Chapter 87: Confrontational Crisis (Part 2)

Ethan: "Basically, getting those weapons is the entire reason I wanted this alliance."

… I see.

It's not at all surprising that he had an ulterior motive in mind but what is surprising is that those 'weapons' Heise spoke have might be that powerful that Ethan would go to all this trouble for them.

And as things stand right now, we might lose the weapons or an important ally in Abgere or both if we don't deal with the current situation well.

Sona: "What are those weapons anyway?"

Sona, who seemingly overheard our conversation, asks as soon as Ethan stops talking.

Ethan: "There's a lot of variety to them but they are basically things that will help us immensely against all kinds of supernatural foes."

That does sound like a thing we'd want to have.

Sona: "I see."

Even she is speechless as she hears that.

And at the same time, the situation keeps growing worse and worse as the tension continuously increases between the rest of our allies and Vermilion members.

And in addition to that, another thing that I felt was problematic was how Laurie Brown, when addressing us, mentioned how she was not interested in fighting those she doesn't need to. However, she specified 'she is not interested'.

From the looks on the other two Hellfires' faces, I don't think I can assume the same about them.

Sona: "I guess you'll have to make a choice then. Abgere or those weapons? Which will help us more?"

Grimly, herself very conflicted and irritated, she lays it out for Ethan nonetheless.

Sneha: "Ethan, what are you gonna do?"

Sneha, who hasn't been listening in on everything, asks from nearby as she keeps her eyes fixed on the Hellfires.

Ethan: "Firstly, I would like to solve my dilemma. I can't decide whether to get to the shrine or not."

Sneha: "Hah!"

She sighs, exasperatedly.

Sneha: "Is the shrine really that important?"

Ethan: "It is."

Sona: "It is."

Kais: "It is."

As she hears all the three of us say it at about the same time, she is taken aback, and a contemplative look covers her face as she says,

Sneha: "If it's really that important, I can lead you there through a different route. But, we will have to abandon Heise … and maybe Abgere too since he doesn't look like he'd be willing to back away from this fight."

…

Wait a minute!

Ethan: "I guess that's the only option. Abgere is a wild card but those weapons are a sure-fire advantage. It's probably better to choose them."

Kais: "Hey! I might be able to do something about this situation."

All their eyes turn to me as I say that.

Gabriel: "Hey, what the heck are you people rambling on about over there?"

The same yell comes from some Heise members too, and knowing that we don't have much time as we are also attracting those three Hellfires' attention, I quickly say.

Kais: "I can teleport Abgere to Kesley."

Considering what I know about this place's location, my ability to teleport a person should be good enough for me to be able to teleport one man to the outskirts of Kesley.

And, if we have him teleported there, at least he will be away from this fight, not lose his life, and we would only be abandoning Heise, whom Ethan seemed to have joined only for the 'weapons' at their shrine so not much of a loss there.

Ethan: "Well, do it then."

He says with a grin as he looks at Sneha, signalling that the plan she suggested earlier is what we will go with.

Kais: "Abgere!"

I call out to him and start running towards him with a stone in hand. Right as one of the three Hellfires grows suspicious enough to be about to attack me to stop me, I toss the stone towards him.

If this was a classic action sequence, or in Ethan's words, a cliche action sequence, that stone would probably do something pretty epic and would be really useful.

And obviously, cliches are things that most people know about. So, considering that possibility, all present shift their gazes towards that stone, a very normal and useless stone that Abgere himself catches thinking it will be something special, giving me ample time to reach him and touch him, with my adrenaline making me needlessly yell,

Kais: "Teleport!"

And there, to the complete surprise of everyone around me, except the three I was with earlier, Abgere disappears.

Laurie: "What the- where is he, you jackass?"

All of the sudden changing her tone as things become troublesome for her, Laurie yells at me with raging eyes.

Chang Lu: "Oh my, oh my, oh my, you really should answer that. Oh my, where is that guy? Where did you send him?"

With a similar but less angry and more dumbfounded expression, the child-like figure of the Hellfire known as Chang Lu too asks the same thing.

However,

Ross: "I don't mean to spoil your anger or whatever, but I kinda like this guy."

Ross Green, a shrill teenager with psychotic eyes who also happens to be a Hellfire, looks at me as he asks,

Ross: "Aren't you the guy that Mr Rosevelt was causing so much fuss over? The guy that we tried to bring into our organization for years and years and you kept refusing, right?"

Well, I am famous. Nice!

Ross: "Cutting you up and presenting your head to Mr Rosevelt might be a nice present for his retirement, right? Right? RIGHT?"

No, actually, not nice! Not at all! I take it all back, this guy IS a psycho.

Gabriel: "Well, well,"

Unexpectedly, Gabriel says with a smirk,

Gabriel: "He indeed is the person you are thinking he is, Ross. Unfortunately for you, you are not laying a scratch on him. You see, bringing him to Rosevelt without those scratches would be MY present for his retirement."

He says so, provocating Ross quite easily into wanting to fight Gabriel.

And right on cue, Sneha punches the air in front of her with a blow powerful enough to blow Embers and Flames away from the wind pressure it creates. The few of them in her range who are able to stand their ground are then taken down by Sona's all-too-familiar but unnamed rabbit-like Spirit and her Vampire-like spirit, Sagzear.

