Infection-Shelled Regios

L

Laggy Lagiacrus

Guest
Original poster
The hideous shrieks of the mutating citizens rang out across the area, causing people to either flee in terror, or stand frozen to the spot. The pathogen, once helpful microbe, had shown its true colours as a hideous, mutating virus. It wormed its way into a human host, and changed them from the inside. The hospitals could not cure them as they turned into pollutant beasts, and decimated what was in their path. The less experienced military artists barely sowed them down, as their failed attempts at fight and flight caught up with them, costing them their lives either immediately or due to their injuries. Calling for help was futile – nobody would reach them. They couldn't risk getting onto the roaming buses, by order, and besides – pretty much everyone was dead, dying, mutating or not accepting people into their regios. A last stand was the only way to stop it, or at least halt it until a cure was devised by the scientists. For now, though, in this particular area, one lone sniper made his way onto a roof, grumbling about how much of a pain it was to do this. His limp slowed him down only minimally, his prosthetic leg no more a hindrance than the weight of his rifle. He had chosen an ore that would keep the kei flow and physical power of the rifle balanced – he needed precision and mid-range power for urban areas, and he had certainly gotten it.
"You'd better hold onto your heads, mates."
His single, muttered line was the only thing he said as he got to work, blasting his shots at anything in his sights. Yes, he missed, and he did not always hit the head. But he was careful – even if he masked his kei, they would sniff him out, and hunt him down. It was dangerous to be alone, but somebody had to cover the medical team's escape, and he was the least incapacitated.
Even considering the leg.
 
A large airship towered over the city of Zuellni. It was the personal carrier of the Heavenly Swords. A young man with musclar physique stood as the large hatch under the bow of the ship opened. He was the 5th Heavenly Sword, Terric. Another figure was seen wrapped tightly under his right arm. It was a small girl with dark hair and electric blue eyes. Terric looked down at the scene unfolding in the regios below with displeasure. "You sure you can handle this kid? You could always turn this one down. I mean I don't know when we'll see-" The girl tightened her grip around him, as if to tell him that everything was okay and she would be just fine. She was softspoken that way, and Terric understood her. The girl was actually quite sad that they would be parting ways, possibly for years. From what she could see of the regios below, she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. The petite figure slowly made her wa to the edge of the platform, the wind rushing in from the atmosphere in the air, flustered her skirt awkwardly. A blush crossed her face as she pushed it back down. Terric spoke. "Kid.. You better no die before you join me in the Heavenly sword." She turned around and gave a comforting smile to him. He knew what it meant. And then she jumped.

The girl was enveloped in a free fall. She was spiraling towards th city of Zuellni. She closed her mouth, preventing the forceful air from entering her lungs. The wind she was bursting through was cool and nice. It was hrd to believe that the atmosphere would soon change. The view of the regios below wasn't pretty. The infected had already sarted an immense assault. It was worse than the report foretold. She could she the spot she was going to land in, a generally open area that contained a flood of infected, perfect she thought.

The girl began to glow an ominous blue and metallic black. She was distributing her kei to her entire body. It looked as if she would make contact with the ground in a few seconds, enough time to finish the barrier of ki. Then she hit.. With a loud boom and an explosion of black and blue as she landed on. A few tens of infected. As the smoke cleared she rose to her feet. The crowd of infected surrounded her as she stood with a emotionless expression. She pulled her dite from her bra, an odd place but she didn't want it to fall out durin her jump. As the beasts attacked simultaneousy she forced kei into her dite. Instead of black it came out as an electrifying blue, in the form of a double sided katana. The girl began to cut through the horde. Her slender body moved fluidly as she manuvered her way around their attcks. With each swing she took out only a few of the beasts. They were more fomridable than she thought and it didn't seem like she would be abl to take out this group to easily. With time she began to slow down, barely dodging each strike as sweat dripped from her palms. She barely saw a claw comming from the right as it almost made contact with her throat. The girl quickly shot around to block. The claw made contact ith her dite as the force from the impact sent her flying into a narby concrete wall. A loud gasps escaped her lips as she sunk to he floor. More of the beats closed in on her. One of them raised a claw, intent on swiftly bringing it dow. 'I-I can't use that.. Not yt it too early' She thought. Its claw came down before makin a sudden stop at her throat. The beast fell at her feet, its back smiking. It had eemed that a sniper had taken it out. Without taking a second thought she moved. Taking a large leap to the sky and landing on the roof above, panting slightly. The girl looked across to a taller building where a sniper was planted, diminishing the flood of infected. She didntknow what to say.
 
