2.7

The Peacekeeper

Six wasn’t the only agent back in action. While most them hadn’t fully recovered from being frozen yet, the numbered elites were all on standby. And asides from the Canadian agent, Three and Four were also on the fields. Their objectives? The death of the Divines.

Only one of her aide was available, the Japanese agent, Four, was deployed anyway. But her mission came to a halt when the stars aligned and they encountered one of the Divine himself on the road, Silas Greaves.

“Do you an eye on the target?” Four asked her aide.

“No, but he is definitely up there, on that rock” Sparrow answered, his good eye still fixated on the scope.

In this world, the construction of guns were simply impossible. The natural energy flow diffused all non-mana caused ignition and high velocity moment. And so, an aide like Sparrow whose power could be harnessed into a long-range rifle, was invaluable.

“Good, if you catch glimpse of him, feel free to put him in the ground”

“My pleasure” Sparrow channelled his power into the rifle. This was needed every few seconds to maintain the velocity required for a clean shot. Even for a professional like Sparrow, this was still highly inconvenience. But this time, maybe his rifle wouldn’t even be necessary, because their target was alone and Four was ready.

The agent walked out, towering over 2 meters in height with a rather lanky figure, Four was something straight out of an urban legend. A fact that she fully embraced. Donning black combat gear outfitted with metallic armours, her featureless white ballistic mask certainly stood out. But unlike the masked ones, Four mask had a crudely painted mouth that were way too wide.

Back in the old world, the legend of Kuchisake-onna (slit-mouth woman) was fresh in any budding terrorist cells on Japanese soil.

Here in this land now called Eden, it was said that the False Sheppard based the white mask used by the Fallen on this operative. Perhaps that may dampen Four’s impact, but it didn’t make the woman any less dangerous.

Taking a deep breath, Four briefly analyzed the environment before dashing of with frightening speed. A bullet immediately whizzed past her face.

Asides from Sparrow, there was another individual in this world that use gun-like weapon, the Divine Silas himself. The sniper himself learnt that the painful way. The bullet had been left embedded in his damaged eye as a reminder. But now, it was loaded within the sniper rifle. One good thing about mana-powered gun, they could fire any caliber.

Four once again dodged the same bullet as it flew back at her. Silas could control the trajectory of his projectiles at will, it seemed like the turning was much tighter than a century ago. But it wasn’t something Four couldn’t handle. To her surprise, another bullet was heading straight at her. The woman evaded the shot only to find a third bullet hidden behind the previous one.

Luckily, Four shifted her body in time for the projectile to slide past her metallic protection. Silas fired a smaller bullet with lower velocity and penetration than Sparrow, but it was enough to pierce Four ballistic weaves.

So that rascal could control three different projectiles now. That still wawsn’t much, at least for this stretch.

The woman easily reached the gigantic rock next to the river which was probably raised by an Edict. Now the problem was to scale this thing. Climbing it was not that difficult but her maneuverability would be severely affected, easy prey for those pesky homing bullets. Or at least that was what Silas had planned.

So predictable, Four thought to herself.

The agent activated the switch hidden in her gauntlet. In an instant, a high dosage of the Ladder was immediately injected into Four’s bloodstream.

Gritting her teeth, the woman dug her hands and feet into the rock and started to scale the thing. With her already monstrous strength even further enhanced, Four could easily dodge the bullets even while climbing. It took her about a second to scale the rock. Face to face with the Divine, once again after a century.

Silas was now no longer the bumbling boy of old. The man was simply sitting there smoking his newly rolled cigarette, the gunslinger duster fluttering in the wind.

“Hm? You are here just in time, star gazing is always better with a lady” Silas Greaves took a swig off his own brewed alcohol and flashed a smile “Why don’t you take off that scary mask, I would love to admire your beauty”

After concluding that there was no trap laid in the area, Four immediately charged at the man.

“It seems like you aren’t in the mood, that’s too bad”

If there was any witness, they would swear up and down that in this encounter under the starry sky in the middle of the Eden’s wilderness, the Divine drew his revolver with speed faster than light itself. And it took him equally as quick to unload the remaining three shots. And that his bullets flew artfully through the air, circling his opponent. It seemed like Four was in a swell trouble now.

The agent, however, had no time for Silas nonsense. Despite having facing each other a century prior, the Divine had never seen her power.

Four dodged and deflected the bullets, but eventually they would find the mark. But the agent didn’t intend that to happen. She carefully observed the trajectory, where they were heading. Eventually, three of them line the way Four wanted to and that was all she needs.

Unleashing her power, a field of electricity surrounded Four, negating the Divine power. No longer bounded, the bullets flew straight. And three of them was pointing at Silas himself.

“Oh dear”

The Divine grabbed the alcohol bottled and easily rolled out of the way.

“That’s a nice light show there, is there anything else you want to show me?”

Four didn’t care for single words coming out of his mouth as her mission here was done. The woman didn’t need to take down the Divine himself, oh no, she just needed to displace him.

Scoped trained on the target’s head, Sparrow fired the perfect shot.

The bullet whizzed through the air and… broke Silas bottle.

“What the” How could this be, had the century spent encased in ice dampened Sparrow’s skill somehow. That was impossible.

At that moment, the sniper could feel a familiar chill running through his back. He had experienced it not that long ago, hot behind the Divine’s trail. Sparrow was dumbfounded as the chill remained, then it finally dawned on him.

All these time, the mana flew around them wasn’t natural and his body picked up on it. No, they had entered the domain of the Divine a long time ago.

He could only watch as the bullet fired from his gun took a sharp turn and punctured Four’s stomach. It didn’t hit any vital as the woman realized what had happened in time.

Sparrow’s bullet was fired with much greater velocity and yet for it to make such a turn. All six rounds that Silas had fired sprung back to life as they made instantaneous turn, surrounding the agent. The Divine had been hiding his true strength.

Puffing his cigarette, Silas drew out another revolver from under his duster and fanned the hammer.

With thirteen bullets homed onto Four like vultures, no amount of agility could save her now. The agent was soon riddled with holes. The woman staggered back and fell into the cold river under the starry sky.

And what about Sparrow, a single bullet flew back destroying his scope, stopping right in front of the sniper remaining eye. It was one he was so used to, one that had been lodged into him for a century.

But not all was old, no the bullet was now coated with blood of the one he swore to protect.

That wasn’t something new. Sparrow remembered his family back home. He failed to protect them too. Then there was his country, everyone he knew. The weary sniper closed his eye one last time.

Silas Greaves sighed and gazes at the sky. Such a scene, all it needed was some alcohol. He brought the bottle to his lips to find it empty. Oh right, he shot it earlier to show off.

What a shame. What a shame.