User blog:Roinelll/God Eater - Solace - Volume 1 - Segment 07

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Kongou Giant

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What's this?

Where am I?

More importantly...

Fear.

It was coursing throughout my body. No, my very existence. I attempted to shake it off, but nothing. It was unrelenting and what concerned me the most. I have completely succumbed to it.

'''I thought, I have already given up on it. Given the fact that I'm on a death row anyways, along with the other that I'm wrought in work that practically screams a death sentence... It was foolish to expect I managed to overcome it...'''

When I went on my first mission and I failed in gaining a good strike on the Ogretail, I ran away. Not because I didn't fear it, but it would be completely foolish to simply lie down and die...

At the other time when Soma kicked me out of the heli, while I could have died if I fell wrong... I wasn't really afraid, just angry.

Even when the Vajra, that annoying grumpy held off... when it decided to jump us with Sakuya, all I knew I had to do something as the fear didn't register.

However for some reason, ever since I met Soma... Fear started to bud in me....

'''How foolish of me, it's not something that you can simply part with. That means grumpy pants just reminded me of something basic, big deal...'''

Maybe, I feel that he'll kill me?

Wrong.

He's not going to kill me, right?

I mean...

Maybe if I never cross his line...

It's all wrong.

I couldn't shake the feeling.

Death will come for me, if I stay around that guy.

Everything felt completely wrong.

No, not just that jerk.

By becoming a God Eater.

I knew that from the beginning, but... This is just now starting to crystallize within me.

And something else hit me then, a confusing and irritating emotion. Or at least that is the conclusion I came to. I tried to pinpoint the source, but failed. Multiple times, as I couldn't separate the unnatural feel. It was like something was gazing at me.

'''No, more like glaring. But, from the inside.'''

... I'm not really making that up...

Okay, that just doesn't make sense right?

Like something was trapped inside me and tried to break out, not caring about what is going to happen to me.

'''But, that is how it felt. That things full intention is trying to break free.'''

Like being observed by something unnatural from the inside, and it decided that action needs to be taken. An action that involved that something planning for me to change. A change, I think I wouldn't have liked for sure.

Someone shook my shoulder to wake me up from than uncomfortable slumber I was having and I opened my eyes to see Lindow. He called and gestured as the heli was landing to get ready to leave the  transport vehicle. As I looked back, I couldn't see a trace of Soma as only Sakuya was present.

'''Did that jerk jump out again? I wouldn't care less if he gets his neck broken.'''

Something was gnaving at me at the back of my mind, making me feel rather irritated by the mere thought of the dark skinned male, that made me wonder for a few moments why. But in the end I just gave up, loosing interest at finding out what can be at it's core.

Lindow and Sakuya were busy packing together the small packs as the heli finally landed and I jumped off from it, heading towards the entrance to finally put my Chupacabra to it's rightful place.

'''Plus it's heavy... I don't want to lug it around much longer. Not to mention I'm tired and probably can't flunk that check-up anyways...'''

I just want to get over it and go to SLE--Gck!!

As I was yawning I almost bit my tongue off, not because I am that clumsy. The reason was simply as I opened the door, from the half open frame something burst out, denting the door doing so, sweeping me off my feet and even carrying back a few meters. For a few seconds I was laying on my back pondering what the hell even happened when the figure that crashed into me started to stir.

"Geez, what the hell did you do pull off? He's losing it, you know?" A cold and barely femine voice calls as the figure stands up, her height not even crossing mines and I'm not exactly a giant myself... She was wearing a blue zircon colored sweater with a hoodie which had fur embellished on it's verges giving it a somewhat wild look.

The hood was actually pulled deep before her face and I could swear that she had some sort of mask on as well, as only her chin and the mouth was visible. What did surprise me is the extremely short pants she had been wearing and that both her arms and legs were fully exposed. That and her skin was white as chalk. Plus she was barefoot... Who goes around barefoot these days?

Erm, another weirdo?

"Incoming!!" I get pulled away by her as a purple wave of energy erupted from the hangar decimating the door doing so, only to barely miss us. Soma showed up from the wrecked entrance holding is empowered God Arc at us, with a clearly enraged expression. He then started to advance on us rather menacingly, swinging his weapon to his back preparing to launch another attack.

'''Wait?! What?! What is going on?'''

