Commerce District - Verdun's Capital City

Team Phantom

The eight Nightmare operatives from the second team crouched on a slanted rooftop adjacent to the objective building performing their routine pre-raid equipment check.

"Blessed one on the top floor...I'll take him" The ninth member of the team stated coldly as he stood next to the others, arms crossed, head fixed intently at the building across from them.

He wore a suit of tight-fitting black reinforced cloth armor covered with intricately designed skulls and runic symbols covering his steel pauldrons, greaves, bracers, and boots. The steel gauntlets adorning his hands ended in razor-sharp points, mimicking a five-fingered claw more than an armored glove. A dark grey mask completely obscured his face under his flowing hood, which tucked directly into the back of his armor at the neck. His mask had faded with time; its once elaborately carved features now bore dozens of scars, worn down from years of use. He stood at well over six feet and made for an imposing figure. His obsidian black sword rested on his back, moonlight shimmering off the curved blade.

"Prepare yourselves" The man ordered into the cool night breeze.

"Masks!" The Nightmare squad leader called to the tactical team.

The members all took small red pills and lifted their face masks, cloaked hoods already drawn.

The ninth member walked to the building's edge and turned his head towards a team of soldiers taking cover behind a stone wall in front of the main quartyard of the building. "It's time I introduce myself."

Every light source within a hundred meters flickered, then extinguished as he suddenly vanished. Black smoke evaporating from where he once stood.

"Holy shit...did he just..." One member whispered to another.

"Showtime gentlemen, begin the operation" the squad leader called out as the men quickly rose and began to make the leap across the roof and onto the objective building.

-

The world froze, grey fog enveloping the space around him. The sensation was a cold and lonely one, like everything that had ever been had been gone for a long, long time. "This never gets any easier," He thought to himself as he felt the endless grey fog wash across his bare skin.

Armor gone, he stood motionless in the grey nothingness, the ethereal breeze blowing through his short black hair. His focus narrowed and he flexed every muscle in his body as the grey fog began to shift before him, before slowly grinding to a halt.

"Nyx?" He thought to himself before a cold breath washed over the back of his bare neck.

"Not so fast" A soft voice whispered into his ear as a pair of thin feminine arms wrapped over his wide shoulders.

"Juno" he breathed out, his body frozen in place.

"You sound surprised to see me, my darling. Hoping for someone else here, in this endless abyss?" She cooed, running her dainty fingers gently over his scar covered face. "No masks here my love, I get to see all of you"

"I suppose this is my penance for wielding a cursed blade from the demon lord of envy," He thought to himself. "What do you want?"

"Everything," She smiled. "But today I'll settle for a demon. He's one of Dante's lower level servants."

"I want you to put my blade" She began as she brought her left arm behind him and pushed two fingers into his back "right through his heart" She whispered.

"I'm a little busy at the moment" He responded.

"I'm serious Zero...he's become a problem we no longer have the luxury of overlooking." She sighed as her ice-cold hands traipsed down his arms, and his empty green eyes slowly closed.

"Are they a threat to our ambitions?" He breathed.

"Mmm-hmmm" she mumbled into his back. He could feel her waist-deep hair brush against him as a thin pair of horns rested on his skin.

"Then they'll not see another sunrise," He stated plainly.

"Thank you," She whispered as she snaked her icy arms under his and held them against his chest. "My shadow," She said, squeezing him tightly.

"Shadow?" He breathed.

"I can see what burns deep within you, in that endless nightmare of yours" She whispered as she pressed her fingers into his skin, sending a shiver down his spine.

"Cold," He sighed.

"What?" She said in a higher pitch than she intended, surprised by the sudden remark.

"You're always so cold" He breathed, a faint smile spreading across his face. "Not that I mind"

"That's what I have you for." She murmured against his back as she held him tighter, soaking in his warmth.

The grey fog around him began to shift slowly again, and the mysterious sound of a far off creature could be heard bellowing in the distance.

"Looks like we're out of time, darling" she lamented, slowly pulling away from him.

The absence of her body's icy touch was quickly missed as his faint smile faded just as quickly as it had appeared.

The grey fog began to pick up speed around him, tussling his hair as it twisted and whipped against his skin.

"Have fun playing with the other humans, and don't forget the demon" Were the last words he heard from her before the fog whipped up into a gale around him and he lost the feeling of her presence.

"He's already dead, he just doesn't know it yet" He responded into the now empty void.

He flexed his muscles and sharpened his focus as the world came into view again. His feet remained planted in place as the grey fog blasted around him until the world snapped back, and he once again found himself in the land of the living.

-

"Light me, would you," a scrawny man sitting behind a large wooden desk asked his bodyguard.

"Sure thing boss," The red-haired thug standing beside him said as he leaned his hand down and extended his index finger. A small flame ignited from the digit, swiftly igniting the cigar.

