User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater ∑: The Maxim of Possibility, chapter 1

There are countless what-ifs in the world, situations that one wonders how they would have occurred differently should certain circumstances be altered. What if I had done this differently? What if so-and-so had been born in a different time? What if that person took just a second longer to get there–

–or what if hope died out completely, leaving only despair instead of a bright future?

It is one such situation, one such what-if, that we will be examining here. Remember, if you will, the struggle of Nanako and Sigma against the encroaching Gehenna, the supermassive Aragami capable of laying waste to entire continents. Now, let us return to that moment, frozen in time…

“But Sigma, you’ll…” Nanako began, but Sigma cut her off.

''“–die? Not likely. I’m an Aragami, you know, so I should be fine. Please, Nanako… press the button. Activate Gigantes. For all of mankind.”''

''Nanako swallowed, tears streaming down her face, as she reached out and shakily pressed the button that would activate the process that would power the cannon and steal away the life of its user. As the barrel started crackling and moving into position, beginning the process that would automatically lock onto the core of its target, Sigma began to cry out in agony as Oracle Cells flowed from his body en masse into the Gigantes. This was it, the both of them knew. With this… humanity would be saved.''

As the Gehenna approached, Sigma cried out “Take this, you damn monsteeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”–

–fire.

The world seemed to freeze as the Gigantes let off its first shot, a crackling beam of green light erupting forth as the armor-piercing projectile shot out of the Gigantes’ barrel, aimed straight for the Gehenna’s heart…

…but a slight sway in the Gehenna’s step, and its massive upper body moved ever so slightly, just enough for the Gigantes’ projectile to barely scrape by its target.

–No. No, this couldn’t be happening. Their one chance, gone. Now there was nothing stopping the Gehenna from crushing everything in its path and completely ravaging the planet in its wake.

“Sigma,” Nanako frantically called out, “isn’t there something, ANYTHING you can do?”

Sigma slumped to the ground, his hand still gripped tightly by the Gigantes’ control module. “I’m afraid that was it,” he answered, his voice tinged with dread. “There’s nothing I can do on my own against that thing even at full power, and with the Gigantes having sapped most of my energy…” Sigma looked down and shook his head in dejection.

Humanity had lost.

“So… we’re all going to die, then?” Nanako asked fearfully.

“In so many words, yes,” Sigma replied. “The only thing that could have stopped the Gehenna has failed. We’re… humans… are done.”

A fog of dread seemed to hang over the Glasgow Branch. In little over an hour, everyone here would die, and the Gehenna would go on to visit the same fate upon everything in its path. The world was done, and there was not a single thing anyone could do about it.

“…no.”

Nanako looked up in response to Sigma’s sudden vocalization.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Not yet,” he repeated. “We might not be able to beat that thing today… but perhaps a few years down the line, what’s left of humanity might be able to fight it.”

He turned to Nanako. “Nanako, I’m entrusting you with my and humanity’s hope. I need you to promise me that you’ll survive until an opportunity to defeat the Gehenna presents itself.”

“And how the hell am I supposed to be able to do th–”

Nanako’s words were cut off as Sigma suddenly produced a blade and plunged it into Nanako’s heart.

“I will convert what little life force I have left into Oracle Cells and circulate them throughout your body. You’ll become part Aragami, but you’ll be able to wield a God Arc without bias factor injections. Please, Nanako. I won’t be able to survive, but I need you to promise me that you’ll do what you can to lead humanity towards the end of the tunnel we’re about to enter.”

Nanako could only look on as she felt Sigma’s energy flow throughout her.

And as the Gehenna drew near…


 * ELEVEN YEARS LATER::


 * DECEMBER 12TH, 2078::

“Stalker, dead ahead!”

A crowd of God Eaters scrambled to face their target, rallied by their leader, a grizzled young woman wearing tattered clothes and sporting wrappings over her right eye.

In the years since the great disaster, a new breed of Aragami had arisen from the wake of destruction brought about by the Gehenna. These Aragami were faster, smarter, and far more vicious than anything humanity had seen since, and with their tendency to actively seek out prey, what parts of humanity hadn’t been annihilated by the Gehenna were quickly thinned out even further. By most estimates, there were probably fewer than ten thousand humans left. Most of these had organized themselves into resistance groups, pooling their resources and military might to survive against what came to be known as the Neo Aragami that hunted down humans day and night with no true respite.

