"Enough of the chatter. Let's see to the task at hand. First, a brief review of the situation. Until a year ago, this area was occupied by the German army, but unfortunately, it was retaken, so it would be best if we didn't make too much noise. You might think of reclaiming it, but that is not why we're here. Do you understand?"
"Yeah. I don't give a fuck who it belongs to."
"I would consider retaking the lands stolen from us, but I'm not too fond of invasion."
"I feel the same way. Still, there's no denying that we invaded it, and the resistance against that once created a time period when the ownership of the area was vague."
"Is that when the massacre took place?"
"That's what the Soviets claim. Because of that, it's unknown who was truly responsible. I do hope that they uncover the truth someday, but just as His Excellency the Vice-Commander said, that isn't the issue at hand. The Red Cross has already left, and all we have is a mysterious mountain of corpses. Those they've located so far amount to approximately 5,000."
"5,000... And that's just the tip of the iceberg?"
"They say that four or five times more could be buried deeper. You see this as wasteful, don't you, Bey?"
"Yeah. It's a waste of useful lives."
Polish people killed by the Soviet shitheads didn't even go to Lord Heydrich's castle. No matter how you looked at it, they had all died in vain. A shame, really.
"So what's the anomaly, then? Do we have some generic ghosts floating around?"
"Close, but not quite. It's more simple and... Raw. The corpses are walking around the forest."
"Ohh...?
Babylon's straight-forwardness emphasized the reality of the situation. I could easily form an image what'd gone down from her spiel.
A forbidden forest that was the location of a mysterious massacre... A horde of undead that haunted it every night... Needlessly to say, it was a pretty enticing situation for me.
"This is likely a foolish question, considering that the Vice-Commander said it herself, but is that really true?"
"At the very least, there have been victims, so there's no mistaking that there's something dangerous here."
"What if it was done by animals? Like bears and wolves."
It could've also been survivors who were doing so bad you could mistake them for corpses, but Babylon rejected all such rational assumptions.
"Their deaths are abnormal. No man or beast could've done it. They were all dried up. Like mummies."
"Mummies...?"
Beatrice looked at me. No one could fault her for that reaction, but it still really pissed me off.
"Yeah, sorry, but no, I don't have any 'friends' around these parts. Fuck, if we're dealing with a magician, then that ain't all that too special."
"True. Magicians need sources of energy unlike your common electricity or oil in order to weave their sorcery. In a word, they need 'life force,' the concept as it's found in old natural philosophy. It's the 'mana' living in water, earth, fire, and air, among other things. It wouldn't be wrong to call it the blood of the planet. Because of this, it's not rare for them to use the blood or souls of living creatures. Though, from what I've heard, humans make for very hard-to-use fuel."
"You mean they just can't use them even if they want to, right?"
This wasn't my specialty, so I didn't know the details, but apparently using people to fuel magic wasn't a good idea.
Not because it was weak, but because controlling it was hard and risky as hell.
Basically, humans are just too lowly and depraved. Their greed alone is enough to drive them to destroy nature, so though they make for fuel that outclasses all that nature can provide, trying to use it is just fucking suicidal.
You know all that shit about pollution and environmental damage, right? It kinda proves we're above nature, doesn't it? To make use of such power, you need to emulate that "feature," which is tantamount to destroying yourself.
"Using your own soul might cause you to grow weak and die, while using another's would cause a clash of the 'selves' and endanger your sanity. Or perhaps the damage would affect something more vague, such as your fate... Ego and desire are the strongest powers humans have, so it only makes sense that using them is self-destructive. Such arguments aside, that's more or less how the creed of magic tells it. That's why you have to use human life force with humility. You have to cheat the system by earnestly believing that 'Compared to the great nature, I am absolutely worthless. However, regardless of whether you use yourself or someone else, doing that results in dilution. The pure original is too volatile, yes, but the diluted life force loses it's special qualities and grows far too weak. In the end, it's never worth the effort. Using humans as magic fuel just isn't a good idea. Normally, anyway."
I noticed that Beatrice was making a bitter expression, probably because she'd just been told that she wasn't normal.
I mean, think about it. We were all using humans soul as fuel. And of course, there wasn't a single humble person at the Obsidian Table.
