"I can hear it..."
It was nighttime. In a corner of the Fantasy City was a man in white muttering in an alleyway. He had his ears covered with an ominous and menacingly looking pair of headphones both mechanical and alive, and was continuously muttering to himself.
Yes. The man was muttering to himself.
But he was far from being by himself. If there was anyone who was aware of the many dark red shadows slithering from below at their feet, there would have been such unspoken misfortune. Once the moment happens when the man learns of their presence...
Another man begins to mutter.
A man who was identical to him in every way, right down to his face and appearance.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~10th Year of Inganock, Unknown Season. Fantasy City~
...This was before he ascended the Golden Spiral Staircase.
...This was in the enclosed Fantasy City.
The nights were long in Inganock.
However, that's only if you measure it by the night in the sky. In many cases, city dwellers have been able to measure the night through the clocks they've had since even before the Revival. The nights in Inganock were long. That hasn't changed. However, some have divided the time in names based on the ticking of the clock.
Things such as early evening and late evening.
Not many people who were particular of anything can sum it all up in a single word: Night. In many cases, they'd simply shrug it off as a bother, a spat on the shoe, or have chrome or bullets shot into their body.
So what of the Black Cat?
That day. That night. The Black Cat had perceived it as "late night". Were it yesterday, she would have simply dismissed it as "night. But like a cat, she was quite fickle about it.
It was supposed to be late night like any other.
The Black Cat's "ears" twitched on her head, putting on a good-humored face while sensing the wind. It wasn't as though she had received particularly good business or finished any good work. She was simply in a good mood for no apparent reason. Perhaps she wouldn't have if a nasty bird were to stuck their beak into it, but they were not here so it was good. There wasn't anything special about tonight. But she did found something while doing a cheap Runner work in 2 seconds. It was something Runners wouldn't have noticed, something they wouldn't make any money off of.
She was running down the City Skyscrapers like usual. Matter of fact, she had only used her friends Hover Engine once but rolls down towards the Infinite Crowded Street on the 7th tier. She opens it up with a key from her "usual line of work" and walks right in. She enters the living room, searching for signs of anyone. The "ears" on her head moved.
The residents were either asleep or silent. They weren't dead. They was no way they could be dead. She had one of her "ears" move and heads upstairs to the rooms in the second floor. She gently opens one of the two doors, and using just the tips of bladed toes despite how exaggerated it was, she peeks inside. There, she sees her soft flax colored hair wrapped in freshly clean fluffy bedding and sleeping. Despite not looking like an ordinary Human, even if she wasn't an ordinary Pucelle, the Black Cat knew.
"Sleep tight, Kia. I hope you have a good dream," the Black Cat muttered softly. Returning to the first floor, she opens up a modest door as though she were trying to hide, and enters the master bedroom. It was late at night. It seemed he was up late at night reading a book. She slips into his bed. His cold, dead skin was warm enough to keep the night at bay, and she presses her own against his.
It was a strange feeling...
"...What? What's wrong?"
"No," The pale face on the bed was looking at her. He should have been asleep, but he wasn't sleeping again tonight. No matter how much she told him a lack of sleep was bad for him, the man wouldn't listen to her. She thought for a moment on how things had changed for the better since that kid came.
"What are you looking at, Gii?"
"No. I'm sorry if I was bothering you. I wasn't looking at you."
"Liar."
"I'm not a liar."
"Then that's just weird. It's weird. You were looking at me."
There was no response from the owner of the bed.
She thought it was foolish that she'd give him some hint before dawn. The Black Cat had awoken from a deep sleep, and although a part of her mind felt an urge to tear up the bed, she had enough restraint to not act upon it. Upon awakening, she saw the owner of the bed was gone.
Heading out of the room, she found a note on a desk. It said something about there being patients which might be the case, and thus he had gone out to make his rounds before twilight.
"Is that so?"
Understanding it, the Black Cat nodded and begins to search around the house. She was careful not to wake the child sleeping in the bedroom on the second floor, but came walking right up to an automaton-like thing with an advanced-efficient sensory system.
"Ati. I thought it was some sort of burglar."
"It's kind of the same thing."
"Yes," Without even letting her ask what she meant by that, the Steel Girl retreats from whence she came without a response. She was disappointed. The Black Cat tilted her head. Was it something Gii had said to the Steel Girl? Such gentleness was strange.
In any case, the Black Cat continued searching the bedroom for ten minutes until she found an envelope hidden at the back of the desk. Inside was a letter and stone. Yes, a stone. A familiar small crystal that was green in color. It almost like the one she saw two years ago. A small, tiny emerald-colored thing that wasn't an emerald but a transparent "Green Stone" that reflected light at various angles.
"This..."
