1 1. Mission Failed
Somewhere near Capital City of Mawley . . . . . . .
"We're heavily fired. Requesting backup immediately!"
A full grown man in an army suit shouted through his telecomm. His arms shook as he struggles to hold the device firmly into his hand. Beside him lays a heavily wounded civilian being treated by one of their medic. He flanked up and withdrew his rifle, shooting multiple enemies in sight.
"Brzzt!.... Brzzt! We can't hear - Brzzt! Need ------ location----" the device spoke harshly. The man threw the small rectangle-shaped telecomm to the ground as he spat. " Piece of garbage!"
BOOM
THOMP
He quickly duck over the wall, shielding himself from incoming bullets and bombs thrown by the enemies. He sighed in agony as he watched his 12 men battalion fall to their death one by one. The medic looked at him with glassy eyes. His voice cracked as he spoke. "What are we gonna do Sergeant?" his hand professionally treating the wounded civilian. The Sergeant's helmet gloomed over, overshadowing his face from being revealed. He thought to himself.
It wasn't supposed to end like this.
Their mission was simple, search and rescue the hostages that had been caught in the shooting in the main plaza. Go in, and out. Easy right? But little did they know....
It was an ambush all along.
As soon as their big bird sets her wheels on the city, the bomb blew off, sacrificing many men in the process. As he kept thinking deeply into his thoughts, he glanced at his rifle. Only two magazines remaining. Backup should be here in 5 more minutes. Will it be enough?
"Sergeant, look out!"
A certain white-silver haired teen tackles the adult to the ground, leading them in still having their soul sticks to their body. A rocket cam flying through them, just in time before they will meet the reaper's scythe.
The man snapped out of his stupor. In front of him, crouched a teen holding a customized battle gadget : 'Fraghrayt'. A shield shone his eyes and an emerald colored - blade that is attached to the teen's left arm could be seen painted with the enemy's blood. He withdrew his weapo back into its sheath and slapped the adult.
"Snap out of it dammit! If you want to live, then start to move your ass. We will survive this," ah.. it seems that he has been ranked for more superior than the older male. The older male regained his composure and stared at him with burning passion in his eyes.
The teen smiled. "That's more like it. gather the others. The enemies will move in aggressively. We'll change the plan," he said. He ushered the others to get inside one of the bombed buildings. The made a circle and started to rebuild their strategy.
The teen grinned.
"Saa, let the game, Commence!"
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
SWOOSH
SWOOSH
BRAP
BRAP
The wind moans quietly alongside the steps of a few soldiers scouting the empty building. Rifle in hands, eyes scouting like a hawk and a body posture prepared for any ambush. The teen and the others hid behind the pillars and such, preparing for a strike.
'Remember, we gotta make this work'
'The moment they've spotted us, we're dead'
'Keep pushing them until back up arrives'
'It's either dead or alive. Ready?'
DRAP
DRAP
DRAP
TWEEK
Two of the guards stood still. They moved to a shadowy alley, curious about the said noise. Meanwhile, two soldiers could be seen hiding in the shadows, waiting for the teen's next instruction.
Certainly, one of the guards aimed his weapon towards the broken monitor. He sighed as he couldn't find anyone for the last 1 minute. Suddenly, the shadow within the walls behind him moved, creeping up behind him. The shadow smirked.
"So long asshole,"
"What in the-"
SLASH
CLUNK
His rifle dropped. A guard near them noticed to noise. He went to inspect until a gun was pointed point blank towards his head. His eyes went wide.
'Reaper's Scythe...' he spoke to himself.
"He's right he-" a bullet flew from the gun. successfully drilled a hole on his head. His body fell with a thud in an instant. With this the whole guards instantly aimed their weapons.
"Shoot, NOW!" but before they could even pull the trigger, a grenade came rolling towards their feet.
"Checkmate," the two shadows that has been creeping from the two guards on the dark alley finally spoke. The two guys were petrified. Blood gushed out of their throat. Explosion blew out of boredom. The teen's smirk grew wider, as his plan is finally coming into action.
"Everyone, kill every last one of them, don't let a single bastard escape!"
"HURAAHH!" everyone came out of their hiding spot. The enemies were caught off guards. They witness as their allies went down one by one, only counting for their turn. Finally, one of them managed to book it, only to be block by the teen with a knife pointed to his chest, resulting in an indescribable pain. He fell down in one swoop, but not before he managed to press the alarm on his walkie - talkie.
Meanwhile outside the building, the enemies own walkie talkie rung. Seeing this, they decided to call in the heavy artilleries, including the juggernauts and mechas. The teen spat to the ground while stomping the dead body with his foot. He grunted.
'Not good, they probably going to get the big guns,' he gazed his eyes towards the others as they are still busy refilling up their ammunition from the fallen guars. He switched his view to his fraghrayt. Only 2 minutes left. Suddenly, the building shook a little, resulting in a dusty environment. He reloaded his gun with a magazine before taking a defensive stance in front of the others.
