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The Invasion from hell

Around the same time with the end of the earthquake and the news of macabre-looking monuments popping all around the world, many of the surface dwellers reacted differently. While there were other continents aside from Main and Ternor, the focus was on both of these continents.

The regions of both continents had faced many attempts of world domination and threatened the lives of many, but none was readier than the Ternor Continent, for they had known that the monuments were not merely monuments. They should've known, for the sole Crossing Gate on that continent was similar-looking.

A hundred years may have passed since the last invasion, but everyone knew that new Crossing Gates were signs of an invasion, as it broke the peace treaty between the surface world and the former monarchs of the Outer Rings a hundred years ago. Since then, people of Ternor had lived peacefully with their hellhound neighbor.

In most cases, the obvious reactions of the humans were to suddenly turn against their hellhound neighbors after they realized the implications. However, for the people of Ternor, especially the hellhounds, they realized that this was not supposed to happen. Then, the invasion happened.

It only take at least two days since the Crossing Gates rose from the ground before the first wave of hellhound and other demons came. But, these demons and hellhounds were surprised by the readiness of the people of Ternor. Humans, Lycans, and hellhounds were standing side by side, ready to defeat the invaders. The technology of the Underworld was a weapon on their side.

Of course, this did not deter the invaders. They walked towards the defenders and mocked them, thinking they were simply standing behind the technologies 'stolen' from them. Little did they realize that hellhounds were natural fighters, in addition to being ruthless. It was also said that a hellhound being mocked as a coward would not simply back down, except instead of being angry, they simply kill them with a swift attack, mostly by gun. Well, that was only true if it was an enemy, and the first wave of battle started when a hellhound enemy, as he mocked the 'half-bloods', was shot in the head by a pure-blood hellhound. It was an irony no one never thought happened.

On the other side of the world, a similar response happened, except this was easier to subdue than in Ternor. Aside from the fact that most of the Main continent was situated on the Ashen Lands, the continent was protected by dragons. Much like Ternor with their technology, the dragons of Main were reliable and strong. Some of the more powerful ones had unfortunately died or retire from battle, including the legendary Seraphor. The old silver red dragon tried to help, but his age, along with his inability to breathe fire or even move due to a permanent limp did not help the others, and he was quickly replaced by his twin offspring, Rhaynis and Visnerys. Both had inherited their parents' unique draconic abilities, essentially making them hybrids.

Both dragons protected their parent from the attack of a lone Third Circle demon. They knew the situation and how to respond to it, but they had never fought a true demon before, something Seraphor had an experience once. Despite of this, Seraphor quickly realized that the demon they were facing was far from the demon he and Avila once fought, in which this demon had control over earth instead of hellfire. Fortunately, while Seraphor could not battle his fire, he could reduce the damage by countering the earth-cracking ability with his own earth element magic, simply by forcing the cracked earth to mend back. Still, Seraphor cursed his short dragonet age. 123 years for a dragonet was equivalent to a 65 years old human, and also faced with the fact that he lost one of his lungs, he was quickly incapacitated by the demon's assault. He would be quickly killed if it wasn't for Vysneris, his son, helping him get away.

"You alright, pops?" said Vysneris after they landed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Seraphor. "Oh, I really wish he was here."

Seraphor referred to a certain purple dragon, who could no longer return to Seraphor's reality due to the portal linking both worlds deteriorating and finally shutting down after 30 years of continuous use. While Seraphor was already old, his friend was only an adult and was still in his prime, so he could support Seraphor when the other was down.

Personally, Seraphor preferred his friend's earth ability. While Seraphor's ability focused on the molding of earth, his friend's was more the magic of nature, so he could manipulate the nature of plants. It was a far better ability, given that it dealt more with nature instead of the land.

While the dragon family was fighting their own battle, the hellhound dragon riders also found their enemies, and was also facing a demon. Ashten and one of his lieutenants fought on the frontline.

"Damn it! How the hell did they recruit a second circle?" said the lieutenant while shooting one of the hellhound adversaries.

