by Donald Ha
Once the dust settled, the final remains of the building slowly began to reveal itself. The luxurious apartment, that once was built for singles in downtown Berlin, was now half collapsed and the other barely standing while exposing its steel frames.
“They should be coming out slowly…”
Right then, another U.S. officer, Jericho Cunnings, was able to see a faint shadow amongst the dust.
The crouched shadow suddenly straightened its back, looked around and started to frantically run towards them.
* Schklikt, klikt *
A group of German soldiers, who were behind the searchlight, were ready to fire.
“Hold your fire!”
Jericho restrained them by lifting his hands because the movement that was made by the man coming towards them was totally different from the movement he was looking for.
“Hey, James. How’s it?”
He called his colleague who climbed up over the tank.
James came down from the tank and stood next to Jericho and opened his mouth.
“He’s an Einsatzgruppen.”
The man, who showed himself, had on his military helmet with his troop marks scraped off and was wearing a camouflage jacket.
“Huh..? Aren’t you Commander Eric Schmidt?”
Hollow cheeks, exceptionally protruding temples, and emotionless blue eyes.
The man who showed himself was Eric Schmidt, the man who was just with them.
“......”
He stopped in front of James and Jericho.
“What happened in there?”
Eric Schmidt did not answer James’ question.
“Hey, Eric….”
“Aa…..aa….argh!”
Suddenly, Eric Schmidt grabbed his neck and let out a yell, filled with great pain.
“Aar..…aargh!”
Followed by a seizure, Eric Schmidt laid down on the ground, trembling and crying out in pain. And suddenly became limp and stopped moving.
“….wretched luck.”
“There’s only one man who could’ve done this.”
Once again, Jericho and James realized who they were dealing with.
James looked back and cried out loudly,
“All units and arms! Enforce and concentrate all shootings towards the building!”
*Voooomp!*
The bombing of Tigger tanks were leading out the tremendous firearms that began a relentless attack towards the building.
Machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, and anti-tank guns were fired, one after another.
Various metallic bullet shells were strewn on the ground and a massive amount of bullets and bomb shells were surrounding the building.
The building that was barely standing started to stagger after the second bombardment of the Tigger, and fell to the ground without leaving a trace after the third.
Another huge amount of dust spread the surroundings.
“Cease fire.”
All fires were silenced at James's order.
It was finally quiet in the ruined city.
The silence was broken by a signaler holding a communications device.
“The Soviets are requesting to know what’s happening here.”
“Tell them that this is occupied by the U.S military and that whatever happens here is none of the Red son of a bitches concern!”
Due to his stern thundering command, the terrified signaler nodded his head and disappeared.
James, who had watched the situation, smiled and tapped Jericho’s shoulder and said,
“Well~ you’re made out to be a soldier. Why don't you become one for real?”
“I know. If I knew how much fun being a bully was, I wouldn’t have learned Wugong.”
While Jericho was smiling, something caught his eye.
“What’s that? Is he another Einsatzgruppen?”
Another soldier was awkwardly crawling out from the buildings rumbles.
From his clothes and helmet, he seemed like one of the misfortunate soldiers who were sent in before. Since Eric Schmidt was dead, he was probably another guy.
“Well.. How about killing him? I think it might be a merciful death for the soldier.”
James recalled the horrifying death of Eric Schmidt; lying down on the ground, trembling with a seizure, he might have died from the worst pain in the world.
The method is perhaps called 'Elysian Finger'.
It is often a well-known method that ‘the presence’ often used when he handled his enemies.
“Yo, sniper. Put a bullet to his head.”
He didn’t want to see the same death again, so Jericho ordered a German soldier to shoot him.
The soldier hesitated at first, but once Jericho firmly ordered him to do so, he had no other choice. The war criminals from the SS had no choice but to follow these unknown men in US armed forces uniforms, for these men were the ones with full authority.
‘Bitches. What are they? I’m sure they’re not from the U.S Army.’
He saw that the U.S Armed Forces general, who was the camp commander, was being controlled by the captains for the U.S Forces.
They were the ones who even got Eric Schmidt, a notorious Jew hunter, released.
Perhaps they are ranked higher than the US army.
With that thought, the sniper placed the head of the faltering soldier in the center of his scope and lined his aim.
“…Don’t think badly of this. After all, we're all doing this to survive.”
And his finger pulled the trigger.
*Bang!*
With the gun shot, the man will fall. That’s the magic that one can see from the scope.
However, the snipper witnessed something bizarre.
The soldier didn’t fall down.
His magic didn’t happen.
“That’s strange.”
Was my aim off?
The sniper fixed the bolt again, checked the load, and aimed at the target again with his scope.
This time, he aimed for the body.
