Chapter 131 - Demonic Invasion PT 8
"Well, it looks like the second floor has been cleared… that leaves the third floor, then the Dungeon."
A serious-looking Vert stated this as she crossed her arms underneath her ample bosom, the act causing them to jiggle in a visible manner. The woman, along with the 3 Groups, stood next to a similar entrance that lead them to the second floor, only this one would lead them even further downwards to the third floor. They could tell that they were not going in circles due to two things: One, the fact that the stairs themselves lead downwards. That had been the first obvious indication that the Groups had noticed, as well as the most obvious. Two, all of them could sense the madness, the bloodlust and the insanity that seemed pretty standard for Khorne warriors down there. Not to mention those who could sense demonic power also sensed said energy beneath them. As she spoke her piece, Vert's gaze scanned through the faces of her comrades, more specifically several people.
The first of them had been Compa, the young Nurse-In-Training standing alongside IF and Neptune as she looked about curiously. It looked like there was something on her mind, Vert thought. But even so, she still found herself drawn back to her own thoughts. Ever since the first floor, Vert had noticed something very… off about her. Something that had changed since she first entered the Gala. Before, Vert hadn't seen her as much, she seemed more like an everyday civilian who had been trying their best to be useful. She definitely fit the part as she had that motherly aura around her, something that did make her chuckle a few times when she sometimes noticed her trying to mother IF when she had food on the sides of her mouth.
But now? Now, there was something else. Something else within her that gave her one of the most confusing sensations she had ever sensed. There was an energy within her, something similar to both Mana that Mages use in Lowee and Share Energy that the CPUs used. It looked like two other people she had been eyeing (not in that way get your heads outta the gutter) seemed to have knowledge of what she has become but chose to keep it to themselves. If she could, Vert would have asked them about it, but in their defense, it didn't really matter currently since it would help her survive against these inhuman enemies.
Therefore, she had dropped it.
"You're right, this should be floor number 3 next… Say guys?" Compa began to finally speak, shaking her head as she got everyone's attention. The Nurse-In-Training had, along with the rest of Group 1, been able to rescue several Survivors throughout the floor, but like the rest of them had feared, the amount they had saved had plummeted in comparison to the ones on the first floor. Odds were, that this would be the case for the rest as well. When she saw that everyone was looking at her, Compa continued. "I keep getting this earthy feeling when we go down floors. But the Basilicom's made of extravagant minerals, right?"
Noire hummed thoughtfully, cupping her chin. Just by looking into Compa's eyes, which she showed in a much more expressive way than before now that Noire thought about it, she could tell how bothered the girl had been, and felt pretty sure on what had been bothering her. Still, Compa had asked a question, and she wanted answers since she didn't really know herself, though Noire had noticed the same things the Nurse-In-Training had. "Now that you mention it, you do have a point, Compa." She remarked, glancing at the walls with contemplation. "Its been on my mind for a while, but your question does make me think of one I've asked myself a few times: are we going deeper and deeper underground?"
Looking over to her, Vert's thoughts wandered towards the black-haired CPU. Ironically, the next person she had eyed was Noire, whom stood with her Bodyguard and the rest of the group, though that sword she wielded in that battle against Wolvrik (according to her brief summary) had vanished just like their CPU weapons. That sword, actually, was one of the reasons why she had been keeping a close eye on her since they regrouped. Not only did that Sword intrigue her with its holy and divine elements, as well as it's destructive capabilities (she'd worry about the repair cost, and what the construction workers will have to do, after the invasion would be repelled). Not to mention, the Sword somehow felt… off. It felt weird, like it was trying to complete a goal by drawing in ambient demonic power. Noire likely had noticed too judging by the looks of deep thought she had seen her in since they regrouped. The other thing she noticed was that Noire's aura had felt… changed, it now felt more like Neptune's actually. Divine, but with a hint of demonic underneath… I wasn't something Vert was used to, but she could identify it easier thanks to having previous experience thanks to the preteen amnesiac.
Then, there were Lucy and Raven.
Both girls seemed the most suspicious out of everyone of them here. Not in a bad way though, nothing like that. If anything, Vert felt more curious than cautious about them. Sure, Raven came off as someone who would watch whilst you suffered a great injury, thinking that crying wouldn't help you grow, but she did command the proper respect from her subordinates. That showed she had ideal leadership qualities, though the rest of her personality seemed to be… less common, than most. That would be the NICE way of putting her survivor's mentality. Even so though, something else besides her personality got Vert's attention, and though she didn't show it, Vert knew that Noire had noticed too though she had other things to think about, apparently. That Raven and Lucy suspiciously had an energy inside of them that wasn't meant for mortals. Why that was, she didn't know, but she'd sensed them use it more and more, at least Lucy had, as they went down the floors.
"Its because this Basilicom was built that way, Compa dearie." Lucy replied in a factly manner, raising her right gloved arm to gesture to one of the walls. "It was built with underground areas so that, in the event of an attack, it would be much harder to bring the structure down. It was also kept a large secret from the other Nations so they wouldn't get any ideas during the raids." She explained. What she didn't say was that thanks to them going deeper underground, her nature powers got easier to use thanks to the wilderness around them. She liked nature, she liked it a lot, especially since being around nature sped up the use of her powers significantly. She could use them in industrial areas, but they wouldn't have the same effect.
She did NOT miss the slight look of surprise and alarm Vert temporarily sported, either.
'H-Huh?!' said CPU screamed in her mind, shock filling her system at what the woman had just said. 'How did-how did this young lady know that?! She's right, the information about my Basilicom being built underground had been kept secret, but how did she find out? Only my highest-ranking staff members, or the Military leaders, know of this place!' The fact that she DID know however, was what truly caused her to stiffen for those brief moments, as it gave her a whole LOAD of new worries to add to her mind. She didn't want to think of it, but if Lucy had known about it, who else knew? Was it still as safe as she had thought it been? Were there any in the other Nations who knew? Well, the fact that this problem originated underground answered more than a few of those questions, actually.
