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Chapter 7
...
RE:ATTACK
Paladin Royce swam though a crowd of armed soldiers, pulled a plasrifle from the gunrack in the dark elevator bay of the landing ship. He pulled back the slide, chambered a [Heavy Plasma Round], and calibrated it to his HUD.
[Paladin Royce's Plasrifle +2: 2H Equipped]
His dark-skinned companion stepped up beside him. "This was not such a hard task, now was it?"
"Not now, Yana. We need our boys to focus before a mission, you shouldn't even be here."
"She can't be higher than Level 5, can she? Set phasers to stun." She mockingly stroked the barrel of his rifle, touched her lip, and wandered out of the elevator through a set of sliding steel doors.
Cooky bitch.
And the elevator suddenly dropped.
[https://i.ibb.co/CmXkWf0/paladin-royce.png]
Ω
Seiko was already running by the time the elevator pad had dropped from the bottom hull of the ship. Her gun was in her hand, the grip was covered in sweat. Her whole face was soaked with sweat. Her heart was thumping harder than she had ever known it could.
How did they find me? A new name, a new identity, a new planet... How did they find me!?
She heard the ground padding at her feet. She heard the ground padding beside her, jerked around faster than she ever had.
It was only Zark, running alongside her without even breaking a sweat. He still looked disinterested.
"What do you want?" Seiko hissed between her breaths.
"I want to help you, Palindrome!"
"My name is Seiko! Seiko!"
"Whatever your name is! I want to help you escape, and my help is on the way anyway, so... Let's hide!"
He grabbed her wrist, pulled them both toward one of the tents. Toward the elder's hut, they soon discovered as they plunged inside, nearly throwing themselves into the firepit in the center of the room. They both leaned back intensely, doing their best to balance away from the hot flames. Then they shared a sigh of relief.
Seiko shoved him. "They're tracking me! There's no way they won't find us here!"
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Zark looked at his watch. "Five minutes. That's how long it'll take Ava to get down here."
"Five minutes? That's too long. They'll eradicate this whole village by the time..."
"Three... No, two minutes!" His eyes widened at the watch.
"What? Make up your damn—"
A deafening crash through the wooden roof of the hut sent them both into paralyzed confusion, sent them both reeling in desperate prayers for their lives.
Seiko fell to the floor amidst the sudden rush of smoke and debris. She choked, gagged and coughed. Her eyes seared as she struggled to open them, struggled to look at her HP bar.
34/100 HP
What the hell... What the hell just...
She rolled onto her back beneath the detritus. She held a shaky hand up toward the light. The light... I can see the light...!
Then a silhouette. A woman was standing in the light. Soldiers hopped up out of the spacecraft all around her, grey-armored with red stripes along their helmets.
[https://i.ibb.co/KL7vLNR/yuze-nekomimi-very-short-girl-angled-up-from-below-smug-confide-7f88dded-29f9-460f-8c61-641a6f86806b.png]
"Avalacia Baphomet, at your service!" she shouted with a firm salute.
From some of the nearby debris, Seiko saw Zark's bloody hand make a shaky thumbs up and then collapse.
Are we... saved?
Ω
Royce had his scope up against his eye, his buttstock against his cheek, his body crouched up on one of the ship's gunner platforms. Breathe. Three. Two. One.
PSHOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW...
The gunshot rumbled through the air, air already littered with the sounds of battle. He could already smell that burning smell of plasma, almost like burnt food. It was hard to describe, sweet like candy, bitter like coffee. He had come to love that smell. He had come to love the smell of the fight, of the stinging, acrid air of war.
PSHOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW...
Another shot. Both had hit, both had ended the 'lives' of those unfortunate NPCs effortlessly. The soldiers were already rushing the rest with their vibroswords drawn, their plasguns and plasrifles live and hot.
I've come to love this place. The battlefield. The one place where you can feel adrenaline with no limit.
PSHOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW...
Another crack of the rifle. He pulled the bolt back, pushed another plasma round into the rifle. Plasma rounds burned heat; one round could hold multiple shots. Three per round, in the case of his rifle. And these are the most powerful rounds anywhere in the galaxy.
His scope-eye widened slightly, then narrowed. He opened his spare eye.
Avalacia. So we meet again.
PSHOOOOOW.
PSHOOOOOOOOWW..
PSHOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW...
Three shots interrupted by the next, each weaved around by the woman dashing at him. A woman in a black jacket, a black hat, a short blonde haircut. She slid around the battlefield like a dancer, easily dispatching the attacking soldiers in singular subtle movements as she went. I love the battlefield. But, boy: I hate her even more.
Royce stood and threw his rifle aside. He drew an empty and cold steel hilt from his waistband. A blade of burning light exploded from the handle. He held it before himself.
Avalacia, still sprinting at him, drew a steel saber from her own waist. She'd come prepared, this time.
Royce threw his heavy jacket off into the wind. It caught the gust, lifted up high on the current of air... And then it fell.
And Royce leapt down with it.