The Slums

[Kotomine_Rin]

Spidey

His eyes shot up wide-eyed, not because of the traps he dodged or even because of the girl picking up speed. This was unbelievable! "Jesus, are you two serious!? Then I'll have to get you to watch it at my place! You're missing out!"

Explosions rippled the air, the corridors started to catch on fire behind them. No matter. As far as the spider was concerned, he was already resolved to this. He'd always keep running forward.

His eyes dropped embarrassingly, and for a moment he refused to look at the two. Was this what it was like? To feel normal happiness?

"Let's just watch movies when this is over... together..."

But soon, the sound of static cut through the explosions. Drones began to slip through the cracks, buzzing around with their guns to shoot the trio down as they advanced. Was this also part of the test? Before the answer could be uttered, the spider began to cut them down with his web. "Don't fall behind!"

And the static warned of an ominous future.

"We wished to create a hero. A perfect organism that would protect this city. But time after time, our project proved unsuccessful. Until we met that man."

And as it spoke, the black gaps that surrounded them lit up to reveal more tv-screens, images, and recordings of children being cut open, experimented on, tested in the same wy the three were tested. Again and again. Despite the pleas, despite the cries, you could only move forward. The static soon cut to show a man hidden by shadows. His features were indistinguishable, only his skin as pale as the most pallid parchment showed through his clothes. And as soon as he flashed on the screens, he vanished to show a flood of data arrays, scrolling down with no appearance to ever stop.

"It was an incredible discovery. To think we could harness the power of the old world to awaken humans. With our newly developed enhancement drug, anyone's latent potential could be unlocked. We could have made a world of Gods."

[YOLF]

Justice

The steedless Rider was not as fast as the two. He stretched his senses, he honed his steps, and he sped after, focusing not on the traps right around the corner, but the ones after that, the dangers that were looming seconds ahead in his descent. He ducked under hails of gunfire before they roared, he rolled through explosions before they could strike him head-on, and he allowed the less of many harms and those that he could not flip away from to break against his armor and dissipate against his constitution.

Justice ignored the screens. Static would be better. Somehow, these words were like a wind riding the desert dunes, revealing old, buried thoughts unbidden.

"Flawed castings from a perfect mold. There was no deviation in the process, therefor, the materials must have been impure."
...

"Did you ever believe it was the Creator's hand who seeded you?"
...

"You will never be anything but weapons."
...

"Ere long, you will see the mistake thine siblings have made. The lie all ye have accepted in place of the inevitable."

A silver tree, weeping black fruits onto a lawless realm. A youth that never was, drenched in blood. A starless land, hateful and longing for your return, where you were first carried by something other than your own feet. Deceit, regret, anger and fear.

Justice dragged Absolution across the screens at his side, and eviscerated signals and gutted electronics threw a pall of wretched noise over the echoing transmission.

[yinsukin]

Suerte

Revolting.

That was the only thought that came to mind as Suerte ran through the corridor.  Those children ripped away from their families, the thought forced a scowl onto the cowgirl's face.  The world of the gods?  How arrogant.  As if the gods could be reached by throwing away a few human lives.

Suerte slowed down the second she heard the drones behind her, hiding within the debris created from Justice's blade.  Bullets sailed towards her, only to miraculously strike the peices of metal flying from the walls.  Guns in hand, she aimed at the drones, the cracks of her guns barely signaling the bullets that flew out of them.

"Or one piece!" she yelled with a smile.

She didn't need the corridor to remind her.  The only option is forward.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Spidey

One by one, the drones fell and burst like the expendable machines they were. But as they fell and burst into flames, the machinery leaked fluids for a moment. It was too short to truly sink in, they were running past the traps too fast. But perhaps not. Perhaps it was better to simply ignore it.

The broken drones revealed small brains trapped in the machinery. The sort of underdeveloped organs more befitting a child's than a grown human brain.

"Oh right! Uh, One Piece's kind of lame since the time skip though! Why not Redline? It's got badass races and stuff!" He cut, and cut, and cut more. Following Suerte, he cut along the screens until the gap was exposed. "Wrong way! Your path leads to safety! But the answers are straight down hell." He jumped into the darkness and proceeded through the dark corridor.

Like Vergil, leading Dante into the circles of the inferno.

"But it was a mistake."

Blades and more came shredding through the dark hall, like a trapped corridor trying to slice and skewer them on the spot. But he didn't give up. He couldn't. He had already started a long time ago. Tonight, this ends.

