A Story of Evil

Chapter 147: An Old Friend

The following day, Sol and Alice went to Pandora. This is due to the order given by king Jubilee himself who instructed them to go there. This is for the sole purpose of meeting up with the third member of the team hailing from the Void Cain Bloodbourne.

"You need to catch up. Plus I want you to see how far that kid has gone with just handwork, focus, and determination." Were the exact words left by King Jubilee to both Sol and Alice. And, with the king's voice actually sounding excited, they themselves couldn't wait to see what Cain had in store for them.

Sol in particular waited for that day. He was excited and thrilled to see Cain once again. To see how far his friend has progressed and, he wanted to see what Cain acquired during his training.

"King Jubilee didn't even tell us what Cain's new skills are. That kinda sucks." Alice mentioned.

"Well if it has something to do with weaponry, I'm guessing that he became very proficient in handling them."

"Yeah you're probably right." Alice said as they finally reached the door of Pandora. It has been a while since they last came there. In fact, both Sol and Alice haven't spoken to Pandora for quite a while. But this didn't bother them at all. They had a lot of things to do and, they were sure that King Jubilee has properly kept the king preoccupied for the most part. After all, these two were the original partners.

"Want me to punch him or something? You know to test his reflexes?" Alice made a jabbing motion, making Sol's eyes squint.

"Why would you even suggest something like that?"

"Hey it's just a joke Sol, lighten up."

"We're only here to observe what he can do. With what King Jubilee said, he should be inside Pandora's Box by now. A shared one just like the one we used during the final training for the Culling."

Alice didn't say anything more. They entered Pandora and, a wave of nostalgia hit them once again. They walked though the familiar hallways of the facility. They even visited the cafeteria which Alice insisted as, she grabbed a piece of chicken. Sol also took this offer and grabbed a bite.

In no time at all they reached the training area. Using their crystal in order to open it up and, sure enough, Cain was there. He was sitting down and, all around him were a bunch of guns and magazines. This is aside from the other tools which he had at that moment.

"You guys are finally here." Cain said, sparing them a glance before going back to assembling his weapons.

"Yeah we took a bit of detour in the canteen." Sol said in reply.

"Well I'd also be hungry if I was made to walk all this way." Cain mentioned, wiping some dirt on his pistol.

There was something different about Cain. Sol could feel it. An indifference that seemed to sever the tie they had formed as allies which he didn't quite understand. Nor did he voice it out.

"Anyway, the king told me that you were coming. He said that you needed to see my skills in order to know where I'd be useful for so..." Cain stood up. All his preparations complete and all his gear equipped.

"Shall we begin?" He asked.

"Sure, show us what you've got big guy." Sol said in reply as the field finally turned into a chaos area. One filled by different kinds of monsters.

In front of Sol and Alice, various status windows popped up. Displaying Cain's vitals, his attributes, and everything else that has to do with tracking his performance. On top of this is a large screen which shows Cain's every movement.

"You don't need to come with me, just watch and see what happens."

"Sure thing." Sol simply said as Cain went on his way.

"Is it just me or is Cain a bit more cranky than normal?"

"It's not just you. I don't know what happened to him but, something definitely changed." Sol said in reply as the fighting finally began.

Cain was precise and quick with hs movements. Instead of running, he hovered through a board. His balance wasn't being thrown off and, on his hands were two pistols.

His first target were a group of goblins. Thirty at that. With three goblin shamans and two hobgoblins being part of the battalion. Cain used the visors he had on to lock on to his enemies. Targeting them one by one accurately and, having markers placed on their weak spots.

Cain fired the first few bullets which seemed like a complete miss. Yet this was actually a way for the bullets to ricochet from the nearby strictures. Enabling them to reach the shamans and hobgoblins at the back.

The melee goblins only recognized the danger after these stronger goblins. A realization that came too late as they were hit on the head accurately. There were some missess from the vitals but, even these mistakes were covered by follow up bullets.

