Chereads / Spourting Gladiolus / Chapter 10 - Chapter 9: Raid pt.2

Chapter 10 - Chapter 9: Raid pt.2

9:08 p.m.

Demolition's cult second-largest base

Zarnia is the sole attacker, her team has spread out to the other smaller bases.

[Zarnia]

"Hmm~" She hummed lightly while adjusting her navy-officer-like hat.

The location for the base was… interesting to say the least. It was located in a small village that seemed to be abandoned not too long ago. It was abandoned for roughly ten years. The base was a decently sized church.

She tilted her head, her purple wolf ears listened attentively, "Ironic, as Amelia would say it."

She wiped some dust off of her stylised army uniform, she wore a standard army uniform that was partially covered by a navy-blue black cape that hung over her shoulder, with it covering her chest and arms.

She stretched her arms and walked towards it, though she could hear footsteps around the village.

"I don't want to hurt any of you, too badly." She chuckled lightly.

The footsteps stopped and she stood still, her eyes taking in every single detail. She started humming again, a gentle smile never left her lips. She looked too carefree to be on the field, though the way she gave the things around her such attention was something to be worried about.

She looked up at the sky, noticing the projectiles coming down on her. There were various different projectiles, ranging from plain arrows to thunder bolts. Her body moved as she hummed, dodging some by the hair while others had cut a strand of her hair off.

She shook her head, "This is… unfortunate."

She ran towards one of the houses, noticing a few people standing behind it. She continued running even as they pointed their weapons at her. She still had a smile on her lips, her nails dug in and across their necks. Leaving deep wounds that would kill them once it was left unattended for long.

She sped through the entire village, dodging the arrows and bolts coming her way. She continued to leave deep gashes in them, not sure why she did not just kill them off immediately. She stood back in front of the church, arrows and magic lining up where her path was.

"Well, I seriously thought that you won't have to die, so badly." She shook her head and sighed.

A large great sword appeared beside her, the length of it is as high as she was. She grabbed the hilt and looked around, her smile disappeared. She dragged it across the ground for a while before some people appeared, they were trying to breath and their necks continued to bleed.

"Unfortunate that it had to all come crashing down this way." She glanced at them.

Her speed did not drop even with the addition of her weapon, in fact she had gotten even faster. She closed in the gaps between them before they got to pull back the string, too shocked to even move an inch. She swung her sword with two hands, the blade went through their bodies like it was softened butter, slicing it apart with little effort.

She continued on, slicing more and more people apart until there was nothing left besides bodies and an intense smell of blood.

She sighed and stabbed her sword through the ground, sticking it upright with her hand still gripped on the hilt. She let go of it, placing her hands together and bowed to the people, more accurately souls. She did not say a word, yet there was a slight feeling of remorse on her face.

"Very… interesting." Someone clapped while walking out of the church.

Zarnia had not lifted herself back up, yet she could already tell who it was. She placed her hands to her sides, still remaining in her bowing posture. She opened her eyes and glanced over to the man, her irises sharpened at the sight of him.

9:20 p.m. Zarnia encountered Falak

"Hello there, Falak." She finally lifted herself up.

Falak's snake-like red eyes stared back at her, his lips curled up to a smile, "Pleasure seeing you here, Executioner of the Gods."

She lifted her sword off of the dirt though it was still on the ground, her fingers wrapped around the hilt tightly, "Can I know why you're here?"

"Too bad, I can't tell you anything about it." He shrugged and chuckled loudly.

His pet snake slithered around his arms before it rested around his neck, its eyes also maintained contact with Zarnia. He raised his arms up and placed his hands behind his head, on his fluffy yet intentionally messy dark hair.

He wore a loose grey T-shirt with a light blue jacket tied around his waist. His entire outfit looked comfy and bright, which felt a bit off.

"Then you wouldn't mind," She lifted her sword up and lunged at him.

She closed in the gap between them, "If I strike you down right now, right?"

His smile turned into a smirk as he shrugged. She swung the sword at such force that it carried some wind with it, blowing the grass underneath their feet. He leaned back far enough that it barely missed his face.

"I feel bad if my precious snakes could not see my handsome face." He chuckled.

Zarnia raised it above her head and her arms' muscles tensed visibly. She swung it down on him, or where he was standing. He leaped backwards to avoid the strike and impact, which were destructive.

