Hello guys.
College and life have been kind of a bipolar bitch. Good, busy, or downright terrible days. So much to write, so little time~
Anyway, hopefully, you will forgive me with this new chapter.
Be advised, the chapter is going to be a bit dark in certain parts. I blame my lack of sleep and doing homework until 4 am for this.
Disclaimer: Mihoyo owns Honkai Impact and its characters, yadayada….
Enjoy!
Somewhere…
"She'll come back. She won't leave me alone. She'll come back… For me..."
The Valkyrie Akari Akaza, a reddish brown-haired young woman in her early twenties repeated to herself while her back rested against the cold wall.
"She won't leave me alone. She said she would get a car ready for us and then leave this fucking rotten place…!"
Akaza grunted in pain when the large slash on her back ached. The wound stung like hell, but if it meant to be still alive…
"It's going to leave a mark. I hope that Aiysha doesn't mind-"
CRUNCH…
In a second she pointed her Water Spirit Type-II gun and pointed it at the end of the corridor. Her breathing suddenly sped up. She tried to control it but it became harder for each second passing.
THROB!
THROB.
THROB!
THROB!
THROB!
"Akaza, this is Control Center. Please respond!"
She managed not to scream at the sudden voice coming from her earpiece, given how tight she was gritting her teeth. She quickly answered but didn't take her gun off.
"CC. This Valkyrie Akaza, over," she replied barely above a whisper.
"Akaza, we lost contact with the whole team and now we're getting multiple errors coming from your squad mates' battle suits. What the hell is going on?!"
"They are d-dead," she answered grimly. "T-the w-whole squad. T-They…" She restrained a sob as she mentioned the fate of her squadmates and longtime friends.
"Come again…?"
"They… they are gone, CC," a couple of tears started to form in her eyes. "Emma tried to catch it alone but it didn't flinch and… her sister Ella tried to help her but it…" She choked a sob remembering the last moments of her friend. "Marie tried to stop the bleeding but the wound was so large and…!"
"Akaza, I need you to get a hold of yourself and explain to us what happened. We lost communication with your whole team thirty minutes ago. We are in the dark Valkyrie."
"There-there is so much blood and Sayaka tried to patch us to you and…"
"Akaza! Get a hold of yourself!"
"…and it keeps coming, no matter what we throw at it." She remembered clearly how such large and sharp claws came from below Sayaka, catching her and the others off guard even after pushing a large sword through it. The captain screaming in rage and she and her friends feeling anger and fear as it made a bloody mess out of another friend…
"She won't leave me. She said she will always be there for me." She wasn't as brave, strong, and reliable as her friend and longtime crush, Aiysha.
"Akaza! Respond!" The person at the other side of the line screamed but Akaza ignored them. Struggling, she managed to get on her feet despite the protests from her body. She took a deep breath and started to walk –or more like limping- towards the main entrance, remembering that Aiysha said they would leave through it.
"The entrance isn't that far. If I move to it, I'll make it easier for her to pick me up and leave this damn place behind." Her thoughts started to drift towards her favorite person in the world.
"Aiysha said that there is this beautiful place she wants me to see," she grunted when her back ached. "I hope she doesn't do it during a sunny day. The Sun is scorching these days."
All of a sudden she stopped when she spotted something tiny moving. She almost cursed when she released it was just a tiny mouse. She ignored it as she resumed limping.
"The captain said that I need to woman-up if I wanted for Aiysha to notice me." Her thought focused on the easygoing face of her superior and not on the last moment that she saw her, her visage filled with anger and horror as she gave a chance to escape to the remaining two persons in her squad.
"Would she mind if I said that I don't like her and rather, I love her?" She pondered leaning on the wall for the moment, ignoring the large marks of claws on the wall and ceiling.
"Marie suggested that I should take little steps first, though." She was back in the canteen at HQ. Marie giving love advice, she was the more experienced when it came to relationships. Marie laughing at her awkwardness to let Aiysha know that she loves her, laughing and not choking on her own blood as she struggled to take her next breath…!
She shook her head. "Ella and Emma said they would help me arrange the perfect place to confess to Aiysha." Mirthful smiles and plans overlapped shocked and horrified faces. Jokes and cheery moments after missions made her forget the pools of blood and screams of despair…
"Sayaka said I was quite obvious. I wonder what she meant when she said it." Her stern but kind fellow Valkyrie and the cold-head one in the whole squad. She always criticized their bad moves but offered how to correct them. Never flinching or caught off guard…
Her back protested but she kept going on. She just needed to get to the door…
She was with her, gazing at the nocturne sky, not minding the cold breeze. She felt warm sitting next to the jet-black-haired beauty. She wondered how it would feel to rest her head on her olive exposed shoulder and how it would be to taste her soft and thin pink lips…
Akaza almost cried in relief when she saw her, her special person running towards her. Despite the cuts and bruises on her exposed skin, she was still looking beautiful.
Like her, Aiysha almost cried in relief when she saw her.
"A-Akari!"
"Aiysha!"
For a moment, she forgot about her worries and insecurities. For a moment she thought that it wouldn't matter the outcome of her confession, she would let her know how much Aiysha meant to her. Or how Emma would have said it; fuck the consequences!
She would confess to her and hope for the best!
FWEET!
"Aiysha!"
Akaza stopped dead on her tracks when Aiysha looked incredulous downward, where a large and thin white thorn entered through her back and exited through her chest.
"A-Akari…"
FWEET!
Her body quaked with another thorn running through her midsection. Her legs trembled and Akaza, with surprising sudden speed and ignoring her own large injury, managed to catch Aiysha before she fell on the cold and hard floor.
"Aiysha! Aiysha! Aiysha!" Akaza screamed hugging her tightly.
"S-Sorry… Aka-kari," Aiysha said with difficulty, becoming hard for her to speak and breath.
"D-Don't worry! CC is going to-to send reinforcements," she said with tears in her eyes.
