[center] [img]https://imgur.com/Zqov1w1.png[/img] ▶︎• ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌၊|• 4:07 [sub][url=https://youtu.be/mljN3Zwy0mU?si=ndm6tHYctF7VNQu3]I Walk Alone – Saliva[/url][/sub] [img][/img] [color=D10000][b]Location :[/b][/color] Type-004 Nuclear Aircraft Carrier [color=D10000][b]Date :[/b][/color] December 25[sup]th[/sup], 2022 [color=D10000][b]Time :[/b][/color] 5:21 (UTC+8) [/center] Alongside the other TFO soldiers was a towering bald man with a toned build and scars all across his upper frame. His name was Viktor Raja, a former cage-fighter from Indonesia who’d been volunteering for the organization for quite some time now. This would be his first mission since his initial recruitment. Initially, he was only kept as a backup in case one of the soldiers was unavailable or injured. However, due to the urgency of the situation, he was finally instructed to join the others at the last minute. While on the trip to their targeted destination, Raja didn’t really talk with anybody that much. He didn’t seem to be interested in introducing himself, either. All he did was just give the other soldiers what appeared to be a glare, his ferocious face faintly scrunching every now and then. From rude to unfriendly, he could only guess they’d been calling him all kinds of stuff inwardly, but he wasn’t quite bothered. He was never here to make allies. He was here for a greater purpose, and that was to right the wrongs that he did in the past as a former Hammer. Most of the time, Raja just minded his own business, preferring to keep everything to himself while enjoying the solitude. His ears were keen enough that he managed to overhear what everybody had to say about the mission, taking a mental note of the Cao Bao’s imitation sighted not too long ago. However, it wasn’t the objective of the latest mission that he paid the most attention to, but rather, the picture in his hands. It was an old picture taken over 20 years ago, depicting his younger self and his older brother standing by the shore of a local beach in the far north of Sumatra. Despite the rough exterior, Raja had always had a soft spot for the ones he held the closest to his heart. He’d been missing his hometown, his fellow tribesmen, and most importantly, his family. He missed them more than anything, but he knew he couldn’t come back. They’d been long gone, and what was left of his hometown was the ruins of traditional houses, stalls, and places of worship that used to stand proudly across the island. [color=D10000][i][u]Abang[/u]… Sometimes, I wonder if I’ve become the next big thing that you thought I’d become,[/i][/color] Raja mused, his thumb caressing the partly shredded picture. [color=D10000][i]Sometimes, I wonder if I’ve become the man that our family—our tribe—thought I would’ve been. All I’ve ever wanted is to make [u]bapa[/u] and [u]inang[/u] proud of their son, but I don’t know… It’s never been the same ever since you all petered out. I’ve done very, very horrible stuff ever since that I thought maybe—just maybe—I’ve become a monster...[/i][/color] Raja seemed hopeless, an unusual hint of vulnerability visible across his rough face. He wished he could’ve found an answer or anything to comfort himself, but his past sins were too great to be overlooked. Being a former Hammer, he’d lost count on the many innocent lives he and his former [i]comrades[/i] had claimed. Surely, he never enjoyed all the heinous deeds that he’d committed throughout those years, but he was forced to. He had no choice since they were holding him captive in that moment, turning him into something of a heartless killing machine to help them bring terror and fright across nations. On the other hand, he knew that just dwelling on the past wouldn’t solve anything, let alone bringing his family and fellow tribesmen back. As long as he’d already paid for his sins in the prison—and now volunteered to combat the very act that he despised the most—he still deserved a fraction of forgiveness, didn’t he? [color=D10000][i]More often than not, even I was disgusted by what I’ve become—by the unforgivable acts that I’d committed all those years—but I know… I know that no matter how hard I try to right the wrongs, nothing will ever change what has been. I’ll still be a felon, and I still can’t bring you all back by my side. Do I deserve forgiveness? Do I even deserve everyone’s mercy? Will joining these folks and redeem myself change everyone’s perception?