Terror Infinity Side B
Chapter 34, H.O.T.D 2 Intermission
When Shin slowly open his eyes he found that was showering in a beam of light back in the Terminal Lobby. He had finally awakened, finding his mind groggy and with his body feeling painful and itchy. It was truly such a horrible sensation, but it was proof that he was alive. Towards the end of his fight with Badru he had given up on such thoughts of survival to kill him, choosing to allow Black Origin Threshold and ghoul instincts to consume his mind and body. Now, with his mind clearing up he was thankful that he hadn't died and welcomed the pain as much as he could, proof that he was still alive. Accompanying this sensation of pain was the healing of his wounds. The wounds were being repaired at visible speed. The left side of his body nearly disappeared in whole. He looked like two-thirds of a person and the remaining third of him was forming up.
Shin: (So I lost again. How pathetic. And I was so determined to kill Badru even if it meant dying to avenge my comrade.)
Shin raised his eyes and looked around the Terminal Lobby as the beam from God kept him in the air to repair him. Almost everyone he entered the mission alongside him were inside their own beams of light being repaired. That last battle was too rough for any member of the team to escape harm except Komaru and the other Human Creations who didn't take part in those last few days in the war to wipe out the zombie legion. From strongest to weakest brightness of the beams were Shin, Hikari, Drake, Jin, and everyone else who had minor injures. No one got away without some kind of damage, but it was Hikari's which stood out from the rest. The beam on her was purple, different from the others who all had the same white colored beam.
Shin saw that surprisingly Hikari had lost a leg somehow when she was supposed to have been hiding, but these wounds didn't take priority and was left alone for now. God was focusing on healing her mind rather than the missing limb. As everyone was being healed Shin learned from Hikari what happened and how she saved him. She wore out her mind by using two Psyche Force Diffusion Plate+1 which boosted her Psyche Force in a short period of time, one for the sake of stopping Badru until the mission came to a end. Shin gazing at the purple beam enveloping Hikari and felt that perhaps the beam represented repairs to heal the mind rather than the physical body. Shin wasn't an expert on the medical, or fantasy magic field of medicine to know just how did the healing of the mind and body differ, but that was not important now. He was just happy that Hikari hadn't died at the hands of Badru just to save him.
Shin: (Shuai was killed, I failed to take revenge and had to be saved by Hikari. Pathetic, but both she and everyone else on the team are still alive. That should count for something.)
Shin was still depressed about Shuai's death, but happy that Hikari and no one else died during that chase to kill the Z3, so he closed his eyes and immersed himself in the sensation of the light. Although it was still painful and itchy, he felt as though he was in heaven. Before long a few hours later, the beams dimmed down. Shin was the last one to get down. The first to charge up and hug him were Hikari and Komaru.
Hikari was worried about Shin who partially went into a reckless rage after Shuai died and was left half dead and deformed from Badru's last attack. As for Komaru she had was left speechless at his condition when they return to this dimension and too worried for his condition she never left as he was being healed. Next was Kisara. She tired to stay professional as a warrior and simply say she was happy that he was alive and apologies for not being there to back him up, even if it wasn't part of the plan for her to do so, yet her feeling overwhelmed her seeing him safe and jumped onto him as well. Shin flet blessed that three girls would worry for him like this. If it was before God's Dimension he could never imagine such a scene... but then he realized something was missing. By this point Shin's two arms and back were occupied by his harem holding on to him, so-
Shin: "Hmm... Is four the limit? It'll be a shame of I can't embrace more than four without using my Kagune (Which would make me look like a certain genre of villain)... Ah, Aqua! My front is still free, so don't hesitate and jump into my chest with tears of joy in your eyes as you-"
Aqua: "GO.TO.HELL!"
Hikari: "You worthless otaku you always have to go one step too far. She was actually very worried about you. *Sigh*! This is why a harem is impossible for you."
Shin: "..."
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This round of healing from God could be said to be more expensive than normal with so many injured, yet they each had more than enough points to compensate. Healing was also not too expensive and only Shin and Hikari had to pay 500-1000 points to return to perfect condition. As for Drake and Jin they only needed to pay between 100-150 points. Shin wondered just how they were wounded so badly, which lead to Jin to explain what happened to their group and the 1000 soldiers following beside the group as they chased after the other small horde of zombies escaping to the mountains. The Z3 wasn't traveling with this horde of zombies but the one Shin, Hikari, and the deceased Shuai, yet had most of the remaining members of Team Kenya. Specially, the ones who had attacked the second defensive line the day before.
