As the Night Wolves were turning around to leave, Gerrard suddenly stopped.
"Hey, Kowalski. Let me have at him." He asked the leader. "My claws are itching to rend."
The Night Wolves' leader eyebrow raised in surprise. His expression changed to that of curiosity for a split second, before disappearing.
"Don't waste your energy. Miles already has his bombs set up. Now get moving, we have better things to do."
"I'll do it anyway, geezer."
Kowalski sighed. He didn't have the energy to argue with his subordinates. If an owner couldn't keep their dog restrained, the best way to keep them satisfied was to lessen the damage they would cause while simultaneously keeping them joyful enough.
"Do what you want. But if you don't return in thirty minutes, I'm kicking your ass." Kowalski turned to Miles. "Put a hold on your plan for now."
***
Back on Percivale's side…
The beam that had been redirected towards him had just pierced his shoulder. Given enough time, he would be able to recover from his wounds naturally.
He looked at the girl beside him. Aside from a few bruises, she didn't sustain any serious injuries.
"We have to go. I overheard that they placed bombs around the hotel."
"No, I'm okay. You can go ahead." She refused. "I have to make sure there are no more people alive on the upper floors. It's my duty to save as many people as possible."
"Then I'll go help you."
Percivale left no room for her to refuse. He brought the girl close and activated his magic, carrying both of them to the upper floors.
As they neared the upper floors, the girl removed herself from Percivale's grasp, asking she be let down on the lower half of the hotel, while he focused on rescuing those on the higher half.
Percivale continued on upwards, searching through the hallways of the collapsed hotel.
The hotel's condition wasn't good, to say the least. Almost every single area had caught flames due to the electrical wires in the walls overloading. Malfunctions had caused the Skylark Hotel to effectively implode as its walls crumbled onto itself.
Percivale ignored the hellish heat that had assaulted him the moment he entered and started patrolling the floors in quick successi
It was about this time that Andrea realized what he was doing.
"Perry, explain yourself. The more you spend scanning this hotel, the harder it'll be to effectively locate the Night Wolves. Why are you wasting time participating in a rescue mission?"
The spatialist continued tearing away at the concrete nevertheless, almost as if he hadn't heard Andrea.
"I just… can't leave these people behind. It wouldn't be right for those who can't save themselves to die here."
"Do what you want, but don't let your feelings compromise the mission. Dignitas might feel you're not as devoted to it as you need to be. And trust me, none of us want to have that feeling. Even me."
"What about Mister Dignitas, Navigator?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it. Just know that he's not someone you want to mess with." Andrea sighed. "Enough of that. Do what you came here to do and get back to the mission as soon as possible."
A few minutes into exploring the crumbling hotel, Percivale's ear registered the faint calls of help from another floor. Based off the direction it was coming from, the source was directly above where he currently was.
Using his magic, Percivale bolted upwards immediately, taking the elevator shafts as a shortcut.
The instant he entered the next floor, he could see two figures, both belonging to women.
Inching further a little closer, he was able to get a good look at them.
Clad in a dark suit that covered her entire body, the taller woman was working hard to push off a large concrete block that had fallen.
And underneath the rubble, just barely visible was a little girl, no more than eleven years of age.
The taller woman had with her an axe, which she was using to push the block off. Unfortunately, her strength was just shy of being enough to lift it off.
Percivale acted immediately. He ran towards the two girls, and the moment they entered his casting range, he began emitting a steady flow of mana from his hands.
The older girl instantly felt the concrete lose its weight, and she was able to lift it without much effort. Noticing the flow of mana, she turned around and nodded to Percivale.
"Thanks for the help. If you weren't here, Aliyah wouldn't have made it out." She thanked him. "What are you? A rescuer?"
"I'm going around the hotel to look for stranded survivors. Are you two okay…?"
Now that Percivale was closer, he was able to get a better look at the girl.
The one in front of him, from what he believed, had red eyes–blood red. Her left eye was covered by an eyepatch, but a faint glimmer of crimson pierced through the fabric, confirming his assumption.
A few strands of her hair was colored red, a theme she seemed to have. The rest of her locks remained black, creating a contrast of light and dark.
"We're fine. I'm Mikaela, by the way. This is my little sister, Aliyah."
Aliyah, the little girl, shrunk behind her sister instinctively, despite Percivale's aura emanating not a single hint of harmful intent.
"Don't worry about her, she does that to everyone we meet. What's your name?"
"Perci–" Percivale instantly cut himself off. "Perry."
"Perciperry? Weird name."
"No… Perry."
"Yeah, we got you. For now, we should focus on getting out of here."
Their conversation was instantly cut short by the thuds coming from the stairs. Unlike the rest of the hotel, they weren't blocked.
Thud, thud, thud. The steps were slow, almost rhythmic. They followed a certain beat, one that screamed of terror.
Percivale acted fast, finding a nearby piece of rubble to hide under. He was going to tell the siblings to do the same, but before he knew, they had disappeared.
This left him alone with whoever was now coming up the stairs. Eventually, the steps ceased, and a tall, lanky figure was standing at the other end of the hallway.
His well-defined muscles bulged from the unbuttoned uniform he was wearing. In contrast to his way of combat, his attire was quite casual.
His claws extended from his hands, each blade razor sharp.
Like a psychopath, he ran the edges of his claws across the walls, sparks crackling every second. When the pleasure struck him, he would stick his claws into the closest dead body, and proceed to lick the blood of the blades.
Percivale did his utmost best to stay perfectly still. The moment Gerrard entered in close proximity with his hiding spot, he held his breath.
It was a perfect opportunity. Gerrard turned around the next second, and Percivale took advantage of this. He instantly pushed the rubble away from him and got up.
Without wasting a beat, he fired a potent beam of Spatial energy, one that he had cast in preparation.
What he did not expect however, was Gerrard to react so easily. As if he had known that Percivale was there the whole time, he simply sidestepped the beam, before slashing at Percivale with his left hand.
The swift counter took the mage off guard, and he was just barely able to keep himself out of reach.
However, it was not the optimal situation.
"Navigator? Are you there?"
Percivale placed his hand onto his ear, thinking the earpiece must've gotten jammed. His hand instead felt nothing but skin. His eyes fell to the ground in front of him, where the earpiece was.
It has been cut by Gerrard, rendering it useless. The single bit of communication Percivale had with his club members was now gone.
"I'm going to cut you into small, small pieces, kid. You'll regret the day you crossed me." Gerrard said as he dragged his claws across his neck.