Chapter 6

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"Kouji ?!" Zane looked at him in amazement.

Kouji was the last person Zane would have expected. What was he doing here? Zane looked around when he saw several people behind Kouji.

Teikoku soldiers.

Zane and his friends started sweating as they realized the situation.

The soldiers of the Teikoku, as well as the soldiers of the Alliance, were about to fire when Kouji raised his hand and the Teikoku soldiers somewhat hesitantly took a step back. Confused, the Alliance soldiers also stopped.

"Wait," the lieutenant confirmed the unspoken order not to fire that came from Kouji.

However, the three Teikoku soldiers looked worn out. They were breathing heavily, their clothes were dirty and chafed or even torn. In addition to the three soldiers and Kouji, however, two people clearly stood out.

One of them was a tall man who seemed a little older than Zane. His muscular body looked battered, through the tank top he was wearing, the scars on his arms were clearly visible. Most noticeable, however, were the wolf ears that stuck out above his shoulder-length brown hair.

The other person was a blonde girl with deep blue eyes. She wore a pretty white dress, on the right side of which a decorative, wing-like extension spread out over her shoulder. The dress seemed less for fighting and more for representative purposes. As with the boy, one thing stood out, the pair of white wings on her back.

These features clearly distinguished them as Mytics.

But apart from their race, the two Mytics had something else in common, they both wore a collar.

"An angel and a werewolf?" Analyzed Nathan, who had immediately gone into a defensive position, ready to cast a spell.

The angel's gaze fell on Asagi. Her gaze went cold while she looked at Asagi in disgust.

"What are you doing here?" Zane asked surprised.

In contrast to his companions, Kouji seemed unharmed. His clothes were clean and tidy. A gold ring adorned a finger on his left hand. He wore a black glove on his right arm that came down to his shoulder where it appeared to be attached to his chest. Blue lines ran across the glove that gave off a faint light. The Hanguk logo, one of the Teikoku royal families, was clearly visible on the left shoulder of his jacket.

"You belong to the Teikoku?" Zane was startled.

The soldiers behind Kouji were restless and kept looking back towards the direction they had come from, while Kouji seemed to enjoy Zane's confusion.

"Exactly," he smiled. "Actually, you lower people should bow down to me. But I forgive you for today because it is our first meeting. "

Is he a nobleman? Zero wondered at Kouji's statement.

"What are you doing here, Kouji?" Asked Nathan, who molded his spell in the palm of his hand, ready to fire.

"Don't you want to deactivate your spell, Nathan? It is rude to threaten your classmate with a spell," he looked at Nathan.

"Classmate?" Zane burst out. "After everything your people did to us, you still talk about classmates? I always knew that something was wrong with you! "

"Seems like my camouflage could still be improved," Kouji touched his chin as if he were pondering what he could have done better. "But that doesn't matter now. But unfortunately, I'm not responsible for the attack of the troops, that was an order from above," he shrugged his shoulders.

Meanwhile, Zero had slowly placed himself between Kouji and the girls to protect them.

"But what do I want here?" He looked at Nathan with a disparaging look. "I don't see what that has to do with you. But for now ... ", he turned his gaze in the direction of Zero. "How about you hand them over to me." He pointed to Asagi and Carol as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Never!" Zero stood clearly in front of them and instructed them to go back with a hand gesture.

"Maybe I'll even let you live," smiled Kouji.

"You must be crazy!" Shouted Zane at Kouji.

"Or maybe I should order the battleship to bomb the hospital? What do you think of that?" Giggled Kouji.

Everyone was shocked. Did Kouji really have the authority he claimed? The soldiers looked restlessly at Lieutenant Fenon, who was trying to delay the fight to give the civilians a head start as well as to get information. Meanwhile, Zane's anger increased visibly.

"You wouldn't ... you can't!"

"You do not believe me? Well, to be honest ... ", Kouji hesitated. "I would have the whole city bombed," he grinned.

"You vile person!" Zane yelled when a shot could be heard behind him.

"To hell with you Teikoku!" Shouted one of the soldiers who stood a little further back and fired at Kouji.

