Author notes:
I am back! Merry to a new month, ya'all! But boy, here's hoping I actually get my bank to pay me tomorrow. Coincidentally, I am down to 570/month but it should still be enough to tide me through the stupid Tet holidays (fingers crossed the bank is on time). That said, I can't thank you all enough for your continuing support to the Reich, to my family, and to this story!
Other than that, 3 pictures are posted on the album. And surprisingly, Patreon works now? At least, it's not freaking out anymore, I think? Anyway, enjoy your reading! Enjoy!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9
Thank you once again!
Do support the family if you wanna. The start of a new month is always a good time to do so!
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"Breaching! Breaching!" Accompanied by a shout, the door at the top of the tower was slammed open before armored figures rushed in. The figures spread out across the room, their guns trained on the unarmed scientists while shouting for compliance.
"Belkan SF! Hands up! Get down on your knees!"
"I said hands up, on your knees!"
The sight of bulking soldiers with dangerous weapons pointed at their vitals cowered the scientists, with most of them immediately kneeling with hands in the air. Saved for Mother Cocolia, who is standing by her children protectively, and an annoyed Lady Lyssa, not a single Sardegnians dare to resist the soldiers. That said, Lady Lyssa is scanning the soldiers head to toe, trying to figure something out.
Leaving a couple of them behind to watch over the surrendered scientists, with one of them sporting a skull visor, the other soldiers search the side rooms for any surprises before reconvening back at the main chamber.
"Side rooms' clear." One of them, seemingly the leader, says. "Tie them up for processing, Noble."
At his words, two of the figures bring out zip-ties with one more leveling his weapon at the Sardegnian group. As Lady Lyssa watches them tie up the scientists, she seems to figure out something.
"I see, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Belka has their own supersoldiers program. Tell me, just how many were sacrificed to make your little group?" She said with a smirk, trying to get under their skin without even knowing the full picture.
Hearing that, Carter of Noble Team just makes a hand signal for Emile to step up. Wordlessly, the man approaches Lady Lyssa, his towering form casting a shadow over the woman. Undeterred, Lady Lyssa speaks up in a teasing tone. "What? Is this supposed to be an intimidation tactic? Did I hit a sore spot?"
At the questions, Emile just tilts his head to one side before shrugging. "Nah." He replied, much to the confusion of Lady Lyssa and the other Sardegnians. "Just wondering whether should I waste my breath disparaging your stupidity."
Hearing the dismissive tone, Lady Lyssa frowns in anger. Before she can act on it though, Emile continues. "Yeah, let's not."
The armored man then proceeds to use the butt of his shotgun and smack it below the chin of Lady Lyssa. The force of the smack throws the woman onto her back and an audible crack can be heard. Stunned by the heavy blow, Lady Lyssa can't even scream in pain or react when Emile steps closer before proceeding to stomp on her belly. The suit, soaked with red wine, is now ruined alongside her belly as the armored boot is dropped hard. The floor slightly shook at the force of the stomp while Lady Lyssa's mouth opened in a soundless scream. Though Emile is being careful to not make the blow lethal, just enough to incapacitate his target.
That said, if the order isn't there to keep the woman alive, Emile would have fun skinning her to death for the crimes she committed.
Pulling out an object from a storage compartment on his suit, a choker, Emile crouches down to install it on Lady Lyssa's neck. The choker clamps down tight on her throat before shining a red light, signifying the activation of its built-in magic circuits.
Standing up to full height, Emile explains. "The choker will stop you from casting magic, deter you from running away, and prevent you from speaking in that annoying tone. That should let you know who's the boss now."
Amid the pain and humiliation from being treated barbarically, Lady Lyssa tries to utter a curse, only to find her vocal cords unable to make any sound. Frustrated, Lady Lyssa slams her hands onto the floor, sitting up so that she can glare at the hateful skull visor. Emile just smirks before lightly tapping his shotgun, daring Lady Lyssa to do anything else other than glare. The subtle warning seems to get across as the woman huffs in annoyance before struggling to get to the chair that she has been sitting on prior to the scuffle.
Lady Lyssa has an entire speech planned out, but with the choker in place, her entire speech can be scrapped.
Mother Cocolia, Mash, Sirin, and the rest of the girls can only stare dumbly at the barbaric way Emile treats Lady Lyssa. In their hearts, they are feeling both glad and gratification that the woman is put in her place for once. The other Sardegnian scientists don't dare to even look up though.
While Noble Team is getting them sorted into the side rooms, Kat is sent by Carter to come check up on the captived girls. "You're Madam Cocolia?"
"That would be me, yes." Cocolia looks at the armored figure, clearly a woman from her voice, unsurely.
