Chapter Text
“Good morning” The first breath after changing body was always a bit painful, but Fyodor had time to get used to it. Bram’s body felt colder than he imagined.
The shock on Fukuzawa’s face made him smile a little. In his hand he was holding the holy sword Soluz Levni and in front of him there was Fukuchi’s body, still breathing.
This time his smile was full.
-----
“An ancient ruler! Or, as called by its true name…” Mymo looked around him, beyond the broken houses and the corpses scattered around, to the vastness on the horizon “... A God” He smiled and everyone around froze. That wasn’t human. Not anymore. They didn’t know what he was talking about, but if they didn’t stop him soon, everything would be lost, forever.
“A human can’t become a God” Rudo was the only one who managed to find the strength to reply, despite the blood dripping from his head. He was also the only one who seemed to know what Mymo was talking about “That’s stupid.”
Mymo’s hand around the boy’s arm tightened, the sound of broken bones soon covered by Rudo’s scream.
-----
Ranpo ran as fast as he could toward his… toward the president. “Stop him!” He shouted “Whatever you do, don't let him use that sword!” This was the end. Fukuzawa was too far from Fyodor to do anything, same for Teruko, who still tried to close the distance as much as she could.
Fyodor grinned. In the end, everything worked out beautifully. Every single tassel falling in its place, his masterpiece completed.
“Reverend blades, I command you– Conjure up a miracle for me.”
And everything turned to white.
-----
Mymo has reached the container where Gountess was hidden. The parking lot was full of vehicles, but he still found his without problems. He had won. “Now admire the return of my RULE!” With his new hostage, Rudo wasn’t a problem anymore. No one could ever stand in his way, no one could stop him.
But something still stung inside his mind.
“Rudo… You said that a human can’t become a God… I’ll prove to you the strength of my desire!”
After Mymo wore the necklace, immense energy filled his body, restoring all the wounds. His arm was also back. He immediately raised his new hand and smiled. He will ascend. It was his destiny.
A small membrane. He was feeling it under his fingers. One last barrier between him and godhood? It was nothing when compared to his power. He tore it apart.
“Rudo Surebrec” It was time. His first order as a God “Kill Gountess”
Rudo felt a wave of energy invading his soul. He tried to fight the impulse, but soon his vision faded to black.
When the world regained its colors, Mymo’s head was left hanging from his body, the pendant on the floor, away from him.
He was still yelling about his dream, but this time Rudo didn’t pay any attention to his words. Instead, he finished the job.
Mymo’s head rolled onto the pavement. “He finally shut up.”
The next moments were chaotic. A type of chaos that will forever leave its mark in history.
Just the imminent death of Gountess, saved only by Too Lily’s magic, was enough stress for Rudo. But the real horror began when he realised to whom the body laying next to him belonged to. And his condition.
Rudo immediately took his shirt off and tried to stop the bleeding, without success. Lily quickly kneeled next to him, trying to help a bit.
Kyouka was following the traces left behind by the creature called Mymo. Traveling while being so big didn’t work well with stealth. Still, even if that kid went after that thing, his chances of beating it were slim. She needed to do something, as the commander of the Red Horns.
Then, out of the corner of her eyes, she seemed to see something golden appearing in the sky. It lasted for just a second, but it still interrupted her pace. When she was about to start walking again, another one shined bright, right in the direction she was headed. It was an oval shining light. She found it worryingly familiar to the vital instrument of that raider and started running.
Rudo was still pressing hard on Enjin’s neck, who was now unconscious, but his eyes were fixed on the woman that just appeared behind them.
“What…?”
The woman, who was wearing a simple blouse and a long black skirt, seemed pretty confused herself. She passed a hand through her dark hair until they touched her golden butterfly hairclip, she seemed to relax a bit once she realised it was still there.
Then Enjin let out a faint whimper and Rudo forgot the woman.
“Enjin! Come on…” He looked at Lily, desperate “Can’t you use your magic or…”
She shook her head, a veil of sadness covering her eyes “I tried, but there’s something blocking me”
The boy bit his lip so hard red droplets started to escape from his mouth.
“May I help?”
Rudo’s eyes busted open. The strange woman was now on the opposite side of Enjin’s body, looking at his neck wound.
He couldn’t force the words out of his mouth and simply nodded.
The woman gave a small nod back and sat down. She then rested her hands on her lap and closed her eyes.
