Chapter 22

Jason's voice began to quiver at the sight of the Scorched Emma, the head’s screeching skeletal form rapidly approaching the battlefield. “N… no, what the hell? How is she down here…? I just saw her!” Noticing his faltering immediately, Biji, in a flash of light, was at his side.

“What's wrong, Jae? Are you hurt?” She asked with concern, hand on his back. “That Scorched… It's Emma, my brother’s childhood friend.”

“How can you tell?” she said with confusion as she analyzed the creature for any signs of humanity. “See the cocoon in the middle? That's her face, wrapped up in the flesh. There's no mistaking it…” Biji then caught on to the situation, the electricity bending in her disgust before she pulled her hand softly from his back as he wiped the tears in his eyes.

“I’m… so sorry, Jae. I know it seems bad right now, but me and the others—”

“No, I'm alright.” Jason stood up, the aura of the lights of the cosmos flaring larger than it had before. “I have a plan. Let's do this.” Biji smiled her same crescent-light smile before taking Jason’s hand and speeding them towards the group.

As Jason and Biji arrived with the others, they looked on at the impending Scorched as it continued to run towards them. Despite its size and speed, the lumbering through the trees seemed to cause it to stumble as it got closer.

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to do this, Jae?”

“Yeah. I'm not killing her after all, right? Besides, maybe if we cut her out of there, she’ll actually be alive underneath it all!” He smiled, but a bead of sweat fell from his forehead down to his face as the others remained silent. Despite the anxiety racing in his head and body, he continued to smile, attempting to stay positive. In the back of his mind, though, he couldn't help but feel like there was something he had forgotten about…

Suddenly, from behind the group, slow footsteps seemed to crawl out of the forest. Then, from out of the bushes, Chisako lunged at Jason.

Despite the attempt, Chisako was caught; the flames of her prosthetics had now gone dim as she swung in vain at him, cursing and slurring as blood dripped from her face.

“I… can’t… I won’t die without—”

Grabbing her automail, Jason dragged her into his arms, hugging tightly as he held her still.

“Please, Chisako, I know that this can't be what you want to do,” he said, attempting to reason with her. “What's going on? Does Soldier's hand have dirt on you or something? Is it just quality of life? Anything that can get us to even ground, I'll try to help. Just stop, alright? I really don't want you to need to die just because you worked for the wrong people.”

Jason attempted to awkwardly smile at the girl he held in his arms, as her limp body dangled off the ground due to their difference in height. Her black eyes had fully burst blood vessels, leaving her eye whites red, and the same deep crimson had caked the bottom of her face. Despite it all, she smiled, allowing her body to droop.

“You really are the worst type of person.”

Suddenly, her arms began to glow and warm, causing Jason's breath to catch as he quickly dropped her, the others turning to stand guard.

“Every single day since I arrived in this wretched realm, I've had to fight and claw and kill my way to anything resembling my old life. Even then, I've had to spend my time boot-licking and watching Ayn, Nikolai, and that masked bastard Eclipse enjoy their lives here like it's a holiday…”

The arms began to glow a deep purple before fading into the deep crimson color of Chisako’s crest as the lines started to crawl their way up her neck and face.

“The least I can do, while I'm still breathing in this godforsaken body, is take a sniveling wannabe action hero with me… I’m tired of my ego being stepped on; I know I'm better than this. And when I see you in the next reincarnation of my soul, I'll make sure I come back and fulfill my promise to kill you again, and again, and again. In every reincarnation, until the end of time.”

Suddenly, a vine wrapped around Chisako’s ankle. The smile of frenzied madness on her face quickly faded into a look of petty irritation.

“...you have got to be kidding me.”

Facing her, black cosmic energy was gathered around Uddi’s crest as he held his arm out, lifting his feathered hair enough to meet Chisako’s eyes with his own. “If you had more love in your life, or friends as lovely as mine, you wouldn't have turned out like this. Maybe in the next life, you'll take Jason’s generous offer.”

The vine then lashed wildly as Chisako’s arms grew white-hot, sending her flying into the air. Halfway between the group and the Scorched, her prosthetics all began to break apart before exploding.

