8 - Pitch Black

“It’s Ichika.” Sakuto immediately called out, tapping on his ear piece. “Ichika? What’s going on?”

“I killed one of the big ones.”

“What’s your condition?!”

“I’m dead exhausted, and half my blood is missing...how far are you into the city? How long until you get to the castle?”

“It will take some time.” Sakuto said. “Ichika...good job. I’m proud of you.”

“Hehe...Sakuto, you better focus on your own stuff. And keep in mind that I’m dead loyal to the promise.”

The contact was severed.

“Yuuka, go get her.” Sakuto immediately ordered. “If anything threatens her, kill with no hesitation, got it? She sounded like she was barely breathing. And Zawadski, you go with Ausra and make sure to retrieve Oskar.”

“I thought we agreed.” Ausra complained. Yuuka and Zawadski both watched in fascination as the two were about to start arguing. “I would do it alone.”

“We need the best possible results.” Sakuto said. “You’ve seen first hand how strong Oskar is.”

“I can keep up with him. And besides, this isn’t about strength.” Ausra said. “It’s my fault that he’s like this, so I’ll face the consequences.”

“It’s not your fault that we had a compromised ally.” Sakuto said.

“Hey, uhh...sorry to interrupt you guys, but I don’t think I can go into combat.” Zawadski said. “I need to check up on Ichigo and the Captain. And I guess Yuuka will check up on Ichika. So everyone’s got a job.”

“And what if any other big shots attack?” Sakuto asked. “If I head towards the castle, I’m pretty much all booked for killing the evil bitch. Are we sure we don’t want to sweep the area first? Make sure there’s no threats left?”

“That won’t do, Sakyuto.” Yuuka said. “You have to go there fast, because if she gets bored, she’ll hunt us down one by one and turn us into brainless killing machines!”

“She’s right. We have to move forward.” Ausra said. “Besides, I don’t sense any strong presence other than the evil bitch and...Oskar...”

“I’ll have to look him in the eyes, and accept that he’s not there.”

“Let’s split up then.” Sakuto suggested. “Everyone will do their job.”

“Sounds good!” Yuuka cheered.

“Good luck, Sakuto.” Zawadski said, patting him on the back. “Out of anyone here, you’re not just the only one capable of dealing with her, you’re also the only one with the balls to do it.”

“Right...thanks.” Sakuto said, a little confused by the comment.

“You know, Mr. Kamiki left us out here on our own.” Zawadski said. “I guess he’s scared of dying, so he’s doing whatever he wants while we were fighting here.”

“It makes sense for him not to fight here.” Yuuka said. “Same as during the soul-bound war. Back then, if he had his ability replicated by Otto Richter, we would all be toast. Now, if he falls into the hands of the evil bitch and becomes a zombie, we would be beyond toast.”

“You’re saying this as if Kaito isn’t stronger than them.” Zawadski said.

“It’d be taking a risk.” Yuuka said.

“As if we’re not taking one?” Sakuto and Ausra said, almost at the same time. Zawadski took a deep breath, and patted Sakuto on the back again.

“It is what it is.” Zawadski said. “When all of this is over, we’ll live in a better world. And we’ll all live better lives.”

“Right.” Sakuto said.

“A better world, and a better life...the more I live, the better things get, the worse they end up becoming. The more I feel happy, the more I’m convinced that life is just a cycle of false hope and utter despair.”

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“Life is ultimately reduced to being hurt and punishing those who hurt me.”

“Right now ”

He suddenly turned around.

“You have the soul crystal, right?” He asked Ausra.

“Yes.” Ausra replied.

“Use it only when things go south, in case he’s dangerously close or it’s impossible to knock him out.” Sakuto said.

A pause later, he continued.

“Ausra, I trust you to get Oskar back.”

“I will.” Ausra nodded. “I promise.”

They nodded at each other, and parted ways. Sakuto headed towards the castle itself, walking along a scorched path, destroyed by shelling and manmade chaos. And Ausra went to the right - towards the source of Oskar’s presence, where the person who she wanted to learn so much from was trapped in a body that obeyed instructions, not his soul. Zawadski and Yuuka, after bidding them farewell, both took a deep breath, but their moment of rest was short-lived.