Though taken aback by the sudden turn of events, Landon had to regain control of himself. The psychic had just notified him of the ambulance's status, and things weren't looking good in the slightest. Something had gotten stuck in the bonnet, and if it wasn't removed soon, the whole vehicle was done for. They would be sitting ducks - just waiting for the beasts to prowl up to them, and tear them to even tinier shreds. He had a mission, and even if meant sacrificing himself, by God was he going to fulfil it. When he saw the girl simply stare at him, not speaking, Landon rolled his eyes - he even grit his teeth a little. Not willing to give his position away any more, he refused to shout, and instead pointed down towards the street, and drew his finger across his throat. It was plain to see that she was no ordinary military artist, and though he was unable to gauge her true skill, the pseudo-monsters snapping and snarling below were probably a pitiful affair to fight. Until you took in their numbers, that is. Regardless, he needed to get back to work. And though his bullets would not take out enemies in such a rapid fashion as his new acquaintance could, his shots were far more precise, and could hit a weak spot with enough force to break a shell open almost instantly. It was a high-powerful rifle, after all, if only effective at medium to medium-long range. However, he unscoped but moments later, hearing breathing beside him. He had forgotten the first basic rule of urban sniping - lock the door behind you.
"Clever girl..." he grumbled, his eyes looking towards the salivating creature. He attempted to fire a shot as he stood up, but he had panicked - though the amount of power he put in the shot was lowered, to reduce recoil, his prosthetic was only that. As such, without the development of his muscles in that limb, he stumbled backwards, onto his backside. Embarrassing, but that's not the first thing that comes to mind when you're fumbling around your belt for your close-range gun.
 
Miku slowly caught her breath as she looked to the sniper. His signal was perfectly clear. The ground floor was a no-go. She peered over the edge for only a moment, gazing at the beasts that gave her such a problem. Miku was embarrassed of that fact that she had to receive aid during a battle, especially during her first day here. She looked up once more to see her so called savior in a bit of a bind. His positioned had been comprimised by an infected. She could've just left himthere, in fact that was her original plan. Well until she thought about it. Miku was almost useless at long range combat and their weren't going to be any reinforcements dropping by anytime soon. She gritted her teeth before making a decision. After brushing her hair away from her face she took a walk to the opposite end of the platform. 'I can't beeive I'm doing this...' she thought as she took a sprinters stance and braced her right foot of the edge for a pushing start. Then Miku went sprinting to the other end, an admittedly reckless action. She forced some of her ki into the soles of her feet as she leapt off of the edge. Her lift took an arc like path over the area filled with infected, leaving a blue like path in her wake. Luckily she had just enough elevation to shakily make the landing. Miku barrel rolled onto the roof where the sniper was planted. She shot straight out from that roll into a steady kick aimed for the beasts ribs. She felt a crack as the infecteds body shot off of the edge of the roof. Miku then rulled out her dite again. She was reluctant to turn around, noises could be heard from the staircase the first infected had come from. More were comming up. She readied her dite and took a wide stance as she peered through the darkness behind the door whose handly was violently rippdoff. After a bit of quick thinking she muttered " K-Keep picking them off, I'll handly the stairs" She said with a nervous stutter.
 
