A second after, Felix headed over to Maria before collapsing halfway through, and straight down to the concrete. The accumulated pain finally took its toll while streams of blue electricity begin to manifest all over the cuts and bruises on his body.

Maria strolled over and squatted down next to him. Her face perched between her hand, “Where did that come from? I’ve never seen you act like that before.”

“Well… I was trying to picture the strength to overcome this, and um you… and well, someone else… came into mind at the last moment.”

“Ah… I’m flattered.” Maria said as she wrapped his black coat around him. “So now that the adrenaline rush faded, how was your first real victory?” She said tauntingly as she pressed her index finger on his face.

Felix pointed towards Beast’s body, and when she glanced over to look at the man’s head, she was surprised to see it was still fully intact. “You didn’t kill him?”

“I ran out of bullets.” He huffed as he glanced at her, “Hey, how are you unharmed?” He asked as he achingly put his black coat back on.

“Yes.”

“That’s not an ans—” Felix’s eyes widened at the sound of footsteps.

Her eyes sharpened as she yelled, “Who’s there?!”

Felix immediately aimed his gun towards the shadows to where she was looking.

“If he’s still alive, then I hope you don’t mind us taking him back with us. He’s fairly important, you see.” Said an unknown man whose eyes faced opposite directions. He appeared to be carrying a long cylindrical object made of metal.

“Over my… dead body…” Felix huffed out. There was no chance that he would let his prize — One of Jackal’s Fangs — slip out of his fingers.

But as he pulled the trigger on his black gun, his expression suddenly turned hollow. With no ammunition left, all that came out was a click.

“That’s fine, I could spare a minute or two.” The cross-eyed man said as a high-pitched ring emanated from the weapon in his arms.

The weapon didn’t escape Felix’s notice. It was black cylinder with patterns of circuitry on it. He recognized this — it was a weapon he had dealt with before.

A white stream shot out of the machine in his hands, lighting up dim-green parking lot with a blinding radiance. A sharp scream followed.

But the sudden burst was volatile and caused the cross-eyed man to misfire, narrowly missing the blue-eyed agent.

Maria tried to leap out of it’s way, but the ray of light was too fast for her. Her shoulder was scorched, her flesh glowing with a molten red as she collapsed to her knees, unable to soothe her red-hot wound.

The cross-eyed man struggled to control the weapon’s attack, but the recoil from the energy blast made it impossible to aim properly. He jerked it towards Maria’s direction, but before the beam could slice through her body, Felix appeared in front of her in a blue flash.

Enraged, he reached out his right hand, emitting a spiraling blue ether, “HOW DARE YOU HURT HER!” His voice muffled in a ghostly wail.

The glowing shroud that was capable of stopping a hail of bullets was instantly whittled down into a paper thin curtain. The white beam burned through his defenses and shot his entire body against one of the pillars. His mask fell off from the impact and revealed the agonized expression on his face.

And yet before it could stab through him, it stopped and scattered into white particles.

“Felix!” Maria screamed in a strained manner and rushed to his side.

“Blasted thing wasn’t even on full-power…” The cross-eyed man grumbled as the machine in his hands began to rapidly rattle, recharging.

“You’re gonna break it, mister Oscar.” Another figure emerged from the darkness, limping forward. It was a young man with bright orange hair and a tattoo of a star beneath his eye.

Through Felix’s bloodied face, he whimpered out, “Mo… ritz…”

The orange-haired man standing before was still badly bruised.

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“Who is he?” His partner asked, holding him.

The blue-eyed agent could barely utter another word, “H-He’s…”

“We still need that thing, Mister Oscar. Now c’mon, we’re retreating.” The jester placed his hand on the cross-eyed man’s shoulder. The ache in his voice was evident. He was still in severe pain.

“What are you saying?! We can take them out right here, right—!”

Before the cross-eyed man could argue any further, a knife had been thrown straight at the weapon, embedding itself into the cannon’s mouth.

With a metal thud, Oscar dropped the weapon to the ground, bolts of static began to spark around.

Moritz shielded his face as he flinched, scolding the cross-eyed man, “Dumbass! If that guy had the power to stop a blast from that plasma cannon, then it’s likely that woman does, too!”

The jester’s cold gaze then moved on to Maria, who, despite having a smoldering shoulder, stared with such hostility, it was as if she wasn’t even hurt.

“Look at her. If you hadn’t noticed, we only caught her offguard.”

With a harsh wheeze, Felix mumbled out, “So you’re… one of the mafia?”

“Nope, I’m just here to make sure the mafia, particularly Mister Beast and Mister Oscar here, doesn’t double-cross us.” Moritz invaded Oscar’s privacy and wrapped his arm around the man’s shoulder.

