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Nex : … (to himself) Where exactly are we going in this place...ugh I want to destroy this place...
Nothing but the echos of their soles in the quiet ruin with a few of the people around investigating a large structure dug into the earth as though...something were pulled from it here. Nex can't help but scowl openly, that underground structure opened its mouth but nothing was within, but it drug up bad memories.
Nex: (To himself as he glances throughout the large area) ...Was this place raided...? Somethin was taken from here...
Suddenly his scowl flickers to a strange look of surprise as Winterson signals Nex to stop and then puts his gauntlet on his hand.
Winterson : This should do the trick.
Suddenly a puddle of red liquid appears under Nex’s feet, and it certainly was disturbing. With something sticky beneath him, Nex stops his advance and gains an uneasy grimace.
Winterson : Huh… it’s blood. (Noticing the puddle, Winterson kneels down, soaking his finger in the liquid and tasting it)
Nex : …Huh? Ugh, what the hell? (looks at it with a frown thinking to himself lifting his foot as it drips red gems of liquid off his shoe's toe) Where did this blood come from, I’m not injured…
Suddenly several squirming blobs raise out of the puddle with a disturbing plop. Before Nex even had time to catch it in his vision, the carmine liquid spirals around him from neck down before it takes form of a strange chain.
Nex: U-urgh! (Eyes widen as he growls, feeling the tight grip of the bloody chain) The...hell... is this--?
Winterson flinches away and looks at it.
Winterson : What the-?
Nex : (growls as he feels the chains of blood bind him) Hey, get this thing off!
A sharp clicking noise fills his ears making Nex's heart beat at an irregular pace. Something cold is pressed against his spine, and his eyes quickly open up wide, but then gradually close with a sudden scorn in his soul. A squad of NOS soldiers encircles him while Winterson’s eye gleams with red as he starts laughing maniacally.
Winterson : Whoa, you fell right into my trap. Congrats. (Claps) Azure 0 himself…
A fierce scowl deepens across his expression the moment he heard the man's words.
Nex : How’d you know I was-- (struggles and growls thinking to himself)
Winterson's finger points straight to the collar around Nex's throat, while he kept a confident smile.
Nex: (To himself as he growls) Dammit... my collar. He’s in the SIA...he hid his damned identity. I should of known… let my guard down and it cost me…
Winterson : As you can see, I’m not a usual NOS crony… I am the Sequence Destroyer. And naturally, you are my prey.
Nex : Sequence Destroyer?! Then that was a Nex Exitium... Tch…
Winterson : Right you are. It’s immensely powerful, and it’s so awesome… (Sighs and approaches Nex, putting handcuffs on his wrists and releases him from the chains) Take him away.
Soldier : Yes, sir!
Nex : ...Damn you...
One of the soldiers puts a barrel to Nex’s back and escorts him through a short hallway of stone and metal to some sort of a cage, then kicks him inside.
Soldier : Stay put until the General arrives. Try anything smart, and our mutual friend will gut you.
The door slams loudly, Nex grunts as he lays on the ground with a rough huff of disapproval. As they walk away, Nex turns over on his back, hands still restrained by the cuffs, and lifting his head from the cold ground he leers at the face of his prison with shrill defiance.
A loud banging sound as the flats of his metal sole strike the door. The soldiers don't seem to care, believing he wouldn't get out.
Nex : (rolls his eyes as he sighs, throwing his head back onto the ground looking at the ceiling) Historian… but it couldn’t of gotten much worse than for it to be a Sequence Destroyer. (glances around his surroundings, particularly at the walls surrounding him, and he mutters) Yeah, like something this “well built” could hold me… but that seems odd.
Bending his body he manages to leap to his feet while wriggling his hands in the cuffs. Frustrated, he paces around looking at the wall for some kind of spot that would be possible to bust out of. This wasn't as hardly as hopeless as it seemed, Nex thinks to himself with burning confidence. The moment he sees the crack in a side of the stone face, that ember of hope becomes and inferno, and he walks to it as discretely as possible.
Idiots didn't even make a seal for him... Nex gains a disgusted scowl. Being this arrogant to underestimate him would be their last mistake. With that thought, the young man begins to concentrate heavily... feeling power resonate through his body like an angry torrent.
He waits a bit, watching the soldiers drone on in their work, chatting about nonsense among other things. Slowly Nex picks up his leg bending his knee a darkness concentrates itself around the tip of his foot, with a hop he turns to his side and fires.
A second passes, the entirety of his sole enveloped in a collection of radiant dark energy which presses forward with him and right at the center of the crack. Normally a kick would bounce right off a wall like this, only earning a broken bone, but for Nex who flew with a dark trail behind him breaking his way through was easily accomplished.
Nex : … (To himself as he lowers his foot) Energy burned through my pant cuffs… tch whatever…
The impact breaks a space for him to squeeze through and flank around to take out the soldiers who had yet to realize anything was different at all.
Soldier 1 : Feel anything strange?
Soldier 2 : No. Why?
Soldier 1 : Dunno. But it sure feels weird around here.
