Chapter 27 - Momo Approaches

Kumar waited for a response from the radio. After listening to the response, his face paled. He took a deep breath, regaining his composure and put the radio on his waist. He looked up and said "We are now the third squad to report an incoming Momo."

The officers paled."What the hell do we do?"

Kumar looked firmly at the gathered officers. "We have to fight it and kill it without help. Otherwise, it will slaughter people in our town."

Kumar studied the other officers, then focused on the shortest one with a silver sniper rifle strapped to his back. "Fredrick, your the best shot, and have the most energy left. I need you to stay up here. I want you to fire a shot at full power, trying to hit it's eyes, or if you can't manage that, the throat. I need you to tell me how much damage a shot does, so we can get an idea on how strong the Momo is. And it has to be before the rest of us fight it."

The officer nodded, his eyes growing firm. "I won't let you down."

"Good."

Kumar turned to Jamie and Amber. "This is not part of what you are being hired to do, but we could really use your help."

Jamie and Amber turned to look at each other for a moment, before turning back to Kumar. Jamie asked "What is so bad about a Momo?"

Kumar grimaced. "The last ones we encountered were at stage 4. They have this aura, that they can almost maintain consistently, and they can increase it's impact and radius on living beings if they so desire by putting more energy into it. The aura causes living creatures to think about the worst things that have happened in their life, while at the same time making them violent. Prolonged exposure will cause a living creature to gradually become bloodthirsty and irrational, and there is a chance they end up killing themselves to end seeing the endless loops of the worst memories of their life. In addition, one of it's skills allow it to coat it's arm with a brown glow, allowing it to pierce through any of us like tofu, along with being able to empower it's bite. If it's at stage 5, we won't bother trying to attack the creature, it's suicide."

"And at stage 4?"

Kumar's eyes hardened. "We can kill it at stage 4. We just have to wear it down, before giving it the critical hit. If Fredrick manages to hit one of it's eyes, it will reduce it's vision, giving us a blind spot to work with. And if we can pin it down long enough, Fredrick can take the other eye."

Jamie hesitated. His mind kept thinking about the dangers, about the possibility of losing Eve and Blackwing. His heart clenched at the thought. Losing them, particularly Eve, would be devastating. But to abandon the officers... Jamie could not help but think to the memory of when his father died. Of the slaughter that took place then. Of his own father dying to buy time for him and his brother to run. His very mind revolted at the idea of walking away and leaving the people here to a similar fate. Jamie caught the way some of the officers eyes bulged when they saw they saw the red mist trailing behind the humanoid figure. He could see the way the officers paled when they were told this wasn't the only Momo approaching. He could see the fear in the officers eyes, he could see one of them starting to sweat. They were terrified of fighting the Momo, yet they were willing to do it anyway. The havoc such a creature would inflict on the townspeople would have to be terrible for them to take this risk. Jamie stood there for awhile, his mind in turmoil, before Amber spoke, breaking him out of his inner turmoil.

"I'll help."

Jamie looked at Amber, then sent a mental transmission to Eve "are you willing to help fight it?"

Eve sent a disdainful mental transmission to Jamie "It sounds like the biggest weapon that thing has is it's aura. I can handle that."

Jamie smiled, transmitting to Eve "Good."

Jamie opened his mouth, about to respond to Kumar, just as just as Eve sent to Jamie "Keep Blackwing away from it though. He is barely recovering from the trauma of watching his family get shredded in front of him."

Jamie's mouth hung open for a second, before he said "I am willing to help as well."

Kumar eyed Jamie, then said. "If your scared, you can walk away if you want, no hard feelings."

Jamie paused, before shaking his head, smiling wryly. "It's not that. My dragon, Blackwing, watched his family get killed, and is only recently moving past it. He used to be really timid...."

"ROAAAR."

As Blackwing glared at Jamie, Jamie turned to Blackwing, asking out loud. "Well, would you like to constantly see the moment your parents got torn apart?"

Blackwing deflated, lowering his head, letting out a low growl.

Jamie turned to Kumar, gesturing at Blackwing.

"I see...and your other beast?"

"Eve is confident she can resist the aura....although, we won't really know for sure until we fight."

"Good."

Kumar looked at Amber "Are you confident your beasts can fight? That they can resist the aura?"

Amber hesitated, before answering, "Leo, the Leopard thinks he can. Becca isn't sure."

"Your flying beasts, Blackwing and Becca, can stay out of it's range, and hassle it when they have a shot. Keep your beasts 15 meters away from it at all times."

Kumar walked towards the side of the building, before pointing at a street in the Momo's pathway, that was in clear line of sight of their vantage point. "We will fight it there. Our goal is to try wear it out. Let's move people."

>>>>

Kumar, two other officers, Amber and Jamie stood on the street, in front of a one floor white building with a red sign with 'Munchers Delight' on it in black. Kumar was standing in front, alongside the officer who escorted Jamie and Amber to the roof. Kumar had his black swordpistol sheathed, and in his right hand and a black, thick metal buckler strapped to his left arm. The officer alongside him was holding his longsword in his right hand, keeping his swordpistol sheathed for now. The last officer was hiding in Munchers Delight with his silver sniper rifle in hand, prepared to fire a high powered shot if the opportunity arose. Amber and Jamie stood behind, with Eve and Leo in front of them, and Becca and Blackwing flapping over their heads. They waited in silence until Kumar's radio crackled to life.

"Kumar, I managed to hit it once. It has a bullet lodged in it's left eye."

"Okay. If you get the opportunity to get a bullet in it's right eye, take it."

"Understood. It sped up after being shot. It should reach you in two minutes."

Kumar sighed, putting his radio away at his waist. He said to everyone. "Good news and bad news. The good news is that it's left eye is essentially blinded. The bad news is that it is probably at stage 4. Avoid it's attacks at all costs, we need to wear it down. Keep to it's left."

They waited in silence, looking forwards, towards the hill, waiting for the Momo to appear. Jamie's heart started racing, his palm started sweating, filled with nerves at the thought of the upcoming confrontation, He would be fighting a fearsome creature one stage above his highest beasts stage.

Eventually, the thudding of heavy footfalls could be heard as the Momo drew closer, the bloody, red mist gradually becoming visible at the top of the hill. Eventually, the humanoid being drew into sight, and Jamie and Amber let out a gasp of surprise and horror.

The Momo, had pale white skin, and it's body could pass for any tall, skinny human. The, face however, was what drew the gasps. It was completely bald, and it's face was angular, with a triangular chin, and it had large, bulging eyes, taking up a fifth of it's face, with a glint of silver being seen from it's left pupil. It's nose was flat, and it's large, triangular mouth stretched across the bottom of it's mouth. As it saw them it gave an eerie grin, exposing, sharp, jagged, triangular teeth, then started moving forwards faster.

Kumar took a deep breath, then said.

"Everyone, it's time for us to kill a Momo."