Chapter 2: First Mission

Waking up a while later, I noticed that I was indeed in my room. My stuff which has been placed in cardboard boxes, are neatly stacked in one corner of the room. Figuring I should check the manuals first, I went up to the terminal in my room and logged in. I soon found an email from Kouta, asking about the time for his own appointment. Unfortunately I didn't know either, due to being informed only of my own appointment.

Having read everything about New-Types, Old-Types, the God Arcs, Blades, Guns, Shields and Bullets, I decided to stick with balanced set for my God Arc. Namely: an Assault Gun, a long Blade and a normal Shield. Satisfied with my choice, I decided to try testing it out for myself.

Heading back to the entrance via the elevator, I decided to check in with Hibari to see if there were any tutorials and sure enough, there were. Eager to get started, I decided to take on all tutorials at once.

-Meanwhile-

Director Johannes von Schicksal was sitting in his office when a familiar face showed up on his screen.

"Ah Paylor, I was wondering when I'd hear from you. Do you have the results?"

Sakaki smiled, "Of course, I'm sending to you right now. And I thought I should inform you about something. It concerns the New-Type, Kamino Yukimoto."

"Is it bad?" Johannes asked with a look of concern on his face.

"Actually, it's astounding. The New-Type has just finished his 5th training program and is currently starting on his 6th."

Johannes sighed, "Paylor, there is nothing special about that. A few other Gods Eaters are also able to…"

Paylor however interrupted, "I wasn't finished, Johannes. The New-Type had started his training… 2 minutes ago."

This information had caught the director's attention, "The new recruit started his training program 2 minutes ago and has finished 5 of them… non-stop?" Paylor smiled again, "That's right, speaking of which he just finished his last one."

Johannes' eyes became wide, "Paylor, send me all data recorded on Kamino Yukimoto." Paylor said with an amused tone, "Already sent them. Like I said before Johannes, did you really ever retire?"

Ignoring that comment, Johannes continued, "Continue to observe the new recruit and give weekly reports of your findings." Shutting off contact with Paylor, Johannes decided to review the data. Paylor was right, what he found was nothing short of astounding; the only person he knew who has similar data was…

"It would seem that you have somewhat exceeded my expectations. I look forward to seeing what you are truly capable of in the future." Johannes muttered with a smile on his face.

-Back at the Entrance-

"That's it? C'mon Hibari, there's got to be more." I pleaded with the operator.

"I'm sorry, Kamino. But you finished all your tutorials, there's simply nothing left to teach for basics since you got them all hands down." She then looked at me with a puzzled look on her face, "I'm surprised you really were able to finish them all in 1 go, not to mention the time you took to complete them."

I returned Hibari's puzzled look with my own, "I'm just a fast learner, that doesn't mean I'll be just as effective in actual combat." Sighing to myself, I wondered what I was going to do when my stomach emitted a large growl, reminding me that I had not eaten anything since I came here.

Giggling, Hibari asked, "Wanna join me for dinner? It looks like your friend has the same idea." Shrugging, I accepted the offer and followed Hibari to the cafeteria. There I saw another person I had met earlier, "Licca, you here to have dinner too?"

The mechanic looked at me before giving me a smile, "Kamino, I see that your stomach decided to give in right after your training." She said jokingly. Rolling my eyes, I sarcastically replied, "Yeah, yeah. My stomach practically collapsed on me while I tried to find something else to do after training, so sue me why don't ya." Laughing, I thanked the staff for giving me my meal before sitting at a table. Hibari sat next to me while Licca sat opposite of me. We chatted about some normal stuff before things shifted to my life before I became a Gods Eater.

"So what were you doing before Fenrir signed you up?" Licca asked. While chewing my food, I thought about it before swallowing to reply. "I was staying in the Outer Ghetto doing odd jobs and before that, I was travelling the world." I heard both girls gasped as I told them. "Isn't that dangerous, there's still a lot of Aragami out there!" Hibari exclaimed. Nodding my head, I replied, "True, but some things in this world are still worth risking your life for. Besides, I would still be stuck in Malaysia and not be here if I didn't, right?"

Licca frowned, "That's true, but don't you miss your home or your family? Don't they get worried?" This time, I shrugged while chewing my food before swallowing, "My parents were killed in an Aragami attack when I was still a baby. Can't really say I miss them, since I never even got the chance to know who they were. Been an orphan ever since." I soon stopped as I realized that both girls had gone silent due to this revelation… Damn, I probably shouldn't have said that.

"Anyway, it's getting late. I should go to sleep; last thing I want is for Tsubaki to chew my head off for not coming on time. Good night." I hurriedly gave my tray to the staff and made my way back to my room.

Boy, did I make it awkward should we meet again tomorrow. Thankfully, I didn't tell them the reason WHY I wanted to become a Gods Eater. That… was something I wasn't prepared to tell anyone yet.

Collapsing into my bed, I felt my eyelids slowly close themselves before I drifted off to sleep…

-The next day-

Waking up the next morning, I had nagging feeling that I had forgotten something, something really important. Thinking about for a while, I decided to leave it be as worrying about wouldn't help. If it was important, it surely will come back to me.

After a nice refreshing shower, I wore another formal Fenrir uniform and made my way to the entrance. I had hoped that Hibari did not remember what said last night; however it was obvious she did, considering she was avoiding eye-contact and was trying to find something to say. Sighing I said, "Hibari, it's cool. I intend to live out the rest of my life for my parents' sake. After all, they are reason I'm still alive, right?" Hibari nodded in understanding before smiling.

Smiling back, I asked, "Is there anything for me today?" Hibari checked her computer, "Yes, in fact Tsubaki has just assigned a mission for you. You are going to be sent to the Old City to eliminate a single Ogretail, the name of the operation is Devil's Tail. Understood?" I nodded my head, "I got it." Hibari continued, "Also on this mission, Lindow will be accompanying you. That reminds me, I have to tell Lindow that the director wants to see him once he gets here."

So not only is am I assigned to fight a single Aragami, I'm being chaperoned as well? Hopefully this won't last, or I REALLY will be ineffective for actual battle.

A few minutes later…

Wondering when this 'Lindow' person would get here, I had half a mind to go look for him myself when I heard Hibari said "Oh, Lindow… the Director said if I saw you, to tell you to come see him." Lindow replied with, "Okay!... Don't tell him you saw me." I couldn't help but give an amused look at my superior officer, who apparently isn't on good terms with the Director. Walking right up to me, Lindow greeted me, "Hey there, rookie. The name is Lindow Amamiya. On paper, I'm your superior officer. But never mind all the boring stuff, okay?"

Quite laidback and carefree for veteran God Eater… Wait a sec, Amamiya? He's Tsubaki's brother? Man, I heard about opposite personalities but never thought I'd actually see one!

"All I'm asking is that you become someone I know will have my back. OK?"

Before I can give my reply, another person passed by. I looked at the newcomer, who is just an equal a beauty as Tsubaki is… though why her clothes were just as revealing really puzzles me. It's true that it allows her to move quicker in battle, but I doubt it'll offer as much defense.

"Oh, who is this, a rookie?" The woman asked.

Lindow replied with a seemingly annoyed tone, "Yeah and I'm pounding him with all our severe rules right now, so take a hike, Sakuya."

"Yes, sir! Big Boss, sir!" Sakuya said with a seemingly mocking tone before giving me wave, which I returned with curt nod. As I did so, a particular thought crossed my mind.

These two obviously have a thing for each other.

Grinning to myself mentally, I continued to listen to Lindow as Sakuya left. "So anyway, that's about it. OK? I'm sending right into battle now… but I'll be accompanying on this mission." Lindow paused while checking the clock, "Hey , look at the time. We're gonna head out, guys."

-Location: The Old City
Mission: Devil's Tail-

I silently watched at the ruined city as Lindow remarked on its state, "Boy, this place has seen better times, huh?" Not sure how to reply, I merely shrugged. Lindow then gave out his orders, "Hey rookie, we're gonna start the simulation now. You got three orders:
1. Don't die
2. If your number's up, get out
3. Lastly, hide
4. If you're lucky, catch the enemy off guard and blast it
… Wait was that 4?
The bottom line is, you've got to survive. Just follow that order, and everything else will be fine."

Nodding my head, I wondered if Lindow did this on purpose. Considering that this may not be the first Lindow has trained new recruits… Yeah, Lindow definitely did it on purpose.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road!"

Before leaving, I held out my God Arc in front of me and placed it close to my forehead, "I'm counting on you, partner." Lindow looked amused at the display, "Partner?" I looked at Lindow, "Yeah, my God Arc is my partner. Without it, I'm pretty much useless against Aragami." Lindow seemed to consider it before replying, "True that, but aren't the God Arcs are just as useless without us God Eaters to wield them?" I frowned, "That's true too, I guess we just plain need each other." Lindow laughed while insisting we get a move on.

Jumping down from the cliff we were on, we went to find our target: a lone Ogretail. Along the way, I salvage a few materials which would be handy later on. Just before turning the corner, I heard what sounded like chewing. Holding out my hand as a signal for Lindow to slow down, I quietly crept to the corner and peeked. Sure enough, the Ogretail was there, feasting on some leftover building materials. "Good work, rookie." Lindow voiced his approval.

Running straight towards the lone Aragami I readied my God Arc in assault mode, the Ogretail had heard my footsteps and turned around… only to cry out in pain and as I striked it three times continuously. It tried to counter by swinging its tail, but I jumped to avoid it. Lindow joined the fray by attacking the Ogretail by the side, causing it to lose balance and fall. Seizing the chance, both Lindow and I released our God Arcs' predator forms. Readying my blade, I cried out, "Devour it!" as my God Arc took a huge chunk out of the Ogretail. I soon felt energy surging through me as the Burst Mode activated.

Eager to end the battle, I switched to gun mode and fired at the currently immobile Ogretail while Lindow continuously attacked it with his sword. Since I didn't have any confidence in hitting a moving enemy, I always utilize my gun to the fullest by hitting an immobile target. As soon as I used up my OC (Oracle Cells), I dashed towards the Ogretail to deal the finishing blow. However, the Aragami did not plan to fall without fight and swung its tail in a circular motion. Lindow quickly dodge to the side while I brought my shield to bear. Feeling the full impact, I felt my feet being dragged on the ground before stopping. Ready to counterattack, Lindow and I simultaneously struck the Ogretail which gave one final cry before falling on the ground, dead.

"Nice job, rookie. Looks like you've put your all that training-in-one-go to good use." Lindow remarked. I looked puzzled, "You knew about that?" Lindow nodded, "Yeah, even Tsubaki was surprised that you mastered the basics in such a short time… And that's saying something." He then gestured at the Ogretail, "Now that its dead, you have to remove the core by devouring it, otherwise it'll just come back again. Also, you get materials from slain Aragami as well, to make items or improve your God Arc." Nodding to Lindow's instructions, I removed the core before leaving with Lindow on a Fenrir helicopter, the same ride that brought us here.

As soon as we returned, I handed both the core and my God Arc to Licca, who told me that I had lecture with Dr. Sakaki. Thanking her, I quickly made my way to the laboratory and saw that Kota was there as well.

Dr. Sakaki greeted me as soon as I arrived, "There you are." Taking my seat, the Doc gave a slight cough before starting, "All right, let's jump in. What do you think an Aragami is?" he said while looking at me. I wasn't sure how to reply when he continued, "…"The nemesis of humankind", "an absolute predator", "destroyer of the world"… Well, that about sums it up." I had to admit, that was a pretty good way of summing things up in a nutshell. "Now then, these aren't misconceptions. Rather, you could say it means one simply has his eyes fixed on the phenomena before him…"

"Okay, I have a question. Have you ever wondered how and why the Aragami came into being? As you probably know, the Aragami appeared out of nowhere one day. Since then, their numbers exploded. Yep, as if they were ripping through every evolutional process." Paylor continued while striding back and forth. Right at moment though, Kota gave a yawn. "Hey listen, does this lecture have point? I mean what do we care about the reason for the Aragami existence?"

I was pretty sure that the lecture was meant to have point since we have go through it with it, and was just about to tell Kota that when I noticed the Doc standing next to him. "Sure about that?" he asked, shocking Kota. "An Aragami has no brain. Neither does it have a heart, nor even spinal fluid. We frail humans will perish if we get blasted in the head or the chest…" I visibly winced at the last part. "…but that's not enough to bring an Aragami down. An Aragami is a cluster of Oracle Cells, each of which is a single-cell that thinks and preys on others. That's right, an Aragami is in itself a colony of thousands, make that hundreds of thousands of life forms."

If the Ogretail I fought earlier had hundreds of thousands of Oracle Cells, I hate to imagine how many were present in the even bigger Aragami.

"And this powerful, graceful fusion of cells can't be destroyed by conventional weapons – not the ones we have, anyway… So how on earth are you people are suppose to battle these Aragami?" A pretty easy question, even Kota would be able answer and sure enough, he did. Paylor nodded, "Yes, the short answer is that using a God Arc, a bio weapon embedded with same Oracle Cells is the only way to stop the fusing of an Aragami's Oracle Cells. However, this can also rogue cell colonies to refuse, and then form a new entity. The best thing to do would be to extract the Aragami Core, the cell colony serving as a command center. But this is extraordinarily difficult to do. Even with God Arc, we have no way to deliver a decisive blow. Somewhere along the way, the people likened this absolute being to the countless Gods that have been passed down around here and they started to call it "Aragami"."

That explains where the name came from, always wondered about it.

"All right, that's it for today's lecture. I'd like you to refer to the Norn database in the terminal for more details about the Aragami. Understood?"

A while later, I lay down on my bed in my room, wondering. Would Aegis Project really be able to give us brief respite from the Aragami? Only time will tell…

… Okay, this one was a bit longer than expected. Rate, comment and share your thoughts.

See you all next time.