Chapter 7 – Open the Floodgates:
Rubbing the heat…and embarrassment out of my cheeks, I stepped out of Dinah's bathroom doorway.
Taking one last look at her retreating figure, I closed the Door and released my hold on the gateway to the [Mundane Supply World], isolating Dinah from any and all threats on Earth-Bet, with only Flower Ferret Fox for company…though she has to find her in the little wooden maze I'd built her to play in.
As my thoughts strayed I remembered the latest star from the forge…and how it was telling me that there was something valuable inside Dinah's head…and how I should go about cutting it open to get to it…
Shuddering, I cut that line of thought. I'll think about that later.
Anyways, Jumpscare-chan was a fitting nickname for the girl, she'd managed to catch me off guard again.
She probably watched too much anime! How else could she say something so corny without cringing?!
Somehow it was even worse than when I sang at Casa de Hebert. At least there, others had joined in on the singing.
Still…It had honestly been a while since I'd hugged someone. Not because of any particular reason, but mostly just because I wasn't a very physical person, and neither were the people in my life.
Well, it felt nice…and I'll leave it at that. For now, I had to deal with Coil's mercenaries.
Despite having Hamon and a Fate body, I'm pretty sure I'm not bulletproof…or laserproof.
I could just run out the back door, use Hamon to enhance my leaps and keep jumping over houses until they can't chase me anymore. Ideally, I didn't want them to see me at all.
But the question I fed Dinah's Power didn't tell me whether they were out there right now or would be in some time.
But…did I really want to simply run away? After what they planned for her could I let them get away with it?
The worst part was that regardless of what I did, Coil himself wouldn't be hurt.
Then again these mercenaries of his weren't exactly innocent people. In fact,…wasn't one of his mercs a fucking paedophile? Didn't all of them have illegal and immoral vices that Coil helped them indulge in?
The thought of Dinah in the same place as those degenerates….
Gritting my teeth, I corrected the pattern of breathing. It wouldn't do to let my anger disrupt my Hamon.
Reigning in my emotions, I decided that I didn't want to leave without making his organization bleed a little.
I'd run. But only after breaking a leg or two for each of them…the third leg might also be a viable target.
I grinned viciously as I imagined myself breaking their family jewels.
Well…it wasn't as if I wasn't ready for a fight. I'd just be using them a lot earlier than anticipated but the things I was able to prepare with just Hamon and Woodworking skills might seem a bit…primitive, but that didn't make them any less effective.
In fact, one of the things I'd created would be perfect for letting me know when Coil's mercs had arrived!
Using one of the doors in Dinah's room, I opened a Door to another part of the [Mundane Supply World] where I stored most of my creations.
Walking over to a pile of dry leaves and wood shavings I channelled Hamon into my hand and placed it into the pile.
'[Hamon Life Magnetism: Decoy]!'
With a flash of yellow sparks, a part of the materials gathered into a ball held into my hand, which I then promptly threw onto the floor some distance away.
As soon as the ball touched the ground, with a small burst of yellow sparks, it transformed into a tall human-like figure made of leaves and wood shavings.
Closing my eyes, I smiled as I sensed the Hamon held within the Decoy.
A quickly thrown rock went through the Decoy and it burst into a shower of yellow sparks as the leaves and wood shaving fell to the ground.
Using the same principles as [Life Magnetism Overdrive] where Jonathan and Master Zeppeli held a huge pile of leaves together with Hamon to create a hand glider, I gather stray material and hold it together with a short-lived Hamon Field that transforms into a predetermined shape. Even a punch from a normal human is enough to disrupt the Hamon Field and collapse the Decoy, but that is exactly the point!
Using my Hamon sense, I can easily tell if the Decoy is destroyed!
Looking around the place, I found the wooden mask I'd made for myself and put it on. It was designed just like the Stone Masks from JoJo, and the knowledge that the JJBA series actually existed here on Earth-Bet made me feel a little ridiculous while wearing it, but I ignored the feeling and continued looking around my other creations.
I was terrified of facing armed combatants, but I'd power through my fear. As long as I used what I had on hand they'd never even get a chance to take a shot at me.
At the very least, I'd at least be able to do a little damage to them before running away.
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The sun was almost on the cusp of setting when Coil's mercenaries arrived around the Alcott residence.
