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Chapter 25 - Cross Road

Kyle

***

AAAAHHHHH

"AAAHHHHH WAIT STOP SCREAMING INSIDE MY HEAD!"

IF IT WOULDN'T BE FOR YOU, I WOULDN'T BE SCREAMING INSIDE YOUR HEAD!

"CAN'T HELP IT NOW WHAT IS THAT THING?"

I - we were in free fall, the body of Kira twisted and convulsed into something dark, slithery with no identifiable form. A giant smiling platform in the shape of something akin to a Nightmare was descending towards us. 

All around us, debris of the destroyed Oldenbourght was falling, crashing into the nothingness, sometimes exploding despite the lack of any ground. I twisted and turned my body mid-fall. The sky was an amalgamation of black, red, and purple, with clouds of dust hanging all around. 

IT'S IN CONTROL NOW YOU HAVE TO DESTROY IT

"HOW, WHY! WASN'T THIS A SIMULATION!"

I'M A MELDIER DAMN IT, AND WHATEVER YOU CAUSED USURPED AUTHORITY OVER THE REALM I CREATE, I WON'T SUFFER TO HAVE THAT THING LURKING IN MY MIND SCAPE.

I reached my hand out. The Plasma Shotgun, or whatever it was supposed to resemble, kept falling at the same speed as us. "You're going to help me?" 

As much as I can. 

I felt the gentle embrace of two arms slinging themselves around my neck. 

Ibuki

***

"Commissar, we have to stop it now! Whatever you tried to achieve is beyond anything the ethics committee would permit!" 

"She would have stopped herself if she were able to." Enclosed on his metallic mask, he fixed his eyes on the two Meldiers submerged in the tank, the embrace they were once locked in was broken when both of them fell unconscious and began to float towards the top next to Kyle.

"This is your foster son, try to act like a Father for once dammit!" The Techguards weapons all rose up to eye level. "Don't you know the consequences could be of whatever this is heading to? Neither the Technocrats know what's going to happen if anything goes awry."

"Monitors and equipment buzzed with a symphony of abused and overburdened machinery. Engineers were hurrying across the room trying to get and hold the situation. I looked at the monitor and saw the destroyed cityscape. Kyle was running and shooting that accursed plasma shotgun rifle, which could only exist in a video game.

Towering above it all was that nightmare creature, which was in charge now. Kyle was, in all likelihood, still able to talk to the Meldier even if she slipped out of consensus; occasionally, we hear him exchange words with her. 

"My boy is strong, even if I don't say it, he knows Papa is proud of him." 

Sina

***

"You can't possibly be serious!" I said, trying to catch my breath while keeping up with Jay. "You heard Sabine! We're supposed to stay out of this!" 

"If even she is saying that I should not stick my head in, things are really wrong here." He said, dragging their supposed "Pet Genius" by her hair. She didn't resist or move with him. She is letting the heels of her shoes get dragged over the floor surface. 

"EVEN IF!" I said, shouting through the empty halls of this ginormous facility. "What are the consequences if we really go through with this?" 

"Even if that's the case, at worst, she's going to give us a walk-in. And it is quite telling what is getting conducted here. I don't think I'm far off saying that she would rather die than contact me directly. And the same goes for being protective about the Technocrats. Especially after what they pulled off today. There are many people who's interested is fancied by what is happening here. Especially the Sector Capital or Ethic Committee." 

My heart almost shot through my chest. "Wait, is the Ethics Committee real?"

"It isn't, and I'm going to shoot anyone who isn't a conspiracy theorist and talking about it." 

"Understood, Commissar…" In long strides, Jay closed in towards a blast door where a multitude of Techguards were standing at attention.

"OUT OF YOUR WAY! I KNOW WHAT YOUR MASTERS ARE DOING IN THERE!" He shouted way louder than I could anticipate, "I DIDN'T STUTTER, DIDN'T I? WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW WILL AFFECT THE TECHNOCRATS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SECTOR. OPEN. IT. UP. NOW!" 

The Techguards complied and stood aside; the Spacious Chamber was filled with Technocrats. Rushing all around. Ibuki, Lynn, Cloe. All of them were there, even Kyle's father! Jay threw that Woman into the middle of the room. I followed after him, drinking in the vastness of that room.

The walls were covered with Monitors, instruments. Each howling in a pained symphony. I looked over to a tank where Kyle, Kitten, and some other girl were floating. I looked at a monitor that was connected via wires to the tank and saw the destroyed cityscape. Kyle's voice rang through multiple times in something incoherent. Bolts of light came out of his weapons.

"What's happening here!" I asked. It was hot, it was so damn hot. The acclamation and ventilation couldn't keep up with the strain the machines were taxed with. 

"Clyde, whatever you're doing here, stop it now!" 

The world stopped. 

All of your life purposes brought you here. 

"Shut up, you're not real." I tried to say, but my mouth didn't move. 

Don't concern yourself about this now, everything for him will change, and for us. We'll be greater than ever before. 

Kyle

***

"I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it!" 

BELIVE

"YOU HAVE IT EASY! I'M THE ONE WHO HAS TO FIGHT IT!" 

I'M NO FIGHTER, the air exploded with a displaced sound. "But I can try." 

Ibuki

***

"You heard him, Commissar! Shut it down, we don't know what will happen if Kyle loses!"

Looking at the monitor, things were escalating more and more. The Giant Nightmare was growing smaller and smaller. Yes. But Hordes of Nightmares in all sizes, shapes, and forms were hunting Kyle, the Meldier manifested once more, but she wasn't fighting. She was moving gracefully through the street,s grabbing the nightmare's attention,n but it's hard to say how much further Kyle can push himself.

"We can't lose any of them. It's hard to say what kind of trauma we would inflict upon." Commissar Clyde said. 

"This shouldn't have happened in the first place. Who's responsible for this?" Jay shouted. 

"I am," Jasmine said, rising to her feet. My weapon and Jay's were trained on her the moment she said a word. 

"My boy trusted you…" 

"I didn't force him to do anything he wasn't ready to give himself." 

"You're not worth the German name they honored you with." 

Her smile widened. "Oh, but I like Jasmine Kuehne." 

Kyle

***

"Watch out!" I seized the Meldier and shoved her behind me. The nightmare swung around its claw-like arm towards my face. I evaded it and swung the stock of my weapon through it. They dissolved so much more easily here than in reality. Probably because of a lack of Ichor in the air? 

"How can my kin keep up all of this grueling combat!" She shouted, robbed of her breath. 

"You can't fight!" At least try and keep pulling them away!" Hack, slash, shove, pull. It was beyond exhausting to fight against all of those nightmares. 

"Watch out!" I ducked beneath another nightmare strike. My eyes hunted for whatever she warned me about. That giant hand came down on us. Swatting us like a fly into the ground. It broke beneath us. Again we were descending into another realm of none reality. 

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