They made incredible progress through the afternoon on Athena’s back, flashing over the landscape of eastern Menora. Her powerful wings could carry her at hundreds of miles per hour, even burdened by three people. In the times that he could fly with his suit to give her an easier time of it, he could barely keep up without burning nearly three times as much fuel as usual. Even factoring in their rest periods, they made it to Zenken in remarkable time.

“Touch down here on the hill, Athena,” Jerik directed. She did so, landing silently as per usual. Nicholas and Jack clambered off her back with groans of relief. They still weren’t used to riding. Athena seemed unfazed, merely shaking her main and sitting back on her haunches, studying the city alongside Jerik. “Damn, that’s a lot of damage.”

Zenken was indeed more a ruin than a city now. The outer wall had been repaired quickly enough, but the same couldn’t be said for the majority of the residential district and all of the markets. Buildings had been smashed to pieces, rubble strewn across the streets and the contents looted. Using his newly improved sight, he could see the walls, as well as the small figures that patrolled it at regular intervals.

“Well?” Nicholas asked, breaking into his concentration. “Is it bad?”

“It’s not world-ending,” he replied. “There’s a lot more of them than before, that’s for sure.”

“But we can slip past.”

Jerik nodded. Jack, who was studying the same scene through the scope of his rifle with less detail, scoffed quietly. “I could clear the entire wall before they knew someone was shooting at them. Their discipline is horrible.”

“Well, according to Morgan’s info, we’re probably looking at one of the street gangs hired to keep order,” he said. “It’s his core force that will be the highly trained ones. These are just the guys we have to sneak past.”

“The ones we have to sneak past, you mean,” Nick said. “You’re still going to make your presence known right away, aren’t you?”

“Once I’m inside, yeah,” Jerik replied. “How long do we have until Morgan arrives?”

“Forty-two minutes,” Nick replied crisply. He didn’t have to glance at his mobile. “You know she’ll be next to useless, right? Transporting the entire platoon by magic is going to drain nearly all of her mana.”

“I know,” Jerik said. “But if the plan works, then we won’t have to take part in a large conflict, so she won’t be needed.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nick’s shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. “It’ll work. You, me, and Jack are too sneaky to be spotted if we don’t want to.”

“True. Jack, you can shoot from here just fine, right?”

“Easily. It’ll take them a while to spot me, and even longer to make their way over.”

“Just watch for counter-snipers,” he advised. “Alright, let’s not waste any more time.”

He pulled back the bolt on Paragon’s body, unloading the weapon. In seconds, he’d broken the weapon down to its component pieces, which were put into the Tek Crate. The weapon was powerful but too large and heavy for what he needed on this mission. Accordingly, he retrieved his assault rifle, which Nick had customized for him. It was whisper-quiet when fired, and had been painted to not give any glare under direct light. The perfect weapon for killing at close quarters without being noticed. He slung it over his back.

“Alright,” he said, hopping onto Athena’s back. “Get ready. The instant we drop in, I want you to start shooting whoever you can see. If they’re armed, I want them dead.”

Jack gave him a nod, already settling onto the ground on his stomach. He deployed the rifle’s bipod for extra stability and looked through the scope. An excellent sniper, Jerik thought. He had the nearly infinite patience necessary to remain hidden, and his accuracy was nearly equal. Jerik often wondered how he’d never heard of Jack before he’d formed the platoon. Snipers of his skill were extremely sought after in Menora, after all.

“Let’s go, Athena.”

With Nicholas seated securely on her back, the griffon rose into the air effortlessly, climbing several dozen feet before flying forward. Jerik directed her to the destroyed market district, knowing that was the nearest available point in relation to the patrol paths of the street gangs. They seemed to arrive over the chosen location in a second, Athena landing behind the rubble of a building that had once housed Janitos’ merchant, the same one that had sold him Maker’s Mark at the very beginning. It had only been two months ago, yet it felt as though years had passed.

“Go back to where Jack is,” he told Athena. She took off at once. In the near distance, Jerik could hear men shouting in alarm as their companions were shot, either screaming in pain or dying silently, bursting into a pile of items. He nodded to Nick, barely able to make the young man out in the dark light. “With me.”

“Let’s go.”

They broke cover just in time to see a three-man party appearing, clearly summoned by the wall guard shouts. Jerik leveled his rifle and fired, killing two before they were even aware of being fired at. The third member turned on the spot, trying to find the source of the bullets, but she had no chance before Jerik fired. He and Nick collected all their equipment as quickly as possible. No traces. That was the plan. It was also why they’d come so lightly armed, with only a tek holding satchel each so that they could manage the equipment they earned from each kill.

Pushing forward, they made several sharp turns, encountering two more enemies. Jerik shot the first easily, but the second, who came around a corner without warning, fell to one quick slash of Nick’s sword. The young man quickly snatched up the dropped items and peered around the corner.

