Chapter 11: The Mercenary
"Pluto, keep that little girl from this fight, will you?" Hades asked as Pluto pulled out a bow and arrow and aimed it directly at Lilian.
"Of course." He said as he fired a single arrow.
The arrow flew straight for Lilian who was too scared to move. However, Abel managed to slice the arrow in half with his arm blades, causing the two halves to fall short from Lilian.
"You'll have to try better than that." Abel said as he angrily looked at Hades and Pluto.
Pluto smirked. "You'll have to be more observant."
Abel immediately turned around and what he feared most happened. A small fuse, attached to both ends of the arrow were lit and nearly finished burning.
"Lilian! Run!" He shouted just as the arrow exploded, causing a large massive hole in the snow.
Lilian flew back and smashed into a tree while Abel held his ground, his arm blades covering his face from the snow.
Suddenly, Hades appeared below him, a small dagger embroidered dagger in his hand as he swiped at Abel. Abel managed to dodge the attack before another arrow came straight for him, both ends lit with a fuse.
"Too slow." Pluto calmly said.
Abel quickly cut the first fuse with his blade, impressing Hades, while the second fuse went out and exploded, causing Abel to fly further away from the two.
"Dammit." He grunted as he crashed into the tree.
"No time for rest." Hades said, appearing behind him and lunging his blade straight for Abel's back.
Abel, moving as fast as he could, barely deflected the blade while receiving a cut to his cheek when he turned around to face Hades.
Hades jumped and made some distance between him and Abel, allowing the Night Raid member to catch his breath. Hades took note of Pluto hiding in the tree tops, his arrow aimed for Abel. Hades shook his head.
"Pluto, I will handle it from here." The leader said. "You just make sure that girl won't interfere."
"Of course master." Pluto bowed before disappearing into the tree line.
"You guys think that's a wise idea to split up like that?" Abel chuckled as he stood ready to fight again. "You don't know who you're messing with."
"Oh? Is that so?" Hades questioned, slowly sheathing his dagger. "Abel Nottingham, born in the Southern Islands. Left home at the age of 13 and became a mercenary. After a failing a job to protect a client, you and a few other were immediately captured and imprisoned for it."
Abel listened to Hades speak of his past with a horrified look on his face.
"H-How do you know that?" Abel asked, his body starting to slowly shake.
"We have our resources." Hades sighed as he looked up at the sky. "To be honest, you guys never stood a chance against us in the first place. Sure one of yours took down Thanatos but he wasn't really an important piece for our plan. You could say he was cannon fodder."
Abel angrily clenched his fists, his body was still shaking.
"Treat your own allies like garbage. That's just cruel." Abel said, looking at Hades. "He was your comrade right? Someone you wanted to protect?"
"Please, you're preaching to the choir." Hades said, looking back at Abel. "After all, wasn't it you who got your comrade killed over something so small like getting back at us?"
Abel took a step back, frozen from any response he could give. The memories of Callen weren't much but near his final moments, he knew he was to blame for his death.
"If only I'd paid attention the first time it happened." Abel finally spoke, looking at the snow and beginning to remember the past.
Unknown Location (1 year ago)
"Abel! Get to the Lord now!" A man shouted at him.
"Right!" Abel replied, slicing an imperial soldiers chest.
The blood shot up and hit him in the face but it didn't faze him. Turning around, another soldier came directly at him, rifle with a sharp knife near the end of the barrel. Abel quickly bumped the rifle up just as the soldier fired it, allowing him the chance to go in for the kill.
As the soldier dropped dead, two more showed up and opened fired. Abel stood still as a large figure jumped in front of him and deflected the bullets back, killing both the soldiers and wounding several others.
"What took you so long?" Abel chuckled at the large man.
"Shields too heavy." The large man replied.
"Hmm, maybe you should cut back on the sweets." Abel joked.
The large man only looked at him before returning his attention back to the battle.
"Where's Lord Fukaku?" The man asked.
Abel pointed at a small knocked over carriage on the side of the road. Several imperial soldiers had surrounded it and formed a defensive wall to keep Abel and the others away.
"He's still in there." Abel said. "It tipped over after a surprise explosion from bombs planted in the road."
"Well, then this is nothing new." The man said as he grabbed a soldier by the shoulder and bashed his head with the large shield. "Go to him, I'll provide cover."
