A True Alpha [Arc 23]

[ARC 23: RAISE THE DEAD]

It was not easy. Truly great things rarely were. If he could not bear this tribulation, however, he would not be able to live with himself as a man. But slowly, it was all coming to a head. All that remained was the final push.

And with another groan, Edgar Grey finished shitting out what remained in his bowels. As he flushed and looked back upon the toilet bowl, he frowned to find that his shit had left no skidmarks. He felt an odd sort of anxiety over it; he had often been told by his feature that a man's health was measurable by the stickiness of his shit. Yet tried as he might, he just had never been able to summon this quality; his shit may never have possessed it.

There was good to life recently, however. It had been three years since he left America for Europe, and there he had spent years tracking down this former student whom he wanted to see most in the world. From there he had slowly picked up the basics of many languages, enough to find leads into his location and investigate where he might have gone after fleeing Urasaria. There were times where he worried that he might have never been able to track down her killer. But no matter the difficulty, he had summoned more of his will to breach the barriers set upon him.

It was not that he felt a duty to preserve her beauty (for she was rather ugly anyhow), but rather that he felt a deep binding to that which they once shared. She had affected his growth nearly as much as his own father had, and he felt it would be wrong to not avenge her death, no matter the personal risk he took upon or burdens he carried.

Yet he did not condone the killing of innocents in this goal. If he was forced to fight a student or accidentally kill a civilian, yes, but he felt it unbecoming of someone who wore the appellation *man* to involve others in his personal business. Nor had he indulged in his prior passions; he even shied from pleasure. He felt that doing so only meant he would become sloppy and likely fuck up in a way that might lead back to him.

In a way, he had often been like this, playing a game that was only kept track of by a single mind and polished by the rhythms of mood.

He oft plotted out where he might go once he had achieved what he wished to achieve. There was Hungary, where he might settle down with a beautiful Slavic woman and work as a professional there; he would be appreciated, both as a great orator and as a great host. To Edgar's mind the Slavic countries were always encased within a golden hue; they were free of the racial strife that typified Western countries and were better for it. He felt they were his race, his people; that they would understand and accept him more than these foolish Americans would.

Had it not been for the killer's relation to Mia Edgar would have remained on the periphery of life, the one others always struggled to recall the name of. But now he had his opportunity to emerge from the undermuck of history; he had felt a profuse urge to be swept up in something powerful, to act alone against the cosmos and stand in himself as a man.

++++++

In early October Samuel Poundstone received a text from Mia to meet up at the Royal Four's office, and left his new mansion once he had shaved. On his way to the Royal Four's office, he heard three younger male students calling out to him and slightly flinched.

He felt a conditioned anxiety whenever a group of men would yell out to him, though it had diminished through his Revenant years. It was usually groups of drunk civilian women that most triggered Samuel, for they often groped him on the assumption he would not do anything to stop them. And it was true, for he did not wish to treat them as lesbian students treated their male assailants; lest he be considered sexist.

He went over to them. "Yes?"

"Hey, man, I've got a question. You ever think how bitchmade it is you've been working under two chicks in a row now?"

"Yeah, you could've shown some fucking balls and made presidency, but you just let another-" - he looked around - "-dyke get it for the fifth or sixth year in a row.

Samuel shrugged. He felt no need to prove his masculinity to this group of strangers; he had already assured his superiority via the same positions they were mocking. "One was my mentor and both are my friends."

"Yeah, and I bet they don't look down on you one bit. Every other chick on campus can't shut her fucking mouth about how much she hates men, but no, you, you're the exception. Sure."

"Yeah, why do you bother simping for them like that? They're lesbians. They're not gonna give you anything. They'd rather chop your dick off than respect you."

Samuel shrugged. "Are you finished?"

"Finished? Does it sound like we're finished, fa****?"

They continued to taunt him, usually checking no lesbians were around beforehand, until Samuel walked away and still heard their jeering at his back. He did not really summon any thoughts of violence towards them; they were not worth that.

And while it might surprise readers to see a host not solve an encounter with gore - 1) that's called prejudice, bud, and 2) Samuel knew that pulping the little dingleberries would cause them to lose their social standing; they would need to reprove themselves as men through revenge or be viciously taunted by others on campus. It was best not to shatter their over-masculinity, for it acted as a shield upon themselves from reality. Otherwise, they would need to engage in truly fucked shit.

Serena & Yuruko & Mia were already in the Royal Four's office when he sat down and apologized for being late. "Few people wanted to talk to me on the way there. They needed directions."

"Were they new students?" said Mia.

"Must've been."

Mia nodded, then sighed a little sleepily. These first few months of presidency had overwhelmed her, solving daily disputes between students & balancing hunting with assigning contracts. At the start of each month, she read reports on new or ongoing investigations, potential Revenant sightings, and the month prior she had made an appearance with each student president of the European Union. She still felt out-of-place, and given the backgrounds of these other presidents, had wondered if she still had not shed an invisible burden from her impoverished childhood: her tendency to feel ashamed whenever she was around wealth.

