User blog:Roinelll/God Eater - Next Crusade - Volume 1 - Segment 13

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How am I different from anyone else?

It is my actions that took me here, they didn't belong to no one else.

Sure, there were times when the action of others chose my path, but in the majority of them I was in control...

...

Instead of blaming anything or everything, I should be thinking on what to do...

...

Even if what I have to do isn't something really befitting of me.

...

To make a sacrifice for others, after all...

I'm way too selfish, no?

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By the orders of Anthon, Barna gathered as many God Eaters as he could find in such a short notice. In the end, he ended up with a group of 23 God Eaters and 47 Fenrir trained soldiers that were ready to fight against the Aragami. As he stood in front of them, he looked over them once again and saw the varied weapons each one of them wielded.

"All right, men! We got our priorities and.--" Barna started his speech, but then a heavy hand dropped onto his shoulder and someone interrupted him.

"The Aether had been sighted, it is the outmost important part of this mission. We need to reclaim it before it comes into contact with the Oracle Pool." As the leader of the group looked to his side, he saw the elder man from the triumvirate was standing there and giving the briefing.

"Max?!" Barna was surprised to see him there. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking the lead." With a smirk Max replied, then he raised his voice to convey the end of the briefing. "Also, while it might make a detour on our return, but another objective of ours is to take over Sköll, particularly the facility and the equipment found there. Everything is to be confiscated without exception. The staff is to be taken into custody, that goes primarily for Eric Lucas Reinhardt." He looked over the men, who started to murmue on that part a bit, though they still paid attention. "Furthermore, there is supposed to be a young girl in captivity, she is to be placed under our protection for her own safety."

"Well then, you heard the orders!" Barna raised an eyebrow on the latter part as it involved En, but it didn't really matter for him if the old man wanted to get her. So instead he finished the briefing as he commandeered the gathered men. "MOVE OUT!"

"You aren't thinking on leaving me here, are you?" Max stopped Barna by the shoulder once again as he turned around to get into a vacant jeep nearby. The gathered God Eaters and soldiers boarded 3 military trucks splitting the combat force somewhat evenly and the drivers went on the destination given for them.

"Max, you're in no position to field work. Shouldn't you stay behind where it's safe?" Barna shrugged off the elders hand as he walked towards the jeep.

"And abandon the one chance of understanding 'them'?" Max wasn't going to let this chance go and quickly stepped up to him. "No way, besides I'm way too old for a desk job."

"Yea, and what makes you think your not too old for field work?" Barna smirked as they both got into the Jeep.

"Doesn't matter. So, wonder why Eric didn't go after you even though he knows you've betrayed him?" The elder laughed it off as the leader started the engine to catch up with the small convoy.

"He's a scientist, a bit of mad that I must say, but still a scientist." Barna shrugged which prompted Max to recall their target.

"With some very powerful influence, and backing mind you." He warned in response and the two of them traveled for a few minutes in silence.

"Just admit it, you didn't want to miss the show right?" Barna mused as the elder started to chuckle.

"That too, besides I have to see the Aether in action."

"Even if it kills you?" He asked Max, but he only nodded in response.

As they neared the spot where the Altered Aragami was sighted, the ear piece of Barna came to life with static. Shortly after his eyes twitched upon hearing a report from the HQ itself.

"Repeat that part, will you?" Barna massaged his temple, feeling the spike of irritation gathering inside.

-Sir! The Aether is attacking the facility of Sköll, it's trying to break through the outer Anti-Aragami wall even as we speak.- The operator did as instructed and repeated the part and the leader cursed under his breath breaking off the connection.

"What is it Barna?" Max asked with interest, he didn't really hear him swear so often. Which made it clear something of importance happened.

"Let's just say our priorities are quite a bit mixed right now." With a sigh Barna said, following it up with a forced laugh.

"Don't try to be cryptic. Explain." Max on the other hand just furrowed his brow.

"The Aether attacked Sköll." The groups leader stated simply as he reached for the radio to notify the convoys drivers.

"Sonuva..." At the response of Barna the elder blinked in surprise, but then immediately responded. "Then make haste!"

As they arrived at the former base of Sköll the small convoy disembarked. Former as in from the distance they could see the billowing black smoke that was rising from the various parts of the destroyed facility. As some of them decided to take a closer look with binoculars they could make out larger craters outside of it, signaling a larger battle ensued and traces of a few day old ones.

"And we're too late." Barna stated matter-of-factly as he rubbed his temple, some of the soldiers looking at him to hear the orders.

"That wasn't even two hours! The Aether should still be nearby!" Max on the other hand was infuriated by the sight. This meant not only one thing had fallen through their grasp, but three in total. And he wasn't one to give up on either of them.

"Men! Search the facility! If you encounter anything unusual, report it immediately and wait for back-up!" Barna gave the order and the assembled small army broke up in predetermined groups. He then produced a binocular from one of his pockets and started to survey the outside of the facility just like some did earlier.

"What do you think Barna? Was this the girl again?" Max mused, partly as an idea was forming in his head. "We can track her, can't we?"

"Maybe, for months there were ever growing Oracle Cell readings radiating from the facility. However in the very first few days, there seemed to be two from out of which one was smaller. That smaller signal was steadily getting stronger with each passing day and finally suppressed the other one." Barna recalled one of the earlier reports, though he was sure even the elder got it into his hand. After all it was in conjunction with the Nova girl, and seemingly Max became obsessed with her.

"Do you think Eric succeeded in recreating the phenomenon that occurred in that settlement?" The elder mused in response.

"Doubt it. However, it might have pulled the Aether towards them in the end. After all the signal were similar to the one in the settlement and there are marks of battles that seemingly accumulated over the weeks." Barna pointed to their surrounding and as he described everywhere had been littered with smaller craters, debris and various marks as said.

