“Sweet. When they’re almost to the house, take your shots. I’ll run down there while they’re panicking and snatch the boss. See you guys in a bit!” I exclaim and jump over the edge of the roof, down to a deserted alley.
(Master, you will not be able to walk after a fall from this height)
What? I quickly touch my triskele as the ground comes rushing up to greet me. I port back to the rooftop, only to have both of my ankles snap like twigs.
“FUCK! SHIT! DAMMIT! OUCH MOTHERFUCKER!” I yell and cough up some blood as the price for porting a distance less than a hundred meters.
(Porting does not change your body’s physics, Master. Next time, aim for a softer target like snow or water… actually, you’d still be fucked… Next time, take a deep breath and port into space, or better yet, don’t jump off of anymore buildings)
“COLE!” the girls all shout and rush over to me.
“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING!?” Cheza screams.
“I OBVIOUSLY THOUGHT I COULD MAKE IT!” I shout back.
“Why did you think that you would be fine after falling over one hundred feet?” Natasha asks.
“Well, Superman can leap tall buildings in a single bound, which involves falling the height of a building, so why not me?” I ask, trying to keep my voice in check.
“Because Superman can fly.” Natasha replies.
“Not in the original comics. Fuuuuuuuuuuck!” I exhale in pain.
(Master, I am unable to attend to your injuries as they are)
“You don’t mean…”
(I’m afraid so)
“Fuck me sideways. Okay. Cheza, Natasha, I need you two to reset my ankles, preferably at the same time” I tell them and pull out my wallet in preparation.
“On three, okay Cheza?” Natasha says; Cheza nods in response and I place my wallet betwixt my teeth. “One, two, three!” *Crack*
“MMMMMMM!” I scream, muffled by leather.
“So what do we do now?” Yui asks.
“Natasha, cover Cheza as she goes down and nabs the leader. Cheza, bring the leader back here and I’ll port all of us to someplace more secure.” I plan.
“Fine…” Cheza pointedly replies as she walks to the stairwell.
“Cole, can you come spot for me?” Natasha asks.
“Sure, just give me a sec.” I reply and painfully drag myself over to the edge of the roof as I feel my internal organs realigning.
“Cole? Can you see what I’m doing?” Cheza thinks as I get an image of her walking down the stairs. “Can you see what I’m doing here? It’s called using the stairs, like an intelligent person.”
“Yeah, yeah; just be careful, alright?” I reply.
“HA! That is the single most hypocritical thing you’ve ever said to me.” Cheza responds as she walks down the street towards the compound.
Cheza approaches the main entrance and the two soldiers standing guard go on alert. Natasha quickly drops both of them without alerting the other guards. Natasha starts taking out the soldiers on the walkway with precise headshots as Cheza enters the compound. The guards suddenly take notice of their missing/dead compatriots and floodlights illuminate the compound. A score of soldiers comes out of the house and engages Cheza as Natasha takes out the remaining soldiers on the walkway. Cheza sprints forward and quickly stabs one of the soldiers twice, freezing him. Cheza vaults over the frozen soldier and scissor cuts through the neck of the soldier behind him. A guard sweeps around behind her and begins firing at her; the bullets are unable to penetrate her suit, but that doesn’t make me any less worried.
“Tasha, Cheza needs help!” I think.
“I’m a bit busy keeping the other soldiers on the grounds from ganging up on her!” Natasha exclaims.
“Relax, Cole; I’ve got this.” Cheza thinks. A large fog bank suddenly surrounds the compound.
“Cheza, what’s going on!?” I ask.
“I’m simply utilizing the sixty percent humidity in the air by super cooling it to create fog.” Cheza replies.
“And now I can’t see anything…” Natasha comments.
“Here, I can still see their auras.” I reply and Natasha hands the M110 over.