"T-They're going to rescue you?" Aiysha said in a whisper. "I-I'm glaadd…"
"They're rescuing both of us, Aiysha," Akaza was whimpering now. "So, you don't dare to fall asleep, you hear me?"
"A…kari….would…you…mind…going out…with… me?"
"Y-Yes! Yes! Yes! YES! YES! YES!" Akaza yelled with tears now falling freely from her eyes. "Of course! We just need to get out of here together and we'll go wherever you want!"
"…together…" Aiysha mumbled drowsily.
"Yes! Together!"
"…."
"Aiysha?"
"…"
"Aiysha?"
"Please, Aiysha…"
"…"
"Please… don't…"
"…"
"Please don't leave…"
"…"
Akaza didn't want to accept that Aiysha's chest no longer fell and raised along with her breath. She didn't want to accept that her form went still and she didn't want to accept that her blue sapphire eyes went hard and cold.
"Please don't leave me alone!"
"PLEASE…DON'T…LEAVE…ME…ALONE…"
Slowly, Akaza lifted her eyes from the still figure of her longtime friend and crush on her arms, and with the moonlight seeping through a crack in the ceiling, she saw with great clarity IT.
"You…"
"YOU…"
"You…!"
"YOU…!"
She pointed with her gun, didn't minding the consequences. After all, what was the worst that would happen after all…this?
"FUCK YOU!"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
FWEET!
15 hours later…
"Blow the damn wall!"
A black-haired Valkyrie in her thirty's screamed under the heavy fire from her Minigun spinning like crazy towards a darkened hallway. One of her subordinates followed her orders by putting a breaching explosive on one of the walls at the end of the hallway 10 yards behind them. The captain cursed, sidestepping and barely avoiding a large thorn that almost tore her head off.
"Fire in the hole!"
BOOM!
The Captain flinched at the ringing in her ears but pushed down the discomfort while screaming new orders at the top of her lungs to the rest of her squad.
"Move! Move! And throw all the grenades to cover our leave!"
A pair of Valkyries, the one who breached the wall and another, managed to hear her despite the ringing in their ears, nodded and took out their last grenades, and threw them towards the hallway. One Valkyrie helped another who was missing one arm. As the last Valkyrie jumped out through the wall, there was another explosion accompanied by a great roar and screech.
"Alpha, this is Vector-1, respond!" Screamed the Captain on her earpiece as she ran through one of the gardens from The Chiba Academy. Her fellow Valkyries not far behind.
"Alpha! Respond!"
"Vector-1, this is Alpha. Status report, Vector-1."
The Captain clicked her tongue in annoyance when a zombie tried to grab her. "We suffered three heavy casualties. The entity turned out to be more dangerous than we initially thought. We're withdrawing right now. Vector-3 requires medical attention ASAP!"
"Vector-1, your orders were to secure and contain the entity for transportation. You are disobeying direct orders from the-"
"Shut the fuck up and listen!" The Captain screamed as she whacked a pair of zombies with her weapon. "The entity is extremely dangerous and it fucking adapted to the chemicals we tried to use to knock it down. I saw it breathe a whole can of gas and exhale it like it was spring breeze!" She clenched her teeth when one-armed Valkyrie, Vector-3, cried out in pain. "One of my girls managed to blow a part of it with a grenade, only for the fucker to regenerate in an instant and cut off her bloody arm!"
"Vector-1, you must not leave-!"
"Bring Durandal or whoever the hell is up to this! This shit is above us!"
Alpha didn't answer. The Captain didn't give a shit if the orders were coming from the Overseer or God itself, they were getting out of there no matter what.
"Vector-1, transport will be one kilometer ahead of your position. The Overseer will dispatch another more competent team to contain the entity." The Captain frowned at the jab. "Be advised, the Overseer will have some words with you."
"Like I fucking care. All that matters is getting out of here alive," she thought darkly. She glanced one last time towards the large high school. Never before she felt so happy to disobey orders from the Overseer.
"Poor bastard who comes to capture that thing." She thought before throwing away her Minigun and proceed to aid the Valkyrie who was now carrying her injured teammate.
St. Freya Academy…
"Ugh!" Adam groaned holding his throbbing head at the breakfast table.
"Are you unwell, Adam-kun?" Mei asked with worry midway-sitting.
"Nothing bad, just the drawback from overtraining with the Principal and still a bit sleepy," he replied massaging his temple.
"Should I get you an aspirin?" She asked, ready to go to the bathroom and take the medicine for him.
Adam waved off his hand. "Thanks, but it will pass soon. It's nothing new, Mei."
She didn't look comfortable hearing that but after a second she nodded and took her seat. Himeko saw the interaction as she drank from her coffee mug but didn't comment about it. Her attention was called when she spotted the other two tired girls with eye bags.
"G-good m-morning," Kiana greeted drowsy falling on her seat. Despite her arranged clothes, her face resembling close to a zombie expression.
"The Bronya wishes a good morning to everyone," Bronya greeted taking her seat. Like Kiana, she spotted eye bags but didn't look as bad as her. She only gave a yawn before proceeding to start eating.
"I think I was quite clear when I said you couldn't play games until the exams were over, Kiana," Himeko chided putting down her sticks and looking hard at her.
"I-I didn't play video games! I was studying with Bronya until late," Kiana replied, not having her usual energy to answer with some heat.
The teacher furrowed her brow. "I find it hard to believe it, girl."
"The Bronya validates Subject Kiana's statement. She and the Bronya stayed until late studying for Subject Kiana's exams." Much to the surprise of the other tenants in the dorm, Bronya jumped to the defense of Kiana and without insulting her or starting bickering!
"{This is quite surprising…}" It commented baffled.
"{I think I feel a disturbance in the cosmic order,}" it said disturbed.
Adam didn't comment about it, but he stopped mid-motion to take a bit from Mei's scrambled eggs and looked incredulously to both girls. Mei did the same.
