Jinn BLADE
Chapter 82 | In the Maws of Despair

Chapter 82: Chapter 82 | In the Maws of Despair

"W-What the hell is happening!?" Jerien shouted, his voice shaking as his eyes darted up at the sky.

Yet, even as his body trembled, his hands moved rapidly, rummaging through his saddlebag to pull out a pen and a notebook.

*Flip! *Flip!

He flipped it open and began scribbling frantically.

Words. Descriptions. Feelings.

Was he documenting the end?

Trying to record history happening in front of him before it swallowed him?

His lips moved silently as he wrote. "Twitching red eye in sky... darkness everywhere... shrieks... this is no eclipse..."

Behind him, someone else’s voice rose sharply.

"What’s the plan!?" shouted the middle-aged man who always followed Emera around like her shadow. His voice was loud, stern—battle-hardened.

His name, Beren, always rang like a commander even before he spoke.

His brows were furrowed, jaw clenched as the tension echoed in the air.

Before Emera could form a reply, Biyo stepped forward.

The sheer mass and frame of the man made several heads turn.

*crunch!

Dirt crunched beneath his boots as he stepped forward, his presence commanding and took attention from multiple people, including Jinn—who trusts him in these kinds of situations.

"Running now would be foolish," Biyo said, eyes narrowed, peering through the ice walls he had made—solid and unbreaking.

"I suggest we defend this spot."

Garan growled, stepping up beside him.

His eyes darted from face to face as he paced slightly in front of the group.

"He’s right... if we run, we’ll never stop running," he spat, showing his teeth in frustration.

"And once you trip, fall, or even run out of breath—you’re dead meat!"

"Shit..." Verhedyn muttered under his breath. "So we have no choice."

"Let’s trust Biyo on this one," Ophelia nodded, looking at Biyo.

"He’s always been there to help us—plus, he’s a strong individual himself."

"Hah! But of course!" Biyo bellowed, a contrasting reaction around the camp where fear, anxiety, and despair seemed to echo.

A pause then settled over the gathering, maybe gathering their thoughts, thinking their decisions on what to do next.

No one spoke, but everyone knew the truth in Garan’s words.

If they were to run now, when the beasts are already closing in on them—it would be a death sentence, and all of them would be slaughtered.

The pressure in the air, the deafening screams of the beasts in the sky and forest—it all meant one thing.

They were surrounded.

No where to go.

No where to hide.

Biyo then squinted toward the sky, his eyes looking at the massive horde of flying beasts heading their direction.

"Our only problem would be the flying beasts," he murmured, thinking of something that would enable them to fight back against it.

Then, turning sharply toward Emera, he raised his voice. "Rally up your people, child!"

Emera blinked in surprise at being addressed directly, but nodded quickly.

"O-Ok! What do we need to do?" she replied, voice slightly startled.

"We must form a defensive formation," Biyo continued, ruffling his beard with his hands—ten pointing at the multiple racks of energy weapons present at each tent.

"Use the ranged blasters your group has gathered!"

"I see...!" Emera eye’s widened in realization, before quickly turning to Beren, just beside her—her expression tightening in urgency as she spoke.

"You heard him, Beren. Let’s form a defensive line!"

"Got it!" Beren didn’t hesitate.

He turned to the chaos around them—faces of individuals in despair and fear were present.

Then he shouted with a voice that cracked the tension like thunder.

"Everyone, gather all energy rifles, blasters, and any kind of ranged weapon you can muster—and form up! TO ME!"

He waved his hand, beckoning the people that they had gathered all this time.

One by one, men and women scrambled into line, dragging gear, slinging rifles, carrying crates of energy weapons.

All the weapons they had gathered, all the ammo, all the people they had saved up to this moment began to gather.

Some fumbled as they tried to power on weapon devices that could prove beneficial if used.

Others helped those too slow or panicked to act—grabbing their arms as they helped them to stand.

Above them, the beast in the sky—Verkaryon—let loose a terrible laugh. A voice of madness.

*KiKiKiKiKiKi!!!

"Struggle all you want! Crawl! Bleed!" he howled.

"In the end, all of you will be consumed!"

"Shut up!" Orin roared in reply, lifting her hand and launching a concentrated bolt of violet eidra.

It soared into the sky and

*Bang!

exploded just in front of Verkaryon, but never touched him.

