Night Raid

The sky was black, there are no clouds. The crescent moon was the only thing in the sky, looked down at the sleeping city. Erika and F played video games. The smell of melting cheese and freshly baked dough filled the room. Erika smiled as she inhaled the scent of the freshly baked pizza.

''I think the pizza is ready''

Erika pushed herself up from the cozy couch, the soft sound of game controllers momentarily silenced. She tiptoed through the dimly lit room, careful not to disturb the electric ambiance. The moon's faint light filtered through the curtains, guiding her way to the kitchen. With a soft creak, she opened the oven door, revealing the golden crust and bubbling cheese of their eagerly awaited pizza. The warm aroma wrapped around her like a comforting embrace, making her mouth water. Erika reached for the oven mitts, her heart racing with anticipation. She carefully lifted the sizzling masterpiece from the oven's depths. Balancing the hot tray, she made her way back to the living room, the scent of the pizza trailing behind her. The soft glow of the TV illuminated the faces of her fellow gamer, their eyes locking onto the prize she held.

''It's beautiful. I can't wait to eat it.''

''Don't dive in just yet, let it cool for a moment.'' F said.

''You're right, I don't want to burn my mouth...but it smells soo good!''

F grabbed Erika and moved her to the couch.

''Not yet, the pizza is too hot.''

"I don't want to wait! I want pizza!''

''Can't you wait five minutes?''

''No.''

''Wanna talk about exterminator stuff while we wait for the pizza to cool down?''

''Yes.''

F thought about exterminator things to talk about.

''How's the new armor development going?''

''It's going well.''

''How well?''

''Well you see, my teammates and I have been researching our butts off for a while now and we're close to complete our new exterminator armor. It's made out of a cursed core, which is an item I've been trying to get my hands on for quite a while now and with it we managed to create a new type of defensive curse. We call it ''Defensive curse core 001'', out of that thing we made a bunch of cursed clothing prototypes and we tested them against different weapons and curses to see how they would fare against higher tier monsters.''

''How did they prototypes do?''

''They failed miserably but we learned a few things.''

''What did you learn?''

''Cursed cores can absorb energy to some extent, mainly cursed energy from monsters and curses but also regular kinetic energy. The cursed core prototypes can also release the stored energy but it's random so we're working on fixing that. Also they release cursed energy with 67% of the power they took so they can somewhat return absorbed attacks but at only 67% of their power. Sadly the kinetic energy release is less than 33% of the energy absorbed so if you get shot or something, you release 33% of the energy at best.''

''That's kinda bad for me if I get shot.''

''It is what it is. At least the armor can absorb multiple hits so if you get shot 5 times you release 33% of the total kinetic energy absorbed.''

''At least I get to live after 5 shots.''

''You can take a cannon ball to the balls and keep fighing as if nothing happened.''

''How much damage can this armor take?''

''The prototypes can take about 10 shots from a 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun before they break. Now that we're working o the Defesive curse core 002, we hope that we can make it twice as durable.''

''Isn't the 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun a regular weapon? I mean it's not cursed or anything so releasing the energy from those 10 shots would be only 33% of the total energy, right?''

''Yeah but that's still a lot of energy, it's probably enough to destroy a very small building.''

''Not sure about that, maybe a wall at best.''

''A bit higher than that. Just Imagine what it would do if it's cursed energy.''

''Is there even a monster that hits as hard as a 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun?''

''Couple thousand of them, we especially research the stronger ones for this sort of thing.''

''How strong are those stronger monsters?''

''If we're talking attack potency at their base, the high grade monsters can be up to 25 times stronger than the ones you're allowed to fight. The worm is an exception for two reasons.''

''What reasons?''

''1: It can absorb light to get stronger so it's hard to place it. 2: It ate enough to evolve before you fought it.''

''So that's why it was purple in the photos and orange when we fought it.''

''Yes, it ate enough negativity and people to get stronger.''

''I think the pizza has cooled enough.''

''I almost forgot about it!''

Erika and F ate the pizza.

''Goddamn, Erika! This is some serious gourmet shit! Usually, I would be happy with some freeze-dried Taster's Choice right, but you sprung this serious GOURMET shit on me!''

''Was that a...? Did you just...? Did you just describe my pizza with a Pulp Fiction quote?''

''Yes I did.''

''Why did you do that?''

''The pizza was tasty as hell so I decided to praise the chef in the best way I possibly can.''

''That's just some pizza, you're not ready for my real cooking skills.''

''Are you that good?''

''I suck.''

''Who doesn't?''

''Probably you.''

''I suck at cooking too.''

''I don't believe you, you should cook something for me.''

''...''

''It can't be that bad, right?''

''...''

''Right?''

''...''

''F?''

''I burned the salad, Erika.''

''How did you do that? How the hell did you do that, F? How?!''

''I don't want to talk about it.''

''Tell meeeee!''

