Okay… This is my first time speaking in the opening section. You lovable and neighborhood friendly spy, Tsuchimikado Motoharu at your service-nya.
Author gave me several things to say and let's begin with the first one, answering the comments:
Wildan: Kamisato Kakeru or more widely known as… 'Kirito', geez the author is tasteless. I'm sorry for that…
Kamisato Kakeru who has 'World Rejecter' at his beckon call is the leading figure of IVORY, well from what I see, he's another bad case of Kami disease with an broodier edge to him while his friends acts as a direct reflection of his more ruthless approach to things. In all honesty, Author-san got his inspiration from Gacha games protagonists like 'Commander' or 'Doctor' and added a dark twist to the trope related to those kinds of characters.
About the returning figures, let's just say that the author has a bad case of 'why these characters aren't around anymore' and tried to give them spotlight while expanding their stories, and no… I don't know whether he will make them fall for one of my boys, God help me…
SermonSelvon: The boy is a man of focus, commitment and sheer will, it was impressive that a Kuudere like Nunotaba was on the verge of falling for him… Hey, I can say that she already fell for him and was way too prideful to admit it.
This is Aogami's note and I will read it. Nunotaba is the type that will mark her territory, so expect hickeys placed on the boy's nape…
…
I'm sorry for reading something like that to you… I'll beat the bastard right after this.
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 a treat to make, plus it will give the original characters voice to flesh out their character even more.
I made another vid and giving the characters some voice, I'll upload it on the youtube page along with several illustrations on the artpage, Ibara and Kamisato will be featured, kindly check them out.
But anyway, let's see where this story goes as your favorite spy returns to Academy City, the operation to rescue the idols continues while some of the boys have an interesting encounter.
This is part one out of two dear readers, buckle up.
PLAY MUSIC
Psycho Pass OST – Criminally Asymptomatic.
A sense of unease settled itself inside the tower, Stephanie who looked at it from a different lens knew that the attack was going to come as she looked at the tightened and increased number of armed members of IVORY. The feeling is conveyed further as she looked to her side and saw the group's new addition of a younger girl decked in similar set armor and equipment as her.
A girl with dark long hair fashioned in two half pigtails, her eyes are grim and burning with barely concealed anger.
To ease the atmosphere between her and Yumiya Rakko, Stephanie decided to strike up a conversation.
"It is painfully silent for quite a while now, are you sure that they're going to show up tonight?"
"They will, I saw how they butcher the Duchess and her clique in addition to being able to withstand a fight with the second rank." Rakko answered, her voice laced in venomous contempt as she added, "Their cocky attitude will be their own downfall, even teaming up with Skill-outs to bolster their numbers… I admit adding fodders to their ranks served them quite well."
"Somebody holding a grudge." The blonde commented, a slight ire could be seen in her eyes because her experience told her being as fiery as her will make one to become illogical and vulnerable.
"They butchered the Duchess and got in the way of my…"
Rakko stopped before she shared about the blue haired boy that the duchess promised as a prize for her.
Stephanie noticed her reluctance and asked, "Your what?"
…
There was only silence coming from Rakko.
Stephanie even leaned down to look at her supposed hidden expression and asked as soon as she saw her dour expression, "Yahoo… Do you hear me?"
"Nothing… It's something personal."
The blonde mercenary shrugged and just asked, "No matter, but get your head in the zone when we dive head first into the fight, can I trust you on that?"
Rakko just walked away from her attempt of being friendly and responded by saying, "Make sure you double tap them or keep them alive long enough until I can finish them."
"Deal." Stephanie answered with a lighter tone before adding, "Well anything to get you going, we got to keep the lower loading bay safe from them."
Then she left to guard her own post, the lower loading bay while Rakko went alone to her own, Stephanie quietly slipped a miniature tracking beacon before she went on her own path believing that it would help her when the situation gets sticky on either end.
The same sentiment of unease is also being shared by the non-combat members who lounged around inside the private club, and the lone assassin who sat around there could hear all of their unease as they tried to talk to Rikuri about said worry.
"It's almost midnight, why hasn't there been any movement from their side yet?"
"Why did you look so down, Rikuri?" A member of the group slides to the bar table, placing his chin on his palm.
"That punk disappointed you?"
Another boy looked at Atsumu with ill intent as he looked away from the boy who wanted to start something.
Rikuri who's not want any problem, decided to defuse his aggression by holding his arm and said, "No, not him… I just got a lot to process here."
"Because of him?"
"No… Jealousy is an ugly thing you know." The girl tried to use her charming voice to ease the tension before his friend joined in and added, "We just cared way too much, especially for a beauty like you."
"Adorable."
The blonde beauty replied before she looked to the cause for concern and asked, "Still hanging around?"
"I'm still enjoying my stay."
"Fufu… Take a liking to me, I see." Rikuri replied and gave a slight pleasant look upon hearing his reply but quickly changed her expression when she heard, "That's not the reason."
"Why is it then? Care to share it with me…"
The girl tried to inquire further shortly before a loud engine noise could be heard coming from outside the club.
It was coming from outside the lobby area and it just gets even louder by each passing moment.
VROOOOOOOOOOOOM!
CRASH!
A sound of the engine abruptly cuts only to be followed by a sound of glass shattering that was so loud that Rikuri instinctively lowered her body and reached to her bag underneath the bar table.
But she decided to keep her cover as a series of terrible noises continued.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The sound was obvious to her, it was a vehicle crashing into the building and probably leaving the lobby area in ruins as she could swear that the crashing vehicle just kept on going until it stopped right in front of the club's front door.
"Finally…"
She could hear a faint mutter reach her ears before all the lights went out, the boy who showed aggression earlier turned around to check the conditions then voiced out loudly as he didn't see the lonesome boy from before.
"Where? Where did he go?..."
He was surprised because he could disappear into thin air when it only got dark for a few short moments before the emergency lights kicked in.
His voice was loud enough to catch the attention of his confused friends, but before he could continue he could hear one of his friends barge in from the lobby and shouted, "You won't believe what just happened! Someone crashed straight into the lobby!"
"How?! we installed barricades to keep any idiots who dared to pull a stunt like that outside."
"THEY STRAPPED ONE OF THE FIGHTER GUYS ON THE HOOD OF A CAR AND CRASHED IT TO THE LOBBY!"
Then all of the lights inside the building died down once again.
PLAY MUSIC
Darker Than Black -Ryusei no Gemini- OST – Suizen Ryouka 'Komusou'.
Out there, the one who was responsible for the sudden darkness called out to his friends from inside the building's main electrical center.
Pierce is starting his offensive.
"Move your ass gentleman, we have to sweep this place. Atsumu, wear your mask and get topside as fast as possible." A reply could be heard from the other end as Atsumu already wore his augmented mask and spoke to the comms, "Do you have a map of this place? It felt like I just walked into a maze."
"Send it to your integrated map view now, you got it?"
"Yeah, the middle section of this place is… Hollow?"
"The fifth floor and upwards are hollow, it was supposed to be a hanging forest or some sort to go with all the floral aesthetic… Is it possible to reel through those vines?"
