DING!

"Master, you have to see this!"

Leon looked at the screen of his smartphone and instantly his eyes constricted. 'What is this?!' He was alarmed.

His sharp eyes looked at Sergeant Tyla who instantly noticed his stare.

Leon showed her the screen of his smartphone. "What is this?"

Staring at the screen, Sergeant Tyla's eyes widened in shock but then she sighed. "No wonder so many soldiers were mobilized to the Southern Wall".

"We're actually fighting on 2 fronts". Her face turned pale.

With how compromised the integrity of the Gene Army's cybersecurity was in Leviathan Quay with Federation NetRunners assaulting them, Leon's A.I, Davis managed to connect to the compromised network of the Gene Army.

Through it, he got access to the footage of the Category 3 Beast Tide in the Southern Wall of Leviathan Quay!

Leon never knew that there was a beast tide till now!

…

The Southern Wall of Leviathan Quay stood tall like a natural formation of metallic rust that stood the test of time whose sovereignty could never be challenged.

The city wall of Leviathan Quay was one of its most awe-inspiring sights.

Standing at a towering 10 meters and spanning across hundreds of kilometers across the city, it looked thick, strong, and inviolable.

Just like the first time that Leon saw it the wall looked like it could withstand any natural disaster and still stand for the next thousand years.

But this time, the Southern Wall wasn't facing any natural disaster, it was facing a Category 3 Neon Beast Tide!

The world remained in a state of perpetual evening outside the city wall.

In this dark background, the southern horizon darkened even further as the southern approaches to the city suddenly vanished beneath a sea of motion.

From the command towers and the observation posts atop the wall, the beast tide looked like a living ocean as tens of thousands of Neon Beasts surged forward in a dense, unstoppable flood.

Dust, spores, and ash were churned into the air by countless limbs, turning the horizon into a roiling brown-red haze.

The tide was not evenly spread; it was focused with terrifying intent as tens of thousands of Neon Beasts funneled toward the southern wall where the land flattened into a natural killing ground.

BUZZ!

The ground vibrated in the throes of this beast tide.

The tiled Southern road leading to Leviathan Quay was stomped to pieces by the weight of the countless Neon Beasts charging across it.

The ground shook like an earthquake was imminent, violently rampaging through the crust of the earth like a volatile chemical reaction.

The Southern Wall didn't look vulnerable yet as ten thousand soldiers already mobilized to reinforce it.

More importantly, the wall already entered its war state.

The metallic rust wall looked colossal as thick layered metal alloys rose to cover its surface high, bristling with rail cannons, plasma arrays, and sensor spires that monitored the movement of the entire beast tide, singling out the troublesome Neon Beasts among them.

But beyond the layered metal alloys that rose to cover the surface of the wall stood the first line of defense, the city-wide energy shield.

The bluish white shield membrane hummed with restrained power.

It curved seamlessly over the southern districts like a second sky that flickered faintly as it adjusted to the incoming threats.

Long before the beasts closed the distance to the wall, the army attacked. The automatic cannons, turrets, and Gatling guns on the southern wall came alive in a violent display of Leviathan Quay's military might.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Tututututututututu!

A storm of fire erupted from the wall, exploding in the midst of the Neon Beasts and targeting those at the frontline as death by fire and kinetic force tore through them like a plague.

The body of the frontline beasts were riddled with holes.

The shells from the cannons detonated, tearing beast bodies apart even as violent incendiary explosions triggered in their wake, sweeping through the Neon Beasts in an unstoppable wave.

High up on the wall, Ascended operated the Railguns, targeting the more densely populated areas of the beast tide as they unleashed slugs of titanium projectiles at the beasts at extremely high velocities!

On impact, blood and flesh rained in a bloody haze.

Yet the beasts didn't stop, the deaths among them was like a drop of water in an ocean.

There were over 100,000 Neon Beasts in this beast tide!

They pushed through the attacks from the defenders of the wall and drew closer with each second. And then, within a few minutes, they finally arrived at the surface of the wall like a tide of squirming flesh.

When the leading edge of the beast tide struck the shield, the impact came like a thunderclap.

KABOOM!

Bodies slammed into the barrier in waves as claws and horns scraped uselessly against the pure energy of the shield barrier.

But this wasn't one attack from a single Neon Beast, this was a collective wave of attacks from tens of thousands of Neon Beasts!

The shield rippled outward from every point of contact, bright flares racing across its surface as if the energy shield itself was alive and reacting to pain.

Some beasts were hurled back by the rebound, crushed beneath the press and stampede of those behind them, yet the tide never stopped.

The Neon Beasts were relentless, they were driven mad by the scent of humanoids and Synths, they were in a frenzied state as they assaulted the shield!

The horde was a nightmare of variety- from massive tusked brutes charging on pillar-like legs to lean, six-limbed predators leaping and clinging to the shield, to swarms of smaller creatures flowing like liquid through gaps in the terrain.

And it was not just land beasts.

Aerial beasts were also part of the tide. Shortly after the land beasts hit the energy shield, the aerial beasts closed the distance like a black cloud that veiled the entire Southern Wall!

Vultures, Ravens, Eagles, Falcons, mutated Avian Neon Beasts, mechanical-type Neon Beasts, all types of Neon Beasts attacked the energy shield.

Their shrieks and roars blended in a single, deafening howl that reverberated against the shield and the wall and echoed through the city beyond.

The southern districts panicked.

And then the Behemoths arrived, the leading figures of the beast tide.

They rose from within the tide like moving mountains, each one dwarfing tanks and buildings alike.

BZZZZZZ!