"Well, at least you're good for one thing." The scrawny man jeered as he took a large puff before leaning back in his chair.

"Relax. You got nothing to worry about with me around,'' the taller man cackled as he pointed a finger to himself. "I trained at the White Fang temple in Ashmir. Now I may have not graduated...but that's still gotta count for something, right?" the man finished, chuckling to himself.

"You're certainly no diamond, that's for sure," The Scrawny man remarked, rolling his eyes before taking another puff of his cigar and shifting his attention back to the documents sprawled before him.

Suddenly the twin lanterns adorning the walls flickered before going out, and it felt as if a cool breeze had suddenly washed into the room.

The thug raised a finger and ignited it to briefly illuminate the small office room.

"What the-" were the only words the bodyguard could muster before a steel gauntlet grabbed the back of his head and slammed it down into the table. The impact splattering a smatter of blood onto the new arrival's black armor. The embers coming from the man's fingers fizzling out with a bit of smoke.

"Well fuck" the scrawny man said as he took another puff before smothering the large cigar, sending the room back into darkness.

"Expecting my visit?" Zero commented in a curious tone.

"The Syndicate deals in many trades, and we know our enemies even better than our friends..." The thin man divulged.

"Cobra?" Zero asked casually.

"Viper" The thin man corrected, lowering his gaze to his right foot where he could feel his former bodyguard's arm was laying.

"What?" Zero asked as he moved behind the seated criminal, laying his razor-sharp gauntlets on his shoulders.

"Yes! Cobra. That's me alright. What do you want?" The thin man choked out.

"Everything" He couldn't help responding as a faint smirk briefly crossed his masked face. The sword on his back hummed softly, as if Juno herself had chuckled at his antics.

"Well, I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement," the scrawny man smirked.

Zero gave an unimpressed sigh as the sound of windows breaking and loud bangs could be heard through the room's only door. The bangs were quickly followed by the sounds of combat before it all quieted to a hush.

"What the fuck is this?" the scrawny man cried shakily as he attempted to stand. He couldn't move an inch as the gauntlets began to rip through his suit and claw into his skin, drawing blood.

"Where's the ledger?" Zero asked coldy.

"My personal estate, outside the capital in the-" The man began before he felt the gauntlet's razor sharp claws dig further into his skin.

"Doubtful," Zero growled impatiently. "If you wish to remain among the living, the next words you speak ought to be the truth."

"Behind me...hidden room behind the bookshelf" He coughed as noticed his hand was shaking. "P-Pull the secret book, it's called The Sor-." The scrawny man offered before he felt a sharp pain to the back of his neck and went limp.

"I don't have time for this" Zero thought to himself as he turned and punched straight through the bookcase before ripping a hole and pulling himself through into an even smaller room. He opened the only desk and grabbed all three journals with his blood stained gauntlets before climbing back through the hole into the office. He brushed the dust off his pauldrons before he opened the door and walked past the two Nightmare operatives who now guarded it. The large room was chilly, courtesy of the smashed windows which lined the walls.

"Were you able to acquire the ledger?" the Nightmare squad leader asked as he walked past a row of thugs on their knees, arms tied behind their backs.

Zero's head turned slowly to face the approaching soldier. "Check these," He said before bringing the journals to the man's cloak and wiping the blood off them before handing them to him.

"Ummmm, thanks. Good work" The Nightmare leader said as he looked down at his now blood-smeared cloak, frowning. He raised an eyebrow as he discarded two novels and pocketed the black one, filled with pages upon pages of names and places.

They suddenly heard a large crash from several floors down through the shattered windows.

Zero's sword began to softly vibrate as his head snapped towards the front-facing wall of the room. "There he is."

"There who is?" the Nightmare team leader asked as he watched Zero stride to a window and plant a hand on its ledge. He paused briefly as if waiting for something before vaulting over the edge.

The team leader blinked and shook his head before turning to face his team. "God's, that's at least a sixty-foot drop...is he even human?"

"Check the room he came from, secure any high-value targets and intel. We'll let the knights clean up the rest"

-

"I'll be taking over from here," Zero told Graves as he watched him get pulled into the street by cloaked figures. He then shifted his focus towards the half-destroyed doorframe of the building's entrance where a new figure had appeared.

"Humans really are pathetic creatures, they don't even make good camouflage. You know, you really shouldn't have done that" Said the shirtless man resting against the building's half-destroyed door frame. His thin, curved horns stretching back above his long blond hair. Strange symbols carved across his tanned, muscular chest.

"The name's Alistair. Beg for mercy and I'll consider offering you a quick death for killing my pet" the demon commanded, eyeing the creature's battered corpse.

"You'll be joining it shortly," Zero answered, his gauntlets curling into fists.

The demon moved with incredible speed, dashing in and slamming his fist into Zero's now crossed bracers, sliding him back several feet from the massive impact. The demon attempted to follow it up with another blitz before a row of golden swords came crashing down from the night sky forming a line in front of him.