Despite having - what he thought were - numerous more practical solutions to his little disposition as of now, Landon nodded, and resumed his assault on the horde of attackers swarming endlessly below. In such a churning mass of bodies, it would be hard to miss anything - what the problem was, was tracking any particular trouble makers amongst the masses, and dealing with it as swiftly as at all possible. He couldn't even focus properly on a particular part of any beast's body, instead taking haphazard pot-shots that may or may not have hit something. Truth be told, something had knocked his rifle off-balance - probably the beast that he had been saved from. However, the problem was not immediately fixable. While about three minute's work for an engineer, most of that just being disassembly and re-assembly, he could not do it on a rooftop, with no tools to speak of. Relying on his short-range weapons was foolish at such a distance - even if the deviation was eliminated, the shots would lose any significant power before they reached their mark. As such, the deviation of his shots would have to be remedied via aligning his attacks accordingly. It would take about a minute for him to adjust, and even then, only most of his shots would hit. He decided to stop masking his kei, to preserve both stamina and concentration. They would likely rely on their bodily senses, not an ability to find kei.
"My rifle's been damaged. I need you to cut down the hordes, if they manage to get to the ambulance broken down on Harlington Street, I'll have deaths on my hands I'd rather not. I'll be down a level, and that door will be locked. No pollutant beast capable of flight is going to get through the corridor up there without making a ruckus – I have other weapons, you know."
 
Miku nodded as she sent two more infected tumbling down the staircase. 'How embarrassing, of course he had other weapons' She slightly cursed herself in her head, acknowledging the wasted jump. "S-Sorry" She mumbled as she darted away from the door she had gaurded so well over the past few minutes. Miku peered over the edge of the building and scowered the area. She could see the worn down ambulance he had referred too, then she took a glance back at the horde. Mike jotted down kei information in her head: 'Objective, Harlington Street... About twently clicks north east. Tangos on 3. Approximately 10 minutes before contact.' Her eyes then fell upon a major street that led to Harlington. 'If I can just cut them off..' She thought. "Enough thinking.." She whispered as she jumped from the edge, using the same technique from her freefall to soften the landing. Miku was in position like she had planned. The beasts had noticed her aswell. The second she had landed they had charged her position. She took a wide stance and charged her dite, the blue kei at the tip began to spike and a streak of black kei formed in the middle. Miku took a deep breath as she waited for them to get in striking distance, which didn't eem like it'd take too long by the way they poured out of the main area. "None of you are getting past" She whispered as she began cutting the enemy down. Miku was still only swinging with one hand, but that was good enough. At this positioned she couldn't be surrounded and the extra kei allowed her to cut through five or six at a time. That along with her fluid acrobatic posture that allowed her to use building and streetsigns to her advantage was enough to keep them at bay, for now.
 
Any rogue beasts that got around Miku, or threatened to, were quickly dispatched. Each one either fell with a shot somewhere near a vital organ, on one, or somewhere near the head. As the were still capable of becoming human, the pathogen having not settled fully in yet, all that had to be done was cause enough pain in the enemy to force the contagion out into the air, where it would meet its end. This task was easy enough for Landon - after all, now that he had a defined way in which to target, rather than just firing at random into a street choc-full of a menagerie of mutated humans, he could actually focus. He was still pretty high up, so even if he was spotted, there was no way anything could get by without catching his attention. Even if they did manage such a thing, he would still be able to restore the short-range handgun-like dites, and he could at least hold them off long enough to leg it somewhere else. His shots continued to ring out, and enemies continued to fall. He'd have to adjust he prosthetic a little soon - it wasn't one designed for combat, and he had been caught with his pants down.
Luckily, not in the literal sense.

"Excuse me, miss! I don't mean to disturb you or anything, but I need to ask something of you..."
One of the more mobile people in the ambulance walked tensely up to Miku, or at least within shouting range of her, and delivered his message. "Our ambulance is nearly fixed up, and we really appreciate your help, but there's someone up there who needs your help... You see, he hasn't equipped his combat prosthetic, and well, you see, if he gets injured because it breaks or comes off... Well, he'll be a sitting duck, and a very detectable one at that. Please, miss, I know it's tough, but he promised to protect us, and we can't even do anything but this for him..."
The boy looked sheepishly away, evidently embarrassed he could do nothing more than pass on a message. Yet, there was conviction in his voice - he wanted Landon to live, and not just because he wasn't infected.
 
