Blood splashed on the Opal walls when the burning axes moved toward Leon, but it was not his blood.

The second heartbeat hummed in Leon’s head when the Syrs bodies collapsed on the ground in patches.

He glanced at it once, then shook his head with a sharp exhale. Flashes of gold light spiked on his back when he walked toward the cave.

His eyes glowed bloody-gold when he turned a sharp stare at the spinning drift shield, now in its war disc mode.

Air blasted at all angles when the spinning disc flew up and dashed out of the cave, carving a hole at its top.

Leon placed his right palm on the Opal wall, then closed his eyes. "Thank you."

When he cracked his eyes open, the red-gold cloth unwrapped itself from Leon’s neck and formed a burning halo behind him.

Dust blasted aside on the ground beneath him when his body lifted up in the air like a wingless bird. He hovered for a while before dashing out of the freshly carved hole like a shooting star.

Rumbling sounds echoed outside the Devilish Goat King’s cave when Leon reappeared in the sky.

A grim grin tore on his lips when he saw countless nine-foot Syrs gathering at a far distance. When he lifted his right arm, the war disc transformed into its original drift shield mode. It moved toward Leon like a child going to its father.

Burning eyes and streaks of the halo behind him glowed wildly on the shield’s metal surface. With a single touch, the silver metal mended inward and transformed into a half-moon shape, while a spinning wheel remained at its center.

The moment Leon held the spinning wheel at the center, he vanished.

Dying howls and blood-dripping sounds echoed as a gold speeding light lanced through the Syrs.

Heads, legs, intestines, and eyes popped out and scattered on the ground like stones. When Leon reappeared behind the five hundred and five Syrs, each one of them blasted into ashes.

The second heartbeat calmed when the fiery halo behind him slowly dissipated into the red-gold cloth. The cloth danced in the air until it finally wrapped itself back on Leon’s neck.

"Thank you, Mom!" The words faded with stone-crunching sounds when Leon began walking toward the Umbarkar Realm.

...

Bloody-red lightning stretched across the skies of Bastion City, while loud thrumming lanced through the hospital buildings like an earthquake.

Doctors with pale eyes rushed in and out of VIP Room 515, while dying beeping sounds echoed in their heads.

"Is she in the death state?" Thess asked when two doctors rushed out with sweat-filled faces, but they did not answer her.

She shifted confused glances at the dying lady on the bed, then back at the empty hallway. "Why is no one answering me?!"

She dashed after one doctor and held the collar of his robe. "I am not letting you go if you do not tell me what is going on!"

The doctor inhaled deeply while bone-crackling sounds echoed around him. "The only thing I will tell you is to flee; save yourself before it is too late."

Chills ran down Thess’s spine when her own boyfriend, Dr. Mike, brushed her hands off his collar and dashed out of the hospital as if the world was coming to an end.

"They need our help, MIKE!" Tears trailed down her cheeks, but her voice only entered deaf ears. "FINE!"

She dashed into Room 515 and stopped beside the window. Stormy air blasted a pointed, broken branch of a tree and hurled it toward the window she stood by. But Thess moved back before it could pierce into her skull.

"Whoa, that was close."

Li Mei’s body began to tremble on the bed, while the broken branch also shivered inside the glass, as if wanting to break free.

Thess stood up on her feet with clenched fists. "So far as I am alive, I am not going to let you die, Li Mei!"

She grabbed a four-foot metal table and slammed it against the broken glass, pushing the tree out of the window. "At least this will save both of us."

Just as the heart monitoring system stopped, Thess’s fingers loosened on the table’s legs. The moment she shifted her gaze to Li Mei, a thin, five-inch metal sliver flew straight through her head.

Blood splashed onto Li Mei’s bed when the yellow metal flashed out of her skull and went back to where it came from, as if controlled by an unseen force.

The rumbling sky and the bloody-red lightning stopped when all the countless yellow metals flashed toward the hospital wall.

A black BMW rolled to a stop outside the hospital. Zoe and Feng dashed out of it without hesitation and stormed into the hospital main entrance.

"Get down, else you will be killed by a yellow metal!" Dr. Mike screamed at Feng, but he shook his head and moved toward the VIP ward.

Zoe glanced at the pale faces of the doctors, but froze when she saw Thess was not part of those crouching down.

Dr. Mike folded his palms in a pleading gesture and lifted his gaze to Zoe. "Please, I do not want you to die. Please get down before it comes again. Please."

Zoe crouched down beside the doctor, then wrapped her palms on his face. "Whatever that is will not come here, so far as Feng and I are here."

She shifted her gaze between the doctors and the scared patients, then back at Dr. Mike. "Tell everyone to go back to their work."

Dr. Mike glanced at the children tucked under their parents’ arms, then took in a deep breath.

...

Outside the walls of the hospital, yellowish metals danced in the air like little snakes. They all folded into a single sword when a black vortex appeared.

A black-haired lady with piercing green eyes and a devilish smile stepped out, clearing her throat. "What a nice day to be back in my human form."

Every step she took sent the bright, glowing green ground into thick darkness. The air grew frigid, turning the doctors’ breath into mist as she planted her hands on her waist.

The moment she entered, the lights at the ceiling all fractured and blasted without warning.

Children that were standing at the front of the hospital transparent door froze, while the lady brushed their chins.

"Hello, please, what are you doing?" Dr. Mike’s words echoed back to himself like a curse. He dashed back with dead eyes until he stumbled into Zoe’s back.

Zoe sighed, then shook her head.

The black-haired lady grinned when Zoe’s gaze fell on her. ’Vera.’

"Miss me, Zoe? It’s been a while."