Authors Note: I wanted to thank you all again, since this fic is about to 20,000 views. I hope you all enjoy, and take care!
During early Friday afternoon, about a hundred miles away from Royal Woods, there was a military outpost established of grand size that was known as the Iron Griffin Outpost. It was as big as a military base, and was once well known throughout the nation and respected for its civic honor. But then they were changed to lower priority due to threat levels across the country changing. Now it was treated by other military as nothing but a small rest stop or a storage zone.
"…I tell you, the sergeant nearly took my head off over it," one soldier spoke, his assault rifle over his shoulder on his back. He stood beside another guard, both stationed outside to check ids of any other military vehicles attempting to enter the facility. These two guards stood outside of the fence, tanning on their feet.
"What did he want you to do? Shoot it? It was just a mama bear passing by with her cubs," the female guard said. Their base was stationed by a forest, so wildlife was a common thing to see. Her partner had spent the other day making sure the bear family did not go wandering into the military camp so they would be safe. Their sergeant did not like the news one bit.
"I guess…" the first soldier shrugged. They noticed something odd suddenly as a small amount of dark purple colored essence appeared in the sky, beginning to spread out largely. Gamban fell from the portal, landing on his feet before them, and adjusted his fedora onto his head.
"What is that?!" the female soldier reached for her assault rifle.
"I think that's one of those monsters they've been talking about on the news… those things that have been appearing in Royal Woods…! I just figured it was all one big joke, like December 2012," the other soldier said, still in surprise, getting his rifle drawn. They took the safeties off, the first soldier pulling out his radio from his shoulder.
"We… request the big voice for backup at the front gate and get permission from the sergeant for a commo call," the soldier said. The responder on the radio asked several questions but received no response, the army man being too distracted keeping both hands on his gun, aiming for the Xeran Elite.
"Keep your hands up, or else we will shoot! Turn around now and leave!" The second soldier threatened, the gate behind them opening as several more soldiers began to get lined up with them, all just as shocked as they were at the sight of this monster.
"I am here to inquire about your Gruynithil… but I guess you all wouldn't be up to a game of poker for your information, would you?" Gamban chuckled, doing nothing but confuse the group of soldiers. It was not exactly common knowledge about the alien material, since it was frankly only in recent time getting any real use in the world.
"This is your final warning! Turn around slowly and walk away with your hands over your head!" One soldier shouted. Gamban exhaled in frustration, having really enjoyed the last week of gambling with strangers, but guessing all good things must come to an end, to be replaced by even better things.
"I'll make you a wager, my friends… for any of you who can survive for the next hour of my assault as I level this entire base for its Gruynithil. If you win, you get your lives and get to keep your essence. But if I win… well, it's pretty obvious this is a high stakes game," Gamban laughed, making a joker card and ace card appear in his hand and pointing it toward the soldiers, stepping back as an army of textoth appeared from the portal above, landing behind the Xeran Elite leading them.
"Let's begin!" Gamban threw the cards into the air, and the sound of machine gunfire rung out as the textoth charged for the soldiers and base, Gamban slowly walking behind them without so much as a given care.
"Ahh!" One soldier cried as a jagged scimitar sawed through his side. The gunfire had stopped. Already all the soldiers were trapped by the textoth's jagged blades, blood spilling out heavily from each torturous blow they took.
"There we go," Gamban smiled, watching the shower of essence begin to get sucked out from the group of soldiers by the ace in the air, the mass beginning to become quite colorful. Gamban caught the card when the soldiers were now drained of every last drop of their emotional beings, the elite putting the ace in the lining of his fedora. It was the only one now since Gamban had turned over all the essence while he was in the eldritch realm.
"You can kill them now," the gambling monster snapped his fingers. The cries of the soldiers rang out as they were cut to pieces. The joker card landed on the gate, and it began to glow red, and then detonated, the large explosion ripping the gate apart. The siren began blaring and every soldier in the facility was on red alert.
"Allow me to say this! We are the Xeran! I may not be a general for the majesty, but as one of the elites! I can happily offer you this; if you surrender all of your Gruynithil to me, I will leave with my two-hundred cohorts here," Gamban announced while standing in the middle of the open base with his many textoth around, all looking eager to fight. Having gathered so much essence, had made the majesty quite happy of BelGaner's Xeran Elite. Therefore he allowed an army of textoth to be sent with him to accomplish the request Gamban made.
"Here's the answer!" A voice shouted. Gamban and his skeletal warriors saw a grenade land in front of them, and one of the textoth picked it up.
