Damselflies And Dragonfly (6)
All the guards were dead. The last one to fall was a chubby man who injured an Artista on the cheek, grazing a bullet through their skin. Everyone was there, about 7 Artistas out of the 30 plus of guards who rushed to the top, with more coming. Phesx stood somewhat near the center, with the others cleaning the blood of their enemies from their bions.
“Good job. The mission’s over. We didn’t even have to do anything. You’re a good talent for this, Fox. As a matter of fact, you’re incredible! No wonder they put you into this.” An Artista said, gesturing to Phesx while stepping forth.
“…” Phesx said nothing, continuing staring around him with a quiet attitude. The guard who walked towards him became bored. He gestured to another Artista spreading his arms to the sides. “It’s time. A pity, Fox. You’ve really thought wrong if you believed your little ‘crumbs’ wouldn’t be known.”
Wrap, wrap. An Artista aimed their palm at Phesx before their wrist opened from below, showing a diminutive barrel-like tube, which shot twice at him. Phesx felt his forearms tightly gripped by something. He looked down to see a plastic robe-like contraption hugging his limbs tight.
He looked up at the Artista whose arms were fully spread sideways. The contraptions practically targeted his comets, and they were simply accurate. The Artista grinned, no longer bothering to appear like a comrade to Phesx.
“Who knows what’s in those things. But it all fails for naught after you leave this world here. Heh, don’t blame me beneath the heavens. You should’ve seen this coming. Matías should have been your example to learn from. Now, it will be your turn to die a traitor.”
“…” Beneath the mask, Phesx didn’t move his lips before tilting his head. Then, he dashed forth, impulsing his body onwards at a speed and with such a momentum that the Artista couldn’t respond in time.
Swish- thud! Phesx’s right fist closed and struck the Artista’s solar plexus. Bones were fractured, albeit only a fraction. The other Artistas were shocked to see this. Phesx’s comets were locked, so they felt smug. But now, one of them was almost immobilized in a moment.
Before they could react, Phesx tilted his body to the left, grabbed the holster’s pistol, and slammed his back to the ground. The Artista’s spread arms rapidly extended blades with blue lights. He swept them downwards, wanting to cleave Phesx’s neck and torso. But Phesx moved fast, lowering his body to the floor before aiming with the small pistol up.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang! The Artista’s body shook with each gunshot, while his front was disfigured by the same. Phesx aimed from the groins to the mouth, turning the Artista’s body into a mess.
The other Artistas finally reacted. Phesx stood up as a few blue spheres rolled towards him. He aimed the small pistol down as he jumped into the air, remaining in the air for slightly over a second. Phesx fired them down, exploding them before their activation could be complete. A small explosion occurred, but no more than 1 at a time.
As Phesx fell from the air, with the Artista who threw those spheres astounded on the spot, he was tackled from the side by a tall, muscular man. Phesx dropped the pistol in his hand, rapidly disarming it with his right hand alone while moving it towards the Artista’s back.
Phesx grabbed a knife, stabbed it into the Artista’s back, and pushed him away after the latter screamed. A few bullets rained towards him while another 3 Artistas rushed at him. Phesx threw his body to the left, almost unnaturally, and slid through the floor to find another submachine gun. He aimed it at the feet of the rushing Artistas, blocking the other 2 aiming at him from a distance.
The Artistas rolled and dashed to the side, not wanting to test the acclaimed Fox’s accuracy. This gave the other Artistas an opening, and time for the tall and muscular one to get rest. However, worse for them, this also gave Phesx the opportunity to rush forth.
“Dammit!” One of the 2 Artistas with their rifles up cursed, moving to the side and fleeing the danger that is Phesx. The other continued crouching, firing at Phesx, who only covered his face with his forearms as he ran in a quirky manner.
Few bullets reached Phesx, and those that did were deviated from his forearms. The other Artistas went back to action, taking aim or rushing forth. No one said another word in vain.
Phesx tackled the Artista, holding him tight after evading a knife to his neck where the Artista wanted to plunge it. He headbutted the Artista from the side before biting the mask off as they rolled on the ground.
The Artista tried grabbing one of Phesx’s firearms, but before he could, he felt teeth scrape around his ear before it was bitten off! Phesx didn’t even use his sharpening, only a bit of adjusting and pushing his teeth in.
“Kugaaaaaah!” The man screamed to the top of his lungs. Phesx spun on the ground from sitting with his bum, bringing the Artista with him before using him as a shield. All along, Phesx brought his rifle and submachine gun with each of his movements.