"Zardes and Malkar had warned me about this," said Ashten while knocking one hellhound out with his cane. "But I never expected more than the Crossing Gate they were researching."

"How about the second circle in front of us?"

"Let me handle her, Zigler. Find your dragon and command the hellfighters to push the invaders back to the Gates and destroy the Gate."

Zigler seemed hesitant to leave his commander, but when he saw Ashten's serious expression, the younger hellhound nodded and whistled. A red-scaled dragon swooped down as Zigler climbed on it, leaving Ashten and the second circle demon behind.

The second circle demon was a Cait Sith, a black-furred cat demon with flowing dark tail and a slim feminine build. She had killed or charmed some human soldiers to fight for her, which made Ashten's job harder. While they looked like they were only capable of commanding and not directly fighting, it was actually a ruse, for all circle demons could fight and kill to a degree.

Ashten stood in place as the Cait Sith walked towards him. The demon was intrigued by Ashten's confidence, so she asked, "Do you have a death wish, old hound?"

"I might," said Ashten while smiling. "I'm already old, and I have lived a good life."

The Cait Sith, however, smiled. "You don't fool me," she said. "A grunt might've fallen to that trap. I know you're not just a hellhound. Your aura reeks of violence. Infernal blood is flowing in your veins."

"I guess demons are not humans or hellhounds, after all," said Ashten with a sigh. He then assumed a stance with his cane. "So, given your status, the moment I defeat you, your army's morale will fall."

The Cait Sith then pulled out a whip which she used to attack Ashten from afar. Ashten's reflexes were still good enough to dodge the attack, but he quickly knew that it was not as easy as this, and the Cait Sith was simply warning him to back out.

"That is...if you defeat me," said the Cait Sith with a grin. "You may have Infernal blood, but you are still a hellhound. You may have skill, but have you fought a demon before?"

"That's what you're going to find out soon enough."

Ashten dashed towards the Cait Sith, showcasing a speed that clearly betrayed his age. The Cait Sith, while initially caught unaware, quickly predicted Ashten's attack and cast a dark spell to stop Ashten.

To her surprise, Ashten's still quick reflexes managed to move away and catch the spell she casted on the tip of his can, which had somehow gained length. Ashten, who twisted his body as he caught the spell, used the momentum to return the spell back to the Cait Sith, who was hit by the full force of her own spell and was thrown away. Ashten then landed and stood in front of the Cait Sith.

"Force spell, huh?" said Ashten. "It seems you are underestimating me."

"How the hell did you...?"

"I am an active dragon rider employed by the Order, so I was given the privilege to make and design my own weapon. I don't like flashy weapons and weird, unwieldy hybrid weapons the young ones like to make, so I chose to make a staff. Good thing I can modify it into a cane later in life.

"Why are you telling me all this?" said the Cait Sith.

"Oh, pardon me," said Ashten. "I'm old and like to tell stories."

"And that's exactly why you have limits to your stamina, old hound."

Ashten wondered what she meant, but quickly realized it when he saw her whip wrapped around his leg. She simply pulled it, causing him to trip and fall on his back. The Cait Sith took this chance to attack Ashten one more time, showcasing a very delicate knowledge of her whip and how to manipulate it for her own purpose. Ashen did not manage to stop another attack that wrapped around the cane, which was yanked from his hand.

Ashten, however, was only annoyed, and said, "She's good, I give her that." He then pulled out a gun from his jacket and shot her, one which she deflected.

He did not relent. He then run towards her while keeping the gun shot on her with an accuracy that was inhuman. She deflected the bullet each time, and she countered with a whip attack. This time, Ashten used one of her charmed humans as a shield, where the whip hit him. The charmed human seemed to be too dazed to even react, because Ashten knew that would be painful. Nevertheless, the human died from that attack, and Ashten still had use of his sword. He approached the Cait Sith as she attacked the human shield trying to get around it before Ashten, using his hellhound strength, threw the now lifeless human towards her. It was a split-second distraction that was fatal, for the Cait Sith did not see Ashten stabbing her through the body from behind it.

