Chapter 67: The Fall of Humanity

I never expected it...

But I guess it had to come at some point

[Tom there's trouble!] Sakura's worried voice soon sounded and the familiar screen I hadn't seen in a long time appeared before my eyes.

Damn it...

I didn't even finish this mission and I already have another one, damn slaver system!

{Emergency Mission: The Fall of Mankind (1)

Venom has decided to start his attack, help humanity to save itself from destruction at the hands of his machines.

Objective 01: Reduce the number of casualties

Objective 02: Exterminate Venom's secondary body.

Objective 03: Absorb the secondary body

Reward: Unlock the second part of the mission, Anti-fatigue Potion (X1)}

After all... Is there any way I can have a quiet day!!!!

Fucking world full of problems!

.....

Feeling an immense headache Tom quickly got out of bed surprising the girls, who were sleeping comfortably with him.

Concentrating on his mission but without losing sight of those who were with him, the two-colored man approached and apologized to all of them for disturbing them as he quickly went to look for Julian, Shirou and Issei.

He had no doubts in his own strength, but he still knew that he couldn't do everything alone.

This mission was going to be complicated and the worst part was that he still hadn't gotten the information from his spiders.

And if this mission appeared just like that, it was obvious that Venom should have taken care of them.

...

Julian stood up as he tried to wake up completely.

Not until recently Tom had rushed out of the room after dumping a bucket of warm water on him.

If Issei's high-pitched scream he heard earlier was a sign then he probably threw one with cold water on him.

- Pfff - Imagining the boy covered in water with a dissatisfied face, a smile couldn't help but fill his face.

Even if he didn't show it on the outside, Julian still had a bit of a grudge against Issei for how he acted in their first encounter

As they said "It's the first impression that counts" and let's just say.... Issei didn't make the best one

- *Haaaa - With a small sigh the boy put on his armor as he made his way to his stable in the mansion.

For some reason he felt that Hipogriph would be absolutely necessary.... Of course it wasn't related to him wanting to look cool while riding in the air and attracting the attention of the dumb and sexy girls of this world

Yeah, it definitely wasn't the reason

Little did he know that Tom was going to blow him away by showing him the true meaning of "taking to the skies in style."

...

Without even going inside I knew he was out there.

- Come in - I said with a sigh

Why did he seem to be a bit panicked?

- Shirou... well I need your help - Tom scratched his head uncomfortably as he averted his gaze.

I couldn't help but want to chuckle a little, this idiot brother of mine had a strange sense of shame.

Who could do all the silly things he did on a daily basis without shame and then be embarrassed to ask for favors?

Anyway... It's time to get some answers out of him!

...

Seeing Shirou's smile and shining eyes, I couldn't help but feel that this idiot was definitely up to no good....

But whatever it was I had to wait for the mission is more important.

- Tom... I know who is the Servant in Kuu's letter and I know that she was also influenced in some way by the letter, but I have a doubt - At that moment the whole mocking atmosphere had disappeared from the boy being replaced by a serious feeling and an analytical look - From last night's conversation I can guess one thing... Are you in a similar state to me? -

I instantly felt it, fear... I have told everyone about Sakura and the system.

But I never told them about Angra and how I defeated it.

Much less have I mentioned to them why I wear the holy sheet over my arm.

Having no choice I sighed to myself as I decided to speak, I won't say anything about Angra but I will tell you something else.

- Shirou, I... a long time ago I wanted to tell you this, my Class Card was something special compared to the ones you and Kuu have used, besides I recently got another one - Seeing me speak carefully and not answering his question directly I could see how Shirou raised an eyebrow while indicating me to continue

- My original Class Card was Saber, but after using it it became something else, I can't show it to you since it stayed in the other world together with Miyu - To clarify the facts I took out the (fake) card I had, although my words weren't fake it was better to show him something so he could believe in me.

It's much better than telling him that I had something of the old man's with me a long time ago.

