Shattering Humanity-Chapter 395: The Conflagration Declaring Conflagration
"God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
For he says to the snow, "Fall to the earth,"
and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains, serve as his sign to all mankind, so that all men may know his work.
The wild animals enter their lairs and stay in their dens.
The windstorm comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.
Ice is formed by the breath of God, and watery expanses are frozen.
He saturates clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them." -Job 37:5-11
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[Tomodachi Town]
SeiõrSnow falls from the purple morning sky scattered with clouds.
Continuing their search for anything suspicious in their protection designated beach town, Shelly and Katsu soar through the empty streets on the sentient Madame Fryer.
Cruising at a speed that blows both young adults hair as they survey the area.
Katsu: "To be honest Shelly, I haven’t felt any strong sources of Seiõr ever since that original moment in the room.
Do you still sense them?"
Shelly: "Not anymore.
They both vanished at the same time, and that was almost 15 minutes ago now...but Katsu..."
Carefree Katsu smiles and tilts his head innocently while looking up at her.
Katsu: "Hm?"
Shelly: "... I’m not 100% sure, but for just a second, I thought I felt the Seiõr of that other woman we fought last night, the cowboy."
In his ’fake’, innocent phase, Katsu plays the smart ass.
Katsu: "Uhh actually Shell, I think she would be considered a ’cowgirl’, by Old Western terminology."
With Shelly’s head on a swivel, the Yang Vessel being held below, spots something of importance in the distance.
Katsu: "Shelly look over there, on your 3 o’clock!
Wh-What is that?"
Madame Fryer elevates upward to help her rider see above the buildings, and doing as she is told, the blonde beauty stares barely to her right.
Her eyes widen from seeing the glow of orange, directly coming from behind the Firehouse, in the area where their new military tank and baseball field are located.
Not aware of the initial declaration of war by Jesse James on the other side of their home island, nor the complete situation happening around her, Shelly’s eyes tear up in frustration, and her grip tightens around Katsu’s wrist.
Overwhelmed by his adopted sister’s clearly projected emotion, Katsu’s appearance is back to seriousness as he too stares in the direction of the obvious conflagration.
His right human eye looks almost soul-less and dead as he keeps his uncharacteristic, nihilistic thoughts to himself.
Katsu(thinking): *This is just another one of the unpreventable, and aggravatingly repetitive moments in every cycle.
Another unforgettable event Shelly is forced to suffer with until she...*
Stopping himself before he can say "dies", the Yang Vessel uses his own memory bank to remember Shelly’s smiling face from not only yesterday, snapshots of her bright exuberance...on the same field...but other memories, from some other time.
Katsu(thinking): "That’s why, whenever I can...*
[FLASHBACK]
Daisuki: "Katsu’s excited about the field he found in the back of the station.
Knowing him, it’s going to be a good bonding moment for everyone who is present..."
[END FLASHBACK]
Katsu’s nose twitches in his silent rage.
Knowing how much the sentimental young woman was looking forward towards their planned, private bonding time with another day of baseball.
Katsu(thinking): *With the knowledge I always retain from this damn symbiote, I’ll take advantage of every opportunity I have. Not only to make sure Shelly is currently happy in this moment of her life...*
Also trying his best not to tighten his grip on Shelly’s wrist too much, his gripping fingers are individually twitching.
Katsu(thinking): *...But I will also make sure this suffering isn’t all for nothing.
Each cycle, we get further, and further together.
And I know this is the run we’ll finally win...*
The Yang Vessel activates his appropriately colored, all white SoulSeiõrShield.
Shelly, being an incredibly level headed person when it comes to battle, understands where the large destructive flame has engulfed, and what, or who, could have caused it.
She too activates her own respective SanguineSoulSeiõrShield as they get closer to the Fire Station, the floating sword stops.
Katsu(thinking): *I’ve become numb to everything that this universe throws at me. Everything, except losing her...
But Saku, you God damn bastard...*
The Yang Vessel who is set on secretly destroying the world, all for the "safety and complete freedom of his purpose", can’t completely hold back his own tears of pure hatred sneaking out while he actively bottles up his true feelings.
