Trilogy Two: Part 48 - On the Offensive

Trilogy Two: Part 48 - On the Offensive

Chapter 48: On the Offensive
“That was their general, William White, so if I just defeated their main operative in battle, it must mean that I’m in league with Leonardo, himself. The point is; he’s on the retreat and I don’t see anybody around here that’s going to defend against me on this planet.”
Philly walked down the open road to the city of Malevolence. At his side was Spiro. On the other side was Forte; a mirror of the old time when Philip had made his visit to Hells about a decade before.
“They have few defenses left. I saw their main general slain at the hands of one of Drake’s spell casters, so he’s down. William is on the defensive, which must mean that his army was almost completely wiped out by leader Tousa. The technical units are probably the only thing left on their side of the table.”
Spiro scratched the back side of his neck as he walked.
“Yeah…but the only problem is that we don’t know how to get rid of those units. I can’t bash them to death; they’re made of metal.”
Forte shrugged.
“Got nothin’.”
Philly nodded as he walked. He crossed his arms and put a single hand on his weapon.
“I figured you may have a subtle weakness as far as these units went. Unfortunately that means we stop here.”
Philly stopped moving and let his ears hear around the roads. Forte walked up to Philly’s side and looked around, as well.
“You know, there is something about this place that I used to like. But now it just seems all empty…”
Forte chuckled and turned his smiling face to Philly.
“What are we gonna do, then? Are we about to wait for backup, or are we going in there to attack?”
Philly stood there for a few minutes in deep thought. He didn’t blink; he only nodded once in a while, as if speaking in his mind. Eventually, he turned to Forte and looked up; eyes stern.
“We are going to attack, but we need to avoid the attacks from whatever technical unit there is in that planet.”
Forte nodded and took out the weapon from the strap on his back; a sniper rifle. He relaxed his right shoulder and aimed the weapon straight forward; towards the front gate of Malevolence city. He could see only the closed walls; nothing more guarding it. He looked around to the towers around the city. On the towers were ORB units, normally hidden underneath the watch tower shade. Forte brought the weapon back to the strap and frowned.
“They probably already have detected us.”
Philly nodded and let his arms drop. He sighed and closed his eyes.
“That means we’re going to have to split up and take different directions. They may know where all of us are, now. But if we can split up and avoid being caught all in one place, we can attempt to reach the center on our own. You and Spiro should be able to take on these ORB units; they’re very weak when you exploit their inside weakness. I will disable them by use of magic. We should meet near that gate we can see. When you get inside from either of the other two gates, rush south and try to get to the gate in front of us. Be as fast as possible, if you two fail, I will know.”
Forte’s eyebrow rose.
“And if you fail, how will we know? What if you and Spiro fail, then how am I gonna know you aren’t down and just takin’ forever?”
Philly shook his head.
“I am not going to fail.”
Forte sighed and put a hand to his forehead. He shook his head.
“I must be going crazy…but whatever. If you take too long, I’m going in there and causing damage; I have weapons to test and things to destroy.”
Philly nodded.
“Okay, then. Don’t let me hold you back from that.”
Forte shrugged and looked over to the front gate.
“How are we supposed to get in there with those things guarding. They’ve probably sent a squad out to get us, by now. I expect them here pretty soon.”
Without warning, an ORB unit fell from one of the towers all the way to the floor and broke. Its electrical circuitry seemed to explode from the trauma of the fall. Forte’s eyebrow rose.
“Malfunction?”
Another one fell from another tower, then another, with about two minutes in-between. Eventually all of the tower ORB units were removed from their respective towers. Forte rubbed his chin.
“I wonder what’s going on over there. If Leonardo has a threat within those walls, then he sure hasn’t taken care of it.”
Philly pointed to the towers.
“I know the spirit inside of those walls; it’s Scott White. He’s taking care of security and other necessary things for attacks and defense. For some reason, though, I sense very minimal amounts of darkness inside Malevolence city.”
Forte shrugged.
“You sense Leonardo?”
Philly nodded and pointed to the city.
“I always sense him, but other shades of darkness have ceased to exist in my mind. I used to feel such a sense of looming evil, but now I don’t sense anything except for minor thoughts of hopelessness and Leonardo, himself.”
Philly rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes.
“It could just be the lack of proximity, but I don’t sense anything, even with Lance’s help.”
Forte reached into one of his side jacket pockets and took out a small, almost toy-like magnum pistol.