"Don't do that, you'll just make him even more angry." Once again I am yanked off my feet, this time barely avoiding a horizontal slash that carries a purple destructive shockwave in it's wave. Part of that attack was blocked by Lindow, behind him the heli fell to pieces as the wave crushed into it with enough force that sent it skidding backwards a few meters.

Lindow then shouted something at the maddened God Eater as he lunged forward, attempting to block the following attack while the pale girl swept me away again to save my hide. Our leader didn't miss the change to push Soma back, who wasn't even looking at him, as he was only focusing at us.

...

At me...

"Seriously Sierra... I'm going to charge you for this if this keeps up." My 'savior' calls as Lindow and Soma clash their God Arc into each other. "It's not going to be cheep, mind you." The pale girl sighed as once again I get pulled away to let the two combatants resolve this.

Lindow was shouting at Soma, who almost snarled at him and just glared back. This time turning his attention and the full brunt of his anger at the black haired leader. Sakuya scowled as she took out her God Arc from it's case then aimed at the two.

'''W-wait?! What is going ON?!'''

Soma bellowed in rage, his head snapping onto me. Immediately brushing past Lindow without a care and lunging towards me.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO STOP THAT?! YOU'RE GOING TO GET US KILLED, YOU STUPID N--!!" I get shouted at from point blank by the girl, who once again rescued me. As she pushes me aside, Soma caught up to us and it while we managed to escape from the initial lethal strike of the Go Arc the follow-up connected with the girl who was kicked away instead of me. Luckily. Or well unluckily for her, as the force of the kick sent her crashing into the damaged heli, bending it's frame from the impact.

I COULD HAVE DIED FROM THAT YOU JERK!!

The dark skinned God Eater howled in rage again, but before he could have struck me down with his weapon Sakuya fired a shot at him that made him stagger. At the point of impact a large sized blue glowing ball stuck onto him, which then exploded hurling Soma away from me. However the orb was still present and after a second exploded again, and again and again. Ending the chain with another explosion finally sending the enraged male tumbling far away.

'''Wasn't that a bit too extreme? I mean, he'll die if you continue, no?'''

'''Though, that wouldn't be that bad... Wouldn't it?'''

Sakuya wasn't taking any chances and quickly changed a cartridge on her God Arc, then aimed at the recovering Soma and before he could once again lunge at me he was restrained by Lindow, who shouted something at Sakuya. Another shot was fired, this time a greenish laser that pierced the two of them.

'''Did she... just kill them?'''

Soma then grumbled something, apparently being snapped back to his senses as he pushed away Lindow. Then without a word, he marched back rather hastily into the hangar through it's damaged entrance giving me a rather wide circle to avoid.

What the hell just happened?!

Is this normal that this jerk is trying to kill somebody?!

The dark skinned God Eater glared at me with an extraordinary amount of hostility before completely dissappearing.

"YOU IDIOT! STOP THIS AT ONCE!!" I get rather forcefully smacked on the back of my head by the pale girl, as she screamed at me for a reason I don't know. As I turn towards her to glare back in response I notice that her clothes are pretty bad banged up, and torn. A part of her hood is also scraped and I could swear a blue-ish or green-ish haircolor is visible from undearneath it. "Seriously?! What is wrong with you? Having a deathwish or what?!"

'''Stop shouting at me... I don't even know what is going on to begin with!'''

I grimace and sigh and I can see the mouth of her starts pouting.

"2.000.000 fc." She says extending an arm, gesturing with an open palm and I blink at her. "I told you it's going to be expensive, didn't I?" As she notices my perplexion, the girl gives a sigh. "The price or me saving you. That's what it is, pay up."

'''Huh?! How do you expect me to have THAT MUC?!'''

I barely have around two thousands to begin with...

Lindow comes to my rescue with a frown as she talks with the girl, who answers back apparently not even bothered by the language change at all. They argue back and forth for a bit, then the girl turns towards me again.

"You got lucky this time, however I would advise you from avoiding that guy in the future." Then with a smirk she adds. "Also thanks for getting Lindow indebted to me, I was looking for such an opportunity for a lo~ng time." With such a cheerful answer, the pale girl turns around and starts walking away.

Who was she anyway?!

She's not normal in many ways...

