The guard that had escorted me upstairs swore loudly. “Get him!”
Four guns aimed at my head and fired.
My shielding stopped the bullets before they reached me, and my shielding retaliated with a wave of force that sent Aren, still unconscious but wrapped in the protective foam, flying into the water and the guards stumbling back. I looked around in a panic.
“Farrah, take Aren to safety. Zuri, back me up.” I sent them, “Sothog, clear the place out.”
I spun around and threw Toriklas’ head at one of the guards, causing the man to flinch. With my other hand, I summoned Zuri’s rifle, stored in my inventory, and tossed it back at her as she jumped out of the water.
Before Zuri landed, I spun around and slashed across the nearest guard’s throat. The man gurgled and clutched at his throat. Another guard swore under his breath and reached for something in his pocket.
“No, you don’t,” Zuri growled as she landed, raised her rifle, and shot the second man in the back. His chest exploded outward, coating the floor in gore. He looked down, uncomprehending, and collapsed, dead.
“Wait, what happened?” Sothog asked in a panic.
“Yeah, what happened?” Farrah echoed, sounding furious.
“I accidentally killed Toriklas. Now stop asking questions and start following orders,” I sent back angrily, slowly standing up to face the two remaining guards, who looked at Zuri and me apprehensively.
“You can’t touch me,” I told them. “I have a SEPO. Now, throw down your weapons; nobody else has to be harmed. We’re just here to save the kid.”
The guards glanced at each other, and my heart sank at their hardening expressions. One of the guards dove for the fake gem and shouted, “Boss was right. Activate the Failsafe. Don’t let them get away.” The second one dropped to one knee and aimed straight at me.
I scoffed. What did the dumb bastard think he could do to me when I was all but invincible?
----------------------------------------
[3RD PARTY GUARANTEE FAILSAFE ACTIVATED]
Conditions met: Ignateous Toriklas is dead.
Deactivating: [System Enforced Protection Order]
----------------------------------------
Ah. Shit.
I tried summoning my [Rail-Revolver], but before it could materialize, my shield flickered and disappeared, and the guard fired, the bullet ripping through my knee. I watched my HP bar drop by 5 points and gritted my teeth through the pain, refusing to let my leg buckle, the wound barely hurting after a moment.
The guard looked surprised as I remained standing and aimed my [Rail-Revolver] at him. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, I pulled the trigger, and his head snapped back. He collapsed on the ground, dead.
The last guard cursed and reached for something in his jacket, but before he could pull it out, Zuri had planted two bullets in his chest and one in his head. We looked at each other and nodded. I glanced at the pool and didn’t spot Aren anywhere.
“Farrah, have you got the package?” I asked hurriedly as Zuri, and I ran for the stars I took to come to the VIP section.
“I have your damn package,” She replied angrily, “I’m heading downstairs via the maintenance stairs. Now how the fuck did you ‘accidentally’ kill someone with a SEPO?”
Zuri and I came to a skidding halt halfway down the stairs. We could hear angry shouting from downstairs and doors slamming open.
“Guards hiding in the private rooms,” Zuri cursed under her breath.
“Not now, Farrah,” I growled back, “Sothog, you have incoming. There were guards in the private rooms.”
Zuri and I turned on our heels and ran back up the stairs and along the water’s edge. “They’re heading for the staff door,” I heard someone shout as Zuri and I found the recessed door.
Zuri tried to turn the handle, but it was locked. I chose a more direct approach, and I shoulder-checked the door. The hinges snapped, and the door was launched inside with a big dent on its surface, making Zuri pause and look at me in shock.
I shook my head and ran inside, Zuri following suit as we bolted down the stairs.
“I’ve finished clearing out the club,” Sothog said, sounding tired, “Wait, is that… Wait, hey, you’re going the wrong way! Razel, I’ll meet you all at the Elevators!”
“Sothog? What’s going on? Sothog, come in!” I sent back, but he didn’t reply.
