Blood Moon: Awakening

Chapter Two

The soldier reached out for help as the light slowly faded from his eyes. Joseph's blue energy burst out, summoning an axe, and forming the armor as he dashed at Edward. David, already in full armor, followed his lead and tried to flank the demon.

Edward smiled as he tore off the soldier's head and kicked the body towards Joseph. He engulfed the soldier's head with green source energy and quickly blasted David with it pushing him through a wall. Joseph caught the body and blood dripped on his armor. A staff swung at Edward's head, but he dodged it immediately. The soldier charged the staff and swung a second time, but Edward blocked it. The force from the impact pushed him towards Joseph, who slammed his axe into Edward's armor sending him crashing through the wall. As he laid flat on his back, his eyes met with David's, who came swooping with his twin Sai, ready to stab him into the ground. Edward created a blast to propel himself out of David's range. He landed on his back and rolled up to his knees to face the three soldiers.

They walked slowly, their energies burning through their armor as they looked down on Edward. He looked back at them and began to laugh. A nano drone hovered nearby and relayed everything that transpired back to the base.

"Dammit!" An operator slammed his hands against the table. Yu walked towards him and placed his right hand on his shoulder. The operator nodded and wiped the tears off his face.

"What the hell are they doing? They shouldn't give him time to think or else he'll just get away. " James spoke calmly. His demeanour was nonchalant. The operator, along with a few others, was slightly irritated.

"Calm now, people. We should listen to his advice." Yu responded.

"Hmph." James shrugged.

"After all, he was among those who let him get away in the first place. Surely his expertise is needed." Yu smirked as James gave him a death glare. The operators started giggling and their eyes returned to the screen.

Edward stood up, looking at all three with a smirk. He concentrated energy on the axe wound, and it began to heal alongside the armor.

"That can't be all from you guys. I didn't come all this way to have a meaningless test run," he taunted, disappointment evident on his face.

David stepped forward, and his body began to vibrate as he gripped his twin Sai.

"Accelerate!" he yelled.

He moved quickly, jammed the twin Sais into Edward's stomach, rushed him to the wall, and ran upwards till he bashed Edward into the roof. To his surprise, the Sais didn't pierce completely through Edward's armor. Edward had already gathered energy in his right hand and slugged David across his jaw. As they fell, a blue crescent-shaped attack flew towards Edward. He created a blast to propel himself out of the attack's range and landed on a beam. Three attacks in succession came in his direction. He leaped forward, then blasted his right side to change his direction thereby dodging two. Still in the air, he set his right hand below him and blasted himself upwards to dodge the third attack. He set both hands behind him and created a blast to cover the distance between him and Joseph. He got close enough, but before Joseph could react, he landed a roundhouse kick on Joseph's neck.

Joseph held his ground, but the kick forced him to lean a bit sideways. Edward tried to back up, but Joseph immediately closed the gap between them, further angered with his energy pulsating out of him, he struck continuously at Edward but couldn't touch him. He held his axe with both hands, charged it up and struck downwards at Edward, but Edward side-stepped to the left as the axe hit the ground, tearing a hole into it. Edward used his left hand to press against Joseph's helmet, and blasted it, blowing it off while he kicked Joseph's leg, spinning him till he landed face flat on the floor. Edward continued by kicking Joseph's head which sent him flying through a pillar. There was a large rumble as cracks appeared on the walls of the building.

Edward cracked his fingers as he noticed a green energy blast launched at him. He blocked it and saw David running circles around him. He smiled and released energy over the radius, causing an upward explosion around him, excluding where he stood. The explosion threw David against a pillar, and he fell to his knees.

"This is all wrong. You are a green source like me. You can't be this strong." David quavered

Three green energy spheres flew at Edward from behind.

"Tch... I forgot there was still one of you left." he hissed as he back flipped, letting the attacks blast in David's direction. While in the air, he turned to catch the late third sphere, compressed it, and smashed it into the ground to minimize the explosion.

