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GE Silver Chapter 20- Fighting Alone

Silver POV

"Aaannndd your done!" I shouted as I struck down one of two Kongou on my current mission. My squad consisting of myself, Sakuya, Alisa, and Soma had been sent out to destroy said Kongou and a Borg Camlann. I had paired up with Soma to destroy the Kongous, while Sakuya and Alisa distracted the scorpion.

"Not terrible!" Soma complimented as I start assisting him with his target.

"Oh, I'm just getting' started!" I replied with a smug tone. "Well that's… only partly true but still." Without hesitation, I block a blast of wind that shot out of the Kongous pipe on its back. It follows up by rolling at me like a ball surrounded by electricity, yet sidestep to the right and catch him with a Devour, halting it and staggering him. "Soma!" I shout as I leap backwards and fire a Transfer Shot.

"Hyaaaaagghhhh!" Soma screams as he builds up a massive Charge Crush while the monster's down, ands lets it loose, crushing the monster and felling it. "Good work. Lets meet up with the others." On the way to the central plaza where the girls were keeping thee Camlann busy, I notice Soma keeps eyeing my God Arc.

"Hey, is there something wrong with it?" I ask, fearing it may break again. I've been making sure to take care of it, though…

"Huh? Oh, no its just… that gun of yours seems pretty handy…." Soma clarifies with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Well you have things only you're good at, too."

"Yeah, but its kinda weird being the only one in this team without one, y'know?"

"Hold that thought! There they are!" We had the Borg Camlann in our sights and its back was turned. I took the opportunity to get a good barrage of shots on the Aragami's tail. After two shots though, the bond on the tail breaks, and it quickly turns to me and lets out a roar.

"I think we managed to weaken it a bit." I hear Sakuya inform me from the comm. "He should go down before long!"

"Got it…" I replied as I readied to block an incoming charge from the monster, pointing itd tail straight at me. Seeing it makes me quiver slightly, but I shake it off and block its charge and parry it by pushing forward. I then go for a slash at the leg, yet I somehow went quite faster than I thought I would, enough that I cut it straight off and the Aragami starts to lose its balance.

"What the…" I hear Alisa react. "Captain, what… just happened? That was so quick!" I shrug my unintentional speed off and strike multiple times at the side of the monster until it faces my and attempts too impale me with its spikey tipped tail. I block the first hit, yet it jabs multiple times. Almost on instinct however, I dodge all of the attacks and stagger the monster off with a good flurry of my own strikes. We all opened fired at the monster, except Soma, with everything we've got and in no time, the beast was on its back.

As the Aragami was confirmed dead, Sakuya and Alisa stared in awe at me, which I found strange. "Wh-what?"

"Silver… that was incredible!" Sakuya praised.

"Where'd you learn to move so fast?" Alisa asked me, impressed.

"I've seen you move quickly, but today was something else." Soma added.

"Well I have been spending some time in the training room…" I pondered. "I dunno, but mission complete!"

"Anyway, lets head home!" Alisa said. "Licca should be done with Shio's new clothes!" she sounded ecstatic. She rushed off to the chopper, with Soma following incase danger were to appear.

"Guys, wait up, c'mon!" I called out to them.

"Silver…" Sakuya addressed me before I started running. "I want to let you know how good of a job your doing. As a captain I mean."

"Thanks. It means a lot knowing that I'm doing good. I'm glad." I replied as we walked towards our helicopter.

"You should be. You've held-no.. you've brought this team closer together. Our teamwork is excellent now."

"I… don't know what to say… I enjoy having all of you as my team. You all have helped me piece my life together. After all that time travelling, I finally know what its like to really have a life, with people who care about you always around. And now that I know what it feels like, I want to do what I can to give as many people that feeling as possible."

"Silver… hmhm… so you found your reason for fighting… protecting people so they have a chance to feel happiness."

"Yep. That's the gist. It's a pretty corny reason, I know."

"I don't think that at all. It's a great reason to live." Within minutes, Sakuya and I reached our ride and met up with Soma and Alisa. As we flew towards home, I come to realize how far this team has come. Seeing what they've done for themselves and how they've overcome their problems makes me realize how much they mean to me, seeing as they've been there for me and helped me grow. It got me thinking-

"Hey guys." I said to get everyone's attention. "Do you guys think we could take down an Ouroboros?"