"This just became a veterans battlefield. Clear the area, anyone not prepared to fight a demon noble retreat to the perimeter immediately!'' Galahad boomed as he strode past the Nightmare team members taking shelter against the stone wall of the courtyard with a contingent of royal knights on either side of him.

"Fucking Hyperion," The demon sneered as he reached out a hand and touched one of the golden swords planted in the ground, which he quickly withdrew with a pained hiss.

Zero shifted his head back towards Galahad for a moment before returning it to the demon, his intentions made clear.

"He's all yours" Galahad called out before moving to stand in front of the retreating forces. His angel wing fading as he lowered his massive tower shield, resting it on the cold earth. The gold lion on its face reflecting the now dimming red glow of the flare.

"Not drawing your sword?" the demon scoffed.

"That part comes last" Zero breathed into the chilly night breeze, pacing back and forth along the division as blood dripped from his armor. The golden swords resting in the ground between them began to slowly fade away as the knights surrounding the courtyard began to murmur amongst themselves.

"What's with the mask..." "Which one is the demon?" "H-He's covered in blood..." "What kind of person hides their face..." "What do we really know about him?" "What if he turns on us..."

"Hahahaha, this is too good, your own men don't even trust you! What a joke!" The Demon laughed with a mocking grin, arms spread wide.

Zero's head tilted as a thought...no, a feeling flashed through his mind. Something from a memory, or another life long forgotten, buried in too much shadow and blood for him to recall.

"Ooo ooo...sha" Graves tried to chant through fits of coughing blood.

"Ooo ooo sha"

"Ooo ooo ooo sha sha" Another Nightmare member joined in.

"OOO OOO OOO SHA SHA SHA" The other six Nightmare members chanted, and before long the ominous tune filled the courtyard.

"What is that?" "What are they doing?" "I think it's Black Blade's war chant..."

A few moments later the swords finally evaporated into golden dust and vanished into the moonlit sky.

"OOO OOO OOO SHA SHA SHA!"

The demon's eyes grew wide as Zero devoured the space between them in a single surge, the earth crumbling where he had lept from. His right gauntlet smashed into the demon's crossed forearms, sliding him back a few meters from the explosive impact.

"OOO OOO OOO SHA SHA SHA!"

Before the demon could react Zero followed up with a flurry of brutal strikes. His steel fists ripped into the demon's arms, drawing blood and cracking bone.

The demon backflipped into the building and stretched his wounded arm towards his menacing opponent before it began to glow with pulsing black energy.

"OOO OOO OOO SHA SHA SHA!"

Zero just barely rolled to the side before a swirling ball of darkness exploded where he had been standing, leaving only black ash where it had detonated. He leaped forward and grabbed the top of the door frame before propelling himself through the doorway and delivering a vicious kick to the demon's upper body, sending him crashing through the wall behind him.

As Zero slowly ducked through the hole in the wall into the empty storage room he noticed Alistair leaning against the back wall spitting blood as he attempted to stand. As he walked towards him the demon began to lean forward and stretch out his hand again. Before he could summon the blast of darkness Zero grabbed his wrist and forcefully twisted it upward. It snapped with a loud crack as the demon howled in pain, falling back against the wall.

"Human filth" The demon spat before Zero drew his right elbow back and brought his gauntlet down in a vicious strike that disfigured the demon's face slightly. Alistair mumbled incoherently in response, barely clinging to consciousness.

"What the fuck are you?" The demon choked out as he raised his head to gaze into Zero's cold, emotionless mask.

"Death" Zero responded as he shifted his left gauntlet around the demon's neck, and effortlessly lifted him against the wall. He drew the sword from his back and held its tip over the demon's heart.

"Please, I'll give you anything, everything! Power! I can offer you power!" Alistair begged, his confident facade melting by the second.

"Shh shhh shhh" Zero whispered as the sword pushed gently through the demon's tanned skin, piercing his heart. "Now you're nothing too."

The sword hummed as it pushed through his heart and the demon's arms dropped limply to his sides, the dark light fading from his eyes.

Zero withdrew the blade before running it along the demon's arm, cleaning the blood from it before sheathing it and casting the lifeless body aside as it evaporated into ash before hitting the ground. His head slowly turned to the room's only door to reveal several figures standing there, eyes wide, mouths agape in abject terror.

Galahad could hear muffled screams from within the building as he watched Zero exit. He swiftly commanded the surrounding knights forward to clean up the rest of the Syndicate members and secure any documents missed in the initial raid.

"Till we meet again," Galahad stated, eyeing Zero's blood-stained gauntlets.

"Indeed" Zero responded as he strode past him into the moonlit street. He turned his head towards the injured Graves and gave a shallow nod before the street lanterns flickered and he vanished.