"... so you have no control over their appearance?" Louis inquiries.
I shook my head, "they've been like this since I woke up. But they are useful so I can't complain." Oliver nodded with me when I explained the situation about my unique eyes..
"Yup, he gave me a good scare the first time I saw him." The brunette avoided eye contact when he admitted that.
"I see. I thought it was intentional, your gaze did remind me of a Royal Lost's glare."
A what?
"...Oh! You mean the Greater Lost?" Oliver threw a familiar name… I think I remember the bosses of the game being called that.
"Indeed." And Louis confirmed it.
We reached a metal door protecting the government facility. Louis walked forward and his crimson blade shined with a red bright flame…Oh Boy, I Want That!!
Now I know that his nickname isn't exactly for his blade but because of the flame that engulfs it. It looks like The Crucible from Doom Eternal!
Holy f*cking shit, when can I get that?!
It wasn't some copy-pasted fire effects from a game but the closest thing to a lightsaber claymore!
"But aren't we going off course? You were asking about how to find your blood code's use." His crimson sword easily pierced the metal door and made a hole in it while I did my best to not drool.
Anyways, the rundown of how one senses their blood code when it doesn't come to them naturally is meditation.
But even that didn't help, maybe because we were still moving and I needed to stay completely still and touch my inner self or some spiritual shenanigans.
If so, better get to the blood spring before then.
"...maybe you have a special element?" Louis commented as I gave up on 'sensing' my power.
"Hold up, special elements?" With Louis' additional insight about blood codes, I tried to discover my blood code once again.
Sure, maybe it was getting old how I've been trying to know just what the hell else I have besides these special eyes. But I can't let it go just like that since asking for a blood code from someone will not only mean "kill me" from a normal revenant's perspective, but it will also mean, "mind if I use your ID, bruh?"
I mean, I will have to turn some of those scumbags into piles of ashes if I want Io back, add on that I will be doing that without a concrete blood code. So yeah, I will need everything I can get.
"Yes. For example, there are blood codes that allow their users to moderately manipulate metals."
"You mean magnetic fields?!" Oliver chimed in.
"Exactly, but the cases of blood codes that grant control over external forces are rare." Louis seemed as curious about such people himself.
Huh, avatars exist? Wait, didn't Louis control the flames before… but that was because he produced them, right?
Doesn't hurt to try.
With even more stubbornness, I began to 'feel' again. I wouldn't say that I'm an expert at creating imaginary powers but I did get the hang of using blood veils pretty quickly.
My breath disappeared from my conscience, the droplets falling from the cracked ceiling of the government facility were deafened, muffled by another sound…
I didn't look within myself like before, I searched outside for my 'element'
And…
it's…
not?
Wait… wha-
*BADUMP*
A bombing heartbeat!
What the-?!
I'm sure that I haven't heard my one heartbeat now that I think about it… right, I have a parasite that functions as my heart now.
Hey, don't get distracted!!
I got back some of my focus and searched-
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Oh shit…
…shieeeeet.
No no no no.
Nonononononono.
Nope….
Please don't be what I think you are!
Just… B!tch, you better not be what I think you fu*k!ng are.
A mad chuckle escaped my mouth and that brought the attention of my two partners.
"Adam?" Oliver looked at me in confusion and so did Louis.
"So… you know… have you ever been about to frenzy? Do you get sound hallucinations, like whispers and such?" I spoke slowly and steadily, doing my best to keep my rage hidden.
"Um… no. To me, the experience is like losing every sense of self and only instincts remain… it's awful stuff, but no." A concerned Oliver answered.
"We should hurry, the blood spring can't be far." Louis took the front and just like that, our pace increased twofold.
"You… sure?" I asked Oliver and he shook his head, "I've not heard about sound hallucinations when being on the verge of frenzy… you okay?"
I just ran through the devastated corridors of the facility, unsure if I should answer.
Broken tiles, shattered glass, electric wires hanging from the roof, and the doors were blown out of their hinges. A less than desirable view to see when I'm trying to remain sane with the constant idea that I have a time bomb in my chest.
For God's sake, there is no such thing as a free meal.