"I'll try, keep a close monitor on each other, the whole area is to be perceived as enemy territory." The assassin replied before going silent again as he reached the sixth floor and stopped once he found a series of floors tagged as armory and research center.
Then Pierce tried to reach his other ally inside the building, "Kurozuma? Where are you, I need you to block the lower club area. Keep them from leaving the first five floors."
"That's why you gave me a grenade launcher?!" The rough looking fighter asked as he looked at the portable single shot grenade launcher.
"Non-lethal concussive rounds, it won't kill but it ain't gonna tickle either. Salvo it towards the exit and any route leading outwards, your mask should be able to handle all the tear gas fumes. And if you're thinking that you're going down when the going gets tough, Don't, because Remember that these bastards could go after that Mii girl at some point."
"And what are you going to do? Aren't we supposed to handle them together?"
"I'll sweep the inner parts, we still don't have any idea what they're keeping back there."The blue haired boy closes the visor part of his armored mask then continues to say, "You want a chance to prove yourself, this is it! Gloves are off! Show me what Big Spider is made of."
Kurozuma grinned when the boy mentioned the name of his gang that used to have an infamous reputation while replying, "How can I refuse when you put it like that, now I got to show you why you should keep me around, Demon."
Without saying any word, the two nod to each other as they leave to fight.
But someone else managed to place an independent surveillance camera and captured their image, Stephanie relayed the footage to Rakko and told her that she has a rough idea where they might be heading.
"They're here. Rakko, We'll split up and take each one of them. The plan will be…"
The blonde didn't finish her sentence because Rakko gave her an abrupt response before she cut communications on her end.
"The one with Kami's mask is mine."
The answer surprised Stephanie as she stopped her steps and thought to herself, 'It was well within my expectation, but she didn't know that she would get as riled up to this extreme.'
Rakko used her ability to lower her presence, one could say it turned her into a perfect assassin, combining said ability with impeccable marksmanship, close quarters combat training and turning her own emotions off during a job have made her into an excellent operative.
A diamond in the rough, that one talent that SCHOOL unable to see.
But what if she fell into the hands of someone who did see it and enhance her as much as possible.
Kamisato Kakeru made a bet and together with his collaborator, they made a vengeful hunt and attack dog. She has one thing in mind, hunt the Kami's gang down and she already sharpened her fangs to do so as she made her way to the blue haired boy who just entered IVORY's armory with a training facility built in.
Pierce took light steps as he entered the empty room with thick concrete walls and marked floors used to place obstacles to create various combat layouts, in short it's similar to the Antiskill's special weapons and tactics training facility.
It gave the boy a deeply unsettling feeling.
But it was not IVORY's ability to procure this facility or develop their own weapons that bothered him. It was the lingering feeling in his head that someone or something is stalking him, waiting to bare its fangs and attack.
'Something is wrong… Someone is here but why can't I…'
The boy thought to himself and sharpened his senses.
'Sense something, anything…'
The blue haired boy closed his eyes and tried to further sharpen his ears to sense any kind of sound that could be registered as an anomaly, his nose tried to pick up any scent that might be an anomaly as well.
Much to his horror he could pick up the faint scent of oil and metal before he could hear a faint 'click'
The very sound kicked his senses so hard, it automatically stroked the motoric memory in his body and it told him to drop down and duck.
Moments later he could pick up a faint smell of another thing.
It was the discerning smell of burning gunpowder that stung his nose and In response he rolled to the side and threw his backup push dagger into the dark where the smell came from.
It hit a wall but moments later he could hear a reply coming from the dark.
"You're lucky, the next one won't miss."
A girl's voice reached his ears as several linear rifle rounds cut through the air and headed straight at him.
"Dammit!"
The boy dodged again while firing his handgun to the rough location of where the shooter might be located, much to his luck the one who fired earlier jumped out of her hiding spot and shouted back, "I hope you've made peace with yourself murderer!"
"Rich coming from you!…" Pierce tried to reply but stopped.
"Wait…"
The boy stopped as he recalled his memories and remembered the long haired girl who fought him with a palpable hate, she was the girl who once introduced herself to him as someone who went to school at School Garden and a frequent customer at the place where he worked, so it was a small shock when the face of the attacker actually belonged to her, how could someone who acting cute and awkward could be so ruthless and vengeful.
PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH!
Pierce dodged the fire by dropping his body, jumping to the side and applying every maneuver in his book to keep on evading her attacks.
He couldn't retaliate and attack her as the memory of Rakko's other sweeter side surfaced in his mind. The contrast of how he usually met her and now were like day and night. It disturbed him deeply because it reminded him of himself.
So he just screamed in his head, telling his body to dodge all of her attacks.
But then her venom laced voice reaches his ears once more.
"You killed my Queen! The Duchess and the whole Duchy! I'll make sure that you won't leave this place alive!"
The voice froze him as Rakko took aim with her linear rifle. The miniaturized hybrid railgun fired and broke the lower part of Pierce's mask, exposing the boy's lower face and robbing his ability to go to the lower floors and fight within the teargas smoke.
"Blue, situation report, why did your marker turn red?" Atsumu suddenly called out to him.
"Someone just shot the rebreather and filters, I can't go back inside the club now."
"I'll think of some way to help."
"Where are you?"
"Just before the hanging forest, fifth floor, they killed the elevator and it brought me into a server and their command room, at least that's what I believed." The assassin replied before Pierce could hear shuffling voices, moments later the assassin gave a simple explanation," They found me…"
"Well that makes the two of us." Pierce replied before Atsumu cuts off his comms again, leaving both of them in a condition where they have to fight. Pierce finds it harder because he's not fighting a faceless enemy who he could categorize as evil, but moreso because he already knew her from several brief encounters and her smiling face pops up inside his head every time he tries to aim his gun or strike at her.
So the boy asked himself.
'How do I survive this?'
'How do I survive this?' Atsumu also asked himself the same question as he looked at the armored and well armed members of IVORY who currently fill the command room and block all four exit doors. The box-like room has an elevation to it where the exit was located on each wall's middle section, then stairs will lead down through rows of tables until in the lowest part of the room four large screens are being hung facing four sides with a central computer hooked up to them.
He's trapped in the lowest area while trying to pull some actionable intel from the central computer, he found himself at a disadvantage in combat conditions where the enemy had the high ground. The armored enemy knew it and they were too proud to flaunt it while he extended his arms to the sides, "Look who just stumbled in this place, you unfortunate pleb."
"The new guy turned out to be a member of Kami's gang… Hey! Let's take him on."
Two figures stepped forth, both are so proud of themselves and for them it was something that they have solid grounds for, they practically outnumbered him one to fifty at the very least.
But a single voice calls out to them, one who has his doubts about their odds who asks, "You sure?"
"Ibara said that he'll give an ample reward if we manage to take one of them down and from what I see… He's no esper, just a low born level zero."
"I'll call the others… I can't wait to claim my reward."
"Rikuri?"
"You know it."
The mention of the girl's name prompted the assassin to snap out of his silence who instinctively asked a question to them.
"What was that?"
The first boastful member looked down at him, even when Atsumu couldn't look at his eyes he knew for sure that he was looking at him as someone beneath him as he gave his reply, "Did you just speak to me? Mongrel, you should know that you shouldn't talk back to someone who stood on a higher plain as you."
