The light from Zayne's attack had begun to dissipate. When everyone turned to look back the Reaper had vanished becoming dust that floated into the air. Zayne's feet touched the ground once more and he exhaled, and visible steam came from his breathe and body.
"It won't be getting up after that!"
Zayne let out a grunt as he fell to one knee, a small group of Hunters approached him with Quinn following their lead.
"CAPTAIN!"
Quinn rushed to him holding him up and another Hunter grabbed him from the other side holding him up. Zayne struggling through his heavy breathing mumbled.
"Are swarms still emerging?"
"Unfortunately, they are! We haven't pinpointed the source of the swarms"
Zayne looked down at the ground thinking to himself about where these swarms are coming from. Suddenly Mia floated from the sky placing Jin softly on the ground.
"Quinn, he needs help!"
Quinn looked at another Hunter and signaled to take over holding Zayne up. She approached Jin activating her Healing Gaze, her eyes widened as she saw a multitude of injuries to his body.
"Broken ribs, collapsed left lung, dozens of lacerations and I'm estimating a mild concussion.... To fight with these injuries, the pain must've been excruciating."
Everyone looked over to them with a look of shock painted on their face, Zayne slowly moved toward Quinn and Jin.
"Quinn, can you get him on his feet?"
"I can but I'll need some time"
Zayne turned to the city behind him he could see as the Hunters fought off dozens of swarms, he tried to take a few steps forward but was interrupted by a violent shake coming from the ground beneath him.
"What the hell is that?"
Suddenly multiple giant centipede type Reapers burst from the ground ripping up the frontline of Hunters currently fighting off the swarms. Mia charged into the battle as Zayne and Quinn remained with Jin.
"This man is extraordinary." Zayne thought "Adam might've been right, you might just be this world's next hero."
Quinn quickly began to pour out as much of her power as possible, it leaked out a green mist onto Jin's body and he began to glow. Jin's wounds began too quickly heal and his breathing slowly steadied, Quinn was groaning in pain due to the amount of power she was using. Her power slowly faded away and she put her hands on Jin's chest whispering.
"Restoration Hands."
Her hands were enveloped in a warm green light that began to heal him from the inside. When the light faded away, Jin's eyes slowly opened, all he could see was the sun glaring down at him from the blue sky.
"Am I dead?"
"Fortunately, no you're not but you came really close"
Quinn's face slowly came into his line of sight, and she let out a sigh of relief. Quinn sat him up and when his vision focused, he saw the Reaper centipedes were flailing around destroying everything it hit.
"What happened?"
"You fainted, but thanks to Quinn here, you'll live"
Jin tried to stand up but was still wobbly and weak, Quinn offered he shoulder, and he gladly accepted her help. When she got him to his feet they observed as Mia and the other Hunters were still engaged in battle.
"I have to help them!"
Jin tried to step away from Quinn but fell straight to the ground, she helped him to his feet checked if he had reinjured something.
"Jin you can't do much of anything right now! I don't know what Zaigon did to you, but your body was very damaged. You could've died Jin."
Jin had a defeated look across his face and clenched his fist tightly, Quinn observed Jin and looked to Zayne for answers.
"Captain... What's the move?"
"We must find the source of the swarms but there is no way to pinpoint where they're coming from."
Zayne slowly paced back and forth thinking of a plan, but he still came up short. Suddenly an idea sparked in Jin's head.
"I can find the source of the swarm!" Jin spoke up " I just need some time to recover."
"How much time?"
Jin looked at Quinn and she gave him a look of disapproval; he looked back at Zayne and his hand let off sparks.
"Maybe an hour! I don't know."
Zayne looked back at the fight and sighed; he lifted his hand to his ear and clicked the earpiece.
"Mr.Saldon, do you copy?"
"Yes, I'm here! What do you need?"
As Eric was about to speak through the comms, Zayne heard static come through the earpiece and it slowly turned into a deafening ringing. He quickly yanked the earpiece out and tossed it to the ground.
"Well backup is not coming; something is interfering with the comms"
"Well, what are we going to do? The Hunters are beginning to lose steam. If we can't figure out where these swarms are coming from.... We won't survive much longer."
Zayne remained silent as the ground shook and explosions went off in the distance, he turned around looking at Jin and Quinn and smiled.
"I'm going to go into one of those holes myself. If I'm not back in under an hour... Quinn, I want you to take over as my substitute."
Quinn looked at him opening her mouth to say something, but she couldn't get any words out. Zayne walked up to Jin and shook his hand and said.
"If I don't come back... Please keep her safe."
Jin looked him in the eyes; he could sense a feeling of peace coming from Zayne and he nodded his head.
"Of course I will."
Jin watched as Zayne walked towards the battle, he turned to look at Quinn and saw tears welling up in her eyes.
"You know he's going to be okay right?"
"Yea but... I just can't shake this feeling that were dealing with something stronger than anything we've ever seen."
Jin looked back toward the battle pondering on Quinn's words when he suddenly heard Cain's voice echo in his mind.
