The Face Of The Devil

He got off the bike and stood in front of Richard with his hands up. Ayane followed suit as she stood next to him and put her hands in the air.

“Good job, Subject 005. I knew you were a rational person indeed.” Richard said as he walked forward, placing his gun in his pocket and taking out another pair of handcuffs. Another agent walked up to Ayane and restrained her, tying her hands together.

“It was a smart decision. If you tried to escape, I would have killed both Mr Kawasaki and that boy next to him.” Richard said as he put the handcuffs on Akihiro’s hands.

Natsume smirked. “Richard, that’s where you are wrong. If we are killed here, Aki-kun can completely let loose. He won’t be bound to this city anymore. There wouldn’t be any reason for him to not escape. Richard, you’ve lost. This is our victory.”

Richard grabbed Akihiro’s hair forcefully. “That would have worked if this bastard couldn’t show emotions. Only if he wasn’t attached to this world, if he wasn’t able to feel emotions, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

Akihiro’s breathing increased. His heart rate spiked as he felt the blood rushing into his arms.

“But it’s too bad! He ended up developing these emotions and look, where it got him! LOOK HOW PATHETIC HE HAS BECO-” Richard stopped mid-sentence. Akihiro had turned his head and was looking at him with eyes that seemed to be on fire. They sent shivers down Richard’s spine.

Akihiro’s eyes were a window to his soul and all Richard could see was Akihiro’s crimson soul being ignited.

-Stage III-

Akihiro whacked the chain of the handcuffs off his thighs, snapping it in half. The metal pieces flew everywhere as he twirled around and landed a whirlpool kick on Richard, sending him flying towards the armoured cars. Richard crashed into the armoured vehicle, shattering the windshield completely.

The agent holding Ayane pulled her away as the US military began to fire. Akihiro jumped onto the motorbike and slammed the accelerator, heading towards the soldiers. A few bullets hit his body, but he continued to charge forward, without any sign of hesitation. The bullets scraped the edge of the bike and deflected off, hitting the ground. The soldiers panicked and jumped out of the way, as Akihiro broke through their line of defence.

Akihiro switched gears as he increased the throttle. He looked around, searching for the perfect location to execute his final plan.

There was only one option for him.

The US military began pursuing him as he drove through the streets, whizzing in between cars. That’s when he noticed that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department was also in pursuit of him. But it didn’t seem planned as there was only one cop car following him.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department was probably not involved in this. That was just perfect for Akihiro.

The glimmering hope had just gotten brighter as Akihiro felt a higher chance of being successful. The US military and the CIA were not in cahoots with the Japanese Government. If he waited long enough, the Japanese Self Defence Force would arrive to stop the Americans.

Things were looking good. The gunshot wounds on his shoulder had closed up and the bleeding had stopped.

He had found it, the perfect location. It was a mall, close to the Port of Tokyo. There was a petrol bunk next to it too. He turned towards the mall and slammed the accelerator, rapidly increasing his speed.

He broke through the barriers at the entrance of the mall complex and began heading straight towards the main building.

Akihiro shattered the glass completely as he drove through it, entering the mall with the bike. Sirens began to blare as the people were panicking. He could hear the US military surrounding the building with their armoured vehicles. Amidst all the chaos, he jumped off the bike and headed towards the basement.

He entered the control room and knocked out the security guard present there. Time ticked as he began searching for the button to deactivate the ‘fire alarm and response system’.

He could see it in the CCTV camera footage displayed on the monitor. The US military soldiers had entered the building, declaring that a terrorist had entered. The people were being evacuated from the front and the back entrance. He could see the soldiers taking their positions at all the entrances, blocking his way out of the mall.

He found the button and clicked it, deactivating the ‘fire alarm and response system’. Hope seemed to be one step closer. The only option that he had; he was going to succeed, no matter what.

In a matter of minutes, the soldiers had evacuated most of the people from the building.

“Unit 3, ready!” a soldier shouted. His team successfully blocked the entrance of the staircase that led to the basement.

The soldier probably was a good man. He probably had a wife back home, kids to return to, a future to see but fate was being cruel. If he did regret anything in his final moments of life, he must have regretted trying to stop Subject 005.

Akihiro smashed the electrical box unit in the control room, sending the whole mall into an eternal wave of darkness. Since a mall usually didn’t have too many windows, it became dark instantly.

That’s when all the soldiers in Unit 3 began to scream. They fired their guns relentlessly, but one by one their screams faded away.

The last thing they witnessed before dying, was the face of the devil.

