Amidst in the dark side of the warehouse, the young Don, Hermes Archnemesis, escaped through the narrowed window. It was the only way to escape their gaze. However, his body jumped down to the trash bin, and it caused one of the henchmen to heard the impact and headed towards his location. Another mistake made again thus far. The young Don quickly removed the trashes around his body, jumped out from the large bin and ran away.
"There he is!" said blonded haired man, pointing his index to the young Don. "He's running to the next building."
Two of his comrades came with him, chasing the shadow of their prey. The young Don had already expected them to follow him so he ran as fast as he can. He jumped through the next opened window and rolled down after he stumbled on the rusted metal lay down on the surface.
He ignored the pain from his foot and quickly raised his body up.
"He jumped through that window. You, you, follow him. I'll go to the other side. " said the blonded-hair man. His comrades nodded and replied in unison, "Roger!"
The persistence and determination to capture the young Don were utterly annoyed him so much. The young Don wished for them to give up so he could finally relax his lower body.
"So, this is what that fucking newspaper meant, huh? That [Punishment Quest] was activated because I didn't do anything related to the game? Fucking ridiculous. Crap," said the young Don, clenching his teeth with his agonizing face. "Just let me escape for real!"
The blonded hair man spotted his position. He quickly opened his way to his location by breaking the fiberglass that blocking his way. To his surprise, the young Don flattered and unable to pull up his pistol. He was grabbed down on the surface.
"Gotcha," said the blonded hair man, quickly grabbed both his hands to restrain him, "You thought you can escape from us? No matter where you go, we'll still catch up with you."
The young Don tried to release himself but unfortunately, his body couldn't resist his strength. His character was not that strong enough to defend himself physically. With this, he won't be able to fight back. If he was still the same Hermes, he would surely accept his defeat. However, Aljen Mura, the creator of the otome game, was currently the owner of this body.
"Boy, I heard about you. Everything about you. You don't have the strength to fight me. To resist this grip. To push me away like a baby." Hermes, irritated, replied with the annoying tone, "Seriously? Do you think you can scare me like that? Are you stupid?" Instead of losing his face, the young Don decided to use his sharp mouth to fight him. These kinds of insult were totally worthless but he won't see the result if he ignored this option. "Man, you have some guts to lay me down on this floor with your disgusting body. Have you considered to change your lifestyle like going to a gym and exercise your fatty tummy? Poor bastard, I think you're mother regretted to raise you by herself."
"Y-Y-You fucking bastard, what do you know about me? You don't know everything about me!" said the blonded man with an antagonistic gaze. His veins showed up as he continued to speak, "Even my mother was like that. You have no right to mock me as you know her too much. She's a bitch. That's the reason she abandoned me. It is not because of my tummy, you moron."
The light of the eyes of the young Don disappeared with his mouth cupped his lips upon hearing it. His joke turned out real. He felt pity for the blonded hair man but he continued, "So what? I don't care. Man, you need to lose weight."
"You fucking bastard. If you don't stop moving your mouth, I won't hesitate to give you a light punch."
"Light punch? C'mon, man. You're an adult. It should be a hard punch instead," said Hermes. He raised his face near him, tempting him to give it a try. "Then do it, well, if you can." His annoying gaze made the assaulter removed one of his hands from him. His face turned dark with his arm raised up to increase its momentum. "You force me to do it. Take this, you motherfu―"
"― I'm just waiting for this moment, fool," said Hermes before he blocked his fist. "Do you really think I'm just a pathetic wise guy? Fool, I'm Aljen Mura!" The blonded hair man released him and rolled down to his right side after Hermes used his head to hit his nose. Thanks to his mask, he only got minor damage to his forehead whilst the opponent was holding its bleeding nose in pain. To be cautious, the young Don quickly stomped his crotch before he could endure it. The blonded hair man opened his eyes wide, lay down on the surface with tears, and placed his other arm to hold his junior. Then, he left him behind in that situation after he noticed he's no longer be able to fight him back.
Behind him, he saw two shadows coming through the path he used. The young Don raised his body and resumed his escape.
"There you are," the familiar voice made the young Don forced his way through the locked door. The door dropped down together with his body before the bullets hit him. Rag changed his magazine and reloaded his rifle and chased him again. The two henchmen attempted to enter the room but a large crate containing old metal plates blocked their way.
