CHAPTER 10: THE DEVIANTS INSURGENCE ARC

They sprinted for the barracks, the sound of boots pounding against the ground merging into one rhythm.

Jace’s chest burned. Whatever Ma had sensed, had his blood boiling. He could feel it—the wrongness in the air, like the moment before lightning strikes.

Constantine arrived with Ava, Juni and the first-class initiates.

“Form a perimeter!” Rebel barked. “No one leaves the dorm! I’m gonna take a look.”

In a blur she speeded off, sand blowing backwards in her pace.

“Is it an attack?” Felicity whispered, her voice barely audible over the rush of adrenaline.

Ava grinded her teeth, fingers on the comms. “I’m not sure. but something’s breached the outer dome.”

The words outer dome sent a chill through the group. The dome was supposed to be indestructible, impenetrable. If something made it through, it must be powerful.

A moment later, the lights flickered.

Once. Twice.

Then died.

It was dark other than the moonlight and Adelle’s flames.

Sounds reverberated in the distance being carried by the cold air.

Constantine was the first to move. “Get into formation! Now!”

A sharp bang tore through the air as the Glades gates dented inward, steel creaking.

A deep growl filled the air, vibrating through their bones. Ma let out a shaky breath.

“What the hell is that?” Brock muttered, gripping the ground so hard it cracked under his fingers.

“It’s….it, it’s a monster!” Veronica yelled.

It looked human at first, tall, gaunt but when it closer to Adelle’s fire, did they see it. where its eyes should’ve been were two pits of red light, the creature tilted its head studying them, then lunged.

It was fast—faster than anything I’d seen. Ava met it head-on, her blade clashing against its arm in a burst of sparks. The impact sent her sliding back several feet, boots digging trenches in the dirt. Constantine joined her, his arms glowing orange as he held apart its teeth from digging into Ava. She didn’t waste any time piercing through the jaw of the creature with her blade.

“Juni! Get them out of here!” Constantine shouted.

But Juni didn’t move. He was staring as another creature moved toward him. “Is that….?”

Ava grabbed him by the collar and shoved him toward us. “Move!”

The initiates ran inside the barracks but the creature had already broken past tearing through the barracks walls. It stopped in the middle of the dorm where they were. Its four-nose started sniffing and its eyes locked onto Jace. Its head twitched, almost mechanical.

Jace froze.

The next instant, the creature was charging at him. he barely raised his arms before the impact threw him across the yard. His head spun in all directions, pulling him through a myriad of memories he couldn’t remember. Something hot and wet trickled down his arm, his blood.

A chocking scent hit him and his body snapped.

His blood didn’t just harden this time—it exploded.
It writhed, alive, forming a whip-like tendril that lashed out on instinct, striking the creature square in the chest. The impact sent it stumbling back sending a searing pain up his arm but he didn’t stop.

A wet hiss filled the air as his blood twisted again, forming a tendril that show forward wrapping the creature’s chest. Then exploded outward disintegrating the thing into chunks.

Gasps erupted behind him.
“What the.....”

Jace fell to one knee, panting, his veins bulging outside, his skin was barely visible.

The tendrils moved faster, spreading from every drop that hit the ground, branching like veins across the sand. Attacking everyone, both ally and foe. Jace’s heart pounded; the blood pulsed in sync with it, forming crude, jagged shapes—spears, blades, shields—everything at once.

“Jace, control it!” Constantine’s voice cut through the chaos.

“I.....I’m trying!”

But the blood didn’t listen. It spread in W-shaped streams along his arms, crawling toward his chest, whispering something only he could hear.

Let go, Jace.

Another creature shrieked with four arms tackled him to the ground, snarling as its claws tore across his back. Jace screamed, slamming his hand against its chest. His blood erupted outward, forming a cage of blades that shredded the creature into red mist.

He barely had time to breathe. More were coming. Smaller ones.

“Pair up and hold your ground!” Constantine yelled. “Use everything you’ve got. No hesitation!”

