Doom
1594 Words
"Tch! I just wasted my [Glass Cannon]. For him to just punch the shot away, he's one tough cookie."
"Guhahahahaha! See that Annie? That's our Nefario!"
"Nefario, huh? So that's his name? That's cute."
She immediately draws her rune card [Blast Pistol] and aimed it at the newcomer. But then see detected that something was thrown towards her so she withdrew from her shooting position and took a couple of steps back.
As one of the Bureau supervisors, she's talented enough to not waste any movements and hit any targets with high accuracy.
A series of applause was heard from where the object thrown was from, an area that wasn't illuminated by the sunlight. A foot was seen, and Hero emerged from the dark. Annie sighed, and looked at the location where the "something" was landed. She corrected herself -- it's not something, it's someone.
"Oh my, you shouldn't move your eyes away from me. That's disrespectful— What?"
A shot is fired, and hits Hero on the shoulder. The bullet pierced through him and exploded behind his back. The explosion propelled him towards Annie and received a good hit of [Aero Kick] from her. Nefario tried to catch him but was shot twice by Annie. The blasts coming from those bullets made Nefario flinched, making him unable to stop Hero's momentum.
Hero ended up hitting the wall. He groans as he stood up.
"I'm well aware of it. Oy, Brian? You still okay?"
"Cough... Sorry madame. He's too strong for me."
"That's fine. We're here to stall some time, nothing more."
Hero intersected into the conversation by asking a question. He looks a bit confused as what would that mean.
"Heh, you two were just baits?"
"You deaf? You heard our conversation loud and clear."
Annie just smirked. But inside, she's astonished to see that those two, Hero and Nefario, were able to endure the damage dealt by her attacks. She looks at her brother, that despite being in a water form, she could figure out that he's smirking.
"You're just saying that because you lost your only companion!"
"Nah. It's fine. Anyway, you surely have a knack for waking up a sleeping devil", Annie said while looking at the ceiling.
Despite that levelheadedness, she's shaking like a leaf. Her eyes are widened.
"Surrending to your fate, Annie?"
"..."
"Hey, say something you dumbass sarcastic fool!"
"Is something wrong, Jaxonn?"
"It's the first time I'm seeing her acting like this. Even when cornered, she never acts like that."
"Hoh~ I don't feel anything—!?"
The air is vibrating wildly.
An ominous pressure is increasing in intensity and it alone could succumb any normal person to their deaths. They could hardly breathe if they won't force themselves to use their respiratory organs to inhale and exhale.
Just the pressure alone rendered them immobile. For some reason however, Annie could still move. The reason is that the source, coming from someone she knew, regarded her as a companion. She knew about the person's naivety when it comes to his skills, talents, and of course, his rune cards. He often says that he's garbage when it comes to attacking, but for her and the others who did their best to stop his rage after Cory's unfortunate loss, that guy's the personification of Death.
His attacks may neither be physical to penetrate armors of any kind, nor magical that could damage an opponent with magical projectiles. His way of attacking directly destroys the brain's function and bring anyone to their graves without them getting injuries of any kind. That's the former Bureau member, "Ghost Tactician" -- also infamously known as "Doom", the one who unconsciously killed all living creatures in an island. It's an island that Yukti infiltrated after he found some hints that her partner, Cory, was tortured moments before her death in that island. Annie, among the other five individuals that accompanied him, almost fainted after he unleashed the full power of one of his rune cards. If it weren't for himself calming down after seeing our agonized faces, I wouldn't be here.
"This ominous pressure... What do you guys kept on the upper floors? I need to get out of here, fast."
A rune card appeared on her free hand and slowly approaches the now unconscious Brian. She thought that if his exposure to this pressure will be prolonged, he'll perish. She grabbed him by the arms and started dragging him outside. She's thankful that she's on his side, and not the opposite. Despite the tremendous pressure however, Annie could tell that this is way weaker than what they experienced before.