Everyone seemed shocked at my question. "Huh? What brought that on?" Alisa asked me, still caught off guard.

"Well, our coordination as a team has gotten so good, and I remember Lindow saying once that he thought we'd be able to soon."

"Hm. I don't doubt we could." Soma cockily replies. "Still… lets not deliberately looking for one."

"Agreed." Sakuya adds. We made it back to the Den, where Sakuya and Alisa immediately headed to the Doctors Lab when we received Shio's new clothing. We had asked Licca for assistance, being out of options. She was happy to help, but this made her an accomplice. Lucky for us, she was good at keeping secrets. Anyway, while Sakuya and Alisa helped Shio with her outfit, us guys were asked-and by asked I mean forced- to wait outside the Lab. We had finally gotten an OK from Sakaki to enter the lab.

Everybody was gathered together in the room when Sakuya came out Shio's room. "Alright, come on out, Shio!"

Shio nervously emerges from her room, looking almost completely different. She now wore a two piece dress, rather than the rags she had before. The top piece was a sleeveless shirt with green stitching around the shoulders and down the stomach. The small shirt opened near her waist, similar to Kota's, and was adorned with a lime green flower. She now wore a pair of white shorts under a long white skirt with green frills .Also, the back of her top was tied in a bow that made her appear to have angels wings. As weird as it is to say, she did now look kind of like an angel.

Everyone stared in aww as the Shio sheepishly stood before us. "Oh my god!" Alisa squealed. "Its like… the cutest thing I've ever seen ever!"

"Shio…" I said quietly with a smile on my face.

"Heh, I thought so!" Sakuya chimed in. "She looks just like a little girl, huh?"

Shio perked up and look was overjoyed to hear everyone's praise. "Do I?..." she wonders. She then starts laughing with utter glee. I can't help but give a wide smile seeing Shio overjoyed like this. I don't think I've ever seen her happier.

"That's really somethin' special." Kota says. "Looks amazing, right Soma?"

Soma looked slightly embarrassed, but gives a smirk anyway. "You know… it is cute." He proudly answers.

"HUH? Honesty from Soma? Are you… doin OK?"

"Tch. Oh please, look at your buddy over there grinning ear to ear." Soma retaliated, not angrily might I add. Obviously, he referred to me.

"Aww c'mon guys, look how happy she is." I whisper to the two. "Get along for once."

"I feel… really happy!" Shio tells us, swaying left and right. She then locks her hands together, closes her eyes, and begins to… sing?

Her melody… I can't say I've ever heard of it before, but there was something about it. Upon hearing the Aragami girl sing, I can't help but feel sad, despite how joyful she was. I peek over and Soma lets out a silent gasp, as if he knew it. Her voice, matching her new appearance, sounded angelic. Everybody watched in aww once more as the little girl's song came to an end.

"Hehe! Have you ever heard that before?" Shio asks us all. "Its called a song. Its pretty."

"Shio, that was incredible!" Sakuya praises.

"Was it.. a good job?"

"Absolutely." I say, patting her head. "It was…amazing."

The girl giggles gleefully, happy to be praised. "I did a good job! And now… I can't stop smiling!"

And I can't stop wanting to tear up.

"Where did you learn that? It was so beautiful." Sakuya asks her.

"I heard it together with Soma!"

"WHAA?" Kota and I exclaim in unison.

"Well then.. my, my, my, Soma…" Sakuya teases the poor guy.

"You heard it 'together', huh?" Alisa adds with a sly smirk.

"That's… I just…" Soma flustered as he looked away from everyone.

"When did you two find time to get all buddy-buddy, eh, buddy?" Kota continues.

I could see Soma's face was beat red. "Dammit… stupid 'song'… cant believe this…" He curses under his breath. This must be too much for him, so I decided to help him out.

