Reborn: Apocalypse

Micheal and Sophia filed into the building cautiously, with Micheal leading the way. Despite her reservations, Sophia found herself strangely drawn to Micheal. He had a way of talking, a way of carrying himself, that inspired confidence in him.

"Hold." As they moved into the stairwell, Micheal held his hand out, causing Sophia to freeze. The metal door that opened out onto the roof behind them slowly shut.

Micheal's eyes narrowed. Faintly, in the background, the sounds of men and women talking and cheering rang out. It sounded as if a team was celebrating something.

"…another kill tha…"

"…almost enough Points to…"

"…wooohoooo! To a new year the…"

Micheal shook his head.

"People are here, but just a minor team." No big organization would have people stationed so high, being so careless.

"Do we… do we need to do something about them?" Sophia's voice shook slightly, betraying her inexperience. She may have a frosty exterior, but at heart she really was just an innocent 21-year-old girl.

"No, our target is much lower… on the ground floor." He nodded at her and began to descend the stairs. He leaned over the edge slightly as he went.

Almost all the way down, he could see various floors, lit up by the fluorescent light bulbs set into the walls.

However, at around what looked like the 5th or 6th floor… the bright light from the stairs was replaced by shadows.

Sophia and Micheal made fast progress. This skyscraper was 38 floors tall, one of the smaller ones in the Cluster. In no time at all, they reached the 6th floor.

As he had noted, all the lights were off. The stairwell wasn't covered in absolute darkness, Micheal observed, with some light gleaming in through the door. The various windows in the hallway let in just enough light to change that.

The atmosphere, however, took a drastic, eerie turn. The familiar hum of the air conditioning units was nowhere to be heard, leaving the area strangely quiet. It was as if a void of noise existed below them, while a sanctuary of light and sound lived above. The air was warm, like that of outside, at odds with the unnerving, unmoving darkness.

"Quiet now…" He whispered, motioning for her to follow him. Sophia's eyes were wide as she took everything in, her breathing slightly fast. Micheal took that into account as he moved forward carefully, taking slow and steady steps to try and calm her down.

They passed through the 6th, 5th, and 4th floors with no issue. The deeper down they went, the darker it got due to the lesser amount of light the lower floors saw. As they reached the 3rd floor, the shadowy state of the stairwell had become almost impossible to see through.

'Hmm, it must be because of the time. The sun is directly overhead, not much light is being reflected in this low.' He quickly made a guess as to why.

whoosh


Quietly, one of his dimly glowing blue Life Orbs appeared, automatically floating around his head. The soft blue light it provided was just enough to make the steps visible without making it obvious where they were.

They reached the 2nd floor. At this point, even Micheal's heart started to beat fast. He stepped down slightly faster, anticipation building.

They reached the ground floor.

The ground floor of the skyscraper was much like the shed up top. It had a metal door for its entrance and little else apart from the stairs.

Micheal crept up to the metal door, his eyes flashing eagerly. He withdrew his Life Orb back into him and cracked the door open just an inch (2.5 centimeters).

Through it, he saw a large, empty room with several large open windows letting in light, much better lit than the stairway. As he scanned the room, he could make out three figures.

One was a regular Morenkai, standing absolutely still near the center of the room.

Another was a Morenkai with an abnormally large head, its skull extending backwards a good several inches (multiple centimeters), giving off a faint, golden luster.

The last figure was a large brute of a Morenkai, one that had large, bulky muscles and thick shoulders and legs, standing almost half a meter taller than normal Morenkai. Its hands had small spikes attached to its fingers and knuckles, colored milky white. It looked rather horrifying, as if it had been bred for battle.

'An Abnormal, and one of the stronger ones.' He silently cursed as he slowly shut the door, motioning at Sophia. In the darkness, the duo could just barely make out each other's faces.

"What do we do? Is it there?" Sophia's voice was a faint whisper.

"Yes, it's there. But we have a problem." He explained what he saw.

Sophia's face visibly paled, even in the darkness. A gleam of determination stayed lit in her eyes, however, as she bravely held herself together.

"The Abnormal we have is one of the brawny, strong Abnormals. Its bound to be extremely strong, far stronger than normal ones, and much harder to injure." Despite his words, Micheal doubted he'd have an issue cutting it. While his blade was only average at best compared to other Artifacts, his Grandmaster Sword Mastery was more than enough to make up for it.

The only problem was its movements and strength.

'A single blow from it would directly kill me…' If it could outspeed him, even with his greater skill, it was very possible that he would die at least once.

Abnormals had a huge range of types. Some were weak, while others were strong. Still others were freakishly strong.

And still others were so strong that they were labelled Monsters.

'This one isn't a Monster. Those only appear in the Main Cluster… But it's definitely a tough one.' His frown deepened.

He tapped on his Spatial Ring, looking at the various Close Impact Bombs and Repulser Grenades he had stored. Explosive attacks were known to be able to kill Morenkai, causing internal injuries that penetrated their protective skin.

'I still have options if things go poorly.' He nodded. He would never attempt something without at least a semblance of a backup plan. He had seen how well that went at the Last Battle.

"Apart from that, the Golden Morenkai, if it feels threatened, will flee." Unlike other Morenkai, Golden Morenkai seemed capable of feeling things.

'Shin should've picked up the Warping Phaser Ability, he should have no problems getting behind it and stabbing it in the head. We, on the other hand, can't afford to let it flee.' He rubbed his chin, considering.

"Here is the plan. We both run in. You use your Fairy Eyes Ability on the Abnormal. It won't have any effect on the Golden Morenkai." The Golden Morenkai had a great deal of resistance to things that affected the mind or soul.

Researchers believed and theorized that the Golden Morenkai drew upon the energy that powered the world, making their souls incredibly powerful. It was for this reason that they dropped such an enormous sum of Points, and why the lights and power in the first few floors of any skyscraper they were in ceased to function.

They were leeches. And, just like leeches, they were extremely ineffective at combat.

No one knew what the actual purpose of the Golden Morenkai was, if it had one at all. By the time any actual research was done, almost everyone had moved past the First Layer. As time went on, the Layers got progressively dangerous, forcing people to move up or die. It was nearly impossible to go back between Layers, and thus nothing more was learned.

"While you do that, I will kill the regular Morenkai and then cripple the Golden one." He had promised he would deliver unto her a vast amount of Points. As long as he went through with that promise, he knew he would gain her trust, to at least some degree.

People valued results. That was just how life worked.

Sophia nodded as she heard his plan,

"Alright, I'll try." Her voice shook, ever so slightly.

"It's not hard. All I need you to do is come in after me and beguile the big one. I'll handle the rest." He gave her a reassuring smile before he remembered how dark it was. His shiny white teeth probably looking more horrifying than reassuring in the dark shadows of the stairwell.

The duo crept to the edge of the room, where the door was. Micheal took a single deep breath and then let it out.

A moment later, he flung the door open and sprinted into the room.

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Hey gang, I've written so much recently, my wrist tendons or ligaments or something have started to feel sore. It's kinda freaked me out a little, so I'm going to take a 1 day break. See you all on the flippity flop, enjoy the double release! :)