A/N: Welcome back, y'all! Been nice reading the reviews that came. And hey, ten followers! I see it as an absolute win.
So last we left off, the Battle of Ginza was just starting. Time to see what the protagonists intend to do about this. Also, you all will get to see just why Kiyota is Ciel's bodyguard.
Let's get going!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gate or any other properties utilized in this story.
It was chaos in Ginza. The invading fantasy army continued their merciless attack, releasing volley after volley of arrows. The non-human creatures breaking into buildings and killing anyone they saw. Infantry soldiers mercilessly cutting down civilians with swords, knives or spears. Cavalry soldiers chasing after people and either cutting them down or trampling them with their horses. Dragons swooping down and grabbing and eating people, the riders spearing others with their lances.
It was a horrifying display. One that Ciel, Kiyota and Itami were left speechless at for several seconds. It was surprisingly Itami that snapped out of it.
"T-This can't actually be happening, can it?!"
"Depends," Kiyota responded. "Do you have schizophrenia, too?"
"No!"
"I see. Shorty, did you suddenly develop schizophrenia and not tell me?"
"No."
"In that case, yes. This is actually happening."
Itami panicked. "O-Oh crap! If this keeps up, the convention will be cancelled!"
That earned an incredulous stare from Ciel. People were dying, yet he was more concerned with the convention?!
Kiyota had the opposite reaction. He put a hand on Itami's shoulder and gave the man a nod of respect.
"I respect a man who has his priorities straight."
Ciel facepalmed.
"Right, then!" Kiyota continued. "Itami's right. Something clearly needs to be done. Any ideas?"
"W-We gotta get down there!"
Itami quickly ran off.
Kiyota blinked. "...Huh, not sure what he thinks he's gonna do. But I like the spirit! Shorty?"
Ciel watched the feeds on his tablet, staring at the advancing army. His eye narrowed at a certain feed, and he expanded it for a closer look.
"...We need to return home. Now."
"Why? What happened?"
Ciel wordlessly showed Kiyota the live feed on the tablet. It showed a large group of soldiers and creatures killing people and breaking down doors. The street this was happening on happened to be where the heir and his bodyguard lived.
"...Ah."
"Get us home. Quickly."
Kiyota turned and knelt down. Ciel closed and put the tablet away, then climbed onto Kiyota's back, wrapping his arms around his neck. The bodyguard put his arms under Ciel's legs and stood up, carrying the heir piggy-back style.
"Hang on tight, Shorty!"
With a mad grin, Kiyota practically blitzed out of the building. Passing several people who weren't able to see who just passed. He was already at the exit, about to pass Itami. And despite that it would make a witness out of Itami, Kiyota couldn't pass up the chance to make a reference.
"On your left!"
"W-What the-?!"
Itami nearly lost his step at how fast Kiyota just passed by him. The bodyguard got to a metal railing, hopped onto it...and leaped.
The railing bent completely as Kiyota and Ciel were now high up in the air. Landing on the rooftop of a three-story building. Kiyota then leaped onto the rooftops of higher buildings and continued his travel via rooftop.
Back on the ground, Itami could only stare dumbfounded.
"...Did that just happen?"
"Seriously, Kiyota?"
"What? It's a good reference!"
"Tch."
The heir held on tight as Kiyota ran across rooftops at incredible speeds. Sometimes jumping two or three rooftops at a time to cover more distance. He gazed around the surrounding area to see dragons flying about everywhere. None had noticed the two yet, opting instead to focus on those on the ground.
"Hang on, again!"
Ciel braced himself as Kiyota leaped off a building and down towards the rooftop of another building. Then off that building and onto the ground. He then made a mad dash through the chaos. Passing people and enemies alike. Those there could swear they saw someone speed by like a blur, but that couldn't possibly be, right?
At some point, there was no sign of people. Only corpses. But there were still plenty of enemies, including a familiar group of enemy soldiers and creatures breaking down doors and killing anyone they could find.
Ciel braced again as Kiyota leaped and soared over the entire group. The enemy too busy killing and pillaging to notice the two. Kiyota landed twenty feet ahead of the group and kept going. The facility they called home was only five blocks away.
He skidded to a stop at the entrance and set Ciel down. The heir dusted himself off as Kiyota looked to the advancing enemy.
