Chapter 5: Armament
It was dark, the Void was always dark, due to its nature of formation very few solar bodies survived the transition intact, and the visible universes provided very little actual light, for being as bright as they were. This of course, included where I currently was, the broken ring, a massive collection of scattered landmasses that had survived the transition from their original world to the void. I was on one of those pieces.
It was here that the Borman crime syndicate stored a large portion of its weaponry, and manufactured more. The facility was underground, the only way in was a massive blast door, that was what everyone thought. I'd been here before though, I'd been the bodyguard of one of its higher up managers. There was an exit route, normally it was closed, but every month or so they'd test the mechanism.
Today was that day, the escape would only be open for five minutes at most. I'd planned out the assault for the last week, the route was set, the objectives were clear, and I had everything I needed.
The landmass itself was a mountain with very little flat land surrounding it, everything else was the nothingness of the Void. The escape was located on the underside, built into the bottom of the mountain.
The crushing weight of the mountain was kept from destroying the bunker by a massive steel infrastructure, most of the superstructure leading to four supports, which bore the weight. I had taken with me four high yield remote explosives, enough to cause irreversible damage to these pillars, eventually this would collapse the mountain, and the bunker with it.
The bunker was well fortified, this was where they stored their guns, ammunition, and any other armaments. There were likely hundreds of workers and guards inside. There would also be a security system, electronic locks, sentry guns that deployed from the walls and ceiling, gas vents in case of a breach. These were all known factors.
I'd taken a multitude of weapons and equipment with me. All of it was held inside a sub-dimensional storage compartment, it hadn't been cheap, but it was effective.
I drove a tether into the ceiling above me, the escape was a large bulkhead door, meant to be used to leave on an escape craft of some sort. Anti air would have shot me down, so I'd had to physically climb along the bottom of the mountain to get there.
A hissing sound registered itself in my ears, the doors were opening. I was right next to it, only a few feet away. Checking the stability of the tether, I began swinging myself closer to the open door, with a final arc I detached myself from the tether, flying through the open door. There was no camera inside the hallway leading to the escape, just in case of an enemy force taking over the facility, they would never know where the higher up personnel had fled too.
I checked the storage compartment, the contents listed on a datapad in my coat, everything was there, tapping a button, a nondescript black rifle materialized in the air, falling into my hands.
The hallway I was in was devoid of any decoration, blank gray steel for walls and only a few feet wide, it went on for a bit before coming to another door. There was a simple lever on this side for opening it, the actual lock mechanism being on the other side, hidden like the door. Pulling the lever, a grinding noise came from the walls as gears shifted, the door opening into an office.
Sweeping my rifle from side to side I walked forward out of the doorway, no one was around, the facility manager must have been somewhere else, good. I walked up to a desk in the front, an old fashioned computer on it. Pulling out a small thumb drive, I inserted it into a slot on the computer. Starting it up, I clicked a button on the drive.
The drive was a digital skeleton key of sorts, allowing access to many, many systems. It had cost almost as much as all the other gear I had bought for this mission combined. The computer screen flashed a few colors before an interface popped up in the middle of it.
Since this was the facility manager's terminal, it had admin access to most facility systems, Including lights. Initiating a system wide blackout, all the lights in the room, and around the bunker turned off.
Everyone here would be confused for a few minutes, I would have that time to do what I needed, the four supports were at the four corners of the facility, and I would have to move quickly to hit them all.
Taking the skeleton key out of the slot, I grabbed my gun again and slung it onto my back. I reached toward my head and activated the night vision glasses I'd bought. They looked indistinguishable from normal sunglasses, but would provide me with sight in the pitch black.
Slinging my rifle back into my hands I headed for the door, once I left the room I'd be entering the main facility. I pulled the door open, no one was outside, it wouldn't stay that way for long.
I started down toward the left, the bunker was a labyrinth of hallways, access corridors, and storage rooms. The first support would be within the next hundred meters or so.
I finally came upon the room I'd been looking for, an electrical room. Many of this place's conduits and power lines ran through here, along with an exposed part of one of the supports. Pulling the door handle down, I walked in with my gun held at the ready. I hadn't encountered anyone yet, but this would be a likely place.
I cleared the room, no one, odd. Whatever was happening suited me just fine though, I set my rifle down and took out the data pad, one of the X-5 charges materialized in front of me.
The charge was linked with the other three, to a detonator, when I was far enough from the bunker I'd activate them and send the mountain above it crashing down. I armed the explosive and walked up to support, sealing the charge in place I turned to leave.
The door was flung open, there was a guard there, a submachine gun in his hands. I didn't have time to unholster my weapons, and opted to charge into him, throwing us both to the floor. His gun was knocked away, mine as well.
