17 - Voltage Is Dead

“Why did Lady Aizawa choose me to stall him instead of deploying the Nachtvessels? If they’re as strong as she presented them to be, they would’ve done a far better job.”

“Did she know that I would struggle with him?”

“She also waited a bit before intervening...”

Nightseer looked at the tension between Oskar and Aizawa. It reminded him of a calm yet ferocious hunter slowly cornering a wolf. No matter the wolf’s strength, the human and the luxury of wielding a weapon. And he felt bad, because he knew what was going to happen. Oskar looked like a pretty chill guy to be fair.

Oskar chucked a smaller bident at Aizawa, who calmly dodged it. He fired a barrage of arrows at her, but her footwork seemed so elegantly efficient it helped her dodge all incoming attacks. And then, Oskar felt something cut him. A deep wound emerged on his chest, as one of Aizawa’s blades struck him at a range, effectively functioning like a kusarigama. Aizawa pulled on the wire, and the blades struck again - now moving like a pair of cobras, seemingly defying physics and acting based on Aizawa’s desire combined with her immense skill.

“Blossom Reaper.” Aizawa said, executing another such slice that cut Oskar’s arms and legs badly. “A weapon perfect for both close and long range engagements.”

“Fucking hell, I’m getting overwhelmed just by her swordplay?” Oskar said. He tried to regenerate his wounds, but had no time. The moment he slightly lowered his guard to focus on healing, he felt even more cuts emerge on his body.

“Oskar!!!” Dima yelled, charging towards him.

“Dima, call anyone from the Heisei, tell them to come here stat!” Oskar yelled, before his cheek received a pretty bad slashing wound. “Come on, go! Now!”

“A-a-ah...yeah, uhh...” Dima said, but before he could get his phone out, one of the blades’ handles struck him in the head with enough force to put him to sleep.

“Fuck, this is bad! I gotta get out!” Oskar thought, trying to evade the slashes and leave. But a sharp spike in Aizawa’s soul presence sealed his fate.

“ ✦ Divine Acclamation ✦ ”

“I did not wish to make any noise, but considering I have the seals enabled, it shouldn’t be strong enough to alert anyone.”

“It would be rather unfortunate to be confronted with the entirety of the Heisei at this stage.”

“ ✦ Mindless Vortex ✦ ”

Aizawa’s presence, despite spiking, felt extremely limited, as if an ocean was contained in a pickle jar. Her eyes remained the same, only a circular aura of green and purple light emerged around her. It also seemed limited, looking like a lake sealed inside a tanker.

“Fucking hell!” Oskar yelled, trying to make a run for it. But before he could even sprint, one of the blades pierced his right leg. Oskar still tried to move, but his left leg was also struck. And worst of all, the blades now acted as fishing rods - reeling Oskar closer to Aizawa.

“Gotta c-call...the Heisei...”

He got his phone out, but the moment it left his pocket, it got stabbed by one of Aizawa’s blades.

“No, there’s no way, right? There’s no way this is what happens to me...”

“Right after I talked to Ausra as well, fuck...what is she gonna feel?”

“There’s no way I’m going out like this!” Oskar yelled. He supercharged his fists with electricity and used the momentum as a boost - trying to strike Aizawa with as much power as he could exert.

“Do you think death awaits you?” Aizawa asked, stepping to the sides, almost suspiciously aware of Oskar’s movements. “You will be granted a purpose much more noble than Kaito Kamiki’s plots.”

While Aizawa was talking, Oskar managed to land a strong strike on her stomach, it was strong enough to leave a few burns and cause her quite a bit of pain. Oskar tried to continue the combination, but ended up missing, courtesy of Aizawa dodging. Her wound from the previous attack had already healed.

"No..."

"Not like this...!"

“There’s no way I’m leaving Ausra alone!!!”

Oskar felt a hand touch his forehead. The touch felt so gentle it didn’t even feel like an attack. It didn’t feel at all like a motion designed to hurt him, more like, it felt like something that was supposed to save him. It was the ultimate ability of Aizawa's concealed divine acclamation...

