Something should always remain buried
Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Archive; all characters belong to their original creators.
Chapter 6: The record of a desperate man II.
After the video ends, Shinon appears again on the screen, trying to force a smile: "Wow, that was a lot to take in, even for me. Ha ha. However, this video wasn't the only one found on the site; one more must be published before this show can end. Miss Nanagami Rin, would you please?"
After that, Rin takes out another USB, plugs it into the mainframe, and takes out the previous ones, broadcasting the following video on the Kronos news channel.
The footage comes to life, but instead of the tired Doctor in the previous video, it is the footage of a girl with demon horns training inside a room filled with holograms. She is currently practicing aiming at targets and moving between objects. She is also covered head to toe with military equipment, hiding most of her noticeable features.
"That girl got good moves."
"She is so cool."
"Her training patterns seem to resemble those found in the textbooks of Gehenna."
While the audience admires the girl's training, two voices suddenly come from behind the scenes and interrupt their focus on the girl. However, only a few people can recognize the language spoken by the voices as German since it is one of the optional languages offered by Gehenna Academy. Even then, only a few Gehenna students study it. Below the video is a line of subtitles translated into Japanese.
"How is the data collecting job going?"
"This subject's performance is phenomenal. I have never seen such agility and precision before. Despite only emerging from her tube a week ago, she has mastered our combat doctrines and training. At this rate, she will be ready for deployment into the field in another week."
"Good. Any other noticeable data?"
"Her strength is estimated to be at least 5 times that of an average human male, able to easily punch through a brick wall. She can also intentionally induce nightmares and dreams in other creatures, although she cannot control them now."
"What about her mental readings?"
"She is sane and collected for now, capable of understanding and carrying out any order. However, her mental state may need to be examined regularly to make sure that her mind is not degrading from being saturated with Aether."
"Good. Continue to train her until you receive further notice. If only the DNA from a lowly Drude is enough to make her that strong, then there may be hope in this project after all.
"Yes, Sir!"
The video ends with the girl finishing her training.
Although none of the voices talk about what she is, many inside the audience have already figured out her nature. She was one of the first generations of "ABSs," one of their predecessors.
Another one shows up on the screen as soon as the first footage ends. This time, it is a video of a conversation between two men in a dark room. While one is sitting at his desk, the other is standing and holding an electronic tablet. This time, the two speak in Japanese
"What is the state of our soldiers?"
"Most of our first batch have become disobedient, sir. Many of the Yokai ABSs have abandoned their duty and training to embrace their Yokai heritage, with some just outright ignoring our orders. Their bodies and mental states are also being degraded from the inside out. At this point, it'll be just a matter of time before they die out by themselves or be put down by us."
"I can't believe the situation has already escalated to this point. Have any of our branches found a way to resolve this?"
"No, sir. The only temporary way to resolve this is to put all the new recruits in cryogenics to slow down the process."
"Who would have thought their high affinity with Aether would backfire on us like this! It seems like this project has reached its dead end... Did the Government know about this?"
"Yes, sir. This has reached the ears of many officials but they decided to ignore it. However, if this keeps happening, I'm afraid they'll force us to shut down the project."
"Haizzzz, what a pain in the ass this is!... You can go now."
"Then I'll take my leave, sir."
This time, the video ends with the standing men performing a bow and leaving the room. The end leaves many of the audience speechless; they have never expected such a dark turn to happen during the creation of the first generation.
The third video comes to life. This time, the scene takes place with two men talking with each other and walking along a lab's hallway. One is an average human with brown hair, blue eyes, and a white-red coat. Meanwhile, the other has golden, silky hair, crystal blue eyes, and a black suit. The man is handsome, unnaturally, to the point that it unnerves some people like he was a sculpted statue that came to life. Another noticeable feature of the man is his massive white wings, which can only be seen in Trinity Academy. This time, they are talking in English.
"Archangel Gabriel, if you are here, then I suppose your God must have new orders for his followers, am I correct?"
"You are correct, Ronny Johnson. However, this time, the message I'm delivering is not only from Him alone but also from other Pantheons. Other messengers have also been sent to their respective regions and religions."
"Color me surprised! What's the special occasion?"
"The Heaven is being overloaded with war right now. At this point, we are at a stalemate with the enemy. However, it is only a matter of time before they overrun us. Our forces are wearing thin while the enemy's is increasing with every second."
"Guess even the mighty Gods have their limits... Then what does that have to do with you being here?"
"We have decided to merge the Heaven with the Earth, the Gods will now join the Mortals in fighting back against the new Archenemy."
"WHAT?" The Doctor suddenly stops walking, his body trembling with rage, his fists clenching for a moment before relaxing. "I'm sorry. That was rude of me. Then, how can you help us if the Heaven is also struggling?"
