Utopian System

"Lo... loser," whispered Diana, each syllable an act of final rebellion.

Zantem roared, his arm descending with lethal force. Diana closed her eyes, at peace with her fate, knowing her sacrifice hadn't been in vain.

The blow never came.

A devastating impact struck Zantem from behind, the attack's force so brutal it catapulted him away from Diana.

The transformed Artromus was sent flying, rolling among scattered cores, while a new figure interposed between him and his prey.

♢♢♢♢

Moments before...

"Another ground transformation?" Lucien studied the reports while walking alongside Selene. "Must be the fourth deposit."

"Elio's group must have finished," Selene nodded. "Soldiers on the wall report the same activity, I think it's part of what Ren and Mei suggested about possible terrain changes upon obtaining the deposit."

The two Summoners had been receiving constant reports.

The terrain transformation was more or less expected; with the deposits conquered it was possible the ground would alter to let them live outside, or that was the theory.

"Commander!" A soldier appeared running. "The carbon tunnel is being destroyed!"

Lucien and Selene exchanged a look.

That wasn't something Elio's group would do after building it themselves.

"Gather all highest level soldiers," Lucien ordered while both headed to the parapet. "All of them!"

Last year they had trained all possible level 10s, though most only had level 8 summons…

In less than a minute, dozens of high-level warriors congregated on the wall.

The scene they found froze the blood in their veins.

"Three figures!" shouted a lookout. "Moving at combination speed!"

"Something's chasing them, moving much faster!"

Another wind artromus? Lucien tensed his muscles, preparing to jump. "I'm going to..."

Selene's hand stopped him. "Look at its speed," her trained eyes following the pursuer's movement. "You promised Elio not to risk yourself until he returned to the city... Besides..."

"It's too fast, must be a metamorphosis. Protocol is to wait until its 5 minutes of transformation end before risking any new soldiers. Also at that speed, only I could..."

The monster finally caught up to the fleeing figures…

But one managed to escape and headed to the wall.

Selene and Lucien looked at each other and instantly ran toward where she would land asking soldiers to clear the path.

"HELP!" The desperate cry came from the soldier who had just landed on the parapet. "Diana! You have to save Diana!"

'Diana', the priority in Lucien and Selene's minds took a 180-degree turn.

Lucien and Selene were in front of her now. The soldier, trembling, extended her hands.

The Fire King's blue core gleamed between her fingers.

"Diana..." Selene grabbed the soldier by the shoulders. "Why did you mention Diana?"

"The monster, the monster has her, she asked me to bring this, I wanted to help her, wanted to stay but..." tears ran down her face. "It's too strong, too fast... It caught us like we were..."

Lucien was about to launch himself at the monster plummeting to the ground to save his niece.

When Selene grabbed his arm.

"Lucien!" Selene turned to her companion. "Take the core there, you have access. Search the central statue for anything that might help us against this while I keep it busy."

"But I..."

"There's no time!" Selene was already organizing the soldiers. "I'm the fastest! Support soldiers, let's go!"

Her combined summon, a winged fish with silver scales, materialized beside her.

Selene waited no longer.

With a muscular impulse pushed to the maximum, she launched from the wall.

The winged fish propelled her while falling, its fins creating currents that accelerated her descent.

The combination of 2 speed beasts was devastating: the base muscular impulse, amplified by the double-speed summon, turned into an unstoppable force by gravity.

While falling like a meteor, Selene could see the monster's transformed figure bent over what could only be Diana. Time was running out.

'Hold on,' she thought while her speed increased even more. 'I'm coming.'

♢♢♢♢

The initial impact barely managed to scratch the artromus, but it was enough to move it away from Diana.

Selene positioned herself between the creature and its prey, her winged fish pulsing with power while maintaining active her speed impulse combinations.

It was an unsustainable mana expenditure, but necessary to match her opponent's monstrous speed.

At her feet, Diana lay motionless. The system armor emitted a weak glow, struggling to regenerate the massive damage, but the light was fading.

Both Diana's resistance and her armor's were at their limit. The support soldiers were still far, their inferior speed delaying their arrival.

The artromus turned, and Selene contained a shiver.

This wasn't a wind artromus.

The creature before her was an abomination, an unnatural fusion of human and insectoid features that shouldn't exist. Its multifaceted eyes burned with murderous fury.

'I won't lose my prey, my revenge,' thought Zantem while adopting an offensive stance.

'I won't let you touch my niece any more,' thought Selene while adopting a defensive stance.

As if confronting both thoughts, the artromus launched itself at her.

Selene recognized the attack's speed, it was identical to her maximum, 100 points.

Her eyes blazed with power while forcing her muscles to the maximum, launching herself to meet the monster.

The clash between her sword and the artromus's claws created a shockwave that shook the air. The force was overwhelming, 100 points too? The rock under Selene's feet cracked and nearly collapsed.

'The rock outside the city isn't indestructible?' The thought crossed her mind for an instant, but she dismissed it. She couldn't allow distractions.

Selene redirected the impact's force, her arms trembling from the effort.

The monster attacked again, gaining ground little by little, each time more terrain.

She couldn't match the monster's brute power, but her speed allowed her to keep it contained, deflect its lethal attacks.

Finally, the first soldiers began to arrive.

"Take her!" Selene shouted, blocking another devastating blow. "Get Diana out of here!"

Two warriors responded instantly, taking Diana's battered body and beginning to impulse toward the wall.

The artromus roared with a fury that made the air itself vibrate. Its attacks became more savage, more desperate. Each blow was harder to contain than the last.

Blood began dripping from Selene's eyes while maintaining her perception at maximum. The monster was increasingly unpredictable, its movements mixing superhuman speed with primitive brutality.

The remaining soldiers began weaving metallic summons creating prisons that tried to limit the artromus's movements.

But this time the creature was prepared for that tactic.

The artromus tore through the metal prisons as if they were paper, its fury fueling each movement. It had endured enough of these parasites and their pathetic tactics.

"ENOUGH!" it roared while unleashing a combined explosion of wind and fire.

The soldiers were sent flying by the impact, their system armors barely protecting them from lethal damage.

The path to Diana was clear.

Revenge, at last, would be...

An iron grip on his leg interrupted his advance.

Selene, her face covered in blood from the explosion but her eyes burning with fierce determination, had managed to reach him.