I know that very damn well!
Just calm down…
I already knew that my knowledge would be only surface level from the beginning. There is no wiki here to tell every detail about the areas and weapons and tons of other sh!t… My reality of being a carbon copy of the game is a delusion, that much is obvious.
But damn does this suck.
Unknown factor, unknown outcome, my possibly destined doom before I even achieve anything yet again.
Whatever, where future knowledge doesn't cut it, strength will suffice… but what if getting stronger is what activates it?
"Ugh…" not even my mind was a safe place.
Wait, Io!!!
Right, she could tell me about my BOR parasite! She might have no memories but she should be able to at least analyze blood codes and tell me if I'm fu*ked or not.
Oh thank God, I can deal with this sh!t later!
"...oh man." Oliver's disheartened mutter woke me up from my little mental breakdown.
A blood spring at the center of a dell. The lack of man-made structures around it was a big contrast to the hallways we had just crossed. I could see a few sensors at the corner of the room though.
"Oh well, gotta get to work now." I walked past Louis and bit my thumb to make it bleed.
Ouch!
"Alright, the moment of truth!" Oliver's eagerness was also shared by a quiet Louis.
Almost the exact same event happened with the blood spring that I revived with Io. Though this time I could appreciate the beauty of it a bit more.
"HAHAHAHAHAH YES!!!" Oliver was actually laughing like a madman. Can't blame him, he is literally being worked as a slave for one blood bead just to survive and suddenly gets dozens of them in the blink of an eye.
"This…" A speechless Louis eyed the tree while I and Oliver took the blood beads it sprouted.
I remember that there was only one blood bead that sprung from the pale tree in the game but right now we had eighteen of them. Which should be a good amount I would like to believe. I don't quite remember how many the first one I purified gave.
"Hahahaha! This should be plenty!!" Oliver held a sack full of kool-aid beads.
I glanced at Louis and he was still looking at the tree as if he had seen God come down himself to hand him the gospel. Anyone would understandably be shocked to see some dude revive a tree with their blood, but this wasn't any tree. This was the one thing that could solve the crisis that this land of undead faced.
"Here." I had no gospel but I sure did have blood beads. "Mind if we make a deal."
He slowly took some of the blood beads I offered, "I'm listening."
"I'm pretty sure you already have an idea about our circumstances and I know you are strong, so how about we help each other here?
They have a person I care for as a hostage."
He seemingly 'thought' about it and answered in a few seconds. "You are in luck, someone with a power like yours surely will contribute to my research in blood beads. However, let's get into the specifics of how you could help me later and take care of the issue at hand."
"Great to have your help." I offered my hand and he shook it, "let's talk about the details on the way."
"Then let's get to it." Oliver walked ahead of us with determination… although that kind of enthusiasm dimmed down shortly after.
Poor guy. He can't catch a break today, can he?
"Ol?" A hoarse voice called the brunette when we were at the entrance of the facility.
A young man with a slim build and raven black hair, similar to Ren, stood near the bridge we had just crossed.
"...Yami." Oliver's apprehensive tone made me feel bad for both of those guys. I could hear how the node in his throat stopped him from saying anything further.
"... The necklace." The remaining twin said no more and Oliver walked forwards to hand it over.
Yami glanced at Louis and me. His gaze lasted longer on me but the situation didn't escalate as Oliver put his hand over his shoulder. "they are with me, it's okay."
Stopping himself from reaching his bayonet, Yami stared at his comrade for a second before sighing.
Okay, someone's on edge…
"Remember what I told you last week?" A now not so trigger happy revenant questioned Oliver.
"You don't mean…"
I think I have the picture of how sh!t went down in the original timeline, there are a lot more moving parts than I had thought. If I'm right, then things can be done without me getting a blood code for the occasion and risking going crazy.
"A break-out plan?" I smiled.
…..
"How many of them we are dealing with?" Louis inquired as I swung the big boi sword that Frempt threw at me before. Perhaps one of the weapons I'm less skilled at, apparently the original protagonist didn't use big swords before.
