Eden Virus
Chapter 40

Copyright© 2020 by JTaKeo

CLANK

“Ugh!!!” Takuya grunted as he held his arms in pain. Over and over again he ran his newly empowered blades through his colossal target yet,

“Not a single mark or dent?” He exclaimed trying to calm his shaking hands. His knives that no longer broke immediately upon impact, every contact made brought extreme feedback of vibrations that spread violently from his connected weapon to his entire body causing his arms to go numb. It was like hitting solid metal, but what he could not understand was how it was possible. The creature’s skin, blacken and giving off a pungent scent of burning flesh that could easily turn a person’s stomach inside out, was no different from the multitude of monsters he had ran his blades through before.

From physical contact made he was able to confirm it was pure flesh yet the same weapons that ripped through the others like so much silk skin tofu had no reaction. Every sense and all his experiences told to him such a thing just shouldn’t be but no matter his attempts, his attacks were thoroughly resisted and he could not inflict any damage.

“What the hell is this thing made of?!” He grasped the black blades in his hands so tightly they were leaving deep impressions onto his palms. Anger and frustration, overtaking him as he glared at the monster towering over them that had not given a single glance to his direction this entire time. As if there has not been even a lick acknowledgement of his attacks nor his existence, that he was so insignificant in this struggles he was not even worth the distraction.

WHAM

The impact of the President’s fist colliding with Armadat’s body sent it sliding back, but only slightly as it quickly reposition for another coming attack.

SLASH

And from the air came another destructive sound as Ryuuko’s mighty blade made contact with the creature’s equally mighty shield, the screeching howls of heavy metal scrapping together that sent waves of devastation blowing across the entire land. The aftermath of connection from the young girl’s blade slid past her massive target and tore apart the grounds where they stood.

“HAAAAAAH!!!” She screamed, the engines on her weapon roared again. Doubling her efforts she further forced her blade down, the thrusters letting out an explosive burst as she attempted to break through her opponent’s defenses but no matter the amount of force she applied to her attack, the shield blocking her did not falter. Still standing firm, with her attack held as easily as one might still a flying sword, she was unable to pierce Armadat’s defenses.

“TAKATORA WATCH OUT!!”

The warning broke her fixated clash. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the speeding flash of the spear and her weapon reversed its blast, pushing her out of the way from the incoming thrust. Ryuuko barely avoided the attack but even when she was thrown back, the cackling flames that clung to the weapon still was able to touch her her and in a blink of an eye spread throughout her entire body, covering her in a giant ball of white blaze.

“AAAAHHHHH!!!!” She shrieked as she felt the searing flames engulf her body. Immediately responding to her peril her weapon exhausted itself, the thrusters releasing a large burst of air and quickly blew away the flames before it could penetrate deeper into her skin. However the moment the fire was extinguished came another, as the enemy’s shield she had tried to push down rebounded and smashed back into her, slamming her from the air back to the ground like an insect being swatted down.

BAM

“Ahh...!”

Trying her best to endure the pain even as she crashed, her struggle to control her disorientation caused her to stumble. Knowing a followup is coming she forced herself back up as fast as she could and, as she predicted, her opponent was readying for a third attack. But before it could be launched, her clubmates sprung to her rescue. The flashing of sharp blades and screeching of metal from Takuya as he flew across the giant body, his knives still unable to inflict any real damage, but his extreme movements were enough to disrupted its concentration long enough for the President to also make his move, shooting his fist directly at its skull. The shattering blow forced Armadat back, leaping away from them and once again from the bolts of electricity that flew towards where it landed, keeping back as they let lose a rupturing battle cry.

“Ryuuko! Are you alright?!” Juntaro’s phone flew to where the heavily breathing girl was, scanning her for damage. Although the fire was extinguished almost immediately, Ryuuko was still covered in various first and second degree burns throughout her body. “Hold on! I should be able to force my system to a lower temperature, enough to cool off the worst of the burns.”

“T-thank you, senpai.” Ryuuko coughed, trying to catch her breath as her upperclassmen’s phone circled around her, letting out cooling jets that stinged but assisted in alleviating her pains.