For now, she left Rochelle to assign contracts when she was out, and she & her squadron had built up good will by repairing any property damage they caused.

She took her tablet out. "Regardless, I was supposed to take a call. Someone had wanted to hire me specifically for an event, and I-"

" - REVENANT!" screamed Serena, yellow spider dropping on to her shoulder, and in the next instant -

- streams of fog filled it with acid -

- and in to a cloud of acid it suddenly burst, foul vapors forming a solid stream and shooting towards Mia, then burrowing right in to her eyes; sight melting, she shot to her feet and sprayed her face purple -

- and shrieked in agony as she immediately snuffed it out, burns & scars appearing all over her face & hand as she shouted, pointing up - " - t-temperature control! Doubling!"

- and the three visioned turned their eyes up -

- to see two men & one woman hanging from the ceiling by a set of red tendrils; shotgun forming in Yuruko's hands, one blast tore through the tendrils -

- but another dozen red fingers yanked their three foes back and to the wall fifty feet away, a dozen yellow spiders leaping out of one man's chest as he shouted " - B-B-Ballooning!"

- and Yuruko realized it before they hit the ground; she shouted for the four to jump, and the four jumped -

- and the next scene was instant. She kicked underneath Samuel & Serena, hand on her back but Mia out of her limbs' range -

- and a stone platform formed underneath the three; Mia vaulted over her desk and met up with the three just before the spiders hit the floor, and in the next instant -

- an electrical current entered the metal floor & walls, four wincing and trying not to stagger, Mia clutching to Serena's arm and still blinded, streams of fog not returning her sight yet. An island of stone formed for them in the electrified room, three foes staying safe on the opposite wall fifty feet away, and in the next instant -

" - P-P-Pal'tsy!" shouted the woman; a hundred red tendrils burst up below & beside Mia -

- and Samuel swept to her just in time to take the grapple armor-first, one swift thrash breaking the red links with Mia staggering behind Serena, punk muttering about how her fog wasn't healing yet. Streams of fog flying in to the floor, she shouted for Samuel to stomp -

- and he tried not to twitch as one stomp shattered a hole in the floor, sending a line of explosions towards the three at the end, and as the end of it hit them -

- the next scene was instant. A strand erupted from the man of spider's palms and yanked him to the roof, electrical spiders swarming his right leg as he kicked directly for Mia -

- but one Outcast-grip shot to his left leg and tore it clear off in a geyser of blood -

- and one shotgun blast splattered his guts on to the ceiling in a bouquet of red mist, and in the next instant -

- his body burst in to a thousand drops of blood, hovering for a second, then disappearing a second later; hearing something but blinded, Mia staggered back -

- and her hand touched the non-electrified wall, but the next scene was instant. Steel suddenly melting, the gray & molten goo claimed her hand, trapping her arm as it solidified -

" - Blackburn!" shouted Serena, streams of fog flying in to it -

- but Mia winced as the glass within solidified further -

- but one Outcast-punch shattered it and freed her again, both hands clutching to Serena now; six shotgun slugs shot through their two foes still left -

- bizarrely standing still, staggering to the left like they'd been pulled. No time to waste, Serena stayed back with Mia as Samuel & Yuruko rushed up, and as they cleared the clearing -

- Samuel's grip shot to the man's neck -

- and twisted the top half of his torso off like a screw just as another shotgun blast burst open the woman's skull like a red water balloon -

- and in to a thousand droplets of blood burst their corpses, disappearing after hovering for a second.

"T-That's a - a Revenant." panted Yuruko, no foes left for now.

Mia was still gagging blood and staggered into the corner, leaning on Serena. "G-G-God damnit, w-where the fuck -- GUARD!"

Samuel peeked out the door, sighed, then stomped out. A few seconds later, he brought back a man with a golden Urasaria badge; clearly he had been nearby.

"Is the Revenant still around?" said the guard.

"F-FUCKING BRING HIROGANE HERE!" shouted Mia, still gasping as she slumped against the wall, Serena following with her -

" - I can't close these fucking wounds, what the fuck -"

" - I'll go get him, then." nodded the man, walking off. Streams of fog filled Mia's ears to keep her from passing out from blood loss, Serena still wincing beside -

" - I - still can't close these fucking wounds, fuck - or the burns -"

"- Yuruko, go get Hirogane." said Samuel. "Phase through the floors."

Yuruko nodded, grinded her boots into the floor outside and fell through to the lower floor.

"H-H-He b-better f-f-"

" - c'mon, don't -" winced Serena - " - don't talk -"

- Mia coughed out a glob of blood, and the floor had a new set of paint when Yuruko & Hirogane came back.

"Stay still." he said, dipping Pulse in her veins. Her wounds started to close, and the guard from earlier came back.

"Will you be alright?" said the guard and Mia glared.

"G-Go fuck yourself."