Maids VS Apocalypse

"I will explain things to you bit by bit. You ju-"

Ramsay had been on high alert ever since the girl with silver hair told them about the strangers spying on them, but even then he failed to react when he saw the school bus that came falling at them from the sky.

The truck following behind him made a stop at the right time and avoided colliding with it, but it was clear that their troubles were only getting started.

Before he could wonder who or what it was that tossed an entire school bus at them, something else fell on top of it, sending another tremor through the desolate street.

’A Fallen?’

He could see the red halo even through the dust cloud, but the height it was at made him click his tongue.

[Rider!]

The shout almost popped his eardrums. Jumping off the bike, he took out his bow and quiver preparing to take on the monster, though most of his attention was delegated to the surroundings as he waited for the real assailants to show themselves.

"Worry about yourself!" He yelled back. "Just get out of here!"

That must’ve sounded like a very stupid idea. In a situation where an unknown enemy was targeting them, separating would be nothing short of suicide. Ramsay had his own plans, however.

A throwing knife came flying at him from the left, its target being his head. He moved aside and let it pass then leaned further to the left and evaded another projectile while Knocking an arrow.

A dry crunch reached the Sergeant’s ears and he let go of the bowstring. His target didn’t wait for the arrow, however.

The Knife-slinger was quite nimble. He ran along the electric wires hanging between the buildings and electric poles, swinging his arms and throwing more knives.

His throwing skills were quite good as well and Ramsay found himself having to dodge seriously which prevented him from following on the arrow he already shot.

Rolling on the ground to evade more knives, Ramsay stopped near one already stabbed into the ground, picked it up and flung it at his attacker, but not before getting a closer look at it. Its uniform red color, as if it was carved out of a singular material, gave him a bad premonition.

’levitation, air control, and Nameless Element weapons...’ He thought. ’This might be worse than I thought...’

As if a switch had been flipped, Ramsay’s movements accelerated. His arrows increased in number and the positions from which he launched no longer mattered.

The mysterious enemy didn’t let up, continuing to evade the arrows with sharp movements, the fabric of his red cloak fluttering in the air. His limit seemed to be fast approaching, however, so he stepped on a light pole then kicked off a nearby building before rolling on the ground and onto his feet.

Standing a few meters away from Ramsay, the cloaked man remained still for a few seconds before raising his hand and removing the hood covering his head.

Under it was a mask that covered the lower half of his face. The wrinkles lining his forehead and the white taking over his head spoke of old age, but the stance he took and the height he reached showed that he was far from retirement. Above his head was a red Halo, but unlike those of the Fallen, his looked round and uniform, speaking of his status as an Awakened.

"My oh my, look what we have here!" The stranger in red spoke. "A Peace Keeper driving around in the open, almost as if this dying world is his for the taking."

"A red hood, huh?" Ramsay asked. "Didn’t we kick you out already?"

"A--ah! Good classic PK arrogance. You just got to love it!" With a dramatic shake of his head, the stranger spread his arms. "What if I told you we never left?"

"... what?"

"C’mon now, no need to act so surprised. Did you seriously believe you could drive us out? And it’s not like we couldn’t just come back."

A gentle breeze blowing through the empty buildings interrupted the moment of silence between them.

"What do you want?" Ramsay spoke with gritted teeth, knocking another arrow on his bow.

"Nothing. Just checking for new recruits, pitching our offer, praising his holiness." The man raised his right hand and a red throwing knife appeared. "Killing heretics. You know, the usual."

"Then we have nothing more to talk about, cultist scum." Ramsay let go of the arrow and went on the move.

"Hey now, no need for such petty insults." The gray-haired man dodged effortlessly. "I could’ve called you ■■■■ little female dog, but I didn’t. Being enemies doesn’t mean we can’t show each other respect."

Ramsay’s expression darkened.

"Oh! My apologies." Stopping for a moment, the red hood smacked his forehead. "I forgot that not even your own senses are under your control." Though his voice sounded even, the mockery and disdain it contained were clear. "So much for Peace keeping. They don’t even trust their minions to hear their name."

No longer able to contain his anger, Ramsay knocked three arrows, releasing all of them at the same time.

"What’s this? Did I strike a nerve?" The old man dodged them with ease and threw his own knives.

"You sure talk a lot." Ramsay raised his right hand and pressed his thumb and middle fingers together. "Hope you keep that up once I bring you in."

With a snap of his fingers, a spark of blue light shot out from his hand and scattered in the air. The light show prompted the old man to hold his arms up in an attempt to block, but the attack didn’t come from the front.

In the corner of his eye, he saw one of the arrows stabbed into the ground glow with the same blue light. It was already too late to evade by then.

One by one, threads of light began to shoot out of the arrows. Up and down, left and right, front and back. In a fraction of a second, the threads connected, joining to create a complex web around the cultist, trapping him with no opening for escape. None came into contact with him, but they were close enough that moving appeared impossible.

"Now, just wait patiently until the reinforcements arrive," Ramsay said, smirking. "I don’t need to tell you what will happen if you touch those threads, right?"

The old man looked at him, eyes wide like saucers.

"Now this is surprising." He said, his voice lacking the alertness of someone who had just been trapped. "To think you use the same trick."

There was another finger snap, and threads of red lights shot out of the scattered throwing knives. In less than a second, Ramsay found himself in the exact same situation he put the old man in.

"Now both of us are trapped!"

As the masked man laughed, Ramsay could only grit his teeth. His threads weren’t something that could be overcome with a fully activated Force Field. At least not immediately. If his opponent was using the same ability then getting out of it wasn’t going to be easy. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Well, unfortunately for you, I’m a very paranoid man." As he spoke, the masked man moved his fingers a little and four knives appeared in the gaps between them. "I always come prepared just in case I get trapped in my own web!"

With minimal effort, the masked man threw the knives. Before they hit the ground, however, he snapped his fingers and each one went flying in a different direction.

The knives struck the blue threads one after the other, and with a quiet snap, each of them got severed. They all scattered into specs of light a second later.

"Ta-da!"

Ramsay’s eyes widened.

"Alright, your turn!" The old man said. "Show me your grand escape! C’mon, I will wait!"