User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater ∑: Avatar of the Aragami, chapter 2


 * SIDE:NANAKO::

–November 20th, 2067: Glasgow, Scotland–

Nanako woke up in a daze, the events of the previous day still presenting a sour taste in her mouth. In the course of a few minutes, everything Nanako held as a source of pride had been destroyed – the secret project she and the rest of R&D had been working on for months had turned out to be an anti-Aragami cannon called Gigantes that used a human life as its power source. While she couldn’t exactly walk free with that knowledge, she was nonetheless unsure of how to proceed – should she be true to herself and refuse to work on the project, knowing that her contributing to loss of human life would be irreproachable, or should she continue working out of obligation to Cyrus for raising her these past five years?

Nanako was jolted out of her reverie by the sound of a ship’s foghorn. Ah, that’s right, she recalled. Today was the day a delegation of God Eaters from the Fenrir Russia Branch would be coming by for some sort of official business. Since work on Gigantes was suspended for the day in honor of the delegation’s arrival, Nanako had time to sort herself out, to work out where she wanted to go from here…

…or, at least, that’s what she thought.

When she dressed herself and made her way down to the pier on the River Clyde, Glasgow’s major waterway and the source of its prosperity in the old age, she was greeted with a large crowd of people from the Glasgow Branch already waiting there, but not the official Russia Branch boat they had been expecting. Instead, a small lifeboat was moored, and what stepped off the boat and onto the extended bridge to the pier was no delegation… but a single, unarmed man.

Scores of gasps escaped the crowd. Certainly, everyone there had been expecting ten, maybe twenty God Eaters to meet them, but a single individual? What could possibly have happened?

“It… it was a disaster,” the man, his hair stark white and his skin a light shade of brown. “We were attacked out in the Norwegian Sea… a swarm of Gboro Gboros and Sariels. Massacred the entire team and lost me my God Arc. It was a miracle I made it out alive…” The man collapsed, clearly still in shock.

Cyrus Casterfield came forth. “Someone, anyone, get this man a stretcher!”  While someone hurriedly sent for a medic team, Cyrus attempted to rally the Glasgow Branch into an alternate plan of action. Nanako, however, merely stared at the man… what secrets did he hold?

-

“Sigma. My name is Sigma.”

The man, whose name was Sigma, sat surrounded by members of the Glasgow Branch while he recounted the tale of the catastrophe that befell him and his fellow God Eaters at sea. “We were rounding the Norwegian peninsula when they attacked us. The first laser took out the captain, then the Sariels descended on us while the Gboro Gboros punched holes right through our hull. We had no chance… we were confined to the ship’s deck, and they, they had all of the air and sea to rain hell on us. I only survived by hiding below deck after they destroyed my God Arc.”  Sigma began shaking. “They must have given up after a while, because after a while I stopped hearing the screams and the sounds of destruction. I escaped onto a lifeboat before she went under, and now, well… here I am.”

“Poor lad,” exclaimed Cyrus. “You must have known true hell.”  He stood up and turned to address the members of the Glasgow Branch’s R&D department. “Men, with this turn of events, we’ll need to come up with a different course of action for the implementation of our project. Increase production by 20% – we’ll need to get this baby ready tomorrow, two days ahead of schedule. Pull all-nighters if you have to; tomorrow will be the dawning of a new age for humanity!”

The crowd cheered. As they began to disperse, Cyrus turned to Nanako. “Kawashima… no, Nanako,” Cyrus began. “I realize that it’d be foolish of me to expect you to work on this project after what you know. It’d be cruel of me to expect you to be complicit in the loss of human life… but if we don’t do what we can to get Gigantes finished, many, many more people will die because we didn’t give this our best effort. So please…” Cyrus got down on his knees. “Please, Nanako… you’re our best technician, the shining star of the R&D department. Your work on Gigantes could mean the difference between humanity being overrun by the Aragami and humanity bringing the Aragami to heel once and for all.”

