Vol 1: Chapter 5: First Contact (Part 2)

Volume 1: Blood on Blade

Chapter 5:

First Contact (Part 2)

At an unknown military site in Japan, inside a spacious laboratory that was full of high tech machine and tools running across the room with plenty monitors showing a graphical parameters of something.

Many people wearing a researcher lab coats focusing on their own monitors and some that were running around doing the calibration to the big transparent tube in the middle of the room.

The tube was filled with clear liquid and at the center of the tube, something was floating inside motionless.

"The power reading has stabilized!"

"Other status are also all green!"

"The dormant soul is emerging!"

"The consciousness is awakening!"

"Countdown in 5 .... 4 .... 3 .... 2 .... 1--"

???'s POV

What happened?

Where am I?

I can't see anything. Everything is all black and I also can't move my body. I can feel the cold substance engulfing my whole body, but where the hell I'm now?

Am I under the sea?

Did I went on with one of my original plan and decided to drown myself in the sea?

Wait, no, that's not right.

If I'm not mistaken, before I lose my consciousness, I was talking to a strange woman with an unrecognizable face at the park behind the apartment.

Hm, calling it 'unrecognizable' is not really accurate. It was more like, in my vision, her face became blurred, as if something preventing me from seeing her features.

She offered me a way so I can have a  chance to enact my revenge against those monster, in exchange for me offering my useless life to be used in the experiment.

I accepted that and then....

"Hello? Are you awake yet?" 

I hear someone asking me this, but I don't know where that voice came from.

If there is a voice, does that means I'm not under the sea? I really want to open my eyes to see my surrounding, but somehow I can't feel my eyelids at all.

["Where am I? Why I can't see anything? Am I blind? Wait... huh, my voice?!"]

I can't take it anymore. Feeling really anxious, I decide to ask, but instantly bewildered by what was happening.

I can talk, but I can't feel my lips or tongue moving. And my voice somehow feels weird, like it was a voice generated by machine.

"Ah, I forgot about that. Hey, Yuzuhara, enable the vision module to it's system."

"Alright, enabling the vision module!"

Soon after I heard that, the blank blackness dissipates and I can see color and object again, but something still feel weird.

In front of me, outside of the glass I'm currently in, is a woman researcher with white hair wearing a white lab coat, she has a distinctive feature different from normal people that is she has a long ears, a cosplay props perhaps?

I can also see around me that there are many other people wearing the same white lab coats, and high tech machine and monitors displaying some data I can't understand. You know, something you usually find inside an anime or manga with sci-fi genre.

["Am I inside a tube? Wait more than that, what is wrong with my eyes, I can see every corner of this room at the same time."]

Human's vision usually can only see at most 200 degrees horizontally, and 135 degrees vertically. But what I'm seeing now is a full 360 degrees both in vertical and horizontal, I can see everything around me, except my own body.

"Hm, good, the vision module works perfectly for you. What you are using now is 'All Direction Mode'. Now, try focusing your thought so can see more normally."

Not answering any of my question, the white haired woman in front of me just give me some instruction.

It's really uncomfortable to see like this, so I will just do what she says for now.

After a few second, my vision goes back to normal, and now I looked straight at the white haired woman in front of my tube.

["Who are you? And where am I?"]

"We are inside one of laboratory facility of JSDF military base in Hokkaido. As for who I am, how about this?"

'Snap!'

The woman snapped her fingers and suddenly her hair, no, her whole head become blurred in my vision.

Now I remember, her voice and the blurred face, she is the woman from that time.

She snapped her fingers again, and the perception goes back to normal.

"Alright, I think you already remember me, so let's start our QnA session, shall we?"

Since she offered, then I won't hesitate.

["What happened to me?"]

"How much do you remember?"

["..... you shot me in the head."]

"Yup, as I said, I have no use with your physical body. I only need your soul."

["Soul, what are you exactly, a shinigami?"]

Before answering, she looks like she is thinking about it deeply.

