POV EROS
Its been a few days since we had our call with Summer, and things have been interesting lately.
I had made a commission for Nicole to look for Summer and she had accepted the request instantly.
But during the few days, she had no luck on finding her. I tried to tell her that it was okay and she could take her time, but she promised me she would show results.
However, no results were made, and it was causing a small problem for her. She was taking fewer hours of sleep, and she was pushing the rest of her members to stay up late to find Summer.
I told her it was okay if she didn't find her, and she could take a small break. However, my words have caused her pride to be bruised, and vowed to find her, if not, she would return the money I gave her.
And that leaves us to our current situation, all of the cunning hares in our base, with exhaustion.
Both Nicole and Anby were on the couch we had bought a few days ago, thanks to Belle getting us commissions and splitting the money.
Billy himself was on a chair that was off to the corner, while I was on the counter, writing down reposts and signing documents.
Ah, speaking of documents, besides the calls across dimensions, we found out that Nightingale was able to send the papers through, all we needed was a fax machine.
As soon as I received the first few documents, I was forced to add more paper, so I took the chance to start reading and signing while they printed.
The amount of documents was slowly piling up, and soon, I had documents surrounding me.
"Wow, just staring at you working on those papers, I'm glad I'm not you." Nicole commented as she saw me move a few stacks to the side, which Hecate took away to be sent back to my home.
"Well, when you are gone for a few days, work will always come back to haunt you." I replied without looking at her.
I then held out my hand for something, and Crache appeared with a mug of coffee. While taking another mug that was empty.
"You really need to lay back on that coffee, that's your fifth one today." She said with concern, I on the other hand didn't seem to be fazed.
In fact, I still felt tired from the amount I had drank. I took a sip of the bitter drink that was in my hand, and continued to sign and write down multiple papers.
"Sir, how long will you be busy with all of those reports." Anby asked me, while placing another stack of papers next to me.
"Anby, you don't need to be formal with me, and it might take me all day to finish only a small amount." I slid the next stack to the side and soon grabbed the paper on the top from the next stack.
The only sound that resounded through the lobby, was the sound of the pen lightly scratching against the paper.
"Okay, we're not going to spend our entire day lazying about, we're eating out!" Nicole abruptly stood up and ran to my side.
"W-wait, I have to…!" Nicole then placed her finger on my lips, while shushing me.
"I don't care, you need rest like the rest of us, and you had five cups of coffee, that's not healthy." She stated and began to drag me outside.
"But five cups isn't enough, I need at least ten to be in the danger zone." This caused the entire cunning hares to look at me in shock.
"T-t-t-ten?!" Nicole shrieked at my words and gripped my shoulder and began to shake me back and forth.
"How are you alive, no, are you even human?!" She asked me with panic across her face.
"I am, but I will lose all the coffee I drank if you keep shaking me." Nicole then did so and sighed, but then resumed dragging me outside.
"Gang were going out for some foo!" She said while pointing forward.
"Yay, we finally get to have some real food!" Billy shouted with excitement and was the first to get out.
"Wait, but Billy is an android…" However, I was tossed into the car by Nicole and was on the passenger side, with Billy, Anby, and Nekomata in the back seat.
"Hey what about us?!" Hella complained, with Hecate and Crache next to her.
"Chief, are you leaving us?" Hecate asked, her hands gripping her sketch book.
"No, I'm not leaving you." I said and go off, Nicole could only sputter and tried to stop me, but I had already slammed the door and stood in first of them.
"We're all going to eat together, and I want you three to be with me." I smiled and patted all their heads.
"I'll pass, there's some areas that I want to check out." Crache said and soon walked away, disappearing as soon as she stepped into the shadows.
"What about you two?" I asked both Hella and Hecate, Hella instantly ran towards the car, kicking her legs as she jumped through the window.
"I'll go wherever you go." Hecate pinched her fingers on my sleeve, and stood by my side.
Looking closer, I could see the edges of her mouth were moving up, forming a small smile that not many people could see.
The two of us then squeezed ourselves in the passenger seat, and I had Hecate sit on my lap.
"We're all set, let's good." I said to Nicole, who looked like she had swallowed a lemon, but she put the car in drive and soon moved forward.
"By the way, where are we going?" I asked her, while looking at the abandoned buildings pass by.
"Waterfall soup, the best place to eat in the whole city." I remembered the place, it was a small restaurant that was next to Random Play.
