Birth of a Phantom part 5

All three combatants were flung back by the deafening boom.

A cacophony of crumbling followed. Debris rained down above them as the ceiling snapped. Countless shards clattered to the ground as the ebony pillars were swept clear from the epicenter.

Tremors caught the attention of the guards below, as the narrowing down their search.

The window walls around them had cracked, and let the frigid air slowly seep out with a silent whistle. The blast left a dark crater on the ground, which quickly collapsed into a large hole.

Dizzy and lightheaded, Felix opened his eyes and felt a stream of red liquid flowing out of his forehead, “…I hope this counts as minimum damage.”

But as he dragged himself up, he found himself unable to move — His right arm buried under the rubble of the ceiling. Memories flashed in his mind of a similar event. A clear memory of his own mangled leg, buried underneath a fragment of a concrete wall.

He gritted his teeth, lifting the debris with only hand. But he froze as he heard a groan a few feet away.

Rubble shifted, and Harbinger slowly got up, pain visibly radiating from his movement. His top hat was on the floor, showing his disheveled brown hair.

Felix used every ounce of strength he could muster, he pushed the rubble away and tried to slide out. But his face turned pale as it cleared out. His arm was tangled in a web of wires, a shard of glass from the metal server protruding through his flesh.

Trapped, he chipped at the glass, scraping off skin and flesh.

“...Tofu bricks.” Harbinger grumbled, staring at the hole on the ground.

Panic began to set in as he watched Harbinger pull out a magazine and reload his gun.

Felix frantically scanned for something he could use, and saw his silver pistol lying a few feet away from him. Clenching his teeth, he stretched out his arm, barely reaching the tip of his gun, while the disheveled veteran had already aimed his.

He squeezed his eyes shut, sweat sliding down his face.

Harbinger fired — with a loud bang, a splatter could be heard spilling across the ground.

“Felix…” She softly whispered.

He opened his mismatched eyes to see the silhouette standing right in front of him.

“I’m pretty sure… you’re the one supposed to be protecting me…” Maria muttered softly, a red streak running down her smirk.

“M-Marie?” Felix voice cracked as her blood dripped over his face.

As she fell on top of him, his ears began to ring.

Harbinger walked towards the two of themm “Don’t mind me… I’m just here for the drive.”

He reached into Maria’s back pocket, taking the drive and placing it in his vest pocket.

Marie?

Marie, come on… get up.

You’re okay right? Stop kidding around… Come on…

You’re a little too heavy, you know that?

Get up… come on, get up. Marie…

The brown-haired man looked at the two with a curious expression, “Felix? Felix Aster? So then… you must be the ‘Black Cat of Ruin.’”

As he walked towards them, Felix started panting as his body began to boil from within, “I’ll kill you!”

“You’ve been doing a terrible job at that.” Harbinger scoffed, cocking his gun.

Felix snapped the broken glass protruding from his arm, using it to sever the wires, slicing through his black sleeve, causing his arm to gash open.

With a vicious growl, his skin and flesh pulled apart just to strike rogue agent’s face.

Harbinger’s knees buckled as he staggered back. His gun clattered to the floor as a red stream leaked out of his nose. But he looked back at the young agent and grinned, “Was that supposed to be a punch? Please.”

He struck back, Felix blocked, but the force caused him to bounce off the ground. His mismatched eyes went blank.

“This will probably shock you, but you can’t hit hard when your muscles are all torn up.” Harbinger picked up his gun and aimed at the young man facing down on the ground, “Please forgive me, but… no loose ends.”

But as he was about to pull the trigger, Felix leapt forward and kicked his hand upward, shooting at the ceiling.

“The hell?!” Taken by surprise, Harbinger clutched his throbbing arm and looked back at him.

Felix dropped to all fours, with a limb dangling on the ground. A stance reminiscent of a wounded animal. He shot the disheveled man a feral glare, with pupils like slits. A predator focusing on its prey, taking one small step at a time.

“Is this why you’re called the Black Cat?” Harbinger shouted, his voice cracking with rage, “What have they done to you, boy?”

The blue-eyed agent began bouncing around the room, jumping above one server to another. Left, right, left right, leaving cracks on the black glass, closing the space between them.

A vein popped in the older man’s forehead as he grew increasingly frustrated.

