“…”
As soon as they were all through, the four of them looked around the room they were in.
At last, they had made it to their supposed destination of their mission. The place where the weapon capable of killing angels and devils was held, hidden away in a temple in an underground city.
No one in the group knew what the weapon was, only its capabilities, and according to the prior research that Kara and the Foxes had dug up, it had some impressive feats. So impressive were they, that Claine and a few other members had made it their personal mission to retrieve it at all costs.
And so.
In a surprisingly clean and sterile room that looked less like a grimy, wet temple chamber and more like a surgery room or a doctor’s office, behind a panel of thick glass, surrounded by deactivated machines and an innocuous lever at the bottom, was their reward.
“Huh?”
But Claine could only be confused by the reveal.
It did not look like a conventional weapon one could use to attack at all. It was not a gun, a sword, a cannon, or even a vehicle like a tank or a plane.
It was… something.
An unidentified mess, a pulsating giant blob, a squelching grey monstrosity with multiple closed eyes and mouths dotting its large gooey body and limbs that looked way too tiny to support such a large mass.
The first thing his mind jumped to was the rock-like creature that had blocked their way earlier. Perhaps it was also harmless, not worth its label of a ‘weapon’, which would have been incredibly disappointing to him.
However, as he stared at it, he dropped the theory immediately.
Apart from the ever-continuous stench of decay and death that he now believed was coming from the thing itself, a mere long look at it had provoked a sense of uneasiness and fear coupled with the already-present disgust.
Even though it appeared to be sleeping, the thought that it could easily kill him even in that state came to his mind both subconsciously and unexpectedly, as if it was being projected into his mind by the thing itself.
And yet, despite all of that.
This is it!
In spite of the looming threat of death that would most likely come true as soon as they woke it up, he could also feel something completely different.
Hope.
She surely cannot defeat this thing!
A smile slowly appeared on his face. In that moment, he felt as though it did not matter if he died then and there. It was all completely fine for him, as long as it could win the fight for all of them in the end.
I will save—
“BANG!”
A loud creaking noise followed by a sudden bang disrupted his thoughts.
“…”
When he turned around to check, he saw his disciple, his trustworthy apprentice, leaning against the now-shut metal door that they had entered through.
“BANG! BANG! BANG!”
“Oi, what’s the big deal? Let us in!”
On the other side, he could hear his hotheaded general banging against the door yelling, but she did not budge. Instead, her eyes lingered on him, and there was an uneasy smile on her face.
“Kara?”
The devil beside him was also looking at her in surprise. The spirit girl said nothing, but she was still looking at the thing and was not paying any attention to the situation unfolding behind her.
“We need to talk.”
“Huh?” he questioned.
“This is why I said this was a bad idea. We cannot wake that thing up. It would kill too many people. We can regroup and try another way, just… not this. We need to destroy it, believe me.”
That was her plea. One that did not feel like it had any form of malice or ulterior motives. It was genuine.
“…no.”
Despite that, his mind was still fixed. As soon as he had witnessed it, he knew this was it.
A heavy doubt had slowly creeped into his mind, telling him that if he left it be and came back another time, there was no way he would get it back. As far as he knew, he could not let the weapon slip through his fingers at the last moment.
It had to be done.
“There is no other way.”
“…”
She did not reply, quietly bending down and propping her large backpack up against the door as she rummaged through it.
“Then… I’m sorry.”
“Beep! Beep! Beep!”
In an instant, she slid something beeping across the floor towards him before charging.
What?
“Ker-chunk!”
He dodged out of the way of the beeping device, which broke open into a net, and threw something back at her.
Flash bombs.
Similar to flashbangs but made much smaller and more disorienting by using multiple flashes instead of just one, similar to a camera taking a lot of pictures at the same time.
So, this is how you want to do things, disciple?
She had predicted his move and quickly shielded her eyes before it went off, while continuing to run towards him and sliding two more net launchers in his direction.
Tsk.
Having seen her move before he closed his own eyes, he quickly retreated as the flashes went off, making a wild gamble and walking backwards blindly while hoping he would not trip and fall in the heat of the action.
I just need to stop her, that’s all.
“Devil. Spirit girl. Help me!” he yelled out towards the ones that could potentially help him in his state of blindness.
“…”
“…”
However, they did not respond, and as the flashes stopped, he opened his eyes again to see that they had not even moved from their original positions. They just stood, bewildered and unsure of what they were supposed to do.
