Disclaimer: 'Honkai impact 3rd' is the property of Hoyoverse, Singapore. I do not own any characters in this story except the minor OCs here and there.
New Revelations
TWILIGHT NURSING HOME (SUNDOWN ALLEY) (BUCHAREST- ROMANIAN EMPIRE) – 2021(Previous era) (Same time as Kevin's Fight)
Aponia made her way to the Dining hall after making her nightly rounds and making sure that all the children were sleeping. It may not look like it, but these children were very sick and fragile. If left to fend for themselves in the harsh condition of the Sundown Alley, they will most assuredly perish. This caused her no short amount of distress, as it hurt her to see others' pain and suffering. Also, she could relate to these children, with nobody to look after them as she was an orphan herself. She never knew her parents, or where she came from. The moment she gained enough reason to understand her surroundings, she was already in this place, struggling for survival.
Survival in Sundown Alley is not for the faint of heart. Most have to do unspeakable things just to have food for the night and a place to sleep. Stealing was the most harmless thing she had seen people doing to others in this accursed place. She would not rather think back upon the horrors that those people do if she could help it. This place was simply not safe for anybody, especially a helpless girl like her. Still, with the help of her gift and her willingness to help others, she navigated her childhood with relative ease compared to some truly unfortunate ones. She had tried to share the goodness her gift brought by trying to help others by trying to prevent their bad fates from happening to them but had ultimately failed. When she was younger, she could not understand why things would go worse for the people whom she had tried to save with the gift she had; for example, she had tried to save a man from getting killed by a robber by warning him beforehand, only for him to die later in a building collapse in a more painful way.
She had cried bitterly over her inability to change one's bad happenings in her younger days. But as she grew older, she realized that what is written will happen eventually and any attempt to change it will only make things worse for many others. Since then, she had stopped intervening in the predetermined fates of people; however, her heart still went out to the poor kids who suffer endlessly just for being born into this world. That's why even if she knew that they will bring great calamity in the future, she still created a Nursing home for these children so they can at least live carefree and happy for whatever life they had left. She had tried endlessly to struggle against fate which she saw as golden chains wrapped around a person, only to be unable to do anything in the end. She had grown more and more detached from the world (as seen from her closed eyes), only caring for the children as time passed. It all however changed completely when two people came to her nursing home one week prior, being led by little Alan who had sneaked outside despite her repeated warnings.
When she saw him, to say she was shocked would be an understatement. She was absolutely stunned and confused at what she saw; there were no chains on him. None at all. How this could be possible, she didn't have the faintest idea. But it meant that he was not bound to fate. This was shocking on its own, but what happened next, she will never forget in her entire life.
She was not able to see the fates of anyone. It was as if her power got annulled somehow whenever he was present. That was the first time it had happened, and even though he was not present near her, she still couldn't his fate. Her powers have returned and now she could see the happenings of today like usual, except for the two of them.
However, for Ellie-san she could at least get a feeling of what is going to happen to her, but for him there was nothing. It was as if his entire existence was an exception at a fundamental level; thus, he was not bound to the world's laws like the others. But if this was the case, then maybe he was the one she had been searching for the entire time. The one person who can shatter fate's chains and write a beautiful future for everybody. Just thinking about the possibility made her feel immense hope as if she had found the light at the end of a long long dark tunnel.
Her mind was filled with these thoughts as she sat down at the dining table and started to eat her dinner. As she kept eating, her mind wandered to the sky-blue eyed boy again. Even though he was not bound by the chains of fate, he was bound by something much darker and more malicious. She could see the emptiness in his heart and how he was unconsciously filling it with one of the worst possible sins known to humankind: Wrath.
His every thought, every conscious action was guided by wrath. This feeling of wrath was fuelled by the sense of emptiness, despair and pain that he carried with him. He used those negative emotions and used them as a driving force for himself, but he was not able to realize the effect they were having on him. He was on verge of shattering, and he didn't even know it.
Aponia stood up from the chair she was sitting on. She refused to let it happen. A person as caring and kind as Kevin-san shouldn't have to walk such a painful path alone. He needed to know that there were people behind him, people who cared about his feelings and were more than ready to help him carry the burdens that he did. No person should carry such a heavy burden all alone, and he was no exception no matter how much strong he was. So, she decided to visit the dockyard that they had gone to earlier that day, hoping to find him and saying what had been twirling in her mind all this week that she had spent with them: the two persons who had come to mean so much to her.
It was funny, she thought; how two complete strangers whom she didn't know had come to be more important compared to some of her acquaintances that she had known for a long time. Are this how random encounters were supposed to happen? If they were she was not the least bothered by them, as it had brought her the one thing that had been missing from her life for a long time: Hope. She never in her fairest dream would've thought to have hope in her life again, but here she was. Thus, she was going to make sure that the ones who had brought her this hope would be happy as well.
She made her way to lock the doors and windows to ensure that none of the children become adventurous and followed her to that dangerous place. As she was locking the main gate, she suddenly felt dizzy and felt a familiar sensation flowing through her body. She was going to have one of those prophetic visions again. She grabbed onto the metallic gate to steady herself as she started to receive the vision, and what she saw made her blood run cold.
…
The imperial hall was burning. Wails of many people sounded everywhere. Aponia could see people burning alive and trying to plead to somebody to save them. As usual, she felt nauseous at these horrible sights and felt her stomach drop to the bottom as she saw the mutilated remains of many people. But what caught her eye were two persons in the front of the hall. She could see the first person, a man with long raven-black hair looking at the other in front of him with such a malicious smile that it sent shivers down Aponia's spine. He was extremely wounded, with blood gushing out from the numerous wounds on their body. The other standing in front of him, she couldn't see their face but when she saw their hair, she understood at once who that person was.
The realization came with a feeling of extreme agony and despair as she helplessly saw the person holding the sword making their way toward the man on the ground with slow steady steps. Blood dripped from the tip of the curved sword they were holding, making a trail on the ground as they inched closer to the man. Once they were close enough, the man on the ground laughed a little as blood came out of his mouth due to him being extremely wounded. He then said while having the same malicious smile:
"Yes. Kill me like the monster you are. Hehehehe…. You cannot hide your true nature. You WILL ALWAYS BE A MONSTER."
