Phantom - Chapter 10

Jasmine was in a dire situation.

She was by herself, cut off from her team and there were no other students, teachers or Guardians nearby, and she was pinned down by two squads of Phantom soldiers, armed with state of the art rifles. She was hidden behind one of the thick pillars by the entrance of the main school and she was completely pinned in.

Jasmine occasionally fired blindly around the pillar at them, but it was clear that, if she didn’t move soon, she’d be killed.

She heard one of the Phantom men scream, followed by the sound of a powerful bow being fired. The gunshots slamming around her shifted to her left and she peeked her head around the corner to see two giant black hands made of wood reach at the Phantom soldiers, crushing them to a pulp.

Once they were all dead, Jasmine stepped out from around the corner and sighed in relief when she saw Herne’s forest slowly expanding towards her, absorbing the dead Phantom soldiers.

“Thank you, Herne,” Jasmine said, reloading her machinegun. “How comes you aren’t with your team?”

Herne stepped out of his forest, only to beckon her to enter it which she quickly did. Once inside, Herne lead her to the centre of the forest which was very well lit, unlike how it was looked on the outside.

“I was doing some work in the library when this happened,” He said, keeping his eyes fixed on the outside. “You?”

“My house was destroyed and I needed equipment, so I went to my locker and then got separated from my team,” Jasmine explained. She holstered her machinegun and took out her rifle. “How comes you spawned the forest here and not somewhere like the gate?”

Herne shot her a quick glance, before picking up his boy and looking back to the same spot. “This is one of the main pathways through the school. If they control it, they can harm us more easily,” He explained. “You’re a good shot, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Then, I’d recommend you stay in here with me and attack from a safe distance.”

Jasmine looked around her, saw the helicopters and fighters flying overhead and said, “That’s sounds like a good idea.”

***

Kasmine was furious.

“Headmistress!” A student cried out; they had a bloodied head and were holding their arm, blood dripping down it.

“Commander, we need your help!” A Guardian said, pointing to the end of the street. “The enemy armour there is preventing us from advancing to the leisure area. Can you-?”

“Stand back,” She ordered, a terrifying expression on her face.

She ran towards the four tanks and three mechs which were holding the road and let them attack her. Their attacks bounced off her aura, allowing her to absorb the energy and, after just five seconds, she sliced through the air and cut them all in half. Upon seeing such a display, two nearby helicopters and a fighter jet turned their attention to her.

Kasmine sliced through the air at them, slicing the helicopters in two, but the plane dodged the slash. It fired its missiles and machine guns at her, but Kasmine kicked hard off the ground and flew at the plane, a small, thin dagger appearing in her hand. She stabbed pilot, twisted the blade and an explosion of pink energy burst from it, imploding the plane.

She landed gracefully on the ground, sighed and sheathed her blade once more.

“Wow…” A student whispered.

“No wonder she’s the Supreme Commander,” Another said.

“Thank you for your assistance, Commander!” The Guardian from before said.

Kasmine nodded, turned and ran along the street, angry and looking for more Phantom soldiers to kill.

I will kill every last one of you, She said, her fangs slowly descending from her teeth, her aura growing in intensity.

***

One moment, Dead Eye and his team had been standing on the shores of Ferris with the Merchant; in the next, they were standing on the middle of the runway of the Phantom aircraft carrier.

“Shit,” Fayre cried.

“Now!” Dead Eye yelled.

Dead Eye’s team all attacked at the Phantom forces on deck, catching them off guard and easily able to clear it. Beta fired his cannon at the currently parked aircraft, heavily damaging them and leaving them unable to take flight.

“Paladin, Shizu; secure this one,” Dead Eye ordered. “Mech trio; the one on the left. Fayre, with me on the right. Mystical; shoot down any aircraft that heads our way.”

“Roger that!” They all yelled.

