Whatever the case, there was one more thing that got everyone's attention: a message drawn on the wall with the blood of the fallen men. It simply read:
"Prepare yourselves, or your precious Excalibur gets taken."
...
Needless to say, a huge uproar rang through the entire church. All non-combatant personnel were evacuated from the premises while the security got increased tenfold. Everyone was screened to ensure there were no spies in their midst, and the defensive spells were increased to the point that a butterfly flying into it would get incinerated. With all the precautions, surely the intruder would not dare to continue right?
It was times like that, Edward wished he would not try testing his luck.
The mayhem started in the late evening, when word of the first group being taken out spread through the halls of the church. Many groups fanned out trying to find the intruder, but in so doing made themselves easier to take down. Within the hour, 12 groups of highly skilled guards were taken out easily without any injuries and seemingly without any weapons.
Then to everyone's concerns, the attacker seemed to be making a beeline for the atrium where the sword was being held. As a last ditch effort, the remaining officer ordered the remaining groups to converge at the atrium and barricade themselves in the inner hallways to ensure that the enemy would be forced to take that route.
Right now, his group and two other groups were currently in the atrium room, each having their own place near the sword to ensure that no one tries to get past them. It was a bit of a tight fit to have everyone stuck in the atrium, which meant someone would bumped into another unintentionally, making the already bad mood deteriorate further.
"Come on, bring it!" One of the guys was banishing his blade with somewhat crazed eyes. "Let him come through, then I will have me some fun! That's right, I will have me some fun!"
"Can you knock it off?!" Another member snapped at him while nervously gripped his sword. "We are trying to stay calm and your rambling is not helping us at all!"
Edward nervously swallowed his saliva as he watched his colleagues getting more agitated and ready to tear each other's' throats. He was supposed to be the only junior and in some ways expected to freak out, yet the more seasoned fighters were getting extremely paranoid and were taking their tempers out on each other. At this rate, they would end up doing the intruder a big favor of eliminating their numbers on their own. Edward sighed as he looked at the sword hovering on the podium. It was supposed to be one of the safest jobs, yet he was experiencing this crap.
Seriously, his luck sucked big time.
"Don't worry." Edward turned to face the twenty-odd year old officer left in this protection detail. Relatively young by church standards, he was regulated as a backup officer in the event that one of the more experienced ones got incapacitated, but recent events ended up thrusting him to the front lines.
"No offense sir, but telling me that now is not working wonders." Edward replied back in a disgruntled tone.
"Well, can't say I didn't try." The guy shrugged back easily. "I too am feeling nervous about this, but let's try to be a little more positive. As you know, the only way to get to the sword is through those hallways with the iron gates set with at least ten barrier and explosive spells, in between each hallway there are at least two groups of soldiers armed to the teeth to slow him down, buying time for the next group to focus their attacks. Then we have this room where we are in, not to mention the barrier that is protecting the sword." He motioned with his thumb. "From what I heard, the last bugger who tried to remove the sword from the barrier was lucky to be dead drunk, because that barrier packs a serious punch."
"Perhaps, but this is by far the most extreme attempt yet." Edward said as he looked at the others. "I don't think we are prepared for such an assault before. Who is doing all of this and why?"
"For that, I think I can make a guess." The leader looked around before leaning over to him. "You must have heard about the other churches right?"
"You mean the recent break-ins at particular churches for the past week?" Edward perked his ears up at this tidbit. Everyone had heard about intrusions at some of the major churches, but much of the news was hushed up, so most did not pay much attention to them.
"I overheard one of the seniors talking about them earlier. It seems that the churches in question had one thing in common." The leader motioned with his thumb to the sword behind him. "Each of them were related to the Excalibur Shards."
"Wait, that would mean that the intruder is trying to steal the shards?!" Edward's eyes went wide at the implication.
"Well then, we can go and ask that question at the intruder once we get our hands on him." The leader said as he clenched his fist. "Though he might have trouble answering, I have the number of his jaw on my fist."
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! MONSTER!"
Everyone turned their heads as one at the door where the scream was heard, followed shortly by the clashing of swords and gunshots. The sounds of combat quickly dissipated, leaving behind an eerie silence that got everyone nervous.
"You think they got the intruder?" One guy swallowed his saliva as he asked.
"BOOM!"
The answer came in the form of the doors breaking at the hinges and getting hurled into the room, with a few of the outside guardians thrown along with them. The few guards in their path got knocked down to the ground while the others grabbed their weaponry and stared at the open doorway. For a while there was silence, then Edward could hear the rhythmic footsteps coming towards their direction. After a while a shadowy figure seemed to form from the dark hallway and the guards could now see their intruder.
Edward had seen a lot of weird getups, but this was by far one of the most normal and yet the most terrifying in the current situation. Dressed simply in combat clothing that resembled much of the priests' clothing but darker and more armored than most, the intruder had a black hood over him that covered the head and his body. A red mask with black markings covered his face and with his dark eyes peeking out, it made him look rather demonic.
"Halt, intruder!" The leader raised his weapon with everyone else following suit and surrounding the masked figure. "You have come a long way to try and steal the Excalibur Shard, but you make a very big mistake in taking out our buddies and letting us know of your plans. Surrender peacefully and we might let you off with a light beating."
"…"
The figure stood still while turning his head sideways, keeping the guards in sight around him. There was something about the manner he move his head slowly that got Edward feeling chills down his spine; it was like seeing some sort of machine rather than a human doing those actions.
The guards at the intruder's sides inched closer, stopping every time his head turned towards them before continuing on. Finally they got closed enough that one thrust of their spears could pierce the intruder's neck.
"Okay, disarm him!" The leader gave the order to the guards at the sides. For a moment they hesitated, then two of the guards stepped forward and with a firm expression, placed their hands on the intruder's arms.
Edward did not know what happened afterwards, but one thing came to mind.
A monster had arrived to the church.
The guards trying to grab the intruder were sent flying into the walls and columns in the room, many leaving behind huge cracks and craters in the walls. Without stopping the intruder dashed forward and kicked the leader straight in the chest, sending him crashing into the podium and hitting the barrier.
"AAAHH!" The leader let out a scream as the protective spells on the barrier came on and started to inject lethal amounts of amps and volts into his body. After a few seconds, he slumped forward and hit the ground hard, a deep burn on his back and burnt clothing the only indications of what happened.
"Damn it! Everyone attack at will!" All order was abandoned as the guards rushed forward to try and strike the intruder down. Without hesitation, the intruder started dodging their attacks with simple footwork, occasionally leading one to collide with another. At one point the intruder grabbed the spear of one guard and effortlessly pulled him along and slammed into another group of guards, before twirling the spear once and hurling it at another guard and pinning him to the wall through his arm.
"Damn you bastard!" Edward gasped at the automatic weapon one of the guards was holding up. How did the guard get that through the church's internal sanctums? Wait for that matter, was he really planning to fire that weapon in the inner sanctum?!
The intruder seemed to have gotten the same thought regarding the gun as his eyes seemed to narrow greatly from the sight and his posture had changed from simple dodging to one prepared to go on the offensive.
"Eat this you prick!" The guard let loose a storm of bullets at the intruder while laughing a little maniacally. The intruder quickly drew out a scabbard from his coat and summoned a beam of red light to start deflecting the shots and ran towards the shooter without hesitation. Within a few seconds he was in front of the guard and with a quick swing, cut both the barrel of the gun and the soldier's arm.
"AARRGHH!" The man yelled while grabbing his stump, giving the intruder a chance to grab his neck and slammed him against the wall to knock him out, before throwing a line towards the ceiling and vanishing in the darker areas of the atrium.
...
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