Ashten did not stop. Just as he finished stabbing her, he quickly let go of the sword and get a nearby rock, where he proceeded to use to smash the Cait Sith's head. She was stunned and hurt by this attack, which was the moment that would spell her death. Ashten, now standing behind her, pointed his gun towards the back of her head and pulled the trigger. After a loud bang, she fell to her knees, and on the sand, dead, with a hole on her head.

"Do you really think this fight is going to be an honorable one?" said Ashten while pulling the sword from both dead bodies. "I never show all my cards to my enemies. Even telling you that I'm Ashten Schelkz would be a problem for me. I'm sure you've heard my family's history."

Ashten looked at the rest of the armies, who had not seen their commander dead. Ashten could cut the Cait Sith's head and present it to her army to demoralize them, but even he had limits. He simply closed her eyes and said, "Even so, for a demon who preyed on lust, you fought rather well. I always have soft spots for cats."

The hellhound then looked at the brewing chaos as he slowly walked towards a nearby Crossing Gate and walked into it. He was quickly shown a landscape of ash and a colder environment than what he used to know. He quickly backed out, rubbed his head, and said, "They got into a lot more trouble than what I thought."

He did not see anything beyond the Crossing Gate except some surprised hellhounds, but it was enough for Ashten to know the full extent of the problem. Once he walked back to the other side of the gate, he quickly pushed one of the demonic animal's just before a hellhound could pass through, which cut the portal's connection with the Underworld. Ashten was fortunate that he did not need to take another life, except maybe the hand of whoever was trying to get through.

He knew that action was not much, considering that it was one of other Crossing Gates. Still, a progress was a progress, so he quickly tried and find the others to relay that message.

Meanwhile, down in the Outer Rings region, Drundas, the city of hellhounds built by the former Schelkz monarchy, was also facing their own problems when the hellhounds attacked them and besieged the walled city. Adre Schelkz, the mayor of that city, had anticipated this ever since reports of attacks and deaths near the city started to increase abnormally. While attacks and deaths were not new, a high amount of it, even close to massacre, was troubling. Even more troubling was the fact that the reports described them as 'fanatical killers', which, for a hellhound, was something dangerous, as most of the time, fanatics were crazy enough to forget they were already dead.

Of course, for hellhounds, just like Ternor continent, to fight back, one must be ruthless, and that's what they were thinking. Hellhounds who did not give up were ruthlessly killed, and it was clear that this ruthlessness quickly demoralize those besieging the city, especially since the hellhounds within the walls could fight and everyone, excluding the children, were fighters. This was true for both sides, except Drundas was helped by the walls, and was good defensively.

It also helped that Adre Schelkz, Ashten Schelkz's cousin, also had Infernal blood running in his veins, though not as thick as Ashten. He was descended from Ifrit Schelkz from his father, and had clearly inherited his unconventional fighting capabilities, much like Ashten did. While this unconventionality was different from Ashten's style, which was much closer to Ifrit's style, He had adopted a different combat approach: wall battle.

Adre was clearly using the walls for his advantage, given that he was far nimbler than Ashten and did not rely on more than one weapon. With only a knife, he singlehandedly cut down the ropes from the scaling hellhounds while he was being supported by a rope, causing them to fall to their deaths. While this strategy was risky, Adre had known the walls of Drundas and treated it like a playground. He had a weird hobby of scaling the walls of Drundas in his free time, often to the consternation of his advisors for his risky hobby. This hobby, however, was also the hobby that clearly saved the city from the ambush, as Adre was not alone in this defensive attempt, and had also personally trained others who shared his interest.

Before long, the battle managed to be won by the city of Drundas, with the attacking hellhounds losing their morale, especially after some chose to turn to Drundas after realizing that they were, again, being used by another being to fulfill their own desire, especially after the previous incident a hundred years ago destroyed the monarchy system.

It was during this siege that they saw what happened in the direction of the ashen lands, as there was a feeling of dread coming from it. Adre, who knew what was at stake, along with his knowledge of the three individuals currently there, could only say, "(Zardes, Malkar...please sort this out. You two and Belial are the only one who can)."