The Silver Ghost 2

Argento quickly and swiftly released the crystalline magazine from her pistol, replaced it, and placed its sights back on me. This time, hesitation flowed through her gaze as she aimed but did not pull her trigger. Quickly the woman next to her followed suit, switching from Argento's right side to her left.

The woman tensed her muscles as she gathered an explosive power on her legs. I quickly unholstered the pistol from my thigh and fired a condensed mana bolt a foot in front of her, causing her to slightly stumble back, returning her glare at me.

"I'm sorry, can't have you leaving so soon after the party just started. It's rude towards the host, you know?" I said, adding a hurt undertone to my voice.

Argento slammed her foot into the ground, raising a concrete wall between the woman and me. "Go! I'll deal with him," she ordered.

"I said it was rude," I said as I overloaded the pistol with my mana, shooting a massive bolt of mana at the wall. The cannonball raced through the 24 meters, nearly instantaneously, crashing into the wall with the force of a semi going 60 mph, turning it into gravel.

The woman, however, took the risk and powered through, managing to cross the distance before the wall collapsed. Cursing my failure, I examined the Spellgun in my hands; the barrel had begun to ionize, and the gun was steaming as the cool air traveled across it.

'It withstood it, yes! I was certainly expecting it to explode in my hands. The gun is fine, but I let the woman escape. If she catches up to Jenn, will the two of them be enough to defeat her or at least hold them off?'

'I can't go after her; if I do, Argento would be in pursuit, placing me at a disadvantage. With my leg, I would be lucky to actually even begin chasing her. I need to deal with one problem at a time, and currently, Argento is the biggest threat.'

'I'm sorry, Jenn, but you're gonna have to make due until I beat Argento.'

"Where did you hear that name?" A cold but powerful voice woke me from my daydreaming, bringing me back to the situation.

"What name?" I asked jokingly.

Argento aimed and fired before I could even react, but the bullet flew past me a foot right from my head. I simply looked to my right and then back to Argento.

"I don't like repeating myself," she said, adjusting her sights.

"Zephyra Argento. The second daughter of Alro Argento, First brother to Liam Argento, Head of the Argento Underworld Family.

You know I've said the word 'Argento' so much it's starting to sound funny." I said, unmoving as my voice bounced across the hollow metal walls.

Zephyra's eyes bulged in shock, the color draining from her face more and more at every new word I uttered. Her hands shook as she struggled to keep her aim steady.

"Who sent you? I'm guessing it was probably my aunt, wasn't it? Of course, it was! How could you know my name otherwise," she said, her resolve slowly returning her steadiness.

'Of course, she thinks I'm from the Underworld. She isn't called the ghost for shits and giggles. I can use this.'

"Ha! Sorry, sweetcheeks, but that girl is my job, and you just wander into my territory. I don't take it kindly when someone comes and takes my prey under me," I said, letting my accent go a little for extra emphasis.

"If you're after the girl's head, why not work with me? Once I get what I want from her daddy, you can have her head or her ass for all I care," she said, confidence growing within her.

"Oh, bless your heart. You really aren't the woman I thought you were. Work with you? Ha! You seem to forget, I know you. Zeph! The woman who kills anyone who sees her face or learns her name. To the point that all governments around the world identify you solely by your moniker, The Silver Ghost.

I'm guessing that after all this, you were going to kill your little troupe here, weren't you? And you want me to work for you? Ha. Ha. Ha, I laugh at you, Scarface." I monologued, my southern accent becoming more prominent.

'That did the trick.'

At my final word, Zephyra, pale skin turned bright red as the veins in her forehead bulged. With extreme fervor, she unloaded her magazine.

While we talked, I replenished my mana, started healing my leg and prepared defensive spells to get out of the standoff we had gotten in. As soon as I finished my monologue, I raised a massive layered wall of concrete three layers thick, each wall two feet thick, one foot apart. The barrage of bullets began hitting the first wall immediately, each responding differently; some exploded, others bore themselves in, others attempted to avoid the barrier. A cloud of dust and rock whirled through the hail of mana, trapping all inside it.

Not waiting to be shot, I ran to the west; a few seconds later, I reached the next crossroad and turned north towards the offices. As I ran, I continued to channel mana into my leg; unfortunately, healing magic was one of the most challenging forms of mana to comprehend, and I had not mastered it. With the mana blockers set out across the building, I was stuck with the new mana, which my body could not use properly to even a fraction of proficiency.

