"Yaho~ Columbia's best gardener is here~!"
A child-like voice rang out on the other side of the call. A hint of 'child-like innocence' and and 'mischievousness' can be heard from it.
"To the best child gangster out there, how are things faring?"
"That again..!" The child, Kafka, grumbled.
Though, she didn't mind it due to what she'd seen two days ago. At that time, she saw a group of Liberi beating up a Sarkaz infected. She was about to use her "Gardener" Arts, something that enables her to create a sleeping gas made out of different plants' chemicals, when she saw them disintegrate into dust.
With her instincts, she found out a person that stuck out like a sore thumb at that time. Thus, her curiosity got the hang of her, and she ended up being discovered by him.
What was unexpected, however, is Shiro employing her due to her underworld dealings. That's why she ended up as an informant of sorts.
"Anyways, I found one of their laboratories, just as you've asked. I didn't expect that Haydn Labs are still here. They're really shady as heck..."
Like Rhines Lab, Haydn Labs are experimenting with Royal Sarkaz bloodlines. Since Haydn Pharmaceuticals are technically under Rhine Labs, the latter gathered their remnants to create a new company that would do the said live experimentation with people.
2 years later, they managed to make vast progress in this field, mainly thanks to the Savra-Sarkaz girl, codenamed "Ifrit", that is being experimented on in Rhine Labs.
Since its the Sarkaz's Bloodline, they targeted the Sarkaz specifically. What would be better targets other than the Sarkaz in Columbia?
"Alright. Thanks for the hard work, I'll mail you later."
"Okay."
Beep-!
After the call, Shiro sighed as he recalled what he is about to do today. As for Kafka, he didn't mind their cooperation as he already saw through her true nature by looking at her in the eyes.
She's someone who puts on a mask of a "naive child" while having the full knowledge of Terra's darkness. She works as a gardener in the day and a gangster in the night.
Simply put, she's an experienced person. Knowing that Shiro is that strong, why would she turn sides against him?
"I have to settle this... once and for all."
The source of all his uncertainties, and also the main reason why he can't develop a romantic relationship for now.
His past.
Shiro grasped the three Memory Cards in his hands. They have this metallic and cold touch, yet it also feels ethereal at the same time. To him, it's a key, so as to speak.
"I need to move forward, huh."
As a mentor for almost a year, he saw this as the player's main driving force. Even the other chat group members who threw away their "normal" is like this.
Ironically, Shiro is the one who cannot move forward by looking back at his past.
Just his romantic relationships are a mess since he's aware that he has a wife in the past. How could he accept the advances of others when his situation is like this? He is simply confused as to what to do.
Wordlessly, he placed all three of them in his forehead at the same time. With that, a white light flashed before Shiro began his trip down to his old memory lane.
*****
Blood. A sea of blood.
Under the man who has the Fenrir bloodline are the blood of countless inhabitants of the Nine Realms. Even if his entire body felt weak at the moment, he felt liberated, satisfied.
"At last, the war is fucking over." He mumbled as a corpse of a blonde man flew to his right hand. "You fucker. Just because of a damned prophecy, you made our lives shit!"
With a squeeze, the man's head exploded. Of course, the Fenrir enveloped everything in his Devouring Concept, making sure he didn't waste anything.
"YOU DARE!"
Space got obliterated at the mere voice in the void. Odin, the all-father who is trapped in the Forbidden Zone, was truly angered.
Looking at the sight of the worlds that constituted Yggdrasil, The World Tree, he chuckled.
These worlds... they're all destroyed by none other than him. That's right, this man alone took the prided Aesirs head-on, fought then alone, and emerged victorious. Even The World Tree itself is cut in half!
His subordinates took care of the rest and killed the surviving ones.
However, his eyes that is clear as void made him look delirious, as if he's drunk on power.
"No, no... This power is trying to fuck everything up again..."
While the black haired man immersed himself in taking control of this power, Odin's shouts became more annoying to him.
"SHUT THE F*CK UP!"
With a single wave of his bloodied sword, he sent a terrifying attack straight to the Forbidden Zone.
"What is this?!"
"A present from yours truly~!" The man replied.
Due to this, he managed to attain the peace that he wants.
...
Fenrir looked at the strange blade with the color schematic of three different colors. If not for his own power preventing her [Civilization Erosion - EX], this would've turned into a normal object.
"It's unorthodox, but a good sword nonetheless."
Then, he switched gazes at the woman in front of him, someone who only sought destruction.
"How did you arrive here, by the way?"
...
"The demon lord... is a demon."
"What did you expect?" A blonde-haired girl with purple eyes deadpanned at him.
