Chapter 5: The Echokinge Battle

Out of a pile of rubble behind a burning corpse right next to Freak, the last member of Crisis revealed herself with a swift leap, jumping straight at the omen captain's back. Her figure was quite different from that of her teammates; she was tiny, as small as a young girl, wearing the regular combat outfit, which was a few sizes too big. At first glance, she looked like a regular teen, but her combat style stood out immediately, as she didn't have any weapons to attack; instead, she used her natural claws to inflict damage.

She also possessed extra features that weren't common, like the small furry ears sticking out of her short hair, as well as an actual tail coming from her backside. However, her appearance wasn't the cause of the surprise from Spook; it was the fact that she had silently sneaked up on them and had targeted their captain without giving them a chance to react.

Getting a hit on Reaper's back, Kiwy, the cat girl, ripped his cloak and splattered blood on Freak and Daishi's, catching all of them off guard. With the entire squad turning their attention to her, she quickly ran to the safety of her team. Onyx tried to chase after her, but her speed allowed her to escape hastily, returning to her squad, which took advantage of the distraction to let the saviors advance and provide support.

–Agghh! What the…– Reaper exclaimed in pain, but more out of frustration, holding his hand to his back and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. The omen army immediately took defensive positions, trying to block the saviors' way to prevent them from surrounding Spook but waited for their captain's command. Reaper took a moment to assess the damage the cat girl inflicted, and while he looked upset by it at first, his previously amused grin turned into a macabre one, prompting Crisis to anticipate the first move.

–Finish them…– Reaper ordered in a hostile manner, followed by a roaring united battle cry from his troops. The omens charged directly at the four members of Crisis in the middle, while Spook stayed behind to watch the massacre about to unfold. But as they announced their attack with a scream, a similar one was heard behind Panda and Nitro, who checked back to see a group of village warriors charging into battle as well, led by Candy and Tricky and accompanied by the rest of the saviors.

Panda and Nitro stepped aside to let the saviors and warriors clash with the omens in the center of the village, but Indie, Frost, and Kiwy took the opportunity to blend with the wave of soldiers surrounding them. As both forces collided, the odds were even, and with the warriors and saviors' collective power, they could stand up against the omens and give them a good fight. However, Spook was forced to act, and instead of standing around, they charged into battle, going directly for the weaker warriors to pick them off. But since the warriors couldn't face Spook with their basic weapons, they avoided fighting them to focus on supporting the saviors in the fight against the omens, leaving Spook without any opponent until Crisis made their move.

Running towards the rest of the squad, Candy and Tricky stayed behind the broken well, where Tricky activated the mini sentry she had planted earlier, providing defense for the team, though they didn't seem to need it. Panda and Nitro stayed put while the rest dispersed. On offense, Indie retreated to circle some burning houses, avoiding all the fighting, while Kiwy and Frost jumped into battle straight away. Slashing their way through some omens between them and Spook, their enemies suffered some decent cuts, but most importantly, they were drawing the attention of Spook. Kiwy flanked from the right, coming straight for Onyx, while Frost rushed at Freak, closing the distance on them quite fast and charging through the battle in between.

With their attack shifting their attention to two different directions, they got to distract Spook for a moment so they couldn't see Indie appearing behind them with her rifle cocked. She began firing at the omens back, but at Onyx in particular, as he functioned as a big shield for his squad. His stone armor took a couple of hits but stopped all the bullets. However, while he wasn't harmed, it did cause him to turn around, and with the other omens realizing they had been surrounded, they let Kiwy and Frost get close enough to slay them. In a panic, they all split up to avoid getting hit, but with their defensive formation broken, Crisis finally got the chance to battle them properly, and they didn't waste time taking it.

Reaper reacted almost immediately, blocking Frost's attack with his scythe to protect Freak before kicking him away and trying to cut him up. But as fast as he was, Frost matched his speed, parrying his attack in return and backing away, forcing Reaper to chase him and take their personal battle away from the rest, heading towards the village church, which was now on fire.

Freak got away as well but found a target right away, as Indie had to back down to not get attacked by Onyx. She ran away, but Freak instantly started chasing her, and right as she could hide behind a ruined house, she felt her rifle being pulled. Looking behind her, she saw that Freak had used her whip to grab her rifle, pulling Indie back and close enough to strike with small knives. Indie reacted quickly, and instead of trying to resist, she let go of the rifle right as she was about to get her face slashed, dodging Freak's knives. But without a weapon to fight back and Freak constantly attacking her, she just had to weave continuously until she got an opening.

With Freak taking care of Indie and Reaper fighting off Frost, Onyx turned back to target Panda. Scarecrow and Voodoo seemingly disappeared, leaving Daishi to follow Onyx as he charged to the middle of the battlefield, where some space had been cleared for Panda to position himself. The omens and saviors had split into groups to fight all around the village, with only a few omens staying in the middle, trying to get in the way of Panda. They all charged simultaneously, giving Onyx and Daishi a chance to advance with a defensive barrier in front. However, that barrier quickly disappeared as Panda shot down every omen in the way with his machine gun, killing them with one or two shots.

Despite seeing the power of Panda's weapon, Onyx didn't seem intimidated by it, running over the dead omens and charging straight at him. He began getting shot, but as he kept his arms high, he protected his face and neck with his armor and just kept running. Panda continued shooting until he noticed Daishi sliding under Onyx and jumping at him, catching him off guard. He tried shoving her away, but she got a good hold of his neck, drawing her kunai to stab him. In a bit of a panic, Panda backed away, trying to step out of Onyx's path but getting pinned on the only remaining standing wall of a burned house, where he couldn't move.