I look at the part of the heli that 'softened' her impact and can see the frame bent around and at points even snapped from the contact. Pieces of her torn cloths are still stuck on the sharp edges of the frame, or lying scattered around on the ground. Though there is no blood, not even on the sharp protruding edges.

'''She's definiately not normal, a normal human wouldn't have survived THAT... Another weird God Eater, huh?'''

Lindow then nudges me to collect Chupacabra, that fell on the ground when I was initially washed away from the girl's impact. So I do and start to follow the two other God Eaters into the hangar to deposit our weapons.

That guy is going to get a helluva scolding, I bet.

I think with a grin, though it immediately subsides as the follow-up occurs to me.

I'm going to have checked-out don't I?...

With a grimace and a frown I place my God Arc into it's place, where it gets locked down until recovery is finished.

The next morning was literally killing me...

Ugh, I feel sick.

And that's probably the understatement of the century. I can't even begin to describe how awful it is... It doesn't help me either that I took a shower, or I ate something trying to get over with it.

'''Seems like, this will be a shitty day... for sure...'''

Well, grumbling doesn't help me in any case, let's see what is up...

As I return to my room and check the available missions list, I notice that there is nothing. With a sigh, along with more grumbling I curse inwardly.

'''Okay, I get it that I can't go alone on Missions because I'm a newbie, but this is still annoying... Sure this Branch is probably over taxed by the sheer workload it gets, but this is still--'''

As I'm poking around the terminal, I find something that slipped me before.

Training Missions?!

...

'''I can go train?! Why haven't I found this one earlier?!'''

Immediately I go and register myself and then hurry out of my room with a wide grin. I can't wait to see how these things work out. Ah wait, I have to report to Tsubaki for the training, but...

'''I... didn't think this one through completely... Now did I?'''

Nevertheless, I turn up in the lobby and go to the counter where Hibari greets me with a smile. I learned her name the other day from Brendan to be honest. Licca was talking to the merchant beside the counter at the feet of the right sides stairs as she was purchasing something, otherwise the whole floor was empty beside us.

As I ponder on how can I convey what I want to do, Hibari asks me something that sounds very much like 'Training' and I nod hastily. She then types away something at her terminal and gives me a small map and points at a location on it. As I check it, I can see that from the hangar where the weapons are stored one of the elevators can bring you to a different floor than the Branch's elevator stops on.

With a smile I nod back and take the paper. I go up to stairs while nodding a greeting to Licca too and exit through the exit. I go and grab my Chupacabra and walk towards the side where a door is supposed to lead to the training room.

"You aren't allowed to leave on your own." Brendan calls to me, who just apparently returned from a mission with his team mates, Tatsumi and a pink haired girl holding a gun even larger than Eric had. Gun? That was practically a mortar... I blink at the green dressed girl, she's wearing a black sleeveless shirt underneath it with black leggings reaching till his knee and white boots.

'''Is going around with a cannon like that even allowed?! I mean that's bigger than her... God Dammit, and I'm stuck with this stick of mines... If jealousy would cause death...'''

"You've met with Tatsumi before, she's Kanon Daiba. Where are you headed?" Brendan asks again, and I hold up the piece of paper and point at the location. I'm glad that Hibari gave this to me. "Training? Mind if I accompany you?" I nod to him in response, any help is good to be honest.

With that he turns to his allies and has a short talk as the three of them deposit their weapons. Brendan himself has a large weapon almost the size of Soma's, though his weapon is more like a large piece of stump metal in my opinion. While Tatsumi has a smaller bladed weapon than his, even smaller than Lindow's was. Though it's size is still almost as large as it's wielders even with those measures.

"You've registered for a training mission because everyone else was busy right? That's good, however you shouldn't overexcert yourself. You're still haven't fully recovered from your exhausted state and you took two missions yesterday, did you not?"

I nod in disapproval, getting scolded is annoying after all... However we do get to the door at the side of the hangar and open it to see a lift inside. As we enter, Brendan pushes two buttons on the elevator and we begin our descent.

"I'll be stepping out a level higher. I'll be coordinating you alongside with Major Tsubaki. Normally God Eaters are trained in simulated missions before they are released into active duty, however your case is special..." Brendan calls and I turn my head in interest towards him.

'''Wait, does he know something that I shouldn't be privy... Or...?'''