Miku was given very effective cover fire from the sharshooter up top. She was a little embarrased to admit that she might've fallen prey to one of these beasts without him. Especially due to the fact that her flashy strikes and evasions were taking up a lot of energy. She was getting a little tired again. Her movevements were still too fst to follow unless you hat good eyes.. or you were a sniper so it seemed. Miku was thrown off by the sorta steady voice of a boy. She stumbled backwards losing leverage. She listened to what he had to say, though it didn't kickfor a few moments as her attention was drawn to the beasts whoes claw was intertwined with her blade, pushing her back. "I-I don't..." She paused. "Wait he has a prestetic leg?? Why- he's a snip-. Ughh" She groaned, being shoved back a few more feet. Do you have his combat prostetic at hand?" She asked abit frustrated? She couldn't tell if he was holding one, now wasn't the time to look back either, especially with two more beasts approaching behind this one. Now she had to worry about the infected, the ambulance, and the sniper. Herfirst day in Zuellni was turning out to be more of a hassle than expected.
 
Two of the monsters approaching Miku were shot down, a shot barely scraping the one up front. Landon cursed, and took aim again. The recoil of the first two shots had taken their toll on the stability of his artificial limb, and as such, the third shot had deviated wildly, due to his leg shaking upon the shot being fired. He could snipe laying on his stomach, yes - but he couldn't go onto the roof, he was relying on the door to alert him to incoming threats that had flanked him. He was doing it on a balcony, kneeling, so that the broken fencing around it could be used as cover when he had to pop back to it. He would move himself around the safe area, and look out of the gaping hole, that seemed to divide the stone fence around the balcony, that was supposed to stop people from falling over the edge. However, the constant movement was also doing his leg in – it had been designed for casual use, and supposed to be used only for that. A combat prosthetic, while expensive, was far more durable, was safer to attach more tightly, and could stay steadier than the standard affair given to most people. This made little difference to his mission, but he did not think about that while he let off a flurry of blasts, from his dual short-range gun dites. They used black ore – not very good for channelling kei, but their raw power was all he needed.

((At least, I think that's black ore that does that. Says in the wiki, somewhere in the light novel as well.))
 
Miku finally gathered the leverage to parry the beasts claw only slightly. She stepped back bumping into the the boy from the ambulance, knocking him back before he could answer her question. She ddnt even get he oppertunity to see if he was okay as they charged once more. The sharpsooter on the balcony seemed to be botching the shots abit. That meant the boy was right about his prostetic limb. Her worry was wiped clean when a barrage of kei shots resembling that of close combat weapons collided with the infected. Miku found it tedious to continue this way, the horde didn't seem to lessen at all. She could only hope the ambulance was finishedwith its repairs so they could hastily retreat. She cut the legs of one of the beasts trying to get past her. Her sweaty palms almost caused her dite to slip from her hans, something she would never let happen to an item of such importance.
 
"Miss, he doesn't have a combat prosthetic..."
The boy was hardly listening to Miku when she had replied to him. What he had been looking at, was something in the distance, something he could tell was big. Not just large. Big. Ad, with the kei-ra cannon not functioning properly, it was going to require quite a bit of work to dispatch. Though it remained stationary, the boy still gawked at the faint figure, which the psychic told him was about three days away, according to intel. And if it appeared like that... The military artist gulped, and fled back to the vehicle, which managed to sputter to life, before its engines roared to attention. Not a word of thanks was said - but the urgency of the situation hardly demanded it. Though it had not been said, it probably would be later.

Meanwhile, having seen the ambulance was now operational, a small smirk appeared on Landon's face, and he heard their psychic speak to him.
"Excellent job. I can ask who the girl is later - for now, just get back here."
"No can do, mate."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'll be limping down there too slowly, you'll never hold out for long enough. Just take who you can and go."
"Are you saying you want to be left behind?"
"Scared I'll get lonely?"
"We're staying."
"No you're not. You have injured soldiers in there, they'll die if you leave them much longer."
"Same goes for you."
"I'll hit them with my bloody leg if I have to! Both of them, at that. Look, just tell her to hop on if she's finished. I'm not incompetent."
Before anything else could be said, the link was disestablished by Landon, who continued his assault, steadily drawing attention away from the ambulance. More and more enemies noticed him, taking a chunk away from Miku - who seemed to be, quite literally, losing her grip on things. He was there to provide cover.He would provide it, and a little distraction as well.