"Right!" Abel said as he took cover behind the large man and the two began rushing the carriage.
The imperial soldiers began shooting at the two but their bullets were quickly deflected from the man's large shield.
As the two of them neared the cart, Abel pulled out a small pot from his bag and lit the fuse that was attached to it. The pot slowly began smoking as he tossed it over the large man and between the soldiers.
"What is this?" One soldier coughed.
"It's poison!" Another shouted but failed to get away in time as he collapsed on the ground.
"D-Don't...breath…" Another tried saying before falling as well.
"Abel now!" The large man shouted.
Abel used the man's shoulders as a stepping stool to jump high in the air and land on the ground in front of the carriage. He quickly disposed of the remaining soldiers standing from his poison bomb before approaching the cart.
"True it's probably poison but it's nothing more than knockout gas." Abel said as he opened up the cart. His quickly widened. "What?"
"What is it?" The large man asked as he approached Abel.
Suddenly, the sound of a gun went off, causing both men to stand perfectly still.
Abel, slowly starting to shake, looked to his left at the large man. His eyes soon went wide and his hearing deaf.
"B-Broly?" He mouthed at the large man who fell on the ground with a bullet hole in his head.
Abel quickly rushed over to the large man, but knowing it was too late, attempted to wake him regardless.
"Broly, wake up!" He shouted.
He soon felt several rifles pointing at him as he turned around to see several soldiers aiming their guns at him.
All around the area, most of the mercenaries he was fighting with were either dead or surrendering with the wounded being killed.
"You lose." A soldier said as another tackled Abel to the ground and began binding his arms and legs together.
Southern Mountains (Present Day)
Abel opened his eyes and took a long look at Hades. The Demon's Grasp leader hadn't moved during his flashback nor did anything. He seemed to preoccupied with the sky.
"Broly." Abel whispered as he clenched his fists. "I'll avenge you. I swear."
Suddenly, Abel pulled out his arms blades, catching Hades' attention.
"So you're ready to go another round?" He asked as he pulled out his dagger. "Fine by me but this will be the last one."
"Yeah! For you!" Abel shouted as he ran straight for Hades.
Hades quickly jumped high into the air, surprising Abel, and landed behind him before attacking. However, Abel managed to deflect the dagger with one arm blade and attacked with the other, cutting a little of Hades arm.
"Not bad." Hades said as he jumped back to get some distance. "But try this!"
Hades scooped up some snow and threw it in Abel's direction, attempting to blind him. Abel dodged the snow only to find Hades disappeared.
"Where'd he go?" He questioned, carefully scanning the area.
"Below you." Hades said as his head popped up from the snow and he grabbed both of Abel's legs.
Abel quickly stabbed the ground but missed when Hades let go of his legs and deflected his attacks with his dagger. Abel soon jumped away from Hades but crashed into the ground after his leg gave away.
"What...the hell?" Abel asked, examining his leg and noticing a small needle. "What's this?" He wondered as he pulled it out.
"I've numbed your leg with a small needle." Hades informed him. "Courtesy of Pluto."
Abel tried standing back up but collapsed on the ground again.
"Sorry, I've hit both of your legs." Hades said as he approached Abel. "You won't be moving for a while. Scratch that, you won't be moving again."
Abel looked as Hades neared him and prepped his dagger to deal a killing blow.
"May the gods have mercy on you." Hades said as he lifted the blade up.
Suddenly, a figure quickly kicked Hades away from Abel, surprising the both of them. Soon several arrows came flying towards Abel but were quickly shredded.
Abel looked up to see Lilian protecting him. Yatsufusa was held tightly in her hands as she sternly looked at Pluto, who had followed her, arrive with more arrows readied.
"Pluto, I told you to keep her busy." Hades scolded.
"Sorry master, she doesn't want to hold still. Even after I shot her leg." Pluto apologized.
Abel looked down at Lilian's right leg and noticed it was bandaged with blood soaking out of it.
"Lilian…" He spoke.
"Are you okay?" Lilian asked.
Abel could tell she wasn't in her shy mode but in her battle mode now. He could only nod.
"Good, listen, I'll buy you sometime until your legs wake up. When they do, make a run for it, I'll handle these two." She said, positioning her sword over her shoulders.