The other person in reply just raised the sword that he held high, intending to cleave the man in front of him in half.
Aponia started to run towards the person, to stop him from doing what he was about to do. She won't be able to bear it if he lost his humanity by doing the deed. So, she started to run faster, to stop him from falling into the darkness. However, as a cruel joke of the fate that she despised the most, the more she ran, the farther away the two people became. As she ran helplessly to reach the man she wanted to save, she saw him bringing down the blade to cut down the man on the ground. Despair and helplessness washed over her as she could only scream:
"NOOOOOOOOOO."
…
"gasp…" Aponia came out of the prophetic vision violently. Her vision swam and she felt the air leave her lungs, causing her to have shortness of breath. She felt the strength leave her body and her legs buckle, unable to hold on to her weight. She held the frame of the main gate with more strength so as to not fall, and took deep breaths to steady herself. She then remembered the morbid vision that she had just seen now; just remembering it was enough for Aponia to feel a deep pit form in her stomach. She felt sick and disgusted just thinking about it as she gagged feeling the bile rise in her throat. This was the first time that she had felt so much disgust for the scenes she saw in her visions. She stood there for some time to regain her strength and to calm her chaotic mind. Once reasonable enough, she remembered what she had seen in her prophetic vision.
She saw him killing a man whom she didn't know, but from the happenings of this week, she was sure that the man belonged to the same organization that he was fighting against. Then she remembered seeing his back; the pure aura of darkness that radiated off of him made her feel nauseous again. She was sure that he was on the brink of falling into madness and insanity, and once he swung down the sword, there would be no going back.
She had to stop it at all costs. She will not allow his inner demons to take control of his broken state of mind. She has to make it to the imperial Hall where the vision showed the tragedy will happen. However, as she put one step forward, a voice spoke up:
"Whoa there, beautiful lady. Where are you going?"
Aponia looked up to see the people she had been expecting since this evening. Of course, when she had provided shelter to two of the hunted people by the organization, she would be targeted as well. As she stood still, she saw a large group of people looking like soldiers gathering and encircling her in front of the main gate. She had known they would arrive at this time of the night, as she had a vision earlier this evening and had taken precautions earlier so that the children would be safe. However, she was not in the mood to talk with these people and reach a peaceful resolution. She had to reach the Imperial Hall as soon as possible. The fight there may have already been started and she was running out of time, and she couldn't allow herself to be too late. So, she took a deep breath and then with a tone which contained a hint of authority and irritation commanded:
"I don't have the time to deal with you all. So 'Please' move aside and return from where you all came from."
The effect was immediate, with people turning back and walking away from her. Not willingly though and as such, there were voices of surprise and frustration coming from the soldiers.
"W-What's happening to me?"
"My body's… it's… it's moving on its own."
"Dammit. Don't go back, we have to take her hostage…"
"Go FORWARDDD."
"Why am I not able to move towards her?"
As the thugs were moving backwards against their own will, one of them spotted something that caused another commotion.
"Is that-… hey, hey! Guys, look over there."
The others who were struggling with the involuntary movement of their bodies soon diverted their attention to where the said soldier was pointing towards.
"Wait, that's-"
"She's back?"
"Oh, thank goodness. She can take care of this woman for us."
"You dumbass, she has left the organization and gone rogue. We were also sent to capture her."
"Huh?"
"Don't 'Huh' me, we are screwed from both sides."
"Wait the look in her eyes."
As the said person came closer, the soldiers grew more fearful by seeing the expression on the said person's face. Once the person reached one of the soldiers, he started shaking uncontrollably and said in a squeaking voice:
"A-a-a-a-a-a-a-gent S-s-s-s-s-s-sakura…"
"Where is she?" the person now identified as Sakura asked in a dangerously low voice.
"Huh?" the soldier asked dumbly.
And that was the last stupid thing he did in his life, as he soon found himself flying away from his headless body.
"?" the person wasn't able to understand that he had been beheaded; as his head rolled on the ground he died in total confusion. His headless corpse fell down on the ground with a thud; the blood gushing out from the stump on the neck like a spray, and his body was still twitching. Sakura just flicked her sword to get the blood off it and started to approach another person. The said person started to start shaking like a dry leaf on a windy day as she inched closer to him. Once she was close enough, she repeated the same question to him as before:
"Where is she?"
"Who?" the soldier asked dumbly again. At this, Sakura started to unsheathe her sword again, to which the soldier shouted:
"Wait, wait, wait!"
She stopped mid-unsheathing and glared at him sharply. The soldier audibly gulped as he realized if he handled it poorly, they all are going to die here like the one before. Even though Agent Sakura may be young, but her physical prowess was on par with the upper Agents, and the sword on her waist was also not a simple one. Thus, he had to work this out as cautiously as possible.
"I-I mean…" he said in a meek voice "we don't know whom you are searching Agent Sakura."
At this Sakura started to visibly shake; with anger or desperation, the soldier didn't know; however, he prayed with all his heart that he would not be killed here. After some moments, she calmed down somewhat and said in her normal voice although it was tinged with anger:
"Rin, where is she? What have you done to her?"
"Ah!" the entire group said in realization as they understood whom she was talking about at once. The soldier felt stupid that they couldn't figure it out earlier and caused one of them to die. Maybe this was the effect of the woman's powers or maybe they were scared shitless. It could also be a possible mixture of both. As he saw the agent waiting for his answer, he gulped down again as he said:
"Please forgive us, Madam Sakura. We really don't know Rin's whereabouts. We have come here on the orders of our leading agent, nothing else. And further, we wouldn't be made privy to such information in the first place, right?"
The soldier hoped that this explanation was enough to satisfy her and spare them because if she decided otherwise, they were all screwed. He then saw Agent Sakura pondering for a while before she asked him again:
"Under which agent have you come here?"
"T-the second, mam."
"So, Agent Roque?"
The soldier nodded his head furiously.
Sakura seeing the expression on the soldier's face was somewhat convinced that he was not lying. She had instilled enough fear in them for them not to lie to her. Although it was due to her snapping at the man earlier and killing him, she was able to come out of the situation in a good position.