"Hey, let the guy be." I say to the group with a laugh. We all can't help but share the laugh as Soma turns further away from all of us. After a little bit, everybody apologizes to Soma for poking fun at him, and they all take their leave after Shio decided to take a nap and before long, only Soma, Sakuya , and I remained.

"Did you guys see how happy she is?" I ask them.

"Yeah." Sakuya answers. "Funny. I don't think anyone would believe her if we told them she was an Aragami."

"So, do you plan on telling anyone?" Soma inquires.

"Of course not! Anyway… I'm happy for her. And she rewarded us with that song."

"Yeah. See, Sakuya? Those are the smiles I want to help bring back to this world."

"Hmm… the feeling enjoying the simple things in life." Soma said. "I wish I knew what that was like…"

"Its really not that hard…" After a few moments of silent pondering, Sakuya decides to leave the room, leaving just Soma and I. "Hey, Soma." I address him. "Where did you here that song."

"What's it matter?" he asks. "I thought you guys were done poking fun of me?"

"Nobody meant to hurt you… Anyway, it just got me thinking. With everything that's been taken away from humanity, there's something that the Aragami can't steal from us."

"And that is...?"

"What else? Song."

"Lindow always told me that music is something special, but I never thought anything of it."

"He hummed a song on the way to a mission once. He couldn't remember what it was called though. Shio's song though… it reminds me of that."

"Look, it was pretty and all, but I don't see what makes music special."

"Hey, music can be a powerful thing. It can affect real change."

"If you say so." Soma sighed as he headed out the lab door. As he did, Sakaki passed right by him and entered the room.

"I take it you've all seen Shio's new outfit?" the Doctor asks me. "It sounds like Licca has truly outdone herself! Of course, you did your fair share of helping also." Sakaki reminded me.

"Yeah, but Licca was good enough to go out of her way for this. Now you should've heard her sing!" I told the doctor.

"Shio did what?" the professor sounded overjoyed. "Fascinating! Perhaps she will allow me to hear… oh yes, young Silver." His voice took a serious tone as faced me.

I can't help but notice that Dr. Sakaki always calls me 'young Silver'… "Yes doctor?"

"Director Schicksal has returned. He wishes to see you…"

The Director had returned… I wonder when he got back? Anyway, I headed up to Director Schicksal's office, feeling quite nervous. Its something I can never shake when seeing the Director, despite all the good things he has to say about me. Maybe it's a certain atmosphere he has. I can't describe it. Anyway, ii step into Director's office and see the man gazing up close at a painting near his desk.

"Director Schicksal!" I addressed him. "I'm glad to see you made it back safely."

"Ah, Unit Leader Usugiri." He says as he turns to me. "Good to see you again."

"How did your travels go?"

"Uneventful, sadly. But believe it or not, I continued to hear much of your accomplishments whilst in Europe on business."

"Its been difficult, but I feel like I've helped myself and my Unit members." I reply slightly skittishly, trying to maintain a formal tone.

"Good. I am proud to see that you have been living up to my expectations. As the Far East Director, I give my gracious thanks. Now, please forgive my lack of formality, but I'm pressed for time, so I'll get right to it."

"I'm all ears, sir."

"Right. Now, I summoned you to continue our conversation from before I left."

"About my 'special tasks'?"

"Correct. These operations will be varied in nature, their objectives will run the gamut, but they share one rule… They are to be referred to under my direct supervision. You will report to no one but me."

That sounded a bit strange but, OK. "Yes sir." I nodded, waiting for his to continue.

"Needless to say, the goes for any materiel and rewards you may receive during these missions as well. And these missions operate under a strict confidential standard. Due to their sensitive nature, they will be performed most often alone."

Hearing this, I let out a gasp. "Huh? So I won't have a team most of the time?"

"Yes… only rarely will you require one."

"Oh…"

"But in return for you service, I'll gladly provide you with approximate monetary value of the rare items you collect."

"And you believe I'm capable of handling such missions on my own?"

"Hmhm… I know you, Silver. You are a strong and resourceful God Eater, strong and brave enough to accomplish anything you intend to. I wouldn't trust you otherwise." So in other words… am I just doing his dirty work…? "Each mission is a direct mark of my faith. Lindow…" There he goes again… comparing me to Lindow.

