"Noel, you idiot!"
The Grim Reaper stood, aura of darkness rolling off of him in waves. Across from him stood a woman in white, blue eyes shining bright, blonde hair floating in some phantom wind. Her face was impassive and emotionless, almost as doll like as she claimed. However, the man in the red jacket knew better than that. Another man, dressed in blue, was laid out on the floor, injuries taking their toll and making him succumb to unconsciousness. Off to the side, a white sentinel stood, observing the contest of wills soon to be fight of the man's life. Haughty and always ready, his long sword was drawn, waiting for the man in red to be vanquished and take his place in the fray once more.
Ragna had something to say about that though.
"What the hell were you think, going down to that level?" The words sounded more disappointed than angry, red and green eyes boring into blue. "Kusanagi? The god killing sword? Screw ALL of that!"
Bloodscythe came to bear, ready to charge.
"You're Noel Vermillion, aren't you?"
The Godslayer blinked. That had been a strange fluctuation in emotions. Was that…pity? Sadness? No…something else. The man's voice was quieter now.
"You said you wanted to talk to me, remember?"
Of course she remembered. The data had been filed away inside her mind since her conception, along with every other piece of her body's life. Her memories were now the Kusanagi Unit's.
"I'm sorry about before, OK? So now, let's talk."
Sorry? The Black Beast was apologising? He had not yet acted against her, although, granted, her life had been very short so far. She also had no desire to converse with the man that her mission in life was to destroy. Along with the Gods Themselves.
"But first…"
Bloodscythe gleamed in the air, light from the floating and glowing Stein cannon glinting off of its surprisingly keen edge.
"I'm going to have to do something about that armour! Bring it on, you idiot!"
Ragna the Bloodedge charged forward. Another Stein was summoned as Mu-12 sped to meet him half way.
The Black Beast would die this day.
It had been a slight change to regular protocol. The smallest change. One almost insignificant alteration to the logarithms that controlled the Steins. A number had been increased by 0.5. That's all. And yet, this time, Mu-12 had fired the blasts from her Steins with the tiniest extra piece of concussive force. That extra iota of pushing power behind it. Just increased by 0.5. And it had been enough to divert an almost universally accepted event. Ragna's fingers had just grazed her crown. They split the jewel neatly down the middle, but the major problem was this.
The Grim Reaper had missed with the Untempering. Mu-12 was still the Godslayer.
However, the Kusanagi Unit had been momentarily stunned by the display. The algorithms and protocols that had guarded her life so well for the past hour or so had no answers to the onslaught of information swarming her mind. A small part of her, the smallest possible, began to scream, though her stoicism remained on the surface. This confused Mu-12. And when a machine is confused, there is only one thing it can do.
"Entering Stand By mode to Reboot. Rebooting in Two Minutes Approximately. Reboot Initiated."
The Unit sat on her knees, cracked jewel pieces falling down her face, no readable expression at all. The two Steins she had already summoned, however, were on their own separate systems, so they continued to whirr in the air, cannons charging in case of any attack. Or any approach in the slightest.
Reboot. Kusanagi Unit 95% Online.
Missing 5%...unaccounted for.
0% Battle Damage
Lifelink still established at 100%
Steins at 100% capability
Systems...95%
. .Error.
The error messages continued to flash through Mu's electronic like brain, as fast as lightning.
Ragna was out cold. The exertion of utilising the Idea Engine enhanced Azure Grimoire and channelling all that power for one strike had taken its toll. His left arm was completely destroyed, wrecked by the seithr he had tried to pump into Mu-12's crown and dissolved into the air itself. His right fared no better, a giant hole gaping right through the shoulder. It was a wonder the arm was still attached, the hole from the laser shot was that wide.
Jin had not yet recovered. The Kisaragi scion was still recovering from the utter thrashing that Mu had dealt him not fifteen minutes ago. Laser burns marred his features and cuts lined his outfit, delivered from wing blades of silver and blue.
The Great Hero gave a snort of derision. It seemed his time was not yet over. Hakumen pointed his faithful blade toward the kneeling doll.
"It is unfortunate, Kusanagi, that you are unable to continue this fight. However, you are still a creature who should have never existed in the first place." The Susano'oh armour growled in a guttural tone, slowly advancing on Mu-12, just in case of some unexpected attack. Red eyes implanted in the hero's shoulders turned their fierce gaze to the catatonic girl's face. Ookami rested on her shoulder.
"I am the White Void. I am the Cold Steel. I am the Just Sword" The words, normally spoken with determined purpose, had a soft tinge of melancholy behind them. She was but a girl but fate had seen fit to grant her power beyond her wildest imagination. Such power was dangerous. It had to be dealt with in the one way Hakumen knew best. "With blade in hand, shall I reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the fires of destruction."
Ookami was raised high, ready for a killing stroke.
