Check my Profile for my writing schedule. Before you PM me or ask me in a review!
Beta'd by BigCC
Read, review and check out my other stories.
Disclaimer: I do not own DXD.
"Let's go!" - Regular Speech
'Oppai!' - Thoughts
[BOOST!] - Sacred Gear/Ddraig Speech
Chapter 11: Versus Humans
Occult Research Clubroom, Kuō Academy
"Well, that went better than I was expecting, he was far more open than I'd hoped." Rias Gremory mused as Akeno served her and Sona tea.
"Indeed, and we were able to learn for more than what I'd originally hoped." The Sitri Heiress agreed before taking a sip of her tea. Akeno really was talented at making Black Tea, with an almost equal talent for crafting the delicate Sencha that was resting on a small plate nearby. "I think mentioning your…predicament…helped get him to open up far more than he would have otherwise."
It was a part of human nature, people tended to be more open and trusting toward people they were sympathetic for. A low blow some would call, but they were Devils dealing with a complete unknown, their morals were rather more…flexible than a human's.
The Crimson Haired Ruin Princess scowled at the reminder of her 'fiancé' before taking a sip of tea herself. "Yes, I imagine it did." before a positively devilish smirk crossed her lips. "Besides, our new friend did provide some rather interesting ideas on how to deal with it, didn't he?"
Sona smirked, no fonder of the perverted rake than Rias was. "I suppose he did. Still, the encounter with him provided quite a few interesting points of data as well." The bespectacled Devil added, adjusting her glasses thoughtfully. "First off, that our red-armoured friend is born and raised locally. He pointed out where he was attacked without even glancing in the direction, which implies a deep understanding of the local geography that only a local, or at least a long-term resident, would have. He's also about our age, based on his height, attitude, and speech patterns; plus the fact that the most common time for Sacred Gears to awaken is in the holder's teens, if they awaken at all."
Sacred Gears did not simply manifest before their holders at random; either they were awoken in times of great need or at times when the wielder honestly and truly desired power from the very depths of their heart. An alternative method was when they were awakened as a result of the holder being reincarnated into a Devil via the Evil Piece system. Ajuka Beelzebub liked to think ahead, as it was more than slightly possible that a human could be reincarnated as a Devil without awakening their Sacred Gear, so he had added that function to his Evil Pieces.
It was widely known that the Maō Beelzebub had placed numerous 'hidden' systems into his masterwork, the Evil Piece system, and had left it up to the [Kings] and other pieces to discover what they were. Several had been discovered and become common knowledge over the intervening decades and centuries, but there were still dozens of others that remained nothing more than rumour or speculation.
Ajuka himself was remaining tight-lipped on the subject, never confirming or denying any rumour presented to him, and only confirming that there were still systems left that hadn't been discovered yet. The man seemed to view the research and experimentation that many young Devils went through to uncover more of those secrets as both an important exercise in helping them learn to think and experiment and as a thoroughly enjoyable form of entertainment.
He really had a bad sense of humour.
"Sona, we're not trying to discover his identity as of yet." Rias calmly reminded her friend. "Besides, that still doesn't narrow things down by much. There are at least three other highschools in Kuō, each with at least a hundred students our age."
"True, but we can keep an eye out for anyone lingering in the areas where the Ratman Burrows used to be…" Akeno said with a frown.
"I doubt he would bother with them." Sona shook her head. "No ratmen there, so no need for him to go near the places anymore."
"Hmm. True enough." The Priestess of Thunder conceded.
A familiar sensation in the air made the three Devils pause. Then Rias sighed. "Looks as if our friend is going after another location involving these 'Purifiers' that he neglected to mention to us." she stated, a small frown of annoyance crossing her lips.
"To be strictly accurate, we asked him to tell us about the Purifiers in general, not specific locations where they were based." Sona reminded her. "He seems determined that, as a human resident of this town with a Sacred Gear, it is up to him to deal with any human threats that pop up in Kuō that have anything to do with the supernatural world, aside from members of the Church or the Grigori. That responsibility technically falls onto our shoulders instead of his, but I doubt he cares much at the moment."
"From what I've seen, he seems to take what the Purifiers are doing personally. No…" Akeno shook her head thoughtfully, tilting it slightly as she looked for the right words. "More like he's…outraged? Yes, he's outraged at what they're doing. What should we do, Buchou?"
Rias waved a hand in mild irritation, resignation on her face. "Leave him for now. If he finds anything that he feels we need to know, he'll doubtless find a way of contacting us. He wants us to be hands off in dealing with this particular matter? Fine. We'll be hands off until he gets in over his head, and then we'll go in and save his rear, hopefully earning a bit more trust and goodwill in the process."
"We still should have given him a way of contacting us." Sona pointed out. This was an unexpected oversight on her part that she was currently mentally cursing.
"Akeno, set your familiar to watch the Shrine when you aren't there." Rias ordered without hesitation. "That's where we designated a neutral location, so it's also the most likely place that he'll go to if he wants to contact us. Once he is seen, contact either Sona or me and we'll go see what it is that he wants."
"Hai, Buchou." The Yamato Nadeshiko nodded demurely.
With Issei
The Sekiryūtei was becoming puzzled and annoyed.
He had been walking around this abandoned factory for over fifteen minutes and there wasn't a single sign of it being used for anything since it closed its doors. The thick carpet of dust that covered every visible surface made that clear easily enough, and, combined with the corroded metal and broken glass littering the area, made the place look like it had been abandoned for over a decade.
That was what made it so suspicious. This place had been built only three years ago and hadn't been in active use for more than six months before the company who ran it went bankrupt and went into administration. He distinctly remembered his mother talking about the scandal of the company's vice-president having an affair with his secretary as he embezzled funds from what was supposed to go to purchasing new materials.
So then, the Purifiers had moved in some time after the place had shut down and had done something to make this place look like the place was one good push away from collapsing in order to keep people away. The base was almost certainly beneath the factory; otherwise it wouldn't be a dungeon. But how to get in there? It wasn't outside the building at least, there would be too much risk of some random vagrant either stumbling onto it or witnessing someone else coming out. So it had to be inside the building somewhere. So it was definitely inside, and likely hidden somewhere so it couldn't be found by some random kids that somehow managed to sneak pass the fence
'Haaahhh…I haven't thought about Oppai in ages.' Issei abruptly realized sadly. It wasn't that he was no longer interested in Oppai, far from it, but every time he did think about Oppai, he got excited. And once his excitement grew to a certain point, [Gamer's Mind] would kick in and forcibly calm him down. It took all of the enjoyment out of thinking about the wondrous things called Oppai in the first place!