The ground where he stood was smashed before the blade had hit, causing a second deeper hole when it hit.

She looked at him, her sword remained in the hole, "You're surprisingly agile for a God who let others do his work for him."

He chuckled again, "Aww. I like that compliment, thank you."

She narrowed her eyes and lifted her sword up, placing it over her shoulder, "Why are you here?"

"Because their leader asked me to help them some time ago, that's why I'm here." He answered.

Her sword disappeared as she spoke, "It's not you that they hired."

He raised his eyebrow, "So you knew all along?"

"I know something was off, but I didn't know it was because of you." Her tone turned hostile.

He waved his hand, "Now now, don't talk to me like that. You would have killed them anyway."

She shook her head, "That was not what I was implying. I meant the Worship cult."

He looked surprised for a moment before he started to laugh loudly. She stood still and stared at him as his laughter turned maniac, his eyes widened with a wider smirk. The snake around his neck hissed at her as he laughed and laughed.

It hurt her ears, especially when around a large pile of dead bodies.

"You're pretty smart eh? Right, I help them get the copies and Half-God weapons."

He continued, "But it was worthless anyways. They couldn't do much with what they had after all."

"You would never change." She said, getting a little pissed.

He shook his head, "Oh honey. We, Gods, would never change our ways."

"Even your favourite darling, Amelia."

His chuckle was sharp, one that struck through her heart. He disappeared with his snake, seemingly blending in with the dark. Zarnia stood still, her body frozen on the spot. Her gaze softened, from one of anger to remorse. She looked up at the moon, her tail swaying side to side.

"It won't take long… before you cry again." She mumbled while staring at it.

Zarnia's team had finished up the rest of the bases. The sites were promptly cleaned up by piling the bodies on top of one another, burning the places down with it. They gave their salute with the most gratitude they could offer.

Giving gratitude to the lives of those wind up in it, and the innocents who never got to learn of reality.

It is clear now that Falak had been colluding with the Worship cult for a while now. Though we do not have enough evidence to convict him of treason. Not that there was ever a reason to do it anyway.

9:06 p.m.

Okame and Kira had decided to go on solo, their teammates serving as clean up crew instead.

[Okame's side]

She dropped right through the ground, landing on the first basement floor of an office building. One of the higher ups had decided to rent out an office building as a shell and built an entire bunker underneath it.

"I wish I was this rich," She mumbled.

She tied her long light green up to a ponytail, her deep green eyes scanning the entire floor before sitting down and thinking of a plan. Every member walking by could not see her and some even walked through her body.

"Hmm… I could spike bombs here and there… but they do need to go off at the same time…" She muttered.

She stood back up after a minute with a (semi) thought through plan of how to place the bombs. The floor were made out of thick bricks plus concrete, which would make it a little hard to blow it up. Yet, she did not seem worried at all.

Her tiny body ran through people, grabbing a bomb from the suitcase she brought with her and placing it down on strategic locations. Some were near to stairs and exits, as to block people in; Some were near important devices for communication or emergency buttons.

She did not seem at all concerned that she might get stuck here.

She went through the ground to get by faster, running through endless people and hallways. Sometimes she'd slow down and admire their technology, especially some weapons that they had. One particular weapon that caught her attention was interesting.

It was a fish that had a cannon coming out of its mouth.

"So… cool…" She had to cover her mouth so that her voice would not be as obvious.

After more running around and through people, she stopped on the final floor. She dropped down and slumped over, her hand holding the detonator. She sighed and breathed heavily, gathering strength while waiting for something.

"This is… annoying." She mumbled and closed her eyes.

Someone replied, "This is annoying indeed, Guardian."

Her eyes snapped open and she looked up, noticing that this man had an outfit similar to that of the Worship cult than the Peace cult. He kicked the detonator off of her hands and grabbed her by the neck, his hand was easily larger than hers so it wrapped around her neck.

"Such a small woman. You look more like a child to me." He chuckled deeply.

She was incredibly small compared to him, as her height was taller than the average 10 year old. She gripped on his wrist as some of the members gathered around them, the marks on their gloves glowing. She began to breathe heavily as he choked her more.

"Hmm… you are Okame. Correct?" His wicked smile expressed his emotions better than his voice.

