Everything written here – characters, technology, setting, combat system, and so on – are all under the direct ownership of Emerald Sonata…and the GAEA ALTERIUS.
Any non-original subjects will be tagged with '*' next to it and will be given a proper sourcing.
[Inspired by Kamen Rider Ryuki and Kamen Rider Blade.]
「ハロー・パナシア」
HALLOW PANACEA
{/ First Genesis \}
[( 13th Turning of Fate )]
:: NIGHTMARE ::
{A Chorus of Agony}
Alkkemiyst silver coats busied themselves with the preparations for the upcoming event. They were scattered all about within a rectangular chamber, hunched over consoles with wooden knobs and iron levels, preparing and scribbling several notes down onto their paper-pads. Some of them stood in line before the only wall that bore a large and thick screened viewing window.
It viewed another larger chamber behind its glassy gates. This one was void of souls and had the grounds covered in dirt, rocks, and dead logs. The walls were dark-grey, half meter thick of cement, iron, and stone. The entire area resembled nothing more than some kind of arena, as battle-scars that littered the dirt and stained the rocks were testaments of it being so.
"All preparations complete," called out one.
"Chamber is cleared for simulation."
"Alright…Let us begin."
A silver coat walked over to a series of levers and gripped the first one. He paused as he took the moment to speak out, "Placing in the first test subject." Then, he pulled it.
Within the arena, a circular door across the wall opened. It was empty, besides a tube that connected to it that was slanted down. Soon, a growing shriek emanated from it.
"…iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~~ – EEK!"
A girl slipped out from the slide-like tube and landed face first into the dirt. The door sealed itself shut and the girl brought herself sitting up. She was clad in a long-skirted maid's uniform, with elegant frills across her shoulders, chest, and sleeves, as well as donned with a matching white apron.
Her hair was long and orangish-blonde, which had a frilly maid's crown clamped across, had round and innocent brown eyes, and her expression was the look of frantic fear. What made things clear was the fact that she had a pink silk ribbon around her neck.
"…Ow…" The Tamed Clove rubbed her nose and face from the abrupt landing…but soon stopped when she realized where she was. With a squeak, she looked about her foreign surroundings. The girl hoped to find someone to call for help, but there was nobody at all…Wait. She noticed something and broke into a hasty dash. Approaching the sole window of the arena, the girl took a careful peek through it before giving it a light tap.
"E-Excuse me. I-I'm Polly…Can you help me?" The men, donned in silver coats, either stared at her without expressions or glimpsed at her while jotting notes of some sort. Polly tapped even louder. "I'm trapped in here. Can anyone help me?" Still, no one took notice of her. "M-my master will get angry if I return home very late, p-plus I didn't get a chance to finish my grocery run for him. Oooh, he's going to have my neck again…" Once more, the men behind the glass-shield ignored her. The girl paused, feeling that something was not right. She leaned closer and rapped at the window once more. "Um…Hello? Is…anyone listening to me?"
"Subject, Clove#45, appears to have instantly assimilated within her new environment," uttered a silver coat, scribbling notes.
"Still it's not doing anything special…" A silver coat sighed, "Kind of dull."
"I told you we should've started with a Wild one…But anyways, the subject appears to have noticed us. You think she's trying to get us to help?"
"Doubt it. Wild Cloves lack the intelligence of humans to make a decent call for help. Tamed Cloves on the other hand may have a slight advantage after the Trials, but they're still brainless entities after all."
All Alkkemiysts nodded.
"Um…" uttered Polly outside, "Can anyone hear me at all?" She brightened when she saw someone reaching over to something. Hooray, they heard her and they were going to let her out. Before she could applaud to herself, a giant brush of a wind-shield wiper smashed her aside from the screen.
An Alkkemiyst pulled himself away from the lever he had just touched and turned to eye the window, "Subject is now back on current course of the process. Begin to shift into the next phase and raise everything to battle level 1." With that, the silver coats got themselves busy.
The Clove maid was hanging upside down against the wall and across the floor, swirls rotating over her eyes. That was…unexpected. That was when she heard dull clicks and thuds echoing within the arena. Polly snapped out of her dazed state. On the opposite end of the arena, a thick gate was opening. Instantly, she sprang back to her feet. Joy washed out the pain inside her as she ran towards it. Her prayers have been answered; the men behind the glass were setting her free. The door opened even wider and she reached for it…
ROOOOOO~AAAARR!
