Throne of Steam

Lurmon treaded silently, his footsteps barely making any noise. His broad shoulders slightly lowering as he took a cigarette from his front pocket and put it between his lips.

"Does anyone have a fire?" Looking very unconcerned, he barely glanced at the restricted mutant before asking around while scouring through his pockets. "You can't spect me to fight like this, Dante."

Is a fire required!? Aren't you able to fight without having a smoke!? Two people died, have you ever thought that maybe you should be a little more considerate?... Garett complained, his lips twitching as he resisted the urge to use his materialized knife to stab at the Executor.

"You can have all the fire you want after you get rid of it." Dante spat angrily but otherwise appearing very accustomed to following on the Executor's antics. "Come on, blast it while the beast is restricted, it's getting late."

"Huh, you can take your toy chains off, it's been a while since I fought an A-grade." Lurmon took off his vest, and a muscular chest full of scars came into view; apparently, it wasn't the first time he fought a strong mutant hand-on-hand. "Come on! I don't have all day."

Grumbling some unintelligible noises, Dante followed the Executor's whims. The chains slowly dissipated back into the mists, as everything should eventually return to the realm of the Gods.

"Do your piece." The hunter's captain stated as he turned around and marched to the closed gates. His steps emanated grief and helplessness; evidently, the loss of a close friend had shaken him.

"Captain..." The red-haired woman spoke, only to be stopped by one of the remaining hunters, her companion already having white hair, eliciting his status as one of the most senior members of the group.

"Let him be, you know he was very close to Burdren." He spoke, it was evident that the captain wasn't the only one in grief, and every single one of the Hunters had a saddened expression.

"H-How do you trust Lurmon so much? He'll be okay fighting that thing alone?" Garett's shaky voice cut in at that moment, his eyes fixated on Lurmon's back. He couldn't understand how that man could take a beast that an entire team of Hunters failed to kill.

"Oh, even if Dante is a capable captain, his abilities are more related to restricting and trickery. An A-Rank mutant has a huge power of regeneration, so even if we did damage it, we couldn't kill him. As for Lurmon... His ability should be enough to decimate an A-Rank mutant to ashes." The Red-haired woman clarified as she took off her gigantic gloves. Her slim arms looked peculiar when paired with the gargantuan gauntlets. "That doesn't mean he is stronger than the captain, though. Every time the two of them sparred, Dante was able to restrict him before Lurmon could discharge his burst of power."

She forced a smile at that, evidently trying to hide her emotions in front of the recruit.

'A strong person always hides a soft interior', mom said that. Maybe I should stop blabbering with the Hunters for now... Garett thought to himself after coming to this realization. Shutting his mouth, he took a few steps back and kept on looking to Lurmon's direction.

This battle was Garett's first, and his first time seeing such a high concentration of blood and death in one place. Even if he had seen corpses before on the College's morgue, it felt very different when on the battlefield! Corpses provided by an institution are just cold pieces of meat, whether, on the battlefield, a corpse used to be your companion!

Even if Garett tried to remain impassive, his trembling legs and pale face gave in his true thoughts! He felt magnificently worthless, as even Hilren had been of help during the conflict, while his only assistance amounted to running from point A to point B while shrieking.

Maybe my warning helped them, even if just a little... He couldn't be sure if any of them had some expertise similar to Perception, and if they had, his prediction was as good as nothing!

"Maybe I'm not fit to be a Hunter, after all..." Truthfully, he felt inwardly relieved! Who'd be the insane person who'd voluntarily enter a team like this, and more so, battle beasts like those!

The powers I received from that weird book seem to be a lot more effective on weak targets, like humans, should I become a bounty hunter? There's a lot of bounties that can make me rich overnight... He then lost himself on the fancies regarding wealth once more; evidently, everything could be settled with capital.

"You don't need to fret. We've all been rookies once, and nobody anticipated you to have such a reliable intuition. You'd make a fine Hunter one day." The red-haired woman somehow heard his muttering, and even worse! She showed her support! That's not something Garett wanted to see!

BOOM!

The collision of the battling duo disrupted their discussion as the ground quaked as a consequence of the brutal clash! The surrounding mists were evacuated when the air turned into waves of wind, and the pressure elicited them to take a step back!

The brute had actually clashed frontally with the beast!

"Heh! Let me see if you can resist this, you freak!" Lurmon's excited voice followed, with his body spontaneously exuding light as he took a couple of steps backward.

