CH.24 Operation Dullahan
Hiro and Saori are walking, casually, through the city. Hiro is remembering Saori bringing up a part of his life he'd rather say didn't happen. His ruthlessness, which he accepts, went too far once, and he never fully got over what he did.
2 Years Ago
Hiro is sitting aboard a private jet that is bound for England. He is wearing a designer black suit with matching slacks and shoes. He is also wearing black gloves and a blue tie. His white hair is only slightly longer than his present self. He is on his way to DEM headquarters to display the capabilities of a Mana Eater to Sir Isaac Ray Westcott. The purpose of this display is to maintain trust among organizations that use wizards and Realizer technology. What is unknown to everyone else is that Hiro is also on another assignment. He is sitting next to a window and a woman dressed as an attendant asks in a polite manner.
"Would you like a beverage, or perhaps something to eat?"
Hiro turns to her and returns her politeness by responding in a similar tone.
"I'd like low-fat orange smoothie and a protein bar, please."
Hiro is nervous about his secret assignment and cannot stop remembering his orders. This operation is so secretive, only three other people know about it, and no documentation exists of it. But truly worries Hiro, is that he has permission to use lethal force if necessary. He is supposed to be in England for three days. His real mission: To obtain information regarding Deus Ex Machina's illegal activities; either by disk or by living memory tissue.
Hiro's equipment is his high-frequency katana called The Aorisu, a disk for recording data, and a head containment unit with a solution that keeps a brain alive after it has been removed. Around this time, Hiro uses a katana as he has yet to switch styles. His Aorisu is a long katana that glows blue, the sheath is complete with a trigger that when pressed, it gathers energy to unleash a powerful single slash. The hilt even has a built in material reader that allows Hiro to charge it to pierce through anything with a certain reading.
He isn't alone on his ride; he is accompanied by Ellen Mira Mathers. She looks older at this point, but her hair has turned a sickly grey, and she coughs a lot. She also takes medication every three hours. She is wearing her usual attire with her sunglasses. She remains silent nearly the entire ride. Hiro already doesn't trust her. At this time, he already bears a grudge at DEM. They attacked his school during the Kendo finals. Hiro was competing in the final match when they attacked. They were after the Spirits who were in the audience that night. The results were Hiro's younger sister losing her legs. They had to be amputated to save her life after a bunch of debris fell on her.
Part of him wants to cut her down, but it won't do any good now. He simply waits to arrive at headquarters.
He arrives at DEM Headquarters at roughly late in the evening. Ellen has accompanied Hiro due to Isaac ordering her to guide him around. It takes about a couple of hours to give Hiro the base tour, but Ellen feels too sick to continue with the tour. She coughed a lot during the tour and Hiro could have sworn that he saw some blood come from her mouth.
Once the tour has ended, Hiro is then brought to the Director's office. It is here that he encounters Westcott. Upon entering the large office area, Hiro is immediately greeted by Isaac himself. The man who runs the organization, and a great source of hatred for Hiro. The Director approaches Hiro and greets him in polite, yet uneasy manner.
"Welcome to my organization…Ratatosk, was it? Anyway, you're a guest, make yourself comfortable."
Hiro hides his anger as he even offers a handshake to Westcott, which he accepts with a smirk. Before Hiro exits the room, Isaac says.
"I'm looking forward to seeing your talents tomorrow."
Hiro exits the room, and Isaac says to himself while rubbing his chin with a look of thinking.
"So that was Tobiichi and Takamiya's kid…He'd make a great agent for me. But this may be my greatest challenge yet. Oh well (smiles) they say that trying is just as fun."
Hiro is escorted by a male wizard to his room for the next three days. It is a simple, yet comfortable, dorm-like room with a mini fridge and a bathroom. Hiro simply lies on the bed and immediately goes to sleep. He has a nightmare that has plagued his dreams since the attack on his school. The dream always starts with him at the site of the attack on his school. He hears everybody that he knows screaming for help and the sound of Collette laughing at him. A fire rages through the building as he shouts to everyone. The fire begins to engulf everyone, and Hiro always wakes up at this part in a sweat.
Hiro is awake and is only wearing a pair of black pajama pants; he is panting as he tries to calm himself down from his dream.
"It's only dream…it's only a dream."
He decides to get up to take a shower to cool off after his nightmare. Not surprising, Isaac has his room on camera. Hiro isn't taking any chances he personally doesn't know it; he makes no mention of the operation to himself and doesn't even plan to talk to any DEM staff.
