends of a spectrum. 'Why is it like this...'

"I'm not a-

"Liar!" Eos shouted.

Ajal sighed.

"You're incredibly stupid aren't you..." Ajal gave up conversation.

Jack watched intently, part of him didn't want either to win or lose, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Jack! We need to go, he just said something about the resistance members being captured!" Reinhardt shook Jack.

"Huh... but Ajal.." Jack uttered but looked to the right towards Logos, pillars of smoke rose out of town.

'What's happening in Logos... wait... isn't Alexander Rael the Warden again...' The four resistance members ran towards the town through the hills, Jack's heart started to beat as Sarah, John, George and Reinhardt started to make their way straight towards the town. 'Oh crap... crap,' Jack felt part of him want to run away,

"A-Aj-" Jack shivered.

He looked back to Eos and Ajal, the rings around Eos began to spin and he seemed to move faster. Eos tackled Ajal at a high speed and knocked him back, but as Ajal's feet hit the ground he redirected Eos, and the angel flew past him, before he charged right back at Ajal. Jack shook his head and followed the resistance members.

"Ajal can handle that kid, he'll catch up!" Reinhardt said to Jack.

"Alexander... Alexander Rael is taking his place back as warden today... he's probably in the town right now!" Jack shouted in fear.

Reinhardt's expression turned to shock.

"What? How do you even know that?" Sarah huffed.

"We have no choice... if the resistance dies here... then... no... I can't let them capture my friends!" Reinhardt grit his teeth.

Jack noticed the red mist around his feet, and he began to run faster.

"John! Help get those kids somewhere safe, I'm heading to the middle of the town!" Reinhardt began to speed up as he charged up the next hill.

Jack's chest felt tight as he ran behind, he continued to think about what Alexander did to Carol. 'Please... not again...'

They arrived at the west side of the town, Reinhardt entered the town and ran towards the center.

"Get those kids somewhere safe!" George requested as he took off after Reinhardt.

"Wait George!" John called out.

"I'm going too!" Sarah followed George.

"Wait... you guys heard Ajal, even with spirit arts... Alexander will... he'll-" Jack couldn't say it, but Sarah turned.

"You know, I found it hard to believe you were the one who injured Alexander, but you've been befriending angels? What's wrong with you?" Sarah looked at Jack in disgust as she ran for the center of the town.

"Thats..." Jack looked down.

"Hey man I don't know what it is between you and the white haired kid, but let's just focus... where's your house? Can we keep them there?" John asked Jack.

John remained quite calm but his hands shook as he held the handles to the wagon. 'It's gonna happen again.... It's gonna happen again...' Jack repeated the line to himself.

"Jack lets go." John called.

'He'll kill them... he'll kill them ruthlessly and when he finds me he's gonna... he's gonna...'.

"Jack!" John shouted.

"Huh..." Jack snapped out of his anxiety.

John looked at him as he waited for an answer.

"This way!" Jack pointed to the left path through the outer area of the town.

"Listen man, I know you're scared, I am too. But get a goddamn grip, being scared won't help!" John ordered.

"Yeah!" Jack thought, deep down he doubted there was anything they could do.

As they ran past the houses, Jack looked at the house across from his and saw the woman who lived across from him sit lifeless on her wooden steps, with her head in her lap.

"Wait," Jack stopped in front of his house, the woman didn't even look up at them.

"Take them in there," Jack pointed towards his house, "here."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the jagged metal key, he tossed it to John, it reflected the light as it soared towards John. Jack lifted the Lydia's child out of the wagon and approached her. He knelt in front of Lydia as he held her slumbering child forward.

"He's okay..." Jack assured her.

She raised her head out of her lap, her eyes were barely open, but as she saw the round cheeks of her child, her eyes went wide as tears began to flood out of them.

"My... my baby!" she cradled the child in her arms, her tears dropped onto her sons face.

"You... but why would you help me... after I-" she stopped as she looked past Jack and her expression turned to horror.

He heard John cry out in pain, followed by the sound of something slam into wood.

"John?" Jack turned around to see John unconscious on his patio, in the door to his house was Lector, on his palms were glowing gold marks, and on his right forearm was another mark.