He lifted her up higher, "Did you honestly think you would get in here willy nilly?"

She did not feel fearful towards the people around her, instead she began laughing. She could not laugh that loudly because she was running of breath, yet she still felt the need to laugh at their naivety. The man narrowed his eyes at her, unamused by her laughter.

"And did you think that I would come here without a back up?"

The man's arm was sliced off clean, blood splattered on the ground as it bled. A hooded lady appeared from within the crowd as the bombs went off, blowing up walls after walls. She grabbed Okame and ran for it, both of them turning invisible.

She gave the man a middle finger before she was carried off, "I've met cilents stronger than you, bitch."

She raised her arms up as she shouted, "Nice one, Yurei!"

Yurei muttered, "I'd prefer you try not to just blow up everything next time."

"Hehe." She giggled.

The entire office and basement went down with the bombs, the sounds of bombs going off and the entire building collapsing warned those who live near the area. Residents called the authorities immediately, and nobody dared wander into the huge cloud of dust.

"Not everyone is dead, right?" Yurei asked as she placed Okame down.

She nodded, "That would kill off most of them. But there were certainly going to be some that lived."

Yurei dropped her hood down, revealing her long dark blue hair as her white eyes stared at the destruction in front of them. She took out a cigarette from her pocket and lit it up, smoking without looking away.

Okame stretched as she spoke, "Luckily he did not deactivate my ability as a whole. Only the one I placed on myself."

The sound of sirens accompanied the terror in the air, they quickly backed away and hid in the onlooking crowd.

"At least, it won't be as bloody as Kira's." She chuckled lightly.

There were 46 confirmed deaths, 12 heavily injured and 10 stuck in coma. The heavily injured were promptly dealt with by the cleanup crew once they were sent to the hospital.

The 10 in the coma was allowed to live, but certainly not for long.

At the same time

The Peace cult's supply base

[Kira's side]

Kira hood stayed up as he simply walked into the basement, his eyes not meeting up with anyone's. The members were alarmed when they saw him, immediately placing a protection barrier around themselves. He simply sighed, the bright white light highlighted his hunched over posture.

"This is a pain."

Things spurted from his back, they were something akin to a much thicker spider legs. It penetrated the barrier with very little effort, which meant that it could easily pierced through human bodies. It was fast, as once it made a huge gaping hole in someone, it went ahead and pierced someone else.

It was completely black in color, bright fresh blood sticking on to it like glue.

"And they planned to let Kame come with me." He muttered.

He simply walked through floor after floor, decimating anyone that was close to him before they had the chance to fight back. Some had a large gaping hole in their stomach; Some had their heads completely smashed in; Some had their heads pierced through, leaving a gaping hole in their brains.

All he did was just walk while continuing to complain under his breath.

"That kid couldn't do much to help, unless it was weapons."

Blood splattered all across the floor, making it stained with the crimson red color. It looked straight out of a horror movie, where the antagonist had gone on a killing spree for their own amusement.

"Disgusting humans."

Bodies after bodies lay next to each other, blood had begun to mix together. The white light shining down on them, like it was a morbid art expedition. Those who had their heads intact had this intense expression of fear, the screams and air having been the last thing they saw before dying.

The smell of blood was so strong that it could remain in here for days even after a thorough cleaning.

His eyes turned from red pupils and black iris back to its original light pink pupils and white iris. His light grey hoodie had some blood on it, though it would not be hard to simply wash it off. He ruffled his grey hair and bangs that reached his eyebrows.

"Good thing this was so easy. The money I get is nice to live on until next month."

He did spare the bodies another glance, the things disappeared as he straightened his back. He placed his hands on the hoodie's pocket and walked out, the hood still covering his face.

Kira Osame was unnoticed by everyone who walked by, and he liked it that way.

The cleanup crew complained about the overwhelming smell, some even puked. Kira afterwards offered a half-assed apology, obviously nobody bought it.

9:05 p.m.

Alice and Leia took one base respectively, Alice's team stayed far away to make sure that they would not be affected. Everything was left to both of them.

The Perfectionist cult's second largest base

[Alice's side]

Alice had to trek through some terrain to get to the base, since it was located on the mountains. She had to sit down multiple times to take a break, taking the chance to stare at the night sky. She was high up enough to see some stars, shining brightly as she reached her small hand out to it.

