Bloodstained Rose

Chapter 19

Rei dashed her way from the outskirts and towards the forest, clear from the firefight happening back in town. She had finally come to a stop to catch her breath and piece together the events. Minoru and Tetsu had both been separated from her and possibly in captivity. Once again, she found herself standing alone, filled with doubt for the mission ahead.

My first battle alone and I ran, she though to herself.

While in her thoughts, she started to sense the onboard AI from her battle robe feeding her commands. First, she started to feel a sense that danger was approaching, followed by a sudden urge to look north. After turning towards the northern front of the village, she had a terrible feeling in her stomach. The onboard AI started to reach out to her again, clashing with the presence from the Deep.

Her eyes lit up. Soon, the faint sound of engines started to bleed through the silence. Deep down she could sense that something terrible was approaching the area. She did not want Nojiri to be a repeat of her home. If she could not get Liberation on her side, she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. Her senses began to react to the constant commands once more. She turned towards the woods and chose not to fight with it anymore. A sensation from within started to cause her flesh to tingle. The robe suddenly began to phase to blue; her hair soon followed.

A faint humming sound had accompanied the transformation while her senses began to peak. Each of her limbs felt completely nimble, unhindered by the weight of gravity. An aura started to surround her body, causing the light to distort as if it were passing through diamonds. Finally, her sense had heightened, causing the forest around her to appear as if it were moving in slow motion. Without wasting any more time, she turned back north, dashing further into the trees.

The site at the Mobile Carrier was starting to become chaotic. The communications were down, the radar had just gone dead—there had been no chance to contact the others in Nojiri. Brian poked his head out of the Mobile Carrier only to be greeted to the sound of engine whirring in the distance. His heart sank deeper into his chest while the radio tucked in his ear canal went silent.

“We’re about to get raided hard,” Brian shouted back to the crew. He waved his hand towards the outside before screaming, “Move!”

Mezrich curled up into his laptop while the men rushed past him. As the stomping boots clanged against the metal interior, the sound of aircraft started to become more apparent. He turned to the field radio left on the ground. Still overwhelmed with dread, he felt a blink of optimism and dashed over it. As he pulled the receiver to his ear, he was greeted with the sound of static. No matter how hard he tried, nothing was able to get through.

Outside of the Carrier, Brian had gotten a glimpse at the coming aircraft. There was not a chance to take position, leaving the troops to quickly retaliate. Once the first gunship started to pass over, the troops took aim. Each of their rifles had let out an array of sounds from hisses to pops, releasing a volley of bullets and molten metal. Each of the projectiles had started to send the gunship off course, but failed to deal any significant damage.

“Spread out or we’re gonna get surrounded!” Brian shouted to them.

They scurried about, trying to get cover as the other vehicles approached from behind. Still anticipating another fly-by, Brian rushed back to the Mobile Carrier to lean into the doorway. He pointed his rifle up towards the tree line in anticipation. The leafless giants had swayed unnaturally—not a reaction from the wind, but something unworldly. An invisible force had pushed against them, causing the winter-stricken branches to snap under the pressure. The forest lit up with a symphony of cracking wood.

“What the hell is that?” One of the troops quickly blurted out.

Brian could slowly see the dark spherical body of Delta emerging from above the trees. His jaw had thrusted open at the sight while Delta continued to sail closer to the Mobile Carrier. The ground beneath him had started to shake as the forces of gravity continued to amplify. The tall grass in the meadow ahead began to fold back into the ground, unable to resist the pressure of the Gravitron Reactor.

Brian pointed his rifle directly into the center of Delta’s body, unhesitant to squeeze the trigger. The squad followed suit, sending a storm of metal towards the target. Delta continued forward, unfazed by the weaponry. Most of the attacks were either knocked off course by the Gravitron Reactor or deflected by the hull. The men had chosen not to relent. Each one had been oblivious to the terror that was about to befall them.

