Vermillion Raddock
A/N: Accidently deleted the Level Ups in the last chapter, but they're there now.
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"This…" Vermillion Raddock showed the video, including Shen in it before the strange orb. Hearing her reaction Vermillion Raddock was positive that Shen was indeed using magic. Although it was difficult to determine magic from semblances and Dust, there were a few key differences one could notice.
First, magic was a lot more powerful than either of the two when used by a single person. Second, being that compared to semblances, they had a much wider range of use. Soon the woman's voice came from the orb once more. "Do whatever you must. Capture him, however, if that proves impossible, then kill him."
Vermillion Raddock bowed his head. "As you wish." Soon the floating orb lost its light as it floated back into the box, going silent. Outside of The Hana Guild's base Shen stood up. 'That drained me way more than I expected it to…' Holding out his hand Gae Bolg which was embedded in the ground in the middle of a large crater glowed with a red light.
Flying up, it began bouncing through the air at impossible angles before returning, reaching Shen. The fighting was still raging on. From their defensive positions, The Hanna Guild held the White Fang back and slowed their advance. At the same time, The Hanna Guild had called for reinforcements which had them stuck in a pincer attack.
'I really have to do everything myself.' Taking a deep breath, Shen looked back at Neo. "Help deal with the attacks being launched from behind us. I'll deal with breaking through their defenses myself." Neo looked hesitant, considering how exhausted Shen was. He didn't look like he could handle a task like breaking through their line.
"Just do it." Neo looked at him before turning around and heading south. The reinforcements The Hanna Guild called were right outside the broken gate. They could easily get the jump on them if they're not dealt with. Shen sighed to himself as he cracked his neck. 'I really didn't want to use this in front of the White Fang, at least not yet. But I'll have to deal with that later.'
Jumping over the Armored Vehicle in front of him, Shen was completely exposed. The gunners shooting from their stationary positions immediately spotted him. "That's him. He's the one that took out the Huntsman! Gun him down!" Half of their fire immediately was redirected from the surrounding White Fang, pushing forward to Shen.
'Devil Trigger.' Everyone watched as the bullets flew towards Shen; however, just as they were going to impact his body, a black fog engulfed them and himself. "Two minutes..." Running full speed ahead, Shen burst from the black fog like an arrow. Immediately the eyes of shooters widened.
"A Grimm? No, a demon!" Even the White Fang Members who were pushing forward noticed Shen's sudden change and felt terrified. His speed was inhuman as he easily reached The Hana Guild's base without taking a single shot. The Members of The Hana Guild who were waiting for him inside had their weapons drawn.
Having gotten into the inner regions of the base, Shen was quickly surrounded. Each of the people surrounding him had a sword in one hand with a gun in the other. "You damn monster! Die!" One of them worked up the courage to attack first as he ran at Shen from behind. Shen, in his devil form, let out a deep growl as he whipped around.
What happened next was truly horrific. With a single swing of Gae Bolg, the man who charged at him didn't even get a chance to react. His entire upper torso disappeared as blood and internal organs splattered through the air. None of them were given a chance to feel shocked as Shen began his massacre.
"Shit, the guns aren't working." Deflecting everything they shot towards him with pinpoint accuracy, Shen ripped through their numbers. Working almost autonomously, his Life Fiber's shot from his body, impaling and tearing apart anyone he wasn't focusing on. In less than thirty seconds, twenty bodies' worth of blood was splattered on the ground.
Without hesitating, he continued to tear his way through the building. He took out every last person he saw, and as a result, the continuous gunfire that was being laid down on the White Fang outside slowly let up. "Keep pushing!" Ignoring the fact that what Shen looked like was disturbing, he had given them a chance.
Immediately they pushed forward with everything they had. Shen had gone deep within The Hana Guild's base, leaving trails of corpses in his wake. Deactivating his devil trigger, he kicked down two sliding doors revealing a hall. Sitting in waiting was Vermillion Raddock as he looked up at Shen with his mask still on.
"The Hanna Guild has existed for years, yet someone like you is taking it down in a single day?" It was unbelievable, but the truth was right before him. "You can cut the chit-chat." Normally Shen would gladly probe things out with a talk; however, he was running on empty at this point.
Utilizing Gae Bolg and then his Devil Trigger to break through The Hanna Guild's defense took too much out of him. Even his Life Fibers would take too much energy, which meant relying on his physical attributes was his last option. "Fine by me. It would be impossible to take you alive anyway."
Vermillion Raddock reached over his back as Shen watched a massive metal ball covered in spikes slam into the wooden floor. Attached to it was a chain at least thirty feet long linked to a handle in his hand. "Show me what you've got!" Swinging his arm back, the large spiked ball flew up into the air before Vermillion Raddock swung it down towards Shen.
Flipping a switch on the handle itself, the ball turned blue as Shen quickly dashed to the right. On impact with the ground, the ball released an icy explosion. Large pillars of ice covered the ground and froze everything within a five meters area. "Hya!" Swinging the flail again, he swung it in an arc towards Shen.
