A sigh escaped the young blond, Abel's mouth as he hoisted a bag over his shoulder with a huff. He spun around, making his way out the door of this secluded, small-town cafe, wearing a sour expression on his face as the hefty item periodically bounced against their back. They wandered for hours, days, and weeks until reaching a city's Grav-Train.
Abel almost passed by a receptionist on board, stopping and gesturing to a menu he had snatched not too long before entering, asking for some sort of food that might be served on board before being promptly rejected. In response, Abel simply sighed, moving on with his day, sitting down in one of the many booths on the train, watching the previous Sphere he was once in pass by across his window.
Exiting the Grav-Train and into Mercury, Abel let out a sigh of relief, cracking his back with a long, exaggerated stretch, all thoughts interrupted by a sudden bleating from a nearby siren. ["Keep an eye out for your fellow peers and report to the nearest Grief Officer if they have manifested or show signs of Manifesting. This is for your own safety and others."]
"God, they do this once every week at this point, fuck..." A man grumbled, stepping out onto the station's concrete as another flood of people funnels into the Grav-Train Abel had just exited.
The first meal of the day by now was fast food-- a simple burger and fries, shoveling the food into his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in days. Others watched in awe before he moved on to his next meal from an ice cream shop not too far off from the fast food joint he had visited. And from that same store, he got himself a milkshake, indulging in his base desires before finally stumbling upon a convenience store.
A young cashier with short black hair bit his thumbnail, expression pinched as he looked at his negative bank account. Holden, the young man, was in debt. Deep in debt at that, and he had nowhere else to go. Earlier that day, he had already gambled a sizeable amount of his cash from his job away at a local gambling ring, hoping to win just enough to pay back The Tongue the debt they were owed, but here he was, falling deeper and deeper into this spiral of despair.
Stumbling in, Abel, throwing a variety of chips, jerky, and a variety of other snacks onto the counter, placing a massive wad of cash in front of the young man, already eating out of one of the packs, which Holden could only assume was already paid for, given the bills set out before him. "Uh... I'm assuming you need a bag?" Holden snapped out of his stupor, instinctively grabbing some bags from under his desk, throwing the goods inside.
Stood before Holden, a tall young man who looked both wealthy and down on his luck. Huntsmen have an energy like that more often than not, but people who have what they shouldn't do as well. What's in that bag?
Abel struggles to carry the bags in his arms as he begins walking out the door, Holden watching closely, then down at the money on the counter before him.
The guy seems clumsy... maybe... it wouldn't hurt finding out what's in that bag, right? I just need an opportunity for a peek... Holden thought to himself, taking a bit of the cash set down on the counter, opening the cash register, and pocketing a couple of fifties from the pile.
Holden then takes his break, stepping out from the convenience store to confront the man and attempt to get any information he can on that back. If it's worth something, he could steal it and sell it for a good price after all.
Just as Holden followed Abel outside, a girl entered the store, all by herself. A girl with red hair blended in with black and sharp, dark brown eyes, freckle-faced.
Abel sat upon a nearby bench, basking in the light of a nearby lamp post, popping open a bag of chips, stuffing his face with whatever was inside. He swallowed hard, a look of content on his face as his eye shifted to his periphery, not looking directly at the figure before him. What should've been held was a man clad in red, eyes sharp, hair in a bowl, blond like Abel, sporting red eyes instead, earlobes stretched open by plug earrings.
Along with them, a woman with messy black hair clad in a similarly red attire, a single thin scar running along their nose, mouth covered by a mask. She unsheathed a long katana, coated in black, about as long as her arm, set right up against Abel's throat. "Stand up..."
Abel sighs, following her orders but not setting the bag of chips aside.
"The chips down as well...
Abel chuckled, sighing again as he set the chips down. "Can't you allow a man a final meal?'
"You say it as if it has to be so simple." The other man, about as tall as Abel, was almost eerily similar in appearance, spoke up, a hand held out.
