Chapter 666 Emergency Response II

The doors creaked open as the firefighter's entire body shook. Complete dread forced her to stand there, completely defenseless. The student in front of her seemed more together than she did. She wondered if she would die here. She wondered if she would ever get to see her family again. Her husband and her two boys – ten and seven. Tears welled in her eyes as she watched the horrible monsters throw the door open.

The kid in front of her bolted without hesitation. Two daggers quickly appeared in his hands as the monster roared at him. There were three of them. These three had wiped out most of the response team sent to the lab.

'W-why me? Why am I the only one who made it this far?' The firefighter asked herself. The student slashed the thin gray monster with antlers on top of its head. It shrieked in pain as it retaliated. A colorful shield appeared in front of him, shattering the impact as he made distance. Her teeth rattled as she screamed in her head for her body to move.

Two of the monsters rushed forward, one coming for her and the other coming for the student. Her vocal cords loosened just enough for her to let out a scream, shutting her eyes tight. The smell of water entered her nose. A strange calmness washed over her. The firefighter felt her panic fade as the sound of slams against something heavy yet wet grew her curiosity. She opened her eyes just enough to see the student standing in front of her. A ball of glittering water was all around them!

"Are you okay?" Keng asked the firefighter. He turned to look at her. Silver lights trickled off of him as the halos around his irises swirled. "Can you fight?" She shook her head. She wasn't made to fight. Her job as a firefighter was to put out fires and save those who needed saving.

"I don't have an offensive power. I just support, that's all." The firefighter told Keng. Keng nodded and turned his attention back to the three monsters now slamming on the watery shield.

"Can you make sure that the police officer is okay?" Keng motioned to the left. Her eyes were drawn to him. She hadn't even registered he was there until the student pointed it out. "I'll handle these things. They aren't that strong."

"They managed to kill the police officers!" The firefighter warned him. "I-I don't think you should think highly of yourself, student! You could die!"

"I like my odds." Keng smiled.

"IThese things came outta nowhere and attacked us before we could react! Be careful!" The woman informed him. Keng nodded as the watery shield began to crack.

"My odds are good then." Keng smiled. "Take care of him for me, okay? I'm not that great of a healer. Weapon Art: Coursing Stream." The shield's entire energy filtered forward, exploding in a jet stream of water. The three gray antlered monsters flew backwards as Keng dashed after them, riding the stream. A dagger pierced the first monster in the heart, releasing a deathly scream as Keng rode the stream. He pierced the second monster in the throat, missing the lethal point.

The coursing stream pushed him forwards, pulling Hydrosphere back to him as he twirled the dagger and slammed the dagger downwards. The third monster's antlers rattled as they caught the dagger. Keng quickly pivoted his body, right, piercing the right dagger into the back of the monster. The third monster let a guttural scream out as the coursing stream came to a stop.

The third monster threw itself up, screaming as it rushed forward. Keng re-summoned Hydrosphere into his hand, dodging the swipes. The antlers rattled as the monster threw its head downwards. The antlers fired at Keng. Keng's body shimmered, bracing for impact as the first antler missed him. The second antler pierced into his right shoulder, pushing him backwards past its dead ally. Keng groaned as he snapped the antler off. The monster screeched as it retracted its antlers.

Keng slid backwards, coming to a stop a few feet past the door. Keng pulled the antler out, wincing in pain as he tossed it aside. The wound began to close as the second gray monster stood up. The two monsters shrieked before running towards him. Both monsters' antlers rattled as they lowered their heads. Two sets of antlers flew straight for Keng as his body burned brighter.

"Runeweaver: Shield, ten." Keng threw his hand up as ten shields appeared before him. The antlers flew through six shields before slowing. The seventh and eighth shields cracked, leaving Keng with two. Keng held the two remaining shields up, watching the second-to-last one crack.

"Repel." The remaining shields shattered, rattling along the antlers. As soon as the gravitational energy reached the heads of the two monsters, their antlers exploded, throwing their heads backwards. The two monsters hit the ground hard as Keng appeared on top of one of the monsters. Hydrosphere sank into the heart of the second monster, releasing a painful scream. He pierced the head, instantly killing it. Keng lifted the daggers out of the dead monster, hopping on top of the third monster.

"GRAAA!" The monster screamed. Its body shook as a hand flew up, blocking the right dagger with its hand. It shrieked in pain as the monster desperately tried to push the dagger away. Keng's left dagger plunged downwards towards the monster's face. The other hand of the monster reached up to block. Keng pushed with all his might, exploding the hand into nothing as the dagger pierced the shoulder.

The monster shrieked in pain as its left arm gave way. Keng exploded the other hand, driving the dagger through the side of its head.

Its shrieks came to a stop as the monster grew limp. Keng pulled the daggers out of the dead body and flicked the blood off with the help of gravity. He released the daggers and turned to look at the firefighter. She had stopped his bleeding and healed him of most of the injuries Keng couldn't. She looked up at him in awe. When she realized what uniform he was wearing, everything clicked.

"I'm looking for a guy about my height, similar build. Have you seen someone like that?" Keng asked. The firefighter shook her head.

"No. There shouldn't be anyone in here… Honestly, you're not even supposed to be in here." The firefighter told him.

"Well, I can't leave without him." Keng turned his back to her. "I'll keep an eye out for any survivors. I'm not good at healing but it should be enough to keep them off death's door."

"Wait, how can you be a Fighter and Glass, too? Don't tell me you're one of those special Specialists."

"You can say that." Keng waved goodbye to the firefighter lady before jogging down the hallway.

---

Noises of death surrounded the face-covered humanoid. It's red and black tails pulled away from the humans, dropping them like flies. Blood pooled around the face-covered demon as it casually watched the blood drip off its hand.

'Kill.'

That's all that it thought. Its covered eyes stared at the death around it and slowly moved past. There were more people around. It had heard them just like it had heard the monsters skittering about the lab.

'Kill.'

The demon fox would kill whatever it got its hands on. It needed to satiate the burning desire from within. The anger that was pent up. The demon fox left a trail of bloody footprints. It had torn the tight clothes off it, leaving a ripped shirt behind with torn jeans and the closed shoes behind. The deathly encounter had done it a wonderful favor.

It had binded both the murder and the victim behind red bars.

'No one would get out,' the demon fox thought. It would kill everything and eventually find its counterpart and kill it, too. The demon fox wanted freedom and the only freedom would be to find the other part of itself.

Gray energy signatures scattered out of sight as soon as the demon fox turned the corner. They were hiding from it. The demon rushed forward, turning its head left as a gray energy flew at him. It wrapped its hand around the neck, squeezing it. The gray monster's neck burst, dropping the body and the head as it turned to seek for more to kill.

"GRAAAA!" The monsters shrieked. Their antlers fired, piercing the demon fox humanoid. When the humanoid didn't move, the monsters pushed harder. The antlers exploded out of the demon fox's back. The demon's tails shot at the gray monsters, exploding large holes into their bodies in one go.

'More.'

The demon fox wanted to kill more. It retracted its tails and grabbed the antlers embedded in it. It snapped the antlers, pushing it out of its body as the holes healed. It continued forward, searching for its next victim.

'Kill them all.'