RD 4 Ch 14

Amanda and Jenny stood on the rooftop, weapons drawn, as they surveyed the city. It was still peaceful in the city, but an air of concern and worry hung heavy.

Explosions echoed in the distance while planes and fighter jets flew overhead, unleashing their payload towards the red beam that cut through the sky and clouds.

Though at this point it was like background noise, crackling off in the distance with the occasional flash.

Amanda had her phone out, watching an influencer trying to get close enough to capture images of the unfolding chaos. A few demons had reached the city's edge, but they had been swiftly dealt with by the Nester family and a few low level Mul Branova.

This was good practice for them. They had to harden the new recruits a little before sending them into instances or they tended to freak out.

The constant smell of smoke filled the air, large plumes drifting away from the bombing and artillery that continued to rain down on the hell gate.

"Do you think they're going to nuke it?" Amanda asked, looking up from her screen.

"Better hope not," Jenny replied, her gaze fixed on her counterpart. "We want them to come into the city. The demons, that is."

"Yeah, yeah," Amanda muttered, turning back to her phone. "I know the drill. We want the demons to get here, and people to actually have to deal with them so they level up. The way Bran talked about the apocalypse, I thought everything was going to change the very next day." She gestured towards the city, filled with nervous tension. Yet, there was no screaming panic, and the skyscrapers still stood.

Jenny shrugged. "You have to remember, Bran's sense of time is not the same as ours. It probably felt a lot quicker when he was in the midst of the first war. We know what's happening, and we were waiting for it to happen. It's probably even a lot more tiresome for everyone in the city anxiously looking out the window, wondering if another group of demons is going to come for them."

"Well, when they do, that's when we finally get to act and kill some demons. Simone wants us to show off and then grow the organization for Bran. But a lot of people have already started picking their class and we only want devotees," Amanda said, holding up her phone. She had switched channels to an influencer who was showing a video of an instance portal, trying to hype her viewers before she ventured to the other side.

"Oh my god," Jenny said, paying attention to the channel for a moment. "Did she say that's a C rank? She does realize she's going to get slaughtered if she goes in there, right?"

Amanda shrugged. "So? That's entertainment in its own way. Give me that."

Jenny snatched the phone out of her hand, quickly typing a message to the influencer who was still prancing around the instance.

Behind the influencer, a motley crew of ten individuals were preparing to join her. "Hey D," one of them tried to get the influencer's attention. "Someone on the channel is talking like they know a lot about this."

Jenny smirked. "It would be wise for them to listen to him."

"Yeah, they say you have to bring a flamethrower in to complete a C rank," another woman added.

The influencer chimed in, "Oh, and apparently if you've been vaccinated, you die when you go in."

Jenny's jaw dropped and she tossed the phone, only for Amanda to leap into the air and snatch it before it fell off the rooftop. "Hey, don't treat my phone like that.”

“I can't believe you watch this shit." Jenny answered.

"It's amusing," Amanda defended, "watching idiots go and kill themselves is kind of like watching Squid Games. Shit we’re never going to get another season." She shrugged, settling back on the edge of the building, her feet kicking back and forth. "Besides, why do you care?"

“Because each one of those people is in a position to, I don't know, tell the world what's going on, how to deal with it, or something more valuable to society than looking pretty and running shows with transitions so fast that they feed the dopamine cycle of everyone's brain.” Jenny answered wanting to punt the phone again.

“Judgmental much?" Amanda rolled her eyes and fluffed her blonde hair.

"Some of us can do without social entertainment in our lives.” Jenny said.

“Whatever. Tell me, how are the instances going?" Amanda asked as she flicked away the video and began reading through her messages.

"Good. We've put the new girls through the gauntlet. Most of the ones we've found are really low rank.” Jenny said.

“That's okay. We need some low rank ones.” Amanda replied. "I'm sure we'll find a couple for you and me. Right now, that isn't important.” She said as a large explosion lit up the horizon.

Coming out of the explosion was a much larger figure than they'd seen thus far. She tried to inspect but it was too far away for the system to let her use the ability.

"I'm going to get down and see what that is.” Jenny said.

“No need. I'm pretty sure that's coming our way." Amanda turned her hand into a visor to shield her eyes. She pointed into the distance. "But if it took a bomb that size, what? Do you think that's a C rank or a B rank?”

“It's definitely got some sort of defensive ability." Jenny agreed.

The creature’s body spanned across the sky. Even with the current distance, the form was large. It had to be the size of a small tanker.

The movements were different from a bird though, more like the creature was swimming through the air like a giant whale. Fighter jets swarming it like gnats.

A beam fired off its side, slicing through the air before five explosions announced the defeat of multiple jets. More and more explosions piled onto the underside of the massive whale as it grew closer, escaping the perimeter that the army had set up.

And the second it was above the bulk of the military, the creature unleashed a billowing cloud that choked the air and obscured it from their vantage.

"That's probably not good," Amanda so helpfully narrated.

Jenny scowled as their vision went away. All she could spot, even squinting, was the massive silhouette amidst the cloud. Jenny frowned as it began to shrink, like a balloon running out of air. She could not figure out what was happening as the form started to blur, slowly becoming smaller.