“Get your hands off me, clown!” Oscar shouted.

Felix gritted his teeth, asking, “Us? Moritz… who are you?”

“Who me? I’m just a regular ol’ college dropout, and… also one of Jackal’s Fangs.” The jester slyly admitted.

“So, he’s—?” Maria muttered as Felix shot back up.

“The last… of the Fangs!” The agent viciously growled.

“Wrooong! I’m not the last of the Fangs… I’m a new member!” Moritz put both of his index fingers to the ends of his lips to form a smile.

With each aching step, Felix pushed himself forward, his right eye shifting back and forth between glowing blue and unlit black.

He shakily lifted up his right arm to point his white gun. He noticed that his weapon was exactly where it should be, but not held with the hand that was supposed to carry it — Only a bleeding stump covered in burnt skin and flesh, and the fiery haze keeping the gun up in the air.

“Looks like you should get that fixed up.” With a wide grin, the orange-haired man taunted.

Felix’s confused expression quickly turned into a furious rage, and growled at the two of them.

Yet before he could take another step forward, his body was shot back into the ground.

“Felix? Felix, Felix!” The dark-haired woman cried out as she cradled him in her arms.

There was a sharp ring in his ears. His glowing blue eyes fixated on the gun in the young man’s hand.

Moritz muttered out and blew the smoke out of his pistol. “So, it looks like your superpower has a limit. That could be useful information.”

But the jester’s gleeful demeanor vanished when the enemy in front of him started to light up, “Huh?”

Beside him, Oscar asked in disbelief, “What the fuck is going on?”

Hazy blue shrouds manifested around Felix’s body, reaching the ceiling. His vision blurred as red tears muddled his vision. He could barely recognize Maria through the bloody filter as she desperately cried out his name, while the intense ringing in his ears blocked out her voice.

The criminals watched as the azure shrouds forming around Felix’s body coalesced into into a bright, burning blue dome. One that started beating.

“Wh-what?! A star? This must be apocalyptic warning!” Oscar yelled.

The jester stared for a moment as he wiped his own blood, “So that’s what Julius was warning us about…”

Oscar frantically aimed at Felix’s head, but as he unloaded his pistol, all of the bullets were caught in the sphere and was left spiraling along its blue orbit.

The transparent, azure force suddenly slammed the two criminals against the pillars, and dropped to the ground on all fours.

Fluctuating blue lights filled the air with a crushing intensity.

Another pulse followed, and for a split second, it was as if gravity’s direction had been changed. They felt their entire bodies being pulled back into the darkness. No, that was merely confusion due to how fast it happened.

What they felt was every part of their body was being pushed away, like a tidal wave crashing against them, they were subject to its fury.

More transparent blue waves began to rhythmically pulsate from the star, akin to a heart beating.

Felix’s body began to convulse, and appeared to glow from within. His flesh shined a bright red, while particles of light flowing across his veins.

“It’s now or never!” Moritz forced himself forward and reached the cannon crackling on the ground, but before he could grab it, a bullet shattered the concrete next to him.

As the shell let out a metallic clatter, the jester looked forward and saw that Maria was using her ornate gun, Proditor. A pitch-black gun identical to Felix’s.

“Get away from us.” She hissed.

The dark woman’s face was barely visible because the beating blue sphere, but her weaponized malice —her bloodlust, was enough to make them the two men freeze.

Overwhelmed, Moritz forced his mouth to speak, “That’s enough, let’s go…”

Refusing to be ruled by fear, the cross-eyed man grit his teeth and reached for the cylindrical weapon.

Maria fired again — this time, it wasn’t a warning shot.

“ARGH!!” Oscar’s arm exploded into a puddle of blood and viscera. That single round she fired not only destroyed the cross-eyed man’s arm, but also shattered half of the pillar behind him.

“Unless you want to die here, we’re leaving. Now.” The jester growled.

He pulled out a deck of cards under his fur-lined coat and scattered them in the air. The cards multiplied until it covered up the both criminals, before breaking into digital fractals and fading away. Soon after, Moritz and Oscar were both gone. All that was left behind was a single red joker card.

“Don’t worry. You’re strong, I know you’ll get through this. I’m here, Felix.” Maria grabbed her partner’s glowing red hand, which felt like holding a bag of boiling water.

Her calm words were barely audible to him. The only sound he could hear was his heartbeat and the sharp ringing that grew louder with each passing moment.

Sparks scattered out of his own face. His vision grew foggier as a flurry of blue particles spiraled in his right iris, painting everything with a coat of glitter.

In one last breath, he opened his eyes, and found himself floating in the sea. Above him, a horizon of endless stars.

~