Alpha and Omega - Jackal's Story

Chapter 4

In collaboration with Subzero Dragon. Visit their profile to see the other side of this story. Important events that aren't mentioned here take part in the other side of the story.

As Alisa shouts fire, all of us shoot towards our targets. Unfortunately, two of us, including myself, shoot towards the same target and our bullets cancel each other out.

"Dammit." I curse under my breath before firing another shot. However, since I have a Blast Gun for my God Arc, firing from long range isn't really the best thing to do.

"My gun isn't equipped for this." I speak aloud as I sit back behind cover. "And with all of the Aragami inside of the building now... We can't risk firing shots into the building. We could hit Robin!" I move my head between everyone present. Kanon has followed my lead and is laying behind cover beside me. Kota seems to have given up as well as he moves himself behind cover as well with a dejected face.

"you're right. We can't risk it." His dejected expression doesn't exactly fill me with hope. I too began to feel dejected. With the presence of 8 Zygotes, 2 Sariels and 2 Ogretails in the building it is safe to say that Robin is clearly outnumbered and outgunned. Plus, there is also the chance that that impregnable beast is with her in the building. My levels of fear escalated at that as I sharply rose my head. Robin is stuck in a building with a beast! An invincible beast! She screamed a while ago and hasn't made a noise since then. Is it possible... That the beast already... I shake my head side to side rapidly to eradicate the thought. My movements caught the attention of the pink haired God Eater to my left.

"What are you doing?" She asks with utter confusion on her face.
"Sorry." I halted my actions. "I had a bad thought."

"A bad thought? Hmm..." She looked up as she hummed. "Isn't it better to" her head faces me again, "share bad thoughts? That way we can shoot them down." She seemed almost excited by the end of her words but they did sound reasonable. If I could share my concerns with somebody then I won't need to keep it all bottled up inside but won't I look weak? Especially if I am talking to a person who is still a stranger to me. My pessimistic thoughts won the battle.

"Nah. The only things we should be shooting down right now is Aragami so that we can save Robin!" My determination returned to me. I don't know if this is what the pink haired God Eater wanted, judging by her surprised expression, but she was happy to see me back in the mood to fight. She smiled and gave a clear nod of her head. The introduction of a new voice made me turn my attention to the captain. She had a radio in her hand,

"First Unit, are you there?"

"We're here, Hibari. What's wrong?" Alisa answered with the radio close to her mouth as if she was speaking into a microphone. She moves it away from her mouth once she is finished.

"I've noticed that there is a new signal within your vicinity. I assume that the helicopter that sent out an S.O.S signal was the on with the new God Eaters we should be getting?" The person, now known as Hibari, uses rising intonation in her voice to make it sound as though she was asking a question.

"Yeah but there's a problem..." Alisa began but Hibari interrupted her.

"I know there is. I've found one more foreign signature in your vicinity but the thing is, this God Eater is surrounded by multiple Aragami signatures."

"You're a bit late..." I mutter under my breath. I don't know if Alisa hears this but she repeats the same thing.

"I thought as much. Well, good luck God Eaters! Good eating!" Hibari disconnects.

"Good eating? Does she always sign off with that?" I mumble again and hear a nervous laugh from behind me. Turning around, I notice a sheepish expression on Kanon's face.

Approximately 30 seconds have passed since Hibari disconnected and there hasn't been much movement. I would have spoke up if Soma hadn't beat me to it.

"We can't keep hiding here, Alisa. If Robin's in there, she won't be able to hold out forever," he stands up and glances towards the skyscraper, "We have to make a decision." Soma sounds fed up and I can't blame him. Every second wasted here is a second that could be used in helping Robin and Alisa's thinking pose is wasting more valuable seconds.

"I know. We can't risk getting ambushed by that new Aragami." She spoke. Did I hear her right? She just wants to give up?! Well I won't stand for it. I shot up with a glare,

"Are you suggesting we just give up and leave Robin in there!? I won't have it!" How dare she suggest that we leave Robin by herself! Alisa seemed surprised by my outburst. How did she think I would react?

