Chapter 4: Checkmate

Erik barely overheard the conversation. He could have Leon moved closer. The surrounding buildings were perfect covers, but with Zeus there, it was incredibly risky. Even Victoria was beaten to an inch of her life. The churchly tunic, shredded and scorched, struggled to protect her tired frame. Burned patches of once-milky skin marked her shoulders and arms. She was in a sorry state, and so was her holy artefact.

Numerous fractures masked the silvery chains. They threatened to break it apart. Dell had informed him artefacts could be created through blood sacrifices. What was created could be destroyed. And from the look of things, the sacred weapon could no longer be used. Zeus had made sure of it. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on him, and his face showed no sign of exertion.

“Just how powerful is he?” Erik’s train of thought derailed when Zeus cocked his head towards Leon despite the later was in hiding. There was no doubt in his mind that Zeus could sense Leon. This was his cue to leave. He couldn’t afford to lose another unit pointlessly against impossible odds. As much as he wished to save the dying police officer and maybe the crazy nun, the chance of success was nil with Zeus nearby.

“What is this?” Zeus asked and took a step away from the men. “I thought you guys cleared out this area?”

“We did, sir. Aside from her, there shouldn’t be anyone left,” said the masked man Erik designated as Looter. He gestured at the police officer, who desperately gasped for her last breaths. Her hands pressed tightly onto the gunshot wound but blood continued to squeeze itself between her fingers.

Zeus paid no attention to the woman and eyed the row of shops. The presence he felt was gone. It had disappeared without a trace. A surge of unholy energy disturbed the area just moment prior to its disappearance. Such energy signature was familiar, and soon, a smile touched his lips.

“To think Luke’s little experiment produced someone who could create rifts,” Zeus spoke his mind. It was not possible to know what kind of power would manifest in an individual during awakening, and the ability to punch holes in fabric of reality was amongst the rarest.

“Will this be a problem, Adam?” a voice whispered into his ear, causing Zeus to look to the side with a questioning face. No one was there.

“How long have you been here, Rook?” Zeus asked the woman. Unlike the rift he sensed before, her dimensional shift was utilized perfectly. It masked her energy and presence even from someone like him. It made sense since she didn’t exist in this plane of existence, physically or otherwise. Only the sound of her voice was.

“Just now,” Rook answered from a parallel dimension. Her surroundings mirrored the real world, but it was dark and grey and devoid of life. “I’ve sensed it too. The portal is not connected to any point in space or time on this side. It couldn’t be a rift between worlds, could it?”

“If there is no exiting point,” Zeus pondered. “It might be.”

“Adam. If we have someone like that, we don’t need to break down the Wall.”

“This isn’t about invading other worlds. What Minus wants is an all-out war,” Zeus pointed out. “If a Demon Lord magically appears on Earth, what do you think those guys up there will do? They aren’t going to just sit on their asses and do nothing. Their powers and authority are being threatened after all.”

“Will the angels really descend?”

“Who knows,” Zeus said as he looked at the sky. A devious grin plastered on his face. “But you know what? I don’t mind the chance to roast some angels. They will burn up just like anything with wings.”

Rook shuddered. “You and Luke are crazy. You both are going to get smite!”

“Rook, we are Demon Spawn,” Zeus snorted. “We are literally spawns of a demon. We are going to get smite regardless of what we do. Our very existence is an upfront of them. But I’m not going to let them smite me just like that. Hell, if I could, I would break into the place and fuck it up as much I can before they take me down.”

“You want to break into heaven? I can’t believe you’re used to be a priest,” Rook said.

“When you spent your entire life serving him and carrying out his will only to have him forsaken you in your hour of need, you change,” Zeus said. His fingers rubbed a locket around his neck.

“Is that why you spare the girl? You’re going to turn her into one of us?”

“Wouldn’t it poetic to have one of their holy maidens the cause for hell being unleashed on earth?”

Zeus chuckled and turned towards the armed men. “The only place in town left is the hospital – go, get your corps and round up everyone there. Try not to kill anyone until you sort them out. Your last roundup has a few people that aren’t virgins. Tainted sacrifices will fuck up the ritual. I don’t need to tell you what happened when you fuck up a ritual.”

“Yes sir,” the men saluted and headed off. They ran several blocks towards the townhall. Outside the most prosperous building the town had, a red and white checker flag flustered against the wind. Half a dozen men stood guard and protected the symbol of their allegiance. “We are mobilizing!”

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“And where do you think you’re going?”

Hearing the question, everyone looked skywards. A person found to be resting on the rooftop. With his back against the wet tiles, he faced the cloudy sky. His blue eyes could not capture a single ray of sunshine even though it was morning.

“Boss,” one of the men responded. “Zeus ordered us to commence the attack on the hospital.”

“Zeus did?” Luke pulled himself up and looked down at the men. With a smile, he rolled off the roof and slowed his descent towards the ground. He landed gently. “Well then, don’t make me stop you. Just remember to have as much fun as you can along the way. Life is too short for anything less. By the way, take off the stupid mask. You’re ruining the point.”

“Yes sir!” the men took off their mask, revealing their faces. They were teenager, far too young to be enlisted into a battle hardened mercenary company. Their eyes showed experiences, however.

Luke snapped his fingers. “Before you go, where is Zeus?”

