"Was that…" MC chuckled, seeing the veil of the creature that they're hunting get severed, bubble until it looked barely human and fade into the wind. "...the beat of those shots, is it… Never Gonna Give You Up?"
"Close, it's Together Forever…" Jeremy replied with his eyes still on the screen. "Also, would you mind checking if one of the guys that the Muse took hostage of died? Death should know."
"Ah sure, give me a minute," MC said, taking out her phone from her pocket and walked towards the exit with three folders in hand. "I'll go check things up with Death so you behave like a leader for now. I'm liking this side of you."
"Please, save the flirting for later when the job is done…" Jeremy laughed, leaning back to massage his shoulders and throw her a smile, to which she responded by giving him a middle finger before closing the door. After a moment, he pressed a button and faced the mic. "Good job, snipers, by the way… I see that the muse is confused about bullets and doesn't know pop songs, so we'll work on that. Seven, would you mind switching your bullets and see if we tear that second veil off, better get those things off quickly so we could minimize our deaths as we bomb this bitch no problem."
"You got it, boss."
Jeremy leaned forward and smiled, cupping his chin as he anticipated what would happen as the song of the blank shots continued.
"Firing it now."
He was left in awe with his eyes widened and his mouth breathless as soon as he saw what happened. The Muse, who looked to be wary and yet unaware of what was happening slightly raised its blade, using the hilt of its weapon to block the bullet and let it ricochet somewhere else. Jeremy couldn't help but drop his hand and smile, doing his best to calm himself down after realizing that the demon didn't even move and looked like it knew where his snipers were.
"The Muse seems to be taking care of its hostages so okay, Six and Seven, keep firing blanks and keep it from moving, the rest of you should move. It seemed to behave as if it could see you guys…" He clicked his tongue and placed his fingers together before pressing it against his nose as though he was doing a prayer. "My shield heroes, are you there?"
"Yes, sir, we're waiting on your instructions."
"Get into formation, I'll be calling you very so—"
"Sir, it's not working!" A shout came through on the phone.
"Okay, any news about my other snipers?
"This is Eight, I'm about to get into my position…"
"This is Nine, I'm setting up my gun at the moment…"
"This is Ten, I'm ready to fire, awaiting your commands, sir."
"Alright, change up your bullets, Six, Seven, and Nine, to normal ones and fire at will. Eight, keep running and see if you could go around the nearby houses to get behind Muse, get a high ground that would give you a clear shot on those veils while she's walking down the street and Ten, put some silencers and wait for my call."
"Affirmative," the snipers replied in unison.
Jeremy looked at the white dots moving at the screen and after a second, he let out a breath and forced himself to smile. With a whimsical tone that did its best to mask his anxiety, he pressed a button on his keyboard and continued, "Mary, I need you to quicken your pace. I'll need you at point B in thirty seconds, you think you could do that?"
"Yessir, I'll be there in twenty," she replied.
"Good, and for my Shields, throw one of the smoke bombs we got you and form a wall… remember to make it consistent. We'll have to buy some time for Mary."
"Got it, sir," one replied.
Jeremy soon saw a wall of gray smoke slowly rise from the empty street, spanning from the front door of a house through its lawn until it reaches the other side of the street. It almost made him smile but he stopped when he looked at the Muse who appeared to be moving through the shots it's taking. It seems to be taking damage, still, as he could see its flesh being ripped apart by bullets, but it wasn't doing anything except to walk and block the ones coming for its head, of course, with the slightest of movements.
"Eight, and Ten, are you ready?" He bit his lip as soon as he saw it regenerating its wounds.
"Yes sir, I'm good to go…"
"This is Eight," one shouted back, appearing to be losing his breath. "I have a clear shot on the veils, waiting on your command sir!"
"Okay, I need you two to follow my mark!" Jeremy continued, squinting his eyes as he looked at the screen. As soon as he saw the creature waver and stop on its tracks, he cried, "Fire!"
He heard the shot being made as he kept his sights on their target and to his surprise, once again, now feeling a sense of dread and letting it come over him, he let out a long sigh as soon as he saw it move to dodge the two bullets coming its way. Jeremy leaned forward and pressed his hands into his face while letting out a broken laugh teeming with anger, that's the time MC walked into the room with a smile.
"Woah, what happened?" MC said as she dropped the folders on the table. "Death confirmed that the hostage didn't die, so that's some good news."
"Figures," He added with his face still dead-set on the computer screen. "Ten, could you confirm if the shot was silent?"
"Yes sir, as you instructed."
