229 Chapter 229: The Phoenix Rises

"Hey, at least the chapter title isn't 'Dark Phoenix' or something," Shun Yin remarked as he stared above. Glen glared at him.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Never mind. How are things at your end?" Shun Yin switched the topic. "The Porter clan took a really big blow this time."

"We sure did." Glen sighed. "The only survivors are my family. Apparently Dad suddenly finds himself the leader of the Porter clan right now…actually, Mom should be the leader, but you know, patriarchal bullshit and all that…"

"I'm surprised they didn't just appoint Michael."

Glen shook his head. "Mike didn't want the role. He was the one who elected Dad to succeed his father as the new clan leader. He said that his responsibility lies somewhere else, and he won't rest until he stops his own sister."

"…Angelica."

Shun Yin fell silent as he continued to stare into the distance. Taking a deep breath, he clenched his fists determinedly.

"I also have to stop Angelica. I'm the reason she's doing this."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"You are not responsible for Angie's actions, no more than she is responsible for yours. She made her choice and decided to kill her family except her brother and the elders. She could have gone about this a different way, but no. She decided to undertake drastic actions." Glen cocked his head to the side. "I mean, I somewhat understand why she chose this route. Other than Mike, none of her family members ever treated her decently. In fact, it's pretty much unnatural how she endured this long without snapping…"

"I don't know about that." Shun Yin frowned. "Something of this scale has had to be planned out and in the works for a long time. Maybe Angelica snapped a long time ago and began plotting and scheming the demise of the Porter clan. She needed a lot of preparations to steal your father's research and hire the Assassins Guild. I can't imagine her doing this over the last year."

"You have a point there," Glen admitted thoughtfully. Then he shrugged. "But we won't know for sure unless we ask the person herself. And to do that…"

"…we have to find her," Shun Yin finished for him.

That was how the two of them ended up in front of the Phoenix Temple that was on the outskirts of Vermillion City. It was located on a protected estate, with the city council forbidding any corporation or tycoon from purchasing the land and renovating it, or demolishing the temple. It helped tremendously that the city council was dominated by the authority of the Porter clan, one of the ten Great Families. Even with the deaths of so many elders and the previous leader, the council still found themselves bound to the will of the current leader, Henry Porter.

Glen was aware that his father wouldn't suddenly change and reverse the order regarding that, even if he wasn't a staunch traditionalist. Progressive or not, Henry Porter still respected history and tradition.

Ironically, it was someone from the main family who had desecrated the holy grounds of the Phoenix Temple.

"Are you sure this is the place?"

Shun Yin raised an eyebrow as he stopped at the entrance. Glen glanced uncertainly at the holographic screen of his smartphone before turning back to his friend and nodding a bit more confidently.

"That's what Dad said."

Apparently Michael Porter had assigned what remained of the Porter Clan's staff to assist Michael in his hunt for Angelica, though the reason probably was more to keep an eye on him, to ensure he didn't get into trouble. While the staff serving the Porter clan had been decimated, unlike the Porter clan itself, there was still a huge number of people available. Other than the main security guards protecting the clan elders and the clan leader, the majority of the Porter clan staff had been left untouched. Angelica's goal wasn't them, after all.

Honestly, Michael didn't want to involve them, but he couldn't do this alone.

He was ambivalent toward the participation of both Shun Yin and Glen. On one hand, he wasn't comfortable with the idea of putting them in danger, but on the other hand, he was aware that Angelica had no intention of hurting them. Of course, the Assassins would still defend themselves and fight back if the duo attacked, but the chances of the two of them getting killed were pretty low. No matter what their personal feelings might be, Assassins were immaculate professionals. They would do whatever was necessary in order to adhere to their clients' demands as much as possible.

Both Shun Yin and Glen were gambling on that. It might not feel honorable, exploiting such an obvious advantage, but if they wanted to save the world, they couldn't afford to be picky about their methods.