"Huh, so THAT'S why…"
"Well, in any case…" IF began, interrupting the Nurse-In-Training as she brought everyone's attention to her now. "Looks like these floors are going to get tougher the deeper we go. Instincts are going haywire over here, which must mean that there is going to be a lot of them this time." She explained, before looking towards Vert and her group. "You guys sure you don't need any support?" she asked them with a hand on her hip. She wasn't worried as much about Vert, rather most of her worry was centered around Isaac and Guts. Unlike Vert who was a Goddess who had her hands on a powerful weapon, Isaac and Guts were both human, 100% human. They didn't have the perks that the rest of the girls had, their bodies didn't have the same potential as theirs. And they were going into battle against enemies whom all towered above their abilities so much that one couldn't even cry at the unfairness of it all.
However, unlike the brunette's feelings right now, Isaac just cheerfully gave a thumb's up with a lopsided smirk forming on his lips. "Hey, no need to worry about us, Mrs Windwalker." He replied, IF's cheeks becoming a tad pink when she heard her nickname. "Me and Guts here can take care of ourselves, this big lug of Armour even more so." The man replied, resting a hand on one of the Black Swordsman's shoulder guards. "Guy's kill record is much higher than the average Agent, plus he's dealt with things like this a lot, so we'll be good."
In response to his comrade's words, Guts simply nodded his head ever so slightly. To those who had considerably less perception than others (#cough# Neptune #cough#), it probably wouldn't look like anything like this. "We'll be fine."
A look of conflict appeared on IF's features regardless. Perhaps it was because of her state as a BOW and seeing how frail people could be, maybe she looked down on humans a little as much as she loathed to admit it. After all, she had seen them fall like flies caught by a fly swatter whenever they fought Demons and other Abnormals, making her have a rather… low opinion on human strength. Still, it's the enemies she was most concerned for, so cut her some slack. Still, she decided to accept it for now, she'd give them some back up if they needed it, but until then she'd stay her hand. "Right, anyways we got enemies to ice, so let's get to it."
Everyone nodded, and just like they planned it Group 3 with Vert at the head, took the lead for this third floor. Whilst she did so, Vert felt her Gungnir resonate from deep within her. It shuddered in excitement, a type a warrior would face when they confront a powerful enemy. She couldn't say she didn't feel the same, but the way it acted told her that a LOT of powerful opponents would be awaiting her down there.
Whelp, far be it for her to stay away from the challenge, right?
About 5 minutes later, Group 3 had been the first of the Groups to arrive at the third floor.
Unlike the last two Groups however… they weren't attacked immediately, or even after a moment or two. Instead, all they were greeted with was the same sights they had seen in the second floor… only, much worse as there were huge masses of bodies, bodies belonging to both staff and guests impaled on single spikes. Each body had their skulls and even their spines ripped out, allowing blood to constantly fall out of them like waterfalls. Some even looked like they had their limbs, bones or even their internal organs brutally torn from their bodies as if they had been carved up by some animal. Not to mention what looked like human entrails hung like ribbons from the top of the ceiling.
'Even though I have seen this sight so many times during this invasion…' Vert thought as she summoned Beninuki, gripping it's shaft tightly in anger whilst reinforcing it with Share Energy. It was only through this way that her techniques could be successful in piercing or cutting through the enemy's Armour when she used Beninuki. Otherwise, she'd use Gungnir. The reason why she wasn't using it now was because she wanted to save it for the stronger opponents on this Floor, that weapon had WAY more power than Beninuki, but also it had way more destruction capability. Too much for confined spaces, sort of like that sword Noire had used, tough she didn't know which of the two had the greater potential for such a thing. 'Seeing how awful these horrific, savage barbarians treat my people… it reminds me of why Leanbox had been founded in the first place…'
Seeing all this, seeing all this death, gore and horrific actions… it hit her too close to home. It sparked memories within her that she had long since repressed. Memories she never wanted to think about, memories of a self that had much more naivety and innocence in the ways of the Land she had been born to preside over. Back then, she remembered how foolish she had been, how blind and oblivious she had been to the dark nature her Land had.
That hadn't lasted long however, and that self quickly died out.
"Geez, these guys don't know the meaning of the word overkill…" Isaac remarked with a disgusted grimace, rubbing the back of his head whilst he held his Plasma Cutter in one hand, the other ruffling the back of his head. Since the battle had not yet started, his RIG hadn't formed his helmet just yet. Once the battle DID start, that would be a different story, though he did get the urge to form it prematurely if only to get rid of the horrid stench that permitted through this place. The amount he could smell made him want to hurl, even after being in so many situations similar to this. He had thought he'd gotten used to such horrific stenches during his years as an Agent, but apparently it seemed he was wrong. "I can safely say that this is some messed up shit…"
Guts said nothing, didn't even react to this level of brutality and gore as he scanned their surroundings. The corridor, bare all the disturbing sights, looked pretty much deserted. The moment he'd seen it, Guts had lost hope for there to be ANY survivors here, it was much more likely that they were too late for everyone here. Still, glancing to his CPU and seeing how her shoulders trembled, how her teeth gnashed and how her body literally shook like an earth quake, he decided not to voice those opinions. She DEFINITELY didn't look like she wasn't aware of this fact, so he decided to focus on his previous observations. "This looks too deserted. It's suspicious. Where's the enemy?" he wondered, putting a hand on his Dragonslayer which rested diagonally on his back. A large part of his lack of fear may be due to experience, but an even LARGER part was the fact that he had this massive blade by his side. It's weight and the feeling of it's hilt gave him more comfort than even a woman sleeping with him would give, and for good reason.
For a warrior, a good sword that survives the same battles the warrior has, is the best sort of battle companion they could ever ask for.
Hearing his words snapped Vert out of her anger, and made her look past all the atrocities to confirm Guts' words. At once, she too adopted a cautious look, as did Isaac whose eyes scanned the area intently, like an owl hunting in the night for prey. "Yes… that does concern me, too." Vert mumbled under her breath, narrowing her eyes as she looked ahead. Something about this didn't feel right, none of this did to be honest. Even so, she got more warning bells ringing in her mind at the fact that they WEREN'T being attack than when they would. THAT spoke volumes about their enemy, huh?
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long since the enemy DID attack…
Just, not in the same way as they had before.
"Whoa, shit!"
A loud exhale escaped Isaac's lips as they quickly grouped up in the back-to-back style. The reason? From around them, four massive eruptions, similar to volcanic ones in appearance with the lava being replaced with dirt, happened around them. From those eruptions, came 4 separate enemies, each of them in crimson, bulky Armour with metallic grey highlights that indicated them being part of the 'World Eater Legion' that they had learned of.
"FOOOOOOOOR KHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORNE!"
