“Oh, I see what is going on. This is interesting.”

“What did you learn?” Irfan was watching the experiment with a weird combination of satisfaction and confusion.

“The air. This thing uses pressure to release the liquid. Perfect. One just has to build up the pressure inside this tank using this trigger on the handle.”

Irfan nodded, shuddering. Joe wasn’t fooled - hunter’s eyes were completely disoriented. So he pushed the device into his hands.

“Just press this several times. Alright… now press that several times. See, how it weakens each time? Just keep pressing the trigger on the handle and on the front, and see what happens.”

Irfan’s expression was sparkling. Joseph was watching him with satisfaction - almost like a father, who bought his kid a new toy.

The water ran out. Irfan pressed the trigger a couple of times, before putting it back down.

“It ran out…”

“Not for long. Now, for the most interesting part. Two, actually.”

Hunter raised his eyebrows.

“And that is?..”

“First, we find a way to put the lighter to the nose, keep it there and make sure we can turn it on at the same time with the device itself. Second, we fill it with oil.”

Irfan furrowed his eyes. Then he jumped and grinned.

“Oh, I see! I see now what you are trying to do!”

Joseph smugly puffed his chest out.

*****

Now, if only it was as simple as I thought back then…

Joseph was exhausted. Both physically and mentally. Figuring out how to connect everything together took them several hours, a truck of swearing, and lots and lots of running back and forth between the shack and the warehouse to deliver the necessary tools and details. They had to cut a metallic wife with a big, heavy crystal-powered saw, cut a piece of a metal pipe to lengthen the barrel, somehow put lighter at the end of this barrel and connect two triggers for them to work at the same…

When they finally managed to craft and test something sensible, they both simply fell down on the stone near the warehouse, completely drained of any and all energy they had before. They cared not about shades, or Archrhyder, or whatever abomination there could be. Hell, their work was already terrifying enough with metallic wires, patches, and sheets everywhere, somehow stably holding together their entire monstrosity of the engineering work. Joseph didn’t dare to tamper with mechanisms themselves, of course, otherwise, he felt like he would turn into the Wraith right then and there.

The end result was quite satisfying, however. When Irfan pushed the barrel trigger, which was connected with the lighter trigger by the wire, a long wave of flame burst out of a piece of metal pipe that Joseph used to lengthen the barrel and protect the fingers. The burning oil fell to the ground along the length of the wave.

“Well, my dear friend, comrade in arms, the best companion one could even ask for… we have officially done it. I am not doing it ever again.”

“Agree… But you should be proud. That was the best thing we could ever get for our… problem.”

The inside of the warehouse behind them was left in a state of absolute chaos. Unused pieces and details, trash and dust anywhere where the eye could see. This was partially why they were outside.

“Hey, mate, we still have provisions with us. Let’s just eat right here.”

Irfan nodded.

After an exhausting day of work (Day isn’t even over yet, Joe), the simple sandwich and water sent Joseph into paradise.

Both of them were too tired to talk. Irfan was fully concentrated on the food, while Joseph was contemplating about his life. Well, more about his life at this very moment.

The contrast in his memory of the old small, crime-free, calm, and boring town against events like participating in the shootout, meeting the Ghost, fighting the group of gaseous abominations, making a flamethrower on a spot… it was bloody ridiculous, and yet, he was having way more fun than he ever had before.

When he realized that he almost blew up the mansion, he was laughing.

When Archrhyder cornered him inside the shack, his heart was beating fast, but not because of the fear.

When he got an idea of making a working flamethrower out of the 18-19th century sprinkler (he had no idea, how developed technology actually was in this world), his hands were shaking with delight.

When smoke on the ship has cleared after the gunfight, when the crew had thrown all the dead bodies overboard, only then did he reach this revelation.

He wasn’t really afraid of the fight. He was welcoming it back then. The blood on his hands soured his mood, but the deeper Joseph was thinking about it, the more he was realising that it was exactly the way it should be. He was never one to hurt someone intentionally - even during boxing, he put way more emphasis on the defense than the offense.

But at the same time, the training ring would make his blood boil.

When he was hunting, we would rather finish off the animal after his grandfather, but rarely shoot first.

It’s only been a day and a half. Yet the endless string of things that just kept happening around him didn’t break his Spirit one bit.

Well, crafting the flamethrower was an exception. This one was the chore of a century.

He stood up, rested and full, ready for new experiences. Irfan looked at him skeptically but kept eating.

“Should we take this thing with us, or keep it behind for now?”

Hunter shrugged, putting the decision on Joseph’s shoulders.

“Then, I think, we keep it near the entrance to the house.”

After they carried their lovely abomination to the designated place, Joe noticed that arid was looking somewhere behind the white building.

“You see anything?”

“I see more buildings. I was interested in them from the beginning. I think we should go check them.”

Not like they had anything else do to. Joseph did not forget about oil barrels in the warehouse, but they had some time until the night.

Unlike yesterday, the sun was shining in full power, without any visible clouds in sight. Joseph removed his coat and put it down on the device. Irfan noticed his new shiny armor.

