Beast-Tamer: Limitless Evolution
Chapter 72: Operation SkyFall V

Chapter 72: Operation SkyFall V

Operation SkyFall VI

The effects were as immediate as they were immense.

With a thought, Gale fully manifested his bloodline, and in but a moment, the illusory figure of a six-winged bird with sky blue feathers and even deeper blue markings that made one’s head hurt appeared slightly behind Gale.

It wasn’t a simple phenomenon like when Gale just evolved. No, this was a full manifestation that had a tangible effect on the environment and the creatures within.

Everyone within the barrier felt their eyes go wide as they were hit with a sudden pressure that caused them to slow down. A few recognized this as atmospheric pressure that was far denser than what they should have been experiencing on the ground level.

Moreover, many beasts reacted when the Bloodline was manifested. Gale was the only avian-type beast in the area along with the Harbinger, but that didn’t stop his bloodline from having a suppression effect on the surrounding beasts. Especially considering just how potent his bloodline was at this stage.

If beasts that weren’t even of the Avian category were affected this much, then imagine just how extreme the results would be for the Harbinger that was specifically weak to said bloodline.

SCREEEEEE!

An earth-shaking screech tore through the air and the Harbinger was pressed into the ground with a series of sickening crunches could be heard from its body, the weight of the bloodline smashing down on it like a hammer.

Unlike the last time, the Harbinger couldn’t even move, let alone struggle. It was pressed almost flat on the ground, its muscles slowly coming undone and blood vessels bursting under the weight.

Everyone was shocked. They all knew that Gale’s bloodline was effective, but no one thought it would be this potent.

Mrs Jane was the most surprised. After all, she had witnessed the first instance of Gale manifesting his bloodline, and while it certainly was potent, it almost couldn’t be compared to what was going on right now.

To be clear, Mrs Jane didn’t know about Gale’s ’tonic’. She also hadn’t been there to observe the closed training that was meant to amplify Gale’s bloodline use as much as possible.

To be frank, today when the operation began was the first time she’d seen Osho since they got separated at the military base.

She looked at Gale, as in REALLY looked at him, and couldn’t help but be taken aback.

The bird’s Aura was, unsurprisingly, a sky blue due to his affinity, but she immediately zeroed in on the green undertone of the Aura.

’Apprentice rank...’ The realization was... gratifying, to say the least.

Osho had shown promise from day one, and despite the fact that he had hatched a beast that was within the top percent of beasts when it came to potential, he hadn’t grown arrogant or conceited. Instead, he seemed to do his best to improve and constantly reinforced his own competence over and over again.

Now, not so long after becoming a Beast Tamer, he had already reached the Apprentice rank, and she didn’t think it was undeserved in any way.

’Good on you, Osho.’ She said to herself internally before moving.

The Harbinger was being suppressed heavily, so now was a great time to kick it while it was down, which was exactly what everyone did.

While they were shocked, it only took them a few moments to come out of their reverie and follow the procedure that was to follow Gale suppressing the Harbinger, which could be summed up as, beating the shit out of it.

The four Experts as well as the remaining members of the E.E.S. teams immediately went forward and started bombarding the downed Harbinger with all sorts of attacks.

The Citadel Lord kept making head-sized holes in the creature’s body, Simon’s Rhino created rock projectiles and boulders to constantly pelt the thing, Lady Haggai had her beast create vines that were covered in thorns and used them to rend the thing’s flesh, and Mrs Jane constantly baptized it in flames while impaling it with metal alloy that kept it pinned to the ground.

The E.E.S Teams also acted, all sorts of attacks and projectiles constantly flying and striking the Harbinger’s body from all sides as it struggled to regenerate. And its regeneration was truly baffling.

Even with everything they were doing, it was still healing its body at a pace as fast, if not faster than they were doing damage to it.

However, this only bolstered them. From the beginning, they wondered why the thing seemed to prefer dodging attacks instead of directly tanking them since it could heal. One could argue that it simply didn’t like the pain, or that healing took time, and in the time it took to heal, it would be limited in its abilities.

