Chapter 6: on the hunt

It had been a few eventful weeks after we last left off. Vega had informed the Slayer that Shido's sister was successfully sealed by him after their water park date. The slayer was confused because he knew sealing involved kissing and being in love and Kotori was Shido's little sister. He would have to talk to Yoshino (Vega would have to talk for him) later about her choice in lovers.

Besides that nothing really eventful happened, Tohka got angry at Shido and almost destroyed the city, twice. Perhaps the Slayer would have to keep an eye on her in case she ever tried to kill the entire city.

Vega had found a tracking device on the cloaker Karen had given the Slayer, he simply turned it off now and then just for the amusement of having the top scientist in the world getting upset over a simple tracking device.

Shido and Tohka were going a school trip today to some island resort. It's sounded nice, he needed it after everything these spirits were putting him through. Reine had come to the Slayer's "house" before to ask him to watch Yoshino while Shido was away but they decided that a little girl living in a homeless shanty town wasn't the best idea so they would keep her on the Fraxinus.

Now the Slayer was all alone. No spirits, no Ratataskor, nothing. Just him and Vega in their makeshift home. He got up and looked into the mirror, he used his suit to have the device make it appear as if he was wearing a black T-shirt with jeans and boots. He liked what he saw and went out on the town.

The weather had gotten warmer so more people were out and about and wearing less. It still felt odd to walk amongst a crowd of civilians in peace. It reminded him of the sentinel cities but with less fighting. He looked at the beautiful sky only to see something familiar on a rooftop. It had quickly ducked away from sight.

Vega: "I will use the Ratatoskr surveillance to identify it… I have its location" a screen popped up on his HUD and it was clear as day. The Slayer had seen a Maykr spying on him and now it was hiding atop a building. He quickly parkour'd his way up to the rooftop and landed in front of his watcher.

Maykr: "Hello great Slayer. It's wonderful to see you again after all these years. I'm only here to watch after you for my ladies sake, that's all". They both began to walk around the roof in a circle while staring at each other.

Vega: "So far he appears to be the only Maykr here. Though I'd assume there's more here in the city. We will have to tell Ratatoskr about this to avoid any misunderstandings"

The Maykr pointed its spear at the Slayer and rapid fired burst of energy bolts. The Slayer ran out of the way and and fired a shell at the Maykr but it was protected by its shield.

V: "The Maykr is invulnerable while its shield is up. You'll have to wait for the perfect opportunity to attack".

That would have been a good plan but unfortunately more Maykr's began to appear and open fire on the Slayer. He didn't like it but he had to fall back against enemies he couldn't damage. He ran and jumped off onto another roof but it couldn't handle his weight as he fell through into an office cubicle. The workers gathered around and looked at the strange man who just fell through their roof.

V: "It is hard to stay conspicuous with you"

Suddenly spherical like objects dropped down the hole. We cut to the streets below as the top floor of an office building suddenly exploded. Debris rained upon the onlookers as everyone began to panic. Suddenly the spacial quake alarm began to go off as everyone ran to the shelters. The streets were now empty as the AST we're investigating the scene of the explosion.

Ryouko's POV:

After arriving on the scene with her squad (minus Origami), Ryouko has found the building to be surrounded by strange floating creatures. They appeared humanoidish but lacked legs. They wore futuristic armor with a large golden halo like ring floating behind their heads. They wielded golden scepters in their hands which glowed beautifully in the sunlight. She didn't know if they were spirits or not but they definitely were supernatural.

R: "We have them surrounded, prepare to fire"

MA: "There's no need for that Lieutenant Kusabae. We're not here to harm you humans"

Ryouko was taken back by this. This thing just spoke to her in her own language and even knew her name and rank. She knew spirits could talk but seeing this talk just sent a chill down her spine.

R: "Not here to harm us? You just blew up an office building with innocent civilians inside of it!"

MA: "The evil we wish to purge is much more important to us"

She couldn't bare to hear anymore. She immediately began to open fire upon these Maykr angels. The rest of her squad followed suit as they unloaded on the mysterious creatures but alas their efforts were in vain. The Maykr's shields made their ammunition no match for them as they just floated there and admired the humans fruitless efforts. They soon began to scatter and swarm around the mecha mecha sqaud as their shields dropped and they began to bombard them with firepower. Ryouko's shields were taking heavy damage. Whatever these things were, they were as dangerous as spirits. One of them snuck behind her as another blasted her shields open, causing the other to blast her in the back as her realizer began to malfunction causing her to fall down to the streets below. She felt herself press against something metallic as she heard the ground beneath her shatter. She opened her eyes to find a man, a very handsome man holding her in his arms.

R: "H-hi". She blushed as she looked up at her savior. Her moment of passion was cut short as the Maykr's continued to rain fire upon them. The Slayer jumped through a window of a clothes store. He placed Ryouko down behind the cashier register and rushed back outside with his heavy rifle in hand.

He dodged the Maykr's fire and sniped their heads as they fired. The AST watched as this man single handily was defeating these unknown enemies. Ryouko looked out at this man and thought about there future together-

R: "Stop it stop it!!!". SHE screamed and slapped her face repeatedly. Perhaps being single in her late 20's was starting to get to her. She shook her head and looked for her savior only to find him gone and the enemies laid defeated. This saddened her but she felt like they would meet again someday.

Epilogue:

Deep within the labs of a D.E.M facility, a scared scientist ran though a dark hallway. He stumbled in fear from something as he crashed onto the ground. Shambling could be heard as a zombie like figure dressed in a lab uniform slowly approached him. He crawled away as it came closer and closer before gunfire rang out and blasted the undead creature.

"Come with me, you'll be safe". A young wizard helped him up as they both ran down the hallway. She dispatched more zombies until the came to a four way intersection, they look down each hall to find more zombies approaching them.

"Don't worry, I'll get us out of here". She was prepared to open fire until something dropped out from a vent in front of her. It was a humanoid creature with spikes coming out of its back. A ball of fire appeared in its hand as it lobbed it at the young wizard. It collided with her face she screamed in pain, her face melting from the intense heat as she fell to the ground. The zombies now reached their target as they began to feast upon the innards of the two.

Isaac watched the events of the "test" from the control room. He was pleased with the results. "Well Ellen, it looks like Project Argent was a success".

She could only watch with a mix of awe and horror at the new advancement her Ike was able to make.