Previously in Heart of the Melting Blood…
As if human's greed for blood could not and would not be fulfilled, the Neo Crusades triggered at the late 21st century. This was the war between humankind and Gears and lasted for almost 100 years, claiming far more lives than World War 2. It only came to a permanent halt with the defeat of the command Gear Justice by the two warriors of Holy Orders, Ky Kiske and Sol Badguy and only then, human finally attained peace they long awaited for.
But this is fan fiction universe. Anything can happen.
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The man by the name of Mark 2 stared at each researcher, nodding in acknowledgment to the information he obtained. Slowly he reached a wire connecting his head and unplugged it, carefully putting the connector aside. He jumped off the chair and reached a sword put on a nearby table. Admiring the unique design of the weapon for a while, he slung it on his back and turned around, facing the researchers. A devious grin carved upon his steel-armored face.
"I'M READY."
x-x-x-x-x
Guilty Gear
Heart of the Melting Blood
Conceived by: Lone Wolf NEO
Written by: Lone Wolf NEO
Lone Wolf NEO does not own any of all the games or anime or manga featured in this story, but he owns the copyright to all his original ideas in this fiction. Lone Wolf would really appreciate it if readers do not plagiaries everything inside this story without his knowledge.
Chapter 06
Black Feather: New Crisis Arising
Morning arrived at the land of ancient civilizations. Call of prayers echoed in the cold dawn sky, summoning people to return from their land of dream and accomplish their responsibility. Even the sleeping critters were awakened by the morning call and immediately prepared themselves for their daily routines.
The man slowly opened his eyes and outstretched himself. "Oh, man. That was a decent sleep," he murmured and rubbed his sleepy eyes. He looked up at the morning sky and could call the call of prayers echoing faintly in the heaven. "I know that call… heh, I have nothing to do with it in the first place." Slow as he was, he managed to get up on his feet and reached his uniform hung on the wall, flapping it to eliminate any trace of sand and insects that might lurk upon it.
"Alright, time to have breakfast." He walked out of the city park and headed toward the market, looking around the area for any booth opened on the wee hour. He saw one booth located near the bookstore and immediately walked toward it.
"Good morning, boss," the booth owner greeted, "waking up at time like this? I'm so surprised to see you coming here."
"Don't mind me, I used to wake up early even when I don't want to," the man answered and took a seat near the bar. "So, what's being served today?"
"Oh, I just opened this booth and haven't prepared anything yet," the Egyptian man uttered, "but I can serve you a cup of hot, fresh Cairo coffee. The best in both hemispheres and recommended for travelers and regular people alike."
"Cairo coffee? Sounds interesting to me," the man spoke. "Can I have one cup of it, please?"
"One Cairo coffee specially blended for you, coming up!"
Waiting for the coffee to be served, the man looked around the still-empty market and saw a stack of newspapers put next to him. He took a copy of the newspaper and proceeded to read it. "Nothing interesting to read…" he murmured and opened the following page, his eyes looking for articles to comprehend. He shook in disgrace and opened the newspaper's next pages, finding nothing but local news report and sports updates. He grumbled in dismay and put the newspaper down, realizing that the coffee had been served. "That was so fast," he commented.
"My booth serves anything in the fastest time, while keeping its quality at top notch!" the booth keeper claimed while arranging items for today's business. The man grinned at the response and sipped the coffee. "How does my coffee taste, boss?"
The man put down the glass and smiled at the keeper. "Well, well. What do you know? The first coffee I've tested in a while. I must thank you for… this great-tasting beverage."
The keeper hoarsely laughed and ran his hand through his thick moustache. "Ahahahaha! I'm so flattered to hear that, boss!" The keeper excused himself to resume his work, singing and chanting in his Arabic slang. The man just smiled and continued drinking the coffee when his eyes caught something on the newspaper. Intrigued, he reached the newspaper and read the article he saw earlier.
"According to the report issued by the United Nation, the contestants of the tournament included the Zeppian soldier Potemkin and the representative of the Yagami Clan, Yagami Iori. It was also believed that the ex-IPF officer, LieutenantKy Kiske was also involved in the tournament…"
The man's eyes widened in utter surprise. "Ky Kiske… the ex-leader of the Holy Orders?" The hands holding the newspaper were shivering, as if he had read revealing news about the owner of the name.