"He was a great person. A great mentor, gave good advice, and always took time to enjoy the little things in life." I butt in without regret.

"Yes… he served me well in the same capacity I'm trusting you with. He was an extraordinary warrior, and a good man. Losing him was a devastating blow. Not just to you and your allies, but to me as well."

"Yeah… every day I regret not being able to save him." But I don't regret living.

"I understand. But, I was fortunate to find you. A God Eater with the potential to be as strong as, maybe stronger, than he."

Stop comparing me to him! "That may be a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?" I say with a slight, fake laugh.

"Not at all. Anyway, I will depend on your assistance and discretion. Now… for your first assignment…"

"Yes sir!"

"Ever hear of an Ouroboros?" The Director asked me with a smile.

I gasp hearing the name of that Aragami. Was I being sent to kill one? "Y-yeah, I've heard of it. My team and I were actually discussing it."

"As large as a mountain! Each breath a tornado! Well… that's sort of an exaggeration. Nevertheless, you target today is the core. I know you can do this, Captain Usugiri."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I was being sent alone to exterminate on of the largest Aragami known to man. One that not many come back alive from. I can't stop trembling but… I have to do this! "Then I won't disappoint you!"

"Excellent…" With that, he dismisses me and I head out to prepare for this secret assignment. Upon exiting, I see Soma leaning against the wall, as if he was waiting for me.

"Soma…" I address him

"So he finally summoned you too…" Soma presumed.

"Yeah. I guess my hard work is paying off?" I assume, trying not to sound cocky.

Soma lets out a sigh. "Look… I'll admit, you really have come a long way since you first arrive."

Soma's comment took me be surprise, and it honestly left me flustered. "Th-thanks. I couldn't-

"But I will only say this once!" Soma interrupts with a very stern tone. "I don't know what he said in there, but do not trust him. He pulls strings like you can't even imagine."

Somehow, I wasn't surprised. Something back there did seem off about him, but still… "He's your father isn't he?"

"And?!"

I suddenly remembered; The Director- Johannes wanted almost nothing to do with Soma. Not after… Aisha… "I'll be careful."

Soma stands up straight and turns to the elevator. "He'll get inside your head. Don't let him."

I go ahead and follow Soma in the section elevator until he got off in the Veteran's Section. I decided not to bring my sword, as I'd need less dragging me down. After Soma left, I take deep breaths to try and calm myself, constantly reminding myself that I'd be fighting alone. I speak with Hibari and receive an ear piece for the mission. After stocking whatever Pills and Ampules I may need, I begin my flight over to the Wailing Plains, where my target dwelled.

Director's Office-

"It must be so easy."

"I do not know what you mean." Johannes replies to the person behind him.

"All you have to do is mention Lindow, and bam, he'll do whatever you ask."

"Ah. Of course; he looked up to Lindow. If I tell him he's like him, it will give him confidence. That confidence leads to him wanting more, and in turn doing for me."

"So you make him think he's doing you favors, when really, he's blindly following orders. Besides, why did you send him alone if you think he's so valuable?"

"You should learn to be quiet! Anyway, how goes the search for the Singularity?"

"Uneventful. By the way, Daigo wished to speak with you."

"Good. I was waiting for him to…"

Wailing Plains-

"I guess its just me and the Aragami today…" I sighed. I'm terrified… I wonder if I can make ot home from this. But… I realize that I have to. Or Kanon and Shio will be upset.

"Don't forget, I'm here for you, too!" Hibari reminds me over the comm.

"Oops, how could I forget? Ok then. I'm counting on you today!" I tell Hibari in a serious tone."

"R-right!" Remembering that I at least have a voice to talk to makes me feel ready; come whatever. I jump down from the cliff I was dropped off at and begin my search for the Ouroboros. Given its size, it shouldn't be hard to find. And right I was. As I turned a corner, I'm caught off guard to see a massive Aragami with countless eyes and four large legs that looked like black tree roots. Its back looked as if covered by moss, resembling that of a mountain. I have no time to strategize, as the beasts gets his many eyes on me and charges towards me. Thinking fast, I slam down a trap, but as the monster steps on it, it doesn't become paralyzed.

