ShipTeaser

  That one’s still dangerous. My spear should have broken her legs, but she seems unhurt. The Chosen who specialised in incredible speed felt the agonising pain in his own leg as he dragged it behind him, the flesh burned aed by the beams of light the women were firing at him. That wasn’t the only thing that ached, his whole body ushing against his limits, as he moved his arms with short bursts of rapid movement, to accelerate his thrown bombs to the speed of bullets. With only one leg I ’t diffuse the backsh. It’s excruciating.

  The people in front of him were yammering something in what sounded like English, not that he spoke much more than a few sentences he remembered from school. Narrowing his eyes, mouth twisted into a pained scowl, he gnced once more at the young woman who he had hit with his gss shell, even if doing so had led to his injuries. One of the strange golden statues shaped like a beautiful young woman raced at him, broken scythe swinging, and the view reminded him of who he served now.

  I remember the time the Army came to my door. I’d been careless, bragging about my newfound abilities online. People thought I was a liar, but the gover must have had an inkling about what was really going on. They then roped me into this mission, threatening scription if I didn’t ply. At least they offered me some pensation, meagre as it was, for my efforts… Remembering the anger, shame and humiliation he had felt that day, he pulled out a number of thin, tungsten rods, sharpeo wicked points, and with his muscles and tendons screaming, he tossed them, his arm moving in a rapid blur, a small shockwave bsting through the air as his arm breached the sound barrier. The spikes pierced the golden woman in front of him, peing deeply, and one arm shattered and fell away, sparking into the pretty lights he o sustain himself, before the whole thing colpsed, broken to fading golden rubble.

  “Pretty. Just like my Queen…” he muttered, the appearance of the statue reminding him of her. It was her who taught me I was misusing my abilities too, wasting them like a fool. I didn’t care that one day the world would be destroyed, Korea would fall. Why should I? It’d happen after my death, most likely, and even if not… I just wao live a good, easy life, money, women, luxuries… until I met her. And now these fn interlopers are standing in her way. Uable!

  Light fshed, and he moved, the beam missing his shoulder by a st distance, his clothing smouldering at the intense heat. They were clearly trying to disable him, rather than kill him, and he curled his lip at their arrogance, before casting a gnce back at the woman he had struck earlier. She may have covered her mouth with a mask, but it’s useless. When the blessed, holy water gets on her skin it’s already too te. She’s clearly fighting it, but just like those other fools who didn’t accept her baptism willingly, in the end she’ll obey the Queen. They all do. But me, I’m different, superior!

  “ you stop him? If he throws those spikes at us we’ll die for sure!” The fn man was saying something, clearly panicked, and by the way he was looking at the remains of the golden woma and deformed spikes embedded in the ground, he had an idea of what worried him.

  “I’m doing my best. But it’s hard to disable him without killing him. And if I use my Mind Sharing Light, you’ll get caught in it, and more to the point, Aiko- will, and Akio-kun will never five me for that…” the woman he had struck earlier with his s to no avail was replying.

  “I’m scared, idiot bramóto, your stupidity ao be right is going to get me killed!” the fn woman who looked like the man shouted, frantic.

  I’m not one of the zombies, whose minds break whery too hard to fight her baptism, no, not I. Making up his mind to deal with those less useful people first, while feeling a twinge of guilt that he couldn’t share the baptismal water with them, as his Queen no doubt wished, he tented himself with knowing that he had secured one like himself, and would get the other who was annoying him with deadly beams of light soon enough. It’s just a shame they’ll be mere toys. Though if she finds them favourable, she spend some effort t them bae sembnce of sanity… like him. Oh, my Queen… he licked his cracked lips, face slightly burned from several near misses of light. I iigated the other world at the behest of the Army. What choice did I have? But it was nothing special. I was going to destroy it, until I met her. My Queen, so beautiful…

  A volley of needles surged, and the st golden woman darted forwards to block them, also colpsing. Reag down, he grabbed some of his st projectiles, shattering a gss bottle over the sharpeips of the metal rods, on the slim ce that they survived the strike. She was a young girl, just heading into adulthood, with brilliant, pierg eyes that could see through everything, and a sly smile that captivated his heart. For a moment he had wondered what she was doing there, before the obvious realisation that she was like him, another person with magical powers, dawned on him. He immediately put up his guard, ready to strike her with his fist at a speed that would reduce her to paste, but his hands trembled, unwilling to break such splendid beauty. The words she spoke then were seared into his heart, and ged his life…

  “I see. You are worthy to stand beside me. One of those chosen to i the Earth, and worlds beyond.”