Immediately, Zero turned to Asagi and Carol and grabbed their hands and ran down the aisle with them.

"Take cover!" Shouted the lieutenant and all the soldiers except the one who fired ran into the nearest side passage. Zane and Nathan followed the soldiers and both jumped back. Their magical training enabled them to do things that a normal person could not do and so both jumped several meters backward with just one jump without taking their eyes off Kouji and the soldiers.

"Report! Evacuation Force One! Teikoku troops in the bunker! Repeat, Teikoku troops in the bunker!" Reported the lieutenant hectically with his back to the wall.

Then the shots of the soldier fell silent since he was hit by a bullet from the Teikoku soldiers who also retreated into the next side aisles.

Meanwhile, Kouji stood in the middle of the corridor, unharmed. Behind him, the angel girl had stretched out her hand. Kouji immediately looked at her, startled, but his expression instantly returned to the disparaging look when he rebuked her with a click of his tongue and a hand gesture.

The girl bowed and took a step back as Kouji looked around.

"She stopped the bullets with a shield!" Nathan saw the bullets lying in front of Kouji's feet.

"Where are they?!" Kouji turned to the soldiers who were hiding behind him in the side corridors.

"The boy fled with them, sir!"

"Damn! You are useless like always!" Kouji cursed. "Get them back here!" He yelled at the werewolf standing next to him. He nodded and broke into a sprint.

"We won't let that happen!" Yelled Zane, casting a spell in his palms.

"Exactly!" Nathan fired a fountain of water at the werewolf and Kouji.

The water fountain raced down the aisle when it nearly caught the werewolf sprinting down. But just before it reached the werewolf, the werewolf jumped up. Nathan's fountain wasn't tall enough to flood the whole corridor, which the werewolf took advantage of. He landed on the ceiling, pulled himself off, and jumped against the left wall, from which he pushed himself off and dodged the fountain.

"Not so fast!" Zane hit the ground with his palms as the werewolf stormed past Zane and Nathan.

"Damn ..." Zane could only make out the outline of the werewolf that raced past him.

Meanwhile, the water fountain sped on towards Kouji, who only glanced at the angel girl, whereupon she created another shield, which ricocheted the water fountain and shot past the sides of the shield.

"That's enough ..." Kouji seemed annoyed. "Get rid of them!"

At Kouji''s orders, the Teikoku soldiers began firing from cover at Zane and the others.

"Take cover!" Shouted one of the soldiers as the hail of bullets hit them all. There were only 3 Teikoku soldiers, but they had taken the initiative. The bullets ricocheted off the walls of the corridors and splinters of the wall scattered in the air. Other bullets hit the walls behind the soldiers, who pressed their backs against the walls of the side corridors.

"Return fire!" Shouted the lieutenant, who stood with his back to the wall as bullets rushed past him.

The Teikoku soldiers concentrated their fire on the soldiers and completely ignored Nathan and Zane when the sounds of the gunshots suddenly dulled and the soldiers dared to look around the corner of the walls.

"Are you all right Lieutenant?" Zane turned to him and the other soldiers, a huge wall of ice in front of him.

"Well done! You take care of the magicians! We'll take over the soldiers!" He gave the orders quickly.

"What about the others?" Zane asked worriedly, while he still had his hands on the floor and applied magic to the wall in front of him, behind which the impact of the bullets could still be heard.

"Nothing will happen to them, they followed the other civilians," Nathan tried to stop Zane from following them. "We have to stop these ones here. He also has Asagi with him and the soldiers are there too."

"I'll send two soldiers after them", the lieutenant turned back and gave the two soldiers in his field of vision the order to follow Zero and the werewolf with a wave of his hand. The two nodded briefly and hurried after Zero.

Zane nodded his thanks when he suddenly heard a dull scream through the ice wall. The gunfire had stopped, but now he felt tremendous energy behind it.

Shards of ice flew through the corridor as a huge ball of energy broke through it. It was an Acul spell like the one Kouji had used before, only at least four times larger than the one he had fired on Zane during the exam.

