Chapter 59 - De-Digivolve

De-Digivolve
Garrus gasped as Yggdrasil left him, coming back to his senses. Unlike what Yggdrasil predicted, Skynet did not possess him to Neo's confusion. Garrus looked around quickly before looking up at Neo, "Neo! Listen to Yggdrasil! He was right, you have to prioritise the many over the few!"

"Why is Skynet not acting?" Neo growled.

"Hey, Neo!" shouted Wesker from outside the ship, "Arsenal Gear's doing something and it doesn't look good!"

"Neo, go," ordered Garrus.

With reluctance, Neo made a decision, "Fine. But you're coming with us."

"I can't fly," Garrus stated simply but firmly, "I'd just hold you back."

"No, we-"

"Incoming railgun!" Wesker interrupted as a huge bolt of metal shot through the top of the spaceship, ripping apart the upper desks of the ship. Garrus fell and rolled away from Neo as the ship slowly split down the middle, the weight of each half placing far too much stress on the heavily damaged middle. "What the hell? How did it fire so fast?! Ellis, wake up! We need you to recognise some people for us!" Wesker had just managed to divert the shot slightly upwards, preventing immediate destruction but had been caught off guard by the phenomenal speed of the projectile. The sides of the ship began tilting in opposite directions, the metal tearing down the sides, the angle making it difficult for Neo to hold on for much longer.

Smith watched Neo struggle with the ship, which was slowly sliding out of his grip, "... What a waste of life." He immediately broke the sound barrier, rocketing towards Neo.

Emiri watched him go with a sense of loss, "We're glad you agree," she mumbled.

Wesker was standing up the unconscious Ellis on his surfboard by the splitting spaceship, "Come on, wake up you idiot." Wesker was not known for losing his cool but he had quickly learnt he was on the back foot in the conflict. He shocked Ellis with electricity from his Power Comsic, Ellis regaining consciousness with a jolt.

"Wha- Ow! That hurt, Wes!" he protested.

"Not now, Ellis," Wesker insisted, turning Ellis to Neo, "We need to help him. Maybe if we work together, The Director will calm down."

"That ain't the way The Director works, Wes," protested Ellis, "The better we do, the more violent he'll get-" Ellis was interrupted by an explosion above him. Looking up, they saw a line of flickering fire running across the underside of the left wing of The Destiny Ascension, a young white-winged girl flying at the gash's head, her glowing armblade cutting through the thick metal like butter. Another explosion followed behind her as she slashed through machinery underneath. The Destiny Ascension began to sink more quickly, without the engines in the missing wing.

"Who's that?" growled Wesker, annoyed at his lack of knowledge.

"Dunno," Ellis responded, with wariness, "I-"

"Tachibana Kanade," Skynet answered directly in their minds, "Also known as Tenshi."

"Yo, Skynet," called Ellis, as Kanade continued her way around the wide wing, "Not helping yet, huh?"

"It was not part of our agreement."

"Y'know, being nice never hurt no one."

"We know."

There was a moment of silence, before Wesker spoke up, "Double negative, Ellis."

Ellis groaned, shaking his head in extreme disappointment, "Why. Are. You. Not. Helping," he spelt out, deliberately holding back his usual speech mannerisms.

"We will get involved if we have to. For now, it is not safe."

"Not safe?" Ellis looked up at the purple starship above them, holding his hand over his face to block the rain into his eyes, "The Destiny Ascension is the most powerful ship in Mass Effect. Y'are right, don't look safe to me," he mocked.

"Yggdrasil will not fight back in fear of killing someone else. It is impossible for him to win. Also, recall the world is now digital. Those who are capable of reprogramming their surroundings, such as Emiri, have a distinct advantage. Kanade, and her friends, are capable of using Angel Player, a program that does exactly that."

Skynet had not answered Ellis' indirect question but had mentioned something that caught his attention. "...Can't we use it then?" asked Ellis, grinning as he formulated a plan in his head.

"Angel Player can only be used by the dead."