"Sierra." He starts with a pause right after that, and I decide to give him time enough. I couldn't have hurried him up anyways... "There is a reason why you have to go on mandatory check-ups after each mission, you know?"

Yeah, I got that from the Director already.

With a nod and a calm smile, I try to reassure Brenden who frowns in turn.

"So you know, however do you know why you have to go on missions also?" He asks and I'm staring back at him in surprise.

To kill Aragami, no? Though, how the hell do I explain it to him?

"I guess you don't know it completely then, later I'll explain it to you..." As the lift opens up, he steps out and leaves me to advance another floor downward. There I step out and see a large room, even larger than it was with the Aptitude Test. Actually I can't see to find the end with my sight and I marvel at it.

'''With even more gun/blade scratches all around... So this is the training grounds, huh?'''

"Sierra, prepare yourself for combat training. As I stated earlier, we'll be conducting a simulated mission in this area. You'll face Aragami replicas, however do not let your guard down as they aren't any weaker than the originals you face out there. Good Luck!"

Okay.

'''This is... AWESOME!!'''

The room starts to vibrate and change into something else. A wasteland, something just like it is outside. If I could whistle, I would do so as I marvel at it. Then a roar echoes and I see in front of me an Ogretail.

"This should be pretty basic Sierra. Take down the Ogretail, however don't let your guard down. While you can't get injured, it will count as a mission failure." Brendan explains over a loud speaker as the Aragami starts to charge at me. I nod in agreement and switch Chupacabra quickly into the pole form and immediately into the pincer form.

As the beast charges at me, when it gets in range it performs a jump and I quickly step aside it's pounce. I swing at it my weapon, trying to snap it shut to deal a large amount of damage, but it doesn't work. The Ogretail spins around and it's tail is about to strike me, when the wasteland and the monster starts to fade away.

"Sierra." Brendan starts as the room starts to resume the wasteland once again. "That would have meant your death would this have been a real mission. Be careful and do it again."

It's not my fault that Chupacabra didn't work!!

I bet it's acting up again...

I grumble as the Ogretail shows up again. With a roar the beast runs towards me and once again I side step the pounce with ease, I swing Chupacabra again and try to deal some damage to it with the pincer, but it's not working again. So, instead of being baffled like before I manage to step back and avoid the spinning move of the Aragami just in time. As the beast follows up with it's attacks, I dodge the bites, occasional jumps and spike volleys with ease.

'''Well yea, I spent a lot of time watching the video files and remembering the patterns. It's quite easy to see the moves and dodge in time actually...'''

"Sierra, is there a problem with your God Arc?" Brendan asks as during the evasion moves I'm trying to get in hits, but they aren't effective at all. Soon the Ogretail vanishes along with the projected image of the wasteland. "You should have let it checked out by Licca if it is malfunctioning, that's a dangerous liability as a God Eater."

I point towards my weapon, then shrug. After all, even the Director said that they don't know about my weapon either. Plus she had it checked out after the missions yesterday and I think she didn't found any problems with it. I mean, I could take it with me here, so it should be fine.

"Hmm, while this isn't quite a normal situation how about this Sierra?" Brendan seemed to ponder on this for a while before continuing. "Licca will later get a look at your God Arc, in the meantime you should try to practice avoiding the attacks of other Aragami as well.  As your Chupacabra lacks a shield part, it is imperative that you learn to dodge attacks."

I nod in agreement as the landscape is changing and a broken city manifests around me.

"Let's do multiple Ogretails this time, shall we?" Brendan asks and I nod with a grin.

Ready to roll!!

I am aware that I can't get suddenly super good at this, now can I? So, I prolonged the training session as much I could. Against a single Aragami be that an Ogretail, a Cocoon Maiden or a Zygote, I could handle my own even if it was just avoiding attacks. Well obviously the Maidens were the easiest to dodge, while the Zygotes were rather hard with their high mobility and ability to fly.

By the end I could get a mere 1 in 10 'death' in solo encounters. Though while that is still not good enough, for the beginning it's not bad. The problem was that fighting multiple enemies took a rather large toll on me, as while I was able to keep an eye on one enemy... usually the other finished me off with ease.

My ratio had gotten super worse in that regard, though Brendan did congratulate me as seemingly I was nimble enough to survive that far alone with only attempting to evade. Though interestingly when he suggested mixed groups of Aragamis to fight, it was still a bad situation until I figured out something. Even if they are replicas they are programmed to act like the originals.

