Chapter 45: Know Despair

"Upupupupu~ The fun games are starting!" A cheery yet creepy voice sounded out of it seems like speakers in the room, chilling Zenkichi and Naze.

Naze grimaced, getting behind Zenkichi, she cautiously looked around with several syringes between her fingers, "What the fuck's going on!? This place shouldn't have that many researchers or lab rats, most of them should be on other floors or in the clocktower!"

This wasn't the first time she'd seen a dead body, and that she was emotionally inept and had experimented on a lot of bodies to the point that even most veteran doctors would find her methods disturbing, but even she was unsettled by the chaos and the apparent violence that had taken place here.

Zenkichi had never seen such carnage before, taking deep breaths, it took a while for him to say, "Stay calm and quiet, Naze. It looks like we haven't been noticed yet, so no sudden movements and those...bears won't point their guns at us. But don't lower whatever weapons you have."

Naze slowly nodded in agreement and kept on a lookout, and she couldn't help but glanced at Zenkichi with a hint of admiration. She knew he was inexperienced compared to her, but he was handling the situation exceptionally well.

Truthfully, Zenkichi was just a few seconds away from having a panic attack.

He was not prepared for this amount of bloodshed!

Zenkichi was prepared to kill someone, even see a body or two, probably even seeing abominations like from Resident Evil games.

But this, he was totally unprepared.

It took every ounce of his calmness and will for him not to break down in fear and disgust. But he had to maintain his composure if he wanted this brutality to not spread into the surface.

Zenkichi closed his eyes, counting one to ten, he then looked around for any suspicious person in the room as he muttered, "This must be the work of the Ultimate Despair. But where is Junko? She should be here if this is her doing."

Naze's brow raised, an incredulous expression on her face, "The Ultimate Despair? Her? I thought you asked about her because you were a fan of her or something. But, seriously? That literal definition of a JK slut that acts all cutesy and idiotic just for the attention of others?"

"...Okay, wow. I did not expect that much animosity from you," Zenkichi slowly replied, surprised at the clear dislike she has of Junko.

And here he thought she didn't have a sort of hate bone on anyone.

Naze scoffed and crossed her arms, "She just pisses me off, I don't know."

"..."

'Looks like even when you're trying so hard at hiding your true colors Junko, some people would inevitably still notice.'

Zenkichi hesitated for a moment and nodded, "Yes. I know it sounds absurd and unbelievable, but that girl is certainly the one behind it all. Her true title isn't the Ultimate Fashionista or Gal, but the Ultimate Despair."

"I can try explaining to you how I know about her but," He turned towards the numerous murderous toy bears. "we really don't have the time for it."

There was a brief moment of silence and was broken with a sigh from Naze.

"Okay, fine, you can explain everything about her later. But more importantly, do you know what the hell they're doing here?" Naze harshly asked, staring at the terrifying gun wielding toy bears.

"Who cares why they're here," Zenkichi muttered, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "What we need to do first, is destroy them."

"....You serious?" Naze threw him a disbelief gaze.

"There might be something useful here that can help us track down Junko. Also, we need to stop them from heading towards the surface," he shrugged, as if it was the natural thing to do. "plus that unconscious guy is over there, he might know a lot of things that's going on."

Naze let out a sigh and reluctantly nodded, "Good point, let's do this but fuck you for making me do this."

"Wait? You're actually coming with me?" Zenkichi said aloud, surprised. "You don't really have to, y'know. I can easily do this by myself."

"Oh, so you're perfectly okay of leaving me, a completely ordinary human in terms of physique, here? Where a stray bullet or a hidden bear could easy kill me."

"..."

Naze snorted and said,

"I'm better off charging towards that horde of murderous bears with you than just standing or hiding around here." she paused for a moment. "And that you want to save the school, and that Koga-chan would be sad that her school life is over...."

"You really can't be honest to yourself."

"Oh just nut up and shut up, we got some murderous creepy mechanical bears to destroy." Naze snapped back with an icy glare.

"Alright, alright." Zenkichi smiled then pulled out the Desert Eagle, a bright cyan glow surrounded it.

He wasn't sure how tough the murderous stuffed bears are....so just to be safe, he did a slight upgrade to the gun.

Though, it was a bit strange. It was his first time manipulating Reishi(Spirit Particles) and yet it felt as though he had been using it all his life.

Was it some inherited muscle memory through bloodline sort of bullshit? Zenkichi didn't understand most of his memories yet, but he would one day.

His encounter with the Sealed King or Yhwach was inevitable after all.

"Just to be clear, can those syringes of yours do any sort of damage to these bears?"

"They're not actual syringes. Just think of them as explosive throwing knives. So unless they're as tough as a tank, I can easily take them on." Naze blinked her eye and thought of something.

"Hey, can't you just shut them off with Weighted Words?"

Zenkichi shook his head, "Already tried it but something is blocking me from controlling these bears."

"Damn it! Why is everything never easy..." Naze sighed.

Both of them looked at each other and nodded, and they slowly approached the bears, guns and syringes ready. But just as they were about to strike, the bears suddenly turned their attention towards them, their red eyes glowing brightly.

"Upupupupu! Looks like we have some new playmates~" The cheery voice spoke again and this time it was coming from the bears, making Zenkichi and Naze shudder.

The bears suddenly charged towards them, firing their guns, forcing the two of them to fire back.

Zenkichi took point as the vanguard as he activated The Iron, dark silver instantly covered not only his skin but his clothes as well.

One of the many things he was thankful for his updated ability, because he did not want to go around butt naked all of a sudden.

Bang! Bang!

He fired shot after shot, not missing a single one of those murderous mechanical bears and destroying them easily with a single bullet through their belly.

With the upgrade he did to his gun, Zenkichi wasn't afraid of reloading it or wasting any bullets as he could make Reishi bullets with just a thought.

"Fire!" One of the bears, a completely black colored bear with a pair of wicked eyes and wearing a green colonel uniform, mechanically yelled out.

Hundreds of bullets were then shot towards Zenkichi and Naze's direction, but the former had already anticipated it and used The Iron to shield himself from the onslaught.

Naze, on the other hand, quickly dodged and threw her explosive syringes at the bears, destroying them one by one with ease.

The battle lasted for around half an hour, but soon all of the bears were destroyed, leaving the room in dead silence.

Zenkichi let out a breath, standing completely fine with just a bead of sweat on his temple. Naze on the other hand, was heavily panting, sweat running down her bandaged covered face(somehow).

"Phew, that was something else," Naze muttered, leaning on the wall to catch her breath. "I didn't expect these bears to be that strong and organized."

Zenkichi nodded in agreement, "Yeah, but we managed to get through it. And now," he turned towards the unconscious stranger on the floor, strangely unhurt throughout the entire ordeal.

"Let's wake him up and find out what the hell's going on."

.....

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