“Cyrus, please stand up,” Nanako responded, tears in her eyes. “You were right… it was foolish and shortsighted of me to put my own principles before the needs of humanity as a whole. I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that Gigantes sees deployment, even…” Nanako paused, steeling herself. “Even if it means the loss of a single life.”

“Nanako,” Cyrus began, “I thank you. I thank you so… so much…”  He grabbed Nanako and hugged her close. She was like a daughter to him, and now she would be helping him bring a new light to humanity’s future.

Their moment, however, was interrupted by Sigma’s approach.

“I apologize for the interruption,” Sigma began, “but, if possible, I wish to view the Gigantes in preparation for its coming deployment. Mr. Casterfield, would it be possible to escort me to its location?”

“I…” Cyrus composed himself. “I suppose that would be in order. Come, follow me. Nanako, you come along too.”  Nanako turned and followed Gyrus and Sigma as the two of them headed toward the elevator.

-

As they stepped into the R&D hall, Nanako was rendered awestruck. Work had proceeded on Gigantes after her departure from the hall the day prior; the barrel and firing assembly had been fitted into place, and, had Nanako not known better, she would have assumed it was ready for deployment and firing.

“This is it,” Cyrus exclaimed. “This is the Gigantes. When this baby’s deployed, it’ll mark the dawning of a new age for humanity. No Aragami will be able to stand against us, and human settlements will be secure with absolute certainty. Anything in particular you’d like to know, Sigma?”

The two men launched into a heated back-and-forth about the Gigantes’ features and specifications, while Nanako was left to think about certain things that had been bothering her. For starters, how was it that Sigma had been the only survivor? Any God Eater, Nanako felt, should have been eager to fight on the front lines against any Aragami threatening them and their comrades. Also, if Sigma had fled below decks, how would he have fought hard enough to break his God Arc as he claimed? Too much just didn’t add up…

Suddenly, however, a warning bell sounded throughout the branch. This wasn’t just a regular warning bell, either – this was a bell reserved for only the most massive and sinister Aragami to threaten a branch. Any Aragami that warranted this bell was easily capable of reducing an entire branch to rubble with so much as a movement. Sure enough, an announcement shortly came over following the bell. “Attention,” the announcement stated. “This is not a drill. The Glasgow Branch is currently under threat by the Gehenna. I repeat, this is not a drill. The Gehenna is preparing to assault the Glasgow Branch. All hands, please act accordingly and prepare for battle.”

This was it. The Gehenna was an Aragami that most humans would be lucky never to see in their lifetimes. Dwarfing mountains, the Gehenna stood tens of thousands of feet tall. It normally lay dormant below the surface of the ocean, but experts feared that one day it would awaken and bring the world to ruin in a single day – but for it to awaken now, of all times…?

Cyrus sprang into action instantly. “Nanako,” he commanded, “stay here with Sigma. I’m going to talk to the higher-ups about what to do and petition for early deployment of the Gigantes. Hopefully we can use this to at least put a dent in the Gehenna and drive it off.”  Cyrus ran off to the elevator, leaving Nanako and Sigma alone in the R&D hall.

Nanako, however, had other plans.

“Sigma,” Nanako began, “I’ve got a few questions for you.”

“I don’t see a problem with that,” came Sigma’s reply. “Ask away.”

“First of all,” Nanako began, “I’m calling shenanigans on your story. You said that your team was annihilated by Aragami, but you yourself showed no signs of wear or injury, or even of fatigue. Also, God Arcs don’t just ‘break.’  I’ve worked on building them for years; I know this. And if you really had come here from the Norwegian Sea on a lifeboat as you claim, you would have taken months to get here. Too much doesn’t add up here.”

“Sigma… what are you?”

-


 * SIDE:SIGMA::

Sigma found himself backed into a corner. This girl had him figured out; his mission could be endangered because of her.

“Miss Nanako,” Sigma replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t screw with me!” Nanako shouted back. “I may be a kid, but I’m not a bloody moron!”  Nanako stepped forward, cornering Sigma – who went into action without hesitation.

