The infected were everywhere, but Haru forced herself to stay calm and slammed ahead, past a burning car. She grabbed one of the infected, trying to bite into a man screaming on the ground- she hurled the infected back into the burning car and shot him in the head. "Get to the police station!!" she screamed.
"We can do this- we can hold out until Contracted Arms arrives!!" One of the standard police officers shouted, cheering and shooting down another infected; another. "Even if they keep coming, I'm sure the big guns will arrive before long!!"
"Agreed!!" Fox vaulted over one of the officer's shoulders and leveled a kick with the head of an infected, sending the skull sailing like a football into the distance and landing neatly; but the officer was right. They truly did keep coming; Haru, Fox, and a handful of officers kept moving down the street toward the police station while the survivor Haru had ordered to run took off ahead; almost getting grabbed, but Haru was turning into a pretty good shot.
Another infected tried to grab her, and Haru went to shake the corpse off, only to yelp as the air was crushed from her lungs and she was thrown headlong through the air. Glass shattered, her world spun and she rolled to her feet in an office building, snarling, mouth open, chest heaving.
"What the-"
"Arch-demon!!" Fox shouted, leaping through the air. "Or maybe just a really strong one," She added, landing deftly beside Haru.
"Wait, we have to get back out there!!" Haru shouted and bolted for the window as screams rose into the air; three of the human cops lay dead, and two were screaming, clutching at their heads as mushrooms and moss grew through their skin; the infected demon glared up at Haru and leapt.
"Let's do this," The badger girl panted, anger and adrenaline surging through her veins, and side stepped the demon.
"Keep calm!" Fox snapped, firing off her rifle and wincing as the infected grabbed her gun, ripping it away, breaking the strap that attached it to her body and grabbing Fox's vest, trying to snap at her neck; Haru snarled and dived, kicking the bastard's knee out and grabbing his hair, ramming her knee into the back of its skull with everything she had; his skull caved in, but the infected screamed and whipped around anyway, snapping at her leg. Haru shoved the barrel of her sidearm into the open maw and pulled the trigger down, but even as she shot twice, the infected just bit through her gun as if eating the bullets and swiped at her, sending her rolling.
Before she could steady herself at all, the mauled man was there, trying to get what was left of his mouth around Haru's throat; but Fox was there, shouting with effort as she hugged his torso and heaved, flipping the infected into a suplex of sorts and ramming his head into the concrete floor of whatever- parking garage. Cars.
"I have an idea!!" Haru shouted as the infected climbed to his feet, already healing, gnashing his teeth. "Keep this fucker busy!!"
Darting for a patrol car, Haru ducked and spun as the zombie tried to grab her, vaulting the car and ripping the door off its hinges, starting to dig, forcing herself to ignore what was happening with Fox as she yanked the glovebox open, the bag on the passenger seat, hunting. Sidearm, bullets, reports, laptop- road flare-
"ROAD FLARE!! FOX, TAKE THIS!!" She screamed and flung the flare in Fox's direction before running as fast as she could in their direction; Fox and the infected rolled over and over on the floor, and Haru lunged, wrapping her arms around the infected and hauling him, along with herself, across the floor. Head spinning from the impact, she didn't fight, screaming in pain as the infected bit into her shoulder, shoving at his torso to no avail; in terms of raw strength, the infected was vastly stronger.
"HARU NO-!!" Fox screamed, grabbing the flare and lighting it before slamming it into the infected's back, penetrating flesh. Haru held her breath, snarling, grabbing her nose and holding it shut; Fox did the same as the infected screamed in agony, throwing its head back now; the mushrooms, moss and greenery protruding from its flesh wilted, blackening and slowly sloughing away. After a long moment, the body collapsed, and Haru rolled well away before coughing, letting herself breathe, panting.
"Haru- you could be infected-!!" Fox wheezed, and Haru shook her head, standing up slowly and wincing.
"Grab more fucking road flares," She winced, straightening and pulling her now-ripped shirt down, fully exposing her shoulder. "Impenetrable skin, remember?"
"Crazy," Fox wheezed, leaning back against a car. "Let's… get back out there?"
"Careful. The fire might release spores; try to only use them against stronger infected. Let's go. We need to save as many as we can before… before the backup shows up."
