Chapter 120 — Monsters I

The Earth Federation consisted of five major regions, each with its own characteristics, its own challenges and its own relationship with the reality of the post-portal world.

The Central Region, where Tranquil City sat, was the political and economic heart of the Federation.

Where the Imperial families held the most influence, where wealth and power concentrated and where the Academies trained the next generation of awakeners in relative safety.

The Eastern and Western Regions were industrial powerhouses, manufacturing centers and agricultural breadbaskets that kept the Federation fed and supplied.

The Southern Region was research-focused, home to the scientists and theorists who studied Aura, Monsters, and the fundamental changes that had transformed their world.

And then there was the Northern Region.

The border and the shield of humanity. The bleeding edge where humanity faced the reality of the portals every single day.

Norrington City, where Damian had grown up, was part of the Northern Region. And it was fundamentally different from the sheltered existence students experienced at the Academy in the Central Region.

The Northern Region had over a hundred cities, none of them as large or prosperous as Tranquil City, but all of them vital to the Federation’s survival.

Because when the portals had first appeared two centuries ago, when reality had torn open and connected Earth to other dimensions, the vast majority of those tears had occurred in the northern continent which later merged with other continents to form a single large continent.

Hundreds of portals, ranging from small rifts that spawned individual Monsters to massive dimensional gates that threatened to unleash armies of alien creatures.

The Northern Region wasn’t just a place people lived.

It was a warzone that happened to have cities in it.

The military presence was overwhelming, constant and necessary. Bases scattered across the territory, patrols running twenty-four hours a day, awakener units rotating in and out of combat zones with brutal regularity.

Noble families, by and large, had chosen to establish their primary bases in other regions which were safe havens.

Places where their wealth and status could be enjoyed without the constant threat of Monster attacks.

That meant the Northern Region was predominantly populated by commoners, by people who couldn’t afford to leave, and by military families who had no choice but to stay.

The culture was different here. People didn’t understand or care much about the Noble-commoner conflicts that dominated politics in other regions.

They viewed the Earth Federation as one unified entity because unity was the only thing keeping them alive.

Every day brought news of casualties, of portal breaches, of civilians killed by Monster attacks and of terrorists exploiting the chaos.

And standing out among all the terrorist organizations, growing more active and more dangerous with each passing month, was the Shadow Council.

Ever since their attack on Norrington School, the organization had been escalating operations across the entire Northern Region. Bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and attacks on military installations were becoming more and more common.

The SFD was struggling to contain them. Or... maybe someone from their hierarchy was protecting the Shadow Council as Damian previously thought.

****

Damian sat in a private compartment of the hypersonic train, watching the holographic news displays with detached interest.

[BREAKING: Shadow Council attacks military supply convoy - 23 soldiers dead]

[SFD Director admits organization is "stretched thin" across Northern Region operations]

[Civilian casualties from portal breaches reach highest levels in five years]

[Expert analysis: Are we losing ground against Monster incursions?]

The news cycled through the same themes over and over. Violence, death and barely controlled chaos masked by official statements about having everything under control.

’I wonder what choice Brian will make.’

The thought came unbidden as Damian stared at a news segment about SFD operations.

Officer Brian Oleaf, the therapist who’d been reassigned for refusing to condemn Damian, who’d damaged his own career to protect someone he’d only known for a few weeks.

’Will he actually leave the SFD and join the Mafia? Or will he convince himself that staying within the system is the right choice?’

Damian honestly didn’t know which way that decision would fall.

The train was approaching Norrington City, the automated voice announcing arrival in ten minutes.

Damian stretched, preparing to disembark, his mind already shifting to the upcoming visit with his adoptive family.

Then... he heard shouting from the forward compartments.

"AHH!"

"SAVE ME!"

"ARGH!!!"

Screaming!

The sound of running feet, panic spreading like wildfire through the train cars.

BOOM.

