Chapter 6
NEST
“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.”
Nest had messed up. He had been tracked, and he had been ambushed. Twice. Sure, everyone that tried to attack him was nothing more than another corpse on the ground, but he had missed the crucial timing that Kade had given him. He told Kade to try to get her in position one more time through Morse code, but he knew how difficult that was. When the earpiece was taken from Kade, it was still on, so Nest could still hear everything that was happening, which meant he knew exactly how bad the situation was. It seemed Kade was pretty much weaponless after giving up his gun, and the general still had Pia as her hostage, meaning she had full control over the situation. She had said that there were reinforcements on their way, but Nest had taken care of them. Or more specifically, with the help of someone else.
It was kind of a long story, actually. As Nest was dealing with the exorcists, the person kind of just appeared out of nowhere and helped. Then he heard Nest’s story, took care of the ‘reinforcements,’ and was now standing next to him, watching him prepare the shot.
“So, um, how did you find me again?” asked Nest.
He sighed.
“What, you don’t think I have a tracking device in my own car in case someone tries to steal it?”
Nest looked back at the nice, red, Jeep they had taken without permission.
“Fair point.”
Ajax was actually super pushy about going to help Kade after he heard what was happening from Nest, but he would never get there in time. Nest would have to support Kade from afar, and the rest was up to him.
Nest took a deep breath and concentrated. They had lost their critical window, and their only hope now was for Kade to bring the general into position, then for Nest to actually land his shot. If he didn’t, well, Kade would probably die. No pressure.
He knew Kade couldn’t make any big movements right now, especially if the general had Pia. He had to somehow make an opening for Kade to close the distance.
Kade was incredibly skilled, obviously. From what Nest had seen, he was better than most exorcists and even assassins out there. So maybe he could make use of a distraction. The distraction part was easy. Nest could just shoot something, and the general’s focus would no doubt be shaken. The problem was after that if Nest shot, that would definitely give away his position to her.
Wait, but doesn’t she already know where I am? No, no, but that would let her know that I’m still alive.
Then the general would for sure avoid the angle he was holding. Which meant if Nest was going to shoot her, Kade would have to get her to stay still in that spot somehow. But if he didn’t shoot now, there was no chance that Kade would even survive. Nest was running out of time. He had to make the decision.
Sweat trickled down his cheek, and he remembered the confident look in Kade’s cold silver eyes at the beginning of the operation.
Fine, I’ll trust you, damn it.
After taking another moment to calculate the wind speed and recalibrate his aim, he pulled the trigger.
His bullet hit the wall, and the general definitely turned around at the sound. Nest couldn’t see from the small window, but it was common sense that she would be startled by a sound she hadn’t expected. She had thought Nest was dead, after all. And judging from the grunting and heavy footsteps he heard from his earpiece, Kade had already taken full advantage of the situation. Not long after, both Kade and the general came into view. He had taken a slash to the face, leaving him with a large, bloody gash right below his eyes. He only had his fists to fight with and was at a complete disadvantage. Yet amazingly, he wasn’t losing.
The general had let go of Pia and shifted all her attention to Kade, and every time she had pointed her gun to shoot him, he would hit her hand away and avoid being shot. Her knife strikes were different, though. As swift as he was, his footwork was weak from the leg injury, and he couldn’t dodge everything. Kade was gaining more cuts by the second, and the general, as expected, had become aware of Nest and was moving in a way that Nest couldn’t confidently shoot without the risk of hitting Kade. Nest tried to steady his scope as he saw Kade taking another cut to the arm in exchange for landing a jab to her face. He could tell Kade was doing his best to move decently despite his injured leg, but it looked like even he was going to break any time now.
As the fight wore on, however, the general’s movements became slower with each strike Kade laded. She was starting to fall behind, even with a knife in her hand.
“Oh, I see,” Nest muttered.
She had taken too much damage from earlier. Kade was just trying to slow her down right now, even if it meant letting her hack at him with her blade. But that still wasn’t enough for Nest to land a decisive shot. They were simply moving too fast, and there was always the risk of shooting Kade.
Then there was a blunder from the general. She lifted her gun to shoot again, but it was too slow, and the gun was way too close to Kade. He acted before the general got a chance to realize her mistake. After dodging the bullet, he grabbed the gun, spun it downward in her hand, and shot with it now pointing the opposite direction.
Nest didn’t need the earpiece to know what kind of horrible sound she made as the bullet crashed through her pelvis. Her footing failed as she yanked her firearm back, and Kade, of course, didn’t let this opening go to waste. He quickly got behind her and held her in a headlock, with her head now directly in sight from the window Nest was looking through.
Kade really did it, that crazy bastard. All the conditions were now clear, and the only thing left was…
BANG!
The deafening sound of a gunshot rang out from Nest’s rifle, and not a split second after, a gaping hole appeared in the general’s forehead, dyeing her silver hair with red and splattering blood on Kade’s face and clothes. Kade dropped the general’s lifeless body on the ground, then fell to his own knees in exhaustion.
It was over.
“Oh my god,” said Nest.
“What happened?” Ajax demanded.
“We did it. Holy crap, we did it!”
But something was off. Nest kept looking through the sniper scope, and there was something else happening. Something weird.
Right now, Kade’s eyes were glowing with an eerie silver light as he looked down at the general’s corpse. He put his hand over her head and swayed his hand. A white will-o'-wisp of light suddenly emerged from her head, following the guidance of Kade’s motions. It glowed faintly at his touch, and seemed to be floating on top of his palm.
Kade looked at it for a second, then put it in his mouth. He was eating the ball of light. He then turned toward the unconscious Pia with the same cold, flaring eyes. Just like he did with the general, Kade pulled out a glowing white will-o'wisp from her head, and again, put it in his mouth. Nest watched in cold sweat as all the wounds Kade had gotten from the fight started to heal, starting with the gash on his face.
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