"Whatever you guys are gonna do to close that hellhole, you better do it now!" Raten and his small team, comprising of himself and four Carbon clones utilized all they had in their arsenal to hold off the oncoming Nightmare Creatures that seemed to grow in number while the others stood by the portal.
Although composed on the outside, Raldin was still at a loss for what to do.
Elsewhere, a saddled horse with a passenger made its way through and out of a nearby forest. "Whoa!" The passenger exclaimed. "Since when did Dreamdale look like-"
He stopped half-way, smiling to himself. "Looks like they're here. Better make my return grand."
"I am a proud Heart Captain after all." He dismounted his horse, feeding it with his palm before he took a stance with bended knees and made a thunderous leap.
At the portal site, Raldin paced back and forth, contemplating on what to do. Ace hopped away from a Creature, noticing the former brainstorming and decided to attempt thinking up a solution himself.
"If we try overflowing it with our energy," Ace stood by his side, adding his own input on the matter, "it might be absorbed and the portal could grow bigger."
Raldin got over his surprise before replying, "And if WE attempt absorbing it, we might end up like them-" He simultaneously reminded him of Annie and Florian. "Or even worse, we might become these abominations."
Enlightenment struck, prompting him to snap his fingers.
"You have another idea?" Nalia asked.
"A technique," he replied. "Energy Sealing. It's basically an oppressive force on a portal, preventing anything else from getting out. Like a lid on a full jar. But with this much to seal, I'll need your help." He turned to the youth.
Ace nodded, enthusiastically bashing both fists together. "Alright. Let's seal these freaks."
The Nightmare Entities turned, sensing the presence of another human. Instantly, a good chunk of them disappeared and manifested around the Heart Captain.
"Aww, all this attention for little ol' me. Sorry, but I can't hang." Avery himself matched their energy, vanishing from sight in a golden glow of light. In the building Annie had been left in, he reappeared in the same shimmer of energy.
"There you are, A- Annie?" He observed everywhere in an instant, concluding that she must have been in a trance, a heart-wrenching one that left her crying on the floor with the several monstrosities hovering around her. 'I can't break her out of this, I'm sure. But Raldin probably knows what's happening and he's already working on a way to stop it. Yeah, I trust that he does.'
Avery casted his technique again wordlessly, the special ability that allowed him to teleport short distances in nearly an instant. He stopped at one point but continued moving as he realized Florian was in the same predicament.
"Follow what I do," Raldin instructed the other Energy User. "This seal takes a specific amount of concentration so take it slow." He proceeded, showing him the stances he would take before the actual sealing. After much observing, Ace was ready.
They stretched their hands as if reaching for the moon, their bodies illuminated in fierce energy. They then turned around in a circle before shooting out a single line of energy simultaneously.
For a second, the forcefield around the portal was opened just long enough for the energy to permeate. A second or two passed with no observable changes until what looked like black lightning originating from the portal struck in all directions, piercing through the forcefield as it targeted them.
They ducked as it shot at almost every possible angle at random. In the blink of an eye, the Nightmare Creatures morphed, attaining a crystallized black, white and grey hue, making them look less frightening. But that couldn't hide the fact that they had become huge and simultaneously growing faster. Raten couldn't even react in time, being slammed headfirst into a wall by one of them.
"Okay! I've had my fill of black creeps!" He swung both swords, the White Devil and a fabricated one, slicing one of them in half. But unlike previous times, it cut through it as it turned to dust that evaporated into the atmosphere. Switching to the hammers, he slammed them on the ground, knocking four off balance before his clones neutralized them. But in the process, his last two clones fell, becoming a pile of pink mush on the ground. "Damnit!"
Without the help of the Carbon Clones, he had to work overtime, taking out Creature after Creature without taking a break with his depleting stamina.
"Ha!" He took out two more, jumping down with shaky legs before avoiding the kicks of the Creatures, leaping back again before eradicating not one, not two but three by gashing them in half.
"Why didn't the Seal work?" Ace asked, failing to hide his uneasiness.
"The sum of our energy isn't enough. We did just what I was afraid of. We've made them stronger," He answered, much to their horror.
"Well, at least they're tangible now. We can touch them." Nalia looked to the bright side, following up her statement with a sigh.
By now, the Metal Fighter was sweating like a pig but he had to continue buying them time while Raldin still contemplated on what to do and this time, his nervousness was on full display. He had no idea what to do.
'If Avery was here, he'd probably know what to do.' He thought.
Raten slashed through another but he felt a shadow cast behind him and that's when he realized a Creature was ready to slam on him. "Shit!" He cursed, knowing all too well that he couldn't swerve out of the way on time, getting ready to bare the brunt of the attack. But it never came. Instead, he heard a sound akin to slicing.
Too many cuts to count were seen on his attempted assaulter but it wasn't only that. The others also had been mysteriously attacked, being rendered into evaporating dust.
'Who is this elf guy?' Raten caught a glance of his mysterious helper only after he had covered several metres in an instant, appearing by the portal. He regarded him as being elf-like because his ears pointed slightly upwards, giving him the popular elven trait.
"Captain!!"
Ace and Nalia embraced him with all smiles, forgetting their current situation for just a moment. He equally embraced them with a genuine smile, patting them on the heads before he turned to Raldin. The latter cleared his throat. "It's good to see you again! If you wouldn't mind-" He was caught by surprise as Avery shortly embraced him as well before giving him a fistbump.
"Of course I wouldn't." The latter looked to the portal. "We need to seal that, right? Alright, let's give it a shot, shall we?"