As if time itself had stopped dead in its tracks, all the agents shifted their gaze towards the towering, monstrously tall parasite. It didn’t waste a single second and immediately lashed out.
The crash of metal reverberated in everyone’s ear as the parasite rampaged across the factory, ripping tubes and slamming its deformed fists into the assembly lines. No one knew what this parasite was doing here and especially didn’t know how to subdue it.
Suddenly, the parasite shifted its ideal: its bubbling black flesh grew more human features, sprouting human-like teeth across its disgusting mass; it grew mouths where its stomach would’ve been and large, piercing horns protruding from each joint.
Its many eyes looked directly at Vas; each eye was a different colour: one was blue, another was black, and the other colours were orange and green. They all stared at Vas; their eyes were like a whirlpool of shapes.
“Right, this isn't ideal!!” Vas shouted as the parasite charged towards him; he narrowly avoided getting hit the first time with a well-timed dodge… However, he wasn’t as lucky the second time. Before Vas could react, the parasite hits him yet again.
Hyunsoo led a charge against the parasite along with the rest of Silver Bullet; he weaved through each of the attacks made by the parasite with elegance, eventually driving his spear into its bubbling flesh.
Hyunsoo was skilled in martial arts; he was trained by his family from a young age. However, what set him apart from the others was his skills in making poisons; though called ‘poison,’ it was more like a corrosive essence.
As he drove through the parasite's flesh, it gave extreme resistance, desperately attempting to hold the spear off. However, with one final push of his strength, he drove it through, creating a puncture, then, the spear starting leaking the corrosive substance. Hyunsoo’s spear has a small opening on the tip and has a container on the handle; this allows his spear to inject the corrosion.
“YOU!!!” The parasite screamed as it writhed around in pain. “This one can speak?!” Vas stared in disbelief. The parasite slammed around even more, getting enraged. Spirals and more shapes appeared in his eyes as they all changed to a bloodshot red.
He stares at the carnage unfolding before him, the exhausted team starting to struggle against the parasite. “Hah, 5 against 1 and we’re still losing…” Vas gets up after he was hit. He gave his arm a slight move, but a searing pain prevented him from moving his arms. “Shit arm day...”
It was a losing battle.
Like what Hyunsoo said, while they did look like them, Vas realised that certainly didn’t hold the same power. Usually, Silver Bullet and Foundation reach a complete tie with each agent being down, yet this time they beat Foundation completely.
The parasite stood taller and roared; its roar was extremely high-pitched, causing them to hold their ears in pain. It charged at Foundation, crushing their agents under its mass. Pools of blood underneath were expected, but nothing was there; they disappeared.
Nothing added up.
He considers his options; sure, he could attempt to kill the parasite with his team, but judging from their appearances, they couldn’t fight any longer. He also couldn’t rely on Foundation as they vanished. That’s when he made his decision.
He would subdue the parasite himself.
Leaving the clean-up for the after team.
“The cleanup can deal with the aftermath. We’ve got to restrain this piece of—” Vas states before he gets interrupted by the parasite hurling a piece of mass towards him. The mass writhed and spread like slime mold. Then it formed new parasites.
Vas gets his radio out. “Requesting After Team and Medical,” he requested. “We’re done here; return back. I’ll restrain it; the rest can be left for the after team,” Vas told the rest of Silver Bullet.
Silver Bullet and Foundation were similar companies. Both were primarily assassination companies working under a loophole of “bounty hunting”, but there were two differences that set them aside. Silver Bullet had an intelligence agency named “Silver Eyes,” but the bigger difference was that Silver Bullet was much more organised. Unlike Foundation, Silver Bullet had a before and a clean-up team for the larger jobs. In terms of profit, they were both similar in size, but Silver Bullet secured a much bigger fund from government offices in Volara.
The After and Before team were vital to Silver Bullet; not only does the after team provide the cleanup, but they provide compensation to those affected. It was an easy way to grow a better reputation. The Before team was also just as important. Their job was to scout out the location and collaborate with any third parties before the main force arrived.
“Got it. We’ll retreat immediately. Don’t let it be too loose.” Illusion smiled as she escorted everyone back.
Vas didn’t have his samurai mask like last time, but he still had his sword, the black hilt reflecting the amber light of the factory; he gazed into his reflection and smiled back. “Yeah, I got it.” He flicked his sword down, eyes dead set towards the parasite.
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“Gotta lock in,” he muttered to himself.
With a slash of his sword and a gun in his grip, each parasite was easily sliced in half as he ran towards the parasite. It threw a barrage of punches, but he easily dodged them by running underneath; he ran up towards the parasite, his sword cutting through the main one. “Best way to kill these things is their brain... I believe,” Vas said as he strikes through the head.
Vas considered his battle plan for the parasite for a moment. While he had the Cathodic Authority, he decided to save it for when it’s truly needed. Vas believed he could beat the parasite without using the one-time authority.
Spinning the shiny gun, he shoves it into the parasite’s head and then pulls the trigger several times. Blasting it in the head. He dropped back onto the ground after having wrestled with the parasite.