"Alright, it was a good try nonetheless so you three, keep firing at will and you two, keep up with the coordinated attacks and see if you could break its legs or force it to dodge to buy some time. Remember that every second counts." With that, he sighed once again through his gritted teeth and looked at MC. "This guy is fucking broken."
"I mean—"
"Sir, this is the captain of the shield heroes, Mary's here and we're ready to move out… we're waiting on your commands."
"Alright, time for fucking round four and see if we could break our mini losing streak," Jeremy responded while cracking his knuckles. "Mary, keep your position and hide behind the smoke with a stun grenade in hand. Thirteen to Sixteen, go across the street and move behind the target… we'll set up a pincer attack with Seventeen to Twenty. Get ready to either tear off those veils or sink your blades in there."
"Got it!" They replied in unison.
"Towers, specifically, Twenty-two, Twenty-five, Twenty-seven, and Twenty-eight, wait for my call, we're taking this shot."
"Locked and loaded," one replied.
"But I only have one spear, sir," one added.
"This is why I'm making you take this shot now, Twenty-eight, now take off your shaking finger out of the trigger and wait for me…" Jeremy continued.
"Got it…"
His chest felt heavy, making his heartbeat seem slow as he watched his plan unfold on the screen with two groups of four dots moving in and looking as if they were about to converge on their target as it walked towards Mary. Jeremy couldn't help but grit his teeth in silence as he continued to see the Muse dodging bullets and still moving through after taking some shots as if it was nothing. Seeing this, MC chose to zip her mouth and wait as she crossed her arms.
"Eleven and Twelve, give your flashbangs to Mary and raise your shields to cover her as much as possible… It's time to move in and for my snipers, keep shooting. To the Towers that I mentioned earlier, wait for my mark and for the others… Shield heroes, watch out for that flashbang and jump at the moment I tell you to," Jeremy continued, letting out a heavy breath as he clasped his chest until his cloak crumpled. "Se-seventeen to Twenty, you're going for its shoulders… shove in as many weapons as you can in its body and Thirteen to Si-sixteen, target the veils, both of you should move out after one attempt and one attempt only even if you managed to succeed or not. Remember that we're doing this not to kill it but to delay its movements, do you guys understand what I'm getting at?"
"Yessir," Mary replied as she moved in, holding the three stun grenades in her hand as she did her best to hide behind the shield of her comrades.
The monster in the distance began to show its interest in the pair of shields approaching it. Jeremy saw it tighten its grip on its cleaver and at the moment when Mary's group was just a few meters away from it, he shouted, "Throw it out, Mary!"
As he commanded, Mary threw the stun grenades in the air, enveloping their surroundings with a bright flash as soon as it exploded and making their target take a step back. Seeing that happen, Jeremy pushed another button and added, "Towers, send your spears flying, and the Shields, get in there!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Jump in now!"
Jeremy and MC both held their breaths as they kept their eyes glued to the monster on the screen. They soon witnessed it being pushed back after having two spears driving itself in its body, with one going right in its empty and seemingly hollow chest and one right in its waist while the two others caught nothing but air and the ground. The shields came after, jumping into their target as Mary's group moved in closer. But once again, to their surprise that even made MC cover her face in shock, without even taking the time to recover or to comprehend what happened, the creature made itself spin, using its cleaver to cull through its enemies.
"Fuck!" Jeremy shouted.
The blade of its weapon went through Mary's shield like nothing, it went on to kill off one of the four that were going for its shoulders before it reaped through everyone except for a single reaper that was sent to target its veils. It seemed like everything was over, but the Choir, each and every one of them that seemed feared death now more than ever, managed to fulfill their mission.
Three managed to send their weapons into the monster's body before they dispersed into the shadows, and one was able to tear off a single veil before running away. However, even before Jeremy and MC could celebrate this little victory over the course of this battle, the Muse raised its weapon once again and turned to Mary even before she could retreat.
With both of them being at loss for words, they could only watch as Mary dodged the monster's cleaver that was brought upon her. Though noticing that she managed to dodge the blow that could kill her, she soon realized that she could no longer run at the moment she found that the blade managed to shave off the flesh on her right leg. And so, with dread written across her face, she gritted her teeth and grabbed the two spears that were stuck on its body and then, as if like magic, she threw out a mouthful of blood and the monster kneeled in front of her, breaking the ground beneath their feet.
But just when they thought that everything was done, the left arm of the creature bulged as if it grew itself some thick and dense muscles before it swatted Mary out of its way, sending her into the concrete wall in the distance. It managed to stand up and stagger a moment later, looking as if it was carrying the weight of the everything around it and appearing as if it was still not done, it slowly pulled out the spear stuck in its chest. After letting out a low sarcastic groan, it took its stance and sent the spear towards Mary like a missile.