Hello, ITalkToSky here.
I suck at writing action scene. Still, there is not much action in this scene anyway. I mean, there was no way Blanche can stand in Touhou stampede after all.
This part really deviate a lot from the plotline.
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Everyone waited in bated breath for the first sign to come, except for some. Alice and Marisa became apprehensive after the verdict came out to kill anyone who resisted and execute all their ringleaders.
As ruthless as it was, there was no use leaving terrorists alive, especially their ringleaders responsible for inciting youths down the wrong path. These disgusting animals couldn't do anything, but send others to die for their ideals, while cowering in their dirt hole. Honami could only agree. She had enough contact with enough of darker aspects of the modern world to know that someone just had to die.
Someone naïve like Alice or Marisa or Mizuki would not be able to wrap their heads around that. Perhaps deep down, Alice and Marisa understood, but never really accepted it. They after all had killed out of necessity. Regardless, whether they were ready to or not, the decision wouldn't change. Their only choices were to go or not to go. The attack would commence either way.
They didn't have too long to consider as after a week, the loudspeakers around the school disturbed their monotonous lives.
"We are, the Aspirants Alliance who wishes to abolish the differences within the school." Lunaire snickered when he heard their announcement.
Stealing master keys and barricading themselves in the Public Announcement Room to use loudspeaker were basically criminal activities. But to their credit, they managed to force the student council to open a public forum debate two days later. Mayumi was rather soft in accepting their demand, but that was alright. The more they believed that their plan was succeeding, the more panic they would feel when it came crashing down.
They would attack on the day of the forum, so the best time to strike was the night before when their preparation was complete.
While it was quite tasteless to kill, it was a good time to unwind.
""It looks like its time. Alice, Marisa, go home. I will go to the meeting point." As soon as they left the gate, Lunaire said so before preparing to take off.
"Wait! We will go with you."
"What did I tell you? If you are not prepared to kill, then…"
"I know, and then don't enter the battle, right? But at least I need to see this through to the very end!" Alice almost screamed in panic. It was good thing that the people were sparse enough not to hear her.
"…"
"There might be more times like this, so I have to get use to…killing. You said we were naïve and don't know how cruel the world outside is, so show us!" Alice had trouble, but she spat the word "killing" out like a bug.
"..Marisa, are you with her on this?"
"As much as I don't want to admit it, we had to learn when we can." Marisa balled her hand into fists and bit down on her lips.
The pair of prismatic eyes that gazed on them softened. It was not as if Lunaire couldn't understand. Since Okinawa, the rest of them had been giving these girls a wide berth to breath. They were the most affected from actually killing people.
"Fine, but are you fine with blood? I'm sure that there will be plenty if you come." At the mention of this, both of their bodies shook.
"W-we are prepared, ze." Marisa glared in defiance even if her quivering words were a clear telling of her fear.
"If you say so, then I will not object. But you are not to fight; you will only be a liability if you fight without meaning to."
"So we only watch?" Marisa asked.
"Do you have problem with that? If you do, don't come."
"Alright, we will only watch."
"That's more like it. Also what are that pathetic faces you guys are making? Steel your expression and don't show weakness! It is not only bad for our own morale; the enemies will also take advantage of the situation if they felt you are weak." Trying to act like a sergeant, his voice hammered down on them.
"Eeek." His voice spooked them good as their faces were now more surprised than terrified.
"Besides, you are wrong about one point. You don't have to get used to killing. No, I would advise you not to get used to it. We all changed somewhat when we first kill. It is nothing to be ashamed about. You just have to keep yourself through that experience. Do not lose sight of your purpose or the cost of your action. Do not deny it. You did it for something."
"…" They both were silent, letting Lunaire continued. His next words however, made them flinched.
"At Okinawa, didn't you save someone as well? You should kill only when necessary. But Alice, Marisa, don't ever deceive yourself with that word called necessity. Don't stretch its meaning too wide to kill anyone at hair trigger nor narrow it down too much that you won't kill even at the cost of leaving the ones you cared to be killed. That's all I can say. Now, let's get to some alley and change into movable outfit." They remained completely silent throughout their trip to Blanche's ugly headquarter.
"You are a little late." The voice with noticeable haughtiness rang out.
"No, I think you are just awfully too early."
"You might be right. Sakuya had everything prepared. All we have to do is marching in. I'm wondering though, what are those two doing here?" Remilia's crimson eyes trained at the two blond magicians.
"They are here to observe, nothing more nothing less. What about your side? Where is Aya?" It was Lunaire's turn to inquire.
"She said last minute that after knowing of the whole issue, it was so bland that she didn't even feel the worth of writing about it." Sakuya gave a perfect succinct answer.
"That's quite alright. Is everyone ready?" Lunaire turned to the people present. Apart from two, everyone looked at least eager.