"Huh? That didn't work?!" I shout.

"It must be immune to traps! Sorry, I didn't know…" Hibari tells me. Suddenly, Ouroboros stops and splits its legs into multiple tentacles and drives them into the ground. What seem to be spikes of ice start quickly rising from the ground, likely the tips of the tentacles. "Silver, shield your eyes!" I hesitate fail to do as she says, and a bright flash whites out my vision. As I rub my eyes to try and be able to see again, I get my slight back after a moment. I look backwards, however to find myself being slammed by a large leg in the stomach so hard I go flying. As I feel a large pain in my front, my back gets hit as well as I slam into a wall.

"Oww…" I groan. I cough once and spit up a small puddle of blood.

"Silver!" Hibari cried. "Are you OK? Do we need to pull you out?" From the looks of it, the Aragami lost its interest in me and walked away as I continued to sit against the wall I was flung into.

"Heh… fighting alone is harder than I thought… hey Hibari…" I say, gasping air. "I bet if Lindow were here, all he'd have to do in this situation is laugh it in the face and puff a smoke."

"You are not Lindow! Stop-

"I know. I'm not trying to be him. I can't. But I know I can kill this abomination now that I've gotten a feel for him." I pick myself up and swallow a Restore Pill. So I know some of his attacks now… I think I've got an idea…

I track down the monster and fire a Freeze Bomb to get its attention. As it turns to me, I strafe backwards and continue to bomb his face. As I run out of Oracle, that's my cue to throw a flash grenade as he charges at me. I close in, shielding my eyes for the flash, and the monster stops to recover. Ii jump up and slash its face several times. The Ouroboros flinches once, but my strike don't seem to inflict a whole lot of damage.

As I land on the ground, I leap up above the beast as he attempts a swipe with his leg. I use a quick, downward Devour and safely land on the ground, then back-leapt while firing the Aragami Bullet I gained.

"That didn't do much either…" Hibari noted. The massive monster once again charges at me and drives its tentacles into the ground.

"Oh no you don't!" I shout as I slash at one of the tentacles. "Huh?!" the tentacle retracted itself and the monster looks hurt.

"Ah! Of course, the tentacles!" I have no time to rejoice as the monster becomes enraged and attemptss to ram me with the demon-like horns beside its face.

"Gyaah!" I cry as I'm hit by the attack and flung upward. I've just about had it with this abomination… I fiercely look down at it and force all my weight down as I ready to slam the Pickaxe tip of my God Arc into its face. As I make contact with it and pierce the monsters face, I stare it down in the eyes, laughing almost evilly. I force my blade out of it and back up. Out of the blue, a massive laser beam shoots out from the monsters face, and tries to sweep me with it. I hide behind my shield and prepare to once more for when it came the other way until I decided: "No… NO MORE HIDING!"

I rush towards the monster at an incredible speed. As the monster tries to sweep me again, I flip to the side over the beam and continue my assault as I let out a vicious battle cry. Johannes is counting on me! I reminded myself as I rushed past the Aragami's leg as I slashed it. It looses its balance and falls over, but manages to stick its tentacles in the ground yet again. The blue spikes again drill in and out of the ground, and while I attempted to dodge them, I'm grazed by two of them. One only scratched my leg as I side stepped, but the other manages to gush into my left arm between my wrist and elbow. I cry in pain, but shake it off, as I still had an Aragami to fight.

"Silver! Don't you dare keep fighting! Fall back and recover, now!" Hibari demanded. I hadn't meant to worry her… as I had the monster down, I took a second to close my wound with my bandana as I sat against a wall "Can you keep going…?"

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I got a little crazy…" I admitted as I saw the Aragami get up. "But I need too do this. I guess this is the part where I say something about not giving up, and sound like a badass?"

