A day prior to the present, the time of which being six on the nose.
An incredibly large facility filled with different sectors to manage had received a large group of guests. Many of whom wore uniforms of black and white, while only a select few wore clothing of their choice.
Among the group was a deathly cold man, who continued to slowly lean a singular tube from side to side. Within it was a purple, powder-like liquid that had dense black smoke rising to the top. Behind him were countless soldiers who served only him, with rifles firmly placed in the hands of many. Further back were countless workers within the facility of different sex, ages and races.
Nearby stood an incredibly nervous scientist, a dryad named Mor. Her blond hair grew shiny with sweat. Despite keeping herself hydrated, her throat was as dry as could be. All the while, she continued to nervously look up towards the tall, menacing figure. Her fear only spiked to greater heights as she watched his attention shift from the tube to herself.
Nero: [If this does not prove satisfactory, I’m sure you know what will come next.]
Mor: [I-I can assure you… It is the best possible result that can be formed. It is… rather difficult to create something to the level that you had requested, especially with the method of using it. B-b-but this is the highest level of what was possible. It’s a slightly low number, but it ranges from about o-one in every… hundred…]
For quite a few moments, a chilling, silent air filled the room as the man continued to look down upon her. Following the silence, he adjusted the collar of his cape, placed the tube into a briefcase and continued to speak.
Nero: [A single person within a hundred would sound like a small chance to many, but one must also consider how many occupy the world itself. If there exists billions, then it is safe to assume that millions would perish. You’ve created a decent result. Your temporary survival shall be provided.]
A sigh of relief was released from her lips. Her mind had finally calmed, even if she was still face to face with something greater than a beast. She placed a single hand over her chest as she allowed her nervous mind to finally receive some rest. With her rest… came the rise of the man’s right arm.
What then followed was several of the soldiers behind him aiming towards the other workers. A sight that caused a violent panic within the scientist’s mind.
Mor: [T-This wasn’t what we agreed on! You said if I created that–]
Nero: [You seem to be twisting my words to your own fortune. What I had guaranteed was the survival of only you for creating such a thing. I have no need for those who were not involved.]
Before her words could even finish, the man’s own cut straight through the middle. A furious gnashing of teeth was formed within Mor’s mouth as she looked at the heartless being.
Mor: [... You monster…]
Nero: [An interesting name, given what you have just created. You have guaranteed the death of thousands, yet you believe I am cruel for performing an act such as this. From the very beginning, I had planned to remove the filth from this world. There couldn’t have been a future that you imagined where this would lean in your favor.]
A large black cloth was placed at the bottom of Nero’s feet by two soldiers. Both were crouched down and ready to pull it up once the signal was given. The terrifying dark eyes turned to meet the ones who served under, and the hand was lowered.
Nero: [Do it.]
With that signal alone, the cloth rose.
With that signal alone, each of the rifles were fired.
Countless screams of agony and despair filled the rooms. The walls as well as the tiled floors below gained a new coat of red paint with each second that passed. Even the very cloth that was held between the victims and the man responsible for their deaths had started to brighten in color.
After several moments of hellish echoes, the cloth was lowered. The soldiers had ceased their gunfire and placed their rifles down. All had been horribly calm… until a single noise caught the man’s attention.
With a sudden aggression behind his steps, the man forcibly took a rifle from one of the soldiers and moved towards a body in the same room. With his boot alone, he flipped them over and placed the gun in their mouth. This single being was still alive.
From behind, the voice of the horrified scientist shouted out to him.
Mor: [Please! Spare her! She’s my closest friend here! You’ve taken everyone else, just let her live! Please!]
Adjusting the safety of the rifle, the man held the gun with a single hand and moved his index finger towards the trigger.
Nero: [Do not twist my offer, lest you choose to join them.]
A loud bang had roared through the air. A merciless display of scatter brains painted over the red floor.
Nero started to march back to his original position while the soldier who he had taken the rifle from attempted to speak with him.
Soldier: [I’m sorry, Lord Nero! This won’t happen agai–]
Once again, another bang followed by the scattering of brains was shown to the spectators.
Nero: [You’re right. It won’t.]
It was now not only the scientist who was terrified, but the soldiers nearby, who had watched as one of their own lost both their life and their head.
As their body sunk to the floor, Nero snapped his fingers for a soldier to take the briefcase. Finally, he turned to Mor.
Nero: [You would do well to cooperate more with future projects. Your chance at survival may increase should you choose to.]
With that, the urgent meeting at 6:00 PM had finished.
Behind the countless soldiers were two dressed in wild pieces of black clothing. Both who had watched all that unfolded with disgust filling their bodies.