One such resistance group was now facing down a particular Neo Aragami known as a Stalker – a quadrupedal beast with a face vaguely resembling a wolf or fox, sporting a hooked tail and a multitude of eyes all over its body. It was fast and vicious, the most combat-oriented variety of Neo Aragami, and was the most threatening species whenever it appeared. Ordinarily, even a seasoned God Eater would be completely unable to stand against it – something about their physical composition made them far stronger and more resilient than regular Aragami, and they shrugged off God Arc attacks like they were nothing.

Against a trained group, however…

The one-eyed woman barked out orders to her squad as they assumed position, preparing to face down the Stalker that had found them. Once it got within range, it would strike without hesitation, attacking with both its claws and fangs as well as its deadly tail. To defeat one, the woman knew, it was critical to disable the tail and attack its legs while it was stunned.

Fortunately, this wasn’t the woman’s first time at the rodeo, so to speak.

In a highly coordinated series of movements, the woman’s squad split off into two groups, one circling behind some ruined buildings while the other fanned out to flank the Stalker from the side.

“When I give the signal,” the woman relayed over her intercom, “Alpha Team will rush from behind while Bravo Team pressures the Stalker against the face of that building at two o’clock from my position. Ready?”

The woman brought out her God Arc, a short blade of brilliant white in the shape of a wing, and shifted it into its gun form, an equally brilliant sniper rifle, which she aimed directly at the Stalker from outside its range of attack.

Clearing her mind, the woman steeled herself…

…and pulled the trigger.

The bullet whizzed through the air, piercing an eye on the Stalker’s tail and erupting in a spurt of blood.

“Now!” the woman shouted, and the two teams converged on the Stalker to face it down. Two of the God Eaters on Alpha team severed its tail using their blades in a manner akin to scissors, at which point the rest of the team converged their shots on its legs, laying it out.

The woman, meanwhile, readied another shot, aiming directly at the Stalker’s head. “Everyone, hit the deck!” she ordered, and let loose her second shot, piercing the eye directly at the center of the Stalker’s forehead. With a brief moment of struggle, the Stalker fell.

Both teams converged on the fallen corpse of the Stalker, all devouring in unison. It was essential to end all battles with Neo Aragami as quickly as possible – give them enough time, and they could signal for backup, and then even the most toughened squad was guaranteed a brutal end. Additionally, it was a requirement to completely devour a Neo Aragami’s entire corpse, for other Neo Aragami would always converge on the body of a fallen ally, and human scents could easily be tracked.

“We give thanks for this meal,” the woman spoke, as she and her squad finished devouring. “Now, let’s pack it up and head back to base.”  “Base” in this situation referred to a massive network of interconnected tunnels and underground chambers the resistance movements used as bases of operations. All above-ground facilities had been devastated by the Gehenna, prompting the surviving humans to move below-ground to survive.

As the woman and her squad began their march back to base, she felt a drop of rain hit the bridge of her nose. One by one, more and more raindrops began to fall, and soon a veritable deluge was accompanying their march. While unpleasant, this was to their benefit, as rain served well to mask their scent, ensuring no Neo Aragami would be able to follow them.

Eventually, the squad reached the entrance to their base – a subway system escalator hidden beneath a fallen facade of a nearby building. There were additional security measures in place, of course, but this at least helped to camouflage the entrance from cursory examination by any passing Neo Aragami in the area.

Generators powered by Oracle Cells had been set up, ensuring that they had light underground. The woman’s squad followed these lights down the broken escalator to the train platform at its base, where what awaited was a multitude of people from all walks of life, some God Eaters and some not. Regardless of their status, every one of them cheered for the successful return of their leader, for this meant that they were safe from the Neo Aragami for another day.

“Welcome back…” one child called out, stepping forward.

“–Miss Nanako.”


 * TO BE CONTINUED::

An information post of all currently known types of Neo Aragami will be uploaded in a separate blog post.