He just had to get past these few soldiers and make a break for the exit. Though he wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with someone painlessly, after all he didn’t have his sword—summoning it would draw attention. And he didn’t trust his own strength.
Steps begin to draw in, and he pushes himself up against the cold metal wall as he tries to time his own advances. Nex’s teeth grind into a scowl as he realizes he still had the handcuffs on him.
Nex : (Thinking as he generates energy, clenching his hands as they becoming claws and shatter the irritant object) There…
Glancing around the corner he spots some, as energy seeps through his arm and morphs it into a hellish black mass which becomes a claw of sorts. Drawing his hand back like a sword, he lowers himself and waits.
Soldier : GAAAAAAAH!
A horrid screech mixes with the wet sound of ripping flesh fills the air. Nex pulls the black mass out with a sickening pop, which forms into his hand once more.
More and more soldiers surround Nex, and one of them carries a small bag full of metallic spheres. They were “suppressors”, special grenades created specifically to take out dangerous targets.
The poor souls had no idea what kind of enemy Nex really was, conventional weapons would only serve to upset him. In systematic fashion, they aim at the bloodstained figure of Nex who glances widely to each of them.
Soldier : Get ready!
Nex glances around widely and scowls strongly, being subtle was pointless so he channels energy through himself letting the powerful and destructive energy fill his body.
Nex : Pieces of garbage. You think those toys can stop this…? (the blue in his eyes fades away as energy builds up around him, he gains a faint smile) Have to say I disagree…
As though it were a sweeping wave, the darkness of the grimoire blasts outward and through the soldiers which in form of rending energy blazes through leaving a path of ruin. The sound generated was similar to a crash on the inside, while sounding something like muffled thunder on the outside.
One of the soldiers throws two suppressors at Nex, trying to take him out after the darkness clears, and the soldiers recompose themselves.
Soldier : Eat this!
Nex : (lowers his head before his eyes widen and he roars) Soul Harvester...Activate!
The serpentine darkness shoots out from around him like a hail of gunfire, and before the soldiers even had time to gather themselves or realize their own fear, it strikes at random. Their eyes gain mix of fear and surprise as it drives into the souls of the soldiers consuming them into a black sphere which quickly is absorbed back into Nex in streams of black and blue.
Organic crimson and black veins form across his body through his arms into his neck, up to his face as the grimoire opens up on his shoulders to release streams of seithr. Whipping his head, the spines of his hair toss around like there were a ravage wind around him, his burning eyes turns to focus on the ones in front of him with malevolent, almost hungry intent.
The desire to rage burning through his veins, the desire to take life away from those in front of him piercing his mind...Nex advances breaking into a wild sprint and a killer's intent in his soul. An orb comes to his vision to strike him, surrounded in a mantle of glimmering darkness he leaps away from the suppressors as he brings his hand down on one of the soldiers, changing it into a claw as he rips them apart in savage fury. He then swings around and smashes the base of his foot into the other with an unnoticed toothy grin as his crimson eyes gleamed.
Nex : Break!
Nex moved too fast for them to really keep up, and the grimoire’s power seemed to protect him from such weak attacks and bullets as he utilized his power or a wing to shield himself each time.
Soldier : Dammit! He’s too powerful!
Some of them drop their weapons and try to run away, realizing this opponent wasn't even human. He was a demon... no even worse. Behind his eyes, hid something growing that represented a destructive desire that wouldn't stop until it razed through the souls of everything...insatiable destroyer.
More damp and sickening sounds of tearing bodies, limbs, nothing was left when the darkness consumes it.
Only a god could hope to stop something like that... These were the thoughts running through their terrified minds as they stand on shaky legs watching Nex's form rip through each of them with brutal blows filling them with despair as he consumes the core of their soul into his body to feed his rage.
Run...? No, that was pointless, because they couldn’t escape from Nex. Were they sent only to die?
He jumps again and pulls his hand up bringing a serpentine darkness around like a raging glassed darkness to strike the others as they come. Generating wings which come out in shadows, he dives and strikes rending apart through another line as he roars.
Nex : (throws his hands out as he roars, grinning before his eyes widen) Rip apart…!
The seithr around him swirls violently in ribbons of darkness and bloody crimsons as he turns himself and lunges at them again to finish them off.
Meanwhile, on the outside of the ruin a pair of slit irises look at the massing darkness around a part of the ruin, seithr growing thicker by the minute. As he approaches the area he shakes his head.
Akuhei : (Offscreen) "Caught" him eh? Doesn't look like it. (walks along, his form blending with the shadow of the ruin entrance) I’m called down here to see a disaster unfolding... Such incompetence in a worldwide government… (Grins slightly before he breaks into a laugh) Not that they had a chance to begin with.
The words are said with scornful mocking mannerisms, the wide crescent grin he wore held no compassion for those falling to Nex's rampage. After all they were all expendable, nothing but fodder for a grander scheme, and this entire thing a mere test in his wicked view.
