The sound of a high caliber sniper rifle exploded in the air. Every black-clad men turned their eyes up to the sky. The loud shot slowly receded until it turned silent.

 

“Sniper! Take cover!” Alpha’s voice blared through the intercom.

 

Then a second shot came through, piercing the night air. All black-clad men hid behind anything that they could find. Be it cars, pedestrian bench, traffic light, and even trash cans.

 

“Alpha. Echo and G-6 are down,” a voice came through Alpha’s intercom.

 

“Snipers! What the heck are you guys doing?!” Alpha roared.

 

“Alpha, Bravo-1 is out. We’re still searchi-” the voice cut off, leaving Alpha in the air.

 

“Shit, I knew it. That freak is still alive,” said Alpha.

 

**

 

Jason killed another sniper on the roof, yet he was not satisfied. With his heightened state, using the sniper rifle wasn’t difficult. His high strength kept his body stable as he didn’t even felt the recoil, yet his aim was a bit lackluster. His dexterity was high, but it was his first time using a sniper rifle. The first time would always be the awkwardest.

 

Jason threw the sniper rifle away as he brandished his rare-grade steel sword. He melded himself into the shadow, clad with a brush of fresh wind around his body. He leaped from the roof, jumping high in the air as he saw his next prey.

 

Another sniper, sitting at the edge of the roof, skimmed through every roof that he could see within his spot. He was chewing some gum as he was calmed and collected. A veteran in the field as nothing fazed him. What mattered to him was finding the enemy and take a shot at it.

 

“Come out you slippery bastard,” said the sniper.

 

“I’m here,” a voice from the side.

 

The sniper turned as fast as he could and pulled the trigger. A flash of instinct that carried his motion for the kill.

 

“You missed,” but the voice was still there, coming from behind.

 

A sharp pain pierced through his neck. The sniper struggled to breathe as his eyes glanced at Jason. He saw a pair of cold eyes even colder than his. A few seconds later, he went limp. Jason pushed the body aside as he cut the corpse head off. He vanished once more as being cautious was necessary. Since this time, he wasn’t fighting against normal men but Awakened.

 

Level twelve, adequate, but not enough. 

 

His eyes gazed on the ground. The numbers of these men were roughly around thirty-ish or so. Their numbers and level weren’t a problem, but their weapons were dangerous.

 

A few couples of hits was acceptable, but with these many people, Jason had to take precaution. Healing while being hit was the way to go, but his energy point was at the low-side. He needed to take things in an assassin kind-of-way.

 

He leaped off the roof and landed in silence, like a cat falling with its feet on the ground. He sprinted and came in-between the two black-clad men. He spun and sliced off the neck of these two in a single sweep. Two dead bodies and one appearance of a man wielding a sword, less than one second later, he disappeared into nothingness.

 

“Enemy!” shouted a black-clad man. He saw it out of pure coincidence. They were not too far from each other as being in each other view guaranteed a chance of finding the enemy.

 

A spray of bullets went flying at the spot where Jason appeared, yet nothing seemed to hit.

 

“Where is he?”

 

Three black-clad men had their backs at each other, but it was all futile. Jason slashed through their necks like they were butter. Their pathetic energy guard was useless against Jason’s sword. Another three dead.

 

BANG BANG BANG

 

Three shots hit Jason right at the body. He looked and saw the sight of a nozzle aimed at him. He disappeared as more bullets came. He was still too slow to vanish. He stared down at his energy points and concluded to restrain himself from healing.

 

“Target located!” shouted the black-clad man.

 

“Where is he?” Alpha’s voice bellowed through the intercom.

 

“He’s gone,” said the black-clad.

 

“Sensors! What the fuck are you guys doing? Use your fucking abilities and find that bastard!” Alpha was going ballistic.

 

Sensors, a title given to those Awakened gifted with the ability for scouting purposes, and within this group, one-fourth of them were Sensors.

