All around him the snow was falling... Or was it ash...? He didn't really know. That wasn't the most important thing anyway. The fact was that Sebastian was kneeling on the ground, hands behind his head, in the middle of a street, the members of his squad were to his left all lined up in the same position as him, while Chechen soldiers were discussing their drawn weapons.
Vladimir: Yuri... What are they saying?
Vladimir asked from the end of the line, the cigarette in his mouth still smoking.
Sebastian: Vlad, you don't need me to translate for you.
Igor: And I would have died a virgin...
They all turned their eyes to the one who was third in line, a small smile on his face, determined to laugh despite the future that was in store for him.
Sebastian: Is this your last regret?
Igor: That and the fact that the last contact with my mother was a slap in the face when I told her I was going into war...
Sebastian: What are yours guys?
Vladimir: I've always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. I guess I got it in the ass.
Says the first soldier.
Boris: I wanted to take over my family's farm...
Said the second soldier.
Igor: I just said it.
Says the third.
Danil: There was my father's motorcycle in the garage. I told myself that one day I would fix it, and go on a long, empty road, to see how fast I could go. Maybe my brother will do it for me.
Said the fourth.
Anatoly: Bang a playboy bunny girl.
Said the fifth earning a look from all the others.
Sebastian: We're about to die and you're thinking about banging a chick dressed as a rabbit.
Anatoly: I have nothing to regret my dude. And you Yuri?
Sebastian: I don't know. I wish I had won a boxing match once against my mother. Or I wish I had taught my father to read. But I think my biggest regret is that I let Carla get off the tank first.
All the soldiers gave her a sympathetic look. After all, they were all there when it happened. It was no secret that their superior at that time was in fact a woman who was cross-dressing to advance in the army. And united they did not denounce her. A woman who had formed a relationship with the giant with emerald eyes. When you saw the two of them you could almost believe in a fairy tale. If it wasn't for the fact that all this was happening in the army. War was declared, and just as their armored vehicle pulled into town for the fighting, she went down first, and was shot right in the brain.
Behind them, one of the Chechen soldiers finished his cigarette and picked up his gun with both hands before moving towards Vladimir.
Vladimir: Looks like it's time. Hi, guys. It has been an honor to serve with you.
At least they let him finish his sentence before putting a bullet in his head. The Russian soldier's body fell to the ground as his comrades looked on.
Boris: I have his blood on my face! He pissed me off to no end!
His comrades laughed, despite the fact that he too was executed so soon. His last actions were meant to amuse his comrades, while he was about to die a death unworthy of a fighter in the dust.
Igor: It seems that it is not in this life that I would fuck Yuri-'s sister.
*BAM*
The body of the third soldier fell to the ground with a grunt from Sebastian who cursed his friend for expressing the desire to fuck his sister as his last words.
Danil: I would have thought I'd have more inspiration at a time like this... Bye guys.
He was killed in turn while the Chechen executioner seemed to be examining his weapon which was not working properly.
Anatoly: I pity you Seb. Nobody will hear your last words.
Sebastian: Aye, never mind. You know my bad luck anyway.
Anatoly: I don't know what to say either... Oh yes, if I like bunny girls then what do you like?
Sebastian: The-
*BAM*
Sebastian: Horse girls I guess... I hope he heard at least...
He turned his gaze to the executioner, who struck him in the face with his rifle butt.
Executioner (Chechen): Shut up! Russian dog!
Sebastian(Chechen): Yes, sir...
The giant turned his head to face forward.
Sebastian: Shit life.
He felt the barrel of an ak-47 behind his head. And he closed his eyes as he heard the sound of the trigger.
*click*
...
What? He opened his eyes again, realizing immediately that he should have heard the gunshot and not the trigger being pulled. And this several times in a row. He looked back at his tormentor raising an eyebrow and could see that his weapon had jammed and that the soldier was getting angry at it under the amused look of the other enemy soldiers.
Sebastian: And my bad luck is contagious...
Another soldier, annoyed by the time the execution was taking, approached with his sidearm, but as soon as he raised it towards the giant, the barrel simply fell off as if it was not attached to the rest of the weapon.
The emerald-eyed giant laughed until a third enemy soldier approached with a knife.
Sebastian: Finally... I've been waiting for this...
When he saw the one he believed to be his future murderer approaching, he began to smile. A smile that faded away as soon as he heard the sounds of a jet plane approaching. And almost as soon he could see a Russian army plane approaching his position, while he was surrounded by about fifty enemy soldiers he had no illusions about what was going to happen.
A missile came out from under the plane and flew straight towards them. Most of the soldiers started to panic and who could blame them... Many of them fled but the executioner managed to repair his weapon at the last moment and he activated the automatic mode, the noise resounding in the doctor's head, just like the ten or so shots fired.
*Gasp*
Sebastian jerked his eyes open again, looking around him sweating and panting, to see that he was in the L.G.D. troop rest room... Specifically sitting on one of the couches, a small stack of papers in front of him on a low table, a red pen still in his hand. He rubbed his face in exasperation from his nightmares as the pain from the scars on his back made itself felt.
He opened his eyes again when he saw an L.G.D. officer on break approach him with an energy drink in his hand.
?: Yo Seb, you okay? You look like you had a nightmare.
Sebastian: It's nothing Mike, thanks.
Mike: Are you sure it's not stress? You should really rest you know...
He says while holding out an energy drink.
Nao: He is right you know. It's not the first time you fall asleep while doing your corrections.
Said another L.G.D. agent who was playing pool with another one.
Sebastian had been working with the L.G.D. for two weeks now, with him now believing they were able to be good guys, he was able to get even closer to the members of the elite unit.
He took the energy drink and gave a gesture of thanks to the officer as he continued to correct the papers in front of him.
Mike: What are you doing?
Sebastian: I am grading my students' work.
Mike: Wait what? While you have the job here you are still taking care of the students you were supposed to be teaching?
Sebastian: Hey, these kids have seen their city and their lives destroyed in the blink of an eye, and yet the clock is ticking, and every day they go without an education will be ten more days of hell after that in their lives.
He finished correcting Istina's copy before grabbing the next one, which surprisingly turned out to be Rosa's. A quick glance and he already knew what he had to do. A perfect grade... He smiled to himself, appreciating the certain talent the young woman had to make her writing interesting and her other writing skills, which far surpassed those of the other students.
It was a good thing he didn't have any math to grade today, because while she was good at her literary work Rosa was shamefully bad at science subjects and the good giant wasn't too keen on screwing up her grade after giving her a good one.
Especially because of how much he liked Rosa and giving her a bad grade was making his heart ache… And yet he had too…
Mike: Hm. I'm not surprised.
Sebastian: By the way, Nao, did you get the junkie on 5 to talk?
Nao: DL-5?
Sebastian: Yep.
Nao: Yeah. A little bit, all he told me was that he and his employer communicate by letters. And that's how he knew which kid to kidnap. Not much...
Sebastian: Oh oh… Wrong my dear Nao…
Nao: What? We have no evidence linking him to McConelly.
Sebastian: So far. But you were with me when we went to see him. This guy is a fucking letter psychopath, he's been collecting them since the first one he ever got. So he must have the junkie's somewhere.
Nao: I see... Not stupid, but we'd need a warrant to search his place. And the only prosecutor we could possibly ask right now is Von Karma, but you know as well as I do that he's corrupt as hell.
Sebastian: I've seen his signature, I can imitate it and let's go get what we want from him.
Mike: You would have made a great criminal.
Sebastian: I know.
He said as he gathered the papers he had just finished correcting. And suddenly, the doors of the break room opened, letting in a gigantic green-haired woman.
Hoshiguma: Hi guys!
The oni entered the room with a warming smile on her face. She began to greet her soldiers and units in a relaxed manner, the officers greeting her with smiles. Until her yellow eyes landed on the giant and her smile widened. Hoshiguma walked over to him and without saying anything sat on the giant's lap. Nao took a sip of her soda and almost spit it out when she saw how bold her superior was in her advances towards the giant.
Hoshiguma: Hi, what's up?
Sebastian: Not much, it was my patrol day. We just busted an exhibitionist at the mall.
Hoshiguma: Again?
Sebastian: Yeah... it must be the fashion...
Nao: Seb kicked his balls so hard that he passed out on the floor.
Sebastian: He shouldn't have tried to run away.