We were all greedy egoists right down to the core, Beatrice was no exception.
So, according to Babylon, we were just a bunch of lunatics walking a one-way road to self-destruction.
Foolish and wicked, we were the prime example of the ignoble beast of man. I wanted to argue that it didn't apply to a true ancestor like me, but she wasn't completely off the mark, either.
"So Katyn's magician is not normal?"
"At the very least, it's clear that he uses unorthodox means. He might even be a match for the Vice-Commander... Though, that might be an exaggeration."
"I do not want to imagine a world that has more than one of that... Even so, Lord Heydrich said that it's 'a most excellent close to the opening performance. It's quite rare for Him to say something like that. Seems safe to assume that this will not be easy."
Looking at the situation, it was likely that some madman who didn't fear death was still spreading curses even after meeting his end. Obviously we were dealing with someone who had a bunch of screws loose.
"Well, regardless of whether we go on to destroy ourselves, this situation has quite a bit of depth to it. Like a chance meeting with the future, of sorts. If we wish to go on as we are, there's surely some vital knowledge for us here."
Babylon turned around. We followed after her, ready to face the anomaly.
That was when...
"Umm, excuse me."
"Hm? What is it?"
We turned around to the source of the voice, drawn-out as if to purposely kill the mood.
There, we saw Claudia, looking strangely bashful.
"I would like to, erm... Use the facilities."
"..."
There were no words for this. Even I was completely speechless.
"Pft, kh... Ahahahah! Oh dear, what a tough little lady... Can I entrust this serious mission to you, Beatrice?"
"Very well, leave it to me. Let's go, Claudia. We cannot ignore nature's call."
"I-I'm sorry. Being tense makes me physically..."
"Fucking hell, just go already!"
As if keeping me from making my anger physical, Babylon placed her hand on my shoulder.
"By the way, Bey. I'm liking you more and more recently. How do we take care of this problem?"
"I don't give a shit!"
"I see. So this is your third anomaly?"
"Yes. The others were generally assigned to one each, so I'm more experienced than the rest. It's nothing to be proud of, though."
"But why? Doesn't that make you a veteran?"
"There are things that you shouldn't go through more than once."
Babylon gently avoided Claudia's question and formed a faint smile.
We were already on the outer edge of the forest, so we knew we'd encounter the walking corpses at any moment. Most would've assumed that Babylon didn't want to talk because this wasn't the situation for it, but I knew the truth was different.
She probably just didn't want to talk about what kind of anomalies she'd faced.
Claudia was questioning me and Beatrice as well, but we weren't giving her any answers, either.
"Give up, Claudia. She'll be the same as us. There's no point in asking. Babylon is a seriously depraved woman. The fact that it's her third time says a lot."
Basically, the anomalies that fucker Mercurius had told us to take care of were all the kind that made us feel like he was indirectly mocking us.
It was as though she were saying, 'This is how stupid you are,' so we really didn't want to talk about it. We were all sure the one at Katyn was probably the same in that regard.
"Well, just take in whatever happens here and let your imagination run wild. Got it?"
"Mrrg... That doesn't quite satisfy me, but very well. You're being considerate of others for once, so I will choose to respect that."
I wanted to correct her misconception, but talking was a fucking hassle, so I just placidly waved my hand.
"I'm sorry, Claudia. I know that being here makes you curious about many things, but we can't help with that. I must say, though, you're unexpectedly assertive. I'm also impressed you're not afraid of Bey and the fact you were an army nurse. It's easy to appear courageous, but how are you, really? Aren't you scared?"
"Oh, I am. It's just that I'm quite dense, you see."
"You're only half a person, after all."
"Yes, that's exactly how it—"
"No."
Beatrice, who was ahead of us, suddenly turned around.
"When faced with dangerous situations, humans aren't just afraid. Most of us find them scary and enjoy them. So please, be aware that those people who exclusively hate and fear battle are as rare as those who take nothing but pleasure in them. Yes, indeed, there is nothing special about that. You're the epitome of normality, Claudia. Tests of courage and dares are always fun, after all!"
"Uhh, I see...?"
Overwhelmed by Beatrice's barrage of words, Claudia didn't know how to respond. I was more or less used to the bitch arguing against Claudia's thought process, but she seemed to be getting more and more desperate as time passed.