I do already have a rough idea of how to wield one from that one time grandpa put me to cut wood with an axe. I was too young and had to use almost my entire body to lift it let alone swing it, that summer I earned some manly callouses but I hated every moment of it.
You don't swing but move with the weapon.
*whom!*
"Huff! There are about 30, mostly with bayonets but the leader and three of his ass-kissers use heavy cleavers. As for their blood codes, I have no idea. I just woke up today."
I shared a bit of extra info with him as he did the same before, although that could've been more out of guilt rather than him telling me that I could ask him for help if needed. After all, he has yet to say anything about stalking Oliver and me. In which case I could use it for my benefit.
"Really?" He was amazed.
"Yup, that many. But it's not like we are planning to deal with all of them." I intentionally misinterpreted his astonishment before swinging the slab of metal once again.
And… Too heavy…
Seems like I will have to bulk up to use big boy weapons for big boy damage. Guess I will settle with the bayonet and glaive for our raid… Actually, we will be disarmed so I will only be able to use bayonets. Meh, their weapons are better than the ones I have so it isn't a loss.
With a sigh, I left the heap of metal resting on the rocky wall of the caverns. "It's not meant to be, not yet."
"You… Did you really just wake up or did you die?" Louis' curiosity was apparent.
"I remember having my stomach cut open during a building collapse and then, in the blink of an eye, I'm in the apocalypse." I shrugged. I couldn't say more since the case of the original protagonist was already special in itself. It was better to wait for him to discover it when analyzing my blood.
I'm a void type, which means that my blood code is damaged due to my BOR Parasite being severely wounded.
It's a middle ground between the two of sorts. I 'died' but I did not 'revive.'
"We are ready!" Oliver walked out of the dark tunnel after a few seconds. Yami, Ren's twin, walked behind him silently, carrying a small package and a container.
A small frown made its way to Louis' face when he saw the container but said nothing. I could guess that he was against what we were about to do but it's not like we were going to turn everyone into ash. Only the main heads of the ones who enforced slavery then free the others and that's it.
It's not like there will be anyone willing to chase us when we are done there.
Besides, Yami had every right to go out for blood. His brother died.
Anyway, I ignored Louis' little scowl and got to review the main steps of our plan so we were all on the same page. "Alright then, we will go to the surface directly onto the crossroads. Oliver and I will be going in alone first."
I pointed at Louis, "I need you to make a big enough mess that we and Yami can get our part done, show them that they have the Crimson Sword on them."
"Consider it done." He affirmed.
I turned to Yami, "your distraction will buy us 2 minutes, right?" I asked the one question that would decide if we would have to run from revenants or lost.
He nodded, "3 minutes would be pushing it. You will have to deal with 5 well-equipped revenants in that time frame."
The brunette crossed his arms and thought for a second before finally speaking, "3 of them use heavy cleavers while the other 2 use bayonets besides-" Good thing that Oliver had been with those scumbags when they got raided by lost. He is the one who knows their insides and outs more than the twins.
So we knew about the men waiting for our delivery and where the leader is most likely to be.
…
"Hah, I won!" A guard cackled the moment my and Oliver's figures walked out of the parking lot.
"Fuck off…" His partner snarked before giving him a small pouch.
Another pair of guards behind the barricades pointed their bayonets at us while we got closer, "drop them," one of them ordered once we were at the entrance of the post.
"bah gawd, look how many!" Once disarmed and blood beads being taken away, we were pushed through the base towards the cells.
"Would you look at that, you might offer a better service than I thought." The bastard who had me kicked down the gutter came before us, with an arm over Io's shoulder…
Oh boy… I kinda feel like not following the plan right now.
Three guards beside him, two more escorting us, and then another two that will come once things go south here. But turning in this many blood beads made him so happy that he had to let us know himself, a bit of a gamble but Oliver said that this will save us time to search for him.
"Man, I thought I couldn't hate you more…" I muttered. I need to keep him in my reach before Louis does his part.
"Boss, have Ren and Yami come back from the expedition?" Oliver asked, covering for me because I was really about to punch the guy. Besides, he was in a clearly good mood due to the blood beads and haze we brought.
We have to take advantage of that and keep him here with us. This is the best scenario.
