She tried organizing her thoughts on her way back to the Redoubt; a task made no easier by the fact Annika requested she make haste in her return, her tone making it clear it was an order passed directly from ESDF.
“These guys just…appeared— inside our self-defense range.”
Uncanny abilities are terribly commonplace when confronting Outsiders; so it’s no wonder, then, that a Swarmer managed to burrow its way inside the Redoubt……that being the case, the question then becomes how the Outsiders managed to do so in the first place. Or rather, what gave them the ability to do so.
And though she asked that, in her mind she already knew. Likely, ESDF did as well.
These were the thoughts in her mind as she quickly entered the Redoubt walls, pulling her back into Skull Beach. She could feel the interior of Chanteuse depressurizing as the entrance opened beneath her, filling her sight with the industrial light reflected off the slate floor. Stepping onto the platform that lowered her to the actual hangar, she ignored the cacophony of machinery that let her know the process of repairing the little damage Chanteuse sustained from battle had already begun.
“Chelsea!” waved a familiar girl with low hanging twintails. “Over here!”
She hurried towards the clearly overworked engineer with controlled steps. Though she wished to get a report of everything that’s happened, allowing herself to be swept up by worry would only invite mistakes. Annika briefly stopped analyzing the damage each Slayer took, addressing Chelsea with a mixture of relief and worry.
“I saw your fight; are you oka—”
“Fine.” she said, waving away the rest of her words. “More importantly what of the attack? Has the ESDF ascertained any information?”
“Err…about that……”
“No need to hesitate Annika. This was an unexpected attack, no fault lies with you.”
“R-Right…” she said. Her face twisted into an uncertain smile, as though she hadn’t considered herself to be at fault until Chelsea had mentioned it. “Well, there are two— no wait, three things the higher ups wanted me to tell you as soon as you got back; the first being that they want to meet with you.”
“Where?”
“They only mentioned to be on standby in the medical bay, outside Anon’s room.”
With her mouth closed, and her expression unchanged, Chelsea quietly bit her tongue. She had few connections with the members of the Redoubt, being unworried for their state of being after a deployment was not unusual in the slightest for her. But for her to so quickly forget, while also attempting to…comfort, Annika……it left an unpleasant stiffness in her jaw.
“He’s in pretty bad shape, but Senpai dropped him off in intensive care before disappearing— I think the ESDF wanted to talk with him too…”
Chelsea wasn’t sure whether or not she was going to ask, but Annika proceeded to inform her before she could come to a decision regardless.
“Very well, I’ll go after this. The second piece?”
“It’s actually regarding Anon…or more specifically, his Slayer Even. Well, it’s not crucial information, but since you were there, I figured—”
“If it’s not crucial, skip to the final part.”
“Ahahah, right, of course- sorry!” she stuttered. With precise expertise, and a bit of relief, Annika maneuvered around her workstation, tapping atop an enormous table and bringing up a three-dimensional folder containing data that had the clear appearance of being corrupted.
“This is?”
“Data received from Fiametta’s group received roughly an hour ago, so about halfway through the battle defending the Redoubt.”
Chelsea walked around the difficult-to-perceive information. She could make out topography, navigational charts, pictures, and video— but none of them proved useful as they were far too pixelated. Some of the maps even changed their routes as she viewed them.
“Can you fix it?”
“I can try, but it’s not likely. This information isn’t like analyzing a blueprint.”
“And what of the group? Have they returned?”
“Let’s see, their last communication was—”
“ILDEFONS!”
The two young women quickly turned around at a voice screaming the name of one of the Resonators in question. Bolting out of Annika’s workshop, they made their way towards the hangar entrance where a group of Resonators were already congregating in a circle around a tall man with long, lapis hair. Even from a distance, she could tell. She could smell it, taste it in the stale hangar air.
Ildefons was…
“Make way.” she said, not noticing whoever it was she shouldered out of the way. Her eyes, now used to taking in and instantly discerning information, understood what happened the moment she laid eyes on the three. Ildefons was dragging Juan and Fiametta by their night black hair, both of them unconscious; dark patches of blood matted Juan’s locks, obscuring his eyes while Fiametta appeared deathly, frighteningly pale. The trail of fire that so whimsically surrounded her earlier in the day was now curled tightly around her chest in a spiral. Both of them had still-bleeding wounds, leaving a trail going into the training hall where they’d entered in the first place.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
As for Ildefons himself…
“Heh…” he whispered, coughing up blood that had already stained his entire chest. “As expected…of me.”
He let go of his companions, letting their heads collapse against the metal floor as his body gave out beneath him.
“Ildefons!”
One of the Resonators, Meridia, caught him just before his head could lethally collide against the floor. At this point, however…that may have been a mercy.