"Didn't even have to ask. Meiling and Reisen, take care of anyone trying to exit the back door and move in. The rest of us will waltz right in their front door. I'm sorry to trouble you, Sakuya, but protect these two as we move."
"Understood, Lunaire."
"I understand."
"So the show is finally starting, took you long…"
"Hold your horses. Let them start their meeting first. The bigger the audience the better, right? Let's be patient." Lunaire could only placate the little vampire who really needed some fighting to unwind.
"You just have to rain on my parade." Remilia clicked her tongue.
"That's what I do, Remi."
The sun had set and the only source of illumination was within the old factory itself. The darkness was abruptly broken by small spots of pale blue light that appeared around the perimeter of the factory. In a heartbeat, a film seemed to rise up from the ground and joined into a dome, sealing the area from outside interaction either from ground or air. No one would leave the area. On the flipside, anyone outside the dome would see a pristine and perfectly normal factory.
To Reisen and Meiling, they viewed it as the signal that they had waited for. Unfortunately, they were ill-prepared for what came next as their vision was seared by the flashes that turned night into day.
A swarm of small balls of light clashed into the building, producing blinding flashes and thundering roars. Curiously, the building was still structurally intact, except for some shaking. When the eyes of the rabbit recovered and saw such, she could only sigh wryly.
"There is a limit how flashy your entrance can be, Lunaire."
Reisen remembered the pesky spell. It was Lunaire's favorite in a spar, especially against her. Sometimes during spars, she almost hated her own sensitive eyes and ears. The spell was named flashbang for its effect, but unlike the typical sun grenade, it could be launched anywhere and en mass. Whenever she let her guard down, one would always be flying her way and harming her precious ears. She almost pitied the fools in the building. On the other hand, it woke Meiling up, so that was a plus.
"Good! Now let's walk in. Alice, Marisa, back straight!"
"Finally, right about time."
They began walking, calmly, as if the chaos erupting in the building did not concern them. Acting like they owned the place, Lunaire unceremoniously kicked down the rusty front door and waltzed right in. Sadly, there weren't any to receive them in the empty hallways. It didn't matter anyway. Whatever they did, it was nothing, but futile.
After such an entrance, it wasn't strange for their group to face neat lines of men, leveling their firearms at them.
"Who are you?!" A man screamed at them. At first, his lanky figure and panicking face didn't even register on Lunaire's mind. Remilia was in the same mind as he didn't seem to pose a threat in the fight as seen from his cowering body.
"Oh, how nice of you! I mean, we came in at such a sudden notice and you still manage to welcome us."
The men with the assault rifles were confused and wondered if their minds were playing tricks on them. The sweet voice could not belong to any, but the little girl standing beside the enigmatic silver-haired maid. On the second note, the whole group was weird. It was as if they just dropped by from a cosplay party, but there was something in the little girl's voice and eyes that chilled them to their very core.
"You must be commander of Blanche's Japanese branch, Tsukasa Hajime." On a second look at the man, Lunaire remembered his role from one of Aya's video recording. It was the guy who had mouth too wide for his own good.
"Well…forgive my rudeness. Just as you said, I am commander of Blanche's Japanese branch, Tsukasa Hajime. To whom I owe the pleasure to?"
The man answered with no pressure, replaced his scared expression with relaxed one. Underneath his façade, his cockiness started to build back up. His larger than life attitude contrasted with the men holding the futile and the rest cowering at the back of the hall.
It didn't take much to know that they were just in the middle of meeting. Apart from grown men with weapons, there were around 30 at the back of the hall that still could qualify as young adults. Well, their expressions were more similar to cowed children. These must be the Egalite or the youth branch of Blanche.
"Ah you don't have to remember our names. Our acquaintance will after all be…short." Lunaire chuckled ominously at the end.
Other than the foreshadowing remark, Blanche commander's eyes widened at the nonchalant the other party was being. It was like 50 men holding them at gun points didn't matter at all. He didn't have time to think for long as one feminine voice rang across the large room.
"Wait! You! Aren't you Lunaire from Course 1? I know you! There is no way I could forget that face and that hair."
"Lunaire?" Blanche commander seemed to roll the name around to pronounce it.
"Oh, fancy seeing you here, Mibu-senpai. What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? It is not good for a lady to loiter around at this time of the day." While sounding rather casual, his steely eyes weren't joking.
To say that Lunaire was surprise to see Mibu Sayaka here would be a lie. The pictures from Aya clearly showed that she was in the group. However, when they saw with their own eyes, Lunaire and Alice, especially Marisa, was terribly disappointed. The three knew the upper classman during the club recruitment week when she was showcasing some demonstration. Although it wasn't at Youmu's level, they could tell that she had invested her passion into her swords. It was a shame to see her swoop down to joining terrorists like this.
