Chapter 5: Prepare for Blood Moon
Three days of peace ended with a notification.
Samuel was mid-bite into cold pizza when the System's alert exploded across his vision.
╔ GLOBAL EVENT DETECTED ╗ WARNING: BLOOD MOON APPROACHES TIME UNTIL ARRIVAL: 10 DAYS EFFECT: UNKNOWN PREPARE ACCORDINGLY ╚═══════════════╝
"Shit," Samuel muttered, pizza forgotten.
The second notification came immediately after:
╔ NEW MISSION ╗ OBJECTIVE: Reinforce the Spire's Weak Spot REWARD: Mesprit - The Empathy Bird HINT: Glass and Frog Spit ╚═══════════════╝
Samuel stared at the cryptic hint for exactly three seconds before it clicked. "Lake Mystic Empath. The park."
Hayze looked up from where he was arm-wrestling Zephyr Kong. "What?"
"Glass and frog spit," Samuel said, already moving toward the exit. "Mutant frog saliva on glass—hardens to diamond-level strength. We need it for the Spire."
"How do you even know that?" Hayze asked, following him.
"Because I'm not an idiot. Grab your gear. Tsuki, you're coming."
The cat yawned but complied.
Lake Mystic Empath sat in what used to be Central Park, now overgrown with mutated vegetation and stinking of algae. The water was murky green, rippling occasionally with movement beneath the surface.
Three men crouched by the shore, nets in hand. They looked up as Samuel's group approached—too quickly, too alert. Not survivors. Hunters.
"Afternoon," the leader called out. He was thirtyish, with a scar cutting through his left eyebrow and a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Didn't expect to see anyone else out here."
"Same," Samuel replied, voice friendly and empty. "Frog hunting?"
"Something like that." The man gestured to a cage beside him filled with writhing, oversized frogs. Their skin glistened with toxic-looking mucus. "Decent trade value in the black market. You?"
"Just passing through," Samuel said smoothly. "Needed some supplies."
"Supplies, huh?" One of the other men—shorter, stockier—eyed Tsuki with poorly concealed interest. "That's a nice cat you got there. Mutant?"
"She's mine," Samuel said flatly.
"Everything's got a price these days," the scarred leader said, that empty smile widening. "We could work something out."
Samuel's expression remained pleasant, but his hand drifted casually toward his sword. "Not interested."
"Just saying," the leader continued, hands raised in mock surrender. "Hard times make for hard choices. We're all just trying to survive, right?"
"Right," Samuel agreed, the word hollow.
The conversation continued—polite, superficial, both sides circling like predators waiting for an opening. The frog catchers asked about Samuel's equipment. Samuel asked about their haul. Everyone smiled. Nobody meant it.
Hayze shifted his weight, reading the tension. Tsuki's tail twitched.
After fifteen minutes of meaningless pleasantries, Samuel gestured toward the lake. "Mind if we work this area? Won't interfere with your operation."
"Be our guest," the scarred leader said. "Plenty of frogs for everyone."
Samuel nodded and moved away with his group, positioning themselves about fifty yards down the shoreline. Close enough to watch. Far enough to maneuver.
"They're planning something," Hayze muttered once they were out of earshot.
"Obviously," Samuel replied, pulling supplies from his Sacred Realm. A glass pane. A small glass box. A toy ship—battery-powered, waterproof. "Let them plan. We've got work to do."
The mutant mosquito took exactly thirty seconds to catch—and almost cost Hayze some blood.
Samuel had spotted it hovering near the water's edge—oversized, its proboscis gleaming like a needle. Basic Level 1, maybe Level 2. Weak.
"Hayze. Shield."
Hayze conjured an Earth Guardian barrier, shaping it into a dome that trapped the mosquito mid-flight. The insect buzzed frantically inside the stone prison, then did something unexpected.
It dive-bombed straight at the barrier's edge where Hayze's hand was maintaining the construct.
"Shit!" Hayze yanked his hand back as the proboscis punched through a microscopic gap in the earth, missing his finger by millimeters.
He stared at the mosquito—easily the size of his fist, its needle-like proboscis as thick as a pencil. A visible shiver ran through him.
"Imagine getting stung by that thing," Hayze muttered, his face going slightly pale. "That's not a mosquito bite. That's a goddamn stabbing. I'd have a hole clean through my hand."
"Careful," Samuel said, fighting back a smirk. "Even weak ones are dangerous if they're fast."
"Yeah, I noticed," Hayze grumbled, reinforcing the dome with extra layers. "No way I'm ending up looking like Swiss cheese because of an overgrown bug."
Samuel approached with the glass box. One quick motion, and the mosquito was contained, still buzzing angrily and stabbing at the glass walls.
"Now the tricky part," Samuel muttered.
He attached the glass box to the toy ship's deck, then secured a glass pane to the ship's bow at an angle. The mosquito's buzzing grew more agitated as Samuel activated the ship and set it in the water.
The toy ship puttered forward, its small motor humming. Within seconds, a massive frog surfaced—easily the size of a small dog, its bulbous eyes fixed on the trapped mosquito.
