The War
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Disclaimer: I do not make monetary gain form this.
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Chapter 3: Prologue
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America was not as Kiritsugu had remembered.
As was common amongst even the nation's enemies, the country had been respected. The people of the country had proven, over and over, that they were the dominant superpower of the world. Yet at the same moment they did so through military intervention, cultural immensity, and foreign aid, not through sheer military dominance.
The culture was gone, the wealth gobbled up in the production of entire subterranean cities in the heart land, untouched by the cataclysm. Thanks to the immensity of undeveloped and uninhabited land within the new core of the United States, the country was lumbering haphazardly onto the immense industrial foundation the culture it had left behind had developed.
Atop the Militarized Space Needle , in what used to be Seattle, Washington, Kiritsugu Emiya felt the four M777A3 Howitzers, that had been placed atop the newly dubbed, prototype Liberty Tower, fire at the frontline at the Fifteenth North Avenue Bridge. The effective range of the Howitzers had been a five thousand square kilometers with their advanced shells, but the sudden need for fixed defensive perimeters led to the decision to apply to rifling process to the smoothbore artillery and have them double as anti-aircraft cannons.
The proximity shells exploded upon the retreating Canadian Nationalist forces, the mass of transports hit with GPS-guided M982AA(Anti-Air) one-hundred-forty-four millimeter Excalibur shell travelling and exploding at the most effective proximities. The names of the shells brought a grim look to Kiritsugu's face as he analyzed the radio signals, but most did not notice.
Though one certainly did.
"Were my calculations incorrect?" Sion inquired quietly, so quietly that his son, his only other student, did not notice.
"They were fine," Kiritsugu offered the girl a weary smile, though he winced at the pain from the curse he had been afflicted. Despite the fact he had managed to keep contact with the now-defunct Magus society, no cure was in sight. Shirou was fourteen now, however, and Kiritsugu knew well enough that without the medicine and spell provided onto him he would've died years ago. "One hundred twenty percent more casualties than the original firing trajectory had analyzed. Good job."
The girl soaked up the praise like a sponge and Kiritsugu felt the slightest bit of guilt as she made her way to Shirou with a hop on her step. His plan had worked to a much greater extent than he had originally predicted, the girl had declined an offer to return to her country to continue to study underneath him with Shirou. Kiritsugu knew well enough her real reasons, but he didn't voice it aloud, and he had no reason to complain due to her proficiency with firearms.
"So you're a Master?" The technician in charge of the firing base inquired in English next to him, dirtied glasses and unkempt hair telling of the time the man spent in the tower. The eleven man staff of the tower could hardly manage, so Kiritsugu was told and with the strategic point provided by the tower.
"I am." Kiritsugu responded simply, allowing the simple title assigned to those who took those that were chosen to train the students of many classes as he had from all over the world.
"Never thought you'd all seem so normal." The man stated simply, "Higher ups don't fret about telling us normal army corps about how awe-inspiring you all are." He scratched the stubble growing on his neck. "Expected you all to be bonafide, arrogant pricks to be honest."
"Not a far off assumption." Kiritsugu supplied as he returned his gaze to the battle front scanners, the thumps of another salvo telling quickly followed by the loss of more radio signals. "Most magi are of such description." Kiritsugu noted the distance of the remains of the retreating army and touched his receiver. "Return to the command post, Sable-1, Sable-2" He addressed his charges in English to maintain some decorum in the conversation, but supplied their code-names instead of their real names.
The man beside him gave a sigh, before reaching for the noise cancellation equipment he had been assigned.
"16 inch guns they said." The man growled to himself. "It would be incredible to have rotary artillery on top of a tower they said." He popped on ear buds, before strapping on the padded headgear. "They never fucking though about the people working under them, fuck…"
Kiritsugu placed his own noise-cancellers after he attended to his charges, he noticed the man brace one arm and copied his movement, quickly followed by his tow charges.
Kiritsugu had time to note that Sion utilized the odd method of clutching onto Shirou instead of the offered handrails around the command terminal before his companion pressed the button.
The turrent at the very top of the tower was refurbished from an Iowa class battleship and took no less than six helicopters to lift onto the structurally sound Sears tower. The Sixteen inch guns on the turret had a three hundred, sixty degrees firing arc and utilized the largest shells Kiritsugu Emiya had ever seen.
Three, two thousand seven hundred pound, super-heavy shells fired at the same time from the turret, the jolt on the tower from the blast made Kiritsugu feel a semblance of fear for the building's structural integrity for the slightest of moments. The shells were high-explosive, and proximity based upgraded only a marginal amount with better fuses for said proximity settings. The guns had ripped apart the islands of Japan years ago, and they were now firing upon American soil.
American Airspace, Kiritsugu noted as he watched the remaining air fleet disappear from the radar. The spent casings of the turrent were quickly ejected and fell to their level, quickly falling onto a conveyer belt, for processing and rearmament. Unlike the Excalibur rounds for the four smaller cannons, the rounds for the four hundred and six millimeter cannons were built in mind for the second world war and discounted international aid. The rounds were easily made in the simplest of factories.