"Hotshot says to go now and leave him because he'll take too long to get down."
The ambulance driver did not look at Miku, but it was clear he was speaking to her. it was clear that he needed her for something, by the way he spoke the next sentence. "I don't think that's a good idea."
 
(Oh yeah I think your right about the black ore thing^^)


'No combat prostetic... Great' Miku heard the footsteps of the boy returning to the ambulance, without a word being said. She footsteps seemed like that of someone startled and in a hurry, normal in this type of situation but she felt there was something else behind it. She formed another weapons clash with a beast as a noise started behind her. The roar of an engine. 'Finally..' She thought. A few more minutes would go by as Miku began to back up a few feet at a time. Slowly she was making herway to the ambulance until the driver relayed a message. Miku understood what the driver was implying. 'I-I don't think he'll like it.. But-" She gave a slight nod to the driver without looking back. Instead she glanced up at Lando and slipped her dite back into her bra. After taking a few steps back she repeated the stunt she used to reach him on the roof before. Charging the kei in her feet before making a huge jump. She overshot it slightly and rammed her shoulder into the door behind him. "Oww..." She whined as she dusted off her skirt and rose to her feet. As she approached Landon she kept silent and avoided eye contact by staring at the ground. The infected had long noticed them and rambled their way up the stairs. After a few moments awkwardly eyeing the ground she muttered" A-Are you ready to go?"
 
"Speak up, girl! There's no point keeping quiet, we're all they're focussing on now!"Another shot was let off, the sound of it reverberating throughout the area, defining the fact that a sniper was there. No need to waste kei on stealth any more. No need for the rifle for the moment either - returning it to its original form, he tucked it into his breast pocket, and then proceeded to wield his shorter-range weapons, his fingers playing upon the triggers, a stoic look in his eyes as he shakily rose. The prosthetic was slotted back into a more-or-less correct position, and he stood - only a quick-fix, nothing permanent, but that would have to wait. His slight limp made it more difficult for the wrecked room to navigate, but it was not significant enough to really invoke concern among most people. His good leg kicked down the door, straight into the face of an incoming foe. Landon shot off a number of rounds into it, and finished by blowing the end - like in a poorly-made cowboy movie. "I don't know who you are. I don't care why you're helping me. And, quite frankly, I don't know why you're rescuing me. But, if I'm honest with you, I don't really care. All I know is, that people as strong as you need to go and help areas in more need than this one. Go into the ambulance, and cover them."A roar sounded – distant, but still huge, and likely within a few minutes of the current area. The pair were drawing attention to themselves."Actually, you know what, yes I am. There is something near us, and it's huge. Not as big as the thing three days away, but it's still huge. And I'm barely going to slow it down. Come on, I'm not going to slow down."A poor choice of words, but delivered lightly and without a care in the world. And the shots were delivered similarly – he attacked without much care, but a more precise form of reckless abandon. As in, his aim was wild, but it went in a general direction.
 
"I-I uh.." Miku started to dread conversation even more. She listened to every word he had to say. As she watched his rise from his shooting position an switch weapons, she shot around hearing a noise coming from the door, which Lando quickly shot down and proceeded through. Then a memory shot through her head. Miku remembered reading reports about a huge creature a few days off from Zuellni. The reports were vague, mostly comments referring to its size and mass but this was the first she was hearing of a smaller one already here. He was right, she was needed elsewhere but- Her thought was cut off by the mans"Come on, I'm not going to slow down".

"C-Coming.." She yelped as she followed behind.
 
"You know, there was a song that went around a bit once. Can't remember the title, but it was a foreign song. Would've gone brilliant with this. The title translated to Bang, Bang, if memory serves."
A fitting title, considering the amount of shots forcing their way out, into the horde down below. Of course, while he normally wouldn't have lasted such a time, the stairs were the only stable way up - it acted as a sort of funnel, channelling the foes into his line of fire, like lambs to the slaughter. Quite large and grotesque lambs, to a slaughter that was actually just the host body being incapacitated for a while, rendering the pathogen unable to live inside them forcing it out, and thus causing it to perish. However, his shots could only deal so much damage, and his rate of fire was only as fast as he could pull the trigger, He was a sniper, not a gunslinger. The enemies advanced steadily, their numbers eeming not to let up, their attacks growing more and more relentless. However, they did not seem to focus on Landon - moreover, they only saw him as an obstacle, as if they only wanted to get by him. "They're not seeing me as a primary threat... Something's making them run... That probably means we should bolt..."
 
