HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“Are you out of your mind?!” Vincent yelled at Archie while he held him so tightly. “Oh god! I don’t want to die like this!” he kept yelling that Archie couldn’t help but laugh at him.

Archie looked at Eve who spread her wings with Ruby hanging on her arm. “Eve, catch!” he said as he threw Vincent toward her and they could hear Vincent’s voice cracking.

Eve grabbed Vincent and spread her wings open again to slow her down while Archie dove toward the king parasite.

It took him a whole two minutes to finally reached the bottom of the pillar. He held his sword with both hands as he prepared to stab his sword into the parasite’s skin.

Eve watched Archie bravely stab his sword at the parasite’s skin and he almost slipped his hands on the sword handle. He hang on to the sword while the sword slowly but surely cut the skin of the parasite and it was enough to make the parasite scream in pain.

For a parasite that big, its tail and tentacles moved quite fast and not like the other king parasites he fought. Archie had to move around because the tentacles could smash him into pulp if he didn’t care and the skin itself was slippery like an eel.

“This is really trouble some,” Archie said as he pulled the sword from the parasite’s skin and dodged all the tentacles then got on one of the tentacles.

Eve looked at the pillar and there was a quite huge space so she could put Vincent and Ruby down. She immediately dove down and the gravity force was so high that both Vincent and Ruby almost passed out because of it.

“Alright, you guys can chill here while I’m going to help Archie,” Eve said as she put down both of them and put her wings back into her body. “You can do whatever you want if you think it’s necessary, so have fun,” she continued as she walked backward and then jumped off of the edge.

Ruby and Vincent walked to the edge and watched Eve free falling then she landed on top of the parasite’s head like it was nothing. Her force was enough to push the parasite down and lost its grip on the pillar.

“Alright, let’s just cover them I guess?” Vincent asked as he grabbed his sniper rifle from his back.

Ruby grabbed her small bag on her waist and looked at ten bullets that were filled with the serum. “Let’s send the parasite away from the pillar,” she said as she grabbed three bullets from the bag and gave it to Vincent. “Make every bullet count,”

“Heh, with a target this big, missing my shot would be a miracle,” Vincent replied as he loaded the bullets in the magazine. “Alright, where do you want me to put a hole in that parasite’s body?” He asked as he cocked the sniper rifle.

Ruby sat next to Vincent and looked at him with his trembling hands. “Are you sure you can do it? You seem to be having trouble with the height. Let me do it for you,” she asked with a smile on her face.

“Is it that obvious?!” Vincent asked back as he looked at Ruby. “I must look so lame right now,” he said as he gave the sniper rifle to Ruby.

Ruby chuckled and shook her head. “But you’re still the man I love,” she said as she grabbed the sniper rifle. “Now, let’s focus on the mission,” she said as she aimed the rifle at the parasite.

Ruby watched Archie struggling to stay on the parasite’s body while at the same time being attacked by the tentacles. Eve, on the other hand, used her claws to stay on the parasite’s body as she slid down to the back.

Ruby aimed the eye of the parasite but it kept moving and made it a bit hard to directly hit the eye, not to mention the fierce wind on the sea that could easily move the bullet.

“This is harder than I thought, the wind is unpredictable and the parasite won’t stay still as well,” Ruby said as she maintained her breathing.

“Need a hand?” A soothing woman’s voice could be heard from behind Ruby and Vincent. They turned around and saw the wind witch stood behind them with a smile on her face. “I heard that the wind is being a bit troublesome,” she said as she walked toward them.

“Yeah, I mean it won’t be a problem because Eve is here but since she has to hide her ability, she wants to mess around with the parasite instead of really fighting it,” Ruby looked at the wind witch.

“Then let me clear up the sky for you,” The wind witch said, and then she disappeared.

The wind witch brought the wind all the way up with her that it felt so cold and hot at the same time since the wind at the bottom and from the top temperature was so different.

“I kind of curious what it feels like to be a wind, it should feel nice, right?” Vincent asked with his hair gotten blown by the wind.

“Who knows,” Ruby answered as she aimed the rifle at the parasite with the wind slowly disappearing.

The wind disappeared and it felt so hot immediately. Ruby held her breath as she put her finger on the trigger and aimed at the parasite’s eye. She waited patiently and when the parasite turned its head forward, she tapped the trigger and the bullet traveled right onto its eye.

“Bullseye!” Vincent said while he looked at the parasite with a binocular.

The parasite screeched and banged its front legs on the pillar which was enough to shake the whole pillar. Both Ruby and Vincent weren’t expecting the impact would be that powerful and they both launched from where they were sitting and slowly flew off the edge.

“Oh fuck!” Vincent yelled as he looked down and grabbed his pistol then emptied the magazine to attract Eve and Archie’s attention.

Archie looked up and saw both of them were free falling. “Eve!” he yelled his lungs out at Eve who was on the back of the parasite.

Eve looked up and raised her eyebrows with disbelief and then she grabbed the parasite’s back with her hand and stuck her foot in it. She jumped as high as possible and it was enough to push the parasite down and lost its grip.

Archie held onto his sword as he fell down into the sea with the parasite while Eve grabbed those two. Eve was waiting for the right moment and before they hit the ocean, she threw both of them up in the air to slow down the momentum.

Archie was getting dragged into the depth of the sea and the sunlight couldn’t penetrate the water anymore. It was so dark and he had no idea what was behind or in front of him, he tried to swim to the surface but the parasite’s body kept sucking him deeper.

Eve swam as fast as she could and grabbed Archie’s hand, she looked at him with a smile on her face.

“That was so fun,” Eve said as she brought Archie to the surface while she giggled.

Archie wiped his face with a smile on his face. “I’m totally hating the sea now,”

Eve was laughing out loud and it was the first time Archie heard her genuine laughter, she looked so charming and beautiful.

“Guys! We have a bigger problem now!” Vincent said as he swam toward them both with Ruby next to him. “We are going to be eaten by the parasite with nothing that can protect us!” he continued as he looked down at the water.

“You don’t have to worry, we have someone who can bring us back to the shore,” Archie said as he looked at the wind witch floated in the air. “Can you help us?” he asked as he stared at the wind witch.

The wind witch smiled and nodded then disappeared, she brought the wind toward them and created waves to bring them to the shore. The wave was so high that it almost looked like a tsunami and the four of them were riding the wave.

The parasite swam and followed them from behind and it swam faster than the wave that it already right below them.

Eve looked down and giggled mischievously. “Everyone hold on tight!”

The parasite went to the surface and broke the wave while the four of them were getting launched into the air. Archie looked back and saw the parasite’s mouth was ready to eat them up but they barely survived it because the parasite missed.

The four of them ended up on the shore and the sand was warm enough to give them warmth. They all stood up and looked at the sea with the parasite was slowly swimming toward them.

“Now this is more exciting,” Eve said with a smile on her face.