Clockwork Souls [IC]

[encapturer]

"Watch my back, and gather as many freshman that want to leave as you can. I'll hold them off, while you bring the freshman here. With more people we can take these guys easily."

 

It was Arthur, suggesting breaking through with numbers.  Amelia thought about it a moment, then shook her head.  "Bad idea.  We'd end up surrounded, and I'd rather not give them a whole ton of points and favors...  not that I have a better plan right now, mind you."  Arthur seemed to take that as her consent to the plan, and fired a warning shot above the seniors' heads.  They still seemed a little shaken, but the group much more composed and confident than before.  Amelia did not like the looks of that.

 

So, Amelia took the time to review her options, realizing that bunking down in the cafeteria would be a very bad idea.  Everyone needed to escape - there were too many losses already.  The closest exit was the most crowded, and it was growing in size as people started gathering from outside.  Arthur offered the seniors a deal to fight one-on-one to settle the issue.  With the way she was ambushed the other day, Amelia knew that the seniors would not uphold that deal.  They would gang up on him as soon as it was convenient.  

 

Continuing to search for an exit, Amelia turned her sights to two other exits had fewer people, but getting into a fight there might be dangerous.  While it was true people were gathering around Arthur outside, she didn't know exactly how many people had the freshmen surrounded.  Still, there was the exit that Isaiah and Caeil were working at securing (at least she hoped that was what they were doing), but Amelia could have sworn she saw some people running around on the other side.

 

"Too risky," she said to herself, ignoring the fact that Arthur probably heard her talk to herself.  Still, there had to be a way through.  She took another quick glance around the room, when her eyes fell upon the stain-glass windows on the other side of the cafeteria.  Breaking them would probably get Amelia in trouble, but... it was the only path she could think of in the limited time she had.

 

"Alright," Amelia yelled throughout the room.  "Everyone, get ready to run!"  The seniors nearby seemed to think that she was going with Arthur's plan, so started to back away a bit so that the freshmen would be able to get outside... to be defeated.  Unfortunately for them, Amelia was doing something different.  She Removing Claw Crusher from her arm, she began riding it... first towards the exit that Caeil and Isaiah were at.  She didn't want to startle them too much, so she turned off that path relatively early, before heading to an exit on the other side of the room.  Once near that one, she swerved again, this time heading back to the exit that she was standing at with Arthur moments ago.  It was clear that Amelia had not ridden Claw Crusher in close quarters like this, as she was hanging on to one of the protruding handles pretty tightly.

 

'One more!' Amelia thought, swerving yet again, settling on her final target, the windows.  She powered down the aisle between tables, raising the 'nose' at the front of Claw Crusher.  The seniors harassing the students inside had become rather disorganized, as they tried to figure out what Amelia was trying to do.  Amelia hoped that this would give the students trapped the chance to escape, and get to class.  All she needed to do was to launch her automaton through the window.

 

Once she was close enough, Amelia let go and jumped off, as Claw Crusher shot through one of the stain-glass windows, shattering it.  A large smile formed on her face as she ran through the new opening, hoping the others would take this chance as well.  Once through, Amelia took the opportunity to pick up Claw Crusher and scan the area for any enemies.  It looked clear.

 

Except for one person.

 

About 30 feet from Amelia stood a single man, surrounded by about 2 dozen or so spider-like automatons, each about a foot and a half in height.  The slender man had a twisted smile on his face as he tapped his sheathed dagger on his waist.

 

"Bravo!  I was wondering if anyone was going to think of going around the crowd," he said, clapping just three times.  "Too bad for you I also have thought of that.  That's what happens when you're a genius, you know."  Amelia was so disgusted with his haughty attitude that she almost forgot about the chaos going on back in the cafeteria.

[Enrise]

While chaos began to stir, Krieger sta by himself the entire time, oblivious to everything around him. The only thing he really concentrated on was his food, which seemed wasn't going to last long. While taking a bite out of his delicious apple pie, someone appeared to have tripped on something, or was pushed, face first into Krieger's pie.

 

"Uh. . . M-My pie."

