Chapter 46 - Subjugation and Explanations
Groggily, Vent's eyes slowly opened, a searing headache thumping away within the confines of his skull like it were a circular stand being whacked constantly by a Judge's hammer in a court room. It caused him to hiss painfully like a serpent, his eyes shutting tightly as he held his hand over his face similar to a certain orange haired soul reaper grabbing a certain demonic white butterfly man, although in Vent's case he didn't launch himself flying in favor of wanting to douse his steaming head in a large body of nice, cool water.
'Ugh, my head... argh! Feels like I've been hit by a flamethrower stream or something...'
Thinking this hurt his brain even more, so he stopped thinking and instead chose to shift himself into a more comfortable position than the prone one that he had discovered himself to have been in since he first regained consciousness. Whilst he did this, the headache in his skull began to subside until he had reached a Seiza sitting position, where it finally vanished for good.
'Ugh... gah… finally, this thing's outta my system... now I should probably figure out where the hell I am...'
Vent blinked as his vision, which had been quite blurry since the whole headache thing first began upon his awakening, returned to normal to allow him to look around, finding himself to be sitting atop something which he found VERY familiar. His eyes shrunk to the size of dots as he found himself sitting on top of what looked like a stormy grey landscape, the skies above being mostly covered by storm clouds which looked so damn dark that they seemed like they would let out showers of rain at any moment. If that happened, then Vent believed that he'd be pretty much soaked to the brim since he couldn't see any form of shelter in his vicinity, though what he DID see was that whatever surface he found himself sitting on had similar properties to mirrors since he could see his own reflection down beneath him... and when he discovered this...
"Holy!" He got the shock of his life when he discovered that his Kakugan had activated, resulting in two different eyes staring back at him having temporarily given him a near heart attack kind of experience. "Shit, that stunt nearly made my heart leap out of my chest..." the male muttered as he placed a hand over the space where said organ hammered away within the confines of his ribcage. "Well, considering I rarely activate it when looking at my reflection, not like I even do that though, it kind of makes sense that it'd make me jump... huh?" When he finished calming down and regained his composure, Vent did the normal thing one would do in this situation and try to deactivate his Kakugan… however, upon doing so, the brow over said Kakugan twitched as the thing remained active. He tried again, only for the same result...
and again...
and again...
and again...
and again...
"... Okay, this shit's starting to get on my nerves." Irritation and annoyance gradually started to swell within both his chest and his gullet, as Vent repeatedly tried to deactivate his Kakugan to no avail, worse was that he tried to see if he could unleash his Kagune only for that to end up failing him too, adding to the list of confusion-based questions running amok in his mind like elementary school kids on the playground. Not to mention a healthy dose of worry got added in there for good measure, since the possibility of his Ghoul side not responding to his commands opened up a WORLD of possibilities and situations which left Vent with an anxiety one with claustrophobia would have when trapped in a closed space for months on end. Gritting his teeth, Vent bit his thumb's nail as he mumbled under his breath once more, although it was more out of habit than anything else since he did it regardless if there were others around him or not. "First this stormy background which seems WAY too similar to the scene from the Tokyo Ghoul Opening minus the whole chair thing, and now there's this? What the hell is going on...?"
"Ya might want to think back to what happened before coming here, Master."
"?! Rasen?!"
Upon hearing the familiar psychotic voice of his internal Tenant, Vent turned to see where the voice came from, and found... he found himself standing face to face with what can only be described as a ball of black flames with red outlines, two glowing crimson pits substituting as eyes that narrowed in his direction. Whatever emotion they were trying to convey, Vent didn't pay attention as he nearly fell onto his back once again, seeing his Tenant like this. Call him stupid or cliché or whatever, but wasn't this the situation where the voice in one's head revealed their true form or something? Apparently not, if what Vent had been seeing was any indication, as he stood up and faced his most trusted companion so far.
"Yup, its'a'me, Rasen! Now enough of this form I'm in right now, do what I told you to before, and you'll be able to figure everything out yourself. That's what you do, ya'know."
Once again, Rasen told him to pretty much man up and think about the situation, which got a grumble of irritated annoyance out of the brunette male as he begrudgingly did so, trying to figure out what had happened before he had woken up. As he did so, with his arms crossed as he looked up at the stormy clouds above, memories started coming back to him, flowing back to the forefront of his mind like a long since dried up river finally starting to flow again. 'Huh, the things I remember were fighting against Noro with my Vier… only I was losing horribly due to that guy pretty much having a what a certain red glasses wearing Vampire would say '#life hack'..." the male mused, humming thoughtfully. A couple seconds later, more memories came to him, of which he spoke them out to his sole companion in this space. "Then I had to resort to using my Kagune even though it came with consequences and... oh. OH!"
"Yup Master, you guessed it right. What happened was what we DIDN'T want to happen, and at the worst possible moment too. Whilst you fought against Noro with everything you had, your desperation, desire to win all slipped into the realm of madness as your body kept having to force its regeneration to heal yourself over and over. Pretty much refining your RC Cells like a blade being sharpened by whetstones, and as a result, sped up the process of your Kakuja being developed... it helped that your desperation made you resort to eating parts of that guy's Kagune too, which were pretty much RC Cell buffets to you. Thus, your Kakuja has been halfway completed, it activating according to your desperation and if I hadn't pulled you into this mindscape, you'd be reaping the hallucinations all Ghouls with wacko mental states go through... or maybe its just that white haired MC. Dunno, don't care much."
With his Master having figured out the majority of the situation, Rasen simply filled him in on the bits he hadn't yet, pretty much confirming Vent's fears as he did all he could to keep himself from going on a crazy panic attack, which by the way felt WAY worse this time than before when his Tenant nearly spooked the life out of them.
It had happened, what he had feared most had happened at the WORST kind of timing possible. When Ghouls develop a Kakuja, they have little to no chance of wielding them efficiently because most users tend to lose their minds while fighting with it, Jason and Kaneki being prime examples of this. If the user were to become a complete Kakuja, as those who have incomplete ones like him have the designation of 'Half Kakuja', they wouldn't lose their minds as proof existed in the form of Kaneki later evolving and 'completing' it, which meant that if he were to try and complete it, Vent would have to constantly cannibalise as well. Him and Rasen had been discussing this on several occasions now, just so situations like this wouldn't have happened as they could at least TRY to have some control over when the Kakuja would awaken like this...
Only, these efforts were in vain.
They had failed.
Now, not only did the Kakuja awaken, but Vent's body had gone out of control and would likely be acting like a crazed lunatic...
He could only be thankful that Rasen was preventing his mind from hallucinating like a psychopath.
Looking towards said ball of dark flames, of which he could only assume to be Negatron if his senses were telling him the truth, which he believed they were, Vent then questioned him in the hopes of at least finding out the current situation on the outside. "Well, is there any way for us to..."
"Sorry but no can do, Master. I try to give us a live feed, and your consciousness will be swallowed by the Kakuja's madness. Me I'm already somewhat insane, so I can handle it much better than you can. I can at least tell you though that things... aren't ooking so hot. As in, that Noro fucker managed to get away from us when we started transforming, but that left the berserker we've become with a clean path to the others..."
Back to the outside...
True to Rasen's words, chaos could be the best adjective used to describe the situation within the Sealing Room.
BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-!
From WAY above, the battle zone, a goddamn shower of crimson crystalline projectiles descended at high speeds, almost resembling bullets fired from an array of Miniguns and would have shredded their target to pieces if it were any normal target. Unfortunately, that target also turned out to be a Kakuja with a set of highly mobile Tentacles which moved about fast enough to leave afterimages, swiping through the air around their wielder to knock the shards that would have hit otherwise out of their intended flight path.