Time seemed to slow down as these four men came down towards them, yelling out their own religious devotion to the Blood God. However, in that brief moment where the men had reached the apex of their jumps and began their descent towards the outnumbered group…
They all reacted.
SWOOSH!
STAB-STAB-STAB!
BZZT!
All 4 World Eater members surprise attacked them from below, intending to rip them into pieces like they had done the rest of the floor's occupants. Well, INTENDED was the keyword there. 2 of them got sliced in half by Guts' enormous Dragonslayer when he had countered first, swinging the large blade in a wide arc The men had not expected the blade to be as powerful as it was, and thus got their torsos as well as their heads torn off… by their left sides first. The metallic blade, with it's size, strength of it's wielder and the impact, tore through their Armour with little difficulty, and if the brunette had been there to witness that moment then she would have taken back her worries for the two human Agents.
As for the other human Agent, Isaac had reflexively put his intended attacker in a Stasis, smirking as his helmet formed over his head. "Gotcha, bitch…" he muttered under his breath before raising his Plasma Cutter and pilling the trigger. Since he had witnessed the morbid sights of how well the enemy had 'decorated' the Basilicom, he had well… more than a little desire to rip them apart. Slowly, and painfully. Thus, he would happily admit he took more than a little sadistic pleasure in shooting off his attacker's limbs and his head. Therefore, only the torso remained which fell to the ground, each limb including the head flying off into different directions.
On Vert's side…
"Ufufufufu…" a rather… creepy giggle escaped her throat, one that if they could have heard it Isaac and Guts would have felt their manhoods shrinking in fear, as she unleashed a HASSEI KAIGAN on her attacker's ass. With the nature of the technique, not only did each thrust go through it's Armour with the Share Energy helping, but it punctured each and every vital possible. Plus, there was the fact that he was airborne an unable to dodge Vert's Spear. Therefore, the World Eater member had no chance of escaping his inevitable death, as his corpse fell to the ground with a massive THUD. His blood splattered all over the blood-covered ground, though thanks to that, this fact almost got by the cause's eyes if she hadn't seen it go SPLATTER in the first place.
Once the surprise attack abated, each of them glanced around, waiting for more attackers to come. None of them fooled themselves into thinking there weren't any more of them, their previous experiences in the rear guard told them that much. Also, the reports from the other two Groups helped too. Isaac went behind the two whilst Vert and Guts moved to the opposite sides of the corridor. Up ahead, they could see how the Corridor split into 3 directions in about 35 steps, evolving into the same labyrinth-like structure as the previous floors.
"Wow, Lady Vert…" Isaac remarked, rolling his eyes in exasperation before he shifted his gaze to this Landmass's CPU. "You REALLY love to make RPG Dungeon shit, don't you?" All he got were a pair of starry eyes and a fist pump from said CPU, making a chuckle and a sigh escape his lips. Shaking his head, the man returned to looking about for any surprising enemies…
Enemies that soon appeared.
They came from the other end of the Corridor, as well as the holes their 4 dead brethren made. They came at the group in full force, various war cries escaping their lips as their individual steps resembled a stampeding herd. The sight of so many of the enemy barrelling down on them didn't feel very different to the group, they'd dealt with similar tricks in their time acting as the rear guard. "Alright, now THIS is the welcoming committee I was expecting…!" Isaac cackled when he said that, his grin hidden by his helmet.
Guts only gave him a look that just said 'shut up or I'll smite you with my bigass sword'
"Yeah, yeah…"
The fighting lasted about 5 minutes, though to the three it felt more like 2 hours. As usual, it seemed those who worshiped Khorne got massive rage boners, cause those fuckers refused to go down. The fact that they were fighting not only for the good fight but to avenge their fallen brethren MAY have had something to do with it, too. In the end though, they managed to successfully kill off all of the enemies that attacked them, though they didn't fool themselves into thinking they had killed off all of them.
"Whew… fighting a whole load of these guys is a lot harder than it looked…" Isaac remarked, his upper torso rising and falling to indicate his uneven breathing patterns. Still, his body trembled, trembled at the thundering sensations of what he had just gone through. The booming patter of heavy footsteps, the unholy and inhuman war cries, the frantic action… as a gunman, Isaac felt like THIS had been the closest he had ever gotten to what it was like for those who fought with CQC weapons like himself. 'Wow… I think I can understand guys who use swords better now…' he thought to himself, before looking over to Guts. "Man, when you talked about feeling at home against an enemy, you weren't kidding… uhhhh, Guts, man? What are you doing?
The moment that he had turned, Isaac and Vert (whom had been recovering in her own way), found their attention drawn by the Black Swordsman, whom crouched low to inspect one of the bisected bodies he had left in the wake of his Dragonslayer, said sword having been put back on his broad and muscular back. They couldn't see what he was doing from their positions, so the two walked up to him after regaining their bearings to get a better angle.
"These men… they weren't like the ones we fought before. They're different."
Even so, Guts gave a response before they got that perfect angle. At first, Isaac made to question his friend and long-time partner for their Spec Ops duties, but the moment that he looked over his shoulder, his mouth closed up faster than that cartoon wolf which chased the eternally running bird on the road. The corpse that Guts was looking at, investigating by running a finger on the plates of the arm Armour… aside from being bisected, there were a multitude of things they didn't notice about it.
One: The helmet didn't look… completely like a helmet. In fact, it looked more like a helmet and a face having merged together, with hollow eyes that glowed a bright yellow color, making it difficult to tell whether or not the enemy was still alive. There was an open maw of matching design, filled to the brim with knife-like fangs that just screamed their ability to dig into mortal flesh. That explained why some of the men tried to bite the three when they got close enough for CQC, then.
Two: the man's body, it looked horrifically mutated and deformed now that they got a closer look, with the skin beneath the Armoured almost becoming crimson red like it had been constantly exposed to an enormous amount of heat. Heck, some areas looked like they lacked any skin at all, whilst their limbs looked to have been bent, broken and twisted beyond the forms of normal human limbs. Each of them also seemed to have various spikes, made from both bone and metal protruded from them into sick, jagged formations. These limbs ended in a varied set of forms: demonic wing-like blades, elongated, massive claws with spikes varying in length protruding out from the back of their barely recognizable palms.
