Fictions Mentioned:

Episode 24

OP Song:

【Yumi Hara】 In the rain 【Corpse Party Blood Drive】 【Eng Lyrics】

Insert Song: Start

[Corpse Party] Blood Drive OST - A Decaying World

Touma Kamijou—wearing his "superhero" uniform, white mask and all, accompanied by a Judgment armband now clearly visible in the light of formal administrative duties as an officer of Judgment, is now waiting for the backup to arrive. Three of his alternate children were with him, waiting alongside him. He wouldn't move one bit, knowing that what he's dealing with are essentially trained professional soldiers, probably heavily armed with future technology from their native reality.

A few minutes later, backup had finally arrived. It was a quick response which was the norm for situations like this. Stopping where three INKAS® Sentry Civilians were stopping just nearby. Out the door came the Judgment Officers, all armed with tactical combat gear similar to the ones found in an elite SWAT Team. Back in the Pre-Judgment Reform Days, one wouldn't even think of Judgment even being given this type of armor as they are all students. But since the Corpse Party Incident and other factors, things have greatly changed.

Judgment was now given police-level training of the highest order. Policies were reformed to make Judgment more similar to the law enforcement in the United Kingdom, courtesy of the Board Chairman's full approval.

Now that Kamijou thought about it, he suppose that in a roundabout way, the Corpse Party Incident started the spark for the rest to follow. Law enforcement was deemed heavily inadequate in a city this corrupt considering: Dark Side, Skill-Outs, evil corporations, etc. that one way or another Touma Kamijou had to deal with on his own along with the help and assistance of a few people. Kamijou still thought that it was about time for the city itself to take things seriously, especially when alternate universe incursions are a probable chance at this point. The city needed to be more than ready for what came there way. They got lucky with the Corpse Party Incident since most people in the city never even noticed what was going on at the time. If there is one thing that Kamijou doesn't want to rely upon all of the time, it's luck.

Counting at least over 12 to 16 Judgment Officers each from every van that exited, armed with modified SIG SG 553s and SIG Sauer P320s, one of them would walk up to him and give him a proper salute. He was a university student attending a university not too far from A Certain High School. In fact, Kamijou would tend to bump into this person from time to time even back in the Pre-Judgment Reforms Era. He had black hair and brown eyes.

"Captain, we came as soon as you ordered," the officer said. "Choppers are also en route to this location, T-minus 2 minutes from now."

"Thank you, Nagakubo," Kamijou nodded.

"Speaking of which," the officer noted the three other people that were with Kamijou. His expression was one of awe and curiosity. "From what I gather from the comm chatter, these people are related to you in a...well, close way if you know what I mean." He was more than prudent enough and had the common sense not to mention in public the actual relation between his superior officer and the three teenagers who were his alternate children from different worlds.

"Yeah," Kamijou smiled a bit. He glanced at the three who were curious. "Kids, this is Sergeant Nagakubo Naoyuki, he's an old friend of mine that I tend to bump into from time to time. Nagakubo, these are Makoto, Angela, and Miyoko."

"Please to meet you," Angela bowed her head politely.

"("Nagakubo, huh...")" Makoto noted the name, already spotting one difference between his reality and his younger old man's reality. From observation alone, he can tell that these two were familiar with each other, one of them being more respectful of the other in the same sense of professionalism that one could have between a superior officer and designated rank.

At the same time, five advanced greyish-looking hovercraft choppers were now about to make a pass by their general direction, encircling around to form an aerial perimeter. Following that, a green and white Mazda RX-7 Turbo II would suddenly arrive, curving left before parking right next to Kamijou's car. Mii Konori and Aomi Yanagisako were already exiting the car, followed by the sudden teleportation of Kuroko Shirai and Mikoto Misaka.

"Chief," Kamijou nodded grimly. Most of the Judgment Officers, Nagakubo included, were already forming a respectful salute.

"Kamijou-san," Konori smiled sadly before turning a grim face. "I've heard about the general situation that we're dealing with. A paramilitary force that is created to deal with espers." She left the "magician" part out of the explanation because one: she did not want the general public to know about magic due to knowing intimately of the complexified political issues; and two: she rather not give away too much information out in the open.

"MERD," Kamijou nodded. "As of right now, we can't just rush things blindly. I'm going to need the boys in the air to go stealth mode and scan the alleyways for any sign of hostiles and report the general number back to us."

Konori nodded before eventually touching her earpiece. "This is Konori, to any of you boys in the air, I want a thorough sweep of the area, maintain stealth and scan the area for any hostiles."

