Chapter 21: Breakthrough
[Fifteen Minutes Earlier]
Saria crouched in the shadows behind a jagged mound of concrete rubble, her breathing slow and controlled. She watched the perimeter patrol through the settling dust, waiting for the precise moment Joshua had outlined in their hasty tactical plan.
A lone mercenary approached her flank, his rifle raised. Saria surged upward like a coiled spring.
She slammed the heavy edge of the prototype shield directly into the grunt's faceplate.
"This is Ricky, hostile has ambus—URGH!" The mercenary crumpled to the pavement, his radio cutting to dead static before he could finish the broadcast.
The heavy crunch of armor echoing through the silent streets instantly drew the attention of the surrounding squads.
"All units! Hostile spotted behind the suppression barricade! Open fire!" a vice-commander roared.
Saria barely had time to rip the gas mask off the fallen grunt and strap it over her face before the world erupted into deafening gunfire. Assault rifle rounds rained down on her from three different angles.
She dropped into a low, braced stance, raising the Simon Co. bulwark. The heavy caliber bullets slammed into the high-tensile alloy, sparking violently, but the shield didn't yield an inch. Saria advanced through the hail of lead with terrifying, unrelenting momentum. Closing the distance to the nearest shooter, she delivered a bone-shattering, calcium-rich knuckle punch that lifted the man entirely off his feet.
"Bullets aren't working against that shield!" the vice-commander yelled, panic bleeding into his voice. "Caster units, engage the target!"
Three elite Casters scrambled atop the debris, chanting rapidly as their Originium staves flared to life. Moments later, a barrage of superheated explosive fireballs streaked across the plaza straight toward the lone Vouivre.
KABOOM!
A massive explosion engulfed Saria's position. Thick dust and smoke plumed into the air, completely obscuring the area. Silence and tension gripped the mercenaries as they slowly closed in on the crater, weapons raised.
Suddenly, a golden-orange light pierced through the smoke.
Whoosh! "Gaaah!"
"Argh!"
Two heavily armored mercenaries were violently launched out of the smoke cloud like discarded toys, crashing into their comrades. Saria dashed out of the dust in the opposite direction, taking cover behind an overturned transport truck.
Her cream-colored sundress was scorched and torn at the hem, and soot covered her arms.
"Latina is not going to be happy about this dress," Saria muttered. She glanced down at her shield. The intricate lining of the metallic bulwark was emitting a blinding, pulsating marigold glow. The kinetic energy from the bullets and the explosions had been entirely absorbed by the prototype's core.
[Kinetic absorption has reached 100% capacity limit,] a synthetic voice chimed from the shield's wrist-mount.
Saria's lips curled into a fierce smile. She tapped the command module.
[Juggernaut Mode: Activated.]
With a battle cry, Saria pivoted and slammed the glowing face of her shield directly against the massive, overturned transport truck.
BANG!
Upon impact, the shield violently discharged its stored kinetic energy. A massive, golden shockwave erupted outward. The sheer concussive force sent the multi-ton transport truck skidding across the asphalt, plowing directly into the mercenary firing line.
Desperate to gain the upper hand, several operators dropped their rifles and charged Saria in close-quarters combat. It was a fatal mistake. Every time Saria parried a strike with the shield, a localized golden shockwave burst from the metal, sending the attackers flying through the air like ragdolls.
(I could do this all day,) Saria thought, finding deep satisfaction in completely dismantling the terrorist cell.
"What in the bloody name of Victoria's curse is happening?!" the vice-commander screamed, watching half his platoon get flattened by a woman in evening wear. "All units, do whatever it takes to pin her down! I'm calling for reinforcements!"
While the entire perimeter guard focused their fire and attention on the unstoppable Vouivre, a lone mercenary subtly slipped away from the barricade and sprinted toward the hostage plaza, entirely unnoticed in the chaos.
Watching the disguised figure vanish into the smoke, Saria silently prayed for Joshua's safety as she raised her shield to hold the line.
