CALAMITY CORE : FREE THE WORLD

CH.17 'BURNING NIGHT SKY PT.1'

As the sun was finally eclipsed by the Tokyo skyline, the necropolis descended into night. Saionji hit the ground and rolled, unable to keep her balance in her sheer panic. She had faced danger before... but something about that, it was otherworldly, beyond even what a regular Chimera could produce from her natural responses to fear. The Dead Zone surrounding the settlement was now alive with activity as Chimera howled, seemingly stirred into a frenzy by the massive output of familiar energy.

The Guild was silent for a few moments, until Hirano, the reclusive member of the Guild elite made his face known. In the darkness, he could flourish for a change, and he made an appearance without his hood to obscure his face. Soldiers formed groups, and those on the wall began to panic. Footsteps like the exploding drums of war approached the Guild, perhaps one of the few memories that Scavver had left in his feral, broken mind.

"Saionji, what happened? Up, get up!" the vampire hissed, lifting the girl to her feet. When his reddish eyes met her green, he saw nothing but clouds of sadness and tears.

The monstrous roars that grew closer, and the dead Guild Hall gave away all he needed to know. Drawing his weapon of choice, Hirano unsheathed a sickle. While he had never been told outright, he was no fool. During the night, the vampire could take his more natural form, that of a bat, and he had been able to glean enough to know what he had to.

Behind Hirano, a sweaty and cut-up Andrei appeared alongside a winded Shimoda. Both boys saw the girl in her disheveled state, and they instinctively reached out to help, but the vampire swatted them away. Through sniffles and sobs, Saionji managed to spit out what few words had been imprinted into her mind that day. "Ban... He's-... Ban is dead! Scavver killed him, he went crazy... He's- he's..." She saw Andrei, then pointed at him, confirming Hirano's suspicion.

A grave look came over the vampire, and Shimoda looked between his sister and Andrei as she shied away from their mutual friend. Patting Andrei on the back, he knew that he would have to do something. Reaching for the sword at his hip, he nodded to Andrei, who didn't yet reach for his weapon, instead relying on his fists for the moment. "Yo, 'Drei."

Locking eyes, both boys prepared for whatever was to come, and Hirano made an effort to quell Saionji's screaming cries. Lowering his guard, Andrei tried once more to step forward, to offer some sort of consolation... Saionji raised her hand to the sky, pulling it back, and smacked him square on the jaw, causing him to stumble. He was one of them. One of those... monsters, whatever they were. Not a man, not a Chimera... a killer.

As Andrei stumbled back and considered his now red cheek, the screaming roar finally closed in on the Guild Settlement. Shimoda's eyes were wide at his sister's hysteria, but he steeled himself. "Get ready..." He said, half to himself.

With a final moment of deathly silence, it felt as though their tomb had been sealed. A steely wall oppressed the citizens of the Guild, but suddenly, it was torn open. Lightning flashed, and a boom of sound accompanied it. Shimoda was stunned, as was Andrei already. The flash silenced Saionji, and burned Hirano's skin as he held the girl back from further assaulting her friend. Soldiers atop the wall tumbled to an early grave, and those on the ground prepared to fight as the twisted form of their once-great leader revealed itself.

Hirano studied the beast, and saw as it stretched each and every limb. The form it took, which splotched a once beloved figure with black and blue energy, had three arms, two on the side which Ban had nearly cut in half, one on the other. Four glowing red eyes made themselves known, two smaller below what were originally Scavver's own. As Andrei recovered, he too froze... was this his eventual fate? Hirano muttered to himself "Dear god..." and nearly dropped Saionji, about to throw himself in harm's way for Shimoda's foolish self.