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We now move forward a little over twenty four hours, to the present.
Beyond the vast lands of greenery, sand and snow had been a massive castle of gold and red. Within the castle were many areas for soldiers to eat their dinner with one another. It was not a comforting location to do so, as the one they had served made it feel as though a knife was under their throat at all times. Regardless, the open space to enjoy a meal provided a sense of relief for many of them.
However, two of the soldiers within this castle had chosen a different place to eat. Perhaps it was due to how little they knew of the others, or perhaps it was due to the rough environment of the dining room, no one could truly tell. Instead, they had chosen to eat in a single hall of the castle, one that was close to the place in which the one they served was eating along with only a few others.
Peeking ever so slightly through a circular window, while also sitting on a large crate was a girl with smooth, jet black, long hair and a long black coat that hung over her shoulders who gauged the room next door.
Ryuka: [I can’t really see much without getting noticed, but there seems to be a few people eating there.]
Nearby, a man of a similar appearance, with the spiky bangs of his hair being slicked back and a long, black fur coat tried to verbally stop his younger sister’s antics.
Ryuusei: [Chill, Ryuka. We’re not here to start shit… Anyways, how many are there?]
The younger sister gave a small laugh as she noticed a discrepancy within her brother’s words.
Ryuka: [Ha! I knew you were curious as well! From what I could see, there was that Shimba guy from before. Then there’s that guy’s sister, I think her name was Mena or something like that? After that, all I could really see was him and the casket. There was a massive piece of steak on a plate of the same size though.]
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Ryuusei: [Guess one of them is a big eater then.]
Shaking her head, Ryuka attempted to extend her arms across from each other to show her brother what she meant in terms of size.
Ryuka: [No, no. I’m talking about a HUGE piece. Like around… here. Honestly, I don’t even think my arms can do it justice.]
Surprised by what his sister had described, Ryuusei rubbed the growing stubble of his chin.
Ryuusei: [Seriously?! Damn, now I’m really curious to see this.]
Ryuka: [Right?! I feel like we’ll definitely get spotted if we do, but it’s really intriguing to think about.]
After the two had finished speaking, they continued to stab at and consume the food on their plates. While chewing, Ryuka’s eyes drifted off into a separate direction from her brother.
Ryuka: [That stuff yesterday …]
Ryuusei: [Hm?]
Ryuka: [It was already fucked up to see, but it made me think about back home… If Ryuji would ever end up in a situation like that.]
Hearing his sister’s words, Ryuusei moved his eyes down to one of his hands, which he then clenched as hard as he could.
Ryuusei: [Yeah. I get you. This bastard is going way too far with things. If he even thinks about touching Ryuji though, we’ll crush him together!]
Ryuka: [Haha! Now you’re speaking my language!]
Though she did not choose to peek through the window, Ryuka moved her eyes towards the door as she continued with her message.
Ryuka: [That guy has some balls, deciding to kill people without thinking but he’s just fine eating alongside a corpse.]
With a small, backhanded slap on the leg, Ryuka turned her attention to her brother below the crate she sat on.
Ryuka: [What?]
Ryuusei: [Don’t speak too loud about that. You’re asking to die if you do. Besides, that’s a love thing. It’s different.]
Ryuka: [Different? Different how?]
Ryuusei: [It’s totally different. Love is love. Simple as that.]
Ryuka: [It doesn’t justify killing those people.]
Ryuusei: [It doesn’t, but it does justify the fact that he’s eating beside her.]
Ryuka: [Really? It goes that far?]
Ryuusei: [Sure it does. Love moves people. It ain’t just romantical love either, or anything like that. We’re fighting ‘cause of Ryuji, right? That’s our love for our sibling. Simple as is.]
A single finger was tapped against Ryuka’s head as she leaned back on the crate.
Ryuka: [Ooooh. I get it. I guess that makes sense. But still, that guy is gross.]
Ryuusei: [Oh, definitely.]
With another jab of his fork, Ryuusei placed more food into his mouth and continued to chew it as usual. All until–
Ryuka: [Come to think of it, bro. What kind of girl do you like?]
As the surprise question emerged, Ryuusei furiously beat his chest in order to prevent himself from choking on the food he attempted to consume. After painfully swallowing it and taking a swift drink, he furiously shouted to his sister.
Ryuusei: [Where the hell is this coming from?!]
Ryuka: [Well, you mentioned love and all that, so I’m curious. I’ve never seen you talk to any of the chicks on board.]
Ryuusei: [I mentioned that there’s different types of love, and the fact that it moves people! Besides, none of them interest me. They’re all focused on either killing people or playing hanky panky. Sometimes both.]
Ryuka: [Wow. That’s a bit rude to them, don’t you think?]
Ryuusei: [Look, if I’m gonna be with someone, I want them to be them. I don’t wanna force them to do anything nor do I want to tell them “Don’t worry, honey! I’ll take care of everything and you can just relax!”. A relationship is a teamwork kind of thing. The two people involved have to help each other, whether it’s physically, emotionally, or just being there for each other in general.]
Ryuka: [That doesn’t really answer the question though.]
Ryuusei: [Sure it does! I specified that none of them fit that bill, as well as what I like!]
Ryuka: [Yeah, but it doesn’t specify things. Like for example, you like dirty jokes from time to time, so I’m sure you’d want a girl who would laugh at them, right? There's also stuff like races. Like harpies are super athletic and well built most of the time, succubi keep their youth for a really long time, and kitsune are the opposite where they live for longer than most but have the same timespan with their youth as everyone else does.]
Ryuusei: [I like the jokes but I’m not the one who goes around making them. It’s that simple. Same thing goes for the dad joke type. Also, any race is fine. That's not what matters to me.]
Ryuka: [Very inclusive! Anyways, my point is, people usually talk about stuff like… I don’t know, body types and all that. Maybe eye color or hair color, stuff you can only see from someone’s appearance. Like I would want someone strong who could always train with me, and they’d have to be chiseled but less chiseled than me. As for race… maybe a fellow oni, maybe a human… maybe even a wolfman. Basically what I’m saying is are you a tits man or an ass man?]
Ryuusei: [Why are we specifying it like this?! And tits, for that matter! Preferably some big ones!]
Ryuka: [Wow! You were saying all that stuff about love earlier and now you’re gonna openly say that?!]
Ryuusei: [You asked a question that was super narrow with the choices! What the hell was I supposed to say?!]
A devilish smile now accompanied Ryuka’s face as she stared at her embarrassed older brother.
Ryuka: [I bet you were checking people out at the battle yesterday.]
Ryuusei: [I was focused on my fight with Devi Bloodfire, not trying to pick up chicks!]
Ryuka’s smile faded with a new sense of curiosity replacing it. Leaning back against the wall again, she posed a new question to her brother.
Ryuka: [Oh, right. I wanted to ask. How did that whole thing go? I saw that you were hurt pretty bad by the end.]
Closing his eyes, Ryuusei lowered his voice as he responded to her.
Ryuusei: [I wasn’t even worth the effort. As soon as she used her ability, it was over. I couldn’t do a single thing and just ate shit the whole time. If that bastard didn’t step in, I might have been in a worse condition than I already was.]
Ryuka: [Haaah. Yeah. I know how that whole ability thing feels. Mine was pretty tough after she used hers. I could barely even keep up. You seemed kinda conflicted when we got to the med bay though.]
His dark eyes once again opened, an oddly sad look was reflected within them.
Ryuusei: [Something about an answer she gave me put me off the whole time.]
Ryuka: [Put you off? How so?]
Ryuusei: [I’ve told you about the whole genocide thing before, right? She was the person who could have stopped it, but when I questioned her on why she didn’t, she said she was busy at the time with something.]
The side of Ryuka’s cheek twitched with frustration in response.
Ryuka: [What a bitch!]
Ryuusei: [That’s the thing. It would seem like a shitty response normally, but there was something about it that put me off. She looked kinda hollowed out when she said she couldn’t remember why. It was like I was bringing up some trauma to her.]
Ryuka: [Do you think she was just trying to trick you or something?]
Ryuusei: [No. The look on her face was real. I could tell. I don’t know what happened, but the woman everyone refers to as Braveheart must have had a time where she couldn’t be all that brave. I don’t wanna try to pry into anything, nor do I care to, but it almost makes any reason to fight her pointless. Tequi Tensetsu is also gone, so it’s not like I can ask her why she didn’t do anything either. I’ll probably just be left without answers for the rest of my life.]
Though Ryuka wanted to lower her eyes due to a shared sadness with her brother, a loud clap was created from her brother’s hands as he directed a newly gained energy back to her.
Ryuusei: [Right, let’s talk about something else. You mentioned something about your fight before. Do you wanna talk about that some more?]
Suddenly, a light within Ryuka’s mind burst forth.
Ryuka: [Ah! That reminds me! Ryuji!]
Tilting his head, Ryuusei raised an eyebrow at the sudden exclamation of their youngest sister. One who was not present within the castle.
Ryuusei: [Ryuji? What about her?]
A soft smile started to form across Ryuka’s face. One that felt odd for Ryuusei to see at a time like this.