Zane let go of the wall and jumped a few steps back as the ice wall lost its structure and collapsed around the hole when the spell hit a wall several meters behind them and exploded with a jarring bang.

"What was that?" Zane wondered, sweat rolling down his forehead as he turned to the explosion behind him.

"That was an Acul!"

"That big and in such a short time?"

"Maybe it was the angel," Nathan saw through the falling ice debris when he saw Kouji with a raised hand. "Was that him?!"

"What?" Zane also looked at Kouji, whose right arm was stretched forward, the lines above the black glove shone brighter than before and a broad grin could be seen on Kouji's face.

"Why are you hiding? The fun has only just started," he said confidently.

"You!"

"Zane, watch out!" Shouted Nathan as a grenade flew towards them between the shards of ice.

Nathan immediately began to form a rune, creating a water bubble in front of Zane that floated in the air and caught the grenade. Nathan made a fist as if he were about to squeeze something as the grenade exploded with a thud, sending water splashing in all directions.

"Tir!" Another magical ball from Kouji's hand rushed towards Nathan.

Nathan frantically stretched his hand in the direction of the bullet, trying to strengthen his shield when the Acul spell reached him. Nathan's shield held out, but the impact knocked him back. He flew across the corridor, his shield tearing away parts of the edge of one of the side corridors before making a circular dent in the wall behind it and disappearing. Meanwhile, Nathan kept flying, his shield disappeared and his back hit the deformed wall.

"Argh!" He let out a painful scream before falling to the floor coughing. The spell, which had been falsified by Nathan's shield, rushed into the right wall of the corridor and exploded with a violent bang that shook the hallway.

"Nathan!" Worried Zane, who could only watch the spell hit him while the soldiers closer to the explosion jumped aside in panic.

How did he do that? Zane looked at Kouji, whose black glove glowed blue again, as he hurried to Nathan.

The ice wall had now completely collapsed and the Teikoku soldiers opened fire again.

"Return fire!" Shouted the lieutenant again and the soldiers opened fire on Kouji and the Teikoku soldiers.

Like earlier, the bullets ricocheted off the shield the angel had set up around Kouji when a grenade rolled in front of Kouji's feet. An explosion ensued, enveloping the corridor in flames, but the shield stopped the explosion. As if from behind glass, Kouji looked at the wall of flames in front of him.

"They are getting on my nerves," he slowly lost his patience. "Handle it."

The angel nodded. Her face barely showed any emotion when she raised her hand and a large magical circle of white light emerged.

As the flames of the explosion disappeared, beams of light suddenly shot out of the plumes of smoke.

"Attent ..." Nathan who straightened up wanted to warn those present, but the rays of light already hit him and some of the soldiers. The beam of light pierced Nathan's weakened shield, which he had just rebuilt, and burned his left upper arm as he tried to evade it towards the left side.

Pain ran through Nathan's arm as he fell to one side. The beam of light had completely burned the upper arm of his jacket and burned Nathan's skin down to the muscle underneath. Some soldiers were hit even worse. Some of the rays had just passed through them, and others had just been disarmed. The light spell had incapacitated all but the lieutenant, Zane, and one other soldier. The lieutenant and one of the soldiers had taken the side corridors to safety from the magic that had only pierced the corners of the side corridors.

"Nathan!" Zane yelled in horror after having barely avoided the beam of light. Zane turned to Kouji and the angel. "That's enough!" Zane shouted and formed a magical circle. In the next moment, some ice stakes shot at Kouji and the angel while the soldiers fired at Zane, whose bullets ricocheted off his shield.

"Where's the enchanted ammunition?" Shouted one of the soldiers, realizing it was no use.

Like everything before, Zane's ice stakes just bounced off the angel's shield while Kouji giggled mockingly.

"I'm not done!" Zane yelled angrily.

"Zane, stop!" Nathan tried to stop him with a pained expression on his face when Zane smashed his palms against the floor. Huge ice stakes shot out of the ground as they headed toward the sign.

With a tremendous bang, the mass of ice smashed against the angel's shield, ceaselessly pressing against the shield when a small crack appeared. The angel was startled for a brief moment when Kouji was already raising his arm.