[Gamer's Mind] activated!
See? Bloody thing was leeching all the fun out of his life to keep him focused on his 'mission.'
Returning to the subject at hand, the Sekiryūtei guessed that this place had some kind of emergency entrance/exit for the Project Rat Poison base. That being the case, it was likely somewhere out of the way and/or hard to get to on the ground floor, which ruled out the main factory floor, as well as the ruined cafeteria and all of the corridors and public places.
That left…the Floor Manager's office. It was perched slightly above the floor to allow the theoretical manager to overlook the place, but it was also out of the way and was small enough and unobtrusive enough to be overlooked by most people.
For using a startling amount of logic and reasoning, you gain +1 WIS and INT!
A vein pulsed in Issei's head as his right arm's Sacred Gear snarked at him once again. He never once imagined he'd have a near-irresistible urge to punch an article of clothing, but then again his life had just been getting weirder and weirder since this started.
Making his way to the Floor Manager's Office, the boy peered around the dimly lit room. Old desk, broken hat stand (Why? The locker room was where employees kept their stuff), decrepit-looking chair…suspiciously clean and intact floorplan with several pins stuck in it mounted on the wall. Hello, clue.
Examining the pins made Issei smile beneath his helmet. All of them were blank, except for one, which had a dead rat with a spike through it engraved on it. Rat Poison. Hah.
Pressing it, Issei stepped back as the wall juddered and about a meter of floor and wall creaked open, revealing steps leading down into darkness, as always. Issei had to wonder why these places were never brightly lit. Were the Purifiers miserly with their electricity bills or something?
Putting that inane question aside, Issei carefully went down the stairs, wishing he had bought a torch. Then he had an idea.
"[Magic Weapon Reinforcement]!" he muttered. In a flash, both his gladius and his Swordbreaker were wrapped in ruby light. While dim, the added light was more than enough to see by, even if the opening slammed shut behind him as he activated it.
Moving down the stairs, Issei was not surprised to see an antechamber at the bottom of the stairs. That had been the commonality with all of the dungeons he had visited so far. What Issei hadn't expected was the still corpse of a man sprawled out in the middle of the small room, clutching something in his hand. His throat had been slit on both sides, one neater than the other.
'So someone slits this guy's throat once, hastily and messily, and then slits the other side in a neat and tidy way…because why?' the Gamer thought in confusion.
The clothes the guy was wearing were decidedly odd as well, bloodstains aside. They looked kind of like the robes you'd see on a monk, except this one was white and burnt orange, made of nylon rather than cotton or whatever material monk's robes were normally made from. Emblazoned over his heart was a symbol; a flame set on a shield. The words 'Corpore et anima. Semper pura semper vera, nunquam iniuriam' were written in Rōmaji above and below it.
"…is that English or what?" Issei muttered in confusion. His skill at reading English was so-so, but he wasn't recognising any of this stuff. Unless the 'anima' on the top line was talking about the Final Fantasy X Summon, but he kinda doubted it.
The hand that was clenched was rigid, but Issei didn't have over 100 STR for nothing, so the contents were quickly exhumed. It was…
"…a key?" Issei blinked before using [Observe] on it.
[Project Supervisor's Office Key]
This is the key that allows entry into the supervisor's office of Project Rat Poison.
Useful. Wait, so then this guy was…who then? If he had the supervisor's office key then Issei supposed that he was, in fact, the Head of Project Rat Poison, but, if so, why had he been killed? The wounds didn't have the greenish tinge of the Warpstone blades that the Ratmen assassins liked to smear their blades in, so that just left one person.
Agent Flamberge. He had to have done this.
Quelling his fury, the Sekiryūtei stored the key in his inventory and then looted the man's body, leaving him his clothes out of respect for the dignity of the dead. Fortunately, the man had a map of the facility on him. The Project Rat Poison Base wasn't actually large enough to need a map; it was about the size of four school gymnasiums sitting in a square, with three levels to it. The supervisor's office was just a few meters away on this floor, in fact, which actually explained why he still had his key in hand.
He'd likely just left his office when he was killed.
'Flamberge discovered this guy was running and managed to catch up and kill him from wherever it was that he had been previously, supposing that this guy was in his office, in the short time it took him to leave and lock his office and run over here.' Issei thought with a frown. Unless the Purifier Agent was just a few feet away from this guy's office when he started to run, that would be very difficult…or…
The boy examined the way that the body was sprawled, just feet from the door leading to the rest of the facility. The look of pain and realisation told him that the man had been taken completely off guard.
"He was waiting in here for the Project Head to run in, and slit his throat as he entered." He concluded grimly.
But why? It made no sense. Killing the members of Project Rat King made sense, if a grisly, evil kind of sense. But the members of Project Rat Poison? The ones Flamberge had been ordered to rendezvous with?
Deciding that the answer to all these questions lay within the base itself; Issei started forward again. Moving slowly, he left the antechamber behind and entered the main corridor, which, for some stupid reason, were a blindingly bright shade of white. What moron decided that eye-searing white was a good colour for the walls, floors and ceilings of a base? His eyes were actually watering behind his menpō!
Cursing the Purifiers for their stupid tastes in interior decorating, Issei made his way to the nearby office, trying to keep his eyes from focusing on the eye-searing colour. It wasn't that far; just barely four meters or so. Obviously, the rear entrance was the Project Head's escape route.
Opening the door with the key, the Sekiryūtei entered the office and closed the door behind him, locking it again to prevent anyone from sneaking up on him afterwards. Then he turned his attention to the office itself, walking up to the desk.
It was a basic office not too dissimilar to the office that the Head of Project Rat King had possessed, except very modern and up to date, as opposed to run-down and second hand like the other one had been. The desk looked brand new, the carpet was thick beneath his shoes, the lighting was tasteful and the back wall was a glass window, looking out at the floor beneath, which was crawling with zombies…
…wait, what?!