Ryuka: [We’ve known her for quite a while now. I guess the past four years when we really narrow it down, haha! I'm kinda curious on what type of oni she'll end up being. Maybe she'll stay small, maybe she'll be like us, or maybe she'll be even taller. I'm not entirely sure what I'll think of her ten, or even twenty years from now or how she'll look by then. Still… she’s been the nicest younger sister we could have asked for…]
Ryuusei: [Heh. She sure has. Though I guess in my case, I have two. What does she have to do with your battle though?]
Ryuka: [Well, I was just thinking. We probably want to give her the best experience in life. She’s all by herself right now because of both of us joining, and we’re always worried about her safety for a whole bunch of reasons. But when I was fighting, I kinda realized… maybe it would be better if we were somewhere else.]
Ryuusei: [Somewhere else? As in, with her? At this point, that’s suicide, Ryuka.]
Ryuka: [No, no. Not really that, but more like… Gah! How do I put it… like if we were working with someone else, and then she’d be even more safe.]
Ryuusei: [You wanna work with someone else? I guess we could, but we don’t have a whole lot of choices. I can’t guarantee a ton of the others would be all that accepting of us. I don’t know them personally, but something about us being that bastard’s soldiers gives me the feeling that we’d just be free executions to them.]
Ryuka: [I don’t know for sure if they’re nice, but they could be. They could have just been acting like they were, but…]
Her words started to drift off into silence, causing Ryuusei to turn his head again.
Ryuusei: [You interested in joining the one you fought or something?]
Ryuka: [It’s… It’s complicated. I’m not really that interested in doing so. She made fun of my dream, and even hurt me physically as well. Honestly, I kinda just want to get back at her. But I don’t know, something about that fight made me imagine Ryuji in a much safer place to stay. I’ll say this! Right now, I still don’t trust that lady or anyone else there for that matter! I’m just saying this as a possibility, but a small one at that!]
Ryuusei: [You wanna get back at her, huh?]
Ryuka: [Huh?]
Pulling the sleeve of his fur coat, Ryuusei looked down at a silver watch on his wrist.
Ryuusei: [We’ve got another half till dinner is over. Go get some exercise.]
Ryuka: [I-I didn’t mean right now!]
Ryuusei: [Yeah, but you’ve got time, don’t you? Use that time to stretch your muscles and swollen her up a bit. Maybe that’ll give us a good advantage in our next fight.]
Understanding her brother’s words, Ryuka provided a rapid nod of her head as she picked up her sheathed katana and adjusted her coat.
Ryuka: [Ooooh! I see! Alright, I’m gonna go kick her ass! She’ll look like a bruised up pufferfish the next time that we see her!]
Ryuusei: [You can sense your way there and back fine, right?]
Ryuka: [Yeah, yeah. I’ll be perfectly fine with coming back. See you when I do, bro!]
Ryuusei: [Cya.]
Waving two fingers off to the sister who was already running down the hall, Ryuusei gave a coy smile as he laid on his back.
Ryuusei: [She really doesn’t understand a thing about her own thoughts. She’ll probably decide on what she’s doing once her little bout ends. Being the supportive big brother that I am… I guess I’ll follow behind on whatever she chooses.]
Resting his eyes, he continued to smile within the empty hall of the castle.
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Standing atop a large tree was a singular teenage girl. Jet black, long hair, swaying in the air. A long coat that hung over her shoulders, which moved with the wind. The wallet chains on her black pants had created constant rattles of metal with the fierce attack of nature. The geta placed at her bare feet gripped down tightly against the top of the tree.
With a hand placed at the top of her hair, and another resting lower with a katana, she looked towards the endless sea of trees in front of her.
Ryuka: [Good. She’s on the move. That makes it all the more easy. I guess there’s a few behind her, but knowing how she acted when we first fought, she’ll probably tell them to back off.]
Suddenly, new signatures became known to her within the soul of her matōki. Shifting her eyes to the left, she kept the same grin that remained from when she had first hopped onto the tree.
Ryuka: [Speaking of which, seems like I’m being watched.]
The hand placed by her hair was lowered to the side of her mouth. Inhaling a large amount of air, she prepared herself for the shout she would give to her spectators.
Ryuka: [Don’t worry! I’ll try not to kick her ass too hard! You don’t need to get all bloodthirsty just yet!]
A small laugh escaped her lips as she noticed a quick lowering in presence from the exact spot she had detected. Turning her eyes back to the front, she moved a single leg back in order to prepare a mighty leap forward.
Ryuka: [I ain’t going anywhere but towards you, Shiro!]
Kicking off of the tree, the deadly woman clad in black charged through the air at incredible speeds.
Her sights were now set on the once in a lifetime prey.
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