The frog's tongue lashed out.
Splat.
Toxic saliva splattered across the glass pane. The frog, realizing its prey was unreachable, dove back into the murky water.
Samuel used Space Dash to retrieve the ship, careful not to touch the contaminated glass. The saliva was already hardening, turning from mucus to something crystalline.
"Again," he said, resetting the ship and sending it back out.
Splat.
Another layer.
"Hayze. You're up."
"Me?" Hayze blinked.
"I need to watch our friends over there," Samuel said, nodding toward the frog catchers. They were whispering among themselves, glancing toward Tsuki every few seconds. "Keep the ship running. Collect as much spit as possible."
Hayze stared at the toy ship, then at the trapped mosquito, then back at Samuel. "So let me get this straight. I'm on... frog spit duty."
"Correct."
"Frog. Spit. Duty."
"Problem?"
Hayze sighed deeply. "You know what? Fine. Sure. I fought zombies, punched a rage-mutated monkey, and helped build a fortress. Why not spend my afternoon playing with a toy boat while giant frogs hock loogies at a mosquito? This is exactly what I imagined when the apocalypse started."
"Glad you're on board," Samuel said, completely straight-faced.
"I hate you sometimes," Hayze muttered, but he took over the operation anyway. The toy ship made lazy circles around the lake, drawing frog after frog to attack the trapped mosquito. Each unsuccessful strike added another layer of hardening saliva to the glass pane.
"This is so stupid," Hayze mumbled as another frog surfaced. "Here, froggy froggy. Come spit on my boat. Yes, good frog. Thank you for your mucus contribution."
Tsuki made a sound that might have been a laugh.
Samuel watched the frog catchers watch them.
Twenty minutes later, the stocky man started walking toward them.
⟦SYSTEM ALERT⟧
⟦HOSTILE INTENT DETECTED⟧
⟦WARNING: KIDNAPPING ATTEMPT IMMINENT⟧
⟦TARGET: TSUKI⟧
Samuel's hand moved to his sword hilt. "Hayze. Company."
The stocky man approached with his hands visible, that same fake smile plastered on his face. "Hey, neighbors. Your operation looks pretty sophisticated. Got a lot of equipment there."
"We manage," Samuel said.
"Yeah, I bet." The man's eyes cataloged everything—the glass panes, the toy ship, the supplies Samuel had pulled from seemingly nowhere. "Must have a good stash somewhere. Safe place to keep it all."
"Safe enough."
The man's smile widened. "You know, my boys and I were thinking. Dangerous world out there. Lot of bad people. Maybe we could work together. Pool our resources. Strength in numbers, right?"
"We're good," Samuel said.
"You sure?" The man took a step closer. "Because from where I'm standing, you've got a lot worth protecting. Be a shame if something happened to it. Or to that cat."
Behind them, the scarred leader and the third man were standing now, hands on weapons.
Hayze stopped the toy ship mid-lake. His fists clenched.
Samuel's smile never wavered. "You're threatening me."
"Just being realistic," the stocky man said. "World's changed. Strong take from the weak. That's just how it—"
Samuel vanished.
Space Dash carried him behind the scarred leader in less than a heartbeat. The Electro Ball was already formed in his palm—crackling, white-hot, devastating.
The explosion took the scarred leader's torso clean off.
Tsuki became a blur of shadow and claws. Her strike opened the third man's throat before he could draw his weapon. Blood sprayed across the grass as he collapsed, gurgling.
The stocky man spun around, fumbling for a knife.
Hayze's punch caught him square in the chest.
The sound was wrong—a wet crunch that spoke of shattered ribs driven into vital organs. The man flew backward ten feet and hit the ground hard. He tried to stand, failed, and coughed blood.
"Should've taken the first no," Samuel said, walking past the twitching body.
The entire fight had lasted eight seconds.
Samuel methodically searched the corpses. Basic supplies—food, water, ammunition. But in the scarred leader's backpack, his fingers closed around paper.
He pulled it out. A list. Items written in hurried handwriting:
SMITH FAMILY AUCTION HOUSE- Premium Items (Auction Only) -
BULK SUPPLIES:
Rice (1 Quintal / 100kg) Cigarettes (500 cartons, pre-apocalypse brands) Whiskey & Vodka (50 bottles, sealed) Coffee Beans (25kg, vacuum-sealed) Chocolate Bars (200 units) Gasoline (500 liters, stabilized)
APOCALYPSE ITEMS:
Mutant Plant (Mark 1, live specimen) Mutant Plant (Mark 2, seed form) Unknown Herb Seeds (starter kit) Spike Armor (reinforced, Level 2-3 protection) Enchanted Blades (various grades) Crossbow with Poison Bolts (50 bolts included) Mutant Beast Cores (Basic Level 4-5) Nightvision Goggles (solar-powered) Hazmat Suits (radiation-resistant) Mysterious Map (marked locations) HEALING CRYSTAL (AWAKENER-TYPE, RARE)
Note: Random merchants selling miscellaneous goods outside auction hall
BLACK MARKET GATHERING
LOCATION: 40.7580°N, 73.9855°W
DATE: 7 DAYS AFTER BLOOD MOON
Samuel studied the list carefully. Rice, cigarettes, alcohol—useful but nothing special. The spike armor and cores were decent. The enchanted blades caught his attention. Those could be worth bidding on.
