Chapter 187 - Facility Destruction
From the moment that they first met one another far above that city in Lowee shortly into their arrival, Crimson Soul knew for a FACT that these DPUs would be similar to Mundus… similar in that they would end up being some hard-ass motherfuckers. Hard as in their fighting skills, which would completely differentiate them from his usual kind of opponents who he wouldn't even NEED his DPU transformation to dispatch, for they would be far too weak to last against it. Part of him HAD considered the possibility of using his transformation for crowd control, but Biko had warned him that doing that ran the risk of gross power misuse, something which the male's human self abhorred to a high degree. Plus there were the dangers that came with using this form, so he couldn't afford to be reckless.
But THEM? Complete opposite ball game.
For one, despite his demeanor being that of a delinquent he could tell that Jules had the bite to back up his bark and a lot of it. Not just from his minute body movements which had suggested that he had dozens of ways to strike at him when he had been about to attack him back then, something which Crimson Soul had noted down for his next encounter with them. It hadn't been a sobering thought to fight against fellow DPUs as much as he loved to fight, since the last time he had fought one ended up with his soul severely damaged by the weakest kind of soul attack. Worse still, was that he hadn't been aware of much else about Jules's abilities
In the case of Kafka, he presented himself as a greater mystery to the DPU, despite being the more level-headed of the two which spoke volumes alone, since his personality implied that he would be able to suss out possible tactics the enemy may use which didn't bode well for Crimson Soul. Not only that but there was also something… off, about him, something which the DPU felt weird about him but couldn't figure out why. The way he spoke unnerved him even though he had been transformed at the time, there had just been something… weird, about it. Something hadn't been right about that method of speaking for him, but Crimson Soul hadn't been able to pinpoint the reason for this gut instinct.
All he could figure was that it was to do with how he presented himself, but that was it.
THEN there was the unnerving calmness that he portrayed. That calmness when talking despite there being a literal monster invasion down beneath them had shown Crimson Soul that he had just as much a disregard for life as Jules did… not like he himself had any right to say that either with all the blood on his hands as well as his recent revelations about himself, but still. At least there was still a difference between him and those two.
Nevertheless, the fact that they would be fighting one another eventually was seen by the three of them to be more of an inevitability, not a question of if but WHEN. Most of this came from the fact that they were all DPUs, beings of inherently demonic nature who thrived off battle like a certain race of warriors who become monkeys on a full moon, but then one must compare the truth of them being of different alignments, their connections as well as their temperaments…
Yeah, a fight between them would be inevitable.
Nonetheless, none of this had prepared Crimson Soul for how vicious it would end up being, which became all too clear shortly after the initial clash between them.
CLANG!
"Guh!"
The initial clash had lasted about only 2 seconds before Crimson Soul found himself being pushed back by what could only be described as an explosion of wind that slammed into him like a freight train. It successfully propelled him across the aerial battlefield at about over 500 kilometers at high speeds, according to his mental calculations with his current state keeping his mentality composed.
Briefly, through a single open eye, the DPU had seen that same wind blade rush overhead like a spinning disk, straight into the silhouette of a mountain in the far distance… slicing right through it like a knife through butter as evident by how the top portion slid off the bottom.
That could have been his head if he wasn't careful.
His journey only managed to end when he had managed to flap his wings about to halt his movement and right himself, looking up to see Jules already closing the distance between them with a look of pure twisted glee on his face…
While having seemingly summoned into his hand a large Scythe which, judging from the aura he felt from it, brought Crimson Soul to the conclusion that it was just like Soul Edge, and likely his default weapon in his DPU form. A form which he wasn't currently in at the moment for some reason yet he moved as if he were.
'Looks like this one is confident in his abilities…'
The DPU thought this within himself before raising Soul Edge, gripping its shaft tightly before the entire weapon got enveloped in the black and red Hellfire which the DPU commanded, the flames roaring like the countless angry demons which had been slain beneath its infernal edge. In the following seconds, JUST when his opponent had been about to reach striking distance Crimson Soul brought the massive flaming blade down on the enemy's head to roast him alive and quite possibly wiping that smug smirk off his arrogant face.
FWOOSH!
Jules simply avoided it by vanishing seconds before it could impact against him before he reappeared right next to the male who had launched it in the first place, catching the DPU by surprise while he quickly made to use the rear end of his blade's hilt to try and smack him in the forehead or something. In that one instant, the male caught a better look at Jules' Scythe and took in those extra details about it.
The Scythe itself had a very large, jagged blade, with a light-colored cutting edge and the rest of it is dark, which is mounted on a gnarled staff, curving lightly before the blade itself. Opposite to the blade, on top of the staff, is a decorative skull, seemingly an animal one.
Combined with the feeling of it having claimed countless souls in its lifetime, and Crimson Soul understood the reaper-like feeling he got from it. He himself knew well how it felt to be a reaper, considering he had been called the 'black reaper' himself for years now.
Back to reality, however, that Scythe looked to be attempting to claim his soul next for the collection it likely had, its wielder swinging the weapon in his right hand towards the other DPU's throat. Not only that, but the weapon itself had a series of blackish-colored wind currents spiraling around the blade itself, cloaking it somewhat and making the weapon bigger than what it really was just like how he himself had coated Soul Edge in his Hellfire.
Crimson Soul quickly ducked under the blade's arc, feeling a huge gust erupt from above him right afterward that he felt certain would have done something unpleasant to him, but then found himself being sent crashing towards the ground below in an instant, creating a massive explosion upon the impact that reached about 300 meters in height in just a couple of seconds.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" A loud, deranged laugh escaped Jules' lips as he witnessed the results of his efforts, efforts which had come in the form of the back of his Scythe's rear end pointing away from him, implying that he had swung it down from above earlier to bonk Crimson Soul on the head then released the wind in an explosion which created a strong downward thrust. That thrust thus promptly sent his foe right down into the ground below, creating the scenery that was currently being witnessed. "C'MON BITCH, THAT ALL YA GOT?! GET YO ASS UP HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A 'REAL' DPU, NOT SOME PUSS-"
"As you wish."
"?!"
A brief flash occurred out of the corner of Jules' right eye, prompting him to glance behind him where the flash originated to see a newly appeared Crimson Soul there, having Warped back to the other DPU's position shortly after recovering from that blunt attack. He struck hard and fast, using his wings to do so by morphing them into a pair of large fists which he then used to attack.
WHAM!
Crimson Soul swung the right fiery fist in the form of a right hook towards Jules with the intent of paying him back for that little blunt attack earlier, however, Jules reacted just as quickly by holding his Scythe out diagonally in his right hand. In the next moment, black wind currents had spiraled together in front of him, forming a literal wall of wind that blocked the fiery fist from landing on its intended target. However, Crimson Soul made do with what he had by morphing the wing into what he had called a Pile Driver, one which gripped the edges of the defense with some makeshift 'legs' before thrusting out a large pole from its center.
PCHEW!
This resulted in Jules being launched backward about 50 miles, the DPU quickly recovering from the attack while Crimson Soul shot forwards at high speeds, his wings having returned to their original form. Not willing to let that happen again, Jules pointed his Scythe's back edge towards his foe. "STORM BRINGER!" He yelled and from it, released a powerful tornado, one which shot forth towards his opponent.
Seeing this attack coming, Crimson Soul performed his STBS trick, leaving behind an afterimage that got hit instead of his true body cutting. Thanks to these actions, the male managed to notice from far above what it did to his afterimage just as it had been about to vanish, shredding through it with wind blades, the tornado's rotating motion and subsequent intensity mildly surprising him.
'Hmmm, interesting abilities with the wind… a combination of offense and defense provides an excellent amount of opportunities in battle. Appears that the usage of that Scythe is important to control these abilities, which means that I should prioritize separating it from him which shall not be easy. If it's anything like Soul Edge, restricting its movements will require some complex planning beforehand.' The DPU thought in quick analysis of the attack's movements and the effects it had on the surroundings. He bet that if he had been hit by that then his body would not emerge unscathed despite the strong healing and endurance it now possessed, before being sent flying away.