  She had paused then, her dark brown eyes seeming to see right through him, with wisdom beyond her years, the csh between youth and maturity exg him.

  “Hmm. Judging by your movements approag this pce, you are blessed with the power of great speed. It is a worthy gift.”

  “It’s useful, yes, but when I strike someone, I take injury too…” he had replied, a little irritated, but at the look in her eyes that had soon vanished, repced by a mixture of lust and veion.

  “Of course. Every a has an equal and opposite rea. Or so we were taught. Our existence perhaps disproves many of the ws I have studied in this pce.” Her beautiful eyes had narrowed. “But for now…” She tossed him a pebble, which he had caught, surprised. “Use ys and your body to mitigate the force, and simply cast the stone forwards. Then you should not take any injuries, but be strohan any soldier, those ants that have e crawling over my domain.”

  With that he had done as she said, and the stone had peed the ground deeply, and he saw new possibilities.

  It was destiny. Just as this all is. But the game is ing to an end, and I, her loyal knight, will gift her new subjects… Making ready to throw, he was suddenly caught by a savage, wreng pain iumbling, eyes watering and head spinning. Through the curtain of tears he saw a strange sight, the woman he had thought was some sort of secretary or teacher seeming to have ged pletely, sp cat ears and a shing tail, brilliant blue eyes peering into him.

  “Nya, I ’t steal it.” she said, the words nonseo him. “It’s too deeply entwined with him, and it burns, but… nya, I bet it hurts, having me pull on it!”

  “Stop that!” he roared, spittle flying from his charred lips, mixing with salty tears that stung his hot flesh. “I’ll… kill you!” The needles in his hand were ready for dispatch, when a heavy impact struck his abdomen, and he was suddenly crashing to the ground, writhing in pain, as the projectile that struck him unfurled into numerous small yet strong cables, ing around him like dozens of whips, in cruel parody of his s from earlier. As he fell to the ground, his one leg uo support him any longer, beams of light fred, and his wrists were pierced, the wounds instantly cauterised. As he screamed, he realised the woman he had subdued earlier was standing above him, finger poi him, faint sparks of golden and indigo light fading, her other hand removing her mask, revealing a beautiful face within, one which reminded him of his Queen, though the expression was dissimir, hers aloof and keenly intelligent, this one… she was looking at him with amusement and mockery in her sapphire eyes, aruggled against his bonds, flesh tearing as the wires tightened. Bitobody gets to look at me with such eyes! Nobody but her!

  “Good job everyohe girl was saying, not that he could uand her. “I knew you had it in hand. But I just wao be sure everything was fool proof. Haru-, think you calm him down?”

  The other woman nodded, and a brilliant light bloomed, bleag out his vision first, and then his anger, his rage, his devotion, all seeming to fade out from him, leaving him hollow. No, no, NO! Reag out in his mind, trying to keep the image of his Queen vivid and fresh, as magnifit as she was iy, he let their fn words pass over him.

  “Seriously, this barrier cream is good stuff. I mean, e on, my bro, Shaeu and the others, they went up against something that would kill if it got on their skin or into their lungs. Of course it’s going to protect against whatever this guy is slinging. Liquid of some kind. As long as I kept my eyes shut until I boiled if off with a little fme, there’s no problem!” She pumped her fist cheerfully, not that he could see very mu the brilliant glow that dyed everything a sterile, cold white. “Now that we’ve got him though…”

  “Yes. And the situation with the army seems to have been resolved.” The other woman was saying as she glowed. “Akio-kun had to intervene himself. And it seems like things are heating up.”

  “Wow, no kidding. Oh well, it’s time…” the girl held her fist up, and there was a vibration that set his teeth on edge, even though his dimming sciousness aions. A vivid ssh in space opened up, and out stepped a beautiful, cold woman, wearing a full-body protective suit, mask and all. Even hidden so, from her eyes, cold as they are, she’s a real beauty. I know it.

