The roar echoed throughout the hall, the ground shaking as it rang. The whole platoon in the hall stared at it, horrified. The creature licked its lips; the sounds of slurping sent shivers throughout my body. The creature placed one foot in front of it, lowered itself slightly, and then charged towards the tent.
Bodies were flattened into red paste under its giant, clawed feet. Others were slapped, sending them flying into the walls and across the room as they impeded the creature's advance. But as it made one more step towards the tent.
Bang!
As the sound of a deafening gunshot echoed across the hall, the creature launched forward, slamming face-first onto the floor. I turned to the origin of the gunshot to see where it came from.
Aiko was crouched down on one knee, cocking the rifle in her hand. She noticed my gaze was placed on her and gave me a wink.
Without a second thought, we took advantage of the free moment we had to reorganise ourselves, boots clamped on the floor, a barrage of thudding reverberated throughout the hall, and so did the buzzing of drones as they swarmed the monster.
"Reaper, get up to that balcony, Echo, helo her up with your drones!"
Reaper, Echo? Makoto thought as Himiko shouted orders to her team. They followed without a second thought. Two drones buzzed towards Aiko, and as they reached her, she grabbed the handles underneath, lifting up towards the barricade. She leaped off and set her rifle on the banister rails.
The creature grunted as it struggled up to its knees. It tried to stand up, but it crashed back down to its knees; its ankle had been shattered by the round fired by Aiko. It cried out in a furious roar Its purple eyes darting from person to person surrounding it.
Drones began to open fire, carving small holes into its flesh. The creature swung at the swarm, and shards of scrap metal flew across the air as the swarm dissipated. A standoff ensued; no soul nor drone closed them, and the giant rat, however, had other plans. On its knees, it began to shuffle towards the tent. Maybe the shard was going to heal it or grant it more power. We have to stop it. If it gets too powerful, what will happen to the civilians around us? Bullets alone weren't working, so we needed another solution. I looked at the katana, sheathed at my hip—I had an idea.
I ran up to Kaoru, who had a large screen in his hands. It was a device to operate the drones. I told him my plan. He looked at me with a shocked expression.
"Are you sure? That's way too dangerous."
"If we trust each other's capabilities and follow the plan, I'll be fine."
I started running towards the rat, hoping that Kaoru would follow the plan. A swarm of drones hovered in front of its face, flickering numerous lights into its eyes. I grinned, thanks, Kaoru. The creature began to flail, and the drones flew around the top of its head, keeping its arms up high. I continued to run towards it.
"Reaper, keep your sights on its arms—keep me covered."
"Copy that, Blossom."
I approached the front of the rat, sliding between its legs. I climbed up the creature's back. The creature's muscular arm flew towards me.
Bang!
The arm flopped back down. It was Aiko who saved my life. I made my way up to the back of the nape of the creature's neck. I tried to maintain my balance, waving as the rat's body flailed, keeping a hand on a clump of the creature's rough-textured fur. Once the flailing stopped for a moment, I raised myself up, with my sword in my hands, raised above my head. With everything I had, I plunged the sword into its nape, hoping to separate the brain's connection from the rest of its body. The creature screamed in pain; its deep roar replaced by a high-pitched squeal of agony, the flailing became intense. The creature's other arm flew towards me, the crash of a gunshot rang, followed by the tearing of flesh and sinew, but it wasn't fast enough; only slowing the arm's approach as I was flicked off its neck.
Damnit, we were so close.
The creature fell to the floor and began to drag itself along the floor, with what little control it had over its body, wincing with every minute flex. Kaoru's drones began to open fire, but the bullets didn't lodge deep enough—the beast continued its advance. My sword was still lodged in the beast's nape. I can't stop now.
"Echo, hold your fire!"
The drones stopped and began to barrage the beast with flashes again. The beast didn't even try; it knew where it needed to go, and it was practically meters away.
"Get out of the tent! Get out of the tent!"
Mrs Isamu rushed towards the tent, tearing into it, ordering them all to get to a safe distance. The science team rushed out of the tent, fearing for their lives. I needed to hurry.
I climbed on the creature's back, carefully placing one foot in front of the other lest I fall, wading through the jungle of fur. I approached the sword, wrapping both hands firmly around its hilt. I plunged the blade deeper and deeper, hearing the grinding of bone under its flesh. The screams of the beast cried out. It stretched its arm out in front of it, and the agents around opened fire on its arm, doing nothing to stop its advance. The arm slammed down, flattening the tent, and it then closed its hand. As the arm raised, I saw the glow of the crystal through the cracks of its clenched fist. It brought its hand towards its mouth, opening its jaws wide. I didn't want to find out what was going to happen when the beast ate it. I pushed deeper and deeper, twisting the blade with gritted teeth. The screams were deafening until. Nothing.
The screams stopped, and the loud crash of the hand flopping down, followed by the delicate skittering of the crystal as it rolled out from under its hand, brought a large wave of relief. I pulled out the katana, dripping in blood and spinal fluid.
The deafening cheers from the agents around me just made me think that the mission was complete.
"Himiko, behind you!"
It was Aiko. I heard fast rustling speeding behind me, getting louder and louder. I turned around, a metal blade arced towards me, and I swung to parry it. My blade bounced off, sending me with it.
I flew across the air and rolled across the floor.
I looked back. The creature looked like a bio-engineered horror that looked like an unholy fusion between a crustaceon and a nightmare made flesh. It stood, hunched over on two, segmented legs that looked like crab legs evolved to suit the needs of a bipedal rather than its previous needs. Its head-torso was an amalgamation of perfect chaos. It was a large triangular shape, a human-like torso, with slits streaking across, for mobility, with the large disc-like head of a crab, welded on top. On eitherside, there were arms, segmented into two. On the second segment of each arm, there were crab pincers that were merged together and moulded into the shape of a double-edged, curving blade. Its whole body, aside from the joints for movement, was covered in a thick carapace dyed in the orange of your average crab, but with a faint purple hue. It was standing on the head of the rat's carcass, analysing my next move.
Is there truly a god in this world? If so, how could they let things like this exist under their watch?
"Himiko!"
Kaoru came running towards me in the distance, leaving Nozomi, who was healing the injured near the stage.
But Kaoru's sprint was cut short.
Large bats smashed through the walls of the hall, followed by a swarm of smaller bats. Within moments, we were overrun, and the hall became hell in physical form.
I lifted myself to my knees but stopped when I felt something warm and rubbery in feel. I looked down at my hand. Beside it was an object. It was colourless but tinted in a purple glow. It was built in a solid, firm shape and yet soft to the touch, like pressing your finger into someone's thigh. On the outside, it looked like a crystal. It was the aethesium shard. I grabbed it and stuffed it into my pocket; the giant rat wanted to consume it on the verge of death, even as there were threats surrounding it. So, I can't let these things use whatever power this crystal brings them.
I grabbed my katana with my other hand, using it as support as I raised myself back up. I swiped my left foot back, stepping my right forward to establish a firm base. I placed both hands on the sword, one by the guard, and the other at the pommel. I held it out, aiming the blade at the creature, locking my eyes with its own.
The creature accepted the challenge and leaped towards me. I dodged back as it crashed down on the ground. Its attacks were chaotic and lacked the nuance and fluidity of one who is trained with a blade—it was erratic, like a child swinging a toy sword. I met each blow with my blade, my feet sliding on the glossy hardwood floor as I adjusted my centre of gravity.
Bullets flew throughout the sky. Kaoru, trusting in Himiko's ability, ran back to Nozomi, Makoto and the wounded. Kaoru ran through a maze of bodies, some upright, opening fire at the swarm of bats flying through the air, some limp on the floor and others lifting up in the sky as they were lifted by the airborne creatures. At the balcony, Aiko was still posting up, shooting bats out of the sky. The drones were being overrun—MEI had lost their air dominance very quickly after the battle started.
"Mrs Isamu, what's our next move?"
She stood over the bodies, overseeing the chaos that ensued. She looked to Kaoru in confusion.
"Where's Himiko?"
Kaoru pointed to the rat corpse in the distance; yellow sparks flew like fireworks as their blades clashed.
"She's fighting one of the mutants; it came out of nowhere and attacked her before the rest showed up."
She seemed concerned for the wellbeing of her apprentice, but closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Himiko will be fine. What's the status of your drones?"
"It's not good."
Kaoru showed her the tablet he was using to issue orders to the drones. There were groupings which were used to give orders to swarms of drones. In each grouping were specific drones that were allocated to each swarm. They were supposed to be in white, which meant that they were in working condition; however, most of them were red.
"They're being overrun, shortly they'll all be wiped out, right now they're only serving as a diversion—keeping them occupied from our ground forces."
She crossed her arms, placing one hand on her chin, acting as a catalyst for her thinking process. It didn't take long before she looked me in the eyes.
"I'll make a call for armour piercing rounds, our current ammunition does nothing against these things' flesh. We did have snipers stationed at the windows, but most of them have probably been eliminated. I'll call whoever's left. For now, we just need to wait; they're mostly occupied with the drones, so that should buy time until the ammunition arrives."
But they didn't have the luxury of time for much longer.
Bang!
Click-click
Bang!
Click-click
Aiko's sharp shooting, even after taking down quite a few monsters, was not creating much of a dent in the enemy's air capabilities. She periodically looked down at Himiko, who was still going toe-to-toe with the crab homunculus. She seemed to be gauging its moves; her eyes were sharp as they scanned every small movement the crab made.
"Mrs Isamu did say she was good with a sword, but damn. Just how much did her dad teach her? Is he some sword saint or something?"
"These things won't stop. My ammo will run out soon—if this is a battle of attrition, I'm gonna lose."
The sound of thudding sounded out, muffled, in the distance. They were getting louder. The room began to rumble violently as they sped up.
"What's that sound?"
There was a specific sound of thudding heard from below her. Her balance was being tested as she felt as though something was directly under the ground she stood on.
CRASH!
Giant rats, similar to the one that was killed earlier, began to come through the holes breached earlier. There were about half a dozen of them—new foes now entering the battlefield. The ground under Aiko's feet began to give way as the balcony came crashing down. Without thinking, she climbed on the railing and leaped off into the hall. Something soft and furry seemed to break her fall as she rolled down, sliding across the floor. She grabbed her head, dazed and confused at what caused the balcony to collapse. She looked back towards the balcony. There was a great big hole carved into the wall below where the balcony once was, and stepping through the hole were three giant rats, covered in chunks of wood and drywall.
"What the hell, it took a combined effort just to take one down."
Now they swarmed the room.
Aiko's voice was shaky, and her face was distorted with fear. Her legs had gone numb, and she could do nothing but stare at the three giant monstrosities analysing her, their mouths watering with hunger. Aiko's breaths became thin as they sped up.
One of the rats stepped forward, its shadow swallowing her whole.