It's kind of funny to see how surprised he was when he heard me.

At the mention of Miyu I could see the urgency in his eyes.

I couldn't help but feel bad, Mmm maybe we should start planning the family reunion.

- Don't worry, you'll see her again soon -

- How...? -

His eyes had widened a little in surprise at my answer.

So silly! His expression made him look like a bit of an idiot

*Click

Ummn I'm definitely getting into a bad habit with this.

I thought as I put away the newly taken photo.

[Yeah, well it looks like idiot photographer should be added to your titles]

*Coff *Coff I mustn't stray from the topic.

- Well, as far as I was going, the Class Card I got recently affected me a lot - I frowned and looked at him seriously trying to recover the previous serious atmosphere... And if he could forget that I took that picture of his silly face it would be even better...

...

- The letter... was from the old man - With Tom's words, Shirou's eyes and mouth opened wide.

- See, that's why I didn't want to tell you - Tom looked at him awkwardly as he prepared to leave.

He knew it was now or never, for once Shirou came out of that state he would ask him a lot of questions.

There was no time for that!

- Wait! -

Ignoring the boy's words Tom ran even faster.

He had to get to the garden

A happy smile appeared on his face after all... He could finally use it!

God only knows how much effort, time and materials it took him to build it and make it stable.

...........

After a few hours all the residents of the mansion made their way to the main garden of the mansion.

There they were surprised to see Tom standing right in the center of the garden.

The grin on his face was goofy and somewhat excited

...Somehow it gave them a bad feeling.

Even more so when they saw that he was wearing his knight's armor and not his usual clothes.

- Shirou - Issei gulped as he leaned on a stoic-faced Shirou.

It seemed that Tom's crazy bullshit didn't surprise him anymore.

But if you looked at him carefully you could notice the slight trembling in his body.

It had to be said that after experiencing Tom's pranks and having helped him in many of his experiments.

He had already learned the expression that Tom would make before he did something crazy and it was just that same expression.

The only question was... What was he going to do, would he blow up the house?

Feeling the restlessness and desperation fill his being, Shirou threw all thoughts of their previous conversation to the back of his mind as he made sure to stop whatever madness his idiot older brother was about to do.

The restlessness increased even more as he saw Tom pull out a sword.

Joyeuse

At this point he truly began to spread panic among everyone... except for Gionna and Issei who didn't know Tom well enough to know what it meant to pull out that sword.

- What's with that pretty sword? - Issei asked as he looked around curiously.

- That's Joyeuse... It's Tom's favorite sword," said Julian as he stared at his friend.

- Ohh And why did everyone panic when they saw it? - He asked as he got a little scared when he saw the expression on his friend/teacher's face.

- Why does that idiot only use that sword as a lucky charm or on special occasions! - Rin shouted while clenching the jewelry in her hand.

Okay, now Issei was really scared.

She still remembered clearly what Tom's motto was.

"If you blow something up... Make sure it's epic!" Which was why it had caused nightmares and a subsequent resignation on the part of several chemistry teachers at Kuoh

............

- Rise... - His voice echoed throughout the place, it was as if it was coming from every possible place - Show your splendor in the air! -

The whole mansion trembled as they felt the whole area begin to rise up.

- The fortress that will protect my dreams and hopes, the home for travelers and the well adventured..... -

Tom nailed Joyeuse to the ground in front of him.

The sword illuminated and a multicolored light covered him completely.

The sight was beautiful and breathtaking

- Rise... Charles Patricius -

With his words the lights cleared and everyone looked up with silly expressions.

They were in the air!!!

The mansion and the garden had risen like some sort of flying fortress.

- My fleeting glory... -

Even the appearance of the mansion had changed.

Tom and the others watched in amazement at the new appearance of their home.

The bicolor smiled thinking that this NP was not bad at all, besides.... Flying fortresses are a man's romance!