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK~!"
The silver coats all watched in scrutinizing silence, jotting down notes and speculated the event before them. They all spectated with a passive air at Polly, who was madly running around in circles from…a blood-thirsty cougar. Without a flicker or remorse or guilt, they examined the scene in slight awe and intrigue as the Clove screamed with all her might while avoiding the predator.
"Hm…" snickered a silver coat, "Now things are starting to get interesting…"
"HELP ME – HELP ME – HELP MEEEEEEE~!" shrieked the Tamed Clove. Using her inhuman reflex and speed, Polly leapt out of the way to dodge the slashing paw of the cougar. The creature's eyes were blood-shot and foam spewed from its mouth with a craze. Its body was extremely rib-exposing-thin, as if it had nothing to eat for a days on end. Polly leapt off a rock and it was scarred up by the feline's ravenous claws. She would trip and roll forward in time to let a dead log behind her split into less than kindling. This beast…was mad!
"P-P-Please stop, Mister Cougar!" Polly pleaded, "I thought animals and Cloves were always friends!" With another 'eep' she ducked under the cougar's blow, which tore off the frilly maid-tiara across her head.
"That's strange…" muttered an Alkkemisyt, pressing the end of his pencil to his lower lip, "Subject is under direct attack, yet it's not defending itself…So far in this stage, she has not used her Clove powers besides innate evasion instincts and simple reflexes."
"…Wait, don't Cloves and animals have some sort of affinity to each other, though? The attacking stimuli might heed to her orders…"
"Nah. We made pretty sure that the stinkin' cat was pried of food for a long time…Why, it's so hungry, it will eat anything that moves and smells like fresh blood."
"…I thought it would be exciting for the Tamed Clove to be attacked like this, but all it does is runs away…How boring…"
"It's interesting to see, actually. I'm quite surprise that Clove #45 could even run so fast—"
CRACK!
All Alkkemiysts fell silent at the sound of cracking shards. They looked up and, without any expressions or words, they stared at the window. The cougar's entire body was slammed into the window, its face planted to the screen. Signs of stress and cracks were surprisingly found under the flatten creature, slowing webbing out a bit across the nearly indestructible windshield.
The cougar was ploughed over and into that window by a massive iron ball. It was connected by a thick iron chain that snaked across the ground…all the way to a particular maid Clove. Polly was heavily bounded in a set of thick and bulky armor, with dark-green and brown colors. Her leg-armor pieces were wide and heavy, acting as anchors to allow the small girl to wield the massive ball and chain with complete ease. Iron vambraces were clasped across her arms and she wore a helmet with tusk-like décor carved across its sides. In her trembling right hand, she wielded a large elephant-head shaped shield, its 'trunk' being the chain that attached to the iron orb.
"A-ah-ah…I'M SO SORRY!" Polly squeaked, quivering all over.
Every silver coat raised an eyebrow.
"…No…That is interesting…"
"Huh…An Earth Elephen…who would've thought…"
"Subject has altered into battle form. Confirmed, she is an Elephen. If records serve us right, an Elephen falls under the Earth category: possesing abilities of super strength, stone-wall defence, and heavy armor…A tough nut to crack in other words…"
"Looks like battle level 2 and 3 would be a waste of time…Let's get straight to Level 4."
"Alright then, initiating combat testing level 4. Bring in those Narcotics…"
More doors began to clunk and open, causing the Clove to jump on the spot. In a flash, two large teams of Narcotics rushed into the arena. The girl staggered back as she helplessly watched them surround her, rifles levelled.
"I-I-I-I-I didn't mean to hurt Mister Cougar! Honest! In-instincts came over me! I just couldn't help it!"
A disembodied voice echoed throughout the area from several speakers, '[Tester-Teams Yellow and Silver: you are to attack target using non-lethal weaponry. Apply the blitz-batons we gave you to assess the weapon's strength and effectiveness.]' Synchronized, the Narcotics nodded. They holstered their rifles across their backs, soon pulling out short staffs. They thumbed the button and sparks of raw energy pulsed violently across the tip.
The Elephen gulped and the Narcotics struck out.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAA~!"
BLAM!…,…,…SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK!