Regardless, despite the danger, this apparent wind manipulation posed, this wasn't outside the range of predictions that Crimson Soul had theorized with Biko about in the past. Thus, he didn't feel too much about it and instead focused on the task at hand which was to separate Jules from his Scythe, an action which he started to initiate by pointing Soul Edge at him.
"MAGMA SHOT." With those simple words, Fiery trails came out of Soul Edge's eye and formed 5 Fireballs in a star formation around the blade, which he then shot towards Jules. Crimson Soul didn't stop there though, muttering the words "FIRE BLAST." Under his breath to make more Fiery trials gather at the tip to form a fireball, which he then thrust forwards to launch it.
Seeing the multitude of fire attacks coming at him, Jules easily avoided them by dashing throughout the area, moving far too fast for the fireballs to properly connect with him. Quick to retaliate, the wind-using DPU promptly encased his Scythe with his black wind which he then pointed towards Crimson Soul, releasing a massive vortex much larger than what he had used previously. For context, while the tornado from before could cover an entire person before shredding them to pieces, this vortex could envelop an entire street with its size alone in exchange for traveling solely in a straight line…
A flaw which the DPU noted after he warped out of the way and closed the distance between the two of them, Soul Edge quickly starting to morph itself into its Beyblade form, the multi-layered weapon soon being hurled towards Jules with its maximum rotation speed quickly being reached. As it neared its target Crimson Soul expected his foe to try to block this one which would not succeed thanks to this form's bending of space…
"BAH!"
Unfortunately for him, Crimson Soul's strike got redirected away from its intended destination thanks to Jules making a backhanded motion with his Scythe before spinning the shaft around his hand to launch a spinning upward slash in Crimson Soul's direction. Because of this, another long vortex of wind got launched towards him and this time, the DPU barely managed to Warp out the way in time.
'A faster reaction time... he must still be holding back a lot.'
'Since this is a DPU whose class is similar to yours, that's to be expected. I sense he is holding back a lot from you, Crimson Soul.
Crimson Soul hummed in agreement, making to reach out and recall Soul Edge back to his hand and switch its form to one more suitable for this arrangement…
"C'MON MAN, GET MORE SERIOUS WHY DON'T YOU?!"
...When all of a sudden the DPU widened his eyes slightly at the demand that suddenly left his opponent's mouth. He did not expect such a thing as Jules to shout out like that to occur in the middle of a battle, it just didn't fit with what he had assumed of the guy from their brief interactions.
Despite this, the DPU still managed to catch his weapon and shift it into its Bow form, though he didn't stop his motions and simply glared at the enemy… all while pulling back the organic bowstring and forming a bunch of harpoon-shaped arrows instead of just one. "What are you-?" he began, stopping the rest of those words from leaving his mouth in favor of launching the arrows towards Jules, each one being aimed towards his head, shoulders, crotch, and thighs respectively.
None of them had been coated in his Hellfire though, which may have been a deciding factor in their effectiveness result since his fellow DPU just swatted the arrows aside with a quick swing of his Scythe, one which had been accompanied by a wind gust in the direction the said weapon had been swung. Each arrow then fell to the ground below like dozens of angels being shot down from the heavens, creating huge pillars of dirt and loud shockwaves all around them.
Not that either DPU noticed as the two glared at only one thing: each other. "THAT RIGHT THERE! STOP WUSSING OUT AND COME AT ME FOR REAL! WHAT, YA THINK HOLDING BACK MAKES YA LOOK COOL OR SOMMAT, YA WIMP?!" Jules roared back, looking quite livid with the black-haired DPU at the moment. He then pointed his Scythe down at him and Crimson Soul tensed up, thinking that he would be continuing his offensive only for the DPU to yell the following words. "A MULTI-CONTINENT CLASS DPU IS MUCH STRONGER THAN THIS! THIS CAN'T EVEN BE CONSIDERED CONTINENT CLASS! BUT YOU, YOU'VE has ONLY BEEN SHOWING PUSSY LIKE STUFF! HOW THE HECK HAVE YOU NOT BEEN BUTCHERED BY A DEMON WITH SUCH MEASLY POWER?! HAVE THE FOES YOU FOUGHT SO FAR ONLY BEEN PATHETIC WIMPS WHO DON'T KNOW A REAL FIGHT?! DID THEY EVEN HAVE BRAINS?!"
On his side of things, Crimson Soul narrowed his eyes as a steely edge entered his gaze, brief sparks of irritation occurring within his chest that his DPU mentality crushed without mercy. He didn't rise to those provocations, but internally he had to admit that he was indeed holding back, mostly because he was too busy evaluating his opponent's strengths and weaknesses. Though in all honesty, he also felt some residue reluctance in him regarding his unleashing his power without restraint, which Crimson Soul felt to be what was truly igniting all this irritation.
Glaring down at his foe with unhinged malice, Jules' eyes then glanced towards the area where the two gigantic fighting monsters, and the team of Spec Ops Agents, were located. Idly observing about how much distance had been made between them yet something about it resonated within Jules' mind. "YA THINK ITS CAUSE THOSE BIGOTS OVER THERE MIGHT FIND OUT? GRRR! THAT'S JUST WEAK THINKING MAN! YOU'RE THINKING WAY TOO HUMAN FOR MY TASTE, YA'KNOW!"
Human…
Human…
Human…
He was thinking like a human?
That one word caused Crimson Soul to pause in his attempt to shut his enemy up with another arrow volley, as well as delve into himself as he examined that statement. Thinking about it for a moment, when Crimson Soul thought about the damage that would befall his surroundings when using his powers, those thoughts usually came from his human self Nico, his alter ego one could say. He had never been one for mindless destruction especially since if he went wild too much he could damage something potentially irreparable. The fear of that, combined with his constant training in techniques and skills had resulted in him preferring that over wanton destruction. It had been one of the few things that still linked him to his 'humanity' one could say, the humanity he had should have discarded… another chain he saw it as.
And this foe before him had the gall to insinuate that this was what was holding him back? Something that he had been doing for years now?
Well then, he knew exactly what he had to do about that.
"I see..."
FWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHH!
"?!"
Hellish flames roared to life that covered Soul Edge's form, the massive weapon shimmering as if it were an illusion while his body began to radiate a crimson miasma. A miasma laced with the demonic energy that surged forth from within which acted more like a second skin than anything with his hair shadowing his eyes. With his flaming blade at the ready, Crimson Soul raised his head to showcase his furiously glowing demonic DPU eyes which had a rectangular shine emitting from them. "Then let me show you just how 'human' I can be, why don't you?"
SCHERING-SCHERING-SCHERING-SCHERING-SCHERING-SCHING-SCHING-SCHING-SCHING!
In the instant, after he said that, Crimson combined his Hellfire-coated Soul Edge with his QUICKSWORD technique, INFERNITY EDGE Skill, and his demonic power. As a result, a flurry of long, quick, and thin fiery slashes shaped like the fangs of a beast roared forth from every swing of his vile blade which sailed through the air towards his opponent… or rather, some of them did while others went to target the space AROUND him, something which Jules quickly sussed out the intentions behind such movements.
Looked like he intended to isolate him for a much bigger attack on his person…
A theory which Jules soon saw to be correct when the male, once he noticed Jules had formed a barrier of wind in front of him using his Scythe by positioning it in front of him, Crimson Soul promptly raised Soul Edge to the sky and once again repeated his previous attack, this time adding a different Skill to the combo which, unbeknownst to the wind DPU, was Crimson Soul's ATOMIC INFERNO. As a result, a QUICKSWORD technique empowered slash flurry created a LOT of fiery rays which surged forth towards the immobile wind DPU, rays which came at him from all the many angles that one might expect in an aerial dog fight to completely cut off any escape routes.
