You shouldn’t be waking up at this time, but I guess I never had any control over you. Even back then, despite lacking the strength Ninigi possessed when I first saw you; I remember being surprised by your sudden appearance. You were a nobody, someone I never heard of before. At the time, my body was crumbling into pieces, and the only escape from death I had was already far from my reach.
That’s when you came in, you showed some valor and determination; a fragment of power I felt envious of. I was dying, but you… you were perfectly alive and healthy—I wanted that. It was a gamble, one that I don’t regret taking now that I’m here, but I wanted your body, your strength.
Although everything collapsed by the end, this chance I was given is still a product of that decision I made so many years ago. The world may always now me as the god of extinction, the harbinger of their demise, maybe even Sovereign if I let it happen. To me however, I am no longer a god, no longer Specter… I was reborn a human, son of Luna and… and you.
I won’t call you father, that would be a reach even for me, but know that I am thankful to you. They may call you an exile, but to me, the only champion out there is you. It was the same for mom if you didn’t know that already, but now I need you to stay down; just this once. Let me correct the wrongs I committed, and the ones I forced you to execute… nine hundred years ago.
Floating City of Paradise, Human’s District: 936, May 14th, Monday, 11:00 AM.
“D-don’t worry, anytime now we’ll be in safe hands. I promise!” Jacob tried to calm the rowdy group of refugees he brought into the building—panicking over the clashing sounds and the screeching screams of the specters outside. “We just have to wait for the lieutenant… who’s well on her way to get us out of here, I’d hope.” he said to himself—his nerves spiking up by the second.
Meanwhile, in the open field outside. Atalanta remained locked in combat with King, who swung his massive hammer against the interfering demons—ripping them apart one by one with his strength.
Atalanta fend off the creature’s as well—which surrounded her from all directions. She slammed the blade of her weapon against the ground, causing a shockwave that immobilized the demons. With the specters stunned by the waves, the knight spun around with a swing of her glaive—decapitating her opponents.
Just as she finished off her opponents, King was already at a close enough distance to perpetrate his attack—swinging his Warhammer into an upwards attack. Putting her superhuman reflexes into action, Atalanta bent her upper body backwards to avoid the head of King’s hammer—barely escaping with a large scratch on her mask as she tumbled backwards.
“Gah…!” the blonde knight regained her balance. “Your people are in danger, why are you fighting me!” she protested.
King ignored her words however, reeling his arms back over his head, and swinging his Warhammer back down with all the weight of his body. With a quick reaction, Atalanta leaped away from the impact with a spiraling motion.
The azure hammer dropped freely against the ground, shacking the area violently while leaving a steamy open crater underneath it. As King lifted his weapon back into position, The Golden Lightning used the opportunity to begin her offensive. She twirled her glaive above her head in both hands, gathering powerful waves of electricity.
“You won’t dodge this!” she roared—swinging her glaive multiple times at different angles.
With every motion of her arms, beams of azure energy shot out rapidly from the blade of her weapon—surrounded by sparks of lightning that flowed from her body into the energy waves. Unable to react fast enough, King braced himself for impact and positioned his weapon at the front to protect himself. Despite absorbing his opponent’s attack however, the electric sparks implanted in the waves still managed to spread across King’s body—paralyzing him in place as his muscles contracted with the shock.
“One more!” Atalanta thundered.
Approaching her target, The Golden Lightning leaped from the ground in a sideways position—spiraling forward at high velocity. Just as she reached her target, Atalanta swung her glaive with a downwards slash—which King managed to block with the steel shaft of his weapon, stopping the knight in mid-air.
The clashing sound of Atalanta’s glaive and King’s hammer echoed throughout Paradise Planting, both of them pushing against each other with their weapons locked. Pressing forward against her adversary’s Warhammer, Atalanta quickly pulled back to propel herself away into a safe position—landing on her feet, and spinning back into a fighting stance.
“What the—” She reacted—her gold mask covering the surprised expression on her face.
Sensing a strange aura behind him, King turned around to face a bright beacon of azure light coming from a nearby building—its bright energy shooting up into the sky.
The giant knight kept staring stoically at the light, lowering his weapon. “What is this?”
Democratic Republic of Pelkesk, Underground Facility: 936, May 14th, Monday, 10:30 AM.
“You are lying!” Eutychia thundered.
“We don’t have time for this,” Claire retorted with an angry look. “You’ll see it with your own eyes when we get there.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Bloodhound—accompanied by Heildin’s princess Eutychia, sprinted their way across the empty metallic halls of the underground facility. With a small device in hand, Scott guided the team through the maze-like structure of the place—following Euthemia’s signal thanks to the lieutenant’s tracker.
“…!” The group came to an abrupt halt, pulling the breaks behind Claire as she stopped her advance. “Those screams…” she whispered.
Tori placed both hands near her chest, turning her head from side to side to inspect the locked vault-like doors on each room. Although faint, many shrilling screams echoed throughout the place—quickening the young medic’s throbbing heart.
“W-what are they doing to them…?”
“So, this were they keep their experiments…” Eric expressed with a frown.
