"Phew! That sure took a while!" Leone clapped her hands together, the small shockwave this move created wiped her hands clean of blood that covered her white fur. She honestly would love to play with Honest a bit longer, but she had other things to do. It's not like he's going to run away this time. She made sure of it. "I'm gonna leave you here for some time, aright?" No answer came. "Oh come on, giving me the silent treatment won't make me stay, you know. I'll be back to play some more when I'm done clearing up in the archive. See ya!" She have him a final punch to the gut before leaving.
The man only puked out blood onto the floor. He couldn't speak or even cry out in pain because of a metal bar that was going through his throat. It almost completely clogged his air pipe, leaving just barely enough space for him to not suffocate to death. The women made sure he's completely immobilized too, even taking his regenerative capabilities into account.
She pushed more metal bars through every joint in his body, pinning him into the wall with his arms spread out to form a cross. His favorite execution method. One that he enjoyed watching on countless occasions. He loved to watch as the victims writhe in agony, as lives slowly leave them, first from their eyes, then from their hearts. It didn't matter who he ordered to die next. It could be a palace guard that happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time. It could be a lowly peasant that never knew such cruelty is even possible. It could be a prisoner that outlived his uses. It could even be a noble. Those were his favorites. The way they tried to argue against their fate, how they despaired when their hope burned out.
He loved it. Until now.
Because now that his fat body was dragging him towards the floor, pulling on his pierced joints, now that he was hanging from the wall, covered in his own blood, piss and shit, now that he was shaking with fear, he finally understood what those nobles felt. To be thrown down from what seems to be the top of the world, into the dirtiest puddle known to man…
He honestly wished it could be different, that he didn't kill the previous Emperor and manipulated his son. He wished he just stayed a mere senator, with not enough influence to hold any real power. Looking back at those days, he could only despair at the thought that things could have been different. If he only didn't lust after power so much, his life could have been good now. If he only knew that this is where this path will take him, he never would have stepped on it. He never would have killed all these people, crushed all those dreams, raped all those women, eaten all those children… He would do none of it. He would have stayed as nobody, lived as nobody and died as nobody.
But it was too late now. Much too late. Now he was the overthrown monster that placed the whole nation under his thumb. He was a monster despised by millions. And there was not an ounce of mercy in the world left for him.
"Nope, that's not it either." Scratching his head, Kazuto started looking around the console again. There were just too many buttons for him to understand all of this. Who the hell designed this? And what kind of head do you need to fit all of that into your head? He looked at the manual Asako was reading. That was probably the single thickest book he's ever seen. And all of it was dedicated to that one cursed console. "God, this is such a pain. I almost wish I was out there fighting the Danger Beasts with the kid."
"Same here, but I can't exactly stand at the moment, so kindly get back to…" She froze.
"What is it?" His eyes turned to her again. She suddenly sighed and dropped her head against her hand. The manual was opened on the first page. "Is something wrong?"
"Is there a red lever under the console?" She said, not lifting her head up. Confused, Kazuto took a look under the console as she said. And sure enough, there was a lever there. "Pull it. It for turning the entire system on and off…" He started at her, soon also resting his head on his hand. Unspoken anger radiated from his eyes. "I know!" She threw her arms into the air. "I don't read that many books, alright! I didn't expect this to be on the very first page!"
"But this was so obvious!" He yelled back. "Of course they needed an easy way to quickly switch it on and off, people used to be visiting this place every god damn day, damn it! That was probably the most basic procedure possible, of course it would be the first thing you should know about this whole damned to hell system!" He grabbed the lever with his hand and angrily pulled it towards himself. In a matter of seconds, both of them could hear gears turning all around them as the whole system went offline. "I never thought I'd say this but I'm glad you married a bookworm, at least you balance each other out… Hell, I never thought I'd say I'm glad you got married in the first place! I'm your damn father, why am I glad you're married!?"
"Oh, come on! We're not having this argument again! I'm not a little girl anymore, private Kazuto! I can do what I want, and marry who I want, whenever I want!"
"And somehow you still can be a dimwit in the strangest of ways, sergeant! You were lucky to meet that guy, at least he knows how to keep you in check!"
