Chapter 26: Join Us

Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Join Us

Chapter 26: Join Us

Axel Vance grimaced and shook out his numb right arm as the thunderous echo of the experimental handgun rolled through the abandoned factory. Whatever Marcus had built, calling it a pistol felt increasingly dishonest because the recoil had snapped Axel’s arm backward hard enough to make his shoulder ache. If his Physique had not been strengthened several times already, he had little doubt an ordinary shooter could have broken a wrist with a single shot.

Axel did not waste time complaining about the weapon. He broke open the single-shot action, and a scorching cartridge case thicker than his thumb dropped onto the concrete with a metallic clang. After pulling another massive round from his tactical vest and reloading, he closed the action and cautiously approached the black-robed man sprawled across the factory floor.

Up close, the damage was horrifying. The heavy projectile had destroyed most of the cultist’s left side from shoulder to hip, leaving torn fabric and mangled flesh scattered across the pavement. The enormous stopping power finally explained why Marcus had tolerated such ridiculous recoil in the first place.

Axel expected the man to be dead.

Instead, the cultist moved.

A wet chuckle escaped beneath the hood as he somehow propped his ruined body up with one remaining arm. "The Bishop was right," he rasped, his breathing broken but his voice still filled with fanatic devotion. "Your flesh is perfect, Pure One. Join us."

Axel narrowed his eyes but said nothing. The cultist trembled violently as he continued, "Accept the initiation, and everything hidden inside that body will awaken. Strength you cannot imagine is already waiting for you."

Axel almost laughed.

He had already seen what the cult’s version of power had done to Michael Myers. Michael had become something capable of walking through gunfire, but whatever humanity remained inside him had been buried beneath corruption. Axel had a system that allowed him to grow stronger without surrendering his mind, so there was no reason to gamble with some cult ritual.

"You people really don’t know when to stop talking," Axel said as he raised the experimental handgun again. "You’re missing half your body and you’re still trying to recruit me."

The cultist’s damaged chest shook with another laugh. "You will understand eventually."

Axel pulled the trigger.

The factory shook beneath another deafening blast, and what remained of the cultist’s upper body disappeared into a violent spray of blood and shredded black cloth. This time there was no movement afterward, and Axel lowered the weapon while waiting several seconds to make absolutely certain the man would not sit up again.

"Finally."

He reloaded once more and turned toward Clarice Starling, intending to tell her they needed to leave before more cult members arrived. The words barely reached his lips before Axel stopped walking because the factory entrance no longer looked the way it had a few minutes earlier. Figures in identical black robes now stood silently across every visible exit.

There were dozens of them.

Axel had no idea when they arrived.

Each figure wore a loose hood that hid most of the face beneath deep shadow, and none displayed the slightest nervousness despite the mangled corpse lying nearby. They simply stood shoulder to shoulder in complete silence, sealing the doors and passages as though they had been waiting for Axel and Clarice to notice them.

Clarice emerged from the manager’s office with the MP5 already in her hands. The moment she saw the crowd, her expression hardened and she moved closer to Axel without lowering the weapon. "That’s a problem."

"Just a small one," Axel replied, though even he did not believe it.

He stepped forward and raised his voice. "Miami Police! Clear the exits and put your hands where I can see them."

Nobody moved.

Axel watched carefully for a reaction and saw almost nothing. No one flinched, shifted weight, whispered to a neighbor, or even seemed particularly interested in the heavily armed police officer standing in front of them. Their stillness felt less like discipline and more like someone had placed a row of human-shaped puppets across the factory.

"That’s not normal," Clarice murmured.

"No kidding."

Axel decided to test them.

He switched back to the Remington 870, aimed safely upward toward an empty section of ceiling, and fired. The blast thundered through the factory and sent dust drifting from old steel beams, yet the assembled cultists barely reacted. Even people expecting gunfire should have shown some instinctive movement at that distance.

Axel lowered the shotgun slowly. "I really hate cults."

A long whistle suddenly echoed from somewhere outside the factory.

Every hooded head moved at once.

The nearest cultists surged forward.

Axel barely had time to raise his weapon before automatic fire erupted from behind him. Clarice’s MP5 produced a sharp series of controlled bursts, and the first attacker was struck repeatedly in midair before crashing onto the concrete. Another cultist stumbled over him, only for Clarice to shift her aim and drop that one as well.

"Immediate lethal threat confirmed," Clarice called from behind Axel. "I’m done giving warnings."

Axel grinned despite the situation. "That’s why I like working with you."

He holstered the experimental hand cannon because its single-shot action was far too slow for a mass rush. The Remington came up instead, and Axel fired into the leading wave at close range. The shotgun blast tore through the first attacker and threw another man behind him off balance.

