Control
The gates and the guards beside them were suddenly blasted by a huge explosion of emerald energy, all courtesy of Ritsuka, who held a horrified look on his face. Behind him, stood Shirona, never losing her smile despite everything going on around her.
"This… I didn't…" -
His grief was interrupted by Shirona's hand on his shoulder, turning to face her directly - "Come on, my child, we still have to get inside after all" -
He tried to control himself but he couldn't fight her. The Viper's Elixir, which she forced him to drink, was not only a power boost, it was a way for her to manipulate his own actions. But this wasn't the test of loyalty that Shirona wanted from Ritsuka. No, far from it.
The real test would come once they were inside the White House.
Just then, their entrance was interrupted by a number of turrets coming out of the ground and suddenly shooting at them, with Shirona using her powers to create a barrier around herself and Ritsuka to block the bullets, which had been powered up by the Elixir.
"They're putting up quite a fight. Good, I expected nothing less from him" - she said, getting amused at the resistance of the president - "Ritsuka, take care of them as well" -
Once more, his body moved against his will, but at least he was happy that he wasn't being forced to kill other humans. In a flash of emerald light, his body dashed around the entrance and destroyed the turrets attacking them before returning to Shirona's side, with the woman slowly clapping.
"You're doing far better than expected. How do you feel, my child?" -
Once again, he refused to answer.
With the defenses out of the way, Shirona and Ritsuka made their way inside the White House, slowly opening the doors before being met with heavy fire from the guards. This time however, Shirona didn't request her son to deal with the enemies, but instead decided to do it herself.
With a wave of her hand, she opened a gateway underneath them, out of which emerged several tentacles which grabbed the soldiers before dragging them inside as they screamed and shot them in a futile attempt to break free. Then, the gateway closed, and Ritsuka looked at her with a question.
"Where did they go?" -
Her eyes met his again. This time, no laughs, no smiles, just a cold truth - "They're dead" -
The first wave of resistance was dead, and the pair continued across the White House, but they knew well that this wouldn't be the last, and sure enough more soldiers ambushed them.
Even with the weapons imbued with the power of the Elixir, it wasn't enough to even slow down the Empress of Arcana, who easily dispatched the attackers by summoning a number of monstrous eyes from behind her to bombard her enemies with a barrage of lasers.
From the bodies of one of the dead soldiers, a small bottle dropped, confusing Shirona. She approached it and picked it up, noticing the bright red liquid inside of it.
"So this is what he was hiding from me… The bastard, after he only rose to power through me" - she said, thinking about crushing it in her hand, only to then have a change of heart and keep it in her pocket.
"Why are you keeping it?" -
Shirona smiled at him - "For later" - she answered.
Their path across the White House continued, finding more and more resistance the closer they got to the president. Yet, it didn't matter what they threw at them, Shirona took them down all the same. While this was happening, Ritsuka wondered why, a sense of dread building up inside him.
Finally, they made their way outside the door to the president's room, and the last stand of his defenses, the Secret Service. Their bodies glew green, having been powered by the effects of the Viper's Elixir, and all 8 of them surrounded Shirona and Ritsuka.
"Want to deal with them son? Or should your mother give you another test of her power?" - she asked in a motherly tone, to which Ritsuka gave no answer. He didn't even spare her a look - "Fine then, I'll handle it" -
The members of the Secret Service attacked Shirona in a coordinated strike, leaving no side open for her to dodge them. Fortunately, she wasn't planning to dodge.
Just before they came into contact with her, she created a forcefield around her body which threw them away against the walls of the place. One of them got up before the others and tried to hit her with a kick to the face, but Shirona grabbed his leg and with a single move broke it, before throwing the man away.
Two others prepared ranged blasts, which she stopped mid air and redirected at them, making them impact against their original users, destroying their upper body at the touch.
With two down, Shirona began to grow tired. For someone trying to go against her, to pose a challenge to her rule, she at least expected him to have better defenses. But this? This was pathetic. How did he even expect this to stop her?
Still in her thoughts, she dodged the strike of another member while blocking another and sweeping her off her feet before crushing her face with a powerful stomp. The man that had his attack blocked then tried to strike again, only for his neck to be crushed before he could even get up from the ground.
Only 3 of them remained, with one of them creating chains with her power to hold Shirona in place while the other two charged energy beams against her. Before they could even fire however, they were destroyed by an energy whip, courtesy of Ritsuka.
"I had it under control my child, but the help is appreciated" - Shirona said to him before breaking her chains and dashing towards the one that held her in place before grabbing him by the head and crushing it.
Ritsuka thought that Shirona would keep him out of this, until she used her abilities to control his body once again. Every time she used him, he felt more and more hate towards her.
Shirona then turned her eyes to the only member she still didn't kill, which was lying on the ground with a broken leg.
"Let's keep going, he's not worth killing" -
With just that, she and Ritsuka entered the president's room, who was sitting with a serious look on his face.
"Long time no see, Lady Shirona" - the old man spoke in a tired voice.
"Indeed it has John. I was wondering why you failed to report even after all this time" -
"Things have been busy at home. With a new girl on the way and everything, I haven't had much time on my hands" -
"Is that so? Congratulations" - Shirona slowly clapped her hands before stopping and closing her eyes - "Although, you can't be too busy, seeing as you managed to get some of this" -
She then pulled the bottle out of her pocket and showed it to John - "It seems your ambitions got a bit over your head old friend" -
He remained with a serious look as she got closer to him, but it wasn't out of defiance. It was the look of someone with nothing to lose.
"I had my suspicions before that you were planning something. I'm glad to finally get confirmation on that" -
John let out a tired sigh - "How did you find out?" -
"Care to try and guess?" - Shirona's expression remained the same as she got closer and closer to John - "After all this time, you think you can hide stuff like this from me" -
Her eyes met John's, her gaze piercing through him - "I feel bad for your new kid, she will never get to know her father" - she then got away from him, and turned to Ritsuka - "My child, you know what to do" -
The boy then prepared himself for her to puppet his body against his will, but to his surprise, he was able to move. She wasn't forcing him this time, which meant…
"Go on, I'm waiting" -
"I… I won't, I can't do…" -
"Do you really wish to go against me once more?" -
"But this… Why are you making me do this?" -
"Do you need me to spell it out for you? If you wish to prove your loyalty and avoid punishment, then do as I say" -
Ritsuka remained in place. He had to hold onto what he believed. Despite the pain,despite the torture…
"What's the matter? Did you get what I said? I am your mother" - she said, as she summoned a sword in front of Ritsuka - "Pick up the weapon, and kill who I tell you to kill!" -
Ritsuka grabbed the sword in his hands, closed his eyes… And crushed it before turning to Shirona defiantly.
"So, that's how you want things to be" -
She was not amused.
