-Five Years Post Saturation Completion. CONT.-
July 4th, 2034…that is a day that is forever imprinted in my mind.
The day was like any other holiday. The 4th of July, also known as Independence Day, was meant to be celebrated with family and to shoot off fireworks.
Cookouts, beer, stupid stories, I had celebrated the 4th of July for as long as I can remember, but now, the day would no longer hold the same meaning for the only two surviving Jörgensen's, myself and Brenden.
While families such as my own were celebrating, there was movement in the shadows. Tired of being bogged down by the Guilds and Heroes Association, an alliance of Villains, fed up with how the Perm-Instances were being controlled, attacked the Atlanta Perm-Instance, which had been upgraded to Gamma-Grade after the Saturation completion.
Something to note: with each increase in Grade, more floors were added to the Perm-Instance, essentially turning it into a massive construct with dozens of floors representing different level ranges per Rank.
No longer did a single guild control the entire Instance; instead, multiple were assigned specific regions to monitor; our Vesaragon Guild was assigned 2 Beta Floors and 3 Gamma Floors.
Using a coordinated strike, every single floor of the Perm-Instance simultaneously fell under attack by the Villains. By the time the rallying call to help defend the Instance went out, the fighting had already spilled out of the Perm-Instance into the City of Atlanta and outward…to the suburbs.
Heroes and Villains at the Gamma-Rank were essentially walking Weapons of mass destruction; they had enough strength to level a mountain with a single punch, and if their Talents were factored in, it would be the equivalent of WW3, with missles and bombs going off everywhere.
Yet, all the fighting did was set the stage for those harboring ill intent and full of greed or jealousy.
It wasn't a Villain who attacked our family party; no, it was a group of heroes. Six men masked men in the mid to high Gamma-Rank attacked Brenden, Emilia, and my Father, who were all at different levels in the Gamma-Rank.
While four of the men separated and dealt with Brenden due to his immense strength, the others fought against Emilia and my Father. The rest of us didn't sit still and allow it to happen; my nieces, Sister, and older brother jumped into the fight to try and help Emilia and my Father while I moved to try and distract those fighting against Brenden.
The problem was, not a single one of us was stronger than Late Beta-Rank…with myself being the highest level…7.
The two Gamma-Ranks fighting my Father and Emilia were disgusted to be attacked by such lowly rankers, with all three of my nieces being only at Alpha-Rank. Meanwhile, Annie and Reily were in the Beta-Rank…and unfortunately, my three Nieces were the first to be murdered.
With a swipe of a blade, the three girls in their early 20s were decapitated, causing my Sister to go berserk only to be impaled by a spear formed of lightning seconds later.
Things only got worse from there, as Reily was next to fall; seeing his daughter and our Sister slaughtered like cattle caused his mind to break, and in a moment of despair, he was set ablaze by the man fighting my Father.
I watched in horror as five family members, three of whom I had watched grow since they were babies, fell to the ground, dead, feeling absolutely helpless.
I knew I was weak; I knew the amount of influence I had on this battle was negligible, but all that did was fuel me to fight harder. Statwise, I was far below the four fighting Brenden; however, when it came to technique and combat experience, I was leagues above them.
So, while I couldn't deal any real damage, distracting them long enough so that Brenden could whittle away at their numbers was within my range of ability.
That was precisely the course of action I chose to take; after extensive research and training, I knew my Talent as if it had been part of me my entire life, and although it was maxed out in power, that didn't make it totally useless.
'LOOK HERE!' I screamed in my mind, targeting one of the four men while channeling my Talent. Gamma-Rank or not, the man's mental defenses were weak, and if there was one stat I knew was higher than anyone present, it was my Intellect.
As such, I was able to rip the man's attention away for a split second, just long enough for Brenden to capitalize on the opening.
Channeling his Talent to its maximum, Brenden launched a brutal punch into the man's abdomen, blowing a hole the size of a bowling ball in his body and killing the man instantly.
"YOU TRASH BETA-RANKER!" One of the remaining three men Fighting my brother recognized what I had done and howled upon seeing his comrade die. Next, he separated from the fight and attacked me.
'Right hook! Slash left, Spinning back kick!' Using my Talent, I commanded the man to attack in a specific pattern and forced him to do as I said unconsciously.
Luckily, the guy was stupid, and in following my patterned attacks, I was barely able to dodge them since I knew what was coming my way.
In this way, I freed up my brother's movement, and he only had two Gamma-Rankers to deal with…but it was at that time when things were looking like our victory…that my Father made a crucial miscalculation.
Distraught by the deaths of two of his children and three grandchildren, my Father's attacks faltered, and that was all his opponent needed to see before launching four spears of lightning into his chest.
My Father's eyes went wide, and the last thing he did as he fell to the ground was look over at me and Brenden…and speak his final words with his dying breath.
"Live well, my sons…I am proud of you and love you both."
"DAD!!!!!!!!!" I screamed while watching him fall to the ground with the life leaving his eyes after barely saying those parting words.
As I watched the light leaving his once icy blue iris, there was a loud crack within my mind, akin to shattering glass, followed by a notification from Arkadia; however, neither of those two things mattered to me…as I couldn't stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks, nor the fire burning in my heart.