Red Moon Rising - A Prototype for Perfect Evil

Ima would have pouted that the man had not shaken her hand had she not been more distracted by the creatures now heading towards them. She couldn't help but shudder and feel curious about them at the same time, despite the explanation she had been given.

Admittedly there were parts of the explanation she hadn't quite understood, but she had gotten the gist of it. Sometimes the alien wished this wasn't her second language...

Ima didn't blink as she sent a wave of gravity crashing down on the creatures, immobilizing many and outright crushing a few. She pulled out her gun from her jacket pocket, which still looked as childish as before, albeit now large enough to fit in her hand comfortably. She shot some of the ones that hadn't gone down instantly, the red beam burning through the flesh easily.

"Dust to dust." Ima said as one of the zombies she hit burst into flames, soon turning to nothing but ash. She then continued on.

"Interesting."

Takato didn't even bother to move beyond gazing at the Zombies, heat building up over the area as his eyes faded into a sinister amber. Hellish flames suddenly licked the earth below his feet, lashing wildly to come together within one single point in mid air. Slowly a single metal palm lifted upwards, meeting the vortex of fire before a calm smile flashed across pale lips. "Turbo Flamma. Burn." A sudden scream of fire howled forward, a giant ball of flame swallowing Zombie after Zombie in a hungry explosion of light and intense heat. This was repeated by another, and another, and another.

The Magi gave a feral smile to Chris as he absently let loose another blast of fire,

"Next time, shake the lady's hand."

Redfield's eyes didn't move from the attacks let loose by the two allies of Blair. One manipulated gravity is launched a laser from a toy, and the other one just.....just used torrents of flame from a metal arm!

"What....are you? What kind of genetics is this?"

Raven simply chuckled as he walked by, pulling the second gun from his thigh, awaiting another small group of the undead as they hobbled for him, hungering for his flesh.

"C'mon, you ugly bastards."

He spun both guns in rapid succession, locking them into place in a cross arm position, a smirk cracking his lips.

"This party's just getting started, baby."

Triggers were pulled in blinding speed, limbs detaching from the victims, eyes exploding, muscle emerging from the backs of the oncoming, idiotic creatures until they finally fell, unmoving from the sheer amount of trauma to the brain and body. Smoke rose from the barrels as Raven blew out the smoke.

"That was a nice warm up. Not as many as I expected."

He turned to the group, noticing the S.T.A.R.S. members still in their shock of the two strangers and their amazing abilities.

"Shall we continue?"

Ima had taken out the last of the zombies around her, and glanced the area over once more. Finding no more creatures, she skipped back over to the group smiling. It was certainly an odd sight, a young girl barely into her teens skipping to a military team away from a dead undead army.

Then again, Ima was no ordinary young girl.

"All done!" She said to them with a bright grin.

Takato finished off a few stragglers with a single last blast of flame, flickers of heat licking off his fingers as he let his arm drop. His amber eyes shone in the light, a sigh echoing over his lips. He turned to follow Ima and Raven, taking a gander at the S.T.A.R.S members with a rather blank gaze. "Agreed, that was quite unusual. They held no dark mana whatsoever..."

That probably flew right over the heads of the others, but Takato seemed to be thinking quite deeply to himself.

A unseen sweatdrop fell to the ground.

"You noticed that as well?"

The trio began to move down the abandoned streets littered with magazines, scraps, abandoned cars and buses and the like. A single piece of paper flew by, Raven's eyes trailing it.

"These aren't your usual Zombies, I couldn't feel any darkness at play, least not what I'm used to."

He stopped, turning to the members of S.T.A.R.S. who now began to move, communicating with each other on what they had just saw. Their eyes, the ones with their eyes exposed at least, locked onto the trio like the enemy.

"Chris."

A soldier made his way to Redfield, his voice broken by the thoughts of fear and betrayal.

"I know. I don't know what the hell they were thinking, bringing them in on this mission but we may have infiltrators on this one. These may be those Tyrants intel had been monitoring. If they even so much as raise their voices.....light 'em up. This mission comes first."

With that, Chris motioned to the group. They loaded up their weapons, bringing them up as they followed close behind, some sights on the trio.