They could’ve flown off, gotten loose and slide after a roll or a couple, and even grabbed by another, but Phesx would simply not let it happen. And now, as he had a good shield to cover his pitiful ass with, he decided to use it well. It was the first time he used a special agent’s body as such, it had to be special and meaningful.
Bang bang bang bang! Trr rrrr rrrrr rr rrrr!
Phesx grabbed the submachine gun from a guard and aimed it at the Artistas as he advanced. Phesx was careful to not be shot instead, as each was a military grade weapon, even if not the supercontinent’s chosen. Still, the others no longer hesitated and barraged them with bullets.
He shot many times, hitting more than half, but the Artistas’ armor protected them. Some moved towards him, trying to get close and get him unprepared. Yet, just before they acted, Phesx stood up with the corpse gone limp and worsening, becoming a little useless.
Phesx threw the corpse to his right, lunging to the other as the remaining Artista with a rifle stopped firing, helpless again. He decided to put his rifle down and get to melee as well. Meanwhile, Phesx wrestled with the man he lunged at, forming keys with his knees, hands, and feet around his limbs one by one, breaking them and torturing the Artista.
“Stop it!” The other Artista who was thrown off with the corpse grabbed Phesx’s back just as Phesx was amidst breaking the last limb, the left leg. His body was lifted by the Artista, but he rolled forward and looked at the Artista upside down.
In less than a second, something seemed to fall from Phesx’s back behind his head. Before it fell to the floor, and as he received a punch from the Artista in the solar plexus, Phesx grabbed it. It was his medium pistol. The Artista’s eyes went wide. He wanted to let go of Phesx, but the still a young boy had already pulled the trigger.
Bang! The Artista flew a meter away, staggering backwards like his torso was only partially connected to his body. Phesx fell on the floor, rolling over before aiming at the back of the head of the Artista who could barely move. Then, almost an entire head went off. Bang!
Phesx looked up and saw the remaining 4 Artistas, with one of them being the tall one he hurt earlier. He raised his medium gun, making the others run amok to hide, but Phesx just stored his medium pistol back in his hidden, small holster at his back.
Then, he grabbed his rifle and rushed about, firing at the fleeing Artistas.
The Artista who had just let go of his rifle saw the injured man trying to stand up before hurrying to the side to hide, ignoring the latter. Half a second later, a powerful rifle gunshot went off, along with the injured Artista’s back from the middle to the buttocks. Destroying his spine, along with his organs, and life soon after.
“GAAAH! Attaaaaack!” The Artista felt shameful and helpless after the situation changed in just a few seconds. He wasn’t the only one. As the Artista expected half his head to be blown off after peeking out of a turned over sofa, the other Artistas also peeked. They aimed at Phesx, who didn’t wait for them to pull triggers before throwing pivots around him.
But just then, every Artista held their firearm with one hand and the other with a strange pencil-like shaped shaft; white, and with a cone-shaped tip. They threw them into the air, higher than he did to his pivots, making Phesx nervous at once.
Their throw was excellent in targeting the trajectory of his pivots, each of their pencils aiming diagonally towards his pivots, and throwing a pushing force that wouldn’t even influence a child. However, it destroyed the deviating weak force of the pivots as it continued flying above them.
‘Always improve…’ Phesx remembered what Pheli told him months ago. However, his mind still remained in the fight. He watched as all his thrown pivots were neutralized, before the Artistas aimed at him, and then fired.
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Bang bang bang, bang, bang, bang, trrr rrrrrr rrrrr rrr rrr!
Phesx’s body shook left and right, back and forth, as he tried stepping way, but he was surrounded and finally caught unprepared. They wouldn’t give such a chance away. Phesx couldn’t escape the fire, and he couldn’t get out of it with so much firepower striking his body.
“Stop, halt!” An Artista shouted after they had made a slightly messy scenery of the dispatch. The broken window’s windiness helped clear out the smoke, which wasn’t much to begin with. They looked at the body lying on the floor facing down. The smoke somehow made it harder to identify the person.
“AH! He is right be-” CRACK-.
Someone shouted before they went silent, silenced by the noise of bones cracking to perfection, leaving no chance to recuperate ever again. Another person shouted while standing up, “Together! Deal with him near each other!”
The Artistas ran towards the same spot. Phesx, whose cloak became riddled with holes, of which some bled, rushed after them. An Artista noticed and yelled, “Behind you!”
Another Artista looked behind but didn’t have time to react. However, that was what the others were for. They came to their aid and charged towards Phesx. Phesx jumped over them with utmost agility, slightly pushing their shoulders down and himself upwards.
