Chapter Fifteen
Part Two: Delta’s Mistake
“Well I’ll be damned.” Muttered Crest to himself as he rode his motorcycle through the grass at top speed.
From the distance they all could see the target. The Abyssiti was pentapedal with a tall, slim body. As they approached the entity it paid the Trucker and the Revival squad on Motorbikes no mind, it just indomitably continued forward towards the walls of the 5th Core.
“We have to stop it from advancing somehow! We can’t kill it while on these bikes!” Cried Patch into the Revival Squads earpiece.
Razor revved up his motorcycle and rode next to his teammate. “It doesn’t even know we’re here- I thought Abyssiti were always supposed to attack any nearby human?”
Crest was able to follow the Abyssiti on his ride, coming up next to it as it crawled across the landscape. It’s towering body slumped over as its five legs moved like a giant severed hand; each leg like a deadly finger digging into the earth below.
“We don’t have time to figure out why it’s ignoring us.” Barked Crest into the comms. “Just stop it from reaching the walls.”
Crest swerved, leaning his bike to the side in avoidance of flying debris while the Abyssiti tore up trees and dirt as it trekked. Back on two wheels again, Crest steadied his hook claw in one hand and drove on the heels of the entity.
Patch moves her bike to the side, allowing the Captain to charge at the Abyssiti while standing on his Motorbike, with his hook claw in hand. He successfully leapt off, hurling his motorcycle, which crashed into one of the legs with a fiery explosion. Crest, who leaped at the Abyssiti as it crawled, slashed the anomaly with his hooked blade, causing it to falter. He tumbled through the dirt as he attempted to land after his stunt and the Abyssiti tilted over after the loss of its two back legs. Debris from the motorbike crashed around the Captain while plumps of dirt and rock were tossed into the air.
“Captain!” Called out Patch, as she watched Crest tumble. That was an extremely dangerous maneuver, and it didn’t look like he was going to be able to just walk this one off.
The Abyssiti came to a rough halt as it’s three remaining front legs dug into the ground. The air around them suddenly weighed heavy on their bodies, almost as if they could literally feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. Patch saw an opening and resolved herself, she needed to inflict as much damage on the creature before it regenerated. She saw a nearby tree and leaped from her motorbike with her hook claw in hand. She swiftly climbed the branches, like an acrobat, to get as high as she could and then lunged at the anomaly.
“Hyiahhhh!” Shouted Patch and she dragged her hook claw through its long torso, ripping its side open. Her bike tipped over and fell to the ground in the background.
The Abyssiti screeched and writhed as smoke fumed from the gash; the smoke's appearance was like a cloud of glossy black shards of glass. Razor drove by and grabbed Patch, swinging her onto the back of his bike.
“Nice going Patch!” Said Razor cheerfully. However the Abyssiti slowly gripped at the ground with its 3 front legs, attempting to drag itself closer to the Core wall.
Razor’s bright olive eyes trembled with fear. “B-but it wasn’t enough!”
One of Abyssiti’s legs strayed and narrowly missed Razor and Patch on the motorbike. Razor turned the bike, and it toppled over, sending him, Patch and the motorcycle tumbling along the ground. The vehicle slammed into a tree, while Razor and Patch continued rolling. Then with a piercing screech, the anomaly began to form its missing legs. The sound of static rang out as it’s two back legs materialized once more. The entity was just out of reach of the wall and they had only a few moments before it started to climb.
“You won’t be fighting Abyssiti per say.” He says.” Began Idol in a mocking voice, recalling Arsyle Cosme’s words when he first recruited the Delta Squad.
“What a liar that Intrinsic is.” Idol spited as she swerved the car into park and jumped out with a hook claw ready. The children all had to hold onto something due to her sudden stop.
Idol rushed out into the grass and aimed the point of the weapon at the fully recovered Abyssiti in the distance. She took a deep breath, and then punted the hooked weapon at the entity. The weapon twirled through the air and impaled itself directly into the Abyssiti’s head.
“Woah! What a freaking throw!” Exclaimed Fives in awe. The creature temporarily stopped its advance, and writhed in pain.
“That’s a trained Abyssus Unit for ya!”
Idol dusted off her hands, and then spoke into the comms. “Hey you three, get up from off the ground. If I can’t nap right now neither can you, get up! You have an Abyssiti to slay.”
Crest, covered in dirt, staggered to get on two feet. He swept his disheveled dark green hair out of his face and picked up his hook claw. The pentapedal creature reached its front three tendrils towards the steel plated walls of the Federation. It’s mass seemed to phase in and out of reality as it went through the metal like it was a hot knife to ice. As it’s legs sunk into the wall it began to climb.