"Uhhhh… what the hell?" Isaac muttered, eyes wide with shock as he stepped backwards, unable to believe what he had just seen. Heck, his eyes now rivaled the size of ants as horror and disgust swelled within his stomach. "Okay, that shit looks just plain nasty…"
Vert found it hard to disagree with him. She hadn't plain many gory games, but the few she did know were more psychological than horrifying. Even so, those experiences helped her keep the bile from escaping her throat. Plus, she hadn't eaten very much during the Gala, so she would have had little to vomit anyways. "On that, we are in agreement. This IS rather horrible…" she spoke, nodding her head in agreement whilst she turned away to face the corridor ahead. Her eyes narrowed darkly, instincts quickly going off like alarms in a high security prison. "We can't afford to remain idle though, if the second floor is anything to go by, we will be attacked again soon enough."
Both males nodded, and whilst questions still persisted in their minds, Guts and Isaac nonetheless stood up and accompanied the CPU as they began proceeding down the corridor.
Vert had been right, though that wasn't really that surprising, is it?
Not one step into the labyrinth that was the third floor, did they get attacked by more World Eater soldiers. They got attacked from all side, and by that, it LITERALLY meant all sides. As in from the sides, front, back below by emerging from the ground and even above by coming from the ceiling. It was almost like they had unleashed an entire swarm of insects rather than an organized enemy.
Heck, organized could NEVER be used to describe the way these guys fought. Instead, they fought more like psychotic lunatics mixed in with combat training. Their wild, twisted bodies also looked more and more ghastly, beastly and inhuman the more that they fought too, something that honestly worried Vert. It worried her a whole hell lot. During their combat, she had noticed that their auras gradually had lost their human traits, gradually twisting in on itself whilst a crimson aura slowly ate away at it, almost like something was eating away at them from the inside out.
Reminded her of the Necromorphs Nico had told her about one time in the story's 3-month time-skip.
Still though, since she had fought alongside Nico, Vert didn't show it around anyone she had associated with during her isolation (and by the Goddesses that was a very short list) but she wanted to know how other Agents operated. Therefore, she would sometimes glance over during combat to gauge how her Spec Ops Comrades did on their sides of the battlefield(she couldn't before cause she had been busy providing rear guard)… and well, she could honestly say she wasn't disappointed.
Even with the numbers stacked against their favor, the two Agents held up quite well, relying on each other to cover their individual weaknesses. Isaac used his various arsenal of Engineer-based weaponry to slice through the limbs of his opponents and locking them in Stasis, keeping them away from him long enough to finish them off. It helped that he had CQC training to keep those who did get too close from touching him, putting them into Stasis and ending them with quick shots to their noggins. Sometimes Vert swore she could hear him mutter 'head-shot! Fatality!' under his breath, but she figured that had been her imagination.
As for Guts…
The moment that she saw him fight, Vert recognized RIGHT AWAY why Isaac said the things he did about his partner. If she were his enemy, Vert mentally vowed NEVER to get anywhere near his Dragonslayer as she watched him cleave through groups of enemies left and right. Blood flowed, limbs spun through the air, bodies were sliced to pieces, and the guy did it all the while moving at supersonic speeds. His Dragonslayer literally blurred about as if he were enhancing it in some way. Although, judging by the fact that she sensed nothing in his aura indicating some sort of supernatural help, that thought got dashed before it could take route. So yeah, lesson of the day: don't get in that guy's way or else she'll get butchered… good to know.
After fighting throughout the floor (Groups 2 and 1 doing their thing and trying to evacuate any survivors possible), Vert, Guts and Isaac found themselves by a door to another large room. The blonde CPU stood before it whilst her human companions remained behind her, their forms ripe with tension from the sheer amount of violent hostility they could feel from the other side.
"So, this is the source of the Demons, huh?" Isaac questioned, frowning as he looked upon the door with trepidation. He clutched the sides of his arms, his Plasma Cutter in hand. "Geez, creepy looking. It looks harmless enough, but I can't help shivering. These guys seem to be experts at giving you nightmares just by their energies alone." He remarked as his form trembled slightly.
On the other side, Guts shook his head with little ear in his body, none of this having much of an effect on a swordsman like himself. "No need to dawdle, we have a job to do, thus we should get to it." he stated, glancing over to this Landmass's CPU with a slightly narrowed gaze.
Said CPU merely offered a wordless nod, summoning Gungnir instead of Beninuki. Mainly because her senses told her something powerful lay within this room, and that she would need to bring her A game along for this battle. Not to mention those World Eater soldiers with those mutated bodies concerned her, they concerned her throughout this entire floor clearing though she had managed to keep herself focused in battle to keep her mind off it. She had thought about it, and she had come to a conclusion, one she did NOT like to ponder.
'Anyways, let's focus on the task at hand.' She thought, quickly spinning Gungnir into her hand and swinging diagonally. The result was a heavy gust of air that had enough strength to, upon slamming into the door, throw it open and knock down any who had stayed too close to it. She heard a series of loud, surprised roars from the other side, which all but proved that this was the source of the Demonic forces invading her Basilicom on this floor. 'I don't sense any other Portals, nor any other concentrations of demonic power, therefore this place should be the source.'
"Alright then, let us enter."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Inside, everything became chaos (get the pun there?)
All over the place, men with various mutated forms roamed about, crying and screaming as they clashed constantly with the Black Swordsman, whom moved so fast that he was like a blur as he brutally cut down his opposition. Thanks to having seen it so much for herself, Vert didn't feel as queasy, though she too had her own battles against these World Eater Soldiers. Most of them focused on her and Guts though, leaving few to Isaac who shot through them with his range of Engineer weapons. Not many were for close combat, so he stuck to ranged.
Even so, as Vert cut down another enemy, flipped over another whom tried to stab her from behind with a mutated spear-like limb, the woman couldn't help but wonder where the leader was. She swiftly stabbed through the one with the spear via the head, whilst tearing through her opponents with practiced ease. Gungnir blurred about much like how Dragonslayer was behaving thanks to the aggression of It's wielder, as Gungnir tore through her opponents armour like Paper Mache.
'How odd… I do not sense any leader amongst them…' she thought as she cut down more World Eater Soldiers, each one being either stabbed or bisected by her Gungnir without being able to hold a candle to her. Fighting so much like this, she could definitely feel her strength increasing, her martial prowess growing and growing like a flower heavily doused with fertilizer. 'Perhaps they are like the ones on the first floor? Only caring about the conflict to the point of not caring even about leadership…?'
