Once they reached the base of the cliff, it didn't take them long to pick up the pack's tracks. But there was an issue.

Two and Zero stood around a group of footprints leading deeper into the forest. Once they had got out of the open plains, the grassy terrain had given way to a mixture of dirt, leaves, and roots.

"The drone picked up only 5 or 6 Reapers.." Zero said to no one in particular.

There was a massive amount of footprints headed off in the same direction.

"This has got to be at least 10 sets of feet!" Zero didn't have to look at Two to know that he had just walked off again.

"Sigh." He walked off after Two, keeping a set distance between them.

It was clear the two of them were never going to be on good terms. Especially after the blowup they just had. Zero's only hope was that Two didn't mean what he said about leaving him for dead.

They followed the tracks up an incline that was leading towards the side of the cliff.

The sun was starting to sink some in the sky but there was just enough light coming through all the branches to make out the tracks. They needed to locate the pack before nightfall and it became much harder to see.

They walked on for another 20 minutes as the tracks continued on. As Two stayed at a steady pace following the footprints, Zero trailed further behind studying them a bit more as he walked.

Wait a minute, he thought to himself. It's hard to make out…but didn't the number of footprints lessen at some point? There were definitely more several minutes back!

"Um…." Zero wanted to bring this to Two's attention, but at the same time he also didn't want to even attempt to talk to him again. He didn't want to deal with another blow up and his pride wouldn't allow him to be the one to give in first.

Two suddenly stopped.

He turned to Zero and put his finger to his lips.

"Grrrr…." *SNAP* *SQUISH* *CRUNCH*

There were noises coming from beyond the group of trees ahead of them. Two crouched down and slowly made his way forward. Zero did the same.

A large group of Reapers sat huddled around several slain deer carcasses. You could hear them chomping away at their prey, oblivious to everything else around them. Zero and Two hid behind two trees that were almost touching each other - peering through the slender space between the trees.

"1,2,3….there's 6 of them." Zero quietly counted.

Two spoke up for the first time in over an hour, "Looks like your count was off. Stay here."

Two stood up.

"Wait, aren't we supposed to collect data first?" Zero said as he stood up as well.

"That's what you're here for. Stay here. Collect data."

"No, you can't take them on by yourself. There's too many." Zero suddenly felt a shift in temperature around him.

It was getting hotter.

Two looked at him out the side of his eye. "Your concern isn't necessary. Neither is your help."

He began to walk from behind the tree.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Just stay here and do your job."

Two then started to quickly scale the tree closest to him, going up to a branch that hung over where the Reapers sat feasting.

Zero tightly clenched his fists. "Bastard."

Two reached the branch he needed to and carefully made his way out to the edge without drawing attention to himself. He gracefully leapt off of the branch and was right above the Reapers in mid-air. He pointed his left gauntlet down below.

"Righteous Flames."

Flames poured up the tube and into the gauntlet, filling all 10 canisters almost instantly. He reached over to the back of the gauntlet where there was a tiny trigger button. He pressed it once and a single canister shot out like a rocket to the ground below.

*BOOM!*

An explosion of fire went off right in the center of the Reapers, blowing up their snack and sending them flying in every direction from the impact.

Two wasted no time in sending out two more shots.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!*

One of the canisters was a direct hit on one of the Reapers - it went up in a ball of flame and flailed around in agony as the flames ate it alive. A few of the Reapers had finally managed to catch sight of the airborne Two.

He landed on the ground and 3 converged on him in no time. Two quickly drew his katana that was in the sheath on the back of his waist. He gripped the hilt tightly and poured his flames through the openings. Flames erupted from the gaps in the blade.

*SLASH!*

Two had dashed through the opening between two Reapers and swung his blade in the process. The two Reapers erupted in flames as they had been slashed by the now fiery katana. They ran around trying to put themselves out.

He turned his attention to a Reaper that had begun to pick itself off the ground from one of the earlier attacks.

*BOOM!* Two sent out another flame canister from his left gauntlet and blew the Reaper into pieces.

Zero watched on from behind the tree. He hated himself because he could only be left in awe by Two's fighting ability. He had been attacked by three Reapers during his demonstration and he barely made it out alive. But here was Two taking on a group of 6 and they could barely keep up with him.

"So this is how the ace fights." Zero said to himself.

Only four Reapers remained now.

Two slung his fiery katana at an incoming Reaper who managed to put out the flames from a moment ago. It tried to move out the way but it still lodged right in its shoulder blade. "GARRRGHHHH!"

Two followed up by dashing past the Reaper and grabbing the katana in the process, completely severing off that arm of the Reaper.

"AHHHHH!"

He turned back and sent a mid-range shot at it from behind with one of the canisters. *BOOM* Two was sent sliding back a bit from the close range explosion but remained on his feet.

One of the remaining three Reapers used this as an opportunity to lunge at him from behind. Two jumped backwards over the reaper and grabbed either side of its head.

"Burn away, Reaper." Flames erupted out of his hands and began to scorch the Reaper's head. It screamed out of agony as its skin became charred and flames erupted from within its skull. Two released his grip and the Reaper fell to the ground unmoving.

Then there were only two remaining.

One of them stood a distance from Two; having seen its fellow Reapers so easily picked off, it clearly didn't want to get any closer.

It reared back its head and shot a fiery blast right at Two from a distance.

"Flames?!" Zero was shocked.

Two seemed unfazed however. He dodged to the side to avoid it and then ran straight towards a nearby tree. He jumped towards the trunk at full speed and used it to bounce off it to take to the air once more. Two could see the remaining Reapers looking up at him, waiting for their prey to fall within their reach.

Two had other plans. He held out both gauntlets towards the ground below.

"Righteous flames: Hellfire."

Two usually only outputs a set amount of flames to the canister so that he can then do remote firing one at a time. But he had it designed to where if he did a very high output for more than a few seconds then it would trigger the failsafe to avoid them all blowing up while on his wrist. This failsafe causes all the canisters to release at once - Two decided to make this into a special move.

All the canisters on his right hand as well as the remaining ones on his left shot out to the ground below.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!*

The ground shook from the fury of the explosion and the shockwave caused the trees to sway back from the sheer force. Zero ducked down to avoid being blown away himself.

When the attack dissipated, the entire area where the Reapers were was now covered in flames. There was a sizable crater and no trace of any of the Reapers. Two stood at the edge of the crater.

He had successfully taken out all six without being touched once.

"And that's that." He said to himself as he placed his katana back in its sheath.

"I'll send off the flare so Haji can come get us and get this fire out before it spreads." He knew it wasn't the best idea to use such an attack with so many trees around, but he didn't want to risk the possibility of a new variant being among them and turning the tables. Then Zero would have to help…

He didn't actually have a flare gun since he could just use his own flames. As he reached up to the sky with his opened palm, Two suddenly heard Zero's panicked voice.

"Two!! Behind you!" Two turned his head but it was too late.

The Reapers were already on him.