Killing is my Business

Mallory

I kept my eyes on Megadeth as he started smoking a cigar. Trying to stall for time, I asked him, "What's this job of yours?"

His thick Southern accent spoke again, "It's nothing too difficult. In fact, it's pretty standard. The King of Humanity is paying me a pretty penny to get this rogue Phoenix under control. Not that it matters. I was on my way here anyway. You see, an old associate of mine was recently found dead in this city. While I normally would look for whoever is responsible immediately, the King gave me quite the offer: I get a hefty sum of money for every Phoenix I kill that isn't associated with the Libra Empire." 

Behind the man, a storm of portals began to open up in the air.

"You see, Missy, killing is my business..."

Out from the portals behind him, rows and rows of guns emerged. Shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, anti-tank rifles, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, mini-guns, and any other firearm you could name.

"...and business..."

All the guns cocked into position, ready to fire.

"...Is good!"

Instantly, I set forth rows of tentacles to protect me from the bullets, 12 in total, but it was quickly too much to handle. An impossibly thick torrent of bullets shred through my defenses within moments. Mere seconds before the bullets shredded through me, I used my other summon available.

Putting my hands together, I muttered, "Star Mother," and a flying saucer emerged from the ground, picking me up and flying off to safety. The inside of the UFO was fitted with dozens of tools to aid me in this battle, including a monitor to record and keep tabs on my enemy at all times. I saw Megadeth giggle in delight from the monitor at the thought of engaging me in an aerial battle.

He spit his cigar out of his mouth and said, "You wanna play hard to get? Well, fair enough! Let's play!" He then put his hands together and shouted, "WARHEADS ON FOREHEADS!" 

Dozens of artillery cannons emerged from his portals and fired directly at me. Once one cannon fired, another cannon emerged from a separate portal to increase the assault upon me. Soon, the entire night sky was lit up with hellfire.

The shots were so numerous that my saucer was hit multiple times, sounding the alarms alerting me of the damage. I flipped a few switches to my right and clicked a few buttons to my left before pushing the control sticks forward and shouting to the ship, "Engage evasive maneuvers!" Immediately, the vessel spun around, dodging the majority of the artillery fire headed my way. Before he could counter, I directed the UFO lower, flying it between the buildings of the fake Ulyshia City in a diagonal position.

Immediately, I heard Megadeth speak again on the monitor to my peripheral vision, "That was only the start, Missy!" He put his hands together again and shouted, "HANGAR 18!"

For a few moments, I noticed nothing new. No artillery shells were firing at me, and no rockets were chasing me as I went back into the airs of Ulyshia. Suddenly, my radar picked up dozens of signals surrounding me. The AI sounded the alarms and shouted, "WARNING! WARNING! HOSTILE SIGNALS DETECTED!" The danger immediately appeared once I checked the cameras on the UFO. The sight was so absurd that I instinctively shouted, "WHAT THE FUCK!?!?" 

On the monitor, I could see dozens of military jets and helicopters surrounding me, but that wasn't all. Tanks were duct-taped to the top of every plane and stapled to the bottom of every helicopter. It would have usually been impossible, but I should have known better than to try and think a Phoenix ability would work logically. In a second, the tanks, helicopters, and jets fired off their missiles and weapons at me. The sounds of hellish *BANG BANG BANG* from the guns and *ROARS* from the missiles erupted all around me as they approached me. In the exact second before the missiles made contact with me, I pulled the levers to my side backward and forced the saucer to descend to dodge the rockets narrowly. But I wasn't out of the woods yet.

The tanks and jets started to gain on me, chasing me as they fired off more missiles that began to hit me, tearing off parts of the saucer. By then, the ship couldn't take much more damage before exploding.

I need to find a way to escape from this man. There's no way I can win this fight. I thought to myself then. It was true. In terms of fighting, I was almost entirely useless. My only abilities were teleporting, which I can only freely use when someone else is with me (without them, teleporting has a lengthy cooldown); my saucer, which is only suitable for mobility; my Ktulu arms, which are weak in comparison to most other Phoenixes, and an ability to read minds which I can only sometimes control. In terms of Yuzan's Commanders, I was undoubtedly the weakest, even more helpless than some of his foot soldiers.

My daydreaming was cut short when a flying aircraft carrier appeared before me. The sight was beyond words. A fucking giant boat was floating right in front of me with all of its guns pointing right at me. I had accepted my fate of being blown to smithereens by its artillery shells when it suddenly flipped over and hit my saucer with the back end of its tail, sending me flying back into the sky. I vomited bursts of blood as my ship was seconds away from collapsing entirely. It was by some grace of God that I didn't die from that hit, but it didn't matter, given my new predicament that had most certainly sealed my fate. Surrounding me were even more boats, jets, helicopters, and tanks duct-taped to said aircraft that were waiting to destroy me. I guess this is it. I thought.