Miku let out a silent giggle as Lando referrenced a song. ' Music at a time like this? ' she found it quite calming though. As he mentioned the behaviors of the infected she checked for herself. Sure enough, his observation was correct. They weren't moving like they did earlier. Instead of predators they were behaving like prey. 'I wonder what's stiring them?' Miku curiousity had half of her wanting to stay and find out. But that wouldn't bode well for any of the others. She nodded at the part about bolting and decided to speed the process up. Miku dove over the railing, landing about a floor or two below Lando. She landed directly ontop an Infected, crushing it. She pulled out and activated her dite, it came out its normal blue color. As the dite was stretched straight out Miku began a feminine twirl that continued to speed up until she herself wasn't visible anymore. Instead all that could be seen was a swirl of blue that easily diced the enemy. The others on the upper floor would be left to Lando.
 
"I don't know, but I THINK WE'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING."
Though he could only make out its shadow, as it neared the street from the opposite end, the sound of it grunting and plodding heavily forwards was enough to give the game away – it was big, it was vicious, and it certainly didn't look like it wanted to play fetch. Well, maybe with some delicious humans, but that was beside the point. Hobbling along as fast as his current condition would allow him, Landon shot at whatever decided to try and attack him – most of the time, seeing that they had no time to fight, the beasts simply ran by him, or just jumped over his head. Landon eventually found it was quicker to just drag himself hurriedly down, sucking up the pain as his prosthetic struggled to maintain its place on his leg, barging aside any slow movers. By now the – rather large – pollutant beast was beginning to round the bend, its footsteps growing ever-louder. Landon had reached the ambulance, which had now been parked at the entrance – or, in this case, exit – and threw himself in without a further question. "If you've got everyone, then drive! That includes the girl, I'm not leaving without her!"
 
"Huh?" Miku shot around hearing the large stomps of the beast rounding the corner. She froze at the site of it. That thing resembled an almost mature contaminoid. Like the one that had murdered her friends awhile back. Although it wasn't nearly as big, the sight of it troubled her. As it approached, Landos voice and the roaring engine of the ambulance was what snapped her out of it. Mikue hesitated, almost dropping her dite so she slipped it into her bra instead. She shot around and darted towards the ambulance, barreling her small body into the back and not even bothering to check if the doors were shut behind her. "Go!" She demanded, her soft voice didn't fit well with commnds though.
 
"Well, what're you waiting for, Christmas?! Drive, you fool!"
The driver, panicking at only being able to see what was visible in his wing mirror, put his foot down, forcing the tyres to screech for a precious few seconds. However, the vehicle rocketed off, blazing across tarmac and pavement, the sole concern of the driver being to get the hell out of there. He'd seen what regular pollutant beasts did to military artists - he wasn't standing around to find out what huge ones did to civilians. Luckily, the injuries sustained by the artists that had to be rescued were not severe enough to threaten their lives if attended to properly, but they were still incapacitated, and were thus of no use if ever the time came to fight them off in the near future. However, Landon had noted that they were moving out of the beasts' range, and that their influence had at least had minimal effect on the area they were in. So, with little better to d and the driver concentrating on driving, he turned to face Miku. "That was some brilliant swordplay out there. I don't recall anyone like you in any of the competitions either..."
 
Miku braced her back on the door as the driver roughly pulled out. She managed to keep from hitting her head at the beginning and tankfully they were now moving abit more steadily. She turned to Landon as he spoke. " T-Thanks.." She spoke as she stared down into her lap. " I'm not well... the conventional military artist " She wasn't sure if it was okay to tell him everything just yet. " But your accuracy with a firearm is amazing! " She added in an unusually peppy tone. Miku was really at awe by Landons gunplay. Since she was used to being around close combat military artist it wasn't everyday she saw such a skilled marksman in action. "Y-You were really good.. Even with- That's right! Is your leg okay?" She gave a worried look down at his prostetic.
 
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