She nearly spoke. Her black tail swelled up. It gave her a chill. That time, Gii was attacked by a vampire who called himself a Runner Killer, an assassin for the Biring firm. Yes, that crazy man had introduced himself to the business, and Gii was able to survive using the Cracking Effect to remove the virus while continuing to regenerate his body for over an hour. But it was a close call. A treatment via the Cracking Effect was useless against that thing's power to suck up blood while infecting people with a virus. Gii nearly perished that time. She remembers it. It all started with that commotion over this little "Green Stone".
"That idiot. Going by himself," The Black Cat had finally realized the source of that strange feeling. This was it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
City Skyscraper. The remains of the old Biring firm headquarters building.
The place mentioned in the letter was placed inside the envelope along with the stone. It was here.
No longer was it a high-rise building owned by a company.
The people who once passed by here no longer were around, and the high black box has become a ruin since two years ago. Looking around, she wasn't able to find an entrance. Perhaps it might have been made to be replaced with a wireless communication tower. The City's Administration system was never sloppy, yet it was convenient that the alleyways were deserted.
The man was waiting for a customer.
An eccentric Wandering Doctor with a simple pseudonym.
The person whom he had failed to kill two years ago.
The appointed time was approaching. Two more minutes. No, two seconds left.
There was a figure...
He see's them...
The visitor wasn't the Wandering Doctor.
Black leather which contrasts with his white coat. Ugly Puccelle hands that contrasted with his artistically graceful five fingers. Golden Eyes that see in the darkness contrasted with the mirror shade concealing his eyes. Her beautiful and sublime Golden Eyes contrasted with his body, a Human or former Human whose life was distorted by a virus.
"I do not like this."
His voice trembles.
The man smiled like a shark as he felt each and every current through his body. Appearing from the back of the alleyway, the Black Cat responded by baring her fangs. Her chrome blades protruding from her fingertips glistened slightly in the dark.
With a single word, both were ready to fight. Indeed, it was remarkable. A Runner and a Runner Killer is what they are. This is how the relation between predator and prey should be. Once more, the man smiled.
Yes. Yes. Now. Even now, I can see something at the edge of my sight.
The man ignored the flax-colored haired figure standing next to the dancing clown at the edge of his sight, telling them to "stop it". He listens carefully to the sound that awakened him from his broken life and endless feelings, glaring at the dark intruder that was the Black Cat.
"I was planning on saving you for desert, Black Cat."
"Tch. An insect such as yourself has quite the taste in being rude to a cat."
"You're one noisy cat. I can hear your noise. I will cease your noise. This city needs only my sound to fill. Only my sound is needed to mark the time."
The man hurls his last words at the Black Cat.
His name was Souk.
Unlike the Runner, he had no street name. He became a "Vampire" shortly after the Revival, and it wasn't a custom at the time in nicknames being given so he had given himself a nickname of any kind.
The man had rare talent.
It was thanks to the Revival that he was able to fully realize his talents. It couldn't be found not in the peaceful Inganock, but only under the Revival that distorted everything could it truly shine.
...His first talent was Killing.
Even once the Critter disaster had calmed down to an extent, the manifestation of violent and powerful Fantasy Creatures persisted in Inganock where living beings have been distorted and transformed. Every day was one where many lives were lost. Amidst those days of mass-produced deaths, he had undergone his first mental mutation. It was a mental distortion, a manifestation of insanity that involved abandoning all morals and enjoying murder as a "hobby" like that of cigarettes, alcohol, and board games. Such mental distortion had yet to be proven. It could just as easily be related to a brain mutation, but it wasn't quite the same.
His brain, body, and everything else had remained the same as a bonafide Human. But he had mutated. Yes, he understood that. He had come to that answer himself that he was mutated and came to murdering people.
He had no doubts about that, and shed no tears to it.
...His second talent was Hacking.
The technological Information Space created in the mutated Inganock had come with the creation of a new profession. A completely new job title as a "Hacker".
Some people have gained this talent through brain mutations, but only a few had become Hackers. It was thanks to their uniqueness that they attracted the attention of various companies, and were even granted a sort of protection for the purpose of making profit.
Within this trend, he was able to master the hacking skills of a genius without having to get his brain mutated. Rumors have spoken of him has a disciple of the legendary Hacker Keith-K, but that was false. He had become a Hacker using only his natural talent, and became an exclusive information processor for a company that had close ties to the City Management Department.
With his second talent working pretty well, he was able to live a life richer than before. He had several homes in the 2nd and 3rd tiers, kept women as his servants, and occasionally killed for pleasure. At that point, he was convinced. The Revival had made his life a success.
...His third talent was Luck.
What supported him and pushed his outstanding talents was an invisible force called luck. Right after the Revival, he had never found himself in any difficult predicament. He was never near the scene of a Critter disaster, nor was he near any of the Fantasy Creatures. Even after developing a penchant for murder, even after he was captured by the City Management Department, his life was never taken. This case was evident even in the first of the Inganock where death was highly rampant. He was certainly loved by something.
