Floating City of Paradise, Human’s District: 936, May 14th, Monday, 9:00 AM.
“Well… it could be worse.” Jacob whispered to himself.
Having most of his garments taken by the people in the district, he wandered around the area bare footed and without a shirt—having been stripped of anything but his pants. Avoiding the patrols of gladean knights as much as possible, he circled around the walls that separated the knight’s district from the humans—in search for a specific structure.
“How long will this take?” he wondered. “I’m starting to see some buildings at least…”
As he continued his investigation, Jacob eventually reached an area that looked like an abandoned small town—but despite having a better look than the small shacks and barren land of the previous zone, its population was kept in a worse for wear condition as well—roaming around or seated in the floor with ragged and dirty clothing.
“There!” he said with excitement, squinting his eyes as his glasses were stripped away by the residents. “It fits the description Sovereign gave me, somewhat…”
Jacob scurried inside a fairly large building, crafted from sturdy red bricks. Despite its tall ceiling, the place only had the ground floor, with most of its walls collapsed into rubble. Its gate was built like a small tower, which remained partially broken with a breached window at the top.
Having made his way inside, Jacob inspected the place carefully while walking through a pile of abandoned books. He felt his breathing accelerate with every step taken, keeping his ears open for any knights patrolling outside. The rays of the sun leaked through the many breaches of the tall ceiling, and the breeze broke inside through the breached walls.
“Alright, so I should be able to find it here…” Jacob began to talk to himself, swallowing dry as drops of sweat rolled down his forehead. “The things I do for this planet…”
Democratic Republic of Pelkesk, Underground Facility, May 14th, Monday, 9:00 AM.
“Tori, fall back!” Claire commanded with haste, placing shot after shot in the mutated soldier’s head.
“But, lieutenant…!” Tori protested, before being suddenly interrupted.
“Go!”
During their investigation of the facility, Claire and Tori made their way into a small surgical room—prepared with computers, monitors, tools and tables to carry out operations. To the pair’s surprise, what seemed to be nothing but a corpse resting in one of the beds, suddenly jumped back to life with a loud piercing screech—knocking the bed down, as well as the tools laid on the small table next to it.
The mutated man wore a fractured red armor from Chimera, with half of his face and body broken down into a black leathery appearance, with an altered eye radiating a bright red glow.
“I’ll call the others for help!” Tori announced as she sprinted out of the room.
The mutated soldier lunged at Claire, snapping its jaws in its ravenous approach. The lieutenant leaped to the side to avoid the monster’s assault, but the mutant twisted its body around to continue with its pursuit. Reacting quickly, Claire avoided the creature’s jaws by rolling on the floor and under it—landing on one knee behind the mutant.
“Hya!” Claire spun around with a powerful kick against the soldier’s feet, sweeping it down against the floor.
Unexpectedly however, the creature grabbed the lieutenant by the ankle as it lied on the ground—hurling her away into a wall. Claire’s back bounced against the concrete, knocking down a few monitors and tools on her way down.
“Augh…” with dizziness clouding her vision, the lieutenant held her head with one hand while picking herself up.
The roaring screams of the monster suddenly snapped her senses back into action, spotting the recovered mutant sprinting towards her. The soldier leaped at her with both arms extended, ready to tear her skin with his sharpened nails. Responding quickly however, Claire managed to roll out of harm’s way while avoiding cutting herself with the sharp scissors and scalpels on the floor.
“Enough of you,” the lieutenant hissed—landing on one knee while giving her pistols a spin—pointing them towards the mutant.
Claire began her assault with two perfectly placed shots on the monster’s knees, enough to halt its ravenous advance, but unable to force it down to the floor. As the soldier remained stunned, she continued with a third shot against its eyes—staggering it further. Moving in for the kill, the lieutenant rushed in with a frontal assault while firmly pressing the triggers on her pistols—materializing a flaming crimson blade on each gun.
The mutant tried to defend itself with a rapid swing of its arm, but the lieutenant slid underneath its attack—accompanied by a rapid slice of her blades, chopping one of the soldier’s legs off in a clean cut. The creature dropped on one leg as Claire slid past it, but her assault was far from over. Twisting her upper body slightly, the lieutenant crossed her right arm under her left armpit to aim her gun at the floor.
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“Now!” she yelled, hearing the roaring sounds of the spectral bike as it materialized in front of the creature—tackling it down against the floor.
Bouncing on the concrete, the creature’s head landed directly on Claire’s sights, allowing her to pull the trigger with confidence, and put an end to the mutant’s life with a clean shot. The monster dissolved into a black liquid after having its head burst open, dissipating into steam in mere seconds.
“Phew,” Claire breathed in relief as she stood back on her feet. “That does it, time to regroup with the others.”
Leaving the room immediately, Claire quickly jogged through the empty halls of the facility—rushing her way towards the meeting point—as she was a few minutes late on the clock. A knocking sound in one of the nearby doors caught her attention however, noticing a faint movement through the glass window of the room’s entrance.
“We cleared this room already…” she thought.