I wanted to make a comment, but decided against it, since I actually agreed with her point.
Deadly situations were both fun and exciting. The very best festivals were always the most dangerous ones.
Anyone who thoroughly denied the sensation was lying. Fuck, if you ask me, they were a buncha freaks.
"Well, thanks for sharing your views on the matter. The fact that you're a soldier lends weight to your point, and you might be completely right. That aside, have you spotted any signs of the abnormality?"
"No, actually. Nothing worth mentioning..."
She shook her head in an uncomfortable manner. Beatrice was the most mobile of us all, so we had her go in front of us.
"I can't find or feel anything strange. If I didn't know any better, I would assume this is a normal forest. Though, now that I think about it, if thousands of corpses walked around here every single night, it would already be a bigger matter than the war."
"So there's a cycle, huh, Babylon?"
"You mean, days when the anomaly can and cannot happen?"
"Yes."
Babylon nodded and pointed to the sky.
"According to the information I gathered, it's most likely that. It's related to the number of days since the new moon."
A full moon hung high above us, lighting up the night. It went without saying that it was a celestial body linked to the arcane.
"There tends to be more sightings the fuller the moon is. Considering how it looks today, the chances are very high."
"But we haven't seen even one."
"There's another condition. It's not fulfilled yet, so let's just wait for a while."
"What's with the cryptic bullshit? If you know something, then spit it out."
However, all I got from her was an implicative smile. That was one of her bad habits.
She wasn't alone in that, though. Malleus, Christof, and most of all, Mercurius were just like her. Fucking eggheads had a tendency to put on airs of intelligence.
They were too prudent and valued knowledge so much that they got all stingy about it. It made them want to wait for the right moment to share there "wisdom" just so it'd have a stronger effect. What an annoying bunch, Holy shit.
They themselves would whine about it non-stop if someone did it to them. Don't they think that's dumb?
"Bey, I can more or less tell what you're thinking, and I agree completely, but you're not in a position to say it."
"But I didn't say it."
"It's written all over your face. Isn't it, Claudia?"
"It is. In large letters, too."
"Tch. Fucking hell, shut up."
"Anyway, for now, we have to wait. Let's be patient, okay? If it was just about the phase of the moon, then that alone would be enough. However, the second condition requires a certain degree of luck. It might irritate you to know what it is, and I would rather not have that. I can assure you it's possible it will happen tonight, so don't get too grumpy. All right?"
I reluctantly nodded. It pissed me off that she treated me like a brat, but she was the type of woman that was hard to talk back to. Not to mention she was above me on the chain of command at the moment.
"Then, should we simply wait here? Or walk a bit further?"
"Let's keep going. When something happens, it'll be easier for us if we're deep in the woods. With that in mind, are you okay with a bit more walking, Claudia?"
"I am fine, I assure you. I'll try not to be a burden to you all, so please, as you were."
"Well, if it becomes too hard, just ask Bey to carry you!"
"Why the fuck would I ever do that?"
"How cold of you. She's your responsibility, isn't she?"
"I'll take that role, thank you very much. Letting this man carry a girl is far too careless."
"Hah. You're not wrong here, but get off my fucking case already, damn."
I couldn't use Yetzirah while carrying Claudia, and the night of bloodstained roses wasn't even an option. It affected everyone in the area of effect, enemy or not.
Not like I was kind enough to be considerate of Babylon and Beatrice, but I didn't want Claudia to be caught up in it. She'd probably be drained in just a couple of seconds.
It wasn't the right time for that to happen.
"Though, that'll change if she does her transformation here."
"What? Did you just say something?"
"Nothing. Stop minding me and just scout ahead."
We continued walking deeper into the forest. Soon enough, the fog grew thick and the smell of death filled the air.
On the way, we saw a whole lot of holes dug in the ground. They were empty, but they obviously used to contain corpses before something got them out.
All our faces turned stiff. The atmosphere here made it evident that this was indeed a forest of the dead, and it was clear that the ground beneath us was still full of undiscovered remains. Normal people wouldn't tread on the ground, even for a dare.
You could almost feel the remnants of the victims' resentment and hear the echoes of their regretful wails.
"This is the place, right?"
"Yes. No two ways about it."