"Boss? You okay, boss?" the shopkeeper asked. The man was idle for a while, still shivering uncontrollably. It was only after several seconds later that he calmed down and put down the newspaper.
"Finally…" he murmured. "I've finally found you, Ky Kiske…"
.
Ky suddenly sneezed, much to the curiosity of Dizzy and the Howard couple. "I think someone mentioned my name," the French knight said.
"It must be him," Rock suggested, followed by his teasing laughter.
"Excuse me?" Ky insisted, glowering at the biological son of Geese. "Why are you referring him at time like this? Do you have any idea of how I hate that guy so much?"
-At the Ukraine/Russia border checkpoint, Sol suddenly sneezed. "Damn it. Nobody messes with my name," he mumbled and rubbed his itching nose.
"Oh, come on," Rock insisted, "it's not that bad to be referred to the Badguy once in a while."
-Again, Sol sneezed. "Now what?" he growled. The border guards and Kagura were looking at him in intrigue, causing him to be displeased by the reaction. "Hey! Stop looking at me like that."
"Sol-kun, did Ky-chan say your name?" asked Kagura.
This time, it was Ky's turn to sneeze. "See? I've told you so," Rock said.
"Kono yaro…"
x-x-x-x-x
"Lone Wolf-san?" Hibiki called, realizing that her boyfriend was once again daydreaming. "What are you daydreaming again? Mou, please quit it," she begged and elbowed him.
"Gomen," Lone Wolf apologized and scratched the back of his head, "but it's not that I daydream again. Something's bothered my mind lately. I just can't figure it out."
"What is it again?" she asked.
"I told you, I can't figure out what it is," he told her.
"Yeah, right," she replied and playfully poked his cheek. Lone Wolf giggled and pulled the iaijitsu woman into his arms, placing trails of kisses on her cheek and scalp. "Mou, Lone Wolf-san. We're in the public area, yamete," she spoke and tried to flee from the embrace.
"Yada," he answered and embraced her closer. "Why can't we do this in public? And besides, we're the cutest couple of all. Don't you think so, Hibiki-chan?"
Hibiki blushed and buried her burning face beneath his arms, clenching the trench coat as tightly and as close as she could. "Onegai… stop calling me with the suffix. Onegai."
Lone Wolf laughed again and tightened the embrace. "Unfortunately, I can't. And I don't think I'm going to quit using that."
"Anou…" The couple broke off their warm embrace and looked at the caller. "Sorry for interrupting your romantic moment, but can you tell us which way to Kiev is?"
Lone Wolf blinked in surprise when he saw the interrupter. "Eh… Shiki? Akiha? And Kohaku and Hisui, too?"
Shiki blinked. "Lone Wolf NEO! Man, I didn't expect to meet you at this place," he uttered in surprise. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"And what are you doing here in the first place, Shiki?" Lone Wolf uttered and approached Shiki. "It's been a long time since we last went to the dojo for our training."
"Lone Wolf-san," Hibiki called, "do you two know each other?"
Lone Wolf turned to Hibiki. "Ahem. Sorry for not introducing my ex-sparring partner, Tohno Shiki. Shiki, this is Takane Hibiki, my…"
"Girlfriend?" Kohaku answered, followed by her mischievous titter. Lone Wolf and Hibiki blushed, trying not to get overreacted.
"Kohaku, be polite," Akiha reminded. Kohaku merely replied with a "PIIDAH!" and turned away from her. She just grumbled and looked at Lone Wolf and Hibiki, bowing before him. "Tohno Akiha desu. Yoroshiku."
"Ha-hajimemashite," Hibiki replied, her face still burning in crimson red stain. "Takane Hibiki desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."
"Haii, haii! Kohaku desu," Kohaku introduced, "and this is my twin sister Hisui."
Hisui just bowed. "Yoroshiku."
"Alright, I think it's enough with our introduction," Lone Wolf uttered. "Anyway, Shiki, what's brought you to Kiev? I thought that you'd never plan to leave Misaki Town after you were done with the training."