With his new aim, even if there was a slight mistake in zero coordinates, he would’ve still shot him.
He pulled trigger once again.
*Bang!*
Fall down!
Did his spell work?
The soldier’s silhouette in the scope shook greatly.
“Great!”
But the sniper witnessed an unbelievable sight.
The guy that should’ve fallen down smiled towards him.
Under the shadow of the helmet, he deliberately revealed his palms where a pair of bloody lights were shining through.
The thing contained in his hands was the Mau coal.
The moment the snipper screamed out, the world in his scope shattered and turned dark.
“Aargh…..!!!!!!”
Watching the sniper fall down while blood was spewing from his eye, James and Jericho felt that the time had come.
“Target! Phantom at front! Fire!”
*Vooooomp!*
The barrel of the Tigger was fired.
The moment the shells flew, James thought about the exquisite trick that the Phantom just demonstrated.
‘He grabbed the flying bullets and bounced it in reverse with his fingers. Even though he is the master of Tai Chi Chuan, it is a difficult trick. He is indeed the Blood Demon.”
The Blood Demon, the leader of the Blood Cult.
Nobody among the Wulins has ever achieved such level.
He defeated all the challenges of the contemporary masters and was crowned the throne among the Wulins, as he defeated the attacks from the Ten masters of China.
He was an extraordinary pioneer, who did not turn his eyes to the suffering of the people moaning under the Yuan Dynasty rule.
"Why would you randomly divide a whole? The Jianghu(江湖) and the world are one, not two."
He insisted that the Wulins change the world. A number of young Wulins agreed with his argument. They dreamed of a new world that the Blood Demon would bring.
With his appearance, the Wulins were extinct.
Through tremendous sacrifices, the Blood Demon was able to be killed, but it was not the end, but was only the beginning.
Even with the memory of its previous life, the Wulins will have victory at the end of the fight against the enemy of humankind who endlessly revives.
The Blood Demon was staring at the high explosives of Tigger, which were flying towards him.
In order for him to survive, the moment the bombardments started, he should’ve ran away as far as possible by equally spreading all his lightweight movement skills across his body.
Because the moment the bomb explodes, the fire and flames would burn everything down.
Every human body has its limit. Even though you might be the strongest warrior, you wouldn't be able to survive the flames from an explosion the heated higher than a thousand degrees.
At that thought, James started to doubt the Blood Demon's actions.
Did he give up or something?'
The Blood Demon should be around twenty years old.
It was enough time for him to learn the knowledge of this era.
Shortwave radios would’ve broadcasted about the war night and day, and would also have seen the destructive power of the bombs falling from the sky.
And just three months ago, the Blood Demon would likely have directly seen the military prestige of the Red Army.
If he saw it, the Blood Demon was supposed to avoid the shells.
Unless there was another way.
“An..another way?”
At that moment, James saw…
He saw the change that started to happen to the Blood Demon’s body.
“No way…?!”
The Blood Demon's feet landed on the ground.
*Thud!*
It felt as though the earth was shaking.
It was the smallest of movements amidst the silence.
The Blood Demon quietly extended the other foot and bent his two hands like a hook. He then stretched the hands towards his outstretched foot.
“......”
Its bloody eyes glared at the huge chunks of metal flying without any motion.
“Hap!”
With firm shouts, the Blood Demon caught the shells with both his hook like hands.
“He’s crazy!”
James and Jericho shouted at the same time.
High fused explosives go off at the smallest movements, because it was made to kill men and horses.
It was designed to explode anything as light as a piece of paper.
“....!”
But an unbelievable scene unfolded before the eyes of the two officers.
The moment the cannon touched the Blood Demon's hands, he pushed himself with his other foot, as light as a feather, and grabbed the cannon. He used the other foot to create a centrifugal force and slowly begun to spin himself.
The cannon soon lost its kinetic energy from the Blood Demon's spinning.
The Blood Demon continued its whirling, as though God has made it into a top.
And every ordinary men who watched the scene was in a massive shock.
“….Is it human?”
“...That…is a w..w…witch! The black witch from the Grimm Brother’s fairy tales!”
The moment the helmet the Blood Demon wore flew off, golden blonde hair soared up to the sky, scattering light like a bunch of stars.
After finishing its rotation, the Blood Demon held the bullets to its side, and looked around. It was a girl with blond hair and sad eyes.
“Wo…Woman?”
James was in a bigger shock once he found out it was a she.
‘The Blood Demon…was reborn as a woman? That's why she couldn’t be found for so many years…He abandoned his pride. Blood Demon...!’
There wasn’t much time to think.
Jericho shouted urgently.
“What are you lookin’ at! All fires present!”