I peer through the scope and start taking shots at the guards as I receive an image from Cheza in my closed left eye. She dodges around the soldiers and enters the compound. She sprints down the hall and throws a Shoji partition open, finding no one there so she moves on. The next door she throws open has the two men and the woman who exited the car earlier. One of the men draws his katana and meets Cheza halfway. Cheza parries the guard’s slash as the second bodyguard moves around to her side while bringing up an MP7A1.
Cheza slams her foot into the ground and an ice spear erupts from the wall behind the second bodyguard, shooting through the back of his neck and out through his mouth. The katana wielding bodyguard reaches back with his left hand and pulls a Glock 22 .40 S&W pistol from his waistband; I’m surprised that he can even hold onto the sword at all when his hand is freezing. Taking a hand off his katana turns out to be the wrong move because now Cheza is able to catch the katana in the gap of a Synergistic blade and disarm him before bringing her other blade through the guard’s neck, which is what she does.
With the bodyguards eliminated, Cheza rushes over to the boss, throws the lady over her shoulder, and runs out. The boss lady starts shouting as Cheza blows past the soldiers, causing everyone to start following Cheza while I provide covering fire until the M110 mag runs dry. Cheza runs back to the building, up the stairs, and onto the rooftop.
“We should probably go now.” Cheza announces over the screaming of the boss lady whilst slightly out of breath.
Natasha quickly packs up her shit and the girls all grab my arm as I touch my Haglaz rune. When we port into Jason’s room, the boss is still screaming so I cover her mouth with my left hand and force my blood down her throat. She passes out a few second later.
“See you guys in a little while.” I say before my eyes close.
****
I find myself floating in a dark space once again and I can honestly say that I’m getting sick of this shit.
(Master, I figured that you would want to see this first hand)
“Alright, let’s get this over with. What do you have?”
The world flashes white before showing me an image of the room in the mansion where Cheza found the boss lady. Standing in front of me/the boss lady is a familiar looking man that is about a foot taller than the boss lady with white hair and grey-blue eyes. Jack Evari, wearing his signature all-black suit and maroon tie, starts speaking Japanese for a moment before the translation kicks in.
“—will come on Wednesday. With the new enhancement, I want you to start hunting the kitsune. Killing a few of them should be enough to grab his attention. I’ll be in touch.” Jack Evari says and the scene fades out.
“Are there any more like that?” I ask once I return to floating in the darkness.
(No, there aren’t any more memories with Jack Evari)
“Well was that the entire memory? What about introductions or anything?”
(Yes, I found the lack of introductions to be odd as well. It’s almost as if this woman had her memories erased)
Who in the fuck is Jack Evari?
****
I come to in Jason’s room to the sound of Yui, Cheza, and Natasha chatting on the couch.
“So then I sat down on his face while Natasha was doing her thing.” Cheza says.
“Okay! This conversation is over! How did you guys even get on that topic?” I inquire.
“Cole! Did you learn anything?” Cheza innocently asks.
“I saw the face of the man behind it and he’s someone I sort of know.” I reply.
“Really? Who?” Yui asks.
“A man I only know by the name of Jack Evari. He was giving orders to the head of the US Templars, but that’s all I know about him. I’ve scanned the only two people I know of that have met him, and I still don�
�t have any clue as to his whereabouts or even who he really is. Even Ryuji hasn’t been able to find anything on him…” I answer.
“So what do we do now?” Yui questions.
“We get on with our lives. That woman was directly responsible for the deaths for your sister and your friends so the murders will stop.” I tell her somewhat harshly.
Tears well up in Yui’s eyes as she glares at me. I walk over and hoist the boss lady over my shoulder and grab Yui’s arm as I touch my Haglaz rune. I drop her and the boss lady off at the fox statue at the shrine in Kyoto before touching my Haglaz rune to port back, but nothing happens due to the time limitation.
“Sayonara, Yui.” I give my final words of farewell and start walking away. I continue walking for a minute before touching my Haglaz and porting back to Jason’s room.
“Cole! What in the hell was that about!?” Cheza angrily demands.
