Chapter 9: Awakening

Day 9

The explosion was earth-shattering, and quite literally so, to the defeat of the Kongou bunch. Without it, Soma and Adal would have, without a doubt, been overwhelmed. It was, however, not nearly sufficient to take them all out at once.

The snow was strange thereafter. They became like wilted flakes of corn, and were of an indeterminable color. Perhaps—Probably—, it was due to the burst of light that occurred right in front of Soma's eyes…or it could be the scattered Oracle seeping into them; the snow.

All at once, cracking noises filled the hostile air, the crumbling pipes falling onto the uneven ground.

Soma had successfully blocked the blast, but….

Adal lay on the ground on his stomach, clothes crumpled thoroughly. He seemed to be…unconscious?

A Kongou near him grabbed him by his hair, lifting him up, and still the rookie was motionless otherwise, form limp, his God Arc swinging from his hand threateningly unbalancedly. He had been incapacitated, definitely. Oracle bullets did not hurt God Eaters, but they did still affect their surroundings. He must have hit his head on something, then.

Without thinking, Soma ran toward it, blade at the ready. The Kongou shifted its eyes downward, toward Soma, and looked at him with a blank expression.

It was still processing what the black blur was.

Its teeth sank into the Kongou's belly, and erupted from the other side. It roared, Oracle cells flying, and soon it was gone.

Three down. But…

He looked back.

They were coming. No trace of whoever fired that shot was present, aside from the footprints leading away from where he saw him.

There was still a full dozen left, along with two white ones; Fallen Kongou.

Soma's hand moved up to his earpiece, before remembering that it was useless. With a click of the tongue, he rummaged inside his belt pack and hit something hard. He moved backward slowly, the Kongou marching on towards him and Adal.

He threw the stun grenade, picked the limp God Eater up, and ran.

Bang!

Hotaru ducked underneath the low, fallen roof of a house, hiding in the shadow it provided. The footsteps outside provided no shortage of tiny tremors as the confused Aragami hobbled about disorientedly.

He waited.

They started to scatter, splitting up. Two sets of legs went past him, to the right, after moving back and forth, as if confused as to which direction to go.

It took all the luck in this world for them to be the last to go.

He emerged from the shadows and followed them to a corner. Fixing his sight on them, the two creatures were bombarded mercilessly with electricity, sparks rippling across the surface of their bodies, destroying their cells' integrity, denaturing them with his most powerful bullets.

They could not fight back, tripping over one another and being pushed back with every shot, their body parts flying apart, chunks falling off their backs, their arms.

They were dead, yes, but the others had heard the noise. He turned his head to the side, slightly. They were not waiting for him to make his move. He was, however, waiting for them. Decor-bullets flew from the barrel of his God Arc, spinning around them, colors bursting into sparks that tickled his face a bit.

The Kongou jumped back from them, as if sharing a hive mind. Hotaru ran, leaving a flare behind.

The red trail it left behind disappeared soon after that.

Soma dropped his fellow God Eater on the ground, not bothering to be gentle about it. He did not settle down in a house, since if they were attacked in one, great difficulty would have to be overcome in order to escape to the outside.

He thought about how he had let his God Arc drop on the way here, but realized, then, that the younger boy had not.

He caught sight of black tentacles wrapping his hand tightly with the hilt of his God Arc, but they soon were gone. Where to, he did not see, but Soma's eyes remained wide open for a possible attack—and from swift surprise.

His heart was still beating wildly fast, but he reminded himself to stay calm—they had escaped the Aragami.

But why, dammit?

Why had there been so many of them at once?

He dismissed what he had just seen as mere illusion caused by the snow and his just-acknowledged exhaustion—if it was an Aragami…

I'd probably be dead by now, anyway….

He shuffled for some ampules—they were most effective in waking up a God Eater from unconsciousness. Link-Aids are performed only when the Oracle activity within their bodies had been diminished, and to restore them to their optimal conditions.

The God Eaters in question would not pass out, but would find it hard to move. It happened usually only when their bodies, coated with a thin Oracle barrier, sustained enough damage.

Restore Pills were consumed to fix that problem.

He was about to inject some into Adal's bracelet, approaching cautiously—in case those tentacles burst out and attack him—,when he woke up, eyes fluttering open.

He almost swung his Arc when Soma stopped him with a sharp gesture. The older boy found himself fingering the hilt of his own.

He was not breathing heavily, nor was he sweating. He merely panicked a little bit, eyes darting around, before realizing that they were safe. All the while, Soma kept his eyes trained on him. When he narrowed his eyes, looking at something high up in the air behind him, he decided that Adal did not pose a threat, and turned around to see what he was looking at.

A red flare… Only God Eaters used those.

Could it be reinforcements?

Soma closed his eyes and listened in silence… No. He could only hear the shrieks of the Aragami, varying in pitch and length. There was another God Eater in the area. Loud explosions, for some reason unnoticed by him before, were what appeared to be scattering them.

"Get up," he said, hefting his God Arc into a readied position.

A quiet voice behind him spoke, breathful, breathless. "Yes."

End of Chapter 9: Awakening

Next Chapter:

Reunion

A reckless death