Roque Artemi, also known as 'RECORDKEEPER' was basically the strategist for the Cocoon. He was the one who allotted the various assignments to the other agents. If possible, she would've liked to stay clear of the man, as he was even more malicious than the First ranked and the Grandmaster himself. It also seemed that he had some kind of vendetta against Kevin-dono, as the moment he heard that the Godslayer was on their trail, he had mobilised two of the Agents to find and kill him. however, it seemed that she had to confront that sleazy man if she was to have any hope of finding Rin. Something then suddenly caught Sakura's attention, the second rank of the agents was here. In her two years of being an agent, this has never happened before. Has something happened that warranted one of the top three ranks to come personally? If this was true, then it would have to be something big. Whatever it was, she could get her answer from this man:
"Hey?" she called to the soldier.
"Y-y-yes, mam!"
"Did something happen recently in the organization?" Sakura asked straight to the point. At this the man was conflicted, if he told her of Agent Coscoe's death then it would mean leaking confidential information to a rouge agent and the only punishment for that would be death. However, if he didn't speak up now, he will surely get killed by her.
As he was having this internal debate, one of the other soldiers shouted:
"Don't tell her anything. If you do, I will report it to sir Roque. You do know what will happen to you right?"
This caused the earlier soldier's mind to go blank. If he gets reported to Agent Roque, then what will await him is even worse than dying from Agent Sakura's blade here. He had heard stories of his extreme hobbies even before the Cocoon was formed, and that was not even the worse part. If would be tortured alone, that would still have been fine with him at some level. However, Agent Roque had the details of every member of this organization to the last detail: their friends, relatives, and families, he had the record of them all. In the past, if someone tried to betray the organization or even thought about doing it, all of their loved ones will disappear. Later their mutilated remains were found littered all over the dark corners of the headquarters; some of them were even not found until the end.
Often the abducted people were sent to the place commonly known as the 'Laboratory' by the people in the Cocoon HQ. It was headed by the fifth-ranking Agent known as: THE DOCTOR. Both Agent Roque and Doctor had an amicable relationship between them; and as such, Agent Roque often send the Captured rebels in the organization and their close ones there to act as material for that Agent's crazy experiments.
The deathly screams coming from the laboratory were enough to frighten all the low-ranking soldiers into complete submission. This along with the utmost authority he held due to Grandmaster's trust in him was the reason that generally nobody tried to get on the bad side of Agent Roque or failed to comply with his orders out of fear of having a fate worse than death.
The soldier's mind became more chaotic as he thought about the complications of giving information to the now Agent Sakura. He was sure that her sister was already in the Doctor's laboratory, and that meant there was a good chance she was already…
"Gulp." He gulped loudly as he found himself in a situation that he couldn't possibly get out of alive now. However, if at the least his little brother was safe then…
"I-I-I-I'm sorry, m-mam. I-I cannot d-disclose any i-information to y-you." the soldier finally said making up his mind. He knew that he was going to die here either way but it would be fine even if just his little brother was safe.
Sakura could empathize with the man in front of her. She as the former agent of Cocoon also knew about Agent Roque's extreme methods for ensuring loyalty from organization members. She had always held a strong dislike for his methods and his way of thinking that true loyalty could only be achieved through fear. It was true that fear was a very useful method to get things done your way, but it was a double-edged sword that can come and cut you at any time.
She realized that this soldier wouldn't speak no matter what now. It was a shame she thought. If he would've cooperated, she would have tried to find his family member along with Rin, but now it was useless. Thus, she decided to end it quickly for him so that he wouldn't suffer anymore. As she started to unsheathe her blade, she said to the soldier:
"You are not willing to tell me to protect someone right?"
"…" the soldier remained silent; his head hung low.
"However, like you I also have someone I must protect at all costs. So please forgive me."
At this, the soldier nodded his head in understanding. It was just pure bad luck that they were on opposite sides now. He had heard so many good things about Agent Sakura during the time he was in the HQ; such as her fairness and her code of honour. She would never treat someone the way the other agents did, and that was the reason it was considered a great moment to be selected for her group.
The soldier sighed as he saw he unsheathing her sword a little; such terrible luck: to be killed by one of the most humane members in this godforsaken organization. He wondered why did he join it in the first place? That was when he remembered the promise he made to their parents, to look after his baby brother until he could stand on his own legs. He closed his eyes as he waited for his inevitable ending as he thought:
'Please forgive me, my little bro. Nii-chan would not be able to make it for Christmas.'
He then heard something slide out, a gush of wind and something approaching his face. He closed his eyes harder, not wanting to see his end. That was when a voice suddenly sounded out:
"'Please' wait for a moment, Sakura."
The something then suddenly stopped short of his neck. He felt a gush of wind blowing past him and something sharp and cold pressing on his neck. The soldier remained like that for some time, expecting the cold and sharp thing to complete its motion and behead him. But even after a while, the sharp and cold object remained in its place, still and silent. That was when he opened his eyes a little and what he saw blew out his mind.
Holding her sword to his neck was Agent Sakura. However, the sword had stopped short of his neck, just grazing it a little and drawing a little blood. He was confused as to why had she stopped mid-swing, and that was when he saw her face. She looked as if she was struggling against something trying to hold her back. He saw her hand trying to move, to complete the decapitation. The pressure on his neck increased, and he shut his eyes again in fear; however, nothing happened yet again and he opened them again to see the disbelief on Agent Sakura's face.
"W-What?" she said in disbelief.
Sakura on the other hand was totally confused and stunned. One moment she was swinging her sword to perform a swift execution of the soldier in front of her, the next she heard someone telling her to stop and her hand stopped suddenly in mid-swing just when the blade touched the soldier's neck. She felt as if something was tightly holding her, making her unable to move. It felt heavy like there was a waterfall on her head pouring down with full force. She was feeling difficulty breathing and her thoughts were becoming more disoriented with each passing moment. Sakura then realized that this feeling would not stop until she stopped resisting, and thus she put down her sword albeit slowly.
She then looked over to the source of this voice which had made her stop with just a simple command. Sakura saw a woman most probably in her late teens, wearing a nun's dress. All her training in martial arts and meditation didn't prepare her for the power that this woman had shown. It was as if she had bound her by some kind of chains and the only way to be free was to obey her command. Then there was another thing as well:
"How… name…" Sakura rasped out when she was able to breathe enough. To this, the woman simply looked at her with the same gentle expression that she has and said:
"I know it because I knew that you are going to come. You came here to search for your sister Rin, right?"
