(Quintiles 29, 59 / 6:02PM)

  (Ryan) Swords aren’t going to save you, bitch.

  Ryan’s head didn’t get chopped off.

  (Luna) Are you using a blessing?

  (Ryan) Maybe. Maybe not…

  Ryan allowed himself to be hit with the bde, letting his neck follow the motion of the bde. Because Luna used a good amount of her right arm to push forth her bde, in return, it caused Ryan’s neck to almost extend like rubber, his neck looking like a slingshot as her bde didn’t look like she beheaded him.

  With a quick motion, Ryan sprung his neck back into pce, making Luna’s bde flinch.

  Barely handling the motion of Ryan’s rubber neck, Luna took a couple of steps back as she examined Ryan head to toe, her eyes gncing at what used to be human as she let out a sigh.

  (Luna’s thoughts) He is using a blessing, but what type? Is he using a defense-support blessing? Or something else…

  Ryan then steadied himself, digging his feet onto the wooden floor as he tried to find a home base to leap off of. Eyeing the woman, Ryan jumped towards Luna who had her bdes on defense, her left sword twirling clockwise and her right sword twirling counterclockwise.

  Seeing the defense that Luna made, Ryan had his left foot touch the floor, and with a simple thrust, he directed his body to go right, moving to Luna’s left side.

  (Ryan) Gum…

  Extending his arm towards Luna, he clenched his right fist of a punch. In slow motion, he thrust his entire arm like rubber toward Luna, who happened to keep too much guard on her front. Seeing the extended punch coming at her from her left side, she didn’t have much time to defend, but she did have time for something.

  As the fist was about to collide, Luna took a step back, barely managing to dodge the incoming punch coming from Ryan. Seeing Ryan’s arm right there in front of her, Luna already had her left sword on standby. Putting a good amount of strength into the bde, she sent it straight down onto Ryan’s right arm.

  (Luna) RAAARR!!

  Luna pushed her vocals to let out a shrieking roar, her body shaking violently. Despite this, her bde made contact with his arm, the bde barely managing to—

  Be sent straight down to the ground, with the arm bending with the bde.

  (Luna) Are you fucking kidding me?!

  Ryan let out a devilish smirk as Luna’s eyes widened by the unfortunate attempts to cut his body. With veins bulging out of her forehead and neck, she sharpened her eyes towards Ryan who happened to pull back his arm with utmost ease.

  (Ryan) Like I said, you can’t cut me.

  (Luna) God damn it! Can’t you just die like you’re supposed to!?

  (Ryan) Hehe … then go ahead! Give it your best shot!

  Luna tapped a button on both swords with her thumb, causing the twin-bded double-edged swords to pop back into their bck battens. As the swords were encased in the battens, she holstered both of them on her pants, pcing them right in the center of her back.

  Ryan, who pushed himself with his right foot, decided to spin his body to give himself more momentum, his accuracy subpar as it looked as if a bullet was coming at her.

  (Luna’s thoughts) Guess I have no choice huh? Resorting back to the old ways.

  Clenching both of her fists tightly, she put her hands up as her knuckles were riddled with bits of dried blood and tar. Followed by the little creases that showcased her palms, it was covered in calluses and bruises, small red rashes appearing on her fingertips.

  Pushing herself yet again for the third time, Luna saw that instead of any fancy tricks or jumps from the left or right, Ryan was heading straight for her.

  (Ryan) You’re fists! Let’s see who’s stronger!

  With the world slowed, Luna used most of her strength to steady her hand, focusing her eyes on Ryan who got closer to her. Getting in the right position, she then thrust her first straight at the zompire human, her eyes focusing solely on his face etching closer and closer.

  Ryan had his arm extended, but not charging it forward, but had it pulled back like a slingshot. Simir to a slingshot, he used all his strength to thrust a rge amount of inertia and momentum outwards, as he managed to close the distance between him and Luna.

  (Ryan) Gum Gum.

  (Luna) Eat knuckle!

  Luna managed to nd the first hit on Ryan in terms of speed, his momentum punch backfiring horribly. Having her fist on Ryan’s face, she then used an absurd amount of strength to push Ryan’s nose into his brain.