The launchers of those Shards, both Touka and Ayato (the male and female look alikes with black and white rabbit masks respectively), fell down towards their opponent with their next play already in motion. The latter went first, rearing his right arm backwards as his Kagune, which had taken the form of two large crimson Wings, quickly began to shift in a unnatural manner. The Right wing especially as it morphed into a long blade that sprouted from his Shoulder that he used to thrust forwards whilst the left curved in front of him and acted like a Koukaku Shield, even though his Kagune was clearly an Ukaku.
His thrust however, got deflected away by Vent's right Tentacle, his Bikaku Tail aiming it's gun afterwards as its interior began to glow a bright crimson. Ayato however had an alternate plan for this as he used the backhanding motion of the right Tentacle to get some distance, then slammed both his Kagune (which had returned to their default Wing forms) into the ground to propel himself over a launched ball of crimson hardened RC Cells the size of a basket ball. A bullet which... pretty much left a crater the width of a large truck in its wake as the main Party of girls (under the grey haired man's request) deflected from the Mascot's seal. They didn't want it to get damaged after everything they had been through after all.
"Pft, amateurs. Glad Uncle Yomo held them back from our shit."
"I'm next, little bro."
Touka then went in herself after informing her apparent brother Ayato, falling faster as her own Kagune, an Ukaku pair of crimson wings like Ayato's, crackled violently with crimson Lightning, Lightning that she then unleashed on Vent upon getting into a fist's range so he didn't have much time to react. However, what she didn't take into account was how in a flash, as if blinking out of existence, the half Kakuja male burst into motion. Her Kakugans enlarged in surprise at this, but her reflexes saved her when she quickly covered herself with her Kagune, hardening it into Crystal just a second before several strikes from Vent's Tentacles and third arm slammed into her left side from behind, causing her to go sliding across the ground. She did launch a few extra Lightning Bolts though, halting the male from charging up his Gun and landing a blow on her.
Just then, Shu and Ayato suddenly appeared on opposite sides of the male, who hissed and huffed like the big bad wolf from little red riding hood.
"Let me huff, puff, and blow your house down, ne?"
With that coy, almost seductively so, line by Shu, both of them launched a Pincer assault with the black rabbit mask user shifting both Wings into his Blades for a Close Quarters combat scenario. 'Those bitching Tentacles, that arm, they both indicate he's quite fond of close combat... still can't be a match for me though!' he thought, performing a scissor slash whilst sliding behind his opponent in an attempt to sever that large sword arm from his body. However, Vent had managed to move it out the way at the last second, and would have brought it down on Ayato's back (of which he would have easily blocked with his Kagune's hardening abilities) had it not been for the following actions of his comrade.
Said comrade, whose Koukaku Kagune took on the form of a spiralling ribbon from his shoulder down his right arm, extended a long blade that he then used to swing down and cut into Vent's exposed side, drawing first blood that he brought to his lips and licked off the Kagune. His eyes bulged open wide behind his Mask a second later, a high pitched almost girly squeal escaping him. "délicieux! This taste! The Taste of a One-Eyed in a Quadra Kakuja, so rich in flavour like a full course five star buffet! SWEET HAAAAAARMONYYYYYYY! Its everything I've ever dreamed of while fantasising in bed, and more!" he proclaimed... all while dodging, blocking and parrying various attacks that had been launched his way by one VERY pissed off Vent. His... hidden but intense gaze for lack of a better word, mad and lustful grin only added to the bizarreness of the situation.
Eventually however, the two of them broke away after Ayato came down from above with an overhead smash using his right blade, swinging his left 3/4 of a circle so it landed on top of his right, to which he then pivoted on his left foot to thrust the left blade right towards Vent's chest. This got blocked by the sword arm which got there just in the nick of time, before both Tentacles lunged forth to try and impale him.
Only, for the grey haired man known as Yomo to get in between them, his Kagune: A pair of large black wings (Aside from the colour, one could tell he had relations to Touka and Ayato just from that alone) unleashing a quick burst of projectiles in the style of a shotgun blast.
However, Vent quickly got out of the attack's range in a couple of seconds, circled around them whilst charging up his Gun and, when he stopped moving, had already aimed it at Touka's back with the following bullet being launched promptly.
A Bullet which Touka glanced at from the corner of her left Kakugan and enlarged her Kagune to be able to block.
"...Holy hell..."
Those words barely escaped RED's lips as she watched with wide eyes, which could be said for the rest of the Party too, all the Ghouls try to get Vent back to his normal self. At least that's what they assumed, considering how they didn't seem to be going for killing blows and only tried to sever the berserk Vent's various appendages from his body.
"Whoa! Check this out, Rom!"
"Ram... that looks scary... is that Vent...?"
The two Lowee CPU Candidates Rom and Ram, whom had flew in through the hole that Vent had made previously, stood by their fellow CPU Candidate, overlooking the battle themselves instead of helping out. Not like they wanted to be just standing idle doing nothing, but thanks to the others convincing as well as the... rather ferocious nature the battle taking place possessed, neither of them felt like they would get very far (as much as it vexed Ram's pride to admit-especially when a few stray Shards nearly impaled her and her sister-THAT got her to see things from Vent's perspective enough). Meanwhile, Rom looked like the classic version of a horror movie victim, trembling with clear fright with sweat rolling down her forehead and her skin tone losing pretty much all its lustre to become as pale as a corpse, almost like it knew that doing this would somehow make her look less... appetising.
"Looks like it Rom..." her sibling answered, and whilst she didn't look very much better than her sister, she at least kept Rom behind her and acted like a sort of shield for her, even though it had been meant to be the opposite since she was the younger of the two twins.
A mumble escaped the particularly stunned lips of Nepgear as she watched the battle unfold, clenching her HDD Form's Gunblade since was still retained said form. "This looks horrible... its like one big monster smackdown..." Whilst saying this, she couldn't help but compare this to the previous fights she'd had against various Ghouls in the past... and found herself woefully underprepared. That grey haired man, Renji Yomo he had quickly introduced himself before moving to join the battle himself, had told her and the girls not to interfere with their 'mission' as they wouldn't have been able to contribute much to this battle. Of course, why should they have listened to him, one might ask, and when RED had made to comment about this very issue, Renji had simply pointed at the battle and had asked them 'are you 100% sure you can last a few seconds in THAT?' whilst the battle between Touka, Ayato, Shu and the berserk Kakuja Vent increased in intensity. Each of them moved like blurs at this point, no attacks leaving any opening to be exploited either.
It had served the purpose of shutting down their protests.
"Still, what's going on here? Why is Ven-Ven acting like this all of a sudden? I'm one confused and concerned Compa right about now." The said Nurse questioned, holding a closed hand over her chest as she gazed at the fighting Ghouls with worried eyes. As much as her instincts screamed at her to go over and perform a check-up on Vent to see what had gone wrong with him, not only did the RATIONAL part of her mind along with her sense of self preservation tell her how much of a TERRIBLE idea that was, Renji and the other Party members had held her back too, reasoning that in this state it wouldn't be impossible but a CERTAINTY that Vent would attack her. Probably would try to mutilate her horribly then feast on what remained of her corpse, as Renji had so eloquently put it, resulting in her tensing up and freezing in place. Better that than nothing though, which was more than she could say for a lot of different things. Still, her concern for the situation remained evident on her features all the same.
However, what she DIDN'T expect was for some sort of answer to come, especially from one of the other Party Members, more specifically IF who hummed thoughtfully whilst cupping her chin with her index finger. "Hmm... so THIS is what he's been so concerned about... Guess I wasn't so far off the mark." Upon finishing her sentence, IF detected several gazes directed at her, and upon seeing that they came from the other girls, she promptly began to explain. "Doubt anyone else noticed, but the guy's been acting concerned ever since the start of this whole Lowee incident. I had a hunch that it had something to do with his abilities, and it looks like I was right... something about his abilities must have changed that resulted in him going berserk like this, proof exists when we were all taking out the Ghouls and training: remember, he had been NEGLECTING to use his Ghoul powers in favour of his other abilities."
