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-- Chapter 8: Sacrifice --
- 0715 HRS, KOCH CITY, RUSSIA -
Zero and his unit arrived at the outskirts of Koch City, while Unit 13 and their leader, Freeze Wraith arrived alongside them. They surveyed the scene. The town seemed deserted, but both Zero and Wraith had no doubt that there would be an ambush awaiting them.
"We'd best scope out the area first..." muttered Wraith to Zero, who nodded.
"Shade, go check it out." The ninja Reploid named Shade from Unit 0 nodded and activated his special cloaking unit before heading towards the city.
A few minutes passed. Then Zero received a transmission from Shade. "Zero, this is Shade. Do you read me?"
"Loud and clear..."
"From what I can see, there aren't many troops on the outskirts of the base. Most of them are located towards the city center. The negligible units on the border are just sentries. They aren't too well armed."
Zero nodded. "We'd best proceed stealthily then... Zero out." The transmission was cut. Zero turned to Wraith and nodded, mouthing, "Let's go."
Quickly mapping out a plan, both units moved swiftly towards the city, Zero's unit shifting off to the left to the west side of the city, while the 13th Unit lead an assault on the south side to create a diversion, after which Zero's unit would infiltrate and kill the leader.
Wraith, stopping just outside the south gate to the city, quickly took out an ice grenade and threw it at the two sentries, who were blasted to smithereens before they could react. Wraith then turned to the rest of his unit and said, "All right guys. Let's raise some hell!" With a great battle cry, all of the rushed into the city, slaughtering all the sentries they could find. As they approached the city center, they were met with more and more resistance from the increasing number of troops. Wraith froze an enemy right beside him and stopped to set off a flare before continuing to destroy the opposition.
At the west gate, Zero saw the flare and motioned to the rest of his unit to enter the city. They moved swiftly through the streets, killing the remaining sentries that hadn't headed for the city center silently.
As Zero's unit approached the city center, a Reploid in brown armour could be seen watching two separate screens. One showed Zero's unit on it, the other showed Wraiths. He smiled a sinister smile...
Meanwhile, Zero approached a large building in the heart of the city, disturbed by the lack of defenses. Where were all the guards? Zero shook his head and cleared the thought from his mind as he stepped towards the entrance, facing south. Apparently the leader of Diablos' troops should be at the top floor of the building. As he stepped towards the entrance, he suddenly heard yelling and the sounds of a battle behind him. He turned around to find that a troop of Diablos' Yin soldiers had ambushed his unit, who were valiantly fighting them off. He took a good look at the Yin soldiers for the first time. They looked like regular Reploid frames, only they had purple crystals set in various locations on their body and they moved kind off like zombies. However, they attacked surprisingly fast, Zero noted as one of the soldiers lunged at one of the members of his unit, who received a gash to his chest.
The blade of Zero's Z-Sabre hummed to life, but as it did, Zero suddenly heard a sound behind him. Something like... growling... Zero whirled around to find one of the Yin soldiers bringing a blade of Yin energy down onto him. There was no time to block or dodge... all Zero could do was to brace for impact... when suddenly the blade stopped, a mere fraction of an inch away from his face. The body of the Yin soldier was kicked away and fell to the ground, a katana wound in its side revealing none other than Shade.
"Shade! Great timing!"
"It's not over yet, there are a LOT more in the building."
Shade looked over at the sea of Yin Reploids that were pushing Unit 0 back, as well as Unit 13 fighting off the Yin Reploids in the distance. "Go! The leader's at the top of this building! We'll hold the troops off!"
Zero nodded and was about to dash off when Shade called to him. "Wait! Take this, I think you're going to need it."
Shade threw a small chip to Zero, who caught it, and taking a single glance at it, recognised it as a weapons chip. Yelling a quick thanks to Shade, he inserted it into his sabre and began installing the data. Zero took a deep breath and started climbing the stairs in front of him as the entrance to the building closed behind him.
Just like old times... I'm doing this alone again. As Zero reached the second floor, a barrage of buster fire greeted him. Zero quickly activated the Tenkuuha and slashed a few plasma bullets into oblivion, before grabbing a nearby table and throwing it at the enemies. Not only did it act as something of a shield, it stunned the Yin soldiers and allowed Zero to dash forward and start slicing through the horde like a hot knife through butter. Zero soon managed to reach the third floor.
This time, the Yin soldiers sported all manners of different weapons; chains, morning stars, swords, busters, grenades... which one soldier lobbed at him. Zero decided to play baseball and promptly whacked the grenade back at the offending Reploid, who caught it, and blinked... just before the grenade exploded, throwing Reploid parts all over the room. Zero then quickly dashed and sliced the nearest Reploid into two, then beheading a nearby one.
