Ch 57: The Purge

One of the women who had her eyes on him gasped as she saw his face lose three decades in a few seconds, and then Noah used Hard Light Arsenal to create flying knifes.

Before any of the nearby guards had time to react, Noah started killing, controlling six knifes simultaneously thanks to his high MAG attribute giving him a high ability to multitask.

He prioritized the guards first, as many of them had sidearms even while off duty, killing them with clean shots through the throat or head as he guided the knifes from one target to another, switching to the sponsors when all the guards within his range were down, ignoring the screams.

Taro Aoyama had gone silent for a few seconds, likely in shock, then his panicked voice came through the speakers, all over the city.

“All guards are to converge to the arena! There’s a terrorist attack!”

When most of the sponsors who had survived his initial attack had run away through the access passages, Noah didn’t pursue them. He took his katana and shield from his inventory, and chose Taro Aoyama as focus for his teleportation.

He instantly appeared inside a large office, in front of the terrified businessman, and checked for immediate threats in his vicinity.

There were two guards at the door on his left, and an old man with long gray hair and a pointy beard with a katana sheathed on his waist. The old man kept his eyes closed, but Noah knew he was by far his strongest enemy.

Hayashi Namikaze, the blind swordsman, almost instantly drew his blade to intercept Noah’s as he tried to decapitate Taro.

That old man, the leader of the Gehenna guard, was not only a swordsman worthy of being called a master, but also, possessed a number of cybernetic implants and hidden weapons.

“Who are you?” calmly asked Hayashi.

“Does it matter? I’m here to kill your boss, you’re here to protect him.” grinned Noah as he made a few probing attacks, and blocked a few with his shield. He had moved so that Taro would be in the line of fire of the guards at the door.

“I like this simple way of thinking.” kindly smiled Hayashi. “I was asking, so I could later visit whoever sent you, and kill all of your relatives. I will leave your face intact so we can identify your corpse.”

“…You really are a piece of work, you know that?” said Noah as he activated Stride, Armored and Maximize. He also created more flying knifes and killed the guards at the door. He kept the knife floating there, pointed at Taro, blocking his hasty retreat.

The speed of his strikes tripled, and Hayashi had to become completely serious so keep up with Noah’s unending strikes.

“No matter how much you’ve been paid, I can pay you more! Just name your price!” exclaimed Taro in fear.

Noah suddenly felt pain in his chest, where a bullet had hit him where his heart was.

“You’ve been careless.” smiled Hayashi, revealing the canon of a gun integrated in his left arm.

But his smile froze when he saw Noah continue fighting as if unaffected.

“I’m done playing.” said Noah. He used Shunpo to appear behind Hayashi, his Katana’s blade moving so fast that the old swordsman couldn’t react fast enough as Noah cut of his sword arm, opened a Hole behind him, and kicked Hayashi toward it. The edges of the Hole dismembered him before sucking in the parts. Noah was so close that he might have been swallowed, too, if not for him also making hand holds out of Hard Light to hold into.

Noah closed the Hole before the computer on the desk could be swallowed as well, and with a mental flick, killed Taro with his flying knifes. He healed himself, seeing the bullet being ejected from the hole on his chest before it closed. Because of his enhanced durability, the bullet had penetrated only about tree centimeters and didn't reach his heart. Even if he had been pierced through, his healing would have been fast enough to restore the damaged tissues before he lost consciousness.

Peering down through the windows, Noah saw the guards fighting the sacred gear users in the plaza. He decided to do a little something to affect the guard's morals and, seizing Aoyama's corpse, flung it through the window. When they all looked up, Noah waved at Claire and send a few grenades to the guards.

He then picked up his shield from the ground and left the office. There was more killing to be done.

…

Once Claire heard the screams coming from the Arena, she stopped pretending to be interested in the luxury clothes displayed in the shop’s front and used her sacred gear, White Nemesis, to manifest an assault rifle. She shot short streams of white light at the guards standing in front of the main tower, downing half of them before the others took cover.

Iris rushed them from the side in her half dragon state. Her skin from her neck down was covered in durable white scales, and sharp horns protruded from her forehead. Her canines had grown a little longer, and she used her sharp claws to tear into the closest guard as she breathed blue flames on his colleagues.

Claire used the opportunity to change position, moving to a closer cover while peppering the other guards to keep them down.

The other members of her team were covering the nearby streets and engaging any guard that showed up.

More guards were coming from the tower’s main entrance, and Claire was starting to feel the pressure while Iris had to move more carefully, protecting her face with one arm, when a murder to shadow crows flew from another side street and dive bombed on the new guards.

