Aegis Island
The First Unit rose immediately to Schicksal's challenge, springing to action with God Arcs at the ready. Following Soma's lead, the squadron fell quickly into line behind him. In Utsugi's absence, the group would typically follow Ichiro, as he was the squad's current Captain and possessed the most leadership experience in the field… but this was no ordinary battle and their opponent no ordinary target. This was a foe unlike any Aragami they ever faced before. It was the Arda Nova, a humanmade Aragami of Johannes von Schicksal's creation. It was the very being the North Americans feared, a sentient monster. An intelligent human mind with the power of a God.
Most importantly, it was Soma's very own father. Who better to lead than him?
How fitting that Ichiro would end up here. That through all of Fenrir's uncertainty, their true enemy would be a leader of the organization itself. The very thought brought a bitter smirk to his face. In the end, it was humanity that would bring about their own destruction… while the object of their concern remained missing, wandering solitarily in the wild, possibly never to return. Ichiro had to fight back the urge to laugh at the irony of the entire situation.
"Holy crap!" Kota exclaimed, tumbling backward from a lethal claw as the Goddess rushed toward them.
With the Arda initially targeting Soma, the gunner had taken the opportunity to switch bullets, in the hopes of pinpointing an elemental weakness. But the Aragami had noticed him and changed course, twisting through the air and soaring downward. He squeaked as it's blade-like appendage nearly separated his head from his shoulders. As the edge of his bangs fluttered freely towards the ground, his eyes trembled at the harrowing realization of just close he had come to certain death.
And the Arda wasn't finished. With Kota's preparation successfully interrupted, it turned and lifted its arms skyward, an eerie hue overtaking her form.
"Move!" Soma's warning came only a second too soon as she goddess thrust her arms forward, unleashing a series of vibrant pinks rays of light that traveled rapidly through the open air. He growled slightly, taking note of the shade. So the Aragami wielded divine element. How predictable.
Taking advantage of his momentary pause, Sakuya took aim and fired towards their target, hoping to get a good shot with a blaze bullet. Her shot missed. Predicting her movement, the Goddess lifted into the air, letting the bullet pass underneath. Her face pulled into a scowl as Johannes turned towards her and rushed forward terrifying speed.
Unprepared for the swiftness of such a large opponent, the Vice Commander scrambled to evade the incoming attack… but to no avail. With a human mind, the Arda was capable of anticipating her movements and followed her, shifting its trajectory to cut off her escape. The last image she saw before what was sure to be a nasty strike was a black mass leaping to her aid.
Ichiro threw himself between the two of them, shield raised, and absorbed the blow in her stead. He grunted slightly as the force knocked him backward, nearly throwing him off of his feet. He hadn't been expecting such a powerful strike. As the woman behind him had been unprepared for their speed, the veteran was unprepared for its power. With the God behind her, the Goddess's elemental threat was paired with immense physical strength. Both God Eaters were caught off guard by the revelation…
… and were surprised by what followed.
In a chained motion, the Goddess dropped to the floor, limbs outstretched in a motion that was highly familiar to him. Claws radiating with divine energy left Ichiro only seconds to react as she spun, firing bullets and sweeping with her razor sharp talons. Leaping upward, he evaded the strike… but was left open for the attack that followed. The God came down as the goddess rose, striking the ground with powerful fists and sending a shockwave that tossed him through the air.
Within moments, Ichiro found himself sliding across the metal ground, his shield forcibly deactivating under the strain. Groaning, he quickly clambered to his feet, gripping his blade. A scowl began to form as he gritted his teeth in frustration. It seemed that the Goddess and the God could fight separately as well as a cohesive unit, one with swift deadly strikes and the other with crushing brute force. Their pairing made for a lethal amalgamation, allowing for sweeping combination attacks and rapid evasion. It was a highly effective strategy… so much so that it was almost reminiscent of fighting an Aragami equivalent of Neo and himself. This was going to be a problem.