Unholstering one of her pistols, Claire cautiously put one foot in front of the door as she slid the door open slowly—peeking through a small gap before entering. As the lieutenant made her way into another operation theater with careful steps, a sudden noise in her right corner prompted her to aim her gun in its direction.
“Ah!” a blonde girl with short hair screamed in fear—covering her face with her hands. “P-please… I’m scared.” Her hands and legs quivered.
“Lady Euthemia?” Claire reacted with raised eyebrows and a slightly open mouth, lowering her pistol. “Why are you here?”
“Claire?” the princess lowered her hands, breaking into tears as she spotted the lieutenant. “Claire it’s really you!” she cried while sprinting towards her.
“Woah!” Euthemia tackled Claire into a tight hug, causing her to take a quick step back to keep her balance. “Lady Euthemia, how are you in this place?”
The princess sniffed and sobbed with a smile, burying her face on the lieutenant’s shoulder. “Thank you for saving me…” she wept.
Behind Claire’s back however, between Euthemia’s delicate fingers, rested a surgical needle with a strange black substance flowing inside. Unable to move as the princess held her tight into an embrace, Claire simply wiggled around slowly while trying to convince Euthemia to leave the room immediately.
“We should get you to safety as fast as possible,” Claire said.
“Don’t worry,” the princess said with a sniff. “We’ll leave this place together soon enough.”
Cerberus HQ, Entrance Gate: 936, May 14th, Monday, 9:00 AM.
The specters kept wreaking havoc while Cerberus officers fought off the horde with the help of the emperor’s hybrids. The belfry rose high into the sky, powering up the demons that kept crawling out of it—jumping down into the battlefield.
Inside the massive spectral tower, Loki strolled casually through the sturdy black walls of the belfry—its crimson veins glowing furiously at the presence of the gladean knight. One after the other, the specters that attempted to face him in battle simply plummeted to the floor—cut down by the knight’s twin azure blades.
“Is this really it?” Loki muttered—frowning with dissatisfaction. “So much for the army of a god.”
A tall specter suddenly busted through the walls of the belfry, leaping in front of the knight with a confident stance. Its arms were equipped with flaming blades—curved inwards to point at the demon’s shoulders. Its reptilian-like exoskeleton was armored with black scales, emitting a strong crimson light from within its fissured body.
“Very well,” Loki grinned in anticipation. “Entertain me if you can.”
The specter leaped at the knight from a distance, spinning in the air to add further momentum to its attack—landing on its feet in front of Loki, and swinging with all its strength into a horizontal slash.
Unbothered by the demon’s attempt to harm him, Loki vanished his azure swords while easily putting a stop to the creature’s blade with one hand—grasping it firmly before proceeding to break it in half. With the specter positioned at a close distance, Loki planted his foot on the specter’s face, and pressed against it to force the demon down against the ground—slamming the back of its head on the floor.
“That was pathetic,” the grin on the knight’s face disappeared quickly—bending forward to take a closer look at the creature—keeping his foot planted on its face. “You are not worth my time,” in a sudden swing of his fist—with a speed that managed to cut the wind around it, Loki flung the specter’s head away into the nearest wall, lifting his foot from its head and stomping its core into tiny shards—unceremoniously ending its life.
“Tch!” the knight clicked his tongue with disapproval. “Guess I’ll just destroy this belfry instead,” he said to himself.
A sudden and violent tremor stopped him in his tracks however, moving his eyes from side to side as the belfry began to crumble in on itself—observing as its black and crimson walls vanished into embers. The floor started to give in underneath him, while large chunks of the ceiling fell down from above—breaking through the ground, and continuing their way down.
“Is that…!” a feminine voice suddenly yelled nearby.
Lifting his head towards the noise, Loki’s eyebrow lifted with puzzlement as he set his eyes in a pair of hybrid knights—who were rushing their way out of the tower from above. The pair wore the same clothes as his former master, with the tan skinned man displaying a blue flowing vest, and the redhead girl rocking the same garments in a red color.
“That’s him!” Maulik announced, raising his fist in front of him—ready for a fight. “Loki!”
Gal chuckled, following Maulik’s lead by position herself at an angle—planting one font in front of the other, with one hand in front of her crotch, and the other closed into a tight fist near her chest.
A grin of excitement slowly drew itself in the gladean knight’s face, who relaxed his shoulders before cracking the joints of his neck. “Well then… this is definitely news to me.”
“Give up,” Maulik warned him. “Even if you are a gladean knight, both Gal and I are skillfully trained hybrids.”
The redhead girl nodded with a confident smirk. “Gigi has thought us everything about knights and specters,” she claimed. “So you’ll be better off leaving while you can.”
“He did say not to engage him in combat but,” Maulik kept the thought to himself. “We should be able to delay him at least…”
“You seem confident,” A cloud of azure particles surrounded Loki’s left hand, suddenly joining together to form an elegant azure sword—which he swung at the air to display its sharpness. “Come on then… make me get serious here.” He grinned widely.
END OF CHAPTER.