X landed down on the ground. He stealthily scouted the office building, feeling no presence emanating from it.
“Strange,” he thought to himself as his teammates landed beside him.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Brick asked, looking towards X.
“I found no signs of any activity after investigating the office. It’s clear that they’re cooped up in the warehouse,” X explained.
“Perfect, I’ll go set myself up at the office,” Chimney stated, extinguishing his cigarette against his hand.
“No, get up on the roof, and engage them as soon as we open fire,” X smiled, “The rest of you, come with me. Me and Pretty-boy will be at the front, Brick and Vizor fire at them from the back. Use shields as cover. Let’s go,” X gave out orders as the squad approached the warehouse doors.
The warehouse building stood tall, constructed out of reinforced concrete slabs. It consisted of two floors. The first was a general storage area, and the second was made up of decks and catwalks, overseeing the first.
“Open up!” shouted as he kicked the doors open.
There were about 20 men stationed inside of the building. Phoenix stood on the second floor, surrounded by 8 of his comrades. A tall masculine figure dressed in a long gray trench coat, with long blonde hair and a bird- shaped mask covering his face.
“Open fire!” Phoenix ordered in a strong, commanding shout.
Suddenly, 8 turrets lit up out of the cover of darkness, covered by knight force-fields. Immediately, X’s expression shifted to that of frustration and annoyance as the barrels began to spin.
“Ordinus!” X screamed out.
“Denied, no demonic energy detected in your surroundings,” the A.I. stated.
“Shit,” X retorted in frustration.
Explosions suddenly went off, releasing a fraction of the wall from its supports, causing it to collapse behind the group, walling them in.
“Deploy shields,” X shouted.
Brick and Pretty-boy quickly picked up their round, badge shaped shields, deployed them into the shape of a half-cylinder and placed them on the ground in front of the squad. The turrets fired rounds with savage intensity as Phoenix looked on at the trapped knights as they squirmed, trying to survive.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Chimney, who was previously hidden in the very back of the warehouse, fired a shot from his rifle, directing it at Phoenix. However, Phoenix was too swift. He narrowly avoided the attack and whispered something to one of his men. The man picked up a remote and with a single press of a button detonated the area where Chimney was stationed. Smoke filled the interior. Phoenix’s men gazed down at the demon hunters with great destain as they opened fire.
Explosive and incendiary rounds were able to break through the squad’s shields with little effort. Without delay, X lunged forward and placed another shield in front of his team.
“Quick, get behind me!” he shouted to his men.
He crouched down as Calvin fired over him, giving him cover.
Suddenly, a grenade flew to the center of the group, exploding directly behind the shield, shattering it, throwing everyone in various directions.
“Carry a shield, she said,” X murmured. “That’s why I don’t carry a fucking shield around, Bec!” X thought as he attempted to pick himself up off the ground.
As he tilted his head, he saw flames surrounding him in a circle. His teammates were scattered all over his vicinity.
Calvin was launched to the nearby wall, bleeding out with his legs detached from the rest of his body.
Maddie was hanging on the same wall, empaled through the chest with a thick piece of rebar.
The only one still up was George, who was unloading explosives at the turrets before him, taking out their shields. He moved with great accuracy, zooming past bullets with his animalistic instincts. His face, calm and focused, with a single goal in mind – survive and return home.
“Open fire! Quick, while the Pale Reaper is down!” Phoenix ordered his men.
Before the men had the chance to shoot, Jebua appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He charged at Phoenix in an attempt to stab him with a poison dagger, but to no avail. Without a single speck of worry, Phoenix swiped horizontally with a knife, cleanly decapitating Jebua in a single attack.
Jebua’s head fell down onto the cold ground below.
“No!” X screamed in agony as the head of his companion rolled on to the ground towards him.
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The glimmer previously found in Jebua’s eyes disappeared, being replaced by a blank, vacant stare of a porcelain doll.
“So this is how I die?” Jeb wondered. “Captain, you have to survive,” he smiled for the last time as his consciousness faded out of existence.
“How pathetic!” Phoenix scoffed. “For a ‘great’ demon hunter to be decapitated by a simple knife,” he laughed.
“I’ll fucking kill you, I swear, I’ll fucking kill you!” X shouted with pure rage.
X got up, but before he could do anything to assist his comrades, George was shot straight through the head. His blood splattered the back wall of the warehouse, spreading in the shape of a wing as his lifeless body collapse of the ground.
“That’s for my brother, you bastard!” a man arming the turret screamed.
Phoenix’s plan was working perfectly. By coercing the family members of the contractors killed or captured by squad X to fight, he could avoid using demonic energy. And without demonic energy, X could not use his own demonic powers. Such was the flaw of the Ordinus system. Demon hunters were I’ll equipped to fight against human foes. After all, in the eyes of the city, the humans posed little threat. This created a loophole, a powerful weapon to be used against the unbeatable team of legendary demon hunters.
