Zayne and Lorik stood eerily still, they both suddenly disappeared, and they met each other with a punch, their fists collided shaking the entire cave system they fought in. Suddenly Lorik tried to throw an uppercut to which Zayne narrowly dodged, and they began to trade punches back and forth.
"Dark Tremors"
Lorik punched the ground as his energy leaked into the ground and it began to erupt around him and Zayne, the cave stated to shake as audible rumbles echoed throughout it causing rocks and debris to begin falling from the ceiling.
"Soon this nest will be buried, and you will perish. Hmm laying down your life for people that don't care what happens to you, what a way to go out!"
"That is where you're wrong Lorik.... Us humans care more then you'll ever know, so allow me to show you the true power of a human!"
Zayne's body surged with mana as they rushed each other again and Lorik turned his arm into a blade attempting to slice off Zayne's head but as it was about to connect with his neck, he vanished.
"What?!"
"Magic Cannon!"
Zayne appeared below Lorik and instantly formed an orb of mana in the palm of his hand, and he touched it to Lorik's chest, it burst open, and a beam of magic blasted Lorik back slamming his body into the wall behind him.
"I have too many people counting on me to beat you here and now! I won't let them down!"
Zayne stood firmly and he was suddenly bitten on his arm by one of Lorik's minions, it shredded the skin off his arm up to the elbow. Zayne grabbed it and crushed its head with his opposite hand. Lorik pulled himself from the wall and he let out a sadistic laugh. As Zayne's blood poured from his arm pooling beneath his feet, Lorik rushed him grabbing Zayne's injured arm and he flipped him over onto his back.
"I'm just getting started!"
He kicked Zayne in the chest hard enough for his body to skid across the ground, he started to create minions from his body, and they all rushed towards the pool of Zayne's blood. They licked up the blood and consumed it and they rushed back to Lorik fusing with him again.
"Hmm there is something you should know Zayne!"
Zayne slowly stood on his feet and as he watched Lorik's minions being absorbed by his body.
"In my world's hierarchy we Reapers are each created for different things, I'm what's known as a summoner but that's just the tip of the iceberg.... I also have the ability to copy other's skills through absorbing their D.N.A, tell if you recognize this!"
Lorik held his hand up and pointed it at Zayne and a blue orb of mana appeared from his palm, it began to condense until it was almost invisible. Zayne's eye's widened and he put his hand up beginning to copy Lorik.
"Devastation Wave!"
They both said as they shot the beam at each other, the cave began shaking even more violently and when the beams collided, parts of the cave began to crumble and fall apart around them. They both struggled when suddenly the beams became unstable and exploded causing everything to begin collapsing around them.
"I need to get out of here fast!"
Zayne began to fly up towards the hole to escape when his foot was grabbed by Lorik and he pulled him in punching him in the face. As they ascended the hole began to collapse as they attacked each other back and forth. As Zayne was distracted trying to get to the surface he was stabbed in the stomach by one of Loriks blade arms.
"Tch.... This bastard is pissing me off" Zayne thought "It... It hurts so much, but I have to keep going"
Zayne grabbed Loriks head and headbutt in him 3 times before grabbing his arm and spun his body around throwing him upward. Zayne followed up by kicking him sending him shooting up the hole, his body hit and bounced off the walls of the hole.
"Death's Vise"
Lorik and Zayne approached the exit as Lorik summoned tendrils from his back wrapping them around Zayne. As they wrapped around him, they began to tighten around his body as he began to struggle to breathe until he began to spit up blood.
"I need to get out... Ah I can feel my ribs cracking the more I struggle!"
"I can feel your body breaking... Is this how you saw this going? Did you think you'd win?'
Zayne's vision began fading and getting blurry, Lorik continued to squeeze and laughed every time Zayne squirmed around. As Zayne was about to lose consciousness a fireball struck his tendrils causing him to drop Zayne, as he fell, he was caught by someone. he opened his eyes slightly to see Jin looking at him.
"Sorry I took so long!"
"It's about time you bastard... Just do me a favor, take care of this guy"
Jin landed with Zayne and rested him on the ground against some rubble; lightning crackled around his body and Mia floated down next to Jin.
"CAPTAIN!!"
Zayne turned his head to see Quinn rushing to his side, he let out a smile as she fell beside him with tears in her eyes.
"You're such an idiot!"
"Hmm I try"
She immediately began to heal him with Restoration Hands. As he was being healed, he looked over to see Jin and Mia standing between him and Lorik.
"WELL, WELL ZAYNE! HAVING OTHERS FIGHT YOUR BATTLES FOR YOU?"
As he finished saying this Jin appeared in front of him his eyes glowing a bright blue. Suddenly he could feel an overwhelming fear take over his body.
"You better hope he lives" Jin said in a cold tone.
Lorik began to tremble at the sight of Jin, something in him just prevented him from moving.
"I'm only going to ask once.... Who sent you?" Jin questioned with rage burning in his eyes.