"These are the kids who were taken to the west outpost... why are they here... and whose this guy?" Lector looked around before he looked across the street and saw Jack hand a child to the woman who caused the commotion a few days ago. The lieutenants eyes widened and so did Jack and Lydia.

Lector's expression turned to immediate concern as he raised the mark on his forearm to his face.

"Yo, Alexander.... He's here... in front of the house... yeah... heh, you're not gonna believe this," Lector spoke into a mark on his forearm, his eyes locked on Jack all the while.

"We need to go... we need to go now!" Jack's heart beat rapidly, he pulled the woman to her feet while she held her child.

"Run!" Jack shouted at her and they took off the way they came.

Jack stopped when he remembered John, and the other kids.

"Just run! Take her and run!" Jack ordered as he shoved the woman away.

The woman ran with the child in her arms.

"Yo! Aw come on man... you're just giving me more hassle if I have to chase her now," Lector stepped out of Jack's house, "Oh? What's this?"

Lector noticed Jack stand his ground, Jack raised his fists in preparation to fight.

"You seriously gonna fight me? Look at what happened to your friend... remember what happened to that girl?" Lector mocked.

'Breathe in' Jack inhaled through his mouth as his head throbbed, 'Breathe out' he felt his heart beat slowly as he continued to focus on his breath.

"The spirit... flows with intent," Jack recalled.

'Alexander is on his way... I have to get those other kids and John out of here,' Jack gulped, his shaking legs stood firm, and a red mist surrounded his fist.

"What was that? Something about intent? What are you talking about, have you gone mad or something?" Lector mocked with a smile.

'I'm gonna punch him... i'm gonna punch him... I'm gonna punch him in his stupid face!' Jack grit his teeth and ran forward, the mist focused on his fist, Lector just chuckled.

"Seriously? Holy crap this is gonna be good." Lector held his hands out in front of him and pointed the marks on his palms at Jack.

"Take your best shot, you're just gonna end up on the ground like that idiot." Lector provoked.

Jack let out a roar as he focused his spirit into his fist and ducked under Lector's palm, he through his fist forward at the side of Lector's face, and to both of their surprise, Lector felt it.

"Agh!" the angel grit his teeth, immediately regretting his choice to underestimate him.

Jack pushed his arm forward and heard a crack, his fist seemed to push Lector's jaw out of place and the angel flew off his feet and rolled on the ground a few inches away, he was unconscious. Jack panted as he held his fist.

"I did it... I did it!" Jack cried.

John slowly got up, he grasped his ears in pain.

"Ah..." he groaned in pain.

"John? John! I got him!" Jack cheered.

"Who got who? Ah my ears... damn it... what the hell was-" John saw Lector on the ground.

"Nice! I knew you had it in you!" John gave Jack a thumbs up.

Jack felt accomplished as he immediately ran past Lector's body on the ground, he helped John to his feet.

"Hey, you seem to have gotten your grip. I wasn't expecting to open your door and see another one of Alexander's lieutenants.. He put his hands on my ear and then before I knew it a loud sound shook my brain, next thing I knew I was on the ground," John explained.

Jack felt the adrenaline pump through him, it was the first time he hit an angel and it felt great. Jack ran out of the house to get the children, but he heard the sound of armor clack together.

Jack's heart stopped, he slowly turned while he held the child.

He was just as tall as Ajal, his light green hair was short but he had no facial hair, his face muscular with a horrible scar going up the left side of his jaw, his armor made from emerald and silver, his white cape flowed behind him.

"Unfortunately, that brat Arthur is busy, there's no one to save you this time," Alexander Rael declared.

Jack shivered uncontrollably, his arms which carried the child shook, 'B-b-b-b-breathe in...' Jack couldn't calm his heart beat, he choked on the air he tried to inhale, he was so scared he didn't notice himself fall backwards.

"Hey Jack what's wrong-" John turned and saw Alexander. "Oh- fuck..." John cursed as he backed up into the door frame in fear.

Alexander looked down at Jack as he approached, he noticed the children in the wagon.

"So I wasn't wrong to be paranoid, good," Alexander lifted his arm and his blade appeared.

"I should've killed you then, Eldritch brat..."