"Got it," Fox nodded, still panting, and turned toward that broken window. Haru wondered, as they walked; why did the parking garage have glass windows to break? Then again, with Mir being so integrated with nature, maybe there was a concern of animals coming in.
Haru- head in the game- mind can wander when this is over.
-
Charlotte slammed her shoulder through a door, steel hinges rending in spite of her attempt to be careful. "MIR NEEDS HELP!! Call Aerendyl, tell him Aurum and Charlotte need him!!" There was panic, secretaries staggering away from her head, so Charlotte just hopped the counter, dialing fast.
"Aerendyl we could REALLY use an ace card right now, get to Mir, you'll see what's going on from the air, PUT THOSE WINGS OF YOURS TO USE!!" She shouted the moment the phone was picked up, then hung up, shouting at the office around her. "Rouse your people, come on, let's GO, you bastards are getting calls aren't you?! This is an emergency!"
"First call only came in four minutes ago," A woman barked back, standing up at her desk in the back of the room. "We were treating it as low priority; three calls, close together, thought it was a prank. We'll rouse Contracted Arms, NOW. Whoever you are; get out. You're well intentioned and I think having you arrested for breaking that door would both end badly for me and be immoral."
-
Eileen winced as she stepped on a skull, hurrying up the radio tower's stairs and frying another infected from the inside out with fire. She was almost there; she'd lost her gun, as if she was ever going to use it, and the strange knife she'd pulled from Alexei's corpse while trying to heal him- but neither of those things mattered. She needed to get to the roof, to contain this.
"Eileen!! I would only like a conversation!!" The warm voice came from far below her, but she continued on in silence, calm- or not calm, maybe, but rather uncertain as to what was going through her head. Images flashed behind her eyes; leaving for the distress call with two others yet being the only to stay.
Alexander, vanishing, and the way they tried to write him off. Haru's refusal, her gorgeous green eyes blazing with the righteous fury of another world… but then, watching Alexei crumple and die here, falling into dust. The chaos below, the cars crashing outside- even through the windows she could see the fires, a parking garage going up in flames. How very wrong things can go outside of the wood- but I would not have stayed.
"Eileen! Come, you are a reasonable woman are you not? I seek only to talk!!" He was below her, but the fires were spreading, and so Eileen pushed on, shoving open a door labeled as rooftop access and stepping back into the rain, pushing hair out of her face as she stepped toward the edge of the roof- of course, there was the antenna above her, but she needed stable footing to focus.
Walking to the edge of the roof, she turned and locked the door behind her with a thought. If I rip the radio antenna down, the people here will lose signal and people will get even more panicked- ah-
Turning her staff, Eileen pulled the air vents from the roof in various places, sending them soaring through the air to reinforce the door she'd come through, metal rending and crunching as the top of the staircase was flooded with steel and jagged edges. That done, she turned her attention to the city and took a slow, measured breath.
Screams, explosions, fires; it was pandemonium, and who could say how many were dead? Or how long before help arrived? Drawing a breath, Eileen raised her staff, slammed it down, and closed her eyes.
Her magic exploded outward, mapping the city; she saw valleys and alleys and buildings and more in her mind's eye… and began.
The rain cracked, in places, before solidifying into a wall; there, a quiet park, and there, looping around an apartment building higher than the roof. She pulled water from the dam, from the rain, from sinks, from lakes, from ponds… thicker and thicker, forming a wall of ice as thick as her wrist, and then her body, and then a car, a train. Buildings were encased with barely holes left for air, and she grit her teeth, sweat sliding down her temple as within moments, the entire city was walled in. She raised the wall; higher, higher, such that even the radio tower was dwarfed, her head swimming from the effort…
When she opened her eyes, there was a moment of quiet before the rain started to fall again, hitting her damp hair, her back as she fell to one knee. She'd done it; she could see the wall from here, translucent and gray-blue, thicker than an apartment building by itself. There would be flooding, but people would survive. More than if she had not.
When she glanced back, panting, the metal she'd blocked the stairwell with was gone. Entirely. The Giant stood there, smiling.
"Fascinating," He chuckled, looking down at her, arms crossed. "It is truly magnificent what an elf can accomplish, without internal rules. Worry not though- I don't seek to hurt you, or your friends. Magic like yours- it's exactly what I need. Come with me, and nobody else gets hurt."
