Odyssey Of Survival - Chapter 197

Chapter 197: Chapter 197 The Beginning Of The End
Nate walked slowly through the city.

Every street was silent.

Every window dark.

Every store, every restaurant, every park—completely empty. A ghost town. Not a single soul in sight.

This was the place Jack had predicted the portal would open.

An old capital city, once filled with life and laughter. Now… just cracked pavement, broken lights swaying in the wind, and echoes of what once was.

Everyone had been evacuated.

Jack made sure of it.

And not just here. The entire country. Gone. Moved. Hidden. Sheltered.

Nate didn’t even know how Jack managed it. In less than seventy-two hours, he’d convinced world leaders, mobilized military assets, and built safe havens in places that didn’t even exist on any map.

But that wasn’t all.

Jack had done something else—something Nate still found unnecessary.

All over the city, in every single street—he had installed cameras. And not just basic surveillance—these were live, high-definition feeds.

Every movement.

Every sound.

Every moment.

It was all being broadcasted to the world.

And right now… the world was watching Nate walk alone through the city.

He looked up at the drone hovering silently above him. Its red light blinked once. Somewhere, billions of people were watching—watching and hoping.

They had one hour left.

One hour until the portal opened.

Nate clenched his fists.

So much had changed.

So much had been sacrificed.

And now, the fate of the entire planet was in the hands of a group of young adults—kids, really—who just happened to survive an island three months ago.

Behind him, footsteps sounded.

Many footsteps.

He turned.

They were all there.

Every single person that had escaped the island with him—stood together once again.

Ryder. Amara. Bella. Elena. Ray. Alice. Bella. Sera. Even the ones who had gone their separate ways after the island incident… they had come back.

For this.

Alice stepped forward, her silver-white hair swaying slightly in the wind. Her expression calm, but her eyes burned with determination.

“We’ll handle the Gorvaks,” she said.

Nate looked at her. “You sure?”

She nodded. “You focus on Zoro. We’ll hold the rest back.”

Nate scoffed lightly, shaking his head. “Alice… a three-tailed Gorvak nearly tore you apart. You think you can handle a four-tailed one? Or a five?”

She didn’t answer.

Because she knew he was right.

Ryder stepped forward. “Then we fight together. No one’s doing this alone.”

Nate looked at all of them.

His team.

His people.

They weren’t soldiers.

They weren’t trained warriors.

But they were survivors.

They had gone through the worst and made it out. And now they stood ready to do it again—not for themselves, but for the entire human race.

The wind grew stronger.

Nate glanced at the sky.

Clouds began to swirl.

The air got heavier, thicker.

And then… the ground vibrated.

A deep, low hum echoed through the air, almost like a giant tuning fork ringing through their bones.

Everyone looked up.

At the heart of the city—where the main plaza used to be—the air shimmered like heat rising from asphalt.

And then… it tore open.

A blinding, vertical slash of violet light split the sky.

The wind screamed louder, spiraling around the rip. Cars flew off the street, glass shattered in windows, and concrete cracked beneath their feet.

A portal.

No one said a word.

The portal widened.

The light dimmed slightly.

And then… something stepped through.

A tall, armored figure.

Zoro.

He stepped onto the Earth as if it belonged to him, one hand resting lazily on the hilt of his blade. His long cape fluttered behind him, metallic claws shining under the strange glow of the portal behind him.

He didn’t look at Nate.

He didn’t look at any of them.

He just sniffed the air, a twisted smile crawling across his face.

“Earth…” he whispered.

“I’m back.”

Govarks began pouring out after Zoro, their monstrous roars shaking the very air. The ground trembled under the weight of their stampede, dozens of them emerging with glowing red eyes and claws that scraped across the charred terrain. Each of them bore two massive tails that whipped about furiously, tearing into anything that got close. Their expressions were filled with primal fury, as if they had only one goal—to tear apart everything in their path.

From the bunkers scattered across the fortified zone, the people watched in stunned silence through the reinforced viewing windows. Fear rippled through the crowd. Some clutched at their loved ones, others stared in horror at the unstoppable horde rushing out of the abyss.

“What in God’s name is this?” one of the world leaders whispered, his voice barely audible. His hand trembled as he reached for his rosary, muttering silent prayers not just for himself, but for Liam and his team. They were the last hope standing between humanity and annihilation.

Then, Ryder moved.

His armored boots cracking the earth as he launched himself into the swarm. The moment he landed, the air around him shook with force. He roared as he smashed into the nearest govark, tearing its arm clean off before grabbing another and slamming it into the ground so hard it splattered into pieces. The spikes on his gauntlets glistened with blood and bone as he went on a rampage, moving with the brutal grace of a war god.

