Chapter 2: Rose Petal
Around her, were over two dozen armed survivors, who had crafted armor from the materials they've found, since finding them from the military that moved on to fight the zombies has already been taken from other survivors. They wore things like metal/leather vests, camo pants, and knee pads. Some of them wore tweaked motorcycle helmets that added an extra layer of protection, in which they added metal or steel to it, but it made it heavier, but it was perfect against zombies trying to bite their damn faces off.
Seven commanded, "Take this abnormal zombie to the jeep. Kaido."
Kaido was armed in a black juggernaut like suit, holding a mini gun with one arm, and a large sword on his back.
He said, "Aw. Why me?"
A companion beside them, was a female, with dark pink hair and dark pink eyes with glasses, and she was holding a glowing pink flower, and she grinned like a psycho path, "Stop being lazyyyy.l
Kaido replied, "Huh? Did you take your medicine today, Cupid?"
"Nooo. It's super duper nasty. Hehe."
"Then leave me alone, you're worse than those zombies."
"Have you ever got stabbed in the faceee?"
"GET AWAY, PSYCHO!"
Kaido bent down to grab Rykei, lifting him up over his shoulder, hoisting his minigun in his other hand.
"So uh. Where's the jeep again?"
Cupid chuckled menacingly, "Hehehe…dummy."
"DAMN YOU!"
Seven stated, "West."
"Okay. Great, awesome. I'm going by myself then aren't I?"
"And?"
"Ughhhh. Fine. No it's fine, I'm super strong anyway."
Kaido was jogging away with Rykei, his armored boots stomping the ground every step.
Cupid smiled and waved, "Have fun!"
Kaido replied, "Go kill zombies or something!"
"Don't worry, I ammm!"
Seven watched them leave, then thought. 'That abnormal zombie…his aura..his features..familiar. What is he..? He's not a normal zombie.'
Seven said to Cupid, "This area is infested with zombie assassins. The entirety of Yokohama is lingering with them."
"Didn't we come to find the sceintistttttt?"
"Yes. He's here. Now we're trapped."
"Nooo we're not! We're strong!"
"…Hm. Let's go. We need to clear this location. Check every room."
"Oookay! What about the othersss?"
"They're doing the same. But we will not leave the city without the scientist. We will continue to search everywhere here, even if it is infested with zombie assassins. Escaping will be tough, but we will succeed."
"Hell yeah! Ohh, I can hear some east of here! My super hearing is coming in handy!"
"Inside of the building?"
"Yes!"
"Come on."
FWOOSH!
Seven and Cupid dashed away,
Cupid smiled, "WOOHOO! Zombies!"
"Behave yourself. Many zombies are weak, but killing them drains the strength of our power overtime. Which is why training is exceptional."
"Ughhhh. I knowwww. I Always train!"
"Mm. 12 o'clock. Undead approaching. Goal."
There was a large horde of zombie assassins flipping and jumping through the collapsed abandoned mall, heading towards them.
'New zombies…this entire city is lurking with these kinds..'
Each assassin zombie was a deadly concoction of agility and weaponry, a lethal adversary in the grim night.
Seven and Cupid leaped forward, and Cupid laughed, "HAHA! Fighting time!"
As the horde lunged forward, Seven's fingers brushed against the daggers at her back, drawing them with a whisper-like silence. The blades, imbued with a dark green shadowy aura, hummed with destructive energy. Seven lunged forward, her first strike slicing through the air, cutting a charging zombie across the chest. Dark blood splattered onto the rubble, the zombie staggering back under the unexpected ferocity. Cupid, twirling a glowing pink flower, blew gently on the petals. The ground around them erupted in blushing pink hues as flowers spiraled outwards rapidly. With a mischievous grin, she vanished in a burst of petals, reappearing behind an unsuspecting zombie. Before it could react, vines, sharp as razors, sprang from the ground, ensnaring and slicing the creature in two.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" Cupid laughed.
Seven said, "No time for games."
"Have fun for a change! Easeee your mind!"
