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I suppose now is the time to kill Umeus Salvador once and for all boy, boomed a disembodied voice in Issei's head. It took him mere seconds to recognise the voice and respond accordingly.

“S'eh, Say'u Enr-Irō.”

Yes, Great Enr-Irō. Issei was not reluctant and with a mere snap of his finger, engendered myriad figures that began to emerge from the hospital walls and flooring. They had deformed faces and torn flesh and were very capable of tearing flesh with their bare fingers. Satisfied with his work, Issei hauled Dwayne's actual body onto his back and made haste out of the door. A sense of achievement prompted a smirk to stretch onto his face. Goodbye and good riddance, Umeus.

“Tch,”

Umeus was not having a good day. The extra weight on his shoulder and dying woman at his heels were a hindrance of their own. If he wanted to, he could have done a bit of intentional damage to Sophie in order to break free of the illusion, but in her current condition. . .things would turn out terribly.

The only option left was to demolish the epicenter of the illusion: The Hospital. Umeus has a few techniques that could instantly destroy it but he needed to be at the very top of the multistorey infrastructure in order to achieve that. Dwayne and Sophie weren't making things easy.

Sophie felt her grip on Umeus's hand perish as she was tugged in the opposite direction by someone. . .no, something that wrapped it's slimy hand around her ankle. She felt the flesh at her ankle tear open. Her vision doubled with pain as black spots swam in her sight. Sophie let loose a single scream as more of these things emerged from the stairs and walls around them.

“Dammit Issei!” Umeus shouted. His features were no longer composed, but angered. In fact, anger was where the panic hid itself. He kicked a hand at his ankle, bounced against one with his shoulder and created room for a spinning kick to another on his left. Dwayne's weight was significantly deterring his nimble movements. Tch. Umeus had no way of successfully retrieving Sophie without dealing a bit of damage to her. After biting his lower lip in frustration, Umeus closed his eyes,

“I, Umeus Salvador breathe life into the inanimate earth,” he began, opening his eyes to reveal the hazel light that shone within them, his diminutive hair lit up as well, wiggling like serpents as it rose. “Now come to our aid, conquer the adverse with no mercy and emerge victorious! Earth golem army technique!”

Cracks in the walls, stairs and ceiling began forming like disfigurements on the human body. Chunks of concrete fell from above and started amassing together, forming humanoid figures with eerie yellow coruscations for eyes. The first formed behind Sophie and immediately freed her from the grasp of the hands which had now fully emerged; disfigured humans with a mind that followed only one command: Kill.

Sophie writhed and thrashed about when she was released from the abrasive grip of the humanoid figures. She was no longer sure what to think when a monstrous figure craddled her with ease in its stone hard grasp.

“Do not resist, Sophia White, the golems are my own creations.” Umeus's cool voice spoke smugly as he watched the golems dismantle and main the humanoid figures with much ease. Something was bothering him though.

Just how many Quaii —Age group three of ENHANCE infection. Quaii are those infected at the age of thirty one to forty, or those who have had their virus stimulated around those ages. They become disfigured but remain humanoid in physique. Their physical attributes and senses are heightened drastically, allowing them to smell and hear things over vast distances. Unlike Agnii and Daeii who are ranked through their potential to cause havoc, Quaii have a fixed rank of S and can only be defeated by destroying all ten of their hearts simultaneously as, similarly to Daeii, they are able to regenerate indefinitely. Quaii have no sense of purpose and will follow only one order, Kill. No matter who or what the target is, they will kill it. Their sheer devotion to that single order is what makes them very dangerous — are there in here? Why is Issei brazenly displaying such insubordination? Tch. He simply cannot be working alone in this, there's a puppeteer behind these curtains. I must capture Issei and acquire as much information as I can about this superior of his. Whoever they are, they must be extremely formidable to pull this off.

Finally, they made it to the very top of the hospital, only to be met with an unpleasant surprise. They were not alone.

From three storeys above ground, Himawari stood firmly in place, her eyes focused and expression serious.

“Jen, could you please open the sliding door?” she politely requested. She outstretched her left arm to her side side and a golden light burned itself into her palm. The light solidified to reveal a simple bow wrought from gold plated birch with a thin, transparent string. She then brought her arn back,

“Our target is moving.” Himawari announced as she felt the Kaimatic source leave the establishment.

“Alright, I got it,” Jennifer rushed toward and slid open the large pane of glass. The sliding door had a matte dye which made it translucent. It opened out into a small balcony with wonderfully designed tiles and railings. From there, Sophie normally stood in her night dress and gown with a cup of coffee in hand to watch the business of Magnolia Crescent's main Street. A cold draft billowed the light pink lace curtains.

