Jack unleashed everything he had. His steamrune shotgun for mid range. [Nightmare Mace] for melee. [Chains of Vengeance] to control multiple opponents...
He even used his treasure spellcards. His [Dragon's Lullaby] worked, but it was a double-edged blade. He made the target instantly fall asleep. But, the sleeping target's regeneration was boosted massively. And when he attacked it, it was awaken from its sleeping state.
His [Bleeding Curse] spellcard was useless against these bloodless horrors.
His [Nightmare Curse] also fell flat. It was supposed to be for slowly torturing the target with nightmares for days. He had no time to wait for its effects to be seen.
However, an experiment with an [Itch Curse] had yielded surprising results. He had cast it on a vine-covered monster. The creature had immediately begun to thrash wildly. Attempting to tear at its own bark with its thorny claws. Clearly disoriented and unable to focus on fighting. It... worked. But it wasn't that useful with its 15 minutes cooldown.
"Time to properly play..." Jack muttered. He activated his [Incarnation Shift]. His human form shimmered. Twisting. Transforming. In a flash of raw power and dark energy, he became... Judge Jack, the Black Buto.
The rakshasa form was much bigger than his human form. Jack's body was now a hulking mass of black muscle. With thick mane and sharp teeth. Protected by the infernal glow of his [Naraka Armor]. Blazing flames licked at its edges.
He stood menacingly tall. His sheer presence radiating raw, destructive power. In his massive hands, the [Judgement Warhammer] appeared. Its head was a block of dark metal radiating oppressive energy.
He roared. A sound that echoed across the battle zone. Momentarily silencing the lesser monsters. Two gnarled tree-beasts charged him simultaneously. Both were even bigger than him. About the size of a small truck.
Jack met them head-on. Berserk fury was in his glowing eyes. He swung the [Judgement Warhammer] in a wide arc. The air shrieked as it connected with the first beast. An explosive CRACK! reverberated.
The monster's woody head simply disintegrated. Showering splinters and sap everywhere. The momentum carried him into the second beast. Another swing shattered its trunk in a single, devastating blow. It crashed to the ground. A pile of broken timber and leaves.
The Trentree Warriors near him paused. Their crimson eyes went wide, before letting out their own battle cries. Emboldened by his display.
Reina was standing near his rakshasa form. She continued her barrage of handgun fire and mystic arts. She created multiple illusory duplicates of herself with her illusion magic. Confusing a pack of smaller, faster root-creatures.
While these creatures attacked the phantoms, she targeted their bodies with [Lightning Strike] or barrage of bullets from her handguns. Turning them into charred husks.
Nearby, Judge Jack was a force of nature. He waded into the densest concentrations of enemies. His [Judgement Warhammer] was a blur of destruction. Each swing sent shockwave impacts that destroyed whatever it hit. Breaking boulders, splintering wood and crushing anything in his path.
The [Naraka Armor] shimmered constantly. Deflecting thorny attacks that would have impaled him otherwise. At the moment, he was unstoppable. A black inferno carving a path through the green monstrosities.
But the enemies were truly endless.
For every dozen he destroyed, twenty more emerged from the soil. Their gnarled forms were continuously changing. Their barks were hardening. Their thorns were growing longer and sharper.
The air grew heavier. Thick with the scent of damp earth and burning wood.
"They're not stopping!" Reina screamed over the noisy battleground. "They're getting stronger!"
She was right. New monsters appeared. Tougher. Their wooden bodies were almost metallic in sheen. Their roars were deeper and more menacing.
Judge Jack felt the strain. Even his durable rakshasa form, powerful as it was, couldn't maintain this pace indefinitely. Against such an overwhelming tide. The tough and hardy Trentree Warriors started to fell victims. And he couldn't do anything to prevent it.
Gritting his sharp teeth, Jack decided to switch tactics. A flash of light, and Judge Jack was gone. In his place, a blur of grey and white fur shot forward. Jack was now a Kamaitachi Speedster. A Phantasmal Rogue... Racer Jack.
His new form was small. No bigger than a cat. But it was incredibly fast. He was a streak across the battlefield. A phantom slicing through the ranks of the tree monsters.
His razor-sharp claws were tipped with a mystical glow. Carving clean lines through even the toughest bark. He moved too quickly for the clumsy monsters to track. Darting between their roots. Under their swinging branches.
He moved all over the place. Reducing the pressure the Trentree Warriors suffered.
He used his phantasmal power. First... [Shadow Escape]. Sinking into the shadow cast by a towering redwood monster to avoid multiple vine lashes. Only to reappear behind it. Tearing through its Achilles-root before vanishing again. The monster swayed. Unbalanced. Then toppled down.
Reina kept pace. Her handguns were spitting fire. She used her teleportation to stay close to Jack. Though her movements were becoming less fluid. Her magic was already less potent.
"Dear, I can't keep this up much longer!" She shouted.
Racer Jack heard her. He was faster. More agile. But his raw destructive power was less than Judge Jack. He unleashed a barrage of his phantasmal [Fire Burst]. Sending a rapid-fire volley of explosive flames into a cluster of tentacle-like vines. They crackled and burned. Momentarily clearing a path.
He followed with a [Knight Charge]. Curling into a lightning-fast, rolling ball of razor-sharp, scale-like fur. Enclosed with valiant golden energy, he spun through the enemy line. An unstoppable cannonball. Crushing smaller monsters and leaving deep gouges in the larger ones. Before bursting back into his lithe kamaitachi form.