Zawadski was shot in the chest. He turned around and sharply dodged to the side, avoiding getting shot. Yuuka instantly caught on and turned her attention to one of the many sources of gunfire.

“They’re still here. Scattered around like fucking minions.” Zawadski said.

“They’re easy to deal with.” Yuuka said, launching a pair of slashes from her phone directed at the source of the gunfire, killing the perpetrator completely. “I wonder what purpose they even serve, though.”

“Huh?” Zawadski said. Someone rushed him from behind and stabbed him in the back, so Zawadski, aware of it, dodged to the side and punched them in the gut with enough force to knock them down, after which he stabbed them in the neck with his own blade. “You think they’re doing this out of their free will?”

“Not a chance.” Yuuka said. She felt two other such soulfuls emerge from behind her, but seemed unbothered. “They were recruited, zombified...but why? The evil bitch knows that they’re too weak to deal with us, right?”

“They’re here to distract us.” Zawadski said, swinging his knife and launching a slash at one of the soulfuls behind Yuuka, cutting their head off completely. “They’re here to maybe kill any tactical soulless personnel or weak soulfuls she thought we might have brought here. The only thing I can think of.”

“Or, maybe...” Yuuka pondered, approaching the last person standing from the squad. She launched a slash at her weapon, an assault rifle, preventing it from firing in the first place. “She thought our empathy would take over.”

“Empathy? What’s that gotta do with anything?” Zawadski asked, confused. “We’re used to killing people.”

“We’re not used to killing soulfuls.” Yuuka said, grabbing the girl by her forearms with enough force to restrain her. “Just think about it. Each of these zombies used to be people. They were soulfuls, people like us, people we could’ve been if we weren’t careful or lucky enough. Now, all there is to them is the shell, a killing machine. Can you imagine what Ausra needs to overcome?”

“You gotta feel bad for her.” Zawadski sighed. “Still, do you even consider them human at this point? Are they them, are they just, you know, walking corpses...”

“Walking corpses.” Yuuka said, holding onto the girl’s head. “That’s what they are. And unless Sakyuto’s method of saving the evil bitch’s victims works, that’s all they’ll remain. Walking corpses.”

“Should’ve listened to Sakuto.” Zawadski said. “That’s why I always say, you gotta listen to your gut! If someone is fishy, fling them back into the ocean! Can’t imagine if more of us became these corpses.”

“Yep.” Yuuka said, holding onto the girl’s head tighter and snapping her neck. Her limp body fell on the ground, and his low but noticeable presence disappeared. “Let’s go.”

The two left the area, it remained as scorched as before, except now, it was decorated with a few corpses and some splatters of blood. One of the corpses, whose neck was snapped, used to be called Mara.

...

“I have to help him.”

“I have to save him.”

“I’m strong enough to do it. I’m strong enough to look at his face and strike him. I’m strong enough to use whatever measure is necessary.”

Ausra calmed herself down before approaching a certain section of the city where Oskar’s presence resided. According to her senses, all the big shots were dead, only the two objectives remained - one of which she was sure would be completed, that being Aizawa’s elimination. The other one was completely in her hands.

“No. It’s not him.”

Ausra took a deep breath, and at a medium pace, entered the area. Her legs felt stiff, her heart was racing, and her stomach felt a little sick. She imagined the look on his eyes if she were to hurt him, she imagined the look on his eyes if he failed to recognize her, and immediately went in for the offensive...

It made her nauseous enough to throw up on the side of the road. She wiped the nasty puke off of her mouth and took another deep breath, this time, much more determined.

“It’s not him.”

“The Oskar I know is trapped inside of him, but the machine that Oskar has become... is not him.”

“It’s my job to get him out of there.”

“While Ichika and the Heisei are risking death, while Sakuto is trying to kill the one responsible for these atrocities...”

“I’m the one who needs to incapacitate and save Oskar.”

She finally reached her destination, which was a church. The moon got pretty excited seeing that...