18 - To a Soul-bound World

The sky started to clear up. Sakuto descended to the ground. His acclamation was over, and so was the war. All that remained of Otto was a small silver item that dropped from his body’s remnants.

“Otto is dead.” He calmly said into the earpiece. The message would quickly reach Kaito, who quickly began to plan his arrival in America.

He walked along the rubble, looking for his friends. The two of them, Oskar and Ausra, were fine - Oskar grabbed Ausra and distanced her and himself from the battlefield. But Ichika refused to follow them. She went straight towards the epicenter.

“It’s over.” Ausra sighed in relief. “Now it’s just...this...”

“Yeah.” Oskar nodded.

Jian and Ichigo approached the battlefield. They quickly turned their attention to them and rushed towards them.

“What...happened?” Jian asked. “How bad are your injuries?”

“I’ll bandage them for now.” Jian said, grabbing a small white bandage roll from her waist pocket. She started to carefully seal some of the more expressed wounds, letting Ausra properly regenerate them once she wasn’t as exhausted.

“I can handle them...given we get to Rin.” Ausra said. “This is h-h-her! Jian Fang herself!!! I can’t believe it, she’s treating my injuries!!!!!”

“That divine acclamation...” Ichigo approached Oskar.

“What about it?” Oskar asked. “If you knew what type of guy he was, you wouldn’t be surprised that he can do this. He broke the replicator like a pair of chopsticks.”

“Fair enough.” Ichigo sighed. “We’re lucky he’s not on the enemy side. This thing would have exterminated all of us.”

“Breaking a soul-bound weapon, let alone Otto Richter’s...yeah, I should probably not overthink this. I’ll just accept that he’s just that strong.”

On the destroyed battlefield, Ichika slowly approached Sakuto. The latter stood and didn’t really know what to do next. It took him a while to process what he just pulled off. He couldn’t even remember how he did it, it just happened so raw and naturally. He noticed Ichika’s presence and turned to face her. They looked at each other in silence, both of them holding onto their fears, and assuming that the other party holds hatred against them. But both of them were blinded.

“You two...” Oskar told Jian and Ichigo. “You should probably leave. I’ll take care of Ausra.”

“Right.” Ichigo said, noticing the confrontation that was soon to go down. The spearhead members took their leave, and Oskar and Ausra assumed position, carefully listening into the conversation as if they were gathering critical intelligence.

Ichika didn’t look angry or sad, she looked...scared.

“S-Sakuto...”

“What?” Sakuto asked, looking shaken. His hands were covered in blood, parts of his uniform were torn and damaged. Images of Ryan flashed before his eyes, and he had to take a step back.

“We...need to talk...” Ichika said.

“Talk? I-” Sakuto’s thoughts caught up with him. “Okay. Let’s talk.”

“No...I don’t want to talk to anyone right now. I want to be left alone. Please...”

“I don’t want to talk to anyone else ever again...I...feel like I’m gonna throw up...”

“I just...” Ichika began. She noticed Sakuto was feeling nauseous, and it scared her even more. Well, she wasn’t scared of what Sakuto might do to her, she knew he wouldn’t lift a finger on her even in a frenzied state. She was scared of what she did to him. “All of this...”

“What?”

“I’ve done all of this to you, don’t you know?” She asked, tearing up. “Because of something stupid I did...I...”

“W-what is that supposed to mean?” Sakuto asked. His hand twitched a little. “I...don’t know what you’re talking about...”

“I don’t want to hurt you anymore.” Ichika said. “I feel like you’ll be better off without me, Sakuto.”

Sakuto stared at her in silence.

“You almost died already, and you-”

“He was right...” Sakuto interrupted her.

“Huh?”

“Trust is worthless.” Sakuto laughed a little. He laughed a little more. He laughed while looking at her and the destruction around her. “It’s...it’s always like this...”

“Whenever life gets better, it ultimately ends up getting even shittier. Sometimes it takes weeks, sometimes minutes.” He said. “The moment things start looking up is the same moment you lose everything and fall head first into the abyss.”

“I’m sorry.” Ichika said. “I just...”

“No, I get it.” Sakuto replied. “I just...I can’t do this anymore, Ichika. If trusting someone, or even just connecting with someone will result in pain, I just won’t do it anymore. I...I can’t do this shit, no, I’m sorry, I just can’t...”

“That dream felt nice when I saw it.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The scene flashed before his eyes again.

“It felt like I was cold, and I’d finally found a campfire. I could finally make myself warm. I even got used to that ecstasy-like feeling of warmth and comfort.”

“But all it was was a dream.”

“This is what you wanted right? Not to cause me any more pain...” Sakuto said. “I don’t have it in me right now to talk you out of that or organize a therapy session for you.”

“W-what?” Ichika tried to speak up.

”If you really don’t want to cause me pain, then make sure I never see you again.” Sakuto said, zoned out. It looked like he wasn’t even there yet.

“Because trust always results in pain.”

Ichika took a step forward, and Sakuto took a few steps back. His body language screamed that she shouldn’t get close, and her decision, which was made way before getting here, finally kicked in. She turned around and slowly walked away.

Sakuto stayed there, still stuck in that one event. But not just that one. Images of his own gravestone flashed in front of his eyes too, it looked like he was looking at things that weren’t there.