Which was why the Americans were building them around a wall in the middle of their country, within the largest defense perimeter ever bound to be constructed. The coasts were going to be defended by a tower every four dozen miles, the second layer of defensive power. The most outermost layer was the largest standing navy in the world, carefully being re-emboldened by those who wanted to escape the scorched earth. The tertiary defense grid that the American's cooked up stated a simple key fact: no matter how hard you think it's been, you're going to face sixteen-hundred of these emplacements before you get to our citizens.
They were afraid and the entire world didn't know how to react, there was no place to attack with force so they were turtling up. The largest military spender in the world the last fifty years is no longer maintaining foreign bases, no longer influencing the world, and were building a defense grid that would make the great wall of China look like a play-dough monument.
Rapid beeping sounded within the room, only in the range of Kiritsugu's hearing due to his removed noise-cancellers, his eyes quickly picked up the large number of missiles streaking against the cloudy, gray sky and the numerous signals his radio scanner picked up.
No one moved within the building, and Kiritsugu wondered why nothing was happening.
Kiritsugu eyes met with the technician beside him, and he was only offered a small chuckle before he was gestured towards a screen off to the man's side.
"HYDRA?" Kiritsugu inquired quietly, his mind running through the weapon systems and finding himself short of the one he was being gestured to. "A missile scrambler of some sort?" Kiritsugu hazarded a guess, and the scrambler system would allow for the calm that the man excluded.
"Of a sort." The man chuckled before tapping the screen of the system. A green scanner showed, akin to his own radar scanner, but at the center was not the usual dot. The screen split into four different scanners, each with a similar odd center. Kiritsugu raised a brow when he realized that the objects in question were below the four smaller cannons. "HYDRA's a point defense system."
The name rang within his mind, but the black-clad man was unable to scrounge up similarities to compare the term towards.
"You've managed to create a computing algorithm good enough to utilize a point defense system?" Sion exclaimed suddenly, startling the four people present within the control room. "Projections of such a project were estimated to come into completion four years from now! How could this possibly be?"
"Well, girly." The technician pushed up his glasses a small smile forming on his lips. "You've got to take into account the fact that our forces were on the front against terrorist groups for a very long time. We've been piling money on this project since the eighties and the prototype came out just two years ago." He inched up an eyebrow, "Did you think we were going to set up massive towers like these without an anti-missile defense system?"
Kiritsugu raised his own eyebrow, catching the sight of his son who only offered a shrug in return.
"Care to explain what this is all about, Sable-2?" Kiritsugu inquired as the girl fretted over the HYDRA's interface, near a very bemused technician.
The girl went rigid at the sound of his voice.
"No need to apologize." Kiritsugu interrupted the tide before it could gather momentum. "just explain."
"A point defense system is essentially a system that tracks missiles and intercepts them with a large volume of fire." Sion explained with rapt fascination towards the encroaching storm of missiles. "They've been built seen the 80's but they've never been fielded in stationary positions and such small numbers due to the sheer volume of missiles an army can field, even with multiple gun emplacements present." The missiles seemingly began to explode meters away from the tower, Kiritsugu noted it occurred whenever the missile breached the scanners provided by the HYDRA system. "This system must incorporate quite the software to accomplish such a feat."
"Studies we'd acquired from our own magi Sector, helped with that." The man explained. "We put their experience of Bounded Fields to use in programming the defense system, and their expertise in mystic codes allowed us some more in depth planning behind inscribing smaller transistors onto near molecular level."
"So the calculations and sensors are years beyond their time!" Sion exclaimed in excitement. "The height elevation and the under-platform mounting will also allow it to cover the ground with ease! Effectively making the chance of even a large-scale missile spread's success less than one percent!"
"Quite the accomplishment." Kiritsugu stated and the technician offered a nod in return. "A very round-about way use of your nation's magi-sector, but effective nonetheless." His eyes made contact with the technicians. "So I believe that this system will be sold to allied powers soon enough?"
"Of course! We're not going to leave you out in the dust!" the man exclaimed with a nod, and Kiritsugu just gave a terse nod in reply. The lower wage earners of the army were usually free to speak of what they wished, but duplicity had never been an American trait to begin with. The higher echelons may not think along the same lines, but there was hardly any matter of knowing who was friends and enemies with the American people
Considering the facts laid out, the plans for the Liberty Wall, the rearmament of the vast mothball naval and aviation fleet, the untouched nuclear silo's still in the heartland of America, and the massive cities being built underneath the soil, Kiritsugu Emiya let out a sigh of relief for the first time in a very long time.
At the very least, Humanity will not die from the catastrophe he had caused.
…
Protection detail was much easier when done in a group, but it was never exciting to say the least. On a normal protection detail, I would most likely utilize the same room as the one I was guarding, but in cases where I had a partner I almost always had the range advantage and held a the stake-out position on top of the roof.
The position was nearly always boring, even the view over the dozens of skyscrapers got old quickly, despite the majestic architecture from the times before they exemplified. Kyoto was one of the few cities that were kept by the Japanese government, along with Edo and Tokyo, in the interest of keeping some past culture alive.