[/i][/color] Raja had been musing a lot that he didn’t realize just how close they were to their destination already. As he arrived at the carrier, he stowed the picture in his hand into his pocket, then tightened the crimson cloth covering his gouged eye. In his hands, he summoned a pair of [url=https://imgur.com/a/4tJoJdF]Iron Fangs[/url]—the Noble Arm that he’d possessed ever since he was close to entering adulthood. In front of him, the notorious Sumatran Tiger would be welcomed by at least two different sights: the dissolving ‘Cao Bao’ and the subsequent Wukong lookalike named Wu Shufen, seemingly taunting them with a wave of his staff. From the looks of it, it seemed that he’d been challenging the TFO into a scuffle. [color=D10000]“Oi, [i]monyet![/i]”[/color] Raja finally shouted, his voice deep and threatening as he scoffed back. [color=D10000]“You think you’re so tough? Don’t make me laugh! You’re just a pet monkey I’m going to send back to [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragunan_Zoo]Ragunan Zoo[/url]!”[/color] Before Raja could do a thing, Wu Shufen was quick to ambush each and every Arm Master around him. Even worse now that he was accompanied by the enemy aircraft, which, in turn, managed to injure Cristina as the scuffle continued to unfold. His only eye leaped from one side to another, trying to catch up with the tailed staff wielder’s swift movement. [color=D10000][i]Dammit… he is unbelievably fast! How am I supposed to keep up with this little brat?[/i][/color] Wasting no chance, Raja charged part of his energy into one of his Iron Fangs. A spiral of flame emerged across its thin, sharp frame, his eye covered in auric light. He quickly hurled the spectral blade in Wu Shufen’s direction, turning his greatest weapon into [url=https://imgur.com/a/Q4cUeR1]a flying projectile[/url]. A loud, guttural scream escaped his mouth. [color=D10000][b]“RAAHHH—!!”[/b][/color] Unfortunately, the projectile missed. [color=D10000]“[i]Bangsat…[/i]”[/color] Raja quietly cussed, watching with a furrowed gaze as Wu Shufen vanished into the thick white fog created by Mikey’s smoke grenade. The firing projectile dissipated, the hurled Iron Fang materializing back into his hand in the form of a small, spectral blade. [color=D10000]“Coward! He is running away! The hell is he—”[/color] [b][i]WHOOSH![/i][/b] The flame surrounding Raja and the other soldiers had only grown, its sudden burst nearly kissing his face when he was about to chase the tailed staff wielder. He grimaced, closed his only eye, and quickly drew back, subsequently blinking. The thick white smoke had only hampered everybody’s vision, filling their nostrils with unpleasant scent. They could’ve suffocated or roasted alive if this situation wasn’t handled well. Raja had suspected the gunships that flew above the carrier to be one of the culprits. Their soaring noises might be far above them, but to somebody with heightened senses like him, it felt like the gunships were traveling right above his head. [color=D10000]“Everybody, stay close!”[/color] As somebody who could create fire and explosions using ki-energy, Raja knew he was most likely one of the few capable of anticipating the heated ordeal they were currently facing. As he commanded so, the Sumatran Tiger tossed one of his Iron Fangs to the ground, its sharp peak piercing through the hard, metallic surface. The spectral blade emitted a fiery light before dissolving, transforming into [url=https://imgur.com/a/vSoVg0T]a ring of flame[/url] acting as a barrier keeping himself and the other Arm Masters from the firing assaults. The ring of flame grew and grew, and eventually, before one could expect… [b][i]KA–BOOM!![/i][/b] It erupted rounds of [url=https://imgur.com/a/Q6tap6D]geyser-like bursts[/url] surrounding them, fighting back the fanned flame in deafening noises. Speaking of fighting fire with fire, and fortunately, the bigger fire overcame the smaller fire. In this case, the explosive flame that Raja had summoned managed to devour the prior flame gradually. A tremendous quake emerged, rendering everybody and everything on the deck unsteady. A circling fracture was even managed across the metallic ground, yet the still gunships carried by the carrier remained barely scathed. They were, however, pushed out of their initial position due to the quake that the volcanic ring had caused. It didn’t take a while until the flame dissolved and the suffocating smoke extinguished, but not before the volcanic geysers had managed to crawl farther and trigger barrels of fuel perching nearby. [b][i]BOOM![/i][/b] [b][i]BOOM!![/i][/b] [b][i]BOOM!!![/i][/b] [b][i]BOOM!!!![/i][/b] [b][i]FWOOSH…[/i][/b] The barrels exploded, their explosive sparks taking the form of launching fireworks. The explosions only emphasized the strength that the volcanic geysers wielded, their increasing sizes allowing them to reach both of the gunships overhead. They were detonated, shattered, and torn down, their broken remains sinking deep into the ocean in the most gruesome fashion. At the sight, Raja sighed, summoning the tossed Iron Fang back into his wrapped hand. [color=D10000]“Is everybody alright?”[/color] the one-eyed Sumatran Tiger made sure, glancing at each and every Arm Master nearby. [color=D10000]“Now, now… who’s next?”[/color] [b]FIN.[/b] [hider=Glossary] [img][/img] [list] [*] Abang = older brother [*] Inang = mother [*] Bapa = father [*] Monyet = monkey [*] Bangsat = an Indonesian curse word [/list] [img][/img] [/hider]