Magical energy streamed through the lines of the glove as a circle formed in front of Kouji's palm. After just a few moments, the circle lit up brightly and expanded to full size as Kouji spoke.

"Nice try ... Tir"

A huge Acul spell shot out of the circle, shattering the pillars of ice, splitting them around him as he made his way in Zane's direction. But the spell didn't stop, it continued to head towards Zane. Zane frantically created another wall of ice, but he sensed that it would not be enough and jumped to the right, in the direction of the side passage where the lieutenant had holed up.

The Acul spell broke through the ice barrier and sent huge splinters flying through the corridor before exploding with a bang in the middle of the corridor and completely hurling Zane into the corridor into which he was trying to escape. His shield protected him from the explosion, but he felt his strength weakening.

Zane was halfway on the floor, propping himself up with one hand. The soldiers who stayed behind were either lying motionless or badly injured in the corridors. Nathan was wounded and could barely move his arm in pain while he tried to sit up. Only Zane, a soldier standing further back, and the lieutenant seemed relatively unharmed as Kouji walked through the debris.

"Enough with the hiding."

"How did you do that?" Zane looked at Kouji, who was slowly walking towards him.

The fight seemed to be over and the soldiers behind Kouji slowly ventured out of cover when one of the soldiers who were still moving got hold of his rifle and fired at Kouji.

The bullets ricocheted off Kouji's own shield and hit the wall behind him. He raised his left arm and fired another Acul spell, again significantly larger than the standard. Without Zane being able to do anything, the spell raced towards the soldier and exploded. Smaller debris flew through the area, ricocheting off Kouji and Zane's shields as the smoke from the explosion settled. Where the soldier had previously leaned against the wall, there was only a field of rubble left.

Intimidated, the lieutenant and the other soldier retreated into their safe corridors while the Teikoku soldiers slowly caught up with Kouji.

"How did I do that?" Kouji looked at Zane with his arm still outstretched. "I don't know what rabble like you has got to do with it," he took his arm down and turned away. He took a few steps back when he looked at Zane, who was trying to straighten up.

"It's that glove, isn't it?" Nathan asked, leaning against the wall while he seemed to be casting a spell on his wound.

"So you figured it out? That was to be expected", Kouji looked a little annoyed at Nathan. "In that case, I can tell you, not that you could do much with this info. You're right, it's the glove, a new prototype. It strengthens my spells and I can soak it with other spells."

That's why his Acul exploded?! Zane understood.

"Without it costing me a lot of strength," explained Kouji. "But enough of that, it's time to end this. I still have a job to do", he turned to the angel and the soldiers and beckoned them towards him.

Meanwhile, Zane straightened up again, he wasn't injured, just minor scratches on his arms and legs. "You don't think I'll let you go through here, do you?"

Kouji turned to Zane, clearly annoyed. "Actually, I wanted to let you go, since I already had my revenge, but you're basically asking for it," Kouji directed his hand towards Zane.

"Zane watch out!" Shouted Nathan and the lieutenant and soldier looked at Zane in horror as they pointed their weapons at Kouji.

The circle on Kouji's palm lit Zane's sweaty face. Even if he concentrated all of his remaining strength on his shield, he would not be able to repel the spell from this distance. Would it be enough for him to avoid it? No, the spell was too close.

Is that it already? I can't get any further? Zane looked up at the runes of the spell that could activate at any moment.

"Any last words?" Grinned Kouji.

No! Zane looked at Kouji, who was suddenly startled and backed away a little.

"Careful," shouted one of the soldiers behind Kouji suddenly and the angel jumped to Kouji's side when a huge wall of fire shot out of the corridor from which the soldiers had come before.

Zero ran down the aisle with Carol and Asagi in tow while he heard the footsteps of the werewolf following them in the distance. They had no way of escaping the werewolf, Zero and Carol were just too slow for that. But all he had to do was to reach the soldiers who were supposed to be further up the aisle with the civilians. They would be safe there, Zero thought, as the sounds of battle echoed down the hallway.

