Anomaly
Episode 44- World on fire
"U-uh, hi there, sir! Can I help you with something?"
There wasn't much to say about the human cities in this world. He'd been in them before, so he was already familiar with it all. The crowds of people in the streets, the odd chained slave here and there, the guards and Templar seemingly saturating the street corners. And that big, ominous dark tower that loomed in the center of the city with its only function basically amounting to a giant battery to be used by Templar and quite possibly had played a part in some nefarious shadowy plot that Corvin was currently destroying by murdering everyone involved.
But other than all that the city was nice enough. He still didn't like the crowds, though, even after all this time. He supposed some things never changed.
Where Corvin was currently was right outside of what amounted to a... school, of sorts. Well, partly. One part school and one part barracks for the Templar in this city. The purpose was obvious enough: housed all the Templar in this city while at the same time training and housing the youth to eventually become even more Templar. A veritable breeding ground for them. And upon approaching it he'd been approached by a perky robed girl with bright hair that had smiled and waved him over, and then asked what he business here was.
"Oh, nothing much," Corvin said, looking past her at the buildings behind her. It was quite a large area, and the buildings comprising the entire school looked to be of a higher quality than most of the structures in the city. He could see hundreds of Templar of all ranged from the old and gray to young students bustling in it, too. "This place is quite impressive," Corvin commented.
"You bet it is!" The girl vigorously nodded. "This is one of the best colleges for Templar in the whole world, after all! We take in students from all around and give them a thorough education here as well as mentoring into magic usage! In fact, we just started a semester her on practical applications and theories regarding magic usage!"
"Is that right?" Corvin looked back at the girl. "So you're a student here, then!"
"Yup! Though I'm one of the later years." She looked Corvin up and down. "Are you thinking of applying here? You look around the right age, but the semester started a while ago, so I don't think-"
"Oh, no," Corvin interrupted. "I'm not here to enroll. I'm looking for something else entirely."
"Huh?" The girl blinked up at him. "Then what are you looking for-"
The sentence was cut off when Corvin's gun melted into his hand and was promptly pointed at the girl's face.
"Your death," he stated simply.
"Eh heh heh..." The girl, now sweating slightly, took a step back. "Y-you're kidding, right?"
"Afraid not."
He pulled the trigger. A concussive wave of pressurized air blasted out and scattered the girl to nothingness, as well as utterly obliterating entire buildings that had been situated behind the girl. He swiped the gun to the side, the constant stream of pressure following suit and laying waste to everything in its path, from buildings to Templar and students. He finally ceased once the entire school, every single building in sight, was completely decimated. Nothing but rubble and pieces of meat and red stains that couldn't even be called bodies were all that were left of the place, with a few screams and pleas for help here and there.
"There we are." He looked up at the looming tower in the center of the city. He raised his hand to the sky, and great, black masses flew out from his sleeve and right up into the air. The masses dispersed and broke apart into individual pieces, soon taking the shape of thousands of black crows with blue-glowing eyes that flew in a circle above Corvin. He then pointed towards the tower, prompting all of the crows to fly towards the structure. Once colliding, the crows exploded. The sheer magnitude of each explosions caused a chain reaction that caused the entire tower to become alight- not from the fire, as the exploding crows didn't cause combustion. No, the light was from the large mana crystal used to power the tower, cracked from the explosions set by Corvin's crows.
A pillar of light spilled into the air, and as a consequence the tower crumbled more. Soon it was destroyed entirely in an explosion of pure light that sent waves across the entire city. The light itself was harmless, though. Save for those that had been in and around near the tower, everybody should have been fine and the buildings around should have been stable for the most part. But that wasn't what was important.
Corvin turned around, spotting legions of guards and Templar at his back. They all seemed concerned for various reasons; the guards, seemingly horrified at his form. His own body, with which produced rippling black, shapeless masses with hints of blue flowing out from it and curling around him. The Templar were more concerned about themselves and the fact that they couldn't conjure any magic.