  “Arisu-, you’re here! I wasn’t really sure it’d work!” The girl who defeated him gushed, and her reply was withering, even he could uand that, needing no words.

  “Do not call me -. I find it unbeing. And without the enha from White, crossing the sea to Korea with my Room would stretch, or even exceed my abilities. Yet… here we are. So, I assume the situation is in hand?”

  “Yep. We’ve got this one good and caught, and Haru-’s trying to purify his mind. He’s obviously under some crazy influence. Just like the army… but we ’t keep him here. So we’ll use your Room. Though there’ll be a lot of guests.” She ughed, nodding at the fallen army.

  “Fine. I have remodelled it into isotion cells. It was a nuisance, but…” Even as his vision was finally swallowed, the image of his Queen fading away, he could still hear them, and just before the end, he thought he could see people wearing simir biohazard suits and masks ing out of the tear in space, though from the way they moved, and the straails that were also protective cloth and rubber, he realised they weren’t human. Oh my Queehought bitterly as he was seized in rough hands and lifted up. …will I ever see you again? Will you dissect me with your wisdom, better me, cherish me? Will… will I ever get to hold you? No, I… And with that st thought he sank into a dreamless sleep, and the expression he loo see again was lost to him…

  ********

  “Got you, you slut!” Jun-Seo sneered maliciously, as his blood spttered over the beautiful woman, whose geousness offended his eyes. Beautiful women are a curse. It makes them arrogant, proud, hateful, and the world always gives them an easy time of it. Cho-Hee was the same. I’m just as brilliant as her, it’s just her looks! Our parents always loved her more because she’s beautiful. I’m not ugly, I’m handsome, I’m her damn twin after all! But for boys it’s about strength, which has to be earned, not born with. It’s not fair!

  W himself up inte as everyone froze at the shog sight of him sshing his own scarred wrist and spraying thick red blood over the pristine fad hair of his oppo, for a moment he imagined his sister’s face, with her supercilious, arrogant eyes that dissected everyone around her as if they were is, seeing how they could be of use to her, fawn over her, covered in her own blood, the knife in her neot in his hand. Even thinking that way caused him pain, and he ground his teeth together, bitterly p what his sister had doo him, and why he had to follow her orders. Bitch, you wouldn’t let me break like the others. You cimed it was love for your oppa, but I know it’s simply that you enjoy looking down on me! Well, I’ll still have the st ugh. You made a mistake leaving me some shreds of autonomy!

  As his pitiful ally, the half-dead wind user, who Jun-Seo insultingly didn’t even remember his name, merely calling him Wind ptuously, approached to provide support, bloody particles being whipped into the air to joier that his cursed sister had provided, Jun-Seo grinned, eyes glittering with madness. “Go berserk, bitch! Turn on your allies and fight until you break! You ’t die, not anymore, my shibseki sister won’t allow it, but that beauty that has made your life easy will all be gone, broken, distorted!”

  “Shiro!” the tattooed woman called out, suddenly armed, and Journed, even as wind and blood rolled over the strange, almost androgynous men she was with, staining them, adding them to his pawns as well.

  “Your turn will e too!” he warned. “Now I just o y my own trap, so that Cho-Hee doesn’t see it ing and… huh? The hell is going on?” he titled his head in fusion, as the pale woman he had sprayed with his blood and her water had begun to unbuckle her armour calmly. “Have you gone mad? No… this isn’t what Berserker Blood does… though maybe your brain is broken?” he snorted. “Perhaps to a woman who sees herself as the tre of the Universe, self-destru through shame might be more meaningful than rage…”

  Despite himself, Jun-Seo found himself eager to see it, and as the csps were uhe woman lowered the shoulders of her armour, only to disappoint Jun-Seo, as underh were more clothes, shining gold. For a moment he had hope that she would tio disrobe, only to meet her dark eyes, which were looking at him as if he was a worthless piece of dirt, a bug. Just like my fug sister! I’m not stupid, I’m as clever as you! Nobody at useon is outside the top one pert uhey are some rich brats who got in through wealth and es!

  “Shiro… are you… all right?” The woman with the scorpion tattoo said. Suddenly her men roared inte, turning to attack those around them, and she waved her inked arm, dismissing them into nothing with a faint pop and cascade of rainbow motes of energy, before they reappeared, for some unknown reason calm again.