Idly, one would be able to see how the fiery slashes that had been deflected by Jules' wind wall descend towards the ground... and erupted into massive Hellfire pillars that scorched the very multi-colored skies above them, filling the atmosphere with immense heat as if they were trying to light the whole continent ablaze. More importantly, there had been little hesitation in those strikes, no wasted moments, no 'humanity' in them, in actuality they reminded Jules more of a beast who had finally unsheathed its claws for battle.
Much to his pleasure, if the sadistic grin on his face was anything to go by. "HAHAHAHA! YES! THAT'S RIGHT! THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!" he bellowed, joyfully. Swinging his Scythe downwards, Jules unleashed a wave of wind in all directions, one which slammed into the ground below and, well…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The moment that the wind-wave hit the ground, it unleashed a similarly shaped shockwave that rushed outwards, blowing away everything that wasn't completely nailed down… although the likelihood that even nailed down stuff would have been blown away too wasn't out of the question considering the shockwave's strength. After all, by the time the wave had dissipated the whole ground, from beneath Jules's feet to about 400+ Kilometers in every direction.
Moments later, the dude eyed the dust that begun to settle, revealing nothing but uncovered dirt down below within a MASSIVELY large crater that had about 400 meters in diameter and depth. The sight of which made a wide grin start to spread across Jules' face at the destruction which he had wrought. "Heh, not bad I guess. Still, I wish I coulda done a bit more to that whipped wimp before I got to finish that him off…"
"And what would that entail, exactly?"
"?!"
The signature multi-voice belonging to Crimson Soul resonated behind him, causing Jules to widen his eyes briefly before a dark, furious snarl ripped itself free from his lips. All traces of mirth had vanished when he had sensed the fiery DPU behind him, a tactic which he had already prepared himself for if the following reaction that took the form of him shouldering his Scythe so that its blade faced towards him was of any indication.
The blade's back edge began to gather wind and formed a circular barrier which successfully blocked a punch from a Hellfire encased fist, one which caused streaks of the stuff to explode outwards like a star, incinerating even the oxygen around them while the ground below got turned into a pool of scorching black and red. Not only that, but dozens of eruptions akin to those from Volcanoes occurred within, spreading the flames further and further throughout the foreseeable distance.
Just when this happened…
'Hold on, why the fuck did he not strike with his sword?' Jules thought suddenly, his eyes widening after a short staredown between the two while his wind barrier blocked the fist strike that Crimson Soul had launched. He just noticed now that this strike had been a bare-handed one, albeit a Hellfire enhanced one from what he had seen but still. This marked the first time that he had seen this greenhorn of a DPU had tried any CQC moves in this form save for his use of his Wings, which did seem a little sus to the delinquent-like deity.
Wait a moment, was he…?!
Before Jules could finish concluding his thought process, Crimson Soul's eyes increased in brightness while he made several hand gestures with his free hand. As a result, Soul Edge suddenly came down from above like a divine fiery strike from the lord himself, striking right into Jules in the wrist.
"Ugh!"
Jules cringed when he felt the blade's tip pierce through his wrist's skin and embed itself deep inside, the very tip surfacing outside the bottom. Out of reflex, combined with the flames coating the blade igniting the innards within his wrist, Jules reflexively flexed open his hand… oh, by the way, that same hand had been the one holding his Scythe, hence why it fell out his hand towards the inferno below.
'There!'
Crimson Soul's eyes flashed with a hint of victory to them, suppressed by his DPU mentality, at this sight while he reared his right shoulder back with the corresponding wing reshaping itself, becoming a large fiery hand attached to his back by a large, thick fiery arm. Thanks to him having disarmed the enemy just now, Crimson Soul could now close in without fear of being shredded by those wind attacks of his, as aside from the way that the man created that wind blade earlier, the rest of that wind manipulation he had was conducted through this fight had been done through the use of that Scythe. It would be fair to assume that without the Scythe his wind abilities would be SIGNIFICANTLY weakened.
Clenching the fiery hand into a fist, Crimson Soul struck forth towards the back of Jules's unprotected head with the intent to disintegrate him into nothingness. He struck with a speed and ferocity that his foe would only have like about a couple seconds worth of time to react properly with Soul Edge coming in for impalement through the torso in its default sword form, plus combined with how Crimson Soul's other wing morphed into a set of fiery Tendrils which lunged forth from several different angles and one could see that the fire-based DPU had sprung a trap on his adversary.
Only for that trap to be rendered ineffective in the next few moments.
'Hm?' The only warning Crimson Soul got of something about to go wrong was the smug smirk that formed on Jules' lips, before he quickly Warped as far as possible while also speeding back using every speed-based technique that he knew. Good thing that he made this choice, for the moment that he first Warped Jules let out a roar, throwing his arms and legs out like an X, to which an EXPLOSION of wind erupted around him, creating a repelling force that would have shredded through his body if it had hit. This wind eruption behaved JUST like the wind wave that Jules had launched previously in terms of effects on his surroundings. If that wind-wave hadn't created the crater beneath them, then this attack likely would have had the same result.
Regardless, Crimson Soul gritted his teeth in frustration, these thoughts not really prominent within his mind while he flared his demonic flaming wings outwards to halt his movement. Once he did so, and he did so in an abrupt manner, he mentally calculated his amount of distance traveled and found that he had thankfully reduced the amount from the potential multi-hundred kilometers to about 50 kilometers instead.
'Tch, how careless of me... ' the DPU thought while holding a hand out and recalling Soul Edge into his waiting hand similar to a certain thunder god. 'To think I was fooled into thinking he needed his Scythe for his elemental powers when I myself can use my powers without my sword as well. In hindsight, it was a stupid play on my part…' he thought, shame filling him inside.
CLANG!
The DPU didn't have the time to lecture himself though, for Jules had quickly covered the distance gained in a near-instant, swinging his Scythe (which he had probably caught in his hand similarly to how Crimson Soul did) diagonally towards his neck only to be met with Soul Edge's… well, edge. A maniacal smile presented itself across the wind DPU's face while his gaze shone with insane bloodlust… it honestly felt similar to looking at his Ghoul Persona whenever they trained via sparring inside Crimson Soul's Inner World.
"HAHAHAHAHA! YA AN IDIOT, I BET YOU'RE TELLING YOURSELF! WELL, YOU'RE NOT WRONG THERE, ANY DPU WORTH HIS SALT CAN USE THEIR ELEMENT, BE IT HELL FIRE OR MY HELLWIND, WITH OR WITHOUT THEIR MANIFESTED WEAPON!" He proclaimed, filling Crimson Soul in about a bit of DPU lore through that mad raving that he did. "YOUR SWORD, MY SCYTHE, ALL US DPU'S CAN DO IT! THEY'RE JUST TOOLS, THEY HELP BUT AREN'T CRUCIAL TO THEM!"
That made sense, Crimson Soul mused in his mind while he pushed his opponent back, swinging Soul Edge in another display of his QUICKSWORD technique combined with some Hellfire waves. Attacks were sliced through like swiss cheese via some quick Scythe slashes, though the fiery DPU wasn't too fussed there since he just raised his massive blade and pointed it at Jules's face, more specifically the bridge of his nose. "I see. And how often does our kind hold back?"
"What?"
Looked like that had gotten his attention, Crimson Soul mused after noting how Jules had returned to a somewhat normal voice, unlike the previous one that had a lack of sanity. Still, with what he intended to convey Crimson Soul doubted that would last long hence why he already had several preparations in motion. All the same, he kept his mouth running so Jules wouldn't have much time to act once they were initiated. "You call yourself a Multi-Continent Class DPU, and my senses tell me this is true. Yet the amount of ease I've been able to experience regarding dealing with your attacks says something else, it's like you've been doing the same as me: holding back. That or you may be blowing hot air regarding your power level, though I'm inclined to believe the former."