…

The blast sent a shockwave through the trees, causing the Scorched to stop in its tracks as a burnt corpse plummeted to the ground. As the group watched her charred body fall, a solemn air, despite it all, washed over them. “She’s just one less problem to deal with; you all need to chin up.” Loba readied his spear.

“Uddi, are you okay? I know killing is never easy…” Panka put a hand on his shoulder. Uddi turned to her and smiled, a small tear having already dried from his face. “I’m good; I protected you all, and that’s what matters.”

With a breath in, the ground underneath them all began to rumble, with a massive stump pulling itself from the ground, lifting them high above the tree line and above the Scorched. Biji and Panka looked on in awe at Uddi, with even Loba being impressed, laughing loudly.

“Has this just been something you’ve been able to do this whole time!? How did that group of soldiers’ hands do anything against you?” Biji asked in shock, awing at the view. from atop the line

“Um... No, actually. My ability to channel Brahman feels stronger than usual,” he said, looking at his hands, before coming to awareness of the aura around his chest. “Is that…?”

Jason, with a smirk, raised his hand as if answering a question in class. “That would be thanks to me.”

"... elaborate, kid. Whaddya mean it’s “thanks to you”?” Loba mocked, raising his hand in a copying gesture, to Jason’s irritation.

“The other night, when Uddi explained how crests worked to me, I figured that, in the same way Biji uses her crest to create electric tracking on items,” he pushed his hand in Loba’s face, causing him to notice his hand was still wrapped in part of Biji’s jacket, “that I could use my control over Brahman to lock some of my essence to your crests, giving you guys a bit of a boost. It's like the magic equivalent of a trick my dad taught me: putting VapoRub under your nose to help you breathe better. It’s really effective despite it stinging like a—”

At that point Jason realized that he had lost the group.

“Ah… sorry, guys. Imagine there's something that helps you breathe better, but it's for your crest taking in Brahman.” Loba smiled, putting his hand on Jason’s shoulder, causing a blue spark. “Well, why didn't you just say that, kid? In that case…”

Both of Loba’s forearms began to glow a light blue as the cold air around them began to intensify. “We’re gonna be done with this real quick.”

"Wait, remember, that's my friend in there; we can't hurt her. I bet if I'm able to get close enough, I'll be able to tear her out of that thing. Can I trust you all to have my back?” From behind, Jason felt himself lifted off the ground by Panka.

“I’ll get you in there.” She smiled, ruffling his hair with one of her hands before putting him down, the spark causing her abdomen to glow gold. “...Biji?” Walking over to Jason, Biji put out her hand to him, in the same way they did when they first met. “Come on, do you even have to ask?”
Jason bent down to her arm, placing a small kiss on her hand.

“I guess that was a stupid question.”

A blue spark went off, causing Biji's wrist, then her whole body, to erupt in the enveloping void of stars and plasma.

…

Nikolai, Ayn, and Eclipse had teleported into the forest, finding themselves staring up at the charred body of Chisako as it plummeted.

“Well, are you satisfied, Ayn? Your experiment seems to have turned out to be a bust; Chisako lost. It's a shame.” Nikolai put his hand on Ayn’s shoulder, who, despite everything, could not help smiling.

“Honestly? I'm ecstatic! Some of the most interesting experiments are when I put a rat into a tough spot, and my crest is pulsing, which means that her soul is still trying to fight, even in death!”

As the three walked through the forest searching for Chisako’s body, Nikolai looked over at the Scorched they had released.

“Hopefully, my friend, that thing is able to finally put an end to this once and for all. Despite the fact that Jason and his little group have been the most interesting thing to happen in Naraka all year, I'd really like to get our plan to get home off the ground.”

Eclipse stopped walking for a moment, turning to Nikolai. “... Tell me, what do you think the plan is?”

Nikolai turned to him, a look of confusion spreading across his face.

“Well, to beat the game, of course. We've talked about this. We do as much as we can here, then go home and live out the rest of our merry lives.”

“... and for those in Soldiers Hand who defected from elsewhere?”

“What do you mean? I wouldn't worry about Eclipse; they are just hirables after all.”

“In the time I have known you, you have never seen my full face. Who is to say for certain that under this mask, I'm not from Naraka or from any of the other realms?”

“Well, my dear friend, if that was the case, which I’ve admittedly suspected at times,” Nikolai cleared his throat. “Then you are a gift to me from the heavens to reach our grand goal.”