The two of us were now in the hallway leading to the electrical room, standing up I unsheathed a knife on my left shoulder. The man opposite from me did the same. He was wearing black bulletproof armor and a gasmask, the knife in his hand an ordinary military combat knife.
Neither of us wanted to move first, but the hallway was narrow and the two of us slowly moved closer. He struck first, a stab at my chest. Dodging with a step backward I tried to follow up with a slash to his face, but he pulled back quick enough to miss.
He was experienced I could tell, probably a former Legion soldier, the armor looked similar. I feinted at a stab to his stomach, he stepped closer letting the knife pass by his side. His blade flew toward my throat and I barely had enough time to whip my head back. I lashed out a straight kick to his midsection, it sent him to the floor.
I leapt forward, holding my knife in reverse, I plunged it down toward his larynx. A gloved hand flew up to grab the blade, only inches away. I put more weight behind the knife, his other hand came up to hold it back. As much as he struggled the tip still got closer, there just wasn't enough strength in his arms to stop 210 pounds for very long.
Finally he gave out, a scream coming out before it was silenced by the chunk of titanium lodged in his throat. I rolled off, sitting on the ground for a moment before standing up. I was sweating profusely, I didn't think I'd be able to do that again, I'd have to be careful going forward.
A rasping wheeze from behind me caused my head to snap around. The soldier was struggling with his mask, I could hear him saying something, but it was muffled. He should be dead, he had been human, no one could have survived that.
With a violent pull the mask came off, and my entire body froze. A face with a singular green eye, the other a glowing red glared back at me, a mirror image of myself.
"Murderer, killer" The doppelganger gasped out, red blood still flowing from the hole in their neck. "Always… always a murderer." Suddenly we were in my old town, burning buildings all around us, dead bodies littered the street like stray trash.
The corpses started talking, all gasping in a horrible rotten voice, "Why? Why did you kill us Jack? Why didn't you save us?" I backed away, my vision changing, less focused now. My right arm felt weird, I brought it up to look, it was no longer there.
I tried to speak, tried to deny their words, the accusations felt like they were being carved into my skin. I found that I couldn't, the words wouldn't come out, instead only blood. I slapped my left hand to my throat, a hole through it the size of a knife blade.
My head felt light, I stumbled back, falling to the ground. My limbs felt like solid lead. I couldn't move, couldn't speak, laying there choking on blood as the townspeople gathered round.
"Murderer, murderer, murderer." They started to chant the word like it was gospel, "MURDERER, MURDERER, MUREDER!" I tried to yell, scream, or do anything, but my body wouldn't obey. A child walked over, Michael, a boy that had befriended me when I first came to the town. He held in his hand a revolver, the town sheriff's to be exact.
Pointing the gun at my head, he pulled the trigger as the chanting grew louder.
I shot up with a scream tearing out of my mouth, nearly headbutting Nine in the process. She was currently straddled over my waist, holding my arms down.
"You… have very violent nightmares." She sounded concerned, though it was hard to tell since I couldn't see her face.
"It's nothing. What's the time?" I hadn't had that one in a while, I wasn't sure what had caused it to manifest last night.
"Five AM, you'd been screaming for a good ten minutes." She sounded tired.
"And you just woke me up?"
"I tried a few times, settled for making sure you didn't break anything."
I looked around, everything looked intact, and nothing on my body hurt. "Thanks. Would you mind getting off?"
"Mmm, I wouldn't mind. Are you offering?" What? Oh. Nine laughed at my expression, the mood had switched it seemed, "Phrasing Eleven, it's important." She slid off me and the bed, now standing on the wooden floor.
I got up finally, slipping out of the bedsheets, I was sweaty. "I'm going to get a shower real quick, you mind packing up?" Nine nodded, and I headed to the bathroom.
The shower was nice, pulling my pants and shirt on, I stepped back out into the main room. Nine was currently doing… something. She was sitting cross legged, floating a good few feet above the ground. Ten orbs of light were orbiting her body, they looked similar to what she used to channel magic.
I decided to let her be for a moment, I wasn't sure how important this was. After a few minutes the orbs arrayed themselves behind her in an arc, then vanished. She landed on the ground, and seemed to notice my presence. I asked her what the display was.
"It's meditation, helps me keep everything working smoothly. Otherwise I could lose control of my abilities, or in a worse case my sanity."
"How often do you do this?"
"Every week or so, same as the souls, if I consume a large amount of energy I need to reign it in quickly, a day or two after absorbing it." That made enough sense for me.
"Are you ready to leave now?" She nodded, and the two of us headed out the door.
With a quick goodbye to the owner, we entered Iliasburgh proper. There were probably a couple hundred buildings, shops, residences, restaurants, everything you'd see in a typical city.