"...You just want to die, don't you? You have a hard-on for death or something?" If there was an exaggeration for the word 'angry', then it could be used to describe how angry the wind-using DPU looked to be right now. His facial features creased together into an ugly, twisted scowl, with veins pulsating across his forehead while his face itself turned downright purple from the intense fury coursing through him as a result of Crimson Soul's accusations.
Yet, in that said DPU's eyes, seemed like this reaction proved that he had a point with his words.
"Well then… LEMME SEND YA SOUL TO OBLIVION, YA FUCKTARD!"
"You forgot, Jules?"
BONK!
"?!"
"?!"
Just as Jules made to strike further by readying his Scythe which had what looked to be a WHIRLPOOL of wind swirling around his Scythe's blade…
Only for a certain someone's fist to appear after a brief flash had occurred behind Jules, the telltale sign of a Warping, stopping the DPU from proceeding to attack Crimson Soul with a rather powerful attack that would have devastated the surrounding area more than it already was from what the DPU's senses told him. Running his vision along the arm to its owner, Crimson Soul eyed Kafka who had been the one to step into their fight, halting it much to his annoyance. Though that annoyance wasn't all that present within his current mind since all he focused on was figuring out the motives behind these abrupt actions.
"Time's up. We've done what was necessary, so let's go."
Answers which he started to gleam when Jules glanced back at his partner with a look of bloody murder on his face, manic bloodlust still shining within his eyes. "OI! WHA-" He started to say…
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!
… Before his trap got rendered shut similarly to Crimson Soul's when a brief flash of killing intent erupted when Kafka widened his eyes by a small fraction. The killing intent remained in the air so briefly, almost ghostlike, to the point where one might doubt if it had even been a thing in the first place. However, for the two DPUs, they DEFINITELY remained aware of its presence even long after it had manifested and disappeared just as quickly, for to them they had felt it in all its sheer intensity.
To them, it may have been brief but it felt strong enough to completely render their wills to fight suppressed.
'Holy… that killing intent… yup, that confirms it, this Kafka guy's what a Multi-Continent Class DPU ought to have been…' Crimson Soul thought to himself, rendered no longer willing to fight against this DPU just from his killing intent alone. There had been very few things that could unnerve him over the years, and they had much less influence over him in his DPU Form, but this killing intent right there had been one of the exceptions, for in that brief moment he had felt for CERTAIN that he would have been killed if he had pulled one wrong move against him. It had only been due to his current form's influence on his mentality that had kept him from getting out of here as fast as his body could take him.
As for Jules, one look at his partner who currently had a small glare on his face, and all of his fighting spirit got doused by the cold waters of reality. One could easily tell this by how his body had lost all its tension and a look of sheer TERROR gripped his features with the tightness of a serpent coiling around its captured prey.
Finally, the guy tried to save what face he could before his enemy and cleared his throat, though one look and they could tell that the guy had a lot of nervousness hidden behind a seemingly composed demeanor judging by the light bead of sweat down his brow. "F-Fine then..! Let's just go already…" he stated, and thus promptly dismissed his Scythe from his person although a few specs of black wind could be seen around him. Thanks to his previous experience, Crimson Soul knew for a FACT that meant Jules wasn't undefended in the least hence why he only kept Soul Edge out and didn't make any other moves than that.
In a flash, Kafka once more Warped out of the vicinity while taking Jules along with him, to which Crimson Soul lowered his sword once he felt SURE that there was no enemy presence detected around him. "...They have left." the DPU stated while letting a low exhale escape his nostrils. The male slowly felt whatever had gripped him during that burst of killing intent dissipate, allowing his hiddenly flustered breathing to return to a regular tempo, a few small shudders traveling down his like he had been more affected by that killing intent than he had realized… which proved to be more than a little irritating to him considering how he had fought against things FAR worse than them and he hadn't been too badly affected by them.
'It would seem to be the case. This has been an… enlightening experience, to be sure.'
'Tell me about it, Biko. Now we have some more experience on what a potential DPU vs DPU fight could be like…' Crimson Soul replied to his Demon Persona while looking around, observing the damage done to these surroundings. Even when he clicked his fingers to disperse the remnants of the Hellfire head generated, Crimson Soul saw how the once pristine white land had been turned into a charred black color, similar to charcoal with wisps of smoke blackening the skies above them still. Most of these trails originated from the edges of the massive crater beneath the DPU, his wings flapping a few times to keep him afloat above it. Faint specks of demonic energy from both him and Jules's various attacks permeated through the atmosphere like radiation from a nuclear strike, poisoning the land for centuries to come.
The amount of sheer destruction that had been dealt with in this place…
It looked absolutely DEVASTATING.
'Despite it being possible for her to fix all this, she will likely go mental at the work that will be required… heck, even with what I told that guy, I still held back for her sake…' Crimson Soul thought before shaking his head.
As much as he could tell that Raven would NOT be pleased with the carnage done to this place, he couldn't afford to think about that right now. Not when he had actual information to analyze and evaluate. 'So… that's what it's like to fight against one of my own kind... definitely felt much unlike that of my spat with Mundus…'
To be frank, part of him felt a bit disappointed and let down. The weakest DPUs were supposedly able to blow apart continents with their powers, and he had proof of that through experimentation in his Inner World, so when he had first entertained the thought of fighting those DPUs he had expected a much more epic kind of fight between two colossal powerhouses. Perhaps it was due to a remnant of the child in him, but Crimson Soul had honestly felt excited at such a prospect despite the dangers he knew such a thing could pose to his comrades.
Still, this wasn't all that he felt while observing the destruction wrought in every direction, for example, he had to admit that the collateral damage done to the environment could have been WAY worse according to his experiments with his powers in his Inner World. It would seem that those two had been under orders by someone, likely Mundus since he seemed like the most likely suspect that these two listened to considering their relation to him, to hold back their strength for some reason.
What that reason was eluded him, however.
Thinking about it, perhaps there was more to this whole Youma scheme than meets the eye considering that there were other forces at play here, forces that the DPU bet that nobody had even considered at this point. They're just so focused on how to end these creatures once and for all without considering the implications, something which was quite understandable from his point of view. 'Thinking about it, if Tzeentch is involved in all of this considering how his legions have taken over this Landmass from White Heart, then he likely has much more in store for us. He's the bringer of change is all.' Crimson Soul mused further, cupping his chin in thought. 'Everything he does is for a reason, from what I know of that God. Tzeentch is known as the bringer of Change, for better or for worse. The grander purpose eludes me though, but there has to be a more immediate purpose to this that I'm not seeing. If I can figure it out before it's too late, then maybe White Heart herself may benefit from this information, since she'd be able to use it to formulate a plan to protect as many people as possible.'
'We can theorize on that in our own time. For now, returning to the other Agents should be our priority, since they were locked in battle last time we saw them.'
"?!"
Biko's abrupt interjection broke Crimson Soul out of his thought process and made him remember the Agents that he had completely forgotten about. Sure they may be strong but if he was gone for too long then they might think something was up, and he wasn't sure about letting them know about his DPU Transformation since he didn't trust them. Nevertheless, he needed to get back to the Youma production facility. 'Very well, let us return post-haste.'
To that end, Crimson Soul leaned forwards and allowed his wings to flap, sending him shooting through the air fast enough to be seen as a simple reddish streak from the ground below.
Returning to the site where the two fighting women had been was an almost tedious affair with how Crimson Soul had to land near the entrance to the mountain range housing facility so he could return to his human form. Them as Nico he simply summoned his sentient Motorcycle and had it carry him over to the battlezone…
Or rather, what was left of it.
'Looks like those two were dealt with while I was away…' Nico thought to himself when he rode his Motorcycle into a crater-covered, steaming wasteland of a battlefield much like the one he had created as a byproduct of his earlier fight. Thanks to all the craters that had been either a result of massive Tentacles, long projectiles, or sword slashes across the ground, the whole task of driving through it to reach where he could sense the other Agents wasn't a simple one, but Nico managed.
They had been located close to one of the bigger craters in the area, quite close to a walkway that would lead to the many cave entrances. The odds were that Katakuri had told them to assemble there for some reason, whereas he hadn't received the orders due to being occupied with Jules. Not like these guys would be aware of that, hence Nico suspected an interrogation attempt soon, Spec Ops Agents by nature weren't the type to trust easily and these guys were even less so.
As for the Agents themselves, they looked to be mostly unharmed, with Rory being obvious as to why considering her healing abilities. As for Arima and Hawkeye, they looked mildly scratched up but otherwise fine, probably due to pooling their skills to keep themselves out of the enemy's line of fire, or perhaps they had done the smart thing and kept undercover to let those two women fight amongst themselves, then gone and assassinated the weakened winner of that fight.
The loud sounds coming from his boots pressing into the ground alerted them to his approaching presence, although Nico suspected that they had already heard him via the sound of his Cavaliere's engine.
"You've returned," Arima stated blankly, his gaze flickering down and up which showed the redhead that he had quickly taken an evaluation of his current physical state. "Seems you had a lucky experience."
Before Nico could respond to that, Rory gave a playful pout while her eyes had a dark gleam to them, a gleam which actually unnerved the male inside since it reminded him of his mother before she would try to discipline him whenever he did something wrong. "You look to be fine to me… would you like to share with the class where you went? Nobody likes a DESERTER after all…?" she asked with a polite smile… one which sent numerous chills down his spine.
'Sheesh, females can be scary when they wanna be…' the male thought to himself, though he retained his composure and gestured to the spot he had previously been in before getting ambushed by Jules and Kafka. "Got ambushed by a hidden enemy, they took me away from the battlefield to try and dispose of me. Managed to fend them off before getting back here in time," he explained shortly, though omitting the fact that DPUs were involved since they could learn that he was one himself. THEN some interested parties would find out eventually (probably once outside connections were restored) and he did NOT want that to happen mostly since it would likely inconvenience his comrades.
"...You're not lying."
All eyes shifted their gazes towards Mihawk who had made that statement with a level of confidence that had drawn their attention. The man remained composed and as nonchalant as he had always been along this journey, with his massive sword strapped to his back, arms crossed over his chest which they had seen him do so many times now that one might think that this was his default position or something.
"How do you know that?" Arima questioned, arching a brow at him. According to Nico's watchful eye (his Mask had been placed back onto his face before he'd returned here), he had noticed how the white reaper had been carrying one of his suitcases and had a finger inches away from its switch, which likely meant that he would summon one of his weapons to go and kick his ass.
A relief, since Nico knew Arima by his reputation hence he didn't want to have to fight him.
Mihawk on the other hand replied with the same amount of nonchalance as before. "I'm experienced as a lie detector, and these eyes see a lot up close." He replied while eyeing Nico with an intense gaze, one which made him feel thankful that he had his Mask on so his expression remained hidden.
To him, those eyes showcased much before his gaze, and internally Nico had to bet that Mihawk may be aware of his whole not telling them everything shtick… though why the heck he wasn't trying to expose him remained unknown to the redhead. One likely reason was that Mihawk probably had little interest in this stuff. Thinking back, Nico recalled that Mihawk had the reputation of caring little for things outside polishing his advanced as fuck swordsmanship and beating powerful opponents to the ground.
Deciding to get some information himself for his troubles, Nico glanced around at the desolate battlefield while asking the following question. "Since there's a distinct lack of giant monster women trying to murder one another, I'm assuming that they were butchered?"
"One of them, to be more specific," Rory answered, glancing towards a direction Nico hadn't checked yet. Thus, when he did so, he began to observed what seemed to be the last stages of rapid decomposition, something which happened to a bunch of what looked like elongated entrails or something at the opposite end of the massive open yard. "The one who liked eating dirt managed to win their bout in the end, devouring the other one with almost ravenous desire. The dearie seemed like she would attack us next, but she did not. She just left the scene."
Arima then added on to this explanation as if he knew what Nico was about to ask when he had looked back to her with a bit of disbelief. "We would have given chase." he began, before directing his gaze back to the facility. "But our fearless leader ordered us to stay until he brought out the one in charge of all this."
'The one in charge, huh? Then...'
Before things could progress any further, the sound of something being dragged across the ground reached their ears. This time, it sounded like footsteps that were coming from above, with the addition of sounds akin to those belonging to something heavy being dragged across some kind of dirt. Their gazes shifted in unison once again to the source, which turned out to be Katakuri who walked down the walkway towards them, what looked like a man in robes being dragged behind him by the back of his robe's collar. In his opposite hand, he held his trusty Spear, which currently dripped with small blood droplets that formed a thin trail behind him.
"Katakuri…"
Each of the Agents pushed both the mysterious Abnormal and Nico's mysterious disappearance to the back of their minds when they saw their leader return to them with seemingly some extra baggage, baggage which he then tossed to the center of their group before stopping and flicking his Spear downwards to clean off the residue blood. Though to some of them that may as well have been a useless move since his entire form REEKED of the stuff, a perfect sign of what he had been doing beforehand.
Arima, though showing some mild discomfort that would stun anyone who knew him, looked back to their mission leader with an eyebrow arched. "This is…"
"The one behind this Facility's existence, as well as the one behind the Youma production," Katakuri answered, pulling out his phone and pressing a few buttons. All around them a bunch of beeps that indicated that messages had been sent to them rang out, causing the Agents to quickly check their devices without wasting a single second. "Just sent you photos and videos of the evidence I compiled, including copies of files about Youma creation. This one here was the ringleader behind the whole operation, with those who followed him being 'dealt with' by myself." Katakuri further elaborated, gesturing to the robed man with his spear.
'I see… so this is our guy, huh?' Nico wandered, glancing down at the robed man briefly while mentally commanding his Rinkaku to be ready to act in case their target tried to flee. All the while, he looked over the documentation while Biko filled him in on some extra details. Details he would only know due to having checked through their Lexicanum which revolved around some of the photos that showcased these massive creatures, monstrous-looking beings actually, held by chains and tubes which dug into their flesh.
Apparently, they were called 'Asarakam', beings who usually had slender but muscular humanoids with dark flesh and an organic armor over themselves, but when they 'awakened' according to these documents, they became towering beasts with a human visage, but covered in impenetrable scales and armed with sharp claws: it had been this primal appearance that earned them the moniker of "Dragon's Kin".
These guys have two eyes (plus a third vertical eye in their "pre-awakening" form), two arms, two legs, and a lifespan of 200 years, increasing in strength throughout their lives. The Asarakam can optionally "awaken" when the time calls for it, though once "awakened" they can never revert to their original state. Both forms of the Asarakam necrotize rapidly when killed, but by combining slivers of flesh taken from two Asarakam that had been captured and put in suspended animation, this guy and his followers created a parasite capable of turning humans into the carnivorous monsters called Youma.
So, from what he had been getting out of this while watching the videos and looking at the photos, was that this guy had been responsible for mass-producing the Youma via parasite infection of human beings, quite similar to what Ganache and Avenir did back in Lastation with their undead experiments. However, as much as this infuriated him inside, it didn't seem like these guys went and captured these Demons for their own ends, this evidence painted the picture of them having RECEIVED them from somewhere. Where did they get these creatures from? For what reason were they brought to Lowee in the first place?
Well, this guy would have some of the answers at least.
"Hold on… ah, I remember now." Rory remarked after looking down at the grunting man, having stomped onto the back of his leg when he had started trying to crawl out of their group's little encirclement. "Aren't you… ah, right Rimuto? That sleazy old man who once tried to ask me to let him 'examine' me or something?" She questioned with a seemingly innocent tilt of her head. As if she hadn't suggested something pretty criminal considering the age difference between them.
