The Fight Grows

"Heh." Solomon chuckled slightly.

Arlo watched him from behind a car.

"So that's the difference between a real archangel and someone being considered for being a hunter." Solomon clutched his side as blood slowly trickled down his body.

Despite being on the offensive and having the advantage, Solomon hadn't managed to hurt the gunslinger angel. Instead, he ended up being grazed by a bullet.

In his ear he heard a voice, "The fight's being brought over there. Get prepared."

Solomon's eyes widened slightly, and he turned towards the end of the street. A loud explosion and a dust cloud appeared as two people entered the street through a building. Something resembling a monster was gripping an individual by their head. Lightning was trailing down their body as they lifted the body and threw it into the concrete on the side of a building.

The concrete cracked and was pushed in by the body. The body laid in the concrete and didn't move. Then a red trail appeared from nowhere and went through the body. As it did so, the body burst into flames as a large hole was ripped into its chest, then a deafening sound was emitted.

The monster with the animal skull, John in his alternate form, stood up straight and looked around. When his eyes landed at the carnage in the street, he frowned. His body disappeared as dozens of feral dolls appeared in the street clawing after him. He would pick one from the group and restrain them, reappearing for a moment to do so.

After which, from a hidden place, Daniel would shoot them and kill them. They were mindless dolls being controlled by the doll squad's Augur. The doll squad having dolls at their disposal, who could've seen it coming?!

Then Arlo saw her. The crazy lady with crimson hair. She was the dealer of their squad. She was a specialist dealer, but a dealer nonetheless. Meaning, it was Arlo's job to counter her.

Elinor walked out from the same building John had. She was literally on fire. She raised her sword and blitzed forward at a speed which made her seem like a blur. The flames on her back were quickly doused by the air. But she wasn't as fast as lightning.

John turned and slapped away her blade before cutting her with his claws. At the same time, Solomon and the gunslinger started fighting again. While fighting, Solomon got shoved into a corner and had to defend. That's when he realized something.

They had another executioner. He had a split second to react, but couldn't.

All the way from the roof of the building a loud echo rang out. Solomon was standing still before his frame started trembling slightly. Blood fell from his mouth, and he placed his weight on his sword to support himself.

The gunslinger looked at Solomon before giving them a slight acknowledging nod. They raised their gun and fired at him.

A slight metallic sound was transmitted to the gunslinger's ears, and they chuckled for a moment.

"You truly are worthy to become a hunter, Mr. Mirror Swordsman." They spoke from behind their doll mask with a grin.

Solomon stood with his sword raised in the air after deflecting the bullet. A manic smile was on his face.

"That's it. If even only once, to become a hunter, one must embody their ideals. You must become a blood hunter; you must become a monster. Now, fight me." The gunslinger doll motioned towards themselves with their revolvers.

Solomon dashed forward and began stabbing at the gunslinger. He created a mirror and sent his blade through it. Unlike before where whatever would just go back out the way it came, it instead came out at an angle.

Although only slightly, the gunslinger had finally been injured with a slight nick on their skin. They hadn't seen the mirrors able to be used in this way, which meant that Solomon had just received the inspiration from something.

The gunslinger grinned again from behind their mask, and they began fighting with vigor.

On top of two rooftops, an entire street away from each other, stood two individuals watching each other with their abnormally good eyes. Daniel, the proctor squad's grim, specializing in sniping and the newcomer, the additional archangel executioner, also specializing in sniping.

The two watched each other while the fighting raged on below. Neither had their guns raised and they were instead settled on bipods on the roof. They then took aim at each other calmly and casually.

One might assume they were friends playing a simple airsoft game because of how calm they seemed.

They lined up their shots and started doing calculations as quickly as they could. Then, they both opened the chamber of their sniper rifles and loaded in a cartridge manufactured by their own magic.

They watched each other through the scope before firing. The two bullets travelled to the next building over, being pulled away by the strong winds and being pulled down by the rain and gravity. As both bullets travelled, although instant to everyone, the bullets left behind trails, one white, one orange.

Then once the bullets finished their travels, the executioner and Daniel began observing the trails. Daniel's white trail missed the executioner by a literal inch. The orange trail from the executioner however, landed beneath Daniel.

Seeing this, Daniel jumped to his feet and began running. A massive explosion erupted from underneath him, and he was launched across the roof. He landed towards the other side on his belly and skidded until he was met with the building's edge. He reached out and his hands slid along the edge until he managed to stop himself from going off. He rolled himself over with a pant and saw the section where he was now at, drowning in flames.

Arlo looked up into the air and saw the massive explosion as rubble began raining down into the streets. He took a gulp as he saw the carnage just continued to get worse.

He recognized that he was being a coward. He recognized that his companions were fighting valiantly.

"Shit!" He yelled as he clutched his hair. He yelled for a moment before forcing his legs to stand up. He turned around and began running towards Lady Elinor.

