Chapter 343: Rescue Effort

In one of the coastal cities scattered along the human continent’s eastern shoreline, nearly ten thousand figures descended from the sky in tight formation, their landing kicking up sprays of sand as they spread out along the edge of the beach. 

This group, like several others deployed simultaneously across the continent, had received urgent word only minutes earlier from the Guardian system that a massive tsunami was bearing down on the region, the aftershock of some distant clash between beings whose power dwarfed anything the mortal world had ever witnessed. They had been sent here for one purpose alone, to hold the line and prevent that wave from swallowing everything in its path.

Among them stood Harrison, a man who had spent most of his life as part of a ground crew stationed on a distant planet under the jurisdiction of the United Federation of Earth, a quiet, unremarkable existence until the Chimerians descended on his world without warning. 

He had been captured during that invasion, dragged into a laboratory where the days blurred together into an unending stretch of experimentation and agony, until eventually his mind had simply stopped fighting back, only hoping to end his life somehow. 

He didn't remember all of it now, mercifully, the worst of those memories had blurred and scattered somewhere his conscious mind couldn't easily reach, though fragments still surfaced sometimes in his sleep, jolting him awake in a cold sweat. Their savior had arrived just when he'd finally stopped believing anyone would, tearing through that laboratory and pulling him and countless others out of that nightmare entirely, bringing them here, to this strange, beautiful fantasy world he now called home. 

He was grateful, genuinely and deeply, that he couldn't remember everything he'd endured, because he honestly didn't know how he would have managed to build any kind of normal life carrying the full weight of his past.

He forced his focus back to the present as the squad captain's voice cut through the shore, notifying them of the first incoming wave. Harrison drew in a steadying breath and squared his shoulders, readying himself even though he understood their role here didn't involve fighting the demons directly. 

That knowledge didn't do much to settle the nervous tightness coiled in his chest. Standing on a beach preparing to hold back a wave summoned by a being capable of leveling entire continents with something as small as a flick of their finger wasn't something he had ever imagined doing, not even after everything the UFE's own arsenal had shown him was theoretically possible. 

Knowing moon destroying weapons existed somewhere in a silo was one thing. Standing in the open air, feeling the raw pressure of something that powerful bearing down on him from the horizon, was an entirely different, mind numbing kind of fear.

The ten thousand grandmaster level experts spread themselves evenly along the shoreline and began channeling their Chi in unison, weaving individual streams of energy into a single, continuous barrier stretching for tens of kilometers along the coast. Slowly, painstakingly, the barrier took shape, flickering faintly against the darkening sky, and moments later the first wave slammed into it with a deafening boom that rattled teeth and set ears ringing across the entire formation. 

"Hold it!" the captain bellowed over the roar of crashing water, his voice barely audible over the chaos. Wave after wave followed in relentless succession over the next half hour, some cresting as high as hundreds of meters before crashing down against the trembling barrier, each impact threatening to be the one that finally broke their formation apart. 

Had they not erected that wall of Chi in time, the nearby cities further inland would almost certainly have been swept away entirely, along with everyone unlucky enough to still be sheltering within them.

Harrison finally allowed himself a shaky breath of relief as the waves began to subside after that grueling hour, his arms trembling from the sustained effort of maintaining his portion of the barrier. Then an alarm blared sharply through their comms, and the captain's voice snapped back to full urgency. "Give your full output! A strong shockwave is coming!"

BOOOOM!

Even with every ounce of remaining strength poured into the barrier, the shockwave shattered their combined Chi shield in a single devastating instant, and behind it, a wave nearly a kilometer tall loomed on the horizon, growing larger with every passing second. 

At this rate, there was no way they could erect a proper barrier in time to stop it, no matter how much energy they threw at the problem. Harrison and the others around him braced themselves regardless, preparing to give everything they had left, knowing full well it likely wouldn't be enough to mitigate more than a fraction of the coming devastation.