“Ildefons, don’t close your eyes! Look at— hey now, look at me Ildefons— don’t close your eyes, look at me Ildefons!”
As she gently tapped his cheeks to keep him awake, Chelsea was acutely aware of another Resonator, Peter, whispering under his breath and he used his own magic in an attempt to stabilize him.
“We need to get him to the med bay, quickly!” the purple haired instructor shouted. But it was no use.
His body was oozing blood like a fountain— so much so that Chelsea was surprised at the fact he managed to stand for so long, let alone walk while dragging two other people behind him. A section of his torso had a hole through it, going straight through his right lung. His face looked gaunt, with deep bags under eyes that were losing their light by the second.
“They’re…already here…”
He turned to face Chelsea, disarming his metallic, triangular band with disjointed movements and offering it to her.
“Heh…” he said, offering a smug laugh which only served to make blood jump out of his wounds, “No one…else…could’ve……good luck…calling…the shots……”
She gripped the metallic triangle. And the instant she did, strength left his arm as it gave itself to gravity and landed by his side.
As Peter and Meridia ceased their respective activities, Chelsea sharpened her gaze, rushing towards the far end of the wall and breaking a glass containing two vials of dark red liquid. Pushing past the Resonators still holding Ildefons, she stabbed the vials into Fiametta and Juan, their contents disappearing almost instantly.
“Amah, Heinrich— take Fiametta and Juan to the medical bay with haste!”
As if coming out of a trance, both jumped to carry the unconscious Resonators and sped through the halls of the Redoubt. Though they had also just returned from battle, their natural strength would be indispensable in arriving in a timely fashion; if the witch and trafficker could be stabilized, their experience of what happened would undoubtedly confirm whether or not her thoughts were correct.
And just like that, the murmurs subsided, leaving only sounds of distant machinery.
In silence, the Resonators left one by one. Meridia gently closed the blue Resonator’s eyes as Peter moved his mouth in silence with a fist over his chest. After finishing, they stood up, returning to wherever it was they went to after a mission.
“Fuck,” she heard Hanna mutter. She turned around in silent fury, long hair flowing behind her as she made her way towards the medical bay with Lia following closely behind.
「Resonator. Please step away from the deceased.」
Chelsea took a step back as a lengthy four-wheeled machine, escorted by two military police officers, arrived, picking up the corpse with mechanical precision.
「Retrieval confirmed. Nanites operational. Preparing disposal.」
She knew it was only relaying its programming out loud. Even so, she couldn't help but stare as it took the corpse away; the nanites would disassemble his body and nothing but white gunk would be left of the man once called Ildefons.
“Uhh…Miss Chelsea…”
She looked up at the officer that remained. She unconsciously recognized his presence, but he was of so little danger to her that her conscious mind hadn’t registered him deciding to stay until he spoke to her directly.
“It may not mean much, coming from a simple MP but…my condolences. He seemed like a good comrade.”
Condolences? Was such a thing necessary? He wasn’t the first one to tell her something like this; though extremely uncommon, the MPs on occasion do give their grievances over deceased Resonators. For what reason, she didn’t know— perhaps guilt at simply standing by as Chelsea and others gave their life for humanity. The only thing she knew for certain was that the dead are never brought up again.
Such is the way of things.
“……is forgetting……really that important to everyone here?”
“Uhh…well then…I’ll take my leave. Please excuse me.”
In awkward silence, the man left to rejoin his companion and machine. But after turning a corner, they disappeared from her sight.
She lowered her gaze………forgetting.
She never had to deal with such a thing in her old life. And yet, even after arriving to this world, even after spending what felt like an eternity in this desolate place, she still did not have an answer to the question she asked herself after her arrival.
How does one remember the dead?
There were a myriad of answers; by taking up their dreams? By fighting in their stead? If their sacrifices are not only inevitable, but expected…then should the dead be remembered in the first place?
Atop the hill of eight years worth of corpses, she could not see the answer. She could not see past the faceless bodies, the mute voices— there were too many of them. Too many for her to remember. Too many for her to honor.
And so she, too, inevitably stopped thinking about it. Each and every one of them were unwillingly marching towards the inevitable, and she couldn’t fight if she couldn’t focus on her own survival.
Chelsea squeezed the palm of her hand.
“……is forgetting……really that important to everyone here?”
Will she forget this death too? She, who sent Ildefons to his demise? Part of her wanted to, and yet the face of that child asking such a question popped into her mind.
She lifted her head. It was easier not to think about it, but even with nano-sized machines inside her cells and arcane energies flowing through her veins…she, too, was human.
How does one remember the dead? She didn’t know.
She didn’t know. And as she made her way towards the medical bay, what frightened her was not the prospect of an inevitable death, but that one day, she wouldn’t care to know.
She wouldn’t care about any of it.