An Absolute Order

Takeshi, I think it will be best for you to stay with Alek." I pointed towards the gunship.

"He will need someone once he had woken up later on. Use my Browning Automatic Rifle for now."

"Yes, sir!" Takeshi began to head back to the gunship.

"I will come with you, Major." Flint butted in.

"Personal vendetta?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Personally speaking, I do not mind if I have to be court martialled after all of this is over if I could blow the asshole's head clean off." He tilted his head a little.

"Regardless, you can use some company to watch your back as well."

I cannot argue….

It is only natural for me to expect that the remaining soldiers would try to attack us from behind after what had happened. I do need an extra pair of eyes to watch around the runway as we are closing in to the downed aircraft….

"Fine, just shoot them dead only if disarming them is out of the option." I sighed.

"Heh. We will see about that…." He scoffed.

Getting further away from the main building and the stuck gunship, I kept on following the grazed runway all the way up to its end with the halberd on my right hand and my handgun with the other. Countless shards and pieces of tank armors, gears, and even a couple of destroyed Hind cockpits were scattered all across the runway.

Rows of craters, with parts of dead bodies, severed arms and legs; some still holding assault rifle, fewer stuck inside the cockpits and just lying on top of turretless tank wreckages all with traces of flat burnt body markings. Those were the surroundings that could not be ignored by my eye as we kept of walking on the runway towards the crashed stealth aircraft.

Look at what you have done, Vulture! These are your men that you forced to their own demise!

Looking at Flint for a moment, he seemed to also not like what his eyes had to see. Even when he had a personal motive to kill every single North Korean soldier if he had been given the chance, I noticed he still squinted his eyes and his expression became grim several times whenever we passed the burnt and shattered ground.

"Are you sure you still want to shoot down another if we find one?" I cleared my throat.

"It… does not really matter… anymore…." He snorted before looking away.

It was not long before we arrived at the end of the runway and arrived just a few distances away from the crashed stealth aircraft. However shortly after that, we came across an enemy soldier, still lying inside one of the craters helplessly…

…because he had his lower half of the body completely disintegrated.

The piercing beam fired from the gunship autocannon apparently had the similar, if not the same destructive power as the T-shaped aircraft from five years ago….

Yet he still aimed his assault rifle towards the both of us, switching between one and another, one handed; his lower part of left arm was apparently also in the way of the beam blast and disintegrated almost instantly. I could clearly see a flat burnt hand markings on the spot where his lower left arm was supposed to be.

I only tightened my grip on the beam trident halberd and just pointed it towards his direction, in case he really was about to shoot towards us.

That was also when he said something to us….

"Is that… supposed to be… your act… of mercy?" He said while also gasping.

Act… of mercy….

"We all… are under absolute order… to not return… unless the building… and the gunship… has been… destroyed and captured… from the Lieutenant Colonel…." Seemingly having no more strength left to hold his assault rifle, he dropped it down to the ground.

"So… you can just… shoot me… in the head… if you want… to show… your mercy!"

I slowly turned to Flint who seemed to be ready to pulled out his handgun from the holster.

But somehow, I began to feel like I could sense a little hesitation from him….

"You must be… the officer… who had bad history… with the Colonel…." The soldier turned his attention to Flint.

Right after he finished, Flint quickly unholstered his handgun and aimed it towards the soldier's head right away. His arm was very tense, and his finger was ready to pull the trigger, yet he appeared to still holding himself down a little.

"Yes… this is… the consequence… for us… to choose… what we decided… to do… in the past…." He nodded slowly.

"Is that your last words?" Flint raised his eyebrows, his handgun still aimed at the dying soldier's head.

"Just… look straight… at your enemy's eyes… when you pull… that trigger!" The soldier suddenly bugged his eye out and yelled.

Flint opened fire, finally putting down the soldier for good.

Or rather, more like an act of mercy to the enemy….

"An absolute order, huh?" Flint scoffed and looked down.

That is the consequence of serving an armed forces for a country like North Korea….

Suddenly, a couple of gunshots were fired from the direction of the left side of the crashed aircraft, hitting Flint right on his chest!!

"RARRGH!" Flint dropped down hard to the ground.

I quickly fired my handgun right towards the direction of where the gunshot had been coming from; a dark body silhouette, but I apparently did not hit the target! I did not have enough time to aim properly before firing!

Instead of the silhouette dropping down, I only saw what appeared to be a handgun with a long barrel fell down to the ground pretty far from it.

"Ow! Hahaha! I suppose losing your left eye really messed up your aim with your left hand, huh?" Said a very familiar voice.

"But I have to say. Your muscle memory is indeed terrifying, Phoenix… you just shot my favorite magnum handgun away from my hand clean off!"

This voice, it is Vulture's!

He survived the crash and most importantly that piercing beam shot!

"You finally showed yourself, you piece of shit!" I gritted my teeth.