Hoshiguma: Ah... Finally the end of the day. Are you on duty tonight?
Sebastian: No.
Hoshiguma: Shall we go for a meal?
Sebastian: With pleasure. Wait, Luis! Can you turn up the sound on the TV?
Everyone turned to the unruly officer who was playing pool with Nao, he nodded and took the remote control next to him to turn up the sound of the TV in the break room, which was on channel 3B.
Hoshiguma: What's going on?
Sebastian: Remember those reporters we saved at Chernobog?
Hoshiguma: Yeah, you told me about them.
Sebastian: They did an emission on Rhodes and now it's on TV.
Hoshiguma: Oh oh I see...
All of the giant's new colleagues were curious to learn more about the pharmaceutical company. Hoshiguma grabbed the can that the giant was holding before finishing it, she too exhausted from her day's work. Her eyes focused on the television. She looked away to the giant for a moment to see him blushing in a rather embarrassed way.
She raised an eyebrow not understanding very well, until she understood by looking at the can of energy drink. Then she started to smile.
Hoshiguma: You're a man and this is how you feel about an indirect kiss...?
Sebastian: Please, shut it...
All eyes turned back to the TV and Sebastian could finally take a second to think for himself.
My name is Yuri Petrenko and I am 19 years old in this world. I don't use my real name anymore because over the years I have become the opposite of who I was. So I took the name of my master Sebastian. I was a punk, a drug dealer, a heroin addict, then an assassin, a soldier, a spy, a mercenary... that was in my world. In the end I ended up jumping from world to world for some people, always fighting to save humanity or some shit like that.
How long have I been doing this?
I don't know. I stopped counting from the first billion years.
That doesn't mean I've forgotten anything. Every second of every lifetime I remember.
Am I sick of it?
Hell no.
I'll keep doing this forever I guess.
Anyway. I've been reincarnated into this new world that's more harsh than 90% of all the ones I've had the chance to get thrown into.
And to top it all off I lost all my memories of this world.
I am a doctor, a professor, a researcher, a surgeon, an engineer, a commander, a barista...
In short, I'm Rhodes Island's handyman. Not that I don't like it, I fight for a just cause every day and I'm with a lot of great people. The main negative point I would say is that I work twenty hours a day and don't get paid, but I'm not complaining about that either.
After a dark battle in the city owned by an obnoxious asshole and some contract manipulations done by him, here I am now as an honorary agent of the L.G.D...!
Basically super cops mixed with the military. And honestly, except for that day when I was placed at the traffic downtown, it's a pretty cool job.
Except for the fact that my boss hates my guts for something I did to her in the past.
I just hope it wasn't making love to her while she loved me to insanity before leaving her the next morning for probably ever without a word before she even woke up.
Or something like that.
I would have been a real jerk to do that...
Anyway. The days are getting more and more hectic. And now I just want to rest...
The sound of a familiar voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked at the TV to see a young woman wearing a suit and acting as a presenter.
Jill: Good evening everyone and welcome to Big Black Bird news columbia. I'm Jill Stingray and you probably know me from the unfortunate incident at Chernobog. The reunion, Rhodes Island, the fall of Chernobog, you all probably have questions. Well, to answer all those questions we present you with a brand new report that Rhodes Island allowed us to shoot at their facility. Have a good viewing.
She said with a charming smile.
Hoshiguma: She was nervous...
Sebastian: You bet she was just a reporter who had done a few investigations before and now she's in the spotlight.
Hoshiguma: I see...
After the short transition on the TV we could see some shots of Chernobog, probably what they had shot during the rescue mission of the students. The images continued with some scenes inside the school and in the city showing the atrocities. Then other images showed reunion, some of them even showing the leaders' camp where thanks to the zoom we could see them all next to each other surprising the giant.
Hoshiguma: Hey who is that draco?
Sebastian: Talulah. The big boss of the reunion.
Hoshiguma: She looks a lot like Ch'en don't you think...
Sebastian: You're right. I'm actually pretty sure they're linked somehow. Oh and besides, the first time we met, i've beaten her ass and I stole her sword.
Hoshiguma: No… the one you have there?
Sebastian: Yep.
Jill's narration voice came back as the videos of the report scrolled by.
Jill: As you can see from these images the great Chernobog, the most important city in Ursus, has fallen to an infected terrorist collective. You are probably wondering who these people are. Reunion as they call themselves is a collective still relatively unknown in the remote areas of ursus. But in the middle of the ruined city another side is fighting with all its might against the powerful terrorists.
Videos scrolled by showing the various Rhodes Island operators who were there during the fight, with some slow motion and special effects, they looked their best. The giant couldn't help but feel his heart beat a little faster when he saw Nearl looking even more beautiful and radiant than usual. Even Nightingale and Shining, who had barely used their arts at the time, emanated an impressive aura. The parade of fighters ended with Sebastian covered in blood and wounds, looking like a wild dog going out of a fight and he wondered if they had added some special effects on top to make his green eyes shine.
Hoshiguma: Wow... It almost looks like a big budget action movie.
Sebastian: I have to admit, they went a little overboard with the special effects.
Jill: Fighting every day to bring humanitarian aid to the infected and uninfected who have not yet been evacuated by the Ursus government, the famous Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical and Humanitarian Society is scouring the ruins of the city to bring help. We had the chance to meet them during one of their operations whose goal was to save the students of the city's schools captured and tortured by the members of the reunion. An operation where they also saved two hostages from 3B including me as we were about to be executed. Curious to learn more about this organization. We were fortunate to be allowed to shoot on board their base as well as interview multiple people on board.
The shot had changed to a helicopter view of the land cruiser in all its glory, then more shots of Rhodes Island but inside. And finally, the images of a young cautus in the middle of an interview came into view.
Amiya looked at the camera with a big smile as she sat in a chair in her office.
He smiled as he saw his dear cautus.
Only two weeks without seeing her and yet he really missed her... her and Nearl of course.
Jill: Ms. Amiya, you are the CEO of Rhodes Island, is that correct?
Amiya: That is correct.
Jill: You are extremely young, is that okay with your position here?
Despite this unsettling question Amiya did not cross and kept her smile.
Amiya: It's true that it's a big responsibility. But I am not alone. My colleagues help me a lot. It is because of them that I am able to take on such a position at Rhodes Island.
Jill: Can you give us a summary of what Rhode Island is?
Amiya: Rhodes Island is a pharmaceutical company focused on finding cures for oripathy, but we also provide humanitarian aid to the infected around the world. Our ultimate goal is to find a permanent cure for oripathy and to end the oppression of the infected.
Her eyes shone with determination, and her voice, though childlike, had all the tone of an adult.
Jill: Wow... That sounds like a complicated task. I mean, despite all the research that has been done on treatments for oripathy, the hopes for a permanent cure are slim.
Amiya: Hope is what defines humanity, right? It was hope that drove the first settlers to travel across the great Columbia Desert to find the green plains of the north. Well, despite the slim hope that we have of finding a cure, we believe with all our heart that we can make it happen. As do all the others who are working on this cure.
Hoshiguma: Wow... She's doing well...
Sebastian: You saw it. It's times like this that she doesn't look her age.
Mike: Wait, so she's really your boss Seb?
Sebastian: Yep...
Mike: You are lucky with your bosses.
He said with irony.
Sebastian: Nah, the donkey is way better than the blue lizard...
Jill: Rhodes Island is a very special society. Is it just out of conviction that you launched this rescue operation at the Academy of Excellence?
Amiya: Absolutely. We sent a rescue squad as soon as we received the distress message that the students managed to send.
Jill: And what happened to those students?
The cautus took a deep breath.
Amiya: Those who contracted oripathy because of the catastrophe that befell the city were taken to Rhodes Island for free treatment. The others were sent back to their families.
Jill: This brings up one of your problems. The whole world does not share your view of the infected. Especially Ursus... Do you really have a problem with that?
Amiya: No. We are convinced that if we are indeed right, then everyone who disagrees will join our cause at some point. No matter what hardships any country may place in our path.
Hoshiguma: Her eyes... And she's like that when she makes speeches?
Sebastian: Yeah... At the same time this story is a chance to get our voice out there in the world and get some publicity.
Jill: And finally, Miss Amiya, do you have any words to describe what you like most about Rhodes Island?
The cautus seemed surprised by this question which proved that they had not been prepared in advance.