We didn't need anything in particular here, my weapons were likely far superior to anything we'd find, and we had more than enough supplies stored in Nine's pocket dimension. That being said, we still needed to find where David Stone and the Luka kid had gone.
Thus I found myself in the market, Nine had mentioned going to check a tavern, apparently those were good sources of information. I was walking through a street, lined with all sorts of merchant stalls, weapons, armor, food, even one selling jewelry for exorbitant prices.
It was then that I was called to by a young girl's voice, "Hey mister! You look like someone who could use a nice new sword!" Turning to my right I saw a blacksmith shop, not a stall but an actual building, and the girl who had called out to me.
She was short, a child most likely, though her frame was surprisingly muscular for someone her age. The most striking features however were the black scales that covered her lower body and forearms, and the large black reptilian tail attached to her lower back.
A monster then, "I apologize, but I'm just fine with my current blades."
She pouted at that, "Are you sure?" I observed the shop a bit, there was a man in the back, likely the blacksmith, hammering a longsword into shape. The shop itself had no real front, you could see everything from the street, the owner must have a lot of trust in the locals.
Nothing looked exceptionally special, the weapons on display looked like some sort of steel, with a few coated in rarer metals. I glanced back at the kid, "I'll take a look around." maybe I'd be able to get some information here, an aspiring hero would probably have come here, they might know where they had gone.
The monster practically jumped with joy at that, "Yay! You won't be disappointed, mister!" Running into the shop, I saw her grabbing a few swords, axes, and a spear off the wall.
There was a counter on the right side of the shop, bringing the assortment of weapons there, the girl set them down. They looked to be made well, quite sharp, and they looked durable, for steel weapons that is.
The swords I'd sourced for this mission had been normal looking weapons, but had been made with an exceptionally strong titanium alloy, I doubted there was much here that would beat that.
The monster girl looked up at me from behind the counter, "So? Whatcha think?" I set my eyes on one of the smaller swords, a gladius.
"I'm not sure they'll be any better than my current weapons, what are they made of?"
"Well, they're mostly steel and iron, but they're the best you'll find on the continent." She sounded confident in that statement. I wondered what made her so sure, I asked, "Well the metal's heated using my fire magic" She could use magic? "So it's imbued with fire when it cools, which makes them hurt more."
I looked into the forge to our left, the smith was still there. He looked up at me and I waved him over. There was something I wanted to test, but I wanted the permission of the owner first. He set down the blade he'd been fitting with a crossguard and walked over.
"You need 'elp with somethin' lad?" He had a thick accent to his voice, if we'd been in the Void I'd have pegged him as being a scotsman from one of the earths.
"Not help, but I'd like your permission to test one of your blades."
"Against what? There ain't exactly any training dummies round 'ere"
I pulled the arming sword out of its scabbard on my waist, holding it up. The smith seemed to understand my intentions. "Hmm, alright then, just one though."
I looked around the shop, there was nowhere I could rest the sword to test this. I looked back toward the girl, monsters were typically stronger than a normal man, "Do you think you could hold that sword steady?"
She nodded, "Yep! Where do you want me to hold it?" I showed her where, out in front, held level with the floor. She wasn't struggling with the sword at all, so I lined up a strike to the blade with my own arming sword.
Holding it in my left hand, I chopped down on the blade. As I had expected, it cleaved into the tempered metal, then finished the swing, shattering the top half of the opposing weapon. The girl gaped in open shock, meanwhile the smith raised his brow, evidently surprised, but probably having expected the outcome given my confidence in asking to test this.
"So," the smith was talking to me, "where'd you get that from?"
"Somewhere far from here, the blade's made of titanium."
"Hmm, can't say I've ever heard of titanium. Somethin' from Granghold?" The smith was studying the sword, looking up and down every detail of the weapon.
"Not that I know of."
The smith stepped back, stroking his beard he turned to the girl, "Papi, go an' grab that sword in the back, you know the one."
The girl, Papi, as I just learned, stopped staring at my sword, "Ah, uh THAT sword?" The smith nodded, and Papi disappeared into the back, behind the forge.
"What's this now?" I was curious, the man had a glint in his eye, he looked excited almost.
"Somethin' special, we got it from a nice woman from somewhere up in Sentora, uh Yamatai I think, apparently It's imbued with a buncha magic, made of real sturdy stuff too." This sounded interesting, while Papi was gone I supposed I could ask about Luka and the deviant.
"You wouldn't happen to know about a short purple haired kid who came through here by any chance? Me and my partner are looking for him, there's a man with him that could be extremely dangerous."
The smith's eyes widened, "Dangerous you say? Hmm, didn't look that way here. They came through while one of those Heavenly Knights was attackin' the city, fought em off from what i saw."
"Very dangerous, my partner and I are heros, we need to apprehend this man before something happens." The smith narrowed his eyes, apparently he believed me though and relented.
