[April 23rd]
[This day has multiple songs. If you'd like to prepare them now: "Collective Consciousness" and "It Has To Be This Way", both extended. I prefer the original vocals on the second, but it's all fine. I don't think there's an instrumental extension, unfortunately, as preferable as it'd be.
I looked up "Collective Consciousness - Game Version Remix - Extended - Mashup - Sing Along" and found a version that mixes vocals & instrumental, and is about as long as it needs to be.]
Kirihara was still annoyed over her mother. Amiti should've known the month was stressful for Kirihara, but she'd shown her maturity and apologized that morning.
["Collective Consciousness."]
She'd been quicker to respond that day to a mech-infested city, and knew as soon as she stepped in one avenue of buildings -
- one metal leg the size of skyscraper stomped through a building hundreds of feet ahead; she turned her eyes up -
" - here we go." she muttered, sixlegged beast up ahead the height of a skyscraper & the width of two. Two enormous cannons were at the center & attached to the cockpit overhead, two enormous swords jutting out -
- and it started stomping towards her; Carve spun readied as she glanced right -
- and saw one of its six legs smash through one avenue; she glanced left -
- and saw another two smash through another avenue. Leaping up on Carve, she started riding towards them, figuring she'd slice it off at the legs first. Ahead, two cannons started to rumble -
" - LET LOOSE THE FLAMES OF JUSTICE!" shouted a male voice from the cockpit, and in the next instant -
- two plasma jets burst out of the cannons and towards her -
- and she leaped off of Carve with the speed of light, main section of the beast up ahead but Kirihara peeling left; a metal slide formed in midair, and as she started to slide down -
- the cannons' aims followed her as she slid & slid; one piece of Carve flew back -
- and disintegrated without a single ash left once the jet of plasma hit it, cannons still chasing after her as she kept sliding, hundreds of feet to go before she'd land; she glanced behind herself as she slid -
- and saw one jet disintegrating through the metal as it chased after her; she set her eyes forward again -
- just in time for the second jet to swoop in ahead to try to meet her -
- but the next scene was instant. A metal arm formed at her bacd and threw her off of her slide & down; seeing one building 200ft below, she winced and braced herself as she fell -
- and crashed right through one ceiling -
- and another -
- and another -
- and another, gritting her teeth as she hit the bottom and stood again. The floor started shaking as soon as she stood.
"SO YOU LIKE PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK, YOU LITTLE BITCH?!" shouted his voice; Kirihara swept with the speed of light back -
- just in time for one 2,000-ton leg to smash through the ceiling -
- and stomp her right leg clear off in a shower of gore; a horrific shriek erupted from her as she staggered back, new steel limb forming as the rest of the beast came up & over the building. Above, one of its blades swept down and towards her -
" - C-Carve -" she grunted as it sought her right; Carve spun with the speed of sound to meet it -
- and she nodded as the two sparked against eachother with no progress made on either end, Carve & blade fighting at her right as she staggered left, hundreds & hundreds of sparks erupting from their metal as one spun & one shoved -
- and she leaped up -
- just in time to dodge the second giant blade coming from her left, landing right on it as she glanced up, Carve still caught with its foe at her right.
"I COULD CRUSH YOU LIKE A GOD DAMN BUG!" shouted his voice a thousand feet up, and in the next instant -
- one of its legs rose above Carve & its own blade, and as it started to stomp down -
- Carve disappeared -
- but it pulled its leg back before it'd stomp its own blade, Kirihara still standing on the second. With no time to waste, she started rushing up it, coming quick to the 1000ft metal arm that kept it attached to the rest of the beast, saws forming on her boots as she ran but unable to damage it yet. She heard him shouting "IMPRESSIVE, MOST IMPRESSIVE!" as she rushed up to one section of the metal arm, and as Carve's chainsaw formed in her hands -
- she leaped with the speed of light left -
- and the plasma jet that'd tried to stab her in the back entered the arm of metal, disintegrating it without a single ash left, blade falling limp & useless to the ground. Below, Kirihara landed and hit the ground running as she rushed out of the building, and as she came out to the street -
- another enormous leg stomped ahead of her -
- and one Carve-spear impaled it from below; another dozen stabbed through its foot to trap it there, and she leaped up to the leg and started to climb. It started thrashing as she made her ascent, but more spears of Carve jut out of the road to keep it there; behind, she heard its two cannons rumble -
- and the next scene was instant.
Two jets of plasma disintegrated the road underneath its trapped leg; sudden support lost, Carve's spears couldn't trap it any longer; she braced herself as the beast's leg kicked -
- and launched her with the strength of a billion in to the air. A sinking feeling came up in her heart's bacterial colony as she sailed through the air and touched the clouds, completely losing sight of her foe and of anything on the ground as she flew. Ahead, random plasma jets were blasting the air.
"ASHES TO ASHES, MOTHERFUCKER!"
After a minute of sick flight, she glanced down as she started to fall. Another town was thousands of feet below. Once she dropped out of the clouds, poles of Carve formed below to slow her descent -
- but she decided against it as one plasma jet narrowly missed her from ahead. She knew she'd reached terminal velocity and could survive the fall. A forest was ahead of her & the town -
- and a steel sacrophagus formed as she crashed with the strength of a million in to the road leading in to the town, leaving a crater as she escaped and stood on her feet again. Ahead, two plasma jets were clearing through the forest, beast still stomping towards her and thousands of feet separating them. She glanced back and saw civilians fleeing down the sidewalks behind, buildings in their rightful places -
- and one plasma jet disintegrated one storefront to ashes & ashes.