The cultists did not slow down.

They stepped over fallen companions without hesitation and continued advancing as though the bodies beneath their feet meant nothing. Some who had already been hit badly enough to incapacitate ordinary people still tried to crawl or force themselves upright. Whatever had been done to these people, fear and self-preservation were clearly no longer functioning normally.

"Clarice, get elevation!" Axel shouted while backing toward a row of concrete support pillars. "I’ll keep them focused down here."

She immediately understood and ran toward a metal staircase leading to an old maintenance platform. From the second level, she gained a clear angle over the machinery and began firing measured shots into cultists trying to surround Axel. Her elevated position also allowed her to watch his blind spots while he moved between the pillars below.

Axel fired again and deliberately dropped his aim.

The spread struck several attackers across the thighs and knees.

Three black-robed figures collapsed almost together, creating a pile of bodies directly in the path of the people behind them. The cultists still tried to advance, but now they had to stumble over their own wounded companions while Axel pumped another shell into the chamber.

Police Marksmanship Lv.3 MAX made the shotgun feel completely different in his hands. Axel could judge the widening spread almost instinctively and place each blast where it would disrupt the greatest number of attackers. Whenever he had room to avoid killing someone outright, Non-Lethal Shooting made shots at legs and other non-vital areas unnaturally precise.

"Axel, right side!" Clarice shouted from above.

He did not even turn fully.

Axel shifted the shotgun into position and fired toward the movement behind his right shoulder. A cultist who had nearly reached him was blasted backward into an abandoned machine before he could make contact.

"Thanks."

"Pay attention."

"I am paying attention."

Clarice fired again, dropping another attacker trying to climb toward her platform.

The entire factory became a storm of gunfire, footsteps, and screaming metal. Empty shotgun shells bounced across the concrete while Clarice’s spent brass rained from the platform above, and every few seconds another black-robed body fell among the machinery. Still, the surviving cultists showed no sign of retreating.

"What is wrong with these people?" Clarice shouted between shots. "They’re not even trying to protect themselves."

"They’d better be more than ordinary people," Axel replied while reloading behind a concrete pillar. "Otherwise explaining this report afterward is going to be a nightmare."

A cultist suddenly lunged around the pillar before Axel finished.

The man spread both arms and tried to tackle him.

Axel planted one hand against the concrete, swung his body around the edge of the pillar, and slipped past the attack with ease. His enhanced Physique made the cultist’s movement seem almost slow, giving Axel enough time to bring the shotgun around and press the muzzle against the attacker’s torso.

He fired.

The point-blank blast hurled the man across the floor.

Clarice flinched at the gore but never stopped shooting. Her FBI training had not prepared her for supernatural cultists who rushed through gunfire, yet she adapted quickly enough to maintain controlled fire while constantly changing positions along the platform. Every time Axel became surrounded, another attacker dropped from a precisely placed burst above.

Axel kept moving through the maze of pillars and machinery instead of allowing the crowd to pin him against a wall. His improved strength and reaction speed let him dodge hands, knives, and desperate tackles while loading shells almost by feel. The factory floor gradually disappeared beneath bodies, discarded weapons, and spent ammunition.

The cultists finally began thinning.

Ten became six.

Six became three.

The last two tried to rush Axel from opposite sides, but Clarice eliminated one before it crossed half the distance. Axel sidestepped the other, struck him hard enough to send him stumbling, and finished the attack before the man could recover.

Then silence returned.

Smoke drifted through the old factory.

Axel remained behind a pillar with the shotgun raised while Clarice scanned the floor from above. Neither trusted the stillness, especially after seeing how much punishment some cultists had endured before finally stopping.

A slow clap echoed from the deepest part of the building.

Both investigators turned toward the sound.

"Clap... clap... clap..."

A particularly tall figure stepped out of the shadows beyond the old production equipment. He wore the same black robes as the others, but his size and posture immediately separated him from the dead cultists scattered across the floor. The hood hid most of his face while his hands continued applauding with calm, deliberate movements.

Axel brought the shotgun toward him.

The tall man did not stop.

"Perfect flesh, extraordinary will, and absolutely no hesitation when violence becomes necessary," he said in a deep, hoarse voice. "Officer Vance, you are even more impressive than the Bishop predicted."

Clarice raised the MP5 from the platform.

Axel’s finger settled against the shotgun trigger.

The robed man slowly spread his arms.

"You were born to stand among us."

[500 PS unlocks 1 Extra Chapter]

[10 Reviews unlock 1 Extra Chapter]

Thanks for reading—reviews are appreciated.

P1treon Soulforger has 20+advance Chapters