Kyrain jumped both of them to the guild...or what remained of it. It was half missing with a clean slice as if it was severed and disintegrated.
Kyrain heard the shouts and sounds of combat all over as warriors in black were engaged in fighting against different people in tactical armor. Bodies of both sides were strewn across the rubble.
There was a flicker of motion to his right that Kyrain barely saw in the corner of his eye. Without even thinking about it, he dove back and to his left tackling Nyx to the ground as a beam of sickly green light flashed through the exact spot they had been standing.
"Law dog....you're in the wrong spot! Better run while you still can. Once boss gets done with the guild master and some other person in black armor, he won't want your kind sniffing around!" A man said laughing to himself and causing others to laugh.
Kyrain looked up and zoomed in on the man's face with his mask.
He was dressed in tactical gear you could by at a military surplus store with his hands smoking with the same sickly green light from the beam.
Kyrain could see the aether levels in the many that accompanied this guy and knew they didn't have a chance. They were between Tier 4 and Tier 6 with this guy being Tier 6 himself. With both he and Nyx and Tier 7 they couldn't hope to beat them all. Maybe at tier 8 or 9 they would try, but they need reinforcements in order to succeed now.
Kyrain was about to retreat when an explosion of debris to his left caught everyone's attention and a large woman with blue short fur, four arms, weird long spikes on her back, and antenna slammed through a building and charged the group of people that were threatening Kyrain and Nyx, cutting down black armored warriors as she went. As she did, she was being chased by an extremely annoyed man.
"Damn it Miela! Why couldn't you just go around the building?!" He shoulded up at the woman who was now causing the group to scramble, but not near fast enough to avoid her massive claws.
Kyrain and Nyx watched in bewilderment as she began to tear into them. Paths flared to life, but for some odd reason they bounced off her skin and armor.
The man came up to the two who were just watching the spectical and taking cover from the other fighting.
"Sorry about her. She has the Genetic Experiment path and it for some reasons when she gets going, causes her to rampage. She really likes to destroy. My name is Adrian and that's Miela. She's really nice when she isn't in moster mode." Adrian said enthusiastically as if there wasn't a battle going on. He winced when Miela was sent flying by a bulky club user who smashed her in the side as she sliced through three of the bandits.
"What the heck is going on here?" Kyrain asked.
"The thrall and some other faction associated with the thrall are attacking and from what the guild told us befor the communications were cut..." He started and gestured to the half destroyed guild hall. "This faction is attempting to take control of the rifts for the aether access. Then as soon as they attacked the anarchists came in and tried to assert themselves." Adrian said.
"Anarchists?" Nyx asked dusting herself off.
"Some outlaw group from Ohio. They have been spreading, but always want access to the rift with unlimited access for strength gain. They were furious when the guildmaster laughed at them when they demanded all the cores the guild had. Their leader is who did this and I think there is a three way clash between this thrall faction, the anarchists, and the Wanderer." He replied.
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Adrian looked over at Miela who had gotten back up unscathed and was finishing up with the small group before looked back.
"You guys need to get comfortable with fighting. Apparently the entire world was plunged into a war all over. Don't hesitate. My dad did that back in Cali a few days ago mom said and ended up injured for a bit. I have to go, but be safe hunters." Adrian said as he started running and shouting at Miela who was throwing cars at the last remaining anarchists like it was a game of darts.
Kyrain and Nyx drew their swords and jumped to the highest building they could find and began to look around.
Kyrain was stunned. Everything was on fire or destroyed. Fighting was all over the town and city. He glanced at the hospital and found it smoking.
"We need to get to the hospital!" Nyx said as soon as she saw it. Kyrain nodded but was looking in the direction of the rifts as massive shockwaves were being created periodically. He zoomed in as far as he could with his mask and he could see his uncle fighting some woman with a half cape and claws and a man in tactical armor with reinforced metal gauntlets who was taking shots at both the woman and his uncle.
"We can't help Uncle Mitch. That fight is way above us." Kyrain said and opened a rift to the hospital.
It was chaos, but they jumped in. All kinds of weapons were being used, but as soon as a few turned and saw the masks of the hunters they shouted and attacked en mass. Nyx flickered and went solid again just as the bodies of the people charging them fell to pieces and Kyrain dispatched one attacking from behind.
The counter attack was so brutal and sudden that the roundabout they had jumped to went quiet for a moment allowing both Kyrain and Nyx to think about what just happened for the briefest of moments.
"Don't you two freeze up! Think about it later! Fight and live first! A voice shouted from above.
It was Mike and his son, also named Mike, friends of his mom and dad. Big Mike had worked with his dad when the US Army was a thing pre-bombs. They were finishing up throwing out the last of the thrall they had been fighting from the hospital entrance.
More thralls were flooding across the field to the hospital as they could smell the overpowering stench of blood and viscera. Nyx and Kyrain turned.
Kyrained tapped into his aether sense and located their cores. He only briefly hesitated before he crushed. Each of the thrall were below the fourth tier and it was a simple matter for him and the effect was instant.
It was like the strings of a puppet got cut. They all fell with hardly a sound, but they didn't get any sort of rest as shots began ringing out. A searing pain ripped through Kyrains calf and stomach. He reflexively increased the strength of his antimatter aura and bullets by the 10s began to stop and fall as their kinetic energy was drained away.
Nyx was already in action and moving toward the sound of the shots. It came from a few houses down where three anarchists were firing AK-47s. She wasn't a fan of guns and was even more grumpy when people began switching to the 7.62 round and bigger. The .233/5.56 and below fell to the way side not long after people figured out paths because they were not strong enough to do anything to people after tier 4, but the 7.62 and above still could. She dilated her own time more and moved as quick as she could.
The bullets around her were moving much slower and the reactions of the men were warning them, but they couldn't react to her. With her jian she severed the muscles and tendons in their arms before cutting their femoral, axillary, and carotid arteries of each of the men before allowing her time to resume at its natural pace.
Immediately the guns stopped, dropped, the men screamed, then gurgled, before collapsing to the ground in pools of their own blood.
Nyx turned back and went to Ky who was being seeing for injuries by a hospital nurse as Big and Little Mike kept watch. There was a wind barrier up as a woman with light colored hair that shared a resemblance with little Mike held up her hands and pouring aether into the barrier.
As she reached Kyrian another man rushed out of the hospital.
"We just recieved word. The Wardens are coming. The Dusens are pissed so much they are bringing the Wraiths with them." He said.
"The wraiths?" Nyx asked.
"Yeah...their sons." He replied.