Ever since Charles and Kimiko secured the antibiotics, for four months the PLA troops have roamed the streets of Kumul, hunting for any survivors and killing them on sight. Supply drops have entirely ceased; helicopters would instead be deployed for execution purposes. The roars of helicopter blades and sounds of minigun fire tearing buildings and people into ribbons were unfortunately common. The PLA aimed to exterminate everyone in the city. Not just because of the people's attacks on them, but also as a way of censorship.
The Chinese government saw Calamity Zero not as a disaster bu as a….demonstration. In the epicenter of the spacequake, the PLA had found a singular woman that they codenamed Phantom, who they deduced to be the cause of the disaster. They captured her, and they conducted terrible experiments on her. Calamity Zero had triple the destructive radius of Little Boy and Fat Man combined, the two nuclear weapons dropped on Japan to help end World War II. Because China at this time had very few nuclear weapons and were growing as an economic power, China worked tirelessly to harness Phantom's power. They used….everything. Anything to subdue her. Titanium bonds, electric shocking, impalation, branding, oxygen deprivation, pitchcapping, denailing, flaying, beating, rape, starvation, sleep deprivation…..whatever it took to break the Spirit into submission.
Three months. Three grueling months, and they turned Phantom into a living weapon.
Keeping the news of Calamity Zero within their borders was difficult, but a combination of genius cybersecurity experts, public relation officers, and ruthless military techniques prevented anyone from disseminating "Project: Phantom." Outer cities that were afflicted but not destroyed by the spacequake, including Kumul, were previously taken care of and confined in order to keep them silent while the government dealt with initial damage control and research. Once both of those objectives were accomplished, the information on spacequakes was deemed to be so hypersensitive that anyone that was not a high-tier government member that knew of the information had to be killed.
See what I mean when I said this was the story that no one has said, but that you need to know?
As such, the PLA scoured each outer city for personnel and shot all they could. Some cities were easier than others, as not every city had such an adamant anti-PLA sentiment and had faith that the army would care for them. To minimize the cost of destruction, they refrained from destroying the cities outright. That way, the city could be cleaned up, rebuilt, and refilled with ignorant citizens to minimize any sort of informational vulnerability or outside suspicion.
This was but a secondary objective, however. For incredibly resilient cities, they ignored this, and they sent out everything after them, going full-waged war on them. However, a few select cities were able to repel this PLA-induced genocide. These cities had access to anti-air launchers, turrets, assault rifles, helicopters, and even Territories like the one the Invictus leader had taken. The PLA was losing great amounts of resources and lives in trying to silence these people. Keeping them alive any longer risks a leak of information, which would be further compounded if their methods of censorship were also revealed. The United Nations would have had a field day.
If only….oh, if only Phantom had not submitted so quickly….they might have had a chance. Especially because they had him…
[_]
{Location: Urumqi, China.
Date: 9/19/1991
Time: 8:43 PM}
["Command, we're sending in the VIP into the city."]
["Acknowledged."]
A solitary fighter jet hurried along into the targeted city, carrying a large metal canister on the bottom. As the jet hurried along the sky, the people within took notice, alerting everyone within of the potential attack.
As a response, multiple groups of people equipped with anti-air weapons took aim at the jet and attempted to shoot it down. One volley of missiles roared towards the jet. Flares were launched to ward off the wave of missiles, but they could only ward off so many…
BOOM! Direct hit!
["Mayday, mayday! We're going down…"]
The jet crashed into a skyscraper, causing a massive explosion and bringing the entire structure to come crashing down, kicking up dust and rubble and crumbling down. Before the jet was destroyed along with the large building, it dropped the canister on top of a building safely.
"We got it! But...what did that plane drop over there?!"
["Kill them all."]
Within the canister, something...electric, a powerful current of electricity, would run through. What would follow would be a feminine shriek of pain as the current conducted incredibly well with the metal within, amplifying the electricity's ability to hurt someone.
The current would stop as well as the screaming until the top of the canister was removed by an incredible burst of energy. The metal door would fly up into the air before it came back down into the ground, crashing with a few clangs and bouncing a few times before coming to a complete rest.
What existed inside was a…..an amalgamation of pixels. What the…? No, this wasn't her true appearance. She could mask her appearance and her voice well, making her incredibly hard to identify and detect. That was more compounded in photographs, videos, or even one's memories.
Various people within the city watched Phantom as she panted heavily, taking in her surroundings and her given objective. Though it was hard to make out, a sort of choker could be seen around the female's neck.
◘"Kill….them...all…"◘
Dangerous spatial energy would gather in her two…..hands(?), swallowing up dust, debris, and the air as she charged a technique.
"What is that woman doing?"
"I don't know…"
Instead of doing anything to stop her, the entire city watched her charge her spell of space. Seconds would drag on, minutes felt like years, until Phantom broke the tense silence with one word.
◘"Cataclysm."◘
Letting her energy go free, she launched a deadly spacequake, rapidly consuming infrastructure and people alike. There was no time for any sort of reaction, not even to scream in terror or widen one's eyes in shock. Matter became….utterly destroyed. The purplish burst of space violated so many laws of the universe that it simply compounds of Phantom's power. Everything was impartially removed from existence. The only object to remain of Urumqi was a purple sphere of vanity and silence. Silence…
Or….it would have been…
"ZAPHKIEL! DALET!"
All of that destruction, death, apocalypse...it would all suddenly reverse. The entire city regressed from a barren, purple wasteland to its standard condition once again.
◘"What the-?! How?!"◘
"You /really/ think I will let this city and everyone within it die so easily?! Please, I have things to protect, and this place is one of them."
A solitary male floated in front of Phantom. He had short brown hair, a blue left eye and a golden clock right eye. He wore a suit, an Astral Suit, colors of charcoal black and blazing orange adorning themselves throughout the attire. In his white gloved hands were a musket and a flintlock pistol, weapons that looked like they were from the 19th century. Behind him, a giant golden clock ticked and ticked.
Wait...wait a minute, what the-
◘"That was you?! Hmph….I didn't know other crystals leaked into this world. I brought only three with me. But no matter, you're in my way. You and Zaphkiel. Therefore, your life is forfeit."◘
"You're going to kill me already? Oh please, you didn't even ask me for my name! How rude…."
A blade aimed for the male's throat would be blocked by a blood-red shadow.
"Ah...you should not have done that."
The shadows blocking Phantom's blade would spread until they gained a hold of her frame, placing her under the male's influence. As such, the male would give a smug smile as he used his shadows to hurl Phantom down towards the ground.
The Spirit found the impact debilitating, but nothing major. Torture that the PLA had put her under made this seem like nothing. It still dazed her nonetheless, leaving her open to the male's discretion.
"Zaphkiel, Zayin."
Pointing to 7:00, the golden clock imbued his pistol with a bullet that can stop time of anything it hits. Using the shadows to bind Phantom further, he fired the shot. With little time to react and no way to move, Phantom took a direct hit, freezing her entire body in black save for maroon outlines. Clones of this time-manipulating male would form, all with the same guns in their hands, and started to fire a barrage at the frozen Phantom.
"Zaphkiel, Lamedh."
Lamedh?! What the fuck, that's not even an hour I know!
To activate this hour, the male would swing his flintlock pistol twice clockwise around the clock before pointing to 12:00. Once it was activated, Zaphkiel imbued the male with this particular bullet...although the wisps that entered his flintlock pistol were white instead of a dark red. Phantom was still frozen in place, leaving her defenseless to the next bullet she would face.
"Inevitable event creation. The bullet that stops for nothing and no one. The God-Slaying Hour. Farewell."
He placed the pistol on top of her forehead...only for it to phase through completely. Phantom was intangible.
"What the hell?! That's not….shit...where is she?!"
Zayin's effect expired, and the literal phantom of Phantom...disappeared into nothingness. Such an event would hint at a victory, but this male seemed to know better.
'Where is she?! Dammit, I have to use Lamedh first on something before I can access Yud Aleph to search for her. This could be bad. She could be anywhere at any time, and I'm defenseless-"
◘"Punishment."◘
All of a sudden, the male's body would be filled with bullet holes in a single burst, some through his limbs, some through his stomach, a few through his heart and lungs. He found it hard to move, breathe or even think because of the immense pain he was going under. Multiple gasps for dear life would be made.
"How...ack…"
Punishment. The damage taken by a copy of Phantom is instantly recast on whomever she wills it on, returning and amplifying the damage.
◘"Now, you die. Even your clones can't save you from this. Virus."◘
If the male's critical condition didn't spell out death, PHantom's next technique placed the final nail into the coffin. Invisible and intangible spores, millions and trillions and quintillions of them, exited Phantom's body almost as a pheromone. The spores could be absorbed by another person either by breathing them in or through the skin. Because they technically didn't 'exist', nothing can block them.
For the desperate male gasping for life, it was an utter death sentence.
Once the spores were inside the body, they attacked the soul. Each spore was actually a condensed energy source, and it simply entered the soul, filling it with more and more and more and more energy until the soul can't take anymore and
Overheats.
And if the soul overheats, it becomes...nonexistent. The person does not merely die...their existence is gone forever. Any memories or trace of them is removed and they are unable to reincarnate or continue in the afterlife. Nothing is left.
The male's clothes disintegrated in a blazing white light as he fell dead on the ground, naked. A singular, golden sphere clinked onto the ground, resting next to the soulless male. No one could decipher Phantom's face...but what would that gain? You want my guess? I bet it was stoic, emotionless, free of any feeling at all. No satisfaction, no pain, no happiness, no disgust. She was broken. Utterly broken.
◘"Pitiful. Though you had power and an Angel on your side, this battle was over the minute you turned against me. Besides, I knew what you would do before you even conjured the concept of your plan. Such trash, so utterly unfortunately nothing. Be glad that I remember you now. But that will not be for long. Now then…"◘
Spectators to the battle between the male and Phantom were at first mortified by Phantom's violence, until they forgot about the male entirely. Even still, they saw a female threatening to charge something and, instead of letting curiosity freeze them, all of them attacked. Bullets, rockets, knives, screams. Everything.
"Aegis."
It was all for naught.
A black sphere, almost as a Territory, surrounded Phantom, and everything headed towards her was stopped by that sphere. Clinking down to the ground, the projectiles rested harmlessly, never to kill anyone else ever again in its disuse. There was not even a sign of stress on the barrier. No dent, crack, or even influence. It was just a showcase of how utterly weak the humans were compared to Spirits.
Once the assault was finished, the barrier would unfold to reveal Phantom, who had finished charging another…
◘"Cataclysm."◘
And this time, there was nothing and no one to reverse time. So it continued….
[_]
"AH! What the...hell...why?!"
Even for the reminders I've had of my past, none were as volatile as this. That...wasn't my past. Far from it. I didn't know that information, or about anything on Phantom, or who the hell that man was.
"ZAPHKIEL! Come forth, and take your true form, won't you?!"
I swung my legs over the bloody hospital bed and, sure enough, Zaphkiel in her true form appeared in front of me. She looked...beautiful as always. Two foreboding black angel wings, pale skin, gothic, lolita attire, and a rose in her right hand. Her two eyes, like my right eye, were golden clocks.
{"Yes?"} Her voice….good grief, it always sends me chills down my spine.
"What the hell was that? Why...that could not have come from my own psyche. Who...who was that? A Spirit under you before I was?!"
{"Ah, Kurumi, you must be so confused right now~ Calm down. If you're a good girl, I'll answer some of your burning questions."} The archangel gave me an amused chuckle as I did my best to give her a threatening glare.
{"Alright, alright. First, yes, that dream was not of yours, but of mine. All those events that you saw and the information you heard...all of those are indeed true. The PLA attempted to use Phantom as a superweapon and viciously worked to censor information about her and Calamity Zero. When they finally forced Phantom to follow their orders, they sought to exterminate every outer city of everyone that resided in them. One outer city, Urumqi, had a Spirit try to defend against Phantom and the PLA. His Angel….you're looking at her, darling."}
"Okay, thanks for summarizing my 'dream.' Either way, I thought humans became Spirits if they lived and died horribly and were deemed worthy at a second chance of life. How did he die and become a Spirit?"
{"Tokisaki Kurumi, is that really what you believe? Good heavens...you're sorely mistaken. The only 'requirement' for someone to become a Spirit is to absorb a Sephira Crystal and for the Angel to accept the human. I don't know why, but I was dropped as a Crystal in that city, and he absorbed me, and I accepted him. After Phantom launched another spacequake, I was forced back into the Spirit Dimension, whereupon you stumbled upon me and well….here we are."}
"...You've got to be playing with me here…"
{"I know I'm a rather disgustingly playful Angel, but I'm dead serious. Not all Spirits are humans that have died. Don't you remember Miku Izayoi and Origami Tobiichi?"}
"I...ugh...you're right...then...how did I end up in Xan-"
{"I'm not answering that question."}
"Damn...alright, then. What about Lamedh? His shadows. He used Dalet to reverse the time of an entire city to reverse a fucking spacequake! How did he have access to so much power and I don't, even with eight years of us being together?!"
{"Eh, well, he had a great amount of time at his disposal, dealing with all the healthy, young PLA guards and whatnot. Plus, his intentions don't necessarily put my own existence in danger…"}
"...Is that why you hide your powers from me, Zaphkiel?"
{"Indeed. Besides, there's a reason the hour hasn't been unlocked. It takes nearly all of your current temporal energy pool to even activate. The bullet created is unaffected by time, causality, distortion, or even defense. It is an absolute bullet, an inevitable event. It also ignores any immortality, godlike status, or immunity of that sort. A shot like that to the head will kill /anyone./"}
"I see….so, why not tell me of the other hours?"
{"No way. No fucking way. I'm not giving you more information than I deem I need to. I can't stop you from unlocking my potential, as I've already relinquished to you. That being said, I'm not holding your hands through this hell. Be aware that every ability you try out consumes precious time for me~"}
Her smile of satisfaction and superiority and pride….I wanted to punch her, even if all that I would hit is the air.
"Fine then, I will. One last question….what was his name?"
{"Why does that matter? It won't change the past nor allow you a clear benefit."}
"Just give me the damn name, Zaphkiel."
{"...The Nightmare before you was once known as Aaron Zhu. Now, he is forgotten by everyone in the world and beyond it."}
"Thank you. Please, disappear from my sight."
Zaphkiel's form vanished into nothingness as I took a heavy sigh. "PLA, Phantom, Lamedh, Aaron Zhu...ah, can't have an easy day anymore, can't I?"
My voice resounded in the abandoned hospital's walls. Though it was audible, no one was here to hear it.
"Zaphkiel, I will unlock more than just your full potential. I will break your limits with my own willpower and learn to control power that you can barely even imagine.
Eventually, I will become so independently strong that I'll make my Demon King shudder in fear at the sight of me…"