2022-02-02 Update: Hey everyone, I decided to rewrite chapter 1 to give more backstory and leave room for more future OC with at least one of them being guaranteed to show up.
A/N: So this is an idea I actually had for a while. This story diverges significantly from the canon and I also plan on doing a ton of world building including different android organizations (some as powerful as YoRHa), discrimination (towards different android types and models), and etc. I also plan on drastically increasing the number of androids in YoRHa because 300 is just ridiculously low. There are also millions of androids worldwide. While its not necessary I encourage you to read some lore in the Nier/Drakengard universe in regards to the White Chlorination Syndrome and the Legion which will make things significantly clearer.
A/N: In this fanfic, many androids and android organizations already know that humans are extinct and worship them fanatically through their own made up religions. So when some come across the MC expect some creepy dialogue. The trio 9S, 2B, A2, arent the focus of this fanfic but they will appear in the future. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this and because this is my first real attempt at writing something I'd appreciate any constructive criticism. The more attention the story gets, the more I'll be motivated to continue on with this project! Please also feel free to critique my grammar and choice of phrases. I'm new to writing so I'd very much appreciate it.
Feel free to skip the prologue, I'm thinking of rewriting it anyways in the future just to word it better.
The heart was pounding aggressively against the inside of his chest like a drum, blood rushing into the head. Sounds of the teenager's growing heartbeat and wild panting flooded his ears. He no longer felt Winter's cold touch, the adrenaline in his veins and the heat produced by his cardiovascular system prevented it.
He was running with all his might, so quick his speed that his figure would be rendered near invisible to the average human eye up close. The taste of tanned gritty dirt and dust filled clouds littered the tongue and every so often would send him into a coughing fit.
'Fuck fuck fuck fuck why me, why did I have to be thrown into this shithole!'
Approaching the end of the dirt path surrounded by old, battered buildings made from bricks of grey and brown closing off into an intersection, he made a sharp left into a wide alley. From it's shadows numerous elongated limbs several times the length of a human arm lashed directly towards his front.
His eyes widened at the view, but he maintained his composure. Making use of his enhanced reflexes, he maneuvered the incoming threats by either twisting his body or ducking below. From their origin he spotted a figure. It's form, a grotesque misshapen mockery of the human body covered in a thin white carapace. And then he heard those accursed words that haunted him nearly every night.
"SPEAK NOT THE WATCHERS"came from it in a low-pitched human sounding voice that did not match its appearance. The words seemed to echo off the walls of the backstreet amplifying their intensity.
A new leg thick tentacle ruptured forth from its chest intending to impale the teen as best it could. The appendage was parried as it clashed against the cool black metal of a machete.
"DRAW NOT THE-"
Before the creatures' words could finish leaving its chalky lips, the head was bisected as a second horizontal slash penetrated its defences. Once the life faded from its red eyes, it was reduced to a large pile of salt.
The young man let out a tired sigh with his head and arms slouching against a nearby wall taking a few moments to rest.
He hated being here, he truly did. He along with all and any available forces had been assigned to a final assault against the Legion in an effort to take out the red-eyed commander. It was a mission with a noble goal but one that he did not want to participate in yet was forced to nonetheless. If he had his way, he'd be relaxing at his home, enjoying life's greatest comforts such as video games and trolling what was left of humanity on internet forums. Unfortunately here he was obliged to fight in almost a literal hell composed of superpowered demonic entities with supernatural abilities that defied common sense and used to be human.
Normally command would simply have him perform his relatively safe duties thanks to his speed as a scout but instead when a higher up managed to pinpoint the location of the red-eyes commander, the godforsaken idiot decided with his pea-sized brain to send every single available personnel that had even the smallest amount of competency in magic to their death. He wanted to oh so desperately smash that bastard's face into a steel wall repeatedly over and over again until he finally understood how absolutely fucking moronic the idea itself was. Let the combat-oriented monsters like the rest of his team handle the Legion monsters and let everyone else like himself fuck off in peace. But here he was, forced to attend whether his ability was suited for combat or not all for the sake of the 'future of mankind'!