With Ichiro now the focus, Alisa and Kota took their opportunity, launching fire and ice bullets towards the God. As the larger and slower of the pair, it had less maneuverability, making it an ideal target. Temporarily distracted with its back turned, it wasn't prepared for the incoming assault and took all of the projectiles full force… but they barely had any effect.
"What?!" Alisa gasped, his eyes growing wide as her bullets practically bounced off of the Aragami's iron hide.
"Hahaha! Surprised, Amiella?" Johanne's taunting voice boomed through the area as the Arda turned, rushing forward and forcing her from offense to defense to avoid his counterstrike. Their bullets had done next to nothing, quickly ruling out the efficacy of their chosen elements in this battle. The Aragami was resistant. Wonderful.
Narrowly missing the blonde, it used its momentum to carry forward, twisting as it turned. Instead, it now targeted Kota who was already changing his bullets. Carefully observing their movements, he took aim and fired. With startling accuracy, he fired a shock bullet directly at the incoming Goddess. Swerving slightly, she was able to avoid the brunt of the force, instead taking the shot to the shoulder. Letting out a startled shriek, she glared daggers at him, continuing forward.
Alisa blanched at the display, her mouth nearly falling open at the successful Neo-esque stunt. She had always thought the two of them spent their days goofing off and binge-watching Bugarally. While this was primarily true, Neo had also apparently been giving him pointers in their spare time. Occasionally sneaking off to the training room, Kota had been taking lessons from the Den's most skilled marksman… and it had paid off.
"Whoa!" Kota quickly backpedaled, rolling away from incoming swipe as the two rapidly closed the distance. He shuddered, cringing as he came very close, once again, to being sliced cleanly in two.
From behind him, Soma and Ichiro closed in with a strategy of their own, leaping into the air with their buster blades for an aerial strike. If elemental bullets wouldn't help them against the God, then perhaps melee would be a better option. They would bring down their blades upon him, knocking him from the sky and creating an opening… but their plan would never come to fruition. With an angry roar, the God and Goddess summoned their power combined and surrounded themselves in a pillar of divine light. Caught by surprise, both veterans took the blast full force. Their bodies hit the beams and flew backward, crashing to the floor below. He had predicted their movements once again.
"My foolish son…" The Aragami laughed, twisting through the air to evade four incoming bullets.
"Damn you!" Soma snarled, leaping to his feet and rolling away from an incoming fist. Growling, he lifted his weapon again, brandishing it threateningly as his father continued to laugh. Beside him, Ichiro echoed his irritation, eyes narrowing as he analyzed the situation. Gathering all that they had learned, it was clear to him that this battle was going nowhere fast.
From what they had seen so far, they could deduce that the God was resistant to nearly every element. The Goddess, by contrast, was possibly the opposite, as Kota's bullet had clearly had an effect. But the two of them operated in tandem, each working to protect the other in a fighting style that they had become all too familiar with. The God worked to shield and protect the Goddess, meaning that she was likely the more fragile of the two. But much like Ichiro's female companion, she was much too nimble and agile to actually strike. Both of their blades were too heavy and slow to come anywhere near her. Even with Alisa's long sword, it would be difficult to land a strike without risk of damage from the Goddess's counterpart.
The gunners weren't fairing much better. Kota's shot had revealed a crucial weakness, but there was currently no way to exploit it. The Goddess was too fast for their aim, and all but one bullet had missed their mark. Her weakness to elements meant little if they couldn't hit her and their speed made it impossible to keep a safe distance. As it stood, they were stonewalled as badly as the blade-wielding veterans.
The Arda Nova's versatile design allowed it to excel at both close and long-range combat, making almost all of their strategies ineffective. They couldn't hit the Goddess with range and with nearly impregnable defenses, getting too close was a dangerous option. Attacking the God resulted in a counterstrike from the quick-footed Goddess but focusing on the Goddess herself put them at risk from retaliation from the God.
Without a burst, it would be nigh impossible to keep up with them, and with their solid defenses, devouring was unlikely to be successful. Even with the flames of rage burning in his heart, Soma had to give credit to his father. He had created the perfect weapon. It was stronger than them, faster than them, and human-controlled on top of it all.
