"Woah, where the heck did these guys come from?" Amber gazed at the royal guards in astonishment.
"They're a patrol squad," Snapper answered. "Many of them have been stationed at different districts and neighborhoods since rumors about the Viper started resurfacing."
"There's so many of them."
Amber's observation here was certainly true, but for some reason Snapper didn't think that they were enough.
Jude, who seemed to be acting stranger than usual, pointed at the lieutenant's spear.
"That weapon of yours… It's fueled by Antivision energy, right?"
Her eyes squinted with caution.
"... That's correct," Lieutenant Rose replied, surprised by Jude's statement. "There are not many people outside the Capital who know about the existence of these weapons."
The lieutenant kept her guard up while beginning to question whether or not this man truly was the Voiceless Viper.
Meanwhile, Jude's eyes wandered downward, seemingly deep in thought. Those weapons... I thought they were exclusive only to the Capital Region, he wondered to himself internally. Things seem to be changing much faster than I anticipated.
The lieutenant then continued her warning. "If you refuse to surrender now, we will be forced to engage!"
"Why so serious, lieutenant?" Jude grinned. "Wouldn't you like to have a little fun?"
He had no intention of surrendering, and once the lieutenant realized this, she lightly chuckled.
"Fine, we'll do things your way, then."
Lieutenant Rose then dragged her foot forward with the end of her spear pointed directly at Jude.
Her fighting stance evoked a sense of aggression and sophistication: product of the rigorous training regiment she endured for nearly two decades after working for the royal guards department.
"You seem quite confident for someone who's severely outnumbered," Charaya noticed while staring at Jude's unbothered expression.
Jude moved his hands behind his back before silently stepping forward.
In tandem with his unfading smile, this gesture alone was proof that he was far more than confident in his abilities.
Victory was absolutely certain.
…
Some of the royal guards had crowded around the base of the cathedral, fearing that further action would only provoke Mel.
One of them urged her to "Release the girl!"
However, she was only focused on May, who she physically overpowered despite her desperate struggle to release herself from Mel's tenacious grip.
May's voice trembled in agony as she spoke. "W-Why are you doing this to me?"
Mel stayed silent while dragging her closer to the edge of the building.
"P-Please... Please don't do this!!" she begged, as Mel tightly wrapped her hands around her neck, blocking her airways so she could no longer speak.
She held May over the edge of the roof, letting her body dangle as the fear and tension began to eat away at her consciousness.
"MEL! STOP!" Wolf screamed at her in desperation.
Mel hesitated, only to watch the rising panic in Wolf's expression as he helplessly raced toward the building.
"Too late," she whispered, before completely loosening her grip.
"NOOO!!!" Wolf cried in horror as he watched May's inanimate body plummeting down from an astounding height of over 500 feet in the air. There was nothing that could be done.
Wolf was instantly petrified with anguish; his heart began to sink into the pit of his stomach, which churned like it was unable to digest the impending disaster before him.
However, a strange darkness began to crawl out of that pit, overshadowing the tension in his bones and commanding them to rise from their pitiful state.
This can't be happening... You can't just let her die… move… MOVE DAMMIT!!!!!!!
In that moment, the darkness immediately retreated as Wolf detected an astonishing burst of energy that flew right past him.
"What–" Wolf's intricate gaze could barely follow the movement of this energy.
Branches of light formed a streak across buildings as it trailed its way along the side of the cathedral that May was still falling from.
In the blink of an eye, her body disappeared mid-air.
"Where–?"
Before Wolf or any of the guards could even begin to wonder where she had gone, May miraculously appeared beside Wolf as the streak of light zoomed past him again in a flash.
"May?" Wolf, still unable to process what had just occurred, quickly attended to his friend.
He held her in his arms, slowly watching as she regained consciousness.
"W-Wolf?" she whispered, feeling light headed.
Relieved to hear her respond, Wolf smiled warmly.
"How are you feeling?"
"I-I'm not..." she began to blink rapidly while entranced by a sense of deja vu. "Am I dreaming? It feels like we've been through this before."
She must be feeling light-headed, Wolf thought to himself.
"W-Wait, wasn't I falling just now?" she began to collect her thoughts, unable to understand how she was able to survive the fall. "Does that mean I'm—"
"No. You're still alive... Someone was able to save you," Wolf assured her.