Kat continues. "I'm a member of Belkan Special Forces, may I take a look at your children's wounds?"
Hearing the offer, Cocolia's wariness is lessened, somewhat. "They've lost some blood and need nutrients. The mechanism they were tied to has drained them much of their strength."
Kat nods at Cocolia. "Then perhaps it would be best for the both of us to clean their wounds and bandage them. We will soon relocate all of you after you have had a talk with our VIP."
Cocolia can only nod at this as despite their loss of strength, the girls aren't in any danger just yet. Kat gives the go-ahead for Carter to send up their VIP. Carter then says this over comms. "This is Noble Team. The tower is secured, it's safe for the Overseer to come up."
Knowing that someone important is about to arrive, the five minutes of waiting seems longer than normal to them. Finally, footsteps can be heard climbing the conical stairwell, and without much fanfare, more soldiers step into the chamber, escorting a girl in camouflaged officer attire. Looking around, the girl with an eyepatch over her left eye scans the room. Her attention is attracted to Sirin, who has gasped audibly when she sees her.
Seeing the look of realization on Sirin's face, the Overseer, Yuki, gently smiles and raises an eyebrow at the little girl. "You seem to know me, little one, though I don't think we ever meet?"
"S-Sister, I-!" Sirin spoke up before quickly stopping herself from saying something she shouldn't. She's smart and knows that while she may have regular dreams about the figure in front of her, the vice versa may not have happened. Instead of explaining, Sirin opts to introduce herself and work from there if given the chance. "My name is Sirin, sister. And I think I've seen you from somewhere."
The Belkan Marshal smiles at the introduction. "I can sense that you haven't spoken the whole truth, but I guess it's not a suitable opportunity to discuss everything." Her words prompt Sirin to act a bit sheepish while Cocolia and her sisters aren't sure about the situation. "I will introduce myself then. I am Yukia Rosetta de Venusian, the Reich Marshal of Belka. It's a pleasure to make you all acquaintance, Madam Cocolia, young sisters, and..."
Yuki turns to the woman sitting on a chair with an aggravated look. "Lady Lyssa... Or should I say, Persephone from the Greek Pantheon?"
The utterance of her true identity did nothing more than cause Lady Lyssa, Persephone to roll her eyes. Yuki just giggles. "Yeah, I guess it doesn't matter what I should be calling you in the end. I will just stick with Lyssa for convenience's sake then."
Yuki eyes the woman, scanning her from top to bottom. She would have made for a nice model with her tall, slender form, angular face, and black eyes, though... "I've seen that you've dyed your hair black instead of keeping it burgundy-red. And your state of dress is... deplorable, to say the least. Gotta work on your fashion sense more, Lyssa, but it does denote your fall from grace pretty well. Seriously, taking up the identity of the spirit of mad rage, frenzy, and rabies? That seems pretty damn low although you seem to filling the role quite well. The current you would like to see the world burn, am I right?"
Lyssa and the others can only stare at Yuki dumbfoundedly after her spiel. Lyssa, in particular, is infuriated because she wouldn't have been reduced to this bedraggled state if it weren't for those barbaric soldiers.
Ignoring the aggrieved look Lyssa is sending her way, Yuki continues. "You know, I have spent time thinking how a conversation between me and you would go, Lyssa. But once the actual day of this operation arrived and many, many disgusting things came to light, I opted to not hear anything you may have to say. I seriously think that just by hearing you, my IQ will be lowered so I would rather not."
"But that doesn't stop me from performing a one-girl act, no?" Yuki smirked before moving to circle around Lyssa, all the while saying. "Let's see if I got this right."
"You used to be a loving housewife prior to Ragnarok. But when your lover, Hades, was killed, you chose to blame the Primordial Goddesses instead of the actual person who gave the kill order, Zeus. You see the Primordials as the sole reason for your lover's death despite their prior cordial relationship with Hades. Funnily enough, I can just about hear you screaming out that Hades is dead because they supported the Primordials. Honestly, just how blind are you to throw a tantrum at the wrong people? Even going as far as involving the denizens of Gaia in your quest to burn everything the current Belka stands for, just because Yggdrasil is a part of the Primordial Goddesses?"
Yuki stops while sparing Lyssa a side glance. "But well, they say love is blind. And your plan is meh, can't say I am impressed. It's too wasteful and too bloody for my taste." Yuki points two fingers at her head. "Think, Lyssa, think! You have a nigh-infinite lifespan and the knowledge from an old world and the best you could come up with was bloody Auschwitz!? Just how unoriginal and shortsighted were you?!"