They were at a standstill.
But they couldn't give up. The fate of the entire world was literally in their hands. Roaring, Soma rushed forward, challenging his father once again in close combat. Johannes answered the challenge, blocking his strike with an arm and punching him with the other, throwing him back to the ground below.
From the sides, Ichiro and Alisa tried for a sneak attack, jaws opened for a devouring strike. But he predicted their movements and they were quickly thwarted as the Goddess lifted and spun, throwing them to the wind with a well-placed sweep. Alisa shrieked as the goddesses talons tore into her skin, leaving a frightening wound along her abdomen. Ichiro growled, receiving a claw to his leg, rendering him temporarily immobile. It was only Sakuya and Kota's quick-thinking support that prevented both of them from being incapacitated entirely.
"So… Saku… hear… one!"
Their radios hummed with static, grabbing everyone's attention as Hibari's panicked voice rang in their ears.
"Hibari?" Sakuya answered her, quickly rolling to the side to avoid yet another incoming strike. "Hibari, what's wrong?"
"Guys! Can… me?! Com…"
"We can't hear you! There's some kind of interference. Something's disrupting the signal!" Alisa shouted, throwing up her buckler to block an incoming laser.
"Guys… listen… it's… you…"
"Watch it!" Soma shouted, lifting his tower and leaping forward to shield Kota from another swing.
"Guys… Come in! Can… hear me?!" Hibari's distorted voice finally reached them, the static roaring behind her.
"What?!" Soma's eyes narrowed, his ears ringing with the sound. Whatever was interfering with the signal was beginning to aggravate him.
"Yes, we hear you. What's the matter?" Ichiro addressed her, leaping into the fight to get in another swing.
"Thank goodness, I… got through. Listen… you guys… get… of there!"
"Uh… kind of busy at the moment! You know, trying to save the world and all…" Kota's sarcastic remark was quickly cut short as he was knocked off his feet.
"There's a… with you… it's… in danger!"
"Tell us something we don't know!" Soma snapped back at her, his patience reaching its limit. They didn't have time for this.
"Listen to me! The… detected… Aragami… Oracle… off the charts… your way!"
"Hibari -"
"… coming!" With a final buzz of static, the audio faded as the radio turned entirely to noise. Their communication was lost.
"Fantastic!" Soma practically snarled, lifting his blade. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?!"
"I don't know, man…" Kota muttered sadly, his resolve beginning to wane. "Where's Neo when you need her…"
Speak of the devil, and she shall appear.
"JOHANNES!" Neo's voice tore through the clearing, cutting through the air and threatening to tear their eardrums in two.
Every occupant in the room paused in utter shock, caught completely off guard. The Arda Nova itself paused for a moment mid-strike, startled by the suddenness of the sound… which proved to be a dangerous mistake. Leaping from one of the Nova's massive strands, Neo took aim and fired a blaze bullet from the sky behind him. It soared true, bushing beneath his raised arm and striking the Goddess who shrieked with a startled hiss. She shifted her weapon as she landed on the ground behind him, gripping her scythe. Neo had finally returned… and she was beyond livid.
She was volcanic.
"N-Neo?! Holy… what are you doing here?!" The surprise evident in Kota's voice was matched by everyone's expressions. While they were more than relieved to see her alive and well, her presence at Aegis was definitely cause for concern.
But Kota never received an answer. Neo ignored him, her eyes fixed entirely on the Aragami before her.
"What is the meaning of this?!" She bellowed, her eyes burning with fury.
"I am surprised to see you here, Neo… and not aboard the Ark." Johannes muttered at her, disregarding her obvious rage.
"Neither are they. Answer the question." Her voice lowered dangerously as she lifted her scythe in warning.
"Your friends were given safe passage and immunity, as you requested. They are here of their own volition."
"Wait, what?!" Alisa couldn't hide her surprise, staring at them with utter disbelief. They had been given passage… because of Neo?