Still, the tide was turning bad. The Trentree warriors were being pushed back. Despite their power and bravery. Their numbers kept dwindling. The monsters were now truly numerous and mostly, enormous.
Their forms were twisted caricatures of trees. Some with dozens of glowing eyes embedded in their bark. Others with mouths that seemed to split their entire trunks.
Then, it appeared...
A monster unlike the others. It was an ancient-looking treant. A humanoid tree monster. Not as big as other. Just about three meters tall. Its bark was of dark obsidian color. And from cracks in its body, a faint, sickly green light pulsed.
Its eyes seemed to reach hundreds in number. Tiny points of baleful emerald. Scattered across its trunk and limbs.
Jack could feel it. This was an illuminated level monster. Its presence alone seemed to chill the very air. It was... out of his league.
It moved with surprising grace for its size. Sweeping a root-like arm. Thick and super long. Several Trentree warriors were crushed instantly. Their bodies dissolved into green mist.
Reina saw it coming for her. Jack was engaged with a flanking maneuver further away. Dealing with a particularly resilient group of smaller beasts. She knew he couldn't reach her in time. And she was out of mana. Unable to teleport away.
"No!" With a desperate, deviant cry, she launched everything left in her arsenal. Her twin steamrune guns barked rapid fire toward the monster. Faint fog appeared as a shield all over the body.
The unstoppable illuminated treant's arm struck her. There was a sickening CRACK!
Her body was thrown away and crashed against another tree monster. And then it crumpled. A broken doll. Instantly lifeless.
Her twin handguns clattered to the churned earth. Their barrels were still smoking. Her long black hair fanned out around her pale, still face. Her vibrant eyes were now vacant. Staring blankly at the swirling, chaotic sky.
Jack froze. The world went silent, then exploded into shattered fragments. He saw it. He saw her. Reina. Gone. Just like that.
A guttural roar tore from his throat. A raw, agonizing sound born of pure, unadulterated grief and rage. He shifted instantly. Abandoning the Kamaitachi's agility.
He transformed into Judge Jack. His form seemed to erupt larger and darker than before. The flames of his [Naraka Armor] burned with a furious, vengeful intensity.
He forgot that Reina wouldn't truly die here. He didn't care about strategy anymore. Or about survival. Or about anything other than about obliterating the illuminated level treant.
He charged at the monster in full speed. Turning into something like a black meteor of vengeance. The [Judgement Warhammer] became a blur shadow. He slammed it into the treant's obsidian bark. Again and again.
Each strike was infused with his grief. With his fury. Deep fissures appeared in the creature's incredibly durable hide. Green, thick, and viscous sap oozed forth.
The illuminated treant retaliated. Its hundreds of emerald eyes focused on Jack. It swung its other root-like arm. An utterly overwhelming attack.
Jack evaded it recklessly by moving even closer. Tackling the monster. Slamming his shoulder into its dark, obsidian-like body.
He kept striking, shattering, roaring. He was a dervish of destruction. But, he didn't escape uninjured. The monster's attack still hit him.
He felt his bones crack beneath the [Naraka Armor]. He felt searing pain as thorns pierced his armor and flesh. But he pushed through it.
His armor was protecting him. But it was not strong enough against illuminated power. Failing under the relentless assault.
He tore into the monster's core. Breaking its gnarled root armor. Smashing at the source of its sickly green glow. The monster shrieked. A sound that vibrated through the earth. Causing lesser monsters to recoil.
It thrashed and stepped away. Trying to create a distance. But Jack didn't stop. He kept close and kept attacking. A borderline suicidal attempt of vengeance.
He made one last, desperate surge of power. The [Judgement Warhammer] glowed with an infernal light. Jack brought it down with every ounce of his being. Aiming for the heart of the treant's green glow.
The obsidian bark finally gave way with a sound like thunder. The entire monster shuddered. Its hundreds of eyes were dimming. It began to fall. Slowly. Like an ancient knight dying in the battlefield.
But before it fully collapsed, a massive secondary root shot from the ground. Thick as a great python. It was fast. Imbued with powerful malice. It bypassed Jack's failing armor. Piercing his chest directly. Destroying his heart.
A gasp. The roar died in Jack's throat.
He looked at another tree monster that had appeared. Another illuminated level abomination. He killed one monster above his level. But there were more of them at that grade.
Jack looked at Reina's still form. His vision blurred. Darkening at the edges. A cold wave washed over him. Even through the burning pain.
He felt himself losing grip. Felt the strength drain from his limbs. The [Judgement Warhammer] clattered to the ground. No longer able to be held. The [Naraka Armor] flickered, then vanished.
He fell. The black rakshasa dropped to the earth. Darkness consumed him.
Then, a jolt...
He gasped. A deep, ragged breath. His eyes snapped open. He was lying on soft, dark green grass. The air was calm. Scented with dew and blossoms. Not with smoke and burning wood. Above him, a sky of gentle blue.
He pushed himself up. His body was aching with phantom pain. But whole. Every wound, every agonizing splinter, every broken bone was gone. He was in his human form. Without any damage.
Beside him, Reina stirred. She let out a small, choked gasp. Her eyes snapped open. Wide and unfocused. She scrambled up. Her hands went to her chest, where the monster had struck her. Her long black hair was pristine. Her handguns were back on her hips.
Rune zipped around them. Glowing angry red and wary yellow consecutively. Showing her feelings about what had happened.
They were in the Trentree Sanctuary. The peaceful-looking garden.
Their first training session... failed.