Damn it. Guess I have to do it myself.
With none of the net launchers that she had thrown near him at the current moment, he seized his chance.
He reached inside his own backpack and pulled out a spherical device before throwing it into the air.
“!!!”
“BANG! BANG! BANG!”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
She had opened her eyes by then and noticed his actions. Without hesitating, she stopped in her tracks and backed away before the device began to spin around while hovering in the air, firing what appeared to be small projectiles in a continuous circle around him.
Tranquilizer turrets.
He definitely did not intend to kill her, so he had deployed one of them to use against her.
By standing directly below it, it ensured he would not be hit unless he moved inside the firing zone, so he just stood and watched as she tried to escape the tiny tranquilizer darts being fired at her.
As long as it still had ammunition inside, the turret would not stop firing unless he stopped it himself.
Just give up. There’s no shame in that.
“…”
Suddenly, she smirked while still evading the darts.
Huh?
As she ducked and weaved, she flung something towards him.
Another net launcher? Tsk, how many does she have? I’ll just deactivate—
“Clang!”
“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!”
However, the thing she threw was not a net launcher at all. It was a medium-sized rock.
She had also not thrown it directly at him but had aimed it towards the ground in front of him instead, where it hit its intended target: The deactivated net launcher that she had thrown before the flash bomb and that he had moved out of the way of easily.
The rock hit the device and immediately pushed it towards him, while she manually hit the button to activate it. it was now directly at his feet.
Shit.
It was now directly at his feet. This time, he could not react quick enough. Even if he had dodged out of the way, he would have been hit by the activated tranquilizer turret, and if he had deactivated it, it would have taken too long.
As such, he accepted defeat.
“Ker-chunk!”
He deactivated the turret. At the same time, the launcher broke open, and he was caught in the net, rendering him unable to move.
“…”
It was all over in just over half a minute.
Now that all the action and excitement had died down, and there was now a clear winner, it was time for the explanation.
“Why?” he asked her as he lay on the ground bound.
“…”
Slightly out of breath from the dodging and moving earlier, she slowly walked and stopped in front of him with an apologetic smile.
“I apologize, Teach,” she awkwardly said, “I had to protect you. Those were my orders from your brother.”
“What?”
“I know… this isn’t a good time at all, but I felt I had to step in before it was too late. That’s why I couldn’t let you wake it up.”
“Then why didn’t you stop me earlier?”
She scratched her head silently for a while before replying, “because you’re my Teach, Teach. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
“…I see.”
He lowered his head and pondered her answer, as she clasped her hands together and looked down at the ground guiltily.
“I—”
“BOOM!!!”
Without any warning, the metal door flew open, completely crushing the backpack as it went past them and slammed with full speed into a wall on the opposite side of the room, just a mere few inches away from the thing.
It seemed to have been forced open using an explosive of some kind, and the general who had most likely done the deed now sauntered into the room with a displeased look on his face.
“…do it.”
“BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!”
As soon as he gave the order, the Fox beside him, Azwar, pointed his rifle at Dauma and fired multiple shots without stopping.
“Wh—”
“BANG!”
Kara began to protest, but Masse had already lifted his own rifle and shot a round into her waist, causing her to yell and fall backwards.
“Gh!”
Dauma had reacted sufficiently quickly by raising his hands to block his head, but he could not move out of the way in time. The bullets entered his body and he clumsily staggered.
Anti-Angel…
Before he could recover, Azwar charged at him and pushed him down, with the earlier loss of balance causing him to easily fall to the ground, before pulling out a long sword from his backpack and plunging it into his torso.
“Agh!!!”
He choked and sputtered as he attempted to create his own sword to counter it, but the Fox was not done.
“BANG! BANG! BANG!”
“Sto… p! Wha… t are yo… u doin…g!?”
His consciousness went in and out as bullets were mercilessly fired into his head, leaving him disoriented and confused as he struggled to piece two thoughts together at once.
“General. What is this!?”
As the rapid violence unfolded in front of his eyes, the helpless Claine could only shout at the instigators.
“It’s simple, chief,” Masse remarked as he walked towards the wounded Kara, “you failed to complete your mission, so I guess I have to do it for you. And luckily, I stopped the traitors before they could stop us.”
“Trai… tors?”