"Final warning, Johannes." Her voice lowered even further, dropping to a low grumble as her fingers flexed around her handle.
"A necessary sacrifice for the preservation of mankind. Surely you knew this when you offered your assistance."
"Neo…?" Sakuya's voice trembled. Assistance? What was he talking about?
"You were supposed to save them…"
"And I offered them salvation. A small price for the Singularity."
"What?!" Soma's voice interrupted, his conflict with his father entirely forgotten as his mind processed their words. He felt heart turn to ice as his gaze hardened, glaring murderous daggers at the woman he had once called his friend.
Kota and Sakuya gasped, staring incredulously at their comrade. Alisa simply hung her head. They couldn't believe it. They didn't want to believe it. Neo had betrayed them. Betrayed Shio. Alisa knew how badly she was hurting… but she never thought that she would do something like this. Ichiro only stared, his mind racing as he carefully watched her movements. Something wasn't right.
"How dare you…" The New-Type stepped forward, her golden eye glowing threateningly as her body began to radiate. Her skin shaded red and her hands trembled with unfettered rage.
"Are you angry, Neo? Disappointed? Do you mourn the loss of that creature?"
"Her name is Shio… you lying, traitorous wretch!" Neo roared back at him, God Arc raised. Within the moments, the battle resumed as she rushed forward, sweeping her weapon as she passed. Johannes grunted as the blade sliced across the God's arm, leaving a red line in his wake. Turning, she rushed again, shifting her grip. His arms lifted to guard against her as she raised her scythe.
But it was a feint.
Her grip loosened, letting her scythe fall with a clatter to the floor. Rather than launch her upward, her bent legs collapsed, dropping her low to the ground. He had miscalculated her true target. With no time react, the Arda roared as Neo slipped beneath them and discharged. The Goddess shrieked, taking to the air and moving away as the metal floor amplified her electrical currents. Neo followed after them, sparks coursing along her body as she continued to Burst. Having spent the past week doing almost nothing but feeding, her cells were overflowing with energy.
With increased speed, Neo challenged the Goddess, refusing to give her even a moment's pause. The Goddess maneuvered around her, using her own quickness to guard against her. Her efforts proved futile as the God Eater danced around them, needling her with strikes. Her foe was swift, but Neo's small, nimbler body was faster. From afar, Soma blinked, crashing back to reality. Much as he wanted to throttle the New-Type for her treachery, he wouldn't be able to do so in the midst of a much more important battle. His confrontation would have to wait. He would get his answers later. For now, he would focus on the silver lining. With her, they now had a way to exploit their enemy's weakness.
"Let's go!" Soma charged forward, reentering the battle with his team behind him.
At Level 2 Burst, Neo was more than agile enough to keep the Goddess at bay. Swift and precise, the New-Type kept glued to her female target, harassing and pursuing the Goddess without mercy. God Arc left behind, she had engaged in a full-scale hand-to-hand engagement with the other woman. Using her razor sharp nails and quick fists in conjunction with her electricity, she left the pair reeling, forcing the God to focus primarily on defense as he tried to rid his Goddess of the violet nuisance. And in doing so, she had their full attention. The First Unit finally had their opening.
Johannes growled, twisting and turning around as he found himself in the center of a four-way assault. Soma, Alisa, and Ichiro took point, focusing their attentions against the God component, leaving the Goddess to their teammate. They were careful to keep their battle in the sky, trying to avoid their New-Type companion as much as possible. All three of them knew, unbeknownst to their other two comrades, that their God Arcs posed as much threat to Neo as they did to the Arda Nova.
"Damn you all!" Johannes snapped, twisting the God's body in a clothesline spin, knocking Ichiro away. With one body thrown aside, an opening was left for the two gunners who rushed along the sides, taking aim and firing their bullets, fire and ice, toward the Arda Nova. The first two hit their mark, striking the God's chest and arms as Soma and Alisa passed by, each taking an arm as their weapons devoured. Below, Sakuya's bullets hit their mark. Two struck the Goddess, striking and damaging her hair… but the last struck Neo.
