Tokyo had changed. Buildings that once stood tall now lay shattered across the whole city. Smoke and ash filled the streets of Tokyo and the outskirts. It was carrying the distant growls of monsters hunting wherever they pleased.
Rylen stood on the top floor of a half-collapsed apartment complex. From this vantage point, he could see multiple blocks full of civilians trapped by monsters out of hell. Rylen saw a High-Level 3 infernal monster making its approach towards the civilians. His Soulweaver Exosuit glowed with deep green and violet light and his twin blades were humming as venom ran along their edges. His suit allowed him to fly without restrictions. He could predict movements, bend reality, and enhance his strength fivefold.
"Lucien, cover the east stairwell! Emiluna, keep the civilians safe in Apartment 7B and 7C! Jason, west corridor, now!" Rylen shouted, he slowly lost his voice from all that shouting.
The monster appeared in the courtyard below them. It looked humanoid but wreathed in fire of hell that shifted between blue and red. It stomped through the rubble of the apartment complex, leaving scorched footprints. Its eyes glowed like magma. Every step it took sended waves of heat across the broken ground on the third floor.
Rylen leapt from the balcony, his suit glowing in purple and greas as he soared over the monster. His blades flashed, slicing through the air as he used illusions of himself to distract the monster. The creature swung its fists toward him, blows that could flatten multiple skyscrapers at once, but Rylen twisted through reality itself, leaving copies of himself in its path while striking its ribs.
"You try to predict me?. Your just a monster. You aren ´ t capable of that." the monster roared in anger. Rylen's abjuration shield shimmered, absorbing the blue fire coming towards him. Sparks rained around him, but he remained steady, venom dripping with each precise strike.
Jason positioned himself at the ground-level lobby of the apartement complex fighting the smaller monsters to protect the civilians. His kinetic armor was glowing blue. Every punch produced a shockwave through the whole building. He needed to hold his strikes back otherwise the building would collapse in a matter of seconds. He absorbed a fire strike with his shield, 75% of the damage negated, and retaliated with a punch that sent the monster crashing into a concrete pillar.
Emiluna moved through Apartment 7B and 7C, her hands glowing softly. Chronomend powers pulsed in both of her hands, rewinding injuries around the trapped civilians that got hurt by the fire. Burns vanished and fractures healed instantly. Children stared wide-eyed as she made the impossible happen. "Please stay calm! Follow me!. I will bring you to safety!" she urged, guiding the terrified families to safer rooms where they could hide.
Above the complex, Lucien hovered in the sky. His telekinesis lifted rubble to create cover for the people, while X-ray lasers struck at the other monster's weak points. Purge Pulse fractured its temporal cells, slowing it down. He moved with light speed, lifting beams and walls to shield civilians from the rubble and monsters.
After a couple minutes of fighting Rylen saw an opening. Using his soul magic, he pulsed his blades and venom hitting the monster's heart. Illusions and abjuration kept it distracted so he could hit it precisely in its heart. The monster staggered, fire lashing out, but Rylen's prediction allowed him to stay just out of reach.
Jason was still fighting the smaller monsters. He leapt, gauntlets glowing. His punches struck with kinetic force. Three monsters flew backwards from the combined assaults that Jason fired on them. Lucien came to help Jason and struck next, lasers and telekinesis working in perfect sync to destabilize it.
Emiluna focused, reversing the wounds around those still trapped. Injuries unwound as if they never even happened, and she whispered reassurances to keep their hearts steady. Every life mattered in there, and she refused to lose even one.
Rylen struck again, blades with venom spinning. Abjuration shields shimmered around him. The creature roared ut he continued pressing Rylen, aiming for its fire-wreathed heart. Lucien and Jason came and Lucien followed with Purge Pulse, targeting the fractured temporal cells. Jason delivered a crushing blow with both fists, kinetic energy exploding around him.
The monster collapsed in a burst of blue and red flames. Lucien and Jason controlled the energy, keeping debris from harming the civilians. Rylen the hit the final blow with his venom blades through thr heart of the monster.
Rylen took a deep breath, exhaustion visible, his blades retracting with a soft hum. "Well done," he said, his voice calm but edged with pride. Jason smirked, brushing dust from his new armor. "Not bad for a morning workout," he joked, and even Rylen allowed himself a small smile.
Lucien looked around the apartment complex. No godhood, no Vessel, just a Nightguard soldier. The badge on his chest felt heavier in a way that mattered. "We did it… and people are alive," he said softly.
Then after a few minutes Emiluna came rested a hand on Rylen his shoulder. "Every life we save is a victory," she said.
They went outside and looked at the horizon jagged with destruction. But for a brief moment, the apartment complex stood as a bastion, a place where people could survive and live. Division Five had proven that even in chaos, teamwork and human courage could hold the line.
Rylen rose, scanning the complex. "Next target, Block D and Block F. Everyone moves together. No one is left behind."