Outstretching his arm, Ermit slowly places his hand over Wolf's forehead, then goes on to clench his palm against the furs of his mask.
About to pull it off, a loud shattering sound delayed him from removing the mask.
*Crack!!!*
The barrier collapsed into fragments, ringing a shattering sound to echo through the entire campus.
The sunray finally broke through the barrier, setting the dim surrounding exposed from the sun, revealing the debris of destruction as the aftermath of their fight.
Ermit glanced up, and it promptly dawned on him that he must hurry.
The barrier has broken, meaning the gate has closed. With the barrier being closed, there'll be no more demons coming out, but that also means that the previous demons are now free to spread the chaos in the outside world.
Ermit has to quickly settle everything with his opponent and proceed to eliminate all the remaining demons before they can get to the city.
But before he proceeds to that, he has to ensure his triumphant victory since a member of a Headhunter is a bigger threat than low-level demons.
With his finger crumpled against the furs, Ermit pulled the wolf mask off, but what's behind shakes him to the bone as he finds Wolf's head missing.
There was no head or body, and it didn't even seem that behind that suit was a human. There was no blood seeping through the holes that punctured his body with the katana and it's as if Wolf is never inside that mask.
Instead of a human head, the thing behind that mask was nothing but pure seething flames, dancing gently along the wind.
The fire radiated searing heat to his skin as his heart pounded heavier, pondering if his opponent was a clone made of fire all along.
Suddenly, the flames went on an outburst; its size doubled as if gasoline had been poured on it. It left the clothes and aggressively chased Ermit, swallowing him completely.
It happened so suddenly and it rapidly pounced on Ermit that he was caught off guard, resulting in him getting devoured by the raging crimson flames. Wholly engulfed by the crackling fires, he felt his skin melting and a couple more seconds inside the fire would get him roasted.
Using his powerful legs, he launched himself upwards, leaving the feisty blaze of fire to be blown away by the wind current that his heavy leap created upon jumping.
He landed atop the three-storey building with the cracked foundation where Wolf's suit was still stapled against the wall. As he stood up straight at the peak of the building, wisps of steam emanated from his body.
His eyes strolled the vicinity and it didn't take him long to locate the real Wolf, serenely poised in a menacing stance, unscathed. His wolf mask remained intact and he was also at the top of a different building opposite to Ermit.
"A fire clone? That must be your blessing," Ermit said.
(Blessing = Unique Abilities)
"Who's weak again?" Wolf mocked.
"First, that peculiar handgun… Second, the ammunition that explodes smokes… And now, you've shown affinity to the fire element. Just how much more blessing do you have?" Ermit asked in disbelief.
Ermit was taken aback by everything he had witnessed during his fight with Wolf. He was suspicious of Wolf since there are only 10% of DH across the Earth who received dual blessings, let alone triple blessings.
"Just know this, I'm unkillable."
His tone sounded grand, trying to intimidate Ermit.
Little did Ermit know those stunts were all a bluff and it wasn't his blessing. Wolf was actually an inch close from dying by that "Thousand Blades'' attack. Wolf just got lucky and he knew that one more clash and he'll be 6 feet underground as he was almost out of ammo.
Wolf was running out of combat resources.
"You, having triple blessings is hard enough to believe, but also at that age?" Ermit was aware of Wolf being recorded as the youngest criminal; evidently presumed to be currently 17 years old. A normal DH naturally awakens their blessing at the age of 18, and some don't even receive any blessing, whereas Wolf was known to be a member of Headhunter even at the age of 8, meaning he awakened at that young age and is already using his blessing to kill human despite being a kid.
The youngest DH awakening ever recorded in history was a 10-year-old. Hence Ermit was in disbelief.
"You're a prodigy, Wolf, you can have that title. But why…" Sadness cracks out from his voice. "Why do humans have to fight each other?"
He slid his katana back in its sheath. "The real adversity the world faces is those merciless demons. The world can be saved if humans don't turn on each other."