Wielding Gae Bolg, Shen countered with brute strength as he pierced towards the flail. The two forces cancel one another out as the spiked ball was sent flying back and Shen rushed directly towards Vermillion Raddock. Jumping into the air, he slashed down towards him. Pulling on the chain of his flail Vermillion Raddock blocked using it.
Sparks flew as Shen pushed down on him. "You're strong for someone so young, but why aren't you using that magic of yours?" Vermillion Raddock pushed Shen off of him before pulling on his flail, bringing the metal ball back to his side. "Don't tell me you've run out of gas before you got here?"
There was a chuckle in his voice as he flipped the switch on the handle once more. The entire chain of the flail suddenly lit ablaze as Vermillion Raddock began swinging it around. With each swing, it left a trail of fire in its wake. Ducking down, Shen dodged the first swing before jumping up to dodge the second.
As Vermillion Raddock continued to swing his flail, everything around them was destroyed. The flail ripped through the walls and floor and began setting things on fire as well. "You little rat, just stay still!" Pulling his arm back, he swung the flail straight ahead towards Shen. 'Here goes nothing.'
Shen braced himself as he dodged to the side, just slightly avoiding the spiked metal ball. Reaching out his hand, he grabbed the chain of the flail. Immediately the flames began to burn away at his hand as Vermillion Raddock laughed. "What the hell are you thinking? Are you interested in losing a hand?"
Hearing him, Shen laughed, not really. Ignoring the flames, Shen yanked on the chain with all of his strength. Vermillion Raddock felt his body being pulled forward as it was lifted off the ground. As he approached, Shen continued to hold the chain as he spun around and kicked the incoming Vermillion Raddock in the chest.
The impact from the hit caused the air to be knocked out of his body as his eyes bulged. He was sent flying back as his grip on the handle of his flail came to lose. Vermillion Raddock crashed into one of the walls of the room as embers began to fill the room due to the fire. Letting go of the chain, Shen let the flail fall to the ground as he ignored his charred hand.
Breaking free of the wall, Vermillion Raddock coughed as he looked up at Shen. "Fine...You want to do it like this, then let's go!" He ripped the mask off his head, revealing his true face. His hair was flaming red, and his face was covered in scars. His eyes burned as he ran towards Shen full speed.
Spinning Gae Bolg Shen charged forward as well. Slashing vertically at his head Vermillion Raddock leaned back, dodging the attack by a hair. Reaching up, he grabbed Shen's arm pulling him closer to him. 'Crap!' Shen was unguarded as a punch landed in his stomach, lifting his body off the ground slightly.
Letting go of his arm, Vermillion Raddock grabbed the air-born Shen by the head and slammed him face-first into the floor. "Die!" Raising his foot, he planned to crush Shen right there and then. However, just as if foot came down, Shen rolled out of the way while sweeping the ground with Gae Bolg.
Vermillion Raddock's leg was tripped as he fell to the ground, and Shen quickly stood up. "I'm ending this!" Appearing over Vermillion, Raddockhe raised Gae Bolg before stabbing down. "Gah!" Vermillion Raddock's face turned red as he grabbed Gae Bolg by the spear, holding it back with his hands that were beginning to bleed.
Shen stared Vermillion Raddock dead in the eyes as he continued the push down with all his strength. 'Persistent bastard just die!' Shen pulled Gae Bolg back as he kicked Vermillion Raddock in the face while he was still on the ground. The kick immediately disoriented him as his grip on Gae Bolg broke.
Spinning Gae Bolg through the air Shen aimed directly for his heart, and in one attack, ran Vermillion Raddock through. "Bla-" Blood erupted Vermillion Raddock's mouth as he widened in shock. He tried to move his arm towards Gae Bolg, but Shen plunged it deeper the next moment. Soon the light left his eyes as his body went limp.
Shen's breath was ragged as the building around him was burning down. Removing Gae Bolg from Vermillion Raddock's chest, he looked at him for a moment before turning around. A large portion of The Hanna Guild's base was burning down at this point; however, that didn't matter. As he made his way outside, he pulled out his scroll.
"Vermillion Raddock is dead, meaning The Hanna Guild is done for." From that moment forth, Kuchinashi City belonged to him. As he made his way outside, he saw that the remaining members of The Hana Guild were completely surrounded. Alongside that, L1, L2, and Neo were waiting for him at the front of the building showing all resistance had been crushed.
By far, this was the worst condition any of them had seen Shen, but that was beside the point. When the White Fang spotted Shen, they immediately began to cheer. "We actually did it! We took over Kuchinashi City!" it sounded so unreal that some people hesitated to celebrate. However, soon the cheers got louder.
"It's all thanks to High Officer Shen!"
"Without him, we never could have gotten this far!"
"Shen!"
"Shen!"
"Shen!"
They were practically chanting as their voices filled the entire area. Unconsciously Shen began to smile as he looked up. 'Well, that took a lot longer than I was hoping. And I got my ass kicked a bit. But I say the end result was worth it.' As Shen stood there, Neo's eyes were fixed on him. This marked the turning point of it all.
The beginning of the end for the World Of Remnant.