Master Of Chains-Chapter 16: The Demonic Portal

Tension hung thick in the chamber as Louis and the other cadets steeled themselves for battle.

Louis's mind raced.

He shot a glance at his team.

Connor stood ready, jaw set, gripping his plasma arm shield, which glowed with electric blue light.

Beside him, Nathalia's eyes narrowed, psychic energy crackling along her clenched fist. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

All around, cadets summoned their unique abilities, a spectrum of powers flaring to life.

No one looked willing to back off.

A vicious chuckle echoed from Austin. His muscles ripple beneath his uniform, bones shifting, fur bursting along his arms. Claws extended at his fingertips, and his eyes glowed yellow—a werewolf revealed.

"Last one standing gets to go home," Austin jeered. "Don't take it personal."

"Speak for yourself." Bobby slammed his hands to the floor. Gigantic roots erupted upward, snaking toward the rival teams.

Across the chamber, The fourth team's leader raising a hand, electricity swirling into a crackling orb.

"Move, now!" he barked, and his squad surged forward.

Chaos erupted. Cadets clashed, powers colliding in bursts of light and energy. Connor charge forward, deflecting a blast that would've struck his squad.

"Watch your backs!" Connor called.

Louis ducked a punch, retaliating with a swift kick that sent an attacker sprawling.

"We can't let them take us down!"

Suddenly—

The floor vibrated.

First a low tremor.

Then a shuddering quake.

The battle stuttered. Cadets staggered. Attacks were forgotten as everyone steadied themselves.

A mechanical hum reverberated through the chamber.

At the far end, the wall split open, and a portal tore into existence— a perfect circle of swirling, angry energy, the last gateway home.

"The portal!" someone cried.

Louis exhaled in relief—until he saw it.

Something was wrong.

The portal's colors, usually bright and white, glitched madly—pulsing sickly purple, then green, before plunging into a deep, suffocating black.

Thick black smoke poured out, shocking cadets.

A guttural growl echoed from the portal's depths, so deep, that Louis could felt it rattling his bones.

Then, something crawled out.

The first creature was massive and hunched, skin slick with glistening, tar-black ichor. Horns curled from its skull. Eyes burned like coal.

Louis's stomach twisted.

More followed, maybe dozens, pouring out of the portal.

They felt wrong. They were nothing like the simulated aliens Louis had trained against. Not even the real aliens compared.

"Is... is that a demon?" someone whispered, voice trembling.

Louis's Core HUD snapped red:

[UNIDENTIFIED ENTITY. DEMONIC PRESENCE.] [THREAT LEVEL: MAXIMUM]

"This isn't part of the simulation!" someone screamed as the monstrous entities filled the chamber, brushing against the ceiling.

A demon lunged. It snatched up a cadet before anyone could react.

The cadet's scream was cut short with a wet, crunching snap as the demon ripped him in two.

Blood sprayed across the floor, painting the tiles.

The cadet remains hit the ground in pieces.

"NO! Oh god, no—" a girl wailed, dropping to her knees.

Sudden, wild panic overtook the chamber. Cadets stumbled back. Some vomited in horror.

"It's real! This is real!" someone shrieked.

Louis froze, sick and helpless as horror unfolded before him.

Connor staggered, eyes wide. "Oh God. Oh God..."

Nathalia's face twisted in grief and fear. "We have to get out of here! Now!"

"No!" Louis gritted his teeth. "We are trapped, we have to fight. Together."

The demonic horde surged forward, shrieking. Hungry for more.

Oliver stepped out in front of them, a glowing card between his shaking fingers. "All cadets—fall in! If we don't want to be killed next, we have to work together!"

Austin nodded, rallying his own battered group. "He's right. We can't do this alone. Not now."

For the first time, Louis saw all the cadets stand together as one, shoulder to shoulder.

He summoned his chains of fire. Connor's shield blazed bright. Nathalia's psychic energy flared. From every corner of the chamber, desperate cadets unleashed their powers.