"... What?" As the idea went up in smoke, Kanade completed her cut across the wing. Another girl with wings hovered over the tip of the wing and slammed downwards with a kick. The huge purple wing snapped off with a sickening groan and began to fall.

"Nakamura Yuri," identified Skynet.

Wesker and Ellis were not paying attention as the rain above them ceased, blocked by the plummeting wing. "We don't have time to plan," Wesker protested, taking hold of Ellis' collar and rocketed to Neo, whose attention was also on the wing. "Hold on Neo," Wesker warned as he put a hand on Neo's shoulder.

"Please don't," interrupted Smith, as he pulled the broken spacecraft out of Neo's grip unexpectedly, "Save the others." Neo could not look down quick enough to react or respond as the Ascension wing passed through them, courtesy of Wesker's Power Cosmic.

Smith flew down to the conscious freefalling Garrus. Before Garrus could open his mouth, Smith thrust his hand into his abdomen.

"Incoming railgun!" shouted Wesker for a second time as Arsenal Gear's intercontinental railgun emitted waves of blue from the sides. Charging far too fast than realistically possible, the barely visible projectile thundered upwards towards The Destiny Ascension. "You're up, Neo!" Wesker powerfully threw Neo upwards, faster than Neo could fly, into the projectile's path. But Neo was the projectile expert, the shell slowing to a stop in the air in front of him. However, Wesker's Power Cosmic could just hear the quiet shot of a rifle from the Yamato over the railgun and the rain, "Neo! Pull back!" Lynette's heated rifle bullet hit the back of the shell, the shell exploding spectacularly. Neo had not managed to back up in time, shielding his face from the blast, which felt surprising weak. He opened his eyes in the smoke as a female coughed ahead of him.

Remilia waved the black smoke away, her clothes torn and covered in her own red blood from shielding Neo from the shell. "Yggdrasil," informed Neo urgently, seeing Remilia was still being controlled by the digital god, "Skynet's not taking control of the fleet."

"I know," Remilia responded, wiping the blood out of her eyes, "Skynet does not care about anyone apart from herself. The fewer people left alive means fewer people to oppose her." She turned her head to Neo, "Whose side are you on?"

"I am still struggling to decide. We've been told you're planning to control Rulia to control the universe."

"To keep as many people alive, I need to be able to fight back against The Director. It would take Rulia too long to realise this on her own."

"But you want newcomers to stay in this world."

Remilia turned away, "We can't leave, not yet. We still have lives to save, lives to bring back and lives to live." The burning wreckage of The Destiny Ascension howled behind them as it fell past.

The spacecraft still had a long distance to fall as Garrus-Smith assimilated the last surviving crew-member on board. Without warning, something smashed the ship from below, finally snapping the vehicle in two. Mima-Smith escaped the spinning vessel to see a humongous black blade rising rapidly from the iceberg at sea level, which looked like an enormous version of Black★Gold Saw's weapon of choice, the heavy sword King Saw. Towering over Smith, the sword hit the Destiny Ascension's wing, cutting through. However, the wing jammed on the blade and rose with the sword in a relatively horizontal position instead of falling. The blade rose to its maximum height, stopping short of Wesker and Ellis.

"What's going on here?" spouted Ellis.

"Nevermind that," insisted Wesker, "Who's that?" Wesker took hold of Ellis' head and forced him to look towards Arsenal Gear, "The guy standing next to the railgun. With his hand on it."

Ellis squinted, "That's... Oh crap-"

"Neo! Incoming railgun!" Wesker shouted upwards as Arsenal launched a rapid third shell. Neo prepared himself for the shell when Rumia passed him, hands outstretched in front of her. Solid black darkness spread in front of them, blocking the shell and others from other ships, each exploding with stunning ferocity.

"I can hold this!" called Rumia, "Neo, deal with Kanade!"