Deep in the forest, we found an unnatural opening with a hill in it.
We didn't see any moving corpses yet, but I couldn't be more certain that I was looking at the place of the massacre.
"It fucking reeks. Yeah, this is way above ten thousand. Those sons of bitches went all out."
"If you ask me, it feels mechanical. Like a slaughterhouse assembly line, almost."
"Ah, I get ya. Can't say you're wrong."
Being reapers of human souls, we had a nose for this kind of thing, so we could more or less tell what had happened here. The air, abnormally thick with death, told us all we needed to know.
They formed lines of troops and then methodically and systematically — and perhaps even with integrity — gunned down the people one by one, like a row of dominoes.
Babylon was right, it was more like a slaughter than a massacre. Hell, considering the purpose, it was safe to call it a "disposal."
Bringing the PoWs over their country was too much of a bother, so they decided to just dump them. I could almost feel that sentiment here, and I wasn't too far off the mark, either.
Really, I had no words for what I saw. Man, what a waste of good resources.
"Well, not like our concentration camps are any better. Murder without any passion to it is so fucking boring, I swear."
"Here's another way to look at it: no one burdened by humane emotions would be able to kill this many people. Many humans grow numb to performing such horrid acts when it's their job or an order. Many of those responsible for this massacre were probably excellent men of character."
"What, like you and Samiel? Don't fucking act like you're innocent. Your hands are as bloody as mine. At least I kill for my own sake and how I want to. Just like Lord Heydrich, I don't make any excuses or—"
"Stop it, you two. We're with Claudia!"
Unable to bear it, Beatrice joined the exchange.
"There are many ways to define what constitutes murder, and I have no intention to try and deny what I've done, but we should at least make an effort to keep up appearances in front of civilians. Even if it's hypocritical or deceitful, we soldiers should be mindful of how we present ourselves. After all, we are meant to protect our country and its people."
"Huh. 'Protect', eh?"
Naturally, I couldn't even begin to relate to that. We were on such different wavelengths that I even found it stupid to talk back.
"Well, sure, whatever. That aside, you sensing this?"
"Sensing what?"
She squinted with a suspicious look in her eyes as I looked around the area.
"The times are spread out. The reek of blood ain't uniform."
"Y-You're right."
I had to tell her, but she noticed it, too. It wasn't like she was weak on this front — we just had different fortes. Nonetheless, falling behind me at something was probably humiliating for her.
"Huh? Umm, what does that mean?"
"It's no big deal, really. Just means that the poor little Poles weren't the only ones to die here. The massacre here happened about four or five years ago, and most of the reek is from about that period of time, but there's fresher smell, too."
"Are they the victims of the anomaly? Riza said something about there being some dead."
"Even so, the numbers are far too great. The locals have no reason to group up and tread deep into a forest so ominous and eerie. I cannot measure it well as Bey, but they amount to more than one hundred."
"A hundred...?"
"Yeah, and they weren't your usual nobodies, either. There was fighting here. It was probably one company... No, wait, there are slightly differences between the new ones, so it's more like three or four platoons. Dumb fucks sent their people in waves. Hilarious. First they sent and lost their scouting party, then sent a decent force, but that didn't hold, either. Then they went all out, but not even that was enough. Holy shit, what a bunch of dumbasses."
I chuckled and looked at Babylon.
"So what's this all about? We got other organizations coming here or something?"
"We do. I just didn't want to say because we have Claudia with us."
She heaved a sigh.
"It's the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Vatican. Their forces were sent here several times."
"Huh? The Church...? What does it have to do with this?"
The fact that Claudia — a member of the Church — was surprised by this was both stupid and only natural.
Organizations never showed their true faces to their adherents, especially not ones as simple as that idiot.
"Claudia, you worked as an army nurse, didn't you? This is a slight extension of that. No organization can function on appearances and lip service alone. That is why they need power. You understand that, yes?"
"It could be political power, economical power... Or military power."
"Military..."
"Yes. You can't have authority without that. Especially if you're the Church... The strongest organization there is. It has countless adherents and millennia of history, so of course it has an immense dark side, as well."
"Without any supercoating, the House of the God you adore so much hires killers to take care of those who fuck up the dogma. Nothing weird about that, eh? I know shit all about history, but the Crusades and the Inquisition killed a whole bunch of people, didn't they? Well, that's still going on. Hell, you said it yourself. 'That's how God is,' or something."
