[SIDE A] DAY 5 – PRESENT & FUTURE (6)
Ms. Graceful glanced around the surroundings, when she stepped out of the teleport portal.
“Umm, it has been a while. Sadly, every structure had collapsed. Even though the Temple of Doom was flattened by that blast. But, I could feel her presence here.”
Lucifer glanced over the horizon, then she pointed to a crumbled pinnacle landmark.
“Our lady is sealed up within the ruins of Last Tower.”
“Let’s go…”
Lucifer shook her head.
“We can’t go there yet.”
Ms. Graceful looked at Lucifer and asked.
“Huh, why?”
“FuuRinKaInZanRai is guarding this place.”
“Seriously, I still don’t understand… Why did the rest of FuuRinKaInZanRai betray Ms. Fateful?”
“They made a deal with the Watchers and now FuuRinKaInZanRai is under the command of Angels & Demons.”
Ms. Graceful glanced over the horizon.
“Interesting theory… Keepers of Seven Dimensions are supposed to be neutral though… Unless, someone had broken one of the Laws of Nature - Natural Selection. Overall, FuuRinKaInZanRai aren't that stupid and I don’t see any benefits for helping the Watchers. Unless…”
Lucifer shook her head once again.
“Although, that might be related to the prophecy. But, it is more like a Human race extermination rather than by natural selection… And now, everything simply goes into a different direction… Its result is totally unpredictable.”
Ms. Graceful turned to Lucifer and asked.
“By the way, why don’t you girls rescue your lady at the beginning?”
Lucifer inhaled a sharp breath.
“Deadly Seven’s main objective is monitoring the activities of Angels & Demons within the Gate of Hells. Our secondary objective is surveilling those areas around the Southern Region…”
Ms. Graceful pondered for a moment.
“No rescue missions? Nothing else?”
“None… Those are the only two instructions from our lady’s final order…”
Ms. Graceful looked heavenward and said.
“How strangely Ms. Fateful would make a mistake like that.”
Lucifer turned to Ms. Graceful and replied.
“Ms. Graceful, pardon me? I don’t understand what you mean.”
Ms. Graceful examined Lucifer closely.
“Hey Lucifer, are you lying to me? Where does this blue collar come from?”
Lucifer lowered her head.
“Umm… Actually, there is one more instruction from our lady, which is… From now on, Deadly Seven will be under…”
Suddenly, Lucifer directly got blasted away right in front of Ms. Graceful. The impact had Lucifer flying through the ruins and landing onto a pile of debris several meters away. A moment later, they could hear a male voice which came from behind.
“Damnit, Huginn and Muninn! You guys slightly missed my target. Haha…”
Ms. Grateful glanced over the shoulder and saw a man standing at the top of a hill.
“You are getting old and that’s why you have missed your target.”
The man who holds dual-wield pitch-black single-action revolvers in his hands had replied.
“Oh well, my lovely daughter. You shouldn’t say that to your dad.”
Ms. Graceful faked a smile.
“Technically, I’m not your daughter anymore and you aren't my dad at all… Mr. Hermit.”
Mr. Hermit looked at Ms. Graceful and then turned to Lucifer.
“Oh, I see. My little girl has grown up now. By the way, Lucifer… You had talked too much to my little girl. That’s why I had to kill you as soon as possible.”
Lucifer got up on her feet and then she summoned her sword - Darkness.
“Mr. Hermit, let’s finish this.”
Mr. Hermit turned his focus to Ms. Graceful and said.
“Oh wait, let's finish my family reunion first… Geri and Freki, auto turret mode!”
Two lever-action repeating silver rifles had appeared and were floating beside Mr. Hermit. Once they changed into auto turret mode. They started targeting and firing at Ms. Graceful automatically.
Lucifer tried to cover Ms. Graceful, but was a little late. Ms. Graceful got hit and blasted away by those electromagnetic railguns hundreds of meters away. Meanwhile, Mr. Hermit glanced down boldly and said.
“Muhaha, Ms. Graceful… At your current physical form, and without the Pandora Box… It seems kind of sad after all... No matter what, it is the time to finish you off. Farewell, my so-called daughter.”
An absolute zero potential energy had gathered in front of the gun barrels of Geri and Freki, while Ms. Graceful was within the point-blank range. At this moment, Ms. Graceful hesitated and this was the first time in her life that happened. Although, her expression hardened. But clearly, the muscles in her face were tightened.
