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Russell stood at the shelter entrance, weighing his options. This was his first real emergency mission - not some controlled training exercise, but actual life-or-death stuff with real consequences. The weight of that responsibility felt heavier than he'd expected.
"What's the difference between the two assignments?" he asked, genuinely curious about how this whole system worked.
The garrison officer didn't show any impatience with the question. Probably got asked this a lot by nervous first-timers. "If you guard the shelter, the reward points are lower, but the work's safer. You're basically backup in case something breaks through our defenses. Support missions pay better, but you're going where the fighting is heaviest."
Russell nodded, processing the information. Staying at the shelter would be the smart choice, he thought, watching more civilians filter through the checkpoint. Low risk, steady work, no chance of getting eaten by interdimensional monsters.
But this whole demon invasion had come out of nowhere, without any warning signs that he'd heard about. That made him uneasy. Random attacks were one thing, but coordinated assaults during a period when most inland cardmakers had been transferred north? That felt less like coincidence and more like strategy.
I need to get stronger, fast, Russell decided. And sitting on my ass guarding a bunker isn't going to help with that.
"I'll take the support mission," he said aloud.
The officer nodded and pulled out some kind of handheld device, fingers dancing across its surface. "Got it. I'm logging you in now. You should get deployment orders in a few minutes, Mr. Russell."
While waiting, Russell pulled out his phone and opened the "A Loving Family" group chat.
[Russell]: Demon invasion from unknown pocket dimension in Northgate.
The response came faster than he'd expected.
[Jasper]: Knew it. This attack is definitely connected to what's happening up north. [Jasper]: Think about the timing - they wait until our cardmakers get transferred away, then suddenly invade? That's not coincidence. I bet those 'masters' in the court are finally showing their true colors.
Russell could practically feel the anger radiating through his senior brother's messages. There was clearly bad blood between Jasper and the Federation court, though Russell still didn't understand why his eldest senior brother and second senior sister had chosen to go north when their teacher was stationed on the coast.
[Jasper]: Sorry, teacher. Said too much.
Russell stayed quiet, watching the exchange with growing interest. His teacher's sharp rebuke suggested Jasper was treading on dangerous ground - topics that weren't safe to discuss even in their private family chat.
Russell's own thoughts weren't far from his senior brother's suspicions though. The timing really was suspicious as hell. But collusion between the court and actual demons? That seemed like a huge leap, even for political scheming.
Then again, looking up at the cloudy sky above the shelter, Russell couldn't help thinking about history lessons from his previous world. Corrupt dynasties falling to internal rot while external enemies circled like vultures. The players had changed, but the game looked depressingly familiar.
So why hasn't the Association just taken over already? Russell wondered. From what he'd seen, Blake and Yves St. Clair were definitely Association loyalists, and both were powerful enough to reshape the political landscape if they wanted to. Unless the court had hidden assets nobody knew about...
His phone buzzing snapped him out of his political theorizing.
[Report to Guanlan District for immediate support.]
Official orders. Russell said goodbye to the garrison officer and started moving toward his assignment, political conspiracies forgotten in favor of more immediate concerns.
Meanwhile, in Guanlan District, a very different drama was unfolding.
"Mr. Wade, why aren't we leaving?" a young man asked, panic making his voice crack. He kept looking over his shoulder at the civilians huddled behind them, then back at the demons circling in the distance like hungry wolves.
Wade glanced at his subordinate with obvious disdain. "Leave? And go where exactly? You know how pissed my father gets when missions don't get completed."
The young man immediately started sweating. "I... I wasn't thinking clearly, Mr. Wade. Sorry."
Wade rubbed his temples, feeling a headache building. The old man had insisted he needed "real experience" and forced him to take this civilian rescue assignment. What a fucking joke, he thought. What's the point of earning these pathetic mission points? I've got more money than I know what to do with.
He looked at the terrified civilians behind them, then at the demons prowling just outside Meng Po's protective barrier. A cold smile spread across his face.
"If things get too complicated, we just ignore the civilians and focus on killing demons," Wade said, his voice carrying clearly in the tense air. "After all, when I arrived here, these people had already been slaughtered by monsters, right?"
"Brilliant thinking, Mr. Wade!" the young man's eyes lit up with relief. "That's why you're in charge."
Behind them, the crowd of ordinary people pressed closer together in terror. The ones nearest to Wade and his subordinate looked especially horrified - they'd heard every word of the callous conversation. What they'd thought was salvation had turned into a death sentence with bureaucratic paperwork.
In the sky above them, a blood-yellow river twisted through the air like a living thing, forming a protective barrier around the group. Wade's Meng Po card was powerful enough to handle the demons surrounding them, but maintaining a large-scale defense was draining her energy unnecessarily.
If it wasn't for this dead weight behind me, Wade thought, his expression darkening, Meng Po could just kill all these monsters and be done with it. But yesterday's fight with that freshman bastard put all my other cards on cooldown except for her.
Wade shot a sideways look at his nervous subordinate, irritation growing. Besides, a lackey is still just a lackey. Completely useless when it actually matters.
He began seriously considering abandoning the civilians. Sure, his father would be furious, but that was better than risking his own life for people who'd never amount to anything anyway. Plus, he could always delete the surveillance footage afterward. No witnesses, no problems.
Wade's mind made up, he no longer hesitated. Meng Po, being his card, felt his intentions immediately. The massive blood-yellow river contracted suddenly, shrinking from a wide protective dome to a narrow shield around just Wade and his subordinate. Then it surged forward toward the nearest demon.
"My lord?" one of the Guanlan District residents called out in confusion as the protective barrier abandoned them. "What's happening?"
The demons in the distance saw their opportunity immediately. They scattered in different directions - some fleeing, others moving to attack the now-defenseless civilians.
Wade's face twisted with anger as he watched several monsters escape. "Don't let me catch you bastards later," he snarled, directing Meng Po to pursue one of the fleeing demons. The blood-yellow water engulfed the creature in seconds, reducing it to a pile of bleached bones.
But chasing down one demon had taken Meng Po too far from the civilian group. The remaining monsters saw their chance and moved in for the kill.
The residents closed their eyes in despair. Against silver-level demons, they had no chance of survival. Some parents pulled their children closer, whispering final words of love. Others just stood frozen, minds unable to process their approaching deaths.
That's when the wind started.
It was subtle at first - just a gentle breeze on what had been a still day. But as the demons lunged forward with claws and fangs extended, that soft air current became something more. An invisible barrier of compressed atmosphere formed around the terrified civilians, solid as steel but transparent as glass.
BOOM!
The lead demon slammed into the wind barrier with bone-crushing force, the impact sending shockwaves through the street. Windows shattered in nearby buildings as the creature's attack was completely absorbed by the invisible protection.
Wade spun around, eyes wide with shock as he stared at the changes around him. Then a familiar voice cut through the chaos - hoarse and low, with that distinctive electronic distortion:
"It's you, Wade."
The smoke and debris cleared to reveal an invisible mental force protecting everyone inside, like a golden bell.
(End of this chapter)
PLZ THROW POWER STONES