Hello Author here, I'm going to share the process of writing this particular chapter because I just looping one song while writing the whole chapter as I found 'Ichizu' by King Gnu was a crazy song that just vibes with me (Yes, I'm that one prick who'll replay one song over and over until everyone gets sick of it), but it really do helped me with the writing process especially in the fight scenes. Let's get to the comment section now to reply to your reviews and comments, dear reader.
Awron: She's a part of the Neu family so she already had access to her family's interpretation of magic and their own alchemy techniques, and while she showed signs of being cunning and calculative, Miyagawa holds grudges and cruel enough to set certain things to get revenge because she's still young and petty enough to do so such things at the cost of hurting her own junior because she belonged to the same group as Kakine.
Yullgar: Tori has her own beliefs that acts a wall for her mainly because of her past traumas, which able to tore her facade down by a mere mention of it. Her reaction to the group's ambush was also granted because she only used to deal with another kind of violence (That got dark real quick), her trauma also pushed her obsession with exposing (and catch) the group... for that last question, well you just have to wait and see dear reader.
Wildan: Kakine knew that Miyagawa was messing around and stalling him from getting to his goals because her habit of trying to control everything, but she picked the wrong person to mess in this occassion... One does not simply mess with a level 5 esper. GARM has a couple of hideouts, Yuu and Shinobu's apartments are usually being used as living space and the one located on the switchyard was way more complex, in railgun S I saw that there were many stacks of shipping crates on the switchyard and the secluded nature of it (as it was used as a place where the level 6 experiment) was perfect for the blonde spy to set his main safehouse, it started as two shipping containers which has been hollowed out and joined together, one quarter of the space was used to place a small workshop corner with racks and cabinets used to store the group's equipment and weapons, another quarter of the space was also used to place a large crates filled with ammunitions which also used as a makeshift coffee table, the remaining space was used for living quarters and living space where partioned bunk beds were placed because Shinobu, Janie and Febrie used to live there temporarily and the remaining space was used to place several beanbag chairs used by the group to rest after their grueling operations.
Vergo58: Shocked will be a normal response, but to be excited to find out the secret world of espers will also be an intriguing idea to explore. Dear reader, I've planned to add more of the idol group's member into the mix by the end of the season, but thank you for the suggestions dear reader, I'll keep it in mind.
Visit this story's dedicated artpage 'bitbitbit11' at deviantart for illustrations and extra contents dear reader. I've uploaded the opening and ending video along with voiced short animations for the OCs in this story, search for 'A Certain After School Secret' on youtube dear reader, those videos were such treat to made, plus it will gave the original characters voice to flesh out their character even more.
I forgot to upload the illustration depicting Janie and Febrie, I'm so sorry for that dear readers.
And yes the name of this chapter was a reference to Ichizu that translates to 'the only way'. Now, let's dive into the chapter!
PLAY MUSIC
Psycho Pass OST – Sweet Poison.
"This place is lovely isn't it? Chisa, come here and look at the view." Victoria runs to the ledge placed near the small rest stop market and pointed at the glimmering night scape of Academy City, the sea of lights that illuminated the city actually looked like a sea of star, which was a view that made the long haired reminiscence about the first night where she met a certain blue haired boy who's trying his hardest to keep her calm amidst the assault of hostiles that wanted to harm her.
"It's beautiful Tori." She said with a slight smile where melancholy hides beneath it, but she tried her best to look normal to her friend and fellow idol group member who was still under the influence of what she assumed was an esper power. The girl took glances every once in a while to the older girl while gulping a huge dose of guilt. Her comments earlier managed to torn the protective older sister nature of Victoria and showed a side to her that she never once saw before, which was a delicate girl who was hurt by something horrible and downright traumatic.
The bob haired idol hides her fragile side quite well by saying that she went out for a walk while in reality she just wants a short time to mellow down and collect herself. Her long walks to the mountainous region was her preferred way to glance away from the glittery lights of the city that reminds her of lights that showered her during performances one that connects to one figure who caused all her heartaches, in District 21 the lush greenery gives her a change of to veer away from those thoughts and recharge herself in a way.
The boy who casted it keeps his distance in the rest stop market to have some oden with hot broth, when she looked at him the boy just nodded and waved at her to tell her that she needs to stick by her side until the effect subsides.
Mitsuki could only thought that the spell he had casted could attract magicians that resides in the city, but believed the mana traces are way too low to be detected, much to his dismay someone who's adept at picking up such traces are already hot on his trails as Beowulf already scaled up the mountain on a hiking trail and watched the three of them from a certain distance deep in the greenery of the mountainous region of District 21, the boy picked the traces of spell activation and energy signature when Mitsuki activated a couple hours earlier, but decided to only follow them as the city sparked his interest in variety of things. He placed on of his arms on his cheeks as he sits on a tree branch while thinking that it was unusual for a magician to show such care towards normal humans as his only experience with magicians were rather bitter and filled with megalomaniacs and ones who seeks power at all cost without thinking about the effect to the general population.
'Power corrupts even the best of humans.' This is what the boy thought as he lays his eyes on the girl who's currently under the spell of a magician who he had encountered twice, the girl who's under the spell looks calm but it took only moments for the being to know that she actually hides a lot of scars whether it was psychological or physical ones.
"Even the ones who don't delve into the dark world of magic are equally corrupt." Beowulf's eyes sharpens while remembering the times he spent living inside a normal human society from various ages and felt a sharp sensation pricking at his conscience as the voices within him started to speak their minds.
'That's a bad way to look at the whole picture contractor… Humans live with a free will and they are bound to make mistakes, but from it some of them rise as heroes or fall and be the despicable beings you loathe.'
'It's entertaining to see them struggle while not knowing their place in the universe, isn't it?'