To their left, two zombies wielding scythes advanced. Seven parried the first scythe with her dagger, sparks flying as metal clashed with enchanted blades. Simultaneously, Cupid appeared beside Seven, slashing through the second zombie with a blade formed from a vine, her eyes wild with battle lust.
From above, a zombie dropped, aiming to crush Seven under its weight. Agilely, Seven rolled away, her dagger slicing a green arc through the air, severing the zombie's leg before it could land fully. Cupid, from her floral teleportation point, summoned a vine to wrap around the fallen zombie's neck, brutally jerking it sideways, its head parting from its shoulders. As they regrouped, the assassins formed a ring, their weapons a forest of lethal intent. Cupid's flowers bloomed wildly, creating a confusing maze of color and scent. Seven darted through this maze, her daggers a blur as she engaged multiple foes, her attacks a combination of precision and raw power, leaving several zombies dismembered.
In the dance of death, Seven spun, her dagger trailing a shadow that seemed to consume the light. A zombie with twin axes dove towards her, but met only the void where she had been, her form a ghostly afterimage. Seven reappeared behind him, her daggers reaping the life from his undead form. Cupid laughed maniacally, summoning her flower power to ensnare a group of zombies. The magical vines twisted and turned, their thorns tearing through decaying flesh as if it were paper. One zombie managed to cut through its binds, charging at Cupid with a roar, only to be cut down mid-stride by a swift, clean stroke from her vine-blade.
Seven twitched to the right, saying, "Incoming boss."
A notable Zombie assassin rose from the carnage. Its eyes burned with a relentless crimson. Distinguished from its fallen brethren, it bore the mark of its former elite status, a unique, twisted blade that shimmered with a dark aura, and a modified handgun that gleamed menacingly in the fragile light. This was no ordinary foe; this was a remnant of a fearsome warrior, now turned zombie assassin.
"RAGHHHH!" The zombie assassin roared and snarled.
Seven walked towards it, "Scum."
The encounter began with a whirlwind of motion. Seven, her dark green daggers alight with a destructive shadowy essence, faced the zombie assassin head-on. The assassin swung its twisted blade in a wide arc, aiming to cleave her in two. Seven ducked under the swing, rolled forward, and slashed upwards, leaving a deep gash along the zombie's torso. Blood sprayed, dark and oozing, but it was far from a fatal blow. Reacting quickly to the closeness of combat, the zombie assassin drew its handgun, firing a series of shots. Seven, her movements a blur, twisted and turned, dodging the bullets like a shadow flickering across the ground. Mid-dodge, she flung a dagger, forcing the zombie to divert its aim and block the throw, giving her a moment to close the distance.
In the breath of proximity, Seven danced around the zombie, her daggers tracing deadly arcs. She parried a jab from the twisted blade, sparks flying from the contact. Using the flat of her dagger, she struck the hand that held the gun, disarming the zombie momentarily. Her other blade aimed for a slicing cut across the assassin's thigh, impairing its mobility. The zombie staggered back, lunging in desperation with a wild swing. Seven vaulted over the swing, using the rubble to propel her into the air. She descended like vengeance itself, driving her daggers downward. The blades sank into the zombie's shoulders, pinning it temporarily to the ground as she flipped back to regain her stance, ready for the next move.
'Skilled in combat, these are former assassins. The fact that they are fighting together like this means they answer to someone. Is it that so-called god?'
Seven dashed forward to retrieve her second dagger, rolling beneath another horizontal slice from the zombie's blade. She rose fluidly, daggers at the ready, eyes locked on the slowly advancing foe. Her breaths were calm, measured, despite the adrenaline fueling her movements. The zombie lunged again, more haphazardly now, its movements showing signs of damage. Seven sidestepped, then twisted around, slashing at key tendons in the zombie's arm wielding the twisted blade, rendering it less effective. She kicked the gun further away into the rubble, evening the elements of their duel.
'Anticipate its moves..it's just a monster.'
