God Eater: Infinity Paradise

5: The Shadows of My Doubt

Continuous shots of spark bullets right on the Ogretails' skulls shifted their attention towards the orange-haired lad firing from an elevated ground, and Soma took it as a chance to finish them off with another swing of his heavy blade. Blood splattered to all directions and even stained the very blade of his weapon, the Aragamis' mutilated bodies lying on the ground and awaiting decomposition.

That kid wasn't that bad after all, huh?

"Uh... A little help here?" Kota called out, now running for dear life as the Gboro-gboro spammed him with consecutive ice missiles. And this is why Fenrir should work on installing shields for gun-users. Soma hurriedly dashed towards the enraged Aragami, avoiding its thrash attacks and leaping off to strike it from above. The last action caused it to stagger and briefly forget about its two assailants to recover health.

Kota and Soma wasted no time in following it, the former firing a series of mortar bullets on the back fin that had been unbound sometime earlier. The latter sprinted forward while the Aragami was busy, breaking off the Oracle Cells on its torso. The fangs followed not long after with a discharge of laser bullets.

As the shower of attacks placed the Gboro-gboro on a downed state, Soma held back his own blade, enveloping it in a glow of blood red and purple, and afterwards clobbered the fallen Aragami with his Charge Crush.

Right after he had devoured the core of the Aragami, Lenka radioed him in. "Soma-san, we have a problem!"

***

Really now...

"You mean she just ran off and chased it?!" Kota was asking in disbelief.

Lenka was wearing a miffed expression, looking left and right as they scouted the area for any sign of the female God Eater. "This Aragami passed by the area all of a sudden." He knew of course that they shouldn't bother about Aragamis not part of their assignments, unless they become a hindrance. "It didn't seem to notice us, so we just watched it as it went by. And then she just... went after it." He brought his gaze to Soma upon hearing him ask of what kind of Aragami was it. "Certainly a variant of a Sariel, but its body is grey and purple instead."

"An Aether," Soma then replied, and remained silent after that.

"But if you think about it... Yuka's been acting pretty weird since the last few days, hasn't she?" Came another one of Kota's questions. "As if she isn't herself at all."

Hibari had confirmed Yuka's location was already out of Sunken Grid's map, but transmitting the data of her exact whereabouts deem to be a little too difficult. They would have to rustle up nearby areas and hope that she hasn't gone too far to attract an even bigger trouble. It wasn't helping that crazy possible outcomes had been running wild in Soma's head, drawing him closer and closer to the feeling of complete annoyance and worry. "If something bad happens, I swear I'll smack your head with reminders as many times as it takes to ingrain them on your head," he was mumbling through gritted teeth.

"Soma, wait a sec!" Kota called out to him in between tired breaths. But the voice was faint in his ears, drowned out by the older lad's own thoughts and the growing shower of rain. "Oi-"

At that he snapped at the whiny teenager, "If you have the damn strength to complain, then use it to catch up." He hadn't realized he picked up his pace and the two were trailing a bit far from him. The rain seemed to be growing stronger as well, turning the ground muddy and wet beneath their feet.

They really haven't talked over the past days... and she went from annoyingly noisy to unusually quiet. She had been into Old Man Sakaki's office often, which he sometimes finds himself questioning, considering that he was the only one knowledgeable of what happened in eighteen years. It's not that Soma never noticed. He simple pretends as if he really did not. It was much better that way, anyway.