"Am I still sleeping?" Himeko asked out loud. She pinched herself and her eyes widened in realization when in fact she was pretty awake.
"What's the matter, everyone?" Kiana asked with a sleepy gaze.
"N-Nothing, Kiana-chan!" Mei regained her senses from the surprising scene. "Let's have breakfast."
Everyone followed her words as they resumed eating.
"So… What did you two study?" Himeko asked, trying to know what got the silver-haired girl to spend the night studying. She guessed it must have been something really interesting because Kiana suddenly stopped looking like a walking corpse.
"Ah! Well, Bronya used this VR thing to travel through history and see many things. She and I were walking in the middle of a city back in the middle age!"
"That sounds interesting, Kiana-chan."
"I know, but the coolest thing was that I saw my great-great-great-great-great grandfathers and grandmothers too!"
"You mean your ancestors?" Himeko asked.
"Yeah, that word," Kiana affirmed taking another bite of her food before continuing. "And they were awesome!" Kiana yelled. "There was this guy who faced head-on a complete horde of Honkai Beasts alone, and he managed to kill them all before they reached a village!" She beamed with admiration as she said it. "And there was this girl who beat up a bunch of thugs who wanted to extort a church for some money."
"They sound that they were great people," Mei noted.
"Uhh-hmmm!" Kiana nodded, munching her food before replying. "Yup! My ancestors were awesome heroes!" She declared with great pride. "I hope that one day I'll become as awesome as them!"
"I'm sure you will do it, Kiana-chan."
"{Hopefully, she'll become a capable warrior and Valkyrie…}"
"{…and not another 'hero' dying for 'the greater good'~.}"
Adam didn't comment about it as he kept eating his eggs while listening to Kiana telling about a powerful nun who saved a child in a town from an ugly monster and about a creepy man obsessed with the said nun.
Thirty minutes later, everyone was ready to start the day. Kiana kept talking about the great deeds from her ancestors, with Mei paying her attention and Bronya giving some observations from time to time. Adam was listening to her, but his mind was more focused on another topic.
"I wonder if there has been some advance regarding Cocolia…" He thought gravely.
It had been almost a month since his meeting with Lance. Since then, Adam had made sure to always keep a sharp eye whenever he and the girls went to the city to chill out. The girls noted that he was at times stiff with them but they related it to his lack of normal interaction with people of his age. (Something, aside from the luring danger, that was painfully true. He was self-aware about it, don't need to rub it on his face!)
Despite his worries, so far the only people who had kept an eye on them while visiting the mall or the arcade were men and some women interested in the girls. After all, the girls were quite the beauties that caught the eyes of many, to the point of some people asking if they were supermodels. Adam was starting to suspect that it was the case when it came to young Valkyries.
"Siegfried would beat them to a pulp if he caught them ogling at Kiana," he thought remembering a particular bunch of guys insistent to know better the girls. After a display of strength from the said girl and a mortal glare from him, well, they weren't bothered for the rest of the day.
Speaking of Siegfried, Adam wondered how the old man was doing.
"Likely, drunk and flirting with some pretty girl, or fighting Honkai beasts while doing great collateral damage," he paused. "Or maybe, all of the above…"
Despite this line of thought, he hoped his asshole of a mentor was in all good. In the end, he wasn't there to give him a hand if he was in deep shit. Which tended to be often.
"Oi, Adam! Are you even listening?!" Kiana asked, turning to him with a pout.
"{She was talking about a woman fighting against some monster called Cromm Cruach,}" it filled him in. Adam thanked it and answered. At times like this, he was grateful to have another pair of ears with him.
"You were saying something about a monster called Cromm Cruach?" He replied smoothly.
"So you were listening after all!"
The group kept walking, ready for another day before the exams would come up. Hopefully, nothing distracting or bad would happen.
In another place…
Siegfried was sitting on a bench in a park under a tree. He saw a group of mothers nearby the playground, watching their kids as they chatted with each other. A small smile took place on his face when he spotted a family of three; a father, a mother, and a little girl laughing as they played with a ball.
"If you keep looking at them like that, they're going to call the police on you." A lanky and aged-looking man with graying black hair and cold green eyes, wearing black trousers and a brown coat with a white shirt under it, spoke to Siegfried as he took a seat beside him. "I'm willing to help you with your problems, but if you're a, -what's the word? Lolicon, was it? - I'm cutting your neck where you stand."
Siegfried just chuckled. "I don't know what are you talking about, Marcus. I was just peeking at that," Siegfried motioned with his head towards a very well-endowed blonde woman pushing a stroller. "Can't blame me for it"
Marcus scoffed and shook his head.
"If you say so."
He moved his hand to the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a metal box of mints. Siegfried cocked a brow at this.
"Does my breath smell that bad?"
"In case you run into somebody who had it, well, it'll help you get out of a pinch, barely feeling the burning sensation on your throat," Marcus informed him as he took another thing from his coat pockets; a box of cigarettes. He lighted one up with ease and took a deep puff. Siegfried cleared his throat, gaining his attention. Marcus looked at him with a nonchalant face. Siegfried motioned with his eyes towards the box of cigarettes. Marcus scoffed and gave him one. Siegfried thanked him and lighted it up.
"A friend of mine told me that they saw the kid hanging around with some pretty girls. They said they were quite the beauties." He glanced at Siegfried. "Didn't know he was a ladies-man…"
Siegfried chuckled and shrugged. "What can I say? He learned from the best."
"And did he learn to go straight to the wolf's mouth while traveling with you?" He exhaled a cloud of smoke. "I thought the kid was smarter than you regarding that."
"Indeed, the kid is sharp, but we thought it was for the best while the she-wolf is on the hunt," Siegfried replied while rubbing the knuckle of his right thumb at the corner of his right eye.
Marcus's eyes widened for a second before he regained his coolness.
