Chapter Text
Upon reaching the checkpoint, we were 'graciously' greeted with the sight of tons of armed guards, all looking serious and whatever. I sometimes think whether they enjoy their jobs sometimes. Probably not, right? I mean, to be resurrected every single time you take heavy damage... those ampules clearly aren't letting them take it well. Uh, I suppose that's how I feel about this though.
The line was particularly short, if it weren't for the random parts of the checkpoint being guards hauling others from their families as they screamed (in which Don Quixote winced to look at but stood her ground and held her lance tightly) and because we're technically given express passes, I would've thought today was a good day to head to immigration into K Corp. After all, it's one of the best Nests to live in... I suppose, judging from what I've heard.
"Hello, we're-" Faust began to speak up before being rudely interrupted by the immigration officer.
"Yeah yeah Limbus Company. I remember seeing you guys. Did something to someone and blah I see your wretched faces again."
"That was unpleasant..." I silently replied. It wasn't like he'd understand anyway, but at the most he could've treated us like normal people...
After a long while of what I thought was waiting for someone to pick us up or something, we managed to move inside of the border and head out into the Nest itself. Well, it was still quite pleasant as I've seen originally, just hoping there isn't anything horrible to come across like that Brazen Bull abnormality. That thing was quite hard to fight... So much for a TETH Abnormality. Even then, District 11 was a peaceful place... But hey! We get to see that Lil Godd concert Don Quixote was going crazy over... Despite myself I couldn't help but feel interested. If you asked me, 'DAISY BELL' didn't sound like a normal song title to me. I suppose you're supposed to go with the flow?
Though before I could ponder longer, Ryōshū paused and seemed to sense something I definitely couldn't.
"S.H," Ryōshū randomly spoke up, her gaze sweeping across the busy street. Her gaze stopped on a rather suspicious looking tree.
"...Someone's here? Who?" Sinclair immediately replied, suddenly deciding that he felt like he was being watched. "You don't think there's... ah.. someone watching us, do you?"
Ryōshū narrowed her eyes and zeroed on the tree. "D.G.N.T.T," she warned.
"What's so suspicious about that tree...? I get it it's... unnerving, I feel uneasy looking at it too.. but who and why?" Sinclair had panic in his tone as his eyes darted from the tree and to Ryōshū over and over until Rodya gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Ey kiddo, no need to get so hyped up! It's not like they're a direct threat or anything-" Rodya was cut off by a whirring bullet immediately piercing through her head. The impact basically exploding and burning her flesh due to the heat (to the point we could hear the bullet itself sizzling) and her guts spilled everywhere on Sinclair. He looked absolutely distraught (which first reminded me of how he looked when Kromer killed his entire family).
"Ah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"
"Well now they're a direct threat," Outis butted in, now unsheathing her weapon from her belt. "We shall hunt them down, for... justice!" (Outis seemed like she gave Don Quixote a secret wink for some reason)
Seeing Don Quixote's eyes gleam with pride and vengeance, I sighed as all the remaining Sinners (excluding Sinclair) rushed over to the tree. It seemed pretty normal, other than the fact there was a giant bullet hole in the trunk of it. Though it was clear the person responsible for that and Rodya's death was no longer there, I swore I could've seen a shiver from behind. Outis approached and firstly scrutinised the size of the hole. She walked over to the other side of the tree and noticed a large chunk of the tree was gone.
"Hm, the force from the bullet came from behind, but the hole is larger than the initial area of the shot when it's supposed to be reversed," she stated, pointing out the science and how it probably doesn't work that way.
"And if that were to be true then..."
"...Hm, the shot came from behind us, not the tree," Yi Sang randomly added which seemed to help Outis with her final assessment.
"Aha! Rodion was willingly assassinated!" Outis declared, her finger going up in those 'eureka!' poses. She then turned to me with a confident look.
"Well Executive Manager, it seems we have found the source of murder," her expression quickly flattened. "However we still have yet to find the culprit. Justice will prevail!"
I just stood there wordlessly. I could've just... revived Rodya. But, I guess we've made it this far...? I quickly turned the clock and unfortunately, I had to face the pain. My head felt like it was about to explode, heat seeping from an unknown source into my brains, a feeling as if I've just completed a lobotomy except the surgeon probably used a rusty nail than proper surgery tools. But then again, a lobotomy is pretty much a horrid thing to do as a surgeon and the patient. I could feel my hands shaking as what seemed to be imaginary corrosive acid dripping onto my body parts and I felt as if I was slowly dissolving... slowly turning into nothing... just to seep into the cracks of the world and never to be seen again.. Why did it hurt so bad for just a headshot...?