Shiki blinked again. "You're telling me we had arrived at Kiev?" He, Akiha and the twin housemaids looked around in bafflement. "But I thought this is…"
"Welcome to Kiev, Shiki," Lone Wolf uttered, spreading his arms. "A year or so has passed since the tournament, and as you can see, the townspeople are still restoring this city. If you're planning to come here for vacation, you've gone to the wrong place."
"Lone Wolf-san, did you say the tournament?" Akiha asked.
"Yeah, I did. What's the deal? I mean, nobody's been talking about it for a year," the author uttered. "Why did you ask, Akiha?"
Hisui stepped forward and handed over the invitation letter to Lone Wolf. "Actually, Shiki-sama thought that we might be able to look for the sender of this letter if we come here." Lone Wolf took the letter and read it. He shook his head and returned it to Hisui. "What's wrong, Lone Wolf-san?"
"Seems that Zofeah had planned to invite the people of TYPE MOON to the tournament," Lone Wolf murmured before he shrugged. "Iie. Nothing wrong, Hisui-chan. Nothing wrong."
"Lone Wolf-san…!" Hibiki growled in shock.
"Daijoobu desu, Takane-san," Hisui spoke. "Lone Wolf-san used to be our guest at Tohno residence before he left our town."
"Then we did you allow him to call you with the suffix? It's… it's very degrading, you know" Hibiki insisted.
"Eh? But I thought Shiki-sama allowed him to call us with that," Hisui said. Hibiki murderously glowered at Lone Wolf, her hand ready to pull out a kamae.
"Err… I think there's an explanation behind the suffix," Lone Wolf sheepishly spoke, scratching his cheek. "Anyway, while we're at it, why don't we visit my friend's house? Perhaps she doesn't mind letting her visitors staying for a night or two."
"That'd be a good idea, Lone Wolf," Shiki spoke.
"Shiki!" The group looked at the direction of the voice and saw a woman in white dress waving at them, "Shiki, matte!"
"EH!? Arcueid!?" Shiki cried in shock. "Were you following me all this time?"
Arcueid giggled and glomped him. "Aw, are you surprised to see me, Shiki?" she spoke and hugged him tightly. This time, it was the remaining three women's turn to deliver their glare of death at Shiki.
"Slightly out of character, she is," Lone Wolf commented. "Hey, Arc-chan, long times no see, no?"
Arcueid looked at Lone Wolf and laughed. "Kiba-chan! Long times no see! How are you doing now?"
Again, Hibiki glowered at Lone Wolf. "Kiba-chan? Lone Wolf-san…!"
"Aw, man," Lone Wolf mumbled, "I think we met here at the wrong time. Hibiki-chan doesn't seem to be very pleased today…" He yelped when Hibiki hardly poked his toe with her pole sword. The rest of the people laughed when Lone Wolf helplessly apologized at Hibiki for acting rude at her.
"Omatase…" All of them looked at the direction of the call and saw a little girl wearing black gown running toward them. "Stop running around like a kid, Arc-chan."
"Gomen, Ren-chan," Arcueid apologized and laughed silly.
The little girl looked at Lone Wolf and bowed. "It's been a long time, Lone Wolf-niisan," she greeted.
For the unknown time, Hibiki was glowering at the author. "Lone Wolf-san… I demand explanation from you RIGHT NOW," she growled, threatening to pull out a Beckoning Slash from her nihontou. Lone Wolf tried his best effort to persuade Hibiki before he surrendered and frowned.
"Give me a break… please?"
x-x-x-x-x
After paying for the coffee, the man left the booth and walked out of the marketplace. Eyes burning in passionate anger, he silently murmured the name of the ex-IPF officer and clenched his fist as tightly as he could. He grumbled in dismay when he had a flashback of events he did not want to recall and roughly shook his head. "Damn it… all this time I've been trying to forget it… and this has to happen…?" He reached the iron cross and held it close to him. "My Lord… I'm so confused… please, guide me to escape this path of delusion…"
"Hey, you there!"
He halted and turned around, seeing several people approaching him with weapons in hand. "Yes? How can I help you people?" he asked.
"You're the one who killed our fellows, right?" the people demanded.
His eyebrow arched. "Hmm? Whose fellow are you referring to?"
