Welcome to Retribution Wars, where Earth is nothing but a wasteland roamed by beasts known as the Dread.
Knowing About the Wars
In the distant future of Earth, in AE 20593 where humans are attacked by huge creatures known as the Dread. These creatures attacked the humans for years. The surviving humans built different huge cities at various locations around the globe. These cities are named as Terrans, and each Terrans must send a total of 400 residents to fight the Dreads.
Each week, 400 people will receive a Red Case. The Red Case resembles a tube containing a letter from the goverment. Red Case letters contains orders that cannot be disobeyed. Other than the 400 that receive the Red Case, the criminals that punished to participate in the war are also sent but on the exact day they are punished.
The 400 people that are sent to fight are known as the Mercenaries. All of them are divided into squads of 10 people. Each squad are given an artificial Dread (aD). The aD have 3 different classes, Combat Dread, Nightmare Dread and Oblivion Dread. And each class has its own ability, the Combat Dread possesses a pair of anti-Dread miniguns. The Nightmare Dread possesses a pair of lock-on missile launchers and the Oblivion Dread possesses a pair of anti-miniguns and a fire breathing ability.
The goverment of each Terran gives their 400 Mercenaries various types of equipments. The goverment gives them a melee weapon, an assault rifle or a machinegun and a special grappling weapon. The melee weapon ranges from swords to axes to spears. But if a Mercenary already possesses a melee weapon, he/she can use it in battle.
Statistics
Total Deaths from AE 20578: 389,654,256 deaths from war.
Total Dreads Killed from AE 20578: 6,078 Dreads killed.
Average Number of Dreads Killed Each Year: Approximately 45 Dreads.
Not Treated as Heroes, but Soldiers
AE 20593, 20th July, 6:58 a.m. 2 minutes until 7:00 a.m, 400 Mercenaries are standing infront of the Delta 20's wall gate, waiting for it to be opened. Some are waiting with fear, some are waiting without having any regret, and some are already missing their families but some, don't have families to be missed. One of them, is properly named by his parents, Leo Halvard.
"There's no point crying right now, when the goverment orders you to fight, just do it," these are the words he spoke in his mind as he saw a young teenager drops his tears onto the ground. "I never see you earlier Leo," a voice of a young woman named Lia Anadria as she walks towards Leo.
"What do you expect for me to do? Disobeying the goverment's orders?" replied Leo.
"No I don't, I'm just glad because you are the only person I know here," said Lia as she smiles towards Leo.
"Well, do you know who's our squadron?" asked Leo to Lia.
"No, I haven't met them yet"
"Ok, let me introduce you to them," replied Leo to the curious Lia then he leads her to a group of Mercenaries.
Their squad is composed of 10 people, including Leo and Lia themselves.
Mathias Kane, a white haired man who always wears a green jacket and a black shirt. He is an expert at distracting opponents. Maybe his skills are good in distracting the Dreads. Mathias never encounter a real Dread during the First Encounter, so he had no experience running away from a Dread.
Hank Cole Jameson, a muscular, tall browned skinned man. He is an expert at demolitions. His skills might 'demolish' more Dreads than any other squads. Hank is once a Major Soldier during the First Encounter, he lost his wife during that time. Because of that, Hank become a vengeful person since that day.
Beatrice Jameson, sister to Hank. Her ability is to heal other Mercenaries with her Heal abilities. Only a few Mercenaries have special abilities including Leo and Lia. Beatrice, despite being a woman she knows how to fight because she believes that crying is useless these days.
Marceline Rossevelt, a skilled sword fighter and very agile. During the First Encounter, she got separated from her brother during an evacuation. And she hopes that she will find her brother when she goes out of Delta 20.
Ryu Ishijima, a Japanese guy who wants to eliminate all Dreads because of the loss of his family. Ryu possesses the ability to see clearly at night. He is also a sharpshooter.
Jacques Blanc, a French who is once a baker in Delta 20 but now he is a Mercenary. Thanks to his brother Carl, he knows how operate heavy firearms.
Gregory "6" and Daniel "7", these two twins always like to call each other their numbers. These twins have the ability to run faster than any normal human being.
And finally, their aD, Jack-01. This bad boy resembles a Dragon-like Dread. Possesses a pair of lock-on missile launchers and a laser chaingun. This aD is capable of jumping over 300m. Jack-01 is useful at fighting flying Dreads.
It's 7:00 a.m, the gate have been lifted up. As the gate was lifted up, it slowly reveals the wastelands that the treacherous beasts made. The view for the 'first time viewers' are shocking. Buildings buried in sand, fires do not burn out, trees are left lifeless and the worst of all, corpses left lying across the 'battlefield'.
The World Outside
The world beyond Delta 20's walls are dangerous.Almost uninhabitable for the humans, and it gives an unpleasant view for those who were born after the First Encounter. But it is not their job to watch their battlefield, their job is to fight on it. After the gate is fully lifted up, all the Mercenaries spread out into random locations.