"Bey, why are you so...?"
"Well, it might surprise you, but he's right. The anomaly here at Katyn is too warped to be considered a case of resurrection, but it challenges Christ's authority nonetheless. The Church has no choice but to remove it. Though, just like Bey said, they seemed to have underestimated them, but I suppose that's just a sign of the times. Just like His Excellency the Vice-Commander said, we are the Supreme and Ultimate Arcane... But that's irrelevant here."
Right. It didn't matter at all. Even if the dogs of the Church were involved in the matter, they couldn't do shit to get in our way, as proven by their total annihilation.
Well, that was all in the past, so all we'd done here was teach dumb little Claudia how the world actually worked.
"Umm, did that hurt your feelings? Sorry if it did. I didn't intend to do anything to belittle you or any other adherents."
"No, there's no need for you to worry. I'm a bit surprised, but there's nothing wrong in anything you said. Also, regardless of how the Church works, I don't believe it sullies the purity of praye—"
Suddenly, Claudia cut her words short and looked up.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just felt a droplet."
"Oh, same here. It's raining."
Before I'd realized it, the moon above was shrouded in thick clouds that released light rain over us, and it didn't take long for it to become a deluge.
"W-Wah! Oh dear, this isn't good."
"...What a predicament. We can handle it just fine, but Claudia might get sick here. Bey, take her to a place where she can hide from the rain."
"Shit. This pisses me off. It had to start now, of all fucking times."
"Kyah!"
My complaint was followed by thunder that made Claudia cower.
Ignoring her completely, Babylon looked up...
"They're coming."
...And whispered those words.
Then, she raised her voice.
"Prepare yourself, you two. This is the second condition."
"Huh? You mean...?"
"The rain?"
"Yes. The rain creates a link between the 'something' in the ground and the regrets of the dead. The anomaly happens during nights with a full moon... When it also rains. Here they come!"
I suddenly felt the ground beneath me jump up as though pushed from below. At the same time, one of the nearby trees was struck by lightning.
"Wh—?! Claudia!"
It was ripped apart and uprooted, causing it to fall on the softened ground and making it crumble. Claudia was caught up and swept by the resulting wave of dirt.
"...Dumb bitch."
I talked shit about her being dull again, but I didn't even consider helping her. I knew that going after her was the smart thing to do in this situation, but I just wasn't feeling it.
Why, you ask? Remember how I told you that Fusion Types couldn't think straight when we went too wild? Exactly.
It was strong enough to make us awaken the sorcery, embrace our lust for battle, and become aware of our craving.
"Wil, oh Wil, oh my dead Wilhelm..."
The Dark Gift that flowed within me... My kiss in the dark... The Devilish rose told me to drain all life until only corpses remained.
"I love you sooo much! You don't need any woman but meee!"
"Quit talking, you whore. You're nothing but my sustenance."
I'll do you 'til you're in pieces, so gimme all your blood. Let's give it a good shape!
"Yetzirah—"
"Eheheh, heeheehee... Kyahahahahaha!"
Following that demented shriek of a laugh, my fangs — the thorns of blood — were made manifest. Myriad stakes sprouted from my skin, like freshly vines.
This was me — Number IV of the Obsidian Round Table, Wilhelm Ehrenburg, Kaziklu Bey. The one who merged with the blood of Vlad Tepes. The First and the only True Vampire in the world.
Of course, I didn't enter this state just for show. The anomaly was happening right before us, and that was more than enough for me to transform.
Also, I wasn't the only one on the scene with something plant-like going on. Numerous hands were popping out of the ground, all muddy 'cause of the downpour, and as you can imagine, the sight looked somewhat like a flower field.
They covered the whole area as far as the eye could see. The sight was grotesque, and though it's in bad taste, it wouldn't have been wrong to state that the hands were "in blooms."
Of course, the flowers didn't stop growing there.
After the hands came the arms, shoulders, heads, torsos... It wasn't long until we had the full walking corpses. Half of their bodies were nothing but bone, and all the holes on them were leaking filthy liquids and spilling maggots.
"A fucking mess, all of you."
