What hit me first was the stench of smoke and ashes in the air. The emotion of malice and desperation was abundant, like mud surrounding me. I grimaced and surveyed my surroundings. Fire was everywhere in the deserted streets and the good thing was that I didn't sense any enemies nearby. I made my move and teleported on top of a skyscraper in my eyesight.
It seems I wasn't lucky enough to be teleported next to the Doctor. I wasn't sure if I was even in the same city as him.
I wanted to find the Doctor and his group fast, but I didn't have an image of what he looked like in my memory since his livestream was in first-person…wait, there was that rabbit girl named Amiya! Fiddling with the necklace on me, I used the Search Magic inscribed inside and felt the pulling direction to the person I'm looking for.
Before advancing, I should notify the Doctor that I'm here and on my way. I still had the phone on me and it turned on. I typed a quick comment and left the top of the building.
[Singularity Found at the End]: Doctor, I'm here! I've pinpointed your spot so I'm heading on over.
[Zero Sanity]: Kaito!? What do you mean? What are you planning on doing?
[Singularity Found at the End]: No time, just tell me the situation and let me help bring you and your friends to safety.
[Zero Sanity]: Wait! I might be asking for too much, but we're worried about some of our members. If you spot any people with Rhodes Island clothing, such as having a line of neon blue on their coat and a chess piece embroidery on them, try and help if you can.
[Singularity Found at the End]: Got it.
I can't forget about Minato-kun, so I'll leave a few helpful gifts for him when he comes over.
[<Singularity Found at the End> gifted <Gekkoukan's One-Eyed Monster> - Fruit of the World Tree x 5]
[<Singularity Found at the End> gifted <Gekkoukan's One-Eyed Monster> - Starry Fruit of the World Tree x 5]
"That'll do for now. As for how we get back to our own world after this…" (Kaito)
I re-checked the description of the world travel function. It costs 3000 points to travel another world if you have a good enough anchor working as a bridge. Usually that would be the other members of the group chat, so Doctor was the case here for Terra. As for going back, I can just do it from my phone, but in Minato-kun’s case whose point of access was his main computer I was worried. Times like this I wished the group chat had a Q&A function.
"I should take this moment to try out my Heart Tool. The boundaries between worlds shouldn’t matter still, and there’s no reason why the group chat should block it from working." (Kaito)
I stood still on top of a building. Reaching deep within me, I called upon the power lying dormant in my heart.
"The heart treads upon the definite path——— Smiling together——— Crying together——— Accumulating footprints of memories together——— The bonds I weave are the fragments of a miracle——— My heart, burst forth! Together, become one! 'Αναμνήσεις!'" (Kaito)
With this incantation, brilliant light sprang forth and motes of them catalyzed into a human shape. Light faded and what remained was a short woman of 143 cm and waist-length blonde hair. On her were a casual jacket, pleated skirt and spats, and sunglasses.
Alyssa, my lover, looked up to me with a smile before becoming pouty.
"Well, I’m aware of everything I need to know since your Heart Tool grants me your memories, and there’s no time to waste, but still, I have many complaints about this, Kaito-san!" (Alyssa)
"I know, I know. I’ll make it up to you later." (Kaito)
I soothed Alyssa gently and made a promise.
"I need you again. So please, lend me your strength." (Kaito)
"It’s unfair if you make that request in such a cool way!" (Alyssa)
Alyssa bashfully squirmed for a moment, then turned serious again.
"What do you desire from me, milord?" (Alyssa)
"Ensure the safety of any people you see from Doctor’s group and lead them to where he is heading. Protect and evacuate the civilians. Any rioters you encounter should be neutralized in case to prevent further complications." (Kaito)
"What happens if I find an especially evil one that can’t be rehabilitated?" (Alyssa)
"You take care of it in whatever fashion you deem fitting." (Kaito)
"Understood. Your order has been received faithfully." (Alyssa)
My shoulders relaxed from having Alyssa’s reassuring presence with me. With her skills, the difficulty of this operation would lessen immensely and it’ll be smooth sailing from here. She summoned several clones and then dispersed to every direction.
I swept my eyes to the city, taking in every silhouette from a distance.
"Everywhere on the ground is infested with these Reunion people." (Kaito)
My Sympathy Magic picked up all of the bellicose Reunion people’s emotions. I could feel it intimately, their sorrows, the helplessness that consumed them and their self-righteous rage they were desperate to howl out to the world. It was intense and my body felt like it was submerged in an inescapable murky swamp.
