Soul Spark

12 - Anti-Coalition

“So, have you tried reaching out to Abrams yet?” The old man said, stretching in his armchair.

“That excuse of a man is only a placeholder. The real man in power will be declared in a few days, you just have to wait, Klaus.” A middle-aged brown-haired man said, as he leant by the windowsill. He looked outside, glancing at the sky. It was starting to get cloudy.

The room felt intense. Everyone present was waiting for further orders, and in a situation as complicated as theirs, stepping out of line would result in an empire-sized card house crumbling down.

“I can only assure you that Abrams’ pre-existing support for Sheller will aid us. But it will not be enough, Hermann.” Klaus replied. He took a wooden pipe from the dark brown table in front of him and let it on fire.

“You still smoke?” Hermann asked.

“Are you surprised? Vice-General has been smoking for as long as we’ve been alive, probably.” Danny, the younger, lightly tanned man with mixed blonde and dark hair said, walking around the room. “I’m more surprised he’s smoking to remove his stress instead of his grief.”

“Grief is something I’m used to.” Klaus said. “I’ve seen numerous comrades die. If a comrade dies because they chose to run around and please themselves, it is easier to grieve their death.”

“I fear that the upcoming developments might change me.” Klaus sighed.

“It very well might.” Danny chuckled. “But it’ll go just as planned. We have every advantage to ourselves.”

“I wish I had the confidence that youth like you possess.” Klaus said. “I’m afraid you might experience a rude awakening if you underestimate the severity of this conflict.”

“Old man’s right, Danny.” Victoria, a woman in a unique gothic dress, said entering the room. He had a toothpick in his mouth.“‘It’s gonna be a bloodbath.”

“As the Guard of Order, it is our responsibility to assure that the operation is carried smoothly.” Hermann said.

“Lieutenant Hermann, will you tell me about it now? Or will I find out during the war?” Danny asked, curiously approaching him.

“About what?”

“The superweapon.” Danny said with a wide smile. “I heard Sir Otto mention it, you surely know what it means, right?”

“Everyone knows about it.” Victoria said. “But nobody knows what it is.”

“Not even I do.” Klaus said. “I only know that once it is deployed, the odds of victory will heavily favor us. Sir Otto wouldn’t praise a weapon so much if it wasn’t capable of doing what he wishes for.”

“Am I the only one who wants to sneak and find out about it?” Danny asked. Judging by everyone’s silent reactions, he was, indeed, the only one.

“Hold it, this soul presence...” Hermann said, sharply turning around.

“Sir Otto has arrived, it seems like.” Klaus said, standing up.

“Wait...” Danny said, taking a step away from the door’s direction, visibly shaken. ”Since when is Sir Otto’s soul presence this...intense?!”

Three people entered the room. All three of them were covered in the clothes that the Adler Group’s most elite soldiers and servants wore. On the right side, there was Erwin. On the left, there was Mukawa. And in the middle, wearing a blindfold, was Otto Richter himself. His soul presence had shifted completely.

“Sir Otto?” Klaus asked, confused. “Is wearing a blindfold a part of your training?”

Otto didn’t answer. The group looked at Erwin and Mukawa, but they were also dead silent. With their heads slightly down, they simply walked into the room. Otto entered much slower.

“Sir Otto?” Hermann asked. “Is the blindfold...really necessary? Has something happened to your eyesight?”

“Oh, his eyesight is perfect.” Mukawa finally said. “In fact, he can see everything perfectly.”

Otto slightly smirked from the comment, and prepared to take his blindfold off. It revealed a pair of bloodied red eyes, surrounded with small stitches, as if barely holding out. Small streams of blood ran down his cheeks and by his mouth, some of them unfortunately dripping blood down on the floor. The sight horrified the group’s members.

“Sir Otto!” Hermann was the first one to speak his mind. “You require immediate medical attention!”

“Holy shit...what caused that?!” Danny exclaimed.

“Sir Otto, please explain to us what this is, we are very concerned.” Klaus said, holding back his amusement.

