Sa:cryd ZERO

Chapter 11

Vanessa looked at Lexus and sighed. “Now why do you look so happy?”. “I mean, she just teleported, you know. Isn’t that awesome?”, Lexus spoke in an excited tone. “Whatever, at this rate we won’t even be able to do anything”, Vanessa said, as Lexus could tell that she was in a very foul mood. “Hehe, how do you like that? I used the past years to perfect my space-time ability and managed to become a commander too. Now you’re no match for me. I’m several leagues ahead of you”, Erica said, with a very cocky face, as she only managed to piss off Vanessa. Before the two could quarrel, the kanizor roared as it then regenerated its severed arm and charged straight at Erica, who was standing behind it. Erica’s expression didn’t even change a bit as she threw one of her daggers above the kanizor, then warped towards it. The kanizor immediately braked but before it could turn around, Erica came down with both daggers for a plunging attack as she managed to pierce one eye of the kanizor. Blood splashed everywhere as the sightless kanizor kept screaming and wailing its arms in hopes of hitting Erica. Erica merely teleported some meters away from it as she took another stance. “Warp cartridge. Void chaser…”, Erica calmly said as a faint vacuum surrounded her daggers. She immediately teleported in front of the kanizor as she slashed diagonally with both daggers. It didn’t end there, as the vacuum surrounding her daggers erupted into snake constructs which swallowed huge chunks of the kanizor where Erica slashed as the fiend was now missing its upper body. The lower part of the kanizor fell down with a loud thud as Erica sheathed her daggers and sighed. “This is the kanizor that managed to wreck the entire subway? Are they sure there’s not another one?”, Erica said as she walked away. “Yeah, it was a bit too easy. Maybe we should look around more”, Vanessa spoke. “Ah, they agreed on something”, Lexus spoke his thoughts out loud, which grabbed the attention of both an angry Vanessa and Erica. Before Lexus could kneel down and start apologizing, the kanizor's torso, which was supposed to have disintegrated by now, started to regrow as the gross-sounding transformation drew the attention of the three. The body grew enormous as the giant ball of flesh suddenly exploded and blood filled everywhere. Two creatures emerged out of the exploding flesh, as one was a much slimmer version of the kanizor that very much resembled a werewolf and the second one was very huge as it had one large horn on its head with no eyes. The two kanizors screamed as the ear-splitting roars shook the entire underground cave. Lexus felt his hair stand on end as he immediately shouted. “Look out!”. It was too late. The big kanizor had immediately charged at Erica as the kanizor managed to cross quite a distance in just one motion. Erica couldn’t get out of there in time as she took the charge head on, which sent her flying into the air and crashing into the sides of the cave, knocking her out. “I’ll go see if she’s okay. Keep them occupied for now”, Vanessa quickly spoke as she rushed to where Erica had landed. “Yeah sure, I’ll do my best!”, Lexus answered as he put on his gloves. The big kanizor was about to charge at Lexus when the slimmer one stopped him. It seemed like it wanted to test out something. The slim kanizor immediately switched to a crouching position as its body started to resemble that of a rabid dog. A large beam of light erupted out of the beast’s head as it then shattered to reveal horns made of blades of light. “What the f**k…”, Lexus thought as he looked at the transformed monstrosity. The beast took only one step but it was more than enough for it to reappear behind Lexus as it stabbed his side with one of its horns. Lexus coughed out blood as he grabbed the horn and struck the head of the kanizor as it immediately retreated. The kanizor shook the attack off as it screeched and sought to attack Lexus once more, gaining speed each time. The big kanizor was starting to get bored watching the fight between Lexus and his brother as it turned its attention towards Vanessa, who was giving a potion to Erica to drink. The big kanizor then proceeded towards the girls as it switched to a high-speed charge midway. Before the kanizor could get anywhere close to them, Erica suddenly teleported and appeared behind the kanizor. The big kanizor wanted to do a quick turn only to fall to the ground with a loud thud. The big kanizor tried to get up but realized that it couldn’t. It then quickly looked at its feet and realized that both of them were gone. Erica, who was standing immediately behind the kanizor, was seen to be holding the legs of the kanizor as she had torn them off with her bare hands. Her commander attire flashed as she had a crazed look on her face. “Of all my years as a guardian. No Kanizor has managed to disrespect as much as you have and for that you will pay”, Erica had a very cold look on her face which sent a chill down the big kanizor's spine. The beast kanizor saw that something was amiss and turned to look at the big one out of concern. “Oi don’t look away from your opponent”, Lexus said, as he immediately charged at the beast kanizor and struck it, sending it flying away. The big kanizor then regenerated its feet as it then stood up, not quite happy about what Erica did to it. “I’ll handle this one. Go help Lexus”, Erica said as she pulled out her dagger. “Sure. Wish I recorded the way that kanizor sent you flying though”, Vanessa said with a smile. “Remind me to kill you when we get back”, Erica retorted as the big kanizor came charging at her. At that point, the beast kanizor had also gotten up and was extremely mad. It opened its claws as they also ruptured and were replaced by blades of light as it looked even more menacing. “Let’s end this”, Vanessa said as she walked over to Lexus and took out the katana that Lady Noire had given her and inserted the abyss cartridge. She immediately felt a huge surge of power as she felt stronger than ever. Vanessa only smiled