  But Ryan didn’t want to let his punch go to waste.

  Even when his face was slowly crumbling from the inside, he managed to thrust himself the momentum punch that he was storing up for, his target being Luna’s wide-open face.

  Just as Ryan was sent flying, his first nded directly at Luna’s right cheek. Luna slowly gritted her teeth as the abnormal pulsating strength caused her to lose her grip on the wooden floor.

  And then Ryan flew towards a damaged wood wall, crashing onto it until the wall couldn’t sustain itself anymore. Leaving a big hole in the wall, Ryan’s body y motionless as he nded on a patch of dirt near another building from the destroyed bar.

  For Luna, she fell on her right hip, clenching her eyes shut. Caressing her right cheek, she used her right rough hand to smother the pain, until she felt a soft and squishy bruise right on her cheekbone.

  (Luna’s thoughts) Shit! Do they have some incredible amount of strength or what?! Oh, fuck! Why is this so painful!?

  Grinding her teeth intensely, her whole body tightened by the pain of Ryan’s punch, still caressing her right cheek.

  (Luna) Where’s that goddamn blonde bitch when you need her?!

  (Hope) You look horrible.

  At long st, Hope was towering over Luna, making a smug grin as Luna remained on the floor massaging her cheek. Hope then put her hands onto her hips, tilting her head as she put a finger on her chin, despite her breathing ragged and irregur as sweat started to drip down to the floor.

  (Hope) I wonder who could help you with that squishy bruise? There’s gotta be someone who has the blessing for you to be better.

  (Luna) Don’t py dumb with me you dumb bitch! Hurry up and heal me!

  Luna moved her body so that her knees were on the ground, her right hand still on the affected area. With veins bulging out of her forehead, Luna’s left hand clenched into a fist as her body began to shake as well.

  (Hope) sighs … Fine.

  Hope let go of her hands holding her hips and crouched down to get to an eye level where Luna was. Putting her right hand on Luna’s cheek, she closed her eyes as she let the flow of yellowish light flow into her.

  The bright yellow light gave Luna a sense of relief, completely rexing her body as the affected area slowly started to return to its normal state. Feeling the lightness of her body thereafter, Luna touched the area again, not feeling any squishiness.

  (Hope) Aren’t you supposed to say thanks?

  (Luna) It’s your job to heal dumbass, don’t make it seem as if I owe you.

  (Hope) Whore.

  (Luna) Bitch.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Miles)

  Sweat trickled down all over Mile’s face, his hands shaking as he wielded two sawed-off shotguns in both his hands. His breath grew weary, followed by his groggy eyes barely having them open as he focused on the half zompire.

  The beast human zompire in question, put his arms to his sides, opening his palms so that Miles could see them. Out of the boy’s palms, several creatures started to pour off them.

  (Mile’s thoughts) What the hell is up with these blessings!?

  But the creatures were all the same species, a flying animal that had wings and the face of a mouse.

  (Miles’s thoughts) How many bats does this asshole summon anyway?!

  With a horde of bats surrounding and covering the boy, he extended his arm as he pointed his finger at Miles, his frail and brittle finger as white as snow. In a blink of an eye, six to eight bats bared their teeth towards Miles, the speed of their wings fpping the Kepputhan air as they reached the speed of no return.

  (Cameron???) Hahaha … Let’s see if you could dodge this!

  Flipping his arms towards the horde of bats, Miles steadied his feet pcidly, pcing his right foot more farther away from his body. His legs started to quiver as the wooden floorboards creaked under the pressure of his body weight.

  At the right moment, Miles shot the sawed shotgun in his left hand, hitting a couple of bats as the shell sprayed the horde. Recalling his left arm back, Miles then used his right leg to spring himself to the side to avoid the incoming horde.

  Lunging to his side, Miles nded on his back as the four to six horde of bats were still locked on him. Despite his back hitting the wooden floor hard, he ignored the pain as he steadily aimed at an angle.

  (Miles) Bullseye!

  Pulling the trigger to his right hand, Miles' hand felt the vibrations of the recoil coming off his gun, the shockwaves harassing his blood streams that caused his hand to go numb for a split second. With the shell splitting up, it nded many direct hits toward the bats, hitting most of the horde in one shot.

