The Big Red One

They enter Hyuga’s room. The well-lighted, pink room, with that thin monster made out of a soft and reflective white stone. His six long arms, all quadruple jointed, coming from his back. And the iron plate nailed to his face, had a new engraving, “Antidote”. Scattered around the monster’s bald head, seven pink mouths who moved on their own accord.

— Take us off Hyuga! — She yells.

— Things have been quite the ruckus lately. My condolences for Liver.

— Don’t mind it. — Juice says.

— Good luck, friends.

Hyuga teleports them out to the Black Light District, Depth Five. It was way more convenient for all Searches to use Hyuga’s power instead of traversing the continent until the specific Depth and place they wanted to reach. Especially if your destination was Depth Four and Five But they now entered that dark, cloudy, and endless rainy city. Great part of it had been destroyed because of their battle with Green, and it was strange to be back there so suddenly.

— Look at this place. Wh —

— You don’t have to talk. — Ragnarok walked ahead.

— Sheesh.

They walk together through the city. The target was spotted not near, but exactly where the battle with Green took place. So, there was a little bit of time before they arrived at ground zero. But there was something about this situation that was putting Juice off. Killerkill issued the order, but she was too busy to talk once both of them arrived.

“Related to the GREEN Incident… what did you mean by that? Isn’t the rat bastard dead? Are there more that worked alongside him? That doesn’t make sense… he seemed proud of dealing with us by himself. I got a real narcissist air coming from him, so who the hell would care about him? What am I missing here —

— We’re here.

Juice gets called out and pays attention to his surroundings. They were in the broken highway, under the constant rain. There was nobody there. Some blood and some vestiges of a hard-fought battle. But not a soul in sight. Even Liver’s body had been retrieved by then.

— Our target moved? — Says Ragnarok with her mace on her shoulder.

— Perhaps.

He kneels next to some vestiges and exams them closely. His touches some of the blood on the asphalt. It wasn’t dry because of the rain but their blood was. Juice recalls scenes of their battle with Green and from what he can piece together. That wet blood was not shed by anyone from their group.

— Killerkill said four teams, right?

— I think so. Why?

Juice gets up and looks around.

“Four searcher teams… wiped out?”

Walking forward, to the broken bit of the bridge he looks down. The damage on and under that collapsed zone didn’t seem to be any greater. However. Juice saw something terrible.

— We have a problem…

A lot of decapitated heads. Coming out the mouths and eyes were all the bones of their bodies. And their bodies were twisted and folded like a floral bouquet, to bed and present the head. All forty-nine searchers were like that, forming in a circle. In the center, a message written in blood. “Revenge.”

Ragnarok approaches to see the warning alongside him.

— No kidding…

The first thing Juice did was to inform Killerkill. A picture and an explanation sufficed. The second thing was to call Hyuga to be taken away immediately. It was unknown what was the strength of the searchers that were sent. And it was unknown whether or not they all attacked the target at once. So, it was impossible to determine the strength of the adversary But to judge the opponent weak, would be a great and terrible mistake. As Juice dialed for Hyuga, his signal started to become unstable.

— Don’t start it… — He dials again.

Ragnarok senses screamed panic. A sudden event took over her, forcing to look behind them. Looking over the grey city and road, she found nothing. Juice takes notice of her and looks around too, drawing his gun. They were looking at the path they came from, but that way screamed malice. Something was, certainly, there just now.

— COME ONE, COME ALL, CHILDREN!

They turn around again. And they located a monster on the other side of the bridge.

The monstrosity they saw was a thing, certainly. His mouth was permanently frowned, and his teeth were exposed in some sort of sad smile. Inhumanly large and with crimson red skin, he had his fat torso out, but his arms and legs were surprisingly muscular. Needle-like piercings on his fat nipples. His brain was completely exposed, and his hollow eyes were carved into that pink mush. He wore a blue and black skirt and deep blue bead necklace that was almost as thick as his neck.

— THE SUMMER FESTIVAL IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!

Starring through them, he shouted. Sitting like a big baby, he sounded like a stereotypical senile grandfather who had also swallowed a broken megaphone. This thing was called Kruger, the embodiment of Madness. Brother of Green and the greatest misanthropist to ever exist.

— What the fuck… — Ragnarok backs away.

— HYUGA! TAKE US OUT!!

Noticing the phone came through, he orders Hyuga and not a moment is wasted. They are taken back safely to the Lapse. On the ground before their savior, they breath heavily and pant. Being in the presence of Green was one thing. He exhaled power and that caused fear. But Kruger exhaled malice. And that caused terror. Certainly, both of them could kill a person. But it seemed only the latter would walk lengths to ensure suffering.

Juice gets up and Ragnarok follows. There was no time to even thank Hyuga. They rush to Killerkill’s office and report to her the sightings. Killerkill, was a college student, smart and kind (not that those things are directly related). She had bright green hair and eyes. On the right side of her uniform, were many blue bandages she kept wrapping on herself. There were three on her right arm, four on her right leg and two on her waist. Her uniform remained black because she didn’t consider herself worth of a Captain’s white uniform yet.

— A baby? — She asks

— Like big man baby, chubby but muscular. — Ragnarok informs.

— Some four meters tall. — Juice informs. — He was our size while sitting down.

— And he was ugly as hell!

Killerkill gets up. Her face was that of shock, fear, and great, great concern. Her eyes — her power — allows her to witness memories, thoughts, information, and emotions just by looking at her target. At Green’s execution she was granted to witness him for as she deemed necessary to harvest all the information he had. She saw three individuals in his memories. A little girl, a sombre man, and a crimson monster.

— It’s Kruger…

— Kruger? — Ragnarok asks.

— Listen you two. This is tougher than it looks. I’ll report it to the higher-ups, and we launch and attack on him together. Alongside as many units as we can.

— What about us? — Juice asks.

— For now, you can relax. Good work out there.

With their boss leaving, they take to the lounge and chill out. Recovering from the harrowing experience of seeing Kruger. Ragnarok had her feet on the coffee table and Juice sat across from her, leaning to his right.