Chapter 1:

Killing Boredom

The Calamity Arrives, A World Without Hope


A dark silhouette opened their eyes, seemingly bored as it woke up in the same desolate darkness as always. 

<I wonder if there is anything interesting today? I guess not. I'm so bored, all I've done lately is sleep. I want to go out and play, but there is nothing left outside. I want to play, I want to play, I want to play!>

The obscured figure closed their eyes, but this seemed to do little for their boredom, so it reopened them. The eyes stared at the surrounding void as it seemed to ponder for a few moments before making a decision.

"Yep, I'm going out today. We can go and play in a fun world. Ah, but I need to take my time and make it last, so hopefully we can find some toys that will last a while."

A few moments later, a little girl hopped out of a gap into a bright, but desolate world. Not even ruins seemed to remain as massive scars coated the rocky planet as if some great monster had torn gashes into the very planet. The girl smiled as she felt around for something and several moments later, she appeared to have found something in the air. And like a child playing make believe, she grabbed that something and pulled.

Of course, if she was any normal child, her actions would have ended as just a cute imaginary game. Unfortunately, this child was anything but ordinary. After all, she was the sole survivor of a war that extended across several planets. Furthermore, she wasn't even human, but an elder spirit. While her current body was made to mimic humanoid life forms, it was still extremely powerful. So powerful in fact, that her pulling tore a gap in space itself.

How powerful was this girl? As the girl landed in a vast white room, the previously lone entity within that room cowered in fear as it asked, "Tulu? Why are you awake? Shouldn't you still be sleeping? I haven't found another world worth fighting."

Of course, Tulu seemed to have no problems as she gave a carefree response, "I'm bored, so I'm going to go out and play a little. I really hope that I can find someone worth playing with. But don't worry Mr god of something or another, I can make my own path. Tootaloo~!"

And with that, Tulu tore open another gap, jumping through immediately after. The entity sighed and wiped off their sweat as they looked at the gap. "That was Earth 75 that she just went to? I pity them for crossing paths with the calamity, but at least that means I have more time to find another sacrifice. I can't imagine that any of the Earths might survive for long though, much less 75. They are still in the era of firearms and they lack magic to make up for that."

Of course, the entity did not seem at all sad and instead appeared rather pleased, but the workings of the deities were far beyond what a mortal might comprehend. Instead, it was perhaps best to continue focusing on Tulu who was now tumbling out of a gap into a large metallic structure.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Several armed men in strange, blotchy-patterned uniforms pointed metal devices at Tulu. Tulu calmly stood up and looked at the men before speaking, "Hmmm... English perhaps? This must be one of the middle Earths then. Firearms? Probably Earth 75, 78, or 92 then. Oh, perhaps these men are military?"

Of course, with how Tulu spoke in not this 'English', but in the language of elder spirits, the men immediately became even more suspicious with whispers such as, "What language is that?" and "How can a human mouth produce such a sound?"

In fairness to these likely soldiers, the language of elder spirits is maddening. Hearing their language is enough to drive weaker minded creatures insane. While most humanoids were of strong enough mind to resist insanity, it still caused unease in those listening. Not that any of these humans understood how lucky they were to not hear the entire range of Tulu's words due to the limitations of human ears, but that hope would be short-lived. Encountering Tulu was nothing short of a disaster at best.

At worst, Tulu's innocent smile combined with the unease caused the soldiers to activate their devices, likely firearms. Tulu was soon riddled with holes - rather, if Tulu was a normal girl, she would have been riddled with holes. Instead, all these soldiers managed to do was rush their own dooms.

"Oh, are we playing poke poke? Let me play too!"

This time, Tulu spoke in the same English as the men as she picked up several metal objects from the ground around her. Tulu tilted her head one way then another as if a bird before she moved her hands in a pose as if holding one of those firearms. With all of those small cone-like metal items in her right hand she aimed the imaginary firearm at the men.

"She's a monster."

"How is she still alive? I know I shot her!"

"What is she doing?"

Little did these men realize that those might be their last words as Tulu smiled gently at them. Then, faster than any of the men could react, their bodies seemed to explode as giant holes appeared in their bodies and even the walls seemed to do little to stop the path of destruction as the bullets made giant lines of destruction in the walls and everything behind them. Blood splattered everywhere and shouts of panic ensued.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! All men gear up now!" 

"Unknown weaponry fired, might be some sort of HEAT round, I'm seeing holes torn through multiple walls!"

"Someone identify where the attack came from!"

Tulu giggled a little as she looked at the chaos - with her attack, several lights disappeared as if to shroud her in darkness. Only a creepy giggling revealed her existence and somehow, that giggle seemed to echo through the structure.

"What the hell is that giggling?"

"Sir, it sounds like some girl is giggling!"

"Is this some kind of sick joke? When we find these fools, we'll show them what it means to attack a base of the Great Nation Maritime Force!"

Still retaining her smile, Tulu spun around as she examined the structure around her. Pulling off some metal from various parts, Tulu examined the insides of the walls, revealing pillars of metal and wires among other metallic and plastic parts. With little thought, Tulu grabbed these and pulled them out to examine them closer, even putting some in her mouth.

"Ooh! It is like this sparkly flavor. Tasty. Oh, these toys make great food."

Happy with her discovery, Tulu crunched on the head of one of the men from earlier as she sipped on one of the wires as if sucking through a straw. Tulu gleefully snacked on her newly discovered meal until a few minutes later, several armed men entered the room with lights shining from their weapons. The men soon discovered Tulu mid-meal and shouted in horror.

"M-Monster!"

"What are you doing to Alex!?"

"Brad? You murdered Brad! He was going to propose to his girlfriend after this tour! What did he ever do to you? Die!"

Of course, none of those attacks showed any effect as they simply bounced off of Tulu's body. Giggling once more, Tulu walked up to one of the men and grabbed him with by the arm. No matter how much the man struggled, Tulu's firm grip prevented him from escaping even as his allies desperately fired at Tulu. Tulu gave the man a toothy smile and squeezed down until a popping sound echoed in the room shortly before the horrified scream filled the room. 

Tulu held a messy splatter of reddish paste that dripped down as the arm tumbled onto the ground. The soldier held the wound while screaming in pain while twisting in agony to reveal a stump of bone protruding from his back - likely the remainder of his arm.

Tulu laughed with a delighted expression as she picked up the arm lying on the ground and with a snap, a fresh line of red and white coated the room. Seconds later, the screams stopped as the soldier split in two, divided along that fresh line of red. The innards spilled onto the floor and the other soldiers screamed in fury, once again futilely firing at Tulu.

"I'm so glad that I have so many toys to play with!"

"You monster! Why won't you die?"

"Tom! Get back!"

The man shouting those final words grabbed a strange elliptical device with bumps, pulling off a round metal piece, flipping off a small pin, and throwing the device at Tulu as yet another piece fell off. Tulu, seeing this weird device, picked it up while the men dove away. Seconds later, the device exploded, sending out flying debris into the area.

"Oh, they scratched my skin a little. Very good! This is what it means to have fun!"

Of course, even that explosion barely scratched Tulu's skin and even then, the scratch healed so quickly that even that little bit of resistance proved pointless.

"This is bravo fife tree niner! We have encountered an unknown enemy force in the form of a little girl. Live rounds and hand grenades are ineffective, I say again, live rounds and hand grenades show no effect on the weapon in the form of little girl! Read ba-!"

Tulu watched the man shouting into a metallic device for a few moments before she nodded her head as if confirming something. With utter nonchalance, Tulu pulled off a pinky finger and after blowing into a little, she threw the pinky at the two men who looked at her finger in both confusion and horror. 

"Did she just throw her pinky?"

A moment later, the pinky exploded, shredding the closest man, metal box and all and ripping several gaping holes in the other. The second man, convulsing, grabbed at the metal box and attempted to speak, "Pinky. Exploded. Grenade."

"Oh, they must be telling the other toys about my abilities. I wonder, would it be more fun to reveal it or let them keep guessing? I guess I can always reveal it later."

Tulu giggled as always and, with her pinky already regenerated, skipped towards where the men appeared from, ignoring the man who continued to convulse. It seemed that Tulu lacked interest for broken toys.

Tulu quickly found another group of military men, these ones seemingly more prepared for Tulu as several of them fired some flame backed projectiles at Tulu. With the explosion engulfing Tulu, one of the soldiers asked, "Did we get it?"

"Awww... I just fixed this hand. Now it is all messed up again."

Tulu held up her hand sadly, revealing... her barely blistered hand. The men could only stare in abject horror as her blistered hand quickly repaired itself. Tulu frowned a little as she seemed to ponder something. Meanwhile, the men frantically scrambled with one shouting a metal box.

"This is bravo fife seven seven actual! RPGs show no effect, prepare all ammunition possible! Sabot rounds, SAPHE rounds, I don't care! Acknowledge!"

A staticky sound came from the metal box, "Roger!"

"Out!"

The man who had just been shouting into the metal box next shouted to the other men, "Show these invaders the great power of our Great Nation Maritime Force! Do not let them step even an inch further!"
"Yes, Sir!"

With that, the military men rained a hail of constant fire at Tulu, but these men obviously did not understand how futile their actions were. All these weapons firing upon Tulu amounted to no more than throwing sand against a leviathan. It was simply unfeasible to expect any results. Even worse...

"I think I get how this works."

Licking her lips, Tulu opened her mouth wide to inhale, then exhaled violently. With that breath, a flaming orb flew towards the enemy group before exploding into a giant blast of fire. Immediately, all gunfire stopped as nothing remained except charred remains at best.

"Hee hee hee. Did you see that? All of those soldiers went boom! Aren't these toys great? They come up with so many neat ways for me to play with them!"

Tulu laughed as she continued to skip along as if seeking more things to "play" with. Eventually, Tulu found herself in a large space with many metal machines waiting. These somewhat boxy machines all seemed to be pointing a long tube at Tulu. Several of the men were seen pointing various devices at Tulu from firearms to the RPGs to other devices.