"Who knows, they sure like to take their time. I can't help but notice how their effectiveness has dropped lately." The man smirked well knowing the bullshit he was spouting. The constant beatings and overwork he has dropped on them have been affecting them a lot, even if they are superhuman.
"But good thing I have you," the repugnant smile grew, "I mean, I'm sure you know that if you were to find that human again, you wouldn't let it go away like Ren… or was it Yami?"
He sighed, "I always get them mixed up. Oh well, at least their screams are different…"
Okay, I get it. He wants me to learn how things are going to be around here and all that by talking like this, but he is being way too chatty now!
"..." the silence of Oliver was… A bit unnerving.
"Now, as for you. You can stop glaring now-" He pointed at me-
"Crimson Sword!" And that exact scream of horror and the sound of battle was the signal to start, that and also some explosions… Wow, they really got some of them.
In that instant, Oliver swung around and then punched the guard behind him, and MY GOD he didn't hold back, that bloody red aura around it was dense. The guard flipped backward at blinding speeds and cartwheeled towards a barricade, hitting it so hard that it flipped over, and he bounced above it like a ball.
I didn't waste time wondering how that man's head didn't turn into red mist and took his bayonet the moment his feet left the ground before shooting a hole in his partner's crotch, completely paralyzing the man, after weaving under his blade swing directed at my neck.
"Io!!" I called for her the moment I got ready to rush to the leader and his 3 guards.
I didn't need to instruct her further as she twisted the arm of the boss and kicked his leg to make him fall, turning the hostage situation around. However, she was in a disadvantageous position as she also had a guard behind her.
Muscles tensed and eyes dilated as I kicked the ground with all I had and sprinted forward. Perhaps, this time, and only this time, did time run slower than it had during my previous fights.
*B-b-b-b-b-bang* *c-c-lick*
A stupidly amount of consecutive shots were fired towards the two fully armored guards, my shoulder screamed in pain as it almost flew out of its socket for taking all that recoil in such a short instant.
They might have blocked the shots to their hearts but their limbs were still exposed. The two fell down like puppets getting their strings cut off and the cu*t for a leader they had got his shit together and activated his gift to make an air wave, pushing Io away.
"Get Back!" Io had little time to react and a blade of wind gashed her shoulder while the guard landed a slash on her back while she was in midair.
I watched as she fell to the ground with a pool of blood quickly growing beneath her body.
FUCK!
With my momentum and an absurd amount of anger, I grabbed one of the downed guards' weapons and stomped the ground with enough force to crack it as I put every ounce of strength I had onto a swipe to cut him in half.
The metallic sound of our weapons clashing rang hard in the air as it sent him back skidding, barely on his feet.
Unfortunately, swinging such a heavy weapon with my current strength left me open, and so the only guard left took such an opportunity. For the millionth time today, I saw a sharp object trying to cut me in half. The only difference was the dark ink streaks surrounding it.
But I didn't need to move as Oliver, covered in a red berserk aura once again, came in clutch with a gruesome cry and used a bayonet as a bat and the guard as the baseball.
Saving me from whatever that special attack could've done to me.
Seeing him roll on the ground like a ragdoll with pieces of his equipment flinging out of him, I switched weapons with my partner and gave a few good night shots to him and the other guards to make sure they stayed down while Oliver parried wind blades, protecting me and a downed Io. The remnant slices that got past his blade hit his arms and legs, but it wasn't fatal.
"You-" I didn't let the man have time to monologue as I saw an air vortex around him and shot his leg. Oliver spartan kicked him, making him tumble to the ground where he belonged. The air that was being built up around him dispersed.
No words were exchanged between him and me when I provided him with an ichor cartridge from one of the downed guards before we got to do our thing.
I shot toward two more guards coming in after the ruckus we made. And this one time, once again, time slowed to give me the opportunity of emptying the magazine on them, making the horrible pain of almost throwing my shoulder off its socket appear once again.
One fell down the moment I shot his arms and throat, the armor letting him keep his head in place, while the other hid behind a barricade, making me empty the remaining shots to get to him.
I had to treat Io before she turned into particles. Couldn't afford to lose her, I didn't know where she would reform later.