They say your life flashes before your eyes when you're close to death, and they're right. Within a second, I saw visions of the darkness that had encapsulated all of my life: My abusive father, my absentee mother, all of the students at school beating the shit out of me, that time when a group of men attacked me, and every other horrible thing that had happened to me throughout my life. But despite all this darkness, one flash of light brightened everything: my beloved Yuzan.

I remember the day I first met Lord Yuzan as clearly as if it were yesterday, even now.

It was the dead of night in Ulyshia two years prior, and I was walking home from a study hall at my college, which had taken up my entire afternoon. I was five minutes late to reach the bus, so I was forced to walk home the whole way, and the snow was so thick that a standard car without any special wheels would be useless. Right as I was a few blocks away from my house, I was suddenly attacked by a group of masked men. They quickly subdued me, placing a gag over my mouth to muffle my screams for help, and dragged me into a dark alleyway. They then got to work at beating me within an inch of my life. They used my stomach as a punching bag, slapped my face with a tire iron, ripped open my top to expose my skin to the freezing cold, and smashed a baseball bat against my knees, breaking both my legs, to name just a few things they did to me over those hellish ten minutes. While they were brutally assaulting me, they were calling me hateful names as they attempted to kill me slowly. I had given up and accepted my horrible death when the sounds of a hellish, coarse voice stopped all of us.

"What do you think you're doing to that woman?"

Looking before us, we could see the injured form of Lord Yuzan, the Great Dark Lord, standing before us, his eyes red with murderous intent. The group leader tried to threaten Yuzan, "Stand back, bastard! Or else we'll do to you what we've been doing to this whore right here!"

"And what would that be?" Answered Yuzan.

We looked at him, stunned, for a few moments. His complete disregard for his safety was horrifying. The leader yelled back, "WE'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, THAT'S WHAT!!!"

"You call this killing? No, it's far too amateurish." His words made the leader rage, and he lept toward Yuzan, knife in hand. Suddenly, Yuzan swung his hand diagonally, and the leader hunched down on the ground, blood pouring from his slit throat that stained the snow red.

Yuzan brushed off the blood on his shoulder and said, "Killing is done quickly and efficiently," before jumping in the air and grabbing another man by the head. Yuzan scraped the thug's head into the wall at such high speeds that his head turned into a stain on the wall. Before the last man could run away, Yuzan shot forth a spear from his fist, impaling his leg. He then calmly walked up to the injured man, put his hands on his head, and twisted his head clean off his shoulders. Raising the decapitated head in the air, Yuzan bathed in the blood of his prey, smiling all the while.

After basking in the glory of his kills, Yuzan moved his attention to me. Grabbing me in a bridal position, he asked me if I was okay. I answered no, and a sympathetic look appeared on his face. I didn't even care if his look seemed a bit off or if he was faking it; he was the first light in my world. Before I could thank him for helping me, he silenced me by placing his hand on my mouth.

"Save your energy for when it's more important."

Before falling unconscious, I introduced myself to him with my last energy.

"Mallory, huh? What a beautiful name. Certainly the name of a very important person."

Snapping back to reality, I accepted my fate and was ready to die helping Lord Yuzan in what little way I could. I'm sorry I couldn't be that important person for you, Yuzan. At least I can help you one last time by preventing this man from harming you. At that thought, I pushed down on the handles and made a B-line toward Megadeth, trying to ram my saucer right into him. Megadeth seemed shocked momentarily before firing off all his bullets and rockets at me from all sides. The saucer was collapsing and coming apart all around me, but I continued moving forward, hellbent on ramming my vehicle straight into him. Before I was even halfway there, the saucer completely disintegrated around me, and I started free-falling at the man. The only thing I could do then was scream in rage. I screamed as loud as I could and brought my fist up to send it crashing into his face. But he dodged it at the last second and pushed me back into the snow, my fall broken by some mysterious force.

With my final plan of attack thwarted, I settled on using my last trump card. I put my hands together and whispered, "With this, I summon the Great Lord Ktulu."

A floating green portal emerged in front of me, and from it came the imposing figure of Lord Ktulu. The large, buff, green man resembling an octopus stared down Megadeth with murderous intent.

In an instant, Ktulu had closed the distance between him and Megadeth, sending his fist crashing into his skull with a loud *CRACK,* most likely breaking his head open. He then slammed his fist into the skeleton's stomach, making him moan out in pain. But instead of avoiding the following attacks, Megadeth tanked through them all, shouting, "NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!" Megadeth then muttered out another attack, "HE WHO LIVES BY THE SWORD!!" and a pair of two giant hands carrying swords swung violently at Ktulu, chopping off one of his arms and stabbing him in the neck. Ktulu only continued his assault as he punched him at a rapid pace, breaking bones with every hit.