Paladin and Shizu ran below deck and soon found themselves engaging the enemy, cutting them down and clearing the ship floor by floor. The mech trio ran to the end of the runway and Beta began to charge his shot up, hoping to sink it with a single shot. Alpha sent his fists flying into the hull of the ship, slowly creating a large dent in the side of it whilst Gamma sent additional energy to Beta.

“Stand back!” Beta cried.

Once Alpha and Gamma had leapt behind him, Beta unleashed his charged shot into the centre of the battleship and, in an impressively bright and deadly display of power, the beam cut through the hull of the ship, cracking it open and causing a chain reaction of explosions through the ship. It started to sink into the water and Beta fired at the escaping Phantom troopers.

Dead Eye unleashed dozens upon dozens of arrows at the side of the ship close to the water, creating over a hundred holes in seconds and the ship slowly began to take on water. Fayre roared and sent ten long, thick vines from her arms into the hull of the ship and they smashed their way through its plating.

Her arms twitched and blood spat from her tattoos; her legs went limp and Fayre collapsed down onto one knee. The vines spread and expanded throughout the ship, killing its crew and breaking its armour.

After the vines had worked their way through the entire ship, Fayre collapsed onto her hands and knees, the vines quickly withdrawing back into her arms.

“Good work,” He said, walking to her and patting her on the shoulder. “Can you stand?”

Fayre began to pant and she flashed him her usual sadistic smile. “Just give me a minute and I’ll be good,” She whispered through laboured breath.

“Dead Eye, we’ve dealt with the other one!” Alpha roared, charging over to him. “What now?”

Shizu teleported to them, kneeling before Dead Eye. “We require reinforcements.”

Dead Eye looked at Alpha who was looking at him, a sparkle in his eyes and a smile on his face.

With a heavy sigh, Dead Eye nodded and said, “Try not to sink the ship.”

“Roger that!” Alpha cried and he ran beneath deck.

“Now then.” Dead Eye dismissed his Armour and took out a flare, aiming it above his head. “We might not be able to easily get back, but we’ll have saved a lot of lives with this.”

He fired a bright pink flare into the air, signalling to the Merchant that they had achieved their object.

The Phantom fleet had been neutralised.

***

Despite her best efforts, Evony couldn’t find or fight her way back to the student village.

Every time she thought she had found an opening, it was quickly closed by a large battle between Phantom forces, the students and the professional Guardians, all of which was too chaotic for her, even in her God Armour, to deal with.

While she still had reservations about using her God Armour, Evony knew that now was not the time to worry about that, especially when her powers could save someone else’s life and keep her herself alive a bit longer. The EMP had taken out a good number of her arrows, rendering most of her trick arrows useless.

She ran through the empty buildings and almost came crashing into a boy who had also been running through them.

“Messorem?” She asked.

He narrowed his eyes and then said, “Evony? What are you doing here?”

“I can’t find my way back to my team. You?”

“Same. I was with a teacher when it all started and I haven’t found an easy way back.”

Evony nodded. “Well, for now, I think it’s best if we went to a location where we knew we could make a difference to the battle. What do you think?”

“Of course!” He yelled, pumping his fists. “I’ve been trying to help out but I haven’t found a good chance to yet. Where do you think we should go?”

“Hmm.” She thought it over for a few moments, tapping her foot gently. “The closest key area to us is the bridge, right?” He nodded. “That’s the main way into and out of Ferris and I don’t think they’d want us to be in control of it.”

“The bridge, huh? Makes sense if they want to cut off any reinforcements. Okay, let’s go!”

The pair ran through the buildings, out into the open, snuck through as many side alleys as they could and soon found themselves at the gate, but the situation was far worse than Evony had imagined.

Aria, a professional Guardian, had lost her legs and was unable to fight; Takahiro, even with the help of Axisam and Osiris, struggled to hold back a gigantic mech suit which seemingly regenerated any and all damage they did, and the rest of the God Team were scattered around, holding off Phantom attacks from all directions. Sapphire was blasting the mech in the back again and again, but all that did was annoy the pilot and nothing more.