"Copy that, ma'am," one of the pilots responded. "You heard the lady, boys, it's time to act like chameleons."

All of a sudden, the choppers disappeared.

"Now all we can do is wait for a few moments before planning on how to move in," Shirai said, sporting a grim expression, her hands itching for her nails, anticipating the operation.

But not a moment sooner did the radio chatter come alive. From the comms, the pilot that had recently talked with Konori was now slightly panicking, as if he became aware of something ugly. The chatter itself in fact was in a state of panic, one that even had a few curses inserted in due to whatever it is the pilots are now seeing from the skies.

"Chief, we've got a problem! We have a Code 187! I repeat, we have a Code 187! Multiple dead bodies everywhere, counting about thirty soldiers each on the first pass of the alleyway! No sign of any potential suspect! Dispatch DSG9, hope you lot brought a bucket or two with you, 'cause it doesn't look too good over there!"

That last line on the chatter made everyone look at each other in shock.

Dead bodies?

"Alright, change of plans, all of you, come with me," Kamijou immediately summoned his circular shield, his eyes narrowed and now about to take full command of the situation now that the situation seems to have potentially escalated. "Time to divide into three teams: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha sticks with me and Shirai-san as we head straight to the alleyway. Bravo, head for the upper floors and rooftops and keep an eye on the ground from there. Gamma, make sure to block all available exits in the alleyway, and take Misaka-san with you." Eventually, Kamijou decided to make contact with Kumokawa from his wristwatch. "Senpai, this is Kamijou. I'm gonna need you to bring in paramedical services in my current location, ASAP. We may have a couple of dead bodies on our hands and I want Heaven Canceller to get a look at them."

"Roger, kouhai," Kumokawa grimly responded, noting the situation.

"You three," Kamijou looks towards Makoto, Angela, and Miyoko who were just as shocked as anyone. His expression was grim, "Stay close to your mother," referring to Misaka.

"Right, you all heard Kamijou, get yourselves moving," Konori ordered in a no-nonsense tone, with hands placed on her waist.

"Right," every one of the officers complied.

Now, Kamijou and Shirai, along with Gamma, were about to venture into one part of the alleyway, weapons-free on stun. All of them were cautious and trepid as they step through the corners. Turning a few corners left, they spotted something...

"...!"

...Unpleasant.

Shirai gasped in shock as she sees multiple soldiers lying down in many directions. Some were impaled by what appeared to be a sword. Some had their heads decapitated. Some had their bodies burned to a crisp. Some had both their arms and legs cut off, along with a couple of appendages let out, causing a very foul odor for the sense of smell.

...Counting all of the things that the Judgment Officers had seen would be too long to list. Suffice it to say, this was more than just a massacre. It was the work of something diabolical, if only because they found a few blood writings written in strange languages and occult blood symbols on the walls. Among them, there was a soldier hanging upside down, skinned alive and naked, with skin looking malnourished like it hadn't been fed for weeks, with genitals ripped off, mouth wide open, and eyes cut off forcibly, without any clothing left, sticking to the wall. And a crimson eye symbol and the phrase "HAIL TO THE CRIMSON KING" was seen written in the blood of the person who was tied upside down.

Shirai felt...sick. No wonder the pilot warned them ahead of time about preparing a bucket or two. Because she felt like she was about to puke. No, more than that. She felt her voice, silent as it were, about to scream. Some of the Judgment Officers were more or less feeling the same sickness or desire to puke at the gruesome scene before them.

"...We're...definitely gonna need to quarantine the area...and make sure that no civilian would have to see...this," Shirai muttered softly in a stuttering tone, sick and horrified, her body shaking in dread.

Kamijou's face, instead of feeling sick, had his eyes narrowed in subtle cold anger. He scans the entire alleyway with his white mask. There was no sign of any handprints that could identify potential sketches of a suspect. He can only spot the name "MERD" from the shoulders of the dead men. These were the soldiers that they were about to hunt and arrest. However, something got to them first. Whatever did this was the work of the supernatural. From the writings and scribbles on the wall, he can already have an idea who cause this. And it was an idea that he didn't like in the slightest.

"We should keep moving," Kamijou said, grim and empathetic, looking at Shirai and the rest of the Judgment Officers.

"R-Right," Shirai softly muttered, looking at Kamijou's reassuring eyes and figure which was the only comfort that she has at the moment. Through her teleportation, she immediately walks towards Kamijou and lets him take point from here on out, touching the hem of his garment and glancing around hesitantly, steeling herself. "Konori-senpai..." she contacted Konori from the comms. "We...We have a problem. The pilot wasn't kidding. The dead bodies here...They...They..."

