‘You dared to attack one of my protégés,’ said the colonel. ‘You'll pay for this, you filthy draugr,’ as he drew his high-frequency blade, which glowed with a green aura from its sheath.

By reflex, the recruit jumped and grabbed his friend Izumo and his STEN KLINGE, putting him in a safe place, then returned to fight the draugr. With piercing speed, like a wild animal on its prey, Tamayo sprinted towards the draugr to destroy its core, but the draugr saw his sword get stuck as he tried to pierce it to reach its core and stopped his STENKLINGE with its hard skin. Surprised, at the same moment, the new recruit rushed without hesitation, striking the draugr with three violent punches charged with arcane magic. With each blow, he remembered what the draugr had done to Izumo. The draugr resisted the first two punches, but recoiled from the third, being thrown back 10 metres.

"No time to think too much, Colonel. It's not enough to be an alchemist to realise that this beast is unique and special. It's impossible to flee because he's called his fellow creatures. This draugr must be diamond-level; we have to expect anything from him. Declared Arima

‘ ’He's right,‘ thought the Colonel. ’He may be an idiot, but this boy has a sense of combat, and when it comes to that, he's a different man." ‘

Colonel, ARIMA, stand back, I'm going to immobilise him and blind him,’ shouted LIDE, drawing his sword with his elemental frost arcane. LIDE used the rain to freeze the draugr's legs and head to blind him. Following his coordination, Nozel continued the attack by running at the draugr and slashing it from the left side, aiming to strike it at its core, but its skin was tough, and his blade got stuck in its neck. The draugr quickly gained the upper hand the upper hand and broke LIDE's ice, punched Nozel in the stomach, suspending him 1 metre above the ground, and quickly took the sword, pulled it out of his neck and slashed Nozel's chest three times, piercing his stomach, but Nozel had threw himself forward, moving his body before hitting the ground so as not to be hit in his vital organs. Another draugr arrived, but this time it exploded a screen of toxic smoke over the soldiers. Arima, who wanted to attack the intelligent draugr, backed away, moving even further away from IZUMO, who was unable to move.

Tamayo touched the ground directly with his STEN KLINGE to connect his arcane magic to the earth, which was his arcane element, and managed to dispel the smoke. IZUMO, in his subconscious, saw time freeze. He heard voices and thought he was still hallucinating. He wanted to know where the voice was coming from, and as he turned his head, he heard:

‘Eight by eight, he swallowed them all, and from then on he decided to take revenge on the human race for what you have done over the centuries. Because of the imbalance you have created, your future is doomed. You are no longer superior; you never were. Your world and all your kind...’ ‘ Such were the words of the draugr, for Izumo had trouble hearing everything as he spoke in a whisper.

’Damn, did the draugr just talk to me?‘ Izumo wondered, ’No, I must be hallucinating from the poison he injected me with, and I'm starting to have vision problems and maybe even hearing problems.

Following the Colonel's attacks, the draugr inflated his fibres like a 250 kg, 3-metre-tall human, channelling all the arcane energy within him. Colonel Tamayo, acting on pure instinct, ordered his soldiers to stand back and flee as far away as possible, knowing that such a concentration of arcane energy would certainly result in a huge explosion. He concentrated all his energy in his Anima and touched the ground, creating a large rampart 10 metres high. He knew it would not be enough, but fortunately LIDE rushed bravely forward and, with his last ounce of strength, raised a giant wall of ice to counter the explosion of the draugr, which, when it exploded, blinded everyone with both light and a large amount of smoke mixed with dust and steam.

The soldiers all shouted in unison: Hurrah, hurrah, the Colonel and LIDE saved us, they are so strong, glory to them! Following this minor rescue, catching their breath, the Colonel thanked LIDE for his intervention.

‘Thank you very much, LIDE. Even if it was reckless of you to waste all your remaining energy in one go, even damaging your Anima.

’I wasn't going to let you die and let this monster spread so much poison. And I didn't want the new Arima to steal all the limelight, otherwise I wouldn't be able to...