Jin: "The battle with THEM... can I just say zombies now? Anyways, the battle with THEM went very well. Our side chased the horde of 4000 THEM up into the mountains. The 1000 soldiers armed with magic bullets and the enhancers among them we borrowed from Takashi and Saya were very impressive. They cut down thousands of zombies within the first hour of battle and when Drake stepped in with Aqua's EMP Rifle the battle was all but over. The Z3 had even taken most of the few evolved zombies he had left, so their was no upset to speak of. Just a one sided slaughter.
The only issue was that instead of running away, Team Kenya attacked us head on and then retreated deeper into the mountains. I would have chosen to hide and escape at this point if I was their side and wait out the mission, but this worked out for us. Drake, Sachi, Kisara, Connor, and I preceeded to chase after Team Kenya with about 700 soldiers. The rest were left behind to clean up the undead and to secure a escape route in a emergency. Team Kenya Sci-fi user who bombed the camp repeatedly was the first to make his move.
The Sci-fi user sniped Drake. The EMP Rifle he was holding was too dangerous to leave alone, but this was apart of my plan. He attacked with a sci-fi laser weapon, but all he hit was a decoy of my Illusion Shroud. This revealed his position for Connor to counter snipe him. The enemy had a defensive item and was able to avoid death, but he had to go on the run. From there Connor along with Drake chased after him.
The rest of us along with the soldiers we brought searched for the other members of Team Kenya. We first ran into that Sakura woman. The one with the Hie Hie no Mi Devil Fruit and dual spear wielder who had unlocked the Second Stage. Without you Shin or Aqua present we could only rely on Kisara and Sachi to keep Sakura in check, but she was not one to be taken down too easily, but the other two quickly fell to our forces. We also had our soldiers surround her, but massive stone walls blocked our bullets and separated our forces. It was a far cry from Shuai's Guardian of the Land ability, but was good enough to separate less than 1000 enemy soldiers. The Fire Elemental user joined and caused chaos on the battlefield. He managed to burn to death over a hundred soldiers in less than a minute. He was probably going all out for the final battle, but despite his best efforts he along with Team Kenya couldn't overturn the vast difference of numbers between us and we went on the offensive! The first to fall was the Fire Elemental user.
The Fire Elemental user was the only member present not unlocked on his team and was unable to keep up with the battle once he used up most of his energy. He was overwhelmed and solely focusing on defense, and that's when I stepped in to take the kill! I would not hand over the final kill to the army! With the Thompson Contender Mystic Code we also borrowed from Aqua, I shoot a Origin Bullet at the man's Fire Elemental standing to his side protecting him with blazing hot flames. The Fire Elemental on impact with the Origin Bullet was erased and as Shuai once put it, the link with the elemental was too strong, and resulted in the elementalist instant death as he threw up blood and fell to the ground dead.
Following after him was the stone user of Team Kenya. He fell prey to the Origin Bullet when I had 100 soldiers sacrifice, ah, no I mean distract him, and I hit him with the Origin Bullet... *sigh*! But he didn't die instantly like his comrade. He was throwing up blood and clawing at his chest in pain as he walked off a mountain cliff. At the bottom of the cliff were stray zombies and he was eaten alive, taking my hard earned kill! He was worth a lot as a unlocked member! *Sigh*. Anyways, once the stone user died, Sakura gave up fighting and escaped.
I stood in Sakura's way, but her ice ability surpassed my ice magic and she stabbed me in the chest. Oh, I didn't die of course! She stabbed me with that spear which turns it's victims to ice and blows them up, but I used my own ice magic to control the effects till Sachi could reach me and use her Xian Needles. From there we learned Sakura rescued her sci-fi user comrade and in doing so wounded Drake. Thankfully his injury wasn't life threatening, but it forced him out of the battle.
