Chapter 42
Hunting
Two small figures moved through the shadows of the military base, avoiding guards and cameras with expert skills. The soldiers stationed at the base were so certain of their security measures and overwhelming military might that none of them would ever consider the idea that someone would try, let alone succeed, in breaking in. This lax attitude helped the small infiltrators in moving unseen, although they still had to be extremely cautious. One slip would immediately have them noticed, which would be followed by the alarm ringing and soldiers swarming the place.
Lexton and Arkay were both currently moving together. They were heading for a point where they could break off towards their separate destinations.
After finding a pile of crates that they could hide behind, the two stopped there to take one last look at their map. The kobold unfolded it on the ground so that they could both have a look at it.
“Alright, so here’s the plan,” Lexton said as he began to point at certain spots on the map. “You head towards the vehicle storage. There should be something over there that you can take control over and cause some massive chaos. While you’re doing that, I’ll head over to the prison and use my golems and other trinkets to do the same there. Does that sound good?”
“Yes. But can I ask you something?” Arkay asked. “What is it about the prison that makes you want to go there so badly?”
“What do you mean? It’s in another spot of the base, so we can use it to divide Lune’s special guard better,” the kobold answered. “Isn’t that good enough reason for me to do this?”
“...That’s not the real reason,” the cat boy said, surprising his companion. “The moment you brought it up, your tone of voice has changed. Even the look in your eyes is different. So could you tell me what’s in there that is so important to you?”
“...I can’t. Sorry,” Lexton answered. “Just know that there is someone important for me there that I want to save.”
“That’s enough for me,” Arkay said with a small smile. “I hope that you’ll find the person you’re looking for and get out of here safely.”
“Thanks, Arnie. I hope you stay safe as well.”
With that the two ran off into different directions, their goals clear for both.
Making his way past the security, Arkay made his way to the vehicle storage. Using his invisibility again, he was able to get through a door that had an electrical lock on it. Now that he was inside, he could start looking for something to use for causing a distraction. It didn’t take long for him to find something that was perfect for it.
Before him stood gigantic power armors that were taller than most houses. Both arms had large gatling guns and missile launchers on the shoulders. There were a total of three of them, which was more than enough for the cat boy.
Climbing up a ladder that took him to a walkway that led to the cockpits of the power armors, Arkay got ready to perform his spell and take control of one of the armors. He stood behind one of the three metallic giants, as he took a deep breath and got to work.
Lifting his hands up, the cat boy began to cast his spell. Soon, silver light began to come forth from his palms, like a small glowing cloud. Like a gas seeping through every opening, the magic entered the power armor and began to take ot over from within. Sweat began to fall down Arkay’s face as he strained himself to take over the giant made of metal.
Suddenly, the power armor began to light up as it’s engines turned on. The takeover had been a success.
A couple of soldiers below had noticed the sounds coming from the machine. Confused as to why such a powerful war machine was suddenly activated when no one seemed to have been alerted to it, they began to loudly ask questions as to who was operating the machine. However, their questions fell on deaf ears, as the power armor soon began to move, causing the soldiers to scatter in a panic.
Luckily for Arkay, he didn’t have to remain in control of a machine he had taken over. He could essentially leave his magical energy into a machine and give it a simple command to follow. By doing this, he could leave it to perform whatever duty he had assigned to it and leave. The downside was that doing this required quite a bit of magic and could even prove dangerous, if he wasn’t careful. He could only give out simple orders, after all. If he happened to get in the way of a machine performing those simple orders, he would get killed just like anything else.
The cat boy wasn’t planning to stay close to the mechanical monster he had unleashed, though. With his job of providing a distraction to his friends fulfilled, he could run away and hide, hopefully as far away as possible from the chaos that was currently unfolding.
Climbing down the ladder from the platform, Arkay got a good view of just how much destruction he had caused and he felt cold sweat run down his back. Smoke and fire was everywhere, as the large power armor had gone into a complete rampage, shooting everywhere blindly with all of its weaponry. Screams of panic and pain could be heard between the sounds of gunfire and explosions, as the power armor continued its one machine war against the base.
Seeing the death and destruction he had caused almost caused Arkay to vomit. This wasn’t his first time using his magical abilities in such a way, but he had never done anything to this extent. He had never even seriously harmed a person before, let alone killed somebody. But now? With one action, he had essentially created a scene from hell itself and the realization of this made his whole body tremble.
However, he knew that this wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things. His friends needed him to do this, so that they could avenge the things Lune had done to all of them. He could cry about this later.
Steeling his resolve, Arkay left the vehicle storage, slipping away unnoticed due to the chaos. Just as he thought he had gotten away, he heard someone speak to him. And it wasn’t anyone he knew.