The Embassy at which we resided towered a clear three stories above any other building, the line of sight it offered gave me clear shot all the way the way to the walls that surrounded the city and kept the wastes out. Despite the clear advantage of the building, it did not offer a stocked sniper's nest due to its value as a diplomatic building. Even the Anti-Material Rifle and the boxes of ammunition I was using to scope the area had to have been procured from the armory of the city.
The weapon wasn't nearly as good as the Anti-Armor Cannon I was now able to utilize, and it's maximum range was just shy of a mile on the best conditions. Against most targets it would still be overkill, especially when considering the volume of ammunition that was available.
The food was good though, I haven't had seared meat in a long time and the chefs within had done an excellent job in making a meal according to the strict diets that we were expected to follow. Most of the food I ate were ration-bars and the odd can off heated bean-curd soup, and I was more than a fair amount interested in how to cook. Though my profession will probably never allow it, I would be more than happy to work in a kitchen in the future.
A bright flash of light caught my gaze on one of the other sky-scarpers below, and I leveled my weapon from my crook on the radio tower. The scope upon the gun was a camera that did not precisely zoom in, rather it brought the area of interest closer. The camera also recorded each shot fired, and was the only reason I was allowed on the top of the embassy with a weapon in hand.
Incorrigible proof in action against a threat was a lot easier to prove with a recording at hand.
I blinked rapidly when I saw the sight however, and touched the transponder hooked up to my filtration unit.
"Yes, Sir?" The head of security chimed in without a second of wait.
"Check the feed from my gun, Lieutenant Yamani " I ordered crisply, keeping the gun leveled at the ethereal form of a woman surrounded by dozens of similar butterflies. Amidst the sea of light I saw a dark, and slowly moving shadow within. "Verify that I am seeing what I believe I am seeing."
"Some sort of apparition, Sir?" The apprehension behind the lieutenants voice was more than enough to verify my thoughts on the matter. "Is it a threat, Sir?"
I narrowed my eyes behind the visor, zooming into the shadow amidst the light. The center of the darkness was a man slowly slouching to the edge of the building. My hands gripped the rifle, and I had to remind myself to not crush the barrel with my new prosthetic. The man teetered on the edge of the rooftop and the ethereal apparition placed its hands upon the man's back.
I loosed a shot the bullet passing through the apparition's 'head' before the sound would reach. It paid no mind at all, the bullet striking into the rooftop of the building, and pushed the man.
"I believe that we have found the mysterious killer of this town." I stated lightly as I followed the man's descent with my scope, grimly following the tumult and zooming into the man's face.
The man was middle-aged, wearing only a bathrobe but I focused onto his eyes, only managing the much needed glimpse when the man's face began to crater against the street.
The man's eyes were hazy, and unfocused, yet bloodshot at the same time. I had seen the veins throbbing on his temple. I lowered the scope as I heard the retching of Yamani on my transceiver.
It was as I feared, I placed my hand on my receiver once more, accessing the entirety of the radio networks available to me.
"Code Indigo." I reported simply, "Magus Threat has been verified, all military and civilian personnel advised to wear shielded helmets and polarized visors for the time being." I allowed the verification to come in, following the squabbling on the radio with practiced ease, transferring to the channel that was secured for only me and my partner.
"Did you hear all that, Clear Eyes?" I inquired as I verified my location and accessed the boundary field set up around the Embassy by Atlas Union. It noted no sort of energy fluctuations under its hypersensitive array, so I had nothing to fear about the safety of my protectorate
"Hunt?" She inquired softly, and I heard the excitement underneath her breath easily. I knew well enough of how my partner rose through the ranks, and of the bloody trail she left behind. Matou Sakura was the only person in the corps that had more verified kills to her name, and the lady of shadow lagged behind Clear Eyes' confirmed magus kills.
My partner was the deadliest of the corps, without question her ability to kill was unparalleled the only threats against her existence were… Covered by me and the otherworldly aspects that the training my father gave me was useless was covered by her in return.
Huh… odd.
I switched back to my command channel.
"As per military doctrine, I am taking command of the armed forces of this city for the time being." I stated, "All squads must be present and accounted for at each of their designated rapid deployment zones, I want an artillery crew manning one of the FH-70 and rotating it for city coverage. All commanding officers are now to report to me, and give me status reports every quarter of an hour. Timetable synchronization incoming."
I checked my watch as I heard the list of affirmatives through the channels. The yelling of commanding officers, stamping boots, and the grinding of the artillery adjusters common to me. The use of artillery was more than slightly overbearing, and could cause casualties, but the army doctrine regarding rogue magi was written in stone as far officials were concerned.
Maximum potential, least amount of force. There were plenty of ways to rehabilitate even the most stringent of the rebel magi, and the effectiveness of a trained Magus was phenomenal in the right hands. The projected value of a trained magic-inclined operative was easily more than a warship or a strategic bomber, easily equaling the worth of an intercontinental thermonuclear ICBM.
So taking the magus alive was most certainly the highest priority, and the objective didn't conflict with my own even though a civilian may end up being harmed. The potential number of lives that a magus could save was far more than that of several innocents.
"Synchronize on zero-three-hundred-fifteen on my mark."
"Mark."