  “Of course.” The woman Shiro thumped her ample chest which was still covered by her armour and the golden cloth which was also ed around her shoulders. “Disappointed? Aren’t you such a kid?” She s Jun-Seo ptuously. “There’s only one guy who gets to see me undress, and even if you could rerun the world a million times, it’d never be you, brat.”

  “Shut up! You… you ’t resist my blood for long, it’s impossible…” he shot baot even g as the seemingly unharmed meled with the hostages, exhausting their strength. Each time they were affected with blood or water they would disappear and reappear, and leap bato the fray, the only evide had even happehe ever-increasing weariness on the face of the tattooed woman.

  “Impossible? That’s a bold cim for someone who hasn’t seen any of the world.” Shiro snorted, gently stroking the golden cloth. “This mantle is proof that no man but mine touch or and me. So of course you failed. It’s why I’m here… but…” Her face twisted into an expression of disgust, one eye fred a brilliant red, captivating him. “…you spshed your filthy liquids on me. Shit, so gross.” Fme fred yellow and crimson, precisely ing the blood and water, leaving no trace. “I’ll need Aki to give me a good bath after this. Although…” she giggled charmingly, a shog sight sidering the small battle raging in the corridor. “… if he’s jealous, that’s great. He mess me up with some liquids more fun than blood.”

  Open-mouthed, Jun-Seo let out an aream of curses and pints. “Fuck. Shit. Nothing is going right! If I was in charge, not my whore sister, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Wind, Wind you dumbass, fet trying to trol her or those men. Go for the other two!”

  As wind gusted again, the barrier of raindrops stricted, f a tight barrier around the tattooed woman and old man, but Jun-Seo khat would be useless against the power arrayed against them. Wind was burning his strength recklessly under Berserker Blood, but also restrained by the watery curse, so he was able to perform signifitly above the strength the half-dead corpse should be able to. A fine mist would soon envelop them, and then… When the woman that trols those four who keep vanishing and ing back is in hand, then we overwhelm Shiro… I’ll teach her to mock me before she loses all her self-awareness. Hey, maybe I’ll show that off to the guy she was talking about, assuming he’s one of the other invaders. My bitch sister let me have that at least… His thoughts scattered as she was now looking at him with mismatched red and bck eyes, and her smile was so… predatory… it was almost as if she was a different person.

  “Iing. This Favour… it is ohat ruins a person, making them self-destruct, but… amidst that it does have a strengthening aspect. Though it is hopelessly polluted with further tangles of Adherence. A shame. I could devour it, but it would gaitle. If it could be stripped to a base form… no, such is beyond me, and likely beyond most beings. In any case, we should finish this.”

  The woman, Shiro… No, is it Shiro, she has entirely different tone, word choices and mannerisms… raised one hand, and Jun-Seo backpedalled desperately, wary of her move, only to realise she wasn’t aiming for him. The woman’s silver hair turned crimson, and fmes were flickering ominously amidst her long locks. “I feel the spatial distortion from here. It is time to secure the prize for our efforts, although…” Her ruby eyes glittered coldly as she surveyed Wind. “…I doubt even your man help this ruined fool survive, princess.”

  Princess? And who is she talking to?

  A sudden ball of fme roared ience, filling the corridor. Water fred into steam, which might otherwise have caused him to celebrate, but he had seen that it had little effe her previously, so expeg it to work now was a fool’s hope. The fme suddenly shrank, f a humanoid figure of fme, a burning elemental, which reached out, arms extending. Wind hurled bdes of air, but all it did was fuel the creature, which suddenly thrust, five fming talons pierg legs and arms, rendering Wind useless. As the broken puppet colpsed, not eveing out a cry as his limbs were scorched and ruined, Jun-Seo wished he could retreat, but every time he sidered it, all he could think of was his cursed bitch of a sister, her eyes desding, him to stand his ground.