“That’s a bad pair of eyes if I’ve ever seen one...” Victoria mumbled to herself.

Otto didn’t reply. He simply sat down on the armchair that was kept free for him. He raised his head, and extended one of his hands to his side.

“I’ve never seen anything like this...” Danny said, taking a sip from his can of soda. “I wanna get a closer look.”

Danny approached him, but suddenly tripped on the way. And as fate would have it, the soda can in his hands would end up exactly in Otto’s hand. He put the can down on the table while bursting out laughing.

“Haha, foresight truly is...an amazing ability...”

“Is this bloodied state a result of mastering foresight?” Klaus asked.

“Foresight is a soul interpretation that takes a heavy toll on the body, especially the eyes. It takes time to master, and Sir Otto has been training it intensely in order to prepare for the conflict.” Erwin replied.

“You heard him.” Otto said. “This ability is immensely powerful. It will effectively guarantee that our plan works through.”

“Right now, you wield gravity, adaptation, and foresight, correct?” Hermann asked.

“Very correct.” Otto said. “However, this is not about discussing my own powers. This is about discussing that of our opponents.”

“There is limited information on the specific powers that the Heisei fighters possess. There are speculations, but working off of them is dangerous and not reliable.” Mukawa said. “What we know for sure is that one, they have multiple types of fighters that fulfil different roles, two, one of them is an ex-member of the elemental union, and three, one of them fell in battle against Jackal Kagerr.”

“Aside from that, there are fighters on Kaito Kamiki’s side that hold an ice-related and explosion-related technique.” Erwin said. “Since those two aren’t in America right now, they are likely responsible for Reina’s fate.”

“There’s more fighters with unknown powers, possibly, but the most dangerous and unpredictable one is the original wielder of the adaptation system.” Otto said. “Sakuto Hitori. After having used his powers, I can assure you that they are no joke.”

“But that’s all old info, Otto.” Mukawa sighed. “Tell them the good stuff.”

“Kaito Kamiki.” Otto said. It was as if the name alone disgusted him. A brief pause later, he continued. “After rounds and rounds of attempting to infiltrate his nest over the months and many sacrifices, we have received quite a chunk of information.”

“He referred to his powers as “Divine Soulful Purpose”. Unfortunately, no matter how much intelligence we attempt to get, we can never learn the full extent of that power.”

“Sounds scary.” Victoria said. “What does it do?”

“There are only three aspects of it that we are vaguely familiar with.” Mukawa said. “The first one is the Soul Sight. It is the reason we assured that none of you come in contact with him directly. He can instantly attain information about a soul expression just by looking into the soulful’s eyes.”

“The second part is the Soul Devourer. Not much information has been acquired on them.” Erwin continued. “But we believe that whatever it was, it has been used at least one time in the past.”

“And finally...” Otto said. “Limited Manifestation. There are no records of what this does, and its usage was never spotted. But it was documented in one of the reports that our agents managed to obtain...before being killed.”

“Are you saying that when he enters the battlefield himself, there’s more than those abilities that we will have to deal with?” Danny exclaimed. “Come on, man! He’s already strong as shit!”

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“No. Him stepping into the battlefield is precisely the plan.” Otto said, summoning the Replicator in his hand. “I will copy his soul expression, and use it to put him down for good.”

“And that’s where I come in, yay!” Mukawa said with absolutely no excitement in his face. “One of his men has a soul expression which creates an absolutely unbreakable barrier, it is the very barrier that Kaito Kamiki has on him all the time. That man is hidden in a submarine and submerged in the pacific ocean, but we managed to locate it. I will take care of it and collapse the barrier.”

“It seems that the entire reason he has that barrier is you, Sir Otto.” Klaus said. “Even then, just the risk of you copying that barrier for yourself is too great.”

“That is because he knows the extent of his power.” Otto said. “And he knows that I know him through and through. He does not want anyone to wield that power except himself.”

“I can see through his lies.”

“I can see through his grand delusions and dangerous ambitions...”

“And I know about his deplorable sinful intentions that he sleeps peacefully with.”