"I was once called by something similar to that back in my own world, but I assure you, I'm not the shinigami you think of."

["What do you mean back in your world? Who are you?"]

"I forgot to introduce myself in our first meeting. My full name is Livistria Ascelliousipus Mertharia. That's a little too long, so please just call me Professor Livia.

You can consider me as an Elf by this world standard media. Though I feel it more accurate to say I'm an Alien if we go by exact definition. Since I'm not from this world, or precisely, I'm not from this dimension."

While explaining that, she, Professor Livia touched and nudged her long ears, as if to prove that it is indeed a real things.

["Then what is my condition now? I can't move my body at all."]

"Yuzuhara, the mirror please."

Out of the corner of my vision, another female researcher come while holding a full body mirror and turn the mirror to my position.

What I see greatly shocked me to my core, .... umm, in this condition am I still have a core?

What is reflected there is a big transparent cylinder tube, filled with some kind of water, and in the center, is a katana with red lines on the blade, with black and red handle.

["Is.... is that... me?"]

"Yup! What do you think? I put on a lot of effort in creating this Sacred Weapon. Do you like it?"

Professor Livia seems awfully excited to know my reaction.

Then I remember our previous conversation at the park.

"..... will I really have a chance to kill those monsters?"

"Technically, yes."

"Then it's fine. Do whatever you want with me."

"That's great! With you I can create the strongest and most brutal weapon to kill all those pesky beings."

["So this is what you mean when you said you can create a weapon by using me. A literal weapon. I see, I understand now."]

"...That's it? I was expecting a more extreme reaction such as 'What have you done to my body?!' or 'Give me back my previous body!!' Something along those lines?"

Uwah, she really really excited for something strange.

["I already agreed to your terms back then, so there is no point in complaining at this time. Besides, I believe this form is far more useful than that worthless body of mine from before."]

"How do I say this,.... you are too much of negative person. Normal people would at least question or argue if they suddenly turned out into a weapon with consciousness. Wait, no, even your quick acceptance back then is already weird. Is humanity in this dimension too much of weirdo?"

She let out a very long sigh. Is it really disappointing if your subject don't argue back at you? Shouldn't she be happy since I cooperating voluntarily?

I can hear someone in the back shouting, "Don't generalize it with all humanity in this side!" and "Doesn't she realize she herself as a much worse weirdo?"

Professor Livia turned her head and give them a sharp look, everyone quickly averted their eyes and pretending they are busy with something.

[".... Then just what if, what if I refused back then? Will you let me go?"]

"Nope, of course not, you silly kid, hahaha! I would still kill you and took your soul with me. You don't know how difficult it is to find a soul that was really fit with my criteria to create a perfect Sacred Weapon. There is no way I would just let you leave, hahaha!"

What a quick turn around of head and emotion.

["As I expected. So, as a weapon, do I have some kind of special power? I don't believe a weapon that was created using a human soul will be just an ordinary katana."]

I quickly accepted everything and move on to the most important question.

"Of course, you're anything but ordinary. Can you feel like something was flowing inside of you? Can you try to control that flow"

["Flow.... ah, something like that huh, I'll give it a try."]

When she mentioned it, I realized I can feel something is moving like a wave, not the clear liquid inside the tube, but something inside my blade body.

It's warm, but at the same time kinda cold. I try to move that wave with my mind, and I can feel it moving as I want it.

"The Sacred particles are surging at an exponential rate!"

"The power level goes up to 2 times stronger, no, 3 times!"

The researchers around me shouted and the graphic in the monitor moving up steadly.

I see the mirror in front of the tube again, and see that my blade body is glowing with a dim red aura.

"It keeps increasing! Almost up to 5 times!"

"Professor, if it keeps going on the container will break!"

"Alright! Hey, that's enough!"

I instantly relaxed my mind as Professor Livia ordered, and all the graphics in the monitor returned to normal. The glow in my blade also dissipate.

"Ahh, what a perfect creation you are?! You can even control your power to that extent in your first awakening. As expected of me!"