“Yeah, to be expected.” He sighed as he gazed at the parasite. All its injuries had been healed before Vas could even see to his dismay. Its flesh started to harden, becoming even bulletproof, thanks to Vas shooting immediately.
He held up a bullet, a shiny gold and silver bullet with “Carve your own mark into this world” carved into the bullet in minuscule writing. These words were not only carved into the bullet but had also carved themselves into his own heart. He carried these words truly.
In one move, he throws the bullets in the air, watching them as they slowly fall in slow motion. He unloads his gun and catches the bullet into his magazine. “Swap.” Vas mutters. Upon the mention of those words, his whole demeanour changed.
Vas’ technique was able to “swap” things; the most common use for it is swapping techniques by wearing different masks. It was a powerful technique as it didn’t lock Vas to a singular technique like most people. Vas took his mask off and then delivered a powerful blow.
Vas formulated a strategy in his head after seeing what the parasite was capable of; its regeneration made regular attacks pointless, and it was also difficult to reach its head due to its behemoth size. He decided the best plan was to bring its head to the ground.
The best way of doing this was to collapse the second floor onto the parasite, hopefully immobilising it. This plan was built on hopes, but Vas knew that he could count on the after team’s impressive teamwork to assist him if he so failed.
With the plan inside of his head, he got to work. There were several pillars across the factory holding the second floor up, plus, according to the contract. They were to destroy this place, which means that destroying the second floor would only help their case.
“Boss, the after team is scheduled for thirty minutes. Should we deploy The Classified?” Someone on the radio came through. “Nah, it costs more than I'm willing to spend to use it,” Vas replied. “Gotcha, I’ll notify the after team.”
Silver Bullet was holding onto a classified technology that they appropriately named “The Classified.” Only Vas and the agents of all teams knew about it; not even the investors of Silver knew it, and VISC especially didn’t know.
Vas ran towards one of the pillars, the closest one and also the conveniently cracked one, and he delivered a devastating blow to it. The pillar crumbled upon the impact; the metallic material of the second floor creaked as it dropped closer to the ground.
The parasite let out a monstrous roar, shaking the entire factory. It charges at Vas again; without time to dodge, he takes the full force of the impact. It hurled him into another pillar. Vas’ struggles to get back up after the stress his back was put under.
He was forced to sprint away despite the searing pain as the next pillar began to crack, eventually collapsing into the ground, dropping the second floor closer to the parasite. “Four more.” He muttered.
For just a moment, it stopped moving and closed its eyes, giving Vas a chance to scan his surroundings.
There were four more pillars left, and then hopefully the second floor would collapse. This factory still felt off to him, like time was moving at an ever-so-slightly off speed, not slow enough to feel a difference, just to realise that something is wrong. Vas realised something as he looked closer: the assembly lines don’t have machinery on them. This ‘factory’ cannot produce anything.
“So it’s a decoy, was it?” Vas muttered as the dots clicked. “I see, Cathodic wanted us to come here to kill the parasite. When we killed ‘Foundation,’ they only bled the same colour as the parasite, so there were also parasites disguising themselves as humans… Filth.” He continued, relaying the same information into his head.
“Essence Technique, Diverging Change.” Vas mutters yet again as he holds up his gun towards the still-stagnant parasite. Combining his technique with the fire of his gun creates a supercharged bullet as the bullet swaps along with Vas’ technique. It easily ripped through the parasite’s flesh, even burning the wound.
Vas intended to swap to the burning technique; if he could cauterise the parasite’s wound, then it would prevent regeneration. It worked magically; the parasite began to writhe and cry as it roared with all its might.
“Sayonara, Parasite!” Vas shouted as he began sprinting for the other pillars; he used this as a prime opportunity to destroy the remaining pillars. As if it were a cartoon chase sequence, the parasite began running in tow with Vas.
Eventually, with one last strike of his sword, the last pillars crumbled. The entirety of the second floor began to fall, trapping the behemoth underneath it. Vas began to laugh as he walked up to it. “Heh. Size isn’t the only thing that matters; it’s the power too.” He says to the five-meter parasite. He delivers the final strike to its brain by plunging the sword deep inside and pulling it out, with the brain attached to the sword.
He laughed yet again, taking pride in what he had accomplished, but then he noticed something: the parasite was still looking at him… Then he noticed another brain inside the parasite.
It broke free.
Vas sprints; he runs with all his might, as long as his legs can take him. The parasite chases after him out of the factory. Vas stumbles with the radio before screaming into it. “DEPLOY THE CLASSIFIED, IMMEDIATELY.”
The expression on Vas's face began to worsen as he feared for his life; the parasite, towering over him like a massive shadow, was about to attack.
“Gotcha, deploying The Classified immediately.” The man on the radio replied.
Suddenly, as if the heavens came to answer Vas’ pleas, a single beam of light fell from the sky onto the parasite’s body, then dozens more blue lights began to pierce the parasite, obliterating it before it could even regenerate. Vas was plastered in the black blood and viscera of the parasite.
“Thank Celestia we have that.” Vas murmurs as he begins to walk away, though he stops when he hears a loud bang coming from the factory. He quickly turned around, worried that it might be another, but what he saw was not what he expected.
One of the doors that had been previously locked had opened.