 

A black-clad man touched the asphalt road with his hand. An invisible wave traveled through the ground, acting like a sonar.

 

“Target at three o’clock, hundred-sixty feet away,” said the black-clad man.

 

“Grenades!” Alpha said.

 

Grenade launchers started shooting at the exact position as everything exploded, smokes, and pieces of the road scattered in the air. The grenade launchers didn’t stop at just one shot. A couple of rounds went out until what left was a shallow crater on the road.

 

“Earth-0, status,” Alpha said.

 

The black-clad man touched the road once more as another sonar went out.

 

“Nothing,” said Earth-0 as he turned to Alpha.

 

But Alpha had his eyes shook. A single blink of his eyelids and a person emerged out of thin air right behind Earth-0. The second time he blinked, a head rolled on the ground, and the figure was no longer there.

 

“Open fire!” Alpha said.

 

Twenty-two men pulled the trigger of their assault rifles and grenade launchers as they blasted everything at the position of the dead Earth-0.

 

“Alpha, he’s near,” said another black-clad man. Another sonar, but to use it, he needed to close his eyes and in deep concentration. The darkness of his mind saw the image of similar men around him, yet an anomaly stood right on top of the traffic light. It was glowing in a dark greyish hue.

 

“He’s on top of the traffic light!” bullets rained down at the innocent traffic light as what left of it was scraps of metals on the road.

 

Alpha searched for the body of that man, yet where ever he looked, there was no sign of any dead body. He ground his teeth as he shouted.

 

“Status, Mind-1, and other Sensors search for that damn bastard!” said Alpha.

 

Jason was on top of a roof, standing there gazing at these men. A green glow healed himself back to the fullest. Only when his energy guard was at a critical level would he used his heal.

 

Sensors, huh? They came prepared. As if waiting for me all this time. I should have known. People are hard to trust, more so if it's the military of your own country. So much for protecting the citizen. Hmm, these Sensors are going to be a pain. Should I go for long-range again?

 

He was boiling in rage from the inside, but Jason knew not to act recklessly. He felt like throwing himself right at the center and killed without care.

 

Wait, should I just jump in the middle? The sensors most probably are positioned near the center for protection wise, and they wouldn’t shoot at themselves, would they?

 

What left of the militant grouped up as they watched their perimeter while the sensors searched for the invisible enemy.

 

“Mind-1, give some damn result,” said Alpha.

 

“He’s…” Mind-1 delved deeper into his consciousness using his ability known as Astral Search. It would have been better if he was asleep but falling asleep in the middle of a battle was too stupid. Then he frowned as he saw it.

 

“Alpha, he’s on the-”

 

BANG!

 

Mind-1 fell on the ground as a bullet hole went through his skull.

 

“On the roof,” another sensor shouted, pointing out at Jason’s direction. All saw Jason standing there for a glimpse second before he disappeared.

 

“Shit, he’s playing with us,” said Alpha. “Abandon assault position, take up the defensive.”

 

The twenty-one black-clad men assumed a new formation. The sensors were at the center, trying their best to search for the constantly moving Jason.

 

“Don’t falter! There is only one of him and thirty of us! He didn’t dare to fight against us head-on as he’s afraid, afraid of our guns and bombs,” said Alpha as he riled up his men, not only through his words but also through his ability.

 

Rally of the Victor, an ability that heightened the motivation of allies and buffed up their physical prowess to a slight extent. But the most important of all, it lowered the shackling fear in the hearts of men.

 

“We will win this one, and we will go back as the victor!” said Alpha. The eyes of his men changed, turning sharp like a blade.

 

“Found him!”

 

“Where?” Alpha asked.

 

“He’s going straight for us from seven o’clock!”

 

Alpha stared straight at the empty road, his night-vision goggles didn’t see a thing, but he trusted his sensors.

 

“Shield!” Alpha said.

 

A black-clad man dropped his weapons and raised both of his hands in the air. A dome energy-based shield covered the whole formation.