'For one who used to be one of them, you sure talk like you're one of us boy…'
With each passing moment the voices pile up quickly inside his conscience, which causes the angelic looking boy to shake his head and drop from his hiding place and treks up towards the small rest stop while tidying up his looks before he greets the magician.
One could only wonder if the voices and how his experience living in various societies throughout the ages were the reason why his actions are needlessly cruel where it would only take him a moment to judge someone as a target and dispatch it in cold blood. To find a human who already encountered him twice and not as someone that he needs to terminate is a rarity for the blonde boy, with each steps he walks faster as he is inherently curious to see how the brunette magician reacts and he's about get his answer as the sound of steps being heard by Mitsuki who turned to the side to look at the source of the noise before his face twists into a mixture of shock and fright.
"What are you doing here?!" Mitsuki jumped back and almost dropped the hot oden broth on his trousers, the boy immediately reached into his holster pockets to get his blade and arrowheads but he stopped as soon as saw a pair of hands being raised up. Beowulf just gave his usual cold smile before he said, "I'm here to have a conversation with anomalies such as yourself, no need for violence now."
"And why should I listen to you?" Mitsuki grimaced while he gave his reply that implies he wants no interaction with the cruel being who said the also someone who shares the same origin as a certain spiky haired boy, one who existed through the will and wishes of others or even the world itself, but he found himself in quite a predicament as the other boy only glanced to look at the girls while raising his eyebrows, which caused Mitsuki to glance quickly at them and found there was a black hound along with a black snake that perched itself on top of it playing with the two girls.
Mitsuki took this as a threat to Chisa and Victoria's safety until the boy just shook his head and explained, "I only intend to let those two play around with them, there's no need to worry… Like I said earlier, I'm here to talk."
"Explain more and what do you want to discuss?" Mistuki replied in a displeased tone as he needs more than that to convince him to believe his words.
"I want to know why you cast such a spell on her? a simple emotion manipulation spell to put someone at ease is a waste of a magician's mana… only naive fools or manipulative bastards use that kind of magic."
"I have my own reasons… a being like you won't understand."
"Make me understand then, your lofty ideals intrigues me." The angel-like boy replied while picking up the brunette boy's oden and proceeded to take a bite out of the skewered dumplings. He glanced at him as the boy was still reluctant to give any explanations, which caused him to say, "Is this related to the other anomaly like me who already had an encounter with you, did his ideals somehow touch you in a way?"
"How did you?!..." Mitsuki responded in Shock.
"Please, I can trace even the slightest amount of mana emitted from any living being in this city and I surely knew when a trace of power that somewhat looked like my own lingers on someone else, it's not something that can easily be removed by spells." The boy replied while resting his back on the wooden walls of the rest stop.
"..." Mitsuki could only reply in silence, but the other boy took it as a sign to continue as he said, "What do you say magician, care to have a talk with me now." Beowulf's expression changed slightly into a relaxed one, even a grin managed to find its way to his face.
"You tell your story first, I know you've changed since you arrived in this city."
"You are correct, I have a short time to familiarize myself here and I got to say… the security here was awful, even castle guards can be bothered to check the cramped alleyways when I lived in… Where is it? Europe? Britain?... I forgot the details, but you know what I mean."
"What about your mission to take down the other magic faction inside the city?"
"You murdered the only lead I have and the other one just disappeared… I can safely say he went into hiding since I last met him. Does the name Greed ring any bells?"
"No."
"Honesty, such a rarity these days… then tell me this, Dark Matter who or what is he in this city? Is he supposed to be the head of a nobility or aristocracy?"
"Dark Matter? Where did you learn about that name?"
"I have met him on one occasion while on my way to greet my own kind."
"Explain." The boy delivered in a flat tone.
"I'll tell the story and in exchange you have to tell me more about your circle Magicia… What's your name anyway? It'll be hard for me to keep calling you as a simple practitioner of magic."
"There's no need for us to exchange names, We're not allies."
"That was cold, but I'm willing to let it go for now because I'm the one who approached you first, and about the story… Do we have a deal?" The twisted magician once again asked if Mitsuki could only give a slight nod in agreement because the risk of refusing the other magician would pose an even bigger threat to Chisa and Victoria's safety, Beowulf however joyfully replied with "Excellent." as he straightens up his back and continues to tell his story.
"I'm just trying to say hi to him, guardian of the world's treasure, one who bears misfortune because of it… I for one want to know how he's able to bear it all when he's only in a mortal shell, a human body is not designed to handle that much stress, I mean look at me." He chuckled a little before a grin painted on his face, "But to spoil the fun, I met that damn charlatan of an angel, and he dared to say that I belonged to someone… The name was Kami's gang, if I remembered it right, is that the name of your circle of miscellaneous individuals?"
"I'm telling my story after you've finished yours, continue with your story then Beowulf."
"Dark Matter knew about the secretive magic world before we went into a fight, which made me wonder did somebody from a magic cabal reached out to him, but I for one am impressed by his ability to create and manipulate any objects via adding his self created matter into it, I have some time and personal connection to get some info on him… well personality wise, I can say that charlatan has a massive inferiority complex because of the first ranked esper in this city." The presumably immortal being shared with a forlorn look as if he already sees many figures with the same personality as the winged esper before, and it became apparent as continued to share, "Power corrupts, even the best of humans… because the measure of a man can only be witnessed when one was granted an immeasurable power and see what one does with it, you rarely get a hero and most of the time you only end up with a tyrant or a despot. Dark Matter's power is one that touches God's domain of creation, mix that with a massive complex of his and you get a malevolent god."
The other magician just stopped to process all the information while the angel like being seemed to remember the details of his first encounter with Dark Matter, "The bastard beat me up real good too, so I'm willing to admit that he's powerful and a pain to deal with, so after the fight I decided to lay low and only move when something interesting happens."
"A simple 'calming' spell is interesting to you?"
