Thomas Killian stared into the cameras, dripping from his armpits as the hosts and other guest experts talked through the situation. On the monitors, he could see the images that would be dispyed to the audience alongside the talking heads. There was an immense orange-red tear in the center of a blue sky. Lumps of what looked like gray puss overflowed from the edges of the jagged rip, dropping down towards the ocean surface. As each drop of malignant chaos fell, it morphed into a shape from the world, taking on the aspect of some natural beast.

  He didn’t know what he hoped to accomplish with his presence. His experience as a former Air Force Captain combined with appropriated memories of a Jinn military strategist certainly gave him a strong understanding of what to expect from the situation unfolding in real time. Humanity would possibly survive what was coming, but the death toll would be monumental.

  Whatever money and fame he garnered from his appearance on this show would be short-lived. America was well and truly fucked. It wouldn’t be an economic or military power in the future, assuming it survived in any form. The rest of the world might be able to handle the situation if they power leveled their strongest human assets and coordinated an attack.

  “The thing is,” the Arahant expert was saying, “conventional weaponry is going to struggle to harm the bigger ones. The chaotic energies emanating from monsters warp reality, which technology is very sensitive to. The Jinn empower their attacks with legal energy when they fight chaotic creatures, reinforcing reality so that the typical rules remain in effect. We can’t do the same thing. At least not to a meaningful degree. We just have to hit them with everything we have and hope it’s enough. I’m talking nuclear strikes.”

  Marina Williams, the host of the show, gestured to him. “What is your take on that, Thomas? You’re our Jinn expert.”

  “The strongest Jinn on Earth at this time are level five. That’s nowhere near strong enough to cut through chaotic interference at this scale. Our bullets and missiles will degrade to mush before they reach that giant scorpion. I doubt the bst from a nuclear weapon would do more than singe its carapace.”

  Marina interrupted him. “So what are our best options?”

  “Have the fleet attack the creatures and retreat to draw them away from the continent. Lure them into making ndfall on Antarctica. Meanwhile, gather everyone in the entire world who inherited a useful combat ability from their dreams and force them to grow stronger as fast as possible. We can only hope the monsters take the bait and give us the time we need to counter them.”

  “Is the situation really so grim in your opinion?”

  Thomas stared at the host. “I cannot adequately express just how dire events are. This could be a civilization ending threat.”

  The image on the monitor showed a collection of dots on the horizon. A naval fleet preparing to intercept the threat. They were all dead, Thomas knew. It might take a while for reality to catch up with the inevitable, but they were dead all the same.

  Marina turned to the Orisha expert. “What are your thoughts, James?”

  “I have to concur with Thomas. This is bad, Marina. I honestly don’t see any hope. I….” The man trailed off, his brow drawing down as he stared at the image that had just repced the previous one on the monitor. It showed a wide angle shot of the entire rift as it dripped pus into the sea.

  For a moment, Thomas couldn’t tell what had so drawn the other man’s attention, but then the Arahant expert gasped. “Is that a Xian transit sphere?”

  On the screen, a mirror-bright glimmer dazzled them, growing steadily rger. Thomas felt his heart begin to beat. He licked his lips. “Looks like it,” he said. What were the odds the Xian would invade at the same time as a monster incursion?

  Jim, the Orisha expert, turned his heavy gaze on Thomas. “Are they attacking?”

  “It’s certainly possible. If we know anything about the Xian, it’s that they love war.”

  Marina inserted herself back into the conversation. “Is this a positive development?”

  “Of course it is. At this point, any change is positive. The Xian might torch a city or two, but a world like ours won’t hold their attention for long. If they take out the incursion, that would be a good trade, in my opinion.”

  The Titan expert, who had been morosely silent throughout the entire segment, suddenly spoke. “Just how big is that sphere? It’s been growing for quite some time.”

  “Dear God. It’s the Lord General,” the Arahant expert said.

  Thomas squinted at the screen, watching the mirror-reflective moon grow ever rger, partially occluding the rift from view. The flying monsters fpped closer to the orb, which would not stop growing.

  “It’s him. It’s really him,” the Orisha expert muttered. “This is like seeing a figure from mythology step into real life. We definitely no longer have a monster problem.”

  “But is a Xian problem any better?” That was the host. She was whoring for ratings, but it seemed like there might be a future where ratings mattered.

  The shot of the scorpion swimming towards the naval fleet briefly came back into view on the monitor before they cycled back to show the massive transit sphere of the Lord General. A hole formed in its outer surface. It expanded rapidly, diting open. Though the enrging hole floated what looked like a massive aircraft carrier. The hole in the transit sphere rapidly grew until it consumed the entire sphere, leaving a strangely mismatched army suspended in midair. Before anyone could process the sight, let alone say a word of commentary, the flying aircraft carrier exploded into a light show, sers ncing out to create a deadly maze that sted for a single second before winking out.

  Flying monsters dropped to the ocean in pieces.

  “That’s a Jinn War Barge,” Marina said.

  Thomas licked his lips. Dark polymer hull. Tapered wedge shape. Distinctive ribbed armor. “That is War Barge Kevin.”

  “Why is the Lord General ferrying a Jinn War Barge between worlds? Aren’t those two supposed to be bitter rivals?”

  “I don’t know, Marina,” he admitted. Even ignoring the unlikely alliance, War Barges could make their own way between isoted universes by inducing artificial singurities. None of what he saw made sense to him.

  A human standing on twin jets of fire appeared from nowhere, striding on thin air in the direction of the giant scorpion. The creature spun about and raised its tail in preparation of a strike. The man threw out his hand and a whip made of angry red fire blossomed into existence, shooting forth to wrap about the scorpion. A pulse of blue-white traveled down the red fire whip towards the monster. When it arrived, there came a fsh of light bright enough to momentarily blind the camera’s view. The light faded to reveal only ashes floating where once a titanic monster had stood.

  “The Sage of Confgration,” the Arahant expert whispered.

  The War Barge had moved to position itself between the American naval fleet and the oncoming monsters. Meanwhile, Xian warriors flew down to attack the beasts in the water. They fired purple chaos bolts that exploded on impact, stabbed with manifested spears, and used their kinetic domains to rip apart snakes and bulls and gators and apes and every other wild creature that could be imagined. The Sage of Confgration used his fire whip indiscriminately, rapidly striking down any monster he saw as if competing against the Xian. Lasers periodically nced out to deal a quick end to any beast foolish enough to give the War Barge a clean shot.

  The unstoppable horde of monsters was eliminated in less than ten minutes of action.

  The Orisha expert finally excimed something in the silent studio. “What is happening?”

  Marina gave the stunned experts the answer. “I think… I think we’ve been saved.”