The One Man Army

While Jun prepared to truly put his skills to the test, Jayden and Iris made their way back to the base by foot. Jayden was hurt but still was able to work through the pain and move at an okay pace. The bigger concern was Iris.

Jun's healing seemed to have helped some as the bleeding had slowed down, but she had already lost a good bit of blood. Jayden was not very adept with support Arts so the best he could do was focus on getting to the base as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, he could hear rapid gunfire in almost every direction around him.

"Damn that bastard angel. There's battles all over the place and we're still licking our wounds. Two archangels within two days is no freaking coincidence. Ughhh, I have to hurry up so I can help!" He said frustrated. He could tell by using his energy sense that it would take nothing short of a miracle to make it back completely undetected.

Jayden continued to move along the side of the road while constantly on the lookout for angels. His bow was strapped across his back so that his hands could be free to carry Iris.

"Uh...." Iris mumbled as she was in a half delirious state.

"Hang in there, Iris. We'll get you back to base!"

They rounded a corner that still had people fleeing for help as angels were trying to hunt them down one by one.

"This is so fucked." Jayden quickly went back to the other side of the corner out of sight.

"Someone help us!!! They're-gahhhh!!"

"Please, leave us alone!"

Jayden bit down on his lip as he could hear people crying out for help. The attack had been so quick and so numerous that there was no way everyone was going to make it to safety that fast.

What do I do, what do I do?? He frantically thought. If I stop and fight off these angels, Iris could die! And what about Jun?? He needs my help...Jun, what do I do?!

People tried their best to run into buildings to avoid the onslaught, but the angels were much too quick and precise. One swooped by and skewered a person with their blade while another chopped their head off.

One angel grabbed two people and flew them high up into the air before letting them fall to their sudden deaths.

"You humans could've had it the easy way. You chose this!" An angel said as it released a beam of light that shot through a mother and daughter who were huddled together behind a trash can.

Jayden saw this and could feel the shiver run down his spine. This was a scene that he had witnessed quite a few times since being brought back to the realm of the living. Divine judgement was really their way of validating unchecked genocide at any given time.

He bent down and gently propped Iris against the wall they were behind.

Iris peeked through almost closed eyes and could see a very blurry Jayden as he walked away from her. "J...J..."

He pulled his bow from his back and activated the string of energy on it. "I'll be right back, Iris. I can't just leave them. With our senses, I know you can feel it too. People are dying all over the city and we're still on the defensive." Jayden pulled back on the string and three black arrows generated. "But you know me, I'm a one man-"

Jayden cut short as he turned the corner and saw all of the specks of black energy floating in the air. In the middle of it all stood Axel as he jammed his sword in the ground before him with a triumphant stance.

"Wait, when did you get here?!" Jayden demanded.

"Hm?" Axel turned around and looked at Jayden. "Oh! It's you! Don't worry, I already got this all squared away. Probably shouldn't be walking around by yourself though. A bit dangerous and all."

"Oh I'm gonna-" Wait Jayden, he thought to himself. Priorities. Priorities.

"Can you help me...get Iris back to our military base? She got blindsided by an archangel and has lost a lot of blood. We don't have much time." Jayden said through gritted teeth.

"Where did it happen?" Axel asked with a serious face.

Jun relaxed a little as he could tell Axel was surprisingly taking this seriously. He turned his body a little and pointed in the direction they just came from. "Back that way towards-"

Axel dashed off towards the direction Jayden pointed to.

"Wait, what the hell??" Jayden exclaimed.

"Sorry, but I'm gonna go fight the bad guy! But I've already cleared all the angels in the other direction soooo have fun!" He said as he disappeared from sight.

Jayden could feel the rage bubbling up inside himself as he never thought he could hate someone so much that he's literally only met twice. Not to mention he was clearly faster than he was. Which didn't feel great.

".....well at least the way is cleared I suppose."

He went back, scooped up Iris, and rushed towards the base. Along the way he found even more death and despair, but it seemed Axel was telling the truth that he had cleared the way. They met no further opposition.

Once they reached the base Jayden burst through the door. "I need a medic!"

The front desk staff were completely taken back by the sudden yelling, but then saw the unconscious Iris in his arms. Thankfully there were medics near the exit that looked like they were about to deploy with quite a few soldiers to the battlefields.

Jayden ran Iris over to them, "She's lost a lot of blood from the cut around her neck." Jayden placed her down on the floor.

"She's looking really pale.." One of the medics stated as they ran over. "Looks like you guys were able to close the wound with your Art, but it'll need some cleaning up. Don't you guys have some kind of fast healing? What's the deal?"

"The weapon was coated in holy energy. It's slowing down the regeneration process." said Jayden.

"I see. Alright, someone help me get her over to the sick bay!" The medic called to the others not far away. "We're going to have to drain the holy energy before we can start the transfusion."

Jayden bent down to Iris, "Just hang in there, okay? I have to get back out there." He then turned to run past down out the exit.

"Wait, where are you going?" One of the soldiers he passed asked.

"To clean up the angels of course." Jayden answered.

"Not that way you aren't. They're all gone."

Jayden stopped. "Wait, what do you mean all gone? There's like 9 or 10 breaches out there. You guys got em all??"

"Not us. One of you. He came and wiped out angel after angel so fast I was starting to question why we were even there. That guy was a monster."

"Got that right. I think there's only like 2 or so breaches left at this point." Another soldier chimed in.

"Wait one of us did that? But we were all with the archangel." Then that's when it hit Jayden what Axel meant by cleared them all.

"Did...he have red hair?" Jayden asked with a vein starting to bulge in his forehead.

"Yep. And a big ass sword." The soldier answered. "I swear, I've never seen a fighting genius before...but I think he might be it."

"A true one man army." One of the other soldiers said.

"I'm starting to think I never left the Underworld." Jayden moaned.