2022-12-26 12:25:43“What… Did you do?”
The Deathless stare at the bloody sight contained in the train cars. The mixture of blood and corpses stain the ground in some kind of macabre portrait. The abject terror they felt moments before they died remains frozen on their faces. It’s an expression that the Deathless share. Even through their masks, Kuroko can tell that they haven’t seen carnage like this before.
“I killed them.”
“These… aren’t Monarchs.”
One of the Deathless stumbles over to her motorbike, where a radio transceiver waits for her.
“Strike Team Alpha, this is Gleam speaking, has the Monarchian transport been intercepted?”
“Lady Gleam, this is Alpha one. The Monarchian transport has been intercepted and its payload exterminated by Shindou Kuroko. However, the Monarchian transport was carrying Lady Tsumugi’s standing army. I repeat, the Monarchian transport was carrying Lady Tsumugi’s standing army.”
“What?! Are there any survivors?”
“Only two of approximately fifty survived. Commanding officer Asuka and Kikimi of the Bridal Elites.”“DAMMIT!”
The sound of something breaking very very violently. Alpha one can’t help but wince under her mask.
“And Lady Tsumugi herself?!”
“Missing, Lady Gleam.”“She will be held responsible for her actions later! For now, attend to the survivors immediately!”
“Your will is so, Lady Gleam.”
Alpha one shakes off her own fear as she steps back into the train, the site of the massacre. She does her best to ignore the corpses and makes a beeline straight for the cockpit. Kuroko steps aside. She can’t even look that monster in the eye. Her suit’s bloodstained and it’s missing its left sleeve but other than that, she looks relatively unhurt. The healing enhancements of the outside world truly are things to marvel at.
“Our orders?”
“Not now.”There are guns trained on Asuka, as though she might go berserk at any minute. She can tell by the look in her eye that she’s been through this song and dance hundreds of times before. It’s not that she’s in shock, she genuinely just isn’t bothered anymore. She was this way even when she was Theta One, a Deathless like her.
“Asuka Katame. You are under arrest for trespassing on Takakumo soil. I’m now going to read you your rights. You have the right to remain silent and make no statement at all. Any statement you do make can and will be used against you in judicial proceedings.”
Asuka has a blank expression on her face.
“Take her away.”
She slaps a pair of handcuffs on Asuka’s petite hands and Alpha two takes her away. Alpha one pushes open the door to the cockpit to see a girl about the same age as her, dressed in commando gear. Her eyes seem sunken, and her face pallid from shock. She’s seen the expression many times before.
“My name is Alpha One but you can call me Akane and I’m going to be your corpsman today. Can you tell me your name?”
“...”“Can you tell me your name?”
“K– Ki–...”She struggles to get the words out of her throat but she nods her head as though she was talking. Her voice sounds like she’s on the verge of tears.“It’s Kikimi. That’s my name.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.”“You don’t look okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“Are you in any pain?”“N… No.”
“You’re covered in blood. Is any of it yours?”
“It’s not– not mine.”“Okay now I want you to look at me, okay?”
“Okay– Okay, okay.”“Don’t look behind me, there’s nothing there.”She closes the door behind them with her leg.
“Focus on my eyes okay?”
“Alright.”
Her face contorts as she desperately tries to hold back tears.“I want you to repeat after me and I want you to breathe, do you understand me?”
“O– okay, yeah. Yeah, okay.”Her chest heaves up and down, up and down, up and down.
“You’re safe now, okay?”
“I’m… I’m safe now?”“You’re safe now.”“What about the others? You… you have to help them. Did anyone else make it?”“You’re safe now.”———————————————————————————————————————This is a disaster. Those words echo over and over in Gleam’s mind. It stings all the more knowing that it was her fault for letting this massacre happen in the first place. But more than guilt, there’s the despair in knowing that there’s no going back. From here on out, she is Gleam, the one who ordered the deaths of forty-nine people.
No, there’s no time to think about that right now. Her most pressing concern is where Tsumugi is at the moment. She bites her lip. Think, c’mon, think. In order to answer that question, she first has to answer the question of what was the point of the attack in the first place. If the point was to sneak in unhampered, they made a mistake in flashing their headlights at the Deathless at the entrance. Matter of fact, it’s almost like they were trying to grab her attention.
Then, it hits her. The truth. She rushes over to the radio.
“Strike Teams Beta to Zeta, this is Lady Gleam, assume search protocols immediately. The existence of a second Monarchian Transport is suspected. Alpha Strike Team, remain on standby.”
———————————————————————————————————————
“Time to see if these things can travel ninety degree angles.”
“You ready?”“I’m ready.”
“Alright.”“BRACE!!!”