However, no matter how much I pitied them, they were terrorizing everything and everyone be it young or old. I clicked my tongue quietly and quickly pulled out the toy hammer. Flickering my arm with the hammer in hand, one of them screamed pathetically and dropped unconscious.
"Good, I can keep my distance and remove some of the problems. Time to pick up the pace." (Kaito)
I still didn't find any Rhodes Island people while in the midst of my excessive teleporting. The most I've done was keeping an eagle's eye and cleaning up any stragglers in the open, allowing for some civilians to escape.
"Nhuoooohh!!??" (Reunion Grunt #1)
"Gyaaaaaahhh!!!" (Reunion Grunt #2)
"Aaaaaaahhhh!!!" (Reunion Grunt #3)
Loud screams kept echoing excessively, proof of my work. Dozens of bodies dropped cold on the ground. They still breathe and will live another day. I wasn't interested in the deaths of others nor did I have the heart to kill willingly if I could avoid it.
"Uwaaaaaahhhh!!!" (Reunion Grunt #267)
"Gruuuooohhh!!!" (Reunion Grunt #268)
"Nuaaaaahhh!!" (Reunion Grunt #269)
Still, nobody of high-profile was found in my path…wait, who's that over there?
"I think he's wearing a Rhodes Island coat like the rabbit girl. He looks short of breath and is being chased by that woman." (Kaito)
A man came into view wearing a clothed mask with a rifle on his back. Near him was a horned woman in black. I teleported next to their spot and made my presence known, causing them to jump in surprise because of my sudden appearance.
"Who are you?" (Woman)
"I'm only going to ask you to leave this man alone. He's important to someone I know." (Kaito)
"Where did this guy come from…?" (Rhodes Island member)
The woman was on the defensive having met a complete unknown like me appearing out of thin air. She pulled a knife out and put on a stance while I stood between them, forming a triangle with us.
"You're in bad shape. Don't worry, I'm here as an ally to provide aid." (Kaito)
"Ignoring me are you? Confident, or just extremely foolish? You've got zero blood from your scent, and your sense of presence is no different from a civilian. But…why can I not sense your shadow?" (Woman)
The woman in black was clearly disturbed. I felt her using some kind of power to read me, looking for my 'shadow' I'm assuming. I can read her emotions distinctly with my Sympathy Magic no matter how well she hides them. She's nowhere near the level of the people I know that my magic won't work on.
"If you've noticed something, can you kindly leave now? I'm not here to start a fight." (Kaito)
"Listen, boy. If you were smart, you wouldn't have stuck your nose somewhere it doesn't belong. You've obviously come to save him, but he's at death's door, so you've wasted both your life and time for someone who's dead." (Woman)
"No, I'm certain I've wasted nobody's life or time. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have the power to back it up." (Kaito)
That woman was certainly someone who faced war and horror, a world I've never experienced in my entire peaceful lifetime. Her bloodlust and killer vibe was hitting me like static through my Sympathy Magic, but compared to all the other crazy people with their more horrific auras I've experienced firsthand, hers was more like a wild puppy in my eyes.
"If you're done, I'm going to save this man." (Kaito)
"Some nobody who's never killed a person in their life is telling me off? How regrettable, boy." (Woman)
She brandished her knife while I held my hammer. The woman was more than stupefied at the toy hammer in my hands and became even more enraged, thinking I was humiliating her further. She rushed at me with impressive speed, swinging her arm. The knife was closing in on my neck. That's when my auto-counter kicked in, moving my body to sharply avoid the direction of the blade and stepping behind her back. She couldn't register her surprise or react fast enough before I brought the hammer down directly on her head.
"Gbfahhhh!!??" (Woman)
She coughed out spit and made a disgraceful sound. Her eyes rolled back as she collapsed face and body on the asphalt intimately. It was lights out for her and the mad twitching of her fingers was the one thing indicating that she was still alive. Forgetting about her, I turned to the man who was in utter disbelief at what he witnessed.
"You alright? Can you still move?" (Kaito)
"…Just who on Terra are you?" (Rhodes Island member)
"Does the name Doctor remind you of anyone?" (Kaito)
The man was deadly quiet. He had full caution towards me regardless if I saved his life or not. From the emotions I'm picking up, the name alerted him and he was keen on staying silent for the purpose of protecting the person I mentioned.