They were so generic that I felt bad for them. We were all undead here, but compared to them, we Knights of Lord Heydrich's Reich were in a whole other realm.
The idea that this was our original fate was downright fucking insulting.
"None of you shits are entering Valhalla."
I would grind them all into dust — make them wither and let the world behold their remains, waste them and end their journey forever.
"I'll trash you all!"
With that roar as my signal, I kicked the mud below my feet and danced my way into the anomaly, punching and pulverizing the head of the first corpse before me.
I felt basically no resistance. It was like breaking a dead, rotten tree, and I instantly realized that there was nothing I could take from them.
No soul or blood — there was nothing I could drain, and that pissed me the fuck off.
You might be thinking, "Duh, of course corpses wouldn't have any life in them," but I wasn't in a state of mind to accept such logic. My urge for violence was basically screaming that they weren't worthy opponents.
Because of that, obviously, I wasn't the one who analyzed the situation properly.
A blue bolt of lightning grazed my side and reduced several dozens corpses into scrap. Anyone with common sense could tell that this wasn't your usual rage of the storm.
"I see. In single numbers, they aren't particularly menacing. Their movements are sluggish, and I see no signs of thought. They might be physically strong, but..."
She paused her words and spun her body into a backward roundhouse kick. Despite her slender frame, it created a whirlwind that blew away all the undead that were caught up in it.
"...compared to us, they are next to nothing. Does that displease you, Bey?"
"Oh, it sure as hell does. No matter how much of this trash you take out, it's a damn waste of souls."
"Truly. Even so, they aren't something we can handle with only our natural fighting power. At the very least, we have to use Yetzirah. You are correct in saying that they have nothing for us to drain, but it's clear they aren't completely empty. At the very least, they are imbued by the arcane powers that animate them. Therefore, unless we also fight on those terms, they will not stop even if we tear them to shreds."
She wasn't wrong about that. Though it wasn't dense enough for us to convert into fuel, an anomaly like this had to be run by some sort of magic technique.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and an arcane for an arcane — common sense, really.
These corpses wouldn't die no matter how many normal attacks you landed on them. You could reduce them to singular teeth or nails, and even then they'd crawl at you like maggots before regaining their forms further down the line.
Sure, a bomb strong enough to reduce them to ash would probably do the trick, but sadly, we didn't have any with us. To us, this was a battle of attrition where we couldn't gain anything.
We were in a rainy forest with a horde of undead as far as the eye could see. Though they seemed to be limitless at first glance, the info we had told us there were nearly one hundred thousand of them. The fact that we couldn't stock up actually made it a pretty difficult situation, all things considered.
My best option was to limit my energy consumption, but...
"Fucking hell, what the shit is this? I'm not the kind who holds back, for fuck' sake!"
I roared and shattered all the corpses gathering around me. Of course, they were as frail as before, but their numbers meant that they were best destroyed with appropriately large scale magic.
And, like I said, holding back for that was pretty much impossible for me. I just wasn't the type, in terms of both temperament and fighting style. Wilhelm Ehrenburg is a simple man, you see. Just light him and he explodes.
"Very good. Continue as you are. I never expected you to hold back, and going all out is the correct course of action here."
"Huh? The fuck do you mean?"
As she launched lightning as powerful as my attacks, Beatrice looked at me with cool eyes devoid of her usual stupidity and matter-of-factly explained the situation.
"They attack the living because they want to rob them of their life force. Be it blood, life, or soul — they reach for it because they lack it. Your motives may be different, but they're much like you on that front. That is why they're ganging up on us. Both you and I have an amount of lives far greater than any normal person. To them, we are the equivalent of a welcoming bonfire. Therefore..."
Her lightning clad blade sparked as she swung it at will, reducing the undead to carbon and dispersing the remnants of magic within them.
"...if we keep their attention, Claudia will be safer."
"Whaaat?"
I didn't even understand what she was talking about. In fact, I'd forgotten all about the woman until she mentioned her. Apparently, this idiot wanted to act as a decoy so that Claudia wouldn't be attacked.
It took me about five or six seconds to catch on.
"What? Do you have anything against that?"
Of course I fucking did. Beatrice's suggestion had nothing to do with actually taking care of the undead.
They were empty, so they targeted us, who were full of souls.
