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Episode 22: What Follows After/Part 6

Episode 22: What Follows After/Part 6

It didn't take long at all after that for a very large number of soldiers and SWAT teams from the DPD to scatter in a discorded manner, running for their lives as they were now glared at by Lass who had easily finished taking down their strong, heavy offensive machinery, showcasing the terrifying strength of what was an Obsulyte user. Still, Lass pressed on without any more hindrances afterwards, ignoring the soldiers as he managed to break through to the town hall. While those away that they were done from the backlines, witnessing Lass enter the town hall they tried to protect, the frontlines still kept going, unaware of a battle now creeping towards their defeat.

"Strong as he always was. Now.", Ikarisa summoned blades across her right arm, pointing diagonally upwards as she held her lance, "I'm not ready just yet...please!", she briefly waited, feeling something surging in her, "Thank you. This time, I'll do things a bit differently!"

She locked on the nearest cannon, pinned to the ground as it was preparing to fire at the rebels, thrusting forward as the blades around her arm focused on the direction of her lance's tip. She penetrated the cannon with ease, pulling back her lance afterwards, before leaning into the movement, making a wide swipe upwards and launching herself off the ground. A red spark flashed, before she threw her lance down bellow at the cannon. Multiple blades followed the throw, landing right on the cannon as they began to briefly glow. Ikarisa then swapped her position mid air, pulling one leg in as she extended the other, launching herself seemingly our of nowhere right on the cannon as well, landing an axe kick right at the tip of the lance's handle and exploding both the ground bellow the lance, as well as all the blades around it. She grinded against the floor, pushed back from the force of the blast, before she recovered and materialized her lance on her hand once again, along with her blades, and started seeking for a new target.

"Woah! Ok, Risa, I admit it, that was badass! Man, I wish I could get out there myself and witness it instead of the camera's on the float!", Anya excitedly said.

"Really, it's nothing...there's people out there much stronger than me. But now, Terna, if you can hear me, send the show off! We can do this!"

"The orchestral part has a couple seconds left, then I'll end it off! Keep doing your best, everyone!", Terna yelled out loud.

"There's another opening, I'll take on those machine guns and tanks!", Ikarisa dashed forward.

Despite her petite appearance, Ikarisa far exceeded what the enemy was expecting to endure. With strength enough to move mountains, she began her attack on the tank with a roundhouse kick with her right leg, turning that momentum into a forward thrust with her right hand, that pinned the lance on the thick metal structure. She then followed up by landing a horse kick on the handle of the lance with her left leg, forcing it even deeper in the metal, before turning around again and landing a powerful stomp on the top of the handle with her right instead, jumping briefly from lowering her left leg after the motion, forcing her lance to break free from the tank, causing it to fly up as she grabbed her lance again. She then swapped to another cannon, landing a flurry of thrusts on it as multiple blades were created, slashing it before disappearing. After the final thrust on the cannon, she kept the momentum as she pulled back, bouncing a considerable distance backwards and launching two waves similar to Lass's towards a mobile machine gun in an X shaped motion. To end it all, she pulled herself back and raised her lance above head, a volley of blades appearing each from the left and the right of the tank, cannon and machine gun, launching themselves simultaneously and clumping them up together as they caught them in their way.

"This one's for Cecilia! Ha-hyah!", she yelled.

Finishing her motion, she brought the lance behind her and with all her strength, after a momentary pause occurring as a bright light flashed, threw it right at them, putting her entire weight behind the move as she send them all flying, twirling back into position from her throwing motion, elegantly and gently pushing away her brunette hair that shook around like the dazzling ribbons of dancer, and materializing her lance again.

"For him as well. Hmm.", she nodded at herself.

Just then, looking at her from above, Terna signaled the orchestra to start their finale, speaking the last few words of her song to end the entire raid against Neviro.

"Obsullyte core is optimize, send it off Terna!", Anya said.