"R-right!" nodded Neo, just as a wooden ghost ship sailed through the darkness. The glowing Flying Dutchman was not affected by the darkness and no one could react fast enough as Akiyama Mio pulled her bass plug out the amp at the head of the ship. A low boom thrashed out, major force impacting Rumia, Remilia and Neo. The darkness faded, the Director's shells resuming their relentless artillery on Yggdrasil's fleet.

Remilia recovered her bearings first, spinning round in the air to regain her balance, "HTT! You invincibles are fair game!" she cried as she pulled her arm back, the red Gungnir fading into her grip. She threw Gungnir like a javelin, the electric bolts sparking furiously. On the Dutchman's deck, Kotobuki Tsumugi, otherwise known as just Mugi, took hold of the keytar strapped to her back and pressed a few keys, emitting a B major chord, the cheerful sound out of place amid the explosions. As Gungnir descended on the Dutchman, it suddenly hit the invisible barrier generated by Mugi but it did not falter, the sharp tip grinding against the barrier harder by the second. Remilia took hold of Gungnir and added her own force to the weapon, pushing with all her might. "Gungnir never misses his target!" she screamed, her red eyes glowing brighter.

Mugi began to struggle against the unseen force trying to pull her fingers from her keyboard, the barrier less than capable of blocking Remilia's power over fate. As soon as her fingers left the keys, the chord stopped and the barrier vanished, Gungnir piercing through the body of the Dutchman. The friction alone was enough for the wooden ship to catch fire as the hull burst from the pressure. However, the Dutchman continued to fly. Azusa gave a single strum of her Fender Mustang guitar, all remaining flames going out, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the deck. Then without warning, Flandre slammed feet first from above onto the deck of the Dutchman, glowing Lævateinn drawn. The vessel rocked, unbalancing the members of HTT. With a swipe of Lævateinn across the deck, Flandre set the whole upper section on fire, catching the white sails as well.

"Neo! Yo!" called Ellis, shaking Neo by the collar. Neo woke up with a start, finding himself on his back on the impaled wing of The Destiny Ascension. His sunglasses were missing, most likely blown off, and his ears were still ringing from the amp blast. In the sky were bright balls of fire lighting up whatever vessels were still left.

"Can we really not save them all?" Neo mumbled in denial at the fireworks above him.

Ellis looked up at the wreckage, "We can't beat The Director, Neo. The harder we hit him, the harder he whacks back."

It took a moment for Wesker to take Ellis' statement in, "What? I thought the Director helped those who worked as a team. Like at Area 51."

"Only if they're doing well, Wes. I don't think we're doing well at all."

Wesker did not respond verbally, his slow but heavy breathing giving his emotion away instead.

As Garrus' spaceship smashed into the ice below into a mangled pile of metal, several sections catching fire, Emiri folded her arms, "One minute, thirteen seconds."

Black-Smith climbed out the wreckage of the spacecraft, landing on the slowly melting iceberg floating in the Atlantic Ocean. He didn't look up, his other copies relaying to him the downfall of The Destiny Ascension. Instead, he looked around, catching sight of the remains of the HMS Thunder Child. Gravemind had collapsed his head to the ground, completely immobile except for slow deflating. Doomsday not bringing much of the Flood through was clearly taking its toll on him. Suwako was still unconscious in his grip, an ugly green colour spreading across her skin. Meiling wasn't far away, eyes closed, face up in the pool of water, surrounded by Bangs. Ellis had since unsummoned his chains. Closer to Smith though was Nitori, face down in a puddle. Smith flipped her over and thrust his hand into her abdomen. As the black substance spread across Nitori's body, Black-Smith noticed the two black mechanical ears Nitori was wearing. "Aren't those the ones Rulia had?" he murmured as The Destiny Ascension hit the ice far behind him in a huge fireball.

With a serious demeanour, Wesker stood over the face up body of Rumia, who had also fallen on the impaled Destiny Ascension wing. She was unconscious but was breathing heavily and hoarsely. Her nose was bleeding profusely, hit the hardest by Mio's bass blast. With a serious expression, Wesker made no attempt to heal her with his newfound powers or even turn her onto her side, which would prevent blood from running into her lungs.

