Chapter 122: Hybridge

My legs, moving of their own accord, took me straight out of the Guard building and across the bridge that I had first crossed all those nights ago when I had decided to explore the mega buildings that made up Prespian City. 

As I ran, the destruction that I saw before me filled me with dread, horror and sadness. The three emotions battling one another for dominance with each footstep. I was caught between wanting to cry, wanting to puke and simply wanting to run and hide. 

Billions of people had lived in Prespian City. I'd heard the number thrown around more than once during my time here. A number that was comparable to the entire number of people who lived on Earth, stacked into three giant buildings. Three buildings that were now burning. 

The destruction was almost impossible to understand. Explosions rang out from all three of the buildings, the sky above had been blotted out with acrid, thick black smoke, and the distant wails of alarms and screams alike rang out like a haunted choir. All around me was death and destruction, and there was nothing I could do about any of it. 

I pushed on, trying to keep the sights and sounds as far away from my thoughts as I could, and reached the connecting platform at the end of the bridge. It was the first time a smile had been brought to my face since Lara's attack had begun. I'd finally come across the first signs of resistance. 

A stream of aliens ran from each of the two mega buildings that the platform was connected to, creatures of all shapes and sizes, some children and some adults. People were managing to escape, and the Guard were actually doing their job and… well… guarding them. Meanwhile, the aliens were all being shepherded onto a large central disk which would periodically teleport them away to safety. Or at least, what I hoped was safety. 

A wall of Guardsmen stood between me and the platform itself, their hands glowing with a constantly changing set of runes that seemed to be powering some sort of glowing barrier that surrounded the rest of the platform. Looking up, I could see that the same blue glow surrounded the platform a few stories above us as well. It was clearly some kind of defensive spell.

I stopped in a skid before I collided with the barrier, wincing as another massive explosion sounded off behind me. Something told me Lara was coming back, angrier than ever. 

"Do not take a step closer, human," The alien in front of me sneered, another of Lara's species.

"But… I'm here to help," I called out over the growing sounds of war. I couldn't believe that I was still going to be dealing with the same old anti-human diatribe, even in the middle of an event where one of the most famous individuals of this aliens own species was in the middle of ripping apart the entire city around us. 

"And how can we trust that? Our world was doing just fine before you showed up," The same alien sneered. "Now we've got a full-blown Null-Space invasion going on here, on Prespian City, one of the most well-defended planets in any of the Guard occupied systems. We should destroy you here and now." 

I let out a long, aggrieved sigh. There was clearly nothing that I could say that was going to convince the people in front of me that I was on their side. 

A loud shriek caused me to turn around. A Null Space Hybrid had appeared at the end of the bridge, the very same Spider type that I'd encountered numerous times before. Fast and deadly, if it were to make its way past me it would likely slaughter everyone behind me in moments. I couldn't allow that to happen. 

I drew my sword into my hands once more and renewed my [Enhance] and [Item Enhance] skills, instantly feeling the slight drag of fatigue fading away into newfound magical strength. 

The Null-Space Hybrid moved at the exact same time as I did, blasting off with a [Propulsion]. These things had been so difficult for me to deal with in the past before I had gained so much strength. It had been fast and deadly, and I hadn't been able to save Rin or so many of the Guardsmen that had died in the undersea transport ship. This time, the creature looked positively sluggish through my enhanced cognition. 

My sword bit through the air just as easily as it bit through the creature's strange, distended body, splitting the creature straight in half in a single blow. The two halves fell to the ground, lifeless. 

I looked at the Guard complex, it looked as if it had been hit by a nuclear explosion. All that was left were the supporting struts keeping the rest of the mega building up and standing, other than that I could see right through the structure all the way out into the ocean beyond. The Guard complex was a smouldering ruin. There was no way anyone else could be alive in there. 

I sprung back, conscious of the fact that more of the hybrids from deeper in the area had turned their attention toward me, and charged up a powerful manna bolt in my free hand. The moment it reached its full charge, I let the ability loose, plunging it straight into the ground in front of me. The bridge disintegrated in an instant, even the rubble becoming completely atomized. 

The Hybrids stood across the gap, swaying in the breeze, the ghastly warbling call of "Food," whispered through the air. 

"Now, are you going to let me through, or not?" I asked, turning back to face the anti-human fool who had stopped me from going through in the first place. "I'm clearly not with them, considering I just saved all your lives."

Without another word, the alien dropped his part of the shield, allowing a small space to appear for me to walk through.