"I-I can't tell you that"
Jin smirked and immediately punched a hole through Lorik's chest as blood dripped off his hand, he pulled his fist from his Lorik's body.
"I was hoping you'd say that"
Mia watched Jin closely and she recoiled at his brutality even if it was a Reaper. Jin readied to strike it again and Mia grabbed his arm before he swung.
"What are you doing?"
"I know it's a Reaper, but it can't fight back anymore! We should capture it for further questioning."
Jin turned his head towards her and as their eyes met, she saw nothing but hatred and pain in his eyes. She could feel his hand trembling in hers and without warning Lorik tried to stab Mia and Jin caught it with his bare hand as it was about to pierce her stomach. Lorik immediately tried to retaliate and strike Jin, but it was no use as Jin had picked up his body slamming Lorik into the ground behind him.
"Today is your lucky day!" Jin turned Loriks face toward Mia with his foot "You're alive thanks to her... Don't make me regret it!"
Lorik went unconscious not only from blood loss, but the impact of the slam had also broken his body almost completely. Mia turned to Zayne and Quinn and smiled.
"We did it... It's over!"
Quinn stopped healing Zayne for a moment and changed the earpieces channel and said "The invasion... We've won... WE'VE WON!" she yelled out enthusiastically.
"We need to get him back to the facility, Quinn I'll be fine for now. Help them secure Lorik"
Jin turned to Loriks body and Mia and Quinn rushed over. As they were about to secure his body Jin's Hyper Sense went off, he could sense something very powerful and Loriks body began to float into the air and his body began to glow red, and an ominous voice echoed from his body.
"Hmm so this is the man who defeated my first... How amusing!"
Jin looked into its hollow black eyes, and everyone suddenly fell to their knee's unable to move.
"Don't worry I'm not going to kill any of you... Yet! I've come to give you some information, you may have won this battle, but it won't stop what is coming! No matter how hard you try, you all are going to die!"
"WHO ARE YOU!"
"Oh, so you can speak Mr. Aldeus! Hmm you all should already know the answer to that question.... I am the end"
As this mysterious person or whatever it could be called finished, he began to laugh out loud as Loriks body began to wither away into nothing. All of them were released from their temporary paralysis and Jin was in shock and he began to hyperventilate.
"W-What was that!? That feeling, it's the same as back then when she..." Jin thought to himself as tears began to fill his eyes.
Mia approached him as could see Jin was visibly shaken, she tried to grab his shoulder, but he recoiled, and he jumped to his feet.
"Jin what's wrong?"
"No, it couldn't be him. It's just a coincidence right, it has to be."
"Jin" Mia said softly "Are you okay?"
Jin shook his head no and just turned away from her and walked away, Mia was shaken by Jin's vibe and walked over to Quinn who was help Zayne to his feet.
"We need to sit down with the president; we may be preparing for war!"
Two hours later...
Mia, Quinn and Zayne arrived back at the facility along with most of the surviving hunters. Adam walked out followed by dozens of medic specialists and he approached Zayne shaking his hand.
"Nice work Captain! Where is Jin?"
"Actually, that's what I came to talk to you about President!"
Adam led Zayne, Quinn and Mia to his office, each of them took a seat and Zayne immediately spoke out.
"Sir after I came out of the nest from fighting Lorik, Jin stepped in and quickly finished him but that wasn't the end of it... His body became possessed and something spoke through him, it said "You may have won this battle, but it won't stop what is coming! No matter how hard you try, you all are going to die"
Adam looked visibly shaken and he stood up and paced around his office.
"Also, sir... It knew Jin, it even knew his full name!"
"Where is he now?"
Zayne pointed to Mia as she was the last one to interact with him, and she looked like a deer in headlights.
"He wouldn't talk to me, he said something about hoping it wasn't him. I tried to talk to him, but he walked away, I don't know where he is."
"I know what this is about!"
Everyone became intrigued at Adam's words and Quinn asked.
"What happened to him?"
"Have any of you heard of something called an Awakened"
Each one of their faces had a confused look on it and they all looked at each other and shook their heads no.
"I thought that was just a myth" Zayne says " I learned about it from my mother when I was young. A story of a hero that would awaken an ultimate power and save humanity from its destruction"
"Well, it isn't a myth any longer. On the day of the downtown district attack Jin was coming from an ultrasound appointment with his wife Eva and she was pulled from him, and he was forced to watch as a Reaper ripped his wife's body in half and watch it eat his wife and the fetus of his child. That day his power woke up inside him, He is an Awakened!"
Mia and Quinn teared up at the heartbreaking story and just as Mia was about to speak up Jin walked through Adam's office door. They all looked at him with sadness in their eyes and he said.
"I'll be okay... For now, we need to focus on rebuilding for the many people who lost homes."
Everyone was silent for a moment until Adam walked over to his table and sparked a cigar from his ashtray.
"We will rebuild and once the wall has been repaired, we will resume the Hunter initiation and get these new Hunters in uniform and to get them ready for what's coming."