At hearing her sister's name, Sakura was even more alarmed. Was this woman a member of the Cocoon as well? If she was, did she know where they had taken Rin to? So many questions were swirling in her head, but before she could voice them out, the woman replied:
"No Sakura, it's not like that. I'm not a member of the organization and I don't know where Rin is held either. However, I can help you find her."
She wasn't a part of Cocoon, then how did she know her and Rin's names? Furthermore, how did she know what she was thinking?
"It is due to my special nature, believe it or not? However, as I said I'm not your enemy. I just want to help you to find your sister safe and sound. So please believe in my words just this once."
Sakura was weighing her options; on one side she had soldiers who were too scared to give any information to her and on the other, a woman she didn't know who somehow knew her and her sister's name and was saying that she will her to find her sister. Both the sides didn't look good, she couldn't trust any of them. If it was some other assignment, then things would've been different; but she couldn't and wouldn't take any chances with Rin's life in the balance.
The woman however, said something next which caused Sakura to stop still.
"I know that you fought against Kevin-san, and let him go. That is the reason you are treated as a rogue."
"!" Sakura was stunned to silence. How did she know Kevin-dono's name? Had she done something to him as well? But before she could voice her questions again, the woman answered:
"You misunderstand, Sakura. I have done nothing to him; instead, I need your help in a request regarding him." she spoke in a pleading voice which felt soothing to one's ear. Sakura knew that this woman was speaking the truth with how her voice sounded like. She had conducted a lot of interrogations as part of her work in the Cocoon and she knew when a person was speaking the truth. Thus, she decided to give this woman a chance to explain herself despite her distrust of her.
"Explain." she said fully sheathing her sword. The moment she did, the pressure on her completely disappeared. Just who on earth was this woman? The woman started to walk closer to her and once she was close enough started to explain her situation:
"After Kevin-san fought you, the pink-haired girl with her brought him to my nursing home. That is the first time I met him, and the girl asked me to treat him. however, due to some reasons he left soon after bandaged up where he was ambushed again by another agent named… Coscoe was it?"
"Coscoe!?" Sakura was shocked. He was ranked fourth in the Agents and was an eccentric one among them. He along with Roque and Doctor are some of the agents she tended to avoid due to their unstable mental condition. To think that he of all persons would be deployed to kill Kevin-dono. The situation was direr than she thought. The woman nodded at her words and continued:
"Yes. He was ambushed by that man and his men. They tried to kill Kevin-san using some sort of strange weapon they called Sacred key."
At this Sakura was shocked again. Has the sacred key project been successful when she was on the assignment of killing Kevin-dono and going rogue after that? That woman who called herself 'The Great Magician' really did it after all. The woman seeing her expression said:
"It seems that there is more to the weapons than what we currently know. Can you tell me what you know afterwards?"
"Hmm." Sakura nodded. The more she kept on hearing the woman's explanation, the more she was convinced that she was at least an ally of Kevin-dono. But that begs the question where was he?
"Where is Kevin-dono, Miss?" she asked. At her question, the woman's face fell down somewhat and with a despondent voice she said:
"He has gone to take care of the new agents that are effectively hunting him. and now he is going to fight one of them at the Imperial Hall."
Hearing the word 'Imperial Hall' made the soldier who earlier threatened to report to Roque gasp. Sakura instantly noticed his reaction and approached him:
"By seeing your reaction it's safe to say that Agent Roque is in Imperial Hall."
"I'm telling you nothing traitor." the said soldier bit back with vitriol in his voice.
"Allow me to take care of this." the woman said as she approached them as well.
"How?"
"The same way I made you stop swinging your sword."
Hearing this made Sakura feel a little bad for the soldier as she wished nobody to experience that feeling of being influenced by this woman's powers. However, it seemed that it was necessary to get any heads up in this situation.
Once the woman inched closed to the supposed soldier, he reacted violently:
"Don't come closer to me, witch. Or I will kill you."
The woman was unfazed by the declaration and just said:
"'Please' calm down."
"Ugh…" the soldier looked like as if he was in pain and then went silent as he was completely under her control.
Aponia seeing that the man was more cooperative now, began her questioning:
"Can you tell us everything you know, 'Please'."
"No. No. No. No. Nonononono….. AAAAAAAAA…" the soldier tried in vain to control himself and to let nothing slip past his lips. However, he had underestimated Aponia's powers; every human had no choice but to comply with her request, there were no exceptions. Well, there might be one, but they didn't need to know about it.
And as such, the soldier was willingly forced to spill out all the mission details to Aponia and Sakura. after the soldier had confessed everything, Sakura said:
"So this is what they were planning."
"I didn't think that a human could be so… vile." Aponia said with a tint of disgust in her voice.
"That is exactly the reason that nobody in Cocoon likes that guy." Sakura added, to which the earlier soldier whom she tried to behead nodded.
After they have heard everything that they needed to hear, the duo decided to make their way to the Imperial Hall. So, Aponia gave her final request to the soldiers:
"You are all free to go. However, 'Please' never come back here again and report to your agent that the mission is done."
The soldiers nodded, now totally under her influence. Sakura however, made her way to the man who had threatened to snitch earlier. She then put her thumb on the hand guard of her Katana and said:
"You tried to betray your comrade who put his faith in you for your own personal gain. Your actions should be punishable by death in my eyes. However, as a reward for telling us everything, I'm letting you go."
"I don't need your sympathy, traitor." the soldier spat.
"You seem to misunderstand something." Sakura said as she drew her sword a little. Seeing this the soldier's face paled. She then said:
"I said I'm letting you go. But you will be given a punishment." saying this she unsheathed a sword fully, and after a moment she sheathed it again. The soldier was not able to understand what happened, but before he felt excruciating pain coming from the left side of his head. He then felt something dripping on his collar, and when he put his fingers where his ear was supposed to be, he felt nothing. However, in his fingers, he felt a warm and fuzzy fluid which smelled familiar. He then looked at the ground in horror as he saw something lying on it. It was a human ear… his ear.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA." he screamed his pain as his mind finally registered what had fully happened. This woman had sliced off one of his ears as a punishment for what he had done. As he writhed in pain on the ground, the ex-agent looked at him with cold eyes and said:
"The next time you do something like this, it will be your head." she then motioned for one of the other soldiers to take him with them. The called-out soldier put the man's hand on his shoulder and then left quickly giving a short bow to Sakura, not wanting to suffer her anger as well.
