Lord Of Beasts

People move on quickly, especially in a world filled with the insanity of gates and Titled who heard whispers before being granted supernatural abilities. But when in the centre of the insanity and on every television in the country, you were a little less likely to be forgotten.

Within seconds, news outlets across the country began publishing the story, aided by the Association, which was more than happy to promote the unexpected success.

"Elite Titled Squad Clears A Rank Gate With Minimal Casualties, Preventing Major Disaster."

"Humanity Triumphs Again: A Rank Gate Successfully Cleared After Gruelling Battle."

"Association Praises Heroic Titled Following Successful A Rank Gate Operation."

Across the country, millions began reading the headlines.

Inside Mark’s family home, Adonis practically bounced off the sofa.

"Uncle Ethan!"

He pointed excitedly at the television.

"He’s on the news again!"

Mark immediately looked up, and when he did, his shoulders visibly relaxed.

Ethan looked absolutely exhausted in the pictures and footage. He was half-naked, wearing what appeared to be green shorts woven entirely from leaves, and his right arm had definitely seen better days.

His tattoos were also visible and seemed awkwardly placed without any cohesion, yet that didn’t take away from their magnificence. But even they were overshadowed by his overall condition.

It looked like he’d been dragged through a war zone, but he was alive, and that was what mattered most.

Mark let out a long breath.

"Thank God."

The others watching couldn’t help smiling as well.

Whatever had happened inside that Gate, Ethan had survived it alongside Elara and co.

But none of them realised that although the Gate had ended, its aftermath had only just begun. The physical wounds would heal, but the mental scars left by the Golden Flutterer’s illusions would take far longer.

And it was only the first in a longer string of unpredictable gates that centred around the Lord Of Beasts, whose name was plastered all over national news...

-

The Association wasted no time.

Within minutes of the Gate’s completion, the survivors were loaded into emergency transport vehicles. They looked like ambulances if they had been designed for war. The windows were completely blacked out, and the armour plating was thick enough to shrug off most C Rank level attacks.

The engines roared beneath reinforced frames as the convoy sped through the city under military escort.

Nobody spoke much during the journey.

Most of them were too exhausted, and the others simply didn’t want to.

The nearest Association base had already been placed on emergency standby, with medical staff rushing over as soon as the vehicles arrived. Stretchers, healers, mana specialists - everyone had a role.

"Get the A Ranks into Treatment Rooms Two and Three."

"Mana depletion cases this way."

"Fractures over here."

"Where’s the B Rank healing specialist?"

The organised chaos reminded Ethan far too much of another infirmary, one in which he had been tormented and pumped with drugs and sedatives.

His expression immediately darkened.

"No."

A nurse blinked while trying to stick an IV into his arm and understand the extent of his injuries.

"Excuse me?"

"I’m not staying."

"You’ve suffered multiple fractures, severe mana exhaustion and-"

"I said no."

The woman instinctively took a step back.

For someone to have survived that gate, they had to be capable in their own right. And something about Ethan made her on edge, like he was a literal beast on edge. Fortunately, another medic approached with more caution, noticing that he clearly wasn’t a fan of doctors.

"At least let us stabilise the arm, which won’t need any needles."

Ethan looked down at his shattered right arm.

"Fine."

Moments later, his arm was carefully aligned before being secured into a thick cast. The doctors explained how it would keep the bones straight while they healed with what they called his "incredible natural recovery".

The moment they finished, Ethan stood up.

"I’m done."

"Mr Crowe, we’d still like to observe-"

He walked straight out, not even bothering to respond.

’It’s not like any of them are going to stop me.’

He appreciated that they were trying to help him, but he needed some space, and months of mental torment didn’t exactly make him any friendlier.

The others proved considerably more cooperative, or at least most of them.

Seraphina received nutritional treatment first. She was in the condition of someone who had starved for weeks, and it was a miracle she had even been able to move. Her body had eaten away at what little fat she had on her body, then at her muscles, to use her Titled ability.

