Jake was scouring through every corner of the central district, his heart thumping like a war drum trying to breach his ribs.
He didn't care if onlookers stared in horror at the crimson draconic wings tearing through the air or his slit-pupiled eyes glowing in the twilight.
People saw plenty of strange things in this world these days, but right now, his only focus was Haley.
He pushed his senses to their absolute limit, leveraging his heightened dragon vision and sharp scent tracking, while hurriedly questioning terrified pedestrians who scattered the moment they caught sight of his scales and smoke-laden breath.
Just then, a sudden wave of panic erupted ahead.
Screams tore through the evening air as a dense crowd fled the center of town—right where the main outdoor concert grounds were located.
Wasting no heartbeat, Jake growled and dove toward the epicenter.
As he hurtled forward with breathtaking speed, the air around him rippled and superheated, turning the wind blistering hot from the ambient flames of his aura.
Dozens of citizens on the streets below and in surrounding high-rises caught sight of the blazing youth streaking across the darkening sky, many pulling out their phones to capture frantic photos and videos of the urban myth in action.
Suddenly—
BOOM!
A colossal pillar of inky, suffocating darkness erupted skyward from the concert stage, piercing the upper atmosphere.
In a matter of seconds, the entire sky curdled, turning as dark as ink as unnatural storm clouds boiled, merged, and blotted out the stars.
Jake's draconic essence recoiled instantly, every hair on his body standing on end.
Dark magic.
And not just any spell—this was an ancient, abyssal variety of the purest, most volatile kind.
From the churning belly of the clouds, a cacophony of mischievous, grating, demon-like laughter echoed down—the cackling of malicious brats.
Moments later, small, grotesque creatures with leathery bat-like wings and jagged horns began spilling out in millions.
Imps.
And not merely a stray pack.
This was an apocalyptic swarm that would make a plague of locusts look tame.
Even Jake, hardened by combat, felt a chill of disbelief at the sheer scale of the summoning.
It required an astronomical reservoir of dark mana to tear open a rift capable of spewing out such numbers.
Then came the disaster.
Screams of raw terror, pain, and suffering ricocheted across the metropolis as the swarms of imps scattered indiscriminately, clawing, biting, and tearing into anything that moved.
Not just humans of all ages.
Even stray animals, pets, and nesting birds were swept up in the carnage.
Seeing the city plunge into the sudden chaos, Jake descended like a meteor.
A panicked couple on the corner stumbled as dozens screeching imps lunged for their throats.
Jake intervened with ruthless efficiency, snapping his wrist to flick out a flurry of concentrated fireballs that detonated against the creatures, turning them to cinders.
"RUN, NOW,"
He barked an order for the pair to run for shelter, not waiting for a thank-you as he wheeled around to incinerate another threat.
Channeling his inner fire, Jake unleashed sweeping torrents of dragonfire, roasting wave after wave of the screeching pests.
Amidst the roaring flames and flying ash, a familiar streak of amber lightning tore into the fray.
Kid Flash skidded to a halt, smashing through a cluster of imps with a kinetic punch.
"What the fuck are these things?!" KF screeched, vaulting off a concrete barrier to clothesline another demon.
"Imps!" Jake shouted back over the din, exhaling a cone of searing white-hot flame that erased a dozen more.
"Da Fuck you mean imps?" Kid shouted, blaming either Jake or his own rotten luck for today's mess.
He wanted to enjoy the concert today like everyone else.
But fate always decides to make him go through….. This!
Why is it always me? Wally lamented from the inside.
Working in brutal harmony, the two teenagers carved a path through the onslaught.
Jake commanded the skies with thermal suppression, while Kid Flash dominated the asphalt below at supersonic speeds.
"Did you take care of those people back at the theme park?" Jake called out, his wings banking sharply to avoid a falling streetlamp.
"Yeah, they're safe at the hospital!" KF yelled back, dodging a barrage of hurled debris, prompting Jake to let out a brief, pressurized sigh of relief.
With the civilians in their zones secured, they plunged straight back into the meat grinder.
"Where the fuck is the Senior Flash?!" Jake roared in mounting annoyance as he scooped up a terrified child mid-air, gently depositing the kid behind a police barricade with his parents.
"He's probably tied up on the other side of the city!" KF shouted defensively, parrying an imp's claw with a trash can lid.
"The fastest man alive, right when he's needed most? Fastest my ass," Jake retorted with dry sarcasm, roasting a cluster of imps closing in on the speedster. "More like the fastest meme. The fastest joke."
"Hey!" KF protested, though his retort was cut short as he dove to pull a cluster of civilians out of a collapsing vendor stall.
Sensing the tide still rising, Jake knew single fireballs wouldn't cut it.
He brought his hands together in a sharp clap, rubbing his palms furiously until friction sparked volatile, roaring flames that coated his arms in blinding amber light.
Taking a deep breath, Jake unleashed a torrent of dragonfire from his mouth while simultaneously thrusting his hands forward, compounding his breath with dual streams of incandescent heat.
He spun mid-air, transforming himself into a spinning tornado of fire that rapidly expanded upward, swallowing a massive chunk of the darkened night sky.
The city sky lit up in a brilliant, terrifying spectacle of gold and crimson.
The imps caught in the tempest let out shrill screeches of absolute agony before disintegrating into fine black dust.
"HoLy ShIT," Kid Flash couldn't help but curse witnessing the spectacle of fire.
When the towering inferno finally died down, only falling cinders and empty air remained.
Jake hovered in place, huffing and puffing, sweat matting his hair as his wings beat heavily to keep him aloft.
He had practically cleared out an entire district's swarm single-handedly.
Yet, fresh screams echoed from adjacent neighborhoods.
More rifts were opening in the clouds.
Clicking his tongue in frustration, Jake realized that picking off strays was a losing battle.
He had to cut the head off the snake.
Without a second thought, he angled his wings and shot like a bullet toward the source of the dark mana.
"Hey, wait up," Kid Flash shouted as he followed suit.
Carving straight through the chaos, Jake reached the center of Central City, right where the concert stage was.
His eyes instantly locked onto two figures right in the middle of the stage.
One was an outrageously hideous woman straight out of a psychological horror film, her skin pale and rotting, draped in tattered gothic rags.
Beside her stood a man in a garish, multicolored tuxedo, chanting frantically as he guided a swirling vortex of dark energy.
And right at the focal point of the ritual lay Haley.
Unconscious, peacefully asleep, completely oblivious to the nightmare unfolding around her.
"HALEY!" Jake roared, the sight of his little sister in peril stripping away the last shreds of his restraint.
His vision flooded entirely red.
BOOM!
With a concussive sonic boom, he snapped his wings outward and torpedoed directly toward the stage.
In mid-flight, his hands violently morphed, elongating into razor-sharp, crimson-scaled draconic claws wreathed in roaring fire and thick, choking smoke.
Wisps of white-hot vapor billowed from his clenched teeth.
BAAAAAM!
A deafening crash reverberated through the hollowed-out plaza as Jake's dive-bomb connected with staggering force.
When the dust settled, Jake's blazing claws were stopped dead, inches from the ritual, blocked by an opaque, undulating barrier of pitch-black shadow.
Slowly, the ghastly woman in the gothic dress craned her neck toward Jake, her jaw unhinging into a grotesque, ear-to-ear grin that revealed rows of needle-like teeth within her rotting face.
"Hello there little dragon," The ugly-ass woman said while waving at Jake.
*********
AN: What? Oh, I see. You Guys want to read more. Well then. Why don't you say so.
To Read Advance Chapters: [patreon.com/badturtle_69]