"I asked. What was that?"
Atsumu asked once more and this time it was his friend who stepped forward and answered, "It won't hurt to tell him, I only see a dead man walking. You know that girl who just spoke to you… She's a property here, a premium one… And I'll have my way with her as soon as I bring your mangled body to upper management."
"You? I'd say that I will be the one who savaged him to submission." The boastful one added, the worried voice from behind also asked, "Wait, please wait just a minute… Both of you didn't see last night's video?
"What of it? I find it boring to see a bunch of old timers still trying to prove their worth."
"I think he's one of them…"
"Speak."
"He's there, one who zipped around and cut Kazu-san's head off."
"It won't work on us." A smirk sounding could be heard as the two stood in the front crossed their hands and added, "They went out with unfinished products, the ones we have are the new and improved ones and look… the whole gang's here, we won…"
"Tch…"
His comments were being cut off by Atsumu who expressed his disdain in an unusual manner, he threw a spit and made it loud enough to make it clear that he's looking forward to a fight.
Then he adds a sign that he understood the vile motivation behind their act.
"I see…"
Everyone in that room could see that the assassin was sneering at them and for some it was enough provocation to push them forward into a fight. The boy looked at the second most boastful member inside the room with the same belittling look then said, "Those gears are wasted on you then."
"What did you just say!…" He said as he charged forth to the lone boy while Atsumu also did the same and using his hip mounted launcher mechanism to throw a hook then propel him forward in bullet like momentum with both daggers in each hand.
He's treating this as an exorcism and a bloody one at that.
That message is being delivered clearly as he stabbed both of his daggers to the charging opponent, one was puncturing through his right shoulder and piercing through his collarbone while the other was going through his left knee.
On his chest both of Atsumu's feet are making contact, making sure that he could disengage by any moment by simply kicking him back and launching him or his own body to the opposite side.
The only thing missing was the action that would act as the trigger, one that could be done in a split of a moment.
CRACK!
Every opponent's eye grew wide as the trigger act chosen by the boy was a cruel one, Atsumu twisted the blade puncturing through his opponent's knee and motioning it like a leverage tool to pop his kneecap from the inside.
"GUHAGH!
The terror and pain filled scream rang through the room in an instant.
STAB!
Then he finished his initial attack by disengaging himself by twisting the other knife to effectively dislocate his arm away from its sockets. Atsumu made sure that his brain couldn't process anything because of the sheer immense pain that he felt, it was his way of fighting an esper and made them unable to use any of their power by shocking them and making it impossible to attempt any calculation.
"AAAAA!…" The one who received it cried and screamed as he couldn't process anything but the intense sensation of pain that shocked his brain, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!..."
"What the fuck?!"
"Where did the mongrel go?!"
Panicked shouts could be heard but the assassin already made his next target apparent as the worried member found a hook from the hip mounted mechanism already embedded itself on his hip before a blur and violent tug pulled him and the assassin closer.
CUT!
CUT!
CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!CUT!
Before he even realized it, the unfortunate boy found that the assassin had delivered spinning cuts to the joints and the ligaments on both of his arms that rendered his arms immobile and his body numb from blood loss.
"No… Way… I didn't even manage to land anything…"
A weak muttered voice could be heard leaving his lips before his body dropped to the ground with a resounding 'Thud!...' causing his allies to quickly square up on the lone assassin. Atsumu sensed their fright and found it fitting that he asked again.
"So what did you say about Rikuri again? A prize? A property? Tell me more about it…"
The same question from earlier has a grimmer undertone beneath it.
"I won't say anything to a mongrel!" The first boastful opponent stepped up even after two of his allies had been slaughtered.
"We'll do this my way then…"
"Arrogant lowlife! Everyone blades out! We'll dice him and send the remains to Ibara, that's the least you can do to pay for what you did."
His loud yell prompted everyone to manifest their ability or draw out their weapons. knives, swords, Machetes, Hunting knives and bladed wonder weapons of various kinds are being brandished with confidence.
But the side who has the advantage is wholly different, they Unknowingly have stepped into a realm where the assassin excels the most, A place with an ample supply of sharp weapons similar to his daggers.
PLAY MUSIC
Darker Than Black -Ryusei no Gemini- OST – Galaxy Train.
The same applies to Kurozuma Wataru who wreaked havoc on the lower floors and used a telescopic Antiskill baton as his preferred weapon of onslaught.
The blood curdling screams are very telling of the amount of violence he could inflict.
"Who the fuck is this guy!"
"Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! I can't breathe!..." Could be heard before a fit of choked coughs could be heard and the moment he finished his sentence he saw a blur that hit him on the side of his head, it was so fast but it was actually the baton being extended out to form a polearm in which being swung in full rotation by Wataru who swung it close to his body and doing all he could to maximize the rotational speed of his swings.
Keeping the staff close to his core, stiffening his body and arms in place and using his legs to make the initial move before using his core muscles to twist the staff further and add more speed to the striking momentum.
It was understandable that the poor boy fell without any scream or any other kind of response.
All he could ever hear was the sound of air being violently cut by the staff.
In all honesty even Wataru never measured how powerful the blunt force damage of his attack was, but he knew that it could drop an esper in a one hit attack and said information is all he needed.
"Telling your position in the middle of the fight? Bad move." Wataru commented as the cloud of tear gas opened up because of his attack which prompted another desperate boy to charge at him with his fist, as he came through the tear gas fume he could feel a violent tug at his neck before he was slammed into the ground.
"You also gave your position, damn bastard." The boy protested in between of his violent coughs, then Wataru grinned as he tugged on his necklace again and choked him while saying, "But I'm not dumb enough to wear a flashy necklace into a fight, you're just asking to be choked out."
"!..."
A look of terror appears on the necklace boy's eyes shortly later a sentence that shocked him to his core reached his ears.
"And goodnight!"
BAM!
Standing over the body of the fallen boy, Wataru looked to his staff and commented, "Never thought that I will be using Antiskill's riot control staff but I ain't complaining!"
GAH!
A swift stomp to the stomach was being delivered by Wataru, waking the unconscious boy from the sheer sensation of pain, "Get up! You like to look down on level zero, don't you?!" The Big Spider grinned grimly, "This is what you get when level zero fights back!"
GUBUGH!
Wataru stomped and kept his foot on his chest as he said, "Ah, I need to saturate the field again… Hold on"
"Agh! You bastard! Let me go!"
"You'll get your turn… Stay there."
The mellow sounded reply was being followed by an unsettling sight where Wataru pulled out a single shot grenade launcher with compact design and aimed it towards the exit doors.
THWOOMP!
THWOOMP!
THWOOMP!
Three consecutive fires could be heard along with a small trail of red smoke, Wataru grinned as he readjusted and tightened his mask to prepare himself for the next explosion.
After the smoke spread, all of the opposing side's combatants choked and shouted, "He's peppering us with Chili! My eyes!" and "I can't breathe! What the hell is this?! I can't feel my throat!"
"Here we go again!"
