Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

* Thousand Foot Krutch - Welcome to the Masquerade *

***

- On the front lines of the Korean coast -

The Korean army and Korean EDA rankers have been fighting the monsters nonstop.

A new island has formed a few kilometres from the shore, and on that island thousands upon thousands of monsters were being piled every day by the huge rift at the center of the island.

The monsters there resembled dark tentacles that convoluted around eachother forming humanoid figurest that varied in size.

Since their build was different from what humans have fought before, it was almost impossible to recognise any vitals or weak points.

They didn't have eyes, mouths, or the such. Their faces resembled a bundle of steel solid tentacles that was as threatening as a wrecking ball of the same size.

Most of them had no fingers in their limps, only another bundle of tentacles. However, a handful of them got creative and developed their tentacles in a way that they could use separate tentacles to strike separately, like a hand wielding three or more whips.

The fight has been going for almost two days now, yet, the monsters seemed to grow stronger every time.

Their previously smooth skin started to develop hard scales to cover them, and in many cases these scales were hard enough to stop a bullet in its tracks.

As such, the army was forced to use grenades and rockets to slow them down. Rankers also had to work extra hard to push them back to their island.

On top of the professional rankers and soldiers, there was a bunch of volunteer rankers that either lived close by and wanted to help buy some time to their families.

Another bunch joined the fight simply because they wanted to help their country survive, just like ranker Erin Kim.

He was a charming young boy with pale white skin and reddish brown hair with a few streaks of neon green running through its front, giving him a futuristic look of sorts.

His eyes were glowing with light green that made his allies feel safe and enemies feel frightened.

"Ho~ must be enjoying yourself too much, hah?" a young girl looking the same age asked in a playful tone as she watched him slash through one of the tentacle monsters with ease. "I'm here to share the fun too, you know."

Looking at the girl, Erin felt his tense face relax slightly as he smiled sincerely, "hehe, it's only because of Lightning, you know that Jina," he said with a wink as he squeezed the handle of his huge broad gold sword while lightning bolts flared through it.

"Haha, I know I know, now go for them babe, I got you covered." Even though they both know how to speak Korean, they mostly choose English as it was a habit they picked up during school when they used to practice the language.

Unlike Erin, Jina was Korean by birth, and she looked the part. She had similar pale skin, light brown eyes, and long sparkling orange-blonde hair that made her look like a prom princess.

Some soldiers looked at the duo with envy as they both were eye candies and others with respect and gratitude, as they were from the little rankers that were making a difference in the battlefield.

The boy would strike down multiple monsters in one swipe or every once in a while he'd rain lightning down on their heads, thinning their numbers greatly.

In fact, he was the one that's discovered that the monsters were weak to electricity and lightning.

The girl on the other hand had the ability to form strong force shields around herself and others, shielding downed soldiers and buying some time for the healers to help them.

Every once in a while she'd also cover the boy's back as he charges into the monsters head on.

"Sergeant Hwan, Focus!" the captain of the special forces team yelled in Korean at one member who was staring at the duo, "the rocket won't jump into the launcher by itself!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the sergeant yelled back.

Even though the captain had yelled, he wasn't angry at the sergeant as he wasn't staring in envy or ill will, but rather admiration for the duo.

They were indeed a blessing, especially that they didn't have any S rankers on the field since they were summoned to the main cities where most of the population is.

Not only that, but the duo would always protect the individuals around them a Nd be mindful not to harm them, something that many strong rankers never cared about. Collateral damage was quite normal in the battlefield after all.

"Kid, behind you!" yelled an older ranker that was near Erin as a monster was about to smash its gigantic club-hand on his head.

Hearing the ranker's words, Erin couldn't help but smile in gratitude as he felt worry in that voice.

However he didn't even turn his head to look at the threat, but rather closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he raised his broad sword high up in the air with two hands.

SMAAACKKK!!

Erin could hear and feel the monster's body slam against the hard sandy ground of the shore as Jina pushed it harder using her force field.

A few seconds after, the monster was nothing but dark paste that would get someone's shoes dirty.

The older ranker couldn't help but facepalm at the scene, yet a smile spread across his face as he was happy to see the duo's blind trust.

'Hm, we've pushed most of them so far back to the island, yet some are still putting up a fight on our shore.' Erin thought as golden lightning ran violently through the two handed sword like a snake playing catch.

Up above in the sky, a thunderstorm started to brew loudly turning the sky gold and grey, 'if we finish this wave though, we should be able to advance to their island and fight them in their own house,' Erin though to himself.

Waiting a few seconds for the storm to be sufficient for taking out the current wave of monsters, Erin swiped Lightning downward and stabbed it into the ground.

CRAACKLEEE!!!

A thunderous explosion deafened everyone as the golden lightning hit a cluster of monsters who were so close to each other, releasing a cloud of smoke and a disgusting burning smell.

*Huff* *Huff*

Panting hard after the attack, Erin supported himself using Lightning as Jina walked up to him.

"There are still a bunch here, but the other rankers should be good with taking them out," Jina said in a warm tone as she gave Erin a quick kiss, "you did awesome!"

"Hehe, I figured as much when I got a kiss," Erin said with a smile.

"Uhm, um what do you think is going to happen next? Will the monsters send another wave soon?"

"Well, we haven't finished everyone here, they're so little, but even one could kill a bunch of us, so I'd rather avoid that," Erin said with a serious face.

"After we finish up here, we'll have to deal with the rest, but I don't know how helpful I can be since I can't use my lightning attacks in the water, might backfire and hit some allies..."

"Uhm, don't you think they're acting weird by the way? Sending monsters nonstop is kinda of crazy, especially that now they're on the loosing end." Jina asked as she looked at the island in the distance.

"Loosing end? No they're only getting started," Erin said with a sad smile, "I have a bad feeling, but whoever is in the other side of the portal is using us to-"

BOOMM!!!

Cutting Erin mid sentence, a huge explosion sound could be heard on the island's side as a huge smoke cloud could be seen rising up in the sky.

"What was that?" Jina yelled in Korean instinctively as she panicked and formed a shield around her and her boyfriend.

However, nothing but a small wave of heat reached them.

"It's up there," Erin said pointing up in the sky at a figure that was too far for them to make it out.

"What's that?"

"No idea..." the duo was surprised, just like everyone else on the battlefield. "But I think it's on our side, because it's just annihilated every living creature on that island."

'Is he an EDA S ranker?' Erin couldn't help but wonder. The figure in the sky started flying away from the island after a couple of seconds, which Erin assumed the figure used to scan and make sure their mission was done.

"It's not coming for us..." Jina breathed a sigh of relief as she realised she was hugging Erin tightly, nevertheless, she didn't let go of his warmth.

***

"The monsters on the island have been completely wiped out," the figure said on the radio the moment he was in range, "the island wasn't completely destroyed as you've requested, further inspection can be performed."

"Yes, thank you for a job well done," another voice replied on the radio. "We're lucky to have you as part of our rankers force, Axth."

"Thank you, out."