The other teams of the soldiers in the building could feel his aura. It reeked of death. They began to fire rapidly, in all directions. In the darkness, no one could spot where Akihiro was.

One by one, the soldiers fell to the ground.

Every time a soldier screamed, Akihiro delivered eternal silence.

More soldiers rushed into the mall and pulled out their flashlights. Pure terror filled their eyes as they witnessed the sight of their dead comrades, covered in blood.

Akihiro stood in the middle of the mall, surrounded by dead US military soldiers.

The floor and the walls were stained with their blood.

The soldiers screamed as they stumbled to the ground. The fear in their eyes was blatantly evident. Nothing could be helped. It was fate that was being cruel to them.

Akihiro grabbed the rifle from a fallen soldier and fired at the remaining soldiers. The soldiers dropped like flies as they were gunned down mercilessly.

“Sir, we’ve lost all contact with all 5 units in the building.” the soldier reported to Richard, who was standing outside the building, in front of an armoured vehicle. “The electricity has been completely cut off. Visibility inside the building is low. Your orders, sir?”

“What the hell is he planning…” Richard muttered.

“The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has been held back by the perimeter. The zone has already been emptied. All civilians have been evacuated from the zone. Once our reinforcements come, even Haneda airport will be closed.” the soldier continued to report.

“Doesn’t matter. We can always blame it on the terrorists. When will the choppers arrive?” Richard asked.

“Within two hours, sir!” the soldier replied.

“It’s a good thing that you guys have bases in Japan,” Richard said as he signalled Unit 21 and Unit 19 to enter the mall from the back.

“Sir, this mall is very close to the Port of Tokyo. Currently, due to the Navy’s intervention, merchant ships are stuck at the port and the evacuation process has already begun. This mall also serves as a storage area for the liquor that comes in from the port.” the soldier reported as he flipped through the pages in his hand.

“You’re done reporting. Now go back to your post. Next time, refrain from reporting useless information.” Richard said as he studied the map of the area.

The soldier saluted and ran back to his position. Richard still couldn’t figure out why Akihiro was going to such lengths to save himself when it was all futile in the end.

‘What the hell are you planning?’

The mall was dark. The only light that entered the building was from the few windows that the mall had. As soon as the enemy units entered the building, they were gunned down from the darkness.

Akihiro ran up to the first floor and looked outside through one of the few windows on the floor. Richard stood in front of the building with two agents next to him. Janice was speaking through the radio, probably reporting the situation to the higher-ups. Natsume, Ayane and Mr Kawasaki were on the floor, in front of Richard. Their hands were restrained by the handcuffs. Everyone’s eyes were on the building.

Another enemy soldier in the building appeared from the corner and fired. Two bullets hit Akihiro’s shoulder while the remaining two smashed the glass window, shattering it instantly.

Noticing the window shatter, Richard immediately ordered the soldiers surrounding the building to fire at the window panes. A bombardment of bullets rained down, shattering every single glass pane in the building. Akihiro ducked and shot the enemy soldier in front of him.

He looked down. The floor below him was now swarming with soldiers, panicking as they looked around desperately in search of him. Akihiro grabbed the grenades from the pocket of the soldier’s corpse in front of him and threw them down to the ground floor.

It exploded, triggering more explosions from the grenades in the enemy soldiers’ pockets. The explosion was extremely loud, sending despair to all the other soldiers surrounding the building.

Due to the multiple explosions, a fire broke out in the liquor store on the ground floor.

Within minutes, the whole store was ablaze.

“A fire has broken out!” The soldier yelled as he pointed towards the black smoke coming out from the windows of the liquor store.

“What do we do? If this continues, the whole building will be on fire! Do we allow the fire engines to cross the perimeter and enter the zone?” the soldier asked Richard.

“No! We cannot allow anyone to find out about his existence. If that happens, war might break out. This is a matter of national security. Don’t allow anyone to come near the mall at any cost!” Richard ordered as he watched the building worriedly.

The fire was spreading rapidly.

Richard ordered all soldiers to aim their guns at the building.

The fire burned through the ground floor, giving a burial to those who had died at the hands of the monster. The unused grenades in the soldier’s dead corpses exploded, fuelling the fire.

Richard watched, as the fire slowly made its way to the upper floors. Being the man responsible for eliminating Akihiro, he needed to think of something fast.

‘Why isn’t the fire alarm system working? Was it disabled when the current was cut? Was this on purpose? What would you gain from burning the building?’

That’s when Richard realised. It clicked in his head. But it wasn’t a solution to the problem, rather it was the final nail in the coffin.

‘Don’t tell me...Is this all part of your plan?