But as thousands of smaller demons swooped out of the cloud onto the impromptu military base that had been set up as part of the perimeter, the situation became clearer.

The demonic swarm crashed down amongst the tents and the jeeps to the deafening rattle of gunfire in the distance.

"Fuck me," Jenny muttered, ceasing her fooling around. Her large machete emerged from her spatial ring as she prepared for a fight. However, a second giant whale swam out of the cloud, ignoring the military camp and heading straight for the city.

"He said he wanted to hurry this along," she mused.

Amanda was still engrossed in her phone, her fingers moving in a blur. Jenny didn't need to ask to know that Amanda was quickly messaging everyone, calling them to arms and preparing for what they'd all been planning.

Jenny pulled out her own phone, messaging those at the fortress. The siren there kicked up to a volume that could be heard all over the vain city. Before she could say anything more, Amanda had flicked her phone back into her spatial ring, replacing it with her katana. She stood at the edge of the building, leaning forward as if she was going to jump any second.

"Are you going or not?" Jenny asked.

"We have to wait for the demons to get here," Amanda reminded her without turning to look. "If we run up and say the demons are coming, no one's going to do anything. Heck, people probably won't even believe us. Which is stupid, but we're going to have to wait until the demons reach this area before we can do anything about it."

Jenny grunted. She knew the drill; everyone did at this point. "Just figured it would be easier to do something about it, you know, if we were down on the ground."

"Maybe," Amanda stuck her tongue out. "But candidly, I don't want to be down there when everyone starts screaming. Maybe once all that's done, and I can hear myself think again, it would be a good time to jump down."

"By the time that's done, everyone's going to be in a full-blown panic," Jenny rolled her eyes. "How about we go ahead and get down there? So maybe we can save at least a few lives. Each one of those we support will shift over to the fortress far more readily."

While she was talking, Amanda's jaw dropped as five more of the whale-shaped demon carriers emerged from the fog around the Hell Gate. Two of them started dumping their payload of demons straight into the military, while the other two headed off in the opposite direction from Vein City.

"Where are they going?" Jenny asked.

"Everywhere," Amanda answered.

"Oh, so helpful.”

The blonde played with her hair for a moment. "Those things move fast. Not as fast as a jet, but faster than a train. They could both reach other population centers in two hours, tops."

"This is fucking it, isn't it?" Jenny asked, already knowing the answer, as several more of the demon carriers emerged from the cloud, heading in multiple directions.

"Yeah, that's not looking good," Amanda admitted. "Well, that's why we prepared, isn't it?" She didn't waste any more time and threw herself from the rooftop down into the street.

Jenny followed a second later, both of them earning shocked looks from the people going about their everyday business.

It was not typical for two armed women to literally fall from the sky.

"What are you looking at?" Jenny growled at a man who couldn't seem to peel his eyes off of her.

"What are you doing?" he asked, pointing at her sword.

"What does it look like I'm doing? The military failed to contain the demons, and they're coming." She answered.

As she dropped that bomb of news, the man literally let go of everything he was carrying and began screaming, rushing away while fumbling with his car keys in his panic.

Jenny stared after the man as he dropped his car keys.

"You know, if he was going to drive away or whatever, why did he wait until they were coming?" Amanda asked. "I swear to Bran that people are so stupid." The blonde glanced back at Jenny. "Not that you're stupid, but you know, people as a mass are stupid."

Jenny paused before she shrugged. "Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?"

"Probably nothing," Amanda shrugged. "Just an observation. Or perhaps something I didn't quite realize until recently."

The man's frantic search for his keys seemed to ignite a general panic, exacerbating the anxiety that had been lingering in the city.

Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed over the city, disgorging thousands of demons into the air. Each one had a fish-like quality, with fins adorning their bodies. They swam through the sky, dropping down with spears and tridents amongst other long-reach weapons.

Amanda watched as three of them landed on the car of the man who had been scrambling for his keys not a minute ago. Apparently, he'd found them and made it to his car. A second later, however, a trident pierced through his windshield and into his chest. The demon ripped him out of the glass and flung him onto the street.

Both leaders of the Mul Branova watched impassively for a moment as chaos erupted around them.

Jenny could only agree with Amanda's earlier sentiment as she launched herself forward with as much power as she could muster. She slammed into the demons that had just taken the man from the car, pulling them over and cutting them down with a spinning slash.

Her counterpart moved with less force, instead weaving through the crowd like a swift breeze, cutting down demons one after the other and saving those she could manage.

Jenny paused, pursing her lips. Her own style was more destructive than she would have liked, given the crowded surroundings. After a moment of concern, she shrugged, smashing into the next demon that caught her eye and tossing him across the street.

People had their phones out, taking pictures and videos of the two of them, yet no one got close enough to ask questions.

Every time Amanda killed a demon, another two demons seemed to materialize. Moments ago, she had been hoping for the apocalypse to start. Now, she realized she should have maybe enjoyed the peace and quiet a little longer.