Recalling those spoken words morphed his already unpleasant scowl into one of utter rage with his eyes widening and chompers tightly clenched. Frankly, Jayson Greyson or simply Jayce didn't give a damn about the future of humanity.
Why should he care about people he would never meet or know and who fucking cares about them anyways seeing as they don't even exist? The world would be better off without humanity anyways and nothing else would suffer from their clutches as a result. All that mattered to him was himself and the people he cared about.
While one may think that these apathetic beliefs were due to the simple indignation of his current predicament, they would be wrong in the strongest sense. Nearly everyone in the White Lotus held a special place in their hearts reserved only for a truly profound dislike of their species as a whole. If the resentment was not spurred from the involuntary hellish experimentation their bodies and souls went through, or the fact they were slaves (even if they were well treated slaves) who could be murdered with a simple press of a button if they did not comply with even the most asinine of orders, then it came from the visions they were haunted by every night produced by godlike beings known as The Watchers and their masters.
When it came to light that the White Chlorination Syndrome wasn't simply just a disease but instead was a magical pact compulsory thrust unto humans by beings from another dimension, Jayce had to wonder why anyone would agree to the terms. Sure if you refused you'd die and your remains would be turned into a pile of salt, but it was better than becoming a mindless superpowered servant whose sole focus was dedicated towards the eradication of humanity for eternity. At least that's what he thought until he experienced it for himself and then understood why some had chosen to accept.
You see while under the pact, you would experience the absolute worst humanity had to offer since their creation came into existence. From the most bloodthirsty inhumane wars, experimentation, murders, rapes, and the most horrendous torture methods used even on innocent children, to modern day practices the average individual wouldn't think twice about like the treatment of animals in factory farming.
Normally if one refused the pact they would never have to go through the experience again, but unfortunately that was not true for the successful child experiments of the White Lotus Organization. By the modifications performed on their body and souls, they became immune to the effects of the pact but not the visions offered by the pact itself.
Now every damned time they fell asleep those lucid dreams littered with humanity's greatest evils would haunt them as best they could until they awoke. Most of those who survived the scientific trials with an absolutely atrocious mortality rate had decided to off themselves, others decided to go on attempted killing sprees only to be destroyed by the bomb placed into their chests, and what remained were plagued with a large variety of mental illnesses including himself to a small extent.
"Aoowoowoo!"
He was woken up from his thoughts of indignation when his furry companion alerted him of incoming Legion. As he listened, footsteps and Watcher sermons belonging to what was akin to a horde of zombies were growing louder and closer.
"You gotta be kidding me." He muttered with resignation as he took in a deep breath.
"Fuck this bullshit, I'm out."
Jayce hopped back onto his feet and he and his Husky accelerated once more at blinding speed not wanting to be anywhere near them.
Finally after what seemed to be a good ten minutes the dog let out a cheerful bark signifying that they were safe for the time being. Using his momentum he bent his knees and pushed off against the earth and leapt onto a decaying brick wall effectively halting his sprint. A moment was taken to analyze his surroundings.
Looking over his shoulder from a distance afar and then back to his forefront, he could still see and hear the signs of telltale combat all around him. Distortions of air, pillars of ice, blinding explosions, flashes of light in a myriad of colors, and sounds of equally human and unholy inhuman cries.
Massive craters made their home into what was once the ancient city of Jerusalem reducing already crumbling human architecture to nothing more than a pile misshapen debris. What was still left of the old capital was now devastated beyond repair as this supernatural battle of magic raged in the midst of the moonlight.
Suddenly, a blinding white light lit up the sky and a swarm of Legionnaires materialized a good distance away letting out massive demonic war cries as they descended from the blue and grey sky.
'…Shit.'
He panicked when two exceptionally powerful ones were noticed. The first a massive white marble gorilla-like titan only with many extra appendages shaped like tentacles sprouting forth from all parts of its body and easily eclipsing anything in height within miles, it was almost as tall as a skyscraper.
