It was a rainy day; the sound of the water and the thunder was loud enough to cover footsteps. Everyone was nervous because the symphony of explosions and gunshots in the ancient dig site never stopped, even with the rain.

Hiding behind giant boulders, the leader of the squad told everyone in the comm: “It’s an honor to progress this far in this mission with you all. But this time we are all going to be counting on our luck. Now we start climbing, and I will see you all in the center of the site.”

Luckily, all four squad members reached the center of the site, and each of them hid behind a solid cover, observing the circumstance of the ancient ruins before their eyes.

The gunfire had stopped, and bodies were lying around among the debris and decaying structures.

“Switch to your close-quarter combat gear and ready to proceed deeper into the site and find the borehole. The Sapiens have almost wiped each other out, and we just have to find their final survivors and take care of them.”

“Aight, brother, time for my shotgun to shine.” With an unfiltered hand-roll cigarette in his mouth, Dalang, call sign P16, started loading 12 gauge shells into his shotgun. Unlike everyone’s general firearms, his shotgun has Norse runes and Oriental charms inscribed all over it. The stocks of the piece were made out of serpent bones and according to its owner, the bones were from the dragon of despair Níðhöggr itself, thus the name the Malice Striker.

“Stick with me, P16; my two sniper rifles aren’t helpful in this ruin. ”

“Aight, O23, I got you covered. Don’t count on me to save your ass though, you know I was trained as a berserker by the meadheads, not a babysitter. ”

“I’m just saying out of courtesy, fool. I know you are not reliable, dude.” O23 replied.

“Can we loot some supplies from these poor bastards we just wiped, E05 ?” The grey-haired, teenager-looking squad member asked.

“What are you thinking, T11? We are on a clock. Wait until we are done.”

“Okay, okay. There are more fancy firearms down there anyway.” T11 grinned.

“Come on; you know how we operate. We don’t ask why or how only the who and what.” E05 slapped T11 in the back of the head lightly to shut him up.

“The curiosity is killing me. I will find out how to get these sweet firearms and fuse my divinity into them. ” T11 lowered his voice and murmured.

“It is what it—ptooey—is, bruh. Don’t let curiosity kill you. I know you want something like my shotgun, so I promise you I’ll find something better for you.” P16 heard T11 and replied after spitting out the tobacco in his mouth.

The shooting had stopped all of a sudden. On a battlefield, the silence was never good news.

The heavens did not care what was happening around this ancient dig site that predated even the gods. That day, whoever was on duty kept on firing lightning bolts and water down into the ruins just the same.

After thoroughly searching half of the dig site, there was visual confirmation of the other final surviving squad. There were Almost fifty bodies scattered in this ancient dig site.

“100 meters North East, my one o'clock, three hostiles were hiding behind the burning vehicle next to the dead trees. They have no idea where we are.”O23’s used his sniper scope as a telescope and reported.

“Alright, O23, do your thing and cover us from here. P16, flank and surprise them. T11, let’s advance. ” E05 said.

The Sapiens from all over the underground world sent their scouts to investigate the well to hell. The Norashu’s instruction of the infiltration was to blend in. In other words, they had to look, fight and move like the Sapiens. Any usage of divinity might be detected by the Sapiens and jeopardize the mission. They were only allowed to use their powers when they were the only ones alive at the site.

With O23 taking the first shot and shooting down a machine gunner, P16 sprinted through the debris and broken walls. The rain had eliminated the noises of his swift footsteps and O23’s suppressed shots.

The hostile squad could not leave their injured member alone. They tried their best shooting at the E05 and T11; the bullet storm grazed E05 and T11. The hostile squad could not leave their injured member alone---- fragile creatures and their ephemeral friendships.

Without using divinity, they can only consume nectar to heal themselves. “Slow down, P16; we need 6 seconds to patch ourselves; wait behind cover.” The battle-crazed immortal ignored E05’s order and advanced, looking for blood.

P16 successfully flanked the hostiles, and he was right behind a squad made of a dozen soldiers. The perfect moment he was looking for: the rush, the anxiety, and immense pressure. He took out his shotgun and started loading metal scraps into the confused enemies. After unloading six shots and killing six of them, he had no time to reload but whip out his handaxe and ducked behind an old tree for cover.

The desperate rifle shots penetrated the tree and planted themselves inside of P16.

“Engage, T11, O23, help P16!”

When those three rushed to the burning vehicle, P16 was lying behind an old tree and covered in his own blood. The lessons were learned that day: trees are not bulletproof, and so were immortals without divinity.

“Don’t mind me, those two are next to me and using me as bait, throw a grenade in my direction and end this E05. I‘ll stay here and wait for the clean-up team.” P16 used the last of his strength and screamed

“My apologies, my friend.” E05 pulled the pin out of his grenade and tossed it in P16’s direction.

KABOOM!

Bones to dust fleshes to ashes. The divine core collected the dust and the ashes. With pulses of exotic energy pumping out of his divine core, P16’s body was being weaved out cell by cell.

After hundreds of deconstruction and reconstruction, even P16 forgot what his face looked like in the beginning. The reason he joined these mercenaries was simple: this was the only place he was needed. He loved the skirmishes; they reminded him of the glorious days of the past.

“Hue-Hue-Hue, P16 will have to take his sweet time to piece himself together.” T11 giggled as the trickster spirit he is. “More loot down there for me!”

“That’s not very nice. ”E05 tried his best to hold in his laugh. “He took it for us, you know. Definitely not because he is a fool when it comes to fighting with firearms. After all, he was trained to be a berserker, not a rifleman.”

“What happened to mutual respect y’all?” O23 joined them and made fun of their fallen squad member. “Let him rest in pieces. Pun intended.”

“Alright, alright, knock it off, get your game faces on, and stop making fun of him. He will stay and defend and entrance to make sure no one tails us. You smell anything unusual, T11?”

“I can’t smell any living things around the ruins. I think we are clear to use our powers.” T11 sniffed around and drew his conclusion.

“Alright, you heard him; let’s see if the tunnel leads to the underworld or not. O23, signal Y42 our descend, he’ll know what to do. ”

O23 took a long breath and howled at the sky. His true identity was a canine spirit of the east, where he protected people in their travels. He craved more power and more influence, and those intentions led him here, much like the rest of Norashu. Why be a local guardian spirit when you can be a warrior worshipped by thousands across the world?

“What about P16? We can’t just leave his unconscious fat ass out h, and who knows what the damn mortals would do to his body.” O23 sounded concerned as he was the one who recruited P16, vouched for him, and promised him redemption and purpose.

“Trust his recovery speed, brother.” E05 took off his helmet and tied his long hair with a strain of silk ribbon. “A demi-god that serves two goddesses of death against mortals with nothing but firearms and bullets? My coins and shards are most certainly on P16.” E05 pulled out a wooden sword, a gourd, an umbrella covered in gems, along with a deck of yellow charms from his backpack. He was a self-made immortal from the east: a Xian, or Sennin.

Everyone started taking off their harnesses and dropping off their guns and ammunition. If their intelligence were correct, what awaited them down the endless tunnel would not be stopped by the mortals’ gunpowder weapons. They had

“Alright, gentlemen, let’s get to work and----May fortune be with our arms.”

They were the Norashu: the nameless and the homeless immortals. Some gods hired them to retrieve artifacts; some gods hired them to purge sacrileges; rumors even mentioned that they took up bounties from the mortals. In short, you offer your worship to them by letting them do their job.

Unknown forces have wiped out a whole underground colony. Every single underground faction has sent their scouts to investigate. And Norashu's order? Figure out what happened and leave no mortal witnesses and no evidence of their work.