Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

"Tch… different plan! Go up!"

Skidding to a stop, Ragnar and his party turned tail and began running up the stairs instead, remaining in formation and heading for the roof. Before entering this hotel, Ragnar had spotted a building that had toppled onto this one, acting as a perfect bridge for them to escape to.

"It's not much further!" Ragnar encouraged, picking up his pace and turning to the four running after him. "Keep it up!"

"G-Got it!" Ilydia yelled in response, but it was clear her stamina was running out. She hadn't put many points into VIT, and neither had Michael or Spencer. As such, gradually, Cory and Ragnar were in the lead, with the remaining three lagging behind.

Thankfully, as this hotel wasn't a very big one, there were only a few more floors left to go. A mixture of hurried footsteps, ragged breathing, and monstrous bellows echoed throughout the stone stairwell, and the group of survivors pushed their bodies to the physical limit.

Yes, the mutants were fast, but they were only Stage Ones in the end. Many of them tripped on one another, and others were crushed beneath the very feet of their own comrades. At this rate, Ragnar and Cory would make it. The other three, though…

"There's the door to the roof!" Cory called out. "Ragnar!"

"Hngh…!"

With a leap of faith, Ragnar smashed straight through the door with his heavy, two-handed broadsword. The door didn't stand a chance. Whipping his head around, he beckoned for his party to come through.

"All right, it's ope-"

But then, he saw something. Spencer… purposely tripping Michael.

It was a faint movement. Something barely noticable to the untrained eye. But Ragnar, having been raised as a Japanese supersoldier, saw it. The mutants had been about to grab Spencer, so he tripped Michael and let the mutants have him instead.

"Ah-!" Michael cried out and collapsed forward, while Spencer didn't pay this any heed and carried on running as if he had nothing to do with this.

"Michael!" Cory called out, eyes widened,and dashed back towards his little brother, but-

"Stop! It's too late!" Ragnar called out, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back.

"N-No! Let me go! MICHAEL!"

"A-AHHHHHH!" The little boy screamed at the top of his lungs as the mutants eagerly bit down into his young flesh, devouring him alive. Blood spurted onto the walls nearby, but such a small body wouldn't be enough to last all those mutants for long. Quickly, their hungry, mechanical red eyes turned to Ragnar and a thrashing Cory, and immediately lunged towards them.

"Damn it…!" Ragnar growled and threw Cory out onto the rooftop with his strength, then ran out himself and pulled the door shut behind him. "Go! Across that bridge! Hurry!"

The remaining three didn't need to be told twice.

Spencer was first to rush across the collapsed tall building that now served as a bridge for them, and Idylia followed with terror in her eyes.

"Hngh…!" Ragnar gritted his teeth as the mutants clawed their way up to the door, and before long, his strength was unable to hold them back any longer. "Grah!"

He leapt back and let the mutants tumble through the doorframe, then spun on his heel and began running across the building as well, grabbing a screaming Cory in the process and dragging him along.

Naturally, the mutants followed, their mechanical bodies making robotic noises and their growls like that of a flock of ravenous beasts. However, Ragnar was quicker. Throwing Cory onto the roof of the building on the other side of the bridge where Idylia and Spencer were waiting, he turned around, facing the mutants, and let out a bloodcurdling war cry.

"Go… To… HELL!"

Raising his broadsword into the air, he struck it down with tremendous force, splitting the bridge off from the building they were now on.

"GRAGHHHH!" The mutants cried and bellowed as they fell from thirty stories up in the air to their deaths, then crushed beneath thousands of tons worth of concrete. The remaining mutants who were lucky enough to have not been on that collapsed building when Ragnar shattered it were now rendered completely useless, without a way to get over to where their prey was.

Were things over?

No.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Ragnar's eyes widened as he heard a bloodthirsty scream behind him, and he turned to see Cory pull the trigger of his gun on Spencer.

"Wait-!" Idylia cried, jumping in to try and mediate, but it was too late.

The bullet that should've struck Spencer instead hit Idylia straight in the heart, killing her instantly. Cory, realizing what he had done, was only driven into madness even more, and unleashed another flurry of bullets at Spencer.

This time, they didn't hit something else.

"Ngh-!" Spencer cried out as his body was penetrated by bullets all over, and he fell over, dead. Ragnar's eyes were shocked.

The mutants only took one of them. But his own team member… just took two.

"AND YOU TOO!" Cory roared, spinning around at Ragnar and aiming his gun at him. "WHY'D YOU STOP ME BACK THERE?! HE COULD'VE BEEN SAVED! HE COULD'VE-"

"Enough… is enough!"

Ragnar suddenly lunged forward, stabbing the broadsword directly into Cory's stomach right before he could fire.

"G-Guh…" The gun fell out of his hand, and he too, fell backwards, dead, just like the two people he had killed mere moments before.

Of the five-member party that came here all calm and peaceful, only Ragnar remained.

"Damn it… Damn it ALL…!"

Cursing, Ragnar smashed his broadsword into the ground, and knelt down in front of it.

"Why… why must the world be so goddamn cruel?!"

Such was the harsh reality of the world, both Earth and Endzone. Humans were intrinsically selfish, and it was times like these when lives were on the line that those qualities truly show.

Ragnar knew this. He had seen things similar to today happen all too often.

And yet, Ragnar still had hope. He still had hope that the world could be changed, criminals could be purged, and sin could be cleansed.

After all, that was why he had came here. To Endzone.

That, was Ragnar Creed's wish.

[Level Up.]

[Level 15 -> 16.]

[You gained 10 CP and 1 SP.]