"Hm… I've never seen something like this before… This dimension's technology is certainly odder than the others'," Gamban rubbed his head, having never seen a grenade before. Suddenly it detonated within the textoth's hands, causing a blast of smoke in the air and sending Gamban flying back and felling a chunk of his evil army.
"Oof…! Now I understand their answer," Gamban adjusted his fedora back on his head while sitting up. Things ended up in pure chaos. The Xeran Elite saw the sergeant, whom he presumed led this base, who had chucked the first grenade of the several in this battle.
"Get the leader, and he'll give us a winning hand," Gamban pulled out a joker card, throwing it at the base of the guard tower. It glowed red and detonated like last time, the sergeant and guards stationed above falling with the tower as it collapsed.
"Ough…" the sergeant groaned, feeling his legs crushed beneath some of the rubble. Gamban approached, grabbing him and pulling him out.
"You're the leader, right? Where's the Gruynithil?" The Gambling monster demanded. One soldier shot the Xeran Elite in the back with multiple bullets, causing a small amount of sparks and smoke but nothing more.
"I-I'm the sergeant… our general got relocated elsewhere… we don't have any of that," the sergeant replied. Gamban guessed this was going to be harder than he anticipated. An idea suddenly hit him.
"I'm a Gambling man. I can see through a liar a mile away… Textoth! Capture and line up those soldiers. We'll allow their second-in-command to watch everyone who followed him be executed before his very eyes. That way, we'll let them know who the Xeran are," Gamban ordered. The army of masked skeletons in red and green understood the order. Gamban then turned to the sergeant to threaten him. "I don't have to tell you this, but if you don't say anything… not only will they all die, but we'll just keep attacking the rest of your bases until we get what we desire!"
"Al-alright! Alright! I'll talk! These are good men! Just let them live, they have families," the sergeant pleaded. This was just what Gamban wanted to hear. They did not even survive this attack for twenty minutes. If there was the good amount like he wanted, they would have something else to gamble with. The military of the states had a unique system for handling Gruynithil, in which they would spread it out evenly across the countries many military bases to make sure that it could not all be stolen at once. Sadly, having a policy in place to confiscate all forms of the alien material made there be plenty in each location.
"Alright, well… are you two ready?" Lisa asked Lincoln and Lynn who sat at the kitchen table eating. The teenage boy was just eating a salad, while the teenage girl beside him was eating a large hero sandwich with her favorite items filling it up. The clock read 3pm, yet not many of their family were home at the moment. Many were off to go to the circus freak show in town. Only the three of them remained behind, they knew it was just an effort to get their minds off Lori.
"No… not really," Lincoln ate another forkful of his salad with some of the chopped carrots in it. He was a big fan of carrots while growing up, that a lot of his family joked that he was a baby bunny.
"Not in the slightest," Lynn added to her boyfriend's comment. They were trying to be relaxed about the upcoming night before them. They had even gone to bed early, the second they got home last night, to get the extra sleep they wanted.
"What do you mean you're not ready!?" Lisa was stunned to hear this.
"Calm down, Lisa," Lincoln insisted. He and Lynn seemed to be sharing the same train of thought.
"We just know it's going to be harder than what we've fought before. BelGaner's literally the general of strategy… We don't even know what 'game' we're going to play," Lynn explained. She looked a lot better now, as last night was the first night she rested without terrible nightmares waking her up.
"That and from the sounds of it, the game's going to last all night," Lincoln added. The letter did indicate so. The two finished eating and got up.
"Please, be careful you two… I wish I could have made a breakthrough with the empty essence sphere, but I'm unable to get any results from it," Lisa apologized, feeling like she had let them down, even if somehow their guardian stars could combine to make dragon mode as a secret weapon, it was an accidental discovery that never had been intended to be created. So far the child prodigy felt more like Lana, just a repairs specialist.
"Lisa, don't worry about us. Just do your best and you'll find something out… as long as it isn't broken. We're doing good, right?" Lincoln reassured. That brought a smile on Lisa's face.
"We'll be back tomorrow," Lynn bid her goodbye as the sibling couple left so they could go to the meeting place to confront BelGaner. When they did leave, what Lincoln had said began to make the child prodigy's mind begin to race.
"Wait… during that fight, Lynn broke Lori's sword. The Xeran took the handle with them, but what about the rest of the broken blade? That's Gruynithil that we can use… it's not much, but it might be able to be put to use!" Lisa realized. Their oldest sister's broken sword's majority of parts might remain in the park. The young girl left the home as well, wanting to go gather it all up.
"Maybe if I make another star… We can put it to use, and start making the third guardian," Lisa hoped. It was going to be a long night for her as well. She took a deep breath as she began to leave the yard to get to the park. It was a long walk ahead of her.
"A little is better than nothing."