After all the soldiers left, Sakura made her way to the woman and said:
"Let's go then, shall we?"
"Hmm." Aponia nodded, choosing to keep quiet at Sakura's actions. She realised that she had no place in how this girl did things as a member of the organization. She hoped that Ellie-san would be able to save this girl as she had saved her. Soon the duo came to the motorbike that Sakura had brought with her to go to Imperial Hall.
Sakura looked at Aponia with a questioning gaze, to which Aponia simply tilted her head and asked:
"What's the matter Sakura?"
"It's just… will you be able to ride the motorcycle wearing that kind of outfit?" Sakura said pointing out the clothes Aponia was wearing.
"Oh this, don't worry about me. I won't fall off."
"If you say so."
Sakura then got on the motorbike and started the ignition. Aponia got on behind her and sat sideways in the backseat. Once she made sure that she was seated firmly, she said:
"We can go Sakura."
"Then hold on to me tightly." Sakura said as she accelerated the motorbike out of Dusk Street. As they made their way out of the Sundown Alley towards Imperial Hall, Aponia's hair fluttered in the wind as she prayed that what she saw in her vision had not come to pass.
She had to save Kevin-san from himself.
IMPERIAL HALL (CENTRAL SQUARE- PIAŢA CONSTITUŢIEI) (BUCHAREST- ROMANIAN EMPIRE) – 2021(Previous era) (Around the same time as the Dusk Street incident)
Elysia made her way to the second portion of the roof to meet Pardofelis, who was to sneak her weapon to the party. She had talked to Eden for so long that she almost forgot her original purpose of attending this party. only when she saw her target that she realized that she had wasted a long time chatting with her bestest friend. But who could blame her for not being able to resist a beautiful girl like Eden, much less than not wanting to spend time with her? She then remembered one person who wouldn't be swayed by the beauty of Eden and would nag her if he was here.
"Well, he's not here, so I can take a little detour on my mission." Elysia huffed and said to herself. She then made her way to the farthest corner on the roof and made the sound to alert Pardofelis:
"meow~." However, she didn't stop at one time only and kept making the meowing sound until a shadow dropped in front of her and put its hands over her mouth.
"W-wait Ellie nee-chan, don't continue to do it. It's embarrassing to hear."
Elysia turned around to see the person she was waiting for. She then smiled at her and said:
"Ehh? Why? I want to make that sound continuously, it's cute~."
At this Pardofelis just huffed and said:
"I said it's embarrassing to hear. Further, do you want to attract the security's attention here and get us both caught?"
"Sigh…" Elysia sighed and said:
"You are being influenced by him as well. Don't worry Felis-chan, I have the situation under control. Nobody will notice us here."
"If you say so Ellie nee-chan." Pardofelis said calming herself down. Then she pulled out the case she was carrying and put it on the rooftop gently so as to not make any thumping sound.
"Here, as I promised, all neat and clean. It's even prepped and good to go any time."
"Thank you so much Felis-chan. I don't know what I would've done without you." Elysia said patting her head.
"Ehehehe." Pardofelis just nuzzled into the headpat like a cat. It felt nice to be complimented sincerely for doing something instead of just curses and ill-meaning words. She then remembered the weapon that was in the case. It was strange, to say the least. Pardofelis in her entire life in Sundown Alley had never seen a weapon like this, and as such was naturally curious about it. Thus, curiosity got the better of her and she asked:
"Ne ne, Ellie nee-chan. What kind of weapon is this? I've never seen something like this in my life, but it's so cool."
"Oh, you mean this." Elysia said as she pulled out the weapon. It was a long weapon with a conical shape that extended to a pointed tip on one end, and a handle like a sword on the other. She twirled the weapon while she herself was spinning like those super popular dancers. Pardofelis was awestruck by Elysia's movements which were full of grace and fluidity. While Kevin-boss' moves were more powerful and primal, Ellie nee-chan's moves were like a mesmerising dance that captivated anyone's heart who saw it. Pardofelis was totally enchanted by Elysia's movements that she didn't even notice herself say the next thing:
"Beautiful." she said completely awestruck. Hearing this Elysia stopped spinning and laughed gently. She then said in her sing-song voice:
"Thank you, Felis-chan. Of course, such a pristine girl like me is beautiful. However, you are cute as well~."
"Whaaaat?" Pardofelis said shocked "no way I can compare to you. You were spinning so smoothly and your movements were so so pretty. You looked so beautiful that it's almost unfair."
"If you compliment me that much, I will blush you know."
"I'm only telling the truth Ellie nee-chan." Pardofelis insisted.
"If that is indeed the case, then I thank you sincerely."
"Hmm." Pardofelis just puffed her chest feeling proud of herself. Then she remembered what she was asking earlier.
"So Ellie nee-chan about the weapon-"
"Oh sorry." Elysia said while hitting her back of her head in a cute manner. She then continued:
"This weapon is called a lance. And this particular beautiful girl is called AMOR PURUS, which means true love in Latin. Cute, isn't it?"
"Yeaaah." Pardofelis said skeptically. She found the naming a bit…weird.
"Did you not like it? I thought the name to be cute" Elysia asked dejectedly, making a frowning face.
"No, no, no, Ellie nee-chan. I didn't mean it like that. It's cute, it's cute."
"Really, yay~." Elysia said happily as she patted Pardofelis' head again.
'Anything to make Ellie nee-chan happy.' she thought to herself. She then said:
"Okay, so my part is over now. I will be in the vicinity of the hall; call me for help if the mission becomes more difficult than you imagined."
At this, Elysia smiled in such a way that reassured her and said:
"Don't worry, I got this. I will call you once I'm outside the hall, and then we can all go and eat that fish burger that you mentioned."
"R-Really?"
