Democratic Republic of Pelkesk, Underground Facility: 936, May 14th, Monday, 9:00 AM.
A trio of red armored chimera soldiers blocked the way forward through the metallic hallways of the underground facility, positioned in a line of fire while discharging their rifles against Bloodhound. Claire and her team hid behind a corner as the bullets flew past them, or ricochet on the walls with loud clangorous noises.
“Any ideas?” Eric asked.
“Just one,” Claire replied. “Scott, you know what to do.”
“I’m on it!”
Taking out a small tube-like object from one of the pouches in his uniform, Scott pulled the pin on top of the stun grenade—prompting a pinging sound, while moving closer to the edge of the hall’s corner.
“There it goes!” he announced, tossing the tube in the middle of the hallway. Before the flashbang could detonate however, the soldiers raised their arms in order to protect their eyes in a hurry—avoiding the intense blinding light of the flash.
Almost deafened as his ears rang loudly, one of the guards was met by the lieutenant’s counter assault as he lowered his arm. She swiftly shot the rifle off the man’s hands, making sure to avoid any critical points, and continued with a powerful headbutt to his face—staggering her opponent backwards.
“Take this!” Claire thrusted her knee into the guard’s stomach—bending the man forward, and finish up with a swing of her pistols against his face—knocking him out cold.
Eric—who followed closely, dealt with the second guard by forcing him to drop his weapon with a slash of his sword, continuing with a leg sweep that brought the guard to the floor. Unholstering the knife on his right leg, the noble kneeled on top of his adversary and struck at the man’s face with the butt of his blade—rendering him unconscious.
With only one last foe remaining, Gaspard grabbed the soldier by the arm and slammed his back against the wall—making a banging sound as the soldier’s head collided with the metal as well. Looking to end the fight quickly, the butler thrusted his palm against the guard’s abdomen—knocking the oxygen out of him, and finished him off with a second strike to his face—smashing his head back on the wall, knocking him out.
The three chimera guards plummeted to the floor motionless, giving Bloodhound free passage to continue further into the strange facility. Claire ordered her team to restrain the unconscious men as she contemplated the situation, lifting her head to look at one of the security cameras recording the events from a corner.
“This must be the place…” she whispered to herself.
“Lieutenant!” Tori jogged closer with a smile on her face—accompanied by Eutychia, who walked calmly behind her. “We’ve cleared the rooms near the entrance, the area should be secured.”
“Well done, Tori.” Claire said with a smile, before shifting her eyes towards the princess—giving her a skeptical glare. “You too.”
“Tch!” Eutychia simply averted her gaze.
“I’ve hacked into the facility’s security cameras, lieutenant.” Scott chimed in while looking at his phone. “Most of them are still unreachable on my screen, but some cameras show small groups of captives being detained inside heavily secured rooms.”
“How did you manage to access the cameras?” Claire asked with genuine curiosity.
Scott’s lips curved into a pompous smirk, placing one finger on the bridge of his glasses—lightning up the lenses with a white flash of light. “…”
“Tell me!”
“Let’s stop wasting time,” Eutychia intervened with glaring eyes. “Whoever is doing this needs to be punished severely for hurting innocents.”
Continuing their investigation, Bloodhound carefully inspected each corner of the facility while moving forward in high alert—wary of any possible ambushes or traps that could prop up in their way. Claire opened communications with HQ several times during their advance, but received no answer with each call—leaving her and Bloodhound to deal with the situation on their own.
“Stop,” Claire commanded, lifting one hand next to her head with a closed fist. “There are multiple paths here, we should continue with caution.” she instructed, spotting three diverging paths from the main hallway.
“Shall we split up to cover more ground, young miss?” Gaspard suggested.
Eric nodded in agreement, taking a step forward. “I agree, we’ll should be able to clear the other rooms faster before proceeding forward.”
Taking a short moment to consider her option, the lieutenant eventually agreed to split the team and explore the strange facility in pairs. She rallied her team close to inspect their gear before proceeding, sharing and swapping equipment as necessary.
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“Don’t take any unnecessary risks, and keep each other safe.” the lieutenant advised the group. “We have ten minutes to investigate and clear every room, return here after your time is up, or once your area has been secured, understood?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Bloodhound chanted in unison—outside of the Eutychia, who remained quiet with her arms crossed.
“Stay in contact, and good luck.” Claire advised.
Eric and Gaspard took the first hallway to the right, with Scott and Eutychia promptly taking the one on the left, leaving the second hall on the right to Claire and Tori. Before with her assignment however, the lieutenant noticed the glow in her pistols continuously rising—warning her of the dangers that lurked inside the unknown facility.
Center of the Deadlands, Ruined Castle: 936, May 14th, Monday 9:00 AM.
Inside the wreckage of the ruined castle, as its spectral-like walls remained breached with massive fissures and sword slashes, its floor turned into broken rubble of black rock, and its inactive energy veins running all over its structure, a silver haired man slumbered in a black throne.
