---
"You two are absolute idiots," Kidai's voice came out stern, like he was lecturing children. Diego and Frost sat up on hospital beds beside each other. The left half of Frost's face had been covered up in bandages, while Diego had a few bandages wrapped around the knuckles on his left arm. His other arm was underneath the white blankets keeping him warm.
"Go eat shit!" Frost glared. Diego gave Frost a warning glare of his own and smiled back at Kidai.
"I'm sorry about him," Diego chuckled nervously. "He's just a bit disoriented is all, right, Frost?"
Frost glared at them both but eventually let out a defeated sigh. "Yeah... I'm sorry." Kidai shrugged at the apology and looked back at Diego.
"Lord Maelith, why exactly did you send for me?" Kidai asked. Diego chuckled nervously again.
"That's the thing," Diego sighed. "Your trait can heal any form of injuries right? So... I was thinking maybe you could use it to—"
"No." Kidai's refusal was final and there was no hesitation.
"What do you mean no?" Diego almost yelled.
"No."
"What the hell happened to me being your prince?"
"No."
"But—"
"No."
The two angels glared at each other. Kidai adjusted his glasses and sat down on a chair across the room. Diego and Frost's eyes stayed on him the whole time.
"Lord Maelith, the way you fight is reckless beyond belief," Kidai said. "If I were to heal you now, you'd just go back to fighting in that suicidal manner."
"I'm not reckless," Diego tried to defend himself. "I didn't rush into that fight with Frost and I wasn't reckless at all."
"Tell me," Kidai said while glancing at Frost. "You made that obstruction to avoid a head-on fight with Frost, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did," Diego growled. Getting lectured on how to fight by Kidai was starting to get on his nerves.
"So at what point did you abandon your whole strategy just to do the exact thing you were trying to avoid the whole fight?" Kidai asked.
"What are you getting at?" Diego scowled.
"You're speedrunning your own death," Kidai said. The directness of his tone made Diego flinch.
"That's how Diego fights," Frost muttered from his bed. "It's not something a petty lecture is going to fix. For Diego, that's like telling him breathing is bad."
"Your indulgence is why he's not changing," Kidai sighed.
This wasn't the first time someone had pointed out that flaw in Diego. Deep down, he knew Kidai was right. Frost suddenly sat up and looked Kidai in the eyes. "Where's my katana?"
---
"So... you're in charge of everything here?" Misa asked Kelly. They were on the ground floor of a massive hall with multiple floors, all the floors had boxes where the center stage came into view. Kind of like an opera house. The Hunters he had selected were patrolling the arena while some normal maids were busy dusting and cleaning up everything in sight.
"Yeah, Connor put me in charge of making sure no outsiders interfere with the event," Kelly said while fidgeting with his tablet. "This is a really big responsibility and I don't want anything to go wrong today." Kelly looked up from the screen to give Misa a frown.
"Don't look at me like that," Misa grinned. "I can be responsible when I have to."
"Then explain that." Kelly pointed at Jessie who skipped happily in front of them. She swung Frost's katana wildly with each step. Kelly looked back at Misa but she was as unbothered as ever.
"She's just a little kid with a big knife," Misa said. "I don't see any reason to be worried."
"We don't know anything about that weapon, let alone how dangerous it might be," Kelly muttered and kept walking.
Misa's grin faltered for a moment before dying completely. She stopped walking and lifted her finger in the direction of a wall. Her hand made multiple erratic movements and Kelly followed it until it stopped and pointed at the wall right in front of them.
"Something's coming," she whispered.
CRASH!!!
A massive abomination crashed through the wall Misa was pointing at. It was bloated and the flesh on its legs dragged on the ground with each thundering step.
It happened so fast that it ran past Jessie and between both of them. Kelly caught a glimpse of someone on its back and he quickly recognised the figure. It was Romeo?!
His grip on its back was painfully tight and he didn't let go, even when it crashed through another wall. Some of the Hunters tried to intervene but from the same wall the abomination burst through, two others emerged. The first had golden bangles wrapped tightly around both of its tall, lanky hands and the other had purple skin with sharp spikes all over its body. Kelly facepalmed at the sight, almost like he expected it and started yelling out orders.
"There might be more so focus on containing them for now!" Kelly yelled at the idle Hunters and turned to his left. "Romeo Torrez can handle the first one! The rest of you should fan out and see if you'll find any more of them!"
Romeo glanced back at Kelly for a moment but turned his attention back to the abomination he was latched on to. The bloated abomination trashed and slammed into walls and buildings in a desperate attempt to get Romeo off its body, but the boy stayed on. When it reached out to grab him, Romeo jumped off and crouched down on the ground. The abomination charged at him, and Romeo shot out a sharp spike of ice before it got any closer.
The ice ripped right through its large gut and pinned it to the wall behind it. Romeo got to his feet and watched it struggle until something caught his eye... something big... Romeo stretched his hand out to touch it and the abomination noticed. Impaled against the wall, it panicked and had no choice but to slide sideways. The blade ripped through its side until it tore itself off it. It started running but Romeo didn't pursue it. He stood frozen, but by the time he snapped out of it, the abomination was long gone.
