Chapter 24: Sup Red.
"IT'S THE FUCKING LUNATIC! HE IS HERE AGAIN!"
Unlike with my first approach, there was hardly any resistance in the second. The shielders were disorganized, I killed most of the archers, and only two spearmen were left. My eyes kept darting around, though. Where the hell was Red?
Using the same tactic, I threw the undead in my hand on 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 come close.
"{Pack}".
But the pain was bad. I almost went insane in my last attack. So, 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 a helmet. Was it because they wanted to look cool?
With a new shield in tow, I blocked the skills they forced my way without turning on {Withstand}. This {fate} worked best as a defender. Using it while attacking was not only stupid but difficult as hell, too. Terror reigned on the ones remaining, as they no longer attacked on sight and started to beg for mercy.
"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 were hopeless. Not even bothering to reply, I sent him to heaven with a bullet between the eyes. I heard something move to my side but saw nothing.
"{Identify}."
A green reticule then showed a faint silhouette slowly crawling 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! Just let me get away! I don't want any trouble!"
"Why didn't you help the ones that got abandoned?" If she wanted to, this woman could have saved Robyn with her {fate}. Instead, Liv and Aki who could hardly help ran towards her. If she gave Robyn her blood, they could have escaped without issue.
"How was I supposed to help her?! I was just a high school student! I had to promise them my body just to get this far! Why are you expecting so much from me?! I just wanted to live again!" the girl screamed.
Right, this would be how most normal people would act. A cop, two descendants, a shield-maiden, a ninja and a combat joey. My girls were the ones who were weird. But wasn't it unfair to expect people to take care of you for doing nothing?
"I understand. Goodbye!"
"What? Wai—"
Her words abruptly got cutoff as I sent a bullet through her skull. People who tried to keep their hands clean while playing victim were the ones I hated the most. It was at that point I heard something coming from me from behind.
I quickly turned around and raised my gun to block.
"{Withstand}," I said out loud.
"Fuck me dead! Yo wombat! I am amazed you are still alive?" the assailant blurted out in surprise.
"Sup Red, I didn't want to go before you so here I am."
I really needed to figure out what Australians meant when they say wombat. Robyn had been calling me that earlier. Red or Oliver, the guy who left me to die, smiled as he tried to cut off the 1911 with his sword.
"Only one fuckwit would be dumb enough to use 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.
"Really? Even after I butchered your men? And like a coward, you only show up now? You got the whole 2nd rate villain thing down to a T," I countered.
"I was going to kill them anyway, the battle with the Brute is close to finishing if you cannot tell. So, you coming here was good timing. How about joining us then, wombat? You could score serious cash, girls and even Soulgear."
"Yeah, not going to happen. I already got 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. 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, however, Red and the last one with him leaped over the ones on the ground.
In that moment I dashed and grabbed Red's leg as he fell. I quickly deactivated {Withstand} and threw him towards the other person.
"{Pack}, {Withstand} Cancel. ORRRYAAA!!!"
Shouting with all my might, I slammed Red to 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 towards me.
Using the ground for support, I sent a .45 ACP round though 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 holes on their heads drenched me in blood though. How many times had this happened now?
"{Reload}."
I rolled along the ground and sniped the archers and the staff wielders. Due to their eyes being closed and the chanting they were preoccupied with, a mage died without so much as a word.
The one with him were able to see me and ducked. I checked my sides and saw that I was losing a lot of blood.
Stamina was lost the longer one bled out. Therefore, if you had stamina, you could still move while injured. I then crawled towards the corpses in front of me and took a bit 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 how I fought. This desperation. This was the proof that I would struggle for as long as needed to become a Revenant.
Many would find me barbaric and even a cannibal. But at this point, what morals was I even trying to uphold? I was dead. As a reaper, if remaining human prevented me from achieving my goal, then I would be the first to throw humanity out the door.
I stood up shakily, blood from both my injuries and my meal dripping from my mouth. The sight had to be gruesome as the 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 towards 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 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. My mind hazy once more.
I turned around with the intent to shoot. But the assailant sent a powerful slash on my wrist. Sending my hand and the 1911 flying. He then stabbed me in the chest as he bragged. Having a foreign object in my chest felt weird. I had trouble breathing as my body went into shock.
"Not so tough without your gun, are you?"
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 through the sword, impaling myself even further. The man started to tremble due to the insanity of my actions. I then went for the artery around his neck and bit with everything I had.
"{Eat}."
I tore the flesh out of his neck and his blood started to spurt out like a fountain. In contrast, despite my injuries, I regained stamina. I then smiled towards him while being showered in blood as I boasted.
"I don't even need a gun, you fucker. {Rewind}"