The handsome white-haired man grasped his blade for a while before switching to a silver sword in his back.
"I might've thought that this demon lord is a demonic beast, not an abyssal demon." Unsheathing the blade, he continued, "Still, it wouldn't matter."
...
"Leo... What are you going to do with that girl?"
A nine-tail fox asked. Looking at her eyes, Fenrir shuddered. He knows her too well - this is her "Yandere Mode".
"Uh-ah, Akagi-chan. This..."
"Don't tell me, she's going to be your wife too?"
"Uh..."
The man who brought down the Nine Realms and claimed countless lives is facing another huge dilemma of his life.
...
The androgynous white-haired man stepped into a flowery domain. Unlike the stoic vibe at the library, it has a vibrant atmosphere.
"Just like her..."
...
The Commandant, or more known as Shikikan, is eavesdropping at his own office right now. To be honest, he hadn't expected to encounter a situation like this.
"Mhm... Shikikan-sama..."
A barely audible voice resounded inside the room.
'Who is it this time? Akagi? Roon? Taihou?'
Meanwhile, Shikikan's mind became a mess as he thought of how he discovered this half a year ago. The KANSENs are recently summoned at that time, thus there's an agreement where each of them would be under the Commandant, someone who has a high Cognitive Awakening Affinity.
Through the said Commandant, the KANSENs would grow stronger. However, this caused some problems to the said Commandant, such as this...
"Onii-chan? What are you doing here?"
"Unicorn..! Keep quiet..."
A little girl who's hugging a unicorn stuff toy became bewildered after hearing this. Leading the young girl, Shikikan stealthily went away...
...
More than 150 year's worth of memories flooded his brain, albeit he easily re-organized everything after 2 seconds. Still, his immersion became too deep to the point that he's feeling surreal right now.
Fortunately, Surtr took notice of this and helped him.
*****
A/N: If you're confused, then these represent the bits of memories that he saw in those memory cards. Also, you might be able to see some subtle hints that I placed in this chapter ;)
PS: You can ask more questions for the Q & A here.
Fact #54: Did you know that Arknights, when translated into Chinese, is called "Tomorrow's Ark"; or simply, "Tomorrow's Dawn". This wordplay fitted its worldbuilding well, since its done as dreary and dark from the beginning. While there's the Summer Events that is light-hearted, it's only for the fan-service.
"Yaho~ Columbia's best gardener is here~!"
A child-like voice rang out on the other side of the call. A hint of 'child-like innocence' and and 'mischievousness' can be heard from it.
"To the best child gangster out there, how are things faring?"
"That again..!" The child, Kafka, grumbled.
Though, she didn't mind it due to what she'd seen two days ago. At that time, she saw a group of Liberi beating up a Sarkaz infected. She was about to use her "Gardener" Arts, something that enables her to create a sleeping gas made out of different plants' chemicals, when she saw them disintegrate into dust.
With her instincts, she found out a person that stuck out like a sore thumb at that time. Thus, her curiosity got the hang of her, and she ended up being discovered by him.
What was unexpected, however, is Shiro employing her due to her underworld dealings. That's why she ended up as an informant of sorts.
"Anyways, I found one of their laboratories, just as you've asked. I didn't expect that Haydn Labs are still here. They're really shady as heck..."
Like Rhines Lab, Haydn Labs are experimenting with Royal Sarkaz bloodlines. Since Haydn Pharmaceuticals are technically under Rhine Labs, the latter gathered their remnants to create a new company that would do the said live experimentation with people.
2 years later, they managed to make vast progress in this field, mainly thanks to the Savra-Sarkaz girl, codenamed "Ifrit", that is being experimented on in Rhine Labs.
Since its the Sarkaz's Bloodline, they targeted the Sarkaz specifically. What would be better targets other than the Sarkaz in Columbia?
"Alright. Thanks for the hard work, I'll mail you later."
"Okay."
Beep-!
After the call, Shiro sighed as he recalled what he is about to do today. As for Kafka, he didn't mind their cooperation as he already saw through her true nature by looking at her in the eyes.
She's someone who puts on a mask of a "naive child" while having the full knowledge of Terra's darkness. She works as a gardener in the day and a gangster in the night.
Simply put, she's an experienced person. Knowing that Shiro is that strong, why would she turn sides against him?
"I have to settle this... once and for all."
The source of all his uncertainties, and also the main reason why he can't develop a romantic relationship for now.
His past.
Shiro grasped the three Memory Cards in his hands. They have this metallic and cold touch, yet it also feels ethereal at the same time. To him, it's a key, so as to speak.
"I need to move forward, huh."