There were sudden footsteps, as the sound of grass being stomped was heard near her. She immediately hid herself in a bush nearby, clearing up some space so she could see clearly. She leaned slightly while listening in on their conversation.

"Leader said that there was a little girl coming here. Can you believe it?" He laughed and shook his head.

The other slapped his back, "Don't take it so lightly! You might actually die."

He shrugged and laughed, "As if! But let's keep our eyes out."

'So they know that I'm here already…' She thought.

She waited for both men to walk past her, crawling cautiously as not to make any sound that might alert them of her presence. They eventually had their backs turned, which lent her the chance to strike them from behind.

She simply walked up to them and poked them. They turned around, guns pointing at her.

The guy snickered, "Ah it is a little girl."

"Shut up and kill her al--"

She smiled gently and tilted her head, "Give me your guns."

He narrowed his eyes and scoffed, "What do you think--"

They froze on the spot immediately, they tried desperately to move but they could not. They handed her the guns despite their efforts in holding themselves from doing so. She grabbed it and aimed at their heads, fear plastered on their faces.

Gunshots went off, alerting the others nearby that someone was here. Though when they had run to where they heard it, she was gone. Only the two men and their guns were left on the ground.

They immediately turned to their base, everyone sharing the same thought as they ran to it.

She walked in the large campsite where they had resided for years as it seemed. Since they were doing their usual routine without thinking much. Some people looked… weird. Not because they had animal features, it was because the features did not fit him, like it was sticked on.

She did not catch anyone's attention since she was a rather small woman. She did not spoke either, which only made her more invisible. She stared at them for a bit before walking to the center, where people saw her immediately.

They quickly aimed their weapons and held on to the traps that were set up beforehand, though she did not seem at all concerned. She only stared at him with childlike wonder in her eyes, despite her being at least a few thousand years old.

"Please, die."

Her voice was not loud, yet somehow everyone heard it. For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Some even had a cocky smirk on their face as they looked down on the small woman in front of them. Though, their attitudes shifted.

Once they could taste the iron gathering up in their mouths.

Blood dripped down from their mouths to the ground. Their visions got more blurry, eventually fatigue kicked in and they dropped to the ground. They began dropping like flies, one after another falling to the ground while still bleeding. The soil was now nourished by the blood from them.

She grabbed a random gun from the ground, checking to make sure that it was working and loaded. She pulled out the magazine and stared at it for a moment before putting it back.

The ones scouting outside came back. They were immediately greeted by a literal blood bath, as a lot of blood was gathered from the amount of people here. Their eyes widened up in horror, their grip on the guns had lessened.

They heard a click as Alice aimed her guns at one of them, staring at it with the same fear that both men that were killed initially had. Her expression was odd. It was one of remorse as her light red eyes stared into theirs, her lips frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry."

The ones on the campsite were killed off instantly while the ones that were scouting took a bit longer to die. In the end, the crew grabbed every valuable item they could find.

The site was burned along with the bodies.

At the same time

The Perfection cult's supply base

[Leia's side]

Leia's choice for an entrance was… spectacular. The steel door was knocked apart by a strong burst of water, it flooded the entire first floor. The alarm went off immediately and every door was reinforced by a studier building material.

"Did you honestly think you could stop me?!" She shouted as her hair that resembled the color of the ocean dropped down on her waist.

Everyone on the first floor drowned, their bodies hanging off of places that most usually would not get up to. On top of the lights, in between doors and entangled in between boxes. They looked awfully peaceful even after death, as if the water silently took away their life.

She dropped to the second floor, though she was immediately met by a blockade. Someone stood before her and smiled, their gaze holding such excitement that they clearly could not contain it inside.

"Ah, we have quite the person here." Salem chuckled while staring at her.

She dropped to the ground, her transparent scarf wrapped around her arms and she stared at the barrier between her and Salem. She tilted her head slightly at Salem, who still smiled excitedly just at the sight of Leia being here.

"You're the perfect opponent, and experiment." A black wooden staff with a skull appeared on her hands.

Though they did not have the chance to interact, since there were some people who flew through a wall close to Salem's. They turned around and looked at where it was, wondering what had happened.

"Ah, another one." Salem's smile got much wider.