"You've always been more observant than all of us, IF..." Nepgear couldn't help but sweat drop as she heard the Guild Agent explain this, her eyes closed as she scratched her left jaw with her left hand's index finger. She wasn't wrong, and the others agreed with her on this given her expression, as IF had much experience from her Guild Agent business that resulted in her having to hone her ability to read people. As such, for IF to have seen that something like this had bee happening whilst the rest of them had been, well, very much blind to it all, wasn't really that much of a stretch. This didn't mean she felt too pleased by this for some reason, as an explosion of... something, erupted within her chest at the thought of IF knowing something about Vent that she didn't. Why was that, and what was this uncomfortable, gut-wrenching feeling she felt in her chest? She didn't know what that was, but one thing felt certain and that had been that she didn't like it.
What Nepgear didn't notice was that she wasn't the only one who felt this way either, with a certain pervy redhead pouting in displeasure, and for once it was aimed at a potential 'wifey candidate'.
"Well, someone has to be, now lets keep guarding the Mascot, we don't want this Seal to become undone again after all."
Whilst the girls said this, the Lowee Mascot within the Seal itself hummed in thought whilst watching things unfold. 'Hmmmm… these powers that the boy possesses... they seem to be causing some manner of problems to him both physically and mentally, to affect him like this. These aren't something that SHE had to go through, but then again his situation is indeed a bit unusual... so perhaps even the thing called a 'miracle' is indeed possible. However, should he discover the truth about himself... how would he take it? And, more importantly, how would it affect these powers of his? Only time may tell, sadly enough... Still, there must be something I can do here... ah! Of course!'
"All of you, listen closely to what I'm about to tell you..."
"Tch, this little buggar…! his Kakuja's more of a drag than I'd realized...!"
Ayato complained under his breath as he slid beneath a large sweeping from one of the Tentacles protruding from Vent's chest, then sausage flipped to the side without striking back due to the Tail having loomed over its wielder to act as a self-defence mechanism, repeatedly firing at the Ghouls who got too close. Sliding along the ground, he then unfurled both his Wings, crystalizing them and launching a flurry of projectiles forth alongside his sister and Uncle's.
However, with the speed that Vent managed to move at, avoiding the mix of projectiles and Lightning Bolts proved to be an easy task for him as he appeared before Touka, who barely managed to cross her arms in front of her with her Kagune mimicking her actions in time, grunting as she felt Vent's sword arm slam into her with the force of a sledgehammer, sending her sliding across the ground.
'As annoying as this is, my dumb brother may just be right in this situation... a Quadra Kakuja really is a terrifyingly difficult opponent to go up against...'
Fighting against this guy whilst under the effects of this twisted abomination of a Kakuja, none of the Ghouls anticipated it to be an easy one but that didn't mean that they didn't have a plan for it. Since from the very beginning they had predicted something like this would have happened as they had been tipped off by some of their 'associates' that the kid had already begun developing a Kakuja and had been trying to delay it as long as possible, which had told them he had been fully aware of what having an incomplete one entailed. As such, each of them had become aware of the futility behind such actions, and had thus prepared the necessary items in accordance to this information:
RC Suppressants.
The plan was as follows: They would inject the RC Suppressants into the kid's bloodstream after weakening the RC Cells inside his body, allowing the suppressants to work to a better efficiency. To make this work, he would have to be in a state where his RC Cells would have to focus more on healing injuries, optimally restoring severed limbs and other dangerous injuries, before they would inject them through something like a vein or an artery, just as long as the Suppressants got into his bloodstream. This would mean that, like a puppet being suddenly cut from the strings manipulating it, the kid would fall unconscious and no longer be considered a threat.
Focusing back onto the battle when she saw an upcoming cube wall rapidly approaching her, Touka managed to bounce right back into the battle, running towards her opponent and making to attack with her Kagune again. However, just as Vent's Tentacle claws made to slash at her, Touka switched tactics at the last few seconds, using their rapidly moving bodies as stepping stones to launch herself into the air above him, aiming her Ukaku to fire a concentrated Lightning Bolt onto his head. Since his Gun had been focusing on keeping an attacking Renji at bay, it wouldn't have been able to go and stop her in time, hence she felt she had finally managed to exploit a rare as fuck.
Just as her attack got launched down towards her opponent's head... all of a sudden to her shock the Koukaku sword arm then jerked upwards and curved over his exposed back, a piece of the flesh seemingly EXPLODING outwards whilst forming it's own metal plates... to which it formed its own metallic squarish Tower Shield to block Touka's Lightning Bolt.
'This guy has SHIELDS too?! What the fuck else does he have?!'
Okay, this confirmed it, her brother was DEFINITELY right in his previous opinion: this was some BULLSHIT that this kid's managed to obtain. There just seemed to be WAY more options for offence and defence in this kid's Kakuja's arsenal than a regular case, and that had sounded off some alarm bells in her mind, since even chimeras alone were quite rare, but a Chimera KAKUJA had been even rarer. In her recollection, there wasn't any other case where she had encountered or even heard of a Kakuja like this before, but from what she had seen of it so far, this Kakuja had versatility as its primary base, all sorts of options available for combat to make it look like a goddan killing machine. She'd once heard that this kid saw himself as a lone emo Vigilante kind of character, so perhaps that had some sort of influence on his Kakuja, but still. Didn't make dealing with this abomination any easier.
Whilst she thought this, Touka's danger senses kicked in when she noticed that the Gun, which she had figured had been too busy with Renji, suddenly shifted its attention to her with it's barrel pointing in her direction. The steam which rose from the Barrel's tip indicated how much it had been in use, and when she idly glanced towards her Uncle, she saw how he had stopped moving with multiple holes in his Shoulders, his Mask shattered over the top left portion of his face, and looked to be recovering from some serious injuries. Why he didn't bother finishing Renji off just now did pique her curiosity... but it got overruled by her urge to get the fuck out of the way since the Gun had been just about to fire.
STAB!
"Grk!"
The spiralling Ribbon Blade Koukaku belonging to Shu, impaled her in the Waist, digging deep enough to form a steady grip as its wielder pulled backwards, yanking Touka out of the way just a second before the Bullet got fired. She winced when she felt it graze a piece of her Kagune… utterly disintegrating a large portion of it. 'Shit, do NOT want to get hit by that directly... Things might get dicey for MORE than one reason...' she thought whilst landing beside the most eccentric Ghoul of their group. "Thanks... though I could have done without the hole in my side." she nonetheless commented with a hand over the wound after Shu's Kagune returned to it's user's side for future use.
"Really, my sweet? I'm not sure if that's what you and the leader were screaming about like two mating rabbits last night-"
"Any further and I'll smash your balls into paste and drink them down."
"If you two are done arguing..." A flurry of Shards flew into the space in front of them, blocking the incoming Tentacle slashes that Touka and Shu didn't foresee due to their slight quarreling. Their owner, Ayato, landed in front of them and used his Kagune to knock Vent's Kakuja back with a few quick shotgun style blasts. "I'll tell you both something I've noticed. Seems that the kid's sanity is fighting back or something, as since Uncle Yomo was incapacitated, this brat's not been trying to attack him once, only focusing on us." he explained, and true to his words, Vent wasn't actually attacking Yomo whilst the three of them were together, something the older man had also noticed. "Means that there's still the chance of the kid regaining control on his own, like that one human who was fixated on growing stronger for promotions due to daddy issues."
A low chuckle escaped Shu's lips as he then stepped forward, swinging his Kagune in a reverse upward arc to deflect another Tentacle slash, before the three of them split off into different directions to avoid the Bullet from the Bikaku Gun. "My, how interesting. This child's making me want him more and more..." he moaned, sensually, images of him 'sampling' the young Vent in nice restaurant setting filling his mind. Though, another Bullet flying his way quickly snapped him out of those delusions after he rolled out of the way again. "My, to ruin a fair maiden's dreams like that, you're quite rude, aren't you?"
