Northvault (1)

Gunshots rang through the dark tunnel, the sounds of highly compressed laser bullets reverberating as flashes of green, blue, and red filled the enclosed space, with two parties battling for dominance.

Footsteps crunched upon the frosty ground, blurry reflections blitzing past the translucent wall as Spartans, each clad in Spartan armor, moved in well-tailored formation, slowly advancing towards the horde of mutants approaching them.

On one side of the battlefield were the Spartans, eleven of them. Each bore the same symbol on their left shoulder, a rune-like writing that meant zodiac. They formed a triangular formation, advancing slowly, their firearms aimed at the mutants that approached them nonstop.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield were the mutants, each resembling a praying mantis but with claws sharp enough to cut through steel. Their movements were too fast for the barrage of laser bullets to hinder them.

They approached at deadly speed, and the Spartans couldn't last much longer in their armor.

In the special squad, there were seven Majors, each commanding two squads under them. These squads made up the twelve zodiac squads.

Each squad was headed by a Captain, and this one was known as the Libra squad, led by Captain Emerald Everhart of the Everhart family.

"Captain! The mutants aren't reducing! We need to request backup!"

"We're running out of juice, Captain! We can't last much longer!"

"Our comms aren't working, Captain! We need to retreat!"

Emerald's focus remained absolute as she slayed monster after monster, each shot aimed at their heads, reaping a life with every pull of the trigger.

"Retreat? And let the monsters come for us?!" Emerald yelled back, her focus still pinpoint.

She suddenly withdrew her firearm, turning to face her soldiers.

"Listen to me, you mongrels! Never turn your back on your enemy! Especially when that enemy wants nothing but to suck your blood and eat your flesh till climax!"

The members of the Libra squad weren't surprised by their captain's crass words; that's how she spoke. Instead, they were more focused on getting out of the situation.

"What do we do, Captain?"

"We fight!" Emerald yelled. She walked to the back of the squad where a large briefcase lay. It was long and large, more like a flat coffin than a case.

Emerald bent down before the case, placed her firearm on the floor, and gently opened the briefcase.

Inside were two weapons: an axe and a large hammer. The axe was made of fine steel, unlike the technological weapons most other captains wielded. It was about three feet in height with a single extremely sharp side.

The hammer, on the other hand, wasn't like your usual battle weapon. It was like a normal hammer with claws on one side and a round head on the other, except it was five feet tall and as large as a great axe.

The axe was silver and the hammer was golden, giving off a beautiful juxtaposition of color.

Emerald picked up both weapons, the hammer in her right hand and the axe in her left. Contrary to expectations, she dual-wielded both weapons.

"Kill anyone that slips through!" she yelled, suddenly taking off running towards the approaching horde of mutants, her speed akin to a compressed bullet.

The entire squad immediately stopped shooting, with two soldiers dropping their firearms to pick up sniper rifles for better precision.

Boom!

Emerald slammed into the horde, her hands moving with shocking dexterity as she cleaved through.

These mutants were terrifying not because of their sharp claws but because of their quick strikes, and yet, none of them seemed able to touch the captain.

Emerald's right hand slammed into one of the mutants. She dodged an attack, her left hand cleaving the beast. She moved nonstop, not bothering to finish off those who survived the first attack.

Her hammer spun continuously between her fingers as she seamlessly switched between claw and round head, taking life after life.

The members of the Libra squad stared in surprise and awe. Every time they watched their captain rampage, it was like seeing her for the first time.

"I actually forgot we had her as our Captain," one of them chuckled, shaking his head.

In the special squad, codenames were assigned only when something or someone posed a great threat to human lives, whether they were on the good side or the bad side.

This was why codenames were only assigned to deadly cases, dangerous villains, and members of the special squad above the Captain rank. But there were a few exceptions.

Emerald was one such exception. Codename: Berserker. She was one of the only two captains in the special squad to take care of a named monster deemed to be at the Major rank.

She was an object of admiration in the special squad, but to her enemies, she was an absolute horror, and the mutants were beginning to realize that too.

They began to hesitate, fear filling their hearts as they started picturing Emerald as the monster. Although they couldn't see her face, they could somehow feel the dark smile on it as she cleaved, pummeled, and reaped life after life of the monsters at an astonishing rate.

Never would anyone have imagined that a single dual-wielding human could cause so much destruction. Soon, the monsters began to retreat, screeching as they ran for their lives.

Emerald stood still, watching as they ran off without giving chase. Her helmet opened, revealing a beautiful and delicate face.

Her hair was blood red and extremely wild, the ends braided and adorned with beautiful cowries that made her seem like an ancient warrior. Her gray eyes were narrowed, and contrary to what the Libra squad members expected, she had a grave expression as she went back, her Spartan armor dripping with green blood.

"Captain, what's wrong?" one of the members approached her. The rest of the members also moved towards Emerald, knowing her too well not to sense that something was wrong.

"They retreated…" Emerald replied as she walked past the group towards her case. She bent before it once again, but this time to return the weapons she had retrieved.

Shockingly, the weapons, unlike her armor, were somehow sparkling clean.

"Isn't that a good thing, Captain?" another member asked.

"It isn't. For such weak and low-intelligence monsters to retreat, it means they were ordered to," Emerald replied coldly.

She closed her case after gently placing her weapons into it, stood up, and looked back towards the dark tunnels.

"It seems like we have another named monster on our hands. One that is at least at the rank of a Captain."