Dust and debris are pushed aside from Chiara’s small hands. The explosion from Kael’s grenades and the claymores placed ahead of the catacombs destroyed the foundations of the underground passage. A gleam from the full moon illuminates the dusty skies above the mess below. It’s the one source of light Chiara uses to pull herself out. She wipes the dust off her uniform and realizes it’s been slightly torn up by the force of the explosion. Parts of her sleeve and skirt have been shredded. She has a few cuts on her thighs but nothing that would cause her to bleed out or seek medical attention. Despite being in a state of shock, she’s mostly unharmed. “Oh crap...my night vision…”
Chiara knocks on her goggles but the analogue emitters have been knocked out, leaving her goggles completely useless. “Asura is going to kill me for this.” She thinks regrettably. “My sub-machine gun...where is it?” She tosses chunks of concrete around her desperately for her MP5 but it’s nowhere to be found. “There’s too much rubble, I’ll be wasting my time looking for it.” She lets out a fatigued sigh before noticing her torn up skirt again. “Dang it...I gotta cover up.” She removes her tunic, keeping her tank top on and wraps it around her waist as a makeshift skirt under her belt harness. She wouldn’t want anyone to see her panties. She checks her holster and feels relieved that her fancy Sand Viper 2011 is still on her. She pulls it out of her holster and uses the pistol light to search around her. She sees some movement in the debris around her and quickly comes over to help what’s left of her squad.
“Dammit…” Kaz groans once he’s lifted out of the rubble. “We should have patted Kael for more than just his small arms.”
“Why did you assume he wasn’t going to carry any grenades?” Trisha’s furious voice calls from the other side of Chiara. She had escaped from the ruins but had bandaged her leg from what appears to be a minor injury. “What happened to being a better squad leader, Chiara?”
“For the last time, you refer to me as “Your Highness.” Chiara stammered half consciously.
“Hey, Where’s Rena?” Kaz asks, searching around with his eyes. Trisha opens her palms outward as her reply.
“Forget Rena. Where’s the ammo!” Chiara asks urgently to which Trisha performs the same emotion as before. “Oh god...Asura is really going to kill me…”
Chiara suddenly hears some static somewhere on the ground. Kaz finds the source coming from Chiara’s hand radio to which Chiara quickly comes over to swipe from Kaz. Asura’s voice can be heard yelling through the static noise.
"Chiara! What the hell was that explosion?! What’s going on onver ther?! Chiara, answered me!”
”This is Chiara. I’m...fine.” Chiara grumbles over the radio. “We ran into Kael…but he blew himself up and we lost Rena too.”
“Don’t tell me you lost the ammo supply! Please don’t tell me you lost the ammo!!”
“Uh...yeah….that’s all gone too…blew up with the rest of the catacombs.”
“Chiara!!!” Asura can be heard growling through the radio but she calms down for a moment to redirect Chiara. “Forget it. We’ll make do with what we have. That goes for you too. We’re continuing the assault as planned. We’re already in the attic and ready to cut the power and clear the third floor. The rest of you better hurry your asses over to the mansion wherever you are. It only takes one shot to kill them. Don’t blow your remaining ammo. Understood?”
“Yeah...I’ll do what I can Asura...we’re on our way.”
“She looks over the horizon to see the dimly lit mansion ahead of her. It’s not too far off from their position but they’ll have to sneak through the iron fence around the mansion without being spotted by Emi’s or Tomio’s squads. She looks over to her two remaining squad members. “You heard Asura. We’re continuing as usual.”
“Ugh...I only have 23 rounds left in my magazine.” Trisha moans holding her Howa Type 89. “Does anyone have an empty STANAG? This drum magazine is too heavy. What’s the point of being a squad gunner if I don’t have ammo.”
“Trisha...just shut up and deal with it please.” Chiara shakes her head in disbelief. “I’m already screwing up at the start of this match. Don't make it worse.” Chiara then speaks to Kaz. “You’re a scout too. Do you have a graphing hook.”
“Can’t be a Ninja without one.” He pulls out a braided rope with a steel hook on one end.
“That’ll work….I guess….come on, let’s hurry up and get this over with.” Chiara and her squad make a run towards the mansion.
“That explosion was pretty loud.” Tomio looks over at the smoke coming from below the mountain where the mansion stands. “If what Mai is saying is true, Kael took out everyone in JarPig Squad...including Chiara.”