"I'm the slayer of piece, grant me walls of darkness as I shield my allies with my own flesh and blood. Come forth, Ragsherum!" his body glowed with purple aura as he took a new appearance. Dark demonic armor covered up his chest and legs. His arms are tied with a sturdy looking armor. Purple aura aminates around the armor.
"Get behind me!" the others did as he said. He held out fraghrayt, changing it to shield form. While in the outside, a light beam could be seen charging playfully to be fired towards the broken building.
"I offer my heart and soul for the others> Grant me defense as I shield my troops from eternal pain and hollow," his shield gets bigger ad thicker. The others witnessed the scene with gaping mouth.
"Total Nova!"
ZAPP!
BOOM!
The light ray finally flew to the air, flying towards the building. The teen held his ground as he struggles to withstand the heavy amount of plasma ray to ensure the safety of his teammates. His arm felt numb as the light ray pushed him backwards. He took a step forward, not wanting to lose. He grinned as he felt his body getting weaker.
"Heh, Thetis is gonna break my neck if he knew I couldn't withstand a tiny blow like this. What kind of student am I if I lose to this piece of trash?" gaining new energy, he bravely upgraded his shield sturdy enough to hold his ground while waiting for the attack to stop. It was worth it, after a good 1 minute and a half, the attack stopped. He looked up to the sky, his heart exploded in happiness as the chopper finally arrive to get them out this hell hole.
DUB DUB
His demon sense sprung into action. He looks back at the source of attack before and widen his eyes in fear. A whole heavy infantry stood proudly within 10 meters from their reach, while the chopper is 2 meters away from them. He gritted his teeth in frustration.
He swiped his arms to the others. "Get the hell out of here! I'll hold them off," he change his shield to offensive mode. The others nodded and ran towards the chopper. The adult looked at the teen with worry. He stopped in his tracks and fired his rifle towards unarmored enemies. % confirmed kills.
"Kid, come here now. I'll get some of them,"
The teen smiled. "Roger that sir," he backed away little by little while blocking the huge amount of bullets coming out of the juggernaut's machine gun. Suddenly, a rocket passed through him, making its way towards the heli. His eyes widen in shock.
"Not on my watch, Taunt Troiste!" the rocket flew up and made it its way towards the teen, scratch that. The entire attack including bullets, rockets and grenades were pulled towards the poor teen, resulting in a heavy crash breaking his defense completely. He coughed blood as he crawls behind the pillars for cover. The adult jumped, but one of the soldiers held him, preventing him from entering his own grave.
"The heck are you doing Sergeant, it's too hot over there!" he didn't listen. He struggled in the soldiers grasp.
"Get off from me, I need to get him. NOW!" his eyes landed on the poor teen. Tears flowed his eyes as he witness his mouth muttering the most heartful words with a smile plastered on his bloody face.
'Get, Out, Now,'
"NO!!" he shouted as the chopper began to hover up to the sky, leaving the poor teen to fight for his life. He struggles while witnessing the kid shooting the enemy with his pistol back and forth with taking cover and blowing their heads off. But it only lasted before,
THUP!
A bullet gracefully landed itself inside the teen's left chest.
Then comes another one,
and the other,
and then another one,
until he fell to the ground. His breathing worsen as he vomit blood. The adult's eyes went into tears. The kids who happened to witness the situation cried on their parents shoulder. The injured and the rescued allies hung their head low in shame. Sadness, grief flooded their mind. the driver couldn't do anything and just glance at them in regret. They should have gotten a war chopper instead of the evacuation ones. The enemies stopped their firing and went to the teen. The leader in charge ordered his men to capture him. As their vision gets hazy by the change of distance, the teen's limp body were dragged by the enemies, to only god knows where.
The soldier that struggled to hold down the adult bowed his head until it reached the floor of the heli. Tears flowed by his eyes. "I'm sorry sergeant. We can't risk of losing you. We've already lost the kid. Leaving you to rescue the kid would only resulting in more lost of lives sir," the adult patted his head, resulting in a 'huh' from the soldier.
"It's okay private, I understand," he looked out the window. "Whatever it is, we're going to get him back,"
"Today's mission is a success, but with his loss..."
"Mission Failed,"
Suddenly, one of the kids looked at the adult with red eyes from the crying. "How are you sure he's not dead?" he grinned in sadness.
"As much as I want to say no, I still believe that he's still fighting down there,"
"He is of course...."
"Ray Asaki"
He thought to himself. 'How the heck am I gonna explain this to his friends. Especially that cat eared - kid that he has and Aiwa, that includes the whole group. I'm sure the kid is gonna have a breakdown. They're inseparable,"
. . . . . . . . . .
