User blog:Baluar/God Eater: Fall of the Heavens, chapter 33: The Eye of the Hurricane

Following up with the trend on naming chapters...

I don't have to explain anything here, right? :V

They had walked for hours, yet there were no Aragami in sight. The unnatural calm was unsettling... every single one of them expected to be surrounded by Aragami. And yet... nothing near. Nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to smell.

It was as if the area had been thoroughly cleansed of any and all Aragami that might have been there. There was nothing but rubble... no matter where they went, there was nothing.

They decided to head towards the remnants of the Branch's center, to see if there was anything there. None of them expected to see any survivors, but maybe some Aragami lurked in what used to be the strongest human fortress in hundreds of kilometers around.

As most God Eaters entered the desecrated remnants of the once-shining Pit (as the Branch center was named), Lina stopped in the place where the reinforced door stood. She thought... she knew she heard something. It surprised her to find out she was the only one that noticed it, especially when surrounded with people whose hearing sense would leave that of a dog to shame.

-You're not gonna enter? - Nia asked Lina.

-I've heard something. You go on, I'll stay and guard the entrance. I'll shout and let you know if anything happens to show up.

-Fair enough. - The gigantic woman answered. Afterwards, she turned and entered the fortress, darkness engulfing her after she took a few steps.

For an hour, more or less, Lina didn't hear anything. There was only the wind... it was a cold night, indeed. Lina had no troubles with some cold every now and then.

As she was immersed in her thoughts, an inhuman screech resonated through the desolated wastes of the Branch, alerting her of an imminent danger and returning her to reality.

Despite being much faster than the average God Eater, she could barely dodge the initial stab by parrying the dagger with her God Arc.

As her attacker recoiled, Lina had enough time to look at what - or rather, who - she was facing.

It was the very image of insanity. The woman's clothes were torn, her hair was a disorganized mess, and her eyes showed a degree of irrevocable insanity Lina wouldn't think possible, if she hadn't seen it.

The madwoman tried to stab her enemy again. However, now alerted of her enemy, Lina had no problems dodging the clumsy attack, disarming her opponent and grounding her in one swift motion. Keeping the madwoman immobilized with her left arm, Lina shouted:

-I am not your enemy!

Something resembling a laugh exited the woman's mouth as a tentacle sprouted from her chest and threw Lina far away, separating her from the God Arc. She just barely had time to recover and land on her feet before the thing that attacked her approached and tried to impale her with a tentacle that sprouted from where the left eye used to be. Resisting the urge to vomit, Lina grabbed the tentacle and used it as leverage to throw the monstrosity away. However, the creature retained some degree of intelligence, and grounded itself a scarce few meters away by using a third tentacle which outright caused her leg to explode.

Lina realized she had only a few minutes before the monstrosity grew to become some unknown Aragami. Every moment was precious. She ran as fast as she could and grabbed her God Arc before rolling to the ground. She used the Spear to make her opponent fall, and as the monster rose up, she devoured it whole.

-Fucking hell, this is really, really, really bad. I need to check up on the others!

She lost no time and ran inside the Pit, darkness swallowing her whole after just a few steps.

She didn't notice the sound that echoed after she left. It sounded like a deep voice giggling.

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