The moment pained screams and panicked shouting erupted from the distant Zerian horde, Elaine knew there was no turning back. The others—the thousands of humans around her—understood that too, and without any order, they all charged ahead. That was it, the culmination of weeks of planning.

  Still, for a heartbeat, she hesitated. Doubts and worries slammed into her at once. Only the distant sight of hundreds of crimson ravens and the massive Worldeater pulled her back to reality.

  Elaine took a deep breath and joined the charge, her form slowly lighting up with a soft white glow.

  Despite the confident mask she had worn, she hated this entire plan. Not because it was bad. No, not at all. It was because it symbolized her full acceptance of these cursed Virus Wars. Her willingness to kill other Hosts who had never done anything to her. The only crime the Zerians had committed was being drawn against Earth in the first round, or just being a part of this war in the first place.

  Other than that, the population of Reprizem was as innocent as the people of Earth.

  Yet none of that mattered now.

  Only the winner of this battle did. For to survive, there were no lines most of them wouldn’t cross.

  So instead of letting guilt swallow her whole, Elaine reached for the hate buried deep within her. The one toward the Virus Wars. Toward the Overlords who caused all this. And the one toward herself. There was quite a lot of it.

  Then, once she reached the Zerian ranks, she poured all this anger, all this hate, into every swing of her sword and skills that activated with naught but a thought. The aliens didn’t deserve it—nobody here did. But as she had already established, it didn’t matter today.

  She would fight. She would bleed. And she would help humanity win.

  Everything else could go to hell.

  Transform, she commanded, her human body replaced by that of a white, three-tailed fox half her original size. Freedom mode. Light Trickery.

  In the chaos, one Zerian spotted her. He swung a massive battle axe straight at her head. The hit should have connected; there simply wasn’t enough time to dodge.

  Only Elaine had never been in its path in the first place.

  Without any resistance, the axe went right through her light clone. The Zerian’s eyes widened, but that was all he managed. Her true form flickered into existence above his shoulder. A single sweep of her tail rendered him headless.

  Blitz.

  Elaine vanished again, leaving a streak of light that exploded a heartbeat later. Two more Zerians fell to the blast. Another five died in the following few seconds when they tried to hit something that didn’t even exist. Skills, blades, fists, they all missed.

  All thanks to her new ultimate.

  Light Trickery didn’t have the raw destructive power of most of her abilities, but that didn’t make it weaker. Not at all.

  For someone like her, the ability to create illusion clones and make herself invisible by bending light was priceless. Defense had always been her greatest weakness. This ultimate fixed that problem.

  And sure, her illusions were nothing compared to the madness that the British Pioneer could create, but they were far easier to use. Her new ultimate worked alongside her, almost like another instinct. Clones formed and vanished on their own, and her invisibility activated whenever she needed it.

  It was simple. Easy. Frightfully so.

  Given the chaos on the battlefield thanks to the Worldeater and the Pioneers’ assault, she met almost no resistance as the fight progressed. She ripped out throats, burned Zerians to ash with her explosions, and skewered others with her light-charged tails.

  Death surrounded her, and for once, she didn’t let it bother her. Just like Isaac always did, she embraced it too. Not even the sight of her fellow humans bleeding out on the ground stopped her.

  She couldn’t end up like them. Not before the Overlords got what they deserved.

  Faster! She roared, Blitz activating again, and again. One burst sent her high above the battlefield, right behind a Zerian who had leapt into the air with a golden bow drawn.

  Before the female alien could loose her arrow, Elaine’s claws slid into her spine. Her three tails followed, erupting out of the Zerian’s chest. She died on the spot.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Elaine used the falling corpse like a springboard and launched herself back into the fray. Her invisibility returned, along with two new clones that rushed the nearest Zerians. Like always, her enemies never realized what happened until the illusions faded, and a burning spear of light appeared in their stomachs.

  Chaos, as some of her friends often said, was an ally that never disappointed.

  She understood it now.

  Still, as time went on and the battle only got more bloody, she felt herself slowing down. Her illusions no longer answered as quickly, while her invisibility not always activated. Blood, and not only that of her enemies, began to paint her white fur.

  Dread once more crept back into her mind.

  Are we… losing?