Ding!

The elevator door opened, and the slightly bloody and injured Leo walked in. He looked around and saw around two dozen people looking at him. He scratched his head slightly as he walked around.

"Over here." Leo heard from over in a corner. He turned his head and saw Luke waving him over.

"So… Seems to be a few people in here…" Leo muttered.

"No shit. I don't know how we'll be able to leave without creating a ruckus." Luke said.

Leo blinked, "Without creating a ruckus? It's a little late for that." He pointed outside with his thumb.

"I mean for the people in here."

"Hey Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"It doesn't matter if they freak out about us leaving, Avery Junior is dead, and we need to leave before someone sees it."

"He is? Shit!" Luke whispered.

"Yeah, so let's go." Leo said as he grabbed the mat that Faust was on. He motioned for Luke to get the other side to make it easier for the two of them to drag Faust.

"Hey, where are you two going?! It's chaos out there!" The woman from earlier yelled.

"Sorry ma'am, we've got our reasons!" Luke replied apologetically.

"I knew it! They were demons! They're trying to escape before the police arrive!"

Leo paused for a moment and looked up with furrowed brows, "Shut up you racist pig."

The man recoiled a bit before he summoned some courage, "I'm simply stating the facts!"

Leo stopped and put Faust down. He stood up straight and patted some invisible dust off of his front. He looked up at the man and pointed at Luke, "That kid right there is an angel. I assume you worship them if you hate demons that much. Guess you fucked up this time."

The man's eyes widened slightly but he didn't believe it completely, Leo continued, "Also, I admit it, I am a demon."

"I knew it!"

"I am also an angel. I've got the blood of both in me, yet you're incriminating me just because of one half? You've seen me for less than a minute and you're being an awful person. Be ashamed of who you are and get your head out of the fucking gutter, you trashy excuse of a human. At least I own what I am."

Leo bent back down and lifted Faust. Luke looked at Leo for a moment in shock before looking at everyone else in the room. He coughed slightly before bending down and helping Leo lift Faust.

They picked him up and entered the elevator. Not long after, the doors closed.

Everyone turned to look at the man. Feeling the stares of everyone in the room, he looked down before walking away to a corner in solitude.

"Got some pent-up feelings?" Luke asked.

"You've got no idea." Leo responded with a sigh.

"Ah!" A yelp was heard.

Leo looked down in the elevator and saw Faust with their eyes looking down at their abdomen in pain. He reached out to touch it, but Leo placed his hand on Faust's and stopped him. Faust looked up and Leo shook his head.

"You'll be fine with some rest."

"Mathias?"

"Don't worry, you're not in the underworld yet." Leo said as the elevator doors opened and the three stepped out.

"S-set me down."

"Alright, alright."

The two set him down and he immediately tried getting up.

"Woahhh, slow down there cowboy. You need rest and that's the opposite of walking."

"You guys need help with the fight!" He spoke.

Leo chuckled weakly as he said, "Yeah, it's gone so far past a simple fight that it's not even funny anymore. There's like a micro-war going on outside right now. We haven't fought in forever."

"Wait! Where's Andrew! And Avery!"

"Avery's dead and Andrew's with him. We're going there now."

"Well, I ain't gonna be deadweight!" Faust said as he forced himself up.

Luke and Leo were quiet as they watched Faust force himself up.

"You're stubborn you know that?" Leo said with a shake of his head while looking up at Faust from his crouched position.

"My mother said it was my best trait."

"That's debatable, but okay." Luke said as he stood.

Leo stood a moment later and the three began leaving. Began being the key word.

Faust stumbled immediately and Leo caught him.

"Alright, wrap your arm around my neck. There ya go. Come on." Leo said as he helped Faust limp and hop out of the building. Luke went to make sure the area was clear and the three made their way over to Andrew.

They made it to Andrew and Luke and Faust cursed upon seeing the dead body.

"What do we do now?" Andrew asked while looking at Leo.

"Simple, we head through the sewers and pop out where we need to. We're not that far away and the sewers in this city are expansive."

"The sewers?" Luke asked with a slightly disgusted face.

"Yeah, people don't look in the sewers, even if they did, not like there's much of a trail to follow."

"You grow up playing in the sewers or somethin'?" Andrew asked.

"No." Leo answered simply and with an oddly cold voice.

"…" The four went silent for a moment.

"Sorry. City brings back some ugly memories." Leo said.

"So… let's just go I guess." Andrew lifted the dead Junior and began carrying him. Luke just went forward and made sure nobody would see them and Leo helped Faust.

They made it to a sewer grate, and they all began crawling into it. Leo helped Faust down the steps as the other two helped him from inside. Once he was in, Leo turned and saw Lady Elinor staring at him from far away, despite being in a battle.

The two looked at each other before Leo finally started heading into the sewer.

Lady Elinor hummed slightly with a creepy smile, "He's like me…"