"JACK!" Diana screamed. Her hand was back, and she put on her armour as she ran to the heap of rubble.
She could hear muffled and staggering breaths beneath the rubble. She started to lift and throw it away. The revenants had turned their attention back to the families again and were starting to walk and run towards them. Ethan was now free too. He was grabbing a metal chair and flapping it at the revenants, keeping them at bay.
She finally unearthed Jack. His armour was completely blown away from the front and was slowly bobbling back to cover him. A lot of rubble was stuck in his abdomen, iron bars impaling through his stomach as he lay there still—almost lifeless.
"Kuagh," Jack coughed and threw up, blood everywhere. His breathing grew more desperate as he pulled out rods from his chest—one had pierced through his lungs.
He could feel his breath stopping, but he knew they wouldn't let him die, as he had both Enak and Diana healing him. He and Diana pulled out all the rods and rubble, and he finally managed to glance at her through his broken visor. Now that the ringing in his ears had stopped, he could hear Diana crying—muffled cries and sniffles came from her as she healed him.
"I'm okay, Diana, I'm okay," Jack croaked. Diana calmed a bit. He looked around the room.
Ethan was standing at the doorway to the revenants, flapping the metal chair like crazy. He even managed to knock a few off balance. Jack erected multiple Kana barriers—the strongest he could—on the doorway. Ethan looked back and nodded at Jack, his eyes full of fear, but a glint of hope and determination shined through them.
That gaze made Jack realize he was the individual upon whom the fates of all those people in the room rested.
He slowly got up as his wounds closed and his breathing returned to normal. As soon as he was back on his feet, Diana fell into his arms, crying. Jack just stood there in silence as he felt Kana energy refilling him. Enak was absorbing energy from the atmosphere and feeding it to his dantian, and as he did, the armour slowly repaired—and with it, rebuilt the desire to protect within Jack.
"Enak, thank you. If you hadn't contained that explosion, everyone would have died," Jack said under his breath.
"And here I thought you would rebuke me for doing so—for getting you almost killed for these people. Guess nobility runs in the family. You'd make a fine king, I'm sure. Just realize your duty and needs, not desires," Enak said as Jack cracked his joints.
Enak had wrapped the overcoat upon the revenant, suppressing the explosion by several times, though it did make Jack extra prone to danger—a necessary sacrifice for the safety of everyone.
"Diana, how did Ethan get freed from the sphere?"
"He figured out how to get freed from them in a minute. He said they would be overcharged if the energy they're accepting exceeds a certain amount. We were just slowly getting free, but then the old woman that was with us passed all her energy suddenly into it... she sacrificed herself for us. We were still not free, but Ethan said he could pass the rest of the energy, so I cut off my hand and then he got free too."
Jack looked where he had found Diana standing. An elder woman lay there, sprawled on the floor along with Diana's severed hand. Jack bowed to the woman.
He could feel all his barriers blocking the revenants being absorbed away. The energy from the blast had made the revenants stronger—some were turning blue this very moment as they absorbed the barriers.
"Diana, what I will be asking you to do will be very dangerous," Jack said as he chugged down several bottles of Kana recovery syrup.
"You gonna ask me to fight alongside? I'm game," Diana said, flicking out her arm blades.
"No, I'm asking you to run."
Diana looked at Jack in disbelief—and something more: concern, regret, and, as Jack could tell, self-loathing. After all, he had seen that look on her on very few occasions, and those times were truly traumatizing.
"I'm not running. I am fighting here, with you. I'm not that weak. Please, let me help," she pleaded as she held Jack's arms tightly.
"It's not that you are weak. The barrier will come off in a few minutes, and then they will be out. I am asking you to fill all these people in our pocket tent and run. Your suit gives you really great speed and protection. Take them to the hill on the west. I will meet you there," Jack said as he laid down a network of Kana energy connecting all spheres.
He walked towards the revenants and stabbed through the revenants' dantians again, but this time Kazekiri didn't have his energy on her blade. She impaled through five or six revenants, and surely enough, she absorbed energy from them and started to accumulate on its blade. The Kana signatures of all revenants were the same, and thus no explosions came. Jack looked at Diana, withdrew his visor, and looked at her pleadingly.
After a second, she nodded and began to rummage through the pouch.
"Enak, help me circulate all this energy," Jack said.
"Okay."
Jack channeled his energy into the spheres through his Kana framework he had lain down, along with the energy from the revenants. The revenants fell down after they were devoid of energy. He felt his dantian churn—he was almost out of energy too. 5%... 7%? That was all the energy he had left. Enak tried to help with the process by circulating the atmosphere's energy to Jack and into the network.
His entire Kana system started paining. He could feel that he was surviving on the energy Enak provided, but thankfully, all the spheres freed the captives before Jack died from Kana exhaustion.
He slumped on the ground and looked at everyone getting into the pocket tent, Diana and Ethan guiding them. Diana threw Jack a look of concern but soon shook it away, wearing a mask of confidence and determination.
Jack saw her lips move, but the ringing in his ears blocked any sound. She threw him a smile and looked away. Only Ethan was left behind, who gave Jack a nod as he climbed down. He winked, squeezing out a chuckle from Jack.
Diana closed the door and sped away, out of the building.
There were only a few seconds until the barrier broke, and through the combined efforts of Enak and Jack, they were able to fill Jack's dantian to half.
"Damn you, why do all Haustons have to have oceans for dantians?" Enak groaned as Jack opened his eyes, feeling the last barrier break.
"Well, ready for round two?" Jack said as Enak re-enveloped him. The Ortho Sapiens were still trapped in the room, but now Jack could hear footsteps speeding up the stairs. Perfect, now we have enemy reinforcements as well, he thought bitterly as he dusted his clothes.
"Round two? It's a walk to the mouth of death. Aren't you worried, young one?" For the first time, Enak sounded like a father worried over his child.
"You said it. I might die here, so let's go out with a bang," Jack said as he jumped from foot to foot, warming up.
"Works for me."
The revenant stood in front of them, grunting, screeching, as it started to run towards them. Jack took out the sheathed Kazekiri and whacked it on the head. The skull of the man shattered, and it dropped down.
The Ortho Sapiens had also reached up now. "Freeze!" they shouted as they aimed at Jack. Jack shook his head as he reabsorbed the barrier that was blocking the Ortho Sapiens from earlier.
"Perfect. All the players are here. Let's get to it then," Jack said, cracking his knuckles.