The only thing Evony could be thankful for was that there weren’t any Phantom soldiers other than Kavachin that had come from the bridge.

“Miss Yuuko,” Evony said, running to her and shaking her gently. “What’s going on?”

Aria looked up at Evony and grabbed her shirt collar, pulling the girl close. “That mech suit isn’t made of any standard materials,” She said, her voice hoarse. “No matter how much damage is done to it, it repairs itself too quickly for us to be able to strike at the pilot. Takahiro’s made some cuts and stabs here and there, but, given how the pilot is still fighting as strongly, it means the suit might be able to regenerate its user’s wounds as well.

“Given how…” Aria took a deep breath and continued. “Given how it repairs itself like that, only one substance springs to mind…Rubikium.”

“Rubikium?” Evony repeated in disbelief.

Rubikium was an extremely rare and durable type of metal which was the only one in the world that had the ability to regenerate itself to its original state. It made forging anything out of it near impossible but, after spending many years of practicing and studying the craft, a handful of people could make things out of it. Further, as long as the original particle remained, the metal would always reconstruct itself in seconds regardless of how much damage had been done.

If that really is a suit made out of entirely Rubikium, then we don’t stand a chance, Evony thought.

“Where the hell did they get that much of it? More to the point, how did they even make something like that with it?” Messorem asked.

“It…It’s doesn’t matter…” Aria coughed violently. “Regardless.” She held onto Evony’s shirt more tightly. “Unless you can think of a plan, then leave. If you don’t…” She wheezed a little. “You’ll be killed.”

Evony narrowed her eyes and stared at the mech.

If it was a machine made up of entirely Rubikium, then it would mean that they would have to destroy it and launch a decisive blow on the pilot in less than a second, or else everything would just be repaired. Based on what she had seen as well, Evony could deduce safely that the pilot was able to manipulate and transform entire pieces of the armour to whatever they needed, meaning that, in theory, they could have a counter to every possible strategy.

“Um, Evony…” Messorem said anxiously, his hands shaking a lot. “I…I have an idea…” He turned to face her, a forced smile on his lips. “It’s…not going to be easy…”

***

Jasmine gunned down another Phantom foot soldier, before quickly rolling behind a new tree for cover.

As the remaining twenty soldiers slowly withdrew as Herne’s corruption grew closer and closer, Jasmine fired at them again, killing two of them before she was forced to move again. Herne fired twice, impaling both soldiers in the head, before they were covered in his corruption. He placed his bow against a nearby tree and thrust his hands into the sky.

He grabbed a Phantom helicopter, ripped it out of the air and smashed it into a Phantom mech, igniting a massive explosion which claimed them and a few of the nearby soldiers. Two mechs and a tank came down the street and fired at the forest, but, within his trees, Herne raised his gigantic hands to protect them, before grabbing each mech tightly. He dragged them onto the top of the tank, crushing it beneath their weight and trapping it, before picking up his bow again.

Herne fired an arrow into each machine and his corruption quickly spread over them, consuming the soldiers inside, even as they kept on firing pointlessly at him. The remaining Phantom forces tried to flee, but Jasmine shot them down and she was soon joined by Herne who finished them off.

“Hey, how much longer can you keep this up?” Jasmine asked, reloading her rifle.

“Inside the forest, I don’t use any Mana whatsoever,” Herne replied.

“Seriously?”

He nodded. “As long as provide the corruption food to sustain itself, I’ll never have to use my own Mana to do so.”

“Ah, I see.”

That’s…quite a dark ability…

***

During the initial bombardment of the school, Lares’s guard barracks had been destroyed, killing the vast majority of his men. The rest were scattered across the school in small groups out on patrol, vulnerable and unable to coordinate their efforts.

In total, Lares had just under two hundred guards outside of the barracks when it was destroyed.

He didn’t expect that there were any left other than the fifty he had rallied at the leisure area.

They had made makeshift barricades out of rubble, park benches, fallen trees, bins, and whatever else they could get their hands on and were desperately trying to protect the shopping centre.

