Herald of death

"I've never met a Reaper before. Thinking of it, I guess I would have died had we met earlier than today," she jests. "The name is Tatiana."

Ethan slashes at her throat; she parries with her forearm, and his blade slides across her skin. She answers with an attack of her own, but Ethan deflects her entire arm with his. Her strength is on par with his, but her movements are slower.

Ethan spins, grabbing her attacking arm to throw her above his shoulder. She crashes into the ground as Ethan locks her right arm on her back.

Her left fist coats in translucent flames. She scrapes Ethan's leg, but it suffices to send him spinning in the air. She stands and punches his plate carrier. Ethan is thrown through a wall, twenty meters away from her.

She walks towards him, etheric flames growing along her arms. "By the looks of it, I feel like you're an Assassin, level three or four at best. The problem for you is that I have already maxed out. I'm level twenty, worlds apart from the likes of you," she boasts.

Ethan stands up; the shock didn't break anything but, his entire back screams in pain. "Status," he says before raising his dexterity to eighteen.

Ethan analyzes, 'none of the classes I saw mentioned any ability to raise your ether reserves, not even Mage. I've been at it all day, and I can only hold fifty percent more than this morning. She shouldn't be able to maintain that ability for long.'

"Looking for anything to save yourself?" she asks before lunging at Ethan.

He focuses solely on dodging for several exchanges. Each time she misses him by too little, he can feel the very air smashing on his body. Her stance is fast but simple, as if she trained in a public gym and not during military service. A sudden distance between them enables Ethan to shoot two rounds at her knee, but it fails to wound her. The next exchange feels slower for Ethan; she seems to repeat a singular set of patterns.

"Unarmed Combat leveled up."

Her attacks suddenly stop as black veins form on her neck. Ethan unpins his last fragmentation grenade and slips it under her plate carrier. With a kick, he sends her to the ground before rolling to the side.

The explosion burst her plate carrier open. Her skin is charred but unpierced. As she struggles with life energy exhaustion, Ethan slides his Glock in her mouth and empties his magazine.

Keeping watch of the pilot, he reloads and walks to the Plague Merchant. "No final words for you, I am afraid," Ethan says, aiming at the head missing its lower jaw. Ethan presses the trigger, and the impact flashes bright yellow. Ethan turns around too late. He blocks a punch amplified by ether with his forearms. The shock sends him flying through the open doors of the helicopter.

Ethan falls off the roof, flying above the street five floors below. Glass shatters on his back as he enters a consultation room in another wing, stopped by a wall.

His sight fills with blood flowing from his skull. Carrying the Plague Merchant on her shoulder, Tatiana steps into the helicopter. Still holding his pistol, Ethan shoots at his head but misses. She pulls a PKM from inside the cabin and shoots up Ethan's room. He exits in time, but a bullet hits his back plate, cracking his left scapula.

Seconds later the sound of rotating blades disappears in the distance. Ethan injects himself with morphine as he can feel his left forearm and back were gravely injured.

Checking his surroundings with predator's sight, Ethan calls Tombstone.

"Welcome back, Reaper five."

"The target fled the scene on a UH-60A Blackhawk. He's guarded by a woman who is immune to bullets and point-blank grenades. She's also able to shield another individual from bullets with her abilities," Ethan explains.

"Can you escape the scene?" Tombstone asks.

He replies, "I am wounded. I only have thirty-three rounds for my Glock, and the hospital is inhabited by monsters. I will see what I can do."

"We have no other asset near your location. … Good luck," Tombstone says as she hangs up.

Ethan stands up and starts moving to a staircase. Rushing steps come towards him. A scared mercenary enters the staircase and receives a round to the head. The man had an AK12 and one full magazine for it. 'That's more reassuring than a Glock,' Ethan thinks.

Though he cannot see their hearts or shapes, Ethan hears three creatures moving towards him through predator's sight. He takes the two fragmentation grenades of his victim and unpins them. He places the dead man's body over them, its weight holding their levers.

Glancing at a wall map, he sees that the first floor would place him in an open area with six entrances and an atrium overlook. He decides to move to the basement.

Now underground, he enters a corridor that ends with a staircase leading outside. Except for the last one, the doors in this corridor should only lead to storage and maintenance rooms. Two explosions resonate from above, followed by shrieks.

No light shines in this place, and Ethan relies only on predator's sight to guide himself. Something moves in front of him, and a purple crystal appears a few meters away, levitating.

The source of the movement growls, and Ethan opens fire. The fireballs illuminate the creature, which has a crystal embedded in its flesh. It almost reaches Ethan. 'Piercing shot,' he thinks as the flashes of light help him aim. The final shot pierces the monster's skull. In its fall, the beast hits a pillar, ending on its back.

The crystal lies waiting to be taken, and Ethan grabs it, his muzzle pressed against the creature's mangled head. He hastily places it in the haversack and throws his last flash grenade back to where he came from. A chorus of agonizing screeches follows its explosion.

Ethan breaks down the final door with his right shoulder and exits the building. Reaching his ride, he drives off into the night.