"Yes~. We can also take Aponia and the children. And if all of us pleads, even he wouldn't be able to say no."
"Okay." Pardofelis said excitedly. Going to the festival and enjoying herself with all the new friends she had made was going to be so much fun. And maybe she could convince Kevin-boss to shell out some more cash as well.
Thinking she jumped down from the roof of the Hall onto the nearest beam and made her way out of the place. Elysia after seeing that the girl had completely disappeared, stepped outside the rooftop and into the building to find her target. She then made across the hall while hiding herself, so as to not get caught by other people or security guards. She then started to look for her target again, whom she found pretty quickly. She saw him fidgeting nervously, holding something in his hands. Then she saw him slipping away from the main hall and make his way to the backside of the building.
It seemed to Elysia that the man knew that he was being hunted down by Cocoon and they have sent an assassin today. It made her job the more crucial, as if the people from the organization got to him first, they will lose their lead. She had to reach him fast and get him to safety. Elysia was sure that she will meet one of those Agents while leading the man to safety. However, she was not going to give up and turn her back because of danger. She was Kevin's partner on this mission and as such had as much responsibility as him to complete it. Further, she didn't want him to do all the dangerous things alone. The happenings of that night had been more than enough for a wake-up call.
As she made across the Hall, following the man in the shadows she saw Eden again on the main floor below. She was again hoarded by people who wanted to speak with her for various reasons or to simply get to know her better. Elysia could see Eden being overwhelmed a little by those people but unfortunately, she was not able to help her now. She had her own mission to focus on. Such a shame, she would have liked to talk with her more. She was such a sweet and gentle girl, not to mention extremely beautiful and she loved everything beautiful.
Elysia slowly moved across the hall on high-hanging beams and ledges outside the structure. Despite being a Banquet Hall, the building had two floors, with a corridor on the top floor with private rooms on either side and beams from which the various chandeliers hung between the two corridors. It almost looked like a medieval cathedral at this point. It however, made Elysia's job easy to tail her target to the farthest room in the back. Once the target entered the room, Elysia hid behind one of the big tables situated along the wall. She saw a waiter standing some distance away from the room where the target went earlier. The waiter wore unusual clothes for the supposed dress for waiters. He was wearing black gloves instead of white and the left handed glove had a ringed end to it.
'Is that waiter rich?' Elysia thought to herself, but suddenly remembered something important relating to the mission:
"Once inside, look for the waiter wearing a black ringed glove and say this to him: "I would like some fine wine." He will then lead you to a secluded place where after he had made sure of your identity, he will provide you with a foldable spike."
Elysia's eyes widened as she realized that the waiter may be a member of the organization. However, she had to make sure of that; so, she observed him a little more. Something shone from his coat pocket which caught her eyes, and when she focused her vision on it, she could see the very familiar Cocoon-shaped pendant on the person. Seeing the pendant, Elysia thought to herself:
'So, this is the point of contact for Sakura here.'
Once she had made sure that she had the correct guy, she started to sneak up on him. she had to make him unconscious, so as to safely get the target outside the Hall.
The waiter was nervously standing there expecting the agent that was sent to assassinate the target in this party to show up anytime. He was just informed to give the foldable spikes to a pink-haired woman after she had said the passphrase and he confirmed her identity. Thus, he waited for the woman with the pink hair to show up. Suddenly he felt a little gust of wind flowing at the back of his head, which was then followed by something pressing on his neck. He blacked out instantly by the accurate pressure put on his acupuncture point. As he blacked out, he could swear he heard a girl's laughter.
Elysia dragged the unconscious body of the Cocoon member to a nearby empty room and hid him behind one of the big closets. She had pressed the acupuncture point of his neck and made him unconscious by cutting off the electrical signals to the brain for a moment. Although this technique was effective, if performed inaccurately could lead to permanent paralysis or even death for the victim. She was thankful that Colonel Himeko drilled this technique into her mind to perfection. She couldn't ever think of harming any human being, least of all killing them. This was a line she had decided to never cross no matter what, and this was perhaps one of the things she will never agree with Kevin.
She knew that he didn't kill unnecessarily, but killing was still killing. Once a person dies, they can never return. They leave behind so many memories, that couldn't be even compiled into a thick book. Somebody will always miss them, no matter how much vile they are. Thinking such things, she came to the conclusion that nobody had the right to decide whether the other should live or die. Neither the Honkai nor the Human.
She shook her head to get these depressing thoughts out of her head. Now with the member of the organization unconscious, she had the opportunity to finally meet the person in question. Thus, she made her way to the room and opened the door slowly.
The moment she opened the door, something whizzed past her lodging itself into the wood of the door behind. She could safely assume it to be a bullet if the smoking gun in the hands of the person standing in front of her were any indication.
"Don't come near." the man said in a loud voice while shaking with fear. at this Elysia just smiled gently and said in a soft voice:
"I'm not here to hurt you, Mr. Stefan. Contrary to your belief, I'm here to actually protect you from those people."
She then laid down her lance slowly on the floor as a gesture of her goodwill. However, the man was still not convinced:
"Don't think I will fall for your traps. You are here to kill me. They said the pink haired girl will come to kill me for my sins."
"Mou~, I'm hurt by that accusation you know. While it is true that I have pink hair; however, I'm not the pink-haired girl you are looking out for."
"D-Don't try to c-confuse me." the man said as he was shaking badly. He then said:
"I should've never taken the job. Now they are going to kill me."
The man then started to have a mental breakdown in front of her. Seeing his state, Elysia felt bad so she started to reach out to him but as she reached her hand forward, a bang rang out. She felt a sharp pain coming from her outstretched hand and saw the hand bleeding from a graze on it. Looking at the man, she saw him with the gun again and looking at her with absolute fear. She then realized that she had been shot in the hand by the terrified man. Thankfully, the bullet didn't lodge itself into the flesh and just grazed the skin. However, despite being shot by the man she still smiled and said:
"It's okay, I'm not here to hurt you. See."
At this, the man started crying and said:
"Why aren't you trying to kill me already? I already shot you, so you can have the perfect excuse to kill me, right?"