“Dear men, what is ahead of us is dangerous and unpredictable.” Otto said, standing up. “But it is a conflict that will decide the fate of the world as we know it.”

“If we succeed, we may celebrate this world.” Content orıginally comes from N0veI.Fiɾe.net

“If we lose, we may say goodbye to it.”

“Sir Otto, Sheller is currently in the lead.” Erwin said, looking at his phone. “Somehow, he managed to gain even more support from the population.”

“We both know it doesn’t matter. But good news is always good.” Otto said. “Everyone, resume your training routines and await further orders. The duty of protecting the world is in our hands.”

“Understood, General Otto Richter!” The group chanted, before dispersing.

“Damn it...as much as I admit it, I missed being called by this name.”

[2 HOURS LATER]

Otto, Erwin and Mukawa were alone in the room.

“You’re so damn persistent about something you don’t even know the efficiency of.” Mukawa sighed. “What if you go insane?”

“I’m insane enough to attempt challenging divine powers.” Otto said, laying down on the couch. “Run me through the process one more time, and we’ll try it.”

“The moment I put you to sleep, you’ll activate foresight. And supposedly...I’ll see your future.” Mukawa said.

“Are you sure this will work?” Erwin said. “Mukawa, please be careful.”

“I’m as unsure as you are.” Mukawa said, looking at Erwin. “But...yeah, I’ll try. The moment I see you lose control, Otto, I’ll stop dreamcatcher and wake you up.”

“You will only wake me up once you finish attaining all the information.” Otto said. “Go on, commence.”

Otto closed his eyes. Mukawa put his palm on Otto’s forehead.

“When someone is already asleep, I can read the dreams they are having at the moment. But in this case, apparently, foresight causes the dreams to have a repetitive nature.”

“Otto can feel the dreams, but he can’t exactly see them as his sight is busy processing foresight. It’s a complete and utter mess, both soul-wise and body-wise.”

“So let’s see what happens when foresight is cranked to its maximum settings.”

“...”

“I see...the sky. It’s slightly cloudy...it looks like the sky is broken apart.”

“Otto’s soul presence...it’s as high as possible, looks like he’s experiencing either a great upset, or he’s greatly enraged. I can’t tell the difference, but something is forcing his soul to flare up.”

“I see...”

Mukawa gasped. He tried to keep his eyes closed.

“Huh? What do you see?” Erwin said, approaching the two. A few drops of blood escaped Otto’s eyes.

“Let me focus.” Mukawa said. He corrected his breathing rhythm.

“It’s...an effect? A shade...it’s...a color.”

“A color on a grayscale canvas...”

“And a powerful release of energy.”

“Mukawa!” Erwin said. “Sir Otto is bleeding harder. How much do you have left?!” Mukawa simply ignored him.

“This is...a release of energy...strong enough to be felt around the world.”

“I’ll try looking into it way more...I’ll try to understand it...”

“No...”

“This is impossible...”

Mukawa recoiled back. He let go of Otto’s forehead and fell on his back. Otto quickly opened his eyes and started wiping them. Erwin, concerned, went to help Mukawa get up.

“So? What did you see?!” Erwin asked.

“I saw...a release of soul prowess.” Mukawa said. “Somehow, through some sheer fucking miracle, this weird loophole worked. But I still don’t know what I saw.”

“Tell me everything you saw.” Otto said. “I could see a few things myself, I felt something powerful too.”

“That’s...all I could see.” Mukawa said. “A powerful release that was felt around the world. I couldn’t identify anything more about it. If I kept on trying to look, my own head would explode.”

“What a lie.”

“I know damn well what I sensed.”

“Then is it fair to assume that it would be something that Kaito Kamiki did?” Otto asked. “If it is the case, and if it is true that he would step onto the battlefield...our victory is assured.”

“We can assume that, I guess. If our work is done right, he will intervene directly regardless.” Mukawa said.

“Whatever the hell it was...”

“It was something radiating with hatred.”

“Repressing that much hatred is way too painful. For his sake, he needs to make himself heard. Even if it’s a release that will echo throughout the whole world.”