  “Sorry kid.” The voice ged again, back to the first style, as Shiro eyed him coldly. “You may have had some successes pying your little game, but now it’s the big league, the adults have arrived.” She suddenly paused, clig her tongue. “Shit, that’s a little unfair. Kids be smart too, I guess it has nothing to do with age. Hinata’s a smart cookie able to go toe-to-toe with adults when it es to business dealings. But thee her age, it’s not fair to call her a kid. She’d never be this much of an idiot, staying to fight a losing battle. No…” she amended. “…you’ve obviously bested plenty of adults, even the Korean Army. But… our experience is just too different. While you were pying wargames here, we were fag life-ah battles over and ain.”

  As if to prove her words, another voice could be heard ing over the earpie the tattooed woman’s hands. “Hey, the situation here is under trol, we’ve taken out the attacker, and proved the barrier cream and masks work. Arisu-… uh, Arisu-san sorry…” she corrected hurriedly. “…has arrived, and she’s brought the -up crew. Fg the location of any hostages or prisoners, and we’ll take them to her Room for processing!” she paused. “Uh, sorry bro, you’ll have to go it alone, my Golden Sisters all got totalled I’m afraid. But hey, that’s no bother for yht?”

  “Sure. I had to do some -up here too. The Uhed Bde will be returning to base shortly, so when Jin-Ae is safe, let the others do what they want. Now… I’m kind of busy… ’t spare too much attention, there’s something nasty in the Boundary, probably what Taioned. But… I think it’ll be okay.” A man’s voice echoed over the earpiece.

  “Cool.” Shiro agreed. “Things here are winding down too, we’ve captured the wind user, and blood boy won’t be hard to secure. Good luck Aki!” she g the group apanying her. “And just for the record, Violet and the gang weren’t as useless as I expected.”

  As the li dead, Shiro snorted. “Yeah, with Arisu as a backup, I was assured we’d be fine. And that’s hardly all our preparations. So, you ready, kid?”

  Before Jun-Seo could reply, his face pale with anger and blood loss, he noticed that the tattooed woman, Violet, was looking down, face flushed. “Uh, you seemed kind of different then… very cool.” she whispered, and Shiro snorted again.

  “Sorry, don’t swing that way!” she insisted, and Violet blushed a deep crimson almost matg her namesake.

  “Me her! I like guys, I swear! Just… I call you unni? Please?”

  “What’s with this lily-like development?” Shiro scratched her head. “Sure, whatever you want. But… don’t make me take back my evaluation of you. We still have to snatch up this punk here. It’s fine, I ha, no man pel me other than Aki.”

  “I see.” So it’s e to this. Ever since I lost to my damn sister… it’s not fair, it’s not fair. Not fair, not fair, NOT FAIR! Cho-Hee always gets everything I want. Sure, Berserker Blood owerful, but… my pawns got used up, while hers kept increasing. Nobody could have won in my position, it’s like pying chess with only half the pieces against an oppo with a full board! And now I’m being treated like I don’t matter by another bitch who has it easy with awesome abilities she never had to earn, that the wave her because she’s beautiful… and I ’t even flee, because of my sister and her cursed water. Fuck her, fuck her, fuck you too, fuck everyone! Well, if I am going to fail, then I’ll be sure to fuck up everyoh me, and ruin everyone’s pns! Suddenly grinning, he ighe fire elemental closing in on him, and thrust his knife upwards. Shiro tensed, but he wasn’t aiming for her. Blood gouted, streaming from his sshed throat, soaking his tattered uniform.

  “No man pel you, huh? My sister isn’t a man, so we’ll see how she does. Fuck, if she was just my brother, we could have peted on… level… ground.” His voice was trailing off. The fme elemental darted for him, but he baded it, heedless of his burning flesh, and the elemental shivered, before disiing, the fmes starting to circle him in multiple trigs. “Too much to hope… that… you two kill each other … like… the st … poisonous is… in this… pot…” His eyes were starting to turn as red as Shiro’s had been before, only instead ht fme, they resembled dark blood. “…but… sister… to… ensve you. Hope… she… has you… toyed with… by every guy… in Korea… before… the… end. Berserker Blood!”

  With that his body expanded, muscles growing grotesquely, aether levels surging, fme ging to him like a shroud, the smell of cooked meat siing. With the st fragments of rational thought in his mind, kept there by the curse of his sister, he managed a bloody smile. I’m strong, I know it. The whore must have limits, so… when I kill the bitches and bastards here I … break free, and… be the st… man… standing…

  ShipTeaser