User blog:Roinelll/Solace 3-04

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Rusted Edge

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Nothing beats running for your life from an enraged Chi-You, being chased through the remains of a once bustling city and covering for dear life. Seeing how everything falls literally apart as you and your foolish partner that caused this mess try to make an escape.

Well, that pretty much sums it up, right?

-Kota, come in!- We can hear Hibari through some static. -Can you hear me?-

"Y-yeah!" The gunner panted, relieved that we managed to get away from the Aragami. "Let me catch my breath first, can I?"

... If you weren't such a hothead and rush into things without thinking, we wouldn't have had such problems in the first place...

-There were reports of merchants being attacked in the area by Aragami. We've warned them countless times that it's not a safe route to pass through, but they didn't heed them.- We can hear the Operator tapping away and reading from the monitor in front of her. -What did you two encounter?-

"It was a Chi-You." Beside me Kota straightens himself, looking in the direction of the rampaging flier. "With a really short fuse, to be honest. I've not seen one raging around like this before."

Another case with uncontrollable rage?

This doesn't bode well.

-That's strange, what did you do to go berserk?- Hibari questions and I can see the boy sweat drop.

"I've... used a mole on it." He admits, head hanging low a little.

-Mole?-

"It's a bullet recipe I found on one of the boards for veterans, it works like the name suggests. Digging through the ground and then exploding under the feet of an Aragami."

-I see.- The Operator hums for a bit, then taps away on her console checking something. -But even with that, it shouldn't have became enraged like this.-

In the distance I notice that one of the wings is moving sluggish a bit. I take a step to the more open area to take a better look, but Kota grabs my arm and pulls me back.

"W-what are you doing Sierra?!" He shouts, panicked.

-What's wrong with her, Kota?-

"She just stood up and left our cover, we've been running for minutes until we finally managed to loose the Aragamis trail. And now she just up and wants to engage it again? That's suicide."

I just want to take a better look, it's not like I'm going to die.

-How far are you two from the Chi-You?-

"A couple hundred meters, I guess." The gunner answers, surprised by the question. "Why?"

-Then it's fine, the Chi-You doesn't have such a sharp sight. But do not get too much closer.- Hibari answers and Kota looks at me.

"You knew this?" I nod back at him, so he finally lets go of my arm. "Sorry, but don't get it's attention."

What are you talking about, I'll just take a few steps and take a better look.

As I did so, I could now make out that the left arm of the flier was indeed damaged, part of the feathers had been cracked or even right out ripped from their socket. Plus all over the body there were scratch and burn marks. I turned back to Kota and called him with an arm gesture.

"What is it Sierra?" He came to stand by my side as I pointed towards the Aragami. "Yes, there is the Chi-You. And?"

'''What do you mean, 'And'?? Can't you see?'''

I pointed my finger once again at the avian, but all I got was the boy raising his eyebrows in question.

This isn't getting us nowhere.

I raised my left arm and pointed at it, then back to the Aragami. I've repeated this a few times, until I noticed a light of realization spark in his eyes.

"You hurt yourself when running from it?" He asks and I facepalm out right, before shaking my head and pointing at my left arm then back at the Chi-You. "Come on!" He whines a bit. "I can't understand you at all..."

-Kota?- Hibari tries to help out. -What's happening?-

"Sierra is pointing to her arm and at the Chi-You repeatedly, but I don't know what she wants at all..." Kota admits and I sigh inwardly as my shoulders slump. Then an idea hits me and I drop on my knees and start to scratch a rushed picture into the ground. "And now she is drawing something."

-Sierra is probably trying to tell you something, watch closely Kota.- The Operator advised the gunner, who then gives more attention on what I'm doing. -So, what do you see?-

"Her drawing is terrible." He says bluntly but I don't care, I know that my artistic skill is zero. "But, I think it is the Chi-you and something happened to it." He scratches his head. "Or not? I can't really understand it." My head sinks as I give up... This is a bad match up for sure.

-Was the Chi-You injured when you found it?- Hibari suddenly asked. -Sierra was pointing at her arm and then to it in the first place. It would also explain why did it get enraged when you've used the mole bullet.-

"Injured? We didn't see that much, after it broke down the wall we just ran away." Kota admits, then is hit by something. "We did hear some sort of fight going on behind the wall between two Aragami. It was probably then when it has gotten injured."

I then pointed back at the picture on the ground and erased the part of the damaged wing with my hand, as an idea formed in my mind how can we take it down. Kota on the other hand was just staring at me and not getting a clue. I pouted, stood up and hit him on the left arm.