They had limited effect, however, as the Gehenna reinforcements were some of their elite teams. They were better equipped, better coordinated, and much more experienced. They calmly shot down or skewered the birds as they came while some them focused on Claire and Iris, forcing them to take cover.

A large spear of Ice impacted one of the leftmost guards, penetrating his shield and body armor before exploding, and Claire watched some of her own reinforcements emerge from the street from which the birds came. Alice and Layla were walking toward the enemy, behind a strong vanguard of shadow shield bearers. The rest of their team was behind them, although Claire noted that two of them were injured. One even had his right arm cut off at the elbow. Hisui would be able to close the wound, but not restore the arm.

The guards were showering bullets into the shield bearer’s ranks, and Alice had to focus to heal or replace the losses, when something happened, filling the guards with dread.

A corpse crashed on the ground between the two sides, along with glass debris. Everyone recognized Taro Aoyama.

Sheers of joy erupted from Claire, Iris and the others, and they looked upward to see Noah waving at them. He dropped a few grenades on the guards before stepping away from the shattered window.

“Surrender, or die!” screamed Iris at the guards, using the lull in the gunshots’ noise.

Some of the more quick-witted guards dropped their rifles and swords and lifted their arms as they ran away from those still fighting. More and more followed their example. A few other guards, angered by their betrayal, turned their rifles into their backs and started shooting them. Claire shot those down as fast as she could, and in just a few seconds, the fighting had stopped, with two dozen guards having surrendered.

Claire glanced upward again, but Noah was already gone, working his way down as they had planned.

She quickly joined Alice and Layla, as Iris and her team members rounded up the prisoners and stripped them of anything they might use as weapons.

“Everything’s okay?”

“Aside from Cyrill’s arm… That scum Mason poisoned him and we couldn't find Hisui, so we had to amputate. We need Noah asap.”

“Has Mason been dealt with?”

Layla sighed. “No. We didn’t find him. He either fled, or he is with Jason and he is camouflaging both of them.”

“We’ll need to stay vigilant then.”

From another street came Maria, Hisui and their squads. They waved at each other.

“No casualties?” asked Claire as soon as they got close.

“A few injuries, Erwan already dealt with them.” replied Maria, referring to the only other person among the residents besides Hisui that could treat wounds.

She saw Taro’s corpse on the ground, and walked closer. On impulse, she kicked the corpse, propelling it a few dozen feet away.

“I feel so much better.” She said, turning to her comrades.

“Things seem to be doing well, but we still have Mason, Jason and Hayashi to deal with. And maybe some devils as well.” warned Iris.

And as if speaking of the devil had summoned them, they heard the sounds of muffled screams and of several things being dragged on the ground, coming from the street leading to the arena.

Three middle-aged to old-looking men turned the corner, dragging behind them Hisui and the other members of her team, bound by black chains. Most were unconscious, but Hisui was still struggling and trying to bite off the black links forcing her mouth open.

“A full rebellion, I see.” Said the oldest as he took in the situation in the plaza.

“And the guards are already beaten up. What a disgrace.” Added a second one, shaking his head.

Claire immediately manifested a pair of guns and fired, but her light beams were harmlessly deflected by an energy shield around the trio.

“It seems we’ll have to thoroughly teach you not to bare your fangs at your betters, mutt.” said Marchosias.

The third one didn’t say anything, but formed a large ball of black flames and threw it, not at Claire and her companions, but at the group of guards who had surrendered.

They died screaming, and Claire took a step back, horrified by the callous brutality of the three devils.

And then, it was the turn of the old devil holding Hisui’s chain to scream, or at least attempt to, as two katanas pierced his lungs from behind and he was lifted off the ground.

The two other devils turned in consternation. They were certain that no one had been behind them just an instant before.

Noah used Shunpo again, appearing behind Marchosias and beheading him cleanly. As the last devil hurriedly tried stepping back while creating another ball of black flames, Noah opened a Hole right behind him, and the devil met the same fate as Hayashi.

Noah finished off the injured devil who was busy coughing his lungs out with another slash of the sword and looked around, searching for more threats.

The chains binding Hisui and the others disappeared as the devils died, and everyone rushed to check on them.

Still vigilant, Noah reached to Hisui, healing her wounds, and went from one to another of the unconscious people, treating them. He then walked without a word to Cyrill, and everyone’s eyes widened as his amputated arm grew back. Noah had told them he could grow back limbs, but there was a big difference between being told, and seeing it happening.

“Anyone died?” asked Noah as he kept looking around.

“Not on your side.” Said Maria. “Mason and Jason and Hayashi are still out there. Mason attacked us but retreated, and we haven’t seen them.”

“Hayashi is dead. As for the other two…”

Claire blinked as Noah disappeared suddenly. She and her companions looked at each other.