  But Miles noticed that his back was to a corner.

  (Miles’s thoughts) Shit! I should get to the center—

  Dozens of bats charged straight for him.

  Seeing the many white fangs and saliva that came out of the bat's mouths, Miles extended both of his hands towards the horde, pcing his fingers on both the gun’s triggers.

  He clicked the trigger yet nothing came out.

  (Miles) Fuck, my ammo!

  With the hoard of bats closing in, Miles walked back towards a corner, his face pale as his legs started to quake. Still wielding his guns, he threw them toward his feet quickly, the guns hitting the wooden floor with enough force that it caused a big dent.

  Putting both his arms to cover his face, Miles looked directly at Cameron, his eyes focused as he steadied his breathing.

  A bluish dome appears right in front of the bats.

  (Miles’s thoughts) Shit, that was close…

  With a dome protecting Miles like a shield…

  The bats still went off their way to try to break the dome, bashing their bodies against the bluish shield.

  (Miles’s thoughts) Damnit! Come on Miles … push them back!

  Despite the shield being nearly as hard as a diamond, the dome started to shrink as Miles’s arms started to shake violently under the weight of the push. Clenching his teeth as if he wanted to break them, his eyes began to turn red, making his vision blurry as the pulsating vibrations from the shield slowly started to put strain on his body.

  (Miles’s thoughts) Why isn’t Luke helping me out!? Damn it, anyone! Even Jack for Christ's sake!

  The vibrations of the bats continued to bash the shrinking dome, with the dome inches away from Miles’s face and arms. His feet were on the verge of buckling, as his arms were about to give into the temptation of releasing. The more he thought of the idea of letting go, the more his strength started to fade away faster.

  (Mile’s thoughts) I just … I just … I can’t die now!

  (??? in Miles’s thoughts) Save me! Save me Miles!

  The sounds of a heavy machine gun can be heard.

  In a rain of bullets, the metallic spray of gunpowder and smoke painted the bluish dome with red blood, and many pieces of bat spttered all around Miles’s area. Feeling the weight of the horde of bats diminishing, Miles quickly let go of his blessing, pulling back the bluish particles into his hands as he fell back to the wall with sweat pouring down from his cheeks.

  Turning his direction to the rain of bullets, Miles saw a short and bulky shark-human, pointing his gun towards the beast human zompire boy. Even though the shark-human’s stance was seen to be calm and chant, the man’s body wasn’t in the best shape as his breathing was raspy with blood trickling down from his forehead.

  (Miles) About … pants … fucking time … come on Benn, finish him…

  Ignoring Miles, Benn carefully held the heavy machine gun as he aimed down the sights with his right eye. Finger on the trigger as the barrel let loose once more, he felt the recoil shake his right arm and left hand, the bullets rapidly coming out of the barrel as they targeted the boy head-on.

  (Cameron???) Foolish.

  Pcing both his right hand and left hand upwards, Cameron unleashed another horde of bats that came out of his palms. Pointing his right finger yet again, the horde of bats charged towards Benn, with the horde being in the crossfire as the gunsmoke and metal cshed with the bat’s little bodies.

  And this created a perfect opportunity.

  (Miles’s thoughts) Thanks, Benn.

  Using whatever bit of strength he had, he pushed it all towards his right hand, his right arm shaking uncontrolbly as he steadied his legs that barely kept him up. Swinging his right arm, a bluish-see-through wall sprung out towards Cameron, his teeth grinding against one another as his forehead and neck showed strained veins.

  Cameron, who was busy dealing with Benn’s heavy machine gun bullets, saw from his peripheral vision the bluish shield coming towards him. Stopping his bats, he aimed his right hand towards Miles—

  (Cameron???) Oh my…

  Once Cameron was about to push his right hand forward, the bluish shield came into contact with him, pushing him back several feet. Landing right near where Ryan was, he y on the debris as his head pulled a 180 twist.

  Meanwhile, Miles colpsed onto himself, the weight of all of his strength now loose as he had his face on the dirty wooden floorboard.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Luna) You guys okay?

