Father Mathias, The Oracle

Father Mathias’s nose was bleeding extensively. It was quite surprising since he had thought that most of his blood would have already been swapped by the BFS liquid that coursed through its many cybernetics.

“So you do bleed…” Mused the cloaked figure in front of him, his fist still dripping from the Oracle’s blood.

“Surprisingly.” Blocking his open sinuse, he blew air through the blocked one and freed it, blood and mucus hitting the ground with a splat sound.

“Let us see how much more you have then!” The Assassin rushed towards him with his fist raised up.

“Tsk Tsk, so predictable.”

With just a thought, he activated the lasers hidden within his cybernetics knees. They were low powered, barely enough to puncture through steel from up close or even human flesh from afar. But this distance? It was a death sentence.

As predicted, the man fell on the ground groaning with two new holes in his body: one his right leg and the other on his chest, puncturing the heart. Already could Father Mathias see his wounds slowly starting to heal. Thankfully the laser wounds would slow him down a bit.

The cyborg walked closer to the downed man and pointed his index finger to it. A needle appeared and was aimed at the man’s throat, hitting him a few milliseconds after.

“Now you shall tell me all about you.” Said Father Mathias with a smile.

That slowly disappeared once he noticed that the man had stopped moving completely.

“Fucking son of a bitch!” He cursed loudly, kicking the corpse.

He was fuming, but immediately clarity came back to him, thanks to his extensive training or maybe just from his hormonal regulators installed inside his body. Looking around the street and homes, he could see his followers slowly peeking outside their covers to look at him. He had to put on a good show.

“My children!” - He started with a booming voice - ”While performing my daily duties, I have been attacked by an Unbeliever!” His finger pointing down at the still hot corpse.

Gasps all around him, their eyes angrily looking at the downed, cloaked figure.

“But fret not! For God has blessed me and striked him down for me!”

“I saw it! He fell down on his own!”

“True!”

“Thank you, God!”

Oh yes, they all believed him, as they should! This is what they say about turning a deadly situation into a profitable one, even if he would have loved to interrogate the fucker that tried to kill him. This shall suffice, for now.

“My dear children… My brothers and sisters…” - His voice going lower, a single tear slowly forming on his normal eye - “The time has come for us to rise and defend ourselves, our homes!”

“But how!?” Shouted back one of the younger boys.

Father Mathias turned to him, a big fake smile plastered on his face.

“I will show you… You will just have to trust me.”

“I trust you, Father!”

He then turned to look at all the others.

“Do you all do?”

““Yes, Father!”” They all shouted in unison.

Perfect. It was all perfect. The plan had begun a bit too soon that the Absolute had anticipated. But that was the exact reason why he had been chosen to oversee this whole operation.

“Hallowed be the Absolute foresight, for nothing escapes its mind’s eye!”

With prayer in mind and heart on fire he prepared for the conflict. Many of his followers would die, but that was a price that he was willing to pay. He would continue to walk this accursed land until he was redeemed of all of his sins. Looking towards the future, Father Mathias was starting to doubt one lifetime would be enough for that.

Yue Fei “Abraham Fu”, The West Heavenly King

“So you really have nothing?” Asked for the second time today Abraham Fu, his index finger gently tapping on his desk.

“Fubar, sir.” Responded the technician with slumped shoulders, his eyes darting around his office, too ashamed to see him in the eye.

Yue Fei, the man behind the facade of Abraham Fu, sighed. He knew it was useless to ask but even so, he wanted to be even more sure. Maybe he would lie to him, just so that Yue could feel a bit better. But alas he had to face the truth.

His eyes wandered to what was under his finger:

*Report 01: Zhong Kui’s damage report*

The Iron Soldier’s rampage had made a mess of all the surrounding buildings and his organization had to supposedly pay reparations to the Lion’s Share. Like hell he would, but the sight of that damned paper on his paper stroked the embers in his heart even more.

“Why the hell still use paper? What a fucking waste.”

Back at home, everything was measured, done efficiently, they had to when the other alternative was the death of someone close to you.

Again, a sight escaped his mouth.

“M-may I excuse myself now, sir?” A voice brought him back to the situation at hand.

The poor technician stood helplessly there, staring at the black wall as if it would suck him away from that awkward position he found himself in. With a hand gesture, the man stood up and left. Now Yue could wallow in self-thought all alone without anyone to interrupt him.

*Knock Knock*

Seems that life had more surprises for him.

“Come in.” He said after a few seconds of silence.

One of his Jiangshi rushed in.

“We have found the aggressor, West Heavenly King.” her voice very much a monotone through the whole sentence.

A smile began to form on his face.

“Now this is auspicious news!” - he exclaimed, getting up from his chair and grabbing his coat - “Show me the way!”

“As you wish, Heavenly King.”

The Grinning Devil

A pop up appeared on his feed. It contained a short character profile he had made for the Unknown in front of him.

Name: Brunehilde Luxemburg

Affiliation: EUP - High Class Unknown

Enhancement: Bio-Cybernetic (Sound)

Danger: 8 C, ?I

*whistle* “8? That is quite dangerous.”