A barrier, black and oily, surrounded his figure. It shimmered slightly before absorbing the blast entirely.

Verhedyn let out a shaky chuckle.

"Heh... looks like we’re truly in a pinch now, eh?"

But his grin was slightly awkward, as if he was trying to stay cool.

Sweat clung and dropped from his brow.

The air around them grew heavier, pressure swelling like an invisible hand pushing down on everything.

*SHRIEKK!!!

The horde of shriekers cries grew louder—more guttural, more distinct.

Meanwhile, from the north, roars echoed from the forest.

Trees shook and branches cracked.

It was as if the entire planet of Gravemarch was groaning.

Watching.

Descending.

From nearby, drones hovered.

More than before. Dozens, quietly observing, their metallic lenses glowing like unblinking eyes.

"No use expecting them to save us," Hector said, his voice low, bitter.

He glanced at a pair of drones circling overhead. "We’re slaves, after all."

"No shit..." Vox muttered.

He wiped a bead of sweat from his cheek with his sleeve, fingers twitching over the glowing devices in his hands.

He was readying the devices given to him by Mezra, to be used when activating his eidra.

His breathing was shallow, eyes darting from the skies to the camp’s edge.

And in the middle of it all, Jinn stood, his focus not on the sky... but on the stone in his hand.

The obsidian stone trembled violently now.

Faint, foreign eidra leaked from its surface like glowing veins.

The cracks multiplied, crawling across its surface in delicate, luminous patterns.

It was alive.

It was responding.

But it was too slow.

Jinn could feel it—whatever power it held was locked, needing more time.

And time was the one thing they didn’t have.

"They’re here!" someone shouted.

"Here they come!" Beren bellowed, thrusting his arm toward the sky. "READY!"

The front line raised their weapons.

*Clack! *Clack!

Dozens of rifles pointed upward, trembling in the hands of those who held them.

Faces pale, bodies tense. But none stepped back.

Fear gripped them—but the will to survive gripped them harder.

The flying beasts descended.

*SHRIEKKK!!!

Black wings slicing through the air like blades, shrieking as they came. Their numbers were impossible to count.

They were shadows, eyes glowing, claws dripping with corrupted eidra.

And then—

"FIRE!"

Beren unleashed a massive beam of flame-infused eidra from both hands, launching it into the nearest cluster of beasts.

*BANG!

The explosion bathed the sky in crimson fire.

A symphony of energy blasts followed.

*Bang! *Bang! *Bang!

Dozens of rifles opened fire, streaks of blue, green, and gold arcing into the heavens. The sky lit up like a battlefield of stars. Explosions ripped through the air.

"Fire at will!" Beren commanded. "Switch to an unused energy weapon when it overheats! Then switch again if needed!"

Orin stood at the center of a swirling storm of violet orbs.

She spun, gathering them into a tight cluster above her palms before releasing them in one massive pulse.

*Bang! *Bang! *BANG!

The sky rippled as each orb detonated, wiping out entire flocks of beasts in one blinding wave.

Verhedyn’s ice daggers shimmered mid-air, dozens of them firing in rapid succession.

He prioritized precision over size, each shard aimed at wings, throats, or eyes.

One after another, the creatures dropped from the sky—some dead, others crippled, crashing into the ground with horrifying thuds.

Crackling arcs of lightning danced across the air.

Vox’s electricity chained from one creature to another, each touch leaving behind scorched remains.

One of his devices burst, spent. He tossed it aside and slammed another into his palm, resetting the current.

He had seven more.

"Bring it on," he muttered, eyes burning.

And at the very heart of the camp, Ophelia sat.

Calm.

Still.

Her breathing steady, hands open in her lap. Around her, a radiant light pulsed outward like the petals of a blooming flower.

It wasn’t just shielding—it was cleansing.

One beast, perhaps desperate, dove straight toward the camp, shrieking as it breached the defensive line.

It touched the barrier.

And vanished.

The corrupted eidra that made it up was torn apart, dispersed into nothingness as the creature was erased entirely.

Still, more came.

The battle raged. The sky was a battlefield of lights and screams.

And then—a different sound.

The roar of something grounded.

*THUD! *THUD! *THUD! *THUD!

The pound of claws and hooves against the earth.

Trees snapped like twigs as the land beasts arrived.

Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds.

They tore through the underbrush, crashing through the trees and slamming into Biyo’s walls.

*BANG *BANG *BANG!