"Something small can lead to something big and the way you used your powers is puzzling me, don't they have doctors and counselors to deal with this kind of situation?" The boy asked in child-like curiosity, which caused Mitsuki to heave out a small breath before he explained his reasoning, "It's not that simple, healing is not an instant process… the intricacies of one's feelings and the power of bonds are something that needs to be taught more, the relentless pursuit of power at all cost… I can't condone that anymore."
"Coming from someone who already had two Grimoires inside his body, that sentiment is hard to believe."
"In which I never used, if it means that I have to bring harm to someone else…"
"Lofty ideals, should be put to test magician… the things that you said now, can you withhold them and stand true to them if things get tough?" Beowulf said while he widens his eyes and glances to the faraway city landscape as he sensed something just 'woken' up from its slumber, but he decided to withheld the information from the other boy as he still wants to hear what Mitsuki has to say.
PLAY MUSIC
Re:Zero OST – Requiem of Silence (Kayou. remix).
"One person has already proved that it can be done… You should learn from him, believe it or not he was prepared to bear the weight of this world and even fight against it to protect the smile of a single girl. Think of it as childish ideals you damn blood knight, but Imagine breaker managed to keep his end of the deal and I fully intend to keep mine as well. A promise to protect the smiles of others, he can protect her smile and world, why can't I do the same?" Mitsuki explained and balled his fists as he remembered the events where the spiky haired boy delivered the very words that made him stay back in the city and then moved in to join various groups that have the purpose of protecting the city.
"Protect others? such small acts won't bring any change…" The angel-like boy snickered.
"It will if the others are inspired to do the same act of kindness."
"Our powers are given to us as means to sever the ties of things that would bring distortion to the world's order, do you just imply that it can be also used to create such bonds with others… Magician, that's one hopeful look for you to have such notions."
"That's the lofty ideal that the Imagine Breaker has." Mitsuki stated, "You, the Contract Bearer of old gods, should try to view things through his eyes or your view of humanity has grown so rotten that you can't even comprehend his views?"
"Contract Bearer… That's the first time anyone called me that." Beowulf stopped for a while to ponder by the name that the magician just gave him, then he thought about the story that he just shared about the other being bestowed by the power known as the Imagine Breaker before he said, "But it is genuinely hard to put myself in Imagine Breaker's position."
"So you reject his ideals then?" Mitsuki asked in a cold voice as he thought the boy was only reeling for some time before he eventually started a fight with him.
"I say it's hard, but it isn't bad. To reject it will place me on the same side as The Fallen who grew bitter of everything and masked it as sympathy for humanity ."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing, it's just me talking to myself, and I hate to cut this short, but we're about to have some company." The boy shrugged his shoulders before he continued to smile coldly and say, "Let's put your ideals of kindness to the test shall we? You can start by protecting those two young ladies over there."
By buying some time and withholding information about the approaching danger that he sensed earlier, Beowulf actually was setting a stage for Mitsuki and his group whether they can stand up to their beliefs.
"Are they one of the Fallen members?!" Mitsuki asked as he finally could feel the mana pressure of the approaching being and others who tagged along with it before his face twisted in grimace and shouted, "Are You the one who brought them here?!"
"If an ancient mind like myself could track your spell down, those magicians that burrow deep within the city could do it as well magician!" He explained before saying something that genuinely surprised the magician, "Get away and take those two pets, they'll guard them well."
"How about you?"
"I'll put those ideals to the test magician! Consider this as my small act of kindness." The boy said as he cast his thoughts and ideals away for a moment and prepared himself to throw everything at the incoming fight.
The boy won't admit it, the the magician's words felt like a small flicker of light that illuminates the abyss that is his mind and he felt like nurturing said ideals based on kindness and bonds, one that was laughed at by The Fallen and withered from him when he lived alongside humans as he sees the very being that he was supposed to protect spats on the very same ideal because of their own twisted desires. Hearing a tale of another being who was supposed to be similar to him was able to live his life in such warm ideals makes him want to try to experience it once more. The boy wants to live with an ideal woven by his own volition even when it makes the entire world his enemy.
It's his way of rebelling against the world who created him and giving him the task of bearing the echoes of old gods and The Fallen who took him in and tasked him in collecting more souls and artifacts that could conjure similar powers as those beings inside him.
As Beowulf completed his resolve he could feel satisfied and proud huffs from the voices inside his mind, the old and forgotten gods and heroes seemed satisfied by this particular act, and it won't take long before one of them offered him a helping hand to deal with the urgent matter.
'Boy! Let this old man flex his muscles once in a while! That youngster's words got to you, didn't it?!'
'Not this time, Let me have my fun too! Don't you love my company contractor-kun.~'
'I can sense it! the angel!... Liege, I want to be involved in this matter.'
'Grant my wish to assist you in this heroic scene Contractor.'
All of those voices withered away as one prominent voice came forth, the voice felt as if it could tremble the earth itself with quakes, 'Don't forget about me boy, I'm trembling to get out and fight! This place and your recent encounters intrigues me so much, let me have a taste of it.' The sword shaped charm that holds the very being's soul even trembled and moved in an attempt to place itself to the boy's hand and summon itself, which has been foil by simply buttoning up the pocket and halting its movement.
'All of you should know your place and wait, I want to solve this using my own strength first!' Beowulf replied to that particular voice as he summoned Hrunting on his hands.
'I'll come barging in if you show even the slightest moment of weakness. Heed my words.'
"Try me old man." Beowulf said under his breath as he prepared to deal with the approaching hostels, Mitsuki on other hand just entered his car and reversed it back to pick Chisa and Victoria up along with the black hound and snake that Beowulf said will protect the two girls from the approaching harm.
"Unabara-san? What's wrong?!" Chisa was shocked to see the car that wasn't supposed to be driven on dirt road at all was approaching her in haste. "Get in, we have to bail out from here." Mitsuki said in a serious tone that prompted her to quickly guides Victoria inside along with the black hound and the perched snake on its back, the girl could only wonder as of why the boy let's those two pets in, but his worried look just alerted her that something dangerous will happen again and just obliges while silently hoped that the blue haired boy will also show up to help through with this ordeal.
