A Humanoid Disaster
Changye became flooded from the waters of Upper Changye. Everyone who wasn't at higher elevation had to deal with this muck from above the clouds. From what I could tell, Changye was at the state where these filth had gathered and the only way to cleanse it was for it to go down the massive cavernous drains below the misery lanes.
With the Scalies having the worst time as of late, the appearance of water from the Uppers gave them some advantage. See, some of the scalies have the ability to swim underwater. With the scale hunters using small boats to navigate through the lower lanes, the first three days became a bloodbath, with the hunters getting flayed off their fake-skin and scavenged for parts. Mai, who was doing some work for the Kurogane texted me the whole of it.
She was doing well. She seems to have gained some biowares, the linings on her body made it clear she had been doing some work. Our conversations were mostly casual, though most of the time, she's just asking my opinion for what augment to get, if a new pair of tits would look good on her.
She wanted to get a sword like mine, but thought it was stupid for her to do that, so I told her to get some good steady iron, with a large clip to turn someone into a beehive.
Anyway, she had seen firsthand how the scalies tore through the scaly hunters. The mutants didn't go as far to touch other gangs and factions cause despite their mutated bodies, they know that once you start fucking up other humans, then they'll start being paranoid and will go and fuck them up first to 'defend' themselves.
Muties are outnumbered, and everyone who has chrome and iron to deal with them would not hesitate if they try some shit. That's what they had learned years ago, when many fuckers used that as an excuse to start shit with them. Of course, some of these mutants are braindead, their logic replaced with a savage instinct.
The Kurogane had been attacked when one of the scalies lost their minds. A senior colleague of Mai put down the fucker, splattering his brain on the floor, leaving only a mangled body. They found some rebars and made an example of the guy by decorating him with. Mai sent a pic of herself, a selfie with the guy's scaly dick fluttering along the wind.
I had to ask if she was saving it, but she said she was just showing it to me to make some point. It doesn't really surprise me at this point. Once you get into the violent side of Changye, the grim shit you see becomes natural.
I do appreciate that she gives me some updates. I talked her into checking out my place, and since she was heading that way, she did me a favor and made sure that my place was relatively fine.
Not that there's anything to steal. All I needed was my weapons, my suit, and my credits. You live in a world like this, you'll have to get used to starting from zero.
Boss Kei was working. Without Sato breathing behind her back, she's relaxed, almost like Sato was a pain in the ass she had been glad to be rid of. Can't help but agree. The man is good at his job, knows how to play Upper and Lower Changye business, but has a stick in his ass. And the horrible part is that he's the better kind of Boss you'd want in a city like this.
Anyway, Boss Kei had to catch up on paperwork. Sai, our new full metal doll companion, had been playing the courier. The perks of being a person who could fly was that she didn't have to care about the whole transport thing. Though I said fly, it was mostly her keeping above the rooftops, avoiding the aerocrafts, making leaps on the concrete rooftops until she found her destination. Sai, after she got through the 'I am fucking engram' phase, had probably accepted that this is how things are now. One of the damndest things about having your entire body replaced was that you'll have entire control of it. Sai could process an entire series within a few seconds, but prefers watching episode by episode. Old TVs and animations from before everything went to shit. Looking back, the thought that they had made so many movies and shows about how the world ended made you wonder if they even thought that one day, the world would become so shit.
Sai has a way of looking through things to disassociate with a lot of things. Maybe because I was one of the first men that she had seen for a while after years of unconsciousness that her logic-core and rusted brain keeps flirting with me.
I don't mind heavily-augmented women, but a full-metal doll who weighs over 150kg ain't exactly how I want to be on top of me. She only looks soft and defenseless until she draws all the blades and ammo she has inside that realskin.
And that she's probably just trying to have fun. She has little left and that little thing left… is all she could enjoy.
Though I think Boss Kei's more tempted by the prospect. The woman's so pent up that I think she sometimes forgot that she's around people who can smell her stink after flickin' the bean. Her ex still fucked her up and despite how she tries to pretend she's gotten over it, Boss Kei's one hell of a hopeless romantic. The kind that plays sad songs on her headphones.
I could hear her listening to her tunes at 11pm, every night since we've been stuck here.
Sai even asked me if she's an addict to that. I told Sai the whole thing and the doll had wondered if she'll play with her. She doesn't mind what she said, which made me wonder if she's fine with anyone.
"No."
The coldness in her eyes was not something she could hide. Sai's disposition was usually carefree, so witnessing how that expression changed to deadly made me wonder how she sees us.
