6 Arena Four: Irregularity [IV]

"We're here."

The Regalia, whose name was Helios I, stopped in front of a forest.

The sun was already down, and the moonlight fell on the dark, gloomy jungle in front of us, separated from the city using a sturdy fence.

The gigantic mecha crouched down, and I jumped down from its shoulder guard. Grey followed soon after.

I looked around, and saw nothing but a dark forest and an abandoned road leading to the city a few kilometres away. I was about to ask where the base was, when the cockpit of the humanoid robot hissed and opened fully.

From the smoke, a girl, clad in a body tight violet suit came out. Everything from below her eyes was hidden using a gas mask. Even so, her eyes, which were crimson like rubies, and her flaxen hair, which went down to her narrow waistline, looked extremely beautiful.

"[Return, Helios.]"

She spoke in a crystal clear voice. The Regalia, which was crouching behind her, suddenly turned transparent and broke apart into countless triangular pieces, before gathering itself and forming a delicate sword.

"So it was true. The rumoured transformation."

I muttered, looking at the beautiful sword in her hand.

There was a myth. That some Regalia appeared as a form of weapon, giving its Elliot the power to fight even when their Regalia was broken. The weapons would have some amazing abilities, and such Elliots were regarded as legends in the books.

The Elliot that was described in grandma's storybooks were just like one. To many children, these types of Regalia were the most prominent of heroes.

Maybe I would be happy to see it too, but that was if my grandma hadn't died back then... Why did she have to die when the empire had a legendary Elliot?

But then again, she was probably a child when the empire lost that battle. Shaking my head, I turned my eyes away from the sword, only to find the girl staring at me.

"What?"

"You don't seem too surprised, seeing Helios's dormant form."

"Should I be surprised to see a sword?"

"That's not... Nevermind."

The girl sighed and walked past me.

"Grey, the woods aren't safe nowadays either, can you keep him safe?"

She turned to the old spy, who seemed haggard.

"Uh... I'll try."

Grey didn't confirm my safety. And the next words the girl said to me didn't assure me either.

"Well, if he dies, not our fault. It'll be better that way, to be honest."

"Hey, you know, that's going too far."

I hissed, but she didn't answer.

My patience was reaching its limit.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, you know."

I stepped forward, but then froze. The blade was slightly touching my throat, ready to pierce it.

I could feel the prick on my throat.

"Know your place, rookie."

She hissed, glaring at me.

But she had done it the wrong way. I suddenly put my throat forward, leaving the girl dumbstruck. But contrary to how the blade felt at first, I felt no pain.

The blade had phased through my throat, as if it was a hologram.

Taking advantage of her surprise, I struck her wrist with my bare hands, making her drop the sword. Before she could pick it up again, I tackled her down, and pinned her to the ground by grabbing her wrists.

For a moment, silence reigned over the area.

"... Let me go."

She finally said, glaring at me.

"You should know your place, 'senior'."

I said, glaring back. I then turned to the sword, which was pulsing faintly.

"It seems that Helios wants to come to your aid, but can't."

"... How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"About the concentration? That I won't be able to keep the blade in a corporal form unless I concentrate?"

"Don't forget. No matter how green I am, I still got grade SSS on the test. Getting all the information just by touching something is a child's play for me."

It was a lie. I could only scan the information when Helios turned into a sword. And I only knew about the surface grade information. But even that was enough to put her off guard.

"I underestimated you. My loss."

"... Hmph."

Seeing her retreat, I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed. I had expected her to put up more fight.

I stood up, letting her go free. She got up and dusted her clothes clean.

"You two..."

Grey sighed. He hadn't intervened in our fight at all.

"We're not safe here. Let's go."

The girl didn't answer. Instead, she just turned away and jumped over the fence.

I and Grey looked at each other, before shrugging and following her.

...

"Hey, Grey."

I muttered as we walked through the damp forest.

"Hm?"

"You didn't visit this place for quite a long time, why is that?"

"You're correct... Did you figure out from her words?"

"Yeah. Knowing you, you'd probably know about the Phantoms if you had come here before."

"You're quite observant. That's right. It's actually my first visit in two years."

"Two years... I thought you guys were deeply connected with the Stigma, then why..."

"Shut up. The Phantoms will hear you."

The Elliot interrupted and hissed at me.

"... Fine."

I nodded reluctantly. She did have a point.