"...Shirai-san," Konori muttered softly, concerned for her junior.

As they venture through the bloody alleyways, seeing the many dead bodies of the MERD soldiers mutilated in horrifying ways, while Shirai was reporting to Konori in a stuttering tone of what had occurred with tremendous difficulty, the Judgment Officers have their weapons free, no longer set to stun but kill instead in consideration of the threat that they are now faced with. The situation behind the Scarlet King was discussed in a hush-hush need-to-know basis only for the general high-ranking members of Judgment and a few selected members due to the sensitive and classified information that this entailed. Knowing that, the young men who were alongside Shirai and Kamijou were now narrowing their eyes, aware of the present elusive danger that they are now touching upon.

A few turns later, they see a wide-open alleyway that was all bloody. Multiple amounts of red liquid were seen. Dead bodies were everywhere, many of whom were ripped apart. Broken windows which had dead bodies laying back and forth in grotesque positions. Kamijou made hand signals that made every one of the officers move to each of the doors, inspecting every corner, and see dead body after dead body brutally murdered.

Not even an ordinary serial killer could do something of this magnitude. This defied all logical sense. Occult symbols were written on the walls. It was the same general pattern that they could find anywhere.

"Dispatch...this is Bravo, we see three dead bodies hanging on the ceiling. There appear to be a few words and symbols written on the ceiling as well," one of the officers said on the comm-channel. Everyone, including Kamijou, Shirai, and the rest of the Judgment Officers were listening.

"Copy that, Bravo, what does it say?" Konori said, her voice trembling and trying to speak in light of what Shirai and a few other officers had recently told her.

"...Hail to the Crimson King," the same officer said with a trembling voice.

Makoto Kamijou, Angela, and Miyoko Kamijou were standing side by side with Mikoto Misaka and a couple of G9 Judgment Officers covering one particular exit. All of them were horrified the more the radio chatter was reported. Dead body after dead body, all had gruesome deaths, and none were discriminated against, with various types of death spread out for all to see as if it were a twisted piece of artwork.

Misaka, with a horrified expression, turns her thoughts to Kuroko Shirai, worrying for her best friend who was no doubt seeing things that most people ought not to see for themselves.

"...Just..." Makoto muttered softly, with hands clenched, his expression now turning to anger and frustration. "Just what in the actual fuck are we dealing with here...?" He looks at Misaka who could only give him a look of empathy and grimace. Makoto looks towards Angela and Miyoko who were feeling sick at the moment, accompanied by feelings of dread.

Makoto's thoughts turn to whatever caused this...and the connection that it had to something that was now everyone's problem.

This was now officially the very first time that the Kamijou Children are about to deal with a much more sinister enemy, one that they wished they never wanted to face with. Not even Accelerator in his bad days was this horrific in terms of manslaughter, the children all thought. The more the chatter continued to explain the general situation on the alleyways, the more it seems like a description for a horror movie.

"Dispatch AC7 Station, this is Konori," Konori was now speaking on the comm chatter. "I need more available units to quarantine the alleyways of A-10. We do not want the people to see any of this, ever."

Kamijou was now checking the headgear that he found from a dead body nearby. There was a recording device at least. He glances at Shirai who had a worried expression on her face. Gathered around him were the Judgment Officers who came with them.

With a heavy breath, he begins to use the sonic screwdriver to enhance the recording of the headgear and turn it into a hologram for everyone to see. And they all see...

"NO! NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" gunshots were fired. Nothing happened. It was all aimed at...a girl no older than eight years old with a very sinister smile that sends chills running down her spine. As if teleporting, she comes close to the man who tried to shoot her. She smiled down at him. The smile was cruel and terrible.

"Ehehehe," she giggled as if she wanted to play.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

KSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

"AAHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!"

They can hear the sound of painful screams from the man as they heard the sound of flesh and bone being torn out bit by bit in the most excruciating way possible.

Shirai, with horror and tears as she continued to hear the grinding sounds, embraced Kamijou who would respond in kind and give comfort to the poor trembling girl, and at the same time with eyes narrowed at the recording in anger. Everyone else was horrified about what they were just hearing and seeing.

Insert Song: End

ED Song:

【ARTERY VEIN】Confutatis no Inori (Full Version)【CP Blood Covered】【Eng Lyrics】

Main Companion Protagonists:

Touma Kamijou - VA: Atsushi Abe

Main Heroine Characters:

Mikoto Misaka - VA: Rina Satō