11:47am - (23rd august 2026(2126) • SCHELVIA CITY • SKY NETWORK •MIRAGE DISTRICT [EAST GATE] • 'GATE To The CORE'•)
•...'GËRÃ'...•
"Gera?.."
She blinked.
A Whisper...
She heard it-again, just like before.but the words were different this time.
What does it mean?
I don't understand..
It wasn't a warning.
Nor it's gentle.
Something in between..
Where is it coming from?..
I don't know..
No.. someone must messing with me but I'm sure it's not ÑYXÖRÂ...
Then who?,
Whose voice is this?..
Is it from the HTT?
It can't be.
If it were, it wouldn't be sound like this.
There'd be distortion... Digital residue.
A message.. maybe A signal.
But this?
It's feels telepathic..
Which makes no sense.
It shouldn't be telepathic..
Unless...
Is this the side effect being an 'Echoes' host?
But then, why now?..
Who does this voice belong to?
Why is it whispering strange words to me?..
--
I need to know..
Maybe,
It's...
papa?
•..."ŪÑ"...•
"Huh?"
*zZZOOM-*
*BOOM!*
-.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-.
Yoru blinked-her violet eyes widen at the sudden boom, a sharp wistle ripping through the air..
The sound..
It was coming straight at her...
She halted mid-sprint.
Her boots scraped violently across the rooftop , screeching against the concrete with an eerie hiss.
Just in time.
A high-caliber bullet tore past her-
Inches away from her heart.
It's fatal shot..
A deadly one..
The bullet punched behind her, through the rooftop floor, piercing the concrete with such force that it left gaping hole,webbed with cracks Around it.
She stared.
First at the hole in her cloak,torn clean through-
Then at the fractured floor beneath her feet
Unbelievable...
The hell?..
That bullet pierced through concrete?
It shouldn't have that kind of force!
...wait.
She turns,
A sniper bullet.
Her gaze narrowed.
'someone trying to assassinate me..with this sharp precision.. there's no doubt,..but-'
The direction-
It didn't come from around her.
Not on the sides.
Not behind.
It came from the front...
But higher..
Could it be..
From the sky?
That's impossible!-
•..."FlÕRĀ"...•
"H-huh?"
Her eyes widen as the whisper came back,
But this time it's clear of warning tone..
with the time she turns back to stare where the bullet came from which she believes from the from the sky upfront,
Her breath hitch..
For moment, she didn't believe what she's seeing
..but it's real..the figure-
In the sky of the mirage district, dwarf figure diving down the sky with a sniperrifle in it's grasp the scope shine glisten.
Enough for yoru to notice it almost instantly as she turns earlier..
They were like nearly 2000 meters away,
Due to the gifted vision she had...the dwarf figure from afar came to clear crystal vision, as she focus..
--
A boy,
with short messy hair, three long braids on the left side of his hair, it's cross earrings dangling caught in the wind.
Holding the rifle firmly in his grasp aiming it straight at yoru from afar..
it's eyes,
Dull purple..locked to Yoru.
And is that,..
A smug smirk on his face?..
-.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-.
(11:49am)
(MIRAGE DISTRICT—SKY—YOSHI)
"Tsk.. tsk..tsk"
He snickers.. as he cocked the rifle the empty shell came out.. with a clink fall down to the air
his dull purple eyes stare intensely at the second phantom through the scope..
his lips turns to smirk as he saw the phantom caught off guard, turning to his direction.facing him up in the sky, the shock look on the phantom face..
That's good,...
Acknowledge me, .. your fighting me now.
He thought to himself..
"..tsk , tsk.. i should've aim for your head if you going to dodge like that.."
He snickers again, as if letting the phantom alive was the wrong thing.
"What a waste of bullet"
He groan, as he let go of the sniper rifle of his Casually.(lynx Amr)... letting it dematerialize in the air.. his eye still stare sharp at the stunned phantom from afar..
...
"Looks like the phantom is in shock"
He muse..
His hand come grasp his dangling vitreous that caught in the wind the violet glow pulsing in his grasp in a rythm beat..
But there's no actual sound made from it, just pulsing glow.
Mid air he twist his body.. going head first down
Diving down towards the mirage district..
His eyes closed..
Feeling familiar rush of adrenaline surging through his body,
an excitement..
..feel spark of enjoyment through
this mess...
this city..
this longing..
Is,
... To achieve ...
