The lot was still talking when the red light filled the entire room and a nasty alarm blared through.
"Code Red, some Fiends are on the loose, go," Raven instructed both Cassandra and Lex.
"I'll come, too. I haven't been in the field for a very long time," Zael smiled as he went with them.
Raven looked at him and sighed before grabbing her jacket helplessly.
"Woah, what is that?" Zael asked as he saw a car filled with Runic Inscriptions.
"It's called a car. It gets us to where we are going, fast," Lex said with a small chuckle.
"Faster than a horse?"
"Definitely."
"Phenomenal!" he said with a wide smile.
"While we are on the subject, what was the weapon you were using, Agent Cassandra?"
"It's called a gun. Hmm, like an arrow, but better."
"Great."
"How about you, what's your weapon? I sincerely wonder what they were using 300 years ago," Raven inquired.
"You have seen one of them."
"What? The Plume? That is slow and inefficient," she criticized.
"At times, yes, but it is effective."
"Pfft. More effective than a gun? I doubt it," Lex mocked.
Just as they entered the town, they saw a human charging at them. The man had an inverted 'A' burnt on his forehead, the sign that a person is possessed by a fiend.
Cassandra immediately rolled down the window of her car before touching a Rune on her bracelet, transforming it into a Rune Pistol.
She put on a magazine filled with the energy of the light before raining fire on the monster before them.
"RAAAAAAAA," the fiend shouted as its flesh melted away from the Lumen Bullets.
"See?" Lex said.
"Powerful, indeed," Zael concurred.
"Let's see how it fares to what is to come, though."
A wave of fiends came right after their fellow died. They were all once humans, but now, they have become vessels of monsters from the other side.
"To have this many Class IV fiends, there should be at least a Class II leading them," Lex said as he got out of the car, together with the rest.
Cassandra continued to fire shots; the Lumen Bullets inside her magazine were continuously being reloaded with bullets she carried in her pouch.
"Great use of Runes," Zael complimented.
Lex did not hesitate to rush in as well. Every swing of his scythe made the Runes on them glow. They also contained the same brilliance as the one that the bullet had. He killed the fiends in a single slash.
"Ah! Gatekeepers," a man with blood red eyes and the same mark on his forehead said.
Unlike the other fiends, he had full consciousness and was exuding a deep bloodlust. A great aura can be sensed from his presence as well, which made Cassandra and Lex think before attacking.
"I have not seen your loathesome faces for a long time," it said with a nasty grin before calling upon the blood around it and attacking the Agents.
"Damn me, it's a Class I!" Lex exclaimed as he retreated in defense.
"Say, what are those classes?" Zael asked Raven.
"Gatekeepers are divided into Green, Blue, Violet, White, and so on. The same goes for the enemies. A Green-badged Agent is expected to defeat Class IV Outsiders, struggle against Class III, and helplessly die against a Class II," she explained.
"Then those two must be Violet-badged, right?"
"Yes. However, they're not expected to struggle. They're expected to fight."
Cassandra activated another bracelet of hers, gaining another pistol, which she shot at the spears and waves of blood that came their way.
Lex, on the other hand, was taking the opportunity, rushing toward and attacking the main body.
"Is this it? Do they not have Plumes? Codices? Keys?" Zael wondered.
"No, that is exclusive to White-badged Agents and up," Raven said as she pulled a Codex out of her pantsuit.
/Breach forth from the Realm of Light! Cast thy retribution onto this creature of the dark!/
{Lightrush}
A small Gate opened beside Raven as she uttered the Incantation. From which a ray of light beamed out, directed at the Class I fiend.
"GRR! You damned humans! You dare fight using the powers of the Realms, yet you refuse to let us in!" it raged as it protected itself with blood, but the beam of light did not stop rushing toward him.
Slowly, the blood started melting away, until the light finally touched the skin of the fiend.
"RAAAAAA!! This isn't over!" it exclaimed as red mist came out of its eyes and went back to the open Gate that exuded blood, carnage, and cruelty.
"Oh, it is," Zael said as the Rune before him, floating in the air, glowed bright.
{Divine Chains}
As the Rune dissipated into thin air, a small Gate opened, from which golden chains shot out, piercing through the mist, catching it and dragging it back to the small Gate.
The mist was featureless and didn't say anything, but Lex could've sworn that he heard it struggling and screaming in protest.
"That is how we hunted back then, without mess and loose ends. I guess a White badge does not mean too much now, the Violet badges either. Shame," Zael remarked, leaving the three stunned, unable to think of any rebuke.