Sup Red.

Due to my rewind, I found myself back at the spot before I charged. I used {Carry} on myself again, picked up another zombie, and ran toward them. I arrived about a minute later, and the Reapers still seemed as if they were in shock. 

"IT'S THE FUCKING LUNATIC! HE'S HERE AGAIN!" 

The shielders no longer had any coordination. Unlike with my first approach, there was hardly any resistance in the second. I killed most of the archers, and only two spearmen remained. 

Using the same tactic, I threw the undead in my hand at the ones grouped up and shot the ones who were standing alone. A few swordsmen came for me, but as I had a gun, they dropped before they could even get close. My eyes kept darting around, though. 

"Where the hell did Red go? {Pack}". 

I picked up a dude with heavy armor and used him as a shield. Funny how, despite their defensive armor, none of these bastards wore helmets. Was it because they wanted to look cool? 

With a new meat shield in tow, I blocked the skills they threw my way without turning on {Withstand}. That {Fate} worked best as a defender. Using it while attacking was not only stupid but also difficult as hell. 

'Not to mention, getting attacked hurts like a motherfucker.' 

Terror reigned over the ones remaining; they no longer attacked. Instead, they begged. 

"Please spare us, oh great one! We didn't know you were here!" a man said as he threw his weapon on the ground. 

'Kissing the ass of the one who killed your friends? Yeah, these people are hopeless.' 

Not even bothering to reply, I sent him to heaven with a bullet between the eyes. As more and more of them died, I continued to look around for Red. But then I heard a rustle. Something moved. But I saw nothing. 

"{Identify}." 

A green reticule showed a faint human silhouette that crawled on the ground. 

I shot what I thought was its leg in response. 

A loud cry, along with a busty woman, appeared. She was average-looking but kept a neat face. Seeing me with my gun trained on her head, the woman began to beg for her life. 

"Please don't kill me! I won't bother you anymore! I don't want any trouble!" 

This woman was part of Red's group. She likely has the ability to fight. If I let her live, she might stab me in the back. She didn't have a weapon, but she turned invisible; what if her {Fate} manifested as a dagger or something? 

"Why didn't you help the three your group abandoned?" I asked in a cold tone. 

"How was I supposed to help them?! I am just a high school student! I had to promise them my body just to get this far! If I spoke out, I would be the one to get killed! What was I supposed to do?" the girl screamed. 

Right, this would be how most normal people would act. My girls were the ones who were weird. But this woman reminded me of my girlfriend; my gut told me she was dangerous. 

"I understand. Goodbye!" 

"What? Wai—" 

Her words abruptly got cut off as I sent a bullet through her forehead. People who tried to keep their hands clean while playing the victim were the ones I hated the most. It was at that point I heard something coming from me from behind. 

I turned around in a hurry and raised my gun to block. 

"{Withstand}," I said aloud. 

"Fuck me dead! Oi, wombat! I can't believe you're still kickin'! You didn't even bother to spare her; didn't you see the size of her tits? Bloody heartless, mate," my assailant blurted out in surprise. 

"Not interested. Sup, Red." 

Red or Oliver, the guy who left me to die, smiled as he tried to cut off the 1911 with his sword. 

"Haha! Evenin, wombat. Only one fuckwit would be thick enough to pull a gun here, so I knew it was you," Red teased. 

I sent a punch to his face while blocking his sword. Red instantly leaped back to avoid it. There were still about eight people with him. Three melee combatants and four that had bows and staffs as weapons. 

"No love for your allies? I butchered your men, even your girl. And like a coward, you only show up now? You've got the whole second-rate villain thing down to a T," I countered. 

"You mean Janice? She wasn't my Sheila, cold-hearted slagger that one. Suggested we ditch the kid. As for the others, I was gonna off 'em anyway, so you gave me the perfect excuse, mate." 

I see. So, I was right: that woman would have stabbed me in the back if I had left her alive. 

"So, your timing's actually spot on. Anyway, how about joining us then, wombat? You could score a heap of soul, a few Sheilas, and even some soulgear." 

