Northern Region of the Deadlands: 936, December 31st, Monday, 3:30 AM.
“Nothing we can do then?” Scott asked, resting his head in one fist as he sat in front of a steel made weapon crate.
Next to him were Eric and Tori, sitting in their own chairs in front of the large metallic box. Surrounding Bloodhound was the crimson fog and the many officers from Cerberus, with some of them resting nearby while the rest kept an eye around the perimeter—alone and stranded within the hellish zone.
“A-at least it’s not as cold as before…” said Tori, resting both hands in her thighs as she smiled with furrowed brows.
Eric let out a short sigh before turning his gaze towards a large tent that was installed nearby, guarded by two soldiers with rifles in hand. “How come we are not allowed inside?” asked the noble.
“Well… only high-ranking officials are permitted to enter.” Scott explained. “And the lieutenant, of course.”
“We’ve been here for over an hour now…” commented the young redhead. “Can we really not make contact with HQ?”
“Nop… let’s just hope we don’t run out of food or something.” Scott slammed his forehead on top of the crate with a groan.
Suddenly and without a word, Eric stood up from his chair while keeping his eyes fixed on the large tent, prompting both Tori and Scott to follow. The trio stood firmly as they watched their lieutenant emerge from inside the heavily resistant fabric shelter, wearing a displeased expression in her face as she walked towards them.
“Lieutenant?” Tori was the first to speak, watching as Claire stood in front of them with crossed arms.
“We are heading back,” she informed her team, which caused them to flinch in surprise.
Eric took a step closer to her, raising one corner of his lips with lowered brows. “What? Just like that?” he said.
The lieutenant nodded in confirmation, proceeding to explain the situation further. “Just like that… apparently the specters had retreated, and the south is no longer at risk. Some units will still be sent, but our objective now is to find a way out of the Deadlands.”
Scott almost jumped off the ground in shock at the news, pushing the bridge of his glasses to prevent them from falling. “Wh—really? How did they even pull that off?”
“At least that’s good news…” Tori chimed in with. “But we are still trapped in here… have you not found a way out, lieutenant?”
With a small grunt, Claire covered her mouth while lowering her head with pensive eyes, making her team gather around her quietly. They waited for a response from the young lieutenant in silence, and their expressions lifted immediately once her eyes met theirs.
“No,” she answered, which crumbled the group’s spirits. “Sorry, but my spectral gear stopped working a while ago… I still don’t understand why.”
Bloodhound let out an exasperated sigh in frustration, dropping their shoulders at the news. Although highly trained to operate in the Deadlands, the gloomy and strange weather of the region, as well as the constant threat of the specters had lowered the moral of Cerberus’ officers—lost in the middle of nowhere with no way of contacting the outside world.
“You could let me take a look at it,” Scott suggested, pushing the bridge of his glasses, and lighting up their lenses with a bright light.
“Stop doing that.”
“But can I take a look?”
“I can’t bring them out,” said the lieutenant. “After arriving here, they just… disappeared.” Her voice, while calm as usual, revealed a small hint of worry in its tone, proven further by her furrowed brows and clenched jaw.
Tori walked in closer with a bright smile, clasping her hands together in support. “I’m sure they are fine,” she said. “Maybe they just need to charge?”
“Yeah…” Claire returned the smile.
With no options left but to wait, Bloodhound sat around the large metal crate while utilizing its surface like a dinning table. Each one of them happily enjoyed their filling breakfast early in the morning, prepared with scrambled eggs, toast and bacon. Both Scott and Eric took a hot drink of coffee to accompany their food, while Tori decided to go for a bottle of strawberry yogurt, with Claire choosing her favorite drink of all time—water.
Their conversation consisted mostly of casual talk despite the terrible situation they found themselves in, taking each other’s minds off the Deadlands during their free time. Time passed with no activity from either the demons or the slumbering hellish zone, and all stationed units in the area became more paranoic as time went by, with silence becoming just as deadly as the intimidating growls of the demons.
With her team satisfied and ready for action, the lieutenant took Bloodhound further into the zone to scout their surroundings—returning to the starting point regardless of the route taken. After many failed attempts to discover a path forward or back to HQ, Claire and her team returned the vehicle as fuel began to run, reporting nothing new to the stationed units around camp.
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“Sorry…” Scott apologized. “I tried to draw a map on the way, but I got confused and now it looks like a maze from the newspaper.”
Tori frowned with her lips pressed together while looking at the sheet of paper in her hand, showcasing a mess of knotted lines connected together in a horrendous maze that covered the entire page. “Y… you tried, Scott….”
“This is getting out of hand,” Eric expressed with lowered brows, moving his eyes to look at Claire. “If you can’t use your gear, and we stay sitting ducks out in the open, it will be a matter of time before we are ambushed by the specters again. I don’t want to repeat what happened last time.”
“I know…” the lieutenant replied through gritted teeth, though her expression would quickly shift at a strange whisper brushing her ears. Her brows raised at the cold shiver running down her spine, turning her neck to face the deep shadows of the Deadlands that expanded further towards the center.
“Lieutenant?”