It was a trick he'd learned from the basitin island. Destroying that tower and the crystal in it had created an explosion that had "knocked out" the magic in the resulting area- much like a overloading power conduit shorting out the electricity in a power grid. And that explosion was large enough to cover the whole city, meaning every person within was deprived of using magic until it restored itself.
Unfortunately for them, they didn't have that kind of time.
"So what are you going to do now?" Corvin asked, his body stepping forwards along with the dark, writhing shapes besides him. "I'm impervious to every weapon at your disposal. You've been deprived of magic, the weapon you Templar hold in such high regard in front of all others. Sword and shield will do nothing to me." He flipped his palms up towards the sky. His irises glowed, and the masses around him grew to such a size that they eclipsed all the humans that stood before him. "What will you do, I wonder? Fight? Plead? Run away? It doesn't matter; you Templar will all die regardless."
Some did run away. Others fell to their knees in despair, some babbling and begging while others just stared helplessly at Corvin. A brave few did rush him, with either sword or fist, though it mattered none in the end. Bladed tentacles burst out from his body and skewered or crushed all of them in seconds.
He continued to move forwards, past the blood and viscera as his tentacles snaked around him and wrapped around buildings, the dark and ever-moving shapeless shapes slowly increasing in volume and bleeding out into the streets, now vacant with people that had ran in hid save for the Templar and some guards.
This would be no different from the purging he had committed in three previous human cities. He'd make short work of all Templar here and move on.
It wasn't like this was something he had never seen before. Back when he'd worked for Blackwatch, Starr had done all manner of morally questionable actions. Virus get loose in some backwater village in a third-world country causing the higher-ups to get nervous? Round up all the villagers and execute them. Then burn the whole village down and everything within a square mile. Sometimes the execution phase was skipped entirely. Sometimes villagers were captured for experimentation and ripped from loved ones, forced to watch as the "unacceptable" were executed right in front of them. Other times it wasn't even a village but a sleepy little town an escaped runner had ran through, infecting everything in their path. Ended the same either way.
So yeah. Mass murder was something he and his team had become accustomed to over their years of service. Really dicey situations had come when some of those villages were under protection of warlords, or they just plainly had weapons. That had always required more finesse, but again, it had ended the same way. Sometimes there had even been local wars between villages they had to solve just to get to their real objective, which was a runner hiding in one of those warring villages. And then those villages would be wiped of all witnesses for security reasons/fresh subjects for Gentek. On the more normal days it was subjugating rural towns with local militias.
This wasn't so different, what Corvin had them doing. Sure, the anthropomorphic wolves was an interesting new touch, but other than that is was basically the same. Hell, it was even easier- they didn't have to worry about contamination or a super-powered runner. In fact, they were the ones with powers. The wolves, on the other hand? They had sticks and bows. A few with that magic stuff here and there. None of it helped them whatsoever.
"I'm gonna make it so simple it'll be impossible to misunderstand." In front of a slowly pacing Starr were the village elders, wolves so old that their fur began to grey. They were all on their knees with Rose behind them, a bladed arm bleeding dark-blue light held over their necks. "You're gonna stop attacking the humans. You're gonna recall all your warriors and put them all on standby. You're going to stop collaborating with all the other wolf villages and you're going to stop contributing to the war effort against the humans. You're not going to fight anybody, period. You're going to live your lives here peacefully until otherwise."
One of the wolves snarled up at him. "What gives you the right to any of this?" he growled up at him.
"The guy who could kill us all in the blink of an eye if he felt like it, that's what." He crouched down in front of the elder who had shouted at him. "Believe me when I say I'm not doing this because I want to. Metaphorically speaking, we all have knives to our throats here."
"So are they gonna play ball or not?" Dan asked, pacing alongside a line of wolf villagers on their knees directly behind Starr. Males and females, old and young. Everybody in the village that weren't in hiding at the moment or that they hadn't already killed, who laid in piles around them all.
