Shock and Awe Pt. 3

As Loki sat still in the brush, still undetected, her mind wavered. Zephyr isn't the type of person to act rashly. She's known to be cool-headed and candid, never showing her emotions and always willing to think logically.

"Come again, Zeph?" Loki asked with a wide smile.

"Kill them all," she replied. "Leave no survivors."

"Hah..."

Loki took her sword and stepped out of the brush. Immediately, the patrolling soldiers noticed her and aimed their rifles.

"Who's there?!" they shouted.

"Are you sure, Zeph?" Loki asked again. "Astrid gave us our mission, and Holly wouldn't want us to do this either."

"Doesn't matter. They were transporting defects here and performing forced augmentations with a goddam smile on their faces."

Loki continued walking forward, still smiling. However, because of the everlasting darkness, the soldiers could not make out her face.

"We have an unidentified girl here," one said. "Hey! I'm not gonna tell you again! Put your fucking hands up!"

"Think it through just one more time," Loki said, but her sarcasm was leaking through. "Are we absolutely sure about this?"

"...I can literally hear them calling out an unidentified woman through the speakers. You already showed yourself, didn't you? No turning back now. I'm sure you didn't intend to anyway."

"Hehe... You got that right, Zeph."

Finally, she came to a halt under a glaring spotlight. It took the soldiers just a second to recognize her, but by then, it was too late. Before they could even register Loki's presence, their bodies split in half at the waist.

"Phew! What a rush!" she called out, her voice echoing through the darkness. "Who would've thought we'd find you lot hiding in a blackout sector like this? So, what exactly are you trying to keep from the public eye?"

A gunshot suddenly rang out. Loki twisted her head to the left, letting a high-caliber bullet zip past her. A single strand of her violet hair drifted to the ground.

"Well... That wasn't very nice, was it?"

With that, the standstill shattered as Loki lunged forward, faster than their eyes could track. In one swift motion, she severed the augmented arm of a guard, sending a spray of sparks into the air. Without missing a beat, she swung again, decapitating another.

Panic set in as the guards fired wildly, their shots erratic and unfocused, desperately hoping one bullet would find its mark. Of course, none did. Loki moved unimpeded, continuing her ruthless onslaught.

Then, silence. The chaos of gunfire fell away, leaving only the eerie howl of the wind. Loki had vanished from sight, yet the guards remained tense, eyes darting for any trace of movement.

A sudden whistle pierced the air, followed by a rapid series of metallic clangs. From the shadows, the chains of Loki's whip sword shot forth, slicing through the sky in a wide arc. It crashed into the ground with an explosive force before spiraling upward, tearing through the soldiers at random.

"Shit!" a guard on the balconies shouted. "Everyone, pop your grenades!"

"B-but... Our guys are still down there!"

"Do you wanna fucking die too?! It's either us or them!"

A body slammed against the wall next to them with a massive splatter of blood. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that he had been maimed to the point of being unrecognizable.

"Toss the damn things!"

In a desperate frenzy, every guard perched on the high ground grabbed a grenade and hurled it onto the battlefield. One after another, the explosives detonated, the blasts accompanied by the agonized screams of those caught in the radius.

A thick cloud of smoke was all that remained. For a moment, victory seemed within reach—until a shadowy figure emerged from the haze, rising with a trailing arc as she soared upward.

"Open fire!"

The guards resumed their assault, bullets ripping through the air. But with the darkness as the backdrop and the high altitude on her side, none of their shots found their mark.

Suddenly, a red dot zoomed in on Loki's forehead. Upon the rooftop, a sniper was set up, aiming right at her. There was no dodging or deflecting it, not while she was still in midair. As such, she was left with only one option, but she wouldn't have preferred it any other way.

With a massive grin, she uttered, "Code: Berserk—"

Right as she finished, an ear-piercing gunshot rang as a thin trail of silver struck Loki in the head. She plummeted towards the ground, seemingly unresponsive, her arms and legs flailing about in the freefall.

However, the moment she was about to hit the ground, she twisted her whole body, landing on her knees with a massive thud. The concrete pavement below cracked under the pressure, and the entire area shook.

"Ugh... Fuck. That hurt more than I thought it would..." she mumbled. "Why do these assholes always shoot me when I'm talking?"

Loki lifted her head, revealing a blot of blood oozing from her forehead. There were no signs that the bullet had pierced through. Instead, it was a crater, as if the bullet merely bumped into her forehead.

She looked up at the sniper peeking out from the edge of the rooftop. The moment he saw her threatening glare, his body froze up. Her eyes flashed a bright hue of red, an auric trail fleeing from the hollowed diamonds.

"Yeah, no. That wasn't cool at all, you dipshit. You're fucking dead."

Loki cracked her whip sword into its many strings of detached blades. While the soldiers could only watch, frozen by terror, the blade cut straight through them. One slash was all it took to completely ravage the face of the refinery, toppling its walls with a massive explosion.

"Ah... Sheesh," Loki mumbled. "Now my beautiful face is gonna have a bump on it. Not even augmentation can fix this. So? What are you guys planning on doing about it?"

She stepped forward, and the remaining guard stumbled back. They clutched their guns tightly, but it did little to boost their morale as the terrifying Calypso crept closer, her eyes glowing red above that sinister grin.

"What's got you all so scared? You're the ones who pissed me off, so you should take responsibility. After all, I'm just a girl, right? Hehe... If only that were true."

For a moment, her eyes narrowed, freezing everyone where they stood. In seconds, Loki tore through their ranks without hesitation. Even when a bullet struck her, it merely ricocheted off. One by one, she hunted them down, sparing none who crossed her path.

On that pitch-black night beneath a glowing blue moon, screams of terror filled the air—but no one was there to answer. Blood spilled, and more followed, until not a single soul was left standing save for the berserker herself.

At last, Loki rose from the pile of corpses, stepping down like a king descending from a throne. She emerged from the shadows, her face revealed by the moonlight now bathed in red.

"Ah~" she moaned, licking the blood off her lips. "I had to hold in this feeling... this hunger... for seven whole years. It was nice of you guys to let me indulge for a bit. Hm? Oh..."

Her smile abruptly faded when she realized that everyone around her was dead.

"Oops. Maybe I went a little too crazy."