I heard a loud, sudden gunshot. It felt as if lightning had thunder close by. The sound was loud. It almost turned me deaf. A sniper had just tried to kill me, the bullet was stopped by the barrier of blood surrounding me.
These people do not seem trained to deal with this kind of situation. Why would he ever use them? Or this was the best he could find that was willing to put themselves up against us? No, there are plenty of lunatics in this world. Was he scammed then?
I put the right index finger in my mouth and bit it off. It naturally turned into a whistle. I blew it as if my life depended on it as I drew more of my blood to create spikes over the surrounding barrier, piercing the nearest soldiers.
Don't think! You're only going to slow yourself. You're up against a veteran that has more experience in fighting than you do. If you slow down even for a second, it could turn lethal and jeopardize the rescue.
I began assimilating their blood and use it to further grow the large blades, and spun them, each in a different direction, either left or right.
I retracted all the blades to further enhance the durability of the barrier around and barely survived the next sniper shot.
What the hell just happened?
Whoever that sniper was, quite a powerful weapon armed him. Even with such an enhanced barrier at my disposal, he was able to bring me to one knee.
Something incredibly fast had just struck the barrier from above this. The power of said strike had easily destroyed the surrounding area, destroying our precious home with a single strike. I was standing in the middle of a giant crater, barely being able to hold myself.
"Tsk! I guess your powers remain as strong as ever. How bothersome!" another voice spoke.
The voice belonged to a man standing next to the Staffen family head. He had just appeared besides, with the right palm of his hand pointing at me.
Who the hell is he? Another veteran?
He was wearing a long and gray trench coat, had light colored hair, fair skinned, and was wearing a black mask with no opening left for the eyes.
If I fuck up now, it'll be over. It's all or nothing.
Meanwhile, besides him, the Staffen family head's body was slowly breaking down under the influence of the whistle I blew earlier. The maggot demon residing in his body was making maggots fall out of his body while making him bleed green blood.
Large horns appeared on his head, the bones in his body grew larger, bursting out of flesh, releasing even more of those disgusting maggots. Long wings sprouted from his back along with many strange fleshy tendrils around his chest.
I quickly gathered the blood lost during the impact and used to create a cane. My legs felt numb, I was covered in scratches, and I felt as though I were on fire; plus, glass shards were embedded in my skin.
"It's hard to believe you're the same man whose name once commanded so much respect and fear. The passing of time hasn't exactly been gentle on you." The bodyguard of Glaive Staffen mocked me.
I doubt they can unleash multiple of those shots back to back. He'll probably try to buy some time in order to charge up the next shot… no, wait? Is he even the one that's responsible for that attack?
Instead of using the blood to make a wall around me, I turned it into the shape of an armor, to use it to better control the movements of my body since my muscles were so badly damaged.
I had a way to heal myself, but if I used it, I would've had to give up on chasing after the kidnappers afterwards.
You piece of shit, I'll tear you apart, limb by limb, until you regret ever choosing to rebel against me.
"You should back away sir, you're still within range of his abilities." The man in the trench coat tried to escort away the man bleeding green, but it was all a useless effort.
The Staffen family head came rushing at me. The many maggots he had spilled from his body were all gathered around his right arm, forming some sort of club made of organic matter.
I crafted a couple of blades using the blood I had stolen from their soldiers; I raised the left hand to and extended the reach of the blade to pierce the raised right biceps of my opponent, places my right hand just below my left elbow; I spun around his body and, with a swift movement, beheaded the Staffen's family head.
I let go of the sword I held in my left hand to grab a small pendant hanging around my neck and, after crushing it in my hand; it turned into a gladius covered in bandages.
I rushed forward, holding the new sword with my left hand. With the right hand, I commanded the blood to form a spear, then I expanded the spear's length, piercing Glaive's body.
I bent the tip of the spear it towards the ground to pin him down and pulled his body closer to me to swing the sword in my left arm, only to be stopped by the many corpses lying on the ground.
Most of them had been cut in half in my first attack, some of them even had missing limbs, their bodies had already lost their heartbeat, yet they were still crawling on the ground.
Without me noticing, one of them managed to get a hold of my left ankle, then another got a hold of the one that was holding my ankle. Before they could form a long chain, I created a couple of flying swords and cut them down.
Once free, I proceeded forward, and just as I had finally reached my target, another powerful attack struck me from the left side.
I was sent flying away, my body was somehow still intact, my ribs had been cracked, but thankfully they hadn't shattered completely. As I was flying away, my head came in contact with the ground and that's where I almost died.