But thankfully, it didn’t cause any permanent damage, which was also a miracle in itself. Within an hour of receiving specialised mana-enhanced nutrients and fluids, colour returned to her face, and the unhealthy thinness began fading.

"Much better," she sighed, happily accepting another sandwich.

Rowan’s condition was different.

Overusing his ability had left bark permanently spreading across his body whenever his mana reserves ran critically low. The Gate had pushed him far beyond that limit. A healer carefully channelled mana through him while trimming away dead bark that had begun replacing patches of skin.

Fresh flesh slowly emerged beneath.

Rowan watched quietly and was a man of few words.

Elara, Liora, and Dave disappeared into treatment rooms Ethan had never seen before. Each contained a dense mana-recovery chamber, since they didn’t have any physical injuries. The chambers flooded the body with highly concentrated ambient mana, replenishing their exhausted reserves while dramatically speeding up recovery.

Floating within the glowing blue chambers, they were visibly relaxed.

Dave was beyond relieved as he looked around at the floating particles of light bouncing around him in the chamber.

"I can see it all again."

In their own pods, Liora smiled weakly while Elara silently replayed all she had experienced in the gate, still trying to learn and improve.

That was all while Darius underwent the most thorough examination.

Several scans checked for internal injuries while a woman possessing a rare healing Title continuously restored damaged muscles and organs, especially around his chest.

Even then, she frowned.

"Your body is beyond healing completely, even for me; it’s like it doesn’t want to be healed."

Darius wasn’t fazed.

"Occupational hazard," he joked, channelling his inner Ethan to see the funny side of the worst.

As a soldier who then became a Titled, he was used to putting his life on the line for others, and no amount of damage was going to stop him from continuing to do so.

Then there was the Bulldozer, who required the least attention.

After confirming nothing was broken, the medical staff simply let him sleep. The giant man snored loudly enough to echo down the hallway, and apparently that was all the treatment he needed.

That left Kaela, who was the only other among them who refused treatment almost as stubbornly as Ethan.

"I’ll heal myself."

"How about entering a mana-recovery chamber to expedite the process?"

"No, thanks."

"What about some consumable aids?"

They were very careful with her, and eventually, the staff gave up.

-

An hour later...

Ethan and Kaela found themselves sitting on the rooftop of the Association building. Neither had been allowed to leave the building, and apparently, the Association Head was personally travelling over to speak with the survivors.

Until then, they were asked to remain nearby.

Both had gotten cleaned up and changed, then headed up to have some alone time. Each of them found their own way of dulling the lingering ache left by the Golden Flutterer’s nightmare.

Kaela held a bottle in one hand, while Ethan held a deck of cigarettes.

Smoke drifted into the evening sky.

Kaela raised her bottle.

"You want some?"

Ethan shook his head before taking another drag.

"I’ll stick to these."

A cloud of smoke escaped his lips.

Neither spoke for a while as they watched the city stretching endlessly below. People walked the streets, traffic continued as normal, restaurants buzzed with laughter, and children ran through parks.

Life carried on as if the possibility of giant insect beasts swarming the city and massacring them all hadn’t existed in the first place.

They had technically saved every one of those people.

Yet neither of them felt like a hero.

If anything, the blue-eyed smoker and purple-eyed drinker were uneasy.

’Ignorance is bliss.’

Most were living their lives day by day, unaware of or unconcerned with the gates or the Titled who were saving the very planet they lived on. To them, it was like living in a comic book world.

The humans with powers were superheroes, and what came out of the gates were the supervillains.

But unlike in such comic books, in this world, the superheroes didn’t always win and definitely didn’t always survive. It didn’t seem to be heading towards a happy ending either, especially with the increasing number and power of supervillains.

Things also weren’t that black-and-white.

While all uncontrolled monsters and beasts were bad, not all Titled were good. And Ethan found himself behind someone very similar to him in one aspect...

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