“Chiara…” Emi mutters quietly, thinking about her former friend being eliminated out of the match so early and anti-climatically. All she can think about is the frustration she must be feeling right now. “Poor Chiara…”
“Yeah...I wasn’t able to fulfill Vicky’s promise.” Ramirez puts his bean bag shells out of the velcro SPAS 12 shell holder taped to the shotgun and back into his specialty ammo pouch. “Well that makes it easier for us...right?”
“Psh...this is Fio.” Her cherry voice quietly whispers over Emi’s radio. “My motion detectors are picking up movement in the attic and third floor.”
“Huh? How? I had eyes on the courtyard the entire time. There weren’t any helicopters or movement on the ground! How could that be?”
“Nothing from the rear view.” Ramirez noted.”
“They definitely came from the rooftop.” Kimberly's voice transmits over the radio. “It’s like they teleport over us. Do you think they are using a cheat engine?”
“Just...relax and focus on your defense.” Emi gives a fake cough over the radio to give the signal that she’s about to give a fake order. “Stay in the rooms and defend it with all you got.”
“Roger Roger" Fio answers cheerfully.
Asura listens carefully to the chatter over her radio. “Pfft. They haven’t learned a single thing from our practice match against them. Not even basic encryption.”
“So we’re just gonna barge into one of these rooms and shoot them on sight? That’s so facile.” Lilith brags in her whisper like hiss. She and the others ditch their wing suit and parachute equipment in the attic keeping only their carriers, night vision gear, and fatigues on.”
“Hey. Look at this.” Lucius picks up one of Fio’s tracking devices near the stairway from the attic. He picks it up and hears a clicking sound from the box before breaking it with his hands. “They know we’re here, your highness.”
“Good. They better be ready for the worst nightmare of their lives. Vlad. Do it.”
Vlad smashes an electrical box in the attic with his hatchet causing the power to the mansion to be cut off from the power grid.
“Oh my god! The power’s out!” Mortimer cries out. “Please...you have to protect me.”
“You’re still in our hands, Mortimer.” Tomio assures him. He lowers his night vision goggles with the rest of his teammates and their vision is illuminated with a green hue. The fireplace glows from the flame that is keeping part of the room lit. “Stay by the fireplace. You won’t see anything if you try to run without our gear.”
“We’re not going to leave you behind.” Emi gives a thumbs up before holding her rifle at the ready. Before being interrupted by Mai’s radio. “Emi! They’re coming in through the second floor!”
“Huh? AH! Look out!” Hikari cries out to the others as a handful of grenades smash through the windows. Emi and the others shield their eyes as the explosion goes off. They dodged the blinding effects of a flash-bang but smoke started to fill the room.
“They’re trying to breach into the second floor. We gotta move!” Tomio orders the others, grabbing Mortimer by his bathrobe.
“My windows! They broke my windows!”
“Come on! We gotta go.” Emi hurried the others while she provided suppressing fire in the general direction of the room filled with smoke before following behind Tomio and the others.
Chiara’s squad conservatively returns fire against Mai. She moves from chair to chair in the dining room, taking shots from her SKS at Chiara’s squad but she can’t take them on by herself. Mai is reluctant but has no choice but to retreat to the second floor when a frag grenade is thrown into the dining room, obliterating the cover she’s been using. “So much for reducing property damage.” Mai considers to herself while she retreats up the staircase. “How did Chiara survive that explosion? That’s bullshit! There’s nothing left of those catacombs."
From the outside of the mansion, Kaz throws his grappling hook onto the window pane of the second floor where Mortimer’s living quarters was located by Chiara after tossing the last of his tactical grenades. “The blonde one got away. We have to hurry and find Mortimer. Ladies first.
“You just want to perv on us while we’re climbing.” Chiara sneered with a stern head shake.
“In a time like this? Who do you think I am? Kael?” Kaz remarked.
"Kaz is not that kind of guy, Chiara." Trisha adds."
“Whatever. I’ll go first.” Kaz quickly ascends up the rope followed by Chiara and Trisha. They vault over the broken window into Mortimer’s living room and are frustrated that he got away when the smoke starts to clear.
“What are you two doing standing around? Let’s find him!” Chiara shouted and made their way out of the living room.
A lot of gunfire and action is taking place in the floor below them but Asura and her squad keep their silence as they traverse the third floor. They come across more motion trackers but are not phased by them and ignore them. Asura's eyes perk and she hears some footsteps coming from one of the rooms. Without saying a word, she waves her arms to her squadmates to stack up by the door. She presses herself by the doorway and aims her suppressed AA12 at the doorknob. A blown off doorway is something her squad can cover the damages for. They are going in for the kill which is a more pressing matter to Asura.