They hadn't gotten far yet and so the noises could still be heard clearly, the fire of the guns, the slight hiss of the spells, and the subsequent explosions. It gnawed at him that he had to flee with Asagi and Carol and left Zane and the others behind, but what else should he have done? Zero was no help in fights, he was just a medic. Had they stayed, he and Carol would have made an easy target and only made the fight unnecessarily difficult.

Zero ran behind Carol and Asagi to protect them if the worst came to the worst. He would get them to safety and then rush back to Zane with reinforcements.

Hang on for a bit, Zero hoped, while looking down the aisle in a full sprint without looking back and squeezing the rifle handle tightly. It shouldn't be far, he thought, but by then it was already too late.

"Zero!" Asagi looked at him, who immediately understood what she meant.

"Let's go down the aisle!" Shouted Zero, who pulled a grenade from his pocket that he had previously taken out of his backpack. They kept walking when the next side corridor came into view and Zero dropped the grenade.

They rushed into the corridor when the grenade hit the ground a few times before stopping. Zero saw someone in the corner of his eye when the explosion hit. The splinters flew across the room and hit the surrounding walls. Zero looked around the corner when the explosion seemed to be over and saw the werewolf.

He stood in the corridor with his arms crossed, the fragments of the grenade had struck all around him, but he seemed unharmed.

"Damn it, hurry up!" Zero ordered the two girls while he was preparing two more grenades.

The girls ran back into the main corridor, at the same time Zero threw the two grenades in the direction of the werewolf, who was about to take his arms down again.

Immediately Zero followed the two, so as not to get into the area of ​​effect of the grenades. But in the next moment, something exploded in the corridor from which they had just escaped and not only from there but also on the opposite side.

A stab of pain went through Zero as he turned back. Through the flames of the explosions, he saw how the werewolf was stretching out his arms.

Did he catch the grenades? Zero wondered. In fact, the werewolf had actually caught the grenades and threw them with full force into the side aisles where they distributed their deadly charges.

Then again, pain shot into Zero's left side and his leg. It was harder for him to keep up with Carol and Asagi, who hadn't noticed the grenades exploding in the side corridor. With a contorted face, Zero grabbed at the spot from which the pain originated when he felt something warm run down his leg. Zero looked at his hand, he immediately realized why it was difficult for him to keep up.

The palm of his hand was smeared with red blood that seeped through his dark jacket.

Damn…

Several fragments from the grenade hit him. He knew it wasn't a major wound but if the bleeding wouldn't stop, it could become a problem. But he couldn't stop now since he had to protect Asagi and Carol. He turned left, but the werewolf was gone. No, he hadn't disappeared, he had broken into a sprint. Zero turned frantically to the right and already saw the werewolf which had almost caught up with him.

"Asagi, Carol!" Zero yelled forward where they stood a few meters away from him. "Run!"

Asagi and Carol looked back when the werewolf lashed out at full speed to hit Zero.

"Zero!" Shouted Carol and stopped when the strike hit Zero, who laboriously brought his hands in front of him to fend off the blow.

Zero flew several meters in the direction of Asagi and Carol. At the last moment, he had managed to push off in their direction and thus take some power out of the blow. It wasn't a punch with full strength, it seemed more as if Zero was bothering the werewolf, but he flew almost unchecked through the corridor and felt his bones bend through the punch.

"Come on, keep going!" He yelled at the two after he had managed to land on his feet with a lot of effort. But the next moment, Zero collapsed and landed on one knee.

"Zero!" Shouted Asagi. "You're hurt!" She noticed the blood that was running down Zero's side.

"Zero!" Shouted Carol who refused to go on.

"I'm alright!" Shouted Zero without turning to them, not taking his eyes off the werewolf as he tried to bring the rifle into firing position. Then the werewolf broke into another sprint.

"Damn!"

Zero tried to stop the werewolf and jumped into his path, which in turn tried to get past Zero on his left. He was slow, but due to the distance created between them by the blow, as well as the relatively narrow hallway, Zero managed to block his way again. But it didn't help. A shoulder thrust sent Zero a few meters further down the corridor again, which left him lying just right in front of Asagi and Carol.

"Zero!" They both rushed to him as he sat up with the aid of the rifle and screamed. "You should run away!"