"So what the hell are you complaining about!? I love him, he loves me, why not get married or maybe even have a kid while we're at it!?"
"Who the hell gets married on the day before the biggest revolution in history!? Everyone's busy getting ready, praying, fucking or whatever, but you two? No! You need to get married and throw a god damn party too, because why the hell not!?"
"Because we could have died, damn it! I didn't want to pass on what could have been our last opportunity to do this!"
Kazuto was more than ready to continue the argument, but just as he was about to smash his head against the console and start yelling again, the entrance to the control room opened with a kick. "Would you two kindly stop this screeching!? It's getting on my nerves!" Tatsumi yelled at the two. He was covered in blood from head to toes, with only bits of skin visible. They saw one of the flying Danger Beasts come at him from behind, but before either of them could react, Tatsumi smacked it in the head without even turning around. The punch was so strong it ripped the Beast's head clean off form the rest of the body. "I'm trying to focus here!"
The boy then grabbed the rest of the body by the leg and smashed another Beast to death with it before closing the door again. Leaving the two stunned. "Um…" They were both at a loss for words. "So… Maybe we should… Clean our weapons?" Asako eventually spoke up. Kazuto only nodded and started to check his equipment while Asako cleaned her saber. She wasn't expecting to be using that anytime soon, but the weapon was still important to her. Though not nearly as much as the person that gave it to her.
Impressive, is not a word Leone would use, to describe the Imperial Archive. 'Fucking huge', seemed like a better description to her. "Woah…" She looked down at the dark hole that honestly seemed to lead to the very core of the planet. She could feel Tatsumi's scent very clearly, along with two other people she didn't recognize. Must have gotten bored of waiting for me. Or didn't wait at all… She did have to admit she was taking her sweet time with Honest though. So she didn't really have any right to complain.
"Well, guess I should start going down. That's where the Beast's nest must be." Slowly, she started to make her way to the closest stair case. Which wasn't very close at all. At the very least each staircase that led lower was placed right after another, so as long as they were not broken, she could just move down without much issue. She soon started to encounter freshly killed Danger Beasts. No doubt Tatsumi's handiwork. Most of them were torn to shreds or smashed against the walls, but some had their throats slashed open or hearts crushed with a well-placed punch.
She smiled at that. It was good to know he hasn't forgotten all he's leaned in Night Raid just because of some Danger Beast fusion.
Still, it was rather disturbing to look at how brutally he disposed of the majority of the Beasts. It looked more like what she would leave behind her, rather than him. Tatsumi was usually more on Akame side of dealing with things. Prioritizing quick and clean kills above other things, unless he was trying to go for intimidation, which didn't work on most Danger Beasts. She was usually the one who left more mess to clean up. I must be the worst nightmare of the world's janitors… She smiled to herself, stretching her hands.
It wasn't long before she heard something approaching. From above of all places. What she detected was a winged Danger Beast, akin to some of those she found dead all around her. It was too far away to surprise her now that she knew it was coming, but she decided to play dumb and keep on walking as the Beast descended, blissfully unaware that it was already on a crush course with death. Hmmm… She pondered over her intent. The plan -if you can even call it that- was to let the thing get close enough for a brain-shattering introduction to her fist, but now that she actually thought it over, she realized that the way down is probably pretty damn long… And the thing just so happened to have wings...
As she was thinking, the Beast closed in and attacked, outstretching its claws towards her. It opened its beak-like muzzle to release a screeching sound, only for said sound to be suddenly silenced by Leone when she grabbed it by the throat. "Well… Guess you'll be my way down now, huh? Aren't you a lucky one~" She said with a grin. In a rush of panic at its surprise attack not being quite as surprising as it expected the Beast struggled to get away, only for all its efforts to prove fruitless against Leone's strength. Though it did start to behave surprisingly well, when she smacked its head with her fist.
In fact, after she started to stare it down, the primal rage in its eyes suddenly started to evaporate Honest's sick dreams. It stopped to struggle against her, as if a spell was suddenly cast on it. Soon enough Leone didn't even need to hold it still. It just nicely sat down on the ground and waited for her command like a nice little pet.