"We tried everything. From hypnosis therapy to drugs and radiation. But it wasn't close enough. Our prototypes were too unstable. By taking them at a young age and using suggestive techniques to change their identities, we thought we could reach closer results through placebos. To make them truly believe their new roles, and acclimate their souls to the artificial implants. But that was a failure as well. Rather... we had already failed the moment we put our faith in that substance. That thing... was surely not meant for humans."

That devil... it truly thought nothing of this even as it spoke up. And yet, the feeling of unease did not end.

"The failures were unstable rubbish, barely worth selling to some cults as expendable soldiers. But two of our top projects managed to pass preliminary testing. Let us call them... A and B. No, V and Z. But their minds reacted aversely to the procedures. The recessive simply threw away his entire identity. The dominant one... his mind split and fragmented into a myriad of 'heroes', trying to fill some kind of void. Or perhaps to cope with the experiments. Oh well... In the end, our project was aborted. Our dreams were rendered null by this world's will. It simply can't be helped."

The spider just kept cutting, silent... and suddenly somber.


The halls and traps lead to a much more spacious room underground, with cold echoes and drips ominously topping the darkness. A dim light flickered under a doorway, the only visible bastion left in this place.

"This is it. End of the line." The killer looked sad. "Thanks... for helping me get back at these assholes." His eyes trailed down.

Once they walked through that door, there'd be no going back.

However, another door laid hidden in darkness.

"You know, you're a lucky bastard Justice. I wish I had a girlfriend like yours." He managed to smile at Justice. "So, ready to move forward?"

[YOLF]

Justice

Justice felt like spitting, inundated with naked frustration. He was sick of this nonsense, running them ragged like they were circus monkeys. The avalanche of blades at last made him crack the ground with his steps, and out came his fury. A fan of spinning saws shattered against his empowered skin, and with a sweeping glare that blinded the entire corridor and sailed over Spidey and Suerte's heads, he melted through a score of the ones that followed.

When they stepped into the unnerving darkness, gaining a moment to breathe, the Rider shed his titanic seeming and rolled his shoulders. "Partner, not girlfriend," he corrected. For a second then, he placed Spidey in his sights, but shook his head. "It was nothing. What next?"

[yinsukin]

Suerte

There wasn't even a thought.  The cowgirl stepped into the room, tightening her grip on the butt of the weapon.  Her once lazy eyes now laser focused on the new target.  Suerte licked her lips at the idea of a new battle, even as she realized she probably wouldn't be able to see all the lovely things she usually got to see in these types of encounters.

"Yup partner!" she said, beaming.  "You can have a little piece of me if you want it Mr. Darkness."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Spidey

"Dude, kind of late for a boss fight." He looked at Suerte straight as if she were loony or something, totally unimpressed. "And who'd name their mook something that lame anyways?"

It's almost like he was stalling. Or perhaps he was scared, scared of what came after this. But... he sighed, and gave up on that fear soon enough. "The tapes are over there. All the intel and data collected over the last 16 years. What you decide to do after that... well, that's up to you."

He put his hands in his pockets and grinned.

"I guess I was chasin' a feeling too."

[YOLF]

Justice

He breathed deeply, like the hot air from the burning bowels of a mountain rushing through the dust-cobbled tunnels, turning up a wheezing wind through its face. The natural battle-poise went slack, and he released a stubborn crack from his neck by twisting his head to the side, before laying eyes on the place Spidey pointed.

"I mess up people and turn in their rotten brains for daylight to sort out. Managing such a wealth of prickly, vital information doesn't fit my skillset," the Rider said. He tipped the edge of his hat up, staring clearly at their gangly companion. "If I had someone to turn to, maybe. But no roots to speak of yet."

"You on the other hand, Spidey, must know some people. I'd like you to lend us a hand. It's plain you wanted to do something about this. So stick around and see it through." He gestured at the young man with a shake of his shrouded chin.

[yinsukin]

Suerte

The cowgirl mirrored her partner's body language, tipping her hat down to obscure her face.  Only her smile was visible to the two.  A hand rested on spidey's shoulder.  "Yeah, i'm no good at this sorta thing either, can only fight and gamble.  I have faith in that feeling of yours.  Go get it tiger."

Suerte nodded at him before pushing him forward.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Spidey

"Tch, you know just what to say to make me feel like a bad guy." He put his hand behind his head and kicked a piece of equipment.  "So you're saying I get to choose what to do with it? Oh nevermind, you just want to put more work on little old me. Fine, fine. But..."

He grinned weakly and pointed forward.

"Aren't you just a bit curious? To see what's on the other side of that door? Heck, no need to posture, just kick it open or something."