Soon enough however, she got her answer.
"Ahhh… PREY!"
Instantly her eyes widened as her senses became high alert when she heard a demonic voice right behind her. As if it had just appeared there without her knowing, with a burst of KI following suit. Instinctively she reacted, twirling around and swinging Gungnir towards her surprise attacker.
PARRY!
SIZZLE, SIZZLE, SIZZLE!
Instead of meeting Armour, Gungnir's blade met two long curved talons, each of them covered in both fire as well as chaotic energy. It felt so much like the energy within Neptune and Noire's auras too, only much wilder and less tamed. Before she could take a look at her opponent, Vert gasped when she saw a second pair of 2 claws coming towards her from the side, aiming to carve out her right hip.
Hopping backwards allowed Vert to avoid them, but only by a hair. She could feel the heat they packed just as they barely missed her skin, causing her to wince as she landed on the ground, digging her heels in to slow her motion to a stop. Looking forth towards her opponent, Vert finally got a good look at him whilst she readied Gungnir for it's next fight.
She did NOT appreciate what she saw.
The man before her had the same bulky red and silver Armour as the rest of the World Eaters, however, the shoulders each looked like fanged open maws with long, serpentine tongues hanging out of them like panting dogs. A similar maw, much larger than the previous two though, stretched across the man's stomach whilst remaining closed for the time being. As for the arms, they didn't look nearly as mutated as his brethren did, but to compensate for that he had these large spikes, shaped like claws, protruding out the back of his hands. Each one rivaled the length of a long-sword and were coated with chaotic energy mixed with highly potent reddish orange flames. More maws replace the man's kneecaps and elbows, whilst the man's helmet seemed to have merged with his face, showing about 6 crimson, slitted eyes bearing down on Vert with ravenous bloodlust shining from them. There was no mouth where one should have been though, but if one asked her Vert would say he had enough already.
"Let me guess, you must be their leader?" Vert questioned, just as the same phenomenon Neptune's group and Noire reported when they regrouped happened. As in, a ring of fire and symbols suddenly erupted around them, separating them from the rest of the battle. 'This must be that thing they mentioned, how this ring of fire keeps the others from interfering with whatever goes on inside…' Vert thought as she only spared a mild glance to the ring around them. There wasn't as much space as she'd like, but given Gungnir's reach Vert figured she would have an advantage in the upcoming battle.
"Prey… PREEEEEEYYYYYYYYY!"
The man's response came out from every maw on his form besides the one on his stomach. He raised his arms high as the flames from them roared upwards like great pillars of untapped rage as if they howled in agreement as well as eager anticipation for combat. The man constantly let out furious roars, howls and shrieks as if he were singing some form of song, before he dashed forwards towards Vert.
Her eyes widened at this, especially when she saw his speed, as he closed in on her in an instant. 'My goodness!' she thought, quickly rolling to the side at the last second to avoid an underarm swing from his right claw. Good thing she did, cause the moment that the claw touched the ground, a large eruption of flames and energy roared forth, reducing the space she once occupied to a mass of rubble. Afterwards, the man, surprised, turned to look at her once more, which prompted a frenzied snarl to escape the maws as he roared, charging at her again.
'So, I guess that he cannot speak… no, its more like his intelligence and sense of humanity have been completely annihilated somehow, replaced with nothing but a sense of combat seeking and violent impulses…' the CPU thought, her lower lip trembling as she parried the first swing with Gungnir, twirling it in front of her like a helicopter blade before launching a series of thrusts towards the man's face. In a way, she could pity this poor fool, as whatever had happened to him stripped hm of any sense of identity that he had, replacing it with only the violent urges to kill that ran wild throughout his body.
However, she quickly steeled herself as she saw her attacks missing, her opponent bending unnaturally like he were a mere puppet to avoid them. Whatever had happened to him, she had no time to feel remorse. It was a harsh thing to think about, but right now it was a battle of survival, it was either him or her. In this battle, this person was trying to kill, her, and Vert could not allow that. There would be no reasoning in this battle, no talking, or trying to find some common ground like in a political meeting. No, there would be none of that. The time for words had long since been over…
Now, it was time for war.
'Even if I think that though…' Vert thought as she ducked under a swing that would have decapitated her than sidestepped a overhead slash which created one of those fiery eruptions. She then tried to thrust Gungnir into the space where the man's heart would have been, only for the man to shift one of his maws into the Spear's path. The result, the Maw catching the Spear's tip within it's fangs, much to Vert's surprise. 'It does not mean this creature is weak. There is also the fact that his aura feels way more demonic than human, more so than the rest of his brethren. It would be good if I can figure out how this happens… so I can prevent something like this from happening to any more innocents.'
Quickly pulling Gungnir free with a surge of strength, Vert used the Shaft to block an incoming stab that would have pierced right through her gut, much to her slight surprise as she found herself sliding backwards from the impact. When she halted, Vert looked up to see her opponent having already charged at her, roaring bloody murder with his right flaming claw roaring for a challenge. 'I must put those thoughts aside for the time being. Thinking about the future is good, but its all meaningless if I can't survive this!'
Twirling Gungnir, Vert activated one of her Skills, pointing her weapon towards her opponent. "SYHLET SPEAR!" She bellowed, a Panel appearing beside her. From it, a large Spear shot out, extending forth and making to impale her enemy. Said enemy simply smashed through the Spear however, using a Shoulder tackle, much to her surprise as she quickly raised Gungnir to parry a slash towards her face. "Hey, its rude to hit a lady's face, you know!" she called out in anger, glancing downwards and quickly sweeping Gungnir across it.
The result ended up being the man getting tripped, falling to the ground back first as Vert made to stab him to finish him off. However, Gungnir got blocked just inches before it could impale the man's helmet by his claws, before his right leg was lifted and it kicked her in the stomach. This got her to gasp in surprise as she stepped backwards, releasing her hold on Gungnir by reflex. As a result, she lost her weapon as the man got to his feet, his Maws beginning to chomp away at the weapon.
However, they didn't get very far, if at all, actually. The moment their fangs began their chomping, they each let out these loud, banshee like shrieks whilst the man did the same, holding his head as he stumbled backwards like Vert had done not so long ago, dropping Gungnir to the ground. It clattered once, before reappearing into Vert's waiting grasp.
