User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater ∑: Avatar of the Aragami, chapter 1

Many years ago, before Nanako came to Fenrir’s Far East Branch and before the God Eater known as Sigma went his separate ways therefrom, the two had a fateful encounter one cold winter’s day in Glasgow, Scotland, at Fenrir’s Glasgow Branch. The events that transpired over the course of a few days in the winter of 2067 had irreversible effects on the lives of both of these individuals, and while they would never meet again, neither would forget the other for as long as they lived.

This is their story.

This is God Eater ∑.

-


 * SIDE:NANAKO::

–November 19th, 2067: Glasgow, Scotland–

“KAWASHIMAAAA!”  A loud cry boomed forth from the back of the Glasgow Branch’s R&D department. “Fetch me the number two vice-grip and the numbers three through seven wrenches!”

“Yes sir!” came a reply from behind a large piece of machinery. The voice belonged to the fourteen-year-old Nanako Kawashima, who, despite her youth, had been working in R&D at Glasgow for nearly five years since her arrival in Glasgow from Japan. Since she was not nearly old enough to hold a frontline combat position, she was placed in the R&D department at the recommendation of a man named Cyrus Casterfield, head of R&D and one of the Glasgow Branch’s founding members. He had taken the young Nanako under his wing as his apprentice, teaching her the ins and outs of God Arc maintenance and construction. Word around the branch was that Nanako would be next in line to succeed Cyrus as head of R&D, but Nanako vehemently denied these rumors, always insisting that she was not nearly talented enough. Nonetheless, she was beloved by everyone at the branch and always found herself worrying about living up to the expectations of those around her.

On this particular day, Nanako and the rest of R&D were working on a certain top-secret project handed down by the higher-ups at Fenrir HQ. No one, save for Cyrus and the higher-ups at various branches around the world, knew precisely what it was, only that it was supposed to be some sort of enormous God Arc prototype. Nanako knew that its success depended on how much effort she and the rest of the department could put into it, and that, should it be successful, humanity would have a new hope of defense against the Aragami. “Honored” could not even begin to describe how Nanako felt to be part of the group assigned to work on this project.

Nanako handed the requested tools off to Cyrus, the man to whom the booming voice belonged. Cyrus was a loud and imposing man with no shortage of charisma and natural commanding authority. Born with a limp, he was deemed unsuited for the front lines in the war against the Aragami, so he elected to serve humanity as part of the newly formed Glasgow Branch’s R&D department instead. He went on to make a name for himself as “Casterfield the Creator,” one of Fenrir’s most decorated developers and a living legend in his own right. When Nanako arrived in Glasgow almost five years ago, Cyrus, with no children of his own, took it upon himself to raise her, at the behest of Nanako’s parents who themselves were members of the Far East Branch and wanted to send Nanako as far away from the heart of the Aragami outbreak as they could. Nanako was like a daughter to Cyrus, and he personally felt that there was no one better to succeed the R&D department than her. She might even make a fine God Eater one day, he occasionally joked.

“Keep it up, boys!” Cyrus shouted to the R&D department’s many workers. “We’re scheduled to complete this bad boy within the week, and once we do, this war is as good as won!”  Cyrus’ proclamation was greeted with furious cheering; thanks to them, the Aragami would finally be able to be suppressed reliably, and secure human settlements could finally be established and protected with a 100% success rate against any Aragami that tried to attack. It was of the utmost importance that this project be completed, and this served to drive the Glasgow Branch’s R&D department to work harder than they ever had.

Suddenly, a ringing tone came through on the base’s loudspeakers, announcing that lunch hour had officially begun. “Alright, let’s take a break,” Cyrus proclaimed. “We’re a hair’s breadth away from finishing this, so let’s come back in an hour and plow through what’s left double time!”

As the R&D workers began to disperse, Nanako found herself alone with Cyrus, who was still working on the project with all the fervor one would expect of someone half his age. More than anyone, Cyrus knew the importance of completing this project. Humanity’s fate, he knew, rested on the shoulders of him and everyone in the R&D department here at Glasgow. This sentiment was shared by the entire department, of course, but especially by Nanako, who had been working closely with Cyrus on the project since its inception.

Nanako turned to leave, only to be stopped by Cyrus’ voice calling out to her.

“Kawashima,” Cyrus grunted, “get up here.”

Nanako did as Cyrus requested, climbing up the support structure to the platform on which rested the mostly-covered project that the department had been working on for months. Cyrus sat in front of an uncovered portion at the base, tightening valves and screws with the tools Nanako had handed him earlier.

“Kawashima… no, Nanako,” Cyrus began, beckoning for her to approach. “Do you know what your surname means?”