"So we gather what we're left with

As we reach our nerve's end width

Treat as livestock we will never again be

Lead by anger, anguish to escape this misery

So lay the weapons down those on the other side

Never going to abandon a hope, dreams to let them die

None will fight for those come to survive

Do it for experiences we have to let yet arrive

Be the ones in whose eyes to stay alive

We open our eyes to see monsters around us

Taking hostages to make the world be ruined as they force it to concuss

We have nowhere to believe

As we look for our troubles to lay on a deity

We march with our eyes and spirits in gloom

Never realizing the flowers around us that bloom

No one is allowed in this world to be brought

Without being consumed by the mass on the spot

To arms we take our destiny with us

Breaking free of a curse we brought that will last

The darkest ends of the abyss' hell doesn't take sinners who amended their past

To no one do we ever pray

As monsters gather around, us to flay

Fend them all off to force a red carpet to walk on a brighter day

Future never made itself until we bend it to our will's way"

Uproarious as they were before, one last massive shout was heard from both the crowd and the soldiers as the stage flashed and the orchestra reached the hiatus of the song, one last long solo following Terna's full of determination words. The front lines of the enemy crumbled as they started to realize that the sheer amount of people over exceeding their own, coupled with the fact that they were backing into nothingness, their backline allies fleeing as they feared facing Lass, forced them to start their retreat.

Inside the town hall, the empty desks, office spaces and general lack of noise filled the area, causing an eerie feeling to creep up to Lass. He looked around the reception for awhile, expecting soldiers to come at him at any moment, his preparation proving unwanted, no one soul appearing at the scene.

"Shouldn't the place where the big bad guy that rules them all exists be filled to the brim with his minions or grunts?", Yuno echoed.

"Too many video games, perhaps?", Lass sighed.

"You two seriously powered up, summoned me in the process, for this?", Mellistar echoed.

"Oh. It's you.", Yuno scoffed.

"Midget. This space was already occupied to begin with. I could also kick you out at any moment, so shut it less you want that to happen."

"Could both of you pipe down? You're like constant runbacks of intrusive thoughts just begging to be acted upon.", Lass stopped them, "If you feel any sort of Obsulyte anomaly, tell me. Otherwise shut up, because I also need to be aware."

"There's definitely a big Obsulyte anomaly up above. Neviro, I presume? But it does feel like he's exerting too much energy around.", Yuno warned him.

"Sentinel Obsulyte signature, same with Magi.", Mellistar confirmed.

"What? But the name Neviro was nowhere to be heard when Risa was listing them for me."

"Perhaps, a new one. Sentinels are needed until proven disposable. New one's take on after, in a not so pretty manner."

"And how the hell would you know that?", Yuno asked Mellistar.

"How are you even a thing to begin with, that's my question? Some half a meter tall dragon thing? Have we mutated biology as whole to a point where you're plausible, or simply needed to pluck in one of those annoying mascots?", he aggressively told Yuno off.

"Good, you pointed out my species, humans did it first long time ago, with me and themselves. Though I doubt you'd classify as one either."

"This is killing me, slowly, surely and methodically.", Lass relaxed as he rubbed his forehead, "Let's just go up then. This Neviro guy is getting up to my nerves!"

Shutting their argument down and proceeding cautiously to the nearest elevator, Lass clicked on the final floor available going up. No one said a word in the few seconds they ascended upwards, tension building higher and higher as Lass came to further realize Mellistar's words. No simple opponent was waiting in the end, as this could be the very first time for him to face a serious threat. He too, knew that unlike Magi, Neviro would not be the kind to toy around with his powers, testing to see if he was up to his standards, rather than try to eradicate anyone who comes knocking at the wrong side of his way. The elevator door slowly opened at the final floor. To his horror, as soon as it did, a bashed in, horrifically mangled body laid before him, maggots feasting on it's flesh as the smell of death almost caused him to vomit, coming in as fast and as hard as it could.