"So, this is the Outside World.." said Mathias as he is one of the few people borned after the First Encounter.
"Be advised kid, the Outside World shares no mercy to humans like us," replied Hank as he taps on Mathias' shoulder.
"Dread spotted!" shouts Gregory as he sees a hostile Dread from a distance.
"How far is it Greg? We've found our first kill," asks Leo as he grips his sword tightly, like he's going pull it from its sheath.
"Not quite far Leo, approximately 500m away from our position," replies Greg.
"Wait.. I think we're not the first ones who saw that beast," interrupted Lia as she some Mercenaries already engaged in battle with the Dread.
"Alright, that Dread is our kill!" as soon as he finished his words, Hank charges towards the Dread with his axe.
"I can't wait to see our Jack-01 in battle with us," says Beatrice while she brushes her gold hair with her hands.
"Let's go! Our comrades don't have an invincible body," says Leo to the whole squad.
Suddenly, a scorching hot laser beam is shot towards the squad. Fortunately, no one gets into harm. Then, a huge flying Dread came from above, it resembles a dragon with a skull and wings colored in red, red blood. Its back is covered with spikes down from the neck to its tail. As it lands on the ground it roars very loud that its roar can be heard from a few miles away. The squad looks at it, shocked. It is a Prime Dread..
The Blade That Cuts Apart
Standing tall in its glorious terror, the Prime Dread possesses the strength that outmatches all other Dreads. It has the name, the name of the greatest of all Dread, the Dragnar Lord. Its roar shakes the ground beneath its feet, the wings blows away the dust.
"Ugh! What in the world is that thing?" asked Mathias to himself while covering his ears from the montrous roar.
"Don't you see?! It's a Dread you moron!" replied Leo.
From a distance, the charging Hank to another Dread stopped and takes a look at his comrades. "Damn, another Dread? I bet he likes rockets," said Hank while he smiles. He takes his rocket launcher from his back and starts aiming the Prime Dread. He takes a second to aim properly and trigger has been pulled. A rocket came out of that launcher and goes straight to the Dread. BOOM! It hits and explodes on the beast. Ryu, standing near the Dragnar Lord pulled out his Katana Burner, a jet-powered katana out from its sheath. Then, the Japanese guy uses his Grappler, a weapon given by their Terran's goverment to maneuver around the Dread.
Without a tick to waste, Leo also uses his Grappler to get on the back of the beast. The moment Leo reaches the back of the monster, he pulled out his Liberator Blade and impaled the monster. Leo is attempting to cut the skin of the Dragnar Lord. Ryu attempts to cut the Dread's tail by using his Katana since that the ferocious beast's tail is whipping side to side on the ground, like it is trying to sweep off the others.
"Jack! It's your cue! Fire your rockets!" Beatrice ordered their aD to attack by shooting rockets on the beast.
Even Jack-01 resembled a Dread, it shows no mercy to the its real counterpart. Jack lifted up his launchers, opened up the rocket lid and a swarm of explosive rockets has been fired towards the Prime Dread. Meanwhile, Leo managed to cut off the Dread's skin halfway, revealing a shiny part underneath the metal-hard skin. However, Ryu managed to cut off the tail of that feral beast. Then, Lia and Mathias used their Grappler to make the Prime Dread fall. Beatrice and her brother fires rockets and bullets to the monster while Leo was nearly finished to cut the skin.
But, before Leo finished cutting it off, the Dread roars once again and flaps its wings very hard until Lia and Mathias' Grappler was released from it. Both of them fell and Leo was still hanging at the back of the Dread. Before the Dragnar Lord flies away, Leo pulls out his sword and jumps away from it, landing on the ground with just a few injuries. He realised that while he was cutting the skin, the blood of the Dread was warm and the skin is not an ordinary metal, it is a rare metal.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" asked Lia, concerned about what happened to Leo.
"I'm fine, just a minor burn on my hand but it'll recover soon enough. But one thing makes me wonder," replied Leo.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" asked Lia again.
"They are mystical creatures, the gateway to their world is opened right? The question is, who opened that gateway and why would that person make such actions?" Leo replied with the things that made him wonder.
Love in the War
It has been weeks since Leo's squad took an attack from a Dread. Leo was walking while he scratched his not-itchy head was trying to give the squad a name.
"Something seems to bother you Leo, is there anything that I could help?" Lia calls him while she walks towards Leo with her hands at her back.
"Oh, I just wanted to give the squad a name. You know, like Alpha Squad or Omega Platoon. Something along those lines," he replied to Lia, then, Lia looks at him and gives him nothing but a smile.
"You know, I think Dread Slayer is a good name," chuckled a bit while Lia tries to say it.
"Wait, that's a good name because that relates to our work as Mercenaries. Good! I'll use it," replied Leo with happiness as he looks into Lia's gold eyes.