…
I listened to the radio intently as my partner chimed in her own reports, the security center within the military complex in the heart of the city allowing me to make the most of my operations skills. Sion and I had most certainly been trained by my father in mind towards leading others, and how to handle normal humans. The purple-haired alchemist and I were the most-well known Magi that were viewed in a positive light, only Lady Barthomeloi could compete if she actually took time to attend the Public addresses the Clock Tower had been utilizing to address the society as a whole. The terrifyingly strong woman was most certainly had the most well-known picture, as was her standing for most of the public addresses.
The strategic command center was connected to a satellite in synchronized orbit around the world, and gave me a clear view of the city as it was to do for the commanding officer in the face of a siege. The complexity and cost of the system was prohibitive, probably a deciding factor in the choice of only reclaiming three cities upon Japanese soil. The underground cities were able to use a multitude of echolocation devices to provide a clear picture of the entirety of the city, much more cost effective, especially when considering the specialized equipment each soldier had to have in order to show on the map.
"Commander," Yamani was a well-known figure in the local society and was apparently well versed in working with Magi. The young-looking man with graying hair had apparently been part of the first operations spearheaded by Magi operatives little more than four years ago. Despite the courteous demeanor I was approached with by the commanding officers, my employment of his services led to much smoother relations, quickly. "Squads Sigma through Omega have finished their sweep and clears. Alpha through Omega are now free to act under your orders."
"More clears?" I muttered underneath my breath, my mind reminded me they had been checking the ammunition storage bunkers by the walls. "That gives us a city without any hostiles, Lieutenant." I called to him, and I saw him grimace. "What are your suggestions on this matter?" I inquired.
"Place the teams on watch and have the transports ready for transport, sir." Yamani stated crisply and with a short dip of his head. "Rotary basis of course, give half the men some sleep, they have been working through the night after all."
"Ah, yes, sleep." I stated out loud, so dumbfounded I was of my own idiocy. "I knew I had forgotten something." I tapped the icons and accessed the signals of the squads with the simple gestures. "Alpha through Delta are to stand by for quick response, all other squads are to be on reprieve. Switch to next squad every four hours until Code Indigo is lifted."
I received confirmation of my orders and addressed the bevy of commanding officers attending secondary, and even tertiary, consoles behind me.
"All of you go to rest as well," I addressed them crisply, brokering no argument from my tone. I noted the clock was more than sixteen hours from my first mark, and that they were most likely running on fumes. "Return and reprieve me at zero-six-hundred."
Yamani eyed me with a raised brow.
"You've been operating for the last twenty three hours, commander." The lieutenant stated, and I only gave him a nod before switching the outline of the city to the monitored sewage pipes that ran below the city. None of the sentry turrets reported any disturbances, much to my ire, it was quite easy to incapacitate enemies within the tunnels given the gas canisters ever ten or so feat housed within it.
"I am still at optimal levels." I stated dispassionately, taking a sip of coffee through an induction port. "And I will be for at least another thirty six, my next estimated sleeping period is well within that period of time."
The lieutenant appeared as though he wanted to protest, but decided against it, he left the bunker and left me alone within the command structure.
The man had only managed to close the door when I let my face hit the command table. I made sure to turn off my transceiver before emitting the groan that I had been withholding ever since the head ache I had formed over three hours ago.
I heard a dry chuckle over the transceiver anyway, and I suppressed a curse as I remembered that Clear Eyes' connection didn't cut off unless she agreed to it.
"I'd like to see you command an army and not get a blistering headache." I stated simply, finding her signal and isolating it while highlighting it in a red tint. I found it fitting given her ability for getting herself covered in blood.
"I'm not a people person, and I've made sure that's a well-known fact." The swordswoman stated crisply, I accessed the camera closest to her and rotated it until the machine was facing her. I made sure to loop the last picture it had acquired and deleted the rest, signaling my fellow magus by rotating the camera up and down. "If you'd had a pair you'd have said no to your dad and kept up with me and Unzen, you'd always had the best Kata's out of all of us."
"If I didn't follow up on this, who'd be left to keep you on the straight and narrow?" I snarked, giving a small snort of derision, as I acquired a bottle of aspirin form the cabinet located underneath the holographic table. I dropped them onto the coffee and made myself content to wait. "What's this all about having a new masterpiece of an arm?" I inquired a moment of silence.
"Aozaki apparently went all out when she found out she got a magus as a patient." She gave a huff, "Strapped me to a table for hours and prodded me for the better part of it." The swordswoman seemed to pause for a moment. "Probably the reason why you got that mish-mash of tech instead of a prosthetic."
"Feeling sorry, Ryougi?" I addressed her with a smirk, not even caring about the possible pain I'll suffer later for addressing her by her family name. The woman with the ability to kill everything was far more content to be spoken toward by her first name, or call-sign. She detested her family for some reason I was unable to understand.
"You wish, Poster boy." I saw her smirk when she used the same term Rin had used. While it was true, was certainly not preferential towards the term as it was considered a joke by all my fellows. "I'm just worried that you'll crush the flight stick of a plane and kill yourself, given the difficulty you've had flying helicopters before that arm, I'm not sure that they should let you near them anymore."