“Yes, sir,” Nanako responded. “‘Kawashima’ is made up of the characters for ‘river’ and ‘island.’  But… why do you ask?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Nanako,” Cyrus replied. “I’m not asking because I don’t know. I’m asking because I want to remind you of something.”  He set down his tools and turned to look Nanako dead in the eyes. “Your parents sent you to me because they wanted me to raise you strong and proud, to live up to the meaning of your family name… and one thing I’ve seen through these past five years is that you’ve more than lived up to it. Like an island in the middle of a river, you’ve weathered everything life has thrown at you, never crumbling, never backing down. You are, without a doubt, one of the strongest people I know and have ever met, and while I know you don’t think you can handle the responsibility, I want you to take over the R&D department when I retire. Humanity can rest easy knowing that their fate is in your hands.”

“Please, sir, I…” Nanako began, before she was cut off by Cyrus.

“Don’t ‘please, sir’ me. You know very well that you have what it takes. And if you really don’t feel like succeeding me, at least take the God Eater qualification test one day. I’m sure your parents would be proud knowing that their daughter is defending humanity on the front lines against the greatest threat we have ever known.”

Nanako had no words to respond. To know that Cyrus held her in this high regard was an honor of which Nanako never thought she would be worthy. Tears welling up in her eyes, she turned to leave… but something kept her, something made her stay.

“Cyrus… sir,” she spoke, her voice tinged with nervousness, “what exactly IS this thing we’ve been working on anyway?”

Cyrus’ mood instantly changed. He looked around to make sure no one was listening in, then pulled Nanako close.

“Officially,” he began, his voice a low whisper, “this baby doesn’t even exist. Even among those who do know of its existence, its true nature is a closely kept secret known only by myself, select branch heads, and the higher-ups at HQ. What this is…” Cyrus stood up, dusting himself off, “is the Super-Massive Anti-Aragami Hyperdestructive Piercing Rail Rifle, codenamed Gigantes. It’s a huge projectile weapon that automatically targets Aragami cores and magnetically accelerates a huge piercing projectile designed to penetrate even the toughest Aragami armor. With this baby, our victory is guaranteed even against the baddest of the baddies out there. And what’s more, the projectiles detonate on impact, dealing massive damage to the rest of the Aragami and blasting any others nearby to kingdom come.”

Nanako was in awe. “But then why is it such a big secret?” she asked, puzzled as to why such a beacon of hope should be kept from the people who could most benefit from that knowledge.

Upon hearing this, Cyrus’ mood darkened. “This is something I didn’t even know at first,” Cyrus replied, his face dour. “I only found out about it from studying the plans… I don’t think they counted on me being that smart, and I’ve no idea who else, if anyone, has discovered this on the side. But anyway, the reason this thing is veiled in so much secrecy is because of its power source.”

“Its power source?” Nanako questioned. “Doesn’t it just use Oracle Cells to power an electromagnetic coil assembly?”

“It does,” replied Cyrus, “but, well… see for yourself.”

Cyrus stepped aside from where he was working, revealing what looked like a small hole just big enough for a person to stick their hand in, accompanied by a device that looked almost identical to the bracelets all the God Eaters wore.

“You… you don’t mean…?”

“It’s exactly what it looks like,” spoke Cyrus, his voice shaky. “This thing here can only work by using a living human being as a power source. It injects them full of bias factor, more than a normal God Eater would take in over the course of a few years, in the span of a minute, basically turns them into an Aragami on the spot, and then completely sucks ‘em dry of all their Oracle Cells to charge its internal reserves. One charge can power this thing for a good thousand shots, and then, well, it has to be recharged.”

“But that…” Nanako began, horrified.

“Yeah, it’s just as bad as it sounds,” Cyrus replied, almost in tears. “It requires a human sacrifice to work.”

“Then how is it worth it?!” Nanako shot back. “What would compel someone to design something like this?! Even if it will save us from the Aragami once and for all, how… how could…”

At that moment, Nanako felt a stinging impact across her face. Cyrus had lunged forward and delivered a slap onto Nanako’s cheek. “You don’t bloody think I know that?” exclaimed Cyrus, enraged. “How do you think I felt when they told me I didn’t have a bloody choice?! And I mean, sure, it costs a precious life to power it, but humanity will be saved! We can be rid of the Aragami once and for all!”

Cyrus backed off, tears cascading from his eyes. “How… how do you think I bloody feel about this, huh?” He slumped to the ground, head in his hands. “Just… just go and take your damn lunch break, Kawashima. Although I can’t bloody well expect you to want to work on this after what you just learned.”

Her heart in a haze, Nanako turned to leave the R&D lab. Behind her sat Cyrus, still a wreck. Best to leave him alone for now, Nanako thought, leaving the lab and heading towards the elevator.