He rolled in the air before kicking the fleeing fella’s back at the center. A female yelp went out as she fell to the floor. Turning around, Phesx saw a red-haired young woman with 2 ponytails at the sides and a mini-sized one sticking from the top of her head.
‘Huh.’ Phesx thought for a moment as he closed in. However, a kick stopped him from continuing, stumbling a bit before quickly turning around to block another heel kick with his left forearm. The Artista had a shocked expression as he felt the armor under his clothes.
Pum, pam, pom, pom, punch! Pam- slap! Bam!
From then on, a few Artistas engaged with Phesx in immediate close quarters. Phesx used his arms and shoulder blades to block their fists and high kicks, while his shins and soles stopped and deviated numerous kicks.
Phesx’s lower back and sternum were hit the most, whereas his body was hurt, and he was pushed about a little. Phesx became used to them after they continuously hit him where it hurts. He began returning the blows as his head dodged every move, his torso sidestepped, tilted, or ducked. But his waist danced, his feet tapped, and his hands did most of the brutal work.
Many bions were swept, thrust, or slammed against him. Phesx would stop a blade with his bare hands, grasping the wrist holding the incoming weapon. Even when the Artistas let go of their weapon or voids, Phesx’s other hand or knee attack would neutralize the other hand trying to grab it.
He moved seamlessly, as if he could read the wind, as if it was trying to imprint the others’ movements during the fight, between each party, and only he could read through it. Phesx turned, crouched, dashed away, sidestepped, and jumped to lunge at others, avoiding well-prepared and cooperating attacks on him. He was simply never caught in a binding.
Only the moment earlier where they barraged him with bullets was a victory for the Artistas, but not anymore. And whenever they tried to retreat to repeat the same event, Phesx lunged at anyone he had in his impenetrable black eyes and forced the others to defend themselves.
If they were just one less, who knew what end would await them? However, as the fight prolonged, they realized how dead they already were, especially with the other guards only rushing here after hearing so many gunshots. It sounded like a street gunfight, after all.
Lesly was presumed dead, but it would still not spread anywhere, and the guards were in charge until things had to adopt a different approach.
Regardless, Phesx suddenly tapped his feet on the floor and elevated his body a little upwards. His left shoulder drove his body backwards as he escaped an incoming blade also with blue lights. A moment later and he would’ve been electrocuted.
Immediately after, Phesx sent his left hand in a grasping, open stance towards the blade’s owner’s neck. Someone came behind him to pull his legs and save their comrade, but Phesx suddenly showed a thin needle in his right hand. It was about half a meter long.
“!”
Swwliip. The Artista tried to dodge, but it was too late. Phesx had already turned around and punched the Artista’s throat. The mask couldn’t hide the pain as the piercing effectivity of the needle was barely felt, but afterwards, it became a rising hell.
Looking at the dying Artista, the others stopped with wide eyes. Should they flee? Go all-out? Will most of them dying even be worthy in the end?
That was when Phesx stopped as well, letting the corpse fall before looking at the remaining 2 Artistas. Phesx wouldn’t underestimate them just because it was 2 of them now. The Artistas prepared to receive Phesx’s mad lunges, when he just stood there, slowly rising his left arm.
“What…?” - “No… fuck!”
The Artistas’ eyes widened as their contents shrank. A wave-length noise spread from Phesx’s left shoulder to the tips of his fingertips. The Artistas watched as Phesx’s left arm slightly glowed with an exoskeletal structure contouring some aspects of his arm, like a model encompassing his left arm’s bones.
This was a 1 million credits worth void bion. It wasn’t ‘the best in the entire world’, as it was somewhat of in a basic degree and without further complementations or up to date. But it was something even hoogs would have a hard time getting every few or several months, and they get paid much more…
“I don’t get it…” The female redhead said, feeling hopeless but accepting her near end. She wasn’t surrendering, though. “How did you know? Riverlye even asked SH for one of their agents to keep track of your treachery. How?”
“…” Phesx said absolutely nothing. His red mask looked at them with not a ripple of emotion… or perhaps humanity. As the other Artista evened his breathing, prepared to die, Phesx stomped his left foot on the floor.
Clank- bang- pwurf. Clink, clonk- pah!
Phesx blocked an attack from the blade to his right before pushing his waist rightwards and activating the arm’s deviating force field. The redhead’s small pistol shot was stopped before going past his left arm, saving his little head.