Starr stood up. "Dunno. Sure doesn't sound like it." He turned around to Dan. "Maybe you should crush one of their heads like you did with the soldiers that rushed us earlier. Start with a kid's; that'll get the message through."
"Sounds about right." Dan's large hand closed around a wolf child's head, who started whimpering on the spot. "You sure you want it crushed? Can pull it off, leave a more lasting effect. Know what I mean?"
"No, stop it!" One of the elders rose to their feet. "We'll do whatever you want, just don't-!"
There was a flash of silver, followed by the wolf's two halves hitting the floor. Behind the line of elders, Rose let out a "tsk" sound. "Captain said not for any of you to move no matter what," she admonished.
One of the elders that had snapped out of their gawking state chose to speak up. "We'll do whatever you want. Just let us and the villagers go and we'll cease all violence at once."
"Hm." Starr snapped his fingers. "Let 'em go, Dan. We're done here."
"Right." Dan released his grip on the child, than patted them on the back. "Count yourself lucky you had some sensible elders here, kid. Last village we were at wasn't nearly as smart as they were."
Shaking his head, Starr reached down for the radio at his belt. The completely organic radio that looked, functioned, and felt just like a real radio. It really was scary some of the things Blacklight could do at this level, but seeing as he was a product of it now, he couldn't judge. So he picked the radio up and pressed the button on the side to activate it.
"Charles," he called into the radio. "You there? We're done here."
"Yo, Starr," the radio crackled, "I read ya..."
"... And I think we're just-" The sound of a gun went off, "-about done here." He pointed the pistol in a different direction and fired once more. A blast of pressurized air took a wolf's head clean off. "Give us, like, five more minutes in this village and then we'll regroup, eh?"
"Copy that." The radio switched off, going silent. Charles, in return, shook his head and clipped the radio back to his belt.
"Freaky-ass virus. Shit don't make any sense..." He shrugged. Wasn't his place to understand how this thing worked. He just needed to do his job.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sometimes a village willingly submitted to them. Sometimes they didn't, in which case they killed every wolf in the village and then burnt it to the ground. This was one of the latter cases, but all the same, it didn't really matter too much to Charles. He just wanted his damn freedom away from that monster.
"Garry!" He called, turning around. Past the swathes of bodies and the burning homes was Garry, who was just... sitting down on the ground. Surrounded by the blood and flames. It honestly looked really creepy to Charles. "Uh, Garry? Dude, we gotta roll. We're done here."
He didn't respond for about thirty seconds, and then nodded his head and rose to his feet. He was by Charles's side seconds later, gesturing for them both to continue.
Charles shook his head. "You really creep me out sometimes, dude. You know that?"
Garry threw up a thumbs-up. Whatever expression he held was hidden behind his helmet.
"Let's... let's just get back to the others. C'mon."
This was about... the fifth city? Yes, the fifth. A city completely purged off all Templar by Corvin's own personal hand. By his own hand the once proud and sterling city was reduced to a chaotic mess with a destroyed tower, streets caked in blood, some burning buildings, and a panicking populace. Corvin watched all of this from atop a hill not too far away, taking in all that he had wrought.
"This is all quite terrible, isn't it?" He said aloud. "You know, I had figured you Masks could only possess members of the respective species you created, but then again I guess that was a baseless assumption of mine. You're gods after all, right? You can do anything you want."
When he was given no response, he turned his head. A pale, black-cloaked female human stood behind him, a gray, expressionless mask adorning her face. The only exception were the two eye-holes, glowing a bright yellow, staring right back at Corvin.
"Oh, good. You are a Mask. It would have been awkward if I called that wrong." He turned back to the city and patted the ground next to him. "Have a seat. Watch this tragedy with me."
He was almost surprised when he wasn't attacked to moment he turned his back on the Mask. In fact, they actually chose to oblige him and sat down right next to him, slinging an arm over their knee as they watched the city along with Corvin.