“Even with the four of us, is it not enough?” Takuya panted as he and the president appeared to her, both of them sweating profusely and also struggling for breaths.

“Yes, it’s durable. Unbelievable so. I do not believe we are harming her.” Kenjirou cursed underneath his breath as he too looked down to see his shaking hands before clenching his fists. “How is she this powerful? Or are we still just too weak?”

A look of downcast spread to the boys’ face as the hopeless thoughts invaded their mind. Even after all that has happened, they were unable to make a turnaround in their long struggle against the daunting being before them.

“Don’t give up! A little more. Just a little more!” Ryuuko encouraged as she stood back up. The wounds of her body were slowly healing with each deep breath she took. The engine of her giant blade hummed as she carefully drove it to the ground and look towards the two boys with a face full of confidence. “If we continue to work together, I’m sure we will win. I know we can!”

“Hmph, indeed. We’ve already come this far, stopping now is not an option.” Kenjirou grunted as he adjusted his glasses. He cracked his knuckles before getting back to a fighting stance. “If it really is just a little more, as you say Takatora, then let’s give the last push.”

“Is this really all it’s coming down to? A test of endurance between us and that damn thing?! Dammit, dammit! Fine! I’ll keep going until I rip her apart!” Takuya gritted his teeth as he also took back a stance, forcing his trembling arms back to normalcy.

Everyone stared toward Armadat, eyes unblinking as they watched it effortlessly stood back up. Then, came something baffling that broke their composure as they watched it reached out its shielded limb and did an unexpected gesture; the movements resembling a beckoning towards them.

“Hey ... Hey! You’ve got to be kidding me. That thing ... did she really just...?!” Rage flared within Takuya when he saw what can be taken without mistake to be a taunt. “I will destroy her!!”

“Mindless, huh? Annoying.” The president growled, baring his teeth as he clutched his fist so hard blood poured from his nails ripping into his skin, his face turning into a look of murderous scowl.

“Ah! W-wait! Don’t fall for her provocation!” Ryuuko pleaded but her words went unheard by the two boys who were already set to move.

“Nothing like smashing your head on to a brick wall until either you or it break, eh? But even if you keep smashing as hard as you can, you won’t force a change I’ll tell you that right now.” Juntaro said as he floated in front of everyone just as they were to charge, his appearance stopping them in their tracks. “Why don’t we all just take a quick second to re-evaluate our plan of attack, hmm?”

“Senpai, why the hell are you so calm?!” Takuya spat. “Get out of my way!”

“I am? Huh, guess I am. Ha ha ha, looks I’m the cool-headed one right now, aren’t I?” He laughed in response. “Or could it be that I’m just the same and it is you guys who are losing your heads right now? Again, how about we take a quick second to re-think running in and getting butchered?”

SNAP

From his floating phone came a flash of bright light, that of a simple shutter from its camera. The two boys recoiled from the sudden light, it surprising them and breaking their concentrated movements, dumbfounding them as they shook themselves from the sudden flash.

“Huh? Wha-?” Takuya said as he placed his hand on his throbbing head.

“Fascinating. So, like a double edge it does intensifying the more primal emotions. The longer one stays like this ... hmm ... I’m going to have to make a note of this for further studies later.” Juntaro mumbled as he scratched his chin curiously.

“Mitsuhide, what are you talking about? Ugh...” The president asked as he shook to clear his head. There was a strange feeling, as if he had been in a daze moment earlier even as he was standing with awareness of everything he was doing.

“Feeling better? Ready to use your heads again?”

“Senpai, t-thank you.” Ryuuko said with a breath of relief.

“We’re going to have a discussion about this later when we get the chance but for now, here!” He pulled out multiple screens from his device filled with information for the group to see.

“While you were all madly hitting that thing, I took the opportunity to gather as much data as I could. As you might know she is able to go invisible, somehow hiding from my scanners and only when being struck does she actually show up. Of course, I’ve also been trying to attack as well, for all the good it would’ve done but ... tsk.” He said, clicking his tongue in frustration. “Thanks to my newly upgraded system, I was able to compile all of this within the small amount of time we’ve been fooling around with her. Amazing, isn’t it?”

