The stadium ground fractured further. A crack emitting black energy tore through the reinforced ground.
The spatial crack widened with an audible shriek. Becoming a jagged maw of swirling darkness. From its depths, a horrifying tide emerged. Gigantic insect monsters, with the smallest at the size of a fully grown cat.
They were chitinous nightmares. Their mandibles were clicking. Their multiple eyes were gleaming with savage hunger. Some scuttled on dozens of segmented legs. Others buzzed with their iridescent wings.
Their forms varied. From beetle-like behemoths with armored carapaces to spider-like horrors dripping corrosive venom. Their sheer numbers were overwhelming. An endless stream pouring from the dimensional rift. Immediately swarming towards the civilians and the transcendent grunts of the Celestial Alliance.
The chaos escalated. The already difficult task of protecting the innocents became almost an impossible situation.
Jack's crew kept pushing unconscious bodies of the civilians towards the portal of his hand mirror. But they found themselves fighting more opponents now. Other than the transcendent invaders, they had to deal with the otherworld insects too.
Fortunately, those invaders from the Celestial Alliance could no longer focus on massacring civilians. Now, they also had to contend with the mindlessly violent insects.
It was a greater dance of destruction now. The human invaders and gigantic insects were tearing into each other. However, the civilians were caught in the middle.
Up above, the illuminated beings continued their devastating clash. Energy bolts, elemental assaults, and raw power ripped through the air. Creating shockwaves that buckled the very foundations of the city.
The six defenders of Grandmoon Kingdom fought with desperate fury against the seven aggressors from the Celestial Alliance.
Master Gerath didn't just fight his two opponents. He also observed the unfolding horror below. The Fable Keeper's ancient eyes now burned with an infernal light.
The spatial crack and the flood of insect monsters were too much. It didn't just threated everyone in the stadium. It would cause a devastating problem if they spread outside, into the city.
A low growl rumbled in the old man's chest. A sound born of ancient power and utter desperation.
He was an Illuminated being. One of the strongest here. But his regular power had limits against such an overwhelming numbers of unexpected threats. Furthermore, he was currently facing two dangerous, illuminated-level opponents.
He made a decision... A brutal, agonizing one.
With a roar that tore through the sound of the battle, Master Gerath's aura exploded. It wasn't the refined, controlled energy of a master. But a wild, untamed surge of raw primal force.
The air crackled. Visible distortions rippled outward from him. His left arm began to swell. Veins bulged black beneath the skin. A sickening squelch echoed as he twisted it himself.
He tore apart his own flesh and snapped his bone. His muscles were shredded. Blood, thick and ethereal, erupted from the wound. Not as a gush of red liquid, but as a torrent of luminous, golden energy.
The broken limb pulsed with an unknown, yet terrible-looking power. Then, with a final, guttural cry, Master Gerath ripped his own arm from its socket. He tore it away. A clean, devastating severance.
The severed limb hovered on air. Pulsating violently. Then, it turned into a source of searing golden light.
The Fable Keeper ignored the immense pain he felt and roared. "By the power of Eternal Tales... I summoned the Moon Guardians... Gedellan and Legillan!"
The detached arm pulsed once more. Then it was elongated. Twisting and expanding in rapid speed. Scales erupted from it. Vast and black as night. And then, claws were unfurled. A serpentine neck stretched out. Followed by a massive, draconic head.
Within seconds, the severed limb had transformed. It became a colossal dragon. Its dark scales shimmered. Its eyes were blazing with primordial fire.
It roared. A sound that shook the very foundations of the Sweetmoon City. A sound of ancient power and unyielding majesty.
But it didn't finish with just that. From the dragon's chest, a second surge of mysterious energy erupted. Almost identical to the first.
It split away from the black dragon. Twisting and forming itself into another gigantic figure.
Another dragon, slightly smaller than the first. And it possessed silver scales and sparkling eyes. It roared into existence beside its counterpart.
Two colossal dragons, born of a Fable Keeper's left arm sacrifice, materialized above the battling, illuminated ones. These two were beings of pure, concentrated power. Their forms were radiating an oppressive aura that dwarfed everything else on the field.
The dragons' roars were not just sound. They were waves of pure suppression. Their presence above the arena was overwhelming everything below it.
The insect monsters were previously mindless in their rampage. But now, they visibly faltered. Their chittering sound of savagery died down. Replaced by a deep, instinctual fear.
Their sheer numerical advantage meant nothing against the suffocating weight of the dragons' power. They recoiled back. Their chitinous bodies scraped against the ground. A collective silence rose from their ranks.
But the dragons' aura wasn't discerning. It didn't just target the monstrous invaders. It targeted everyone. And, other than the still-battling illuminated beings above, almost nobody on the ground could stand against it.
The force was like an invisible hammer blow. Jack's crew-mates, who had been fighting with desperate courage only moments before, crumpled to the ground.
Reina staggered. Her teleportation ability flickered. Failing. Her knees were giving out. Her eyes glazed over and she gasped as she dropped to her knee. She was still conscious but she was unable to muster her energy at all.
Ned, Don, Argust, Barnaby, Bell, Moby, Baroness Artheim... All of them hit the ground. Conscious but helpless.
