The One Luna

On top of the wall blocking the entrance of the bridge towards Mactan island.

"This is probably one of the few fight events where I'm glad I don't have a front seat." A man wearing a Kevlar vest was shaking his head while looking at the rat tournament right below them.

Just as he was watching this spectacle, a man dressed in mutant beast fur and leather came to join them.

Seeing this man, the man equipped with a Kevlar vest greeted him. "Cilapu, have you come to watch the show?"

"I wish I could be as carefree as you, Carlos." The man named Cilapu knitted his eyebrows the moment he looked down at the rats.

Carlos shrugged his shoulders as he replied. "Not much else to do. Escaping through boat is suicide. Ferdinand has already walled off the bridge to Bohol on the other side, so I hope you memorized a few prayers. That's about the only thing we can do right now."

"The guys is complete garbage for a fighter, but I have to admit he made a good decision in retreating to Bohol."

"Unfortunately, yes." Carlos could only agree. There was no way for them to know that Ferdinand was also being surrounded by the Tarsiers. Should Mactan island fall to the rats, Ferdinand and his nation would be next.

***

Sura received the news from Maxene that she was only a few minutes away, so she decided to head back to Luna's location.

As soon as she got back.

"Mother!" A small figure dove towards her direction with arms wide open. This was obviously Maxene.

Sura caught her and smiled warmly towards her. "I'm glad you got here safe, Max."

"Of course I did, the regular flying beasts seem to be afraid of Angry Bakunawa, so we didn't meet any resistance on our way here. I did notice something on our way here which might not be good news."

Hearing this, Sura couldn't help but furrow her eyebrows as she looked towards Luna before kneeling on one knee, getting down to Max's height. "What did you see, Max?"

"Uhm. It looked like giant c.o.c.kroaches, but they were weird, there was so many of them, but it looked like they were eating each other."

"Things just got even worse." Luna said as he could feel a huge headache coming.

"What do you mean?" Ricardo asked.

"Of course." Astrid seemed to come to a realization of what was happening.

"What do we do to get stronger?"

Alfred quickly answered. "Kill zombies and mutant beasts?"

"Exactly."

Their eyes grew wider as their jaws dropped once they realized what was happening. C.o.c.kroaches were extremely abundant, even if they ate their brethren, they could always give birth to more.

The same with the rats and any other species that could multiply at a rapid rate.

Luna interrupted their internal struggle. "That's not the biggest issue. The Tarsiers don't have that capability, even then they've become formidable. If those rats get to whatever it is the Tarsiers have, or worse, the c.o.c.kroaches, with their ability to fly, get to it first. We're in a huge amount of trouble."

"Let's get to it then." Sura nodded in his direction as they all ran towards Angry Bakunawa's pocket dimension.

With that said, they all left towards Mactan island, avoiding the location of the rat army.

While they were on their way there, Luna was communicating with the high-ranking officers of the <Sovereign Nation>.

"C.o.c.kroaches, Lord Luna? Ah yes, I've read about them in your books, those pests." Elder Aran was still by the Life Tree as they were all communicating on the same channel.

"Exactly, Elder Aran. There's a huge swarm of them in southern part of Cebu. Maxene reported that they still had their wings, so there's a possibility of an attack by air."

Boni, Hana, Apple and the rest had shivers run down their spine.

What was worse than a c.o.c.kroach? A c.o.c.kroach that thinks it's a butterfly. Sometimes even the manliest man would run away from one, what more a giant c.o.c.kroach?

"I'll add more scouts to be on watch around the clock, I'll assign all of our available Mages to be on guard as well. I'll contact you when I have an update." Apple maintained her composure and proceeded to implement the plan right away.

Everyone else was preparing for every possible scenario. After all, a single breach could very well ruin a lot of their hard work.

Five minutes later, a Dragon descended on top of Mactan island.

Cilapu's eyes widened and immediately ordered his men to get into defensive positions when Luna walked out of the Dragon's maw.

"Greetings, I am Luna. Leader of the <Sovereign Nation>."

Cilapu and Carlos looked at each other in shock. It was quite hard to believe that the leader of the current strongest nation would come out here of his own accord. But who else could afford such a grand entrance? Not to mention the aura this man in front of them was exuding. They instinctively felt the urge to run. Should this man wish to eliminate them, there wasn't anything they could do.

"Greetings, Lord Luna. How can our small nation be of service?" Cilapu asked. Cilapu and Carlos were practitioners of Kali for many years. Skilled enough to compete and consistently meet each other in the finals of almost every tournament they both joined if they didn't face each other too early.

That's why they got along despite Cilapu being from Mactan, and Carlos being from Cebu. They would never back down from a fight.

Except this one. Just as they were waiting for a response, they saw someone exit Angry Bakunawa's maw again.

"Beautiful.." Carlos said the first thing that came to mind as he saw an otherworldly beauty walk up to Luna's side. Cilapu elbowed his side, urgently warning him through their nation's comms. "Relax, Carlos. We don't know his temperament. If he thinks you're hitting on someone that's obviously his woman, he might kill us both."

"I wouldn't worry about him killing us, this woman has the same aura as him. She's just as, if not more dangerous than him."

Sura noticed the two were sweating bullets so she decided to ease the tension. Albeit, she still had a stoic expression in her face, she assured them. "Gentlemen, I am Sura and I've come to make you an offer."

"We'd love to hear it, Lady Sura." Carlos replied while bowing, hoping that his comment earlier could be ignored if he showed a respectful gesture.

"You're aware that the rats in front of you are in the process of deciding who their Alpha male is going to be, right?"

"This.. we're not that knowledgeable when it comes to science, but I'm glad Lady Sura enlightened us." Cilapu replied.

"Are you aware that once they find an alpha, you're going to be next on the menu?"

"This.. We've considered it to be a possibility."

"Look closer. They're already trying to find a way in, if they don't, then they're simply going to pile up on each other and scale these walls. Luna here has a proposal for you."

"We'd love to hear it!" The two instantly replied in unison.

Their actions and hopeful expressions gave Luna the information he needed as leverage for negotiations: That he was their only option for escape.