I cursed loudly as Zuri and I reached the bottom of the stairs and burst through the door, finding ourselves behind the bar at the far right corner. A group of men clad in military armor pointed at us and shouted something. We ducked under the bar as the deafening music and beat of the club masked the sound of bullets whizzing above our heads. The exploding bottles behind us were a bit of a dead giveaway, though.
“I’m at the elevators, where the fuck are you guys?” Farrah almost screamed in our ears.
Zuri flinched and winced. “We are pinned down, Farrah,” Zuri said. “An unknown number of guards are approaching us from the private rooms. Can you help?”
Farrah said some truly vile words before going, “Fine, on three, peak.”
Zuri and I nodded at each other and readied our weapons as Farrah’s counted down. We rose to our feet on three and aimed our weapons towards the guards. We caught only the briefest glimpse of a crowd of angry faces surging towards us when all the lights cut out.
We’d seen enough, though. I aimed my pistol in the direction of the group of guards and activated [Magma Bullet], firing a line of searing light through the darkness. Zuri, having moved further down to my left, fired her rifle in controlled bursts, providing covering fire as I aimed my pistol again. I didn’t have a lot of energy, a single [Magma Bullet] draining me down to 42 MP. It would take over half a minute to recover that much energy, and in the middle of a fight, that much time might as well be an eternity.
The lights flickered back on, and I caught a glimpse of several bodies on the ground. We quickly ducked back into cover. "Split up. Barrier Grenade," I heard someone shout, and both Zuri and I started scrambling towards the other end of the bar. We were almost halfway when the grenade hit.
The section of the bar between Zuri and me exploded in a shower of fire, thick dust, and shards of synthwood. Zuri and I were thrown back in opposite directions, my HP dropping down to half from the explosion. Before we had time to react, a golden barrier sprouted from the spot the grenade hit and created a wall long enough that it reached the dance floor.
Zuri groaned and got to her hands and feet, looking at me through the barrier in panic. She had cuts all over her body and clothes from the shards of the bar but no serious-looking injuries. "What do we do?" she asked. I chanced a glance above the bar, seeing the barrier disappearing into the dust and ducking down when a bullet came far too close for comfort, carving a big tunnel in the dust.
I shook my head at Zuri, each movement displacing the thick but surprisingly light dust. "I can't get out and around the barrier; it would put me directly in their line of sight, and they would have time to gun me down and capture you."
"But—"
"None of that now. This dust is about to be blown away. You have to find Sothog, go to Farrah and Aren, and get out of here. I’ll keep them busy while you all get away."
"What about you?" Zuri asked.
I gave her my best roguish grin and winked at her. "I'm the Rust Reaver; I'll be fine."
Zuri's expression hardened, and she gave me a single sharp nod before turning and running, carving a massive corridor in the dust.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The next moment, the grenade let out a soft click and then a powerful burst of air, dispelling all the dust. "Hey, she's getting away," one of the guards screamed.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go get her," another one shouted.
Amid their chaos, I had enough time to peek above the bar and aim my turn toward the guards moving to capture Zuri. I looked at my mana bar, winced, and cast a [Magma Bullet]. The projectile flew true and hit the guard who had moved the furthest towards Zuri in the side, causing him to collapse on the ground and scream in agony as his insides were shredded and seared at the same time.
All the guards that had started to move froze and dropped to the ground. One of them, a blond man with a red armband, stomped on the ground, and a barrier appeared, blocking them from view. They had a Ringshaper. Fucking perfect. At least he didn't seem like a strong one, going by the size and uneven shape of his barrier.
I ducked and shouted at them, "Plenty more where that came from."
My perception kicked in, and my ears started tuning out the club's music. Underneath it, I could hear metallic grinding coming from the area of the guards. I peeked up again and saw the barrier move in Zuri's direction. Those fuckers were still trying to get to her.
“Fine," I muttered, and I summoned a trio of very familiar balls from my inventory. Or rather, their big brothers.
----------------------------------------
[Boris’ Big Bouncing Boom Ball]
Rank: Uncommon
An explosive bouncing ball crafted by Boris Lanlove. When thrown, the balls will rebound against the first surface struck and explode upon the second impact. Medium-yield.