“Personally, I believe you’ve been thinking too small in terms of what we can accomplish. And I also think you’ve forgotten who really created Soldier's hand.”

Eclipse walked over to Nikolai, placing his hand on the shorter man’s cloaked shoulder.

“Let me make something abundantly clear. We will be doing what I want, and because of that, I will be taking my mantle, my hand back.” Moving his hand down to Nikolai’s arm, Eclipse took the soldier's hand into his own. From behind the helmet, he gazed into the confident man’s eyes; there was no fear. Or perhaps, no awareness.

With a light squeeze, Nikolai fell to the ground, clutching his hand in pain as he wailed lightly. Ayn stepped back in fear before being frozen in place by Eclipse’s gaze.
“W-why...?” she sputtered, Nikolai still squirming on the ground.

“This is a reward. I find it fitting that he's given a soldier’s hand, considering he’s worked so graciously to earn one. He should be grateful I didn't kill him for just being irritating.” Eclipse then pointed at the writing man commandingly. “Now, fix him. And I don't want to hear anymore out of either of you until this operation is done.”

…

When the Scorched finally arrived at the base of the stump, it began climbing up rapidly, its claws ripping into the stump as the beasts tore into it. The five jumped in the air, landing on different trees.

“Let’s get this done quick,” Loba muttered to himself, watching the Scorched reach the top of the stump.

Its feet were quickly entangled and pulled down into it by vines, causing the creature to shriek and use its skeletal hands to tear at the ground beneath it. Seizing the opportunity, Biji in a flash flew out of a nearby tree, jumping from branch to branch, catching the Scorched’s eye. The creature fumbled for a moment before releasing a bloodcurdling scream, tearing itself from its own legs as black blood spewed everywhere.

“Ugh,” Biji winced, falling back to one of the nearby trees, before calling to Jason.

“I appreciate that your little buff allows me to move top speed in other directions besides a straight line, but I don’t think I have a clean shot just yet. We might need a second more before you and—”

“Way ahead of you!” From the other side of the gulf, Loba had begun to fall towards the ground before slamming his lance into one of the Scorched’s necks, anchoring it into the stump. He then created a solid layer of ice around it, as if it were a massive nail in the wood.

“This has been almost too easy! You three only got one shot at this, so make it count!” As Loba fell back, Biji quickly took his place, building up momentum by bouncing from tree to tree before launching herself head-on into the Scorched’s skull.

She shot through like a bullet, rendering the body limp.

“Now, quickly before it dies, Jason, do your thing! You only have a second, so make it count!” Biji yelled from the ground, falling out of her electric state. Wasting no time, as if the two were weightless, Panka flew through the sky, holding Jason close as she rocketed them towards the center of the mass.

“Good luck,” Panka said, throwing Jason into the center of the mass. As he fell to the middle, he felt his heart throb in pain; ‘I'm coming for you, Emma.’

Wasting no time once he landed, he began using his hands to try to tear Emma’s cocoon out of the flesh and sinew holding her inside.

‘Come on, I know you’re still in there; you’re going to wake up and be fine…’

As he continued tearing, it became more and more difficult to rip the fleshy tubes connecting her inside the chest cavity.

‘Come on, damn it. I’ve just found you; I refuse to lose you here.’

After minutes that felt like hours, Jason wrapped his arms around the cocoon, screaming wildly as his body was covered in black blood.

“Come on, Emma!”

Jason tore the cocoon out of the body, causing him to fall backwards. A tear of joy streamed down his face as he moved his hand to remove the remainder of the cocoon around Emma, her face seemingly becoming content as she was removed from the Scorched’s body.

Jason then felt a foreign pain between his ribs.

Looking up as his vision went shaky, Eclipse was standing over him, with his sword plunged into the bodies of both Emma and Jason.

“Two birds with one stone. Literary.”

Removing his helmet with his remaining arm, the veneer of the Eclipse fell as he let it clang onto the wood of the stump. “I can't imagine you're shocked to see me at this point."

Jason let a tear roll down his face as he looked up in disbelief at the man stabbing into him.

Holding Emma in his arms, he began to watch as the man also began to cry, his hand shaking as he plunged the sword deeper.