Even the Mad Dog that he previously dealt with, was only a 4. The one that had shot in the bunker was a measly 5, he had been quite lucky to have found him in those conditions.

“8 means that I cannot engage in combat,but…”

His eyes looked at the downed Lion of Ural.

“No steam yet.”

A bullet passed by, a few inches of his mask. Whoever this sniper was, he really had to do some target practice.

"Khutulun, grab Chiyome and deal with the sniper threat.”

Immediately, she grabbed the damaged cyborg and sprinted down in one of the buildings surrounding the plaza. Bullets flew past her, never touching her or Chiyome.

“N-”

Before the Grinning Devil could begin with his part for the scene, a fist threatened to destroy his face. Her knuckles barely scratch the nose of the mask. Yet that was enough for cracks to appear on it, spreading like a spider’s web on it. The Devil grabbed her arm, and used her own weight to judo throw her. Or at least, that was the plan. The moment his hand touched the somewhat rough armor, a soundwave flung him three meters away.

His head was almost hitting the ground, but with a quick movement he was able to do a backward roll using his shoulders to cushion the fall. The momentum allowed him to fall back on his feet.

“No CQB then.” He thought while dusting his vest.

Grabbing his laser pistol. he trained his aim on her. Many thoughts were running in his head. Considering the fact that no sniper shot had tried to blow a new hole in him, it meant that Khutulun had engaged with the sniper. Good, that was one factor less he had to think of.

The gun started heating on his hand, it seemed like today it was overheating more than usual. His experience told him that he had at most 4 shots before the gun would fall apart. Hopefully they would be enough.

Looking around, the Grinning Devil noticed that the Lion of Ural had moved from where he was shot. Admitelly, it was a difference of less than half a meter, but even that was noticeable to him. One of the eyes of Lion had fully formed and was staring at him with its eyelid-less stare. Creepy, but the Devil understood the hidden message concealed in it.

Nevertheless he had to make a good plan. Using his helmet scanner, he tried to locate her armor power source. Once found, he instructed one of his androids to stand by one of the neighboring buildings, just in case. Now, the dance could begin.

“I assume y-” Again, the soundwave emanating from her punching motion forced him to close his mouth without spouting a full sentence.

“Tsk.”

With much annoyance, the Devil dodge the wave, only later to see Brunihilde propel herself to him. Displaying almost inhuman levels of elasticity, the masked Unknown bent his knees and his back barely touched the ground below him, in a limbo-like movement. While she was passing over him, he was able to fire a single shot aimed at her chest. Unfortunately, the position did not allow for a clear shot so the laser went through her chest, exiting off her shoulder blades.

“One.”

The Iron Lady instead of smashing through the wall, used her legs as springs and pushed herself towards him again, destroying the wall in the meanwhile. While she was flying towards him, the Devil noticed one detail so tried to put his theory to test. His knees snapped back into place and did a mid air somersault jump. Now he had a clear shot to her chest.

“Two.”

Brunhilde's expression did not hide her surprise, but that was immediately changed into one not of fear, but of amusement. Again, a huge soundwave flung the Grinning Devil to a rooftop nearby. He was able to cushion the fall, although all this assault to his body was taking a toll on his body. Nevertheless, he had gleamed a potentially battle-winning clue.

The weapon he had been holding on till now had grown hot enough to begin scorching his skin. He switched the laser pistol on his other hand and dusted himself for the second time today.

“I am beginning to see a pattern here.”

“Let me kill her.”

“Go back to your hole you.”

“You cannot defeat her.”

“What are you, a pessimistic disembodied voice in my head?”

“You cannot die.”

The Grinning Devil felt something on his throat, as if someone was trying to choke him.

“I will not not.”

As soon as it came, that sensation disappeared.

“Lovely interaction with myself, sorta.”

He shook his head to bring himself back to the fight he was in. The moment he reopened his eyes, he saw Brunhilde in front of him, having jumped at least three stories up with a singular jump. Her open palms were directed at him, from them came a soundwave that threw him at a door, breaking it in the process and making him fall down some pair of stairs.

Thankfully, the Grinning Devil had jumped last second so he could somewhat control his body mid-air. While breaking a door open with his own body was not the most pleasant experience, it allowed him to cut line of vision with the Iron Lady and begin his plan to take her down. Maybe, hopefully.

The few people that were in the building, stopped on their tracks once they saw the figure that had crashed through the roof. The smoke that had risen in the air did not allow a clear sight of it, the only thing they could clearly see was the face of a black-skinned Devil with some golden accessories. The floating head passed by them, most of them not even noticing that he had passed by until they heard a window shatter. Whatever it was, they did not turn their head to look and pressed on with their escape.

The Grinning Devil, while mid-air, dislodged one of his horns and carefully positioned it when he first met the ground, before rolling ahead. This time however, he decided to lay on the ground face up, his gun ready to fire

“They say you are dangerous, but it seems your legend has been greatly exaggerated.” Shouted Brunihilda from a few meters away, slowly approaching the downed masked Unknown.

