Chapter 16

A great, many things

Felix was on the brink of collapse while dragging himself in search of Maria. He supported himself on the walls to keep upright, while a current of blue electricity streamed from his wounds, slowly patching himself back together.

He took a deep inhale; his breathing was slowly starting to steady.

Suddenly, a chain of explosives was set off from the lower floors. The entire hallway he stood on rumbled, and he nearly staggered, and would have fell on the floor had he not tightly clung on the walls.

As soon as they halted, he pushed onward to the source of the sound as he slowly got faster.

Desperate screams echoed from inside the parking lot, followed with the sound of consistent fire. Shells one by one fell to the ground after consistent fire, yet a knife still danced and twirled, its black exterior illuminated by the ghostly green glow of the lights.

“Wait, stop! I’m on your side!” A voice screamed out.

A figure dressed in black and riddled with knives walked back and pleaded with a frightened expression.

“Are you done with your attack?” A silhouette walked closer.

“Please! Stop!”

“No more explosives or bullets?”

“This was part of the mission! Stop!” The shrieking voice gargled on blood.

“It doesn’t matter… at this point you’re really just collateral.”

“Disengage! DISENGAGE! THE TREATY—” Desperate cries echoed in the halls of the empty lot.

Blood streamed down from Maria’s face, seen through the blurry vision of a broken man on death’s door.

As she put her hands on his body, his arms and legs twisted in ways that the body shouldn’t; Like cloth that was wrung tighter and tighter until it bled.

He thrashed about in agony, left to right, right to left, while clinging tightly onto his fleeting consciousness. Yet his loud screams turned smaller until they were only soft squeals.

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With uneven breathing, Felix arrived at Maria’s location, “M-Marie, are you alright?” He asked, but all he could see was a blurry figure ahead. It was a vague silhouette, but he could tell that it was the body of his partner that was in front of him.

“Of course, I am.” Maria responded with ragged breaths, which confirmed to him who it was.

He dragged himself closer, and the damage became more visible. The dozens of explosions had left several dark marks and rubble in the room. His hazy vision began to clear up, and the effects of grenades and explosives could be seen all around the space.

Felix found himself standing in an indoor parking lot and spoke, “I… heard a lot of explosions from here, so I thought that you might have been in trouble...”

“Aw, look, he’s worried about me.” She looked to him with a cheery smile, her face was covered in blood.

“Your face is…”

“Oh, don’t worry. From the looks of things, you’re the one in bad shape.” She answered as she wiped it off.

“I see, so then—” As he got closer to her, his tongue halted as he took notice of the figure on the ground. Felix’s contrasting eyes focused on the strange figure lying down on the ground. “Wh-what— is that... agent Petrichor? What happened?”

“He tripped.”

“I-into your knife?”

“… Yeees.” She answered in a long, drawn-out voice.

As he took a step closer, the sickening sight became clear. His vision focused on the disfigured, mangled limbs of the ex-Elite Agent. It took a moment for it to sink in.

Whether it was from the pain of almost being riddled with bullets, or from the sight before me, one of these caused my hands quiver.

I needed to compose myself in front of her. But as she turned to face me, I felt my skin go cold.

Killing people should be natural to us, but this is…

The blood dripping from Marie’s cheek wasn’t from a struggle — It was from a one-sided massacre.

Agent Petrichor’s body was mutilated beyond recognition, and yet she had an unfettered smile the entire time.

Felix swallowed the bile that crept up his throat while he tried to force out words through his throat, “What… what is wrong with you?”

The flickering green light of the underground buzzed eerily as she answered in a soft voice. “A great, many things.”

The wideness of the indoor parking lot made her quiet, cheery voice echo. A cold-sweat dripped down Felix’s face.

Killing should be all too normal for people like us, people of the agencies, agents and criminals alike. But… this...

Felix moved his gaze away. Maria’s own eyes widen for a moment as she realizes.

“S-sorry if this looks awful! I guess that I just turned out better with knives than he was with guns, and well, I might’ve gotten carried away~” She remarked with a scatterbrained smile, with her eyes closed and her tongue stuck out.

He could not find the words to respond with. Though she tried to deflate the tension with her words, Felix was unable to peel off his gaze from the mangled corpse in front of him.

“Lookie what I got.” She lifted up a black, drive-like device. It was the second piece of the Matrix Key. “He really did have a key fragment on him.”

“R-right…” He replied, trying to cough up words.

“Anyways, we need to keep on our guard. Apparently, there’s a Jackal’s—”

Three shimmering lines cleaved through the thick air.

Maria ducked the attack, but her body was sent flying by a kick that followed after.

“MARIE!” Felix cried out as his partner crashed against one of the concrete pillars.

“Don’t worry about someone else!” A large figure shouted out.

~