Hachiman POV(Before the meeting)
Life.
Such a lovely word to use and hear, since it symbolizes the fact that something is alive. In this case, a human, rather Ancients and the other lifeforms in Terra, are alive, filled with thoughts and experiences that help to shape them into being. Throughout my 13 years on this planet, I have seen the possibility of what the people here can do, be it for creation or destruction, and all of it is possible because they are or were once alive.
From being rescued by Kal'tsit after escaping Aegir, watching the 1st Dossoles Warrior Championship, watching the fall of Babel, meeting interesting people that wants to kill me, be friends, just casual fuckbuddies, or all of them combined, meeting Reunion before it became corrupted, traveling, and more, all of them possible because of somebody and I was Isekai'ed into this world by the damn goddess to witness and experience them all for her own entertainment.
Twisted entertainment really, I reincarnated as a fucking dismembered human power generator after all.
Point is, I've seen just how beautiful it is and the wonders that can be created, yet the opposite is also true, on how misery and despair that people can create.
And yet, for something as beautiful as it is, as miserable it is, it's…
Oh so fragile.
"DIE YOU FUCKI –" [Lævateinn]
Case in point, the guy that tried to stab me but died due to a Arts infused hand going through his heart, courtesy of me using Surtr's Arts. Just like that, he's gone.
Isn't it surreal that life can be taken away by a simple action?
Oh right, I'm supposed to be fighting. Though… Should I? She's already cleaning up the area quite nicely, excluding that guy I killed, since she wanted to handle them all after being trapped in the sewers. Guess she was that bored since lots of the buildings now got holes in them.
It's really not because I'm too lazy to move or anything.
"You are lazy, not to mention creepy with your staring at her."
…Ah shut up, Komachi. No need to state the obvious, alright? And for the record, my eyes aren't as creepy as my previous one, ok?!
I let out a sigh as I hear her laughing at me, though I do feel my lips twitching a bit in amusement, since it's always pleasant to hear her laughter. I blink as I hear the screams slowly die down then look around to see the work is done.
"Yo." I glance to my left to see my partner, Surtr, looking right at me then jabbing her thumb to her back, "Everybody's dead."
I nod at her while letting out a small grunt, "Push towards the west. Only target armed people and if you see any of our allies targeting the civilians, kill them." I look right into her eyes, "Go wild."
She smirks and nods at me then heads deeper into Chernobog. I pray that there won't be too many meaningless deaths. Unfortunately, I don't really believe that, more so on the enemies fault than her going back on her promise.
Say what you will about Surtr and her killing craze, but she keeps her promise. As long as you throw in ice cream, that is.
With her gone, I turn my attention to my surroundings, what used to be a nice neighborhood I imagine (for non-infected) but now a land filled with buildings on fire, lifeless bodies strewn everywhere, and the sky almost pitch black from the smoke.
I shake my head at the pointless deaths of the people here, both the guards and civilians alike, but then flinch at a sudden creaking sound coming from my right hand.
"Ah shit, I just checked it this morning," I annoyedly mutter as I pull up my right hand sleeve to see my hand making that annoying creaking sound whenever something is wrong with it.
I look around and see a bar right beside me, so I shrug and head in. I have to check my hand in a relatively safe environment after all, so that it won't just die on me at a random time or me getting my head sniped.
…Although, explosions don't really care where you are. Blow everything up to hell to kill somebody if need be. Source:Almost everybody on this planet.
Inside, I see only destroyed furniture, most likely Surtr's handiwork, with bodies laying all over the place. I sit down on a semi-intact chair with a table then use [Deconstruct and Detonate], courtesy of a random blond Cautus, but with some modification to the Arts, to set up a vibration field for this place, just to alert me if anybody is coming in here and to confirm that no one else is in here.
With that done, I lean back into the chair and pop my right hand off from my body then put it on top of the table. While I would really like to have Vulcan do this, she's a bit too far away from here. Luckily, I can do some minor repairs, just enough to buy me time to go find Vulcan.
As I continue on fixing my arm, I let my body go on autopilot while my mind drifts back to the events transpired just now, as a way to relax and see if there were any interesting things I didn't notice.
After me and Surtr overwhelmed their hasty defenses, I gave them the option to surrender but they didn't choose it, hell some of them even faked surrender and tried to surprise attack us… Which was a shame since I would have made sure they would have been able to leave the city if they surrendered, though I guess I can understand why they didn't, due to us suddenly popping up and causing chaos here.
Doesn't really scream "Trust us bro", no?
…Still won't change the fact that they knew they were outclassed but still chose to fight, be it straightforwardly or sneak attack.
…Bunch of fools if you ask me…
I don't like meaningless deaths. By meaningless, I actually mean death itself. Die for glory, die for vengeance, die as martyr, yadda yadda, no matter how many titles you slap on top of a person's death, it won't change the fact that they're dead.
…Unless they reincarnate to another world like I did but that's not the point.
Hell, if it even means anything, only the living truly care about labels for the dead, maybe as a way to soothe themselves to sleep. Oh, Nick died the way he wanted, Lazsha died in a glorious way, Wert died fighting for what he believed in.
Meaningless. It won't change the fact that they are not alive. You can't see and talk with them nor listen to their annoying voices that make you wonder how did you met them and punch them just to get some shut eye.
…Ah well, no use thinking about them. They made their choice and so did I… Don't get me wrong, I'll kill anybody that stands in my way but I prefer not to if given the choic-
Oh, somebody just entered my field, prompting me to glance at the doorway and see W strutting in here, as if she owns the place while innocently smiling at me.
"Guess who~"
"No."