The titanic ADE presence and aura of a D Rank Neon Beast erupted out like an explosion, hitting the city wall as a humungous Rhino-like Neon Beast lumbered forward on four titanic limbs, its back armored in overlapping plates the size of city buses!

This was a massive Neon Beast standing at a staggering height of 8 meters, its body 25 meters long from head to tail.

It was hefty and wide, spreading 6 meters across!

Its single horn was long, thick, and sharp; it looked like a stake used to kill Dragons!

This was no longer just a Neon Beast, this was a force of nature!

Smaller Neon Beasts clung to it or ran beneath its shadow, using its bulk as cover from the wall's guns even as they soldiers focused fire on it.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The attacks slowed it down, but they didn't deal much damage as the overlapping plates of its armor weathered the damage.

At D Rank, humanoids gain Specialization, becoming exponentially more powerful in their chosen Specialization.

At D Rank, Ascended become capable of singlehandedly fighting armies.

At D Rank, Ascended truly begin to shed their mortality as they embrace concepts of immortality and godhood.

At D Rank, Gene Augurs are basically impossible to kill. Every Class undergo a major transformation at D Rank, and the same transformation applies to Neon Beasts.

At D Rank, Neon Beasts also focus on specializations just like Ascended.

Massive big-boned Neon Beasts like Elephants, Hippos and Rhinos embrace the concept of size, becoming true Behemoths like this Rhino.

Neon Beasts that were originally fast like Peregrine Falcons embrace the concept of speed, becoming true Speed Demons. This is why D Rank Peregrine Falcons can dive up to speeds of 3000km/hour!

Elemental Neon Beasts embrace the concept of nature, turning into elemental spirits- true embodiments of natural disaster.

D Rank was a turning point in the world of Ascended and Neon Beasts.

When the D Rank Rhino reached the shield, it charged without hesitation, slamming its horned skull into the barrier.

KABOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!

The impact ignited the energy shield barrier in blinding light, sending shockwaves across kilometers of the shield's surface.

For the first time, the Southern barrier of the city-wide energy shield became compromised even as the invasion of the Omnicore Federation also started.

The energy of the shield was strained and overloaded, rapidly heating up in its quest to keep up with the scaling damage.

This was not the only D Rank Neon Beast leading this beast tide though.

BZZZZZZZ!

Another dense ADE signature ignited in the tide like a beacon.

Another Behemoth towered upright, vaguely bipedal like an Ostrich, but unlike an Ostrich it didn't have feathers as its elongated arms ended in claws that were longer than aircraft wings.

Also, it had the face of a Monkey.

BOOM!

Its movement speed was incredible, breaking the sound barrier and rapidly closing the distance to the energy shield to attack as in the process of running, it ruthlessly stomped on its lesser siblings, murdering them in cold blood.

And then with deliberate, almost intelligent motion, it began hammering the shield again and again with its powerful claws, each blow slow but devastating.

The energy shield screamed under the strain of its attacks, its glow dimming momentarily where the strikes landed.

At the same time, the hundreds of transports and warships outside Leviathan Quay's airspace bombarded the shield far away with attacks, making it turn a fiery red from the explosion of the attacks.

The shield was under great strain!

Farther back in the beast tide, a serpentine Behemoth coiled through the mass, its body stretching hundreds of meters!

Another D Rank Neon Beast, a Cobra!

It reared its head up, its head expanding and flattening like rubber as it unleashed a torrent of corrosive mist and bio-energetic discharge, washing the shield in flickering distortions.

Warning lights ignited along the surface of the shield as the shield's systems diverted power to compensate.

In that moment, the Southern Wall became the focal point of annihilation as gunfire, energy beams, and frenzied beasts crisscrossed in a violent display, the beasts piling high against the barrier even as the tide kept coming.

Behind the dead and dying Neon Beasts, more shapes surged forward still, driven by numbers so vast that they seemed inexhaustible.

This was a Category 3 Neon Beast Tide!

As Leon watched all of this through the footage projected by his smartphone, he felt trepidations in his heart as he thought.

'The city shield won't last!'

The mere thought filled him with alarm and dread.

Leon always thought Leviathan Quay's city-wide energy shield was indomitable. What can destroy a shield of this magnitude? He thought after his first time seeing the city-wide shield.

And now, he finally got his answer.

Leon's black eyes turned deep, dark, and unfathomable as his brain whirred. 'What should I do?'

'Join the army to resist the invasion? Join the Southern Wall resistance the resist the beast tide? Or go after the terrorists?'

Leon had enough reasons to not join the fight against the invading Federation forces, he was still not powerful enough to reasonably influence an aerial battle of this scale.

As for the beast tide, the moment the energy shield finally faltered, Leon knew that the force stationed on the wall would not be able to contain the beasts.

The beasts would flood into the Southern districts, overwhelming the civilians who were still on the streets and the soldiers.

In that moment, he realized that the casualties by the end of today had a high chance of climbing towards tens of thousands and above.

His face turned solemn. 'Should I go there?'

Leon realized that he could save a lot of lives in the process, and by the end, if he survived, he was 100% sure that his Ascended Counter would fill up.

'But is this what I should really be doing?'

'Against those D Rank Beasts, there's no way I'm surviving for long or being able to kill them easily'.

'If I go there without being able to turn the tides immediately, I'll essentially be leaving Leviathan Quay to face a battle on 3 fronts- against the invaders, against the beast tide, and against the terrorists who're like cancer inside the city'.

Leon's black eyes gleamed. 'I can't really influence the other 2, but I can do my best to eradicate the Extremist Movement!'

He made his decision.

"Davis, show me the direction to Saint Serena Cathedral".

DING!

...

[Special Appreciation to Shadesworn and Katcan20 for the Golden Tickets. Thank you for the support.]

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