The second was significantly smaller in both height and width not even reaching a quarter of the titan's size but still the more dangerous of the two, a juggernaut. It was almost insectoid in its design, a heart shaped head with compound blood-colored eyes. It had a thick and dense white material acting as the exoskeleton greatly enhancing its defensive capabilities.
As the titan's granite plated feet descended and toed the ground, the entire Earth shook obliterating everything underneath its shadow and its nearby surroundings. The tremor caused Jayce to lose his sense of balance tossing him off his foothold and face first into the ground.
As his hands attempted to find purchase on the ground, something quickly dragged him backwards from the hood of his sweater. A few moments later and an old rusty abandoned house crashed a few inches from where he laid seconds prior.
"Thanks Odie Bear." He praised as the dog received a few affectionate pats for its life saving efforts.
After lifting himself off the ground, his thumb reached for a button on a small black rectangular device seated on his left breast.
"I've got a swarm of legion northbound including two high tier threats consisting of a titan and a jugg-"
He began to report but was abruptly cut off by a wide range blazing column of magical inferno that lit up the night and incinerated the titan as well as the rest of the enemies that had just appeared. The only one left standing was the juggernaut which was swiftly disposed of a by a fierce tornado of metal shrapnel the penetrated its well-known protection like it was paper.
"Well aren't you a genius, all of us can see them you dumbass! It's a fucking titan for god's sake!"
"… Calm your fucking man titties Ace, I was just letting everyone know. God why the hell was I forced to come here if you can all take them out just like that. Also you called me a dumbass and a genius in the same sentence." He snickered.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU USELESS SHIT!"
It was true, Jayce was essentially useless only being able to run quickly, make reports, and swing his machete every now and then taking care of enemies that were essentially the lowest risk threats. Ace on the other hand just needed to wave his hands like Harry Fucking Potter and out comes a heaping storm of fire making killing Legion look as easy as putting bread in a toaster. Actually the others on his team overshadowed him in power to an enormous degree as well but he wasn't going to let that insult go without saying something back no matter how nonsensical or untrue it was.
"Suck my massive fifteen-inch banana shaped flaccid leg thick dick, bitch."
"YOU FUCKING WISH IT W-"
"QUIET BOTH OF YOU NOW! Jayce we need you at our location immediately. Everyone except you is currently fighting the red-eyes commander and I'd appreciate it if you don't make this fight any more difficult then it already is with your verbal abuse." Spoke a significantly more mature and calm voice in comparison to the hot-headed one previously.
"Okay… so what the hell do you need me more for then Alex? I mean seriously if the others can't do anything then I'm not gonna be any help." Jayce replied exasperatedly as he kicked a nearby pebble.
"None of our attacks our working and we're all running low on maso, and the two Crusader squads that followed along are all dead. The bastard regenerates almost any damage we deal to him even when Denar shredded him to bits… I need you to do the thing."
"…You mean the thingy thing with the soul? Can't Ace just burn him to bits, can't Denar just bury him alive in a mountain of steel, or can't Kayla throw him into a black hole or some shit?"
"Y-y-yeah I-I'm trying my b-best but he just regenerates and t-t-t-eleports away. A-a-nd you know Kayla d-doesn't have good control." A jittery stumbling of words came from another of his teammates in nervous tone. Denar was probably the strongest of all of them, but his crippling social anxiety and low confidence made him almost unable to hold a conversation with even a five-year-old at times. Hearing him talk this much was honestly an achievement and meant the situation was significantly more serious than Jayce thought it would be.
There were many moments of silence after Denar spoke. The raven-haired young man paced back and forth a few steps before he jerked his sweater upwards in order to get the communicator closer to his lips as he whispered.
"Alright I can tell you guys are fucked if Denar's talking this much. You know what they'll do to all of us if they find out we've been lying to them about my ability right?"
"If you don't we're all going to die tonight. Most likely they won't figure it out, I've already had Denar take care of any Drones in the area and if they do suspect anything we can make up some story about how you awoke your true ability thanks to power of friendship against the commander or some bullshit like a true anime protagonist since I know you all love that trash." Said Alex sarcastically.
"You really think they'll buy something like that? They're not dumbasses like Ace."