Daishi was about to cut deep into Panda's throat before they were both blasted away all of a sudden. Nitro shot a grenade at the side of the wall behind Panda, exploding it instantly and almost killing both of them. Panda and Daishi disappeared in a cloud of smoke, where only Panda stood up and backed away, giving Nitro an annoyed stare, which was met with an awkward grin, though he looked proud of saving his teammate's life. But after saving him, Nitro began searching for more enemies to blow up right away and ran away, along with Candy and Tricky. However, Panda wasn't out of harm's way yet, and he got distracted trying to pick up the machine gun he had dropped after the explosion. He almost turned around as the cloud of smoke vanished, only to reveal Onyx right in front of him, about to smash his face with a double-fist slam.

Ducking immediately, Panda dodged the first attack, but before he got a chance to strike back, Onyx grabbed a burning piece of wood from the house next to them and tried tossing it directly at Panda's face. Seeing the flaming projectile coming his way and with no weapon to defend himself, instead of trying to reach for his gun, Panda kneeled in place, raising his left arm steady, where the metallic device on his forearm suddenly deployed a large shield that managed to block Onyx's attack just in time. He protected his face, though the hit did knock him back a little, and Onyx continued to push forward.

Luckily for Panda, as he fell back to the level of the broken well Candy and Tricky were covering behind earlier, the sentry gun activated and targeted Onyx. Pushing Panda back, Onyx was caught off guard by the low-caliber bullets flying at him, and while he wasn't able to react on time, the sentry only managed to chip a few pieces off his stone armor. He didn't even have to cover himself; he stopped attacking Panda for a second and just took the shots without even flinching. In a cocky manner, Onyx turned to the small sentry on the well, and after dismissing it, he faced Panda with a murderous grin once again, except Panda was waiting with his shield held high, using that small moment of distraction to bash his opponent in the face. Onyx was stunned by the hit but tried to fight back, throwing a couple of blind punches, which Panda just powered through as he leaped at him, pushing all his weight forward to try tackling him.

After a bit of resistance, Onyx gave in, and as both he and Panda fell to the ashy and coarse ground, the rest of the squad dispersed to confront other Spook members. Tricky and Candy joined the saviors located at the back side of the village, near the wall with the wounded, where Candy managed to clear some way for them by pulling out two small pistols and shooting forward at any omen getting in the way. They were heading to provide cover for the wounded, and while the saviors were capable of guarding off the enemy, there was no sight of the other Spook members.

Tricky stopped in the middle of the ongoing battle and looked around frantically while Candy made her way to the wall. Not too far away, Tricky spotted Freak and Indie fighting, as well as a large group of enemies starting to overpower the warriors and getting closer to the wounded. She grew worried as the enemy kept dispersing and started to surround them. Panda was on the ground wrestling with Onyx, and as he couldn't play his defensive role, he couldn't defend the clear path in the middle of the village that could give the omens the advantage.

But as Tricky began thinking of options, she saw Nitro climb onto the roof of a burning house, the last one standing, though it looked like it wouldn't be for long. Despite the instability of the structure, it gave Nitro a clear view of the battlefield, and he didn't let it go to waste, immediately shooting grenades at the omen troops trying to surround the warriors and saviors on the left side of the village, blocking their paths and preventing them from joining the other smaller fights around them. With him taking care of the problem, Tricky managed to calm down a little and focus on helping out Candy, but as she lost her sense of direction for a moment, she was caught off guard by someone tackling her to the ground.

Trying to push her away out of instinct, Tricky was surprised to see Kiwy leaping at her and forcing her to step aside. She took a second to comprehend the reason for that move, but when she looked back, it looked like Kiwy had saved her from Scarecrow, as he appeared out of nowhere behind her and instantly tried to decapitate Tricky with both of his sickles. With Kiwy standing between them, Tricky got up quickly and tried to thank her, but she didn't get the chance as another enemy appeared right in front. Voodoo and Scarecrow stood against Tricky and Kiwy, who couldn't decide who to attack first and panicked when Voodoo started to whisper some strange words while making unusual gestures with her hands.

Realizing immediately that the cloaked girl was about to attack them indirectly by casting a spell, Tricky tried to interrupt her but was stopped by Scarecrow, who got in the way but did not attack, just blocking her with his body as his blank face formed a bizarre smile. Looking up to see a deformed grin, Tricky got frustrated as Voodoo's words could be heard growing louder. But as she managed to distract Scarecrow, Kiwy flanked him and ran straight at Voodoo, jumping at her with her claws, aiming for the head, and almost succeeding. However, she suddenly lost all of her energy and passed out, leading Tricky to see Voodoo about to drain her energy as well. Seeing that Kiwy dropped unconscious to the ground, she reacted quickly, stabbing Scarecrow in the chest with a hidden blade under her sleeve.

The stab didn't do much; it looked like he wasn't even bleeding, but it did catch him off guard, allowing Tricky to shove him away and run toward Voodoo. Before her body became weak and incapable of standing, Tricky landed a jab on Voodoo, almost knocking her out. With Voodoo's attention now on her, the spell seemed to wear out quickly, at least on Tricky, but in exchange, she now had to fight the cloaked girl, who was surprisingly fast at dodging due to her size. She was fully focused on fighting her opponent, but Candy could see that Scarecrow was coming after Tricky as well, though she couldn't do anything to help as the warriors seemed to be in more danger than her teammate.

| Words are not enough to keep the guns at bay

Some live in fear some do not

Some gamble everything on who gets the final shot |