“Well, legends are always greatly exaggerated…” - started the Devil - “but they always hold a kernel of truth!”

“Three!”

The laser pistol fired its third shot. From this distance, it was easily dodgeable for the Iron Lady. It was such a pathetic attempt, that she felt pity for the Grinning Devil. She had been ragdolling him all fight long. While he had somewhat come close to kill her, that was it. Close is not enough to cut it. She could already imagine it, the accolade she would get from the Department and the EUP for having dealt with the Grinning Devil, the supposedly most dangerous Unknown in the world.

“That’s what she is most likely thinking.”

Dodging on her right, caused her to get close to the horn which exploded in a cacophony of sounds and light, blinding and deafening all in a five meter radius. Seizing this opportunity, the Lion of Ural jumped on her. His face was still in the process of reconstruction, yet his eyes did not hide his beast-like ferocity, and neither did his shouting, causing droplets of blood and spit fall on her face. Using this distraction the Devil took aim and waited for the opportunity to come.

Out of panic most likely, the Iron Lady triggered the same explosion that pushed the Grinning Devil and Khutulum away, though this one was quite more powerful. The Bloody Lion was thrown away, crushing through a building nearby and hitting a car on the other side. But his actions did not leave him empty handed, he was able to strip a parting gift from the German lady: her arms.

“Four.”

With confident steps, the Grinning Devil walked to the now kneeling figure on Brunhilda with the searing weapon hidden inside his vest.

“Last words?” Asked the Devil, while looking down at her. His leg resting on a piece of debri and his elbow leaning on top of it.

“THIS!”

She opened her mouth fully open, expecting something to come out. But only words of confusion came out.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” She then asked the Devil.

He said nothing.

The hopelessness of her situation now befell her. She started crawling on the ground and away from the Grinning Devil.

“PLEASE…PLEASE!”

His silence persisted. That only fueled her paranoia. She continued to plead for someone to help her, to save her, but nobody answered her calls for help. Some of the residents started to curiosly look at the events unfolding before them. They saw this lady, who had destroyed their houses with much spite but seeing her in that pitiful condition…they could not find it in their hearts to hate her. Their attention turned to the silent masked one, to them he looked like Death, patiently awaiting the death of this poor soul. They were somewhat right.

The Grinning Devil's last shot had hit her armor’s power source. He had noticed that there was an interval of a few seconds between each soundwave, so she could not use rapid repetition. Thankfully his theory had been right, otherwise he may have needed to use more… painful plans to deal with her.

Unfortunately, or fortunately in a way, the armor regulated her body hormonal control. She would soon feel the tremendous pain of her wounds, most likely dying of shock if she was lucky, or bleeding out if she was unlucky.

“You have grown callous.”

“...”

“Once you fought with blood and nail so people did not have to suffer like that, even your enemies.”

“Shut up.”

The Headless Shadow laughed.

“You have changed, becoming similar to me.”

“SHUT UP”

The Shadow laughed even harder.

“It is just a matter of time…”

After that ominous sentence, the presence left his conscious mind. The Grinning Devil walked toward the Iron Lady, ready to put her out of misery. But she already passed away.

“Lucky for her.”

He bent down and closed her eyes, he could do at least this much. After patting the corpse’s shoulder, he started walking towards the Lion. When he was inside the building, he heard an explosion shake the whole building.

“I have had almost enough with this shit.”

Poking his head out from the hole that Fjodor made, he could see the SUV in which he had crashed had become a flaming wreck. He had just hit the only car that still had some fuel in it.

“What an unlucky son of a bitch.”

The Grinning Devil was beginning to turn back and check up on Khutulun, but a flaming figure had stolen all of his attention. From the wreck a somewhat human figure walked through, the smell of singed flesh obliged the Devil to activate his mask filtering systems. The flame elemental walked towards him. Immediately, the masked Unknown senses came back to him and he rushed for a fire extinguisher in the building. After finding one, he runned back towards the human shaped fire and started spraying.

From a man made of fire, now he was a man made of dense foam, though if one was careful, he could see the glistening red outer muscle twitching under his every movement. The Grinning Devil was truly astonished, he had only seen one man with such wounds still live to tell the tale. Before any other thoughts could form in his mind, a rougher, but still familiar voice spoke to him.

“Where… is… Ana?” His words came out slowly, as if his jaw was stiff from a long night of drinking.

“S-sure, I was able to get info on her whereabouts.”

“Where?”

“I’ll lead the way.”

“Fast.”

“Yes, Undying Boss.”

The Lion groaned. The duo started running towards where Khutulun was. After all, he still had some uses for this beast of a man. Just in case, he ordered his androids to bring Ana closer to their position, in the event of the Lion’s trying to break his shackles. The Grinning Devil had dealt with one outside problem, this would give him some respite from the Department for a while he hoped. The truly problematic one was the Black Hand, but he had plans for them. As he always did.