 

He looked up, and saw more chaos than before, seniors being ensnared by confusion, while the freshmen were making a break for the classrooms while the seniors were in their daze of hectic occurrence. He looked around, and saw a girl who was riding on some contraption, running around the seniors, and making her way towards a window. Wanting some compensation for the apple pie, he started to get up, and was interrupted by a freshman bumping into him. He grabbed the freshman's head, and spoke in a grim voice.

 

"Get out of my way, along with the other freshies."

 

He pushed the freshman aside slightly, and made his way towards the sound of the window breaking - particularly a window being broken by a girl who crashed into it - and to catch up to her.

 

--

 

When he got to the window, he saw the girl and another man across from her, surrounded by a small family of spider automatons, and was uttering such a disgusting voice that made Krieger flinch back. "Man, he needs to go see a doctor, his voice sounds horrid. Frog in his throat?"

 

"Hey, I don't know who you are, back off. This chick owes me some compensation for a delicious apple pie that was ruined because of her. Sh*t like that doesn't come off easily with me."

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Stellar and Shakira continued to stare at each other blankly, each waiting for the other to make a move. Seconds turned to minutes until suddenly, the flick of a wrist had exposed shurikens in Shakira's right hand. The scorpion-shaped automatons also began to stir, apparently tired of waiting as well, and scuttled over to each of Stellar's sides. Stellar herself had eyed up one of these automatons, and tried to study it when all of a sudden, a shuriken whizzed by her. She was about to comment to Shakira that it had missed, but yet that same one shot passed her again and again and again. After Shakira threw what must've been umpteen more shurikens at once, Stellar realized that she got herself stuck inside a tornado of shurikens, with the scorpion automatons guiding their path with magnetic claws.

 

Occasionally they'd send a bolt of electricity to Stellar as well, in order to try and shock her into stepping into the wall of shurikens surrounding her. After the first shock, however, this didn't work. Truth be told, Stellar already had an idea to dispose of all these shurikens. She positioned her hands just below the lowest shuriken as they drew closer and closer, and when they finally got within arm's reach... she just up and whisked the lot of them away with the simple toss of her bare hands. A shuriken had managed to embed itself into each palm of Stellar's hands, where blood had began to trickle from, and Stellar got herself many more scratches in the process.

 

"Tch, that's what you get for being such an idiot! Trying to get rid of this many shurikens like...!" Shakira started to taunt, but once she paid a little more attention to Stellar's moans and groans that she gave out once she got hit, though, the entire taunt stopped cold, "Wait, that sounds more like you're turned...! ARE YOU HIGH OR SOMETHING??!! OR ARE YOU JUST COMPLETELY... JUST WHAT THE F***'S WRONG WITH YOU??!!"

 

"Hahahahahaha, it's complicated," Stellar giggled, as she slowly started to return to her feet, "But the short answer is this: No matter what you try to do me and no matter how I respond to that, you'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever, actually be able to hurt me."

 

As her face transitioned from white with shock to red with rage, Shakira gripped the one katana in her hand, before reaching over for the second or third one on her back. She didn't care which of the two she grabbed; all that was on her mind was that Stellar was gonna pay for that mockery... one way or another.

[Maeriberii Haan]

[hr]Caeil[hr]

 

An unguarded exit? That made Caeil smile. No need for excessive destruction then.

 

"Nah, nevermind. Here, I'm returning your core. But thanks."

 

Caeil then threw the core back at Isaiah. When she looked back at the empty exit, a senior were already there, seemingly unthreatened by Isaiah's weapon. The senior just smiled, and soon enough, he revealed his automaton. Several mechanical butterflies appeared around him, and each of them seems to be connected by something unknown that looked like a thread made of light, and it seemingly able to stretch and shorten indefinitely.

 

"Isaiah, do you want to take this one? Or should I just clean this one up now?"

 

[hr]Letty[hr]

 

"And here I though the council can be more reasonable to the students..."

 

Letty was in the cafetaria when the announcement was made. She finished the rest of her coffee, and prepared to go outside the place. The students was busy either fighting their way out of the building since the exits were guarded by the seniors. While looking around, she noticed the girl she bumped into yesterday, one of the students in her class, sitting alone in a table, and her curiosity peaked once again. She approached the girl, and tapped her back. She semed to not notice the tap, so Letty decided to sit directly across her.

