—Cole POV, Unknown World—
Looking at the post-apocalyptic cityscape that was Tokyo, I began to feel exhaustion set in just thinking of the work it would take to restore this place. Currently visiting each world my battle with the last deity took me through, this was the last and by far worst world yet. Outside the Greater Tokyo area giant metallic pillars stood watch over the hordes of monsters that prowled the wastelands beyond. For some strange reason, the monsters did not dare approach the city even though the guards were lightly armed, and there did not appear to be any real threat to them. Something about the pillars was likely causing it, but it was a hypothesis at this point.
‘I know I have seen something similar to this before, but I cannot place it.’, I thought standing atop an enormous, disused railgun, ‘Either way I have to look into this and see if it is my fault. Is it bad that I hope it is not so I can just leave?’
Jumping off the railgun, I came down on the monsters below me with a Thunder Drop and then quickly made my way to the city. Entering the ruined outskirts just past the pillars, I was amazed to find people actually living amongst the rubble of what once were towering skyscrapers. Deciding to approach one of these groups to gather intel, it quickly became apparent that something was off. The group I had chosen was actively trying to harm the orphans that were foraging nearby them for some reason.
“What the hell are you monsters doing here!?”, one of the men shouted lobbing a chunk of concrete at the terrified children, “Go crawl back into your hole, and die! It is the least you can do after all the damage you caused our world!”
“Yeah, the world has gone to hell because of you gremlins.”, another man chimed in as he waved a bat around, “My wife and son died because of all of you, just die already and leave us alone!!”
Fearing for their lives, the four children huddled together for protection from the group of seven adults. Knowing that this would not end well for the children, I slid down the side of a collapsed building and stopped between the two groups. Holding my right hand up and staring at the adults, I asked them to stand down and demanded to know why they were threatening these young girls. No matter what situation was going on in the world, there was never a good reason to harm the children.
“Seriously assholes, these are children barely five years of age and you are telling them to die!?”, I berated the adults, “Why the hell are you treating them like the spawn of Satan himself?”
“Who the hell are you!?”, the first man questioned, “Do you not know what those things are!? They are ticking time bombs that will eventually turn into the monsters living outside the city!”
“They are children, not things asshat!”, I retorted in an annoyed tone, “While the seven of you may be fine killing children, I am not. Try and lay a finger on them, and I will execute you without batting an eye.”
Sizing me up for a moment, the two men made a poor decision and decided to immediately rush me. Using Telekinesis to grab nearby slabs of concrete, I slammed the two together splattering the two of them into a paste. Screaming in horror as they watched it happen, the remaining members immediately tried to run away but I cut off all of their escape routes.
“I gave you all a chance to walk away, but you chose violence. Do not expect me to show you any leniency after watching you stand there, and watch those children be threatened with execution!”, I roared as the earth beneath their feet began pulling them under.
“Please wait, we have families to care for!?”, they pleaded.
“Tell it to someone who cares…child abusers and pedophiles all belong in the same fucking place, HELL!!”, I shouted as forcibly pulled all of them into the ground to bury them alive.
Removing any trace of them having ever been here, I turned back to the girls once I was done. Thinking that I might have traumatized them because of what they saw, instead they were all looking up at me with sparkling red eyes. Grabbing onto my coat with excitement, all of them began jumping around me with happiness.
“You are super, duper strong mister, can you teach us how to do that stuff?”, one of them asked me as she tugged on my coat, “If we could do some of that, we could protect ourselves from the other mean adults!”
“Haha, unfortunately, it is not something I can just teach you.”, I replied with a smile as I stared at their red eyes, “If you do not mind me asking, why do the four of you have matching red eyes? Are all of you related to one another?”
Giving me a complicated expression, it seemed like they were afraid I would treat them differently if they told me. Kneeling down to look them in their eyes, I changed my eye color to red so they would not be so nervous about telling me. Seeing my eyes change to a similar color to theirs, all of them looked at me with dumbfounded expressions.
“Is something wrong?”, I inquired out of curiosity.
“We…we have not seen a boy or man with red eyes before.”, they told me honestly, “Are there others like you too?”
“I do not think so, but is that a bad thing?”, I questioned with a smile, “I do not think having red eyes makes you a bad person.”
“No, but the adults around here think that.”, another girl told me with a downcast expression, “Very few adults treat us nice, most of them throw rocks at us or try to kill us.”
Asking for the details of what was going on here, they explained that they were called Cursed Children and carried Gastrea blood in their veins. Confirming that the monsters I saw outside the city were referred to as Gastrea, the girls informed me that they were born with red eyes and unique powers because of them. Treated terribly by society because of their connection to the Gastrea, the public had all but run them out of the populated areas forcing them to leave in the ruins of the former Japanese Capital.
“I understand now.”, I remarked feeling an even greater sense of familiarity with this world, “Have you run into that group of people before?”
“We usually do not come here, but today is one of our friend’s birthday. She is one of our leaders and we thought it would make her happy to have something good to eat. Usually, our birthdays remind us of the families that abandoned us, but we wanted to make hers special.”, one of them told me.
“I understand, all of you are wonderful friends for trying to make her birthday better.”, I told them as I patted their heads, “If that is what you want, how about I take you all somewhere nice to eat?”
“Are…are you sure?”, one of them asked nervously, “You…you are not gonna hurt us or hand us over to the bad people, right?”
“I would never do that, all of you remind me of my daughter Eri. She has beautiful silver hair and the most beautiful red eyes.”, I bragged with a grin, “See, this is my darling daughter!”
Showing them a picture of Eri and me at the zoo, they looked at the photo in shock. Seeing a little girl just like them in the photo, all of them seemed relieved that I was not a bad person. Offering to take me to where they lived, the four girls grabbed my hand and guided me there. Taking us through the ruins of countless buildings, eventually, we ended up in a dilapidated apartment building that was barely still standing.
Finding the second floor full of children like them, their ages ranged from barely weaned to almost thirteen years old. Rushing out of the hallway into the apartments, everyone looked at me with terrified expressions expecting me to be one of the bad people. Telling everyone that I was not one of the bad people, they quickly pointed out that I had red eyes like them. Poking their heads out to confirm this fact, more and more children came out of the rooms to see for themselves.
“Is Lily back from the Mall?”, one of the girls asked.
“Lily is in the Nursery changing her sister’s diaper, but…who is this man!?”, one of the teens demanded, “Boys are not supposed to have red eyes like us, and none of us should be able to live to his age! Are you one of the government’s agents sent here to capture us to fight for humanity!?”
“No, I am not with any government agency.”, I answered her, “I understand that you are understandably worried, but I am not here to harm you or take you anywhere you do not want to go.”
Showing them just a hint of my power to settle their nerves, the older girls allowed me to pass and head down to the nursery. Showing me the way there, all of the children followed us to the nursery where one of their leaders was. Taking me to the end of the hallway, one of them opened the door and showed me a room full of newborn children resting in makeshift cribs.
‘Son of a bitch…this…this is not right! Who the hell abandons babies like this!?’, I thought as I hid my anger.
Running over to Lily, who was just finishing up changing her sister’s diaper, several of the children eagerly told her that they had a guest.
“Lily, we found a new friend like us!!”, they told her, “He is super strong and beat up some bad people to save us!! Not only that, he has powers just like us too!!”
“He?”, Lily repeated with a confused smile, “Is he here with you?”
“I am.”, I replied as I knelt down to her eye level.
Noticing that she wore a blindfold for some reason, I barely realized that she began touching my face. Touching every inch of it to make a mental picture of me, she gave me a smile and told me I looked like a very nice man. Thanking me for protecting her friends and family, she asked what brought me here today.
“I heard it was your birthday, and wanted to help make it special for you.”, I told her, “Not to be rude, but is there a reason you wear that blindfold? If it is because your eyes are red, I do not mind them at all.”
“No, it is not because of that.”, she replied as she lifted the blindfold, “My mother hated my eyes, she told me it made me look like a monster every day. To make her happy, I poured bleach into my eyes so she would not be bothered anymore. It hurt a lot, but I wanted her to love me like the other children around us. When my sister was born with the same red eyes, our mother and father left us in an alleyway telling us to live on our own from now on. While the first few weeks were tough, eventually we found this place and made many new friends that helped take care of us.”
Finally recognizing why this world was so familiar now, I knew now that I was in the world of Black Bullet. I remembered this young girl's story as it really messed with my heartstrings…she gave up her sight for her mother, and still ended up abandoned. Even though she, her sister, and all other Cursed Children were treated like trash…she never stopped smiling for any reason. Feeling the same way I did when Eri came to me for help, I could not help but pull her into my arms.
“I am sorry that you and everyone else here have had to suffer like this. None of you chose to be born this way yet the world has beaten you down, and taken their anger out on you. All of you should have known a parent’s love, but this world stole that from you.”, I told her, “I know it may be hard to believe now, but I promise to show you that love from now on. None of you have to suffer alone anymore, I am here for each and every one of you.”
Feeling the sincerity in my words, all of the children began rushing over toward me. Looking for the love that each of them had been craving for years, I sat down with them and showered them with all the love and kindness I could provide them with.
—Cole POV, Unknown World—
Looking at the post-apocalyptic cityscape that was Tokyo, I began to feel exhaustion set in just thinking of the work it would take to restore this place. Currently visiting each world my battle with the last deity took me through, this was the last and by far worst world yet. Outside the Greater Tokyo area giant metallic pillars stood watch over the hordes of monsters that prowled the wastelands beyond. For some strange reason, the monsters did not dare approach the city even though the guards were lightly armed, and there did not appear to be any real threat to them. Something about the pillars was likely causing it, but it was a hypothesis at this point.
‘I know I have seen something similar to this before, but I cannot place it.’, I thought standing atop an enormous, disused railgun, ‘Either way I have to look into this and see if it is my fault. Is it bad that I hope it is not so I can just leave?’
Jumping off the railgun, I came down on the monsters below me with a Thunder Drop and then quickly made my way to the city. Entering the ruined outskirts just past the pillars, I was amazed to find people actually living amongst the rubble of what once were towering skyscrapers. Deciding to approach one of these groups to gather intel, it quickly became apparent that something was off. The group I had chosen was actively trying to harm the orphans that were foraging nearby them for some reason.
“What the hell are you monsters doing here!?”, one of the men shouted lobbing a chunk of concrete at the terrified children, “Go crawl back into your hole, and die! It is the least you can do after all the damage you caused our world!”
“Yeah, the world has gone to hell because of you gremlins.”, another man chimed in as he waved a bat around, “My wife and son died because of all of you, just die already and leave us alone!!”
Fearing for their lives, the four children huddled together for protection from the group of seven adults. Knowing that this would not end well for the children, I slid down the side of a collapsed building and stopped between the two groups. Holding my right hand up and staring at the adults, I asked them to stand down and demanded to know why they were threatening these young girls. No matter what situation was going on in the world, there was never a good reason to harm the children.
“Seriously assholes, these are children barely five years of age and you are telling them to die!?”, I berated the adults, “Why the hell are you treating them like the spawn of Satan himself?”
“Who the hell are you!?”, the first man questioned, “Do you not know what those things are!? They are ticking time bombs that will eventually turn into the monsters living outside the city!”
“They are children, not things asshat!”, I retorted in an annoyed tone, “While the seven of you may be fine killing children, I am not. Try and lay a finger on them, and I will execute you without batting an eye.”
Sizing me up for a moment, the two men made a poor decision and decided to immediately rush me. Using Telekinesis to grab nearby slabs of concrete, I slammed the two together splattering the two of them into a paste. Screaming in horror as they watched it happen, the remaining members immediately tried to run away but I cut off all of their escape routes.
“I gave you all a chance to walk away, but you chose violence. Do not expect me to show you any leniency after watching you stand there, and watch those children be threatened with execution!”, I roared as the earth beneath their feet began pulling them under.
“Please wait, we have families to care for!?”, they pleaded.
“Tell it to someone who cares…child abusers and pedophiles all belong in the same fucking place, HELL!!”, I shouted as forcibly pulled all of them into the ground to bury them alive.
Removing any trace of them having ever been here, I turned back to the girls once I was done. Thinking that I might have traumatized them because of what they saw, instead they were all looking up at me with sparkling red eyes. Grabbing onto my coat with excitement, all of them began jumping around me with happiness.
“You are super, duper strong mister, can you teach us how to do that stuff?”, one of them asked me as she tugged on my coat, “If we could do some of that, we could protect ourselves from the other mean adults!”
“Haha, unfortunately, it is not something I can just teach you.”, I replied with a smile as I stared at their red eyes, “If you do not mind me asking, why do the four of you have matching red eyes? Are all of you related to one another?”
Giving me a complicated expression, it seemed like they were afraid I would treat them differently if they told me. Kneeling down to look them in their eyes, I changed my eye color to red so they would not be so nervous about telling me. Seeing my eyes change to a similar color to theirs, all of them looked at me with dumbfounded expressions.
“Is something wrong?”, I inquired out of curiosity.
“We…we have not seen a boy or man with red eyes before.”, they told me honestly, “Are there others like you too?”
“I do not think so, but is that a bad thing?”, I questioned with a smile, “I do not think having red eyes makes you a bad person.”
“No, but the adults around here think that.”, another girl told me with a downcast expression, “Very few adults treat us nice, most of them throw rocks at us or try to kill us.”
Asking for the details of what was going on here, they explained that they were called Cursed Children and carried Gastrea blood in their veins. Confirming that the monsters I saw outside the city were referred to as Gastrea, the girls informed me that they were born with red eyes and unique powers because of them. Treated terribly by society because of their connection to the Gastrea, the public had all but run them out of the populated areas forcing them to leave in the ruins of the former Japanese Capital.
“I understand now.”, I remarked feeling an even greater sense of familiarity with this world, “Have you run into that group of people before?”
“We usually do not come here, but today is one of our friend’s birthday. She is one of our leaders and we thought it would make her happy to have something good to eat. Usually, our birthdays remind us of the families that abandoned us, but we wanted to make hers special.”, one of them told me.
“I understand, all of you are wonderful friends for trying to make her birthday better.”, I told them as I patted their heads, “If that is what you want, how about I take you all somewhere nice to eat?”
“Are…are you sure?”, one of them asked nervously, “You…you are not gonna hurt us or hand us over to the bad people, right?”
“I would never do that, all of you remind me of my daughter Eri. She has beautiful silver hair and the most beautiful red eyes.”, I bragged with a grin, “See, this is my darling daughter!”
Showing them a picture of Eri and me at the zoo, they looked at the photo in shock. Seeing a little girl just like them in the photo, all of them seemed relieved that I was not a bad person. Offering to take me to where they lived, the four girls grabbed my hand and guided me there. Taking us through the ruins of countless buildings, eventually, we ended up in a dilapidated apartment building that was barely still standing.
Finding the second floor full of children like them, their ages ranged from barely weaned to almost thirteen years old. Rushing out of the hallway into the apartments, everyone looked at me with terrified expressions expecting me to be one of the bad people. Telling everyone that I was not one of the bad people, they quickly pointed out that I had red eyes like them. Poking their heads out to confirm this fact, more and more children came out of the rooms to see for themselves.
“Is Lily back from the Mall?”, one of the girls asked.
“Lily is in the Nursery changing her sister’s diaper, but…who is this man!?”, one of the teens demanded, “Boys are not supposed to have red eyes like us, and none of us should be able to live to his age! Are you one of the government’s agents sent here to capture us to fight for humanity!?”
“No, I am not with any government agency.”, I answered her, “I understand that you are understandably worried, but I am not here to harm you or take you anywhere you do not want to go.”
Showing them just a hint of my power to settle their nerves, the older girls allowed me to pass and head down to the nursery. Showing me the way there, all of the children followed us to the nursery where one of their leaders was. Taking me to the end of the hallway, one of them opened the door and showed me a room full of newborn children resting in makeshift cribs.
‘Son of a bitch…this…this is not right! Who the hell abandons babies like this!?’, I thought as I hid my anger.
Running over to Lily, who was just finishing up changing her sister’s diaper, several of the children eagerly told her that they had a guest.
“Lily, we found a new friend like us!!”, they told her, “He is super strong and beat up some bad people to save us!! Not only that, he has powers just like us too!!”
“He?”, Lily repeated with a confused smile, “Is he here with you?”
“I am.”, I replied as I knelt down to her eye level.
Noticing that she wore a blindfold for some reason, I barely realized that she began touching my face. Touching every inch of it to make a mental picture of me, she gave me a smile and told me I looked like a very nice man. Thanking me for protecting her friends and family, she asked what brought me here today.
“I heard it was your birthday, and wanted to help make it special for you.”, I told her, “Not to be rude, but is there a reason you wear that blindfold? If it is because your eyes are red, I do not mind them at all.”
“No, it is not because of that.”, she replied as she lifted the blindfold, “My mother hated my eyes, she told me it made me look like a monster every day. To make her happy, I poured bleach into my eyes so she would not be bothered anymore. It hurt a lot, but I wanted her to love me like the other children around us. When my sister was born with the same red eyes, our mother and father left us in an alleyway telling us to live on our own from now on. While the first few weeks were tough, eventually we found this place and made many new friends that helped take care of us.”
Finally recognizing why this world was so familiar now, I knew now that I was in the world of Black Bullet. I remembered this young girl's story as it really messed with my heartstrings…she gave up her sight for her mother, and still ended up abandoned. Even though she, her sister, and all other Cursed Children were treated like trash…she never stopped smiling for any reason. Feeling the same way I did when Eri came to me for help, I could not help but pull her into my arms.
“I am sorry that you and everyone else here have had to suffer like this. None of you chose to be born this way yet the world has beaten you down, and taken their anger out on you. All of you should have known a parent’s love, but this world stole that from you.”, I told her, “I know it may be hard to believe now, but I promise to show you that love from now on. None of you have to suffer alone anymore, I am here for each and every one of you.”
Feeling the sincerity in my words, all of the children began rushing over toward me. Looking for the love that each of them had been craving for years, I sat down with them and showered them with all the love and kindness I could provide them with.
