AlterMyth - A Hololive Fanfiction

String Theocracy

Prologue

Amelia Watson and her companions picked themselves up from the cracked marble floors of the Infinite Library. Around them, a hundred dead men and women with corrupted souls rose up like mannequins on invisible strings, wielding short-swords and rifles. All the while, the menacing, shimmering figure of Knowledge loomed over them all and cast her long, serpentine shadow.

Knowledge ran a hand through her wavy locks of red hair and repeated her question to the frightened yet defiant detective with a clear voice that rang throughout the Library realm.

"Wouldn't you like to know why you were chosen to stand among the Myths, Amelia Watson?"

Ame furrowed her brow and pointed her Webley revolver at Knowledge. She lashed back dismissively.

"Just give us the damn book and let us go. That's all I want!"

Ame shouted at the top of her lungs and strained her voice, but her hand and her gun were both trembling involuntarily. Chills ran up her spine while her eyes wandered to the parade of dead men and women approaching them. Knowledge's question gnawed at her too.

Why was she chosen by Cover Corporation? Why was she one of the Myths that Jenma and Enma risked their lives to recruit?

The detective shook her head and steadied her aim.

"Just shut your mouth!" Ame hissed.

" Ara, but I haven't said anything, detective." Knowledge snickered condescendingly, "It's not healthy to talk to yourself...or to repress your deepest desires with such vulgar words." Her eyes then locked with Ame's again and she added, "You might end up hurting those you love."

Damn it, she's messing with my head!

Amused, Knowledge continued.

"Accept the Ancient Ones into your soul, detective. Let us take root there, and forbidden knowledge will be yours! Look at how happy these men and women are! You could become just like them~!"

While Ame struggled with her own mind, the parade of dead cultists drew closer.

The man that died before Ame's eyes lumbered towards her and limped on his one leg. He brandished his bayonet and swung it through the air menacingly, but his face was smiling from ear to ear - in a state of absolute bliss. The bullet hole on his forehead and the black grime trickling down his face did not faze the dead man in the slightest.

Ame nearly stumbled backward but caught herself before she fell. Her eyes were drawn to the dead man's labored limping and then to the fledgling tendril that had burst out from the tip of his spine.

It gave her an idea.

When the dead man drew close, she steadied her stance and kicked his leg with every ounce of strength she could muster. Her kick swept him off his foot and he came tumbling down face-first onto the war-scarred marble floor. The tendril sprouting from his spine flayed wildly as if it were trying to grab a hold of something that Ame couldn't see.

Without hesitation, Ame pointed her revolver at the tendril and shot it once - twice and then thrice. The muzzle flashes reflected off of the sky blue irises of her eyes, highlighting the mingling of fear and resolve gripping her heart. After the third shot, the tendril stopped moving and withered away.

Ame turned around towards her friends and barked urgently.

"Knock em' down and kill those tendril thingies!"

The ladies of HoloMyth nodded and started picking off the parade of dead mannequins one by one. They broke off legs and methodically slew nascent tendril after tendril. True enough, once the tendril was slain, the mannequins finally stopped moving for good.