After letting my eyes adjust from the light, I was able to see once again. Though I was shocked at what had happened.
In front of us was a large hole, where more ether crystals could be seen growing on the side of the sphere.
"Well, not what I wanted, but it'll do." Summer sighed, looking disappointed at the now broken canon.
With ether crystals growing on the surface of the canon. I could feel the energy from where I was and knew she used a pure ether crystal.
"How long has this been going on?" I asked, but I couldn't sit up and remembered why. Looking down, Miyabu was still in my arms, her eyes closed shut and her hands gripping the sword tight.
"Miyabi, you can open your eyes." Miyabi's ears twitched at the sound of my voice, and she slowly opened her eyes.
Which fluttered at first, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she had the same reaction when she saw the destruction.
"H-how?" She asked, not understanding how a small cannon could cause major damage.
"Well, that's simple." Summer hovered to our side. "Since both elements are similar, I decided to try to use the technology from this world and combine it with the technology from our world."
She then hopped off and pulled out a small cube, slowly twisting it a few times like a Rubik's Cube.
"And the results exceeded my expectations." The Rubik's Cube shuddered at first, then trembled.
It began to break apart, each piece slowly unfurling. Expanding until a new set of drones was behind her, slowly ascending until they reached her height.
"Anyways, back to the drawing board." She sat on one of the new drones, while a second drone hovered in front of her, displaying a new holographic board.
I could only sigh with a smile, already knowing she was about to cause a huge scandal when we got back.
I then remembered who was in my arms and looked down to see if Miyabi was okay. Only to find her staring at me with wide eyes.
Her hands gripped her sword tightly, and her ears twitched every few seconds. While her face contained a large red hue that colored her face.
"Are you alright?" I asked and gently placed her on her feet.
"I'm fine, let us continue with the operation." She replied and turned her back towards me.
"C-chief Miyabi, wait!" Yanagi called out to her, rushing to her side. Leaving both of us behind.
"What's up her butt?" Summer asked while already finishing a new blueprint.
"Maybe she's stressed, seeing how you blew a giant hole on the side." I said and began to follow her. "But she's right about one thing. We need to finish the operation."
"Bai Yi, K.K, both of you scout ahead!" I called out to both women, while Eve moved to our side.
"You got it, chief!" Bai Yi called out, grabbing K.K and disappeared before our eyes. As soon as she left us, I turned to look at Eve.
"Are you alright, Eve?" I asked, making sure that she wasn't hurt.
"I'm fine, you know I have my toys to protect me." She then looked at the toy bear that was pushing her wheelchair.
"But, I can't say the same for our proxy." She handed me the bangboo, and I could see the damaged screen.
"Well, it's not that bad. How are you feeling, Belle?" I asked, remembering about her consciousness inside the bangboo.
My only worry is that she could feel pain through it, and if she did, where would it hurt?
"N-n-no, I-I-I'm good. Just-Just some la-a-a-gagging." I sighed in relief, knowing she wasn't in pain.
"Summer, can you fix this?" I asked her, holding the bangboo in front of me. Allowing summer to take a close look.
"Yeah, give me a few minutes. Belle, mind disconnecting for a bit?" She asked and began to work on it.
I sighed that things were slowly getting better, but I didn't say anything. Though it seemed it wouldn't matter in the end.
"Chief, we got some good news and bad news." Bai Yi said as she returned with K.K
"Well, let's hear the bad news." I sighed.
"Well, when Summer used her new gun, we saw a huge battle between both corruptors and ethereals." I began to rub the bridge of my nose, already feeling the pain when I'm done.
"The good news, we found the crystal, yayyy!" Bai Yi then pulled out a small party popper, pulling the string to launch the confetti.
"Well, beggars can't be choosers." I sighed. "Lead the way." Was all I said before following both of them.
"Eros, I wish to ask you something." Miyabi spoke as we walked. Seeing as she wanted to ask, I nodded my head.
"What do you want to know?" I said, grabbing Bai Yi's arm, stopping her from stealing my wallet.
"How did you become the MBCC chief?" Hearing this question made everyone on my side freeze, making things awkward for everyone.
"Well… that's hard to explain." Bai Yi sighed and began to hold her head. "The thing is..."
"I have amnesia." I cut Bai Yi off, laying the truth bare. This caused both Yanagi and Miyabi to stare at me in shock.
[Short lore warning: there will be a more detailed version in the character.]
"What do you mean, you have amnesia?" Miyabi asked, her eyes now showing a small amount of concern.
"Well, when I started as the chief, I didn't remember who I was." I began to explain, recalling the start of everything.
"All I remember was waking up in a stasis pod, with a sinner on top of me, speaking to me as if she knew who I was. Yet, I had no memory of meeting her." The day I awoke, I still remember Suspect R's voice, her silk-like voice whispering into my ear.
