Alarms shrilled, sending splitting pain through her head as she ducked and dodged through the ranks of running soldiers. Everything was in chaos; she was knocked this way and that by streams of angry or panicked NPCs. She didn't know what was going on, and everything was so horribly loud.
A heavy hand on her shoulder hauled her out of the worst of the mad traffic, and she nearly sagged with relief to see that it was Kanade "Angel" Tachibana who'd rescued her. The Angel's expression was deadly serious, her eyes narrowed and pensive.
"There's been a level-one security breach at the end of Heaven's Gate," Kanade explained.
She was the last thing so many NPCs saw, and even over the monitors, she was the most frightening thing the heavens had ever witnessed. They could have understood a demon, or some mad mortal. But this creature had once been one of their own. They had birthed this monstrosity.
The figure has skin so white it couldn't have seen the light of day in decades and she was clothed in a black silk kimono with red flames and golden dragons sewn on the edges. Its black hair hung long and ragged, trailing to the ground behind it. Scars sometimes crossed what skin they could see; thick ones circled both wrists and her ankles. Its eyes—were probably the most frightening thing about it. It was black, with the iris being yellow with a silted pupil in the middle; its mouth was grimly set. Beneath its left hand there was a black and extremely long sword, in its right hand was another black sword longer than the other one, both swords soaked in blood.
"Yurippe! Run!" Noda, the overprotective guardian of Yuri, cried as he charged at the spectre with his halberd.
Following Noda, are the rest of the team, the cowardly Oyama, the mysterious T.K., the delinquent Fujimaki, the muscular Takamatsu, a slimmed down powerhouse Matsushita and the ninja girl Shiina, all rushed it with machine guns and swords. Lightning flashed out before them, tearing through their bodies and leaving only wisps of black ash.
The spectre advanced, grim, inexorable. And the Afterlife world trembled.
"This is where it ends," Kanade said.
Yomi Isayama decided absently that she cut a brave picture, pointing the head of her Hand Sonic blade at her, scowling incredibly as if defying her fearful pallor.
"You do realize," she remarked—her voice rasped out the words, the vocal cords of this form aching from centuries of disuse—in a flat tone, "that I was the one who designed those pathetic security systems of yours? I can tear your shields asunder with a flick of my finger, and you'll be defenceless. Do you want that, or are you going to get out of my way?"
Kanade scowled more ferociously still. "You're threatening the gods and the heavens," she said, and her voice was trembling—fear or rage, it didn't matter to Yomi. "As such, it's my duty to strike you down. Turn back, or face my judgment."
"They all say that," Yomi told her. "It doesn't change anything, though."
She put up an interesting struggle, at least.
"Ka- Kanade. P- please. Wake up. You have to wake up."
But no matter how hard Yuri shook her, Kanade wouldn't open her eyes. Even as the riot of battle clamoured around them, she didn't give up; she stayed by the angel's side, pleading and pleading.
"She's not sleeping. She's dead; she joined your Suneo sensei in hell where they should be."
The voice was so close, so cold, that it nearly made her heart stop. Yuri looked up to find herlooking down at her. Her chest clutched; she couldn't speak. Her hands tightened on Kanade's arm. Her mouth worked, but no sound would come out.
The goddess raised her head and looked around as if with great disinterest. "Is this all?" she sounded disappointed.
Kanade was shaking all over. I'm going to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to be in a world without Kanade. I don't want to be in a world where things like this happen. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I'm going to die.
A thin wind blew, making her embrace herself with her arms. She didn't react. The kimono she wore shifted, and her long hair flew out behind him like a parody of wings.
"This is ridiculous, and it ends here."
She jumped a little once again at the sound of the familiar voice, and felt mingled relief and dread slide through her muscles as she turned to see her friends, Yuzuru Otonashi, Hinata, and Ayato Naoi standing behind her, a extremely displeased expression on their faces.
Ayato points his handgun at Yomi.
Hinata poses himself with his sword, ready to fight.
Yuzuru looks at Kanade and Yuri, and then slowly pulls his sword out from his scabbard.
"So you're here," the intruder said just as mildly. "I was starting to think you wouldn't come."
There was a long silence. Yuri was confused. Why didn't one of them act? Always before, this creature that had once been a girl had attacked anything powerful almost on sight.