Inspecting it for herself, Vert found there to be no damage to the weapon's blade, something that made her smile in relief. 'Well, perhaps this is a blessing too, since Gungnir seems to be the antithesis of Demonic forces...' she thought, remembering the times she cut down demons back hen she was with Neptune and Noire. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that this creature/man/thing couldn't destroy her weapon due tot heir opposing natures. However, she DID feel quite relieved thats he hadn't picked Beninuki for this one, since then it would have had no problems destroying it by eating the whole thing.'Looks like those maws aren't just for show, they have the purpose of devouring the enemy's weapons as well as a form of defense like with with what happened before. If Gungnir wasn't divine related, then it could have been done for...' she thought.
Still, the fact that this guy didn't realize the nature of her weapon, meant that his mentality had been completely shot by whatever had happened to him, something that made her realize she could play to he advantage. After all, one of Gungnir's traits was that it would always hit it's target once thrown, and would return to her hand afterwards. Not to mention that it couldn't be intercepted due to bending the space around it from moving so fast. If she were to take this opportunity she could boast that she defeated her opponent with ease. Though, that would be attributed to her opponent lacking much intelligence in the first place.
In that case...
Adjusting her grip on Gungnir so that it could be thrown like a Javelin, the woman reared it back as she prepared to throw it. Once she reared it backwards enough, the woman felt it get encased in a golden aura, mixed with sparking electricity that surrounded the bladed ends of the Spear-like weapon. The moment that she did so, Vert saw how the creature that once had been a man stop his frantic screaming. Quickly detecting the incoming threat, he looked towards her and gave a frenzied howl at seeing her Spear ready to be thrown. Instincts took over it as it charged towards her, intending to stop her from throwing that Spear.
Unfortunately for it, those efforts would prove futile, as Vert had used the time it spend reeling from it's mistake to prepare her Spear. As it covered half the distance, half the distance needed for it's claws to impale Vert and stop her Gungnir, the blonde CPU smirked darkly as she merely... chucked the spear anyways. The moment that she did, Gungnir released a loud shockwave that rushed through the air itself like an aerial earthquake. With the speed it traveled at, the shot landed in the next millisecond, impaling the man turned monstrosity through the chest right where the heart would have been. Of course, it had tried to grab it from the air itself to stop it, or at least trap it within his claws, only the bending of space around it prevented anything like that.
After a brief moment the man stumbled backwards, gazing downwards at the Spear impaling him in the heart with a look akin to one of surprise on his face. Well, whatever could be seen of his face since it had merged with the helmet of his Armour. It soon shifted into one of horror and anguish. A series of pained howl escaped his various maws, even the one that took the place of his stomach whilst their tongues flailed about like headless chickens as Gungnir released it's energy into it's victim. This ended up causing him to implode on himself from within, exploding in a fantastic display of white light.
Instantly, the rest of the fiery ring vanished, and the other monstrous looking World Eaters cried out in shock, surprise and outrage once they saw how Gungnir had destroyed their Master. Many loud unearthly howls, roars and frenzied shrieks filled the air as Vert glanced around them, not noticing how Gungnir slowly began absorbing Demonic Power from both the defeated World Eater leader, but also the atmosphere.
"Hmmm looks like I have some cleanup to do..." the woman mused to herself as she caught sight of her two companions tearing through the enemy with reckless abandon. Non stop projectiles and sword swings could be heard from her left flank as Guts and Isaac rained absolute hell on their opponents, building up more and more kills that it started to scare her at how good they were. "Hmm... well, it would most certainly be unbecoming of a Goddess to not lend a hand in this situation. Very well..." With that in mind, Vert smirked as she twirled Gungnir in one hand as she let out a devious giggle. Her eyes gleamed in the room's lighting as she darted forth, her intent visible for all to see to a point where one could cry at how obvious it was. "I shall show you all my power!"
Killing the rest of the horde, and deactivating the portal because of it, Vert and her companions stood together in a triangular formation, each of them having applied recovery items consisting of Hero Drinks and SP Chargers. There was not a corpse in sight, as upon death every enemy had imploded in a fiery and hot manner. Well, save for the ones that Vert killed thanks to Gungnir's naturally effective divine abilities, they were killed by light energy coursing through their system. There had been a whole hell lot though, which had been why it had taken them up to 30 minutes to finish them off.
"Whew, it's finally over, geez...!" Isaac mused, moaning in pleasure when he stretched his arms above his head. The audible sound of cracking could be heard from him, and when he lowered his arms the man began winding his right one forwards, working out any kinks he had missed. "Those guns definitely do killers on the arms sometimes..." he muttered under his breath, before turning his head to Guts to see him having stabbed Dragonslayer into the ground and was leaning on it. "Dude, you look like you can still keep going for days on end, what the hell?"
Looking up towards his companion, the Black Swordsman focused his gaze upon him, answering in a gruff, rough voice. "I'm used to fighting entire armies. Fighting Demons is also something i'm used to, so something like this is nothing." it was more a statement than a fact, but then again the RIG-wearing man understood where he was coming from, if that wince he made was anything to go by.
"Yeah, you're telling me..." he mused, before looking over to Vert. "So, what's next, leader?" he questioned, smirking slightly as he rolled his other arm forwards to get them massaged for the rest of the battle. "You think we should regroup with the others, yet? We HAVE cleared this floor, all we need to do now is head to the Dungeon floor and decide whose going in."
Vert hummed at the idea, mulling it over inside her head. That idea did seem appealing, and it did feel like they had gotten what they had achieved on this floor. If they had indeed missed any Demons, then the other Groups would have taken care of them by now. Stefan's plan was a good one, but one thing he failed to take into account was the fact that each of them had some form of superhuman help. Herself, Neptune and Noire were Goddesses, Nico had demonic powers, Ivan and Aiden she wasn't quite sure on, same with Compa, Raiden was a Cyborg ninja, and Guts and Isaac were 100% human. Lucy and Raven remained unknown for the time being, but she definitely felt like they had a similar situation on their side.
However, Vert recalled this floor from when she first saw the blueprints during it's construction so many centuries ago... and then an idea popped into her head.
"Actually, perhaps something else is in order today." She told them, getting confused looks from the other two Agents. Vert however, elaborated on this so that they understood what was going on. "In the Third Floor, there is a little something that is widely used by the military. Usually, it would be locked tightly with few above Duke-class being allowed entry, but I do believe that this will be a necessary emergency for it to be opened without fear of such rules. Lets pay it a visit first, we can gain all sorts of useful items, weapons or otherwise. Who knows? We might even get something that'll save our skins. Now come, we must inform the others of this change in plans."