“It goes boing, then it goes ba-boom!”
----------------------------------------
I chuckled to myself and tossed the balls, angling them so they would soar over the guards' shields.
The balls flew true and bounced behind the guards and back into their shields. The following explosions and screams were most satisfying.
But I had been too late; three of the four remaining conscious guards dove and made it past the barrier, and I could no longer aim at them. I cursed under my breath. "Zuri, you have incoming," I sent her.
"Wait, what the fuck?" I heard a guard shout, then a loud zap.
“Farrah, is Zuri with you?” I sent her.
“Yeah, we searched for Sothog, but he’s not anywhere,” Farrah replied, sounding panicked.
“No worries, he’s on my side of the club. You and Farrah take Aren to safety and take care of the elevators behind you. Come round with the getaway car."
“Then why the fuck is he not answering?” Farrah almost screamed.
"Are you sure you’re going to be okay, just the two of you?" Zuri asked.
"Trust me, we’ll be fine. There's only one guy left for us to deal with," I said hurriedly. "If Farrah’s done her job properly, whoever is left should be easy to mop up. Now go. This is an order."
“Roger that,” Zuri and Farrah sent back.
I peeked above the counter and saw a lone guard jumping into cover behind a marble column next to the central stage, blocking a line of purple lightning aimed towards him from behind the DJ stage. I glanced at the four guards caught in the explosion, trapped behind their barricades. I'd been lucky. The Ringshaper appeared to have received two direct hits and was most certainly dead, with large chunks of his left torso missing. The other three had various levels of injuries but nothing that I would call critical.
My body felt like a coiled spring, ready to jump into action. All I needed was the proper signal. Said signal came when rapid, consecutive explosions rocked the club, causing the lights to flicker and a large crack to appear on the aquarium’s surface. Zuri, Aren, and Farrah had gotten away and blown up the doors behind them. Perfect.
I hopped over the bar and ran towards the column the guard was hiding behind. In the flickering lights and the confusion of the explosion, I managed to cross the distance without incident.
As I approached the column, I didn’t slow down. Instead, I held my right arm out, the blade that was my hand parallel to the ground, and jumped forward with all my strength. The blade’s tip sunk deep into the marble before stopping. The sudden collision that made the top of my sword a pivot point caused me to swing around the wide column, my long blade slicing the column in half. The column and the unsuspecting guard hiding behind it. His bisected body collapsed onto the ground as I looked around for Sothog.
I located him slumped against the back side of the DJ stage, next to two smoldering corpses. He turned to me and gave me a weak smile as I rushed to him. I cursed at the sight of his chest, riddled with bullet wounds.
"What the fuck happened, man?" I knelt beside him and started rolling his sleeve up, instinctively turning [Apostate's Blade] off, my hand unsurprisingly returning to normal. Well, as normal as it could get.
"A girl, the one who kissed me," He groaned, "As I was clearing the club out, she tried approaching me." Sothog gritted his teeth and took a shuddering breath. "My lightning hit her, and she fled further into the club rather than outside. Farrah made an emergency evacuation notice appear and everything. I followed her and found her under attack by one of the guards, so I stepped in. Wait…” He gasped as he unsuccessfully tried to turn his body to look at her, “Is she…?”
I turned and saw that behind Sothog was an unconscious woman with long blond curls and a red dress who was bleeding from a cut to her head. I placed my finger against her neck, feeling her pulse strong and firm.
“She’s fine, Sothog. Just unconscious,” I said and smiled, patting him gently on the shoulder. “Now, let’s get you patched up,” I said, pulling out a [Full-Restore Injector] and placing it against his arm.
Sothog pushed the healing injector away. “Don’t. Please.” His words stopped me cold. “I don’t want healing.”
“What? Why?” I asked, utterly at a loss.
“I told you that whatever the Maulers did to us… Changed us, Razel.” He sucked a breath in through gritted teeth. “Some got the good. Some got the bad. Well, I got both. My powers are stronger, but they are twisted.”