*cl-click*
A destroyed barricade and a pool of blood visible through the holes I made were a good enough sign that he was incapacitated…
*b-b-b-bang*
But I used an Ichor cartridge just in case. Doing that, I finally put down my weapon and began to search the guard for any blood beads.
"Huff…" Oliver gazed at the incapacitated man who had to make 'sacrifices' to keep others alive, the man who had sent others to their imminent death and had the gall to say that it was for their own good.
A sigh escaped his mouth when he injected the ichor into his mask. "Enough has been sacrificed… for me… and or you…"
He steadily strode towards a crawling revenant. The fierceness and brutality displayed moments ago weren't gone yet, they just had turned into simmering ire.
"W-w-waitlets jjst-" the man's voice cracked. He held his hand forward, yet he hid the other one. It was easy to tell what he was planning.
"No, one sacrifice is just one too many for us." The cold steel of his cleaver grates against the blood-stained floor. A sound that was seemingly drowning out the ruckus happening outside.
"gGuards-" A yell of despair for none to hear but him and one of his executioners.
"I guess one of us reaps what they sow this time." The moment the metallic sound stopped, the man panicked and that was the moment he found a barricade blocking his path.
"YOU-AHHHH!!!" A blast of sharp wind almost cut Oliver in half but he managed to parry it with the flat side of the cleaver, almost pushing him back, before bringing it down on the man's remaining leg.
I ignored the howling of the animal as Io held onto my arm, doing her best to stand up after drinking a blood bead from one of the guards. She gave me one hell of a scare. She almost died, thankfully the wound wasn't enough to completely cut her in half. She twisted midair to avoid all the damage she could.
Thank God blood beads are the senzu beans of this world.
Still though, seeing her spine reconnect like that didn't sit right with me.
"I apologize, I made yo-"
"Don't," I stopped her, "it wasn't your fault and what matters is that you are still here."
In the short span that she managed to stand on her own, she stared into my eyes, "I… understand."
"I'm also done on my side." Yami walked past me replenishing his ichor with some cartridges. "Damn, this is tiresome." He complained before deactivating his gift.
*boom* *bang*.
*blam* *fwom*
The sound of fighting, explosions, and fire became much clearer. The sound curtain that muffled the sound of fighting finally came off.
"Huh, sir Anderson," I greeted the man who arrived just after Yami clad in guard's equipment.
The big man chuckled. "You got your info, brat. You can drop the sir now."
"You haven't told me about the queen slayer thing, sir." I retorted.
"Later," he chuckled before patting my shoulder, "by the way, thanks."
"Still up?" Yami gazed at the crippled revenant before kicking him lightly. "Tagh!!!" His amputated legs had barely begun to stop bleeding.
"Which one?" He crouched down to meet the gaze of his jailer, "which of us do you think you killed?"
"...Ren," perhaps because he knew he wasn't getting out of this situation without turning to ashes, he smiled, "Yami never stops yapping… AGH!"
And just like that, their boss had lost his last leg and arms. The surgical tool used for the process was a knife that was adorned with a special kind of metal, the one I saw around Ren's corpse, giving the blade a special shine. But the brutal way in which Yami operated it when amputating the limbs took away all of its beauty.
"Here." Anderson handed me hound blood veils for me and Io. Only now did I notice that the prisoners wearing similar equipment walked towards our direction.
"Thanks." When Io and I put on our new equipment a weird scent made its way up to my nose.
I turned around and saw Yami emptying the red liquid inside the small container on top of the revenant…
"I remember the tantrum you threw when we let her escape. Well, you can have some of what you wanted so bad now, hope you are happy."
That's right, this was the smell of human blood…
But shouldn't it smell delicious or something?
"We got two minutes to get the hell out of here now." Yami shook his dagger hard enough to get rid of the blood on it.
I shook the thoughts away and walked to the bloodied revenant and gave him a kick of my own.
*crack*
"HUMNF&%$" His cry was deadened by throw up as he tried to hold his now inverted dick with his stumps for arms.
"Much better!" Time to go.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Word Count: 4,458
What a nice day, isn't it?