Professor Livia really seems ecstatic with how I performed, while the other researchers wipe their foreheads and let out a relieved sigh.

"Do you have any other question?"

Professor Livia looked at me with a happy smile.

["I don't think I can do anything on my own, because I'm now just a weapon. Does it mean there will someone who wield me? Where are they?"]

"Good question! For now, we're still looking for good candidates to be your user. So please give your full cooperation in the upcoming test in the next few days."

While saying that, she tap the shoulder of the female researcher holding the mirror.

"Yuzuhara here will be the one to oversee you, if you have any more trivial question to ask, ask it to her. Well then, before I go, do you still have something to ask me personally?"

[".... One last question."]

"Go on."

["What should I call myself from now on?"]

My previous body was pretty much already dead. I don't know how long it has been from that time, but by this time probably that body was already cremated or disposed.

I can't no longer use the name Ikuto when I refer to myself in this form.

"You are the ninth creation in my life. A Sacred Weapon to kill monster from the Rift. So, from now on, you are the Sacred Weapon No.9!"

["Sacred Weapon No.9...."]

After that, Professor Livia got a call from someone that said they needed her in another laboratory in England, so she bid her goodbye and left.

The female researcher, Yuzuhara-san, said she will do a few more test to me and ask me to cooperate.

We also talked while she did many kind of tests and I found out now is exactly a month after the attack from those monsters.

I also learned a few new terms such as;

Rift: a hole in the sky where all those monster came out.

D-Mons: pronounced as Demon, it is an acronym for Dimensional Monster. That was how Professor Livia refers to all those white creatures that came out from the Rift.

Sacred Weapon: refer to a powerful weapon created personally by Professor Livia that can greatly harm the D-Mons with ease.

With how she refers to me as No.9, it means there are other eight already created Sacred Weapon out there beside me, and from the rumors Yuzuhara-san heard, there are three more Sacred Weapon still being developed in another countries such as England, Egypt, and China.

After the test was done, Yuzuhara-san said by next week, the candidates for my users should have already gathered, and asked me to just rest.

How a weapon rest though?

While I thought about this, somehow I feel sleepy, and my consciousness was cut off.

•

•

•

August 27th, 2050, JSDF Military Site, Underground Laboratory, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan

It's been a week since I first woke up.

Yuzuhara-san and other researcher were still doing some test on me everyday to make sure nothing goes wrong on the day of the candidate test.

For the first time, I got out from the tube and placed on the katana stand on the table, by a mechanical robot arms very cautiously.

Am I that dangerous for human?

Now, I'm little worried about the candidates.

I was brought into a spacious underground place. Something like a shooting range, but the roof is kinda high.

After some calibration or something, Yuzuhara-san and other researcher moved to the room separated by a transparent glass beside this place. Is that an observation room?

Now I'm alone. A katana placed on the katana stand on the table, inside this very spacious place.

When I'm thinking about what I'm supposed to do here, the door on the other side of the observation room opened and a man in jacket came in and walked toward me.

["Umm, hello, are you--"]

"So this is a weapon that can kill those monster. Just a sword? How I can take my revenge for my family with just this!"

'Grab!'

["!!"]

"Agghhhhh!! What is this?!! Aaaahhhh!"

Before I can say anything, the man grabbed my handle, and I feel something jolted inside of me and the man suddenly screaming in agony.

His face showed a very great pain, blood coming out of all orifices in his head like mouth, nose, eyes, and ears.

["WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LET GO!"]

I can't take it anymore. I shout at him, but it seems it's already too late. His eyes are already white.

The hand that grab my handle exploded, and the man finally fall to the ground, clearly dead.

The spacious space instantly turned quiet. Even I can't comprehend what just happened.

["Yu-Yuzuhara-san! Someone.... someone just died!"]

"I know. Don't worry about that. The disposer team will take care of it."