“It’s okay, we’re gonna be just fine, now. No security means we take the capital city. Without a capital city, it’s game over for Leonardo, completely. The end game of this chess match is under way, boys. Let’s see to it that we make it quick.”

Philly made sure he used some of Lance’s spiritual energy to move more quickly to the eastern gate of Malevolence city. He needed to get there before a military threat could come into contact with him. He wanted an advantage on his opponents, since he barely had any type of sword skill against projectile enemies. He reached the gate to Malevolence and soon recognized the dust storms not too far from where he was. He ignored them for the time being, even though the dust that was blown up scratched the back of his neck and stung with an extreme heat; day time in Hells was painful.
He looked up at the gate and called upon Lance’s powers to help him get through.
“I can do only so much. You may have to use my levitation ability in order to get beyond this gate. Trust in my abilities.”
Philly closed his eyes and held the sheath of his weapon. It helped him to concentrate. He felt his feet get lighter. He was soon rising above the ground. His entire body felt light, but he made sure he stayed concentrated on no thoughts, because if he let his mind wander, it could mean falling from that overwhelming height. He, instead, focused on the feeling of the sword handle; the light fabric that lined his grip and the way it felt as an extension of his arm.
Eventually, Lance told him to release his concentration. Philly opened his eyes and he was standing in a tower on the Malevolence city walls. Lance called to him.
“Look down there; what do you see?”
Philly looked down from the tower. He could see the alleyways of the city near the eastern region. Apparently larger houses and wealthier families were inside that portion of the city. Philly found a ladder under a trap door and climbed down; he was now at ground level and peeked out of the wooden door.
The streets were deserted. Anyone in their right mind would have turned back in a demon city that was deserted, but Philly needed to make his way to the Dark Dungeon Castle. If he remembered correctly, Lloyd told him the layout of capital Malevolence, but it was a shaky thought. He would need to find the center of the city before he could remember any other areas. He started down the largest street and headed for the center.
Philly heard a small sound from the corner of a deserted house. He stopped and instantly removed his sword. It was a walking sound; a clip-clop of shoes coming towards him at an easy pace.
“Show yourself.”
A light clapping accompanied the walking, now. From the deserted house came a man, nearly instantly, into view. He clapped and smiled, though his entire facial expression was unknown since his eyes were covered by thin black sunglasses that complimented his black robes with green sleeve cuffs. Philly’s eyes widened as he picked his blade up higher.
“Harold Alle?”
“In the flesh.”
Harold took out a knife; the same grotesque knife from before, only this one was not blood-soiled. Philly shook his head.
“No, no, you can’t be! There was a soul inside of your last clone!”
Harold chuckled as he released a spring in his knife: another point sprung into existence from the handle. This one had a slightly greenish tint.
“You’re right; that one did have a soul inside of him, but not mine.”
Philly frowned and rushed forward. Harold’s reach instantly proved a problem, as he blocked away Philly’s attacks from an extra foot, as if he wielded a sword with more speed and control. Philly tried advanced attacks that Lloyd taught him, but when he attempted a special attack, Harold dodged out of the way and prepared for a lunge.
Philly needed an edge to keep the fight in his favor. He struck more and purposefully attempted the ‘breaker’ technique of Lloyd’s in order to allow Harold to set up for another lunge. When Harold attacked with a lunge, Philly shot a wave of light magic at his face. Harold got hit by the wave and flew backwards and onto the ground with a thud.
Philly rushed forward to finish him off. Harold seemed to be getting up slowly; Philly would use this time to his advantage. He jumped up into a falling strike, but once again he misinterpreted Harold’s reach and fell onto the knife. He was falling so quickly that the knife almost went through his back. He was now practically bleeding onto Harold; the sword had hit prematurely in Harold’s lower abdomen and he bled horrifically. Harold disregarded his own pain and jammed the knife further into Philly, just as he did last time.
“You didn’t die last time; what the hell is keeping you alive?”
Philly gasped for air once more. He could feel the virus inside of him; it rushed through and began demolishing his blood cells. Lance instantly began to administer healing, but he shouted to Philly.
“Finish the job! This is the real Harold, I swear it this time. Angelic Holy!”
Philly couldn’t pull the blade out of his stomach, so he put a hand near Harold’s head and began to mutter an incantation. Harold’s eyes went wide and he shouted.
“Now!”
