No Rest for the Weary

"AHHHHH!" Jun screamed.

"Jun, what's wrong?!" Iris's voice snapped him awake. He quickly felt down to where Axel's sword should have been, but only felt the fabric of the shirt he wore.

"Axel..he was just-" Jun started.

"Think you dozed off there, Captain. We were talking about your epic legacy of motivational speeches and you just went quiet with this weird ass smile on your face." Jayden explained.

"Oh. I see." Jun stood up from the bed. "I'm going to take a quick walk, I'll be back."

Jayden and Iris looked at each other confused as Jun swiftly exited the room.

Satori Jun was a high profile thief in his previous life. He had more intelligence than one person could fathom, yet he used it to hack into banks and large company databases to steal millions upon millions of dollars. He only went by the alias 'Magic Man' because after years of pulling off heists he was never actually caught or traced.

His final heist put him at the helm of a 100 person operation that was set to drain the government's treasury to offshore bank accounts. While in the middle of installing the malware at the government facility, an unexpected variable introduced itself. One that would ultimately lead to Jun's death.

Jun walked down the hallway lost in thought as he recollected these moments.

That dream felt more than real, he thought. He brushed his hand over where Axel had stabbed him. Oddly enough, it was the same place that the archangel had stabbed him.

And the last words dream Axel spoke...words that ring throughout his very being every day.

Jun was so deep in the rabbit hole of his thoughts that he hadn't even seen Lieutenant Nickels walking straight towards him and the two bumped into each other.

"Sorry, Lieutenant." Jun said as he did a slight bow.

"Jun. I suppose a good job is in order for cleaning up that mess yesterday." Lieutenant Nickels said.

"Not necessary. It's the job I signed up for."

"I see. Well, who was the newcomer that showed up?"

"A freelancer. Axel. Appears he'll be sticking around for a little while."

"Freelancer, eh? Operating without the protection of the government. Bold. But, I have to say. I've seen my fair share of slayers and this guy...he's definitely drank the slayer kool-aid alright."

"I'm not quite sure I get what-"

"Just be careful with this guy. Get the feeling he only plays by his own rule book." Having said that, Nickels nodded and walked past Jun in the opposite direction. Before Jun could even transition his thought process, a sound all too familiar blared out.

The emergency lights and sirens in the base suddenly began going off, as well as those setup around the city.

"What?!" Jun said, shocked.

Nickels turned around as he was surprised himself. "So soon? I've never seen them attack the same city two days in a row! What's going on here?"

"I have an inkling as to why. But in whatever case, we need to move out!"

*Crimson City - Eastern Sector*

A familiar scene was unfolding as the sirens blared throughout the streets and people ran for safety.

"Attention citizens of Crimson City," the voice rang out from the sirens, "a Class C breach has been detected above the eastern sector. Please report to your closest safe area and enter the underground shelter. This is not a drill. Please report to the closest shelter entry immediately."

There was still no visible angel activity however.

The black car of the slayers rolled through the streets at high speed to reach the detected point of breach. Heaven and the Underworld were part of a completely different realm that one couldn't reach just by stumbling upon it. They make use of breaches by breaking a hole into the veil between realms. Something only possible by someone with the rank of archangel or higher.

The military at this point was able to detect these spikes and thereby triangulate where the breach would occur. However, they're not always able to get there before they break through.

"It's up ahead." Jayden called from the backseat as he looked at the installed GPS in the car. It was special made to show them where the detected breech was. "Wait...there's another one."

"What do you mean another one?" Iris said as she also took a look at the map. Another blip appeared on the radar in the northern sector of the city. "He's right - there's two!"

Jun took his eyes off the road and looked at the map. His stomach dropped as multiple blips were appearing. "This doesn't make sense. I've never seen more than 2 or 3 breeches at one time...but there's 10!"

As if in sync with their knowledge gathering, the sirens went off yet again with a new warning: "Attention citizens of Crimson City. A Class B breach has been detected above the eastern sector. Please report to your closest safe area and enter the underground shelter. This is not a drill. Please report to the closest shelter entry immediately."

"Jun!" Iris yelled as he quickly turned his attention back to the road. There was a figure standing right in the middle of the road.

"Fuck!" Jun tried to swerve out the way, but it was too late. The car slammed straight into the person at full speed.

However, the loud sound was not from the person being molded into the road - it was from the car being sent off the road and tumbling into a nearby building.

The car came to a rest upside down as the wheels continued to spin slowly. Trails of smoke leaked out from under the roof.

In the middle of the road stood an angel with 4 wings and long flowing red hair - he wore armor around his shoulders, but his abdominal section was completely exposed which showed off his impressive muscles. He sported a kilt of chain mail around his waist and his arm was outstretched to the side as he still stared forward.

The slayers meanwhile dragged themselves out from the car and saw the archangel as he stood in the road.

"You're kidding me...another one?!" said Jayden.

The archangel turned to look at the slayers with a look that one would look down upon a helpless child with.

"Now, which one of you bags of recycled demon feces murdered my comrade?"