Wataru's grin grew even further as he discovered that the gang's method actually goes really well with the Skillout's scrappy and witty ways, the boy looks down at the coughing mess of an opponent and decided to drop him quickly as he starts to swung his staff while saying, "Aaaaaannnd…"
Then the swing goes into full momentum and knocks the unfortunate boy out.
"YOU'RE OUT!"
The boy shouted as the thick smoke quickly concealed him from the disorganized opposing side, it gave him a moment to hide and check on his next move as he dived behind the bar and crouched. Moments later he made a call to his ally, "Blue, come in. Is there anything else that I should do? Secure an escape route, rescue some hostages, or just stick my ground here."
…
…
…
"No answer… Well no matter, I'll hold my ground then." Wataru slightly huffed and looked at the armored opponent who just freshly entered his battle zone. There were only four of them and it looks as if someone else already held them up in the upper levels.
"Fuck around and find out." One of them called out while his friend added by saying, "We have armor, you have nothing but a stick and some smoke to cover yourself."
In response to their taunting calls Wataru looks at them squarely and sizing them up before giving his reply with the same energy the gave before, "I got to say the same to you, fuck around and find out."
PLAY MUSIC
Darker Than Black -Ryusei no Gemini- OST – Galaxy Train.
An attacker with a knife is thrusting his weapon in a straight line and stops as soon as its target fights back by coiling his own arm around the attacker's arm like a snake which was so fast that the attacker even stopped and questioned the situation he found himself in.
"GOT YOU!" He proclaimed at first before stopping his train of thoughts, looked at his arm and asked, "Eh?"
Observing further into the arm coiling against his own, he could see that one who countered his attack also used his blade and Stabbed it into his upper right arm which quickly drew blood. Atsumu already got his bearings and found the gaps in their sets of armor worn by his opponents then used said knowledge to swipe his blade in a controlled motion as his blade spins and cuts through joints in a fluid motion.
"If you run and get first aid now you can save yourself…" Atsumu asked and added a calm yet threatening remark as he dropped a body from his iron grip, "So choose…"
"EEEEK!"
Some of them looked back in worry and found that they're not small in numbers as many others found themselves unable to move against the boy who could easily butcher them while still able to be as slippery as an eel. The air's temperature took a sudden drop as he delivered his next line of threat, "The same applies to all of you, amateurs who couldn't even fight properly… This is my first and only warning. Do you still want to continue?"
Some ran upon hearing the warning and Some steeled themselves upon hearing it, believing that if they continue the attack that they'll win from sheer numbers difference. The boastful one also shouted in defiance with, "Like hell! I don't care about the prize anymore! I want you to be beaten and all bloodied up!"
ZIP!
A hook pierced his right shoulder while a dagger made its way to his left shoulder, piercing it right at the shoulder bone's ball joint. Both of the masked boys squares up with each other as the assassin laid his intention of harming him in full view.
"Fine, You asked for this!"
Pssssh!
But he let go of the advantageous position and ducked upon hearing the pressurized air noise, but he made sure that his target couldn't go after him as he aimed his blade at his currently horrified target.
STAB!
A blade made its way through his leg and let some portion of the blade's cutting edge out from the other side. It should have sent the boy tumbling down but Atsumu noticed that the boy was bleeding profusely even when he swore he just struck him at the knee.
It must be something that happened as he heard the suspicious pressurized air noise from behind the attackers, moments later he darted his eyes on the boy who was definitely gargling on his own blood as he noticed the thin needle that was stuck in his neck.
"AHAGH…"
"Why… Why…"
His friends were horrified by the short show of horror, they looked at the assassin to blame him but he in response looked to a darkened corner and called out the real perpetrator.
"R-Rikuri…"
Atsumu's voice somehow rang clear enough as the rest of the attackers snapped their gazes to the rear of the room and looked at the blonde beauty with jewel-like claw contraption mounted on her right middle finger. The anger coming from the opposite side was understandable, "What the fuck! Rikuri! He's one of ours!"
Rikuri closed her eyes and put her hand over mouth to cover her expression while saying, "I missed that's all, I won't miss the next time."
"Tch!"
Some of the attackers continue to voice their discontent but some are already looking back at Atsumu and glad that they have some of the elites as their backup. On Atsumu's side he had to reel back and think back on Rikuri's action, her shot of poison needles was extremely accurate and she had the perfect disguised position to boot, it was disturbing but the assassin believed that Rikuri did not miss her mark because she was completely concealed as she made her attack.
'She has the perfect shooting condition, did she lie?'
Atsumu asked himself that question but he couldn't think further as a flood of IVORY members with sharp weapons were coming to get him along with some of their members who already manifested their esper ability in tandem, which grew worse as he couldn't see where Rikuri had positioned herself.
For all he knew she could be coiling up behind him to deliver the fatal strike, all she needed was a single opening after all.
His body language and his use of cover told his enemies that Rikuri's appearance was affected and one of them called him out on it, "Why?! You're scared of Rikuri? She'll make short work of you!"
"..."
"See, you're scared! Hahah!" The laughter quickly turns into blood curdling scream as Atsumu took one of the fallen weapon and threw it to the loud one's upper torso which struck him at the stomach and felled him instantly with a resounding, "OHOGH…"
Then Atsumu moved on to the side and took quick action as the same cuts he performed earlier was being used again and this time he used his free hand to steal his weapon, a Machete made of hard composite material that gave the blade a rough carbon look and obsidian sheen cutting edge.
Then he used it to strike at the boy's head with the blunt edge, one where he swore he just heard a cracking sound from, the armored helmet has a deep groove carved into it and the pressure force was the one that caved in the head covered by it, and for the second time the boy fell as he bled profusely from each and every orifice, his eyes, nose and ears leaking blood until he dropped in a pool of his own blood.
They're not focused on their own fallen and just continued on to charge against Atsumu who's still trying to make a sense out of her actions.
What did she hold against them that she was willing to use such lethal means when the risk of friendly fire was clear, another glance was being directed at Rikuri who gave a hair of a smile at her deed while her eyes only gave the semblance of resentment towards the charging crowd.
Only by then Atsumu realized that her attacks are actually being aimed towards her own comrades and she's only using the assassin as an excuse.
She could just write it off as an assassin who used poisoned daggers.
The boy thought as he reeled back and tried to access the tools available in his arsenal,
Atsumu started with the weapon that was probably being known by his opponents, some of them spread out and became wary when they saw Atsumu's hands reach down to his hip pouches to pull out a thick and sharp dart and a rope that looked similar to a bungee cord. It was his Roped dart that he already used during his encounter with the Duchy clique.
So it was not a surprise that each of his enemies also reeled back and raised their arms like a boxer to use their gauntlet's defensive properties. They believed that stopping the dart's momentum and preventing it from piercing an object was key and at first it worked but it would turn the other way quickly when the boy decided to use his dart as a thrown weapon while his other hand was holding the ropes.
moments later he created a noose that he used to check the edges of the room for Rikuri's whereabouts.
It was a taxing task for him to keep tabs on two fronts especially when he missed his first attempt at locating the blonde beauty's whereabouts. Then the second attempt from Atsumu was made as he threw the machete into the dark, then the third attempt as he did the same by picking up another blade that belonged to a fallen enemy.