[Present Time - The Hostage Plaza]
"Half of you, go help the perimeter patrol! The rest of you, prepare for immediate extraction!" the Vulpo leader barked into his radio, deciding to completely scrap the interrogation and cut his losses.
As an extraction truck pulled into the plaza, a pair of injured patrol units limped back toward the center, one of them carrying an unconscious comrade over his shoulder.
Seeing his men returning in such a battered state only fueled the leader's frustration. "Tsk! Useless. Throw the injured in the back of the truck and help the others gather the high-value hostages."
As the leader turned to finalize the extraction, Muelsyses, still gasping on the ground, caught sight of something behind him. One of the grunts—the one who had just carried a body to the truck—was quietly securing a tactical strap around his knuckles, his sapphire eyes locking onto her from behind a stolen helmet visor.
Joshua was here.
Muelsyses needed to make sure the leader didn't turn around.
"Ohhh! What's the matter?" Muelsyses wheezed, forcing a mocking smirk onto her bruised face. "Did you lose your cool just because things aren't going according to your little master plan, you coward?"
The leader froze. He slowly turned his masked gaze back down to the battered Elf.
"I'm sorry," she coughed, spitting blood onto the pavement. "Did saying it out loud hurt your fragile professional pride?"
The aura around the Vulpo darkened with absolute murderous intent. "You know, Muelsyses..." he growled, reaching into his pouch and pulling out a jagged shard of raw Originium. "I've heard that Elves are incredibly sensitive to Originium exposure. It's why your kind rarely ever leaves your pristine forests."
He gripped the shard like a dagger. "Let's see just how frail an Elf truly is."
He lunged downward, plunging the jagged rock into her shoulder.
Muelsyses shrieked as the toxic mineral pierced her flesh. The infection immediately began to spread, her veins darkening as the Originium aggressively attacked her immune system. She coiled up on the dusty floor in pure, blinding agony, coughing so violently she couldn't breathe. Tears streamed down her face as her mind grew hazy with pain.
"Heh. Now who's lost their compos—"
Before the leader could finish his taunt, a heavy combat boot materialized from his blind spot, planting itself squarely into his ribs.
CRACK!
The leader was sent flying sideways, tumbling across the concrete in a tangled heap of limbs and tactical gear.
"You sick bastard!" Joshua roared, discarding his stolen helmet. He immediately dropped to his knees, grabbing Muelsyses's trembling hand. Without hesitating, he expanded his Originium Nullification Field directly into her body.
The oppressive, burning agony ravaging Mumu's veins instantly ceased. The ONF aggressively burned away the invasive Originium particles, reducing the active shard in her shoulder to harmless, dead ash.
"Why did you have to put yourself in danger like that?!" Joshua scolded gently, his voice thick with sorrow and anxiety as he examined her wound.
Recovering from the shock, Muelsyses looked up at her friend and weakly squeezed his arm. "Because... it was the only way I knew to stall long enough for you to get into position."
With her savior finally here, the crushing tension left her body. She closed her eyes, resting peacefully against the rubble as Joshua quickly bandaged the wound.
"I'm sorry for being late," Joshua whispered softly.
He stood up, turning his attention to the Vulpo leader, who was just now groaning and pushing himself off the pavement.
"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" the leader screamed, drawing his combat knife and looking around frantically for his squad.
He froze. Every single grunt that had been left in the plaza was lying completely unconscious on the ground, having been silently choked out while the leader was distracted.
"While you were busy taking my friend's rage bait, I took down the rest of your men," Joshua said coldly. He tightened the black tactical strap wrapped around his knuckles. "You mercenaries really fall apart when you aren't pointing a gun at a civilian. I suppose I should be thankful; my future father-in-law's sparring sessions are finally coming in handy."
"Don't get cocky just because you managed a cheap shot, you—wait, what?!"
The leader tried to channel his Originium Arts through his knife to cast a lethal gravity blade, but the spell simply fizzled out. Trapped within Joshua's 3.5-meter ONF radius, the terrorist was completely severed from his magic.