"That's Accelerator!" called Ellis' voice. Wesker turned to see Ellis on his knees, looking over the side of the wing at Arsenal Gear below. "The guy touching the railgun- He can change any vector. That's how the railgun's so fast-! Incoming!"

The shell rocketed towards Remilia who barely dodged the projectile, only for it to strike through the core of another Neuroi, who screamed out before exploding in a shower of light. Remilia was not amused, gritting her teeth. She span to face Arsenal Gear, eyes glowing blood red, summoning Gungnir in her hand. With all her strength she threw her weapon towards the warship. Just as the fire on The Flying Dutchman went out for a second time.

Gungnir suddenly shattered into long but single shards of red light. The shards spun round, knocked off balance by the unexpected force. One by one they recurved their trajectory to aim at their target and one by one they harmlessly bounced off the top of the railgun, none of the shards possessing anywhere close to the power of the original Gungnir. The shards collapsed into the water around the ship, their glows fading into the ocean, having all hit their target as per Gungnir's abilities but were ultimately useless.

Remilia glared at The Flying Dutchman, on which Azusa had strummed out the fire once more. Flandre was stood at the bow of the wrecked vessel, right hand held high in a fist. She had a panicked expression, looking at her hand. Her fist slowly opened up in a very stuttery and robotic manner, ready to click her fingers to exact more destruction as she did to Gungnir. Remilia wasted no time, shooting up to Flandre, using her hands to force Flandre's thumb away from her fingers. In response, Flandre pulled back Remilia's hair with her powerless left hand so she could look at her older sister's face. "Onee-sama..." she pleaded, with soft eyes, "Don't you love me?" Even though Yggdrasil still possessed Flandre, he had no control of her actions. Remilia bit hard on Flandre's thumb, drawing blood instantly, and preventing her from clicking her fingers. Flandre howled in pain, and bit Remilia's neck, also beginning to run red.

With Flandre distracted below her, Haruhi ceased her immobile standoff with Sasaki and dived at the invisible Psycho Mantis above the Scarlet sisters. Invisible to most beings but clearly visible to the goddess, Psycho Mantis had managed to take control of Flandre just after Azusa had put the flames out. But despite flying faster than the speed of light, someone's hand took hold of Haruhi's right ankle, immediately negating her powers, including those of flight.

As Haruhi and her aggressor began to fall downwards, Ritsu, on The Flying Dutchman, growled harshly, breathing more heavily. She stepped past Azusa, gently pushing the latter's shoulder as she made her way to the bow. Remilia, wincing in pain, scowled at Ritsu as she came closer. As Ritsu drew back a hand, the yellow of her pupils spread across the whites of her eyes, coating them a disturbing orange. Ritsu roared at the top of her voice, ringing out over the rain. Remilia realised what was coming and bit harder with all her strength, Flandre screaming as Ritsu threw a long ranged punch.

A thunderous beat of a drum echoed out as Remilia was struck in the face by an invisible force with incredible strength. Remilia fell unconscious immediately and fell backwards off The Flying Dutchman, large drops of red following. Flandre, her face covered with the splatters of her sister, collapsed to her knees and cowered over her four-fingered hand, Remilia having managed to bite her thumb off. But as a vampire, the appendage was quickly growing back.

There was a huge splash as the Nautilus jumped out of the water over Nitori-Smith and Black-Smith. The thin white submarine hit the ice with a slam and slipped onto its side towards the Smiths. As the ship continued to slide across the slippery surface, the vessel's entry hatch, now on the top, was kicked open, Geshumaru's robotic partner jumping out, carrying his master in his arms. Geshumaru's eyes were very noticeably orange, contrasting her dark clothes. Her robot reached into the the hatch and pulled out Dragon Slayer who immediately began running down the side of the ship towards the Smiths, her eyes bright orange as well.

"... I see," laxly spoke Nitori-Smith, "We're Carriers, aren't we?" Extremely out of place on Nitori-Smith's head were Rulia's black mecha ears.