“ ✦ Complete Memory Erasure ✦ ”

Oskar stopped moving. In just one moment, it felt like his mind left his body. His self disappeared from his eyes, his breathing was reformed into a calm and steady rhythm. He was going to collapse on the ground, but Aizawa gently held him.

“Nightseer, get him to the castle. Prepare him to be transformed into Nachtvessel Omega. He will live on as a soldier of our cause.” Aizawa commanded. Nightseer, although a little hesitantly, approached her and picked up the effectively lifeless body.

“The plan to kidnap Ichika Hanasaki didn’t work out, but Oskar Weber should do just fine.”

“Implanting an instruction to show up to this place at this exact time was a risky gamble, but I was convinced that Oskar Weber’s trust in his friend would topple any suspicions he had.”

“Had he been a rational thinker, he would not trust him. But from reading Dmitry's memories, I knew exactly how this would unfold."

“And all of this is a success thanks to...”

Aizawa glanced at Dima, who was terrified to his very core. His hands were shaking, he had no idea what he was supposed to do. He just looked at Aizawa, like a rabbit looking at a wolf, hoping that it was already full from eating its friend.

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“Why are you looking at me?” Aizawa asked. “Go on, you are free to go.”

“W-what?” Dima asked.

“This is what you wanted, right?” Aizawa asked, already knowing the answer. “You wanted a life away from soulful troubles. You served your purpose, so go on. Live your life the way you want to.”

“Y-you killed him...” Dima said, holding back his panic.

“I did not kill him.”

“You killed him you crazy bitch!”

...

[???]

Dima woke up.

The bedsheets felt a little too warm on his body, and everything was dark. He felt the heat of something else next to him, but he wasn’t bothered by it, in fact, it felt rather pleasant. He wrestled with his bedsheets a little and reached over to the bedside table, above which was the light switch. He flipped it.

The sudden exposure to light hurt his eyes a little, but he was up and awake now, unable to properly recover from a strange sequence of dreams. He rubbed his face, the presence of bits of facial hair appearing a little unpleasant to his fingers. Next to him was his girlfriend, cuddling the bedsheets, soon, she would awaken too. Dima was still half-asleep, so he couldn’t recall much of the actions he did at the moment. But he got up, and went to the kitchen.

There, he poured himself a glass of ice cold water from the fridge and took a few sips. It felt heavenly, but that incredible feeling was smited down by the sense of inner discomfort, almost as if he was regretting something. He glanced at his reflection in the water and took another sip, before hearing a trail of footsteps approach him.

“Hmm...you’re up?” Anna asked, rubbing her eyes. She had her morning robes on, and she looked quite attractive in them. Dima took a moment to absorb her beauty, and soon gave a response, after quickly finishing his glass.

“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep properly.”

“Caught a cold?” Anna asked, approaching him and pouring herself a glass as well.

“No, just...I don’t know. I saw some pretty weird stuff in a dream.” Dima replied.

“Like what?”

“Just things about the life we had before all of this.” Dima explained. “More specifically, the life I had. The whole deal with soulfuls.”

“And here I thought you finally snapped out of it.” Anna sighed, playfully hitting Dima on his arm. “You should really reconsider going to therapy or something if it still haunts you. We can go together if you’re scared or shy about going there alone.”

“It’s not that, it’s just...” Dima started, but he was interrupted shortly after.

“I think I know what’s bothering you.” Anna said. “You feel guilty for leaving all your friends behind, right?”

“Well, sort of.” Dima said. “I kinda just ran out of options. Every time one group fell apart, I looked for another one. I left Hayk’s group because I didn’t want to be involved in the Heisei, and without Hayk, the group just didn’t feel the same.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“I was a nobody portalling through the world. Away from my problems, away from even my family, away from everything. I just wanted to find something worthwhile, do something fun, and meet some good people while I was at it. When I came across Hayk, he convinced me to join his side. And I agreed to it. I thought it’d be a good way to spend time, and I was anything but wrong. Hayk was an amazing human being, he felt pain and didn’t want others to feel it.”

“And when he died, things changed, right?”

“They did. They really did. And I realized that without him, without his cause, without his efforts to assure that soulfuls like me don’t end up entangled in the bigger politics...yeah, I just couldn’t stay there anymore. I tried my hardest to, but I just couldn’t. I even tried to save Hayk from Otto Richter, and it didn’t work out.”

“You became a victim of what Hayk was trying to fight against, right?” Anna said, finishing her glass. “And the reason you switched sides was...”

“I’d like to say that it was because I wanted to help stop Kaito Kamiki, or to honor Hayk’s intentions, but in reality, it was all about me. This was all about my own desire. To just live a normal life.”

“Didn’t you have the freedom to do so?”

“I didn’t. Because there was someone out there who could potentially kill you.” Dima said. “I lived knowing that I would be tossed into a situation where my life would change for the worse. I didn’t have any freedom.”

“And that led you to Aizawa, didn’t it?” Anna asked.

Dima took a deep breath.

“I thought that maybe if I paid her a visit she’d give me an answer to my predicament.”

“You feel regret, don’t you?”

“Maybe.” Dima said. “I feel like I could’ve done a lot of things differently. I feel like if I stuck around with Mukawa, maybe history would’ve changed. But I chose to walk away because I felt that there was no way to stop the GSC. I wanted to stay alive, so that I could at least enjoy the remaining time with you.”

“That’s your regret?”

“Yeah. Fuck, the more I think about it...the more I realized how miserable everything was. Being an active soulful, and loving someone soulless, it was miserable.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Anna said, placing her palm on his cheek. “There’s no shame in walking away from misery. There’s no shame in changing.”

“Yeah, but, I was a soulful, right?” Dima asked. “I was supposed to carry the burden of being a relatively strong soulful, someone who could change things. Someone who could affect how the gears shifted on a global scale.”

“You said it yourself, didn’t you?” Anna said in a soothing voice. “You’d rather be a happy soulless than a miserable soulful.”

“So should I be...happy?”

“You shouldn’t feel bad, that’s for sure.” Anna smiled. “In the end, you chose for yourself. And that’s all that matters.”

“Huh, you’re right...” Dima said, embracing her as the environment dimmed away. “You’re...right. Thank you.”

“I tried, and it didn’t work out. So it made sense to give up trying.”

“It made sense for me to just enjoy life while I could. My goal was to be happy. I couldn’t be bothered with all that soulful crap if it meant taking away my ‘soulless’ happiness.”

Dima had a smile on his face, and his eyes were open, shining with acceptance and happiness. While in reality, they were open, his face was emotionless and pale, and his heart had stopped beating. He was dead on the ground with a stabbing wound in his chest.

“There’s your reward, Dmitry. I gave you a dream’s worth of comfort as you die.”

“You served your purpose well.” Aizawa said. “I implanted your memories back into you so you could daydream one last time and maybe have some parting realizations.”

"I believe this puts an end to our negotiations. I am assured you, being the pitiful creature that you are, will enjoy these poisonous emotions."

Nightseer had already left, and Aizawa was alone in the murder scene. The moonlight was as beautiful as her, just less deadly. She gazed at it, as if aiming to devour its own memories and learn about its pure yet complicated love. She thought of it while standing next to Dima’s corpse. The cold wind carefully caressed her...

“No matter how hard they try, humans will only destroy themselves with their dependencies on one another and their hate for their own species.”

“I hate this. Humanity has evolved into the apex form of life. It is the species that will break the limits and progress beyond what is even in our imaginations. And yet, if this thread of global events is woven without my interference, all that will be left of humanity is a desolate wasteland and a book of stories that will never be read.”

“Those emotions...love, hate, trust, loyalty, anger, sorrow...”

“No matter how hard I try, I cannot understand it. I simply cannot understand what makes them so essential to humanity.”

“No matter the adversity, the Servata Cordis will be carried out. Be it the soulless, the soulfuls, or the gods."

"Soon, Naja will wage war against me.”

“Will their pitiful and disastrous feelings succumb to the acceptance of the ultimate truth?”

She glanced to the side, watching Nightseer carry Oskar's unconscious body away in the distance.

“What do you think, Sakuto Hitori?”

The end of Part 8