“Oh my, what do we have here?” a female voice asked playfully, causing Arkay to stop in his tracks and turn to where the voice had come from. “It looks like we have a naughty little kitty here, causing mischief.”
Before the cat boy stood two young women. One was a woman with very long black hair and a pair of dog ears on top of her head. She was dressed in a gray trench coat with a white shirt underneath it, black pants and a black bow tie, along with black high-heeled boots. For weaponry, she was wielding two long katana swords and had a pistol strapped to her side. Her expression was stoic and her eyes seemed to lack any emotion.
The other one had a spiky wild mane of blonde hair and was dressed in what looked like biker attire, which consisted of a black leather jacket, black pants and brown boots. On her hands were a pair of large golden gauntlets that covered her hands. She had a wide grin on her face that looked insane.
image [https://i.ibb.co/5Kq32CL/Ch-42-Pic-1.jpg]
Arkay immediately knew that these two were part of The Four War Maidens. His face turned pale as soon as he realized this.
“It seems like we need to teach this bad kitty some manners, huh?” the crazy blonde said with a chuckle as she cracked her knuckles, before turning to her partner. “What do you think, Blair? How long do you think he’s going to last playing with us?”
“Yin, you know the answer to that already,” Blair answered with a small smirk as she took out her swords. “They never last long enough for us to be satisfied.”
Back with Lexton, right after he had parted ways with Arkay, the kobold had made his way to the prison that was located in the base. This place didn’t hold ordinary criminals, but those specifically caught by the military. These included rebels, military traitors and other people that were deemed high-risk by those in charge. Getting sent here mostly meant that you would never live a single day as a free man ever again, as you would first be questioned through the use of some of the most brutal methods possible. If you gave the information the military heads wanted, depending on the case you’d either be executed right away or you’d get sent to a labor camp. Both of these were essentially a death sentence, but staying in the military prison was often seen as the worst option, as you would be continuously tortured until you would break.
The reason Lexton had come here was because there was someone he knew should still be in there. For as long as he had been in Moonstone City, he had used his resources to keep track of the people that were taken out of there, just so he could have a chance to break out that single person.
The person in question was Lexton’s father. The man who had taught him how to make weapons and armor, along with runes.
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Thanks to his father’s guidance, the young kobold had been able to get the skills necessary to start his own businesses. Unfortunately, before he could learn all that the older kobold could teach him, Lune had come into the picture. The general knew about the high-quality equipment the kobolds could make and wanted his hands on it. The general had asked Lexton’s father to write down all information in regards to runes and other secret techniques he had in manufacturing weapons and had offered an enormous amount of money. However, Lexton’s father knew that doing so would come at a great cost to his people. Not to mention, he didn’t trust the general at all. Because of this, he refused the offer.
This sadly led to a tragedy that would scar Lexton forever, as Lune’s men tracked down where he and his father were. It didn’t take long for the soldiers to attack them and take the older kobold prisoner, leaving his son all alone.
Gathering as much as he could from their ruined workshop, Lexton set out to start his own business in the hopes of earning money to free his father. At first, he had tried to be a legitimate businessman, selling only authentic products that were worth the price. This hadn’t worked out as well as he had hoped, as persecution towards kobolds was strong in the area, reducing the customers willing to pay for his wares greatly. If that hadn’t been bad enough, there were also those who took advantage of a kobold’s naturally weaker build and would rob him of all the valuables that he had.
Because of this, Lexton became very bitter against against other people that weren’t kobolds like himself. Going through the notes his father had left him before being taken away, Lexton learned as much as he could about runes and creation of golems. This led to him creating the products that he began to market to people, only to sell them completely useless junk instead.
With the money he had gathered, Lexton got his hands on as much information in regards to the military base his father was held in. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get much in regards to this and what he did get basically told him that his endeavor was fruitless. Eventually, he pretty much gave up on the whole thing, but remained in the area in the hopes of possibly getting a chance to fulfill his goal.
Upon meeting Erin’s group, the hope of possibly rescuing his father returned. And now he had gotten very close to actually making it true.
“I’m coming, father,” Lexton muttered to himself. “Sorry for making you wait for so long.”
Suddenly, a lot of the soldiers seemed to panic and start yelling, which was followed by sounds of explosion and gunfire. The kobold immediately realized that Arkay had started his part of the distraction.
“Wow, he went way above my expectations,” Lexton chuckled to himself, as he watched in slight awe at what the cat boy had done. “Well, I can’t just sit here on my ass. I gotta get to work as well.”
