At the very moment the battle in Haicheng erupted, the surrounding cities began paying close attention to its situation.
As the first line of defense against the sea, Haicheng's importance needed no explanation.
The instant Haicheng's defenses were breached, the Imperial Capital received word from the city.
"Haicheng has encountered a tide of mutated sea beasts. Mutated marine life has come ashore and launched a fierce assault on the city."
"Thanks to firepower suppression, a beast tide coming from outside the city poses no real threat to it. If nothing unexpected occurs, they will eliminate all invading sea beasts within a day."
A department head reported solemnly to the Director of the National Bureau of Spiritual Energy in the Imperial Capital.
"But just when everyone thought this tide would end here, the unexpected happened!"
"A colossal shadow appeared above the sea—an unknown mutated sea beast. With a single beam of light, it tore through Haicheng's defenses and caused massive civilian casualties."
"Parts of Haicheng are already paralyzed; the majority of the populace has fallen into despair."
"Because the defenses were ripped open, some mutated sea beasts have entered the city and begun a frenzied slaughter. Although espers are suppressing them, there are simply too many to hold back."
"At this rate, the entire city will be occupied by mutated sea beasts, and countless humans will die in their hands."
"We must make a swift decision to prevent that outcome."
When his words fell, the room plunged into heavy silence as everyone absorbed the information.
Haicheng, as a coastal city, belonged to one of the most economically developed tiers in all Huaxia. After the aura tides, specialized defenses had been built—yet no one had expected them to fail so quickly…
And the true reason for the failure was not the mutated sea beasts in general, but that vast figure out in the ocean.
"What kind of mutated sea beast launched that black beam…" one member of the Bureau of Spiritual Energy murmured in disbelief.
With a single strike, it had shattered the city's defenses and paralyzed nearly half of Haicheng.
Even if its destructive force fell short of a nuclear weapon, that had still been only one attack!
No one could be sure whether that had been a casual blow or a strike at full strength.
Converted to the scale of human powerhouses, the creature would be in the league of Skyler Quinn, Firewing, and Chris Frost.
"That mutated sea beast certainly warrants our full attention," someone else said, "but the immediate problem is the horde that's already inside the city."
"They're not individually strong, but there are far too many. They pose a severe threat to Haicheng's citizens."
"Taking advantage of that unknown monster's breach of the defensive barrier, they've poured into the urban core and are butchering people at will—and growing stronger as a result."
"That is something we cannot accept."
"Orders from above: Bureau members in the cities around Haicheng are to proceed to support immediately. But that alone won't be enough."
"To prevent another attack from that unknown sea monster offshore, we must dispatch our frontline espers at once."
"Skyler Quinn, Firewing, Chris Frost, Nathaniel Gray…"
"Only when they arrive will the people feel at ease," the director of the Vantora City Bureau of Spiritual Energy in the Imperial Capital said with a weary sigh.
Those below listened in silence. This tide affected the lives of tens of millions in Haicheng. There could be no room for error.
Orders flew one after another, and espers across the nation received their summons.
A sea-beast incursion—Haicheng at the brink.
In the training room, Skyler Quinn's eyes were as cold as steel as he read the documents that had come down. They contained nothing but the latest from Haicheng—text, images, and video.
Millions of mutated sea beasts.
A black beam that pierced Haicheng's defenses and left hundreds of thousands dead.
A colossal shadow in the sea.
Humans torn apart by mutated beasts.
Citizens with despair etched on their faces…
Haicheng might not yet be a literal hell on earth, but for those still alive, the despair and fear—the sensation of waiting for death—made it no different from hell.
When disaster comes, no one is spared.
"Bang!"
A heat pulsed against his chest. Skyler pressed his palm over the Fire Crystal resting there.
"They deserve to die."
He strode from the training room, his entire body already encased in the Flame Dragon Armor.
He twisted at the waist. With a thunderous roar, a crimson streak tore across the sky and descended before him, splitting the night.
"Flame Dragon Steed!"
Once he arrived, every mutated sea beast in Haicheng would die.
—Vantora City, Bureau of Spiritual Energy.
Having seen what Haicheng was enduring, Firewing's gaze brimmed with murderous intent.
From beginning to end, she had never believed in the equality of life.
She could think animals cute, pets delightful, dolphins and orcas clever—but all of those judgments came from on high, from a place in which those creatures posed no threat to humanity.
The moment they gained even the potential to threaten humans—much less the moment they acted on that potential—
There was no question: in Firewing's eyes, the sentence was death.
Humans are a complicated species. For profit, they dare desperate gambles, break laws, even abandon family and brothers; and yet they can also lay down their lives for justice, sacrifice everything for their nation.
In cruelty, humans surpass any creature.
In the will to protect, they yield to none.
Human cruelty and human justice are not confined by borders. From humanity, true "saints" may even be born—people who hold the whole world in their hearts and blur the lines between species, giving love to all living things.
Firewing was not one of them, and she did not believe such saints were nobler than anyone else.
They had their ideals. She had hers. There was no scale on which "greatness" could be weighed.
In her eyes, Huaxia stood highest; Huaxia's people were paramount.
Any who dared harm the lives of Huaxia's citizens—human or animal—deserved death.
This era does not need so-called saints. It needs heroes—heroes who will wipe out every last mutated beast.
The disaster in Haicheng stoked the blaze in her heart.
As for the mutated monster hidden in the ocean—she would like to see just what its power amounted to.
A piercing cry rang out.
With a clear, bright shriek, a crimson bird wreathed in flames manifested before her.
A streak of red carved through the night and flashed away into the distance.
—Tianhai City.
An even deeper chill settled over Chris Frost; he seemed a figure sculpted from ice, without the slightest trace of human warmth.
In those ice-blue eyes, there was only killing intent for the mutated sea beasts.
"Absolute Ice—Phoenix."
A crystalline phoenix, pure ice-blue and resplendent like carved frost, spiraled once before him with a clear, ringing call.
"Go."
An icy-blue radiance swept out bearing marrow-deep cold. Across Tianhai City, people slumbering in their beds shivered; many tugged their blankets higher.
No one knew why, but suddenly the night felt bitterly cold—
As if winter itself had come.
(End of this chapter)