"Alright, what's the plan, Shorty?"
"I'll be heading inside and ensuring any and all data is uploaded in a backup server. And all projects secured and sealed. Deal with the enemy when they arrive."
Kiyota looked towards the approaching enemy, which likely numbered at least a hundred or so. All against one lone man.
...
"Can I rip and tear?"
"Yes, Kiyota. You can rip and tear."
A dark aura emanated from the grinning Kiyota, his eyes constricting to dots. Ciel might have shown pity at what was about to become of the enemy, had the enemy not gone and butchered all those people. They brought it on themselves.
Ciel quickly entered the facility and moved towards the stairway that led to the underground laboratory. He carefully rushed down the steps and arrived. He activated a terminal on the wall and started inputting commands.
WELCOME. PLEASE ENTER PASSWORD.
He did as such.
PLEASE PRESENT HAND AND EYE FOR SCANNING.
A hand scan screen and eye scanner popped up on the wall. He placed his hand on the former while leaning forward to let the eye scanner do its job.
PLEASE PRESENT DNA SAMPLE FOR SCANNING.
Small metal appendages extended from the wall with a swab. Ciel opened his mouth and allowed some saliva to be taken. The sample was brought inside for testing.
A few short seconds passed.
PASSWORD CORRECT. HAND AND EYE SCAN ACCEPTED. DNA MATCH CONFIRMED. GREETINGS, CIEL ORION GREYSTOKE.
With that done, Ciel input the necessary commands.
DATA TRANSFER AND PROJECT SECURING REQUESTED. BEGINNING NOW.
The data began transferring. Meanwhile, more metal appendages, this time larger, extended from the walls and started moving projects to be sealed and secured.
Kiyota stood alone as the enemy closed in. They had been breaking into buildings for three more blocks before they had noticed Kiyota. They ignored the final two blocks in favor of moving towards the bodyguard.
Kiyota could make out that the group started with the non-human creatures first, followed by the actual human soldiers. The bodyguard figured it was a meat-shield deal or something. He could at least tell what kind of creatures there were.
Goblins.
Pig-warriors.
Minotaurs.
Orcs.
Velociraptors.
Xenomorphs.
The New England Patriots.
And Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson dressed as the Tooth Fairy.
...
...
Half of those didn't seem right, but eh.
The group stopped before him for a moment. One of the soldiers, likely the leader of this particular group, raised his sword towards Kiyota and shouted at him in a language he couldn't understand.
"Sorry, pal. Can't understand a word you're saying. Try speaking Japanese. Or the universal language known as...English."
The soldier grew angry and shouted again.
"Maybe you lot can understand sign language."
He raised his right hand and gave them all the middle finger.
"Understand that? Or do you need more?"
He used his other hand for a second middle finger.
"Get it now?"
They likely didn't, but that didn't matter. The lead soldier finally had enough and yelled out a command. The group charged towards Kiyota, fantasy creatures first. Kiyota just stood there, waiting for them. He reached into his blazer and pulled out a knife, the pupils in his eyes becoming dots.
An orc reached Kiyota first and raised its large club towards him, bringing it down.
Kiyota simply raised his left hand and caught it, stopping it dead mid-fall.
The orc didn't have time to be shocked at the failed attack. It was too busy gurgling blood from the knife stabbed into its throat.
Kiyota yanked it out, grabbed the orc by one of its arms, and tossed it at a group of goblins closing in.
He charged forth and stuck his knife in a pig-warrior's eye. Then in its gut several times in rapid succession. A goblin leaped at him, but he grabbed its head midair and crushed it in his hand. Another orc tried to club his head in, but he effortlessly slid to the right and ripped the orc's throat out with his free hand.
When several creatures surrounded him and charged, he placed the knife in between his teeth, flipped onto his hands and spun his legs about, kicking them all away. He flipped back to his feet and leaped towards a Minotaur, causing it to stumble back a bit. He grabbed it by the horns and tore them off its head, then stabbed them into its eyes. It screamed and flailed as it swung its mace blindly, hitting several of its allies by mistake. Kiyota slid off its back and grabbed its legs and pulled, making the minotaur fall forward. He then started spinning about while still holding the minotaur. He kept spinning at an increased speed until he finally let go, sending the minotaur flying through several fantasy creatures.
