Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce’s expression turned from shocked to excited in one fell swoop. He stared at the dark sword within Rubick’s hand with admiration and expectation.

"This is the same sword right? Right!?" he yelled, almost shaking with glee.

The surroundings shuddered for a moment, causing Jayce to look around in worry for a moment. It was as if the entire realm had been affected by an earthquake, yet the beings on the ground did not notice.

"What was that?" Jayce looked around in confusion.

What he didn’t know was that the sword he had been so covetously looking at had shivered as a result of his creepy stare, causing the vision to echo its reaction.

However, soon enough Jayce could not afford to look directly at the sword. Rubick was once again surrounded by enemies, working in tandem with his brethren to receive the attacks and counterattack where possible. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The Battle Formation that he was using seemed different to the ones the others had used. The main difference being that Rubick was always in the forefront, whether it was in attack or defense.

It was as if the others were only there to feed energy into him, utilizing their attack and defense through the strongest member.

Jayce watched on with awe as the battle continued to unfold.

Soon enough, he could already see the massive flaw within this Battle Formation. The fact that one person was doing all of the work meant that he would receive all the burden from the outset.

After a short 15 minutes, which probably seemed far longer in the heat of battle, Rubick was panting and desperately trying to catch his breath.

The bodies of his enemies littered his surroundings, creating almost a mound of flesh and blood on which they trampled unceremoniously. Were they not fighting for their lives right now, it would probably be rather unsettling. Thus was war.

By now there was only around 100 human warriors still remaining on the ground, yet they were surrounded on all sides by enemies. Jayce had watched them all die in one way or another, almost making him numb.

He used to think that dying on a battlefield was heroic, or at least that’s what he had been told growing up. However, seeing a battle for survival like this firsthand had changed his views.

There was no part of their deaths that was valiant, nor heroic. They all died a dogs death, slaughtered by those who wished to invade their home.

Jayce had gotten a taste of this at the Beast Tide battle, yet their losses had been in no way as exaggerated as the battle below him as of right now.

"Is this what the sword wanted to show me? A preview of the invasion that’s meant to happen in around 18 months?" Jayce murmured to himself, feeling his stomach drop.

If the invasion party were to have these numbers and this kind of strength, he had little to no confidence that they would be able to defend themselves. This was only taking into consideration those battling below him.

If any on the same level of strength of those in the sky above him right now were to invade the Earth, they were done for.

He wasn’t being pessimistic either. Those beings had the strength to topple mountains and overturn seas.

Just as he was about to lose all of his faith, the battle below had almost come to an end. There was now only 20 or so humans left, still encircled by almost 1000 enemies before them.

Jayce could see Rubick’s exhausted face looking around with a grim expression. It seemed he had also realized that this battle would be his last, so he raised his sword for seemingly the last time.

Yet just before he was about to strike down with his last bit of strength, the ground began to tremble violently. Those upon the ground could not ignore what was happening as they were forced to stop what they were doing and try and steady themselves.

Around 1km away, the Earth broke, creating a huge fissure. Yet it did not look natural, the fissure was too straight, almost as if it was made with a sword.

From the fissure emerged a figure with golden hair, his aura overflowing into the surroundings majestically. He flew up into the sky and laughed heartily, causing those in the area to turn to his direction.

"You have failed to eradicate us on this day, despite your best attempts."

His voice boomed over the battlefield so everyone could hear him clearly. Jayce could only watch and listen in confusion as the seemingly mad man spoke aloud.

Hadn’t they already succeeded in defeating Earth? There were barely 20 people left, not including those stronger ones who had floated into the sky.

Yet as his words fell upon everyone’s ears, the remaining humans on the ground suddenly had jovial expressions on their faces. They began to talk among themselves, some even laughing.

Jayce was rife with confusion, feeling as if he was missing a crucial piece of information. He quickly willed himself to fly down so he could be within earshot of the celebrating humans.

When he finally got close enough.

"...sealed the core."

"Haha, I never had a doubt!"

He only managed to catch the tail end of their conversation, making him a little annoyed.

"Everyone get ready, I’ll open up a rift before we’re targeted by the Heavenly Tribulation." Rubick whispered to those around him, only to receive nods and thumbs up in response.

"Heavenly Tribulation?" Now Jayce really felt confused.

Everyone in the surroundings suddenly doubled over, as if being affected by a tremendous pressure. Jayce was the only one who was still standing, but that was too be expected considering he was only a spectator.

"THEY SEALED EARTH’S CORE! KILL THEM ALL BEFORE THEY ESCAPE!"

A figure suddenly appeared from above the clouds, yelling out orders to those on the ground. Yet as soon the words left his mouth, a horrifying lightning bolt which was dark purple struck his figure.

He let out a cry before falling to the ground lifelessly.

"Shit! They’ve regressed their world back to a mortal plain!" One of the enemies shouted in fright, staring at the humans as if they were mad.

And like that, terrifying lightning began to rain down on the world, striking at anyone and everyone that it could. It was as if Armageddon had begun, reaping a life every second.

It was only now that a rift opened up in front of Rubick. Without needing to be reminded, the remaining 20 or so humans quickly jumped into it, not looking back.

When it was Rubick’s turn, he stopped for a moment and looked at all the enemies remaining and laughed.

Yet the laughter contained no humor, nor joy. It was dry and contained loathing.

"Earth will rise again. When that time comes, you will all pay dearly."

With that, he quickly entered into the rift, leaving his closing words. As soon as his body went through the rift, it closed almost instantly, not allowing any of the enemies safe passage.

And the moment that happened, Jayce’s vision began to grow dark.