She pouts, "Awwww, can't you just go along with it~ My body is sore from dealing with the defenses, proved to be more tedious than expected," She whines as she crosses her arms together underneath her bust.
"…As long as you come back alive," I gruffly says, letting most of her words fly out of my left ear, while focusing back on repairing my arm.
This damn thing somehow malfunctioned when it was pristine this morning. Not exactly pristine but there weren't any problems with it. Haaaah, maybe I should complete Vulcan's request to get that upgrade… Erm, on second thought, nah. I don't really want to go treasure hunting again…
Her pout softens, "Of course, who do you think I am?" She slowly walks over to me, "Anyway, need help with the arm?"
I shake my head at her, "Nah, already done." I pop the hand back into place and move it around a bit, "Response a bit slow but manageable."
She nods, "Alright… How about your other limbs?"
I blink then do a quick movement test for my left hand and legs, "No problems with the others." Though I say that, it's probably for the best that I open them up to check. Better to do things thoroughly after all.
She nods then her smile widens, "Good. Also, do you want to –" A sudden loud sizzling and boom sound interrupts her, prompting her and me to flinch then look at the doorway.
"…Want to just ignore it?"
"…I would say yes if it was any other occasion." Since I hate doing extra work but only one person is capable of making that kind of sound… And if it's really that person, I need to check on why he's doing it and either stop or stand aside.
"Fine." Thankfully, it seems W also realized who it is and both of us head out of the building and see a fucking meteor coming straight down on us while a huge pillar of fire that reached the sky down the road.
W glances at me, "Guess she started the party early."
I glance at her with my eye twitching, "Unfortunately." I tap on my earpiece, springing out the mic, "Fall back to Rendezvous Four. The plan started," I tiredly says into the mic to let Surtr know, well in case she can't see the giant ass Originium meteor falling.
I hear her confirmation, prompting me to tap on it again to get rid of the mic then I look back at the street, only to blink as I see multiple people running towards us. Squinting my eyes, I can barely make out their uniform and see that it's not Reunion or Chernobog.
"…Rhodes Island." I hear a venomous mutter coming from beside me, not surprising that she can see them better than me since I'm just a human, well with some mechanical parts.
…Anyway, Rhodes Island is here, huh? That… Complicates a lot of things, especially if Doctor Kina is here… Especially especially with Theresa not holding her chains…
Another pillar of fire appears right behind them, "…W. You take care of them while I go deal with Talulah."
Rather it's Kaschey but she doesn't know.
I don't wait for her confirmation before I use [Slice and Dice] to increase my speed and climb on top of the 1-storey buildings right next to the bar. I run on the rooftops while keeping out of Rhodes Island sight until I finally see Kaschey walking over to a woman with long pale hair and wearing a –
"…Skadi?"
URGH!
I feel a sudden sharp pain in my head, pain that almost caused me to fall off the rooftop, then it sharply increases in pain level as I see Kaschey about to stab the woman.
LIKE HELL I'LL LET YOU! – what?
[Teleport]
As if on autopilot, I use my Space Arts, Arts that I'm fucking reluctant to use since that would mean I can't use it again if I need to for an hour, to bring myself right next to Kaschey then I switch over to [Stop Moving!], telekinesis Arts, to stop the sword.
The sword freezes in mid air then I glare right into Kaschey's eyes, "What are you doing, Kaschey?"
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Third Person POV(Present)
The woman, Kaschey, scoffs, "None of your concern, Devil."
Hachiman growls as his fingers dangerously twitches, "It's Trickster, you damn pervert old man, and I'll be the judge of that."
"Are… Are you Hachiman…?" He glances down to see Skadi gazing at him with tears dripping like waterfall, "Please, tell me you are…!"
"…" He doesn't say anything, merely alternating looking at Kaschey and Skadi, but slowly opens his mouth, "Are we going to fight or we'll go separate ways, Kaschey?"
Kaschey boredly gazes at him then lightly shrugs, "Not today." She effortlessly breaks the invisible hold on her sword then pulls it back to her side, "Just make sure that there won't be any other complications."
He rolls his eyes, "Yeah yeah, now go fuck off." He makes a shooing motion, prompting her to lightly chuckle then walk away, "Fucking lunatic…" He quietly mutters as he glares at her back.
He hears faint hiccups coming below him, to which he looks down and sees Skadi still laying down with her red eyes even redder now. He sighs then extends his right hand to her, "Come on, get up."
Skadi quickly rubs her eyes then grabs his hand, prompting him to pull her up, albeit in a rough manner, "Alright, now who –"
He gets cut off as he feels her hugging him, almost to the point of suffocation, "Oo-oi! Wha –" He stops as he hears her hiccups and the feeling of wetness on his shoulder.
He sighs then decides to keep quiet as he lets her unload all of her emotions, even though he would have kicked her off of him by now, yet something inside of him is stopping him, so now he has to deal with the emotional Skadi.
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A/N
Just a bit of backstory on 8man and an emotional reunion, mostly for Skadi. Now, if you're confused about why is 8man acting like this, I already left some hints in past chapters, so try to connect the dots or just wait for new chapters (though I'm going to focus on other fics now, especially my older ones, and I won't stop until I updated a few of them at least!). Anyway, on to the comments!
kerrowe - maybe. Lol. Yep
JustARegularGuy - well, *REDACTED* and that's how she really recognize him. Thank you
DrackNath - hugging
Hachiman fan - no problem. Both, his enemies call him Devil because *REDACTED* but he prefers to be called Trickster. Ahhhh, the trans-dimensional one, I really should get on reading it lol. Thank you
HaMCRI - just wait until he finally gets to use it lol (shouldn't be too long in term of chapter, I think)