Blood flows freely from several cuts over Killian's body and face. The beige-eyed man was in disbelief, no one had ever pushed him to the point Hachimura was doing.
The battlemage swung her sword violently to take the Archaeon's head clean off but he grabbed the blade with his bare hands. Kilian could barely use his powers, every time he did, the energy would turn into ice making it impossible for him to move.
The mage looked into the former Retribution member's ice-blue eyes. 'This girl ...' He thought. 'She has to be the strongest battlemage outside of the twins.'
'Hm,' he thought. 'Maybe if I ...' The mage attempted to wrap his body with energy but the energy turned to ice and froze him to the ground.
'Oh no!'
Ai drew back her blade before thrusting it forward and driving bit through the Archaeon's sternum.
"Fuck!" The mage groaned in pain as he took a good look at the sword that had gone in through his breastbone and out through his back.
He shifts his gaze up to the ice-blonde-haired woman, a small smile on his face and a drop of blood trickling down the corner of his mouth.
"You leave me with no choice," Kilian said. The mage decided to open a domain breaking Ai's. She staggered backward while the Archaeon removed the blade from his body and tossed it to the ground.
The wound on his body closed up and he grew bigger and taller, his eyes also glowed brightly. The beige-eyed man slowly approached the girls with a menacing look on his face. He slapped Hachimura away, sending her head first into a boulder.
The bald man continued his walk towards Sophia who attempted to catch him with a punch to the jaw only for him to grab her by the wrist. He lifts her off the ground so that the redhead comes eye-to-eye with him.
"Your move, ultimate weapon," he said, daring her to attack.
A strong wave from the side hits and knocks him several feet away and onto the ground. Sophia turned to the side, surprised by what had just occurred. She found Aislinn with a rocket launcher-like weapon placed over her shoulder.
"You had an antitank weapon?!" Sofi asked surprised.
"Kinda .... This is Titan," the cinnamon red-haired girl replied before rushing to Hachimura whose hair had turned back vanilla blonde, and was lying on the ground unconscious with blood gushing out of the side of her head.
Aislinn took off her shirt and placed it over the wound before applying pressure. "Sophia, get me a bottle of water!"
*ELSEWHERE*
Rogue and the Flagger stood opposite each other panting heavily with bruises and cuts all over their body.
'Just where did those terrorists find this man?' Rogue wondered. 'No, this isn't a man, this is a beast!
SOMETIME EARLIER
The members of the White Flaggers sat in a great hall and discussed their next course of action.
Their opponents, the Ibrahim Group, had withdrawn from the region, leaving them with some semblance of peace for the first time in what felt like forever.
They had received intel from a reliable source about the patriarch of the Archaeon family, Karl Archaeon, being at a secluded spot with one other Archaeon and debated whether or not they should do something about it.
The debate went on for several hours but they eventually agreed the pros outweighed the cons on the matter of capturing the Archaeons' patriarch. But then came the matter of who would catch him.
Karl himself was not an issue as no man had ever seen him use his powers and it was largely believed he was a non-mystic. The problem, however, was his nieces and nephews.
The Archaeons' patriarch was known for surrounding himself with his relatives for protection. However, their source confirmed that he would be with just one of his relatives. They assumed that one to be his trusty bodyguard, Rogue, and if they wanted him captured now was the best time to do so.
They were very few among the White Flaggers who could stand up to the bodyguard let alone match up to him so the task was improbable at best.
But they still wanted to give it a shot.
Woody West was the first to request leadership of the team to capture the leader of the Archaeons. He had long blonde hair with skin just as fair, and eyes that were as blue as the sky.
Every member of the Flaggers had lost someone because of the Archaeons but very few amongst them had a story as heartbreaking as Woody's.
The pale-skinned man had at a young age lost his friends and clansmen in an attack by the Archaeons, he was captured along with his immediate and extended family and they became slaves and lab rats for the family.
When Woody was on the cusp of adulthood, his father attempted an insurrection, the revolt was thwarted and the perpetrators were executed. All of Woody's relatives except his sister and cousin were also executed for their participation.
The blue-eyed boy, along with his sister and cousin, were moved and began training as prospects for an elite team Karl wanted to create; his sister did not survive the harsh conditions.
Years later, Woody and the other trainees planned a breakout, it was successful but most of them died in the process, including his cousin.
The blonde-haired man then lived a quiet life in Brownvale where he got married and had kids, living peacefully until the government was overthrown by the Archaeons' sponsored Ibrahim Group and Woody's wife who was an attorney for one of the ministers, was killed.
The blue-eyed man also lost his kids in the subsequent riots. Once he had the opportunity to join the Flaggers, he did not look back, swiftly rising through the ranks as one of the merciless and deadliest in the group.
The blonde-haired man mostly kept to himself and save for when instructing trainees or called upon by one of the leaders of the group, he said nothing. Training and honoring those he had lost in his spare time.
.
.
.
Rogue could not believe it, someone outside the Drumalak family taking him to his limit. The Archaeon inhaled and exhaled deeply. 'It doesn't matter how strong he is,' he thought. 'I'll still win!'
Rogue charged forward intent on ending the fight. Woody also moved forward, once the two were close to each other, the blonde threw a punch but the white-haired man caught his fist in the air.
Rogue closed his eyes, holding Woody's hand tightly. When he reopened them, the Flagger's back was against a wall and his hands were bound with chains to the ground.
The Archaeon began hitting the flagger continuously, in the face and body, not stopping even as the latter began to bleed and cough out blood.
The Archaeon called the move 'The Execution Ground.' He would open a domain when he had a grip on his opponent, using the energy around to create an elevated platform that resembled a sumo ring with his enemy backed against a wall and hands tied. The move granted the white-haired man the upper hand in battles and gave him the chance to 'execute' his opponent.
Rogue had only used the move a few times in his life but of all the times he had, never had his opponent survived to see the next day.
Woody felt his consciousness slowly slipping away. He closed his eyes and heard the soft laughter of his late wife, accompanied by images of his children and family. They had a wide smile on their face as he approached them.
"We've been waiting for you," his mother said.
"We are very proud of you, dear son." They pulled him into a tight embrace, the blue-eyed man felt his shoulder wet and looked to see his mother crying. He wiped away her tears before whispering. "I'm sorry."
A deep furrow appeared on Woody's forehead as he opened his eyes. He hits the Archaeon with a headbutt causing the latter to stagger and fall backwards.
The blonde man yells and pulls his hand forward, breaking the chains, Rogue could not believe it as Woody closed the distance and flung him back into the wall. The flagger began pounding the Archaeon with punches, bashing in his face.
Rogue fell to the ground and started to crawl away terrified, his execution ground was about to be used to execute him.
Woody caught up to the white-haired man and raised him with his right hand before continuing his assault with his left.
"Pl - Please ... Don't ..." Rogue pleaded. Woody sets the white-haired man on the floor before pushing him to the wall.
The flagger's hand rests by his sides as he speaks. "Everything in this world is about power; from the moment we're brought into this world, we have to be the most powerful because this world does not tolerate the weak ... Your family taught me that. For the first time in your life, you've tasted what it's like to be weak... It is really the worst isn't it?"
"Please ... S - Spare me ..." Rogue continued.
Woody moved closer to the Archaeon. "Soon everyone in your family would know what it's like to be weak." With that, the flagger continued hitting the white-haired man, letting himself go as he punished the Drumalak. "I'll destroy every single one of you!"
A hand falling on the Flagger's shoulder snapped him back to reality. He looked over his shoulder to see a girl with silver-white hair and no iris who had an indifferent expression whisper the final words he'll ever hear.
"Bury."
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