The closer the soldiers got, the more the tension rose. Until it suddenly exploded all at once.
Jack threw himself at one of them, striking him violently. Alan reacted and followed, firing and emptying his magazine into one of them, who collapsed to the ground. Jumping onto the next one, Jack shouted to Alan.
« GO, I'LL HANDLE THIS. »
Alan started to flee into the forest. Taken by surprise, the agents opened fire. Finishing off the one he had just jumped on, Jack then hid behind a tree, taking several bullets to the torso.
The five remaining agents took position and surrounded him. Jack climbed the tree and leapt onto the nearest one, striking him hard on the head, shattering his skull in a single blow. Then he broke the limits of his left leg, the one he had taken from the girl, and charged toward the farthest one.
As he was about to crash into him, the man glowed with the same bluish energy, the energy flowing from his torso to his legs, moving before Jack could reach him. Unable to react, Jack broke the limits of his other leg, abruptly changing direction and carrying the soldier far into the forest, where he ended his run smashed against a tree.
Dragging the body behind the half-destroyed tree, he quickly switched his legs with the man's. But the soldiers didn't give him time to breathe: the three remaining used the same bluish energy and moved extremely fast toward Jack.
He barely had time to finish switching when three agents appeared in front of him, firing a burst of bullets that he dodged by breaking one of his legs. He plunged deeper into the forest and stayed hidden.
The three remaining agents didn't waste a second, going after Jack and finding him in just a few seconds. Hidden behind a bush, they fired several bursts. Jack broke the limits of his last leg, charging at one of them, who dodged in the same way thanks to a strange bluish glow running through their body. Jack ended his run farther away, crashing to the ground.
Detaching his legs from his body, he fled behind the trees, leaving only his melted legs behind with a putrid smell. Running on his hands with only his torso and head to carry, he climbed a tree and waited patiently.
Jack saw them in the distance, standing by and staring at the legs he had just detached. Suddenly one of them took out a walkie-talkie, as if to communicate. Jack wanted to stop them but couldn't do anything until shots rang out, making them drop the walkie-talkie and forcing them to take cover.
Looking in the direction of the shots, it was Alan, who had picked up an assault rifle and was firing at them. Jack didn't waste a second, jumping down from his tree and charging into the back of one of them, climbing onto him. The man panicked, thrashing around, but Jack killed him quickly, ripping off his head and throwing it at one of his teammates before fleeing while walking on his hands.
Panicking, the last two agents ran away, using their strange bluish energy coursing through their bodies, channeling it into their legs before leaving the forest toward the city.
Unable to catch them, Jack returned to one of the corpses and grafted its legs onto himself. Alan joined him, his face slightly pale and beads of sweat on his forehead.
« Fuck, Jack, what the hell was that? If Yumiel is bloody, you're… let's say, brutal? »
Most of the corpses had severely damaged skulls, were crushed into a thousand pieces, or no longer had heads.
Jack paid no attention, retrieving the brains of his victims and selecting the information to learn the reason for their presence. Once done, his eyes widened, then he rushed out of the forest to rejoin Yumiel. Alan followed him.
« And Jack, are you going to explain what's going on? »
Walking quickly toward the hunter's house, he explained what he had seen.
« Those men were just a taste, some kind of advance unit. Even though they all possessed awakening powers, probably transmitted like Jùnyǔ's bodyguards, but far less powerful. The real Seraphins are going to arrive. When exactly, I can't say, but they're coming. »
They kept going, now entering the city. Alan wanted to speak, but in the distance they could see the corpses of the two other agents. Rushing over, Alan noticed numerous bite marks on their bodies, as if several wild beasts had attacked them.
« Jack, look at the bites, they're identical to wolf bites, but slightly different. »
« I don't like this, let's rejoin Yumiel as fast as possible. »
They didn't waste time and left. In front of the hunter's house, Jack went in, followed by Alan, finding Yumiel still sitting in front of the TV, this time with Jùnyǔ.
« You're here, you took your time, what the hell were you doing, seriously? »
« Yumiel, we had a problem. They sent an armed team with awakening powers, the same as Jùnyǔ's bodyguards. There were eight of them, we killed six, and the other two got away and— »
Yumiel cut him off.
« Wait, wait, you're telling me you were attacked? And what about the helicopter? Because I'd really like to be able to leave. »
Alan spoke up. « The helicopter is fine, but the Seraphins are coming. That was just an advance unit, scouts to be precise. But the most worrying thing might be the bodies of the other two we found, dead, covered in multiple wolf bites, even though they were slightly different. »
Analyzing all of this, she stopped speaking. Jùnyǔ then spoke in turn, standing up from the couch.
« And as if that weren't enough, my friend Guo Ming has disappeared. We searched everywhere, he's nowhere to be found. »
« Guo Ming? »
« The hunter, if you prefer. »
Letting out a deep breath, Yumiel said, « Well, anyway, I can't go out in broad daylight, so there's not much I can do except wait. But as soon as night falls, we regroup and go back to the cave he showed us. »
« And if we don't find him? » Jack asked.
« We'll see when the time comes. »
They all looked at each other before going outside, except Yumiel, who stayed inside on the couch, patching herself up.
« So, what do we do? »
« I don't know, I came out to smoke. »
« And I followed Alan. »
In the end, the three of them each had a cigarette in their mouths, smoking outside and talking about anything and everything.