Lilith silently moves her mouth as if to say “Three...two...one” to her squadmates before giving Asura the cue to blow the doorknob.
“Pang!” The door blows right open and Asura’s squad moves in and quickly spots a shadowy figure holding a rifle-like object right at the door. “Dispatch!” Asura commands. Vlad fires a single shot at the figure with his C8 rifle but his face goes pale when his round shatters the shadowed figure like broken ceramic. That’s not the sort of impact he was expecting from his hit.
“You got to be kidding me!!!” Asura infuriatingly storms her way to the downed figure and looks down at a broken ceramic vase that was concealed under a hood with a broom stick and wooden stake taped together in the general shape of a rifle. A written note placed on the stool where the vase stood reads the following: “That will be 80,000 credits plus tip. Do Canadians tip?”
It was accompanied with a simple cute figuring of a vampire hunter giving a bill to an equally cute and crude drawing of Asura with a vampire cape frowning as she receives the bill from the vampire hunter. Asura's teeth start to clench and her hands tremble in total agony and rage the more she stares at this note.
“I...I don’t think that was them.” Lucius reluctantly stated the obvious.
“OF COURSE THEY’RE NOT HERE!” Asura crumbles the note and throws it at him. “Stop standing around like idiots and find them! I’m going to tear them all piece by piece with my knife if I have to! SPLIT UP! GO!” Lucius and the other two don’t keep Asura waiting. They quickly depart and split up to clear every room on the third floor.
Vlad feels like Asura is starting to lose it while he’s clearing one of the bedrooms. He searches every closet, wardrobe, and under the bed for signs of Team Van-Helsing but only finds left over crucifixes, wooden stakes, and garlic laying around. He quickly comes to the conclusion that they are being messed with. He flicks to a channel to which he can communicate with his squad without Asura’s knowledge. “We’re wasting our time clearing these rooms.” He suggests over the radio after inspecting the last possible hiding spot. “We should be supporting our teammates on the second floor and focus on capturing Mortimer instead of searching for these clowns.”
“Vlad, we can’t just ignore her highness’ orders like that.” Lucius replies over their comms. “We are clearing the third floor just as we planned.”
“Nothing is going to plan from the looks of it, Lucius. Our adversaries have taken notes. We can’t afford to be cocky anymore.” Suddenly a blood curling scream is heard on the third floor. Lucius and Vlad stick their heads out of the rooms they are searching all at once. “HER HIGHNESS!”
They all quickly dash to the room where they expect to find Asura. Vlad busts the door down with his body. Asura is attempting to wrestle a large python snake which is clearly some kind of stuffed animal toy but Asura doesn’t seem convinced!
“GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT FUCKING OFF!!!!!” She screams at the top of her lungs much to the disillusioned looks of her squadmates. Vlad comes over and pulls the stuffed snake off her. “You highness! It’s a stuffed animal, get a grip!”
Asura tries to calm down and slow down her breathing. “THAT DOES IT! THOSE AMATEURS GONE TO FAR! IT ENDS TODAY! NO MORE GAMES!”
The three don't even realize a firefight was out in the third floor hallway before Lilith comes running into the room. “Good news! I found the enemy!”
“Lilith! Did you get them? ”
“Your Highness, I tried. But..but...I’m out of ammo now.” Lilith pulls out the magazine from her B&T MP45 and pouches showing her empty mags. “Sorry, I didn’t expect to burn through mags so quickly.”
“Agggh…..fuck my life…” Asura hastily hands over her Luger P08 with ivory grips to Lilith. “Don’t dump your ammo so wastefully Lilith. We don’t have any resupply anymore. How many hostiles did you find?”
“Two, but I wasn’t able to exterminate them. They were hiding behind a cart with a vase on it and using it for cover. I didn’t want to cause any more collateral damage to my client. Smart girls.”
To hell with collateral damage! We’ll get a loan to pay for the damages after the match!” Asura gets up on the floor and kicks the stuffing snake away.”
Fio and Kimberly are snickering behind the cart with Fio holding her P90 with one hand and pushing the cart down the hallway with the other. Kimberly stays crouched behind the vase with her AKS-74U, reloading a new magazine and keeping the partially loaded magazine in her chest rig. “Fio! You’re a genius! We got them where it hurts!”
“Oh it’s nothing Kim.” Fio poorly humbles herself with a playful giggle. “I just thought a little scare and decoy would throw them off.” Their mood is suddenly shifted into seriousness when both of them spot Vampire Squad approaching them from across the hall and firing snap shots at them. The vase above them is shattered in an instant nearly getting Kimberly in the head.
“Oh no! They’re really pissed.” Kimberly and Fio make a run for it. Fio pushes the cart in the direction of Asura’s squad but they are able to side step the cart and make chase after them.
“Kimberly! Your helmet. They almost got you!” Fio remarks as they run towards the stairs. “That was close!”
“No shit. We can’t mess around anymore, Fio. They really want us dead or worse….FIO!”
“The two of them quickly run back when they see Chiara’s squad waiting for them by the second floor and don’t even give them a chance to take any shots. “They quickly run back up the stairs in a panic. “We’re getting squeezed out Kimberly! What do we do?!”
Kimberly has to act quickly. Any time they don’t figure out a way to safety, they’ll be trapped by Chiara’s and Asura’s squad. She takes note of her class as a scout and comes up with a plan. “We’re going to make our own escape route, Fio! Follow me! She barges into one of the empty bedrooms on the third floor and opens the window to the backyard. She takes her grappling hook and latches it onto the window brim before throwing a rope down to the ground. “We don’t have much time. Hurry Fio!” Kimberly jumps out the window and rappels down to the ground. “Move it Fio!”
”I’m going I’m going!” Fio is about to rappel down the window but Asura’s squad swarms into the room with their weapons aimed at her. She has her P90 slinged over her back and cannot fight back. “I’m done for Kimberly! Save yourself!!!”
“Fio!!!” Kimberly aims her rifle at the window but comes to the quick conclusion that she can’t save her from this position. She has to run back into the mansion from the first floor. “Sorry Fio...I’ll avenge you.” Kimberly hurries and makes her way into the first floor dining room which was devastated by the firefight between Mai and Chiara’s squad earlier.
“You’re not going anywhere, you rat!” Asura grabs Fio and throws her to the ground of the bedroom floor. She zip ties her hands behind her back, picks her off the ground and shoves her to squad mate. Lucius! Use her as a shield and keep looking for the others. Split up and find them!”
“It will be done, your highness.” Lucius grabs Fio with his hand and holds his Walther PDP in the other, dragging her out into the hallway with the others following him behind.
“Let me go! LET ME GO!!!!” Fio cries out!”
Fio’s cries can be heard through Tomio’s radio and alerts him instantly. “Fio! She’s in trouble! I have to find her, Emi!”
“Tommy! Be careful.” Emi nods her head knowing that Tomio must look after his squadmates.
“I’m going with you. Fio could be injured!”
“Hikari!” Emi tries to stop Hikari but she’s already following behind Tomio as they make a turn towards the stairs and rush to ascend it, disappearing into the darkness. “Ramirez, You’ll cover me right?”
“Yeah. I got you covered.” Ramirez moves over to the front to act as cover. “They’ll have to move over my dead body if they want to get Mortimer.
“Don’t let them get me! They’re getting close!”
“Yeah! We know!” Ramirez confirms to his own annoyance. “Emi. They scattered us. This is how they got us the first time in that practice match.
“We need to find a new fortified hiding spot, we’re dead if we keep traversing these hallways.”
“If you may let me interject, Emi.” Mortimer clears his throat. “I have a secret bookcase room in the master bedroom. My wife doesn’t know about it.”
“A secret room? Why wouldn’t your wife….forget it.” Ramirez doesn’t want to ask for details. “Just tell us where it is so we can keep you away from these vampires!”
“Third Floor, It’s the room with double doors! You can’t miss it!”
“Fio!” Tomio and Hikari run through the hallways of the third floor, dodging incoming fire in the rear as Chiara’s squad makes chase.
“I can’t believe we’re lost!” Hikari fires her AN-94 behind her while they search for Fio. I could have sworn we memorized the layout by now! We should have studied more.”
“Tomio! Hikari!”
“Mai!” Hikari feels relieved that her friend is still alive. “What are you doing all the way up here on the third floor?”
“I couldn’t find Emi or the others on the second floor. I called over the radio and she’s alive with Ramirez but they wouldn’t tell me where they were going.”
“Emi...what’s she doing? She’s with Mortimer…” Tomio anxiously speaks to himself before giving Mai some further briefing. “Fio is in trouble. You should tag with us.”
“Say no more.” Mai accompanies the group. “I’m still good with ammo. Supposedly their ammo supply has been wiped out in that explosion. I overheard them on the radio while I was looking for Emi’s channel.”
“You got into their communications?” Hikari asks, somewhat impressed.
“Yeah….dumb luck for me I guess.” Mai shrugs. “There’s Fio!”
“Help!!!!” Fio calls out with Lucius holding her in front of him with his pistol taking shots at the three.
“Let her go you freak!” Tomio shouts at Lucius.
“Not a chance!” He holds Fio violently in front of him. Try shooting me and she gets it!” He aims his pistol at the back of Fio’s temple.”
“Savages!” Hikari cries out furiously.
“Tomio! Do something!” Mai urges him. Tomio considers his options and they are all too risky. He could end up shooting Fio if he’s not careful.
Lucius aims his pistol directly at Tomio. “Not one step closer, or you're dead.”
Tomio stops in his tracks. He looks at Fio, struggling to get loose from Lucius’s grip.
“Tomio!!!!”
“Stop squirming!!!” Lucius struggles to keep Fio in front of him and Tomio finds his opportunity to act. He raises his rifle and aims for Lucius’ head but Lucius quickly is aware. The two have their weapons aimed at each other.
”Bang!” The shots echo through the hallway, Hikari and Mai are stunned when Lucius falls onto the ground like a rag doll, releasing Fio.
“Tomio!” Fio watches Tomio fall silently onto the ground at the same time. He’s been struck by Lucius’ shot in the head. Hikari rushes to his aid but it’s futile. His vitals are gone. Tomio is out.
“Tomio…” Mai lowers her helmet for a moment out of respect for his bravery before putting it back on and hurrying to Fio. She uses her Amazon special wire cutters to free Fio from the zip tie binding She gets up and starts kicking Lucius' body on the floor.
“You stupid...big….ugly….meanie!!”
“Are you injured, Fio?”
“I’m...I’m okay.” Fio stops kicking Lucius on the floor. “Aw no... Tomio…” She looks over at his body on the floor with sadness in her eyes. “We have to find Ramirez and Emi!”
“Not gonna happen.” Asura, Lilith, and Vlad have them all at gun point. Asura smirks and motions her AA12 to the ground, keeping her barrel in the direction of the three.”
“Crap...not again.” Fio raises her hands in the air.
“Your weapons. All of them. Lay them on the floor!”
“I’m not listening to you. Crazy vampire slu…” Before Mai can finish, Asura points her AA12 directly into chest and thrust her into the ground.
“You’re going to do exactly what I say. We need your weapons and you’re going to die without them whether you like it or not! Drop your weapons!”
“Ugh….” Mai lowers her SKS onto the ground and her Hi Point C9. “It’s so over…” Fio does the same with her Laugo Alien pistol.
“You too, Princess!” Asura ushers Hikari with her automatic shotgun.
Hikari lets off a deep sigh and places her AN-94 on the floor, followed by her SIG P320 Spectre Comp. Lilith crouches over to the ground to snatch the weapons from the floor but when she grabs the P320 from the slide…
“Bang!”
“AAAAH FUCK!” Vlad falls onto the ground holding his knee. Everyone in the situation doesn’t seem to process what just happened with Hikari being the most shocked of them all. They look at Vlad spazzing out on the floor from being shot and then back at the P320 which is still on the floor and then back at Vlad. Fio, Hikari, and Mai quickly get the memo and decide to make their escape. Mai grabs her SKS rifle but Hikari and Fio leave their weapons behind in a hurry. It takes a while for Asura to compute that they are escaping.
“Lilith!”
“I didn’t mean to… I didn't touch the trigger!”
“AGGGHHH YOU INCOMPETENT RETARD! I’ll GET THEM MYSELF!!!” Asura runs down the hall to make chase with her AA12 leaving Lilith and Vlad behind. Vlad gets his wound tended by Lilith in the meantime.
“Why are they still allowing those pistols in the tournament!” Lilith whines while she’s patching up Vlad’s leg.
“Lilith! We’re taking too many losses! This is unacceptable! Her highness’ plans are becoming undone! We can’t keep this up!”
“We still have Chiara and her squad, Vlad.”
“She’s a liability! Asura is putting too much hope into her! Our plans were falling apart the moment she got the catacombs blown up!”