The next day
Hiro is scheduled to show off to Isaac in data simulation battle against a virtual wizard squad. He intends to send multiple wizard squads with a ranging difficulty setting. The environment is a simulation of Tengu city. A scientist in charge of the simulation informs the Anti Wizard Soldier.
"Okay, Ratatosk, you're first display will be against trainee wizards who have yet to fully join a squad. Use lethal force to terminate the simulations. I have augmented the simulation to appear nearly perfectly real. So you're at risk serious injury. Understand?"
Hiro nods, and the Doctor readies the simulation. Hiro is wearing a short-sleeved full body wire suit with blue shoulders and overall black. He forms the arms and legs of his armor and unsheaths Aorisu to ready for combat. He defeats the first simulation in a matter of seconds by simply dashing past them and swinging his sword across their chests which causes them to burst into data. Most of the scientists are impressed at this feat, but Isaac simply comments.
"Eh, Ellen could do that with eyes closed. Send in the AST squad from twenty years ago."
Hiro turns to face his next opponents, and is shocked to see that his mother is one of the simulations; as well as his coach, Ryouko Kusakabe. Despite this, he readies himself for more.
"I can't let data interfere with my mission. I have to impress them."
He easily dispatches the other members of the team and boils it down to Origami and Kusakabe. The two simulations drop their Realizers and pull out their own swords. Hiro assumes a kendo stance and waits for his opponents to move. He stands as the two charge in with their swinging motions ready. He moves out of the way to dodge Origami's attack and moves with afterimages following his fast movements. He swings at Kusakabe, but is intercepted by Origami, who then proceeds to kick him, but he deflects her foot by thrusting his hand to the hilt of his sword and the hilt shoots up and hits Origami in the shin, knocking her back.
He now faces both opponents at opposite sides. They both charge at him again, but this time, he sheaths his weapon and charges it. As the two draw closer, Hiro unsheathes his sword and swings it so fast and with so much force, that the two are unable to block it and it even shatters their own swords and they burst into data. That last fight left Hiro with a few injuries but nothing serious.
Isaac is now impressed with Hiro's capabilities as he lightly applauds the young man's performance. However, he insists on one last challenge. He explains.
"I want to see how far he's willing to go. I'll just have him fight her and see how he reacts."
The program is entered, and Hiro looks at his new opponent in horror.
"That son of a bitch…"
He looks as his new opponent is Mana, his beloved deceased aunt. She charges in with her territory set up and Hiro sheathes his sword again. As she is about to make contact, Hiro quickly draws his sword and runs her through with impressive speed. He even grabs the data replica with a free arm and whispers to it.
"I promise that I'll put an end to him…no matter what it takes."
The replica bursts into data and Isaac is having a hearty laugh as he claps faster.
"Hahaha, I can't believe he actually did it, and in less than a minute no less."
Hiro then thinks.
"People are more than data, Westcott. Your weak fakes can't measure our strength. I'll see to it that you're hanged for what you've done."
Hiro believes that the data replicas he fought are far weaker than their real counterparts, but he doesn't say anything that might lead to a confrontation, but he can't help but give Isaac a look of killing intent. Isaac simply shrugs and nonchalantly says.
"Well, I pissed him off."
Later that night, Hiro is contemplating to just execute the mission, but he thinks that Westcott might be watching right now and after his earlier expression, he may have heightened some security. Hiro resolves to complete the mission tomorrow. Tomorrow, he is supposed have the day to himself to explore the city and do whatever he wants.
The next day (day of the mission)
Hiro wakes up at about eight in the morning and decides to just spend the day exploring the city he is in and bring back some gifts for his family. He picks up some English flavored lollipops for Kotori, a dress for his mother, a stainless steel pot for his father, and some designer color pencils and pens for his sister. He is trying to relieve the tension of his mission, but nothing is really helping.
Later, he returns to his room and puts his gifts in a suitcase that he has brought to conceal the head container. However, he notices that the lid is slightly opened. He immediately deduces that Isaac is now aware of it. But given that the container was crudely handled, it wasn't him in person, but a wizard he sent to the room.
"So he's on to me…I've got little choice now. I have to execute the mission now."
Hiro picks up his briefcase, leaves the room, and sneaks into the facilities with his suit still on. He hides his briefcase in a vent, and makes his way into the laboratories to find a computer with the information he needs. No one is around; which makes Hiro suspicious, but he needs to complete his mission. He has his weapon ready to use at any moment. He manages to find a mainframe with footage and documentation of DEM's experiments and their depraved activities. Hiro manages to get the data on a disk. He is sweating due to the tension he is feeling from the closeness of his success.