"FUCK OFF"
"Fine I can try, what abilities does the red-eyes have?"
"Well you have the basics like super speed, super strength, enhanced durability and all that but then he's also got stuff like high-speed regeneration, flight, pyrokinesis, psychokinesis, spacial manipulation, energy manipulation, precognition, weapon creation, and a whole bunch of other junk." A young feminine voice chimed in.
"Wonderful! How am I supposed to even get close before you know, me getting murdered in a hundred different ways?"
"We'll hold him down don't worry. I'll give you the signal."
"I'm so fucking dead."
And with those last words, Jayce terminated the connection.
'Let's get this over with.'
He focused on the array of emotions rampaging throughout the city desperately attempting to find the souls of those he considered close. Unfortunately it was extremely challenging to do so. War had heightened a wide collection of emotions to their extremities interfering with the endeavor.
Giving up, he held out his hand towards his dog giving it a quick rub on its head.
"Hey Odie-bear, mind finding Alex for me?"
A bark rang out in confirmation as the dog began sniffing the air. His dog much like himself had many enhancements made to its body such as enhanced strength, spreed, and durability being one of the original surviving animals in the pre-trials before human experimentation was approved. But overall the most useful ability Odin possessed was a dog's already keen sense in smell drastically heightened so much so that he could probably locate anything provided the dog was presented with its scent even on another continent. His enhanced intelligence was also very beneficial allowing him to easily understand and obey orders.
'Aoo.'
Odin led a charge at a frightening pace, and Jayce followed closely behind. The dog acted as a guide throughout the maze-like capital of Israel occasionally twisting left or right in the inner streets, over and under collapsing buildings that blocked his line of sight, and doing its best to avoid any confrontations with wandering Legion. Command was under the impression the dog was used by him to assist him in locating Legion for him to pick off when in reality he was using it to avoid confrontation with the enemy as best he could. He wasn't going to risk his life to fight foot soldiers when the others could decimate them without even trying.
Every now and then he felt entire ground shake and when he saw a hurricane of steel and fire over the outline of some old three-story building to his immediate right, he knew he had arrived. Squeezing between two buildings, he came across his team engaging the red-eyes commander. The terrain was as if a scorching meteor had struck the Earth leaving a giant sinking crater in it's aftermath. Everything around it had been flattened to the ground.
"Boy, you stay here or find somewhere safe to hide. Better just me dead than both of us."
The husky's sky-blue eyes met his own plain brown eyed gaze sharing a moment of understanding and then ran to hide nearby. The Legion didn't attack animals so as long as Odin wasn't in the nearby vicinity he would be fine.
He tapped his communicator to establish a channel of communication once again.
"Alright fuckers I'm here, where do you want me?" he spoke in a depressed tone fully aware of his incoming fate.
"See the naked guy? That's our target. We'll hold him down; I'll tell you when to go in."
'Wait what? A naked guy?'
Jayce raised the monocular hanging from his chest to his eyes and what he saw shocked him.
Focusing on the description given to him by Alex and ignoring the sight of his friends, he saw an honest to God naked man with shoulder length brown hair running around with a crazy grin plastered across his face almost reaching the corner of his eyes. The man himself was tossing out a variety of spells while also making sure to swing his sword here and there, his asscheeks bare and red-eyed junior swinging freely available for all to see.
"He looks-" Jayce started only to get cut off
"Human? Normal?"
"Yeah…" Jayce nodded slowly but then he was interrupted by another thought.
"Why's he naked?"
"Other than his red-eyes and freaky ass smile, yeah I agree. As for his missing clothes, his regeneration doesn't factor those in. Anyways let me know when you're ready, we can hold him for only a few seconds at most."
Jayce jogged at a regular pace to the outer edge of the crater making sure not to alert the enemy of his presence. He then took a deep breath, crouched down, placed both hands on the ground, stretched out one leg while keeping the other bent forward as if he were preparing to take off for a hundred-meter sprint. A blueish aura calmly encased him, and his now common plain dark brown eyes were glowing the same color as Odin's.
"Alright, let's-a-go."