With my pure wit and spite to keep going, Rodya was finally back. Despite the pain I had just felt immediately going away like nothing just happened, I still wondered whether the Sinners even cared I had to go through such painful process to begin with.. Did they ever even care for me at all? What if they just see me as their Manager only and not a... companion...? I don't know, maybe I'm just overthinking.
"See guys, it's not worth the fuss- We still gotta go to that Lil Godd concert," I simply stated, still secretly stealing glances at the general direction of where the bullet had come from. "Don is awfully excited, let's just hurry up, shall we?"
With all approval nods (with Sinclair somehow recovering from that experience that fast) we headed off with Don Quixote leading us. We were brought through numerous streets, half expecting the bullet incident to occur again. To our surprise, the adventure was seemingly dull. Not much was really being done other than the occasional rant of how great 'Lil Godd' was in music. Personally I just thought she really loved that guy and wanted to meet him in person.... Though knowing her, I won't ever know what her mindset would be like when it comes to these things...
Continuing down the streets, I noticed a particularly crowded area with seemingly more guards than the rest of the areas and bright lights shinging into the sky like those horrible show lights. There was also a faint sound of someone screaming into a microphone... Well, this seems like our destination alright...
"Oh, I think we're nearing the concert. Don, do you have the tickets?" I asked, turning around to Don Quixote who had somehow achieved thirteen tickets to this 'Lil Godd' concert.
"....Okay yeah we do."
Upon reaching the entrance of the concert, the sounds of jarring cheering immediately flooded our ears. I suppose that's how it feels to be at a concert. Unfortunately for some Sinners, this was completely overwhelming their senses. Hopefully they calm down after a while since we might be here for a long time...
A rather burly man who looked like he could've been a Grade 5 Fixer or something stood at the entrance, clearly unhappy. "Tickets. Now," he growled and Don Quixote practically shoved the thirteen tickets into his hand and ran off, leaving us to resort to running after her.
"Don! Don't leave us behind!!" I called out, exhaustion slowly taking over my limbs as I subtly slowed down.
For some reason, I felt more exhausted than before. I could feel some otherworldly force taking over my body and I couldn't see anything any longer. The only thing I could feel was my knees hitting the ground and shouts from the Sinners. Oh god, is this how I die? In a concert?!
"Oi Clockface!"
"No! Executive Manager! Look what you've done you fool!" (This one sounded more pointed at Don Quixote than anyone else)
"Manager bud? Yeah no I think they're dead or something."
"Guh..." I groaned, my vision still being blurry and dark. Seriously, what was even going on with me?
Upon recovering my vision, I noticed I was in a whole new area. It wasn't a concert anymore and more of an infinite dark area. However, there was one distinct feature of this infinite wasteland. A door. A large one at that. But then... it clicked together. That door was the same door I saw when reviving the Sinners. But what does this mean for me?
I cautiously approached the door that seemed to creak under my gentle touch before it just... opened, revealing a whole other world right infront of me of... busy people?? I was just about to enter it out of curiosity before a rapid noise came from behind me and I felt like I got stabbed by something sharp—then I woke up (no guys this part isn't written by AI my grammar sucks guys) with all twelve Sinners looking down with me with worried expressions.
"M-Manager Esquire– I humbly apologise for thy deeds I've committed!" Don Quixote immediately cried out. Though I felt like I never heard it at all, just a random piece of wind flying past me.
I groggily sat up right and realised we were sitting down in chairs, having the first few seats infront of the stage for the concert.
"Woah cool," I said, trying to shrug off the fact I just passed out. "We get front row seats! Thanks Don."
Outis looked slightly concerned at my current flippant attitude but chose not to say anything. All we have to do now is to wait for the Lil Godd concert to start...
Shazam! Argh! Whaow! Weird cheering noises! Hooray!
QUA! The lights go off and the crowd starts cheering intensely, I perked up at the sudden noise and immediately looked towards the centre of the stage, where an individual stood there, mic in hand and bright lights cast a shadow onto them. It sort of reminded me of that one Dulcinea Identity...
"Ladies and gentlemen! Here we shall now commence the concert! Everyone welcome.... LIL GODD!!!"
Everyone started clapping, hell, even the Sinners were clapping in joy. The lights went out and a faint beat came on... It seemed to make everyone squeal in excitement and I assume it was one of Lil Godd's popular songs...
".....I will sing the 6 7 song and you will sing along-"
Everyone cheered in unison upon hearing the first lyric. Don Quixote quickly leaned over and whispered to me, something about this song being called 'THE 6 7 SONG'...? What a weird name, but everything so far has been weird so I can't think otherwise. Anyway, the concert soon started and to my surprise, the song was sort of good? I guess Don's excitement wasn't for nothing after all. I even caught myself slowly nodding to the beat of the song- though I quickly caught myself before I was discovered.