[YOLF]

Justice

"I'll obviously look, but I suspect I won't care for the details," he said, slumping. Which only made him look slightly less built like an impressive statue, as opposed to not at all. "Suerte, do you want to do the honors?"

[yinsukin]

Suerte

"Yaaaaay!  Destruction!" she cheered, a beaming smile on her face.

For a moment she glanced at the guns she was holding, then at the toned body she had crafted but never really used except for parkour and lifting.  She could just blow up the door, or.... The guns were holstered back on her belt. A hand grabbed hold of the hinges and ripped it off like a kid tearing through a Christmas present.  The door split in half midway through, pieces of it flying in every direction.

"Yeeeesssss!"

[Kotomine_Rin]

A-702

The door blasted wide open, and of course Spidey posed cooly in the back. That's when  they saw the room filled with monitors and recordings. Tapes, data and more. So this was the end huh? End of the line.

That's when they heard the banging. Wait, no way, this had to be a mistake.

There was an ominous feeling in the air. It couldn't be.


C-9K9

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A monstrous creature blared its fangs at the trio its one eye wide open as if to burn them to death with all its hate. The moment the lights flickered in the data room, Spidey's eyes sparked and he basically dashed and hopped straight forward.

"GAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHH!!!" The creature also charged forward with its fangs bared to slash and gnaw at them. However.

SLAM!!

Spidey smacked straight on the protected glass pane, flattening his mug over it. The creature also bumped against it. It looked like it was trapped in a giant glass tube, floating and unable to get out. The dazed spider shook his head and looked at the monster like it was an old friend and grinned from ear to ear like an idiot.

"Chop!? Where the hell have you been?" With a full combo slash of his strings, the glass was ripped apart, and he hugged the giant vicious ball of eyes and teeth with all his heart. The one-eyed monster also grinned, its entire existence smelling like death and destruction.

"Jesus, you've got fat! C'mere good girl! Oh, that's right, you love dem scritchy scratches huh? Huh? Ohoooo! Goochie goochie goochie!"

Suerte and Justice would never believe it. This night of terror all lead to something like this!? This was a story you couldn't spin even to your grandkids. It was utterly surreal. But A-702 was so happy, you couldn't believe it. Tears streamed from his face, and he just laughed. "She's here! She was okay! We can get her out safely now! Big sis! Big sis!"

Then, the monster slipped out of the hug and cheerily went up to Suerte and Justice, slobbering them wet with big loving licks. Justice's grace reacted harshly at the sight of it, sending Justice a signal at the back of his head. But his senses would tell him clear as day, this creature wasn't malicious. This was just a reunion between siblings. Yet it felt strange, it hadn't reacted like this before. Were they connected somehow?


A-702

"Oh man, so that's where they kept you!? I'm a dumbass. All this time... if I just had the guts to pick this door over the other one..." He sniffled and grinned. Wait, there was another door?

"It has been a while since I had a visitor. I am quite thrilled."

But a familiar voice suddenly cut the reunion. It cleaved it like a knife, mocking this reunion too. Wait, no. It was too familiar. It sounded... exactly like something they heard before.

"Let us see how suitable you are."

"The reasons or context behind the attack are still a mystery to us, I am afraid we cannot divulge information that we lack. However, we may ask any other question. Please, do as you may. Who we are, where you are, and our activities. Those will surely be relevant in your investigation."

"Excellent. Most excellent. Your performance is befitting of an A-series class model. If you keep this up, you might just be able to rival our Z-class models."

A smaller screen showed the same flashing images as before, but they ran through a loop.

The boss was just a recording. There hadn't been a boss in this place since the old days. This whole organization... ran on a fucking recording. It was created for a purpose, but no one was there to even remember it.  This whole organization's original purpose has long been forgotten and, and they simply continued the same experiments over and over because it would otherwise be irrelevant if it went to waste. No one had ever seen or interacted with the boss face to face. Just following orders blindly...

It had brought this entire branch to ruin.

"Thanks. Now, this nightmare's finally over. We... are the last models. The Vanguard project's done. Even if they wanted to, there's no way they'd be able to get kids like us to fight their battles. The organization is finished."

The monster looked straight at Suerte. After all these years, it had finally found love.

"Care for some sushi? It's on me."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Mai

6:00 AM Nexus Time

This is a morning in the life of Mai. She opens her eyes, as restless as ever from an eight hour meditation session. She rarely sleeps anymore, as things more real than dreams await her in her unconsciousness. She makes sure not to rub the bags under her eyes. She has been told that makes them more pronounced. She spends the first few minutes head bowed in prayer, and she begs forgiveness from the gods for the sin of kinslaying. The memories are fresh but her eyes are dry.