“So, which one will it be?” Sakuto asked. “Gotta move out tomorrow. I reckon if we wipe them out quickly enough it’ll affect the votes. Many Dyemanists forced to vote for Sheller probably do it for the payroll...”

“Lay out the options one more time.” Oskar said.

“Option one, I call Mr. Kamiki right now. I tell them that we’re going to do what we’re going to do. He’ll give us orders, we’ll convince him to give us the green light, and we might even get some help from his agents here.”

“Option two, I contact the Heisei about this. Ultimately, it’ll result in just a higher chance of convincing Mr. Kamiki, since the Heisei won’t do anything without his orders. But it’ll at least make sure we have a proper team for the raid.”

“And option three, I somehow get into contact with Jackal. I ask him to help us out with this job. And after we’re done, I’ll kill him. But to be fair, just straight up backstabbing him won’t be effective, and I’ll feel like a dirtbag for the rest of my life. I’m sure we’ll work something out though.”

The two sat down on the balcony of their hotel in D.C., watching the police below scavenge the streets as if they were hunting for gold. Their new hotel room belonged to the same hotel chain as the one in California, so it was pretty similar by design. Sakuto looked into the distance, while Oskar lit a cigarette.

“Since when do you smoke?” Sakuto asked.

“Not every day you get to be in this mood. We’ve got a big thing planned tomorrow, and most importantly, you’re bound to fight Jackal sooner or later. Things are gonna change.” Oskar said. “This feels surreal.”

“Could’ve just told me that you want to look cool.” Sakuto said. “But yeah...things will change. Be it for the better or for the worse. Don’t know if I’ll get to see the day after.”

They shared a silence for a few minutes.

“Ever heard of Night Ocean?” Oskar asked.

“Of course.”

“Probably the most powerful political and corporate entity on this planet. Filled to the brim with the worst, most manipulative evil.” Oskar said. “All it took to break it apart was a group of terrorist madmen who decided to change the world. And now there’s the BSBM, it’s son. And we’re the ones taking the role of the madmen now.”

“To think we’d come this far...” Sakuto sighed. “Used to be just two idiots playing videogames.”

“I guess...” Oskar said, zoned out.

“So, which option is it?” Sakuto asked. “Hard to pick who we pull into this mess or what chain of events we end up kickstarting...”

Oskar was quiet. He eventually put the cigarette down. He looked into the distance as a chilly evening wind caressing his face.

“Ausra reached out to me with this, didn’t she?”

“It’s not because of my strength or connections that she did so. If she wanted a guaranteed way to carry this out, she’d try talking to Mr. Kamiki directly.”

“She chose me directly because...”

The realization sparked a flame of resolve within his eyes.

”...she trusts me.”

“We’re not picking any options, Sakuto.” Oskar said, standing up and tossing the cigarette out of the balcony. “We’ll go in there alone. Just the two of us.”

“Huh?” Sakuto seemed pleasantly surprised, as his lips formed a subtle smirk of excitement.

“We’re not getting anyone else. No Mr. Kamiki, no Heisei, and definitely no Jackal. We go in, kill their board of executives, and leave. Fuck it, we might not even need a diversion for this shit. We just go through the main entrance and kill anything that tries to stop us.”

“Not even a call to get the green light?”

“Rather do it first then apologize to Mr. Kamiki instead of wasting time trying to convince him.” Oskar said. He extended his hand to Sakuto.

“Like you said, things are gonna change. Maybe for the worse.” Oskar said. “I want this to be proof of our friendship. If something does end up happening to you, at least I’d rest easy knowing we did something like this together. Come on, you in?”

Sakuto smiled and laughed a little. He got up and accepted the brotherly handshake.

“Thought you’d never fucking ask.” Sakuto said.

“Just the thought alone...”

“Just the idea to destroy something so utterly soulless...”

“Feels crazy, doesn’t it?” Sakuto asked, standing up.

“Sure does.” Oskar sighed. “I’m happy I got you by my side.”

“Then let’s get active.”