Chapter 1 - In The Midst Of War
A cluster bomb was flying towards the 2nd Armored Brigade of the Earth Defense Alliance, causing the whole group to disperse. But among the soldiers from that brigade was a woman in despair, she seem to accept her fate there by standing still while the cluster bomb fastly approaches her.
"I see, so this is how it ends for me..." she slowly closes her eyes, anticipating her end to arrive.
However, a young man covered in the blood of his enemies fastly approaches the young woman and swept her away. With all his strength, he dashes away from the area where the cluster bomb will land. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, Claire!?" He yelled at her.
Surprised by the sudden appearance of the man, Claire was overwhelmed and burst into tears. "Raph? Y-You're supposed to be in the front lines! Why are you—"
"You better have a good excuse once were done here! I'll never forgive you if you die!!" He said.
Mixed emotions were the only things running in her head, Claire cried her heart out. "No, no, no!! It's because of you!... you!—" before she can continue, the cluster bomb finally landed, causing a wide range explosion.
The two were caught up in the explosion as well, it made them split up and be thrown far away from opposite directions. Raphael landed at a ground and managed to stay conscious, Claire got thrown at a rundown building. Her whole body smashed through the fragile window and got hit on the wall, causing her to fall on the ground.
The unconscious Claire had no idea that there was something else inside that building. The figure in cloak approaches her cold body and inspected her from head to toe. "Hmm... how interesting." It said.
Going back to Raphael, he was still physically unstable due to the harm inflicted by the explosion. But the young man only had Claire in his thoughts. "W-Where is she?... Where's Claire?... Claire!?" He looked left and right, but there was no Claire to be found.
He started breathing heavily, his heart rate rising, his whole body trembling. Raphael can not accept the fact that he lost her. Claire was his only reason to keep on living, and he deeply regret that he couldn't be there on time to keep her safe.
With no longer having any reason to live, Raphael recklessly launched himself to the enemy and killed everything that got in his way. "YOU BASTARDS!... I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!!" With his monstrous strength as a close-range fighter, his enemies were torn to pieces.
A soldier of similar role from the enemy interfered as Raphael was doing too much damage. "RAPHAEL!!" He yelled with a smug look on his face. "I see that you're trying to get yourself killed being in enemy territory by yourself!"
Raphael gave a deathly glare on his enemy. "REGINALD!" He rushed to his enemy's direction and they began to clash with one another. It was a fight between the top soldiers of the two factions.
Others wouldn't dare to interfere, anyone who gets in their way will only get their life endangered. Both were magnificent in wielding the morphing weapon called 'shifter' which can turn into any weapon that the user desire.
The shifter was invented by the geniuses Dr. Rodrick Wolfgang and Dr. Reize Hilton to use against the foreign life forms that tried to invade the planet Earth. Though this weapon originated and extracted from the invaders, it has its complexities and risks on the users. Soldiers must first be compatible with the weapon before it can be installed in their bodies, and it can shorten the user's life span as it feeds on the user's life force. It is said that soldier with great skill and talent in wielding shifters are prone to early deaths.
Having the shifter envelop his whole right arm that can increase his strength and force through his grips and punches was Raphael's specialty, also called Shifter Grip.
"...AAARGH!!" Raphael managed to get a hold on Reginald and gave him an uppercut. Reginald almost lost consciousness but retaliated.
"You stubborn little fucker!" Reginald got pissed off getting hit, but Raphael didn't care and kept the attacks coming. At the moment, he's similar to a fueled tank that won't go out until it was fully drained. Raphael didn't care about the limits of his abilities anymore as if he was trying to self-destruct while bringing as much as he can with him.
This can also be described as a form of suicide that can bring atleast a greater good for the Earth Defence Alliancd. However there were a few soldiers of higher rank from the Special Infantry Troops that was ordered to retrieve Raphael. "RAPH!" Yelled Julia, a fellow soldier of the 7th rank.
"He's facing off with Reginald!! He's really going on a self-destructive rampage!!" Devian stated his observation, and is also a soldier of the 2nd rank. Devian used one of his special skill, Shifter Chain. The shifter weapon morphs into hard and thick black chains that extends up to 2km. He threw it towards Raphael and the chains completely wrapped him up.
This surprised both parties in battle. "DEVIAN!! GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!!" Raphael demanded.
"NO!! HIGHER UPS ORDERED US TO RETREAT!!!"
"THEN GO FUCKING RETREAT LIKE COWARDS AND LEAVE ME HERE!!"
Julia also reached out to Raphael. "YOU DUMBASS, WE ARE ALSO ORDERED TO RETRIEVE YOU!!"
As the three argued, Reginald was able to catch his breathe and build up enough stamina to make a finishing move on the immobilized Raphael. "HYAAAH!!" With his shifter turned into a sword, he planned to behead his enemy on the spot.
Fortunately Devian was able to pull Raphael away and retreat as the higher ups ordered them.
"F-Fuck!! Let me go back!! I was going to finish off Reginald there!!" Raphael complained.
"I'd also want you dead, but if we don't follow the higher ups orders then we'll be unnecessarily punished. So just nicely shut the fuck up while we carry you back to the base!!" Devian nagged.
And with great concern, Julia had to ask Raphael. "...why were you doing that anyway?! Going to the enemy's side and fighting there like crazy, you'll die if you keep doing shit like that! So why!?—" Her eyes widened when she saw tears on Raphael's eyes.
This was a shock, especially when the tears comes from someone known as a cold monstrous beast among the whole army. "She's gone... she's gone..." that was all he muttered while they were on their way back to the base.
It bothered Julia to think there was someone Raphael cared about. All this time he acted cold and distant with everybody else, he never bothered to make friends or atleast acquaintances... so who could he be referring to? Is what's going on Julia's mind as of now.
When they made it back, Raphael was immediately sent to the medics to receive treatment for his injuries. Until his he lost consciousness, all he can think about was Claire.