"Didn't ya hear me lad?!"
It was then, frozen Haruto jolted back to his senses, after Mr Grey's second, almost desperate scream.
He quickly charged at the man in hopes to help him with the massive cylinder. All the while, silently cursing in his heart.
'What the hell?! What's with this old man?!'
He got over to where the man was. Then he crouched beside the rusted weight of the gas cylinder, slid his fingers under the lid and tried to lift it.
'What the hell?!!'
Haruto stared at the man with horror and awe, how could he carry this massive thing without so much as an expression of over strain written on his face?!. The damn thing was as heavy as a boulder. Let alone carrying it, Haruto had trouble just lifting it barely some meters above the ground. He had a feeling he wouldn't even be able to move it if he hadn't upgraded his strength stat yet. What was it of? Tungsten?!.
Haruto grunted shakily as he struggled with the rusted thing.
Mr Grey shook his head with a distasteful expression.
"Say lad, what would your honest review for why you can't carry Joseph?" then, he chuckled.
"No muscle in this generation"
Haruto stopped struggling, and looking at the old man with an extremely shaky breath, asked in bewilderment:
"Joseph?"
The man maintained a blank look for a while, then his eyes glistened and he fell into a melancholy of laughter.
"Say lad, how would you have known that all my cylinders have names? Pardon my ignorance"
Haruto didn't know whether to laugh or cry, his thought process was starting to get zaggy.
'What the hell is with this old man?! Who the hell names his cylinders like they're his grandkids?!'
Not minding him, the man pointed at the three cylinders he could spot at their front.
"Over there, is Jenny, Drake and Thompson"
Then he turned to the behind and pointed to the only one he could see. It was an even more rusty cylinder that stood tall beside a long table just in front of one of the large shelves.
"Oh! How did I forget Stoney"
He bent forward and whispered.
"He's my namesake"
Then the man adjusted his glass and started to walk in the same direction Haruto had come from. After walking for while and seeing no one was following him, he stopped and turned to find a complete confused Haruto. Haruto stared at him with a look of utter confusion.
"Say lad, y'er wouldn't mind living the rest of your life on a standing ovation?"
Suddenly reminded of the fact that he originally had an agenda here, he quickly followed closely, abandoning the cylinder.
***
As Haruto followed closely behind the man, he almost got fed up. He personally felt that Mr Grey was insane!. The man went as far as to name the statues in the cave. Who the hell does that?! All together Haruto concluded that: this isn't just a lab, it was an underground kingdom of glass, gas and madness!.
Occasionally, the man would stop at a few tables with something either boiling on the popular 3kg cylinder or spontaneously. Some however just contained potions, powders and many other interesting things. On their way, Haruto had to pick a lab coat and gloves so he was busy with helping My Grey carrying one or two things.
On the way, he discovered that Mr Grey was actually British and his real name, was Johnson Stoney.
'That explained why he wasn't able to pronounce my name properly. Of course, he didn't really understand Japanese. But…British?'
Although Haruto was originally shocked, he found it quite normal later on. Just like he had once thought, if the horrors escaped into the earth, not just Japan, everyone was doomed. So, all hands had to be on deck.
But, Haruto wasn't stupid, immediately he found the right opportunity, he quickly posed his questions, his guess was that this man knew more than what even the Captain knew.
"Mr Grey how did the Astral Sentinels come about and why are they called that?"
The man stopped pouring acid into a burette.
"Grey?"
Haruto paled.
'Right, he didn't know I called him Grey'
The man chuckled.
"This old man here sure has grown old"
He didn't dwell on it and quickly got straight to the point.
"Y'er see lad, during the stone age, when the whole world was still bathed in mystery of what the world truly was and the true beauty of undisturbed nature, mundane occurrence took place that, although not included in the history of mundane humans would always be remembered by every Sentinel with you not being an exception"
Not spilling even any acid while pouring it masterfully into the burette, he started to mix what he called a base just a while ago. He seemed to be performing what scientists would call titration.
Haruto wondered what has titration got to do with the enchantment?.
The man continued…
"That occurrence is what our pioneer fathers called THE WAVE but what modern scientists called THE DARK MATTER APOCALYPSE. No one truly understood what it was as it did nothing but masterfully change DNAs or anything that has got to do with the human system. That year, Millions of humans had been mysteriously ridded of diseases termed even as incurable. Sickle cells got their Groups changed. It was a true life changing opportunity. Of course until a mad scientist made a discovery…"
Haruto listened attentively, not daring to miss a single detail.
"His name is unknown to us modern folks. But we all know him as Icarius the Force God"
Haruto flinched.
'...Not ominous at all'
What's more? The name sounded extremely familiar.
"You see, Icarius had discovered through an enchanted x-ray that humans had what he referred to as cores, and had discovered a formula for a potion that could awaken that core and give people inhumane powers. Four more people joined him in the expedition. They suceeded and became the first Sentinels. Together, they were called the daemons. Somehow, Icarius had discovered that there were higher beings outside our universe, however, not long after that discovery. He vanished with the other daemons, like they never even existed. Rumours have it that he had consumed a potion higher that the corresponding one out of ignorance and killed himself. But, they're just rumours, and trust me…I don't do rumours"
The man made his way to another table. Haruto followed closely.
The whole story now was brief, but some things do not add up. If Icarius had not actually been a Sentinel before he used the enchanted x-ray, then how was it that the x-ray was enchanted? How did the daemons disappear totally? How powerful were they? His guess was even more powerful than modern Sentinels. If so, what was it that managed to erase them so swiftly? And without any traces of their death?.
'Crap! So much questions!'
And here was what he was avoiding, the knowledge of ethereal things. His intuition told him he was diving into something dangerous.
Silent for a while, the man finally continued.
"After their mysterious death, humans stole his formula and began to use it, and that was how the Sentinels came into place. They called it…THE ENCHANTMENT as you know. However, original followers of the daemons somehow got their hands on this formula. Claiming that Icarius wanted to welcome these strange entities from the universe into earth, they have chased this dream, endangering and taking countless lives in the process"
'The Evil God's followers' Haruto's expression darkened.
"In stead of the deceased daemons, the followers of the evil god established five churches after amassing enough influence. All of which were named respectively as: The church of the brilliant dusk, The church of the Sea Lord, The Sanctuary of Overlord daemon, The Church of deceased nature and lastly…"
'The church of the Force god Icarius'
Haruto completes it with a sour expression. He knew all the churches too well. He just found their names really weird. But, it all started to make sense now.
…But, why god?