Some human Roman soldiers finally approached and got into a formation, hidden behind shields and spears pointed outward as they marched towards Kiyota. Kiyota pursed his lips in thought...then grinned. He raised his fists up and brought them down. Cracking the concrete ground immensely and causing the enemy around him to stumble a bit. He dug his hands into the cracks and lifted a large piece of the ground above his head. The enemy could only gawk at this display of strength before Kiyota tossed it at them, crushing them to death with it.
The enemy tried to regroup, but Kiyota was already on them. Knife in hand. Stabbing and slitting throats. Gutting some. Disemboweling others. He even decided to punch a soldier's head clean off his body. As well as stomp a goblin's head in. One of the soldiers he only semi-gutted so that he could stick his hands in and tear the man in half. He grabbed another by his spine and tore the spine and skull out Predator style.
Half the group had already been lost. The rest were starting to lose their nerve. How was this one person so powerful? He couldn't be an Apostle, could he? Did they have Apostles in this world?!
They would never get an answer, as Kiyota simply slaughtered them one after the other. They tried to regroup, then scatter when that didn't work. Kiyota stabbed and gutted and disemboweled. Even at one point strangling a man with his own intestines.
Despite the fact that Kiyota was clearly winning, he was lost in his world of violence. So much so that he hadn't notice two human soldiers, an orc, and a goblin slip by and break into his and Ciel's home.
Ciel was securing the last of his projects when the alarm went off.
"What in blazes?"
He went back to a terminal and activated the security camera feeds. He found four enemies had broken into the house. And they were breaking much of the stuff in the living room and kitchen.
"Seriously, Kiyota? How even-?!"
He switched to a camera feed that showed the outside and saw Kiyota lost in his world of violence.
"...Understandable. Inconvenient and annoying, but understandable."
Sighing in annoyance, Ciel went back to the feed of the inside of the base floor. Yup, still breaking stuff. There went the refrigerator. The PS4 and Xbox One. That would certainly send Kiyota into a violent frenzy. And the 70-inch 4K TV. Somehow the large movie collection was skipped over. Mainly because the four enemies had finally noticed the open stairwell that led to the underground lab.
"...Wonderful."
Ciel pursed his lips in thought, then turned to see the last project was about to be put away.
"...I suppose it couldn't hurt to see what it does to live subjects."
He pushed a button on the terminal that ceased the securing process for the flight stabilizer. He quickly removed his blazer and unbuttoned his shirt as he moved to the flight stabilizer. He picked it up and began connecting it to his Ark Reactor.
Footsteps could be heard from the stairs. Ciel hastened the connecting process as a human enemy finally reached the bottom. The man gazed around in confusion at everything before he finally saw Ciel. The man shouted and aimed an arrow at Ciel.
"Shit."
Ciel ducked as an arrow was launched. It flew overhead and bounced uselessly against a metal counter. The heir cursed and just snapped the flight stabilizer around his hand and arm. He quickly finished the connecting process, albeit rather messily, and the flight stabilizer began powering up.
Ciel peaked over the counter to see the other three enemies reach the bottom. Another human soldier, an orc, and a goblin. The first human soldier had an arrow already pulled back for release. The heir ducked back down as it came flying and missed. He peeked out again and cursed when he saw the goblin rush at him, hopping atop metal tables.
The stabilizer hummed with power. Ciel quickly stood up and aimed it at the goblin as it leaped towards him.
He stood up quickly, aimed the flight stabilizer at the goblin, and fired.
A loud metallic whine and blast emanated from the flight stabilizer. And sent the goblin flying all the way to the wall of the laboratory. It slumped dead, a smoking hole in its chest.
"Works on live targets. Good to know."
A roar from the orc interrupted his thoughts. The fantasy creature charged towards Ciel, club raised high. The heir quickly aimed the fight stabilizer at the orc and fired. The orc merely stumbled back rather than be sent flying, likely because it was much heavier than the goblin. Regardless, it fell to the ground dead. A smoking hole in its chest.
An arrow sent flying right by his nose brought the heir's attention to the others. He quickly aimed at the archer and fired, but the man had ducked in time to avoid the blast. The other human soldier was already closing the distance towards Ciel and swung his sword at the heir. Ciel quickly ducked and fired a repulsor blast at the man's kneecaps.