"We are," remarked Black-Smith as Dragon Slayer jumped off the ship towards them, accelerated by the moving vessel. She was holding her trademark thick twin-edged sword. Despite being a double-handed sword, Dragon was holding it with her right hand only. She threw an overhead swing, both Smiths dodging to each side as the blade smashed into the frozen ground, ice spraying in all directions. But before Nitori-Smith could get too far, Dragon snatched his tie with her free left hand and gave a strong jerk. Nitori-Smith fell forwards, only to be headbutted in the face. Dragon's sharp crown cut his skin diagonally across the face, snapping his glasses at the nose. She stamped on his foot as he reeled backwards, forcing him to slip. As she swung her sword at the downed Nitori-Smith, Black-Smith caught Dragon's sword arm from behind. Not giving her time to respond, he kicked the back of her knee, downing her and forcing her off Nitori-Smith. Nitori-Smith, his face full of rage, quickly sat back up and thrust his hand into Dragon's abdomen. Dragon could not resist the black substance spreading across her body as her full orange eyes looked into Smith's.

The Nautilus ground to a halt with a screech, the sides of the ship too sharp to take advantage of the slippery ice for long. Chariot jumped off the submarine, her sharp wheels acting like skates on the cold surface. She charged at Black-Smith, who let go of Dragon and pulled a Desert Eagle pistol out of his suit. Just as he fired, Chariot summoned a huge and heavy spiked shield from hammerspace in front of her, the bullet bouncing off without a scratch and the spikes heading towards Black-Smith. Nitori-Smith was forced to pull his hand out of Dragon, using a throwing motion and Nitori's power over water to launch all the surrounding melted ice and rain into Chariot.

The large mass of water struck Chariot's shield, its big surface area immediately halting her advance. She slipped backwards, the shield falling on top of her. Slightly dazed from the impact, she unsummoned the shield but was struck in the face by Black-Smith's foot, launching her off the ground. Black-Smith caught Chariot's ankle before she flew too far away with an overhead swing, slammed her face up into the ice. Chariot's nose was bleeding yellow and black but Black-Smith ignored this as he thrust his hand into Chariot's abdomen.

But two black chains took hold of Black-Smith's ankles from behind and pulled, forcing him to fall forward, taking his hand out of Chariot. With a quick glance to his left, Black-Smith rolled to the right just as Dragon's sword smashed into the ground where he had been. Growling for missing her target, Dragon turned on the spot to stamp away an incoming kick from Nitori-Smith aiming for the back of her knee, not falling for the same trick again. Nitori-Smith immediately pulled his arm back for a punch. A chain shot out the ground behind him for his arm but a sudden water spike from below struck and shattered the ceramic chain, allowing Nitori-Smith to concentrate on his fist. Dragon was fast enough to catch the punch with her armoured left hand in front of her face but this blocked her vision, preventing her from seeing the follow up stab into her abdomen with the other hand, Nitori-Smith attempting to take her over for a second time.

Chariot, still on the ground, flipped over onto her front and took hold of Dragon's right ankle. With a strong tug, it was Dragon's turn to slip forwards, pulling her away from Nitori-Smith. The icy surface they were fighting on was proving to be a disadvantage for the flightless Chariot and Dragon, in contrast to the free-flying Smiths. Another major disadvantage was that they were surrounded by water as Chariot learnt as another one of Nitori-Smith's water spikes shot up through her left shoulder. She did not cry out, despite the spike being as solid as metal. As the water stained black and yellow, Black-Smith thrust his hand into Chariot's back. Dragon tried to regain her footing on the ice but was promptly elbowed in the neck by Nitori-Smith, flooring her, followed by a third thrust into her abdomen.

"We want you alive," Black-Smith declared, stood over Chariot with importance.