  The Worldeater still lived, that much she knew, and by the look of it, the human army was pushing deeper and deeper into the enemy ranks. Yet, there seemed to be no end to the alien horde. They kept coming, filling the battlefield with more flashing lights, more elements bursting out of the ground.

  Sooner or later, sheer numbers would win.

  No, she thought, flinging herself back into Freedom mode. No.

  Light Trickery surged, the number of her clones doubling. Her fur, almost fully red now, ignited, turning snow-white again. Blitz, however… did not respond.

  Fine. She could manage without it.

  With this second wind, Elaine was prepared to throw herself back at the approaching enemy. But before she could, a blur of crimson in the sky caught her attention.

  She recognized it.

  Isaac.

  Throughout the entire battle, she had forced herself not to think about her friends. They each had a role to play, and she had to believe they would all succeed. Yet now that Isaac was here, diving toward a group of Zerians not that far away from her, she couldn’t help but wonder.

  Is it time?

  Mid-air, her friend’s form twitched and grew, answering her question.

  Oh…

  A second Worldeater had just joined the fight. A wave of fear flooded the battlefield right after.

  When Isaac had first descended on the rear of the Zerian horde, he instantly activated Maker’s Shell and allowed the Root and Symphony to combine into Symbiosis. The screams around him only fed his bloodlust as he tore through every alien in his path.

  For a time, no one even tried to stop him. The Zerians simply had no idea what to do with a Worldeater, three Pioneers, and hundreds of blood ravens hitting them at once. And so, their fate was simple.

  Death.

  Not even a minute into the fight, Isaac was lost. With Blood Thief and all the energy sitting in his Core, he became an unstoppable force that the aliens had no answer to. Even once they gathered their bearings, no skill or ultimate of theirs could stop him.

  Crimson Cataclysm and pure Blood Manipulation became his primary tools in the beginning. There was simply no need for more when his superior attributes and the red rain alone destroyed everything in his path. Overkill wasn’t necessary.

  Not yet.

  For a couple of minutes, that remained true. Then, Harry’s message arrived.

  “It’s time, friend. My Dreams are ready.”

  Isaac nodded to himself, released Maker’s Shell, and directed the remnants of Crimson Cataclysm at those who remained close by. He transformed afterward, his Legacy carrying him high into the sky, where the battle was just as bloody as on the ground.

  He ignored everyone in his way and flew toward the center of the battlefield. There, he reached into his Core, to the Genesis waiting there, and dove.

  Chimera Protocol: Life.

  If the transformation into his Legacy could be described as switching into another comfortable outfit, the Chimera Protocol was the exact opposite. There was nothing familiar or welcoming about the change happening inside his body. Nor was the process instantaneous.

  The Genesis erupted, escaping the Core and spreading across his whole body. Bones snapped as his flesh grew and rearranged itself into something more. His legs and arms vanished, melding into a single, long, serpentine entity.

  When the process stopped, he wasn’t entirely sure what had happened. Then, his new body hit the ground, and his eyes snapped open.

  No… those weren’t eyes, he didn’t have those anymore. Instead, all his other senses expanded, providing him with the perfect black-and-white picture of his surroundings and his body.

  As expected, he had become a Worldeater, a short one, though. He couldn’t be longer than a tenth of the beast that had become his puppet. But did that matter?

  No.

  The armored flesh was there. As was the massive jaw packed with endless rows of teeth. Only the ability to command sand was missing.

  Whatever. It’s more than enough.

  With instincts he shouldn’t possess, Isaac lunged at the nearest frozen group of Zerians. They died where they stood, crushed underneath his massive body. That got the others around him to move.

  Too late.

  An aura of fear swept across the battlefield, one so potent that some aliens dropped their weapons in fright. Others turned on their heel and ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

  Isaac would have smiled if he could.

  Good job, Harry.

  It wasn’t the Field of Nightmares Isaac had seen Harry use in the past. And that was quite all right. Putting a few hundred Zerians in a nightmarish dream wouldn’t accomplish much in the long run. Not here.

  This though? A modified version of Harry’s ultimate that inflicted raw terror on thousands?

  It was perfect.

  The Zerian ranks that had somehow reformed in the chaos broke again. Some fled, others screamed. And those who somehow resisted the fear? They could do nothing as their allies left them with no support.

  Checkmate.

  One more chapter left of book 2.

  Read 20 chapters ahead (Book 2 finished):