Holden watched from afar, hiding behind a tree in the park just behind the collecting group of warriors. Shit, I'm glad I didn't step in just yet... I would've beendead... He thought to himself, breathing a sigh of relief. Those are some gnarly weapons they're sporting...
Aside from the long blade held by the woman, her ally, who stood right across from her, held an object in his hand in the shape of a lightning bolt, gold in make. "You just have to give us the exoskeleton, and we'll be on our way... I don't want to have to hurt you, brother."
"But you're going to..." Abel seemed resolute in his stance, sharing a look of solemn acceptance. "That's what it means, siding with that dead man, y'know?"
"Don't act innocent in this..."
"I'm not, that's why I'm making the executive decision here, as the older brother--"
The man in red strapped the golden bolt to his belt, clicking something onto the device before holding a hand out. "Fos." The skies grew cloudy, and soon after, a bolt of red lightning was caught in his palm. He held it tight, hand reeling back, ready to strike Abel down, "This is my last warning..."
Abel reached into his pocket, and in a split-second decision, he shot his head back as the woman's blade nearly sliced his head off, cutting off a section of his face, hand swiping through the air in a throwing motion as he fell. The woman redirected the attack, now aiming to kill, even after searing a chunk of Abel's face off, exposing his teeth and gums beneath his cheek as her ally threw the bolt straight at their own brother. "Lampsi!" The bolt sparked wildly, lighting the entire street in a brilliant red as the thunder that followed the fighter's Fos finally reverberated throughout the air.
Holden reflexively threw himself to the ground to avoid the aftershock of whatever was to come next, the girl who entered the store earlier now bearing witness to this event unfolding before her.
In a single millisecond, whatever Abel threw had hatched.
Two hands emerged from the black of night as a blade fell from the sky. The dominant hand grabbed the handle, the other hand supporting the blade as it flourished straight into a holstered position on its belt. What stood was a samurai, a helmet covering their eyes as the lower mouth had their gums exposed, teeth gnashed together.
It began to unsheathe its blade, the exposed bit of the sword splitting the bolt of lightning in two, sending two sides of plasma barreling into a tree and the road in succession, causing large, concentrated explosions, splitting the tree, and melting a bit of the road, bits of molten rubble being sent into the air.
The samurai proceeded to spin around, deflecting the woman's blade as well, redirecting it into the ground, and upon clashing with her weapon, the tip of its own katana had disappeared, but the rest of the sword was enough to virtually remove the woman's weapon arm, which hung by a thread of flesh remaining. Blood spilling out like spilt wine across the sidewalk as she stumbled back in shock.
Abel knew that this was his opportunity and that he wouldn't get it again. He exhausted the Apostle's power before him and was most likely its next target, so he belted into the park behind him, vaulting over the bench.
Nothing about that guy issuperhuman... The other two may be, but Abel wasn't.
The woman ran back into the convenience store, which was a significant distance away, as Holden chased after Abel using the cover of trees to remain unnoticed.
The man in red grimaced, "We need to kill this thing before Grief starts screaming about it over the siren systems!"
"My arms are a bit fucked! Sorry!" She snipped back, pulling the katana, gripped tightly by their barely hanging on hand from its grip, switching to her off-hand. "Hikisaku!"
Abel's breath was ragged, barely able to keep himself up, vomiting all over the ground as he white-knuckled the bag strapped onto his back. He huffed, "I-I need..." He shook his head, clearly considering his options. "I need a... I need a host... that's the only way this'll work... They'll take it if..." Abel mumbled as he stumbled into an alcove in the middle of this park, propping himself up against another bench that sat beneath the lamplight.
"Hey!" Holden called out to Abel, catching his attention. A beat passed, and he continued, "Hey... those guys looked strong... and strong people don't really go out of their way to cause trouble in a Sphere like this unless they want something incredibly valuable, right?"
"You're the cashier...?"
"Unless you stepped on the wrong shoes... that thing you got... what is it? Why do they want it so bad?" Holden took a knife out from his pocket, closing the distance inch by inch, Abel backing up all the while.
"Hey... stop. You need to back up, man."
"Just... give me that... okay? I'll take it off your hands, and the issue won't be yours anymore."
"That's a death sentence! Just... put the knife down!"
"It ain't a death sentence if I bring it to The Tongue, alright! I just need to bring it back to one of their Capos, and that'll be the end of that... so give me the bag, man."
Abel seemed to have realized something in that moment. "If I show you what it is, will that help you make a more informed decision?"
Holden considered the offer for a moment and nodded, "Yeah, show me. Throw it onto the bench and create some distance, blue-eyes."
Abel sighed, setting it down without hesitation before taking multiple steps back.
Holden rounded the bench, opening up the bag. Inside was some sort of exoskeleton made up from what looked to be legitimate flesh and bone. "Is this some sort of... advanced augment or something? Or is it something you wear?" Holden lifted the object, feeling it with his thumb.
"Augment..."
"How the hell is a person supposed to live with this thing placed inside them?"
"By technicality, it's an augment, however. Catch."
Holden's head snapped up to meet Abel's eyes, catching the object thrown to him before realizing what he had done wrong.
"Rip out his spine, Golem..." Abel mumbled.
The sirens finally go off. ["Omen Scale TULPA entity has been detected within the outer district. Everyone vacate the premises, evacuated from your homes in a 5-mile radius, or stay inside, hiding under any furniture that may be available within your home. Your local Grief Officers will quell the situation soon enough. Follow the directions stated until the situation has been confirmed to be resolved."] The siren speaker suddenly cut itself off, and there was a pause in the air.
Both the man in woman in red looked to the sky, confused by the sudden halt of the announcement, the Apostle now dead and in the ground just before Grief could notice it. "What the-- No... he didn't!"
"What's wrong?"
The man lurched forward, flicking the golden artifact on through lightning before shouting, "Cheirokrotima!" Before being launched forward and through the forest.
["Everyone within the Outer District, evacuate immediately. The threat has been identified as a MEGA Scale TULPA entity! If you cannot leave your home, do not open your doors by any means until said otherwise. Lock yourself in your bathrooms, closets, or hide within your nearest fridge. Hide anywhere that can provide any semblance of protection. We must repeat--"]
The sirens blared all around them, Abel now on his knees as a creature in a black carapace, red veins running along their body, stood before him. Abel sighed, eyes closed. "Choose your master wisely... Dagon..." Abel cracked another one of those black tablets he's been throwing in his hands just before a single, stabbing hand can connect with Abel's collapsed body, sinking into shadow.
In that exact moment, the man in red arrived, and all that remained was a split road before him. Whatever monster Abel had created had disappeared.
You see, humans of great strength are often capable of committing to actions that exceed human limitations for a short time, but that can leave them exhausted after their strongest move, requiring them to take time to recover, like some sort of cooldown period from whatever they used.
Apostles do not have such a limitation, so even if someone with the power of an Infantryman cannot stand a chance against a MEGA Scale Apostle on their own, especially if taken by surprise-- even if surrounded by men who are Sophomores and above in strength.
A man in a black suit snickered, sitting beside one of his comrades as he placed money onto the table. A hodgepodge of a casino headed by the Inagawa clan that dipped into the basement of a building. They held little to no concern for the announcement blaring over Mercury's sirens, rolling dice, playing cards, and placing ungodly amounts of money on a bet. Suppose it is due in part that all that remained were those of their clan, strong fighters all, and at the highest of their ranks, capable of slaying Apostles by their lonesome.
The head of this Inagawa branch is the old swordsman, Ichiji Inagawa, who sat at the very end of the gambling den, sipping tea, blade at the ready. He was almost as powerful as a Knight, and beside him was his trusty right-hand man, Kuro Matsukawa.
It took less than six seconds.
One of the men at the entrance was just about to stand up before his jaw was knocked out of the joint, nearly removed in its entirety, as his abdomen was suddenly split open, the lower half of his body going limp as one end of his spine was severed in its entirety from the cut.
The other man who accompanied him had their chest punctured and their heart removed, pulling out the ribcage in the very same motion before crashing straight through the wall leading into the gambling hall itself. None of the men had time to react as, like a storm, limbs, necks, heads, we all severed all at once, on room after another, as gore is left in Dagon's wake.
After 3 seconds, the powerful Ichiji Inagawa had already raised himself from his seat, hand on the hilt of his blade, ready to cut through anything that stood in his way, slowly unsheathing it as Kuro stood up to react.
The thing entered the room, Ichiji unsheathing his blade after 4 seconds had finally passed before the world spun around him for half of a second as his head spiraled into the ground below, watching as his subordinate at the 6-second mark was split in two from shoulder to hip.
None of them was worthy.
Never thought I'd be so unlucky on all days... The girl from the convenience store ran through the city, looking for a way out of the outer district of Mercury, holding two weapons swaddled in cloth in one arm, semi-strapped against her waist.
Her sprint was suddenly interrupted by a nearby scream, making her almost instantly realize that she had run in the wrong direction. "Shit!" She cursed at herself as she made a break for it as far as she could from the direction of the scream before hearing something crack against stone, forcing her to bolt into a nearby alleyway. She looked for anything to hide in, opting for the nearest garbage container.
She hoisted herself over the lip of the container before a sharp pain shot through her back and up to the nape of her neck, paralyzed from the pain, breath hitching as the feeling of pins and needles shot across her whole body, realizing only when she felt physical anomalies poking through her back, that she had been grabbed by the spine and lifted into the air.
Her eyes watered, mouth agape, looking back at Dagon, who simply stood, lifting her higher and higher. She couldn't get a word out; all that she was thinking about was simply that... she didn't want to die.
"It has been quite a gruesome couple of minutes, hasn't it, Dagon?" Abel finally showed himself again, hands in his pockets as he rounded the corner. "You finally found someone worthy enough to hold 'the body', haven't you?" Abel crossed over to the girl, shifting her face over to look at him. "I recognize you..."
The girl had no words to speak, her fingers feeling like wood, and her head screaming out in pain.
"You're Neptune's daughter. What are you doing so far away from home...? Ariel, was it?" A beat, the back of his hand slowly running across her cheek. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you survive this... I need you to, after all. You're my only hope..." He chuckled grimly before pulling away.
Suddenly, for the girl, the world went dark.
Thump! Ariel gasped for air, suddenly brought back to life atop an operating table. An intense amount of pain stabbed every inch of her body, instantly crying to herself as she looked around the bunker in a desperate attempt to find some semblance of hope to escape from this place, only to find Abel returning.
"Sedative wore off, placing the patient back into unconsciousness--"
"W-"
Once again, over and over and over again. In and out, in and out, and back into unconsciousness again until finally, she was alone. Sore, but no actual pain. Memories of the words Abel said as she was fading in and out of consciousness flooded into her head.
"Don't worry--"
"If anything, this is a benefit for both you and me... you'll be--"
"I never expected that Neptune's daughter was--"
"Use this to your advantage. Even if a target is on your back, you'll make it out alive, I know it... and in the end, you'll use this gift to your advantage... just don't die. Don't die on me as others have..."
Ariel peeled herself off the operating table, her entire body shaking as she stood in full. "I'm alive..."
Ariel huffed, managing to find her things within the bunker, followed by a sigh of relief. I don't know what the hell happened to me, but... She threw the weapons back around her waist, sat on her lower back, before walking out of the bunker.
The sight of a tree and dried grass stood before her. "Where the..." Where am I? "What a shitty week." Regardless, I survived. I... I need to get to Shivers.
But first, rest.
219 ES, 18th of Diadema.