"Eat those metals, you morons. Adieu," said Hermes, waved a salute before he ran again.
The veins showed up from their faces after he mocked them like that. Rag and his henchmen had been underestimated by a mere teenager. They couldn't afford this kind of humiliation to continue thus far.
"Men, don't let that brat mocks our pride," said Rag, clasping his grip tightly to his rifle, "Capture him through hell."
"Are you guys perverts? Chasing me even in hell?" said Hermes, "Boys, I'll choose heaven than hell."
Hermes ran through the stairs to go to the second before the henchmen showered him with their bullets.
The young Don couldn't ignore these annoying assaults from this group hence, he tried to pull his the pistol behind his pants. He, surprised, had didn't feel anything behind. He clenched his teeth and fist after he realized that he lost his gun from that room. So, he tried to search for a valuable and effective weapon to counter-attack.
A long and light weapon than his pistol was his primary aim against them.
His eyes diverted to the crate infront of him. He ran in duck position with his head down and jumped on the crates position.
He opened the crate and found a Colt Model 1801 Carbine with ten bullets. The design was essentially similar to revolver type pistols, with a rotating cylinder that held five or six rounds in a variety of calibers from .36 to .64 inches.
Suddenly, a smooth and thin material struck his face. He quickly removed it from his face and astonished to the familiar thing he hated the most.
"A-a newspa―per?" his eyes blinked a couple of times before he grasped both sides of the newspaper tightly. It slightly tangled the shape of the paper from his grip. "Seriously, are you fucking with me, Stump G? What the fuck is this?"
[New Objective: Use the weapon to subdue the enemies. Don't kill anyone within this place. Failed to comply with this mission will give the pity user a severe punishment.]
[PS: Good luck. Teehee~]
"Teehee~, you fucking self-proclaimed motherfreaking God," Hermes complained, "Are you wicked sick, you bastard? No casualties on both sides are the most annoying and impossible task!"
Hermes tore apart into the pieces the newspaper before he threw it on the air. From his side, he grabbed the gun and picked up all the bullets one by one. He counted all of it and confirmed the exact amount of bullets he had.
"I see, it is a non-lethal sharp bullet, huh," Hermes sighed and reloaded the weapon. "Let's see so its light, huh. Not bad."
The young Don heard the upcoming footsteps. He prepared himself first before he put his other arm on the grip and aimed his scope at the upcoming assaulters. He gulped some air before he exhaled and pulled the trigger. The first shot hit the henchmen behind Rag. His eyes turned white after his head got shot down.
"Hide!"
"Too late," simpered Hermes, "I got ya guys!"
Hermes shot down another two men from both sides. All of them got hit straight to their heads, and lose their consciousness.
"Return fire," said the bald man with his gun raised up aiming at the young Don, "Suppressing fire!"
Hermes took cover before their rifles shot his position. He looked from left to right before starting to counter-attack. He aimed at the right and locked his gaze at the head of bald man, however, the blonded hair man quickly interrupted his attempt by shooting him once again.
The young Don clicked his tongue after he took cover.
"You fucking bastard, take that," the blonded man snapped and resumed his shooting to his location, "Take that you motherfucking son of a bitch!" Hermes looked at his left and rolled over while aiming at the blonded hair man. He leaned his body on the surface and shot his head."Gotcha." With the hard-pressed of the bullet from his forehead, the blonded hair man collapsed from that painful shot.
Hermes aimed next to the bald man again. He shot three bullets however it missed the target. The assaulters returned fire but luckily, Hermes rolled back to his previous cover behind the green crate.
In this situation, an ordinary teenager of his age would panic and lose his mind from their assault. But the young Don had to feel blessed or more like excited about this kind of event. For the first time of his life, a die-hard fan of the FPS multiplayer game was now experiencing his body. There was no other gamer who would be delightedly happy of taking down or knocked down their enemies by shooting them down on headshot.
After several minutes of non-stop exchanging of bullets from each side, Hermes quickly thought for a new strategy to stop this.
"Hey, Mr. Rag, can we talk?" Hermes proposed.
"What?" replied Rag with an uncertain gaze.
"I said, can we talk about this situation?"
"You fucking bastard. Do you really think I'll give a fuck about your proposed deal? And what exactly do you want to talk about, huh?"
"Heh~," Hermes quickly raised his head and aimed at the opened man beside Rag and shot him down directly to his head. "Got one," simpered the young Don before he took cover again.
