Sa:cryd ZERO

Chapter 8

After dinner, Lexus, Vanessa and Shin waited for Agnes to arrive later that night. A few hours later, they heard knocking on the door as Lexus went to check who it was. Just as promised, Agnes came and secretly took the three away as they proceeded to head towards a rather secluded area. It was a basement of sorts made out of reinforced concrete. Agnes took a stop as she then turned to face them. Vanessa immediately noticed that something was wrong and turned to face the entrance that they had entered from. The metal door closed tight and locked itself as Agnes slowly turned to face them. Before Vanessa and Shin could do anything, Lexus spoke first. “What happened to the man who reached out to us?”. Agnes smiled as she then answered, “Oh him? I killed and ate him. I didn’t think it would end up being a mistake though. Maggie warned me not to touch the residents here but I was so hungry that I couldn’t help it, you see”. “I see. So, you’re the one responsible for everything. You kanizors are very wretched creatures”, Shin said in utter disgust. “Well, it doesn’t really matter because the three of you are going to die here. Maggie personally asked me to take care of you three since she can’t bear to lose my services. Don’t think you can escape”, Agnes said as she proceeded to transform. A huge shattering explosion was witnessed as two huge wings emerged out of the smoke. Agnes looked like a harpy with Pteranodon winds as she gave us a sinister grin. Vanessa and Shin pulled out their swords and guns respectively as they began attacking. The kanizor immediately took to the skies far from Lexus and Vanessa’s reach. Shin started shooting at it but she managed to gracefully dodge the bullets in the air as she then swooped down at a ridiculous speed and slashed Shin with her toe nails. He managed to dodge but he still received damage. It took to the air again but when it thought it was safe, Lexus proceeded to wall run as he then leapt towards the kanizor and kicked it down. Waiting at the exact spot where the kanizor was about to fall was Vanessa as she entered a draw stance. However, the kanizor was able to react in time as it broke the fall and parried the strike with its sharp toe nails and flew away using the recoil. Vanessa clicked her tongue as Shin proceeded to insert a certain clip into his g*n. “Rapid clip. One shot equals a thousand. Tracing Pierce type shot”, Shin spoke as he fired a single shot at the kanizor. “Ha! You think you’ll be able to shoot me down with your puny weapon? Well, think again…”, the kanizor dodged the bullet, but then the weirdest thing happened. The bullet did a quick turn in midair and immediately made its way back towards the kanizor that was preparing to swoop down to attack Shin. Immediately the bullet reached the kanizor, the single bullet exploded into several bullets as they mutilated one of the wings of the kanizor. The kanizor let out a deafening scream as it fell towards the ground. Lexus was ready for it as he delivered several blows to the head of the Kanizor and kicked it towards Vanessa, who had already inserted her abyss cartridge. The black blade moved in a single motion as it claimed the head of the kanizor. The lifeless body tumbled down as it all disintegrated, ending the fight. “It was too easy”, Shin said as he sheathed his guns. “Yeah”, Vanessa agreed as she looked around. She then proceeded to the steel door as she then cut it down, creating a path for them to escape. The three immediately escaped back to topside but they were greeted with a very sickening scene. Waiting for them outside was a bunch of humans that looked exactly like Agnes. They all smiled maniacally as they all proceeded to transform. Before long, the three were surrounded by a bunch of flying kanizors that were hungry for blood. Lexus immediately attacked as he used his high physical abilities to leap into the air to strike some of the kanizors. Shin used his rapid clip and fired more tracing pierce type shots as it killed some of them. Vanessa was able to kill the ones that Lexus struck but there was no end to them. “We have to find the main body”, Lexus shouted to Vanessa and Shin. Shin immediately realized what was wrong and looked way up into the sky. Looking down on them was another kanizor just like the others, but it gave off a more powerful aura than the rest. “Lexus, you take care of the one way up in the sky. We’ll deal with the ones over here”, Shin said as he proceeded to shoot three more of them. “Uhh how do I get up there? I can’t fly”, Lexus said, not really knowing what to do. “I’ll send you up there”, Vanessa said as she entered another stance. “When I say go, jump towards my sword and I’ll send you flying. Understand”, Vanessa instructed. “Uh sure but wait is it safe…I mean”, Lexus tried to talk her out of it but Vanessa wasn’t ready to listen to him whine. “Go”, Vanessa shouted as she entered a swinging animation. Lexus didn’t have time to think as he immediately jumped towards the sword. Vanessa used the back of the sword to propel Lexus forward. Lexus held back the urge to scream as he sped towards the kanizor way in the sky. The kanizor merely smiled and sought to strike its invader down to the earth. The hit connected but Lexus didn’t fall back to the ground. It was only when the Kanizor realized that it couldn’t move its feet that it saw that Lexus had grabbed it and wasn’t letting go. Using all of his might, Lexus swung the kanizor down. The kanizor fell down with a loud boom as Lexus followed after and used the kanizor as a cushion. Lexus proceeded to unleash fast lethal punches on the Kanizor as it couldn’t do anything to fend them off. Lexus then grabbed it by the wing and threw it towards Shin, who quickly changed clips. “Rapid clip. Laser shot”, Shin fired several beam-like shots that easily tore through the kanizor. It was the same move that killed the other kanizor. The kanizor collapsed and then disintegrated soon after as the others followed suit. “I’m glad that’s over”, Vanessa said as she sheathed her sword. “I don’t ever want to do that again”, Lexus said as he approached the two. Shin made a quick phone call as the grounds were immediately stormed by police troopers and undercover guardians who took care of the rest. The three were then sent back to their respective homes as Lexus was surely glad to be back. It was when he saw Alice’s face that he remembered what had initially happened in the morning. There was no escape now as Lexus desperately tried to fend off the barrage of questions from Alice concerning his relationship with Vanessa. It was nice and all that she actually came to his place, but Lexus didn’t like the attention which usually followed such events. “So how did the joint assignment go? Were you guys able to finish up?”, Alice asked. “Yes, we were and it wasn’t that hard. Though we did run into some few…issues”, Lexus said as he drank some water. “Haha, nothing you two couldn’t handle right? I’m glad everything went well. Now go get some rest, okay”, Alice said as she went to her living room. “You don’t have to tell me twice”, Lexus thought, as he immediately went to his room and threw himself on the bed. “She definitely tried to kill me with that swing”, Lexus thought as he remembered the fight earlier and frowned.