"Ow! Stop it that hurt!" He grabbed his hurting arm. The corner of my eyes twitch, then I turn around and point my God Arc at the Chi-You and press the button that signals converge. "I understand that you are frustrated Sierra, but what can we do?"

-What did she do?- Hibari asks, after hearing the voice signal, then Kota's answer.

"She hit my left arm, then probably had the idea for us to take on the Chi-You."

-That Aragami is hurt on the left wing, Sierra probably plans to take advantage of that to take it down. If you can get to destroy that part of the Aragami, it will be crippled severely and you two can take it out.-

"Then why didn't you say..." I glared back at the gunner as he almost said something stupid. "Never mind..." He laughs sheepishly. "Let's go and take down that Aragami!" Kota calls cheerfully then stops. "But..." He raises his weapon in front of him and frowns. "My weapon isn't quite effective to combat a Chi-You."

I stare at Kota for saying such a thing, he doesn't really study at all it seems. I point to his weapon, then to my head, but before he could be confused any further, Hibari decided to intervene.

-That isn't quite right Kota. A Chi-You have definite weaknesses you can take advantage of.- The Operator taps away to call up the relevant information from the NORN database to relay to the gunner. -Your primary target would be the head, as it takes the most damage from gunfire. Alternate options would be the upper body with regular shots, but that is most of the time protected by the wings. Or if you have explosive bullets in your arsenal, aiming for the legs is a good strategy.-

"Oh." Kota blinked surprised at this knowledge. "Did, you know this?" He turns to me and I have to struggle not to facepalm, so I just nod very slowly. "Well, good to know I can be of use."

-Don't you study the NORN for information how to combat Aragami?-

"Well..." Kota scratches the back of his ear. "I kinda use the NORN to watch Bugarally." He admits and now it's my turn to raise an eyebrow.

Okay, everyone to his own as it seems...

"So, how are we going to do this?" The gunner turns to me and I think about it for a moment how to explain it the best way.

'''I really need a way to convey my ideas, in situations like these... I feel so useless...'''

I raise a finger to get the boys attention, then first point to his gun, followed at the ground and after that to the  Chi-You in the distance. Then I point at me and to a wall nearby, hoping that he gets the simple instructions.

"You want me to use the mole bullet to lure it towards me and you want to ambush it?" He asks after a few moments of consideration and I nod in agreement. "Leave it to me!" Kota shouts cheerfully, but the end of his mirth freeze on his face as a roar echoes not so distance from us. "Aw, crud."

We turn towards where the voice came from and see a Zygote hovering a few meters above us, now screaming for reinforcements. I quickly turn back to the Chi-You, but it doesn't look like it noticed us.

Why didn't Hibari warn us?

"Hibari?" The gunner frowns as he takes aim at the flying Aragami, but waits until it stops moving before releasing his high altitude bullet. In a few seconds the body of the Zygote is at our feet, twitching at the damage inflicted by the sniper rounds. "Sierra take care of that one, I'll try and contact the Operator."

Go figure, no wonder she couldn't warn us of this development...

My Chupacabra is already chrunching down the core of the flier, when two others float in with a rush. I turn towards the one nearest to me on the right and notice how the one farther away decides to hover around first gauging the targets. That brings a smirk on my face as I raise my weapon and wait how the one nearby acts.

With a scream it lunges forward at me, but I dodge easily and use my God Arcs devourer form to bite into the body of the Zygote. I get pulled into the air as it trashes around violently and I feel like I'm on a weird ride of insanity as the world is spinning around aimlessly.

But that ends once the fangs of my weapon manage to bite through the body and eventually clamp around the core. Releasing a final scream, the Aragami falls to the ground with me, nearly crushing on top of me doing so. I grit my teeth and start to pull, tearing the insides along with my target out from the body of the flier.

A sudden wave of fatigue disorients me, once I extract the core and my God Arc starts to munch it down. I look up wearily and see the final Zygote hover in front of me, with the two parts of it's body opening wide. I get a better view upon how the upper half of the female-like body is nothing more than decour and stare into the gaping maw of doom.

Due to the fatigue, I can't even move fast enough and watch with wide eyes as the Aragami is sent flying from an exploding bullet hitting the sides. Kota arrives with a victory cry at my sides and releases another salvo of his aerial bullet, downing the Zygote and damaging the body tremendously.

"You okay?" He turns towards me with concern, but I can barely nod a yes. "Did you get poisoned? Let me search for an antidote." He starts rummaging his pockets, but I reach for his arm and slowly shake my head. "Are you sure? You don't look okay to me."

'''And I'm not, but this is not poison. At least I think it's not.'''