- What the fuck did you just do? - Rin asked while rubbing her forehead

Everyone else also gave him scrutinizing glances as Issei, Sirius and Julian went inside to explore whether the interior had changed as well.

Tom sighed as he prepared to explain the new mission to everyone.

Charles Patricius was heading towards his destination at great speed and while he now had no way to explain the large space of empty land

And maybe the demons won't take kindly to it.

But he has priorities

Venom has decided to attack

And the first battle has begun...

He definitely won't be the one to lose!

...................

27/09/09

A date that would mark a change like no other in the history of the world.

Humans would finally open their eyes and discover the cruel reality...

They had never had the qualifications to be the true masters of the earth...

In the long history of mankind as a species that moment could not have been considered anything less than a complete humiliation, completely destroying any pride existing in the hearts of the high and mighty

As well as those beneath them.

Even going so far as to generate a doubt that gnawed at the hearts of every man, woman and elder....

Was humanity being punished for its stupidity? Were they receiving divine punishment for having touched what should never be touched?

On that 27th day, mankind was on the brink of collapse.... At the hands of their own creations and that which they had always considered nothing more than a fairy tale

The machines

*************************

Loud screams could be heard all over the place, there were even people crying as they prayed for this to be over and done with.

No matter where I looked

Kyle could only watch in fear and helplessness as robots that looked like something out of a Japanese cartoon killed people as if they were nothing less than simple insects or slithering pests.

As he watched, he couldn't help but wonder why, why had this happened?

It wasn't long before the smell of burning flesh began to permeate the air making him feel like vomiting up his entire breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The image before his eyes was enough to make his stomach turn all over and even more so with the thought that he could meet a similar end if he stood there in plain sight.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM

Explosions were soon heard and in the distance in the air one could see the tragic fate of those men who had bravely decided to get into their planes and face those dragon-like creatures fluttering in the sky.

It was sad to see that their attacks, no matter how they tried, did not seem to leave even a scratch on the skin of the winged creatures, Kyle knew that for sure.

At this very moment, he and the people in the vicinity were not much different than a chicken running around with its head cut off.

But knowing something didn't mean he would just close his eyes and wait obediently for death.

He had to run, he had to run very fast and look for a safe place to hide or take shelter.

As an orphan and wanderer he was not bound by family ties, he felt no debt to the orphanage that had taken him in and subsequently kicked him out in the past, he had no friends or anyone remotely close enough to risk trying to help others here.

Therefore there was nothing to bind him to this place, he could run away without feeling the slightest doubt or sorrow.

As to whether he would survive or not... That already depended entirely on his own effort and luck.

With doubts about how he would live from now on, Kyle stayed hidden in an alley waiting for the place to clear enough to flee without being caught.

...........

Tom sighed wearily and pitifully, he could see the chaos all around and people being cruelly torn to shreds

His chest tightened painfully as he watched the sad scene of a young couple dying while trying to protect children.

Without a hint of hesitation he raised an enhanced rifle and fired decisively at the killing machines until not one was left standing.

*Crack Boom

The machines did not last long over the merciless shooting, they soon became scrap metal scattered in the streets of the place mixing the stinking smell of blood with the smell of oil and the many other strong odors.

The few people who had been left alive gave Tom a wide variety of looks.

Some were curious, others grateful... but many more were fearful and those who looked greedily at the weapon in the hands of their savior.

There were also those who looked at him angrily wanting to go and yell at him for not getting there early to save their belongings and their loved ones.

...........

Several minutes passed and under the extensive booing, shouting and shouting of the people

Tom had finally decided to retreat to a more secluded place and although he had not shown it on his face, the words of the people had really hit him hard.

The memory of that mother crying while holding the corpse of her son was an image that he could not erase from his mind.

The hate-filled gaze and hurtful words of the boy's father had also made sure to hit him with a certain blow.

His face darkened at the growing guilt, he should have gotten there faster

Without remaining idle he continued on his way, destroying every machine he could find and saving his pieces.