Swiftly a black sphere the size of a beachball emerged near the red-eye pulling the streaker in like a gravity bomb and tossing him to the ground. Immediately the ball of dark matter vanished as soon as it came but before the brown-haired man could pick himself off the ground, a heap of pointy scrap metal, swords, and spears dug holes all throughout his body leaving a gory mess and pinning him to the ground.
Jayce didn't even need to hear the next words that left Alex's mouth. He already covered the vast distance from the edge of the crater to the target by the time the man was impaled with Denar's armory and slammed his palm onto the naked man's head. His maso pierced into the skewered man's body rapidly searching for his soul. When he found it, he squeezed intending to crush it until nothing remained.
'Here comes the worst part.' Jayce grimaced with his teeth clenched.
He felt the migraine etching itself into his brain, his senses began to become distorted, his breath slowed, the noises around him faded, his sight waned, and the scene in front of him was painted anew. Visions upon visions of the man's entire life attacked his mind. It was a surreal out-of-body experience and the sheer absurdity of what he was seeing in the memories blew his mind figuratively speaking. Throughout it all there was one common emotion that only continued to get worse and worse as he continued his undertaking, pure untamed rage. The man was angry at the world, at everything really. It was an intense, overwhelming, burning unrivalled wrath and he could tell the last of his memories would be the worst.
A portal of light and several fireballs came to life from the mouth of Angelus raging towards the Grotesquerie Queen.
Caim's eye's marvelled at the site before him. Structures of unparalleled architect stood erect all around him. Down below were people upon people running in panic, their eyes directed at the Queen Beast and a few at him and his draconic partner. Caim was puzzled, where was he exactly?
"Is this the land of the gods?" Angelus spoke in her majestic accent, her thoughts reflecting his own..
He had no time to ponder, the Queen Beast needed to die or all the people in his world and those surrounding him below would die instead. So he and Angelus gave it everything they had, every strategy they could come up with, every ounce of magic they could pour out, and finally they had vanquished the monstrosity. Finally everythin-
Strange large birds of metal flew towards them but upon taking a closer look there were... humans inside of them? Two objects were launched from their sides at lightning speeds with Angelus being their focus.
"It is done! At last-"
He didn't even have time to warn Angelus before they were attacked by magic so powerful, Angelus had already passed away by the time the projectiles had impacted her. With the red dragon's death, he could feel his life slipping away as the pact between them unraveled. He was furious, absolutely enraged. Even as his body descended from the sky; being blown off his partner's back, he could not understand why those humans had struck them. They had saved them from a terrible fate, and this is how they repaid them? Why? Why? WHY? WHY?!
After his pact with Angelus had finally become undone, Caim could feel the Watchers forcing him to consider a new one, only with them taking Angelus' place and allowing him the chance to enact revenge against the world's inhabitants. He absolutely despised the Watchers but in a moment of weakness, unrelenting fury, and a sense of betrayal, he accepted. He immediately regretted his choice and attempted to undo the pact but unfortunately, there were no take backs once his consent was given and he felt his consciousness leave him, only this time it would be forever. He would be a slave to his most despised enemy and their desires to exterminate humanity.
Jayce was blown away several feet with his back impacting the ground as a shockwave erupted between him and the red-eyed commander. He was absolutely exhausted and could barely move his body. His maso was almost completely drained and his stamina was spent. Unfortunately he hadn't managed to complete the deed, Caim's infected soul was far too powerful. He did manage to damage it enough to a significant extent that the Red-eyed commander would die in a few minutes at least.
Jayce rested his eyes for a minute and when he opened them he had his back resting against a brick wall of a building a few hundred meters away from the crater. His dog Odin and Denar's dog Iris were watching him attentively with their tails wagging excitedly left and right the way Alex would broom the common room. Denar himself was standing only a few meters away from him while the other three members were sitting near the edge of the collapsed land keeping an eye on the target in case it made any sudden moves.
"Thanks for the teleport Kayla." The words were meant to be sincere but came out as a grumble due to his fatigue.
"No Problem! You did really good this time around!" came a cheery response from his communicator.