When he saw how there was a strike coming his way in the form of that Sword Arm, the said limb having extended forth like a whip would, Shu blocked it's sword end with his Kagune, swinging upwards to divert it away from him as he then burst forth into a sprint, the limb quickly trying to recede back to its master whilst getting peppered by Shards from both Touka and Ayato. However, in the end it wouldn't be able to get back in time so the berserk Vent howled as he lunged forwards, thrusting his right Tentacle forward with it's claw open wide... allowing a sword-like spike to jut out from within its palm at last twice as long as the Claw itself.
'A spike?! That'll extend his range further!'
As Shu thought this, he quickly tilted his head to the side, barely avoiding the Spike's touch as it grazed his Mask lightly, his sole exposed Kakugan wider than a dinner plate as he traced the weapon's movement. Once it had passed him, Shu commenced a series of thrusts once he had closed the distance between them, aiming at the bases of each appendage so he could either weaken them or just straight up sever them from Vent's body. Cause judging by how their initial battle had went, it seemed that the kid's regeneration was of the higher tier, as in when they unintentionally cut off one of his HUMAN arms, it just regrew into a new one whilst the old had gotten devoured. None of them had the sense to see if he could survive a direct beheading yet though, they WERE meant to incapacitate them after all.
In response to this new threat, Vent tried to get away in time, but only managed to escape the majority of Shu's strikes, since like him he too could extend that Koukaku Kagune of his resulting in some attacks still hitting their marks despite his efforts... though considering how Vent wasn't even in his right frame of mind right now, that wasn't saying much. In the end, his sword arm Koukaku got downright severed, his Helmet got cracked in multiple places and his Tentacles had to retreat into a defensive posture with their bases suffering multiple large holes through their bodies. Yet, just a second after they already began to regenerate if the shuffling organic masses within the holes were any indication.
Something Shu didn't like the sight of if he were honest.
'I'll have to act quickly and give him the RC Suppressants while I have the chance. An opportunity to use them only came at this moment in time, so I can't afford to waste it...' he thought to himself, already reaching behind his back and pulling out a Syringe filled with a crimson colored Liquid. The irony of these being on his person had NOT been lost to him either, as he recalled a time when these had also been repressing his Father's Kagune during the Tsukiama Family Hunting Operation. 'Yet father was able to overwhelm them from within captivity... hopefully these will work...' he thought further, breaking into a sprint to try and inject them into Vent's neck, on an artery which would insert the suppressants into him at the quickest speeds.
Unfortunately, the young Tsukiama forgot about ONE particular detail, or rather he hadn't considered it to be a threat since he had been within such close proximity to the user.
The Tail.
It rose up from behind the panting Vent whose lips were pulled back into an angry, almost berserk-like snarl with drool seeping down the corners of his mouth like a rabid beast, pointing its nearly charged barrel at the surprised enemy. Quickly knowing that this next attack would be unavoidable for his current self, Shu quickly put the RC Suppressants back where they had been previously and crossed his Kagune in front of him to try and endure the brunt of the blow. As fast as he had become, Shu had NO delusions about his speed being on par with that of let's say Touka and Ayato. 'This may sting a little...'
BAM!
"Guh!"
'Sting' became an understatement to describe the pain that Shu suddenly found himself under the moment that the bullet slammed into him, knocking him flying into the distance. Not only did his Kagune SHATTER into small fragments under the sheer force behind it, but the bullet exploded upon contact, sending those fragments straight into him like they were miniature shotgun shells. This also wound up severing both his arms from his body whilst the rest of him got cut up with varying levels of depth applied to his wounds.
The only reason he didn't scream from the agony was that he had bit his tongue to keep himself focused as he planted both feet onto the ground, sliding to a halt as he looked up... seeing the male already having closed the distance between them with a punch being thrown towards his face. Considering the power flowing through his veins...
"...Ah, #CHUCKLE# I'm in danger, aren't I?"
"Not yet, young Ghoul."
"?!"
Just as the boy made to deliver the blow, Shu's eyes blinked when he heard something… rather unexpected from behind him, the voice of the Lowee Mascot. He wasn't the only one either, for the other Ghouls in the room also shared his confusion, since they didn't expect for the Mascot to interject like this. Just as Ayato made to turn his head and yell at the Mascot to stay out of the situation…
FLASH!
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Each of the Ghouls felt a sudden urge within their chests in one single moment of unification, one which they adhered to after years of trusting their instincts in battle. None of them would have been able to describe why it was that they did that, perhaps it could be considered an "Indescribable Action": something that is indescribable is so terrible, so good, so strange etc that one cannot describe it, or it is too difficult to describe. Nonetheless, in the end, it resulted in them all covering their eyes instantly, which turned out to be the right thing to do in this situation since the Lowee Mascot briefly gained a bright blue glow around the seal's vicinity… resulting in a bright as all hell flashbang-esque attack that filled the room. The shrill shrieks of Vent, whom hadn't covered his eyes in time, then filled the air after at least a second, showcasing just how bright the flash had become.
"Wha-whats-how did-?!"
"To summarize, I am simply using Nepgear's remaining power as a medium to launch my own little attack. Now hurry, this power won't last more than a few seconds, then the boy will recover."
When Ayato had made to complain about what had been going on just now, the Lowee Mascot promptly clarified, as well as warned them of the particular risks that they had to deal with should they waste too much time. Touka became the first to snap herself back into focus as she turned to the stunned Vent, realizing the logic behind the Disk-like being's words hence why she barked out the following orders. "She's right, we got a chance, lets not waste it! Tsukiama, Yomo! Follow me even if you haven't healed completely! Ayato, you follow too! We gotta get these in him to settle all of this!" Whilst barking, she pulled out her own Syringe of RC Suppressants, which prompted the others to do the same even Renji and Shu, whom had mostly regenerated from their injuries… although Shu had to gobble up pieces of his Kagune like a worm on the ground in order to regenerate a functioning arm.
To that end, they then proceeded to race forwards towards the stunned Vent, whose face covered the sole fake Kakugan as well as his real one as if they were both his real eyes. They moved like blurs, but even in his current state Vent's body still sensed incoming danger as the Ghouls neared them, resulting in his back proceeding to look like it was bubbling over like water being boiled inside a pan.
"?!"
Everyone who saw this, gulped with slightly wide eyes as, with sounds of blood splattering that could only come from some twisted horror movie, several extensions of flesh BURST out of Vent's back as he cried out in pain, each of them slimming down into these thin rope-like forms, before they shuddered as bone plating formed around them. In the end, they formed into these long, bony arms with long blades for tips in place of those Tentacles, with a single, demented gaze breaking through between the gaps between the male's hands. Each of them then promptly launched themselves forwards, determined to shred these opponents to pieces then possibly eat them to restore it's power and satiate the hunger deep inside.
"Scatter!"
"RIGHT! x3"
Fortunately, that didn't happen as the Ghouls managed to evade each of the arms in a display of parkour that could only come from having to fight life or death battles as if they were commonplace. Renji kept doing a mix of sausage flips, twists and spins, similar to the two Ukaku users whilst Shu used his weakened Kagune to deflect the attacks away from him, making sure to keep an eye on it since each strike damaged it further. One slip up, and either of them could have ended up as shish-kababs.
Finally, each of them got past the arms, Renji flipping overhead to land behind him whilst Touka and Ayato slid to a halt on opposite sides of the male, and finally Shu came down from above after having used one of the arms as a stepping stone since his Kagune had been shattered again. In one quick movement, each of them made their moves, with unified war cries echoing from their throats...
"Hah!"
"Guh!"
"Snap out of it, fucker!"
"Uoh!"
...managed to plant the syringes into Vent's body in various places, getting a cracked gasp out of him before his body grew still.
"Guh! Ack... Gah… ah..."