Issei gaped out of the window. No, he had not been seeing things; there were at least ten zombies wandering around down there, all wearing Purifier uniforms, and all had a cut across the side of their throats, indicating how they had died.
"How the hell did they get raised as fucking zombies though?!" Issei groaned aloud. Out of all of the many games he had played over the years, the ones he had enjoyed least had been one like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Sure, shooting zombies was fun and all, but did they have to make it so hard to save? Stupid recording tape…Anyway, this was going to be a pain. Zombies, if these ones were anything like the ones in films and games, were stupidly strong thanks to having no mental limiters on their muscles, and more modern depiction of zombies, like in the British Film 28 Days Later, had them being rather swift on their feet to boot.
Shaking his head to clear it of zombie-fuelled apocalyptic nightmares, Issei returned his focus to what he here for, investigating what was going on here, which had the newly added objective of finding out what the hell was causing the undead corpses on the floor below.
"Well, let's get down to a bit of burglary…" Issei muttered, deactivating his magic and putting away his weapons. The door was solid and well-built; if one of the shambling horde below tried to batter it down he'd have plenty of time to draw them again before anything managed to break through.
Breaking into the desk drawers was easy, as the keys were lying right there on top of the desk. A bunch of folders and files regarding Project Rat Poison in the large bottom drawer went into his inventory to be looked through later and perhaps presented to the Devils. In the smaller drawer, he paused as he beheld a rare sight in Japan; a firearm. It was a small one that he didn't recognise, so he used [Observe] on it.
[SIG Sauer SIG Pro SPC 2022]
A semi-automatic pistol manufactured by SIG Sauer that fires 9x19mm Parabellum rounds. This particular weapon has only been fired by the manufacturer and the gun shop that sold it. The grips on the frame are removable and can be replaced with others for various bonuses. Useless without bullets.
Current Grip: Polymer (No Effect)
Deals [Piercing] damage of 75 to any location a bullet strikes. 100% chance of critical hit if the head or any internal organs are struck by a bullet.
Can be used as [Improvised] close combat weapon, dealing [Bludgeoning] damage. S+5.
Magazine Loaded: 15/15 Bullets, not chambered.
"Wow." Issei blinked. That was pretty detailed, but there was something…detached, about the way [Observe] was describing the weapon before him. As if it found the gun distasteful to describe, so it gave the most clinical description it could. It made sense to Issei; close combat weapons and magic had been around for thousands of years, while firearms were (relatively speaking) new-fangled devices that his Sacred Gear apparently didn't trust or like.
Gingerly picking up the gun, Issei placed it, and the three spare magazines, into his inventory. He might as well use it in this base, if nothing else. He had no desire to get near to a zombie if it was at all possible, making this weapon something he would use gladly if it meant keeping the walking dead things as distant as possible until he re-killed them.
Don't look at him like that; no one in their right mind would want to get near a walking, rotting corpse! Not only was it damned unsanitary, but Zombie Bites were fucking one-hit K.O. and then you rose up as a gross shambler yourself. He'd never get to fondle Oppai if he was a zombie, the hot schoolgirls would be even more interested in smashing his skull than they ever were before!
Highschool of the Dead had some nice Oppai and great fanservice, but it was still freaky as hell.
Examining the actual desk itself, Issei noticed a memo similar to the ones he'd seen in the Ratman Burrows up until now.
'To the Head of Project Rat Poison
The Rat King Project has produced satisfactory results, but the chance that the specimens might revolt against us cannot be discounted, which is why we at Central Command created Project Rat Poison, with the express purpose of having a contingency plan for such an instance occurring. Ignore any directives and suggestions by the Head of Project Rat King; your purpose is to create a poison that can and will slay any and all ratmen that it is exposed to it.
While wasting the not-inconsiderable amount of time, money and materials that we have invested into Project Rat King would be something of an inconvenience, the threat of a new supernatural race existing outside of our control, one that we created to boot, is not something we can countenance. Work hard, Mr Seto.
Should the activation of your project prove necessary, an Agent will reveal himself and identify himself as Flamberge. Take his appearance as clearance to activate your project as the final failsafe.
For the Purity and Sanctity of Our Souls.'
The memo was dated roughly three months previously. Issei looked at another sheet of paper, this time something that Seto Tetsuo had written himself.
'Why me? Where did it all go so wrong?
I'm looking out at my facility and seeing the people that I work with being slaughtered by a man in a black cloak. Then they stagger to their feet, brought back by some form of foul sorcery. I don't know how they got in here, and I don't really care. Once I finish this memo, I am going to flee via the rear entrance/exit and then go underground for a while. Possibly go on holiday in the Bahamas.
This is the main thrust of this letter: I quit. I have had it. Bad working conditions, I can handle; poor pay, well it's better than what the government pays at least; the underground bases are helpful in that we do not get bothered by door-to-door salesmen. But a madman slaughtering my people and turning them into zombies is where I draw the bedamned line. I am out of this organisation and I wish whoever has to pick up the pieces here the best of luck. They're going to need it.
The Former Head of Project Rat Poison
Seto Tetsuo.'
This one was dated three days previously. Roughly about as long as the man himself had been dead. Poor, stupid bastard had apparently decided to write a letter of resignation before running for his life. Issei had to respect his professionalism, if not his lack of survival instincts.
The rest of the room was bare of anything either useful or interesting. Yes, the place certainly looked stylish, but that didn't mean that anything vital to Project Rat Poison was kept in there. The only things like that had been in the bottom drawer, and they were now in his inventory. Similarly, the only useful things in the room had been the gun and its ammunition, also now stored in his inventory.
After adding the two memos as an afterthought, Issei pulled out the facility map to scope out where he should go next. On this floor, there were the dormitories, a few offices, the kitchens and relaxation facilities, nothing too serious, but best to be thorough in case he could find anything useful. On the next floor down were the labs where the staff experimented with chemicals and made the deadly poison that they planned on using on the ratmen. On the lowest floor was the ominously-named 'Purification Chamber.' Presumably where the controls for the poisons were located.
