A few minutes earlier, Serif had left the WGDS building and gone to a tavern a few blocks away, after a few drinks alone, he was about to leave when an explosion rocked the tavern, blowing it sky high, along with everyone in it.
Serif looked down at the rubble of the tavern from the top of a building.
From the ruins, cracks bled molten lava, snaking toward a man with a sword on his shoulder along with multiple people all dressed in black around him.
The culprits considering everyone was running away, yet they were moving towards.
The man grinned and looked away from the rubbles, eyes locked with Serif, then he laughed aloud, "As expected, not even a scratch." He said.
The man effortlessly pointed the large sword at Serif, "But worry not, today I Zero would finally end you," he paused and grinned revealing his teeth, eyes narrowed, "Serif the cleaner."
Then he leapt up, above Serif, blade overhead prepared for a swing, his huge frame covering Serif's smaller body, flames suddenly flaring behind the sword, pushing it forward like a jet.
The sword slammed into the roof Serif was standing on, the roof exploding into a cacophony of flames as the sword passed through it demolishing the building, tremors spreading through the ground as the building came crumbling down.
But Serif wasn't there, rather he was high up in the air, his chains bulging and wrapping tightly around his wrists.
He landed gracefully and looked to the side, towards the WGDS building, a colossal ice wall in front of the building making itself known.
I should have guessed so, he thought and looked at Zero who effortlessly pulled his sword from the rubble.
I don't have time for this, Serif thought and leapt up towards the direction of the ice wall, but he frowned, and spun midair, his feet making contact with the air, ripples spreading, pushing him back.
Serif landed softly and looked around, the lackeys had formed a square, four people at each corner, one with hands outstretched and the remaining three supporting him.
Serif lashed his chain, but as it reached the border between two corners, it bounced back a ripple forming where it made contact, one of the men coughed blood and hurriedly fumbling something into his mouth.
His eyes turned blank instantly, an eerie purple light spreading aggressively from his corner forming a purple outline of a cube, shimmering, a barrier.
Serif turned to the man, a great sword and an ice wall, and lackeys who use similar anima, "Fice mercenaries," He said.
Zero smirked, "Nice to meet you too Serif the cleaner, saves me the trouble of introducing myself, now die," he dashed towards Serif, propelled by lava bursting from the ground.
Serif looked at the ice wall, then the lackeys and leapt back at the last moment, dodging Zero, who instantly switched to a slash, flames behind the great sword, boosting its speed.
Serif swung his chain, wrapping it around the sword, killing off its momentum, then he spun around kicking Zero, sending him flying towards the barrier.
There are four in each corner, and you wouldn't just allow me to deal with them, he turned to Zero, so you first, the chain extended, dragging on the ground as he dashed towards Zero.
Leaping up, he spun around mid air, the chains spinning along heading for Zero who lifted the sword in response supporting it with both hands, attempting to block.
But the chain wrapped around the blade instead, Zero wincing in pain as the free edge of the chain bit into his shoulder.
But he had blocked it, Serif flipped mid air and landed on the sword's surface, a maniacal smile appearing on Zero's face, then without warning a raging inferno burst from the sword on the side Serif landed on.
As the inferno calmed down, Zero noticed Serif standing safely a few meters away, his sleeves burnt, his face slightly blackened, "got you," he grinned and slammed the sword into the ground.
Instantly an explosion rocked where Serif was standing, lava spraying out, but he had jumped up in time escaping it.
But as he was about to land, the ground cracked beneath him, another explosion, lava spraying again.
The explosion flared for a few seconds as Zero laughed maniacally, yet as the flames calmed down his eyes widened as he noticed a silhouette, Serif, chains unwrapping around him, unscathed.
Zero felt his lips twitch, "How?" He couldn't resist the urge to ask.
But he never got an answer, Serif simply yanked the chain, and that's when it hit him, his eyes widening, the chains were still wrapped around the sword.
But the realization came too late, he wasn't expecting it, the sword was yanked out of his hands and flung up.
The chain unwrapping around it mid air, yet the sword did not fall back down as expected of something that heavy and big, rather it continued moving up, fast as if a force was pulling it up against gravity.
"I see, I was careless," Zero said and reached for his pocket, "your anima is indeed troublesome, so what did you do, reverse gravity or something? But it won't matter anyway," he grinned and took out something from his pocket, his hand reaching for his mouth.
But the chains wrapped around him before he could reach it, locking him in place.
Then slam, Zero fell to the ground, a mini crater forming beneath him, his muscles straining as he groaned, the ground cracking under the force.
The chains retracted, wrapping tightly around Serif's hand as he walked to Zero's side, he looked at two dark purple pills on the ground beside him, he bent down and picked one, some sort of enhancers, he guessed.
He looked at Zero whose teeth were clenched, jaw tight, muscles groaning as he was pushed more and more into the ground, with each passing second.
Serif walked towards the barrier, he looked at the lackeys, all with white eyes now. An effect of the enhancer no doubt, but too bad, he touched the barrier and closed his eye.
Seems like a really dense water surface, explains the ripples but nothing can get out due to its density , Serif smirked, a silver glow spreading from his hand, "I'll just add a rule to it then." Instantly the shimmering of the barrier stopped, it stilled.
He opened his eyes and gently tapped the now still barrier, cracks instantly spreading from it like webs, the men gritted their teeth, veins popping, doing everything to stop it, but the cracks continued spreading till eventually the sound of shattering glass echoed as the barrier came undone, the men sprawling to the ground alongside it, bleeding from all orifices.
Ignoring them Serif leapt up, heading towards the ice wall, arriving just in time to see a partially transparent man lifting a scimitar, about to behead an injured Axel.
He was too far, so he swung the chain racing through the air, arriving just in time, it wrapped around the scimitar and he pulled, stopping the sword from dropping.
The next second, the ice wall shattered , the earth moving Axel towards the WGDS building, Hermes at the door, hands on the ground.
Simultaneously a resounding boom came from behind Serif, where he had fought Zero.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw a giant hand made of flame holding on to buildings to pull whatever horror it was up.
Serif sighed as the other chain extended from his left hand, wrapping around the katana embedded in the man's chest and pulling it out, flinging it towards Hermes.
Then he pulled with his right hand, swinging the man like a ragdoll and threw him, crashing into a building.
He turned around, his eyes narrowed as he saw a flaming giant, towering over everything, its entire body made of flames, a massive fire beard adorning its face, it resembled Zero except its eyes were blank, red, and it was made of fire.
He got to the pill, Serif realized as the figure locked its gaze on him and swung its massive hand, sweeping up buildings, screams resounding, as it approached Serif who just stood still, fist tightly clenched, the chains digging tightly into his hands, then boom!!!