Chapter 645: Chapter 645: Fight Harder (Part 5)

Back on the rooftop, the fighting never slowed.

If anything, the horde climbed harder.

More hands appeared over the rooftop edges every few seconds now, fingers splitting apart against rough concrete while ruined faces dragged themselves upward through blood and shattered glass.

Seven at a time. Nine at a time. Sometimes more.

Bodies piled over each other so aggressively that several got crushed against the ledge before even reaching the top, ribs snapping inward beneath the weight of those still climbing behind them.

Don and K-4 kept meeting them head-on anyway.

K-4 drove his elbow into the face of a bald woman whose jaw had split open all the way to her ears, then immediately pivoted and slammed the butt of his combat knife through another man’s eye socket before the corpse had fully climbed over the edge.

Blood sprayed across his face and exposed neck while his wounded hand shook harder from the strain.

One of the attackers grabbed onto his shoulder armor from below only for K-4 to stomp downward hard enough to tear three fingers completely off the rooftop edge.

Still more climbed.

Charles could barely support them any longer.

His remaining wing trembled violently now every time metallic feathers shifted outward.

Sweat rolled down the side of his face through dried blood while his complexion had gone visibly paler beneath the grime coating him.

Even sitting upright looked difficult now. His breathing dragged unevenly through clenched teeth, chest rising sharply every few seconds as he tried forcing strength back into limbs that no longer wanted to move.

Still—

He tried.

His jaw remained tight while another feather slowly separated from his wing, trembling slightly before launching outward.

FOOSH~!

The projectile pierced through one’s throat near the rooftop edge before embedding into another’s cheek behind it. Neither fully stopped moving.

And that was the problem.

A few had nearly reached Charles already.

Two climbed over the opposite side while Don dealt with another cluster near the western edge.

One was missing half its scalp entirely, gray flesh exposed beneath wet strings of hair while one eye hung loose against its cheek.

The second dragged itself forward with one shoulder sitting completely dislocated behind its back, the arm bending wrong every time it moved.

Charles tried lifting his wing again.

Too slow.

Both rushed him.

Then Don appeared.

BOOOOM~!

The rooftop cracked beneath his step as he crossed the distance in a blur violent enough to send loose debris whipping outward behind him.

Wind snapped across the rooftop from the sudden stop alone, smoke and blood spraying sideways around his body as he planted himself directly between Charles and the two attackers.

The first one reached toward him—

Its arm exploded apart instantly.

Not metaphorically.

The limb physically shredded the moment it collided against Don mid-motion, muscle tearing loose from bone while the shoulder ripped completely out of the torso from the force difference between them.

Blood sprayed across Don’s chest as he surged through the collapsing body without slowing.

Then he struck.

A ruined man with exposed teeth lunged from the left only for Don’s fist to cave his face inward so deeply the back of the skull burst apart before the corpse even hit the rooftop.

Another came immediately after.

Don caught it by the throat and drove it downward headfirst into the concrete.

KRAAASH—!~

The rooftop dented inward around the impact while fragments of concrete burst upward beside them.

Before the body stopped twitching, Don grabbed one of its legs and swung the corpse sideways into two more climbing over the edge.

Bones snapped.

Bodies tumbled.

One woman with skin hanging loose from both arms tried leaping toward him from behind the ventilation units.

Don twisted sharply, his heel smashing into her ribs hard enough to fold her sideways through a solar panel frame.

Glass erupted across the rooftop.

Another rushed him on all fours, spine protruding through shredded flesh like jagged hooks. Don stepped into it and drove his knee upward beneath its jaw.

CRACK~!

The head snapped backward at an angle no living neck could survive.

Then another.

Then another.

One man’s chest split apart from the impact of Don’s elbow before the body even collapsed.

A woman with melted lips clawed toward his face only for Don to grab her wrist and yank hard enough to tear the entire arm free from the socket in a spray of blood.

The eighth one barely reached him before Don grabbed it by the skull.

His fingers dug fully into the ruined face.

Then he turned sharply.

Fast.

Charles’ eyes widened slightly at the movement, head tilting weakly to the side as he followed what Don was doing.

A lanky woman had already launched herself toward him from several meters away, legs bending wrong beneath stretched flesh while both arms reached forward with twitching fingers.

Don hurled the one in his grip directly at her.