Sure, if we went all out and spent our fuel to keep the "flame of life," so to speak, burning bright, Claudia would go unnoticed by them.
What about it, though? What would we do afterwards? We'd still be wasting souls, so the situation would be shit.
Fuck, it'd get even worse.
"Are you braindead? That's fucking dumb."
Especially since she was the one with the lowest soul reserves among us.
"You do that and you'll be running on empty in no time. You're idiotic and suicidal."
"Really, now? What of it, though? I cannot change my way of life and don't plan to even try. We're no different in that regard."
She launched another lightning bolt, not holding back at all. It shattered the undead, vaporized the rain, and filled the air with static.
"Thus, this is all we can do here. You are unable to hold back, and I have no intention, either. Why, the complaints, then? Are you scared? Do you believed this is dangerous enough to make the reaper stand ready for your soul? Is that all you are, Wilhelm Ehrenburg?"
"..."
Though it sounded like it, she wasn't actually provoking me. The reason Lieutenant Beatrice Kircheisen was called "Valkyria" was exactly because she was an honest idiot. It was to the point of making me want to kill her, actually.
"I firmly believed that I am not of a small enough caliber to be ended here. Even if I'm stained by mercury, I swore to never cease being human."
I actually liked that part of her. She was one of those women I wanted to drain completely dry.
That moment never actually came, but whatever.
"Well now... You sure know how to use your mouth, you little bitch. My caliber? Don't make light of me. I'm way above you."
"Do prove it, then."
"Watch me. And don't fucking blink."
From then on, I started giving my all. Sure, I didn't go beyond Yetzirah, but besides that limit, I didn't hold back whatsoever.
I wasn't the type to do it, and Beatrice didn't intend to, either. She wasn't wrong that it would've come to this regardless.
Countless lightning bolts and stakes tore apart the forest as we almost competitively exterminated the corpses swarming over us like the maggots infesting them.
Needlessly to say, I wasn't counting. There's a reason I used the word "countless." A two versus one-hundred-thousand battle was far more too hectic to care about the progress you were making.
If I had to name one thing that was on my mind at the time, it'd be Machina. The man had also faced thousands of enemies all by himself.
Not only that, but they weren't anything like the ragdolls I was up against. They were Einherjar — all champions of the battlefield.
He fought them all and ended up coming out on top. I couldn't help but respect his Valor, and that was exactly why I didn't want to lose to him in that regard.
Basically, you know, fucking this up wasn't even an option.
"Well done, you two. You've provided me the time I needed to prepare."
Obviously, I was fired up something fierce, but all that heat ended up going nowhere.
"—Yetzirah—Pallida Mors—"
Why? Because our leader ended up taking all the spotlight.
"What?"
"Well, damn..."
Beatrice and I were so focused on what we had before us that we forgot the one most suited for handling this anomaly and what her power was.
She was given the order by Lord Heydrich Himself, for fuck's sake. The result was set in stone before we even got here.
"This makes things a bit easier, doesn't it? All that's left is to take care of the remnants."
The army of corpses still stretched as far as the eye could see, but about half of them had completely stopped moving.
They looked like some freakish trees. In a way, the scene was even more disturbing than before.
"Amazing... Did you steal the authority over them?"
"More or less, yes. It took quite a while, though. Whatever the case, you're not as outnumbered anymore."
Number XI of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden, Riza Brenner — a lover and manipulator of corpses. In terms of magic, she was a necromancer, putting her in the exact same vein as the anomaly we were staring down.
To her, corpses were both tools and weapons, so, in this case, it was all a matter of influence — of making it clear who was the top dog.
"I lose in terms of how many I can animate at once, but the power of my influence seems to be greater. They're as good as mine now. Let's hurry and finish this. It will make for a fine memorial service."
Suddenly, Babylon's army of the dead turned around in perfect union and attacked the opposing army.
With these allied forces on our side, we were no longer at a disadvantage. After all, it wasn't like Babylon picked the corpses at random.
She obviously prioritized the ones closest to us, effectively creating an orderly unit and making it clear which side was ours and which wasn't.
The chances of Beatrice and I accidentally attacking our own were negligible. Though battle formations primary existed to increase the speed at which orders were relayed, they also helped avoid harming your own.