-----------------

Two hours had past, the sun setting even further behind them, stray cracks of light the only source of visualization they had. Raven had been searching every street corner, ready for anything, but kept his actions very secrete. He looked up to the rooftops, making eye contact with an image he couldn't imagine to be real.

Black sunglasses looked down on the demon hunter, an equally black trenchcoat flowing in the cool wind. A smirked cracked the man's face. Raven shook his head, looking back up. Nothing. He gazed at that single spot, standing still.

Then his attention was grabbed.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!"

A gargling soon followed, the sound of blood filling the throat of one of the S.T.A.R.S. soldiers. From the alley way, a stray Zombie had lunged, sinking it's teeth into the neck of an unsuspecting soldier. The unit looked among each toher, unsure of what to do as the man screamed. Finally, a single shot was fired, the handgun in the hands of Chris Redfield going off. The victim rolled on the ground in pain, the moans growing louder.

The sound had attracted much more than just the attention of the team...........

Ima couldn't help but look sadly at the victim before bringing out her laser gun again. She looked around, waiting for another zombie that might pop out and try to do the same.

She had a bad feeling about this.

Sparks ran along the edges of the guns in the area, narrowed amber eyes flashing as a hint of blue burned brightly. Takato looked around, the air becoming thick with a deep glow around his metal hand and hidden arm. He couldn't sense any mana in the area, but his instincts were screaming at him to get ready for a fight.

So, he did.

Lightning flashed in the sky, a build up of energy flaring around him in a thin bodily aura.

The moans grew louder, Chris motioning to the others to be ready. They rose thier guns, legs quivering, souls crying to run away but hearts ready to fight. Raven looked around, feeling the chill in the air, the moans getting louder.

It was time for it.

He placed his guns on his sides, reaching to his back, gripping the hilt of his sword and removing it from the sheath, gripping it in one hand and placing it on his shoulder. To the others, he was suicidal. Melee against virus-spreading flesh eaters? What an idiot! Raven knew better.

His eyes darted to the left. They had arrived. Too many to count, one ontop of the other, hundreds, thousands, all roaring for their next meal. Raven's ears perked as screams from the soldiers behind them called out. Another group, the same size coming up from behind, and more from the alley ways.

He nodded to the others. This was going to hell and fast.

Chris loaded his gun, aiming at the horde. His hand slowly moved, his sights now on the back of the Rutherford's head. This thing was more dangerous than the zombies, as far as he knew. Multiple elemental use, needed to be controlled. One to his skull, another to the girl's, finish off Raven after. He struggled, turning it back to the oncoming hunters. He couldn't handle this on his own, they'd have to survive.

"OH MY GOD!"

A stray soldier called, catching Raven's attention, seeing the man back up from his friend who had just been bit, his form now like those surrounding them. A chink was heard, and the S.T.A.R.S. zombie fell, a knife into it's skull. Raven's hand was extended, one of his throwing knives hitting the mark. He then turned to the mass infront of him.

"Let's rock."

He smirked.

Ima lessened her gravity and jumped to the back of the group, bringing down the gravity on all the zombies she could as she did. Again, some crumbled under the sheer force and weight, but many didn't and she took them out as quickly as she could.

There were still a lot that she wasn't able to weigh down, so the teen changed a setting on her gun and fired again.

The beam, still red, was large enough to consume something the size of a building. Which, in the past, it had. It took out a good number of the zombies, but they seemed to come without end.

Ima jumped forward and did the same thing again, with the same results.

"This could be a while..." The teen thought aloud as she continued to do as she had done before.

Takato spread out his hands, sparks lashing outwards over the area as the fired bullets on the earth suddenly began to twitch. A chuckle rebounded off walls, an expansion of electricity charged and controlled bullets floating in mid air. The Magi barely gave a twitch of his hands before the bullets suddenly began to spawn more, a wave of metal and lead alike being warped within a circle of Latin licked words and a rather odd glyph. Transmutation. "Water, thirty-five litres. Carbon, 20kg. Ammonia, four litres. Lime, 1.5kg. Phosperus, 800g. Salt, 250 g. Niter, 100g. Sulphur, 80g. Fluorine, 7.5g. Iron, 5g. Silicon 3g. And fifteen other elements. Those are the elements to make an average adult human body..."

His eyes burned brightly with a wave of blue,

"Humans are made so cheaply. Animated corpses? You picked the wrong species to use..."