Right afterwards we heard the notifications of the Z3's death and the death of a comrade, though we didn't know who. Two on our side were injured, but as we still had the vast advantage in numbers we continued to chase after Sakura and the sci-fi user till the end of the mission. We came close, but oddly enough the sci-fi user took out a strange marble, and after throwing it into the air it shined brightly and a monster appeared from the light. This monster was a humanoid giant with long red hair, gold armor, breathed fire, and attacked us with martial arts wiping out hundreds of soldiers in minutes! I even drew the Mystic Code Gun and shot a Origin Bullet at it, but it had no effect at all! The Enhancers of the army and all of us threw magic at the fire monster, but they all had no effect. As if the humanoid monster nullified magic abilities on contact. I couldn't believe Team Kenya still had such a trump card left and I thought it was the end of us when that Sakura woman used that AOE ice ability to start freezing the remaining soldiers alive where they stood... but for better or worse the mission came to a end and we all returned to the Terminal Lobby before a conclusion was reached between our two teams. That's basically what happened."
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Shin: "...Yeah. I definitely feel that you're leaving a whole lot out. Like how I feel when an author tries to summarize a battle which should be one or two chapters long, but I don't really care about that right now. Long as no one died is what counts. I also have a idea about the identity of the monster which appeared from the marble, so if we have to confront Team Kenya again in the future we will be prepared. I'll tell you about it later, but for now we're all dismissed. We were all fighting desperately till the end, so we need the rest. We'll begin our exchange session and preparation for the next mission tomorrow or the day after. We'll also... mourn for our fallen friend and comrade in this time."
Saying so Shin looked down at the item he was tightly grasping in his hands. A blood stained shaman staff. Hikari had picked up Shuai's Evil Sealing Staff of Earth from the ground in H.O.T.D just before the team returned to God's Dimension. Hikari had just given it to Shin as he was the leader to store. In Shin's eyes the staff itself was a reminder that both himself and his team had failed to protect or avenge a comrade, and as such Shin wanted to break the staff to despite its value as a B tier magic weapon... but ultimately he chose to store it in the Dimensional Belt for safekeeping. Rather to develop a new shaman in the future Shin wanted the item to serve as an reminder that team members, close friends could die no matter how powerful Team Japan became.
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The third day of rest within the Terminal Lobby.
During the first and second days of rest no one was motivated to do anything other than relax and sleep as Shin recommended. More so than the intense fighting against Team Germany or chasing after what was left of the zombie legion, the death of Shuai had an impact on everyone. Shuai was a long time member of Team Japan, only less senior to Shin, Aqua, and Hikari. His death was especially heavily to accept for those veterans as he was the last member of Team Japan who had joined during the Btooom mission. Saki, Zero, and Kampa were already no longer with Team Japan, and now with the death of Shuai fewer members of this team could remember those long lost comrades. Of course, that means fewer people will ever remember the struggles that they faced on that island together.
Shin: (Shuai was a remarkable man. He wasn't gifted with any great talent and nor did he appear before us as anyone special, but he was a one of the kind member of Team Japan. He was the only initially unremarkable person to rise to the occasion when called for and survived numerous deadly battles. An ordinary who grew to become extraordinary. I took the lead during my first mission, so I can't be counted the same as him who was thrown in a mission well above him ability to complete normally. It was because of that man who seemed so happy with his little girl elemental and tired his best at all times that my belief that some newbies, if truly only a few, could join Team Japan as equal comrades. If we had never met maybe I would never have given those like Connor, Jin, and Kisara a chance despite their talents and trusted them during critical moments. Especially the normal Renji who only at the very end of his life did he show his worth. Shuai will certainly be missed and will never be forgotten... but we must keep moving forward. Our struggles, conflicts, and victories within this dimension... are no where close to coming to a end!)
Shin felt strongly about this as he just finished telling his team about the next mission they would be entering in eight days. There were two grave revelations about the next mission which frightened even Shin as he explained everything to his team. The world they would be entering and that once more they would be partaking in a team battle. For the rest of the team the news of another team battle was the more depressing news after they just came back from one which claimed the life of a dear comrade, yet for Shin it was the world that they would be entering which froze that burning desire within his heart. The one he always held when he knew he would be going into the worlds of Manga, Anime, Light Novels, Video Games, and Visual Novels even if they were life threatening.
The world they would be entering is "Brynhildr in the Darkness".