Xiao appeared with his spear impaled through a random person's head. He swung it around which threw the body to the other side of the room. They did not know who it was since his face was hidden away by a mask that was drawn to look like a dragon's.

Yet Leia seemed to know who it was.

9:09 p.m. Leia encountered Xiao

The spear in his hands was in a color that resembled lightning which was evident by the occasional lightning appearing around it. Another two spears appeared around him, one was in a color that resembled fire while the other was a light green that resembled leaves.

"What a great day today~" She turned around to face Xiao first.

The transparent scarf around Leia's arm turned into water as it smashed against the barrier, causing it to crack. Xiao lunged forward at her with the lightning spear, an intense lightning was carried along with his speed.

She snapped her fingers as the barrier eventually cracked, a large burst of water came through and began to flood the second floor as well. The water went around her, leaving an area that was untouched by it. While some of the lightning combined with it, electrocuting people while drowning them.

The rest of the lightning was absorbed by the sword, which was pulled out of its sheath. The 'staff' was only a sword with a skull, the sheath itself was made out of pure wood so when sheathed it looked like a staff.

"Too bad, you could've gotten my head." She chuckled lightly.

She tried to push Xiao away, though his spear grazed her cheeks anyways. The water died down though Leia immediately leaped forward, the scarf remained like water and it wrapped around her fingers, until thin strings of it were formed.

The fire spear flew by and Xiao caught it in mid air, flames erupting from it once he caught it. Salem's smile remained as she let go of her sword, hand extending to grab his weapon. The water strings became thick once it was close to Salem.

"This is quite unfair, don't you think?" She laughed.

"Water Dragon's Claw," Leia mumbled as her frost-like colored eyes stared at them.

The water stings became one resembling a dragon's claw as it grazed the wall and about to slice apart Salem. Some of the water was evaporated by the flames, if it was to come in contact with Salem or Leia it would surely burn them to ashes.

A summoning circle appeared beneath Salem's feet, her body crumbling into pieces as both elemental attacks collided with each other. The water evaporated by the flames and the flames extinguished by the water.

The impact blew through the floor, causing the entire floor to start crumbling down as well. Salem was floating above them, her smile never gone away as she watched. Xiao's light yellow eyes glanced at her as he leaped off the collapsing floor.

Leia forced a small ice block beneath where she stood, replacing the tilted floors with a thick ice block. She stood on it while staring at Xiao scale the wall in a matter of seconds, which had caught Salem off guard.

The sword reappeared on her hand as the lightning spear flew by into Xiao's palm as he spinned it around. He leaped again as she backed further away, even so he quickly caught up to her in midair.

Her lips again curling up to a smile as she blocked the lightning strike with the blade, residual impact cracked the ceiling above their heads.

"You might have gotten me if you weren't slow." She laughed mockingly.

He shook his head, "Look closer."

A strong gust of wind nearly blew everyone away, Xiao's light green hair swayed along it. The wind spear came out of the rubble and impaled Salem's chest. She looked down at it in shock as she coughed out some blood.

"Don't get in over your head."

They both fell down at the same time, Salem's grip still tight on her sword. Xiao grabbed his lightning spear and managed to float himself in midair before taking another leap. He closed in on Salem as lightning built up from the tip of the spear, burning through the small bits of concrete.

Salem raised the sword up to block it again, and it did. Though Xiao let go once it hit the blade, taking something out from his flowing black cloth that covered his right shoulder. It was a syringe filled with a green liquid material.

Something else caught her attention instead as he jabbed the needle through her shoulder blade.

"The stave!" She shouted.

Xiao had managed to hide the stave between the cloak and his grey shirt with white lines. She did notice him the whole time he was here, but somehow she did not notice that he had stolen the stave.

He did not say anything as she closed her eyes and her body going limp, he grabbed her body and got the wind spear off of her chest. All three of his spears disappeared as he stood on rubble, placing her over his shoulder and carrying her like a sack of potatoes.

He turned around and stared at Leia who just sat on the ice block she made. She stared back at Xiao and smiled, she clearly did not view him as a threat in any way. Her entire posture and behaviour was too laxed to be on guard, even if she knew that Xiao could kill her at any time.

He sighed and went away, carrying the stave and Salem with him.

"Bye bye Xiao~" She waved at him.