Amiya: I think I can say without a doubt, that my favorite thing about Rhodes is the people. Here we are few in number and all close to each other, so I can't help but think of the bond that unites us, and just how much we are often like a big family.
The cautus said with a big smile and the man who previously played pool with Nao began to speak.
Luis: Adorable...
He says with an Iberian accent as thicc as Ch'en's thighs.
Nao: Oh shit, he said the word today!
Mike: He's not wrong...
There was a fade to black and that changed the plan to film a lynx with white and green hair and a cold look, mixed with that look that could turn someone into a statue. She had her arms crossed and was sitting on the edge of her desk, multiple screens showing various medical information that no one could understand behind her.
Jill: Hi Ms. Kal'tsit, are you presenting for the story?
Kal'tsit: I am Dr. Kal'tsit, co-founder and head of the medical branch of Rhodes Island.
Hoshiguma: She scares me...
Sebastian: Me too...
Nao: She excites me.
Everyone turned to Nao who was looking at Kal'tsit like a predator looking at a juicy steak.
After all she was still an ursin and in the middle of her season so seeing a woman so attractive to her was like a truth serum.
Sebastian: 'me too...'
Jill: Another very important responsibility for such a large pharmaceutical company. After all it is said that your treatments are light years ahead of those offered by Rhine Labs, how can you explain this?
Kal'tsit: It's because Rhodes Island is less focused on maximizing the power it gains and its profits and more focused on providing real solutions.
Mike took a deep breath through his teeth at the tackle the lynx had made on Rhine.
Kal'tsit: But also because our researchers and staff are not only qualified, but dedicated. I know that at Columbia the average year count before you change jobs is three years. Here some people have been here for eight years. And they want to continue for another ten years or until we find a cure. That's what allows us to make such progress. Focus and dedication.
Jill: Ms. Kal'tsit... Not all of the infected share this view of trying to find a cure and live in harmony with the uninfected... Like the reunion for example... Can you explain what it is?
The lynx sighed.
Kal'tsit: The reunion is a non-governmental military organization from ursus. We don't know how or when, but they have managed to grow, acquire military grade equipment and elite soldiers. They aim to crush all those in their path who oppress the infected. They don't care if they are innocent or not as long as they are not infected...
Jill: And why do you think these infected have taken up arms against the uninfected instead of seeking a cure like you at the oripathy?
Kal'tsit: I don't know exactly. Ursus is a breeding ground for hatred among the infected. The reunion has lost all hope and is only sinking into hatred.
Jill: But why did they attack Chernobog?
Kal'tsit: You think I know?
The feline sent a murderous look to the slightly annoyed reporter at her questions. This did not fail to send a shiver down the spine of anyone who might be watching the report.
Kal'tsit: Probably because of a trade-off between ease of assault and the glory it would bring them to wipe out one of the largest cities in Ursus.
Jill: W-well, I think that's all, Ms. Kal'tsit...
There was another fade to black. When the image came back up we could see the torso of a man wearing a shirt and tie and the camera slowly moving up to his face. When his face was in the frame he started to smile in one of the most charming ways imaginable. Clearly if this whole story was an opportunity to advertise Rhodes then the doctor's charm was doing half the job. After all, if he had inherited such great beauty he could use it... He was standing in a Rhodes Island corridor with a notepad in his hand showing that he had been interrupted during his work.
Jill: Hi, even though we met at Chernobog, could you introduce yourself for the TV?
Sebastian (TV): Sure. I'm Dr. Sebastian. I'm the head of the Rhodes Island security section.
Jill: Mr. Sebastian, forgive me for bringing this up so early, but you have a sinister reputation...
His smile faded quickly.
Sebastian (TV): As Theresa's bloody right hand... I know that much...
Jill: And yet here you are on Rhodes Island, a humanitarian society, aren't you afraid that your reputation will taint the public image of Rhodes Island?
He returned to his beautiful smile and began to close his eyes.
Sebastian (TV): Not in the least. One of the things about this place is that as long as you have talent and good will, anyone can join and do their best. That's why we're not so careful about the background of our staff. Rhodes Island offers a second chance to many people here. And I was lucky enough to be one of them. So yes, Rhode Island can accommodate people with backgrounds like mine. That's part of life here. Just ignoring the past, focusing on the future.
Jill: Thank you doctor, I don't think I have any more questions on this subject now... But going back to the questions about your branch, isn't it strange that Rhode Island has such a well developed security branch? We were lucky to see that you have many competent people, equipped and with experience close to that of Blacksteel.
Hoshiguma: Now the burning question. Why does Rhodes Island have a private army?
The oni gave the giant a little sarcastic look, knowing that this was a bit of a secret that Rhodes Island was having trouble assuming.
Nao: And why are there people there who can slice through a mobile city platform with a simple sword.
Sebastian(TV): The infected are going through the danger because of those who feel hatred towards them. Whether it's those who have been raised in fear or simply feel animosity towards people who are just sick, unless you're in Columbia or Leithania, if you're infected... you're more likely to get shot than anything else. Since the vast majority of our staff are infected themselves we have to have a branch like mine to make sure that this kind of unfortunate incident doesn't happen. And I'm not hiding anything if I tell you that terra is a brutal world. Where danger lurks at almost every corner. So having the ability to defend ourselves and fight is a necessity for us. Whether it's to ensure our survival or to continue this kind of operation like in Chernobog.
Jill: But you also have an extremely important place on Rhodes Island and yet you are not just a commander?
Sebastian(TV): Aye. I'm also a doctor and researcher in my spare time.
Jill: You must not be the only one who wears multiple hats, is that okay?
Sebastian: The negative? Three hours of sleep a night...
Sebastian(TV): I don't have any... There are not many of us here. So when you have multiple skills you put on multiple hats and get the job done.
Jill: Doctor, do you
Ch'en: GET YOUR ASSES UP !
Without even Sebastian expecting it, the head lung of the L.G.D. opened wide the doors of the rest room while shouting seeming completely panicked.
Everyone in the rest room was startled.
Hoshiguma: Ch'en, what's the matter?
Ch'en: Hurry up and come to Kongming square!
The oni got up without hesitation followed by the giant and all of them started to run in the corridors of the building to finally get out and arrive on the central square of Lungmen. It only took Sebastian and Hoshiguma a quarter of a second to realize that something was wrong, given all the emergency vehicles in the square, as well as the unusual number of people who were gathered together with their phones, looking up and filming.
The two giants looked up to see the skyscraper across the street, and at the top of it a human figure could be seen near the edge.
Hoshiguma: Oh shit she's going to jump!
Sebastian: It's the second highest building in Lungmen... Even if they put a net or something she won't miss...
Ch'en: Do something!
The lung said full of stress and anger while looking at the giant. This one raises an eyebrow.
Sebastian: What do you want me to do? I don't have wings! I'm not a superhero!
Ch'en: Tch! My ass!
The lung ran off to join her L.G.D. colleagues who seemed to want to calm the crowd down.
Hoshiguma: Really... there's nothing you can do?
Sebastian: Nah... I don't have the strength to climb up or to catch her... I can't do anything...
He said, lowering his head and feeling ashamed.
The oni seemed to look at him for a moment. Then she gave him a comforting smile.
Hoshiguma: Do what you can.
With these words she ran to the police while Sebastian stared at the girl on top of the building.
Sebastian: Think, think...
He put his hands on his face, his brain going through thousands of possible scenarios without any of them ending up with this person who was going to jump alive.
Sebastian: Think!
Civilian: Oh my god she jumped!
A collective scream from the crowd rang out and Sebastian's eyes widened.
What could he do?
Do his best...?
No...
No. It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough anymore.
He had seen it in his fight with Irina.
He didn't have to give 100% of himself.
Not 200%, 300% or 500%...
If the world was so hard then he should give 1000% of what he was capable of.
His limits? Go beyond them, break them, even if he didn't think he could. That was what Specter had told him.
So he had to give 1000% right now.
Sebastian: Stop thinking.
For a second he remembered his father's words.
In an emergency, you'll find you don't have to think. Just listen to what your body tells you.
He flexed his legs, and on his skin began to appear flashes of red like blood. Followed closely by flames.
The lesson he had to keep in head from now on, was to always go beyond. Thanks Specter…
His body had started to react by itself when it should not normally. It was as if the giant's mind and his body had two wills of their own that had come together this time.
The deafening heat he produced melted the concrete around him and naturally the people in the crowd turned towards him.
And then in a flash. The giant jumped. Sebastian leapt, at astronomical speed, almost teleporting into the wall of the skyscraper across the street, leaving a trail of red light behind him. But this was only a step, the giant just took hold of the wall to jump again. And so on, he continued his ascent between the buildings leaving a web of red light trails in the sky, until he reached the person who had jumped. His arms wrapped around the person with the greatest of delicacy, and for a moment his eyes met the gaze of a person in one of the buildings, as he continued the free fall, the poor person had already lost consciousness. His body stopped burning his own cells for energy to protect the girl in his arms. But also with the effect of leaving him with much less strength. He quickly felt the ground getting closer so with the little strength he had he started to move the point of impact of their fall, to aim at a car. Then he began to turn on himself, using centrifugal force to throw the girl in the air to greatly reduce her speed. He crashed heavily into the car like a man who had just fallen four hundred meters. At that moment he used the control of his cells to make sure he didn't turn into a raspberry puree. But he didn't even take a second to get up and catch the young woman in his arms without her being hurt.
Standing on the carcass of the luxurious car he sighed with relief, glancing and smiling at the oni who was watching him from a police car. A smile that meant one thing, I made it.
?: You should have let me die...
He turned his gaze to the young woman he was holding.
She was a kuranta, yes. But a unicorn kuranta. With pigtails and black hair, dressed in a white dress.
Her voice was weak, but not because she was hurt, or physically exhausted, but psychically.
Sebastian had been there at some point in his life too. So he knew how to recognize the voice of someone at the bottom of the abyss.
Sounds like he should take care of that...
He looked up when he heard torrents of applause and cheers from the crowd watching the whole scene.
He sighed.
Before leaving here with such speed that he seemed to disappear.
A few minutes before
At the top of the L.G.D. building, a kirin was looking out of the penthouse window, biting her nails as she looked at the building in front of her. Or more precisely the roof of the building in front of her. Underneath her she had a good view of the girl who looked like she was about to jump from the top of the building. In fact, it looked like she had a front row seat to a suicide attempt. She too wondered how the girl could have gotten out of this predicament. Officers were behind her on the roof of the building trying to reason with her but she didn't even seem to be listening to them.
She heard heavy footsteps behind her, not even making the effort to look behind her.
Wei: What are you looking at now?
Said the man looking up at the roof as well as coming up to the woman he was married to, looking annoyed just by the fact that he had to talk to her.
Fumizuki: Unfortunately you still have your eyes, so look in front of you. This girl is about to jump...
Wei: Tch.
He let out a slight noise to show his annoyance, before crossing his arms.
Wei: So what? Don't act like this is the first time you've seen a death with your own eyes.
The kirin gritted her teeth and her usual beautiful face was filled with animal rage.
Fumizuki: Have you completely lost your humanity? A girl is about to kill herself and you feel nothing...
Wei: Well, let her jump, poor thing! She will stop causing trouble. And she won't have any on the other side.
The Higashi princess looked at him, feeling the hatred rising in herself.
Fumizuki: You are the worst man who ever walked this earth...
The lung laughed.
Wei: And yet I am your man.
Fumizuki: Far from being by choice...
She said, half snarling with rage.
Wei: Watch what you say woman. We are married whether you like it or not. I'm not asking you to love me, only not to get in my way. And to act like a perfect woman in the eyes of the world.
Said he smiling placing his fingers under the chin of the kirin to raise his head and make him look in his eyes. While she clenched her fists with all her strength to contain her anger.
Wei: You are mine. Don't you dare forget it...
Suddenly the two heard screams below the building, the kirin's eyes turned away and they could see that the girl had jumped from the roof to her certain death.
Fumizuki took a deep breath and expected the worst, until she heard a loud bang below, followed by several others. The surroundings seemed to have darkened because of the even stronger light that was being emitted. And as the kirin's vision slowed she could see a human figure like a bolt of lightning split the air leaving a red trail behind. The figure seemed to leap against the wall of one of the buildings before catching up with the young woman and at that moment her eyes met the emeralds of this savior and she could finally see that he was none other than the good doctor of Rhodes Island.
Of course she expected first that he would fall back to find a way to land softly. But the smile that had begun to form on her lips was quickly broken when she saw the doctor split the sky as if a brick had been thrown from a building.
She gritted her teeth and it was a rodeo of emotions when the doctor did his blatantly physics- and logic-violating thing when he landed on a car and caught the young woman in his arms.
The car was in pieces and yet both the doctor and the girl looked perfectly healthy.
Seeing this Fumizuki let out a sigh of relief. Then she looked to her right to see Wei stunned, his mouth wide open and almost hanging open. But it was only when she looked at the car that she realized why.
Wei: M-my car !
The lung put his hands on his horns like a man about to pull his hair out as he began to scream. She had to stop herself from laughing, but she felt that Shirayuki who was watching the scene hidden in the shadows as always she didn't stop herself from laughing at the Lung.
Fumizuki: If there is a god in this world it must be him who punished you for your lack of humanity.
Wei: You don't know what this does to me, woman! This car was a limited edition of ten throughout Terra! With a diamond embedded in the gearshift-
He said, screaming with rage.
Fumizuki: What do you care? You always take a limousine with a driver.
She said as she left the scene leaving the lung to continue his anger. But today at least she had this little fragment of joy by receiving the proof that the powerful could also be good men.
She isolated herself in her personal room and took off her heavy black leather jacket before sitting on her bed with a sigh.
Fumizuki: Shira.
No sooner had she finished her sentence than she came out of the shadows.
Shirayuki: Madam?
Fumizuki: Now that I think about it, do you have what I asked you for?
Shirayuki: Hm. Here it is.
From a kind of bag she had the anaty took out a file that she gave with her two hands to the princess of Higashi.
Fumizuki: Any problems with that?
Shirayuki: He spotted me every time. But he didn't try to escape my observation.
The kirin looked at her bodyguard, surprised.
Shirayuki: My apologies madam...
Fumizuki: That's okay. Somehow he's way beyond your abilities...
She lay down on her bed and opened the file and started to look at the pictures.
The first ones were the ones taken by the security cameras placed on top of some pylons in the desert. Usually they were there to monitor animal activity or make sure there were no smugglers. But here they had managed to capture a very particular scene. The pictures were in chronological order and in them we could see what was undoubtedly the good doctor of Rhodes Island, transforming into a demonic creature.
Shirayuki: Do you think this is his arts?
Fumizuki: No. He has already shown that his arts are a healing light. And I have never seen such arts. But anyway I could put my hand on fire that it has something to do with sarkaz. Maybe an artifact or racial ability of a sub-species...
Shirayuki: But he has no sarkaz features. No horns, no spiked ears, no pointed canines. And no sign that he took them off...
Fumizuki: Who knows.
She continued flipping through the various pictures. Surprised to see the ones showing that he seemed to live in Hoshiguma's apartment.
Fumizuki: What about the information about him from Rhodes Island.
Shirayuki: I went undercover, but a lupo seemed to be waiting for me in the archive room... She handed me the file and made it clear that she would kill me if I tried to get more.
Fumizuki: And you didn't try?
Shirayuki: I didn't even feel her presence until she spoke. If she had wanted to kill me she could have. So I thought it was useless to try to get more information.
Fumizuki: *sigh* And these kinds of people don't seem to be too abnormal for the Rhodes Island operators... But what kind of monsters can they still be hiding. He seems to be at inspector Hoshiguma's house... Are they a couple?
Shirayuki: No. Miss Ch'en asked the doctor to find a place to live within a certain radius of the tower apparently to bother him. But Ms. Hoshiguma offered him to stay at her house. Apparently they knew each other well years ago.
Fumizuki: And nothing more? Damn...
Shirayuki: Actually, there is. The doctor is said to be one of the founders of the man-eaters gang in Lungmen with Hoshiguma.
Fumizuki: He was one of the man-eaters?!
Shirayuki: Yes. He left with a letter of apology a week before the gang was broken up by the L.G.D.
Fumizuki: How do you know all this?
Shirayuki: I asked Mrs. Hoshiguma how she knew Dr. Sebastian... And that's what she told me.
Fumizuki: Those two are alike... They're both far too honest for their own good.