“Senpai, unless this is going to help me to shove a knife into her and split her in half, this is a waste of time. Just cut to the chase and tell if you found any weakness or not and spare us your nonsense. We don’t have time for this!” Takuya said angrily as he waved the screens away from his face.

“Tch, damn kid. Are you stupid or just stupid? Take a look at my data first at the very least will you?!”

“What the hell are you even ... huh?!” He suddenly went quiet as he took a closer look and realized what his senior meant. “This is...”

“And you’re supposed to be the observant one. This is what happen when bravado and plain idiocy overtakes your reasoning, dummy.”

“Y-you...! S-shut up!!!” Takuya sputtered, his face red with both anger and embarrassment.

“Anyway, forgetting about him. Kenjirou, you got this don’t ya?”

“Yes. That thing, her body. It’s similar to Takatora’s from before when she lost control.” The president answered as he carefully looked over the information given to him. “A swarming mass of constantly shifting cells.”

“Eh?!” Ryuuko let out an utterance of surprise from the revelation.

“Bingo. Although, there is a slight difference. While Ryuuko’s before was more along the lines of a chaotic mess struggling to stay together and if we hadn’t stopped her, she would’ve eventually broken down, this on the other hand is the opposite. It’s ... astounding.” He said with awe. “What we’re seeing is an organism that has the ability to control every cell in her body in such a way that defies the very basis of biology. I’ve ran a bunch of scans and can confirm that every part of her body can freely move from one part to another, easily reallocating and shifting away any damage inflicted upon itself in a truly spectacular fashion.”

“In other words, no matter how much we try we can not harm her.” Kenjirou said with a grimace.

“She also has no internal structures. While not hollow, her body is purely muscle tissues and condensed cells so even if you do tear into her, she won’t suffer any lasting effects. Plus, her cellular movements is so extreme she can regenerate near endlessly and almost instantly from any sort of anomalies. I’m just going to tell you now, even if there was a thousand of us attack her all at the same time it still won’t be enough. And that’s not taking into account another thing.”

“She’s ... she’s just muscle tissue and pure flesh? Then, why? Why is it that every time I make contact with her there is a feeling of metal?” Takuya questioned.

“So, you’ve noticed? Yes, her entire body is flesh except for one part. There; on her left arm where her shield is. From there I am detecting traces of metal elements. I’ve tried scanning for what type of metal it is, but nothing is coming up from my database for any known discoveries. However, it is metal of a sort or at least have the same properties as one. It doesn’t seem natural to her body but at the same time it, along with her weapons, are a part of her which means that she is able to manipulate it all the same.” He answered. “So just like the rest of her cells she is able to shift it to any part of her body at any moment, turning it into a nigh impregnable carapace that none of our tools we brought in from Artificial have any hope to pierce.”

“That’s impossible.” Takuya uttered as he looked down at his own weapons. With Juntaro’s explanation he finally understood as he stared at the black blades attached to his hands, matching the beat to his heart and keeping to every pulse from him as if alive. “Then what are we supposed to do?! Are we to just give up?!”

We can’t! If we give up now, we’re all dead. And then ... all the people in Artificial will be next.” Ryuuko protested. “We can’t ... we mustn’t lose here. Everyone’s lives, they’re all at stake. There has to be something we can do!”

Once again, a grim outlook spread to the group as they arrived at such another impasse. Each turning to the other, hoping that one another would have a solution but there was only silence as they could only grit their teeth with frustration to the idea of both their futility and helplessness.

“Uhh ... there is one other thing. If you don’t mind me breaking the mood.” Juntaro suddenly said, raising his hand to the tense moment. Everyone turned back him with impatience.

“Mitsuhide! Do you have a plan?!”

“Huh?! K-kind of. Yeah!”

“Then what are you waiting for?! This is no time to be shy, senpai! Ours and everyone else’s lives are on the line right here!” Takuya scolded.

“Okay! Okay! While yes, trying to fight against that thing is impossible by all conventional and logical sense, there are some points of interest I have found. Not so much weakness; her defensive capability is flawless and any attempt to face her head on is a fool’s errand, I have found some disparities among her biological functions.”