'His sight isn't that good. Would've gone for me.' she thought, running back down the road and in to the town. She'd used civilians as bait before, and as she passed by one woman -
" - enjoy!"
- and a spear of Carve went all the way through her from below, Carve's saw forming over the woman's shoulder as she screamed. One corner was ahead, and Kirihara cut left around it, still running as she saw the beast stomping in to town. Its one blade swept through three avenues on the other side, ripping the buildings up by their roots.
After another minute of running, she felt its jet of plasma hit her bait, but she'd managed to get behind the six-legged monstrosity. Steel claws forming, she came up to the back of one backleg, and up she climbed, bracing herself every few seconds as the beast still stomped through town, oblivious pilot in the rectangular cockpit above shouting - " - COME ON! FIGHT LIKE A WOMAN!"
Kirihara glanced right once she'd come to the beast's knee. Another backleg was stepping beside her, and the cockpit was still a thousand feet up -
- but the next scene was instant. Two saws of Carve formed in the gap between the beast's legs and spun with the speed of sound -
" - SONIC SHOCK!" shouted Kirihara as she leaped up; two shockwaves erupted out of the saws & blasted each other away -
- and the keen twin ends tore the beast's back legs off the rest of its body in a shower of wires & electricity, cockpit shrieking as its gone-legs collapsed; sudden support lost, already starting to stagger as Kirihara kept climbing -
- until it dipped its one blade left in to the dirt to keep itself steady. Above, the cockpit & two cannons turned towards her, only a hundred feet separating them now; she leaped -
- and landed at the tip of one of the cannons. She saw her muscular & male foe sitting in the cockpit ahead as she rushed up the cannon, only fifty feet separating them now -
- forty feet separating them, saws formed on her boots as she ran and readied for a repeat of her kill with the armyman -
- thirty feet separating them, she lurched forward, boots aimed for the cockpit as she leaped -
- and crashed through the window with a stomp to her foe's chest -
- whose skin hardened black & absorbed her momentum to stop her cold in her tracks; his muscular grip shot to her left leg -
- and ripped it clear off in a shower of blood; she screamed terribly as her metal leg kicked herself off & out of the cockpit -
- and back in to the air outside; she heard him shouting as she flew, two Carve saws forming between the two cannons -
" - S-SONIC SHOCK!" she shouted; the saws amputated the cannons as she fell, hearing him shout -
" - I'M NOT ONE OF THOSE BELTWAY PANSY HOSTS! I COULD SNAP THE PRESIDENT LIKE A WISHBONE!"
- and one streetpole crunched Kirihara's skull as she landed & smashed right in to it; stars lit her vision as she shrieked, agony filling her eyes -
- and she saw him leap out of the cockpit a thousand feet ahead, bits of saw still stuck in him as he staggered forward, blood oozing. One hand ripped it clear out, and Kirihara barely saw his skin blacken & harden. She had landed in an 3-way intersection, in the left & south section, line of buildings at her right and open road left.
"I have a dream." he said as he started stepping forward. "That one day every person in this nation will have their own Revenant. A land of the truly free, dammit. A nation of action, not words! Ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around. Where power and justice are back where they belong: in the hands of the people! Where every lesbian is free to think - to act - for herself! Fuck all these limp-dicked lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats. Fuck this 24-hour Internet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit! Fuck American pride! Fuck the media! FUCK ALL OF IT!"
Fifty feet separating them, she dragged herself up. A parked car was at her right, and in the next instant -
- a metal arm threw it towards him -
- but one punch shattered it as his body took the rest of the hit dead-on; in the next instant, he leaped up and on to a building at her right.
["It Has To Be This Way."]
Ahead, the six-legged beast staggered to the left and collapsed, 1000ft-blade still embedded in the ground at the town's entrance. She rose to her metal feet.
"You should try fighting for what you believe in, sometime, Carve." he said, fifty feet to her right & above. "Not for a company, or an academy, or anyone else."
'This guy is batshit insane. Sheesh.' thought Kirihara, and with no time to waste -
- she started rushing left just as he leaped down to the ground at her right; she heard him stomp, and a fissure shot through the ground and towards her -
- but a carpet of spikes filled it just as she dodged away from it, still running west with the beast north; she glanced back and saw him a hundred feet away, suddenly glowing red. A wall of spikes burst up as he rushed with the speed of sound towards her -
- and in to hundred of spikes went him; he screamed in agony as the wall impaled right through him and Kirihara kept her run going, shoving down her worry as her metal limbs shortened to give her any extra speed she could get -
" - i-impressive, C-Carve!" his impaled body gasped behind - " - m-most impressive!"
Even she winced as she heard him peel himself out of the wall of spikes, as she ran north & on to a new road. As she glanced back, she saw five cars thrown towards her -
- but Carve's saw chewed them to bits -
" - o-oh fuck." she panted, realizing she'd lost sight of him.
Carve's saw reformed ahead of her, and she leaped up and on it, metal limbs melding with the steel to allow her to move faster and with it. She flew forward, and saw the beast's wreckage still thousands of feet ahead, but peeled left and over another avenue of buildings; in the next instant -
- nothing happened as she glanced below, trying to keep her nerves down.