"Yeah that was easier than I thought it'd be."
"S-So what did you see?" Denar voiced in a low mumble.
Jayce cocked his head to look at his best friend. He sported a grey hoody along with red checkered pajama leggings prioritizing comfort over protection even in the deadliest of battles. His head was covered from top to bottom in plates of steel refusing to even allow a single touch of the sun to grace his skin. The only portion visible were two slits in his tightly fit helmet of metal allowing one to see his hazel green eyes. Jayce once questioned how he even managed to breathe through the darn thing but apparently he had no problem doing so through metal.
Denar was the strangest most bizarre person he'd ever met and was a living walking contradiction when comparing his insane abilities in contrast to his personality and that's what he loved about him. Instead of being a cocky overconfident jerkoff like Ace, he was mellow, calm, scared to offend, and eager to please. Sure his stuttering of words, irrational fear of making conversation, and overwhelming anxiety when speaking to strangers let alone women could be annoying at times, but those shortcomings were easily ignored by his good character. It had taken Denar almost an entire year before he could look Kayla in the eyes for longer than a split second, but after living with each other for almost a decade he made some progress. Although, he'd still try to avoid her as best he could when given the opportunity to do so.
'Might as well let everyone know.'
"Everyone, the man's name is Caim and he's from a world straight out of a fucking fairytale with dragons, elves, fairies and other cliché species. He was also the one that appeared over Tokyo riding on top of the red dragon who was basically his best friend."
He saw in the distance that they had all turned to face him as soon as that sentence was heard.
"Oooo that's neat!"
"FUCKING BULLSHIT!"
"W-woah. I w-want a d-dragon as a friend…" He heard the faint whisper leave Denar's lips.
"Me too buddy, I think everyone would. Also I wasn't able to finish him off, but he'll be dead in a few minutes. Oh and get this, apparently the JDSF shot the poor bastard and his pet dragon down after they saved all our asses."
"Incompetent dickhole leaders giving out stupid ass orders killing everyone around them, nothing new. Wait… so he was the guy riding the red dragon in Tokyo?"
"Yeppers. I'll tell you all his life story when we get back home. Trust me it was absolutely fucking bonkers." Jayce sighed.
The only thing Jayce wanted to do was sleep. He could tell the others as well were tired of all the bullshit they had to go through today. Hopefully command didn't find anything suspicious about today's battle or he was pretty sure he would be locked up for life if they knew he could manipulate souls and especially if they knew he could render it immune to the effects of the white chlorination syndrome. The last thing he wanted to do was give the fuckers a cure to the disease. They'd probably charge exorbitant prices only allowing the richest and most corrupt individuals to be able to afford it while everyone else would be left for the dead. Better they die along with everyone else.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a blood curling scream from Kayla. Holy shit was it loud, she sounded like a banshee.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Ace roared.
'What in tarnation is happening out there.'
"J-jayce, the red-eyes!" Denar whisper yelled.
He enhanced his view with his monocular and looked towards his teammates only to see an extremely lengthy blade protruding from Alex's gut.
"Oh."
The upper body of the red-eyes commander was levitating behind Alex, it's guts spilling out being separated from its lower half. Gone was its humanity and all that remained was a marble white bubbly like human who's appearance matched a person who had undergone far too many botox sessions all over their face and body. The figure still carried those diabolical red eyes and its signature manic grin showing off its pearly whites though.
Ace swung his oversized meat cleaver leaving a trail of flame incinerating what was left of the enemy, but it was far too late, Kayla had already gone mental, and Alex was dying.
Runic circles of ancient magical languages littered the air for miles.
He'd seen those specific runes before, he knew exactly what they meant, and the sheer number of him left him in awe. This wasn't the first time Kayla had gone fucking nuts and Jayce knew they were all as good as dead.
"CALM THE FUCK DOWN KAYLA, YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING KILL US ALL!" Ace screeched.
Alex was laying on the floor showcasing his pain with small sounds of agony. He then let out a blood-spattered cough and Kayla screamed even louder.
