Samael felt the rush of the air across his face as his long jet black hair fluttered behind him. Despite the pleasant feeling, a deep fear was present in the back of his mind. The Guild had found him again, and that strange voice that preceded the earthquake, what was that? At first Samael had thought that he had hallucinated what he had heard, a result of the stress from being hunted all his life. Now however? He was certain that there was more to it than that. The strange rush of strength, the extreme clarity of mind and the immense increase in endurance didn't just happen out of nowhere. Samael estimated himself to be at least 2 times stronger and faster than he had been just earlier that day, though the increase in endurance he had a harder time determining. By now, more buildings had collapsed, the streets were riddled with holes as well as corpses, and the blaring sound of screams and violence was present no matter how far he ran. Just in the past 10 minutes he had been attacked 12 times by people he was just passing by. He noted that their strength and speed seemed similarly increased to his own, though the base fitness of his body seemed to have helped create a significant gap to the general populace. Samael continued moving through the city. His goal was a different apartment roughly 15 kilometers from the one he had stayed at. There he would be able to fortify his position and defend himself from the rest of the group from the Guild. Though he had trained himself to be capable of extreme physical exertion, far beyond even most athletes, Samael was surprised by the ease at which he was keeping his normal running pace. He was barely tired even after running all the way to the other apartment, fighting off attacks from the random people on the street and the fight with the minion of the Guild. Not only that, but he had taken an impossibly small amount of time to get to his destination; only 25 minutes. Samael immediately went inside and began stuffing survival supplies into the dufflebag he had brought with him. Food, water, fire starters and a flint and steel striker. If he was lucky, he would be able to simply travel out of the city and into the wilderness without having to fight the rest of the group that had been following him. A crashing sound coming from the hallway dashed that hope immediately. He has to kill them in order to escape. He couldn't afford to let them live now.
~~~
A small crash could be heard as the boss kicked the door in. If only that moron hadn't gone and attacked Samael on his own. They could have been done with this mission over an hour ago! he thought. The man was seething with rage. Darrel had gone against his direct orders and engaged with the target alone. If his body hadn't already been found he would've killed him himself. He watched as his men moved forward and into the apartment, guns raised. They searched the area and prepared to execute the son of the traitor. The crimes of Samael's father were far too severe to let his family go with the mere death of the traitor alone. His cold eyes scanned the room. A small bed in the corner. A desk with some papers on it. A duffel bag on the bed. Bloody footprints on the floor. His target was nowhere to be seen. A sudden scream alerted him to the death of one of his subordinates. A large knife was embedded in the neck all the way to the hilt. He was already beyond saving. A second scream; this time from the other side of the apartment. Another one of his subordinates fell to the ground. A quick look told him that the man was dead. The situation was becoming severely chaotic. Damnit. Where is he? The boss continued to look around searching more and more desperately for any sign of Samael's location. With 2 of his 3 remaining men dead the situation was looking increasingly dire. Yet he didn't panic. He had known this mission to be dangerous when he had taken it from the Guild. It was rated as an A class mission; the highest possible for an unawakened world. Now he had to not only fight this increasingly dangerous target, but he also got caught in the middle of a World Awakening with 3 of his 4 subordinates dead. I can't even return home now because of this damn World Awakening. SHIT!I have to at least get the target to make up for the death of those 3... He saw slight movement and in the next instant the last of his subordinates fell to the ground, dead … 4 subordinates. He was alone now with possibly the most dangerous unawakened human in this Planetary Cluster. He raised his blade, a Common rank artifact from an Ascendant he had gained the favor of. It gave a Slight boost to strength and stamina.
~~~
Samael remained hidden after he killed the last of the men that had entered the room. The sound of a sword unsheathing echoed out as the leader grabbed his blade. It shimmered slightly in the dark room, a clear sign of its artifact origin. Throughout the years he had learned of these artifacts through those sent after him. To him they had seemed like an impossible contradiction to all that he knew of the world. Now, however, he understood that they had to come from some other world that had Awakened, like Earth was doing right now. Still he felt lucky that they hadn't sent anyone with more powerful artifacts. Maybe he was simply not deemed important enough. Samael knew that no ordinary blade or weapon would be able to survive a clash with an artifact, no matter how weak it was. Instead he decided to attempt to kill him before the artifact could be fully utilized. He sneaked towards the leader, careful not to make his location known, and raised his weapon. A quick lunge and the knife went into the leader's neck, but he didn't fall down. Unlike the others, he kept standing. His eyes shifted towards Samael and with a swift motion, the artifact plunged into Samael's side. The man twisted the blade, aiming to fully incapacitate Samael, yet Samael fought through the pain and yanked his knife out of the man's neck and then stabbed it into the side of the man's head. I see now why Darrel died so easily against you. The man said. The Guild won't stop until you're dead, and now that your world has begun its Awakening, it won't be long before the Guild will send its own Ascendants. I almost pity you, a frog in a well that gained the ire of the dragons above.