"Pathetic. If the world can be healed by some miracle, the only way for that to happen is by a restart. All corrupted humans shall meet their demise first."
"I came here to rescue the students from demons; is that bad that I end up on your list? We're both just following orders from the higher-ups. We share the same goal, but in a different approach, so I'd offer you this…"
A long pause filled the air.
Then Ermit continued, "The world knows Wolf is a murderer—but they know nothing about the identity behind that mask. Wolf's persona is cruel whereas the person behind him is just a normal person… no one will know that you're the infamous Wolf. I'm making a bridge for you to switch routes, and our guild will provide you with amenities unlike any other. With your power, many unnecessary deaths can be prevented."
Ermit outstretched the same arm where he held his katana and propped his hand open, symbolizing a welcoming invitation. With his courtesy, he offered, "Take off your mask, and join the White Hawks."
~~~~~~~~~~
Outside the school premises near the parking area, the A-rank squadron commander, Victor Steele, of the Twilight guild DH forces is patrolling the front entrance of the campus, making sure no civilian would cross the restricted area.
He had cast a high-level spell that blocked the avenue to the gate. The spell was a transparent line, more like a guardrail made of rigid glass, hovering sturdily on chest-level with its both ends attached to opposite sides of the passageway, making a barricade that is impossible for non-DH to pass through.
At this moment, the demonic barrier of the gate was still complete as a whole, exuding an eerie aura as it was only about to shatter.
It was chaos inside that barrier, demons and DHs engaging in a life-or-death combat. However, chaos is also found outside the barrier; people yelling, endless rumbling, and woeful cries; that was the events commander Victor is handling.
Victor is a 30-ish adult, a top commander from Esperanza's guild (Twilight). He's in a distinguished outfit, befitting a composed commander who stands tall at 189cm. A loyal and righteous DH, holding the panic with a calm, collected face despite the situation.
As much as he sympathized with the people, he had to remain unaffected for professionalism. He abides right behind the guardrail he cast while talking with the squad leaders inside the barrier through the small radio device plugged into his ear.
"Alpha, what's the status, over," Victor inquired.
A voice from the radio momentarily replied, "Alpha Leader speaking, west area secured, over."
"Bravo? Charlie? Delta?" Victor asked the other platoons.
"Bravo Leader speaking, east area secured, over."
"Charlie Leader on voice, southern sector secured, establishing safe zone, over."
Unfortunately, no response came from the Delta group.
Frustration and worries occupy Victor's mind, not noticing the madness of the people behind the blockage spell he cast; they were furiously cursing Victor right on his face.
Deliberately ignoring them, Victor kept his focus on the problem of the Delta group. Delta is assigned to take over the north area, and now that no one from that platoon is responding, it occurred to him that Delta had encountered something terrible.
Victor is almost certain that their platoon was unfortunately wiped out, however, Victor just mildly shook his head and bit his tongue, refraining himself from getting influenced by his emotions.
"Bravo, Charlie… Halve your forces and reinforce the Delta group," Victor commanded.
"Copy!" "Copy!" both platoons replied.
At that moment, a loud shattering sound interrupted the uproar of the hectic civilians.
Suddenly, the barrier shattered into fragments, sending everyone's eyes glancing up at the crumbling barrier. Massive thick fumes spilled out of the roof of the broken barrier, making its way towards the sky and contaminating the clouds, setting the bright day slightly cloudy-gray.
Watching the barrier disintegrate makes the civilians rethink coming into this dangerous place. At the start they were all so valiant, insisting they could rescue the person they love inside the school. But now that the gate closes, half of them flee almost instantly, abandoning their will to save the person they love.
The other half remains silent, confused whether to smartly retreat or still foolishly think that they can save someone when they in fact can't save themselves. Unable to make a decision, they froze in uncertainty.
As the civilians were weighing their actions, an opportunity for them presented itself; the guardrail Victor cast to restrict their advancement to the campus got dispelled.
Someone from the crowd of civilians actually had a blessing, and he forcefully destroyed the spell, giving them access inside.