"Could the girl have once again scared the Aether off?" Max hummed in understanding before asking his question.

"... That might be a possibility also." Barna considered that option, and with a sigh he followed his trail of thought. "Which then would mean we have to start all over again..."

"Neither possibility is good for us... What's taking your men so long?" The elder furrowed his brows as he stomped on the ground in frustration.

"They've barely gone for 5 minutes, give them some slack Max."

"Just because you're related to Anthon, don't think I let you do things your way." The elder snapped back, but the other just shrugged.

"I don't care about my nephew, Max." Barna said as he knew that the elder disliked working with Anthon very much, though he didn't really have a choice to change it currently much to his chagrin.

"Yet you do enjoy the benefits that come with it." Max uttered in annoyance and saw Barna smirk at that part.

"... Doesn't matter." He dismissed it, and wanted to make a spicy remark when his earpiece came to life once again.

-Sir! We found... something.- However instead of the HQ's operator as he hoped, one of the men inside reported.

"What is it?" Barna raised an eyebrow, as he motioned to the elder to come closer instead of fuming.

-Some kind of broken Oracle Cell tank, at least from the reading we can make that out. The source of the massive Oracle Cell readings seem to have been here.- The soldier explained their finding and waited for further orders.

"A broken tank..." Barna repeated that part which made the elder perk up his head. "Great..." His face twitched as a thought run cross his mind and then immediately gave the order. "Carefully search the area, there might be something else out there beside the Aether! Notify the other teams to be careful and be on the lookout!"

-Yes Sir!- After hearing the soldiers report the line went instantly silent as they performed their part of the deal.

"What's with the tank? Were they experimenting on implementing a Quadriga based research or what?" Max asked with interest.

"No, tank as in container. My men found the tank that contained the creature that called for the Aether." Barna explained which made them fall under silence for a brief moment.

"Broken, so it's on the loose..." Breaking the heavy atmosphere on them was Max as he concluded the same thing as Barna did. "This is indeed grave."

"We should call the Cleaners." Barna then said in a serious tone, which made the elder make a surprised expression.

"We don't even know what it is!" Max raised his voice as he pointed towards the facility.

"Precisely! Max, make the call."

"Right, right... Still, I want to have a look at that container." The elder grumbled as he reached for his phone.

"Well, this isn't anything unusual." Barna said as they entered the small room where the broken container was. Most of the content of it had already evaporated and only a handful of black liquid was left in small parts here or there inside.

"Do you really think so?" Max on the other hand was quite fascinated by the find as he surveyed the room. To his annoyance most of the machines had been destroyed as was the majority of the walls that either caved in or had been blown away by a powerful force.

"What do you mean? What's so interesting for you?" Barna asked as the elder smiled to himself.

"That!" He pointed towards the contained, but that wasn't really answering anything by itself.

"So?"

"What is inside it?" Max tried to guide him to realize the answer.

"Most probably? Oracle Cells, so what?" Barna furrowed his brow, he still couldn't really figure out what's special.

"Precisely."

"..." Barna then scratched his head, earlier on the elder was annoyed when he went cryptic for one, but when he does it there is no stopping him from doing so. "What of it?"

"What happens to unbound Oracle Cells?"

"They return to the..." As Barna recalled his knowledge he stopped midway. "Holy..."

"We need a sample of that for sure." Max smiled as a spoiled child and watched as he contacted one of the nearby squads to perform the gathering.

"So, anything that was still intact we managed to secure, but there was no personnel. I bet they evacuated as the Aether struck." Barna was thinking loud mostly for himself as he tried to spark his thoughts what could have transpired.

"Do you know another location where Eric could have fled to?" Max turned to him.

"No. He probably has other bases, but this was the center of everything he did. Which means he suffered quite a setback with the destruction of this one." Barna replied to the elder as they both started to rack their minds.

"What about Hati?" Max brought up a point, since both Sköll and Hati had been founded by Eric.

"I doubt that he'll try to get there."

"But, that one has a similar level of equipment." The elder pointed out and the other just sighed.

"He knows that we took over it. After all, I was the one who convinced him for doing so." Barna reminded him and another silence fell on them.

"..." Max opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he just closed it as he didn't really have anything wise to say. "I hate this part." He scratched his head and the other laughed in response.

"So do I." Max then reached for his earpiece and pressed a button to establish a connection with HQ. "Anton. We lost sight of all targets, however recovered everything else plus something interesting according to Max."

-Max?- The young leader of the trio asked.

-So that's where he went to!- Anne fumed. -Skipping on your duties are you old man?-

"Without his presence we would have probably overlooked this small detail." Barna came to the defense of the elder, who smiled to himself at that. "There was a trace of some altered Oracle Cell remains inside a container. Which probably housed something the good doctor created."

-The Aether reacted to that signal, did it not?- Anthon asked in a low voice.

-Of course it did! Haven't you read the reports where the other Altered's are trying to converge? I wouldn't be surprised if something monstrous appeared because of this.- Anne was quite annoyed hearing this, as usual she couldn't find anything about such as she tried to gather information.

"I doubt it was an Altered, if it would have been the room wouldn't be destroyed on that level. I think the creature that was contained there fought with the Aether instead." Max noted and nodded for Barna to convey his part.

"Max says, that the Aether fought the thing that was here instead. Which would make sense why is the whole institute in shambles."

-Any leads?- Anthon asked

"No."

-Then return.- The young leader ceased the communication line.

"You'll be grounded for sure." Barna chuckled seeing the reaction of Max who's shoulders slumped heavily after hearing it.

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End of Chapter 2016,03,06