“I was just separating her from my life so that she doesn’t end up dead because of me. Jack Evari obviously has some sort of vendetta against me and I’m the reason he wanted the kitsune killed in the first place; for what exactly? I’m not sure.” I respond.
After ordering the attack on Natasha, and I’m pretty sure that he was referring to me when he said that killing a few kitsune would draw ‘him’ out, a vendetta seems likely.
“You still didn’t have to act like a dick.” Cheza proclaims.
I don’t bother to say that being a dick was the only way to have Yui avoid me permanently. Reyna barges into the room and thankfully interrupts us.
“We’re going dress shopping tomorrow!” Reyna announces.
Oh, boy!
…
Chapter 17: 27 Dresses/ Circles of Hell
[November 8th] Day 1, 1100 hours:
“This isn’t so bad; I honestly thought dress shopping would be way worse, but these couches are pretty comfy!” Jason exclaims.
“I know, right!? I was expecting blood curdling amounts of agony, but this is more like judging a costume contest or something.” I reply.
“What do you guys think of this one?” Cheza asks while Natasha moves the dressing curtain aside. The one hundred eighty degrees of mirror behind her makes me dizzy for a moment as I look at the swathes of white lace on Reyna.
“I like it!” Jason says.
“Me too.” I agree.
“I’m not so sure, let me try on one more.” Reyna says and shuts the curtain.
(Bumbum)
“What?”
Reyna opens up the curtain ten minutes later and appears to be wearing the same dress.
“I thought you were going to try on another dress?” I inquire.
“I am. This one is more traditional lace.” Reyna replies.
“This one is okay.” Jason says.
“Really? I kinda like this one… let me try on another.” Reyna says and shuts the curtain.
(Bumbum Bum Bumbum)
“Airi, what are you doing?”
(Providing foreshadowing background music)
“Huh?”
(You’ll see, Master)
Dress #3:
Jason and I: “I like this one!”
Reyna: “I’m not so sure… I’m going to try on one more.”
Dress #4:
Jason and I: “That one’s not so great.”
Reyna: “I like this one… well, I do have a few more to try on.”
Dress #5:
Jason and I: “This one is alright.”
Cheza: “Okay, let’s start rating these on a scale of one through five.”
“Why not one through ten?” I ask.
“Because that’s too many numbers!” Cheza replies.
Reyna: “Okay, I give this one a two.”
Cheza: “Really? I’d give it at least a two point five.”
Natasha: “I say a three point five. Judges’ ruling?”
Jason and I: “Three.”
“So this dress averages out to a two point seven five.” Cheza says while typing on her phone.
Dress #6:
Jason and I: “Four.”
Reyna: “One point five.”
Cheza: “Two point two five.
Natasha: “Two point five.”
“Okay, if you guys are going to use decimals, then just rate it on a scale of one through ten!” I exclaim.
“Because that’s too many numbers to choose from!” the girls all exclaim.
“By using decimals, you have the same amount numbers to choose from, if not more!” I retort.
“Okay, so this dress gets a three point oh five.” Cheza says, completely ignoring me as Natasha shuts the curtain again.
“Hey bro, have you noticed how every dress that we like, the girls rank lower?” Jason whispers.
“Yeah, I did pick up on that. Let’s try some reverse psychology on the next one.” I reply and we wait for the next dress.
Dress #7:
I like this dress so I look over at Jason and give him a curt nod and he returns it.
“One.” I say.
“Five.” Jason says simultaneously.
“Three.” The girls all say and shut the curtain.
“What happened to reverse psychology?” I whisper.
“That’s what I was doing; I told them what I really thought of it so they would think I thought the opposite and would judge it higher.” Jason explains.
“What? That’s not reverse psychology; that’s… something else entirely. Just say the opposite of what you think and we should be good.” I reply.
…
[November 10th] Day 3, 1000 hours:
Jason and I: “Five.”
The Girls: “Two.”
“Okay, it is apparent that our opinions don’t actually matter.” I announce.
“What makes you think that?” Cheza asks.
“For the past two days, we’ve been mind-fucking you guys into rating the dresses we like higher because you guys go in the opposite direction of whatever we say!” Jason exclaims.
“What!? You guys! We just wanted your honest opinions!” Reyna replies.
“You want my honest opinion? Fine!” Jason responds.
(There’s a storm a comin’)
After two days of dress shopping, we are both mentally exhausted so I know something bad is coming even without Airi’s warning, but I’m not quite quick enough to stop this impending disaster.
“That mermaid-style dress makes you look like a manatee that has been gorging itself on deep-fried fish slathered in chocolate!” Jason exclaims, not holding back at all.
I pinch my eyes shut and start shaking my head as all three girls glare at him. Jason’s eyes grow wide as his mind comprehends what he just said to the four weeks pregnant mother of his child. Cheza forms an ice dagger and hands it to Reyna, who swiftly throws it into Jason’s stomach.
“AUGH!” Jason shouts as the curtain slams shut.
“FUCK BRO! How do you deal with this happening on a regular basis!?” Jason screams.
“Just wait; I still have to pull it out. On three; one, two, three!” I announce and yank the dagger out of his stomach with my right hand before quickly covering the wound with my left hand to form a seal with my blood.
“SHIT! DAMN THIS HURTS!” Jason yells.
“I know, bro; I know. So what did we learn?” I ask like I’m talking to a child.
“Our opinions don’t matter. OUR OPINIONS DON’T MATTER!” Jason shouts hysterically.
“Poor newbies. I remember when I first figured it out. It’s okay; it does get better. Just remember that your real opinions don’t matter… but your fake ones do. Tell them what they want to hear, and you’re golden.” An old man says while passing by.
“Thank you! Thank you, wise sage!” Jason exclaims, cracking slightly.
…
[November 11th] Day 4, 1300 hours:
“Alright so we need to have all the bridesmaids’ dresses be halter tops since Naia won’t be able to wear any other kind of dress without severe
modifications and it would look stupid if the dresses aren’t all the same.” Reyna says.
“Of course!” Cheza replies.
“Definitely.” Natasha agrees.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the store…
“I’VE GOT IT! We’re obviously stuck in a time loop and if we don’t do something, this will just keep repeating itself for eternity!” Jason exclaims.
“Of course! It’s so simple! So how do we stop it?” I ask.
“I’m going to try this.” Jason says and takes off in a full speed sprint, straight into the marble wall. Jason rebounds off the wall as blood flies from his face.
“Did it work?” Jason groans while blood dribbles from his mouth.
“Hey boys, we’re still going to be at least another hour.” Cheza comes over and informs us.
“No.” I tell Jason.
…
[November 12th] Day 5, 1100 hours:
“I found the door, but it wouldn’t open… it just wouldn’t open! No matter how hard I pulled on the door!” Jason hysterically exclaims.
“It must’ve been locked… The key out of here must be behind my eye! Cole, take this spoon and use it to get the key out from behind my eye!” Jason tells me.
“Where did you get a spoon?” I ask.
“I found it yesterday. I’ve been using it to try and tunnel out of this hell hole, but marble is much harder than a metal spoon. Now hurry up and gouge my eye out!” Jason demands.
“I’m not going to gouge your eye out, bro.” I reply.
“Fine! I’ll do it then!” Jason shouts and brings the spoon to his eye.
“No! There is no key behind your eye! This is not a SAW movie!” I exclaim as I grab the spoon and try to wrestle it away from him.
“That is not the way to get out of this! We just have to serve our time.” I tell him and Jason breaks down into tears.
“I know, bro; I know.” I say as I comfort him.
…
[November 13th] Day 6, 1400 hours:
As I’m banging my head against the marble wall, Cheza comes over and smacks me.
“Would you stop that!? All that banging is giving me a headache! Just go into the corner and talk to the spoon with Jason!” Cheza orders.
In the corner, Jason is rocking back and forth while holding the spoon with both hands.
Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 15