'Where the - where the fuck is he?' she thought -
- and the next scene was instant.
In another avenue, she thought she saw a glowing green light, but decided not to investigate it. Carve turned north, and she came in to the road where the initial damage had been done. Lines of ruins flanked her as she rushed down the street, and in the next instant -
- he burst with the speed of a million through the rubble right and at her -
- but one blade of Carve sliced his right arm clear off with the momentum; the two grunted as they clashed, his gone-shoulder hardening & turning black, his left arm hardening as he blocked her sword -
" - nice knife." he grunted, left hand gripping the blade tight -
- but two spikes burst out of the hilt and impaled clear through his eyes in a cloud of red&white; as he staggered back, one sweep of Carve sought his neck -
- which hardened to black & caught her blade like it was indestructible; his gone-arm formed a new black blade -
- that sliced her right arm clear off; agony filled her eyes as she staggered back, blade of Carve replacing her third&gone-limb, and in her one sweep seeking his black arm -
- that couldn't even penetrate through it; his kick aimed for her stomach, but a crotch-high wall of spikes blocked it and the two stumbled back.
"NANOMACHINES!" he shouted; his decapitated right arm was still on the ground beside, and in the next instant -
- it flew towards her -
- but the next scene was instant. Her blade-arm turned to her saw - " - SONIC SHOCK!"
- and the shockwave blasted him with the strength of a thousand away clear through two ruins & probably another, decapitated arm going along with him for the ride. With no time to waste, she kept her rush going north, some space created with the wreckage of the beast still, still ahead, but only a thousand feet away now. Her eyes turned back -
- and saw him rushing towards her again, his right-arm mysteriously reattached and gaining speed by the second. Five hundred feet separated Kirihara from the enormous blade stuck in the ground. She noticed all his wounds had healed, and his right fist was burning orange as he chased her, speed growing over her's.
"THEY HARDEN IN RESPONSE TO PHYSICAL TRAUMA!" he shouted, 300ft separating the two, 200 from Kirihara and the blade. "YOUR SWORD CAN'T HARM ME, CARVE!"
"M-maybe not." she grunted, rushing up and to the enormous blade. Carve's saws formed and dug in to the ground, desperately trying to uproot it from its lofty dirt -
" - I'LL BLOW YOU AWAY!" he shouted -
- and rushed with the speed of a million towards her -
- but the next scene was instant. One sawblade formed behind him -
" - BUT THIS ISN'T MY SWORD!" she shouted; Carve spun with the speed of sound -
- and the shockwave blasted him clear in to the sword that separated him in to two halves & tore through his body vertically; he couldn't even scream in agony, one final piece of the back of his skull the only thing keeping him from full separation, one half on one half of the sword & another on the other.
Kirihara stepped up behind him. Something started gurgling as she stared across that barren wasted land.
"Not getting quadruple amputated today." said Kirihara, relevantly.
"...maybe not..." his mangled halves coughed. "You've guaranteed the status quo will go on, for a while longer at least... Urasaria... Will continue as an institution. As an industry. Lesbians will fight for reasons they don't understand, causes they don't believe in... But at least I'll leave a worthy successor... You, Carve. You… er, carve… your own path, use whatever methods you see fit... You don't let legal bullshit get in the way. And if it costs a few lives? So be it..."
"…uh, okay. Sonic Shock."
Carve spun with the speed of sound & tore him in to red mist, and the lesbian fighting for a reason she didn't understand & a cause she didn't believe in nodded as she crouched down to scan.
[April 26th]
Mia got a call that day to deal with a violent graffiti artist.
She stepped up at the front of the train. A liquid entrance had been cut through the front, and in she stepped, conductor's corpse on the seat beside. Unlike most trains of the type, every carriage was only separated by one door, and she noticed they'd been transporting cans of paint as she started walking down the aisle.
'…how were they even going to transport these?' she thought, relevantly, glancing at the walls. One shutter door was ahead, and she disintegrated any paint that spilled on her, freezing the rest as she passed by it. She burnt down another three doors as she kept walking, and in the next minute, she swept against one -
- and a pillar of blue flame disintegrated it; in to the room she swept -
- and saw her male foe at the other end, fifty feet separating them with the floor covered in purple paint; she swept her palms forward -
" - Dream!" he shouted -
- and Mia's stomach punched her as she saw a familiar spraycan form; she gripped immediately her burning orange blade, deciding to keep her temperature low for this one; ahead, a blue spray hit the wall at his right -
- and turned it in to water-wall; out of the hole he swept.