The sound of that gunshot still echoed in his ears.

“No, this...this isn’t like Sakuto.” Oskar said, concerned. “He knows he could’ve convinced her. He just...”

“He couldn’t...” Ausra said. “And this idiot girl didn’t know that now isn’t the type for conversations like this, for fuck sake...I should’ve tossed a bomb her way the moment she opened her stupid mouth...”

“Hey, easy now. They were both messed up.” Oskar said. “They spoke at the worst time possible.”

“It’s like they don’t even care...”

“They don’t care now. Give it a week or two, it’ll hit them hard.” Oskar said. “That’s when you have to be by Ichika’s side as much as you can. I’ll do the same for Sakuto.”

“I’ll have to babysit her...and she still doesn’t realize it...” Ausra said, starting to lose her temper. “I’ll just need to keep her afloat, as always.”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Oskar said. “They’ll have it tough, and all we’ll have to do is to take care of them. They trust us after all.”

“You’re right.” Ausra said.

“A pair of broken people that rely on each other to find a will to live...”

“Bad timing, I guess.”

Sakuto still stood there, Ichika wasn’t on the horizon anymore. He kept thinking about that dream and the nightmare he had to go through during the war. His hand twitched a little more, he felt a strange itch around his forearms.

He looked lost.

[OCTOBER 7TH, 2024]

“So that’s what he looks like in the uniform?”

“It fits him surprisingly well...”

“But that look on his face...yeah, no shit Mr. Kamiki picked him up.”

The war had ended, and D.C. was slowly starting to repopulate. There were still extremist groups left, but they were being dealt with swiftly. Kaito paid a personal visit to Dyeman, and made sure to make his death very gruesome and agonizing.

He installed his own puppet as the leader of America, and indirectly, the world. This one was a soulful, completely loyal to Kaito, and besides, there wasn’t really anyone who would sway him in their direction. The only force that rivaled the GSC had fallen.

After the war had ended, many people were relieved, and didn’t care much about the outcome. Still, a sense of fear lingered among them. Soulless people who used to be active anti-soulful actors would find themselves in a world that heavily favored their previous victims.

“Dear soldiers, let’s consider this the celebration of our victory.” Kaito said, addressing the Heisei in the conference room. It was a little dark inside as it was dusk outside. In fact, that room was a bit eerily dark.

“First of all, I’d like us to pay our condolences to all the soulfuls that fell victim to these purges.” Kaito began. “Their sacrifice will not be in vain. The soulful world we shall construct will be dedicated to their memory.”

A moment of silence later, he continued.

“As you may have noticed, there have been changes in our division.”

“Due to Kostas Zervos’ unfortunate retirement, courtesy of his heavy injuries sustained in battle, I have chosen to appoint you a new leader.”

“Jian Fang is, from this moment onwards, the Captain-Commander of the Heisei Spearhead.” Kaito said. “Her skills are rivaled by few, and under her leadership, with her relentless resolve, I’m sure that the Heisei will see great success.”

“Thank you, Mr. Kamiki.” Jian nodded. Her uniform now had special black and gold outlines on it, decorating the white fabric and giving it a sense of superiority.

“And to fill in the position of Lieutenant-Commander, I’ve chosen to introduce a new member to the Heisei, and grant him that position as a reward for his exceptional efforts in the war.”

“Sakuto Hitori is the new Lieutenant-Commander of the Heisei Spearhead.” Kaito said with a smile. “Congratulations. I am sure that your comrades are well familiar with your capabilities. Your dedication to the cause of the soulful world is a force to reckon with.”

Sakuto didn’t say anything. His own uniform was less decorated than Jian’s, but it still looked powerful. The color in his eyes faded away, they were now just an empty gray. His mind hasn’t managed to move on.

“He looks completely different from back then...” Ichigo thought, looking at him. He remembered Oskar’s instructions to leave back then, and the situation, and everything clicked in his head.

“I see...”

“Must be tough for you.”

“He looks like a corpse.” Zawadski thought. “He’s probably seen some shit.”

“Speaking of seeing...now there’s two people with eyepatches here!!!”

“The world will soon be a very different place.” Kaito explained. “All of you are to carry out special operations to ensure its stability. Especially when it comes to the strongholds. While Naja is our domain, we cannot accurately assess and predict the behavior of others. It is already very favorable that they weren’t struck by Otto Richter himself. Eura especially, that place will be a hotspot for the activity of soulfuls that are extremely dangerous.”

“And now, at last...”

“Let us begin mending the flaws of this world.” Kaito said, kneeling down, reaching touching the floor with his palm.

“This would be impossible with the likes of Otto running around. I’d never want him to replicate my power and influence or disrupt this process. My biggest concern is squashed.”

“And Zervos, who can disrupt powers, I made sure he is loyal to me from the very start. He’s even fallen out of commission.”

“Now, it is time.”

“Pierce the heavens.”

“And shine your light...”

“Onto the forging of a soulful world.”

A powerful spark engulfed the world...

[OCTOBER 7TH, 2024, 19:32:56 GMT-4]

[THE SECOND GLOBAL SOUL EVENT HAS TAKEN PLACE]

[THE ASCENSION PROCESS HAS STARTED]

The end of Part 5