"Aaaah, I'm getting tired of this." Zero kicked a nearby soldier through the window, then hopped out and began to scale the side of the building. Yin Reploids sporting jetpacks attempted to stop him, most falling to a single strike of his sabre. In this way, Zero managed to reach the 23rd floor, also the top floor, before he crashed in through the window to find another horde of Yin Reploids. He quickly dispatched them with the use of the Raijingeki and Ryuenjin, as well as a few others like the Ensuizan. Zero then spotted a door off to his right, which he approached... it was another flight of steps, which Zero climbed, finding himself at the roof.
"Ah. I've been waiting for you, Zero... the legendary swordsman of the Hunters." The Reploid wearing brown armour in front of Zero turned around. Zero observed nothing very special about him; he was a typical Reploid frame, only he had dark purple crystals set in various parts of his body like the Yin soldiers.
"Ikari Kendou is the name... but you may call me your demise!" The brown Reploid raised his hand to the heavens and a sabre hilt warped into his hand, from which a brown blade erupted. The Reploid then rushed forward with surprising speed; Zero only barely managed to bring up his green Z-Sabre to block. He then pushed Kendou away and executed a Shippuuga, which Kendou easily dodged.
"Tsk, tsk. I'm disappointed. Is that all you've got? I expected more from the Hunter's best swordsman- oof!" Kendou was abruptly cut off when Zero lunged forward and dealt Diablos' general a swift kick to the gut.
"Hey, Mr. Demise! You know what's your main problem? You talk too much." Zero brought his sabre down, threatening to split Kendou's head into two, but the brown Reploid quickly blocked the blow and jumped back.
"So, you're good up close. Let's see how well you fare from afar!" Kendou brought his sword upwards very quickly, causing an invisible airwave to catch Zero by surprise, causing him to receive a cut as well as be blown back. Kendou executed the maneuver again, but this time Zero was ready and dodged out of the way. Both quickly realised neither would hit at this rate, and Kendou got fed up.
"Bah! I've had enough of games! Time to take you out!!" The dark purple crystals on Kendou's body broke and engulfed him in a dark purple aura. "Die!!" A few energy balls separated from the aura and formed into purple knives, that shot towards Zero. He managed to deflect them with his sabre, but only barely. Just then a beep from within his helmet informed him that installation of Shade's weapon was now complete. Zero thought of activating it, but more knives were shooting towards him. Zero swung his sabre, deflecting one knife... and was considerably surprised when a green shuriken shot out and connected with Kendou. The brown Reploid had obviously not been expecting it either, as he stumbled backwards a few paces. He narrowed his eyes.
"So, you've got a new trick. If you think that's going to stop me, you're horribly mistaken!" Kendou rushed forward with surprising speed, forming a shield in front of him, blocking all the shurikens that Zero launched at him and knocking the crimson Reploid down. Zero quickly backflipped, landing on his feet and whirling around, but Kendou shot a purple orb at him that Zero attempted to block. Big mistake. Zero was immediately encased in a black energy ball that rendered him unable to move.
"Hahaha! This is all the Maverick Hunters have to offer? Looks like the world is ours!" Kendou rushed forward, sabre outstretched, intending to impale Zero...
"SHLICK!!" The sabre entered the body with a sickening sound. As Kendou withdrew his sabre, he let out a long laugh- until Zero's face in front of him began to morph and fade, and he ended up looking into the eyes of Wraith.
"WHAT?!" Kendou cried out in surprise.
"Heh... I switched positions with him just before you knocked him- me, rather- down with your shield... Interesting what holograms can do, eh?" Wraith let out a harsh laugh, coughing up Reploid blood in the process.
"Hmph! He'll die anyway! What makes you think this will stop me?"
"Look behind you," came a voice from behind Kendou as a hand was placed onto his shoulder. Kendou whirled around and came face to face with Zero. He drew back his sabre and was about to decapitate the crimson Hunter when his arm suddenly stopped moving and he felt a chill spreading through his body. Looking down, he found his entire body below his neck encased in ice. He also felt Wraith's hand on his boot, even through the ice.
"YOU!!!" was Kendou's last shout before Zero beheaded him.
"Heh..." Wraith coughed up more blood, clearly damaged beyond repair. "I don't think even Lifesavor can patch this up... looks like it's goodbye, Zero. Promise me... you'll stop... Diablos..." Wraith's hand slipped to the floor as his eyes closed for the last time...
"...I promise..." Zero whispered softly. Just then, he received a transmission from Shade. "Zero? We're done cleaning up here..."
Zero nodded, eyes closed. "Good, I'll notify HQ." The transmission was cut even as Zero sent another. "Zero to HQ, Koch City has been retaken."
Cutting that transmission, Zero looked back at Wraith's body and the still upright body of Kendou before a red warp laser shot into the sky.
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