Utilizing the reduced force of her opponent, Seven maneuvered behind the zombie. She delivered a swift kick to the back of its knee, bringing it to the ground. Swiftly, she crossed her daggers against the zombie's neck, threatening to decapitate it with a flick of her wrists. The zombie, driven by whatever cruel semblance of existence animated its form, made a last ditch effort to free itself. It thrashed violently, dislodging one of Seven's daggers. However, its movements were clumsy, weakened by loss of blood and the precise cuts inflicted by Seven's.
Taking advantage of the moment, Seven reclaimed her dislodged dagger and, with a swift, clean movement, decapitated the zombie. Its head rolled away, eyes still flickering with fading crimson life as the body slumped, defeated and truly dead this time.
Seven stood, her breathing steady as she cleaned her blades on the fallen assassin's garments, the shadowy energy swirling around them absorbing the dark blood. She scanned the horizon, her eyes a mirror to the growing light, aware that the dawn not only brought light but revealed the continuing darkness of the world she faced. With a final glance at her fallen opponent, she looked over at Cupid, and saw she was smiling and waving at Seven, zombie assassin corpses laid beside her.
"Hiiii! Seven! I killed a lot of them!"
"I see. Continue to search."
"Awww you're no fun."
"Fun is for children."
'I lost the desire to have fun after losing Rykei. There's no way he would've survived the fire day of the apocalypse.'
Seven got on an earpiece, and said, "Hel. Did you find anything? Any sign of the scientist?"
A slick reply came back, saying, "Definitely not. But I shall be the one to uncover the secrets.."
"Okay."
In the decayed grandeur of the same moonlit mall, amidst the ruins and remnants of a once-bustling temple of commerce, Hel strutted confidently. He was a standout even in this dire, apocalyptic setting, with a long black trench coat billowing behind him and combat boots crunching over broken glass and rubble. His hair was black and red, it was slicked back, a few strands defiantly tousled over his ice-blue eyes, which gleamed with a mix of amusement and deadly intent. Blood splatters painted his pale face, highlighting his devil-may-care grin. His hands casually twirled two heavy revolvers, each adorned with cryptic etchings that shimmered in the dim light, hinting at their supernatural capabilities.
As he hummed a tune, his path was littered with the remnants of fallen zombie assassins, testimony to his recent encounters. But the night was far from over.
"Ohhhhh, how the wonderful cries to the shadow of wonder in warrrr, please Sonya, save me from the brides of choress..!"
Hel's song was interrupted by a shriek as two zombies lunged from behind a flipped shopping cart. Without missing a beat, he released both revolvers into the air, where they hovered and fired independently. One revolver unleashed a torrential firestorm, while the other exhaled a blast of freezing ice, shattering and incinerating the attackers simultaneously.
Three more from the upper balcony leaped at him. Hel spun, delivering a low kick to rubble, which flew like shrapnel. His guns, still airborne, rained bullets, one revolver switched to electromagnetic pulses disrupting the very motor functions of the advancing horde, causing them to convulse and collapse before they could even touch him. A lone, particularly large zombie swung a heavy metal beam like a club. Hel dodged with a slide under the swing, then flipped to his feet, allowing his rotating guns to blast the creature with high-velocity spikes, nailing it into the wall like a grotesque artwork.
"Guns, execute thy enemies.."
Cornered by a quartet, Hel smirked as he allowed them to close in. As soon as they had him within their grasp, he absorbed the kinetic energy of their attacks, storing it within him. Seconds later, he released this energy in a devastating shockwave, ripping his foes apart.
Hel moved like lightning, a blur of coat and boots. Zombies appeared in wave after wave, each meeting their end through varying combinations of ice and fire, electricity and raw kinetic force from Hel's voraciously varied arsenal of elemental bullets. Whether it was turning the floor beneath them to ice, or summoning a localized tornado of flame, Hel adapted his strategy to their numbers and ferocity. Hel encountered a sniper zombie atop an old information booth. With a casual flick, one revolver shot upwards, spiraling before sniping the sniper with a single, precise shot that turned the assailant to nothing more than dust. As he pushed forward, a horde surged from a nearby food court. Hel's revolvers danced around him, now a whirlwind of continuous fire, mowing down the horde with an almost artistic flair, bullets curving and twirling through enemy flesh in a deadly ballet.