"That answers my question. I'm a close acquaintance of his—" (Kaito)
I stopped myself from finishing my sentence and just stood next to him protectively. Someone else’s presence was detected. I glared into the direction from where I sensed them.
"Get out from there." (Kaito)
"…Seriously, where did someone as scary as you come from." (???)
Complying with my demand, a man had come out of the corner of the broken building.
"You managed to save him, huh." (???)
"And who are you?" (Kaito)
"Hoederer." (Hoederer)
The man had dusty red hair that reminded me of Ozma. His face was chiseled and sharpened from countless battles I could tell. He was heavily equipped all around with his gear and armor tucked in a dirty cloak.
"I'm hoping you're not thinking of fighting too." (Kaito)
"I don't know what the deal is with that toy of yours to knock out Ines in an instant. I don't fancy my chances against that, so I'm opting to retreat with her." (Hoederer)
"I like the sound of that. But I don't trust you." (Kaito)
"Heh. A fair opinion. But, I really mean it when I have no intentions of getting in your way. I’m relieved you came to Scout’s rescue." (Hoederer)
That confused me. I’m not ignorant of this man’s killing intent towards Scout from earlier, but now it’s gone and he’s relieved to not have the need to kill him? Perhaps my silence indicated to him my hesitation and reluctance. Hoederer now felt grateful for some reason.
"I’ll be taking my comrade with me then." (Hoederer)
"…Be careful on your way. The catastrophe is pretty nasty from what I heard." (Kaito)
I wasn’t sure what compelled me to say that since I was conflicted on what to think of Hoederer. He nodded once and picked up Ines, then walked away. With him gone, I turned to Scout again.
"Sorry for the interruption. My name is Miyama Kaito, a close acquaintance of the Doctor's." (Kaito)
"…Scout." (Scout)
I held my hand out to him, but he shook his head gently and sat from where he was. Noticing my worry, he opened his mouth.
"I've lost too much blood and I can't so much as feel my limbs anymore. I'm sorry, Kaito, but I'm a doomed man."
That's right, he's injured all over. And life-threatening too. Thankfully I came prepared. I pulled out a bottle from my Magic Box and showed it to him.
"Here, drink this." (Kaito)
"Please don't waste anything on me. I don't want your good intentions to—" (Scout)
"I said drink." (Kaito)
I'm not wasting anymore time listening to a man currently dying, so I pulled his mask down and shoved the bottle to his mouth. He resisted, but soon enough from my urging, I heard gulping sounds. He was filled with indignation while I withdrew the bottle and stored it away.
"Pffah! What are you doing!?" (Scout)
"Feel all better?" (Kaito)
"Hey, listen to me—!" (Scout)
Feeling something out of place, Scout looked over his body and found that his entire body was fixed and clean of any wounds. He gripped his fingers and flexed his arms to find that his body was full of energy again unlike his previous state of being at death's door.
But what I wasn't expecting was another reaction from his body. I saw black crystals falling off his body from where there were ugly scabs that healed into normal skin again. Scout looked utterly stunned in place from what he saw, feeling like he's witnessing a miracle firsthand.
"…" (Scout)
"…I think you're mostly fine now. Since you can move, you'll make it out of here alive again with your own power I feel. As for me, I'm going to continue where the Doctor is and help anybody on my way. You're free to follow me if you want." (Kaito)
With my last piece said, I pertinently walked away trying not to be self-conscious of Scout burrowing his gaze into my back. Okay, I did mind it, so I teleported away to the top of a building and continued to where the Doctor is. The weather on the horizon looks grim and foreboding of something disastrous. Were those dark clouds the catastrophe Doctor briefly mentioned? I couldn't hear the last words by Scout as I was too far away.
"…Did I just get saved by a god?" (Scout)
Afterword:
Serious-senpai: "To the average person in Arknights, someone like Kaito would appear like an omnipotent god to them…"
[Αναμνήσεις / Memories]
Kaito's Heart Tool. It's a very unusual "Heart Tool that holds no substance of its own", making it unable to be used to increase the number of Heart Tool Users.
It has two abilities:
The deceased that the user recognizes as "someone they were together with" will be brought back to life with combat power corresponding to the strength of the user's heart. (The resurrected people can't use the special abilities they had when they were alive)
The other power held by the Heart Tool is used upon targets, who recognizes the user's desire "to be together," will receive a super-powerful boost corresponding to the strength of the user's heart + full recovery of physical strength and magical energy (No side effects or repercussions)
Scout
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Ines
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Hoederer
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