"Worldwide." muttered Mia, and a pillar of ice launched her up & out to the roof; with no time to waste, she started rushing across it, seeing her foe rushing along the train left with some speed over her. Sheets of ice formed underneath her feet as she skid & slid, and as she free thirty within range -
- a green spray hit her frozen path ahead and turned it to acid-ice -
- but another platform of ice swallowed it as she rose up and to her feet there, and as she readied to leap down -
" - Dream!" he shouted, spraying the train directly this time, and the roof started to collapse; sudden support lost, Mia's platform of ice collapsed -
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
- and in to the train she fell -
- smashing through a dozen cans of red paint in her landing; with a grunt and a groan, she rode to her feet again, and as a pillar of orange flame melted the train's wall ahead -
- she saw her foe rushing away & across the trainyard. Scarabs readied, she ran out of the train and in pursuit, seeing him spray randomly ahead of himself & leap over every now and then. Once she got forty feet within range, a blue spray hit below her feet -
- and turned the ground liquid; in to the sudden pool she fell, second spray hitting the liquid -
- but her body turned white and disintegrated the dirt before it could turn in to steel; she swept up and out of the hall, and a geyser of water erupted from her palm & towards him -
- but he sprayed it in midair; her electrical current tried to enter his body once the liquid hit him -
- but did absolutely nothing. He turned and started running away, Mia keeping up her pursuit behind. A fence was ahead, sidewalk & three-lane road ahead; spraying the fence to liquid, he swept through, twenty feet separating him & Mia as he rushed out to the road -
- with a truck about to hit him -
- but the next scene was instant. Mia sighed as she swept her palms forward -
- and a frozen ray froze the truck solid before it could hit him; suddenly saved, the man stopped and staggered back in to another lane -
- and the keen end of a car smashed through half his body & launched him a dozen feet; Mia rushed up as he rolled & skid & landed on his back -
" - Worldwide!" she shouted; a pillar of orange flame engulfed the man -
" - D-Dream!" gasped his burning mouth; a blue spray hit the fire -
- and turned it in to water-fire, extinguishing him as Mia caught up beside; a pillar of white flame engulfed him -
- and a gray spray turned it in to steel, locking him in a coffin of his own design but flames unable to penetrate fully. With a wince, a careful pillar of blue flame erupted at the head of it -
- and Mia nodded slowly as she heard no further spray coming. Carefully, she sliced open his steel coffin, and his headless corpse was inside. Behind, a car honked at her -
- and she didn't look back as a pillar of blue flame disintegrated its hood. She picked up his corpse, melted the frozen truck as she passed by it, and sat down at a nearby sidewalk. She cut his heart out and disintegrated the rest of the corpse, nothing but a still-beating heart left, bacterial colony she knew was Jeanne's. She breathed deeply as she set it in a pouch of ice, and checked her phone for the nearest Revenant storage facility.
(Mia) "Marisa, can you help me transport a Revenant?"
(Marisa) "what's up?"
(Mia) "I found Dream."
(Marisa) "...oh no. Sad [https://www.royalroadcdn.com/public/smilies/sad.png] yeah. I'll be right there."
Mia nodded and sat against a wall, keeping it close.
'…Ryumi.' she thought, tapping her chest. Out of every villain she could remember, him & Akira were the only names. She wondered what Ryumi had been like as a young woman, or how she'd ended up with Magnus. She heard something to her right, and shot up -
- and there, twenty feet separating them, stood -
" - don't you fucking dare." grunted Mia, extra ice forming over Dream -
" - what?" groaned Kirihara - " - you think I'm going to - what, scan it or whatever?"
" - lay a single fucking finger on it -"
" - Mia-Mia!" shouted a familiar voice behind -
- and a familiar strand yanked Marisa beside Mia-Mia, fashionista not even looking at Kirihara as she turned. "Everything - everything good?"
"Yes." said Mia, eyes firm. "Let's go."
"Sure thing."
Boudoir's glove scooped her up, and they were gone swinging.
'She has Marisa transporting her.' Kirihara grunted. 'No fucking wonder.'
[April 30th]
The last day had come, and two women waited for a dispatch.
SWARM (178)
CARVE (178)
"You got this." chimed Serena, on the phone with Mia. "Just like - I dunno, Solar Beam someone."
"I've been saving for that." laughed Mia on the other end. "We'll see. I won't let her be president."
◆◆◆
Kirihara was on her saw outside of Urasaria, eyes on her tablet.
'Focus. Going to be easy as shit. Her word against your's.' Her tablet vibrated. 'Perfect.'
◆◆◆
Hampsburg had been evacuated before Mia arrived.
'One more.' she thought as she stepped up to one store. As with the mech-infested town, a forest was north, and she was standing on the sidewalk of a traditional avenue. Sword & scarabs readied, she stepped inside the store, one scarab burning orange for a torch. She checked her tablet for his last known location, and in the next instant -
- an unfamiliar voice entered her ear from behind -
" - hollow vessel in the form of woman, heed the -"
- a jet of water blasted him with the strength of a thousand away & out of the store; Mia turned to him as he flew -
" - HOW - HOW THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE SCOURGE?!" she panted, renewed stress upping her volume -
" - Grabbag!" he shouted as he flew -
- and the next scene was instant. A strawhat formed on the store behind him, and in to the hat he disappeared; stress lowering, Mia nodded as she rushed out of the store, fifty feet separating her from the hat on the other end of the street.
'Of - of course. Grabbag. What, what was after that?'
Behind & above, she heard his voice chanting again, and as she turned her eyes back -
- she saw him on the building's roof finishing up his " - vessel -"; she threw her burning blue blade towards him -
- which caught only the concrete underneath him -
- but still disintegrated it without a single ash left; in to the sudden burrow he fell, chanting interrupted as he disappeared. Rushing inside the store, Mia set one scarab to freeze the entire floor -
- and found only a single strawhat left behind for her troubles. She ran up to it and threw a tri-swarm raid inside it, and as she left the store again -
- she saw a jet of water burst up in another avenue, a few streets ahead of her and a few streets left of her. She kept her rush going as she ran across the road and in to the store ahead, disintegrating through the back wall and rushing out to another street.
