248. A Voice From Beyond the Void

< Entering the City of Spades for the First Time >

< Welcome to the City of Spades >

A steam train of ridiculous proportions roared into the City of Spades, riding along an invisible, premeditated track straight for the heart of Scarlet Logic. It ploughed through the earth, upheaving all in its path like a mountain on wheels.

The wheels chugged with a rhythmic, metallic groan, screaming that it was more than just a machine. It was alive, proven by the flesh hidden underneath.

Concealed Guilt
Librarians
< The Result of Our Choices >
LEVEL : 0     ORIGIN : Impuritas     HP : 2,500,000     ATT : 0     MAG ATT : 0
ATT DEF : 0     MAG DEF : 0     MP : 0     RESIST : Nil     AGI : 0

< The Archivist has interpreted a Condition >

< CONDITION : Concealed Guilt and Our One-Way Train to Heaven (Hell) possess Infitas defense against all attacks as long as there are more than 100 Scarlet Logic personnel within a 1km radius >

“What kind of screwed up Condition is that!?” Ber was the first to respond as Frost threw herself over the edge first. “Wreak havoc is all I’m hearing! Fine by me then!” She cracked her knuckles and immediately followed suit.

“Straight in with no prep. We’re really going to take on an Atelier on our own, huh!?” The depth of her fervor could not be brought into words. The sparks that ran along her teeth made it clear that she was ecstatic to finally bite down on Scarlet Logic. “And what’s with that body Frost!?”

“Keep your mind in the fight Cer! This is an Atelier! We’re not fighting Corrupted. We’re fighting the equivalent of a nation!” Res shouted. She turned to Jury, then Ignis above before following suit, also adorning her fervor as though it were a blade.

Jury froze momentarily, bewildered by the sight. An overwhelming sense of sadness washed over her as countless marched onwards to their deaths. She knew in her heart that many of them probably didn’t even know what they were fighting for. But it was too late to show compassion.

It was now or never.

“What’s wrong… Jury?” Ignis uttered as she wrenched herself free from the connective sinew that kept her attached to the base of her Extended System. She was like a parasite leaving its host’s corpse; the husk slumping over the walls as it destructively slid into its final resting place.

Drenched in fresh blood, Ignis shook herself before it was all absorbed through her skin and suit. She approached Jury with comforting eyes, staring up at her quizzically.

“The sights keep getting worse.” Jury began, her eyes narrowing as her mind overlayed the scenery with the beautiful mountains beyond her Black Forest. She grasped the air by her side and caught the air instead of Frost’s hand. “How many do you think know what they are fighting for?”

Jury shook her head, pale strands of hair concealing portions of her golden eyes.

“All this misery gone unnoticed. I can feel it. The anguish. The rage. Directed towards us, tempered by torment. My heart… reverberates with something here. Echoing with an uncomfortable ticking.” She slowly spoke in an unexpectedly low tone of voice, causing Ignis to tug on Jury’s sleeves to see if she was ok.

“… don’t become a Corrupted. Please don’t.” Ignis was worried, instantly causing Ignis’ ever-illuminating eyes to return to their usual luminosity.

“It won’t happen to me. Believe me~ I was just…” Jury, staring back onto the world, wore a saddened look. “… frustrated that the world isn’t any brighter than my Black Forest. So let’s go fix it.”

Ignis was still worried, but she could only nod and hum: “Mm!”

“IGNIS! JURY! WE NEED TO REACH THE TRAIN!” They heard Frost’s call from underneath, causing the two to take their plunge into the warzone.

A warzone that felt ever so familiar to both Jury…

And Frost.

* * *

“Just leave the train to me! And stay close to it! We can use it to ride our way deeper into their territory!” Frost’s flames were like wings now, licking higher than the feathers of her coat.

The Heart of Ours caused her emotions to reach an alarming high as she took the lead, distancing herself from the others due to the blazing heat.

“We just gotta keep beating them down while you deal with it, huh!?” Cer demanded confirmation, downing an entire flask of blue liquid. “The train’s huge! Who the hell do you think they send in those!?”

“Not just any ordinary criminal. That design and all that metal isn’t anything like the roaming prisons. ‘Condemned’. Hey Frost!” Res shouted. “Doesn’t that black steel remind you of the iron train we saw in the Train graveyard!?”

“… It does.” Frost acknowledged this “But it looks like a train taken straight out of my old world. Just supersized! Even the bolts holding the carriages are bigger than us! That thing – Is that what Oboros Infinitas uses for the Condemned!? Cause that’s what I’m thinking!”

“Concealed Guilt. The Result of Our Choices. One Way Trip to Hell.” Ber read out the names straight from the behemoth’s status. “And Our Final Stand. Sounds like they have a whole world of resentment to unleash onto them! Look at it – Tch – It’s heading straight for the biggest clump!”

The train unexpectedly swiveled, its carriages swaying behind like a tail as they neared it.

Their speed was faster than the absurd haste of the train as they gave chase, following in its path of destruction. However, in order to keep their buffed stats they needed to remain within a fixed distance from Frost. If one strayed too far off and they’d be left behind in an instant.