“Disparities? What do you mean Mitsuhide-senpai?” Ryuuko asked.

“As I said about the metal element not being a natural part of her body it means to defend, she has to shift the metal from her shield to that specific part of her body. However, when that happens it isn’t a permanent merge of her cells and the metal. Instead, it is closer to a momentary shift where she gains temporary armoring to ward off the coming attack and afterwards the metal will return to its original position, the shield, always. Because of this it is much more unstable and, compared to when it is condensed at its original position, it is not as strong. I mean, it is still really damn strong, but unlike her shield, there is a higher possibility to break through her armor with a powerful enough attack.”

“A momentary shift. Senpai, how fast does she react? If one is fast enough, could we not also break through?” Takuya asked, scratching his head.

“If you’re thinking of suppressing her with speed, I’d say forget it. Not unless you can move near light speed, because that’s how fast her cellular movement is. It is near instantaneous and can reach any and every part of her body at any moment. The reaction itself is practically autonomous from my scans, the moment any contact is made it forms and then reforms. It’s why I said that even if there were a thousand of us attacking her, it wouldn’t work.”

“Near light speed, huh? ... I wonder can that be done?” Takuya was silent for a moment before seriously pondering the possibility.

“Ugh. Stop holding on to the idea that you’re the fastest. Human-wise perhaps, but you should’ve all known that I’m the one who’s the fastest among us. Me! I’m a being of energy. Did you all forget that huge fact?!” Juntaro exclaimed in annoyance.

“Ah! That’s right senpai! You said before that you can travel through electronic waves at a speed faster than even a blink of an eye! But didn’t you say that it’s dangerous, even for you?” Ryuuko said, remembering what she was told before.

“Don’t tell me you’re building up to say you’re the only one with the power to defeat her?” The president said with a concern tone in his voice. “Mitsuhide, I glad to know that you’ve gain the ability to fight, as well as supporting us, but don’t do anything stupid.”

“Whoa there, big guy. L-let’s not get crazy. I’m glad to be considered and being able to do something other than watch is great and all, but there is no way I’m a match for that thing.” He chuckled in response. “None of us are. Well except for one person. You, Ryuuko!”

“Huh?! Me?”

“More specifically, it’s that weapon of yours. I wish I had more time to analyze and speak about it, but in short that weapon of yours is the only thing capable of having lasting effects on her. While you were fighting her earlier, I was able to pick up the moments you landed direct hits on her and confirmed that your weapon, and yours alone, is the only thing that could exceed her cellular manipulations.” He said while pointing at her through his screen, brimming with excitement. “It’s amazing and frightening how sharp the edge of your blade is. It is moving at such a high frequency that I believe if any of us touch it, we’d be ripped to shreds in an instant. Down to our very atoms. Your blade, if it to make contact with her exposed body even if she tries to armor herself with the metal elements, will tear through her defenses like nothing, separating the two elements and is why you’re the only one to ever be able to wound her and why she has to put her shield up towards you. If you have a clean shot, you can definitely take her out”

“She must also know this. To expect a clean shot would be impossible since if none of us are strong enough to do damage to her, she would only have to focus on Takatora alone while ignoring the rest of us.” Kenjirou growled. “Our plan of attack we must find a way to have her lower her guards, then have Takatora rush in for the finishing blow. If we can pin her down, even if just her left arm, that should be enough.”

“Easier said than done, Prez. She’s the size of a building and there being only 4 of us, 3 of us actually able to even do anything remotely possible like physically holding on to her, and if Takatora is to only focus on taking her down, then it’s just you and me. Even as just meat shields we won’t be enough.” Takuya sighed “The situation just keeps getting better.”

“Meat shields..., p-please don’t say that! There’s no way I will allow such a thing!” Ryuuko nervously protested.

“Ah, sorry. But it still stands that there is nothing the rest of us can do, even as distractions.”

“Mitsuhide, you mentioned you had a plan. What is it? Will it work?”

“Well, that would depend. Are you willing to listen?”