“It’s clear,” he hissed in a low tone.

Jerik made the hand signal for him to advance, and he nodded. They continued to cut through the streets. Each time they met an enemy, they were dealt with quickly. None of them had the training or reflexes to respond in time, even in the rare cases that they saw Jerik and Nick first. Simply put, there was nobody among these low-level thugs that could impede their progress. It wasn’t long before they’d reached the center of the city, where Jerik had last fought Magnus. The area in front of the terminal was empty, of course. No mad dash to sell enough to earn a million points this time.

“Hold up,” Jerik said quickly, as Nick made to cross the town center. He pulled the young man into an alley, and not a second too soon. The sound of angry voices was clearly audible on the other side of the town square. “We’ve got company.”

“What do you mean we’ve lost sixty people already?” A voice thundered. Jerik recognized that voice. It was unmistakable Magnus. “How can they kill so many so quickly without anyone seeing something?”

“We can only confirm three members,” another voice said. “It’s Jerik and his swordsman Nicholas. And someone new, someone named Jack.”

“It’s their backup sniper,” yet another voice was speaking. “We think he’s firing from outside the city, taking out the men on the walls.”

“I don’t care where he is!” Magnus shouted, clearly angry beyond reason. “Get those damned idiots off the walls!”

Jerik resisted the urge to let out a sigh of relief, but it was a close-run thing. That was exactly the response he’d been hoping for. With no men to play scout on the walls, they were effectively blinding themselves. And with the majority of the street thugs down, the chances of being ambushed were drastically lowered. He tapped Nick on the shoulder to get his attention and then gestured that they should retreat. Nick gave a nod of understanding and they began to move away from the voices.

“Hold on,” the second voice said. “That’s odd.”

Something about the tone of his voice froze Jerik on the spot. Whatever he was about to say wouldn’t be good, he was sure. Magnus was questioning the stranger now. “What is it?”

“Jerik’s last kill,” the man said, sounding thoughtful. “It was Jordan.”

“So what?”

“Well, Jordan was patrolling the outer ring of the town center here. This kill just happened.”

A long moment of silence stretched through the air, in which Jerik was convinced he could hear his heart hammering to a stop. He cursed quietly, then heard Magnus say, “He’s still nearby. He can probably hear us. Fan out!”

Nick gave Jerik a hard shove in his chest to propel him along, hissing, “Activate your camouflage. It’s our only hope.”

“Fuck that,” Jerik growled. “He’s right there.”

Before Nick could speak again or even move to stop him, he moved into the open, rifle raised and firing. He shot down two, then dove behind a cluster of boxes as they spun to face him, returning fire at once. In the short space of time, while bullets slammed into the ground around him, he switched loadouts, activating his combat mode. Then, right as the spray of rounds ended, he dashed out of cover.

The reason they’d paused firing was that they had to reload. It was a tactical mistake, one that he intended to fully take advantage of. Increasing the power to his legs, he reached the first gunman before he was halfway finished loading a new magazine. He buried his tek knife in the man’s chest, shattering him into a cloud of items. Then he was onto the next, cutting his throat. Then another. And another. He reached the fifth just as more figures appeared around the terminal, and swung the man in front of him to intercept the bullets.

He was caught out in the open, but the body of the soldier protected him from the hail of bullets. The group near him couldn’t fire for fear of hitting each other, but he wasn’t limited in the same way. With the hand not holding his shield, he fired his rifle. The lack of distance made his accuracy irrelevant, and he peppered three more of them in a flash. He threw the rifle aside when it ran out, and released his prisoner just as he exploded, already moving towards his next target.

Several rounds struck him as he charged, but they bounced off him harmlessly, only costing shield capacity. Two more fell to his knife, and he heard a shout of fright from the group of gunmen firing at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nicholas among them, his sword flashing in a bright blur, cutting them down with almost contemptuous ease. They stood no chance at close quarters, and soon, the two were alone in a town center filled with mounds of dropped items.

Nicholas walked over to him, breathing heavily. “That was intense.”

Jerik’s mobile rang, and he picked it up, already moving towards the alley they’d previously used as cover. “What is it, Morgan?”

“I’ve just seen you kill nearly thirty people in as many minutes. What happened?”

“We ran into Magnus sooner than expected,” he explained. “I may have gone a little overboard.”

“By that, he means he ran headfirst into a dozen gunmen with just a knife,” Nicholas said over his shoulder. 

Morgan didn’t reply for a second. Jerik could hear laughter on the other end. “Temper, temper, commander.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said shortly. “Well, Magnus has gone into hiding. Chances are he’s fleeing the city. I doubt he had time to make a stronghold. We’re on our way out. Meet you at the entrance.”