"But Zero!" Carol looked at him. The blood from his wounds was smothered all over his left side and was running down the corner of his mouth. He was trembling and could barely stand on his feet while using the rifle as a prop.

"We won't leave you behind!" Objected Asagi.

"Come on!" He ordered them, while the werewolf looked at him incomprehensibly. "Go get help, I'll hold out until then."

Asagi and Carol looked at each other uncertainly. As if Zero sensed their skepticism, he spoke again. "Don't worry, I'll be there as soon as I'm done here," he turned to them with a smile.

Asagi nodded worriedly, took Carol's hand, and continued running down the hall.

Zero nodded and saw the two disappear in the distance and turned back to the werewolf, who was still looking at him in amazement.

"Why are you protecting the demon?" He suddenly asked.

"What?" Zero wondered at the question.

"You are badly wounded, you cannot win against me and still you try to protect the girl and the demon, why? I can understand it with the girl, but with the demon?"

"I protect my friends, human or Mytic, demon or not," Zero grinned at the werewolf, sure that he could buy them some time if he could further entangle him in a conversation.

"You seem to be an exception..."

"What about you? Why are you helping Kouji?" Zero tried to drag on the conversation, although it was clear to him that the werewolf was not acting of his own free will. The collar was a clear sign that he and the angel were slaves.

"I ..." he began when an explosion could be heard in the distance. His ears adjusted to the sound as he turned back to Zero. "Enough of that, I don't have time left."

Shit, thought Zero as he laboriously brought the rifle into position.

Meanwhile, Asagi and Carol continued down the aisle. Asagi pulled Carol by the hand. Both were insecure and worried about Zero.

"Shouldn't we help Zero?" Carol asked unsettled.

"He'll manage it," she pulled Carol on, thinking to come back to Zero as quickly as possible. The corridor was a straight line, so the other civilians and soldiers shouldn't be far. Once they got there, they could rush back to Zero with reinforcements. Worried, she squeezed Carol's hand tighter, who looked worriedly at her.

Then they heard an explosion and gunfire in the distance and stopped abruptly. "Zero!" Shouted Carol and released Asagi's grip.

"Carol wait!" She ran after her and took her hand again.

Carol turned to her with tears in her eyes. "We have to help him!"

"Yes but…"

"I know Zero said we should leave, but what ..." she began to hesitate. "But what if Zero doesn't make it?"

Asagi swallowed, she worried about the same outcome.

"He always protected us!" A tear ran down her cheek when Asagi suddenly hugged her.

"Asagi?" Carol looked at her puzzled.

"Let's save Zero!" Nodded Asagi.

"Ok!" Carol nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Zero was kneeling on the floor, coughing blood. The werewolf's final blow was aimed at the pit of his stomach. The werewolf walked past Zero, assuming Zero would have had enough when he grabbed the werewolf's pants to stop him.

Zero could hardly move. Some of his bones were cracked, his vision was blurred from the blood he'd lost, and the last blow had done the rest.

Still, he didn't let go of the werewolf's pants, he had to buy them time.

"You're annoying!" The werewolf looked down at Zero, who was grinning at him.

"Argh!!" groaned Zero when he felt something in the pit of his stomach again. A kick sent him flying before his back hit the hallway wall.

He doubled over in pain, he couldn't go on. He couldn't work magic like Zane or Nathan. He didn't have regenerative abilities like Mytics or like the Akuryuma would flaunt.

He was just a simple, weak human.

The werewolf began to move again when Zero tried to stop him coughing and in a barely audible voice: "You ... you stay ... here ..." and pointed the rifle at the werewolf, knowing that the bullets would have no effect on the shield.

The werewolf stopped again. Zero had hindered him too often by now and the werewolf had already lost enough time. Kouji, his master, was not kind enough to tolerate another delay and for the angel's sake, he had to hurry. Kouji's anger would inevitably affect both of them.

"You're in my way," he raised his hand in the direction of Zero, in front of which a magical circle was formed. Zero stared at the orange-brownish circle, which glowed brighter with every passing moment.