“Senpai, this isn’t the time to suddenly be modest or self-conscious, even if about damn time. If you got anything at all, we’re open to it regardless of it’s absurdity. It’s not as if all of this can get any more weird or more dangerous than it already is. We’ve long passed that point. If you have something, anything, then just spit it out!” Takuya said, his voice in a growing tone of impatience. “Every single moment we spend yapping, we’re wasting what little is left of our precious time and we’re further running out of options.”

“So, I’m guessing I can take your words as a preemptive agreement then. I’m not going to let you back out, just so you know.” Juntaro said. He spoke with a devious smile yet Takuya as he read his lips, he was easily able to see the seriousness of his words.

“Y-yeah, yeah. Stop being so overdramatic and just let us in on your fantastic plan.” He responded in agreement yet moments after he spoke those words he immediately regretted it as he felt a sudden chill.

“Goodie. Then hold still.” The wires from the floating cellphone extended and sparked violently as he got close to Takuya who strongly recoiled back.

“W-w-what the hell are you doing?!”

“I’m going to administer to you a minor voltage. Not enough to kill you, I hope, but just enough to electrically charge you. Don’t worry, it’ll just tingle a little ... probably.”

“You’re doing what?!” Not able to get away, the wires grabbed him and released a powerful shock onto him that was distributed throughout entire body.

BZZZT

“Mitsuhide!!”

“Senpai! What are you doing?!

“Might want to stay back! The electric field is highly unstable and any slight friction from any of you can set it off.” He warned, stopping the other two from getting any closer. “Takuya, you’re the only one fast enough on foot to deliver this along with the rest of your attacks to that thing. As your arms are connected to those metal knives of yours right now it’ll act as a conductor allowing the charged flow from you to another upon contact, especially if they’re also a combine of metal and flesh. You’re a smart kid, you know exactly where I’m going with this don’t you?”

“YOU ... YOU ... ASSHOL-GAAAH!” Falling to his knees, he struggled to catch his breath. His body twitched uncontrollably to the twinge of electrical currents that was running through him.

“Whoa, your hair is still staying the same. That’s awesome!”

“J ... jerk! I’m not g-g-going to forget this, you h-h-hear me!!”

“Oh, save it. Ryuuko, do you still have my coilgun? Please tell me you do.”

“Huh? Y-yes! I have it right here.” She answered as she pulled the out the makeshift weapon that was still strapped to her leg despite the rough struggles.

“Nice! I was right to entrust you with my precious invention. I’m going to need you to break it apart and remove the main frame. The back part basically, where I had installed.

“Umm ... okay?” Ryuuko tried to follow his instructions but was lost as she fumbled with the small firearm in her left hand before the president finally took it from her and easily broke it apart.

“Give it here.”

CRACK

“Take it easy Kenjirou, don’t smash the entire thing. I still need the electromagnetic circuits to be functional. Ah, but what a terrible sight. To see all my hard-work and effort broken away like so. I’ll just have to fix and improve on it later once I get the chance.”

“An electromagnet? What do you hope to do with this?” Kenjirou asked as he carefully held the removed parts in his hands, curious with what his friend had in mind.

“That thing serves as a terminal for me, even taken apart like that. The gun is simple but its firing mechanism is due to me operating it from the inside. The electromagnet ... we don’t really have time to for a full-on lecture about all its functionalities but I’ll be entrusting the task of handling it to you. Please don’t crush it.”

“Ah, I see.”

“And finally, the most important part of all this.” He said as he turned to Ryuuko with a look of utmost seriousness. “Ryuuko, do you trust me?”

“H-huh?!” The sudden question from her senior club member took her by surprise but with full honesty she quickly replied. “Of course I do, senpai. We’re clubmates. I trust you with my life, as you have trusted me before.”

“Thank you, Ryuuko. I’m very happy to hear you say that. It means a lot to me, heh heh.” He blushed while nervously scratching his head. As he laughed, she could almost see something sparkling in his eyes through his screen. “Since with your weapon you can fly, I’m going to have to ask you to fly as far away as you can from here.”

“W-wha?! But-” She started to protested but stopped herself. “Okay. But tell me why first.”

