10. Clocktower
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Location: Albion
Time: Afternoon
(BGM)
There wasn’t a noise outside of a small drip which continually hammered against the stone floor. The hallways this far down were tight, cramped and dim, ancient and mysterious in all aspects, running like veins beneath the earth. It’s a place where you could taste the mystery in the air, like a heavy humidity.
There’s a terrible noise, an unsettling mushing, uncomfortably shattering and bending of flesh and bone. Something unspeakable carried on in the darkness.
It was then deathly silent. Not a sound, not a breath or sign of life.
With a light foot the invader gracefully moved down the stairs. There was a unearthly glee in every step, a certain playfulness as they seemingly skipped their way down the hall. Across the pools of blood they made, over the spoiling meat they had left behind.
The flesh boiled and bubbled as poison devoured both muscle and bone. It gave off a powerful stench which flooded the halls. If there was anyone left they would surely be intoxicated by the strength of the alcohol that plagued the air.
“Fufu, to think such talented magi would melt so easily. Truly a waste, even for me. To think I have not even the time to taste them.”
The oni without concern for the life of men spoke idly to herself as she moved calmly through the tight corridor. Her voice echoed deep into the darkness.
It was close now, just at the end of the hall. There wasn’t anything left to stand in the way of their target now but a mere door.
It was covered in all sorts of defensive barriers but there was nothing to worry about. Reaching her hand out with a gentle touch the poor metal began to crumble and bend like tinfoil. With a light push the hunk of iron collapsed to the floor.
The dim lighting creeped into the darkness giving the small room slight visibility. A single figure, bounded to the wall was visible in the shadows.
“Oh? Are you perhaps Akkrum?”
“That would be me.”
“Fufu, I thought it would be wise of me to make sure but I’m not convinced. You understand, right?”
Before a reply could be made the onis hand sweeps down in a singular swift motion. In an instant the man's head collapses in on itself as all structural support vanishes. As if she had performed a successful card trick the demon held aloft a bloodied skull.
“That’s certainly a way to check.”
With the blink of an eye, as if no change had occurred, the man was back to normal.
“It seems you are truly ideal. I couldn’t pass up a chance to take a cutie such as yourself~.”
The oni makes a sadistic smile, clearly satisfied with her action.
“What do you want from me, Shuten?”
“So long as you follow my advice you’ll be allowed to interfere in this world. Obey me and you’ll finally accomplish what you have long sought. You’ll finally be free.”
————————————————————————————————————
Location: London Streets
Time: Afternoon
Overall Status: Excellent
(BGM)
As the dust settles more yokai begin to crawl out from the rubble I hesitate to call a city, gazing over us like predators. Some of them are hideously terrifying while some are almost comical in their strangeness. I recognize the identity of some but there’s a few there I don’t think I’ve ever heard of before.
It’s pointless to worry about that right now, what matters is dealing with them. I’m already running low on fumes but I have some stamina to spare, defusing myself with my blade is the best option. I’ll depend on the enforcer and just help with clearing a path. We don’t have to defeat everyone here, we just need to make it into the Clocktower.
“You’re wasting our time with such utter drivel, it seems I'll need to crush you and your pests underfoot.”
As arrogant as ever Akhenaten looks down in the oni as if he was just some ordinary bug.
There’s bright, blinding light in the sky. The oni is forced to cover his eyes and squint, staring right into the sun to see what it is.
In an instant a beam of light slams directly into the side of his face, the sheer momentum of it knocking him off his feet and slamming him deep into the pavement. The whole thing explodes like a flashbang, forcing everyone to cover.
“Oi, what’s the deal with that move? You control the sun or something?”
With barely a scratch the oni rises up from the ground, casually dusting off the pavement which covered his body.
“It seems you really are tough unlike the rest of rabble crawling around.”
Unleashing hellfire like a gatling gun numerous similar sun rays strike down upon the demon. Despite the way they melt through the street like a heated knife through butter, uprooting the earth and turning the once flat pavement into messy, uneven terrain, the oni either swats them away with his hands alone or is struck to only receive a slight burn.