Akuhei : Oh…? The Soul Harvester. Guess he used it after all… albeit to gather and consume such a pathetic harvest. Must of been hungry. (chuckles as he begins to walk again and thinks to himself) Although the link isn’t complete, so the boy should be in for quite a shock after utilizing the grimoire...
A red eye glows in the darkness as another person joins Akuhei.
??? : Huh… the kid sure has a great appetite.
Akuhei : (Grinning, he stops as he hears the voice from behind, the wind brushes his coats end only slightly as he turns and throws his arms out) Course he does...! (puts them back down as he shifts) After all his power is still developing, he needs to consume. So, you sent them to die?
??? : (Smirks, as he approaches Akuhei) I just don’t give a damn about them. They knew what they signed up for. Should’ve read their assignment more carefully.
Akuhei: Somehow these idiots all just seem to miss the fine print... (grins as he spoke) It clearly states you might be sacrificed for the “greater cause”.
??? : Many others will follow them. That’s the law of this world and we have plenty of cannon fodder.
Akuhei : Indeed, they will. (Glances up at the massing seithr) Ah if there's one thing cannon fodder is good for, its "tests" like this. Still, Such a pathetic harvest, not even a core.
??? : His power is still unrefined. Should we help him by offering him some… stimulation?
Akuhei : (Grins) May as well...if I came all the way out here. (Walks back forward) Even if this place is nothing more than a hollowed husk, and I have no unit to test things with... (grin widens as he plays with a dark energy through his fingers) I'm sure he'd appreciate a hi.
??? : That’s what I thought. (Follows Akuhei)
With death around him the final soldier trembles a bit as they drop their weapon, the entire squadron around him dead, absorbed and consumed by their target. They had no idea their target was so strong, evident by the look of fear left on some of the corpses.
Soldier : (Panics as he tries to run away) M-Monster! Help! He’s a monster!
Nex : “Monster”? (Offscreen as he grasps them within a darkness) Tch…
A snap of bone and flesh is heard as the last soldier falls, the dark energy forming a beasts head which crushes them. As the shadow vanishes into flakes of darkness, Nex stands over them, and looks down at the remains.
Nex : The only one that makes “Monsters” is this world and that’s a world that’ll die, like you.
He pulls his hand back and it returns to normal, just as the last drop of energy is devoured in that black radiance, Nex feels a sharp pain run through him, as he stumbles on unsteady feet.
Nex : U...ugh… (Closes his eyes as the blue fades back in only slightly, the malevolent look to his eyes vanishes as he lets off a pained gasp) GAH! (holds his chest as he heaves, stepping back he collides into the wall and groans as the energy exudes from him) My body… hell… (looks around) the hell did this thing just do...did I just… consume all those souls? (closes his eyes with a harsh wince thinking to himself) No...was more than that...the azures energy I accessed after that...felt… completely destructive…
Exhausted now, Nex slides down the wall and slumps against it with a groan. Despite all the hell he wrought earlier, Nex felt nothing but a backlash of pain inside of his body now.
Nex : God dammit… why did I … I...enjoy that? … (Growls as he looks at his arms and claws at the intricate braces) What is this thing doing to me? I didn’t lose control...but its…
Something worse than that... but Nex can’t put it together right now with a pounding headache and aching body. As he continues to pull and tug at the braces and the seithr formation in futile effort, things remained quiet. He eventually gives a long sigh as he remains in place breathing heavily as his blood runs hot.
He needed to get out of this place, and right now the only thought through his frazzled mind is why he ever followed that man. Driving his unease in further, footsteps echo, drawing closer, forcing Nex to open his eyes again with a scowl filled with exhaustion.
Nex : More…? (to himself) No...there’s only one set...so its two at most…
???: You know someone has to clean all this up, look at this mess...! You’re not one for consideration are you?
Fear pierces his body down to the core of his soul upon hearing that voice echo down the hallway, it wasn’t a voice he ever wanted to hear again—much less now. At the same time it instills him with anger but the fear outweighed it right now, he pulls himself up as fast as he could.
Nex : (glances around looking for the man thinking to himself with a frown of anxiety) God dammit...not him...I, I can’t fight him… I need to get out of here…
End of "Hateful Black Harvest"
Continues in "Wicked Intent of Venin Emerald"
| Arc 2 |
|---|
| Hunters of the Child of Sin |
| Orange Sunset of Hope • Squad of Strong Bronze • Young Red and Gold • Hunted Azure • 51 Black Tactics • Awakened Grey Chaser of World Order • Unknown Factors • Eye of Carmine Agony • Hateful Black Harvest • Wicked Intents of Venin Emerald • Evening of Red Doubt • City of Hidden Black • Stigmatic Black of Sinful Blue • Stigmatic Black of Sinful Black (Pt 2) • Amethyst Sentinel of Enigma • Girl of Destined Silver • Red Choice of Humanity and Destiny • Golden Farewells • Malediction of Blue • Nightmare of Ebony Fear • New Successor of Black "Sin" • Ultimatum of Violet Guardian • Eternal Promise of Gold • Blood under a Red Moon • Chained by Scarlet Anger • Protector of the White City • Threads of Crises • Last Red Gambit • |