Chapter 12: Golden Armor

Day 9

What stood before him was a juggernaut of godly force, imposing its greater size and presence in comparison to his onto him, fierce and grand. Isao Yamaguchi was truly clueless pertaining to his options; he did nothing but stand in fear that in form was nearly identical to awe. This was the first time he ever had any such encounter; the first time he was facing death so directly. The monkey god was more similar to a gorilla this time as it had no tail as opposed to its minions, made of sheer bulk and pure cunning—its body appeared to be enclosed within a form-fitting shell formed of shields, clad in an impenetrable fortress the size of a small car.

What terrified him most terribly, however, was the fact that he did not know where and how it was looking and seeing, as its face was destroyed, the fingerprints left on its architecture not those of a God Eater, but of Nature. Three smaller faces, not simian, but were rather caricatures of human sacrifices', were aligned horizontally on a semi-circular depression located just above its open mouth like an underworld plateau on which offering rituals were carried out. They were in glee in its astral mouth. Its fangs were perfectly sharp; razor, like those on the highest quality saw he could picture—in fact, it was because of their appearance that he was able to conjure such an image. It was its appearance that inspired motivation.

An ominous aura flared constantly around it, like a declaration or insignia of power, superiority, and ungodly menace. Sparks, ribbons and entire limbs of electricity sparkled and writhed around a glorious mane that arced and hovered about its form; it made him truly want to believe in an Eastern religion if it helped him get a chance at living on. Laughably, he stood defiant. If he had noticed, he would have resented himself for the brazen act.

Its form cast a shadow that entirely blanketed his stature that was puny in comparison, and more. He simply did not want to risk a glance behind.

For him, he was not yet saved; not quite, at least, when a red blade grazed its arm from behind, when a giant sawblade bounced funnily off its arc adornment, when a light splatter of rain—bullets—seemed awfully strangely like silver flies on its right shoulder—not at all. Whoever the God Eaters who tried to save him were, they were immediately blasted away by the shockwave released from its body when it decided to give them a tiny tingle of what it was capable of. All of a sudden Isao found himself flying into a frozen rotor blade over the roof of the mechanical transport, stalactites of ice drawing blood where they touched him through his torn clothing. The tiny amounts of smoke rising from his wounds made him painfully realize that he had been fried internally as well as externally; his hands, where his gloves had betrayed him, were black and entirely numb; he could not even sense a trace of the familiar, cold numbness that the winds would otherwise be causing him.

Unfortunately, the weather itself seemed to be dormant in the presence of the monster before him. The previous ones within the horde might have been powerful and humanity-transcendent, but this was the true face—or faces—of what the divine wraths upon them could offer. Woe, the spectacles of human blood galore that they could provide and make a show out of...to even higher ones.

He had lost the pilot in the blast—his current location might as well have been oblivion—where his consciousness and hope were then going off to. In terms of location and direction...the Fierce Kongou, growling and snarling in a rising tone, was in front of him, several meters away, and moving away from him and toward a lone God Eater with a green-blue coat and a white undershirt.

…

This was new species that Yuu was facing. He was supposed to take on Mid-Level Aragami at most in his current position as a God Eater, or perhaps two or three when accompanied by at least one more God Eater. What this...creature was must be capable of taking on two Vajras at once. What he had seen of Large Aragami were nothing compared to the sheer firepower this thing seemed to possess. He looked at Lindow and Kota, then back to it again. Panic was an uncharacteristic state of mind for the boy, but seeing as how even Lindow had a soot covered cut right under his lower lip, he could not help it. He was just a Private Recruit on some of his first missions. He could not be bothered to die for the Den yet.

He gripped his Arc tightly, telling himself to get it together as the enemy's approach seemed to get faster and faster. However, if he had to die, then he will do it. In fact, its face appeared to be quite vulnerable to his blade right now…. Sweat formed on his palms, making them feel slick through his gloves, and when the two God Eaters he had not yet taken a good look at before rose from the debris and immediately started engaging the Aragami, an imaginary spark blasted open his closed hand, his fingers twitching to fight.

He gave Kota's fallen form one last glance before charging the roaring monster with his mentor Lindow at his side, changing his Arc into its Assault Gun component.

Lindow and the other two entered Link Burst and he started firing his malevolent rounds.

…

Strategy was an important aspect of virtually every fight. The battles against Aragami were no exception. Behind the myriad veils of Siberian cold, a Kongou, the remnant of a multitude of otherworldly beasts, were struggling against something. It was writhing in position, but its motions were different from the Aragami's when they had stepped on a Snare Trap that Xiva was familiar with. Adal, with his newfound determination, made a move to approach it, but she held her arm across his chest. A shake of her head. She turned her Arc against it, pointing the barrel at aberrant life-form. A Spark bullet was launched, and as it flew, the Kongou turned. Within the dimension of microseconds she gained access to upon the injection of Oracle Cells into her lithe body, her enhanced eyes caught the aura of darkness that hugged the Aragami's skin so tightly—the altogether different hue of the skin that coated the Kongou.

The Spark bullet was caught by a flying fist, and it exploded upon contact, its billowing soul bursting across the length of the Kongou's stocky arm. Her eyes widened a twitch, and as the ash-blue monster started to barrel towards her and her friend, she yelled to him the words she knew he would not understand: "Run!"

She kicked him across his chest, a small pang of guilt dispersing across her body as she felt his flesh through her shoe.

Polar Kongous, as she had read in the Database, were invulnerable to Sunder and Piercing attacks—Adal would get killed attempting to fight it. Xiva, on the other hand… Her Arc's Blade, Blistered, had both Blaze and Spark elements in its Oracle.

Let's try this out, shall we!

Her Arc activated. Oracle dust resembling the storm clouds of a volcano enveloped the sword in a n organized profile. Soon, static electricity formed of Oracle activity crackled along the face of the blade, and the edge of her sword began to light up from the heat. The snow anywhere three meters near it began to melt into nothingness.

A blinding yellow light burst from her Arc's core and she side-stepped the Kongou's attack and sent a precise blow to its tail. It should have broken immediately, but this exchange had confirmed it for her—Adal must be kept out of this. Regular Kongou would have stumbled and crashed from it, but with the way this one reacted… It became enraged, a red flash erupting from its body in all angles—the sign of Oracle activity intensifying in response to danger.

Adal tasted the snow in his mouth. What the hell was that for? "Run"? "Xiva-"

"Listen to me, Adal!" He did, flinching slightly at the urgency in her voice. "Catch up to the others. They should need help with the rest of the Kongous. This is a Fallen species—your Arc won't do a thing to it. I'll catch up to you, I promise."

Adal did not understand much from her definition of a Fallen species, but he knew enough from the strike she sent against it—he had seen it once before on the battlefield when the two of them went on a mission together. It had activated to her surprise, but it helped them take out the second Gboro-Gboro much more quickly than they had with the first one. An "Arc Gimmick", she told him Sakaki said.

He thought about protesting, when she raised a Stun Grenade and give him a determined look, he knew it was useless to argue. He knew it was final. He nodded—the last thing he could offer to her—and ran in the opposite direction as a semi-familiar bang and the flash of pure, white light accompanying it engulfed two of his senses.

He ran up the ziggurat-like area, where he saw a horrifying scene. "Wha…."

A golden god rushed him, a blue-jacketed God Eater simultaneously crashing into a wall.

End of Chapter 12: Golden Armor

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Splitting a head

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