Rudo watched closely her pin, which must have been her vital instrument. Was she a healer like Eishia? But wasn’t the cleaners’ healer a unique case? There were others with her powers and the cleaners didn’t know?
But to Rudo’s, and Lily’s, surprise, the butterfly pin didn’t change in the slightest. Instead the woman whispered “Thou Shalt Not Die” and a wave of colourful butterflies appeared out of thin air. They all gathered around Enjin’s neck and for a second Rudo feared that they would suffocate him.
Instead, the wound was getting smaller. When the butterflies disappeared, Enjin woke up. On his neck there still were many cuts, but none of them were life threatening. He reached for his neck and looked around, so confused.
Rudo, on the other hand, hugged him so tightly that the man started couching.
“Are you ok now, sir?” The woman asked.
Enjin, with Rudo still on his lap, nodded. “How… How did you…?
She shook her head, smiling “Nothing difficult, don’t worry. Still, it seemed like I couldn’t fully heal you. That never happened before…” She raised her eyebrow. “May I ask you how you got injured?”
Enjin hesitated. But luckly for him, there was another question that needed an answer.
“What is your vital instrument? I didn’t see you use any” Too Lily smiled at the woman, truly intrigued. Gountess, still on his chair on the container, supported her with an interested nod.
But the woman started shooting confused looks between the two of them “Vital instruments? What are you talking about?”
No one said anything for a few moments.
“You cured Enjin with your vital instrument, didn’t you?” Rudo pointed out, letting his arms loose just enough to allow him to look at the woman but not enough to let Enjin free. He was warm. A nice kind of warmth. The alive kind.
The woman stood up and looked around her, clearly on edge. “No, I didn’t.”
But before someone else could ask her something, another man appeared from behind a vehicle. He was wearing a nice shirt and black pants with suspenders. His belt was too long and it was swinging behind him just like a tail. His hair looked like they had been cut by a mean kid to prank him. He had some bruises on his face but nothing worrying.
“Yosano-san!” He yelled, basically running toward the woman once he saw her.
She also ran to him, with a warm smile on her face. “Atsushi, I’m so glad you’re ok!”
They hugged tightly, like they hadn’t seen each other in years.
“Where- where are we? And the others?” The man, Atsushi?, asked, looking around, maybe looking for the ‘others’.
Yosano shook her head “I don’t know. I hoped you had seen them.” His eyes fell on the ground, defeated. “But” She continued with a softer voice “At least I found you”
That gave Atsushi some relief. “Yeah, you’re right.” He smiled at her.
“Ehm, if i’m not interrupting anything, who are you people?” Enjin asked. He had raised a hand to stroke Rudo’s hair, trying to calm him down. With the other he was supporting his and the kid’s weight while sitting.
Yosano was the first to introduce herself “Oh, you’re right. My name is Akiko Yosano, I hope you’re feeling better.” The man followed right behind “And I’m Atsushi Nakajima, nice to meet you”
Enjin let out a tired sigh “You can call me Enjin and he is Rudo” He signed toward the boy. Rudo was starting to calm down, but Enjin couldn’t blame him for his reaction. Especially since he told him that he saw his adoptive father die before coming to the ground.
“And I’m Too Lily” Lily introduced herself next. Enjin giggled “I don’t think they will need yours too”
“I- we did, actually?” Atsushi replied, clearly still on edge.
“Wow, first you don’t know what a vital instrument is, despite using one, and now you don’t know who Too Lily is?” Enjin joked “Where are you two from? The Sphere?”
Then he looked at them better. Despite some bruises and superficial cuts they were pretty clean and their clothes were really nice. Much more than what could be found on the Ground without a personal tailor. “Oh fuck, you really are from the Sphere…”
He whispered to himself.
Lily’s eyes sparkled “Wait, really?”
“No, of course not.” Rudo shook his head. He had finally let Enjin go and he was studying the two strangers’ clothes “Those are not Sphereite clothes. Also, on the Sphere I couldn’t use 3R, so she shouldn't be able to use her vital instrument that well.”
The older cleaner sighed “Do you have any other explanation? Because if you’re not from the Sphere you have no excuses to not know Too Lily.”
“Is that really what is strange for you?!”
Enjin smiled. It was nice to see Rudo back to his energetic self.