Holding out his hand, Sigma’s arm began to undulate and ripple. A mass of flesh shot out of the side of his hand, forming itself into an impossibly sharp short blade that glinted with a sinister light.

“You were right about everything,” exclaimed Sigma, “save for one point. There was an Aragami attack… but it occurred before the ship even left port. You see, I came here because I could not abide the loss of human life that mass deployment of the Gigantes would cause… so I massacred the entire Russia branch and headed here myself. Ten miles out, I scuttled the ship myself and made the remaining journey on the lifeboat you saw at the pier. All so I could visit upon the Glasgow Branch the same fate I exacted upon the Russia Branch… starting with you. For your crime of cooperating in the creation of an instrument of human death –”

“–you will be the first to die!”

Sigma lunged forth, his blade pointed directly at Nanako’s heart, but was stopped in his tracks by a heavy object hitting him in the back of the head. Turning around, Sigma saw Cyrus standing there, a bundle of wrenches under his arm and one such wrench on the ground at Sigma’s feet.

“You… you monster,” Cyrus roared. “I heard everything. How dare you try and kill Nanako… my Nanako!?”  Cyrus threw another wrench at Sigma’s head, and then another, but Sigma merely sliced both of them in twain as he walked towards a furious Cyrus.

“I understand that you’re the one in charge of the Gigantes project,” Sigma mused, deflecting and severing more wrenches as he continued to approach Cyrus. “You, then, are the greatest criminal of all… so I must do what is necessary to prevent further loss of human life.”

In one fateful instant, Sigma dashed forward and thrust out his blade. As its tip pierced Cyrus’ heart, time seemed to slow down for Nanako. At this moment, everything she held dear was crumbling before her eyes, at the hands of this Aragami in human form. And yet there was nothing Nanako could do; she was powerless to stop Sigma from tearing her entire life up to this point to shreds.

Sigma withdrew his blade from Cyrus’ heart as Cyrus crumpled to the ground. He turned towards Nanako to finish what he started… only for a great rumbling to echo throughout the branch, accompanied by an announcement indicating that the Gehenna had come within a hundred-mile radius of the Glasgow Branch. With how fast it moved, it would be upon the branch within the hour.

Nanako stared down the length of Sigma’s blade. “You can feel free to kill me here and now and prevent the completion of the Gigantes, sparing a few lives here and there,” she began, “but should the Gigantes not reach completion, millions of people are sure to die, and if the Gehenna reaches us, so too will millions more in the Glasgow Branch alone. So choose, Sigma!”  Nanako stood defiant against her would-be killer. “Choose now! Spare the sacrifice of one life, or prevent the loss of countless more!”

Sigma stood, conflicted. He was beginning to question his original purpose for coming here. Certainly, he thought, he could still massacre the Glasgow Branch and fight the Gehenna alone… but even for someone of his level of power, there was naught he could do against something of the Gehenna’s sheer size.

“…Very well,” Sigma begrudgingly agreed. “Your life is saved for the time being. Tell me what we need to do to get this thing operational.”

“Well,” Nanako began, “we’ll need to raise it to the surface and point it towards the Gehenna’s line of approach. Problem is, that shake-up earlier took out the power to our lift, so we’ll need to raise it manually.”  Nanako pointed to a massive chain that hung down the wall a short distance from the lift on which sat the Gigantes. “Normally one of the R&D guys could pull it alone, but with how heavy the Gigantes is, there’s no way one person could handle i–  Hey, where are you going?”

Before Nanako could finish, Sigma had strode over to the chain. “I just need to pull this, right?” Sigma called out.

“Well, yes,” Nanako replied, “but like I said, the Gigantes weighs countless tons, so one person’ll never be able to–“

Right before Nanako’s eyes, Sigma’s arm began to undulate and shift once more, just like when he’d called his blade. Sigma thrust his arm skyward, and it shot out, becoming many feet long and grabbing the chain at the very top. “Nanako,” Sigma called, “get on!”

Nanako did as she was told, climbing onto the lift next to the Gigantes. Sigma extended his other arm, grabbing onto the edge of the lift.