Issei really didn't want to go into the labs down there. He was not Gordon Freeman and he did not have a Hazardous Environment Suit on. His armour was designed to be used against enemies and magic, not poison, and you could bet that somehow, he'd have poison thrown at him. But, unfortunately, Issei was equally sure that he would be forced to go through the labs because the only way to the Purification Chamber was through one of the main labs. Oh joy.
WHAM!
Someone…or something…slammed into the door leading into the office Issei was standing in, making it crack. A low and guttural moan from the other side of the door made it clear that it was not a particularly proactive door-to-door salesman either.
Pulling the SIG out of his inventory, the Sekiryūtei very carefully pulled back the slide and chambered a round before also drawing back the hammer and uneasily aiming the weapon at the door. His swords had felt much like this before he had gained a skill in using them; uncomfortable, unbalanced, too light or too heavy. Hopefully it would be corrected if he got a skill with firearms.
With another couple of powerful slams, the door splintered, split and cracked before a shambling zombie broke through, face-faulting onto the floor after breaking through. If it wasn't for the fact that this was a very serious situation, Issei would be laughing his head off at the sight.
Purifier Remnant LV15
[Shambling Dead]
Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Issei quickly took aim at the downed undead's skull and squeezed the trigger.
BANG!
Unlike in movies, a gun going off was loud! His aim was surprisingly spot-on, as the bullet went right through the crown of the zombie's head, dropping it back to the ground like a puppet with cut strings.
You have defeated a Purifier Remnant! You receive 400 EXP!
You receive Rat Poison Memo (1/15)
As a result of a specific action, you have acquired the skill [Firearms Proficiency (Handguns)]!
[Firearms Proficiency (Handguns)] (Passive) [LV1, 00.00]
Since around 1250 AD, the use of gunpowder weaponry has grown and spread until it is the most commonly used military tool of the mundane world. From handguns and rifles to cannon and artillery, the number of weapons that have been made beggars belief. Although considered useless against any competent supernatural foe due to the development of numerous simple and easy to learn spells that render any form of black power or gunpowder within range useless, against the weakest (or stupidest) of the supernatural world, a gun can be just the thing you need to level the playing field.
- Grants the user the ability to carry handguns with ease.
- Increase Accuracy of all ranged attacks made with a handgun by 1.
- Increase Damage of all ranged attacks made with a handgun by 1.
"Huh…so that's why the [Gamer's Gear] doesn't like me using guns." Issei remarked. "Now what's that about memos…?"
The Rat Poison Memo turned out to be a part of a series of memos between the Project Head of Project Rat Poison and one of his scientists, Rokka Nia.
'Nia,
I believe you were specifically ordered NOT to make this poison as deadly as it could possibly be? We ONLY want to kill the ratman abominations, not the entire human population of Kuō. As it is, I am officially ordering you to scrap your work and start over from scratch. Make it deadly to the ratmen and easy to disperse inside their burrows, but I want it to be heavier than air.
There will be no lighter-than-air poison gasses made here, thank you very much!
Seto Tetsuo.'
'This Nia woman made a poison THAT deadly?!' Issei thought in disbelief. 'OK, it's official: these guys got what was coming to them when they died. Though, I'll admit raising them again as undead might be a bit much though…'
Looting the body and getting ¥5000, plus some snacks, Issei made his way back into the corridor-that-was-too-bright-to-look-at. The first couple of rooms that he entered were lounges and had nothing of interest beyond possibly-still-edible biscuits in them. The first couple of offices were boring, having reams of paperwork about the minutiae of both the supplying and running the base or of the experiments conducted on the floor below. The latter was in such complicated scientific jargon that Issei felt his eyes crossing as he tried to read them. Those joined the rest of the paperwork he'd be handing the Devils once this was over; hopefully they had someone who could understand the sciencey mumbo-jumbo.
In the third office though, he had to deal with two more [Purifier Remnants], which earned him the skill [Headshot], which was not simply a firearm skill; it could be applied to any projectile weapon, from a throwing knife to a crossbow. [Headshot], simply put, added a percentage, which varied depending on the skill's level, to the chance to hitting the target's head with whatever projectile weapon Issei was using at the time, as well as granting additional damage depending on what the weapon was as well.
A cool skill added to his repertoire, Issei continued on, adding [Rat Poison Memos] to his inventory whenever he killed a zombie. It was easier to think of them like that; dehumanising them in his mind prevented him from having to use his [Gamer's Mind] to force himself into a calm state. Honestly, he didn't know if he could actually kill a human just like that; it was hard enough with zombies.
After about fifteen more minutes, Issei cleared out the first floor of the facility and gathered all fifteen of the [Rat Poison Memos], which made the [Gamer's Gear] generate a keycard to allow access to the next floor down.
"…I don't want to know how you got ahold of this, do I?" Issei mused aloud as he alternated between eyeing his hand and the keycard. Much to his surprise, the [Gamer's Gear] manifested for a moment and flashed before vanishing again.
"Okaaaayyyy….moving on." Issei decided. More proof, if that was needed, that something was inside his Sacred Gear. And that it was fond of making fun of him.
All of the doors to the level below were made of clear glass for some stupid reason. It wasn't even bulletproof or reinforced glass, just the same kind of glass you'd get a screen door made out of. Why, just why? They were about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
Shaking his head at the obvious sign that the Purifiers hadn't really considered the possibility of the place being invaded by an outside force, Issei inserted his keycard into the scanner, making the door slide soundlessly open. Even if he hadn't had the keycard, he was fairly certain that hitting the glass door with one of his swords would have shattered it easily.
Though that would have likely brought an entire horde of zombies and other unpleasant things down onto his head, so better not.
Entering the atrium that was visible from the Project Manager's Office window, Issei opened fire with the SIG, managing to eliminate one zombie from the get-go. Unfortunately, that also drew the attention of the other zombies. There were nine of them left and they were all headed towards where Issei had fired the pistol.
Swiftly relocating as silently as possible, the Sacred Gear User fired three more times, killing another zombie with a [Headshot] and sending another one stumbling into the zombie next to it with a bullet to the shoulder. The last one missed though, which made Issei curse slightly.
He had already used an entire magazine up on the previous floor, with only two and three-quarters magazines left. That let him with just under forty-five bullets remaining and who knows how many zombies left to deal with. As they had been created, apparently, with some kind of magic dagger, Issei didn't know if they could infect people with bites or body fluids, but he did not want to take a chance.
