Unchosen Champion

Coop watched as the army from Shinjuku Gardens begrudgingly vacated the Underlayer. Most realized that it wasn’t worth defying his order to leave and risking the consequences, having personally witnessed how easily he destroyed the Primal Constructs, but that didn’t stop them from stealing spiteful glances at him as they went. He let them see him, standing unbothered at their backs.

None of the soldiers had the right combination of courage and stupidity to test his resolve. Coop wondered if perhaps that was wisdom, but the truly wise wouldn’t have antagonized him, regardless of whatever prejudice they were operating with. They messed up by failing to embrace his aid the way so many others had.

Coop simply waited, ignoring the event objective behind him, keeping his sword on his shoulder and his other hand on his hip. The Primal Constructs reclaimed the control point while the human soldiers retreated, sending a pulse of red light when it fully returned to the possession of the invaders.

The aliens would just have to wait for their turn. Meanwhile, the mass of humans streamed away, unnecessarily ceding ground to the enemy. It was almost symbolic of the assimilation as a whole.

Coop kept his eyes on the soldiers, making sure he was staring back whenever one of them turned to take another look at him. He didn’t feel any particular way about them. If they wanted him as their enemy, that was something they could choose for themselves. Presumably, they would know what they were getting into.

It seemed as though the representatives of Shinjuku Gardens didn’t have any particular desire to actually take control of the underground. Judging by the settlement’s negative score, they had already given up on clearing the invaders. They had only stayed in the Underlayer to ward people like Coop away.

After some time, when most of the people disappeared into a tunnel within the nearest giant stone column where they had evidently created a path that led to the surface, a disturbance occurred. People fled back into the underground, and as Coop watched the last portions of the masses congregate near the pillar, a muffled thump echoed across the underground, generated from within the stone.

The remnants of people trying to enter the column turned to escape while smoke and dust billowed away. They scattered, in all directions before stopping and regrouping.

It was as if some explosives had been used to destroy the internal path to the surface. Coop peered at the disorder, not knowing enough about the local settlement’s dynamics to make any real judgment.

Coop didn’t care about their access to the Underlayer, but the evacuation seemed incomplete given the people stumbling away from the enormous stone column. If they were trying to prevent him from following by destroying their path, their actions had been rather premature, not to mention poorly thought out. There were still nearly a thousand more people within the Underlayer that had scattered from the exit, slowly regrouping as the route back to the surface became obstructed.

He really didn’t think he had threatened the soldiers to the point of panic, so why had they gone and destroyed their own path? It wasn’t like he had revoked permission to enter the Underlayer forever, but maybe that was how they interpreted his opposition to their presence. That, or they really believed something so simple would be enough to prevent him from traveling to their settlement and wreaking havoc.

“Hm.” Coop hummed, rubbing his temple with a knuckle on his sword hand, wondering what he would do with the people they left behind. He had already exhausted his patience with the soldiers.