This leaves only one corner left and from said corner Rikuri swooped out from her hiding place while throwing a small poison laced dagger in which Atsumu dodged and letting the unfortunate IVORY member get pierced by her dagger instead. The effect was downright brutal, because by a single glance alone the assassin could see the victim's hand becoming soft and lumpy before his boiling flesh fell from his arms.
His wounded arm is burning and his screech that was filled with terror gave gravity to the pain he is exposed to as he turned into a lumpy mess covered with chemical burns.
And moments later he could see flashes of those daggers flying by his sides and hitting the remaining blade wielding combatants, their screams shortly followed before the assassin glared at Rikuri who slowly stepped out from the dark and smiled in a slightly twisted way.
She was satisfied with her handiwork.
"Why?"
A simple question left his lips while the girl looked at him from head to toe and smiled as she could guess the masked attacker's identity from brief observation, and to reply to the boy's question she puts her hand over her lips and chuckled a little as she gave her answer.
"What? I missed my shots fufu…"
"If you missed, then I believe it was on purpose."
"I know I stumbled on something interesting when I saw you walk into the club."
The blonde beauty made it clear that she knew that Atsumu was the one wearing the mask, her expression changing into a smile with a grim tone underneath its sensuous beauty.
"Why, though?"
The boy asked the same question.
"You're holding that question against me, you should know the reason why when you hear the way they talked about me."
"It was not a ground for you to end them."
The girl frowned a bit and gave her answer with a slight mirth in her voice, "Coming from someone who sliced and diced everyone here, I am even willing to believe that you were the one who cut that asshole's head off…"
"You knew?"
"Everyone knew. Well the ones in the upper associate level knew. So the question should be… Why did you come here only now?"
"…"
"Not giving me any answer again? You're the one who had the reputation of punishing the big bads, ruining their plans and saving the girl. Why now? Is it because of those girls brought here earlier? Then how about the others before them?" There's an apparent unease in her tone as she continues on, it felt as if she was ranting to the assassin when she said, "If that's your idea about saving someone then you're doing those girls an awful job, hero…"
"If so, then how about you?"
It digs into him deeply but he still gave a question as a reply, because her points were all too familiar to him.
"Excuse me?"
"Are you one of those who needs saving? Your words are very telling." The boy still trying to profile the girl in front of him and get a grasp of her being, but it earned him an anger filled response when she replied with, "Don't turn the question against me, we have no time for mind games and who are you to say that, are you really trying to sway me to your side."
"I just need a better understanding of your motives." The flat sounding tone coming from Atsumu caused Rikuri to answer with an agitated voice, she couldn't hold back her anger when she said, "I despise them."
"Seems obvious." The boy understands that her aggression was not aimed at him rather and it was an understandable case as he continues to build up a profile on Rikuri by listening and understand the underlying cause behind those emotions first
But Things suddenly took a sudden turn when the floor caved in and a mechanical snake appeared in a shower of white and floating with no visible mechanism to do so, mechanical snake with an uniquely designed head unit of three conjoined large spheres and a large halo behind them that surrounds them with a rail installed on it for a central camera to move around. It almost looked like a mythological creature even when it was robotic in nature, but his own thoughts once again betrayed him as the beast in front of him summoned an actual angelic halo and summoned countless white feathers that fell down to touch each of the unconscious body.
Something is terribly wrong here and all of the implications only lead to something that made him question all that he used to know and believe.
This is an angel dragon, or a twisted reinterpretation of said concept.
PLAY MUSIC
Darker Than Black OST – Was.
A/N: Time reference. This happened in ACIP chapter 60, right after Touma and Motoharu entered their respective room after returning from the airport.
Click!
Motoharu breathes out a long and winded sigh. the spy dropped his bag and look straight at his upper cabinets and walked towards it to retrieve his tools of the trade, then he assembled them while thinking how he would tackle the possible scenarios laid out in front of him but to relieve his thought off from stress he decided to whine a little, "Took me way too long to get here. Now, how should I do this…"
Silence.
The boy chuckled, then looked to the side of the darkened corner of his room and called out once again with, "How should I do this…"
He tilted his head slightly for a comedic effect, it was an attempt to flush the girl who tried to be stealthy out. Moments later he was proven to be right when a familiar voice replied to him with, "Do what? Tsuchimikado-san."
The boy carries on with his quick assembly while asking, "Mikagami, what are you doing here?""
"You left your room keys with me and I've been staying here the whole week." The girl answered and revealed her SF coat which subtly told him about who she worked with, but with a glance the spy could see that she was not here because of anyone's order and it became more apparent when she approached him and said, "Please continue to explain about what you're up to. It'll be great help for me if you're somehow connected to that shady building up on District 3."
"Is it something concerning or personal to you?"
"No, but it'll help us both if you're being honest, that way I can make some backup story to cover your tracks, the Antiskill and other law enforcement bodies are deeply intrigued by this case."
The boy gazed down and continued to fit silencers on two out of three weapons that he will use, the boy stopped for a moment, pondered to himself for a while then looked up at Nagisa to say, "Things ramped up once the School Garden Ojou-samas were involved, but that's only a reach from my end."
"You're not wrong but in actuality the cases were always covered up by some sort of governing or corporate body, I think you already knew the perpetrators since you already made a move on them."
"By accident actually…" The blonde spy rolled his eyes as he remembered the reports of the group's first contact with IVORY, he huffed and continued to say, "That idiot just ran into one of them back at the College festival…"
"Who's the idiot?"
"None of your concern… I was more intrigued by the new uniform, Antiskill or Judgement's special forces, I presume?"
Nagisa slightly opened her eyes and looked at the right side of her jacket and showed the badge of Sleeping Forest to Motoharu, then she breathed in deep to prepare herself to say, "I'm just going to deliver this straight. Your contractor picked up some stragglers from the Duchy and formed her own group. From what I see her goal was to create another group similar to yours, minus the level 5 leader and using Judgement as a cover."
"Seems like something that she would do." The boy acknowledges the presence of Nagisa's group 'handler' with a long sigh before he glances to the side to meet her eyes to say, "But Mikagami, please stay out of this one or at least until it is safe to intervene."
"It's much safer to go in together, it's tactically sound." The reinstated clique leader gave her defense, but Motoharu shook his head slowly in disagreement and said, "Believe me you won't want to be around these guys when they are out for blood… I'll call you as soon as we're done, I'll pack the evidence and other files that you will need to bring them in."
"How about the files you already have?"
"It can't be used, they were gained through illegal means. Mikagami, just wait for my call."
"So I can just stand by and watch you get hurt again?"
"It's to make sure that you'll be safe from the carnage." The boy said in low tone as he finished packing up his gear, he moved on to his room's front door but stopped to ask, "You're not planning to keep on living here, aren't you?"
Nagisa looked at the blonde spy, then she tilted her head slightly to the side in a rather cute way and gave him a 'I don't know what are you talking about' look before she slowly pushed him out of the room and quietly closed the door.
PLAY MUSIC
Darker Than Black OST – Was.
A short stroll later, the boy made his rendezvous with his ace in the hole, someone who could surely made anyone in Academy City tremble with fear, White hair, pale skin and blood ruby eyes, Accelerator is looking at his ally with an disinterested look as he asked, "You took your time."