Ah well. Where bullets failed, magic would prevail.
As a precaution, Issei drew his [Bloodmetal Gladius] with his off-hand, and was very thankful that he had acquired the [Ambidextrous] skill as well.
The two zombies that had collided were tearing into each other like animals. Leaving them to it, Issei fired at the six remaining zombies carefully, aiming using the iron-sight and scoring three [Headshots]. It was irritating that the only way to kill zombies was to either cut off their head or destroy the brain, like it said in Shawn of the Dead, but Issei persevered.
Taking advantage of his distraction, one of the undead charged at Issei from the side. Evidently, they weren't entirely braindead.
"Whoa!" the boy yelped in shock, dodging the flailing arms of the zombie before reflexively lashing out with his sword, smashing the zombie's head back and making it stumble backwards long enough for him to bring the gun around to put a bullet in it to finish it off.
After that, it was fairly easy to kill the remaining zombies, as two were attacking one another and the remaining three were on the far side of the atrium, shuffling towards him at a crawl. Thankfully they were classic Romero zombies rather than the 28 Days variety, thus a slow, shambling walk was their top speed. The last three may as well have had bullseyes painted on their foreheads, while dealing with the two scrambling zombies was like shooting fish in a barrel.
You have defeated [Purifier Remnants] X10! You receive 4000 EXP!
[Firearms Proficiency (Handguns)] has levelled up! LV1-LV2!
[Headshot] has levelled up! LV1-LV2!
As a result of repeated actions, the skill [Aim] has been created!
[Aim] (Active) [LV1, 00.00]
One of the more basic skills available when using any projectile weapon. Aiming carefully before firing/throwing generally leads to fulfilling the purpose of firing/throwing the weapon in the first place, i.e. actually hitting the target.
Once activated, lasts two minutes or until you either switch targets or your target dies.
- Increases accuracy of all projectile weaponry by 1 when active.
- Increases likelihood of hitting a vulnerable point by 1% when active.
- Increases [Headshot] damage by a further 1 when active.
Useful. Although yet again, Issei got the feeling that his Sacred Gear was snarking at him with that description.
Pressing the Auto-Loot button got him everything he could have taken from them aside from their clothes (thank goodness!) so he decided to explore the level. The first place he looked was the security station, which was a little room barely larger than a kitchenette. It had security logs that might prove interesting viewing, but Issei paid more attention to a notice on the wall for the moment.
'Official Purifier Military Forces Specialties: Know where you can go!
Flints: Internal Security Troopers. This is where you all are right now. Equipped with truncheons and stun guns.
Sparks: Low-ranking troops, specialising in mundane infiltration and investigation. Typically equipped with shock batons and/or Tasers.
Flames: Standard troops armed with modern military weapons. The bulk of the armed might of the Purifiers.
Cleansers: Elite shock troopers wearing powerful magic armour, they are also equipped with flamers.
Judges: Internal Code Enforcement Troops. When someone goes rogue, they are dispatched to neutralise the problem.
Agents: Hidden, unknown people who act as the eyes and ears of Central Command. They could be anyone, even the guy you eat with in the cafeteria.'
Issei's left eye twitched. 'Flamers?! Modern weaponry?! Magic armour?! Ignoring the magic armour, how the hell have the Purifiers gotten any amount of military ordinance through customs? Even I know that that sort of thing is closely monitored by the government! Just what kind of influence or connections do these Purifiers have?!'
The magic armour was much less of a surprise for Issei than the military weaponry; he had figured out quite some time back that the Purifiers were a bunch of hypocrites when it came to magic. They claimed to hate it, but used it when they needed to; Warpstone being the most obvious use of it. The evil green crystals almost had to be made via some kind of magic; there was certainly nothing natural about it!
Taking down the flyer and storing it in his inventory, Issei looked for some kind of roster to tell him exactly how many security people had been assigned to this place. None of the zombies he had killed so far had been dressed differently, so they were likely the scientists.
After a moment, he found the roster he was looking for. According to the sheet of paper, there were ten Flints assigned to this base, so where were they? Issei had killed twenty-five zombies already since coming to this facility, and he very much doubted that there was more than double that amount in total due to the relatively small size of the base.
The most heavily armoured door in the facility was likely the one leading to the third floor and the Purification Room. If any of the staff managed to escape the man in the black cloak, who was almost certainly Flamberge, that was probably where they were hiding.
That said, Issei sat down and rewound the security footage so he could get a grasp of exactly what the hell had happened in this place. There were nine security cameras that this little cubicle recorded footage from; the three dorms, the entrance to the Purification Room, the corridor outside the Project Head's Office, the main lab, the head scientist's office, the cafeteria and the corridor leading to the main entrance. All of them were synced to the same time, which was displayed on the bottom left of each screen, along with the date.
At six o'clock at night three days previously, a figure wearing black had entered the base via the main entrance, had drawn a knife that had a wavy blade similar to one edge of his [Rapscallion Wave Blade], and had proceeded to hunt down and kill every person in the base that he could get at. Three Flints had fled from the base while he was occupied with the scientists in the lab, while the other seven had retreated into the Purification Room along with the Head Scientist, Rokka Nia. Then the black-clad man had drawn an ordinary dagger and made his way to the back entrance, where Seto Tetsuo shortly ran to, meeting his fate there.
Then the man in black simply sauntered out of the base with nothing resembling care for what he had just done, dodging the freshly risen zombies with an ease that Issei knew that he couldn't match himself. The movements were sharp, precise and wasted no movement whatsoever. He hadn't moved quickly; he had seen the zombies, predicted their movements and then moved just in time to avoid them.
Absolute economy of movement, something Issei had only seen in the anime and manga Rurōni Kenshin…just who was this guy…?
Setting that aside, Issei took a copy of the surveillance footage. If the Devils had any knowledge about this thing, he'd need it.
After that, Issei basically ransacked the small security station for everything he could stuff into his inventory; bulletproof vests, riot helmets, stun guns, truncheons and Tasers. Hey, never leave an enemy stronghold standing and never leave weapons for the enemy to collect later. Although the Sekiryūtei doubted that the collection of gear he had stolen would do more than very mildly inconvenience the Purifiers, every little bit helps.