As a mentor for almost a year, he saw this as the player's main driving force. Even the other chat group members who threw away their "normal" is like this.
Ironically, Shiro is the one who cannot move forward by looking back at his past.
Just his romantic relationships are a mess since he's aware that he has a wife in the past. How could he accept the advances of others when his situation is like this? He is simply confused as to what to do.
Wordlessly, he placed all three of them in his forehead at the same time. With that, a white light flashed before Shiro began his trip down to his old memory lane.
*****
Blood. A sea of blood.
Under the man who has the Fenrir bloodline are the blood of countless inhabitants of the Nine Realms. Even if his entire body felt weak at the moment, he felt liberated, satisfied.
"At last, the war is fucking over." He mumbled as a corpse of a blonde man flew to his right hand. "You fucker. Just because of a damned prophecy, you made our lives shit!"
With a squeeze, the man's head exploded. Of course, the Fenrir enveloped everything in his Devouring Concept, making sure he didn't waste anything.
"YOU DARE!"
Space got obliterated at the mere voice in the void. Odin, the all-father who is trapped in the Forbidden Zone, was truly angered.
Looking at the sight of the worlds that constituted Yggdrasil, The World Tree, he chuckled.
These worlds... they're all destroyed by none other than him. That's right, this man alone took the prided Aesirs head-on, fought then alone, and emerged victorious. Even The World Tree itself is cut in half!
His subordinates took care of the rest and killed the surviving ones.
However, his eyes that is clear as void made him look delirious, as if he's drunk on power.
"No, no... This power is trying to fuck everything up again..."
While the black haired man immersed himself in taking control of this power, Odin's shouts became more annoying to him.
"SHUT THE F*CK UP!"
With a single wave of his bloodied sword, he sent a terrifying attack straight to the Forbidden Zone.
"What is this?!"
"A present from yours truly~!" The man replied.
Due to this, he managed to attain the peace that he wants.
...
Fenrir looked at the strange blade with the color schematic of three different colors. If not for his own power preventing her [Civilization Erosion - EX], this would've turned into a normal object.
"It's unorthodox, but a good sword nonetheless."
Then, he switched gazes at the woman in front of him, someone who only sought destruction.
"How did you arrive here, by the way?"
...
"The demon lord... is a demon."
"What did you expect?" A blonde-haired girl with purple eyes deadpanned at him.
The handsome white-haired man grasped his blade for a while before switching to a silver sword in his back.
"I might've thought that this demon lord is a demonic beast, not an abyssal demon." Unsheathing the blade, he continued, "Still, it wouldn't matter."
...
"Leo... What are you going to do with that girl?"
A nine-tail fox asked. Looking at her eyes, Fenrir shuddered. He knows her too well - this is her "Yandere Mode".
"Uh-ah, Akagi-chan. This..."
"Don't tell me, she's going to be your wife too?"
"Uh..."
The man who brought down the Nine Realms and claimed countless lives is facing another huge dilemma of his life.
...
The androgynous white-haired man stepped into a flowery domain. Unlike the stoic vibe at the library, it has a vibrant atmosphere.
"Just like her..."
...
The Commandant, or more known as Shikikan, is eavesdropping at his own office right now. To be honest, he hadn't expected to encounter a situation like this.
"Mhm... Shikikan-sama..."
A barely audible voice resounded inside the room.
'Who is it this time? Akagi? Roon? Taihou?'
Meanwhile, Shikikan's mind became a mess as he thought of how he discovered this half a year ago. The KANSENs are recently summoned at that time, thus there's an agreement where each of them would be under the Commandant, someone who has a high Cognitive Awakening Affinity.
Through the said Commandant, the KANSENs would grow stronger. However, this caused some problems to the said Commandant, such as this...
"Onii-chan? What are you doing here?"
"Unicorn..! Keep quiet..."
A little girl who's hugging a unicorn stuff toy became bewildered after hearing this. Leading the young girl, Shikikan stealthily went away...
...
More than 150 year's worth of memories flooded his brain, albeit he easily re-organized everything after 2 seconds. Still, his immersion became too deep to the point that he's feeling surreal right now.
Fortunately, Surtr took notice of this and helped him.
*****
A/N: If you're confused, then these represent the bits of memories that he saw in those memory cards. Also, you might be able to see some subtle hints that I placed in this chapter ;)
PS: You can ask more questions for the Q & A here.
Fact #54: Did you know that Arknights, when translated into Chinese, is called "Tomorrow's Ark"; or simply, "Tomorrow's Dawn". This wordplay fitted its worldbuilding well, since its done as dreary and dark from the beginning. While there's the Summer Events that is light-hearted, it's only for the fan-service.