"Oh! Look, the toys came to greet me! Hi! Are you all excited to play with me?"
"Die! You son of a goat!"
"Burn in hell!"

Screams of varying sorts came with a stream of fire and Tulu seemed to just barely register the attacks. Minutes passed and at the end of it, a cloud of dust blanketed the area. Once the dust settled, the military men saw Tulu laying still on the ground. A loud cheer erupted from military men. If only those military men were not so foolish, perhaps they'd have lived a little longer, but with that loud cheer, Tulu sat up and looked around before holding up her arm and staring at her missing hand.

"Oh, they managed to take the entire hand. This might take a second."

Just like that, in about a second, the flesh stretched from her stump and formed a new hand as if no damage ever happened. Tulu looked over at the screen and frowned.

"Oh, it looks like they shot you, little toy. Are you perhaps going to die? Would you like me to scream and cry for you as I break all of these toys? Was that a nod? Okay, goodbye little toy."

Tulu smiled cheerfully before she turned to face the men with their machines.

"Ah, I can't believe you broke my favorite toy. How dare you, hee hee. Now I have to break all of you so my favorite little toy can be happy."

Tulu's smiled twisted to show signs of mischievousness and anger. And the screen went dark.

* * * 

"And that was what we found off the alien device at Site Foxtrot Indigo Two."

A young man spoke calmly in front of several formally dressed men, each decorated with ribbons and medals and stars. One of those men, a general with especially hefty bearing, slammed his fists on the table.

"What is the meaning of this? Are you telling me some alien girl just waltzed into one of our bases and slaughtered the everyone inside with no effort?"

The young man shook his head at those words as his expression turned somewhat grave. "Sir, I fear it is worse than that. From what we can decipher, that girl won't stop until she's destroyed the entire planet."

The general, with a mocking tone, responded, "So what do you propose? We join hands with the rest of the world? Announce this... calamity? Incite panic amongst the masses? You think the world will just work hand and hand?"

"Not quite, Sir. I propose that we fight fire with fire. We release Subject Zulu One Eight. And I propose we arrange for an emergency, secret summit. It is certain that the other nations also have their own secret organisms."

"Do you have any idea how many men we sacrificed to capture Subject Zulu One Eight? And now you want me to release it? Do you really think that the other nations would reveal their own secret weapons?"

"Sir, I believe that no nation would have any choice after seeing this."

"Even supposing we manage to convince the other nations, just how do you plan to track this alien girl?"

"Sir, that is not a problem. The solution was rather simple. We sent in a lone sacrifi-soldier to give her a cellphone with instructions on how to use it."

"What, you expect her to just call us and tell us where she is?"

Turning to the screen with a remote, the young man spoke, "See for yourself." With a click, the screen changed to reveal an orange haired, orange eyed girl who was looking towards the screen. 

"Hi! Hi! Are you all here for Tulu's Live Show? Is this showing right? Oh, does this show my eyes? Aww, it doesn't. Oh well. Tulu here! Keep watching for more games with Tulu! What should we play next? I think it is too early for pop pop, so maybe some fwoosh fwoosh? Those fire breathing men were super cool! I want to try that, so I think that would be fun next! Oh, you wanted my location, right? I'm like on this weird planet. It is sort of covered in water. Weird, right? We are going to have so much fun! Oh, looks like the battery is running out? I need to charge it, see you next time~!"

With that, the screen went blank again while the general quickly changed into a lobster as his fists shook.

"That brat is mocking us!"

"Sir, I doubt she sees us as even worth mocking. I believe that if we work with the other nations, we may be able to weaken her enough to capture her."

"Forget capturing her, I want her eliminated! Destroy her so completely that she can't recover!"

"Sir-"

"That is final! I am ordering you to destroy her!"

The general stormed out of the room in a rage and while many of the others did the same, a few managed to leave calmly though clearly upset.

"So, was that entertaining enough?"

The young man spoke to what at first seemed to be nothing, but soon after, an orange haired, orange eyed girl popped out with a smile.

"Oh yes, very entertaining! You had a recommendation of where I should play next?"

"Yes, I recommend here next."

The young man pointed at a certain spot on a map, to which Tulu observed. The map showed their current location as well, so Tulu knew, roughly, where to go. Tulu kept her smile as her eyes practically sparkled with excitement.

"Oh! So this is the location of the Children of Winter I've heard so much about! They are protected by Winter, yes? It should be most fun to play with them! I'll head over right away!"

"I recommend you take your time, see the sights, and try to arrive during the winter. That is when you can see their true strength. I'm sure they will entertain you more then."

"I'll take your recommendation then! Thank you for your entertainment!"

Tulu smiled as she disappeared, waving happily. The young man waited until he felt certain she was gone before muttering to himself.

"If we work together, we just might avoid this disaster. Only because she sees killing off the human race as nothing more than a game for killing time. One she doesn't mind who wins. But, can we really all band together?"