Flames laid waste to the earth around Kade, reducing anything that had dared to be green in the field to ash. Figures danced in the smoke, humanoid shapes that Kade could not hope to fully make out. One of them, however, was large, and he assumed it to be the hulking shadow of Muscles, for lack of knowing his actual name. His silhouette was warring with a smaller figure that looked like it was cupping and throwing bright air, which Kade assumed to be fire balls, not exactly helping to extinguish the flames that covered the burning field. Suddenly, the towering figure grabbed the smaller one by the neck, lifting it in the air. A moment later, Kade dropped to the ground as the small figure was launched out of the smoke, revealing itself to be the battered body of Pertis. As the once glorious announcer rolled lifelessly in the blackened dirt, Kade scrambled to his feet, realizing the gravity of the situation he was in.
'Shit.'
Muscles tore out of the haze, stepping into the already crisped area, where little fire remained. His eyes locked on Kade, and he grinned maliciously.
"Oh look, its you! I was hoping those five wouldnt kill ya."
Before Kade could respond, Muscles charged him with a speed Kade couldn't hope to match in this lifetime, raising an arm and bringing it down on Kade with a sickening crunch. As the world went dark, Kade felt his entire nervous system light up. Then, he was in pain no longer.
Kade came to behind the doors leading outside, moments before he opened them. Something significant felt different about him, but he couldn't pinpoint it. It was like his soul was taken apart and stitched back together with a piece missing. It was extremely odd. Shaking the thought away, he decided that he probably should not go outside this time, instead turning around and heading towards the girls half of the building.
Stepping over the corpse of food fighter #1, Kade reached the door, wrapping his fingers around it shakily. Opening it, he stepped through the threshold, hearing a bang on the door that Kade had used previously.
The girls half seemed like it used to be nicer, with less holes in the walls and paint that wasn't chipping. Kade likely would have appreciated it more if the walls weren't now more red than white, it seemed that the killers started in this room, and that less people had the chance to attempt an escape before being gunned down. Kade guessed that there were 20 or so bodies lying here in pools of their own blood. If not for the adrenaline rushing through his body, he likely would have vomited immediately, but he was trying to survive a life or death situation, so the horrible sight in front of him mattered not.
Stepping over corpses, Kade felt the building rumble, quickening his pace. While he was moving, he took stock of the area and realized the cold girl that June fought before wasn't among the bodies he had seen.
'Maybe she died outside...' The idea that she might've survived the ordeal was impossible to think about, as the only reason Kade was alive now was that he basically cheat death over and over, so it seemed impossible that anyone else could survive this unexplained attack. He stepped over another body and was only a few steps from the door when he heard a rustling from above. Before he could even look up, Kade felt something heavy drop on his back, pinning him to the floor. Immediately after, he felt wet and cold steel press agains his Adams apple.
"Are you with them?" A feminine voice rang out, surprising Kade.
"What? Am I with who?"
"The ones that killed the people. The Purifiers."
"This was The Purifiers? No im not one of them."
The Purifiers are an extremely hostile group made up of almost entirely mundane human beings that despise the Noctis, and think of it as a plague upon humanity. They hold an extremely deep rooted belief that the Revelations corrupt the mind of those who experience them. In accordance with this, they have been attacking training camps and destroying anything they deem to supportive of the Improved. They are classified as terrorists by the government, and Kade can now see why. If this was the work of the Purifiers, it is far more brutal than any sane person could even dream of. The Purifiers hold an extreme sense of rightousness and integrity, and never resort to underhanded methods or lying, which is why this attack is so absurd, they must be getting desperate. Although they're horrible people, you can always trust a Purifiers words to be true.
"I can't take any chances."
'Seriously?'
The knife slid across Kades throat, silencing his thoughts and causing him to bleed out in seconds. Blinking, Kade came to right as he heard the rustling from above.
'Wait, this isn't 15 seconds.. She jumped down on me like five seconds ago-' Kades thoughts were interrupted by the impact. Rushing, he grabbed his revolver and barely managed to position it right before squeezing the trigger.
Kade was now at the point a few seconds before the girl ambushed him.
"Wait! I am not with the Purifiers. I need you to trust me on this."
A figure dropped down from above, facing Kade with a knife held tightly in her hand. It was the cold girl with silver hair Kade had been thinking about just a few moments ago.
"I can't take any chances."
"Listen, we need to work together if we are going to survive. The muscly guy that almost fought June is one of them, and he is extremely angry. You need me."
The girl laughed at him, a horrifying sight coming from such a steel faced individual.
"I don't need you. But I've decided to believe you based off of a hunch i've got, and my hunches are never wrong, so sure, we can work together."
'She changed her mind quick.'
Then, a crash sounded as Kade heard the door on the other end of the hall fly off of its hinges, smashing to the cement floor with a screeching rattle.
Muscles was here.