CH -31 [ Scramble ] 2

He could hear her screaming from the distance. They were already too far gone. He wasn't going to catch up. He was going to have to find them the hard way. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Halcen charged at the man in front of him and knocked him to the ground. Halcen began to beat the shit out of him. One punch, two punch. Only his hands were coated in Haki and it wasn't doing enough. He kept pounding on the man until blood sprayed across his clothes. "You fucking piece of garbage!"

Grey was so exhausted he could barely move. He had already had two fights. His hope was that this would all be over. I just want to get out of here. He was familiar with Domian's powers and his ability to amp up his allies. He had created a monstrosity out of the townspeople that Grey, Bo, and Kazuki had been forced to kill. They hadn't had the ability to speak though. They were mindless powered up drones. But these new enemies, the cultists, were already capable. Now, they were just stronger and faster, and they were willing to die for their Bear God. And whatever Domian did to himself made it look like I never touched him.

One of the men rushed at Grey. Grey was so sore from both fights already, that he was going to try to use as little of his own energy as he could. He grabbed the man by the collar, and using his own momentum, continued to swing him past Grey and threw him into the ground.

Another of the men came at Grey from behind, trying to get his arms around him. Grey swung around quickly, swiping his arms outward, breaking the man's grip, and then kicked him in the chest, knocking him back into the man who was trying to get up that Grey had just thrown down.

This never ends.

Bo and Kazuki had to fight side by side. Bo had a severely injured shoulder so he could barely even use any weapons. But Kazuki was more or less okay. He was hurt across the chest, but it was only minor. It was still bleeding, so he had to take it easy to make sure he wasn't going to open it any more. The two of them together made up for their individual lapses.

A guy came running towards them, holding two knives. He swung first his right at Bo, who threw up his left arm to block the man at his wrist.

The man countered by slicing towards them with his left arm next.

Kazuki responded, blocking him with his own arms. They had him wide open. Kazuki thrusted his left arm into the man's face. And Bo kneed him as hard as he could manage in the stomach with his right leg. The man flew back with a broken face and a loud yelp. His attempt to hurt them had been foiled.

They had more incoming too.

Halcen jumped up to meet another two men who came at him. One had a heavy two-handed sword, and the other had a pistol. Halcen knew immediately he had to take out the pistol man. But they were working as a team to take him down, so the man with the sword came at him up front and the man with the gun was way in the back, aiming and ready to fire.

Halcen couldn't keep up his Haki to be bulletproof, so he was in real trouble. The man with the pistol fired one off before Halcen moved, clearly overeager and trying to end things quickly. Halcen jumped to the man with the sword, who was slow to swing. That was good. It gave Halcen a small edge. Larger blades were harder to control, which was why he mainly used a knife himself.

Halcen clashed with the man, his knife parrying off the man's long blade and was able to deflect himself from the blow, turning around to the man's back. He was slow to come back with a swing. So Halcen took the extra moment to line up his left arm, ready to fire at the other guy. He didn't see it coming. Halcen still had the gun Kazuki had lent him. He wasn't ready for it.

The man took a bullet to the stomach and fell to his knees in pain. He surely wasn't going to stay down, but he was down for enough time for it to matter.

Halcen swung around and slashed along the swordsman's back with his blade.

The man turned across with a hard slash where Halcen's head had just been. Luckily for Halcen, he wasn't there anymore. Halcen ducked down and swung across the man's thighs, cutting deep into them, cutting off his balance and making him fall to the ground on his knees too. He couldn't lift the sword to fight from down there. So Halcen took his knife and jammed it into the side of the man's neck. Blood spurted everywhere. It was another messy kill under Halcen's belt. And he knew there would be plenty more to come.

I'm not done yet!

He stood behind the body as the man with the pistol tried to aim at him. A bullet dug itself into the meatshield and Halcen took off running as hard as he could on his battered legs. He made contact with the shooter before he was able to get sights on him again. The knife jammed into the guy's stomach and Halcen twisted it, bleeding out the pig.

He cried out in agony. And as his life faded, he whispered to Halcen "Long live Kumajin." And then he feel to the ground, bleeding all over the dirt and grass.

"No. Your god is next on my list."

After the battle had wound down, and their foes were nil in might, Halcen scanned the field. Not all of their enemies had died in the fight. Some had been beaten down badly enough that they didn't need killing. They roiled on the ground in agony, praying for Kumajin to save them, or for their own deaths.

Halcen took the moment to confer with his cohorts. "Grey, can you sense Kumajin?" Halcen knew Grey was better with Sensory Haki than he was. One of the many great things about the old man.

Grey took a few moments to try to feel out the presence of the Bear God that had run rampant. "No, I can't tell where they are. I'm too tired. I can barely feel out the immediate area."

"If we can find him, we should be able to take him."

"Why do you say that?"

"He's bleeding. He's weak."