The Alkkemiyst, once again, blinked with silent surprise. It all happened in a flash as soon as the Narcotics attacked. They were instantly onto the Elephen from all sides, figuring that the Clove would lose as she looked slow and frightened. Instead, more than half of the overall attackers were now slipping off the face of the windshield, knocked out cold. The rest were buried deep into the roof, like darts in a vertical board. Polly had taken them all out with her chain-ball in one shot…without evening opening her frightened eyes.
"…Intriguing…"
"Maybe this is why humanity has no chance against these monsters…"
"Stop yapping and just record the data you two…"
An Alkkemiyst eyed the Clove, who was now rapidly bowing to every out-cold Narcotic in desperate apology, "Moving onto combat level 5. Raise the difficulty up a notch for this round. Plus, add in the next subject. Let us see how well these creatures work together."
Polly jumped again at the shuddering sound of more gates opened behind her. She did not even dare to look about as she heard more than a good handful of feet storming across the dirt. With a gulp, she turned. Though she was a naturally strong and heavily armored Earthen Clove, making her look like a miniature giant of some kind…she stumbled onto her bottom with the earth shaking a bit.
A full ten squads of Narcotics had entered the arena, all gates closing behind them. Like perfect machines, they drew out their blitz-batons and ignited them in a frightening chorus. The cold voice over the speakers returned and Polly searched everywhere to find its sources.
'[Test-Team Red to Cobalt. Begin combat simulation.]'
A lead Narcotic nodded, "You heard the science-guy. All units, lock Clove Earth Elephen as primary target. Combat limitation in effect: we are not to kill it unless the science-guys say so. Initiate attack pattern Alpha-Eagle." Without waiting, the Narcotics fanned out and struck out from all sides.
Polly could not control a screech, "PLEASE STOP IT!"
"…eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH – WAH!" Another circular portal had opened in the wall and out spewed another girl. Like the Elephen, she too skidded across the dirt with her face. The portal close and she sat up, spitting dirt from her mouth. This new entrant had no ribbon, only wearing a slightly tattered blouse, shorts that reached above her knees, and a pair of old furry boots. She clawed the rock and dirt from her wild and unkempt golden hair, her limestone green eyes blazing with fury, "WHAT THE HECK?" Her anger, however, instantly dissolved as she took in the new scene she had fallen into, "Where am I?"
A Narcotic's husk went flying onto the ground in front of her, crumbling across the arena in a shredded heap. This caught her attention and she turned to see what was going on. She was shocked. The new girl witnessed a gruelling battle between multiple Narcotics and a single Elephen – with the Narcotics bursting into black sands from a flying iron sphere as the gruelling part.
"Huh? Just what the heck is going on here?" she blinked. That was when she saw the Elephen got struck across her back, a blitz-baton searing her spine and giving her a shock of her life. The golden haired girl narrowed her eyes and bolted. "JERK-FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!"
"…What?" The Narcotic responsible for shocking the Elephen turned…to receive a fist that crushed in his entire helmet. Black fumes and sands spewed out from its cracks and his deflating body was then thrown over to bowl aside several more. The attack stopped, all Narcotics turning to acknowledge the new threat. Three of which were instantly slashed apart by a strange blade and they melted into black dust. The Elephen recovered from the stunning and looked up, unable to help a gasp.
The new girl had transformed into her Clove battle form, her clothing turned from their original colors to prideful gold. A set of glittering brown and white armor was cast all over her body: strong gauntlets, elegant iron boots, a chain-mail skirt, and a scaled chest armor. The helmet she wore was fashioned after the shape of an eagle's head, a single eagle's feather attacked to its side. Armed in her right arm was a stunning golden arm-blade with an arrowhead-hook end, like that of a hammerhead. Across her left arm was a shield as tall as her body, its carvings resembling a pair of angel wings placed together. She readied herself, eyeing her enemies with a menace.
"A…Sister Air Eagalen?" breathed Polly.
The Eagalen sneered, "Knock, knock, jerk-faces. It's Sayla here to kick your sorry butts! RAH!"
Sayla thrust forward, piercing through two Narcotics in line with her arm-blade. Black sand erupted from them and their husks hung limp across her sword. She whipped off the leathery corpses form her weapon and spun about with a high-winding kick. There were sharp edge blades attached to her heels, allowing her to slice open another attacking Narcotic's chest wide open.
"Ah! Watch out!" cried the Elephen.