Additionally, if I observed them properly, I could tell them apart by the type of arcane arts that animated them. This allowed me to go wild without worrying about wasting my souls.
"The Mask of Pale Death
I have kissed thy mouth, my beloved,
I have kissed thy mouth.
There was a bitter taste on thy lips.
Was it the taste of blood?
But perchance it is the taste of love."
Babylon's Ahnenerbe, Pallida Mors, had a pretty fucking grim history. It was basically both a corpse shroud and a death mask.
Some assholes with a taste for sarcasm may even call it a "Holy Cloth," like the Shroud of Turin, but that couldn't be less fitting. The damn thing was made out of the skin of human brats.
Not only that, but Babylon herself was the one who made it. Most of us — I, Beatrice, even Lord Heydrich Himself — got our Ahnenerbe from the Deutsches Ahnenerbe, a Nazi think tankfor occult shit.
However, the Longinus Dreizehn Orden also had members that'd created — or, rather, "nurtured" — their own weapons.
They'd spent the war killing so much that their dear little toys gathered enough karma and misery to enter the realm of the paranormal.
Machina's, Samiel's, Schreiber's, and Babylon's Holy relics were all among those ranks.
Though it was true they didn't have much of a history to them, that didn't mean they were weak. Like I said before, even in the world of magic, newer things were almost always stronger.
The fact that they were created in such a short time meant they had great density. You had tons of child-killing women all throughout history, but those that matched Riza's numbers were pretty fucking rare.
Apparently, she also did it with love and affection for them. Bitch definitely had a few screws loose, I tell ya.
It didn't and still doesn't really matter to me, though. Can't say I ever gave a shit about her backstory, but there's one thing I can say for certain.
"Ah, Jochanaan, Jochanaan, thou wert beautiful."
A woman's love can become a really fucking shitty curse. I know that from experience, and I doubt anyone would argue.
She wore the skin of her beloved dead children as a dress while controlling a horde of corpses. It made her look like some sort of dark saint.
The corrupted Whore of Babylon. The sinful holy mother Mary. She was the embodiment of the Third Reich's madness.
As far as I knew, she could gain greater power over the dead by changing her Ahnenerbe into a mask and putting it on the corpse, but she was focusing on numbers here. The garment of undeath decorated Riza Brenner like a stage actor.
I felt like I was watching an opera of death. The magic pulsing through the earth's veins caught Katyn's anomaly like a fly in a web.
It was as though she was caressing its head, embracing it, and saying "There there, good boy, listen to me."
"Man, this whore freaks the fuck outta me."
She was summoning the memories of their mother and the peace of the cradle. It was a lethal poison to all men, and not even the emptiest corpses could escape it.
Then again, their emptiness might've been exactly why they couldn't resist.
"Ah...!"
Fastidious little Beatrice clearly looked uncomfortable, but she wasn't dumb enough to complain about all the reinforcements we got.
Her superior — Samiel — got along with Babylon like cats and dogs, so she probably figured that this wasn't a good time to act as her proxy.
With that in mind, it was clear what we had to do next.
"Let's finish this, Bey."
"Whoa, look at you, acting like hot shit. Sure you don't need to catch your breath or something?"
"Why would I...? Never. Watch me!"
To finally take care of the situation before us, we just had to go all in.
And so...
"Looks like we're done here."
Babylon looked around the silent forest and sighed. She undid her Yetzirah, returned the corpses under her command to mere cadavers, and pulled out a watch.
"We took a bit over three hours... Well, I'd say we did well. Are you two all right?"
"Yes. You saved us back there. Thank you."
"I should be the one thanking you. This was originally a solo mission, after all. Thank you, really. You two were a big help."
The rain had already stopped, and the woods were shrouded in silence. If you ignore the corpses littered all over the area, it was more or less a normal forest.
"All that's left is Claudia. I'll find that idiot myself. You two can just go."
"No, I will see this through to the end. I'm worried about her, after all. I've said it many times and I will say it again — I am against leaving Claudia to you."
"Fucking let it go. Just how annoying can you get? Men hate women like you, ya know."
"Fine by me. I don't believe I'm saying anything wrong, and I don't care for men who have a problem with my words. Also, you showed absolutely no consideration for her when she was separated from us. Your words are empty because of that."