As his whole body radiated light, he directed the fiery energy into forming a sphere of light, its appearance resembling a miniature sun that hovered above his palm!

"Oh, crap." Hilren lost his composture for an instant, as he let out a small curse, his eyes staring intently at the pulsating miniature sun.

Why do I feel like this energy is so familiar?... Garett felt chills climbing up his back for a reason he couldn't understand. His memories bringing him back to the insides of that ancient ruin; when the fire suddenly intruded the ancient chamber, and almost ended his life!

"So it was you!" He couldn't help but cry, his indignance reaching new heights while he intently stared at Lurmon!

"Oh, you can remember that?" The Executor laughed, brushing off as if it wasn't worth it to make a commotion out of it.

Shit! The memories about how I survived this spell were protected from their probing! Am I going to be interrogated again!? Wait, Father Charles said that the Executors have no right in interrogating me... Garett calmed himself again; he could only hope the brutish Executor didn't notice the discrepancy in statements!

The beast attacked continuously. It's attacks trying to disrupt the gathering of energy, its tentacles slicing the air with incredible speed, their movements leaving afterimages as they moved!

For his credit, Lurmon was very experienced, and he didn't fluster while using his free hand to unholster his revolver; every single thrust from the beast was blocked by a shot! The firearm was clearly modified, Garett lost count of how many times it shot without having to reload!

"It doesn't use bullets. You could say that it's an item capable of transforming energy into ammunition. Crafted by one of the most capable artisans of the Lord's church," Hilren piped in, answering Garett's puzzlement. "The problem is that it will overheat if he keeps using it like that."

Just as Hilren finished saying that, Garett noticed the firearm's exterior getting steamy hot! The steel exterior was starting to redden, its temperature almost reaching melting point!

"That should be enough." Lurmon dropped the gun, not bothering with the damage it could incur. He then jumped backward while trowing the miniature sun forward!

BOOOOM

An explosion ensued, the deafening noise making the ears of those present ring! The force of the explosion throwing those nearer to it backward while it wrecked the area in front of the main gates.

"F**K"

...

At that moment, a figure fully dressed in red stood atop the walls, his eyes judging the battle that happened bellow.

"Heh, that guy is always creating problems. I wonder how that baster will explain to the people about this crater in front of the main gates..." Shaking his head, the figure then turned around, leaving the gates behind, already aware of the battle's result.

...

The aftermath of the explosion left only a charred crater, no sign of the mutant at all, not even his body remaining.

"When a mutant dies, it's body is dissolved in energy that returns to the realm of the gods. There are some ways to prevent that from happening, so we can collect the body to study or for materials." The red-haired woman clarified, noticing the wide-eyed Garett that looked at the explosion.

"Materials?" He gulped, his mind replaying the scene that had just happened.

"Yes, some mutants have body parts that can be used in the forging process of weapons and armor, just like Lurmon's revolver you saw before." She sat beside the gate, patiently explaining to the recruit. "Sadly, we hadn't had the time to do that this time. An A-Rank mutant body is very precious, you see; take those sharp tentacles, for instance, you could use those to forge some great weapon."

"I see..." Garett felt enlightened, imagine forging an armor from that beast's skin, it would be very sturdy! Even after attacking it multiple times, the beast seemed to still be fine!

Just as Garett was thinking of asking some more questions, he felt something calling him from the explosion's epicenter! As if he was being summoned, he approached the crater in a daze!

"Kid? What are you doing? There's nothing to see there." Lurmon said as he saw the young man pass by him, curious as to what was happening.

Not answering, Garett continued his daze while he approached the crater. Only to see a tiny transparent snake floating in the air, and it seemed to be invisible to the veterans present!

This... seems to be related to that book, right? Why did it appear in the place a mutant died?... Garett had a lot of unanswered questions, but not a single one of them seemed important at that moment. The snake was calling him, demanding him to come closer!

Hiss!

He extended his hand to touch the strange phenomena, he couldn't understand why, but he felt that the thing would not do him harm.

"Ah!" As he touched the creature, it bit into his finger and entered his body, not leaving any mark! He tried to take a step back only to lose his footing and fall on his back!

"Kid!?" Lurmon bellowed, his expression of alarm. The mutant was already dead, so why did the young man suddenly scream?

A thousand of sensations flooded Garett's mind at that moment, he felt as if the monster's soul was being purified and fused with his being, the memories of the creature flashing through his eyes before he felt the surroundings blackening.