 

"Hello, miss...Helen, right? Rather than endangering yourself by trying to get out of the place, why don't we have a nice little chat? You seems to be quite a loner, eh? I'll be here to accompany you for the time being. Well then, let's start our conversation with the basics. Please explain your actual nature to me."

 

Helen was silent.

 

"Ah, let me word the question better. Who are you actually?

 

No, that's not quite right for this case.

 

I mean, what are you?"

[encapturer]

"So... you come to her aid? No matter..."  The senior raised his hands high in the air, towards the heavens.  "Even against a whole legion, you will learn that the Great Ivan the Neoprodigy will be the victor!"  Ivan was not bluffing; he truly felt he was unstoppable.  Amelia herself did not notice it, but the outside of the cafeteria building had about ten of his spider automaton clinging to the side of the wall, spread out above them.  As one of Amelia's fellow freshmen climbed through the hole she made to run to class, one of the spiders dropped down and latched to his leg... and exploded.

 

"AAAAAAUUUUUUUGH!!!"

 

Amelia turned around to see where the cry came from.  The freshman lay on the ground, clutching his leg in pain.  Amelia could not see the complete extent of the damage, but it was clear that the young man needed medical attention.

 

"And that makes nine," Ivan said, checking off a mark on an invisible clipboard.

 

"You had eight points?" Amelia replied.  "Why would you..."

 

"That is why you aren't a Neoprodigy," Ivan said, interrupting Amelia with his non-answer.  "I suggest you two forfeit if you don't want to... well... explode."

 

As he spoke, the spider automatons around him began to fidget a bit more violently, as if they were eager to be sent into action.  Amelia gripped the handle of Claw Crusher as she tried to think of a way to survive that didn't involve fleeing; she wasn't going to give up and leave the rest of the freshmen to Ivan's mercy, after all.

[Darj]

Ezeltainn had not faced a threat against his life nor someone else's life, so that was the first time he snapped out, and after that he was no longer the same person: His shyness simply vanished, and his maniac side was more evident now, regardless if he was around friends or not. However, he remained as polite and humble as usual, so it's not like he turned full crazy.
In addition, he dropped the whole idea of challenging his roommate and instead stopped caring about him or Polly entirely and no longer felt intimidated by them, as he realized there were more important things to take care of, such as fighting seniors.
From the fight with the senior, he learned that: he was underestimating himself as he didn't expect to actually hold on battle against a senior; and at the same time he realized he still was not strong enough.

After that chaotic battle, Ezeltainn went to the library to teach himself whatever he could think of to improve his fighting skills. His first thought was learning to handle and create his own explosives, poisons, gasses and other substances that he could use as "tactical" weapons while actually taking advantage of his headgears, so he borrowed a couple of chemistry books to take to his room. He also took books on automatons to learn how he could further strengthen Ryzewik.

Afterwards, spent the whole night reading, and working on his automaton, making improvements on it, such as a chamber at the inside to shoot from its mouth anything he loaded in, like, but not limited to, the explosive the Aegis gave him. He also equipped it with a second layer of armor for more defense and with the design of scales, which each of them could stick out and point upwards on command, as a hedgehog would do, to hurt opponents or stick to surfaces.

[hr]
As he spent the night working, naturally Ezeltainn was still half asleep during breakfast when he heard the announcement.

"They can request anything? really? That's just ridiculous. Take away the rules and humans will become animals." He thought.

He noticed the seniors gathering at the exits of the hall, and his fellow freshmen calling for each other, probably for organizing teams. However, Ezeltainn kept calm and didn't bother with looking for a partner, as he was more concerned with having a proper breakfast or otherwise he knew he wouldn't survive, plus he was still half asleep to bother with joining the chaos. After all, he was safe at the cafeteria and if anyone tried something funny, his automaton, which he kept always active now, was overwatching him. So, he just moved to a corner to continue with his meal as most peacefully as possible.

Suddenly, seniors started to gather around Ezeltainn and they certainly didn't look friendly, but he ignored them anyways. That's when Freed took him from the wrist and led him to Zeta's table. At this point, Ezeltainn was now fully awake.

"I'm sure we all can be on a team, right Freed?" asked Sarah as Freed returned with Ezeltainn.

