Three shimmering lines cleaved behind her.
Maria crouched underneath the attack, but her body was sent flying by a kick that followed after.
Felix watched as his partner crashed against one of the concrete pillars, into an explosion of clattering rubble and gray mist.
"V.V.!"
"Worry about yourself!" A voice boomed as another slash of light cleaved through the darkness.
Felix evaded the oncoming attack. A savage strike shredded that tore through the tail-end of his black coat.
With one hand pressed on the ground, the blue-eyed agent took on an animal-like stance, with one hand hanging in the air.
He glanced up to see a hulking figure looming over him.
"To be defeated by some brat. I thought Elite Agents were supposed to be in a league of their own." The hulking man spoke condescendingly as he looked at Agent Petrichor's corpse, "Then again, you both are Elites, too, aren't you?"
"You're…" Felix stared at his opponent.
In front of him stood a large, muscular man, with pale blond hair spiked up in the center of his bald scalp, and muscles bulging beneath the leathery red jacket that was clearly stretched too tight. His arms were covered with mechanical gauntlets, each with three long curved blades that protruded from joints on the knuckles.
Custom combat claws? Could this be the guy Marie tried to warn me about? Is he… Jackal's Fang?
The brute flaunted a sharp array of claws, flashing them with pride, "You can call me Beast."
"Beast, huh?" The blue agent blinked, startled for a moment.
"That's right."
Felix let out a sigh of relief, "Bentley Wallace East, also known as Beast. A high-ranking member of the mafia. You're exactly how they described. I'm surprised someone as large as you managed to sneak up behind us."
"I see my reputation precedes me. If you're also one of those Elite Agents, then I hope you're better than that corpse over there." The brute sneered, pointing to the now deceased Agent Petrichor.
His attention shifted towards the man's gauntlets, decorated with the shredded bits of his coat.
It takes a lot to rip this coat... What are those claws made of? Military-grade alloy?
Felix scanned the brute top to down. The claws were Beast's main weapon, but both his arms and legs were wrapped in a red exoskeleton, and even a pistol hanging on his side.
It looks like his body is covered in military-grade stuff. Either way, as long as there's machine gun drone earlier, this is a fight I can win.
The agent concluded, letting out a slow exhale, "Are you… a fang?"
The criminal grinned, "What if I said yes?"
Bloodlust rippled through the air as the green light buzzed between them.
With legs like tree trunks and biceps that were large enough to rival Felix's head, Beast's muscles were aching to test their strength. Although he acted like a brute, Beast kept his movements small and cautious, wary of what the man with the glowing blue eye was capable of.
With one arm hanging in the air, Felix slowly reached for his gun, staring intently at his enemy's next move.
But the tension shattered as rocks burst towards the two of them. The dark-haired woman emerged from gray smoke, saying, "Felix."
"Huh?" The two of them glanced over to her.
"Two legs. Not four." Simple words that she instructed, commanded, and demanded of him.
Felix let out a relieved smile, getting up on his feet.
A bead of sweat slid across Beast's face as he glanced at Maria. With a grin on his face, he taunted, "You're real cute, so I'd love to spare 'ya. But ya killed one of my pack, so I gotta kill ya. Nothing pers—"
"Spare us the gimmick, you mutt." Maria interrupted him, dusting herself as she crawled out of the rubble, "Save us the trouble of having to catch you."
Beast noticed the green light shift into a bright blue.
He shifted his attention back to Felix, and found a masked figure outlined in blue light, aiming a white pistol directly at him.
The blue haze spiraled out of his body and funneled into Agony's barrel. A slow blue swirl charging up. He hoped to replicate the attack he used before — the cyclone he used to strike Moritz Wulfe.
But as he pulled the trigger, what fired was nothing but a transparent tornado that barely pushed Beast back. The swirling blue shroud quickly evaporated, dissipating into nothingness.
"The hell was that?" Beast grinned nervously.
It paled in comparison to the attack he used against the jester.
His body crackled, and blue electricity knitted his wounds together.
Beast's claws began to let out a revving sound, and his claws began to vibrate rapidly as he charged.
Once again, Felix evaded, sidestepping away from the downward swing. But Beast was faster than he expected, and a heavy boot sent him flying across the air.
Felix crashed onto the hood of one of the cars, causing the car alarm to blare. He drew out his black gun, Misery, and pointed it at the driver's seat, firing one of the hollow rounds to silence it.
It boomed, shattering the windshield and breaking a hole through the car. The kickback was powerful, causing his arm to freeze up.
He slid down the hood and got back on his feet, the pain of Beast's kick radiated across his body, adding on to the pain of his engagement with the jester.
His muscles burned, and his vision blurred around the edges. But he clenched his fist. There was no time to let the pain linger.
Agony was useless, so he holstered it and switched to using Misery.
The black gun was heavy, pulling his arm downward. He was running on fumes.
Still, he steadied his aim regardless —
BANG!
The powerful recoil made he slam back onto the car hood. He missed the large target by a small margin, leaving a shallow cut across the brute's face.
Beast snarled in response. He crouched, ready to lunge at the agent on the ground. But a loud crashing noise echoed throughout the parking lot, making him stop in his tracks. He slowly turned around, and saw a gaping hole left on the pillar behind him.
"The hell?!"
The brute's brown eyes focused intently on the circular hole blown out of the concrete pillar. A sense of fear and rage as he compiled his thoughts;
That girl, even though she broke through that pillar, she's looking at me like nothing even happened. As for this runt, with the trail of blood he left behind, he shouldn't even be able to stand, much less fight. Not to mention, that gun is way too strong to be an ordinary pistol. Just what in the hell are these two?
As his gaze shifted back to his enemy, he saw the barrel of the black gun pointing at him.
The masked agent was already back on his feet, and spoke in a muffled voice, "You keep getting distracted."
And fired off two more times.
~