The Eagalen was already a step ahead. She swiftly brought up her long shield in time to deflect a pair of buzz batons that were thrown at her. They bounced back into their Narcotic owner's hands and they lunged out once more. The shield suddenly split apart, twisting itself away from Sayla's left shoulder to become a pair of steel wings. With a flap, the Eagalen rocketed high up into the air to gain the advantage.
Inside the viewing room, an Alkkemiyst whistled, "Not bad for an Eagalen…swift, proud, and deadly in air combat."
"It's almost like Cloves like them have no weakness in battles…Wonder how are we suppose to deal with them?"
"This is why we're here to watch and document whatever they do. If we are to figure out any ideas in how to exterminate these creatures, it would be from these trial simulations."
"I hate to say it, but these two aren't that bad. Several of the Tamed Cloves before didn't even survive the first phase…"
"This is why we have to watch carefully and cautiously…By the way, what did she call us again?"
SMACK!
The Alkkemiysts could not help a jump when they heard a Narcotic slapped into the screen. The trooper slid off, his body leaking black sands everywhere, and it descended away to reveal an angry Sayla, and a hulking – if not frightened – Polly shivering behind her. This time, the silver coats jumped an inch higher.
Sayla hammered the screen with her left fist, yelling and screaming for every single sorry soul inside to hear. They have gone too far.
"OI! JERK-FACES! GET US OUT OF THIS DUMP – RIGHT NOW!"
"Ah…S-Sister Eagalen…" stuttered Polly. She desperately kept trying to get her Sister's attention by tapping her shoulder, but Sayla was too busying throwing a tantrum to have noticed, "It-It's not safe to stand in front of that window."
"Not now – OI! I SAID OPEN UP! DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!"
"But-but – EEK!" The Elephen ducked in time to avoid a Narcotic's blow of his blitz-baton. The trooper was instantly sliced open by the Eagalen's blade. Sayla did not even bother to pry her eyes away from the silver coats as she kept yelling through the glass. Eventually, she noticed one of the Alkkemiysts making a move for something, but could not get a clear look as to what exactly with all the Narcotic…fluid and cracks distorting the window.
"Listen jerk-faces! When I get in there, I'll make sure every one of you suffer like the inhuman dogs that you are! I'll split you all open like kindling and toss your dismembered corpses into a raging fire – YOU GOT THAT?"
WHAM!
…And the Eagalen was sent flying from the bat of the massive windshield-wiper.
"AH! SISTER EAGALEN!" shrieked Polly.
Sayla was now lying upside down against the wall and ground, her eyes filled with swirls and her head spinning with stars.
Once again, the Alkkemiyst that pulled the 'special' lever moved back to his spot and cleared his throat, "To the Underrealm with the testing. Let's just kill them and get this over with."
"I second that."
"Kind of unfair…ain't it? 2 against…whatever the odds."
"Then let's add one more Clove to the mix, shall we?"
"I wager you that they'll be dead in the next hour."
Silence…finally…
"Deal."
"Alright."
"I'll bet 100 gold for them to die in half the hour."
"You're on."
Polly helped Sayla to her knees, who shook the stars from her head with a snarl. Then the arena began to quake a little and they heard a small door opening. Remaining Narcotics turned to it, but as ordered they did not use their rifles. A portal door way once again opened…and this time nothing happened…
An Alkkemiyst gave it good ten seconds before he turned to the others, "Who's the next one?"
"Uh…Clove #12."
"Great…" The Alkkemiyst sauntered from the screen and up to a nearby device. It was a box with a mechanical dial. He lifted up a cup-like receiver from its hooked side, which it was attached directly to the box, and rolled a series of three numbers. He waited, before answering, "Give it to her." With that he hung up and walked back to his spot. He received quiet stares and he casually answered, "Clove #12 is somewhat smart. She's found a way to avoid the drop-slide by clinging onto the narrow ledges. A good sting ought to get her coming down." Nods of understanding replied.
Then the portal went…BZZT! "OW!" Soon another girl came sliding out from it, and once more, landing onto her face and knees. Sayla and Polly stared at the newcomer, followed by the gazes of the still Narcotics. This new girl was quiet, rather passive. She slowly slipped her hands closer to her shoulders and pushed herself up without a word. Dirt fell off her face and she ignored the rest.
