Meanwhile, in the heart of the Northern Forest—
DUARRRRR!!!
The spike-trap explosion echoed deep into the core of the forest. The blast rippled through roots and stone, thinning the air, making the leaves tremble like frightened hands. Within that vibration, the magical bind still gripping Jake pulsed — anxiety stabbing straight into his core.
Velista burst into sharp laughter, the sound piercing eardrums and dulling every whisper of courage that tried to rise. Her voice ricocheted between the tree trunks.
"Hey, Jake. Don't worry about them. Let's finish the game you started." Velista mocked.
KRAKK!
Her telekinetic grip tightened again. Jake's ribs pressed against each other; every squeeze felt like flesh tearing apart. For a split second his face turned pale — then burned blue with resolve.
"Ahhhhh…" Jake cried out in pain.
He hung suspended in the air, body slowly rotating, breath ragged. Yet his eyes still reflected a blue gleam — not surrender, but calculation. Measuring. Searching for an opening.
Velista stepped closer, cold.
"I didn't expect you to be this weak, Commander Jake."
She stood a few steps before him, one hand still extended like a puppeteer pulling invisible strings. Her expression radiated cold satisfaction. She savored every desperate breath escaping his lips.
Jake knew one absolute truth: confronting Velista's raw power head-on was suicide. His mission was simple — stall, and buy time for Akira and the others.
Velista's telekinesis is stable. Too strong to counter directly. I have to disrupt the frequency of her magic. Not attack — redirect the force.
Jake didn't resist with brute strength. He accepted the pressure — then used it.
Around his chest, almost instinctively, a fourth layer manifested: a Blue Resonance Shield. Not to block — but to channel. The shield acted as a conductor, forcing the telekinetic energy through altered pathways.
BLIP!
The shield absorbed part of the force and redirected the rest into the ground. The pressure that once crushed flesh now transferred into the barrier itself — which finally cracked, but not without cost. Jake's body was released from the direct crushing force. The pain lessened, though it did not disappear.
KRAKKK—!
The shield shattered into fragments, but Jake did not fall.
Velista narrowed her eyes.
"Oh? So you used resistance to lessen my pressure?" she smiled thinly. "How interesting."
She gave him no pause. With a subtle flick of her wrist, she summoned three spinning discs — Dark Energy Traps, glowing violet, each edge like a rotating blade devouring whatever it touched. They hovered around Jake like predators circling prey.
Jake dropped to the ground. His boots touched cracked earth, but his combat instincts took over. He summoned not magic — but martial memory.
Shadow Wind Technique.
His movements became wind.
In slow motion, his body bent low, twisting, pivoting, rolling. He avoided the discs one by one — leaping, sliding, spinning between the violet blades like a dancer on the edge of death.
Every movement was economical. Purposeful. No wasted motion.
Velista began to look amused.
"Good, Commander! You're fast! But speed cannot defeat my power!"
She raised her hand.
Instantly, a three-meter-thick Dark Energy Wall ignited around Jake, sealing every escape route. The forest seemed to hold its breath.
Velista had taken full control of the stage.
The air turned into magical quicksand, pressing against Jake's knees. Every movement felt heavier, slower. His martial rhythm locked in place.
Damn. She's done playing. If this continues, I'll be cornered. I need Akira's signal. Now.
KRAKK!
A vibration crackled through the blue crystal earpiece Jake wore.
A signal.
Zen.
They had succeeded.
The monster was crippled. Akira was retreating. Extraction complete.
A flash of relief pierced through Jake's pain. The plan worked.
He smiled faintly.
"You're right, Velista. Movement cannot defeat absolute power."
Velista's eyes gleamed coldly.
"You've surrendered? Good. Then die."
She unleashed her ultimate strike —
A Dark Energy Tongue, long and spiraling like a serpent, lunging straight toward Jake's heart.
Time solidified.
Jake could no longer escape physically.
So he chose sacrifice — this small battlefield for the greater war.
In the split second before impact, he activated two spells at once:
Mist-Draw Incantation (Diversion) — Magic embedded in the ground erupted, releasing a dense, corrosive Teleportation Mist that fractured vision and distorted magical senses.
Long-Range Transmutation (Escape) — Using the remaining energy stored in the Blue Crystal, Jake fragmented himself toward distant, random coordinates — a short but strategic jump.
BZZZTTT—FWOOSH!
The Dark Energy Tongue struck — slicing through empty air.
Thick mist swallowed the battlefield.
Velista's counterwave tore through the fog — but when it cleared—
Jake was gone.
Only scorched earth, frozen air, and fading echoes remained.
"What?! That wasn't ordinary teleportation! He… used unknown energy!"
She searched for his magical signature.
Broken. Weak. Scattered. Gone like footprints on smoke.
Her laughter turned feral.
She had nearly crushed him in raw power —
But Jake had won the greater round: strategy.
"YOU BASTARD, JAKE! YOU TOOK HIM! YOU TOOK MY PEARL — RYU CELESTIA!!!"
Her scream shattered the forest.
She inhaled sharply… then smiled again.
Cold.
Deadly.
"I swear I will make everyone suffer, Jake. Consider this the beginning of the destruction of the humanity you protect."
Her voice dropped into something darker.
"Because I will unleash the true catastrophe."
"A massive monster invasion upon Sena City. I will annihilate humanity… take Ryu back from them… and destroy every human on this earth."
Her vow roared through the forest.
"I will unleash countless monsters… nightmares made flesh."
Her eyes burned violet.
"I swear it."
Then Velista laughed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA—"
To Be Continued.