Hearing this Elysia just smiled again and said in a gentle voice:
"Why would I want to kill you? You just acted in self-preservation because you thought that I was trying to hurt you right? Besides, every life is precious and there is no beauty in cutting it short. So please believe me when I say that I'm here to protect you."
At this, the man finally let go of the gun he was holding, which fell on the floor with a thud. Thankfully, there was no accidental firing to cause any more incidents. Elysia moved slowly and picked up the gun, which she put away safely. She then said to the man:
"Why don't we talk elsewhere, people are sure to come here after hearing the gunshot."
The man simply nodded in agreement and they both made their way out of the room they were currently in. Both of them made their way covertly to another part of the roof to talk. As they were making their way through the corridors, they saw many security personnel approaching the room. Some of them passed by them which in turn scared the man. however, with her quick thinking, Elysia was able to avoid detection and lead the man to the supposed roof.
Once they were on the roof, the man heaved a sigh and said:
"T-Thank you for helping me sneak away from there."
"But of course, such a beautiful as myself should help people like you who are just afraid."
Hearing her reply made the man a little weirded out, but he chose to not question it as she had effectively saved him from a troublesome situation. Perhaps she was telling the truth. She had shown no hostility until now and even had forgiven him for shooting her accidentally. The man had never experienced this much kindness from a stranger. Also, her voice and expression were genuine, which made her more trustworthy. Thus, he decided to at least hear her out.
Thinking such, the man asked starting their proper conversation:
"If you are not here to kill me then who are you?"
Elysia visibly beamed seeing the man wanting to cooperate with her. She had finally succeeded in coaxing him to talk, and that too without unnecessary violence. Maybe taking that bullet was worth it.
"Ugh…" Elysia grimaced as her hand throbbed with pain reminding the presence of said wound. Seeing this the man felt extremely guilty, and he offered his handkerchief while saying:
"Please allow me to tend to the wound."
"Oh, no. it's okay."
"Please. I insist."
So after wrapping the wound with the handkerchief as a make-shift bandage, the man finally spoke up:
"So, about your identity…"
"Oh right. I'm Elysia Levedeva and the people with whom I work want to protect you from that organization." She then continued:
"We have seen first-hand what that organization is capable of doing and thus, we want to stop it. But for doing so, we need the thing that you have with you."
At hearing the man fidgeted a little. He clasped the briefcase that he was holding tightly. Seeing the reaction of the man, Elysia understood that whatever he was carrying in that briefcase was very dangerous or impactful. She then gently asked:
"Can you tell me what you are trying to protect?"
At this, the man flinched again. He looked at Elysia as if he had been caught doing something illegal. She just looked at him assuredly, indicating that she will not judge him. the man being mentally exhausted after being under mental pressure for so many days finally gave in and started speaking:
"Some days before, I was given the job to transport this briefcase from a research facility to another person of that organization. The sum was good, and the only thing I needed to do was to make sure that the briefcase reached the other party undamaged and undetected by others." The man stopped to take a deep breath. He then started telling the most important thing about the job:
"However, there was one clause in the job. That was to never look inside the briefcase. However, while travelling here, the briefcase was torn by a rudely passing person, scattering its contents all across. I quickly gathered all of them before anyone could see them, but in the process, I saw what was in the briefcase."
"And that was?" Elysia asked in a steady voice. This was it; she was so close to getting a big lead.
"It was… agh!" the man exclaimed and fell down with a thud. Blood sprayed in the air, coming out from the gaping hole in his head. Elysia's eyes traced the path of the bullet and finally found the place where the shot came from. She with her almost inhuman eyesight saw a person with a sniper rifle a few buildings away. She quickly snatched the briefcase and retreated from the roof as more bullets came trying to kill her as well. She took one last look at the man, who was most assuredly dead. Guilt and frustration spread in her mind. She not only didn't get the lead she came here for but also wasn't able to protect someone from dying needlessly. Is this how Kevin felt all the time? If it was, then she felt more sadness for him as this was such a horrible feeling.
She ran and made her way to the end of the corridor, where she found another empty room. She quickly went into it and closed the door behind her, not wanting the other members to follow her. She then took the briefcase that she took with her and put it on the table. Thankfully, the briefcase was a simple one with no complicated pattern to unlock it. She imagined that the man wasn't able to think that far ahead when he was chased constantly. If only she was able to protect him.
"Enough. It's not the time to think about that." Elysia snapped herself to focus on what was in front of her. She opened the briefcase and pulled out the papers that were in them.
Three folders greeted them, with the words 'TOP SECRET' written on the cover of them all. But what shocked her the most was the emblem and the name that was on the cover of each of them.
"PROJECT: GODKEY. Project head: Dr. Welt Yang
PROJECT: MANTIS. Project head: Dr. Mobius Grantz
SYSTEM PARAMETERS AND SECURITY PROTOCOLS OF MOTH HEADQUARTERS."
Elysia's blood ran cold when she saw the documents. She was not able to comprehend for some time what she was seeing. The thing that the man was delivering to the Cocoon members was top secret projects of Moths. But how? Wasn't this information kept top secret and accessible to only the top members of the Moths with Kevin being the only special case? It wouldn't be possible until…
Elysia gasped as she realized what was happening. There was a mole in the upper ranks of the Moths, maybe more than one if she had to guess. This was a serious matter now, as the safety of the place where she belongs is in jeopardy. She had to quickly tell this to Kevin and have him report to the HQ. as she was thinking this, there was a loud explosion in the main Banquet Hall down below.
BOOOOOM.
The entire building shook with the shock of the explosion, with some portions of the structure falling due to the damage it had sustained. Elysia also lost her balance and fell down on her back during the explosion. When she got up, she felt a little disoriented and her ears were ringing painfully. She stood still for some time with the table as support for getting her bearings back. Once she was rational enough, she picked up the briefcase and stepped outside the room, with the lance at the ready. She knew that this explosion was caused by the Cocoon members who had infiltrated the party, probably to kill both the man and her. So, she was expecting the members to show up any time now.
Not betraying her expectations, as soon as she stepped outside the room, she was assaulted by dozens of men. The ones in the front came charging towards her with melee weapons, while the ones in the back started shooting at her with rifles and shotguns. She twirled the lance, deflecting the bullets and kneading the oncoming goons with the blunt end of the lance. Even when wearing this type of dress, she was able to fight fluidly and precisely as with her normal Moth uniform.