"ACCELERATE!" David launched at Edward with one of the twin Sais facing forward. Edward reacted by letting it pierce through his left hand. Pain was written on his face as blood splattered and his legs dragged a few steps before he held his ground. He slammed his right palm onto David's stomach, creating then detonating a large energy sphere. David's eyes rolled back as blood gushed out of his mouth. His entire front armor was shattered, and his body burned. He fell to the ground, and Edward kicked him back to the pillar. David was barely conscious. The last of the special units came from behind. With his staff charged and glowing with green source energy, he struck at Edward. Edward caught it with his right hand and went down on his knee. He was breathing heavily as he struggled to push back against the soldier. Sweat was dripping from both men as they gritted their teeth and stared each other in the face. Edward began to gather energy in his left palm. He blasted it behind, propelling him to push against his opponent as they went through another pillar till he slammed him into a wall, almost burying him in it. The sound of the collision woke Joseph up. He staggered to his feet as he picked up his axe. He looked around in a haze then saw Edward pushing against the soldier on the wall. Edward's fist was on the soldier's chest. The armor plate cracked and the staff broken in half with each on the soldier's hand. The soldier tried to strike Edward, but he smiled and released his energy blade through the soldier's heart. He coughed out blood and dropped both halves of the staff. Both were breathing heavily when they noticed a blue energy gathering. The soldier lifted his hand to hold Edward's right hand, which was piercing his chest.

"Do it now!" He yelled out to Joseph, who rushed at them. Edward tried to pull his hand away, but the soldier's grip was tight. The soldier whose life was about to fade from his eyes whispered, "See you in hell."

"Not yet." Edward tittered as he waited for Joseph to get closer.

"DIE!" Joseph screamed as Edward was in range. Edward infused more energy into the blade, thereby expanding it. He cut out of the soldier's chest, sideways through the wall, through Joseph's axe and sliced his head clean off. It happened so fast that it took a little while before the blood spurted upwards from Joseph's body, as though it had just realized that its head was severed. The blood rained on Edward's armor as he walked a bit before falling on his knee.

Back at the American base, everyone's eyes were open wide in utter disbelief.

"This is not possible. How?!" The operator responded looking hopeless.

"Those skills... Damn it! They are a perfect representation of the late Captain Edward von Shwaz. Our soldiers were not fighting an ordinary green source demon; they were fighting a captain with years of field experience! " Yu mentioned as he clenched his fist.

James, who was resting with his back against a wall, was in deep thought. He knew that if he was to fight Edward, he would need to output more power than usual, which could lead to his core being unstable.

"What is that?" Yu asked as he pointed to a shallow mist surrounding Edward. An operator initialized the energy meter on the drone, and it confirmed the gathering of source energy around Edward by displaying the energy wavelengths.

"Nothing out of the ordinary sir. The demon is just absorbing source energy."

"That's the problem. Demons so far are known to be able to absorb pure source energy but not converted source energy. The trace amounts are going to its side. "

"You can tell that much?"

"I've studied the wavelengths long enough to be able to perfectly distinguish them. He has something that's able to absorb externally converted energy. The only thing I am not sure of is if he fuses it with his already converted energy to strengthen his abilities or if he absorbs it. We will need to capture him alive to run tests. "

Everyone began to clap as they accepted his statements.

"Look over there!" James pointed to the end of the screen. David was standing up.

"Contact David and tell him to stand down. He'd be killed if he goes on. Backup is on its way. " Yu ordered.

"I am sorry sir, but his communicator is damaged. We won't be able to reach him."

"Dammit!"

"I'll go." James stood up firmly.

"No." Yu responded quickly. "Orders are for you to stay put."

"What the hell? You can see its power and proficiency. I am your best bet. "

"You need to calm down. Those pigs at the top are playing politics. They wouldn't want an outside force to deal with something on their soil."

"This isn't the time for all this nonsense!"

"Your turn will come; they just need to fail first, and they will. Even a monkey can tell that much."

"Tch..."

Edward noticed David getting to his feet.

"You would have survived if you had just laid there." He declared as he brought out energy blades from both hands. David's armor began to vibrate.

"Not that nonsense again." Edward retorted as he watched, keeping his guard up.

David started moving from one end of the warehouse to the other with quick speed bouncing from pillar to pillar randomly until he launched himself at Edward, kicking him as he broke through the pillar behind him. As Edward began to stand, the building started to fall apart.

"You bastard! So that's your plan? Bring the building down on us? " Edward spat on the floor.

