Royalty, II

[April 9th]

["Persona 5 - Willpower Extended." It's back, baby.]

Kirihara had beaten Mia to the Air Force base that day. She knew as she stepped on the runway, line of hangars at her left & a hundred feet away -

" - here we fucking go." she muttered, seeing one bomber swooping in the sky and over her. A steel bunker formed over her, and she braced herself for the incoming volley -

- and she felt dozens & dozens of projectiles hit Carve's exterior, hundreds & hundreds of explosions erupting outward & outside; her eyes clenched shut as two steel earplugs closed her ears, bunker starting to dent but new material repairing it; outside, Carve's extra saws formed on the exterior, spinning blades chewing through more bombs before they could explode -

- and the spectacle ended after a minute in her bunker of steel; with no time to waste, a pinhole peeled back above her head -

- and she nodded as she saw no bomber coming; her bunker disappeared -

- and a demolished scene met her thousand-yard stare, runway having been chunked to messes of rubble, row of hangers still standing at her left & stretching down -

- and hundreds of lines of plastic sandbags ahead, plastic army-men manning their plastic stations with plastic weapons. Hundreds of aims rose towards her, and she heard someone shouting "Bad Company!" as a hundred shots flew towards her -

- but the next scene was instant. A wall of spikes burst up ahead; she swept for cover behind -

- and in to the metal went the hundreds of bullets, wall already starting to dent & chip. She felt something land beside her, and in the next instant -

- an explosion staggered her left; another grenade landed at her side -

- but a swift case of Carve formed over it, trapping it before it could release more yellow vapors. She picked it up and hurled it over the barrier, nodding as she heard one platoon fall victim to the war crime, coughing then falling dead. With no time to waste, she started rushing left again, Carve's wall detaching and following by her side; more shots entered it as it tried to spin, projectiles clogging it even as it kept her safe; with a sigh and a grunt, a second saw formed on Kirihara's side, revving up with no worry of being slowed.

She kept her rush going as it spun to full speed -

- and the two saws swapped position, projectile deflecting and still spinning at half the speed of sound as more bullets entered it, hundreds of bullets embedded embedded in the steel -

" - Carve - Sonic Shock!" she shouted -

- and the next scene was instant. Carve spun with the literal speed of sound -

- and the shockwave blasted every last bullet back to sender, first wave ripping their plastic arms off their plastic bones -

- and the second wave slashed through another thirty; behind, the rest of the men took cover & started reloading, half of them dead but half of them living. Space created, Kirihara rushed up to the southern wall of one hangar, glancing back at the plastic army on the runway -

- and nodding as she saw one unplastic man at the back end; with no time to waste, Carve's chainsaw formed in her hands and ripped right through the hangar's wall. In to the building she swept -

- and sighed at the three plastic tanks inside, sight already trained on her with one jet driving out of the doors - " - God, are you fucking kidding -"

- three shells flew towards her, but the next scene was instant. A metal arm formed on the ground behind her back -

- and yanked her back & outside, throwing her up in to the air -

- and the tank shells caught only air below; Carve's saw formed underneath her and brought her to the roof, steel throne depositing her there as she hit the ground running. She left a trail of spikes as she ran across, steel starting to spin through the barrier. Below & right, more gunshots shot towards her as she reached the roof's end, another hangar ahead -

- and the next scene was instant. She leaped forward & off; a steel slide formed in midair -

- and down she slid & slid, hangar's wall up ahead; saws formed on her boots as she slid -

- and burst in clear through the wall, still sliding in midair -

- and landing straight on two plastic men's faces, green blood & guts hanging off their skulls as Carve tore them off; she spun to her feet, plastic mob surrounding her -

" - Carve!" she shouted; Carve's flail formed, and in a first sweep -

- that tore a dozen necks clear off their bodies; a second saw formed behind her -

- and cleaved a dozen heads off a dozen shoulders; she glanced at the hangar's entrance, seeing another fifty rushing in and towards her -

- but the next scene was instant. Carve's saw formed ahead, and she shouted for her Sonic Shock again -

- and the speed of sound shockwave blasted sixty top halves off of a hundred&twenty legs in the next. With no time to waste, she rushed up to the northern wall, then felt more tank shells hitting the south wall where she had entered. She glanced back, and saw one tank enter in through the hole she'd made -

- and she swept with the speed of light right -

- just in time to avoid its shell blasting the northern wall for her; sudden foundation lost, the wall started to crumble -

" - thanks, dick!" she shouted, glancing back as she rushed out of the wall -

- direct in to ten gusts of flames hitting her face. She shrieked as her body was set alight, ten foes with flamethrowers right ahead of her, and in the next instant -

- Carve's saw flew underneath one -

- and the blender spun him in to a green & red smoothie in the next, spinning with the speed of sound as it fell in to the ground -

- and the vortex sucked her other nine foes in to the whirlpool of gore in the next, blood & concrete dust filling the air as she staggered forward, still on fire -

' - fucking hate this.' she groaned, stopping and dropping and rolling until the fire was cleared. She hated fire Revenants particularly. From the runway a hundred feet right, she heard more assault rifle fire, but it was still blind and couldn't hit her. Another hangar wall was ahead. Carefully, she stepped up and sliced it open, waiting a second before she swept inside -

- and heard more bombs blast the ceiling; with a groan, she rushed across the room, nothing inside but actual jets that she still sliced to bits as she ran. She knew she was nearly at the backline, so she took the hangar's door for an exit, seeing the backline man from earlier still standing at the end as she rushed out, fifty feet separating them, and as his face turned towards her -

- a groan like none other escaped her as she saw him to be plastic too; the rest of men turned towards her -

" - fucking seriously?" she said, and a wall of spikes burst up ahead; she took it for cover. Now, the runway was at her left, vertical line of men diagonal-left & far ahead. She threw one knife of Carve out, but still felt frustrated as it slit through the backline man's throat, no disappearance coming & no knowledge of where the host was. She turned her eyes back down the runway -

- and saw a jet making towards her, thousands of feet away, one man she was sure wasn't plastic sitting in the cockpit; only one chance left, she rushed out of her cover, leaping up & on Carve's saw, riding it to get to his level as he screamed towards her; a dozen missiles burst out and towards her -

- but the next scene was instant. She took her best leap forward; one missile screamed ahead of her - a pole of Carve formed on it -

- and she didn't look back as she grabbed & vaulted herself off it and to the next, and the next, and the next, and as the jet drew within range -

- she took one final leap, saws forming on her boots -

- and stomped right through the cockpit & clear through the bottom of the jet with her foe's mangled face riding her boots as she fell through it & to the air, plastic armymen fading below as she glanced back; Carve's saw caught her in midair -

- and she nodded as she saw a single beating heart fall out of the jet as it kept on its way behind, stomping once she reached the ground and scanning once she reached the Revenant.

CARVE (323)

SWARM (318)