Gaspard nodded—his mouth kept in a straight line. “Looks like the young princess was behind the attacks against your father’s province, master Eric.”
“What?” Eutychia reacted, turning her head towards the butler.
Scott hummed with a nod, continuing Eric’s statement. “Right, those strange mutants we fought before… they are made here.”
Claire led one finger towards her ear, pressing the button in her small communicator. “Boss, we’ve found the prisoners being kept underground. Orders?”
“Deal with it however you think it—” a rough cough stopped the man from finishing his sentence. “Think it’s necessary, just make sure to reach Euthemia before losing her trail.”
“I’m on it… take of yourself.”
“I’m on it.”
Tori stepped forward—her brows scrunched with worry. “What did the boss say?”
Claire contemplated her options, knowing well time was of the essence. “We’ll split up again, we must save these people and bring them to safety however we can.”
“I’m not staying here,” Eutychia stated. “If you really think my sister is behind this, then don’t expect me to stand aside and wait.”
Taking a deep breath to release some stress, Claire nodded before quickly issuing her orders. “Lady Eutychia, you come with me. The rest of you, do everything in your power to free the prisoners and lead them to safety, understood?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Bloodhound chanted in unison.
“We should both be enough to handle this,” Claire told the black knight—who nodded in agreement.
Cerberus HQ, Training Grounds: 936, May 14th, Monday, 11:00 AM.
“How about now!” Sebastian swung his blade with a wide horizontal slash—cutting the air as it approached Theo with great speed.
“Oomph!” Unable to react fast enough, the knight was flung away by the impact of the blade against his flesh—propelling him away into the ground. “You... do not understand.” He expressed while picking himself back up.
“Eat it!” Sebastian continued with his assault. He reeled his arms backwards over his head, and brought them back down with a powerful vertical slash.
Tired of being thrown around by the major, Theo deflected his blade with a powerful gust—catapulting Sebastian away. The major planted his feet on the ground, stopping the impact from dragging him away further. Using the opportunity, Theo swung his arms backwards to release a strong rush of wind—which propelled him forward towards the major.
“You have sold your soul to the god, human.” The knight told Sebastian. “But the door towards redemption has not close for you yet.”
“Bring it on!” Sebastian braced himself for impact. He clenched his fingers on the grip of his sword, absorbing the crimson energy that ran through the veins of the weapon into his heart.
Theo approached rapidly, crossing his right arm over his left shoulder—rapidly swinging it back towards the major, striking at him with the edge of his hand. In a quick response, Sebastian was able to block the attack with his sword, but the force of the impact caused him to slide away from the knight.
In a quick recovery however, the major unholstered his shotgun and immediately pulled the trigger—releasing a burst of crimson shells that flew straight at Theo. The knight deflected the projectiles with ease, slapping them away with a quick motion of his hand.
“You can’t beat—”
“Gotcha!” Having distracted the knight long enough, Sebastian used the opportunity to strike at Theo with a massive slash of his blade—connecting against his opponent’s abdomen in an upwards swing.
“Agh!” Saliva spewed out of the knight’s mouth as he was lifted in the air by the sword, his eyes shooting open at impact.
“Not done yet!” Lifting the sword on top of his shoulder, Sebastian proceeded to aim his shotgun directly at the stunned knight—blasting the man’s face with a burst of crimson shells.
The combusting power of the explosion flung the knight a great distance away, causing him to bounce on the ground multiple times. Theo planted his hands on the dirt to stop himself from drifting any further, stumbling back on his feet. Although injured by the major’s assault, the knight remained mostly intact after the several wounds he sustained—having taken most of the damage on his ragged and dirty clothes.
“I had enough of you,” the knight claimed with a strangely polite demeanor.
“Just now?” the major raised an eyebrow. “I thought I was being more annoying than that…”
“…!”
“…!”
Both Theo and Sebastian’s eyes coincidently widened in a sudden shock—turning their gaze immediately towards the massive wall separating HQ from the Deadlands.
Theo huffed loudly to calm his beating heart, panting somewhat heavily as his battle with the major had worn him out to some extent. Sebastian in the other hand, kept a wary look towards the hellish zone—his mouth slightly open as both puzzlement and caution ingrained in his face.
Northern Region of the Deadlands, Cerberus Border: 936, May 14th, Monday, 11:00 AM.
The dead carcass of a specter plummeted to the ground, its eyes empty and dark as its crimson light vanished alongside its body. One after the other, more demons continued to drop dead on the scorched earth. Most of them were mangled beyond recognition, broken into pieces, sliced into small chunks, or molded into distorted shapes.
Approaching slowly, while dragging his feet across the ground, with his body tilted to the right and his arm dangling on his side—a tall figure limped his way towards HQ. The man’s clothes were ragged and dirty, his body showcased multiple cuts, bruises and burns all over, his jet-black hair grew somewhat long and messy—covering his eyes.
All around him, were the crimson eyes of the specters—hiding behind the curtain of red fog surrounding the region. The demon’s eyes slowly began to vanish into obscurity—as most retreated further towards the center, allowing the knight free passage inside HQ.
END OF CHAPTER