Damn... the memories shot through Zero's mind, Asagi, Carol, the kids on the outskirts, Deadra, Ben, Tyler, Nathan, Zane. He couldn't die here yet.

Move, damn it! Zero tried to straighten up with difficulty. The pain shot through his body and when he had just struggled to straighten up with the help of the wall, he heard the werewolf.

"It's over", Zero stared at the circle in horror and the werewolf behind it. It had already taken some time to form the spell, which amazed Zero, who had Asagi in mind, whose spells triggered without any delay. It almost seemed like the werewolf was waiting to see what Zero did.

The light of the circle grew more intense. The spell would work any moment but then they heard a voice in the distance.

"Zero!" Both of them turned in the direction of the corridor in which Asagi and Carol had previously disappeared. In the distance, Zero could see Asagi and Carol with his blurry eyes. Did they make it? He couldn't see anyone with them when the werewolf suddenly moved away from Zero.

In the next moment, lightning shot past Zero and towards the werewolf, who had jumped to avoid it. But the lightning seemed to follow him. The sweat ran down his forehead as lightning reached him. The collision of shield and lightning threw the werewolf back a few meters and smashed him into one of the walls of a side corridor further in the back.

"Zero! Is everything okay? "Asagi and Carol reached him.

"I told you to run away!" Zero coughed while Carol helped him up.

"We couldn't leave you behind!" Protested Carol with tears in her eyes.

"Thank you," he stroked Carol's cheek, who smiled. "You too," he looked up at Asagi, who also gave him a smile.

"Seems like you are my real opponent," the werewolf ran towards Asagi again. "Then I have to be more serious," he stomped on the floor. His muscles began to pulsate and his body began to grow.

"What is he doing?" Carol asked as the werewolf's shirt began to tear. His arms and legs grew longer, and his entire stature changed. His foot bones deformed as his shoes tore open and hair began to grow all over his body.

"He's transforming!" Coughed Zero. "Asagi, quick!"

Immediately, Asagi fired a bolt of lightning in the direction of the werewolf, trying to stop him. The latter raised his hand with a luminous compass in it. The ground began to move, the floor slabs broke, and a wall shot out of the floor sealing him off completely.

Shards of concrete flew across the room when Asagi's lightning hit the wall. The lightning tore a hole one meter deep into the wall, but it didn't break through.

"Get out of here quickly," shouted Carol, who was supporting Zero, and began to run towards Asagi when the wall was already beginning to break.

Asagi turned around startled when a two-legged wolf broke through the wall with its fist and headed straight for her. In a split second, he had passed Carol and Zero and was standing in front of Asagi. Before she could even protect herself, she felt an elbow in the pit of her stomach and flew several meters down the corridor before brushing against a side wall and lying on the floor.

Asagi held on to her right arm in pain when the werewolf was already standing behind her. "Your lightning bolts are strong, but that's about it," he raised his paws when he saw something under her shirt on her back. "You are sealed?" He asked when bullets hit the shield, but like everything else, they were deflected.

"Asagi!" Shouted Zero, who had pointed his weapon at the werewolf, the smoke of which drained from the barrel, while Carol supported him with difficulty.

"You again!" He looked annoyed at Zero. "It's time to give up," he raised his hand towards Zero and Carol as a concrete wall rolled towards them.

The spell had set the ground in motion like a wave breaking beneath and almost like water rolling towards them before the wave seemed to solidify at the top.

Zero pushed Carol aside as the wall rolled towards her. Zero fell to the side, barely avoiding it as he continued to shoot the werewolf. The werewolf's hair began to straighten up while the bullets pounded on his shield and in the next instant, he ran towards Zero.

Before Zero even hit the ground, the werewolf was standing in front of him. There were almost 20 meters between him and Asagi and yet the werewolf had overcome the distance in a split second.

"Zero!" Shouted Carol, separated from him by the created wall, when he felt the werewolf's knee in his stomach. Blood gushed from Zero's mouth as he began to levitate. The strength left his hand and he let go of the rifle.

The werewolf had catapulted Zero into the air with his knee before he grabbed him with his big paws and held him in front of him. Immediately, Zero grabbed the werewolf's paw in an attempt to break free.