Yet, behind the gentle voice, I could feel her hand wanting to end me right then and there. I still didn't understand why, but that didn't matter.
"She forced me awake early, preventing me from regaining my memories. In the end, I became the chief of the MBCC because of this." Holding up my hand, the shackles crackled through the air, causing both Miyabi and Yanagi to raise their guards.
"This was the reason why I'm the chief, the only one who can contain sinners. If anything happened to me…" I didn't need to explain much more.
As the silence lingered, both of them relaxed. Miyabi soon approached me and held out her hand.
"Then let us work together to protect humanity, both from the hollow and mania." I smiled at her declaration, seeing her determination in her eyes was like looking in a mirror.
"Then I'm in your care." I shook her hand, and both of us instinctively tightened our grip.
"Hey, I'm back." Hearing Belle's voice speak through the bangboo made me sigh in relief. "Oh, wow, this feels… good."
"Summer, what did you do?" I asked, already knowing she did more than just fix the bangboo.
"Oh, nothing much." She waved off my suspicion. "Better camera, better signal, and a large improvement on battery life."
"Summer." Hearing my voice, she rushed to the bangboo and opened the back, pushing a few things before closing it.
"That… felt so wrong. Wait, how did I feel that?!" We all turned to Summer, who tried to look innocent.
"Okay, fine, I was curious. They could already see and hear. I wanted to see if their sense of touch could work." I only sighed, but before saying anything, the gravity began to change direction.
We began to move to the side, but it felt more like falling. Looking down, we could see the crystal, with multiple ethereals and corruptors floating around it.
"Target sighted, prepare for combat!" I shouted and began to fire at both monsters. However, at the corner of my eye, I saw the staff Summer found.
"Summer, Whitestone staff located!" Seeing the staff member, she flew forward on her drone, evading not only the monsters but also large pieces of stone, glass, and metal.
As she neared the staff member, one of the drones soon began to shift, changing into a large metal hand and grabbing the staff member.
"Staff secured, coming in hot!" She laughed while returning to my side. While her drones fired around her, protecting her from the monster that tried to reach her.
By the time she returned to my side, I could only look at the person with pity. "They're too far gone."
Hearing my words, Miyabi and Yanagi glanced at me. Silently asking why I said what I said, but the staff member's voice was heard.
"Kill… kill all TOPS, kill all…!" The woman's head slid off their body, and I saw Bai Yi sheathing her sword.
"Rest in peace." She said, Summer then tossed the body to the side and looked at it with pity.
"The only thing we can do now is to capture Dreya. Clear a path forward." I said and began to fire at the monsters,
"Alright, I'd better be paid after this." Bai said while twisting her body mid-air. The second her feet were parallel to the ground, or the wall, she launched herself forward, cutting down the monsters.
"Summer, launch me!" K.K shouted while extending her arm.
"With pleasure!" Summer had one of the drones change into a hand, grabbing K.K with it, launching her towards a group of monsters.
As for Eve and Hecate, both of them were being carried by Summers' drones. Away from being reached.
I, on the other hand, stabbed my knife into a flying ethereal, the impact from my fall caused both of us to spin, with the ethereal trying to balance itself.
At the same time, it tried to use its stinger to stab me, wanting to inject ether into my body.
Yet, it was soon slammed against the wall by nightmare. As the body began to devolve, it roared and soon grabbed me, flying towards the crystal.
As we got close, it used its arms to knock back the enemies that got too close. In the next second, the two of us changed directions.
Instead of falling, we were being dragged towards the crystal. With multiple bits and pieces of glass and metal began to float around it.
Some even began to stick to the crystal, with their sharp edges aiming towards us.
"Hecate, pull us back!" I shouted, nightmare began to move backwards, but the gravity was becoming stronger.
Pulling me closer and closer, yet I didn't panic. I began to look around to see if there was anything I could use.
All I saw were bits and pieces of metal sheets and stone walls. All of which were also being dragged close to the crystal.
'If I don't move all of the debris, the crystal will be covered by stone and metal.' I thought, and soon began to form a new plan.
"New plans, destroy everything!" I shouted and began to shoot the debris that got too close to the crystal.
"Really?!" Bai Yi looked at me with a smile that was the same as a child receiving their Christmas gift.
"Yes, really! Destroy everything, don't leave a single piece of stone, metal, or glass intact!" I said and grabbed a rebar, smashing it on anything that could break.
Bai Yi skidded to a stop and leaned forward, her hand slowly traveled up from the sheath of her sword all the way to the handle.
The second her skin made contact with the handle, her hand gripped it tight. The next second, she snapped her eyes open and disappeared.
Purple lines began to appear on the debris and slowly broke apart. K.K herself grabbed a Dullahan's blade, snapping it off its arm, and stabbed its core with its own blade.