A storm of courage against the darkness.

*****

High above the chamber, hidden behind mirrored glass, chaos reigned.

Red alarms flashed across every surface, including on faces with panic. Colonel Rosa, head of Earth Defenders Simulation Organizers, slammed her palm onto the console.

"That's not in the program! Who authorized this scenario?" Her voice cut through the blaring noise.

Warnings blinked on the screens:

[Demonic energy detected. Reality breaking. Simulation out of control.]

Technicians scrambled, fingers flying over holographic keys.

"We're locked out!" someone shouted, voice breaking. "The system's not responding!"

Rosa leaned in. "Override! Pull the plug, now!"

A junior tech's hands shook as he tried again. "Ma'am, the portal—there's no record of this code. I can't override. It's rewriting the system as we watch!"

On the main screen, the chamber was a massacre. Demons rampaged through the cadets—shredding barriers, hurling bodies, blood everywhere.

The feed shook as a stray blast shattered a camera. Rosa's face twisted as she watched a demon seize a screaming cadet and fling the body against the wall.

The horror was unmistakably real.

"Get the extraction team down there!" Rosa barked. "This is a full breach! Initiate emergency protocol, now!"

The lead technician's voice cracked. "Security protocols are offline! We're locked out of the chamber—doors aren't responding!"

"Full lockdown!" Rosa ordered. "Seal the deck. No one gets in or out until we've contained this!"

On the feeds, security teams pounded helplessly at sealed doors, their shouts drowned by loud alarms.

The main entrance refused to open.

The simulation had become a slaughterhouse—one they were powerless to stop.

****

A demon lunged for Louis. Before he could react, the fiery red-haired girl moved with reckless grace, twin pistols blazing. Thunderous blasts sent the demon crashing to the ground.

They spun back to back, hearts pounding.

"Do you have my back?" Louis yelled, breathless.

She smirked, eyes bright. "I'm just trying to survive, rookie!"

For a moment, Louis felt lighter.

Another hulking demon barreled toward her. Without thinking, Louis acted.

His chains of fire lashed from his palms, searing through the demon's claws. It collapsed, howling.

"Thanks!" she said. "Left!"

Louis spun—but too late. A demon caught him in its massive fist, slamming him to the ground. Pain exploded through his ribs as he saw the monster rear back for the kill.

Suddenly, the girl vaulted over broken stone, flipping high above the demon's head.

Upside down, she fired. Her shots glowed with strange light, striking the demon between the eyes. It fell in ashes.

Louis gasped in awe.

Struggling up, he panted, "Okay, you're better than I thought."

She raised an eyebrow, reloading. "Don't get used to it, rookie. I'm just not letting you die on my watch."

Battered but unbroken, they faced a fresh wave of demons pouring from the portal.

Screams echoed, cadets fell, darkness closing in.

Despair clawed at Louis—until the world changed.

A blinding light from above pierced the chamber, freezing both demons and humans alike.

From the radiance descended a tall figure in blood-red armor, his long hair bound in a warrior's knot. In his hand, a sword shimmered—glowing red-hot, inscribed with swirling kanji.

The figure landed silently, instantly commanding the room.

The demons shrieked in fury, but he moved faster than sight, his blade flashing. Within moments, demons fell in pieces, black ichor hissing where it splattered across the tiles.

The warrior seemed to be everywhere at once—cutting, parrying, moving with supernatural speed.

Louis stood among the cadets, unable to look away, caught between awe and disbelief.

The last demon roared, but the warrior's blade severed its head in a single strike.

Silence crashed over the chamber.

Who was he? What was he?

The glowing warrior straightened, his gaze sweeping over the survivors.

When his burning eyes met Louis's, they seemed to look straight through him with resolute purpose.

Then the warrior strode forward, stopping in front of Louis.

"Louis Lee!" he declared. "It is time."