"Come on…almost there…"
As Hiro retrieves the disk, a message pops up on the computer screen that reads: Naughty boys don't get their video games for Christmas. Hiro puts on a look of disbelief and is stabbed from behind by an unknown assailant which also destroys the disk. He looks behind and sees the current Adeptus 3, Artemisia Bell Ashcroft. She is wearing the same suit as she did years ago, but she is older looking. Hiro ignores the pain of his stab wound to confront the wizard.
(Quick Disclaimer: I know that in the LNs, Artemisia is Adeptus 2, but in this time, she's already been demoted in favor of Collette.)
Hiro draws his sword, slashes back, and grazes her stomach. Artemisia backs off and has her own weapon ready. Hiro then equips his arm and leg armor. She tries to put up a territory around Hiro, but he cuts through it before it can do anything. With the smaller area, Hiro has the advantage. They clash swords for a while; normally, Hiro would easily outmatch her in a sword duel, but because of her sneak attack, he is slowed down. They both back off after an exchange of non successful attacks. Hiro holds his wounds and now converses with his opponent.
"You're pretty good. Why would someone like you join with DEM?"
Ashcroft simply answers.
"The greater good."
Hiro now growls under his breath, and asks.
"Have you ever harmed a spirit before?"
Ashcroft then mentions what she has done to Nia in the past, and how she gave Isaac the Qlipha crystal. Hiro now becomes more visibly upset as he lowers his head and angrily says.
"So, it was you who did that? I can't imagine the pain she experienced because of people like you."
Hiro's Mana Eater now begins to glow and his body's mana is showing itself as it is absorbed into the blue sphere on his chest. His armor on his arms and legs begin to grow on his limbs and then they grow around his pelvis and torso. It stops at his neck. His silver armor has attained the next form. He is panting from the amount of mana that was sucked from his body. Artemisia then readies herself for another round, but Hiro moves in with extreme speed that he didn't exhibit before. His eyes have clear killing intent as he appears below her. There aren't any cameras that area, so Isaac can't see anything.
A little later, a few other wizards arrive at the scene with Isaac to inspect the damage or get Ashcroft some backup. By the time they check up on the scene, no one is around. But, there is a trail of blood leading through a different part of the corridors. They follow it, and then they see something that makes the wizards feel sick. Isaac is simply surprised as he looks upon a gruesome sight and casually.
"Wow, I didn't think he had it in him."
What they are looking at is a mutilated body that is beyond recognition. Westcott then orders Ellen to intercept Hiro since he took something with him that could mean trouble.
Elsewhere, Hiro is running through the building with his newfound speed with his suitcase in his free hand. His armor and sword are dripping with Ashcroft's blood. He is in disbelief at what he has just done.
"I can't ever tell anyone about what I just did. If my dad ever found out…he'd never look at me again."
He is running and doors begin to close in front of him, but he slides under to avoid being trapped. When wizards come around the corners, Hiro slashes them in various ways which cuts them down with one single precision strike. By the time he makes it the roof, Hiro has cut down over thirty people on his run.
On the roof, Hiro is waiting for his pickup to get him out of the country in a fast way. The mission is almost complete. As he stands waiting, Hiro hears a voice calmly saying.
"I invited you here, and you go trying to steal data, kill my staff, damage my building, take the head of one my employee's, and give me grief."
Hiro turns and sees Isaac with Ellen. He looks as if he is about to lash it in anger, but he simply lowers his head and shakes it with his palm to his forehead. He looks at Hiro and asks.
"So how are you going to make it up to me?"
Hiro readies his sword and answers.
"How about I send to hell so you can join them!"
Isaac rubs his chin and thinks about it sarcastically.
"Hell? Let me think about that…let's see…lake of fire, put of the damned, meeting a few familiar names…But it's a little vacant for my taste."
Hiro then puts down his suitcase, and charges at Isaac with his sword in hand and shouts.
"I'll kill you!"
He readies a slash to end the director's life, but Ellen intercepts it as Isaac simply stands in place. Ellen knocks Hiro away with her territory. Since he didn't see it coming, he couldn't break through it. Ellen then floats in front of her boss as he asks.
"Can handle him, Ellen?"
Ellen calmly responds.
"It'll be fine, Ike, I won't lose to him. I'll get the head back as well."
Hiro retorts, with calm anger.
"I'll cut through your whore, Isaac."
Ellen takes offense and charges in. Hiro and her clash swords as Isaac continues to banter about his previous actions.
