Operation: Daphne (Part 2)
Chapter 8
Operation: Daphne (Part 2)
A rasp wind blows, and after setting the traps AJ jumps onto a tree. His heart slows, his eyes focus. Time moves at a crawl and the sun watches it all with heating anticipation. Battle cries can be heard, people shouting, wolves howling, the sounds are getting closer, but AJ doesn't move. He waits. The Riders can be seen at a distance, they are all flushed with angry, swinging their weapons, hungry for blood, but AJ doesn't move. He waits. The Riders are just five hundred meters away, three D-rankers in front, Thomas Crane just behind them and eleven D-rankers follow in the back. Thomas orders them to speed up, and the bandits scream in excitement. AJ doesn't move. He waits.
SLASH
THUD
THUD
SLING
THUD
Three heads of the bandits in lead are sliced off, their wolves dead too. AJ moves out of hiding. His right hand reaches across his waist, unsheathing the katana. He points it at the bandit furthest behind the group
THUD
Another bandit dead. Instead of drawing out his sword from the dead man's skull, AJ throws a pair of daggers at a Rider still in shock of the scene in front of him. The blades pierce his neck and skull. He drops to the ground, pale and lifeless. Taking out his sword, while simultaneously activating his divinity, AJ lets a mix of hundred D-rank and E-rank monsters out of his monster gate. He runs back into the shadows, hiding once again.
Thomas notices blood dripping from the wire traps in front of him and hears the growls behind him. He realizes he's been ambushed
"I'LL KILL YOU", his declaration shakes the forest. Grinding his teeth in rage he orders his men to kill the monsters
'Fifty, fight Thomas and his men, the others destroy their base. Kill the men there', AJ telepathically orders his released army
"Will he be alright?", Daphne asks Sarah worryingly
"I trust his tenacity", Sarah reassures her
With Daphne in her arms, they make their way out of the forest and back to the carriage. Using small explosions to accelerate herself forward, Sarah dashes through
"AARGH!"
"SAVE ME!!"
At the Riders base, blood paints the floor, bridges and walls, red. The flying, bird-like monsters attack from above, some spitting needles, some spewing poison, while others dash at the bandits, and carve their way through them, killing themselves and their prey in the process. The reptilic monsters use trees to climb and hide themselves, waiting to attack the panicked, unsuspecting prey. Worms borrow their way towards the bandits on the forest floor attacking from underneath, while bizarre four-legged monsters act as support. A sight filled with gore erupts as even the equipped bandits find themselves in a tight spot, overwhelmed by the number of monsters. In the chaos, AJ arrives at the center of the of the place, standing in front of the biggest house he opens a monster gate and orders his entire monster horde to fight. Telepathically commanding some of the monsters to aid in the fight against Thomas. Taking out a scroll he starts to set the entire place to fire.
Thomas sees his two of his men cowardly run past him and into the wire traps ahead.
"PIECES OF SHIT", he clicks his tongue
Instead of dropping as corpses the monsters turn to mana particles after death, confirming Thomas's suspicion of this being a coordinated attack. He hacks through the monster horde, slicing his men as well to make way towards the Riders base. Once he successfully escapes and reaches his destination, what greets him is a burning disaster of a place, he once called home. Men being chewed into as they are mercilessly slaughtered, some dragging themselves away only to have their heads bitten off.
Thomas fumes up, covering his sword in yellow hue, he arrives at the battlefield, randomly swinging.
"AARRGGHH!", he violently cleaves into tens of monsters at once, swinging at the flying beasts above, a blade of aura travels forth and cuts into ten more. In his wild rampage he notices, a masked human. The individual is short, but walks towards Thomas with confidence.
"SO, YOU'RE THE CULPRIT. I'LL CUT OFF YOUR LIMBS AND TORTURE---"
"Shut up", AJ draws out his sword with uncanny speed. Flashing right behind the surprised giant, he drops low and slashes his opponent's ankles
"Too shallow", though AJ's speed and agility were comparable to a C+ ranker, his strength was still D+ ranked.
The ugly bandit turns to face AJ, his movements slow and dull. Seeing the weakened opponent, AJ races towards him once more.
SKID!
His instincts kicked in; he jumps back. A dagger breaks his mask and it falls off his face.
'I was careless', AJ grips his sword tighter. Looking in the direction of the throw, he sees an ugly man, identical to Thomas, sitting on a griffon
'How did I not notice his arrival', AJ ponders
"WHO ARE YOU?", Walter asks, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"
"EFFEMINITE BITCH IS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE", Thomas informs his brother
'Attack the man and his griffon', AJ orders all his monsters and they immediately obey
"HE CONTROL THESE MONSTERS", Walter screams. Swinging his short sword
AJ calms himself and lets out his aura. A black pastel-coloured hue covers his sword as white lines outline it. The sword looked painted. He patiently stands with his legs wide and knees bent, the cut on his face bleeds but he smiles. Standing in front of the C-ranked three-meter-tall giant, AJ feels elated. The giant swings his mammoth-sized sword and AJ jumps on it. Running up its smooth surface, he pounces on the giant's face. Taking out a dagger, he stabs his opponent's eye. Falling down and hoping to a safe distance, AJ grins
AHHH!
