The Bounty Hunter

April 1st, 2090

Veronica’s POV

“Master and Dante are fighting now.”  Rin informed me as we were hurrying towards Cerberus.  The telepathic artifacts that Terra distributed to everyone are still working, although everyone is currently too focused on their respective tasks to idly chat.  I was using Waymaker to make good time, portal-jumping repeatedly as I spied Cerberus’s gargantuan figure in the distance as he rampaged.  I ignored the various looks of amazement directed my way as escaping citizens noticed me.  Rin was riding on my shoulder, being far too chipper considering the situation we’re all in.

The sounds of small arms fire reached my ear, causing me to pause in my portal-jumping as I searched for the source.  I saw a group of 12 soldiers rappelling down from a helicopter, joining another 20 solders already on the ground.  They wore dull grey ablative ceramic armor, which looked similar to the half-plate armor from back home.  According to Terra, this armor was designed to disperse the kinetic energy of projectiles to protect the wearer.  I noted the crystal focuses in front of their rifles, indicating they were laser based weapons.  A red flag with golden stars was emblazoned on their armor over their hearts.

These men were shooting amongst the civilians indiscriminately, acting more like bandit scum than soldiers.  Unacceptable.  “Hang on.”  I told Rin telepathically before readying Waymaker.  The soldiers finally noticed me, one of them yelling out something in their language.  The translation artifact did its job, but I ignored it.  Who cares what a dead man says.

Waymaker easily pierced through the ablative ceramic armor and the man’s heart.  It seems the body armor does nothing against melee weapons.  I made a small portal directly behind the man I killed, redirecting my blade as soon as it exited his body into another nearby soldier.  Two men fell with a single thrust of my estoc, while Rin blasted the other 5 soldiers nearby with her black fox fire.  “Shoot her, damnit!”  a nearby soldier cursed.  I dodged the incoming gunfire, easily identifying the paths of the lasers based on the angle of the guns.  I stabbed Waymaker repeatedly, felling a soldier with each thrust.

The gunship that had delivered the soldiers flew off after my slaughter of the soldiers.  I heard the whirling of its armaments as it prepared to shoot at me.  My response was to stab Waymaker once more, going through a portal to pierce the pilot in the head.  The helicopter veered off course, crashing in a fiery wreck.

I promptly proceeded on my way, ignoring the incredulous looks from some of the nearby survivors who had been in hiding.  My altercation with the ground troops caused a series of enemy aircraft to head in on my position.  I was forced to stow Waymaker into my storage ring and proceed on foot while freely shooting down the drones with Swarm Shooter.  I ran into an occasional unit of soldiers, but that proved to be no issue when I discovered that their armor was not able to withstand my crossbow.  Quantity over quality.  That is my impression of the human armies so far.  Their low-level soldiers are far stronger than the low-level soldiers of the Darkmoon Queendom due to their superior equipment, but they fall like wheat before a scythe when faced with a more powerful foe.  Granted, I have yet to face their fiercest war machines.

We reached the disaster zone and Cerberus noticed our advance.  His six eyes locked in on me, clearly remembering our previous encounter.  With a loud howl, Cerberus finished demolishing the nearby buildings before turning to face us.  The 4-story tall beast began moving, become a veritable avalanche of flesh and bone as he charged.  Rin’s 4 tails were whipping back and forth frantically, and I heard her hum a cheerful tune despite our predicament. 

“Rin, why are you so happy?” I asked the demonic fox familiar.  “I’m really happy Big Sis because Master gave me an order he’s never given before.”  Rin replied. “Oh? And what is that?”  I asked, keeping my eyes on Cerberus in order to gauge the distance so I could use Swarm Shooter.  “Master ordered me to go wild.”  Rin said in a rather fearsome voice as she emanated a powerful demonic aura.

She jumped off my shoulder and ran towards Cerberus.  A four-tailed fox the size of a lapdog was counter-charging a 3-headed behemoth weighing several tons.  Right before they were about to collide, Rin expanded to the size of a house and leapt for the throat of Cerberus’s right head.  She bit deeply into his flesh, turning him sideways into a towering office building which started collapsing due to the impact.  Rin skillfully disengaged and escaped the falling debris to reappear by my side.  Her eyes were glowing with barely contained demonic malice and her muzzle was a bloody red. 

Rin’s four tails pierced the ground behind us, anchoring Rin as she gathered energy for her foxfire laser.  To fell a foe as large as Cerberus, she’ll need some time to charge.  The dog was struggling to get out of the rubble, leaving him wide open for Rin’s attack.  However, I interrupted her technique by using Waymaker to portal-hop us away from an incoming hostile.  “YOU FURRY FIEND!  WE MEET ONCE MORE ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE!  THIS TIME I SHALL BE VICTORIOUS!”  an enormous one-armed oni dropped down from the sky, creating a localized earthquake as his landing pulverized the spot where Rin and I had just been.  “It’s the doofus.”  Rin grumbled as we observed Cerberus extricate himself and stand next to Ibaraki-doji.

“It doesn’t matter.  We’ll kill them both.”  I said, fully immersed in my own bloodlust.  These demons dare to attack my new home, the sanctuary where I am living the life I have always dreamed of.  The place where I found friends and a family.  They’ll pay for this.  Be it Cerberus, Ibarki-doji, or the demon lord himself.  I pulled out Swarm Shooter and hopped onto Rin’s back.  In a fight between giants, I need to stay close or risk being squashed.  Rin yipped in approval as she dashed towards Cerberus and Ibaraki-doji “Yeah, Bis Sis!  We’ll kill ‘em all!”