Meaning, I could lure them into each other and since I wasn't on the offensive the Aragami often turned unto each other, a sight that was both weird and exciting to see. For a few long hours I did practice varied simulated missions ranging from trying to sneak around, to blatantly challenge an Aragami and escape from it to gather experience.

Following the 'small' categorized Aragamis, I was then given a taste of the 'medium' size as well... The Gboro-Gboro I could evade roughly for three minutes before 'dying'. A Kongou served as a practice for sneaking, as I had to learn to move as silently as possible. The annoying monkey monsters had freaking sharp hearing, much like a Zygotes do.

Chi-You on the other hand wasn't as hard to evade until it decided simply to fly around or attempting to punch and kick me, the problem was when it started either to throw energy bombs at me, or outright performing an Energy Blast. So yeah, from this trio I could say the worst compatibility with me is the Kongou...

And the current situation isn't being better actually, I've pushed the training even further. I've managed to get my thought across on simulating another opponent, something that I just faced recently. In the end another failure happened as the last attack connected and I grimace as the simulation fades away for the fourth time in a row. With a very quick failure.

"Sierra, that's enough for now. You've became pretty nimble, however it's unsafe to push it this much." Brendan warns me for the day for the umptieth time. And I can't blame him, I mean I was quite stubborn as this session was going on for almost 10 hours already. "Still, you had a lot of failures already, though also made major steps forward. Face it Sierra currently, a Vajra is out of your league." He tries to talk me out of it, but I shake my head and raise my index finger to signal for a last run. Literally, the last run. "When you're on a mission you can't push yourself farther than you can bring it. Doing so doesn't only endanger your own self, but the safety of the team you are a part of. Which not only can have fatal consequences, but that's a responsibility you cannot shirk away." I get lectured again as the room once again turns into a lush green field until the eye can see with grass reaching till to my knees.

Oversized thunder kitty on steroids: 15. Me: barely 2 minutes and end up as a meatball...

...

It didn't matter that I've used all things in my disposal in attempting of dodging and escaping as long as I could possibly do. That giant Aragami was far too fast for me. I've seen a few of the videos on combating these monsters, but these are far too dangerous... for me anyways. Well I should be fine as lone I don't stumble into one, right?

...

However the session had to be terminated by the order of Major Tsubaki, well at least Brendan explained that to me. Not like I was against it by that point as exhaustion was getting to me real good anyways. So I did as instructed and returned to the hangar and deposited my God Arc in it's rightful place. Licca immediately started to run a check on it and I returned to my room, for the day with NO CHECK-UPS!!

WHOO-HOO!!

With an obvious smile I head back to my room to get some sleep finally.

Another morning came where I'm waken up by a rather loud knocking on my door.

"Are you dead yet?" I can hear the voice of grumpy from the outside and my mood instantly goes sour.

What is he doing here?

"You have 5 minutes to get ready, you're going on a mission with Kota. If you're late even one second, you'll wish not to have gotten up at all." I'm getting warned/threatened/advised and then silence falls.

Uhm, okay so I have to be there asap, I got that.

Hastily I get up, throw my clothes on and descend to the lobby. Not even two minutes went past. When I get there Kota is sitting at a seat near the stairways and Soma is glaring at me from the other end of the elevator.

Please, don't tell me he is going to attack me.

His glare intensifies, as he starts advancing on me. As I start to panic on what to do, then the dark skinned God Eater brushes past me and enters the elevator much to my relief. Kota stands up and walks in front of me and starts talking to me.

Uhm, haven't you got the memo that I don't do Moonies?

His expressions and words change constantly as he is talking about various things, probably. Then he starts babbling about Sakuya with a heated expression and gestures.

'''Figures... this guy's getting the hots for her, huh?... Why am I not impressed?'''

As Kota finishes high rather high spirited really one sided monologue with a fist pump, he then turns around and opens the door to the hangar where we grab out respective weapons.

'''OH COME ON!!! Even he gets a gun?!'''

... God hates me, I know...

'''Seriously if jealousy would be lethal... I could have died a few dozen times already...'''