"So you decided to send him to the kindergarten until the storm passes?" Marcus asked with an incredulous tone.
Siegfried nodded and scratched his chin with one finger.
"Hopefully, the children there won't try to take some of his candy. They're quite sour and bitter," Siegfried said tapping his knee four times while taking another puff. Marcus chuckled and took another puff from his cigarette.
"So, what are you going to do while he is there?"
Siegfried exhaled a cloud of smoke and answered. "Maybe visit The Toscana. There's good wine, food, weather, and beautiful women." He put off the cigarette with his thumb and index finger, despite the ember, and threw it in the trash can without looking. "I deserve a little vacation after babysitting, don't you agree?"
Marcus took his last poof and put off his cigarette rubbing it on the bench before throwing it in the trash can. "Would you write?"
"Only if you stop being an ass and start sharing with us the good wine."
The graying-black-haired man rolled his eyes. "It takes time, but I'm sure it would take a couple of months until I get a pair of good bottles." He was about to get up to take his leave but paused for a moment before speaking. "Let me get you something to eat. There's a stand that sells good sandwiches nearby."
Siegfried raised a brow in surprise for a second before replying. "That would be nice," Siegfried said with a small smile on his face. "I'll wait for you here."
Marcus nodded and started to walk away. Siegfried remained in his seat and tried to not look suspicious while glancing at the families, who were laughing or playing among them.
Five minutes later, there was a commotion 20 yards behind him. Some people were asking for someone to call emergencies. Suddenly there were gasps of horror and shock.
"Mental note: Not piss off, Marcus," Siegfried thought, feeling pity for the poor bastard who tried to eavesdrop on Marcus and him. He looked one last time to the happy families enjoying themselves in the playground and took his leave before reinforcements could arrive.
Later, that day there would be a trend about a man mysteriously dying in a park in North Carolina. While it would be attributed as a simple heart attack, the real mystery was when the man's face melted in a morbid display of blood and convulsions in front of a crowd.
In another place in the globe, a busty blonde-haired woman bristled in anger hearing the news through her phone, startling the children in her care.
In Nagazora City…
Theresa was standing atop one of the walls that surrounded the Chiba Academy. In different circumstances, she would have glanced or rather watched the beautiful gardens that filled the academy while making her way towards her objective. She would have done that if it wasn't for the hard stare and urgent tone from the Valkyrie at the other side of the holographic face call.
"I'm at the border of the academy," Theresa informed.
"Understood, Madam Theresa," the Valkyrie nodded. The Principal cringed at the 'Madam' term. She was still a young girl for Homu's sake!
"How bad is the situation over there?" Theresa asked. The Valkyrie, a short blond-haired woman frowned.
"It's bad, Madam. Three days ago, HQ received a distress call from one of our outposts nearby the city. After being informed about their discovery, HQ dispatched a recon team the following day to investigate further the outpost's discovery about a strange entity within the premises of the academy." Theresa nodded, remembering the quick briefing from her grandpa nearby lunchtime. She recollected that his usual carefree expression was replaced by a calm, yet intriguing expression.
"The first recon team didn't find traces of the entity within the first hours while exploring the first hours. From what we obtained from the audio log, the Captain was about to call off the mission, but before she could do it, she informed Control Center that her team heard a strange sound coming from one of the floors of the building," the blonde-haired Valkyrie's expression turned tense. "After that, for the next 30 minutes we lost communications with the whole squad," Theresa's eyes widened at this information. 30 Minutes going dark were a lifetime in an operation and a grave signal that something wasn't right.
"Once we recovered communications, we only managed to get in contact with one member of the team. Unfortunately, she was out of it given that she mentioned that her whole team was… deceased." Theresa inhaled sharply. She knew that team members tended to form deep bonds with each other. To watch them die… It was the worst possible injury one could get on the field.
"Unfortunately, minutes after that, CC confirmed hers and her teammate status as KIA following at what we assume was their last contact with the entity." Theresa grimaced at the squad's ill fate. She made a mental note to make a prayer to them once she was back in St. Freya.
The Valkyrie continued. "Given what happened, HQ decided to send another team, better prepared to secure and contain the creature for its extraction, so it could be studied at HQ under the Overseer's direction," Theresa arched her brows in surprise. Her grandpa didn't mention any of this. "The Captain and another four members from her team barely managed to escape alive. There were three casualties and one member was severely injured. Luckily it was that and nothing worse." Theresa didn't think the same. It would have been for the better if no one had died, but the world was just unfair.
"Regarding them, it came to our attention that despite their equipment, they were unable to contain and secure the entity within the place."
"What do you mean?"
"Given the initial sight we had of the entity, we assumed it was from organic nature, so the team was equipped with a special gas to put the entity to sleep and immobilize it for at least three hours," the Valkyrie informed. Her serious expression turned to a grimace all of a sudden. "What we didn't expect was for the entity to develop resistance to the sleeping gas, to the point of being nearly immune to it after being exposed to it for a short time. And that's not all of it. According to their reports, the entity has –what we assume- weaponry based on its own biology. Along with a powerful regeneration and a savageness to attack."
Hearing this, Theresa understood why she was called for the mission. The entity's capabilities were troublesome indeed. Regeneration, biological weaponry, resistance to sleeping gas, and a great ferocity to attack? The Valkyrie with reason commented the team was lucky to get out of there alive. Theresa patted the golden cross set on her back, The Oath of Judah was the weapon right to this mission.
Theresa nodded. "Anything else I should know before I enter the place?" The Valkyrie looked unsure for a moment before answering.
"It has to come to our attention that during the first contact the Second Team had with the entity, the scanners showed something off about it. The entity didn't give off any Honkai readings…"
Theresa's eyes widened and her brow raised in surprise.
Ghosts, angels, mutant creatures, rogue mechas, zombies… each and every one of them were instances or a manifestation from the Honkai. All of them were always powered by Honkai energy, and due to that, there was always a lingering trace of Honkai in each of them.
