Zol and Mason sat in the void alone, cultivating and observing with time slowly ticking. Days passed as the intensity slowly increased. While still slow, it increased nonetheless. There was the occasional void creature that came by and was quickly made short work of. Fortunately for the men, the cosmic mana waves never came close to their location.
A few supernovas had also occurred over the few days they sat there cultivating, spreading huge amounts of solar essence and the generated shockwaves washed over the duo, yet they remained where they sat.
From time to time, Mason would try to engage Zol in conversations, and he would sometimes give a reply or simply ignore him, especially when he began his shenanigans.
A little over a week later, a change suddenly occurred. The pulsating veil tear suddenly released a much stronger beat than what they felt before, instantly making Zol and Mason back away billions of kilometres.
Zol and Mason exchanged glances and saw the terror in their eyes. Mason swallowed nervously just thinking about what it could be. That pulse was more dangerous than anything he had experienced, and if he was being honest, he would rather get out of the region.
"Do we have to continue staying close?" He asked Zol, whose attention was on the now normal veil tear. His response, however, made Mason understand he also felt the same.
"We need backup. Whatever is behind that veil tear will require the strength of multiple Class S hunters than just what we could do."
Up until now, the veil tear had not spewed out any void creature like the other ones in the vicinity. Naturally, the rate at which void creatures came out was extremely slow, and most of them were weak creatures in the eyes of Zol and Mason.
"Definitely," Mason said and put on his headpiece to connect with his ship.
[Send word to the council. Tell them we need assistance, and fast.] He added a few more, instructing them to explain exactly why they needed it. Of course, it might just be them being too cautious, but no one ever got hurt by being too cautious.
[Yes, Lord Mason.]
Once he finished, he refocused on the veil tear. Zol and Mason didn't want to think about what could possibly be behind that veil tear.
Humans had never faced an S-Class void creature before, and if what they expected was what was happening, they dreaded how much destruction that thing or those things would bring.
"Do you really think it's that?" Mason broke the silence and asked. At their current level of strength, not a lot of things scared them, and if there were, then it could only be one thing.
"I don't know… But if it's what we're thinking, I can only pray we're strong enough to fight it." Zol replied, his eyes not leaving the veil tear.
The aura alone was enough to keep them away, now imagine if a creature with the same suffocating feeling made an appearance. Would they be able to get close to it and fight? Not to mention, could they even defeat such a thing?
As these thoughts went through his head, Zol sat back down in the void. As he mentioned weeks before, there was nothing they could do at the moment except wait. He was a man of duty and even in the face of danger, he would stand his ground.
"Dude, really?" Although Mason asked, half expecting they vacated the area, he could not leave Zol alone. Of course, there was no one holding him to his duty, but if he left, who was going to protect their world?
Mason resigned himself to sit, returning to observing the veil tear and cultivating. The strange pulse from earlier did not return but the slow increase in the intensity of the pulse continued to grow.
Within two days, the backup they requested arrived at their location. Unlike other Class S hunters, they were based in the capital.
When they arrived before Mason and Zol, they disengaged their headpiece and focused on the veil tear before them. They sensed the aura coming off the veil tear the moment they were close enough to it, and truth be told, they didn't believe it when they saw it on the feed.
"Is that thing really a veil tear?"
One of the women spoke, her gaze still focused on the tear. Her name was Evelyn Stone, a dark-sclera-eyed human with dark curly hair and hazel eyes. But she was known for one thing though: her stone-cold personality, just like her name.
Mason was the one to reply, of course, not the answer that she wanted, "Sweetheart, you could have at least given me a kiss before going straight to business." His grin and opened arms showed his expectation. Although jovial, he wouldn't deny it if she accepted. Of course, the chances of that happening were as impossible as finding a needle in a maze of ideas.
Evelyn took a momentary glance at him and turned to Zol, not expecting anything from Mason. She was well aware of his personality and the one most suited to play along with him was Charlotte Lane, the person she came here with.
"Mason, I'm right here, you know?" Charlotte said once she got over the aura coming from the veil tear. Her right hand was placed on her waist and with a flirtatious smile, she eyed Mason hungrily.
Naturally, it was the dynamic between them whenever they met. Whether they actually had a thing going or not is a story for another time.
Charlotte Lane was a normal human, had long blonde and was very attractive, and of course, flirtatious. But her nature mattered not, as she was a very powerful Class S hunter.
"I know sweetheart" Mason turned to her and sent a kiss over. But before they could continue their play, Zol stood up and responded to the question Evelyn asked.
"It's definitely a veil tear… However, unlike the veil tears we know of, this one in particular is unusual. Two days ago, it released a powerful pulse that forced us to distance ourselves. It's why we requested backup."
Zol explained to the two newcomers. However, hearing and experiencing were two different things. But regardless of that, the level of eerie feeling they felt coming from the tear was enough to tell them the seriousness of the issue.
"What's even fascinating is that pulsation. Two weeks ago, the tempo of the pulsating veil was not as fast. It's like…" Mason explained, continuing from where Zol ended.
"An explosion waiting to happen…" Evelyn completed.