Explosions climbed through the floors in violent waves.
Entire sections of marble walls split apart from internal sonic detonations.
Glass burst outward in sheets. Smoke swallowed staircases turning the surroundings dark.
Alfred laughed. An unstable sound carried through the destruction like enjoying it.
Brunhildr landed hard outside the building first. Boots skidded through broken asphalt while holding Avery carefully on arms.
Avery hissed sharply the moment her injured leg shifted.
"Hold on. We will be okay."
Brunhildr lowered her against broken concrete near a vehicle.
Avery gritted her teeth.
"You said it so easily like my leg doesn't even matter."
Brunhildr crouched beside her.
"No worries. You are alive."
"I guess so. Thanks."
Brunhildr nodded once.
"Do not thank me yet. I still intend to keep you alive long enough to complain."
However, nearby,
Shams Raye dropped from a fractured balcony, landing hard but stable despite blood still trailing down half his face.
BOOM!
The wall behind them exploded outward. Alfred stepped through smoke.
"You people really have commitment issues with dying."
His eyes flicked upward briefly.
"I know you have backup ready. No. I am NOT losing this!"
Shams raised RE: Metamorphosis slowly.
His breathing remained steady despite the blood loss. Though he was briefly nervous about the situation.
The grenade disrupted him. His perception isn't clean... he thought
Auditory extraction still works but reaction timing slipped earlier.
Shams chambered a round.
"RE: Metamorphosis."
Crimson blood vines covered the rifle spiraling slowly around it. The bullet fired and missed Alfred entirely.
It struck the lamp post behind him.
Another shot and then a third one. The bullets shattered the rebar lodged nearby instead.
Alfred steadied himself observing the target points.
"You aiming drunk again? I am not falling in your old tricks everytime."
Shams answered calmly.
"Catch it, if you care."
The blood-memory embedded in prior impacts triggered simultaneously. The siren released compressed sonic residue.
The rebar vibrated violently. The lamp post collapsed at a pre-planned angle. A battlefield created from significant force.
The disrupted environment delayed his rhythm by friction causing physical glitches.
Shams rushed faster than before. His rifle became blunt weapon mid-sprint.
Alfred grinned wildly. "Oh FINALLY."
Then they collided violently showing no mercy to each other.
Knife-edge sound compression against reinforced Astra frame.
Impact after impact exploded across the street, asphalt ruptured beneath movement too fast to follow cleanly.
Alfred extracted sound from shattered surrounding space itself—turning falling concrete into invisible detonations midair.
Shams adapted the momentums as quickly possible.
A missed strike intentionally shattered the asphalt. He kicked debris upward and shot through it.
The bullet fragmented into trajectories of blood like threads that redirected based on earlier wounds Alfred had already suffered.
"Still trying old tricks ?" Alfred laughed, blocking one shot before another clipped his shoulder.
Alfred lunged swiftly. Shams evaded.
Their clash accelerated as space exploded and grasses turned into ash.
Alfred laughed dashing into the rear side.
"You are fun."
Shams struck him across the jaw.
"Yes, laugh when I respectfully feed your corpses to hogs."
Another explosion erupted between them.
Alfred twisted violently mid-motion, one hand dragged the compressed sound through the wind like an invisible blade while Shams pivoted lower and swiftly attacked.
The Rifle scrapped sparks across concrete before slamming upward toward Alfred's ribs.
Alfred blocked with forearm reinforcement.
CRACK!
Pain surged through his damaged armor.
"Still not enough." Alfred spat tasting his own blood with a grin.
"Sir Martial, please stop. We need to hurry."
"Am I?"
Alfred's hand snapped outward. The vibration of shattered debris detonated.
Trees nearby exploded and flew high in the sky whatever was left of it.
Shams crossed his rifle defensively, skidding backward through broken asphalt.
Alfred surged forward spiraling sonic force around his arm while Shams lunged simultaneously.
Blood-memory shells activated through accumulated battlefield damage.
Both fists pulled back. The Blow exchange was supposed to happen but then,
A figure stopped both of them effortlessly.
The impact pressure of both Alfred and Sham's punch alone created a crater and dry smoke.
Yet the man standing between them looked almost offended by inconvenience pulling them back by elbows.
"Well, I don't want my hand to get spaghetti-fied by the sonic force. " The man said.
He was middle-aged. Wearing green coat and pajamas underneath. Actually pajamas.
Hair slightly messy like somebody interrupted his nap for a catastrophe.