"You're damn tough." He looked at Zero's bloodied body. "I didn't mean to kill you because my master has no interest in you. But you're in my way. "

"Zero!" Asagi tried to straighten up.

The rifle was still hanging on Zero's shoulder with the lanyard, he frantically tried to reach it when the werewolf raised his fist and Carol cried out with tears.

"ZERO!"

Suddenly, a black outline broke through the wall behind Carol. In a split second, a colossus like the one they had met before broke through the wall with its back first. But not voluntarily. Another huge black paw with sharp claws held the head of the colossus and smashed it through the wall the werewolf had created directly at Zero and the werewolf before landing in the opposite wall.

The werewolf instinctively let go of Zero and jumped out of the way of the colossus. Zero, on the other hand, was pushed aside by the impact of the colossus, as if a gust of wind had caught him.

There was a tremendous rumble in the corridor as the colossus and whatever was holding it landed in the wall. Dust and splinters of concrete flew through the air and dispersed.

"Zero!" Carol ran around the concrete wall towards him. "Are you okay?" She looked at him worriedly, who gave her a pained smile as he began to cough. "What was that?" Carol and Zero stared into the swirled-up dust.

Zero saw a long, black suitcase lying in front of him. Did the colossus have the suitcase on him? Zero wondered, who briefly forgot his pain.

Asagi and the werewolf, who were on the other side of the corridor, also looked into the cloud of dust. Asagi straightened upholding her shoulder.

"What is that?" Asked Zero when the dust disappeared.

Even though it was largely covered by the rubble of the collapsed wall, Zero and Carol could see it clearly. In front of them lay a colossus in the wall, like the one they had met earlier in the hospital. Sparks flew under the colossus' cloak and the light of the eyes that were supposed to be under the mask had gone off. But their attention was on the being that stood in front of the colossus.

A creature, three meters high, stood in front of the rubble field. The two-legged, humanoid creature reminded Zero a lot of Deadra, but it was a lot more massive and also had a more humanoid stature. Black skin covered the muscular body of the creature, which seemed to get even darker on the hands, legs, and at the tip of the tail. Pulsating, red veins ran on the sides of the chest to the upper arms. The lower jaw was darker than the upper jaw of the creature, which, like Deadra, had a domed skull that was considerably shorter. The light was reflected on the creature's skull as it turned to Zero.

At the same time:

Heavy mechanical footsteps could be heard from the corridor from which the roller of fire had previously shot. Zane, Nathan, and the other soldiers had slowly begun to retreat while the Teikoku troops around Kouji stared in the direction of the side passage from which the fire roller came and trembled with their weapons at their ready.

Whatever approached them caught the Teikoku's full attention. The few soldiers who could still move stood up and helped each other to move towards the exit as the footsteps grew louder and louder.

The Teikoku soldiers also began to withdraw to gain distance between themselves and whatever came their way. Kouji looked in the direction of the corridor. Sweat was running down his forehead while he looked around uncertainly at the soldiers. The footsteps became louder and louder. There seemed to be several people when someone came around the corner.

In front of them stood a man in dark clothes, a kind of hooded jacket covering his face and large parts of his torso. A red light shone from the shadow of the hood. On his hip, he carried a huge black cannon connected by large cables that was easily as big as he was. On his back was a dark-colored rifle. It was extremely long but before Zane could wonder about it, Kouji and the soldiers began their attack.

Gun and magic bullets pounded at the man, but they seemed to bounce off a shield. The man seemed unimpressed when he took the cannon with his left arm and brought it in front of him with a sweeping motion.

It was quite angular and it did not seem to have an opening. There was just a kind of notch at its top that seemed to run vertically across the tip.

The man was unimpressed by the attacks as he loosely held the cannon in front of him and pressed a button. The cannon immediately began to shine in various places. A red light began to glow in the notch as a magic circle spread out from the center of it. The man pulled a lever as the compass began to rotate and sparks shot out of the vents as magical energy made its way to the top of the cannon.

"Take cover!" Shouted the lieutenant.