"Of course not! I told you we'd you help you two, didn't I? Me and my team can take the rest of the Aragami down. It's that invulnerable snake we have to be careful with. We need to find out where it is so we can sneak around it and not get ambushed." I hated Alisa's reasoning but I nodded to show I had understood what she said. My face contorted into an angry expression, one which I rarely have.

"Alright, fine. I just can't stand the thought of her being trapped in there with all those Aragami! We have to do something." I turned and looked at the building as I said this. It was only seconds later that I noticed a large amount of light being reflected from one spot in particular. Another second later and the snake-like Aragami materialised in front of the entrance to the building.

"Ah! Wh-where did that come from?!" Kanon said and almost seemed to be hyperventilating. Unfortunately, she didn't realise that she almost shouted her surprise, thus gaining the attention of the Aragami.

"Sssh! Get down!" Soma hissed and we somehow managed to duck behind cover before the Aragami could fully turn around. Or at least, that's what I had hoped. I took my eyes off of the Aragami as soon as Soma spoke and I dived straight behind cover. The four of us remained silent.

Seconds passed like minutes as we heard the Aragami skulk closer to us. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't scared right now but at least I could appear confident. The sound of movement grew closer as I could hear it shuffle around. As it came closer to our cover I heard laboured breathing from the bright haired woman beside me. I felt a nudge on my opposite leg from Kota and I looked up to his face. He had a finger to his lips and pointed to Kanon. It was clear that he could hear her breathing and if he could hear it then there'd be a 100% chance that the impregnable Aragami could hear it. However, without being able to talk to Kanon to tell her it would be okay for fear of creating more noise and thus letting the Aragami hear me, I had to do things more... practically. I moved my hand over her mouth and held tightly. She pulled on my hand to get me to let go but I held firm. Did she think I was trying to kill her by asphyxiation? Regardless, as long as the Aragami didn't hear us then it would all be for something. Speaking of the Aragami, it no longer had to move as, looking up, I could see that it was right above us. I felt panic in that moment as it began to move its head down. I fought the urge to scream as I felt a sharp pain run through my hand and looked over to Kanon. I noticed that she was also looking up towards the Aragami with a wide expression of fear. The pain in my hand grew and I could deduce that she was biting it. I don't know what stopped the Aragami from moving its head any further down but it soon moved away. We stayed in that position for a little while longer. As soon as I couldn't hear any more shuffling, I let go of Kanon's mouth and peeked out from our cover to notice that the Aragami had returned to the entrance of the building.

"I don't remember it camouflaging before. That's a new one on me." I whisper, for fear that the Aragami will hear me but also in silent awe that an Aragami had developed such an adaptation. I keep my eyes on the beast.

"What do we do now? It blocked the entrance..." Kota sounded depressed and the look on his face confirmed it. There was silence for a few more seconds.

"We need a diversion. If we can drive it into the city then we can raid the building." Alisa spoke. Well, if those were her orders...

"I'll do it." Soma's sudden speech gave me a bit of a shock. "I'll lure it into the alley while you..." Oh no he doesn't.

"No." I stand up. "I've fought it before. I think I can manage. You guys head in and help Robin. I'll rendezvous with all of you in 10 minutes." I know that they would try to stop me so I don't give them a choice. I jump over the wall and start sprinting towards the beast. Before I leave the range of conversation, I hear Kanon's first words since the hand-over-mouth incident.

"Jackal, you can't do that! Your wounds aren't fully healed yet!"

As I ran towards the invincible Aragami, I noticed that it had left scales from where it skulked towards our hiding spot. I began to notice them when I had caught one of the scales and I was left with a bloodied leg. It was a relatively deep laceration but, due to the adrenaline, I couldn't feel much of the pain. I could feel a slight burn but it wasn't enough for me to give away my position to the impregnable Aragami. I made sure to avoid the rest of the scales as I was running. Another wound like that could be fatal. Unfortunately for me, I felt another pain rise from within my leg as I just managed to run out of the field of scales. Looking down, I notice a few small electric bolts that tried to assault me but I wasn't within striking distance.

"Was I hit by one of these bolts?" I ask rhetorically and shake my leg to try to subdue the pain. A hiss from behind me reminds me of the fact that I am not alone. Turning around, I see that, somehow, the beast hadn't noticed me or it had and it didn't care, either way I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"That was lucky. Well, back to work!" I began running at the beast again. I was still a number of metres away from him but the distance was closing and fast.