Felicity darted between attacks, her agility keeping her alive. Chester blinked in and out of sight, Phoebe’s electric strikes lit the dark, her movements frantic but precise.

Still, it wasn’t enough.

“Fall back!” Ava shouted, impaling one creature to the ground.

Then a purple blur flared from the distance. It was Rebel, using her superspeed to gut down the creatures, one by one. She struck the last one with her blade, cutting it in half in front of Jace whose body was convulsing.

Tendrils of his blood, held him, suspending him off the ground.

“Jace, stop!” Phoebe shouted, but her voice sounded far away to him.

“What’s going on here?” Rebel asked.

A tendril of blood shot towards her but she evaded just in time, catching it by her right hand. “Enough!” she said vibrating her hand superfast, the tendril and the blood returned back to Jace’s body and he stopped convulsing.

She stepped over Jace as he winced. “You okay, Jamerson?”

“Yeah…I think.”

“Okay then, get yourself together.”

She stood at the centre, sheathing her blade. “Listen up! The Dome defences have been breached. Deviants have invaded. This is a full-scale assault. We’ve lost contact with the Taskforce on the Outside….”

Rin raised her hand, voice trembling. “How did they get in? I thought the Dome was impenetrable.”

The instructors exchanged glances before Rebel answered. “We don’t know how…yet. First things first, is anyone injured…..other than Jace?”

They all shook their head.

“Okay then. We have a plan….. to stop the Deviants. The special treatment initiates have been sent to the Elite House. The first-class will do the same for the Founders house while the second-class will go protect the Regens. The citizens are the priority.”

“What about you?” Felicity asked looking at Ava.

“We’ll do our jobs,” Ava replied metal curved blades emerging from her skin. “Buying you time.”

BOOM!

A deafening explosion shook the ground like a drum. Rebel, Ava, Juni and Constantine turned toward the noise.

The Glades as the house of Mutants was the one closest to the Inner Dome. Basically, they were the last defence in case of situations just as this. And because of that, it was their job to protect everyone from all threats.

“Remember,” Constantine said, his arms glowing burning orange. “Work together out there. We’ll hold them off for as long as we can….and you’ll take care of the ones that slip through. Be smart, cover each other and do not be reckless.”

The Deviants closed in, the air around became volatile. Rebel unsheathed her twin blades from her sides. With a battle cry she launched herself into the fray, moving faster than the eye could see. The Deviants were like a swarm, some ran on four legs, some had wings, some moved with unnatural speed but their eyes burned with primal fury.

Constantien’s body ignited in flames.

“Fire force punch!” he yelled punching one Deviant that flew past him, obliterating it in midair into smouldering remains. He kept on rushing deeper into the swarm.

Ava was a whirling of carnage, her blades tore through the creatures like paper. When one of them shattered her blade, another immediately replaced it. She wasted no movements, like a relentless killing machine.

The instructors were some of the top ranked operatives from Taskforce Z and as such had been fighting together for a long time. In fact, for over five years since Rebel became leader. They moved as a seamless unit, complementing each other’s strengths. Rebel, the swift striker, Constantine the living inferno burning through everything on his path and Ava, the storm of cutting metal.

Juni was at the centre of it all, his expression calm yet deadly. He acted as the mastermind, managing the battlefield. With a flick of his wrist, his shimmering barriers redirected the Deviants towards the others who took care of them. His barriers were known to be stronger that even the top ranked Taskforce member could not destroy them without harming himself.

The Deviants were overwhelming. One slipped through slamming into Felicity from the back. She rolled and recovered with an elegant front flip. Before it could strike, Chester teleported behind it, driving a piece of rock to its head. Dark blood spurted out, splattering all over his training uniform. He froze, his hands trembled.

“Snap out of it Chester!” Brock barked, punching down a Deviant that had lunged, before slapping his hands together over its face, destroying it.

The battle raged, sounds of clashing metal and guttural roars creating an unrelenting symphony of violence.