A/N: For the final one-shot of March 2022, I decided to test myself and see if I could make a creepy horror story. From what I could tell by the Symphogear discord, I did pretty well!
Without further ado, Enjoy!
WARNING!
CONTAINS TOPICS THAT MIGHT BE UNCOMFORTABLE TO SOME:
Blood, Death, Dismemberment
VIEWER'S DISCRETION IS ADVISED!
Symphogear: PC Port
It was a beautiful day outside, one the likes of Hibiki Tachibana, Miku Kohinata, and Chris Yukine were going to make the most of. "Thanks again for coming with us to Flower, Chris!" Miku said to her friend.
"I only agreed to come with you because you said the idiot was paying for the food." Chris said, trying to sound cool. "I had a lot of stuff planned for my day off today."
"Like what, Chris-chan?" Hibiki asked.
"I... Well..." Chris tried to come up with an excuse, but she didn't want to admit that all she was planning to do was sit at home and watch anime. "Wait. I don't have to tell you my plans, you idiot!"
"I was curious, too." Miku added. "I know you usually hang out with Tsubasa-san or Kirika-chan and Shirabe-chan, but since they and Maria-san are all on a mission in another universe, I wondered what you do when they're gone."
"Oh..." Chris replied, blushing from embarrassment. "...Fine, I'll tell you. Before you two invited me to go to Flower, I was gonna-" Suddenly, an explosion went off in the distance, startling the Wielders. "What was that?!"
The Wielders immediately ran towards the source of the explosion, until they finally saw a giant plume of smoke. "That's... At the harbor!" Hibiki gasped, pulling out her pendant. "Girls!"
"Way ahead of you." Chris replied as herself and Miku did the same.
"Killter Ichaival tron"
"Rei Shénshòujìng rei zizzl"
"Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron"
The trio of Wielders hurried towards the harbor, hoping that whatever caused the explosion hadn't reached S.O.N.G. HQ yet. "Everyone, please be okay..." Hibiki prayed.
The girls reached the harbor, seeing the aftermath of the explosion firsthand. For the most part, the S.O.N.G.'s HQ looked undamaged, aside from scratches and marks on the hull that were left by shrapnel. Seeing this, the trio collectively sighed. "That's a relief..." Miku said. "But still, what could've caused that explosion?"
"...I think I may have found our culprit..." Chris answered, pointing in a direction away from the submarine, and towards that of a silhouette of a woman standing over an unidentifiable body on the ground.
The girls cautiously approached the mysterious figure, until they were able to see a familiar blue-haired swordswoman. "Tsubasa-san!" Hibiki shouted, but Tsubasa didn't look back at her. "What happened here? Who caused that explosion?"
Tsubasa didn't respond. "Oi! Senpai! Did you go deaf all of a sudden?" Chris angrily asked as she and the others got closer. "What the hell happ-" Chris stopped mid-sentence when she finally got close enough to see Tsubasa and her opponent through the flames.
The trio couldn't believe what they were seeing: The body that Tsubasa was standing over was that of the mutilated corpse of a red-haired man wearing a red dress shirt and beige slacks. It was the corpse of S.O.N.G.'s commander, Tsubasa's Uncle, Genjuro Kazanari. "Master!" Hibiki screamed.
Tsubasa finally glanced over at the trio upon hearing Hibiki's scream. "Did you do this, Senpai?" Chris asked, pointing her guns towards the swordswoman.
Tsubasa, as a response, started to chuckle. That chuckle slowly grew into a laugh that became more and more demonic as it became louder. After an uncomfortable amount of time, her laughter stopped. Once it did, Tsubasa turned to face the trio, fully revealing to them her bloody tears and the black void that was her eyes. "Hello." She said, greeting the Wielders as two red irises flashed into existence.
"...You're not Senpai..." Chris muttered.
"Would you like to play a game with me?" "Tsubasa" asked.
"...Miku... Hibiki... Run." Chris whispered to the other Wielders. "Go find the others while I hold off this Senpai imposter."
"What?! No!" Hibiki protested. "We're not going to leave you to fight alone!"
"It's either I buy you two time to get help or we all die here and now!" Chris barked. "If I can take Senpai on in a fight normally, I should be able to hold my own long enough for you to come back. NOW GO!"
"But-"
"We need to go, Hibiki!" Miku said, grabbing Hibiki's hand and speeding off towards the S.O.N.G. submarine.
"So that is the game you wish to play? Fine by me." "Tsubasa" said, before a barrage of bullets stopped her, turning the devilish grin she was wearing into a shocked expression.