Victoria who started to feel that something was wrong immediately looked back at the rest stop and saw a glimpse of a figure who ran to the opposite direction in a breakneck pace before she felt a wash of wind that blows her hair along with a uneasy feeling that once again started to well up inside her, The magician who was responsible for the spell was lightening the effect of his spell to lessen the energy signature that can be traced back to him.
It was an issue of safety so Mitsuki was completely fine with dealing with Victoria who will be shocked in fright because of the following danger than keeping the spell on and be tracked by the hostile that he can safely assume was coming from the Duchy clique.
Mitsuki steps on the gas and sends the car to fly to the twisting mountain road in an attempt to run as far as away from the rest stop, but the boy makes it sure that he casted a people clearing field to allow the old lady who worked on the small shop to walk away from the ensuing fight unharmed. Beowulf on the other hand just stepped on the edge of the road while looking at the reaches of the steep hills in hope that he could see the approaching presence of the huge opponent.
PLAY MUSIC
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 OST – Ichizu by King Gnu.
A/N: I'll be completely honest and confess that I wrote the whole fight part while looping this song. Dear reader, I just love this song because of the sheer energy in it.
The two souls that comprised him were experienced with facing both beasts and human opponents, a trait that imprinted into his current soul as he felt the sudden wash of air that blew past him that reminded him of how the real owner of his body died. According to the poetry that tells his tale, Beowulf was killed by a dragon that inflicted a wound on his neck when the legendary figure and said dragon were locked in combat. The setting is different, but the boy could feel the same sensation of the things he felt on that day once again surfaced deep within him.
With Hrunting on his right hand he readies himself as the steel beast finally revealed itself with Kakine who stood on top of it with the sunset whines behind him and gave the angel winged boy a rim light around his body as if he was a heavenly being which contrast the killing glare he fashioned when he finally laid his eyes on the boy who dared to challenge him and even managed to sneaked a cunning attack to him by using powers that he still doesn't fully understand yet.
"Isn't this a fitting scene for a fight… Charlatan, we meet again!" Beowulf smirked with a cold smile as he laid his eyes on the fashionable boy who wore his signature designer maroon colored suit.
"We have a score to settle you fool! Come with me with all you got!" Kakine clapped back as a similar looking sadistic glee appeared on his face as he knew that he had the upper hand in the ensuing battle.
The esper stood on a weapon that was specifically designed by the deceased Baba Yoshio as a experimental weapon platform to deal with GARM as he fitted it with all the weapons that he could fit in it, but Ricane took a step further to modify it by adding Mana sensing radars and esper based weaponry that uses data from a ruined project conducted by a young researcher who wanted to use the dead body of espers as a base to develop weapons that utilizes esper based powers and further expanding the lethality of said power through mysterious means.
it shaped like a mix of a heavy flying tank a stealth bomber and a bird as the large main body has a pair of wing units with its independent thrusters which gives it hovering capabilities and lower body section with wedge design that looked like containers used to store the many weapons it had.
The monstrous beast of steel has a head unit where the radars and sensitive equipment are installed, and with the independent moving wings and lower section of the craft, the thing genuinely looked like a living being.
Even the angel winged esper was impressed by Ricane's attempt to complete and modify said weapons platform as he stated, "You're going down today and I'll make sure that it'll be a slow and humiliating process for a prideful bastard such as yourself."
"I'd like to see you try!"
"Pathetic, you don't even have those vermins back with you? Did I destroy them?"
"They're on a short break, you're the one who brought a beast with you! Taking a few pages from my playbook, don't you?"
"I fully intend to give you the Academy City treatment, so you scum can finally know your place."
All of that talking was a strategy on Kakine's part because Ricane's assistant requested that he'd be dropped about 500 meters behind the combat zone in order to set up surveillance cameras and setup a long range rifle that Ricane has given him with ammunition that seemed to be custom made and specifically tuned for him.
The boy perched himself on a thick tree branch a few hundred meters down from him and located on the other side of the hill there was an experimental thermal energy plant dubbed the Ground Geo where there was also an artificial lake placed there to provide coolant for the inner workings of said facility. The boy with dark futuristic helmet took aim through the augmented scope that the rifle, which has been synced with his headgear that gives prediction on where the bullets will land except the helmet doesn't pick up the wind speed or probability for bullet drop off, it only give him the line where the bullet would go as if those natural factors won't affect the shot whatsoever.
The boy fired and the bullet was actually tungsten shells that bolted it's way straight to Beowulf as it burns through the sky in above Mach 3 speed, sounds and sparks of electricity discharge accompanied it as the target could only drop his body down as he saw a faint light flickered moments before the heat cuts through across his face and barely missing him, if he stood there for a few moments longer he surely ended up with a hole so large that only the stumps of his foot will remain there.
"Tch… I missed it."
"No matter, we got the data we need, continue to provide support for Dark Matter, Toudou I believe you can finish this task with flying colors." Ricane said through the communication line, "Carry on with saturation fire, I want to see how Neu's railgun actually performs."
"Understood."
Toudou replied before he continued to pepper the angel-like boy who he knew had ambushed his boss's office which also contributed to Darkside Coalition's downfall, the boy fired the railgun shells in fixed interval to allow the barrell to cool and preventing it from warping and messing up with his shots.
Beowulf managed to pick up the pattern of said shots and started to dodge between the railgun shoots that also radiated the trajectory of it's path with intense heat as it cut through the air, but to make it even worse he also saw that Kakine already flew down from his position and used his wings as appendages to attack him as each of the feathers on his wings can be warped into blades, fired like dart or twisted and lunged to create a devastating attacks. The boy could feel that he is being pushed back, but isn't this what he is asking for? To fight with all his might to protect the fleeing magician and the two girls who aren't related to this dispute in any way.