Immediately, an explosion occurred. A fraction of a second after the explosion, it generated its blast wave that would make the surrounding pressure expand supersonically outward from its core, in which was followed by the blast wind that sucked everything back in towards the center. It was harmful especially when Ms. Graceful was very close to the center or at the location of constructive interference.
After the dust had settled, Mr. Hermit glanced over and laughed.
“Muhaha, no matter how great you are… At this range, your body would be torn into pieces… Huh?!”
Suddenly, Mr. Hermit saw Darkness coming towards his location. It seemed there was no way for him to dodge this surprise attack from Lucifer. However, that attack was blocked by two individual swords that created a deadlock moment in between those three swords.
Mr. Hermit took a close look and he noticed those swords were a claymore and an odachi. Then, he heard two familiar female voices behind his back. A woman in a white blazer with dark pencil skirts, who had pointy eyeglasses was talking to another woman who got the same kind of clothing.
“Once again, he did underestimate her abilities…”
“My lovely twins’ sister… Maybe today is his lucky day… Since, we are here.”
“Umm, or it’s because FuuRinKaInZanRai would never fail…”
“Haha, and that’s why… we are here as the backups…”
Mr. Hermit glanced over his shoulder and replied.
“Should I give a thank you kiss to each of you?”
Both of them had answered instantly.
“No!”
Meanwhile, Lucifer glanced at those swords.
“Umm… Skofnung and Honjo-masamune…”
Ms. Justice replied with a smile.
“Lucifer, you are correct… Time to die…”
Ms. Justice turned Skofnung's sideway that would change its blocking stance into an attack stance. Such that the point of Skofnung moved towards Lucifer. At this point, Lucifer had to break the deadlock moment in between herself and the Twins in order to retreat back to Ms. Graceful location.
Afterwards, Lucifer turned to Ms. Graceful and said.
“Your Time Magic and teleportation saved you this time…”
Ms. Graceful forced a smile.
“Kind of...”
Lucifer glanced at the Twins and continued.
“However, we got more people to deal with.”
Ms. Graceful was slowly getting back on her feet.
“Go, find my Pandora Box… Now!”
Lucifer curtsied and replied
“As you wish, my lady.”
After Lucifer took off, Mr. Hermit sneered and flicked lint off his suit and said.
“My dear daughter, how many times can you escape from my guns? You knew that by using Time Magic, it will take a heavy toll on your physical form…”
Ms. Graceful examined herself and said.
“I just sprained a few bruises.”
Ms. Justice glanced down boldly and giggled.
“Hehe, looks like you don’t stand a chance of survival.”
Hence, Ms. Judgement took a deep breath and returned her Honjo-masamune into its sheath.
“I will finish her off…”
Ms. Graceful looked closely at Ms. Judgement’s battle stance and said.
“Finally, you are using the Battojutsu from Shinmei Muso-ryu...”
Ms. Judgement gave a fake smile and replied.
“Yes, and now… DIE!”
The mighty slash attack from Ms. Judgement had created two separate upward cuts that were directly aiming at Ms. Graceful’s upper torso. Definitely, the impact from its power had sent Ms. Graceful flying several hundred meters away and crashed into a pile of rubble. Clearly, everyone could hear the sound of broken ribs and sternum from Ms. Graceful’s tiny human body.
Everything was so sticky and warm and soaked in red, while Ms. Graceful had felt so heavy and painful. She could not move her arms and legs. She could not even move her head. Surely, that would be over any second. She was exhausted and her eyes were heavy and her little body was numbed.
She was getting colder, uncomfortably cold. Her tiny human body was shivering uncontrollably. No one could make it stop. Her thoughts could not be straight anymore, everything had become a blur. She was laying down on the ground and went to sleep.
Meanwhile, Ms. Justice had located Ms. Graceful’s tiny human body within the pile of rubble. Ms. Justice had proceeded with caution, and that was why she did not go near the tiny human body. But instead, she just glanced over Ms. Graceful and said.
“It seems she is pretty dead to me. But, I will make sure she remains dead forever.”
Ms. Justice rose her Skofnung in the mid-air and was summoning the Twelfths. Once, the Twelfths had summoned. They were immediately charging toward Ms. Graceful’s half-dead body.
All of a sudden, Ms. Justice could hear a digital female voice that was coming from the ground below where she was standing.
“Weapon name – Skofnung… … …”
Her eyes widened with those words chilled down her spine instantly.
“WTF! That coffin is buried here?!”
<<< === === >>>
After several hours of travelling by vehicle, Professor Azrael and others had brought me back to the city. For sure this was not Aurora. If I remember correctly, this city was called Sodo Morrah, and also known as the ‘City of Plain’.
Sodo Morrah was located on a plain that was near the Southern Region. This city had a very long history of prosperity. Its skyline was sprinkled with elegant skyscrapers and their history seemed to shine more now than ever. It was truly a fully modernized metropolis. Hundreds of cafes and restaurants offer a plethora of culinary choices and those who felt hungry for something else could enjoy city exploring, arcades, tours or one of the many other recreational venues. What historically was the ‘City of Plain’, people had grown into an amalgamation of differences and it was this that united the seven million people before the calamity had happened throughout the world.
Even though it was the second closest city to the Gate of Hells. But, its atmosphere seemed totally calm and peaceful. When I was walking down the streets. I could see a lot of human beings were still living within its city walls. However, that made me ponder over a certain question. That certain question was – what really happened here?
A moment later, we had arrived at the doorsteps of the sightseeing tower. Then, we took the glass elevator to the top of its observation deck. Once, we were on the observation deck. Professor Azrael and I had a walk on the wide ledge encircling the top of the sightseeing tower. Luckily, I was not afraid of heights. Hence, I was pretty sure that it was one of the highest observation platforms in the world with a unique and spectacular view like no other. Afterwards, Professor Azrael asked me a question.
“Yoshi-sama, what do you think about this great city?”
I pondered for a moment.
“What do you mean by that?”
Shirio smiled and said.
“Yoshi-sama, let me rephrase that question for you. What makes this city so prosperous compared with others?”
I looked down from the observation platform.
“I would say that currently most cities within the country were either completely destroyed by the calamity or already got occupied by some kind of military force. But, this city is kind of like a safe haven by comparison with others. I would guess this city is protected by some higher power, which would even surpass the military power of Secret Societies or World Federation.”
Professor Azrael glanced over the horizon and continued.
“You are partly correct… But, the correct answer would be – Destiny… This city is the chosen one, and that’s also the same as yourself. You are the chosen one.”
I was puzzled for a moment.
“I don’t quite understand what you are trying to tell me.”
He looked at me and continued.
“After the Purge, its population dropped significantly from seven million down to three million people. Probably, due to its original social problem – Social Polarization. Then, the World Federation got involved and took over the city’s administration. However, most people from the World Federation are just a bunch of politicians or hypocrites. They don’t know how to resolve the dispute between the social classes. Therefore, when Secret Societies triumphed over them. They had fled the city over the night… But of course, under the new administration by Secret Societies… That still doesn’t mean the problem is solved. It’s just like jumping from one shit hole to another one… Nothing has changed… But, up until now… This city has become the center stage of mankind… Its population has begun to increase from three million to four million people, due to the fact that we are back and in control.”
He glanced down for a moment and then he continued.
“The people down there believe in us. We are their only hope. If we can't do it, then there is nothing left.”
I inhaled a sharp breath.
“We?!”
He patted my shoulder.
“Yes, we…the New Age Human! We couldn’t just sit here and let others slaughter us. No matter who is coming against us… Mere Humans, Ancients, Nephilim, and even those Demons form the Gate of Hells… We are the chosen one. All of them are nothing compared to us. We’ll win this war and we will survive till the end.”
“But, how?”
Shirio smiled at me and looked into my eyes. Then, she wrapped her arms around me, sliding both arms between my neck. She pressed her chest into mine and rested her check on my shoulder.
“Don’t you remember? We are the Seven Holy Angels…”
Suddenly, my head started getting migraine headaches. So, I took a step backward. But, Shirio started to stroke her hand on my back and hugged me even tighter. Meanwhile, an aura had appeared within my vision and for sure this was a warning signal that my migraine was about to begin. The migraine caused severe pain on both sides of my head, upset stomach and disturbed vision. During this moment, I had become very sensitive to light and sound.
Shirio whispered in my ear.
“Don’t you remember? My love.”
Shirio kept on whispering my name.
“Michael, my love.”
The top of my skull felt like it was being pressed down on. My vision went out of my right eye. It was so distracting and painful that it was impossible to think or carry on the conversation. At the end, I could only hear a voice before I was about to pass out.
“Welcome back, my lord.”