While Kayla normally seemed sane and stable on the outside, she was anything but on the inside. Her whole mental state relied on Alex's wellbeing and well with him dying, she'd lost control of her abilities.
Normally Jayce would be grieving Alex's state of wellbeing and panicking as well but he was just too damn tired, and he knew he'd die in a minute or less anyways. He could try running away but it would be pointless. He would've been able to normally but currently there's no way he was in a state to do so. Plus if his friends were all going to die then he would die with them. He really had nothing else to live for and being the only survivor in the White Lotus would be literal hell.
He then noticed a small wall of metal scraps forming in front of him, but it stopped at his ankles. He shifted his head to Denar and gave him an exasperated look. Denar could make a literal mountain of steel so either his maso had run out or he decided to give up knowing they were all fucked regardless. His masked friend met his eyes for a few seconds and then gave a small shrug.
'Ah so it's the latter or maybe a mix of both.'
Jayce couldn't help but give a small snort at the interaction and Denar responded with his own snigger.
Jayce chucked a little harder and so did Denar.
He couldn't help it anymore and his chuckle had transformed into a full-blown howl of laughter and Denar matched it.
"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU RETARDS LAUGHING?! WERE ALL GONNA DIE!" Ace yelled with rage, but Jayce could feel the despair in its tone as well as feel it literally.
For whatever reason, Ace's cry of anguish just made Jayce and Denar laugh harder. Jayce felt tears forming in the corner of his eyes as a side effect of the action. He knew it was fucked up to laugh at Ace's sobbing but he just couldn't help himself. He wasn't exactly sure why he was still laughing in the first place. Did the miniscule amount of hilarity in the interaction he just had with Denar warrant this type of reaction? No it did not. Maybe it was because of the sheer absurdity of everything that had happened in the past few hours, or maybe it was because he knew they were all fucked, and these would be his last moments. Might as well make them happy ones.
He heard Odin letting out a cute howl probably questioning what he found so funny. He halted laughing but didn't stop smiling.
'Poor things, they don't deserve this fate.'
"Come here both of you." He stretched out his hand while still laying with his back rested against the wall. Both quickly jogged over in a happy fashion not knowing they'd both be dead in under a minute. He wrapped them in a tight hug trying to assure them nothing bad would happen.
Ace got restless and decided to knock Kayla out hoping it would prevent the magic from completing. Instead his actions resulted in an outcome the exact opposite of what he intended to do. Seeing the small magical circle thingies morph into one enormous sigil that wrapped them in a dome like shape, Jayce contemplated the quality his life overall.
Before he had joined the white Lotus at the age of eight, his life was honestly crap. His parents both crumbled into piles of salt when he was six. He was on his lonesome scavenging food desperately trying to survive for two years only to be yelled at by strangers whenever he tried begging. With resources running low, people became more and more selfish when their easy-going lives were actually threatened for once. Individuals who once assumed themselves to be good people became exceedingly greedy and voracious hoarders and the streets became crime ridden. Desperate for food and shelter he agreed to participate in life-threatening and absolutely excruciatingly painful experiments with almost no chance of survival in exchange for luxury if he made it out alive. When he actually managed survive, he was haunted by humanity at its worst in lucid nightmares every night and the fact those events actually happened to others nearly broke him. Then he watched close friends he was orphaned with die one by one for a multitude of reasons. Some simply took their own lives because they couldn't take it anymore. Others had their lives stolen from them by the Legion or wars against other human nations in an effort to secure resources. And finally everyone else was disposed of because they had refused to undertake certain orders from command. The only good things about his life were his remaining friends and being given any item they wished for as long as they behaved like good little slaves. Books, videogames, movies, electronics, sports equipment, hot showers, and tasty nutritious food that others would literally kill for given that many on Earth were left starving made up the bulk of their material demands.
"Huh, guess my life really did suck balls."
As the giant rune in the shape of a dome finally released the built-up magic, he only really had one thought in his mind before he was engulfed in dark matter.
'Fuck this evil world in its shit filled gapping asshole with a billion foot long girthy dildos.'
And then all he saw was black.