Why do father and I fight? Well, to protect people like you, silly. Sure, it's scary, and sometimes we make the wrong decisions, but in the end, we will protect everyone from the unknown dangers of the city.
Another echo from the past. It hurt my heart to hear her voice so vividly, but I suppose it's better than hearing that twisted version of myself from that shadow. But this was Golden Steam's role. I choose to take on Kelly's request. She may be broken and unstable, but I will follow through with her request till the end.
Maybe…Just maybe I might be able to fix her.
"Nngh…Axien…you're kinda hurting me."
"Oh, sorry."
"Seriously, you look very pale. Are you okay?"
Kelly pulled back her hand after I released it. Her expression was hard to make out clearly due to the shadow that danced on her face. But it somehow felt warm, almost pity-like. Or it could just be my own desire for forgiveness.
"Hmmm…" Muller grabbed my attention. I turned to face him, and as I did, the shadow jumped to him. Its mocking jeer made it clear that it refused to let me see my allies' faces clearly. His gaze narrowed as he slowly walked around me. "You forgot to take them, didn't you?
"I didn't forget." Looking away, I tried my hardest to brush off his accusation. "This little surprise forced them out of me."
Rinne turned to me and stared at me along with the shadow. Her scarlet eyes were masked by the pale hollow ones.
You must fight it.
The shadow's mouth moved, leaking a voice that sounded just like Rinara.
Why…?
I never actually stopped to think about it, but what was this thing? It hunts me, sticking to the shadows. If I forget to take my meds, it appears and taunts me. But it also tries to encourage me through the voice of Rinara.
Placing a hand to my chest, I could feel the rapid beating of my heart. Looking pale and Muller catching on, we need to end this quickly, otherwise I might lose myself like last night staring at that thing.
Once you have a taste, you can never turn back.
"Shut up…" I muttered as I shook my head.
We moved throughout the building. It felt rather like a ghost town, not a soul in sight.
So, why were there guards posted at the front? And why did the doors open for Kelly?
"Axien…I feel like this is a trap." Rinne said. Not being able to see her face made it difficult to see how she was really feeling due to her lack of experience in hiding her emotions. "That woman…I don't know how to explain it, but something weird is coming from her. After the alarms stopped, the feeling grew stronger."
"What are you? A spiritualist?" I said. I did not mean it in a way to discourage her feelings, but having doubts about one another right now would only drive my desire to kill.
"…" Rinne slowed her steps, keeping a forced distance from me. "Of course, you wouldn't believe me." She muttered. "Though that strange feeling is also coming from you. But I feel as if there's something important to that feeling."
"Hey…" Kelly called out from the head of the group. She stopped right in front of a metal door that stopped us from reaching the underground. "There's a lot of steam coming from the gaps."
She was right, white steam leaked out of the edges of the door. Water condensed on the ceiling above us, dripping warm droplets onto our heads.
The door itself was warm to the touch, perhaps due to its size; only the outer edges were hot enough to burn. I turned the door handle, and nothing happened.
"Muller, looks like a job for you."
"Yeah yeah. You'd better show your respect to the Goddess after this for gracing you with me." Muller said as he approached the door. I retreated and grabbed Rinne and Sara.
"Huh!?"
"…"
Rinne resisted and kicked me for whatever reason while Sara dug herself deep into my chest. She was shaking and sniffing a bit. Guess she's still shaken from that psychological attack.
"With golden wings she once walked the barren lands." Muller formed a fist with his metal arm and took a stance while chanting a prayer. "Scorned for her ambitions, she believed." Steam jetted out the sides of Muller's gauntlet, ramping from light to heavy. The metal sound of a gear winding echoed through the hissing steam. "Now it's up to us to protect those beliefs as she is the one who has given us LIFE!"
Muller ran to the door and slammed his gantlet into it. Cracks ran down his gauntlet as screws and small gears bounced onto the floor with metallic clanks. The door stood solid, only bowing towards the center. Muller grunted as he coughed up blood, and the door suddenly went flying off the hinges as if it were lighter than paper. A large metal spike protruded from the top of his fists, still steaming from both heat and excess steam from his arm.
Breathing heavily, Muller jumped back, then hunched over, reaching into his gauntlet. The sound of something shattering rang in my ears as all the screws and gears that were scattered all over flew back to him as if being attracted by an invisible force. The steam that ejected from his gauntlet flew back into his arm as if being sucked into a vacuum.
"Whoa!" Kelly's jaw practically dropped to the floor, causing Muller to turn his head. It was not hard to imagine the face he was making behind that shadow that masked him. "I heard rumors that a member of the clergy was in possession of an artifact. So I take it that artifact is your artificial arm?"
Muller stood up, reaching into his clothes. "Reporter." He spoke sternly. "What you see here is to be kept under wraps and away from the prying eyes of the public." He produced a dagger and threw it. It shot towards Kelly faster than I could blink, embedding itself into the metal walls. "Failure to do that will result in the crucifixion of your twisted soul under the pretense that you are impeding the will of the Goddess."
With a "Eeep," Kelly backed up and laughed awkwardly while tilting her hat down a little. "Y-yes Father Muller."
Ruling with an iron fist, figuratively and literally, was why Muller was selected to be the head of a subgroup in the church whose sole purpose was to hunt heretics. Kelly was half right with her assessment of Muller's arm. It itself was not the artifact, but rather a small stone inside, known as "Fragment of the Hourglass." This artifact allows him to reverse time for a small area around him, allowing him to be as reckless as possible while only suffering minor feedback from using the stone.
"That prayer he spoke," Rinne said, looking towards him. "It was just for show, wasn't it?"
"It was to solidify his resolve to ensure the cost of power," I said.
Now that the door was broken down, all that awaits us is the class 4 void spawn.
I would be lying if I said this would be over in a flash, but with Muller here, I get the feeling that it should go smoothly.
But a few problems remain. Sara is unable to move without someone with her. She'd been clamping down tightly on me for a while now. Rinne's fighting ability is unknown to me, but from what I've seen, she'd be more of a liability than help. At the same time, she has her mother's blood, so maybe she can pull off something impossible.
Then there was Kelly. She was quiet now, after being silenced by Muller's threat, but her triggers were unknown. We each are affected by that void spawn's attack. She and Muller might have recovered, but Sara and I are still enduring its effects.
"I'll go down first," I said, passing Sara off to Muller. "I'll scout around for five minutes. Should I give the okay; Kelly and Rinne will head down, then Muller and Sara."
"And should you not?" Rinne said.
"Then assume I'm dead," I responded, stepping into the room. A long ladder masked by a thick cloud of steam greeted me.
You can turn back.
The shadow appeared next to me. Its mouth is wide with a jeer. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest as I looked down the hole.
Let the God of the Void handle everything since you cannot do it yourself.
I placed my hands on the top of the ladder. It burned a little, but I could endure it.
*THUMP THUMP*
The disembodied heartbeats started up again, louder than they had been outside. It gave the shadow a fuller form as it took a humanoid shape next to me.
TURN BACK.
PUSH FORWARD.
The voice that was my own mixed with Rinara's. The shadow's face morphed, half of it taking the face of the woman I once loved.
*THUMP THUMP*
The disembodied heartbeat seemed to merge with my own for a moment as the entity before spoke directly into my head using her voice.
▇ ▇ ▇ ▇ ▇ trust yourself. I will be here to guide you.