“I remember those. You got them from the body, right?”

Joe nodded.

“Yeah, back in the master bedroom. There is another guy there with one full set untouched.”

“I think we take that armor with us after. It seems very valuable.”

“Lady Edna had four bodyguards. She said two of them died in front of her. She is rich, and if those bodies are indeed her bodyguards, then this armor must be really good for them to use it as the means of protection.”

“I have never seen that before. Look, don’t you think it has the similar color to shades?”

“Does it?” Joseph looked over his armor piece on the left arm. It was bright blue with a black outline. He saw a bright reflection of the sun as if the armor itself was a reflective glass.

“I don’t know… maybe? It doesn’t burn on sunlight.”

Irfan shrugged.

“No matter. Do you want to check behind this hill?”

“Sure, let’s do it.”

*****

“Another truck. Destroyed.”

“The building too. That was one hell of an explosion… Look at all these bodies!”

There were six buildings behind the warehouse and the hill, standing symmetrically to each other, three on each side. Some of them were opened. The walk to the place wasn’t that long, ten minutes at most.

One of these structures was gone. Simply gone - only a few remaining pieces were poking out of the ground, barely a knee-length. A large crater was right at the center, filled with charred bodies. The blast wave didn’t even spare the truck - it was laying on the side, without its wheels, with windows shattered and cabin bent in half.

“Considering the size of its twins around… Something must have gone, very, very wrong in there. Like, the Morning Star cannon barrage level wrong.”

“I think I know what happened… but let’s explore further. Follow me, Joe.”

They didn’t get far. They were approaching the second building on the left, when-

“Beast!”

Joseph was pushed by Irfan momentarily behind the wall. A black silhouette dashed through the place they were a second ago.

“Shit!”

Joseph pulled out the pistol.

“Calm down, Joe!”

The Archrhyder was nowhere to be seen. Joseph felt the bomb in his left pocket. He pulled it out. It was a smoke one.

Hunter was on the edge, listening intently.

“Behind!…”

Joseph shot right behind him, without looking. He heard a bewildered growling “Mr-r-r-eow?!”.

The beast was flailing it's head around, confused. Joseph bullet hit it right into the forehead, but the black plates on it’s head denied any meaningful damage like it was nothing.

Archrhyder reminded him of a tiger, if it was covered in black armor, had a sharp tail and two horns on a head, arched backward. It also had cat ears, but he had no time nor desire to stay and watch the beast for any longer.

Joe pulled a pin and threw the bomb. The beast was coughing in the smoke, as he turned around and ran away from the tight corridor between buildings.

“Joe, here!”

Irfan pulled him inside the structure and shut the entrance.

They ran as far from the gate as they could, and only then stopped to look around.

“That might not have been the best idea, mate…”

Irfan shrugged.

“Not like there was a choice.”

He was right, but now their situation was even more volatile than ever.

It was a warehouse.

The entire warehouse, filled with barrels.

And some of them were leaking black smoke.

Joseph immediately put on the gas mask. Irfan reluctantly followed.

Luckily for them, the warehouse still had a lot of empty space, and barrels were placed far few and between. At least, as much as Joe could see. The problem was - neither of them knew exactly how much of this black gas would it take to launch this warehouse into orbit.

But that just wasn’t their day.

The loud banging sound rang out across the entire building. The front gate, made out of steel, was completely torn off the wall.

Archrhyder walked in.

*****

They were hiding behind the shelf right in the middle of the warehouse. The shelf was wide, and that was helpful, but the beast was guarding the exit, slowly, but surely making it’s way towards unfortunate rats in a cage.

How unlucky that Pat isn’t here…

Even if he was here, there wasn’t much they could do. Bullets don’t work, the beast weights like a train and hits just as badly.

The Archrhyder sniffed one of the leaking barrels. Beast jumped backward, threateningly growling, and began to slowly walk around the dangerous object, keeping it’s gaze on it.

Irfan signaled Joseph with his fingers to move. They both shuffled towards the entrance, inch-by-inch.

Something fell on the floor near the beast. They heard a loud roar, and a second later, the entire place shuddered. Sounds of metal hitting the floor were everywhere now. There was far, far more of them than they thought.

Irfan dashed forward, with Joseph following suit. It was as if the entire warehouse was falling apart around them, with the wood shelves creaking and barrels raining down everywhere.

Another loud roar reached his ears through the mask. He felt a strong wind pushing him forward. The heavy steps were rapidly becoming closer and closer, as were the gates to freedom. His hands were holding the pistol tightly, the mask was fogging up from his breath.

He turned his head around. Archrhyder emerged from a sea of barrels, and, pissed beyond belief, ran after them, when another couple of barrels fell on its head, making the beast slow down for a second.

Joseph saw a chance.

He pulled the trigger. As he did it, a strong hand pushed him to the floor.

The world was swallowed in the wave of flames.

He felt something crash into the back of his head.

He saw a giant fireball flying above him and disappearing into the woods, screaming like a banshee.

He saw familiar words in the corner of his vision, right before the ocean of fire dragged him into the depths of Hell.

Status: Unconscious.