“I thought I heard something…”
“Signs of insanity?” Scott asked while fixing his glasses, earning a quick glare from Claire as she angrily glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “It was a joke…”
“Bloodhound!” An officer from Cerberus called out to the group from the distance, waving his hand at them to quickly get their attention. “We made contact with headquarters! The boss wants all of you on the radio!” the young man happily reported.
The pleasant surprise brought a smile to Bloodhound’s members, prompting their relieved faces to turn towards their lieutenant. With a quick hum and a determined nod, Claire gave the order to her team to immediately make their way towards the main tent of the camp.
She walked behind her team with a distracted mind, turning to look behind from over her shoulder, and once again settle her gaze in the depths of the Deadlands. Her eyes noticed the bright glow of the azure ring wrapped around her finger, a light eager to dwell deeper into the hellish zone, as if begging to return to someplace, or someone.
Near the Center of the Deadlands: 936, December 31st, Monday, 3:30 AM.
Drenched in sweat and blood while covered in dirt from head to toe, Ninigi was forced to retreat one step at a time as the animalistic advance of his opponent left little to no openings for him to exploit. The champion’s flowing vest and shirt had been turned to rags, and his messy light brown hair flowed down just above his shoulders without its tie.
The expressionless daemon he fought threw one punch after the other at every chance he could, aiming for his head, torso, and even limbs when possible. Ninigi, while able to protect himself from his attacks, struggled to counter his foe as every strike he blocked echoed furiously across the region—causing great exhaustion due to the sheer strength behind every attack.
“Ngh… I just need to hold him off.” The knight thought, hiding behind his crossed arms to fend off the daemon’s punches.
The corrupted knight successfully landed another strike on the champion, which forced him to slide away through the dirt. Though the trail of dust created by his feet allowed Ninigi to find the opening he had been looking for during the fight, utilizing his superhuman speed to vanish from the eyes of the daemon in just a fraction of a second. The corrupted knight waved his arms around in order to disperse the cloud around him, disoriented at the sudden disappearance of his opponent, leaving himself open for his adversary to strike.
Ninigi approached him silently from behind despite the absurd velocity of his movements, grabbing the daemon’s ribs with one hand before shattering his bones with a simple push of his thumb against them. The expressionless knight twisted his body at the crunching sound of his ribs snapping in half, stumbling sideways as it struggled to maintain its balance.
“Grr…” a low grunt escaped his lips.
Not finished with his assault however, the champion made use of the advantage and swiftly spun to strike against the other side of his foe. He pressed his fingers together with an open hand, crossing his arm under the other to reel his next attack, and strike at the daemon’s ribs with the edge of his palm.
“Grh!” Another grunt escaped the corrupted knight, as the other side of his ribcage burst into tiny shards on impact with the champion’s attack.
“I can end this…” Ninigi said in his mind, rapidly jumping in front of his staggered opponent.
He gently placed one hand on the man’s chest, activating his artery network with a stream of azure light that flowed within him. His energy surfaced through the pores of his skin, and began to crawl into the daemon’s body with an electrifying pain that caused his body to shake. Before the champion could declare victory however, the daemon furiously took a hold of his wrist with a strong grab—almost tearing Ninigi’s tough skin with the pressure of his fingers alone.
“…!” the knight flinched in shock at the sudden reaction from his adversary, forced to remain in place while trying to pull away.
Ninigi proceeded to thrust his palm forward against the corrupted knight in an attempt to break free, but the indominable daemon reacted by forcefully throwing his head backwards, successfully avoiding his attack. Flinging it back forward, the champion’s opponent commenced its offensive with a powerful headbutt that connected with Ninigi’s nose—drawing blood from the mighty knight with a single strike.
Unable to go too far thanks to the daemon’s grasp on his wrist, Ninigi was pulled back in closer and violently choked by the corrupted knight, who buried his fingers in his neck before being slamming him in the dirt—breaking the ground underneath.
“Grah!” the champion cried in pain at the magnitude of the attack.
His vision blurred while a pitchy noise ringing in his ear, leaving him open for the daemon to continue its assault. Despite his stunned condition however, the knight sharpened his senses once noticing the foot of his adversary coming down against him. He rolled to the side just in time to evade the daemon’s stomp, reaching the dirt with enough force to lift piles of rocks by the sheer force behind it.
At a safe distance from the mighty daemon, the knight quickly jumped back on his feet with panting breaths without losing sight of his foe. He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand, and exhaled slowly through pursed lips. His body began to feel the old wounds that surfaced once at the village he resided in, when Atalanta forced him to explain the reason behind them.
Despite his plans to let The Golden Lightning handle Specter, the threat of the unpredictable daemon, once honored with the same title he held, was now too large to ignore or simply wait for Atalanta’s assistance. The champion fixed his posture with a deep breath, pressing his fingers with half opened fists before taking a fighting stance against the corrupted knight.
“I will stop you,” Ninigi calmly stated, met by silence from the daemon.
Both fighters stood a long distance away from each other, as the passing winds of the Deadlands carried the crimson fog across the battlefield. Their clothes torn and bodies covered with cuts and bruises, both parties continued their battle all over the barren and dusty lands of the hellish zone, performing powerful strikes that shook the ground and echoed through the region.
END OF CHAPTER