Alice was right behind him. Floating several feet off the ground, her silver hair danced in the wind as her eyes glowed a pale blue. With a motion of her fingers, a row of govarks froze mid-charge, ice crawling across their bodies in an instant, locking them in place like grotesque statues. Without hesitation, she summoned a wave of chilling power, an avalanche of crystalline frost erupting from above. It crashed into the frozen beasts, shattering them into a thousand sparkling pieces that glittered in the pale light.

High above the battlefield, Amara burst into flames. Her body glowed like a miniature sun as she levitated into the sky, her entire form engulfed in brilliant fire. Her wings, made of pure flame, spread wide before she tucked them in and dove like a comet. She collided with the front line of govarks in a brilliant explosion. Fire surged in all directions, burning through their ranks like paper set alight. Their screams echoed as they were consumed.

Back in the bunker, gasps filled the air. The sound of destruction, the light show of elemental wrath—it was all too real now.

“They told us,” one of the generals said, voice cracking, “but seeing it… seeing it with your own eyes… it’s something else.”

“Those two girls, the ones in fire and ice… are they even human?” someone else murmured.

“No. None of them are. Not anymore,” another said softly, his knuckles white as he clenched the edge of the viewing rail. “They’ve become more than we ever imagined.”

Outside, the battlefield was a storm of chaos and destruction. The three fighters held their ground against overwhelming odds. Despite the endless tide of enemies, they moved with perfect coordination.

Ryder lifted a govark overhead and snapped its back against his knee. “Come on! Is this all you’ve got?!” he shouted, letting its corpse fall beside him.

Alice summoned spears of ice from the ground, impaling a group trying to flank Ryder. She moved like a phantom, elegant and merciless.

Amara continued to rain fire from above, each strike calculated, explosive, and devastating. The area around her was a scorched wasteland.

The govarks kept coming, but for every one that charged, two more fell.

The bunkers were silent again, all eyes glued to the display screens. Some wept, others held their breath. These weren’t soldiers.

These were gods of war.

And this war had only just begun.

Bella and Madison stood side by side, their expressions calm despite the chaos erupting around them. The ground trembled with the weight of hundreds of two-tailed govarks charging forward, their snarls and screeches echoing through the battlefield. Overhead, the sky was streaked with trails of fire and frost as Amara and Alice unleashed their devastating powers.

Madison’s hand drew back her bowstring in a smooth motion. Instead of a normal arrow, pure blue energy materialized along the string, humming with raw power. Her eyes locked onto the horde as her body shimmered with readiness.

Next to her, Bella cracked her neck casually, then clapped her hands together with a loud snap. A sudden shockwave burst out from her position, invisible but immensely powerful. In the next second, a group of govarks running toward them stopped mid-sprint, their bodies frozen in place. Then, as if crushed by an unseen force, they collapsed in on themselves and exploded in a violent chain reaction.

Madison’s eyes widened slightly. “Damn, Bella. That was new.”

Bella blinked in surprise as she watched the smoking remains. “I didn’t even know I could do that. Maybe the Earth’s energy makes our powers stronger.”

Madison grinned. “Let’s use that to our advantage.”

With a fluid motion, Bella raised her arms and tore open a spatial rift just in front of Madison. Without hesitation, Madison stepped through—and vanished.

On the other side of the battlefield, a group of govarks snarled and turned their heads as Madison appeared in a flicker of light. Her bow was already drawn. She let the energy arrow fly, and the moment it struck the lead govark, it exploded in a blast of kinetic energy, taking out five more behind it.

Madison began moving like lightning, flickering from one place to the next, each appearance marked by another deadly shot. The govarks didn’t stand a chance. For every snarl, there was a scream. For every charge, there was an arrow through the skull or a blast of energy ripping through their ranks. Her movements were a blur—precision, elegance, and death in motion.

Bella, on the other hand, had turned into a one-woman army. She slammed her foot into the ground and the earth itself trembled. Another line of govarks was drawn toward her, but with a single motion of her hands, the air around them compressed violently. Their bodies buckled inward and detonated, one after the other. She kept clapping, her palms glowing with deep purple energy, and every single clap sent out another shockwave that crushed anything in its path.

High above, a bunker camera caught the scene in full HD. Inside the shelter, the people who had been watching with fear began to gasp.

“Are you seeing this? She’s making them explode—just by clapping!”

“And the one with the bow—how is she even moving like that?”

“They’re gods… all of them.”

Another leader, a woman in her sixties with a deep voice, whispered, “May God protect them. They are our only hope.”

Back on the battlefield, Madison stepped out of the space beside bella, breathing only lightly despite the destruction she had just caused.

“How many did you take down?” Bella asked, smirking.

“Enough to make a dent. You?”

Bella gestured to the cratered field behind her, littered with govark remains. “Lost count.”

Madison smiled. “We’re just getting started.”