"Now then…back to zombie killing…" Issei sighed. Not only were zombies an awkward target to kill because of their origins as humans, they stunk to the high heavens as well. It was only because he was used to bad smells from the Ratman Breeder's Burrow that he hadn't thrown up already.
There were four labs in Project Rat Poison, each one twice the size of a high school classroom. Each was filled with complicated science stuff that Issei had no clue about. And each had five zombies in them. Issei methodically went through each one, shooting the zombies and gathering notes from their research and development. He also disposed of any actual poisons via the biological waste disposal chutes that, according to one flyer, led down to a furnace. No way was he leaving anything for the Purifiers to use if/when they came to investigate this place.
Just as he dealt with the last zombie, the door leading down to the Purification Room slammed open and eight people emerged. Seven of them were dressed in white uniforms with slate-grey caps on their heads. Obviously the Flints. The other one was an angry woman who was very attractive, albeit flat-chested to the point that Sona Sitri was bigger than she was, and had a furious expression on her face.
"YOU! What the hell have you done to my research?!" she shouted.
"Head Scientist Rokka Nia, I presume?" Issei drawled. "Isn't it obvious? I've been laying your former co-workers to rest and destroying all of your poison. Also, I've killed all the ratmen in the burrows, so your project is no longer needed."
"You…!" the woman seethed. "Take him into custody! Be as rough as you like!"
Responding to her orders, the Flints drew their truncheons and started to advance on Issei.
Looking at the gun in his hand, Issei decided that it was overkill for who he was facing.
Purifier Flint LV16
[Footsoldier of the Pure]
Rokka Nia LV17
[Head Scientist of Project Rat Poison]
While they had levels just one below his, a casual use of [Observe] on them revealed that their physical stats were little more than a quarter of his own at best. Nia's stats were pure garbage, except for her mental ones, ten or so higher than his own. They had about as much chance at beating him as he stood against the two Devil Heiresses, unless they had an exceptional run of good luck. With a smirk hidden by his menpō, Issei tossed the gun to one side.
"Giving up?" Rokka sneered as the SIG clattered onto a table.
"No. Just changing to something that suits the level of combatants I am facing." the armoured boy stated as he reached into his inventory and pulled out a pair of truncheons of his own.
[Side Handle Truncheon]
A mass-produced baton made of solid oak, with an added handle on the side of it. Used by law enforcement and private security as the close combat weapon of choice for hundreds of years, the design is tried and tested. Anyone on the receiving end of this weapon will feel the pain.
Durability: 50/50
- Deals S+15 Bludgeoning Damage.
While not exactly as good as, say, his [Bloodmetal Gladius], they were good enough to deal with these idiots. Holding one in each hand, Issei rolled one shoulder, then the other, before saying two words as he looked at the surprised Flints.
"Bring it."
Rokka Nia's Perspective
It was one-sided beat down, just not in the way Nia had been expecting.
Roka Nia gaped as the red-armoured figure, who was almost certainly one of those supernatural freaks, waded into combat with the Flints who had taken refuge in the Purification Room with her for the last three days.
Thankfully, the third floor of the facility was almost entirely self-contained and possessed a bathroom and food and water supplies. It had been designed as both as an emergency bunker in case someone invaded the place for whatever reason and as a fallout shelter in case of a serious lab accident. Anyone on the upper floors would flee through the factory exit, which was airtight, while those on the lower floors would seal themselves in the Purification room and either wait for the emergency protocols to clear the labs, the distress beacon to call in a clean-up crew, or the danger to pass naturally.
None of them had wanted to deal with zombie remnants of their former co-workers, particularly since their weapons would likely be ineffective against an undead enemy, so they'd sat tight and waited for the beacon to bring in a cleansing team. Instead the red-armoured freak had shown up. The choices were to either try to wait him out as well, or try and deal with him themselves.
They'd apparently made the wrong decision.
The first two Flints charged in and received a truncheon to the abdomen each as a reward. As they slumped down, clutching their stomachs and wheezing, the freak hit each of them on the back of the head, knocking them out like lights.
Then he went of the offensive, wielding his batons like swords and beating down the next three Flints to attack him with almost contemptible ease, one Flint even being sent flying into the wall three meters away by one careless blow.
"Re-retreat!" Rokka squeaked, backpedalling with almost indecent haste. 'He's a freak! A real freak!'
Before she made it more than three steps, the last two Flints were beaten unconscious and the red armour man was looming at her. Not over her, because they were about the same height, but looming at her. His very presence was intimidating!
"Had enough yet, fanatic?" he asked in that bland, inflectionless voice of his.
Nia's eyes rolled back into her head as she fainted from terror, pissing herself as she did so.
"Gross." Was the last thing she heard before blackness took her.
Back with Issei
Issei looked down blankly at the scientist, who had just pissed herself, fainted and was now sprawled on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Gross." He deadpanned. Evidently, Rokka Nia was very much one of those people who talked the talk, but couldn't walk the walk. One of those people who could throw insults and threats out like confetti, but folded like a wet tissue when actually confronted.
A coward in other words.
'Well too bad for her.' The Sekiryūtei thought with a snort. Not wanting to touch the woman, not after she pissed herself, Issei opened up the [Gamer's Store] and utilized some of his newly gained loot to purchase several lengths of rope and a new spell: [Rope Binding Prison].
[Rope Binding Prison] (Instant) [LV1, 00.00]
A tricky spell first developed in the Middle East, this modern version allows the user to bind targets with rope. If the rope is conjured, it is temporary and fairly easy to break. If the ropes are in the area, or in your inventory, the cost is severely reduced…but the prison is still easy to break for a supernatural of modest power. If the target(s) are conscious and mobile, then there is a chance for them to resist and thus mitigate the effects of the prison.
MP Cost: 30
Range: 5 Meters.
Number of targets: 1
Optional Requirement to Cast: Length of rope long enough to bind target, either in surrounding area or in inventory.
- If cast without rope, conjures rope enough to bind the arms and legs of the target. The rope binds the target and lasts for three minutes.