"Someone's in need of convincing."
"The Hero?"
"Not him, she was an associate of mine. How about you?"
The white haired esper raised an eyebrow, "A girl?... Well no matter, not that I cared… Btw, just drop that thirsty brat at her place, so would you kindly skip the formalities and hand over the details to me." His face looked exasperated as he raised his hands to get the details on his target for the following operation.
"The current plan and the target, there should be plenty of information on them." The spy hands over the papers containing IVORY's dossier and the group's past encounter with them, Motoharu made sure that he slipped some sensitive info to push Accelerator's button.
"Hmm…"
It needs a build up but Motoharu could see that his method worked as Accelerator's expression twists into one of anger, one that he doesn't even bother hiding from the spy before him. A minute passes as he continues to sift through the papers before he shares his personal experience, "I knew some Nagatenjouki assholes used to ask me to join their little circlejerk, now look how big they have grown. If I knew about this back then I would kick their balls in."
Motoharu smirked with some bitter feelings mixed in, it was because he also had to read all of their files before giving it to the white haired esper, understandably he pushes Accelerator to read further with, "Go on, read them until the end."
"No need, the victim list and the number of dropped cases were enough… And before you say anything, I already know what I got to do." The esper replied with disdain in his voice.
"It's an easy job for you I presume."
"Walk in a damn park, but do I really need to do unnecessary theatrics?"
"You need to, It's the best part of the plan in my opinion and it was tailor made for someone who called himself a villain." Motoharu answered the question with a chirpy tone while Accelerator looked at him and clicked his tongue upon realizing that he fell for one of his plans again. So he shook his head for a moment before he asked for a favor on Motoharu's part.
"One request then…"
"What?"
"Make sure the officers who handle the aftermath for the victims are all women. I don't want to see any victims there be humiliated even further."
"Going soft, aren't you? Is it because there are many girls orbiting around you lately? Bayloupe is a nice catch though…" Motoharu teased and promptly dodged Accelerator's fingers that tried to claw him as he shouted, "I still have some decency dammit!"
"Meet you there then." Motoharu replied to Accelerator's irritation jokingly as he took his leave.
…
…
…
It took Accelerator a whole minute to process all of it, especially about the spy's readiness to play around with him while knowing how fatal his ability could be, but once again he shook his head from the pointless thought and focuses his mind on the plan as he asked himself, "Now where do I find shit load of powder during this time?"
PLAY MUSIC
Girl's Frontline [Mirror Stage] OST – Unforeseen Moment.
Back at the tower where all the chaos takes place, two of IVORY's leading figures are standing on the rooftop right beside the upper loading bay while looking down through the open middle section of their building, an awed expression painted on their faces as the echoes of gunfire and screams could be heard faintly. Ibara and Kakeru looked at their ruined safehouse with slight to no changes to their expression as if they were expecting this kind of thing to happen.
Kakeru was the first one to speak on the matter with a flat sounding, "It has already started."
Ibara gave a contrast to Kakeru's response by showing a dark looking smile as he gave a reply to Kakeru's line with, "There's no going back… Hmm… Hmm… What can I do to make it more interesting?
Kakeru looked at his partner and rested his right hand on his neck as he called him out on his statement by saying, "Ibara, we're still in the middle of moving things out, what happened to 'I'll make sure you can get out safe' from before?"
The boy with permanent grim eyes looked back at Kakeru while throwing a glance at the leaving airship before calling out to the other boy on it "You already moved all of your allies, the ones left are the ones within your 'tolerable loss', aren't they?" Then he looked Kakeru straight in the eyes then continued with, "They already moved halfway up to the upper loading bay, are you sure you want to face them this early and have your plan ruined?"
Kakeru looked at his matching grim smile and asked "You're enjoying this?…"
"Can't say I do, can't say I don't." Ibara answered with a scoff. In response a sharp look met Ibara's eyes after Kakeru heard his reply, and Ibara was surprised because Kakeru never commented anything when it was him who decided to send his troops into battle fully knowing that they wouldn't survive.
"Alright, don't glare at me like that… I'll take a look at them myself, but tell your 'tolerable loss' down there to move up before I dipped into the mayhem." The dark and grim boy sighed, "There's someone who could benefit your cause after all, well then… I'll take my leave."
The boy puts on his jacket and tightens it with a belt system built into it before picking up his gun that has a weird top mounted magazine feeding system with a sizable electronic scope mounted on it.
"…"
Ibara looked back at his partner and commented, "Don't look so troubled, I'll be in touch."
"You're going to use 'that' on them?" Kakeru asked and glancing down at the ray of lights leaking through the lower floors, Ibara looked down in response and gave his reply, "Oh, I will… I'm itching to use 'that' on them, I need puppets to fight and there are ample amounts of those downstairs. Plus you already deployed that thing right?"
Kakeru left a small huff and Ibara grinned before continuing to say, "I know you have…"
Kakeru could only watch as the boy clad in light colored clothes jumped with a tactical rappelling gear, clicked his tongue and looked at the white haired girl on his side to say, "Yuriko, we'll keep a watch until they all move out, got it?"
"Inadequate question. I can handle anything they can throw at me." The girl answered flatly.
Her answer prompted the boy to pat on her head lightly while adding, "Good girl." Causing the girl to reel back and look away from the brunette clad in dark colored clothes, her expression changed slightly into a shy one.
PLAY MUSIC
Girl's Frontline OST – Emotional.
Pierce found himself at a disadvantage, Rakko was charging at him and firing at him at such a rapid pace that it managed to wear him down.
"I'll kill you! You murderer!" Her shouts could be heard clearly through the empty training hall and it reminded the blue haired boy of the classic phrase of 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', so in response to her pungent hate Pierce tried to reason with her by shouting back, "You never thought you were the ones at fault!"
"All she wanted to do was to bring change, change to this dark beast of a city!"
"While doing everything she could to bring it while sacrificing others!"
"That's the price and resolve that all of us have!"
"You didn't ask everyone about that, what about the ones who left suffering for her dream."
"LIES!"
"And what about you! What's your reason for doing this?" The boy shouted to ask but it just made the scorned girl's aggression go up another notch, she reached for her linear rifle and pressed the buttstock on her shoulder while using her free hand to fire her wrist mounted guns.
She wanted to overwhelm Pierce and she wanted to drop the boy down in a hail of bullets.
CRACK!
One bullet finally hits the upper part of his mask, causing a crack to grow.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The crack spreads and with each moment the structural integrity of his armor crumbles further until it splits and drops into the ground which causes the boy to cover his face and dive into hiding. With his vision cleared Pierce could see several white glowing feathers have manifested inside the hall and suspending themselves in air, he responded to the abrupt development with a loud shout towards Rakko, "What the fuck was that… Feathers… Hey! Get away from those!"
PSSH! PSSH! PSSH! PSSH!
Rakko doesn't care in the slightest as she slides through the sides of his cover and fires away.
"You're still fighting? That thing is trying to get us both!"
"It doesn't matter if I could take you down with me…" The girl roared as she let's another round out from her rifle.
PSSH!
CRACK!