Yuki sighs exasperatedly. "You could have taken your sweet time, developed a plan that's foolproof, researching for methods to make supersoldiers that don't involve painting a giant target on your back. But no! You just have to sacrifice hundreds of thousands and for what? Some measly Crusaders that even failed to subdue Spain? Uplifting a country that got flattened to the ground just by bombing? Manipulating a fatso that's a budget-cut version of Mario the Plumber? Hell, I think Mario would have made for a better head of state than this country's current Pope!" She then went on to dismantle Lyssa's entire regime, even down to the smallest of details.
Yuki's rant comes as a shock to many, but honestly? Yuki is fed up with how Lyssa has been handling things. The whole matter surrounding Auschwitz is a gigantic mess that will blow up not just in Sardegna's face but also in Belka's. As the matter stands, keeping the important things like Lyssa and how Auschwitz came to be looks to be easy enough. Though to handle the rescued captives? That would be punching a nice hole in Belka's purse. Even without the unknown retaliation that Gaia, the will of the world, has in store for them, Belka will have their hands full for the short future. And Yuki still has to figure out what's the deal with that too.
Belka has crashed the party early, so much so that Lyssa's plan to use the girls under Cocolia as a living weapon hasn't come anywhere close to fruition. Yuki hides her shudder at the fact that, at worst, Belka would have to contend with three juiced-up little girls that have a godlike affinity to concepts like Void, Life, Death, and lastly, Truth. If Gaia made them a part of her natural defense mechanism, a champion and Ruler existence, then just one of them could have ended the world as they know it.
Frankly, Yuki is stressed, and for the foreseeable future, Lyssa will come to regret the mess she has left in her misguided wake. So, with a cold grin, Yuki stands at Lyssa's eye level. Looking at the hateful black eyes, Yuki says.
"Many years ago, I walked to my death bravely with my head held high, just so that I could save the entire Omniverse from going extinct altogether. But did you know the bastards that made bugs like you a reality, just fucking watched while reveling in their asinine plan's completion, much like you."
Standing to her full height, Yuki looks down at Lyssa condescendingly. "Where you're going next, there will be no shortage of monsters, no shortage of lowlives that tried to cheat the system." She said cryptically, but the mounting dread felt very real for Lyssa.
"You gonna wake up, tomorrow, in a place that is even worse than the deepest part of Hell. A place where you will come to see the futility and consequence of your actions." Yuki steps forward, patting Lyssa's shoulder in pity. "I know you understand."
Lyssa can't struggle, she just can't. Right now, she is suddenly beset by an otherworldly pressure from all sides. She can't move, she can't scream, she can't even gaze elsewhere. All she can do is just freeze in place, sweating at the mounting dread in her soul. The others in the chamber, despite not being targeted by the pressure, feel a sense of primordial fear. All of them know that what happens next isn't supposed to happen in the first place.
Yuki though, seems to be very natural and unminding of the otherworldly presence in the chamber. "Nicolae," She addressed the feeling. "I know you're here. Lyssa's all yours."
With her words given, the presence seems to still for a moment before it comes back in full force, making Sirin gasp in fright being the most sensitive to it in the entire chamber. Then, the shadow of Lyssa's chair seems to move. No, it's better to describe that it has come alive. Unfurling into a mass of dark purple flesh and tentacles, with razor-sharp teeth and way too many golden eyes, the shape beneath Lyssa swallows her down, chair included. First, Lyssa's shoes and legs disappear, before very quickly, she's only left with nothing but her neck and head. You can see from her unmoving self that Lyssa is now officially frightened out of her wit. However, as if moving a single muscle would make her transition to another plane even more painful and bloody, Lyssa can only sit still, unable to utter a sound until the mass completely swallows her head. Finally, once the devouring task is done, the mass dissipates into shadow once more.
That said because there's no Lyssa and her chair left to cast anything, the living shadow moves to occupy Yuki's shadow instead. If the Ravens have any misgivings about how Lyssa disappeared, they don't show any on their outward appearance. In fact, Emile even whistles about how cool that was. The Sardegnians like Cocolia and Sirin though, they gulp audibly.
As for Yuki, she just smiles, reaches into her coat pocket, and pulls out a bag of cookies. "Good girl. Now, here's your cosmic cookies." She said before proceeding to drop it promptly on her shadow.
Before the bag can touch the floor though, two purple tentacles extend from the shadow. One tentacle catches the bag while the other morphs into a thumbs-up gesture. After that, the bag and the tentacles sink into the shadow, closing the curtain surrounding Lyssa's matter altogether.
Or is it?
Suddenly, Yuki and Sirin seem to feel something. They all look at the floor, their visions seem to peer through the many floors the castle has. They have sensed something, and their suspicion is confirmed when Noble Leader steps forth, reporting.
"Overseer," Carter said. "We have a situation."
Hearing that, Yuki can only sigh. "Were it so easy..."