As I get within 20 metres of the Aragami I notice that it still is unaware of my whereabouts. I don't know how it hadn't noticed me. Didn't it notice Kanon's question and look in our direction once it heard? Something isn't right. I stop running once I've closed the distance to 10 metres. I was relieved that I did as not even 2 seconds later, the beast releases an 8 metre diameter forcefield; something that, had I continued running, I would have ploughed right into with my life possibly ending within a few seconds. Clearly the Aragami had noticed me and was just trying to fire a surprise attack. It turned towards me and judging by the appearance of a flattened hood, it was surprised to see I avoided the attack. As it realises that I did avoid it the Aragami's hood flares and it makes a sharp hissing sound. Seeing the face of the monster from a distance of only 10 metres proceeded to give me the chills but I was determined. If I could distract this beast then the others can save Robin. Knowing this was fuel to my flickering flame.

"Alright you monster," I directed my scythe towards the beast and gave an almost maniacal smile, "Let's dance!"

I sprint towards the beast and it slithers towards me. We meet in the middle and I start slashing at its body. Just like before, nothing appears to work. The beast tries to assault me by lashing its tail in my direction. I narrowly avoid its multiple attempts to decapitate me. It grows frustrated at its constant misses and hisses with more of an angry force than last time before its tail attacks become more frequent. I repeatedly jump back to avoid its assaults; forcing it to move further away from the building.

5 minutes of constantly dodging the beast's attacks and it finally gets a hit in but the good thing is that we are now 5 minutes away from the building. However, it still isn't enough and the pain from the assault kicks in.

"Gah!" I collapse to one knee in pain and the beast towers over me as if it was declaring its victory. I notice its head of razor sharp teeth closing in on me and I muster up all of my strength to avoid it by leaping backwards and thus out of reach of its tail. This leap took a toll on me though as I was already injured from the helicopter crash earlier and sprinting away from the monster. I was forced to use my scythe to act as a counterweight so that my body wouldn't fall over from exhaustion.

"Ahhh!" I hear a feminine scream and feel fear welling up inside me. My eyes widen as I realise it could be Robin. Did Alisa, Kota, Soma and Kanon make it in time? Is Robin dead? This fear brought a new found energy from within me. I notice that the beast also appeared interested in the scream as its head was still facing the direction in which it was heard. Perfect. This will give me the opportunity to hit it head on. I take this opportunity and silently sprint towards the Aragami. Wait. Is this another trap? Either way, this is an opportunity I cannot miss! I continue my sprint. As luck would have it, it wasn't a trap and my scythe connected with the impregnable Aragami's skin. It recoiled in shock and other than a small scratch it didn't look any worse for wear.

"How?!" I burst out in a panic that my full powered slash only caused a small scratch on the Aragami. The Aragami recovers from its shock and an angry expression replaces its surprised one. Still feeling the energy boost from before, I sprint away from the beast and the building, hoping to lead it further away.

After a breathless 10 minute sprint later, I finally feel as though my energy has been drained. I hear an angry hiss from behind me and I can feel that it is moving closer to me. With my back turned to it, I launch my own surprise attack and swing my body into a slash. It connects with the monster but I don't give it time to recover from its surprise as I continue an onslaught of attacks. This must have continued for at least 5 minutes before I stopped completely with my last attack sending the monster back by at least 20 metres. I hear a hiss from the impregnable Aragami and I struggle to find the energy required to lift my head up to see the beast. My eyes widen in disbelief as I see that it only has a few scratches. No major injuries, hell nothing that can even be considered an injury. Seeing this took my determination away sharply.

"There's no way." I whisper in disbelief with my eyes locked onto the Aragami, "It really is invincible." My grip on my God Arc falters and it slips from my hand as my legs collapse due to the sheer exhaustion. I continue to stare at the beast in utter disbelief as it remains stationary, staring at me with a victorious glare. There's really no beating this thing! How the hell has it survived all of my attacks?! How the hell is it not injured?! All of these thoughts begin piling onto me and I feel myself becoming more and more depressed.

"I give up."