A minute later, she came in to the start of the avenue where she'd seen her geyser, stores flanking her as she rushed to the center of the road -
- and the hollow point of one bullet entered her back from behind; her movements started slowing, paralysis filling her veins -
- but a wall of ice burst up to swallow the next three shots, body burning blue and disintegrating the anesthetic as she staggered behind the wall for cover.
'I wonder if it has Ryumi.' she thought, and in the next instant -
- her frozen wall melted in to steam; she saw the sharpshooter standing at the entrance of one store a hundred feet right & away, familiar revolver in his right hand, and as a dozen bullets shot towards her -
- she swept underneath the projectiles, and they entered a dozen stores at her left; her eyes turned back and saw a strawhat appear right where each had hit, and in the next instant -
- a dozen shots burst out of them; underneath one she dodged -
- but the next eleven blasted the road to bits behind her, explosions she knew must be historical erupting outward. Another shot entered the road a hundred feet behind her -
- and the next scene was instant. A vortex of sand appeared, and a storm of sand followed, another three shots dumping in to it & strengthening its pace; her boots dug in to the ground as her eyes clenched, vortex trying to pull her with the strength of a million back -
- and in to the vortex she went, yanked & caught up in the circular current; a wall of ice burst up to try to slow her circling -
- but another bullet blasted it to bits, dozens & dozens of shots starting to enter the vortex, melting any frozen wall she tried to put up in the sandstorm -
- but the next scene was instant. One palm aimed up; another aimed up with it -
" - Solar Ray?!" she shouted, and in the next instant -
- a frozen ray erupted from her palm, and a red solar beam met it above the storm -
- and dumped thousands & thousands of gallons of water out of the sky, sudden wave forming as it swallowed the storm of sand -
- and Mia up with it as the tsunami wave filled the avenue. Thrashing her head above water, the current started to flow and she saw her foe swept up in it ahead -
" - Worldwide!" she shouted; an electrical swarm flew in to the liquid as his head poked up 100ft ahead -
- but the next scene was instant. A golden vial appeared in his hand -
- and she stifled her fear as she felt her electrical strength & swiftness pull away from her, vial's liquid bubbling as it started to fill. With no time to lose and still caught in the current, a wall of blue flame appeared ahead -
- and disintegrated half of the current as she fell in to it, landing in the avenue again -
- but stifling her worry as she saw the wave still carry her foe away & ahead, water spreading and swimming even further out. Rushing in to the flood of her own design, she disintegrated a path ahead, icicles bursting out of her hair to freeze the water, burrowing as if she were underground instead of underwater.
She felt the current split in to three directions as she ran with it in to an intersection and turned her eyes right as it spread -
- and saw the wave deposit her moist foe on the street hundreds of feet away as it went on without him, still on his back and coughing up liquid. Sheets of ice formed as she skid & slid, and he rose up once she was a hundred feet within range and her palms swept forward -
" - Solar -"
- an explosion blasted her with the strength of a thousand left, building at her left as she flew; her body burned blue -
- and smashed clear through the outer wall with more than a single ash left as her fire strength & swiftness left her, grunting as she landed and sighing as she stood. Sword forming, she rushed up to the northern wall, and a single ice scarab froze it solid; one bash shattered it down, and in to the next store she swept, explosive bullets entering the building behind but not catching her yet. Once she bashed through another wall and came in to another store, she rushed out of the exit right -
- and saw her foe's back standing fifty feet away from her in the middle of the street; rushing towards him, his revolver's aim turned towards her -
- but an ankle-high ice wall burst up to block his shot -
- that shot clear through Mia's heart as her frozen strength & swiftness faded; she threw her blade forward as she fell back -
- and the sharp end cleaved his left hand clear off in a geyser of blood & forced him to drop his vial; it disappeared it once it hit the ground, and renewed strength filled Mia as she stood again, swift blue claiming her to disintegrate the anestehtic shot once again. Ahead, his bullets entered the fifty feet of road separating them -
- and placed 20 hats in 2 seconds, familiar field of straw separating them now; but she had true confidence again. She rushed forward as a hundred shots burst out of the hats and flew up -
- and her foe jumped in to one hat and disappeared, Mia's burning blue sweep narrowly missing as she came to where he'd been. She felt something below and looked down -
" - of course." she groaned, wishing Mirena were here -
- to where a drill was embedded; the rain of lead started to fall above, and as the drill spun to yank all of them in to itself & her -
" - Worldwide!" she shouted as she swept back -
- and the next scene was instant. An electrical arc erupted out of the drill's metal -
- and yanked every last bullet in to its spinning teeth, swift case of ice forming over it as the cacophony of explosions blasted through the drill inside. Field of hats still ahead, Mia threw her burning blue blade across the ground -
- and disintegrated nearly all of them without a single ash left; one survivor left, one bullet flew out of it and up. She watched it carefully as she stepped back. Worldwide's swarm had grown in size, and in the next instant -
- a drill shot out of the hat and in to one building at her left, yanking it with the strength of a million towards her -
- but she rolled her eyes as she disintegrated it, body burning blue as she kept her eyes on the sky and the bullet. Something had blasted it even higher, but in the next instant -
- a familiar chant entered her eyes from behind; she turned -
- but her burning blue blade caught only air as her foe swept back, and as a second sweep sought his neck -
- the next scene was instant. One shot of his revolver hit his skull, throwing him with the strength of a thousand back -
- and right in to a wall of icicles that impaled through him in 1,001 ways. You know how he was screaming. Torn skin hanging off of the sharp ends, he yanked himself out and started placing photos of new flesh over his wounds -
" - SOLAR BEAM!" shouted Mia, frustrated palms sweeping forward; a white beam erupted from her palms -
- and disintegrated the lower half of his body without a single ash left, scar forming on his torso as his revolver aimed down -
- and one shot blasted him with the strength of million in to the air; as he flew, Mia saw something flash as she snuffed her beam out -
" - are you fucking kidding me?"