The leg split in two, causing the man to fall and scream in pain. He didn't scream much longer once Ciel blasted him in the head, half of it being blown away.
"...Attacks from this can actually be rather violent. Suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Seems like a more realistic outcome when compared to the movie version."
He turned to look for the archer, flight stabilizer aimed ahead. He narrowed his eye and waited, breathing as calmly as he could given the circumstances.
...
The archer quickly stood to the right of Ciel's peripheral vision, which was unfortunate for the heir given his eyepatch. He quickly moved to aim the flight stabilizer as the archer let fire another arrow. It struck the glass circle of the flight stabilizer, cracking it as Ciel fired.
Really, the arrow wouldn't normally have done much. But the flight stabilizer was in the prototype stage. And the arrow had made enough speed to warrant an impact of at least a small crack. A small crack was not good for when a repulsor blast was meant to be fired. And it showed.
The blast caused the circular disk on the palm of the stabilizer to explode outward, sending the heir flying backwards into a wall.
"Ack!"
The heir slumped with a gasp and hiss. He felt a burning sensation in the palm of his hand. He practically had to rip the flight stabilizer off his hand, the cords yanked off his Ark Reactor. He inspected his hand.
Yup. A burn in his palm. Second-degree. Inconvenient, but preferable to third-degree burns. Would still cause a delay in building the armor. He'd have to pull some more all-nighters in order to compensate.
A grunt brought Ciel's attention back to the archer. The man was slowly approaching the heir, clutching his right shoulder in pain. Ciel had missed the center, and the man intended to make the heir pay. If the knife in his hand was any indication. The man cursed at Ciel in a language that the heir couldn't quite place. Best guess was some form of distorted combination of Latin and Greek.
Ciel stood up with a grunt and reached behind his back for something. As the man charged, the heir pulled out an item and aimed it at the man.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The man stumbled back, gasping and gurgling blood. Ciel had just shot the man four times with a small pistol. A Walther PPK/s, to be specific. Stainless steel. A variation of the kind of gun James Bond used in some of the movies.
The heir moved towards the downed man and aimed the small pistol at the man's head.
BANG!
The man slumped dead.
Ciel just stared coldly at the dead body...then hissed and dropped the gun once it registered that he had grabbed it with his burnt hand. That was going to smart for a bit.
Ciel shook it off and grabbed the small pistol with his other hand and carefully pocketed it. He moved past the dead bodies towards the now destroyed flight stabilizer.
He scowled. All that work, felled by a goddamn arrow. That was certainly going to need to be rectified when he rebuilt it. Stronger glass and exoskeleton. And good armoring.
He sighed and moved towards the first aid kit on the wall. He opened it and pulled out some cream and bandages. He carefully applied the cream to his hand and wrapped some bandages around it. He opened and closed his hand and winced.
"Tch. That'll take a few months to fully heal."
He pulled out his tablet and opened it to view the camera feeds. It appeared that Kiyota was nearly done with the group outside, and there didn't appear to be anyone else in the facility. Nor were there any reinforcements approaching. Ciel looked to camera feeds in the city. From what he could gather, a majority of people were taking refuge at the Japanese Imperial Palace. Smart.
"Should probably head there as well...after we clean ourselves up a bit and remove the bodies."
With that decided, Ciel made to leave the laboratory.
Kiyota stood in the middle of a massacre. Bodies in pieces everywhere. He was panting, but he wasn't exactly tired. He was, however, completely covered in blood.
"Heh. Barely a challenged. Wish there had been more."
"You really shouldn't wish that."
Kiyota turned to find Ciel a bit of a mess, with the bandaged burn on his right hand.
"Huh. Shorty. Something happen?"
"Indeed," Ciel frowned. "Four managed to slip by you. Next time, don't get lost in euphoria."
"Heh. Sorry. Looks like you handled yourself well, though. Silver linings."
Ciel rolled his eye and tossed a towel to Kiyota.
"Clean yourself up a bit. You look a horrific mess."
Kiyota chuckled and cleaned what he could off his face and head. Then tossed it aside.
"So. What now, Shorty?"
"I've made sure any important items were stored away. The flight stabilizer got destroyed, but I can make another. The majority of survivors are hiding at the Imperial Palace. We should head there in a bit. I'd like for you to remove the bodies from the laboratory. Don't need them rotting and causing a stench. And clean yourself up afterwards. You're a mess."