A shot rang out; it marked Philly in the back and even went through and got Harold in the abdomen. Philly grit his teeth against the large .50 bullet, but Harold yelled out.
“You shot me, you idiot!”
Philly was bleeding even more profusely, but Lance was fixated on the healing of the virus at hand, first. Philly had antibodies for the original virus, so he wasn’t feeling too many of the effects. He forced himself off of Harold and pulled out the knife. Harold was unable to move with a sword in his side and a bullet in his stomach; he felt the pain overwhelm him. Philly turned around to see a tall, blond gentleman with a .50 magnum pistol aimed at him. The man stared sharply with his golden set of eyes.
“Why won’t you go down?”
Another shot came out; it hit Philly in the chest. Philly fell backwards onto Harold again. Harold smacked Philly on the back of the head.
“Will you get off and stay off?! Damn it!”
Philly couldn’t move, at this point. He was trying to heal and the pain was beginning to overwhelm both of them.
“Lance…don’t let me die, yet.”
Harold pushed Philly off of him and frowned.
“Lance?”
Philly was now on his face. He heard the gun hammer fall back once more. The third shot rang out, but it didn’t meet Harold or Philly. Dice’s voice sounded desperate.
“Oh, come on; I’m not suited to this.”
Another shot rang out; again it didn’t hit either Harold or Philly. It did not even seem aimed at them. Philly rolled over; the relief was allowing Lance to slowly heal back from the wounds. Philly even reached into his chest, past the armor and the flesh wound, and removed the bullet. He looked over to Dice.
Dice shot another bullet at what appeared to be Scott White. But when the shot rang out, Scott seemed to blur and re-appear closer to Dice. He walked, blurred out, blurred back and continued his stride. Dice shot another, but once again failed to hit the mark. He cursed under his breath and rushed into an alleyway.
“Clean these bastards up!”
With those words, three men in black suits rushed out of the alley Dice escaped into and began firing with automatic weapons at Scott. This time, Scott completely blurred out of existence and re-appeared behind the set of three. The three mafia members didn’t notice where he re-appeared and searched for him within their own eyesight; their ultimate downfall. Scott brought out two pistols and shot down each of them square in the head. Unfortunately, they didn’t go down. They bled profusely, but they all turned. Scott’s mind raced to the answer as he kicked their weapons out of their hands, once right after the other.
“Human spirits; central nerves in the head and the chest.”
The mafia members attempted hand combat with Scott, but failed. Scott blocked in a blur and kicked out one member’s chest. That member felt his nerve shut down and trauma quickly knocked out the one in his head. He convulsed and dropped on the floor. The other two members lunged back and raised their hands, quickly. Scott’s eyebrow rose as his hands and legs went back into the Ghost fighting stance.
“Surrender?”
The members nodded and fell to their knees; they both put their hands behind their heads. Scott took out two guns and shot both of their hats off; no weapons were underneath. Scott nodded and made his next instruction as he holstered his two weapons. He threw two small metal spheres, no bigger than dimes in diameter, at the mafia members.
“Swallow those.”
The mafia members picked them up and seemed reluctant to do so.
“Swallow them or I will kill you.”
The members swallowed them without second thought. Scott waved a hand.
“You may go, now.”
The two looked up at Scott. The one on the right shook his head and stood up.
“We can’t return. If we return and tell Dice we failed, he’ll have us killed.”
“Damned if you die, damned if you live, is it? Give me a reason I shouldn’t just have you killed, then?”
Scott brought out a small button and pointed to the two of them.
“Bombs, by now in your digestive tract.”
Scott flipped the button upside-down and pressed a smaller button underneath. Instantly, the two members felt a pain inside their guts; a sharp, quick pain. Scott flipped the button back to the top-side.
“Now they’re stuck inside your tracts, spiked into the walls of your intestine. No major injury that can’t be fixed; your bodies will still work fine with minor pains. Now give me a reason.”
The one that stood up stopped clutching his stomach and put his hands back up.
“We don’t have much of a choice but to either become your hostage or battle on your side. If you have no need for a hostage, then maybe information is your game. Come on, talk to me.”
Scott’s eyebrow rose.
“What’s your name, son?”
The man bowed, and then fixed the hair that drooped down on his head.
“Veral Galaan. Ex-mafia elimination member. I got called back in or it was the jail cells for me.”
“Give me a piece of information I want, then I’ll let you in Lumis and we can remove that bomb from you and your friend.”