She stared at them as they left, she chuckled lightly and stood up. She swapped off dust on her long bright red with various flowers adorned dresses that reached her knees, the dress part was wider. She wore black stockings that were not visible.

"Amelia… always having plans." She chuckled lightly.

None of the members lived through the destruction and Salem had disappeared. Leia did not mention anything about meeting Xiao, she only said that Salem was kidnapped when she reached and could not catch up to the perpetrator.

I know clearly that's not the case, but she already had seen through me.

"Hmm.. yes indeed. What do I want?" The snake slithered closer to Amelia.

He stopped speaking and the snake just slithered around her. She narrowed her eyes on it and decided to sit on the ground. The snake by itself decided to slither up to her arms and stared at her there. It seemed pretty comfy wrapped around her arm.

"I hope you don't mind my baby around your arm~" He chuckled.

She poked it, "It looks cute enough."

"To be honest, this is a hard question for me. After all… Gods like me only have desires and what to see them happen." The snake slithered closer to her.

He laughed, "Anything to see chaos. That fear, that insanity, that feeling of death in the air. I love all of it, and I want to see it in its entirety."

She continued to stare at it and shook her head, "Though it feels like you're going to kill me soon, for the sake of chaos as well."

The snake's head tilted before shaking itself, "No no no. I won't ever kill you, after all…"

The snake hissed before he continued, "Just you as a Guardian Goddess, is all for the chaos as well."

"You won't die, under my eyes. So don't worry about me disrupting the data collection alright?" He chuckled.

The snake got off of her arm and slithered away, "Goodbye Amy~. I look forward to your performance."

She stared at it as it went away, sighing and decided to return to the base.

8:50 p.m. before any raids had happen

Largest Lost Sheep cult's base

[Asura]

Cyliam had decided to take a break, taking a stroll out of the base. His personal guards had followed him along to make sure that he was fine. Cyliam did not wear his mask although he still wore his outfit.

It was a white button up shirt with a black cape draped over his shoulders, the shirt had grey lines on the shoulders. He was wearing long black pants that were held by a black leather belt. He also wore leather shoes that had a sharp end.

The forest was silent except for the footsteps. The moonlight gave enough lighting for him to see, the light coming through gaps between trees and leaves. He looked up at it and had a small smile on his face, this silence gave a calming presence.

However, it quickly changed as a presence broke the atmosphere. His eyes immediately looked around, trying to figure out who was here. Although, somewhere in his heart he knew who it belonged to. Maybe, just maybe that he did not want her to be here.

The smell of blood became apparent in the air.

He whipped his head around, noticing that he could not see any of them. His sword appeared on his side as he began walking towards where one of them was. However, he was stopped on his tracks when a voice called out to him, one he was all too familiar with.

"Ah~. You certainly lack the flair that Amelia has."

Asura appeared into his view, his palm holding up the head of one of his guards. The head was still bleeding as it had been sliced off not very long ago. When he smiled, his teeth showed some blood. Cyliam narrowed his eyes at him and gripped on the hilt, ready to pull out his sword when needed.

"Don't need to be so hostile. After all, I only came here to say hi."

He laughed loudly and continued, "And for some food."

His smile widened and showed more of his teeth, his eyes having that maniac gaze in them. He licked his lips when he said it, which told everything Cyliam needed to know.

Even so, he did not anticipate that he would just swallow the head.

Asura turned to his demon form, his jaw opened up wide enough to swallow the head whole. Cyliam stared with his eyes widened up, unsure whether to fear for his life or fear the monster in front of him. Asura's canine teeth showing obvious blood stains on it as he gulped down the head.

"You look as if you have never seen Noir eat your own people." His teeth continued to show as he salivated.

Cyliam gritted his teeth, "I rather you not do it in front of me."

He placed his claws together, "Ah, the little puppy barks now."

Cyliam clicked his toungue, "What do you need?"

Asura laughed, his laughter was out of pure amusement. Naturally, Cyliam was incredibly confused about it all. He raised his eyebrow and endured his laughter. Although, he regretted not striking Asura once before.

A stave appeared in Asura's palms. Only the top part of it was showing as the rest of it was covered in a magic sealing cloth. It was a black stave that had grey feather patterns all over it with a half black half red gem on top.