Suddenly, Megadeth's fist morphed into a rocket and sent the warhead smashing into the beast's stomach, exploding in a loud *BOOM* that shook the surrounding snow. Not letting up his assault, Megadeth fired off bullets and artillery shells at the creature, sending bits of Ktulu flying everywhere. In an instant, my trump card was defeated, with only minimal difficulty on his part.

Although he was injured from Ktulu's attacks, he walked forward, twisting broken bones back into place and healing them immediately. His breathing was heavy as he limped along in my direction. I couldn't do anything at that point; I was far too injured from his attacks and from using Ktulu even to move. As I braced myself for death, I was shocked to see Megadeth stop before me and speak again.

"You've got to be the craziest son of a bitch I have seen in quite some time, or daughter, in this case. You sent a fucking alien spacecraft flying toward my face and then threw an eldritch abomination right after that. I can see potential in you, missy! So I'll spare you just this once."

He walked into the distance, fixing his wounds before yelling, "Let's fight again once you've mastered your Phoenix ability. I want to see an entertaining show from you."

I lay there in the snow for a while, trying to catch my breath. It must have been around five minutes before I mustered enough strength to move again. Limping my way back into the city, I desperately hoped that another one of the Commanders would find me and help me. Blood was pouring out from my stomach with each step I took, but I still moved forward. I must help Lord Yuzan. I must keep him from dying. These were the only thoughts running through my mind at that moment. Stumbling through the streets of the fake city, kept up only through sheer will, I tried to look for one of my allies to help me. But the first Phoenix I ran into was anything but an ally.

When I reached the cafe I was first teleported to, I was greeted by a slim man wearing a military uniform. I didn't know it then, but his name was Adin. He took one look at my injured appearance and smiled sadistically. He walked toward me and said, "Hey there," before punching me in the stomach and forcing me to the ground. I mustered up the last of my strength to try and fight back, but he was easily overpowering me.

"Look at you, girl! You are quite the catch if I do say so myself!" I was unable to resist as he punched me in the face repeatedly and bloodied me up. My face was bruised and purple when he reached in between my legs but suddenly stopped.

His face went from sinister to shocked as he grabbed at my groin. He stopped for a second before feeling me up again.

"Th-this is..."

Instead of feeling a pussy between my legs like with all his other "catches," he was greeted by a penis. Instinctively, I heard a few of his stray thoughts. The first thing he thought was confusion, then anger, and then maddening rage as I heard one thought as clear as day in his head.

It's even bigger than mine. Was the thought that was echoing through his mind.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!! YOU FUCKING LIAR!!! YOU'RE NOT A FUCKING WOMAN; YOU'RE A GOD DAMNED TR-." A cold breeze echoed through the area, sending shivers down our spines. Looking to his left, Adin's eyes shot up in fear as he was greeted by the figure of Thanatos Reinkaos standing on the other side of the block. Adin screamed out in fear before shouting, "Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-YOU'RE...YOU'RE THANATOS!!! THE THANATOS!!!" His legs were shaking like a washing machine as streams of yellow urine soaked his pants and ran down his legs. Panicking, Adin tried to explain himself to Thanatos.

"L-l-look, man. This isn't what it looks like. I can explain myself."

Thanatos was unaffected by his words. The wind carried his whispering as it pierced through the man's soul, shaking him to his very being.

"No. It is exactly what it looks like." Adin screamed out in fear as the God of Death spoke to him. "Have you ever wondered what Hell is like?" The whispering of the skeletal figure spoke again, "I can give you something just like it. Just imagine it: I kill you in an instant, but the story doesn't end there. Suddenly, you are brought back to life only to die again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again," each word from Thanatos echoed in the wind.

"...And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again...

...AND AGAIN!!!" The shout of fury from Thanatos made Adin run as fast as he could, tears streaming down his face and piss streaming down his pants as he ran for his life from the horrifying God of Death.

Thanatos ignored Adin and instead chose to carry me in the bridal position to check if I was okay. "Are you all right, dear? You've just gone through something horrible. I'm so unbelievably sorry I couldn't show up sooner." He shushed me before I could answer him, "Don't speak. Save your energy." Putting his hand on my forehead, he used his Phoenix magic to heal my wounds, making me feel good as new within seconds. All Phoenixes possess some universal abilities, such as healing and super strength, and the spell he had used was one in which the user heals another at the cost of their own health.

As soon as all of my wounds healed up, Thanatos groaned in pain as blood shot out of his mouth. He was barely able to stand as he had taken on all of my injuries. "Are you all right?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm all right. It'll take more than this to put me down. I've been through infinitely worse since birth." As soon as he said that, the baby in his hourglass began to cry out in pain. He muttered, "Oh, no!" Cradling the hourglass, he said, "There, there, my sweetheart. It's all right. Nothing bad will happen to you as long as Daddy is here."

I stayed with Thanatos as he sang a lullaby to the baby in his hourglass. However, it couldn't even be called a baby because it was a 6-month-old fetus that was being kept alive only by the hourglass it was kept in.