Chapter 439: Blood at Cornsaw.

The Somnivores argued louder and louder, going over an hour. Zyra was beginning to get bored when suddenly, a sharp chime rang in her head.

[Host! Warning! A heavy security threat detected at Beast Valley! You need to be in close in close proximity of the city to neutralize this threat. ]

Hunter noticed her stiffen immediately. "Zyra? What happened?"

"Beast Valley is under attack," Zyra said, her voice dropping all its warmth and instantly turning into pure ice. She stood up from her chair. "I have to go right now."

Hunter stood up with her, holding her wrist. "I’m coming with you."

"No," Zyra said firmly, placing a hand on his chest. "Stay here. I need you to keep an eye on these aliens. Call me in case of any emergency."

She didn’t wait for his answer before she dashed out. ’System, turn on all automated defense protocols and get me back to Beast valley immediately!’

[Teleporting Host in 3... 2... 1...]

In a flash of bright light, Zyra vanished. She materialized right in the middle of the security room inside Beast Valley.

Even deep inside the hardened house, the ground shook violently beneath her feet. Dust shook loose from the ceiling, fluttering down like heavy snow.

[Security protocols are active, Host,] Beauty’s voice echoed in her head. [However, the enemy is using heavy bombs that are causing cracks in the ground. Its a manufactured earthquake.]

"Beauty, pull up the map," Zyra ordered, stepping up to the main glass screen. "Where are these bombs coming from?"

[Initiating deep scanning... Source identified,] Beauty replied. [I am also detecting human and beast signatures leading the attack. However...]

Zyra frowned, looking at the weird, glitched-out red dots flickering on the screen. "However what, Beauty? Speak fast."

[The signatures are strange, Host. These enemies are definitely hybrids but their biological signals are fake. They are emitting a disguised human energy code to trick any scanning radar. The simple scan that I was using before was accidentally identifying them as humans.]

Zyra didn’t have time to process what kind of information. The floor lurked beneath her again as another bomb hit the outer walls.

"I don’t care what kind of fake signals they have," Zyra snapped, her eyes flashing with anger. "Annihilate every single one of them. Right now."

[Understood, Host. Launching heavy orbital drone strikes on all hostile targets.]

Outside the valley, the fake clouds tore open.

Thick, blinding beams of white-hot plasma energy shot straight down from the sky, crashing into the hills with pinpoint accuracy. The ground roared as the high-density energy washed over the selected spots, completely vaporizing the hybrid attackers into thin air before they could even scream.

[Threat neutralized, Host!] the System chimed cheerful news directly into Zyra’s head. [All enemy positions have been completely erased. You’re welcome!]

Zyra didn’t relax. She stood with her arms crossed tight, staring at the main monitor screen.

"Beauty," Zyra said, her voice dropping into a dangerous calm. "Run a deeper scan. The deepest that you have."

[Host? The radar is completely clear!] Beauty replied, sounding almost offended.

"Run it all over the city," Zyra snapped. "If those hybrid freaks can fake their biological signatures to fool our outer defense sensors, what makes you think a few of them aren’t already inside my city walls right now?"

She paced back and forth across the floor, her brain spinning at top speed. She had spent a lot to build this city, and even taken on debt. How could she allow it to be ruined?

Why would the hybrids attack Beast Valley so randomly? Was it just a distraction by the Somnivores or something else?

Oh, no, Zyra thought, her stomach dropping like a lead weight. If someone was launching a surprise attack here, what was stopping them from attacking the big peace talks at Cornsaw? If the meeting turned into a bloody mess, everyone would start pointing fingers! Half the Somnivores were already drooling for an excuse to start a full-blown war with the humans.

"Beauty, call Hunter!" Zyra ordered, pulling up her communicator screen. "Right now!"

The screen blinked with Hunter’s name.

There was no answer.

Zyra looked at the screen, the system was still scanning the city for threats. She paused, and expelled air out of her mouth. "Calm down Zyra. If something had happened Hunter would have called me like I told him to." She sat and looked at the screen, the system had done a 40% deep scan so far, she had to wait until it was at 100.

Meanwhile, back in the big meeting tent at Cornsaw, the argument had descended into absolute, chaotic noise.

"Look around,even the humans are against this!" Solazo yelled, wiping a bit of sweat off his forehead.

"Nobody cares about what the humans want, Solazo!" Tonio roared back, waving his fist in the air. "We’re talking about our affairs not theirs."

Hunter sat in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He felt like a babysitter trapped in a room full of giant, moody, super-powered toddlers. He looked at his link band as it vibrated on his hand_ Zyra’s face flashing on the screen.

He was just about to press answer and tell her that the aliens were still exchanging words when a strange, wet crunch echoed from outside. It was followed by a big explosion that rocked the ground.

Then came the heavy sound of machine-gun fire, followed by high-pitched screams.

"What in the_" Hunter gasped, jumping out of his seat.

Before anyone could even react, Almeida gasped_ a wet, choked sound. "Hunter.. run."

Hunter spun around, his heart stopping instantly. His father was slowly sinking down to his knees. Standing right behind Almeida was Erik, wearing a nasty, jagged smile. Clutched in Erik’s glowing hand was a pulsing, white core_ Almeida’s core, freshly ripped right out of his chest.

"FATHER!" Hunter screamed, throwing himself forward without thinking whether others found out who he was, they were too busy dying anyway.

He didn’t even make it two steps.

Out of nowhere, a large hand grabbed Hunter by the shoulder, yanking him back. A second later, a ice-cold metal blade plunged straight into Hunter’s chest.

The pain hit him like a lightning bolt, stealing every drop of air from his lungs.

Hunter collapsed onto the cold floor, his vision swimming in red and white. The knight kicked him out of his way.