He hovered over tehir corpses and moved on to the next area which had three iron golems. The boy stopped at his tracks. Taking off his hoverboard which changed shape and turned into a sniper rifle. One larger than his body itself and, even required the use of a stand in order to keep its balance. Iron grips clenched and dug themselves through the ground stabilizing the weapon even more.

"One shot should be enough for the three of of you." He said, loading the gun with a single bullet which took five seconds to charge.

Sol and Alice watched the power of this bullet spike from where they were. Watching the numbers rise rapidly in its output. They even remembered the guns at the top of the walls. Weapons which emitted the same kind of light as the weapon being used by Cain at that moment.

As the trigger was pulled, a strong flash of light followed together with the sound of crackling lightning. Sol and Alice weren't able to see much of what happened next. The only thing that was left for them were the remains of the golems. Completely annihilated and destroyed.

"That's one scary looking skill. He passed with flying colors." Alice mentioned, looking at the destruction caused by that single shot.

"I'd actually agree but, we still need to see what happens next." Sol said, feeling the shaking of the ground that continued even after the tremors of the atatck settled. Making Alice realzie what the boy meant.

Direwolves, large ones and small ones, came in packs. Running towards the direction from where the attack came. Cain couldn't fire another attack of the same kind and, the creatures began using long range skills in order to disrupt him.

The boy hid behind a large boulder. Making it look like he was in a checkmate situation. Alice wanted to help right there and then but, Sol himself didn't move. Meaning, the fight was far from over and the monsters have yet to win.

This hunch was proved to be correct as Cain placed a bomb behind the boulder he was in. Running to the opposite direction as he made it explode and roll down the monsters. It wasn't large enough to deal any significant damage however as, the wolves simply dodged it.

But even this was part of Cain's calculations. At that time his weapon changed once again. Merging his guns together and creating a machine gun. And, with all of his opponents still below the hill, the results couldn't be clearer.

Cain pulled the trigger and a rain of bullets met the wolves. One by one the creatures fell to the might of Cain's weapon. But even before he could annihilate all of them, some more of these stationed a bit at the back began retaliating with fireballs.

Explosion covered the area where Cain was. Alice and Sol weren't sure what happened to the boy but, they knew he wouldn't die just like that. And they were right as the boy jumped up from the cloud of smokes. On his hoverboard once again.

He gunned down the remaining direwolves one by one, while also dodging the spell atatcks that came next.

From a distance it would seem like child's play. Like any other soldier could do what he was doing. But this couldn't be any further from the truth.

Cain was a new generation soldier. One who has been well versed and trained to new fighting methods which, does not rely on obsolete weaponry.

The timing of the use. The combinations. The movements required as well ad the thinking skill that came with that package. All of these needed to be developed and mastered in order to execute the same things he was doing at that moment.

Sol and Alice could see this. They could see a veteran on the field. Fighting with his life on the line and, constantly making choices while facing danger.

Cain waited for that day more than anything else. To show that he has, at least, reached a level where he would be useful to Sol. To show that he wasn't going to run away when there was danger. To show that he himself was danger. And that he'd destroy anything that could harm all that he held dear.

At that moment, this meant killing all of the direwolves. A task which he finally accomplished as, the final two direwolves got shot as point blank range. Falling to the might of a single human and his advanced weaponry as Pandora's Box finally deactivated.

Cain was drenched in sweat His breathing as heavy to the point of almost collapsing. But he stood his ground until Sol and Alice could come near. 

"So, how was it?"

"Is that even a question? You slayed it man!" Alice said offering a fistbump which Cain would've accepted except that his arms were almost numb.

"You did good Cain. We'll be waiting for you at the cafeteria." Sol said, noting that his friend was on the verge of collapsing. Realizing that his friend didn't want to show such a pathetic side to them.

"Yeah thanks." Cain said in reply.

"Oh and, welcome to the team." Were Sol's final words. Offering a smile to his friend as he and Alice finally left.

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