It was a time when the shadows stretched longer than usual and the patches of darkness felt paradoxically darker than nighttime.
It was in these dark spots that Coil's men spotted multiple shadowy figures, in and around the Alcott home. Unnaturally still, several of the figures were facing directly in the direction of the mercenaries.
"All troops! We've spotted multiple unknowns! They seem to be aware of our presence but are unmoving! Commander, orders?"
Thomas Calvert could be described using many words, but 'incompetent' wasn't one of them.
Which is why despite the sheer shock, fear and panic running through him, he snapped out of his daze and commanded his troops.
Of course, regardless of how quick he was to take action, he was still an extremely paranoid man whose strongest asset, security blanket and insurance had just been shattered. Naturally, he acted like a cornered animal and bit.
"Secure the main target at all costs! Use any force necessary and kill anyone who interferes. Just make sure the main target is alive and capable of speech at the minimum! And continue the mission on your own, something has come up."
"Acknowledged. All troops, open fire."
Logging out of his network, Coil quickly shut his systems down.
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When he realised that his Power refused to work after many tries, only giving him headaches, he couldn't be sure where the interference was coming from.
While he was confident it was from the situation at the Alcott home, he would rather be careful.
And so, without a single look back, Coil activated his hidden escape door and fled his base.
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It was when I sensed a majority of the Decoys I'd deployed around the Alcott home being destroyed that I moved into action.
The fact that I couldn't hear any gunfire or even suppressed gunfire (which was still pretty loud) meant that they had actual silencers that eliminated pretty much all the sound of gunfire. There were no such things on Earth-Prime, and I doubted Earth-Bet's scientific progress was further than back home, so it must have been another Tinkertech attachment.
I'd already opened plenty of the windows around the house, while keeping the curtains closed, allowing me to throw things outside, but still disallow others from seeing inside.
And I made sure to make use of it by throwing some simple wooden shrapnel grenades out the windows in all directions after infusing them with Hamon.
The purpose of this was twofold.
First, the Hamon would violently launch wooden shrapnel of varying size omnidirectionally. While the other purpose was more indirect.
More experienced Hamon users might have been more attuned to life energy in general, or perhaps even normal people in the JoJo-verse had minuscule amounts of Hamon in their bodies, I wasn't capable of sensing people through their life force alone.
My own supernatural senses only allowed me to sense my own Hamon, enchantments I'd placed using [Old Patient Magic], my internal Od and atmospheric Nasuverse Mana. Wait.
Isn't atmospheric Mana in Nasuverse just the planet's Od? Does…does that mean that Earth-Bet is alive? No, no. I'm not thinking about this shit right now.
Right, I can't sense people's life force directly, but the wood shrapnel grenade also discharges Hamon through it, from which I can sense living things. With just a little bit of focus, I should be able to sense the mercenaries!
And right on cue, paired with screams of those unfortunate mercenaries that didn't cover the unarmored portions of their uniforms, I was also suddenly aware of just how close they were to the house.
'I didn't think they would be this aggressive! Gotta hurry!'
Suddenly aware of just how quickly and loudly my heart was beating, I hurried to the door closest to the stairs.
Taking a deep breath, I used the Door to access the [Mundane Supply World] in another one of my little bases in a different biome.
Immediately, I was assaulted with a chilly temperature that was even colder than Brockton's 7 degrees.
Ignoring the sudden weather change I ran out of the ditch I'd built on the banks of a beach on an Antarctica-like biome. Climbing up, I observed the wooden dam I'd built that was stopping the freezing seawater from flooding the inside of the ditch. It looked like a beaver and a carpenter collaborated and ended with this as the result.
Satisfied with the water levels in this particular location, I decided against looking for another one of my dams along the beach. Honestly, using Hamon made building things with wood way too easy, I might have gone a little overboard.
Running back down the ditch, I grabbed a rope that was attached to a simple wooden mechanism that would release the dam and flood the ditch, then ran back through the Door into the Alcott residence and grabbed another rope that would be used to close the Door from a distance.
Distantly, I could hear heavy footsteps from downstairs, raising my anxiety.
Climbing onto one of the cupboards, I waited until they got closer even though my hand itched to pull the rope I held in my hand.