I reach into a pocket of mines and pull out a ration bar, hoping that will counter the fatigue that assaults me. I pop it into my mouth and frown upon the bad taste it brings with it as I chew on it. Despite some loss of my tasting sense, this one is still horrible, albeit I can feel my body starting to recover from the sudden loss of energy.

"What happened?" Kota questions me and I can only guess.

I've never tried to use Chupacabra to devour more than once in a row, maybe that is the reason why I felt so feeble.

One way to know if that's the case or not.

I ready my God Arc and walk to the still trashing body of the final Zygote, but before I bring my weapon down to finish it, I get an idea and take out another ration bar and put it in my mouth, but don't bite into it yet. Chupacabra tears the core out without an issue and I collapse like a ragdoll in that moment it succeeds.

"Sierra!!" The gunner shouts, now really concerned about me. "Hibari!! Connect already!" The red-head mutters a curse as he kneels by my side. "Don't let us down now, you piece of junk."

Yea, definitely worrisome that multiple devours take such a toll on me.

I start crunching the ration and feel as my strength slowly returns, Chupacabra is also struggling with absorbing the core just like me and I understand what is going on now. I frown as I sit up, much to the relief of my team mate.

"Let's abort the mission and return to the Den." He suggests, but I shake my head defiantly. "Sierra you're not alright, we need to return. If something happens to you, then..." He bits his lips and understand what he feels.

Well, this still needs to be done.

I stand up, with a bit of wobbly feet. Then I look at the concerned boy and smile at him, then point towards the Chi-You in the distance. He stares at me wide eyes and it's this time on him to shake his head disapprovingly.

"No way." Kota says adamantly. "You collapsed just now, we're not going to risk our lives if yo--."

I frown as I feel my left arm tingling and step closer, holding his mouth shut. He looks at me wide eyes, but I motion with my free hand to hold his voice, by placing my index finger in front of my mouth. He blinks, then nods at me and I release his mouth.

Following the weird tugging feeling, I turn towards a building not far from us and look to its top. There I can see something that I don't want to meet again, not even in my worst nightmares. Up there stands a Chi-You, arms crossed and just staring right at us. I notice, that this is the one that kicked the crap out of me, quite literally.

'''Hell... This isn't happening, right?'''

The mutated Chi-You roars and despite way over the hearing distance of the regular ones, the one still trashing around roars in response. My eyes widen as the one on top of the building points towards us.

No...

At me!

Then in the distance I hear as the Chi-You responds, when I turn towards it I can already see it running towards us.

"This doesn't look good now." Kota tries to lighten the mood somewhat, but trying to sound cheery. It doesn't work. At. All! "Well, let's just take them down." He aims at the one of the building, but before he can fire I yank his arm away from the firing mechanism and he stares at me. "Don't do that Sierra! I don't want to shoot us by accident!" I shake my head and point up at the Chi-You. "Yes, I can see that one is there. We have to take it down before the other one arrives." He responds, but I shake my head heavily once again.

-Come in!- We can hear the voice of Hibari, through heavy static. If we concentrate enough, we can make out her voice. -Can you read me?-

"Hibari!" The gunner shouts happily, but still restricted by me to open fire even if he tries. "We have a problem! Sierra just collapsed a minute ago, and now we have been ambushed by another Chi-You. She doesn't let me open fire at it!"

-Thank goodness you two are alright.- The relief in the Operators voice is clearly noticeable. -When I lost contact with you two, I've already sent Soma and Sakuya for you. Is everything okay?-

Did she not hear Kota just now?

"Sierra is not okay." The gunner repeats, but static once again spreads more than we can hear the answer. "Great... dead again..."

'''Now this is annoying... But at least we know that help is on the way.'''

"No, it is not okay." Kota frowns as he lowers his weapon and I finally let go of it. He looks at me, before asking. "You don't want me to attack that Chi-You?" I shake my head vehemently. "Why?" I scratch my head before using my thumb to cut the air before my neck, signaling that it would be our death. "But if that one is so dangerous we need to attack first!"

So far that mutated Chi-You never struck first, I don't want to provoke it at all if possible.

I just shook my head and pulled on the arm of the boy, turning him towards the other avian not so distant from us now. Kota frowned, glancing back at the one on top of the roof, then turning his attention to the enraged one in front.

"I don't like this." He comments taking aim with his weapon. "That one up there could strike us any moment." The gunner frowns as he fires his aerial bullet once more, but the one on top of the roof roars and the one below leans forward, blasting the ground in front of it and jumping back to a safe distance. The laser shots strive to follow in suit, but they all miss. "That..." Kota turns towards me baffled. "That never happened before..."

End of Chapter 2016,08,03

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