"What about you?! Why are you out here?!" Mibu almost screeched.
"Well, it wasn't anything major we are just…sweeping up the trash." With that sentence, Tsukasa Hajime finally understood fully the intention of these enigmas who waltzed right through their front door after light show that could wake the dead.
"Ha ha ha, saying that, don't you think you are quite outgunned?" At this point, Hajime's bravado was just getting too much.
"Well, you may be right in term of guns. If we are talking firepower though, we have plenty right here…" Lunaire felt the need to entertain this clown for a bit.
"If you think magic is the be all and end all, then you're making a terrible mistake. I will give you a chance of getting out of this alive. Join us, Lunaire-kun and you too young ladies."
"He is talking sense, right, Sakuya?"
"Indeed, my lady.
"Well, just by waltzing in here without care in the world showed me enough that you are just children. Nevertheless, children can be quite stubborn and put up a fight even with no chance of winning, so let's me persuade you…"
"Children?" Hajime didn't know how ironic his statement was.
"Become our comrade!" Hajime threw his pair of fake glasses and stared into Lunaire's eyes. The orbs of Blanche's commander took on a strange glow.
When commander saw that amusement finally left Lunaire's face, he let out a gleeful laugh. He abandoned his pretense, thinking his plan succeeded.
"Ha ha ha ha, now you are one of us!"
"I see. No wonder, someone of your caliber just aren't capable of handling an entire organization and recruiting people. Ha ha ha, don't think I don't see you fiddling with your CAD." Lunaire continued to laugh mirthfully, but his eyes were several times colder.
"What? How?"
"Childish tricks, projecting hypnotizing light from your eyes using magic. As if it would work on us. Remi, that guy and those with guns, they are all yours. I have grown tired of them."
"Finally!" Remilia stepped forward, inciting curious gazes form those present. When she vanished, the gazes turned into horror as scream erupted throughout the room.
It first started when Remilia's claws found her first mark, a torso. It was lethal, but not immediately, so he went down howling with fountain of blood from his body. His comrade did try to target Remilia, but they could never keep their sight on for longer than split second as the vampire would just vanish and another spot would be painted red. It only took a strike to fall. Gutted by her claws, skewered by crimson spears and chains that seemed to appear out of nowhere were among the ways to die in this massacre.
After a few seconds, their number dwindled down to less than half. It might be because of that reason that they started to try and put a shot in Sakuya's body. Ultimately, it was futile as shimmering barrier deflected all the rounds, not yielding even a millimeter.
In the end all that was left were the group at the back and Hajime himself. All who dared to raise their weapons were torn to shred, leaving no respect for their foolish effort.
Seeing fighting as pointless option, Hajime immediately began to run toward the door. The scarlet pair of eyes that watched his unsightly escape betrayed sign of amusement when his body was sent flying by the door he tried to open.
From the air muddled by dust, the figure cladded in green Chinese dress could be seen with her leg raised in a kick.
"Oh, you are early, Meiling."
"We already cleaned up everyone other than this room. You are quite late, so we came to check on you. Is there a problem?"
"No, Reisen, we are doing well. Meiling, can you deal with…this. I am done. They couldn't even make this interesting."
"Very well, my lady." Meiling obeyed and kicked the screaming man. There was no way he could come back from that with his head bent sideways.
"With that taken cared of…"
"Remilia, what about the rest of them?" A question was asked worriedly. Reisen could see easily that the people at the back of the room were young, unlike many she killed on her way here. The rabbit had no quam killing terrorists pointing weapons at her. On the other hand, these were unarmed youth. While in league with the terrorists, she still felt reluctant to simply kill them.
"Hmm, I wonder…"
On the side of the ones spectating, things did go so hot. Thanks to Lunaire's barrier, the rest didn't see Alice and Marisa doubling over from the carnage. They were afraid of blood and there was blood, lots of it. No wonder they couldn't keep a straight face. Still they held themselves much better than Lunaire initially thought. At least they didn't end up regurgitating their last meal onto the floor.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that they were not in a state to present to other people. Therefore, Lunaire just made it so that the two were still following him, while leaving them to recover on the floor. They needed time, so just leaving them there might be most beneficial. However, the rest of the children here must be managed.
He didn't intend to kill them as they were just misguided children. Some might come voluntarily, but it was also lightly that some were brainwashed with magic. Besides, killing them all would result in unprecedented case of missing people that they could not dream to handle. Unlike adults, cases involving teens were more likely to be taken seriously, not to mention 30 of them on the same day.
But he had plans for them.
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And there you go, the first part of Blanche extermination.
Please leave a review and tell me how you think about this deviation from plotline. If you have any suggestion, please leave it in as well.