SLUMP
Thanks to these actions, Vent's Kakugan returned to normal whilst his Helmet shattered like glass, what remained of the mid-healing Kakuja crumbling away into nothingness till it had vanished entirely. He would have fallen face first onto the ground, had it not been for a reluctant Ayato who had caught him, then used the momentum to lift him onto his shoulder like a firefighter rescuing a civilian. A few inaudible mumbles escaped his lips during this, but other than that he didn't make any other sounds.
"Whelp, things have finally calmed down..." Shu commented with an eye closed, multiple bruises on his body starting to heal. Although, they weren't going to be going away any time soon since they WERE inflicted by a Kagune, and a Kakuja at that, though this didn't stop the tired smile from forming on his lips as he stared at the unconscious boy's form with a gaze that would have made the modern FBI cautious of him. "Shall we bring them back with us?"
"Guess so, the boss man did say to fill them in on this shitty situation. The others are already doing their part back in Planeptune..." Ayato replied gruffly, shuffling the weight on his shoulder into a bit more comfortable position. Afterwards, he turned towards the Group of Girls who looked like they wanted to say something, so he decided to beat them to it. "Alright you lot, come with us! Since we helped save your sorry asses, you owe us, got it?!"
"E-Eh?!"
BONK!
A fist came down on Ayato's head, one which belonged to Touka who kept her head down with her eyes closed and brows twitching. "Idiot, that ain't how to ask them..." she began, shaking her steaming fist as a similarly sized lump formed on the guy's help. "What my dumbass brother's trying to say is that we need you to come with us. We got some stuff to talk about, and some of it concerns the nature of your friend he's carrying." she explained, gesturing behind her to the unconscious Vent.
THIS got their attention FAST, in particular Nepgear (who had returned to human form after giving her remaining power to the Lowee Mascot for that surprise attack) and RED, since memories of what had just transpired played back in their minds. Aside from IF, who seemed to have had an idea what was happening but was being strangely tight lipped about it for some reason, none of them knew the facts about what had just happened. Why did Vet go wild like that? Why didn't he recognize them? Questions like that kept being asked within their brains, not to mention that the Party felt a bit of the sting of betrayal at being kept in the dark.
Glancing to the others, Broccoli became the first to speak, a question being the type of sentence escaping her lips. "Do you think we should, Nyu?"
"Compa thinks so." the said Nurse replied, looking rather thoughtful albeit a bit reluctant at the same time. Considering what had happened though and what they had been through so far, it wasn't hard to see why. "Me no-likey that Ven-Ven got so hurt, but if its a problem that he's dealing with then my Nurse instincts demand that I know whats happening. Maybe I could help find something that can help deal with the issue."
IF quickly agreed with her friend about this decision, too. 'I don't trust these guys just yet, but considering that so far they haven't tried to kill us, and they managed to take Vent out without killing him means that they aren't here to do us any harm, since they could have just shredded our asses to pieces before we even knew they were coming. Then there's Vent, seems like whatever he had been dealing with got out of hand, and this had been the result. He probably had intended for this to happen in... some other way, but the circumstances made it happen like THIS instead.' she thought, circulating the information she had gleaned inside her noggin. "Compa's right guys, cause given what our success rate's been with these guys, we could REALLY use as much intel as possible. Judging by how Vent had acted with some of them, I guess I can assume that Ghouls aren't supposed to be in this world, which begs the question on why they are. Following these guys will potentially give us the answers to some unasked questions we've all been having, if you ask me at least." she explained to the others, whom then started to perk up with understanding at their logic.
"Your friend's right." Just then, a final interjection came from Yomo as he gestured for the rest of the Ghouls, with Shu seemingly swooning over the unconscious One-Eyed Ghoul... whilst making sure not to pull any funny business under Touka's watchful eye, knowing just how she could get whenever he did go out of line. "There's much that we need to talk about, not to mention just from your friend's words alone it shows that you all have little idea as to the scale that this conflict has escalated to. Let's clear the air around us, first, then you all can continue with your journey." he explained, before he turned to regroup with his comrades...
and judging by the multiple footsteps he heard behind him, the man figured that the Girls had reached an agreement after a few moments of consideration and were now deciding to follow them to their next destination.
Good.
Later on...
...
...
...
...
...
"Grrr…"
Slowly, Vent's consciousness returned to the waking world, his closed eyes tightening shut temporarily before slowly proceeding to open up. At first, a stream of light blinded him, but his vision allowed him to adjust, allowing him to see the top of some sort of hotel room when his vision managed to clear itself to normal levels. 'A... room...?' the male. still a bit groggy from his recent awakening, managed to think as he slowly sat upwards, looking down to see that he currently lay sideways on a two-seat sofa with a cotton-made blanket covering his form up. 'Well, waking up on a sofa covered by a blanket definitely seems better than waking on solid ground covered in bruises...' the teen couldn't help butt think to himself.
Now that he was awake and his brain had begun kicking itself into motion once more, Vent did the logical thing and glanced around the area to gauge his surroundings. Turned out he had been right about the whole Hotel Room thing, with him being located on top of one of two sofas, the second one being perpendicular to the side where his feet had been resting. Both stood atop a square shaped piece of cloth, with the floor itself being a creamy colour and the walls a mixture of blues, yellows and cream as well. Same could be said about the ceiling whilst a couple windows which showed the outside of Lowee's Capital city (which was likely where he was then), plus there seemed to be a couple different doors that likely lead to different sections similar to some of the hotel rooms he and the others had stayed in back in the past...
Wait, the others!
Everything in his mind screeched to a halt like a DJ suddenly stopping a Song at a night club, a shiver of dread running down his spine at the revelations. 'Shit, IF and the girls! They're DEFINITELY going to kill me after seeing me in that state...!' the male thought with a bead of sweat rolling down his face, and this time whilst he could feel Rasen's presence in the back of his noggin the fact that his tenant wasn't saying anything pretty much stated his stance on this matter. Well, not like he could blame him, since him losing control over his Kagune and forming an incomplete Kakuja (something he now remembered with perfect clarity, although what happened afterwards remained a blur to him) DID happen because of his negligence. Delaying its activation would have only prolonged the problem, not actually solved it, but what else could he have done? Despite being an Otaku who loved Tokyo Ghoul more than most Manga and Anime, there wasn't much talk about the Kakuja's inner workings in the Manga OR the Anime adaptations which meant that he didn't know how to handle it properly. Now that he DID have one though, he would have to be VERY careful and only use it as a last resort since outright denying its existence would only damage him in the long run.
What's more, was that when he tried to remember more about what had happened once his Kakuja took over, Vent found himself grimacing as an electrifying headache zapped through his skull, almost as if it were being hit by a taser or something. This happened for the next few attempts he made at remembering before the brunette male gave up on such things, although he DID recall a few blurry images of what seemed like several fast blurs striking away at his twisted form. 'Those forms... they may be blurry but they didn't look ANYTHING like the girls, not one bit... they had pieces of themselves which looked more like wings or weapons... could they have been Ghouls? If so, then why didn't they...?' the male wondered in his mind as he made to get off of the Sofa...
"Might not want to do that."
All of a sudden, his form tensed as his eyes widened, his Kaugan eye activating when he heard the female voice that had spoken up unexpectedly... not to mention that he didn't recognize it as one belonging to any of the Party Members. There WAS a part of him that did say he knew this voice however, and that part had been enough to stop him from unleashing his Kagune as a reflex... that, and the still fresh memory of him losing control and becoming a Half-Kakuja. These emotions and thoughts processed themselves through his mind in bout half a second, the other half being used to zero in on the voice's source...
Finding it to be a woman standing in front of one of the doors which seemed to have been opened recently... meaning that she had just entered the room as he had made to get up. She seemed to be a slender, and very attractive woman, with bob-length black hair that had these long bangs that reached her nose covering the right side of her face and blue eyes. For clothes, she wore a a white wide neck blouse, one hidden beneath a white trench coat, blue pants and brown leather boots set. She also held what seemed to be a shopping bag of some sorts.