Somewhere in an abandoned factory.
Light engulfs the whole room as a kid with a cat ears casts a spell. "I decipher my allies from any pain. Revive their pride and soul as they serve their duty. Shugh Joult!" the whole team felt waves of energy rushed through their veins. They stood proudly as they keep launching attack after another. One last strike from Hikari finishes the whole catastrophe.
"Gem resonance!" his sword turns blue. "My will, Aqua Slash!" light blue beam lashed out of his sword as it made its impact to the two monsters in front of the group. Blood gushed out of their body as they split in half from the beam's impact. The two fell to the ground lifelessly. Their tongue slipped out of their mouth, their eyes went upwards, signalling their soul being dragged away from their body. The group let out a sigh of relieve.
Hikari sheathed his sword flicking the sword clean from any blood. "Alright, I guess that should do it for today. As for today's quest.... It's a success!" the whole group cheered happily. Finally, they get to rest after an agonizing mission. Arithia broke the silence by whining.
"Sheesh, talk about problem solving, I can't imagine going it with their smell lingering around my body," the others nodded in agreement. Couldn't blame her though. Just one sniff could already tell how horrible the smell is. Welp. It's time for departure. Better than nothing eh.
Hiyama glanced at Ariel in confusion. The kid had been staring at the ground with a horrified expression plastered on his shota-style face. He crouched to get his eyes on his level. His hand went on top of his head while slowly scratching his cat ears.
"What's wrong kiddo? You've looked like you've seen a ghost," Ariel snapped out of his thought. He shook his head.
"There's nothing to be worried Hiyama nii-san. It's just..." he choked between his words, attracting the others attention. "I feel like there's something bad had happened, but I couldn't put a thought about it. Just thinking about it made my head hurts," the others went sour. A vision is something special. But Ariel's instinct is nothing to be made fun of. They tried to shook the bad thought. Must've been his own feelings.
Hiyama stood back up. Sighing he lend his hand to hand. "Come on now Ariel, you wouldn't want your onii san gets worried do you? He may have already returned to Astera,"
Ariel chuckled. Just hearing Ray already makes his day feels better. He reached his hand before standing while dusting of his clothes. The others followed suite. Next stop, Astera. But little did they know, all hell will break loose.
. . . . . . . . In the Air . . . . . . .
BZZZ BZZZZ BZZZZ
Silence. A conclusion to the helicopter's surrounding. Only the rotors sound could be heard singing to their hearts content. The solemn face is completely visible in the sergeant's face. The survivors were no good. Some of the soldiers are trying to treat the wounds with little aid kit they have on their disposal.
A young man spoke up to the sergeant, who is leaning against his seat while smoking his cigar. "Sergeant, about that guy earlier, who is he? I'm still new to the job," the man looked like he's in late 20's. Clean face, slightly tanned skin, a pair of dark brown eyes and an average body size. Slightly shorter than the older male.
The sergeant's cap lifted a little, showing a glimpse of his pair of hazelnut eyes. "You're new? Never thought I could find a rookie in an evacuation chopper. Wanna tell a little bit about yourself? Then I'll speak,"
The younger one nodded in exasperation. "Right. The name's Drute Axel. Callsign 'Wave'. I've been recruited to the force after 5 month of training. I can only use average spell cast as I only have average mana storage,"
The sergeant nodded as he reveals his biography. He placed the cigar in a makeshift tiny rubbish bin, specially made to dump the unhealthy snack.
"Drute Axel. A fine name. Well, a promise is a promise. I guess I'll have to do my part then," he cleared his throat before fixing his posture, making himself comfortable. "The kid is Ray Asaki. Codenamed 'Nexon'. The force never got a clue about his background. The only thing they know is that he had been found by Astera, the Acting General himself. At first they thought about abandoning him but Kaid got his back. He took car of him as if he is his grandson,"
He sighed again before continuing, "But the kid's different. He can't use magic. We tried to help him by even teaching him the weakest magic possible, but he doesn't have mana manipulation nor affinity," a question mark appeared imaginably on top of Drute's head.
"But didn't he used a defensive spell- " his words were caught off short by the sergeant's snort. "Figures. I knew you would say that," he chuckled. "Here's the best part. He's half demom."
The younger male's eyes went wide. A half demon in the force, shouldn't he be exterminated already. "Don't worry. He already got full control of the power. Apparently he obtained the jackpot while on a mission. It's a long story but maybe you could ask-"
"So all this time he's half demon?"
Their conversation were interrupted by a kid that has been sitting beside her mother. Both bruised after the escape. His eyes were dull and looked dead in the inside. His clothes were dusty as heck.
The sergeant scratched his chin. "Is there a problem about that kid. I know demons are bad and all, but that's the only way to get him to use magic,"
He shook his head in disagreement. "No. It's just, his emotions. It's all blurry. I can only see darkness and blood. Foreshadowed by his old memories," the two looked interested. They shot a questioning look to his mother.