"Alright then, I don't know exactly where they're goin', but the only way off of Ilias Continent is through the port to the north. You might have some luck there."
I nodded, "Thank you.", At that moment Papi came back with a sheathed blade of some sort, it was short, much shorter than the arming sword in my hands, I would guess about a 16 to 17 inches long blade, the handle only being big enough for one hand. The handle was elaborate, a platinum looking cap on the end, with crisscrossing white cloth along it and gold underneath, there was no crossguard I could see.
Papi presented the sword to the smith, who took and unsheathed it. The blade was just as ornate as the handle, a straight blade, thick and heavy looking, with only one edge. The blade was inlaid with gold inscriptions in a language I couldn't read, and a few glossy rubies near the handle.
At a glance it would have looked like a collector's item, not suited for actual combat, simply made to be pretty. But the blade had a presence, a feeling that radiated from it, this was a powerful weapon.
The smith stayed quiet while I inspected the sword, but spoke up when I'd finished. "So, What'd ya think?"
"You said you got this from Sentora?" I assumed it was made by a monster of some sort, this didn't feel like it was a human made weapon.
"Yeah, the woman who gave me it didn't say where it'd come from, gave it freely too."
"Stolen maybe. It looks strong."
The smith nodded, "It is, she said it was made of a real nice metal, magically imbued with all sorts of stuff."
"Would you care to test it?" I was very curious now, if this was as impressive as he said, then it should have no problem withstanding the titanium sword I currently had.
The man grinned, "Have at it lad, just don't cry about it when your sword breaks."
Me and Papi repeated the process just like before, my sword came down on the blade. I'd been curious enough that I'd sped up my perception as I did so. The titanium blade flew downward toward the edge of the sword, where the arming sword had cleaved and shattered the lesser steel blade, here something incredible happened.
The titanium alloy simply split apart, cleanly sliced through by the opposing blade; the straight sword that it had hit didn't take any damage either, being entirely unmarked afterward. I blinked once, then twice as the surprise hit. With not a scratch on it, the sword held by Papi had cleanly sliced through one of the strongest titanium alloys there was.
"How much?"
The smith erupted into laughter, the man taking a few moments to get it out before looking back at me, "Oh, you're serious. Hmm, most of my swords of that size would only cost ya about… about a thousand gold pieces. Seeing as how it's so nice, well I didn't make it." The smith thought to himself for a moment, "How's ten thousand sound?"
"That's fine," I had taken a good sum of money with me when Nine and I had split up. Fishing out a few platinum pieces, each worth one thousand gold, I handed them over to the smith.
"Thank you lad, apparently I should be lookin' for more fancy swords to sell, what about your's?"
"Keep it, I won't be needing it anymore."
"Very generous of ya, what's your name by the way? Never asked." He handed the magical short sword to me, it was light, very light for its appearance.
"Zeph, what's yours?"
"Logan, nice to meet ya. Good luck findin' those three, you'll need it, Sentora's bigger than Ilias continent by a lot."
Papi walked over to me as I sheathed my new sword, "Nice meeting you mister Zeph. Come back soon." She was smiling, seemingly endlessly energetic, it reminded me of a simpler time in my life.
"I will if I can Papi, it was nice meeting you as well." She smiled again and walked back into the forge when Logan called out to her.
I left with a new magic sword on my waist, and a slight smile adorning my face.
I met back up with Nine by the city square, she was sitting on a bench outside of a bar.
"I take it your day went well? The Ninjato looks nice." She said, looking at the new weapon on my hip.
"Ninjato, that's what it's called?" I took the blade out of its sheath and brought it in front of her.
She explained, "Hmm, well not quite. It's missing a crossguard, but the overall shape and length are similar. Almost like a machete really." She hummed, "There's a lot of magic in that thing Eleven, you knew that right?"
"Mmhm, it cut through my arming sword like butter, it seemed like a good idea to buy it as a replacement. I'm better with smaller blades anyway, I've always preferred knives over swords, this is a nice middle ground."
"Good, and how did your information gathering go? I heard that they're probably heading to Iliasport to the north."
I sat down next to her, "I heard the same, also heard that our target saved the city with this Luka kid." I paused, then remembered a detail, "There's also a third person with them."
"A woman, I know. Apparently she was the one who actually sent the Knight off, someone quite strong from the sound of it."
"We need to get going soon then, are you good to go now?" It was mid day, we'd be able to travel for the rest until midnight.
"Yeah, Let's get out of this city." With that Nine stood up from the bench, starting to walk toward the city gate.
I followed behind, and within minutes the two of us were out on the dirt road again, traveling north on our way to Sentora continent.
Author's Note
Alright, that's chapter 5 finished, took longer than I expected it to if I'm being honest. With the next chapter we will be back with David's POV.