"You want to play games, ya blood-cryin' faker? Fine!" Chris taunted, wielding two gatling guns in her arms. "Come at me!" This made the demonic swordswoman smile once again as the two charged at one another, ready to kill.
"Miku! Let me go!" Hibiki shouted. "Chris-chan needs our help!"
Miku stopped right in front of the entrance to the submarine before firmly grabbing Hibiki and looking her right in the eyes. "You want to help Chris? Then do as she asks!" Miku retorted. "Chris knows that she's in a losing battle, but she also knows that we'd die too if we stayed. We need to get help, and if I have to throw you into the Gjallarhorn while you kick and scream, I will."
Hibiki wanted to break free and help Chris, but Miku was right. If she really wanted to help Chris, then doing as she asked was the only thing she could do for her at this point. "Okay..." Hibiki said. "Let's make sure Chris-chan's efforts don't go to waste!"
"That's better." Miku said, releasing her best friend from her bonds as the two entered the submarine.
The girls quickly headed towards where the Gjallarhorn was stored, hoping that Elfnein, or anyone capable of working the relic, was still alive. But the pools of blood and scattered corpses was making them rapidly lose hope. However, things were about to get so much worse than either of them would've imagined.
They had successfully reached the room that Gjallarhorn was in, but as they approached the door, it opened automatically. "Found you." A familiar, demonic voice called out as static briefly engulfed the Wielders' visions. Once the static stopped, they were face to face with "Tsubasa" once again, but she looked vastly different than she did earlier: her skin was a slightly darker shade and the blue of her hair and armor were more of a bluish-gray than Tsubasa's iconic dark blue. Another important change was that "Tsubasa" had a massive "X" slashed across her chest, cutting deep into her skin. "Now, will either of you be able to provide me with more fun than she did?"
"Tsubasa" pulled out a familiar, bloody red headgear and proceeded to spin it around her finger before putting it on her head. "No... Chris-chan..." Hibiki felt the tears in her throat choking her up, knowing exactly what the false swordswoman was implying happened to their friend. However, in that same moment of sorrow, rage took over. "Miku... When I give the signal, run for the Gjallarhorn."
"Hibiki?"
Without warning, Hibiki charged at "Tsubasa" with a speed unlike anything she had done in her base form. She managed to land a powerful punch to "Tsubasa"'s stomach, sending her flying down the corridor. "MIKU! GO NOW!" Hibiki roared to her best friend, who didn't hesitate to run into the room and lock the door behind her.
Once Miku was safely inside the room, "Tsubasa" reappeared in front of Hibiki, a devilish grin of razor-sharp teeth and blood-red eyes gazing into her soul. "Well, well, well. You just might end up being more fun to play with than the others were." The demon chuckled.
Hibiki scoffed in disgust at what "Tsubasa" was saying. "I'll admit, you had me fooled earlier, looking exactly like Tsubasa-san." Hibiki admitted. "But now, I see that's all you had in common. Who are you really?"
"That information is not important." The false Kazanari answered. "Besides, you don't really care to know that, do you?"
"...You're right." Hibiki chuckled as she closed her eyes. "Ever since I got my Symphogear, every time I've had to fight someone other than the Noise or Alca-Noise, I always made it my goal to bring out the good in them, trying to find a way to avoid fighting altogether... I'll admit, there were times that I was pushed past my limit and let my temper consume me, but even so, I tried to reach out my hand in compassion... But then you showed up."
Hibiki opened her eyes and snarled at the demon imitating her friend. "When I look at you, all I can see is the cold-hearted bloodshed that you've caused, and it pisses me off in ways that words fail to describe." Hibiki got into her fighting stance as she continued talking. "So yeah, I don't really care to know your name. All I care about... IS AVENGING EVERYONE YOU MERCILESSLY KILLED!"
Meanwhile, as the Wielder and the Demon have their staredown, Miku rushed over to the Gjallarhorn to gather reinforcements from other worlds and get back in time to save Hibiki. However, instead of warping to another world as she usually had before, nothing happened. "What? Why isn't it working?" Miku asked aloud, before the sounds of Hibiki's rage and "Tsubasa"'s demonic laughter began to fill the hallway outside of the Gjallarhorn room, which made Miku start to panic more than she realized she was already. "Come on! Why won't you work?!"
Miku proceeded to hastily touch, push, and eventually smack the relic, trying to do whatever she could to get it to work again. Much to her dismay, nothing worked. Miku could hear the situation worsening for Hibiki as the sounds of her best friend's gauntlets impacting with the false Tsubasa became fewer and fewer. "I really need you to work for me, Gjallarhorn!" She pleaded with the relic. "Please!"