For this entity to not possess any of it…
"Are you certain?" The Valkyrie nodded. "Within the fifteen minutes it was knocked out, the team scanned it so the pickup team will be better prepared to extract it. It quite surprised us that this creature doesn't own an ounce of Honkai energy in its system."
"For Homu's sake… What the heck is going on here?"
Despite her large career as a Valkyrie, she never encountered a situation like this before.
"That will be all we have to inform you about the mission, Madam."
"Understood," Theresa nodded as she prepared herself to jump down the wall and go inside the school.
"Godspeed, Madam," the Valkyrie said before cutting off the call.
"Well, let's hope this doesn't take too much time. I still have to finish that freaky paperwork and I'm not missing Homu's Adventure this evening!"
Theresa jumped off the wall and started to sprint towards the creature's den.
A couple of minutes later, Theresa entered through the main gate, and from there, she watched her step as she started to search for the entity.
While walking, she took note that in many classrooms and places, there were backpacks and bags filled with books or clothes scattered around. It didn't take more than a couple of seconds for her to piece together what happened here.
"The Outbreak hit them while they were at class," she thought darkly. For a second, she imagined this happening in the academy before she snapped out of such thoughts. It hit close to home, more than she would have liked. After all, she was the Principal of St. Freya and her students were her top priority whenever they were in danger.
She pushed back those thoughts and resumed her stealthy step. As her infiltration continued through the different rooms, the Principal noted that despite the large place, so far, she didn't run into any zombie or Honkai Beast. It was good but still weird that there wasn't a single trace of a zombie within the place. Her instinct was telling her that something wasn't right.
As she kept getting deeper, a repulsive smell hit her nostrils. She silently walked to the corridor's end and slowly peeked out her head. There was nothing unordinary at the other hall except for the broken remains of a Fire Spirit Type-II…
…and a red fading splatter on the wall…
"Geez! Is this what I think it is?!" Theresa covered her nose, trying to block the foul smell.
She moved away from that place as she kept investigating the building. From time to time, Theresa will run into some places where the foul smell was prevalent, but she never found the source. On her path, she saw that in some sections of the building there were large claw marks on the walls. It didn't scare her but she raised her guard and was cautious with her steps.
Theresa explored a large library, the school's pool, the track field, and even the burnt rests of what once was the school's canteen.
"Geez! I'm hungry," Theresa couldn't help but voice it out loud as she walked in one of the hallways of the upper levels. So far she hadn't found the entity within the school and it have been almost an hour since she arrived here. A part of her was half-tempted to call HQ and tell them that the creature could have run out before her arrival. She hoped that it wasn't the case. To search for it through the whole city was going to be a terrible hassle and a great delay to watch her favorite show! She paused for a second, realizing what she just thought.
"Kiana is rubbing off on me too much-"
CRASH!
On an instant, she took a spear from the Oath of Judah and turned towards its direction. She heard another thing falling a breaking on the ground. Stealthily, she walked towards the place where it came from, a laboratory by the signal on one of the doors. Another door at the end of the room was slightly open. When she was about to open to peek inside, she recoiled back when, again, the foul smell hit her nose, but this time harder than the previous times.
"What's rotting in there?!"
"H-Help…" Her eyes widened when she heard a young voice coming from within the room. "S-Someone…Please…"
Theresa ignored the smell and slammed open the door, startling the person inside. She quickly entered and made her way to the center of the room. Behind one of the counters, there was a dark-gray-haired girl so still and with wide dark-brown scared eyes. She was dressed in a high school uniform.
"Please! Don't hurt me!" Whimpered the girl pathetically. Theresa's stance relaxed a bit as she lowered the spear. She put on a warm smile and tried to not wince at the bad smell coming from the girl. She possibly hasn't taken a shower in weeks.
"Shhh… It's alright, dear. I'm here to help."
"You… You are not… going… to hurt me?" The girl asked barely above a whisper. Theresa shook her head and offered her hand. The girl didn't take it as she moved her eyes to her other hand, the one she was using to hold the spear. Theresa realized that despite her reassuring tone, the girl wasn't lowering her guard, and much less with someone who was armed with a dangerous weapon. Almost as if sensing her thoughts, Judah opened with a soft click, and slowly, with a smile on her face, the Principal put back the spear inside the Divine Key. Despite her smile, the girl kept her eyes in each of her movements, almost mechanically. Weird, but understandable given the situation the girl was in.
The Principal offered a hand to the schoolgirl. The girl was hesitant for a moment, but after some seconds of deliberation, she timidly took her hand. Theresa smiled warmly at her. "It's okay. Everything is going to be fine now, dear." The youngster nodded and gave her a crooked smile. Seeing that there wasn't point staying there further, Theresa started to pull delicately the girl out of the laboratory.
"She must have a strong Honkai resistance to not have become a zombie already," she thought in wonder while walking on the hallway, side to side with the schoolgirl. While the Honkai radiation in the city was dimming with time, it was still strong enough to convert a person into a zombie in a matter of hours.
"I wonder how is that the previous team missed her," she glanced at the girl, who despite looking shy and nervous still kept her eyes on Theresa's figure. The short Valkyrie noted that in short intervals, the girl glanced at Judah, almost like she was sizing it up. Theresa shrugged it off as just simple curiosity over her weapon. It wasn't common for a normal girl to see a cute Valkyrie like herself carrying a formidable weapon on her back so casually.
As they kept walking, Theresa couldn't help but wonder how did the girl survive this long inside the school, with vicious zombies and occasional Honkai beasts roaming around, not to mention the strange entity that made its den inside the school. Despite that, there was another question that nagged her.
"Why HQ didn't bother to scan the city for survivors?"