And with that path cleared, I, Ethan, Sona and Sneha all run in that direction, with Sneha easily overtaking all of us so she could lead the way.

While surprise is eminent on his face, Gabriel too follows suit and catches up to us within a couple of seconds.

The others are all left hanging in surprise as they see us running off.

I make a mental apology to those of Heise and make a wish that Trisha doesn't get harmed so whenever we reunite with Abgere, we still have the option to team up.

But, that is all I can do for Heise.

They are a sacrifice for improving our prospects of winning and while I won't pretend it's not inhumane to leave them there to be slaughtered, doing that is the best option for us.

That said though,

Chang Lu: Oh my, oh my, oh my, you people sure are in a hurry."

Laurie: "Those cowardly bitches! Who the hell do they think they are?!"

Ross: "Why are you complaining so much, Ms Laurie? This is so much more fun than simply doing our job, right? Right? RIGHT?!"

From a distance, I hear those voices and realize that they are following us too.

We are running through narrow alleyways that Sneha knows very well so we are able to keep our distance maintained for now but they are undoubtedly following us and with a great pace.

Getting those 'weapons' and leaving for Kesley without having to face them - is definitely not going to be a possibility.

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With half the city blown to bits, a tragedy that could rival the one caused 12 years ago by a certain Psychic, the authorities in Kesley and the entire Orland Union start running wild and panicking, with members who had families living in those parts of the city going amok fearing the worst.

For those who have no idea about supernatural and didn't even consider the possibility of them existing, this is definitely a very confusing and horrifying situation.

For those who have no idea about supernatural but pretend to be associated with them to rip people off, this is a golden chance to do their conning.

For those who believe in the supernatural but don't know about the actual existence of theirs, this is like an excuse to start losing their minds over.

And so, all those types of people, who collectively make the 'normal' part of the world, panic and make others panic.

As for the supernaturals, the news is yet to be spread to all of them.

But, what about the man in the middle of all this?

What about the Phoenix?

Having been hit by a powerful blow by the Ghost of someone who called himself a God, Rosevelt is in no condition to even stand, as blood oozes out from 50 different wounds in his body and his skin is burned.

He is a sight that might be nauseating for anyone who hasn't seen a lot of dead bodies or bloodshed.

One could even think that this is the end for him, that he is dying and will not be able to recover from this.

And for pretty much everyone, that would be the truth.

Even Walter Schmidt probably would not be able to recover from this, though he would probably be fast enough to teleport out of the way before the blow hit him in the first place.

However, the one thing that Rosevelt, the Phoenix, surpasses everyone in the world in is the art of not dying.

If it's near-death experiences one's talking about, Rosevelt has had over a thousand of them in his life. Many of them were so severe that no one could have returned from them alive, no one except him.

He is, after all, the one and only immortal in the history of mankind.

And so, even these burns and wounds start healing themselves slowly but steadily.

It would, however, take some time for him to be able to stand back up and realize how far he has been thrown from the Vermilion's base tower.

It would take that much time for him to realize that he is as far away from there as the shrine the third faction is headed towards is. The only difference is that they are on the opposite spectrum from him, like the two opposite poles with Kesley being the equator.

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An experiment gone wrong had produced a superhuman with Psychic abilities ingrained in his core, all of his cores. That had led to the birth of the fastest and forever the smallest Hellfire, Chang Lu.

By no means was he among the strongest Hellfires. In fact, most would call him the weakest of the current Hellfires.

Still, he is trouble for us and that trouble is fast enough to catch up to us.

Chang Lu: "Oh my, oh my, oh my, it seems like I outraced you guys."

The Hellfire with the body of a little kid looks at us with excited eyes as he steps on the floors of the shrine's entrance before any of us could.

Chang Lu: "I don't particularly have anything against you guys, it's just that I can't let you guys interfere with my job, you know?"

His voice being carefree and enthusiastic, something that really doesn't fit with the current atmosphere and especially our tense moods, he says,

Chang Lu: "So now then, where did you-"

Sona: "It's hard to believe this joke of a human being is a Hellfire"

Interrupts Sona with a disgusted expression, and before anyone says anything,

Sona: "Go on ahead, I can take care of him."

She volunteers to stall, no, to fight Chang Lu.

Chang Lu: "Oh my, oh my, oh my, you will take care of me, will you? How very cute!"

Sona: "You are the one whose being cute, you pipsqueak."

Despite her words, one can tell from her eyes that Sona is not at all taking him lightly and doing any sort of mistake in fighting him.

She knows that it would take a lot to defeat him and she seems to have enough confidence in herself to be able to do it.

Hence,

Kais: "Well, we'll leave him to you then."

I say so, see Ethan smirking, Gabriel worriedly sighing and Sneha nodding, and start running ahead along with all of them.

Sona Pectus, the Spirit-user of the third faction, has volunteered to single-handedly take on a Hellfire. And I am the one who worded the words to let her go at it alone.

If something happens to her, I am probably gonna curse myself for the rest of my life.

So, as I step foot inside the shrine at last, I pray for my sanity as much as I pray for my friend's victory.

And obviously, I pray not to God but the Devil. But, I pray regardless.

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