Chapter Five: The Faceless Foe
Location: Deep Forest: Big Clearing
Unit: Delta
Time: Dead of Night
Date: Unknown
Delta stepped into the clearing and saw Ayaka laying on the ground, not moving. "AYAKA!" He rushed to her side and checked her vital signs. She was still breathing. Probably fainted from the shock of being kidnapped by Project Alpha. Delta looked around the clearing, but didn't see his foe anywhere. Ayaka coughed, and Delta brought his attention back to her. She coughed again and opened her eyes before looking up at him. "D-Delta?" He smiled. "Yup. Glad to see you're okay." She smiled weakly. "I wish I felt as okay as I looked." She attempted to get up, but fell to a laying down position. Delta helped her up, putting her arm on his shoulders. "Come on, I've got you." They began to exit the clearing, but something stood in their path. Ayaka's eyes went wide. "D-Delta…" Delta simply nodded. "I know." He stared Project Alpha in the face, which was a feat within itself, given the fact Project Alpha didn't have a face, and felt no fear. He knew what was approaching was a battle, and he wasn't going to back down. He set Ayaka down gently near some trees. "If anything happens to me, I want you to run, okay? Don't look back. Just run." Ayaka nodded solemnly, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Please don't die." He laughed halfheartedly. "Well, I can't say it's very high on my to-do list, but I'll keep it in mind." He stood up and walked back to the middle of the clearing, drawing his beam saber. "Project Alpha. You've given me the decency of allowing me to console my friend. For that, I respect you. However. You have committed crimes and sins that cannot be atoned for." Project Alpha's tendrils appeared from his back, and they looked sharpened at the tips. Almost like snakes, poised and ready to strike. Delta got into a defensive stand, holding his sword hilt upwards, the sword going across his body. "The punishment for these sins is death. Now. We can do this the easy way or the hard way." A lone tendril shot out at Delta, but he easily parried it. They stared each other down. "Guess we're doing this the hard way."
Location: Omnibasu Academy
Unit: Shadow
Time: Dead of Night
Date: Month 9, Day 4
I stepped into the dimly lit room. A figure sat in a swivel chair across from me. He spoke coldly. "Delta never returned to his dorm, did he?" I shook my head. "No. I saw him in the Foreboding Forest a few hours ago. I attempted to take him back to the Academy, but our battle was interrupted." The figure nodded. "So. Currently we have a defective Living Weapons Project being hunted by Project Alpha. Correct?" I winced. The director always had a way of making seem things worse than they actually were. "Well… Yeah. I suppose so." He sighed. I hated it when he did that. It always meant that he was about to send me out to clean up the mess. Granted, I did sort of have this one coming. "So. When do you think you're gonna lead the rebellion?" That question took me aback. "With any luck, the other projects that stand with me will just accept leaving quietly and escaping. Once we do that, we'll be able to fight openly. Why do you ask?" The director lowered his head. "I fear that with the boy Rias has brought, things are going to get much harder much faster." I nodded. "But we can't exactly tell her no. She's a part of the group that has actually managed to fight again these creatures and been able to hold their ground." The director nodded again. "I know that. If she sees something within this boy that the rest of us don't see, I'm not about to question her. Even so. Taking him in is basically inviting those creatures to our doorstep, and we can't exactly protect the students if they all attack at once. We're banking right now on him getting out of that forest alive. If he doesn't… I think that'll be it for us." I smirked. "So in a roundabout way you're saying he's our only hope?" The director stood up. "That's exactly what I'm saying."
Location: Deep Forest: Big Clearing
Unit: Delta
Time: Dead of Night
Date: Unknown
"GYA!" Delta cried out in pain as a tendril whipped him across the back, opening a wound all down it. He growled. "Hitting me while my back is turned, huh? That's awfully cheap of you, Alpha!" He whipped around, bringing his blade in a slashing motion as he turned. Project Alpha simply teleported out of reach, going behind him and whipping him again. Delta cried out in pain again, stumbling forward. His breathing was heavy and ragged. He'd been hit several times. Ayaka looked on in horror as her hero, her savior, was struggling to stand. Delta swung his blade weakly at Project Alpha, but he didn't even try to dodge this time. He simply brushed the blade aside like it were a child's toy. He picked up Delta with his tendrils and slowly began to squeeze him. Delta was limp. He couldn't win. He looked down at the ground and saw his hand. He quickly remembered that his other hand was transformed into an arm cannon, and, quietly, he began to aim it at Project Alpha. Project Alpha was so fixated on squeezing his opponent to death that he didn't even notice the arm cannon until it had actually shot him in the head. He dropped Delta, clutching his face and making an ungodly screaming sound that incorporated every possible sound of anguish. Delta raised his arm cannon and fired again, and again, and again. He had just been close to death before, but now, he felt more determined than ever to put this monster in its place. He fired over, and over, and over, not letting up. Ayaka watched, her eyes welling up with tears of joy. He was fighting back, and he wasn't going down that easily. The screams continued, until Project Alpha was forced back into a tree. Delta rushed him then. Grabbing him by his neck and slamming him against the tree, and then into the ground. Project Alpha continued screaming the entire time this happened, slowly but surely getting quieter and quieter, until suddenly, the screams had stopped. Project Alpha flailed wildly, attempting any form of attack against Delta, but it was of no use. Delta put his foot on Project Alpha, and drove his beam saber into his chest. Project Alpha folded up for a moment, and then collapsed. Delta fired a couple more shots into his face, for good measure. He then picked himself up off Project Alpha, placed his hands upon him, and they both began to glow. The light became so bright that it illuminated the entire clearing like a beacon. When the glow subsided Delta and Ayaka were the only ones left in the clearing. Delta smiled at Ayaka, who smiled with a grin that can only be described as pure joy. Her smile left as quickly as it appeared, however, as Delta fell forward, the exhaustion of the battle finally overtaking him. Ayaka called for help, amidst the darkness, but nobody came. Ayaka called again for help in the darkness, and suddenly, a voice called out to her. "Hey, don't be afraid. I'm here to help you." A man clad in Ninja gear dropped seemingly from the sky. His purple eyes were comforting. He picked up Delta and helped Ayaka to her feet. "This way. We need to get him to the infirmary." Ayaka hesitated. "W-Who are you?" He smiled underneath his cloth. "Just call me Shadow. It's nice to meet you, although I wished it were under better circumstances."