18 Final Confrontation

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"There's no guarantees, but that's why you accepted on the condition right?"

"Yea, we have to go back. I seriously need some rest."

"I'll meet you where we came in an hour then."

After finally confirming their plans, Ibarra started to head towards the agreed upon position to wait for Jiang's signal.

Jiang sighed as he looked back down at Inza's sleeping face, her forehead had stopped sweating as much and she looked like she was finally getting some sleep.

'We can't bring them with us, but that doesn't mean we can't lead them to us.' Jiang thought as he took off his dog tags from his neck and wrapped it around Inza's. Just in case, he also placed his extra name tapes into her hand along with a message.

Jiang went to the spot where he had hidden the mask and cloak, in their place he placed his helmet and rifle. His eyes turned red as he placed the mask on, Ibarra was waiting for a signal but that didn't mean Jiang needed to be human for it.

"T2, do you copy?" Jiang said on the radio that was taken from a thug.

"T1, I'm nearly in position. Over." Ibarra responded through the radio Jiang had given him.

"Read you loud and clear. Heading over to my position. Over."

"Copy that."

Jiang readied the rifle he had taken from the ground and made sure he had extra magazines from the thugs.

Most of the people still alive were currently in the docking area of the mall, both thugs and civilians. The innocents were locked up behind certain storefronts usually but they had been all forced to the loading area. Chaos was about to erupt as Jiang approached the entrance to the back area.

*BANG*

*BANG*

"What the!? Damn, someone shot out the lamps. Turn on your flash-gahhh"

Jiang could easily hold up two of the rifles he had looted, as if they were pistols. His aim in the darkness was beyond human abilities and he quickly dispatched the ones standing. But, something was odd, there were far too few people near the entrance.

As soon as Jiang opened the door, he was met with a hail of bullets. With his reflexes he managed to roll away to avoid most of the harm.

"Damn it, still not fast enough I guess." Jiang grimaced as he noticed the three holes in his arm. He took out a flash bang and pulled the pin, throwing the device far into the next area.

*FLASH*

"My eyes!"

"Can't see!"

"So, bright!"

Jiang ran inside and hit the first person he saw with his rifle. The man crumpled to the ground and Jiang took a quick bite of his neck.

<Feed>

He was able to numb a bit of the pain and start the healing process with the amount of blood he took. But it was not enough to do anything more since he didn't receive any stats from it.

Meanwhile, Ibarra heard the sounds of fighting and took that as the signal to move.

"They need back up, let's go!" The thugs guarding the prisoners started to move out as the fighting got louder. Fortunately for Ibarra, he spotted the set of keys that they had decided to not bring with them.

The rows and rows of cages were supposed to be for the incoming products but they had been turned into holding cells. The various survivors had been shoved in together with no thought of space, they had to take turns to lie on the floor to sleep.

Ibarra started to run to each cage and tried his best to unlock them. The ring of keys fortunately had some markings, so he was able to easily open them.

"Thank you!"

"Thank god, we're free!"

"We have to get those criminals!"

After the fifth cage he unlocked, Ibarra grabbed one of the people aside and handed them the keys.

"Hey, you need to free the others!"

"I-I'll try my best! Does this mean the military is saving us?"

"Well, WE are saving you." Ibarra carefully chose his words before he slipped past the crowd in the confusion. The sounds of more gunfire could be heard as the escaped prisoners took the weapons from the thugs' makeshift armory.

'These guys have enough weapons to be a threat to the base. What in the world were the authorities doing?' Ibarra frowned as he thought about the frightening speed that these people had taken control here.

'All it took was a few weeks and these guys think they're warlords or something.' With his part done, Ibarra started to head towards their rendezvous point. The prisoners would have to make their own fates, Ibarra and the others' mission was something that would affect a lot more than just these people.

When Jiang was done striking at the thugs from the shadows, he had finally determined where their last remaining comrades were hidden. He could sense that there were many enemies waiting for him in a brightly lit room with everyone taking firing positions. This would most likely take out many of the prisoners before they would be able to overwhelm the thugs for good.

Fortunately, they could not see Jiang from his spot in the shadows.

*BANG*

*BANG*

Jiang shot bullets at the windows which sent many shards flying back at the thugs. They were a little rattled by the spray of glass but kept firm in their positions.

*CLINK*

"I hope this works, I only have two of these." Jiang prayed as he pulled the pin from a frag grenade and then threw as hard as he could at the hole in the window.

*BOOM*

"WUAGH!"

"AUGH!"

"GAAAH!"

Multiple cries could be heard as Jiang's nicely timed frag detonated in the middle of the room, hitting everyone in it with shrapnel.

Jiang strolled into the blood soaked room and looked around. Some were still twitching but you couldn't tell which parts belonged to who.

"Huh. Maybe I am changing, what a waste of food." Jiang said as he knelt over to poke a thug in an open wound.

"Ahhhh!" The man howled before finally passing out from shock, he had already loss feeling in several limbs.

Jiang licked some of the blood off his finger before collecting the man's magazines to reload. With his cloak and mask, even if there were any witnesses Jiang wouldn't need to do something about them.

He was sure that the boss of the thugs was close, so Jiang went through the next set of enemies with increased force.

"Agh!"

"Damn you, monster!"

Various shouts rang out as Jiang mowed them down with his great accuracy, his red eyes and cloaked figure proved to be especially menacing to them. When he ran out of bullets, he didn't bother to reload anymore and started to throw the knives once more.

*THUNK*

Jiang kicked down the last door and was immediately met with the spray of bullets from the final group of people. This was certainly a test of his skills with his new found powers, Jiang was sure about his success rate but tried it nonetheless.

He ran forward while the bullets whizzed by and broke the first man's neck. Then using him as a shield, he then threw two knives right into the throats of two other men. With the first man's weapon, he gunned down several more people.

There was only one man left now and Jiang was sure that this was the infamous "Burke". He was the only one to survive the bullets since he was the only one to have body armor on. His plated vest was similar to the gear Jiang had but it was a different color, it was convenient to spot the leader this way.

Burke raised his rifle in a last attempt to kill Jiang but Jiang still had a knife.

"Gah! You bastard!" Burke cursed as a knife was suddenly thrown into his right hand, causing him to drop his rifle.

"I just tore through your men and somehow I feel like I'm more human than you." Jiang was trying to distort his voice in a manner that would be appropriate for his appearance.

"What does it matter? They had order! If it wasn't for us they would've turned on each other and all died a week ago! They just had to pay in some new ways." Burke groaned in pain as he tried to calm his hand down enough to remove the knife.

"Perhaps we were always only a few days without law and order before we returned to nature. You thought you were the new rulers, but it's our world now. Those with true power are rising!"

"W-what are you!?"

"Me? I'm a Vampire Lord!" Jiang smiled as he held the man up by his neck. With his powers and origins, Jiang could style himself into whatever he wanted.

"Your tainted blood isn't fit to be drunk, you can just die like those you've killed."

*BANG*

Suddenly a shot rang out and hit the ground near Jiang's feet, he quickly tossed Burke to the ground and faced the shooter. Only one shot had rang out and there was great hesitation for another.

"Shouldn't you be thanking me for this?" Jiang said in a menacing voice, unlike his regular one, at the shaking figure of Inza shakily holding a sidearm pointed at him.