"Aggh!" Neo shrieked in pain, stumbling backward. She gripped her arm furiously as the flames licked against her skin.
"Neo - gyah!" Momentarily distracted, Alisa was batted away by an incoming fist, tossing her radiating body to the floor.
Left to his own devices, Soma narrowly dodged an incoming swipe from the Goddess, his movement enhanced in Level 1 Burst. Quickly climbing to her feet, Alisa shifted forms, loading a recovery bullet for the other New-Type. She fired and hit her target, enveloping Neo in a ray of green light and easing searing pain in her arm.
Reinvigorated, she shook off the pain and leapt forward, tackling the Goddess and swiping her nails across her face as she pushed herself further, entering a Level 3 Burst.
What…?
Soma paused as a shiver ran down his spine. He could feel the air around him growing colder, raising goosebumps across his skin. Was this another of his father's tricks? It had to be. Where else would that glowing light be coming from…?
The realization came too late.
"Neo, move!" Soma shouted to the New-Type, trying to warn her of the incoming threat.
"Look out!" Rushing towards them, Ichiro echoed the veteran's warning as the ground beneath her began to glow.
But it was for naught. Without her God Arc, Neo was left completely defenseless, left with only her speed to get her out of the way as light surrounded them. Screeching in agony, the small woman was thrown to the side, sliding across the metal surface as the divine rays burned her skin.
"Neo!" Ichiro rushed towards her, his eyes filled with worry as she groaned listlessly on the ground.
The force of the blast knocked Soma off balance as well, sending him tumbling backwards onto the floor.
"Hahaha! Still you fight… still you push forward though your efforts are in vain!" Johannes's pompous laughter filled the room as he lifted the injured Goddess into his arms. She crossed her legs, sitting on his hands like an armchair. Ichiro quickly gathered Neo in his arms and leapt to the side in a single smooth motion. Without knowing the power of the incoming attack, raising his tower would risk overloading and deactivating his shield function. And a divine blast of such magnitude would be deadly for Neo. He wasn't willing to take that chance. He had just gotten her back.
"Ugh…" Neo moaned quietly in his arms as he held her close to his chest. From the center, Johanne's laughter rang out again, earning an angry glare from every pair of eyes in the room.
"Fools… turning against your own. A foolish endeavor… now suffer the consequence of your actions. The bitter poison of your defeat."
"You're the traitor!" Ichiro shouted, his own temper beginning to flare. "You betrayed humanity… your people… your own son!"
"It was his own naivete that betrayed him. He opened his heart to that little monster, sealing his fate to die along with her. All of you -"
"She was not a monster!" Neo's piercing voice cut through the clearing, startling her companion as she wrestled free of his grasp. Stepping forward, she approached him, her lips twisting menacingly into a wicked smile. "Heheheh… but I am."
Ichiro felt his body shiver unwittingly against the bitter chill as his eyes narrowed. From the moment of her arrival, he had been watching her closely, his gaze following her every movement as she danced across the battlefield. While her mannerisms looked benign at first glance, there was something malevolent lurking beneath the surface. Even in Burst, Neo's fighting style was careful, calculated, and pointed. Now, she fought wildly, like a feral animal, using nails, blade, legs, and anything else at her disposal. At first, he had thought her carelessness a side effect of rage. But now as he felt the familiar aura radiating from her, he realized too late that he had been terribly wrong.
"Neo -"
"Silence!" Neo's voice punctured his heart like a knife, the sinister presence returning to her.
They lied to you. They betrayed you. As humans always do.
"I have had just about enough of you. Of all of you!" Neo continued, walking forward as Soma engaged his father once again in battle.
They will never accept you. Take your place.
"You claim yourself a savior, yet you ravage and destroy. You think yourself the solution, but you are the problem."
Let go. Kill. Devour.
"You eye us with scorn, yet dare to call yourself just? After everything you've done?! To him! To her! To me! No… no more."
Kill them! Kill them all!
"You want to see a monster, Johannes?! Hahahaha! I'll show you one… and it will be the last thing you see before I drag you with me into the gates of hell!"