- If cast with rope, the rope is sent at the target from the surroundings or, if the rope is in your inventory, via a small portal leading to your inventory. The target is bound without limit, aside from the durability of the rope itself and the target's ability to wriggle out of the ropes, cut them or otherwise undo the knots and remove them from their person.
- If the target is mobile and conscious, there is a 50% chance of them resisting the binding, with a further 75% chance of them keeping one or more limb free of the binding.
A very useful little spell. Even if the main purpose of the spell was a flop, it would at least momentarily distract and restrict any enemy that Issei targeted with it. Well, any that weren't strong enough to snap rope like twine, anyway. He hadn't come across many that could do that, aside from the Rat Ogres that is. Possibly Byral Warfang as well, but that one was definitely in the maybe pile.
"[Rope Binding Prison]!" he muttered, pointing a truncheon each at two Flints.
Much to his surprise, two holes opened in mid-air and shot lengths of rope out. They wound around the arms and tied off, severing themselves somehow before moving to the ankles and tying them up too. Once the legs were securely tied, the ropes were cut off again and retreated back into the portals before the little apertures into his inventory closed themselves up as if they had never been there.
As a result of a specific action, the skill [Dual Casting] has been created!
[Dual Casting] (Instant) [LV1, 00.00]
Most of the time, you cast a single spell at a time. Well, with this skill, you can now cast the same spell twice at the same time! It starts off weakening the spell you choose to cast twice by about half, if it creates something, such as fireballs, barriers, healing effects, etcetera, as well as tripling the cost of the spell in question. The best way to improve this skill? Practice, practice and, you guessed it, practice!
MP Cost: Triple the cost of the spell you intent to Doublecast.
- The damage, durability and duration (in other words, the effects of a spell) of any spell cast in conjunction with this skill has their effects halved.
OK…so that's a thing. Issei could see that it might be useful once he had it up to a decent level, but for the moment, it was fairly useless aside from with a spell that did something which wasn't limited by damage, duration or durability…such as one version of [Rope Binding Prison], for example.
Hastily binding the others with his new spell (and levelling it up), Issei then turned to the notifications he had been ignoring since the fight had ended.
You have defeated [Purifier Flints] X7! You gain 420 EXP! (EXP gain reduced due to nonlethal measures used)
You have terrified Rokka Nia into unconsciousness! You gain 150 EXP!
As a result of repeated actions, the skill [Basic Club Proficiency] has been created!
[Basic Club Proficiency] (Passive) [LV1, 00.00]
Since the dawn of man, the weapon most used by man, after their bodies themselves, has been blunt objects. Starting with humble rocks, this evolved into crude clubs made from tree branches and proceeded from there. Any blunt instrument that lacks a point or edge can be called a club and thus falls under this skill's aegis. Even some spiked weapons, such as flails and morning stars, are classed as clubs as well.
- Grants the user the ability to carry a club with ease.
- Passively increases [Bludgeoning] attacks by 1.
- Passively increases chance of the [Stun] status effect being dealt by 1%.
As a result of repeated actions, the skill [Nonlethal Takedown Mode] has been created!
[Nonlethal Takedown Mode] (Passive/Active) [LV1, 00.00]
When fighting, the usual way forward is to kill the enemy. Sometimes, however, that is not the best way, merely the easiest. When you need to defeat someone without killing them, this skill will be most useful.
- Passively increases the chance of knocking out enemies when you attempt to do so by 1%.
- When active, it will be almost impossible to kill your enemies. Your strikes with swords will automatically be using the flat of the blade and any blunt-force weapons will aim to disarm, disable and knock out at any given opportunity.
Both of the new skills were pretty useful, with the club mastery one being more so in Issei's opinion. He had been meaning to branch out his skills a bit in regards to his weaponry, so getting two more weapons skills in one day was pretty good.
While he could get them very easily by purchasing the skill books from the [Gamer's Store], Issei preferred earning the skills by wielding them in combat. It just…felt more right that way. He didn't know how to explain it.
"Now then…let's get to the last floor." He muttered once he had checked all of the knots were secure and that he had thoroughly looted all of the Flints and Nia to make sure they had nothing with which to cut themselves out of their bonds with.
The door leading to the Purification Room was covered in scratches and dents, indicating that someone, probably the zombies, had been trying to get into the room for a while before losing interest and wandering off. Stepping through the door, Issei wrinkled his nose as the scent of people living in an enclosed space for a few days assailed his nose. Urgh…
'Wait a minute…the third floor's supposed to be big, right? So why were those eight idiots all living in this small room?' Issei wondered as he eyed the room he was now in. There were bunk beds in one wall, along with an open toilet on the other side. Cupboards which presumably held food and water were in the middle of the room. On the opposite end of the room to the door, was a chair with a console in front of it, and a large window looking down into something. There were no other exits from this room.
Walking over to the console, Issei noted that one side had CCTV screens that covered even more of the facility than the security station on the previous floor. So this room really was intended as a fortress of some kind. Understandable really; the door was at least a foot thick and this place, if only one or two people were trapped in here, could live for maybe a couple of weeks before things became troublesome for them.
"Hello…what's this?" Issei peered out of the window at a large cylindrical container standing in the middle of the room outside of the control room. Several thick tubes connected to it that were marked either 'Intake' or 'Outtake' respectively. It looked oddly familiar for some reason…
Glancing at the console, he almost faceplanted when he saw that it was called the 'Neurotoxin Generator' and that it was full to the brim with poisonous gas. Seriously, these Purifiers were seriously stealing all of Valve's ideas! First Half-Life and now Portal 2!
'Apologise to Valve, you damned, thieving fanatics!' the Sekiryūtei thought angrily. He liked those games dammit, and didn't approve a bunch of lunatic cultists stealing from them!
Sighing to release the tension, Issei examined the controls. From what he could see, this thing was basically set up to pump the neurotoxin into the Ratman Burrows at the push of the Big Red Button there in the centre. There did not, much to Issei's irritation, seem to be any way to drain or otherwise get rid of the toxin aside from pumping it into the burrows. As he trusted Rokka Nia about as far as he could have thrown a tank back before he got the [Boosted Gear] and [Gaming Gear], he severely doubted that the stuff in the tank was any degree less lethal than it had been when Seto-san had admonished her, so there was no way he was going to let the stuff out into the burrows.