"A team? Sure, you can count with me." Ezeltainn told the group. Then he turned to Zeta "Good to see you are all right".

[Aix]

The sound of clattering glass drew Freed's attention. "Team, I think we can make it through there if we hurry." His finger pointed at the window where there was only one senior blocking the way. Various spindle-legged automatons scurried towards the newly made exit to attack anyone who approached, but they didn't look all too strong, at least not at first glance.

 

And then one of them exploded sending a freshman into throes of pain. The remnants of the automaton, legs connected by a thin wire frame, quickly retreated off to who knows where. "Nevermind... that may be a problem..." said Freed.

 

"It's fine," said Sarah. "I can take those on, I'll just have to knock them away before they blow up."

 

Freed hesitated before drawing Lasen from his hip. The spider automatons approached Amelia and his Master back home would've surely berated him if he didn't rescue a damsel in distress. "Very well, let's go. If anything, we can overpower them with numbers against numbers. But be careful, this isn't an enemy we can fight with brute force. As Sarah said, knock them away before they blow up." Clenching his teeth, he dashed off with his rapier positioned at his side to disable anything that came his way.

 

 

"Oh, your little friends have come," crowed Ivan before stamping his feet as a gesture. "It doesn't matter how many insects come this way, Ivan the Neoprodigy shall crush them all!" Raising his arms, the automatons leapt into the air whilst many more dropped down from the ceiling.

 

 

The unstoppable drill-like blade of Lasen pierced through one automaton, skewering it, but before it could explode, Freed launched it back at its master. Already set the fuse for the bomb, Ivan could not stop it from blowing up in his face.

[Enrise]

"Forfeit?"

 

Krieger hated the word, ever since Germania. It reminded him of a time a fellow mercenary soldier wanted to turn tail and leave because he thought the odds were against them, and he fled the battlefield. It was needless to say he died, because they were all surrounded by enemies.

 

"So I guess you won't comply to a simple request? I guess. . . I'll make you turn tail."

 

"Yes, let me feast, I want to kill, I want to taste his flesh!"

 

Krieger walked away from the hole that he exited from, and stopped next to Amelia, and turned to her. It was apparent she didn't want to leave, she wanted to survive. He looked back at the hole where more chaos became apparent, turning back to Amelia, and spoke. "Just stand behind me."

 

He also noticed a group of students coming out of the hole, about six of them. One of them managed to use the spider's bomb and throw it back at Ivan before it could explode. While Krieger only looked at what happened, Berserk continued to rant about killing inside of him. "You lot, stay out of this. He's mine." He continued to glare at the group, and his eyes slightly started to go red, not from his personal rage, but from Berserk; it was starting to get a hold of him.

 

"WE'RE GOING TO FEAST ON FLESH, WE'RE GOING TO FEAST ON BONE."

 

He continued to walk towards the senior in front of them, and spoke in a different tone.

 

"Let me tell you something about forfeiting. When you're out on the battlefield, with enemies around you, they will not hesitate to kill you, especially if you're forfeiting. War isn't some game where you can accept a loss by forfeiting. No, war is a death sentence-"

 

Krieger took hand of the hilt that was showing itself from behind, and pulled it, where a giant sword -hiding behind his tall body - revealed its presence. Slayer has been dulled from the lack of battles, and Berserk was getting anxious, it knew that Krieger had to draw the sword sometime; today was just the day to do it. And Krieger knew that as well, he just wanted to go as long as possible; he didn't want to draw his blade since the incident long ago. This is no longer about some apple pie that was ruined by someone's face, this was about how this school, this country, this world, has been breeding and feeding war (so he believed).

 

From underneath his little cloak, Slayer Armor began to manifest itself around his torso, and began to move to the other limbs. Tearing off the cloak, it revealed an armored body, working -slowly, but surely - its growth to the neck, arms, and legs. The only thing that was keeping the armor from covering his entire body was his willpower, and that alone won't last long. Berserk was gaining the edge inside is him. When Berserk has gained full control of his body,

 

"-and I just managed to prolong my death to another day."

 

Krieger held the giant blade next to him, not letting it touch the ground. "Last chance."

[InfernaLiza]

"I hope you're not planning a sacrifice play"

The thought of such a move did cross his mind several times while he was fighting the seniors.