"As we are right now, producing new soldiers would only delay the inevitable. However, we've heard of humanity's current project to push back the Nameless Gods and your struggles in controlling your soldiers."
"What... How...?" the Doctor once again stops dead in his tracks.
The Archangel approaches the Doctor and stares right into his eyes. "Do not underestimate the Gods, Ronny Johnson. Over time, your little project has received the Gods' attention for its blasphemy, but they want to invest in it instead due to the war. We will help you control your soldiers and upgrade them. However, you would do well to remember that not all of Heaven's secrets will be divulged to Mortals."
The Archangel then turns this back to the Doctor and walks away. "I will return in a few days, bringing you the materials needed to advance your project. Be ready," Gabriel said before spreading his wings, changing his suit into a rope in an instant, and disappearing right in front of the Doctor. This signals the end of the third video.
"So, the God worshipped by the Sisterhood did exist after all."
"That Archangel really gives me the creep. Don't know how did that guy become a messenger?"
"Did you guys see the Halo behind his back when he disappeared?"
"I did. Wonder how it is related to ours?"
The fourth video comes to life despite the audience's constant argument. This time, it shows a girl sitting in a room and staring at the wall. She has long yellow hair, green emerald eyes, prominent white wings on her back, and a yellow Halo above her head. Her Halo is 3D, with various clouds surrounding a sphere at the center. Behind the scene, two familiar voices appear.
"I can't believe this actually works; her readings and vitals are still normal after a month of constant training."
"What is there to not understand? Don't you have records of heroes blessed by the Gods before?"
"We only know that they were blessed, and with Aether only being researched recently, how can you expect us to know about the existence of these Divine Cores?"
"Indeed, this is purposefully kept from humanity for reasons only the Gods know."
"You show us how to make it, but what are these Divine Cores?"
"These are, in short, pieces of a Divine being. When a God blesses a Mortal, they must sacrifice a bit of themselves, mold it, change it, and then incorporate it into that Mortal's body. The Core exists as a separate being, providing an endless supply of Aether while regulating it. Her Halo is merely a representation of the Core inside her. Not having a way to regulate excessive Aether is why your soldiers lost control in the first place."
"We Angels are not true living beings but are Aether-based life forms created from His Holiness. We are parts of Him as we are His children. Therefore, we can sacrifice parts of ourselves to forge a Core. We would not die from this, but it will weaken us until we can recover. This Core, specifically, is forged from a part of Archangel Michael."
"He did this following your God's degree, I suppose?"
"You are correct. However, do remember that this host will only have his power and experience in warfare, not his memory."
"Even your God has that much distrust for us?"
"Ignorance is bliss, Ronny Johnson. There are things that Mortals aren't supposed to know."
The fourth video ends, leaving the audience in a bewildered state.
"So that's why our Haloes exist. Sound like something from a fairy tale."
"Without it, we'll lose control, huh? What a strange thing to think about right now!"
"The girl sitting in that room is weirdly familiar for some reason."
The fifth video comes to life. This time, showing nine girls in a large room, armed to the teeth with military gear. Although the gears make them hard to recognize, the nine share 3 similar features. The first is their bushy fox tails. The second is their twitching fox ears. The third is the similar 5-petals flower pattern of their Halo. There are 2 voices behind the screen again; one belongs to the doctor Okazaki, and the other is from a woman.
"It is a miracle that this project could get this far, don't you agree?"
"It is, doctor Yamamoto. What a surprise that we could make Divine Cores from Demons and the souls of Phantasms, too! But I guess that wouldn't make them Divine anymore, would they?"
The girls prepare and launch forward as the holograms appear, beginning their training. However, no sound could be heard from the battle, only the talking of the two doctors.
"Yes. But in the end, that didn't matter anymore. We got what we wanted, and our forces are more ready than ever. Yokais like Tamamo no Mae is said to be equal to a God after all."
"I guess there were merits to those legends after all since we haven't needed to replace anyone in the Tamamo Nine yet. But it's still weird to hear that they can never work well with other units despite some of them being fox yokai like the Izuna."
"They are heavily influenced by their Cores, after all, so they can only understand each other and remain that way. Tamamo herself wasn't actually a nice Yokai either."
Then, their conversation stops, leaving behind only the deafening silence of the recorded training. It felt like forever until the woman's voice asks.
"Have you heard about "Ascension," Doctor Yamamoto?"
"Yes, I have. Was also one of the first to witness it first-hand too."
"What was it like?"
