Reia, still filled with rage, did not want to give up, but she had already used too much of her essence on breaking the old man's shield.
"Damnit!" Reia dropped her sword on the ground and hit the essence wall with her fists, frustrated that the old man got away.
Akira knelt to her side wrapping his arm around her shoulder trying to provide comfort.
Reia continued to hit the wall with her fists and gritted her teeth out of anger while tears started to flow from her eyes as she muttered a name.
"Octavia, I'm sorry."
Akira did not know who that was as he doesn't recall an upperclassman named Octavia. Although curious he knew it was not the right time to ask and was willing to wait to find out the full story.
'There is more to this bastard old man than that encounter with Reia. If just seeing him causes such a strong emotional reaction from her, it might be one of the reasons why she was so heartless after graduation.' Akira came to his own assumptions, hoping that Reia will explain what truly happened.
Reia gave up on hitting the essence wall and started to cling to Akira without even realising it, trying to calm herself down.
Akira patted the back of Reia's head slowly trying his best to calm Reia down.
'I am so glad Lou isn't here to see this.' Akira knew that if Lou were around, the scene of them hugging would be the product of endless teasing and it would be like he never left the academy.
Despite the small age gap Akira still knew everyone from Reia's squad before they entered the military and would always hang around them until they graduated. It was only when they graduated that Akira got to know his future squad that he would become the leader of.
'I promise you squad 2, I won't let this one die on me.' Akira made a promise to himself, although not the squad leader would still do his best to protect Reia's squad and continue to be the pillar of support.
***
In the penthouse of a hotel, Kim and Lou had taken refuge at the highest point they could find while also still having some luxury.
"Darrrling~" Lou who had a glass of wine in her hand, went up to Kim who was on the balcony laying down with her sniper.
"W-we just had a session, we need to look for Reia." Kim blushed looking down her scope to avoid eye contact.
"Fufu~ I know." Lou did not listen and slapped Kim in the ass causing her to jolt.
"Louuuu!!" Kim could not complain, but they needed to move as it would only be a matter of time before people tried to make their way to the penthouse.
"Hehehe~ I'm just teasing you, I know we need to leave." Lou backed away from Kim and leaned over the balcony.
Both Lou and Kim had changed clothes getting out of their uniforms into more casual clothes.
Lou wore full black military pants, a t-shirt, a jacket and a pair of black ankle boots which contrasted with her silver hair. She also had put bandages around her hand and wrist.
Just like Reia and Akira, Lou had small pouches around her body holding essentials for quick access.
Kim wore a long-sleeve skin-tight blacktop that had an orange collar that went around her neck. Over the top was a dark grey tank top that was slightly skin tight and provided a bit of extra warmth. Kim also wore a skirt exposing her legs and although she would rather wear jeans or shorts, Lou wanted quick access.
"So I assume no luck in finding anyone from the squad?"
"Other than the massive mutant lion running along the roof, I was unable to see the people that were running from it." Kim was using her sniper to look through the city in an attempt to find other members of the squad.
"We could try to make our way and investigate where that lion was, but that is quite far from here." Lou in reality just wanted to fight the mutant lion for herself, since she hasn't been able to kill anything due to Kim only just recovering from her essence deprivation.
"It is towards where Reia would have ran, so they could be in that area." Kim was able to see the military base and was able to determine that Reia could have ended up in that general area after distracting the giant mutant.
"We have nothing better to do and this penthouse no longer has any wine, so no point in staying here." Lou had finished the last glass of wine and threw the glass over the balcony.
"Should you really be drinking now?" Kim was rather worried for Lou as drinking in an apocalypse did not sound ideal.
"Of course! I have always had a flask of wine with me on every mission we went on." Lou pulled out a flask from the inside of her jacket which bore the same wolf symbol that was on Kim's beretta.
"Wait, you actually did bring wine and Echo wasn't kidding." Kim had heard from Echo that Lou always was bringing wine on missions and it was the reason why she was so crazy all the time.
"Who do you think created a little device to make sure when we got scanned that it came up as water?" Lou had a grin as she stared at Kim.
Kim facepalmed and let out a sigh.
"Now let's leave, something tells me we have guests." Lou put away her flask and pulled out her berettas while walking to the entrance of the penthouse.
Kim, seeing Lou move, got up and put her sniper behind her back and pulled out her own beretta.
Kim, who was not the best at close range combat, stayed further back, letting Lou take the lead.
Lou stood in front of a double door which was the entrance to the penthouse. Hearing whispers behind the door Lou waited a moment to hear what they were saying.
"There are 2 people in here, if we can recruit them into the rebels th-" Lou had heard enough as hearing the word rebel caused her to kick the door open.
"What?!" The group of 4 rebels were shocked by the sudden opening of the door with one getting hit right in the nose by the door.
"Oop sorry, but your Empress Lou here has come to punish you." Lou had a grin seeing the confused and surprised looks of the rebel soldiers. 2 of which were human males and the other 2 being female. They each wore tactical clothes that bore the symbol R showing that they are indeed from the rebels.
The soldiers were still confused until suddenly Lou shot one of the male rebels straight in the head. The soldiers instantly charged up their guns to fire at Lou, but because of the outdated models, it took time to shoot and Lou was able to take advantage of that.
Running up to one of the rebels Lou kicked the gun out of his hands and bent backwards aiming her beretta's at one of the female soldiers. Shooting the female soldier in the heart, her body began to burn from the inside.
The male soldier tried to grab a hold of Lou's leg, but Lou did a backwards somersault kicking the man in the jaw and knocking him out. The final female rebel seeing everyone being killed so quickly dropped her gun and raised her hands.
"Please don't kill me." The female rebel dropped to her knees shutting her eyes hoping she would be left alive. Lou shot the knockout rebel, turning his body into ash before turning to the female rebel.
"Ara~ look at this cutie, If you're willing to belong to me, I might let you tag along." Lou walked up to the female rebel leaning over, putting her beretta under the woman's chin.
"I-i, what does that mean?" The woman opened her eyes, seeing a sadistic grin on Lou's face.
"It is exactly as it sounds sweetie~" Lou pushed her beretta on her chin further, raising her head.
"W-what happens if I say no?"
"This." Lou pulled the trigger shooting a bullet right through her jaw, killing the rebel in an instant.
"Why do they have to play so hard to get, just say yes and let me have my fun." Lou stood up straight and Kim walked out of the room.
"Either way you would have killed her." Kim sighed as Lou's sadistic side always ended up toying with the hearts of the enemy and she couldn't help feeling bad for the victims.
"They were rebels and it would only be a matter of time before we would be recognised since we have all made a name for ourselves." Lou knew they could join up with the rebels, but because their squad is so well known it would be hard to go into a camp without being shot on sight.
"You are not wrong, anyway let's get going, we need to make our way to where that lion was." Kim shook her and did not want to think about the countless murder they will probably have to go through.
"Let's hope that lion is still around, I have been itching to fight a big mutant."