"Fuck you," Eileen spit at his boots and leaned sideways with closed eyes, throwing herself off the roof before he could react, clutching her staff between her breasts, clamping her thighs around it, focusing… halfway down, her fall began to slow, curving and leveling out… when she opened her eyes, she was sailing slowly through the air between two buildings, sitting up on the staff and leaning, taking herself toward… anywhere but the radio tower.
-
How long had it been? Hours? Minutes? Haru ducked and grabbed the arm of an infected, ripping it off, slamming it into the head of another. She'd run out of bullets a long time ago, but she was learning that fighting like a demon was a lot easier than being human. Bulletproof vest discarded, she danced fluidly, remembering Aurelia, the mats and the training, the way she'd handled Lif. Fox was with her but Haru could only focus on what was right in front of her, panting and taking down body after body.
"Come on, the door is open!!" Somebody shouted behind her, and she nodded, grabbing another infected by the throat and crushing until its head fell off, then throwing the body and turning, backing up with Fox up the steps of the police station. In moments, the doors were being slammed again, desks and filing cabinets piling against it.
"Damn woman, you fought like something out of hell," A man laughed, clapping a hand onto her shoulder, and Haru nodded, nose wrinkling, panting. Her hair was matted with blood, now, as she looked up; he was strong. Normal. Alive.
"You okay?" He asked, Fox stepping closer, similarly gory.
"Fine," Haru panted, head swimming, vision blurring. "We're safe in here, right?"
"For now," The man agreed, and Fox frowned, narrowing her eyes, stepping forward as Haru suddenly staggered away, grabbing a desk and leaning over it, retching. It ached, and all that came up was bile, stomach acid dripping over her bottom lip.
"W-W-What the fuck," She whispered, breaths ragged, clutching at her chest. "How did EVERYTHING go so wrong-!?"
"The Giant did this-"
"DID HE?!" Haru screamed, hysteria creeping into her voice. "WAS IT HIM OR WAS IT US?!" The people around them began to stagger back, confused, police officers and citizens alike staring nervously. "WE PUSHED DOWN THERE TO TRY AND END THE WAR- NOW THIS HAPPENED-!! DID WE DO THIS, FOX PLEASE TELL ME WE DIDN'T FUCKING DO THIS," Haru begged, only to double over, crying, dry heaving, more bile dripping underneath her. It was getting cold, mist in the air, now, but Haru couldn't focus on that- or anything. The bodies, the road flare, the screaming, the biting, Alexei falling I can't this is wrong we caused this we should have stopped it-
"Haru." Fox's voice was gentle, but firm as she stepped forward, grabbing the snow-and-ash haired woman's forearm. "The Giant did this. The Elevated. He said it himself; that he wanted the attention off of his cult. Alexei created the infected and he's dead. No part of this traces back to us, and it may well have always been the plan.
"We should have-"
"We have saved as many as we can," Fox stated flatly, her cuddly girlfriend energy gone for now. "Sometimes, that has to be enough. I'm sorry."
"You know what caused this? Who?" One of the officers asked tentatively, stepping forward, and Haru looked up, staring dully.
"Yeah. The Giant, he calls himself. Elevated leader. He's got a stake in making sure that this war takes off. Where are Lif and-"
-
"Ica?" The Giant asked, slamming his fist into Lif's jaw again; the hulking man snarled and charged, wrapping his arms around The Giant's waist and slamming him through a window; together, they fell. The Elevated leader had caught up to them in the evacuated Contracted Arms reporting office, second floor; hardly a fall at all. Still, as The Giant tried to stand, he was winded by Lif leveling a roundhouse with the side of his head, gasping.
"Calm down, friend!" He spoke swiftly, and Lif grabbed The Giant by the throat, pulling back a fist and slamming into the cultist's face again, again, again.
"YOU WILL NOT HURT MY FRIEND!!!" Lif screamed, enraged, punching again, again, before The Giant's world spun and he found himself slammed into the asphalt with such force that it cracked, his skull straining as a boot immediately shoved his head underground. Shit, I didn't realize this one was an arch-demon,
Turning, The Giant grabbed Lif's leg on the next attempted stomp, but Lif recovered; even as he swayed off balance, he spun, raising both arms and slamming them down into the ground where The Giant, staggering to his feet, had just laid.
"You can't stop this war-!!" The cultist choked, head swimming, catching Lif's next blow.
"I CAN STOP YOU," The man snarled, foaming at the mouth, and charged again, slamming The Giant back against a wall and punching; he, the cultist, the raven-haired man, ducked it and punched into Lif's stomach, crotch; but even as Lif cried out in pain, he managed to grab at The Giant's face, sending him staggering, bleeding from deep cuts along his cheek.
"Stand down!" He tried to insist, but there was a tremble in his voice now as Lif advanced.
"No, little man, you are scared, because you hide behind titles and fear- YOU KNOW NOT WHAT TO DO WHEN I BITE BACK!!" Lif screamed, grabbing The Giant by the hair and punching with his entire body. For just a moment, there was silence, save for the ringing in his ears as The Giant sailed through the air; just him, the sky, and the rain…
Are you an arch demon or not?
Blinking, The Giant appeared behind Lif, aiming a blow- but Lif was faster, turning with his entire body; same punch. The Giant ducked it, but Lif just pivoted and grabbed the cultist's collar, spinning and throwing him into the ground again. The Giant vanished, appearing in the air over Lif and grabbing, but the friendlier of the giants turned and kicked into the air with everything he had, and The Giant felt something crunch inward, blood flooding his mouth. Barely conscious, he teleported away as far as he could manage, collapsing to his knees in a field of snow.
"B-Brynn," He pleaded into his radio, fumbling. "Brynn I, please, come h-here, Brynn, bring h-help,"
-
"IT WASN'T STARRIA!!" The voice blared through the air, and young woman winced, grabbing her head and looking up at a billboard overhead. Around her, her other friends from class looked up; they stood in a city center in Alcantore, and until now, they'd been watching a report on the situation in Mir. Then, the scene had changed; to a young effeminate man with pale skin, pink hair, and blue eyes.
"People are trying to lead you to believe it was Starria that caused this outbreak, the deaths in Mir, but it wasn't, it never was, and I'll release the proof if I can, but if something happens to me then know that it wasn't!"
-
In Pempa, a nobleman crossed one leg over the other, frowning deeply as he listened.
"It was The Elevated; a cult that wants to understand the idea of immortality!! They were funding weapons companies to research it for them, and the weapons company; Abasaba; they misused the funding to research control of gods, biological weapons, they caused this like they caused the attack on the border! M-My name is Ica; I'm a member of Wolfpack, the Queen's private military and my leader has gone AWOL but I say these things of my own volition and without coercion! We found all the proof!"
-
In Ravenhold, capitol of Ravenwood, Contracted Arms students crowded around the television mounted in their dormitory, eyes wide.
"They manipulated the God of Pain promising he could finally rest if he did this for them; the attack on the border, the outbreak now! They did it, too; the god of pain is DEAD, and his creations set free!! The person responsible for this is called The Giant; he's a cultist leader, doing this to spark a proper war between Mir and Starria, so the world will turn their eyes away as his cult sinks their roots into companies across the world!! I don't know if he's their leader or what, but he needs to be PUT DOWN!!"
-
"This is why demons can't be trusted… anything with powers goes wrong…" Somewhere in Starria, a young boy barely registered his father's mutter, watching the news.
"PLEASE; STARRIA AND MIR, PEACE TALKS! We CLEARLY have a greater common enemy right now!!!"
-
Far from Pempa's royal courts in a small cottage on the coast, an old man relaxed, cross legged, meditating, surrounded by smoky torches, incense and fresh fruits on silver trays. For a long time, he sat silent, until a young blonde woman pushed aside one of the red curtains in his doorway and silently stepped close to him. Once she'd gotten close, the woman knelt, folding her hands in her lap and bowing her head. She wore dark garb, covered neck to toe, her hair tied tightly back in a knot.
Silence, for a long moment.
"Ayano." When he spoke, his voice was gravelly, akin to the air escaping a long-sealed crypt. "The Giant. Thoughts?"
"I have no thoughts of my own," The blonde woman spoke robotically. "That is not-"
"Ayano." The man spoke again. "Think."
"The Giant is a sick madman; we have known as much for years." When she spoke, the old man nodded, slowly lifting a pipe to his bottom lip and lighting it before taking a slow draw, exhaling the smoke before he replied.
"Ayano. The Giant is your next task. Do you think you are capable?"
"He sleeps," Ayano replied quietly. "He will never expect a human. I am committed."
"To work, then. My resources and men are yours."
"Understood."