"Talos... What's going on here?" Nina whispered, holding her sword tighter than before. 

Nina couldn't understand what was happening. Moments ago they were busy killing monsters and suddenly, for no apparent reason, the members from Andrex's family had turned their weapons on them? She knew Andrex had had issues with the Black family, but why would he isolate her from the rest of the family and attack her like this? But if he wanted to attack someone, Andrex would have gone for Nathan, not her. 

She might've been important to the family in recent years, but she couldn't think of one instance where she did anything to upset Andrex... Unless it wasn't about her at all. 

"I don't know, mistress." Talos replied in the ogre's voice, "All I know is that master wants you to get out of the dungeon. No matter the cost."

Nina's guess was right. Andrex did it all to get back at Arnold for humiliating him in front of the other heads, back when Arnold was made the commander to lead the syndicate into the swamp.

Andrex had made it clear that he'd never acknowledge or support Arnold but she never thought he'd fall this far to get under Arnold's skin. 

'What does that frivolous bastard thinks of me? S ranked assholes couldn't take me down when I was C ranked. Now that I'm an A-ranker, and they think they can take me down so easily?' Nina thought as she took a step forward and stood next to Talos, but he pushed her back. 

"Mistress, your safety is of the utmost importance right now." Talos told her, "God forbid, but if anything happened to you, the master would burn this world down in his blind rage. I cannot allow that to happen. So please make a run for it as soon as you see an opening. I'll hold these suckers till then."

"Wasn't that mechanized bastard destroyed?" Adrian gritted his teeth together, "He even survived the EMP attack and now he's turned into a wall between us and our revenge."

"That ogre or whatever that thing is, looks strong," Decker, the smallest guy among the crowd as well as Adrian's second in command voiced his opinions, "What should we do now? Use another EMP?"

Adrian turned to face the dwarf-like man next to him, before smiling, "You should be grateful. If you had been any taller, that disgusting robot would've blown your head off."

"I'm serious Adrian."

"I know you are... But we can't do much now. We have to take down that vile creature first and foremost. After that, we'll drag the girl to Luke. What he does with her, doesn't concern us."

"Right." Decker nodded before getting into his battle stance. 

Decker might've been the shortest member in the group, but he was also the strongest and the most agile among them. And the only one Adrian ever listened to. They had been friends for as long as they could remember. Hell, at one point in time, Decker was the one who kept saving Adrian's butt during their missions. No matter how outrageous the mission was, they always made the impossible, possible. 

"It's better if we do what we did in Budapest? Hit and run?" Decker asked the boss man. 

"Don't mind if we do." Adrian turned to face the magicians, "Prepare some healing magic for me, will ya?"

"Yes sir!" The three mages replied in unison. 

Seeing that Talos was distracted, Adrian charged at him along with Decker. A fatal mistake. Talos swung his gigantic arms around. Decker easily dodged the attack but it wasn't the same for Adrian as he crashed hard to the wall on the opposite side. His skull was split open from the impact.

Decker, however, managed to get close to Talos. Closer than he was comfortable with, so he tried to kick the man as well. But Decker was faster than him. He quickly dodged the incoming attack and threw something at Talos. 

Talos covered his face with his right arm while holding Nina back with his left. Nonetheless, it wasn't an ideal position for him to battle. But he couldn't do a thing about it, not while protecting someone. The next second, the mysterious ball exploded right in front of his face. Shrouding him in smoke. 

"Smoke grenade? You think that would work against me?" Talos roared in rage and charged at the crowd like a rhino. If he could get them before they could react, Nina would be able to get out of there. 

He hit the unsuspecting crowd of enemies. The tankers heard the ogre's footsteps and hurriedly pulled their shields up. However, it was all in vain, mere A-rankers won't be able to stop Talos. The explosive impact shook the dungeon to its core. The tankers were killed in an instant. But those unfortunate ones who didn't die instantly were on the ground howling in pain with their limbs twisted in weird angles. Soon the dusty floor was drenched with crimson blood. Just when Talos thought it was all over he heard a voice. 

"It wasn't my intention to target you." Decker smiled through his gas mask as the cloud of black smoke finally dissipated, "It was her. Always had been."

Nina's unconscious body dangled on Decker's shoulder. Talos then realised what the bomb was... It wasn't a smoke bomb but knockout gas. He wasn't affected by it because he was a robot, but Nina was. 

"You don't know who you're messing with..." Talos mumbled slowly, "Thousands of lives would be in danger because of your foolishness!"

"Oh... Just shut the fck up!" Adrian yelled as he speared Talos down to the ground, his head bleeding like a fountain, "Decker, take that bitch out of here. I'll hold this box of tin down. Go!"

"You got it!" Decker nodded and rushed out of the dungeon. Once he was outside, he saw a man casually smoking a cigarette next to a car. 

"There you go, Luke." Decker said placing Nina on the ground in front, "You should probably get going. We had some trouble within- ahh!"

Luke smiled as Decker slowly fell on his knees, blood gushing out of his mouth and nose, "I'm sorry about this, Decker. But we gotta take care of the loose ends. Don't hold a grudge against me."

"You... Bastard..." Those were Decker's last words as his mind went blank. 

"Now, what should I do with you?" Luke smiled like some feral beast before he started kicking Nina in her face, her abdomen, everywhere.

"I... Don't... Think... Andrex... Would... Mind... If... I... Play... With... You... For... A... While!" He said kicking her before each word came out of his filthy mouth. After he was tired of kicking her, he grabbed her by her hair and started bashing her head on the hood of his car. 

By the time he stooped, Nina was a mess. Her clothes were torn, her face was swollen, bruised and battered. She laid there in the pool of her blood. Unable to feel anything due to the knockout gas while Luke was laughing like a madman. 

Luke's maniacal laughter was the only thing Nina could hear as she slowly regained consciousness. In her mind she was apologizing to Arnold, if only she had stayed inside the mansion like he had told her to, none of this would've happened.

She knew it was the end, but then she saw something coming towards her from the skies... A winged creature, camouflaged within the stars... A jade dragon... And on top of it was a man... A man whom she loved more than herself...

"Arnold..." She mumbled before darkness snatched her away.