A few blocks away from Serenity Hospital, a dark figure with purple eyes watched from a distance, an eerie grin on his face. He licked his lips, feeling the cracks in the abandoned building beneath his bare feet.
"The elite squad is starting to move. Hehe, it seems like Azure is all in!" The figure suddenly stepped back from the edge of the tall building, moving into the light just enough to reveal the massive bow on his back.
The bow appeared to be made of a bone-like material, and his quiver was packed full of arrows that resembled gigantic quills. Each one was at least four feet long and as thin as a needle, leaving one to wonder if they were truly arrows and how he planned to use them.
"Sigh! Well, it's time for me to get to work too! Finally, I get to have a bit of fun!" The dark figure chuckled, his childish happiness contrasting with his adult voice.
"AHH! Where should I start? Who should I support? I can't seem to decide..." The dark figure went quiet for a while, pondering the question as if his life depended on it.
If one didn't know he was planning to wreak havoc, they might have thought he was an inventor contemplating his next creation.
"Well, why don't you decide for me, Babble!"
A silent wind suddenly whistled by, revealing a figure behind the dark one. She had white hair and grey eyes, her body clad in a black bodysuit with a belt strapped to her waist, housing two daggers horizontally to her back.
Her presence was almost non-existent as she stared at the dark figure with eyes that couldn't be more bored—droopy and filled with disdain.
Just like the dark figure, she was also barefoot.
"I'm only here to guard you. Do what you like. No matter how much you try, you won't come up with something brilliant."
Babble's voice was as cold as the abyss, devoid of life and almost monotonous. If not for the fair skin of her legs, one might have thought she was a robot instead of a living being.
The dark figure didn't seem offended by her words; instead, he chuckled and then pulled out an arrow from his quiver, nocking it on the bow.
"Well, you're not wrong. I'll just fire until they're all dead, and then the Bloodhounds will come sniffing after the trail of blood."
Creeak!!!
The sound of the metallic bowstring echoed through the air, a high-pitched screech resonating in the vast space. It was a grating sound that made one's insides churn and bones rattle.
Veins bulged on his hands as the figure strained to pull the bow to its maximum. Surprisingly, he couldn't fully draw it.
But despite the strain, his hand remained as stable as a stationary object. His marksmanship was nothing short of perfect.
Twang!
The sound of the bowstring being released echoed, spreading through the area for miles.
Several blocks away, the elite squad of the Blue Legion was preparing to leave when their senses registered a strange resonance in the air. It was a low hum, a vibration that called to their souls.
For a moment, all the soldiers of the Blue Legion present were confused. But then they saw it.
Not even a few seconds after the hum, a sparkle appeared in the air.
Boom!
No one could react! It was too fast! The needle-like arrow seemed to vanish, from a sparkle to a whistle before another boom resonated through the area.
Then another, and another, and soon the whole place was ablaze, fifteen military officers dead and more injured.
Smoke and fire rose into the sky, a towering beacon alerting everyone in the vicinity of the attack.
The military men were disoriented and quickly fell into panic. They didn't know where the object had come from or what it was. Most of them immediately assumed it was a large-scale projectile attack meant to wipe them out in just a few strikes.
No one knew it was a single arrow. And in their panic, no one noticed the metal pin embedded into the wall of Serenity, damaging the steel shield and causing several cracks in the building's foundation.
Cracks that seemed to be spreading.
The chaos had just begun!
***
"What's this? They're sending only two people?"
"What choice do they have? There's no one else around, and it will take time for any reinforcements to arrive."
"Be careful, the Blue Legion is no joke."
"We have to hurry before the Bloodhounds show up."
"What if those are the Bloodhounds?"
"Fool, do you see any Spartan armor?"
"Anyway, all we have to do is stall for time. Even if they are the Bloodhounds, as long as we only aim to delay them, they won't have a choice but to wait."
The members of the Azure gang watched as two men stepped out of the hovercraft. One was dressed in complete ballistic armor from head to toe, while the other looked as if he was attending a meeting.
Despite voicing their thoughts to each other, they kept their eyes on the enemy.
Rhashan lowered his knees, ready to charge. His eyes scanned the area, checking for any openings.
"There's at least a hundred meters between us and them. There's no way to cover that distance. We need to get over there somehow; only then can we make a dent!"
Lassen chuckled, grabbing Rhashan by the collar and throwing him up. Rhashan was shocked, but he quickly positioned himself to land on the hovercraft.
Lassen lifted up the floor, covering the height of almost five feet without much trouble. He looked at Rhashan, his dark eyes peering through the holes in his mask.
"We can ram through them, but they'll give chase. So instead, we'll use the hovercraft to get there."
"This is madness," Rhashan muttered. To not only stay on top of the hovercraft, enduring the brunt of the attacks, but also to jump off when the hovercraft was moving at top speed was nothing short of crazy.
It had to be remembered that the hovercraft could move as fast as a high-speed train, and it would need to be at least more than half as fast to have a chance of bursting through the barricade of cars.
"Are you scared?" Lassen asked Sergeant Rhashan.
"Heh, I'm thrilled!"