Though the namedrop DID catch the other's attention. "Rimuto…" Arima muttered to himself. His eyes glanced down to the side in a diagonal manner, a hand being raised to his chin before it cupped it to showcase him becoming lost in thought. "He was a high-ranking official back in Lowee's government, one who disappeared along with a portion of officials and soldiers before Lowee's fall."
Hearing that made Nico blink owlishly before he tapped his noggin with his right hand to see if he could remember someone like that. He wasn't too big on political figures in lowee since the most prominent memories he had of it were of his days fighting the coalition with Theta, BUT the name did somewhat ring a bell somewhere. Soon enough, it hit him and he remembered once hearing how Lowee had some of the more fanatically faithful followers within its government, as in so fanatical it would make Yvoire look sane in comparison.
Rimuto had been one of them.
With all of them coming to their own conclusions in their minds, Katakuri gave a firm nod to himself, mentally assured that they were all on the same page just from looking into their thoughtful gazes and seeing the recognition in their eyes. "Out of all the fanatics in their government, aside from our former evangelist, (cue several eye twitches from Rory and Nico), Rimuto here was classed as one of the most trusted, with access to vast resources and his own little personal organization. After he vanished, so did they, completely emptied their own strongholds, took as many resources from their territories as possible, and then went off the grid just in time for Lowee to fall." He explained, scowling down at the man below.
"I see…" Mihawk muttered but didn't say more while killing intent began to build throughout the group, killing intent directed down towards the helpless robed man who lay at their mercy, having given up on trying to escape. Hearing what their leader had said which got supported by the evidence given to them really pissed these Agents off since they all had seen the results of Lowee's fall when the Thousand Sons and Youma attacked en masse. In their eyes, those resources and manpower could have been put to use for the betterment of the Nation itself, perhaps to hold them off from getting as strong a foothold as they had now, but instead, this man seemed to have not only turned tail and ran, but he also contributed massively to the state that Lowee was in now with all the Youma running about.
So yeah, a bit of hatred for this man would be understandable especially for the Lowee residents.
Nico then thought of something as he looked down at Rimuto's form, that had reminded him somewhat of Yvoire for some reason the more he gazed down his form. "If that's the case, then what's this man's reason for doing this?" He questioned, temporarily suppressing the killing intent and dragging everyone's gazes towards his person. Nico himself had just lowered his hand from his chin when this had happened, while he continued giving his opinion. "From what you've told me, this man seems to have some basic level of intelligence despite being fanatical in the Loweean faith towards White Heart, and from my experience, I'm aware that religious jealousy doesn't necessarily blind them to reason all of the time, just a lot. So I'm wondering what the hell this guy had to gain from doing all this, it's not easy to get to that kind of level in politics I think, could be wrong there, so it makes me wonder what his endgame was."
"An alternative."
"?!"
Looking down at the man beneath them, everyone saw him having roused himself up into a sitting position, Rory having taken her to hold off him previously. The man had his head hung in defeat, knowing that he would not be getting out of this alive hence why he had made that previous statement.
With the sight and unsaid confirmation that he would not be going anywhere, Arima summoned his remaining weapon, his Sabre, and pointed it down at him with the tip close to the side of the man's head. "Explain," he stated, his actions further speaking in a louder volume than words could identify.
"...Tell me… how many of you have had experience with Demons?" For a moment, Rimuto had been silent after Arima's demand, the man had waited patiently for an answer to his question. The robed man seemed to have been waiting for him to try to force him to further elaborate in a manner akin to barbarians, however that did not happen with Arima nor did it happen with the rest of the Agents. That being made more than apparent, Rimuto finally answered but with a question of his own. But he didn't let them answer that question themselves, instead of doing it for them himself. "I know of your records, all of you. Hardly any of you have had ample demonic encounters compared to Abnormals. Two exceptions to this are the spear-wielding Charlotte Katakuri of Leanbox, and Nico of Planeptune, but even then your exposure has been limited."
With narrowed eyes and more than a little irritation bubbling within his chest, Nico scowled at the man when he said these words. "What does that have to do with anything?" he questioned through gritted teeth. He did NOT like the insinuation that this guy had apparently been made 'aware' of his experiences with demonic matters, though if he thought about it then he probably wouldn't be aware of the extent to his knowledge of the stuff since he had kept to himself for a lot of the time.
"Everything!" Rimuto replied, now lifting his head so he could gaze at the various agents surrounding him. Each of them briefly gained flickers of surprise in their gaze before resettling back into their normal gazes when they saw the resolve burning within that of Rimuto's. Despite knowing the severity of his situation, the robed man didn't show any signs of hesitation, guilt, or remorse regarding his actions, and soon they would learn why. "You all are too blind and foolish to believe the 'present' circumstances to be completely factual, that's why I consider you all to be blind dogs simply barking at the orders of your superiors."
Katakuri narrowed his eyes and, in a flash of indignation or irritation, one could hardly tell with him, stabbed his Trident into the ground beside him. "Get to the point, old man. Tell them EXACTLY what you told me," he ordered, and while his face remained partially concealed by his scarf, one could tell that he would not be tolerating any beating around the bush right now.
Unfazed by this show of force, all the robed man did was huff with a derisive scoff escaping his lips. "Hmph, how brutish. Then again that's all you Spec Ops are, without a hint of vision for the future." Rimuto spat, yet he then went and did what he was told regardless of his prior insult. "Lowee may have 'fallen' weeks ago, but in my eyes, it had fallen way before that, back when I had my first encounter with a Tzeentch demonic encounter a month before the fall."
"?!"
Now, THIS got the Agent's attention, a collection of raised brows forming with this revelation.
Rimuto wasn't done, however. "It was during one of my routine patrols around the Lowee Basilicom, I overheard a pair of Basilicom staff members talking in hushed whispers to one another. Suspicious, I tracked them down to a hidden compartment within the building itself, where I saw them seemingly join a group of hooded cloaked figures though I recognized a few of them as fellow political figures. They had turned the room into one you would see from someone who was a fan of the occult, with sigils, candles, several naked unconscious bodies in the center, the works. While hiding, I watched as they performed some ceremonial ritual with the result being those unconscious people being stabbed by some knife, which then summoned what would be the first of MANY Greater Demons of Tzeentch into existence, right under everyone's noses."
'That's... '
'Nico, doesn't this coincide with some things the boys found during those camp raids?'
Biko's question made Nico's gaze harden while he thought back, back to various camp raids conducted by him and his crew.
Throughout the last month when he and the Tekkadan kept on butchering Youma and raiding enemy camps, they had wound up discovering various rooms filled with things akin to what Rimuto had described. It hadn't been exactly difficult to imagine what those rooms had been used for especially since he had seen similar things himself back in Leanbox before he had first encountered that witch Maghda. Necromancy and rituals like that had a lot in common which had been why he had figured out the purpose behind them rather quickly, though what he HADN'T expected was for there to have been one right beneath the Basilicom itself.
Still, that just further expanded on how much had gone into taking Lowee over like this, and if what Rimuto had told them was true (which based on the evidence given to them by Katakuri looked to be the case) then there was likely a large number of people who likely conspired to make sure Lowee's fall happened alongside Conversation/Arfoire. Not to mention that there could be more than one person who had been at the head of this operation, what he meant by that was that Conversation may not have been the only one plotting Lowee's fall like this, it could have been multiple people working towards the same goal. The reason why Nico suspected this to be the case was due to the nature of the rooms his group had found, each of them had various sigils in them, sure, but from his experience with them, each sigil had been drawn differently in a seemingly random manner.
Thus, Rimuto's story checked out with what he had figured to have happened before Lowee's fall.
"It was because of this that I KNEW for a fact that Lowee at this point would be doomed. I am well experienced with our Nation's magical qualities, all Loweeans are which is partially to do with why that meager resistance is still around to this day." Rimuto explained, looking at everyone's faces individually before continuing. "Yet these Demons would be something that our forces couldn't hope to fight against due to lack of combat experience. You all may be tough now, but there will always have been times when you all were rookies without any real-life experience, this would be similar for every human in Lowee. But in this case, that should likely us Loweeans encounter beings far surpassing us in Magical ability for the first time without any warning, it would have meant the destruction of Lowee."