I hear Yuzuhara-san's voice from the speaker behind me. Not long after that, from another door, four soldiers come in. Two of them put the corpse inside a body bag, and carried it out. While the other two cleaned the mess, they even sprayed something on my handle that instantly erase the bloods.

After five minutes, everything goes back to how it was before. As if the bloody man with exploding hand in the this place never exist.

["Yuzuhara-san! What is this?! I never heard anything about the test would be something like this!"]

"No.9, we ask for your full cooperation. The next candidate will come in a few second."

["No, I don't want th--"]

My voice is gone! Did Yuzuhara-san turned it off?!

Then how I can warn the other candidates?!

What I saw next for the rest of the day is so despairing. I feel like if I still have a mouth, I would throw up disgustingly.

After that man, a woman came. But the result stayed the same. She died a gruesome death. The disposer team came in and cleaned up the mess, and next candidate showed up.

Man and woman, teenager and adult, there was even a kid among them. I really want to cry.

No, I cried.

Inside this quiet katana, I cried for all the people died after grabbing my handle.

There are two people survived after they managed to released their hand, but still, they were greatly injured.

The medical team came and give them on-site treatment before carried them out on a stretcher.

Just in today test, I have already killed more than 10 people, and greatly injured 2 others until they are in the brink of death.

•

•

•

Test was concluded, no one managed to lift me up, and I was sent back to my lab and returned into the glass tube that was filled with transparent liquid.

Yuzuhara-san finally turned on my voice back, but I was just too mentally exhausted with everything happened today.

She and other researchers got ready to leave while still doing something with the monitors.

"Today batch's is failure. You can take a rest now, No.9."

After they are done, and everyone has left, Yuzuhara-san stands in front of my tube.

["Th-This is not what I want..... I want to kill those D-Mons, not humans!"]

"No.9, you shouldn't think about it too much. Every candidates are recruited with the same offer as you. They were ready to use their life if they can take revenge against those monster. So if they died, it is just their luck that is terrible."

["H-How could you say that? You don't understand how I feel! I've killed many people today!"]

"Yeah, I don't. I just want to ease your guilt, because next week, we will have the same test again."

["Wha--, I don't want to kill more humans! I want to kill the D-Mons!"]

"You can only kill the D-Mons after you find someone who can use you properly. Until then, try to numb your mind before the next test."

After saying that, she left. Leaving me alone in a dark laboratory.

•

•

September 14th, 2050

Two weeks and three days since the first test, and two batch of candidates were all killed by me.

I don't know how should I feel now.

Did I make a mistake in accepting Professor Livia offer back then?

As human, I have killed two of my precious people, Chinatsu-sensei and my mom.

But as weapon, my kill counts were almost reaching 50.

Why I'm still alive?

Will it be better if I'm just a weapon without  consciousness?

I think so. Because by then, I wouldn't feel the guilt of killing humans.

There are a few days left before the next batch of candidates come.

Yeah, I should ask Yuzuhara-san to turn off my consciousness before the next test. Yeah, let's go with tha--

"Ougasahara-san, you should consider it more! With your talent, I'm sure there are more suitable Sacred Weapon for you! This one is too dangerous!"

???

It's Yuzuhara-san's voice. Is she talking to someone in front of the lab door?

"Just open the door. I know what I'm doing."

I never heard someone with this voice before. Is she a new researcher?

There are few more arguments, but I can't quite hear it.

The lab door the opened, and I can finally see the owner of that melodic voice. A girl with long blue hair wearing a white sailor uniform blue skirt, and black stocking.

Eh, wait, sailor uniform?!

She walks toward me with great confidence and looking at me up and down with her crystal blue eyes. Yuzuhara-san followed behind her.

After observing me closely and thoroughly, a happy smile formed on the blue haired girl's lips as she turned her body to Yuzuhara-san

"I've decided. I'll go with this one!"

•

•

•

That was my first meeting with someone who would be later hailed as the Humanity Greatest Hero in the future.

My beloved master.

Ougasahara Aomi.

To Be Continued....