“What in Lost Terra are you talking about?” I asked. “Is this about the color of your lightning?”
He shook his head with a sad smile. “The song is beautiful, but it is too loud, Razel. Whatever they did to me, the music is too loud. It's been getting louder by the day for as long as I can remember. It is wrong. It has a touch of dissonance. It hurts. It hurts so much. I can’t listen to it any longer.” His bottom lip trembled, and his eyes welled up as he gasped for air. He raised his hand, and I grasped it with both of mine, ignoring the zap when my metallic hand came in contact with his flesh. He held on tight.
I grasped at straws to change his mind. “Why the fuck didn’t you say so earlier? I’m sure we can find a solution to that. Zuri has an entire clan at her disposal. We can find a solution.”
He chuckled, and red foam started building up at the corners of his mouth. “Nobody knows. I didn’t want to burden my siblings with my pain. They have plenty of their own. I wanted to be strong,” He coughed again and shook his head with a serene smile. “No. I was already planning to go. I want to go. This was the perfect night.” He flashed me a bright grin, “I even got a kiss.”
I felt numb. I wanted to argue, to tell Sothog to take the damned healing injection. But the words would not come out. All I saw in front of me was the little 11-year-old boy, who clung to me as I carried his sister out of the hell they had known for over half of their short lives.
“I didn't save you so you would die here. Please,” I managed to croak out.
He looked at me with a sad smile. “You and Silver saved us, Razel… But sometimes, death is better than salvation. You told us to be strong, and I tried. Rings, I tried. I held onto your words for as long as I could. But I’m tired. I’m so tired of being strong.”
His words opened a bottomless pit in my stomach, a yawning void. His bullet wounds made a gurgling sound, and a faint, pained smile crossed his face. “At least this way, I die a hero, and with the Ruby Tokens I earned, some of my siblings can lead a better life.”
I tried to pull away, to continue arguing. But his grip was iron.
Sothog’s eyes glinted in the flashing lights of the club. “When we touched last time, I felt a resonance. A yearning. I don’t know what it means, but I know what I must do.”
He gritted his teeth, and purple lightning started crawling all over his body. Then, like a living thing, the energy started to crawl up Sothog’s arm and into mine.
At first, Sothog's energy ran up my arm and met resistance. And yet, a moment later, it was as if something inside of me woke up, grabbed hold of the power, and started to pull.
----------------------------------------
[OMEGA TRANSFERENCE INITIALIZED]
----------------------------------------
I tried to pull away, to stop, yet my muscles refused to listen. There was nothing I could do. I was a prisoner in my own body, helplessly watching as I drained Sothog dry.
He groaned. “Ah, I hear it. The song underneath all songs. The discordant tone."
The lights around us flashed faster and faster as the electronics in the Club went wild. "I can hear his fears. LAROS knows who you were. Who you can be. Who you must be.”
He turned to face me, eyes wild and rapturous. He opened his mouth and spoke, his voice drowning out the club's music with a piercing, resonant clarity.
“Hail Apostate of Rust.”
----------------------------------------
[HAIL APOSTATE OF RUST]
----------------------------------------
“Hail Ringbreaker.”
----------------------------------------
[HAIL RINGBREAKER]
----------------------------------------
“Hail Dragon.”
----------------------------------------
[HAIL DRAGON]
----------------------------------------
Then, everything winked out. The strange windows in my vision disappeared, the music cut out, and all the lights went out.
Sothog’s grasp grew slack.
The emergency power kicked in, and everything was bathed in a faint red light. I stayed there, trembling and staring at his empty gaze for what felt like an eternity.
----------------------------------------
[OMEGA TRANSFERENCE COMPLETE]
Calibrating. Please wait.
----------------------------------------
His suffering. His death.
My fault.
My fucking fault.
Then, the wall next to the elevators exploded, and a tall, well-built man with a short, graying beard in his fifties walked in, scanning the chaos with his pale blue eyes and a smug expression. A familiar expression and a familiar face.
Silver’s father.
My brother’s killer.
Varhas Corax.
I saw only red.
I screamed.
I charged.