Chapter Text
(Ezekiel POV) Location: Anima, One Mile South of Mistral
At first, clearing out the massive Grim Nest, while a bitch and tedious, wasn't anything too difficult. However, as we got deeper into the nest, things got a little bit more complicated. The Grim, the further we got into the nest, their attack patterns became more tactical, aggressive, unpredictable, and precise.
They would either use hit-and-run tactics or attack us in large, coordinated hordes with Ursas, Beowolves, Nest Soldiers, Guardians, Boarbatusk, Beringel, Ravagers, and Death Stalkers engaging us in close-quarters combat while Manitcores, Sphinx, and Centinel shooting projectiles at us from a safe distance away from us.
Fortunately, due to the heavy hitters like the boss, Erza, me, and the patriarch of House Nikos, the engagements were relatively short, and we received no casualties. However, that changed when we got a hundred forty meters below the surface.
Their tactics became increasingly vicious and unpredictable. The hordes were several times larger. The Grim's were stronger, faster, and could soak up more damage. We lost two of our people, and the Nikos patriarch lost four of his, but still, it wasn't anything too bad.
However, by the time we got eight hundred meters below the surface and were nearing the Grim Queen location, a quarter of our forces were either deceased or heavily injured. The boss and Erza were forced multiple times to use their semblances to get us out of sticky situations that would've put us in an even worse state.
Entering the Grim Queens location was when everything went to shit. Inside the area was not only our target but what we all dreaded facing.
An Alpha Class Grim.
It took the appearance of an Alpha Beowolf, with the only difference being it had thicker armor, was easily over four meters in height, had four arms, and had three heads, with each having six eyes.
The Cerberus. From what I could remember about the Cerberus, each of its heads breathes a different element, has a strong healing factor, and has the ability to become larger and more powerful the longer it stays in a fight.
Fortunately, its weakness was that it couldn't regenerate its heads if one of them got ripped off, and as a bonus, losing one of its heads would decrease its power significantly.
When it spotted us, the Cerberus let out a gigantic roar and charged toward our group. The boss transformed into his humanoid dragon form and met the Cerberus charge.
Their battle was both amazing and highly destructive. It was so destructive, in fact, that we had to run out of the nest as the entire place was slowly beginning to collapse.
Thankfully, we all managed to escape.
The bad news was that the battle between the boss and Cerberus was now taking place at the surface, destroying the environment around us, and the Grim Queen managed to survive the destruction of its nest and was very pissed, to say the least.
While the Grim Queen was no Alpha Class, it still put up one hell of a fight, and it was continuously spawning in horde after horde of Nest Soldiers, Guardians, and all nearby Grim within a two-mile radius decided to join in on the "fun."
The boss, meanwhile, was struggling against Cerberus. Every attack he landed, the Cerberus ate it and retaliated tenfold. Not even his strange light attacks didn't seem to be doing much against it besides pissing it off more.
Eh, I'm sure he'll figure something out.
"EZEKIEL DID YOU CALL FOR BACK UP!!" Erza demanded while cutting a Beowolf in half.
"YEAH, THEY SAID THEY'LL BE HERE IN TEN MINUTES!!" I replied before turning around and blocking an attack from an Ursa with my war hammer.
I then kicked it away, raised my war hammer, and bashed its skull.
"FUCK!!" A Death Stalker manager smacked her across the face with its tail, but she quickly retaliated by shooting out a torrent of black fire at it, causing it to cry in agony before turning into ashes. "I guess that's better than nothing!"
"Do you think the boss will be alright?"
Erza scoffed. "Cain is stubborner than a mule and one of the strongest people I know. I can't see him getting defeated by an oversized three-headed mutt. He'll find a way to defeat the Cerberus!"
Oum, I hope so.
(Third Person POV)
Draco was having a good and bad time at the moment. Most of the time, he hardly ever gets to let loose against an opponent, so fighting Cerbus made him feel alive. The teen couldn't remember the last time he had a good battle and had to put effort into anything.
On the other hand, however, the conflict couldn't have happened in a worse place. Draco was trying his best not to go overboard on using his more devastating attacks. He didn't want to kill his men and allies accidentally, who were only twenty meters from him, but eventually, they got further away from the others.
The only problem now was that Draco couldn't land a hit on it. Despite its size, the Grim was a slippery bastard as it practically danced around the teen while landing blow after blow that took out a decent amount of his Aura.
It was beginning to piss him off, so he used a technique that would increase his physical capabilities tenfold at the cost of his Aura being consumed three times faster than normal.
Doing this would be incredibly risky because his reserves were currently at sixty-five percent, thanks to the oversized mutt. If he calculated correctly, he would only have ten minutes to eliminate the Grim, so Draco had to be quick about it, or else he and everyone else would be fucked.
The Seraph, thanks to his temporary amp, could now better perceive the speed at which the Alpha Grim was moving and when it went to swipe its claws at him.