as she took a stance while facing the beast kanizor with Lexus. The beast kanizor immediately rushed towards the two as Lexus went in another direction. The katana in Vanessa’s hand suddenly exploded with black flames as she also rushed forward. The beast kanizor slashed rapidly as one could only see streaks of white and black if they were to watch the fight from a distance. Vanessa parried all of its claw attacks and dealt damage on her own all in swift and precise motions. The beast kanizor felt that something was off as it immediately jumped backwards. Waiting at the spot where the beast kanizor was retreating to was Lexus, who threw a charged punch which broke the back of the beast kanizor and launched it right back at Vanessa, who had entered another stance. The beast kanizor couldn’t react in time as Vanessa managed to lob off one of its arms before it managed to get away. The beast kanizor wasn’t really bothered about losing its arm because it thought it could simply regenerate it. To its shock and horror, it realized that the severed arm wasn’t regenerating as the flesh around the wound had already started to disintegrate. The beast kanizor suddenly felt the urge to retreat, but the two weren’t going to let that happen. The moment the beast kanizor sought to flee, Lexus was always there to kick the fiend back to Vanessa, who used the opportunity to lob off parts of the beast till it was only left with its torso and an arm. The other parts of the beast kanizor refused to regenerate as the cut wounds also weren’t healing. Things were looking very dire. The beast kanizor wanted to ask for help from its brethren but turned only to see that the big one was slowly being sucked into a vortex as it desperately tried to break free. Erica was bored at this point as she sat down on one of the broken debris to see how the other two were doing. Before the beast kanizor could even plead its life, Vanessa was already standing close to it as she cut its head off before it could even squeal. The body of the beast kanizor then started to disintegrate as the big kanizor was swallowed whole by the vortex, which then disappeared. “That wasn’t so bad. Nice weapon”, Lexus said with a smile. “I agree. With this I can fulfill my duties even better”, Vanessa spoke with a satisfied look. “Now that that’s over, let’s head back. Ezekiel must have probably finished his mission by now”, Erica said as she then went up and proceeded to leave. “What, leaving so soon? But we just got here”, a female voice sounded inside behind them which immediately put the three on high alert. “How many times do I have to tell you not to announce our presence while we're on a mission. This was the perfect opportunity to strike while their guards had been lowered”, a calm male voice spoke as two figures emerged from the darkness and, quite literally. “Who are you two?”, you’re clearly not guardians from the look of it. Are you kanizors?”, Erica asked. “Huh? Kanizors? Don’t lump us in with those malformed creatures. True that we’re not guardians, but I don’t think you’ll live to find out who we are either”, the woman spoke as she had a sinister grin on her face. “Oh, we’ll see about that”, Erica said as she immediately teleported above the woman and sought to strike her with her daggers drawn. The man standing beside her simply looked at Erica up above as his eyes glowed yellow. Erica was suddenly locked in the air as she felt that she couldn’t move at all. “Sigh…guardians, always quick to jump to their deaths”, the woman spoke with a pitiful look as she pulled out a talisman. “Witness our power and remember it in the grave”, the woman said as she clenched her talisman as ghouls with swords appeared out of nowhere and stabbed Erica from different angles. Erica coughed out blood as she then dropped her daggers. The man then released his ability as Erica fell down with a large thud and blood pooled under her. “Erica!!! What do you guys want!”, Vanessa shouted as she pulled out the katana. “We’ve come for the boy. I believe he knows who we already are”, the woman said with a smile. Vanessa had a shocked look on her face as she turned to Lexus, who had had a very complex look on his face. “Lexus, who are they? Why are they looking for you?!”, Vanessa asked harshly as Lexus turned to look at her. “They’re bad news, that’s all I know. They’re the ones who found me in the first place”, Lexus answered. “I see. They’ll pay for what they’ve done to Erica”, Vanessa said as she immediately rushed towards the woman. “No wait. You’re no match for them. Let’s go get help”. Lexus tried to stop her but it was too late. Vanessa had already gotten close to the two as she raised her katana to cut her down. This time, the man did not activate his ability as Vanessa managed to get to close. The woman only waved her talisman as a ghoul with a shield emerged out of nowhere and blocked the strike as another ghoul with spiked gloves appeared and punched Vanessa in the guts. The hit was so strong that she was sent flying several meters away from them as she kept coughing up blood. If it wasn’t for the guardian gear that she was wearing she would have definitely died with that strike. “Vanessa!!!! I won’t let you guys do whatever you want!”, Lexus screamed as he also ran towards the two. “Heh, well, if you come to us then we would definitely appreciate that. As long as…”, the woman didn’t get to finish that as a dagger was now embedded in her neck. She quickly turned around to see where the woman she had killed earlier was lying and realized she had disappeared. Erica reappeared some distance from the woman as she coughed a bit of blood. “That’s what you get for being cocky. Next time check to see if your enemy is actually dead or not”, Erica said, as she clearly didn’t look all that well. The woman simply proceeded to laugh maniacally as she suddenly stopped, then pulled out the dagger. The wound then closed immediately as Erica was given a shock. “You’re dead”, the woman said with a severely cold look as she turned her full attention towards Erica.