The bullet had made an impact just above Pierce's head and made pieces of rubble fall from the cover which prompted him to move an arm by reflex.
"Dammit…"
It exposed his face for Rakko to see.
…
…
…
Her expression twists, hate, anger, disappointment and palpable disgust could be seen, then she shouted hysterically, "Y-You… Why are you here… WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT MASK?!"
…
There was an unbearable sense of dread as silence suddenly fell on them for a short while, but it was broken by Rakko who gritted her teeth and shouted again "That means you're the one who took her down… She did nothing wrong to you!"
…
"Then… Then…"
A croaked voice reached the boy's ears.
The girl once again broke her silence as her walls tore down from the mental shock, a glassy sheen on her eyes could be seen by the blue haired boy as she asked a question with a regretful expression, "Then what about me? Is it all just a game?"
In response he gritted his teeth and told her that her belief was wrong, "No way, you're dead wrong about that."
But before the boy could explain himself any further several small arms fire cuts through the air and forced him to disengage from Rakko and dived back into hiding, moments later he could feel someone else had entered the room from the sounds of faint steps that was hard to detect even for him, the only time he could detect his location was when he decided to call out to Rakko by saying "No. You're right, Rakko… He's trying to entangle you within his schemes."
PLAY MUSIC
Punishing Gray Raven OST – LAMIA.
Then from the same rough location, Pierce could hear several clicks that suspiciously sounded like a trigger being pulled.
BRRRRRRRT!...
The shower of bullets that followed shortly told Pierce that the new figure is a problem as he continued to fire while saying, "Don't let him get inside your head."
The bullet curves as if they're miniature missiles and the sounds of them cutting through the air filled the blue haired boy with unease.
They relentlessly flew towards the blue haired boy who found brief safety as he dived underneath destroyed pillars and rubbles from the floors above him, but he knew the rubbles and the pillar won't last long because the high pitched noise that the bullets made when they made their impact told him that his cover is being chipped away at a rapid pace.
These bullets are not normal.
The gun that fired those bullets is not normal.
The one who held the strange looking gun is not normal.
His coy attitude was all but a thin veneer that covered his true predatory nature.
If appearance alone could tell whether a person is dangerous or not then the newly arrived person has a high amount of red flags on him. The unruly hair that reminded him of Shujin were even longer and messier, the eyes that reminded him of Atsumu were obstructed by his hair but he could catch a glimpse of the knife-like eyes lying underneath. The predatory look is only being contrasted by his choice of relaxed looking outfit.
For all Pierce knew, his choice of clothes was only to enable him to conceal more wonder weapons underneath his outer layer of clothing.
And even though he walked in a calm manner, his steps were all calculated to give him the highest amount of advantage possible, Pierce noticed that he always stepped on the rubble or took cover behind them to hide his presence before he spewed out his tracking rounds on him.
The very word smart weapon popped up inside his head.
But how did he turn something that is usually being installed on large military vehicles into such a small package, and how did IVORY could get their hands on them.
Many questions flooded his mind before inches away from his head a couple of bullets made impact and shattered his cover. It was Rakko and the same knife-like eyes also appeared in her face, it was a look of resolve as she took it to herself to avenge her fallen comrades and in response Pierce fired back with his pistol while still trying to aim at the parts of her body that will deal less fatal damage.
The boy couldn't bring himself to take her down as he knew the girl was not inherently vile. She was just being manipulated into being a vicious tool of vengeance.
But he didn't know for sure because all he currently knows is that the mysterious new boy was somehow pulling her strings once the Duchess has left the scene, and now the very same boy is gazing at the blue haired boy and started to spoke, "Alright, if you're not feel like going out then have fun dealing with the rest of these halfwits."
"The fuck?"
"Kami's gang or whoever the fuck you are, get ready… You're about to be the flicker that starts a flame, I got to say that I am grateful to you."
"What the fuck are you saying?!" Pierce growled in response.
The mysterious boy just chuckled with a demeaning tone towards Pierce and continued on to say, "I'm only going down here to activate the code, Rakko, don't get caught in the crossfire."
He pushed an activation code on his phone as a sadistic grin washed over his face right after he finished his sentence. He gazed back to Pierce who's still hiding behind his cover and said, "Try your best to survive this shit okay? It'll be a shame to lose such wonderful 'heroes' because of this."
Click.
When the boy pushed it a voice came out from his phone, "Activation code being processed. Authenticated. Welcome IVORY 1 your request will be processed."
That robotic voice rang out throughout the room and the floors of the building. Whatever is coming it can't be good. It was quickly affirmed when Pierce heard the next line of announcement that said, "Berserk protocol will be executed. Voice authentication required."
"HOUSE OF CARDS, berserk code is a go." The boy replied as he grinned in satisfaction while the robotic noise replied back with, "Authenticated. Berserk protocol executed."
"Have a fun time then, I for one wished you luck." He said to Pierce in a taunting fashion and turned to Rakko and changed his demeanor into a softer one before saying, "Rakko, the same goes to you… I really hope you can get out of this in one piece"
That was the last words that Pierce could hear from the mysterious attacker before he disappeared into the dark, shortly after he could see numerous shades of red reflected on the exit and the following hallways. The name berserk surely filled him with unease right about now as the armored members of IVORY walked into the room with robotic steps and with their abilities or weapons going feral like animals that have gone berserk. The white feathers darted around and flew outside earlier, by observation alone he knew that the feathers and the mechanical monstrosity that flew around between the huge opening between floors was the one responsible.
He registered it as an enemy along with everyone under its influence, but Rakko was not one of the espers who had gone feral so the boy made a decision to leave her alone or until she decided to fight him again.
Both Pierce and Rakko knew that they're on their own now, even Rakko knew that she had been cast aside by the ones who armed her and nursed her back to health. She thought for a moment and came to a conclusion that they were just doing it so they could have an extra 'attack dog' and the same could be applied to the mercenary who was too loud for the group's liking.
Then an onslaught follows when Pierce and Rakko took a peek at them which was a visual cue for them to attack indiscriminately, bladed weapons, blunt edge weapons, firearms, esper abilities, all of them are on the table as they moved in with the ferocity of a rabid animal.
"HIM! NOT ME!"
Rakko shouted as she could see the horde charging at her before deafening sounds of shotgun shells filled the air and sent tremors down her spine.
"RUN! They're not your allies any longer!" Pierce shouted as the smoking barrel of his shotgun glowed from a quick series of fires it just endured, then he slung his gun and decided to use his reliable method of using blades against his mindless opponents.
His decision to save Rakko was a shock for the sniper girl who saw him get flooded by the crowd and in a split moment of doubt she thought to herself about the very act, because the enemy, her nemesis saved her, which was a complete contradiction to her belief that the so called Kami's gang was nothing more than savages who could fight like a dog straight out from hell.
So she used her ability to lower her presence and watched the boy to fend for herself while thinking to herself.
'What should I do now?'
She tightened her grip on her gun as she asked herself a very personal question, her observation and previous training told her to leave his enemy and continue to hunt his allies down but the other side of her heart aches and begged for her to not leave, the look of the boy's eyes as he shouted that 'it was not a game' already burned itself to her mind and the very sight of losing that person is becoming unbearable in each passing moment.