"Y' cheater, are you just deceiving us to lure ourselves for your gimmick?" Rag complained, resuming his fire together with his comrades to the young Don's hiding spot. "Don't mock us, you bastard. Show yourself. Or else, we'll kill you instead?"
"Oh, really?" Hermes stood up with his gun still aiming at everyone."Then, try it."
"What the fuck? Are you kiddin' me?" questioned Rag. "Y' got some guts to show yourself onwards. Y're really a despicable and annoying one, aren't ya?"
"What gives?" Hermes mocked, with his hands challenging them to do it. "Woah, can't shoot me?"
"Sir, should we shoot?" The bald man agitated. "C'mon, sir. Give us the command to do it."
Rag clenched his teeth and grasped his hold on his gun. He spits out before he spoke, "Hold your fire. Wait for my command. Just put down your weapons. I'll handle this one once again. "Rag showed himself before the young Don. "Hey, Don Hermes, you're great at observing us. You mindful fucking freak. You're good at our original motive, huh."
"Of course, it's so obvious from the start. You guys repeatedly shouting the same thing and the same objective of chasing me alive is nothing absurd in my opinion. Anyways, there's no way I'll let myself get caught that easily, though. Although your intentions are primary capturing me alive, there are no specific details and guarantee if you guys won't let me feel horrible for what I did earlier. I guess you're going to torture me until I lost my mind from severe pain before you showed me to your former boss. Well, that's the only thing that I won't allow to happen anyway. C'mon, I'm kind of tired of being chased and you guys are already exhausted from this hide-and-run vise versa. We're wasting bullets and sweats just to take down someone like me. It's better to talk than wasting our time like this."
"So, what do you want to talk about?" asked Rag.
"You explained to me that you're going to die if you failed to catch me tonight, right?" inquired the young Don, leaning his gun on his shoulder. Rag sighed, "Yes, we'll be dead floating on the river if we won't be able to drag you infront of our boss. So what? Are you planning something, Don Hermes?"
"Woah," astonished Hermes, "I'm surprised you're very venerable, Mr. Rag. Calling me Don Hermes instead of a bastard kid or a bastard motherfucking moron is a very surprising response from you. How very cooperate."
Rag clenched his teeth upon hearing it. He didn't even understand his motive, however, after the terrible and embarrassing moment with the young Don earlier made him cautiously read between the lines.
"Anyways," Hermes coughed before he resumed, "Are you guys fond of your work?"
"Yes," the bald man answered before Rag could open his mouth. "We're happy to serve our boss and happy to work with him."
"Then, you're a stupid freak, bald guy." heaved Hermes with pity gaze
"B-bald guy? I have a name you ― Hey, listen!"
"― So anyway, there's the someone I adored from reading his timeline, he stated before he died, 'He'd always been a man who followed his head and not his heart. The heart was just a bloody motor. The head was meant to drive'. His name was Mario Puzo. I know you guys are a moron and don't even know his name so don't think too much because you don't deserve to learn his true identity. What I want to tell you guys is specific. Don't throw your lives for one person. Even it is for loyalty or bloodbath or whatever that is so common nowadays. What are you going to do next if you die so quick? Get it? Life is short. You guys can do more better than chasing me alive."
"W-w-wow, " the bald man pulled down his gun and knelt down. "Yeah, life is short. Why are we even risking ourselves for you? I'm even tired of this shit."
"You, what are you doing? Stand up," insisted Rag, "C'mon, stand up and don't let your guard down!"
"But, sir. He's stating the truth. We're going to die anyway. There's no way we can even catch that kid."
"Hey, don't give up so easily and fool by his words. He is just deceiving us."
Hermes chuckled and sassed at Rag, "Y' dare to tell me I'm bluffing again, Mr. Rag?" Rag gulped and shivered in fear upon hearing it. "What? I don't even dare to say that."
Rag stepped backward and shivered from his antagonizing gaze. He averted his eyes and replied, "I don't care you say but we'll never betray our oath to the boss. Never."
"Oh, seriously, are you guys happy with that kind of life? Proving yourselves that you can do anything within his grasp. Eh, he doesn't even care about you guys after all. Throwing your lives like garbage is a synthetical, no, more like a non-ethical way of proving your worth. Truth to be told, no one is going to remember your names even you dare to show me infront of your beloved and kind man."