"Don't waste your time fighting us," added Nitori-Smith, pulling a second pair of sunglasses from inside his suit. He put them on, ignoring the blood dripping from his minor but long cut across his face. Nitori-Smith made the educated decision to keep an eye on Geshumaru on the Nautilus as two more members of The Black Squad exited the ship on two oversized flying black skulls, not needing Geshumaru's help. Both the skulls roared at once, emitting bright green light out the eyes and mouth. In contrast, the eyes of the people stood on them were bright orange. Dead Master and Black★Gold Saw looked down below they flew overhead towards the Smiths. Black-Smith did not recognise the two immediately but Nitori-Smith did, via Nitori's own experience, realising these two were a much bigger threat.

Dead Master's skull suddenly shot forwards, quickly tripling its size. It smashed into the ice, throwing both Smiths, Chariot and Dragon away. Chariot quickly regained her footing, her spurting shoulder healing almost instantly, while Dragon had to use her sword as support to stand back up. Both Smiths were only mildly dazed, hovering just above the ice. They looked up in time to see Gold click her fingers, before both of them were frozen solid.

With the main distractions dealt with, Gold looked down to see Meiling in the water and the red rods around her, one catching Gold's eye, despite being visually identical to the others. She pointed at it, her telekinetic plasmids summoning Ruyi Jingu Bang to her. After taking a moment to look at it, Gold used her telekinetic powers to launch the staff at high speed behind her, away from the iceberg. It was at this moment, Meiling slowly open her eyes a little, still exhausted. Gold saw this and raised her huge Big Saw sword with both hands. Meiling, Yggdrasil long since dispossessed her, could only mutter, "Enforcers of Order... my ass."

On Arsenal Gear, Misaka caught Ruyi Jingu Bang with one hand. She could feel the daunting weight of the staff, a fraction of Bang's normal mass, offset only by Bang's partial hovering, obeying its new mistress. As she held it with her left hand, she rose her right hand in a fist as Bang replicated itself. The red rods formed a spiralling formation in front of her outstretched hand, pointing into the sky, as blue sparks of electricity flooded from Misaka through the metal.

As the hovering structure of rods lengthened, surpassing the length of Arsenal Gear, Ellis could just see Misaka and her raised arm through the long spiral of Bangs, her face blocked every now and again by jumping electricity in the formation. He squinted, "She's making an electromagnet. Why is-?" He spotted one Bang align itself by Misaka fist, pointing directly through the spiral. At him. Horror set on his face, "Oh crap! It's a railgun!"

Wesker looked over the edge, "That's a coilgun," he stated, rather relaxed, oddly very different to how he was earlier.

"Priorities, Wes!" shouted back Ellis, who grabbed Wesker's sleeve, scrambling to his feet and pulling Wesker away from the side of the wing, "We're leaving! Now!"

Dead Master steadied herself as the skull she stood on rocked side to side to free itself from the ice. She observed the frozen Smiths, deciding Nitori-Smith was the bigger threat being around her native element. With an echoing groan, the skull pulled itself out of the hole, water running across the ice to fill the crater. The skull opened its jaw wide with another roar, the green light inside glowing brighter as it charged for an energy attack, fixing its aim on Nitori-Smith.

Suddenly, a blue flame sprouted from Black-Smith's left eye. It flickered for a moment before the fire wrapped round his head in the shape of a crown.

Falling faster and faster towards Earth, Haruhi and Sasaki were spinning in the air in freefall. Haruhi was feeling sick, her godlike powers unable to do anything about it. She grappled with Sasaki's grip on her ankle, who held on as tight as she could with both hands. Their eyes met and Haruhi could see Sasaki's eyes were still The Director's normal yellow pupils instead of the complete orange of everyone else's. Haruhi gulped, considering kicking Sasaki in the face but without their powers, it was more likely to break her neck than not. They were two of only four beings who could fulfil Yggdrasil's plan. But with The Director stepping up his aggression, Yggdrasil could not afford to lose Haruhi.

The few for the many.

Nagato Yuki watched Flandre stand back up on The Flying Dutchman as her thumb regrew. A mad grin widened on the vampire's face as the flesh regenerated itself, "Fun..." she breathed, "I want more of it..."