"How many have you killed so far?" They asked, the woman's voice underneath being distorted by a dual-tone.
"I think I'm at about five digits by now," Corvin answered. "It would have been zero if they had just done what I had said. That's what makes this a tragedy." He shook his head. "Why couldn't the fool have just said 'yes'? It could have made everything so much easier."
The Mask didn't respond to Corvin. Instead, they were content on continuing to watch.
"I don't envy that immortality of yours," Corvin commented. "I spent enough time to realize I don't care for it much. And I haven't even been alive for as long as you three have. I don't want to imagine what it was like."
"Chaos told me," Neutral muttered. "A hundred years, huh?"
"Ninety-nine of them were spent in complete isolation," he said. "I consumed all life in that world a bit after the first year."
"... So you were completely alone, with nothing there to keep you company or occupy you." The Mask remained silent for some time. "You don't have to do this."
"I know I don't."
"Why the Templar?" Neutral asked. "Why do you think killing them all will make everything better?"
"It won't make everything better. This is just a start." Corvin turned his head to the Mask. "When a mathematician tries to solve a problem, they often encounter variables within the problem. The best way to solve these problems are to remove the variables completely to simplify the problem, therefor making it easier to solve altogether. That's what all this is, really- me solving the problem of making the world a better place. Killing the Templar just makes it all simpler." He turned back to the city. "I'm sorry to say that the title of 'variable' applies to you Masks, as well."
"You could walk away from all of this. Put on a new face and make a new life. Nobody would ever even know," Neutral offered. "We Masks would never even pester you again. All you'd have to do is live peacefully and stop all of this, Corvin Drevis."
A dry chuckle escaped Corvin. "Is this what the gods have come to? Asking me personally to stop? I suppose I should be flattered." He shook his head. "But I've come too far to stop now. Sorry, Neutral."
He hadn't consumed an entire world just to stop at the halfway juncture. He hadn't potentially jeopardized his friendships and relationship just to stop halfway. He hadn't killed all of these people just to stop now, making it all meaningless. It would be a disgrace to the friends he had made that had died just because of the pursuit of his own goals, and it would all have been a waste of life. He wouldn't allow any of that to transpire.
"Did you ever think, back when we fought, Neutral, that we would end up like this? Casually talking amidst all of this?" Corvin gestured a hand out to the city. "I think it's rather peculiar. I never thought back then that we would ever wind up in this position. I never thought I would turn out like this."
"I think it's a surprising development for all of us," Neutral said. "So you won't quit, then?"
"Nope. Not for anything. Not until I'm done."
The yellow-eyed Mask's head seemed to dip. To Corvin, it seemed to be an almost forlorn gesture. "That's too bad. Then we have nothing else to talk about."
"I guess not." Corvin's darkened eyes looked at Neutral once more. "Tell me one thing before you go. You made mention back when we fought that you could see the future. Does it look good for me?"
"You were never supposed to exist here. The more you meddled in the world, the blurrier our predictions became. We've lost the ability altogether at this point," Neutral explained.
He supposed that made sense, in a backwards kind of way. So much for spoilers. "Oh well." Corvin gave a little shrug. "Not too much longer now, Neutral. I'll be coming after you Masks once I've cleaned up the Templar."
There was no response to Corvin's provocation.
"Neutral?" Corvin looked fully over. The mask on the girl's face was gone, and she was slumped over and fast asleep. "Oh. You're gone. I wanted to talk a bit more."
He looked back at the city. The screams had only increased in volume over the time, and the flames in some of the buildings had only grown brighter as villagers either ran, tried to extinguish the flames, or help the wounded. And he still had to do this to so many more cities. There were so many more Templar.
And to think it wasn't even dawn yet.
Corvin leaned his head against his palm. "I wonder why Neutral was so silent after I said I spent so much time alone?" he thought aloud.
A/N- Short chapter is short. -Shrugs-.