Once it was gone, she ran towards the nearest stone slab and reeled her arm back for a strike. She then slammed her foot on the ground and twisted her upper body.
The second her fist slammed against the stone, nothing happened. The next second, multiple cracks began to run across its surface.
Finally, the stone slab broke, with small rocks flying forward, breaking both glass and stone, creating an opening for Summer, who flew by her.
"Thanks, K.K!" She waved her hand and soon focused ahead. "Formation A3, piercing drill!"
The surrounding drones soon converged, creating a large drill. The second it was formed, it whirled to life and began to destroy everything in its path.
Glass, stone, and metal were destroyed by the drill. And a clear path soon led to the crystal.
"Go for it, chief!" Summer waved her hand and soon began to deal with the oncoming monsters.
With a clear path in front of us, Nightmare flew forward with ease. However, a few flying ethereals flew towards us, their stingers raised to stab.
Yet, they were soon blocked by a flying cuckoo clock. The second I saw it, I closed my eyes and covered my ears. The second I did those two things, I heard a muffled scream.
And when I opened my eyes and moved my hands away, I saw the ethereals flying away as fast as they could. However, I didn't celebrate just yet.
The next second, I saw more objects being pulled, with a few ehtereals and corruptors being dragged by the crystal.
"Chief, we got more coming in! I don't think we can hold them off!" Hearing Summers' voice, I looked back and saw more ethereals and corruptors pouring in.
With the ground below becoming a warzone between the two monsters. Yet, a few set their sights on us, charging at us with no care.
Luckily, we soon arrived at the crystal, and I reached out to touch it. But when I used my shackles to force through the surface, nothing happened.
"Chief, how are we doing on Dreya?!" Bai Yi asked, dodging and cutting multiple enemies.
"Give me a second!" I tried again, but like last time, the shackles were rejected. And I was nearly launched off.
"It's rejecting the shackles, I can't tame Dreya!" I said, but I didn't stay still for long. I began to use the knife in my hand to stab the crystal.
Bit by bit, the crystal began to crack. Yet, with only a knife in my hand, I could only do so much.
"Summer, I need help!" I then grabbed a rebar that was floating nearby and stabbed as hard as I could.
"Sorry, chief, but I'm busy!" Summer shouted back while focusing on the monsters below.
I could only chip away at the crystal, however, something began to change. When I stabbed the crystal, the strength of the gravity began to increase.
And the walls started to shrink, I could hear the sounds of glass, stone and metal being crushed as they were being pulled.
"Chief, look out!" Looking back, I could see everything was being pulled, then I focused my attention back on the crystal.
And began to force my body to move, lifting the rebar and stabbing the crystal over and over.
"Break, come on, break!" I said through gritted teeth, forcing my body to move through the pull.
Raise and drop, raise and drop. I ignored everything else, the sounds of screaming, the roars of the monster, all my attention was focused on breaking the crystal in front of me.
"Eros!" Belle's voice was the only thing that pierced through all the noise, and I could hear how scared she sounded.
I only smiled and raised the rebar again and stabbed the crystal as hard as I could. The second the metal hit the crystal, cracks began to run along the surface.
The next second, everything was pushed away before stopping in mid air. Everyone and everything just stayed in place, floating.
"This world… is different." A soft, gentle voice spoke, echoing through the hollow.
"The whispers, I cannot hear them anymore. Interesting." Looking at the source, I could see the person walking towards me.
Every step she took, a piece of stone, glass, or metal moved under her foot. Acting like stairs to allow her to climb.
As soon as she stood in front of me, I could see her entire figure. Her skin was pale, like a corpse, similar to the color of her hair.
She wore a long dress that reached her feet, including a white blouse with ruffles on the shoulders.
However, what was more noticeable was the bone-like mask that covered her upper face. And both her arms looked like they were dipped in black ink.
"Will you let me consume all the secrets in this world, Eros?" She asked, while placing my hand on her chest.
"Devour it all." Was all I said and unleashed the shackles, which began to crawl across her body.
As soon as the shackles were in place, she raised one hand and slowly closed it. The second her hand formed a fist, everything that surrounded us began to rise above us.
The sound stone agaisnt stone, the grinding metal, and the sound of shattering glass was heard above us.
Followed by the screams of ethereals and corruptors being crushed. I could hear bones snap, crunch, and grind.
When I raised my eyes to see what had happened, I remained calm. Above us was a smaller sphere, with the entire surface looking smoothe.
"What… the hell?" I heard Belle ask, her voice containing fear at the sight.
[Whew, I'll admit, I was scared that the author forgot about this story. I really wanted you guys to enjoy reading Chiefs adventure. Anyways, send some power stones to show support, or I'll have your search history exposed. Bye Bye!]