"Okay folks. Can we maybe stop trying to remodel public infrastructure with our unresolved issues?"
Alfred and Shams frowned slightly.
The man pointed casually toward himself.
"Lev Parkinson. Professional problem collector."
Behind him more figures approached slowly
The first stepped forward quietly. He was young, wearing black shirt.
Hair tied neatly behind his head gazing with cold pair of eyes.
He stopped beside Lev without introduction.
Hands in pockets.
Lev sighed. "Oh right."
He gestured lazily. "Tian Lang."
Tian gave one glance toward Alfred.
"Situation deteriorated faster than expected."
Behind them came another figure.
Most of them were middle-aged and composed.
A woman with dark coat and observant eyes.
She looked first toward Avery's injuries, then Brunhildr.
"Aha, this place looks like a war field."
Lev pointed. "Dally Hearts."
Dally sighed.
"You always introduce people like game show contestants."
"It builds morale."
"Shut up. It builds headaches."
Another voice entered immediately after.
It was also female and younger voice full of youth.
A similar face to Dally.
"You people never stop making jokes during emergencies."
She adjusted tactical gloves while glancing at Dally.
"You are embarrassing…Ophelia." Dally sighed.
Ophelia Hearts folded her arms.
"Junior officer, yes. Productive, also yes. Family disappointment? I don't care what you say about it. We are at work now. Not home."
Dally deadpanned,
"You joined another alliance out of spite."
"You stole my dessert two years ago."
"That cannot still be your reason."
"It absolutely is."
The final figure approached more quietly.
Average build. Someone strangely normal compared to everyone else.
Officer Redmond Oregon simply nodded.
"Redmond. We are here for the rescue."
He looked around and then added,
"…Unfortunate timing."
Alfred stared for a second and laughed loudly.
"Wow. Losts of guests!"
He spread his arms dramatically.
"Awww, the number of corpse list got upgraded!"
Blood dripped from his chin.
"You are all very welcome. Seriously. I appreciate the enthusiasm. But there's really no point."
His voice lowered.
"There are still more high-ranking Agents inside. You stop me, somebody else will tear you apart."
Tian Lang finally reported stepping forward.
"The Party of Adam and Zenon has already begun battling inside. The facility is already becoming a battlefield. If nobody intervenes now…"
His eyes shifted toward the collapsing headquarters.
"…This turns into something much harder to contain."
Lev scratched his head sighing casually.
"Cool. Absolutely hate that sentence."
Alfred didn't hesitate.
The moment Tian Lang finished speaking.
Alfred looked at him carefully.
"Oh. So it's that kind of intervention."
The street didn't register his first step—it registered the aftermath.
A compressed sound pulse detonated outward, turning broken asphalt into shrapnel waves that ripped across the battlefield.
Dally Hearts stepped forward instantly.
"Spread out! Don't give him a centered resonance field. He is using ambient sound extraction!"
Redmond pulled Ophelia back by her collar.
"He is converting his surrounding sounds into weapon. Interesting."
Ophelia clicked her tongue.
"I noticed."
Tian Lang didn't speak again. He simply tapped his device.
"Awaken my Astra... Shadowport."
A sharp snap spread.
Tian disappeared into the nearest shadow seam like the world had forgotten to keep him visible.
Alfred turned and a surprise was already there.
Tian reappeared behind him mid-step, attempting to force Alfred's posture into imbalance with a shoulder strike while simultaneously opening a shadow gate beneath Alfred's footing.
Alfred tried to twist immediately.
The strike missed by inches but Tian was already gone again.
"Bunch of mongrels..." Alfred muttered.
From another shadow, Tian's voice came calm.
"One thing I can be sure about you is, you are unpredictable when anger rises."
Alfred laughed. "Oh yeah?"
He snapped his fingers. A shockwave bloomed further.
Tian barely escaped but Alfred followed the echo pattern through movement tracking.
But then, Lev Parkinson yawned.
"Sir. Alright, allow me take my turn."
Tian snapped his fingers again.
Lev vanished in his own shadow.
Reappeared directly behind Alfred where his shadow was.
Lev adjusted his green coat. "Sup."
He lifted his foot.
His Astra activated mid-motion, a simple-looking shoe. But it distorted gravity subtly with every step.
Lev smiled.
"Ever been kicked by someone who remembers every step they have ever taken?"
He kicked Alfred directly in the face. The hit formed into a drilling lance which detonated causing burns.
