User blog:Baluar/God Eater: Fall of the Heavens, chapter 27: Event Horizon

"... a boundary in spacetime beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer. In layman's terms, it is defined as the point of no return..."


 * - Wikipedia on an Event Horizon

The battle had lasted for too long. No matter how many Aragami they killed, no matter how many of them fell down, more seemed to appear.

Lina was exhausted. It had been hour after hour of doing nothing but slashing, piercing, shooting and killing, and yet no sort of end to the nightmare was close. In fact, if there was anything resembling an ending to the endless waves of Aragami, it might have been anything but close.

She would have vocalized her exhaustion, she would have let the rest of her teammates know that she was but minutes away from collapsing, completely defenseless. But before she could, she felt a pain unlike any other... and found herself flying in the air. She landed a few meters away from Baluar, and quickly began to lose her consciousness. Her eyes began to see nothing but red, and she instinctively knew she had cut herself with a rock when she fell.

Baluar was busy fighting when he heard a loud "thwack" noise a few meters away from him. He took a quick side glance to make sure it was an Aragami... and, unfortunately, it was no Aragami. Lina was lying on the ground, blood pouring quickly from several wounds in her body. Mixed emotions flashed in his head, but he detached himself and instead began to think logically. None of the wounds was severe enough to kill her, but if not given any kind of treatment quickly enough she would bleed to death.

Baluar killed the Vajra standing in front of him with a quick slash of his sword, then he extracted something of his pocket and threw it to Lina. An OG: Restore Ball should at the very least heal some of the wounds.

-Everyone! - Nanako and Lyrr turned around for a fraction of a second, for diverting their attention from the fight for any period of time longer than that was suicidal. - I have to take Lina somewhere safe.

-Where is there safety? We're surrounded by Aragami in every direction. - Lyrr shouted while keeping his eyes on the relentless Aragami hordes. He kept on shooting and shooting.

-I'll leave her in the remnants of the plane. With some luck, the Aragami will continue ignoring it and focus on us.

-You have two minutes, Bal! - Nanako said. - We can't afford to spend any more time. Every second counts.

-As if I didn't know that already... - Baluar picked up Lina and began to run as fast as possible towards the crash place. The plane was mostly intact... yet there was little chance that it would take off. Its engines were destroyed. Baluar dropped Lina on the seats and quickly checked her body for any wounds. There was a serious looking wound in her left leg, which would probably kill her of blood loss in a few minutes. Baluar took one of his precious Restore Pill S and forcefully made Lina swallow it. While the blood loss did reduce significantly, it didn't stop. - Dammit. - He then remembered there was a small box of emergency medical supplies in the plane, and decided there was nothing to lose checking there. Fortunately for him, there was a potent Elixir Pill S, which would not only heal wounds but would also increase the amount of Oracle Cells in her organism, which in her unconscious condition probably meant she'd heal faster. Again, he forced the pill down on Lina's throat, and to make sure he left some bandage over the leg before returning to the battlefield.

Nanako and Lyrr still held their ground, fortunately, but for how long? There was no end to the Aragami horde.

Time had lost its meaning. It was as if the entire life of the God Eaters was nothing but that battle, slashing, shooting, occasionaly devouring. Time had lost its meaning...


 * ...for there was only violence...


 * ...only blood...


 * ...Aragami bodies spread throughout the battle...


 * ...more Aragami appeared to replace the dead...


 * ...and the battle raged on...


 * ...devoid of any meaning, of any reason...


 * ...survival in its purest form...


 * ...there was nothing but the enemy and them...


 * ...no distractions, just them and whatever stood before them...


 * ...Baluar could vaguely remember being hit hard in the shoulder, but he couldn't remember when it happened, or in what shoulder, for that matter...


 * ...Nanako and Lyrr already had their hands numb from so much shooting...


 * ...the hordes finally seemed to become thinner, somehow...


 * ...but they were still countless, more than an average God Eater would ever see in an entire year...


 * ...and yet there they were, bleeding, fighting, losing, winning...


 * ...what happened didn't matter anymore, it just had to end...


 * ...survival itself was now nothing but a distant dream, a thing which had once been their goal and was now nothing but a passing thought...


 * ...and yet, Aragami still appeared...


 * ...and despite the fact that all said they should be dead, there they were, fighting, killing, dying, living, shooting, slashing...


 * ...devoid of meaning, just fighting for fighting's sake...


 * ...practically reduced to a routine, just another monster to slash, just another beast to kill, just another Aragami...


 * ...and time just passed away and away, as they could do nothing but kill or die...


 * ...until finally there were no more beasts.

They couldn't give credit to their eyes. The land they stood on wasn't land, but it was an accumulation of Aragami bodies, one piled up over the other, all of them white. The overall impression when standing there was that of standing in a field of bones... an image that was not quite unfitting for their situation.

-It's over. - Baluar said, void of any emotion. It was a mere statement.

-We've won, it seems. - Lyrr pointed.

-I have to eat something... - Nanako said. - Anything.

-All of us have to, miss Kawashima. - Lyrr replied. - But where are we supposed to get any food, or drink, or rest for that matter.

-Wait a minute. - Baluar said. - Where's Lina?

Instinctively, they all turned towards the crashed plane's remnants, and while Nanako and Lyrr didn't recognize it, Baluar sure as hell did.

It was another white monster. Another beast, similar to the one that had attacked Baluar back when he was returning to the South America Branch's Central, with a God Arc-ish weapon and an intelligence on pair with that of a human, but with a monstrous appearance which reflected its inner evil.

Lina was in more danger now than she ever was when battling Aragami hordes, and Baluar knew it.

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