 

“He’s jumping up,” said one of the sensors.

 

The whole team aimed their guns upwards as they waited. Jason emerged out from his hiding with his back, the sight of a full moon untainted by the clouds.

 

“He’s on sight!” these men readied to pull the trigger, but their patience was growing thin.

 

Jason landed on the barrier as he struck without holding back. Two strikes were all it took for the energy dome to broke apart. The shattering parts of the energy-dome fell like rain as the figure of Jason disappeared once more.

 

“Light them up!” Alpha said.

 

Guns went blazing as Jason dove down with great speed. A few ricochet bullets struck him as he appeared in their visions. He dropped on the one who made the barrier with his sword slashing the black-clad man right into two. Jason stood at the center of the formation as a gleam of madness flashed behind his eyes.

 

The black-clad men restrained from pulling the trigger as a slight mishap was enough to turn into a mess of friendly fire.

 

“Ready?” Jason's voice echoed in the night as some of these men grew nervous.

 

“Take him down! Formation Cover!” Alpha bellowed with the might of his ability.

 

Those who were closest to Jason rushed at him with one hand holding a combat dagger and another a firearm of their choice. While those at the outside took a distance, preparing to line up their shot.

 

But then.

 

“Argh!”

 

Those who tried to box him at the center went down in mere seconds.

 

“Shoot,” Alpha said. “Shoot!”

 

Five men sacrificed their lives for this one chance of killing Jason, and Alpha was not going to waste it. The assault rifle in his hand went like mad, spewing out bullets right at the enemy.

 

Jason swerved left and right as he tried to dodge, but the bullets found their target. His energy guard was going down rapidly, but his arms glowed in light green. He swung his arms as crescent projectiles went flying as his body glowed in another tint of green.

 

A few men had their guards broken while some rendered dead. But a few who still lived gunned down the immortal-like Jason. In these men's eyes. There was no other way of describing how Jason looks other than being a madden immortal.

 

Jason grabbed a dead body and used it as a shield as he cut down more of these black-clad bastards one by one. But then a large projectile went straight at him. He saw it a bit too late as he threw the dead body in his hand at the incoming bullet.

 

BOOM!

 

A big explosion erupted as it flung Jason afar. It was Alpha as he shot the grenade launcher right at Jason.

 

Jason was on the road as he got up without a hitch. His energy guard had broken, but his health was still okay. Only a slight pain on his back was all he felt.

 

“Die motherfucker!” said Alpha as he pulled the trigger of the grenade launcher. Jason fled with at his back a continuous sequence of exploding shells. His expression remained calm as he stared at what was left of his energy points.

 

Shit, I’m out.

 

Things didn’t look good to him. But he was not the type to give up, especially for revenge. An assault rifle emerged from his dog-tag necklace, and within a split second, he turned and aimed.

 

The sight of Alpha standing there like an open target made it easier for Jason. He did not even need to aim down scope as his monocle did the job for him.

 

“Die,” Jason said.

 

A spray of bullets went flying as it struck Alpha. The sensation of being hit made Alpha stunned for a few seconds. Even a veteran would react after being hit by a bullet. That split-second window gave Jason another chance, another pull to the trigger, and it was enough to broke apart Alpha’s energy guard. Alpha’s composure broke down as he searched for cover.

 

Yet, the moment he turned his back to Jason, everything ended. Jason struck Alpha at the back of his head as the leader of this militant group fell unconscious.

 

“Argh!”

 

“Help!”

 

Jason turned his head around and saw orcs appearing within the cover of night. They were attacking what left of the black-clad men. It seemed their loud battle attracted another opposition.

 

Jason glanced back at the unconscious Alpha as he paid no heed to those others. Deep down, he had the urge to kill the leader of this whole team, but he had other plans in mind.

 

He picked up Alpha as he fled away. What left was only the screams of the unfortunate battling against the hungry orcs.