“Zeus is still at the police station, boss!” one of the men said. Another man headed into the building to alert the mercenaries of new orders. As soon as the doors of the townhall opened, laughter and shoutings erupted.

Inside the townhall were hundreds of men and women, drinking and chattering away. Some of them played cards with a pile of money they had relinquished from the civilians and shops. A few cleaned their gun and sharpened their knives in anticipation. But most were having fun with people they had caught and deemed unworthy despite their pleadings and screaming.

“J…ames… James!” one of the girls by the doorway grabbed onto the man who’d just entered. Unlike the moaning corpses lining the wall, she still had some fight left in her green eyes. From tangled hair caked with sticky substance that also coated her facial features and body, she hadn’t been left alone for long.

James looked down at the girl holding onto his leg. He immediately recognized her from school. She was quite popular amongst the boys, and like each of his friends, he would have done anything to go out with her. That desire was no longer on his mind. “June?”

“Yes, it’s me, it’s me, it’s June. Please help me, James! The town has gone crazy!”

James smiled and pulled away from her, leaving her in utter shock.

June tried to reach out to James, but the only thing on his mind was to seek out the company leaders and inform them the new orders. “Wait James! Don’t leave me here, please!”

Her cries for help fell on deaf ears.

Once James finally relayed the orders, shoutings and yelling flew back and forth across the crowded room as men and women quickly dropped what they were doing. Coins and bullet casings clattering on the wooden floor. The mercenaries dressed up and all filed out the door before lining up outside and forming into proper squads.

Luke was already gone when the mercenaries mobilized. He was several blocks away, whistling and turning a few nearby buildings into burning wreckages with incendiary grenades. He used a knife to pull the pin. “Nothing beats a demon life, killing, maiming people with my trusty knife.”

Luke stopped destroying the town when he reached the police station. There was a good firefight here last night, he recalled. They put up a bit of resistance against his mercenary corps. “Yo Zeus, what’s up? Tired of playing god?”

“I wouldn’t have to if you keep that idiot in check,” Zeus said from on top of a police cruiser. On the side of the car, a wounded police woman was bleeding out. Her eyes filled with hatred when seeing Luke, the man who murdered her colleagues in cold blood. Even so, she didn’t have the strength to voice her rage.

Luke leered at the burnt-out forest in the far distant. He shrugged dismissively. “I can’t do anything about that. You know how violent the awakening can get, especially those with elemental powers like yours.”

Zeus tilted his head slightly and recalled his own awakening. He didn’t remember the full detail as it happened so long ago. Flashes of knights roasted in their armour came into his mind. They screamed in anguish as their flesh melted off their bones by billions of volt of electricity.

“Point taken. What are you going to do with this woman here?” Zeus asked and tilted his head to the dying police officer.

“Her? Oh man, I’d totally forgot about her,” Luke said. A pistol manifested in his hand and it blew her head out, spattering brain matter against the car. The expression of shock froze on her lips as she fell over, dead. “She was a pretty good shot, you know. She managed to kill two of my men. I thought I might make something out of her.”

Zeus narrowed his eyes at the dead woman while ethereal mist seeped out of her body. This was her essence, spiritual energy – or soul some people would argued. There was a time that he would fight to devour such an insignificant amount of essence.

Luke inhaled the essence, absorbing it into his person as his eyes flickered yellowish. The pistol spun in his hand, using his finger as pivot before it faded out of existence. He cocked his head to the side and smiled at the woman standing there. She appeared out of thin air and had the same face as the dead policewoman.

“Sir,” the woman saluted and paid no attention to her dead doubleganger. Instead of the previous police uniform she had, she now wore a camouflage military attire with a matching backpack loaded with supplies. Slung around her shoulder was an assault rifle. Around her waist was a pistol. Like the men from before, she was packing a lot of heat.

“Go and join the others,” Luke ordered. “Remember to have fun, so kill, rape and pillage. And if you see someone you know, all the better.”

“Evil,” a voice spoke out as the former police officer headed off. “You’re evil.”

Hearing the voice, Luke scanned the area. “Rook is here? Wait, does that mean the trifactor is here?”

“Bishop, Knight and Rook,” Zeus remarked, referring to the three of them. He then got off the police cruiser and faced Luke. He stood equal in height with the teenager who many times his junior. “This is indeed a rare opportunity, but you’re the only black one here.”

“Right,” Luke snorted as a tear manifested in air near the police cruiser. A young woman in business suit stepped through the rift.

“Hello there, Julia,” Luke greeted. “You look as dashing as ever.”

“Stop that. It’s creeping me out,” Julia said, shivering. “I prefer to be called Rook at times like this.”

“It’s always business with you, isn’t it?” Luke commented and shrugged. “Well, whatever. My men butchered the cops, raped the news team, blew up the station, and rounded up everyone they could find in town. They probably didn’t do a thoroughly job though, but it’s good enough for what it is if you want to be picky. They are preparing to storm the hospital as we speak. It should give us enough people.”

Julia nodded and committed the information to memory. “I will keep Minus up to date without too much of the details. What about the recruitment?”

“Aside from fire maniac who wants to burn everything down, the rest ran off somewhere,” Luke said and casted an eye at Zeus and Julia. “Since Zeus cannot tell where they are even with his power, and no one should be able to leave the town, I think one of the newbies has a reality warping power.”