Now central in the mall's atrium, Hel faced the toughest of the zombie assassins, their bodies armored and tactics coordinated. Here, Hel's strategy shifted. Absorbing blow after blow, his body seemed to almost rupture under the force, but with each hit, his counterattacks grew more powerful. His eyes glowed with accumulated energy, a human dynamo. He unleashed a cataclysmic explosion from his body, a literal human bomb, obliterating the remaining assailants in a spectacularly destructive crescendo. As the dust settled, Hel surveyed his surroundings, the revolvers gliding back into his welcoming hands. His coat was tattered, and he bore wounds that would be fatal to any normal man, but his smile widened as they started to heal, the absorbed energy knitting his flesh back together. With the path clear and his foes annihilated, Hel resumed his eerie melody, stepping over the carnage as he moved toward his mysterious, unstated goal, the moon casting long shadows behind him, painting him as both hero and harbinger.
"For the shadows that lurk upon shall not overcome my soul, mother."
As Kaido was jogging through the abandoned mall, saying to Rykei, "So, you're a random abnormal zombie. Most likely, they're gonna study you and dissect you. We haven't seen a zombie where it killed their own species. I feel bad though. We could probably use you until you die, which would be the best idea. I, for one, hate zombies. Including you, don't take it personal. I can't stand the smell, the look of you all, and other things. You bastards are what made the world like this, and it's sickening. You bastards stole what was important to me the most. It's taking everyone in me not to crush your head as I carry you. But rules are rules, you got lucky."
The interior of the mall, once a haven for shoppers, now served as a macabre maze. Shadows danced across the walls, hiding threats in every corner. As Kaido's boots crushed debris underfoot, the silence was shattered by the grim patter of unliving feet of zombie assassins, eternally bound to the will of their mysterious master, converged on him.
"Oh great, of course YOU'RE here. Wait, why am I surprised? Doesn't matter I guess, I won't let you guys follow me to the jeeps."
'I'llrun in a different direction, hopefully to corner them to kill them.'
Without hesitation, Kaido swung the massive minigun from its resting place at his side. The whir of the barrel was a prelude to death as he unleashed a hail of bullets, cutting through the approaching swarm of undead with mechanical efficiency. Zombie bodies were torn asunder, limbs and dark ichor splattering the tiles in grotesque splashes. Despite the weight of Rykei and his armor, Kaido maneuvered with surprising agility, his suit's hydraulics hissing as he pivoted and fired in seamless, deadly arcs.
Yet, the assassins were relentless. I'm quick speed, they would dash back and forth, taking turns to shoot or stab into his suit, but the suit was sturdy. Sensing an opportunity, Kaido stomped hard on the ground. The suit's built-in seismic shockwave generator kicked in, emitting a violent blast that radiated outward. The floor buckled, tile shards flew like shrapnel, and the legs of the advancing zombie assassins burst in a gruesome display as the shockwave swept through them, leaving a circle of writhing torsos and severed limbs.
"Get off me! Die!"
But the battle was far from over. Emerging from the shadows, a gargantuan shape shifted into the fat rolling zombie assassin. With a grotesque and ungainly motion, it charged, its massive bulk gaining momentum. The ground quaked with each roll, a terrifying drumroll to an impending clash.
"Seriously?! What else can they pull from their ass!"
Kaido braced himself, setting Rykei down behind a fallen beam for a moment's respite, turning back to face the monstrous assassin. He fired burst after burst, but the rolls were unpredictably fast, dodging bullets with an oddly graceful agility for its size. With a final lunge, the huge zombie collided with Kaido, the impact sending both him and Rykei crashing through a weakened wall, debris cascading around them like the fall of empires.
"AGHHH!"