"No, I can't do that." Abel said as he tried getting up and feel once more.
"Pluto, I'm getting tired of this, let's end it." Hades said, picking himself up. "Little girl, I'll deal with you first." He pointed his dagger at her.
Everything went silent as Pluto aimed his arrows at Lilian and Hades his dagger. Lilian kept her sword pointed at Pluto but her eyes on Hades.
Soon Pluto released his arrows, causing Lilian to charge the arrows and slice them in half. She soon realized the fuses attached to the arrows and quickly kicked up some snow to extinguish the fuses. Hades then appeared under her and attempted to stab her legs with his needles but failed after she jumped into the air and sliced her sword over his face, cutting the bridge of his nose.
"Little bitch!" Hades angrily said as he held his nose to prevent the blood from exiting the wound.
Just as Lilian chuckled, Pluto fired two arrows, purposely missing her and landing on both sides. Lilian quickly jumped back only to find a third arrow causing all three arrows to form a triangle.
"So long." Pluto smirked as he clicked a small remote.
The three arrows surrounding Lilian began to slowly emit electricity before striking her, causing her to scream in pain.
Abel watched in horror as Pluto continued his assault with electrocuting Lilian until she had completely stopped moving. Only the sounds of her coughing up blood were enough to reassure Abel that she wasn't dead.
"Now then." Hades said, still holding his nose, as he grabbed his knife. "Where should I cut you first?"
Abel watched as Hades wasted no time to stab Lilian's wound she received from Pluto earlier, causing Lilian to holler in pain. He then made his way to stabbing her arm, forcing her to let go of Yatsufusa.
"Now, for the grand finale!" Hades sang as he threw his knife in the air.
The knife came straight down, aiming for Lilian's chest. Hades watched in amusement as the knife came closer and closer until…..
"Huh?" Hades questioned.
A weird feeling had come over him as he looked to see he had been stabbed in the chest with a blade sticking through his body.
Hades then looked at Lilian who was still breathing but found Abel on top of her, the knife sticking in his back. Abel was breathing heavy as he coughed up blood on Lilian's face.
"Are….Are you okay?" Abel coughed.
Lilian only nodded her head, terrified of the sight of her friend.
Abel smiled. "That's good."
He soon turned his head slowly and looked at Hades. He had fallen on his knees and was breathing very heavy; Abel could tell he didn't have much time left.
"Abel, are you alright?" Lilian finally asked.
Abel chuckled. "This is nothing. The knife only hit my spine, but nothing vital."
"T-That's good to hear." Lilian smiled, tears in her eyes.
"Master Hades!" Pluto shouted as he ran towards Hades.
"I got this." Hades shouted, causing Pluto to stop. "Listen, I don't have much time left so I'm only saying this once. Retreat, you're in charge now."
"But Master Hades…"
"I said go!" Hades shouted before looking at Abel with a killing intent. "You're coming with me."
He slowly lifted his left arm with his middle finger on top of his index finger.
"Curse activate!" He shouted before falling on the ground and started laughing. "You're doomed kid, the knife in you has a curse that destroys your body on the inside. You'll be dead within the minute."
"Abel!" Lilian shouted in horror as Abel began yelling in pain.
"L-Lilian, you have to get out of here." Abel said trying to restrain himself from yelling. "T-Tell...the….."
Abel's eyes slowly closed as he fell dead beside Lilian, his arms and legs off of her to allow her to run.
Lilian's eyes were red as her tears streamed down her face. She couldn't move after witnessing her friend die. Pluto had vanished after Hades activated his curse so it was just her all alone.
"Abel…" She cried. "Don't leave me like this. You're my friend, so you can't leave me."
Riverside Village
"Wakey wakey." A man's voice laughed as Iris and Juro both slowly opened their eyes.
The two of them realized they were tied up to chairs and inside a small room with three guards, two Iris remembered from their ambush.
"Welcome to hell." The guard laughed.
Man that was a good chapter. It felt good writing it. Don't know why though, maybe it's the music I'm listening to. Oh well, anyway, with Abel and Hades dead, both groups lose another member. Now next time, we'll have to see how Juro and Iris get out of the situation they're in.
Please leave a review and don't forget to favorite or follow the story and don't worry, I'll post the other chapter for Empire High II and Raise the Level on later dates. Heiwa!