'This woman... that hairstyle, those eyes as cold as icicles... I think I know them from somewhere...'
The moment he saw her, thoughts like these instantly filled his mind, and Vent did NOT know whether or not if he should be fond of this revelation or not. In any case, he decided to inquire as to the meaning behind her words, his tone low but cautious. "What do you mean by that...?"
"Well, if you have a thing for walking around half naked go ahead and be my guest, although I doubt it'll be quite healthy for you considering the pain you're going to be in..."
"...Guh?!"
Just as the woman spoke, Vent nearly doubled in over when waves of pain hit him, making the male wrap his arms around his abdomen area as pained groans of agony escaped his lips despite his efforts to suppress them. What the hell, what was this?! Why was he suddenly feeling like he ad just gotten skinned alive, reskinned only for the process to repeat thousands of times over, each time worse than the last?! Worse still it felt like every cell in his body was as sensitive as a nerve to this pain, which only served to AMPLIFY this pain to titanic levels. It had been only due to his sheer willpower and endurance that Vent had managed to reign in his internal screams, then when he made to try and express the pain he had suddenly found himself in, the woman shook her head as she stepped forwards, closing the door behind her. "Yeah, figured it was a delayed response, you just woke up after a 4 day long coma after using your Kakuja for the first time, your body isn't used to the post-strain it gives off." she commented, earning a gasp of surprise from Vent as he managed to barely shift his head so he could look up at her with his sole widened Kakugan.
"... This is...?!"
"Yeesh, you didn't know about THAT much? Shit, you REALLY underestimated how bad it is to have one of those, didn't you?" the woman commented, rolling her eyes as what felt like an imaginary arrow titled 'idiot' struck the male in his heart. However, the woman wasn't done yet. "Having a Kakuja is taxing both on the mind AND the body, I'd know since I've seen a few in action myself. The first time is always the worst, and whilst it does get better over time the pain from the backlash from your overworked RC Cells is always going to be intense. Keep that in mind, brat, for whenever you think about using that thing again, ESPECIALLY with how 'unique' your Kagune really is." she explained further, causing Vent's brows to twitch irritably with multiple tick marks on his forehead.
'Guh… Gah… Grrr…! This woman's REALLY getting on my nerves... shit, this pain is not letting up one bit, fuck...! Ugh...!' Vent cursed inside his mind, since it kind of hurt to speak in full sentences at the moment. It took a while for the pain to subside to a more manageable level, but by the time it did Vent took several calming breaths as his body started to settle down, his Kakugan returning to a normal human eye that glanced down at the covers on his lap... which also exposed his bare upper body. This made something click in his mind, aided by the woman's word earlier as a realization dawned on him. 'Did... Did the Kakuja destroy my CLOTHES?! Fuck, shit... well, I guess that makes sense, since in the Manga the way they were depicted coming out of their wielders body made it seem like they shredded through the Clothes they wore, Kakujas are likely no different...' a quick feel of his body via sinking a hand beneath the covers revealed that he still wore some grey briefs, much to his relief. However, the fact that his Kakuja had destroyed his outfit still hit home, resulting in a sigh of depression as he hung his head. "Shit, looks like it caused more problems than I feared..." he muttered under his breath.
Mutters that the woman heard which, combined with her previous words and mannerisms, made Vent sniff the air slightly and realize her Scent being that of a Ghoul's. However, these traits instead of making him act even more cautiously around her, they just made him curious as to her true identity even more, ESPECIALLY since her scent reminded him of some of the images he'd managed to recall through painful effort. Was she one of the people who saved him and his companions before or something? "Are... Are you here to...?"
"Before we get into that, here." Reaching into the bag, the woman pulled out a set of clothes, clothes which were NOT his original ones (to his mental dismay but then again they served as a link to his old world, something he held little interest in anyways). "Change into these, they were made with your various... Kagune types in mind, but are a little edgy for my tastes." she explained. "Thank those friends of yours, they helped pick them out for you."
Mentally, he wondered who among the girls would have the most fashion sense, and concluded it to be a tie between IF and Compa. Nepgear seemed like a third choice, but she also felt more like a doormat and a person with a sheltered upbringing so she likely wouldn't have any idea about guy's fashion. RED... well, she's RED so there's no need to question her there, and Broccoli hardly knew him and the others for very long, not long enough to know what guys wore anyways. Also, sine males were so rare in this world, how did they find clothes for him in the first place? 'Meh, I'll think about it later...' the male thought in the end, proceeding to change into the new clothes whilst the woman turned her back to him so she didn't see anything.
Something he found himself grateful for.
By the time that he was done, Vent stood clad in a new set of gear, gear which he QUICKLY got the feeling IF had more of a hand in choosing for him. His clothes now consisted of black pants with a black belt that had a large silver buckle, a black V-necked shirt that was worn underneath a black trench-coat with gray lining going down the sleeves as well as down the outlines, and black boots with silver plates to protect his shins. He had a silver plate worn on the left side of his coat, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. Furthermore, Vent now wore a strap that went over his right shoulder and under it to wrap around his left side, sort of like that cancerous fidget spinner meme he had once heard about. Not to mention that instead of his original hairstyle, which had likely been changed from him lying down for so long if what this woman had said was true, but it seemed to have changed to that of the MC who wore this outfit in the first season of the anime he appeared in.
'... Huh, so I look like another version of Kirito from SAO, only with brown hair and green eyes as well as lacking his dual sword sheaths...' the male thought in analysis of his new outfit, checking himself out by twisting his arms and upper body from side to side. To be honest, he had once watched SAO and found it to be a decent show, if a bit rushed in certain areas, not to mention he gave it credit for elevating an entire Anime Genre into mainstream popularity. Its MC wasn't too bad either if one asked him, though considering Vent liked the Tokyo Ghoul cast this was hardly anything surprising. He then noticed that there was a bulge in the Coat's left pocket, taking it out to find it to be... a Mask. 'A new Mask, too? Well I can say that if I have a new outfit then a new Mask isn't too much of an addition.' he thought, looking the Mask over.
The Mask was a black coloured one, like his previous Mask with a single crimson lens over the eye which he realized would be his human one. The overall shape reminded him of that Edgy as all hell Reaper from Overwatch with how it resembled a Skull of sorts, only the black and red edgy colour scheme REALLY added to the intimidation factor. Plus since it covered his face entirely save for that whole eye thing he could still use it even if he didn't exactly have a 'hood' on at the moment. Heck, when he tried it on, Vent found it to be a rather decent fit, it didn't slip off or anything plus it felt pretty... as much as he felt reluctant to say it, pretty badass on him. 'I can only IMAGINE how people would have reacted with Kirito having an edgy Mask like this one...' the teen couldn't help but internally muse with silent amusement.
Taking it off and pocketing the Mask inside the coat's right internal pocket (which he found rather easy to access), Vent looked back to the woman who now sat on one of the sofas, one leg crossed over the other. "Thanks for the clothes, mrs…"
"Touka, kid. Touka Kirishima."
"?!"
WHAT?! Did he just hear that right?! Vent mentally gasped as he suppressed the physical one from escaping, though he did still widen his eyes in stunned awe, shock and confusion. Something which Touka had taken note of as she eyed him, waiting for him to calm down from his slight bout of hysterics. It didn't take too long for him to rationalize this, as the teen took a few quick breaths to calm his nerves and regain his composure. "Huh... well then, nice to meet you, Mrs Kirishima." he replied evenly, whilst mentally adding on 'I guess that if Tatara and Seidou have been confirmed to exist here, as well as Yamori and the White Suits, its not so surprising that Touka's here, and if I'm correct more of the Tokyo Ghoul characters are going to be in this world too. Question is, why? Hopefully I'll be able to answer that question soon...'