- and a white beam shot out of the sky towards her. One ice scarab swallowed it, but she knew he'd have new limbs once she saw him again, and rushed up to a building at her left. On the other side of the avenue, a dozen strawhats started forming -
- and a dozen drills burst out of them and in to their opposite buildings, starting to yank them out of their foundations -
- but the next scene was instant. One electrical scarab flew in to the center drill -
- and the arc of lightning yanked the other eleven into it & destroyed them without a single ash left. Strength exponentially growing, her scarab swarm had replenished -
- and grown to the size of a skyscraper -
- just in time for an enormous wall of ice to block the next dozen stolen beams that'd come out of the hats ahead.
'…that may work.' thought Mia, idea coming up. 'It'll destroy the entire town, but…'
She heard something rumbling in another avenue, and braced herself as she turned -
- to see a serpent the size of a skyscraper bursting up at the other end of town, towering over the entire locale. With no time to waste, Mia started searching for her foe.
Above, Worldwide flew to the back end of the town, eight serpent heads swaying up with 10,000ft separating it & them. A headless torso formed out of its trillion-scarab swarm, purple smoke seeping out of its headless neck, three arms but no lower half. Four of the serpents disappeared ahead -
- and reappeared behind it in the next; three frozen fists spun to meet it, and the five hit the air fighting. In a whirlwind of blows & scarabs the five revolved over the town, and as one's immeasurably swift fangs tried to enter its headless neck -
- a skyscraper-length icicle went all the way through it mouth-first; another serpent's fangs shot for Worldwide's chest, waterfall of acid dripping off of its teeth -
- but a flood of its own diluted the foul liquid just as the other two burst up behind it -
- and a thousand slits of purple flame burst out of its back & disintegrated both of them without a single ash left. Worldwide floated back with the speed of scarabs, 3,000ft separating it from the two serpents ahead; ahead, one's immeasurably swift fangs swept down and tried to shoot for Mia all the way below -
- but one scarabpunch shattered its skull in half and smashed it in to the ground; ice fingers forming, Worldwide tried to grip it -
- but another's fangs entered its frozen knuckles before it could grab the swift serpent; a thousand stalactites burst out of its hand -
- and froze the interrupter in to a serpent of ice. Below, the saved & swift serpent started swaying up again, and in the next instant -
- a million icicles burst out of the buildings below and impaled clear through it in a shower of green blood & skin; trying to escape the frozen trap, it started thrashing as Worldwide flew towards it, and as 5,000 feet separated the two -
- one serpent burst up ahead in Worldwide's path, and a gust of wind erupted from its maw -
- but the next scene was instant. A pillar of ice formed around the serpent of wind -
- and its gust of wind couldn't do anything as Worldwide floated past it, having learned to counter wind Revenants of any size. Millions of slits were dug in to its frozen prison, allowing the wind to escape but never the serpent. 10,000mph winds were peeking out of it as the serpent thrashed inside -
- and a million icicles impaled through the pillar to shut it up for good, Worldwide flying past it with swift nemesis still swaying ahead. Another serpent burst up next to its friend, and as its fangs tapped its wounds -
- its flesh started to swell & close, and it swept in to meet Worldwide as it came within range -
- but a jet of water blasted a building below with the strength of a million in to it & bashed its skull out the bottom of its jaw; ice fingers readied. Worldwide's one left hand gripped it by its neck and dug in hard -
- and the serpent started thrashing ferociously, frozen spikes forming to scrape its skin off, its base still stick in the ground as Worldwide kept yanking, and twisting, and pulling -
- and ripped it clear out of the ground in a shower of decapitated blood & guts & gore hanging out of its mangled neck; the swift serpent had recovered ahead -
- and the two hit the air fighting. Inch by inch, the pressure of its strikes forced Worldwide back; in the town, one enormous serpent was towering over Mia, and as it shot towards her -
- one enormous scarabfist took the hit for her before it could get near her; a second scarabhand gripped this second serpent's neck tight, but the swift one swayed over one of Worldwide's right arms. Seeking revenge, its fangs shot for its limb -
- but the next scene was instant. The right arm of scarabs dispersed -
- and the serpent caught only air. Worldwide's left arm was still gripping the serpent tight, and as its brother tried to meet up with it -
- a reformed right & frozen arm blocked it; in to the frozen shield went the serpent, shrieking as it staggered back, Worldwide's left arm chewing through its lost brother -
- and with no time to waste, Worldwide ripped it up by its neck to bring it to eyeless level. Its hand rumbled as the beast in its grip kept writhing, and in the next instant -
- a blue beam the size of a skyscraper erupted from its palm -
- and disintegrated its entire head without a single ash left, green blood raining out of the grisly aperture once it discarded it to the side in one street. The swift king rose up 3,000ft away ahead, and shot towards Worldwide -
- but one enormous scarabfist bashed its skull from the back and shattered it in half again, Worldwide dispersing and reappearing behind it with its full form readied, limbs tight enough to be solid now with a grip on the beast -
- and one four-fingered scarabfist burst through the serpent's back & out its chest, third hand gripping it tight -
- and smashing it right in to one avenue below. This time she judged it right. It scraped the pavement with that beast's mangled maw. A furious cry was coming out of that torn face, but Worldwide's chattering was louder.