The lights went out, everything was dark.

''A power outage? Use the darkness to hide, F. People like you shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen.'' Erika laughed.

''Stop laughing at me, I was high when I did that.''

''You were?''

''Yeah!''

''That actually makes sense.''

''Yeah no shit!''

The walls started cracking and anomalies slipped through the cracks. Their pale, contorted faces all looked angry and their empty eyes all seemed to look at the same target. One of the anomalies smiled at F, its face ripping open from ear to ear, revealing its sharp, rotten, yellow teeth. Its stitched up eyes ripped open, the stitches fell off as its eyes bled. The anomaly snapped its elongated fingers and the room disappeared. No light, no sound, the anomaly's realm was an unlimited void. F's body felt heavy as he fell on his knees, he soon fell over limp, the void had taken him.

"F? Where are you?!''

The smiling anomaly snapped its fingers again and F suddenly appeared on the floor. The anomaly's finger broke and F suddenly got up and started puking. He vomited blood all over the floor and one of the other anomalies, a bald, gray creature with chipped and broken teeth, came out of the puddle of blood and threw F against the wall. 

''F!''

Before Erika could do anything, the blood anomaly pointed at her and snaps its fingers. Erika found herself in an ocean made of blood and she started sinking. She sank deeper and deeper as the blood tried to drown her. Erika tried to fight it off but the blood ocean won and the blood filled her lungs and she passed out. The blood anomaly's hand broke and Erika was released from its realm. The other anomalies, misshapen and disgusting, all approached the fallen exterminators. F suddenly woke up and sees the anomalies approaching him slowly. He tried to get up but he didn't have any strenght left to do so. F can only watch as the slow anomalies get closer and closer. He could feel their rotten stench from across the room got worse and worse as they came closer. After what felt like hours, the anomalies finally reached F and pick him up. They threw him against the wall over and over until it finally broke and F fell through. F crashed down and hits a dumpster, hitting his head.

''My head, that hurt!''

F rubbed his head.

''I can move? Yeah no shit, I fell nine stories. I gotta help Erika!''

F grabbed the dumpster and aimed at the ninth floor.

''Yippee-Ki-Yay, motherfucker!"

F threw the dumpster full of trash at the ninth floor. A few of the smaller anomalies jumped off the ninth floor and tried to stop the dumpster. They all got destroyed by the flying dumpster and it kept flying at the ninth floor.The blood anomaly broke two of the fingers on its left hand and fired high-pressure blood blast at the dumpster. F crumbled a trash can into a ball and threw it at full strenght and hits the blood blast before it hits the dumpster. The dumpster hits the blood anomaly and sent it through the other side of the building. F ran towards a lamp post and climbed on it. He jumped from the lamp post, crashing into the wall of the apartment complex. F used his full strenght to launch himself to the third floor balcony. He went to the third floor and looked up.

''6 more floor huh? I have to get up there as fast as I can.''

F entered the third floor apartment and exited through the front door. He waited for the elevator and soon enough he was on the ninth floor. F grabbed Erika's front door and threw it at the smiling anomaly. The anomaly used its hair to block the door. The door broke and the anomaly started headbanging, launching hair spikes at F.

''Fuck you, emo bitch!''

F grabbed Erika's couch and blocks the anomaly's hair. F hits the anomaly with the couch, sending it to the kitchen. The anomaly snapped its fingers and F is in the void again. F dropped the couch and fell to his knees.

''So heavy! It's like 150 times heavier, I can't move my body.''

F's eyes and ears started bleeding and he started coughing up blood. 

''It's getting heavier, I'm gonna die!''

''F? Can you hear me?!''

''Is that? Erika? She's okay? That's good news.''  F smiled and fell to the ground. The anomaly smiled and stuck its finger through the void, pointing at F. F felt his bones crack and spat blood.

Erika snuck behind the anomaly and hit it with a frying pan. The anomaly fell over and broke its fingers. The anomaly's realm disappeared and F came out of it, laying on the couch.

''Yo, I'm back.''

''Welcome back, F. I'm glad to see you again.''

''I'm glad to see you too, even though we spent 5 minutes away from each other.''

As F and Erika talked, the anomaly got up. Its eyes and nose started bleeding as its teeth began to crack. The anomaly screamed and all the corpses of the other anomalies started floating towards it.

''We have to stop it before it transforms! C'mon F!''

''Yeah!''

Erika and F jumped towards the anomaly but it pointed at them and they stopped moving midair. The corpses reached the anomaly's body and they were absored by it. The anomaly's body healed completely and it looks at F and Erika. The anomaly's gives them a smile and opens its hand, sending them flying through the window. 

''Smiler!'' The anomaly said and laughed.

''F! WE'RE FALLING!''

''I CAN SEE THAT!"

''DO SOMETHING!"

''I'M WORKING ON IT!''

