Two shadow figures hurried down a secluded alleyway, straying from any source of light that could detect them. They froze and kept their backs to the wall when stampeding footsteps reached their ears. One of them dared to stick their heads out. About a dozen soldiers raced passed the alleyway.
"They're around here somewhere! Keep looking!" A disembodied voice demanded. All the soldiers responded in unison and continued with their search.
Satisfied that they were safe, one of the shadow figures removed their hoods, revealing themselves to being Dire. The Wolf Beastia looked over to his partner in crime, who refused to remove the hood so easily.
"C'mon Gigas, take that stupid thing off. We're in the clear." Dire proclaimed.
"You're too reckless," Gigas pointed behind Dire. A lone soldier, separated from his unit, wandered into the alleyway. When his eyes rested on the couple, he shrieked and drew out his weapon.
Within a blink of an eye, Dire crossed the distance between them. He grabbed the unsuspected soldier by the shirt and lifted him off the ground. The Beastia flashed a frightening smile before he swiped his claws across the man's neck. Blood sprayed from the torn wound and painted Dire's face and clothes in crimson.
Dire laughed hysterically and dropped the man without a care in the world. He watched with sheer amusement as the soldier desperately clung to his life; covering his profusely bloodied neck with one hand. Meanwhile, the other hand eased behind his back.
Gigas caught that and approached the downed soldier. He knelt in front of the man and gripped his arm. The soldier's blood-curdling exclamation fell on deaf ears. Gigas forced the man's arm out from behind his back.
There, he saw what the soldier desperately tried to reach. It was a photo of him and his family. They were all smiles.
Gigas looked back and forth between the soldier and the family photo. The desperation in the man's eyes brought a frown to the mercenary's face. He heaved a sigh and closed the man's eyes and fist once he finally passed.
"I'm sorry. It's purely bad luck that you crossed our paths today." Gigas mourned.
"How many does that make today? Five?" Dire wondered as Gigas stood up.
"That was unnecessary," Gigas scolded. "You've could've settled for knocking him out."
"Where's the fun in that?" Dire complained. "Besides, you're the one that said we couldn't get spotted."
Gigas walked over to Dire and forced the Beastia to wear his hood. "Then, wear this at all times while we're outside and keep your tail hidden. It's your fault the country knows we're here."
"And they've laid out the welcome mat," Dire indicated to the deceased soldier before them. "Streets are flooded with 'em. Don't wanna be rude. Let's take 'em out."
"You're not killing any more people tonight," Gigas demanded. "Killing soldiers isn't why we're here."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Dire shook his head and sighed. "So, what's the plan? It's dark out. I need to find somewhere to sleep soon."
"I'm working on that." Gigas eased over to the other side of the alleyway. He peered his head around the corner and spotted several soldiers. Using ordinary means to bypass them was out of the equation. "Guards are still patrolling the streets."
"Wanna kill 'em?" Dire suggested.
Gigas shook his head. "This may be a foreign concept to you, but there's a thing called stealth that could get us out of this mess a lot easier than killing all the soldiers."
"What's your master plan, then?"
Gigas and Dire headed further back into the alleyway. Gigas activated his powers and opened up a portal. He pushed Dire through before entering himself. The team found themselves on top of a building across the street from their previous position.
"My powers will work just fine," Gigas assured. As far as he was concerned, as long as he led the team, they'd find success. He didn't come all that way into Soteria only to wind up with nothing. Despite the excess baggage he was forced to bring along, he pushed his way forward.
Gigas saw Dire as a liability. Nothing more.
The Beastia's reckless behavior and constant thirst for battle caused nothing but trouble for anyone around him. The only thing he felt he could count on was Dire's strength. Should a situation arise when they'd have to fight their way out, he trusted the kid to have his back.
Dire and Gigas continued to maneuver through Soteria City until they found an abandoned building. No soldiers or innocent civilians in sight. They made themselves at home. Or, at least they tried.
Gigas walked over to a window and stared out into the city. His eyes targeted an enormous mountain far off into the distance. Dire walked over and stood next to his partner.
"That's it? That's where we're going?" Dire asked.
Gigas nodded. "It won't be easy. We could use an air vehicle or sneak our way across the bridge."
"Those are the only options?" Dire's tail wagged back and forth as he contemplated which action to take. Regardless of the choice he made, it'd result in a battle against soldiers. That in itself brought a cruel smile to his face. "I'm fine with whatever."
Gigas shut his eyes closed and dedicated the silence to contemplate over the scenarios. He didn't know the city very well, so finding an air vehicle would be difficult. Even if he grabbed one, getting it over to the mountain wasn't going to be an easy task.
To get to the mountain, one needed permission or an invitation. Anything less wouldn't work. Gigas and Dire would only find themselves getting into another fight. Gigas wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Crossing the bridge would bring another issue to their plate. The military guarded the bridge at all times. If they went with that plan, Gigas foresaw another fight.
"This is going to be a problem," Gigas sighed. "Oh well, at least we got this far."