Quickly he moves closer, a firm foot shattering stone, shaking the earth, as his leg rips apart the air in a ferocious kick. Akhenaten's lean body gracefully bends back to avoid utter devastation that quickly moves past her torso before moving backwards in a swift leap.
Another wave of projectiles crashes into the earth but the onis mighty blows don’t let up. It was a battle of sheer power versus agility that made me wonder about something important.
Is Akhenaten weak? For a servant. Like I don’t know who this oni guy is but she can barely scratch him while he is putting her on the back foot. Is even a full servant?
I’ll just have to hope the best for her, I’ll take the opportunity of their ongoing destruction and start making our way forward. The enforcer seemingly made her move at the first flashbang and jumped into the fray, moving gracefully in battle with a powerful and ugly looking beast.
I quickly turn to Lucas and….
He’s gone. I don’t see him anywhere….
Is that why he was staying in the background, so he could duck and cover without being noticed. Ah, whatever fuck him, dumb money bag ugly fuck.
With a kick to the face I see Bazett send one of the beasts flying, another long snake looking creature darting past it like a bullet, the enforcer barely moving out of the way before smacking it into the ground.
Yeah…. Abigail probably doesn’t have much return fire as ammo is limited, so I should pick my fight wisely. More yokai start appearing from out of a ruined building, happily laughing and chirping and gurgling as they move out onto the street.
We just need to move past them and follow the oni's trail of destruction to the Clocktower….. I’ll start with an easy yokai, yeah that sounds good.
Slowly with a waddle a small white almost doughy blob walks up. It’s…. It's cute. But it’s also tiny and weak, a perfect target. I don’t think my sister would be happy that I’m using her sword techniques in this way. Still, my opinion is the only one that matters here.
Readying the blade with a calming, deep breath, I take one step forward. I’ll end this swiftly. Trying my best to move like my sister taught I swing down the blade in a single powerful motion onto the blob.
A clang of metal resounds out as the blade bounces off the thing like I just struck a brick wall. It sends tremors up my entire arm. It’s only followed by amused laughter from the beasts who bid their time watching the show.
Now that white thing is looking up at me in an unnerving, sadistic manner.
God dammit! Put that cute face back on at least!
I hop backwards as the small white thing bashes it’s head into the ground leaving a large crater where I once was. They really are just playing with us.
“Get back!”
There’s a sudden movement beside me, a blur quickly running past, moving towards the blob.
With a powerful kick Bazzet punts the creature into the remains of a wall where it splatters like a rotten tomato.
The laughing suddenly stops. There’s a silence as the yokai look at her. Several corpses of their kind already litter the street. That was way quicker than I was expecting. Maybe I can get away with her doing it all.
“Be careful.”
With an affirmative nod she moves forward again, the yokai let out horrible cries and cheers as they start cautiously moving around her approach. I really am useless for this job.
It’s fairly interesting the way they went from condescending to worried, now hesitantly they approach or just watch from the back as the enforcers powerful fists slam into their allies. Just what are they thinking, these yokai are strange in their behavior. They are uncooperative and uncoordinated, expressing a notable degree of self preservation and forethought.
Still, taking the opportunity to depend on her I follow behind and rush forward. While the enforcer pushes on towards the main group, I move in to the side, approaching some stragglers. I’d like to say I’m going this way because this is where they’re coming from, but I’m mainly going because it seems fairly empty.
I prepare for combat but these yokai just look at me. One of them calmly walks forward.
It’s certainly unsightly. It’s face is uncannily wide, wrinkly and sagging. It’s face seems stuck in a perpetual frown. It’s short and stumpy too, with unnaturally long arms which droop to its side.
I raise my blade again as it’s head turns to the side in a snap as if it broke its neck. Actually I think it did, that’s really uncomfortable to look at.
“So you’ve chosen to not help your friend?”
The creature suddenly speaks, its deep voice taking on a kind of unearthly ring. It makes me nervous.
“....We aren’t friends.”
“Is that enough reason?”
“Stop randomly moralizing! Why are you all the way over here?”
“I am weak for my kind. I don’t want to die.”
“There we go, you should get my motivation.”
This thing is weirdly…. Non-Hostile. It’s just being annoying and talking to me. I need it to shut up.
“Even so, there is not much either of us can do against the inevitable. The yokai here have no choice in the matter, our masters will still use us. I already know my own fate.”
“So what are you even doing?”
“I’m trying to avoid it anyways.”
The creature slowly approaches. It’s movement is awkward as its short legs shuffle forward.
“I want you to take this. It’s my best effort.”
Carefully moving one of its long boneheaded fingers beneath its shaggy robes it pulls out a single purple stone. Carefully resting it in its palm it moves towards me.
“What is that?”
“It’s a gemstone. Let us fulfil a bond.”
I stretch out my, and that small purple stone falls down onto my palm and I feel something suddenly pulsate within.
“That thing on your back-“
In a swift cut my blade comes down across its face. In a single motion it rips through the eye, nose and cheek leaving a long cut along its face.
It stumbles back with an inhuman squeal, one its long arms swinging through the air quickly. As a yokai, that hand would surely shatter my ribs and it travels with a quick and powerful momentum to blow me away as well. Even so, it’s still slow enough that I can quickly step back out of the way.
I raise my sword again to strike. It’s simple.
In a single motion the blade falls heavily atop its head. It’s thick head is hard for me to penetrate, the sharp steel struggling to cut through all the flesh and bone it’s momentum stopping not even half way through its face.
It’s good enough. With a tug I dislodge it and the yokai falls backward onto the pavement.
I look down at the glistening stone in my palm. I stare at the creature's head which is leaking a dark, sickly looking liquid across the pavement. It’s joined the rest of its unimportant friends fore a quick nap. The problem back here has been taken care of.
I can hear the explosive booms of a servant battle shaking the city behind me, and the final screams of yokai as that enforcer finally finishes some of them off.
This seems as good an opportunity as any, let’s finish clearing the way.
A large, rubble-filled path dotted with only a few buildings with barely enough foundation to stand marked the way to the Clocktower clearly. It’s insane to think about the oni who did this so casually.
I’m more familiar with the spiritual types but looking out amongst the ruins, there might be a place or two a yokai could be hiding. Yui talked about how they liked certain hiding spaces to surprise people.
Looking around, there’s a pile of stone from a collapsed building with some large crevices something could have snuck inside. There’s also the building holding itself up by a thread, something may have hidden itself within. It seems like it might be more efficient to pass through there but it seems likely something might want to hang out there.
Still, we have to push onwards as fast as possible, it might be a good idea to take that path. For now I need to help Bazett and get us out of here. We need to leave. It doesn’t matter if there are some left over. Hopefully.
The enforcer's movements pulverize flesh with an exceptional intensity, there’s not a wasted movement. She both evades and repels several attackers that surely possess unimaginable strength. I don’t know exactly what goes into those reinforced fists of hers but I think they literally hit like a truck.
If she’s that good then she’s a good enough distraction for me to do something and pretend I was really helping out all along.
A large, dark oni jumps back to move out of the way of the enforcers fist and with my own thrust forward I use their momentum against it and run my blade through its back. The oni yells out a deep roar as it’s damaged.
“Bazett! Let’s go!”
There’s resistance as it meets the bone of the spine but it travels through the rest of his flesh without much trouble, straight to the hilt. It forcefully smashes into my hand and sends me backwards.
God! My wrist! I tried holding onto my weapon but I was flung away, not lasting a second.
“I’m on it!”
Approaching the situation with extreme efficiency the enforcer dashed forward. The oni swings sloppily only to have its hand knocked out of the way with a force that snapped its bone at the wrist.
With one free hand she yanks the blade from out of its back and with the other hands pulls me off the ground and throws me over her shoulder.
Great, I'm being carried around again. I’m a bit surprised she decided to take me with her at all there. I suppose I am a master, it would make sense if she’s after Akhenaten's power.
“I’d watch out for the rubble up ahead by the building over there, I’m sure there’s something hiding there. I’d check the second floor too.”
“Understood.”
The situation is still dangerous but I can’t say I’m not having a little fun. It’s like a roller coaster but not that comfortable to ride.
It’s less fun looking over my shoulder, the yokai that remain decided to pursue and I can’t exactly say they’re slow either. Its like that scene from Jurassic Park when they see the T-rex in the rearview mirror.
I see a quick one dog like beast start to gain more ground, nipping at my feet.
“Hurry up! Hurry up!”
It’s starting to get a little bumpy as we cross the remains of a ruined building. Leaping off a large hunk of concrete we fly over a pile of rubble and a deep crevice in the road.
As soon as her feet touches ground she crouches quickly, the momentum pushing my stomach into her shoulder far too hard. I feel a breeze move my hair around as a creature's leg flies past like a fighter jet overhead in a blur of movement.
With a quick twisting of her leg the enforcer wastes no time to shift her direction and use her forward momentum to move to the side.
I can see something slither out of the rubble behind us before my body is jerked to the side again. The oni creature smashes its fist straight through the pavement where Bazett once stood.
She moves to the right, that momentum carrying over to a kick which smashes into flesh like a shotgun blast and flings away a second impish creature to the sound of several bones snapping.
I can see the building up ahead, we are really close but I don’t see anything up there. Maybe we won’t-
In an instant she dashed forward before leaping upwards in a jump that smashed concrete straight towards the second story.
This is seriously hurting my back, I’m getting terrible whiplash!
I see a small fox creature waiting over a hole in the floor only for it to suddenly disappear as Bazzet swoops in from the side and launches into the stratosphere before leaping out of the remains of a window. I guess it was waiting to ambush us but we got to surprise it instead.
In the brief moment in the air I can see our destination in the distance. At least the museum isn’t smoking or something.
I can hear the howls and cries of the yokai still in pursuit behind us. Just a little bit further now, we can do it. This enforcer seems unstoppable, we just have to keep moving.
With a painful bump we smash down onto the street and launch forward like a rocket. Seriously flooring a car is slower than this, these takeoffs are terrible, the gforce immense.
The only thing I can see behind us is that oni running on all fours like it had gone mad and some deformed spirit looking creature with a long neck. I think something is missing from this mess, where is the thing that crawled out of the rubble?
There’s another blur of movement and I see my life flash before my eyes and pavement inches away from my face. An oni crashes into the pavement right in front of us. Bazett snaps into an upright position and the blur of the oni’s leg flies by my face, the force blasting away street debris in the aftershock.
The spirit's head shoots past, mouth agape as if to bite us two. The enforcer doesn’t waste a moment to start running forward after it missed but the oni now in front of us steps in front to block the way. It swings its heavy fist missing by a hair's breadth.
“They’re in the way! What are-“
I’m flying……
Wait a minute she fucking threw me! I hope she can catch me magically enough to not shatter every bone in my body! This is too fast!
As my momentum slows and I reach the apex of my arc upwards my rage calms a little. I can see a fair bit of London over the numerous roof tops. There’s smoke rising across the city as far as I can see, the scent of fire heavy in the air. The destruction has spread so far in such a short amount of time. It’s kind of awe inspiring in a way.
….wait a minute just how high did she throw me that I can see this?
That brief moment ends as I start to plummet back to the earth.
“Wait wait wait wait wait!” I just scream and flail as I fall. I see the wreckage below, the spirit with its head torn clean off and the oni falling back with one of its arms missing.
It steps forward to swing but with one arm gone it’s left a clear opening the enforcer doesn’t hesitate to take, her fists slamming wildly into its chest sending its heavy body to the floor with several deep dents in its torso.
“Hey! Catch me already!”
With a nod the woman simply leaps up and grasps me in arms before breaking her fall and touching down onto the road. It wasn’t a smooth landing but it’s better than breaking every bone in my body like I feared.
“Bazett.”
“Yeah.”
“Never do that again.”
“I apologize.”
“....Can you put me down now?”
Carefully she grips my sides and plops me down on my own two feet before dusting off something on my shoulder. Am I as light as a feather or something? How does she manhandle me so casually?
“What did you do with my sword?”
“It seems I forgot about that, it’s behind us.”
Looking back over my shoulder I can see it clear as day sticking out of the neck of that one spirit creature. Grumbling to myself I stomp on over and yank it out of the things flesh.
“There’s no reason to stand around, let's go.”
Already in an efficient mode the enforcer starts moving towards the Clocktower. It’s just a little bit further. The museum looms over ahead and I’m unable to shake the dread of going in.
————————————————————
(BGM)
It was unexpected but Bazett suddenly covered my eyes with her hand. It’s not a good feeling.
We were welcomed on by the entrance having caved in, a massive hole of brick which appeared to have been vaporized in some massive blast.
We made it two steps in before she covered my eyes.
“Hey Bazett…. Is it……..Is it fairly bad?”
“It’s hard to stomach.”
“I see….”
Well I’d say this time ignorance is bliss. I can’t imagine those students are handling whatever happened to them too well.
Carefully stepping through uncomfortable wetness and hard lumps we move into another room. We spend minutes in careful silence fumbling around. Across the room and down some stairs I have to move with the enforcer completely blind. After an awkward five minutes her hand is finally removed from eyes.
I’m not sure how to feel about walking around with her hand on my face, I could have just closed my eyes, what a forceful way of doing things. Part of me did want to look though, maybe it was for the better.
Stepping away from the hallways we seem to have ended up in some kind of library. It’s eerily empty. A couple book shelves have been flipped along with broken chairs and tables. Blood stains in all sorts of odd places but there isn’t a body in sight.
“Where are we even going from here? This place is empty.”
“We’re heading to a research lab, I can only assume protecting those would be a priority to magi must be there.”
“And if it’s overrun?”
“We will go to the next closest one.”
There’s a painful silence as we move by some collapsed bookshelves. It’s not a fairly big library but it’s filled with many nooks and crannies.
We arrive at a small door hidden away in a corner. It seems our path to our destination is convoluted. I don’t come here often enough.
Opening it slowly to avoid making even the smallest sound the door reveals a long hallway stretching into darkness.
At the very least the coast seems clear for now.
There’s a thought that’s been nagging me in the back of my mind. I suppose this enforcer still intimidates me but she’s protected me thus far. Perhaps it’s time to ask.
“Do you know anything about whoever it is with the sealing designation?”
She doesn’t say anything for a moment.
“He’s an anomaly unlike any the Mages Association has seen, it seems like a miracle he was ever captured. I wasn’t there to see it so I’m unsure how it transpired.”
“It seems they’re important enough that the would go this far to get them but I find it hard to imagine that’s the true reason.”
“He appears to be one of the greatest magi of the modern age. Though he is sealed it seems they struggle to actually preserve him. I’ve never seen him in action but the enforcer which did finally capture him won’t speak about what happened. They just called him a God and that we were fools. That we could not handle them.”
Yeah, that’s terrible. On track for everything that’s going on. He’s just a modern human though right, he can’t be that bad. I’m sure I can just avoid him somehow.
“Do you believe it? That he’s that strong.”
“Not particularly, the world is filled with monsters. Being an enforcer is impressive in a sense but even against that oni from earlier I have enough experience to know I wouldn’t last long. He’s surely just another powerful magi with a useful talent.”
The enforcer continues to boldly walk ahead, just a foot in front of me. This hallway is far too tight to comfortably walk side by side. The light is too dim to walk confidently, my feet hidden in shadow, so I rely on her to control the pace.
I can hear the dripping of water echoing through the damp air. It’s oddly peaceful, the water falling in a steady rhythm up ahead.
“I suppose the world is still a scary place. The balance of power isn’t in our favor.”
“Nothing has changed then.”
“Hey, I -“
Without warning Bazzet blocks me from moving forward.
“Something has been here.”
The light was still dim but I suppose I do see something up ahead. A lump on the floor and a glimmer. The movement of something small.
Oh it’s just the leak, dripping steadily onto the floor.
“I’m going to open the door carefully, just keep looking ahead and be ready. Anything could be beyond it.”
As we take a few steps forward the object in the darkness becomes clearer.
…..It’s…..a person.
A corpse, grotesque in its disfigurement, lays slumped, bleeding rivers steadily through the cracks in the pavement. It seemed like a student but they were fundamentally unrecognizable. Their face torn cruelly from their body, their minds spilling out on their torsos.
The dripping continues as they look down on me with a twisted expression. It’s something not worth thinking about.
There’s a small creak as the enforcer opens the door ever so slightly. Painfully slow the thick oak finally opens wide enough that we can squeeze through.
Using the enforcer as a shield, standing close to her back we shuffle into the room leaving the body behind.
Great, it's another poorly lit room. It’s a fairly large one as well, multiple stories and hallways and other fancy bits of décor. I’m not sure what it’s for, it’s like a grand hall or something.
It’s size probably makes a good hiding place for any terrible creature waiting for our approach. Hopefully we shouldn’t be here too long.
“Our destination is just down that hall, then we just need to take a left. It’s probably protected. I'll get us in.”
There’s a click as the door behind us suddenly shuts.
(BGM)
“I see you made it past that boring brute somehow. Aha! What a mistake. Oh, how I will curse you while you’re here.”
A pair of golden eyes look down ominously from above. It’s hard to make out the voices features in the darkness, but there’s something powerful and ominous about them.
“Hmmmm, is one of you already cursed? I sense something odd…… I suppose it doesn’t matter~.”
With an amused smile the creature jumps from the railing and lands in front of us without so much as a sound.
“Now where did you say you were going? I was just thinking more humans were nearby.”
She said one of us was cursed? She didn’t seem sure about it. There’s too many other things it might be, I shouldn’t worry about it.
Bazett is the first to make a move. Quickly jumping several meters backwards. Her arm is raised upright, the steel ball I saw earlier floating in the air.
Then she suddenly stopped. She just stood there, her face contorting before anything could happen.
“Hey! What’s wrong?!”
I start hesitantly moving towards Bazett.
If the enforcer can’t attack then what can I do? What is she doing? Hurry up!
“If you aren’t going to attack first I’ll guess I’ll just have to go instead.”
There’s a terrible increase of magical energy in the air. It floods every cell of my being, a terrible weight which fills the entire room, the spell building up like the sun in the fox's hands.
Ah, this is terrible. I can’t move.
The beginning of the attack suddenly shakes Bazett awake.
“Get out of the way!”
“Prepare to die~ Higanbana Sesshouseki!”
There’s a blinding light which vaporizes everything in its path, turning the great hall into rubble in an instant.
I feel something collide with me as the sheer force of the oncoming attack causes everything from the floor to the ceiling crumble.
————————————————————————————
Fuck my head hurts. My body all around aches actually. This has happened too many times today.
The dust finishes settling around me, rising up slightly as various bits of debris tumble off of my body. I need to dust myself off but I’m…..
The world is already spinning. This is gonna be hard.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, I’m just….”
I can hear a rock shift and crash down onto the stone floor. Twisting myself around I see a figure standing close behind me.
“Wait! I should be asking you that!
Shifting a piece of some pillar off her back the enforcer finally stands up right from a slouching position. She was dusty and her suit was torn somewhat but she was at least alive.
“I’m alright.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I just prevented some of the rubble from crushing us. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
Right. She’s an enforcer, for all I know she just punched the rocks away. There’s no reason to be worried, I shouldn’t have bothered. I really don’t get this woman.
“It appears we are stuck down here for the time being. I’m not sure where exactly we ended up but we’ll search for a way out.”
With a tired sigh I sit down on a stone. One half of the hallway is caved in and the other stretches off into the darkness. All this rubble spread across the floor, flooding the hall is gonna be annoying to clear up. I feel bad for the magi here.
I can’t help but feel this is another miracle or something. How did we survive? That fox could still be around too.
I don’t know. Let’s just figure out what to do next.
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