Casper was trying to find his way through the streets, running like crazy.
The sounds of the fierce battle happening at the Main avenue were still reaching his ears, and at this point, probably most of the city could hear the same too.
Now, he was in a difficult situation. Although the adrenaline was still running into his veins, his body was starting to feel extremely fatigated and he discovered bruises and cuts in different parts of his body because of the increasing pain. Probably he got shot when running out of the Main avenue.
He was feeling pain specifically on his forearm, but he knew that he had a psychological advantage if he pretended not to be aware of its existence and don't bother to check the wound.
Every time the pain and the exhaustion raised, he ran faster, focusing on his breath.
It was a painful experience, but he did it sometimes on his days in the special operations force, so it was not something he could not handle.
"Ok, keep in an endless spring through the city isn't the plan here. What I need to do is just circle the castle. If those people are a bit intelligent, the group in charge of the surprising attack will be trying to invade on the castle's flank."
Casper was needing to find a route that would take him to his goal, but without any encounters. Because of it, his hearing was more acute than ever before. The motivation was to hear the gunshots fired and screams on the streets near him. That way, he could avoid major trouble.
If something went wrong, he would get into conflict with someone who did not spot an enemy yet.
Casper was already on the left side of the castle, circling it in a good rhythm. The screams and shots were constant and gradual, to the point when he thought that pass through those streets was the same as walking in the middle of a war zone.
"Of the two alternatives, one can be happening: A) the guards are being ambushed. Or B) the citizens were really just retreating into despair and are being crushed right now.
"Nevertheless, in all the two cases, the civilians need to be careful with the time, since reinforcements might be coming. The guards may have many casualties, but hold onto this battle until their comrades come to help it's not something hard to them."
One way or another, Casper still had to do his part, since he did not know how much time the external rebel group would start their raid in the castle as well.
Casper heard a buzz-like sound. Suddenly, a magnetical wave expanded in a radio of 5 meters at least, pushing everything on the way.
All the structures on that range got destroyed as if a steamroller was pushing it.
The soldier was one of the things on the wave's range and it launched him against a construction wall, slamming his shoulder on it and tearing the house down with him.
Casper gritted his teeth with all his strength, trying to hold the scream of pain that was coming in his throat.
"Other of that damn devices! What was that, magnetic wave? What these things CANNOT do, actually!? That's almost like a hack!" He cursed all the family members and acquaintances of the person who invented that piece of scrap metal and got up.
Around him, just devastation. An electrical cable barely touched his skin, which probably would be the end for him. Wreckage and furniture were pilled up, and water was leaking from a plumbing.
Through the now clean streets, without any buildings to hide anymore, he spotted a group of guards reunited, with their assault rifles raised and pointing in different directions. There were three of them.
"So, that's the sucker who made this to me, huh?" Casper frowned while searching automatically for his knife. Then, he remembered: he was unarmed, with exception of a slinger without ammunition.
After killing a few citizens trying to retaliate against them, the group turned towards the soldier, who was standing on the ruins of something that was a building before.
They pointed their guns at him. It made a strange sound, and a blue bar on the side of the gun started to fill up.
"It resembles a battery being charged. Well, the technology here is very incredible. Electric-based weapons are just the expected right?"
Casper raised both his hands, looking with serious eyes to them.
"Civilian! Where is your mask!?" He said, loudly, with a hoarse voice.
"Not with me."
"Show us your GBI, right now!" He shouted more hardly.
"I don't know what's this."
"Enough of your excuses! Shut up and just stay where you are!"
Casper stepped back, never taking off his eyes from him.
"I think you were not clear, guard. May you say it again!?" He said, with a carefree and sarcastic tone.
"I. SAID. STAY. STILL!" He closed the distance one more step. At the same time, the other two guards approached one more step as well. Casper noticed their movements, looking intently at their feet.
He got two steps far away. A bullet was shooted and scraped the skin of his thigh, making a considerable deep cut into his flesh.
"This idiot shouting and shooting really have a good aim. I myself couldn't do it so perfectly. Maybe the gun he is wielding is helping on it too. There is something to do with that crosshair…"
"One more step and you are a dead man! You heard me!?"
The soldier kept looking secretly at the huge puddle of water right in front of the guard's feet.
Casper made the motion of kneeling. At the same time, the guards closed in, stepping on the water.
"I got you." Before finishing the motion to kneel, he kicked the energy cable near him onto the puddle. The guards widened their eyes but did not react on time. Their bodies started to shake uncontrollably and took a few seconds for them to finally jump off the puddle.
Unfortunately, the shock was not strong enough to pass them out.