Rakko gasped and almost choked on her own breath when she realized what it was, and in response she raised her gun again, took a sniping position and started firing at the thick mass of mayhem.
PLAY MUSIC
Punishing Gray Raven OST – LAMIA.
A/N: Go to the hype part when the fight starts getting real, You know which part dear reader.
'What should I do now?'
The very question also fell upon Atsumu as he saw that Rikuri is now cornered by her own allies who rose up from their unconscious state and started to fight with their broken bodies, mindless husks who could only fight and attack indiscriminately similar to zombies that shambled around and doing their master's bidding.
Rikuri's weapons of choice don't affect her targets as much as before as it was obvious that they don't mind the pain and continue their attacks on her.
They have turned on their basic instincts and only have the basic thought pattern of move and fight in their minds.
But in contrast to Rakko the assassin moved in quickly upon realizing the change in combat situation, he threw a loop on one of the mindless attackers neck and pulled him away from Rikuri while saying, "Stick together if you want to survive this."
"You will help me after all that I did. Desperate much?" Rikuri asked with a little hint of teasing.
"It's a matter of survival."
"Nothing more?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, it's only because things just got worse and it's not like you have other options either."
Rikuri just looked away and took a position beside the assassin, using her icepick looking daggers to prepare herself for battle while motioning her freehand to call out her hidden allies which were four legged drones that crawled out from the dark and taking defensive positions around her.
She knowingly revealed her cards to the assassin as a gesture to gain his trust.
The boy took it differently and thought of it as a way for her to assert her dominance and he gave his response in a whispered mutter. "Attachment one, both arms, open the nail guns…"
A small port opened just above his left and right wrists which were covered by his long sleeves, which he cuffed up to reveal strange details about his arms. There were numerous bevels engraved to them that looked like panel lines which were neatly covered by the organic looking material that was used to cover them.
His hands are mechanical, she was sure of it and that was the only sound reason why he could do the things he did earlier.
The short whirring noise that they made just now only strengthened said notion.
But she could feel her eyes widened and contorted into shock as those lines popped and widened and revealed a set of subarms rising from the sides of his arms, they were dark in color and had several markings placed on them.
Circles, warning signs, arrow signs, munition type, hazard sign and barcodes.
The subarms gave a strange militaristic and industrial feel to them.
"Who are you?"
Rikuri couldn't hold her question from leaving her lips.
A huff of dry breath left Atsumu's own lips as he replied and sheathed his blade on the left subarm's holster, "The worst thing that could ever happen to them."
Rikuri could swore that the boy turned into a blur as he jumped to the middle of the horde while brandishing a short sword on his left hand and a dart spear head dagger on his right.
Then she almost choked on her own breath as the scene of carnage unfolds before her eyes. His moves were the exact same as before but it was more brutal, it looked like when the enemy lost their reasoning and ceased from being 'human' the boy followed suit and slipped his own humanity away to fight on the same turf. Spinning cuts from the wrist, elbows and other joints were more deep and deliberate, his stabs were aimed more to the upper left chest, neck or thighs which could turn into something fatal really quickly.
If she has to describe it, Rikuri puts the scene before her as something straight out of old bedtime stories that used to hear.
A scene where a Monster fights against another monster.
The big bad wolf wakes from its slumber and fights against his own kin.
Rikuri was a girl who grew up reading a lot of fairy tales and deep in her heart still believed there should be punishment for ones who chose to do evil deeds while those who preserved and continue to do good will be paid in kindness akin to how a fairy godmother helped Cinderella out of her plight, that was one reason why she felt that everything that happened between her and IVORY was something akin to karmic justice and her chance to took revenge against them was something that she did out of desperation.
Evil deeds will receive evil in return, you reap what you sow.
She deserved this but not her adorable sisters, one of them is missing and the other is locked deep within IVORY's belly and being used as a threat to make her do their biddings.
No matter how vile or shameful it might be and how it might tarnish her, she'd do it for her sister's safety and when they threatened to take Amazora away she knew she had to do something. It's personal for her because it was her own sister, but she found that her act of rebellion and revenge was futile as if divine punishment fell on her.
She realized it when the ones who violated her woke up and turned into a horde of mindless killing puppets, in her mind they looked exactly like the ones who she had killed returned and tried to get their revenge on her.
Rikuri found herself deserving of said fate. Some kind of retribution was bound to happen for someone who resides on the city's darker side.
But then another being who also reeks of the darkside clawed his way out of hell to lend her a hand.
Someone who reeks of blood, one who bathed himself in it once she had a slight glimpse into his nature.
The blonde girl felt some strength in her legs were gone as she knew this event was not salvation, it was just an act out of survival instinct as the two of them were cornered. She understood that point but then why it felt like a ray of hope on her part.
It was rich for her to expect salvation, she has way too many body counts and she even sees herself as someone dirty, but if that was the case then why couldn't she shake off the lingering feelings in her chest.
The feelings that she found a spark of a small light in her dark existence.
And it came in the form of a human shaped beast that lay waste on everything in his path.
"If you want to make use of yourself then help!"
The calm sounding yet rude message rang inside her head, it genuinely moved her to command her drones to attack as she asked herself why did she agreed to his request so easily. The beauty found herself asking herself the question as she moved in to help the assassin, she finds it easier now to move when the thought of hope once again entered her mind.
And if she survived this along with her sister.
Then she would love to talk more with the 'hard to approach' boy who showed her that sliver of hope.
Accelerator: The author ran out of time and split the chapter into two parts, I fuckin called it.
Author: It's true, no defense on my part, but… Don't you have something to say to… You know.
Jason: That bastard who just left an impression on Oriana Thomson 2.0?
Motoharu: I think the sky's the limit if she somehow was enamored by 'gramps trapped in a teen body'. Come on, that dude is as boring as watching white paint dry.
Misaki: This is your fault, you know you should keep your charms to yourself, my prince.
Touma: My fault? What gives?
Pierce: I agree with that, save some for others too.
Jason: Aogami, if you're going by that logic I'm going to beat you up and study you as subject zero… Wait… I'm starting to notice that girls who stick to Aogami have the same traits, long dark hair… hmm…
Yuu: Shutaura-san fits the description, but Kessai-san has a bob haircut.
Shujin: And Asami has light brown hair and Chisa has dark purple hair.
Jason: Screw it, I just feel like beating you up now… I just remember that somehow an Idol fell for your perverted ass.
Shujin: Pucker up… This will hurt…
Pierce: Screw you, Just go back and get a hug from Nunotaba you bastard!
Shujin: You want a brawl?!
Ruiko: Psst… What about Awatsuki-san? They just gloss over that Atsumu-san just met another girl?
Kazari: We never spoke much to her about her relationships, maybe we should if we have the time.
Ruiko: I can imagine… Wait, she never talked about these kinds of things with her. Uiharu, what should we do
Kuroko: If I remember correctly, Onee-sama, didn't we meet those two while cleaning the pool on Sunday.
Mikoto: Ah right, Wannai-san and Awatsuki-san were there together with their friends… Then we talked about…
Author: Redacted, let's save the fluff for the following chapter, for the second part yeah.