But when the blue-eyed agent finally lunged at him, Harbinger aimed exactly where he would be, expecting it, and immediately fired straight at his forehead. A blue light flashed from Felix’s face, shooting his body towards one of the black pillars.

As he crashed, the rogue lowered his gun and let out an exhausted exhale. He ran his fingers across his disheveled hair, trying to compose himself.

Blood poured from Felix’s face as he let out a weak cough.

“Still alive? Time to put this kitty down for good.” The brown-haired man pointed his gun one more time. As he pulled the trigger, however, there was nothing but a hollow click. He had run out of bullets.

Felix’s eyes opened slowly, his pupils no longer slit. Disoriented, his vision struggled to focus. A chunk of his cheek had been blown off, leaving a gaping bleeding hole across his face.

“Tsk…” Harbinger grabbed the blue-eyed agent by the throat and slammed him against the wall, “Enhanced humans? This is supposed to be the pinnacle of human strength? The next link in the evolutionary chain? Don’t make me laugh!”

His grip tightened as he leaned in, “What makes enhanced humans so special? What makes you so special?!”

Struck with a barrage of spiteful questions, Felix looked at him, revealing the bullet that he caught in his bloodstained teeth.

“Huh?!”

“Ptoo!” He spat it at the old man’s face.

“You little!” An enraged grin formed on the man’s face as the shard of lead struck his cheek, staining it with blood and saliva.

Harbinger squeezed his neck tighter, asking, “Please, explain to me how a novice like you, the poster boy of Project ASTRAEA, reached rank thirteen?!” Frustration bleeding through the ex-agent’s words.

With only one useful arm, the blue-eyed agent grappled against the hand choking him. His face swelled as he struggled.

My rank? What does that have to do with any of this?

Sweat dripped over his mismatched eyes, turning Harbinger’s manic face into nothing but a vague blur. With barely any air getting into his lungs and brain, Felix’s consciousness was quickly fading into black.

But before he could pass out, he faintly heard Harbinger’s ridicule, “Who would have thought… that Nocturne’s little brother… would turn out to be so pathetic?!”

As he uttered those words, small, ephemeral blue sparks erupted from the wound on Felix’s other arm.

He’s right, I’ve done nothing to earn my place… It’s probably nothing more than the whims and expectations of the higher-ups.

But who cares?

I’m not gonna die a second time. Not on my first mission. Not when I haven’t achieved anything.

I still have to honor my promise. I will rise higher—

And you’re in the way!

A sharp slash whipped against the wind, followed by a dull wet thud on the ground.

Felix’s wounded arm was raised towards the ceiling, set ablaze with a fiery blue haze pouring out from his wound.

Harbinger’s eyes slowly descended to where the sound came from, where he saw something familiar wrapped in a sleeve, leaking with blood.

He shifted his gaze back forward, his face went pale.

“Huh?” Realizing his arm had been cleanly taken off, his voice cracked, and he clutched his dismember arm.

Freed from his grip, Felix took a deep gasp, finally able to breathe. Each breath burning his lungs. While he supported himself against the wall, his body became enveloped by thousands of flickering sparks.

Harbinger bit his lip, his expression contorted into rage. Attacking with his remaining arm — but the black-haired agent took the hit without moving.

In front of him was the same agent, with the same raven-black hair, and the same blistering wound on his face. But now, he was bathed in a blue glow that outlined his body.

Azure sparks glistened around the child of stars, and wiry strings of electricity started to form from his wounds, weaving and sewing his cheek back together, reforming the missing parts of his face.

Harbinger tried to pull back his arm, but the blue haze clung to him.

“Let me go!” With a loud, desperate cry, the veteran swung his foot, kicking Felix dead in the face.

The countless dots scattered, and he slipped out.

Only for the particles to flow like flames, weaving, spiraling.

“What…” Harbinger’s mouth trembled at the sight of the crystalline structure, “The hell is that?!”

It was like a miniature star formed around Felix’s body.

Sections in the structure thinned, gaps stretched where enhanced human’s gaze lingered.

“MONSTER!” Harbinger shouted.

Felix’s glowing blue eyes widened.

The veteran’s instincts screamed for him to run, but his body faltered, a few seconds too late to respond. He was only able to turn around and take half a step forward.

Then, the blue star burst —

~