X looked up at Phoenix with rage so vast that Phoenix, even from his safe position up on top, could feel shivers going down his spine. X searched the pocket of his tattered coat but all of his weapons were destroyed. All but one. The blade given to him by Rebeca was still in perfect condition. And as the gunmen and turrets opened fire, X turned the weapon on, extending the blade into a curved single-edge saber. Thanks to his vast experience, X could intuitively tell, this was an exceptional weapon.
As a barrage of bullets flew at him X cut them apart in mid-air. This, however, was not enough to give him an advantage. He was acting like a barrier, protecting Maddie and Calvin from the impending projectiles.
“I’m done playing games,” X growled as he extended his mechanical arm and fired a powerful energy blast at Phoenix, destroying the shield he and his posse were covered by.
Because he had to keep still while aiming X got shot through the legs, but this did not slow him down. If anything, he kept getting increasingly faster. However, despite his speed, he was only able to remain on the defensive.
Soon another explosive was fired at his teammates, X had no other choice but to take the brunt of the impact himself. He was torn into chunks, his robotic arm was yet again destroyed, his right leg was blown apart, and his other arm was damaged so badly he was barely able to hold his sword. However, X was not worried. In his final moment of desperation, he smiled as the reaper welcomed him in it’s embrace.
“Finish him!” Phoenix gave the order and another explosive RPG round was fired at X.
Suddenly, X jumped as high as his damaged leg allowed him to. He sliced the RPG round and, as soon as his blade cup deep enough into it, he disabled his weapon, attaching himself firmly to the projectile. Then, using its momentum like a pendulum, he swung his body through the air, redirecting the rocket back at Phoenix.
An explosion echoed through the warehouse, raining fire and brimstone onto the ground below.
Phoenix received extensive damage, shrapnel pierced his entire body, scattering along his face, his right eye was no longer usable, his skin was burned and entirely disfigured. He stood up, leaning on the wall as he slowly regained consciousness.
This was not enough to kill Phoenix, far from it. His tenacity and determination rose as his injuries worsened.
“Shoot him, he’s almost dead!” Phoenix shouted out with all of his might as he coughed up blood.
But then, suddenly, X’s blade came in flying like a boomerang, decapitating Phoenix.
Phoenix’s body lit ablaze. A powerful white flame engulfed his head and body, forcing him back into a single piece, healing him in the process.
“Fuuuck!” Phoenix screamed, “Contractors, give covering fire. Everyone else retreat as soon as possible! Whatever you do, do not engage the Pale Reaper!” Phoenix continued giving out orders as his face appeared increasingly more scared.
“Demonic energy detected, host state critical, limiter lowered by 3,” Ordinus said in a robotic tone.
“About time,” X smiled while glaring at Phoenix.
Contractors fired magic projectiles of various elements all around. From wind blades, to stone bullets and fireballs, a wide assortment of attacks came flying towards X. However, that did not matter. Sparks filled the room, drowning out every other sound in their loud chirping. In an instant, X fired a powerful chain of lighting into the turrets, destroying them in the blink of an eye. His body regenerated almost instantly, twisting and turning back into it’s correct shape as bullets erupted from it dropping on to the ground.
X stood stoically as he looked up at Phoenix. “I wonder how many times I will have to cut off your head for you to actually die,” he contemplated.
Phoenix squirmed; his face contorted with fear. “I invoke!” He screamed out as his body became enveloped in fleshy, scaly armor resembling a demon. With long dark-red feathers draped behind his head, and a beak that formed covering his face. His jagged armor looked alive, like it was part of his body. Equipped with sharp claws and a bestial stature.
“Yeah, me too,” X grinned.
…
X opened his eyes and suddenly found himself in a strange, unfamiliar location. He was sitting down on the ground, in the middle of the street, surrounded by barricades made out of black minivans belonging to the Knights organization.
As X looked up, he saw a familiar face. Her name was Cassey, a black thin paramedic with curly hair and a gorgeous contagious smile. She looked up at him as she crouched down in front.
“Hey beautiful,” he remarked, rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, you’re back,” she responded, standing back up.
“How long was I out?” X wondered.
“About 2 minutes,” Cassey explained, writing something down in her notepad.
“How did I get here? Last I remember, I was stuck in a smelly old warehouse,” X scratched his head.
“You blacked out again, huh?” Cassey said, visibly worried.
“Yeah,” X looked down at the ground with a grim expression.
“Well, you apparently punched whoever you were fighting so hard they flew halfway across the city, well, 9 blocks to be exact,” Cassey stated before being interrupted.
“What about my team?” X wondered in a sorrow tone.
“Two deceased, two in critical condition,” Cassey swallowed.
X looked up at the sky, peering deep into the expansive darkness of space, a vista diluted by the lights of the city so much that the stars were no longer visible.
“So, what are you going to do now?” Cassey placed her hand on X’s shoulder.
“I’m gonna scout some newbies,” smiled, getting up off the ground and walked off, eventually disappearing into a crowd.
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