Thinking logically, it could be assumed that there couldn't be survivors left after a Honkai Outbreak, and more when it was in the wake of a Herrscher. Still, following this line of thought, in other cases there have been survivors after some Honkai Outbreaks, these cases were few, but still, there were always search parties following an Outbreak. Theresa didn't know why the girl wasn't picked up by either team or even the Control Center while exploring the whole place.
"Maybe she was hiding from the entity…" She thought in worry. Two experienced Valkyries teams had losses and great trouble to even get out of here alive, what chances did a normal girl have against such odds?
Theresa shook her head and decided to contact CC. They needed to know that there was a survivor.
"CC. This is Theresa. Please respond." A second later they answered.
"Madam. This is CC. Any news about the entity?"
Internally Theresa fumed hearing their question. They were focused on the creature haunting the place instead of asking her if she was alright?! She knew that she was strong and skillful, but jeez! At least they could pretend that they cared about her wellbeing!
Somehow, she managed to keep her voice professional and not voice out her personal thoughts. "I haven't found traces of the entity, CC. But I have good news," she glanced at the high school girl. "I require a team to extract a survivor, which I found while searching for the entity within the place. And a medical team ready to take her in. She doesn't present corrosion signs but a medical check should be carried on."
"Madam. Your priority is to seek out the entity, not search for survivors," the speaker scolded.
Theresa gritted her teeth. She hated when people like this showed indifference towards other lives over their orders.
"I found this young girl, alone, dirty, and trembling on her legs while searching for the entity. It's a miracle that she hasn't succumbed in this stinky hole!" She squeezed her hand in reassurance and apologize to the girl. The speaker didn't answer for a second. Good, looks like she was getting in their heads. "I don't know how the two teams missed her but-"
"Madam-"
She ignored them. "I know that both of them had their objectives and worries, but they should prioritize watch out for survivors first above-"
"Madam!"
"-anything else! We are Valkyries and our first priority must be to rescue and protect innocents than destroy Honkai creatures!"
"Madam!"
"WHAT!"
"Madam, we are reading through the previous team's report and they mentioned that they carried on a survivor search before they ran into the entity. They never mentioned anything about meeting anyone else."
"I have one survivor right now! Next to-"
Her instincts screamed at her and she barely released her hand and jumped ahead in an instant before her back could be cleanly cut in two.
She shifted on her feet and looked at her aggressor. Her eyes widened in bewilderment and horror.
"How…unFORTUNATE…" A distorted rough deep voice resonated in the hallway.
A serrated ivory curved blade, with red and purple-violet veins on it, sank where Theresa previously was. The girl kept the same timid face despite the deep and distorted voice. She tugged her shoulder back and the blade shuddered before retracting and in a second reformed back into a normal arm. With her other arm, the girl scratched the top of her and cutely pouted. One of her dull brown eyes turned totally black and the other eye shifted for a deep scarlet color. The pupil was a bit larger too.
"YOU…SHOULD…HAVE…DIED…" She scowled and tilted her head. To 90 grades to be exact. Theresa almost winced when she heard some bones crack. "YOU…ARE…ALIVE?"
"Madam? What's happening?"
Slowly, Theresa clicked her earpiece and answered as the girl kept looking at her.
"I made contact with the entity," she said gravely. The girl tilted her head again. There was another crack. "Be advised that it can take a human form."
"What?! Madam, please repeat that!"
"The entity can-!"
FWEET!
Theresa ducked a large whitethorn which almost took her head. She clicked her tongue and turned off her earpiece despite the urgent calls from the speaker. She needed to focus!
The girl, if she could still be called as such, kept her eyes fixed on Theresa. Her brown-eyed stayed still, but her crimson one twitched every time on Theresa like she was seeing each of her movements. Studying her.
"She's fast," Theresa thought, remembering how she was almost cut in two by the entity. Her eyes glanced for a second at one red thick tendril coming from her back, where the thorn came from. The tendril, more like a tentacle, was like a mix of organic and metallic matter. Theresa made a mental note to watch out for that thing.
"It would be problematic if it catches me unguarded."
Neither made a move for what seemed like minutes. They both kept their gazes intently on their opponent, waiting for their next move.
Theresa knew that whoever made the first move will have the advantage. This wasn't like fighting a powerful Honkia beast that some squad couldn't handle. This thing had intelligence. Sure, powerful Honkai beasts tended to have certain cunning in their minds, and those beasts tended to be ancient and fewer if not only a myth.
But Theresa started to feel uncomfortable in front of it. Not because her appearance was creepy as heck or because she continued tilting her head with an audible crack every time she –it- did that.
It was its eyes. They looked vacant and cold, but there was this feeling that something was stirring deep within them.
And it was so eager to come out.
"I will have to take it seriously from here," Theresa thought gravely. She didn't doubt about her own strength at all. She doubted she could hold back from killing it by accident.
"Let's hope for the best!"
In a blur, Judah opened and Theresa instantly threw a lance to its chest. The thing responded instantly to the actions. It shifted on its feet, avoiding the spear, and swiftly entered one of the classrooms, avoiding another two spears coming for it.
Theresa didn't bother following it.
She took more spears and in a powerful display of strength, she started to pierce the walls from the classroom like they were made of paper! She knew that she will likely miss hitting the thing, but her plan wasn't that. She was trying to lure it out.
And it worked when the creature hissed in anger and a desk was thrown at her.
Theresa quickly stepped aside, calculated the hiss origin, and threw the spear. Her action bore fruit when there was a wet sound and a shriek of pain.
HHHAAAARRRRHHHH!
Before she could step ahead to take the battle up close, the remaining walls exploded in a shower of debris and dust.
Theresa jumped back and threw a spear amid the dust clouds filling the hallway. She heard the spear drill into something with a heavy thud. She expected to at least land a heavy hit on the thing. What she didn't expect was to see a desk thrown in her direction with a spear of Judah nailed on it.
FWEET!
Theresa jumped aside to evade the desk, promptly followed by sidestepping in an instant a thorn that almost pierced her shoulder.