Leon is better. His draconic armor provided slight resistance toward the aura. He stood tall in his place. But he couldn't move.
Chloe was also in the same situation. Her kirin cub, Sparkle, were yelping in distress. But, its mythical bloodline provided slight protection toward both of them against the dragon's aura.
Out of the crew members, Aella was surprisingly the one who survived the best against the aura. Her bloodline and voidfire power went berserk in response to the suppression. The energy of the land poured into her. Allowing her to still move despite being very slowly.
The non-transcendent civilians were the ones who suffered the most. They were utterly knocked out by the aura. They lay sprawled and limp. Unconscious and completely vulnerable amidst the chaos.
Fortunately, the Celestial Alliance grunts also dropped down to the ground. Helpless. Their movements were halted. Their mental powers were unable to deal the dragons' oppressive presence.
Only Jack remained alright in such situation. It was due to his three passive, overpowered traits... the [Mythical Existence], [Mythical Adaptation], and [Dominator Physique].
His unique nature and power made him adapt almost instantly to the suppression. His vision blurred for a moment but he recovered immediately. His traits flared. Bolstering his resilience and immunity against draconic suppression.
He was not an illuminated character, not in the traditional sense. But, his power was... different. He stood straight. His gaze was sweeping over the fallen with narrowed eyes.
Rune, his tiny fairy guide, flickered frantically beside his ear. Her body glowed with an urgent, warning crimson.
"A chance..." Jack muttered with a grim grin.
The air felt heavy, thick with suppressive energy. But this was his chance, brutal as it was. No one else but him could move.
He moved with a sudden, desperate burst of speed. He didn't have blink ability like Reina or Aella. But he possessed an unnatural agility. A raw speed born from his enhanced attributes.
He didn't waste a single moment. He moved to rescue his team mates, and anyone else on the way.
He reached Reina first. He didn't bother to lift her gently. This was not the time for tenderness. This was survival. He grabbed her by the shoulders. Shoving her towards the shimmering hand mirror he held. The portal flared, sucking her in with a soft whoosh.
Without stopping, he darted towards the two men closest to his current location. Moby and Barnaby.
Moby was a heavy weight, a solid wall of muscle while Barnaby was only slightly lighter. But it didn't matter for Jack. He easily lifted them and pushed them both, almost throwing them, towards the mirror. The portal consumed them efficiently.
Jack moved methodically. Efficiently. Bell, Ned, Leon, Baroness Artheim... one after another, they were shoved unceremoniously towards the Mirror Mansion.
Aella, small and light, was scooped up and practically tossed in. Chloe and Sparkle followed. Don and Argust were the last crew members Jack swept up in his efficient, one-man rescue operation.
With Mirella, Serene, and Autumn already in the Mirror Mansion, all the crew members except Jack were now safe and sound. Protected within the mirror realm's sanctuary.
Jack didn't just save his crew. Along his path to save his crew members, he had shoved the fallen, unconscious civilians into his mirror realm.
Any unmoving body within his reach, as long as they didn't have too negative karma or affiliation to the Celestial Alliance, was considered a target for rescue.
He didn't discriminate. Old, young, man, woman... they were all victims. He kicked away debris, blasted the suppressed insect monster nearby with his shotgun, and scooped up unconscious people. Propelling them into the mirror.
Rune, glowed like a beacon. Darting ahead of him. Sometimes nudging Jack toward overlooked civilians.
It was a frantic, brutal dance of preservation. Jack's muscles screamed as he tried to move as fast as possible. He could sense he was running out of time and probably... luck.
He was a lone man. Trying to save thousands of people while the devastating battle of the terrifying illuminated ones above hadn't stopped. A battle that now also involved the two summoned dragons.
Jack felt greater danger was coming. Hiss intuition screamed at him to escape the place. But he gritted his teeth and continued his effort to transport the civilians to his Mirror Mansion. His focus was absolute... get them to safety.
He had managed to rescue all of his team-mates. Every single one. He also managed to shove dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of civilians through the portal.
The Mirror Mansion, with the recent increase of the ranch and the grassland, was vast enough to accommodate them all. And inside, the crew would have recovered from the suppression of the dragon's aura. They would have begun their tireless work of taking care the injured ones.
But then...
Just as Jack was about to grab another cluster of fainted citizens, a new phenomenon occurred. It was as if the world felt his trouble wasn't enough...
The [Yrenlobeng Pearl], which had been the source of the illuminated level clash, began to pulse. Its pure black now seemed to be more twisted. It produced an eerie reddish glow and distorted reality around it.
And then, a swirling vortex, began to form around the pearl. It was a black hole. A literal tear in the fabric of space-time. It expanded rapidly, silently.
The air rushed towards it, a deafening vacuum. Dust, debris, loose rubble, all were instantly sucked into the expanding maw of oblivion.
The nearby insect monsters, still motionless from the dragons' aura, shrieked in both primal terror and joy as the unavoidable pull dragged them inside.
The weaker transcendent invaders from the Celestial Alliance were barely conscious under the dragons' suppression. But they surprisingly showed great, joyful look as the black hole pulled them in...