13 - Operation Nachtfallen

[MOSCOW, 23:00. 12 HOURS AFTER SAKUTO HITORI’S DEPLOYMENT]

“Status confirmation in.” Mukawa said. “We’re moving out. The objective is to get the crystal at all costs.”

“Stealth option?” Haruki asked.

“No, actually, we’re gonna carpet bomb the place and kill Fedor.” Mukawa replied. “What do you think?”

“Could’ve just said stealth option...” Sofia sighed, fixing up her short-cut brown hair. She adjusted her glasses on her face a little. She was a member of Mukawa’s group that was effectively responsible for locating the submarine during the war, and arguably the best information-finder there was. “Source of presence is stable. Same place.”

“You thought Fedor would lie to us about the position?” Kana said.

“Fedor might’ve gotten himself flatlined by this point.” Haruki said. “By the time it took all of us to get to Moscow, which, you know, would’ve taken far less had it not been for airline incompetency, Fedor’s got every known soulful thirsting after that crystal.”

“Can’t blame him, he’s obliged to report to Kaito, and the information would eventually spill to Aizawa’s camp. Sofia said.

“Then so be it. We’ll secure the crystal before anyone else does.” Mukawa said. In the small armory, he stood up from the box of ammunition he was sitting on, preparing to give a speech. “I’ll repeat the steps of the operation one last time. We go in, we get the thing, and we get the hell out. Hopefully the soul combat doesn’t get too hot.”

“Understood.” Everyone said in unison.

“As it stands right now, I’m the only one left who can act against Kaito.” Mukawa said. “And I’m nowhere as strong as Otto was. But Sakuto Hitori...we need to secure his return and hope that whatever he saw in that crystal convinced him to join our cause. He is our only chance. Everyone, the war was a mere battle, the real war starts now.

“Understood.”

“That’s what I love to hear.” He proudly said. “Everyone, working together, this is like a blessing to my ears. Too bad that a certain someone is refusing to cooperate.” Mukawa said, staring at Dima. “Why are you here if you’re useless?”

“I was just curious to hear what you decided to get into this time.” Dima said. “Good luck, guys. I’m taking my leave.”

“Oh come on!” Mukawa said, approaching him. “You’re ruining all the fun! Do you know how quick we’d get the job done if you decided to help?”

“I made a promise to my girlfriend.” Dima said. “No more soulful business. She already got traumatized after I told her about the submarine incident.”

“Oh, as if we didn’t get traumatized?” Mukawa objected. “She didn’t even do shit, what is she complaining about? Does she not know that she’s gonna be the first one to go if we don’t pull this off?”

“I don’t care.” Dima said. “I’d rather not work with you anyways. You killed Hayk.”

“Oh, look at the virtue and honor of this guy!” Mukawa raised his voice. “Come on, everyone! Take a good fucking look!”

“You’re being loud for no reason.” Dima said.

“And you’re a moron that forgot what type of game he’s playing.” Mukawa said, raising his hands. “If you refuse to work for us, who the hell are you gonna work for? And I understand you being upset over Hayk, but come on, Sakuto Hitori murdered Otto and I’m trying to secure his ass!”

“It’s not just about that.” Dima said, sounding slightly upset. “You don’t understand.”

“Then what? The girl?”

“Both.” Dima said. “I’m done here. I’m done with you.”

“So it is about the girl.” Mukawa said. “Well, congratulations. Your penis has successfully conquered your brain.”

“That’s not the- you know what, just, good luck. I’m done with this shit. I hope you pull off your crystal heist and don’t get killed by the Heisei on your way back.”

“Hunk of wasted potential...” Mukawa sighed. “What a waste of a good ability. I hope one day you’re not found dead in a dumpster.”

Dima didn’t say anything, he just left the warehouse.

“Don’t you think you could’ve negotiated better?” Kana lashed out. “He could’ve-”

“I don’t care!” Mukawa replied, his voice just as loud. “I do not care. Let’s move out now. We’ll worry about what we could’ve done later.”

They all finished equipping their gear and reloaded their assault rifles.

“Target location confirmed.” Jian said. “Everyone, we’re moving out now.”

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“Aw, I’ll have to delay my stream again...” Yuuka grunted.

“I’m sure your fans would be more hyped about this than whatever garbage game you were playing on stream.” Zawadski commented.

“Concentrate.” Jian said. “If we let Sakuto fall into unknown hands, we’ll be doomed. We cannot predict what personality changes he will undergo inside the crystal.”

“He’s ridiculously strong.” Zawadski said. “As much as it pains me to admit it, he could probably wipe all of us out with no issue if he used thatthing again. I mean really, breaking the Replicator as if it was a piece of glass? That goes against every rule about soul combat we know of.”

“Are you seriously surprised?” Yuuka said with a smile.

“You guys are forgetting one thing.” Ichigo said, getting up and preparing to leave. “He’s a soulful first, a weapon second. There’s probably a good reason he’s in the crystal in the first place.”

“He’s generally an asshole, but I know what unfortunate circumstances are. And I know what they can do to people.”

“I saw the look on his face. He looked like a living corpse.”

“How compassionate.” Zawadski said. “Almost made my heart melt.”

“Then let’s move out.” Jian said, she turned to face another face in the room, one who never really was supposed to be there in the first place. “We’ll spearhead the operation, but the secondary division will back us up too.”

“Well, that’ll be nice.” Zawadski said. “We could use an EMP here and there.”

“They’re also the people Sakuto Hitori is closest to.” Ichigo said. “I presume, at least. If there’s anyone who he’d want to see after experiencing the soul crystal, it’s probably them, not us.”

“Yeah, it would be pretty funny if he went berserk and killed everything on sight the moment he was released.” Zawadski said.

“Hey, Captain...” Ichigo asked.

“What is it?”

“Any chance there’s competition?”

“Oh, definitely.” Zawadski laughed.

“We’re moving in with the intention to fight regardless.” Jian said. “The entire area was ordered for evacuation already. It’s time. Let’s move out.”

They left the one-story house they were bunkered in. They all bore confidence in their gazes.

“You’re not bringing LV1?” Nightseer asked Katya, loading up any firearm he could find near him.

“No. Aizawa disallowed me to use it.” Katya said.

“What about Reiner?”

“He’s staying back to watch the castle.” Katya said, sounding even sadder.

“Then aside from a bunch of mercenaries, does Lady Aizawa expect us to get the job done with...this thing?” Nightseer asked, pointing at Nacht. He was ecstatically hogging every weapon he saw, but the one he liked the most was a small army knife that he spun around in his hand.

“Oi, watch your mouth.” Nacht told Nightseer. “You’d be sad if I cut your fingers off, right?”

“Don’t talk to him like that.” Katya expressed her deepest disgust.

“Or else what?” Nacht took a step closer. “You know, I could really do some nasty things to you. Especially with that nice skin of yours, I just can’t wait to butcher you like a fucking pig once Aizawa gives me the order...”

“You’re not doing shit.” Nightseer took a step forwards too, his presence a little high. High enough to make Nacht acknowledge it, at least.

“You’re next in line too, blind fuck.” Nacht barked. “Just wait for your time. Just a matter of time until you and your little friends get discarded like the subhuman filth you are-”

Nightseer raised his hand and slapped Nacht across his face. The sound was rather loud, Nacht spit some saliva out upon impact. He slowly turned his face to glare at Nightseer and raised his knife, preparing to attack him, until...

All three of them, including all of the soldiers on site that were curiously following the developments, had something buzzing in their pockets. It was their pager, and it told them to move forward.

“Lucky you.” Nacht smirked, turning around and walking away.

Nightseer and Katya were both anxious. The problem wasn’t Nacht, the problem was the fact that someone had taken a special interest in him.

“Oskar fires off the EMP. As soon as the spearhead attacks, we make our move.” Rin explained. “Understood?”

“You went over the plan a few dozen times already.” Ausra said. “We know what to do.”

“And we know exactly what we have to get from it.” Oskar said. “If we get a hold of Sakuto, we’re not letting go of him or giving him to the Heisei. We don’t know what condition he will be in.”

“And what if he loses himself?” Ausra asked.

“Then there’s nothing much we can do.” Oskar said. “But that won’t be the case. No matter how bad it gets for Sakuto...I doubt he’ll ever get truly hopeless. I just know it.”

“In that case, we should be moving out now.” Rin said. “Take your weapons...although I doubt they’ll be of any use.”

“Got it.” Ausra said. She looked over at her friend. “Ichika, everything alright?”

“Yeah.” Ichika replied. “I’m not letting him go.”

“Then let’s go.”

The four of them moved out.

[MIDNIGHT. 13 HOURS AFTER SAKUTO HITORI’S DEPLOYMENT.]

“This is gonna be a pain in the ass...”

“Nevertheless, they’re gonna all gather around soon. Like a bunch of monkeys competing for the last banana in the zoo cage.”

Fedor finished covering the room with boards, and loaded the large machine gun in his hands with enough ammunition to wipe out an entire battalion. He looked at his console, everything was going fine.

“When I told that delusional prick that he should follow his heart...I never would’ve imagined it would play out like this.”

“Right. Helping soulfuls. That’s my job.”

The dark clouds assembled outside, there was no rain, but thunder raged on.