As her body began to radiate an ominous hue, her guardian realized too late what was wrong. Her shackles were gone. She was no longer restrained.
"Don't you dare!" Ichiro rushed forward as her eye began to glow. His hand reached out to her… so close… "Gyagh!"
His approach was halted and quickly reversed as the ground beneath him began to radiate with a familiar hue. A bolt of lightning erupted from the ground, sending a wave of current through his body, throwing him backwards.
"Hamasaki!" Soma lifted his shield, blocking an incoming attack.
"Neo!" Alisa called out her, her eyes trembling with terror. A sense of dread washed over her as reality began to set in. Foolishly, she hoped that her voice would reach her… but it didn't. She was too far gone.
"S-Stop… don't d-do this…" With trembling fingers, Ichiro slowly lifted his arm. His vision shifted and swayed, trying to focus on the woman before him as his vision split into three.
"I'm sorry, Ichiro… for all that I have taken. All that I have done. I tried so hard to be what you wanted… but I couldn't."
"Neo… p-please…" With his final pleas unheeded, his heart shattered into dust. Neo was gone.
"Holy!" Kota jumped, as Neo finally erupted.
The crimson hue darkened, radiating from her body in violent waves. It grew brighter… and brighter… then it changed. Engulfed in cerulean hue, Neo roared, her voice calling to the heavens as her cells destabilized. Alisa watched in pained horror as the inevitable began to unfold. There was nothing more that she could do but hope. Hope beyond hope that she would remember her promise.
The blue light danced across her skin as her garment hummed, radiating with power as her Oracle cells reached their breaking point.
Then it began to unravel.
From his hiding place, Paylor's eyes grew wide, using every ounce of his willpower not to approach for a closer look. Sakuya's mouth fell open as she watched the situation unfold. Everything made sense. Small, subtle details were now glaring signs as their months together became crystal clear. Her answers had been in front of her all along.
. . .
"Oh!" She exclaimed, suddenly catching Reaper's attention. "Your scarf. It's getting all wet." she observed, noticing the rain droplets rolling off of her accessory. It was an unusual sight. While it didn't appear to be waterproof, a good portion of the water was running off of the fabric rather than soaking through. The material seemed strangely familiar to her, as though she had seen it somewhere before. She wondered what it felt like to the touch. Lost in thought, Sakuya unconsciously lifted her hand towards it.
. . .
With her scarf sparking violently, Reaper unleashed a violent shock against its unbound cells, effectively stunning it with its own charge. It resisted most of the shock, but its momentary pause was enough. She leapt from its crown, switching places with Soma who had lunged forward, buster blade raised. As he brought his heavy blade down upon the monster's head, Kota and Sakuya unloaded their magazines, in that order. Kota's blasting bullets struck the Vajra's front leg, causing it to stumble, and exposing its chest. Sakuya's piercing bullets followed up on Kota's opening, tearing through a weak point in the creature's torso.
. . .
"While Shio is certainly capable of learning at an impressive rate, it seems that that speed is amplified specifically when working with Neo. I believe this is due to a phenomenon known as 'mirroring.'"
"You see, Aragami cannot speak. Well, besides Shio of course. Yet they communicate with one another, no different than you and I. Take the Ogretail, for example. Each Aragami functions as an individual lifeform. They possess no social structure and yet, they are capable of hunting effectively as a pack unit. I have reason to believe that this is occurrence is one in the same."
. . .
It didn't make any sense. She was aware that Neo had saved her life. And while she was grateful for her assistance, a part of her was deeply disturbed. She never lifted God Arc. She hadn't even tried to fight. She just stood there, defending her through sheer force of will. It was almost as though she knew that the creature would pause. That the Prithvi Mata wouldn't target her.
. . .
Neo shot Kanon her fiercest glare as she prodded her, for the third time that night, about removing her garment. She insisted that her scarf, beautiful as it was, was simply too limiting to her options as far as accessorizing. Still, she adamantly refused her offer each and every time. True as her complaints may be, there was simply no way that she was taking it off.