She stared at the Beast in surprise. The hell did I just do? Her first thought was that since the Beasts from here must have been tamed before, then maybe they simply have their minds weaker and are receptive to accepting authority. That though was quickly disregarded though. If it was that easy to re-tame those beasts after they went wild, the Empire would have retaken the Archive ages ago. It had to be something else. Maybe I'm just so damn hot I charmed it with my sheer beauty? She was just about to disregard the thought as small joke on her part, before it suddenly hit her.
It was something about her that made the Danger Beast become this obedient. Ever since coming into possession of Lionel, she could feel far more in tune with animals, Danger Beasts included. She couldn't do things like taming them with her eyes or anything, but she was able to understand them on a deeper level them most. At times she felt like they were even her kin. Save for dogs. She always hated dogs.
Mutually.
It was hardly a stretch to think that after her recent transformation that ability would become strengthened along with everything else. And she doubted Lionel was known as The King of Beasts for no reason. "Hey you." She called out to the Beast, and as she expected, it turned its head towards her and happily awaited orders. She really couldn't not smile at that. "You're gonna take me to your nest, understood?"
It naturally didn't reply, but it did lower itself to allow her to take a seat on its back. She did just that, settling herself between Beast's feather covered wings. It was quite comfortable, she had to admit. If I even lightly sense it thinking that I'm too heavy, I'll walk down instead. With its head in my arms. As if institutionally feeling the threat, The Beast started to almost instantly started to fly up into the air. Up, not down as she expected it to. Quite fast too. "Hey! I said take me to your nest, not take me for a ride you stupid piece of-" She suddenly froze as the darkness above started to reveal... something. "Holy… What the fuck is that!?"
"Shit…" The sound of heavy footsteps filled the corridor. Two man were running for their lives, or rather they tried to drag themselves to safety as a huge Danger Beast chased after them. One of the two was limping with one leg while the other was helping him move. The smell of blood was thick around them. Both were bleeding, but neither has allowed that to slow them down. They were both relatively the same age and build, with one having black hair while the other's were violet. Both had their faces equally twisted with fear of death. "Shit!" One of them screamed as he fell onto the ground, holding his leg.
"Akira!" Turning back, the other one rushed to his friend's help. Despite a mask on the wounded man's face, he could easily tell he's in a lot of pain. Not surprising knowing that he almost had his leg bitten off moments before. "Come on, get up! This thing is getting closer!" A loud noise rang trough the hallway. The gate they used to slow the Beast down has fallen already. Without thinking, he wrapped his friend's arm around his neck and tried to drag him ahead. He was moving at a snail's pace though. And the death was approaching fast.
And black-haired partner wasn't making it easy. He almost wasn't moving at all, only looking back. "Hey, Gab… Just leave me."
"Huh? The hell are you talking about!? We're almost at the exit!" He was doing his best to speed up, but the thundering steps of the Best behind them were approaching fast. Way too fast. There was no way he would make it in time, and worst of all he knew that all too well. But who the hell was he to just leave his friend to die in jaws of a monster alone? Who was he to just drop the years of friendship merely to get away with his life?
"Don't be an idiot. If you don't leave me both of us will die. I'm too wounded to run, you're the only one that can still make it, but you have to leave me, damn it!" A terrifying roar reached their ears, but the man still had no intention of letting go of his friend. "Gab, damn it!" Summoning the last bits of his strength, Akira removed his arm off of his friend's shoulder and pushed him away as hard as he could. When Gab turned back to face him, Akira was already holding his rifle pointed at the ceiling, with a grenade loaded into the launcher attached to it.
He immediately rushed back to his friend. "Akira, don't!" Without hesitation, the man fired the explosive at the ceiling, effectively causing large boulders to block the path to him. Gab smashed his hand against the rocks "Akira!" He was getting ready to climb over the obstacle when another roar rang through the corridor. This one close. Close enough for Gab to know the Beast is on a straight path to them.
"For fucks sake, run you fool!" Finally, he caved in. With tears in his eyes he turned away from the boulder he was climbing and run off towards the exit as fast as he could, listening as his best friend makes his last stand against the Beast. "Name your first son after me!" Akira screamed as he pointed his weapon at the approaching Danger Beast. The sound of gunshots behind him was only sometimes interrupted with an explosion, and even though they were all directed at the Beast, each felt like it was fired straight at his back.