“Is that how he appeared behind those devils?” asked Alice.

“It seems so. I’m glad he’s on our side.” shrugged Zane.

Claire could only nod. The person she had just agreed to serve as a maid seemed to be much too capable at performing assassinations for her taste. At the same time, his strength was comforting to her, as a reinsurance that he might really be able to revive Kensei. She believed in him, after seeing his memories and feeling Lilith’s power, or she would have refused to become his maid, but that didn’t mean she as completely immune to doubt.

“We should start sending messengers to the residential areas to spread the news and bring everyone here.” Suggested Layla, but Maria shook her head.

“Maybe we should wait a bit before bringing those who aren’t strong enough to defend themselves. We don’t know yet if Mason and Jason will escape Noah, and we there must be more guards we haven’t found yet.”

“If the communication network of the city is still intact, we need to call upon everyone in the city to surrender and come out quietly. All the staff members must be terrified right now, and sacred people do stupid things.” pointed out Zane, watching a handful of scared people hiding in the stores. They cowered inside when they noticed him watching them.

“You’re right, we should do that first.” Said Maria, and the others nodded.

Noah reappeared at that time, with two corpses in his hands, sporting deep gashes on their backs.

“And done.”

“Welcome back.” sighed Maria, impressed. “Did you have trouble with them?”

Noah shrugged as he dropped the bodies. “Not really. They were both invisible, and were actually looking at us from far down that street over there. But the nice thing with my teleportation skill, is that when I focus on an individual, I will appear near them, facing them. So I just slashed at the empty air, and my blades connected. They became visible immediately and I finished them.”

“Such a convenient teleportation exists... You’re a monster, you know that?” said Zane.

“Yes, I’m aware that I have quite a few unfair advantages. And that teleportation is part of the skills my subordinates can use, too. Is everything under control here?”

Noah watched as several groups of unarmed guards were brought into the plaza by more sacred gear users who had stayed to finish securing the barracks and cafeterias.

“Pretty much. We still need to finish securing the tower, and we were about to enter and use the communication system to tell the whole city to surrender peacefully.” Said Zane.

“I’ll go with you. Once the message is spread, I’ll report to the anti-demon corps and a few people I know on the devil side, and we’ll start on the clean-up. They will help us evacuate everyone out of this island.” nodded Noah.

Hisui moved closer to Noah and hugged him.

“Thank you, Noah. You didn’t just remove that curse and give me freedom, but you also saved me. You’re a great guy.”

“Don’t mention it. I didn’t just give you your freedom, you fought to earn it yourself. You all did."

Noah suddenly grinned. "And there’s no way I’m going to let anyone bully one of my cute maids.”

“Huh, don’t get carried away, my heart belongs to Ken Ken. But, I’ll admit you’re almost as good as him. Almost.” replied Hisui as she stepped back.

She was still smiling as she said that, and Noah took it as a very good omen.

“Eh, that’s some progress, compared to you wanting to tear my limbs off yesterday.” chuckled Noah.

“I’m glad I didn’t try.” laughed Hisui, glancing for a second at the corpses of Mason and Jason. Remembering their companions waiting, she turned away, and they started making their way to the tower’s entrance. They might still have to fight some people, and they needed to secure the databases.

Pacifying the tower from the bottom up was quick, as no one offered them any resistance. They only moved door to door, quickly searching each room for the many people hiding inside, telling them that they wouldn’t be killed if they surrendered, searching them for hidden weapons, and ordering them to gather in the plaza. After about ten minutes, they reached the last floor and Taro’s office.

Maria made a general announcement to the whole city, offering safe passage to anyone who surrendered and gathered in the plaza, while Noah searched the desk’s drawers for Taro’s computer password or any other useful information. He found a notebook with over a thousand names and many donations, all of them in the millions of dollars.

As more and more people gathered in the plaza and a few sacred gear users were sent to the four residential areas to inform everyone of what had happened, Noah teleported back to his home and took his smartphone. The first person he called was Kyouka.

“Hello?”

“Kyouka, it’s Noah. Hagun island had been pacified, more or less. There may be a few remnants hiding here and there, but their main combat force is dead. But I have hundreds of freed sacred gear users and hundreds of restaurant, hotel and whatever staff employees to deal with. I could use a hand to sort them out. I’ll ask for some people on the devil side if they can help, too.

“Let me check with the Commander… Noah, can you teleport to the seventh squad dormitory? Tenka will go there, and she’ll teleport you to a large parking lot near a major military base. Then you’ll help her ferry the sacred gear users first, and the employees after that. The commander is sending people from the JSDF to identify and sort them out.”

“Sound good to me. I’m on my way.”

Noah sighed, thinking that he may not need to rely on Grayfia after all.