Scrambling amidst the rubble and destroyed pillars of what had once been part of a sprawling food court, Kaido quickly checked on Rykei, then raised his gun towards the dust cloud. As the dust settled, the fat zombie assassin landed heavily on its feet, its massive bulk steadying as it prepared for another charge. Its eyes, devoid of life but full of murderous intent, fixed on Kaido and Rykei, ready to destroy any remnants of resistance.
Kaido slowly stood up, saying, "You fucker…you want the zombie I have don't ya? I'm killing him first. Not you."
There Kaido stood, the juggernaut and the altered human, back to back in a crumbling world, facing down the behemoth that was an assassin reborn in undeath, each knowing that this confrontation could be their last stand in the shadow of the apocalypse.
The large fat zombie assassin rushed forward with a roar and snarl, and as Kaido braced for the imminent onslaught, an unexpected blur of movement caught the corner of Kaido's vision. It was sudden and agile, a new combatant entering the fray with the acrobatics of a circus performer but the ferocity of a warrior. A shrill battle cry cut through the tension-laden air.
High above, a zombie assassin monkey, clad in a sleek battle suit tailored to its lithe form, sailed through the shattered skylight. Time seemed to slow as it descended majestically, its intent as deadly as the weaponry it wielded, a staff in one hand and an assault rifle in the other. With precision that belied its savage nature, the monkey landed squarely on the massive head of the fat zombie assassin, gripping the beast's scalp with one hand while it positioned its body for a lethal strike.
"What the hell?" Kaido said in a confused manner.
'A zombie monkey is a suit? It's appearance..he's definitely a zombie. His appearance is rotten, zombie-like obviously, but looks intelligent. He killed his fellow zombie friend, why? Aren't they on the same side?'
In a whirlwind of motion, the monkey used its weight and momentum to slam the giant zombie's head into the concrete with a sickening crunch. The force of the impact resonated through the mall, sending a momentary vibration under Kaido and Rykei's feet. Even as the fat zombie struggled to rise, the monkey agilely flipped off its back, landing gracefully yet menacingly a short distance away.
Before the beast could recover, the monkey spun into action again. In a blur of speed and ferocity, it leapt back onto the zombie, this time wielding the staff with devastating precision. Each strike was a spray of dark ichor, as it punctured and smashed its way through the decayed flesh and brittle bones of the fat assassin. The staff twirled and swooped, directed by the monkey's skilled hands, turning a grim dance of death into an art form.
Each impact was accompanied by the macabre symphony of bones shattering and flesh tearing. The monkey moved with a rhythm that was almost musical, its deadly strikes keeping time in the chaotic melody of battle. With a final, spinning jump, it landed next to the still-twitching mass of what once was a fearsome enemy, now just another corpse in the ruins.
Landing in a crouch, the monkey twisted the staff in the ground, planting it firmly beside him as dark blood and remnants of the zombie rained down from the frenzied destruction it had wrought. Its small chest heaved from the exertion, yet its eyes burned with an untamed wildness, scanning the environment for more threats, ever the vigilant assassin.
"Whoaaa…hey there little guy..im a friend, okay?" Kaido lied.
'Once it gets close, I'll kill the bastard!'
In the echoing silence following the evisceration of the fat zombie, Rykei lay still unconscious and vulnerable. Kaido towered beside him, minigun poised and heart pounding in his chest, a steel behemoth ready to protect his charge. Their moment of tentative safety shattered as the zombie monkey assassin, eyes gleaming with a murderous red, turned its feral gaze on them. Its lips pulled back into a grotesque snarl, unleashing an animalistic screech that reverberated through the shattered mall.
Without warning, the monkey leapt towards Kaido with the ferocity of a tempest, its staff spinning menacingly. Kaido fired his minigun in response, the clattering rattle of bullets slicing through the air. But the monkey was astonishingly agile; it dodged the onslaught with supernatural speed, bouncing off walls and ceiling with acrobatic finesse.
"SHIT! Almost!" Kaido exclaimed.