She could strong force her way inside the building, but the disadvantage was that it would create more dust clouds, blocking her vision and leaving her blind.
As she was planning what to do, suddenly a shadow loomed over her and brought down an appendage with savagery.
Theresa skipped back, avoiding begin crushed.
"HOW… ANNOYING!"
The clouds of dust settled and Theresa's eyes widened in horror and disgust when the true form of the creature was revealed.
"What in God's name is this?!"
Its skin was a pale ash color. Several parts of it looked like broken pieces, with various bluish-purple and red stripes all over its figure, as if it were the bark of an old tree infested by some disease. Its small feminine figure was exchanged for a longer and thicker one, with powerful muscles in its figure.
Its hands and feet looked more like tools for butchering and cutting. Not to mention that there were eight fingers on each hand and foot of its. Perfect for capturing and not letting its prey escape.
The head, god, Theresa didn't know if it could be called a head at all. It looked more like a white sphere with the top flattened. Protruding from the flat top, were several white twisted horns pointing downwards
And the eyes…
The creature had many, so many red eyes all over its frame. All of them were in many sizes. To add to the disgusting factor, the eyes were connected to what appeared to be a web of bulging veins running on its whole body.
The Principal snapped out when the figure blurred and was in front of her the next second.
Swiftly, she jumped back, avoiding being turned into a bloody paste.
Theresa was about to retaliate, but stopped and jumped back again as three tendrils almost pierced where she was a second ago.
"It is fast!"
The creature growled in annoyance, but it continued attacking, not giving the Valkyrie the chance to strike back. For every time she tried to attack, it would close the distance in a second or barely dodge a well-timed threw lance within an instant.
"How does it keep dodging?!" Theresa clicked her tongue vexed. Her question was answered when she noted its many freaky eyes were on her.
"The eyes!" She ducked an incoming tendril, and with a new spear swiftly cut it off. The creature roared in pain and skipped back.
"THAT HURT MIDGET!"
"Hey! Don't call me that you ugly-!"
FWEET!
"Ahhh!" Theresa screamed when one thorn graced her left arm, making a medium cut. She cursed at herself for getting easily distracted.
"Okay! This needs to end now!"
With a scowl on her face, Theresa slammed down the Oath of Judah in front of her and it split open revealing its many stored blades. The creature paused, feeling great dread from the golden weapon.
"Prepare yourself!"
Theresa put her hands in the lances and in a blur started to throw them at great speed. Knowing how harmful and powerful these spears were, the creature growled and without a second thought, it run through one of the walls, like a mad bull, and then jumped down outside.
"Get back here!" Theresa screamed, picking up on her back Judah but without canceling its transformation. She jumped from the same hole downstairs. She landed with a thud and continued chasing after the creature, who by now, was halfway crossing a large courtyard, making its way towards another large adjacent building.
Not wanting to give it time to recover, Theresa started to throw lances in pursuit. The creature's many eyes turned to her and swiftly avoided the lances. While it proved to be quite agile, many of the golden lanced managed to make numerous cuts along its body.
"IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!"
The creature roared in pain. It started to climb from the outside building, tearing one section of the walls and without turning its head back, threw the piece of rubble at Theresa. She easily dodged it with a twirl, followed by throwing a new lance on its back…
"AAAAHHHHH!"
…and piercing right on its medium back.
The creature roared in pain and anger. It stopped climbing and fell on the grass, bringing down some debris with it. The entity convulsed on the ground, rising some dirt and grass with its extremities.
"NO! NO! YOU WON'T KILL ME!"
Despite its condition, Theresa kept her distance from it and with a lance in each hand, ready for any surprises.
"NO! NO! YOU…WON'T…kill me! This will not be my end!" Its voice suddenly changed. The hard and ominous voice shifted for a young female voice. "You won't kill me!" It screamed again, this time trying to claw away the lance and a different female voice, but hissing in pain when it tried to grasp the stabbing weapon. A puddle of ichor started to form under its figure as it continued trying to take out the lance, unsuccessful.
"Help! Emma! Ella! Please! CAPTAIN!!" It cried again, changing again its voice, with much desperation. "I don't want to die!! GIRLS!!"
Theresa flinched when, instead of hearing a furious beast howling, she listened to the desperate begging of a teenager from the horrific creature. "Is it… is it copying the lost squad voices?!" She remembered that it imitated not long ago the appearance of a normal high school girl.
"Just, what's going on here?!"
Its eyes, which were moments ago blinking and moving at a frenzied pace, twitched and started to close one by one.
The creature's midsection shuddered and started to unravel into thin crimson tendrils. As the puddle of red grew, Theresa noted that inside the innards of the diabolic creature, there was a black box with some indents colored in purple and red and a rift, where the endpoint of the golden spear was firmly fixed on it.
"Is that its core?" Theresa almost gagged when the metallic smell of blood and other unknown, but familiar, nasty smells hit her nose. "So that's what I smelled back there…"
"D-Don't leave me…!"
It screeched to the sunny sky before its head fell ungraceful on the dirt. Its body twitched one last time before going completely still.
Theresa kept her distance for another couple of minutes before she decided to get close to the beast. It could pretend to be dead for all she knew. Slowly, she took cautious steps before stopping a couple of yards from it. She pinched it with one lance to see if it was still alive, while her other lance was ready to defend in case it was a trick. She sighed in relief when it didn't move again.
"What the heck is going on here?!" Theresa whispered harshly. An abandoned and wrecked school, a monster that could imitate people's voices dwelling inside said school and a strange artifact (?) in its innards?
"This sounds more like a horror movie plot…"
Seeing that the creature was defeated, Theresa activated again her earpiece. Not a second later, CC contacted her.
"Madam Theresa, are you okay?!"
Theresa flinched at the loud voice but nevertheless answered. She put away the spears inside Judah. "Theresa here. I'm fine. I decided to cut off contact when the situation escalated. I need to be focused." She heard the person on the other side sighing in relief.