"Not exactly. This is my Trump card! Ability to increase and reduce the speed of everything I touch for a short while. " David smirked as blood dripped from his mouth. The areas he touched around the warehouse released energy and exploded upwards, basically lifting the shattered building, and engulfing it in green energy. Edward tried to move but noticed a strong drag in his motion, as though his body was heavy.

"You..." Edward trembled, his eyes sinking in.

"Hmph! Falling tower...Acceleration! "

The raised building began to descend at an incredible speed, all directed at Edward. Before it landed, David ran out of the area quickly. The impact dispersed the energy, which threw him to a nearby tree.

"Serves you right," he said before falling unconscious.

The drone managed to come out unscathed. It scanned the area for both Edward and David. It sensed trace energies coming from a distance. At about the same time, reinforcements in helicopters and vans arrived at the location. They did a quick first aid treatment on David before rushing him out of the area on a helicopter. Out of the rubble, Edward burst out. The special units on the scene were shocked. Edward was severely damaged, with barely any clothes or armor on him. From the base, they all clearly saw an external demon core attached to him, which was pulsating.

"Take him in!" A voice on one of the communicators bellowed.

With what little energy he had left, Edward created a smoke screen. They tried to search the area for him, but they couldn't find him anywhere.

"What about the energy meters?"

"None is picking up his source energy!"

"Keep searching!"

"Damn it! We need that demon core... So much we don't know is imbedded in it." Yu thought to himself.

While everyone else was filled with different emotions as the bodies of the fallen soldiers were being recovered, Edward burst out of the ground in a school field. Completely bruised and at death's door, he crawled into a gym and laid there before passing out.

The next morning, Edward woke up to the noise of the gym door opening. His eyes were met by a surprised Janitor.

"You... okay, man?"

Edward rushed at him, held his mouth so that he wouldn't scream, and infused source energy into him through his head. The janitor collapsed. He took the janitor's clothes and then carried him to the infirmary.

"Is he going to be okay?" Edward asked, feigning concern.

"He will be, he seems drunk, that's all. And you said you found him naked in the gym?"

"Yeah... I was just as surprised."

The doctor laughs loudly. "Classic Joe, always found in odd places. Don't worry about it. "

As Edward left the infirmary, he released his source energy to surround the school. Once he was sure that it had been balanced between individuals, he began walking when he bumped into Kris.

"Watch where you're going, old man," Kris scoffed as he continued walking towards the principal's office.

Edward looked at his shoulder where Kris had bumped into him with a slight surprise in his eyes.

"Was that just my imagination? Well, whatever."

Back at the base, Edward's energy had been spotted from the moment he infused energy into the janitor.

"Tch... The bastard has covered his tracks again. But at least we know he is in that school. " An operator hissed at the screen.

"We wouldn't want to cause a panic, so we can't just move in for an inspection." A special unit soldier indicated as he looked at Yu, who was standing beside his second in command, Michael.

"That's true. America has not had an attack in years despite having one of the three largest portals. The government wouldn't want to look bad after declaring the country invasion free." Michael retorted gently as he placed his fist under his chin.

"Why are you guys overthinking it when the answer is right in front of you?" Yu asked with a smirk.

"Huh?"

"It's a school... students have barely resumed from summer break. We could schedule a little history presentation on the special units while we use the opportunity to search the school. "

"That's... wow. I mean..." Michael tried to respond in awe.

"I have already sent a message to the school's principal; I should be getting a reply any moment now."

"When did you have time to do so?"

"The moment I saw that the demon was hiding in a school..."

"Plus, I have always wanted to host a presentation in a school... you know, talking about our work!"

"You are way too hyper about this!"

"Come on, Michael... Just let me have this. "

"We have to prepare; the higher ups have to approve... like there is so much..."

YU cuts him off by saying, "The principal just responded." He would be delighted to have us here today. We move in by 10. "

Michael was still in shock at how fast things were progressing, so also skeptical at how jovial Yu was.

"Oh yeah... You get to talk to the higher ups about it," Yu smiles.

"What? Why?"

"Because I told them it was your idea..." Yu said as he walked away casually.

"Where do you think you are going, YU?" Michael sneered with a deep tone while tying his belt around his fist.

"Nowhere exactly..."

Michael launched at Yu and wrapped his belt around his throat.

"You are trying to get me killed you sonavabitch! My life... my career, before they have my head, I will surely have yours! " Michael roared, with tears flowing down his eyes.

