Lament of the Moon S&H - Ch.06: The First Strike - Ep09
#9 of LoM 06
Back to where Hazard was, he was busy chasing after Jale, who kept his distance every time Hazard tried to get close to him. They were bouncing and hopping off the walls of the buildings they were between, with Hazard swinging his sword at the raven, but he was unexpectedly fast enough to avoid the slashes. Jale was leading him on like this till they reached the top of a building, then threw one of his sharp darts at Hazard. The wolf reacted quickly and guarded himself with his blade, deflecting the dart and stopping him on his feet.
"Look, man, just stay still for a minute, okay? I get it, you're trying to slow me down, but this is getting redundant," Hazard said, getting tired of this mouse-and-cat game.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Slasher, but physical confrontation isn't my area of expertise. I know how good you are, you'll take me down in a second," Jale regretfully remarked.
"So, you don't want to fight, but you're still standing in my way? You're an odd one, aren't you?" Hazard scratched his headfur, puzzled at how he should deal with this neatly-dressed adversary.
"Must we shed blood between us? Why can't we be more civil and... talk, instead?" Jale said with a slight grin on his beak, a grin that Hazard found unnerving.
"Talk about what? I don't expect you to open your heart to me and start telling me whatever evil plan you and whoever you work under are scheming. Because honestly, I've heard it all before," Hazard replied apathetically, keeping his guard up.
"And cheap you of finding out the plot for yourself? I think not. I hate spoilers, don't you?"
"Spare me the bullshit. What do you want?"
"But Hazard, we want the same thing, don't we? To get rid of this curse and end it all? Isn't that what you've been fighting for all this time?"
"Is the word 'stupid' written on my forehead? How is trying to kill us help accomplish that?"
"Trying to kill you? We don't want to kill you. Not yet, anyway. You're far more important. At least that's what the boss says," Jale replied innocently.
"What do you call what happened yesterday, then? That Megalo fellow sure seemed to have it in for me. Plus, you guys keep attacking Sasuga. I'm getting mixed signals here," Hazard said.
"Oh, is that what you're getting at? I apologize for my colleagues' actions; sometimes they get too passionate and go a little overboard. We're just trying to steer fate on its right track and speed things up a bit. A few casualties are bound to happen," Jale stated with a devious leer.
"Fuck that." Hazard had enough of the raven's nonsense and dashed at him with a sword slash. Jale backed away with a backward jump at the last second and missed the attack, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid getting a clean tear on his outfit, with a slight scratch on his feathered skin to boot.
"Tsk, damn, you ruined my favorite suit... now I'm not pleased," Jale frowned, checking the cut on his waist. "I tried to be civil with you, Hazard, but you leave me no choice but to make things difficult for you." Just as he finished saying that, a group of four police officers burst into the place, coming out of the roof's elevator of the building they were on top of, guns held up and at the ready.
"Alright, no body moves! Hands up where I can see them!" one of the officers, a male otter, shouted out.
"You arrived just in time, officers. This dangerous man assaulted me. Would you please arrest him?" Jale calmly asked of the cops, with Hazard totally confused at what was going on, switching his attention back and forth between the raven and the police.
"Yes... Yes, sir..." Strangely, the police officers answered him obediently, pointing all of their weapons at the stunned wolf, as if they were in some kind of a trance.
"What the hell are you pulling off here?" Hazard glared at Jale, as he let out a soft chuckle.
"I happened to leave a distress call to the police about an assailant wanting to kill an innocent man up at this building's roof right before you showed up. And now I'm demonstrating to you, my special skill, courtesy of the Voice of Abaddon," Jale explained to Hazard with a smirk. "I can manipulate anyone I want just by talking to them. Make them do whatever I tell them to. Granted that they're not bearers of Abaddon's curse of course, or else it'd be way too easy. Downside is that the trance only lasts for about an hour, but that's enough time to finish the job, no?" Jale continued, grinning.
Hazard found that a bit hard to swallow, but he had seen more outlandish things in his life, so he doubted Jale was bluffing. "I sense some doubt in your eyes, Slasher. Fine, I'll prove it to you," the raven said and then turned to the cops. "Nobody shoots till I give you the call," he ordered them and they all complied almost simultaneously. "Say, Hazard, haven't you heard how people always complain about following orders and say, 'Would you jump off a cliff if they told you to?'? That's literally what they would for me," Jale leered cunningly, as Hazard gave him a troubled look. "You there, the one on the far right. Jump off this building." The raven merely commanded one of the cops, a young female lamb who looked to be in her mid-twenties, and she headed towards the edge of the roof without a single objection.
"Wait! Don't!" Hazard yelled out and tried to stop her, but before he could take a step, a feathered dart zoom right over his face stopped him, barely missing his snout.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, don't move a muscle, Slasher. Lest you want to make it worse. Hey, the rest of you, if he tried to move, I want you each of you to shoot yourself in the head, understand?" Jale warned the wolf and ordered the other cops.
"Yes... sir..." the remaining police officers simply replied, as the other one stepped ever so closer to the edge.
"You sick son of a bitch! Stop this shit right now!" Hazard growled.
"See? No need to get physical to get what you want. Can you, the legendary Millennium Slasher, save that poor soul without sacrificing the others? Such a dilemma," Jale chuckled with that devious smile, spinning one of his darts around between his fingers. Hazard hated to admit it, but Jale was right. The wolf was completely perplexed by this difficult ordeal and didn't know how to handle it. He had never faced a situation where he couldn't find a way out of it, but this time was different. Jale was unlike any enemy he had faced before. For the first time in a long while, Hazard felt powerless and he hated it with a passion. Feeling like being tied up firmly, he watched the female cop reach the edge of the roof, and without any kind of hesitation, climbed it and jumped, falling down a six-story high building to her doom. Hazard could hear the shocked screams and gasps of people down bellow at the busy streets, the results of having their daily routine interrupted by having someone falling down to their death from out of nowhere. He clinched his fists in anger, gripping on his swords tightly, his eyes filled with intense emotions. He was certain with one thing, though; he was going to make Jale pay for this. Dearly.
To be continued...