He began to remember back to some conflicts that he actively participated in, like that one time where two young ladies with proper manners asked for his help because a gang of rough looking guys are surrounding them, in which he dispatched them with all his might but in the process he caused the two girls to become afraid of his violent action. The thought bothered him a little as his intentions were solely to help the two, but another thought also surfaced in him that the ones that he would face from this point on are even worse than him in many ways, so the boy feel like it was completely fine if being feared and misunderstood is what he had to bear.
'As long as the innocent ones are safe, I will devote this blood soaked hands and my entire being to play my role even when they see me as the villain.' He muttered to himself as he replayed the words that Mitsuki had said to him earlier about what Imagine Breaker stood for and his resolve to shoulder being the enemy of the world just to keep one girl and the world around her safe.
"A lofty and naive ideal, but that doesn't seem too bad now…" The boy muttered as he continuously dodged the ranged railgun shots and relentless assault coming from The unseen sniper and Kakine's wings.
"You're only dodging? For a being born from legends you bore me Beowulf." Kakine taunted him in which the angel-like boy clapped back at him by shouting, "Ha! A cheap angel imitation like you dared to taunt me?! Come down and fight me for real Dark Matter."
"Nah, I'd like to watch the entertainment from here instead." He replied as Ricane who's watching the whole battle from the safety of his facility called Toudou to use his wrist mounted controller to activate the anti-personnel armaments mounted on the hovering gunship, "Toudou, use the small arms armaments, I want to see how agile the target actually is, a barrage from your sniper and the assault from Dark Matter's wings seems not enough to hinder him enough." Moments later a barrage coming from the various small turrets from the gunship starts to tear through the scenery as nine machine guns of various calibers are being fired at specific points of Beowulf's limbs. It's Ricane's way of testing his test subjects to see the utmost limits of their abilities, which can be seen as playing with a prey through Beowulf's eyes as he shouted, "This is low, Dark Matter, I expected better from you!"
"Keep yapping and dancing to the bullets ,ancient scum! If the information I received was right, you're going to have a hard time dealing with modern armaments." Kakine replied as his grin widened with each passing moment as he saw that Beowulf started to have a hard time dodging all of those bullets. He knew it will be hard to keep on dodging all of those bullets if he limit the room for movement, so Kakine sends to of his wings and stabs the ground after he enlarges his wings to create a makeshift wall while still allowing all the railgun rounds and machine barrage to shoot through the gaps.
"And I expected more from you, You disappoint me legend." Kakine said as one of the bullets from the gunship's machine guns grazed Beowulf's left arm while a pained grunt left his mouth. It was all it took for the esper to widen his smile because he knew that he had the upper hand in the second fight right before a railgun shell cut through the air and added additional damage to Beowulf's left arm via the electrical trails that it left on the air.
"This is not looking good." The boy replied as he glanced to the sides and saw that the blue car that belonged to a magician that he just had a conversation with was gone along with the two young girls who were wholly innocent in this matter. His thoughts can be heard by each and every being that inhabited his body, and one of them took this as a sign that he should step into the fight, the loud voice from earlier once again appeared in his mind to say.
'You think you can slack off because they are safe? Boy that thinking will lead to your demise.'
'What the?!' The angel-like boy replied.
'That was a moment of weakness, on your part and you even let one of your arms get hurt… did you not heed my words?!'
'I told you to stay out of thi!...'
'Too late! I've stated my conditions, I'm joining the fight! Get ready boy!'
'IMPERTINENT BASTARD!...' Beowulf clapped back in anger.
'Call it what you want, but it's already too late.' The voice said before he continued, 'This is a fine moment because you even got one of your hands wounded, ain't that a fitting narrative for me to swoop in!'
A flash of light burst from the middle of the area that moments earlier was filled with fires from Railgun shells, machine gun fires and wing blades, that blinding light caused Kakine to cover his eyes with his hand and Toudou to veer away from his scope as Ricane shouted to both of them, "Lookout! I don't know which bastard who'll appear this time!"
"This time?! Isn't he only able to summon shadowy constructs like before?! You haven't told me the whole story, have you?!" Kakine roared to his communication device, he peered away his hand to see the light that has slightly subsides by each passing moments and saw that the boy has adorned a new armor on his right arm that consumes the transient light into it as if it was eating it, the design of said armor was simple as only plates of armor with various runest etched on its edges, the armor and gauntlet wraps tightly around the boy's arm. The sword that he held also looked different as the armor appeared because it no longer looked like a simple yet elegant elven sword as it changed into a more traditional knight-ish one handed sword with long straight blade, simple horizontal guards and similar looking runes that glowed faintly through the cutting edge.
"Nuada Airgetlam! You thick headed drunkard!" Beowulf shouted to the one armed god while looking at his right arm, "You dare take control of my remaining arm!"
"There you go again with your ramblings, does your mind deteriorate as you grow older?" Kakine asked as he already saw this puzzling side of the boy who just went on a fit of shouting at his right arm, but after being ignored for a quite a moment Kakina feels like that he was being ignored and threw a strike by using all of his remaining wings to impale the blonde boy.
It created an explosion of dust as the impact force of his wings were powerful enough to create a crater as if a bomb has just been dropped on the battlefield. To his surprise after the clouds of the impact subsided Kakine saw that the boy was completely fine and found that he had leaped up from the impact zone and still found the right opening to stab through two of his wings and skewered them into the ground to create a makeshift shield against the machine gun fires. Much to the esper's surprise, he could only hear mumbling coming from the blonde boy as if he was actually talking to his right arm.
"Fine! You can stay, but show me something good because it took a lot of energy to just keep you around even with only your right arm that still remains." Beowulf continued to give a cold smile before he glanced up to Kakine and said, "Get ready Dark Matter, I'll pull you down from your pedestal."
