Chapter 15
Disclaimer: I don't own DGM
________________________________________________________________________________
Friedrich and the others had no problems locating their targets. They cornered them in their little house two hours before sundown. Friedrich looked at Val.
"Make sure no one notices anything that goes on." Val nodded and played the melody she had used to send the targets sleeping, only on a higher level.
"Level 3 activate: Lullaby of Hypnos" And without anyone noticing, the entire town fell asleep.
Friedrich looked at Jesaia.
"You should leave, this won't be pretty." Jesaia looked at him, then at the three people that were laying on the floor of the house, unconscious. Scratch house, this was a shack!
"What do you plan to do with them, Friedrich?" The giant man smiled.
"I will wake them up and interrogate them."
Jesaia blinked. He didn't like the way Friedrich had emphasized the word interrogate. He looked at the 'targets'. One of them was a small boy that looked sick. He turned to Friedrich. "You can't be serious, Friedrich. Do you really think they would know anything?" The man stared at Jesaia.
"Keep a lookout, we don't want to be surprised." Jesaia ground his teeth, but he knew he had no choice in the matter, activated Ifrit and used Jetstream to fly above the town.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedrich looked after Jesaia. The boy was far enough away not to bother him. He turned to Valkyrie. "Wake those three up, but only those three. Then you leave this house as well." Valkyrie nodded, turned and left while playing a few barely noticeable sounds. Friedrich's newest victims-to-be flinched and awakened. The door shut and he was alone with them.
WARNING: BRUTALITY AND GORE AHEAD
"What happened? Who are you?" The man with the hat called.
"You will tell me about your friend." Friedrich said while he grabbed the man and smashed his knee into the man's face. The man stumbled back, his nose broken.
"What is wrong with you?" The other man called and jumped towards Friedrich, but the exorcist spun around and punched the attacker in the guts. The man went to his knees, spitting blood. But Friedrich wasn't done yet. He kicked the man in the face, causing him to roll on his back, and started kicking him in the ribs. He could feel the man's ribcage breaking, but that didn't stop his kicks until he knew the bones had pierced the lungs. One of the broken ribs had pierced the skin and the bone was clearly visible.
"Now will you tell me what I want to know?" He pulled out his Innocence and activated it. The hatchet became a two-sided battle-ax with a long spike on the top. The man with the broken nose tried to get to his friend, but Friedrich brought down his weapon on him. He hit the man in the shoulder, cutting through the bone and nearly severing off the left arm. Friedrich was splattered in blood, but he simply walked towards the man he struck down. He was holding his shoulder, as if trying to keep his arm from falling off. He turned to Friedrich, who was standing before him.
"We don't know where he is, he sometimes leaves for some special job and we don't hear from him for a few weeks." It sounded desperate and in serious pain.
Friedrich looked at the man and slammed the spike of his ax through the man's thigh, breaking the bone in the process, then moved on to do the same with the other leg. Afterwards, he turned to the man whose ribs he'd broken, ignoring the fact he himself was still soaked with blood. He slammed the spike into the man's shoulder on the opposite side of the broken ribs, and slowly turned the weapon around in it.
"Where. Is. Your. Friend?" Friedrich asked again, while pulling out his weapon and slamming the broad side into the man's head.
"WE DON'T KNOW! STOP IT!" Lise, even though a child and sick, couldn't take it any more. Friedrich looked at the boy, then he threw his ax like a spear. The spike pierced Lise's stomach and nailed him to the wall behind him. His mouth guard turned crimson. By now, the floor was soaking in blood and both adults had passed out from the pain. Friedrich pulled his weapon out of the boy's stomach, stabbed it a few more times and with that reduced the boy's innards to a bloody mush, cleaned his ax on the boy's shirt and repositioned it on his back. Then he grabbed Lise and broke his wrist. While the boy screamed Friedrich proceeded to break his forearm and upper arm under his knee. He repeated this on the boy's other arm and broke both knees by stepping on them and lifting the boy's feet and finally crushed both ankles with his heels. Even if the boy survived, he would be crippled forever.
"You... Bastard! Let... Him... Go!" Friedrich turned around. The man whose legs he had pierced had regained consciousness. Friedrich threw the boy against the wall and heard something break. He turned to face the man who had spoken. The spike shrunk while the blade widened. Then Friedrich slammed the blade down into the man's side, slashing a gap into the right lung. While the man gasped, Friedrich took aim and raised his ax to decapitate him.
END OF VIOLENT SEQUENCE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia had kept a lookout for anyone, but then he heard the screams of pain. He shot back down to the shack. Valkyrie was standing in front of the door. Jesaia could hear another cry of agony.
"Get out of my way." He growled at her. She looked into his eyes, then she stepped aside. Jesaia saw blood flowing from under the door. He ran it down and practically fell into the room. His eyes widened as he saw Friedrich raising his ax to decapitate a man that seemed barely alive.
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, FRIEDRICH?!" When Jesaia looked around, he felt sick to the core. "What on earth are you thinking? I told you they don't know anything!"
Friedrich lowered his ax and looked at Jesaia. "You are defying orders. Get back in the air."
Jesaia stared at him. "To hell with orders! And if you even touch them one more time, that's exactly where I'll send you. Now get away from them or, so god help me, I'm gonna burn you to a crisp!" As if to underline his words, black flames were flickering around his gloves.
Friedrich looked at him, then he walked to a wall and used the blood he spilled to write something.
"What are you doing? " Jesaia seemed confused.
Friedrich looked at him. "I'm leaving a message for our real target."
"But why are you..." Then Jesaia understood and he stared in disbelief. "You never wanted any information, you just did this to them to cloud the Noah's mind with anger, didn't you?"
Friedrich remained silent, but the answer was obvious. Then he walked past Jesaia and out of the door.
Jesaia stared at the broken bodies. "All this slaughter and for what? This was not necessary!" he hissed. None of them had any real chance of survival. Then he noticed Val was staring at the boy laying in a corner like a marionette with cut strings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Valkyrie was looking at the little boy who was looking at her with eyes that slowly dimmed and memories washed over her.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Levrier stared at her, just a little girl back then. Her legs were tied and she was wearing a collar and a weird suit that caused pain. He spoke. "You still don't want to cooperate with us?" She weakly shook her head. After what they had done, she'd never help them. Levrier sighed. "Very well then. Increase the voltage by twenty percent and repeat."
One of the people working the machines seemed nervous. "But sir, this is a delicate process, we're stimulating her nerves to send signals of extreme pain. I don't know if her mind can take much more."
Levrier looked at the man. "Then she will serve the Order with her mind broken. As long as she doesn't die or become a cripple, neither Central nor I care about her mind, and now increase the voltage and do it again!"
The man bowed his head. "Yes sir."
An unbearable wave of agony washed over her body as she collapsed. The entire wall was a mirror, so she could see the look of pain in her eyes. What had she done to deserve this?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A single tear rolled down her face. The boy had the same eyes she had back then. What had he done to deserve this? She pulled out her flute. "Level 2 activate: Melody of Asclepius"
Jesaia witnessed how the wounds shallowed until they were no longer life-threatening. He saw the bones snapping back into their correct positions and he knew they were healing. When Val stopped playing, the men were still hurt badly, but they would probably make it.
"Why are you stopping?" he asked. Val looked at him.
"If I heal them any more he will come back and break them again."
Jesaia nodded, but he could help but mutter a "I dare him."
They left, Jesaia still grinding his teeth about Friedrich's actions. There was such a thing as going too far, things one should not be done. Friedrich would come to regret what he had done one day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen and Tyki had changed and were ready to leave the arc, when they ran into Road.
"Allen, Tyki, where are you going?" She had put a sweet and almost passionate tone into Allen's name. "And why are you dressed like beggars?"
Tyki sighed. "We are going to visit a few human friends of mine, Allen already met them."
Road tilted her head. "Can I come along?"
Allen smiled at her. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea, I remember your opinion of normal people."
Tyki used the opportunity to add "And don't you have some homework you have to do?" Road's face fell and a annoyed expression took the place of the smile that had been there before. A few candles were suddenly floating around her.
Allen elbowed him. "You're not helping, Tyki." he muttered, loud enough for Tyki to hear him but to quiet for Road's ears. Then he looked at Road. "If you let us pass unharmed, I'll help you get that stuff done. Sound fair?"
Road seemed to think about it, then the candles disappeared. "Okay, but I'll be waiting here until you return and we'll start immediately once you're back."
Allen sighed, but he knew he had no choice in the matter. "Alright, fine. We'll start once I return."
Road seemed really happy. Tyki grinned at him while they went towards the gate. "Well well, I think you accomplished something we all thought impossible."
Allen looked at Tyki in surprise. "What do you mean?"
Tyki grinned. "You manged to get Road to look forward to doing her homework."
Allen glared at him. "Shut up. Let's go, or your friends will have forgotten what your face looks like."
Tyki's grin widened. "Let's go."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia looked around them. They were at the entrance of the mine, surrounded by forest. The only thing different from the forest they had only recently got lost in was the wide path leading to the village they had just left. Val was waiting hidden in the forest, she wouldn't actually fight unless it was unavoidable, but she could see the path and would warn them in a way only they wold notice, Friedrich had positioned himself inside of the mine, hidden in the shadows. He himself had to sit in the open. If things would go according to plan, this wouldn't even take five minutes, assuming of course, Tyki was alone like they had planned. But it was unlikely there would be companions, considering the Noah tried to keep everything away from his human friends. Should there be a companion, the three of them should be enough to take care of him. But Jesaia was still disgusted by what Friedrich had done, and they would have a discussion about this, but now was not the time. Now all they could do was wait.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tyki seemed to be in a extremely good mood. Allen smiled at Tyki's cheerfulness. But when they reached the door, he got a feeling something was terribly wrong. Tyki stepped into something that splashed. When they looked down, they saw that Tyki had stepped in a puddle of blood. They ran into the small shack, and the compassion inside of Allen went haywire. All three of Tyki's friends were laying in puddles of blood. Tyki ran towards them. All three were alive, but they had wounds that were bleeding the life out of them. The grown men had wounds on their shoulders and their limbs, while the boy had rather shallow wounds in his stomach. Allen had subconsciously activated his Innocence and as he looked at the wounds, the cape draped itself around them and somehow his Clown Belt became a makeshift bandage. It wasn't as hard or as durable as his usual Clown Belt, but as bandage, it wasn't supposed to be. And it seemed to stop the bleeding. Relieved, Allen turned to Tyki.
"I don't think they're in immediate danger and people have already found this and a doctor will be here soon." He noticed Tyki wasn't listening to him. "Tyki what's wrong. Why are you looking at... the... wall...?" But Allen had seen what Tyki was staring at.
Written on the wall, in what seemed to be blood, was a simple message: AT THE MINE
Tyki's face had darkened, and Allen knew what was going to happen even before Tyki spun around and stampeded out of the shack. Allen deactivated his Innocence and ran after him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suddenly, Jesaia heard the sound of Val's flute. The melody could only be heard by the ones that are supposed to be affected by them, unless Val didn't want them to, so there was no risk of anyone else hearing it. The signal they heard were telling them, that the target was coming, but a additional tone alerted him that there was one more person with him. Who was it and how much trouble would he bring?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen was walking beside Tyki, who had already transformed into his Noah-form and had a large Tease in each of his hands, his face twisted with rage.
"Calm down, Tyki. I know you're upset, but if you rush things, it might not end well."
Tyki glared at Allen, sheer malice in his eyes. "I wouldn't call it 'upset'. You have no idea how I feel. I nearly lost my equivalent of my life. I have my white side and my black side, and if loose on of them, my life will loose its meaning. I would be trapped in the living death of boredom."
Allen didn't know how to answer that. He thought about what Tyki had said. "Tyki, you know that the attack on your friends was most likely only done to make you make a mistake, right?" But then they entered the opening that led to the mine. There was a blond kid waiting for them. Allen recognized him, he was the fire-controlling exorcist that he had met before. But this was different. Allen felt the tension in the air, and he felt a bit nervous, even though he didn't know why.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Valkyrie had activated her Innocence on the first Level. At this stage, Phobos was not strong enough to cause real fear in Noah, but it was enough to make them nervous. It just might be enough to trigger the reaction they needed. She gave Jesaia the tone that told him to attack.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia heard the tone and activated his Innocence. "Inferno Hammer!"
A pillar of flames shot towards the heads of the two people. While the black-haired boy jumped out of the way, the Noah sunk into the ground. Jesaia smiled sadly. The trap had sprung.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedrich grinned. The target was in the trap, and the only thing he had to do was spring it. "Innocence activate. Gaia Hatchet" The weapon took its true shape and Friedrich slammed it into the ground. "Earth Spear" he muttered and grinned. Since the Noah had only sunk into the ground up to the chest, Friedrich would be able to see the priceless look that was about to appear on the Noah's face.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen looked at Tyki. He saw Tyki sink into the ground while he himself was forced to make jump to the left to avoid letting his face turn into charcoal. He looked back at Tyki, who had sunk into the earth to dodge. It seemed like the smartest move, since he'd be safe from the flames below ground. Tyki seemed about to dash to the boy, obviously intending to kill him, but then all malice left his face. He looked down his body, but Allen had no idea what was wrong since the soil hid all that was happening. Then Tyki rose back into the air, and Allen could see what was wrong. Tyki didn't rise by choice, a long cone of rocks and earth was dragging him into the air... right into the flames. Allen was in shock. Then he turned to his Noah-form and activated his Innocence while Tyki reappeared above the pillars of fire, slightly burned and clutching the cone that had impaled him to prevent it from piercing him further.
"TYKI!" Allen shouted as he jumped through the flames, protected by his coat and landed on the structure of earth. He ran up to Tyki and when he reached him, he used his claw to slash off the tip, grabbed Tyki and jumped back down to the ground. And not a moment too soon. Allen heard a loud shout coming from the mine.
"Gaia Needle!" And suddenly spikes started to shoot out of the cone. While they remained connected to the main cone, they were at least five feet long and covered the entire structure. It looked like the mix between a porcupine and a snake. Allen gulped. Had he cut off the tip a moment later, Tyki would have been skewered to death. One of the spikes grazed Allen's cheek, a few others would have killed him had Crown Clown's cape not hardened and deflected them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Shit!" Friedrich cursed. That other boy could only be Allen Walker. He had ruined everything. In less than a second, the boy had jumped on the Earth Spear, cut Tyki loose and had even evaded the attack that should have finished Tyki off, saving the Noah's life. But it wasn't a complete disaster. While the attack had only meant to lure the Noah underground, it had given him burns that would leave him immobilized for a while. And if nothing went wrong, he might bleed to death... wait, what was that? The cloak had formed some sort of bandage. He ran out of the mine and saw that Valkyrie had also left her hiding place. They would have to eliminate Walker first, he had formed some sort of barrier out of the secretion of his cape to protect Tyki. Friedrich had already seen that that stuff was harder than his attacks, so the Noah was safe while Allen was alive, or at least conscious. He ran towards Jesaia, who had stopped his attack in surprise. The yank was looking at Allen Walker like he'd seen a ghost.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia looked at the boy in disbelief. That couldn't be true. "You're the boy that showed us the way to that village. a"
The boy nodded. "That's right, and your sense of direction must really suck if you landed here."
Jesaia grinned for a second, then he became serious. "Our mission was to kill Tyki Mikk. I assume you won't hand him over, looking at the shield you cast around him, so we'll have to go through you. Wait, are you Allen Walker?"
The boy nodded again, then he turned serious as well. "And what you did to Tyki's innocent friends was also part of your mission? Who did that?" Both the boy and the girl pointed at Friedrich. Allen sighed. "I thought so. I knew there was a reason I hated you since the first time I saw you."
Friedrich grinned. "How nice, your instincts tell you I'm the most dangerous?"
Allen shook his head. "I'm not scared of you, but every part of me, including my Innocence, is yearning to kill you. Hey, not so fast, young lady." Allen dodged a strike from Val's lightning-charged flute. Then his eyes widened.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedrich had signaled Valkyrie to dash at the boy. She obeyed and Friedrich grinned. Allen's attention would be diverted away from him and her body was covering them from the boy's sight. Friedrich raised his ax and slammed it into the ground. "Earth Spikes" he muttered. Unlike the Earth spear, which was one spike aiming precisely as the target, his new move was more like a energy snake going underground and raising seven feet long spikes pointing in the direction it was moving along its path. Without knowing it, Valkyrie was hiding the spikes from Walker's eyes until one of them hit her in the back.
Jesaia was shocked. Without a moment's hesitation, Friedrich had sacrificed Valkyrie for a chance to hit Allen. He saw how she hung on the spike that hit her just above the hip, her feet dangling a few inches above the ground. "FRIEDRICH, YOU BASTARD!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen jumped out of the path of the spikes, then he returned to the girl and carefully pulled he off the spike. This was the fifth person he had to bandage today. He was just thankful that this ability had manifested, otherwise they all would have probably died away under his hands. When the bleeding had stopped, Allen turned to the other two, but kept his focus on the man with the ax. The murderous hatred inside of him increased and the claws on his left hand twitched with anticipation. "You'll pay for that." He calmly said.
Then the blond boy spoke. "I must fight you, but know that I respect you and detest him." He looked at Friedrich. "The enemy cares more for our comrades than you, Friedrich. You are a disgrace and I swear, if something like this happens again, there won't even be ashes left of you."
The man looked at him. "Shut your mouth and attack, chandelier."
"I'm not sure where I should aim." Jesaia muttered, then he noticed Allen had carried the unconscious Val out of the combat area and returned, ready for combat.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen knew that battle was unavoidable. But he wondered why he hated that man so much. As if to answer him, Crown Clown's hood covered the back of his head and his ears. He could hear a loud, inhuman cry, filled with agony, filling his ears and causing him enormous pain. Allen grabbed his head in pain.
"It looks like your Innocence is trying to help us." Friedrich mocked as he ran towards him. Allen jumped out of the way. "Nimble little bastard." Friedrich muttered in disappointment.
Jesaia clasped his hands and raised them skywards. Flames shot into the sky, then Jesaia muttered "Rain of Fire" and flaming spears shot towards Allen, who blocked them with his cape. Friedrich used the opportunity to slam him to the ground.
Why was Allen's Innocence sending him such painful noise? He didn't understand it, but he had problems focusing on the fight. Then the mask covered Allen's eyes and for a moment he thought his Innocence was trying to blind him. Then he noticed something. He could see, but now he saw things that weren't there before. He saw circles coming out of the ax the man was holding. Then he understood.
"It's not my Innocence that's screaming, it's yours. Your Innocence is crying out to be released from you." As soon as Allen spoke those words, the noise in his ears vanished. He could focus on the fight again. He slammed the man into a tree, where he slumped together, and turned to the boy. He dashed towards the blond boy and was surprised when the boy used his fire to shoot himself at him as well.
Jesaia dashed towards Allen, boosted by his Jetstream, then he raised his left fist. Black fire was surrounding it. "Hellfire Fist! " he shouted, then he punched into the cape Allen used to block the attack. When Jesaia pulled his arm back, the black flames were still burning on the cape. Allen looked at them. "Those are special flames, they burn everything and nothing but my will can extinguish them. You will burn alive."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedrich had only pretended to be knocked out. He slowly rose up, prepared his ax and quietly ran towards Allen, who was facing Jesaia. He could attack that boy from behind. 'Never turn away from an opponent until you are sure he is dead. That's my first lesson to you, and the price will be your life!' He was almost in striking range and his grin widened.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen looked at the black flames that were slowly spreading on his cape. "Clown Belt" he muttered and the cape formed a bubble around the flames and when it dropped to the floor, the fire was trapped inside. "And I can lock your flames up like that. Even if your flames burn through that, they won't burn me. What?"
Allen looked behind him. His cape had billowed up and formed those thread-like ends that had smashed the Level 3 Allen had fought in the Asian Branch to pieces. Now he saw the man with the ax jumping backwards, narrowly avoiding being sliced to ribbons. What a shame. Allen blinked. How did that happen?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia was asking himself that same question. Allen had obviously not noticed Friedrich, hell, he hadn't noticed him either, but somehow that cape had gone on a counter-offensive. The ground behind Allen looked like the scratching post for an army of cats. Jesaia remembered Allen had said his Innocence wanted Friedrich dead. He hadn't been kidding. Jesaia jumped back as a stray strand flew his way and nearly sliced him in half.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen looked in shock. He wondered what was up with that man. Why did he despise him so much? He suddenly got the feeling that if it could, his Innocence would have rolled its eyes. Then the mask slid over his eyes again, and to Allen's amazement, writing appeared.
ACTIVATE YOUR EYE. Allen took the mask off and obeyed. He opened his left eye... and had to throw up.
He could see the man's soul. It seemed his eye had traded the shared vision into a greater focus, allowing Allen to view the souls of the living as well, though it didn't seem to work on Noah. A part of Allen guessed it would work on parasitic-types either, but most of his attention was on the man's soul. It was worse than looking at a Level 4.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedrich had no idea what was going on, but he didn't care. Allen Walker was hurling his guts out and unable to fight. He kicked the boy in the side so he rolled on his back. Then he raised his ax and aimed at the neck. It was too dangerous to prolong this.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen looked at the soul again. What did the man do to turn his soul into that?! His soul was surrounded by darkness, just like the soul of a Level 3, but the face was clearly visible, sadly. The man's face was a grimace of malice, madness and perversion. It was talking, something Allen knew only from the most desperate of souls, but this one wasn't crying for help.
"More! I want more blood! I want to hear more screams, I want to feel them break, I want to smell more terror, I want them to taste more anguish, I WANT TO SEE MORE DEATH!!!"
But the worst part was behind the man's soul. Like in a grotesque imitation of angel wings, chains were sprouting out of the soul's back, other souls bound inside of them. Those souls were crying and Allen could see that they all died a violent death. The souls had nothing in common, Allen saw men and women, people that seemed to have been criminals and little children. And they were begging to be released. Allen understood that this man had, most likely without even knowing it, bound the souls of his victims to himself, denying them even the peace of death. Akuma used human souls as a power-source, but this man only bound them to him for his own, sick pleasure.
Allen stared at the man who had committed such monstrous acts, and he knew that this man could not be allowed to exist another day, otherwise there would be another tragedy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedrich looked at the boy. Even though he was itching to bathe in his blood, he decided to play the role of a good man once more.
"You are going to die now, Allen Walker. As an exorcist of the Black Order and a man of the church, I, Friedrich Himmelhund, will take your last confession. Do you have any regrets?" The boy looked at him. One eye was normal except for its golden color, the other one was black with a few red rings instead of an iris. Then he spoke.
"I have got one regret." Something in that voice gave Friedrich a bad feeling. Something was different from before. Jesaia came a bit closer to hear this, even though he kept his distance. He didn't want to be anywhere near that monster in the coat of an exorcist.
Friedrich pulled himself together. "And what is your regret?" The boy looked at him.
"That I have not killed you yet." Friedrich slammed the ax down and blood shot skywards.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sir, Operation End of Pleasure has met some difficulties." The CROW watching seemed a bit hesitant. Harlequin's flames had come closer and soon, he would have to withdraw.
"What is it? Is Tyki still in combat?" Levrier seemed nervous.
"No sir, he's out cold after our plan pushed him through Harlequin's fire, but he wasn't alone."
Levrier groaned. Complications!"Who is it?"
The CROW gulped. "Allen Walker."
Levrier cursed. Why was that brat everywhere? "What's the situation?"
"Himmelhund and Jesaia seem to have a slight advantage, something seems to be wrong with Walker. First he was holding his head, and just a minute ago his breakfast came back for another visit." Now this was good news.
Levrier leaned back. "And what's happening now?"
The CROW checked. "Himmelhund is about to execute Walker and now... ouch! That must hurt."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedrich stared at the empty ground beneath him and the four deep cuts on his left shoulder. The boy had vanished and was now standing behind him, blood on his clawed fingers.
"You bastard! For the good of mankind, I will kill you." Friedrich ground his teeth in anger.
Allen tilted his head. "Now that's not a nice thing to say to another person." He said in a friendly, yet somewhat intimidating tone.
Friedrich snorted. "You're not a person, you're a disease! I heard of the de-Fuego-affair."
Allen seemed surprised. "De-Fuego-affair? I saved Luciano's life, what problem do you have with that?"
Friedrich's ax slammed into the ground. "Gaia Impaler!" He shouted and a thin spike shot out of the ground behind Allen, aimed at the boy's heart. Allen jumped out of the way, but Friedrich just laughed. "Where do you intend to run if your enemy is the earth itself?" Allen jumped into a tree and smiled.
"What do you have against me?" Allen asked.
Friedrich's veins seemed to pop. "You rob humans of their humanity!"
Allen's face lost all humor and he looked at him completely serious. "Yes, I have taken human's humanity with their agreement and to spare them from death. You take humans lives against their will for your own sick pleasure." Jesaia, who had extinguished the fires had caused and was about to rejoin the fray, froze and stared at them.
Friedrich blinked. What did this boy know? "What are you talking about?" He asked.
Allen looked at him, something that resembled pity in his eyes. "With my eye I can see your soul, you cannot deceive me. You are a psychopath that loves to inflict pain and fear before killing innocent humans. With the sickness of your mind, you have chained the souls of your victims to you, denying them even the peace of their graves. Your Innocence cries out to be released from you, it was made to destroy Akuma, not slaughter humans. You would never be able so reach 100%, your Innocence will reject you. Now stop trying to pretend you're decent, you can't fool me."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia was staring at Friedrich. Could this be true? He knew that the man was not a nice person, to phrase it politely, and had been sentenced to execution before becoming an exorcist, but could he really be that evil? Friedrich's face was frozen in shock, then it gained an expression Jesaia had never seen before. It was the look of a madman, of a bloodthirsty lunatic, and Jesaia knew Allen had spoken the truth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedrich's expression was now matching the one his soul had and his laughter was filled with madness. Then he looked at Allen. "I thank you for revealing my true nature, you don't know how tiring it is to see all these people everyday and not be able to kill them like you want to. Yes, I love to torture people to death, I enjoy cutting down brokers and what I love even more is hurting the people that protect Akuma because they think they're family. I remember a mother whose son was an Akuma. I broke and cut off her all limbs, ripped out her eyes and pulled out her teeth, one at a time and all she did was beg me to spare her child. I smashed the Akuma before I blew her lights out to hear her last cries of desperation, it was so fun. You say I bind their souls to me? Maybe that's why I can remember what I did to every single one of them like it was yesterday. A wonderful feeling, knowing that the memories of my greatest actions will never fade."
Allen's face had gotten a weird expression, and now he was emitting malice like a candle warmth and light. "I. Will. Kill. You! Even though I am Compassion, no, because I am Compassion, I cannot leave you alive. If I spare you now, you will murder innocent people and bind them to you. I should have killed you back in the forest, you are far too twisted to leave alive."
Friedrich grinned madly. "Try it! The new day will shine on your corpse and my victory."
Allen looked at him and spoke with a terrifying calm. "The new day? The new day is something you will not see."
Friedrich made a step backwards. He had never felt this before, not even when he walked towards his executioner. Was he.. scared? Then Allen Walker was behind him again and there were deep cuts in his left leg. He turned to the boy. "How did you?"
Allen looked at him. "When a parasitic-type like me activates his Innocence, his strength, speed, reflexes, everything is multiplied."
"I'm no idiot!" Friedrich hissed. "I know that! But you're still way too fast."
Allen looked at him. "You're not very bright, are you? I am now a Noah, my strength, speed and everything else are already many times better than yours. And my Innocence boost that even more. You cannot even touch me."
Friedrich's eyes widened as he realized that the boy, no, the Noah in front of him was telling the truth. He looked at Jesaia, who was staring at him in disgust. "I still have command over you, so I order you to attack!"
Walker's face was almost soft, even though his cape was billowing around his body like he was standing in a twister. "Don't worry, I am Noah's compassion after all. Your death is necessary, but it will be swift. You probably won't even know what happened before you start your descent to hell."
Friedrich was still looking at Jesaia. "Attack him, NOW!" There was panic in the man's voice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia bit his lip and dashed at them. The white figure dashed at him and they locked hands. Over the cape that was still flapping around wildly, Jesaia could see Friedrich. He had expected the man to start another attack from behind, but what Jesaia was seeing was different.
Friedrich was jumping backwards, trying to avoid punches and kicks that were thrown at him with incredible speed. A gray-skinned figure was attacking Friedrich. Impossible, had Tyki woken up? Jesaia looked at the place were the Noah had been laying. He was still there, protected in the sphere Allen had made for him. Of course he was, even if Tyki had awakened, he was injured and badly burnt, so he would be unable to even move, let alone fight. Jesaia looked back at Friedrich and his opponent. If it wasn't Tyki, the only explanation was that another Noah had been tailing those two. Friedrich's ax was suddenly spinning through the air, but Friedrich was already raising his arm to grab it. Shit, they were overpowered! Then Jesaia's eyes widened. The cape billowed up and everything was white. He heard a inhuman scream of rage that simply couldn't be caused by a human or a Noah, then all went black.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Jesaia woke up, it was already dark and Valkyrie was looking at him. "You're awake." She said and smiled at him. She must have been hurt worse than he thought.
"How long was I out?" Jesaia asked.
Val seemed to think, then she shrugged. "A few hours, maybe three."
Jesaia looked at her. "Are you okay?"
She smiled again. "I haven't felt this good in years."
Jesaia really liked this Valkyrie much better than the lifeless doll. But then he remembered something. "Where is Friedrich? Where are the Noah?"
"The Noah have left long ago and Friedrich is over there." She pointed into the woods where Jesaia could see a kneeling figure. He stood up and walked towards it.
"Friedrich, we need to talk! Hey, are you listening to me? Hey, Friedri..." He stopped mid-sentence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Allen pulled the still unconscious Tyki through the gate back into the arc, he saw Road was waiting for him.
"Hey Allen, took you long enough, now let's start with... TYKI!" She ran towards them and looked at Tyki. The burns were looking terrible and even though Tyki was in his Noah form, they weren't healing. She looked at Allen. "What happened?"
Allen shook his head. "We'll talk later, Road. For now, could you find someone who can heal Innocence-caused wounds? The Earl or maybe one of the Skull might know what to do."
She nodded and ran to get help. Allen looked at Tyki.
"And we only wanted to visit a few friends."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia stared at Friedrich. The man was on his knees, his head leaning on the left shoulder. He was bare-chested, his cloak nowhere in sight, and there was a two inch wide hole in his back, right where the heart was. Jesaia could see parts of the broken spine through the hole. Friedrich's arms were wide apart, as if he had tried to hug a wall and they were held in place by what looked like black rose vines with wicked thorns. There seemed to be something on his chest, and as Jesaia walked around the broken body, he knew that Friedrich was dead. Then he looked into the glazed eyes and saw that there was a single word carved into the man's chest:
SINNER
________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 15 is done. I've written my first rather gory scene, and I must say, I'm not too happy. I guess I'm just not a gore fan, I don't think it sounds that great either, but that's just my opinion. It only serves to point out that Friedrich is, or rather was, a ruthless bastard. I had never planned to actually put this here, but I owe a pal around fifty bucks and he said he'd forget my debt if I try to write some gore and put it in my story, so here it is, Marco, and we're even.
Anyway, this is the longest chapter I wrote, see it as an apology for the last chapter, it was a bit short. I didn't want to start End of Pleasure in that chapter and had no idea what else to write. Again, this won't become my usual chapter length anytime soon.
In case anyone cares, Asclepius was the Greek demigod of medicine. Son of Apollo, god of healing amongst others, and a mortal woman, he mastered the arts of healing to a degree that he could raise the dead. Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt, there are different reasons given for the reason he did it, and immortalized him as the constellation of Ophiuchus, 'The Serpent Holder'. Hypnos is the god of sleep, brother of the god of death Thanatos.
And I know I skipped some of the story, you'll find out what happened next chapter. And now the questions.
1. What do you think will happen? What happened?
2. Who was the Noah that attacked Friedrich?
3. I'll reveal Allen's power in the next two chapters at most. What do you think it is?
4. How did you like this chapter?
5. What can I do better? What is already pretty good?
6. Tell and ask me whatever you want.
To Cross the Damned Soul: enough violence for you? And another hooray for Gabriel, the only one who guessed Friedrich's ability correctly. Honestly, I was disappointed. I thought the power would be obvious since Gaia is, as Gabriel has correctly pointed out, the goddess of earth. Or did the others think it was too obvious to be right?
To addenza: Luciano's Innocence is always a scythe, sorry, but the others were closer. But congratulations, your guess was the closest one to my actual scenario.
To signrain: I hope I granted your wish for the action scene, I think it came out okay.
To Winged Golden Tiger: Did you like Crown Clown's actions? There will be more ahead.
I try to keep in touch with my reviewers, they're the ones that keep me working on my stories. But the next update might take a while, there's some stuff for school that I have to do this week. But the more reviews there are, the harder I'll try to squeeze some time to write. Oh, and I'll still try to update both stories at the same time, but should I get a writer's block in one, I'll still update the other.
Please Review