“Here goes nothing,” he stated, and at that moment his arm holding the chain tensed its powerful muscles before contracting instantaneously, yanking the chain downwards at speeds no human could manage. The lift grumbled, then shot upwards far faster than something weighing hundreds of tons should. Letting go of the chain, Sigma retracted his other arm, pulling himself onto the lift and landing next to Nanako as they passed the ceiling and soared towards the surface.

-

As the lift breached the surface, they could see it.

Looming over the horizon was a massive tower that stretched skyward, piercing the clouds and dwarfing even the tallest mountain in terms of both height and breadth.

Only this was no mountain. The Gehenna was truly as big as the tales said, and it was headed straight for them. They were ready, sure, but would that be enough to stop it? There was only one way to find out.

“Sigma, I need you to do something for me,” Nanako called out, as the Gehenna lifted one massive foot and brought it down, shaking the earth with a mighty rumble. “I’m going to go over to the control pad and aim the Gigantes towards the Gehenna, but I’ll need you to do what you can to push the edge of it to speed up the process. This thing takes a while to warm up, so we’ll need to expedite the process as much as possible!”

Sigma nodded and moved to the edge of the cannon, directly under the massive barrel. “On my signal,” Nanako shouted, “push with all your might!”

Nanako swiped a key card in a slot next to the control console’s keypad, pressed a few buttons, then moved her hand to a series of levers. “Ready?” Nanako called out at Sigma. Steeling herself, she pulled the levers all at once, which caused the Gigantes to issue forth a low hum and begin to shake. At that moment, Nanako called out “NOW!” at which point Sigma expanded his arms and pushed, lurching the Gigantes’ barrel gradually towards the Gehenna. Nanako merely prayed that they’d have enough time to prime the Gigantes before the Gehenna got too close… and then, well…

Nanako shuddered at the thought of what would have to come next, but she knew that it had to be done. If not, all of humanity could kiss their futures goodbye.

-

After what had to be upwards of an hour, the Gigantes was finally oriented towards the Gehenna. The next few moments would surely be what defined the future of all of humanity. By this point, the Gehenna had likely advanced half of the remaining distance to the Glasgow Branch. Nanako and Sigma both knew that time was of the essence… the decisive moment was truly now.

Nanako swallowed. “Sigma,” she began, turning towards Sigma, “I can’t forgive you for Cyrus’ death, and I don’t think I ever will…”  She managed a small smile. “…But I sincerely thank you for doing your part in staving off the Gehenna’s assault. Perhaps after I do my part, humanity will be able to rest easy knowing that their future is secured.”

“‘Your part?’” Sigma questioned. “You don’t mean–”

Nanako merely nodded, rolling up her sleeve and walking over to the God Arc bracelet beside the control console. “It’s the least – and most – that I can do in this situation. At least this way, no one will miss me…”

She reached out her hand towards the God Arc module, having resolved to join Cyrus in the next world through her sacrifice–

–but Sigma slapped her hand out of the way, then slapped her.

“Are you a fool?!” shouted Sigma, his words muffled by the crashing rumble of the Gehenna’s footfalls. “Do you think Cyrus would have wanted you to throw away your life, to throw away everything you’ve worked towards, all your pride and all of your love, your joy, and your sorrows, for this? You need to live, Nanako! Live so you can bring joy and a future to all of mankind with your own two hands!!”  Sigma thrust his hand out, directly into the God Arc module, which clamped down on his hand.

“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.

It flew towards the horizon and found its target with no effort, the projectile impaling itself deep into the Gehenna and erupting with a massive Oracle explosion that seemed to outshine the very sun itself. Surely, this was the end. Nothing could survive a hit from the Gigantes…

…and, sure enough, the Gehenna began to teeter, slowly falling forward with a groan–

–they had miscalculated.

It was too close to the branch; it would land on the branch and take the entire complex with it. Nothing could be done now. They had saved humanity, but at the cost of the lives of everyone in the Glasgow Branch…

…at least, that is what Nanako thought. Sigma, however, had other ideas.

“Dammiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttt!” he cried out, wrenching his arm out of the Gigantes and leaving his hand behind as the Oracle Cells that made up his body began to writhe and twist, expanding outwards at a frightening rate. “I won’t let you take us with you, you monster!!!”

Faster than the eye could track, in a manner not unlike a God Arc changing shape, Sigma’s right arm took on a very familiar shape: a gun-type God Arc.

“Sigma, what are you–” Nanako began, but she knew the answer, she knew what Sigma was going to do.

“I’m taking in the Gigantes’ Oracle reserves for one last shot,” Sigma exclaimed. “If I pour my entire life force into this cannon, I should be able to fire a blast powerful enough to vaporize the Gehenna’s entire body. I just hope I can charge up before it’s too late…”

Nanako hoped, too. Hoped against hope that Sigma could surpass his limits and save all of humanity from the single greatest threat to their continued existence in all of history.

But Nanako’s hopes were quickly dashed as the Gehenna’s falling body picked up speed, its head splitting the clouds apart as its gaping maw descended upon them, the many eyes within gazing directly at Sigma–

–as he fired.

A great green light illuminated the surroundings, a brilliance that cast aside all shadows and brought ruin to all that bathed in it. The Gehenna was mercilessly shaved away, its entire body dissolving into the air as the light touched it. The surroundings were suffused with a high hum, the sound of humanity’s greatest threat being blasted to oblivion as the entirety of Sigma’s Oracle Cells poured forth. Every ounce of his being was invested in this attack; he knew he had to rid the world of the Gehenna at all costs. For the sake of humanity’s future, he would succeed.

-

The brilliant luminance eventually faded away, leaving a smoldering blast zone many miles in width that extended well towards the horizon. There was no sign of the Gehenna, save for a particular odor hanging in the air not unlike that of cooked meat.

Nanako and Sigma slumped to the ground. Sigma, having exhausted his life force down to the last drop, was on the verge of death, and Nanako had seen enough hardship and trauma to last a lifetime.

But they’d done it, once and for all this time. The Gehenna had been swiftly and decisively laid low, and humanity’s future secured as a result. Certainly this wasn’t the end; other Aragami would doubtless rise up and threaten the world in the future, but on this day they had won a decisive victory – that much, at least, was certain.

Nanako gazed back at the Gigantes. Sigma’s final attack had damaged it beyond repair; it would never see deployment again. Perhaps this was for the best, though, Nanako thought. This way, there would be no needless loss of human life, and she had no doubt that the advancing of God Arc technology would one day yield similar ways of combating Aragami without a sacrifice being necessary.

Walking over to where Sigma lay, Nanako bent down and picked up his still-breathing body. He was strangely light, she noted — perhaps this was because he had drained himself dry in that last attack. At any rate, she walked over to the lift on which sat the remains of the Gigantes and pressed the button to begin their descent to the R&D hall. Surely there would be words to share with the members of the branch…

Sure enough, upon the arrival of the lift at its destination, a crowd of God Eaters and civilians alike were waiting for them. They surrounded Nanako and Sigma, their eyes clouded with rage.

“Is that the monster what murdered our Cyrus?” one of them demanded. Nanako, however, talked him down.

“It’s…” she began, “…it’s alright. Were it not for Sigma here, humanity would have no future to speak of. Thanks to him, we were able to drive back the Gehenna and save everyone here and beyond.”

“Ah, yes,” another spoke, a God Eater this time, “that light… I’ve never seen its like in my entire time as a God Eater. I don’t know what you might be…”  He walked over and ruffled Sigma’s hair as he lay unconscious in Nanako’s arms. “…but we all owe you our lives. Us and all of humanity on top. So… thank you.”

One by one, the members of the Glasgow Branch dropped to their knees in reverence of their saviors. On this day, their future had been secured thanks in no small part to the efforts of Sigma, the wandering Aragami, and Nanako, the shining star of the Glasgow Branch. As for what the future had in store for the two of them, well…

-


 * TO BE CONTINUED IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF GOD EATER ∑::