"When I was sent to accompany our soldiers to Europe in trading research data and aiding them in liberating Ireland, I met one of their trump cards. She was a girl, 18 or younger, with a fiery spirit, a high sense of duty, and a cheery personality. They said her Core were blessed directly by the Greek God of War, Ares, making her an Avatar of him. However, after she returned from three weeks in Ireland, something changed. Her Halo was cracked, broken, and could not be repaired. However, instead of suffering from pain, she became more and more powerful, deranged, and bloodthirsty. She began going around challenging other ABSs, claiming it was harmless training until she beat them to death. It took us hundreds of ABSs to subdue and imprison her before she could destroy the whole research facility."
"Upon inspection, they found that the Core has merged with her soul, albeit incompletely. However, it has already consumed both her mind and soul, twisting her values and personality into that of a Berserker who only seeks excitement in violence. Her Halo was broken not because of damage but because it didn't serve any function anymore."
The video ends abruptly at that point and switches to another one.
In this video, a girl is restrained by numerous spell wards, locks, and chains. Although she is unmoving with her head down, the students can see she is awake due to her Halo still hovering above her head. Her Halo is in 2D, taking the shape of a red sword plundering into a red flame. One noticeable thing about it, however, is that it is cracked and damaged.
A doctor enters the room and gets closer to her with a note. He looks at her for a while before speaking up. "How are you feeling, Miss Arisa?"
The Doctor speaks in a language that some students recognize as Greek. It is not a language well-known by most people in Kivotos since most of them only speak Korean or Japanese. A line of subtitles is at the bottom of the screen, translated into Japanese.
Upon hearing the voice, the girl turns her head up, looking at the Doctor with a smile. "I'm alright, pretty bored though. Hey, when will I get to kill the enemies again? It's boring here, and I don't even have new recruits to play with either."
The Doctor scribbles something on the board before replying, "You'll get your chance soon enough. And please, you need to take this seriously; we cannot afford to lose any more soldiers."
"It wasn't my fault that they were so weak. If you want to stop me from accidentally killing them, you should make them stronger. Like me!"
She continues with a child-like smile, "How about this? I promise I will only break some of their limbs. Would you let me play with them then?"
"No promise, Miss Arisa. Our num..." The Doctor is cut off by something ringing in his right ear.
He pushes his finger on the device on his ear, "Doctor James here, what do you need of me?" The Doctor turns away from the girl and listens to the call.
"Don't you know it's rude to turn your back upon a helpless girl like this?"
James doesn't answer, focusing on the call for a while before turning his face back to the girl, "It's your lucky day, Miss Arisa. It seems like a heavily fortified enemy base was found off the coast of our country, and the Government needs your help."
"Yay, it's killing time. Gosh, I'm so bored in here!" the woman laughs satisfyingly as the video ends.
One by one, the videos release more absurd facts about the students. They've never known about any of this before, and it scares them knowing all of them have the potential to become like that, a monster consumed by its own source of power.
However, there is an Adult who is extremely elevated by this information. "Hahaha, so that's what they called "Terror,"" He laughs hysterically. "Well played, the people of old, well played! The fact that "Horus" hasn't broken after all that suffering is a true testament to your effort. However, the "Ascension" of the other "Anubis" proved that there is a loophole in your system. It will be an arduous journey tearing down that system of yours, but it is a challenge I'm willing to accept."
While everyone is still arguing, in fear, in surprise, in shock, the sets of videos still continue to play out. This time, it's only an audio of what seems to be a meeting. All of the sounds and voices are translated from English to Japanese.
"Shouldn't a species have its own males to reproduce? After all, the war is over."
"No, that is too risky. Our biodiversity has reached rock bottom. We cannot afford for them to inbreed like that."
"Professor Blaze is right, Doctor Bill; many of our ABSs have already expressed their own Mystics with only a few scraps of DNA. Strengthening those powers via genetic materials may lead to unwanted consequences. Nevertheless, many DNAs we used to create the ABSs once belonged to problematic Phantasms. If those problematic traits arise without control, I fear Kivotos will not last long."
"I concur. Keeping them to resemble humanity as much as possible is our priority right now."
"Then what about "The Guide"? Should it be male or female?"
"Whether it is male, or female is of no importance. NOAH is modified to forever give rise to females only. Even so, its 100% human DNA will ensure that its offspring almost resembles the mother in any shape or form."
"If anyone has any objection to the decision of not producing male ABSs, please raise your hands."
"If that's your final decision, I declare this meeting is over."
The video ends with that final sentence, creating a long silence encompassing the entire audience watching Kronos News Channel that day. The second record ends that day with no more absurd truths to reveal and no more answers to give, leaving behind a scene of dread and confusion.
Note: To be honest, this is probably my most tiresome chapter yet to this day. Multiple rewritings, revising and rereading were attempted before I can finish this. However, I'm still not too happy with how this turned out. If you have any opinions or questions about this chapter, please leave a comment. After reading this chapter, I recommend you read the Student Profile series made by Genprey on Reddit. This is where I got most of my information for this fic. student profile - Reddit Search!