“Perfect,” stated the princess with concentration writ on her face.

She levelled the bow horizontally to her line of sight. As she tautly drew back the string, four fiery projectiles of intense golden energy materialized between her fingers and thumb. Each was roughly two inches shorter than the one before it. Her physical eyes closed as she opened her mind's eye and began calculating her shot according to the direction of wind, the height at which she was above ground, the speed at which her projectiles would have to travel to cover the distance of 612yd in the time needed to strike her target. Each arrow had a purpose that would lead to the outcome she wished. She was going to eliminate the source of this sinister Kaimei.

“By the power invested in me as the Princess of Haiphen's Kingdom of Solace” Himawari whispered quietly to herself, the string's elasticity limit reached “I hereby sentence you to death through execution.”

She released her hold and the projectiles whizzed out of the open sliding door. They began dipping as they progressed, the distance between each projectile widening the farther they got away from their launch point.

Issei was now at the front gate of the exquisite Daniels household. He did not have the remote to open the gate, but he didn't need it. With his eyes alight with their baby blue hue, he clenched his fist and cast an illusion over the gate, masking the muscle vibrations caused from clenching his fists as electrical signals required to open the gate. The gate slid open and Issei ran and took a right turn into the open street. Many people were roaming the street, with cars occassionally passing by while kids trotted about and other people walked in groups alike.

“Get out of my way!” Issei shouted as he did his best to maneuver between the hordes of people without bumping into them. Some complied, assuming that Issei was taking Dwayne to the nearby clinic whilst others stood firmly in the way, only to be moved by an 'invisible' force. They could not comprehend the glow of Issei's hair and eyes so their brains did not bother to register this trivial information. Issei was going to make it bac—

Crash. . .Boom! Something struck the ground and violently exploded, cratering the asphalt merely inches behind Issei. Shrapnel flew up and a heavy cloud of dust swallowed him whole. Several people began running away in confusion and panic due to what had just happened.

One.

What the hell?! he questioned as he kept running through the dust, coughing up the dust particles that had settled in his throat. This time, Issei's senses were up. He heard the approach of another projectile and immediately veered out of its path.

Crash. . .Boom! More dust and panic. Two.

“I've got you figured out,” Issei cockily declared aloud, hoping the assailant would hear him. His pace was steady due to how he tried to balance Dwayne on his shoulder without falling over.

“Your next shot's definately going for the hea—hgnng!!”

Another projectile tore through the flesh and bones of both Issei's knees from the side, leaving behind a perfect, circular wound in each leg before proceeding to detonate upon contacting the asphalt. More dust. Three.

Blood sprayed from the wound and Dwayne's additional weight only worsened the pain. Issei toppled forward, all balance lost and fell face-first onto the concrete sidewalk with a sickening crunch.

Fuck. Now I see why there were. . .so ma—

And like a moth to the flame, a final projectile struck true. It pierced cleanly through Issei's skull at an angle that would cause it to emerge from out of his left eye and into the ground where it detonated. Issei felt the burning sensation in his legs disappear. Even his senses began to diminish one by one until he could only hear the chaos around him. The last thing he heard was the distant shout of Umeus's voice and, a much closer grunt, then nothing.

Four.

The scene was indeed chaotic. Limbs, blood and flesh were scattered across the floor of the rooftop. Umeus no longer had Dwayne on his shoulder, instead, the boy was now on the floor while Umeus leveled the numbers of his golem army to that of the Quaii army with mere hand-to-hand combat. His speed was insane and his reflexes were honed to perfection. Not a drop of sweat was visible on his face nor a spec of dust on his outfit.

Sophie was still craddled in a golem's arms and pondering over what she would tell Dwayne when he woke up. Her body still ached and blood had clotted at her ankle where her flesh was torn. She felt weak, frail and on the brink of collapsing; willpower the only thing keeping her conscious.

Dwayne's lashes fluttered open to the chaos around him when a sharp pain stabbed at the back of his head. He grunted and slowly rose to his feet. His entire head throbbed with pain; courtesy of a massive headache. He caressed his temples and before anybody noticed he was conscious, the entire sky cracked and shattered.

Seconds later he was laying on his back, staring up at the blue yonder. The pain at the back of his head was now more intense. He felt something warm and sticky soaked into the back of his t-shirt. This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? He thought to himself as he pushed aside the weight pinning him down.

“Hold on. . .” he paused, his eyes comical spirals and his mouth a straight line, portraying confusion. Dwayne took a glance at the dead body beside him and instantly turned pale.

“WHAT THE FUUUUUUUCK?!”