The kirin looked through more notes and pictures until she saw pictures made with less care. It was as if they had been taken in a flash. They showed an illegal fighting arena surrounded by underworld spectators. And right in the middle, fighting with his bare hands, was good old Sebastian. He was wearing only gym shorts, with the skin of his torso reflecting the light of the spotlights.
Fumizuki: Illegal fighting...?
Shirayuki: When I looked at him battling, it looked like he was training.
Fumizuki: If it's part of his routine...
Shirayuki: Madam, why did you ask me to bring all this evidence?
Fumizuki: I want a bargaining chip. That man still has the information about my Ch'en, and I don't want him to use it to cause trouble.
Shirayuki: Didn't he promise not to talk about it?
Fumizuki: I can't take his word for it...
Shirayuki: Are you sure it won't be dangerous to blackmail him?
Fumizuki: ...
Shirayuki: Madam?
Fumizuki: ...
Shirayuki: Ms. Fumizuki, you're blushing.
The anaty cleared her throat before speaking breaking the bubble of inattention the princess was in.
Fumizuki: O-oh excuse me, it's just that I'm surprised by your talent of photography...
She said hurrying to look somewhere else than the close-up picture of the giant during a fight that seemed to show him at his best. Shirayuki started to blush as well, lowering her head, happy to receive a compliment from her mistress.
Fumizuki: What did you say?
Shirayuki: If this man is so dangerous, is it a good idea to blackmail him?
Fumizuki: Maybe not... But I want to give him every chance. It would be better if he doesn't harm Ch'en.
Shirayuki: I see...
Fumizuki: This day was exhausting... You can go Shira I think I'll go to bed. And good job.
She said and gave a smile to thank her bodyguard who started to blush again.
Shirayuki: Should I close the door?
Fumizuki: You're right. Please lock it. Lung season should be starting and I don't want the other jerk to try anything.
Shirayuki: Of course I'll keep you safe ma'am.
Fumizuki: What would I do without you...
She said as she quickly undressed and lay down in her bed, letting her thoughts drift. Her eyes went to the folder full of pictures on her night table. Then she began to blush again before shaking her head to chase away all thoughts, turning off her lamp.
This would be her last quiet night for a while...
Further into the city.
*Plop*
Old Man: Here you go, son.
In the Higashien district, the giant was sitting at the same ramen stand that the oni had taken him to a while ago. Two steaming bowls of noodles had just been placed in front of the customers. The giant with emerald eyes and the unicorn right next to him. The young woman looked at the bowl with her eyes empty of energy as the giant picked up his chopsticks.
Sebastian: Eat, girl. It's not good to stay on an empty stomach, it gives you bad ideas.
Hesitantly she took the chopsticks and started to eat.
Sebastian: What is your name?
?: Clovisia.
Sebastian: You are from Victoria.
Clovisia: Hm.
Sebastian: Why did you want to do that?
Clovisia: So this is it, finally...
Sebastian: You're just a kid, it's normal for me to try to find out why you want to screw up when you have your whole life ahead of you.
Clovisia: I'm already 27 years old you know.
She says with a slightly irritated look, the giant almost choking on his surprise food.
Clovisia: Unicorns are a race that age slowly and live long...
Sebastian: So you are older than me... Boss, two beers please!
Old man: Coming right up...
Sebastian: But that doesn't change anything. You still have, what, at least three centuries of life ahead of you. Why decide to end it.
She lowered her head, finishing the bite of her noodles with difficulty.
Clovisia: Because I have nothing left. No family, no wealth, no possessions, no title. I have lost everything.
Sebastian: Noble?
Clovisia: My father was a grand duke. When Theresis passed the decree forbidding the nobility to stay in Londinium we wanted to stay. I was able to escape, but my whole family went to the scaffold.
Sebastian: I see...
Clovisia: Is that all? A girl tells you why she wanted to kill herself and you just say I see? No big sanctimonious speech, or telling me that my life has value?
She took the mug of beer that had been served to her and drank it all in one gulp under the worried gaze of the giant.
Sebastian: What do you want me to say? I'm nobody to you. I don't know you. So I have nothing to tell you about it. The sole value your life has is given by the people who know you.
Clovisia: So why did you save me?
Sebastian: I don't know. Because it's my job... Because I was asked... Or just because I felt it was my duty.
Clovisia: A white knight...
She says, openly mocking him.
Sebastian: Hm. I get that a lot.
He took a sip of his drink.
Sebastian: So it's because you lost everything.
Clovisia: It was nice of you to save me. But tell me. Why should I bother living?
Sebastian: You tell me. What did you have to live for before this?
Clovisia: My reason for living?
Sebastian: Yes you know, what you used to get up for every morning. Your reason for existing.
Clovisia: ... I don't know...
She turned to him angrily as she heard him laughing into his beard as he took another sip of his beer.
Sebastian: I know the type... The little noblewoman who doesn't know anything about life... Who just lives from day to day waiting for everything to fall into her mouth...
Clovisia: Say that again!
Sebastian: Hey, calm down kid. You just got a big, nasty slap of reality in the face. You couldn't have stayed like that your whole life. Seriously... I just think it's dumb. Having no goal, no reason to live is like wandering in a desert without any idea where your destination is.
Clovisia: Is it that easy to find a reason to exist?
Sebastian: Nope.
Clovisia: What about you? How did you find one?
Sebastian: I lost all my memories. I woke up with no memories in the middle of a war. Some people saved me, and they asked me to help them and lead them. It touched me. I couldn't even remember where I came from, and they decided to put their trust in me. So I decided to do everything I could to help them.
Clovisia: I don't have stuff like that...
Sebastian: What do you feel?
Clovisia: What?
Sebastian: What do you feel deep inside right now? And why?
The unicorn looked at her reflection in the broth of her bowl of soup.
Clovisia: Anger. It makes me hate it when a fucking foreigner comes into our country and suddenly starts controlling everything, and everyone starts cheering for him.
Sebastian: You must not be the only one in Londinium who thinks that, right?
Clovisia: Those who don't like it are being chased away by the army.
Sebastian: Well, there you go. Start there. Start a rebellion or something. And get your nobility back.
Clovisia: As if it were easy...
Sebastian: You've got nothing left to lose anyway.
Clovisia: What about my life?
Sebastian: I thought you didn't want it anymore.
He says with a smile as he finishes his beer.
Sebastian: Do as I say and hopefully you'll meet people who will make your life worthwhile. And I won't have to jump off a building to catch a kid.
Clovisia: Stop calling me a kid!
Sebastian: I think someone who is red in the face after one beer and has nothing to live for is a kid. Kinda disappointed of a unicorn in her thirties to be honest….
Clovisia: You're not like all the others.
Sebastian: What do you mean?
Clovisia: You're not like everyone else I've met so far. You almost seem like you don't belong in this world...
Maybe it was the alcohol going to her head to say things like that.
Sebastian: I'll take that as a compliment.
Clovisia: Maybe I'll just go home then.
Sebastian: Hey who dares wins.
Clovisia: And I have nothing to lose. But I have no way of getting to Victoria.
Sebastian: Let me make three phone calls and in two hours you're on a plane to Victoria.
Clovisia: Hey, thanks... But why are you doing all this for me?
Sebastian: You said it yourself, right? I'm a white knight...
He says with a smile as he finishes his bowl.
Clovisia: What is your name?
Sebastian: Does it really matter?
Clovisia: Doesn't a young girl have the right to know the name of her savior?
Sebastian: Hm. Sebastian.
Clovisia: Just Sebastian?
Sebastian: That's all you need to know.
He took his phone out of his pocket and some money when she finished her bowl.
Sebastian: Just keep walking down the street, straight ahead and straight ahead until you get to the airport. If someone asks your name, follow him.
Clovisia: What are you at the end? A mafioso? A psychologist? A cop?
Sebastian: Just a humble doctor. Go ahead, kid.
The girl got up from her seat with just a little difficulty because of the alcohol, but nothing too dangerous.
Clovisia: Then I guess we can say goodbye, humble doctor Sebastian.
Sebastian: Goodbye kid.
She started to leave but after a few steps turned around.
Clovisia: I hope our paths cross again.
Sebastian: If you're going to put Victoria in fire and blood, then maybe I don't want to see you again.
He said ironically with a smile, while the unicorn left with a light step.
Veronica: Irina, can you bring down the main chandelier please?
Skullshatterer: One second!
Inside the Lungmen Cathedral, a group of nuns were cleaning the first floor today. So that everything would shine and be in perfect condition. The first nun, a vulpo, was rubbing some product on the prayer benches so that they would shine a little more. The second nun, a perro, swept the floor. The third nun, a feline whose face was half covered with black crystals, was placing papers on the pews for the next day's mass and the last nun, a vulture, was cleaning the altar.
Stella: Wasn't it the boys' turn to do the cleaning today?
Said Vulpo, straightening up and cracking her back, feeling pain from being bent over all the time to do the cleaning.
Dorothy: It's Sunday mass tomorrow morning... And you know how the boys clean, so he wanted it done right by tomorrow.
Said the vulture.
Alma: That's not fair we just did it three times in a row.
The perro spoke in turn.
Skullshatterer: It's okay, we're not going to die either... It's just that we're going to bed a little later...
The white-coated ursine spoke while folding the cloth she had before moving towards one of the columns where one of the ropes that maintained one of the chandelier in the air was attached.
Alma: That's easier for you to say... We're not all veterans...
Skullshatterer: Veronica isn't complaining about it either...
Veronica: I don't usually sleep too much, so I don't have a problem with it...
The feline began to wait for her sidekick to bring down the chandelier to dust it. Irina she began to make descend the cord. Given the time that it took her eyes began to wander to look at the stained glass windows that she had never looked at before. Until she glanced at the large stained glass window behind the altar, in fact the largest stained glass window in the church that she had not even looked at even though she had been working there for two weeks.
Her eyes widened and she couldn't help but let go of the rope in her hand.
The chandelier of a hundred kilos fell straight towards the feline who was below. By the time Irina realized what had happened, it was too late, and Veronica could already see death coming before her eyes.
Montsut: Fixum!
Suddenly, the chandelier stopped in its fall, only two meters above the feline who immediately shifted. The space around the candlestick seemed distorted, as if in a bubble, all the girls turned to the archbishop who had his hand on his pistol, calling upon the originium in it to use his arts.
The candlestick began to descend slowly and when it reached the ground the bubble disappeared and it landed like a feather.
Skullshatterer: Sorry Vero! I-I'm so sorry I didn't-
Veronica: That's okay, everyone is fine. Thank you, Father.
She said, bowing her head as a sign of gratitude as she turned to the old man who was walking towards the young women.
Skullshatterer: My apologies father, this will not happen again!
She said it too, lowering her head.
Montsut: Irina, young lady, calm down please... Can you tell me what happened?
The archbishop arrived in front of her.
He was a man, old, all his hair was white as ivory but he still had it all on his head. It was short. But the most interesting thing was the rest of his face. Montsut was a scary man. Terrifying even, instinctively to anyone. His face was old and emaciated, adorned with a gigantic scar that crossed his face diagonally, as well as a pair of round glasses that seemed to constantly reflect the light that prevented him from seeing his eyes, a light that surely came from the halo above his head. He was tall and extremely skinny. And of course the fact that he was carrying a gun on his belt like any good Laterano priest did not help to make him look reassuring.
And yet he was a nice old man. Really, extremely pleasant with almost everyone.
Skullshatterer : Excuse me father... My mind was elsewhere for a moment and I let go of the rope.
Montsut: Hm... I see. What distracted you?
Skullshatterer : That stained glass window my father, I couldn't notice how much the person on it looked like...
Montsut: The friend who sent you here...?
Skullshatterer : Yes...
She looked again at the stained glass window and the person in it. A man in armor could be seen, he held a golden and silver sword in his hands that was pointed downwards. From his back came two pairs of wings, but they looked more like those of a bird than those of a sankta. On his head sat a black crown, and behind his head a halo that was the most refined part of the artwork. But the thing that struck the ursine was how much the person on this stained glass window seemed to be copied from dear Dr. Sebastian.
Everything was there, the green eyes like emeralds, the face that was surprisingly similar, the color of the skin, and the hair.
Dorothy: To the archangel?
Stella: Really? What the hell are you smoking, Irina?
Alma: I thought your friend was a raceless...
Skullshatterer: The archangel...?
Alma: What, you don't know that?
Montsut: You have never heard of the archangel Irina?
Skullshatterer : No my father...
Montsut: Oh dear... Girls, I see you're almost finished, can I borrow Irina for a moment to tell her?
Alma: Ok...
Stella: No problem.
Dorothy: Sure father, we'll be done in a few minutes anyway.
The old man started walking towards the altar to get closer to the stained glass window, the ursine following him.
Montsut: Your knowledge on Laterano is thin... But if I had to make you a summary I would say that the archangel Salomon is the great protector of Laterano...
Skullshatterer : How is that?
Montsut: One hundred and fifty years ago, Laterano was prey to the attacks of the grand dragons...
Skullshatterer: The dragons really existed?!
Montsut: Hm hm. Every archbishop even receives a pendant carved in a dragon bone when he becomes one.
He said, pointing to a bone pendant he had under his robe.
Montsut: These beings were commonplace in the even more distant past, setting Laterano on fire. And there were often one or two of them, their appearances spaced a few decades apart. Until they did not come anymore, to reappear three centuries later and as a dozen. Many believed that the Sankta civilization was over. And that's when the archangel appeared a hundred and fifty years ago. He struck down all the dragons, protecting the citizens of Laterano... Even those who had lost their connection to the lord crowned him as their worthy king.
He said, pointing to the black crown.
Skullshatterer: But why does he look so much like him... If it was a hundred and fifty years ago it can't be him...
She heard Montsut laughing grimly.
Montsut : You never know... The world often hides many surprises... So indeed it is impossible that it is him... Just as it is impossible to run five times faster than a car, or to freeze space in a zone. But the people of this world often do the impossible...
The old man left with his equally sinister smile. But Skullshatterer couldn't understand.
Sebastian: *ATCHAAA* Ahh damn...
Hoshiguma: Wow, are you okay? Fore didn't do this to you, did he?
Sebastian: I've been living in your apartment for two weeks now, Hoshi, I'm not going to have an allergy to cats now. Huh fatty...
The giant stroked under the cat's chin, who was sitting on the kitchen counter watching him cook. Hoshiguma was sitting at the dining table, a glass of wine next to her plate, having kicked off her breastplate and her big leather jacket to replace them with a black sweatshirt making her much more comfortable. But also leaving much more space to her enormous...
Fruit basket...
For the biggest pleasure of the giant of course. Even if he wouldn't say it openly.
Hoshiguma: So, how did it go with the girl who jumped?
Sebastian: We talked, I bought her some of the old man's ramen. And then she left fresh.
Hoshiguma: If you say it like that, I don't think you'll have to catch her again from a falling building... And are you still hungry?
Sebastian: I burned a lot of cells and energy for my little stunt earlier. I have to eat.
Hoshiguma: And what do we eat?
Sebastian: Flank steak with my secret sauce and celery fries like I made last time with honey and thyme...
He glanced at the oni to see her salivating.
Hoshiguma: I swear I could marry you just for your cooking...
He smiled and turned back to his pan.
Sebastian: Just for my cooking? Wow... The rest must not be amazing...
Hoshiguma: No, your cooking is the tenth most important reason.
Sebastian: Brave tonight? Is the wine going to your head quickly? If you want to propose to me, buy a ring with one of your paychecks instead of using it for your motorcycles...
What he didn't know was that behind his back the oni was adding a note on her cell phone.
Hoshiguma: What are you doing tomorrow?
Sebastian: Ah, it's true that it's Sunday tomorrow... I was thinking of preparing a picnic and going to the park. I found a nice place in the middle of the wisteria, well isolated, where you can relax. And after that, maybe we can go for a walk in the city... do you like that?
Hoshiguma: Hell yeah.
The idea of a moment like that with the man she loved the most in this world seemed to be the most pleasant thing.
Sebastian: Tell me about it...
Hoshiguma: Hey, people took a video of the scene in the square earlier, it's getting a lot of views on the city's network...
Sebastian: That much?
Hoshiguma: Are you kidding? That was a real superhero thing you did there. People are crazy about it. And with that report on TV now everyone knows that it was the Rhodes Island doctor who saved a girl who was jumping off a building to kill herself...
Sebastian: As long as I'm left alone in the street...
Hoshiguma: That's relatively unlikely to happen now that your face is public, are you sure you won't mind?
Sebastian: Hoshi, I can't hide behind a mask anymore. People have to stop seeing the doctor from Babel and see Sebastian from Rhodes Island.