"You're one to talk."
"You are a far worse mess than I."
"Yeah, that's fair."
Ciel and Kiyota got started.
Itami was gazing around as things were finally calming down. The police and military were just finishing off the enemy close by. And any left were apparently retreating back to the mysterious gateway that had appeared. People were relieved, yet still wary and scared. Some crying at having lost loved ones.
Boom.
Itami and some people were startled at the sudden sound and turned in a panic...only to be confused at seeing two people in some cracked ground.
"Hey, Itami! Fancy seeing you here!"
Itami blinked. "Kiyota? Ciel?"
The bodyguard let Ciel down and flashed a peace sign at Itami.
"Yep. How's it going? Man, that was some crazy shit."
"Eheh. Yeah. Speaking of crazy shit, did I see you jump a three-story building earlier?"
"Yup."
"...How?"
"Classified. But maybe I can let it slip if I'm drunk enough. Us three amigos can have a guy's night out! We get drunk, I cause destruction, you look on in confusion, and Shorty facepalms and questions his life decisions that led to that moment. It'll be great."
Itami stared, then turned to Ciel.
"Is he always-?"
"Yes. Just...go along with it. Also, apologies. You've gained two unlikely acquaintances."
"Friends, Shorty. Friends. Learn to be friendly."
Ciel rolled his eye and pulled out his tablet, opening it to view some camera feeds.
"The enemy is essentially defeated. Any left are retreating to that gateway."
Itami nodded. "Yeah, I heard. Glad that's over it."
He sighed. "Still. I didn't get to buy any doujinshi."
Kiyota pat his shoulder. "I feel your pain, brother."
Ciel deadpanned. "People are literally dead."
"I know. They won't get to experience doujinshi, either."
"I can't tell if you're joking or being willfully ignorant."
"I could be both."
"Ugh."
Ciel turned back to the tablet to look at the gateway again. He rewound that feed to a bit earlier to see how it had come to be. It truly had appeared from out of nowhere. Just not there one minute, then there the next.
"...It's going to be a hectic couple of months."
Kiyota and Itami looked to Ciel with a raised eyebrow.
"This gateway. It just appeared from nowhere. And an invading force arrived and started killing indiscriminately. People in Japan and around the world are going to want answers. My father will, as well. He won't take kindly to me being in danger from what appear to be savages from another world. I don't either, but then who wouldn't? More of a Greystoke pride matter."
Some sniffling brought the three out of the conversation. They turned to find a little girl crying. Itami moved towards her and gently spoke to her. Apparently, she couldn't find her mom and dad. Itami calmed the girl and offered to help her find them.
"See?" Kiyota chuckled. "Chill dude."
"It appears so."
Seeing that Itami would handle the girl, Ciel turned back to the feed of the gateway. His eye narrowed.
"I know that look, Shorty," Kiyota grinned. "You're curious."
"Of course, I am. Who wouldn't be? Some ancient army with not only humans, but fantasy creatures? Appearing from a suddenly appearing gateway? It's world-changing news. What's more, Japan won't let this attack stand. No doubt there will be an expedition of some sort through the gateway sometime soon. Likely in a few short months. Once they collect and bury the dead, as well as argue the politics of said expedition. But it will happen."
The tiniest evil smirk formed on Ciel's face.
"And I intend to be a part of it."
A/N: And that's about it. The three-month time-skip (and what Ciel and Kiyota do during it) will be covered in the next chapter.
Now you all see what Kiyota can do. And why Ciel tolerates his...eccentricity. You're probably wondering how the hell Kiyota is essentially overpowered compared to regular people. And that question will be answered in time.
Ciel's repulsor blast worked well on flesh targets, but it got broken. No worries. He's a genius. With the time-skip coming, I'm sure the full suit will be ready for the other world. And maybe it might be a stretch that an arrow could cause it to be destroyed, but I figured that the glass part needs to be non-cracked to work properly, otherwise it would blow up if there's any form of crack once it fires. It won't be a problem later.
If you liked this and want to be kept up to date, be sure to follow and fav. Leave a review as well while you're at it. I love reading them.
See you in the next update.
LATERS!