Tomorrow, she recalled, the Glasgow Branch was supposed to play host to a visiting regiment of God Eaters from the Russian Branch. Perhaps tomorrow would prove to take her mind off of today’s events…

-

-


 * SIDE:SIGMA::

Humanity.

For as long as the entity that called itself Sigma could remember, humanity had been at the core of its existence. It was instilled with something that, in so many words, could be called a “love” for humanity. Despite its nature as one closer to an Aragami than a human, it had made its absolute priority in life the protection of humanity as a whole.

It was this drive to protect “humanity” that brought it to its current location, the God Arc Compatibility testing grounds of the Fenrir Russia Branch. Here, it decided, it would join humanity’s struggle against the Aragami, for the sake of protecting humanity’s future – for while the entity that called itself Sigma was a being closer to an Aragami than to a human, the humanity within the core of its being nonetheless cried out for it to do what it could to protect the future of its fellow humans… in so many words.

“Just close your eyes and relax,” called out a voice over the loudspeaker, snapping the entity that called itself Sigma out of its daze. “You’ll feel some pain, but this procedure will give you the ability to wield the weapons to fight against the Aragami as a God Eater.”  This, of course, was nothing new to the entity that called itself Sigma; it knew all about the God Eaters, about the bias factor injections and how they weaponized Aragami into the God Arcs to be used when fighting against the Aragami. This, it thought, was not too far off from what it itself was, perhaps. Something not quite Aragami that fought alongside humans to protect humans from Aragami.

Of course, for the entity that called itself Sigma, there was no pain, not even a slight prick. The bias factor rushing through its veins was no unfamiliar sensation. After all, this was familiar ground for it, its home field. It obviously would be unable to use its usual God Arc, for it knew it would have to blend in in order to best be able to assist the humans in their struggle against the Aragami. But this was no major setback; it was far stronger and faster than even the strongest of the anti-Aragami soldiers, the God Eaters. They would soon come to depend on it as a valuable ally, and together the entity that called itself Sigma and the other God Eaters would fight the Aragami together.

At least, this is what the entity that called itself Sigma thought.

Until that fateful day–

-

“Good, good! Keep up the assault!”

On this day, the God Eaters of the Russia Branch were engaged in combat with a stray Ouroboros outside the branch proper. It had slipped through the branch’s defenses and had gotten well within the allowable radius, so an emergency team had been dispatched on short notice to deal with it.

Viktor Katayev, Lieutenant Colonel of Fenrir and current commanding officer of the Russia Branch, had elected to lead the assault team himself, and now stood before the Ouroboros, his long blade at the ready and dripping with the blood of a freshly severed tentacle. “Surround the target and dispatch its tentacles!”  He issued commands to his teammates without missing a beat as they positioned themselves for attack, slicing and blasting through its tentacles and bringing it down to the ground. The time was right for the finishing blow.

“Sigma, now!!” came Katayev’s shout.

With perfect timing, Sigma leapt from behind Katayev, landing on the Ouroboros’ eyes and impaling it deep with his short blade. Blood spurted out and the Ouroboros fell at last, its tentacles – or what was left of them – flailing about futilely. They’d done it, they’d repelled another threat and guaranteed the continued survival of all the humans living under their protection.

As the Ouroboros fell, the members of the assault team gathered together, their cheers the only sound echoing across the frozen hellscape of the Russian tundra.

“As expected of Sigma,” exclaimed Aleksei Khromov, a fellow member of the assault team. “You’ve been bringing us nothing but victory since your arrival here three months ago. I’ve no idea how you’re so damn good at killing Aragami, but at any rate, no one’s complaining. You’ll always be welcome here at the Russia Branch!”

Sigma glanced downwards; despite his general antisocial tendencies, all this praise from his teammates made him the slightest bit embarrassed. “Please, comrade, I am not deserving of this much praise,” he returned. “This operation wouldn’t have succeeded were it not for each and every one of us working together to bring down the target.”

“Perhaps,” came the reply of Milyena Kashkanova, the branch’s ace sniper and the idol of the entire branch, “but without you, none of us would be standing here right now. We gave it all we had; it was only your strength and finishing blow that ensured we finished the operation safe and sound.”

“I suppose, if you insist…”  Sigma turned away from Milyena. In spite of everything, he had accomplished the one thing he desired most; he had protected humanity from the Aragami threat once again. If he could continue to do that, he thought, then he would be satisfied.

“At attention, men!”  Katayev’s shout broke the rest of the team out of their post-operation high. “Today, we have done humanity a great favor in repelling the Aragami threat. Each and every one of you should take immense pride in your actions, for without you, humanity would be without hope, without a future. Return to base on the double and report your victory to those who await us!”

The assault team members cheered once again and turned towards home. Katayev, however, had other plans.