Hoshiguma: Oh, there are already newspaper articles on the internet... Look at this... " Rhodes Island, offer redemption to Theresa's demon?"
Sebastian: Theresa's demon...? What a celebrity...
Hoshiguma: You were almost as famous as she was. Everyone who heard about her heard about you... I must say that kings don't really run around Terra these days. Between the missing empress, no one on the throne of Victoria, Theresis of Kazdel who doesn't even manage his country anymore, the king of Sargon who is never heard of, and the emperor Fyodor who has no power anymore...
Sebastian: It's not so much that I have a sinister reputation for things I don't even remember that gets me down.
Hoshiguma: Unfortunately I can't do anything for you, big guy... Although I can tell you that if you keep acting like a hero, people might forget about it.
Sebastian: People can just make theories about what happened to princess Alexandrina if they want to spend their time...
Hoshiguma: I'm telling you she's dead!
Sebastian: No, we're not going to have this discussion for the thousandth time Hoshi! I'm telling you there is no way she didn't get out of the country!
Hoshiguma: And where did she go? The royal family had alienated half the world!
Sebastian: What do I know, she could be anywhere! Even in Lungmen!
Hoshiguma: Princess Alexandrina in Lungmen, of course... What's next? Do you want to go on making crazy predictions about the world like that? While you're at it, why don't you say that Kjerag will unite overnight, that Yuri of ursus will reappear from nowhere, and why not even say that he will take the throne of Kazimierz? Seriously in the series of theories smoking of shit, they are all at the same level there!
As she thought about continuing their usual argument for a few minutes the oni looked at her phone when she felt it vibrate to see a notification coming from the "best wife" contact with a blue heart right after...
Hoshiguma: The lizard wants to come over to my place...
Sebastian: She doesn't know I'm staying here?
Hoshiguma: She must not have believed us when you told her that you would live here to be closer to work...
Sebastian: Well, too bad for her then.
Hoshiguma: And I can't say no to her...
Sebastian: It's okay, let her come... I'll make an extra portion.
Hoshiguma: I'll get another glass...
The giant sighed.
Sebastian: I had a hard time finding that bottle...
As he added the cream to his pan with all the other ingredients that helped him make his mystery sauce. And as he patted the head of the L.G.D. inspector's cat, who seemed to be surprisingly fond of Sebastian, the giant was struck.
Not physically, but psychically.
As in Kjerag, or as with Specter he felt a presence approaching.
He suddenly turned his head towards what seemed to be a wall, but far beyond it was one of the entrance doors to Lungmen.
The presence he felt was familiar, and he could recognize it immediately. A hunter, terrified by her nightmares, with a shell as cold as her personality seemed to be. That slight smell of salt water came to his nostrils.
Followed by another type of presence.
The kind that no aegir or other being besides Sebastian could feel.
That microscopic, ridiculously small fragment...
Of a god that lay dormant in that consciousness that he had sensed.
Hoshiguma: Is there a problem, Seb?
She said, raising an eyebrow as the giant nodded his head no and looked away.
Sebastian: Nothing. Just a good feeling.
He said with a smile.
Hoshiguma: If you say so...
On the other side of town, an aegir, turned her gaze to further into the city center. She too felt a faint psychic presence, but one that stood out from all the others in this world.
She had just passed the border control and as she took her first step into Lungmen, she looked out over the city with her large red eyes, her long white hair flowing in the wind.
?: So our paths cross again... Humble doctor...
She gripped the strap of her gigantic sword tightly and began to walk forward.
Chernobog 10:30 pm
Municipal control tower.
The clicking of heels echoed off the marble floor as a draco walked through the corridors of the actual palace that served the former duke who lived there, despite the darkness. Along the walls on its sides were paintings, statues, and armor on displays. Worthy of a real museum. One of the paintings caught her attention for its great beauty. She could see depicted there, a victory of ursus during a great battle. And at the head of the troops, who seemed closer to beasts than to men, a sarkaz who cut five men in two with a single sword stroke. Of course she recognized him immediately. So did the burning city in the background. The title of the painting was written on the frame.
"The demon who crushed Lungmen."
Her teeth clenched, and with a flick of her finger, the painting went up in smoke. With a satisfied smile the draco continued to walk.
The sight of the painting brought back her memories. And like a slow adrenaline rush that finally found its explosion, the totality of those memories that were as if buried in the mist came back to her eyes. And this when she arrived in a kind of courtyard in the palace.
A simple grassy area with a tree and some benches. The white light of the moon illuminated every relief of the trunk of the tree that had seen better days. If not illuminating its leaves that had fallen off because of the cold in which Chernobog was immersed ...
If it were up to her, she would have modified the settings of the weather control station to make the temperature a little more acceptable.
But it wasn't as if the city would be able to enjoy it for long...
Talulah sighed as she approached the tree that almost seemed to stare at her. And she let the memories come back to her.
She could hear a young girl crying. The echo of the past came back when she blinked and soon she could see a little draco, barely seven years old, crying in the tree. The girl had climbed the branches to hide and cry. From one of the corridors of the palace came a boy in armor. A boy and yet he looked like a small man except for his face. He seemed to look everywhere for the source of the crying, until his gaze stopped at the tree. This time the tree was blooming, and its petals were of a beautiful golden color, still managing to hide the silver-haired girl among the branches.
The young Yuri, as his name was, approached the tree with his sword in his belt and a helmet in his hand.
Yuri: Excuse me?
The young draco dried her tears and stopped hiding her face when she heard a voice. She looked down and in the darkness of the tree she could see the green reflection of two eyes staring at her.
Yuri: What are you doing here?
Talulah: Go away! Leave me alone!
The young boy had a drop of sweat along his forehead at the fiery temper of the draco.
But what he didn't know was that she knew him. She recognized that damn helmet.
The ursus demon... She surprisingly didn't question the fact that he looked as young as she did. But she refused to argue with him.
Everything in the girl's life had been turned upside down recently. One day she learned that her town was at war, the next that they had lost, the day after that she would be a bargaining chip for peace. And on the fourth day she met the one who would be her parent for a while. At the end of her nerves for such a young girl she had hit him in the face before running away in the palace to get here, and to make sure that no one would find her she had climbed this tree, without her knowing how.
And the cause of all this? The one who had crushed her city and indirectly caused her to be separated from her sister, all she had in this world, was standing right below her.
Yuri: Come on... Get down... You might get hurt if you fall...
Talulah: I told you to go away you monster!
Yuri: Me a monster...?
The young boy seemed offended.
He lowered his head and looked at the face of his helmet.
Talulah: You're the soldier who beat us! You are the reason I am here!
The tears continued to flow like torrents from her face.
Yuri: Hey, it's not my fault! I didn't decide that to have peace you had to come! I didn't decide to attack Lungmen! I just followed the orders I was given!
He too felt the rage rising. The battle had left him a bitter memory...
He had fought with all his body and soul, had lost men, blood and friends, and he had learned that Ursus had not won anything from this battle where thousands of soldiers had died.
And all for what?
Nothing.
It was already getting on his nerves so the girl had easily fried his nerves.
And as the two continued to shout at each other, as if the tree had a will of its own, a branch moved, the one the draco was sitting on. She fell with a scream, and without thinking the boy ran to catch her.
In his haste he only half succeeded, the girl's fall was cushioned, but at a price she fell heavily on Yuri and there was the sound of a disgusting crack.
The young boy let out a cry from the depths of the underworld.
Talulah pushed herself up immediately realizing that something was wrong.
She thought she would faint when she saw an open fracture in the boy's arm, slowly she raised her hands to him, suddenly feeling terribly sorry for hurting someone so unintentionally.
Talulah: I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!
Yuri stood up and held his arm, grunting.
Yuri: Ah... Don't worry... I've had worse...
He said with a smile despite the pain. While suddenly, the few flowers that were in the tree began to lose their petals all at the same time, and this slowly transported by the wind coming from the east stuck to the wound of the young Yuri before starting to shine under the eyes of the two children. They were surprised to say the least, even more so for Yuri, because in spite of his intelligence for his age and his knowledge he did not understand what was happening to him.
Finally he did not understand the reason why his wound was slowly beginning to heal as well as the pain that was beginning to disappear.
He took his hand away from his wound, to reveal that all traces of it had disappeared.
Talulah: Wow...