Beowulf suddenly appeared right in front of Kakine as if he just teleported there, but a trail of dust on his feet just confirms that he just leaped there on his max speed and is in the middle of swinging his blade that aims sorely on the esper's neck. The gunship just flipped itself towards the front to make Beowulf slip.
Kakine decided to fly up by using his enlarged wings to propel him in greater speeds, Beowulf's blade hits and lodges itself on the gunship's armor plating, which in turn left him wide open for any attacks coming from the angel winged esper or the railgun sniper if the gunship tilted itself back and put him into view.
Kakine immediately moved in to make a counterattack as he used his wings and combined them into a pair of huge wings that extended down that looked similar to a pair of hands that tried to clasp onto an object with each enlarged feathers acting as the interlocking fingers, he also used his dark matter to transform the leftover light radiation from the sunset and turn them into a burning sunray that strips off the outer layer of the gunship.
Beowulf sees the approaching shade of Kakine's wings and used the armor that enhanced the strength of his right arm to pull the blade out and sheathes it back to his rear belt. He jumped down to send a powerful punch to the gunship's underbelly that lifted it slightly up so Kakine's wings will damage it instead.
Beowulf also manifested Hrunting as a small dagger and used it to stab the ship's lower part and hang there for a few short moments to think about his next moves because he is safe from the sniper fires as long as he covered himself behind the gunship.
A terrible metal crunching sound filled the night sky as Kakine ripped through the upper armor of the gunship while Toudou tried to use his controller to turn the ship around to expose Beowulf into the open and right into his sights.
Much to his dismay, the boy have pinpointed his rough location as suddenly a sword found itself flying towards him and lodged itself to the tree where he was perched a few moments ago, the sword has a thin strip of light made rope that attaches itself to something far away and as the masked sniper glanced to check at what the sword was tethered to, he found that it has been tied to Beowulf's wounded left arm and the boy used his right arm to pull himself through the air towards the lodged blade.
In a move that surely looked suicidal, Toudou called in an airstrike from the Gunship as a series of missile hatch opened up on the lower body of it before a barrage of missiles filled the sky and headed straight towards his position in an attempt to scorch everything except for a small spot where he was located.
A few short moments later a huge portion of a mountainside was scorched by those missiles and turned into a burning landscape as the fires turned the whole area into a scene that can only be described as 'hell on earth'.
It ended in a standoff situation where the sniper tried to use his rifle as a shield to stop the boy from running his blade through his body.
PLAY MUSIC
Psycho Pass OST – Crime Games.
From the rear window of the car Chisa and Victoria could only see the glimpse of the chaos that currently took place in a place where they just have a relaxing moment earlier and as the effect of Mitsuki spell disappeared the idol could only see a hellscape that was even worse from all the things that Chisa just told her few hours earlier. Her story about guns that can fire something akin to laser beams, giant tanks that can go anywhere with a mechanized turret, and a heavily armed hit squad going against a group of armed teenagers seemed much more believable than what she just saw.
Victoria saw a huge glowing pair of wings shortly before the grounds below it ignited into a fiery mess that looked straight out from a fantasy movie and in fear she turned to the girl who also saw the same scene, but with a whole different reaction as she saw Chisa grimaced at the scene while still showing some sort of composure as she believed that something will surely come to help her out from this living nightmare.
She realized that Antiskill can't do anything to solve the situation if a fight between espers can lead to such chaos where the earth itself turned into a burning waste.
Chisa glanced to see the frightened girl and moved to hold Victoria's hand to help her cope with the situation as she remembered what Mitsuki said earlier about Victoria is in need of someone who will stand by her through this hard situation. She already has the world turned upside down so at least all the younger girl could do is to stay.
"Chisa… what is happening here, I don't know what to believe anymore." Victoria said with a trembling voice as she glanced at Mitsuki who stopped the car for a moment to put on a gray colored ballistic mask.
"Everything's going to be alright Tori." Chisa said with a reassuring tone before she looked at the brunette boy and asked, "Are the others coming to get us?"
"They're on their way, we're stopping here to wait for them to open up this service tunnel from their side, There should be one inside that Ground Geo energy plant."
"Is he…" The girl said with a glimmer of hope on her face while tightening her grip on Victoria's hand.
"He's coming to get you and Victoria, have you contacted your friends back at your home in District 3?"
"I'll notify them when we're out of danger, Unabara-san." Chisa said while opening up her phone and putting the number of her stylist on standby because she also shared the same apartment room as her.
Mitsuki nodded as he acknowledged Chisa's ability to hold herself from calling her friends because of the danger of her calls being tracked before he checked on the other idol who just fell silent, "Victoria, hold it together and keep calm until we're in the safe, okay. We'll explain everything later."
"There's no need… just get us all out of here…" The girl replied with a defeated tone.
"Tori." Chisa said while placing her hands on top of the girl who glanced down and casted a gloomy look.
"Come on, what took you guys so long…"
PLAY MUSIC
Psycho Pass OST – Abolition Block.
The car's headlights seemed to catch a fleeting figure who moved in front of it as Mitsuki turned his gaze to it and reached out his hand to tuck Chisa and Victoria to hide them from the possibility of being spotted, much to his dismay the sight of a couple of girls with dark colored bodysuit with light purple accents and military styled markings on some parts of their suit alerted the boy as he instantly recognized them as incoming hostiles.
Another girl also appeared in between them with a white shirt and dark gray skirt being put over a similar colored dark bodysuit, her yellow colored eyes looked grim as the passing wind blew her dark long hair which fashioned in two upper pigtails. Mitsuki's eyes widen as he recognizes the girl as someone who was infatuated by his colleague. This girl is one of the Ojou-samas who visited Pierce's cafe only a week ago.