"I am Hakumen. The end has co-"
That was all the hero managed to get out before a foot collided with his armour's chin, exacerbated by the lethal knife sticking out of its heel. Seithr pumped through the point of impact, granting the strike an almost unholy strength as Hakumen was launched skyward, impacting with the ceiling with a deafening bang.
Before the sentinel could recover, a snake headed chain wrapped around the armour's throat, swinging him around before launching him through a wall, the rubble crashing down around the White Susano'oh.
His Black predecessor clapped sarcastically.
"Y'know, you'd get a lot more done if you actually pulled shit off instead of bragging about who you are beforehand, H-Man!" Terumi cackled, green hair still spiky and untamed, yellow eyes piercing through the human wreckage that surrounded the area. Seeing Hakumen dealt with for now, he turned to look at both Mu and Ragna, each as unresponsive as the other.
"Aww, son of a BITCH! You just wrecked my new plaything!" Terumi catcalled, obviously not caring a damn bit and walking towards the two of them. "But then again, you lost your arms, didn't ya Raggy? Don't worry though, even I'm not crass enough to make a 'He's 'armless!' joke! Whoops, guess I just did anyway!"
A malevolent laugh followed, the type of laugh that made spines tingle and skin crawl. The cocky as all fuck serpent sauntered towards the group. Ragna, saviour of humanity and all that jazz with his arms blown off. Guess the Kusanagi's lasers had done their job superbly obviously. Jin was completely out of the proceedings too, not looking likely to recover until sometime tomorrow. IF Terumi felt like letting him live that long. And H-Man was down for the count too! Oh happy days! Now, if only he had the vampire bitch's head on a stick today might be the absolute perfect day. Oh well, guess pulling the plug on Takamagahara would have to do. He STILL couldn't believe he managed to get away with that.
The snake reached the kneeling Mu. He slapped her in the face, trying to get a response. There was none. The green haired man shrugged.
"Ah well, you know what they say. When computers break, the most obvious solution is to TURN!" He kicked the poor unresponsive girl in the face, forcing her to lie face up on her back. "THEM!" STOMP "ON!" STOMP "AND!" STOMP" OFF AGAIN!" STOMPSTOMPSTOMPSTOMPSTOMP.
Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger
Systems failing, systems failure. Systems at 75% and decreasing. Optical systems compromised. CPU Unit in danger.
45% Battle Damage.
Steins Unreacting
Missing Equation Still Missing
DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER
Terumi finally stopped with his brutal treatment of the Kusanagi Unit, vicious smile stuck upon his face still.
"Man, tech support SUCKS these days, doesn't it?" he chuckled, picking up the doll by the throat and shaking her slightly, just to get the tiniest reaction. Just one, that was all. "Welp, there's nothing else for it. Ol' Raggy here musta fried your poor little brain into mush. Damn, you were one hell of a good insurance policy. Still, lifelinks can be remade, I guess. Too bad your 5.2 titless ass won't be around to see it."
A sickly green glow began to fill Terumi's other hand. Mu was as unresponsive as always, blue eyes cold and dead to the world around her, unseeing. The True Evil's smirk widened enough to put slasher villains to shame.
"Too bad it couldn't be First Lieutenant Garbage, but what the hell? I've always said, you want something done right, you do it yourself…with a helpful dose of mind domination magic and utter power, but screw it, point still stands."
He let go of Mu's neck, other hand swinging round, green and black flames setting it alight.
"VENOM SWORD!"
A blur of orange intercepted, yanking the Kusanagi Unit out of his hands and letting the energy miss entirely.
Terumi snarled.
"Alright, who has the goddamn bal-"
His mouth was abruptly shut by an uppercut, sending him flipping back through the air. Smoothly, the man in black recovered in mid air, landing on his feet and brushing his mouth slightly. He grinned savagely.
Makoto Nanaya, Mu slung over her shoulder for now, faced him with a strange mixture of determination and fear of his power in her eyes. The beastkin gently set the Godslayer down again, looking concerned for her former friend for a moment before realising that maybe Terumi should be the one she should be focusing on right now. Terumi's pupils dilated slightly in excitement.
"Well, well, well... So now you're showing who's side you're really on!"
A metallic noise rang through the air as two butterfly knives were drawn.
"I think I'mma see how long it takes to skin you of that tail! See how much of a rug I can get out of it that isn't covered in blood, by the time I'm finished with you!"
Systems Reset. System Reboot 95%
5% unaccounted for. Continuing search.
Battle Capacity Negative
Injuries 75%
Optics 45% online
5% STILL MISSING ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR
Blood dripped from Mu's forehead into her eyes and obscuring her unseeing vision. The remanining 5% to reboot was really taking it's toll. The Blue Screen Of Death was still affecting her, and in a massively bad way. If the squirrel beastkin hadn't intervened when she did, those statistics would be even bleaker.
World Dies So Will I. Existence Must Be Denied. World Must Die So Will I. Existence Must Be Denied To All...
Then, something positively insane happened.
...why?