Jade watched the scene before her eyes in horror; it felt like something torn out of a horror film.
On the verge of throwing up, she exclaimed, "What is that thing?!"
The smell hit next, wet soil and burnt plastic sharp enough to make her eyes water.
As the creature’s eyes slid forward from the side, revealing a dark orange hue, its hands that were on its side started to form an array of leaf-like patterns flowing from the other side of its arms.
Tyree spoke up, explaining, "These are Creatures from another place that are trying to invade the world for some unknown reason."
"These creatures come from a realm called the vale of despair, as we like to call it."
"Some come in with enhanced thinking, while others are just some brainless creatures."
"They always spawn in high-density locations, making it difficult to control and handle them, but thanks to the intel division, we have always been able to get a jump on these creatures before they spawn and create any chaos."
"Thanks to the intel division that had been in place for the last 100 years or so, we have managed to contain these creatures with the assistance of the 3 houses who have been working together for since before these creatures started showing up."
Jade gave Ashaiki a look of confusion as Tyree took off his black-robed attire, revealing a black and red skin-tight shirt that he wore underneath before stating, "I’ll take this creature on myself."
Lowering his stance and placing his hand on the ground, flames slowly circled around his palm.
Once the flames had enveloped his hands, they broke out in multiple directions, consuming and burning away the black sludge, prompting the creature to direct its focus down on Tyree, while he exclaimed, "What is food doing to my domain?"
After a short breath, the creature lifted its chin. "Learn your place, human, and bow down to me."
Letting out a light chuckle, Tyree mocked, "You talk big for an overgrown pile of weeds."
The creature revealed its razor-sharp teeth in a dark green scowl, its face contorting angrily before it raised its hand up and extended it towards Tyree and launched an array of blackened plants at Tyree accompanied by the sludge that sprayed in all directions.
Tyree began to emit a red aura as the vines swooped in, wrapping him in an array of green aesthetics, masking his body in a cocoon of sludge and moldering plant materials.
Seeing Tyree stuck in its cocoon, the creature let out a laugh, "Just as I thought. Humans are all talk and no bite."
As it taunted, the early morning sun spread over the riverbank.
The cocoon crackled and smoked, cutting through the creature’s laughter.
Jade felt the heat from where she stood, even through the distance and whatever invisible barrier held the area together. For the first time since arriving at the facility, training room bruises felt small compared to what these people faced outside.
The cocoon around Tyree simmered with heat, caught fire, and burst open. Tyree walked toward the creature, brushing sludge from his shoulders. "Not bad for a weed."
Jade stared. "How is this possible? Humans using magic to fight disgusting creatures?"
Ashaiki put a hand on her shoulder before she briefly stated, "It’s the unsealing event that grants humans the ability to use their locked abilities, but it also damns them against ever having a normal life again."
"What? Why would such abilities be sealed away? And what are the 5 clans anyways?"
"They are a group of five main houses that first broke the seal placed on humanity long ago," Ashaiki began.
"They all came together with a bond to defend humanity against any threat that may arise. There are even records of them fighting divine beings, but those battles are long in the past."
As their discussion carried on, Tyree dashed towards the creature. In response, it spewed a stream of purple acid toward him that burned away anything it came into contact with.
This was followed by Tyree delivering a decisive burning fist right on the creature’s face, sending it flying 10 feet in the opposite direction.
"Now what was that about all bark and no bite, you heap of garden vomit?" Tyree taunted.
The river kept moving behind them, indifferent to the fire and violence on its bank.
Trying to rise from the ground, the creature began to slowly regenerate itself as its jaw had been dislocated because of the hit. It exclaimed, "This isn’t right?! Humans are just food. Master stated I was only supposed to cause havoc and return with souls?!"
"Sorry, you ugly worm, but you’ve got it wrong about us humans," Tyree retorted.
Squatting down to meet the creature’s eyes, Tyree’s eyes burned with hatred as he gripped the creature by its broken jaw before declaring, "You deserve everything that’s coming your way. Humans have a nasty habit of fighting back."
The creature, annoyed, attempted to plant its hand into the ground, but Tyree crushed it with a kick. Despite this, the attack still went off as a dozen vines covered in thorns shot out to swarm Tyree.
However, he simply sidestepped out of the way, shocking Jade with his speed and quick response.
"That was almost as fast as Master Gojaro’s speed," she remarked.
Realizing the futility of the situation, the creature attempted to make a dive into the river behind them only to collide with an invisible wall. Cursing out, it exclaimed, "What’s going on?"
"Oh, you thought you were allowed to simply leave and terrorize people?" Tyree chided.
"No, no, I am sorry to say this, but you’re trapped here with us.
Not that we are trapped with you," he continued, his voice echoing over the still river that now acted as a border between the creature’s desperate escape and Tyree’s relentless pursuit of vengeance along with his companions.
"ARRRRRR"
Desperate, the creature roared with its back against the invisible wall and formed a giant lotus from both hands. Green energy gathered at its center.
Tyree was caught off guard as it launched the attack at an increased speed and while he tried to catch it, the creature dove into the ground before reappearing right behind him to catch him off guard and strike a fatal blow.
The creature formed a grass blade and struck at Tyree’s back. Tyree sidestepped, caught the blade under his arm, and turned with a smirk. "You can have this back."
Tyree’s quick reflexes allowed him to evade the attack just in time, however, the creature, still surprised by Tyree’s sudden movement, found itself momentarily disoriented, making it hard for the creature to dodge its own energy attack as Tyree deftly moved out of the path.
The energy attack collided with the creature, giving rise to an explosion.
As the creature tried to piece itself back together, Tyree walked over to its crumbling body and performed a triangle hex seal with his hands before declaring, "Burn to ashes and don’t return."
As he stepped on the creature’s exposed heart, it began to dissipate and fall apart, eventually decaying into nothing as the rest of the black sludge also started to fade away, leaving the still riverbank at peace once again.
"Well, that’s that, isn’t it, y’all?" he states with a big grin and an exaggerated accent, just as a voice cracked from somewhere around them.
"It sure seems like it. You sure are strong. Can I test my LUCK against you?"