Gjallarhorn didn't answer Miku's pleas... But something else did. At the very back of the room, a portal in the shape of a golden hoop emerged, revealing a mysterious dark void from within. Curious, Miku cautiously hovered over to it, holding her Armed Gear close to herself in case something came out to attack her.
However, Miku soon found her focus shifted as the sound of an extremely agonizing scream could be heard from the direction of the fight, which immediately made Miku realize whose scream it was. "Hibiki!"
Without hesitation, Miku bolted for the door to the hallway, but as she made it halfway to the door, she tripped and fell face first onto the floor. Miku quickly tried to get back on her feet, but soon felt herself being pulled backwards. Unsure as to why this was happening, she looked behind herself and soon became horrified at what she saw: A massive pair of hands with elongated arms had emerged from the portal in the back of the room and were grabbing onto her legs. As for the culprit who the hands belonged to, and the only thing Miku could see from the void that was the portal were multiple pairs of eyes, with a red pair being brighter than the rest.
Needless to say, Miku did not want to find out what awaited her on the other side of that portal. She quickly looked for her Armed Gear, realizing that she dropped it when she tripped. Luckily, she managed to find out that it had not gotten too far away from her and was still within arm's reach. And so, using all of the strength she could muster, Miku resisted the pull of the elongated arms and pulled herself towards her Armed Gear.
Things were starting to look in Miku's favor as she was inches away from her weapon. However, as she was just about to grab it, a glimmer of silver and blue flashed in front of her face. Suddenly, a bluish-gray leg appeared over, and stepped on, Miku's arm, causing the Shénshòujìng Wielder to look up and see the very monster that Hibiki was fighting moments ago. However, unlike the last time she saw her, Miku noticed that "Tsubasa" was holding a disembodied arm that she casually held in her free hand like another sword. The arm had a white and orange sleeve with orange and black accents on the fingers.
Miku stared up at "Tsubasa", before finally registering why the other arm she was holding looked familiar. "No... HIBIKI!" Miku screamed. "I'LL KILL YOU! YOU HEARTLESS BITCH!"
"Tsubasa" laughed as she listened to Miku's cries and watched her attempts to free her arm so she could grab her weapon. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that." In one swift motion, "Tsubasa" swung her sword low before returning it to her side. "After all, we still have games to play, and it's rude to keep the others waiting."
At first, Miku didn't feel anything, thinking "Tsubasa" missed her with that swing. However, as Miku started to feel like she was being pulled away again, she soon realized what the false Wielder struck with her swing as she moved further and further away from her: The arm that was reaching for her Armed Gear had been perfectly severed from her body. With this realization, Miku began to scream in pain as the arms started pulling her at a faster rate than before.
Despite this, Miku still tried to use her remaining arm to keep herself from being pulled in, but it was a fruitless effort as her strength had slowly but surely began to fail her. Soon, Miku was right next to the portal, the arms that were dragging her had returned to the darkness of the void as her legs and lower torso were pulled inside. In a last ditch effort to save herself, Miku reached for the golden border of the portal, desperately reaching for it as her vision became consumed by darkness. Much to her surprise, she managed to grab it. "Yes! I still have a chance!" Miku cheered as a rush of adrenaline gave her the strength to pull herself out of the portal.
However, once Miku managed to pull her head out of the portal, she realized that it was not her efforts that made it possible. "Tsubasa" had been using the arm that she cut off from Miku as a tool to give the doomed Wielder false hope. "You forgot this." The demon said as they purposely loosened their grip on the arm. "Goodbye."
"Tsubasa" let go of the arm entirely, launching Miku helplessly into a realm in which she had no hope of escaping from. "Tsubasa" laughed as she listened to Miku's screams as the portal closed in front of her. "...So many souls to play with. So little time..."
"Wouldn't you agree?"
A/N: And with that, we end the one-shot!
Now for some backstory as to what you just read:
-This was a crossover with (Specifically PC Port as indicated by the title)
-While the antagonist of said creepypasta, Lord X, wasn't physically present, he is the one responsible for Tsubasa's new form (As well as the disappearance of the other 3 Wielders from the Prime Universe (Yes, this is an XDU-based one-shot))
-If I were to continue the story, Miku wouldn't be dead... Yet... As for the other Wielders... Let's just say you could guess their fate if you've seen the original creepypasta...
With that out of the way, I want to thank you all again for reading my first legitimate attempt at a horror-based one-shot.
And, as always, I shall see you all in the next one!
