~Inganock's 2nd Year, December. Upper Tier~
Crack Chrome. The Steel Equation User.
The Street Knight slaughtered many extremely dangerous Monsters, sometimes even Critters, working behind the scenes to secure and expand surviving areas for all humans with or without mutations. He was a man without peers. His Phenomena Equation was mainly fire, ice, and telekinesis. He can manipulate three types of offensive Equations said to be too much for the human brain to handle even if they were mutated, using them to destroy his targets. Thus, it was said that traces of his battle actions were an unbelievable scene.
Unbeknownst to many city dwellers, Chrome's battles were even more fierce after he had replaced almost all of his body but his brain with Crack Engines. He was a synthetic human who was still undergoing development as a prototype Upper Tier Soldier. With his right hand, he wielded a giant steel sword. In his left hand were any of the equations of his choosing, sometimes even using his hand to crush a Monster's head. If the distance was short, he would often crush their ribs and rip their heart out.
At times, he would kill the enemy by scorching them in flames.
At times, he would kill the enemy by smashing them apart in ice.
At times, he would kill the enemy by bending them with telekinesis.
As for cutting them in two...
An enemy would be killed by instantly crushing their heart and chest.
The corpse of said "enemy" right now was rolling to the end of the upper tier.
If the wreckage of the mass-produced prototype Upper Tier Soldiers who were "destroyed" by the absolute ruthless manifestation of violence of Crack Chrome invading the upper tier could be best described, could this be said that there was a mountain of corpses made here?
He doesn't kill humans. Absolutely, that was it.
This should have been the last bastion for the Street Knight Crack Chrome to define himself as a human and establish his ego. Even if he discarded his humanity to become a man of steel, he never lost himself when he endured the surgery to become a steel monster known as the prototype Upper Tier Soldier, something any normal human would not endure, and he was completed. Even now, the pain and rejection that has haunted him all the time was suppressed, which was likely depended in the present as it came together for this purpose.
"...why?"
He stood in front of a metal corpse.
No one responded to his whispers.
No one replied to him, having massacred everything that living moving responses within a 1-kilometer radius. No answer. All of the helmets of the Upper Tier Soldiers, clad in chrome thick armor reminiscent of medieval "knights" made squeaking noises. But this was only due to the severed head being separated that both helmet and armor were now rubbing against one another.
"...why?"
Reflectively he whispered, bisecting the rolling helmet with his large sword, destroying it into small pieces. He waited for a reply. Why? Why, why? What was the reason for this? No, that wasn't something he could say. It must be from something behind him.
But currently, he cannot notice it.
With him were invisible threads intertwining him.
These were threads released by someone who was manipulating his body and spirit.
He walks. He walked along a vast garden dyed in crimson nerve fluid that ran along the bodies of the Upper Tier Soldiers. His coordinates were the viceroy's official residence. It wasn't the Seikyouan-style mansion, but the Golden Spiral Staircase that existed in a phase not seen by others. Here was the cradle of Lemure Lemure, the strongest Kikai user, where "the one" who waits at the farthest ends of his awakening was Crack Chrome who, controlled by the "threads", desired.
"Kill him."
The owner of the threads spoke in his mind.
Kill. Kill, kill, bring an end to the original Kikai user Lemure, spoke the Lord of the threads.
However...
However, Crack Chrome was resisting.
Was it pride and purpose making him do it?
Was it his dignity and boast making him do it?
It was all of them.
And yet it can be said that it was neither of them.
He was like this since he took up the sword in the lower tiers after the Revival, called Hell by Seikyouans. Pride. Purpose. Dignity. Boast. Everything, and yet it was off the mark that it couldn't be put into words. It was something inexplicable, unstoppable, something which can lead to actions described as foolishness.
Such that even now, he was resisting.
Even when the mass-produced Upper Tier Soldiers used themselves to block off the wild prototype Upper Tier Soldier, even when he ruthlessly "destroyed" them, the arm which moved by itself to crush the brain, the only living part of the Upper Tier Soldiers, was "stopped" by a will and intent that could not be described with any word other than strong. The Upper Tier Soldiers may have been slaughtered one after another, but he did not land the finishing blow. Only the brain, the last living part of the body, was not destroyed.
He may have killed all of the humanoids, but he never killed the last thing that makes them human.
"What are you doing?"
"Hey. Hey, my Crack Chrome."
"Why don't you kill them? Kill them properly."
"The aristocrats won't make it in time. There's no need to deal with them."
The lord of the threads laughs at his resistance.
It didn't make any sense.
"Go, ascend the Golden Spiral Staircase."
"Hurry, kill Lemure who sleeps on the cradle."
"One of the 41 lives that were meant to be born.
They who are not human. The abominable Kikai..."
What...
What was it?
He thought slightly in a corner of his mind.
One of 41 lives. What was that?
"Go, ascend the staircase."
He walked as he was guided by the voice.
In front of the door that would be the viceroy's official residence, he did not open the door but rather simply went "onwards".
Something was in front of him. It wasn't exactly something visual, but for Crack Chrome it was the same as he didn't have the freedom to see anything. He sees something towering in the darkness. It was the Golden Spiral Staircase. He didn't know the name, but he saw a spiraling vortex that stretched up to great heights.
No one was there to stand in his way.
So he ran up the staircase.
He did not notice the intent to keep on ascending the staircase.
He was there, waiting in front of the thing at the end.
They who slept in the cradle...
"Kill him."
This wasn't right. This is clearly not his intent to do.
Even as he tried to resist the spiritual control/physical control, his arm would swing by itself. He didn't like that. Stop it. Could he say it, scream it? Neither, he can only shake his blade slightly.
Even so, he refused.
He didn't know what it was that sleeping in that cradle, but he instinctively knew.
"This is something that should not be killed a second time."
Maybe he knew it.
Maybe it was whispered to him.
Maybe it was both.
That moment, he heard the voice behind him once again.
...why?
"...I hear you."
He replied to the voice behind him.
Behind was one of the 41 lives meant to be born.
They were not people, but something. The voice of the Kikai, the signs of the city's last remaining "beautiful thing".
The "she" behind him was there.
She never disappeared.
She was just hidden from his sight by the threads of manipulation.
In an instant, she cuts down all of the "threads", severing through all 666 invisible nerve cords of Critter Marionette's spiritual manipulation and physical manipulation.
"...why?" Her voice echoes.
"...I'm the only one," said Marionette's voice.
"...who loves you," the Critter Voice.
"...this is not good. If that's the case," it was full of deep hate.
"...then I'll start all over again.
......starting with each and every one of your nerves."
"I will replace that thing with my threads."
And then, a distorted doll appeared.
A warped multi-armed humanoid one size larger than a human.
The hair that becomes threads that manipulate everything is swept away.
Tick tock.
Tick tock.
With a giant huge clock tower standing her, it echoes...
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