At that moment, the silhouette of the Blood Demon started to erupted.
*Sh….! Whoosh!*
It seemed like the sounds made when lumps of metal cut through the air.
*Kaboom!*
Tremendous explosions took place in front of the tanks.
The horrible flames struck Jericho directly.
“Aarah…!”
The screams of Jericho echoed.
That was not the end. Before we knew it, the Blood Demon was slaughtering away unlucky soldiers in her way as she reached for the 20mm antiaircraft gun.
*Thud!*
“Awk!!!!!”
One guy with one blow. Due to the Blood Demon's attack, the soldiers spewed out blood and fell dead.
The remaining soldiers tried to shoot her, but the Blood Demon cleverly left a few soldiers in front of her as her shield.
“Just shoot her!”
Once a soldier shouted out, the MG42 machine gun started to fire while the making the sounds of chainsaws scratching.
*Bratat!Bratat!*
“Awk!!!!!”
“Aarah…!”
The machine gun bullets broke through the soldiers that were shielding the Blood Demon and went straight for her.
“....”
Even the great Blood Demon mustn’t had any choices for she hid her body behind the crumbled walls.
Nevertheless, the bun bullets kept firing around the surroundings without stopping.
As the Blood Demon disappeared for a moment, other soldiers who briefly fell to into a panic mode, soon recovered consciousness and concentrated all fires on the collapsed wall.
It was literally raining bullets.
“Hurry! Take her down while we have the MG42 working!”
Although they were defeated, they were once carefully chosen soldiers for the Special Forces.
They were showing systematic movements that surprised even the unknown enemy.
It were the Tigger tanks that would make the Blood Demon meet her fate.
Even though it got hit by the shells, only the front part was slightly scorched. The Tigger was heat coated against the U.S bazookas. That was why the degree of the attacks merely left a scratch.
“Hurry! Hurry! Bring her down with the walls! That fuckin’ monster!”
James who had some time, ran next to the tanks that aimed at the wall where the Blood Demon was hiding.
“Jericho! You OK?!”
His comrade laid unconsciously next to the tank.
Jericho, his partner, his rival….and his best friend.
James lifted him, hoping for his safety.
Once he did, James couldn’t repress his astonishment.
“....!!”
Jericho’s left side of the body was gone. There was nothing left where his left arms and legs were. From the side of his stomach to his ribs, there was deep wound, as though it was cut out, and clear light-toned intestines were oozing out between the wounds.
“Je.. Jericho!”
James called Jericho’s name, pushing the intestines that were flowing out with his hands.
“Jericho! Wake up! God damn you! How can you die so easily? You have waited twenty years…! Twenty years!"
However, Jericho was already losing his light. Jericho said, looking into the distance with his eyes slowly closing,
"I…t…it… was an honor for me to witness… the art of the Blood Demon… an honor..!"
Jericho let out a cry and breathed his last breath.
“Son of a bitch…!”
The eyes of James, who had just lost his colleague, were blazing with anger. And all of a sudden, there was a huge explosion from the back.
*Boom!*
“ Urgh... I can’t fight against that!”
Soldiers who were fighting were running away. Even the shots of the machine gun, which seemed to go on forever, finally stopped.
&
nbsp; Hand grenades were dancing in the sky above.
One hand grenade seemed to fly to the sky as if it had its own will, and then swooped down onto the soldiers like a hawk.
“Is that the application of telekinesis…?”
It wasn’t the end. The Blood Demon, who had stopped shooting the soldiers with a hand grenade, came out from behind the wall, rushed to the Tigger tanks that were aimed at her and attacked the front part of it.
*Booong!*
A strange sound, like the ringing of a bell, echoed the battlefield.
“Aaaaargh…..!”
The screams from the crew echoed in the tank.
“The technique of In-between strike..”
The Blood Demon kept with its fierce attacks.
She defeated the SS Elite troops that surrounded her by herself.
James felt an endless fear towards the overwhelming Wugong of the Blood Demon.
“This…this is the Blood Demon...”
However he was not a person who easily gave into fear.
He roared with a voice emanating from the deepest part of his abdomen.
“Wutang swords! Prepare for attack!”
The guys in the U.S. military clothes, who lined up behind the searchlight simultaneously took off and pulled out their swords.
“To our Union!”
Simultaneously, dozens of blades soared towards the sky.
*
The life in the ruin, which had lost its function as a city, was miserable and filled with poverty. The dirt was scattered all over the streets and dead bodies that still weren’t collected were decaying with a bad smell in the collapsed building.
Those who live in the rubble of the dirty city could only make a living by the distributions from the occupied troops. As always, the distributions were insufficient. Hunger was prevalent, and a majority of the citizens suffered from lack of protein.