A heli is waiting for us, already preparing to take off and as soon the two of us entered the machine does lift off. Kota is talking non-stop sometimes I can hear names of other God Eaters from him, while at times he tends to repeat something like 'Bugaralli' or what.

I wonder how this chatterbox can stay alive as a God Eater?

Or maybe, he'll survive just because he can even scare away the Aragami with his attitude?

Our ride is actually really short. We had flown roughly a quarter hour until we reached our destination, somewhere north east from the Branch itself. It was on a higher level area, where we had been dropped off was looking like a temple built in the side of a mountain. It was a bit of cold and snow was falling slowly, yet apparently it didn't bother Kota.

'''Okay, he is under-dressed for this weather, but how isn't he affected? I'm freezing my ears off and this red-head is babbling NON-STOP!!!'''

As we look around to ascertain our position of return, a roar echoes in the distance followed by two other. My head perks up as Kota suddenly jumps off the small plateau we were standing on and rushes off with a grin. He calls to me cheerfully and I reluctantly follow him.

'''I'm his support and he rushes head first into three Ogretails... Why is he so reckless?'''

At the sound of gun-fighting, I quicken my pace and run up the stairs. All around us there are various buildings carved into stone and make an impressive sight in this weather to be honest. That is when I notice Kota, who is cheerfully firing with his God Arc at an Ogretail in front of him.

His shots are rather flashy, as three bullets are released with each pull of the trigger, two smaller ones circling a somewhat larger bullet. However as I watch it more closely, only the center bullet does impact. The other two are nothing more than decorations...

What's the point of that then?!

Meanwhile the two other Ogretails are circling to Kota's back, trying to take him down as he relentlessly rapid fires down their third member of the small pack. Well, not like I'm going to let them attack my partner, now do I?

'''Oh, no you don't!! Why don't you try chewing on this?'''

I grab a Stun grenade from my belt and throw it between the two Ogretails, blinding them for a few seconds. Without even pausing his continuous shooting Kota shouts at me a 'Sank Yuu' and I cringe at the broken english he uses, still I change the form of my weapon through the stages from compact to pole and finally into pincer.

As one of the Ogretails is still circling around, I decide to turn my attention on the other one which is raising its tail to release a spike volley at the gunner. I rush in and make it in time before the spikes are launched, managing to remove the tail by snapping the pincers shut. As the beast howls in rage, it turns around to smack me with the tail, yet as it is missing now the attack not only fails, but also sends the Aragami sprawled on the ground as it lost it's balance.

Using that to my advantage once again, I use Chupacabra to remove one of the legs of the downed Ogretail rendering it non-combat ready. The now immobilized Aragami is spinning round and round as it tries to recover, very much like the one Lindow disabled in our first mission. Another howl signals that Kota also managed to down his opponent like wise and I turn towards the bullet hole riddled monster and nod in awe.

'''Really now... Why couldn't I be a gunner myself? I wanted to make beehives out of these monsters too...'''

As I pout I notice that the last Ogretail prepares to pounce at me. With the rush of power that is still coursing through me after the attacks on my first target, I easily avoid the jump and even sneak in an attack myself leaving a long and deep gash on the side of the Aragami. The surging feel of power instantly refreshes and I let a grin loose.

I'm really going to get addicted to this.

I duck under the spinning tail of the Aragami, then use the pincer to snap that ones tail off just like the earlier targets. The tail-less Ogre roars and attempts to jump at me, but I step aside and the attack fails. Plus just like the one before it, goes down in a hilarious sight.

With a grin, I walk closer and cut down a leg of the beast which is immobile just like the other one. Kota then walks to me with first a grin, then a cheerful shout followed by a pout, then a shrug and another cheery exclamation which I didn't quite understand.

'''O~kay... So what's with him?'''

I scratch my head and look at the still babbling and heavily gesturing and articulating God Eater beside me, apparently he is trying to retell the fight we were in just now.

'''Umh... I was just here and not counting the first few shots, saw everything...'''

Once again I scratch my head as apparently Kota is not planning on stopping to talk either. Well he is a rather cheerful guy, so who am I to stop him? Don't think I would be able to anyways... Kota then touches my shoulder and points at the Ogretails, well the ones without their name sake that I handled. The one he had beaten wasn't moving and from the bullet riddled body a black smoke was rising, just like from the removed body parts of my two tail-less Ogres.