The same was said for his talent as a Hacker.
It was like something had caused the Revival for him. Perhaps it was this "God" the Seikyouin's spoke of. Yes, he had told a colleague of this.
However, that "God" brought about a human punishment for him. An infection by means of a virus.
...And. Before long. He had become a Vampire.
A Vampire. It was a name left behind in the legends from Seikyo and the Northern Central Empire, a fairy tale none speaks of anymore. It pertains to the mighty Nosferatu, who was infected with a potent virus caused by the Revival ten years ago, gaining abnormal powers while retaining human form. They act under the darkness of night, attacking abnormal people who were Human ten years ago, and maintained their body tissue by drinking their blood. They are not recorded in the City Management Department's records.
However, he indeed contracted a disease and became a Vampire.
But instead of despairing, he prayed to this "God" who had blessed him with this body that made him much stronger. His murderous tendencies hastened, and he had learned to kill large numbers of people while hiding amists the wake of Critter disasters.
...Before he knew it, he had found meaning to his existence.
The company that had granted him a job offered him the position of Chief Advisor at Biring firm, a subsidiary that specializes in underground work in which he had no involvement with on paper and even found himself at the head of the group for a time. There he came to learn of the desire for power. The joy of being able to do anything without having to do it himself. Even killing was something he could enforce on unwilling people if he follows proper procedure and get a large sum of money from it.
He rejoiced.
He was obsessed with gaining the position of top advisor.
And that was why he failed.
He was so content with obtaining good fortune that he became solely obsessed with that thing. It's why he was enraged at the failure of the "Green Stone" scattering experiment ordered by the company's "sponsor", and had opted to destroy the obstacle with his own hands. He boasted of knowing the meaning of power, but he wasn't able to bear it. He simply hated the scoundrel who trampled on his paradise.
And he failed.
He had become so obsessed with eliminating those in his path that the fixer, Stanislaw caused a sabotage that led to Biring firm being quickly disbanded. Following a severe scolding he received from his "sponsor" from the parent company, he was humiliated and submitted to an experiment which he had a certain ultra-small Critter embedded in him.
Despite the pain and humiliation, he ultimately accepted the punishment. Two years later, after killing everyone and escaping, he delivered the final blow on each and everyone of the researchers who had granted him a "True God" while expressing his gratitude.
And so. He aimed for his next phase.
The city known as Inganock which had blessed him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
...Around the same time the Black Cat met the man.
The Wandering Doctor was not far from the alleyway where the Black Cat hid her steel claws, standing directly above the old Biring firm from five hundred feet above the City Skyscrapers. Within the night row of countless skyscrapers, Gii was confronted by the "Vampire" dyed in white.
His appearance was exactly the same as the one casted a curse on the Black Cat.
A white coat.
Thin mirror shades.
A single, ominous pair of headphones attached to his head. It was like an Engine Machine, yet it was also a living thing. It was a raging Critter of sound that rattles the eardrums, skull, and brain of all living beings, bringing about an eternal madness.
"Souk. That is your name. The City's Vampire."
"...So you still cling to life, Wandering Doctor? You should die. You are a stain to me. I wasn't able to kill you. I wasn't able to make your sound cease. You are a pathetic Human, Gii."
"Whether I'm alive or not is a whole different matter."
The Wandering Doctor stood atop the lightning rod at the top of the building, extending his right hand out to the man flapping his distorted bat wings. Simultaneously, the "he" from behind who floating in the mist also reached out with his hand.
"I will destroy the thing that eats away at you. That thing is my enemy."
"You are foolish. I have now become one with 'it'. I am the King who reigns over all of the city's noise. The sound of running engines. The grinding of gears. The voices of the people. The beating of the heart. The rush of blood vessels. Even the slightest sounds of minute movements are now in my brain. I am now this city. With this virus I possess, I will turn all humans into me and replicate myself."
"...What foolishness."
"I can do it. It can be done All I have to do is match the sound resonating from within you, and Soundblast will show you!
The sound that will fill the city! I will fill Inganock!"
Along with that voice came countless "Souk's" in the sky.
The victims were mutated into copies of himself with the virus, and were further distorted by Critter Soundblast. A white coat, thin mirror shades, and a pair of headphones. They were the same. Every single one of them had the same appearance. That was how it appeared to the human eye, at least. However, Gii's Equation "Eye" saw it. He can see them. All of it. No longer where they living beings, for they now served as mere terminals for Soundblast. A combination of a Virus and Critter that scattered distorted sounds.
It infinitely reproduces. Physical attacks were meaningless.
However. For the "main body" of Soundblast...
"I have taken a hundred lives, thus I have made a hundred copies of myself! With a hundred of me, even the Kikai can not do a thing to me! You and I are different. I alone am beloved by this distorted city!"
"...Don't cry."
He extends his right hand out.
(To be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment