Chapter 33 - The World Burn : Part 4

The world slowed down when Axel watched the bomb below him ticking down, second by second.

A little languidly still, he looked over at Rune, who tried to jerk away from the said bomb. His eyes darted over to Aster, who attempted to cover himself away in slow motion.

Despite how the time slowed, Axel could feel his heartbeat was faster than time itself. The beating of his heart reached his ears, causing it to ring as his vision became all blurry from the rush of adrenaline flowing in his veins.

In a swift motion, Axel flipped to the air, face battling the wind around him. The two necklaces made a little clank sound when they bumped with each other. The boy's fluffy locks swirled around, almost covering his eyes.

As he stood in the air, in between Aster and Rune, he stretched both of his legs and kicked the two of them in the stomach, sending them flying away from the explosive below the Vergessene boy.

Right before he hit the ground, Axel spun around, bringing one of his legs behind. He focused all the power on the said foot and kicked the bomb high to the air right when his other foot touched the ground.

The bomb went off in the air, blowing off like some kind of a mess-up firework. It sent the Vergessene to a nearby wall with a loud bone-cracking sound.

Axel groaned after falling face-first to the ground from the wall. He was sure that he broke a couple of bones or so. The black-haired boy put a hand on the floor to hold his weight as he wobbly tried to stand up.

When he finally looked up, he was met with a messy sight. The cause of the explosion was bigger than he thought. One of the houses nearby was entirely in ruin on the front of it. There was a big gaping hole in the brick wall that was supposed to protect the house.

A flash of red caught the corner of his vision, and it sent a shudder across Axel's neck. The dread feeling started to eat him alive as he slowly looked over.

Adreanna was standing on top of a rooftop, tilting her head dangerously at her brother. The black cloak alongside the red porcelain mask she wore just added more fear to everyone who saw her.

Axel widened his eyes when he realized Adreanna wasn't looking at him. She was looking at Rune, who was only a few meters away from him.

The red-haired girl did not realize the danger she was in right now. She was still frozen in her place, looking at the outcome of the explosion with terror.

When Adreanna began to aim a gun at Rune, the adrenaline started to kick Axel again. Like he always did, he forgot the pain from the explosion, adding it to the forgotten pain in his chest.

He ran to Rune in a flash, spreading both of his hands and tackled her. The time slowed down again as the bullet went right in front of some of Rune's loose red locks, grazing a little of the hairs.

They both ended on the ground, equally stricken in their own fear, staring at each other in fright.

Axel rolled both of their body to the side when another bullet fired at them. He quickly grabbed his best friend's hand, dragging her through the sudden rain of bullets while hovering over her protectively.

Axel saw the hole in the wall earlier and decided to go for it. He pushed Rune first to the hole and got in right before another bullet almost hit him.

After hiding Rune behind the wall that did not get ruined, Axel turned around to look for a certain blond boy.

"Aster! Over here!" He shouted at the loss blond boy, hiding behind one of the cars on the side of the road.

The blond's green eyes caught the blue ones after hearing his own name. He quickly crossed the road and slid down to the hole, bumping into a pillar with a loud thud.

"Whoa, you remember my name!" Despite the situation he was in, Aster excitedly exclaimed to the mute murderer.

Well, how could Axel forget Aster when he literally met the boy almost every day since he was a kid.

"Dude, are you okay?" Rune came up from behind Aster, trying to check on him.

Aster looked over to Rune with a bleeding forehead. "What do you mean? I'm totally fine."

"No, no, you aren't, dumbass." Rune pointed at his forehead, slightly grimacing at the sight of the blood.

Aster brought his hand to his head and looked at the red liquid dripping down on his hand. He blinked sheepishly at sight. "Oh."

"We'll treat your wound later. We gotta hurry." Axel chimed in, dragging both Rune and Aster with his hands.

Another bullet was shot from behind, making them run even faster than before. Aster and Run tried to keep up with the mute murderer holding their hands tight, tugging them with him. They kept running until they reached the end of the road.

So when they thought they had escaped, they were dead wrong.

Instead, the three teens were looking at a hoard of red-eyed people, mindlessly standing in the middle of the road, under the watching sun.

Axel's breath hitched. This was a trap. Was this Kiaran's plan? Was he actually a step behind?

"Thank you for bringing her to me, my murderer." A man in a black trench coat emerged from the shadow, taking his time as he walked right in front of them. He was looking at Axel with a slight mocking gaze.

Then Axel realized, Adreanna wasn't trying to kill them. She was leading them to this trap. This was part of Kiaran's plan.

Everything was always part of his plan.

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"Ah, I'm really dumb, aren't I, for trusting you?" Rune laughed ironically, looking over to the mute murderer in between her loose red locks.

"Of course, this is a trap. This is only a game for you, aren't you, murderer?" She continued, mocking the criminal in between the fear and anger in her tone.

Rune frowned when she did not get any answer from the criminal. "Hey-"

She shut her mouth shut when the mute murderer suddenly stood in front of her, protectively shielding her away from the mercenary.

Rune's face morphed into a realization that the criminal she always called a monster was protecting her right now.

"Stop this, Ki-" The mute murderer paused, choking on his own words for a while before continuing. "-mercenary!"

"Oh, but it just began." The mercenary faked a whine, tilting his head to the side, letting the wind make his hair even messier.

"And it's fun!" He exclaimed happily--too happily.

"And you-" The man lurched to the mute murderer, blue eyes manipulative stared down at shorter one. "-are supposed to be mute."

"I don't like that you're talking right now." He added, mincing back slowly as he fiddled with some kind of a remote in his hand.

"I really, really, don't like it, mute murderer." The mercenary continued, back still turning on the three of them as he suppressed the 'mute murderer' part.

He turned around and faced them one more. The man raised his right hand, looking at the mute murderer with insane smiling eyes.

"So do me a favour and shut up." He ended his sentence when a rope was shot from on top of a building, rimming around his hand as he got pulled to the said building.

Like in some kind of horror movie, the hoard of demons slowly turned their heads to the three of them, looking at the three teens with dangerous red eyes. Rune and Aster stepped back slowly, trembling in fear.

Then all hell went loose, and the demons rushed forward, aiming at the three humans.

The criminal who stayed in the front as Rune and Aster's shield started to throw some punches with a knife in his hand. He sliced through their necks and chests, sputtering some blood on his white mask.

"Watch out!" Rune yelled when a demon tried to attack the mute murderer down from behind.

In a haze of panic, she staggered forward and jumped from behind the demon. She tackled the man to the ground, holding both of his wrists as he wriggled around.

The man's red eyes flashed to brown for a moment, almost making Rune jerk back. He suddenly stopped wriggling, breathing heavily against her.

"P-please help, I don't know what's h-happening to me, I'm sorry-" The man pleaded with an etched horror on his face.

She frowned in confusion but quickly tried to put a kind face, knowing that he didn't try to wriggle out of her grasp anymore.

Rune nodded, red ponytail bouncing around as she tried to reassure the man. "Okay, I'll try to help you, alright? For now, just stay here and-"

A loud gunshot cut her off, and blood sprayed to her face, painting it red. Her eyes shakily looked down slowly, and her breath hitched. She let out a loud gasp when she saw the lifeless eyes of the man with a hole in his head.

She quickly snapped her head toward the criminal with a glowering look. "Why did you shoot him?! We could've saved him!"

The mute murderer looked away from her. "It's kill or be killed. You were in danger." He stated before starting to shoot more demons who were probably not in control right now.

"You- you are a monster." Rune gritted, hazel eyes angrily stared at the mute murderer.

He seemed to stop for a moment at her statement. "We need to get you and Aster to safety." He changed the subject and fought again.

And Rune realized she was taking the mute murderer too light. She should have known that he was a real monster.

But back in her mind was screaming that the monster was only trying to save her.

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"Few blocks from here is my brother's office. We could ask for help there!" Aster rushed forward, avoiding some of the demons that tried to attack him as Axel covered for him.

Axel considered it for a moment before nodding at Aster. Lieutenant Valerian surely could protect them.

"You go with her." He said, glancing over to Rune, who was covering the man's corpse with her blazer.

Aster's eyebrows brought together while looking at him with confusion. "What about you?"

"Someone has to hold them for a while," Axel said, shooting at a demon without diverting his gaze from Rune.

He finally looked over to Aster's green eyes. "Just make sure she arrives safely, okay?"

Aster, knowing how exhausted the mute murderer was, tried to joke a little. "Usually, I would love to see her suffer, but I'll do it for you, murder boy."

Axel chuckled a little. It seemed like it had been forever since he let out a little laugh.

When Aster realized he had managed to loosen up the atmosphere a little, he became cocky and showed his usual arrogant face. "The things I'd do for you, damn."

The blond scoffed playfully and put a hand on the criminal's shoulder. "Don't die."

Axel was too overwhelmed by the sudden words, too late to notice when Aster suddenly snatched the white cap on Axel's head.

Before Axel could react, Aster was already making his way to Rune, waving at him with a white cap in his hand. "Take it back later. You know where I'd put it!" The blond shouted.

Aster talked to Rune for a moment and quickly dragged her with him. Axel took a last glance at the two and accidentally made eye contact with Rune. Though the girl quickly looked away and disappeared from his view.

He continued fighting the demons. He shot, sliced, kicked. Shot, sliced, kicked. Over and over again. It seemed like it was endless. He did not even know how long it had been or how many bullets he had left.

Then a sound of sirens came from behind him. The rumbling of cars adorned the air as policemen and soldiers appeared from them. They started to aim at the demons with a variety of guns and shields.

"Remember not to shoot the mute murderer, everyone! He's on our side." A familiar voice commanded, and Axel caught the friendly green eyes, identical to Aster.

Valerian nodded reassuringly at him, and Axel could feel some of the weight on his shoulders loosen up a little.

But then an explosion went off right behind Valerian, and Axel managed to catch the horror look on the lieutenant's face as he looked back. Valerian shouted for everyone to get away from the explosion, making a haze of panic surrounding them.

Then another explosion went off in one of the buildings.

And another.

And more.

On top of the highest building, there the mercenary stood alone, watching the world burn before his eyes with an unhinged grin.

"What a shame, isn't it?" Kiaran's voice echoed down the road, making all heads turn to him.

Axel widened his eyes when he realized people were being held hostage right in front of the building. He managed to notice some familiar faces. Every one of them was part of the government.

"You've been hiding behind the throne you believe you wield while I'm the one who owns it." The mercenary continued, talking in a mocking tone.

"For I am Machiavellian." Kiaran grinned madly behind his mask, eyes full of insanity as he spoke.

"The highest of all leaders," He spread both of his hands, chuckling as another bomb went off. The mindless demons killed more and more as the ticking of the bombs went lower and lower.

"Higher than the king of kings,"

He looked over to the terrified people below him. "-higher than a god."

"I am a mercenary that never kills." Kiaran's eyes caught Axel's trembling ones.

"And now, you people shall watch the world burn with me as you become the part of my fire."