  (Benn) I’m fine. Miles isn’t.

  Extending his huge forearm, Benn pointed towards Miles who y down on the dirt floor, his breathing at a rapid pace. Seeing Miles’s face coated with hot sticky sweat, Luna looked over to Hope who was right next to her, her eyes motioning her to go over to Miles.

  (Luna) Help Miles recover his strength.

  (Hope) But my blessing only heals, so it won’t work unless he is bleeding or cut. Also, even if I do heal him, it will only give him a short boost of stamina for a limited time.

  (Luna) Does it look like I care? Just poke him with a needle and heal him! Do it or else I’ll use you as a decoy!

  Sharpening her eyes, Hope shook her hands violently as her throat contracted. Slowly breathing in and out, Hope turned her direction towards Miles and ran towards him, her fists clenched as her footsteps were much more forceful than normal.

  While with him, Luna and Benn look over to Ryan and Cameron, both beast human zompires slowly getting up from their perspective fights. With their bodies sluggishly keeping themselves up from falling, they both breathed in and out slowly.

  (Luna) What are they doing?

  (Benn) Nothing good.

  Both beast human zompires started to inhale a lethal amount of oxygen into their bodies, their chests almost expanding as they intake the air around them. Slowly pushing out a lot of air, both beast-human zompires opened their eyes to see both Luna and Benn focusing their gazes on them.

  (Luna) They’re not humans or zompires. They act like humans but have the appearance of a zompire. So what the hell are they?!

  (Benn) I would call them liches. They have the strength of zompires but with the power of a blessing.

  (Luna) Liches huh…

  (Luna’s thoughts) Maybe Luke would probably find a way to deal with these pricks … wait … don’t tell me Luke is still—

  Turning her head towards where Luke was originally, she noticed that the area where Luke was buckled to…

  (Luna) What the hell!? Where is he!?

  Losing sight of Luke, she gnced all around the bar. Noticing that most of the tables or debris didn’t have Luke within them, Luna slowly let out a droplet of sweat on her forehead, dropping down onto the hole that she made earlier.

  The sounds of howling can be heard outside the bar.

  Or rather a pack surrounding the entirety of the bar.

  (Benn) Are those wolves?

  (Luna) I thought wolves were domesticated. Why are they getting ready to ambush us?

  Hearing the pack of wolves getting closer to the front of the door, Luna holstered back her two twin-bded double-edged swords. As well, seeing that the two liches seemed to be breathing in and out, she took a step back as she gnced towards Benn.

  (Luna) Benn, keep an eye on those two. If they make a move, call me.

  Seeing with her eyes gncing at many white, gray, and bck wolves outside the perimeter of the bar, Luna had one eye focused on the entrance to the bar, her legs readied as she put most of her strength on it for anything that might come to light.

  (???) Looking for this?

  Luna turned her rapidly, her body doing a 180 twist as she gazed upon the voice from behind. Her face started to turn pale as her hands started to rapidly shake, and her eyes saw a tall figure holding a boy hostage.

  (Luke) Luna…

  (Luna) Luke!

  A frail boy, younger than Cameron, held Luke hostage, his long slender arms wrapping Luke as he covered his neck with ease.

  The boy had the same deep bck hair color, white as snow skin, and all-bck eyes, simir setup to Cameron and Ryan.

  The frail boy pushed down his face as he deepened his lips into a frown, his eyebags being a grayish bck as he stared at Luna.

  (???) A female? Out of the strongest I sensed in this room, the scent is coming directly from you. Come on! I expected at least the shark-human to fight with!

  (Luna) Shut up you incel. Give Luke back to me before I slice your nutsack.

  Pointing her right sword right at the frail boy’s genitals, her eyes tightened towards the tall boy’s ghostly pale face. Her sword shaking violently, Luke noticed this as the tightening around his neck started to take hold, pushing Luke’s lungs to beg for more air. Gasping, he started to slowly kick his legs as he put his hands up to the frail boy’s meatless arm.

  (???) Incel?! … INCEL!!?? How dare you call me that! How!? How!? How!? How!? You know what bitch!