James walked in and saw the two of them.

"James... help. Your father needs you." James turned around and left for the Hallway.

"No! Come back, James!" Yu screamed.

The school remained under strict surveillance. People who came in were monitored, while people who moved out were interrogated as discretely as possible. Once 10 a.m. hit, they made their way to the school hall for the presentation. Yu stood on the stage in a black suit, a formal Italian-styled shoe, and a Longines wristwatch. He had his hair tied backwards, and his gaze made a lot of hearts stutter. Regardless, it was hard to ignore his missing arm. While in the hall, the operators noticed that while the source energies spread equally on everyone, there seemed to be an anomaly on one person present in the hall. The source energy was lower in comparison to others.

"Is it possible that he has expended so much that his source energy has dropped?" An operator asked Michael with a desperate stare.

"I know how you feel, but I can't give you an exact answer. But good job spotting it. Relay it to Yu and the others."

"Yes, sir!"

Back at the school's hall, Yu got the message before beginning his presentation.

"I can see that some of you can't take your eyes off my missing arm. I lost it 12 years ago during the last invasion America ever faced. May 3rd, to be exact. Special units from all over the world gathered for that blood bath. It was truly a memorable moment in our history." Yu spoke with a smile as he squeezed his left shoulder.

The hall became as silent as a graveyard. The attention of most students was gained. A projector displayed a black and white picture of humans shooting at each other.

"Let's take a dive into history. On August 6, 1945, The US was on the verge of dropping the revolutionary nuclear bomb above the city of Hiroshima when an abnormality occurred in an ally nation, France. A distortion, more like a crack in space, created by an unknown energy in Bourges occurred, and the very first portal opened. Creatures only thought to exist in mythology and in our imaginations fell through and began to wreak havoc in France, taking out every one of all races. For the first time on that battlefield, humanity fought together to push back the threat even though we were outmatched. The atomic bomb was called back and directed to nuke the most populated point of those creatures, which was at the site of the portal. Inadvertently, it worked as the portal shrank in size and pulled back some of those creatures, including the energy from the bomb, thereby preventing Bourges from becoming a toxic wasteland. A survivor of the creatures was spotted and taken into captivity. The realization that humanity faced a far greater threat, coupled with the technology America had shown, facilitated the end of the war. Scientists from all over were brought together to study the captured creature." Yu paused and saw that a good majority of the students seemed uninterested. He clenched his right fist and burst out red source energy that engulfed his body. The entire hall felt the pressure, and their interest was immediately rekindled.

"I am sure you are wondering what this energy around me is. Source soldiers are not allowed to expose their power to the civilian population. But then I am now a scientist, so consider it your lucky day. " He smirked as the entire hall began to clap in excitement.

"Aright then, source energy, as I mentioned before, is the name given to the power emitted by the 'demons.' It's what forms their weapons and their armor, and it's the basis of humanity's counterattack measures. Use fire to fight fire if you will. As such, the formation of the special unit."

The special unit badge was shown on the projector. It was the insignia of a peregrine falcon with its wings spread out. The tip of each wing was held up by a pillar while its claws were attached to another pillar. In a sense, it looked as though the peregrine falcon was flying with the support of three pillars. Next were slides of special units with their armor and in their uniforms. The projector went on to display heroic fights conducted by the special forces. All of which looked insanely cool, as the students were left in awe of what they saw.

"A select few undergo the harsh training to become members of the special units. We have branches in all disciplines in existence, and we also utilize this power to boost our technology. So, you can say that you've all been touched by the special units in your daily lives. Some of you might join us in defending humanity. When that time comes, it will be a pleasure to work with you."

The whole hall stood up to give Yu a standing ovation. They were impressed by what they saw. As Yu left the stage, he received a message. 'The special case has begun to move.'

He signalled James, who left the hall while tracking the movement of the special case.

"To the left, It's staying in a particular location." The operator mentioned.

"Is he on to us?" James asked, with a slight worry in his voice.

"I can't say. But if you meet him, you are not to engage. We'd proceed in dialogue."

"If he chooses to not cooperate..."

"Show him hell!" Michael's voice came in.

James followed the directions until he arrived at the boy's toilet. His heart was beating heavily and sweat began to drip from his head. He released a light energy to engulf him.

"He is coming towards you. Stay alert!"

The door opened slowly...