OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 196: Road Block III

Chapter 196: Road Block III

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"Jake, can you inscribe the weapons again?" Emir asked as he landed on the cruiser while setting Lyra and Emma down.

Jake handed them their weapon back.

"Yeah, I can, but it won't be for long; I barely filled up my reserve."

Lyra took hold of Emir's Vindicator AR and asked:

"What now? Do we try to clear them out?"

Emir nodded.

"We try, but we need to keep moving away; let them chase us; we can't be caught fighting the monsters and the ones behind them."

"Understood."

"By the way, Lyra, how many do you think we killed so far?"

"I might've missed a few, but based on my observation, it was around 300-400."

"So you did accept a job request!"

Emma then cut into their conversation, confused as always:

"Job request? How did you reach that conclusion?"

Emir shrugged, and Jake answered in his stead:

"Probably the fact that Lyra never misses a chance to gain an advantage, be it money or

otherwise. And the fact that she counted the number of monsters we killed can mean that she took a monster subjugation job."

"Ah, I get it now... Good job, second boss!"

Lyra chuckled and waved Emma's praise away.

[Good job, Lyra.]

But her steps paused when she heard the same praise from Emir, her eyes widening to the extreme, showing obvious signs of happiness.

[....Anything for you.]

[Hmhm.]

She sounded a telepathic giggle at his dismissal and continued on her way, climbing onto the cruiser's roof.

Emir and the rest followed after her, all equipped with their weapon of choice, magazines full.

Ready to thunder.

Lyra commanded the cruiser to slow down slightly, and soon the monsters began to catch up to them.

With his arms around his minigun, Emir raised his weapon and announced: "OPEN FIRE!"

...

Minute after minute, the sound of gunfire never ceased.

Lyra made sure of that, as she was the spearhead of their defense.

The four of them kept matching each other's pace, as Lyra informed them when to slow down or speed up and when to reload.

Blade Runner, their cruiser, kept marching away from the diminishing horde, dodging all attacks.

The ones that managed to reach it were easily blocked by its shield.

Nothing was stopping them, and soon the last of the horde was killed as Emir's Aetherstorm launcher blasted through the remaining monsters.

Emir put his weapon on his shoulder, then turned around and faced his companions.

"Ammo?"

"None." Emma answered while shaking her head.

"I'm all out."

Jake said the same, while Lyra replied:

"A few mags, but that's about it."

Emir nodded and threw his weapons away.

The others did the same, and a pile of weapons formed on the roof of their cruiser.

"Fuck it then, we go melee... Lyra, are there any structures around us?"

She took a moment of pause and then said:

"Yes, a rock formation a few kilometers away; we can fight them there."

"Set course."

She nodded and headed down to the center console.

Emir turned back and looked at the wasteland.

He soon noticed that a few vehicles were following them in the distance.

'So it was Alex....'

'Good.'

Emir felt relief wash over him at that thought; he simply couldn't imagine what he would do if that guardian was involved.

[ETA?] He telepathically asked Lyra.

[One minute and six seconds.]

***

A certain amount of time later, a man standing on his cruiser's roof watched from afar as Emir

led the way and jumped off his cruiser.

He was followed by the rest of his cohort.

They were met by a large stone hill, smack dab in the middle of an empty wasteland.

The hill contained many small pockets of withered stone, creating caves that had most

definitely housed monsters at some point.

'They probably want to fight us there...'

Next to the hill was a cluster of rock formations.

"Hmmm... So they want to use that to thin out our numbers, flank us, and use them as

cover...."

"Easy, we just stay away and shoot from afar, wasting their Aether even more!"

The man grew excited.

This was the place where they would end their lives and stand their ground as saviors.

He didn't get why that was the case, but he was excited nonetheless.

Never question the brotherhood!

A few moments passed, and now they were set upon them.

He looked around as their own cruisers and bikes rolled through the ground, splattering mud

everywhere around them.

They soon stopped away from the enemy, their ranks organized in files.

The cruisers were at the front, and the bikes stood next to them, using their shields in case of

any attacks that reached them.

The man then walked forward with his AR, reaching the edge of the cruiser's roof.

He silently watched their opposition.

Their target, Emir, stood with his twin swords at the forefront.

He was flanked by someone called Amanda with gauntlet blades, who was in between a staff-

wielding Jake and Emma.

He then looked around him.

'Why is no one shooting?!'

Even his cohort captain was hesitating, his hand hovering over the trigger multiple times but

never managing to press it.

"WE'VE GOT TO KILL HIM WHILE WE HAVE THE CHANCE! FUCKING SHOOT!"

Ratatatatatatatatat!

Just as his finger pressed on the trigger, his captain followed.

Soon all of the brotherhood joined them as hundreds of bullets flew from the cruisers,

heading directly towards Emir and his cohort.

Bang!

Crack! Crack!

And they struck true, as the bullets lodged themselves into Emir and the others after killing

their augmented suits.

They were skewered like Swiss cheese.

'...That's it?'

The place turned silent.

No one dared to fire a single extra bullet.

Neither did they dare to utter a word.

Some of their vehicles moved forward and stopped near the rock formation, approximately a

hundred meters away from it.

Then, after a few moments, the man decked out in an S-rank augmented suit exited the

cruiser, and approached their target.

His eyes were stuck to their bleeding bodies as he approached.

The man then stopped moving.

Gaze still down at the ground.

He then locked back the cruiser that housed his cohort captain.

"WE DID IT, SIR! HE'S DEAD! THEY'RE ALL DEAD."

"....."

"....ORAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

His captain was the first to scream, but his brothers didn't follow.

"OOORRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Only when he roared again did they join the chorus.

"OOORRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"OOORRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"OOORRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

The army cheered for their unexpected victory, incredibly surprised at the unfolding events.

Even the man who checked their bodies couldn't believe it.

"Terrifying, eh? You're nothing but a man like us; you can bleed like us, celestial or not."

"YOU'RE NOTHING-"

BOOOOM!

But then...

A sudden explosion made him swallow his words.

He looked back at his allies and saw nothing but destruction.

Smoke and dust, like a blanket, covered them from the moonlight.

What once was an organized army of trained soldiers now turned into nothing but metal

scraps and flying organs, charred to oblivion.

His eyes grew larger than ever before as he fished around his pockets for a terminal like a

panicked animal.

Getting it up to his mouth, he screamed:

"LORD, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS?!"

||||

But no one replied.

"LORD, I REQUEST YOUR ORDERS!"

||||

"ALEX! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

|| ||

"GODDAMMIT!"

He threw his terminal down in absolute rage and fear at what was happening to them.

But then his vision flipped upside down...

The earth was his sky, and the sky was his earth.

'What?'

'The moon....'

'Was it always like that?'

'Ah...'

'It's beautiful.'

This was the story of a man who just wished to be like 'him.'