I limped north when suddenly a chill traveled across my spine, commanding my body to attention. I tucked and rolled sideways, stopping just before I hit the wall, as a dozen mana bolts flew through where I was just moments ago.

'How many fucking mana cartridges does she have? Even with minimal output for lethal use, it should only give her around 50 shots per cartridge. Unless she's using an extended magazine, but even then, those shots aren't at the minimal output; they hit me, I'll be lucky to not explode.'

I shook my head to regain my thoughts, stood up, jumped on top of the container to my left, and booked it to the offices. I ran across the remaining span of the container, and without slowing down, jumped across the gap. I landed, with a roll, on top of the sole container, then I sprang up, ready to continue my sprint. Unfortunately, Zephyra had different plans as she followed me up the container and managed to catch up to me in only a few strides.

"Move one muscle, and I'll blow your head off," Zephyra's cold voice sent a shiver throughout my body.

With a sigh, I put my hands up in defeat, my back still to Zephyra. She stood atop the container looking down on me across the 20-foot gap between us, holding her gun directly at my head.

She stood between two containers, one on her right, two on her left, atop the second stack container. I stood on top of a sole layer 5 containers wide by 2 containers in length, no cover in sight.

"Now, now, Zephy, mind if I call you Zephy? I'm gonna call you Zephy anyways. If you kill me now, you'll never learn my true intentions." I said, controlled and collected.

"I don't care, I'm just gonna blow your brains out," she yelled in response.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would've instead of ordering me to stop. C'mon, I know you're curious. It's no coincidence that two reapers are revolving around one single target," I said, turning to face Zephy, having to raise my head up to meet her gaze.

She reacted to my turn by almost shooting but held herself back. "What do you mean?" she asked, squinting her eyes.

"C'mon, you really think the Argento family was the only one to get the intel. And, I mean, you try to hide it, but there are many in the Underworld that are aware of your family's current status. The Argentos have a large territory, but your power is in decline; you know, the whole thing with your head." I answered, lowering my head down to shoulder level.

Zephyra's forehead wrinkled in response.

"I was sent in to get the same thing as yourself; of course, my way was a whole lot less flashy. If I got it first, you would have no leg to stand on, the title of the head goes to your aunt, and it would be only a matter of time before the Argentos fell.

That's not all, of course, but I'll keep the rest to myself, for now. After all, dealing with a Reaper is never simple." I added.

"So you're my competition. And I should keep you alive because of that?" Zephyra asked, pulling her gun.

"I wouldn't say I'm competing. I was mainly hired to keep your hands away from the artifact. Even if I don't get it myself, I still get paid. But you won't kill me just yet; you still don't know who hired me," I shrugged.

"You're telling me, somebody out there hired some nobody to take on the Argento Family? I've never even heard of you. How could they have thought you would be my match?" She asked.

"I'm just that good! Isn't the whole point of being a Reaper to be unseen and unheard. You got too big for your britches; you got sloppy and got yourself a fancy nickname. Of course, my employer wanted the best. I am going against your family after all," I mocked.

"Who hired you?" She asked, attempting to be calm, but the growl and rasp in her voice betrayed her.

"C'mon, you really think I'll just give it up, like that," I responded.

"You want a deal? Humph! How about this deal, you tell me, and I don't shoot you in the crotch," she added, the gun in her hands charging up.

"I'm a Reaper, sweetheart. Death don't scare me," I answered. I stepped forward, closing my fist.

"I didn't say I was going to kill you," she rebutted.

"Potato, Potahto. Crotch, face, don't make much of a difference," I added as I took another step.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"Oh, I already got what I wanted, time," I said, slamming my hands close.

Immediately, a heaviness appeared around us as the air gained an almost burnt metal smell. The hair on our bodies stood up as a subtle vibration rang throughout. The containers on either side of Zephyra squeaked and scratched as they inched closer together. Everything happened almost instantaneous as my hands clasped closed, the containers followed suit, slamming into each other like neodymium magnets.

Zephyra managed to react just in time, clearing her legs, jumping forward as the containers crashed into each other with such force they crumbled and twisted into each other. Like two boxes made of aluminum foil, the containers resounded through the warehouse as they flipped and turned in the air.

