ALL NOVEL [22] Desperate Resistance
"Are you okay, Eva?" Reina asked, worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just choked on my drink," Eva replied, clearing her throat. She needs to head there ASAP to see the situation personally, or else she will lose a potential recruitment target.
"I need to go now, I have an appointment. See you later, Reina." Eva stands up and hurriedly exits the cafeteria.
"Wait, Eva! Where are you going? Are you alright?" Reina calls out, but Eva ignores her. She can apologize and explain something to Reina later. But for now, time is of the essence.
She headed straight to her room and locked the door. She then opened a hidden compartment under her bed, revealing her laptop. It's the same laptop she used anonymously to buy all the necessities for her alter ego in the black market. She once again checks the specific location of the terrorist organization's hideout based on the outdated data she stole from her father.
After confirming the location, Eva activated her Amplifier power and transformed into her alter-ego, Moonlight. She looks at the sword that a man named Lucius gave her, the one she had trouble even understanding the basic function of the many features hidden within it.
"Maybe I can test this sword in action," Eva mutters and attaches the sword to her waist.
Then she opened her phone and messaged Ryuji that she was in her room, busy. It's better to notify him now rather than make him panic when he can't find her and cause a ruckus. Well... It's not like he can enter the girl's area anyway to check on her claim.
With everything set, Eva opens a window and jumps out after making sure there is no one around. Since the placement test was still ongoing, most students were still occupied inside the building.
Haruto and his men suddenly emerged from the forest and began causing as much confusion as possible. They were running in every direction, attacking anyone within their sights. Forests were set on fire, and makeshift bombs were thrown everywhere, causing massive explosions.
Many kinds of Astral Ability were also used. Haruto, using his telekinesis power, lifts large boulders and throws them in every direction. Some even create a thick smoke screen to hide themselves and their allies. Thunder strikes down from the sky, and flames erupt everywhere.
It was complete chaos.
Altought they were completely unorganized, and some of their ability was useless in combat. At the very least, now they are putting up a fight and doing whatever they can to make their enemies' lives miserable. Right now, it was the AGA forces that were caught off guard.
The AGA forces were firing blindly, unsure of where their enemies were. They didn't want to shoot their own comrades, but the situation was quickly getting out of hand. To make things worse, most of the Astral Agents that they deployed were mostly composed of people with offensive-focused Astral Ability. What are they gonna do? Create more chaos by using their own destructive powers?
"This is getting ridiculous! I can't see a damn thing!" One of the agents shouted in frustration. "Where are those bastards!?"
"Keep firing! You'll hit them eventually!" Another agent yelled back.
"That's stupid! We can't just blindly shoot like this! We'll kill each other!"
"Just shut up and keep shooting!"
Haruto was running, hiding under the smoke of fire, trying to escape the bullets that were raining down on them while using his telekinesis shield to deflect the ones he couldn't avoid. He had no idea how long they could keep this up, and he didn't even know where his allies were anymore.
The AGA forces were finally recovering and beginning to organize themselves. Astral Agents with utility power to locate and track their enemies were also dispatched and started to move. Several wind elements were created, and a vortex of wind swirled, blowing away the smokescreen that they made and clearing the view. A flood of water rushed through the area, snuffing out the flames.
"They are harder to handle than expected..." Masamoto clicked his tongue. "They're still resisting despite being surrounded. Those stubborn bastards."
"Suprised? Astral Users are never easy to deal with." Richard remarked as he watched the screen, amused.
"I think you also need to send your men in," Masamoto suggested. "We can't handle them with the force we have."
"That would only create more confusion. I suggest you order your men to fall back and regroup; we're fighting on their terms right now." Richard calmly analyzed the situation.
"Fine, I agree." Masamoto pressed the communicator on his ear. "All units, pull back and regroup outside the perimeter. I repeat, pull back, and regroup outside the perimeter."
Richard, in turn, gave an order to his subordinate through a radio. "All agents focus on supporting the main units in clearing the view. Suppress and contain the enemy, siege and encircle them slowly outside the perimeter."
Currently, they have 120 Field Agents that were deployed, with 400 regular military personnel as the backbone of the forces. The number of terrorists that were fighting was estimated to be less than a hundred. They outnumbered them heavily, but with how chaotic everything was, the number advantage almost meant nothing if they just let it be.
The AGA forces were slowly retreating and gathered outside the encirclement perimeter, reorganizing their formation. This gives Haruto and his men a little breathing room as the fight turns into a siege. But this was terrible news. The second group, led by Iori, was slowly moving toward the second hideout under her concealment ability, but they are now at risk of being revealed and also besieged if he let the AGA agents regroup and encircle them.
Right now, there are many holes in AGA formation for the second group to slip undetected, hiding under the cover of forest and chaos that the first group was creating. He needed to intensify the chaos, buy some more time for the second group, and maybe, just maybe, they could break through and escape.
But with the wind blowing, water flooding, and fire snuffed out. It would be impossible to create any more chaos. They were also running low on makeshift bombs, and most of them were already too exhausted to use their Astral Ability anymore. The only thing that they can really use right now is the gun that they pick up from fallen AGA forces.
"Damn, this is bad."
"What are we going to do, boss?"
"We can't do anything."
Their morale was dropping. They were getting tired and were beginning to lose their fighting spirit. There was no hope left if they didn't have any sort of plan... or was there?