[Ramen, what I'd do to have a taste of it.] Suddenly, a bowl of ramen appeared in front of her, and she giggled in delight.
As Nicole drove to the restaurant, I decided to take a small nap, since I had been staying up late to finish the documents I had received.
After a napping for a few hours, I opened my eyes to the sound of a fence closing, while looking down, Hecate was also asleep.
"Hey there, seems you took a good nap, now get out." Nicole said and pointed behind her, gesturing the both of us to get off.
"Just give us a minute." I said while shaking Hecate awake, gently mind you, Nicole only rolled her eyes and huffed, but left us.
"Chief, are we there yet?" Hecate asked me while rubbing her eyes.
"Yes, yes we are." I said and opened the door, Hecate then stepped out and soon looked normal, neutral.
While I stepped out and stretched my body,strong my muscles relax from sitting in Nicole's car.
"I'll admit, that was one of best naps I had in a while." I yawned, not noticing the shirt I was wearing lifted up slightly.
Exposing the muscles I have, causing Belle, who was the one who closed the fence, to blush and grip the lock hard.
She then pulled her phone as she felt it vibrate, and read a message, only for her blush to be more noticeable and she shoved her phone back in her jacket.
"Are you alright Belle, you seem to be burning up." Noticing her red face, I made my way towards her and placed my hand on her forehead, feeling the temperature.
"I-I-I'm fine, just feeling a bit warm from this heat." She said and laughed nervously, barely making eye contact with me.
"Alright, enough with the delay, we're here for food, and we're getting food!" Nicole shouted and made her way inside the store through the back door.
"Wait, what does she mean about food?" Belle asked, thanking Nicole mentally in the change of topics.
"Well, Nicole had no luck when she tried to search for Summer, while I was swamped with documents." I explained, walking with Belle to my side.
"Wow, sucks to suck, glad I'm not doing your job." She said while placing her hand in the pockets of the jacket.
"Yes, sucks to suck." I sighed and soon exited through the front door with Hella and Hecate in tow.
"Now that I think about it, why are you still signing documents?" She asked me, as we made our way to the restaurant.
"Because most of the facilities need my signature." I replied while arriving at the restaurant.
"Such as?"
"Finances, weaponry, medical, food, transportation." I listed out a few things I had to sign.
"Oh, now I feel bad." Belle said while rubbing her arm.
"It's fine, you didn't know at the time, nor do you have the experience." I said with a smile soon, the both of us arrived at the restaurant.
"Hey, you two took your time, what were you talking about?" Nicole asked with a teasing smile
"Work, that's all it was." I replied and soon stood to the side, since there was no space left for me to sit down.
"Ohoho, seems I'm having a good pay day." General chop said with a wide grin, while his mechanical Bambi arms gave two thumbs up.
"General, good to see that your business is running smoothly." I come complimented the man, he only laughed and shook his head.
"Nice try, no discount for you." He said with one of his eyes closed, and soon prepared himself to start cooking.
"So, the other four had made their order, what will the both of you be having this fine evening?" He asked both me and Belle.
"I'll have the seafood noodles." General cop nodded and jotted down my order, he then turned his focus to Belle.
"BBQ boodles for me." Belle said with a wide grin, with our two orders jotted down, he placed the paper top the side and soon began to prepare our orders.
"While we wait, who was the most dangerous person you had to find, Eos?" Nicole asked me, I then hummed at the thought and began to recall the sinners I had faced.
"Out of the most dangerous sinners I had to detain, it would have to be Nox." I said and recalled how difficult it was to detain her.
FLASH BACK
It was raining during the time when we had found Nox, and the sound of thunder and lighting cracked above us.
As the streak of lightning flashed above us once again, it began to light the body of Nox.
Nox herself wore a large dress, with the sides opening from her thigh to her feet, her skin was bleached white, while her hands were the opposite, it was black like the night sky
Her feet weren't as dark as her hands, but they had black lines that started from her legs, all the way towards her feet.
Finally, her hair. Her hair reached all the way down to her feet, and it was the same color as her skin, white.
She was a walking corpse, and yet, her skin and body looked perfectly fine, as if she wasn't dead.
"Sir, sinner Nox has been found, proceeding to detain her." One of the solders said and tried to approach her, followed by other solders to provide support.
However as they got too close, I noticed that their movements were becoming more sluggish, more strained, exhausted even.
'There shouldn't be anything to cause exhaustion, is there another sinner helping her?' I thought and began to search the surrounding.
However, I heard the sound of flesh being stabbed, followed by the scream of pain, looking back up, Nox was holding what looked like a large blade.
The entire blade was pitch black, with bits and pieces of mania sticking on the blade itself, the handle had pieces of cloth around it, acting like a grip.
The size of it was bigger than her, and yet, as she removed the blade from the corpse, she was able to do it with one hand.
"You may rest now, you no longer need to suffer…" Her voice had an echo, as if she stood in a tunnel, she then began to drag her sword behind her, lifting it high and stabbing it in the next solder.
Seeing this, I saw the blade plunging through the armor with ease. Yet I remained calm, blood and death was a normal occurrence for me, so I began to analyze the situation at hand.
First off the solders became weak as soon as they approached her, but with the lack of a second sinner near by, it meant she was the only one who was causing this.
The only question was how, I began to look at the solders, but with their bodies were covered in armor, I couldn't tell what was happening.
Until I saw the ground beneath her, the grass that was surrounding her was slowly withering and slowly dying. I widened my eyes in shock, but then shouted.
"Fall back, Nox can drain the vitality of anything that is alive!" Hearing my voice, all of the solders began to pull back, increasing the gap to not get too close.
Nox didn't focus on us, instead, she finished off the last two solders and muttered under her breath.
She then turned her focus towards me, and raised her blade towards me.
"Your suffering is the greatest of them all, let me put you to rest." Her voice echoed, she slowly made her way towards us.
"Open fire!" Hearing my orders, all of the solders began to pull to fire towards Nox, however she raised her blade and slammed it in front of her blocking the bullets that flew towards her.
"Keep firing, don't let her get close!" I said and began to think of a plan, however, I didn't have long before I saw what looked like a black fog began to form around her.
"Take cover!" I shouted, but it was too late, she raised her blade and swung it, sending out a shock wave that blew all of us towards the ground.
As I stood up I had enough time to see her swinging her blade once again, this time, I was prepared for the shock wave and stood my ground.
However, she also sent a black arc towards me, I didn't have enough time to dodge, but I was pushed to the floor by a solder.
I looked up and was about to give thanks, but my blood turned cold when I saw the upper body of the solder bleeding from the waist, and the upper part soon slid off, falling onto the floor.
I didn't waste time and called for nightingale, and began to shuffle away as far as I could.
"Nightingale, I need reinforcements, Nox has been identified as an S rank sinner, she drains the vitality of any living being!" I shouted and took the chance to scramble to my feet
As I was running away, I felt a gust of wind behind me, I took the chance to jump to the side to avoid another black arc, watching it slice into the stone.
"Roger chief, reinforcements are on the way." Was all she said, soon multiple vehicles soon arrived, with the solders wearing heavier armor and with a few hyper cube generators on their backs.
"Protect the chief!" One of the soldiers shouted and stood in front of me, barely blocking the black arc with a large shield.
I sighed in relief that they were able to block it, only to panic when I saw the solder was thrown into the air, and in front of me stood Nox.
The blade was to the side, and I turned towards the solder, seeing them imbedded to the wall.
"Shit!" Was the only thing I said and rolled to the side, avoiding the downward strike, and a large dust cloud was kicked up.
I coughed at the amount of dust that was in the air and began to wipe the air, but I felt myself growing weaker, my entire body was feeling heavy.
Above me was Nox, her hair dangling to the sides, and I could see her eyes, they were dead, white as her skin and hair.
"Do not struggle, it will only make the pain last longer." Her voice echoed above me, she began to lift her blade above me, and had it aimed against my throat.
I couldn't do much, in fact, I felt as if my entire body was covered in ice, freezing, and slowly dying.
'Well, death wasn't so bad, the only bad thing is that I'll feel the pain.' I thought, I expected Nox to plunge the sword, but instead, I saw a metallic arm strike Nox.
"Take the chief behind the front lines! The rest of you, hold her back!" Shouted the solder, and I felt a pair of arms dragging me back.
Nox stabbed the large blade into the ground, slowing herself until she stopped, when she raised her head, she saw multiple solders.
Some held a sword and shield, while others held dual axes, however, she wasn't fazed, instead, she stood up and slung the sword on her shoulder, while leaning forward.
"Death is your only destiny." She said and plunged her foot into the ground, launching herself forward with her sword above her.
"Shields!" A row of solders then stood in front of her with their shields raised, the second her sword made contact with the shield, the ground underneath them cracked and sunk.
A few solders took the chance to flank her from her sides, but she didn't need to see them, instead she used the shield in front of her to jump into the air and away from the group.
As she was far enough, she took the chance to run towards them again, but instead of swinging her sword towards them, she grabbed a large piece of rubble and tossed it towards them.
Forcing them to separate from one another, which Nox took the chance to appear in front of one of them and strike them.
Only to be parried and forced to dodge, but she didn't move back and rushed in for another strike.
As the battle continued to both of them exchanged strikes and blows, but with Nox being a sinner, and contaminated with large amounts of mania, the solder was being pushed back.
"Requesting reinforcements, I don't know how mu…" The solder then felt a strike from its chest, and soon raised their head to see Nox's fist imbedded in the armor.
As soon as she pulled her hand back, she stabbed the spot where the armor was dented with her sword.
"Rest, you will suffer no longer." She whispered and pulled her sword back, and the solder soon crumpled to the floor.
Nox swung her blade, removing the blood from the fallen solder and began to walk towards where I was.
However, she didn't get far when two solders appeared behind her, both of them had their weapons raised and were about to strike her from behind.
Only for Nox to spin in a full circle, cutting both of them in the air and continued to walk forward.
As the two bodies fell, she soon found me and walked slowly towards me, her sword creating sparks along the floor.
"Why do you resist, why do you wish to suffer, just let me put you to rest." Her voice echoed as she tried to reach for me, instead, a few robots fell in front of her, blocking her from getting close to me.
"The hero has arrived." A voice was heard, looking up, I saw Summer on her drones, all aimed towards Nox.
"Chief, are you alright?" Hecate was by my side helping me stand, placing my arm over her shoulder.
"For now, yes." I said, soon more machines fell, creating a protective barrier in between me and Nox.
"Chief all systems are go, just give the word." Summer said while floating down next to me, I was able to stand on my two feet, and pushed my hair back, letting it fall and stared at Nox.
"Subdue her." Summer grinned at my words, while Hecate raised her hand, the small orb of mania twisting and forming in her hands.
"Roger that." She adjusted her glasses and pointed at Nox.
"Fire!" All of the drones that surrounded her began to glow, firing pink beams towards Nox and kicking up a large dust cloud.
As soon as her firing ended, we waited to see if there was any reaction, all of the solders soon arrived in front of us, and were aiming at the cloud.
"Chief, please get back, we don't know when Nox will attack." Hecate began to guide me away, only to stop when a large gust of wind blew behind us.
However, I didn't panic and remained calm, the sound of metal piercing stone was heard, as I turned around, I saw a few drones piercing the ground, with Nox under a large steel net.
"This is Alabast, Nox is secured." I groaned and knelt down, placing my hand on the back of her neck, and activated the shackles.
FLASH BACK END
"Wow, that was intense." Nicole said while placing her bowl back down, while Billy was hugging Nekomata
"And scary, I don't think we can handle someone that strong." Nekomata was slapping Billy's arm to let her go.
"Billy, you big scaredy cat let me go!" Billy did so and gave a quick apology, but Nekomata only huffed and soon made her way to my side.
"So, will you be able to catch her if you find her?" Nekomata asked, I only placed my hand on her head and lightly scratched her ears.
"I don't know, unless we find Summer, we don't try have a good chance on stopping her." I sighed, with the atmosphere becoming tense, Belle took the chance to hold my arm and pull me away.
As soon as Nekomata felt my hand leave, she glared at Belle, but she crossed her arms and pouted.
"Okay, that's enough with the depressing talk, it's late, and you need some sleep mister." She said and waved goodbye at the cunning hares.
"Night you guys, don't let the sinners bite." She said with a smile, Hella and Hecate soon followed us.
"W-wait, you can't just leave lead us to pay for your bill!" Nicole called out, but it was too late, Belle had closed the door as soon as Hecate and Hella entered, leaving the four of them in front of the shop.
"So, you paying for them?" General chop asked while crossing his arms, while the bamboo hands held a spoon in each hand.
Tears began to fall from her eyes as she was forced to pull out her purse, handing the dennies to him.
"Damn you Belllllllllllllle!"
[Haha! Deserved broke girl, ahhh, I love it when she has to pay, though I do feel bad for her. Oh well, not my problem, anyways, sorry for the slice of life moment, but the excitement will return soon, send those power stones to show support, and see you next time. Bye Bye!]