Haru and Tsumugi yell at the car behind them where someone hears them and passes the message along. She gives them a minute. Then, once she’s sure that everyone’s strapped down nice and tight to their seats, she pushes the lever all the way forwards. The train lurches to life and the solid wall of concrete protecting Takakumo’s borders zooms forwards at them. For a moment, it seems like they’re not going to make it. Haru closes her eyes. Her stomach turns as gravity is flipped on its side. That’s a good sign, it means they’re at least going up. This next part is the hard part. Her insides rise all the way into her chest as the train climbs over the wall and starts traveling straight down. She resists the urge to scream and look really uncool in front of Tsumugi. Thankfully, it all only lasts for a few seconds before they return to the ground. A little worse for wear, but otherwise unharmed.
“Did we make it?”
“I think we made it.”Haru pumps her arms into the air.“YES!”
“We’re not out of the woods just yet. Thirty minutes to Takakumo.”
Tsumugi checks her pocket watch. This is the fourth time in the past five minutes. Haru can’t blame her though. Shenotices the subtle frown lines on her forehead.
“Are you worried about Kikimi and the others?”
“Yeah… I know they should be okay. Gleam would never kill her own, but I don’t know, I guess I’m still just really worried.”
“It’ll be alright. I’m sure they knew what they were doing when they volunteered to be on the decoy train.”Haru gives Tsumugi a reassuring pat on the back. Or at least, it was meant to be reassuring, she accidentally just kinda smacked her really hard. More time passes in the cockpit in silence.
“Are you scared?”
Tsumugi breaks the silence. Gently, softly, like tearing through a pillow.“Not particularly. You?”
“A little bit.”
She leans on the wall, using her staff to support her. Haru does the same, using KANNIBAL for support in place of the staff. She closes her eyelids to rest her eyes. One moment, there’s twenty minutes left on the clock then the next moment, there’s only ten minutes. In the distance, Haru’s ears, keen from years of scrutinizing her music, pick up the distant whir of an engine. Though, it’s strange. She only hears one.“Wait here.”
“Where are you going?”“Wait here. I have a bad feeling about this.”
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Corpse March Chapter 34
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Corpse March Chapter 37 River Delta
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Corpse March Chapter 39 Blacker Lettuce
Gonbee bursts into the room, out of breath. He has a desperate expression on his face. “You need to go. Now.” “What? What happened?” Seiko gets the impression that now’s a good time to start putting her clothes back on. “You tell me! Why the hell is Barrakuda after you?” “Shit.” Seiko jumps out of the bed and haphazardly throws her clothes back onto her body. “We have to get out of here. Now.” “What did you do?” “I– I, uh…”“Seiko?” It’s clear by the look on his face that there’s no more wriggling away from this question. “It’s complicated. It’s not something I did… more just where I come from.”“What do you mean?”“Listen, Gonbee.” Seiko places her hands on both of his shoulders and sighs. “I come from the Neo Magical Academy. More likely than not, they’re after me because of that.”“You… what? “I know this is a lot to take in but you don’t have to. Right now, all you have to think about is this.” She places her hand on his cheek and caresses it. His skin is smoother than silk
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“Long time no see, Tot.” “It’s literally been a single day.” Kazuko walks along the pristine battlefield and comes to a stop exactly ten paces away from where Haru’s standing. “What do you want?” Haru adjusts her stance, placing herself between Kazuko and the unconscious Tsumugi. “I’ve come to talk.”“That’s it?” “Yep. I realized that after all this time, we never got a chance to properly talk to each other.” “I suppose you’re right.” “I must thank you, Tot.” Kazuko plants her rapier on the ground. “I think you’ve helped me to realize something about myself.” “And what is that?” “That you and I are the same. We’re two sides of the same coin, you and I. We can claim to be soldiers or heroes or avenging angels all we want, but in the end, we both kill.” “You’ve come all this way just to tell me that?” “Not quite. I’ve decided that I won’t tolerate any more excuses. From you or from myself. Regardless of whether we chose our lives or our lives chose us, we’re both killers. Jud
Chapter 68 Stellar Stellar
A gargantuan scythe blade the size of a mountain manifests from the tip of Tsumugi’s staff while Gleam blazes pure white, light magic seeping out of her very being. With a ponderous sweep of her arm, Tsumugi brings the scythe down, its tip aimed right for the crowd. The Deathless start to disperse but there’s not enough time. Someone trips. She closes her eyes to brace for impact but the impact never comes. Instead, there’s a brutal grinding sound. Opening her eyes, instead of seeing the tip of the scythe bearing down on her, she sees Gleam’s back as she clashes against Tsumugi’s scythe. “RUN!” The girl scrambles to her feet and runs away. Now all Gleam has to worry about is the mountain of cursed energy bearing down on her. “GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!” Gleam lets out an unearthly cry as she wills herself to go faster, to break through Tsumugi’s attack, to turn the tides of this battle. “STELLAR!” The speed of light isn’t fast enough to move the scythe more than a few inches.
Chapter 67 Motteke! Sailor Fuku!
They come bursting out from the trees. Large metal transports with segmented armor that makes them resemble pillbugs. A far cry from the train-like things the Monarchs used all those years ago. They speed across the landscape, skimming across the flora of these lands. One transport in particular rushes ahead of the others, setting an example that the other transports follow. Atop its roof, stands a green-haired girl shredding her guitar. Heavy rock music, amplified by her sound sorcery, blasts outwards. It’s so loud that the ground almost seems to vibrate as they approach. But they find nothing. No patrols. No Deathless anywhere. It reeks of a trap. Tsumugi sticks her head out of the transport she’s in to yell at Haru.“Stick to the plan!” Haru nods and swaps tracks to the one corresponding to the signal for ‘Stick to the Plan’. The transition is nearly seamless. One by one, the transports climb the walls protecting Takakumo like it’s nothing. In the distance, they see it, Takakumo
Chapter 66 Aloha
“It seems we’re not welcome here anymore. You’ve been exiled.” Haru relays Gleam’s speech to Tsumugi. “What do we do?” Florence asks. “Nothing has changed. Let’s keep moving.” Haru waves her hand out the car window at the other Elites to follow close behind. They comply, mostly out of fear. They know that their duty is to Lady Kentomi first, Takakumo second, and Haru third, but the thought of going against Haru is just too much. The streets are empty, nearly everyone’s attending Gleam’s speech. What few people are left behind smile and wave at them as they pass, blissfully unaware of what Tsumugi’s become. They know not what she knows. “Where are we going exactly?” “To the forest on the edge of Takakumo’s borders. I’ve arranged for a meeting there.” Ah, to where it all began. The memories of a month or two ago come flooding back to Haru. It felt like a lifetime ago they were on that train and came crashing into Takakumo, completely unwelcome. “This is nostalgic.” Haru rests he
Chapter 65 Alter Ego Messiah
Letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make paragraphs, paragraphs fill pages, and pages fill up the tome. Number 3344 works dutifully, slowly but surely working through the book she’s been tasked to fill up. That is the purpose of the Papilio after all, to lend their minds as processors to the great Monarchian supercomputer complex, Nivosus. It is a purpose shared by the uncountable Papilio filling up this facility. They do not know better. None of them do. So they toil away, their minds working to the bone in the computational visual matrix.Every paragraph, every sentence, every letter is another crumb of data in the great compendium that the Monarchs seek to fill with all knowledge in existence. Years pass in the blink of an eye for the Papilio. Seasons pass them by without being noticed. They all keep their eyes downwards, scribing everything being fed to them. Number 3344 is no different. Just another drop in the ocean. Just another body being kept in a tube. Then
Chapter 64 Preparations
As soon as the door closes behind her, Tsumugi immediately breaks down into tears as everything she’s done and everything that happened to her comes crashing down in a terrible wave. She starts to run, as though she might be able to outrun her guilt. “What have I done?!”She keeps running. Further and further away from Gleam. Further and further away from the best friend that she threw away. Further and further away from any chance of going back. More than once, she considers turning around and apologizing, telling Gleam that she was foolish, begging for her forgiveness. But no matter how much she wants to, she knows she can’t. Tsuki believed in Tsumugi to be able to turn her own dream into a reality. This is the only way. Her dream was always incompatible with Gleam’s. From the very beginning, she knew that. It’s only natural that they would both eventually come into conflict with one another. But even then, her heart aches so much she fears it might shrivel up and die. She slowly
Chapter 63 Preparations
As soon as the door closes behind her, Tsumugi immediately breaks down into tears as everything she’s done and everything that happened to her comes crashing down in a terrible wave. She starts to run, as though she might be able to outrun her guilt. “What have I done?!”She keeps running. Further and further away from Gleam. Further and further away from the best friend that she threw away. Further and further away from any chance of going back. More than once, she considers turning around and apologizing, telling Gleam that she was foolish, begging for her forgiveness. But no matter how much she wants to, she knows she can’t. Tsuki believed in Tsumugi to be able to turn her own dream into a reality. This is the only way. Her dream was always incompatible with Gleam’s. From the very beginning, she knew that. It’s only natural that they would both eventually come into conflict with one another. But even then, her heart aches so much she fears it might shrivel up and die. She slowly
Chapter 62 Bad to Worse
“Kikimi faltered.” Kazuko takes a deep breath just to check if her lung is still punctured. Surprisingly enough, it seems that the damage Tsuki dealt her just a few hours ago has already healed. Usually, it takes a few more hours.“That’s fine. She’s more useful to us dead.” Florence stares out the window at the full moon hanging in the sky. “Now that she’s out of the picture, Gleam’s a legitimate threat to both Tsumugi and Tomoe. But now that they’ve already severed their alliance, it’s going to be that much more difficult to stop her.” “Yeah, whatever. I don’t care about any of that stuff.” Kazuko slowly lifts herself off the chair she was sitting in. “You’re on your own from now on.” “Wait, hold on, what happened to owing me your life?” “A life for a life. My debt has been paid in full.” Florence saved her, and she killed Kikimi. Fair’s fair.“How do I know you won’t just rat me out?” “You don’t. But you don’t have any other choice.” Florence looks on as Kazuko slings her cape
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