The Least Common Denominator

Interlude III: Arya

*Knock Knock!*

"Arya?"

In the middle of her bed, Arya laid as still as a corpse; blood pooling into her bedsheets as red stained her naked form. If one were to see such a sight, one might assume that she'd already gone from the world of the living.

*Knock Knock Knock!*

"Arya?!" the male voice from outside her room shouted as he repeatedly banged on the unyielding door. "Open this fucking door, you lazy bitch!"

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• The Least Common Denominator   VI.I Solve for X

  *CLANG!*The sounds of industry echoed through the blistering air as I hammered down on my new project. It had been at least a week since I had last spoken to Backus. After a few precious seconds of forethought, I realized that it was kind of in the realm of possibility that I can lead a somewhat decent resistance front. I had the know-how through some of the games I've played throughout the years. And if I applied what I knew of modern tactics in this fledgling rebellion of ours, I can actually see it working out in our favor."Sis," a voice shook me out of my musings as Olivia called for my attention. "Am I doing this right?"

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  The chilling realization of my responsibility hit me like a tidal wave crashing against the concrete ports of my hometown; washing over me in a way that almost led me to commit suicide before I even graduated. I have no plan... no idea on how to handle a possible bloody situation beyond applying basic triage... I'm a just fucking nerd with next to no experience in leading beyond maybe calling the shots in a MOBA that I used to play.AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"Sis?" Shit. Okay, okay... Calm down, me... Make yourself presentable.<

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  I was shaking.My ears rang as I steadied myself from where I stood. A loud bang... The sound of compressed air reverberating through my chest..."D-Did it..." I muttered as I felt something support me on my side. "'L-Livia?""The rifle, sis," she began, her steps small as she accommodated to mine. "Something came out of it."I shook my head as my ears slowly stopped ringing. With a heave, I stood on my own two feet, leaving my little sister's grasp in favor of looking around the area.

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  "Amazing..." Backus whispered as he eyed the runes etched onto the metal itself. "Squared angles to provide durability... and is that one of my open circles that I see?" the elder chuckled at his observations. "You certainly have a talent for picking up ideas, young Crimson.""It's not just me. Olivia etched the runes herself," I preened, while at the same time giving my little sister most of the credit. "I just gave her the rough draft. She actually made it work."Which was true. It was her adjustments that made the thing work. At best, I only gave her the idea to use those specific runes. Maybe she could've come up with a much better version if I didn't give any-

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  *CLANG!*And with a resounding clang, the third iteration of the rifle was complete. I watched in fascination as Backus's Essence slowly seeped into the rifle's runes; giving them the rudimentary power to activate and do their jobs."Time to test it, no?" the elder jovially asked, one hand hefting what now amounted to something like a sawed-off shotgun in size. "From what I've seen, it should lessen the energy required of us by a considerable margin."I simply nodded in response, too engrossed on what the old man was doing as he proceeded to aim his rifle down the range. Like an old light bulb, the rifle began gl

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  "I think you're going to have two groups of people leading the charge," Emerald started, a finger on her temple as she pieced together my non-existent strategy. "You surely have skill with a blade if you can kill the Bloodmoon, so you're going to lead the charge against the guards with the rest of us wielding these rifles at the back.""Hmm..." I nodded in false understanding as I ran her idea through my head.From a basic, military standpoint, it has some merit as a basic strategy. Seeing as I, and on some capacity, Olivia, were the only Denominators present that has proven combat experience, we'd have to be the ones to break the enemy formation.

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