"There's no way my tombstone will say that I died --- TO A PUNY BASTARD", the abnormally proportioned giant glares
Laughing, AJ paces forward, "Scums don't get tombstones"
Though exhausted, AJ pushes past his limits. Jumping and rotating in the air, he lets a blade of aura fly towards Thomas. Thomas reacts and lifts his heavy sword, but he is slow. The aura slices off his arms, and his weapon falls. Blood gushes out
"ARRRGH! HELLLP!", Thomas' face contorts into a mess as his soul escapes.
"NOOO", Walter jumps off his dying griffon. Holding his brother's corpse, he weeps
"WHY?", he asks AJ, but is only met with silence
Picking up his sword, Walter makes his way to his brother's killer, "YOU'RE DEAD"
"Nah, just disgusted", AJ's laughs. Facing Walter, AJ's knees tremble, he is too tired, and also out of mana. His eyes slowly droop, but he holds his sword tight.
'I need to last just a minute', he bites his tongue to let the pain wake him up. Charging towards the elder brother, he unsuccessfully slashes. Lifting him sword again, and slicing downwards, he misses once more. Walter steps on AJ's sword, pinning it into the ground and swings his sword blade, but AJ lets go of his weapon and dives under him. Walter turns and kicks the boy hard, knocking the air out of his lungs. AJ flies off and crashes into a burning pile of wood. It burns, but AJ quickly gets up and drags his feet towards a large tree. The angry bandit walks closer, stepping through fire with no regard. AJ climbs the tree, and takes out steel threads from his storage ring. Equipping them, he jumps from branch to branch. Walter loses sight of the little boy, but looking around, he soon notices him
"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE DEATH", Walter dashes
'300 meters, 200, 100, 50, 30, 25, 20, 18, 15, NOW', AJ pulls the strings
SLICE!
Walter is cut into blobs of meat
Raising his fist high to celebrate the victory, AJ instantly falls unconscious
'Where am I?', as AJ wakes up, he notices being covered in bandages, the carriage, and its passengers. Next to him is Sarah and in front are Sir Arnold, and Daphne. Adjusting himself, he sits upright. Pain courses through his body, but he endures it
"You're awake", Sarah hugs AJ
"Yea"
"When I got back, the entire place was burning, and you were unconscious", Sarah teared up, "I thought something happened to you"
"No, nothing like it. I just ran out of mana. Lost all the monsters I collected", he explained. Then looking at Daphne, he smiled, "glad to see you're safe"
Blushing, the little girl quickly bowed, "THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME"
AJ laughed
"I really miss my father. I hope he didn't cry too much", Daphne drops her head
"I can neither deny nor confirm that statement", AJ giggled, "but I can tell you that he was worried"
"Yeah, that's why he hired us", Sarah held Daphne's hands, "it wasn't your fault, that you were kidnapped. Some bad men wanted your daddy to work for them, so they stole the one person is loved the most, to blackmail him"
"Don't worry tho. Big brother here killed them all", AJ boasted
"Big brother there vomited during the mission. He can be a bit cowardly", Sarah smirked
"Who you calling a COWARD?", AJ retaliated
Before the verbal fight could prolong further, Arnold interrupted
"Both of you passed the test. Your strategy to prioritize Daphne's safety was commendable and just. Though there were risks and AJ was lucky that Walter didn't notice the wires he placed, the mission ended without my intervention. Running away instead of fighting back is not a cowardly move, but a smart one. AJ work on your stamina, while Sarah works on her battle experience. These are things you need to improve upon yourselves. You both made me proud", Arnold evaluated, "now let's meet Andrew again"
They arrived at the same, small church. This time around, it was crowded. People talking amongst themselves. Pushing through the crowd, they entered it. The scene in the church was horrifying. Andrew lay on the altar, jaw missing. Recognizing their client, AJ grabbed Daphne and forcibly hugged her, blocking her vision
"Don't look", he said, "it's your father"
Daphne wailed and broke down. AJ cried too. Looking back at the crime scene, he noticed the word 'Justice' written in blood
'The Sinners', he realized
The people's chatter grew louder
"The Sinners did it"
"They're powerful"
"Why kill him?"
"He was a lawyer. Heard he was representing a criminal organization"
"What an asshole"
AJ quickly left the place with a devastated girl in his arms
Back in the carriage, Sarah still cried
"A world where strength dictates the law, is an unforgiving world. Marking it with the brand of justice you believe in, the true justice, is the only way to help people puzzle together what 'good' really is", Arnold spoke
"Master, I've been passive. I believed this world was too rotten to change. I was wrong, it needs to change. Maybe I will inflict it with what I believe is right. I will do it for the people I care about. It might not be 'True Justice', and just an out pour of my emotions.", AJ said resolutely, "what it definitely will be is, PUNISHMENT. The strong laugh in the face of law. They believe themselves to be bigger than it. I will twist those cowards to my whims. Create a symbol scary enough to let evil know, their actions have dire consequences"