With Ferris in chaos and the hospital levelled, it had been chosen to act as a temporary field hospital for the wounded and it was filled with students, faculty and staff alike.

In the centre of the leisure area where Lares and his remaining men had set up, there were six corpses on his side of the barricades and twenty eight around them.

“Sir!” A woman yelled, jogging up to him.

“Report,” Lares ordered.

“We were unable to get to the Headmistress and both Charlie and Hugh were killed.”

Lares frowned and closed his eyes. “I see. Good work and thank you for coming back alive.”

“Sir!”

She saluted and took up a position along the barricade.

Not only was Lares running low on men, but he and his guards were also running low on ammunition. If they didn’t have reinforcements within the next two minutes, they would’ve used all of their ammo and they wouldn’t be able to protect the students.

We can’t get through to the outside and it’s too dangerous now to try and send runners to contact the others, Lares thought, rubbing his chin. The students in the shopping centre are either too injured or scared to fight, and…He frowned. I don’t want them to suffer any more.

“Sir, right side!”

Lares and his men snapped their rifles to the right and Lares felt his heart sunk.

“No,” He whispered upon seeing the White Knight before him.

It was Michael, covered in blood and slowly walking towards them.

“Orders, sir!”

Lares couldn’t say it.

“Sir!”

He couldn’t order his men to attack Michael.

“Sir, orders! Sir!”

Because, if he did, they would all be slaughtered.

Even then!

Lares pressed his rifle against his shoulder and cried, “Open fire!”

All of his remaining men open fired at Michael, their bullets crumbling upon impact and dropping onto the floor. Michael sent dozens of blue diamonds from his wings at them.

Lares was quick enough to duck behind a slab of concrete; a lot of his men were not.

Thirty five of them were cut to pieces and the remaining ones continued to fire fruitlessly at Michael, even though they knew they were unable to damage him.

“It’s futile,” Michael said, swiping his sword in front of him.

A thin blue blade soared at them, cutting all of Lares’s soldiers in half except from him. Lares had dropped beneath it at the last second, the blue blade cutting lightly at the back of his head. He grunted and fought through the pain, standing back up and aiming at Michael.

He tried to fire his rifle but it clicked; he was out of ammo.

“I should’ve guessed you would be the last one left,” Michael said, walking towards Lares. “Aren’t you going to fight? Or run? Or have you accepted your fate?”

Lares had gone to school with Michael Angelson, fought beside him on the battlefield and the two had always been close friends. Now, the possessed corpse of Michael Angelson was slaughtering dozens without even so much as a flinch, a sight which made him both disgusted and sad.

“When did you do it?” Lares asked, lowering his gun. “When did you murder my friend?”

Michael stopped a few feet before Lares. “Nineteen years ago.”

“I see. His wife and child?”

“Divorced, but alive and well.”

Lares smiled sadly. “I see. You see that?” He pointed at the shopping centre. “There are about a hundred wounded students in there, all of whom will probably never forget what has happened today for the rest of their lives.”

“Even in this situation you’re putting the lives of others before yourself?” Michael lowered his head and nodded. “Very well. I will not harm them.”

“Thank you.”

Lares threw his rifle at Michael who effortlessly cut it in half and Lares drew his pistol, unloading all of his shots into Michael’s head. The bullets didn’t even cause him to flinch.

Even though their rounds could pierce through tank and mech armour, they did nothing to a God Armour.

When Lares’s gun was empty, Michael dashed forward and thrust his blade into Lares’s chest, breaking through his spine and to the other side of his body. All of Lares strength immediately fled from his body as he vomited blood, collapsing onto his knees as it began to trickle from his chin.

Michael forcefully removed the blade from Lares, before placing his claws against Lares’s skull. He then placed the blade against Lares’s throat, ready to finish him off.

“Uncle Lares!” Someone screamed at the top of their lungs.

Eric…Lares thought before his vision turned a mixture of blood and darkness.

Run!