"Sir, you know you can speed up your recovery!"
Jin scoffed but a red glint caught his eye, the Reaper Zayne had incinerated had dropped a red mana crystal in the crater left from his attack.
"How didn't I think of that!? Quinn, can you see that red crystal off in the distance there... Get to Mia and tell her to bring it to me?"
"Are you sure you'll be okay?"
Jin nodded as he watched Quinn run towards the battle, he could still see Mia's bright beautiful flames blasting through the sky.
"Hurry back... I need to keep my promise"
Zayne finally made it to the hole the Reapers were climbing from; he looked into the dark pitch-black abyss and sighed.
"Dammit, well here goes nothing!"
He jumped into the hole and as he fell it gradually got darker and darker until he couldn't even see his own hands in front of him. Suddenly below him he could see a faint blue glow.
"That's got to be something!"
As he approached the opening one of the centipede Reapers burst out from the wall and nearly grabbed him with its pincers. Zayne dodged to the side using his flight and threw a small magic orb at its head killing it instantly.
"It's like they're planning out attacks and executing them."
He fell through the opening, and it was a large cave lit up by giant mana crystals lining the walls and ceiling.
"They had a nest underneath the city this whole time. Something isn't right!"
Zayne's feet touched the ground; he looked around with examining the intricate holes and vents leading to different parts of this nest. Suddenly he heard a deep voice ring out from behind him.
"Hmmm a human!? Our food has come to us... How convenient!"
Zayne turned around to see a Reaper that looked like a human, but parts of his skin had black and red scales. It had long black hair, and his face had 4 eyes on it.
"Why are you doing this!?"
"Because master ordered it!"
The Reaper began to summon other Reapers from his body. Zayne's body began to leak out a multicolored aura around his body, but something caught his eye. The Reapers it was summoning were the exact same ones they had been fighting on the surface.
"So, you must be the one sending those things to the surface... Who is your master?"
The Reaper remained silent to Zayne's question and as he began to take a step forward the Reaper spoke.
"The end.... HEEHAHAHAA HE IS THE END, THE END OF ALL THINGS!"
The Reaper started to sprint at Zayne and its minions followed, Zayne lifted his snapped his fingers and a line of magical orbs appeared behind him.
"Assault Of The Heavens"
They all shot from behind him hitting the Reapers destroying the small group he had just summoned, The Reaper appeared in front of Zayne throwing an uppercut to which Zayne narrowly dodges by flipping backwards.
"What is your name human?"
"Zayne, What about you?"
The Reaper chuckled as he removed his shirt that revealed he had six arms all together and his body also began to leak out a red aura.
"My name is Lorik... You know I can sense that you're very strong. It'd be a shame if I killed you before having a little bit of fun first"
Lorik suddenly hit Zayne two times in the chest sending him flying back into a wall, Lorik let out a chuckle before his arms suddenly split into multiple tendrils each of them had blades on ends of them and he rushed at Zayne.
"Shit!"
Zayne dashed to the side and tried to run from the flailing arm blades until he jumped into the air shooting another barrage of magic blasts at him. A tendril shot out from nowhere grabbing Zayne's leg and slammed his body into the ground.
"Aww come on, I figured you'd have a little more left in the tank than that!"
Zayne chuckled with his face buried into the hard floor beneath him; he began to rise from the ground and Lorik tried to stab him. Zayne waved his hand towards him, and Lorik was suddenly hit back by an invisible force.
"Something is different about him" Lorik thought " I'll have to end this quickly"
Lorik vanished and tried to speed blitz Zayne to slice him apart but each time he approached him he was being hit away. Lorik began to get frustrated, and he let out a loud screech. Suddenly Zayne could feel the ground and everything around him begin to shake.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"I woke up the rest of this nest, soon you will be dead and then we'll take your city following our commander Zaigon"
Zayne looked at Lorik with a smile, Lorik became increasingly frustrated, and his tendrils burst from the ground wrapping around Zayne's legs locking him in place.
"What's so funny? Wipe that smile off your pathetic face!"
"Your commander Zaigon.... Is dead!"
Loriks demeanor switched from confident to terrified, he loosened his grip on Zayne and fell to his knees. Lorik started to breathe heavily, and he looked up at Zayne with fear in his eyes.
"H... How... HOW DID YOU KILL HIM; HE WAS MASTERS FIRST CREATION. SURELY YOU DIDNT BEST HIM, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
"No... No, I didn't defeat him. The man who did is preparing as we speak to stop this attack on our city. No matter where you run or where you hide, we will find every last one of you and hunt you all to extinction!"
Lorik smiled as the shaking became more violent and suddenly his minions began to flood into the cave they were fighting in. They began to infuse themselves with Lorik, and his body slowly morphed into something grotesque and otherworldly.
"Our extinction? Let's see if you can back up those words. Once I'm done with you not only will I be promoted but I'll finally be able to do whatever I want whenever I want.... So, if you really think you can destroy me, come at me!"