As they were chit-chatting, other members of the Dread Slayer squad starts a topic. "Hey Matt, look at both of 'em, have you ever had the same feeling as Lia or maybe Leo?" Mathias' attention turned to Ryu as he punches Mathias shoulder softly.
"Wait, me? No, I never had that feeling before. How 'bout you? I think Marceline suits you well," replied Mathias with his arms folded infront of his chest.
"Whoa, Marceline? She never talked to us that much. And why do you say she's 'perfect' for me?" surprised of what Mathias had said, Ryu asked him another question, "Well, since you're not answering me, I'll ask you who's better? Marceline or Beatrice? C'mon answer my question," well Ryu's question is asked while he tapped on Mathias' shoulder.
"Eh? Honestly, I--" his words were interrupted by Hank tries to alert about an incoming hostile.
"Enough talking, we got some killing to do. Enemy approaching 300m away! And its skinny," smiled Hank as he saw the Dread is a Metal Dread, most of them abandoned aD's or pure Dreads made out of metal.
"Umm, guys? That Dread is coming here, fast!" said Marceline as she warned the whole squad.
Leo's chat was interrupted by the emergency, then in a loud voice, "ALRIGHT! DRAW YOUR SWORDS, RELOAD YOUR GUNS! TODAY WE TAKE OUR FIRST KILL SLAYERS!".
"Hell yeah we will! Let's do this!" in a voice so confident, Ryu lifted up his Katana and says "Lets take it down!" everyone followed him making Ryu's words as their squad's warcry.
"Leo, wait for a moment," Lia calls out for Leo again, Lia holds his hand and said "When you attempt to try to slice any limb off a Dread, please becareful if you're trying to get closer to it. I don't want you to get hurt,".
Leo closes his eyes for a second and smiles while saying, "Don't worry, I will,"
[spoiler=Chapter 5]
The Anger That Consumes
The squad that slays, the freedom they have to claim not only for themselves but for the whole world. The weapon in their hands symbolises death for the Dreads.
Charging towards the Metal Dread, the
Slayers attacked a Dread caught in their very sight. Every one of them wanted the Dread to be dead.
"Hank! I need you to shoot it with your rocket launcher," Leo ordered the brown skinned man to shoot the beast with his rocket launcher.
"You got it Leo!" replied Hank with his rocket launcher aimed towards the Dread.
"Daniel, Greg! I need you to bring it down!" Leo ordered the twins to bring the huge montrosity down to the ground.
"Right! You know what they say,"
"The bigger they are, the harder the fall" the two twins agreed.
Then, Hank shoots his rocket launcher to the Dread. As rockets launched towards the Dread, the twins used the Grappler to bring the Dread down.
"Lia, Marceline and Beatrice! Create a distraction by shooting the Dread. Ryu, you're with me, we're going to devour the Dread" Leo ordered his teamates again.
"Ok, Leo and be careful!" Lia reminds Leo once again.
Leo and Ryu drew their swords and used their Grappler. Leo then reaches the arm of the Dread, he lifts his sword and swings it towards the Dread's arm. The metal limb of the Dread fell on the ground while Ryu notices something, there is a scream not that loud. Then, Ryu looks at the glowing part of the Dread. The Japanese man was shocked as he saw a person inside it.
"Leo! Leo! We should attack the glowing part of the Dread. This guy brought someone in it!" Ryu alerted Leo about his discovery.
Leo immediately stopped at what he's doing. Then again, something's not right. The Dread opened its mouth and it glows, like it is charging a beam. The beast aimed towards Lia and the others. And a blazing beam came out of its mouth. The beam hits the squad on the ground while Leo and Ryu is safe, uninjured. A few seconds later, the beam disappeared and Lia, Hank, Marceline, Beatrice and the twins is injured. Shocked and angry, Leo sees Lia lying on the ground injured.
"Damn, damn... DAMN YOU DREAD!!!!!" Leo closed his eyes while saying it, as he finished his words. He opened his eyes and his pupils turned red blood from blue ocean. A red aura came out of his body. Leo's ability is
Wrath, when he gets angry, very angry, his speed, strength and jump height is increased.
Then, the angry Leo jumps off the arm of the Dread and went towards the head of the Dread. When he reached the head, he brandishes his sword and beheads the head in just a single strike. The head fell onto the ground and the huge beast fell onto its knees. Then lying down, dead.
Ryu breaks the glowing part of the Dread to retrieve the person in it. The part shattered and Ryu reached his hand to pull the person out. It's a young woman, aging between 18-25.
Then, the wrathful Leo calms down and the red aura around him disappeared. His eye turned back to normal. Then, he walks slowly to Lia. After that, he lifts up Lia. The eyes of Lia opened slowly, a blurry vision slowly becomes clear. Her face was covered with blood.
"Are you okay? Can you stand up Lia?" Leo asked her with concern.
"I.. I'm fine, I just can't stand up. It'll be a burden for the whole squad" then, Lia coughed blood and smiles. She lift up her hand and puts it on Leo's cheek. "I'm just