Alfred was launched backward through debris. Across broken asphalt while Dally, Ophelia and Redmond immediately moved to formation spacing.
Dally exhaled.
"Lev, try not to break your ankle showing off."
"It's fine. I have had worse Mondays."
Meanwhile, back there, Henry had called Avery.
Henry's voice came through comms.
"Avery. Listen carefully."
Avery, breathing hard somewhere else, answered instantly.
"What is it?"
Henry's tone was unclear like he was in rush.
"The Third Party. The nuclear plant. It wasn't abandoned, it was active. They are planning downfall of Organizations and doing illegal bioweapon projects."
Avery's silence stretched.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. Meet me at the sixth floor."
Shams heard them and spoke up.
"Avery. I will go with you. You are injur—"
Avery interrupted immediately.
"No. I am going."
"Avery—"
Brunhildr suddenly stepped back. Her spear dimmed.
"Didn't expect an ending like this. Seems like my role ends here."
Avery turned in shock.
"Wait—what?"
Brunhildr gave a small nod.
"Child, you are out of Runic Flow... you need rest... until the day another rebellion happens... Farewell."
Then she vanished turning into particles.
Avery clenched her fist.
Tried to channel Runic Flow but nothing responded.
"Damn it." she whispered.
Then turned upward toward the building.
"I am telling Adam and Zenon everything."
And she ran.
Shams Raye stood there under the moonlight.
.....
Alfred slowly straightened himself after Lev's kick.
Wiping blood from the corner of his mouth like it was just an disturbance rather than damage.
Then he exhaled once. A low hum spread outward forming into a visible barrier.
The absence of usable sound.
A translucent barrier expanded in a dome around Alfred vibrating in constant motion.
The air itself became dense around him.
Alfred smiled.
"Let's simplify things. Anything moving below the speed of sound won't get through."
He tapped the barrier lightly. A dull shock rippled outward warping the space like a drop falling in a bucket of water.
"Touch it however you want, you lose your hand. Think slowly, you lose your life."
Dally's eyes narrowed immediately.
"That is a compression field. He is turning sound propagation into a kill condition."
Redmond muttered under his breath.
"So even being inside it gets dangerous if it's misread as just a magical barrier…"
Ophelia clicked her tongue.
"That is disgusting."
Tian Lang stepped forward slightly.
"I can shadowport inside." he said.
Lev frowned.
"Yeah but then what? You drop me in there and I will become confetti before he even finishes blinking."
Tian didn't answer immediately. Because he knew that was correct.
"My Astra is mostly defensive. Shadowport could reposition, extract or relocate things but it has no true offensive mechanism."
And inside that barrier, even displacement meant exposure to instant sonic compression failure.
Alfred chuckled. "You are all thinking too hard."
He spread his arms slightly as always dramatically.
"Go on. Show me what you've got left."
Shams Raye stepped forward. Carrying his rifle beside him. His half face was now bleeding even worse.
Alfred tilted his head.
"Oh? The quiet one wants to talk."
He tapped the barrier again.
"Careful. Before you enter in the hell, think about it. It's your choice. Let's see what you think you can still do."
Shams Raye exhaled once. He raised his rifle again.
But this time, the weapon didn't feel like a weapon anymore.
It felt like a spine of decision.
Blood still leaked from earlier wounds began to move on its own vsibly.
Forming thin spirals that crawled around the rifle's barrel like living filaments. They orbited around it turning into strands of looping helixes.
Syncing with his breathing until the entire weapon looked wrapped in a red veins and blood.
Alfred looked confused a bit.
"…What are you doing?"
Shams didn't answer. His eyes locked forward.
The atmosphere changed color tinted slightly as the trigger was pulled.
"RE: Metamorphosis :SAMSA!"
A spiraling red trajectory tore forward, leaving behind a vibrating helix trail that bent perception as much as space.
The Sound Barrier reacted instantly as it clashed.
The sound barrier was resisting the bullet from entering but it didn't slow down a bit.
....
....
It passed through anyway.
It pierced Alfred's chest cleanly. A shock ran through the entire dome. The Sound Barrier flickered then shattered completely.
Alfred staggered backward, eyes wide in disbelief for the first time.
"…What…?"
He collapsed to one knee.
Dally muttered under his breath.
"What the heck did I saw..."
Ophelia stared.
"Did he just bypassed sound law entirely...?"
Lev stood there silently alongside Tian Lang.