The next day, Lexus is summoned back to headquarters concerning his weapon. Lexus made his way to the research and development division as Ezekiel was already waiting for him. “You’re here. Sorry you had to fight with just your bare fists up till now, but the development division were kinda having a hard time deciding which weapon type for you”, Ezekiel said. “I see”, Lexus as a woman entered from another direction. “And that’s where I come in. Thanks to my genius, I was able to make a fitting weapon for you”, the lady said as she took a seat. “Lexus meet Bailey. One of the head developers of the weapon and armory unit of the development division. And she’s also my younger sister”, Ezekiel introduced her. “Oh, I see…wait what?!”, Lexus said after the last part sunk in. “That’s right. This gentleman right here is my older brother. Anyways, back to your weapon, here ya go”, Bailey said as she threw a pair of armored gloves to Lexus, who caught them. “Put them on and tell me how it feels”. Lexus put on the armored gloves as he could feel a surge of power coming from them. It was a perfect fit as Lexus clenched and opened his fists. “What does it do”, Lexus asked after examining the gloves. “I’m glad you asked. Those gloves come with preinstalled cartridges that I’d like to call ‘burst’ cartridges. Those bad boys store up energy after being used to strike or being struck themselves, as you’ll be able to release it in the form of a powerful punch. No need to thank me”, Bailey explained as her every movement oozed with confidence. “Oh, that’s neat”, Lexus said, as he couldn’t hide his excitement. He immediately wanted to try it out. “I can tell you wanna try them out. Follow me”, Ezekiel said, as the three then proceeded to a training area which had only a mechanical doll at the center of the room. Bailey went over to the mechanical doll as she pressed a few buttons which brought it to life. “This mechanical door here is an advanced sparring partner that I developed myself. For the meantime you can try fighting it and when you’ve built up a good amount of energy don’t forget to let ‘em rip”, Bailey said as she and Ezekiel walked away. Lexus then immediately entered a fighting stance that he learnt from Ezekiel as the mechanical door attacked Lexus. Before he could even think, Lexus had to use all the willpower he had to dodge a lethal left swing of the doll. Lexus rolled on the ground for a bit as the doll had already changed directions and was upon him once more. “You’ve got to be kidding me”, Lexus thought, as all he could do at that point was block the lethal punches of the doll with the armored gloves. Escape was futile, as no matter which direction Lexus dodged, the doll would immediately predict and react immediately. It was the ultimate fighting machine. In no time, the gloves had already been overcharged but the problem was when to unleash them. Lexus then remembered all that he was taught in the training he had received from Ezekiel as he suddenly calmed down and examined the doll. Now that he observed, he noticed that the doll had incredible speed, better tracking and reaction ability but attacked like an amateur. Lexus immediately memorized its attack patterns and immediately delivered a right supercharged swing. However, the doll anticipated this and dodged to the right, not knowing that that was Lexus’ plan all along. He delivered a right supercharged punch to the chest of the doll as a huge explosion occurred which blew the doll away. Lexus panted heavily as he watched the mechanical doll crash into the wall several meters away and powered off due to the damage. “Awesome”, Lexus thought as he took a look at the gloves once more. “Excellent fight just now. Simply epic. What do you think of gloves now? They sure pack a punch, don’t they?”, Bailey asked with a smile. “Yeah. Now I can contribute more to my team. Thank you”, Lexus thanked her. Lexus then turned to look at Ezekiel with a face as if to say, “She tried to kill me, right?”. Ezekiel could only put his hands together and raise them above his head in the form of an apology. “If there are any issues with the gloves, feel free to drop by anytime. I have another death machine—I mean sparring dolls to make, so I’ll take my leave now. Take care”, Bailey said as she then left. Lexus had a complex look on his face as Ezekiel could only laugh. “Ezekiel, do you know what these cartridges are made up of?”, Lexus asked out of curiosity. “Beats me. It’s a secret only known to the research division but it has helped us to even the odds so we can’t really complain”, Ezekiel answered. “I see. Thanks for everything,” Lexus said, then took his leave.