 

 

Arthur had been thinking of a tactical way to take down the seniors, and as they were annoyed, he needed a plan fast.

 

He glanced at his bot and quickly tilted his head towards the window Amelia and the others had went through. 

The bot proceeded to fly near the window and shot out multiple small metallic cylinders around it.

These cylinders shortly snapped in half and shot out tripwires to guard the window.

 

"So? Who's next? Seriously, do any of you have the guts to fight?" 

 

He then saw out of the corner of his eye, a senior, charging him. Arthur quickly detached his sword from his arm and as the senior was about to tackle him, he threw a massive uppercut that knocked him a decent distance away.

 

But of course, the others were on him in a flash, hardly giving him enough time to step back before they began swing at him.

 

"Really? You geniuses wait for the moron to jump me before you attack? And why are trying to engage me in melee combat? I understand the guy with the spear over there, (the guy who then gave him an extremely cold glare) but with your bare hands, i'll just cut you, and you, and you!"

 

The three he cut on the arms were ​definitely questioning his sanity, and began to slowly back away. The rest of the seniors however began to get even more furious, which Arthur responded to by cracking a mischievous grin.

 

"Last chance. Back off" 

 

Anticipating retaliation, he loaded his sword with his special bullets and pointed it towards the seniors.  

[a bad post]

"Heehee! Alright let's do it!" Vickky giggled hopping off Sarah's back. She pulled several small boomerang-like knives from two bags strapped to her hips. Vickky rolled her head from side to side loosening her body as the small insect automatons scuttled forward.

 

The first spider jumped at Vickkly and was dealt with with a swift kick sending it towards a group of seniors guarding one of the exits. Several other were sliced in half disabling them from exploding. 

 

"Woo!! This ins't to bad right guys!?" Vickky charged forward unto the horde knocking the arachnid automatons away as she went clearing a path for her comrades. 

[encapturer]

"Foolish."

 

Freed's counter-attack did not seem to phase Ivan, the lanky man drew his dagger and tossed it at the spider.  Those who had a keen eye would notice that Ivan twitched his hand upwards afterwards.  Those with an even sharper vision would see the thin string connecting his middle finger and the dagger.  Due to this connection, the dagger was able to slice cleanly through his spider-automaton that was flying towards him, safely spilling the contents without an explosion.  The automaton itself was barely harmed as well - although the false core was now exposed, it was able to scurry away safely.  He was not afraid of what Freed could do.

 

Nor was Ivan really afraid of Krieger - he had met his kind before, or so Ivan believed.  Always belittling his methods, saying that 'useless, cowardly, and suicidal', and yet, they break just like any other person once they lose their arms and legs.  It seemed like Krieger had some sort of armor, which was something he didn't exactly plan for, so he needed to improvise.

 

"Last chance?  Last chance?!"  Ivan said, laughing.  As he did, the rest of the spider automaton began crawling from above the building - there had to be a few dozen now.  "You think you know everything, don't you?  But this is not a battlefield, this is a school, which does have their rules and regulations."  Ivan smirked as the freshmen were now surrounded.  Some were already fighting back, but there was no way they would be able to defeat them all before the seniors from the cafeteria joined the fight...

 

Which didn't happen.  It seemed that another freshman had blocked the exit that Amelia had made.  Instinctively, Ivan took a step back when he noticed this, which caused Amelia to look back to see why. only to find that Arthur had sealed the path.  "Damn you and your suicide plays," Amelia muttered to herself, though she had to admit that it had made things much more favorable for the rest of the group.

 

Ivan had realized this himself, and took another step back, He wasn't afraid of one or two opponents, but a whole mob of them.  And he was getting no reinforcements, either!  Ivan steeped backwards once more before raising his arm into the air.  "Well, it looks like you will all be taught a lesson," he said, as all of his creations descended upon the freshmen all at once.  "I never lose," he added, clearly sounding angry.  Assuming that his enemies would be busy fighting the spider automatons, he grabbed a barely visible length of string with his raised hand and tied it on his belt.  It was a quick, practiced motion, which would normally confuse any onlookers.  If things were too hetic, he would escape to the roof of a nearby building - coincidentally where his next class was.