"Before you ask, me and some of my companions have already briefed the others on the overall situation, including your stuff, and have been giving them extra training practice for the duration of your Coma." Touka explained, breaking him from his thoughts as Vent sat back down, his eyes shining with an appreciative gleam. She would have mentioned on how he would have to talk to them about what had happened regardless, but looking at him showed her she didn't need to, so she decided to get down to business. "Anyways, whilst my companions are giving your comrades some MUCH needed training against Ghouls of our level, we have much shit tot talk about. First off, let me go ahead and say this: we ALL know your from another world, Vent."
"Eh? But how, I... did my comrades tell you?"
Touka shook her head in response to that question, to which Vent hummed in thought. He wasn't too angry with this fact being known, more rather he didn't have much of a care about it since it didn't seem as important to him. He wouldn't have minded even if they HAD told the Ghouls about him being an otherworlder, but it would have been a slight surprise since it hardly came up between them very often. "We figured it out, since like us, you too have knowledge that this world known as Gamindustri lacks, or rather it doesn't see as 'normal' or 'to be expected'. Though, in that sense you and us Ghouls are indeed otherworlders, HOW we came to be differs between us." She explained, before her tone... it began to change. Vent furrowed his brows as he tried to identify the expressions seeping onto Touka's face, but there seemed to be way more than a few on there. Anger, confusion, frustration, sadness being some of them. "Unlike you who got brought here like some typical isekai protagonist... we were FORCED to be here."
"Eh?" now THIS got his attention, as well as raised a few concerns. Forced? They were forced here? What was the difference between their situations, then which made it seem like they were forced while he wasn't? Well, he felt like he had some doubts about the legitimacy of him being a 'classic' isekai protagonist due to the vibes the Mascots he'd seen so far gave when they conversed with him in addition to what the Lowee one had said. "When you say 'forced', do you mean someone pulled you into this world against your will?" he questioned, his brain running a million miles an hour as he processed this information and began to theorize on who this could be. It didn't take him long to arrive at a possible suspect though, and when he did a whole new level of dread crept into him. "Was it...the Deity of Sin?" he queried, recalling the origin story about the deity which Mina had told him and the others shortly after their arrival in Lowee. Since this place seemed to have the 'magical' vibe down, something he'd observed from the everyday life of civilians alongside how Mages like Rom and Ram were quite prevalent, it would make sense for the Deiity of Sin which came from allegedly Lowee to have power over magical abilities.
Touka's face morphed into an angry scowl at the mention of that name, plus she gripped her biceps with her delicate looking, feminine hands although he refused to admit that in front of her. A, Vent had read the Manga and it showed just how 'vicious' she could be on the battlefield, and B, he didn't want to have some Ukaku Shards aimed at his nuts. "Well, we sure as hell think so. Its our only lead, but there's a difference between you and us it seems." she explained, looking Vent dead in the eye. "Whereas you're a complete PERSON... we are not."
"WHAT?!"
THAT threw Vent COMPLETELY off guard, as evident by the way he literally froze up. Inside, he could feel his heart skipping several beats as he did multiple double takes. Yet, Touka wasn't finished there as she furrowed her brows, her feelings about this subject clear as day in comparison to earlier. "We heard you've been fighting with Seidou, and you've encountered Yamori along with the White Suits. They, combined with the fact that one of their operatives got Ghoul powers through the use of Disks are all the proof we need to confirm my following words. It seems that we, as in myself, my companions, Seidou and the Ghouls you encountered so far AREN'T our original selves, but we are in fact 'programs' based off of them placed inside bodies that were originally our counterparts in THIS Gamindustri. You remember how you managed to save Hinami's father's counterpart before? well, there seems to be counterparts for EVERY one of us here, and those people were captured, either through force or willingly, and infused with special 'Ghoul Disks' based off aspects of our personalities, or rather personalities based off certain parts of our lives."
"H-Huh? Hold on, lemme get this straight..." Vent began as he tried to process this information, since what he had just heard sounded oh so ludicrous. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he then continued to speak. "From what you're telling me, is that the Tatara and Ghouls I fought earlier were not actually the same ones as the ones I know, but aspects of them?" if that was true, then that sounded SO much like summoning Heroic Spirits from the Fate Franchise, and even an otaku like him knew of that series. It was a HIGHLY popular one after all, with MANY animes, mangas and games... perhaps its origins as an Eroge helped as well. Now that he thought about it, that actually made a bit of sense, since Seidou seemingly got over his crazy self in the Manga, but here he was acting all psycho like that hadn't even happened. Furthermore, Tatara had been killed in the Manga, so what he fought could very well be him at the very last point of his lifetime or something, he wasn't completely sure on that one.
Nodding her head, Touka proceeded to clarify. "Yeah, for those of us who lived on, it seems as though Ghoul Disks made with aspects of data from certain points in our lives downloaded into them took over the counterparts, to the point where essentially 'another self' reflecting that data programming was made in the place of said counterpart. Tsukiama once called it 'Digital Possession', which considering the circumstances isn't all that inaccurate." She explained, taking a small breath before continuing. "For those who died, well, we aren't completely sure of the specifics, but it would seem that 'something' revived them in this world as ghostly Spirits, which were then downloaded onto Ghoul Disks and then absorbed into their counterparts in Gamindustri that way, hence why people dead in our world are alive in this one."
All of this information became quite difficult to take in, and after Touka proceeded to stop speaking for the moment, Vent took his opportunity to ask the questions on his mind. "You say that you're essentially a 'program' representing a part of the original Touka's life, downloaded onto a Disk and then absorbed into her counterpart here right? Then how can you call yourself an otherworlder like me? Wouldn't it be more logical to call yourself someone from Gamindustri…?" Trailing off, Vent realized something: if what Touka (he wondered if he should even call her that since she wasn't the REAL Touka, if her words are correct) said was true, then could she even be counted as a resident of the Tokyo Ghoul World either? Feels like she may not have a place in either world, or just like in Kaneki's case, she had a place in BOTH worlds.
"Honestly, I have no idea what I am anymore. I DO have memories of growing up here in Gamindustri…" Touka began, looking down at herself with her lips curving into a sad frown. Her eyes swam with emotions, and for the first time since this conversation began Vent understood the thing stemming from the emotions inside of her: conflict. It felt just like the conflict between Ghouls and Humns back in the TG Manga, but instead it seemed more like two different beings in the same body were in conflict with one another. A 'human' Touka and a 'Ghoul' Touka…
Shit, that actually seemed much more fucked up than he initially realized.
Things weren't over yet though, as Vent soon found out when Touka began to speak once more. "But when I had this Ghoul Disk infused with me, it seems as though I have memories of... of a different life, a life where I grew up hated, despised and loathed just for existing the way that I was. This pain... I don't know how that 'me' managed to bear it, and yet I also do at the same time..." Trailing off, 'Touka' shook her head as she looked back towards Vent once again. "In any case, things apparently didn't go as smoothly as the mastermind, likely the Deity of Sin, had hoped since after the fusion process completed itself... something tried to wrestle control over us from within our very beings, whispering things to us to try and make us 'surrender' to its will. Like a Virus of sorts or a hacker trying to get into a piece of hardware. A lot of us fell to that corruption, but some of us managed to resist it and escape their clutches. We've been fighting back ever since, about 5 years now, but those that 'accepted' this corruption have been enhanced by it, so far when you fought against Seidou, Yamori and Tatara NEITHER of them used that corrupted energy against you, but since you have that Kakuja of yours now that may change."