"Yeah, not going to happen. I already have a team. Either you die or I die; there is nothing else." 

Red then smiled as he took an offensive stance. "I can respect that, wombat. Ready when you are." 

I changed my mag to a fresh one and gave a nod. 

Red, along with his group of close-range combatants, came for me. Still in {Withstand}, I shot the kneecaps of his men. They fell to the ground like puppets with their strings cut. Unlike the zombies, Red and the last one with him leaped over the ones on the ground. 

In that moment, I dashed and grabbed Red's leg before he touched the ground. I rushed to deactivate {Withstand} and threw him toward the other person. 

"{Pack}, {Withstand} Cancel. ORRRYAAA!!!" 

Shouting with all my might, I slammed Red into his friend in midair like a whip. The moment he left my hand, the acceleration turned him into a bullet, and the two of them collided like bumper cars. 

I heard something coming fast through the air. I dropped to the ground to evade, but something grazed me and bruised my back. After the volley, I remained on the ground to be a smaller target. I then noticed the kneecap guys dragging themselves toward me. 

Using the ground for support, I sent a .45 ACP round through their faces, only for them to block with their weapons. I then shot their fingers, so they dropped the weapons. They went to the pearly gates soon after. The blood shower from the back of their heads drenched me in blood. 

"Ugh! How many times has this happened now? {Reload}." 

I rolled along the ground and sniped the archers and the staff-wielders. A mage died without so much as a word because he was preoccupied with chanting. The one beside him was able to see me and duck. 

The longer one bled out, the more stamina they lost. Thus, if you had stamina, you could still move while injured. Feeling my strength leaving me, I crawled towards the corpses in front of me and took a bite out of a dude's neck. 

"{Eat}." 

Although my wounds did not close, just from the tiny mouthful of flesh, my entire body felt renewed. The taste was crap, though. Still, if that morsel gave me a chance to live again, I would eat an entire person. 

{Eat} was a skill from Aki. It granted immense stamina recovery from eating. The food didn't even have to be cooked. 

I could use {Rewind}, but I wanted to send a message to the girls who were watching my battle. This insane way of fighting. This desperation. This was the proof that I would struggle for as much as needed to become a Revenant. 

Many would find me barbaric and even inhuman. But at this point, what morals was I even trying to uphold? I was dead. As a Reaper, if my humanity blocked my goal, I'd be the first to reject it. 

I stood up shakily, blood from both my injuries and my meal dripping from my mouth. The sight had to be gruesome as they couldn't even retaliate, petrified by their horror. 

"Dude, what the fuck am I looking at?" 

"That thing is no human; it's a demon!" 

"Whatever it is, I am not staying to find out!" 

One of the archers began to run away. Another fell on his ass and peed on the ground. The last mage was trying to get the fallen archer up. 

Unable to wait, I charged toward them while I shot the one still in his senses. 

The bullet entered his right cheek and ripped out of his left eye. His friend, who had already lost his mind, began screaming as he covered his ears. I ignored them and shot two rounds into the back of the head of the one who ran away. 

At that point, a metallic blade slashed me from the back, sending me tumbling. How? I didn't even hear him coming. When I slammed hard on the ground, blood came out of my mouth as my mind became hazy once more. 

I turned to shoot. But the assailant slashed my wrist. My hand and the 1911 dropped to the ground. He stabbed me in the chest as he bragged. 

"Not so tough without your gun, are you?" 

The foreign object in my chest felt weird. I had trouble breathing as my body went into shock. My body felt lifeless, but Red was still alive. Until he was dead, I refused to die. 

With that thought, my rage rose. I forced my body to move closer to him. Impaling the blade deeper in my body. The man started to tremble. But almost losing my mind from the pain, I went for the artery around his neck and bit with everything I had. 

"{Eat}." 

I tore the flesh out of his neck and ate. Blood spurted out from his neck like a fountain. The man began to gasp and choke. As his eyes began to turn dim, I smiled. 

"I don't even need a gun, you fucker. {Rewind}."