“Sigma, hold.”  His stern voice called out for Sigma, who was heading up the rear of the pack. Sigma turned around and strode through the blustering snow towards Katayev.

“What is it, sir?” Sigma inquired.

Katayev moved in close. “Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but there’s talk among the Director’s inner circle that your promotion might go through within the week. Pretty soon we might be looking at Senior Lieutenant Sigma. Doesn’t the sound of that positively ring?”

“Indeed it does, sir,” came Sigma’s reply. “However, I do not feel that I am worthy of this honor.”

“Nonsense!”  Katayev delivered a firm slap on Sigma’s back. “Were it not for you, the lot of us would have been dead and frozen in the ice more times than I can count – myself included. You’re the Russia Branch’s shining star, Sigma, and a beacon of hope to humanity as a whole. Now let’s head back to rejoin the group heading home. I’m sure the Director and the rest of the Russia Branch are eagerly awaiting our report!”

-

That night, the dining hall of the Russia Branch was aglow with cheer and merriment. Everyone was talking about the victory of the assault team over the Ouroboros that threatened the branch, and more than a handful of people made special mention of Sigma’s exploits in laying the beast low. Humanity, or at least what portion of it called the Russia Branch its home, had won another tomorrow, regardless of who was to thank.

Sigma sat at a table among the other members of the assault team, partaking in a massive ham shared by everyone at the table. The praises never ceased, and Sigma yet found himself the center of attention. This was a routine occurrence at this point; Sigma had proven time and time again to be effective in bringing down all manner of Aragami, and people called out to him whenever they passed him in the halls. It was beginning to wear on Sigma for sure, but for now, he decided, he’d enjoy this meager celebration and await the moment when he would next have to fight for the sake of humanity.

“To Sigma!” called out Katayev, seated across from him at the table. The toast was reciprocated by the rest of the assault team, who raised their glasses high before downing a drink in Sigma’s honor.

-

Later, after the feast was over and the crowd had dispersed, Katayev once again caught Sigma on his way out.

“I spoke with the Director earlier,” remarked Katayev, a grin on his face. “Your promotion has been finalized; the ceremony will take place tomorrow morning before we depart.”

“Depart?”  Sigma was confused; he hadn’t heard of any so-called “departure” planned. “Where are we going?”

“First thing in the morning after your promotion ceremony,” Katayev replied, “a small team of God Eaters will depart the Russia Branch en route to the Glasgow Branch to assist in preparations for the maiden deployment of the Super-Massive Anti-Aragami Hyperdestructive Piercing Rail Rifle Gigantes. It’s a marvel of science and modern engineering that uses Oracle Cells as a power source to magnetically accelerate a massive armor-piercing round to instantly obliterate an Aragami’s core and destroy anything in the immediate vicinity. Sure, the cost is a bit hefty, but with this on our side, humanity’s victory against the Aragami is assured!”

“Cost, sir…?” Sigma inquired.

Katayev leaned in close and whispered to Sigma words that made both of their skin crawl. “The only way to get enough power to charge that cannon all the way is to use a live human being as a sacrifice – it pumps them full of bias factor, turns them into an Aragami, and drains all their Oracle Cells right then and there to charge itself up. Good for a few months at the very least, but still… orders are orders.”

Sigma was incensed. “‘Orders are orders?’  So that’s it, huh? You’re willing to sacrifice a human life just to kill the Aragami a little bit quicker? You monster!”

“Sigma, hold your tongue! I had no say in the matter, and besides–"

“‘Besides’ what?! Are you going to say that it’s okay as long as the victim agrees to it? Like hell that’s okay!”

Sigma would have none of this. All this work in defending humanity, and this prosperity he’d worked so hard for was about to go to hell because the higher-ups wanted to kill the Aragami just a little bit faster?

“I’m sorry, sir, but I will not stand for this!” Sigma retorted, his mind aflame.

“In that case, I will be forced to place you on court martial for insubordination. A shame, really, after all you’ve done for–”

Katayev could not finish his sentence, as an impossibly sharp blade had impaled itself through his heart. At the other end of the blade stood Sigma, eyes piercing with rage.

“Sigma… you bas…tard…”

Katayev slumped to the floor as the last of his life slipped away. Sigma withdrew his personal God Arc, formed from his own body, and turned to face down the hallway.

“Everyone here is complicit,” Sigma growled. “And so I will take matters into my own hands.”

Putting one foot in front of the other, the entity that called itself Sigma strode down the hallway towards the elevator that would take it to the residential floors and the Director’s office.

“There will be no team of God Eaters heading to the Glasgow Branch tomorrow,” the entity that called itself Sigma mused, “and come tomorrow, Glasgow will be awash in a sea of blood.”

All for the sake of humanity’s tomorrow…