Suddenly, from afar, a dust cloud appeared. It was heading straight toward the AGA forces with incredible speed. Before anyone could react, the dust cloud hit the AGA forces, sending them flying into the air and crashing into the ground.
"What was that!?" One of the agents exclaimed.
"Who was there?" Another agent asked, pointing his gun at the dust cloud.
"Oh? Who do I look like?" A womanly voice spoke.
The dust cleared, revealing a young woman with long silver hair and sharp blue eyes, wearing a black dress and holding a sword that glittered in the sunlight. It was the infamous Moonlight, a mysterious woman who stormed the world with her sudden appearance and bold actions.
"You..."
"Wait, isn't she THAT Moonlight!?"
"The hell is she doing here?!"
"Don't ask me! Just shoot her!"
The AGA forces fired their guns at Moonlight, but their bullets were easily evaded by her inhuman speed. She slashed her sword and cut the incoming bullets as she dashed forward. In mere seconds, she reached one of the agents and slashed her sword sideways, cutting through their bodies easily into two as if they were butter.
Haruto, who watched this unfold, could only stare in disbelief. Why was Moonlight here, and why was she helping them again? He didn't know, but he didn't care. This was their chance.
"Everyone! Charge!" Haruto yelled and charged forward.
The rest of his men, absorbed by the heat of the moment, also charged forward with whatever weapon they had. The AGA forces were caught off guard by the sudden attack, and they were quickly overwhelmed.
It's just another unexpected event after another. The woman who called herself Moonlight always appeared suddenly out of nowhere and disappeared just as fast. Nobody really knows who she is, what her goals are, and where she came from. She just showed up one day and went around causing havoc.
Even though her face is as clear as day, there is no record of her anywhere. All the government and public database shows nothing. It's like she was just born one day out of thin air. Not even the AGA's secret database has anything on her.
Nobody knew her real name, where she came from, or what she was trying to achieve other than some claim that she made during her impassionate speech. She just appeared, wreaked havoc, and then disappeared again. Nobody knew when or where she would strike next, but one thing was for sure: wherever she goes, chaos always follows.
Even her name is now a rallying cry for a bunch of radical extremist groups around the globe, and her existence is causing more chaos than it should have.
Richard and Masamoto were watching the battle unfold on the monitor, and Richard couldn't help but feel a throbbing headache from all these unpredictable events. The professional astral analysis concluded that Moonlight Astral Ability is some sort of psychical enhancement with the capacity of S-rank. Previous battle reports also tell that no bullet or any form of attack managed to hurt her even the slightest.
This makes her an extreme threat that requires multiple A-rank Astral Users with combat-oriented abilities or another S-rank Astral User to take her down. All Astral Agents that were currently deployed are composed of B, C, and D-rank Astral Users. A and S-rank Astral Users are rarely deployed on a mission like this since they usually operate only on a special mission or emergency situation.
This is an emergency situation, but calling them right now would take too long, and their force would probably be already decimated by the time they arrived. The only person who can match her right now is General Masamoto, an S-rank Astral User himself with combat-oriented ability. Richard, on the other, although he is also an S-rank Astral User, his powers are not suited for combat against a beast like Moonlight.
"Richard, take control of your men. I'm gonna deal with that bitch." Masamoto declared.
Richard didn't respond and just sighed. Well, even if he objects, there's not much he can do anyway. He can't exactly let Moonlight decimate his men, either.
"Fine, I'll leave it to you," Richard replied.
Masamoto left and headed to the battlefield, and Richard focused his attention back on the monitor. How does a simple terrorist extermination turn into this? This is giving him a migraine.
Silver hair glistened in the sun and danced in the wind. Blue eyes shone brightly, and her sword glimmered with an eerie light. Blood splattered everywhere, and corpses littered the ground. Yet, Moonlight didn't even break a sweat. Her dress was covered in blood, but her face was calm and composed as ever. She moved as if she was dancing, her sword cutting through flesh and bone like a hot knife through butter.
Head fell, limbs detached, and blood painted the ground red. Moonlight was unstoppable, and Haruto could only watch in awe and fear. He didn't know whether to feel grateful or terrified.
"Fall ba-" An Astral Agent tried to give an order but was cut off halfway. His head rolled down to the ground, and his body collapsed.
"Another one bites the dust." Moonlight sang as she wiped the blood off her sword and continued her slaughter.
The AGA forces were crumbling. They were panicking, and their formation was starting to fall apart. Some were trying to flee, but they were either killed by Moonlight or Haruto's men. Haruto, after regaining some of his strength, resumed using his telekinesis and threw the splattered metal like a bullet toward his enemy.
They went from being encircled and surrounded to actually launching an offensive. Haruto's men were emboldened by Moonlight's presence, and they started fighting with renewed vigor and ferocity. The AGA forces were helpless; their numbers meant nothing against an unstoppable force like Moonlight.
...
Then, from the sky, a thunder struck down, hitting Moonlight directly. Usually, she would just shrug it off as the lightning didn't even scratch her at all. However, this one was different, and she felt pain. She staggered a bit, confused.
"What the?" She muttered.
A moment later, a man in advanced cyborg-like armor landed a few meters away from her. The armor was large and bulky, and an ominous lighting could be seen sparking around it. He is carrying a massive scissor-like sword that was sparked with the same lightning.
"You must be Moonlight... I don't know what you're planning, but I can't let you continue this madness." It was Masamoto, and he was ready for a fight.