The air screamed, bullets and metal tearing through air to rip through animated corpse after animated corpse, the earth swallowing them in a rain of bloody lead. It continued, never stopping as the Magi made movements with his hands, charges of raw lightning springing forth outwards from his body. The earth below him was glowing, spreading outwards in a line to circle his entire bodily vicinity. Whatever it was caused caused Zombies and bullets alike to burnt into pieces the instant they reached the circle, a rather cheesy grin on a pair of lips.

"They remind me of Sinspawn. Easy to kill, yet so many to share."

Raven removed from his pocket a long piece of cord, attaching one end to his belt, another to the dagger dangling in a sheath tied to his thigh. He tossed it into the air, letting off a laugh before leaning forward, Scorpion kicking it.

"Catch this! Scorpio Rising!"

The dagger stuck into the skull of one zombie, recoiling back to Raven who flipped, kicking it effortlessly into the oncoming group behind them, missing some firing soldiers and striking another undead. This wasn't enough, but he was having fun. He caught the weapon on the rebound, charging at the crowd.

He met them head on, his red irisis locking onto the whites of their eyes before the slicing began. Blinding slashes, almost unseen, tore through the charge, their lesser intelligence not warning them that the living shredder would not stop.

Blood splashed by, not making contact with Raven due to the sheer speed of the attack, body parts falling in a heap of useless flesh.

Raven approved of the dent he had made in the attackers, but it wasn't enough. They kept on coming. He lunged back, watchng the shuffling idiots move around the hill of their minced bretheren.

"Now for the second act! Rave Macabre!"

Raven called out the move name with a hint of excitment, just at the time Chris had looked back to see how they were handling the assault. Raven's body surged, his right arm began to envelope in a wicked aura of crimson and black, crawling down his arm and onto the sword within his hands, the energy cracking the air like streaks of lightning among ebon flames.

He was one of them too?!?!

Raven held the sword diagnally with both hands, slashing down, a crecent wave of energy slicing through the air and into the crowd, zombies forty deep falling to their demise, the shot splitting their skulls in half. Raven licked his lips, taking up his weapon again, preparing to fight some more.

Ima kept going on with her strategy for a little while before she stopped, floating above the undead horde with a thoughtful expression. She was making a dent, she could see that. But there were still so many! What could she do to lessen them further and faster?

The girl blinked, realizing what she could do and feeling incredibly stupid for not remembering it before.

She floated down to the ground and took a second gun from her opposite jacket pocket.

It looked the same as the first, but Ima looked at it tentatively. Aiming both guns at the undead army, she muttered "I hope this works..." before pulling the triggers.

It did, and the zombies didn't have a chance. Two heat rays the size of houses took out a great deal more zombies than simply one. The alien sighed in relief and fired again. It was a good thing that it worked, she had only finished making it a few days ago, and had never thought to test it until now.

So Ima continued on.

Unlike the others, Takato was slowly growing annoyed and tired with the amount that was heading his way. His eyes burned brightly with an ocean blue, lances of lightning bolts splashing outwards to join with transmutated bullets. He seemed to be losing power, a small pant echoing over his lips as he let loose with another shock wave of lightning. "Are there no end to these things? Fine. I may not know my way around Dark Arts like my fellow fighter does, but...." The Magi suddenly ceased glowing, natural amber filling his gaze once again. Ancient Greek lashed outwards over the vicinity, hands flashing out with a pulse of magical power "To Sumbolaion Diakonētō Moi, hē Krustallinē Basileia! Epigenēthētō, Taiōnion Erebos, Haiōnie Krustalle...."

...Heed the Contract and Serve Me, Queen of Ice! Come, Unending Darkness, Eternal Glacier...

The temperature dropped instantly.

"Takato!"

Raven had called out to his friend, trying to force his attention away from the spell. He remembered those words, remembered facing that spell before. With everything they had be going through already, this was something they couldn't afford.

"Are you crazy? Now's not the time for this! Save your energy, and maybe save a few of these lives!"

Raven looked around, the horde kept coming, and there was no way he and his friends could stop them without causing immense damage and high death rates to the S.T.A.R.S. team. He looked to his right. There, how could he have not seen it?!?

A door remained unlocked leading into one of the massive sky scrapers. It may not have been the best move, but it bought them some time.

"Everyone, into the building and up to the roof tops! Higher ground gives us an advantage and buys us time!"

He removed a gun from it's holster, placing a bullet into one of the undead about to strike after his two seconds of looking away, then lead the charge into the building, kicking the door open and holding it, providing covering fire for the S.T.A.R.S. agents, now ten fewer than before, as they ran up the stairs to the roof.

"Come on!"

Ima opted to guard the entrance for a while and wait until everyone else was in the building before following. Granted she didn't follow them into the building. Rather she just jumped straight onto the roof. It was much quicker that way, she reasoned.

From her position there the girl shot at the zombies trying to enter the building, waiting for the others to catch up.

Takato paused and drained the spell, grunting as he turned to follow. He was letting loose blasts of lightning at the onslaught of Zombies, sparks echoing from his metal fingers as the amount increased further. He sank his steel fist into a close beast and burnt it out existence with a flash of fire, amber eyes turning to gaze at the stairs. With a single stream of Latin, a large stone wall tore upwards from the ground and crushed a certain amount with a sudden rocky stop.

With that done he shot upwards after the others, a slight hint of strain in his eyes.

The horde stopped, trapped outside by the wall Takato had placed. They screamed for more blood, pounding on the stone, but to no avail. More nad more began to pile up, trying to push it down, but it was too strong.

The entire team had arrived, Raven at the back, closing the door behind him as he walked to the center of the roof. With a laugh he turned to Ima.

"Kind of took the fun out of the stairs with that, didn't you?"

He holstered his gun.

"We'll be safe up here for now, until we devise another plan."

Chris had been talking to his team, making sure they were alright, but without surprise he paid no attention to the trio. When all was set and done, he reached into his pocket, removing from it a hand-held device.

"Alright team, we have three options."

He looked over the side of the building, seeing the horde giving up, a few still pounding on the wall, but for the most part they had gone off on their own random directions.

"Intel says the Spencer estate is located not far from here to the west, just outside the city limits. The space between these buildings isn't that far, we can take the rooftops there, avoid enemy sight and be clear, but risk the fall if something goes wrong. Option two is to go back out there, haul it through the streets and hope those deadheads don't catch up."

Raven shook his head.

"That's not going to happen, there's too many of them for your team to handle."

Chris shot back, annoyed with what he thought was just another B.O.W. infilitratig his team had to say.

"My team are the only people here I can trust, Blair! What were you thinking bringing in Biological Weapons in here? Hell, how do I know you'r enot one either after that trick you pulled."

"Redfield, do you really think after fighting a horde of Undead that what we did is out of the ordinary? If we wanted you dead, you'd be dead. S.T.A.R.S. hired us, not the other way around. You can trust us!......now what's the third option?"

Chris glared at Raven for a few seconds before returning to his device, clicking a few options on the screen before looking back to the group.

"There's a sewer system that runs through the city, and leads to just outside the estate. If we head through there it will give us direct passage.......but there's no telling what's down there."

He looked around, viewing everyone's reactions.

"So what's it going to be?"

"I think the first would be the best." Ima chimed in, though confused as to what Chris had meant by them being 'weapons'. She shrugged it off for a later time though. "I can keep anyone from falling, and if you want, cut the time of getting there by a lot."

She paused, and smiled at Chris. "Of course you'll need to trust me if we do that."

THAT part she had understood quite well.

Honestly it upset her, but she knew that now wasn't the time to show it.

The Magi narrowed his eyes as he turned to look down off the roof at the waves of Zombies, his ire burning at the feelings he was getting from Ima. He slowly lifted up his metal hand, the air becoming thick once more. Lightning flashed within the sky, a ocean of blue twisting wildly in the depths of his eyes. "I shall follow any idea Ima has, but first.." A scream of light suddenly exploded forth from him, markings crawling over his body as his coat flew off the edge. A single foreign emotion filled the Magi. Fury. Raw, burning fury coursed through his veins, and something within him responded.

That wall would not last forever. So....