“I’m not asking you to run away but instead more of ... uhh ... going on standby.” He answered, scratching his head in the best way to explain to her. “I got a hypothesis, regarding how that monster function and her thoughts process. All my analysis tells me that she isn’t as mindless as we were told, although it isn’t something that can be considered conscious thought cycles. Instead, I believe it is a combination of instinct like a wild animal, and assessments akin to that of a machine. She moves herself according to danger levels, hence why in our fights her focus has always been on you since you are the most dangerous one here, Ryuuko.”

“As long as you are here, she will continue to focus solely on you while the rest of us will be ignored. And once you are gone, she will then move on to secondary danger which in this case will be Kenjirou.”

“Me?” The president raised his eyebrows.

“It’s either you or me. I’m 90% sure it will be you since you’re also the only other person to have her react. I know the theory is shaky but, call it a gut feeling if you will.” He shrugged. “So if Ryuuko is to move away, enough that she’s out of her field of danger we can call it, then we will be able to force her to reassess and change targets. The only problem is how far it would have to be and the conclusions I’ve come to is that it has to be upwards in the air since no matter how far the distance as long as it’s on the ground she would still be to chase you down, assuming what we were told about her able to connect to this world is also true.”

“I see...” Ryuuko said, tilting her head as she tried to understand.

“What do we got to lose, right? At worst we try again if it doesn’t work out. Or die, but let’s keep up some optimism, yeah?” Juntaro laughed.

“Senpai! This is no time for jokes! Please be serious about your lives!!”

“Sorry. Anyway, how long are you going stay like that Takuya? You’re the one who keep yammering about how we don’t have much time so stop acting like a big baby and get up already!” He circled around the twitching young man who slowly and begrudgingly got to his feet.

“G-g-god damn y-y-you.” The younger member of the club stuttered as he looked to the floating phone with anger. The air around him was sparking violently from the statics that ran across his highly charged body. Struggling, he was taking small meticulous intervals of breaths as if trying to minimize his movements. “I-I-I can’t b-b-believe you would d-d-do this to m-m-me again, you metadata b-b-bastard.”

“Oh save it will ya? Don’t want the charge to run out before we even get to the main event.”

Takuya bit his lips as he understood the situation, but still he had a look to kill across his face. Instead he turned back to where Armadat stood and carefully yet meticulous rubbed his knives together, the electricity crackled between the edges, flying from the black blades, and fizzling in the air.

“Let’s get this started then. I doubt the charge will last long and I’m sure Takuya won’t be willing to take another shot.” Juntaro said as he looked to Ryuuko, who nodded to him in response. The sound of the engine in her blade revved up as she prepared herself to take flight.

“You will give me a signal when the time comes, won’t you senpai?” She asked as her feet pulled away from the grounds.

“Of course. You’ll know it when you see it.”

“Understood. Everyone, I’ll be counting on you. Please be careful.” The thrusters from her weapon roared out as she blasted off into the air.

FWOOOM

“Please be careful she says...” Juntaro chuckled as he watched her fly away before turning back to their target. As he had predicted, the giant creature was watching closely, its singular eye on its chest that was locked to the rapid ascent of the young girl and its body moved as if in preparation to give chase.

“HEY! OVER HERE!”

PEW

Firing out a shot from his phone, the blast exploded at Armadat’s head and broke its concentration, breaking its sight on Ryuuko who disappeared to the cloudless skies as it instead turned its deathly gaze to the three remaining boys on the ground.

“Yeah, that’s right. Over here you monster!” Juntaro taunted as the eerie haunting of laughter came from its looming body, sending chills down to the bones, towards their direction.

“Ooooh, spooky. Takuya, you ready? Make sure you hit every centimeter of her body! Don’t miss any spots. Go go go!” He cheered as his younger club member flew from his position towards their target. His movements become a blur with the only notable sign of his body in motion was the flashing of lights that reflected from his blades and the loud crackling sound of electrical energy that trailed with him as he raced across the fields like a bolt of lightning.

But just as he was getting close, the blazing spear on the hands of his enemy was positioned right in front of him. Moving too fast to dodge or even change course, the sudden retaliation that appeared before him took him by complete surprised. As if his actions have already been anticipated and in response, the pointed edge of searing white flames was what awaited him the moment he came within range.

 
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