. Barely rested and enjoying catching their breath, he didn't have time to finish his sentence before the monster fired two more lasers straight into LIDE's chest and liver; this time it was the end for the Colonel's right-hand man. With a look of despair followed by shock, Tamayo saw his second-in-command die before his eyes, powerless to do anything to save him.

‘This can't be happening,’ he said to himself. ‘Since when did everything go to hell? My two young soldiers just risked their lives, and I don't know how much magic this creature has left. So there's nothing we can do? Is this my sad end, to see my men perish before my eyes?’

The monster wanted to attack the other soldiers with another cannon it had aimed at them and had just finished reloading, which this time would cause twice as much damage. But just as it began recharging its energy to fire its laser, it was stopped by ultra-concentrated light grey metal spikes in its three hearts. The attack came from Izumo and Arima, who took advantage of the distraction of the explosion to kill the draugr. As it died, it did not behave like other draugr; it dried out its skin membrane, reducing its volume and creating a very large screen of toxic poison. Seconds later, while everyone was waiting to see what would happen next, they felt a tremor shake the earth and saw branches and roots pushing up from the ground forming a giant 18-metre tree, whose trunk was as dark as the draugr's skin. Violet glimmers could be seen along its bark, and its leaves were a mixture of mauve, yellow, red, green and violet, contributing to the beauty of this magnificent and gigantic tree, which continued to grow. Surprised by this new development, the other draugr nearby died instantly, drained of their life essence and magic, as the magic of their arcane stones circulating within them had been absorbed by the tree, which grew by sucking the energy from the draugr.

Twenty minutes passed, and Arima advised that they recover the wounded and abandon the place.

‘Colonel, we must leave before another misfortune befalls us,’ said Arima.

He had a fiancée who had just told him she was pregnant. He wanted to stay and celebrate with both his families, but I told him to come. On this mission, in addition to...

‘This is no time to be depressed, boss. Let's get out of here.’ Arima may have been a rowdy kid, but he was mature and had decided at that moment to take charge because he had seen his boss overwhelmed by events, especially since everything was so unexpected.

Just as everyone had mounted their mounts, a light shone from the bottom of the tree trunk; wounded and collapsed on the ground, IZUMO insisted on seeing what was inside. Nozel listened to him and reassured all the soldiers to listen to his best friend, and Arima and Zaruba also supported this proposal.

‘Colonel, I also think we should go and see what's going on more closely.’

‘No, we won't waste another second in this cursed place.’

‘Please, sir,’ Izumo begged him, and the colonel, seeing how badly Izumo was injured, granted him this favour because he wondered if Izumo would insist for no reason.

Arriving in front of the tree, Arima cut through the visible part from which the light was coming, going deeper and deeper until he could see where the light was coming from.

Following this, Arima reached a thick membrane that felt like a web. In response, a large cloud of smoke was released. The soldiers thought it was the toxin again, but Izumo remained in front without flinching, waiting to see what would come out of it, and suddenly...

‘Tell me I'm dreaming. How is this possible?’ asked Arima.

‘Whoa, what are we seeing?’ shouted Nozel and the others.

‘In the end, this day was meant to be,’ said the Colonel.

‘Is this a new phenomenon we're witnessing?’ wondered Izumo.

Blinding smoke rose, and to everyone's surprise, a young boy with dark skin emerged from the tree trunk. Arima had carried him out after extracting him from the wire membrane. He had been unconscious, but then he opened his eyes.

The soldiers noticed that his arms were holding a book. Everyone was curious, and Arima asked him his name, to which he replied:

‘I don't remember. Hiruko, maybe. The last time I spoke to him, he called me Hiruko.’ He was exhausted, and even his breathing was weak, like someone who needed more rest.

The child then fainted in Arima's arms, and at the same moment, Izumo fell to the ground.

‘Izumo!’ cried the captain. ‘Take them to the emergency room and bring the boy with us. We'll have more questions for him once we get to the capital.’

End of chapter