"There's no use resisting or hiding who you truly are, member of Kami's gang. come out now and you'd be treated fairly." The girl shouted before she raised her arm to expose a small contraption hidden beneath her shirt, "If you're not willing to come out peacefully then I have to bring you in using whatever method necessary."
Her voice reached to the ones who resided in the car in which the order that had been given to the two dark creatures kicked in as they darted out from the door and quickly blended into the shadows of the greenery. Mitsuki knows what is about to happen because he just puts the gear in reverse and gets away as far as he can before a dark beastly hand erupted from the shadow along with a dark humanoid contraption who holds a similar colored blade with whips attached to it.
"It's true, the lead that they gave us leads straight to the ones behind the ambush on the TV station. Gokusai-san, I'm requesting for an immediate backup and another team to chase the fleeing vehicle… Yes, it's a light blue colored sports car." Rakko said before she looked at the two other girls who accompanied her and said, "Deal with these two creatures, show the result of the Duchess's experiment."
Rakko's words caused one of the girls to slumps down as a being composed of fire and light emerged from her while the other girl roared to materialize her ability, she was a girl who used to belong to Mikagami clique as she has the power to materialize dark colored bone armor on parts of her body and now the size of her claws are enlarged along with an addition of sharp bone tail on her hips after she went through the experimental procedure.
Her roar acted as a battle cry because right after a resounding howl filled the scene a sound of rustling can also be heard before the beast that kept itself hidden in the shade earlier leaped onto the street and howled back with a noise that actually disturbed the dark haired sniper.
Mitsuki heard the roar as his eyes catch a glimpse of a small trail that'll lead him to the Ground Geo facility and he decided to floor the gas which sends the car flying to the unpaved road while Chisa and Victoria hanged on for their dear life, the girls also heard the terrible howl and can't do anything to respond to it but to cower slightly as they never heard anything like that in their life.
It'll only get worse as Victoria glanced to look at the brunette boy and found him in the middle of arming himself with a submachine gun and a silenced pistol to accompany the holstered blade that he kept.
Mitsuki can only think how would he keep this from leaking to the general public, the damage of this fight is not something that could be easily hidden or brushed off as the scorched earth behind him is impossible for him to keep under the rug, but more importantly this fight happens between two beings that he presumably believed as two figures who connected to both of the group's enemies who doesn't have any qualms about the cost of involving civilians into their twisted game of power.
Beowulf is a wildcard who is still a living enigma to the magician, even his well informed colleague is still trying really hard to complete the puzzle about who he actually was.
The Duchy clique was a group of espers that have enhanced themselves with Neu's way of mixing espers with infused artifacts and soul stones created from fellow dead espers which shows just how far the leading figure of said clique is willing to do in order to gain more power within the city when she already has many agents burrowed in various places to be her eyes and ears.
The boy's mire of thoughts are about to be blown away as a single shot from Rakko's sniper rifle managed to shut the car's engine down as they reached the Ground Geo facility. Victoria is trembling with fear as Chisa patted her back in an attempt to calm the girl down, but it won't do anything as the brunette boy rolled out of the car and started firing back at the assassin who hides herself in the shades. Mitsuki managed to hide his body as well in the bushes before a steady stream of rounds started to ruin the lush greenery around him, but a strange reflection of light disturbed him for a moment so in a fit of irritation he looked to the entrance of the Ground Geo facility and found Pierce with helmet on is in the middle of flipping pocket mirror and reflecting the light to his head to get his attention.
Mitsuki nodded while he tried to fire back at his opponent, but it seems the boys have devices a plan to help him and the other two girls escape as he could see Pierce is using his hands to send various signal to him which basically says, "Get those two out of the car and I'm sorry for what about to happen."
The brunette took this as a sign that he should give covering fire for Chisa and Victoria as he radioed them in the car and told them to run as soon as he started firing towards the hidden enemy, the two took the message wholeheartedly because they just sprinted as fast as they can to the safety behind the service tunnels's door, but as the boy prepared himself to do a suicidal sprint, he saw a small glimmer of a barrel protruding out from the door's gap and found that it was Motoharu's custom antimaterial rifle with Nora who already took his aim and waiting for Eri's order to fire a high explosive round to the obvious object that can be used as the decoy.
There was a car there in which can be detonated through the means of firing high explosive rounds right into it's gas tank.
Mitsuki pieced the plan together and facepalmed at the realization that the group is about to turn one off prototype supercar into a fiery mess by lobbing a tank piercing round into it, which was a calculated move when he thought about it as the car's general characteristics was already being recorded by the Duchy clique's side, but it wont stop him from throwing a snide jab towards the boy who obviously came up with the idea.
"Blue, you insufferable prick!" Mitsuki yelled at Pierce as Nora fired the round into the light blue sports car and sets it on fire before an explosion erupted and covered the whole facility in a bright fiery light, Rakko who was blinded temporarily by said explosion just pulled her head away and covered her sniper's eye as the blinding light really disturbed her vision.
"NO! I can't let them get their way again!" She grimaced before sprinting towards the facility in hopes that she could get them before they reached the service tunnels which has been theorized by the Duchy and SCHOOL's tactician to be frequently used by said group to move around quickly as the tunnels branches into a maze like road underneath, Much to her dismay Rakko found the facility to be empty and soon found a service tunnel entrance with various tire marks near it. The girl shouted out in frustration as she failed her task for the second time, "Agh! That car was my only lead and I blew it! If I keep on failing like this… She won't help me out anymore!"