This one had long and straight sapphire blue hair and weary-looking sharp red eyes. Her face was neutral, not so much as making a fuss about her hard landing. All she wore was a small blouse with a jean vest on top, and a long silky magenta skirt. Peculiarly, her skirt bore a singed spot across the right cheek of her bottom, which she rubbed over to extinguish the painful sting when she rose to her feet.
The Narcotics went into a ready position and the two Cloves watched in silence. Then the blue haired girl…just walked forward. Without so much as a word, she casually strode passed the troopers as well as Polly and Sayla. Her final destination: was to stand right in front of the window that Polly and Sayla have tried to deal with – unsuccessfully.
Every silver coat was quiet, their eyes locked with the girl's. They stared at her and she stared right back. Breaking his stillness, one silver coat nonchalantly turned to the 'lever puller', casually waving his hand over his throat. The 'kill gesture'. Just as cool and calm, the other nodded. He gave off a calm whistle, not paying attention to the lever he was side-stepping to, and yanked it. The windshield wiper came and…
BOOOM!
…Every Alkkemiyst breathed in without release.
The sapphire-haired girl had simply held up her hand to the incoming windshield-hammer, as if gesturing the contraption to stop – but she never broke eye contact. Instead of halting it…the hammer was snapped right off its beam the second it made contact with the girl's open palm. The broken head went flailing through the air, mowing down several Narcotics in its flight before cluttering into a ogre-like heap. Other Narcotics developed a queasy aura over their helmets; Sayla and Polly dropped their jaws with white faces; every silver coat blanched – one even keeled over to faint with a heavy thud.
The girl then snapped her fingers twice. The air shimmered around her and she transformed into her red and orange battle form. The magenta skirt morphed into a light red silk skirt, weaved together with chain-mail, and parted down the center to reveal her legs in burning-orange nylons and metallic high-heeled shoes. Her vest altered into a full chest-armor, securely encasing itself around her torso as well as her shoulders. A helmet-like tiara apparated itself across the girl's forehead, a pair of claw-like horns decor curled up at their ends on the side. A red and classy nylon glove wounded itself around her right hand, while her left hand was armed with a large pincer-type weapon – a replica of a king crab's claw.
"You will pay dearly for your transgressions…" she whispered to the Alkkemiysts in a deadly tone, "…as well as for stinging me."
"A…" breathed Sayla.
"…Water Kinglen?" finished Polly.
Arena gates clunked and they began to open, with the foreboding of hundreds of synchronized foot-steps marching into the chamber. The Eagalen and Elephen turned to them, with a groan and 'eep' respectively. The Kinglen on the other hand…
She suddenly spun about and lashed her claw in a horizontal slash. Her move emitted a sharp wave of a compressed water-energy projectile and it sailed straight through the air. When the gates were only half opened, the wave zipped right under it by half an inch. The marching fell dead silent. Once the gates were opened the rest of the way…the whole world blanched.
Every trooper behind the gate was nothing but a horde of black fountains. Black sand sprayed everywhere from what remains to be the lower half of the Narcotic reinforcements. Soon, every carcass deflated into nothing but disgusting pants.
"You're all too noisy…" the Kinglen finally muttered.
Sayla and Polly were literally hugging each other in sheer fear from the magnificent display of power. A good majority of watching Alkkemiyst had: spewed foam of shock from their mouths and keeled over; had all the blood drained from their face and keeled over; and passively throwing up and then keeled over.
An Alkkemiyst that was still standing swiped up the receiver of the communication box and just went, "GET EVERY TEST-TEAM AND NARCOTIC TO THE ARENA AT ONCE! KILL THAT—" A hand plopped onto his shoulder and he fell silent. Slowly, in stark-white fear, he turned.
His gaze met the bare right eye of Thor.
"…Progress?"
The Alkkemiyst gulped…speechless.
Thor sighed "…Bored…" His neon yellow right eye then blazed with unbounded powers. "My turn…yet?" The silver coat shook all over.
"O-o-of course! Right away!" The terrified Alkkemiyst whirled about, to the rest who were equally quivering, and yelled, "Raise all combat simulation to Level 10! Tell whatever Narcotics we've got in there to retreat! And send in every Clove we've got!"
The Chaos, Thor, had a malicious – and passively excited – glint in his neon yellow eye. He gave himself a quiet nod of silent content, "Good…"
つづく
[By: ~Emerald Sonata~]
Unmeito tatakau. Kyuusei kourin.
{"Battle Fate. Advent Salvation"}