“Shit.” Grimaced Crest, he looked down at his cut up hand from his crash. He lived. “I’ll handle it.” He grunted as he watched the entity slowly inch up the wall.
His eyes drifted over to a perron, stair treads constructed with metal grating built on the side of the wall. He thought for a moment, he looked down at his single hook claw in his hands and frowned.
“Hand me your hook claw, Patch. I’m going to need it to take down this ugly bastard.” Commanded Crest into the earpiece. She was still recovering from her own fall along with Razor.
Patch limped over while Razor was helping support her up. She walked up to Crest and passed her weapon. “Please be careful sir, don’t do anything rash.”
Crest took the hook claw, but didn’t acknowledge what she said. “Don’t be rash? Being rash is what gets the job done.” Thought Crest to himself as he ran for the metallic stairs on the side of the wall. “…and if I die in the process then so be it.”
Crest, now dual wielding, reached the stairs at the base of the wall and looked up; it was about 75 flights of stairs, he couldn’t even see the top if he tried. The Captain then looked at the adjacent Abyssiti which was about halfway up the Federation Wall, damaging the steel plating on its way up. It was a race to the top, and if he fails now that creature will be set loose in the City of the 5th Core. Crest took a deep breath and bolted up the stairway, his feet aggressively clanking as he sped up the flights. The Abyssiti meanwhile, let out a hissing noise that sounded like decompressing air; as it reached the top of the wall. It’s multiple limbs stretched over the railway that was woven into the steel plated barrier, and loomed over the city below. Its wide street avenues were filled shoulder to shoulder with golden-haired individuals walking to their destination; Intrinsic sitting and eating outside of coffee shops, as some were relaxing on benches under the cooling shade of the park trees, as folk went about their day. Up on top of the 200 meter wall a towering black blur was standing against the clear blue sky; it’s claws of glitchy shifting matter vaporized the steel under its grip.
An Intrinsic dressed in a suit and glasses, glanced out at the City of the 5th Core from his office on the higher floors of a skyscraper. He took a sip from his coffee mug. Someone is heard clearing their throat behind him, as he makes his way to his office desk. He then staggered, turning around to look outside the large window again, his heart felt like it dropped into his stomach when he noticed the Abyssiti on the wall above. Down in the paved streets, the Intrinsic all looked on, wide-eyed, while watching in sheer horror, the giant hand from the void peer above them. The people barricaded safely behind the Core walls have gone a century without laying an eye on the creatures of the abyss, some would consider them nothing more than myth, or a non existent threat. Majority couldn’t even make out what they were looking at, yet they could not tear their eyes away from the sight. Now, they had no choice but to stare death in the face as it stood over them; everyone looked up at the anomaly, petrified.
“That’s enough sight seeing out of you.”
Crest, with his two hook claws, leapt on top of the wall with a murderous glint in his eye. He stared at the Abyssiti with such intensity it could’ve burned a hole straight through it. He didn’t look slightly exhausted after climbing countless steps in record time; Crest was pushing the limits of his body. He ran up the railway, and then jumped off the side of a raised walkway and sliced one of the legs in mid-air, landing on another walkway. The Abyssiti squirmed as it’s severed leg shattered into a million shards, vaporizing soon after.
“You made us go through all this trouble to stop you….” Grumbled Crest who has leapt into the air. He slammed the two hook claws down on the entity, cutting another of its legs in two.
“And you’re not even going to put up much of a fight?”
With only one of its tendrils remaining on the wall, the creature of the abyss began to lose its grip and started to fall back down from where it came. Crest readied his hook claws.
“It’s over.” He stated as he leaped into the air and came down, piercing both bladed weapons into its main body.
As the Abyssiti fell backwards, Crest fell with it as his weapons were stuck inside of the entity. The Intrinsic within the 5th Core watched the single Abyssus Unit mutilate and dismember the creature as its body slid back behind the steel wall. As Crest fell with the anomaly he realized he had one last shot, and used his hook claws to rend the Abyssiti’s body from its remaining legs in a shower of black mist. The creature let out a high pitched screech which didn’t faze the Captain.
“I think he did it! It’s not regenerating anymore!” Called out Patch as she looked up.
Crest clung to the side of the steel walls by piercing its surface with his hook claws. Slowing his fall, the blade ripped through the metal until they snapped, leaving behind the hilts. Crest tossed away his two ruined weapons as he neared the ground, with a slight bounce, tuck and roll, he landed beside the severed body of the giant Abyssiti. The entity completely evaporated when it hit the grassy field below, while the Revival Squad and, farther away, Fives, Quill, Below, and Vanity watched in amazement.