Phesx turned around to his right, crouching as he swept his right leg towards the redhead and defended his neck, head, and shoulder with the arm protecting him from the blue light blade. Just as he took a second heavy hit from above, his right foot found no one, while a left sole kicked at his face.
Phesx bent his neck, letting her hit the center of his back, whereas her eyes widened when she felt the armor he was wearing. She was also alert, as Fox was quick and ruthless. And just as she thought that, Phesx’s right hand grabbed behind her knee before pulling her towards him. His right foot raised as his left leg took all the brunt from the slashes on his left and enduring a direct hit from his right.
Phesx’s right leg hit the redhead’s lower back with his shin, making her arch in pain and hurting from within. Immediately after, Phesx drove his left hand towards her belly, but not only that, he also impulsed his body towards her with the same motion. He dragged her with him unto the floor.
Another cleaving slash coming towards him was dodged, almost scraping his back as Phesx ended up sliding on the floor for but a moment. He grabbed the redhead with his open palm on her sternum and his right hand folding her left leg up to her waist.
“How can you have wasted empow-” The redhead frowned hard as she untimely questioned Phesx. At the same time, the other Artista recuperated from hitting the solid floor hard, with his hands still trembling, but immediately rushing to her help.
“You really talk too much,” Phesx finally voiced. They had already heard his voice, especially from recordings to recognize him in case it was needed and had no visual contact. But hearing the semi-broken, soft voice now made their tailbones wiggle and shiver.
Phesx’s left hand pushed forth, caving in a little, while his right hand directly went to her knees. His fingertips snaked through the middle of her knee before it snapped, almost elongating her leg overall. The redhead widened her eyes, entering into shock from the pain as Phesx’s left hand changed targets to grasp her neck.
“…” - “Aagh… ka… uggffhh…”
Phesx looked at her as her neck crushed a bit more and more. The ‘sweet’ sounds echoed ever so timidly, wanting to break at once but holding it in. When the redhead felt her life giving in as Phesx spun on the ground, avoiding both of them getting slashed by a panicking, desperate Artista wielding a blue light blade, she looked down at her killer.
Phesx’s eyes could be said to be calm, but they radiated an imposing killing intent coupled with hatred from unrealistic reasons. There were no whys behind it, only pure, natural hatred, like he was the natural bane of a living being such as humans.
Her eyes rolled on their own as her face became blue and then slightly purple around her eyes and his grip on her neck. The Artista stopped moving, looking at this with his head low, and darting his eyes in between.
Thud, roll roll, thud. Phesx tossed the redhead’s corpse as it bounced a little on her fall, eliciting a few meters of rolling before hitting a turned over sofa. Then, with the remaining Artista on his right, by his feet, Phesx jumped to his feet from the floor.
Swiiiip- plck! The Artista suddenly moved, flashing his blades like lightning, using all the potential he could to sneak attack him. To his eyes’ surprise and last, terrified shock, one of his blades was grabbed by the bare right hand of Phesx, who looked straight into his eyes.
“…” The Artista’s neck slowly relaxed. He could hear the diminutive sounds of numerous blood droplets falling on the floor from Phesx’s hand, but he also felt his fighting spirit being discarded. His eyes went to Phesx’s, all black, and impenetrable.
The other blade was slapped downwards and out of his now exhausted, previously stable grip, but it remained in his left hand, although it was more like dangling from it.
But then, with a last call for survival, the Artista had a final run for it as he tightened his left hand’s grip. He gritted his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows to disfiguring levels. His right hand pushed the blade forth to thrust it below Phesx’s right armpit to stop him in place, while his left hand slashed diagonally upwards to cut through his neck.
But things just didn’t go out as planned for the remaining Artista.
Phesx grabbed the blade even harder. He stopped it from sliding out of his grasp, letting it cut deeper into his wounded palm, and slammed it downwards. With a ‘click’ noise in between, it collided with the other blade snapping it out of the Artista’s grasp and its handle into the air.
The Artista looked down at his blades, which Phesx’s hands went for, grabbing them with a firmer hold than its owner had of them. Phesx spun to his right for the third time, this time while cutting the man’s chest and front of his arms. Then, he jumped, rising his legs into the air, rotating as he stretched his neck and avoided a fist punching into his left eye.
Swwliip swwliip, sheefth sheefth… pggffsshh…
Phesx drove the blades back to its owner, penetrating deep into the Artista’s collarbone as the latter fell backwards with his breath living him. Then, Phesx let them slide out while the Artista hit the back of his head with the floor before slashing the Artista’s head into mush with an ‘X’ form.
…