Zephyra landed with a crash onto the corrugated floor, the air knocked out of her chest as the shockwave accelerated her midjump. She landed just 2 feet away from me; refusing to waste the opportunity, I kicked the Spellgun that had been knocked out of her hands. I then coated my hand in a frost gauntlet with a 2-foot long icicle on the knuckles and slammed it down. Unfortunately for me, she recovered incredibly quickly, managing to roll to her left, twisting her body, and pushed herself using all four limbs, propelling herself further away.

The icicle penetrated through the steel floor, forcing me to snap it to follow Zeph. In the small distance she gained, she got to her feet and got in a defensive position; she attempted to circulate her mana, only to find none. I followed through, not giving her a chance to obtain any momentum. Strike after strike, she dodged or blocked, but due to my mana-enhanced body, even a block caused her to stagger or wince in pain.

After a few seconds, a moment of stupidity caused my foot to get stuck on the edge of one of the containers causing me to trip. Taking the opportunity, Zephyra jumped backward, kicked me in the chest using my own forward momentum to her advantage, sending me flying back. I fell on my ass, and with a backward roll, I landed on my knees facing Zephyra.

Zephyra backed up approximately 30 feet from me, panting. She growled, "HOW, can you use magic!? What magic was that?"

"I'm just that good," I answered, standing back up.

"I'm gonna kill you," she said, baring her teeth in anger.

"Try it, Zephy! You can't use magic in here," I said, then covered my right arm in fire, then added, "Oh, look at that, but I still can."

"I don't need magic," she responded by taking a pistol from her back and shooting.

I immediately rolled to my left, and sprinted to the edge, and jumped down.

"And here I thought we were having a friendly little duel, then you go and bring a gun to a fistfight," I yelled as I took cover behind a container.

She responded by shooting at me again. In response, I unholstered the pistol on my thigh. I peeked out from behind the corner and fired back, aiming at her leg. Instantly, she jumped back down to the floor and behind the container platform.

For the next few minutes, the cat and mouse chase continued as we chased each other across the warehouse. Until ultimately, a bolt struck me on the same leg as before, launching me crashing into a concrete wall. In the 5 minutes we chased each other around, we covered the entire warehouse. Finally, we ended up at the wall separating the building between the two sections.

To my right, I could see the lobby I entered from a few dozen meters away, there laid the four still plaster across the floor.

"Looks like you caught me. You must be so proud," I said, adjusting my body to lay against the wall better.

"Uh, You son of a bitch," Zephyra said, panting, holding her ribs. "For someone who just ran away, you managed to hurt me quite a bit."

"Hey now, you should know by now that I'm just that good. After all that, you got me twice, and I... Well, got you a few more times." I responded, my hand over the tourniquet.

"Heh, you just got lucky. I don't think I've ever met a worse shot. Now give me the name of your employer, Reaper," she ordered.

"You do realize that everything I've done has been on purpose, right?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I rebutted, adjusting myself against the wall.

"This!" I said, revealing the palm of my hand. On top of which, 5 beige stones were laid. The stone bounced up and began to revolve around each other in a unique pattern, a strange energy flickering and sparking between them as they danced in the air. The moment I opened my palm, a shockwave exploded from stones, passing through everything covering the entire building.

The shock wave pushed against us with incredible force while the wall supported me; Zephyra was launched across the open hall and slammed against a steel door.

I stood up and shook the dirt off my clothes, holding the now dead stones on my palm. "I needed quite some time to get everything ready. Now, all Spellguns in the vicinity are disabled," I added, dropping the stones to the floor, watching them bounce off the concrete floors.

"Now, should we..uhhh!" I said, just as I was thrown off my feet and rocketed across the air, crashing into a steel beam. The sudden impact left me speechless and completely defenseless. My head ringed as the world began to fade in and out.

"We need to get you out of here, ma'am. I wasn't able to stop the kids, and the Response Team is here," a voice said. With what consciousness I had left, I saw a woman helping Zephyra to her feet, then added, "Should I kill him?"

"No. That bastard has thousands of tricks up his sleeve. Leave him this whole operation is a failure. And it seems I have work to do back home," Zephyra responded as I lost consciousness.