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"So... where are we exactly?"
It had been Ivan who'd been the one asking that question with a confused look on his face, looking upon the large, metal door that the three groups stood in front of. It looked quite high tech too, at least for Leanbox's standards since it was more metal than what they usually use for their structures. There was also this terminal-like structure next to it, of which Vert was looking into it with an intense gaze. Everyone else had similar looks on their faces whilst Vert either ignored him or got too deep into her current activities to hear him.
After the clearing of the third floor, Vert had advised them to take a detour to somewhere which only she knew about. Mostly due to her being the one with the best knowledge of the place's layout amongst the Groups. She didn't tell them what it was she wanted to take them to, and the more intellectual of their Groups had most certainly voiced their objections to the idea. However, Vert had prepared her own counter to their claims by saying that since they cleared the three floors of both demons and survivors (there had been so few by the time that they reached this floor), they didn't have as much urgency as they did before. Not to mention that they'd all benefit from this detour in that they'd be able to obtain means of making the last stretch of this invasion much easier.
Thus, here they were.
Finally, Vert reared her head back with a satisfied smile on her face, just in time for the sounds of locks undoing themselves to resound throughout the corridor they were occupying. "There, that should do it. Security seems to have been tighter than I recall." She mused, before looking to the rest of the Groups. She then widened her eyes slightly when realization dawned on her, before she gave an apologetic smile. "Oh, my apologies. I assume you do not know what this place is?"
"From what I can guess...?" Aiden responded before anyone else could. All eyes turned to him whilst he looked the door over, taking note of small details with his bird-like gaze before he finally returned his gaze back to Vert with his left hand cupping his chin thoughtfully and his right on his left elbow. "I'd say some sort of bank, or an armoury. Considering the nature of our job, i'd go with the latter, as I do not believe you would lead us to the Basilicom's treasury so easily."
His response brought about a satisfied nod from the CPU of Leanbox. "Your guess and theory are right, Mr FALCON. This is the Leanbox Basilicom Armoury, where we store various items and weapons that are deemed too dangerous or unknown for common use by the Military. Of course, normally I would not even think of opening this to anyone, however with the nature of our job like you said, it would be best if we were more equipped for the final stretch."
THIS drew everyone's attention, as they now stepped inside with Vert at the head, looking about with extreme interest. The Armoury looked... kind of small for an Armoury, but with dozens of boxes arranged the way they were, it looked like it housed a whole butt-load of items and gear that not even the Spec Ops knew about. The Armoury itself looked rectangular shaped, with shelves along the walls stacked to the brim with boxes that likely contained the wares this Armoury possessed. At the back, there lay a window which would lead to the outside, with a small vent entrance to the top left corner. A fan could be seen on the ceiling, casually rotating above them next to the lights that lit up the Armoury.
Even Lucy and Raven looked and felt more intrigued by this situation than they had previously. If Vert had deemed it necessary for them to get some extra firepower, then it would likely be for a good reason. She wasn't someone to make illogical decisions... most of the time. 'Still...' Raven thought as she looked around. 'We best make this quick, we don't exactly have much time here-'
"Ooooh, lookie here!"
Suddenly, Neptune's voice rang out, drawing everyone's attention towards her. Some of them, like IF and Raven, made to scold her for being so loud, when they saw that the preteen stood in front of two things: One of them was a ring the size of a Basket ball. The ring had a shimmering green color, with a lighter green aura flaring around it as it floated in front of Neptune. If one looked closer, then they would see various arabian details etched into the ring itself. The second one was also a Ring, one of similar size. Unlike the green Ring however, this one had a blue color and aura to it. It was almost as if the two Rings were... evaluating, or something. Evaluating something about Neptune.
"Huh?" IF wondered, furrowing her brows as the groups walked over to her. "Nep, what are you doing? Where did you get those?" she asked curiously, yet also with a layer of caution and suspicion.
Turning towards her friend, Neptune pouted at the look she got given by the Brunette, feeling lightly offended by it. "Hey, don't ask me." she replied defensively. "These things just flew out of these box thingies and just stopped in front of me. No idea what it is they're doing, but hey that's not much new, is it?"
"I guess..."
"Hmmm..." Vert began, eyes shining in contemplation as she quickly summoned a Tablet from her Inventory. She then pressed on the tablet's touchscreen a few times, made a few scrolling motions, before the woman found what it was that she was looking for. "Ah, here it is. These Rings appear to have been found in various camps made by the Northmen during military raids. One of them, the green one, seemed to radiate a power that drove everything in a 20 mile radius, at the best estimate, completely bonkers. The blue one was only found by a small family of three on a picnic trip to escape the problems Leanbox was facing. Not much else is known about that one, sadly." she remarked, looking at the tablet intently.
"I guess that's your record of everything that's in the Armoury."
"Yep, a CPU has to keep tabs on what's being put in her home, after all."
Neptune hummed, ignoring the short dialogue between Lucy and Vert as she stared at the two rings. "Still, they kinda give me a creepy vibe. Its almost like they're undressing me with their eyes."
"But they don't have eyes, Nep." IF quipped cheekily, her hands in her coat pockets whilst her lips curved into a slight smirk.
She did get a stink eye from Neptune for that comment, though. "Ya know what I mean, Iffy dearest. But seriously, its strange-NEPU?!"
At once, two things happened: One, the blue Ring suddenly shot forwards, going straight into Neptune's chest and phasing through it. The moment it did, the preteen gasped and cried out, cried out louder than she ever thought possible as she fell onto her knees. She clutched her chest tightly as if trying to dig into it to pull the Ring out, to no avail as she fell onto her side, screaming and crying with tears of pain filling the corners of her eyes. Eyes that got closed tighter than a vice in order to try and stem the pain coursing through her system. Even so, the pain only intensified, growing within her like a fungus trying to take over her body.
"NEP-NEP/NEP/NEPTUNE?!"
IF, Compa and Noire exclaimed, shock and horror filling their eyes as they rushed over to kneel beside the preteen, trying to see what it was that was harming their companion so. The amount of tears and saliva the preteen released during her screams could be comparable to a medium sized puddle made by rain in the short span of 5 seconds, and it only kept growing. "Wha-What the hell?! What's up with Nep?!"
