"Is that all you've got?!" Mantis yelled as he swung his black blade at Emerald. Red light flashed, followed by clanking sounds as Emerald expertly used her case like a pillar, blocking and parrying all his attacks.
"I could say the same for you!" she shouted back, stepping aside as Mantis's blade flashed again, barely dodging the ominous red light.
She immediately rotated on her heels, sending a powerful kick towards Mantis's side. Mantis quickly positioned his sword to block the attack.
**Bam!**
Mantis's eyes widened as he grunted, his body lifting off the ground and slamming into the wall.
*Damn dog! That felt like being rammed by a high-speed train!*
"What's wrong, cockroach? Cat got your tongue?!" Emerald taunted as she lunged at Mantis, not giving him any space to breathe.
Mantis frantically rolled aside with a scowl on his face. Emerald slammed into the wall of the tunnel almost immediately, rocking the entire structure.
Mantis's hand moved in a blur, sending multiple cuts towards Emerald. She adjusted her case, using it like an extra-large rod. Her hands moved with amazing dexterity as she rolled the case about, blocking every single attack from Mantis.
Both figures moved at incredible speeds, their attacks relentless as they fought to take each other's life. To the ordinary eye, all that would be visible were flashes of gold and red—two streaks of light dancing around the dark tunnel.
The entire structure trembled beneath their might, but no matter how much they slammed into it, it barely held together.
Emerald maintained a serious expression. Although she had the edge in the fight, she didn't let her guard down. She could tell that something was holding Mantis back, but she just couldn't figure out what it was.
"Tch! Looks like you're stronger than I gave you credit for," Mantis chuckled, suddenly retreating in a blur, his movements faster than before.
Emerald's eyes narrowed. Mantis chuckled again, abruptly bringing his blade up to his neck. The eerie red light shone on it, barely illuminating the weapon.
"Do you recognize this?" he asked.
Emerald wanted to ignore him, but she was curious. She wanted to know where Mantis came from, how he managed to become a mutant and survive.
She had been in the special squad for almost fifteen years, and in all her time there, she had never felt so much terror from one person—except when she stood in front of the commander for the first time.
Her intuition screamed at her not to look. But she did. And the moment she did, her entire body trembled.
"It… it can't be…"
"Oh…" Mantis smiled, an amused glint in his eyes. At that moment, his eyes, which had been invisible in the darkness before, suddenly began to shine with a dim green light.
"Looks like you're well-informed. I honestly never expected a Captain to recognize this."
Mantis wasn't wrong; most information in the special squad, especially top-secret intel, was only accessible to Majors and above.
But Emerald was a special exception, she and two others. They were the only Captains with codenames, given access to information at the rank of Major.
Which was why she was terrified by the sight before her. She had read about it, heard about it, and each time, she felt a cold shiver run down her spine.
She and other high-ranking members of the military had thought it was just a myth, something that couldn't possibly exist. But here it was, revealing itself to her.
Emerald's entire Spartan armor rocked, her body trembling so hard it felt like her bones might shatter.
"It…can't… It can't be possible… it's a lie."
"Oh dear… but it's the truth!" Mantis replied, the glow in his eyes becoming even brighter.
Emerald stared at Mantis's eyes; they had turned an eerie green, exuding a gentle mist of the same color.
Her gaze shifted back to his neck, where a mark—a tattoo—was visible. It was a clock with no hands to point the time. At the center of this clock was a skull with a lotus where the eye sockets should have been and an actual eye on its forehead. A third eye.
A single thought resonated through Emerald's mind.
*Armageddon!*
***
"Shit! We have to get out of this tunnel! The exit is just up ahead!"
"But we can't! The Mantis is too much!"
"There seems to be no end to them. At this rate, we might all die."
"We're running out of juice! We can't use the armor for too long anymore!"
The rest of the Libra squad was in panic. The exit of the tunnel was just a few hundred meters away, but those few hundred meters might as well have been forever.
Emerald would never have thought Mantis would send his 'babies' after her squad. It seemed he was intent on killing them all.
The members of the Libra squad gritted their teeth as they fired round after round into the horde, but no matter how many they killed, it didn't seem to make a dent in the number of Mantis's minions.
"Argh!" One of the members suddenly bent down as pain wracked his body. He gritted his teeth as he yelled,
"We have to do something! The Captain is in danger, and at this rate, the Spartan armor will kill us before the Mantis gets a chance to!"
"But we can't remove it! We'll die either way!"
"Guys! I'm going to use it!!"
"What?"
"That's crazy! You'll definitely die!"
"We're going to die anyway. At least this way, I might be able to send out a signal for reinforcement."
"But the Captain said…"
"I know!"
The members of the Libra squad immediately fell silent. The atmosphere was somber as they thought of their imminent and inevitable death.
Suddenly, one of the sergeants spoke up,
"Fine, we'll clear a path!"
The rest of the squad members immediately moved, diving into the heart of the horde of Mantis's minions and creating a narrow path for the last member to go through.
They let go of their firearms, each of them using their daggers to cut through the horde. They gritted their teeth even as pain wracked their bodies, unflinching even as the claws of the Mantis cracked their armor.
"Go!!!"
*Captain… I hope you survive!*
"Release Armament…"