"The castle's at the very top of that mountain, huh?" Dire looked up and tried to spot the top of the mountain. No matter how hard he stared, he only saw the clouds.
"We'll get up there one way or the other," Gigas assured.
"Can't wait," Dire sauntered away from the window, his tail wagged earnestly.
"You're in a good mood."
"Shouldn't I be? I've heard so much about this country and its strength. I'm curious to see what'll stand in our way when we reach the peak."
"If everything goes my way, nothing."
"That's boring."
"You're never going to change, are you?"
"Something wrong with me?"
"There's not enough time in the world to explain everything that's wrong with you."
Dire's ears drooped. When a retort came to his mind, he responded, "Oh, 'cause you're such a saint, right? What do they call you again back in your country? Crimson Hammer? Gladiator Emperor? How many people you kill to get that title?"
"That's not the point,"
"Whatever hypocrite," Dire rolled his eyes and wandered around the run down room. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the souvenir he collected from Spero Town. It was the horn of Taurian. The Wolf Beastia smirked and tossed the object into the air several times. "Something's been bugging me, Gigas."
"You don't say," Gigas kept his focus on the mountain in the distance.
"Whaddya think that attack the other day was about?" Dire caught the horn again and pointed it at his partner.
"Don't know. Don't care. It doesn't concern us." Gigas dismissed the situation altogether. As far as he saw it, the matter of the terrorists rested on the shoulders of the country.
"How can you not? That Beastia turned humans into Varvara. I doubt that's the power Shura gave him." Dire resumed with his pacing around the room. He tossed the horn back and forth in his hands. "Can't stand that he's still out there somewhere. I hate the ones that get away."
"At least you'll have his horn to remember him by." Gigas consoled.
"That supposed to be some joke? This is serious, Gigas. We've let another Exousia slip through our fingers." Dire shook the horn at the mercenary. "We can't become Gods if shit like this keeps happening."
"Then focus on the matter at hand. We get this job done; we'll be that much closer to becoming Gods." Gigas assured. He came a long way to get the job done. He'd be damned if he allowed minor setbacks to get in his way.
"And the sooner I'll get away from you." Dire nodded his head in agreement. "But before that can happen, we gotta trim the fat. Only forty-five more to go. I'll start with that bull."
"How do you even know you'll find him again?" Gigas inquired, already dreading the path Dire was going down. A significant flaw in having the brat as a partner was his one-tracked mind. Whenever he became fascinated with someone or something; he'd ignore everything else around him until he got what he wanted.
"Just a feeling I got," Dire admitted. He brought his nose to the horn and sniffed it. "Beastia's take pride in their animal characteristics. That bull won't be able to live down the fact that I got his horn. He'll come looking for it."
"Hopefully, not anytime soon."
"I don't know why you're so against this. The sooner we trim the numbers, the sooner our fateful encounter will arrive." A bone-chilling smile crossed the Beastia's face. He slipped the horn back into his pocket and chuckled, losing himself in his imagination.
Gigas quietly stood there and watched on in annoyance. He didn't need special powers to know the gruesome and horrid images inside of Dire's head. One thing Gigas could never hear the end of while in his partner's presence was the mention of a single person. The object of Dire's fascination throughout the whole seven years.
The First Exousia.
It was no secret that Dire was an arrogant bastard, often overconfident in his skills and abilities to a considerable fault. So, whenever he got chosen as the second Exousia in the God Selection; Dire took it personally. Shura's choice damaged his pride and ego.
But over time, Dire's frustration and jealousy turned to curiosity and admiration.
Rumor had it that those chosen as the single digits by Shura were granted extraordinary power when compared to the other Exousia. Gigas had witnessed Dire's ability on one occasion. He wouldn't call it exceptional.
"Your obsession with the First Exousia is ridiculous," Gigas called Dire out, snapping him out of his trance. "How do you know that person's even alive?"
"Shura personally chose that person as the First Exousia over me. That person's gotta be strong. Possibly stronger than anyone I've ever fought," Dire looked at his partner. Strangely enough, his sadistic expression washed away. A look of pure admiration replaced it. "The First Exousia isn't dead. No one else can kill them except for me. It'd be an insult to the entire selection if they died by anyone else. The sooner I thin down the numbers, the sooner I find and kill 'em."
"Whatever. You can do what you want after we complete our task." Gigas put his foot down on the matter. The mission always came first before anything else. That's what he believed. "It took seven years for one hundred of us to die. I'm sure no one's in a huge rush to kill off the rest."
"Doubt that," Dire smiled.
Gigas shook his head and opened up a portal between them. "You stay here. I'm going to have a look around. Don't leave this building. Do you understand?"
"Loud and clear." Dire mockingly saluted his partner. Gigas stared the Beastia straight in the eyes, looking for any signs of falsehood in the brat's words. While cautious of his actions, Gigas nonetheless walked through the portal and disappeared, leaving Dire alone with the rubble and the cockroaches.