Yes,
To Achieve..
To conquer..
Like I used too
And right now,
I'm winning another battle,
Achieve the win,
One more unstoppable rise.
I can feel it..
I rise ,
for the last-
-.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-.
*THUMP*
"-Ow!"
"Shadow!"
A hard slap cracked against the back of his head, making him groan and twist mid-air.
Dizzy, he barely corrected his form, regaining balance as he dove again.
Only 800 meters left to the ground.
He opened his eyes wide, gritting his teeth.
He turned his head over his shoulder, glaring at the one who hit him...
Then relaxed into a sigh.
"Tch... Artoria."
He scoffed as the second figure dove beside him.
"What was that for?! That hurt! It's kinda dangerous when we're literally falling from the sky, you know!"
"Are you trying to kill me something?!"
He grumble, twisting his body to face her.
Artoria gray eyes glares at him back sternly unwavering her position still as she dove besides him - head first
"Well aren't you the one suppose to be apologizing shadow? I told you to lower your weapon! Am I correct or not?
She also turns to face yoshi.. they body dove down but they didn't care , instead they argue while literally still falling from the sky.
" Why did you shot that clone? You almost killled it!"
"Well Im only trying to make our job easy y'know, taking one for the team.."
Liar,
Yoshi scoff trying to reason himself crossing his arm.
Even though he knows that his intentions wasn't that,
He's trying to observes the phantom instinct and reaction,
And shot to the heart not in the head is because,He needs confirmation.
If it's not DERØXIRIZED or something similar..cuz-
Unlike normal corrupted robots, DERØXIRIZED
Can't be killed with just a headshot, it need to it's heart blown out, it's 'CØRE'..
the one keeping the soul tortured being zombie like being with tiny bits of humanity remain..
It's consciousness.
And DERØXIRIZED doesn't process, Their straight of berserker when attacking.
And this clone,
Confirmed to not be the one.
It dodges his bullet, it have instincts.
Shucks.. it's also means it's hard to be killed.
His actions weren't, out for no reason...
It's for observation..
-.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-.
"That's can't be justified shadow!"
"You need to hold back and listen for my command y'know? Three times..three times!. I already told you to lower our weapon and we're not attacking first !"
She emphasize.. she's just like a mad ceberus..
Fuming like that..
Yoshi thought before he scoff folding his arms behind his head with a huff..
"Fine im sorry sorry,..geez.. what a leg breaker"
He scoffs again at the end, turning his body backing her. his hair caught in the wind..
He glance down at the city.
"...570..."
"What do you say?"
Artoria arch an eyebrow still a lil bit fuming from earlier..
But she can't help confuse as yoshi suddenly mutters a number.
" I said 570.. ,oops now it's 540 meters!"
"What are you counting about!?"
Yoshi turns to glance at her slight annoyed and disbelief.. is she for real?-
He deadpanned.
"The height duh??"
Her stare soften almost caught off guard.
but she kept herself compose, she's been talking bit too much that she doesn't get his point with those meters.. of course he's counting height..
Why did I even need to ask that?
Yoshi catch her stunned expression and silent.. a smirk creep on his lips again he can't help but tease..
"... that's what you get for fuming at me for no reason , you even lose your words and your focus"
Her brow furrow again, she grit her teeth. as her gray eyes sharp glares at him, she felt like just shoving him away,
as far as possible. from the position they diving now.. he's being getting under her nerves much today.
" For N-no reason!?-.."
Before she could burst, She catch the glimpse of the city building below came to clear..
Signal, it's time for them to catch their landing..
".. y'know what shadow?"
"..just get this over with.. and remember.. DO NOT USE HËQÂ.. not until it's get serious this is the third time okay? Maybe the fourth time.."
She scanned the streets once more seeing the others arrived top 9's already encircling one of the clone in before of the shutted 'gate to core'.
behind the phantom-
there's the student council girl from the live feed Astra report earlier..selene.
The possible hostage.
She glance at yoshi fill with serious and command this time.
her blonde hair caught im the wind waving it's golden free long hair..
Her one hand grasp the empty scabbard beside her tightly
"Listen shadow," she said seriously "you see the girl behind that clone? Get her out of there. Take her to safety or let others cover her and you can return to the fight as you desire ..save her and takes her to safety, that's all I asked for okay?..."
Her gray eyes stares on the dull purple one's..
Her tone almost hoping..need for the understanding,
With that she seperated herself.
With twist her body as she glide through the sky landing one of tower building nearby...
Then leaping quickly through the rest of the building, golden neon strikes leave trail behind her as she moves...
Almost like a small dance trail...
With that lot of armor she sure can bear it all and sprint that fast..
pftt..show off
Yoshi sigh..
"..on it."
he twist his body turning over..the mech rings in his body pulsing violet glow in anticipation again..
he glide through the sky, landing poisely atop one high tower.
as he lands the floor Creak under his force landing cracked web around his step..
His dull purple eyes locked at the girl behind the first clone..
he studies the figure under the cloak the long black silky hair.. the white lynx amr, abandoned on the ground beside the clone.
...and mostly important part..its hood cover the evidence he needed most-
...to confirm he's not facing his beloved one's..
He crack his neck, sigh of frustated
Escape him,
the figure hood didn't expose the phantom's eye..
The hood cover it's eyes,
but there's already strange about the figure..
The casualty of how it raises it's arm without weights or tense... Almost not intermediate at all or bothered.
He sense something wrong in that gesture..
His eyes narrowed as he Sees the phantom's lip twitched into a knowing smirk as ELYSIA interrogates them...
He can hears the phantom respond to ELYSIA's question.. it's so small from how far he stands but he can hears it.
"..но сначала..."
•(..but first..)•
"где ваш лидер?"
•(where's your leader)•
...
He knows that language very well..he can confirm what Elysia speaks before...
It was Russian..
Language he known from his hometown..
'HOG-STein'
No..
Somethings off,
His eyes widened in realization..
That smirk, that casualty in it's gesture-
The girl! I need to carry her to safety first..this isn't game anymore somethings definitely off!
No.. it can't be,
If it's mother,
How can be there's two of them?
What about the phantom that I miss shoot earlier?..
But they identical,
How come?
I only have one mom
And..why now?
Did she really come to pay me visit?.
Like she promised?..
I-
-.-..-....-.-.-.-.-. -. -.-..-....-.-.-.-.-.-.
Suddenly the thought cuts off as it disrupted by loud scream shriek of a female, almost in horror shock rather than pain..
Yoshi's heart throbs as he hears that he quickly leap through the buildings closing in sprint..
Please not the girl.
Artoria gonna kill me!
He scream internally.. as he closing in.
Artoria won't forgive me if the girl get hurts.
He reach to atop of building rooftop the one's besides the street where the top 9's encircled
The first phantom...
He didn't manage to catch the glimpse at first as he quickly leap down in behind the phantom in panic landing beside the girl
Thank God she is safe,
"Alright Let's go , im gonna take you to safety!"
But the girl didn't respond.
even with yoshi swift lift her to his arm sho stares at the girl who's mouth agape , her eyes darkened with trauma staring at the phantom
He was backing the phantom so he didn't see what's going on.
The fuck-
He hadn't leap yet,from behind the phantom..before he could leap, to carry the girl to safety...
A call broke his intentions...
"...моя госпожа?..."
•(...my lady?...)•
...the soft soothing voice of a female...
There's no way...
It can't be..
Yoshi slowly turn his head over his shoulder
To glance at the phantom..
His eyes quickly widened in shock almost he also tried to scream and shriek like the girl did..
The phantom's..body is halfcuttedinthemiddle, but it's torso still intact,
Elysia who stands before the phantom has it's war axe swinged, her breath ragged she's fuming.
she's the one who cutted the phantom..
Looks like Elysia snapped and swing it's axe at the phantom,
causing this..
Unpleasant view.
But there's no blood splatter around just the cutted akward body dangling as it turns to face him.
As if it didn't feel pain,
The phantom tilts it's cutted half head staring back at yoshi.. with it's eyes..
Violet.. haunting..it wasn't bright..
It's speaks again..in confusion
"...Ты мне не госпожа..."
•(... your not my lady ...)•
Yoshi breath hitch..but he manage to keep his stare on the phantom..
even though it's body dangling akwardly because it was cutted in half..
He manage to speak the forgotten language his mother thought him...
"...И ты мне не мать..."
•(... And your not my mother ...)•
--
From it's eye's..
yoshi realized that the phantom...
the figure stand before him...is not his mother..
That violet eyes were filled with hollow and haunting eerie feel..
.. mom's were warm.. loving and bright ..