Soon enough, the song reached its climax (fortunately, as described by Outis since it meant they were all closer to finishing this song and be done with the concert). The lights blared on and there was a new present figure on the stage. Lil Godd himself, I assume. He wore what seemed to be a black hoodie, camo looking shorts... black shoes that have white laces...? Honestly I don't know half of the things I'm looking at. Not like I remember the brands or their exact model anyway. What seemed to be rather peculiar of the man himself was the strange mask he seemed to wear. None of his fans seemed to bother about it, so I didn't think much of it either. Maybe it's his symbol? A mask? Like mine? (Well without Outis saying it's not a mask and rather my whole identity...) I'd say it was rather interesting to say it for myself. It wasn't like the City had enough 'different' people nowadays... In my opinion they all looked sad. There's no in between of meeting a miserable Fixer or Backstreet citizen and an extremely hyper being you'd usually find in a Nest, one that is extremely oblivious to the danger lurking just outside what they called home... Of course unless a Wing or so infiltrates it, speaking from experience about Sinclair with the whole deal of K Corp. and all. However, it seems that they'd usually require a deal as Dongrang only seemed to let them reign free in Calw for footage to torture The Tearful Thing, or whatever it was if I were to recall.
Me and the other Sinners were half enjoying the whole thing before the song Lil Godd was first singing finally ended, leaving his crowd erupting in applause and pretty much chaos. People were shoving people at the back, the place where not many seats were there for some reason (probably due to budget reasons and definitely not because i myself forgot these types of concerts don't have seats) and trampling over each other like it was a Travis Scott concert. The sight made me wince a little but what else could I do? If I were to attempt to step up I'd either be told off by Outis or get trampled by myself too. Something seemed to catch my eye as I watched a certain thug basically stab a teenager with a makeshift weapon with what seemed to be random chemicals mixed into one container, the reaction immediately taking place as soon as the blade was inserted inside the teen which practically made them turn into ashes... or maybe they exploded really fast because there were chunks of what seemed to be fresh human flesh nearby. The sight of it alone made everyone nearby gasp in horror. This, however, seemed to bring the Sinner's attention to the accident as well. Don Quixote gasped as Rodya seemed to chuckle nervously. Ryōshū chuckled while saying something along the lines of 'Well now this is what I like.'
"Haahhh... What a gruesome sight.. I can't bear to look away..." Rodya seemed to laugh slowly, trying to comprehend what the hell she just saw. The reaction reminded me of how Sinclair reacted when Rodya was first brutally vaporised right infront of his eyes.
If that wasn't bad enough, the thug seemed to look towards us and... hostile enough as it is, pretty much tried to attack us. Oh, and they had companions too. Why am I surprised...?
"Oh goodness... looks like we have to fight them. They look pretty formidable so... try not to get hit yeah...? Uh, if you do, just make sure you have something left of yourself so I can turn the clock later..." I ordered the Sinners to pick up on combat. Some of them stayed behind while the others fought on the front lines...
So... currently Ryōshū, Rodion, Ishmael, Don Quixote and Faust were on the battlefield. And to say the least, it wasn't a great sight. Seeing chunks of meat fly around, I couldn't help but wince at the sight. Unfortunately this went on for hours... and pretty much the concert paused in its song to witness the carnage being ripped right below at the audience. (I can't describe fight scenes so we're skipping that)
Midway through our fight, the music suddenly paused. "..Hey! What's going on?!" The microphone's holder suddenly spoke up. It was Lil Godd. "What are you guys doing?! You're disturbing my concert!"
"Hey, we didn't mean to. Some thugs invaded your concert. This is practical, by our brilliant Executive Manager's orders!" Outis declared, standing tall despite the wreckage the Sinners had left behind.
"Right... get out of my concert hall! You all clearly aren't stable enough and I'd rather if my audiences are safe and well!" (I'm so sorry lil godd)
Watching as security slowly cornered us, I pretty much ordered the Sinners to... well, run for it. "Go go go!" I demanded, rushing past multiple personnel towards the concert's entrance and exit. It was hard considering the sheer number of people surrounding the area and I had to push through numerous of them. I could hear grunts and curses being muttered from behind me, and mostly was from Sinclair apologising for bumping into someone accidentally. Oh well... fake it 'til you make it..
Seeing as we pretty much burst through the concert's hall and back into the District's busy streets, I gave out a sigh of relief... which was kind of just more ticking as conveyed from outsiders. Oh well, seeing as our time was cut short, it was time to head back to the bus...
Regrouping with the other Sinners, I decided it was time for us to head back to the bus. "Hey guys, it's probably time to head back to the bus then. Vergilius might get upset with us being away for so long..."
With a vague gesture towards the general direction of the Mephistopheles, we headed our way there. I really started to wonder what could possibly go wrong...