"Someone saved me? Who was it?"
Although Wolf was able to identify the individual within the streak of light, he felt it wasn't an appropriate time to disclose this to her yet.
"... I'm not sure," he lied.
With memories gradually flooding back, May's face paled as she stated, "The Princess... She's the one who captured us… Mr. Barshall and I... but now he's…"
Her eyes widened, and her stomach lurched as she remembered the daunting look of his lifeless face.
"He's dead."
Dead? Wolf was in utter disbelief.
"Did Mel…?"
May nodded before Wolf could even say the words.
He quickly turned his head toward the roof where Mel previously stood, only to discover that she was no longer there.
What happened to her…
…
"Well, I'll admit, that wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be." Jude shook his head in disappointment as he adjusted his trench coat while observing the lifeless bodies of the royal guards that previously surrounded him.
Blood poured out of the chinks in their armor and melted into the tiled street floor.
"What the hell?" Snapper muttered, struggling to process the battle he had just witnessed.
There were twenty of 'em, and he took 'em all down in less than a minute without even breaking a sweat. Who the hell is this guy?! Another drop of sweat began to trickle down his forehead.
With her face covered in the blood of some of her fallen comrades as well as her own, Lieutenant Rose struggled to maintain consciousness while laying idly on the hard ground.
Her left eye was severely damaged by Jude's attacks, the weapon beside her was destroyed, and the pink glow from its spearhead had completely faded.
"Oh? You're still alive?" Jude chuckled, slowly approaching her. "You're much sturdier than I thought. I'm sure your comrades would've been proud of their lieutenant for lasting this long."
"You…" she grumbled, "Just what kind of monster are you!?"
She attempted to lift herself up, but the sheer pain from her fractured limbs made that physically impossible.
"Hey, I may be a monster but I've still got feelings too, you know." Offended by her words, Jude returned his focus to Snapper and Amber, knowing that the lieutenant's injuries were too severe to cause him any more trouble.
"What's wrong, Snap? Are you also afraid of the big bad monster?" He mockingly chuckled, attempting to provoke him.
But Snapper didn't approach. He had only begun to contemplate his next actions pragmatically before arriving at an unfortunate conclusion.
"Amber," he whispered.
Upon hearing her name, Amber was suddenly startled out of her petrified trance.
"Huh?"
"You're gonna have to make a run for it."
"W-What are you—!"
"Just run!" he repeated a little more sternly. "Go and find Wolf then get the hell out of here. I'll keep him distracted for as long as possible."
Although Amber seemed much more afraid than ever, the fear of leaving Snapper alone with Jude proved to be far worse.
"No... I won't leave you here," she refused, standing her ground against their powerful adversary.
"Dammit, Amber, are you an idiot?!"
Seeing the stubbornness in Amber's expression, Snapper realized there was no point in arguing with her.
"Fine," he sighed, "I guess we've got no choice then."
They stared their opponent down, ready to begin a difficult battle.
Jude lightly shrugged while pitifully staring at the two.
"Oh? I guess I could kill some time playing around with you guys for a bit."
The enemy awaited their attack, however, a streak of lightning barged through them, a violent gust nudging their bodies to the side, before making rapid laps around Jude.
"Well, well, well… You finally made it!" he celebrated with a wide grin, "And here I thought you were going to miss out on all the fun!"
The moment he took a defensive stance, the streak charged directly at him with such devastating force, the impact of the collision obliterated the sound barrier and sent Jude flying off into the distance.
Then a loud CRASH! soon followed as he was knocked into a fountain before slamming into a building at high speed.
"W-what just happened?" Amber muttered in pure shock.
"Don't ask me, I'm just as clueless as you are," Snapper replied, feeling a similar sense of uncertainty.
"Guys!" Wolf shouted as he and May quickly approached.
"May! Thank god you're alive!" Relieved to see her, Amber tightly wrapped her arms around her.
"Amber..." May spoke softly as she felt Amber's body begin to shake.
"I'm so sorry." Her voice began to quiver as tear drops started to roll from her eyes. "I couldn't do anything to save you... It's all my fault..."
"No… I-It's my fault for being so weak. I'm sorry I made you guys worry about me." Her words were laced with guilt.
"Glad to have you back," Snapper gratefully added.
"Thank you, Mr. Snapper."
