Protect, even if it means dying.
These words, Maxime said in a very serious tone while closing his right fist with exceptional vigor.
But noticing the situation of Maxime's family and acquaintances, the mercenaries reacted in kind.
"There's no need, Chief, to get your hands dirty - I'll do the job myself," Tena asserted in a firm voice.
And all at once she accelerated.
Despite the disappearance of her [NOX LIMIT] state, she still had a 2-point physique, giving her incredible speed compared to ordinary soldiers.
"I'll come with you," Andrew declared, following her.
Romuald, Izo and Ernest followed in silence.
This made Maxime smile slightly, even if it didn't diminish the murderous impulses in his heart.
Indeed, in the distance, his family and acquaintances had guns pointed at them.
They were threatened just outside the door of an unknown metal shelter over three meters high.
More than fifteen armed civilians were pointing at his family and acquaintances with a little sneer of contempt.
"We've already told you, this shelter is reserved for important people in town!" threatened the man leading them.
He was seated in front of them, on a rather imposing rock.
"No, the shelters were built for anyone living in the city!" replied a rather elderly woman. But despite her wrinkles, her looks showed that she had been a very beautiful woman in her youth.
However, her explosive temperament, combined with her short haircut, broke any image of a gentle woman one might have had of her.
The civilian leader chuckled in response, then looked with a certain undertone at another armed civilian.
The latter nodded, then stepped in front of the woman.
"What do you want? Come any closer and you'll..."
*boom*
She didn't have time to finish her sentence before she was struck by a cross-shot from the civilian's weapon, and fell to the ground.
"Mommy!"
"Andrea!"
The surrounding people moved closer to Andréa, and some of them knelt down to see her wound.
"This is what it costs to overstep one's status," declared the chief with a mocking smile.
"Now beat it!" he continued, waving his hand.
Rising slowly to her feet, Andréa didn't seem to want to turn back as she stared fiercely at the men in front of her.
"What? Do you really want to die today?" threatened the civilian who had just struck Andréa with dangerous eyes.
But as he stepped forward once more to strike, he felt a slight wave of cold on his neck.
Then, somehow, his vision changed without him being able to do anything about it.
Finally, when she seemed motionless, he could see the eyes of his friends and his leader filled with surprise and fear.
With the last of his strength and as his vision blurred, he noticed a silhouette of a woman with a sword and blood running down the end of it.
He saw a slight movement of her lips:
"Striking the chief's mother, how thoughtless."
As intense regret ran through his mind he asked himself:
"Whose mother did I hit to have to die for it?"
Unfortunately, he never got an answer and closed his eyes forever.
Everyone looked at the young woman who had just arrived.
"You are?" asked Andréa curiously.
"In charge of finances for the saber-toothed tigers, Tena," she replied with a gentle smile.
"Saber-toothed tigers?" replied Andréa unconsciously before having a flash back.
She suddenly remembered this pretty young woman standing next to her son.
"She's one of my men, Mom," replied Maxime, who had just appeared beside her.
"You're still alive, Maxime!" exclaimed Andréa as tears began to flow.
She herself knew how complicated her emotions had been since she'd left her son to face invaders, if it had been in the past even if an army of several thousand Pirans had appeared before her, she wouldn't even have blinked.
"I haven't accomplished anything yet, how could I die now?" replied Maxime with a confident smile.
"Haha yes he is my son! As powerful as me at his age!" she shouted without thinking with eyes filled with pride.
"As powerful?" wondered Maxime, as well as the neighbors nearby.
"I was talking about character, of course," she replied, looking up briefly with a slight smile.
The neighbors nodded and congratulated her on raising such a fine son.
"What is she hiding from me?" wondered Maxime, frowning.
Her quick glance skyward is a lifelong Andréa tic, and Maxime has clearly noticed.
"You really dared to kill one of my men?" interjected the opposing leader with a dangerous glare as he rose to his feet.
The civilians defending the nearby shelter looked ready to fire at any moment.
Maxime looked seriously at the man in front of him.
Although an intense murderous urge invaded him, he held it back because if they opened fire they could kill his mother, his brother and the neighbors in his neighborhood!
"So what?" replied Maxime coolly.
"The man exclaimed as he drew his handgun and took aim at Maxime's group.
Maxime didn't think he was that crazy as he widened his eyes in surprise.
But somehow he managed to calm down and ordered:
"Protection!"
Immediately, Tena, Andrew, Romuald, Izo and Ernest positioned themselves without hesitation as human shields in front of the small group of neighbors.
"Everyone run!" shouted Maxime as he positioned himself in front of his mother and brother.
The man opposite grinned wildly as he pointed his gun at Maxime.
Behind them, Andréa and Jona cried out in fear, while an intense feeling of danger ran through Maxime's body.
*boom*
He could undoubtedly dodge this bullet, but if he dodged his mother and brother might be hit.
So he gritted his teeth and didn't move.
*pschitt*
The bullet quickly penetrated his body but didn't go all the way through.
"Maxime!"
"Chief!"
Worried voices came from beside him, but he had no time to worry about them.
An intense pain appeared in his abdomen.
He reflexively put his left hand over the wound as he stared angrily at the man who had just shot him.
The man still had that deranged grin on his face.
He turned and saw Andrea and Jona still standing behind him with teary eyes.
"What are you still doing here!"
"Run away from here!" shouted Maxime fiercely.
*boom*
*pschitt*
Another shot rang out as a new source of pain appeared. He turned once more to look at his assailant.
The latter had a completely demented smile and eyes that showed he had lost all rationality.
*boom*
*pschitt*
His vision blurred and his breath ragged.
But somehow he noticed that the other civilians didn't dare shoot.
It would seem that not everyone was so crazy, after all there were still laws in this town.
*boom*
*pschitt*
Another source of pain appeared, but Maxime remained on his feet as a smile as strange as his assailant appeared on his face.
Then he began to run rapidly towards the man who was shooting at him.
Seeing the blond-haired young man still standing after so many bullets, and even running towards him, the civilian leader began to worry.
*boom* *boom* *boom*
*pschitt* *pschitt**pschitt*
"Shit, why won't you die yet?" shouted the man in despair.
At last Maxime arrived in front of the man and, without saying a word, threw a punch with all his might into his attacker's face.
The latter flew to the door of the unknown metal shelter, making a frightful noise as his body collided with the door.
"Put down your weapons if you don't want to meet the same fate," declared Maxime in a loud, threatening voice.
Seeing their leader without any sign of life, and the monstrous young man who doesn't die even after being shot several times, the civilians who were simply petit bourgeois dropped all their weapons without hesitation.
These people possessed no great conviction, they simply had a slight background that enabled them to intimidate the weak.
Now that one of their friends and their leader was dead, it seemed that events had gone beyond their control.
"Retrieve their weapons and tie them up," Maxime ordered, looking at his mercenaries left behind.
"Yes, sir!"
At the same moment, a military team of a dozen soldiers arrived in front of the shelter.
"What's going on here?" shouted the man at the front.
Maxime turned towards the source of the noise and began to open his mouth, but no sound came out.
Soon his vision began to blur further.
"Shit, I guess that's my limit," Maxime thought with a slight hint of bitterness before suddenly falling to the ground.
He could only hear footsteps and the voices of his relatives and mercenaries, followed by this last sentence:
"Quickly, take this man to the military rescue service!"
Then Maxime lost all consciousness.