  Putting his right middle and pointer finger into his rotten decaying mouth, the frail boy’s whistle was heard throughout the entire bar, with Benn losing his focus for a bit on the two liches that stared him down as he gnced over at the frail boy. Miles and Hope looked over to see the whistle’s sound, eyeing the boy as they started to quiver as they focused on the new enemy.

  The pack of wolves that were outside of the bar, came rushing through the entrance. With around several wolves running towards the frail boy, he extended his arms sideways to showcase the wolves in back of him.

  (Luna’s thoughts) What the hell? What is he, their alpha?

  The wolves growled and dripped off saliva from their mouths, baring their white and sparkling teeth as their nuzzles vibrated and they locked onto their prey. Luna, who noticed that the wolves were all locking onto her, noticed four silhouette figures all grudgingly standing up.

  (Luna’s thoughts) About goddamn time!

  The four dark figures had their guns locked and loaded, the sounds of metal cshing inside of their guns as they aimed at the several wolves in front of them.

  The wolves picked up a scent coming from behind, their noses perking up as they all turned their heads and bodies toward the fresh scent of human blood.

  (Stan) Fire!

  Stan, Gary, Fred, and Diego all fired their respective rounds at the pack of hungry wolves that were about to pounce on them. Feeling the recoil of the amount of rounds being fired upon, Stan and his friends had trouble aiming at the pack of wolves as the sound of bullets filled the air around them.

  Despite shooting most of the pack, a couple of wolves managed to reach the group, baring their fangs with drool and saliva dripping down from their nuzzles.

  (Stan) Shit! Fall back!

  The frail boy, who turned his head towards the commotion unfolding behind him, let his grip loose as Luna saw Luke breathing in more heavily, his slightly purple face turning into his normal color. With this opportunity, Luke wiggled his way out of the frail boy’s arm.

  The frail young boy noticed the sudden slip of him, his face pale but already pale as he extended his hand to pull Luke back, but Luna was too fast.

  Or rather, she vanished.

  The boy’s left arm then fell onto the wooden floor, bck tar dripping down from its gushing wounds as the boy saw what y in front of him.

  Luna was already slightly crouched down, already finished as the tip of her left sword touched the floor. Tightening her eyes towards the lich, she lunged forward a step, grabbing her right hand towards Luke whose legs were still unable to move as his body moved with the motion of where Luna pushed him.

  (Luna) Get your ass moving!

  Throwing him away from the lich, Luke was moved closer to where Miles and Hope were, his body tumbling like a rolling pin as his face was directed toward where Benn was.

  (Luke) Ow! … Oh wait, Benn!

  Because the frail boy managed to distract Luna, it was the perfect chance for both Ryan and Cameron, causing them to steady their stance, their legs expanding as they put enough muscle inside of their legs. In a fsh, both beast humans lunged forward to where Benn was.

  (Ryan?) Where’s your tanned partner now?

  Ryan pulled back his arm, stretching it again like a slingshot to give it enough inertia to make a shot at Benn’s stomach. Cameron meanwhile, already had a horde of bats surrounding him, the bats traveling with him as it covered his body head to toe like a suit of armor.

  (Benn’s thoughts) How am I supposed to defend this!?

  Fortunately, Luke could move his arms as his legs normally.

  As his knees were on the ground, holding him up, Luke had his back straightened as he pulled a piece of crystal out of his jacket. Holding the crystal-like substance, Luke pulled back his arm and threw the crystal right at the two liches.

  (Luke) Miles! Use your blessing!

  Despite Miles being exhausted, he slowly stood up, his breathing more casual and slower than it was several minutes ago.

  (Miles’s thoughts) Good thing Hope used that pin needle trick.

  Putting his arm forward, a bluish shield formed right in front of Benn, giving him a sense of safety as the two liches hit the wall dead on.

  As for the crystal, it managed to hit one of the bats from Cameron’s blessing, causing the crystal—no, the piece of fulminated mercury to explode at the two liches.

  (Benn) Ah, crap!

  A cloud of smoke overclouded the entire area where Benn, Luke, Miles, and Hope were, but the shockwave managed to reverberate the entire building.