Jason told Gina how the Machina had all of their memories of this attack wiped from their minds, and he also explained that the attacks around the world had just been a distraction.
’The Legion tracked the Machina all the way out to Egypt. They were carrying out some sort of ritual, and I couldn’t stop it. Look, I need you to get through to Cerci and have him look into the mental block on the Machina. I left a few of them alive, so my subordinates can get them to him. There’s a superhuman in Gaia that has a mental-type power, so tell Cerci to have him search through the mind of the Machina and find out why their memories are so jumbled.’
Gina accepted the orders from Jason immediately, and she began to make the phone call to Cerci to do as she was told. Jason was about to close the mental link, but Gina spoke up to stop him.
’Wait, babe. Do you need any help? If you don’t know what’s coming from that ritual circle, then maybe I should come to help out?’
Jason already knew that Gina would ask this before she even spoke, and Jason simply told Gina that he needed her to stay back and make sure that the family was okay. Jason didn’t know if there were any Machina that they missed, and if they left the family alone, there was a chance that the Machina would attack and kill everyone. On the other side of the phone, Gina deflated slightly when she heard this! Gina knew that even though Jason wasn’t saying it, the real reason he didn’t want her there was because he didn’t want her getting hurt in case something dangerous appeared from the Ritual Circle! Gina was pregnant, so they couldn’t take any unnecessary risks right now! Gina could feel some annoyance rising from deep inside her, but Gina swallowed it quickly since she knew that Jason was only trying to look out for her! And Jason was right about someone needing to stay back to look after the family, so Gina told Jason that she would make sure everyone was fine.
’I’ll let you know if Cerci figures out anything. Good luck, babe.’
Jason hummed in thanks, and he closed down the mental link.
DOON!
No more than a second later, the Ritual Circle suddenly pulsed with power, and Jason cursed as he was pushed back by a surge of oppressive mana that flew across the area! The Ritual Circle floated even higher into the air, and Jason narrowed his eyes while waiting for something to happen. The Circle began to spin as lightning crackled around it, and Jason tightened his hand around the [Death’s Mirage] and watched as the Ritual Circle transformed from a regular magic circle into a strange spinning whirlpool that flashed blue at irregular intervals. The spinning circle began to create cracks across the air around it, and Jason felt his brow furrow as the cracks started to widen into a swirling mass of oppressive mana! The spinning mass created a massive vortex in the air, and a suction force began pulling in large volumes of sand and air! Jason actually had to put in a little effort to avoid getting pulled in by the vortex!
Jason quickly told Azrael and Vana to get back into the Alternate Dimension before he tucked his bat wings in and moved far enough to avoid the suction force! Jason continued watching as the Vortex slowly widened until it was as large as a fucking football field! The Vortex rippled with flashes of blue that painted the night sky, and Jason felt his eyes widen as he realised what was happening! The Machina hadn’t been summoning anything at all! When Vana had brought up the unification properties of the ritual, Jason had assumed that the Ritual Circle was like a Summoning Circle that would allow the Machina to bring a creature from another world to Earth! But Jason realised at this moment that he had been wrong! The unification property wasn’t summoning a creature into this world; it was simply a bridge that allowed the Machina to join two different worlds together through a Dimensional Tear!
’It’s a Gate!’
The Machina had sacrificed their lives and poured all that mana into the Ritual just to create a single Gate, but from the color Jason could see and the sheer power Jason could feel flowing off the Gate, Jason could tell that this wasn’t just another random Gate! This was a Blue Gate!
Jason could actually feel his heart racing from that realization! Jason had heard the stories of how dangerous the first Green Gate that appeared on Earth was! That Gate had led to the death of billions of people, and Jason’s father had to intervene before they finally managed to close the Gate down! If it took that much mana power just to close down one Green Gate, then what exactly would they need to do to close down a Blue Gate!?
DOON!
Jason grunted as a surge of power suddenly flowed out from the Blue Gate and pressed down on him! Just from the power alone, Jason could already tell that there would be multiple TITAN Rank beasts in there! It almost felt like Jason was back in that Rank IV world from when he had been fighting the [Beast of the Apocalypse]! If Jason was feeling this much pressure just from the residual power flowing off the Gate, then Jason didn’t even want to imagine how powerful the Gate Boss would be!
Jason narrowed his eyes as he glared up at the Gate, and Jason swore right then that once he was done dealing with this Gate, he would find whoever was responsible for this madness, and he would kill him.
——
New Mission [Long Term]: Find the mastermind and eliminate him.
The user has discovered the presence of a mastermind who is responsible for the current attack on the user’s world. In order to exact revenge, the user must find this mastermind and eliminate him.
Rewards:
???
???
——
Jason glanced at the mission tab with a frown, and he decided to ignore it for now as he called on two Rook Rank II subordinates and told them to head into the Gate.
’Survey the area and get as much information as you can. I want to know what we’re up against before we head in there.’
This was Jason’s order, and the subordinates accepted the order as they flashed across the air and entered the Blue Gate.
[Two Rook Rank II subordinates have died]
’Huh?’
Jason was shocked when he saw this message from the system. The two Rooks Jason sent in were already dead? Jason immediately resurrected the subordinates inside his Alternate Dimension so he could look through their memories, and Jason realised that the subordinates hadn’t been killed by any monster! The subordinates had died simply because the mana in the air was far too dense for them to withstand it! They were literally killed by raw pressure alone! Jason actually felt like laughing once he realised what this meant! Rook Rank II subordinates were on the same level as S ranks on Earth, but they had much higher defences that would allow them to be categorized as SS ranks! This meant that an SS Rank superhuman would be killed just from stepping into the gate!
But Jason held himself back as he narrowed his eyes at the Gate and realised that he couldn’t underestimate the strength of the monsters in there.
’I thought that the extra defences given from the Legion boost would allow them to withstand the pressure, but I guess I shouldn’t underestimate a Blue Gate. Yuslev, get out here.’
Jason called on one of the Machina Generals in his army, and the General appeared and immediately went to a knee beside Jason.