 

Amelia caught sight of Ivan actions, and indeed, she was confused, unsure of what Ivan was planning.  She had stood up and began shoving away a spider automaton with Claw Crusher, though it didn't explode.  She figured some of them were set to only explode when on a human limb, like the one Ivan illustrated before on that poor freshman that tried to flee.  "He's planning something, I'm sure of it," she said as she lifted a spider onto Claw Crusher and sent it flying.  "I just don't know what."

[Maeriberii Haan]

[hr]Caeil[hr]

 

Before Isaiah could answer Caeil's offer, another senior appeared and blocked the exit along with the butterfly person. The newcomer is a tall, well built man, and sports quite the handsome look.

 

"Hello, juniors. Before I beautifully make you submit to my beautiful might, I guess I'll have to introduce myself. I am Ray, the Great and Beautiful, and near me is my subject, Lukas-" The butterfly person introduced himself, and promptly got cut by the newcomer.

 

"Hey!"

 

Ray didn't seem to notice, and continued his introduction. Meanwhile, Caeil silently asked Isaiah for his core yet again, using a hand sign, which seems to be unnoticed by the two seniors.

 

"Well, I have seen that neither of you conform to my standard of beauty, and I decided to fix that with my own hand. Now it's the time for you two to beg for mercy, since I will beautifully reshape your behinds! Beauti-"

Ray's attack declaration was cut by Caeil shooting her Totenmesse at his direction, which seemed to blast the two seniors into a wall violently, if using the dust caused by the action as a measurement. Caeil hoped that she did not accidentally killed the two, but when the dust settled, she was caught by surprise. Neither seniors got hurt by the shot due to a barrier of some sort that was made from Ray's butterflies redirecting the attack into the wall near them.

 

"Ha. Do you think that you're beautiful enough to scratch me?

 

My beautiful butterflies will protect me from your attacks no problem. Now, prepare to be mesmerized by my beauty!" Ray openly taunted Caeil, but she seemed to not notice as her attention was somewhere else.

 

"I guess I just need to aim more accurately then.

 

Hey, Isaiah. I guess we need to shut some senior's annoying mouth, right?

 

I think the school could appreciate one less insufferable student."

 

 

 

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

~Aegis~

[hr]

Several things happened yesterday. Things that Aegis would rather not discuss, of which the hand-shaped mark on Zeta's face would attest to. Nevertheless, it was a brand new day. Based on what happened previously, she was more prepared for surprise attacks. Which is why she's now carrying a flintlock in pistol, 5 smoke grenades, 1 trip-wire based mine, 2 high-explosive grenades, and a small vial of kerosene. Just in case anything goes awry. 

As she lazily chewed through her fruit-based breakfast, Aegis could care less about whatever Annika was talking about. Laws are lifted, yadda yadda yadda. It's all the same to her, she firmly believes no-one can physically touch her, let alone defeat her in a battle. If anything, she was more concerned about destroying property with her explosives. "I guess the school's getting more and more barbaric... Oh well, I guess that means nothing's gonna stop me from blowing, let's say... That guy up, right?" Aegis thought to herself, her eyes fixed on a weak-looking junior sitting on the table across. The junior broke a sweat from seeing Aegis' blank stare seemingly going straight through his soul. To him, it looked like the eyes of someone who gave f*cks about human life. So, he ran into the class the moment he finished his meal. 

Seeing that her prey has left, Aegis gave up on the hunt and decided to go through the day the same as yesterday, only fighting when she's at the receiving end of a challenge. With her meal done, stood up and tapped Zeta's back. "I'm gonna go get some wine. I dunno if they serve 'em in the morning, I'm damn sure I'm gonna get it." Still with an angry tone in her voice over what happened the night before, Aegis left Zeta's table just as Freed came over. Some time passed, and, to her dismay, the cafetaria did not serve any alcoholic beverages for breakfast. When a disappointed Aegis returned to her seat, she was taken aback by what awaited her. The place is now crawling with spider-automatons, with a burly senior apparently pulling the strings behind the whole thing. 

 

Still surprised over the giant metallic arachnids crawling above her head, she was less than happy when one of them got within a 3 meter radius away from her. "H-Holy crap!" In reflex, Aegis drew her pistol and shot the machine right in the core, blowing it up before it can get closer to her. "L-lucky shot... But, what the hell?!" Aegis quickly rushed to Zeta and the rest of the group so she can at least have a clue of what is actually happening. 