The next 10 seconds were perhaps the longest of my life, and yet the moment I spotted a hint of a black boot, I pulled the rope with as much strength as I could.
Despite my nervousness, having such a steady breathing pattern actually did wonders for my confidence in pulling something like this off, and greatly reduced the chances of screwing up because of something like my hands shaking.
"Fuc—!" / "WHA—!" / "ARGH—!"
And so, with a maniacal smile painted on my face, in a state of paradoxical calmness, giddiness and nervousness, I watched as a single mercenary was swept up into the freezing waters and heard as the rest suffered the same fate from what I'd unleashed from the [Mundane Supply World].
'It's not as good as your trick, Goblin Slayer-senpai, but I'm still proud of it!'
After 20 whole seconds of flooding the neighbourhood, I pulled at the second rope I'd gathered.
Applying enough strength that I went red-faced, added Hamon to the mix, pushed against the constant flow of water for a second with it, and quickly shut the Door and released my Personal Reality power before it could overwhelm me, halting the flow.
Huffing, I threw the last wood shrapnel grenade I had on hand down the stairs after infusing it with Hamon.
"GARRRHHH! MY EYYYES!"
'Two of them actually managed to climb to an elevated position and not get swept away, huh? Actually, make that one, I don't think that guy's gonna do anything with splinters in his eyes. Shouldn't have taken off your helmet, bitch!'
Although I winced at possibly ruining someone's eyesight permanently, I forcibly tried to stem any guilt from developing when I remembered just who these men were and what they came here to do. Panacea and other healing capes existing also alleviated much of the remorse.
D38 Roll Result: 8
D57 Roll Result: 9
As the Forge kicked in and granted me another star, I became aware of another piece of paper I could summon, but I decided I'd check later, it was probably another deed, I had more important things to attend to.
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"Hah! I finally caught you!"
"Chit-chit!"
Back in the beach house in the [Mundane Supply World], Dinah held Flower Fox Ferret in her hands as she spun around.
On her third rotation, she stopped dead in her tracks as a large shadow seemed to cover the room and blocked most of the light coming from the window.
"…Hey, Fox? That…that wasn't there a while ago right?"
"…Chit-chit-chit…"
Both girl and adorable furball could only stare at what seemed to be an absolutely humongous European castle further inland, where before there was only a forest full of trees.
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Shaking my head and ending the previous line of thought, I jumped down onto a puddle and used Hamon to silence my fall.
Although I was pretty tired after channelling so much Hamon in such a short amount of time, I still had enough to beat the shit out of one of them before running.
Going down the stairs, a quick peek around the corner confirmed their positions.
Taking another deep breath, I sprinted across the hall, continuing to muffle my footsteps as best as I could, running over to the place where I knew one of the mercs was hiding.
As I ran, time seemed to slow down in my perception as I laid my eyes upon the only standing mercenary in the house.
With his back turned to me, in the process of picking up his rifle that had possibly flown away with the water, I reached him before he could so much as touch his weapon.
For a moment I was confused about what I was supposed to do. I wasn't a brawler of any kind. The Forge hadn't given me any kind of melee fighting experience. Hell, I'd never even punched someone in my life until then!
So, I went with what felt natural and forewent higher thinking to embrace something more primal.
With the prankster's classic trick, I kicked the back of his legs, had him fall to his knees, and targeted the first place anyone would think to punch. His head.
Fists aglow with the telltale sign of Hamon, I grit my teeth and struck forward with my right hand balled into a fist.
'[Sunlight Yellow Straight]!'
It was a strike that was filled with all my frustrations with Coil, my fears for Dinah and my anxiety and nervousness with this current situation as a whole.
When my fist connected with the back of his head with a *thunk* and the merc went flying unconscious, I can honestly say that it was better than anything I'd ever felt before.
It was so terribly satisfying to pummel someone with my fist, that I could finally understand why so many JoJo characters always chose to overwhelm their enemies with a barrage of fists. I was almost tempted to go over and heal the guy with Hamon just to beat him up some more. Almost.
I'd been careful to not send any Hamon directly into the body of the one I'd hit, after all, unlike Vampires, living beings are not harmed by Hamon, but I'd used the Hamon to regulate the force of the strike so that I could punch as hard as I'd wanted without killing the man with my supernatural strength.