Therefore, the plan was to have Frost dead center of the train, whilst the others roamed within the vicinity of her Touch of Golds. They were 50 meters in length – the perfect distance for the cutoff point for her Empowered Passive Skill.

A certain clarity filled them. [Beaten Desires] caused her heartbeat to emit an invisible shockwave that resonated with the hearts of her friends. The range was 100 meters from what she could tell. The [Gushing!] Passive Skill kept them vocal. The higher their emotions rose, the more they’d be inclined to speak.

The rest of her skills were unusable for the moment. They still hadn’t clashed with Scarlet Logic just yet. But the most interesting skill of all was the Passive Skill: Aspirating Aspirations. She knew that its reach would be far and wide. However, their emotions first needed to reach a critical level.

She interpreted it as being ‘broken’ or brought to a certain crossroads in their hearts.

“Just a little more – THERE!” Frost latched onto it with her Touch of Golds, pulling herself onboard first. The back wall of the train’s last compartment was like a cliff face. There were no windows in sight. Just metal and throbbing flesh lurking underneath.

“Are the flames too hot!?” She asked.

“VERY MUCH SO!” Res cried almost instinctively.

“The hell are you saying!? I’d rather throw myself into a blast furnace than get wrapped up by one of those!” Cer also had a visceral reaction, causing Frost to nod to herself as she made a mental note to completely distance herself. “But if you want to take a bite from my –!”

“No time for jokes Cer! Save them for later!” Ber urged.

“Right, right.” Cer shouted unexpectedly.

“Don’t need to say it twice –!” Res was about fed up with her, but much to her surprise –

“I mean look at the right side of the train! You can see further than I can! You too Frost! Jury! Those are Scarlet Wolves, right!? Or are my minds playing tricks on me!?”

Frost dragged herself to the side as the others began to latch on one by one. Curious, she had a look for herself.

“What… are those things?” Frost saw a mass of furless Scarlet Wolves staring back with tormented eyes. Their eyelids were removed so they could forever remain awake. A part of her humanity perished at the sight of them, and as they neared the front lines, she noticed that many of the Insectids were missing various body parts.

And upon reaching them, she finally realized something. Something so disheartening that she could hear her heart sink into the depths of her stomach. It became the only frozen piece of her flaming being.

Scarlet Feral (200)
LEVEL : 50      ORIGIN : Animalia

Dawn Team Defender (438)

Dawn Team Defender (192)

Scarlet Fodder (93)

Scarlet Fodder (52)

Scarlet Fodder (543)

(324)

(212)

(421)

(900)

(1,324)

These Fodder and Defenders had died enough deaths that their bodies no longer resembled what they once were. Some appeared human only because the mutations had cleaned them of their identity. There was no distinguishable difference between them either.

Frost recalled the visual analogy of the clay elephant Carpalis molded, and her heart suddenly burst into flames.

The mutations that occurred due to replication after replication had shaped them into living weapons seeking nothing but to quell their anguish through pure hatred.

“Fodder… I thought they weren’t a part of the replication process…” Frost echoed the words she had heard before. “… unforgivable… Unforgivable…” She seethed in silence, her eyes perpetually widened to the reality of Scarlet Logic.

And while her eyes were made wide, she eternally lamented that the Ateliers had closed theirs to this.

The others scrambled to the top as Frost remained behind. Only Jury stayed back, offering a hand to Frost who was far too lost in a world of hatred to consider it.

And so, she climbed alone, dismissing the hand unbeknownst to her. Whilst Jury’s eyes glowed a vibrant gold, Frost’s could neither be distinguished as gold or crimson.

“I heard of the misfortunes. I wanted to reprimand him. But I understood that this was the only way we could attain freedom. I was invited to join the Bookheads. Did it all begin because of that? I, who once stirred the pot of the Potion Makers.”

“Condemned for my sins of wishing for freedom. Condemned for my only love. I took the train that was aimed to send me to the depths hidden behind the chains, and drove it to the ones who enforce the massacres. In hell we live. The heaven above the stars is no better. In this last stand, I will make that wrongful star fall!”

< The Third State Has Manifested as Civilization >

“… blindness. No one can see a thing. All these toes they’re so afraid to trample on. But would they have even cared to see this?” Frost seemingly fell into a world of her own.

How she wished she could just…

Rend everything down.

Then, she heard a ticking. It was not Jury’s ticking. But a familiar one as she felt herself slip into a strange dreamlike state. Suddenly, a voice spoke to her as she stared into a growing void in her vision.

“A bird fights its way out of the egg.” The whisper was familiar.

Warm, but somehow cold.

And in that moment, her mind returned all at once.

“… Nav?”

“Is something the matter?” Nav asked.

Frost, still slightly delirious, shook her head and stared around her as she reached the top of the train. They were only seconds away from engaging with the wall of Scarlet Fodders. Frost, stretching her Touch of Golds like an umbrella, slammed herself onto the roof of the train and prepared to dig in.

I heard a voice. But it wasn’t yours. I don’t know what’s going on – but we need to finish this!

She took her first bite – and a sea of blood spilled from her chin, as well as from the wheels of the train.