Also under the name Gokukoku no Buryunhirude, literally "Extreme-Black Brynhildr". A science fiction Japanese manga series based on Germanic mythology, which has spanned into an Anime adaptation. It was one of Shin's personal favorite Manag series and loved to reread over and over again, but it was also on the top of his list of world he dreaded to ever enter into before becoming a OP protagonist. The reason was because only such a existence could walk through that world without worry for himself or that person's comrades. Skipping the characters and plot for now, what Shin feared the most was the setting. "Brynhildr in the Darkness" is a world where magic, or science which reached the level of magic, had reached the ultimate extreme. The magic users, or Witches as they were known as almost all have extremely dangerous or useful abilities.
A Witch with the power to break anything none living from a distance.
A Witch with the power to see into the future to predict deaths.
A Witch with the power to hack into any computer or system.
A Witch with the power to teloport/switch places.
A Witch with the power to heal herself and others even if they their brains are destroyed or shredded into paste.
A Witch with the power to cut anything and reverse time.
A Witch with the power to shoot out a beam cannon surpassing modern tactical weapons.
A Witch with the power to read through, wipe, or rewrite memories permanently by just eye contact.
A Witch with the power to perfectly see through the future, though at a price.
And a Witch with multiple high level magics including the power of Antimatter which can swallow up a city or small country in a single blast.
Shin: "Guys, it's worrying that we are having another Team Battle and were confirmed to enter first as the weaker team, but "Brynhildr in the Darkness" is no joke. It can hardly be called fighting with Witches. They aren't fighters, but they hold powers to end battles in a instant. No levels or clashing of powers here. Its you kill them first before they instantly kill you. Even if I was 100 times more powerful than I'm currently am I could still die from one of the offensive magics of a high level S Rank Witch. At that level or where I'm currently at, I can only do my best to avoid a direct clash and assassinate the Witch stealthy. That's why among us here its Sachi or Connor who have the best chances of killing a Witch."
Jin: "Is that how it is? Then Shin, how do you suggest you enhance ourselves this time around? I'll read the Manga later, but you have the most knowledge of the plot, and it sounds like we should be preparing to deal more with the Main Mission than the Team Battle."
Shin: "I agree, but I can't imagine there's much we can do to defend against the Witches. Witches have powers that are described as cut through, destroy, or melt through anything after all. I think everyone in this team needs to exchange for a defensive item to be on the safe side, but I doubt even a B or BB tier Defensive Item could block an attack that has such clear cut description. Not all of us can afford the A tier and higher Defensive Items that can save our lives and are also rechargeable. The BB tier defensive items has the description which says it can block multiple tactical level weapons and magic attacks, but could it block a concentrated magic beam cannon, or an antimatter explosion that can sink a large populated city leaving behind a deep crater in the earth impossible for the most powerful of nukes?"
Hikari: "You're forgetting something, Shin. What you are describing are the original powers they had in the Manga and Anime, correct? If we end up in a 20 Man mission in such a world their original powers may reach even more ridiculous heights and the gaps in their power and defenses maybe be fixed by God. The heat beam you talked about might be powerful enough now to clear away a whole mountain range in a instant."
Shin: "I really don't want to consider God could think throw us into such a world, but I wouldn't put it past God. Thanks for reminding me, Hikari. Under those conditions only the S tier defensive item I once mentioned could give us a sense of security. We may be able to afford something like that if we all pool our rewards, but what good is a item that can only help one of us survive? Its a Soul Bound item as well, so it can't be passed around. It also isn't cost efficient till we reach the end game phase of this realm. Still, I recommend that everyone exchange for a defensive item anyways. Specifically, the C tier defensive item Dharmacakra. I'm more concerned with the Main Mission than the team battle, but this item can save our lives during the team battle as well. Its short coming is that it can't be recharged by the user making it flawed and perhaps disposable item, but should be able to block a few shots of a C tier sci-fi weapon and might allow to at least survive C rank and below magic attacks. It's a good item to rely on till we have more points and rewards to exchange for the B tier and higher defensive items. Next, the only thing I can think of that can help us deal with the Witches are two things. Abilities to distract or stun rather than instantly killing and... a sci-fi hacking tool. As a said, Witches can overpower us in direct fights and so we need abilities to create an opening for our assassins to kill them."
Sachi: "Such powers would definitely help us out, but what of the sci-fi item? How does that help?"