I was about to protest when a magical signature pinged on my map, I shook the camera side to side twice before cutting the loop I had set. I immediately linked up to the four squads that were still present and ordered them onto their transports, before turning back my attention to Ryougi with both our transceivers recording and ready.
"Got a hit?" She inquired in her usual business tone, she wasn't too keen on mixing conversation with the mission at hand. Until the entire corps managed to convince the brass on allowing us the ability to deactivate the recording devices within our helmets, she hardly spoke at all. She even stopped addressing herself as 'Ore' when they were on, referring to herself as 'Watashi'.
"Three blocks from your position, Clear Eyes." I stated as I switched to my own business mode, I gulped down the coffee and hoped it worked quickly. "I will not be able to support as I have sent most of the command squad to rest after the extended period of time I had put them through. I have sent four squadrons of soldiers to back you up, please turn on your camera helmet and proceed with caution towards the building three blocks ahead and a street to your left."
"Acknowledged." She stated crisply and I immediately linked the new signal to my interface. My eyes narrowed when I managed to catch a glimpse of the building, luminescent as it was swarming with butterflies against the darkness of night. "The building seems to be the hospital."
"Look for a woman." I advised, "That was what the magus had last appeared as."
The vision swiveled surgically over the building, going over all the windows in the process. My grip on the table tightened when I saw fists slamming against them, and bodies tumbling out of the few windows that were open.
"I have sighted the target." Came the cold reply and I paid attention to the center of the screen.
Then I saw a butterfly and heard a grunt.
"Clear Eyes?" I inquired after a moment of waiting, the camera began to shake rapidly. "Respond Clear Eyes."
"Call back the reinforcements." Came a biting reply, and I immediately did so, keeping an eyes of the camera. The device gave the view of my fellow operative gripping her spasming arm, with an iron grip. I was aware of the fact that most of Ryougi's circuits powered her eyes and the augmentation to her reflexes were minimal at best. "The apparition is a ghost, has managed to possess my prosthetic arm."
"Which arm?" I inquired after a moment of thought, the same train of thought that had crossed my own must have caught hers as well. The camera caught her letting go, and the prosthetic lounging for the camera, before it was summarily executed by Ryougi's blade.
I verified my options, the risks, and the rewards that came from it. I distanced myself from the hospital windows slowly tinting red, the piles of bodies around the structure, and the luminous call of the butterflies. I placed myself in charge of a single individual that was worth so many more lives than what could possibly be within that hospital.
For once I was glad to have taken a shot on pure reflex, if I had not known that ballistic weaponry would not affect the apparent ghost I would have called in an artillery strike.
"Retreat, Clear Eyes." I stated, "And make sure to grab your limb." I added after a moment of thought. "This Magus is far more deadly than we have foreseen."
I heard her affirmative and settled into commanding the rest of the forces under my command. My mind went a whirl on the numerous aspects of ghosts that had been drummed into my mind on that mandatory expo most magi had attended in the host city of New Orleans. Granted I spent most of my time making sure my fellow Japanese Magi were staying on schedule rather than exploring the town, I had still managed to memorize the hostile types of ghosts.
Poltergeists were the most common, usually no more than robs of energy willed into being by leftover-emotions of repressed magic users. They were simple to dispel, simply needing a ritual in which was held by one of sufficient belief and will, not even requiring a magus. The most dangerous poltergeist recorded was said to have toppled a cabinet of cutlery onto the new owner of its home, far from the massacre that I had seen.
Spectral Apparitions were far closer to the massacre that I was witnessing. They were the spirits of powerful magi, generally well-practiced in the pursuit of the materialization of the soul. Most had decades of experience, but many more died young due to the sordid chances of insanity that came with leaving your own body as only your soul. On the brink of madness they were more than able to possess the common human, and even the odd object, especially when concerned upon the mystical. Experienced exorcists of the spiritual entities were high in demand, and their secretive practices sought out by every nation, their methods the only proven way to erase the creatures.
The apparition was neither one, however. I had been in the presence of both, and both kind acted upon relentless fury instead of obviously pre-mediated methods.
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and taking stock of the situation.
The apparition was obviously being controlled by a human, as the extreme action it had executed upon being discovered changed from the serial killings that had been occurring throughout the months within the town. The objective of the apparition was unknown, the list of victims were all of the civilian population and almost always left behind mourners-
I paused, quickly taking the victims file.
Each and every one of them worked in the hospital in some way or form. Nurse, Janitor, Nurse, Guard, each one found with wallet in hand and family picture within allowing them easy identification. They had all worked at the hospital now experiencing a massive slaughter within its walls.
That was the link, I had been to focused on looking for something other killers went for just had everyone else. It wasn't about ethnicity, occupation, gender or even age, it was where they spent most of their time working. The killer's methods were clear now, and the location of the occupation was obvious given the fact that I had access to the knowledge of when the attacks began.
I accessed the city-computer once more, accessing the files from the cloud storage devices that the hospital used. I utilized and authorized the access of private patient files with my emergency powers, and searched for the patients that had been present in the hospital for more than seven months.
Four subjects: three elderly and were nearing the deadline for the families decisions.
Then there was the clincher.
