"Fire! Shoot it down!"
"Where is it?! NO! Tell me what are we fighting with?"
"Shut up! Just shoot!"
"ahhhhyayayaya!!!"
"Reloading! Something in the forest!"
A chorus of automatic gunfire echoed through the inky darkness, piercing the silence of the night like a crazed symphony.
A group of figures went crazy, their faces masked by the shroud of night, aimed at the dense foliage, unloading clip after clip into the wilderness. The eeriness of the scene froze the expressions on the faces of the armed each, a tableau of suspense under the ebony canopy.
Gunfire still ranging out, its harsh cadence an orchestral accompaniment to the chaotic spectacle.
Some weapons clattered to the ground, discarded in the frenzy. Others seemed to possess a mind of their own, mercilessly pumping bullets into the confusion, no longer caring for friend or foe.
In this, the long-haired man, who had previously cradled an RPG, was now brandishing a light machine gun. His eyes seems frosted over with ice, and his fingers curled around the trigger. He squeezed, and did not let go.
With a final shot, tearing through the vegetation and barreling into the heart of the forest. But then, as if the world itself held its breath, the figure they had been assaulting vanished into thin air.
The surreal feeling that overcame them was beyond description. Especially as fear curdled in their mind, their eyes were drawn upward, toward the vast, gathering storm of clouds overhead. Golden sparks of electricity pulled themselves together, threatening to rain down on their next target.
"I can't do this anymore. I was wrong! I quit!"
A desperate plea hung in the air, followed by the heavy clatter of a firearm hitting the rocky ground. Bullets scattered like shattered glass, their metallic clinking resonating throughout.
Before they could properly react to this, their attention was ensnared by a twisted body appearing in the sky above.
It swooped down at them with such force, the sheer power of its descent whipped up a gust of wind. With a thunderous "whoosh", it came crashing down.
The long-haired man, despite the shock, was quick on his feet. He got his weapon, pointing it towards the airborne silhouette. Opened his fire.
As he locked onto his target, he got a glimpse of the creature's face. Empty milky eyes stared back at him, but what struck him the most were the golden claws. They nearly blocked the fiery maw of his gun, cleaving his machine gun in half with a grace reminiscent of a skilled swords master.
"Beautiful claws," he found himself thinking, an odd appreciation swirling within him even in this deadly situation.
This was a sincere evaluation from his heart, but the momen opened a window. He caught a glimpse of a young man in the corner of his eye, clad in work trousers and a Wild Diver protective jacket. Despite the confusion, he took a gamble.
His hand found the handle of his spare pistol, strapped to his side. With a swift upward flick of his wrist, he aimed at the distant figure of the young man, and without a moment's hesitation, he fired shot after shot.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
In the moment his finger pressed down on the trigger, the figure in the sky vanished. He heard a soft squelch and felt a pang of satisfaction, knowing his gamble had paid off. With this chance, he turned to flee, discarding his gear and his weapons, all in the desperate bid to lighten his load and escape this nightmare.
But before he could even take two steps, his legs gave way. He felt as though his strength was being sucked out of him, pulled from his chest as though he was deflating.
Dazed and confused, he looked down tried to see, but one of his eyes had gone dark. The other went blanked. With his remaining, blurry vision, he could barely make out the tall figure standing alongside the young man he had aimed at before.
The creature's elongated claw held something at its tip, a dark, soft object that was still dripping with blood.
"Is that... a heart?" he mused in a bewildered whisper.
Thud.
****
"Easy, easy, It's ok..."
Zed casually called out, calling the towering form of the creature, Raiden King who loomed protectively before him.
The peculiar feeling of being saved by the one he was yet to name was an odd sensation. A strange twist of appreciation that he didn't know whether to extend to the tall girl in front of him, or the insect lurking behind that hulking brute's exterior.
But there was something extraordinary about this Raiden King, especially when Zed bore witness to a bizarre spectacle. The bullets that had pierced its body were slowly pushed out by what seemed like sentient muscles, leaving behind not a single scar as they clinked onto the ground.
"Uh...thank you, anyway,"
Zed said, a hint of uncertainty in his words as he waved the gun.
The Raiden King did not respond, instead squeezing the heart at the tip of its claw. A cold, golden glow immediately shredded the organ that had evolved over eras, reducing it to a pitiful 'splutch' sound.
Zed figured the instinct to kill was embedded within her, perhaps not unlike his own occasional urge to escape the city for relax.
He wasn't planning on changing his plan to bring her into the city, not as long as he could make her a spore. Regardless of the situation, this Raiden King was his first contracted beast.
"I will call you Rai if you don't mind? It means trust, but you can change it any time you want."
Zed asked carefully, using a tone that was more of a negotiation than an order.
"Ok, nice to meet you, Rai!"
Zed brightened when he met with no refusal. He had always thought he had a knack for naming, but the matter of names seemed to have become more casual since the disaster struck. He even recalled a time in his past life as a hunter, when an old hunter had named his dog after a random pick from a evil style website where people constantly asked for 'name, pls'.
For Zed, this method was undeniably creative, but he preferred to respect the original names of beasts.
"Ok, Rai, let's go tidy up those brutes in the building, and then we can hit the road. You can have a look in the car, wait, what's now?"
His words were cut short as he noticed Rai's golden eyelashes flickering, her gaze intensely fixed on the vehicle in front of her, as though she intended to penetrate its metallic exterior. The next second, her claw did exactly that, puncturing the metal shell and ripping off an entire panel of the reinforced car.
Upon closer inspection, Zed saw that there was someone inside, or more accurately, a someone's head.
The man possessed black hair, a thin beard, and dark circles under his eyes so pronounced that Zed would have bet that this man looked more like a ghoul than any other hybrid in wildness. He seemed frail and weakened.
"Hiya. You alright?"
The man murmured weakly.
"I hope you are not with them, right? I heard gunfire."
He paused for a few seconds, offering a placating smile before pleading.
"If that possible...Ummm...Could you put me on a body? Any should work, I've got a hell of a neck pain..."