Chapter 3 Catalyst
Japanese Language Notes:
Tsuranuki Zutsu- Ikoma's special pressurized steam weapon, designed specifically to pierce the iron cage around kabane hearts
The carrier pigeon returned to Daito with Minokichi's message the next day. "I trust your judgement. Bring them if they're worth my time, otherwise eliminate them." The bird eyed him with beady red stare. Daito had never been accused of wasting Minokichi's time and he certainly didn't want to start now. Cracking his neck, he stood up and stretched.
I guess break time's over. Time to get back to work, he mused. Minokichi won't be interested in anything less than B level fighters and A levels are so rare, we've only ever seen one. Thinking back to the male and female he had seen earlier defending Tsurugashima's gates, Daito steepled his fingers together. They may well be B level but I'll have to test them against metal spinners to be sure.
Studying Tsurugashima's wall from his hilltop vantage point, Daito choose three key areas of attack. By massing the kabane at these three points, I can exploit holes in their defense and draw those two out. That's where I'll conceal the metal spinners and the real test will begin.
Metal spinners were one of the hybrids Dr. Ito had cooked up in his lab. They were larger and much stronger than the average kabane, fast-moving and ruthless. But the real threat was the iron metal that flowed through their veins with every beat of their heart. On command, they could pour it out through their fingers and toes with deadly accuracy. Kabane iron was one of the few things that could permanently harm or terminate another kabane and the metal spinners churned it out as easy as breathing. They also seem to derive a sadistic joy from killing their weaker brethren, Daito had thought more than once.
The distinguishing mark between a C and B level warrior was the ability to survive a metal spinner's ambush and eliminate the opponent. Many C level fighters had died trying to prove their strength, but that didn't stop others from attempting the same trial. In order to be worth Minokichi's time, both fighters will need to take down a metal spinner, Daito determined.
He sent two down to conceal themselves in shallow burrows about a hundred feet from the wall. Then Daito mustered his forces for battle. The godwalker energy thrummed beneath his skin, tracing the pathways along his veins a brilliant glowing orange. Eyes shut in concentration, Daito nudged his army of kabane forward in three sections. The creatures screamed and began hurling themselves at the wall, each section attacking one of the weak points the godwalker had noticed earlier.
While Tsurugashima's defenders noticed the attack right away, Daito's avenue of attack included clever angles that blocked most of their outgoing firepower. They were only able to pick off a minimal number of his horde at a time. Daito smiled grimly. War was a game he played to win.
Gritting his teeth, he forced more energy into the kabane, causing them to thrash and scream. The horde began crawling over itself in a frenzy. More and more kabane piled on top of each other, in such numbers that they actually began to scale the station walls. Swarming like rabid ants, the pile of kabane grew larger and larger.
Tsurugashima's alarm bells clanged desperately and Daito could smell the stench of fear in the air. The humans were rank with it as they stared uncomprehending at the power of his army below. He watched as they ran frantically back and forth along the wall taking potshots at his army. For every one that fell, three more crawled up to take its place. The poor fools still don't realize they never had a chance, he thought with pity.
Daito was still shaking his head with sympathy when an explosion rocked segment three of his forces. It was the female fighter in red! She had leapt from the top of the station's battlements directly into his pile of kabane, the force of her blow crumbling his living pillar. A cloud of dust was kicked up by her attack and for a moment, Daito's vision was blocked.
He scanned the area carefully, a flicker of red here, a blast from a high powered rifle there. She wove through his forces as if she were made of smoke, and Daito watched entranced. She's definitely a B-level. Passionate, bordering on sheer recklessness. It was funny, Daito didn't remember such an emotional response from her before. Today she hacked apart his army with a vengeance, as if she had a personal vendetta against someone. Ren's going to love her.
Her speed, strength, and lethality all clearly pointed to a high B class fighter. Which just leaves the male. Where is he today? Daito scanned the battlefield.
After making quick work of his first section, the female was striding towards his second pillar, radiating a brutal determination. Aha! There he is! The green-haired young man appeared through a small opening in the station wall. He ran up to his companion, grabbing her arm and shouting something at her, but she shook him off and sped toward the second column of kabane scaling the wall.
A quarrel of some kind? Daito raised a brow in surprise. It seemed a strange thing to do in the midst of battle. No matter, I already know the female's ability. That just leaves the male…
Ikoma stared miserably after Mumei. She wouldn't even listen to him! Yes, he had been an ass and he was fully ready to admit that right before she took a swan dive off a fifty plus foot station wall into a swarm of ravenous kabane.
His heart stopped beating as he watched her free fall into the teaming mass of bloodthirsty zombies and strike with enough force to topple down their creepy living ladder. He had screamed her name over the station wall, which she completely ignored, and watched as she eviscerated kabane after kabane, her face fluctuating between anger and pain. It's all my fault!
Ikoma tore down the stairs of the station tower, tormented by his thoughts. She's a young woman now, you fool! But he could still picture her twelve-year-old face, staring up at him with adoration as he promised her things that should have waited until they were a man and woman. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he berated himself with every step on the dusty stone staircase.
Mumei, I've wanted you from the first moment I saw you. But you were so young! I felt like a perverted old lecher for harboring those thoughts. He remembered the feeling of her warm breast beneath his hand and he missed a step.
Cursing, he caught himself against the wall with one hand and took a deep breath. She's not twelve any more, that's for sure. At sixteen, Mumei was a beautiful young woman and Ikoma bordered on excessive in his protection of her from male overtures, with himself being number one on his own list. It was hard to protect someone from yourself, especially when you live in close proximity on a train, work together almost constantly, and be the only two of your…species? Not to mention the face that his love for said person seemed to grow exponentially every day, but Ikoma was nothing if not ambitious.
He had burst through the station door and caught her just as she was heading towards the next column. Grabbing her arm, he wanted to shake some sense into her. "Slow down!" he had shouted. "The kabane aren't acting right. Something's wrong."
She looked at him incredulously for a moment before her cheeks darkened with rage and she shook him off. Oh, she was pissed, Ikoma knew. But her anger made her reckless and recklessness made his lioness vulnerable. I should have learned my lesson at Unato, he berated himself, whenever we have a fight like this, Mumei inevitably puts herself in danger.
Priming his tsuranuki zutsu in order to watch her back, Ikoma was just about to leap after her when the ground beneath his feet rumbled. That's not good was his belated thought as the pebbles by his feet began jiggling. The ground beneath him started to crack open and clawing its way up out of it was a creature Ikoma had hoped never to see again.
