[Discontinued] New Sunrise Volume 2: Rise of the Dark Hound

Volume 2 Chapter 1 - Rise of the Dark Hound

Miriam, my dearest sister. I apologize for not being able to properly send a Direct Message or a video call recently, we have been currently at siege by a band of Mercenaries and Bandits from across the sea. But enough of that, is our family doing well? What about Gaige and Gray? I miss all of them, I hope that by the time you read this message I am already halfway home and so we, plus Gaige and Gray, can catch up from all the years that I have missed.

Fifteen-year-old Mark Dirus typed on the terminal. Which suddenly turned off that night as the lights flickered and the foundations of the outpost where he was stationed in shook as they were bombarded with cannons. He let out a sigh as he glanced at Arthur's hilt which was resting on a table next to him which he just casually placed there in case of emergencies like this.

He grabbed the sword and switched it to Caliburn, the one handed sword mode, and alongside several other Combatants working under Hashira Enterprise started making their way to the Entrance where his Commanding Officer, Troy Miller, and the others were loading their weapons.

"How many do we got?" Mark asked his Troy who was loading his rifle and readied the bayonet.

"About thirty people, but don't worry they're not armed with anything concerning." Troy said as Mark put on his helmet while the other troops started equipping as well.

Three years have passed since the Nation of Honshu was established, something that Mark had a hand with in it's founding thanks to him acquiring the GRAIL. But the problem is that a community like Honshu stood out like a sore thumb within the frozen wasteland that is Hokda. As a result many smaller settlements that live in the area either joined Honshu or want to take what they have established for their own.

What will happen tonight was the latter.

"Need a rifle?" Troy said patting the Service Rifle that he was holding.

"I think I'll stick to this." Mark replied pulling out the Service Pistol that he had holstered on his hip.

Eventually the other Combatants opened the doors and started making their way towards the main entrance of the Motor pool and—Boom!—The shutters of the entrance burst open like a banana with the edges smoking, the smoke clears to reveal a tribe of bandits which was armed with weapons that were crudely made from reverse engineering the weapons stolen from various other outposts within the Hokda region and started charging through the gap.

"Get them! No survivors!" One of them said as he charged his thunder hammer which crackled with electricity and he had set his sights on Mark and grinned as he started making his way towards him. One of the Combatants aimed his rifle at the hammer wielding Bandit and struck the nearest Combatants sending him flying, had not for their Mk. V Combat Armor they would have been dead on the spot.

Another soldier dropped her rifle and pulled out a pair of power firsts and slammed the knuckles together which also crackled with electricity and sprinted towards the Hammer Bandit and started punching him in the chest and face shattering his helmet and sending him flying on a nearby pile of crates.

Mark sprinted towards the Hammer Bandit and switched to his Rhongomiant, the spear mode and impaled the Hammer bandit in the face decapitating it in the process. He felt a bullet bounce off his chest plate and he quickly turned to the side and found a Bandit armed with a homemade Rifle and started opening fire on Mark as he danced around each bullets with the skill and ferocity of unfitting to a fifteen year old young man.

Now holding Arthur in it's Caliburn mode Mark started swinging with decapitated Bandit here and a bisected Bandit there. Unlike Mark and the other Hashira Combatants who were fitted with heavy duty bulletproof combat armor, the Bandit were armed with crude patchwork armor with some of then are just salvaged from dead Hashira Combatants. And Mark had just sharpened Arthur allowing him to slice through the Bandits with ease.