"Insolences, that's just your objective. You just want us to believe your own beliefs." the minor henchmen interrupted with his gun raised towards the young Don.
"Shut up, moron. You're just a minor character."
"M-m-minor character? No, you shut up, brat. You don't know how much money they paid for us just to capture you alive. If we don't have orders from the higher up, you're already a slice of dead meat. Get it. You're a slice of dead meat," claimed the henchmen, however, Hermes nagged it.
"For the last time, don't even dare to interrupt me from my speech. Shut your mouth, will ya? You're just a minor character in this scene so back off," reiterated Hermes, as he wondered how many times he would have to repeat himself.
"Why you—"
"Shut up. Don't speak again," Rag fired two bullets down on his surface that made his henchmen surprised.
"But, sir. He's—"
"— I said shut the fuck up." He pointed his gun that made his henchmen gulp. "If I hear any word comes out from that mouth, I'll be the one shoot your throat. Got it? You'll be the one in the garbage bag."
The henchmen stepped two steps backward and gazed down.
"Now, what is your proposal, Don Hermes?"
"There, there you have it. That's the correct and polite way to interact with other people, " simpered the young Don, "So, to be specific, you guys are going to work for me. For the time being, I can guarantee that you're going to compensate with large money compare to your lump-sum wages committed from illegal activities."
"You want us to work with you? After all this shit you made us looked like a deep shit. Do you really we will work under your banner?" gibed Rag at the young Don's proposal.
"C'mon, there's no harm from that," needled Hermes as he tried persuaded them to join his faction.
"No harm, you say. Bullshit!" jeered Rag. "You know that is 100% bullshit proposal, Don Hermes. Who'll join your faction just like that, huh?"
"Seriously? I told you there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone will benefit from this kind of situation. To be fair, my servants left me and I have no soldiers that I can use. I mean, that I can trust. It's not that I want you guys as my subjects for my ambition, but you'll going to have a better life if you start to think about being practical. I can guarantee that you're going to live with your lives to the fullest together with your children and wives."
Rag condemned, "Another bullshit. We told ya already that we won't follow someone like you. You're just a despicable man with no ambition according to our records. Don Hermes, we already knew that you can't give us any more than that. Money, women, and properties. How can we even obey someone like you if your personal servants left you, huh? A very —"
"— subjective, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, " nagged Hermes as he couldn't bear to hear another argument. "C'mon, let's face the truth, boys. Y' guys won't be able to catch up with me. If you can't catch me before the dawn, you'll face deadly execution instead. It's better to work with me than those morons."
"Kek," Rag spits and spoke, "Don Hermes, I appreciate your offer but we're not stupid to lay down our hands and lower our heads to someone weak, I mean, wicked like you. As one of the loyal employees, I already dedicated my life... to the clan. The clan will never throw their members straying around the town like that."
"Wait, did you just say clan?" guessed Hermes, "I thought you guys are some lowly bandits. Don't tell me—"
"— Yes, as you can see, we're not just an ordinary man dressed like a monetary and funeral working lads. There's a reason behind it and there's a questionable system that we need to be followed. That's why we need you alive. I don't know what to say but there's no harm if I told you about our origin. I know we look like just a rat working in this district for no good reason but there's no harm if I reveal the truth about us. To be frank, we're from — What the hell is that light?" Rag pointed his index and everyone looked above at the sky.
"What are you talking about?" Hermes noticed his shadow was getting bigger and out of curiosity, he turned around. His eyes sunk to the light and recognized it. "— Shit! That's not an ordinary light. Everyone get the hell out of this place, now! It's an arti—"
A large explosion illuminated the whole place and destroyed the whole building with one blast. With the large impact around the surroundings, the whole place was covered with burning metals, concrete walls, and all of the crates containing explosive devices ignited and exploded like fireworks.
Amidst the cumulous clouds, the moon illuminated the back of the man in a black jacket suit. He blew a cloud of smoke from his mouth before he put down his rifle. His face was covered by a shadow before the moon.
"Mission accomplished," said the stranger with a deep voice, "Like what you said, he's here. I did what you asked. I shot them with a tier 4 Artillery spell. Yeah, yeah, I'm totally sure. He is dead including the hunters who are pestering his life. The plan hasn't changed at all. Like what you said, it's totally according to your plan, sir. If you the prophecy is right then I guarantee to you that there's nothing to worry about — the target is dead."