Veral smiled excitedly and nodded his head.
“My leader Dice is working for Leonardo. Knox, Spike, Harold, Tim and other gang leaders are working as captains of separate squads. All the rest are in the Dark Dungeon Castle being held prisoner.”
“This includes apocalypse units?”
Veral scratched the back of his neck and looked around to the alleyways.
“Haven’t heard from them or about them since the start of this war. Makes me think they’re hiding somewhere or doing something…but I think they would have made some sort of a scene by now if they were. Whenever they planned things, it was obvious.”
Scott nodded and waved his hand.
“Yes, yes, trust me, we all know about that. You are free to go; there is a teleportation system hidden very far outside of normal Hells city boundaries. Go to the north gate and head directly northeast, past the Tower of Fire, and eventually you’ll find it.”
Veral quickly bowed and rushed away with his counterpart. As he ran, he waved and shouted.
“Thank you, Mister White!”
Scott half-scoffed as he turned around to Philly. Philly was still healing and breathing hard. Scott turned to Harold, who was coughing up blood and cringing as he gripped his stomach and grunted.
“No mercy for the injured, eh White?”
Scott turned to Harold and crossed his arms as he watched Harold gasp for air.
“Point fifty magnum bullet in the stomach, light sword slash in your side. It’s interesting how you’re still alive…armor?”
Harold pointed at his cloak and nodded his head.
“Barrier of dark magic; intertwined with the very fabric…”
Harold coughed up more blood and winced in pain from the bullet. The bullet was lodged in his body. Scott kept his arms crossed and his expression stern.
“You can get out of here alive, Harold, but you have to swallow this.”
Scott took out another small metal sphere. Harold looked at it as he lay, bleeding.
“Another one of your bombs, White? Hah, you’re even more sadistic than your brother.”
“Look, I’m offering you life, Harold. This can be extracted, but only after this war is over. If you come back in battle for their side, I will press this button and it will explode.”
Scott took out a different button; another one with two flip sides. Harold grinned and coughed more lightly.
“…fine, give it here.”
Scott threw the small sphere over to Harold; it rolled on the ground until it was within his reach. Scott took out a syringe and some liquid and walked over to Harold.
“Swallow.”
Harold took the sphere and swallowed it, reluctantly. As soon as he did, Scott filled the syringe with the liquid from the vial and injected Harold with it. He slowly felt a wave of relief hit his system. Then Scott pressed the button; the spikes came out and it got lodged in Harold’s upper trachea.
“Make no mistake; that bomb will infuse itself with you, shortly, but we will remove it when this war is over. You will feel a type of momentary discomfort.”
Harold nodded and stayed put.
“I’m not moving yet, Scott. Let them believe I’m injured or something, because I’m tired and I’m not in the mood to return to a lecture.”
Scott chuckled and nodded.
“Of course.”
Scott turned to Philly and saw him healing, slowly. His spiritual energy waned as Lance tried to heal the multiple injuries; injuries that all seemed practically fatal to mortal beings. Scott walked over to him and kneeled down to tap his shoulder as he lay face-down.
“Hey, are you hanging on, there?”
Philly internally spoke to Lance.
It’s the doctor…you should relax your energy, Lance, we’re gonna need it for later.
The inner spirit responded.
Agreed.
Slowly, the pain crawled up on Philly and the injuries felt incredibly painful. Apparently, the pain was removed by the spirit’s powers and the healing helped to make an excellent relief. Philly let himself speak.
“No…I’m hurting pretty badly…help me.”
Scott took out his syringe and filled it with some liquid. He leaned over and injected some inside of Philly’s neck from behind. The relieving feeling began to spread. Within moments, the pain seemed just as easy to bear as it was before the battle began. But Philly didn’t move; as his energy was needed.
“Thank you, doctor.”
Scott nodded and put away the syringe in his jacket. He stood up and made sure everything on his person was in its place; every scalpel and every type of liquid vial. Philly lifted his hand.
“Wait, doctor. I need to ask you for something.”
Scott’s head turned slightly to where Philly lay and his eyes rotated quickly to meet Philly’s hand.
“Yes?”
Philly rolled over and sat up; he slowly regained control of his arms and legs.
“I don’t sense too much power of darkness here…if you’re on your way to the castle, doctor, scout the area for any other main targets. If you find few, then there is something horribly wrong with us being here.”