The other Hunters got the remaining abominations under control and once they were restrained, Kelly went to examine them. They were bound by heavy metal coils at first but Romeo froze their lower bodies to the ground.
"Those things aren't like the rest," Romeo told Kelly when he got behind him.
"That's clear," Kelly agreed. "What did you find out so far?"
"They can't speak or seem to have any form of high intelligence, but for some reason, they were coordinated, and they moved like they had a purpose," Romeo said.
"You're saying someone sent them here?" Misa asked with Jessie by her side. The abominations groaned and struggled to break free, but their futile movements were mesmerising to Jessie. She watched them like they were birds with broken wings struggling to fly.
"There's no doubt about it," the Hunters murmured to themselves as they tried to guess who could have sent them.
"We should report this to—" Kelly's sentence broke off when Jessie walked past him and straight for the lanky abomination. Its arms reached for her with murderous intent, but the little girl didn't flinch. She unsheathed the katana like it was second nature and pointed it straight at the abomination.
"Jessie, be careful over there," Misa called out calmly. Jessie nodded with wide eyes. The katana trembled in her grip but her body eventually eased into it.
"What are they?" she asked with the innocence only a child could have.
"Monsters," Romeo said. "They kill and hurt innocent people."
"Something's wrong with them," Jessie said and took a calm step closer. Romeo stepped beside her and put his palm on her shoulder. He was taller than her, but to everyone in the growing crowd, they looked like two children forced to grow up too fast.
"I know you're scared. I know you want someone to come along and tell you that everything is going to be okay. That your parents will come back, that you'll wake up tomorrow and this will all have been a horrible dream. But nobody is coming to make this right." Romeo's words upset Jessie and made Misa growl.
"Don't tell her shit like that," Misa scowled. "She's just a child."
Jessie's breath hitched at Misa's tone, but even more when Romeo ignored the blonde angel behind them and continued.
"That's the first thing you need to understand about this world. It doesn't care how old you are. It doesn't care if you're frightened, if you're tired, or if you haven't had enough time to understand what's happening around you. It will take everything from you and carry on as though nothing happened. You think being a child means you're supposed to be protected... I used to think that too." Romeo glanced at Misa and turned back to Jessie, whose whole body was now trembling.
"Sometimes, the people who are supposed to protect you aren't there. Sometimes, the monsters don't come from under your bed. Sometimes, they're standing right in front of you, and the adults who promised to keep you safe are nowhere to be found." Romeo said.
"I... I'm scared," Jessie whispered, but forced herself to stop trembling.
"You can be afraid. You can cry. You can hate what's happening. You're allowed to be a child... Just don't mistake being a child for being helpless. Now... take a breath."
"Okay..." Jessie whispered and took a deep breath and Romeo stepped back.
Jessie took slow steps towards the lanky abomination again. When its arms reached for her again, she calmly parried them with the katana until she was just a step away from it. She pushed the katana through its chest and pulled it up, slicing it in half from the chest going. Blood burst out and covered Jessie and after it stopped moving, there was utter silence.
"...What the hell..." Misa whispered in shock. The abomination... it wasn't completely an abomination but rather, IT WAS PART CYBORG?! Its insides were filled with organs and robotic parts, tangled up veins and wires and a mechanical heart pumping blood, bones made from metal?
"This is big... Very... very big..." Kelly grinned and grabbed Romeo's arm. "We need to talk right now." Romeo looked at Jessie one last time. She was trembling but Misa was trying to comfort her. The other Hunters seemed as shocked as everyone else. Cyborg abominations could be very bad news and this discovery could change the course of AXE's history.
Kelly pulled Romeo to one of the upper floors where they were safe from anyone trying to eavesdrop on them.
"I predicted there would be intruders but never in my wildest dreams did I expect this," Kelly groaned and slumped into one of the chairs.
"Neither did I," Romeo said. "We should tell Connor about this."
"That would complicate things," Kelly sighed. "News like this doesn't get ignored by any of the higher-ups. We tell Connor about the first half, but not the second."
"You mean the tracker, don't you?" Romeo said. "I did as you said and let the abomination escape but I don't know how long till whoever sent it finds the tracker on it once it gets back to its base."
"You're right," Kelly agreed and sat up. "I'll speak to Connor and see if we can have the unveiling a few more days before schedule."
"What does that resolve?" Romeo asked with a puzzled look.
"Whoever sent them knew about the unveiling and if we changed the date, their plans change as well. That means if we were to follow the tracker to their base, we might be able to catch them by surprise since they'd be preoccupied trying to find out what the weapon I made is or even better, they could come here to steal it," Kelly analysed.
"If they did, their base might be left with less security which means that infiltration would be much easier. At the same time, we would be able to anticipate a surprise attack from them," Romeo smirked.
"I guess we've got ourselves a plan then!" Kelly grinned with excitement.
---
END OF CHAPTER 31
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"Then it's settled