Before the leader could process the anomaly, Joshua surged forward. His fist shot out in a blur, burying itself deep into the mercenary's abdomen. The Vulpo doubled over, gagging for air.
"That's for the damage you caused to this city," Joshua snarled.
Coughing up saliva, the leader's eyes filled with desperate, feral rage. "You bloody horned freak!" he roared, wildly slashing his combat knife at Joshua's throat.
Joshua leaned back, narrowly dodging the lethal swipe. He lacked the refined technique of a seasoned assassin, but his reaction time and raw physical specs were incredibly high. The knife grazed his shoulder, tearing his leather jacket and leaving a shallow cut, but Joshua didn't even flinch.
Using Saria's CQC training, Joshua stepped inside the leader's guard. He grabbed the mercenary's knife-wielding arm, twisted his hips, and applied immense, leveraging pressure against the elbow joint.
SNAP.
The leader shrieked as his arm broke backward, dropping the knife.
"That's for ruining my date," Joshua hissed.
With the leader staggering backward, clutching his broken arm, a primal, unfamiliar fury suddenly boiled up from the deepest recesses of Joshua's soul. It wasn't a conscious thought; it was an ancestral instinct overriding his rational mind.
"And this..." Joshua growled, planting his pivot foot and winding up for a brutal roundhouse kick.
"...is for what you did to Muelsyses!"
In that split second, the air around Joshua seemed to drop twenty degrees. His usually vibrant sapphire and ruby eyes flashed to a terrifying, glowing violet. To the horrified leader, the space behind Joshua suddenly warped, projecting a massive, ethereal silhouette of a towering, humanoid beast with a crown of jagged antlers and a terrifying deer skull for a face.
The kick connected squarely with the side of the leader's head.
The impact sounded like a cannon firing. The leader was launched horizontally through the air with supernatural velocity. He slammed into the brick wall of a nearby storefront with such devastating force that the impact cratered the reinforced concrete, leaving a massive spiderweb of cracks as a cloud of dust plumed outward. The Vulpo slumped to the ground, instantly unconscious, his armor completely shattered.
Joshua slowly lowered his leg, blinking as the violet glow faded from his eyes before he even registered it had been there. The phantom silhouette of the Wendigo vanished into the night.
"Huh?" Joshua muttered, staring at his foot, then at the crater in the wall. He was utterly baffled by the sheer destructive force he had just unleashed. "Was my kick always this strong? Damn... I guess never skipping leg day really did pay off."
Completely oblivious to the ancient Sarkaz bloodline that had just briefly awakened within him, Joshua shook off his shock and hurried to help free the remaining hostages, waiting for Saria and the local authorities to arrive.
[Meanwhile - The Frozen Tundras of Ursus]
Thousands of miles away, deep within a harsh, blizzard-swept forest, a massive encampment of Guerrilla fighters rested under the frozen canopy.
Sitting near a roaring campfire was an absolute giant of a man. Clad in incredibly heavy, scarred power armor, he wore a fearsome, metallic deer-skull mask, a towering shield and halberd resting by his side.
Suddenly, the giant stiffened. Buldrokkas'tee—the fearsome Patriot—lifted his heavy head, his glowing red eyes piercing through the falling snow as if looking toward the distant horizon.
"What is the matter, Father?"
A young Cautus girl with snow-white hair, bundled in a thick winter coat, paused her movements and looked cautiously at the surrounding trees. "Is it another Ursus Imperial patrol group?"
Patriot slowly shook his massive, horned head. A deep, rumbling breath escaped his mask, carrying a weight of emotion that the fearsome warrior rarely displayed.
"No," his deep, synthesized voice echoed through the frozen woods. "I felt... another presence."
Yelena tilted her head in confusion. "Who are you referring to, Father?"
Patriot gripped the shaft of his halberd, his gaze remaining fixed toward the south, toward Columbia.
"My kin, Yelena. A Wendigo has awakened."