Just as they steeled themselves for that losing effort, a small cat made of purple crystal landed directly in front of the formation, its paws touching down on the wet sand with barely a sound. 

Without hesitation, the tiny creature swiped one paw toward the incoming wave, and impossibly, the massive wall of water seemed to lose all of its momentum at once, freezing mid-motion before slowly subsiding back into the sea as though it had never carried any destructive force at all. 

Harrison's eyes widened in stunned disbelief, and beside him, someone else in the formation muttered under their breath, half in awe and half in relief, "The Crystal Knight is here..."

Having neutralized the wave entirely, the small crystal cat turned back toward the assembled experts and offered them a brief nod, an oddly human gesture from something so clearly inhuman, before vanishing in a blur of motion toward whatever crisis awaited it next. 

The captain didn't waste the reprieve, immediately shouting fresh orders across the beach. "Quickly, erect another barrier! More waves are coming!" Everyone present surged forward with renewed determination, pouring fresh Chi into rebuilding their shattered defense, buoyed by the knowledge that they weren't entirely alone in this fight after all.

…

This particular stretch of coastline wasn't the only region grappling with the tsunami's relentless assault. It didn't take long for the various kingdoms scattered along Thyrandel's coastal regions to realize that some mysterious force had been quietly intervening on their behalf, and once that realization spread, they scrambled to deploy their own forces in support, eager to contribute wherever they could. 

Word of the intervention traveled with astonishing speed, reaching every corner of the human continent in less than an hour. Major organizations across the continent immediately launched inquiries into who exactly had sent this mysterious relief force, and what they eventually uncovered left them thoroughly stunned. 

Nearly one hundred and fifty thousand grandmaster level experts had been deployed across the various regions affected by the repeated waves, and every single one of them traced back to Avalon. No one had ever imagined that such a young, small island nation could produce that many powerhouses in so short a span of time since its founding. 

The Lord of Avalon, already something of an enigma across the continent, grew only more mysterious in the eyes of the wider world, and they started sending their delegates soon to Avalon in growing numbers, each seeking some form of cooperation or trade with a nation that had suddenly proven itself far more formidable than anyone had previously accounted for.

Over the following days, conflicts between godlike beings continued erupting across different regions of the world with increasing frequency, each clash leaving a trail of extensive destruction in its wake. Yet Arthur consistently managed to stay one step ahead of the chaos, deploying his magitech bots alongside the million grateful survivors he had personally rescued from the Chimerian labs, coordinating rescue efforts with a precision that bordered on effortless. 

Avalon's limited size meant he couldn't permanently house every single person he pulled from harm's way, but he made certain each of them reached safety regardless, escorting them toward whichever nearby city could offer them proper shelter and support.

It was on the fourth day since their last meeting that Kryx reappeared at Avalon. Arthur had been sharing a breakfast with Selene, when the butler ushered Kryx into the room. Kryx spoke before Arthur could offer him a seat, his tone carrying none of the casual warmth from their previous meeting. "We're planning an attack on their capital today."

Arthur didn't need any further explanation to understand exactly what Kryx wanted from him. He set down his fork slowly, glancing across the table at Selene, whose expression had already shifted into something tight and worried the moment Kryx's words registered. He offered her a reassuring smile, reaching across to briefly cover her hand with his own. "Don't worry," he said gently. "I'll be back before you even notice I'm gone."

Wanting to ease her concern further, he reached into his storage space and retrieved a familiar ring, the same protective one he had given her some time ago, though this version had been carefully upgraded since then. 

Beyond the improved defensive properties woven into its runic structure, the ring now carried the ability to locate him anywhere on the planet, regardless of distance, even across separate dimensions attached into Thyrandel's reality. He had crafted a matching twin for himself as well, one that would let him track Selene's location through the same principle, though without the added layer of protective enchantment hers carried. 

He slid the ring gently into her palm, closing her fingers around it. "Keep this on," he said quietly. "I'll always be able to find my way back to you."

***

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