This astonished the goons to no end as they thought that she would be extremely restricted with her movements in this party dress. Not to mention she carried a big lance of all things. Their disbelief and frustration showed in their voices as they complained:
"Gah. What's up with this woman? Why is she so strong?"
"Agent Roque said that she will be weaker now, did he lie?"
"Dammit."
"Oi, watch you left."
"Wha- gh!"
The goons were dropping unconscious like flies one by one and she hoped that she would be able to get out of here. Then she remembered about Eden, and she became worried about whether she had safely made it outside or not. She decided to look for her while making her own way outside. After all, it wouldn't do to abandon your best friend in a place like this right?
As she was thinking this, she didn't notice a shadowy figure sneaking up on her. Suddenly she felt a hostile intent and positioned the lance to block the attack coming from behind.
CLANG.
A spike wrapped in chain collided with the lance with great force. The momentum of the collision caused Elysia to lose her footing a little, and that was when the second spike came, stabbing and tearing into her non-injured arm.
"Khhh." Elysia grunted in pain as she felt the spike lodge deeper into her arm. She pulled herself back, and the spike came out of her arm but not before further injuring it. She then looked over to the person who had thrown the spike.
The man had a thin and androgynous body that would make anyone misunderstand him as a female. However, his clothing and his posture made Elysia sure that this person was a male. He had long raven-black hair which was tied in a low knot towards the end. His green eyes were opened thinly and the maliciousness that dripped from his smile made her immensely cautious against this person. He wore a black suit with white gloves and black pants. Overall, he looked some kind of noble if not for the fact that he held multiple spikes with chains attached to them. One of them was still dripping from her blood.
As the man approached her, he bowed down in a show of courtesy and said:
"I'm terribly sorry for the treatment that you have been given, Miss. Elysia Levedeva. However, it is imperative to us that you don't carry that briefcase to anywhere we don't want."
At hearing this, Elysia smiled her usual smile and said:
"Ara~, you seem to know me, but I don't know your name. isn't it polite to introduce yourself first?"
"Oh, please forgive me for my terrible manners, Miss. My name is Roque and I'm the second-ranked agent of the Cocoon." the man said bowing again. He then continued:
"By the way, I have to thank you and the Godslayer for the hospitality that you have shown to cocoon members these past few days."
"Oh, it's no problem at all~. After all, it's natural to treat guests with courtesy for a beautiful girl such as myself, even if the said guests are a bit rude."
"Please forgive us for that also. However, you must understand that we have our reasons, right?"
"Hmm, I wonder about that."
At this, the man smiled his creepy smile again that made Elysia feel uncomfortable. He was lying through his teeth, she understood. He simply wanted to kill her and Kevin here. She had to make out of here and fast. As she was formulating a plan of how to get out of here, the man spoke up again:
"Well now, with the pleasantries out of the way, shall we get down to business. I will cut to the case: please give us the briefcase."
"So, you can steal our project ideas again. You know it kind of makes your organization looks bad when you have to steal ideas from others."
Hearing this, the man sighed. He ran his hands on his face and when he lifted it up, Elysia could truly see the evil lurking within him. he then said in an even tone:
"So you saw it. Then I have no other choice than to make you silent."
"You were already planning to do that from the start right?" Elysia said still smiling. At this the man started giggling:
"Hehehe… HAHAHAHAHA… you truly are sharp as they say. Such a shame that you work for the Moths." His face then becoming serious again, he ordered the remaining goons:
"Remove her."
The goons started attacking her again. Elysia fought back to the best of her ability, knocking many of them out cold. However, fighting while one hand was carrying something, effectively making it useless and the other being deeply wounded proved to be extremely difficult. Every time she swung her lance, she winced at the pain that shot through her entire body. She was so distracted by fighting the goons and the pain, that she didn't see one of the spikes flying toward her.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she suddenly saw something closing in on her. She tried to react by bringing her lance in the way of the projectile, but with her trying to fend off another goon and her reaction time getting slower due to the pain she was feeling, she was not able to. Her side was completely vulnerable and that spike was going to give a deep wound to her. Worst case scenario, it could prove fatal also.
Elysia shut her eyes tightly as the Spike came near to her, expecting pain to wreck her entire body. However, what happened next surprised everyone present in the corridor again.
SHINGGGGG.
Something blocked the attack in mid-air, causing the spike to fall to the ground harmlessly. Then the entire group burst out in murmurs at the new intruder who had stopped the attack. Elysia felt someone standing in front of her, even though her eyes were closed. Then she heard the Cocoon agent saying:
"I was expecting you to come here, but not this fast. Has Ralph fallen that fast?"
Then she heard the voice of the person most important to her in this world:
"He has."
Elysia slowly opened her eyes to see the back of the man whom she loved with her heart and soul. His broad back seemed to protect her from everything evil in this world. Seeing him here, she felt relief washing over her. He was here… her Prince was here.
"Ke…vin?" she croaked out.
"I'm sorry I took this long Elysia. You are safe now."
Hearing this, small tears of relief and happiness appeared in her eyes. She then said in a teary but hopeful voice:
"Mhmm." and nodded.
The agent seeing that his primary target has arrived here was ecstatic. Now he will be able to get rid of them all at once. Such blessing. He then looked at the Godslayer with his malicious smile on his face and said:
"How nice of you to join us, Godslayer. Now I can kill both of you together."
At this, Kevin unsheathed Homura with one fluid motion and brought it in front of him. Seeing this the man laughed and said:
"Very well, shall we begin."
Kevin just glared at the man coldly, his eyes narrowed.
To be continued…
Hello everyone, welcome back to 'A Warriors Destiny'.
Damm, I wanted to include the second Kevin fight in this chapter, but alas it was not meant to be. However, our other characters got their screentime here so that should make up for something right?
Well, the next chapter is going to be the fight between Kevin and Roque, and we just may see him losing his cool and going berserk for once. And who would've thought there was a mole in the Moths right? What is going to happen to them? For the answer to all of this, you just have to wait for the next chapter.
As always if you like the story please leave a follow, favourite, and/or review.
Thank you for reading, until next time.