F grabbed Erika and raised her over his head and threw her into the air. F crashed into another dumpster, this time he immediatly gots up, grabbed a mattress and jumped, catching Erika.

''I told you I had a plan.''

''Thank you, F, saved my life.''

''You're welcome.''

The Smiler anomaly pointed at F and Erika, shattering all the glass from every building around them. The Smiler sends the waves glass shards at F and Erika. F threw the mattress at the shards and hid Erika behind a truck. The shards shreded through the mattress and the dumpster behind it.

''That was close!''

''Yeah, thanks again, F.''

''You're welcome, again. How do we beat this thing?''

''My garage has a few sticks of cursed dynamite, those might do the trick.''

''We gotta get to your garage though, that would be hard.''

''Yeah, this anomaly is no joke. It's smarter than anything I've faced.''

''The only way to get to the garage is to distract the anomaly until we've reached it. Can you use your gas curse to create a smokescreen?''

''My curse is limited to a single usage per day and I've already used it.''

''Fuck! Do all curses do that?!''

''Yeah, why?''

''That's stupid!''

''Of course it is! You give part of yourself in exchange for super powers, there's always a catch!''

''That's why I'll never have a curse. Can you give me something to throw at that traffic sign?''

'''Why?''

''I need the sign to use it as a distraction, I'll break the sign and throw it at the anomaly so it goes after me.''

''You can have my shoe.''

''Thanks, Erika.''

F threw Erika's shoe at the traffic sign and knocked it over. F went to pick it up but Smiler sent a wave of knives at him.

''Bastard!"

F dodged the knives and picked the traffic sign up. F smiled at the Smiler anomaly as he prepared to throw the sign with all his might.

''Hey, asshole! Look at me!''

F threw the sign with every ounce of strenght he had, sending it towards the Smiler. Smiler pointed at the sign but it didn't stop moving. Smiler used two of its fingers to stop the sign. The sign stopped moving, inches away from the anomaly's face. The anomaly's smile grew wider as the sign dropped to the floor. The anomaly stretched out its arms, mimicking ''Christ the Redeemer'' as trash cans, cars and people started floating. Smiler rose above the buildings, the only thing above it being the crescent moon. The anomaly looked down upon the city, as the very buildings began to shake. The anomaly's black hair turned blood red and the sky slowly turned crimson as well.

''Erika...I think we might need more than just a few sticks of cursed dynamite.''

''We need a miracle to escape from this.''

Suddenly, other exterminators showed up to the scene. The curse users started shooting at the anomaly with all they have, slowly pushing it back. Waves of lightning and fire curses flew through the sky, pushing Smiler to block the attacks. Ice and iron curses followed soon after, pushing Smiler to use his tlekeinesis to its max. 

''I think we just witnessed a miracle, F!''  Erika screamed and hugged F.

"That's the distraction we need, let's go get that dynamite.''

''Right!''

F and Erika got to the garage thanks to their fellow exterminators' distarction. A few minutes later they returned with around 20 sticks of dynamite. There were only a few curse users left attcking the anomaly, most of them having used all their curse uses for the day.

''Alright we need to get those sticks of dynamite in the anomaly's face so we can kill it.''

''Are you sure those would be enough? I don't think those are enough to kill it.''

''Don't worry, each of these sticks is the eqiuvalent of 120kg of tnt so we can make it work if all of them blow up at once!''

''That would be difficult.''

''Oh my, F and Erika are having trouble again.'' T said, having just arrived to the scene.

''We need your help, T! We need someone to throw these 20 sticks of cursed dynamite at the anomaly.''

''Sorry, Erika, I'm not much of a pitcher myself so I'll just get the anomaly to come a little closer.''

''What do you mean by that?''

''You will see.''

T drew his katana out and looked at the anomaly. He smiled.

''3 hits''

T dashed at the anomaly, running on walls and jumping over rooftops. In a few seconds he was already up in the sky, behind the anomaly.

''H-he's fast!''

The anomaly tried to block T's strike but he cut its arm off. T smiled.

''2 strikes''

T kicked the anomaly towards the ground, sending it crashing down at incredible speeds.

''1 strike.''

The anomaly hit the ground, creating a huge crater. As the anomaly tried to get up, T fell on it and stabbed it through the back. T smiled at the anomaly.

''0 strikes left, you're dead, buddy.''

T raised his katana into the air, the anomaly still imapled on it. He looked at Erika an F.

''Throw the dynamite, please.''

''S-sure, on it!''

F threw the dynamite at T and the anomaly and T. T swung his sword upwards and the anomaly is sent flying. He hit the dynamite up and the sticks impaled the anomaly's body. The dynamite exploded above the buildings, killing the anomaly. T smiled and gave a thumbs up to F and Erika.

''Congratulations, you two, you just killed a very powerful anomaly with your plan.''

As ambulances and fire trucks arrived, T took F and Erika to the Extermination Building.

Mission Complete.

To be continued