Lily in the background let out a faint laugh. She was back at Gountess’ side, trying to free him from his restraints.
“What do you think about this, Lily?” He asked.
“I don’t know. But I have a feeling something big is going to happen. Right now I just want to see you free from this chair.”
He smiled at her “Thank you again”
She smiled back, light radiating from her eyes.
“You keep referring to this ‘vital instrument’.” Atsushi suddenly asked “What is it? Your ability?”
Now it’s Enjin’s turn to raise an eyebrow “Huh? My what?”
“Your… ability…?” Atsushi tried again, slowly. But Enjin shook his head, still unable to get what he was trying to ask him.
In that moment, another portal opened up above them and from the golden light a new body appeared. Atsushi immediately recognized the black cape and the black hair with light-colored ends.
“Akutagawa!” He yelled, but the other man was clearly unconscious.
He fell on the ground just a few meters further on. The duo of strangers ran towards their friend (?) while Enjin and Rudo looked at each other in disarray.
“When I fell I didn’t see any light” Rudo commented.
“Neither did I” The other cleaner confirmed. “I guess they really aren’t sphereites. But then, who the fuck are they?”
The younger shrugged his shoulders “I have no idea.”
Yosano and Atsushi had reached Akutagawa. He was regaining consciousness, but falling from that height for sure wasn’t great for him.
“What the hell?” He said, while massaging his head.
Atsushi dropped on the floor in front of him “Goddamit, Akutagawa! I thought you were dead!”
“Do you have that little faith in me? It wasn’t that bad of a fall.”
“I was talking about when Fukuchi decapitated you!”
“My head is still here, you know?!”
“OK, almost decapitated then, HAPPY?”
Yosano chuckled “Do you always speak to each other like this? Don’t you get tired of yelling?”
The boys rolled their eyes.
“Wait” Akutagawa stood up, slightly unstable on his feet “We were doing something… Where are we? Where’s Dazai? What happened?”
Before Yosano could answer anything, another female voice interrupted her.
“That’s the same thing that I want to know.”
A metallic handcuff closed around Yosano’s wrist.
“And I think you can answer some of my other questions as well.”
Enjin watched in horror as Zanka’s big sister emerged from the shadows of a vehicle. How much did she listen to? How much did she know?
Instinctively, he reached for Rudo and brought him closer. He didn’t have the strength to fight a Hell Guard now, but if she tried to come closer to his colleague, he would surely try.
Too Lily also didn’t move. Gountess was technically involved in Mymo’s scheme, but as long as she was there, she would defend him, no matter who.
Atsushi tried to grab the rope that connected the handcuff to the new woman, but a bullet flew too close to his face and he froze. Akutagawa was still too dizzy to intervene and his head was hurting like hell, making it impossible to concentrate.
“What is happening?” Yosano asked, trying to keep her composure, but the past days of stress and fear were making it really difficult. “Why are you restraining me? Who are you?”
The woman gave a tug to the rope, forcing Yosano to step ahead.
“Silence, Raider. I saw the portal. Are you also accomplices of Mymo?”
The trio remained silent.
Kyouka frowned. “Then answer this. What did you do to him?” And she pointed to Enjin. “I kept my eyes on you all the time, you didn’t activate any vital instrument. So, how did you heal him?”
“Wow, it’s almost like talking to the Hunting Dogs. Neither of them listen” Yosano whispered, then rapidly added, before the woman could say anything else “We have no idea what these ‘vital instruments’ are.”
Kyouka wanted to believe they were playing dumb, but it was a lie so stupid no one could fake that well. But still, she didn’t let go of the rope.
“May I have a word with you, ma’am?”
When Kyouka turned, she found a man behind her. He was wearing a small brown cape and matching pants and hat. His brown hair was long enough to slightly cover his eyes, which were closed.
Yosano's face lit up, just like Atsushi’s. “Ranpo!” She called, but didn’t move, in fear that the woman could do something against her friend.
Ranpo raised a finger to his lips, signaling them to be quiet. He was smiling, calmly.
The woman raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sure that if we just talk a bit everything will start to make sense.” Ranpo continued “I think I know what happened, but it’s not exactly an easy fact to believe.”
“What do you mean?” The man raised his arms, showing he was unarmed, and stepped forward. She let him, but kept her free hand near her gun.
“Ma’am, do you believe in the existence of other universes?”