Chapter 36: Little Brother

The news of a sudden appearance of a gate and the gate break spread fast, and the guild was already sending Hunters in their numbers to handle the situation.

Many of them moved fast, they needed to get there and help because that would also give them some good credit as hunters in the organization, everything was a means to get better in someway.

Standing outside the Hunter’s Guild were two figures, a man and a woman.

The man was tall, with slicked-back dark crimson hair and a clean black suit that fit his body perfectly. There was not a single crease on him. He looked pristine, like he had just stepped out of a magazine.

Beside him stood a woman who looked far more cultural. She wore a gown that was white on top and black below, with a corset tied around her waist. A stringed instrument rested on her back, an instrument that looked like a guitar but had been built with expert craftsmanship, its wood dark and polished. Her hair was tied into a simple bun, and her eyes were completely closed.

The man turned his head and looked at her.

"It seems they have a situation at the mall," he said.

She nodded. "I heard."

Hunters ran past them toward the street, shouting to each other, strapping on gear as they went. The siren of a guild vehicle wailed in the distance.

"But that is not why we are here," she went on. "We should greet the guild master first."

He thought about it for a second and then shook his head.

"Nah. I want to have a little fun."

She turned her face toward him, even with her eyes still shut.

"You do this every time."

"Oh, come on." He smiled at her. "Don’t be a sourpuss."

She let out a quiet sigh. She reached behind her, pulled the instrument from her back, and settled it in her arms. Her fingers touched the strings.

The sound that came out was soft and clear, and the vibration rolled through the air. The wind responded. It wrapped around their feet, thin at first, and then stronger, and lifted them off the ground.

"Fine," she said. "We will go, get it done, and be back quickly."

"That’s all I ask."

The wind carried them across the city.

They landed outside the mall a minute later. People were pouring out of the doors in a panic, children crying, men shouting, women clutching their bags. A few hunters pushed through the crowd in the opposite direction, their weapons drawn.

The two of them walked toward the entrance.

Nobody touched them. People bumped into each other and tripped over their own feet, but a space opened around the man and the woman with every step, as if some subtle force pushed everyone away before they came close.

They walked through the doors.

A group of goblins and other monsters ran at them from the lobby, snarling and waving clubs. The woman reached for her instrument.

She did not need to.

The man snapped his fingers.

Everything slowed down. The goblins stopped mid-stride, their clubs hanging in the air, their mouths open in silent roars. Even their blood seemed to move in slow motion.

She turned her closed eyes toward him.

"Do you not feel that is overkill?"

He smiled and snapped his fingers again.

POP! POP! POP!

The heads of every monster in the lobby burst at once, one after another, spraying red across the marble. Bodies dropped. The blood splattered across the floor, and not a single drop touched either of them.

"We should be quick," he said.

They walked in.

Whenever a monster came near, it did not get the chance to lunge. Its head simply exploded into mist before it took a second step. The man did not even look at them. He walked through the carnage with his hands in his pockets, as if he were strolling through a garden.

He looked up toward the gate hanging above the first floor.

"I hope there are some stronger monsters inside that thing," he said.

"I doubt it," the woman replied. "It looks like a low-level temporary gate. If anything bigger were going to come through, it would have been a much bigger problem for them already."

She struck the strings again.

The wind lifted them off the floor and carried them up the escalator shaft and onto the top of the second floor, where most of the fighting was happening. Hunters were scattered across the walkway, fighting in small groups. Bodies of monsters lay everywhere.

The man scanned the scene.

His eyes landed on two boys near the railing. One of them had a katana, and there was a dark shape at his side, shifting and fighting beside him. The other one wore body armor and fought with his fists.

They were cutting through monsters with the help of a number of hunters.

"It seems they have handled it already," the woman said.

The man let out a groan.

He had wanted a little fun, and it looked like the situation was already finished. He turned away, ready to head back.

Then the gate shook.

It kept growing. The vortex stretched wider and wider, the edges of it scraping across the ceiling, until the air itself cracked. A massive shape leaped out of it and landed on the floor.

It was an orc, huge and green, with tusks as long as a man’s arm. It roared, and behind it, more orcs jumped through the vortex one after another, dozens of them, armed with axes and heavy shields.

The man stopped.

He turned back around, and a smile slowly spread across his face.

The woman knew that smile.

"No," she said.

He did not answer. He stepped forward through the crowd of hunters, and everyone turned to watch him. The orcs charged along the walkway in a thundering line, their roars shaking the glass.

He raised one hand.

He flicked his wrist.

A massive wave of invisible force shot forward, and it was so powerful that it knocked the nearest hunters off their feet. It hit the orcs head-on, and every orc in the front line was destroyed at once, reduced to a mist of blood that hung in the air.

Everyone stared.

He clicked his tongue. It still was not enough. More were coming, and more were rushing out of the gate behind the others.

On the other side of the floor, Leon and Xander had turned around.

They had felt it. That kind of power was not normal, and they both wanted to know what level of hunter had arrived. Leon pushed a monster off his sword and looked across the walkway.

Xander saw the man and froze.

All the color drained from his face. He knew that suit, and that hair, and that smile. He swallowed hard and looked at Leon.

"We have to leave here," he said.

"What? Why?" Leon asked. "We still have to find my sister and Sophia."

"No. We have to go. Right now."

Xander grabbed Leon’s arm and tried to pull him away.

It was too late.

A shadow stretched over their heads, soft and quiet. It darkened the floor beneath their feet, and they both stopped.

The man was standing above them.

He looked down at Xander, and a soft chuckle left his lips.

"Oh, I did not expect to see my little brother here. How have you been, Xander?"