“We can still win this, brother. There...you’re all patched up now.” She helps Vlad back on his feet but he’s in a limp. “You can still fight. You’re not out.” She picks up Hikari’s rifle from the floor and charges the rifle
“I’m crippled!” Vlad winced leaning against the wall
“But you can still shoot!” Lilith retorted, shoving his OTs-14 Groza rifle back into his hands. “Let’s get moving.”
Kimberly peaks around the corner and spots Chiara and her squad searching around the second floor. They are blocking the way to the third floor stairway and Kimberly takes a risky maneuver. She aims her rifle and takes down Trisha. Chiara and Kaz notice and fire a few shots at her but Kimberly runs off down the stairs back to the first floor and then back outside.
“Trisha! No!”
“Forget her Kaz, She’s done for."
“No...she still has vitals."
.“Then you stay behind. I’m going hunting!” Chiara leaves Kaz behind with an unconscious Trisha.”
Meanwhile, Kimberly is scrambling back outside of the mansion. “I’m running in circles here. What am I doing?” She finds her graphing hook from before and climbs right back up into the third floor. She looks around for signs of Fio. Her P90 is on the floor and she picks it up. “Fio...I hope you’re still in the match.” She slings it over her back and runs through the hallways. She almost stops in her tracks and fires her AK but is relieved to see Fio, Hikari and Mai down the end of the hall. “Silver!”
”Bullet!” Mai answers the code back to Kimberly and reunites with her.
“Thank God, you’re alright Fio. Here.” She gives Fio her P90.
“Appreciate it, Kim. Tomio saved my life but…” Fio's voice drops off before she can finish her sentence.
“Damn...our squad leader is out. Where’s Ramirez and Emi?” Mai and Hikari shrug their shoulders.
“I’m going to need a new weapon.” Hikari noted; patting her pistol holster. “I’m not going back for my P320...but my AN-94 is in the enemy’s hands.”
“How the hell did that happen?”
Hikari sighs… “Yeah...don’t ask…”
It’s the red bookcase!” Mortimer explained while Ramirez scrabbled to find the hidden switch in the bedroom.
“Aha! This one!” Ramirez pulls the red book out and the bookcase creaks, revealing a hidden room inside. Emi goes to look inside and sees an entire room with nothing but dirty magazines in cardboard crates, most of which are dusty and filled with cobwebs. “Oh God…” Emi sighs in disappointment.
”What?”
“You know, I’m starting to have second doubts about this whole divorce situation with you and your wife?”
“Uh...I can explain...those magazines are for my scientific research project.”
“I thought you were a sophisticated literary type of guy, Mortimer.”
“I am.”
“Yeah. But not just with classic philosophy books…”
“BANG BANG BANG!”
Emi feels a strong force strike her in the back and drops to the floor. Her vision waning in red while she helplessly watches Ramirez get blasted from an automatic shotgun by the nearby window and falling through it. “R....Ramirez…” Her body is rolled over with someone’s boot so she’s facing the ceiling of the room. Mortimer can be heard screaming in the corner. “Clunk clunk clunk” Asura’s boots walk around Emi until she’s standing in front of her.
“Emi. Pfft. You made a real mess of my fortress a week ago along with your boy toy who's now out of the game. You'll join his loser lobby real soon.” Asura fires her AA12 into Emi’s leg, depleting her of more of her health.
“You were going to show me...lecture me...you pathetic psychologist!” She fires another shot into Emi’s right arm. Emi’s health is critically low. She’s bleeding out and has no means to fight back Asura. “You psychologists are all the same...all talk with nothing to back it up. You know how many “professional psychologists” it took to figure that out?
“It...it doesn’t take a professional...to realize you’re not right in the head…” Emi groans from the floor. “You’re not going to win this match. Not after what you did to Chiara.”
“You think this is all about Chiara!” Asura burst out laughing. “No! This is about me getting what I want! Chiara is just a means to an end! Human capital to achieve my goal of giving Seth the beating he’s going to get from me at the end of this tournament! I will not let Raptor Squad steal victory from me again! Sorry to break the news to you but Chiara is a vampire now. At least for as long as I need her. “She places the muzzle of her AA12 on Emi’s chest, above where her heart is. “Your pathetic excuse of a squad, yourr dreams, your desires, and your friendships...it ends today! You can't fix me. But I can break you.” Asura starts to squeeze the trigger on her shotgun but then…
“Asura!!! Stop!”
“Chi….Chiara.” Emi’s eyes peek over to the entrance of the master bedroom and sees Chiara was standing there in her ragged black uniform; listening in the entire time.