"His specialty is to not destroy the armor or cut anything with a sword or shoot someone with a g*n. This rune card isn't targeting us, but it's still affecting us. That's how dangerous he is. I'll be going then."
"As if I'd let you!" Jaxonn screamed.
"It's no use. He's here."
"Who's here!?"
"I am."
A shrieking voice amplified in the air. Yukti came out of nowhere in front of Annie and Brian. Together with him is his sister, and an unknown female Annie doesn't know of.
She just closed her eyes, and spoke with her shaken voice.
"It's been a while since I saw the real you in action."
"Spare me the talking. Go, I'll hold them back."
She's taken aback after hearing his words.
"This is quite surprising", is what she thought. She also noticed that the pressure that's affecting her has disappeared. Annie could tell that he's getting better at using it and he's not letting himself get manipulated too much by his emotions. It's what she expected from her former mentor.
"Alrighty then."
Despite having that rune card [Teleport] held by her hand, her affinity with the said card is a bit so-so. It's a Custom rune card, available for purchase, with a prize of 100000 points. Most famous and important individuals get this card, despite having low comparability percentage. That said, it'll take a little while for her to activate it.
"Include these two as well. Don't teleport to the Bureau. I smell a rat."
"Are you saying that there's a traitor among our ranks?"
Yukti just nodded.
Annie couldn't believe it of course. But if it's her former mentor that tells her that, it's the truth. She knew how Yukti acts in a mission; he always searches for evidences first.
"Where should I be heading?"
"If you still remember where my house is, go there. Here's my cell card. Dial someone named Rose in my contacts."
"Got it."
"Che! You'll never get my girl!" screamed Jaxonn.
"You don't have the rights to own a person, let alone abducting her in our own house."
•••
"You don't have the rights to own a person, let alone abducting her in our own house."
"Guh!? What's with his rune card? There are screaming voices right inside my head!"
How did I came here exactly? And how did I got my sister and the other girl at the same time as I shifted my location from the fourth floor to here?
It's no use to think about it. As what I remembered, I somehow expanded the area affected by my [Nightmare Requiem], somehow teleported to the third floor and gently hold their arms, and came here without making a single step. It's good to know that I can use this rune card I made in this unique way, but at the same time, it's astonishing to know this new feature. To expand and transfer to any point within that space with me as the center... I could use it at my advantage in the future.
Well, if I could escape here alive that is.
But that doesn't mean I won't go down easily.
"I'll be your opponent mister water guy."
"Hah! I have two other companions with me?"
"Oh, really? You and what companions?"
"Huh? Where did they go!?"
I guess they found this guy as not worthy to be saved. They're nowhere to be found within the facility too -- I couldn't detect their presence. They escaped on their own, leaving this guy behind. I find it kind of sketchy though. I felt three presences that vanished instead of just two.
So there's actually four of them?
"Not that it matters. This is their challenge to me! The great Jaxonn!"
Pretending to be tough, eh?
"Yo great dude. You better do your best fighting against me and my rune card."
"Hah! If it weren't for that rune card of yours, you're already dead by now. I'll endure this s**t, and once you lower your guard, I'll kill you once and for all!"
Okay. If you're that desperate, I shall grant your wish.
I deactivated my rune card [Night Requiem].
"Huh? The voices in my head and the pressure disappeared?"
"What? You're not happy to be able to move again?"
"Tch! You'll regret underestimating me! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
He went full berserk; from his watery body, spikes were formed to pierce my flesh and bones. Each water spikes moved in random motion. I just smirked, and pulled out a rune card. It's the very same rune card I used to make myself and the others during the Dawn Edge Incident invisible to anyone's eyes, altered Mister Andrew's physical form to be seen as a student, and altered my presence so that the Wraiths won't notice me. I didn't use its full potential -- heck, I only used a percent of it. Let's use its ten percent this time.
"[Deception]."
- Writer
