Inside of a luxurious yet highly armored vehicle sat two people.
Wearing vivid red and white robes along with silver pauldrons that covered his shoulders was an old, dark-skinned man with striking, yet kind looking, red eyes and a long mane of aged gray hair. Stitched onto the back of the man's robes with a gentle golden embroidery was the symbol of a cross that told all who saw it about the old man's religious beliefs.
But not only did his robes tell of the man's religion, so did the large pendant that hung from the chain sitting atop his neck.
Sitting across from him was a woman wearing dull gray armor with dull gold accents. Sitting atop the woman's shoulders was a brilliant crimson cloak with gold accents lining its surface.
However, unlike what the old man was wearing, the woman had nothing of notoriety that could distinguish her religious beliefs.
As of currently the woman's helmet, that was of the same style as the rest of her armor, was resting comfortably on top of her lap making it so that her face could be seen to anyone that bore witness to it.
With her clam blue eyes and soft black hair that reached just slightly passed her shoulders, she looked akin to an alluring succubus.
However, contrary to what her looks might say, she was no succubus or anything like it for she was no demon at all.
Her actual race was given away by the slightly pointed ears that were attached to the sides of her head; she was a half-elf.
For most of their journey the duo sat in silence with it being broken by the occasional updates received from the communication device that was neatly kept on of the woman's gun harness that was strapped across her chest.
It had only been a few minutes since the last update that they were given. So, the pair was not expecting their silence to be broken again so soon.
Not only that, but the voice that came through the communicator was not the one that they would normally hear.
"I have a report, your holiness."
The man's gruff voice came through the speaker, followed by the sounds of someone stepping onto the top of their vehicle.
"Two entities are heading in our direction. One looks like a 5th Rate Predator while the other seems to be a person getting chased by the former. I think they are trying to use us as bait to get away. What are your orders?"
As the man was talking the woman had already started to put her helmet on in case she needed to go out and fight at a moment's notice.
In response to the man's words, the older man quickly responded with a few of his own.
"What are the chances that this is the infamous Dread..."
He said as he began to stare off into the distance, thinking about god knows what.
As he looked into the empty space, time began to pass.
One minute, then two, no one interrupted his thoughts.
It wasn't until the third minute had passed when his thoughts were put to an inevitable end by the sound of the man's gruff voice coming from the speaker of the woman's communicator.
"Your holiness, the person that was getting chased has just passed through the convoy and the monster will be on us in a few seconds. I ask again, what shall we do?"
After hearing this, it didn't even take the old man a second to give out his orders.
"Young lass, if you would, please capture the person that is being chased and make sure no harm is done to them. As for you Culdrom, dispose of the beast."
Just like that, the woman inside the vehicle opened the door and launched out in order to secure her objective, the person that tried use them as bait.
Meanwhile, the man that was standing on top of the heavily armored transport vehicle, Culdrom, took the spear that was resting gently in his hands and positioned himself in a way that seemed as though he was about to throw it.
And throw it he did.
***
Vigil had no feelings regarding what he'd just done.
He didn't care about what happened to the people in that convoy. The only thing that he cared about was that he was fine.
So, he felt nothing. No guilt, no remorse, nothing.
No... That's a lie, he did feel something.
Relief.
Vigil was relieved by the fact that he lived to fight another day.
But soon, that sense of relief was washed over by a new feeling, confusion.
He had been thinking about it for a few seconds now.
Why had he not heard any screams? Why had he not heard any clamor that typically came with the battle between people and a giant monster like that?
...Why could he not hear the beast anymore?
His thoughts were soon cut off by the inexplicable sense of dread that had washed over him.
Without even turning around, Vigil unsheathed his sword and slashed backwards.
However, his sword was blocked mid swing.
That was when he decided to turn around and see just what was there.
What had caused him to feel this way? Was it another monster or maybe...
It was only when Vigil had finally turned around that he was able to see the thing that attacked him.
Within his vision was a person that stood a little less than a head above him, wearing dirty silver armor that was draped over by a vivid crimson cloak with golden embroidery on its edges.
Sitting inside of this person's left hand was a longsword with no fancy adornments.
Vigil was assessing the opponent when the sound of her voice travelled through the air.
"Hey kid, why don't you just surrender peacefully, that way I don't have to feel like a piece of trash for beating up a little runt like yourself."
At the sound of her comment, Vigil had only one thought in his head.
'Is this confidence or arrogance..?'
With that thought in mind, Vigil steeled himself for a rough fight.
Throughout his time spent in War Field Vigil has come to the realization that it's best to overestimate your opponent and be as cautious as possible. That way you would be prepared for anything.
So that's exactly what he did. He approached the upcoming fight with the utmost caution.
"...Hah... So the hard way it is."
After saying this the woman rushed at Vigil while raising her sword high.
In response to this, Vigil dodged away from the sword's predicted path and stabbed at the woman's throat, where there was a small gap between the helmet and breastplate.
Seeing his counter made the woman smile behind her helmet.
She then lifted her right hand and deflected Vigil's sword with the back of it. While doing so, she also stopped her initially planned vertical swing and instead pointed the tip of her sword at one of the slits in Vigil's helmet.
In the meantime, with his initial attack now off course Vigil ducked down, put most of his weight on his left foot and swung in a horizontal arc, hoping to land a hit on her abdomen.
But just as he was doing so, he saw the woman about to thrust her sword into Vigil's helmet, making him think twice.
So instead of swinging, he positioned his sword in front of his face with the flat of its blade showing towards himself just in time to block her attack.
However, what happened next surprised Vigil just enough for him to start feeling a small amount of cold sweat on the back of his neck.
When the ladies' attack landed, Vigil felt an insane amount of pressure being forced onto the blade through his arms. It was only when he looked up that he noticed that the woman's attack had forced him back a few meters.
But that wasn't what sent chills down Vigil's spine.
What did was the fact that the woman was now gone from his sight and-
"Boo!"
Vigil heard the sound of her voice coming from behind him.
So in response to this he quickly turned around, only to see the bottom of the woman's boot flying straight towards his head.
But this was just what Vigil needed.
He decided that taking the hit would be the best course of action in order to pull off his next strike.
So instead of dodging or blocking, Vigil quickly let go of his sword with his left hand and moved it behind his back in order to grab the handle of something that was strapped to his belt.
However, the kick that Vigil was expecting to get hit with never came. In fact, he didn't even see the woman in front of him anymore. This was the second time that this has happened.
It was shocking. Confusing, but shocking.
One second someone was there with their foot about to connect to his head, but in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
As Vigil was trying to overcome his shock, he felt a hand tightly grip his left wrist. What came along with that feeling was the same scene that played out just moments ago, the woman's voice coming from behind him.
"Neat toy you've got here. I'm assuming this means that you're not just a regular old swordsman. Now why don't you just drop your sword and let go of your gun."
Right when she said the last part of her sentence was when she decided to rest the flat of her blade on his shoulder with its edge pointing towards his neck.