Kirie Fujou, twenty-seven, and had been transported from hospital to hospital for the past ten years due to her terminal illness. She was from a line of demon-hunters that had supposedly been all killed before she had been found, the government was ecstatic at finding a supposed exorcist of Japanese lineage and had been keeping her alive and mobile since she was seventeen.
The woman was a well-known secret, given her linage and the fact that she continued to refuse to give up her knowledge to the government.
I went about my work with renewed confidence, compiling the evidence into a singular folder.
Someone entered the door and I was unsurprised find Yamani present and nearly breathless, he was hunched over and wheezing, undoubtedly coming running the minute he heard of the incident. I went to him, leaving the command chair and setting the data to compile, along with the observations I had typed up. Despite the massacre the woman was committing there was still the fact that she was a resource, I could not execute her with the chance of finally blowing past political red-tape and ultimately allowing the intelligence division their hands on her.
I helped the man up as he steadied his breath.
"Thank you, commander." Yamani stated simply as I helped him onto a chair. "I came running the moment I heard, I've been neglecting my physicality too much it seems." He took a deep breath, as I stood by his eyes shifted to the command chair. "I came as soon as I heard about the attack, to help you without command details."
"My command on this project is over now," I stated with a simple dip of my head. "There is no need to address me as commander anymore, Lieutenant."
"They relieved you of your duty?" The man questioned incredulously his eyes widening and I gave a small chuckle.
"Nothing of that sort." I answered, turning back towards the command chair. The data was undoubtedly "I have found the culprit of the murders, and am compiling data right now to send to high command-"
A familiar force hit me in the back of the head, and I shifted away while immediately reinforcing my body. Another shot quickly followed hitting the side of my head and my mask fell off, transceiver sparkling faintly as a mass of scrap.
I formed a knife between my fingers, a simple throwing knife made entirely of metal, and threw it at Yamani. The meaty sound of the knife and the suddenly wet gasps quickly assuaging me that it hit where I had aimed.
My head rang and I touched the back of it with my new arm, the mechanical fingers came away bloody, as I approached the slumped betrayer still attempting to raise his gun.
I stabbed that one into the ground, eliciting a pained, wet groan from the man. I took the glove off his free hand and peeled away the false patch of skin.
A winged snake consuming its own tail, the cult of the Secessionist forces, the Subete no Shohi or the All Consuming as they were known to the populace. I didn't bother asking for a name, or reason as I looked into the man's eyes. I saw only hatred within.
This town was compromised and I heard footsteps already stamping through the hallways outside. My mind immediately went to my partner and the fact that I had sent her towards a military outpost of whose loyalty I was not sure of. I toppled a metal shelf in front of the door and acquired one of the masks that spilled. The door banged in an attempt to be opened, and bullets immediately began to thud against the solid steel.
I went to the command terminal and pried the hard-drive from the guts of the machine, stuffing it into a pocket grafted onto my cloak. I checked the my transceiver and ruined mask, finding the protected clearance chip to be safe within its bulletproof casing. I thanked all the luck in the world and plugged it into my new transceiver, only on the setting to Ryougi.
I saw an extendable video-camera jam through the crack the shelf permitted, I fired the side-arm I acquired from the cultist and shot the head off. I heard calls for high explosives, and grimaced.
"The town is compromised!" I yelled immediately after Ryougi's confirmation. "All military units will be considered hostile for the time being! Get out of here!"
"Where?" My fellow asked in incredulously.
"The walls." I instructed, "The launching bays for the helicopters are there, as well as the ones for vehicles. Stay hidden and do not engage." I warned her before cutting off the channel and tearing off the clearance chip, crushing it underneath my boot.
Trace On.
The structural integrity of the building came to me in a simple manner, I saw all the walls and floors of the building within my minds eyes. Most importantly, however, I was able to see all the men connected to the material. All thirteen were heavily armed, with multi-barreled electric propellant guns more than a few years old, despite their relative inferiority to newer models, they were still quite proficient in killing Magi due to the sheer amount of ammunition they can unleash.
I found a man in the complex lugging a breach missile, made for the intended use upon the building if it was ever compromised by hostile forces.
I placed myself in front of the door, and drew my revolver flicking on the magnetic accelerator underneath the barrel. The thirteen men already present were all pointing their gun at the door, no warnings ready at their lips as indicated by the stress constricting their throats.
I fired the bullet when the man carrying the launcher took a knee and fired the breach explosive at my door.
I did not know what hit first, to be frank, the heat generated by the round could most certainly cause the warhead to explode yet I was still undecided on the fact that the round could have been faster than a missile. The desired effect was reached, as my door held save for the hole I punched through with my own round. A gout of flame emanated from the entry and I reloaded my gun as I walked through the charred hallway.
I was tempted to ending the lives of the men, but seeing as their weaponry was ruined I wasn't too keen on utilizing my only normal rounds on them. They'd have to suffer for now.
Making my way through the bunker was far easier than my first time, since I kept up a mental map this time around. I didn't keep the system up, to conserve energy, so checking corners was a must.
It was the third corner, when I met resistance once more and utilized my Structural Analysis to gain the advantage. Focusing my intent on the hallway around me yielded me critical information easily.