Taking four vials out of his jacket, the kobold poured their contents on the ground. Three of them were similar golems to the one he had used to defeat Ryle in the underground arena, while the third one had a lighter color. With his manufactured monsters released. He sent them out to cause destruction and chaos.
Two of the darker colored ones simply went to cause mayhem around them, catching a couple of soldiers off-guard, before the others began to fight against them. The lighter colored one went to the entrance of the prison, breaking down the door and moving inside the building with the last of the darker ones following behind. Before any of the guards inside the prison could do anything, the lighter colored golem blew up like a bomb, destroying the entire front lobby with it. There were still guards remaining, but the last of the darker golems soon came upon them.
With this, Lexton had managed to achieve his two goals. One was to cause a massive distraction, so that his other comrades could go after Lune. The other one was to secure entrance into the prison, so that he could go look for his father.
The kobold searched the bodies left behind by his golems and soon found a working key card. This would be the method for him to open the cell door to his father. He still needed to figure out where the older kobold was being held precisely, but luckily for him there was a way for him to do that as well. The computer used by the receptionist at the front lobby was still operational, so he could use that to access the prison’s database. After some searching, he found the cell his father was in and started to run towards it.
There were still some guards in the prison that were only now heading to the chaos outside, but thanks to their attention being drawn to the golems, Lexton was able to avoid them easily. It didn’t take long for him to locate the cell of his father and he was soon opening the door with the key card.
Lexton held his breath in anticipation as the large metal door opened and let him into the cell. The inside was pretty much what one would expect. There was a simple bed on the left side of the room, a toilet in one of the corners and a desk with a chair. Much to the kobold’s joy, a familiar figure was sitting on the chair with his body slumped over the desk.
“F-Father… It’s been a while,” Lexton managed to say as he struggled not to start crying, even as a couple of tears fell fom his eyes. “I-I’m sorry I took so long to get you… I swear I never forgot about you! That’s not why it took so long! This place was really hard to get to and-!”
It was during his explanation that the kobold finally realized something that made his blood freeze. There was a horrid smell in the air that was familiar to him. Not only that, but his father wasn’t moving at all. His body was completely still.
“...No,” Lexton said almost inaudibly, not willing to believe what his mind had just realized. “It can’t be… Please, tell me it isn’t…! FATHER!”
With tears falling freely from his eyes, the young kobold ran up to his father, only to confirm what he hoped wasn’t true. The older kobold was dead. And judging by the state of his body, he had been dead for a long time already.
“NO! NO! No! No…! No…” Lexton screamed in anguish with his voice becoming a whisper at the end. Falling on his knees, he began to sob uncontrollably. “I’m sorry… It wasn’t supposed to be like this. If I only had been faster…”
“No need to blame yourself too much. There wasn’t really anything you could have done,” a female voice suddenly called out to Lexton, causing him to look up. “Even if you had gotten in here a couple of years ago, it would have been the same. That kobold was already dead by then.”
The person that had spoken was a rather short young woman with white hair pulled into a long ponytail. She was dressed in what looked like a combination of a blue regal dress and a knight’s armor, as she had metallic coverings on her shoulders, stomach and legs. In her hands was a long staff that was made of metal with a shiny blue crystal on the end. She also had a cold aura surrounding her body and the gaze in her blue eyes could freeze you from the inside.
“You… What did you just say?” Lexton asked as he stood up. “What do you mean by my father being already dead? What did you bastards do to him!? ANSWER ME!”
“So vulgar… I see that your kind are truly the lowest of the low,” the white-haired woman said as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. “But seeing as you’re that thing’s spawn, I suppose it’s only to be expected. Too bad I doubt I can expect you to simply kill yourself, like he did.”
“He… What?” the kobold asked in shock. “You’re lying… You have to be! Why would my father kill himself!? He’s not someone that would be afraid of any methods you bastards would use for torture!”
“Are even your brains of low quality or are you just too stupid to see why?” the white-haired woman asked with a frustrated sigh. “While it’s true that he never broke under any of our questioning methods, he apparently changed his mind when he heard his son get mentioned. General Lune was planning to use him as a way to get to you, thinking that you would try to save him at some point.”
“My father… killed himself in order to protect me?” Lexton asked as he began to see what had happened. “So that’s why his body was never transferred… Lune wanted to keep up the illusion that my father might still be alive, so that I would actually come to him. And now I have played right into his hands…”
“Exactly. You’re finally catching on,” the white-haired woman said. “Now, will you surrender willingly or will I have to get rough with you? I’m sure General Lune would like to have you brought to him alive. I don’t even know why, as I doubt anything your kind could offer us would be of any use at all. Still, orders are orders and all that. So what will it be?”