[Astolfo]

While Zeta was gazing about the general chaos, he felt a sting on his face and winced. Yesterday night, Aegis had slapped him across the face. He wasn't altogether too sure why, although it seemed to be from embarassment probably. The mark had faded slightly, but it was still noticeable. When she came over, before leaving again to get wine, he sighed. If this place seriously serves wine, I'll be surprised. Actually, no, I probably won't. This school is weird enough. She proceeded to shoot an argent arachnid before hurrying back.

 

"He's planning something, I'm sure of it." Amelia spoke as she noted Ivan's actions.

 

"Then, we'd better do something before anything happens," said Freed, overhearing this. "Zeta, if you and I rushed forwards at the same time, we could break through."

 

Zeta frowned as Freed thought of a course of action. "Ah... I'm rather unable to go into combat currently." Smiling apologetically, he gestured helplessly. "Sorry about that..."

 

"Are you hurt? What's wrong?" asked Freed, suddenly worriedly scrutinizing his classmate.

 

The older boy's face contorted into a rather strange expression when his friend inquired about him. Should I trust him? I really want to be able to be more open, but with how important they are, even a slight mistake can cost me... As he scrutinized Freed's face, searching for anything suspicious, or anything that might indicate intents of deceit, he sighed. He does look trustworthy enough... No. He cut himself off there as he was thinking. As his expression became tormented, unable to decide, he was not paying attention to the surroundings. Gah... Gritting his teeth after a while, he looked at the youthful expression and sighed. "Can I trust you with a secret?" His expression almost desperate, he almost seemed to be in pain.

 

Freed blinked. He was unsure what was going on, but Zeta's expression almost seemed to be pleading him. "Of course you can," he finally said. "We're friends... But keep this quick, we have a battle here." He suddenly winced as another automaton exploded nearby and another student howled with pain.

 

Zeta's expression became noticeably relieved when he heard Freed's confirmation. That's enough for me. If I can't trust my own friends, then who am I supposed to rely on? I'm not strong like I used to. I want to be, but for now, I can trust my friends. "I... I've been in a really bad incident..." Carefully considering how much to reveal, he chose his words slightly slowly. "In the end, I lost the whole left side of my body. I.. had connections, you could say, and I managed to gain an automaton replacement." Revealing his left hand as proof, it was undoubtable, from how smooth it moved, and it was too thin to be a gauntlet. "Because of how weak I had become, I..." This next part was one of the most dangerous and important parts of information about him. "I... needed several Daedalus Cores to be anywhere near what my past function used to be. I've managed to attain them, and I have seven cores, but three of them aren't directly always in me, but rather in my Daedalus Weapon. However, this draws too much attention, as well as the fact that I'm currently weak, almost to the point of not being able to do anything without collapsing from pain and exhaustion after around a minute, and I can absorb the weapon into myself. However, fighting with it is the only way that I can be of any use. My body is too frail for anything physical as of now, and just yesterday morning, I've been in a rather bad fight, and I've already revealed it unintentionally. While it hasn't seemed to spread yet, another confrontation right now, and especially in front of all these people, would definitely be undeniable, and I'll be hunted down for my Cores. Two of my classmates already had pursued me for them, and even handling them right now is hard enough as is. I just can't take on the whole school. The Council knows, for a reason I'm not allowed to say, as well as them knowing a good deal of things about their new students. I'm sorry, Freed." As the explosion rang out, his face twisted in anguish, knowing what they must be going through right now, trying to get through the flood of seniors, and he felt swamped by guilt, his expression dejected.

 

Freed creased his eyebrows. "Our own classmates have been trying to take you down? That's... It's now of all times that we should all work together so that we can take on the seniors." He gritted his teeth and then frowned.

 

"Sorry to interrupt your little chat, but we do have a battle going on here." Sarah batted away an automaton as she said this. "It might be a bit smarter to take a different way, this guy's a tough one." The spider was persistent and she ended up having to grab it and immediately throw it away at another freshman, smiling apologetically as it blew up.