A heavy machine gun was set up, covering the hallway. I would have impressed if not for the fact that the defense system was designed around the key factor that the bunker was expected to be captured. The entire structure could be theoretically held by a single squad of infantry for an indefinite period of time. In a haphazard, yet logical, way it also pointed out that this entire mission had been an elaborate trap. The defenses required manpower and several electronic codes to even access, citing the betrayal of most of the higher command echelon in the city.
Of course, despite their forethought into the plan, they did not account for the fact that someone trying to escape would have and anti-armor cannon on their back. The aforementioned piece of equipment was far too dangerous to leave somewhere as insecure as a foreign embassy. Despite the fact I was one of the very few mages that use modern technology, the rifle was still relatively strong in the area it was specialized in and I wasn't comfortable leaving it around haphazardly.
I took the massive weapon of my shoulder, setting the shell within to a thirteen yard flight set, before firing it from my cover. The recoil was far more manageable than my first shot, but was still jarring enough that the explosion from the round combined with it managed to make me stumble. The shell I had utilized in the base had not had its explosive round armed for safety reasons, so I was more than slightly taken aback by the blast. I reloaded the gun and moved past the wreckage of metal, gathering supplies from the equipment that remained.
I didn't even make it past five feet before I was met with more opposition. The magnetically-accelerated ball bearings they had fired doing a fine job of suppressing me behind cover barely past my knee. The new armor worked exceptionally well, my old ceramic armor would have shattered against that particular onslaught, and I felt bruises rather than holes upon my torso. If I could get this armor into the hands of every soldier I most definitely would.
I took the grenades I had acquired from scavenging the previous position and threw them from my position, the light red trails of their arcs fading quickly before my opponents screamed as shrapnel tore them to pieces. They were made in mind of fighting in a populated zone, and the arcs of red were a universal sign of hunker down. Aside from the slight 'safety feature' the grenades worked just as they did from before the war. My father had told me that they were more prevalent afterwards and going out armed only with dozens of explosives wasn't nearly as a valid tactic in the time before.
Thankfully a gun managed to survive the explosion and I acquired it with ease after simply resetting the clip. The six barrels of the gun unleashed an amazing two hundred rounds per second on full automatic, but that was for targets such as magi or stronger than average monsters. I set in on burst fire, which simply fired eighteen rounds from every press of the trigger. The ball bearings within were shaped like Minie balls first utilized in the American Civil War, little more that and stacked upon each other the entire length of the clip. The entire ammunition supply from one magazine could be expended in less than four seconds. The newer versions had two more barrels and their bullets accelerated far faster, but all in all these guns were the same.
I broke off the stock of the gun, and the added modular extensions. I held the entire thing easily within my still human right arm, and the low recoil of the gun would assure me that I would not need to use two for it on any occasion.
Then the bunker quaked, my position finally being assailed by artillery fire from the walls. Each artillery cannon would take more than fifteen minutes to turn towards the bunker, but even the secessionists were not crazy enough to turn all the guns and present themselves for an outside attack. I would be facing, at the very least, a half a dozen guns, a quarter of the combined might of the cannons on the walls and with their one and a half minute reload times, I would probably have around a ten second window between barrages, or a couple before each shot.
I took one of their communicators and listened intently, giving a sigh with slight exasperation as they extensively detailed their plans to capture me. The irrepressible factor that they may be accidentally feeding me misinformation was apparent, but so was the fact that the secessionist forces were largely remnants of the failed military coup. I paid some heed towards the information, but took it with a grain of salt as I ran through the mostly empty bunker.
As it would be if I wasn't going through the artillery barrages they planned for me. I had managed destroyed the control interface that controlled the gas system underneath the city, making sure that the formulated compound will not be released and seep into my pores. The specially formulated compounds could only be circumvented by a fully pressurized system, and that was made ineffective by the electric turbines designed to throw sharpened glass disks down the tunnels and tore through clothing like paper.
With the gas and the turbine systems destroyed I only needed to face automated sentry guns, a lot better match up for me than artillery to be quite honest, especially with the weaponry I had at hand.
I opened the last hatch and let myself down into the sewers.
Only for me to dodge a sudden slash of liquid, instead of arriving in relative safety. I immediately returned fire with the assault weapon I had acquired, the multitude of bullets ripping into the man, before he suddenly disintegrated into water.
Liquid golems, probably controlled and used as the eyes and ears of the mage that controlled the underground while he orchestrated his plan elsewhere. I performed another battle scan of my surroundings and I wasn't too pleased, to find the massive runic array that was set to the sewer systems of the city. I was effectively within the home ground of a magi, the most dangerous place to be in since he maybe had months to prepare for the arrival of an eventual enemy. I had no doubt my chances of survival were far greater amidst the artillery barrage than within this Boundary Field.
"Ah, it seems Hachioji was correct in his assumption of your choices, butcher." I triangulated the voice to a box and had to give a sigh of suffering. "Aww, does the child-soldier not like the sound of my voice?"
"I can't say that it's unpleasant, though I would not say no towards not hearing it all." I stated with utmost candor, giving another small sigh as I found hundreds of the devices dispersed through the environment, despite the lack of cameras.
"Oh, my!" The voice chimed as I ran through the sewer system, I formed more throwing knives pressing them into the numerous holding areas sewn within my cloak. At a dozen per time, I filled the front and back of my cloak quickly. They would provide decent protection due to the scale-like arrangement they were specifically arranged, but the cost of keeping them al present in the world was quite staggering. At the very least I had maybe fifty percent of my circuits attuned to their corporeality and the reinforcement that contributed towards the protection they provided. "Do I hear the voice of the and only Number Forty Seven?"
"My reputation precedes me." I stated with a dry chuckle, my circuits were throbbing steadily and bringing more than a slight amount of discomfort from their use. "May I have the pleasure of knowing who you are?"
"Shinoki Hiroto." The voice chimed in with glee, as if she child that had found a new toy to destroy. "I cannot believe that your death will mark the day that the movement will be acknowledged as a power by your heretical leaders!" The water magus' voice echoed unpleasantly through the sewers, "All your actions, saving so many lives, will forever be remembered in our new nation's history!"
"So I'm to be a sacrifice?" I asked lightly, "What of my partner then?"
"We'll let her go after we take care of her." A male voice chimed in amidst the wanted giggling in the background. "Nice and pretty." I could hear the leer in his voice, and his motives weren't all that muddy for me to detect. "Witnesses need to carry more evidence than just their words after all."
I heard a cry of pain from the man and the sounds of something organic tearing
"Now, now general." Shinoki chimed, "Remember what I told you? About how I wouldn't let something like that happen within my sight?" The man screamed obscenities. "And now you've spoken all about it and made me doubt you." Another squelching sound. "Sorry about that Forty-Seven" the girl sounded slightly melancholic this time around. "How about we just start killing you now?"
Water golems pushed themselves up from the running stream between the walkways. I fired the assault weapon until it clicked empty, then smashed it through the remainder of golems with my Reinforced strength, I was tempted to reinforce it but the blades beneath my cloak held an ulterior and ultimately superior purpose. The sturdy construction survived until the thirty seventh of the steadily amassing army, the amount of familiars were surreal but to be expected given I was fighting in the home territory of a magus. The worst weapon you can give to a magus was a warning, since magic allowed the utilization of nearly everything out there.
I made a misstep and they surged around me, and I immediately activated my defensive measures.
The metal I used for the knives was a composite designed to substitute copper in energy transfer, it was far more rigid and could handle more wattage. The metal was developed in Switzerland when their weather suddenly grew a fondness for lighting storms after a failed weather control experiment, and was able to amplify and send it out with little more than a negative current to a desired target. They weren't able to control the weather, but their country was undoubtedly one of the safest in the world. The transaction for the metal was costly, and didn't come with the information as to how to make it viable for defensive purposes, but made up for itself in cases such as this.
I had a small piece grafted into the small of my back, implanted the same time my GPS locator was. The metal insured that lighting magic would be mostly ineffective to most of our forces, but Tohaska Rin had found a much better way of utilizing it.
I touched the nearly-invisible, miniscule tattoo on my chest and sent power through it. The Rune was extremely effective in its job of converting my magical energy into electricity, and that electricity was conducted and amplified through he dozens of conducting knives within my cloak. The Lighting Shield, as dubbed by the creator herself, was costly to maintain and I could only manage it myself for about thirty seconds before I would need to rest it for a minute. Rin Tohaska was supposedly always wreathed in the defensive measure, and I could easily believe it due to her nearly quadruple number of circuits compared to mine.
The wave of energy wiped out the water golems with impressive speed, their own forms working against them as lighting arced from one to the other faster than my eye could catch. I directed the lighting energies into the massive Boundary Field by doing the simple matter of taking out the charge of its atoms. I was more than slightly giddy when I found out that I managed to destroy a large part of the water-based field.
I heard screeching through the boxes once more.
"That isn't fair!" The girl whined petulantly over the channel. "You weren't supposed to know how to do that just yet!"
"Being prepared in for any situation is its own virtue, Hiroto-san." I stated quietly, and I heard a huff from the speakers. The fact was true that no matter how much one tries to overcome the weakness of their chosen element, the more it become apparent. It was for that same reason most magi utilized bizarre, or exotic material to create familiars. My father said he fought with one that controlled liquid metal once upon a time.
"You've only slowed down you're death." The woman said bluntly. "All I really needed to do was slow you down for her to finally get in there…"
I was about to ask who she was speaking off when a glowing butterfly flew into my field, dissipating and taking a worrisome amount of damage before doing so. I followed its trail of golden motes and saw the golden woman mere meters away, softly smiling and eyes closed gently.
"Run, run, Onii-chan~" The girl chanted over the speakers, and I did so with greatest possible haste. The woman seemed to float and disregard reality, her butterflies flying closer and closer and eventually utilizing themselves to eradicate the energy of my shield.
I reached the end of the tunnel, my shield depleted and the golden woman encroaching with terrifying speed. A gust of wind and the appearance of a helicopter signaled my partner's ability to remember emergency procedures regarding captured cities and my own salvation as I leapt thorough the air and onto the craft.
But as I flew through the space a single butterfly touched me, and as with any mental attack I was immediately given a glimpse of a dusty hill surrounded by swords.
…