Below, Mia hung her legs over one building's roof and watched Worldwide smash it through another avenue.
"Are you done yet?" she laughed, enjoying a handiwork she liked to think wasn't her's. Sometimes, that Revenant seemed sentient.
Worldwide's headless neck turned towards her as it picked up the last serpent. and all she could see was its two right arms gripping it by its mouth, dragging it up as far as it could -
- and as a woman might snap a wishbone -
- tore its body in two, and it discarded the grisly halves over its shoulders, shaking its blood-soaked fists ruefully. Mia laughed again.
"Are you ready?"
She made it nod, and a million scarabs flew down to her, forming a growing pillar of ice underneath her. She thought of presidency as it carried her for thousands of feet up, and as she came up in to the clouds -
" - WORLDWIIIIDE!" she shouted in to the sky; a trillion scarabs flew in to the town below -
- and an enormous ring of ice formed around the entire locale, forest outside and safe, and in the next instant -
- a whirlpool the size of the entire town formed within it, buildings demolished instantly even if she could barely see them from that high, jets spraying and hundreds of gyres forming with one enormous current spinning at the center -
- and with no time to waste, she leaped off of her frozen pillar and started to fall, 5,000 feet separating her from the whirlpool below.
4,000 feet, her fire & ice was expended.
3,000 feet, her last trillion electrical scarabs swarmed her body, and a scarab hand threw her in to the lake -
- and right next to her gagging foe, barely keeping his dragon's head above water & firing fireballs wildly, and as her decillion-volt current entered the liquid -
- it tore him in to a billion pieces without a single identifiable piece but his heart, shockwaves destroying and blasting through every last building, home, sidewalk, videogame and fence again, disintegrating every last drop of liquid, Worldwide's one trillion-scarab hand waving goodbye to her -
- just as she landed on her feet in to the moist avenue below, one pristine & still-beating heart ahead.
Worldwide's frozen wall had disappeared, and she checked her tablet.
11:55PM.
She texted Serena as she stepped on to the sidewalk and next to the Revenant.
(Mia) "Kirihara hasn't responded to anything, has she?"
(Serena) "no, your's was the last call"
(Serena) "did you get the bitch? ( ╹▽╹ )"
(Mia) "I did get the bitch."
(Serena) "┏(｀ー´)┛ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪ ┏(＾0＾)┛"
Mia laughed, and as she pulled her tablet out to scan -
- a familiar spear landed at her feet; she swept back just in time to avoid the hundred of metal shards erupting outward, and as the cloud cleared -
- she saw with eyes like none before Kirihara bursting out of her vision right, rushing over to the heart -
- and scanning it, ensuring her position as #1.
" - you - FUCKING CUNT!" shouted Mia, and Kirihara laughed, clipping her tablet back.
"Guess you should've been quicker." she chimed, Carve's saw forming. She stepped on to it -
- and a jet of water blast her with the strength of a thousand away.
Mia's vision filled with red. The sight of her future drained out of her, and all became centered in the moment.
She was not only Kirihara stealing her presidency - she was the interrogations and Matoi insulting her in her first year. She was the father before their trip to France and Auctioneer in the hotel. She was Akira calling her a pathetic version of Ryumi and the doctor thinking she would take a bribe. Past & present melted in to one figure staggering to her feet ahead of her that was the men in Japan and Chimera.
One hundred feet separated the two.
She remembered what she had accidentally brought to Japan, and what she would intentionally wreak now.
"I'm going to fucking kill you."
"You - what?"
"I'm going to fucking kill you."
"Yeah, and get f-fucking expelled for attacking another student -"
" - SOLAR BEAM!"
- and Kirihara swept aside just in time for the white ray to enter the building behind, disintegrating it with not a single ash left -
" - what the fuck is up with -"
- and she leaped to Carve with the speed of light over the second ray seeking her spine -
" - you want your fucking kill back?!"
" - I ALREADY TOLD YOU!" shouted Mia, sword burning purple as she stepped forward, rage clouding out the new color.
"I'm - not going to fucking fight you -" grunted Kirihara; Carve spun readied, and as she started to flee right -
- an enormous wall of ice burst out of the ground; in to the sudden barrier she stumbled, pinky accidentally touching it -
- and she shrieked as the subzero chill froze her finger solid; another beam shot towards her -
- but a knife of Carve sliced her pinky clear off, freeing her as she stumbled and fell back to the ground, fifty feet separating the two, Mia halting with new purple sword readied.
