Hitman With A Badass System

Chapter 1375  Michael and Gaya Reunited Final

The shock that rippled through the remaining hunters wasn't solely due to their comrade's gruesome demise. They were professionals, hardened by countless encounters with death, their minds trained to compartmentalize grief and focus on the mission. But the casual, almost playful, way the Phoenix had manipulated those flames, the sheer power he'd displayed and the fact that they were facing a Phoenix, a creature of myth and legend, in its human form

It was enough to make even the most seasoned hunter question their sanity.

"What the hell, dude?!" the tattooed woman shrieked, staring at the Phoenix, her jaw slack. "You just you just dropped him!"

Phoenix tilted his head, his fiery eyes wide with a childlike innocence.

"You told me to put him down," he said, his voice calm, matter-of-fact. "So I did."

The hunters stared at him, their minds struggling to grasp the logic of it all. There was no malice in his eyes, no hint of the cruelty they'd expected from a creature of fire and legend. Just pure, unadulterated innocence.

"You…you little" the tattooed woman sputtered, her anger warring with her disbelief. "You just killed him!"

"But isn't that what you wanted?" Phoenix asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "To capture me?"

He gestured towards the heavy chest, its metal surface gleaming in the dim light.

"You brought a cage, didn't you? To keep me in?"

The tattooed woman, who'd been closest to the fallen hunter, let out a roar of rage.

"You're gonna pay for that, bird!" she screamed, her hands crackling with energy.

But Phoenix just frowned.

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"Pay? But I don't have any coins. I haven't been to a market in well, a very long time. What are you selling?"

The hunters stared at each other, their expressions a mix of confusion and frustration. They were supposed to be focusing on capturing the Phoenix their ticket to a life of luxury, of freedom from this endless cycle of hunts and dangers. But this conversation was throwing them off their game.

They couldn't tell if the Phoenix was toying with them, or if he was genuinely clueless. Retarded.

"Are you fucking with me?!" the tattooed woman roared, her patience finally snapping.

Listening from her hiding spot, Gaya almost choked on her own laughter. "Oh, this is going to be gold," Gaya muttered as she knew exactly how the Phoenix would take. that question.

"Fucking with you?" Phoenix repeated, his brow furrowed in confusion. "No, I don't think mating would be appropriate. Your mate probably wouldn't appreciate it. And to be honest I don't find you particularly attractive."

The tattooed woman stared at Phoenix, her jaw slack, her face turning a rather fetching shade of crimson. The other hunters, caught between horror and disbelief, simply gaped at the bird, their minds struggling to process the absurdity of the situation.

"Did did he just?" the smoker stuttered in utter shock.

"He he thinks you want to mate with him?" another man choked out, his laughter bubbling up despite the tension.

The tattooed woman shuddered. The thought of mating with a Phoenix it made her skin crawl. And the fact that he'd called her unattractive, it was humiliating and made her want to lung at him and rearrange his organs

"That feathered little" she sputtered, her fury reignited. "I'm gonna roast him alive! I'm gonna pluck his feathers one by one! I'm gonna—"

"Damn, girl," one of the men chuckled, shaking his head. "You just got rejected by a bird. That's gotta sting."

"Enough with the jokes!" the blonde woman roared, her patience finally snapping. "We're losing ground here! Activate the cage! Now!"

The smoker, abandoning his teasing, sprang into action.

"Inferno Whirlwind!" he shouted, his hands glowing with a fiery intensity. A tornado of flames erupted around him, a swirling vortex of fire and wind that ripped through the approaching spiders and slimes, burning them to a crisp. The air filled with the stench of singed fur and the sizzle of vaporizing goo.

He dashed towards the chest, ignoring the heat of the flames licking at his heels, and slammed his hand down on the rune etched into its surface.

The chest whirred as the runes began to glow with a sudden, intense blue light. A swirling vortex of energy began to form above it, growing larger, more powerful, with each passing second.

Phoenix, watching the swirling vortex with wide-eyed curiosity, felt an irresistible pull.

"This is… interesting," he murmured, his body tilting towards the vortex as if caught in a strong current.

Gaya, who'd been enjoying the show until now, suddenly realized what was happening.

"Shit!" she cursed, leaping from her hiding spot. She raised the God Slayer crossbow, aiming it at the chest, and fired.