And them with one final explosion, it stopped. Only roars of the Beast could be heard as Gab run for his life, barely able to see what's in front of him. He could only see the light of the torch they've left at the entrance. Then, the debris that was blocking his view of the Beast was suddenly smashed away as said Beast simply run through it like an unstoppable battering ram. It was huge, barely able to fit into the corridor. It was crouching down a bit to fit in, but it was somehow still running fast, straight towards him. It's thick brown natural armor was covered in fresh blood of his fallen comrades, and so were its numerous teeth.
It had long arms, that almost reached all the way to the ground, with large claws at the end of each of its six fingers. It spotted him almost immediately, locking onto him with its blazing red eyes and rushing forward with an angry roar.
He was running like he never thought possible before, but he was still too slow compared to the giant monster behind him. He threw his rifle away, but it did nothing to put more distance between them. It honestly seemed to him like Akira's sacrifice was about to go to waste when he finally managed to get back into the main chamber of the Imperial Archive's lowest level. Wasting no time, he threw his entire weight against a lever at the side of the entrance and right before the Beast crossed past it as well, the metal gate fell down right in front of its face.
Panting hard, Gab forced himself to get up. The Beast might have been locked away from him for now, kicking at the gate and angrily roaring at him, but it was only a matter of time before it broke through that gate as well. He had to keep moving. He had to get away from here. Otherwise his best friend's death would mean nothing. In his thoughts he cursed the people leading the whole thing. They should have listened to Asako when she said the place is too dangerous for their little group. That they need to wait for reinforcements before continuing on. The death toll wouldn't be so high if they did.
And now it went up by one.
All he could really do now is make sure it won't go up again, so without waiting, he immediately made his way to the closest staircase right after taking the torch they've left there into his hand. The terrain under him was uneven. This floor was never finished after all, from what he gathered the Archive was meant to be continuously expanded before the Danger Beasts broke out. The hallway he just got out of was an unfinished storage room that was left open and became a nest for that monster. When he and Akira broke off from the rest of the group, they thought it might serve as a good place to barricade themselves in before help arrives, but… Well, that didn't go so well.
I hope the others were able to make their way out safely at least. He thought as he started to make his way up the stairs. It was going to be a pain to climb all the way there, and if any of the other Beasts were to attack him he was left with no weapons to defend himself with. Not to mention he had no food and water supplies left. Maybe it's still a better option to just find a place to hide and wait for someone to come down here? It did seem like that was the best he could do to survive. Assuming anyone would come down here in the first place.
Still busy looking at his options, he reached the top of the stairs. And he immediately froze in place.
The whole area in front of the staircase was littered with bodies. Fresh ones. Bodies of people that were supposed to be safe outside of this cursed place. Why are they here!? We weren't even at the control room when that group of Danger Beasts separated me and Akira from the others. So why the hell are they all the way down here!? He quickly started to look through the bodies. He didn't see Asako's dog-tag on any of the bodies, so at least there was hope she was alive. Just like all the remains he saw on the way down here, those here were all beheaded. He didn't know why are Danger Beasts only gathering the heads of their victims without even touching the rest of them, or where they take those heads to begin with, but he honestly hoped to never find out.
Damn idiots. They must have went down here again after retreating. As if the first time was no proof that we can't handle this place on our own. Still, he gathered all of the dog-tags from the dead soldiers' bodies. He couldn't take them from the researchers as they wore none. It was right after he took the last one of the tags that he saw another light from afar. He blinked at that. Could it be that there is already another group sent down here? He was surrounded by complete darkness, but he was sure that whoever that is, is only a level up from where he's standing.
Without thinking, he started to wave his torch left and right, happy to receive the same signal from those above him. With a smile on his face, the man rushed forward to another stair case. Smile that quickly disappeared from his face as another wave of guilt washed over him. Akira was dead. The one person that was his friend ever since they were just kids in this god forsaken world. He knew he couldn't do anything to save him, but it did nothing to stop his thoughts and 'what if's that filled his head. He always said he would jump into fire for him, that he was willing to give up his life for the man that saved him from the life of slavery all those years ago.
And when it came to it, he just didn't.