The entire train shuddered violently, the force of some massive impact throwing passengers from their seats.

Emergency alarms started blaring. The lighting shifted to emergency red.

Damian stood up calmly, adjusting his jacket and checking his concealed weapons.

Whatever was happening, it was significant enough to damage a military-grade hypersonic train mid-journey.

He walked toward the compartment door, opened it, and stepped into the corridor.

People were running past him, their faces twisted with terror, not even looking where they were going.

"MONSTERS! THERE ARE MONSTERS IN THE FRONT CARS!"

"EVERYONE RUN! GET TO THE BACK!"

"OH GOD, IT ATE HER! IT JUST–"

Damian moved against the flow of panicked civilians, walking calmly toward the source of the chaos.

He reached the connector between his car and the next forward car.

Pushed open the door.

And stopped... his eyes widening slightly as he processed what he was seeing.

The forward compartments were a slaughterhouse.

Bodies everywhere... Torn apart and partially eaten. Blood coating the walls and ceiling in patterns that suggested extreme violence and complete disregard for human life.

And moving through the carnage were creatures that Damian had only seen in textbooks and military briefings.

Demons!

Seven of them, each standing nearly three meters tall, their bodies covered in crimson skin that looked almost metallic under the emergency lighting.

Two curved black horns grew from their foreheads, elegant and deadly.

Their faces were disturbingly human in structure, but wrong in every detail. Eyes too large, mouths too wide, teeth too sharp.

They wore sophisticated armor that looked both ancient and advanced simultaneously, inscribed with symbols that hurt to look at directly.

Some carried weapons, massive blades or strange crystalline implements. Others were using their bare hands, which seemed to be weapon enough.

CRUNCH CRUNCH

One of the demons was crouched over a woman’s body, its mouth open impossibly wide, consuming her torso in great tearing bites.

Another was playing with a screaming man like a cat with a mouse, breaking bones methodically while laughing in a language that sounded like rocks grinding together but somehow also comprehensible as cruel amusement.

Through the shattered windows, Damian could see the wreckage of what looked like a portal ship, an advanced vessel designed for dimensional travel, crashed into the landscape outside.

The demons must have been escaping from a portal breach when their ship malfunctioned and crashed near the train tracks.

Wrong place and time for everyone involved.

’Demons aren’t supposed to breach the portals this easily yet. The timeline is wrong. It should be beasts first, then low-level Monsters testing the boundaries as Earth’s Aura density increases. Demons are supposed to come later, when the dimensional barriers weaken further.’

Damian’s mind raced even as his body remained calm.

’Either something has changed, or my memories of the timeline are incomplete. Neither option is good.’

One of the demons turned its attention to a small girl, maybe seven years old, who was frozen in terror against the wall.

The creature smiled, its too-wide mouth stretching obscenely.

"Fresh young meat... Always the tastiest."

The words came out in perfect human language, which made it somehow worse.

The demon reached for the child, claws extended.

Its head hit the floor before its body realized it was dead.

Damian stood where the demon had been, his axe already swinging toward the next target, blood spraying from the decapitated corpse.

The other six demons turned toward him simultaneously, their enormous eyes focusing with predatory interest.

"A strong one! Finally!"

The largest demon, clearly the leader, spoke in that same grinding-rock voice.

"This trip won’t be completely wasted after all!"

They charged.

****

Damian had fought many opponents in his two lives. Gang members, terrorists, Academy students and criminal bosses.

But none of them compared to this.

Demons didn’t just fight. They reveled in violence and made combat into an art form of cruelty and excess.

The first one to reach him swung a blade that crackled with dark energy, the weapon moving faster than anything C- rank should be capable of.

Damian barely got his axe up in time to block.

CLANG.

The impact sent him sliding backward, his boots leaving trails on the blood-slick floor.

’They’re strong. Really fucking strong! These are at least C rank equivalent in power, but their physical capabilities are beyond what human C ranks can achieve.’