Closing the distance, the monkey swung its staff with lethal precision, aiming for the joints in Kaido's juggernaut suit. The blows were rapid and relentless, each hit a hammer's crash against armor. Kaido staggered under the assault, his mechanical enhancements groaning under the unexpected ferocity. In a seamless flow of movement, the monkey vaulted over Kaido, lashing out with its tail to strike him across the helmet, sending a spiderweb of cracks across the visor.
'Fast runt! Gotta catch him when he's stationary! But he's moving too fast! Aren't zombies supposed to make them dumb?!'
Kaido roared a battle cry, activating the seismic shockwave with a thunderous stomp. The mall floor buckled, but the monkey leapt skyward, evading the attack before diving back down, rifle in hand. A hail of bullets pummeled Kaido, their impacts denting and puncturing his armor. Blood oozed beneath the metal; the brutal force of the bullets was enough to bruise, batter, and break the flesh beneath.
Seeing an opening as Kaido faltered under the hailstorm of bullets, the monkey sprang forward, wielding its staff like a spear. With brutal force, it rammed the end into Kaido's midsection, the impact echoing hollowly against the suit. The monkey's assault was a blur of fur, metal, and blood, a relentless beast that could read and react to every move Kaido made.
Whirling around, the monkey delivered a crushing blow with the butt of its rifle to Kaido's head, creating a thunderous clang that reverberated inside the suit. Kaido's vision swam as he staggered, nearly overwhelmed. The monkey, seizing the moment, slammed its body full-force into the juggernaut, knocking him heavily against a crumbling pillar. Inside of Kaido's helmet, blood splattered on the visor.
As dust and debris settled from the violent scuffle, Kaido, dazed and severely beaten, teetered on the brink of collapse. The monkey positioned itself for the kill, muscles tensed, eyes ablaze with unyielding ferocity. But just as it sprang forward, a blur of motion intercepted the attack.
Kaido gasped as he saw Rykei, awakened somehow, had thrown himself into the fray.
"AGHHHH!" Rykei screamed, His fist connected with the monkey's face with a bone-crunching impact, sending the agile assassin sprawling against the wall. However, the wrestle had cost him dearly; the monkey's retaliatory strike punched a vicious hole straight through Rykei's torso. Both of them went flying backwards, crashing into destroyed pillars, both covered in amounts of blood.
Kaido said, "He's awake? But how? Even with all of that action, he shouldn't have woke up…that sleeping serim was made from someone's magic ability.."
The scenario froze for a second, a tableau of destruction and defiance under the dim light of the broken mall. Then, miraculously, Rykei staggered to his feet, grinning as his zombie humanoid physiology began to knit his flesh back together, his skin and flesh looking like flames as it connected back together in a gust of wind.
Rykei thought, 'I'm awake! I'm awake! Thank goodness! Why is there a monkey in a suit, who is this big ass guy in an armored juggernaut suit, where are we, are we still in the mall? And where's SEVEN?! Damn, I wish I could talk normally, but I can't in this zombie form. I'll try my hardest not to look the human's way, I'll fight this monkey in a suit..assassin zombie monkey? Fuck. This should be fun. I'll win fast, find Seven, no..my zombie side will attack her..I can't. What am I gonna do? I look at this ability as a curse, sure I gain more from turning into a zombie at night, but at what cost if I can't even talk to Seven in this form? She probably can't even recognize me in my zombie form, and if we win this fight, then I need the guy in the armored shot to knock me out again! But does he even have any of those darts or something? Will I kill him before he can use it? This sucks..'
The zombie monkey pointed at Rykei, murmuring, "Die."
Kaido and Rykei thought at the same time, 'It talked!'
Kaido, bolstered by Rykei's resurgence, lifted his minigun, its barrels beginning to whir ominously. Standing across from each other, with wounds healing and weapons ready, the three warriors confronted one another once more, Kaido and Rykei, battered yet unbroken, and the zombie monkey assassin, snarling with a primal rage, more determined than ever to fight.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone