User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater ∑: The Maxim of Possibility, chapter 11

With a decisive blast, Nanako and the joint task force of Rhizome Duos opened a hole in the leg of the Gehenna, jumping in before the monster took its next step. The attack had no noticeable effect on the Gehenna, which continued its stride just as it had before.

“We’re going in!” Nanako called out. “Aim high and blast your way through!”

As Nanako and the rest of the joint task force members who had entered the Gehenna readied their God Arcs, Nanako called out once more, addressing the members of the sniper team.

“Remember your task,” she shouted. “Distract the Gehenna by aiming for its eyes! The Gehenna must NOT reach the Glasgow Branch!”

The sniper team nodded in acknowledgement as the Gehenna’s leg began to take off. As Nanako and her team held on, the Gehenna’s leg soared into the air, coming back down a good few miles later after what had to be three or five minutes of travel time.

Sasha looked onwards as the Gehenna’s leg traveled away from the sniper team’s position. “Lyrr,” she began, turning to her fellow member of the team, “how’s your ultra-long-range sniping?”

“I’m not the absolute best at super long distances,” he responded, scratching his head, “but I’ll do whatever I need to do.”

Sasha nodded. “Great to hear. Now follow my lead. Men, are your rounds ready?”

In response, all the members of the sniper team simultaneously loaded their God Arcs with the hyper long-range destructive round developed by Natalia Estheim. This round, on impact, would set off a colorful chain of explosions that chewed through whatever they hit. Specially designed to tear apart Neo Aragami, Natalia’s special round was the ace in the hole for Rhizome Duos’ snipers. And now, that might would be turned against the Gehenna en masse, as the sniper team turned their God Arcs on a single eye on the Gehenna’s nearest leg.

“Aim carefully and stagger your shots starting from the left of the line,” Sasha ordered, preparing the sniper team for their assault. “Ensure a constant stream of firing with no interruptions. Ready? Aim… now FIRE!!”

Like a line of dominoes falling, a steady chain of firework-like bursts erupted on the Gehenna’s nearest leg as the sniper team’s assault began. Little by little, the successive blasts ate away at the Gehenna’s leg, eventually leaving a sizable crater where the eye used to be. Like clockwork, the sniper team shifted their target to the next eye nearby, repeating the process and reloading their Oracle supply when necessary.

Gradually, ever so gradually, the Gehenna’s pace slowed, then came to a complete halt. The sniper team did not let up, of course, and continued to shift their target to eye after eye as the rounds ate through the Gehenna’s body, leaving holes and craters behind. In terms of the Gehenna’s massive body that dwarfed even the tallest of mountains, this might not have seemed like much; however, every bit of damage counted when it came to slowing the Gehenna’s progress. They had to do whatever it took in order to prevent the Gehenna from reaching the Glasgow Branch.

It had been roughly an hour and a half since the joint task force had plowed into the Gehenna’s leg and began their ascent. By Nanako’s estimate, they had gained about two miles’ worth of altitude, traveling by blasting straight up with the gun forms of everyone who either had one or could change form, then climbing as fast as they could up the sides of the tunnels using their God Arcs’ blade forms. It was a steady alternation between blasting vertical tunnels as high as they could, then ascending at top speed until they had to open another tunnel.

Throughout their climb, they could hear the steady rumble of the sniper team’s assault on the Gehenna’s eyes and the resulting sway and stagger in its step. They were doing it; their assault was working. With this, they could keep the Gehenna busy and prevent it from reaching the Glasgow Branch…

But as they climbed higher and higher, a strange feeling began to overtake them. It was not entirely dissimilar to the sensation they had felt when diving into Loch Lomond in 2079, in their home timeline. It was the sensation of intense temporal distortion, and the closer they got to where the Gehenna’s core was located, the stronger this feeling became, the warping oppressive pressure that permeated to the core of their very beings.

Nonetheless, they continued to press on, blasting upwards and then climbing as fast as their bodies could climb. Eventually, a faint red light began to suffuse the walls of their makeshift tunnel… as did something else entirely.

Around them, the walls began to shift and bubble, extruding strange and otherworldly forms outwards towards the Gehenna’s would-be intruders. The Gehenna was forming its flesh into raw Neo Aragami shapes; rather than the established forms the God Eaters were used to, such as Stalkers and Watchers, these were misshapen and formless, with half-formed appendages and various eyes of different shapes dotting their surfaces. These monstrous Neo Aragami blobs reached out with grasping limbs that stretched and shifted in an attempt to strike down the pests that had infiltrated the Gehenna’s body – however, the joint task force was not going to go down without a fight. One by one, the God Eaters slashed and blasted away at the Neo Aragami that advanced on their position, striking them down without a second thought as they gradually continued to climb.

And after what seemed like days – and likely was, due to the internal temporal distortion, even though only a few hours had passed on the outside – the glow from the core had reached truly intense levels, and the pulsating of the temporal flow could be palpably felt to the bone. Beyond this wall, Nanako knew, lay the Gehenna’s core, and with a single blow, they would blast straight through it and steal back their own future. Nanako cut through the wall between her and the core…

…but what await her beyond was no pulsating organ or brilliant orb.

“Sigma… what is this?”

What Nanako was gazing upon was a massive swirling vortex that seemed to be pulling in all of existence around it. Nanako noticed countless images caught amidst the whorls of time, images of what appeared to be scenes from the past twelve years. She could see images of the Gehenna’s initial rampage, of humans being torn apart by Neo Aragami… and images from her own past – of her and Sigma’s firing of the Gigantes on the approaching Gehenna, of the first time she rallied together a small band of God Eaters to bring order, of her first meetings with Sasha, with Croswell, and with Natalia… and of the moment she and the rest of the joint task force dove into Lock Lomond in 2079.

“This is the true nature of the Gehenna’s core,” came the voice of Sigma, who morphed into his human form and stood in front of Nanako. “At the heart of the Gehenna is what is known as a temporal nexus, where multiple timelines intersect.”

“Could you put that in terms I can understand, please?” replied Nanako, impatient.

Sigma cleared his throat, a solemn tone permeating his voice.

“What this means… is that the Gehenna’s existence is all that is holding future timelines together. Timelines, branching futures, brought about by the Gehenna are anchored on the time-space continuum by the Gehenna’s continued existence.”

A shiver ran down Nanako’s spine. “So, that means…”

“Correct,” interjected Sigma. “If we destroy the Gehenna’s core, future timelines will come undone and vanish from history. That means that you, me, all the God Eaters of Rhizome Duos, and all the humans alive in the year 2079… we’ll all cease to exist.”

Nanako was aghast. The Gehenna had this significant a role? Its temporal interference was this powerful? Destroying it would cause Nanako’s future to be destroyed, taking her with it?

No, she thought. She couldn’t do this. She had no right to destroy everyone she held dear just to prevent her future from coming to be…

…but, all of a sudden, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Croswell was there, meeting her eyes with an approving gaze. Then there was Natalia’s hand, and Baluar’s, and Beo’s; everyone here would gladly give up their lives, their own existences, for the sake of restoring time to its rightful flow.

Nanako gazed forward, tears in her eyes – before catching sight in the vortex of a lone human figure gazing back at her, joined shortly by another, and another, and yet another.

Before her stood all of the civilians who called Rhizome Duos their home. They all gazed back at Nanako with the same determined expression worn by Croswell, Natalia, Baluar, and Beo – all of them were more than willing to lay down their lives to set the future on its rightful course.

“Are you…” Nanako began, apprehensively. “Are you sure it’s okay?”

The figures in the vortex merely nodded in unison. They were ready.

“Nanako,” Sigma spoke, “I take it you’ve made up your mind?”

“I have,” Nanako responded. “I’ll do it.”

“In that case, listen to me. In another timeline, where you and I succeeded in stopping the Gehenna, I used an attack that converted all of my life force into a massive laser blast to completely dissolve the Gehenna… but for this, we’ll do something different. I’ll impart to you my ultimate attack… are you ready?”

Nanako nodded.

“Alright,” Sigma answered. “Listen to me. I am going to completely reintegrate myself into your body. The process will be painful, but you need to bear with it. Once I’ve fused with you, you’ll hear my thoughts, my will, echoing in your head. Just do what those thoughts tell you.”

Nanako merely nodded once more, but Sigma did not give her any time to respond. He rushed forward and impaled his hand through Nanako’s heart, beginning to dissolve his own body and insert it into Nanako’s bloodstream.

And after a few painful minutes, Sigma was no more, and Nanako’s God Arc with him.

True to Sigma’s earlier words, Nanako could hear Sigma’s words echoing within her, and she did as they instructed. Readying herself, she faced the vortex…

…and cried out.

“Goddess Blade… SIGMA!!!”


 * TO BE CONCLUDED IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF GOD EATER ∑: THE MAXIM OF POSSIBILITY::