She nods her head. "As you can see, my son here is.... a little bit special. He has the ability to see someone from the inside. That's why he look like this. Too much memory made him scared and terrified."
The kid continue while adjusting his position to face the two soldiers. "But that's not it. There's a light. But really shallow. It's filled with his friends and a little kid with cat ears. It seems that's the only thing that has been keeping him from getting berserk,"
The sergeant's eyes went wide. "Berserk, what do you mean?"
The kid's eyes flickered with light. "The moment the light is out. It's like throwing an oil to an already heavy flames,"
"Massacre is inivitable at that point. So prepare yourself when that time comes,"
. . . . . . . . .
SLASH SLASH SLASH
"Get up you moron,"
SLASH SLASH
WHIP
"Still don't want to cooperate do you,"
"You're a nuisance. As much as I want to kill you, you're important for the clan's future,"
A boy could be seen lying on the ground, coughing in agony as another whip made its way to his bare skin. His clothes were ruptured resulted from the torture of the said sadist. The man held chin roughly, making him hiss from the touch.
"If that's how you want to play, then so be it," he shoved his head aside. The kid held his face as he scrunched, but it barely looked hurt. "I'll love for another round when next time comes," he turn towards the iron door.
"Until then, don't you die on me you waste of space," he closed the door roughly, leaving the poor boy alone in the dark room. He struggles himself to crawl to the wooden bench, groaning in pain in the process. As he finally made his way, he slumped to the hard bench. His breathing hasten as he tries to regain his composure.
'Just another day of pain' his voice sounded from the inside. Tears dwelled from the corner of his blue eyes. He held his bruised arm and turning himself to the right. His back facing the wall.
'Why would he do this to me? What had he become? Is it because of my powers?'
'Mom, please help dad. I know he's still in there'
3 Hours Later
"How did it go Sanders?" an old man in his late 70's asked the sadist with a questioning look. He rolled up his sleeve as he tries to make an experiment.
"No intel for now," he sighed. "It's been 4 damn months. You sure he's important and stuff. I might enjoy him to be my punching bag," a hand made his way to his broad shoulder. As he glanced to the side, it looks like the hand belongs to a man in his 30's wearing glasses and had a stern look in his face.
"Enough is enough Sanders. He's my own flesh and blood remember?" the sadist sighed in annoyance.
"Yea yea yea, the son of the famous Cuseits, yadda yadda yadda." he waved off his hand in an arrogant manner. He made his way to the exit. But before he left. "You should teach that kid of yours manners. I ain't got a thing for patience you know that right. Well then, smell ya," he slams the door shut.
The leader scratched his noise in annoyance. "Damn that guy, what had he done to my boy," the professor just laughed. "You know it's for the sake of our clan my liege. After he finally succumb to us, we'll treat him as our own,"
Cuseits walked to the balcony, admiring the night and the starry sky. "Whatever you say old man,"
He closes his eyes. 'I'm sorry Storm. I hope you understand'
'The same goes for you two Martha, my wife'
. . . . . . . . .
"Dish ish realy gud," Hiyama's mouth couldn't stop talking. The others looked at him amusingly.
Right after the mission, they finally arrived at Astera. What are they doing? Of course stuffing their stomachs with delicious meals. Well, you could say Hiyama is a moving vacuum. He's been taking seconds right after another plate and each fills are different then before.
Hikari sweat dropped as he witness his comrade stuffing himself without a care in the world. "You know Hiyama, don't you think that's a lot just for tonight?" the tank looked at him with a tick mark on his head. "What? Are you saying that I'm going to get fat," he shoved a fowl meat in front of him. "You need to know the difference between muscles and fats. And as you know for a tank like me needs a lot of fats for muscles," the others looked at him deadpanned.
"Crud, that ain't right," he scratched at the back of his head. The group laughed at his horrible philosophy. While they're at it, Ariel had been sight seeing, trying to find his beloved nii-san, but only to be met with shy girls instead. Stealing glances at the kid. He sighed quietly, only to be heard by Aiwa.
"Still couldn't find him?" truthfully, the young girl also had been looking for his, ehem, crush. She pats the cat kid. "Rest assured, he must've been on a trip with his friends," her face went solemn. 'Or so I hope' She couldn't help it but to feel something is wrong here.
Suddenly, the door of the café opens, revealing the allies from the force. Aiwa and Ariel immediately went up to the two, catching them off guard.
"Sir, were you with Ray just today? Where is he?" the two took a step back, surprised by the outburst from the two. The two let out a huge sigh mankind has ever heard.
"Miss, kiddo. That's why we are here today."
"He's been captured by the enemies,"
Hiyama's plate dropped to the ground, breaking the glass to pieces.