He then repeats the same word Lindow said to me a few times, which makes me frown. Well, no time to ponder as I walk towards the smoking corpse of the Ogretail the gunner took down. I try to imitate the movement Lindow performed when he took the core from the body, however nothing happens.

Just as usual the pincer doesn't want to snap and I standing there looking pretty dumb I bet as I try again and again, only to fail. Kota then uses a questioning tone as she talks to me, but I just shake my head and shrug in response. Even I don't know why it doesn't work. That is when he gestures to the remaining ones and I give a shrug, but walk to the one closest to me.

Should we rename these guys into Ogrespin?

I snicker inwardly as I raise Chupacabra above it, the Aragami howls in rage and almost manages to stand up only to fall back to the ground and erupt in an even wilder spinning. Now this is a moment where I wish to have the ability to laugh, I would definiately laugh my ass off for sure.

Still, I steel myself again and resolve to strike down the Ogretail, but as I bring down my God Arc to my shock it starts screaming in an annoying voice. I mean my Chupacabra as it digs into the body of the grounded Aragami. That is when I notice a wrenching pain course through my right arm, which I am holding onto the grip of my God Arc.

What the actual F...

I quickly pull back, attempting to release Chupacabra however my hand is stuck. The pain intensifies and gives me strength at the same time. As I wrench it finally open, I can see the same phenomenon that transpired with the Zygote two days earlier. Inside the tightly shut pincers there is the core of the Ogretail, which goes limp with its removal.

No one told me this thing actually hurts like hell!!

I grimace, and use my God Arc as a leverage to be able to stand upright. Kota quickly steps towards me and pulls a small pill out of his pockets. Then he slips it into my mouth and I swallow it, soon some of the pain does start to subside leaving me with a rather painful stinging feeling coming from my right arm.

I'm starting to hate my job.

The gunner then shouts and points towards my Chupacabra, then we both stare at it in awe as the pincers move. Move and eat the core of the Ogretail. Literally crunching it to bits between the jagged forceps like parts which then disappears. We both stare at the event as it unfolds before us, then Kota starts questioning me.

Yeah, even without going all mooney myself, I know what he is asking.

Probably, that is...

Not like I have an answer though, well something like this did happen earlier didn't it with the Zygote?

Kota then asks me something and points towards the other spinning Aragami, which makes me cringe.

'''No way in HELL!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH THIS HU--!!'''

I so want to shout at Kota, when the Ogretail roars in rage then something suddenly flattens the immobilized Aragami under it's feet. Naturally it was another Aragami, one of a larger kind than the 'small' ones. Me and Kota stare at the newcomer in disbelief as the Aragami roars at us.

It was an Aragami which is categorized as 'medium' according to the NORN Database. namely Kongou. It has an ape-like build with great agility and is quite fierce in their attacks. Their specially however lies in their hearing as from great ranges they can identify possible targets and hunt them down. Usually they appear in packs and have high level of coordinated attacks, but to our luck this specimen was alone.

The red masked face housed black eyes with yellow iris' which were glaring at the two of us. The fur on it's golden brown body was more like armor, and the four giant tubes of it's back were actually something like a mortar that launched compressed air blasts. The wide mouth of the Aragami opened with a furious roar.

"KONGOU!!" Kota shouts the obvious as the monstrous monkey like Aragami hunches forward, the pipes at his back starting to gather into them the surrounding air and I know we have to scram, before it is blasted right at us. Both me and Kota split in the same moment, barely a second before the air strike plunges into the ground where we stood before momentarily.

The Aragami glares at us and raises and arm high in the the air and I know what is going to happen. While Kota is priming his weapon at the Kongou, I run in to the backside of it, sliding right under the right armed tackle move and using my Chupacabra to give it a nasty gash into it's legs. The Aragami howls in anger, the air starting to get sucked in violently from the vicinity.

That's when I quickly step back, using the power surge from the freshly gained burst of power dodging the circular blast of wind emanating in the area closely around the monkey monster. Kota seizes the chance to fire a few shots at it, but then shouts and I look into his direction. He is rummaging with a hand around his clothing for something as the Kongou changes the gunner into its target.

THAT'S A TERRIBLE TIMING TO RUN OUT OF BULLETS!!