Issei smirked as he found a lovely little loophole in the way that the system was set up. He couldn't deliberately dump the gas for no reason, sure, but he could whip up a batch of some other kind of gas and pump it into the tank, which would have the stuff currently in the tank pumped into…something. Issei wasn't sure if it was a furnace or a storage tank of some kind. Whichever it was, he was certain that it was a better alternative to having neurotoxin pumped into the burrows and possibly getting loose in Kuō Town.
Unfortunately, chemistry was not something that Issei was all that interested in; he knew the common gasses, plus a few others, but he had little knowledge on what might possibly be nonlethal. Just about the only thing that might be good would be nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. If too much was inhaled, he recalled from something a dentist had told him once, it could cause mental and physical problems. Also, it was a liquidised gas, when used by dentists anyway, so it could have an effect if it was somehow splattered on skin or the eyes. Plus, if inhaled without oxygen, it could cause heart attacks.
Issei had to use something that could, potentially, cause death, as he remembered very well what had happened to the Neurotoxin Generator had reached 'dangerously nonlethal levels' in Portal 2; the damned thing had imploded. He had no desire to have this base blow up around him, thank you very much!
Carefully, the boy entered commands to create the new mixture of gas and pump it into the main tank. A 'Bzzt!' noise blarted at him from the console.
[ERROR!]
Insufficient amount of oxygen available!
Do you wish to break down the contents of the main tank to free up oxygen in order to make this mix?
[Y] – [N]
'Hah! Even better!' Issei thought gleefully. He had been nervous about what to do about the so-called 'Rat Poison' formula that was currently in existence. Leaving it around had been asking for trouble, so this was a relief. Also, now that he had flicked through the menus on the console thoroughly, he found that he could simply destroy the stores of chemicals that this facility had in the next room. That way, even if the Purifiers did come back and discover that he had pulled a switcheroo, they have to bring in more chemicals to replace what he had destroyed. Win-Win.
Smashing down on the 'Y' key on the console, he watched and listened in satisfaction as the pumps whirred to life and the deadly concoction in the tanks was removed, the tank was filled with water and then the water was sent straight to a furnace. Was that safe? Probably not.
As the laughing gas was pumped into the Generator, Issei waited until the screen showed that the tank was full, before disposing of every other chemical in the next room. There. No more murderous gasses would be made here, at least for the time being.
Locking the plastic flap that the Big Red button had over it down was troublesome, but Issei discovered some useful plastic glue in a nearby storage cupboard, so he used that. He really was enjoying laying traps to frustrate his enemies; to be a fly on the wall when they tried to use the place…
Job done, Issei went back upstairs and came across seven dead Flints and a missing Nia. All of the Flints had been strangled, thin metal wires still wrapped around their necks.
Immediately, Issei charged towards the main entrance/exit of the facility. Why, you might wonder? The reason was simple: in no dungeon that he had entered thus far had he ever come out the same what that he had gone in. A simple bit of deduction told him that it was probably the black cloaked man who had killed the Flints and kidnapped Rokka Nia. Other than the Purifiers, he (?) was the only other person who knew of this place and the Purifiers wouldn't kill their own men…probably.
Approaching the glass door barring his way to the first floor, Issei didn't hesitate to clench his armoured fist, draw back his arm, fill it with MP and punch through the sealed door as soon as he spotted the destroyed and sparking card-reading device. The door not only shattered; it exploded out from his fist, peppering the eye-searing white hallway with bits of glass.
Ignoring that, as well as the pop up that followed his action, Issei charged down the hallway, following the signs towards the main entrance to the facility, which was on the opposite side of the underground base to the rear entrance which Issei had used. It led to a long hallway that the Sekiryūtei had barely glanced down during his de-zombiefication of the first floor of the base. It was covered with silvery metal that was probably steel. Probably.
Right now, Issei tore down the long hallway with all the strength of his stats, which wasn't inconsiderable. As he ran, the boy heard a loud 'bang' sounding like a fist striking metal.
"Shit! What the hell is going on, you shitty piece of crap door!? A man shouted, his voice echoing down the tunnel. "Fucking useless piece of shit!"
As Issei rounded the only corner in the tunnel, he skidded to a halt as he beheld the circular door that presumably led to the way out shut tight, while Rokka Nia, still tied up, now gagged and looking somewhat terrified, sprawled on the ground while a figure with a black cloak and hood covering him stood in front of the door, seemingly glaring at the door as if that would mysteriously cause it to open.
Hearing Issei arrive, the figure swung around and stared at him. The body type encapsulated by the cape was surprisingly slim and made the figure look androgynous in the form concealing garment. Their face was hidden by a plain black full-face mask that was featureless except for a pair of glowing eyes.
"Who the fuck're you?!" the man (?) demanded roughly. Now that Issei thought about it though, without the distortion caused by the tunnel, it sounded less real and more like a voice changer.
Akutsu LV17
[Agent Flamberge]
"I'm the one who killed the Ratmen…Agent Flamberge." Issei said tightly. Although he didn't understand why there was only one name above the man's title, that title in and of itself was reason enough to make him ignore the wrongness of his actual name.
The 'man' jerked slightly at the name. A direct hit, by the looks of things.
"Ha. So you killed those little shitstains. So what?" the cloaked figure scoffed.
"Nothing. I would be more concerned by my reaction to what you did to the personnel of the Ratman Breeder's burrow, as well as this place." The Sekiryūtei answered mildly.
"Removing idiots from the genepool should be rewarded, not punished." Flamberge sneered contemptuously.
"Considering you're a Purifier as well, you're hitting yourself upside the head with that statement as well." Issei pointed out.
This, for some reason, made Flamberge laugh uproariously, as if he/she found what Issei was saying hilarious.
"A Purifier…you mean me?" the figure chortled. "Oh child, perish the thought. I am MORE than human!"
In a flash of light, the cloak vanished, replaced by a tall, statuesque woman wearing a black dress, with long purple hair…and a pair of large black feathered wings sprouting from her back
"I am Fallen." She declared arrogantly.
Armârôs the Lesser LV34
[Cursed One of God/Agent Flamberge/Kokabiel's Faction of the Grigori]
Oh….shit.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Next Chapter: Breaking the Flamberge
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII