novelraw Chapter 475: Arc 6, - 91: Hinterhalt Part II
Chapter 475: Arc 6, - 91: Hinterhalt Part II
A small evidence board laid on his desk with details and notes pinned. "Where are you hiding..." Kazuo muttered under his breath and penned something down.
He had his hands gripped at the table’s edges, bent forward on the documents strewn about it. He tapped the pen insistently at the side while his eyes shrunk narrower and narrower.
"Base of operations can be anywhere, but it has to be being built. They didn’t have a headquarters when I hunted them down, but that must be false. The place had to just be cleared, but even then there would be..."
But, but, but—he muttered aloud to himself as the words he wrote were not enough to piece the puzzle. "Where; it has to be connected with the cases in early February. The location has to be in Dolpool.
The gang sighting in Erigeron yesterday was a red herring; a distraction to get me away from central Dolpool, it has to be. Then something must be here—in Orchid Borough?
They want to make a show of everything, but why? That reasoning’s contradictory to their goal, always has been," his back hunched over more and more. "If they have Dolpool they could just..."
He finally blinked and held the bridge of his nose. His entire posture stiffened as his shoulders went back. Some evidence had connected in his mind and the pen practically impaled the paper as he wrote something down.
He tore a piece and pinned it to the evidence board. ’Target of Burntish Courthouse’, it read. He shifted the pins and strings around with no pause.
The door to his office opened, "Afternoon detective," Morgana stood at the threshold.
Kazuo removed the yellow string connecting ’Dragon—transmutationist’ to ’Chief Justice’, and connected a red string between the former and-
Morgana cleared her throat.
Kazuo barely glanced up, "Sorry, afternoon. How did your case go?"
The detective in blue leaned against the doorframe, "Homicide and suicide—not related to the cult, so ain’t no news to bring you there. Figured something out?"
"Maybe. Why didn’t the cult launch their surprise attack in the courthouse at anyone but the chief justice? There were a lot of people of importance there."
She folded her arms, "Haven’t we gone over this? It probably wasn’t the right time for an all out assault. Their goal was to get their new god out; no unnecessary risks."
"I’m not talking about their goal, I’m saying why not take the extra steps? They can be as fucking calculating as they want for all I care, but no unnecessary risks isn’t the cult’s standard procedure."
"My answer’s the same as any sane person’d tell you; it’s been fourteen years—things can change. Like your back."
Kazuo stood upright and grunted. He first held his back and stood back up proper.
"I ain’t saying you’re wrong," the corner of her lip rose slightly. "But get some fresh air. I got a change of scenery if you want."
"Go on," he rubbed his lower back.
"Over near Felce Street, around the 7th. Found a new place opening up, serves good shellfish apparently. Dinnertime sound good to you?"
"That’s... that’s were your case was," he recalled.
She shrugged a shoulder, "When d’you think I found it."
Morbid as the thought was, Kazuo gave a sigh. "Yeah, sure. Probably a good idea," he looked around his office from a more bleak perspective.
"CRsSsH!!"
_
"Who’s here!?" Jotou shouted out in the upper floor.
"Aunty?"
"Just stay close, okay?" Jotou put a left arm out in front of the little one.
"Okay..." Kineko held onto the hem of the blonde’s sundress and stuck her head close against her jacket.
Jotou felt her difficulty breathing progressively disappear by the second as her sinuses cleared up. She took a few steps forward and jogged into her room-
"CrSH!"
Jotou shielded her eyes and Kineko behind her as the window to her room got broken into. A figure encased in a dense, black rubber-like material crashed through onto the bed and rolled into the room with a pistol aimed at the blonde.
"Blast!"
Jotou hit the deck as the bullet fired off into the wall and Kineko screamed aloud. The blonde sparked her fists and lunged forward, grabbing the gun in one swipe. Brawling on the floor, Jotou gripped the figure’s wrist and zapped it.
The yellow arcs fell short of her fingers and dissipated over the material they wore. Before she registered it, a strong blow struck into her gut from the figure’s knee.
Jotou rolled to the side with a loud groan.
"Aunty!" Kineko ran towards the dresser as the figure began to quickly reload their pistol.
The blonde’s hand had reached out to a table however and her fingers wrapped around the hilt of a sword. "HAH!" she swung back with all her force at the figure and sliced into their palm which forced them to drop the gun.
Jotou held her breath and twisted around. "SHck!" She stabbed the sword into the figure’s leg who grunted. As blood began to spurt out past the thick layer of rubber, the blonde twisted the blade and shocked the figure.
His entire body spasmed. She removed the blade as dried blood chipped off the armite. She panted and held her stomach, "Ow..."
"Aunty!" the crying Kineko rushed to her side and grappled onto her leg.
"It’s okay, it’s okay," Jotou breathed put her hand on Kineko’s head. "Ugh..." ’My magic’s all dulled, this stupid fever I swear to hell!’ Even her spark had a faded glow.
"A-aunty, is he...?" Kineko stammered and pointed at the figure.
Jotou looked down at the figure; his chest was still moving. He wore a red mask that covered his face and only two white slits for eyes. Glass shards from the window had cut into the rubber, however not deep enough to hit skin.
"He’s still alive, but he’s not gonna get us. Stay with me. Can you run?"
Kineko mumbled and nodded, staring at the figure. Jotou turned with the sword in one hand and Kineko behind the other as she darted out of the room.
’Magic’s busted, I’m not jumping out a window with her. There’s no way the roof’s safe to run across house to house; front door and kitchen window’s the only way. Could the cult have picked ANY OTHER DAY!?’
"Crsh!" "CRASH!"
From Kazuo’s room and the rooms of the above floors, the sound of breaking windows only made the blonde angrier. Another figure cladded in the same suit came out of the bathroom with a rifle aimed.
"Blast-Fsh!"
"GWH! FUCK!"
The bullet fired into her right leg, piercing in with ease. Her knees nearly buckled, but she sparked her leg and cauterized the wound with the round still embedded.
"Aunty!" Kineko screamed.
Jotou gritted her teeth and leaned down to lift Kineko and carry the girl in her arm. Though her head pinged to cast a spell, she sparked her entire form from head to toes as Kineko clung her arms around the blonde.
"Blast!" "Blast!" "Blast!"
Shots fired from the rooms and from the stairs above, but Jotou made a mad dash towards the staircase. Her entire body strained as she rushed down with a bullet still in her leg.
Kineko felt the electricity not harm her nor envelope her, giving an uncomfortable sensation across the crying child’s body.
"SLAM!"
The door busted open with a rifle aimed. "Shck!" Jotou’s sword crashed through the cracked door and stabbed into the wielder before she zapped into their leather-bound figure.
She tossed the figure to the side and pulled her sword out. Looking out the front door, there were at least a dozen cultists at the ready with firearms aimed. She kicked the door shut, although it was already barely holding onto the hinges.
An unintentional whimper escaped her lips as she pushed herself to speedwalk towards the kitchen. Kineko pressed her head into Jotou’s shoulder, not knowing what the blonde’s true pained expression was.
’WHERE THE HELL DID THEY ALL JUST SPAWN FROM!?’
As if to further complicate her query, from the kitchen entered two more cultists as well as some sort of giant insect? It was humanoid and with a long scorpion-like tail, covered in armour-like plates.
"It would be for the best for you to surrender Thundering Blade," the pincers of the insect creature chittered. "You are outnumbered and as luck would have it, you are in no condition to fight."
"Wanna bet on it cockroach?" Jotou raised her blade. ’Shapeshifter.’
...
...
"Have it your way then," the creature chittered and the tail reared up as the two cultists aimed their rifles.
Jotou quickly tossed Kineko down onto the sofa and snatched her sick blanket that was draped on the cushion. She tossed it forward; some of the balled up fabric fanned out in the view of the three entities.
"Blast!" "Blast!"
The bullets pushed into the fabric and punched two holes through them. However, Jotou had ducked under and she struck from below.
Her sword stabbed into the chitin of the shapeshifter and got jammed in between the plates of its exoskeleton. Jotou with all her strength pierced into it and sent jolt after jolt of lightning straight into the creature.
The creature chittered, but the electricity dissipated across its carapace. "WHACK!" "BASH!" "NGH!" Its large tail swiped from behind and clobbered into Jotou, throwing her against the dining table where she fell to her knees.
No more electricity arced around her. The shapeshifted looked down at the sword jabbed into his chest and wrenched it out with six limbs and a pained chitter; burn marks were present around the wound that began to close.
"A unique creature for your lightning; far from a cockroach," two limbs held the armite blade.
"Aunty Spauky-Eyes!!!" Kineko skreiched from the sofa.
"Kickbolt!" Jotou contorted her body around and was lifted by her injured leg. The lightning propelled her foot right into the head of the insect.
It loudly chittered as it got shoved and battered against the wall, cracking the brick and wallpaper. She swiped her sword from the creature’s stumbling grasp and jabbed in between its pincers; the blade came through the other side before she drew it out.
She pushed the creature onto the floor as it scrambled to put itself back together. "SHTCK!!" She plunged her sword into the floor and the base of its massive tail; the exoskeleton cracked audibly and she grabbed the tail to rip it off like the arm of a crab.
Two muskets aimed at her from the kitchen- "Blast-THUD!" One round fired, but the scorpion-like tail flying at the two through the narrow kitchen doorway blocked the one and collided into both bodies.
The shapeshifter changed into a moth and reshaped itself into the creature it was before right in front of the blonde. Jotou’s eyes sparked bright, "Shoulder-Charge!" she shouted.
The freshly forming figure got blasted into by an electrical charge that buffeted into him and sent him flying across the living room. "THUD-D!" The wall caved in from the impact of the shapeshifter.
He slumped to the side of the door, but the top of the door flew off in half as a cultist busted through. One body blocking the floor inside and outside.
"AHHH!" Jotou screamed and hurled her sword. The blade spun through the air.
"Shtck!" "Gyah!" the cultist was slashed across the face and the blade stabbed into the doorframe, blocking the door for a single second before it clanged down. The cultist dropped their rifle and staggered back in pain.
"Ngh... ngah... Oh... Ow..." Jotou wheezed; the world around her spun and she saw stars. She held her palm against her forehead while blood dripped down from her eyelids.
"Aunty..." Kineko whimpered with her head poking over the back of the sofa.
"Shh, it’s okay, just keep your head down," Jotou’s more laboured voice told. The nauseous feeling was overwhelming every sense in her body as she saw the shapeshifter reforming at the door. ’What... do I do...’
Jotou dragged her battered body towards the telephone and held the table it was on. "Come on, come on," she began to dial as quick as she could.
The cultists in the kitchen got through the door, the shapeshifter got up and the rest of the cultists were at the threshold of the entrance. Kineko hid between the cushions and cried loudly.
All the while each ring of the telephone made the blonde’s have a mini heart attack. "Helloo-"
"Under attack, house, cultists, shapeshifter. They won’t kill me, tell everyone, they’re at the school, Kineko’s with me-" "CRACK!" Her vision faded—the last thing she felt was her head hitting the floor...