Next to him—on a table made out of the same material as the castle and throne, a crimson core glowed with a weak light of its same color. On Sovereign’s lap, rested a small girl of brown hair. She cuddled up closer to him while breathing softly, veiled in tiny particles of faint crimson embers that surrounded her.
Sovereign woke up from his slumber as his eyes opened slowly—causing the gentle crimson particles in the air to return immediately to his core. He lowered his head to look at the sleeping girl in his lap, gently patting her head to help her up.
“It’s already morning, Lucy.” Sovereign said. “You should probably wake up.”
The girl looked up at him with exhausted eyes, stretching her arms and legs to help reanimate herself. With her eyes wide open and body energized to start the day, Lucy climbed behind Sovereign’s back as he stood up from the black throne—wrapping her arms around him to hang from his back.
The pair continued in silence as Sovereign strode his way out of the ruined castle, he kept a stoic expression, and his eyes remained fixed forward while his mind wondered about the situation at HQ—concerned about the safety of both Yeon and Jacob.
Further down the exit hall of the castle however, a different thought began to occupy his mind the closer he got to the outside—a feeling of anxiety growing larger with every step. The bright crimson light of the sky above leaked inside the structure through the open gate, with the red fog flowing its way in as well. Sovereign placed one foot on the scorched earth of the Deadlands—finally making his way outdoors.
His hair swayed with the warm breeze of the region as the fog traveled through the hair, with his neutral expression fixed forward, and Lucy clinging to his back. Sovereign could see the intimidating figure clearly, the presence of the man in front of him confirmed the suspicious he had about the anxious feeling that grew within him.
“I guess it was only a matter of time,” he said.
Before him—not too far away from his position, stood Ninigi. The tall knight known as ‘the champion’ awaited him outside of the massive castle gates. His expression—just like Sovereign’s, remained stoic and wary as their unblinking eyes clashed into a stare down.
“I found you… Specter.” Ninigi stated.
“That you did.”
Only the whistling sounds of the wind could be heard as the pair went quiet, neither of them making the faintest of moves while studying each other’s body language. Lucy peeked from behind Sovereign’s shoulder, afraid of the knight blocking their path.
“You’ve gone through a drastic change,” Ninigi expressed. “But I can still sense your power rising with every passing day, and every specter killed.”
Sovereign bared his teeth with a devilish grin, replying to the knight. “You didn’t come here to test it yourself, did you?”
“But I sense your life fading just as quickly,” Ninigi responded calmly. “That human body can’t handle all the pressure of your core.”
The unpleasant statement of the knight caused Sovereign’s expression to drop into a bothered frown—grunting softly before offering a reply. “Nothing escapes you, does it?” he said. “But I see you are not doing too well yourself, or am I mistaken?” the grin returned to the silver figure’s face.
As Ninigi listened attentively to his words, he caught a slight movement on the man’s back—spotting the brown-haired girl hiding behind him. Her eyes were crimson like a specter, but kept a complete human appearance regardless—something he’s only seen in daemons, when gladean knights become specters.
“You never recovered from your injuries, did you?” Sovereign continued. “I’ve been watching you for a while now, even if you never grew out that distaste for fighting. I’ve never seen you being pressed this much, especially against Loki.”
“What’s your goal?” Ninigi asked—unamused by the silver-haired figure’s speech.
“If I tell you, you will only get in the way” Sovereign answered. “And if I don’t then… chances are you will do something that benefits me.” he smirked confidently.
“I’ll stop you.” While the knight’s expression emanated a dangerous aura, his posture remained relaxed and unthreatening.
“Maybe, I don’t expect to live long at this point.” raising one finger to point at the sky, Sovereign confronted Ninigi on the order of knights. “You know there’s something you should be dealing with as well, or do you plan on standing by and do nothing again?”
“I’ll deal with King myself,” Ninigi stated. “But you need to stopped as well.”
“I am defenseless in my current state,” Sovereign claimed. “If you do choose to end my life right now, I’d unable to stop it.” He kept a smug grin on his face. “You know about what’s going on at Cerberus HQ, with King’s men and the specters.”
Ninigi however, did not react to the man’s taunting claims—lifting one finger for Sovereign to see. “One last chance, Specter.” he warned. “Prove to me that Gladea wasn’t wrong about you, that you can be something other than what you used to be.” he explained. “But cross the line even once… and I will be the judge of your fate, Specter.”
With those last words, the knight turned his back on Sovereign, and disappeared within the dark shadows of the Deadlands. Contemplating in silence, Sovereign remained still with a frowned, lowering his head with a loud sigh once he regained composure.
“We need to hurry, Lucy…” he told the little girl—who hugged him tightly with nervous eyes. “Ki-Joon needs our help.”
END OF CHAPTER