She asks forgiveness for that as well.

Mai dresses herself, she combs her hair, and then she goes out to beg. She could make great profit with a sword. If she sold her skills like a common mercenary, she could undoubtedly make her fair share in bounties. But she will never raise her sword for the sake of profit.

The Demon is quiet this morning, even if her hands are never far from her sword. She seats herself upon the concrete and leaves her bowl out in front of her, and the infrequent generosity of strangers sometimes seems it filled with the occasional coin or bill. She ignores the gnawing of her stomach, the pain of a weakened body.

Mai does not relish in pain, but she has come to acknowledge it as deserving.

But today, there is a disturbance. She raises her hands to her mouth and breathes a puff of warm air over them. Except, they do not feel cold. She flexes her fingers and feels the distinct warm of the rising sun, almost confused. Then the mildest shiver traces its way through her body. She exhales harshly, and even though it is as pleasant as any other day she sees it distinctly in the air as if it was winter. There is a chill in this place, even if it was not physical. A cold that branches out from the soul.

If it was her, then Mai was sure that it would be simple to identify exactly what the source was. She was always more sensitive to such things after all. But Mai has no choice to awkwardly fumble her way though such a world, her eyes darting back and forth until the source revealed itself.

He was taller than her, for one. Black hair fell past his shoulders and a strip of white ice seemed to sparsely span his face. Then there were his clothes, finely stitched, and the way he carried himself. He was certainly no demon, no. But he was certainly more than human. Some sort of spirit, or youkai, or god. Still, if it was only that then there was no reason to be concerned. Then she notices his cold, blue eyes looking at her. Not generally, not curiously, but with an intensity and focus that has her hand ache for her sword. But why is he--

Her sword is already in her hand. She can taste the coppery flavor of blood in her mouth, so thick as if to be overflowing, even though she has not even bit her own tongue. The anticipation, the curdling bloodlust, the silhouette of a phantom limb restlessly rising from her back. Mai is suddenly aware of it, all at once. The one thing she had refused to recognize but was drawn to. The fact she could not shake from her mind now. He was wielding a sword.

What an embarrassing display.

She sinks then, as if deflating. Her sword clatters to the ground next to her and she resumes her sitting position. Her eyes shut, and her focus returns to meditative exercises and harsh discipline. And, the faint hope that the stranger will not investigate her actions.

[YOLF]

Lubei

His first mission from the Seraph begins at the crack of dawn, and Lubei does not have illusions it will be pleasant. He and the escorts provided by his... friend, do not speak between themselves, no more than necessary to confer the operation. If the lack of rest was making him sullen, then he was allowed that indignity without remark. Lubei can't say the same for the suspicion that Ivanna's troops scream at his back with their eyes, or even at his face when they think he's not paying attention.

He doesn't need an excuse, but he finds a reason to make himself scarce anyway, once they have begun in earnest. They have the supplies and they know how to distribute them, but he's the only one familiar with Uria's creatures, so he'll go on patrol for their presence and send any streetdwellers left in the ravaged area towards the nuns. The search is as fruitless as expected. There are no new bodies to mourn, but the few lives that remain here will not leave their shelters or homes for him. Lubei wouldn't either, not willingly, so there is need to grease the wheels... he's still an invader, and this is much like conquest.

But rather than countless soldiers, the faces of the few stick longer to memory.

He notices her before he hears the sword ringing as it falls, but then he sees her. The figure tries to seem small, but there are things that can't be missed once they are within reach. The cold is homely to the demon king, but a chill touches his spine for an instant, and he searches for what it was.

Her hands are calloused, the fingers worn as far as the knuckle from training. Her posture betrays years of being forced into formality even in slumping. The features she carries bring to mind the people of Dongying - there is no Dongying here, no more than there is Shenzhou, but individuals of all colors and shapes frolick easily in the Nexus, Ivanna said. Lubei's gaze comes to rest on a perfectly mundane sword, but Three Poisons suddenly hums in his sheathe. His arm itches to grab the hilt of the sabre, but something hazy in his nerves warns him not to. Lubei knows better than to defy himself outright.

"Come with me," he says, out of his mouth with conviction before he can take it back. His boots cover the distance between them with soft crunches on the cement and trash of the street, until he is properly a swordspan away, much more vivid than seconds before. "You look in need of alms. Some have come to provide, and more besides."