User blog:Baluar/Codex Entry: War of Devouring, chapter 3

I don't lie if I say that my mind takes quite a few seconds to process all that's happened thus far. Our world, invaded by some sort of... space... locusts. Which are capable of killing Aragami with relative ease. The mere idea of something close to that even having a chance of happeneing I would have deemed insane a few hours ago, yet now it's nothing but an awful truth, an imminent threat that we're going to have to deal with as soon as possible.

However, after some initial moments of confusion, I begin to think with clarity: after this new threat's appearance, I realize that I have to go back to base, both to inform of what's happened and to make sure it isn't being assaulted. Terrified by the thought of the monstrosities potentially attacking the base and slaughtering everyone inside while I'm far away, I begin to run as fast as my Oracle-enhanced body can handle and make my way there, expecting to find the diminutive yet lethal creatures hacking away at the door.

Which, unsurprisingly, they are. I come to a stop some hundred meters away, paying special attention not to draw any unwanted attention. The door seems to be holding up relatively fine, although I have no way to know if they've been hacking at it for hours or if they've just begun. Thus, I have no way to know how long it will stay unyielding. I also realize that, unless I take an advantageous position, I am hopelessly outmatched by the dozens upon dozens of beasts' attacks, and therefore I begin to look at any direction in hopes of finding something that might give me an edge in fighting the little pests. In a matter of a few seconds, I see a wrecked vehicle not too far away, probably from well before the times the Aragami ravaged the land. The large truck seems to be a good place where I could control the monsters' flow, although it also means taking a large risk: if I can't deal with them, I will have no way out.

However, the metal husk is also across a large open field. And that large, open field just so happens to come across the monsters' position, meaning that there's no sure way to get there without drawing their attention. And I still do not know how fast they can actually move, so I have to take my chances and hope they don't move faster than I can, or I am doomed. I weigh my chances and then arrive to the decision that another life or death race tonight won't make much of a difference.

Funny, I would totally have thought any such thoughts to be suicidally overconfident a couple of days ago.

I begin to run towards the old vehicle at a fast pace, making sure to be as noisy as possible in order to draw the monsters' attention, and hopefully their aggresion. Sure enough, they nigh-instantly drop their so far futile efforts to destroy the door and begin to follow me quite fast, though not fast enough to force me to increase my speed.

I arrive to the truck and quickly jump in. Afterwards, I turn around to look at my enemies. It doesn't take long before I'm forced to begin slashing wildly in order to keep them at bay, my initial estimation that the truck would hinder them in any way completely and utterly wrong. They can jump pretty damn high, the bastards. Fortunately, while the monsters are pretty quick by normal human standards (and much faster than an initial evaluation would have lead to believe), are incapable of moving fast enough to catch me off guard, and slowly but surely their numbers begin to dwindle. Before long, though, I am exhausted and overexerted, but I push the feeling away from me: there's no place for fatigue in this battle. If accompanied, perhaps I would house the thought of giving up and wait for a link aid, but being alone and facing an unknown threat, that's not a chance. So I push myself over whatever thresholds I previously though I had, in the hopes of ending this fast.

Suddenly, when I feel I can move no more, I feel a rush of energy. I have no idea where it might be from, but if forced to guess, I'd say it's an Oracle cell rush. With no allies nearby to shoot a healing bullet, the only thing that can lead to this happening is my body burning through my Oracle reservoirs in a desperate attempt to keep me running, and a quick glance to my God Arc's OP display confirms this. Fortunately (and curiously), attacking my enemies seems to recharge the counter, albeit much slower than slashing an Aragami would. Thus I can keep myself fighting while giving it all for a looooong while, slashing and cutting and blocking and jumping and smacking and simply surviving the incoming onslaught, until I begin to see the enemy lines thinning significantly.

Yet when their numbers have dwindled is when the creatures give out their most. Recklessly, all the monsters speed up their assault, and I take what's likely the largest chance so far, jumping far above them only to come down and crash down over them, shield first, sending them all to oblivion and splattering brown-green blood everywhere.

Well, all but one of them, but that one I manage to cut in half when it tried to jump towards me, jagged maw first. A few stragglers still attack at the door, but those I manage to incinerate with my Gun before they see me coming.

Exhausted, the Oracle rush having all but finished, I have to do an inhuman effort to walk to the door and bang on it, as loud as I can.

-HELP! OPEN!

To my dismay, it takes quite a while of banging before anyone opens. I am on the verge of unconsciousness by the time someone opens the door. I notice there's a small dent where I banged the door all this while.

-Thank god someone came! We thought we were done for.

-Not one here? - I manage to say, my voice raspy and low.

-No. Most of the experienced God Eaters were out on a mission when they came. And the rookie ones couldn't take the risk.

I only have one thought before collapsing, and it is one word long.

Shit.

It's been a few days since the first encounter with the insects happened. I have had no personal encounters with them, but then again, just today I managed to wake up. Most of the experienced God Eaters came back, but the number who didn't was alarming.

Apparently, one of my superior officers left me the order to stand guard here when I woke up. Although normally I'd curse if I were given such a command, today I feel relieved. Nothing like some peace and quiet for a few days, I've had enough fighting for quite some time.

Of course, this being me I'm talking about, something arrives after a while and the door begins to do... unpleasant noises. Doesn't sound like someo- something is hacking away at it, like the small creatures were; rather, it sounds like a bash, and a pretty forceful one, at that. And then another. And another. And another. The door vibrates with every strike, and it's not long before a particularly strong hit blows it right off its hinges.

A huge space locust stands there, victorious. It's the size of a Vajra, if said Vajra stood on two short yet sturdy hind legs. Much like its smaller kin, it has four "arms", essentially monstrous single claws: two of them thin and razor-sharp, looking like they could cut through solid steel; the other two thicker and sturdier, no doubt useful to crush whatever the other pair couldn't cut through. The creature seems to be in a hunched position, but that might be due to the shape of its back carapace, which even at first sight looks utterly impervious to any kind of harm.

The beast roars triumphant, and with my luck, I know it's probably looking forward to find out what colors our innards are, and how tasty they are with some tomato sauce.

Just when I thought I'd get some peace and quiet...