Then his eyes landed on the final item.
HEALING CRYSTAL (AWAKENER-TYPE, RARE)
His grip tightened on the paper. We need that. Whatever it costs.
A note at the bottom read: Open auction - participants may submit items. Smith Family takes 20%, seller receives 80%.
Samuel pocketed the paper and stored the backpacks in his Sacred Realm. "Hayze. How many layers?"
Hayze checked the glass pane attached to the toy ship. The frog saliva had built up into a thick, translucent coating that gleamed like diamond in the polluted sunlight. "Fifteen, maybe twenty layers. This enough?"
"More than enough. Let's go home."
The Spire's weak spot was exactly where Uxie had calculated—a hairline fracture in the obsidian structure's southeastern wall, invisible to normal eyes but catastrophic if exploited.
"Here," Uxie said, tapping the wall with one white-furred finger.
Samuel placed the frog-spit-coated glass pane against the fracture. The hardened saliva seemed to melt into the obsidian, filling the crack and spreading like living crystal. Within seconds, the weak point was gone—reinforced by material harder than diamond.
⟦MISSION COMPLETE⟧
⟦REWARD GRANTED⟧
⟦MESPRIT HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO YOUR COMMAND⟧
The air shimmered.
Something descended from the Spire's upper floors—a bird, but wrong. Its feathers were every color and no color simultaneously, shifting with each movement. Its eyes held depths that Samuel instinctively avoided looking into directly.
"I am Mesprit," the bird said, voice carrying harmonics that made everyone present feel briefly, intensely understood. "Born from the crystallization of emotion itself. With Uxie and Azelf, we form the Lake Guardians. I will serve."
Azelf emerged from the shadows, the crystalline turtle's eyes gleaming. Uxie descended from his perch on the staircase. The three creatures formed a triangle—knowledge, willpower, and emotion made manifest.
"The trio is complete," Uxie said. "The Spire's defenses are now at their peak."
Samuel studied Mesprit thoughtfully. A creature that could read and understand emotions. When I start expanding my influence, recruiting more people... Mesprit could be invaluable. Test their loyalty. Root out traitors before they become problems. He filed that thought away for later.
⟦CITADEL DEFENSE RATING: 89%⟧
⟦BLOOD MOON READINESS: ADEQUATE⟧
Samuel studied Mesprit thoughtfully. A creature that could read and understand emotions. When I start expanding my influence, recruiting more people... Mesprit could be invaluable. Test their loyalty. Root out traitors before they become problems. He filed that thought away for later.
But before he could process that further, the System chimed:
⟦COMBAT VICTORY REWARDS⟧
⟦ENEMIES DEFEATED: 3 HOSTILES⟧
⟦REWARD GRANTED: 150 BASIC CRYSTALS⟧
Samuel pulled the crystalline pile from his Sacred Realm, the light catching on each faceted surface. He divided them quickly.
"Tsuki. Forty for you." The cat's eyes gleamed as she absorbed them, her shadow deepening.
"Kairo. Thirty." The crow's feathers took on a slight shimmer as the energy flowed into him.
"Hayze. Forty." His friend grinned, feeling the earth power surge through his system.
That left forty crystals for Samuel himself.
He sat cross-legged in the center of the Spire's first floor and began absorbing them one by one. The energy coursed through his channels, accumulating, building pressure. His lightning crackled involuntarily as power flooded his system.
Basic Level 4 had been his ceiling for days now. But with this influx—
Crack.
Something inside him shattered—not painfully, but like breaking through a shell. The world suddenly felt sharper, clearer. His lightning responded faster to his thoughts. His spatial awareness expanded.
⟦BREAKTHROUGH ACHIEVED⟧
⟦CURRENT LEVEL: BASIC 5⟧
⟦NEW ABILITIES AVAILABLE⟧
⟦POWER INCREASE: SIGNIFICANT⟧
Samuel opened his eyes, electricity dancing across his pupils. "Better."
⟦CITADEL DEFENSE RATING: 89%⟧
⟦BLOOD MOON READINESS: ADEQUATE⟧
Samuel looked around at his assembled forces. Hayze, Tsuki, Kairo, Sylvia, Cokezer, Zephyr Kong and his monkey troop. The three Lake Guardians. The Spire itself, humming with barely contained power.
Ten days until the Blood Moon.
Three days until the Black Market Auction.
"Everyone rest," Samuel ordered. "We hit the auction in three days, then we prepare for whatever the Blood Moon brings."
Outside, the gray polluted sky hung heavy over the wasteland. But inside the Spire, for the first time since the world ended, Samuel's team felt something like security.
The calm before the storm.
The preparation before the slaughter.
The breath before the Blood Moon rose.
Chapter 5: End