"You…" He glared at Asura.

Asura began to spin it around like a toy, "This is really important to you for controlling us. So… if I took it away, then it would make them uncontrollable."

Cyliam ran towards Asura, having a clear goal in mind which was taking it back from his hands. Asura closed his mouth and lifted it up in the air, that would make it harder for him to get it since he is at least a whole head higher than Cyliam.

"Try and get it~" He was taunting Cyliam to get him more riled up.

He pulled out his sword and aimed it towards where his heart, or technically soul was. He was stopped by a single finger, Asura lifted his free hand and stopped him. He was not that quick, though Asura understood that he was not at his maximum capability.

"You are clearly stronger than this~." He leaned in and opened his jaw, threatening to chomp his head.

Cyliam immediately backed away, taking in a deep breath to calm himself down. He continued to glare at Asura, it did feel like his words were starting to get to him. Asura closed in on him immediately and opened up his jaw.

Cyliam lifted his sword up and stabbed through his jaw, tried to stab through his jaw. It still did not make a single dent on it, only nearly cracking his sword. Asura closed his mouth and knocked Cyliam away by flicking his forehead.

"Come on, this is not the best Noir could do." He laughed loudly at him.

Cyliam was only stopped by knocking down a tree. The trunk came off and it fell to the ground, making the ground around him shake. He coughed up a bit of blood and stood back up, Asura closing in on him again without much effort.

"Why do you want power so badly, that you went into a contract with Noir, and yet still can't kill me?" His crimson red eyes staring at his warm orange eyes.

He swung his sword at him again, even after knowing that it would not hurt him at all. It was more out of pure frustration instead of any concrete or logical reasons. It again only stopped, his sword began to show cracks on the blade.

"What's wrong, puppy? Can't handle the truth?" He continued to laugh at him.

Cyliam's frustration began to show on his face, "Shut. Up."

Asura simply dragged one of his claws through his neck, leaving a shallow gash there and it began to bleed. He stood still there, not even flinching at all from the sudden pain. Asura looked satisfied with the expression he was giving him.

"Isn't this why she died? Because you couldn't do anything at all. Only having seen her life slip away from your hands."

His eyes looked blazing, as if lit alive by nothing but the feeling of guilt and frustration deep within his heart. His eyes color changed, similar to that of Noir's and Asura's. His right arm changed akin to Asura's claws. Asura did not seem bothered as his smirk only showed more of his teeth.

Cyliam let go of his sword and scratched Asura's body with his claws, which left a deep and visible wound on him. He backed away slightly, placing his hand on the wound. Even so, it healed up quickly by what seemed like black strings stitching it back.

"Ah. This. This is what I WANT TO SEE." His manic laughter echoed loudly throughout the barren forest.

"Don't you dare say that." Cyliam spoke as his fist tightened.

He began to walk towards Asura, his footsteps causing the ground below him to break, "I'm helping these people to find their power and place in this world. To not have to bow to others, or people like the Gods."

He lifted his claw at him, his footsteps never losing their impact, "And if you get in my way, then you are no different than those who step above others' heads for their own benefit."

As much as Asura wanted to continue, he felt a tug at his soul. Amelia was asking him to come back since she could tell how it was about to go down. He sighed as he placed the wrapped stave away and shrugged, Cyliam getting close and closer to him.

"Even what you have said, you are the same as them. After all, how much are you actually saving them and how much are you feeding them a lie?"

Cyliam stopped. Though he was not thinking about what he said, he proceeded to punch him once Asura was close enough for his fist to connect. Yet Asura disappeared into smoke when his fist was about to hit him, only simply going through it.

"Unfortunately, we have to stop here. Though, I believe I'll see you again."

His jaw appeared beside Cyliam's face as he spoke one last time, "I wonder. If they no longer buy into your lie, who will you lose again?"

Cyliam tried to punch him there, though he had been long gone when he had done so. He gritted his teeth and his body returned to how it was, along with his eyes. His fist dug into his skin until it started to bleed. His eyes staring at the hole in the ground, drowning out the voices of his followers.

"After all, how much can you even do?" Noir's mockery rang in his mind.

The raids were a success. Though we still suffered some casualties.

20 in ICU, 12 were heavily injured and 6 were mildly injured. The rest was completely fine.

… End of recording.