Shortly after Rakko finished with her fit a couple of splashing noises caused her to run out from the experimental energy facility to find the artificial lake has now turned into a scene of carnage between two beings that have clashed before. Rakko saw Kakine who's standing on top of a massive futuristic Gunship that looked like a massive bird with wedge design while a constant stream of machine gun fire and missiles have turned the lush greenery into a burning scape, while on the opposite side of the angel winged esper Rakko saw a blonde haired boy with angelic face which being contrasted by his cold smile who's standing on the untouched greenery of the mountain. She recognized him as the one who picked a fight Kakine several days ago which explains the appearance of those shadowy creatures that she saw earlier, but it also shocked her to see her two vanguards were knocked unconscious as they now being carried on the palm of a large wolf-like beast with a skull for a head, She couldn't believe it as the other humanoid construct who fights with blade and whip combo has tied their body and eliminating any chance of counterattack even if they managed to woke up from their unconscious state.
The sight of the lone boy who stood amongst his dark creations somehow filled the girl with dread. It feels different from when she witnessed it through the city surveillance cameras because the sheer pressure of it almost felt like it was able to squash her down into the ground.
This is a fight between beings who could stand alongside gods and she felt just like an insignificant being when they were locked in a battle where both are giving their all, but a call from one of them managed to snap her out from the crushing atmosphere.
"Yumiya, isn't this a surprise… This explains why those two are here." Kakine said as he smirked because he found out that those two girls were not spies who were sent by the duchy. In which Rakko could only reply with, "I'm only here because the Duchess gave me a lead about someone who might be a part of Kami's gang."
"Drop the hunt Yumiya, there's one right there… that blonde prick is one of them."
"What did you just say?!"
"Do I need to repeat myself, that prick with those shadowy constructs is one of them, why don't you make yourself useful and fight him." Kakine said while still gluing his eyes on his opponent, Rakko tried to muster up the courage to answer before she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and found another person who's using a helmet that looked similar in design to the ones worn by the members of Kami's gang said, "Help me aim this thing, that bastard just stabbed me through my right arm… We have to support Dark Matter in any way we can."
PLAY MUSIC
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 OST – Ichizu by King Gnu.
On the other hand Beowulf watched the scene as he wondered whether the odds have turned in his favor or he just facing another tough fight as another combatant joined Dark Matter's forces, then he glanced to the two unconscious girls which were being held on Grendel's hand before he said, "I suppose the situation's demands it… I'm going to bind their souls with the contracts…" He said before a loud noise rangs inside him which also can be heard by Grendel and Kuragari.
'You dare to show such a lowly act while I'm around! Boy, even a drunkard like me knows a way to turn this situation around without killing those two damsels in distress!'
'Shut it old man! What do you have in mind anyway?!'
'Take those rotten essence out from them and bind them instead! the dead echoes from a soul still can be binded, especially with that ability of yours!' Nuada stated before he continued to say, 'It also gives you a chance to protect those two girls, don't tell me you already forgot about that boy's naive ideal. Don't turn back on it when things get tough! It only means you have to steel your resolve evenmore!'
'For once you're speaking, reason old man.'
'And plus back in my days those beautiful ladies would offer themselves to you, so it's a win-win situation. I'm in need of entertainment, boy.'
'I take it back! You're just a philandering bastard!'
The boy however followed the voice's advice as he placed his index and middle finger on those two girls collars and focused on pulling the parasitic power that was actually the remnants of another person's soul, moments later he pulled both of them out as the remnants manifested as a small sprite of flame and a dark claw that hovered above his hands, the boy quickly thinks about how he would use this powers and found that combining them while binding them with his contract is the quickest way to do so before his enemies managed to launch another attack at him.
He clasped both of those soul remains and binded them as he feels all the memories from the ones who died during the experiment rushed into him, the weight of such atrocities caused him to grimace before he forcefully unclasped his hand to see that the souls manifested itself as a pair of daggers that mixes certain aspects of their previous hosts. It has dark colors with a rough handle which is contrasted by the blade part that has a curvy and pointed design and warm faint glow to it as if it stores a lot of heat energy within.
The boy took both blades as he sheathed the long one handed sword on his hips while the voice once again spoke to him.
'It feels good to play a hero once in a while doesn't it, or you're too stubborn to admit it?'
'After peering into their memories and thoughts, I think I'll just punish whoever is responsible and the ones who take part in this sick and twisted game.'
'I see, so you'll play the role of a blood knight once more.'
'A blood knight who avenges the dead and forgotten since I'm horrible at protecting the lives of others anyway.'
That was what the boy muttered to himself before he leaped down to fight once more while his two companions once again set out to find the brunette magician as their master gave them an order that said.
'Deliver them safely to that naive magician, he knows what to do.'
Jason: It seems Touma managed to slightly change him, even without meeting the damn guy… You're scary.
Motoharu: Yeah, I don't swing that way so keep your distance from me until we can deem it safe Kami-yan.
Beowulf: I once had a wife you know… and she was a queen too.
Jason: What the?!
Motoharu: Dude's on a whole nother level! Kami-yan, you need to take a few pages from his playbook and choose a damn girl from your harem already!
Beowulf: Imagine Breaker has a harem? That's quite the feat in this day and age.
Touma: NO!
Ruiko: The legend says that Beowulf was a burly guy, so why does he look like a girl? Even his voice sounds strangely soft.
Kazari: That's because… Wait, I can't answer that question, Saten-san.
Beowulf: You already have two other androgynous males in the room and puzzled to see another?
Kazari: Well… Um… Uhhhhhhh…
Beowulf: See.
Pierce: You just grouped yourself in the same class as Accelerator and Yuu-kun in terms of looks, I think it's safe to call you the princess mark 2.
Accelerator: I'll disembowel you, perverted fuck.
Yuu: And incinerate your offals afterwards.
Pierce: That's freaking dark!
So that's my take on a fallen "Kamijou" who used his powers with reckless abandon and complete disregard for the safety of others, Beowulf's curse of immortality and voices has desensitized him from empathizing with the struggle of others for most of the times as he only sees humans as a whole flawed being, which contrasts Kamijou's resolve to protect anyone who's got caught in trouble. Think of him as a broken bird who only started to piece back his humanity again because of his encounters in the city.