“Oh, I promise you that what we’ve got to offer is far from useless,” the kobold said as he glared at the woman and got ready for battle. “In fact, you’re in luck. For the first time in my life, I honestly just want to kill someone, so you get to experience first hand just what my people are capable of.”
“So I’ll have to get rough then… What troublesome beings you kobolds are,” the white-haired woman said as she got in a battle stance herself. “Just so you know, I’m Schwarz, one of The Four War Maidens in service to General Lune. Now that you know who I am, you might want to surrender and make this easier for both of us.”
“That just got me more pumped up, lady,” Lexton said as he took out a vial from his jacket. “After all, it was my job to handle at least one of you.”
image [https://i.ibb.co/17CmK5b/Ch-42-Pic-2.jpg]
Meanwhile, with Erin and Ryle, once the two had heard the sounds of Arkay and Lexton causing chaos at their own ends, they started to make their way to the main building of the base. Thanks to the distraction caused by their friends, they were able to get there without encountering too many guards.
However, neither one of the two, especially Ryle, could help but worry about their two friends. The problem with being the one to cause a distraction was that all attention would be on you. Not only would they have the whole base looking in their direction, but there was also the case of The Four War Maidens as well. In the worst case scenario, either Arkay or Lexton might end up having to deal with all four of them at once, which no one in the group believed was something any of them could handle.
But at the end of the day, all of them had to take a risk and see through it. The success of their whole operation depended on it.
Despite knowing this, Ryle kept glancing towards the direction where the battles were happening. All she wanted to do was run there and see if the others were alright, especially when it came to Arkay.
“Ryle, I need you to focus,” Erin called out to her friend, having noticed her getting distracted. “You need to think about what’s ahead of us right now. All of this will be for nothing, if we don’t take down Lune.”
“I know that, goddammit!” the blonde cursed. “But how am I supposed to not think about Arnie or Lex right now!? Those two are basically taking on an army on their own out there! How long do you think they can survive against such odds!?”
“You seem to forget that both of them are very capable at taking care of themselves. Arnie is very good at hiding himself when he needs to, which allowed him to sneak into places that were about as hard to get in as this base. Lexton, on the other hand, has been able to go on screwing over the crime bosses of this city for who knows how long, which is something most wouldn’t even dare to think of. And need I remind you of how strong his golems are?” the redhead said before giving her companion an encouraging smile. “Trust me. Those two can handle themselves better than we can. Besides, we just need to finish up here and then we can go help them out.”
“I doubt you’ll be finishing anything here!” a voice called out to the duo, who stopped in their tracks. “Not while I’m here, that is!”
Before Erin and Ryle stood a girl in her teens. She had short bright red hair with a part of it pulled into a small ponytail on the side. She was wearing clothing made from leather, most likely in order to offer protection while keeping it light. She also had a red cape on her back, a red skirt, black boots and an eye patch covering her left eye. In her hands she was holding a long halberd where the blade was very large. Her face had a large grin on it that would have normally looked cute on a girl like her, but the insanity that shined from her lone eye made it more disturbing than anything.
image [https://i.ibb.co/8bYQdxN/Ch-42-Pic-3.jpg]
“I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting to be this lucky!” the redheaded girl said cheerfully. “I was certain that I would only get one person here at best, but I actually get to kill two! Who knew drawing the short stick was going to be lead to the best spot!”
“Who the hell are you?” Erin asked, although she could already guess the answer.
“You mean you don’t actually know me? That’s surprising! I didn’t think there would be any more yokels like you who don’t know about The Four War Maidens!” the girl said with a laugh. “But I might as well introduce myself. I’m Ray, leader of The Four War Maidens and your executioner.”
“We’ll see about that!” Ryle shouted angrily. “I doubt you’ll be executing a damn thing after I shove that pole up your ass and turn you into a human lollipop!”
“Hold on, Ryle! Don’t you know what this means!?” Erin said, stopping the blonde from charging at the redheaded girl. “If only one of those four is here, then that not only means they knew about us being here, but that the other three are-!”
“Outside hunting your friends,” Ray finished for Erin. “They should be done pretty soon, unless they decided to play with their prey a bit. Nasty habit, I know. But who am I to deny someone their fun? Especially when I enjoy it myself.”
Erin grit her teeth in anger that was directed at herself. The worst outcome for Arkay and Lexton had come true, as they were facing three powerful killers. She cursed at herself for not turning around back when they found out about The Four War Maidens being there. Had she only realized the level of danger they had put themselves at, she would have turned back and waited for a better opportunity.
However, this was the mess they were in now and Erin needed to figure out how they could get out of it. Or else they would all end up dead.