"Family. You two are the only thing I have. Yes, I am a gift from that Tech-Lich, but I belong to this company. I am… sentimental. So if anyone other than you two asked… well, I'd probably have to clean my mantis blades off the viscera and blood."
She meant it. There are not so many dolls, but the few I had the pleasure and displeasure of speaking with always had that uncanny look they make when they have decided on something.
For some reason, I thought of an old cult back when engrams were introduced to the general populace. How they had offered a service to 'preserve' the minds of these highly-talented, yet dying individuals and a few who wanted to sleep through the end of the world. Then they woke up, and saw that the world had ended, and didn't take it well that the world would be very shit and still at the risk of being ended.
You keep your friends close in this city and then tell the rest to either fuck off or leave you alone.
After that, she directly asked the Boss and the only reply she had given was a palm to her face, and a note to make sure that we aren't hearing things anymore.
For a while, there was nothing to do. Lower Changye had become a Venice and the rest of the streets were praying that they wouldn't get their skin flayed. It was only around the fourth week of doing nothing other than listening and logging all the anomalies happening all over Changye that what we expected… happened.
LS-Graded Agents, MH-Graded Agents, HG-Graded Agents and even EX-Graded Agents who keep devils and demigods at bay, the humans who had stepped beyond their evolutionary shell and SP-Graded Agents equal to devils and demigods due to certain circumstances were stirred by the appearance of the Un-Graded monster who had finally appeared again after long years.
The Demi-Plague had become a problem and because it had become a problem that the one who hated the Demis more than anyone on this planet had decided to visit.
The Pale Magus had come knocking.
A Humanoid disaster that puts the fear of God on everyone. The moment he appeared, it's like everything had gone dull and silent. Like a black hole sucking all the colors in the world, turning the city into a found footage of some unholy monster.
Everyone felt faint. Some vomited, some screamed, and the rest were unable to understand what their body was feeling. A kind of fear that breaks down people and turns them into a stuttering mess.
Men, women, and machines prayed.
Go away. Go away.
That's what everyone thought.
The sheer presence of the Pale Magus was enough to bring all the Graded Agents strong enough to handle the pressure out of their hiding hole. Changye's bagua-shaped form was protecting the city, but even that wasn't enough to shave off the pressure from the Pale Magus.
Everyone and everything stood still.
No one wanted to die.
And they all know that the Pale Magus was here for the Demi that had spread the plague.
And the one who stood in front of the Magus was the Archive and the Clockwork, the Ungraded Agents of Changye City. The 'beings' who hold this city together.
There wasn't much of a discussion.
All we know was that they had made a deal and the Pale Magus had scoured the city, a floating blinking light that searched every nook and cranny of the city. Monsters who had come out in fear were painted on the building. Those who had unknowingly gotten in his way became bloody decorations.
The Pale Magus eventually found what it was looking for at the depths of the Misery Lanes, the ground itself scarred until there was nothing left but the battle that no one other than a few had noticed.
The strong didn't care about those below it. With the Pale Magus wreaking havoc, and the Ungraded Agents of Changye making their moves to ensure that no one's hurt.
Against beings like the Magus…we're all ants.
A single step. A single look could kill us. If a fight had broken inside Changye City, then there was a good chance that everyone would have been wiped out.
We had faced a humanoid disaster.
The kind that only cared about the death of its foe.
But after the Pale Magus had visited.
The flaying had stopped.
Many of the Mages had regained their magic. Cindy, who had heard the news had popped out of seclusion to tell me that piece of news.
Boss Kei didn't feel well after the Pale Magus's appearance. Most of the street was experiencing the after effects of that visit. Even Sai couldn't function well after that.
"How are you fine?" Boss Kei had asked.
"Got lucky."
"How?"
"I was underground."
"While the city's flooding?"
"We have a basement, Boss."
The moment that pressure had hit I was taking care of the servers underneath the office.
"See no evil hear no evil, as they say."
"That's not how it works, Akun."
"Well, it worked for me?"
Boss Kei looked at me tiredly before giving up entirely. She grabbed her PDA, scrolled through it, and then showed me a headline.
"Guess the city's okay now."
"It is," Boss Kei said. "It's always demoralizing, Assistant. How our lives are so… tiny and miniscule to the beings above us. How we live by their whims."
"I don't think that the Ungraded Agents will allow this city to perish."
"They won't. Not everyone would survive if that happens. Akun, why do we even live?"
"You're not getting an answer from me, Boss."
Boss Kei groaned.
That's… just how things are in this city.
Every second's a dice roll.
Once your luck runs out… then that's that.
We simply just try to live on.
It's how the world has become.