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"Holy shit...what-?!", he covered his nose.

"Lass...oh my god.", Yuno pointed out.

Facing forward, the entire hall was filled with bodies portraying similarities to the one existing as he came outside the elevator. Mangled, guts sprayed around the floor like butchered animals, it was impossible for him to find a space where he could set foot without hearing the mush and squeezing of internal organs pressed against the floor from his weight. Pinned on metal decorations on the walls, hanging from 2 of the 3 total lights on the ceiling and dripping down whatever bugs or insides they had left, it must have been over 2 dozens laying there. Who knew? So many parts, dismemberment made it feel like hundreds or even thousands, his imagination being rendered unable to reconstruct where each one belonged. From what few clothing parts existed, he could make out multiple military uniforms and DPD badges existing, as well as other formal wears. A true sight of horror.

"Hmm. An animal. Unlike any other...because animals feast on pray or store it for themselves. A true testament to humanity and their eyes who view everything as sheep.", Mellistar echoed, "Lass, steady on. I will be taking over, again."

"N-No...this is.", Lass tried to avoid it, "I don't want you."

Mellistar slowly took over, "Yet you didn't show any resistance when I did so just now. Take the sight in for what's to come. With this power surge, I'm more than capable of taking him on. And I'm telling you this right now. He will die. You were certain of killing Magi, up until you weren't...but this one, I will spare you directly having involvement in, as I slaughter him. He is...human. Still is."

Mellistar slowly traversed through the hallway, avoiding the dripping blood and maggots from the ceiling bodies. It was almost purposely that he didn't jump over them all, or use his powers to traverse it in an instant, as if he wanted to let the other two experience what he had. Horrors beyond what the human imagination could convey in reality, horrors that followed this era of travesty and war, that they were sure to meet again and again and again down the line. He kicked the bodies left and right, sheathing his sword as he made his way through them all. Alas, he made his way to the end. A big, metal door with a code panel stood before him and the room where the madman stood. He ignored the panel, landing a punch on the metal door.

"Hgnh!", he pulled his hand back.

"You punched a metal door, what the hell did you expect was gonna happen?", Yuno said, tried to find any way to escape remembering the images of what laid behind them.

"Still young. Hmph."

He landed one more punch at the door, it crumbling away slowly, as it wasn't made to be impenetrable. With the fifth punch, it caved in, slowly dropping down as it was no longer supported by it's mechanism. And there he stood. Looking down bellow at months work, running away and leaving nothing by dust behind, one hand pressing against the long row window and his eyes glued to the streets bellow. Nothing more could separate him from the masses. Plain jeans and a shirt...nothing else. A man like every other, without features aside from his beard and mustache covering his face, to stand out. No scars, no tattoos, no weapons with which to use his immaculate Obsulyte powers with, yet considered a powerful entity upon many, while feared to death by many more. Just one, middle aged, driven to madness man. Ignoring the banging on the metal door, he kept on looking down as everything he worked for went away in a single night. Mellistar went up, kicking the big table away with as he crossed his arms.

"Don't need me to tell you it's over for you to get it, right? Wackjob."

Neviro chuckled, "No need to. I'm witnessing it. That little, shitty idol. It's always a story where someone unreasonably young pulls something like that out of their ass to kill the villain. Singing. That's what killed me. Singing and a bunch of kids running across the streets."

"Should've paid more attention to the minds that would take over the world once you were buried 2 meters deep. Though...I think from what I saw out in the hallway, you did."

"I served a wider purpose. I was given these powers, to influence, conquer and kill for the gods themselves. They stood for no meaning. They passed their days not knowing what they'd do the next, drowning in their short lived pleasure rushes. What purpose does youth like that have?", Neviro stood up.

"Because when you suffered, everyone was then destined to do so as well? I can sense it in your voice."

"And you haven't suffered?"