The impact made my body roll on the ground uncontrollably until I crashed against the ruins of my old house. Now, with my back against the rumbles, I could properly see what was going on.
The multi-layered illusion was coming off due to the residual powers left by Colorful Madness, showing more and more soldiers. The previous ones were now being controlled by a bunch of strings connected to large floating hands.
A bunch of other soldiers had rushed over the bastard whose head I had just cut off and were dosing him with high doses of ashen to free him from the effect of my whistle as he was biting them and brutally killing them.
Just a little more, once your cannon fodders are dead, your body will eventually head to your bodyguard and lastly, that goddam sniper of yours.
Behind those were a lot more soldiers, better equipped with futuristic glowing guns, some had long split barrels, some had metal suits constantly vibrating their metal plates for some odd reason, and some others were carrying flamethrowers.
When I tried to get back up, I realized I was no longer holding the Gladius. The previous blow had knocked it out of my hands and it had now returned to its previous form.
Dammit, my legs, fuck! It hurts all over.
I gritted my teeth and worked through the pain to get back up. The image of my son in tears as he was being tortured by the enemy was enough to give me the strength I needed to fight.
As I tried to muster whatever strength I had left in me, I failed to stand up. My hips had no strength and, for some odd reason, my thighs felt extremely weak.
Get up, you filthy piece of shit! Your only son is in danger! You've grown too soft, the old you would've been able to wipe the floor with their bodies, even if they aren't using demonic weapons.
Some soldiers began to step forward but were quickly stopped by the man wearing the trench coat.
"Stand down, even though he's retired and has only but a small fraction of his former power, he's still one of the most skilled warriors of his era, just keep firing your plasma weapon for now, the others just stand by for now."
This ought to buy me some time… no wait, what did he say again?
Cracks had begun to form in the armor, even though it was made of the blood I had gathered from the soldiers I had slaughtered earlier. When I tried to use the ability to make my body stand up, the armor shattered into a thousand pieces.
In one last attempt to gain resources, I shot the blood downward, piercing the ground in search of water pipes and when struck, I immediately used them to create a shield.
Immediately after the armor broke apart, the soldiers began to shoot at me.
Fuck! At this rate… I might lose. It'll be over if all I do is put up a good defense, they'll slowly drain all the fluids I've gathered and I'll become defenseless. If I plant the banner now I might win, but then I won't be able to chase after them… Fuck! Fuck! You'll pay for this Glaive!
I gathered the fluids to form a protective bubble around me thin enough to handle a couple of shots in order to have some spare fluids to use. Whatever was spared was used to create small projectiles.
In a last ditch effort I shot the few projectiles I managed to create, and unfortunately, most of them missed their target, the corpses on the ground were lifted in the air, blocking the shots. Only one out of three dozen projectiles made its way to its intended target.
In the meantime, their projectiles had already managed to pierce through the barrier of blood and got to me.
I saw some of the soldiers rapidly closing in to protect Glaive and rush him towards a safer place while the others kept firing their weapons at me.
To stop them, I used the blood from the guy I had shot. I made large spikes erupt from his body, impaling the soldiers standing nearby. I crushed their weapons and kept expanding the amount of blood under my control.
I shaped those fluids in the form of a snake and commanded it to bite and ravage the remaining soldiers.
At the same time, I was trying to repair my body from the heavy injuries sustained during the fight.
It didn't take long before the soldiers adapted to my ability, using their weapons to vaporize the blood spike, trying to impale them. They were also agile enough to dodge them while advancing forward.
I saw one taking out special ability suppressant cuffs and immediately realized their intent. So I began using the fluid counting as a shield to drag me away from the soldiers.
Damn, I can barely move my body anymore. If I keep this up I might seriously die, fuck am I really backed against a corner right now? Damn it! Damn you Glaive, you piece of shit!
It was during the heat of the battle that I noticed something shining brighter than ever in the distance, then something explosive hit my head.
Fine, I won't move out of my house, but you're not getting out of here alive.
With my right hand, I stabbed myself in my chest and ripped my heart out of my chest, unleashing a wave of demonic power that froze the environment.
The muscles quickly tore themselves apart and formed a long pole. Blood gathered around it to form the large banner. Within its area of effect, I became immortal.
"If you want to survive, you better start spilling out the truth. That way you'll get to enjoy a nice and peaceful–" a giant pillar crashed against my head.
"It's useless. I'm immortal now. You've won. I can't chase after your kidnappers, but in exchange, none of you will escape from here." I said after my head had finished regenerating itself.