As Axel struggled to suppress the distracting thoughts caused by the grotesque entity, other human operatives began to arrive at the scene. Some descended from the sky, others came on foot, and a few emerged from the depths of the sea, resembling a congregation of humanity's heroes.

  Amid the chaos, they spotted a red flash, it was the gunner who had assisted them a few days ago. He perched atop the tallest tree and fired shots into the night sky, each round bursting into vibrant colors.

  Silence gripped the scene as no soldiers exchanged glances or spoke. Each operative held their defensive positions with eyes scanning the surrounding darkness.

  Suddenly, Sprayer One threw a grenade in all five directions of the forest, it glowed with an iridescent green that exploded into clouds of smoke that obscured all senses, enveloping all the operatives present at the scene. A kilometer above, Axel and his team watched intently, tightly holding their gear while the Fairy team readied their weapons in case they were needed as additional reinforcements.

  The little arcanists and Phoenix also stared at the scene with wide eyes as they could detect energy presences that lingered in the air, their eyes filled with profound horror as they saw how strong the worm-like creature was. The little girl couldn’t help shedding tears, thinking these men below were in danger. She stared at Fairy 001 with pleading eyes, but she ignored her and watched the scene coldly.

  As they witness everything unfold, the men and women, started to close their eyes, then they moved instinctively toward their designated area as if they were commanded how to be in that location. The creature became disoriented and lost track of their movements as it was also affected by the smoke.

  In the chaos, Sprayer One unleashed a relentless barrage of gunfire, targeting the operatives on the ground. They were completely stripped of sight, sound, smell, touch, taste and yet, as if it was a play, all the men participating knew what was going on. As the bullet struck, instead of bringing them harm, it gave a silent signal that ignited within them, allowing a fleeting return of their lost senses.

  In that moment, they were propelled into an extremely heightened state of awareness. Instinctively, they redirected their aim toward the towering worm-like structure looming ominously in the middle of the forest. Shots rang out in all five directions, creating a symphony of destruction orchestrated by a grand maestro.

  The worm-like structure, resembling the sinuous tail of a lizard and adorned with multiple fly-like eyes, jerked violently as it received a relentless barrage of futuristic disintegration beams from thousands of operatives from their Winston. Each shot struck with devastating precision, vaporizing its grotesque form in bursts of brilliant light, sending plasma into the air due to the non-stop barrage.

  The massive eye on the top of its head looked around erratically, yet to be affected by the barrage of bullets as if protected in a forcefield, its body regenerated in an astonishing speed, root like tentacles remold its missing flesh in a blink of an eye.

  As the barrage of bullets continued, the hundreds of thousands of eyes that dotted its body, a crucial part of its form, could not heal properly as a bullet would hit it after the next forming a cycle of annihilation.

  It was desperately trying to find the danger as the cacophony of destruction reverberated across the battlefield. The forest has now been reduced to cinders due to the heat of the plasma the weapons regenerated. The operatives moved with lethal coordination, seeing it only had a few thousand eyes left on its body. They were determined to bring the monstrous tower crashing down.

  The creature was alarmed that its smaller eyes were now reduced to a mere thousand, it planned to emit a horrific, echoing cry, a last, desperate plea for help aimed at any organism that could aid it from its impeding doom.

  It sought aid from the simplest viruses to the trillions of hives of its kind dwelling in the void, eagerly awaiting its signal for new lands to conquer. The cry could reach billions of light-years, transcending spacetime itself.

  But just as the cry was about to surge forth, it was met with overwhelming resistance. The operatives started interfering with the weather as lightning flashed in jagged arcs, and tornado winds howled, creating a chaotic cover that masked the battlefield. The relentless hum of frequency scramblers filled the air, planning drowning out the creature's desperate call and saturating the environment with a deafening roar.

  Jamming devices surrounded the area, ranging from the simplest radio jammers to quantum entanglement jammers, to the latest spacetime jammers capable of making spacetime extremely turbulent and chaotic. This comprehensive array spans the entirety of human technological development. Together, they erected an impenetrable barrier that prevented its signal from cutting through the void to reach its allies.

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  Stripped of hope, the creature braced for its inevitable demise, sinking deeper into despair as it realized it was truly alone and unheard, the timeless fabric of the cosmos indifferent to its plight. In its final moments, even as its senses dulled and it could no longer see, the creature seemed to project an overwhelming sense of rage towards the operatives standing before it, even if it could not sense them.