 

"Yeah, everyone's gathered here now, quick, we can take the seniors on the other side of the hall by surprise," said Freed. "Zeta, it's probably your best choice to come with us." Looking around, he tugged at each of his other teammates, cuing them to follow him across the mess hall again.

[Enrise]

"..."

 

The surrounding area became engrossed in spider automatons, crawling around the group, with their metal limbs. This Ivan was putting too much into protecting himself and his life instead of helping his comrades, or defeating his enemies - his creations did that job for him.

 

"In the end, the only winner in life. . . is death!"

 

Suddenly, several spider automatons jumped after Krieger - with one fell swoop of the flat side of his blade, the spiders were crushed instantly, while protecting him from the explosions they would give off. However, another group of automatons jumped at the opportunity of his strike, and covered him head to toe.

 

"You will not die, you will live, and you will kill. Kill. KILL. KILL!"

 

Krieger's Slayer Armor began to grow just a bit faster, where he would become more protected from any explosions from a spider automaton's death. Before they could do anything, Krieger grabbed one of the spider automaton's, and began to squeeze it, where he also began to notice Ivan doing something to his belt. Was he planning to escape? Krieger thought so, and suddenly smashed the spider that was in his hands, against his incredible armor. With the first explosion, a chain reaction occurred with several automatons; all the automatons suddenly exploded while on Krieger's body, and bits of smoke steamed off of his armor.

 

"What's the matter? You afraid of a little blood? You afraid to lose? YOU AFRAID TO DIE?"

 

Berserk had become capable of taking over Krieger's actions and mind, influencing the effect of death and warfare, bloodlust and insanity. His voice was changing, his eyes began to have a different glow to them, to that akin of a bloodlusting demon; his first target was Ivan. He saw a nearby mechanism (Claw Crusher) that could fly and a spider on top of it. He quickly took a hold of the spider and slammed it to the ground next to him, jumping onto the Claw Crusher towards Ivan.

 

"DON'T WORRY, I WON'T HURT YOU MUCH. . . I'LL HURT YOU A LOT!"

 

The lines between sanity and insanity, pacifism and bloodlust, had become blurred to Krieger, fighting with Berserk for control of his body. However, whether or not Berserk would take over, Krieger still felt like he could win this bout; Berserk just gave it more conflict and insanity.

[encapturer]

Amelia turned around and heard the others plotting on taking another path, though not really catching the idea of .  She turned around to adress that group.  "That might be a good idea," Amelia said to them, before noticing a few more spiders off in her peripheral vision closing in from the right.  Wanting to take them out before they become a bother, she released her grip on Claw Crusher and threw it, causing it to land on the ground and ram those spider creations against the outside wall of the cafeteria.  It then circled around, blocking off the advance of a couple other automatons before coming to a rest in the area between her and Ivan.

 

Meanwhile, Ivan let out a simple laugh.  Simply put, he had not expected one to be as resilient to his attacks as Krieger.  He noted to figure a way around the armor at a later date, but for now he had to escape.  "Not bad, looks like you have endurance and vigor, at least," he said.  "But you'll never win."  He then pulled the thin wire in his hand, causing him to be pulled away from the fight, leaving Amelia dumbfounded.  "His great plan... was an escape?"

 

At this point, Kreiger did something surprising to Amelia.  He leaped upon her automaton that was now nearby, hovering over the ground.  She didn't know what to do at first.  Her primary goal was to ensure the safety of the other freshmen, and she figured that she was able to do as much as she could on that front.  On the other hand, she really, really, really wanted to beat Ivan's face in.  She doubt she'd get the chance to do it herself, but assisting in said beatdown would be cathartic enough.

 

"When you get close, my automaton will launch you at him!"  She yelled out to Krieger before sending him on his way, chasing down Ivan.  The self-proclaimed genius had been gaining altitude slowly, and was now out of reach of Kreiger and his sword arm.  Claw Crusher was intelligent enough to estimate the optimal distance between Krieger and Ivan to maximize the chances of Krieger reaching the fleeing man, and when that time came, Claw Crusher fell to the ground, focusing the Animus field on the topside, where Krieger was.  His legs would feel like they were in some sort of gelatinous goo for one moment, and the next, he would find himself in the air, rising towards Ivan.