The bolt, a blur of dark metal, streaked through the air, aimed at the heart of the swirling vortex.

But the tattooed woman, her reflexes honed by years of combat, reacted instantly. She whipped a silver disc from her belt, tossing it into the air just as the bolt was about to strike.

The disc expanded outwards, forming a shimmering energy shield that deflected the crossbow bolt, sending it ricocheting harmlessly off a nearby wall.

"Nice try, bitch!" the blonde woman snarled, glaring at Gaya, who was now standing in the open, her crossbow still raised. "You're going to regret that! Once I'm done with these… pests… you're next!"

Gaya growled, a low, feral sound, and dove for cover as the tattooed woman unleashed a volley of attacks. A shard of ice, sharp and jagged, whizzed past her ear, embedding itself in the wall behind her. Then, a rapid-fire burst of crossbow bolts, their tips glowing with a sickly green light, streaked towards her, forcing her to scramble for cover behind a pile of rubble.

"Shit!" she cursed, clutching her shoulder, where one of the bolts had grazed her, leaving a searing burn.

The blonde woman laughed, her eyes gleaming with a cruel amusement, as she watched the Phoenix, his body now halfway into the swirling vortex, struggle against the pull.

With its intricate runes and arcane mechanisms, the chest was a gift from Andohr to Seraphene. A tool, a weapon, designed to capture anything. It worked by creating a pocket dimension within its confines. And once a creature was trapped inside, there was no escape. Not without Andohr or Seraphene's say-so.

It was a masterpiece of engineering and a testament to Andohr's mastery over time and space.

"Fly away!" Gaya shouted at Phoenix with a desperate urgency. "Get out of there!"

"I'm trying!" Phoenix yelled back, his voice strained. "But the… the pull… it's too strong!"

On the other hand, the blonde woman watching the Phoenix struggle, couldn't help but grin.

"Gotcha, birdie," she muttered with triumph. "This… this is it. Game over."

Looking at Phoenix's situation, Gaya's heart sank. She was out of options. Unleashing the other beasts she'd been keeping hidden in the Distillery District… it wouldn't work. They'd just end up trapped in that goddamn chest, along with the Phoenix.

She'd chosen this place, this crumbling, forgotten corner of Seshat's domain, because it was safe. No one came here. And fighting was strictly prohibited within the city walls.

But it seemed… she'd been outplayed.

She watched, helpless, as the Phoenix, his fiery wings beating weakly against the pull of the vortex, was dragged closer and closer to the chest.

And then… a miracle.

A wave of bone-chilling cold, a sudden, intense frost, swept through the Distillery District, freezing everything in its path.

"What the fuck!" the tattooed woman shrieked, her voice a strangled gasp as the frost crept up her legs, encasing her boots, her armor, her entire body, in a layer of ice. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The blonde woman, her eyes wide with terror, tried to run, to escape the encroaching cold, but it was too fast. It slammed into her, a wall of absolute zero that froze her mid-stride, her expression a mask of horrified disbelief.

The vortex above the chest sputtered, its energy dissipating, the swirling colors fading, leaving the Phoenix hovering in mid-air, his wings beating slowly, his brow furrowed in confusion.

The frost was relentless. It coated the cobblestone streets, the crumbling buildings, and the shattered remnants of the distillery vats. The slimes, frozen mid-ooze, glistened like grotesque, multicolored jewels. The spiders, their legs encased in ice, lay scattered across the ground, their red eyes staring blankly at the frozen sky.

Even Gaya, hidden behind a wall of crumbling brick, felt the chill seep into her bones, a bone-deep cold that made her teeth chatter.

But the sudden silence, the abrupt stillness that had descended upon the Distillery District, was shattered by a new sound. A crackling, buzzing sound, like a thousand wasps let loose in a confined space.

And then the lightning struck.

Bolts of black lightning slammed into the frozen hunters, their bodies shattering into a million pieces, blood and bone spraying across the frosted landscape.

Gaya, her eyes wide with disbelief, watched as the hunters, now nothing more than a pile of bloody shards, scattered across the ground like broken dolls. She hadn't recognized the frost but those lightning bolts…

She knew exactly who wielded that kind of power.

"No… it can't be…" she whispered, her gaze lifting towards the sky.

And there he was.

Michael.