He couldn't risk leaving them lying around, knowing the idiots in this world, it was very likely they would kill each other after trying to copy this technology to use it in some senseless war.

*Bang *Boom

As he went along and the situation with the survivors kept repeating itself.

Tom felt it was getting harder and harder to maintain a stoic facade.

If he had used teleportation he would have been there in the blink of an eye. But who would drive Charles Patricius?

[Tom, try not to blame yourself, you are doing your best]. In a rare moment of kindness, Sakura tried to comfort Tom a little.

She knew that her host was, contrary to appearances, quite sensitive. It was impossible for him not to be affected after how people constantly despised him even though he was not really to blame.

Nor could he blame the people, many of them had lost family members and loved ones.

He could not be so hypocritical as to reproach those people for wanting to blame someone else for their pain, although he did not fully understand it he knew it must have been very difficult and stressful for them to have lost everything just like that.

[Do the best you can, remember that you are not omnipresent nor omnipotent, you cannot be in all the places at the same time] Sakura said with a kind voice while she did her best to calm her host.

Tom blinked confused at the words of his system.

.......

Even if he couldn't completely reduce the guilt, it might make him feel less uncomfortable.

Sakura sighed with relief that she had managed to calm him down a bit.

Tom should not blame himself for everything, this was Venom's fault for attacking innocent people.

Besides the fact that he was limited in the number of people he could bring with him when teleporting, choosing to use Charles Patricius had been the right choice since he could transport more people with him and therefore cover more ground.

The only thing that Sakura, Tom and the others found troubling was the fact that the dragons and machines were obviously cannon fodder.

What had happened to the real fighting force?

..........

There was nothing he could do but mourn for the fallen and try to reduce the casualties to as few as possible.

He knew that as of today, it was impossible to maintain his facade as a relatively normal human or the secret of the supernatural But what did it matter?

He wasn't selfish enough to ignore people and let them die just like that just to maintain a stupid facade that at this point was no longer useful.

It's his mission and duty to end this, and if Sirzechs or anyone else has complaints....

I may not be able to kill them instantly!.... But that's only if they fight individually and fairly.

- Tom, I've already arrived in the central area, the situation is worse than we thought -

He quickly snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Shirou's voice on the phone.

- Oh shoot - Pulling out the phone that kept ringing with incoming message notifications.

I look askance at the images and videos sent by Shirou, Angelica, Julian and Issei.

A hideous blackish dragon with three heads and six wings, violet eyes glaring with amusement at people trying to flee from its clutches. This guy seemed to take a kind of sadistic pleasure in watching people panic and run from one side to the other

The next video showed a greenish dragon with an evil air and full of madness seemed to be waiting for something while playing with the frightened people, he didn't seem to treat them as anything but entertainment, every time someone showed a behavior not according to his ideas of show he simply ate them or crushed them into minced meat.

And finally a black snake-like dragon with too short limbs that exuded a malignant miasma.

Large pools of saliva seemed to gather around it along with the corroded and chewed corpses of the unfortunate people who were unlucky enough to be near it

- Damn, I was saying this was too easy - Feeling a growing annoyance Tom put a cigarette in his mouth and tried to push aside all the sad thoughts that had previously plagued his mind.

A tough battle was coming and if he didn't concentrate he was more than certain that he would be torn to pieces the very instant he set foot on the battlefield.

With trepidation and some annoyance Tom re-equipped his armor and pulled out both Joyeuse and Lævateinn.

[- Are we going to burn lizards master? -] Lev asked with an almost palpable excitement.

- 'Yep, that's where we're going Lev' - With firm, quick steps Tom hurried to the battlefield to join his allies.

After all, only an idiot would throw himself against those dragons without a plan.

************************************************

New character introduction ready!

Now with this I begin the first truly serious battle of this arc.

Next chapter: Bloody Feast

Okay With this I declare the end of the arc initiated!