All for the sake of his personal revenge, a single tear falls from his human optic, but nothing falls from his ’blessed’ symbiote.
Katsu(thinking): *This is what I mean when I say my decision is the only way.
She has constantly been the victim to despair. Yet she has done nothing but fight to defend, protect, and save all of those who mean something to her!
All this sorrow and disappointment.
...again...and again...and again.*
His green eye and Anjell Eye go into their Above Sanpaku stare. Looking down upon the Apache Helicopter crash sight in disgust and complete anger.
Katsu(thinking): *These constant reminders...
The feeling of knowing there is absolutely nothing I can do to prevent her from having moments like these without giving myself away...*
The scattered remnants of the "metal bird" is all over the baseball field, while the fire it started has spread across the entire outfield grass and the flammable natural turf around the pitchers mound.
Embers fly up, eventually burning out before reaching Shelly and Katsu as they watch from above.
They drift down to the top of the brick firehouse.
Katsu releases his grip a few yards from the landing, but lands perfectly fine on top of the building.
With a chance to actually examine the bright, hot chaos in front of him, the Yang Vessel watches as the trees passed the fence in left field also burn. Whatever was left of the early autumn leaves around the ballpark have already been engulfed.
Inside the dugout, next to 3rd base, the back half of the military helicopter has crushed the bench Saku’s team was sitting on during their game.
Shelly lands close behind Katsu and she too looks at the spreading fire across the outfield. She then looks at where the rubber pitcher’s mound was.
As if the targeted crash spot was where Shelly and Itsuka were pitching, the helicopter had hit the slightly raised level of the playing field, then went skipping, breaking apart.
Shelly takes a few steps to the broken corner of the building. She peers down the hole in the ceiling of the brick firehouse, left by one of the Icemen meteors three years ago.
Inside, Abby the elephant painted tank is smiling, untouched.
Shelly: "Katsu...why?
If it was MamMmon, she probably knows we have Laban’s tank here.
I know why she did it, but why?
Just to take away something we found happiness in?"
The crackling and yelling flames close by fill the silence while they two digest the reality of the situation.
Trying to fight back her tears, one breaks free and falls through the hole she’s standing over, down to the floor inside the building.
With his back turned to the grieving fighter, Katsu tries his absolute hardest to keep his anger masked, but the fire reflecting in his right eye is the perfect metaphor to exactly how he is feeling.
Katsu(thinking): *Whoever makes Shelly feel this way...
Who ever takes away the things she enjoys...
I’m going to kill you all...
No matter what...
There’s nothing anybody can say or do to stop me...*
Suddenly the slightest bit of universal energy sets off their SeiõrSense.
Shelly quickly looks below, but Katsu doesn’t flinch.
He already knows who it is.
Katsu(thinking ): *Finally, she’s caught up to help inform Shelly on all the important details I can’t expose.*
An echoing set of footsteps can be heard at the base of the building and suddenly the igniting of a lighter.
Laban DaeMon: "If you wanted to know everything, you could’ve just asked, Skalmönd."
Emerging from the early morning shadows is the black haired DaeMon.
Her right IceEye is at 2nd Stage, letting out a smokey aura that blends with her symbiote’s released energy.
The end of her lit blunt burning brightly as she inhales and reveals herself.
Shelly: "Laban?!
Wha-!?
How?"
The DaeMon who joined the group a few days earlier exhales and watches the field burn from a lower point of view.
Katsu walks over to the edge and confirms the presence of their uninvited party member.
Laban DaeMon: "Did you think I wouldn’t wake up when my SeiõrSense went wild too?
The only reason the rest of those schmucks stayed asleep was their inexperience with the sensation.
It looks like Zoram’s already gone and alerted the Boss Man."
She looks up and notices Katsu’s Above Sanpaku looking down on her from the roof.
Laban DaeMon: "I heard you two whispering and figured the both of you would go AWOL without telling anybody else.
I might not be that fast, but this was where you’d eventually show up."
