User blog:Baluar/God Eater: Fall of the Heavens, chapter 5: At hell's doorstep

Given my favorite football team (FOOTBALL. You might know it as "soccer". But it's actually football.) won its match and became the champion of the biggest competition it can participate in, I'm exultant. I'll post another chapt, just because of that. And it'll be longer. YAY!

Lina was back to the city. While exultant and proud of her achievement (not any God Eater can kill an Ouroboros alone, after all), she was mostly just tired and worried about her comrades. How did they fare without her? She had grim hopes at best. However, when she arrived, she realized, surprised, that the Aragami were strangely leaving the Central, as if they were being driven away...

Shortly afterwards, Lina met up with one of the rookies. He wasn't bravely putting up a hopeless fight against an almost unstoppable monster, so to speak. He was, in fact, hiding from an Ogretail. After conveniently dispatching the monster, the rookie finally came out of hiding.

-I thought I was a goner...

-SOLDIER! I'm not pleased at all with your behavior. Report!

-Yes ma'am. We were having a rough time against the Aragami: no matter how much did any of us kill, there always seemed to be a replacement for the beast that one had just killed. The entire rest of my squad died fighting a particularly vicious Vajra, and I barely managed to make it in time to hide. Too tired to fight, I hid in here and hoped for the best.

-You could have done worse, I guess. What state is the Central in?

-When I left half an hour ago, the men stationed there were still protecting the entrance with relative success, ma'am. Unfortunately, I hear...

At that very instant, the young man found himself impaled through the stomach by what seemed to be a serrated God Arc with a light grey tone. Lina's mid-section would have been pierced, too, had she not moved out of the way. However, when she looked around to find out who it was, there was no one around except for the rookie, whose life quickly abandoned his body. His last words were indecipherable monosyllables, probably curses to whatever killed him.

-Damn, more losses. What the hell was that...? - She began to move towards the Central, but after a short while, she heard a step behind her. She moved out of the way an instant before a giant serrated Buster Blade-ish weapon fell down right where she was a second ago, causing a loud crash sound. Lina could catch a glimpse of whatever was holding that weapon. It was a bizarre being, one that resembled something that tried hard to be a human but failed miserably: its feet were hooves, its head a mockery that resembled more a dog's skul than a human one, a couple of goat-like horns growing from its forehead...

In a second, however, the aberration was gone, likely too weak to go on direct combat with an experienced God Eater. Lina was terrified. There was no way that wasn't Aragami, but she knew Aragami only adapted the form of whatever they devoured... A corpse-devouring Aragami that could create God Arc-ish weapons was the last thing they needed.

Lina was alone. As far as she could see, there was nothing. No sound could be heard, except for the wind sweeping across the deserted streets, blowing through piles of corpses, human and monster alike. There was nothing she could have done, nothing but return to base, roaming through the now lifeless streets.

There was nothing great about that day. Humanity had endured through one of the fiercest invasions in recorded history, but it was not a cheap victory. Thousands of people were in need of urgent medical care, while the remaining God Eaters, their numbers having dwindled severely, their morale utterly crushed, went out to search and destroy whatever Aragami they found within the city.

Lina had arrived to her home, knowing that victory was theirs, but there was nothing truly to be celebrated about that victory. The Central, normally a place full of energy, was now a place where tension was so palpable that Lina feared air itself would shatter like a glass if she moved too fast. The only guard's pessimism didn't help, either.

It was all Fenrir's fault. Countless times had she requested for help, for greater support, claiming that the Branch could barely sustain itself, yet she never got more than a pair of the least promising recruits that would only in the luckiest of the cases would survive over a month. And now she found herself in a critical situation. Their numbers so reduced, it was only a matter of time before the Aragami inevitably came down on them and annihilated them all. After that, the remaining lesser cities in the Branch would undoubtedly fall one by one, and thus millions would die.

Was there anything else to do but to ask for help? Even if it her attempts had been futile before, now the situation was truly grim. Either they got help immediately, or they would be erased from existence at a moment's notice. Deciding to bypass any process that would unnecesary delay communications, like asking for authorization to the Branch Director, Lina went straight to said man's office and picked up the commlink through which the Branch contacted the Fenrir central. After a short delay, her call was answered.

-South America Branch now in contact with Fenrir central. What may I help you with?

-This is Lina, Lieutenant and currently highest ranked God Eater in South America Branch. I need urgent help from HQ. We are having problems here. - That was an understatement, she thought.

-Ah, yes, we were notified about the invasion. However, its evolution is unknown to us.

-Long story short, we barely got a pyrrhic victory, and the casualties are so great that I fear we won't survive for long enough if left to our own devices.

-I see. I'll contact you with the Director. He'll inform you of what actions will be taken.

Lina sighed. Bureaucracy sometimes made her want to bang her head against the wall. In a few moments, she communicated to the man in charge of Fenrir as a whole. The man's voice tone was snobbish and utterly obnoxious, but she didn't expect any better. After the formalities, Lina had to retell her story.

-Hmmm... Invasion, destroyed Branch, will die if unsupported. This looks grim. I think sending in the Cleanup Units will solve the issues, madame. - Lina barely resisted the impulse of spitting to the floor.

-Thanks, sir. I appreciate the help.

-You don't have to. I'm only doing my work. - Lina dropped the communication.

The Cleanup Units were famous for their ability to purge a place from any and all Aragami remnants, leaving nothing in their wake.

Lina felt uneasy. Despite the fact that help was coming, she somehow knew things weren't over yet.

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