After hearing these words, something clicked inside Rory's mind, something to which she then brought up with a slightly narrowed gaze while leaning against her Emroy, which she had embedded into the ground behind her for use as a backrest. "That's what you meant by an 'alternative', isn't it? You figured that instead of an enemy you believed that the Loweean military couldn't HOPE to defeat, an enemy they would be able to eventually figure out the weaknesses of due to experience with Abnormals would have been the better alternative. It WAS shown that when Lowee fell, while it was a mixture of Demons and Abnormals called Youma, the latter was the most numerous while the few Demons either directed or supported them." She queried, though her tone made it sound more like a statement than anything.
However, her words weren't baseless actually, far from it. In truth, although the number of Abnormals out there were so numerous documenting them all would prove impossible through conventional means, the Spec Ops Branch DID have small archives of what they had seen so far, and studies into some Abnormals through the efforts of their Agents in dealing with them. This meant that they COULD eventually figure out the way to defeat an Abnormal more effectively to make it easier for future Agents to handle them when they eventually started causing problems again.
"At least one of you gets it." Rimuto mused, before continuing his story again. "After coming to this revelation, I met with various individuals I saw back at the ritual in secret, learning of Lowee's fall as a result. According to them, they were dissatisfied with the way things were being run ever since Lady White Heart returned to her seat, and had halted various plans they had laid out years in advance. Most of them had started these plans since the Coalition's demise, which leads me to believe that they had become sympathizers to their ideology concerning the CPUs."
Silence dominated the area for a moment as Rimuto paused to catch his breath, though he did glance towards Nico whose eyes flashed at the mention of the 'coalition' earlier. That name… that damn fucking name kept cropping up even years after their destruction, something that Nico hadn't expected to happen at the time. But now that he had a new perspective thanks to this whole adventure, he could admit that something like this could have always been possible with the number of members and support that group had during their time.
Finally, the man continued. "At that point, the fall seemed to be more of an inevitability, but I struggled to learn as much as I could while feeding the information to those who could use it most effectively… which turned out to be next to nobody. Turned out that there were more of them than I had anticipated, either that or they had deliberately stopped such information from leaking, I did start receiving various threats from anonymous sources during those times." The man mused, memories of such events his eyes flashing with grim resignation. "Eventually, I met with two genuine 'monsters' in human form, monsters so bizarre and powerful that there wasn't a snowballs hell of a chance for any Loweean soldier nor a Spec Ops Agent to beat them should they rampage across the Nation. They gave me an offer, either I let the Lowee Fall happen with hoards of Demons as intended, or help them create something that would be at the forefront of the job instead: the Youma."
'Those two 'monsters' sound like Kafka and Jules to me.'
'Indeed. Makes sense, since they attacked me the way they did.'
The brief spiel between Biko and Nico going unheard, Mihawk huffed at Rimuto's story, crossing his arms under his chest while he showed nothing but disgust for the man before him. "How pathetic." He spat, drawing everyone's gaze. "To throw away your pride and honor for something so basic. You wound up becoming just like those morons who dared rebel against the Nation that helped them grow into their adult years. Never did trust politicians back in the day, and this is why."
In response to his words, Rimuto rolled his eyes. "Spare me the honor talk, brute." he spat back despite the building killing intent around him. "Pride is just an obstacle to overcome. Compared to getting something done, pride and sentimentality are worthless." He added on, before resuming his explanation. "I accepted the deal, and before the fall I took as many people who shared in my ideals with me to this remote facility I had constructed in secret. I have experience in genetic biology so I lead the experiments, developed the Youma parasite from those specimens we received from 'them', and thus, those Abnormals became the primary culprits responsible for Lowee's fall."
"So from what you're telling us..." Finally, Nico spoke up after absorbing this information, a hand on his elbow with the other on his chin. "Is that you didn't bother trying to defend your nation as you were aware of your own limitations, and fearing that these Tzeentchian Demons would destroy everything in one fell swoop, you chose to fill this Nation with an enemy that, while brutal, would be easier to deal with in comparison?" he questioned, getting a firm nod from the man. "Hmmm..."
All of this just stunk, it stunk for several reasons. Without people to hear him, a politician wasn't someone who had a lot of power. Without the support of the public, they wouldn't be able to enact much change in a society, it's why they try to garner support for things like votes and the like, not to mention in Lowee's case Nico remembered hearing how that thanks to the Coalition's antics much of Lowee's politicians were harshly criticized for their conduct regarding them. Thus, the public would trust them even less further down the road, so in reality, there really wasn't much Rimuto could have done to prevent this outcome by himself.
On the other hand...
"Just how much of a fool are you?"
"?!"
A brief look of shock registered itself onto Rimuto's face when from out of nowhere, the look of comprehension on Nico's face drastically shifted, becoming a furious scowl to the point where the male swiftly REMOVED his mask in front of the man so he could see just how LIVID the redhead had become. The amount of sheer hatred burning in his gaze seemed to be enough to even cause the other agents to look at him warily. "What was that?"
Yet, when Rimuto questioned him with a narrowed gaze, it was like opening a floodgate to Nico's raging emotions that spilled out through his words into their surroundings. "You, and all those who followed you, are goddamn idiots through and through. While it's true that Politicians are usually cowardly by nature, kind of fickle like thin sticks on trees about to fall off during the winter..." he began to say, ignoring the way that Rimuto's brows twitched at the backhanded insults aimed his way. "There's a difference between a politician and a damn fucking COWARD. A 'smart' coward is pretty much a politician in a nutshell, but a foolish coward is a dead man. I get your circumstances, I really do, but the fact that you willingly sacrificed so many people seems wholly unnecessary. A politician is NOTHING without a strong public backing behind him, that's just a fact and you just easily explaining that you just condemned so many to die... that sounds so much like mass genocide if you ask me."
At this point, Nico just facepalmed with his right gloved hand, shaking it while groaning with various veins bulging on his forehead. Seriously, in his eyes what Rimuto had done was beyond stupid and unnecessary, for one the whole spiel he went on about regarding Loweeans being unable to handle anything demonic due to lack of experience? Some of the biggest BS he had ever heard.
First off, just boldly 'assuming' that Lowee wouldn't have been able to do anything against Demons that apparently surpass them in magical ability was just rubbish in his eyes. For one, several mages were able to save a bunch of lives by erecting a barrier around town, if there were more Mages like that in the Loweean military which Nico believed for SURE to have been the case, then if they had been informed then they could have just created isolated cities before the fall could have occurred, saving WAY more lives. Maybe not all of them could have been saved, but now nobody would ever know the answer. Additionally, he had experience with Mages, heck he knew the Mad Magician himself, so he knew first hand that mages could be tough sons of bitches if trained properly, so he had to wonder what the heck Rimuto had with them.
Second, if someone like HIM could go up against Demons and SURVIVE even without his Ghoul side, then the Agents who had WAY more experience and skills than him would have little difficulty too.
Plus, the whole thing about Demons being worse than Abnormals was pathetic, and just an excuse. That mindset would just be a distraction on the battlefield.
"Pft, that's what a narrow-minded brute would say." Rimuto spat back after recovering from the verbal lashing that the redhead had unleashed upon him.
Yet what the robed man did NOT anticipate yet again, was for the lone female member of the group to interject. "If he is narrow-minded, then you're like a singular organism," she stated bluntly, a smile on her face which didn't reach her eyes, and when she saw him glare up at her the woman's eyes gleamed menacingly. "You have to be lying about your experience with Lowee's magical abilities since there were various solutions that could have limited the number of casualties. Solutions that should have been made available to the public, and even if they weren't they would have been made available to the higher-ups and White Heart herself. Additionally, when you mentioned feeding information to individuals, I assume you meant other Politicians or military professionals... not Lady White Heart herself. The look in your eyes confirms this." She explained, stepping up to him then leaning forwards, resulting in her hair hanging downwards over Rimuto's chest.