"It is fine, Madam. We were just worried at the sudden loss of contact with you," they replied. "Also, did you manage to contain the entity, Madam? What is its status?" Theresa almost snorted at how they referred to the creature but managed to keep it to herself. If only they had seen it, they would have called it a monster instead of an entity.
"Unfortunately, the monster proved to be more savage and dangerous than initially thought. I had to put it down." The encounter, while short, it was vicious and quite unexpected –for not saying damn weird wild-. "Still, the creature hasn't dissolved like the usual Honkai beasts. Its corpse is still here and doesn't show signs of disappearing anytime soon."
"It's good to hear that," CC replied neutrally. "The Overseer expects to study the entity at HQ." Theresa didn't like the idea of having her grandpa near this creature. "At least, we won't have it rampaging through the city," they commented offhandedly.
"At least, the teams are avenged," Theresa wanted to correct CC but knew it would be in vain. The operators in CC were cold if not downright insular of the Valkyries' wellbeing.
And while she didn't encourage or approved of this vengeful line of thinking, the teams' teammates and friends would find peace knowing that at least the vile creature responsible for their deaths was put down.
"If they let them know, of course…" Theresa thought bitterly, knowing how Schicksal liked to operate.
"Madam, please go back to the academy's front door. In ten minutes, you are going to be extracted and taken back to St. Freya Academy. Another team will take care of taking the corpse back to HQ," they informed her.
"Roger that." The communication was cut and Theresa sighed, thinking how her day just turned out to be.
"Though I wonder…" She voiced out loud. She glanced at the monstrous corpse one last time before she started to walk towards the extraction point.
"Was it really crying or was it just imita-?"
IT was laying on a black sand beach shore. It was night time and the sky was cloudless, allowing the stars to bath the shore with their shining light. A few feet away from IT, the waves of the Sea hit ITS face. While IT found dumbly comforting the fresh waves hitting ITS face, they did little to alleviate the shooting pain in ITS back.
IT couldn't move. IT was resting on the sand, like a broken puppet with red ichor oozing out ITS body. The soaked sand with ITS blood turned darker than the rest. Each long breath made a soft hiss among the sound of the waves hitting the shore.
'Is this… the end?' IT thought while glancing at the stars. Each breath was a difficult task, harder for each second it passed. 'I-I…am tired…' Slowly, ITS many eyes started to close. The sound of the waves moving was a delicious lullaby.
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sle-
"Are you going to give up?" It was a woman's voice.
ITS many eyes opened at the new presence. They moved from place to place, trying to locate the voice owner but didn't find anything.
"I am here." She was next to ITS head.
IT couldn't see her face or body. Her whole figure was covered in a whitish veil.
"W-Who… are…you?" IT asked with a drowsy voice. For some strange reason, it didn't feel bothered by her presence.
She giggled and lowered herself until her head was next to it.
"Oh, my! Have you really forgotten me?" Despite the question, she didn't sound bothered at all. "You hurt me!"
For another unknown reason, IT felt bothered (and shameful?) hearing this.
"I-I am…sorry…" IT apologized barely above a whisper.
"It's okay, dear. I don't mind," she reassured patting ITS head softly. Her touch felt so warm. IT would have purred if IT had the energy.
"Did you get into a fight, again?" She asked with concern.
Did IT fight? He couldn't remember.
"I- I…don't know…"
The woman shook her head and with great care, she hugged ITS head.
"Don't be afraid to defend yourself, dear." A warm feeling entered ITS being and suddenly, it was easy to breathe again.
"Do you know why?"
FWEET!
"-Aaaahhhh!" Theresa screamed in pain when a tendril from the corpse suddenly slashed at her arm. The movement was fast, too fast, and unexpected. She was about to clench her injury but at the last second decide to ignore it for the moment, and swiftly took out a golden spear and threw it with great force to the creature.
"Aahhhh…Because I am the bravest…" The monster said hoarsely. Despite its injuries and the new lance stabbed on its body, it didn't sound bothered at all.
"That's right, dear!" She chuckled.
For some reason, IT found ITSELF chuckling too.
"W-What are you?!" Theresa yelled. She was frustrated that the monster wasn't dead and that it caught her off-guard. She winced, the cut was painful burning!
The creature's body twitched violently. The flesh around the spears melted into purple-grey ashes as the rest of its body unraveled into tendrils, moving away from the black box and started to gather into a strange mass heap of tendrils. Despite the burning sting on her left arm, Theresa prepared herself for its next move.
"And do you remember what we discussed before?"
IT didn't respond but she understood ITS confused gaze.
"Silly, you just have to change your strategy!"
The tendrils started to take the form of large wings, ugly broken wings and flapped them menacingly. Theresa's whole body tensed. This… this was the first time in her life that she had witnessed something as horrible and grotesque as this thing in front of her.
"Also, do you remember what we told you to always repeat to yourself whenever you doubt or fear, dear?"
Ah, IT remembered…
"Eʋɛռ ȶɦօʊɢɦ I աǟʟӄȶɦʀօʊɢɦȶɦɛɖǟʀӄɛֆȶʋǟʟʟɛʏ, ɨ աɨʟʟʄɛǟʀ ռօ ɛʋɨʟ, ʄօʀʏօʊǟʀɛ աɨȶɦʍɛ…" It proclaimed with a high childish twisted voice.
Suddenly, a blast of purple and red energy pushed back the Principal and many, so many red and purple eyes opened on its body and stared intently at the Valkyrie. They were glowing ominously. The red eyes holding deep cruelness inside while the purple eyes shinned with sick amusement.
"ĐⱤØ₱ ₮ⱧɆ₥, ĐɆ₳Ɽ!"
And then, there was laughter…
Things are going to get heavy in the next chapter.
So… did you like it? No?
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Have a nice day!