If possible, I didn't want to experience a scene like that... But to my own surprise, I had recovered quite enough in just a few hours.

I turned to Grey and asked him why in a whisper. The girl glared back at us, but didn't forbid us to whisper.

"That's because to cope up with the time flow, our mind works 24 times faster than it would in the real world. This is why it is easier to cope with emotions like disgust or fear. Though, intense emotions like hatred, despair, anger aren't affected by this."

He answered back in a low tone. I nodded, thanking him silently.

The rest of the journey was silent, except for occasional groans and moans coming from inside the forest. The Phantoms were indeed nearby, but they didn't show up in front of us.

Or... Perhaps I had spoken too soon.

"Wait. I hear something."

Grey suddenly stopped and warned us. The Elliot looked back, unsheathing her sword.

"Urk..."

Those horrifying memories rushed back to me as I tried to imagine what it was. Even so, I pulled out my gun. I didn't want to be a dead weight.

Grey stepped forward with his own gun, slowly opening the veil of bushes in front of us. A strong smell of iron hit my nose.

The first thing I saw was a body. It was clad in a bodysuit just like me. Then I noticed traces of blood around the body.

For once, I thought it was a Phantom, but then, the body, or the young guy, let out a hoarse cry. He seemed a bit older than me, in his late teens.

"H-help..."

I pursed my lips and waited for Grey to make a move. The old spy hesitated for a moment, then step out of the shadows.

The guy turned his head and looked at us with fear. But as soon as he saw our uniforms, his fear turned into relief.

"A-ah, you guys are from the base, right? I need help, please!"

"What happened to you?"

The guy turned and started crawling towards us. Then I noticed that his stomach was torn apart.

"Ugh..."

I put a hand over my mouth and turned to Grey. The old spy glanced around before crouching down, holding the man in his arms.

"Tell me, what happened?"

"B-before, please..."

"We'll help you once you tell us. So just."

"Grey, isn't he wounded?"

I tried to reason, but Grey shook his head. He again turned to the guy in front of him.

"Come on, tell us."

"A-alright. I was here with Sarah... I mean, my girlfriend."

He started telling us, but the Elliot interrupted.

"Why? In the middle of the forest?"

"U-uh, we wanted some alone time..."

The man seemed taken aback, but answered.

"You... Came all the way here just to flirt?"

"..."

The man had probably come here for doing things more than flirting, but there was no way he could tell the girl that.

"Continue."

Grey ushered him as the man somehow kept his composure.

"S-so we came here. There weren't any Phantoms around, and we even had a scanner with us. But it got us."

"It?"

"An u-unknown phantom. I never saw anything like that before."

"So, they bit you?"

"I-I stayed behind to let Sarah run... Please! You'll have to help her!"

"Help your girlfriend?"

Grey asked, looking sympathetic.

It seemed that we had a misconception from the very start. The boy wanted help for his girlfriend, not for himself. Seeing that made me even sadder.

"Y-yeah. It's my fault, and I'll accept any punishment, but please! Help her!"

"... Alright. We'll help you guys."

"T-thank you. Here's her picture."

The man brought out a picture of a lively girl from his pocket.

"Thanks."

Grey sighed and looked at the Elliot, who was standing behind the guy, hiding from his range of sight.

He gave a slight nod, and before I could even do anything, she unsheathed her sword with one swift motion and... separated his head from his body.

The lifeless body fell down and broke into colourful particles, before disappearing completely.

I stared at the empty arms of Grey, dumbfounded.

"W-why..."

I whispered, staring at the girl.

She didn't answer me. Swiping the blood off her sword, she sheathed it again and turned to Grey.

"We need to move. That phantom might still be around here."

"W-what about the girl?"

I asked in a hoarse tone.

"She's probably beyond saving. Sorry, but we'll need to move."

Grey calmly answered me. His words enraged me.

I couldn't believe it. They would forsake their fellow humans just like that?

"Damn it..."

I hissed, looking down.

The Elliot stared at me, before finally sighing.

"These are necessary sacrifices, Reaper. You can't save everyone in this world."

"I... I know that... Even so... !"

"Even so, what? Would you have rather watched him turn into a mindless phantom?"

"That's..."

"If you can't, then stop acting like a hypocrite."

"..."

"No answer, huh?"

She turned away, then started walking.

"People like you should just disappear."

She spat out, full of disgust and hatred.

"..."

I couldn't reply to her.

I just sat there, feeling defeated.