"Just try it?"
"No."
"Just once."
"I can't."
"Aw, why? I just want to see…"
"I told you, I can't."
. . .
"Human? But… um… but Neo is friend!"
. . .
Sakuya shook her head in utter disbelief. It was so obvious she couldn't believe she hadn't made the connection before. She had read over it countless times in the underground database, yet never once thought to compare the two. In part, because she didn't fully believe claims. Such a tale seemed so farfetched at the time. Something so exaggerated and unreal that it could never hold more than a grain of veracity… yet there she stood before her. They were telling the truth. The stories were real. The experiment was real. She was real.
The second survivor of the Managarm Project… and the last.
The Next-Generation Enhanced Operative.
The Dark Child.
As Neo roared and sank to the ground, Soma had enough. Turning his attention he shouted to her companion, who was still vibrating helplessly on the ground, currents coursing through every inch of his body. "What the hell, Hamasaki?! What's happening to her?!"
Ichiro didn't answer, his eyes fixated on the radiating woman in front of him. All of the years that they had spent together. All of the treatments, medication, and testing. The stabilization and therapy. They had all been for nothing. In the end, he couldn't protect her. The one person that he had wanted to save more than anyone. She was lost to him. Oguruma was right. He had been a fool to think that he could stop the inevitable. He had failed his task once before… this time, he wouldn't be able to. Why had it come to this? Why?
"Hamasaki!"
The morose thoughts swirling wildly in his head came to screeching halt. Soma's voice cut through the din, bringing him back to Earth with a crash. Summoning all of his strength, he slowly turned his shaking head towards the other veteran.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Sighing, Ichiro turned his head back towards Neo. He watched her body tremble wildly as she finally gave in, letting go of her inhibitions and giving into her rage. Then he lowered his eyes to the floor and spoke, his voice so low that even Soma's ears could barely register it. A single utterance. A single word.
"…Overdrive."
At long last, she reached her limit, her rampaging cells boiling over and pushed her beyond her limits into a Level 4 Burst. Her body shook as the Oracle cells took over, rising to the surface and staining her brown skin. Her nails mutated, sharpening into pointed claw-like extensions. Her forearms darkened, turning black as coal. Her scarf, opened, revealing in its true form that it wasn't a scarf at all, but appendages worn carefully around her neck. The blue folds opened and billowed, hardening as the Oracle-infused blood pumped through them. Her golden eye shined clearly through her violet bangs as they began to shift. Bleeding down from the roots like liquid, her strands slowly bleached, turning her violet hair into a pale silver.
And when she opened her mouth in a feral smile, her teeth showed, the canines extended beyond any normal human length.
Soma had barely an instant to leap out of the way as Neo charged, tearing across the landscape like a streaking white bullet. He could hear the current sparking freely with every step as she crossed the distance in a few bounds, leaping toward Johannes like a crazed animal. The God lifted its arms, trying to defend the Goddess from her onslaught, but it proved to be an error in judgment. One that would quickly prove fatal.
With his offered arm, she latched on, digging her claws into him and erupting in a massive discharge that threatened to engulf them both. The Goddess, caught in the blast, screamed and fell from her protector's arms, lowering to the ground. With her no longer airborne, the Goddess was right where she wanted her. Tearing her claws from his limb, Neo fell to the ground and unleashed hell upon her.
The female half spun, bobbing and weaving beneath the other half, trying desperately to evade her relentless strikes. But she proved little match for her in this state, Neo's speed outmatching even the fastest of known Aragami in the land. Her deadly claws, designed only to tear and rend, swiped across her body, ripping into her and unbinding her cells. Her screech echoed through the clearing as her strands fell apart at the seams.
But even then, Neo didn't let up.
Her claws came forward again, threatening to shred the Goddess into ribbons… but Johannes had no plan to let that happen. Neo's angry snarl reached their ears as her target vanished. The others watched as the God lifted the Goddess and swung her, similar to the move that Ichiro and Neo had performed countless times. With her very body used a weapon, the Goddess was both temporarily safe from harm and dangerous. The New-Type leapt backward from an incoming claw, hissing as the blade tore across her chest.