"I always wondered what I would feel when I saw you again," the goddess remarked. "Would I be afraid, or happy, if I'd break down and cry, lose my will to fight. I've heard of that happening—seen it happen once or twice, actually. If I'd lose myself in rage and just want to fling myself at you, throwing everything I have." She tilted her head to the side, and smiled, pale lips twisting humourlessly. "I don't feel anything like that. I'm somewhat surprisedby that. I hardly feel anything at all. All I know is that I'm going to kill you now. I want to kill you very much."
"You're insane," Hinata told her with dry disgust.
This provoked a laugh,of all things. "If I am, who's to blame for it? I certainly didn't pull the fibres of my mind further than they could be stretched without snapping. I've never forgotten, not for a second. I've never forgotten or forgiven what your teacher did to me. Your teacher already had everything, but it wasn't enough for him, was it? So he had to remove me, so the path would be open for you kids to have more. Your teacher, Suneo Honekawa made me what I am, you lapdog."
"Blaming us isn't going to change anything." Yuzuru turned to Yuri. "If Suneo sensei can do it, so can we. Come on Yuri, let's eliminate this filth."
Yuri flinched. He couldn't be serious—even Kanade and Suneo had fallen before this creature! She wouldn't last half a minute…
"How shall I kill you, I wonder?" the goddess went on. "Quickly, perhaps, so you don't have too much opportunity to resist? Or slowly, so that you can feel at least a little of the pain and horror I went through when those monsters tortured me? The second sounds much more poetic, in my opinion. Perhaps I should incapacitate you first, and do to each of you exactlywhat they did to me? I'm sure that charming chamber of yours is still around, but if it isn't, I'm willing to bet we'll find something to suffice, yes?"
"What are you waiting for Yuri? Aren't you in charge here? Do something already!" Ayato shouted, and Yuri shrank down, trembling.
"I'm putting our nightmares to rest, Yurippe" the goddess said grandly, gesturing with her left hand. She seemed to like that, and did it again, laughing now. "Yes, that's what I'm doing here. I'm slaying the monster's spawns under the bed. We'll probably have to forgo the replication of the torture, though. I don't think I could manage it, students of Suneo Honekawa; the universe's worst turn-off."
"How amusing, do you really think you're capable of such a thing?" taunted Hinata.
The goddess's expression twisted into a smirk, and she gripped the hilt of her swords in both hands. "You'd be surprised at what I'm capable of now."
Yomi sat heavily towards the edge of the battlefield, stretching her legs out in front of her and slouching forward carelessly, as she maintained a loose hold on the Gran Centurio and Shishi-oh.
She felt… tired, drained, actually and rather hollow. She wasn't sure why. Hadn't she been waiting for this, been planning this for so many long and painful years? She should feel somethingnow that she'd had his revenge. But all she felt was empty.
The girl that was one of Suneo's students is still making thin sobbing noises. Yomi ignored her. She supposed it had to be rather scarring for her to see all those she knew literally ripped apart before her eyes. She'd had to deal with the trauma of having her mind and body violated before she'd seen any violent deaths, so she'd been pretty desensitized.
She didn't feel completely empty—she was a bit disappointed that those boys hadn't begged until the end. But even that was fleeting, a minor annoyance.
"You… you… what do you plan on doing?" There was an obvious to me missing from the end of that sentence. Yomi didn't comment on it, or even look back towards the girl as she answered.
"For you, nothing; You're just another victim in this corrupt system. From here, I suppose… once I have some rest, I'll keep going. There can't be many soldiers left to get through before I hit the upper ranks, can there? After that, the gods and I have issues to settle. There's nothing left but to keep moving on until I die."
"But—what are you trying to achieve?" This little whimper was closer, and stronger.
"It's nothing so grandiose. This system, that allows things like these to happen to people like the two of us—I hate it. It has to be destroyed, and that's all I care about. After I've taken down the gods, I'm certainly not assuming their place. And everyone I ever cared for in the human world is dead now. So when it's over… I'll kill myself, probably." She stated it simply, and without emotion.
"Wh…wha…"
"I'm very old, very tired, and have had more than enough of living this kind of life." With an effort, Yomi stood and stretched. "…I would have thought they'd have sent another wave by now."
The girl was still kneeling by the corpses of her dead friends. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks tear stained, and she blinked and shook her head when he turned to her.
"Another wave—? You've already… you've already finished everything we have…"
"Have I?" Yomi had to laugh. "Well, I suppose… it's time to move on again soon. The gods are certainly going to be very busy reaping this field today."
She kept laughing. She was a little bit afraid of what she would do if she stopped.
Yuri Nakamura on the other hand, kept laughing in insanity and fear, in contrast to Yomi's laughter.