"I-I do not know!" Vert exclaimed, panic flashing through her eyes as she hurriedly skimmed along the Tablet, looking through what details there were about the Ring that they found. Unfortunately for her, there was next to nothing about the phenomenon going on in front of her. Much to her anger and frustration. "Th-There's nothing in our research data about this!" Just then, her eyes widened when she remembered something, She remembered the moment she got her own divine weapon from that cave, there had been a similar ring to those two floating alongside it, hadn't there? Vert's eyes shined with recognition, a feeling similar to that of discovery swelling inside her chest. Yes, that's right! That ring went right into Nico whist she got Gungnir!
Did... did Nico have to go through something like this as well?
She... didn't know, she'd been too preoccupied with absorbing the essence of Gungnir into her body to check!
Raven and Lucy kept watch, eyes wide whilst Isaac and Guts quickly took posts outside,just in case the noise attracted some unwanted visitors. The former quickly looked to where Neptune's chest was located, and just as quickly tried looking at her aura with her senses. What she found was that a large source of Demonic Power, much like the sword that Neptune wielded, was trying to merge it's way into Neptune's being, assimilating itself into her. Unfortunately, the way it was doing it caused Neptune's own aura to react violently to the merger unlike the energy that was already within her which had been tampered with directly for Neptune's sake. Thus, an all out war began to wage within Neptune's body.
'This.. this is...!' Lucy thought as she watched on, a look of realization dawning on her as she comprehended what was happening much like her companion. However, she recalled something else, something Raven didn't think about since it's origins seemed to be the exact opposite in comparison. 'This is almost like when Nicky-Dear got that Crystal! That Green Ring vanished into Neptune's Inventory just as the Blue Ring entered her chest. What that ring did, was sense that someone compatible with it had been around Neptune recently, and thus decided to 'latch on' to her for the time being until she makes contact with that person again!' As for the scene before her, Lucy thought much like the lines that Raven was thinking,
For what felt like hours, Neptune screamed and howled like a banshee and a wolf mixed together, flailing about on the ground whilst holding her chest like something was trying to crush it from within. None of the girls could think of anything to help, nor did the guys in their combined Group either. Amidst the fear and worry for Neptune's safety, confusion over what was happening and frustration for their lack of ability to help raged through their beings. What the hell was going on here?! What was happening to Neptune?!
Finally, at long last, the preteen Goddess let out one loud gasp, her eyes bulging wide open whilst her mouth mirrored them. Her back arched upwards, her form completely tensing whilst her arms remained in erratic positions... before she slumped onto the ground, lax and breathing heavily. Her forehead looked to be riddled with sweat, her lungs desperately grabbed as much air as they could possibly allow within whilst the preteen slowly recovered from her recent experience. "#PANT#... #PANT#... #PANT#... W-Wow... I never... thought that would... happen... geez! This feels... like that time I... went through a whole... gallon of pudding... after having a big... feast!" she tried to say, though it came out between labored breaths.
Even so, collective sighs of relief escaped the others, seeing that Neptune no longer seemed to be suffering. Although, soon enough their faces each morphed into varying degrees of confusion and concern as the preteen sat upright (much to Compa's reluctance as she tried to convince Neptune to rest a bit, only for the preteen to assure her she was fine. Better than fine, she felt Nep-level fine, she said). Looking to the others, Neptune rubbed the back of her head as she chuckled nervously. "Yeah, uhhhh... sorry bout that you guys. No idea what just happened right then."
"I'll say, you gave us a real scare, there Nep..."
"Heh-heh-heh-heh, sorry..."
Vert then stepped towards Neptune as she got to her feet. Though, the preteen did stumble a bit which prompted Compa and IF to help steady her. "I severely apologize, Neptune. I had no idea this would happen." she told her, guilt dripping from her tone. Not to mention the fact that she had noticed that the demonic aura that Ring contained, something which Vert should have detected before had completely assimilated with the demonic power that was already in her. From what she could tell, the already assimilated power absorbed the foreign power as to stop the negative reaction her body had.
"No biggie, Vert!"
"Even so, however, I must ask. Do you feel any different? Is there anything you feel is out of place?"
"Weeeeeeeeell..." For a moment, Neptune hummed to herself as she made to answer right away. However, just before she did, something 'pulsed' within her, causing her to stop and think. "Now that you mention it, my Goddess juice feels like it's just gotten an overdose, like it's being drugged or something. Nothing bad, but more like one of those permanent buffing skills you see around." Neptune replied at last, confusion laced within her tone like the laces in trainers. Her brows furrowed as she tried to make heads or tails of this strange feeling, but nothing came up. It even went to the point where her face slowly became red and began to release steam.
However, IF stopped her before she could blow a gasket. "Hey, don't worry bout it, girl." she told her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We'll take a look after all this is over. For the time being, even though Nep went through what she did, we should see what other items there are in here. If what past experiences have taught me, we'll need to take risks if we want to be strong enough to stem the tide of Chaos. We HAVE to keep getting stronger."
Chapter End
Another chapter, done! (insert Dumbledore voice) XD
Now, if any of you think that Vert should have had a high-paced fight for her like the rest of them, then i'll explain. I wanted to make each floor unique, to make them stand out for each other in terms of enemies. If you haven't much of a clue what I mean, then take a look at them. The ground floor had the Khornate Berserkers lead by Roghrax the Skull collector. The first floor had the Bloodletters lead by that Herald. The second had the Northmen from Warhammer Fantasy, and this floor had the possessed Demonkin (for all you warhammer fans out there you know what i'm talking about).
Also, at the end it seems that Vert has decided it be fitting that the girls get some extra items to boost some of their powers or gain new ones. I already have a few up my sleeve already, and i'll begin writing them down. However, I may only give certain characters the chance to fight against the big boss of this Invasion, not because they're weak or anything (none of them are lets be real here) but also because the big boss is going to be too powerful for some of them.
Remember, there's a Poll on my profile, its a simple survey to see who likes who, so don't be afraid to say who you like. I just wish for as much opinion on my story as possible.
Plus, TRIPLE DIGITS ACROSS THE BOARD! THANKS A WHOLE BUNCH, YOU GUYS! HAPPY TO KNOW YOU ACTUALLY THINK THIS STORY'S WORTH SOMETHING! :)
Hope you like, read and review, all that good stuff.
Peace out!