The second option seemed like the most viable option, yet now, it was healing far faster than they’d ever recorded it doing before.

This caused one of the Handlers to present a theory.

"Perhaps regeneration takes energy, and based on how quickly it heals, we can ascertain how much energy it’s burning to do so. In other words, it’s burning through immense reserves of energy to heal right now." It seemed like the most plausible explanation, and it truly made sense from multiple angles.

Again, while the Harbinger was an anomaly, true immortality would forever be out of the question. There had to be a cost to be able to regenerate so frequently and flawlessly, so it made sense that energy was the cost.

This information was relayed to everyone on the battlefield, causing them to attack with even more fervor.

One mustn’t forget, they were on a timer with the beasts attacking the Citadel, they had to eliminate the Harbinger before the tide could continue any longer and cause further damage to the walls, and by extension, the Citadel.

As such, no one pulled their punches as they rained down hell on the Harbinger, ready to bring an end to its vile existence once and for all.

Still on the tree from before, Osho observed the scene silently. He got a feel for Gale’s condition and nodded to himself. At his current state, he could maintain his bloodline manifestation for a bit under 40 minutes, so there was little to no exhaustion right now.

The regeneration of the Harbinger was something else, but at this rate, its energy was going to get whittled down and it’d die. It seemed like a foregone conclusion.

Yet, Osho’s heart still didn’t feel at ease.

Once again, he couldn’t help but feel like they had missed something. What that thing could be, he couldn’t even begin to guess, but he refused to drop his guard.

A moment later, another massive lance of condensed Mana had formed and everyone retreated as it descended on the Harbinger, completely crushing it as a deep crater was left behind by the construct.

The lance slowly dissipated, leaving a massive hole behind, and at the bottom of said hole, the figure of a flattened, broken up shape could be seen, black blood pooling beneath it.

Everyone watched silently as they waited, either for it to regenerate or something else, but nothing happened.

The headquarters were silent as everyone focused on the handler who was in charge of the energy readings, the man staring at his monitor intently. And yet...

"I’m getting no feedback. The energy signal is dead, sir." The Man said quietly.

Everyone let out an audible sigh of relief.

"It’s over," Major Thompson mumbled to himself before saying. "Relay the information to them and start counting our losses, we shoul–"

"Hey, why haven’t the beasts come to their senses yet?" Someone suddenly said, cutting Major Thompson off. The man would have been irritated if the person hadn’t raised a good point.

Why HADN’T the beasts come back to their senses? They were still mindlessly throwing themselves at the walls without any signs of stopping. Did the effects of madness last a while even after the Harbinger had died? Or...

’Something is wrong.’ Major Thompson thought and yelled. "Tell them to be on guard! Something isn’t right."

Back in the barrier, a change suddenly occurred that caught Osho’s attention. Not just his, but everyone else’s.

In the hole left behind by the lance, where the squashed body of the Harbinger lay, something weird happened.

A strange bulge appeared in the center of its body.

There was a wet squelching sound as the bulge moved and shifted, indicating the presence of something within.

Osho felt a cold feeling grip his heart.

Something was wrong. Something was VERY wrong, and it was clear he wasn’t the only one who thought so.

Mrs Jane was the first to act. At the edge of the hole, she had her Salamander open its mouth and unleash a concentrated breath of flames inside, their potency enough to melt most metals in moments.

The flames reached the body in just a moment, but at the same time, the bulge split open.

BOOM!

Flames erupted from the hole as everything within was engulfed instantly, the heat of the flames causing the E.E.S members to back off.

The flames died down a few moments later, and when they did, the ’body’ of the Harbinger had been reduced to ashes. However, that didn’t put anyone at ease.

Wings.

Pitch black wings could be seen in the shape of a cocoon, hiding something within. The earth and rock around it was singed and melting, yet they were wholly unharmed.

Slowly, the feathers unfurled, revealing a figure that caused the pupils of everyone to shrink.

Somehow, the Harbinger was alive. It was smaller, and yet, everyone knew that it was far, far more dangerous at the moment.

___

A/N: Here’s an illustration of the Badges related to the different ranks.

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