“Fuck, what is this!?” Bret yelled out as he and his squad scouted the area around Destiny City.

“General, I wouldn’t touch it!” A young man in military duds ran over and pulled Bret back. “We don’t know what it is exactly.”

“Why the fuck would I touch it!? I don’t want to lose a hand or something.” Bret had only gotten close to it. But from the sounds of his subordinate, it seemed like he was someone who just went around touching things willy nilly. “Anyway, set up your testing station and try to figure out what it is. We will not be bringing anything back to the city that might cause harm to the people.”

“Yes, General!” The young man saluted and went right to work, getting the others together. The substance on the ground looked like a black liquid puddle. What exactly it was, Bret did not know, but if it was near the city, he had to figure it out.

Almost two years had passed since Atolie’s birthday. The days had been peaceful, and the citizens of Destiny City had been working hard. The Mana plague had become an everyday thing. And since it only required mana extraction to keep people from being harmed by it, it had become a harmless virus that they could co-exist with.

Many had even refined the red mana while forming their mana cores to find that it gave them a small power boost. It was nothing like astral energy, but it was still noticeable. When word got out, many more began doing the same. The only issue was that now there were two kinds of mana in the air. The old mana was slowly being transformed into this new kind of red mana. While many could not handle it due to the bacteria, they were able to live normal lives but could not grow stronger naturally. But with the help of others, they could take in the red mana that had no bacteria in it, allowing them to still grow in strength.

Destiny City had also expanded to the ocean. A large resort was created on the sandy beach with new mana powered boats and other small craft useable at a certain distance from the shore. Blake had been told about the merpeople. A race of mermaids that ruled the ocean waters. They could not go too far out, or it would anger them. So boundaries had been set up so that no one could go past a certain point.

“General, we are not getting any abnormal readings. It seems to be made up of compounds found here on earth.” A young woman stated as she dusted off her hands. “There is nothing out of the ordinary. What caused this, I do not know.”

“Alright, then we will clean it up for now and seal it up. Make sure to wrap it in at least ten layers of barriers before we bring it to the storage facility.” Bret let out a sigh of relief. He had found some crazy things in the past few months. So much so that they had to create a storage facility outside the city walls. It was thirty miles away, but it was worth the travel time to keep the city safe from any unexpected things.

“We will get right on it….” The young woman’s words cut off as she felt the ground under her start to shake violently.

*Dong!*

*Dong!*

*Dong!*

A loud sound filled the air. It sounded like a gong going off in the distance. Blake flew into the sky and furrowed his brow as he looked out over the skyline that had suddenly turned a reddish color. “Blake, it’s bad!” Ishtar appeared next to Blake, her eyes filled with worry.

“What’s wrong?” Blake could see the panic in her eyes, so he knew something about this gong sound was not good.

“That is the sound of the gates to the underworld preparing to be opened. It means that the reglios are close to completing their ritual.” Ishtar explained.

“We have looked for them for almost two years now! We couldn’t find them at all, so how did they do it!?” Blake did not understand. Ishtar, Nanaya, and himself had tried their hardest to find the reglios base of operations to put an end to them once and for all, but they could not find them anywhere. It was as if they had vanished. As soon as the mana plague hit, they even stopped hiding in the refugees’ shadows. “Ishtar, can you detect where they are now?”

“They…. They suddenly appeared in the same place as where you fought them last, at the site where the dragonic city was once built. They have turned it into the staging zone for their ritual. Blake, we have to stop them no matter what! But we will need more than just you and I. Look.” Ishtar waved her hand, and a golden square appeared in the sky.

What came into view was not what Blake was expecting. A large scale battle was going on. But not between two armies but one army and two people. It was just that the two people, while very powerful, were seemingly becoming overwhelmed. “They are?”

“That is Gungnir and Loki…. They are, after all, gods, and they would stop at anything to keep the gate of the underworld from opening. But what I am concerned about is how massive the army is. It is not just reglios but also undead. And there is something strange about those undead as well. They are nothing like the ones I have seen since being here. They seem much stronger, almost on par with demi gods…. But no matter what, we need to do something. While I do not want to help those two, at this time, we need to combine our powers.” Ishtar bit her lip. She knew why those two were on earth, but she also knew right now they would need their help. To gain help from the Astral Domain would take time. Anu was not someone who would make a move easily. He would factor in if it would be beneficial for them to come to the mortal plane to try to save them. Or leave them to their own demise.

“Alright. For starters, I will send out my army of golems. We will then hold a meeting. Can you send a message to those two? And tell them the golems are on their side?” Blake asked. He did not want to send his golem army out only for them to be killed.

“Yes, hopefully, they will listen….”