"Why would they be here, though?" Shun Yin wondered out loud. "You would think the last place the Assassins would hide in is a temple."

"Ha ha ha ha!" Glen roared in laughter. "Are you serious?! Have you not heard of the various Assassin sects that serve under the Guild? They all train in their respective temples before they become official Assassins!"

What is this, the 41st Millennium or something? And I don't suppose these Assassins are all loyal to the Emperor, are they?

Shun Yin suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. However, before he could muster any sharp retort, a huge explosion drowned out their words. He and Glen both ducked down, shielding themselves from the flying rubble.

"Seems like they've begun." Shun Yin's lips thinned in a grim line. "We should hurry."

"Not that our presence is going to make any difference." Glen sighed, but he followed after the sprinting Shun Yin.

The both of them were forced to evade when a couple of supersonic projectiles flew into their direction. Pavlichenko Assassins were camped in the shadows or eaves of the temple, taking potshots at the two. The two of them didn't even notice that they were there until it was too late. To his horror, Shun Yin realized that they were only firing warning shots.

If the Pavlichenko Assassins wanted them dead, they would have taken both him and Shun Yin out by surprise with their first, stealthy shots. They were merely discouraging the two from entering into the temple any further.

"…"

Shun Yin caught sight of several bodies lying in the courtyard, victims of the Pavlichenko Assassins' perfect aim. Those were staff belonging to the Porter clan. They must have followed Michael here before they met their demise.

Fortunately, he didn't see Michael's corpse around, and he was aware that the number of the dead was just a fraction of the team that followed the supposed successor into the temple. At least that was what he heard from Glen, anyway.

"They are going to regret not killing us," Glen crowed as he dove out of the way of a sniper bullet, hitting the ground and rolling behind cover.

"Actually, I think we are going to be sorry that they won't kill us," Shun Yin replied as he flattened himself behind a tree, wincing as the armor piercing bullet went through the trunk and left a huge, gaping hole in the poor thing. He realized that the Pavlichenko Assassins, realizing that neither he nor Glen was taking their warnings seriously, had elected to fire incapacitating shots. More than a few times, he narrowly avoided getting his limbs blown off by the powerful bullets, each projectile able to bust through the armor of a tank.

He shuddered to think what would happen if his arm or leg got hit by those turbo-penetrator rounds. Actually, those were probably Hellfire rounds rather than turbo-penetrator rounds. Shun Yin was aware that the Pavlichenko Assassins used various specialized ammunition for different targets. The Hellfire round was the most common as it contained a vial of lethal acid that could instantly dissolve any biological organism or corrode metal. The turbo-penetrator rounds were reserved for target hiding behind thick plates of armor…for example, a tank commander, or an idiot who thought he was safe inside the void-hardened hull of his starship. Um…wait, we didn't have many starships in this universe even though it was the 31st century. Never mind.

"Damn it!" Glen received a close call when one of the bullets nearly grazed his arm, the superheated stream of air actually scalding his skin and sending shrapnel ricocheting into him when the bullet obliterated the stone pavement that lined the middle of the courtyard. "How do we get past them? How do we take them out? We can't even get close to them!"

Shun Yin contemplated for a moment, and then shook his head, stumped. If he was the adopted father of another main character in some other anime, who doubled as a Master of a Saber-class Servant in the fourth Holy Grail War, he would have an assistant who was adept at sniping. Hell, he probably could have sent his Servant after the Pavlichenko Assassins, her divine armor protecting her from their bullets.

Unfortunately, this was reality and…

Boom!

Before Shun Yin could finish his fourth wall breaking thoughts, a huge explosion rocked the temple. Something massive flew out, twisting around in midair with a grace that belied his size, and landed on his feet. His tremendous weight actually caused the concrete to crack beneath his boots, and he raised his head to unleash a feral roar.

The Pavlichenko Assassins immediately held fire and scattered, for fear of drawing unwanted attention from their berserk comrade to them.