"So, how'd you enjoy torturing little Miss Ashcroft? Don't think I didn't notice that you didn't just cut her up. No no no, you used your bare hands as well. Particularly, when you took her precious little head and stuffed it in a jar."
Hiro responds while holding his own with Ellen as the start exchanging blows
"I did what needed to be done!"
"Oh, so pulling off her head with your hands is "what needed to be done"? You couldn't just simply cut it off?"
Hiro then says something he just heard within the hour.
"I did it for the greater good!"
Isaac then begins to laugh as he responds.
"I can't believe you actually said that. Nobody cares about the greater good. It's some misguided form of self-righteousness. Miss Ashcroft said the same thing, and look what happened to her. She got the business end of a sword in spades, and got her head ripped off by an anxiety fueled teen."
Hiro knocks Ellen away and attempts to take another swing at Isaac, but Ellen slices his back before it he can get close. Hiro falls to the ground as it is a deep wound to his spine. Isaac walks up to Hiro, kneels down and taunts him further.
"What good is killing me going to do? Your aunty is gonna stay dead, your sister's legs are gonna stay gone, and your nightmares aren't going to end."
Hiro then manages to barely swing his sword forward and actually land a cut on Isaac's face in the shape of a straight line across his face. Despite being cut, Isaac nonchalantly just wipes his injury and casually complains.
"Now you've ruined my suit by getting blood on it."
Hiro stands up and Ellen takes another swing, but he back flips through the air, she puts up another territory, but he slices through it this time. He then starts up another series of clashes with the world's strongest wizard. Hiro then jumps up and hops off Ellen's sword and jumps for Westcott again, but as he is on his way to take another swing at the director, Hiro's chest begins to throb with pain and he stops in place and gets on his knees. Ellen then walks up to him, kicks to the ground on his stomach. She then runs her sword through her stomach. Isaac walks to continue his insults as Hiro while he bites his lip from the pain.
"You know, boy, those wizards you cut down aren't dead…well not yet."
Hiro retorts through the pain.
"It doesn't matter…I'm on…a mission."
"Really? Does that mission involve killing parents and siblings?"
Hiro's eyes widen and Isaac smirks a little wider as he continues.
"Oh yeah, some of my employees have children, brother, and sisters. Now I'm going to have to tell them that the some nasty solider cut them badly. So bad, that they are currently screaming from the pain, and I'm going to have euthanize them because of how bad it is."
Hiro doesn't respond as he is actually disgusted with his actions because he realizes that when he cut down the other wizards, they didn't die when he passed them. Ellen then begins to stab him repeatedly through the back. She stops after he appears to pass out from the injuries she's inflicted on him. Isaac shakes his head and casually says.
"Well that was fun. I need to get bandages for my face. Ellen, please get Miss Ashcroft's head for me."
Ellen nods, puts her sword away, and floats over to grab the suitcase. As she reaches for it, the sound of a sword echoes through the air as Ellen's palm is cut by Hiro. He rose up and used the speed he used on Artemisia to finish her off. Ellen reaches for her sword again, but Hiro reacts fast and slices off Ellen's arm before she can do anything. Her arm soars off and the sword sticks into the ground of the roof, still holding onto the sword. Ellen lets out a cry of pain; Hiro is sweating from all of the pain he's endured. He picks up the suitcase and receives a signal via is weapon. His ride has arrived to pick him up. He looks at Isaac and threateningly says.
"The next meet face to face, Isaac, is the day I take your head off. But first, I'll ruin your company."
Hiro is teleported aboard the Fraxinus. Kotori, now in her thirties, was asked by Hiro's superiors, who gave him the mission, to pick him up so he can get back to the city safely and with his items. Kotori wasn't told of what he was supposed to bring with him. He received immediate medical attention upon being picked up. His efforts in this mission lead to DEM's downfall as the information extracted from Ashcroft's brain was more than beneficial to proving their guilt. Hiro was so disgusted with his own actions that he gave up using his Katana in favor of assassin style dual blades. His trusted blue sword turned a deep shade of crimson because of the brutality that it caused. Ellen's attacks all left scars on his body that would never fade. Hiro never told anybody about what he did. Operation Dullahan succeeded in the end.
Present Day
Hiro shakes his head and thinks to himself.
"Am I really a hero? Or am I just some killer? I don't even know…but I feel bad about what I did DEM, and I never will."
Author's Note- This chapter was originally going to be a tiny separate story, but I thought this was a better choice. I may make more chapters that expand the other spirit children's backstories and add more contexts to their personalities.