Snapper then examined the large bruise on May's neck, and the small cut on her face.
"How did you get her away from the princess?" he asked Wolf.
"It wasn't me."
A little skeptical, Snapper worriedly asked where Mel had gone.
"She disappeared from the roof. We have no idea where she is now."
Wolf and May then noticed the bodies of the royal guards as well as the blood stains on the ground beside them.
May covered her mouth in shock.
"Oh my gosh... What happened here?"
"Jude happened." Snapper gritted his teeth. "They had him surrounded. When he refused to surrender, they attacked him. This is the result."
He took down this many people on his own? And in such a short amount of time? Wolf thought to himself, before turning his head to search for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?" Wolf asked, wearily scanning his surroundings.
"Something knocked into him and he went flying into that building," Snapper replied, pointing into the far distance.
Wolf and May observed the path of destruction that ended at a building on the opposite end of the street. The building that Jude hit was quite small compared to the rest, but the whole thing had completely collapsed due to the impact it suffered.
"What could have caused all of this?" May wondered, horrified by the sheer amount of destruction.
Amber then answered by stating, "Right before Jude got hit, I saw something… It was only for a moment, but it looked like there was a flash of light that moved right past us, and then it started to circle around Jude like it was taunting him."
It must've been the same streak of light that saved May, Wolf thought with almost absolute certainty.
He was also slightly impressed that Amber managed to perceive it, but decided not to mention it out loud.
"Did you see where the light went?" he asked her eagerly.
"I only managed to catch a small glimpse, but I think I saw it flashing across those buildings." Amber pointed to the buildings beside them.
Wolf limited his search to the surrounding roofs until he noticed something strange.
That's weird, he thought to himself, watching the lights on the half-broken 'Welcome to Paradise' sign flicker continuously.
"What is it?" Amber asked, noticing that Wolf was staring at the pedestrian bridge with an unwavering concentration.
"It's the sign..." Turning toward the bridge, they all noticed that the lights on the letters of the sign were flashing in a wave-like pattern, starting from the bottom center and rising outward like a continuous ripple.
It was like an outside source was affecting the projection of the neon lights that should've lost power due to the destruction.
"Why are the lights moving like that?" Amber also wondered.
"It's like there's something emitting a wave of energy right from underneath the bridge," Snapper replied.
He was indeed correct. That specific energy, however, was a strong electromagnetic emission manifested by spiritual Vision energy itself.
May squinted her gaze while adjusting her glasses.
"Umm, I don't see anything, Mr. Snapper."
"Yeah, Snapper, there's nothing ther—"
"No," Wolf cut Amber off in objection, his eyes focusing on the space right in the center of the base of the bridge. "He's right."
Wolf began to release energy into his surroundings, quickly activating his Vision Field.
"Wolf, what are you doing!?"
"There's someone there, hanging from under the bridge." He summoned a card.
"Hyper Needle!"
From what used to be Vince's birth card, Wolf shot the needle in that same space under the bridge.
Everyone's eyes widened in astonishment once they saw the needle pause in mid-air.
"What the fuck?" The words came out of Snapper as he and his party witnessed the formation of a hand covered by a dark gauntlet and arm guard, which held one end of the needle in place.
From that same hand, an arm began to grow. Then a shoulder. Then a torso.
Different limbs began to form around the space, until visibility had progressed to a half-bodied entity.
"W-Who the heck is that?" Amber's anxiety sharply rose as they watched the dark figure of a man hanging boldly from the base of the bridge.
"I-Is that…?"
"It can't be…" May dropped back, unable to stop herself from trembling.
The eerie amalgamation stood upside down, its feet stuck to the base of the bridge. It wore a dark cloak over a tall body of dark leather armor, similar to its gauntlets and sabatons.
Once the body was completely visible, it emitted a Vision Field of an overwhelmingly sinister aura that almost completely darkened their surroundings.
Not even the face of the black mask it donned was the most ominous thing about this entity–it was the deafening silence that it commanded as it silently revealed himself to Wolf and his companions.
Not a sound but the alarmed pounding of their hearts could be heard at this moment. Their senses were only limited to their sight, which they no longer seemed to have any control over.
"It's definitely him," Wolf confidently assured, his tone of panic disguised with solemnity. "... It's the Voiceless Viper."