Shin: "The sci-fi hacking tool is to defend against types of Witches who specialize in information warfare. The world is still in a modern setting, but in truth technology had advanced long ago into the era of sci-fi. The setting of "Brynhildr in the Darkness" has a city with security cameras everywhere. The organization responsible to creating the Witches, Vingulf, will be able to track us as they please unless we never stand out or enter the cities. We need Hikari to exchange and ready for us a tool which can counter what's called prime factor decomposition."
Aqua: "This is all very well and good Shin, but don't think about using all our points and rewards to prepare for just the Main Mission. We also have the Team Battle to worry about. We will be the weaker side as we'll as we will appear first, so we have to enhance ourselves properly."
Hearing Aqua's words Shin realized just what she was implying. That they could come across a team even more powerful than Team Kenya. To be honest Team Kenya's power on average was below Team Japan. They had more core members who were stronger on a individual level. The only exception were Badru and Sakura. Sakura's power level was around the same as Aqua's and himself. She was so skillful, powerful, and cool headed in battle that it wouldn't be odd if she was the leader of a team of God's Dimension, and the reason that she was not was that man. Badru's power level was insane no matter how Shin thought about it. He was a pure power type enhancer, yet unlike the Webber and Klaus of Team Germany, Badru had a high unlocked stage and was a truly skilled fighter who proved how someone so straight forward with only power based enhancements could compete with the infinite varieties of powers in the Exchange System.
Shin: (Badru and Sakura. It was thanks to those two that Team Kenya of Blood Crusade was chosen as the stronger team and even if their other members died, long as they survived they could revive their team as a powerhouse any number of times. They also have that sci-fi user who has revealed himself to be a Shard Caster as well. To not put the potential much stronger team in the next mission in my eyes... was foolish! I was planning to save up my rewards and points for the next level of my mutation, cultivation pills, and high end gear and skills, but I should get a few good abilities as well. I still need to save up of course, so I'll exchange for skills that require more points than rank rewards. Team Japan has far less rank rewards than the time after completing the Danganronpa mission, but we certainly have more points.)
Shin along with the rest of his team team were resolved to overcome both the next mission and Team Battle. They would use their rewards from H.O.T.D to ensure that the same thing that happened to Shuai would not occur again... but what would awaited them was hell. No, that wasn't quite right. They were already within a hell dimension and had just forgotten. Team Japan's luck and survival rate were on the higher side within this dimension, so they never learned that important mission most learn early one, or when a experienced team was faced with a bad turn of events from a change of plot. That on the path of evolution to match the Saints of the past... there would always be a moment of absolute despair.
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Authors Note:
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Defensive Items. The more I learn about them the more I feel like all the characters from the original Terror Infinity were just plain stupid. Defensive Item can save lives in battle and can allow suicidal tactics. Most importantly, when teams are at the stage to consider exchanging for expendable tactical and striagic level weapons, it's damn time to invest in a B tier or higher Defensive Items. To tell you the truth defensive items should be the standard gear of all battles and the critical factor to determine victory or death. That's why I evaluate these items so highly that I'm increasing the point cost for the Dharmacakra. From the original text it should only cost one to two thousand or so points and a C rank reward. Also interesting is that in the Mummy it was said to be a B rank item, but that was probably a mistake unless the author changed the cost later. It's power and healing should have been much greater if it was B tier even if you count the healing factor. That's my conclusion from the power of a BB tier defensive item from the original and how Zheng's mad rush with just a knife and Red Flame used up most of the energy of the Dharmacakra of the leader Team India.
What do you all think?
On a side note: The Mystic Eyes of Deathperception depicted in the original Terror Infinity show them as more overpowered than they should be if you know of Tono Shiki's and Ryougi Shiki's eyes. Terror Infinity depicts them as long as you see the point of death and shoot at it, all obstacles along the way, even a high level barrier, shatter and will shatter the target as well, two for one. It's basically saying if Zero sniped at your point of death you can't cut down the bullet with a sword, or use an ability to block or redirect the bullet. This is only a B tier ability as well, even if it is super offensive based as Adam said it was. Tono and Ryougi don't have such a perfect slashing attack. If they aimed for the line or point of death, someone could still block their knives physically with a weapon or even with a magic barrier. Of course, if the knives were aimed at the weapon's and magic barrier's lines of deaths or points or death it would be a different story, but Zero's prefect death path bullet is impossible. Maybe with AA Baldor Eyes which can actualize death it's possible.