Hibari couldn't help but give me a chuckle. "Oh you…Ok… Go for it Silver!" Hibari's laugh…it sounded cute. Feeling determined, I steadily begin jogging to the massive Aragami. As I speed up into a quick run, the Ouroboros tries to slap me with its left leg, which i slash out of the way. The mountain-beast flinches in pain as I run towards it, readying the final strike. I leap up above the face, and as the monster tries to hit my in mid air, I look him in the eye and drop a stun grenade straight down to his face. A blinding light fills the area as I blindly jab my entire God Arc blade into its face. Still unable to see, I force my 0qArc downward, creating a large cut from the beast's face to the top of his torso. Thrusting back in at the bottom, I scream at thee top of my lungs as i run straight down its stomach as it spews gallons of blood onto my body until I hit the ground. As the Aragami falls, I pry its stomach open with the face of my God Arc, revealing the core.

"You're mine!" I cry as I trigger one last Devour, tearing the core from the monsters body. "You… ah …ahh… won't be needing this…" I feel myself chuckle as I try to catch my breath and fall on the ground on my back.

"Oh my god, are you OK?" Hibari frantically asks me. "Do I need to send medical team to help?!"

"Nah… Lemme just… lay here…for a bit

"Silver. You just destroyed an Ouroboros. Single handedly."

"I did… didn't I… Nnnhhh" I groan in hunger. "I need to eat something…"

"Well…I have an extra desert ration i could share… to… um… celebrate your victory."

"No… our victory. You kept me alive. Hibari… thank you…"

After a few minutes I pick myself and drag myself to the chopper pickup-point. My body was blanketed in Aragami blood, nothing new, bit the rain that fell softly washed most of it away. After a painful walk, I finally made it back to the helicopter and was able to rest easy on the way back home. I clutched the wound I had on my arm, still keeping it covered. I can hardly believe I was asked to kill a monster so deadly.

When I arrived back home, Kota was waiting for me where the chopper landed. As soon as it did, he frantically jumped on it with tears in his eyes. "Silver! What the hell?!" Kota gave me a hand off the bird and put my arm around him as he helped me too the Gate. "You… almost died…"

"I know. I didn't mean to. There's no excuse."

Kota looks at me and gives me a smile. "Man, I'm so glad we didn't try to go after one of those when we first got here!"

"I'll say. There even scarier up close."

"We all saw your fight! Dude, you were so awesome! Where the hell did you learn to move so fast?"

All I can manage is a laugh, as I don't have much strength to even speak. As we got inside the lobby, I was greeted with many faces all clapping and cheering me and praising me by name.

"Dude, that was amazing!" Tatsumi called out. "So awesome!"

"A damn Ouroboros. You're somethin' else, Silver." Brenden added.

My unit as well as the Third also clapped for me and patted me on the back… which hurt. Despite all these people… Kanon was nowhere to be seen. "Tatsumi… where is she...?"

"She went to her room after the fight ended. She couldn't bare to watch you like that, I think." He replies.

As I received much more praise, I was walked to the elevator and taken to the infirmary too get my wounds check out. Again, Kota helped me. "Hey… first time seein' you without your bandana." He observed, noting that it was on my arm. "You're bro gave it to you, right?"

"Yeah…" I replied, sort of lost in thought. I enter the ER and am rushed seated onto a bed and forced to take my shirt off. It was painful to do so; I had a bruise across my stomached, and my back was scraped. As I took my bandana off my arm, it starts oozing blood from the gash. The doctors start applying ointments and medicine to my wounds as patching them wrapping them in bandages. I begin to think of how my rashness almost cost me my life until… she came in…

Aegis Island-

"Dr. Oguruma. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Director Schicksal asked the man.

"I needed to make sure; I gave up my career and life for the sake of what you asked. I hope I have earned the right to come aboard?"

"Of course…" The Director's thoughts trailed. "The Devouring Apocalypse…"

"So if I have this right, Aragami will eat each other until a single one is left, and it will reset the planet Earth?"

"Yes. The world will begin with a clean slate where no Aragami or humans exist."

"And when is said and done, we come down and rebuild the planet? And when do you suppose this 'Apocalypse' will happen?"

"Hah! Predict!" Light suddenly turned on and Oguruma was awestruck. "We're going to make it happened!"

"What is-" Behind him, he heard the sound of a blade being drawn at his neck.

"Hmhm… I'm not through with you…"

End of Chapter 20