The hum from inside of Delta began to intensify as the area around Brian and his troops came into range. A sudden blast of G-Forces threw the men to the ground, pinning them in place. Brian could feel the pressure starting to ramp up all over his body. Within seconds, he had slipped out of consciousness—an abrupt end to the pain while his body began to flatten. One by one, the men had followed suit. Each of their bodies were crushed under the power of the Gravitron Reactor. The forest had turned from a once peaceful landscape into a ghastly canvas of blood and gore.

Mezrich seized up. The opposite end of the room had come into range of the weapon. Glass and other electronic equipment across the floor started to collapse in on themselves. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Control’s pink and blue figure had been squeezed flat along with the lights on the panel behind her. As the force started to move across the room, he instinctively grabbed hold of his laptop to pull it towards his chest.

An intense pain rushed up his legs, stopping just above his knees. A loud crack followed, causing him to scream as he tried to pull his legs free. It had felt as if the pulverized matter inside of his legs was pushing itself further into his body. The intensity of the attack and the trauma had overwhelmed him, causing his head to dip as he passed out. After a few more brutal seconds, gravity stabilized and released his now mangled legs from its hold. Control quickly buzzed back online, bringing Mezrich back to consciousness as she started to report.

“You are going into shock, please remain calm. Reinforcements have arrived!” Control said to him.

Mezrich was out of this fight and barely able to keep his focus under the pain. There was no way he could even go to the radio for help—not that it would have mattered at this point. They had been receiving interference for the last few minutes. Delta’s powers had been disrupting the radar and all radio traffic, disrupting every chance to send out a warning. He only hoped that somebody had heard their first and only hail.

As the dust settled outside, Yulia emerged from the top of Delta’s hatch. One the three other ships had gotten in the area, she leapt towards the ground. As she landed with a thud, Mezrich’s heart started to race again.

This is it, Mezrich thought after hearing the enemy approach.

He tried to think of something to do. Control would not have been able to assist and her registering the G.E.I. troops as friendlies complicated the situation further. He mustered his breath to try and think of something to stop Yulia’s advance.

“Control, close the hatch.” Mezrich groaned.

He felt a powerful cough leave his throat before tasting a glob of blood. The substance filled his mouth, choking him momentarily. Disheveled, he turned to his left and spat out the crimson-colored liquid onto the floor before beginning a rapid gasp for air.

“I’m sorry, I’m not authorized to do that. Entering emergency shut down.” Control said before flickering out of sight.

Mezrich wanted to scream back to her, but the little energy he had begun to escape him. Outside of the vehicle, Yulia had begun to trek across the blood covered grass. She marched over towards the side door of the Mobile Carrier with her staff drawn, ready to make a pass through the ship.

She spoke aloud, “Team, go ahead and move in. I’ll handle this.”

Her voice went through the Aether and into the communications of the other ships. Further away, one of the surviving troops from Brian’s team rolled over to face her. His right leg had been crushed by Delta’s attack, but his arms could still aim. There were several meters between him and Yulia, and with what little energy he had left, he took aim. The muzzle of the weapon exploded with a loud pop. Yulia had felt a jolt of kinetic force from the first volley of rounds smash into her back, giving her a small push. She calmly turned to face him, and then started walking forwards.

The fire continued, most shots striking the center of her bust. Her clothes had barely been tattered as the metal continued to bounce off her skin. She continued to draw closer, undaunted by the barrage. The soldier pulled back on the trigger rapidly, still struggling to keep the rifle centered as it erupted. Yulia finally got into arms distance, grabbing hold of the weapon by its barrel, and pulling it from his grip with ease. Before her prey could even vocalize, she swung the butt of the rifle towards the center of his face. There was a crack, a splatter, and then a gurgle as the soldier twitched on.

Yulia stared down to her fresh kill while millions of conflicting commands began to process in her head. Her body began to emit a type of radar signal—an aura that began to emerge and scan the area around her. A microsecond had passed. She confirmed the enemy had been pulverized, the Mobile Carrier was still in range, and one of the gunships was directly overhead. Another microsecond passed and she had realized the dropship had moved a few inches further with the accompanying vessel. Now, she could detect a lifeform inside of the Mobile Carrier—badly wounded at that. A third microsecond passed by, and she had detected something coming straight at her—something moving at speeds her body could barely react to.

She quickly raised the rifle, swinging it to her right to deflect the incoming attack. Rei had blasted through the trees, swinging the black metal blade with all her might. The weapon had been met with no resistance, easily slashing through the center of the rifle. Yulia snapped into action, separating herself from Rei as the rifle flew apart in her hands. The ships overhead continued towards town, leaving the two in a standoff.

Rei took a moment to take a breath and stare at the carnage that had taken place before her arrival. The bodies scattered flat across the forest floor had pierced through her. It had been no different than the many battles up to this point. She could feel the person that Hideo had trained her to be starting to take control while she stared at Yulia.

“I’ve been waiting for you.” Rei said firmly as she flicked the metal shavings of the gun from her blade. There was an ambient hum from the sword as she got into a defensive position.

“Come and get me.” Yulia snickered, shining her contorted cat-like smile.

Rei bolted forward, swiping in fury towards her opponent. Yulia had slithered out of the path of each strike, slowly waiting for an opening as Rei continued to force her back. They moved closer to the Mobile Carrier while Delta continued to hover overhead. He had tracked their movements, waiting for an opportunity to attack. Rei had paid no attention to it. She knew how dangerous Yulia was and could not afford to let her get the upper hand.

Her onboard AI had already shifted her into the black form, causing her robe and hair to become as black as night. In this mode, she could feel her combat instincts and reactions amplify. After training, she had started to grow accustomed to the transformation. It had been much less taxing than the blue form and was easy to sustain for a long period of time. Even with the boost, she found herself still barely managing to keep up with the machine. She came down for another slash, this time being caught as Yulia raised her staff to deflect. The edge had been wedged into Yulia’s weapon, letting out a blast of sparks on impact.

“You’ve gotten better.” Yulia said before forming her signature smile again.

Rei pulled back, freeing her sword from the staff before taking guard. The edge of the staff started to light up, causing a spike ball to appear from the Aether. She then pointed the weapon towards Rei and pressed her thumb into a switch on the side. The deadly object sprung forward, barely missing Rei’s face as she dodged right. It launched off towards a tree, smashing through and leaving a cloud of splinters in its wake. The giant body of wood crashed down to the earth, causing more commotion.

As the ball landed on the ground, Rei took notice of a large metal cable protruding from it, connecting it to the metal staff. Yulia then gave the weapon a flick of her wrist, causing the spike ball to sail back towards her. Using her split-second reactions, Rei leapt upwards towards the air. The attack had whiffed, causing a loud snap to fill the woods. By the time Yulia had retracted the spike ball, she had already noticed Rei had made her way further back towards the trees.

“Come and get me!” Rei shouted to her.

She swung her sword through the air once more, causing Yulia to laugh at the gesture. Not wanting to bite, Yulia looked up to Delta as he hovered overhead before pointing to Rei.

“Delta, get her.” Yulia ordered.

Rei could feel the gravity around her starting to intensify. Delta cranked the reactor to its limit in a desperate attempt to try and end the resistance. A large radius of the forest below buckled under its own weight. The trees around Rei had been snapped into multiple pieces while she felt her body starting to become pinned. In the fleeting moment, she took one quick sprint away from the monstrosity and towards safety. The further she ran, the more normal gravity seemed to feel.

Beneath Delta, the debris had been completely driven into the dirt, quickly shaping a massive crater in its place. After realizing that she had evaded the attack, Yulia dashed into the woods before giving a final command to Delta to go into town. They would be striking within a few minutes.