“I’m assuming the advisor did not just bind you for a joke, chief,” he continued as he looked down at her.
“…”
Bleeding from her mouth and clutching her bullet wound, she silently glared up at him.
“But I’m getting off topic here.”
He reached down and pulled her hair, forcefully dragging her up and off the ground as she yelled and screamed, choking on the blood inside her mouth.
He holstered his rifle before unsheathing a dagger from his waist and pressing it against her throat.
“In case you get any bright ideas.”
With all of the ‘traitors’ now subdued, he called out to the one person who had stood frozen throughout the whole ordeal, the one who was completely at a loss of what to do.
“Spirit girl. If you don’t want her to die, wake the weapon up.”
“…”
“Don’t do… it!” Kara gurgled as she spat out more blood, “kill him, now!”
“…”
I… can’t… think… need… to…
Dauma writhed and struggled as he attempted to recover, but Azwar promptly responded by pushing the sword down even further.
“Your devil friend can’t help you either. You know what the right choice is here, spirit girl.”
“…”
“Miss Yuu…”
“Last chance. If you don’t give your answer in the next five seconds, it’s over.”
“…”
“Five.”
“…….”
“Four.”
“………….”
“Three.”
“…ok.”
Finally, she opened her mouth and spoke.
“Ok, what?”
“…”
“Two.”
“I… will do… it,” she struggled to form out her words in front of him, but all of them nonetheless understood her decision.
“Then do it. I assume that lever will do the trick, and if it doesn’t, you better find something else.”
“…”
Hesitantly, in a much slower pace than when she was facing against the stone creature, she shuffled towards the large thing behind the glass pane.
“…it’s really happening, isn’t it? The end of all our suffering, once and for all,” he smugly and excitedly declared as he watched her slowly make her way to the lever.
In his excitement, he had unconsciously loosened the grip on his knife. At that moment, Kara seized her chance to escape.
“Hah!”
“Agh!”
In a split second, she headbutted his crotch, causing him to double over, while she swiftly grabbed onto his hand and tugged the knife out of it.
“Son of a… Azwar! Fire at her!” he choked out, and the Fox nodded.
“…”
However, before he could do so, Dauma’s consciousness returned. His brain had recovered enough from the damage done to it, and quickly realizing the situation, he created his sword and slashed the Fox’s legs, causing him to fall.
With the Fox now off him, he quickly cut off the blade pinning his torso down and got up.
“Aghhhhhh!”
At the same time, Kara had forced the knife into Masse’s leg. He had been reaching behind to grab his rifle and fire at her, but now that she had interrupted his action, he panicked. Grabbing the trigger instinctively, he fired a shot in a random direction.
Come on, he’s almost down!
However, before he could steady himself and charge, or even throw his sword at him, the ground shook, causing him to lose his balance and fall over again.
W… what? What just…
“…yes.”
The rifle shot that had been fired in a random direction had unfortunately hit a not-so-random target: The glass panel.
While normally a panel as thick as it could withstand fired bullets, this one in particular had been made before the end of the world, even if it had been installed sometime after that, meaning that only normal bullets had been tested on it at the time.
In addition to that, the Foxes had raided a Paradise soldier camp just days prior to their mission, and they had obtained some very valuable ammunition.
Ammunition that had been loaded into all the Foxes’ rifles for the sole purpose of preventing any threat from the devil and angel they had been forced to entertain on that day.
All of those factors combined together led to one disastrous outcome.
“Oh no…”
“YES!”
Before anyone had noticed, it had already shattered the glass and continued on its straight path, quickly passing through the thing.
“RMBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB”
The weapon, which was not to be woken up, was now awake.
As it slowly began to move and, much more disturbingly, expand itself and grow bigger, the entire building began to shake violently. Very quickly, large chunks of rock fell on them as the ceiling and walls around them began to collapse.
There was hardly any time to respond to the new threat. All of them knew that they had to make their move.
“Kara!”
Dauma instinctively leapt towards the injured inventor.
“Shit!”
Still immobilized by the devil’s sword, Azwar could only grit his teeth and hold up his arms to block the incoming falling rocks.
“…ah…”
Yuu was panicking, unsure of how she wanted to react.
Claine had already closed his eyes and braced for the impact.
And, in the center of the entire thing, the man who had accidentally, yet at the same time was entirely willing to set it free, was raising his arms up and soaking in the excitement.
“Let’s get started!”