The girl's eyes seemed to be filled with stars at what could only be magic in her eyes.
Talulah: Are these your arts?
Soon the aggression and anger she had was eclipsed by the wonder of a child.
Yuri: N-no...
He looked up at the tree whose branches seemed to move extremely slowly. Talulah noticed this too.
Yuri: These trees are from Kazimierz, and I heard that they are magical... I think that's it...
The girl let out a slight sound of wonder again as she watched the branches of the tree slowly move, as did the young boy for that matter, who was just enjoying the beauty this world was offering before his eyes.
Talulah: I'm sorry... for hurting you...
Yuri: Hey it's ok, it's already healed!
He said with a big smile and showing his arm.
The young draco took another good look at the young boy with his armor...
Talulah: You are a child...
The raceless one started to frown.
Yuri: So what! And then you are one too!
The draco jumped and raised her hands in front of her with embarrassment.
Talulah: But why do you have a soldier's armor? Why are you a soldier anyway if you're a child?
His emerald eyes were hidden by his eyelids which slowly closed. He took a deep breath and sat down with his back against the tree trunk.
Yuri: It's complicated to explain... I was born in a small mobile city... Everyone was infected there. So the ursus government ended up sending the army to wipe us all out. I fought their leader who was this last wendigo, I lost, then I was taken prisoner.
Talulah: Ursus they are really bad guys...
She said as she began to squeeze her legs with her arms.
Yuri: Don't say that. It's not their fault. I was able to talk to them. You were told that the infected are bad guys or dangerous in Lungmen?
The girl nodded.
Talulah: But that's not true, I met some who were very nice.
Yuri: It's the same in Ursus... Everyone hears that the infected are not nice. And so everyone hates them. But I don't think it's fair. I talked to the other soldiers about it, and they started to think like me. So I said to myself that in order for more people to think well of the infected, I had to become the most important person in this country!
Said he while clenching his fist, showing such confidence that it seemed to radiate the surroundings with a light.
Talulah: It's... Complicated...
The girl couldn't help but speak.
Yuri: Basically I want to become the strongest so that people will be less bad guys with the infected.
Talulah: I see...
The two children looked in front of them without saying anything.
Yuri: And you... I'm sorry to ask you this, but why are you here...?
Talulah: My uncle told me that Ursus would accept peace if I was sold to one of their nobles... Then he gave me to them without hesitation. I finally arrived here, and it was that old pythia who took me. He said he was adopting me...
She clenched her hands.
Talulah: But I don't care... I don't want to have another family... I want to see my sister again...
Yuri: Your uncle sold you to Ursus... He's a real bastard...
Talulah: Just my aunt she was nice... He was always mean to me or my sister...
Yuri: Maybe later you will see your sister again.
Talulah: Really?
Yuri: Yes, after all, you never know what the future holds.
He says with a smile while looking at the draco. That childish smile chasing away all the darkness of a heart.
Talulah: I'm sorry I spoke to you like that before...
Yuri: It's okay.
Talulah: Hey, will you be staying here for long?
Yuri: In this palace?
He lowered his head immediately, feeling a little sad.
Yuri: Hm... It is Duke Koschei who received my responsibility... So now it will be like my home...
Talulah: Like me then, but how old are you? Because you're really tall but you don't look like an adult.
Yuri: Six years old.
Talulah: BWAHAHAHAHA! I'm older than you !
The draco couldn't help but laugh at this moment, just as the young boy couldn't help but sulk.
Yuri: Stop laughing, it's not nice! When I wear my helmet everyone thinks I'm an adult!
Talulah: I'm sorry... But I'm the oldest... And if we're about the same age, and we're both going to be here for a long time, do you want to become friends?
The boy in the armor jumped.
Yuri: Are you sure? You said it was my fault you were here now.
Talulah: That was stupid... I shouldn't be more mad at you than any other ursus soldier for that. And if we're going to be together for a while we need to get along!
She finished her sentence with a smile that gave one to the young boy.
Yuri: Yes you're right... My name is Yuri.
He said while raising his hand.
Talulah: My name is Talulah! Talulah Artorius!
Both children looked up when they heard the tree move again.
From one of the branches fell a fruit that looked like a nut on the young boy. Like a gift.
He took it in his hands and looked at it, and then a spark occurred in his head.
Yuri smiled and broke the fruit in two, showing an interior similar to wood. He tore off a few pieces of the chain mail from his armor, and with amazing speed took each piece and made two pendants with a piece of the tree's fruit each.
Yuri handed one of the pendants to Talulah with a smile, her big green emerald eyes piercing through her soul. The girl took the necklace and instantly put it on before looking at her part of the fruit.
Yuri: Here. That way it shows we're friends now!
The innocent smile of a child was returned to her.
Memories so far away... And so hard to bear...
Back to reality Talulah began to have tears running down her cheeks.
She moved closer to the tree that seemed to stare at her even more and approached its trunk. She knelt down in front of it, her eyes moving down from the trunk of the tree where a heart and some letters were carved, to rest on a stone. She quickly lifted the stone between the roots to see a piece of nut hanging on a chain. With trembling hands she grabbed it. And when she held it in her hands she burst into even more tears. She collapsed on the grass and rolled into a ball as sadness and despair filled her.
Her life was just a series of shits that fell on her one by one.
How long had it been since their separation? Six years? Six years, and she couldn't forget him...
How could she? When she had to face him.
All of this made her feel like she had only made bad choices to end up against him...
Why...
Why had she become the mortal enemy of the only man she had ever loved?
Of the man she loved to the brink of insanity?
The thought of the only ways out of this opposition made her despair in the depths of her soul. And every thought was for the young woman rolled into a ball a real torture.
She let all her tears flow, screaming in despair.
Until one moment, that part of her mind disappeared. Eclipsed by another.
Her eyes stopped crying instantly and she stood up, quickly wiping away her tears. She raised her hand that held the necklace, and her other hand reached out to take it.
But as if this other hand was moved by a different will than the one that animated the rest of her body, it closed to prevent the left hand from taking the necklace.
The draco frowned.
Talulah: What are you trying to do wretched lizard...?
She tried to open her right hand by all means but even with all her strength she couldn't.
Talulah: You know what, keep that damn necklace, let it remind you of your failure.
The draco began to walk away, her face turning cold as ice again.
After all, she still had a mission to burn this world to the ground.
She raised her left hand to see an old scar, the kind an arrowhead would leave after piercing her hand.
She hadn't been given the power to do this for nothing...
The snake kept a firm grip on the lizard and she moved forward to join her troops.
Far from Lungmen, in the cold mountainous lands of Kjerag.
A young woman climbed the steps to the temple at the top of Mount Karlan, a serpentine tail on her back wagging back and forth in good humor. She sang a tune familiar to her, but ancient to the other inhabitants of this land, two beings formed of ice like spectres floating beside her to keep her company.
She walked through the large doors of the temple with a big smile and exclaimed as early.
?: Anyaaaaa~! I'm home~!
She walked with a light step towards the temple, the clicking of her heels echoing. Soon enough the voices generated by the winds echoed.
God 1: A-ah welcome back...
God 2: Was your stay pleasant?
?: Ah, the great lakes have revived my old bones. But I am dying to see my little saintess again... Where is she?
God 2: Well...
God 1: She's gone.
The young woman's face broke down immediately.
?: What do you mean she left?
God 1: A month ago he made a prediction that she would meet the father of her children in town. She left since then and we haven't seen her since.
God 2: Don't give me away!
?: You expect me to believe... That my saintess... MY priestess... Has gone who knows where... because of one of your stupid predictions?!
God 2: H-hey we can calm down... If she's been gone for so long maybe that means she succeeded...
God 1: Or that she's dead...
?: That's enough! Both of you shut up! Don't forget that I am the real goddess! I am the one who controls this whole country! So if I want to shut you up by cutting the wind I can!
God 1: Well done you pissed her off...
?: Anyaaaa ! My Anyaaa ! My delicious Anyaa... Now I can't take care of your tail... Or play with you... What a hellish life... I'll just hibernate until she comes back... And if she has kids I won't even be able to see what they look like... Or what her husband will look like... I hope he'll be a nice man...
She isolated herself in a small part of the temple.
God 2: Damn... I forgot where we were.
God 1: We were talking about the sarkazs, right?
God 2: Aahhh yes. Well, at that moment the king was recovering the body of his sister to resurrect her...