CRAAASH—!~

The body smashed into her head with enough force to destroy the upper half instantly.

Bone fragments and blood burst outward across the rooftop while both corpses spun together into the ventilation systems behind Charles.

Charles stared for half a second longer than necessary.

Tired.

Slow.

Two more men climbed over the rooftop edge immediately after.

Both looked horrific.

One had no skin left along the lower half of his face, exposed teeth chattering wildly while strips of flesh swung loose from his jaw every time he moved.

The second looked swollen unevenly, one side of his torso bloated outward beneath stretched purple veins while broken ribs visibly shifted beneath the skin itself.

Both rushed Charles.

Don burst forward again.

This time the force behind the movement punched the air outward so violently that the ventilation unit Charles leaned against dented inward beside him.

THOOOM~!

Charles lost balance completely and fell sideways onto the rooftop just as Don’s fist connected with the first man’s chest.

The impact erased him.

Not killed.

Erased.

The torso burst apart around Don’s arm in a wet explosion of shattered ribs and liquefied organs before the remains launched backward into the rooftop piping behind him.

Don turned immediately afterward.

His leg whipped sideways.

KRAAASH—!~

The second one folded around the kick before hurtling across the rooftop hard enough to tear loose one of the barricade sections K-4 had built earlier.

While on the ground, Charles raised his head weakly.

And saw K-4 struggling.

The older officer held back two women near the eastern ledge.

One had elongated arms dragging against the rooftop behind her while sections of bone pierced visibly through both elbows.

The other possessed no lower jaw whatsoever, her throat exposed and convulsing wetly every time she tried screaming.

K-4 blocked one strike, then another.

Late.

Too late.

Three more closed in around him simultaneously.

Two men.

One woman.

The first man’s stomach had split entirely open during the climb, intestines dragging across the rooftop behind him while one arm bent backward at the elbow.

The second possessed thick layers of hardened growths across his shoulders and neck, flesh bulging around jagged protrusions beneath the skin.

The woman looked worst.

Her eyes were gone completely.

Empty sockets leaked dark blood down her face while her mouth stretched open far too wide beneath twitching cheeks.

Don saw it immediately.

His body tensed.

He was already about to move toward K-4—

But more climbed over the remaining rooftop edges behind him.

Too many.

Then—

BOOM~! BOOM~! BOOM~!

The sound hit Don strangely through his damaged hearing.

Not clean.

Not normal.

It felt distant and violent at the same time, like metal slabs colliding underwater directly beside his skull while high ringing distortion scraped through the noise underneath.

The pressure punched through his ears harder than the actual sound itself.

His body reacted instantly.

Muscles tightened. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Ready to dodge.

Ready to move.

But then the three attacking K-4 simply exploded apart at the head.

Blood burst outward across the rooftop in violent sprays while fragments of skull and flesh spun through open air.

One body dropped instantly while the other two staggered another step before collapsing near the ledge.

Don’s eyes narrowed sharply.

He couldn’t fully see the projectile itself.

Only the aftermath.

The air distorted where it passed.

Thin rippling compression trails carved briefly through smoke and drifting ash, almost invisible except for the violent displacement left behind in its wake.

A fraction of a second later, nearby rooftop gravel burst sideways from the delayed pressure tearing across the surface.

Supersonic.

Don turned immediately.

And saw them.

The Aegis-9 strikers burst through the smoke-covered skyline toward the tower in full formation, rotor systems hammering the air hard enough to send entire sheets of drifting smoke spiraling away beneath them.

Dark armored frames cut across the ruined skyline while mounted weapon systems tracked downward toward the city streets below.

The lead helicopter approached fastest.

Its side door stood fully open.

And sitting there—

A woman.

Massive sniper rifle braced against her shoulder.

The barrel still smoked.

Even from this distance, Don could see the weapon looked absurdly oversized, the reinforced frame extending nearly the full length of her body while stabilizers locked against the helicopter floor beneath her boots.

Then she fired again.

BOOOOOOOM—!~

The recoil slammed through the helicopter hard enough to jerk the entire aircraft sideways mid-flight.

Loose equipment rattled violently inside the cabin while smoke blasted outward from the barrel in a thick cone.

None of the soldiers inside reacted.

Not one.

Their bodies simply shifted with the movement naturally before settling again like this happened every day.