As she finished speaking, Touka then proceeded to pull something else out of the bag, though Vent made sure to be aware of the way her hand trembled as it reached inwards, telling him that whatever she had been looking for did NOT bring many happy memories to her. A couple seconds later, Touka pulled that something out of the Bag, then held it over her lap so he could see it. "This here... I managed to take this when I fled from ASIC's clutches." she explained, presenting a crimson coloured Disk with a black pupil-like centre. Almost INSTANTLY Vent tensed, feeling his inner Ghoul screaming and howling at the very sight of it which did not bode well for his mental state. Any moment his Kakuja could activate just from this thing's presence, and he did NOT like it. However, Touka kept his focus by explaining about the item. "Its a Ghoul Disk, one which seems to have the Data of a particularly powerful Ghoul downloaded inside of it. We don't know much about how they actually work, but one thing I did overhear some of the ASIC Grunts involved with their production say was that the moment they are near the counterpart of the Ghoul in this world, they will show a reaction."
"So, THIS thing, huh...?" Vent mumbled, looking at the Disk whilst doing what he could to restrain the urge to rip that Disk to pieces with his Kagune. Whatever Ghoul's data had been downloaded onto that Disk REALLY irritated him for some reason, but he didn't know why. "Yeah, this thing doesn't seem so unsettling... So why haven't you destroyed it yet? Also, can only Ghouls be downloaded into these Disks or can Investigators also be included?" He questioned since destroying this Disk sounded like it should be top priority, however he also wanted to know if there was a chance that Non-Ghoul characters could make an appearance in this world like Suzuya or normal CCG Investigators. If they could, then he'd like to know how.
Once she (to his relief) put the Disk away, Touka responded to his question. "Yeah, we've seen a few of the CCG Investigators appear on the enemy's side, corrupted by whatever made those Ghoul Disks. It seems that it just has to be someone from our world, no matter their background, roles etc can have aspects of their lives downloaded as data onto these Disks to be absorbed into their counterparts. However, in these cases its much harder for them to be controlled by this 'presence' which has led to speculation that its easier for Ghouls to be corrupted by this presence than humans due to their bestial instincts. One Eyed Ghouls like Seidou likely stand a better chance at escaping the influence, but in his case..." yeah she didn't need to say much more there, since the crazy portion of his life was downloaded and inserted into his counterpart, it must have been made easier for the Deity of Sin to corrupt him, likely implying that ASIC was aware of this weakness and thus tried to make up for it somehow.
Then, something came to Vent's mind that he quickly put into words. "Then what about Underling? She had a Ghoul Disk absorbed into her, right?" He questioned, frowning since he didn't recall seeing ANYONE like her in the TG Manga. Did she have a counterpart in that world too?
"Ah, in Underling's case, we managed to glean reports of them trying to make 'Blank' Ghoul Disks, ones made from converting the data of a specific Kakuhou, using corrupted Ghouls as a base, into the Disk then implanting it into a host. This seems to result in the birth of One-Eyed Ghouls, but the information we have on them is sketchy at best. We DO know its essentially the same thing but without the memories and the identity crisis shit, but its only in the early stages hence why only she has been the one to become one so far. However, how long this will remain so will likely be an undetermined factor, and for your other question about this we HAVE tried to destroy it ourselves, but something about the Ghoul Disks themselves prevents us from destroying them." she explained, releasing a single wing and string with it. The moment the Kagune itself neared it... Vent noticed what seemed to be some sort of data-made barrier surround the Disk itself like some kind of firewall, thus proving Touka's point. "See?"
Vent did indeed see, but that didn't have to mean that he liked what he saw. 'So we have some Disks which function similarly to the Fate Class Cards only with aspects of TG Characters that take over their Gamindustri counterparts, some 'Blank' Types which can potentially turn normal Gamindustrians into One-Eyed Ghouls with some... unknown potential risks, and lastly some sort of hidden war between ASIC and the summoned TG Characters whom escaped the Deity of Sin's enslavement. This... this actually explains a few things like why only Underling has been sent to destroy the Mascots, their forces are preoccupied with this little situation, not to mention it explains why these guys are here in the first place. Gamindustri has its own versions of these Characters that are being taken over by Ghoul Disks containing data from specific points of the lives of their TG Counterparts... not your typical isekai then. For some reason I feel relieved about that and I don't like it...'
If there was ONE thing which this information changed, it was the scope of the situation. Instead of it being ASIC being the top dog and them little mice trying to stay out of their watchful gazes like it had been since the journey had begun (that time in Lastation where he had to avoid the whole street filled with ASIC thugs with his companion at the time came to mind), it now looked more like a hidden underground war between two opposing factions. It actually reminded him of the ongoing war feature of a Game he once played called Armoured Core: Verdict Day with ASIC being one faction, him and the CPU Candidates along with their followers another, and now these guys. They couldn't move the same way that they used to anymore, not with all this information given to them... Vent could only IMAGINE what the girls had been like when they first found out about all this.
There were also other questions too, like HOW the Deity of Sin managed to learn and get to that world in the first place. The Multiverse theory WAS a proven one now after all.
Still, their mission remained unchanged, they had to get the Mascots help to rescue the CPUs, THAT would be their primary goal for the time being. Stopping ASIC came afterwards since in the event that this rescue attempt succeeded, THAT would be where the real battles would start to begin. ASIC would start cracking down on their activities, Vent would be willing to bet, not to mention the whole stuff with the Ghoul Disks meant that he would be fighting against Characters from his favourite Manga. He could hardly repress the shudders at the very thought of it, since the more he thought about it the more likely he would end up fighting powerhouses like Tatara, Kuzen, ETO, ARIMA... or worse, the TRUE One-Eyed King, Kaneki Ken. He honestly felt goddamn TERRIFIED at the thought of even ENCOUNTERING those big shots in the TG World, much less fighting them. Not only that but should they meet those kinds of people, Vent knew for a fact that the girls would be shredded to pieces before they could even blink, which made it his job to not only prepare them, but to also solve his Kakuja problem... which would likely mean he'd have to start mass Abnormal hunting soon.
A long road awaited him thanks to this information, and there would be a high likelihood that he could die by the end of it with the jaws of death waiting for even the tiniest slip-up...
But Vent felt willing to goddamn try...
no, not just to try...
he would try...
to WIN.
Chapter End!
FINALLY! The Lowee Arc is FINISHED!
This took WAY longer than I expected to get out, probably due to the abundance of stories I'm doing, but hey at least I can end this arc on a more satisfying note. Speaking of that though, a lot of info was revealed in this chapter, things which... I'm betting NONE of you would have seen coming. You thought that this was just some normal Isekai series? Hah, don't make me laugh.
This is something that I actually only recently thought of though, on a more serious note. Instead of it just being one big crossover event, why not make it a bit more intriguing and a bit more original with plenty of potential plot points to be explored? The Ghoul Disks themselves are one such thread that I'll get into later, likely after the CPUs are rescued but suffice to say that the Fate series was my inspiration for this. For those who don't get it, think of them like class cards, only personalized for the Gamindustri counterparts of TG Characters that the Deity of Sin is using to recruit some... powerful allies. How they came to be, and what their ultimate fate is, is still up to me to reveal, so look forward to those details in future chapters.
Plus the whole reviving thing was admittingly a bit of a stretch, but I remember the Four Felons being revived by their Goddess so I just made it to where she was capable of doing the same to the members of the dead. Hey if she can infect life with her influence maybe this can be possible too? Though how she managed to GET to the TG World remains a mystery FOR NOW. Hehehehe…
Also, this is how I'll incorporate TG Characters without it being the cliché isekai to another world scenario. I actually haven't seen something like this done very much, if at all, so it'll at least be SOMEWHAT original.
With regards to Underling I wondered if she could have had a TG Counterpart in the series that went unnoticed (kinda fitting, if one thinks about it) but Its been mentioned that the Disk she'd used was a Prototype and since this has been happening for a while now, it didn't seem like it would make much sense. Hence I went with the 'Blank' Disk option, think of them like more versatile versions of the Ghoul Disks which were made using them as a Base, plus thinking of it in terms of hardware, software and viruses feels more like a Neptunia kind of thing. This IS meant to be a crossover after all.
Hope you guys like, and if you want questions answered PM me or leave a review.
Peace Out!