Crimson fell to the floor from her gaping wound, streaming only momentarily as it quickly began to close. Then, she retaliated, launching herself high into the air above them. The air surrounding them plummeted as the water droplets began to materialize. Then, she descended… but she didn't land on either of them. Instead, she drove her fist into the ground in a shockwave. And from the center erupted a spike of solid ice. The Goddess let out an ear-shattering screech as the blade pierced her body, running her through.
"No!" Johannes roared, lifting a fist into the air.
Time slowed for a moment as the incoming threat descended towards her, quickly entering her line of vision. But having exhausted herself from such an outburst, Neo was halted. And that second of pause was all he needed to collide his massive fist with her. With the hand the size of Neo's entire body, she was thrown clear across the arena, slamming her against a metal wall, denting the surface behind her before collapsing to the ground.
With his threat neutralized, the Arda Nova built charge, a blinding purple light forming from its center. Neo held still for only a few moments, the world coming back into focus as she regained her bearings. Smiling, she crouched, readying her claws once more. But with Neo safely out of the way, Soma had no intention of waiting patiently for the outcome.
The veteran God Eater was already in motion, zipping across the clearing with his God Arc raised. Lifting his blade, he leapt into the air, eyes blazing with rage. In that moment, it didn't matter how angry he was with the woman before them. How hurt and betrayed he felt. He would not lose another person. Not on this day. Following his lead, the rest of the unit followed, their own weapons already trained on the damaged Goddess who was slowly rising from the ground. Johannes took aim, his furious voice taunting her in her final moments.
"Fear not, Dark Child. You will soon join your precious kin."
"Like hell she will!" Soma descended from the sky, his Burst coursing through his veins. His Evil One thrummed with power as he brought it down, driving it into the back of the God. The force knocked him off balance, skewing the beam's trajectory along the ground and upward towards the ceiling, ripping through the supports.
Below, three waves of bullets soared from all directions, engulfing the vulnerable goddess in vibrant light as the shells exploded against her body. Off balance, his power waning, Johannes sank to the ground. He turned to face his son, who's blade was already raised for a crushing strike. Without a single parting word, Soma swung, bringing down his God Arc in a charged crush, tearing through the center of the God.
Neo skidded mid-charge to avoid the beam as it flew off course. In his attempt to help her, he had unintentionally endangered her… but it wasn't the divine light that threatened her well-being. As the supports burned under the laser's light, they came loose, raining metal, stone, and debris from above. And in avoiding the incoming rays of light, she was unable to also avoid the falling structure. The portion collapsed, trapping her beneath.
"Neo!" Ichiro crawled forward, willing his trembling body to move as the effects of the shock faded.
"Oh crap!" Kota quickly shifted his God Arc, loading blast bullets to free his teammate.
Alisa was prepared to follow suit but paused as the Arda Nova began to move once again. Startled, Kota turned his attention back to their foe, his mouth hanging open. That thing was still alive?
Soma's eyes narrowed as his own thoughts began to mirror Kota's. Just what was it going to take to bring this beast down?
"Fools… I won't fall to you… I refuse to fall. You turned your back on power… on humanity! Blood traitors! Deceivers all!"
But despite his defiant words, Schicksal could fight no more. His strength was exhausted. Slowly, the Goddess shuddered, faltered, and fell to the ground. Following, the God collapsed to the ground behind her, quaking the ground beneath. The First Unit members sighed, exhausted, battered, and bruised. With the help of Neo's added strength, they had finally managed to put an end to the director's rampage.
At that thought, the team quickly returned their attention to the pile of debris once more, where Ichiro was swinging his God Arc, tearing apart her confines. But it seemed that luck was simply not their side that day. For the battle was won… but not the war.
"W-What?!" Kota exclaimed, God Arc in hand and shifting his eyes once more as the ground began to tremble.
The Nova had awakened.