"That I did. So did many others. But the few that chose to make a mockery out of their suffering, merely learning from it rather than letting it forever define their lives as they remained victims....those few took you down. You will die here, by my hand, no question about it. Because for those few, their task shifted to hunting down the same well known experience of their suffering and as such, eliminating it. You brought this on yourself. No family left, no gods to pray or fling your accusations of pain on to make you feel better. You are alone, will die alone and I hope you also drill your mind deep in the fact that the same people who granted you your powers thought of you as a cog in a machine, replaceable as you always were. For your greater picture, you were merely a stain of black paint trying to ruin a cohesive, colorful whole.", Mellistar relentlessly said, anger somewhat visible in his words.

Neviro's voice cracked, "She took my greatness away, giving it all to her kids after she took it away...justice was never served, in a system that had me doomed working till I died, false prospects of ending up somewhere when I was simply staring at a wall painted with a fake future. Delpha was the same. Killing them all did them a favor. We were all aiming for nothing in the end. Just words building up stairs made of air to walk on. Everything that was said and done was said and done by those who were lucky to do it first. And no one else would ever catch up to say anything else. I regret nothing. If I can at least take on the role of a villain, then teach this world of what it means to transition slowly, methodically and painfully to something we all eventually do after we realize that we never realized the bars we're behind...so be it. Same with the kids in the hall, same with that slut's kids who robbed me of a future I rightfully deserved, giving it to the unripe and undeserving. Look at everyone cheering down bellow as I come crashing down tonight, then look at them in a day, a week, a month or a year. They'll return to their miserable existences, as if nothing happened. They thrive on the very routine that eats them! Had I had a chance then, like I did now...I could've saved everyone from this hell!"

Mellistar stuttered, "Wait a minute...you..."

Neviro turned around, immediately stunned when he looked at the face of the body Mellistar occupied, "No...you are...impossible-"

"You-!", Lass echoed.

"Wait, Lass-!", Mellistar grabbed his head, "Ghah! Dammit!"

In a fit of rage, Lass began to violently take over Mellistar, causing him immense pain in the process as he got control of his body back, recovering from the cramped pose Mellistar had left him in and looking at Neviro dead in the eyes.

"Die.", he uttered the last words Neviro was to hear.

Wasting no time, he dashed right up to Neviro at incredible speeds. He began with a downward slash, turning to his right profile as he took a powerful swing down with his left hand, turning around and lowering down on his left profile. The vertical slash, though performed on a powerful entity, ended up cutting entire chunks off Neviro's arms, as he brought them before him to defend himself out of his reflexes. Lass then turned the downward swing into a forward thrust, completely penetrating though and behind Neviro's stomach. He briefly stood there to take one last look in his eyes, before Lass jumped up with Neviro pinned to his sword and threw him at the center of his room as if he were mere trash. The throw was so severe that caused the entire top floor to shake, before he turned around and smashed on top of Neviro with all his weight, punching him repeatedly. The entire floor eventually collapsed under the pressure of his attacks, caving the entire building down with them as they landed on the lobby down two floors bellow. The entire floor shook, as bits and chunks of cement and metal fell from above, indicating that under such a severe loss of support, the rest of the floors were about to collapse.

Pinned on the floor, Neviro was trying to scan his surroundings to see for any form of help, or worse yet locate Lass. Alone as he was left, he laid there with dust constantly assaulting his eyes. Still, despite the sword holding him down to the floor, his guts struggling to retain themselves, let alone have their heal factor initiated, he regretted nothing. It was that obvious from a distance, what a hollow shell he had become, maddened by his desire to become what he wanted, sacrificing everything in a cruel effort to escape being the underdog to his unfair life and failing miserably to do so. With absolutely nothing left for him to cherish, no shoulder left for him to lean on and dozens paying the price of his ambition, he started getting his eyes cleaned up by drooling liquid that fell from bellow. It wasn't long after that, when all the bodies of those who never had the chance to make their own choices, fell from the top floors down bellow, now being surrounded by his failure and monstrosity. In a sick twist of fate, the bodies he could witness for himself all had their heads towards him, looking at him as he did to them, almost as if they were taunting his last moments in this world, stimulating his soul with further pain than his body. It was only then that he started to break through the madness that several degrees of power had caused him, letting our a small, but stoic tear as he pictured the face of his son on the same bodies that days, maybe even moments ago, he mercilessly slaughtered without thinking twice. How one could forever crave the same power he always did, intoxicating themselves with it before they even had a slim chance of using it for their own agenda, let alone understand it's capabilities and extend. And so, before he could see much else from above, there he approached.