I cringe and lunge forward trying to deal some damage before the Aragami can advance on the preoccupied God Eater. Suddenly the Kongou does a jump back, colliding into me and sweeping me off my feet. With a roar, then it starts to spin around a few times just barely missing me with its outstretched hands as Kota finally manages to find a capsule and eats it with haste.

As the Kongou starts to trudge towards him on all fours the gunner opens fire at it, making the beast stagger backwards a step and halting it's advance. I'm taking that chance to stand up and walk to the behind of the monkey. I know that the tail is a weak-spot for it and helps it to counterbalance it's weight when using some of its move, which means it is going to have to be removed.

Using Chupacabra, I lash out quickly and snap the tail off before getting blasted away from a descending ball of air blast. I didn't notice when was it released, I was so focused on impairing the Aragami though to my luck it wasn't a direct hit.

Still hurts like hell...

I grimace as the Kongou spins around quickly to face me, it's stinking breath leaving visible stains in the air as I am glared at with extreme ferocity. It doesn't matter that Kota is pummeling the body with his bullets as the monkey seemingly ignores them and raises its right arm to launch another attack.

Suddenly it leaps into the air towards me, and starts rolling while doing so to improve the moves destructive power. I flatten myself to the ground and barely escape as it zooms past above me and lands only a short while away. Quickly recovering myself I make some distance between us, when it starts to trudge towards me with even larger agility than before.

Trying to grab the offense, I lash out at the Kongou, but it jumps back with haste. One of the shots that Kota fired just barely zooming past me and I look in surprise at the gunner, who seems to be apologizing to me. That is when I adjust our standing so I shouldn't get into either the crossfire or being misfired at by my ally.

The Kongou then leaps up to one of the temples top and disappears from our sight in a hurry. As we wait a few minutes with spanned nerves the monkey doesn't seem to show it's face.

Did it run away?

Maybe it would be the best if we take our leave also.

I gesture for Kota to leave silently, using my fingers across my lips for him and this time the gunner simply nods back.

'''So he DOES know how to keep silent. Phew, I was afraid that he'll be the end of us.'''

As silently we are able to, we're leaving in the direction where the pickup is going to wait for us, but then I freeze in thought. I quickly gesture towards Kota and he comes over, and while it's not my forte to explain myself with gestures I manage to make him understand quite easily, probably he was thinking the very same.

'''A Kongou has superb hearing, it will hear the heli from far away and attack it or making our retrieval unexpectedly hard. Especially if this one should return with allies as the Kongou are normally pack oriented...'''

Kota pulls out a phone and with as low a voice as possible gives a quick report. As the Operator hears our situation, we are urged to wait apparently. We do so until the communicator of Kota suddenly gives sign and the both of us shudder. He quickly lowers the volume and I hope the Aragami didn't notice it.

When it seems that the coast is still clear, he returns the call on the communicator and nods a few times. Kota then gestures towards me and we start to move towards the feet of the mountain away from the tranquil looking temples and snowy area. The hike is rather long, I would say roughly about a hour or slightly more. But in the end we do arrive at the evacuation spot where the heli is already landed.

Around it both the pilot and co-pilot are on the lookout with another God Eater. To my relief it was Brendan who was there and not a certain angel of death.

"Good job you two, and sound judgement on not pursuing the Kongou." He calls as he walks closer, I can notice the remains of a fight and some smaller craters here and there. It seems it wasn't a completely safe location for them, though I am glad we are getting picked up nevertheless. "Sierra, your God Arc ate the core of an Ogretail?" Brenden asks me in all seriousness and I stare back at him, then nod. Both Kota and I saw that it crunched and swallowed the pieces. "Did it do anything else?"

''It hurt like hell, I though the pain is going to kill me. Does devouring always come with such pain?'' I write it into the ground and his brows furrow.

"Come back with us, you're going to get a thorough examination. And your Chupacabra as well." Brenden turns around and calls for the pilot, who quickly gets back into the aerial vehicle and starts its engine.

'''Great... MORE CHECKUPS...'''

In the distance the Kongou roars in fury, and the two of us battered God Eaters quickly enter the heli and it takes off as soon as possible. Just in time to see in the distance two Kongous advancing, one of them has numerous wounds on its body and is missing the tail. The one we fought with previously.

Yeah, it was definiately a good idea to escape...

---

End of chapter 2016,03,29

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