"Dimitr—I mean A-3, is that you? Fucking help me ma—"
Sending a last look to the one I'd punched unconscious, and carefully avoiding looking at the other one with ruined eyeballs, I ran to the backdoor of the house, before stopping abruptly as I remembered something.
'Ah right! They could have had people watching the house from far away!'
Backtracking I quickly used another Door to quickly access my storage base and picked out a sack filled with sawdust.
As I came back, I spotted one of the guns the mercenaries were using and with a thoughtful hum, kicked it into the [Mundane Supply World] before closing the Door.
I'd take it, but I wasn't going to try using it without knowing how it works.
Running back to the backdoor, I infused plenty of Hamon into the sack of sawdust, before kicking the door hard enough to take it off the hinges.
Without looking outside, I threw the bag of sawdust as high as I could and watched as a wave of sawdust spread across the area, completely covering my movements as I ran into said sawdust while channeling my Hamon to keep it away from my body and hence out of my eyes and lungs.
Discharging Hamon into the cloud of sawdust every once in a while to make sure I didn't run into anything, I ran down the street until I found a narrow alley and kept going until I was out of the cloud of saw dust, that seemed to have travelled far enough to cover the entire Alcott residence.
"*Cough-cough* Fucking hell…"
Hearing someone else in the alley, I tensed and prepared to possibly beat another of Coil's mercenaries.
Instead, I saw what was clearly a shivering homeless man that was completely drenched in arctic waters and then covered in saw dust, coughing his lungs out while using the alley walls for support.
Looking at his figure my blood ran cold as I realised that I hadn't thought of any other people that might have been affected by what I did other than the mercs.
I'd thought that it being nighttime and this being a relatively rich and quiet neighborhood, that there wouldn't be anyone out on the streets. Evidently, I was wrong.
'I-I have to get this guy to the hospital before he gets hypothermia or something and dies!'
"H-Hey mister! Are you OK?! Let me help you get to the hospital!"
Reaching for the man's shoulder, I tried to get his attention. That was when for the second time that day timed seemed to slow down for me, only this time I wasn't nearly as calm. No, I was scared shitless.
As the man spun around, I came face to face with the barrel of a gun.
Idly, I noted that it was a pistol with an obviously Tinkertech silencer attached to it, even as in my panic I channeled what little Hamon I could without holding the proper breathing pattern.
At this distance, I knew that I couldn't reach the man with my hand. I also didn't have anything on hand to throw or try and block with after infusing it with Hamon.
[Zoom Punch], Master Zeppeli's technique that involves dislocating and stretching joints to punch farther than possible was my only chance. Despite the danger of using a technique I'd never tried out before, especially one that affected my own body, I didn't think twice before trying.
'[Zoom Pu—'
"*Squelch*"
—I never even got the chance to try, before the man that almost shot me, the man that almost killed me, had a crossbow bolt sticking out of his eye socket.
Frozen stiff, I couldn't do anything other than stare as my would-be-killer dropped the gun from his hands and fell back onto the alley floor.
I didn't think about who shot the bolt. Nor did I dwell on the fact that I'd almost died.
All I could think of in my state of shock was that I'd just seen someone die and that it was in a dirty fucking alley, just like the one I'd woken up in when I'd arrived on Earth-Bet.
All I could think of was the stupid connotations alleys now held for me in terms of Life, Death and Rebirth.
And somehow…some-fucking-how that thought led to me hearing Pharrell Williams singing in head.
I couldn't help but release a hysterical giggle - though it was probably something like a choked sound - as I saw a hooded figure walking towards me from the other end of the alley.
'…Like the legend of the Phoenix
All ends with beginnings…'
MUSIC!
"...How lucky..."
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Remaining CP: 0
Total Word Count: 3418
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Perks gained this chapter:
* Castle Jumper (Marvel Magic) (200CP): What is the point of living if you don't do it in style? Certainly, you know the importance of aesthetics even in the face of practicality... but that does not mean that something can't be both stylish and practical. You are the proud owner of a large European castle. It's practically straight out of a storybook, having stone walls, and great towers -- hell, the thing even has a moat. However, despite its ancient appearance, it is fully updated to the modern times. Possessing everything from standard amenities such as running water and electricity to a state-of-the-art security system and laboratories. The way you live should make a statement, a fact that you seem to understand very well.