More than this, her eyes honed in on him like an animal hunting her prey, something that silenced any protests that Rimuto would have tried going with. "So I must reiterate what our companion said to you before: how much of a fool are you?"
"Y-You don't get it! I did what I had to-"
Before Rimuto could say any more, Mihawk flared some of his killing intent to shut him up. "Be quiet." He stated bluntly, honing his hawk-like gaze on his person. "That facade you were keeping up faded the moment we got this evidence," he said, with each of the Agents holding these devices. "I checked the documentation regarding your Youma research, research conducted by a man named Dae I'd mention. From what I saw, there wasn't any attempt to make an obvious weakness for these Youma, the whole severing of their heads was something that only got discovered by us Agents, shortly into our war with them after Lowee's fall. Then there is your story itself, it seems to paint you in a tragic hero light when in reality, what it sounds like was that you were simply pushing the dirty work onto us while keeping your own hands clean."
Off to the side, Arima remained silent but the look in his eyes spoke volumes about what he felt at the moment. If even the stoic Arima showed anger, then one REALLY fucked up.
"Glad to see you all have gotten to similar conclusions to myself." After having been silent for so long, Katakuri made his presence known by once again breaking into the conversation, and upon getting some questioning looks from the others he elaborated on this point. "This man may talk big, but in the end what he was most concerned with was his own safety and benefit. Evidence of this was already sent to you before, but I found various 'interesting' documentation which paints his story in a rather incriminating picture, personal diary entries which judging from the writing style he wrote in a panicked state, likely before Lowee's fall." His eyes then darkened further, and if he were like those religious zealots then Rimuto would have sworn he'd heard church bells for the dead tolling. "In the end, what it all boiled down to was that you simply gave up on your people, the very people you swore to protect when you became a politician, and let the majority die off so you could play the 'hero in the shadows' by seemingly saving the few. Kill the many save the few... sounds so much like an elitist mentality, right there."
The more Katakuri spoke, the grimmer the expression on Rimuto's face became, especially when he saw the various Agents start going through the evidence again and reading it more closely... followed up with the building killing intent from before. But even GREATER.
Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and decided to try one last time at convincing the Agents that he wasn't in the wrong. "You can't say it was all bad, now was it? If those Demons took the Youma's place then Lowee would have been doomed! I chose the lesser of two evils! Heck, the head thing being discovered was done early on so that should mitigate the losses, right? It doesn't matter how many have died, as long as we're alive we can recover, right? It doesn't matter how many have had to pay the price, the public won't care, they can just get over it."
BONK!
"Guh!"
Unable to take any of his BS no more, Rory smacked him on the head with Emroy's rear end, her eyes that of a woman about to explode like a literal volcano. "Now that's enough out of you. Take a nap, I assure you it will be the last happy thing you have in this life." she spat, all traces of teasing maturity gone from her voice. She then turned to the other Agents who would have been able to intervene, but they had chosen not to. "Such a foul soul shall be collecting his dues soon enough, we need not waste a second longer with him than necessary."
"Agreed," Katakuri remarked, nodding his head in agreement. Similar actions got done by the rest of them, each of the Agents not caring much more for the pathetic waste of space that Rimuto was.
While Nico went and scooped the unconscious politician up and plopped him onto the Cavaliere's back, Nico applied his CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS to him to keep him secured on his ride before he went and brought up another subject: their main goal for this whole mission. "Now that we have this piece of cargo for our troubles, we should start thinking of heading back, but first what about the Barrier? Any information on where we can go to disable it?" he asked the scarf-wearing man.
Katakuri gestured behind him towards the facility itself. "Turns out that facility there is the power source keeping the Barrier up and running. It was a secondary function built into the base itself, so its destruction will more than likely disrupt the Barrier." He explained, before holding out a Remote that he pulled out from his pocket. "I have already set up various explosives across the entire facility, once it blows up the barrier will fall."
CLICK!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The moment that he clicked the remote's button (after the group moved out of the mountain range), a HUGE ass explosion rocketed the surroundings with a gigantic shockwave being generated, one which blew back anything in the nearby vicinity that wasn't nailed down. Save for the various Agents however as they simply raised one of their limbs to their faces and let the waves run their course, the waves blowing through their clothes to make various fluttering sounds. Most of these came from the long coats Nico, Arima, and Mihawk (who had a hand over his hat too) wore, while the waves and winds ruffled Rory's dress.
"...Not bad. High-quality explosives?"
"Nothing less."
A short question after a compliment left Mihawk's mouth that got answered by Katakuri, and by the time the waves dissipated the Agents each dispersed the smoke in their own ways. As a result, they got to see nothing but a huge ass giant crater where the whole mountain range used to be. A crater that had various smoke trails rising up to the multi-colored skies above. Various sizzling sounds filled the air as remnants of the explosives still persisting.
"It's done," Mihawk stated, unsheathing his black sword and launching one of his slash waves up to the heavens above. It took a few moments, but the slash soon sailed up towards the clouds and sliced right through them like they were hit by some kind of sonic boom. The result that was presented before them earned a small nod of approval from the man while he re-sheathed his large weapon. "Your claims about the barrier being broken have been proven true, also."
Hearing those words filled Nico with more relief than he would have expected, an audible sigh escaping his lips as his arms hung beside him. "Now THAT's some good news I've been waiting weeks to hear..." he mused happily, feeling an unusual sense of exhaustion that wasn't to do with anything physical. It felt more like mental exhaustion if one were to ask him to describe it. "Anyways, we should start making our way back. We should head to RABONA first, so we can relieve the Tekkadan of their combat efforts before we head back to the Resistance."
"Ah yes, I am sure that we will be bringing a lot more relief to those people for once..." Rory remarked with a small smile, an index finger under her chin. Something which the other Agents nodded their heads in agreement with, each of them wishing nothing more than to get this mission over with so they could go back to their regular tasks. Although, that wouldn't mean that this mission wasn't beneficial for them personally, not by a long shot since... well, it proved to be a rather monumental one with the meeting of multiple 'reaper' type Agents. None of them would be forgetting this experience any time soon, that much would be for certain.
With these thoughts in their minds and hearts, Nico and the other Agents boarded their respective transports and proceeded to embark on their journey back home.
Chapter end!
By GOD this was a difficult chapter to write! Had to spend a few days working out how the last part was going to go down.
Now, about the last section of this chapter, I'll make no claims that I'm any good at writing politics here, that's more the specialty of my fellow writer King Carlos. He's the one who helped me with the Yvoire stuff, plus I've asked him for advice on the political stuff before so he gets a shoutout here. Now, whats basically happened here was that Rimuto discovered the Fall of Lowee beforehand and tried to do something about it, but soon gave up after facing one too many complications. Which led him to accept a Deal in which he would see as a better choice than Lowee's complete destruction. However unlike Yvoire, and like what multiple characters said here, he didn't do it with the Nation solely in mind like what Yvoire was doing before, which is the main difference between them. He did it more for himself than anything despite what he made it sound like. Like my comrade, King Carlos once told me: 'a smart coward is a politician, a foolish coward is a dead man'. This is still an attempt at politics myself though, so I hope I didn't do too badly.
Nevertheless, this is the finale to the whole Youma Arc, with there being questions left to be answered and a lot of things coming to light. All that remains is an aftermath chapter in which I'll try my best to answer as many of those questions as I can without spoiling the next arc in mind, though that one may only come after a couple of winding down chapters, cause this arc proved to be WAY more exhausting for me than I had expected. Maybe it can be seen as my weakest one so far, maybe not, I'll let you all decide.
Anyways, hope you liked this chap, any questions either PM or put em in the reviews, and I'll get to you when I can. See you next chapter.
PEACE OUT!