"Don't play dumb at us, stranger!" they roared. "The thugs you killed at the church, don't you remember? How dare you messing with us in this place!"
The man slowly broke into a grim laughter and covered half his face with his palm. "Oh? You mean those people who had mistreated the old man? I had advised them to leave the priest alone but they refused to listen to me, hence I had to give them an unforgettable lesson. And besides, how can you claim that they're your fellow when they don't have any respect to elders at all?"
"Shut up!" they demanded and pointed their weapons at him. "We don't welcome strangers to our place, especially at the times where battlers and fighters alike are trashing around.
He coughed. "Before you get the idea wrong, and before somebody gets hurt, I suggest you to leave me alone. I don't want to hurt you people just because of this mere quarrel. Can we just forget this matter?"
"That cannot be accepted!" they replied and pounced toward the lone man. He swiftly evaded all the attacks and jumped far from the attackers. "Don't try to run away, stranger! We'll keep chasing you and then we'll force you to beg for forgiveness!"
The man breathed out and put his hand on his back. "I do not want to do this to you people, but I have no other choice. God, please forgive me…"
.
Dead silence. The market was unpleasantly and disturbingly silent. No visible voices or speeches were audible, leaving only the breaths of the frightened to be clear to those who heard it. The man from earlier was standing erect at the center of the chaos, surrounded by lifeless bodies cut disaggregated into small pieces. The kodachi he was holding was coated with human blood mixed with sands blown from the desert.
The man breathed out and looked up at the sky. He noticed a black feather falling from the sky and landed on his forehead. He sighed and brushed the feather away from his face. "Did I do the right thing… but this is for them…" he whispered and frowned. His bloodstained hand reached the cross and clenched it tightly. "God… I've committed another sin on this soil… please forgive me…"
x-x-x-x-x
Sol was startled. He looked around and saw a piece of black feather flinging from his shoulder. "Feather?" he uttered and swept off the feather. "Just what the hell is going on here?"
.
"Unknown energy source detected."
Robo-Ky abruptly stood up and looked around him. Sumomo, sleeping on his shoulder, was awakened and almost fell to the floor. "Robo-Ky! What's the matter with you, waking up like that?" she asked, struggling to climb up his body.
"I don't know, Sumomo," Robo-Ky answered. "I just don't know."
.
Hikki put down the book. For a moment, he could feel his Chrono power triggered by outside energy source and reacting violently. He wondered whether someone or something out there was responsible for triggering his power.
"Chrono…" Mriya moaned beside him, disturbed by the abrupt reaction he made. "What's disturbing you, Chrono…?"
Hikki looked at his sleepy sister and smiled. "Iie…" he replied and patted her scalp. "Nande mo nai."
"Mou…" she mumbled and moved closer to him. "Just tell me what it is, ne?"
"Don't worry about it, oneesama," he spoke and bent down, softly kissing her cheek. "Don't worry about it." Mriya giggled and took his hand, nuzzling it contently. He stared at his dear sister and smiled before leaned against the oak tree. He sighed and looked up to the blue sky and saw a black feather falling down to the ground. He picked up the feather and carefully examined it.
"Black feather… the sign of an upcoming event… a not-so-pleasant-to-expect kind of event…"
.
The NEO Dagger he was carrying along was shivering uncontrollably, as if reacting to a new crisis upcoming. At that time, he realized that there was a terrible disaster bound to happen on the very earth.
"So… someone has decided to disturb peace …" Lone Wolf NEO whispered and clenched his fist. "I can't allow that to happen again."
x-x-x-x-x
The golden eyes peeked from a dark corner, observing the battle between the hooligans and the lone man. His onboard sensors were locked on at the man in black uniform who single-handedly finished the aggressors in no time.
"THAT GUY SURELY HAS POTENTIAL. I WONDER WHY CHIEF ASSIGNED ME TO TRACK HIM," Mark 2 uttered and scratched his chin. "EXECUTING CODE RK3719: FOLLOW TARGET WITH CAUTION AND DO NOT MAKE ANY MOVES UNLESS WHEN ORDERED."
He saw the lone man leaving the scene and immediately made his move. "ACTIVATING STEALTH CLOAK. CODE RK3719 RETAINED. TRAILING TARGET AS SILENT AND AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE."