Chapter 5: Roots.

Damion watched her, in the corner of his eye. She dwelt a few steps behind, and payed no attention to any of them. She only stared down at the chalice below her hands. The container emitted a petty echo from within, it was steadily getting louder, and the group became more alert with every passing moment, every falling drop. Inside the chalice, Chaos's blood was gathered. The Pre-Kishin's blood, a red, ruby fluid of life and power tainted with the chaotic powers of madness.

They were running out of time, and once the digestion process begins in truth, there won't be any chance left to save them. The bilious green plant, Disturbati autumnale, was still out there somewhere, probably devouring victims in this very moment of silence. "Sinn," Kenji whispered, his knuckles so white that his clenched fists resembled nothing more than ceramic to crack. "Don't give in, not yet." Instead, he hears human anguish as Suzumi's voice broke.

Her hand clutched the chalice against her side while her other tore at Zira's shoulders, thrusting her back against the room's pipe wall, her feet tripping on the broad carpet. "What are we going to do now?" Chaos gives her no time to answer. "I feel like a sitting duck who trapped itself after the canyon collapsed. Let's get moving!" "Wait, what? YOU were the one who caused us this misery, don't get bossy now!" Damion angrily hissed back and grabbed Chaos' hand, freeing Zira's shoulder in the process. The latter grunted and pushed Chaos further away. "No!" Chaos cried as the chalice hit the ground.

The gathered blood rushed over the floor, tainting the carpet with a deep red colour as it is being soaked it. "Hey!" yelled Chaos. "Damnit, keep it together you all!" Kenji shouted furiously and grabbed Zira's raised fist before it could cause any further harm. "Don't start to friggin' fight now."

Zira slapped Kenji's hand away and punctured him with a hate-filled stare. "She's the one who started!" She lunged into a run, forwards and upwards, her legs easily covering the ground. "Zira wait!" Suzumi almost tripped as she pursued the angry girl upstairs. Damion followed with a loud frown and Kenji, snarling at Chaos for her irrational behavior followed next.

Being the last in the room of steampunk, Chaos collected her chalice and placed it back into its clasp before also engaging a sprint upwards. "I'm sick of this running already!" panted Damion. "Just keep following her, we can't just let her run into something." Suzumi's deeply concerned voice barely reached Damion's ears. They ran, fast, and with every step their legs ached more. "Zira! For the sake of sanity halt!"

Footsteps, many of them and they were getting louder too. Donk lifted his head and looked at the door he came crashing through a few minutes back when the engine clamored. Still drenched in water and covered with pain and scars, Donk stood up and walked towards the source of the noise.

"Is that ... ?" His mind drew a picture of Sinn and their friends, happily running the stairs up as they always did back in the days.

"I'm doing this alone if you all just sit there and argue!" Zira shouted, her stare fixed upon the next step of the stair to claim. "Just listen to yourself, you're not making sense Zira!" Donk halted and took a step back. That's not Sinn, someone else managed to get into the tower without Donk noticing. They must've infiltrated when he was busy taming the roaring machinery. Sneaky bastards!

Bandits? Or some Rikishin. Or even worse, immortals? Or the worst case, the Disturbati autumnale managed to break loose? "F'ing! Motherless son of a goat!" Donk raged. He reached for a large iron hammer that was placed in a crate along with other tools. His thoughts travel back to the day when they found that little ... thing.

"A damn plant ..." The little green thing, a seed was it not? Sinn giggled, how cute it looked. "Maybe it's a rare type of flower and when we take care of it, it will turn into a really beautiful and graceful rose!" Donk roared and tears filled his eyes. "You're a silly dreamer!"

They planted it, they nursed it, they cared for it. And in return, a Disturbati autumnale came into existence. An ancient weapon that dates back to the days Sanzu's time, Shinigami-sama's and Dais' father. Viscous individuals abandoned their families and their existence to serve in the name of witches and the damned hordes of immortals also rose to fame and power. Able to cripple humanity and level all hope, this chaos was instructed by a group of warlocks, believing they are the saints of life and death.

However, the guardian of law and order, Sanzu, proved to be superior. With the aid of his sons, Dais and Death, Sanzu subdued their adversaries and restored peace. But the witches would not give up that easily and countered with new measures of warfare. That plant, that bilious green thing, was an artificial tool of mass destruction. Able to purge island after island, the witches unleashed a brutal campaign in order to topple Shinigami's order once again.

A strange twist of fate occurred, however. The Disturbati, it was not willing to let itself be controlled by them. Soon, entire hideouts of witches and mages were purged and the remaining warlocks abandoned their own creation. They hoped it would face oblivion, but one of their terrible toys resurfaced just now.

The door flew open with a noisy sound and an angry Zira rushed into the room. Donk's initial surprise caused him to drop his guard and jaw. "What the f-" The angry girl yelled with fear and unintentionally launched her fist towards the unknown man. She successfully deformed Donk's face and caused him to trip and fall over the few steps of the engine room and let the hammer drop. The tool forcefully smashed against the ground and loud echoes plagued their ears.

Brought back to senses, Zira looked down at Donk and held her breath in surprise. "Oh shit! A-are you okay?" Mumbles and a muffled groan was all her ears could decipher. "Zira, stop it! Zir- ... oh. What? Who is that?" Suzumi was confused, but she rushed over to Donk and offered first aid. "Your nose is bleeding, let me help you." Shortly after Kenji and the others arrived as well and after a moment of introduction, they began interrogating the newly discovered 'owner of the tower'.

They went next door and Donk provided the group with a number of chairs. The room looked just like the one they were in as they entered the tower in the first place. "So ... Donk? Donk. What exactly is this tower for?" Donk took a large sip of an unknown brownish drink. The cup he held was decorated with a Ship's wheel, navy badges and pipes. It's handle resembled a pipe as well, even the smallest of bolts and screws were crafted with love and much detail.

"The Solaris' Pride. It's a project founded by Kataki, we were working on a way to reconstruct Arachne's towers she used to spread Asura's madness." Chaos lifted her eyebrow. "So you guys could spread madness yourself, yes?" DAHAHAHAHA DAHAHAHAHAHA! Donk laughed and shook his head. Suzumi looked at Damion, then at Kenji and eventually addressed Donk. "But weren't the towers confiscated?" The engineer ceased his laughter and his expression fell. Su felt awkward, did she ask the wrong question? "Yeah ..." Donk muttered. "But Exodus and Darkurai successfully destroyed them all before we could do anything about it."

"Wait, what? Two Kishins destroyed the towers ALTHOUGH those towers were spreading their madness in the first place?" Kenji's confusion reached physical shape as his entire face began to turn with it. Chaos and Zira also looked very puzzled. "Not quite. Arachne used another device to gather the emitted madness, then route it to the towers and eventually spread it, amplifying Asura's radiation. But we could have used it as a counter-measure against their own wavelength. We could have induced a neutral wavelength that would have levered the madness. But-"

Suddenly an explosion could be heard. Donk's steampunk cup began to dance and they all could feel the vibration from the blast. "What was that?" They ran towards a narrow orbital window and tried to squeeze their faces through it. "Can you see something?" "Zira move!" "No you!" "Damnit I can't see anything!" "Argh!" Another explosion became audible from kilometres away. Much to Donk's horror, the blast spawned from a massive explosion that caused half of the abandoned university to collapse.

"Oh hell! It's rampaging!" His dramatic look scared the group. "What is rampaging? Donk? What's going on?" "This isn't cool at all!" Damion took another look out of the small window and noticed how something large shifted through the smoke. Barely able to make out the outlines of it, Damion jumped back from the window. "Something really big is out there ... " He muttered before he fell on his behind, flabbergasted. "Big?" Suzumi slowly walked towards the window. "The Disturbati autumnale, obviously." answered Donk before Suzumi could reach the narrow vista.

"How can a damn plant become that big?" Damion's voice nearly broke. "It's not just a plant Kid. It was created by warlocks. Keepers of forgotten gods and wicked lore. They gave birth to a demon, not a plant." The engineer's voice was lucid and filled with anger as he clenched his fist. "We can't engage it in a fight now, we have to find Sinn!" Zira tried to reason herself and interrupted Kenji's speech before he would blabber out another sentence. "Don't be naive, Kenji. You know as much as we do. Sinn ... is no more. She's ... the Disturbati autumnale."

Donk smashed his cup against the wall, causing Damion and Suzumi to jerk up. "THEN WE WILL END HER MISERY! WE HAVE TO! I HAVE TO!" He yelled with all his vigor and the spit only expressly underlined his anger. "HOW? Their Meisters aren't even with them." replied Chaos. "We'll use the tower, but since the Disturbati autumnale has damaged it, I need you to find me specific tools." Donk's initial plan seemed simple. "You have to get to Desertascar and Fenascar." Kenji's eyes widened with surprise as he heard the two locations they should journey to. "Desert ... Swamps ... What kind of tools can one find in those places?"

"I'll show you, follow me." Waving his hand, the engineer stood up and entered the engine room once again. Within the confined space, Donk began to manipulate a screw on the floor. To their surprise, a duct surfaced and steps that led deeper into the tower's core. "A friend of mine awaits you at the bottom." All of a sudden, a small, mobile-phone like device began to ring in Donk's left breast pocket. As he took a look at it, a faint smile appeared on his face. "I think your friends already met the Disturbati, and now move!"

Yours faithfully,

Skadow