  It was primal anger, a final protest against the universe that had abandoned it, as if it sought to challenge the very fabric of reality itself in a desperate bid for acknowledgment. The operatives, fully aware of the creature's torment, felt a chilling awareness of the shared struggle for existence. As its rage started to subside in the air, the flesh of the grotesque being started to harden, signaling that its life came to an end.

  After a moment of silence, the rain that was created by the operatives started to clear out the smoke and dust. The tornado and thunderstorm subsided, receding like a passing wave along the beach. The operatives of Team Comet 01(Axel) beheld an otherworldly sight. It was a structure reminiscent of a human brain, shaped like a pine tree and gleaming with crystalline beauty, resembling amethyst carved by the finest artisans.

  Without a word, the operatives swiftly collected their share of the spoils. One by one, they retreated into the shadows from which they had come, remaining silent and devoid of chatter, greetings, or acknowledgment. They had eliminated the jammer that had hindered the operation of humanity, and in their stoic efficiency, they vanished into the night, leaving behind only an eerie silence.

  As they surveyed the area closely, the vicinity just outside the range of the green smoke was littered with the corpses of the huechromixix operatives, their eyes still open in shock, having died a dog’s death, unaware that such manpower was present at the scene. These operatives seem to have heard the commotion and planned to take advantage of the chaos to ambush the spearhead of the mission to protect humanity.

  “How has humanity truly prospered to reach such a state of harmony, entrusting oneself completely to another? This goes beyond mere brotherhood! It is the understanding that each person is an extension of oneself.” Wong analyzed as he was awed by how the operatives have executed such a creature.

  Axel, who had witnessed the scene, couldn't shake his frustration about his performance during the mission. He remembered the saying of one of the instructors at the military academy.

  ‘There is no ceiling when it comes to improving oneself. The only limits are those you impose on yourself.’

  He once subscribed to the notion that the human body was governed by fixed constraints, with each person's growth and development ultimately capped by a predetermined threshold of age or ability, the scene that happened in front of him proved otherwise.

  Determined not to let his negative thoughts lead him astray, he made a mental note to ask Fairy 001 to teach him more about how missions were executed. He wasn't the kind of chauvinistic man who would hesitate to seek help from a woman, especially one who was an expert in her field.

  As everyone present at the scene left, including Team Spearhead, Axel and the rest of his team gathered the remaining loot that had been left behind. They worked efficiently, collecting every DNA specimen and the weapons left behind by the opposing operatives, even though they weren’t sure if it would sell for some coins in the trading platform.

  The teams that participated in the orchestrated barrage were all veterans who understood that it would be more beneficial to leave some spoils for the recruits, fully aware of the presence of Team Comet. They were not there for personal gain because their true mission was to carry the banner of humanity and stand as guardians against the extraterrestrial invaders.

  As they finished, they collected about three thousand orange lizard specimens and even got five from the huge worm-like creatures. Axel offered some of the spoils to the ladies, but they declined, stating that they didn’t need any more of those.

  Alex and his team weren’t shy at all, they knew they were recruits who needed to grow stronger. Even though they could think on their feet, they felt the gap between themselves and the other operatives. As people aspiring to become pillars of not just a country but the entire human race, they needed every help they could get.

  While the group rode back to their horses, they noticed some men dressed in black formal attire, hard at work along the path. These individuals were preparing props, meticulously tying together crocodile skins and adjusting the wings of a condor to create a bizarre amalgamation of bird and reptile. They also took time to plant trees, skillfully rearranging the landscape to support the fabricated narrative of a dragon raid.

  As they labored, they made a point to collect any items from the site that looked suspicious, even a miscolored leaf was gathered, leaving nothing behind to hint at the presence of the spacetime operatives that just had a huge operation on the area.

  This unusual sight made it clear that while these were ordinary men, however, their work carried extraordinary weight. Officially known as Cleaners, they represented the origins of what we know today as the ‘Secret Service.’ Their role extended beyond mere protection and service to the people, they were primarily tasked with concealing secrets, showcasing the multifaceted nature of their duties.

  These men sought no recognition, they went about their tasks with quiet diligence, completing their work as if nothing unusual had transpired.

  As Axel's team passed by, they offered a silent salute in their hearts to these brave men. The Cleaners nodded in acknowledgment and expressed their gratitude to Axel's team for their service to humanity, fully aware that they needed to operate as a perfectly tuned machine to drive the wheel of progress for the human race.