Through the sad masks, they looked to Casper with furious eyes. But they did not pick the guns that they dropped on the ground.
They all knew very well Casper's real goal: break down the electrical system of their weapons.
The soldier faced them with cold eyes, getting into a combat instance.
"Who will be the first!?" He provoked, with a strong voice.
…
It was the end of the afternoon, the sunset came soon that day. For some, a delight to the eyes, to others it would mean just more despair.
While Casper kept fighting for his life, and civilians were still carrying out the plan correctly, with the guards lost on their game, a person came to one of the main energy towers of the midwest region of the city.
She leaped and climbed the tower's structure boldly as if she knew for sure that she would not fall whatsoever.
Her face was serious and determined. She exercised all her strength into the arm's and leg's muscles, climbing the tower in just a few seconds.
She had a bow and a single arrow on her back, all covered in a dark blue cape, which could hinder someone who did these acrobatic moves, but not hers.
On the top of the tower, she turned back, looking at the people fighting down there. She could not hold herself, such a scene made her extremely excited, so she grinned widely. She needed to close her mouth to not laugh in amusement.
"Things will change from now own. We will get our freedom soon."
She picked up a device with a shape of a strange chip, that looked like a spider. She fixed it against the energy core of the tower.
The device made strange noises, something very similar to how a stapler would sound.
After some seconds, the energy core seemed to be drained slowly, losing its power.
She gave a little giggle before taking out the bow and the arrow.
"Let's do it old-fashioned." She lit the arrow, with kerosene and a lighter. Then put it on the bowstring and aimed towards the castle. More precisely, on the flag on top of it.
"That's the last time, the final battle. The district's flag will burn. At this point, no more light will be seen. The darkness, however, will not be just despair, but our restart; the road towards freedom!" She recited and fired the arrow, which made its way until reach the flag and make it burn.
The sun settled into the horizon, and when its light could no more be seen, the midwest region plunged into the deepest pitch.
…
Meanwhile, Casper was still fighting with the three guards.
They came at once, trying to surround him, but he never let them get close enough.
He walked more deeply into the ruins of the buildings. That was a harsh ground to fight, but there was ammunition there and plenty of them.
When he got the opportunity, he picked a rock from the ground and drew his sling.
With accurate movements, he prepared it in no time and threw the rock with a powerful swing in one of them. The strength was enough to make a huge depressed skull fracture.
One of them tried to close in, but received a kick on his knee, almost falling afterward.
The third guard raised his right arm and activated the device on it. The magnetic force device.
He rushed towards the soldier, doing a motion that showed clearly that he was going to punch with his right arm. The timing was not so bad, but the movements were ridiculously exaggerated.
Confident, Casper kept on the same place, thinking that was better to avoid the punch and step-in, closing the distance in a way where he could not run anywhere.
Nevertheless, the guard did not wait to get in range. He was more than a half-meter away from Casper but threw the punch.
"Idiot. I will just wait for the motion to finish and then rush into you before you can even manage to reposition your instance!"
As soon as the thought crossed Casper's mind, when the motion of the punch ended and he was about to go forward, he felt a huge pressure on his chest, like something had slammed it.
The soldier was sent flying whole 3 meters, but could be able to do a bearing and got to his feet quickly.
"That crap of a device is a huge problem... He can even throw concentrated magnetic waves. It's a perfect weapon for both, melee and range."
The guards did not let him catch his breath and came with a flurry of blows towards him. Most of them hit Casper. He needed to tight his guard and hide behind his arms to protect his vital points and avoid passing out.
"Breath in and out. Focus. You need to catch the right timing to get out of it!" He was aware of the danger of being spanked one-sidedly, and that he could not let it continue for longer.
One of them aimed a kick to his stomach for the second time consecutive. Casper grabbed his leg in the middle air. Using all his strength, he threw the guard in his own partner, making the two fall on the ground.
A blue bar on the device installed on the arm of the guard charged completely and made a noise. He did not wait for one more second and raised his arm, clicking in a button.
Casper widened his eyes and tried to rush and stop him, but he was too far away.
The device did what it meant to do, but instead of maintaining the people on the center of the radio secure, the guards got affected too.
The three of them got sent flying. Casper, who was running against the magnetic wave explosion felt like his body got hit by a huge hammer. He flew for a few meters and then hit his back on something he did not know what.
Something had happened, and the device did not work out like it was supposed to do like a technology panicking would do.
While Casper was fainting, his vision got blurred, and the world seemed to become dark.
"Is it because I am passing out? Or the world really is darkening?" Before he could get a conclusion, he passed out