A crackling sphere of energy formed in the air above the area. A single force was grasped within the mind of the Magi, letting a drop of colour burn out. A piercing blue gaze narrowed down upon the unending horde, a single large form coming alive in the sky. Lightning sprang up within the dark sky, a great aura of power coming into existence around the blonde Magi. A single whisper sang along the air, eyes becoming encased in a sea of light. "Quetzalcoatl. Thunder Storm."

The earth was obliterated in an instant, an elemental explosion tearing outwards over the land. Many of the hoard was killed off with a single blast, if only to be replaced by more and more. All was silent around the Englishman, Takato panting as sweat dripped from his forehead. He turned around and crossed his arms, his coat long discarded. He stared at Chris with dagger like eyes, sparks running down the metal limb. "That should buy us some time for whatever plan Ima wishes to follow through with, so cease your useless whining. "

"You don't scare me, kid."

Chris said plainly. He knew the power, he had seen things just like it, but even he was forcing back hints of fear from the greta beast that had appeared, as well as the chaos that soon followed.

"Just be glad he's on your side."

Raven chuckled as he placed a hand on Takato's shoulder. He looked down to him, sensing the anger in his friend's heart. He gave Takato a nod, acknowledging that he understood the angst, but that he needed to control it.

"Well I guess we've decided then. Ima can asure us safe passage from roof to roof, we'll be at the estate shortly, then the real fun begins."

He left his friends' sides, making his way to the edge of the roof, leaping across effortlessly to the next, then turning back.

"Ya coming or what?"

--------------

In the distance, another set of eyes watched as the group began to move. A single gust in the sunset moved a black coak around a pair of high-heeled boots, reaching up the entire body, covering the wearer's form. A black hood covered the head, and the face, hidden behind a modernized version of an italian dotore mask, a long beak branching out from burning, crimson eyes.

The figure brought up a radio system, clicking in the button, a warped voice speaking into it.

"They're on the move."

"Eeeeexcellent. Then I should prepare a welcome for our guests. Why don't you.....let our friends introduce themselves?"

"Affirmative."

"Coming!" Ima called to Raven, but she turned to Takato with a serious face before she did. "Takato, be careful...if you get tired, you might get hurt. I don't want you to end up like that one guy..." She paused, and then hugged him. "And thank you for caring so much."

She let go and smiled, lessening the gravity of the entire party. Looking at them she said. "It's going to feel weird, like you're lighter, and you'll be able to jump much farther and higher than you would be normally. Don't worry if you end up missing a building by mistake. I'll be behind everyone. I promise I will not let a single one of you fall."

She waited for them to start jumping so she could follow.

Takato merely chuckled as he watched Ima do her bit to help out, a small smile gracing his lips. He shook his head and charged after the group, running slower than the others. It seemed being a Magi didn't help much for his physical speed. He was keeping up, but it was at normal human pace. Though, admittedly, it seemed a bit slower thanks to the metal arm weighing him down slightly.

"Let's go.”

Raven lead the charge across the buildings, seeing an ending to them coming very soon. This had been a great choice. ima was their secret weapon in this, and he knew it. Gravity manipulation not only helped cover ground faster, but made fighting larger groups easier. He was further ahead than the others, shocking part being he was the only one not effected by the gravity shift. it was obvious the years had been very kind to Raven, at least in terms of his physical abilities.

He leapt onto another building, going to make a step, then stopped, leaning back as another form launched over him. He turned while still bent back, actually transitioning to a one-armed handstand, turning three-hundred sixty degrees and removing a handgun from his thigh.

One creature had been followed by eight more. They stood on hands and feet, now deformed into massive claws, their builds very muscular. Their brains had swollen to the point that they could be seen on their skinless bodies, but their eyes were no longer there. Out of their mouths hung extremely long tongues, each the length of a human child.

"Lickers......."

Chris whispered, placing an arm out to the group, haulting them.

"They can hear everything, making unnecessary noise is a death wish."

Raven kepts his weapon locked on them, pulling the trigger. A single bullet flew through the air, only to hit exactly that, air. The Licker had jumped, avoiding the shot, displaying it's agility to everyone. He screeched, as did the others as they surrounded Blair.

They were ready to eat.

Ima jumped forward, staying outside of the circle but close enough to help. She brought down gravity on the monsters, making sure to not give them time to attack before she did. Ima then pulled out her guns again and fired at one.

She tried not to let herself shudder at the sight of these things, but failed.