The teen grabbed it by the wrist and twisted it. Then he uppercut it, sending it several feet into the air before the teen pulled it back down and landed another devasting blow that tore chunks out of the Grim's bone-like armor.
Draco then backhanded it, and after that, he grabbed it at the back of the head and brought its face down on his knee, earning a howl of pain from the Grim.
Tired of the Seraph's relentless assault, the Cerberus threw its head back, which impacted underneath the Seraph's chin, causing the teen to release his grip on the Grim and stubble back.
Taking advantage of the teen's staggered state, the Cerberus tackled the Seraph to the ground and unleashed a flurry of devastating strikes. Draco managed to evade and block a good deal of its attacks, but the ones that did land were painful and chipped away at his Aura.
After a bit of struggling, the Seraph managed to kick the Grim off of him. Quickly getting to his feet, Draco charged up a Light-infused fire blast and released it. The fire blast landed at the center of the Grim's chest and was sent flying sixty meters away.
Getting up to its feet, the Cerberus glared at the Seraph and let out a deep growl. They then charged at each other and began to exchange blows. Both colossal beings fought for dominance, and neither side showed signs of giving up anytime soon.
However, the stalemate eventually broke as Draco tackled the Cerberus and then grabbed its center head and pried open its jaws with his hands.
Draco opened his mouth and quickly charged up a Light-infused fire blast. Once it was fully charged, he released the blast. Upon making contact, the deadly ranged attack turned the center head to ash.
The gigantic Grim let out a roar of rage and agony. With its remaining two heads, the Cerberus glared at the Seraph and let out a roar loud enough to be heard from miles away.
From both heads, they breathed out water and lightning blasts.
Draco got off it and barely evaded the ranged attacks. Then, faster than he could react, the colossal-sized Grim swiped its claws at his chest, sending the teen skidding back several meters.
When he stopped moving, the Seraph quickly closed the distance between him and the Cerberus. With immense speed and precision, he rammed his claws into the Grim's right leg and then ripped out a large chunk.
He did the same thing to its other leg. With both its legs crippled, the Cerberus fell to its knees. Being unable to move, the Seraph went on the attack.
The Cerberus attempted to strike at the teen, but unfortunately, Draco wouldn't allow that to happen. Draco grabbed both its arms and, with all his might, ripped them off its torso, causing the giant Grim to let out another roar of agony.
Tossing its arms to the side, the teen grabbed the right head of the Cerberus and began to slowly rip it off. Once the head was detached from the body, Draco tossed the head away and went to rip off the last remaining one.
With both its arms gone and legs crippled, the Cerberus looked at the Seraph, growling softly, and accepted its fate. Grabbing it by the sides of its head and digging his claws into its skull, he then ripped the head off its body. With the Cerberus's last head ripped off from its body, it began slowly disintegrating into ashes.
Letting out a sigh, the Seraph returned to his human form. Draco fell to his knees and he was letting out heavy breaths.
"Well, that was fun," Draco said between breaths and was smiling brightly. After a moment, he began breathing normally and returned to his feet. Draco was about to regroup with the others but stopped to tilt his head to the right, narrowly evading a sword from impaling the back of his skull. He quickly turned around and landed a devasting kick to his attacker's chest, sending the individual flying several meters away and crashing against a tree. "I was wondering when you'd show yourself."
His attacker was a tall, muscular man who wore a white swirly mask, sleek black armor, and a belt with several storage devices.
The attacker quickly recovered from Draco's attack and stood back up. He looked at the teen, narrowing his eyes behind his mask.
"You were aware of me."
The Seraph nodded, giving the man an amused look. "Not many can get past my senses or precognition. But that's beside the point. Who sent you after me?"
There were only a few people Draco knew that was ballsy enough to send an assassin after him, so he had his suspects; he only needed the man in front of him to confirm which one.
The assassin scoffed. "As if I'd just tell you that."
"Why not? You'll be telling me either way. I'm just giving you a choice before I'm forced to choose for you and believe me, you won't like what I'll do," Draco threatened.
Again, the man scoffed. "You think that scares me, boy? I've been in this business longer than you've been alive. Nothing you say or do will make me talk," he then got into a fighting stance and raised his sword.
"We'll see about that," Draco got into a fighting stance as well.
The Seraph didn't like his chances against the assassin as his Aura Reserves were at twenty percent, and he was severely weakened from his fight with the Cerberus, while his opponent was fresh and at full strength. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time he's been put in a sticky situation and came out on top.
Not wasting any more time, the assassin closed the distance between them and swung his blade at Draco vertically. The teen evaded the strike and went to hit the man in the throat, but the assassin quickly blocked his punch with the flat side of his blade. Draco went to kick his left knee in, but the assassin was quick and moved to the right, barely evading the attack.
The man thrust his sword toward the Seraph's chest, but the younger of the two bent backward put his hand on the ground, and then landed the front of his right foot underneath the assassin's chin. The unexpected attack sent the man into the air in a daze, but he quickly recovered and managed to land gracefully.
The assassin closed the distance and went for a horizontal slash toward the teen's neck. The Seraph ducked under the attack and landed several elbow strikes to his opponent's knees, causing the man to fall.
Once the assassin was on his knees, Draco grabbed the man's right wrist and twisted it, causing the assassin to drop his weapon. The Seraph then grabbed the sides of the man's head and smashed his knee into his skull a total of three times before his attacker retaliated.
Aiming the palm of his hand at the teen, a beam of energy shot out. Draco quickly let go of the man and flipped into the air to evade the energy beam. While Draco was in mid-air, he pulled out his two handguns and shot several rounds at the assassin's head.
The man evaded the projectiles and went to retrieve his sword, but before he could reach it, Draco shot the weapon further away, greatly annoying the assassin.
Turning to face the teen, he fired several more energy beams at the Seraph. Draco evaded all the energy beams while closing the distance.
Two long blades popped out of the assassin's gauntlets and went to engage the teen in close-quarters combat. Both exchanged blows, with neither gaining an edge over the other. The assassin evaded each gunshot while Draco dodged his blades or blocked them with his handguns.
Their fierce battle continued like this for several minutes until the clicking sound from the Seraph's handguns could be heard.
The teen threw his handguns in the air while ducking under a horizontal slash. The teen grabbed two magazines from his storage devices and flipped over the assassin.
While he was in the air, his thrown handguns were descending toward him, so with great skill, he threw his magazines at the bottom of the weapons.
Hearing a clipping sound, the teen grabbed his handgun and twisted in the air, looking directly behind the assassin. He aimed them at the back of the assassin's head and fired several rounds that managed to land, cashing his attacker's Aura to flare and to let a grunt.
The assassin turned around and aimed both hands at the teen. Draco was sent flying by a massive, concentrated beam of energy. The Seraph crashed and went through several trees before crashing into the ground.
Slightly groaning in pain, the teen quickly stood back up to his feet. However, he was sent back to the ground when the assassin appeared in front of him and kicked him in the chest.
The assassin went to stab his blades into the Seraph's skull, but Draco still managed to evade them. He moved his body to the right and left and repeated the process several more times.
Getting tired of being on the ground, Draco landed a devasting kick to the assassin's crotch, causing the man's relentless assault to halt long enough for the teen to get the advantage.
He kicked the man in the knee, causing the man to fall. Draco rolled out of the way and got up from the ground. The Seraph quickly planted his knee on the assassin's back and dug the barrel of his gun into the man's skull.
"I'm going to ask one last time. Who sent you?" Draco demanded.
"Fuck...you..."
The teen sighed. "The hard way it is."
Infusing all the Aura he had left into his right hand, the Seraph punched the assassin in the back of the head, knocking him out.
The teen got off the assassin and put his weapons away. He then threw the man over his shoulder and then began making his way toward the others.
(Back with others)
The fight against the remaining Grim was now coming to an end as the only one that was left was the Queen, who was bombarded on all sides by the LBC and House Nikos.
It still had some fight left and managed to injure and kill a couple more people before Ezekiel and Ezra charged toward the creature and unleashed devastating Aura Burst attacks at the thing's skull. The Queen let out a cry in rage and agony before collapsing to the ground. It slowly turned disintegrated to nothingness.
Not a moment after the Queen perished later, Erza began barking out orders.
"Report," Ezra demanded.
"Fifty dead, twenty-eight are in critical condition, and seven-two are injured," an elite LBC member reported.
Ezra nodded. "Dismissed."
"Honestly, that's a lot better than I expected," everyone turned to see Draco approaching them, and everyone noticed the man on his shoulder.
"Who's your friend?" Ezekiel asked curiously.
"An assassin," the CEO answered, surprising and angering them, especially Erza.
"What?!" She growled.
The red was furious that someone dared to send an assassin toward her leader and not-so-secret crush. When she got her hands on the person who made such a bold yet cowardly move, she would make the last remaining hours of that individual's life a living hell.
"Who's dumb enough to send an assassin after you?" Ezekiel asked with an incredulous tone.
"I could name a few but have no solid evidence yet," Draco shrugged indifferently. He then looked at the head of the House, Nikos. "Do you have a location at your estate where I could interrogate him at Alexander?"
Alexander was tall, standing six feet four inches, handsome, and had a lean yet incredibly muscular build. He had crimson hair, icy blue eyes, fair skin, and a well-trimmed beard that covered his strong jawline.
He wore a set of modernized bronze spartan armor with red trimmings that covered him from head to toe, and underneath the armor, he wore a black undersuit. He also wore a short red cape over his shoulders. Strapped to his back was a shield and spear that could transform into a sword or semiautomatic rifle.
Alexander nodded. "You can take him to my workshop. Just don't make too much of a mess."
"You got it."
End.