Like an angel of death from the dust and the mist, the same Lass who was afraid of directly causing harm to anything or anyone he deemed human-like, intelligent and with it's own separate life no longer affected by the natures brutal cycle, was now slowly walking towards him with a look that most definitely betrayed murder in his eyes. No frowns from the fact that he was forced to enact it, no shaking from the shock of completing that act. It was a monster unlike any other he had ever seen. Like his months long work of destruction coming to an end over night, he knew that so his life was to end in this very moment. As Lass went up to a heavily wounded and bleeding Neviro, he completely ignored the bodies around him unlike before, treating them as a natural phenomenon as he went ahead and kneeled besides Neviro. Upmost disrespectful, he slowly grabbed the handle of his big sword with his left hand as he pressed against Neviro's chest with his left foot kneeling down, putting more weight behind it as he heard Neviro grunt from the applied pressure, only to further cause him pain. He calmly leaned forward towards Neviro's face, about to talk with a condescending manner.

An emotionally depraved Lass began to talk, "Tell me now, Kagh. Do you still think I don't deserve this?"

"You don't.", Kagh coughed, "You never did, because you never understood."

"How the lost one's weeping...", Lass chuckled, "I promise you this, before I send you there. If there is any traces of your family left in this world, mistress, wife you lied to...your son, that prick you raised to make me suffer, I'll slaughter them the same way I will you. You took all I had, along with the others...and it's eye for an eye. Go meet all those you took with you, arrogant shithead.", he quickly pushed against 'Kagh', getting himself up as he pulled his sword out of his stomach.

'Kagh', coughed up blood as he went into shock from the swift movement, "Not my-"

Lass interrupted him, "Checkmate.", he quickly positioned himself.

Before he could utter another word, Lass twisted around and brought his blade above head, hammering it down without hesitation. Like an executioner to his victim, another to add to the pile, 'Kagh's' head came clean off, as he joined the rest of his victims. Such a menacing aura, such a powerful opponent acknowledged by Mellistar and his experience and such an accumulation in sheer numbers...all for nothing. Gone in an instant. That's all it took Lass to deal with him. A singular moment to perform a set of quick moves to penetrate though their powerful skin and kill him where he stood. He calmly cleaned the blood off his blade as he walked calmly towards the outside, chaos and collapsing parts of the entire town hall dropping all around him as he did. Didn't flinch, didn't waver, as much like Mellistar, it all but felt that he was more than used to seeing it all be destroyed in front of his very eyes.

The town hall kept going and going in front of everyone's eyes on the outside, eventually being completely grounded as the last few clings and crashes from concrete, metal and other materials stopped echoing throughout the area. Thick dust kicked up as everyone gasped, rebels, the crowd above and everyone on the float, having their eyes pinned on the town hall.

"Lass was still in there, wasn't he?!", Anya got out of the float's control department.

"Yes, he went after Neviro directly when he told me to distract him! Yuno merged and went with him too...", Ikarisa confirmed.

"No, no...", Anya got worried.

"He definitely found a way out, I'm sure.", Lora reassured them, "Had me like that a few moments ago in front of an ion cannon.", she let her weapons down.

"Come on you guys. Out already...", Terna whispered to herself as she eagerly looked at the now collapsed town hall.