Optional Music to Accompany the Chapter:
Rok Nardin - Cursed Tides
https://youtu.be/LBaY5HRXsnA
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Chapter 25: A Painted Target
Mid Afternoon - Early Summer : Year 0 | Month 1 : Arlington, Virginia | East Coast United States
World: Earth | Rank: 6 | Population: ~1,893,120,000
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*Fwip-CRRRRACK—THOOOM* The shockwave that burst from the spear piercing the sky was akin to the detonation of a bomb. Before anyone could react, a burst of overpressurized air shattered windows, burst eardrums, and bellowed waves of dust over the short concrete maze that decorated the city's outskirts.
Even to those strong enough to keep their hearing, it was like the world had been turned upside down. Vision blurred, senses scattered, and consciousnesses wavered.
But just as the shock settled and I expected the mercenaries nearby to waver and collapse, the air stiffened, and something within it churned.
In the next instant, the eyes of every mercenary snapped to me, and the hairs on my neck stood.
*W-W-W-W-WOOM* As if projected from the mercenaries themselves, I was encompassed by a blinding mass of red panels, and my senses flared.
'Something' was approaching my side. -SHIT!- Moving my hands in front of it as the air further thickened with the dilation of time, I jumped back and braced.
But.. nothing ever landed... *WOOSH*
*Fwip-snapple-crackle* Sliding across the concrete away from the group of people, the panels as well as the 'thing' my senses picked up vanished as if they were merely the machinations of my own mind. -W..what the?- Even to my mind that was sharper than it had ever been.. I felt it...
'Doubt.'
-Did I just.. hallucinate that?-
But I hardly had time to question it. "Rrrrrr-" *SNAP!* Watching Bella snap toward one of the mercenaries as he finally stumbled, I dug my foot into the concrete and lunged. *WOOM*
Before anyone could blink, I grabbed her snout, letting her jaws close on my fingers before her feral eyes widened and perked ears slicked back with the fear of realization. "Rrr-?"
The pressure in my chest couldn't ease just yet though.
*Rrrrrraaatleeee* Feeling the entire city shake with an elongated quake, I glanced at the horizon over my shoulder, praying to see anything other than a glowing fireball before a scattered cloud of dust rose. -Come on.. hold together..!- The longer the impact lasted, the easier the touch down was.. and with every passing moment, I felt myself ease more...
Until finally, all but the impact's reverberations vanished as if the ship somehow lifted back off the ground. -It couldn't be an 'esper' catching it... Did it reach water?- It wasn't what I expected, but it was enough for me to shift my focus.
I had my own problems, after all.
Stammering back, the mercenaries all fell in a disoriented daze, leaving Bella to limply collapse while I looked at the lifeless man next to her with a burdened stare. -What a pain...- Bella was bloody, with human flesh clinging still to her teeth while blue-ish liquid leaked from her caved-in shoulder, and her dilated eyes quivered with her jaw.
She was fighting hunger again despite having eaten her bodyweight just a few hours prior. -Her injuries must have triggered it...- But thanks to it, I was in a pickle. -You just had to kill someone before I got here, didn't you?-
*Vwoop* Pulling a chunk of meat from my inventory, I forced it in her mouth before picking her up.
I had many ways to clean up, even an opportunity to run, but not knowing any of Earth's customs and even more-so wanting to avoid additional troubles, I remained in place—letting Bella tear into a chunk of flesh while perched on my shoulder before walking over to one of the collapsed mercenaries.
"Hey, you alright?" Leaning over him, his hands jumped up in a panic before lowering just enough to catch my gaze, and for blood from Bella's chewing to fall on his face.
It looked like his soul was snatched from his body in that instant. "M-M-MONSTERRR!!!!" Scrambling in a complete panic, he turned over and crawled before getting up, running and screaming.
Then, like a wildfire, chaos blanketed everything.
In hardly a minute, mercenaries swarmed me, civilians evacuated, and I found a wall of blades and guns pointed at me. "Ma'am! Please stay still so the monster doesn't attack you!"
Looking at the taller, broad-built, plated armor-donning man speaking, I held my hand out to stop him, taking a moment to draw forth old memories of etiquette I hadn't used in countless years before trying to mimic it.
"I apologize for the trouble, but this is a misunderstanding." I was a bit rusty at first, but it cleaned up fast. "She's one of my companions."
Everyone's eyes immediately snapped to her, watching as she tore into a red, blood-soaked chunk of meat with a deepening unease.
"We fell from the airship that just crashed over there, and it seems like the pain sent her into a frenzy." Motioning to the body behind us, I rose my hand to my chest and gave a shallow bow, "I will compensate for whatever damages she has caused. I-" But they didn't let me finish.
Lunging forth from the edge of the crowd, a younger woman thrust her halberd at Bella like a spear, only for its sharp tip to warp and squish against my palm while my eyes were laid on a swordsman who was gearing to follow her lead. *Creaaak*
"I believe I made it clear you cannot kill her." My voice slipped out cold. "I have no intention of fighting, nor any wish to escape without taking responsibility for the situation." It wasn't enough though.
*fwip-SNAP* Jolting my hand up in front of Bella's head, a sharp pain zipped through my shattered arm and splatters of molten metal splashed over my face. -A bullet?- My eyes instantly snapped to a rooftop a few hundred meters away where a man in black aimed a long, electrically-glowing rifle.
"Tch..." Grabbing the small solid piece that was left of his bullet, I trapped it in my fingers before sending it back to him with a flick of my thumb. "Am I not speaking English?!" *Zip-CRACK*
The metal bead instantly zipped over the crowd in a streak of light before smashing through the edge of the roof and blanketing the man in a white dust cloud. *BANG*
"If I wanted to kill people, none of you would still be standing!" But despite only wishing to snap them out of the panic, they didn't even acknowledge my words...
Tightening the grip on their weapons, the air only grew heavier.
-Something.. isn't right...- "Bella, I am speaking English, right?"
Pausing he gnawing with a visible strain, she nodded before forcing out her damaged voice. "It's.. old English, but they should understand..." *Chomp*
-Then what's going on?- It was almost like... -Can they.. not hear me at all?- It was like there had been silencing magic cast around me. -But I can still hear them... One way silencing magic was almost impossible even for the strongest mages I met...-
But unfortunately, the System was beyond the bounds of mortal mages.
*Vwoop* Feeling space twist again, I lunged back before a conglomerated mass of black orbs engulfed everything around me.. and the ground beneath my boots disappeared.
Before the gates could even shrink and close, a column of fire akin to the breath of the wyvern engulfed everything. *Flash-BRRRRMMM*
My hands instantly jolted over my shoulder to pull Bella in and shield her, but my palms only clasped air. -Oh...- That was when it clicked, and my expression shifted from confused to annoyed. -It was a system enforcer...-
*Splash* Landing in the pool of molten material as the beam died down, my senses sharpened before jolting my head to the side and dodging a smaller beam dozens of times more concentrated that what just hit me. *fwip-KRAKOOOM*
Looking back, a metal humanoid being greeted me with a glowing, cannon-shaped arm. "You fuckers just had to appear, didn't you?!" They were beings the System used to deal with whatever administrators couldn't, such as dealing with major exploits, relocating unauthorized invaders, or even in rare cases.. killing... -The System must have noticed the gate we dropped from.-
*Bzzzzz-* Dealing with them wasn't anything new to me. *FWIP-CREAK* Whipping around and jerking the glowing hot barrel past me, I pulled the enforcer close before grabbing and crushing its head like a grape. *CREAK-SPLURT* But being on Earth made them exponentially more troublesome. -If I kill it, stronger ones will come, and if I leave it be, it won't stop attacking until its run out of energy, then call backup...-
No matter what I did, it'd just call stronger units until one strong enough to royally wreck the Earth came around.
*Vrrmm-Tap* Attempting to fight back, it swung its legs up and around to grapple me, pushing up my head with another cannon in its knee, only for me to pull it away just enough to miss. *Snap-KRAKOOOOOM* -Maybe Michael can call them off...-
The beam of light stretched into the sky like a beacon, leaving the atmosphere in a blink before stretching into space.
But while weighing my options, I noticed something... -Is this thing.. really aiming for me..?- *CREAK-SNAP* Ripping its leg off, blue coolant sprayed everywhere before revealing a dark, but still blue mythril frame. -The system should recognize me as an administrator now...- Yet that enforcer couldn't have even been level 1000. -It wouldn't send something so weak...-
But that was when a yellow panel populated before me...
*Beep* 'WARNING: Invasion by exploit detected on local world. Individual Race Category: Elven. Level Category: >1000. System Enforcers have been dispatched to find and gather additional details...'
-'Elven'..?- My eyes shot open instantly. -Their target isn't me, but the bastard that followed me from Leviathan!-
And now, instead of them continuing the search for him, they were going to set their sights on me. -Bastard...-
Looking up into the blue lights that glowed through the black goo coating the enforcer's skull, a crazed smile crossed my face. -Using me as a shield from the System's eyes, huh?-
Watching the sensors turn red, I tossed away its broken leg and punched through its side, crushed its core, and gored it.
*Beep* 'Potential target found - Level approximation: >3000. Location: Colloquial City: Arlington. Administrators are to move and assist.'
-Alright, I'll play along.-
'Dispatching additional units...'
-I'll make sure you think everything went according to plan!-
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