Bloodstained Rose

Chapter 22

Judai had led Nomad and the others away from the now vacant town with his pulse rifle still in his hands. The sudden gunfight that had broken out on the northern face forced most of the townsfolk to flee south. Fighting had started to pick up near the north face with around half a dozen Liberation troops outnumbered by the G.E.I. reinforcements. While they were pinned down, Judai and the rest had been taken off guard by a massive explosion inside of the Nojuro Temple just moments prior.

The force of the blast had knocked the group to the ground, leaving a ringing in their ears. Dust and dirt began to powder down upon them while the houses around them had started to wobble from the shock. Tetsu tried to force himself back onto his feet before feeling Judai reach out to him. He gave Tetsu a quick tug, pulling him away from the opening and against a nearby house. Overhead, one of the gunships had passed over and caused another gust of wind to swoop past them.

“If you’re not going to fight, you and your guys need to go south and hope they don’t follow.” Judai shouted over the constant gunfire.

The cracking of the Nojuro Temple’s lumber structure caught Tetsu’s attention during the escape. He had been frozen in place as he watched the Temple collapse under its own weight. A cloud of smoke rose from the base and started to consume the area around it. Every memory he had of growing up in the Temple had been stained by the havoc inflicted. His heart had shattered into pieces while the fires inside the Temple continued to burn on.

“Hey kid,” Rowan called out to him. He quickly turned to her as tears started to bead in his eyes. “We’re going to stop this.”

Tetsu ran his hand across his eyes and quickly nodded his head in agreement. She reached towards him, giving him a quick nudge to try and raise his spirits. He shook his head back to her and clenched his teeth before hearing another volley of bullets from the gunship. It was still pinning down the other Liberation troops in the distance. Without an answer, the battle would turn into a decisive G.E.I. victory—something neither of the crew would accept.

“Is there any way you can get us to a weapon?” Nomad after after hugging the wall of the house to avoid detection.

“I have this,” Judai replied before reaching towards his belt to retrieve his side arm. It was a small stinger pistol. The magazine of the weapon had been filled with a couple dozen small dart-like projectiles that when fired would manage to pierce completely through a human target. He lifted it towards Nomad and continued, “It’s not really going to help against the aircraft. We need to find something to take them out.”

“Then let’s improvise,” Nomad chirped as he grabbed the pistol and tossed it over to Rowan. She snapped the weapon out of the air without hesitation and started to scan the nearby area. “Can you two keep me covered while I try to go around?”

“Easy enough.”

They could hear some of the Liberation troops nearby already engaged, so Nomad started to make a dash between the buildings to try and get closer. Rowan followed behind him with the pistol ready for the next engagement. Megumi shuddered as she watched them charge on, but she took a deep breath and continued on.

“Can you take him to the ship?” Judai asked Kismet after pointing to Tetsu. “I’m going with you,” Tetsu said before Kismet could reply. His eyes had become red with rage. “We’re going to win or die trying.”

“Tetsu, just hold on a bit more.” Rei muttered to herself.

It was unclear as to how many casualties there were in the town. The G.E.I. had already made several passes by now from what she could tell. She took the initiative and tried making her way over to the nearby aircraft to engage with them. She didn’t know if her sword had the power to pierce its hull, but she was not going to give in yet. At this point, she continuously heard commands from her battle robe trying to tell her to attack. The trees ahead flew by as she took off into a full sprint for the flank. When she started to near the dropship, Yulia had started to sight in on her from the trees above.

“Are you going to let me destroy this village too?” Yulia shouted before she towards her.

Rei took a sidestep to gain a little ground—she could not risk letting her get too close. A gust of wind from the exhaust of the dropship engulfed the two, causing dust to slowly envelop them. Yulia’s movements had only proved more difficult to track over the sound of engines and gunfire. The dirt rose, eventually blinding Rei.

“Keep your stance and don’t lose balance.” Rei whispered softly.

She could hear Hideo’s voice repeating the same line over and over in her head. With her sword held high, she tried to block out the ambience—she had to look deeper. The Deep had rumbled inside of her, clashing with the onboard AI of her battle-robe. Falling deeper into her trance, she could see the forest and debris around her starting to fade.

Behind you.

Rei swung the weapon around her back, striking the metal from Yulia’s staff before it could connect.

Keep your center.

She followed back with another swipe, this time feeling it clash against a bigger target. The blade had some resistance, but Rei only continued with the attack. Once she pulled her weapon back in, there was a grunt from through the cloud of dust around her. As the gloom began to disperse, Yulia had emerged once more. Across her face, a small gash lingered from where Rei’s sword had made contact. She looked on towards Rei, finally showing a hint of rage.

“You’ve gotten a lot better.” Yulia said.

There was a hiss as a spark of electricity ripped from the newly formed cut below her eye. Rei did not expect her attack to cause damage. She remembered watching her weapon bounce off Yulia during the battle that night. Finally, being able to put a scratch in the A.S.B. given her another boost of confidence.

“For someone who boasts about not having feeling or emotion,” Rei quickly spoke and pointed her blade forwards to her, “you look awfully scared.”

“You don’t know what fear is.” Yulia’s eyes instantly flashed with red, nearing blinding Rei.

There was another reaction. Within seconds, Yulia’s body started to glow with a fiery aura. There was a sudden blast of energy from inside of the machine, causing Yulia’s hair to sprawl outwards.

“Keep your stance and don’t lose balance,” Rei said again. She grasped her weapon with both hands and braced to continue the battle. Her robe and hair started to shift to blue on reaction. “Keep your center.”

Yulia had practically blinked towards Rei with her staff pulled back and ready to strike. Her movement had increased dramatically, but Rei quickly tried to get ahead of her and parry the attack. Once the black metal blade had struck Yulia, it had bounced off. The momentum from inside of the weapon travelled back towards Rei’s hands, alarming her to see Yulia’s power increase. She tried to think of other ways to finally take down this petite mechanical nightmare while staying on top of her massive speed. Yulia released one of her spike-balls from her weapon and swung the mallet over towards her. The object had still been evaded with exceptionally low difficulty, missing Rei completely and colliding against the ground.

Yulia jerked back on the staff and cable to try and go for another high-speed attack. The two battled at velocities so fast that the area around them only appeared to crumble in slow-motion. Rei could barely keep control of her own body as she accelerated around the attacks. This type of power was far beyond what she felt could achieve on her own—even the Rising she felt may not have been able to compete. They raged on, continually clashing with all their might as they drew closer to the dropship.

Blue and red flashed through the forest. The area erupted as dozens of high-speed strikes as Yulia’s flail finally exploded into craters, leveling several trees. The carnage had started to expand wildly at this point, forcing the dropship above to keep ascending. Before it could climb higher, Paxton had sped upon the scene in the UAZ and towards the devastated woods. He pulled over to cover, keeping out of sight of the dropship as he exited the vehicle to don the rocket launcher. There was only one chance—one shot to take this beast down. While he went in for the shot, Rei and Yulia dashed in nearby. Neither were able to keep up the battle at this pace for long. After another flurry of strikes, the two stopped in preparation for another standoff.

“I’m understanding why Vic wanted to take your village out,” Yulia finally spoke, lowering her stance. Her red aura simmered out, leaving steam to rise from her frame while her eyes phased back to their usual emerald-green color. “I think it was a very tactically sound decision.”

“You should have killed me when you had the chance.” Rei lifted her sword to the guard position once more as she spoke.

Yulia tried to go in for a quick speed blitz, hoping to get one quick shot in the face. Before the clash, a gunshot from Paxton’s revolver had echoed with a loud pop. The bullet struck Yulia’s chest, immediately forcing her back. Paxton pulled the trigger as fast as possible, ensuring that each shot hit the center mast of the machine. The barrage of lead had disoriented Yulia long enough for Rei to follow up with a successful swipe to the chest. Its black edge had pierced through, finally causing a small burst of smoke to rip from beneath her seifuku.

The attack knocked off her feet, sending her back a few feet and into the ground. Her vision had momentarily faded, causing static interference to disrupt her vision. Sparks started crackling and popped their way from her body, causing her to twitch. She was quick to get back to her feet before Rei could follow up again. Her processors had made the decision to retreat, forcing her to dash off towards the forest again. Rei lowered her weapon and finally took a deep breath to regain her stamina. Her hair started to shift back to its normal orange, causing her to gasp for air. She could feel a sense of joy as she had finally bested her opponent. The machine was still out in the woods, and she could only hope she could endure the next clash.

“Hey, get out of the way!” Paxton shouted over to her.

He holstered his pistol and then pulled the leather straps on the rocket launcher to lift it to his shoulder. As the onboard targeting system sighted on to the dropship, he dropped into a kneeling position. The back of the rocket launcher erupted into a stream of fire, filling the woods with a loud screech. In the blink of an eye, the rocket finally smashed into the bottom of the dropship.

Its collision had ripped into the aircraft’s hull and engulfed the crew inside. There was no chance for its automated defenses to stop the impact at such a close range. A second explosion from the fuel line shot another ball of fire into the sky, finally causing the vehicle to sail back towards the ground. Rei braced herself as the ground ahead had been consumed one final blast.

“What’s your name, ma’am?” Paxton asked as the ringing in his ears started to fade.

“Rei.” She stood tall as she confidently shouted back.

Paxton in all his years by Mizumi’s side had never heard the name. He detected a sense of mystery about Rei that reminded her even more of his comrade. Her striking resemblance to Mizumi was compelling. He knew that she was going to have to survive this and return her to the Deck Hall. It was all a matter of getting out of this alive, which had begun to look ever more hopeful.

“Ok, Rei, listen up,” Paxton had been distracted before he could finish. Further into the trees, he could see Delta looming above the forest. Upon lowering his head to the ground, he had turned his attention to the terrain below the craft. One by one the plants and trees had started to flatten under the Gravitron Reactor’s might. His eyes lit up with shock before asking aloud, “Can you take that one out?”

“I don’t know what to do about that.” Rei said as she thought about her previous encounter.

Approach from anywhere below would put her in danger of being pressed by the Gravitron. She was not sure if the robe had any countermeasure for such a weapon. The best she could do so far was trying to draw Yulia away to prevent being ganged up on by the two.

“Rei, if you want to survive this, keep the little girl busy.” Paxton spoke as he walked over and took a seat in the UAZ.

“What’s your plan?”

“Just keep her busy while I get another gun.” He said before speeding off towards the town.

Rei was left to deal with Yulia and Delta on her own. Without wasting any more time, she continued deeper into the forest. Being able to hold her own gave her just a little more reassurance of her ability to handle Vic and the obstacles ahead. She was going to make sure that they paid in full for what had happened to the village.