Mia's gaze filled Kirihara with dread. "You're a fucking worthless worm - no one will miss you when you're fucking dead -"
- her palms flashed forward again, white beam erupting outward; Carve took the hit head on -
- and shattered instantly, scattering to a hundred fragments and bouncing the beam all along the avenue, and as it shot towards its mistress -
- a swarm of ice scarabs swallowed and snuffed the beam; no option left, Kirihara fled through the disintegrated lot, desperately ripping her tablet out as she felt Mia in pursuit behind -
" - WORLDWIDE - BOLT!"
- and she threw away her tablet just in time for the enormous beam to enter it; and in to a thousand pieces it shattered, desperately throwing her phone to the side before the beam could refract -
' - oh god gotta keep moving gotta keep moving -' thought Kirihara, rushing out to a new avenue, eyes ripping behind as she faked right -
- and shrieking as she peeled left, sudden beam ripping her left arm clear off, entire body filling with scars, not a single vein or drop of blood -
" - what - what the f-fuck is your problem!" she screamed in agony, scarab reaper eternally fifty feet behind as she ran right -
" - I'm going to fucking burn you alive, Kirihara - I'll fucking slice you in to a thousand fucking pieces -"
" - is - is this for what I - I can - I can give you your kill back!" panted Kirihara, rushing down another road -
- and an enormous wall of ice blocked her path ahead; no option left, she rode Carve up, and she came to the apex -
- just in time for a frozen beam to freeze her sawblade solid; instincts at the speed of light, she leaped off and over the wall, two hundred foot fall below -
- and her neck bent in ways it shouldn't when she hit the ground skull-first; but she had no time to rest. Another dozen beams blasted the wall to bits behind, leaving her stumbling on her hands and knees back, seeing her foe a hundred feet away.
Six feet of scarab-covered rage stomped down the avenue.
"I'm going to fucking slice your limbs off - one by one by one." she grunted, road melting underneath as her scarabs' heat grew. "I'll scorch you off the face of the fucking earth. You'll be number one hundred and eighty - you'll be nothing but a fucking bitter memory when I'm fucking through with you -"
- she felt Carve's prison melt as Mia passed underneath -
" - S-SONIC SHOCK!" shouted Kirihara; it spun with the speed of sound -
- and dread swallowed her stomach as she saw Mia burst in to purple flames, grunting, staggering, stepping back but still standing by the end -
- with only scars on her cheeks.
Carve reappeared beside Kirihara, and in the next instant -
- underneath the ground she burrowed, drill desperately forming as she tunneled underneath the avenue -
" - YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME!" shouted Mia; a white beam entered the road ahead -
- and blasted every line of gas in the area, hundreds and hundreds of explosions erupting, shattering rubble and disintegrating the entire road, blasting and shattering every last building, hundreds of concrete & asphalt shards flying out of the road -
- and leaving nothing but a bare mess behind, Kirihara still running a hundred feet away on Carve's saw -
- and ripping right underneath another white beam that tore another line of buildings clear in half.
'FUCKING TURN BLUE ALREADY! HOW ANGRY DO I NEED TO BE?!'
- another white beam erupted outward -
- and Carve's saw shattered to a hundred mirrors, readying to meet it -
- but Kirihara saw with aghast eyes the electrical beam contained within the white, and before she could react -
- the lighting bolt ricocheted off of every saw -
- and hit Kirihara's right eye. It exploded in a cloud of blood; she shrieked as she dodged underneath another -
" - o-okay!" gagged Kirihara, clutching desperately her remaining eye as she backed away - " - p-please - I-I can't f-fucking fight you -"
" - I don't give a shit about your fucking begging. You're nothing but another fucking notch -"
" - p-please -"
- another lightning bolt blasted her remaining eye out of the back of her skull, Kirihara running desperate but blind away, heart near set to burst as she rode Carve's saw, desperate dodging, dead-end home&forest she remembered seeing up ahead. Eternally with no option left, she fled through the trees -
- and another white beam cleaved Kirihara's legs clear off; she screamed as her scarred torso skid off of Carve, stopping it only in time for new metal limbs to form, only her right arm left -
- for the next instant scene.
" - WORLDWIDE - SOLAR BEAM!"
- her rage peaked as she aimed her palms forward, scarabs ripping at her arms and starting to burrow, purple flames starting to scar her hands -
- a blue beam erupted from her palms, swarm bowing to her mental command as it shot with the speed of light forward -
- and disintegrated Kirihara and half the forest with not a single ash left.
She stomped on the mark that had been Kirihara. She knew her next two calls.
"Aimee. Urasaria's security. What are their Revenants?"
"I, uh…why are you asking?"
"I just murdered Kirihara. I need to know if they have anything that will counter Worldwide."
A pause.
"…be careful. Alright?"
"… I will. But I need to know, Aimee. Do you have clearance for that?"
"I do - pretty sure, yeah. Lemme get up and check."
"Thank you."
"Did she try to uh, attack you?"
"No. She stole my kill."
"Guess that makes it fair. Lessee... yeah. I'll send you their Revenants. Uh, should I know what you're planning to do?"
"It may be better not to. But, I am Threat Level National, after all. That will get them to not look in to it."
"Does Matoi know?"
"She will."
"…alright. You know… Just do what you have to do to make sure they don't try to arrest you. Right? You know I love you. Be careful."
"I love you too. Goodbye."
"Bye."
She hung up, and made her next call to Urasaria.
"Kirihara is dead. This is Swarm - Mia Schultz. I'm returning to campus, now."