If Akira didn't save him on that day, he would have lived his life as some fat noble's servant, and that is assuming he would even be lucky enough to not participate in one of those sick games that the nobles were organizing for entertainment. As far as Gab was concerned, from that point on Akira could have very well been his master. He was willing to do anything for him. Or at least, so he thought.
So what if he couldn't do anything to save him? He could have still stayed there with him. Instead, he run away and left him to die alone in this dark, forgotten hole in the ground. Before he knew it, he started to slow down, eventually halting altogether. What's the point? I should have died there with him. And instead I'm now getting rescued while he ended up as a damn snack for a Danger Beast. Heh... And here I thought the revolution will make things a better for all of us...What a joke... He fell against the wall and slumped down onto the floor. Torch fell down as hot tears started to run down his cheeks again. "Damn it…" The prospect of getting saved suddenly didn't seem so nice to him anymore.
What the hell was he going to say to the others? What was he suppose to tell Asako? He had just left her husband to get eaten, what could he possibly say to make that better.
He could hear the steps approaching. Surprisingly only two sets. Seems like the rescue group didn't have a calm trip either... "Gab? Is that you?" A familiar voice suddenly snapped beck to reality. Even without looking he could say that this was Asako's father, Kazuto. One of the people he was secretly hoping to not see for as long as possible. The old man immediately knelt over him and started checking his injuries. He had a lot of them, but hey were nothing too serious. Just some bruises and cuts here and there. At most he broke a rib. "Damn it boy, I was thinking you're dead. Where's Akira? Did he..." The man only now noticed the tears in Gab's eyes.
"I'm sorry... He's..." More tears stared to fall. "He's dead... I-I left him there... I'm so sorry..." He felt Kazuto slowly placing his hand on his shoulder, but didn't look up at him. The old man stayed silent for a while, silently gathering his thoughts before finally letting out a long sigh.
"You're not to blame kid. I don't know what happened down there, but its a miracle that you even made it in one piece. Asako will understand."
Gab really did want to believe that, but he couldn't. He still remembered how these two were. How they met. How they grew closer. How happy they were together. And most of all, the smiles on their faces when they finally got married. And how long did that marriage last? Two days? How was she suppose to forgive him for leaving the man she loved more then anything else in the world?
How was he suppose to forgive himself?
Suddenly the second man Kazuto was with spoke up. "Don't worry." He felt him place his hand on his shoulder. But his hand felt strange. Something was off about it. He looked up at the man, only to cringe in fear at what he saw. Two red orbs were staring down at him, both with a cross shaped slit on them. There were bits of fresh blood on his face, and he smelled as if he just took a bath in Danger Beast guts. His small smile showed him bits of his teeth. Teeth that looked sharp enough for him to rip him to pieces with ease. There was one thing that quickly overwhelmed all of that though. The pure, almost childish kindness that radiated from his eyes and smile. It was almost enough to completely calm him down on its own.
"I know how you feel. I've lost a lot of friends too. Some of them I could have saved if I was only stronger back then..." He could swear he saw a tear rolling in his eyes. "I'll never forget any of them, and you won't forget your friend either, but don't let this drag you down for too long. I'm sure he would want you to be happy." With those simple words spoken, the man got up, letting go of his shoulder. "We have to destroy the Danger Beast nest. Do you know where it is?"
"Aren't you moving to that too fast? We should let him calm down and rest first." Kazuto spoke up.
"I know, but we need to get this done as fast as possible. If another wave of Beasts attacks he might not make it."
"I know but-"
"It's fine Mr. Kazuto, really. I'll be fine... Somewhat." With his arm, he wiped the tears from his face as he got up again. "There is no nest down here." Both of the others stared at him in shock. "It just can't be here. The Archive was never meant to be finished. They just kept on building it as the time went on, adding floor after floor whenever they needed to. The floor we're on was never even finished."
"The nest's not here? Then where is it then? We came here all the way from the top floor and we saw nothing that could be a nest!" He started rubbing the back of his head. "Tatsumi, you've got any ideas?"
Looking back at him, he saw the boy staring up at the darkness that only his eyes could pierce. "Its pretty obvious right? If the nest is not down here, and it's not on any of the levels we passed, then there is only one place left, right? The nest is at the very top."
Song of the day: Starset - Monster