"A Frenzor Assassin?!" Glen turned pale. Shun Yin understood his dismay. The last time they met a Frenzor Assassin, he literally pummeled the hell out of them. The berserker was capable of obliterating even Glen's White Tiger.

There was nothing the two of them could do against him.

The Frenzor Assassin launched himself from the ground and leaped at the broken wall of the temple. However, a torrent of flames washed out and bathed him, but the Frenzor Assassin punched the fire away with an enlarged fist.

"That's…Ba Qi?!" Shun Yin gasped, immediately recognizing the technique as one of those that Miyamoto Sensei had taught him but he had yet to master.

The specific Ba Qi that the Frenzor Assassin was using belonged to Armament Ba Qi, which he cloaked around his body to enhance his resistance against elemental spells and allowed him to deal damage to those users whose bodies were composed entirely of their elements, including spirits. Okay, this was starting to sound too much like a certain manga about pirates…

However, his opponent was no pushover. Stepping out of the hole in the wall, Michael Porter met the Frenzor Assassin in combat. He ducked under the massive fist and countered with a kick to the berserker's midriff. The flaming kick didn't even faze the Frenzor Assassin, who responded by swinging his neuro-gauntlet at Michael's head. The latter merely dropped to the ground and swung his leg out in a hook to trip the Frenzor Assassin, who responded by smashing down on him with an elbow. Michael rolled out of the way before throwing another flaming kick, which forced the berserk but reflexively skillful killer to block with his forearm.

As the two of them broke apart and rose to their feet, Michael completed his spell. A gigantic phoenix materialized behind him, spreading its fiery wings across and endowing the temple with a vermillion glow.

"That's…the Vermillion Phoenix," Glen gasped.

Shun Yin remembered that the family crest of the Porter clan was the Vermillion Phoenix. It was the same emblem that was emblazoned across the school uniforms of Vermillion High.

The fiery Vermilion Phoenix soared high into the air before bathing the entire area in flames. The Frenzor Assassin was unable to escape the inferno, and he howled in rage before he was incinerated into ash.

"That's…!"

Shun Yin's jaw dropped when he saw the sight. The fire spells of the Vermillion Phoenix were several magnitudes more powerful than any fire spell that Michael had ever cast. The difference between the spells a human mage cast and the ones a Soul Beast unleashed were as vast as the chasm between heaven and earth.

No wonder Henry Porter was so invested in researching on summoning spirits! If Michael could summon that Vermillion Phoenix immediately instead of being forced to buy himself time against the Frenzor Assassin while simultaneously casting it and a few other spells to defend himself, he could have ended the battle long ago.

Recognizing the threat Michael posed, the Pavlichenko Assassins immediately fired a hail of supersonic projectiles upon his stationary figure. Without even moving, Michael nodded surreptitiously to his Vermillion Phoenix above.

A fiery barrier appeared around and above him, causing the Hellfire bullets to combust spontaneously before they ever reached him. A few of them tried shield-breaker rounds in order to neutralize his invulnerable save, but the Vermillion Phoenix's flames were so powerful that they incinerated even those specialized ammunition.

Michael glanced around the temple, as if noting the location of each and every Pavlichenko sniper. Then, relaying his thoughts to the Vermilion Phoenix above, he had the Soul Beast unleash a meteoric barrage of fireballs that arced and descended upon the prone or kneeling Assassins, the vicious flames negating their cover.

Even with their lightning reflexes, the barrage covered such huge areas that there was no way for the Assassins to escape. They were immediately obliterated and incinerated.

"Amazing," Glen murmured. Even though he could also summon a Soul Beast, the difference between his White Tiger and Michael's Vermillion Phoenix was clear. They were entirely worlds apart. As expected of the one they called a genius.

Beside him, Shun Yin nodded numbly. The Porter clan, though decimated, was far from destroyed. With Michael and Glen's family at the helm, they would surely restore the great family and rise like a phoenix from the ashes.